A/N: I just wanted to let you guys know that the month long break I took from posting was because I was terribly sick. Like... I was almost hospitalised... so yeah, that's why I was MIA.

Bamby

SPOV

I stood with Ruby in an abandoned warehouse, looking over the demon we'd tied and trapped in a Devil's trap. "Where's Lilith?" I asked him, not for the first time.

"Kiss my ass," was his response, as he turned his eyes black.

I scoffed at his comment, giving an unamused smile. "I'd watch myself if I were you."

"Why? Huh? Because you're Sam Winchester, Mr Big Hero? And yet here you are, slutting around with some demon. Real hero."

"Shut your mouth," I warned.

But he ignored me, going on, testing my patience and temper. "Tell me about those months without your brother. About all the things you and this demon bitch do in the dark. Huh? Tell me, hero."

It was enough for me to break, unable to control my temper any longer.

Lifting my hand, I focused on the demon, pulling him out of the person he was possessing. Forcing the black smoke which was the demon, to be expelled out of its host and into the floor where it would fall to hell, and burn there.

As soon as the demon was gone, I was relived to find I didn't feel any pain, there was no headache or dizziness I usually felt.

Looking over to Ruby I could see the proud and pleased look in her eyes. We both knew what this meant. If I could exorcise demons with my mind, without side-effects, then things were going to get a whole lot easier and better. I felt pretty good about that.

I moved closer to the man, checking to make sure he still had a pulse. He did. He was still alive. He was the first person to actually survive this. More progress.

As I smiled up at Ruby, she smiled back at me. "How'd it feel?"

"Good," I answered as I began to untie the man. "No more headaches."

"None? That's good."

As I finished with his ties, the man began to wake.

"Hey, hey. I got you," I assured him. "It's all right." Helping him out of the chair, I wrapped my arm around him to keep him steady as I turned to walk us out of here. But before I got far I stopped in my tracks.

Standing between me and the exit was none other than Dean and Lizzie.

EPOV

I stood behind Dean, trying to get Sam's attention with my eyes so I could assure him that I did not rat him out. I knew how it looked, Dean and I showing up like this. I knew Sam probably thought I'd said something to his brother. But I didn't, and I needed him to know that.

"So... anything you wanna tell me, Sam?" Dean asked, clearly pissed.

Sam placed the man he'd been helping, back into the chair as he stood there watching Dean slowly walk up to him. Ruby moved closer to Sam, her eyes flickering towards me for a moment before she focused on Dean again.

"Dean, hold on, okay?" Sam started. "Just let me-"

But Dean cut him off before he could say anymore. "You gonna say, 'let me explain'? You're gonna explain this?" He shook his head. "How about this? Why don't you start with who she is, and what the hell is she doing here?" he asked, gesturing to Ruby.

Sam turned back to look at Ruby who was completely calm. Hell, she even smiled at Dean as she spoke. "It's good to see you again, Dean."

Dean nodded slightly, knowing who she was in an instant. "Ruby?" He looked to his brother. "Is that Ruby?"

Sam didn't say anything. No one said anything. Dean simply looked from his brother, back to Ruby, scoffing lightly before he snapped into action. He grabbed her and pushed her back so she was against a wall as his pulled the demon knife out of his jacket and aligned it with her chest, ready for the kill.

Before Dean could kill her though, Sam grabbed his hand and pulled him back. "Don't!"

The two struggled for the knife for a moment until Sam managed to snatch it out of Dean's grasp just as Dean pushed him against the wall. Ruby grabbed Dean and pinned him where he'd had her, defending Sam.

"No!" I didn't even have to lift my hand to throw her away from Dean and towards the wall by Sam, which is where I pinned her so she couldn't move.

Dean made the smallest of movements, but I could see in his eyes that he was ready to attack Ruby again, thinking this was an invitation to kill her. So, with a flick of my eyes, I held him in place as well, keeping both of them pinned in their spots.

Sam looked to each of them for a moment and then turned his attention to me. "Lizzie, let them go."

"They'll kill each other," I warned, feeling it in my gut. It was Ruby I was mostly worried about, thinking she'd go for Dean the instant I released her.

Sighing, Sam turned to her. "Enough."

She was tense for a moment longer, still ready for a fight. But she knew there was no way I was letting her go if she wasn't going to listen. So, after a second or two, she relaxed, giving up and doing as Sam ordered.

Once I was sure both were calm enough, I let them go, and sure enough, they didn't attack each other.

Dean glared at her though. "Well, aren't you an obedient little bitch?"

She didn't say anything back, but we could all tell she wanted to attack him. We could read it in her body language.

"Ruby," Sam warned. She stared at Dean a little longer before looking over at Sam. "Ruby, he's hurt." He indicated to the man he'd been helping before, the one he'd exorcised. "Go."

Giving Dean one more glare, and me a quick look over, she walked over to the man and helped him to his feet, putting his arm over her shoulder and her arm around his waist so she could walk him out.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Dean asked, watching her go wearily.

"The ER," she answered with a shrug, "unless you want to go another round first." With no other response from any of us, she left.

The moment Ruby was gone, Dean looked to his brother. I could practically see the disappointment and anger dripping off him.

"Dean-"

Instead of listening to Sam, Dean turned ad started for the door.

"Dean!" Sam called after his brother, but it was too late, he was already gone.

SPOV

Lizzie had explained to me that she hadn't told Dean a single thing. The moment we were alone, she'd assured me there was no way she would have told Dean anything.

But the thing is, she didn't have to tell me any of that. I knew she hadn't been the one to tell him. She was my best friend, she'd been by my side through most of the crap I'd went through after Dean died, she would never betray me like that.

That left me with one question... how did Dean find out?

The answer was a shock, really. Hearing Lizzie tell me that Castiel- the angel- had told Dean where I was. It made me wonder why.

It was morning now. Dean hadn't come back to the hotel after he walked out of the warehouse last night. Lizzie had tried staying up, but ended up taking one of her pills and then crashed on Dean's bed. I hadn't slept though. Instead I'd kept myself busy with aimless research.

The door swung open and slammed shut as Dean came in, waking Lizzie. She sat up suddenly, startled, but froze as Dean walked to his bed and began gathering his things, not looking at me.

I stood, watching him, confused. "Dean, what are you doing?"

He glanced up for a moment, his eyes landing on Lizzie. "Pack your things."

She went to move, but stopped as I spoke again, shaking my head, "What, are you- are you leaving?"

"You don't need us," Dean answered. "You and Ruby go fight demons." He shoved some more things into his bag, looking up at Lizzie again. "We're going. Now. Pack. I'll meet you in the car," he told her, moving for the door.

Before he could go far, I moved to stand in his way, keeping him from leaving. "Hold on. Dean, come on, man."

I had no time to dodge him as he lifted his fist and punched me in the face.

He just watched as I recovered, giving a short shrug and ignoring my bleeding lip. "You satisfied?" I asked.

Once again, he lifted his fist and punched me. This time, I let him.

Wiping the blood from my lip, I turned to face him again. "I guess not." I shrugged once more.

He dropped his bag, getting ready for more.

"Stop it!" Lizzie scrambled off the bed, putting herself between us, her hand on Dean's chest. "Please, just stop."

Dean continued to glare at me, shaking his head. "Do you even know how far off the reservation you've gone? How far from normal? From human?"

"I'm just exorcising demons." I didn't understand what the big deal was.

"With your mind!" he yelled back before taking a breath and going on in a calmer tone. "What else can you do?"

"I can send them back to hell. It only works with demons, and that's it," I assured him.

When he went to take a step closer to me, Lizzie turned to him completely, pressing a hand to his chest to keep him back. "He's telling the truth, Dean."

Dean paused, his gaze slowly falling to her. "You knew?"

Oh, no...

"Yes," she answered, her confidence not as strong as it usually was.

"And you didn't say anything?"

"Keeping secrets is what friends do."

"He's my brother!"

Seeing how things could get worse for Lizzie, I pulled the attention back to me. "Look, I should have said something." Dean's eyes snapped to mine as I went on, "I'm sorry, Dean. I am. But try to see the other side here."

"The other side?"

"I'm pulling demons out of innocent people."

"Use the knife!"

"The knife kills the victim!" I yelled back. I just didn't understand why he couldn't see the good in all of this. "What I do, most of them survive! Look, I've saved more people in the last five months than we save in a year."

"That what Ruby want you to think? Huh? Kind of like the way she tricked you into using your powers?" He shook his head. "Slippery slope, brother. Just wait and see. Because it's gonna get darker and darker, and God knows where it ends."

"I'm not gonna let it go too far," I assured him.

He smiled at that, but it was clear he didn't find it amusing, that he didn't believe me. Walking away from Lizzie, he stopped in front of one of the bedside tables, pausing a moment before he grabbed one of the lamps and threw it across the room.

Lizzie flinched back as I moved closer, instinctively ready to protect her even though we both knew Dean would never lay a finger on her.

"It's already gone too far, Sam." He turned back to us. "If I didn't know you... I would wanna hunt you. And so would other hunters."

Lizzie flinched again, pulling back a little more, to the point where her side brushed my arm.

I knew he didn't realise it, but he wasn't just hurting me here. For years now, Lizzie had been using the powers she'd gotten from the demon blood. At first, I hadn't liked it just like Dean hadn't, but we were all so use to it now, we didn't really think about it.

His words hurt me too, even though I could understand where he was coming from. I guess seeing me use my new powers was too much for him. Seeing me use them with Ruby would have made it worse. Keeping it from him was just the cherry on top.

But it didn't make what he said any easier to swallow.

"You were gone," I told him. "We were here. We had to keep on fighting without you. And what I'm doing... it works."

Pulling back, he nodded lightly. "Well, tell me. If it's so terrific... then why'd you lie about it to me?" he asked, causing me to look away with guilt. "Why did an angel tell me to stop you?"

Lizzie hadn't mentioned that... "What?"

Dean nodded at my question. "Cas said that if I don't stop you, he will," he explained. "See what that means, Sam? That means that God," he pointed to the roof, "doesn't want you doing this. So, are you just gonna stand there and tell me everything is all good?"

Tears were brimming my eyes as I looked to my brother a moment longer before I my gaze turned to the floor. I had no idea how I was supposed to respond, no idea how I could ever apologize enough to get him to forgive me, no idea how to explain in a way so he'd understand.

That's the hardest part of all of this. No one could really understand, no one but Lizzie. Yet, even then there were times- most of the time- where I just wanted to talk to my brother about it all. I'd never be able to though, I knew that.

My phone started to ring, cutting through the silence. Lizzie and Dean both jumped at the sound as I pulled my phone out of my pocket to answer it.

"Hello?" I pinched the bridge of my nose as I listened to the person on the other end. "Hey, Travis. Yeah, hey. Uh..." I paused as he spoke. "It's good to hear your voice, too, yeah. Um, look, it's not a really good time right now. It's-" He cut me off to tell me about a case. "Yeah, okay. Uh, well, just give me the details, and, uh..." I nodded, listening to him. "Carthage, Missouri." Walking over to the other bedside table, I wrote the details down. "Looking for Jack Montgomery." With that, I hung up.

Breathing heavily, trying to keep control of everything, I looked over at Lizzie and Dean, seeing the two of them looking anywhere but at each other or me.

EPOV

I was in the back of the Impala, on my phone, trying my best to get myself out of the situation I was in, while the brothers sat in the front as Dean told Sam all about the little adventure Castiel had sent us to.

Where are you?

I could use a break xox

- L

"I can't believe it." Sam shook his head. "Mum, a hunter?"

"I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't seen it myself." Dean chuckled lightly. "That woman could kick some ass. I mean, she almost took me down."

I'm on a case.

Everything okay?

- T

"How'd she look? I mean..." Sam hesitated before elaborating. "Was she happy?"

"Yeah, she was awesome. Funny and smart. So hopeful." Dean looked over at his brother briefly, then turned back to the road. "Dad, too. Until of course..."

I'm fine. I just need to see you.

Can you come get me?

- L

Sam sighed, drawing Dean's attention back to him. "What?"

I can be there in a couple of days.

Just gotta finish the job and then I'm all yours xx

- T

Looking out his window, Sam shook his head. "Nothing."

Thank you xox

- L

There were a few reasons why I wanted to have some time away from the brothers. One, I felt like it would be for the best, so they could reconnect. Two, I wasn't sleeping properly and feeling too good, which could put us in danger. Three, I missed Tristan. Four, what Dean had said about hunting Sam, that hurt me, it even scared me. If he felt like that towards his brother, then how did he feel about me?

After a moment, Sam spoke up, turning to his brother. "It's just, our parents. And now we find out our grandparents too? Our whole family murdered and for what? So Yellow Eyes could get in my nursery and bleed in my mouth?"

I tensed as I pulled my attention away from my phone and looked over at the eldest Winchester... Dean didn't know Sam and I found out about the blood years ago...

Dean was looking to the road, but it was clear he was trying to think about the conversation as if trying to figure out if he'd mentioned that to his brother. It didn't take him long to realise he hadn't. "Sam, I never said anything about demon blood." He looked to Sam and then me, guilt clear on our faces. "You two knew about that?"

Looking anywhere but at his brother, Sam nodded. "Yeah, for about a year."

Eyes on the road again, Dean shook his head. "A whole year?"

"We should have told you," Sam admitted. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," I added quickly.

Dean just shook his head again. "You've been saying sorry a lot lately, Sam. But whatever. You don't want to tell me, you don't have to. It's fine."

"Dean," Sam sighed, turning to his brother, but Dean ignored him, focusing on the road. "Whatever." Sighing again, Sam looked out the window, the three of us falling into an uncomfortable and tense silence.

SPOV

Dean and I looked through binoculars, watching the house across the street. We were focused on the guy in the kitchen, reaching into the fridge to grab a beer. He looked completely average, nothing weird about him. So why did Travis want us watching him?

"Are you sure that's him?" Dean asked.

I nodded. "Only Jack Montgomery in town."

"And we're looking for...?"

Lowering my binoculars, I turned to shrug at him. "Travis said to keep an eye out for anything weird."

Lizzie reached over and grabbed Dean's binoculars, taking a look. "The guy is completely normal, to an excruciating boring level." She lowered the binoculars and turned to me. "Are you sure your friend hasn't hit his head on the job too many times, or something?"

"Travis seemed pretty sure," I assured her, turning back to watch Jack again.

He was leaning on the kitchen island, looking thoughtful as if trying to make a decision, drinking his beer. As he lifted the bottle to his lips again, he paused and looked around to see if anyone was watching. Then he pushed off the bench and opened the fridge again.

Dean, Lizzie and I watched as he grabbed some food and began to eat it frantically as if he had gone without food for days. Once he was finished with it, he put it to the side as grabbed a pack of uncooked meat and began to dig into it like a rabid animal ripping into its kill.

Suddenly he stopped and looked over his shoulder, a noise or something must have caught his attention. He looked to the food again, and it was clear he now realised what he'd just done.

Lowering her binoculars, Lizzie shuddered. "I think I just became a vegetarian."

DPOV

I opened Sam's and my hotel room door, walking in only to come to a stop at the sight of an older man sitting at our table drinking our beer, completely at home.

A smile crept on to my lips. "Travis." I turned to Sam as he stood next to me. "See, Sam. Told you we should have hid the beer."

Travis got up and moved towards he, smiling widely. "Smartass. Get over here." He laughed, pulling me in for a hug. "Ahh, good to see you."

"You too." I hugged him back.

As he pulled away, he turned to give Sam a hug. "Good to see you."

"You too, Travis."

Stepping back, he looked Sam up and down. "Man, you got tall, kid." We all laughed. "How long has it been?"

"Ah, gotta be ten years," Sam answered.

"You still a... oh, what was it... a mathlete?"

Sam scoffed. "No."

Lifting my hand, I gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Yep, sure is."

Still smiling widely, Travis shook his head, looking at the two of us. "Been too long, boys. I mean, look at you. Grown men. John would have been damn proud of you. Sticking together like this."

"Yeah. Yeah, we're as thick as thieves." I turned to Sam, giving him a look that had his smile slowly disappearing. Nodding, I looked to Travis again. "Nothing more important than family."

Walking back over to the table- Sam and I right behind- Travis got to business. "Sorry I'm late for the dance," he started, taking a seat at the table. I took the other seat while Sam sat on the closer bed. "Thanks for helping out an old man. I'm a little, uh, shorthanded." He chuckled as he gestured to his right arm which was covered by a cast. "So, you track down Montgomery?"

"Yeah, we found him at his home." Sam nodded.

"And?"

I shrugged. "Well, he had a hell of a case of the munchies, topped off with a burger he forgot to cook."

Travis sighed. "That's him alright."

"What's him?" I asked.

"Boys, we got a rougarou on our hands."

"A rougarou?" I turned to Sam, wondering if he knew what that meant, because I had no clue. "Is that made up?" Before he could answer, I turned back to Travis. "That sounds made up."

"They're mean, nasty little suckers." Travis sighed. "Rotted teeth, wormy skin, the works."

I shook my head. "Well, that ain't this guy. I mean, he was wearing a cell phone on his belt."

"Rougarou start off like every other human, but as time goes by, they change. Evolve. Turn into the ugliest things I have probably ever seen," Liz noted as she closed the hotel room door. "But that's not even the worst part about them. It's their hunger you have to watch out for."

Travis looked over at her, clearly impressed. "I don't think we've met before." He stood, offering her his hand to shake. "The name's Travis."

"Elizabeth." She gave him a polite smile, shaking his hand.

"You boys didn't tell me you had a friend with you." Travis turned to Sam and me. "Or that she was smart and gorgeous."

"Yeah, Liz hunts with Sam and me," I stated, wanting to get back on track. "So, rougarou. What do they eat, exactly?"

Sighing, Travis sat back down. "At first, for everything, but then... for long pig."

Sam made a noise, clearly knowing what that meant, which by the sound he made, isn't good.

Confused, I looked to the three of them. "Long pig?"

"He means human flesh," Sam filled in.

I gave a short nod. "And that is my word of the day."

Travis gave an amused smile before going on, "Hunger grows in, till they can't fight it. Till they got to take themselves a big, juicy chomp, and then it happens."

"What happens?" Sam asked.

"They transform completely and fast," Travis answered. "One bite's all it takes. Eyes, teeth, skin. All turns. No going back either. They feed once, they're a monster forever. And our man Jack's headed there on a bullet train."

I frowned, not understanding one part of this story. "Well, how'd you find this guy if he's a walking, talking human?"

"Let's just say it runs in his family."

"You mean, uh-"

Travis cut Sam off, answering, "Killed his daddy back in '78. Son of a bitch mangled eight bodies before I put him down. Guy used to be a dentist. Cadillac, trophy wife... little did I know, pregnant trophy wife. She put the boy up for adoption. By the time I found out, he was long gone, lost in the system."

"You mean to tell me you couldn't find someone?" Sam sounded as surprised as I was. Travis was an expert at finding people.

Sighing, Travis gave a short shake of his head. "I'm not sure I wanted to. The idea of hunting down some poor kid... I don't think I'd have the heart. No. I wanted to wait, make damn sure I had the right man. Apparently, I do."

Bamby