Chapter 7

Morning came and Sam rolled over in bed and looked at the clock. It was after ten am and he had no desire to get up. It seemed like things had happened so fast the past couple of weeks that he had not had time to process it and it all came raining down on him at one time. His mind was dull and not wanting to work right and he was having trouble sleeping more than an hour or two at a time. He was usually the optimistic one that saw the bright side of things or could see a happy ending, but not this time.

The loss of their Mom hit him harder than he expected. He had not had her in his life for over thirty-four years and when she did come back, she'd been taken away before he really got to know her. They had not started bonding until she broke free from the British Men of Letters and started staying at the bunker again. He was finally starting to know what it felt like to have a Mom and to be loved by her but that was taken away when Lucifer pulled Mary through the rift. He didn't know if she was alive or dead and it tore him up inside wondering what hell she was in or if she was alive.

He could hear movement outside his door but didn't bother acknowledging it. Sam had taken to leaving his door open partway in case Jack needed him during the night, but with Cas here now, he knew it wasn't necessary anymore. Maybe that was another thing that depressed him, feeling useless and not needed. It had never bothered him before when there were times he seemed to be left out of things, but for some reason he felt things differently and they affected him more, but he would never say anything out loud. Especially to his brother. He had enough to deal with without having to worry about him.

Dean came down the hall and paused at his brother's bedroom door but didn't knock or go in. He could see through the crack that Sam was still in bed but he seemed to be restless as he turned over throwing an arm over his face, and doubted he was asleep. He could tell something was off with him ever since their mother was dragged into that other world, but he thought he would shake it off, especially with Jack to think about. Now it seemed to have gotten worse over the past few days where he was lucky to see Sam by lunchtime and then maybe for only long enough for him to eat a few bites before he would disappear again for the rest of the day. Dean knew this wasn't healthy for him and was trying to figure a way to get him out of this funk he was in. He quietly moved away and decided to find them a hunt to take his mind off of everything that had happened. He headed for the library to grab his laptop and see what was out there that might be a hunt.

spn

"Where's Sam?" Castiel asked when he saw Dean walk into the room alone.

"Bedroom," Dean answered in clipped words.

"Is something wrong with him? Is he sick?"

"Should I go check on him?" Jack asked wanting to be helpful. "I've not seen very much of him lately. I can go keep him company."

"Naw, he'll be okay. He just needs some space to deal with things. He has his own way of coping."

"We are going outside to practice if you need us," Castiel informed him.

"I'm good. Go get some fresh air," Dean mumbled with a wave of his hand wanting to be alone himself.

Castiel and Jack climbed the stairs to the metal door that led outside and went through it. Dean didn't bother to look up as he turned on his laptop and waited for it to boot up. There had to be something out there that was fairly close they could check out. He wanted to get Sam out of the bunker and get his mind working on the aspects of a hunt so it would take it off of the lost of their Mom. He had seen how close they were becoming and how much he craved her attention at times. It was like he was making up for all those years without her, trying to cram everything in as quickly as he could. When his laptop finally booted up, Dean began to search through sites they used to find cases to see what was out there.

Castiel and Jack walked out into a field that was beside the bunker and took in the nice weather. A soft breeze was blowing in the trees and the sun was shining warmly down on them. Jack smiled and walked away taking in all that Mother Nature had to offer. He watched birds soaring through the sky, squirrels scampering around at the tree line hunting food, butterflies flittering from bushes gathering pollen, and took in all the sounds that were new to him. Castiel watched him explore as he reached to pick a wild flower to study it. He guessed this was all foreign to him since he never got the chance to grow up like most children did. He knew he should press Jack to practice, but couldn't deny him this time to experience the world around him.

"I like it out here," Jack commented after a few minutes as he tilted his head to let the sun shine on it. "I wish we had windows so we could see out."

"Well it wouldn't be a bunker if we had that. Besides you have to remember it's underground for a reason and warded."

"I know, there are dangers out there that we need to be protected from."

"Yes, why don't we work on using your powers and then maybe we'll go for a walk in the woods?"

"I'd like that," Jack said eagerly as he came back over to Castiel. "What do you want me to do?"

spn

Sam was not asleep, but he wasn't quit awake either when a buzzing noise brought him out of his trance. He looked toward the source and saw his cell was vibrating on the nightstand.

"H'llo," he answered trying to shake the sluggishness from his body.

"Sam! How are you?" Jody Mills greeted him.

"Hey Jody, about the same. How's it going with you?"

"Not so good. The reason I called I think I have a case that might be one of yours and was wondering if you and Dean could come check it out."

"Don't see why not. Where's Claire?" Sam asked knowing she would have been on it since she had started hunting.

"She's out in New Mexico tracking down some monster with George and Matt."

"Well at least she's not alone this time." Sam replied.

"Yeah, it took a lot of begging but she finally agreed to take backup and they're both capable hunters so they should be able to watch each other's backs."

"I'll go tell Dean and we'll head your way. We'll see you this evening," Sam told her as he got out of bed.

"Thanks Sam, I'll be looking for you and you boys be careful."

Sam hung up and grabbed his duffle to quickly pack for the trip. He changed clothes and headed toward the main living area to find Dean and let him know so he could pack to leave.

"Hey, Jody just called, she may have a hunt for us," Sam announced as he sat his bag on the table and moved on to the kitchen to grab something to eat.

"Great, I'll go pack," Dean replied not bothering to tell him that was what he was doing.

"Where's Cas and Jack?"

"Outside, we'll let them know on the way out."

Sam only nodded since he had his mouth full of yogurt as he wolfed it down. He found waters in the fridge to take with them and tossed a couple of power bars in the tote bag with the waters. His mind was already spinning on what this hunt might be since Jody didn't give any real clues about it.

Fifteen minutes later they were in the Impala and heading north toward Sioux Falls. Sam had found Cas and Jack to let them know where they were going and had to wiggle out of Jack coming with them. He explained to Jack he needed to train and he didn't know anything about hunting yet but if they needed backup he would call. This seemed to appease him and Cas said he would also start training him about hunting to perk him up.

spn

It was early evening when the Impala slowly rolled through the small town of Sioux Falls. Sam had called Jody when they were near and she was going to meet them at the police station. They looked around at the familiar sites that they passed since this was all well known to them and brought back memories of better times and family they had lost.

Dean pulled into a parking space in front of the station and killed the engine. They got out and headed for the front door to find Jody.

"Boys! Glad you could make it," Jody greeted them when she saw them coming through the door.

"Jody," Sam said, smiling as he hugged her and stepped back so Dean could have his turn.

"Hey Jody," Dean mumbled stepping into her arms and returning her hug before stepping back so he could see her. "What's going on?"

"There's some type of creature in the forest outside of town that is attacking hikers and disappearing with them. I've not found any of the bodies of the missing hikers." Jody began explaining. "It's got me worried."

"Has anyone seen it?" Sam asked.

"One person and she was hysterical at the time I talked to her, but I got from her that it looked like something part human/part snake. At least that's what I finally got out of her. She said her and her boyfriend were hiking and heard someone crying for help and went to see if they could help. They were attacked by whatever the hell it is. Her boyfriend fought it and told her to run. It drug him into the brush and he's not been seen since. I've had a search party out there, but we didn't find anything. She said it didn't have legs, but looked like a snake from the waist down."

"A snake?" Dean questioned in disbelief.

"I know, sounds wacky to me too, but I've got missing hikers and no clue what to do. Have you guys run across anything like this before?"

"No, it's a new one to us. If you'll give us the locations where the hikers went missing and anything else you have. We'll get a motel room and see if we can figure out what it is and how to kill it," Dean told her.

"Nonsense, you can stay with me. I'll have Alex move into the other bedroom and you can take the one with twin beds. Alex is working third shift this week anyway so she'll be sleeping during the day."

"We couldn't put you out," Sam said.

"I'm cooking," Jody teased knowing how they liked home cooked meals.

"We are in," Dean stated quickly giving Sam a look of he better not turn down a good home cooked meal.

"If it's not too much bother," Sam relented.

"Good, I can go over what I have and show you on a map where the hikers went missing. It'll be easier this way," she said. "Wanna follow me home? It'll be too dark to do anything tonight anyway."

"Lead the way," Dean said giving Sam a thumb's up.

Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head at his brother's antics, but knew he was being Dean and went with it. His mind was already working on what this creature might be and he was wondering if it was linked to some Native American legend. That was going to be his starting point and go from there. Sam was sure Cas and Jack could look things up at the bunker if he needed additional information.

The brothers got in the Impala and waited as Jody got into her SUV and pulled from the sheriff's office. They followed her across town to her house. Jody had been a friend for a long time and had adopted two young women when they had nowhere else to go. Claire was Jimmy Novack's daughter, who was the vessel Castiel possessed when he came to earth all those years ago. Even thought the body had been destroyed several times, he was always brought back with the same body. After all Claire had been through, losing her father and mother, she decided to become a hunter. Jody wasn't happy with this, but she couldn't stop her, so she did what she could to prepare her. Alex was a young woman Jody and the brothers had rescued from a vampire family and she accepted Jody's offer to stay with her. She went back to school and now worked at the local hospital as a nurse. She could fight if needed, but preferred to help people in a different way.

Dean parked beside Jody and got out, going around back to open the trunk so they could get their bags. Sam grabbed his and they followed her inside.

"I have leftover meatloaf if you guys want a sandwich to tide you over," she offered.

"That sounds good, need any help?" Dean asked dropping his bag by the couch.

"Nope, I'll just throw some frozen fries in the oven to go with them and Sam I have some salad too if you'd like some."

"That's fine, I'm not hard to please," Sam replied to get a gruff laugh from his brother. He gave him a bitch face and mouthed 'jerk' to him.

Dean mouthed back 'bitch' before changing his expression to one of innocence when Jody looked around at them like a mother getting ready to scold her kids.

"You two want a beer?"

"I'll get them and Sammy can set the table for you," Dean offered, smirking at Sam.

"What's been going on in your neck of the woods? How's your Mom?" she asked and looked up when silence filled the room. She looked at the brothers before continuing. "What's happened now?"

"Mom's gone," Dean said bluntly. He couldn't hide the pain as he said it but kept his emotions pulled in.

"Gone where? Is she okay?"

"We don't know. Lucifer's son was born and when that happened a rift was created to another world. One where angels have taken over and have destroyed most of it. We were trying to trap Lucifer there, but he killed Cas and when Mom attacked he pulled her into the rift with him and it closed," Sam explained.

"Lucifer has a son? Cas is dead? And there's another world out there?" Jody asked in disbelief.

"No Cas is alive, Jack brought him back. That's what his Mom named him, Jack."

"A baby brought Cas back?"

"Not so much a baby as an adult. When he was born, he grew like within an hour to we're guessing like seventeen or eighteen years old."

"Why should I be surprised about any of this after what I have seen and been through. Do you know if your Mom's okay?"

"We don't know, we're hoping when Jack gets better trained to use his powers he can open up the rift again and we can go find her."

"Oh boys I'm so sorry. You sure you want to handle this case? I can see if there's anyone else around."

"No, we need the distraction. It'll do us good to have a hunt."

"If I can do anything to help you just tell me."

"Thanks Jody," Sam said trying to give her a brief smile. She had been like a mother to them over the years and he knew they could depend on her when they needed her.

A/N: Jack is in training and the brothers are keeping busy with a hunt. Thank you for taking this journey with me and I hope you are enjoying it. It was fun to write Jack. I do like reviews if you can take a moment to leave one. NC