A/N: And here there be Winchesters! This story runs screaming from SPN canon before Sam jumps into the Pit at the end of S5.

It was a little past ten in the evening as they were heading north from New Orleans. They had managed to get out of the city a couple of hours earlier. Cade's meeting had gone well; she was going to have ten to fifteen photos in the exhibit along with five other photographers.

She hadn't said much about the Charming situation, but Jax knew she was anxious as all hell about going back there. She had not been treated well, by anyone, when she was there last and the thought of going back there was fucking with her even if she refused to acknowledge it.

But he had a plan. Maybe. It depended on if Sam and Dean Winchester were in the middle of a hunt, or if they were enjoying some downtime. He had his fingers crossed it was the latter.

They had met Sam and Dean, along with their father John, a couple of weeks before Cade and Dean's twentieth birthday, roughly four months before his. Man, was that a fucking eye-opener. All of the things that he'd thought were horror stories, legends, and myths were actually fucking real and really went bump in the dark. His wife wasn't as shocked, but she believed in ghosts and spirits all along.

He had scoffed at the Winchester's right up to the moment a fucking werewolf had tried to attack Cade. Lucky for them both he'd had the presence of mind to lift the gun Dean had shoved in his hands a couple of hours before the attack and shoot the fucker in the face.

When it was done, John had looked both him and Cade over, asked what their plans were, and after calling him an 'insolent little shit', had offered to train them in the hunting life. It was kind of a natural fit. The way he'd been raised had left a natural inclination towards the outskirts of society, and at the time, less than a year removed from being outcast by his family, and Cade, less than two years from losing hers in a car accident, they had agreed.

Over the last fifteen years, the four of them had been through a lot. Both separately and together. Sam leaving the family fold to go to Stanford and get his 'normal' life and then having that go up in flames, along with his fiancée Jess. John selling his soul so Dean could live. Dean selling his so Sam could live. Dean going to Hell and then brought back so that he and Sam could be meatsuits for the apocalyptic throwdown between Michael and Lucifer. Dean had said no, but Sam had been getting ready to say 'yes' and enact his plan to jump in the pit with Lucifer riding along, when the man Himself, looking more like an awkward lush than the Almighty he really was, showed up and shut shit down like a boss. Or better put, a boss acting on the orders of one very angry Cade. He really hadn't thought his life could get stranger than having God, or Chuck as He calls Himself, tell him he has one very pretty but bossy wife. The only reply he could think of at the time had been to laugh, because fuck if He wasn't wrong.

Chuck hadn't stopped all Supernatural activity, there were still all sorts of evil creatures running around, demons still bartered for human souls, angels still did whatever the fuck it was they did. It was just that both sides now knew that Daddy was paying attention again, so the trying to end the human race had lost its' luster. As Cade said, the whole damned thing seemed like one big ploy to get an absentee parent to pay the fuck attention.

After sending Lucifer and Michael into the Pit to duke it out for a few millennia, Chuck sent the four of them to Lebanon, Kansas of all places, where they found a bunker from WWII that was a hunter's wet dream. Lore, weapons, and the space to live and train. Sam and Dean had been based there since the moment they'd set foot in it. He and Cade stayed there on and off, but they really were rolling stones, they liked the road. Plus, while she was fine with the bunker at night, Cade didn't like it during the day. She needed sunshine and that was something that the bunker lacked.

If he was gonna call anyone to help with this Charming clusterfuck it was going to be Sam and Dean. They had other friends, both in and out of the hunting life, but Sam and Dean were family. While Thomas and Ope couldn't really be replaced, Dean and Sam did a hell of a job. And Cade, who had been raised an only child, finally had brothers. Hell, her and Dean were, taking time differences into account, born twelve minutes apart (Dean was the elder, as he was always quick to remind her). She called the two of them 'Cosmic twins'. Dean rolled his eyes and called her a "fuckin' hippie" with grin.

As the last strains of a song he hadn't been listening to faded into a commercial, he looked over to his wife, who was staring off into the darkness rolling by. Her whole body was laced with a tension that set his teeth on edge. He'd offer to just drop her at the bunker and make a lightning trip out to Charming, deal with the legal shit and bolt, but he knew that she'd refuse before he even got the sentence out of his mouth.

Swiping the screen of his phone, he hit the contact icon for Dean's cel and put it on speaker. When Dean answered, he could see the tension start to leave Cade's posture.

"About fucking time you called. Sam's been dying to have his estrogen moment for hours now." Like Dean didn't sound half beside himself.

"Fuck you, jerk. Like you haven't been pacing the floor." Sam sounded offended in the background.

He needed to rein this in, and fast. These two could go from bicker to fight in no time flat. And lose the plot while doing so. They were kind of on a schedule, so..."I'm sure you've both been driving each other up a wall, so, yeah, I'm guessin' you caught the news?"

"Sam found it this morning. I held him off because the text Cade sent me about tequila was close to five this morning." He looked over at his wife, who shrugged and started looking at her phone. He had to remember to confiscate that thing when she decides to get her drunk on. A second later Cade giggled.

"Yeah." He could hear the fuckin' smirk on Dean's face. "So, I held emo-boy..."

"I'm thirty-one, Dean..."

Dean went on like Sam hadn't spoken. "Off well, until now. 'Cause dude, he had the phone in his hand, ready to emo."

There was a sound of a slight scuffle, and then Sam's voice was the predominant one. "How'd you find out?" Doing the sincere thing.

"Chibs tracked me down. Guess Gemma left me half the garage and house. Gotta go out there to sign that shit over to whoever the fuck wants it." He knew he sounded bitter and he was. They had exiled him and then Gemma pulls this shit, making him go back to a place he never wanted to return to. "Told him we'd be out there by Friday night." Hopefully Sam and Dean would hear the unspoken request.

"How much have you looked into what happened?" Sam sounded wary. He wasn't sure if it was over what Sam had found out, or his reaction.

"Other than the Sac Bee, not at all. Cade had a meeting about exhibiting some of her photos. I was concentrating on that." Plus, he really wasn't sure how much he wanted to know. He had the feeling this may be one of those times the less he knew, the better off they'd all be.

"Dude, the Sons are basically at the apex of a fucking gang war. The info I found made it seem like maybe your brother tied all of those loose ends up, but I know I'd feel a fuck-ton better if we went and had your backs." Sam sounded determined.

"Gotta go with emo-boy on that one." Dean's voice in the background.

He looked over to his wife, who was finally relaxed. Reaching over he gave her hand a quick squeeze. "Yeah, thanks." He wasn't even gonna try to pretend that this wasn't the result he wanted.

"Hey." Dean's voice was the predominate one again. "You two didn't really think we'd let you deal with this on your own, did you? 'Cause that's just fucked up after everything we've been through."

His wife finally deigned to speak. "No, we knew you'd have our backs, it just never hurts to say thanks." Then grinned at him. "Even to you."

Dean sputtered as Sam howled with laughter in the background. "Revenge is a bitch Cade, remember that."

Winking at him, he smiled knowing that his wife had Dean's number. "Then I guess you don't really need one of Stella's pies..." There was a bakery in Lincoln that had, according to Dean one of the most perfect apple pies in the country. And they would be there in roughly ten hours.

"Did I say something about revenge? Must be a sugar imbalance." Dean sounded almost appropriately contrite. "You stopping in Lincoln?"

"Yes, you suck up." Cade was back to herself, which meant winding Dean up was an opportunity not to be passed up. "Gotta stop and pick something up and shower and stuff like that. Maybe we'll have time to stop at Stella's..."

He knew they'd be stopping at Stella's, and he knew they were getting ready to hit a stretch of road where cel service became spotty. "Apple or cherry Dean?"

"Surprise me. Meet you in Grand Island, say one tomorrow afternoon?" Dean's voice was already breaking up.

"Yeah, we'll call if there's a change. See you then." Ending the call. Shoving his cel into his flannel pocket, he pulled his wife over to him and wrapped his arm around her, other hand on the wheel, flying down the highway. Even in a cage, there really was no better feeling. It made him feel nearly bulletproof.

"It's gonna be fine babe." Giving his wife a little squeeze. "We'll get there, sign the papers, deal with the funerals, and then get the fuck out. No hassles."

"Isn't it pretty to think so." Cade gave a sad laugh. "But I have the feeling it isn't gonna be that easy, sugar." She wrapped an arm around his torso as she hooked her chin on his shoulder. "No matter how much we want it to be." Kissing his cheek. "Wake me up in a few hours, so I can take over driving. So you can at least pretend to sleep." Sliding down to use his thigh as a pillow.

"Sure darlin'." Knowing that he'd probably not. Normally, he'd do it, no problem. He just wasn't sure he really felt like sleeping anytime soon. If he did, he had the feeling his dreams would be less than pleasant. And he really hated having nightmares in the car. They usually ended with him waking up because he would flail and hit himself on something, including one time, his elbow on the back of Cade's head. Funny enough, that actually hurt his elbow more than her head.

Stroking his wife's hair, he pushed down on the accelerator a little more, giving a little satisfied hum at the purr from Betty's engine. He felt a little better now that he knew Sam and Dean would have their backs in Charming. Plus, they would be in Lincoln in about ten hours, and Dean and Cade weren't the only ones who looked forward to Stella's.

Four words. Chocolate Sour Cream Cake.

Pushing their speed again, he hoped his wife was wrong and that this wouldn't end up being the clusterfuck it seemed destined to be.

A/N: The bakery in Lincoln does not exist, all though there are many excellent bakeries there. Stella's is based on the late owner of a now defunct cafe in downtown Lincoln, Kuhl's. Stella was legendary for her baked goods as well as the homey atmosphere she created in her place. And yes, the Chocolate Sour Cream Cake was amazing. -Kat