Chapter Ten

xxxxxxxxxx

It was six pm.

In the parking lot of a nondescript diner in Sioux Falls, a young man was holding his beloved baby brother in his arms again for the first time in fourteen long years, a brother he had believed dead; while at the same moment in the home of Bobby Singer, a distraught woman was quietly sobbing in the arms of the gruff good-hearted hunter who had given her and her baby shelter when she had come to him for help, treating her as a true brother-in-law would, and being a devoted and caring uncle to her baby; but both comforter and comforted were well aware that this part of their lives was over.

X

Bobby held on tight as Mary wept for all she had done to try and keep her family safe, going to the extremes of faking her own and baby Sammy's death; wept for all the pain she knew she had caused her husband John and for the loss she had caused Dean, depriving him of his little brother, but she had good reason for what she had done,at least that's what she kept repeating to herself.

She sighed as she sniffed into Bobby's shirt. Now that the cat was out of the bag, there would be a hell of a lot of explaining to do. There was no way to cover things up.

It was only a question of time before John found out she and Sammy were alive.

Neither he nor Dean knew anything about the supernatural. How could she ever explain to them her reasons for doing what she did? She could already imagine the disbelief and hatred on their faces when she confronted them.

x

She drew back and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.

"What's going to happen now, Bobby?" she asked disconsolately. "What am I going to do? How am I going to explain this whole goddamned mess?"

"Well Mary, that's a million dollar question," Bobby answered gravely. "You're just gonna have to tell them the truth and hope that your husband understands, cause there's no way he's not gonna find out. What kind of man is he? How do you think he'll react?"

"I doubt he'll take it well," she sighed. "But how can I blame him? Then if I tell him the reason why; tell him I made a deal with a demon to bring him back to life after a hell-spawn killed him the night my parents died; explain to him that Dean came back in time and warned me to stay out of Sam's nursery when a demon came to call. I don't know if he'll ever believe me. God, it sounds incredible even to me who knows it's true!" she exclaimed with a quavering voice.

"Come on, Mary. You'll manage to get through this. I know you will," Bobby said, trying to console her. "I'm not sayin it's gonna be easy but... ! Maybe it's better in a way that everything is out in the open. We still don't know what the demon's end game is, nor why he infected Sam with demon blood. I know you did all this to try and keep Dean and John safe, but I gotta feeling in my bones that there was never gonna be a way to avoid involving the rest of your family."

"What's that supposed to mean, Bobby?" Mary asked worriedly, her eyes scrutinizing the older hunter. "Do you know something I don't?"

"Nope, just a hunch. Dean's warning stopped you from going into Sam's room and confronting the demon, what we don't know is what would have happened if you had gone in. You changed history that night, girl, and maybe Fate wants to put things back on track. I dunno; time travel and time lines are out of my league, but tampering with them is always iffy."

Mary huffed. "What you're saying is that this is all my fault, that I should have gone into Sammy's room that night."

"Now, now, I'm saying nothing of the sort, Mary. Don't twist my words. We've got no way of knowing what would have happened, we've only got the here and now and that's what we have to deal with, so get yourself ready cos Sam's gonna be the first to want some answers when he comes walking back through that door."

Mary nodded. There was no use in crying over split milk. Bobby said she'd just have to deal and that's what she'd do, though she was dreading what was to come.

X

Dean drew back from his little brother, but his eyes never left his face; floppy chestnut hair, puppy eyes, dimples that were playing around his lips as he smiled up at him. The urge to protect this newly discovered brother washed over him like a raging torrent, he had gotten Sammy back from the dead and nothing was going to separate him from his sibling ever again.

Sam for his part looked up at Dean with quasi-adoration in his eyes. He had no memories of him to fall back on, but the fact that this cool guy with an equally cool car was his big brother filled him with joy. Sam had always been the odd one out, or at least he'd felt that way, mainly because of the secret he carried about hunting. His knowledge had set him apart from the other kids causing him to have no intimate friends, though he was generally on good terms with most of his school mates.

Now he had a brother, but then he pondered unhappily, Dean probably knew nothing about hunting. Would it come between them as it had with his school-friends?

x

Dean noticed the change of expression on Sam's face.

"Something wrong, Squirt?" he asked. "Decided you'd rather not have a big brother after all?"

"NO!" Sam replied heatedly "I'm so glad you're my brother. I was thinking of something else entirely."

"Okay, then, Sammy. Why don't we go inside, huh? We got a lot of catching up to do; make up for lost time," Dean smirked, placing and arm around Sam's bony shoulders and pulling him towards the diner.

Just then his phone trilled and Dean pulled it out with his free hand. It was dad but he wasn't going to answer just yet, he had other things on his mind, like the little brother he had just discovered.

Funny how he hadn't given much thought to the fact that John was also about to find out that his youngest son was still alive, his wife too, (Dean wasn't ready to go there yet,) but he selfishly wanted some time alone with Sammy before John came running, as he surely would as soon as Dean informed him.

"Something wrong?" Sam asked echoing his brother's earlier question

"Nothing that can't wait for a bit," Dean grinned, tousling Sam's hair and watching amused as the kid shied away. Sammy was defensive about his hair then! Dean chalked it up in the part of his mind where he would conserve all his Sammy-pertinent discoveries! "Nothing's more important than finding out everything about my little bro."

Sam ducked his head, he wasn't quite ready to tell Dean everything about himself yet.

x

"Hi Sam," the motherly waitress smiled in greeting when she came over to the table for their order. "Got yourself a new friend today," she asked, looking Dean over.

"Yeah Maisie," Sam answered. "But he's not exactly a friend. He's my big brother," Sam added proudly. He hadn't meant to say anything but he was just bursting to tell the world about Dean and Maisie just happened to be there.

"Your brother huh, how come I haven't seen him around," she asked curiously. "I'd sure have noticed a good-looking boy like him."

"Uh, he lives in another state," Sam said uncomfortably,thinking he should have kept his mouth shut!

"Yeah, this little squirt is my baby brother," Dean confirmed. "We don't get to see each other too often." He leaned forward conspiratorially."Parent problems," he added, wiggling his eyebrows.

"I get it,"Maisie nodded knowingly. "It's rotten when mom and dad don't get on. What can I bring you guys then?" she said changing the subject.

Poor kids, some parents can be real douches, she thought to herself as she went off to fill their order.

X

At around the same time, six pm, John had tiredly made his way home.

Work had been a bitch today, he mused. Some clients were the biggest douche-bags on the planet and John by nature wasn't a patient man; he'd been forced to cultivate that part of his character for his work.

"Dean, you home? " he called making his way to the kitchen. The kid hadn't come back to the garage after lunch, but that often happened, especially when he had school stuff to attend to.

He put on the water for some fresh coffee, then slumped down on one of the kitchen chairs, his hand going to the sheet of paper lying on the table.

He frowned as he read it, but he shrugged off his immediate instinct to worry. He had to remember Dean was a man now. He hadn't been all that much older when he was in the marines himself, but Hell, he sighed, it was almost impossible to turn off being a full-time dad!

x

"Dad, got some business to attend to. Don't worry. I'll get back to you soon." the note read.

x

He sat back down with the coffee in one hand, his other going to his cell phone, surrendering to his need to hear that his boy was okay. He knew he was being ridiculously over-protective but the pain of the loss he had suffered with the death of Mary and Sam had never left him, and Dean was all he had left, so he called his son's number, but Dean didn't reply.

John lifted his coffee and made his way to the couch. He'd try again later. He was being stupid.

X

TBC