"Jack?"

"Let him go."

Sam jumped at the unexpected voice. "Dad?"

"Sam, get behind me. Now."

Sam didn't hesitate, just got behind John and stayed there. John was holding a gun to Jack, but Sam could clearly see it wasn't Jack. Sam wanted to beg John not to hurt his friend, but he was so surprised at his father's sudden appearance and this new revelation of Jack's true identity that he couldn't move.

"How the hell did you find him?"

The fake Jack grinned. "You think I don't know that Bobby Singer's your best friend."

"Just answer the damn question."

"Why should I? It'll just make it that much easier for you to find me."

"I've already found you." John said. "Take a look at this gun. Does it look familiar?"

"I know perfectly well what that gun is. And I also know you only have a limited number of tries to kill me with it."

"And you know that how?"

"Because you just told me."

Sam, who was still standing behind his father shaking, didn't know how to process the scene in front of him. His father had appeared out of nowhere, no more than an hour after being told that his mom and dad weren't together anymore, and now, apparently, his best friend was some kind of monster. Before he knew what had happened, John fired the gun and Jack seemed to disappear in a cloud of black smoke.

"JACK!"

"Sam, my car's right over there. Get in it. Now."

"Dad, where'd he…"

But John shouted at Sam in a way that Sam had never seen before. He turned, got less than three inches from Sam's face, and screamed so hard he was red in the face.

"GET IN THE CAR! NOW!"

Sam, scared to death of this sudden turn in his father's mood, ran to the car and jumped in. John was right behind him, and took a moment to look around. He relaxed slightly when he saw they seemed to be safe for the moment, and since the car was covered in devil's traps, he leaned against the seat and took a deep breath.

"Dad?"

John looked over to the passenger seat and saw Sam, who was shaking and had two tears spilling down his face. John immediately regretted yelling at Sam the way he had, and reached over to clap a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you like that, bud. I really am. But we had to move."

"Where's Jack?" Sam asked. "Is he…is he dead?"

John swallowed hard. "Sam, I don't know how to tell you this. But Jack wasn't real."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I looked into him after the last time I was here. Son, I'm sorry, but he's not real."

"Of course he's real!"

"Sam, I'm sorry, but he was a hallucination." John said again.

"Dad, that's…" Sam sputtered, unable to wrap his mind around what he'd just been told.

"Sam, think about it. Do you and Jack have any mutual friends?"

"Well, no, but we go to different schools…"

"Have you ever seen any other kids over at his house?"

"No." Sam answered reluctantly.

"Sam, I'm sorry. I know you liked this kid. But the truth is…" John stopped talking, knowing he was about to cross a line with Sam that couldn't be undone.

"What, Dad?"

"Sam, that was thedemon that killed your brother. He created Jack and his parents as a hallucination to get close to you."

"Why?" Sam asked. "Why would he do that, Dad?"

"I don't know, bud." John answered honestly. "I'm still trying to figure that out."

"Why didn't Bobby catch on?"

"He didn't really spend a lot of time with Jack, did he?" John asked. "You two weren't friends for very long."

"Yeah. We mostly hung out in the backyard when Jack…when he came to visit."

"Sam, buddy, I really am sorry that this didn't work out." John said. "And that I yelled at you like that. I don't want you to be scared of me."

Sam nodded. "It's okay, Dad." A brief pause, and Sam asked, "Dad? Mom's at uncle Bobby's. She told me you two broke up. Is that true?"

"I'm afraid so."

"But why, Dad?"

"That's between me and your mother."

"But what about me? What if you and mom catch the demon and you can live your own lives? What then?"

"Sam, I'm sorry it didn't work between me and your mom. But I'm not discussing it with you." John said firmly. "Both of us will still come to see you…"

"Yeah, mom already told me that."

John normally would have snapped at Sam over his tone, but he was too tired. "I'm sorry, Sam. For everything."

"Will you just take me home, please?"

"Sure. Let's go."

To Sam's surprise, both John and Mary stayed for three days. They slept in separate rooms, John on the couch in the living room and Mary in the spare room down the hall. Twice they tried to take Sam out, once for dinner and once just on a walk around town, only to end up bickering back and forth with each other. Sam told them the second night not to 'bother coming if all you're gonna do is yell at each other'. Sam turned on his heel and ran back to Bobby's, burying himself in his room and refusing to come out and talk to either of them.

Mary was sitting on the couch later that night, pretending to read a book that she of course wasn't really reading. She was surprised that John had stayed behind this long, even if it was for Sam. She was aware of John looming above her, shifting his feet awkwardly, before he sat down on the couch next to her. Another long moment passed before he spoke.

"I'm sorry."

Mary looked up, surprised. "Sorry? For what?"

"For saying that I wanted us to be over. I don't."

"Really?" Mary asked. "You're serious?"

"Yeah. I'm serious." John said. "That doesn't mean I'm not still pissed off."

"I know. And I get that."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Honestly? Because I was afraid you'd leave if you knew." Mary said.

John frowned. "I guess you were right there. You usually are."

Mary smiled, despite the guilt still eating into her.

"Did you know?" John asked. "Did you know what would happen?"

"No." Mary said firmly. "No, I didn't know. I didn't know he would kill Dean. If I had, I would have offered myself up for him instead."

"The demon just said that, what? He'd show up?"

"Yeah. He'd show up in my house ten years later. As long as I didn't disturb him, he said he wouldn't hurt anyone."

"You think Dean disturbed him?" John asked.

"Unintentionally. You remember how he always used to get up with Sam in the middle of the night?"

"You don't think the demon was after Sam, do you?"

Mary squirmed in her seat. "I've wondered. But I don't know."

John took a deep breath, running a hand over his face. "So we need to look into that."

"Yeah." Mary agreed. "Why don't we go up and check on Sam?"

"One thing first." John took Mary's hand and looked into her face so intently that Mary felt she was lost in them. "Just because I'm pissed at you right now doesn't mean that I don't love you. I always have, I always will. Okay?"

Mary nodded. "Okay."

"Is there anything else big that I need to know?"

"No. I swear."

"I believe you." John said. "What do you say we go tell Sam he can stop worrying?"

"Deal."

Sam was shocked to see his parents come to his room holding hands, but pleased to hear the short-lived separation was over. John and Mary stayed one more day, and had a short discussion with Bobby. Later that night, before Sam went to sleep, all three adults sat him down in the living room for a 'family meeting'.

"Okay, Sam. Here's the deal." Mary tried to keep her voice as calm as possible, knowing that Sam would probably be upset by the new rules. "From now on, we don't want you going over to friend's houses anymore."

"What?"

"Just listen, buddy. Please." Mary said. "You can still have friends. You can still see them after school. But we want you to bring them here to Bobby's."

Sam said nothing, thoroughly unsurprised by the new rules.

"You can still go places with them. The library, museum, movies, whatever. But whenever you do go with them, we need you to call Bobby at least once every couple of hours."

"Okay. I'll do it."

John, taken aback by Sam's easy acceptance of the new rules, shared a look with Mary and Bobby. "Sam? Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Sam said quietly.

"Sam? Talk to us, honey. What's going on?"

"I know Jack wasn't real." Sam said sadly. "But I still miss him."

"I know, sweetie. I'm sorry. I know he was your friend."

"I just can't believe I got duped like that."

"That wasn't your fault." John assured him.

"Feels like it." Sam said. "Don't worry, guys. I won't break the rules. I don't plan on making too many more friends."

"Sam, listen to me. Don't let this stop you from living your life. We want you to be safe, but we want you to be a kid too." Mary said. "Promise me that. Okay? Please?"

"I'll try, Mom." Sam said half-heartedly.

Mary decided to take that, and encourage Sam a little more later on to keep trying to make friends. It scared her to death that it could happen again, that the demon could come back after Sam. But she was determined that Sam would have the life that she hadn't been able to have growing up, and the life that had been forcefully taken from Dean at much too early an age. The next morning, John and Mary headed out on another hunt, promising Sam that they'd work twice as hard to find and kill the demon from that point on.

When Sam was laying in bed that night, not quite asleep yet, he turned over and grabbed a photo that he kept beside his bed. It was one that he couldn't quite explain his connection to, but he didn't feel like he could let it go. He was a newborn, with Mary on a hospital bed, John standing beside them, and four-year-old Dean holding him and grinning so hard that his eyes were closed. The thought crossed his mind that this moment, frozen in time, that he was holding in his hand right now, was probably the happiest his family had ever been. Sam put the photo back on the nightstand and turned to go to sleep. Dean, satisfied that Sam was safe now, patted him on the back and said,

"Good night, Sammy. Love you."