Thankfully, the church was going to be completely empty save for Jim, the boys, and a caretaker that was scheduled to come by every week and kept to himself.

The church itself was big and had lots of space to explore, especially the forest that it was attached to. The boys held hands as they walked in, looking around in wonder.

John watched them carefully, wanting to see every reaction they had. Already he knew that if they weren't happy about or had any sort of misgivings about this place and about staying here, he'd tell Jim to find a different hunter to help him and take the boys away.

So far, they seemed more curious about the place than anything else. That had to be a good thing.

"It's less dangerous than Bobby's yard, I can tell you that much." Jim said with a slight smile. John recalled for a moment the yard and all the broken pieces of various sized metals and glass that were hidden under the gravel and grimaced, nodding in agreement.

"I just...I don't want them to get overwhelmed." John said, looking at the boys again. They were sitting on a pew together, whispering; or rather Dean was whispering and Sammy answered back however he answered Dean. Mary was in the front of the church, staring at the stained glass in wonder. "They've been through a lot, all of them."

"I'm aware, Bobby has told me the abridged version." Jim told him. "And rest assured, I'll make sure that they are taken care of. You can trust me John."

"I know, I know, it's just..." John said with a groan, rubbing at his face. "This is kinda the first time I'm leaving them somewhere and I'm just...I'm panicking and I don't get why."

"Because you are a father leaving his children somewhere while he does his job." Jim told him gently, yet slightly amused. "It's a normal parenting feeling to have John, nothing wrong about it."

John looked at him for a moment before turning back to the kids, they seemed to feel his gaze because they looked up at him as well, their eyes meeting.

John smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring way, whatever he had managed to do it seemed to work a bit because Dean smiled back at him and held Sammy closer to his chest.

Glancing at his watch, John shook his head. "Mary and I best be going." he said, already feeling the pit growing deeper in his stomach. "Don't suppose you have a way to keep her here too?"

"I could probably think of something but I'd rather not have a one woman-two child army going for my blood." Jim said cheerfully. "She'll be fine and so will you."

"That's the problem, I'm not entirely sure of that." John said, shaking his head before taking a deep breath. "Alright, let's do this."

He went to the front of the church where Mary was still standing, reaching out to take her hand in his. She slowly turned to look at him, squeezing his hand.

"Time to go." he told her softly, watching her nod. "You sure you don't want to stay here with the boys?"

It was something she had made perfectly clear on the ride over here, she was coming with him on this hunt and he had no right to say no. He could pull out all the stops and excuses but she refused to listen, getting that hard look in her eyes as she stood her ground.

Case in point she rolled her eyes and shook her head, raising an eyebrow at him as if she was expecting him to argue with her about this.

Again.

"Alright." he conceded, feeling his chest tighten a bit more. He was nowhere near ready to leave the kids nor was he ready to bring Mary to her very first hunt.

He also didn't have a choice in either one of those things.

Together they went to the pew where the boys were sitting and waiting for them. They hadn't been in the best of moods on the ride over once they realized that John was going to leave them, despite his quick and constant reassurances that he was going to come back for them, but once they got to the place and met Jim they relaxed a bit more.

Or, to be honest, the moment Sammy had met Jim and whatever his powers told him made him relax about the man, and the house for them to explore, they relaxed and were a lot more willing to remain here. Just with a few rules.

"We'll call you as soon as we get to the motel in the other town." John told him, watching Dean nod importantly. "And we'll call every night and morning too. In exchange, you boys just...try to relax here and if Jim needs your help with something, please help him."

Dean nodded again, followed by Sammy. John reached out to tug the boys closer to him so that they were on his lap and he could hug them, already feeling the panic spread more through him as everything solidified and he was going to have to leave them.

Mary scooted closer as well and joined the hug, the four of them clinging to one another. John looked down at his youngest. "Sammy, any advice for us?"

Sammy's forehead scorched up and his eyes clouded over slightly, only for a moment however as he blinked and they cleared. He rubbed at his head and shook his head, curling against Dean once more.

"Okay, that's fine. If you see something you can tell us when we call." John assured him, kissing the top of his head before doing the same to Dean. He took a deep breath, as much as he hated it, they had to leave.

"Okay." he said, steeling himself. He moved slowly and put the boys back onto the pew, hands on top of their heads. "We'll call you guys soon, love you both."

"Love you too daddy, love you mommy." Dean said, reaching out to touch their hands. He looked at his brother for a moment. "Sammy does too."

John smiled, relaxing slightly at those reassurances. He looked at Mary who was smiling as well, she hugged them too and then moved to stand with John once more.

Clearing his throat he nodded and forced himself to walk away, feeling like his feet were encased in lead. He passed Jim at the door frame and turned to look at him.

"You take care of them." he said, knowing that he didn't have to, Jim was a good hunter but he was a better man.

"I will." Jim promised him, bowing his head slightly.

The rest of the walk back to the car was in silence as he got into the driver's seat and Mary into the passenger seat. He got them onto the road, knowing that the more he procrastinated, the harder it would be to actually say goodbye and mean it.

Mary was humming in her seat, practically wiggling in excitement. Every time he looked at her her smile widened and slowly he started to smile too, her personality was contagious.

"You're excited to hunt, huh?" he asked her.

"Yes." Mary said with a nod, grinning widely. "And something else."

"What else?"

Her expression became a bit smug and with that John felt his stomach drop slightly.

"You didn't want to do anything with me because the boys were with us." she told him, grinning at the look of realization on his face. "Boys aren't with us now."

I do not own Supernatural.

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