As soon as the Winchesters arrived at Singer Salvage Yard, Bobby hustled them indoors, enveloping them both in bear-hugs first of all, but only briefly. None of the men were soft-hearted, and although they all loved and cared for each other dearly, they rarely showed it due to their dreadfully stubborn natures. Strolling into the main room, the brothers noticed it was exactly the same as the old hunter always kept it: lore and research books scattered across the rickety wooden desk, an omnipresent half-empty bottle of whiskey (or 'hunter's helper', as Dean and Bobby both liked to call it) standing proudly on top of a stack of papers, acting as a temporary paperweight, the dusty and worn-down sofa settled comfortably in the corner, an elaborate devil's trap carefully painted on the ceiling, directly above Dean's head as he entered the room; despite the place's flaws and blemishes, they all knew they wouldn't have it any other way. It was home.

The pointed look of concern written blatantly across Sam's face, however unintentionally, drove Bobby to get down to business right away. When he spoke, all three relatives were carried out of the sense of nostalgia they all shared. The old four walls contained many memories for them – good and bad – from the past few years, and even more (including unknown secrets) for Bobby from previously in his life, before Sam and Dean had staggered back into his life while on the search for their daddy back in '06. Just thinking about that day snapped Bobby back to reality as he realised that when they walked through that door, that was the moment he had decided to look out for them, and treat them as his own sons if John got lost or died, or simply failed to guard them as he should. And things have never changed.

"So I'm just gonna forget the small talk, if that's alright with you two." Bobby started, well aware that the boys had never been ones for small talk anyway. However, the brothers both seemed slightly surprised at their adoptive dad's harsh tone as he turned to address Dean. "Are you gonna tell us what happened on that hunt in Indiana or do we have to do this the hard way?" Of course, by 'the hard way', Bobby only meant his and Sam's conjoined way of guilt-tripping Dean into talking; he would never even think of considering hurting the kid.

Looking severely annoyed, the older Winchester diverted his gaze to Sam, raising his eyebrows in irritation, but Sam saw the hint of betrayal and hurt revealed in his eyes. "You told Bobby about that?"

"Look, Dean, I was worried. Hell, I still am! And I could tell you weren't gonna say anything to me about what happen-"

"Forget about it." Dean interrupted sharply, silencing his younger brother and regretting his attitude as he caught a glance of his puppy-dog eyes just before his eyes flickered back to Bobby. He sighed, realising they were just going to end up going round in circles if he lied again, and being reluctant to worry Sam even further, therefore deciding to tell the truth. "Okay, okay. But it's gonna sound ridiculous, I'm telling you…"

"Half of our damn lives are full of ridiculous things, boy." Bobby retorted in such a tone that ensured he made his point, but not so forcefully that it would push Dean away and prevent him from answering. "Now, spill."

"Thing is… I could have sworn I saw Dad in there." The response was instantaneous. Bobby's eyes simply widened in shock and with a surprising hint of horror at the concept of John Winchester returning from the dead, while Sam leapt up and spluttered out words of disbelief.

"What?! Dad? Are you sure? I mean, how could he be…?" The younger brother stumbled over his words, eager to hear the context of the piece of information.

Taking a breath and preparing to be ridiculed (although deep down he knew Bobby and Sam would never do that), Dean recounted his experience, starting from the very beginning of the case, for Bobby's sake. When he got up to the part that Sam hadn't heard a true account of, he could see his brother visibly lean closer so as not to miss any detail, almost as if he would miss something if he was too far away. But Dean didn't skip out anything. Plus, it actually felt far better to get it out in the open. "…and then, just when I thought I was dead for sure, another ghost appeared and charged into Joseph, like, full-on Wall Street Bull style. Well, if the Wall Street Bull was real and not just a statue… Anyway, I thought the other spirit was Dad. He looked super angry at Joseph and after they collided, they both just… disappeared. Poof." Although Dean was acting nonchalant about the whole affair, Sam and Bobby could see past his façade, however they refused to acknowledge it, knowing it was how the older Winchester dealt with things.

"Dean! You didn't think to mention this before?" A hurt look spread across Sammy's face as he stared entirely uncomprehendingly at his brother. "Seriously, why would you lie about this?!"

"I'm sorry, Sam. But I was pretty freaked out myself after seeing my dead dad save me from being hanged by a ghost." The sarcastic tone with which Dean replied made it sound like he was reciting a storyline from an episode of 'The Jeremy Kyle Show.' "And I still don't know if it was actually Dad; my brain was shutting down at the time, it could have just been a hallucination. I didn't want to get your hopes up, Sammy."

"Well aren't you just the sweetest brother." Bobby chipped in, his saturated sardonic voice rivalling that of a demon's. "When you see your dead dad, you don't bottle it up – you tell your brother, ya idjit! Even if you're not sure about it. Yeah, sure I understand if you're not into the whole sharing and caring business, but something this big – you have to let us know, Dean. That way, we can help you. But if you don't wanna be helped, then that's your own damn funeral, boy."

After Bobby's outburst, the brothers stayed silent for a moment. Sam looked down at the floor awkwardly while Dean averted his eyes, reduced to downright shame. Bobby seemed to have that effect on people. Eventually, after an eternity, Dean coughed and spoke up.

"So, uh, what are we gonna do?" He tentatively asked no-one in particular.

"Has he appeared to you since then?" Sam responded with another question, ever inquisitive.

"Yeah, like he hasn't kept enough from us already." Bobby mumbled under his breath, loud enough to let himself be heard.

Ignoring the grumpy old hunter, Dean answered his brother's question seriously. "No. Just that one time with the spirit, so far."

"Well, I suggest we carry on as normal with our busy lives, and you come back and tell me if he appears again, alright?" Bobby looked sternly at Sam and Dean respectively, yet his tone softened slightly as he realised he'd been a bit hard on Dean. The brothers nodded profusely in agreement, not wanting to displease their adoptive father again so soon. "Here, I found a case for you two to be getting on with while you were on your way over here. Hopefully that'll get you to shut your pie hole, quit belly-aching and do your job for once."