The next time they made a pit stop John took a moment to call Bobby to check on the other man, which was in hindsight a mistake.
"Pastor Jim needs help." Bobby told him after the greetings from one another. "He's all tied up with being a priest and all the goodness that it entails, needs an extra set of hands to take on a job that's out of town. Close enough to his problem, not close enough that he could do it himself in the middle of the night."
John held back a groan, rubbing at his eyes. He glanced to where Mary and the boys were, they had left the car to stretch and Mary looked at him, smiling.
John managed a smile back at her before turning his attention back to the phone call. "And there's no one else out there?" he asked. "I promised them I'd take them to the warm south."
"Well ain't you just the Partridge Family." Bobby snorted. "And unfortunately no, I tried my best to outsource it but no one else is in the vicinity, available, or willing. I think Jim burned some bridges when he put the collar on."
John breathed out slowly, looking at the other three again. "What's he hunting?" he relented and asked.
"Doesn't know yet, all that he's got is a bunch of dead bodies coming up dead in weird ways." Bobby said, he could hear the other man shaking his head. "Narrows it down, doesn't it?"
"I can almost pick the monster now." John said, rolling his eyes. He did some quick calculations in his head. "Alright, call him and let him know that I can be there in about two hours. And I'm not coming alone."
"I already told him about the ankle biters, he's amused but he said he has the room to put everyone up while a hunts going on. Won't even make them go to early Sunday Mass."
He couldn't even remember the last time he had gone to Mass, let alone making the kids or Mary go to church in any way other than pure necessity to have something blessed.
"Fine, call him back and let him know we're on the way." John said. "Take care Bobby."
"You too Winchester."
John hung up the phone at that, bringing a hand down his face as he tried to figure out the best way to get to Jims and to let the others know.
It wasn't about not going south, he knew that they were looking forward to the warmth; especially somewhere Mary could actually wear her yellow dress, but they weren't the type to complain about it.
No, the hardest part was Mary. Ideally she would stay back with Jim and the boys to make sure that they were okay and that she was safe.
But realistically...she was going to want to go with him. It had been growing inside of her more and more, about getting out there and hunting something. It was like she said, she was a Campbell. And Campbells were hunters.
He wasn't even sure what he was going to have to hunt, or how dangerous it was. Mary was nowhere near ready to go on any kind of a hunt.
But she was also not going to take no for an answer.
"Guys, change of plans." he said as he reached the car. "We're going to have to stop somewhere else first, a family friend needs help."
Mary looked at him questioningly. "Another hunter?" she asked, turning to face him completely.
"Another hunter." he confirmed with a nod. "So we're going to spend some time at his place, he's a priest."
Mary looked amused at that but the boys didn't look like they recognized what that was. "You'll see, he's a nice man."
He looked at the boys, Sammy had that familiar look that he wasn't in the present again. Reaching out he lightly touched Sammy's arm, bringing him back. "You see anything important kiddo?"
Sammy blinked, his eyes clearing. He looked at Dean and slid over on the seat to press into his side. "People." he muttered, clinging to Dean. "People."
"Good or bad people?" John asked. One benefit to having a psychic half mute child, his patience had gotten a lot better.
Sam just blinked at him, turning his head to curl more into Dean who wrapped his arms around him. "Hunters." he muttered once more.
That...was either a good thing or a bad thing. He tended to stay away from hunters for specific reasons, like the whole escapade they had at Bobbys or the type that Deans biological father had been.
But he also wasn't going to get anything else out of Sammy, the kid was still working on the whole powers and talking about it, he was grateful for whatever it was they got from him.
And if something really bad was going to happen and Sammy knew, he was sure that he would tell them something.
John nodded and leaned in to kiss the top of Sammys head that he could reach, stroking over Deans head. The other boy just stared at him, holding onto his little brother.
"Alright, after this, we go south." he promised them. "For now, let's just get this over with."
I do not own Supernatural.
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The following chapters are influenced and are suggestions based on what vrskaandrea has sent to me. Thank you!
