"Hi," Ben shuffled his feet a little and hovered in the doorway.

"Hi," Adam put down the book of binding spells he was studying where he sat on the spare bed.

"Um, can I come in?"

Adam gestured for him to do so.

"Okay. First, I want to apologize." Ben took the old wooden chair near the door, which creaked
warningly. "I've been acting like a dick the past three days."

"Yeah, you have," Adam agreed. "But it's understandable."

"But its not your fault – you killed it. You've put up with a lot of crap from me and I...I don't want you to think that I take you for granted." Ben realized it as he said it. Adam wasn't Dean – he was real and tangible, imperfect, a human on the same level as other humans – but he was good, kind and intelligent and capable, and Ben ought to feel lucky that Adam wanted him.

Adam shrugged. "I don't. And hey, I don't take you for granted either, you know."

"Well I am," Ben shrugged. "Granted, that is. He is – he's long dead, and everyone else in the world except you...I can't imagine...being with. It's like it's just us now. The only ones
left."

Adam said nothing, but extended his arm, inviting Ben to come sit on the bed with him. Ben closed his eyes.

"Wait. There's something you need to know. If we're going to – stay together. Make this – a commitment."

"What?"

Ben opened his eyes, met Adam's, and said, "There's a strong possibility that Dean was my biological father."

The only sound in the room was the tick of the old grandfather clock. Mockingly loud. Brutal. Adam's mouth opened and close a little. It was strange. He was rarely speechless. Finally Ben said,

"I'll go now."

"No, wait!" Adam held up his hand. "It's just – wow. That's a lot to take in, you know? Wow. I mean, why would you think that?"

"He and my Mom were together at the right time. I look like him – you must have noticed."

"You look like your Mom, in the photos-"

"I look like them both. Combined. And he treated me like a son, and Mom – seemed okay with that. All the other guys...I mean, not that she dated tons, but sometimes she did, and if they started getting too Dad-like with me she got weird about it. But not Dean. And then, before you came...the demon said so."

"Oh."

"But...I suppose the truth is I'll never know. I just have to live with that. That maybe I was in love with my father," saying it brought a bitter taste to his mouth. He felt sick.

Adam chuckled without humor. "Oedipus had nothing on us, huh?" He put his head in his hands.

"Us?"

"Hell, you already know I was in love with my half-brother. Who am I to judge?"

"But it means...it would mean you're my...uncle? Kind of."

"Yeah. I guess it would."

"So...that's pretty sick right? I mean, we shouldn't...in Bobby's house..." What would the old man think, who had been so kind to them? Throw them out on their asses? Ben wouldn't blame him.

Adam raised his head. His eyes met Ben's – calm blue. "Our parents shouldn't have been killed, rapists shouldn't walk out of court, and George Bush shouldn't have president." He shrugged. "The truth is, it's crossed my mind, Ben. You never mentioned your father. And you're right – you look like a combination of them. But I dismissed it – and I suppose that means I don't care. I love you. I'm glad you were brave enough to tell me. That shows what I already knew about you – you're not a selfish person."

"I had help," Ben admitted. "From Jane." Adam loved him. That was the first time either of them had used the word. Slipped it in almost casually as though he hadn't even thought about it.

Adam looked a little surprised. "I'll...have to thank her for that. The point is, I don't care if you don't. I still want to be together. If you do."

"I do." Do – want to be together, or love Adam? To save himself from elaboration, Ben got up and crossed the room, stood astride his boyfriend's thigh, and turned Adam's face up for a kiss. It was returned. It didn't send sparks down his body at first - more affirming. Reassuring. But then again, he was nineteen, and he hadn't had sex in close to a week. It didn't take long for his body to start responding, despite the fact he was tired, physically, emotionally. It turned out that Adam – ever practical – had supplies in the drawer even of the spare room. Ben almost laughed at that.

"We're okay," he told Adam afterwards, and he believed it.

"Yeah," said Adam peaceably. He apparently wasn't concerned by the fact Ben hadn't returned his statement of love.

"I can't believe its dead," Ben said finally, and let himself feel it.

"Do you think you can move on, now?" Adam propped himself up on one elbow, studying Ben intently.

"I don't know. Moving on? What does that even mean?"

"I guess...when it doesn't determine your life anymore. When you stop waking up and going to sleep thinking about it."

"Did that happen to you?"

"Yes. Eventually. Of course I can still bring it back – all of it. But its been ten years since my Mom was killed, and Sam made his decision."

"You never did catch the ghoul?" Ben asked, tracing the line of Adam's shoulder absently.

"No. But I've...I guess I've made peace with it."

"Pity I wasn't psychic. Maybe I could've found it for you."

"Maybe," Adam smirked. "I'm quite glad you're not though. Our lives are complicated enough as it is."

"I guess so."

They fell silent.

"So are we going to tell Bobby?" Ben asked.

"Why? It would only disturb him."

"I just feel it's...dishonest," Ben confessed. "Like we're taking advantage, because if he
really knew us..."

Adam lay back. "I don't know." He said. "I mean – I hate to say this but – Bobby's old, Ben. And he's seen so much. I just...want him to have as much peace as he can, now." Near the end. They both heard it.

"I suppose you're right," Ben closed his eyes, feeling sleep creeping up on him. Dusk through the drawn curtains shadowed the room. He felt resolution and irresolution. He had not killed the demon. The demon was dead. The ghoul still lived, but it lived a ghoul's existence. They had made some kind of family, but on tenuous grounds. Bobby was older every day, and their job was dangerous, and their possibly-incestuous relationship of quite compatibility was probably the weirdest in the history of weird relationships. His Mom and Dean were still dead.

When he was young he had liked all the day's problems and worries to be sorted out before he went to sleep, so that he could wake up fresh in the morning.

Now he could sleep anyway.

- The End -

Thanks to everyone who has commented or messaged regarding this story. I really value it. There will be a third and final story in this trilogy, though I can't really start it at least till I've a) drafted the section of my Phd project that I'm working on right now and b) marked 45 undergraduate essays. So I don't know when, but I know what it will be about. x