The men folks were drinking beer at the picnic table. There were four at the side of the Motel's pool. It was cleaner than most. Empty but for two families. They had booked the place out for the weekend. Harry hadn't asked John whose money was paying for it. What he didn't know, would keep his friend out of jail, for now.

Doris, Debs and Sammy were slowly turning themselves brown on the sun loungers.
Dex and Dean had been sent to clean the cars. Though, both fathers knew their sons had finished a long time ago, they didn't chase them up. They needed a bit of time. Talk shop.

"You ain't gonna like this Harry" John put his beer to one side. It sweated in the late afternoon sun.
Harry took a swig of his bottle. "I've heard a few things I don't want to hear today. Just tell me"
"He isn't possessed." straight to the point.
"Right" Harry tensed up more. He was processing too much bad news today.
"He ain't a monster. Fully human. Just not where it counts"

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Only coming out of their thoughts when they heard Debs and Sammy yelping towards the pool. Sammy went in first and the girl dove in after. Trying to keep up or even beat the boy to the other end.

"It got in too early" Harry whispered. Looking towards his wife.

"Are you going to tell her?" John pointed towards Harry's wife.
"She knows the boy is damaged. Just not how much. It would kill her" Harry let out a little ironic laugh. Sadness and loss.

John watched as the man in front of him started to crack. Most of those cracks would never heal.

"All we can do is damage control" John borrowed a phrase from his commanding officer in the Marines.

"What?"
"Give him a purpose. An outlet."

"What? Ghosts? Werewolf s? Sweep up the last of your bloodsucking buddies?" Harry spluttered. "No offence John, that ain't no life for a kid." Harry's father had been a hunter. His mother stopped that life after his father had died on a hunt.
"It's not." John admitted. "But if you leave him to his own devices and it won't be the neighbour's cat. It'll be the neighbour. Or Debby." John looked to the kids in the pool. Debs had pulled herself out on to the side and was splashing Sammy. "He would only feel guilt later on. On that day he wants to get caught. Knowing it's wrong. He still won't feel it. Innocents will die."
"Don't you think I know. I see it every day." Harry raised his voice. Debs looked over. He struggled to look more relaxed then he was. "Those scum" he forced through his teeth, "should have been killed before they got the chance to spread their misery."
"They could have been Dex. I know you wanted him to be cured by a exorcism." John opened another two beers and slid one over to Harry. "He needs a code. Basic training. Maybe keep him long enough to let him find a way. A hunt that won't end in lethal injection"

"People find hunting in two ways. Born to it or find it in blood." Harry gripped the bottle so tightly, he didn't know how it didn't break. He downed half the beer in one go. The sting taking some of the lump from his throat.
"Maybe there is another way, Harry. You've seen where this is going. I could..." John's eye held a steely silent deadly promise.

Harry slammed the bottle down on the table. It skittle d off to the ground. Leaking amber liquid on the concrete below. "Finish. That. Sentence. Winchester"

"Sorry. Detective Morgan." John saw enough fire in the other man's eyes to let the ice in his melt away. Harry looked up to see Dean and Dex coming round the side of the building. Dean was good with Dex. He seemed to be able explain things in a way the other young man could understand.

"You couldn't. I know you couldn't. Same way I couldn't" Harry reached over for John's beer, toasted him and drank it down.
"Yeah." John smiled a weary smile. "Someone will pay the price because of that"

"What can I do John?" Harry almost begged his friend for an answer.
"Spend some time with your kids Harry." John looked over. They were all in the pool now. Sammy and Debs were back to racing. Dean was explaining something to Dexter. Dexter's head was cocked over to the side. Glancing at the race, back to Dean and nodding.

"You are very Zen." Harry's fire was dampened down enough to be thinking rather than reacting again.
"Too much time with Jim." John glanced heavenwards as he did every time he mentioned the pastor's name. Harry smiled. "Not enough answers. Not the ones I want to hear." He looked over to the pool again. "The nearest he got, was when he said to me, sometimes the world moves too fast. There is never enough time to prepare them for real life. Ugly, violent, amazing. You just gotta do your best."

"Bulllshit!" Harry's youngest voice echoed off the walls and into the trees beyond.
"Deborah Morgan! You mind your language!" Dorris stirred from the lounger.
"But it is Mom!" Debs whined.
"We do not use language like that" her Mom lectured.
"Dad does." the girl pointed at her Dad.

"Well. Your Father, is a bad influence." She got up and winced a little. She made her way to where her husband sat.
"Hey! Sitting right here!" Harry put his arm gently round his wife's waist and drew her to him.
"See. Now you can find a place to look and see what not to do" she dropped a kiss on his forehead.

"John! Save me from this character assassination" he looked to his friend for help
"I'm not that brave. Admit defeat. Go quietly" John reached for another beer.
"Never!" he let Dorris slip from him.

Debs pulled herself out of the water and grabbed a nearby towel. Hanging her head over the pool, she wrapped her hair in a knot in it. She mouthed "bullshit" and smiled at Sammy.
Sammy put his finger and thumb in the shape of a L on his forehead. "Looooser" he grinned back and splashed some water at her. He turned and started swimming steady lengths of the pool.

Dexter watched as his sister went over to the adults and stood by Dad, saying something that made him smile and Mom shake her head.

"Dex! Get over here and protect me from these women!" Dad waved at him.

Dex looked puzzled. Dean wondered if the missing piece of this guy didn't connect straight to that expression. Maybe the wind had changed and it really was stuck that way.

"It's called humour Dex. He doesn't mean it. Go over and sit by your Mother. Stick your tongue out at your Dad." Dean ran his hand through his hair.
"Isn't that disrespectful?" Dex asked..
"Very. It also makes your Mother and sister feel you are on their side. Your Dad will approve. A bond in jest." He put his hand on Dexter's arm.
They had practised this. Dexter put a smile on his face and brushed the hand off him. A simple movement. Dean said, start small and don't get frustrated."People are crazy"

"When you are right, you are right." Dean shoved Dexter towards his family.