AN: There is SO MUCH in season 13 that I had a really hard time choosing what to write about. Much of the big stuff is just too much to cover in one chapter, so I decided to focus on Dean's attitude towards Jack. Some people seem to think he was overly harsh, but I can completely understand it. Lucifer apologists won't like this chapter, but there is so much he did that I don't believe can be justified. JMHO of course. Anyhow, one of the many things I admire about the character of Dean is that while he doesn't do it easily, he is willing to have his mind changed. And once he's on your team, he is all in.

This ties into season 13, episode 4, The Big Empty.

Stormysea-breaks and Shazza19: I'm so glad you liked the last chapter! It was fun to write some of the seminal characters, and I tried to keep it light by having some serious scenes (John's – ouch!) interspersed with lighter ones. The story about Mary is based on something my own grandmother did. Girls weren't supposed to know how to swim, but she couldn't be bothered to care, and she was a sort of infamous for regularly jumping into a local lake off a tree. Here's to the iconoclasts and rule breakers!

CHAPTER 19: To Change a Stubborn Man

Bobby could almost hear Michael Buffer announcing the stare down that was currently taking place in his kitchen. "In the red corner, this man is a fearsome hunter, master with blade or gun. He stands 6 feet, 1 inch tall and we couldn't get a weigh-in because he never takes off his leather jacket. He holds the record for most salt-and-burns in one night by a single hunter, with an Aztec burial site with over 100 angry ghosts. He is the reigning champion in the stubbornness hall of fame, but he's in for a real contest tonight, folks. It's Joooooooooooooooooooooohn WINchester! Fighting out of the blue corner, we have big brother extraordinaire, master of getting Sammy to laugh. He weighs in at 42 lbs and stands 3 feet, 5 inches tall. This speedy five-year-old can eat a pancake faster than a grown man and fake napping like nobody I've ever seen. He takes protectiveness to a whole 'nother level, and is gunning for John's championship belt tonight. It's Deeeeeeeeeeean WINchester!"

Although one half of the stare down had just learned to tie his shoes, it was one for the ages. You see, John had just informed his son that in a few weeks, he'd be starting kindergarten. And more to the point, that he'd have to leave Sammy behind five days a week. Dean was an active child, but also very obedient. But in this instance, he had announced that no, he absolutely, under no circumstances, would go to kindergarten unless Sammy could come too. John had explained that Sammy was too little, so Dean had reasoned that he'd just wait and they'd go together when Sammy was big enough. Sick of explaining himself, John came back with, "No, you're going, and that's final."

Bobby could swear he heard old Western music cuing up the standoff. "C'mon, Sammy, let's take a walk," he grumbled, refusing to get roped in. He scooped up the 1-year-old, who had been banging a cupboard door shut over and over. (John and Dean were so intent on their glare-off that neither had so much as flinched at the loud noise.)

"Be!" cried Sammy, holding up his arms to be picked up.

Bobby ignored the way Dean's eyes shot to him, as if sizing up his pick-up-the-baby-brother technique. He trusted Bobby, but it was like it was a reflex. "Yes, that's my beard," he said to the toddler in his arms, who was patting the facial hair in question. "But can you say Bobby? I really don't want to be called 'beard' forever."

"Be!" giggled Sammy, a response that normally would have drawn a smile from his brother. But Dean had other priorities. Bobby sighed. Heaven save him from stubborn Winchesters.

"You won't be like that, will you, Sammy?" he asked the child quietly, as they walked out onto the porch. "You'll be calm and reasonable, right? Not stubborn."

"Be!"

"Yeah, I shoulda figured."

In the end, Dean did go to school, of course, though Bobby never did learn how John convinced him. Nobody told him that Sammy had cried for Dean the entire time he was gone for the first two weeks, though Bobby would have bet his house that Dean guessed. Still, he stuck it out and didn't fight them on it anymore. Dean was an incredibly adaptable child, adjusting to staying different places, never having a set sleep schedule, etc. What he didn't like were the big changes, anything that upset his family dynamic or worldview. Nobody liked the big changes, Bobby supposed, but they were harder for Dean than most, probably because he made up his mind quickly and stuck with it. He seemed to have his own code of behavior built in. So though it took him a while to accept it, once he said he'd go to kindergarten, the boy would go to kindergarten.

WINCHESTER * WINCHESTER

There was nothing and nobody that Dean Winchester hated more than Lucifer. Azazel was nothing more than Lucifer's lapdog, so all of his machinations came back to the devil. That included messing with Sam, killing Mom, taking Dad's life, Dean ending up in hell, the demon blood, all of it. Beyond that, it seemed like Lucifer was the one who messed up this lousy world to start with, getting humans kicked out of Eden. More relevant to Dean, Lucifer had dogged Sam, pushing him to make the horrific decision to let the king of evil wear him, use him. He'd taken Sam's face, his voice, even his smile, and used them like he'd gotten new toys. Lucifer had made it necessary for Sam to go into the pit, and had tortured him there in ways that Dean couldn't even begin to think about if he wanted to keep his own sanity.

And speaking of sanity, Lucifer's torture had literally driven Sam out of his mind and almost killed him. This was even after he'd been shoved in his cage. He managed to mess with Sam's mind again. A joint effort of well-meaning but horrible decisions let him out of the cage, so he could kill a bunch more people and, oh yeah, father a freaking child, which all of heaven and hell seemed to agree was a Really Bad Thing. This spawn would pop out so powerful that even Luci himself would pale in comparison. Its birth alone killed its own mother.

Then Lucifer, seeming to think there wasn't enough pain in the Winchester's lives, killed Cas and dragged Mom off to kill her too. Again.

So yeah, Dean wanted nothing more than to kill whatever twisted thing was Lucifer's child. He wanted – almost needed – to prevent it from following the path of its demented father in causing misery. And he hoped that he could kill it and cause Lucifer some pain, some piece of payback.

Then Sam felt sorry for it. How he could, Dean couldn't understand. This was not a young man. It was not Jack, not Kelly's son. This was a graft off the devil, the greatest evil there was, making it the greatest threat imaginable.

But for Cas, who had believed that it could be good, Dean would try. For Sam, who related to Jack because he had thought himself a monster and still wasn't quite sure that he was redeemable, Dean would try. And for Kelly, who had deserved better, Dean would try. He hated it. He hated Jack. But he would try.

Then Buddy the shapeshifter used Dean's own voice to lure Sam to come in unarmed and had shot at him. And Jack had changed the bullet's trajectory so it slammed into the wall instead of Sammy's heart. If he never did anything else right in his life, Dean wouldn't forget that when he couldn't protect Sam, Jack found a way.

Dean might not change his mind easily, but he would change it if he saw real evidence that he'd been wrong. So back in the bunker, he swallowed his hate and finally saw Jack and not Lucifer in the young man before him. "You did good today, Jack."