Chapter 10

"What exactly convinced you?" Mary looked curiously at the young woman across the table.

"Well, obviously you know that I spend most of my time with her." Claire adopted an earnest tone, knowing that she really only had one chance to sell this. "It's not just the obvious things like the quick aging, it's the rest of it. Like the way I see her watching Dean and Sam sometimes…as if she's just waiting and biding her time….I don't know, I can't really explain it. All know is that I'm worried…."

Mary nodded silently in understanding.

"….and obviously I can't talk to Sam or Dean about this 'cause they don't wanna hear it…" Claire paused, taking Mary's increasingly open posture as a positive sign, "..especially after your fight with them…."

Mary closed her eyes, regret flashing across her face before she neutralised her expression.

"Look, I didn't have anywhere else to turn, okay? You're the only one who understands, Mary."

Neither woman spoke for a few moments, Claire practically holding her breath while Mary considered her revelations.

"I won't deny that you've…given me a lot to think about, Claire." The older woman said after a while, "I really appreciate your coming all the way up here to talk to me about this. After the way I left things with the boys, it's good to know that there's someone looking out for them…."

"I didn't really feel like I had a choice…"

"Yeah, I can just imagine…"

"I'm sorry?" Claire noted the sarcastic undertone in Mary's voice.

"I appreciate what you're trying to do here, really, but do you honestly think you can fool me with this little charade?"

"I don't know what…"

"Claire," Mary gave her a genuine smile, "I'm not sure what your end game is exactly, and it doesn't really matter because none of this is any of your business. The …"

"Well, Mary," Claire's voice was full of derision, "you kind of made it my business when you decided to rip Sam and Dean's hearts out…"

"Don't think for a minute that I don't know the pain I've caused my sons…!'

"Twice!" Claire interjected angrily, all pretense gone now.

"You can't possibly begin to understand this situation, little girl, so don't think you can sit there and judge me or my relationship with my sons…"

"Well, you'd be wrong, actually. I lost my parents to supernatural forces too. My father, Jimmy? He was a good man and a wonderful Dad, but Castiel made him think that becoming his vessel was a privilege…..no, an obligation! He gave up his life, his family, this world….and for what? To try to stop some apocalypse? Sam and Dean just averted the supposed 'end of the world' again this past year. Hell, they'll probably be doing the same thing again next year and the year after that because the damned 'end of the world' happens around here all the time! My father died for nothing!"

Claire noticed that other patrons in the diner were staring. Without realizing, she'd gotten up from her seat and was leaning over the table, shouting in Mary's face. She sat down quickly, biting hard on her tongue to try to calm down. She continued a few moments later in a quieter voice. "My mother never got over it. She left me with my grandmother so she could go find herself for four years. When I finally reconnected with her, she was being tortured by another one of Heaven's divine frauds. She ended up having to sacrifice herself to save me. So you tell me, Mrs. Winchester, does any of that sound familiar to you? Self-sacrificing parents, killed by supernatural means….?"

"This isn't remotely the same situation…" Mary allowed some sympathy to enter her voice.

"What? You mean, parentless children who've been miraculously gifted with second chances that blow up in their faces? Nope, sounds exactly like the same situation! How're you so blind? You're screwing up your shot to change the ending here!"

"That's exactly what I'm not doing," Mary hissed, "Do have any idea why I'm here in Broken Bow?"

"Revisiting your glory days, from what I've seen," Claire replied, contemptuously.

"Not exactly." Mary chose to ignore the young woman's hostility. "The Roadhouse was one of John's safe havens. I've been reading his journal, trying to understand what he went through after I died. He was the love of my life and he got caught up in this world because of me. I grew up in the life. My father was a highly disciplined, highly trained hunter who believed in following the rules… a code. I was young, and idealistic…thought I knew better than he did. Thought he was too old-fashioned and too rigid. I told him that I wanted more out of life- a husband, kids, a house in the suburbs, so I left the hunting to him and my cousins. That didn't work out so well. I was so proud, so stubborn and I forgot everything he ever taught me and let my guard down. I made a deal with Azazel for them and my father and husband died anyway. And my son….he tainted my son. I'll never be that weak again!" Mary hissed, her intensity scaring Claire somewhat, "I'm not wasting my second chance, Claire, I'm making sure that I do it right this time. And I'm not abandoning my sons. I love them more than my own life. That's why I'm going to do any and everything I can to protect them. You're right, we are alike, Claire. Monsters destroyed our lives…that thing, Emma, is just that- a monster. I don't care how sweet she seems, or if she loves puppies or gummy bears… that creature will try to kill my son and I won't let that happen, even if it means that he'll end up hating me."

"And how are you going to protect them while you're out there driving around the country?" Claire asked, deciding not to give up just yet.

Mary smiled at her again but didn't answer. Instead, she said, "It really was good to see you Claire. I'd ask you to tell the boys that I miss them, but something tells me you didn't exactly share your travel itinerary with them, right? Shouldn't you be getting back to Lebanon? I mean, what exactly did you do with Emma?"

"Like you said, it was good to see you, Mary," Claire tossed down a twenty on the table, standing up and picking up her jacket. "Food's on me. Sorry I wasted both our times!"

Storming out of the diner without another word, Claire had to acknowledge to herself that she'd failed miserably. She'd tried her best, sharing details of her life that she'd rather just as soon forget, and still not making a dent. Claire revved the engine of her car as she peeled out of the parking lot, almost slamming into an S.V.U. as she crossed three lanes of oncoming traffic to get back to the highway. She couldn't return to the Bunker feeling like this. The drive home wasn't going to be remotely long enough to quell this anger and she didn't want to scare Emma. Claire needed to hurt something, to kill something. She needed to hunt. Well, Alex was down from South Dakota for a few more days. There was time to find that trouble she was looking for.

"You know, I was thinkin'…we passed a bakery on the way into town. Sign said, 'Best pie for a thousand miles'."

"So now you want pie?" Sam looked over at his brother's self-satisfied smirk with amusement.

"I killed Hitler. I think I deserve some pie," Dean stated confidently, starting Baby's engine, "Did I mention I killed Hitler?"

"Oh my God, I'm never gonna hear the end of this, am I?" Sam closed his eyes, the future years of gloating flashing through his mind and making him shudder.

"Probably not," Dean replied happily, knowing exactly what his brother was imagining and feeling like he'd won the lottery.

"I'm gonna call Claire," Sam said, as Dean tapped his fingers to 'Born to be Wild.' She answered on the second ring. "Hey kid, how're things back at the ranch?"

"Uh…..awesome!" Claire's eyes widened as she quickly hopped off the bar stool, pirouetting her way around a passed out drunk and a couple who were getting hot and heavy right in front of the door leading to the back alley. She stepped outside, the putrid smell from the three large dumpsters to her right immediately assaulting her senses and making her gag.

"You okay?" Sam questioned, the sounds coming from her end were loud yet unintelligible, "Claire?"

"Uh yeah, sorry, popcorn went down the wrong way and the T.V. was kinda loud." Claire tried to steady her voice, "How's it going?"

"I killed Hitler!" She heard Dean shout in the background as Sam sighed.

"What?" she asked, puzzled, "What's he talking about?" If she could keep the focus on them, she might get through this conversation intact, "Hitler?"

"The case is over," Sam answered, smacking Dean on the shoulder to shut him up, "Too much to really explain over the phone but do you remember that group we talked about, the Thule?"

"The…Nazi guys?" Claire was surprised. Sam had told them her all about them during one of their sessions.

"Yeah. Let's just say they reared their ugly heads again. They resurrected Hitler and Dean killed him. That exciting tale is gonna have to wait until he's had a chance to share it with you himself though, okay? 'Cause I wouldn't dream of sparing you…I mean, taking that experience away from you."

Claire couldn't help but chuckle at that. Poor Sam. She could only imagine how many times he'd had to listen to Dean's recounting of his most recent accomplishment.

"So how's Emma? Can I talk to her?" Sam asked, noting that Claire was muffling the phone again.

"She's wonderful, really great!" Claire exclaimed overly brightly, immediately cursing her lack of guile, "but I just put her down for a nap so…."

Sam wasn't quite sure what was going on but he knew that Claire reserved that level of enthusiasm for only two things: pepperoni and mushroom pizza and verbal sparring sessions with Dean. He was pretty sure she'd tell them if something serious was going on but this was about the eighth time they'd spoken to Claire since they'd left nearly three days ago, and Emma was always mysteriously indisposed when they called. Sam glanced over at Dean who was looking at him with some concern.

"Everything okay, Claire?" Sam kept his tone light, as Dean raised his eyebrows at him in question.

"Absolutely. That was a quick case, huh? Are you guys on the way back then?"

"Uh, yeah, we're stopping for a bite to eat and then we're gonna drive straight through. We'll be there in maybe fifteen or sixteen hours."

"Great! We'll see you then. Gonna go check on Em and the…the pie."

"Hey Dean, Claire's making you a pie."

Claire cursed herself. She needed to get off the phone before she said something even stupider.

"Tell her I want lemon meringue!" she heard Dean shout, "Heavy on the meringue."

"Dude, you're about to have pie right now, how much more do you need?"

"I made apple." Claire closed her eyes and rubbed them, chanting 'Stop talking you idiot!' repeatedly in her head.

"Don't worry about it, Claire, he'll live!" Sam laughed, "Give Emma a kiss from both of us. See you soon!"

"Bye!" Claire replied, hanging up.

She was fourteen hours away herself and pretty sure that, since she'd been avoiding Alex's calls all day, she'd never be able to convince her to bake a pie. The other girl was becoming increasingly concerned about how long it was taking for Claire to return and therefore the increasing risk of getting caught.

Claire was actually in the middle of a hunt of her own in Wyoming. After leaving Mary, she'd been scouring the internet for potential cases anywhere in the surrounding states and had happened upon a series of online articles about four missing young women in Casper. The cases didn't really seem to be connected, or at least the authorities hadn't presented them as such, and it wasn't hard to see why. The women were from different walks of like, races and ages, with no discernible connection to each other. Three of them had vanished without a trace over the past six months but the fourth, a twenty-three year old who'd disappeared two weeks ago, had been spotted on grainy security footage accompanied by a mysterious male figure only hours before her disappearance. For what it was worth, the police had distributed a very muddled screen capture hoping for any information on his identity.

When Claire had first read them, she'd breezed over the older news reports, including the photo. However, two days ago, a local Uber driver had claimed that he'd been attacked by the first victim. Curiosity peaked at this magical reappearance, she'd found that the incident had been covered by the local news, a clip of an interview with the driver on their website. He wasn't exactly the picture of a reliable witness. His disheveled appearance, bloodshot eyes and slurred speech suggested he might be 'on something'. The reporter looked vaguely amused as the man animatedly recounted picking up this 'hot chick' who said that she couldn't pay, but that she would 'rock his world' if he'd agree to take her to this underground rave. Ten seconds later, he'd done just that. She'd kept coming on to him the whole ride too, 'softening him up, apparently.' When they'd finally arrived outside an abandoned warehouse and he'd turned to get his 'payment', he'd realized his mistake. She must have been one of those 'Y.A., Twilight-loving, blood-sucker wannabes' cause she was wearing fake claws and fangs and she'd attacked him. He'd thought he was a goner- closing his eyes and waiting to die. When nothing happened, he'd opened them to find that she'd just….left. The man then raged that he'd driven straight to the cops but they'd practically laughed him out of the department. The clip had then switched to one of the detectives who'd said that they'd checked out the area and surveillance footage along the route. According to him, there was absolutely no evidence of the driver's claims whatsoever. Even the 'alleged' Uber booking didn't exist in the company's servers. The police had, however, charged him with misdemeanor cannabis possession and let him 'sleep it off' in a cell while awaiting his arraignment. The officer had then said that the whole episode had not only been a waste of tax payer resources, but was likely to cause unnecessary pain to a family who was already grieving over the disappearance of their daughter.

Claire wasn't fooled though. The list of potential monsters here was limited….vampires. She'd quickly gone back over the previous cases, realizing that all of the disappearances had occurred within a ten-mile radius of that warehouse. Studying the photo more closely, she'd recognized what was hardly noticeable by the untrained eye- the male figure's fingernails were long and sharp. After that discovery, she'd almost rubbed her hands together in anticipation. In truth, she was beginning to feel rusty, hunting-wise. If she could just get one good case in, the 'high' might last until she could cajole Sam and Dean into ending their 'kid-glove' treatment of her…..or until she just told them off and did what she wanted anyway. Needless to say, she'd hightailed it to Casper and had started interviewing family, friends and colleagues of the victims. That had been an immediate dead end; she wasn't able to get any new leads and unsurprisingly, the police hadn't been particularly forthcoming when her only option was to pretend to be an out-of-town reporter rather than law enforcement. Sometimes her youth was a major obstacle in this job.

So, with little choice, she'd begun staking out the area around the warehouse instead. When two nights had passed without another soul passing through, Claire had to wonder just how badly her skills had been eroded since her short stint as the Bunker's resident babysitter. Vampires usually lived in nests together, hibernating during the day, coming out at night. She'd at least expected to see one of them venture out in search for 'food' after dark. Well, thus far she'd been sorely mistaken and had almost given up, her pride and confidence severely stung. It was a little before dusk that third night when she spotted a figure on a motorbike emerging from a side door of an adjacent building. She'd tried to be as careful as she could, setting up shop upwind from the warehouse and attempting to keep her heart rate nice and steady. With any luck, she'd be mistaken for a stray cat or something. When he didn't seem to notice her, she breathed a mental sigh of relief and waited for a few minutes before following him. That's how she'd ended up at this rather rough, biker bar clear across the other side of the city, watching her suspect- a rather handsome thirty-something year old man, chatting up the female bartender. He really just seemed to be an ordinary patron out for a night at the bar. Claire had begun questioning herself again, thinking that she really was a lost cause, when the boys had called. Now they were heading back to the Bunker and she had nothing to show for this entire ill-conceived trip.

With a deep sigh, she dialed Alex's number. There was no way for her to pack up and make it back to Kansas before Sam and Dean.

"Hey, you two good?" Claire was only just realizing that the back door of the bar had locked behind her and that there was no way to get back in. It had gotten dark since she'd come out here and now she was alone, standing under a single, dimly lit bulb at one end of a similarly dark, long, narrow alleyway.

Alex had moved on from reassuring her that she and Em were alive and well, to proudly filling Claire in on their activities for the past few days. Claire hoped that she'd misheard Alex say 'trip to the park' because she was pretty sure she'd explicitly told her, and in no uncertain terms to boot, that Em was not to leave the Bunker. About to call her on it, as well as break the news of Sam and Dean's impending arrival, Claire felt an almost imperceptible change in her surroundings; the hackles suddenly rising on the back of her neck. Someone else was here.

"Seen you hanging around the bar…..Saw you watching me…." a low, seductive voice came from her left. "What's a pretty little girl like you, doin' in the rough part a town all by herself?"

"Uhhh," Claire said quietly into the phone, slowly reaching for the mini machete tucked behind her, "I'll, uh, have to call you back."

"What's your name, girl?" The voice was coming closer, as she ended the call. She hadn't even worked out his exact location yet, but already she was starting to feel boxed in.

Claire responded immediately, trying to sound as innocent and naive as…. "Alex."

"Alex." The word was drawn out as if he was savouring the taste of it on his tongue. "It suits you."

Suddenly he was in front of her, leaning over and encasing her with his hands on either side of her head. She was trapped against the door, the arm grasping the blade pressing painfully into her back.

"And…what's..what's your name?" Claire attempted to steady her voice and her heartbeat.

"They call me Thumper."

She was thrown off for a moment. "Thumper?"

"Cause I love the sound of my woman's heartbeat…..under my ear…when she's under me…" He suddenly pushed his ear against her chest, Claire gasping in surprise. "There it is, baby, thump,thump….thump,thump…"

"Uh, Thumper….?"

"…This is a dangerous place, Blondie, lots of scary people around….maybe you should come with me so I can protect you. Would you like that?" He smirked, as he ran his finger along the collar of her shirt.

"Oh, I don't know. I don't scare that easy," Claire laughed, trying to keep the conversation as light and flirtatious as possible, "I'm tougher than I look." The vampire was still too close and she needed room if she was going to defend herself.

"Oh sweetheart, I don't think you've ever met anyone as scary as me." 'Thumper' pushed his face into her neck and Claire stopped breathing for a second. "You smell good enough to eat, Alex."

She swore she could feel his teeth elongating on her skin and did the only thing she could think of in the moment. He stared down at her in shock as she dropped like a dead weight straight onto the ground. He began to say her name, surprised when the only sound that came out of him was a garbled, croaking noise. He looked down, his eyes practically crossed as he gaped at the glint of the shiny metal that was sticking out of him. It took all of Claire's willpower not to scream out loud, the adrenaline running through her making it almost impossible to keep her shaking arm elevated anymore. The machete in her hand was lodged straight through his throat, the angle of her strike such that the blade just protruded out the back of his neck. He staggered back from her, clutching at his throat, eyes wide in bewilderment as Claire got to her feet, managing to hold on. Running on pure instinct, she readjusted her grip on the handle, using both hands to push the blade all the way through.

The vampire dropped to his knees, the blood from the terrible wound spraying all over both of them. She pulled the blade out quickly and paused, her 'inner Dean' emerging for a moment. "Say hi to Bambi's Mom for me!" Claire swung with all her might, slicing his head clean off, the force causing it to fly off clear over one of the dumpsters.

She stared after it and then at the body for a moment before she felt her whole body start to collapse. She staggered back, reaching for the wall to steady herself and to stay upright as the reality of the situation settled over her. She had been lucky….damned lucky and she cursed herself as she pictured the boys' reactions. Dean's anger would burn fast and hot, with lots of swearing and threatening of bodily harm but Sam's disapproval, with his patented look of equal parts concern and disappointment, would be devastating. She deserved both for this lapse in judgement, but there was no way she was ever going to let them find out about this. She had to get back to the Bunker before they did and she had to leave right now. Claire wiped the blade off on Thumper's shirt and then tucked it in the sheath beneath her jacket. With a furtive glance around, she pulled out a matchbook, lit the whole thing and tossed it on the body. This whole fiasco reminded her of a case she'd read about in one of the Supernatural books where a vampire named Dixon had tried to repopulate his nest by turning unsuspecting young women. Given the attack on the Uber driver, at least one of the Casper victims had been turned. If they caught her scent on his body, they'd come after her (not to mention the cops) so she had to make sure that all of her DNA was gone. Her heart still pounding, she quickly ran down the alley to the main street; she needed to get back out to the highway and fast.

"Was that Sophie?" Sam asked, with a knowing grin as he got out of the Impala.

Dean looked over at him with narrowed eyes as he put his phone back into his pocket. "You know that it was, smart ass. Maybe my saying, "Hey Sophie" when she called, clued you in?"

"Actually, it was more that dopey, love-struck expression on your face and that faraway look in your eyes…" Sam teased, as Dean slapped his shoulder, hard. Sam slapped him back, earning a glare from his older brother.

"So…..?"

Dean considered telling him to mind his own business for a moment, then decided it wasn't worth the relentless pestering he'd likely have to endure. He certainly wasn't the only stubborn member of the Winchester family and Sam would never let this go.

"She wanted to come visit," he answered, his tone holding a tinge of regret, "Things are….complicated right now. I didn't want her getting mixed up in the stuff we have going on…."

"Dean….," Sam said quietly, following his brother up the garage stairs.

"It's okay, Sam." Dean stopped to look back at him. "She's got some leave coming up…we'll work it out. Maybe when things cool down….."

"When exactly is that?" Sam persisted, recognizing the signs instantly. Dean always did this when attraction and flirting began turning into something 'more.' Ever since he'd had to give up Lisa and Ben, the mere thought of another long-term commitment potentially ending in disaster, precluded anything more meaningful than a one-night stand. Sophie represented the first real shot at a relationship for Dean in a long time and Sam didn't want his brother to give up that chance. Not when so many things were actually turning around for them like surviving The Darkness essentially intact, their mother returning, Emma and Claire...he just needed to help Dean see that.

"Sammy, leave it, okay?" Dean admonished him without heat. He knew exactly what Sam was thinking by that earnest look on his face and, though he appreciated the effort, he just didn't want to get into it. Right now, all he wanted to do was hug his kid, take a shower, grab a few cold ones, and regale the Bunker's inhabitants with the story of his towering triumph over Hitler. At that last thought, he broke into a wide grin, opening the door to the Bunker.

Two things took him immediately by surprise. One was the young girl that came bounding towards him, barely letting him get off the top stair before torpedoing her body into his. Her arms wrapped around him, squeezing him in a surprisingly powerful death grip before he'd even thought to hug her back. The second, was seeing Alex Jones with a crestfallen look on her face as if she was expecting to see someone else. It was Sam that beat him to his inevitable question.

"Alex?" His brother cleared the staircase, closing the door behind them, "What are you doing here?"

"Daddy!" Emma shouted, finally loosening her grip enough to peer up at her father, "I missed you so much! You and Uncle Sammy were gone so long!"

"Baby girl!" he exclaimed, looking down at her excited face, "Look how big you are!"

"I know!" she said proudly, "I'm not a baby anymore, Daddy, you can't call me 'baby girl'!"

"Oh yes I can, pipsqueak, 'cause you'll always be my baby girl." Dean started to tickle Em, grinning as she giggled and hyperventilated trying to get away from him. When he felt she'd suffered enough, he plucked her off the ground, swinging her in the air, "I missed you so much, Em! You have no idea how much!"

Sam smiled at his brother and niece, turning to Alex again with an expectant look on his face. "Alex?"

"Uhhhh…..I've been babysitting. Claire had a…a few things she needed to do so she asked me to watch Emma. We had a great time…" Alex looked over at Dean nervously.

"Yeah, Daddy!" Emma jiggled up and down, signaling that she wanted to get down. As soon as Dean placed her on her feet, she took off like a shot to the library, screaming as she ran, "I got a panda, Daddy!"

"Emma!" he called after her, "Slow down!"

She came flying back to them with a stuffed bear in her hand, plowing straight into Sam who'd followed to make sure she was okay. He had to catch her when she almost fell backwards with the force of the impact.

"Woah, Em," he said, steadying her, "No running in the Bunker, okay? You could get hurt."

Emma looked up at him and grinned, throwing her arms around his hips as she hugged him. "Look at my panda, Uncle Sammy! I got it from Wally's!"

Sam smiled down at her, stroking his hand over her hair. He was pretty sure it'd grown at least five inches since they'd left for Ohio. "Wally's?"

"She means Walmart," Alex interjected, the look on both men's faces darkening.

"He's really cute, Em, what's his name?" Sam's schooled his features as he bent down to take a closer look at the bear she was clutching to her chest.

"Her name, Uncle Sammy, she's a girl!" Emma scolded, an exasperated look on her face that made him laugh.

"Okay, her name." Sam answered, ruffling her hair.

"I named her Lydie!" Emma said proudly, not noticing the fleeting look of panic on Dean's face.

"What else did you get up to, Em?" Dean quickly changed the subject and gave Sam a look as he moved to pick her up again.

"Yesterday we went to Wally's, and the Museum and then the park again. I ran through all the flowers….they were so pretty, Daddy!" Emma looked wistful as she looked at her father, "Alex said we could go to the 'middle place' but we had to come home 'cause we didn't want you to…"

"She means the Geographic Centre Marker," Alex quickly interjected with a nervous laugh, "We….uh, just didn't get the time."

"I'll bet you didn't," Dean gave her a knowing glare, making her squirm. To Emma he said, "Why don't you let Uncle Sam get you a snack from the kitchen while I talk to Alex, hmmmm?"

"Yeah, Em, let's find you some apple slices." Sam took Emma from Dean, giving his brother a look to remind him to hold his temper.

When they were out of earshot, Dean turned to study Alex for a moment in silence. She started to fidget almost immediately, unable to look him in the eye. He was palpably angry but not really at her. Of course, she didn't need to know that- yet. Right now, he wanted explanations.

"First of all, thank you for looking after Em, Alex. She's obviously had a wonderful time and I'm glad that she did…" he paused, trying his best not to start shouting, "Where is Claire?"

"She should be on the way back…."

"So every time we called from the road to check up on her and Emma, you were here and she was off somewhere…."

"She didn't really tell me much, just that she needed some time to do a few things and asked if I could watch Em. She planned on being back before…." The words caught in Alex's throat.

"Oh, there's no doubt in my mind that she's probably driving like a bat outta Hell to get back. How long have you been here?"

"Uh, a few days…"

"What's a few?"

"Ummmm, four days."

"So you two've been planning this for a while then, huh? 'Cause I'm pretty sure you'd have needed some advanced notice to get here all the way from Sioux Falls around the same time that Sam and I left?" Dean crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her.

"Dean," Alex said quietly, "I'm really…"

"Claire told you about how special Emma is, right? About her aging?"

"Yes."

"And did she also mention that she's in a lotta danger because of who and what she is?" Dean was finding it so hard to wrangle his anger long enough to have a civil conversation. "Better still, did she tell you that I DIDN'T WANT HER LEAVING THE BUNKER?"

Alex stuttered another one word answer that ramped up Dean's ire by a thousand. He was about ten seconds away from starting a true interrogation when he heard someone behind him, softly calling his name. He spun around to see Claire, the shirt under her jacket absolutely covered in dried blood and her eyes red like she'd been crying.

"Jesus!" He moved quickly towards her, grabbing and holding her at arm's length as he searched her for injuries, "Claire, are you hurt?"

She didn't answer- possibly due to shock until he shook her slightly. "No, I'm fine, Dean. It's…it's not mine."

"Oh my God!" Sam entered the room again, holding Emma's hand as she skipped along beside him.

Dean shielded her from Emma's view, quickly directing Alex to take his daughter back to her room. Alex scooped her up and was out of the room in mere seconds as Sam rushed to Claire's side, grabbing her and repeating Dean's frantic search for wounds. Once he'd reassured himself that she was unhurt, he dragged her into a crushing bear hug that took her breath away. Then he pushed her back just as quickly, giving her a little shake for good measure.

"Is this something we need to worry about right now?" Dean nodded towards her shirt. Claire shook her head, refusing to meet his eyes.

They were all silent for a moment and then….

"What the hell, Claire?" Sam began, letting her go and taking a step back so he wouldn't strangle her.

Claire opened her mouth to reply but couldn't seem to get any words out. Sam was about to start up again when Dean held up his hand, making his brother go silent.

"Claire, you should go clean up. We're gonna go make you something to eat. I want you in the kitchen in twenty minutes. Once you're fed, you, me and Sam are gonna talk this all out. No, don't say anything." Dean shook his head at her and the attempt at an argument died on her lips, "I'm sure I speak for both of us when I say that we're a little furious with you right now, so you're gonna go do what I said and give us some time to cool off. Go. Now!"

Claire was rooted to the spot, frozen with indecision. It went without saying that she didn't want to antagonize them right now by disobeying. Dean was livid as expected but Sam was barely able to look at her. Claire could tell that he was trying to moderate it, but the look on his face reflected his disappointment, as predicted, and it was almost too much to bear. All she wanted to do was confess and beg for his forgiveness. She stared at Sam for a few seconds more but a sudden movement from Dean towards her, had her taking a step back. He never uttered a sound but the sheer intensity on his face and look in his eyes, made her take a few more until she was turning and heading quickly back to her room.

Both Winchesters stared after her and then looked at each other.

"I swear if she didn't move I was gonna kill her," Dean growled quietly, rubbing his forehead in frustration.

"She's already scared and upset, Dean, she didn't need the extra helping of intimidation…"

"Yeah, she's scared and upset…because she got caught, Sam!" Dean exploded suddenly, giving his brother a scornful look, "Don't think she's going to get any sympathy from me…"

Dean wrestled to get control of himself yet again, nodding towards the kitchen. He headed straight to the fridge, grabbing some eggs and a slab of bacon. Clearly, he was barely keeping it together if his quick, jerky movements were any indication. He all but threw the frying pan onto a burner, turning it on full blast.

"I can't believe she did this," he began, cracking the entire carton of eggs into a bowl, "She knows what's at stake here. We gave her the rules and she agreed to them. After all the talks we've had, for her to….."

"I agree with you, Dean…" Sam replied placatingly, "But I think we need to hear her out first before we pass down sentence and execute her, okay? I know she wants to be here with us but it's been one thing after the other so far. We need to find out what's going on in her head otherwise this is going to keep happening."

Dean glared at him as he threw all of the bacon into the pan. There was immediate hissing and splattering which Dean ignored as he started beating the eggs. Sam pulled him back from the stove, turned down the flames and moved the pan to another burner.

"Dean!" Sam said firmly, holding onto his brother's arm when he tried to pull away, "Take a walk! Claire will be back here any minute and you're not remotely ready…."

"I'm fine!" Dean disentangled himself none too gently, "I'm…."

"Shut up!" Sam shouted, his patience near an end, "Grab a beer and go figure out how to take it down a notch!"

Dean closed his eyes and counted to ten, then twenty and then thirty. Sam was right. He opened his eyes, gave Sam a barely perceptible nod and walked out. Sam sighed and turned back to the stove, getting to work. He had his own anger to deal with but it seemed like he was going to be stuck playing referee, as usual. Claire was a mini-Dean, as stubborn and pigheaded as his brother on his worst day. If this upcoming confrontation was going to be nothing more than a huge shouting match where both sides hurled insults, accusations and potshots with reckless abandon, he was going to have to put aside his own fury to protect both sides from permanently damaging their relationship.

It was only a few more minutes because he sensed someone behind him.

"Come in," Sam said quietly, putting two more slices of bread into the toaster, "Grab a plate before it gets any colder."

He didn't turn around but he knew from the sound of the footfalls that it was Claire. He stacked the last of the toast onto a plate and turned to put it on the table. Claire was obviously nervous. Her hair was still damp from the shower and with the sweats and t-shirt, she looked so young. Though she was trying to hide them, the tears in her eyes had him pulling her in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around him immediately and he could feel her shaking and hear her sniffling. He gave her another strong squeeze and then gently pushed her away so that he could look at her.

"Sit down at eat something, okay?"

Claire gave him a wan smile and nodded, slipping onto a seat and grabbing a plate. Dean walked in soon afterward, sitting down opposite her. Sam could see her carefully avoiding eye contact with his brother as the two of them pretended the other didn't exist. Sam sat down next to Dean and grabbed his own plate. He was starving and he knew that it wasn't going to be long before this awkward display of domesticity would descend into unpleasant hostilities again. Fifteen minutes later, when there were no more cups of coffee left for Dean to drink, no more eggs for Claire to push aimlessly around her plate and Sam couldn't stand glancing furtively between them anymore, Dean cleared his throat and looked pointedly at his brother. He pushed himself away from the table and crossed his arms, staring down at the squirming Claire. When Sam glared pointedly at this pose, Dean huffed gracelessly and dropped his arms to grip the side of the table instead. He was about to start the interrogation when Claire beat him to it.

"I'm sorry I let you both down," she said quietly to the table, shifting in her seat a little, "I know you're both mad at me and I don't blame you. All….all I can say is that I thought I was doing the right thing but really, I don't have any excuses…."

"You're right, you don't." Dean's voice was remarkably even in contrast to his demeanour, "I don't want self-reflection, I want explanations. Why'd you leave the Bunker without telling us?"

"I…I needed some time for myself. I've been locked up in here for days and I just needed a little fresh air…"

"I'm supposed to believe you broke down and called Alex, your archenemy, so you could feel the sunlight on your face and the cool wind in your hair?" Dean scoffed, looking over at Sam with an incredulous look on his face.

"Ummm…."

"You know, I get why you'd lie every time we called to check on you and Emma, but to not tell us that she'd aged again…..Claire, I just don't understand how you could do that to Dean?"

Claire wiped her eyes, refusing to look at either of them.

"I'd like an answer for that too?" Dean asked sharply, "She'd my kid, Claire, that's the sort of thing I'd kinda like to know about."

The sarcasm seemed to trigger something in her, and Claire slammed her hand down on the table, suddenly flashing with anger, "Don't you think I know that? I felt…feel like shit, okay? I don't need you to point out what a complete asshole I've been."

"Hey!'

"Woah!" Sam said, putting his hand up, "Stop! This is getting us nowhere. We know that you're sorry okay? What we want to know is why. Why you'd leave Em and the Bunker without telling us, where you've been the last few days, why you were covered in blood when you got back and what was so important that you'd break our trust like this? And getting Alex involved in this? Did you actually tell her about all the dangers facing this family right now? I almost hope not, because her taking Emma outside, no matter how harmless a day in the park might've seemed, is just so reckless I don't even know where to start.

Alex is not a hunter and she's a stranger to Em. We have no idea what Emma's capable of at this stage of her growth…Alex could have been seriously hurt or killed if Emma felt threatened by her. And exposing her to the public? Do you realise that Lebanon's population is only around two hundred? We're already a bit of an oddity around here anyways so we try to keep a low profile. The sudden appearance of a child is going to raise questions- Who does she belong to? Why isn't she in school? Why does no one see her around more? If we were currently taking her all over town, people might find it strange that we kept turning up with older and older girls, with no trace of the younger ones?" Sam looked over at Dean who hadn't stop glaring at Claire.

"Obviously we've wanted to take Emma to the park or to watch her go crazy in a toy department just like any other kid, but without careful planning the risks are too great….and you know that!" Sam paused, the increasingly miserable look on Claire's face telling him that he that was definitely getting through to her, "I agree that we haven't considered how stir crazy you've been here every day with only Emma for company, and we're both sorry, but moving forward, this can't ever happen again or we're going to have to make different arrangements. Do you understand?"

She nodded.

"Good, so no more stalling and no more feeling sorry for yourself. You tell us exactly what we want to know or you're going back to Jodie's when we take Alex home." Sam ordered sternly.

Claire looked up in alarm. "No, please, you can't do that! I don't want to go back to South Dakota…."

"Then tell us!"

Claire closed her mouth and sat back in her chair. With a huge sigh, she began fiddling with the hem of her t-shirt. Dean was about to prod her again but Sam stopped with him with a small shake of the head.

"I went to find Mary…"

"You what?" Dean shouted, completely taken aback, "I…what?"

Claire flinched again and Sam turned his bitch face on Dean. "Let her talk."

Claire gave him a grateful look, rolling her shoulders as she visibly steeled herself. Then she tried again. "I know how she hurt you, Dean. What she said about Emma? That little girl, she…she and Sammy are everything to you and I know what it's like to lose my mother….I wanted to tell her, I mean, I wanted her to understand what that was like….why she couldn't just walk away…."

Sam and Dean looked at each other. Neither of them had expected this.

"What did she say?" Sam asked, quietly.

"Nothing you didn't hear the first time," Claire replied, some grit in her voice, "I wanted to slug her…Oh, sorry!"

"We get it," Dean muttered, almost to himself, "Look, Claire, I appreciate what you were trying to do, but you don't have to worry about any of that. There's so much history involved in this, so many things you don't understand or know about the Winchesters…..This isn't something you can solve for us…"

"It's not something to be solved," Sam interjected, his voice filled with understanding, "We love that you wanted to try to make things better, but this was just….."

"Yeah, I was pretty stupid…."

"No, you're family, kid, and Sam and I know a thing or two about doing stupid things for this family." Dean gave Claire a little smile and she returned it. "Now, before this gets any sappier, how about you tell us where the blood came from."

Claire's face fell but, seeing Sam's encouraging nod from the corner of her eye, she felt reassured that he wouldn't kill her… or let Dean do so either- probably.

"I was trying to, uh, get back here before you guys." She looked over at Dean whose facial expression hadn't changed so she continued, "I stopped to get directions and something to eat at this…, well, it was a 'hole'. I don't know how it happened, I mean, I didn't even realize he was there and when I stepped out back to talk to you, this vamp came out of nowhere. It happened really fast and it was so scary, but I got him. After….I just got outta there and drove home."

Sam and Dean looked at each other, having one of their silent conversations while Claire just managed not roll her eyes; she really hated it when they did this. Dean turned to her after a moment with a grim smile on his face. It didn't reach his eyes.

"Do you want to try that again?" he suggested, "'Cause the crap that you're shoveling is starting to smell downwind over here."

"I don't know what you mean?" Claire replied with feigned innocence, "Why would I lie about that?

"Because believe it or not, we know you. There's no way in Hell you'd let the opportunity to hunt pass you by when you were already out there. Every time we go out on a job…..that look in your eyes? I've seen that look in the mirror, kid, I am that look!" Dean practically dared her to deny it as he glared at her.

Claire shook her head anyway and Dean held up his hand to stop her from digging herself any deeper. "Don't bother, kid. We know that you went after that vampire. The way you were shaking when you walked in….it was a pretty close thing, right? I'm gonna let you plead the fifth for now, because I'm so angry about this, that I'm afraid of what I might say to you. But Claire, look at me…" he waited for her to do so, "…and hear me… . ! We train you and you do as we say- our arrangement hasn't changed. We've been doin' this a lotta years, so this is a rare opportunity for you to benefit from all that experience. If you don't get that, then I don't really think you're ready to be out on your own. Jody's basically left you alone since you've gotten here, right? No doubt she assumes that we're keeping you safe? If you think for one minute that we're gonna let you get yourself killed so that I gotta deliver you back to her in a pine box, you're outta your mind! How you managed to get her to be okay with all this in the first place…"

Claire flinched slightly, a classic sign that she was hiding something. Sam picked up on it immediately. "Claire, please tell me that Jody knows that you're with us and that you're okay?"

"Yeah, I told her that I visited you…."

"Visited?" Dean pounced, "And where exactly are you supposed to be now?"

"Um, checking out schools nearby?"

Dean's expression would have turned her to stone if she'd been able to look him in the eyes.

"Really?" Sam asked incredulously, "I don't even know what to say to…"

"I do," Dean interrupted, fire flashing in his eyes, "You're grounded!"

Both Claire and Sam stared at him for a moment before Claire laughed in disbelief. "I'm twenty, remember? We had this conversation..."

"Are you? Because you haven't been acting like it."

"Sam?" She turned to the other man, expecting him to intervene. Instead he shrugged, "I'm with Dean on this. You could have gotten yourself killed! Not to mention the number you've done on our trust. I don't think it's unreasonable for you to take some time to think about that and about how your actions have hurt us. We love you, Claire. We know you're determined to become a hunter and though neither of us is thrilled about that idea, we do understand it- probably better than anyone. Dean and I don't want anything to happen to you. We want you to be better and smarter than us, but you've got to work with us, not against us…."

Claire pursed her lips and said petulantly, "You know, I didn't trade a prison in South Dakota for another one in Kansas."

Everyone was quiet for a few moments as she and Dean had an angry staring contest between them.

"And we're not going to let your impetuousness get you killed. Dean's right. You're like our daugh…uh…apprentice, and this is us doing our job. Now, do you trust us that we want to help you and keep you safe, or not?"

The earnestness in Sam's voice made Claire feel like an absolute jackass. Deep down, she was still bristling from the notion of having someone tell her what to do. She'd been taking care of herself for so long that bending to the will of others wasn't remotely natural for her. That didn't mean she wanted them thinking that she didn't trust them because she did, unequivocally. Claire would never be able to thank the Winchesters enough for all they'd done for her, even if she didn't always remember how much she should appreciate it.

"I'm sorry," she replied simply, "I'll do whatever you want."

"Good," Dean nodded in satisfaction. He got up and walked over to her and dragged her into a hug. Kissing her hair, he said, "You're going to call Jody right now and tell her everything. I'm going to put the fear of God into Alex for agreeing to all this and then I'm going to spend some time with my kid." With a grin he added, "Then I'll tell you all about how I killed Hitler!"

Sam glared at his brother's retreating back in exasperation, getting up to hug Claire, threatening to skin her alive if she ever scared him like this again.

"We're going to have to talk about what really happened with this vampire but in the meantime, do you have anything you need to tell us? Don't worry about me getting angry. Is there a nest we need to do something bout?'

Claire was quiet for a minute and then she nodded silently.

"All right, write down the coordinates and all your intel. We'll get some Hunters we know to go clear them out." Sam paused, staring down at her for a moment, "My God, Claire, you're so lucky you didn't get yourself killed…"

"I know."

"I'm not sure that you do, but we'll work on that together, okay?"

Claire nodded again and he gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"I'm gonna go take a shower. Why don't you help Alex pack up after Dean's talked with her. We're driving her back to South Dakota tomorrow. When I come back, you and I are going to call Jody together."

Claire grimaced but agreed just the same. All in all, things could have gone a lot worse. She was going to have to stay on their good side for a while, or they might just decide to lock her up in one of their dungeons downstairs and throw away the key.

"I don't know, Madeline, all I can tell you is that something's not right." The woman tossed her long, sandy brown hair behind her, her face screwed up in concentration as the other woman looked on.

"But what does that mean?" Madeline asked, "I don't think you could be anymore vague if you tried."

The woman glared at her. "If I knew, I would say. I…I feel like Emma may still be alive."

"That's impossible, Lydia. We know that the Winchesters killed her. That's why we fled, remember, because we realized that they were on to us?"

"I know that, but I just….feel her." Lydia stood up from the table, addressing the other four woman who were still seated, "It's time to finish this like we should have years ago. No more running. We will seek out the Winchesters, find out what they know about Emma and then kill them."

"Where do we start?" said one of the others.

"I've been told that they're originally from Kansas," Lydia replied, a gleam in her eye, "We'll start there."