"Wait," Dean ordered. Bobby could see the anger and resentment playing on his face. "You're saying that Dad knew about the Demon's plan for years? He knew and never told us?"

"I –" he tripped over his words. Had John known about the test the demon put Sam and the others through? About the cemetery and doorway to hell? Bobby didn't know how to answer him because he hadn't been there. He'd been left stranded at a dumpy little gas station. John and the boys had picked him up a few days later to take him home. Once there John had sent the boys out to play and informed him that Evie was gone. Gone and not coming back. Words had been said and punches thrown. It hadn't changed anything though. John left him with a warning, not to go looking, and he told him to go to Hell.

"Bobby?" Sam said his named, his eyes pleading.

"I just know that he met up with the demon. John said that it had plans, and that he intended to stop them. That's all."

"The hell it is," Dean snarled as he turned. His green eyes were blazing as he narrowed in on Ellen and Evie.

"Back off," Ellen hissed, rising from the floor. "She needs to rest."

"Not until we know truth," Dean said brushing pass her. Ellen tried to stop him, but Sam stepped in front of her. Blocking both of them. "We need to know," he said.

---

Emotions tore through him and Dean tried his best to rein them in as he reminded himself that the battered woman sitting in front of him wasn't to blame for his father's choices. It would be easier, so much easier, if he could take them out on her or anyone else. Anyone who wasn't the man he loved and trusted so blindly. Dean took a deep breath before hunching down to meet her gaze. "Did he know?" he ground out. "Did he know what would happen to Sam and the others?"

Her answer was a simple, "No." Dean looked for some kind of tell. Her gaze didn't falter, she didn't fidget. She sat there looking worn. It wasn't that simple, though. He recalled the change in his father. A renewed sense of determination that held a hint of desperation to it. That's when his father and Sam really started to butt heads.

"He knew something though, didn't he?" he questioned.

She sighed as she looked from him, up to Sam and back again. "He said plans. Nothing specific, just that when the time came the children would do his bidding."

Dean continued to study Evie, looking for any trace of lie. After a few minutes he was satisfied with her answer, but he was left with a burning hole. For years his father knew and struggled with that information on his own. It pissed him off and Dean didn't know what do about it. He'd like to take a swing at the old man, then hash it out over beers. Acceptance and forgiveness would be that simple, but as he stood and faced Sam he knew his brother would have needed more. He wasn't certain that their Dad could have given it, and he thought maybe it was better this way.

---

Another half-truth from their father. After all these years you think he'd come to expect it, but it still came as a shock to Sam. Obviously, his father had to have learned the truth at some point. Sam had even come to accept the fact that he kept the truth from them in order to protect them. The length of time he kept the secret shouldn't have bothered him. It shouldn't have changed anything, and yet, every conversation they had – every fight – was now somehow tainted.

"Sam," Dean said, trying to cup his shoulder, but he shifted away from his brother. He wasn't ready to deal with the consequences of what had transpired.

"I think it's safe to get you some place more comfortable," he said, addressing Evie.

"That would be nice," she answered. Sam held out his hand helped her to her feet. She winched at her first step and he hunched so he could put her arm around his shoulder and take some of her weight.

"Thanks," Evie said, her voiced pained.

Sam nodded and asked, "Where to?"

"Right at the top of the steps, second door," Bobby instructed from behind him. "I'll have Dean bring up some water and aspirin."

---

Sam helped her onto the bed and for a moment sinking into the softness hurt, but as she settled in, the pain eased. Her childhood room was still painted a bright yellow and Evie was grateful for the cheery color. She concentrated on it as she tried to separate herself from the tangle of emotions within the house.

"Your initials are in my Dad's journal," Sam said as he rested against the wall. "I wanted to come look for you."

Her brow furled. "Why?"

"Because I have an idiot for a brother," he sighed. "An over-protective idiot of a brother who sold his soul to bring me back from the dead."

"That's family business," Dean hissed as he entered the room carrying the promised aspirin and water. "And I'm not an idiot. I saved your ass. That's what I do," he stated as he crossed the room.

Dean finally looked as her, saying: "Here you go," as he handed her the water and pills. His green eyes which had been swimming with emotion in the kitchen were now hard. Just because he was masking his turbulent emotions didn't mean Evie couldn't feel them. In fact, the brothers were so in tune with each other, she could feel the silent war they were having with each other.

It was enough to make her already sore head ache more fervently. Downing the pills Evie considered the last few days. The sharp feeling of a door to Hell opening up and evil being unleashed on the world. The certainty that the demon that had once possessed her being destroyed. She'd come back to her father's home in search of answers. No way he wouldn't at least know about something that big. Now she knew he was smack dab in the middle of it all, along with John Winchester's boys.

John had spoken of them that night so long ago, when she left Bobby and the Hunter's life behind. He told her about them, his voice full of pride and love, as well as, determination. He would protect them. That night she learned what a father was supposed to be. In the years that followed she came to realize that's what John was trying to be for her – a father, putting the needs and well-being of his child before everything else. He had needed it just as much as she had, because as much he wanted to, he couldn't offer his boys the same freedom.

Evie had spent years avoiding the supernatural and now here she was, back in the thick of things. It was her choice, but she wasn't certain how involved she wanted to get. It was obvious that the Winchesters were in need of help. How could she refuse them that after what their father did for her?

---

"You tracked the Yellow-Eyed Demon," Sam stated matter-of-factly. He saw Dean tense. His brother glared at him, ordering him with a look to keep his mouth shut, but he couldn't. Whether Dean liked it or not, he was going to be saved.

She closed her eyes her moment, resting her head on the pillow so her face was to the ceiling. Dean prowled the small room, while Sam stayed still awaiting her response.

"Say I do help you. Say I track this demon you're after and we find it – then what?" Evie asked, opening her eyes.

Kill it was the first thing that came to mind. Of course Dean used the Colt's last bullet to kill the Yellow-Eyed Demon. As far as Sam knew there wasn't another way to kill a demon, which left bargaining. Dean would probably beat him senseless if he even attempted that. The truth was, beyond promising to find a way to save his brother, Sam hadn't really thought out how he would accomplish it.

His silenced earned him an "I-told-you-so" smirk from Dean.

"No plan then," she muttered. "Great."

---

Sam flinched at her words. He couldn't blame his brother for wanting to save him, for needing to try. He understood that need all too well. It drove him to a desperate act, one that damned him. Dean found it easy to accept that fact because of the life he lived, and no matter what it took, he'd keep his brother from having the same fate.

"No point in tracking what we can't kill."

"Dean," Sam said, with heat in his voice. Little brother was going to fight him tooth and nail on this, it'd be a bitch, but he hadn't expect anything less.

"The deal's been made, Sammy. There is no turning back and there is no way I'm letting you barter for my life."

"That would my choice wouldn't?" he seethed, pushing off the wall. "It's not like you asked permission when you bargained for mine."

Sam was edging towards him, ready to fight. Dean saw his hands balling into fists. He did owe Sam a fee shot and who knew, it might help.

"That's kind of a moot point isn't?" Evie asked, drawing their attention back to her. "Like Dean said, the deal has been made and before you start protesting I know you're set on saving him, Sam." Her tone was no-nonsense and it reminded Dean of his third grade teacher – full of patience and steel. "When we – when your dad and I caught up with the demon he said they'd couldn't be killed, but he was lying. Well sort of … demons end. No Hell for them, no chance of escape. They go extinct. Whatever is owed them can't be collected."

Apprehensive and concerned about the hope flaring in Sam's eyes Dean asked, "How do you know?"

"It's hard to explain," Evie answered, and he scoffed. Of course it was, he thought. She might be a tracker, but an expert on demons clearly not. She frowned at him an asked, "You ever been possessed?"

"No, but I have," Sam answered.

"Did it let you see anything? What it was doing? Things that it had done before it possessed you?"

"Perfect, John Edwards with demons," Dean muttered under his breath as Sam explained that he'd been able to witness what Meg had done. He could hear the underlying guilt in his brother's voice. Sam had been there, all but performing the acts, and he couldn't stop it. It was one of many experiences he wished Sam could have been spared.

"He showed me Hell," she said in a dead tone, "amongst other things – a nice little highlight of his misdeeds, including ending one of his own."

"That's nice," Dean snapped, his voice sharp with annoyance, "but that doesn't help us." He could already see Sam's big brain going to work. If old Yellow-Eyes ended one of his own then there had to be other ways. He wanted knock some sense into his brother. He had accepted his fate and he needed Sam to damn well do the same. If his brother lived in hope for the next year it would only make things harder for him, after.

"So we figure out how to kill it, and once we do, we get Evie to track it down," Sam replied, clearly aggravated by his opposition.

"And the other things out there? The things that got released on our watch?" he challenged. "That's our responsibility, Sam."

"I'm not letting you die, Dean." Sam stepped forward as he said that, they were standing toe-to-toe now.

"And I'm not spending the next year letting innocent people get hurt. We have a job to do."

A sharp whistle sounded and they turned together to glare at Evie. "This is private argument," Dean barked.

"Well this is MY room fellas, and you're forgetting option 'C.'"

Out of the corner of his eye Dean saw Sam make his bitch-face as he asked, "Which would be?"

"You two hunt, Bobby," she tripped over his name, "and I will research, and once we figure it out, we'll find your demon and cut it down."

Sam started to protest, so he smacked him on the back of his head to shut him up. He earned a death glare, but Dean didn't care because Sam stayed quiet. "Bobby has more assets when it comes to researching, Sam, you know that. Besides someone has to be out there hunting those things down. They're not going to play nice and you know it. You want to help … to save me, then do it this way, because I'm not going to sit around while you do your Geek Boy thing."

"You expect me to do nothing, then?" Sam asked clearly not happy with option 'C.'

"Not nothing, Sammy. I expect you to cover my ass so I don't show up to the party early, and since my deal included the pesky string about me not being allowed to help myself, you're going to be responsible for offing the bitch. That work for you?"

A smile crept slowly across his face. "Yeah," he said with a nod, "that works for me."

THE END