A/N: I'm a pushover. I was gonna make you guys sweat out waiting for another chapter but I felt bad for not posting any over the weekend so here's the next chapter! Also, thanks so much for all of the reviews, the encouragement is really uplifting. You guys are great.

Supernatural is not yet within my sticky fingers...

The tension was almost tangible in the car as the Impala raced down the highway. Dean had finally healed enough that they could travel. He still had a limp, though, and it was with this limp that he trudged out to the car earlier that morning, recently purchased car seat in hand.

"Sam, I'm not sure we're doing the right thing," Dean said hesitantly.

Sam finished loading their bags in the trunk and looked at Dean, "Dean you know we have to do this. Our lives are too dangerous to bring a kid into, besides, where are we gonna get the resources to raise a child?"

"We'll figure it out," Dean huffed, "I'll hustle pool or cards; we can run a few more credit card scams. We just can't let her go into the foster care system. They'll break her and she'll grow up to be just an empty shell," Dean pleaded.

"How are you so sure?" Sam asked skeptically.

"Because I saw it happen," Dean admitted, "When we were younger, the CPS picked us up and we were in foster care for about two months. You were only two and were immediately taken into by a caring family. I wasn't so lucky. I was forced to live in a boy's home where you were either bullying, or being bullied, and everyone's eyes were dead. Those kids had all lost hope and I don't want that for Jo."

"You're talking like you're her father. She's not your responsibility," Sam replied, his voice rising to a shout.

"Yeah, her father's dead. Somebody's got to take his place. So as long as I'm still breathing, we are not leaving her at a hospital," Dean roared.

Sam turned on his heel and stomped to the passenger side of the car, fuming.

What was Dean thinking? He was in no way mature enough to be responsible for a child long term.

Dean climbed into the driver's seat and immediately zoomed out of the parking lot. There were several minutes of tense, unbroken silence until Dean finally spoke, "You were too young to remember but there are days when I still see their faces."

Sam stared at his lap, "I didn't realize that this was that important to you. We'll keep her for now but we have to keep looking for other options."

Dean nodded, he could agree to that. Looking in the rearview mirror he could see that Jo had removed her shoes and socks, again. Jo was definitely putting him through the wringer. Dean wasn't sure he'd gotten his usual four hours of sleep once since she'd come into their lives.

Sam was still mad at Dean but somewhere deep inside of himself, he felt relieved. He didn't want to be rid of their little surprise just yet. When Sam looked at Jo, he saw the future that he'd envisioned with Jess all of those years ago. The memories stung, but Sam had long ago learned to live with the burden of so many lives on his back. Instead of lingering on the painful memories of her death, he chose to remember better times. Like the time they laid out in the quad all night, looking at the stars. It was then that they first talked about their future together. About getting married, having kids, and living an "apple pie life," or so Dean liked to call it.

As the miles passed beneath the tires of the ever familiar '67 Chevy Impala, the boys came to two conclusions.

Jo was the best thing to happen to them in a long time and their lives would never be the same.