Disclaimer: I don't own anything Supernatural. The great Eric Kripke and a whole lot of other folks do, and I'm borrowing without permission. I'll put them back when I'm done, unharmed. I'm not making any money from this, it's purely for entertainment purposes.

Author's Note: This story is set in an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. That means that some faces, facts, and features may not exactly match what you remember from canon. Don't like AU stories, don't read.

SPOILER WARNING: Spoilers for all seasons up to and including season 3 finale, "No Rest For the Wicked." Becomes AU just before NRFTW.

Part Ten

"Bobby, I thought you said he confessed?" Sam was trying to make sense of it too, and Jack just kept watching the paper like the picture might move. "No need for a jury if he confessed and entered a guilty plea."

"Yeah, see, that's where it gets real weird. He maintained his innocence right up until the first day of the trial," Bobby explained patiently. "Then the morning it's supposed to start, he tells his lawyer he wants to plead guilty, wants to fess up. No explanation, no rhyme or reason to it. Just out of the blue. Jury was dismissed, case closed."

"Sounds like the demon was there to make sure he took the fall," Jack said in the ensuing silence. Three pairs of eyes swiveled to watch him. "What? We're talking about demons and ghosts and witches, here, guys! It's what I'd do if I wanted him in jail, and I'm not a demon. Make sure he knew that if he didn't roll over he'd end up dead."

Dean and Sam regarded each other steadily and Bobby just watched the kid. Yeah, he new more than he should at the tender age of thirteen, especially if he was thinking twisted thoughts like that. Dean was going to have to straighten him out in a hurry; but on the other hand, it would be an asset when he got old enough to hunt. If he survived that long. Lilith wasn't going to wait much longer and if Jack was in her way...

"Anything else you guys want to tell me?" he asked gruffly as he brought out a thermos. He poured more coffee into his own cup and handed it to Dean without a word.

Dean poured out a generous measure and handed it to Sam with a grimace. "Just a vision, if you want to call it that," he said simply. He knew Sam would take it up from there; it was just what they did.

"Yeah, you could call it that. Nearly busted my skull open, Bobby." Sam put the thermos on the table and cradled his cup in both hands. "Sudden. Dean, Jack, and me. Truck hangar. Nothing more concrete than that. Just the three of us in a truck hangar."

"Yeah, well, those things never turned out good, did they." Bobby took a deep breath. "Okay, well I know one thing. You guys ain't going anywhere NEAR that office. Most truck companies work out of their warehouses. I don't want you within a hundred miles of the place."

"Yeah, now tell him the rest of it, Sasquatch." Dean wasn't pulling punches. "Tell him about how you saw Lilith's eyes over the whole thing."

"Yeah, why don't you tell me about that," Bobby growled. "There is no way in hell I'm letting you two go in there, not now. Let's suss something else out here. Getting into the lockup ain't an option, so what's left?"

"Why isn't it an option?" Jack demanded. "All he saw was us, right? We should be able to walk in, walk out. It's not like he saw something get us, or anything."

Dean gave him a look. Suddenly he could understand his dad's frustration while teaching him to hunt. "Jack, the vision isn't perfect. If it shows us in that hangar, and he saw Lilith's eyes with it, then it's probably some kind of trap. We're not going to get caught that way. Bobby, if you won't let us go, why don't you? You might be able to at least find out where they keep the stuff."

"I could." He took a deep breath. "Wait till dark, I'll go in and see if I can't find the knife. You two idjits can sit here and help this kid understand what's going on before he gets himself killed. Or worse." That there were worse things was a certainty in his mind. He still wasn't sure why the kid had shown up, but he was convinced Jack was Dean's boy. The two were so much alike that it was a little frightening.

"Jack, here." Dean passed over an old journal and Bobby's eyes crawled upward. Sam had his mouth open, silent, but obviously touched by the gesture. "Read as much of this as you can wrap your mind around. You got questions, you ask me or Sam. Bobby's going to rest so he can do a little breaking and entering tonight." There was a small smile on his face. "You get it, I know you do. Most of what we do, it ain't legal. Fake ID's, hiding in abandoned houses, it's all pretty much old news to us." He indicated the journal. "That's a big part of how we learned what we know. Bobby had a hand in it, too, a big one, as well as your grandfather. But a lot of it we learned on our own, working from that journal."

"So it's a family business," Jack replied as Bobby growled at Dean. "Okay, I can buy that. Means I'll have to learn that stuff too, though, right? And how to use more than just a squirt gun. And you want me to try and memorize what's in here, right?"

"Memorize, no," Sam said quickly, cutting Dean off. "But get a good working knowledge of it. A lot of what we hunt is in there." He gave a small smile of his own. "Think of it as home schooling and that's the textbook."

Sam's whimsy wasn't lost on the others. Jack nodded and propped himself up on one of the beds to read, his lips moving when he found an unfamiliar word until he was convince he had it right. Bobby had popped the cap on a bottle of No-doze and was pouring more coffee as he pulled out a few more books. Sam was back on his laptop, obviously trying to find something else to help them. Dean watched them for a moment and then shrugged his jacket back on. "It's daylight, it should be safe enough," he said in explanation as he gathered his keys. "I'll go get more supplies. We'll need more coffee anyway." He caught their nearly identical looks of concern and scoffed. "Oh, come on! Expiration date isn't here yet, guys. She won't do anything yet. Besides, there should have been more come after us last night if that was the case. I'm just gonna get a couple things. I can't just sit here, okay?"

"You be careful out there," Bobby replied as he bent once more to the text. "You get into trouble, we got no way to know it. Any sign of anything off, you get back here or I'll tan your hide, you got me?"

Dean just grinned and went to the door. Yeah, it was good to have Bobby around. "Promise. Back in a bit."

TBC...