The Impala is parked next to a lake. Sam is leaning against the hood, brushing his teeth. Jamie is sitting on the hood reading. Dean is lying across the front seat, head and shoulders up against the door. He twists around, getting Sam's attention, and opens the door, which nearly dumps him on the ground.
"Hey. How'd you sleep?" Sam asks.
Dean climbs out of the car. "How do you think? I'm starving. Let's get breakfast."
Jamie looks up from her book. "I agree."
Sam looks at them. "Where? We're like two hours from anything."
"But I'm hungry now." Dean whines as he comes around to the front of the car. He kisses Jamie and she hits him.
"There's probably still a sandwich in the back seat."
Jamie is staring at her book again. "There was, I don't think you want to eat it."
Dean turns around, rubbing a hand over his face, and reaches in through the open back window, pulling out a paper bag. He opens the bag and sniffs, then leans his head back and inhales, looking nauseous. "It's tuna."
"Phone." Jamie says, flipping a page.
Dean looks at her. "Huh?" A phone rings inside the car. Dean tosses the bag back into the back seat and puts his hands to his jeans pockets. Sam spits out toothpaste foam. Dean leans in through the front window and rummages in the glove compartment, Jamie gets off the hood and leans in on the other side. She pulls out the ringing phone and hands it over to Dean. He hits his head on the roof as he tries to get out.
"Ow." Jamie mutters.
Dean smirks. "No kidding."
She shakes her head. "No, ow, like…answer the phone Dean."
He looks at the phone. Sam turns around and looks at it too. "Isn't that Dad's phone?"
Dean flips the phone open, presses a button, and puts it to his ear. "Hello?"
"Uh, is this John?" The voice on the other end asks.
"He can't come to the phone. Can I help you?"
"No no no—I really—I need to talk to John. This is Adam Milligan. He knows me."
"Well, sorry to be the one to break this to you, pal, but John died more than two years ago." A shocked sound comes from the voice on the other end. "Who is this?"
There's a pause. Jamie and Sam look at each other. "I'm his son." The voice finally says. Dean stares.
The Impala parks next to Cousin Oliver's Hilltop Cafe. Dean Jamie and Sam get out of the car. Sam is holding a bunch of papers. "Dean, look, best I can tell, Adam Milligan is real." Dean unlocks and opens the trunk, then the weapons box. Jamie sticks her head inside. Sam reads from a paper in an open folder. "Um, born September twenty-ninth, 1990 to Kate Milligan. No father listed on the birth certificate. He's an Eagle Scout." Dean pulls assorted weapons out of the trunk, including Ruby's knife. Jamie hands him a few more things. She gets her handgun and tucks it into the back of her pants before tying her flannel shirt over it. "Graduated from high school with honors and currently goes to the University of Wisconsin—biology major, pre-med." Dean closes the weapons box. Jamie steps back. "Dean? Jamie? You listening?" Jamie gives Sam a look.
"This is a trap." Dean closes the trunk and heads past Sam. Sam closes the folder and hands it Jamie. Jamie opens it and then runs after Dean.
Dean, Jamie, and Sam enter the diner with a bell ringing at the door. There's a Man at the counter, a Waitress serving a burger, a couple other customers. Dean and Sam scan opposite halves of the diner Jamie is between them; Dean sees an empty table in a corner with four chairs. He pulls one of the chairs away from the table. Jamie moves and takes the chair.
Dean and Sam sit in the two chairs on the other side of the table, Jamie sits on the chair Dean pulled over to their side, ensuring that Adam will sit in the last chair. Sam thumps John's journal and the folder on the table. "Guys, I'm telling you, the kid checks out."
Dean turns sharply to Sam. "Great, so he's an actual person on the planet Earth. Sucks he's got a demon in him."
Jamie sighs. "We don't know that for sure."
The waitress approaches the table with menus and glasses of water; she gives them each a glass. "Hi. Welcome to Cousin Oliver's."
"Thanks." Sam says.
"Can I—"
Jamie looks up. "Not yet."
"We're actually waiting on somebody." Dean adds. The waitress, annoyed, slaps down a menu in front of each of them.
"Thank you." Sam says again. He picks up his menu long enough to slap it down. Dean takes his glass and pours it into the potted plant behind him. Jamie looks over at him. "What are you—" Dean puts the glass between his knees and pulls out a flask, unscrewing the top.
"It's Holy water." Jamie tells her twin.
"Yup." Under the table, Dean fills the glass with water from the flask. "One sip of Jesus juice, this evil bitch is gonna be in a world of hurt."
"You're gonna make my head hurt." Jamie whines.
The waitress walks past; when she is out of sight, Dean puts the glass in front of the fourth place at the table. He pulls out a felt-wrapped package and undoes it.
"And what if he's not possessed?" Sam asks.
"Then he is a shapeshifter." Dean's package contains silver cutlery, which he sets at the fourth place at the table, removing the silverware already there and dropping it on the floor.
"Hence the silver." Jamie takes John's journal from Sam.
Dean looks up at Sam. "Look, either way, this thing is gonna bleed. I mean, using Dad as bait? That's the last mistake of its short, pitiful life." Jamie frowns deeply as she reads the bookmarked entry. Sam frowns, watching DEAN, who looks over. "What?"
Sam looks away. "Dean…you need to look at this." Jamie puts the journal in front of him. "From January of 1990, saying he's headed to Minnesota to check out a case. That's, roughly, oh, about nine months before the kid was born."
"Coincidence."
"The next two pages of his journal are torn out." Jamie indicates the remains of the pages.
"These must have been deliberately left, because the journal is clearly a three-ring add-and-remove-pages type." Sam says sarcastically.
Dean rolls his eyes. "You two are not actually buying this, are you?"
Jamie shakes her head. "I don't know."
"Look, man, I don't want to believe it either, I'm just saying it's possible." Sam closes the journal and picks it up, waving it. "I mean, Dad would be gone for weeks at a time, and he wasn't exactly a monk. I mean, a hunter rolls into town, kills a monster, saves the girl...sometimes the girl's grateful."
Jamie squeezes her eyes shut. "God, Sam. Come on."
Dean shakes his head. "Well, now I'm thinking about Dad sex. Stop talking."
"Maybe he slipped one past the goalie."
"Dude!" Jamie waves her hand and John's journal smacks Sam in the face. It falls back on Sam's lap.
"Ow." Sam puts the journal away. The door chimes. A young man with close cropped blonde hair and blue eyes walks in. Sam looks up, then Dean then Jamie. Adam looks around, looking for the unfamiliar faces.
"Adam?" He looks over. Sam raises a hand. The young man walks over.
"You Sam?"
"Yeah. Uh, this is Dean." He indicates his brother.
"Hey." He nods to Dean.
Sam points to his twin. "And this is our sister, Jamie."
Dean looks at Jamie. She shakes her head, indicating she doesn't have a headache. Adam is therefore nothing that normally triggers her ability. Adam sets his backpack on the floor next to the empty chair and takes that chair. The door chimes again.
"So, um...how did you know my dad?" Adam asks.
Sam looks up. "Uh, we worked together."
Adam's facial expressions indicate confusion. "How did he die?"
"On the job."
"He was a mechanic, right?"
"A car fell on him." Dean says bluntly.
"Dean." Jamie nudges him.
The waitress comes up to the table, much friendlier. She clearly knows Adam. "Hey, Adam. How you doing?" She puts a glass of water in front of Adam. Dean leans forward to take it. Sam frowns.
"Oh, I'll take that. I am very thirsty." He takes a sip. The waitress eyes Dean, displeased. Jamie sees the look.
"Don't mind him. It's been a long day." She smiles at the waitress.
"The usual, Adam?"
"Uh, yeah. Thanks, Denise."
She leaves. Adam takes the glass of holy water. Jamie reaches under the table and Dean gives her Ruby's knife. The siblings watch carefully as he drinks; nothing happens. Adam is not, then, possessed, or not by a demon less powerful than Azazel. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.
Sam sighs. "So, uh, when's the last time you saw John?"
"I don't even know. It's...a couple years."
Under the table, Dean pulls out a gun and aims at Adam.
Jamie looks at Adam. "A couple years? Why did you decide to call him now?"
"I didn't know who else to call. He's the only family I got." Sam frowns. "My mom's missing."
Sam looks interested. "Really? I'm sorry. Uh, for how long?"
Dean isn't, though. "It's tragic, really. But if you're John's kid, how come we've never heard of you?"
Adam stares at Dean. "'Cause John and me didn't really know each other. Not until a few years ago, anyway."
"What do you mean?" Jamie asks.
"My mom never talked about him. I knew some stuff."
"What kind of stuff?" Dean asks, rather tartly.
Adam shrugs. "My mom's a nurse, and Dad came into the ER, pretty torn up. Hunting accident or something. And I knew his name. John Winchester. That's about it. We're not exactly a nuclear family."
Jamie accidently laughs out loud. "Sorry." She puts her hand on her mouth. Adam looks confused.
Sam gives his sister a look. "Yeah, well, who is these days?" He says turning back to Adam.
Dean is eyeing Adam up and down. "So, when did you, uh, when did you finally meet him?"
"When I was twelve. My mom had one of his old numbers, and—" Dean's hand tightens on the gun. Jamie looks at him. "—and after I begged her—God, twenty-four-seven—she finally called him. God, when John heard he had a son, he raced to town. I mean, he dropped everything. He drove all night."
Jamie frowns. Denise puts a plate in front of Adam. "There you go."
"Thanks."
"Well, that's heartwarming." Dean comments, still holding his gun tightly.
Adam indicates his food. "You mind?"
"Please, dig in." Dean says with a smile. Adam takes the napkin out from under the silverware without touching the silverware and spreads the napkin on his lap. Dean cocks the gun.
"He would swing by once a year or so." Adam continues picking up the knife and fork; nothing happens. So Adam is not a shapeshifter, nor anything else that reacts on contact with silver. Dean glances away.
"Put it away." Jamie hisses to Dean.
Adam looks at them. "Huh?"
Dean uncocks the gun and puts it away.
"Nothing." Jamie says quickly. "Continue."
Adam shrugs. "You know, called when he could. But still..." He takes a bite. "He taught me poker and pool and even bought me my first beer when I was fifteen. And, uh...he showed me how to drive. Dad, he had this beautiful 'sixty-seven Impala—"
Jamie is starting to look upset. Sam reaches over and grips her hand. Dean looks angry. "Oh, this is crap. You know what, you're lying."
Adam stares at him. "No, I'm not."
"Uh, yeah, you are." Dean shoots back.
"No, he isn't Dean." Jamie wipes her eyes roughly. "He's telling the truth. I would know, wouldn't I?"
Adam looks from Jamie to Dean. "I'm sorry, but who the hell are you to call me a liar?"
Dean stares at him. "We're John Winchester's kids, that's who." He indicates himself and Sam. "We are his sons. And she." Dean puts his hand on Jamie's shoulder. "She is his daughter."
Adam stares at Dean, then at Sam, then Jamie, then at Dean. "I've got siblings? Brothers? And a sister…"
"No, you don't have brothers and a sister. Look, man, I don't know if you're a hunter or what kind of game you're playing here."
"I have never been hunting in my life." Adam says quickly.
Dean starts to get up. "Whatever. I'm out of here. Jamie. Come on, Sam." He pulls Jamie up, and goes to leave.
"Wait. I can prove it." Adam says.
At Adam's house Dean holds a framed picture of Adam and John; John is wearing a baseball cap. Sam, Jamie, and Dean examine the picture.
"He took you to a baseball game?" Dean asks.
Adam nods. "Yeah, when I turned fourteen. Dad was around for a few of my birthdays."
Sam holds John's journal, open to a page he reads from. "September twenty-ninth, two thousand four. One word. 'Minnesota.'
Jamie is staring at Adam. "He took you to a freakin' baseball game?"
"Yeah. Why? What'd Dad do with you on your birthday?" Adam takes the picture back. Jamie looks like she's gonna cry. Dean grabs her and turns her to him.
"Hey." Dean frowns, rubbing Jamie's arm.
Adam watches Jamie. "What's wrong?"
Dean looks up. "She's fine. It's a long story."
Adam looks away.
Sam looks at him. "Adam, you said you called Dad because your mom was missing."
"Yeah."
"How long has she been gone?"
"Three days."
"Who was the last person to see her?"
"Mr. Abbinanti, our neighbor. He saw her come home Tuesday night, but she never showed up to work on Wednesday."
Dean sees another picture, this one of John hugging Kate, Adam's mother. She resembles Mary. Jamie sees it too. She walks away from them.
"Did you call the police?" Sam asks.
Adam nods. "Mom's supervisor at the hospital did. And then I drove down here as fast as I could." He pauses. "I should have been here."
Dean looks at him. "What'd the, uh, what'd the cops say?"
"That they, uh, they searched the house."
"They didn't find anything." Jamie finally turns back to them.
"That's right. She wouldn't leave without telling anybody. It's like she just dropped off the face of the earth, you know?"
Jamie leans against the doorway. Dean shifts Kate's dresser. Seeing nothing behind it, he shifts it back. There are more pictures on the dresser: one of Kate, John, and a younger Adam, and one of Kate and a very small Adam. Dean focuses on the one with John. "The, uh, nightstand was knocked over. Was there anything else?"
"Oh, not really. The sheriff said there's no sign of a break-in." Dean and Jamie look around. "What, you think the cops missed something?"
"Maybe. Yeah. They don't have my eyes." Dean tells him.
"Or my…intuition." Jamie adds.
"You're a mechanic, Dean?"
"Yeah. That's right."
"Jamie, what do you do?"
"Forensics."
"Really? You like science too?" Jamie doesn't answer. Adam hesitates. "Dean, what else can you tell me about Dad?"
"You knew him."
"Not as well as you."
Jamie sighs glancing over at him. "Trust me, kid, you don't want to know."
Sam appears at the door, holding up a handful of papers.
"Give us a minute." Dean tells Adam.
Jamie nods. "We'll be right back." They leave.
The siblings stop walking when they're out of Adam's hearing range.
"You talk to the cops?" Dean asks.
Sam nods. "Yeah. Like Adam said, no leads on his mom."
Dean scoffs. "Shocker there."
Jamie nods. "Yeah."
"But I did find this." Sam goes through papers till he finds a copy of the Windom Gazette dated January 9, 1990. The headline is "Missing Bodies Found" and the subtitle "Seventeen bodies recovered from abandoned shed". "Um...here. In nineteen ninety, there were seventeen grave robberies in Windom."
Jamie takes the paper and Dean leans in to look. "You think that's why dad came through here?"
"I'd say so. Check it out." Sam points at the photo accompanying the article.
Jamie gets her eldest brother's attention. "Dean…" He takes a closer look. John is in the background of the photo. Dean nods.
"All right, so he was hunting something. What?" He and Jamie look at Sam.
"No idea. Those were the pages he threw out of the journal. But last month, the corpse snatching started up again. Three bodies from the local cemetery."
Jamie groans. "Oh I have that pit in my stomach."
Dean raises an eyebrow. "So whatever he was after, he didn't kill it. It's back."
Sam looks at him. "And, what, it's stepped up its game to fresh meat? I mean, Kate's missing, and, uh—" He goes to the next paper. This one's a copy of a photo of a man in large black glasses, Joe Barton. "So is a local bartender—a guy named Joe Barton."
Dean takes the photo. Adam is sitting on Kate's bed. Dean comes to the door and holds up the photo. "
Hey, does your mom know Joe Barton?"
Adam looks at the picture. "Uh, I don't think so. Why?" Dean looks back at Sam and Jamie, then at Adam. A long pause. Dean notices something by Adam's feet: scratches on the floor. He comes over for a closer look. "What is it?"
"Watch out."
Dean flips up the edge of the comforter and looks under the bed, then gets up.
"Jesus." Jamie mutters as she walks over with Sam. She crosses her arms.
"Give me a hand with the mattress." Dean says to Adam. He tosses the pillows aside and with Adam's help moves the mattress off the bedframe. Under the bed is a vent large enough to fit someone through. Jamie uncrosses her arms. Sam looks at it. Dean looks at Sam and Jamie. "She doesn't play." He points to Jamie. "We don't need angels swoopin in here."
Jamie scowls. "Fine."
Adam looks at them. "What did you say?"
Jamie looks at him. "We'll explain later."
Dean and Sam raise their fists for rock-paper-scissors. Sam picks rock, Dean scissors. Jamie scoffs, Sam smirks and Dean waves his arms, frustrated, then puts his hands on his hips. "Every time." A thump, the sound of the vent cover coming off, and light from a flashlight fills the duct. There are red stains along the duct. Dean shines the light around, then slides inside. There is a T-junction at the end of the duct he's in. "Why didn't I pick paper?"
He crawls to the T-junction. More red stains: blood. Dean crawls a bit further; to one side is another vent cover, undisturbed. He has a pistol in his other hand, which he points around the corner before he leans around himself. There is a large amount of blood and bits of flesh or bone in the duct.
Later at the motel Dean cleans a shotgun. Jamie is holding Ruby's knife between her fingers. A knock at the door. Dean turns. Sam opens the door. Adam enters.
"Who the hell are you?" Adam says as he enters.
"Adam, hey." Sam closes the door behind Adam. Jamie sticks the knife into her jeans. Dean flips a cloth over the shotgun.
"Adam." Jamie says softly, getting up.
"Take it easy." Sam tells him.
"No, don't tell me to take it easy, okay? My house is a crime scene, my mom's probably dead, and you three—well, you tell me to call the cops, But you got to bail before they show? So, who are you really?" Silence. Dean looks over at Jamie. Jamie looks back at Sam. "Cops didn't know where to look for my mom, Dean, but you did. And I heard you talking earlier—something about grave robberies." He spots the end of the shotgun poking out from under the cloth. "You're not mechanics. I just want to know what's going on." Silence. Deans looks over at Sam. Sam looks at Jamie. Jamie looks at Adam. "Please."
"Tell him."
"Jamie."
"We're hunters."
"Sammy!"
Jamie looks at her big brother. "He deserves to know, Dean."
"What do you mean, 'hunters'?" Adam asks.
Dean shakes his head.
Sam is sitting across from Adam on the beds. Dean is sitting in a chair across the room. Jamie is standing next to him, leaning against the window.
"Okay, so...basically, you're saying that every movie monster, every nightmare that I've ever had, that's all real?"
Dean looks up. "Godzilla's just a movie."
Jamie snickers. "Dracula is a dramatization. Kinda."
Sam nods. "We hunt them. So did Dad."
Adam nods. "Okay."
"Okay"? That's it?" Dean asks.
"What am I supposed to say?"
"That we're liars, that we're crazy. Nobody just says "okay."
Jamie points to Dean. "That's dramatization."
Adam looks at the Winchesters. "You're my siblings. You're telling me the truth, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then I believe you. Now, what took my mom?"
Sam looks at him. "We're not sure. Something's in town stealing bodies, living and dead, but we don't know what."
Jamie puts her hands on Dean's shoulders. "It could be anything."
"Yeah, there's a long list of freaks that fit the bill." Dean agrees.
"You think maybe she might still be alive?" Dean looks down. Adam turns to Sam. Sam looks down. But Jamie looks straight at Adam. Adam nods, realizing, and looks down. "Oh. How can I help?"
"You can't." Dean says automatically.
"This thing killed my mom. If you're hunting it, I want in." Adam tells him pointedly.
Dean is firm. "No."
Jamie looks down at him. "Dean…"
Sam looks him as well, "Dean, look, maybe—"
"Maybe what?"
Sam sighs. "He lost his mother. Maybe we can understand what that feels like."
Dean gets up and grabs John's journal. He walks over to Sam. "Why do you think Dad never told us about this kid, Sam? Huh? Why do you think he ripped out the pages?"
Jamie takes a few steps forward. "Boys."
Sam glances at her then back to their brother. "Because—"
"Because he was protecting him!" Dean yells, almost in Sam's face.
"Dad's dead, Dean."
"That doesn't matter! He didn't want Adam to have our lives, okay? And we are gonna respect his wishes."
Jamie walks over to them. She stands between Dean and Sam. "Like we respect his wishes for my life, Dean? He abandoned me! I know what it feels like to have no one, you don't. You may think you do but you have always had Dad and Sam. He is our brother. Our blood. A Winchester. And Winchesters stick together, Dean."
Dean glares at her. "Jamie, you have no…"
"No what, Dean?"
Dean and Jamie stare a hard look.
"Do I get a say in this?" Adam asks.
"No!" Dean shouts, still glaring at Jamie.
"No." Sam says, more softly.
Jamie looks at the kid. "No."
Dean heads for the door. "Babysit the kid, Sam."
"Where are you going?"
Dean grabs his jacket. "I'm going out!"
Jamie watches him. "Dean, don't you walk away from me!"
Dean leaves. Jamie follows after him. Sam sighs.
"Are they always like that?" Adam asks.
Sam laughs. "Welcome to the family."
Adam looks down. "So, is it true, what Jamie said?"
Sam looks up, quiet for a moment. "That Dad abandoned her?"
"Yeah."
Sam nods. "Yeah. We're twins, Jamie and I. He left her at a convent when we were 8. He didn't want her to have our life either."
"Why not?"
"We've never really talked about it." He pauses, thinking. "There was a bad hunt I guess, Jamie almost got hurt. She looks so much like our Mom…Dad just couldn't chance it. He let her go."
Adam stares at him before looking away. "She hates me doesn't she?"
Sam shakes his head. "No. She doesn't. It's just hard for her, even though she understands why Dad did what he did. Here." He pulls out his gun and ejects the clip. "I'm gonna teach you a few things."
"Uh, Dean said—"
"I know what Dean said." Sam holds the unloaded gun out to Adam. "And I know what it's like to want revenge."
The Cemetery Director escorts Dean, who is in FBI suit and tie, and Jamie who is a skirt and jacket to the robbed tomb. "This tomb was built in 1926. Four generations of the Millsap family were interred here."
Dean eyes it. "They don't build 'em like this anymore." Jamie smirks.
"Tell me, Agent Nugent, Agent Fay, have you thought about where you might like to spend eternity?"
"Sure." Jamie says automatically, taking a look around.
Dean hesitates. "All the damn time." He looks around the tomb. "So, three bodies went missing. Any idea who did it?"
"Hooligans. Sick, deranged hooligans."
Jamie raises her eyebrows, turning to Dean. "Of course."
Dean notices something spilled on the side of the tomb. "Jace." He touches it, smells it, and recoils. Jamie curls her nose. "This isn't blood. What is this?"
Jamie looks at him. "I know that smell. It's embalming fluid."
The Director nods. "Whoever committed this crime didn't just take the corpses. They opened them up."
Dean and Jamie look at each other.
Dean takes a seat at the empty bar and unfolds the papers he's carrying. Jamie sits down next to him. The Bartender spots them and fills two glasses at the tap. "First beer's on the house for cops. Feds too."
Dean looks at her. "Are we that obvious?"
"I know all the local badges." She sets the glasses in front of Dean and Jamie. "And you two've got that...Law & Order vibe." She picks up a cloth and starts drying another glass. "So, what's the FBI doing in Windom?"
"Looking into the disappearance of Joe Barton." Dean tells slides the photo of Joe across the bar. The Bartender looks at it, stricken. "I assume you knew him?"
"A little. I'm his wife. Lisa."
"We're sorry, Ma'am." Jamie says.
Dean nods. "Well, Lisa, what can you tell me about his disappearance?"
"Same thing I told the sheriff. He stayed late Friday before last to do inventory. Never came home."
Dean takes the glass of beer. "And the police?"
"Nothing. Truth is, I was scared they stopped looking. But now you're here."
"We'll try to do what we can, of course." Jamie sips her beer. Dean looks at the photos behind the bar. One is of Joe in a police uniform. Dean nudges Jamie and she sees it too.
"Joe was a cop?" He asks.
"Deputy. For a little while. That was a looong time ago."
Dean glances at Jamie. "He didn't happen to work the, uh, the grave robbery case, back in 'ninety?"
Lisa nods. "He did. Yeah. Joe was the one who found those bodies. He got an award for that."
"That was an interesting case." Jamie says.
"He ever tell you how he did it?" Dean scans the newspaper photo for John.
"Most of the time, he said good, solid police work. But after a few beers, he'd admit he had a little help."
"From who?" Jamie asks.
"A 'specialist'. That's all he'd say."
"Cops ever find the guy that stole the bodies?" Dean takes a drink.
"No. But when I asked Joe about it, he'd say not to worry—that "we took care of what done it."
Dean and Jamie look at each other.
Adam heads for the passenger side of his truck, Sam for the driver's side. While Sam fumbles with the keys, something grabs his ankle, yanking him to the ground and under the truck. Sam grabs the truck to resist.
"Sam!" The Impala pulls up. "Dean, Jamie, help!"
Dean and Jamie jump out of the impala. Adam grabs one of Sam's arms and Dean the other. Jamie grabs unto Adam's torso and they pull him free. Jamie gets down beside Sam. Dean grabs the dropped shotgun, and fires. Dean looks at Jamie, Jamie looks at Sam, Sam looks at Adam, Adam flops onto the ground.
Adam's truck backs out of the space. He'd parked right over a sewer grate, which is half open. Dean gets out of the truck and he and Jamie approach the grate, aiming shotguns. There's blood on the edge. Dean gets up and heads past Sam, who is leaning on the hood of the Impala. Jamie walks over.
"Well I'm gonna bet you get didn't kill it, but…"
Dean nods. "I winged it. Did you see anything?" He looks at Sam.
"I didn't get a good look."
Dean sighs in frustration. "What the hell is this thing?"
Jamie shrugs. "Why—who—should we go after it?"
Dean looks at her. "No, no. In that maze? That thing's long gone."
Sam nods. "All right, so, we don't know what it is, But we do know who it's going after. Joe Barton, Adam's mom—"
Dean nods. "And Adam. It was under his truck, just waiting for him."
Jamie hugs her twin. "God, Sam…"
Sam hugs her back. "It set a trap, and I walked right into it."
Jamie looks at him. "But if you hadn't been here, Adam would be dead."
Dean shakes his head. "Doesn't matter. You're right—there's a pattern. Joe Barton was a cop. I'm pretty sure he helped out Dad. So we've got him, Dad's girl, and his son."
"All the people Dad knew in town." Sam nods.
Jamie puts her hands on her hips. "At least we know why it's back."
"It wants revenge."
Dean, Jamie, and Sam look at Adam.
The door opens and the four siblings enter. Jamie is carrying the med kit.
"Grab your stuff. We'll hit the road." Dean tells Adam. Adam flips on the lights and heads upstairs. Sam sits at the kitchen table.
"We shouldn't leave." He thumps his injured ankle on another chair. Jamie bends down and starts wrapping up the ankle.
Dean looks at him. "Yeah, let's stay here, where the kid's mom got ganked. Good one."
Jamie sighs. "Guys…"
"I'm serious."
"No, Sam, we're gonna take the kid, we're gonna drop him off at Bobby's, and then you, Jamie, and me are gonna come back here and finish what Dad started."
"Agreed. We've got to get Adam someplace safe." She finishes wrapping Sam's ankle and closes the med kit.
"But We got no leads, no witnesses. We do have what this thing wants."
"You want to use the kid as bait? That's why you want to stay here?"
"Sam…"
Sam looks at his siblings. "Maybe this thing will come back. We could train Adam—get him ready."
Dean looks doubtful. "He could die."
"We could all die, Dean. Even if we do kill this thing, there are tons of other freaks that want revenge, on Dad, on us. What if they find the kid instead and he's not ready?"
Jamie sighs. "He's got a good point." She looks at Dean.
Adam returns, backpack over one shoulder. "I'll do it. Whatever it takes, I'll do it. I want to do it."
Dean looks at Sam, who looks at Jamie, who looks at Adam.
Three gunshots. The first one makes a hole in a piece of metal, through which Sam and Adam are visible, Sam holding a gun. The other side of the metal is a sign, "NO TRESPASSING", "TRESPASSING ON THIS PROPERTY IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN", "VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW IN ACCORDANCE WITH MINNESOTA PENAL CODE .8", on which two red rings have been spraypainted. There are three small holes close together inside the smaller ring. Sam lowers the gun.
"Whoa." Adam is impressed.
"It's easy. Just feel the recoil and time the trigger pulls. Three taps." He holds the gun out to Adam.
"Yeah?"
"Go ahead."
Adam takes the gun and moves in front of Sam. He fires three times, kicking up leaves; all three shots hit the sign, fairly close together, one on and two inside the inner ring. Sam grins. A distance away, Dean, leaning against the Impala with Jamie, shakes his head and looks away. Jamie smirks.
"He's not half bad. A little too eager, but so were you." She looks at her brother.
Dean rolls his eyes. "Whatever."
Jamie crosses her arms. "Come on, Dean. This thing got his mother. We tore the world apart looking for Azazel."
Dean shifts and looks at her. "And look what happened."
"And whose to say that won't happen to Adam?" She shoots back.
Dean shakes his head. "You're as bad as Sam."
Jamie scoffs. "Dean, your big brother instincts gotta be kickin in right about now."
"My big brother instincts are telling me to throttle you."
"You wanna piss off Cas?" Pause. "Don't answer that."
"Beginner's luck, right?" Adam asks, looking at Sam.
"Nah, man. You're a natural. Good shooting." He claps Adam on the back.
"Thanks."
Books, one on "HELLHOUNDS", one on "THE ALL-WATCHING BAPHOMET", one on "AFFLICTIONS OF GHOSTS", one on something not visibly named; all are illustrated. The last appears to show something exploding out of someone's chest.
"So, then we lit it on fire." Sam is telling Adam.
"With a homemade flamethrower?" Adam asks.
"Yeah. They're easy to build. I'll show you."
"That is some job you got, man."
"Being a hunter isn't a job, Adam. It's life. You're pre-med. You got a girlfriend, friends?"
Adam nods.
"Not anymore you don't. If you're really gonna do this, you can't have those kinds of connections, ever. They're weaknesses. You'll just put those people in danger, get them killed."
Dean, across the room , looks away. Jamie walks over to them and puts her arm around Adam's shoulders. "We all learned the hard way that it's the price we pay. You cut 'em out, and you don't look back. There's only one thing you can count on. Family."
"Sammy. Jamie." Sam looks over. Jamie turns around. "Can I talk to you?" Dean gets up and goes over by the stairs. Sam and Jamie follow. "What the hell was that?"
"What?"
"What's wrong?"
'Hunting is life. You can't have connections.' Sam, Dad gave you that exact same speech, remember? It was just before you ditched us for Stanford. And Jamie…Jamie. You two hated Dad for saying that stuff, and now you're quoting him?"
The twins look at each other. "Yeah, well, turns out Dad was right." Sam says, turning back to Dean.
"Yeah."
"Since when?"
"Since always. Dean, when I look at Adam, you know what I see?"
"A normal kid."
"No. Meat. Because the demons and monsters out there, That's all he is. I hated Dad for a long time. I did. But now I think I understand. So we didn't have a dog and a white picket fence. So what? Dad did right by us. He taught us how to protect ourselves."
Jamie nods. "Adam deserves the same."
"Listen to yourselves."
"You think we're wrong?" Sam asks.
"I think it's too late for us. This is our life. This is who we are, okay? And it's fine. I accept that. But with Adam, he's still got a chance, man. He can go to school. He could be a doctor."
Sam looks at Dean. "What makes Adam so special?"
Dean takes a step back. "What, are you jealous of the kid?"
"Are you?"
A pause.
Jamie looks at Dean. "I am. I'll admit it. But Dean, all this...it's not real. The dad Adam knew—he wasn't real. The things out there in the shadows—they are real. The world is coming to an end. That's real. Everything else is just part of the crap People tell themselves to get through the day."
"Dad didn't have a choice with us, okay? But with Adam, he did."
Jamie rolls her eyes. "What about me? Dad had a choice with me."
Dean stares at her. "And he made that choice. And you made your choice."
"Yes, and I was younger then Adam when I did. The day I turned eighteen I packed my bags and hitched a ride to Ohio with Jefferson and AJ. I ganked my first vampire before I had my first beer."
Dean sighs. "Adam doesn't have to be cursed."
Sam smirks. "He's a Winchester. He's already cursed."
Dean shakes his head. "No. No, whatever's hunting Adam, I'm gonna find it."
"You already looked everywhere, Dean."
"Well, then I'll look again."
Dean leaves. Sam and Jamie stare at each other and then Jamie walks past him. "I hate following you all over creation! I hope you know that." Jamie follows after Dean.
Dean opens the tomb. Jamie turns on a flashlight and shines it around. Dean spots a loose stone, large enough to hide a tunnel, and works it out of the wall with a crowbar. There is indeed a tunnel behind it. Jamie shines the light along the tunnel. Dean shakes his head.
"I'll go first."
Dean blocks her with his arm. "No."
Jamie smirks. "Hey, if there is anything in there, then we get an angel to kill it for us." She crawls in. Deal crawls in after her. At the far end of the tunnel is another room. Jamie climbs through easily, but Dean struggles. Jamie puts her flashlight under her arm and helps him out of the tunnel.
"Home sweet home." Dean remarks.
"Of course." Jamie shines the light around. Dean steps in blood; there's quite a lot of it next to a severed arm and a pair of large black glasses. Jamie gags and puts her fist in her mouth. Dean picks the glasses and looks at them.
"Sloppy Joe."
"Oh my god." The siblings something in the tunnel. They fire several times. The tunnel collapses. "No!" Jamie yells.
"Oh, son of a bitch!" Dean takes out his cell phone and tries to make a call. No signal.
"Son of a bitch." Jamie mutters. Dean kicks at the door out of the tomb. It remains sealed. Jamie shakes her head. They explore, Dean pushes a skeleton out of the way with his foot. There is a sealed coffin with relatively fresh blood on the outside. "Dean." She points to the coffin. DEAN opens the coffin: it's Kate, Adam's mother. Most of her, anyway. Jamie gags again. "I'm calling Cas."
"Wait." Dean finds another coffin. Jamie walks over.
"Oh god, more blood." She remarks, holding the flashlight over it. Dean opens the other coffin. This one has the corpse of Adam. Jamie drops the flashlight and clamps her hands over her mouth to muffle her screams. Dean puts a hand to his own mouth; there's quite a lot of blood. He grabs Jamie and pulls her back so she doesn't have to look. "Dean! Dean! Dean!" She yells in horror.
Dean holds her tightly. "I know, I know. Shh. Keep it together, okay? You gotta keep it together." He shakes her.
Jamie looks at him. "Sam."
"We gotta get outta here. Come on." Dean and Jamie, now aware that their brother's alone with a monster, redoubles their efforts to escape. Dean looks around; there's a stained-glass window above him, depicting an angel. He nudges Jamie. She looks up and closes her eyes, grabbing her head. Dean looks at her. "Can you get through to Sam?"
She shakes her head. "No. I'm blocked."
Dean breaks a long piece of metal off one of the coffins and tries to use it to pry the door open. It doesn't work. "Holy crap." He looks back at his sister.
Jamie points to the coffins. "Stack the coffins on top of each other."
Dean stacks one coffin on another, stands on them, and uses the metal bar to smash through the stained-glass window. He grabs Jamie's hand and pulls her up to the edge of the window. He pushes her through and then swings himself out.
"Sam, the more you struggle, the faster you're gonna bleed out. So you might as well lie back and relax." Dean and Jamie hear the fake Adam saying as they get into the house.
"Hey!" Dean yells.
"Get away from my brother!" Jamie yells, as she and Dean aim shotguns. Jamie fires and Adam hits the wall, a hole through his shoulder.
"Guys, they're ghouls!" Sam yells.
Dean pauses, then fires at the ghoul who looks like Kate. Blood spatters the wall; her headless corpse collapses. "Which means head-shot." Adam slams Dean, breaking a lot of glass on the way down.
"Dean!" Jamie waves her hand, sending Adam off his feet. Dean grabs Adam and slams him down, then takes his metal bar and tries to slam Adam's head. He dodges. They fight;
"Jamie!" Sam says weakly. Jamie hurries over to Sam and cuts through the ropes and duct tape, grabbing a couple towels on the way. She helps Sam sit up and uses the towels as pressure bandages.
"Jesus Sam." Jamie looks at her twin, holding his bloody wrists close to her chest to try and stop the bleeding.
"Dean?" Sam asks, looking up at her.
"Dean's fine." But she glances over into the other room anyway. "He's fine." Adam goes down, and Dean beats his head in. Silence falls. "Dean!" Jamie finally says. "Sam's bleeding out."
Dean comes over to them. He helps Jamie wrap Sam up, muttering the whole time. "Come on. Come on. Come on. Hang on. All right, here we go. Here we go. Hang on, buddy. All right." He and Jamie wrap Sam's wrists holding them above his head. They manage to get the bleeding under control.
"Thank you." Sam mutters.
Dean looks at him. "That's what family's for, right?"
Jamie snickers. "Dean, keep pressure on that."
Dean, Sam, and Jamie are in the woods.
"You sure we should do this?" Sam asks.
Adam's body, wrapped in sheets, is lying on a pyre. Dean opens a bottle of lighter fluid. "Ghouls didn't fake those pictures. They didn't fake Dad's journal." He sprinkles lighter fluid over Adam. Jamie gets the matches.
Jamie nods. "Adam was our brother."
Dean nods in agreement. "Yeah. He died like a hunter. He deserves to go out like one."
Sam looks at the body. "Maybe we can bring him back. Get a hold of Cas, call in a favor."
Jamie shakes her head. "No. It wouldn't be right."
"Adam's in a better place." Dean tells him. Jamie lights the match and tosses it on the pyre. Adam's body goes up in flames. A tear falls down Jamie's cheek. Sam frowns. Dean puts his hand on Jamie's back and she turns around and hugs him. He wraps his arms around her back, holding her, and looks at Sam. "You know, I finally get why you and Dad butted heads so much. You two were practically the same person." Sam looks over. "I mean, I worshipped the guy, you know? I dressed like him, I acted like him, I listen to the same music. But you were more like him than I will ever be. And I see that now."
Sam tilts his head. "I'll take that as a compliment." He rubs Jamie's back.
"You take it any way you want."
Jamie looks up from Dean's chest. "Don't start boys."