Three more days of learning and holding true patience with herself and Ellie was ready for her ride into town on Sunday. It had been the longest near-week of her life, filled with the monotony of cooking and cleaning and caring for animals… then repeat. She isn't sure that she can live like this at this point, it all being nothing she's used to, but the ride into Sioux Falls alone certainly broke up the routine enough for her.

Plus, the idea of being able to go to church, whatever that church might be, is certainly alleviating her anxiety and pain at least a little.

Dean brings the wagon to a stop in front of the general store, the same place he had it when she first went back to his farm with him, and he hitches it up before helping her down from her seat like a proper gentleman.

"Thank you," she says with a smile, her now cleaned clothing more than acceptable as Sunday best. Dean's usual white shirt and tan slacks he uses for work days are making him look just like the farmer that he is. "Will you be joining me for services?"

"Oh… no," Dean emphasizes his denial to make it clear.

"That's a shame," she responds and Dean could swear he hears disappointment in her tone. "God has a way of filling the soul when we have felt depleted."

"I am just full enough," Dean comments before pointing to Meeker's. "An' my waterin' hole keeps me that way."

The face she makes in reaction makes Dean feel different about his usual actions, awkward even. Normally he has no qualms about paying for a good drink and a good lay but with the way she views him right now he feels… low.

"I wish you would come with," Ellie tries again with a sweet kind of hope in her tone, her hand coming to his elbow and grabbing tight as she walks towards the church, leading him when he should be leading her traditionally. "A day with the Lord has always been able to make better all that ails us… or at least lessen the pain. Dean, please take my words as kind concern, but I feel that something does ail you."

He stops short and stands there, her arm in his as he stares at her with upset. "Now, I ain't one ta cast a shadow on people I do not know an' I would be expectin' the same courtesy from others. I reckon you do not know me well enough ta make a bold claim like that." Dean takes his arm back as he stares her down, face of stone.

"I reckon you are right," Ellie relents when she instantly feels shame for the way she went about things. "I do not know you as well as I should to be saying such a thing but… I just… I see you. And I mean I really see you."

Dean makes a scared face at her words.

"I do not know why but you are clear as a stream to me. Something itches you, Dean. Maybe a day with the Lord can help that."

He's highly uncomfortable now. "Enjoy ya services. I'mma head to the store an' get what I ordered an' then enjoy my own services without the guilt of a very presumptuous woman an' her judgments." He then reaches into his pocket. He grabs her hand and presses two coins into her palm. "One fer collection. One fer gettin' word home 'bout yer lost one."

He then quickly turns around on his heels and marches off for the general store, his body language revealing just how irked he is by the conversation they just had.

Ellie had no idea that letting Dean know she can see his pain would be such a bad idea. Something, or things, are most definitely nagging him and she does believe that church would help him out. Right now she knows that finding the Lord would do him some good. But the venom in his words and the upset in his eyes was not expected, or else she would have kept her mouth shut. He's been nothing but nice to her through the most terrible ordeal she's felt in her life… and when she tried to return the favor she just simply angered him.

And she didn't expect that angering him would have this kind of effect on her. Her stomach is sick, her spirits lower than low, and she wishes there was a way to fix it immediately. But there isn't.

The day was a long one, the April weather being hotter than usual today and the services feeling long and warm. Once she finished there, thanking the preacher for a wonderful sermon and he wishing her the best after her unfortunate event the past week, Ellie made her way to the telegraph. She sent two. One she sent to her sister to let her family know the situation. The other she sent to Jackson's mother, apologizing for everything and promising to visit her the moment she returns in what she estimates will be a year.

After all that she made her way to Ellen's inn.

"Afternoon, Elizabeth!" Ellen cheerfully greets as she spots the young woman walking in.

"Good afternoon, Missus Ellen," Ellie smiles back. She walks to the front desk counter with a smile. "I was in town for church services so I wanted to come by and thank you properly for your hospitality earlier last week. I was in such need and you were so kind."

"Darlin', it was nothin'," she assures as she places a hand atop Ellie's and pats it a couple times. "Ya seem like a sweet girl an' ya just needed a hand."

"I did… and without you and the Winchester men I would be completely down on my luck. Are all the people of this town so kind?"

"Not at all," Ellen's face drops. "Ya watch yerself 'round here, Ellie. So far ya stumbled on the right ones."

Ellie takes the warning for what it is and nods her understanding.

"Them boys treatin' ya proper?" Ellen moves on to brighter things.

"Yes, ma'am," Ellie grins wide after her near week at their farm. "I am not much of a cook but they are patient with me. And they have provided me with everything I could need."

"That's very good ta hear. I will not be needing to turn an ear or two then," she says with a wink.

"No, no… though if you were to turn an ear… it would most likely be mine." Ellie's face falls with the still running guilt and sadness for making Dean so upset earlier.

"What could ya possibly have done wrong, girl?" Ellen disbelieves.

Ellie sighs. "Living in close quarters, I have noticed a… sadness in Dean. Sam too but Dean… he tries to hide it and I believe most are fooled by him. I am not."

Looking at her with wide eyes and a soft smile, Ellen lets her know, "You are quite intuitive, Miss Ellie."

"Not intuitive enough. I mentioned I thought Dean should come to services with me today because I could sense that he was troubled and the Lord might help."

"Oh, them boys is gonna put ya through the mill, I swear it," Ellen comments mostly to herself. "Ellie, ya ain't wrong. Dean, he ain't been right fer some time now. He's a good man, better an' most, but he ain't been to services since a few years after his momma died when he was just a boy."

"His mother passed?" Ellie questions with surprise.

"Dean was just seven," Ellen explains. "An' Sam, poor boy was only a month over three. He don't even really remember her. But Dean sure does."

"That is terrible," Ellie laments, having had no idea that Dean had experienced that.

"Consumption ain't nothin' ta dismiss," Ellen explains. "Their daddy, John, he never recovered. Man went off the deep end an' they sent him east 'bout five years back ta be cared fer since they couldn't handle it. His mind just up an' broke wit the heartache o'er the years.

"Oh my," Ellie comments as the guilt starts to crush her. If she had known she would have never pressed her luck and spoke up about Dean needing church. She knows nothing about him even if for some reason she feels like she does.

"It ain't been easy for them boys but they stay kind an' sweet as pie anyways. Be patient wit them, they be needin' it."

"I had no idea…"

"An' now ya do," Ellen says, eyeing her hard so she'll listen. "An' I think ya gonna be good fer them. They been needin' someone like you ta come along an' lend a hand in more ways 'an one. I think ya catch my drift."

She does. Ellie knows Ellen just wants her to help them overcome the past and maybe move on. She would wish nothing less for them herself as she has come to care about them both so quickly with how good of men they are.

"I will look after them, Ellen," Ellie promises. "They deserve as much."

"That they do," she agrees with a grin.

Ellie smiles with the conversation before moving on. "Say, I went to the wagon to meet Dean just now and he wasn't there. Do you know where I can find him?"

And Ellen's face drops. She knows where he is and she'd rather not let this very nice and very proper woman deal with that.

"Ya know what? I was headed ta Meeker's anyways," Ellen lies as she walks around the desk. "Go on out an' wait at the wagon. I'll git him out there in a snap."

"Oh, thank you," Ellie says kindly. "It was wonderful seeing you again, Miss Ellen."

"Same 'atcha, girl. Don't ya be a stranger. Ya come on by an' say howdy when ya come in ta town, ya hear?"

"I will," Ellie promises and leaves for the wagon while Ellen marches to the saloon.

"So, whadda ya say, Dean?" Joanna smiles her best smile while once more sitting in the farmer's lap. She grasps hard onto his collar and moves in close, whispering in his ear. "Ya got the time fer some fun wit me before heading back ta that farm a' yers?"

"I think not… oh," Dean tries to deny her but her lips land on his neck and make him moan slightly in his seat at the round bar table. "Joanna…"

"Don't ya say no ta me this time 'round," she says quietly, looking him in the eye before pressing a quick kiss to his lips. "Ya damn near drunk yerself ta the reaper last time ya came here. Left me high n' dry."

"I blame Bobby," he jokes back.

"I blame you," counters Johanna, her lips pressed to his once more. "Do not disappoint me again."

"I, uh…" Dean starts to answer no but catches himself. Why would he say no? He has the money for it, the time if he wants it, and he is a very free man. But it feels wrong for the first time ever.

"Say yer wantin' some time wit me, Dean," Johanna gives him a smoldering look, one that is all about him getting a promise of pleasure. "An' I will show ya a real, real good time."

"Oh, I know ya will, darlin'," Dean huffs a laugh. He knows her. He's been with Joanna enough times to be sure she's worth every cent. "But this ain't the time fer that."

"It's always time fer that," Joanna smiles slightly before kissing him again, her lips moving with purpose and determination to remind him of what they have.

"But I can't this time," Dean says without really thinking.

"And why not?"

"I… I just…" And she shuts him up by smashing her lips to his with pure determination. He falls right into it like the horny man that he is and kisses her right up until….

"Dean Winchester!" an angry voice calls out. He looks to the door to find Ellen marching with anger towards him.

"Miss Ellen, where's that fire?" he jokes but when she gets to him she just gives him a dirty look as she pulls Johanna off of his lap.

"Hey!" Johanna yells out with anger that the woman is killing her income.

"Ya shall survive," she gruffs back to the woman and yanks Dean's arm until he's standing. "Git that girl ya got workin' fer ya back home, ya flannel mouthed idjit."

"What's the rush?" Dean questions reaching in his pocket to pay for his drinks. "Ellie alright?"

"She's just fine but you ain't," Ellen tells him, pulling him towards the door once he drops money on the table. "She a good woman that don't deserve ta wait on yer ass gettin' half seas over on pussy. Now git."

"Now hold on a tick," Dean stops her and stands his ground against the pushy woman that has taken up motherly duties on Sam and him far too seriously into their adulthood. "Ellie's an employee. If'n I wanna stay here in town a touch longer then she can wait."

"An' tell her what?" Ellen challenges. "Ya wanna tell the girl that she been waitin' by the wagon fer an hour on account a' you gettin' yer dick sucked fer yer honest earnin's?"

"Ya watch yer tone, Miss Ellen," Dean warns strongly. "I ain't that little boy ya always think ya gotta coddle no more."

"Then start actin' like the good man I know ya are in there, Dean," Ellen says, pointing her index finger hard into his chest. "Clean it up, boy. Ya ain't never gone find a good girl to settle wit if ya keep actin' this way."

Dean then gets angry. "I ain't shoppin' fer wives, Miss Ellen. I ain't lookin' fer that kinda trouble in my life. I don't need that. My life is just fine."

"Just fine, huh?" Ellen keeps fighting him. "Ya like livin' in yer house wit just Sam? Alone in yer bed every night? Only getting' familiar wit some strange when yer in town an' have money so that ya can git whacha need an' be the fourth man ta do so that day?"

This is where Joanna leaves, a face full of disrespected anger aimed at Ellen.

"Watch yer tone, Miss Ellen!" Dean gets furious by her words now, repeating his former warning. "I don't need no wife. My family, we got a curse on us 'bout women. I'mma just stay away an' save a life."

"That what ya think?" Ellen's voice softens a bit. "That any gal wit ya is gonna end up like yer momma? Like Jessica?"

He does not answer. He just simply stares at her with fire in his veins at the mention of his mother.

"Ya knock that shit off right now, Dean Winchester," Ellen gets serious, pulling his face in close to hers by the collar so he will truly listen. "Yer daddy an' yer brother ran inta some sure bad luck in their day but that do not mean there some curse on ya. It means they hit bad luck, like most a' the saps comin' out west fer gold an' change. Not everythin' works out right… but that don't mean ya stop tryin' ta make it work out right."

Dean shakes his head. "If'n I ain't been knowin' ya fer so long I woulda…."

"What?" Ellen pushes him on. "Ya gonna shut me up?"

Daggers stares at her, Dean keeps his mouth quiet. He damn near overstepped his bounds on that one.

Ellen sighs and gives Dean a couple pats on the cheek once she calms and lets him go. "I love ya like my own, ya dullard. I only say these things 'cause I want ya happy, Dean. Ya could be happy."

"An' how's that?"

She shakes her head. "She got a soft spot fer ya. I can tell. She already cares a great deal fer ya, Sam too."

"Who in Sam Hill ya talkin' 'bout?" Dean questions when he doesn't understand her.

"Ellie," Ellen says to him, making it fully clear to the clueless man.

The way he looks back at her makes her aware of his shock at the suggestion. "She's under my employ."

"So?"

"She just up an' lost her husband."

"So?" Ellen emphasizes this one. "I ain't sayin' ya start courtin' her tomorrow. I'm saying she's a good girl, real pretty inside an' out. Ya need a girl like her, Dean. An' I know she's concerned fer ya."

"Why?" he asks with shock.

"'Cause she said so," Ellen explains quickly. "She said she be knowin' ya real well. Can see through ya bull. An' thank God someone can! Ya git yer ass back over ta her an' ya take her back to that farm. Ya make sure ya treat her right, let her take care a' ya, an' ya see what happens."

"Ya morbid, Miss Ellen," Dean shakes his head. "Poor gal still mournin' the loss 'a her husband an' here ya are tryin' to git me hitched."

"I am tryin' to make yer life better," Ellen gets mad. "Now git!"

She pushes him in the back through the saloon doors and out onto the muddy street.

Dean stumbles a step but regains his balance quickly enough. Immediately he can see Ellie by the wagon still hitched in front of the general store. She's talking to Bobby while petting one of his horses. Well now he does feel a little guilty.

"…so ya just let me know, young lady," Bobby says as Dean approaches and can hear him speaking. "I'd be more 'an happy ta help ya out."

"Thank you kindly, Mister Singer," she says with a wide smile, charming the older man easily. "I do appreciate the offer."

"What offer?" Dean questions once he reaches them.

"Oh. Hello, Dean," she grins something happy to see him again. "Mister Singer here…"

"Bobby," the older man corrects with a warm smile, liking her already.

"Excuse, Bobby here offered to place orders out to the East for items I may need seeing as that is where I'm from and that is what I'm accustomed to."

"That was mighty kind," Dean says, looking at Bobby and seeing how taken he is with her instantly. Seems like everyone has been quite taken with her right away.

"This here is one good gal ya got workin' fer ya, Dean," he lets the younger man know. "Ya boys treat her right as I might be needin' her kinda sunshine ta come through my store now an' then, lift my spirits."

"What, ya gonna marry her now, ya dirty old man?" Dean jests and swats the man on the arm.

"Nah, I'm far too old fer a beautiful young gal such as her," Bobby flirts with Ellie easily. "An' I don't think Missus Singer'd be likin' that much."

"Easy, old man," Dean warns with a grin before turning to Ellie. "Ya git yer business 'round here done?"

"Yes," she answers easily, her smile trying to hide how difficult the day has been for her. He gives her an odd look, letting her know he's picked up on it.

"Then let's head back," Dean announces. "I'mma be real hungry after this trip…"

"You would not be fishing for some big Sunday dinner now, would you?" Ellie just grins at him, knowing he is. She's feeling better already, thinking he's past the rudeness she displayed before they parted ways earlier.

"A 'course!"

"Then you are in luck," Ellie lets him know as he helps her up into the wagon. She settles into the seat. "I hope you don't mind but I had some money left from sending telegrams. Mister Wells gave me a good deal on some strawberries. Figured I could make a pie for dessert."

When she just smiles at him, knowing how much this news is making him happy, Dean gets blown away.

"How ya be knowin' that I love pies?"

"I asked your brother," she answers easily. "He told me it was your favorite."

Dean then looks at Bobby and points up at her now in her seat in the wagon. "An' that is exactly why ya ain't gettin' yer mitts on her. She's mine." He jokes but deep down he knows he wouldn't give her up to any guy without a fight if she's going to bake like she has the past few days.

Bobby holds his hands out in surrender. "Ya have a good day now, Missus Ellie." He tips his hat to her and she smiles in return before heading out for the ride back to the farm.

"Ya alright there, Ellie?" Dean asks about halfway back to the farmhouse. She's been completely quiet since they left the general store which wasn't expected with her high spirits she was at least pretending to have before they left. Her conversation with Bobby was light and happy. Her attitude now is much different and he can sense something is off.

"Just fine, Dean," she says to him and smiles. But he can see through her much like Ellen said Ellie could see through him. She's obvious to him.

"Yer a liar."

"I am no liar," she quickly rebuts.

"Then ya best be tellin' the truth now," Dean warns, looking over to her with a knowing glance.

She gives in after holding herself together. "I thought it would have made me feel better."

"What woulda?"

"Services. Praising our good Lord like I should," she answers. "I always used to leave the church feeling like a better version of myself, my worries and wrong doings washed away."

"I reckon that didn't happen this time?"

"No," she says, looking down at her hands in her lap. "I feel just as awful."

"Why would ya feel awful?"

"I… just do," Ellie answers sadly. "I thought… I thought God was just. I was always told He was just and right. But now…." She looks over to him. "You don't believe in the good Lord, do you, Dean?"

He pauses, knowing she does and not wanting to further give her reason to change her views. But more than that he wants to be truthful to her. "No, I do not."

"Is it on account of your mother?"

He tenses at the question, his teeth clenched immediately. He didn't know she was aware of that.

"I'm so sorry for being out of line but Missus Ellen let me know," she quickly explains. "And I can see how you might abandon that belief after such a thing. My own faith is wavering plenty. I know the feeling."

Dean keeps his stoic stance in place despite his heart hurting for the both of them in that wagon. They've both experienced things that would absolutely make their beliefs change and they're justified in that.

"Being there, at mass… it did not make the pain any better or the sadness any lesser," Ellie tells him, finding it easy to say these things to him when it would be considered possibly out of line by most as he is her employer. "My Jackson was such a wonderful man. Always so good and… he deserved a good, long life." Her eyes water and face wrinkles as her fight to keep from crying doesn't work. "If God were just and right… my poor Jackson would not be gone from me now. We would be on our way out further west instead of me bein' here… being stuck…." She realizes her misstep and snaps her focus onto the man that has given her a second chance. "Not to say I don't appreciate what you have done for me and that I do not enjoy the company ya'll give but…." She gives up with a sigh, letting the tears trail down her cheeks.

And being the manly man that grew up in an all-male household, Dean gets slightly uncomfortable with this. He doesn't handle emotions all that well despite doing just fine up until now. He's grown unaccustomed to this side of women-folk.

"Now, don't go cryin', El," Dean tries to stop her. "Ya know, sometimes… sometimes things look bad, an' they are bad, but that ain't God bein' mean an' unjust."

"Oh no?" Ellie asks, looking at him and not at all believing him.

"Nah. My daddy used ta tell me that God only do the bad stuff ta the good people that can handle it."

"Why?" Ellie asks him. "Why would God do that? Why would he make the lives of good people so filled with difficulties? I do not know you and Sam well but I can say that I do not believe you earned the pain you've seen in losing your mother to sickness. And your father to sickness of the mind."

Dean nods, his face stoned. "But Sam an' me, we still kickin'. We alive an' we alright."

She just looks at him with sorrow. "But ya'll are both so sad deep down."

"Sadness makes us human," Dean says, looking out at the road. "We're real an' still good people if'n we can feel sadness. Before my daddy went off the ranch he sure was a smart man an' he always told me an' Sam that."

"I agree," Ellie answers, seeing this point of view as very valid and wiping her eyes. "He's a very smart man."

"So don't be goin' an' givin' up on yer faith, Ellie," Dean tries again. "I'mma stubborn old man that just let his beliefs fade when he shouldn't have. Yer better an' that. Ya hang tight there."

"Maybe I need to," Ellie nods, looking at him. "I think ya'll should come with me next week anyways. To Church. You and Sam."

"No," Dean denies right away, knowing that getting Sam there would be damn near impossible.

"Just think about it, please?" Ellie tries again and when Dean meets her eyes his heart melts a little for her. She's just trying so hard to be alright and help him out. Why he doesn't know but she wants him to be a better person, a happier person, even through her personal troubles.

"I'll think 'bout it… but that ain't no yes!" he warns, not wanting her to assume she's won. She hasn't. In fact, he knows he won't go. He just wants her day to be a little better.

"Good," she grins softly. "It would help to have you there."

"Why?"

She thinks about that for a few seconds. "I don't know. I just know that if you were with me… I'd feel better about being at services. Just would."

He glances at her and is surprised by her words. She's quickly becoming someone he really likes being around… and she makes him feel like he's better than he is. It's a good feeling.

After getting back from town it had been a quiet, lovely day. The Winchesters have always worked hard, harder than hard, six days a week. On Sunday they took it easy. They liked to tend to the animals themselves, even milk the cow and feed the pigs, but past that they only did the bare minimum in order to keep the crops healthy. They may not be religious but they held the Sabbath sacred in their own way.

Ellie, on the other hand, has a long day for herself. The men were messier if they were always around the house and on top of keep it clean she was expected to cook a big Sunday meal for both dinner and supper combined. As Dean told her, this is how their mother raised them. She's happy to keep that tradition up for them, knowing now what their mother meant to them, especially Dean.

So now, chicken long slaughtered for the event and dinner close to done, and shockingly not burnt this time around, Ellie calls the men in from the small front porch.

"Dinner, ya'll!"

"Heck yeah," Dean says, standing up and placing his banjo he'd been fiddling with against the doorway. He flies out of his rocking chair and practically runs for the kitchen, Sam sticking to his own rocker to finish the page he was on in his current book before marking it and calmly getting up.

Dean stops short when he sees the kitchen area.

"Aw, Ellie!" Dean glees when he watches her bring a plate of fried chicken to the table. He observes the mashed potatoes, thick and hopefully tasty gravy to accompany it, the corn fritters and fresh milk set out on the kitchen table and his mouth waters. "Oh my word."

"Dang," Sam smiles with excitement when he catches up and gets a look at the display.

"Did I go and get too excited with all this?" Ellie nervously asks, her hands ringing in front of the apron she's wearing.

"If'n this is you getting' excited then ya best be getting' excited every darn Sunday," Dean tells her. "Ellie, darlin', yer alright."

"Well, now you're just trying to make a mash on me, Mister Winchester," Ellie laughs a little, not realizing it's the first time in weeks she's done so.

"No, I reckon that'd be mighty improper," Dean smiles at her kindly. "I'm just real impressed wit ya. Ya ain't been here but a week an' yer already cookin' like…" He pauses and shuts his mouth for a moment. Sam and Ellie both look at him with surprise.

"Like what?" Ellie asks him.

"Well… I reckon I was gonna say… ya cookin' like momma did," Dean admits. He lets the corner of his mouth twitch as he looks over the table again. "She was a mighty good cook, I remember that."

Looking at him with something just short of adoration for his honesty and his compliment, she walks right up to him and kisses him on the cheek, the peck light and nearly blink-and-you-miss-it quick.

"That is mighty kind of you to say, Dean," she says up to his much taller high. "I appreciate that as I know she must have been a really good cook for you to say that."

"She was," Dean says is an almost whisper, so caught off guard by her move.

And Sam stands by silently, watching the exchange and getting a pit in his stomach feeling that maybe this hiring was a bad idea… or great idea. He's not sure yet.

"Sit down," Ellie says to them as she pulls out her rocking chair with books so she can sit at the table.

"No! Wait a tick!" Dean calls out suddenly and sprints for the front door. He disappears in a flash and Sam and Ellie look at each other.

"What is all this about?" she questions Dean's odd actions.

"Don't know but that might mean more food fer us," he jokes and Ellie smiles at him.

"Here!" Dean proudly announces and hoists the new wooden chair up higher for them both to see as he marches into the house. "I got it at Bobby's store."

"You got me a chair," Ellie says with sheer delight, honored that he thought of her while in town.

"Ya needed one, didn't ya?" he asks while placing it on the floor to put the rocking chair back in front of the fireplace.

"Sure did," Ellie says, watching Dean bringing the chair to her place at the table and holding it out for her. "Thank you."

"Yer welcome," he answer, pushing it in for her once she sits before the men take their places. Once they settle in Dean reaches for a corn fritter and she stops him.

"Um, wait," she quietly says, unsure of herself. They both look at her and wait expectantly, seeing her sudden nervousness.

"Ya best be gittin' on wit that statement a'fore I just attack this here good lookin' food," Dean warns.

"Would it… I am sorry if you find me offensive as this is your home and not mine but… could we say a quick grace?" Ellie asks of them. "It's something we always did back home… and when I ate with Jackson… during big special meals."

The men stay quiet with the request.

"I know this isn't normal for you two, and I know I am possibly being rude, but I just…"

"It's fine," Dean cuts in. "We can do that, right Sam?"

The brothers exchange a look, one very cold one from Sam and one very hopeful one from Dean.

"Ya'll both can," Sam relents. "It's fine. I'll wait ta eat until ya done."

Ellie just looks at Sam and realizes her mistake. "No, Sam. This is your home. If I'm making you uncomfortable…"

"He ain't uncomfortable," Dean assures. "He just don't do grace."

"Then neither do I," Ellie says while looking to Sam. "I don't want to change your house. That's not my place. Let's eat."

"Ellie, it's ok," Sam says, a real and yet somewhat sad smile on his face. "Please. Ya live here. Heck, you made this meal. Say the grace you'd like ta say."

"Thank you, Sam," she smiles at him before placing her hands on the dinner table. She doesn't try to take the hands of the men around her as she doesn't know what their boundaries are at this point and clearly, concerning religion, the boundaries are most likely strong. She then closes her eyes and starts. "Lord, thank you for this bountiful meal. We are so thankful for your generosity when so many others are not nearly as fortunate. And I also thank you as you found it fit for me to be alive and at this very table to have this very meal after such a terrible ordeal. I feel I am forever in your debit. And please, bless the men I am in the company of for this meal. They are good, kind men and I thank you for steerin' me towards them in my most dyer time of need. Without them I would be but lost right now but you delivered me to them…"

Ellie pauses when she can feel a hand wrap around her own. She opens her eyes to see Dean looking at her, his brow wrinkled as he looks to her with concern and gratefulness.

"And I thank you for that. Amen."

Dean huffs a laugh to break the serious moment. "We dig in now, right?"

"Yes," Ellie lets go of a small laugh as she releases his hand.

And Sam rolls his eyes. "Just try not ta choke on the food this time, Dean. Go slow…"