Hermione reappeared in a cell with no obvious doors or windows. She spun around to see a stunned Dean Winchester, staring at her with his mouth open.

"Babe, it worked," he breathed out, still in awe.

"It did. We need to move quick before whoever has you looks at whatever monitoring system they have and sees me. Where's Sam?"

"Cell next to mine," Dean answered, moving toward a wall. "Behind here, I heard him shouting out."

"Move," Hermione said, pulling out her wand. She waited while Dean moved out of the way before pointing her wand and shouting, "Bombarda Maxima," and blowing a hole in the wall.

When the dust cleared, she saw Sam standing opposite the wall, with the same stunned expression that Dean had when she first appeared.

"How.." Sam started.

"I'll explain later, get over here, we need to get out, now."

Sam didn't hesitate before running across his cell and leaping through the hole Hermione had created. She reached out, taking a hold of both their hands before turning on the spot and getting them out of there.

OoO

When they reappeared, Dean tried to get his bearings quickly, and smirked when he saw Sam fall to the ground, heaving. It took a lot of practice when they were in London, but when they were practicing that new tracing spell, Hermione apparated Dean a lot, and he was proud of the first time he was able to land without losing his breakfast.

He then turned his attention to his witch. His wonderful witch. He wrapped his arms around her, placing a kiss on her head as she buried her face in his chest. It worked. Lucifer was in the cage. The tracking spell they put in place for emergencies did its damn job. Now to find Cas and Kelly and solve this fucking nephelim problem, and then everything will settle down and become normal. He could ease back into cases, and they could start their family.

"Dean! Sam!" a voice interrupted his inner celebration, and, without letting go of Hermione, he looked up and saw his mom standing there, next to some dude who had his gun drawn on them.

"Mom?" he asked. "What are you doing here, and who the hell is this? And why is he pointing a gun at us?"

"Arthur Ketch, British Men of Letters," the dude said, not lowering his gun. "Please move out of the way so I can rid the world of the witch without using you as collateral damage."

"What? No way," Dean said, letting go of Hermione and moving to stand in front of her. Sam, newly recovered from puking his guts out, also stood, building a wall between Hermione and the Man of Letters.

"Fine," Ketch said, before pulling the trigger. He heard his mom shout in protest, and waited for the impact of the bullet, but he never felt it. He looked down and saw Hermione's wand sticking out between him and Sam he moved to the side and smirked at the look of absolute fury on her face.

"You did that non-verbally this time," Sam commented.

"I'm much stronger this time," Hermione replied, not taking her eyes off of Ketch. "Expelliarmus," she said, flicking her wand. The gun flew out of Ketch's hand and Dean easily caught it mid-air. "Accio firearms," she said flicking her wand toward Ketch and his mom, watching as two more guns came hurdling toward them, both of which Sam caught easily. After she felt that they were safe, she lowered her wand, but didn't re-holster it.

"What the hell, man?" Sam exclaimed. "Shooting at my sister?"

"She's a witch."

"She's not your sister."

Mary and Ketch both responded at the same time.

Dean looked from one to the other before deciding it would be easier to deal with Ketch first.

"She's a born witch, she doesn't consort with any demons. She's good, you don't need to kill her."

"A witch is a witch. No such thing as a good one. It's in our code."

"Fuck your code," Dean said. "You try to kill my girlfriend again, I'm going to put a fucking bullet in your head."

"Won't be your girlfriend for long," Ketch muttered.

"What?"

"Just saying, we drove all the way here so your mum could convince you to dump her, so I'm thinking she won't be in the picture long, so putting a bullet in her head won't make you too sad."

Dean heard the sound of a gun cocking and he looked over to see Sam aiming it right at Ketch.

"Sammy," Dean said. Sam turned to look at him, and Dean gave him a little nod. Sam nodded back, before turning his attention back to Ketch and his mom.

"Really, mom? Did you even need my help on a case?" he said, trying to not sound hurt.

"Yes," his mom said. "I do. But I was concerned about all the text messages you were sending me asking me about when it was a good time to have a baby, and I decided I needed to come and tell you in person that as hunters it's never a good time to have a baby. And if she," she pointed to Hermione "is trying to trap you with something you can't have, then maybe she needs to go."

He heard Hermione growl and watched as his mom flinched in pain and grabbed her thigh.

"Hermione! Not helpful," he said.

"Sorry. It was just a stinging hex. Nothing harmful. Just so you know, before I was able to come find you, she told me in not so many words that when you were tired of sleeping with me, you would send me on my way. That I was just some passing fancy. And I was definitely not family. She made that point very clear."

Dean sighed. "Okay, you know what. We aren't doing this here. We're going to hash everything out back at the bunker. Except you," he pointed at Ketch. "You can go back to wherever it is that you're from and just stay. We don't want you here."

"Oh, Dean, we're already here."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't worry," Ketch said, climbing into his car. "You'll find out soon enough. And oh, witch? I would sleep with one eye open," he made a gun out of his fingers and pointed them at Hermione before giving a wink and climbing in his car and driving away.

OoO

Sam walked into the bunker, leading the way for everyone else to follow behind him. They drove through the night, he and Dean alternating drivers, Hermione remaining up front with whichever brother was driving. It was the most tense drive they had been on in a while. It was nice that for a change the tension wasn't between him and his brother. Of course, it really sucked that it was between everyone and his mom.

They had decided to not give his mom her weapon back. It was safer that way. Not with the way she had treated Hermione. Before they left back to the bunker, Sam and Dean had pulled Hermione to the side and asked her what happened while they were missing. She filled them in on everything that had happened in the short interaction she had with their mom before she had come to their rescue. He had to stop Dean from kicking their mom out of the car and driving off without her. Sam couldn't blame him. He didn't like that mom was treating Hermione like she was nothing, when she was everything. Without her Dean would never have gotten that mark off of his arm, and for that alone, she had earned a spot in the family.

And while for a few days after they had had sex he doubted her theory of them sleeping together being what they needed to get over the what ifs, he had honestly easily moved on to thinking of her as a sister. He saw she and Dean together, and it didn't hurt anymore. He was ready to move on, and it showed in their interactions. The bunker had a much better atmosphere than it did before. And he was able to function in there like a normal human being. He loved Hermione, but he loved her like part of the family. Like a sister he never had. Like he had loved Charlie when she was around. It was refreshing.

They all moved around the table in the war room, taking a seat. Dean and Hermione on one side him and mom on the other.

"So, you disappear without a word, ignore our texts and calls, and come back to, what? Break up Hermione and I?"

"That's not-"

"No, mom, I'm pretty sure that's what happened."

"You don't understand," Mary said.

"Then make us understand," Sam spoke up. "Help us understand what's going on. Because you can't just come in here and try to ruin our relationships."

Mary sighed. "You guys don't understand. I tried what you are going to try, Dean. I settled down. I left hunting. I started a family. And what did that get me? Dead. And my husband and sons dragged into the life I tried to leave behind. You can't leave this business voluntarily. You leave it in a body bag. And that's not fair to your partner and whatever children you bring into the world."

"I'm not leaving hunting," Dean said. "We've definitely decided on that, right, Glinda?"

"Right. There's absolutely no reason why he would need to leave hunting. I'm a witch. Who survived a war. Any children we have? Will probably be magical as well. When they turn eleven, they'll be in boarding school most of the year, learning how to do magic, and they'll be more protected than they could ever be here. They'll know how to defend themselves. If something bad happens here, I can send them away in a blink of an eye, or get all of us out. We know the risks. We have contingency plans," Hermione explained. Sam couldn't help but smile. Of course she had a long-winded answer ready for Mary.

Mary sighed. "That's another thing. Dean, a witch, really? You can have anyone, and you're choosing a witch?"

"What's wrong with a witch?" Dean said, leaning forward in his chair resting his elbows on the table, giving Mary a hard look.

"She's not...human," Mary said.

"Excuse me?" It was Hermione's turn to lean forward in her chair. "I'm perfectly human."

"I'm sorry, but I've seen what you can do, and no one who is human can do those sort of things. You're a demon, admit it."

"I am not a fucking demon," Hermione seethed. "I was born September 19, 1979 to Jack and Helen Granger in England. Up until the age of eleven I was raised like a normal child of two dentists. When I was eleven, we were paid a visit by Professor McGonnagall from Hogwarts School of Wizardry, who explained that all those strange things I would do when I would have emotional outbursts was due to the fact that I was born, take note of that word there, Mary, born, a witch. I went off to school, made friends with Harry Potter, the savior of the Wizarding World, and was dragged into a war I should have been too young to fight in. And no matter what I did, I was always treated like less than, because I was born to two Muggles and not into a family of wizards. But I moved past that. I survived the war. I married a wonderful wizard. Where I was treated less than because I couldn't bear him children due to the injuries I received whilst I was being tortured during the war. So, excuse me while I refuse to sit here and be treated as less than by my boyfriend's mother. I'm done with it.

"I'm sorry that you don't feel like I'm worthy of your son. I don't know what I can do to convince you, but I'm not entirely sure I want to at this point. But I'm not going anywhere, not willingly. I love Dean. I love him more than I knew it was possible to love another person. So, if you're hoping you'll insult me enough until I give up and leave, it's not going to work. I'm here for the long haul," Hermione stood up from the table, pressing a kiss to Dean's temple as she stood. "I'm going to go have a lie down. I'm exhausted."

They watched as she left the room before they turned and faced their mom.

"A demon?" Dean said. "Really?"

"I'm sorry, all the witches I've met have all made a deal with a demon, and-"

"No," Dean said. "No, you don't get to apologize to me. I'm pretty sure we've told you she's a born witch. In fact I'm one hundred percent sure that we told you that she's a born witch. So you don't get to go and apologize about this. Where have you been, mom?"

Mary sighed. "Here and there. I've been trying to adjust to this new life."

"You could have stayed here. I would have helped you," Sam said.

Mary shook her head. "Being here was messing with me. It was overwhelming. I'd been dead for thirty-three years, Sam. Thirty-Three years. That's a long time. And to suddenly be thrust into this new century with all this new technology with grown sons who I don't even know. It's just...I couldn't handle it. It was overwhelming and I panicked, so I left."

"That's all understandable, but why wouldn't you at least answer our texts? Our calls? We were worried. You could have at least mentioned that you were fine. At least once."

"The phone died, pretty soon after I left here. And it took me a while before I could find a charger to make it work again. When I got a charge back, it turned on and I was bombarded with all your texts and your voice mails. It took me a while to sort through them all. When I finally got through them, I knew I needed to come back here and talk to you, Dean. Your texts, asking me about when I knew it would be a good time to have you? Those made me panic. I have first hand experience of leaving the life and trying to live normally. It didn't end well, I couldn't have that for you, too. Plus, if you have a kid, that means you're old enough to have a kid. And make me a grandma. To me, you guys were just born not old enough to make me a grandma, and so I panicked. I convinced Ketch to take me to you guys so that I could stop everything from happening."

"Wait," Sam interrupted. "What do you mean, convinced Ketch? What were you doing with the British Men of Letters?"

"I've been hunting with them since shortly after I left here. They met up with me, took me to their headquarters, and it didn't take much convincing to team up with them."

"Headquarters?" Dean asked.

"Yes, headquarters. They've set up a base of operations here in the United States. Did you know that they no longer have any monsters in Europe? So they've moved here, to start systematically ridding the States of them."

Sam and Dean exchanged a look. What Ketch had said before he left them echoed in Sam's mind. From his determination to kill Hermione, they were probably killing indiscriminately. Good and bad. They would have to be careful which of their contacts they communicated with until they could take care of the British Men of Letters.

Sam was going to ask more questions, but was stopped when the door to the bunker opened. He looked up and saw Castiel walk in. He was alone.

"Hey," Dean called up. "Where's Kelly?"

"I don't know. She stole my car and drove away."

"She stole your...did you at least get her to take care of..." Dean made a gesture around his belly, miming a pregnant belly.

Cas shook his head. "No, she told me she was going to the bathroom, but that was a lie. She left through the bathroom window and stole my car. I don't know where she is."

Sam closed his eyes. Of course. They rid the world of Lucifer, and now they had the birth of his child looming over them. So much for life getting easier after Lucifer. Why do they ever say anything out loud? All they do is jinx themselves. And this time, they jinxed themselves big time.