Going out for drinks with Sid didn't help matters. He always wanted war stories, he wanted to know about his life before suburbia. Maybe that's just what normal guys did; they talked about 'the good ole days', which, according to Sid, were the days before marriage and kids. He was a firm believer in the whole ball and chain gig. Not that he wasn't happy with this family, well, he just wasn't overly thrilled about settling down. Dean never told him he didn't really share his view. Granted, Kayla was way hotter than Sid's wife, maybe that's where he was lacking. Or, maybe Sid was just a dick that couldn't get over his days at the frat house.

That was a big reason he and Kayla never went anywhere with Sid and his wife. It was just awkward for them. Sid and his wife didn't click the way he and Kayla did. Nothing was a battle for them, in this environment, there was nothing so dramatically important worth fighting over. It wasn't a debate over which way to do this or which way to do that, everything just, was. Sometimes he wondered if some of Sam's psychic energy rubbed off on her, because she seemed to have things done the way he would have done them, before he can even think to do them.

After his short evening of lying up another set of stories from his fake pre-family life, he was more than ready to get home. On his way to his car he heard something familiar but completely unexpected in this case; a scream. It was coming from a hotel across the street. it had been shut down to be completely gutted and renovated, making it the perfect location to kill someone and hide some bodies. He grabbed his gun out of his car and went to investigate, but only found scratches on the wall and a blood trail. Whatever had happened there, he was too late to change it.

When he got home he went in quietly as he could though his adrenaline was pumping, Kayla was usually asleep by this hour. He got on the computer and started an immediate investigation; missing persons, police reports, he even called the local PD. As a usual investigation, no one knew a damn thing. Home sweet home.

"No disappearances in the area at all?" He paused, listening to the officer. "I don't know, call it a hunch. I've been a police officer a long time." His eyes scanned the computer again but the movement in the doorway caught his eye and he saw Kayla standing there. "Yeah man, no problem. See you tomorrow." He hung up the phone. "Hey babe, he wake up?"

"No." She gave him a look, not buying that act for a second. As she walked around the computer she saw the police scanner pulled up, immediately recognizing their local PD name. "What are you doing?"

He shot her a look of complete and utter guilt; the kind of look you would expect from a man who'd been caught looking at porn. He would have rather she caught him with that. "I just, I heard something tonight and…"

Concern immediately took over her face. "You're investigating. You think there's a job? Here?" Monsters in the neighborhood, wouldn't that be great after all this time?

"I don't know, I think so. I heard a scream inside that old hotel by the bar. When I went in there were these claw marks on the wall, and a blood trail up the stairs. I looked around but I couldn't find anything."

"What kind of claw marks? Like a werewolf?"

"Who knows? Until they find a body, I won't know what it is." Unfortunately that's how things worked with them. They never knew anything was wrong until someone turned up dead.

The fear of something coming after Alex crept into her mind and she nodded slowly, trying to remain calm about the whole thing. If there was a job, she hoped like hell it was just a coincidence. Everything had been so quiet. Maybe it was nothing, maybe it was just a murder. They were so strange to think of person on person homicide was normal. "It's late. Look into some more tomorrow, okay?"

"You're not pissed?"

She forced the smile, not because she was mad at him, but because she was scared to death all of a sudden. "You heard screaming, there was nothing anyone woul dhave been able to do to keep your instincts from going into that building. It's in your blood. If it's our kind of hunt, so be it. You can take on whatever it is. Just, for now, come to bed."

"I'm just gonna check the locks again." It was something he would have done anyway; something he did every night.

"Okay." She kissed him and went back upstairs; there'd be no sleep for either of them until they figured this one out.

The next morning he got up and got ready for work the same way he always did and tried not to seem over eager about the possibility of a job. Their kind of job. One his way to the shop he spotted claw marks on a telephone pole outside one of the neighbor's houses, similar to the ones he saw at the hotel. He hesitated, but Kayla had told him he could look into it. He pulled up to the fence and tucked his gun underneath his shirt. He cautiously went through the backyard, where he found more claw marks, this time bloody, on the door of their shed. The adrenaline built up inside him as he approached the door and he kicked it in…to find a yorkie. Horrifying. Well, they kind of were.

"Dean! Is that a gun?"

He turned to see Sid, out for his morning job, being a nosy neighbor damn it. "What? No, well, yes. I've got a permit for it." That sounded strange coming from him, and he doubted a permit was Sid's concern at the moment.

"To shoot a dog?"

"Well I thought it was a possum. Remember, when I said I was pest control? Possums carry rabies." It was the first thing that came to mind and Sid seemed to be eating it up.

"I didn't know that." He stated in surprise; oh blissful ignorance.

"Oh yeah, possums…possums kill, so…yeah." A small pile of yellow powder caught his eye and he leaned down, he swore his heart stopped beating.

"What's that?" Sid asked casually.

"Sulfur." He muttered, then jumped to his feet. "I gotta go."

Before Sid could make more small talk with him about possums and rabies he was back in his car, tearing back towards the house. Shannon would be over by now, they wouldn't even hear him rummaging through the garage with everything so friggen insulated. He wished he could get into the basement but the garage would have to do. No sense in alarming Kayla until he was absolutely sure of what was going on. Though with sulfur, it wasn't hard to figure out.

As he dug through his smaller supply of hunting materials in the garage, the lights began to flicker over his head. He drew his shotgun out of the toolbox and stood up. There was a banging in the corner and he saw one of Alex's balls roll out from under the car. It was just what he needed this morning; a demon in his damn house. He walked around the side of the car but saw nothing. Maybe he was losing it. As he turned around he was shocked to find himself face to face with Azazel. Azazel? He was losing it.

"Hi Dean." He grinned in that way he did, always grinning like a mad man. "Look what the apocalypse shook loose. Did you have fun sniffing out that trail? 'Cause I sure had fun batting you around."

His mind was reeling. Not here, not in his house with his family. This couldn't be fucking happening after all this time. "You can't be."

"Oh sure I can. The big daddy brought your buddy Cas back, right? So why not me? Add a little spice to all that sugar." He looked at him triumphantly, bring forth all his doubts and insecurities. Son of a bitch.

The sound was distinct. Kayla heard a gunshot go off in the garage and her breath caught in her throat as every hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Shannon had heard the noise too, but she hadn't recognized is as a gunshot. She wouldn't if she'd never heard one, and of course she'd never heard a sawed off shotgun fire.

"What the hell was that?" She asked.

"Mr. Miller." She rolled her eyes, instantly covering everything up. They couldn't lose everything they had here, they couldn't just let it go. "He hits our garage door with his golf balls, happens all the time."

"Geez." She breathed, acting like it had scared her half to death when it seemed to just have annoyed her. "Scared me to death, you want me to say something?"

"No, of course not." She smiled. "Hey you know what, I totally forgot I've gotta get ready to take Alex to the doctor, do you mind?"

"No problem!" She was so oblivious to trouble it was ridiculous. She didn't question her explanation to the noise, and she left without a fight. Everything was just so right in her little world.

Kayla set Alex in his playpen and handed him a couple toys to keep him busy before taking a gun out of its hiding spot in the kitchen. She walked around the side of the kitchen and stopped at the garage door. There was a lot of commotion but she heard the garage door slam back shut and opened the door. No one was there. She slammed her hand down on the button abut it opened so damn slow, like there was gonna be a kid clinging to the outside or something that would make fast opening a danger to society. She couldn't see who it was that was leaving. Dean's Impala was back in the garage; she swore he'd left this morning.

She went back into the house and called his cell, nothing. She called the shop and they told her he hadn't shown up yet and he hadn't called anyone. Oh God. There really was a hunt. "Cas?" She called out and her voice broke. "Castiel!" Nothing, of course. He was probably busy she was sure and he wished he was still using his cell phone. She looked to Alex, completely calm in the midst of all this, watching her pace back and forth with a look on his face that was the picture of innocence. First things first; she had to pack their bags.