Chapter 6

Caleb lounged in the motel bed while Claire went about getting ready. Back at his place, it was very quick. Shower, clothes and out the door with that sexy bed hair that made him want to take her back to bed. Here… was different. She showered, shaved, makeup. The clothes. He'd seen them before but he hadn't realized the work those clothes took. She'd taken a pillow case off the pillow and laid it over her blouse for a quick iron. She did the same for that skirt, the one with the pleats that made him want to bend her over a chair. She pulled hose out of a pocket of her bag. The hose was maddening to watch her put on. Then she smoothed her hair back into a bun. Bobby-pins tucked away until it looked as if her hair held itself in that position.

Then she sat on the chair and stared at her bag for a moment. She stared at the wall and whispered something to herself. She pulled a string of pearls out and wouldn't let him help her put them on. She stared at her reflection for a long time. "I'm not this person anymore."

"How do you know you're not?"

"It all feels wrong but I don't want to visit him dressed like a hunter."

"What about that girl who took me on a walk downtown in my own town like I was a stranger?"

"She's not his mother." She pointed to her reflection. "That's his mom. There."

"Come on. Let's go. Or do I need to iron my shirt first?"

She stood and looked him over when he presented himself for inspection. She pecked his lips as she straightened his shirt and tucked in his tails. She smoothed her hands over his chest. She smiled. "I like this color on you. Your eyes just… You are so handsome."

The drive was quiet but he followed her motions on where to turn and where to park. He followed her out down the trails and waited when she stopped to gather her strength. She almost walked back except he didn't follow her. He waited until she huffed and walked back toward her goal. The flowers she'd bought were having a tough time holding together in her hands.

Finally she was knelt in front of a headstone. It had just his name, a date and a soccer ball engraved on it. Sebastien Reid. She placed the floors. "Hi, baby. I'm sorry I've been gone so long. Mommy loves you."

Caleb stood and kept watch while she told her son the basics of why she'd been away. He pretended not to care. "Mommy went for a drive and a monster caught her. A handsome man saved her and he taught her how to fight monsters and that's what I do now. We killed the monsters like the one that hurt me. We did it. I just… wish… I could do something about the person who took you from me. I miss you so much… Mommy brought a friend. I think you would've liked him…" She laughed. "He eats his sandwiches like you, you crazy boy. Tears all the crusts off and then eats them first before his sandwich. He wasn't in the Airforce like me but he knows a lot about guns and I think you'd think he's okay.

"I'm gonna visit you, more. I promise. Maybe Caleb will come with me. Maybe he'll stay at home. Sometimes… you're gonna see me and I'm going to look like hell. It's okay. Mommy's just been fighting monsters. I love you, kiddo."

Then Caleb stood guard while she cried silently. When she'd had her fill, he helped her up and they made their slow way back to the car. They had almost made it when a madman came running from the cemetery. "Wait!"

Caleb reached for his gun but Claire grabbed his hand. "Us?"

"Were you visiting the Reid boy?"

"Yes." Her posture changed, loosening her grip on his gun arm.

"Oh." He slowed and caught his breath. "Do you know his mother?"

"I am his mother." Her back went even straighter.

"I'm so sorry. There was a detective who came by once and asked me to keep a look out. He was trying to get you some information. I'm afraid I don't have the card anymore. He was from Kansas City PD, though."

"Thank you." Claire nodded and turned Caleb to the car. "Just… some information?"

"He thought he had a lead." The groundkeeper nodded. "It was… just over a year ago, I suppose."

"Thank you. Really. Thank you." She nodded and climbed into the car. They sat for a long moment.

"You haven't eaten." Caleb put the car in gear. "Let's get something simple down and then we'll go."

"We don't have to."

He kept driving. He pulled into a diner and opened her door for her to make her get out of the car. He ordered for them. Got her a cob salad and got himself a steak and a potato that he figured she'd steal from him. She stared at her nails. Her eyes red. She looked up at him. Then she turned her gaze to the restaurant. The fingers of one hand kept smoothing her hair back. The fingers of the other tapped on the tabletop. "Come over here."

Caleb scooted back and she took a seat on the end of his bench. He hauled her back against him. He held her tight and she relaxed a bit, her legs crossed and feet tucked in. Small as she could make herself. "How about I call the station and see if anyone knows anything? Then we'll go from there."

She nodded mutely. He kissed her hair and held on until she moved. She moved back to her seat and stared at her nails for a long minute. Her eyes flicked up a couple of times. Caleb pulled out his cellphone and walked over to the counter. He got the phone number he needed and stepped outside.

It took a minute to get the man on the desk to transfer him over to a detective, any detective. Finally, he got someone. "Yeah… um… Name's Caleb. I took a friend out to the cemetery over on Clifton to see her… her kid and the groundkeeper was… Said some detective asked him to keep an eye out for her."

"What's her name?"

"Claire Reid. Mother of Sebastien Reid."

"Hang on."

He waited and watched his steak arrive by the time the next guy came on. "This is Art."

"Caleb. Looking for the detective looking into Claire and Sebastien Reid." Then Caleb had to tell his story again. Then again. Then again to Detective Lionel Tyson. "You the man we're looking for?"

"I may be. Where is Ms. Reid?"

"Senior Airman Reid."

"You're right."

"Well, the two of us are trying to get some lunch in us. She was upset when she found someone was looking for her because there was news in her son's case. Now, I can go back to the table and let her know that no one knows anything or I can go back and let her have my steak boxed up cause she's in a rush to get to you."

"You her husband?"

"No. Just the man she trusted to make this phone call for her."

"She can't speak."

"I'm sure that's a story she'd rather tell herself."

"Well, what I got… she may not want to hear. Tell the truth… not many around here liked my story and… not sure my reputation is up to snuff. If it were my boy… I want to hear it at least."

"I'll bring her by."

Claire had eaten about a half a bite of her salad. He motioned to her to keep eating as he tucked into his steak. It was still warm. He ate about six bites and a third of his potato before he got their lunch to go. She stared at him the whole time. When they were back in the car, she just stared. Then she hit him. "Caleb! What did he say?"

"Not a whole lot but… he's making time to see you."

Her eyes shut and she stayed that way until he stopped the car in front of the station. Her hand was tangled in her pearls. It took seven long minutes before she opened the door and got out. He followed her and let her clench her hand in his shirt while she waited for Detective Tyson. They were escorted to an interrogation room. He held a file in his hand when he shut the door. He took a breath. "I looked for you. I thought I had a lead a few months ago but…"

Claire cleared her throat. "I… uh… sort… When I left Kansas City… I was assaulted and… called it hysterics. I was… mute and I had amnesia."

"As I understand it… there's plenty you would have rather forgot." He pulled a faxed photo out of the file. "Someone else was looking for you."

"My ex." Claire nodded to the photo. "He had a hard time letting go when I got my memory back."

Caleb stiffened beside her. She found his hand with hers. She looked at the detective. He took a breath. "I've been called a few names over my investigation. I didn't bring it up when we were first looking into it because… well… it's crazy."

"You haven't known crazy until you know what I've been through since he died."

"Alright. I'll lay out, then." He breathed deeply. "When you left town, I started getting these… ideas. It started when Sebastien's grandmother came looking for him. It seems that you put his father's name on the birth certificate and he should have been getting government checks due to his death in action. Did you know about that?"

"It crossed my mind when I was pregnant but I never pursued it. Didn't seem to be a point. I didn't even know that he had family. I never thought to look for them."

"Well, the government kept routing these checks in his name to her house. By the time she figured out what had happened, Sebastien was gone and so were you. She asked me to look into the accident. I humored her. I moonlight as a P.I.. I took her case and I started looking at what happened and how it happened. The boys didn't remember much. They just remembered that it was sudden. Neighborhood we're talking about shouldn't anyone been going so fast."

Claire squeezed Caleb's hand and he held it between his hands.

"Anyway, I looked around at streetlights and traffic cameras. We didn't have so many of them around that time but there was a security system setup a few blocks away. I logged weeks in reviewing those cameras and matching traffic patterns and going over the photos from the scene. We didn't do such an in depth job back then, I'm afraid.

"Well, all the while that I'm going through the evidence and interviews and trying like hell to find you… Mrs. Stephens hangs around a lot. She tells me all these stories about her boys. She's got three of 'em. Your fellow who died in Bosnia… then she's got this kid who's in med school and this kid who just graduated high school. She goes on and on about him. Talks about him like he's the second coming. I mostly just listen because she seemed to need it. Something was off though.

"I got this break. A partial license plate and a model. It's enough that I spent three months looking at cars and asking for alibis. I find the guy. He's a car salesman. He was test driving a customer's car but the guy couldn't remember what happened. He just kept saying that… something got in him."

Caleb squeezed Claire's hand, hard. They exchanged a look.

"Someone else looked like the two of you when I relayed that bit. That was a psychic who saw me pacing outside that car salesman's Lawrence lot. She told me that I shouldn't ask anymore questions and that I shouldn't see Mrs. Stephens again. I went back to tell Mrs. Stephens that I couldn't come up with anything conclusive. I didn't haul the guy in because I wanted to watch him. I wanted to make sure." Tyson took a breath. "I'll tell you. I thought I was crazy. Her eyes turned black, she leapt across the desk and demanded I tell her where the man was, where you were… and that's when that psychic showed up. She said something that made Mrs. Stephens's head whip around fast. She said that she was going to get the right son on the throne and she had better stay out of it.

"Now… I'm not an expert but after the conversation I had with the psychic and after what I found regarding the Stephens' boys… I'd have to say the fellow who hit your son that day was…"

"Possessed." Claire whispered.

"That was the word I was looking for."

"When I left Kansas City and I was assaulted… it wasn't by a man. It was a monster." Claire fiddled with her pearls with her free hand. "It was a sort of… magic that took my memories and my voice. The man who rescued me… he… this is what he did. He found the monsters and the possessed folk and he set things right. I've been dealing with this since I left… I never even for a moment thought…"

"And you…" Tyson looked from Claire to Caleb.

"It's the life I lead."

"Then you should take over. I'm out of my depth. I've seen things."

"We should have a longer conversation… later." Caleb told him as he stood. He picked up the file and tucked it into his jacket. Claire let the way out. Back in the room, she read through the file as Caleb finished his lunch and hers.

"He's… innocent." She declared.

"We could try something." Caleb cleared his throat. "I've never done but… I've heard that a part gets left behind in a possessed person. You can call the spirit back."

"That's cruel."

"That man… that innocent man… probably remembers what happened that day. He'll say he doesn't if he's got even a touch of the villain in him… or else he would have turned himself in when it happened."

"What about this psychic?"

"Never heard of a real one."

Claire listened to the old detective relay his tale from start to finish. She and Caleb made notes. They gleaned all they could from the man that just wanted to leave it all behind. Then Claire started research on something she'd never tried before. Her one night stand in Bosnia. Her son's other family. It was startling as she started to dig. Things jumped out at her. Caleb's silence told her that this story matched another he'd heard. She didn't want to call John or Dean.

Caleb frowned at the dates. He knew John's story. Everyone knew some of John's story. Claire looked up what matched what she could remember from his journal. She didn't even realize she'd stopped talking until Caleb pointed it out. He kissed her head and walked outside.

Henry Stephens was the oldest of three boys. He enlisted straight out of high school. His younger brother was in medical school and his baby brother was Sam Winchester's age. There was a house fire that took the life of the Elder Stephens the year his youngest son was born. Henry died first in Kosovo. Michael died in a bar brawl near his college campus. David had just enrolled in college himself when he was hit by a car. According to an autopsy, Mrs. Stephens showed rapid decay for a woman who'd fallen down a flight of stairs a few months ago and barely lay a day before her body was discovered.

So, they went to see the psychic. She was a harried woman who made noises at the sight of Claire. Disapproval noises. She clucked at Caleb. She sat them down and stared at them. "Hunters. Can't get an honest read off of either of you."

"Detective Tyson came to see you about Sebastien Reid." Claire blurted out.

"Oh." She gasped. "You're his mother."

"I am." Claire nodded. She was dressed like a hunter and it felt wrong to admit she was his mother when she didn't look like the person who gave birth to that sweet boy.

"I didn't put it together before. Detective Tyson didn't know enough and that damned spirit was tricky. Your son was part of a bigger picture."

"I think so. Everything I've looked into since Tyson talked to us… I'm scared. The damage has been done to my life but… the picture I see… it's… a lot like someone else's picture only in mine… everyone's dead. Every last everyone but me."

"And you? Where do you fit in this picture?" The psychic motioned to Caleb.

"I'm new to the picture but I heard some stories about something like this happening before."

"Care to share?"

"A buddy of mine. Lost his wife in a house fire when his kids were young. They're all grown now but they've been out hunting creatures looking for the thing that killed his wife."

"John Winchester came to see me when that wife of his was burned on the nursery ceiling." She nodded to them. "I know his story. My name is Missouri and I'll do what I can to help."

Claire bit her lip and shrugged off Caleb's hand when it landed on her shoulder. "I can't escape that man."

"No one can. Even I was in his thrall once." Missouri reassured the woman. "I'm going to help you and you're going to be okay."

"You see that?"

"In a manner of speaking. Any friend of John's is a friend of mine… even if she bit off more than she can chew. John Winchester is not for the faint of heart. I have a feeling that wife of his was more than John could handle, himself."

In the end, the three of them wound up in the salesman's house, the house bound, the man bound. Missouri called up the spirit who had crawled inside the man. It was a nasty one. Claire stood over the bound man, sick to her stomach but sure in her purpose. When its eyes turned black and it laughed at her, she was surer than she had ever been that she needed to know.

"Why did you kill my son?"

"Why does anyone kill anyone, really?" It grinned. "I mean… he was just a boy. You can have more."

"Then why kill my boy if he was just a boy."

"I heard you got you a taste of Pixie dick. Heard you couldn't get enough."

She threw holy water on it. It screamed. Then it laughed. "Sorry. I meant Winchester dick. I've heard its quite addicting. That ol' John sure does make the ladies wet and wanting. He's got ports all over this storm. Heard he'd had enough of you and gone back to some other port. He does like to dock."

"Why my son?"

"Wrong question." It replied.

"Okay." Claire looked to Missouri and Caleb. "Why Henry Stephens's son?"

"Ah. So you looked up the family tree at last."

"All of the Stephens family are dead. Every last one of them."

"Well, they do say that blood will out and well… the proof is in the pudding."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"I had orders."

"From whom?"

"Everyone has their orders. I just… had your kid's name in my bucket. Took me a while to find him. Didn't know Henry could get tail like you. You got that special flavor. Pixies sure liked it."

"It's evading your questions. Make them tighter." Missouri prompted.

"Why did they have to die? What were your orders?"

"Eliminate the competition."

"For what?"

"Even I don't have those orders."

"Why did those fires happen? At the Stephens, at the Winchester's."

"Maybe it was a test. The first test. Maybe the Stephens failed."

"Why them? Why the Stephens?"

"Marjourie Stephens made a deal with a devil and she was blessed with a brood of strapping young lads. Maybe she just had the wrong stud."

"We're not going to get anything else out of it." Caleb warned.

"You know… if the boss could have seen you now, we may not have taken the boy. We only saw you then. A pitiful excuse for a woman. Playing at house. Teaching the kiddos the ABCs and 123s. You need a warrior to do battle. A soldier will sometimes make it out. It never happens for the regular folk. You have to have that spark."

"A spark?"

"Like you. Those eyes, that hair. Made you tastey. That fire Winchester lit in your pussy just consumed you and look at you now. A hunter. Fucking other hunters. You could breed up a nuisance if you put a mind to it. But you won't. You're so scared. This world is too big for you."

"Let's end it." Caleb started chanting his incantation to send the spirit to hell.

"Just like that? Don't I get a last meal. I mean… I could just kill for some French fries."

Missouri cut the man loose just as the spirit was gone. Then Caleb shot the man in the head. Claire stared at him. "What did you do?"

Missouri pulled her aside. "Honey… if we could pull that spirit back through him, so could someone else. It had to be done. That man was made to murder a whole family. He had to live with that and I'm sure he would have rather not."

"I didn't understand anything." Claire looked between them.

"I'll talk to John." Missouri told them both. "You… stay out of it."

"What?" Claire blurted out.

"I know John. He's too hot in the collar to handle you in all this mess. I'll get him what he needs."

"She's right." Caleb agreed.

"I don't understand anything." Claire snapped at them, eyes wide and staring at that poor dead salesman.

"Caleb, honey. Clean up. I'll take Claire for a walk."

Claire let Missouri lead her around the house to the cars. It was dark out. "I don't…"

"I know, honey. I don't know you. I think I remember some words about Caleb from John. I got some of what John needs from that spirit. I know it was a mess of nonsense to you but I've been helping John with this problem since the beginning. I know that the last thing he needs is you. Don't take that the wrong way but you will split his attention in a way that he can't have while he hunts this thing down."

Claire leaned on her car. "My son is dead and I don't know why except that thing in there killed every person in his family except me. Competition… I mean…"

"I know it's confusing. There are things that have happened that we're not talking about to anyone. Anyone. It's for the protection of everyone involved." She stared at her. "You love him."

"Who? John?"

"Well, him, too." Missouri grinned. "John is intense. It's his only setting and even he knows when it's too much for someone. Caleb though… he's never done this. He's nervous. He cares about John and he'd step aside if he thought John was still in the game."

"This is a ridiculous conversation. It's none of your business but John and I are done. John made that quite clear. Caleb and I are too new to know what's going to happen."

"Spirits will lie to you. They'll use the truth to mess with your head." She climbed into the car as Caleb came around the side of the house. Caleb stared at Claire. Claire stared back.

The ride to Missouri's was a long quiet one. Caleb waited for it and he got it as soon as they were in the living room and Missouri had gone to make tea. "You never told me we were going to kill him!"

"Sh." Caleb took her face in his hands. "I'm sorry. I just… it had to be done."

"You should have told me. And you know. You know something about what Missouri is not telling me." She tossed his arms away.

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Claire…" He stood there, not sure how to explain it. "When John told me what happened to his family and we did all the research that we could together… I promised not to speak of it to anyone because he's going to need every edge that he can get. He's got his kids to think about."

"So Sam and Dean are more important than my boy?"

"Sam and Dean are alive."

"John has another kid." She blurted out. "He's got a third son, one who doesn't hunt, who doesn't know he has brothers, who doesn't know what John does." The knives in her chest stung as she blurted it out. She understood now. She shouldn't have said anything about that boy at all.

"Maybe it's better that way." Missouri nodded to Claire that she already knew about that boy. "I'm going to call John, now. I need you to be quiet but I need you here and near because you saw things I didn't down there."

Claire nodded while Missouri started tea before picking up the phone. Claire's eyes flicked to Caleb standing in the doorway. "Go wash up." He nodded and disappeared to find the bathroom. Claire fiddled with a placemat while Missouri left a message for John to call her back.

"I can't…" Claire stormed out of the house and kicked Caleb when he tried to follow her. He picked her up and brought her back into the house. Missouri poured them all tea and hummed softly as she washed up. Claire sipped her tea. Caleb smoked on the back porch, door open and screen door catching the flies.

When the phone rang, Claire yelped. It stopped abruptly but then started ringing again. John's signature. Missouri picked up. "John… wait... John... I said wait, dammit." Missouri took a breath and poured more tea for herself and Claire. "It's been a night, John. I'm still trying to get the words right." She hit speaker and motioned for Claire to be quiet. "I put the speaker on so Caleb can hear. He's still cleaning up from the mess we made tonight."

"You said it was important." John's gruff voice filled the air.

"We found a man who had killed all the members of Henry Stephens family. He was possessed to do it. Multiple times from the impressions I got off that poor man."

"Stephens." The sound of paper shuffling came over the line. "Henry Stephens. He was from Illinois."

Claire nodded. Missouri breathed. "Yes. Illinois."

"Hey Dean-o… I'm parched… and hungry. No pizza." John called across the room. "Hey, and none of that drive-thru nonsense. See if you can't find me a steak."

"John Winchester, that boy…" Missouri started before John cut her off.

"Is my business. So… Stephens died in his boy's room. You said a man killed the rest of his family?"

"Story I could get… The salesman had been possessed and killed every boy in that family. Killed the three boys as adults and the grandson, just a little one. Used the mother to get our attention but she'd been dead for months, couldn't tell you if the spirit did it or if it just took over when she passed. Caleb helped me call the spirit back to the body and we got what we could out of it."

"That was really dangerous, Missouri."

"Well, I had to."

"Where's the man now?"

"Caleb sent him on, so no one else can do what we did."

"So, where's the good stuff, woman?"

"Don't you "woman" me. Been a long time since I was your woman."

"Sorry. Missouri. What did you find out?"

Claire looked to Missouri and shut her eyes. Missouri took a breath. "Seems it was under orders to take out all those boys to… eliminate some competition."

"Did you get the name?"

"Afraid not but John… That family had three boys. The youngest was Sam's age."

"I know… You said it took out the grandson, too?"

Claire's shoulders shook with silent sobs. Missouri touched her hand. "Yes. Seems you knew his mother. That spirit was… well, it mentioned you and her. Seems if they had known what a hunter she'd turn into, they might have spared the boy but it didn't say why."

"Jesus Christ. Who? Who was that boy's mother?"

"Claire Reid."

"Don't you bring her into this, Missouri. You leave her alone. Was she there? Did she hear?"

"She heard enough. We sent her on her way." Missouri squeezed Claire's hand. "I can't tell her what it meant, John."

"Sammy's a good boy. They won't be able to turn him."

"I know. You raised those boys well. This does start to bring up that stuff we were talking about."

"Yeah, I guess it does.

Claire frowned, stuck on the competition. Why take out someone that was unworthy? Missouri squeezed her hand. "Thing is. That spirit told us that Claire was pathetic and her son… useless for lack of a better word. Why would it eliminate the whole family if they weren't up to snuff?"

"There were dozens of families, Missouri. Just the ones that I know of. Not… Not every family went through the same thing. I mean, they all had something done to the babies. What… I still don't know. I thought they were… soldiers. I've always been worried about turning but it's not like Cambion. There were no manifestations with Sammy or any of the other kids at that age."

"Seven. Right." Missouri sipped her tea and then rubbed her hands together.

"They're all 19 years old right now, Missouri. They're just kids. What's gonna happen to 'em?"

Claire furrowed her brow. The boys didn't know this stuff. John had sent Dean on. Meant Sam didn't know. She wondered why if he'd raised his boys to fight this stuff. Then she thought about her son. Bloodlines, breeding. Snatches of information crossed her mind.

"The bloodlines. Something is special about that boy of yours. It mentioned you specifically. That Stephens family must have had the right stuff but… someone needs your family in the fight."

"Why? My dad took off when I was a kid. My mother took up with one mechanic after another til she died. Mary… she never talked about her family. Her folks died before we were married."

"There's got to be something there, John. Something that we're missing." Missouri pressed. "When it was talking to Claire… it mentioned the pixies and her eyes and her hair. What happened there?"

"They were… Pixies. Fucking Pixies. Caleb can fill you in on the whys and wherefores but… gist was… They came out on the solstices to get blonde-haired green-eyed men and women of the drop dead gorgeous persuasion for… we never even found out what. Claire… they did a number on her. Raped, scarred, she couldn't talk for a year. Dean… I guess you could say they did the same to him. We worried for a bit after that Claire could have had some kind of hybrid… but she never turned up pregnant… not from the Pixies."

"John Winchester." Missouri stopped herself.

"Not from me, either. Not from lack of trying on her part. Nearest we could figure they were trying to pull her over to their side. They only wanted the best we had and… she made the cut. I couldn't blame them. If you had to line up some ladies to have on your side, I'd pick her out."

"Well, she is your type."

"I don't have a type."

Caleb leaned in the door. "What about what we were talking about? Blood lines."

"She gave you the slip, too, huh." John laughed.

"Sure. Why not." Caleb bit out.

"Don't be bitter." John chuckled and Claire seethed. John took a breath. "I don't know about this… line of Adam business."

"I thought it was Abel."

"No, it's Adam." John insisted. "I mean the story goes… they were born as twins. Abel and Cain's twin got their line going before Cain turned on him. Abel's twin wasn't as pretty as Cain's twin and Cain never took well to it. I don't know if their line was started before or after the slaying."

"But say… there's all these branches, they split and join and split and join… maybe some branches got more juice than others." Caleb shrugged at them.

"Maybe." Came John's response. "Maybe I should dig deeper."

"I'm going outside." Caleb lit another cigarette and let the door slam after him.

"Did you have to do that?" Missouri asked softly. "I don't know what's going on but did you have to do that?"

"No." John sighed. "I'm not as over her as I pretend to be. It was just…" He coughed. "Anyway, she should settle down with someone who doesn't hunt. She's too… everything to do what we do."

"She's good at it, John. A little naïve but damn good."

"You remember when you wanted a husband and kids and the fence."

"Hey. I got my fence." Missouri pointed at the phone.

"I was 20 years old when that was my dream. I was 30 when it burned. She could still have it. She could have any man she wants. Never have to work a day in her life."

"You're sexist and if she wants Caleb, that's her business."

"She doesn't want Caleb. She hates him. She's too good for him."

"She banged your bony butt."

"She's too good for me, too. Don't know who told her she had to latch on to any man who looked at her twice."

Claire shook her head and turned away from Missouri. Missouri cleared her throat. "Well, I'd say no accounting for taste but I banged your bony butt for a few weeks in the 80s so I'm in the same boat with that girl."

"Do me a favor, you see her again. Don't tell her you talked to me… but tell her to settle down."

"Well, then, I suspect, she'll know that I talked to you. John…"

"She needed things I couldn't give her. I'm gonna die bloody looking for this thing. She don't need to be with me for that. It's coming for me, for my boys… I can't have her blood on my hands. Yours either. Stay out of it."

"I will if you will."

"Missouri, you're crazy and that's why I love you."

"Well, you have excellent taste. You take care of that kid you got and don't forget about your other children."

"Well, they all pretty much hate me these days. Dean's the only one still following orders… and that's only cause I let a pixie get at him. That other one… well… he just figured out that I'm no good either."

The line disconnected and Claire looked at her. "Why does he think I'm so helpless?"

"He doesn't." Missouri shook her head. "He put his wife on a pedestal. She liked jumping off it, if I understand his stories at all. Just cause she could. You got some of that in you. You'd probably be fine letting some doctor or lawyer taking care of you and a whole passel of kids… if it weren't some man's idea instead of your own."

"Maybe." She shrugged and glanced at the backdoor. "I don't understand why he had to be so mean to Caleb."

"Maybe he saw something he didn't like when the two of you were still banging each other's brains out. The man gets territorial. Don't pay him no mind. He doesn't want you in the picture. He doesn't need the distraction. I wasn't going to tell him about your boy but it gave him the inspiration he needed. He wasn't going to tell you that other stuff but you need to know. You lost your boy. You'll carry that the rest of your life. You do what you want. John can go to hell."

"I gotta get out of here."

Missouri touched Claire's shoulder as she finished her tea. "You go on. Do what you have to. I'll get Caleb home."

Caleb watched her leave and let her go. Missouri poured him a cup of tea when he came inside. "John mentioned you once… before tonight."

"I suppose he did. Am I what you expected?"

"I expected a bigger 'fro."

"I did have the big hair when I met John." She laughed and then motioned to the door. "She's cute."

"She is." Caleb gulped his tea. "Why don't you like her?"

"She's cute. She's sweet. She's got the right guns for hunting both figurative and literally." Missouri sighed and shook her head. "I'd ask what in the hell John was thinking but I think we both know he wasn't."

"I know I don't." He shrugged.

"Give me one of those." Missouri took a cigarette and lit it up. Caleb lit one for himself. "John's terrified for his boys. He comes to see me every now and again when he's stumped. He hadn't been by in a while. I got most of the story off of her. She just… broadcasts. Got a little bit of the needy girlfriend in her."

"I like that about her." Caleb shook his head.

"You like that she fucks you silly because she thinks it will make you love her."

"Well, it helps." He smiled to his cigarette. "You think there's an even bigger picture?"

"The kind it takes centuries to paint."

"You think those boys were in it deep like John's boys?"

"They could have been. Means there's a lot more families out there. Probably more than John came up with when he went looking."

"I'm not going to tell her."

"You shouldn't but she may find out on her own. She seems smart… except that she sleeps with you and your reputation precedes you boy. I should have that chair tested when you vacate it."

Caleb laughed. Then his smile faded. "She's going to disappear on me."

"I said I'd get you home."

"It was time I got my own car, anyway."

"I'll tell you what I told John over and over again… it's okay to find someone to spend your life with. It doesn't mean you've forgotten that one great love."

"I think maybe… Alanna wasn't my great love. I loved her. I still do… but…"

"The blonde got under your skin. Um-hmm. I had me a man when I was young and hot and had big hair. He left when he found out I wasn't playing at being psychic. It was too real for him. Any man since has been… a shadow. A time to pass. Even John Winchester, God bless that man's smile."

"You and John?"

"For a few nights. I knew he was never going to let her go. He got me through the worse of my divorce and I got him through the worst of his grieving."

"If it's okay to find someone to spend his life with… why not her?" Caleb gestured to the door.

"If she were an uglier girl, a less needy girl… if she wasn't John's type… I'd say he'd need the support but… she's just as intense as he is. She'd suck him dry. He knew it. That's the type a man makes sacrifices for." She put out the cigarette. "Women like me… we hate women like her… just because. No rhyme, no reason. They just… seem to get it all… without trying."

"Well, she's lost a lot. Maybe you're right. Maybe he's right. Maybe she's just grasping at everything and hoping something will stick." Caleb stared at the burning end of his cigarette. "Maybe I am, too."

TBC