A/N: Though this chapter does have a happy ending, the story is far from over! Just be patient, please. I have exams and projects coming up, and work is being particularly needy this week, so I don't know when I'll be able to update exactly. I'm anticipating no more than a week for another update, but we'll have to see.

I know that John hasn't been as involved in the story as Mary. I tried to put him in a little more, but I didn't like the way the story flowed. I guess because I kind of see Mary in this story taking Dean's place-as mediator between him and John. He will be in it more later on, as Sam grows up and becomes a teenager. Either way, I hope everyone's enjoying it so far. It's become more of a monster (in a good way) than I intended, and I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would.

Happy Easter everyone!

It had been a long two and a half days, but Mary didn't regret it. Helping Caleb out of his jam had only taken a couple of hours and was only six hours away. She and John could have, if they'd pushed, been back very late on the same day they'd left Sam, and picked up right where they all left off. But an idea, one that had been forming form the moment she'd realized she needed to tell Sam they were moving but had solidified when they'd gotten in the car to leave the apartment that day, made Mary practically force John into getting a room and 'talking'.

Thinking of what Sam had said, Mary called Sam every few hours to assure him they were fine. She'd told him they were coming home with a surprise for him, and begged him to be patient. Sam promised he would be, though Mary could tell he was losing the fight. Just hang on, baby. I'm doing this for you. Please just hang on.

John was against the idea she presented to him from the moment it left her mouth. Their 'talk' turned into one of the biggest fights they'd ever had. But, gradually, she talked him into it. Or wore him down so much that he stopped fighting her on it. She couldn't decide, but either way, her plan was in motion.

As Sam waited on his parents to get home, he wondered what had been so important that they'd stayed gone. Had the talk they'd had mean nothing? Were they caught up in yet another hunt, leaving him there to stare at the wall and worry about them? He decided to keep up his end of the bargain, and maybe if he did, they would start keeping up their end. Mary was already trying, having called him six times in the three days they'd been gone.

It was hard for Sam to keep his cool. He knew what his mom and dad did was important, but he also knew that they didn't have to take every single job they were offered. He knew that because there had been several times in the past four years where he'd answer the phone for his parents and tell whoever was on the other end that one or both of them was sick. If whoever it was insisted on talking to his parents, Sam would take them the phone. But if they just said okay and hung up, Sam would 'forget' to tell his parents that anyone called. By then, whatever the hunt was would be over and he would have gotten another day or two with his mom and dad. He sometimes felt guilty for lying to them, but the feeling of a little more time with them was worth it.

Finally, after nearly three full days, Sam was making himself lunch when he heard it. He was surprised when the sound of the Impala actually made him smile instead of making his blood boil. He was still upset that his parents hadn't come home sooner, but he was happy that they were home instead of angry that they hadn't been. Though Mary hadn't officially given Sam permission to get off the grounding she'd put him on, he had spent a lot of the time they'd been gone cleaning and fixing up the apartment with anything he could find. Their photos were on the wall, along with all the drawings that Mary and John had saved from Sam's childhood. Sam hoped they wouldn't react badly to it, but he had set aside one wall in the main room to put up the pictures that Dean had drawn for them and the photos they had of him.

Mary had asked Sam to wait in the apartment, because they were coming home with a big surprise for him. Sam peeked out the window to try and get a glimpse of it, but he couldn't see anything. Mary and John were simply sitting in the car, talking. John didn't look happy, but, Sam reasoned, he rarely ever did these days. When he saw Mary look up into their apartment, he immediately let go of the blinds and went to stand behind the door. Excited, Sam stood on his heels and bounced up and down. He felt like a toddler waiting to see what Mommy and Daddy were bringing him after a long trip. Finally, the door opened, and Mary stepped inside.

"Hey, Mom."

"Hi." Mary said, surprised that Sam was so happy to see her. "Sorry we're late."

"It's okay. Where's Dad?"

"He's out in the car with your surprise."

"Cool." Sam said. "I've got one for you too."

"What is…?" Mary asked.

She stopped talking when she spotted the surprise on the wall. Pictures that Sam had made along one wall, and pictures that Dean had drawn on a wall of his own. When Mary didn't say anything, Sam became worried.

"Mom? I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't, honey." Mary said. She grabbed Sam into another hug. "Thank you. I love it."

"I know we don't usually decorate, but I wanted to try this time…"

"You did good." Mary said again.

"Mom? Can I have my surprise now?"

Mary laughed. "Sure. Hang on, I'll go bring your Dad in." Mary turned back to Dean's wall and admired it for a moment, then turned back to Sam. "Listen. I do love the wall. But don't get upset if your Dad doesn't say anything about it or maybe seems a little upset. He's not, it's just…"

"I know, Mom. I won't." Sam said.

Sam had been thinking a lot about his dad over the last three days. He hated John's reactive personality sometimes, but thinking about when that personality came out the most made him realize something. John sometimes didn't know how to react to things, so he defaulted to anger when he was scared, frustrated, or worried. Even when he did seem genuinely angry, he was usually just worried that something bad was going to happen.

Mary smiled back at Sam. Sam saw the pride in her eyes, but also detected some sadness there. "You're really growing up. You know that?"

Mary stepped back outside, and two minutes later, came in with John. She waited a few moments while John took in Sam's surprise, then waved at someone outside to come in. Sam's jaw was hanging freely in his own surprise.

"Uncle Bobby?"

Bobby grinned. It had been years since he'd seen Sam, and he wondered if Sam would even remember him. "Hey, kid. How you doin'?"

Sam responded by running to Bobby and grabbing him around the waist, unknowingly making both his parents jealous.

"It's good to see you, boy."

"Uncle Bobby, what are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"Um…"

"We're gonna talk about that, Sam. All of us. Let me and Dad get cleaned up first, though."

"Okay." Sam said suspiciously. Something was going on, and he could see that clearly. But was it good or bad?

"You and uncle Bobby order a pizza for dinner. Whatever you want. Once we've eaten dinner, the three of us have something to talk to you about."

Sam tried not to worry about what his parents wanted to talk about, choosing instead to catch up Bobby on his life since he'd moved out. John and Mary didn't seem angry, at least not at him. John kept actively avoiding looking at Mary. Whatever was going on, it was Mary's idea and John didn't agree. Finally, once dinner was over, Sam couldn't take the waiting any more.

"Guys, what's going on? Why are you being so weird?"

Mary laughed. "Why do you say that?"

"Something's going on. What is it?" Sam asked again. "Please just tell me."

Mary sighed. She'd planned this, and had been very sure, up until this moment, that they were doing the right thing. She took her seat back at the table, joined by Bobby and John. "Sam, Dad and I had an idea. It's part of the reason we were so late; we were waiting to bring Bobby back with us."

"Okay. Why? I thought you guys weren't talking."

"We weren't. And that was a mistake." Mary said. "We never should have taken you from the only home you ever really had."

"So what does this mean?"

"It means that you're moving back in with Bobby."

"What?" Sam had never felt so many conflicting emotions at once. "Why?"

"Do you not want to go?" John asked, sounding hopeful.

Sam caught the hopeful note in John's question, but couldn't help being honest. "I didn't say that. But why now? It's been four years." A frightening thought came to him. "Is this because of the fight?"

"Partially. Yes." Mary said.

"I thought we were okay." Sam said, his stomach tying in knots from dread. "You said…"

"Sam, stop, honey. Calm down. This is not about punishing you. You're not going to Bobby's because we're mad at you."

"Then why?"

"Sweetheart, listen to me. I know you want me and Dad to stop hunting. I know that's your dream. But we can't. If we did stop now, we might be safe for a little while. But the things we hunt would find us. They'd find you. And after what happened to your brother, I can't let that happen. We can't let that happen. You understand that, right?"

"I know that, Mom. But what's that got to do with Bobby?"

"Well, Dad and I can't give you a home right now. Not with us. But Bobby can. And we know you'd be safe with him."

"You mean, like when I was little?" Sam asked. "When I'd stay with him while you and Dad hunted?"

"Right. Except it'd be full time now." Mary said. "You'd be able to go to school full-time. You might even have some of the same classmates you had when you left."

"I hardly see you and Dad now." Sam said. "With you guys moving around so much, I'll never see you."

"That's not true." Mary argued. "We will be there as often as we possibly can. Right?" Mary turned and glared at John, who sat there glaring right back at her.

"Right." John said.

"Yeah, that's convincing." Sam replied bitterly, crossing his arms over his chest and looking down to the floor.

"Sam…" As much as John disagreed with Mary's plan, he wasn't willing to go back to the way things had been before the argument a few days earlier.

"Don't, John." Mary warned. She placed a hand on Sam's arm. "Please look at me."

Sam continued to stare at the ugly tiled floor, not wanting his mother to see him fighting back tears.

"Sammy, please. I need you to look at me." Mary waited patiently, and eventually Sam relented. When he did, Mary saw the tears swimming in his eyes, and Sam stubbornly holding them back. "I never told you this before, but my parents were hunters."

"They were?"

"They were. So, I get, at least partially, how you're feeling. I never wanted this for you. I know it's lonely when we're gone. I just didn't realize how lonely. I thought we were doing a good job making up for the times when we were gone by taking you with us. But I was wrong. We're doing this because I don't want you to spend any more nights sad or upset or even angry with no one else around to talk to. I want to give you that home you want so badly, even if it can't be me and your father that gives it to you. Do you understand?"

"I guess." Sam said.

"Then why are you still crying?" Mary asked.

"Because I just want my mom and dad. Why's it so hard?" Sam said, the tears starting to fall.

"Come here."

It was an awkward fit, as Sam was tall and thin, but Mary made it work. She pulled him into her lap and let him cry, trying to stop herself from crying too. She was certain she'd be doing plenty of crying after Sam left for Bobby's.

"I don't know why it's so hard. I wish I could take all the bad stuff out there and make it go away so that it couldn't hurt you in any way at all. But I promise you, things will be different this time. Dad and I will call you all the time. Every night if we can, but I can't promise that. At least one long conversation every week. We will send you stuff in the mail, and we will make sure that wherever we are, you can get in touch with us. And every time we get a chance, we will be at Bobby's. We will do our best to make long trips, but even if all we can do is pop in and spend a couple hours with you, we'll do that. It will not be like before. Okay?"

"Okay." Sam said, looking over to John, whose expression was starting to melt into one of sadness and regret rather than anger. "Dad? I know you don't really like this. If you don't want me to go, I won't."

John wanted badly to tell Sam that he didn't want it. He wanted Sam to stay with them, no matter what it entailed. He'd hated Sam being with Bobby so much before. It made him feel like Bobby was the parent and he and Mary were just wayward older siblings who didn't get much of a say in Sam's life. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that Bobby was Sam's parent. He'd been the only source of stability in Sam's life, and only once he'd been taken from Bobby had the relationship between Sam and his parents started to deteriorate. Mary was glaring at him even more intensely than she had before, and he made up his mind.

"I'll miss you, bud. But I want you to be happy just like Mom said. So, if you want to go, go."

Sam smiled. "You'll come too? Not just Mom."

"Every chance I get."

Sam leapt out of Mary's lap and ran to John, wrapping an arm around his neck. He left John and went to Bobby, who he'd missed every day since leaving Bobby's house.

"Thank you, uncle Bobby." Sam said gratefully. "You're the best."

"You don't got to thank me for this. It's my pleasure, bud." Bobby said. "I missed you."

"Missed you more." Sam said. "Do we have to leave today?"

"Nope. Bobby's staying here with us for a few days, then all three of us are going with you back to his house."

"You mean, a roadtrip? All of us?"

"All of us."

Sam felt happier than he had since he was eight. "That sounds great, Mom."