The sound of laughing children floated lightly on the cool late summer breeze. The aroma of cooking hot dogs and hamburgers spread over the park making mouths water as their owners realized their hunger. The voices of parents calling out for their children echoed through the park. It was as perfect a day as anyone could have wished for.

Hal and Marta Williams walked along the small river that cut through the heart of the park listening to the sounds of the families as they enjoyed the wonderful summer day. They held hands each lost in memories of days gone by. They found their favorite bench and sat watching the ducks as they drifted lazily along the rivers steady current.

Marta laid her head on Hal's shoulder and let out a small sigh. The park had always been a place of peace and tranquility for the matriarch of the Williams family. She had spent many a day there with Max when he was a small child. She had watched her son grow up playing in the park, enjoying life, enjoying being a child. It seemed at times she had taken for granted the peaceful life they lead. Nothing brought that more to light than when the Winchester's would come to visit.

Marta opened her eyes and felt the first tear fall. She reached up to wipe it off her cheek but felt her husband's fingers as they gently wiped the tear away. Hal lifted his wife's face and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "Thinking the same thing I'm thinking," he asked; the look in his wife's eyes letting him know she was.

Marta nodded, "I'm sorry, Hal. I don't mean to ruin the moment. I just can't help it." Marta turned on the bench so that she was facing her husband. Damn, the Winchester's. Damn, them for getting into her heart.

Taking a deep breath Marta continued, "Hal, I feel for those boys. Everything they have been through and everything they will be forced to face. It's too much to expect of them. At times I wish we had never met John or the boys. It sounds awful I know, but the ignorance I had before them I really miss it. I think of Max and how he got to be a child. How he got to play baseball and soccer. How he got to live in one home, go to one school and make real friends. I think of the future our son will have. Max will be able to have a family, something I know Dean wants and will never be able to have. I think of how Max will graduate college and someday open up his own law firm, something I know Sam really wants and will never have. I think of how each night we go to bed tucked safely under our comfortable blankets and how those boys are either climbing into another hard hotel bed or standing out in the rain somewhere waiting for something evil to kill. But, most of all I think about how Max has never once had to question whether you loved him or not. Whether he made you proud or not. I can't say the same for Sam or Dean."

Marta clenched her hands as her frustration over the injustice of it all came to a head. She stood and walked to the edge of the small river. She watched as a mother duck floated by her ducklings following close behind. Turning back to her husband she looked at the man who had given her everything she had ever needed, but somehow she knew he wouldn't be able to give her the answer to the question she was about to ask.

She walked back over to bench and knelt on the soft grass before her husband. Taking both his hands in hers she looked up into his eyes and asked, "Hal, please can you tell me what in Heaven's name those boys did to deserve the life they have been handed?"

Hal looked at his wife and could see that her heart was being crushed under the unbearable sorrow she was feeling. He longed to be able to answer her question but knew as well as she that he could not. After all how could he give her an answer when it was a question he often times asked the good Lord himself? The only thing Hal could think of to do was to kiss his wife again on the forehead and to gently lift her to her feet. He stood, took her hand in his and began leading her back up the path to their waiting car.

Hal watched his wife from the corner of his eye. He could tell she was still wrestling with the question. Inwardly sighing he offered her the only answer he had, "Marta, I wish I could tell you what they did to deserve this; I can't. I don't think they did anything. I mean how could they have? They were just babies when all this started. There's nothing we can do for them to change the fate they have been handed. However, we offer them a little light in the darkness when we can. I'll tell you what, how about we stop off and pick up some dinner for everyone before we head home? We can run your errands and give the Roadhouse a call before we head back. Have them get some steak dinners ready to go? Sound good."

Marta smiled at Hal, "Sounds good."

John placed the last bag into the bed of his truck and climbed into the driver's seat. He put the key into the ignition and cranked the engine. The truck started with its usual growl and the radio came on. John put the truck into drive and started backing out of the parking space he had been occupying.

His mind was playing back the conversation he had had with Sam earlier that morning. He couldn't believe that Sam would actually have been selfish enough to want his brother to have to stay another day in some hospital just so he could continue to investigate a case that was for all intents and purposes closed. Then again he really wasn't that surprised. Sam had been for many months now growing more and more independent. He was starting his senior year in high school and unlike with Dean, John wasn't so sure that Sam wasn't going to want to go onto college.

John's mind was pulled from its musing by a break in the local radio stations programming. It was an update to a story they had told the listeners about earlier. John's ears perked up when he heard that Livi Pettite and her unborn baby were now listed in fair condition and that both should recover from their earlier attack. The announcer also said that as of yet the police have to get any leads on the mysterious woman who seemed to have vanished after causing Mrs. Pettite fall down the stairs.

John hit the brakes on his truck and performed a very illegal u-turn, causing more than then one driver to blast his horn and give the worried father the bird. John didn't notice, nor did he care about ant of that. He was focused on one thing and one thing only, getting to Sam.