A/N: italicized phrases are quiet/whispered/muffled

The next day, Sam and Dean went to breakfast at the same diner (Dean had cherry pie. Nothing else.) then headed back to the dairy farm outside town. They waited on the side of the road for Bobby to show up, Dean getting more restless by the second.

"You know, maybe I should just go wait somewhere else."

"You're going to have to face this, Dean."

Dean sighed and started drumming on his thighs.

Bobby's junker pulled around the bend and parked behind the impala. Sam immediately got out to greet him. Meanwhile, Dean decided to wait for a minute to calm himself, couldn't have any involuntary black-eyed moments with Bobby there. He tuned in to the casual conversation outside.

"... Thanks for coming on such short notice."

"Sure, no problem. I was just in Misouri helpin out an old friend. So what've we got here again?"

"A Jikininki. But first," Sam paused, thinking about how to continue. He took a deep breath, "I stopped for a bit on my way here, and you'll never guess who showed up."

Dean took this as his cue.

"Who?"

He took one last calming breath and slowly stepped out of the car.

Bobby gaped at him. "What the hell? Dean?" He turned to Sam questioningly.

Dean tried his best to appear casual. "Hey Bobby. Long time no see."

Bobby responded only with a nod, pulling Sam to the side.

"Sam, tell me you're not being stupid about this."

"I'm not "

"People don't just come back from bein dead. You tested him, right? Silver, salt, holy water, all that?"

Dean could hear every word of the hushed conversation and decided that now was as good a time as any to come out truthfully. He cleared his throat. "Well, about that," he began, causing both to turn in surprise. "I didn't exactly pass all of the tests, per se." Bobby reached towards his gun. Dean put his hands up in surrender and continued, "now, don't freak out on me. The test I didn't pass," he paused and tensed for the worst, "was the holy water. You're right, people don't just come back from Hell. I had to come back as a demon." His eyes pointedly turned black.

As he anticipated, Bobby quickly drew his gun and didn't hesitate to shoot Dean once in the chest. He was going for more, but Sam grabbed the gun away before he could.

Dean instinctively put a hand to the bullet hole. "Ow!" He yelled incredulously at Bobby, who was fighting to get his gun back.

"Look, just hear him out." Sam said.

Bobby looked at him, horrified. "You can't really be this stupid. That is a demon, Sam. That's not your brother."

"Yeah, it actually is." Dean chimed in, still not daring to get closer. "I was dead seven years. That means about 900 in the pit before I got topside. Come on, Bobby. You do your research, I'm sure you've come across something about how demons are made." He could feel Bobby's doubt slightly wear down, but there still wasn't an inkling of trust. "It's still me, right Sammy?" He raised his brow at his brother, who had promised to back him up.

Sam glanced warily at Dean, who, noticing his brother's heightened level of fear, remembered that his eyes were still black, making them even more uneasy. He quickly blinked them back to normal.

Sam continued. "Right. I've been doing some research, and I found out that once a vessel dies, a demon doesn't have any access to memories. Dean was completely dead, buried for years. And now, he remembers everything, so it has to be him in there." He finished with a genuine little smile. Dean noticed with relief the complete lack of doubt in Sam's statement. Bobby, though still skeptical, trusted Sam, and that was enough for now.

"Great, now that that's out of the way," Dean sauntered toward Bobby and Sam and pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "What do you say we ice this thing?"


Sam laid down a salt circle in the middle of the pasture, taking care to let Dean inside before closing it. The ritual didn't require anything to be mixed together, just to be recited.

Bobby started reading into the air. It was quiet for a while, but after the first stanza or so, the Jikininki appeared across the field in the distance. It disappeared and reappeared nearer and nearer until it was just outside the salt circle. It looked like a corpse, exposed bones and melting flesh. Bobby didn't look up from the paper and Dean remained stoic. Sam, on the other hand, stared at it, paralyzed. Dean remembered something he'd read on Jikininki: they paralyze their prey on sight. Also, something he distinctly did not see in all his research: that Jikininki can't cross salt lines.

The creature stared pensively at the circle for a moment before moving inside it. When it started to advance toward Sam, Dean did the first thing he could think of. He put himself in front of his helpless brother and prepared to fend it off by any means. The chant paused momentarily as Bobby glanced at Dean.

"Don't look at it, Bobby!" He yelled, turning his threatening black eyes on him. "Keep reading!" He did so, more rushed and trembling than before.

Dean stretched a hand in front of him and focused an attack at the thing with all the mental power he could muster, sending the Jikininki back into the wooden fence. Dean stared at his hand in amusement. The thing recovered and started to make its way back, but hardly made it halfway before Bobby finished the ritual.

The Jikininki violently disappeared with a low moan and a burst of light.

Sam collapsed to the ground with a shaking gasp. Dean was instantly beside him. "Sammy! You okay?"

Sam took a deep breath and looked up, "yeah, I'm fine." He stood and looked at Dean, gesturing to his eyes. Dean blinked back to normal.

Bobby looked at Dean, "what the hell happened, Dean?"

"I just saved your life, a little gratitude would be nice. I'm not evil, Bobby. Just a hunter with a few tricks up my sleeve." He gave a smug smile.

"Thanks." Sam said with sincere trust, much to Dean's relief. Bobby said nothing, still not prepared to get within five feet of him.

"Well, best get going." Sam announced, and he and Bobby started walking away.

"Hey!" Dean called after them. Both turned. Dean gestured to the line of salt in front of him, "someone wanna let me out?"

Sam jogged back and kicked the salt out of the way. "This is gonna take some getting used to."

"Yeah, no kidding."


Back in the parking lot, Dean waited in the car, music blaring, while the other two talked outside. He knew they were talking about him, but it was to be expected. He still had to work to earn trust, especially from Bobby.

Despite the loud music coming from the impala, Bobby spoke quietly, remembering Dean's newly acute hearing. "Do you really trust him?"

Sam glanced at his brother, "I'm trying to. We've gotta give him a chance here, Bobby. He's been through hell. Literally. I think he's still figuring things out too, and the last thing he needs is us trying to kill him. I believe that it's him, but I'm not sure how much he changed down there."

"I just want you to be smart about this. Remember what happened with Ruby. Anything happens, you bring him to me and we lock him in the panic room till we figure something out."

"Yeah. Thanks Bobby."

"Take care of yourself, boy. And take care of Dean."

"I will."

A/N: A longer more interesting chapter to make up for the last one. I love all you guys for liking my story! The Supernatural fandom is so nice :)

Please tell me what you think. Another chapter on its way soon.