Dean brushes the Impalas hood reverently.
"Your dad's taking pretty good care of her, huh?" He murmurs to Mary over his shoulder.
"Puhhleeease." Mary rolls her eyes, still panting from the mile hike back down the mountain. "She was in our garage with a cover over her for years. I finally nagged him into giving her to me last year for my sixteenth. She's been mine ever since."
"Ah." Dean climbs in the passenger seat, "Well then, you've taken good care of her. Glad to see she's being maintained."
They pull onto the highway, and Mary slips into a trance, staring blankly at the road as she drives.
After several minutes of silent driving, Dean exhales awkwardly. "Soooo… Does your mom know you're here?"
Mary does not respond, or acknowledge Dean's question.
"Mary?" He waves his hand in front of her face, effectively pulling her back from her reverie.
"Hmm?" She blinks, shaking her head minutely.
"Your mom-" Dean repeats tersely, "Does she know you're here?"
"Sorry." Mary smiles vaguely. "I, uh… I doubt it. I mean, she's dead…"
"I'm sorry." He mutters, rubbing the back of his neck, "How'd she die?"
"Giving birth to me." Mary glares out the windshield again, her fists tightening on the wheel. "Never knew her."
Dean's heart drops, as he imagines Sam left alone with Mary- no wife or mother to care for them. Such a familiar story... "Is that why your dad started hunting again?"
She glances over at him. "Again?"
"I thought… I'd assumed he'd settle down… Live a normal lie?"
Mary scoffs, "Normal? Uncle Dean, normal isn't exactly a realistic goal in this family."
"So, you've hunted your whole life?" Dean cringes.
"Oh, godno." She snorts, "Dad does try, bless his heart. He desperately wants to keep me from it all. Sure, he trained me to fight, protect myself, but hunt? Never."
"Sounds like him." Dean answers knowingly, "He wants you to have the life he couldn't."
"I'm not interested in living that way." Mary brushes a piece of dust off the dash, and continues, "I mean, how could I be? How does someone know what's out there, and keep on with their life like everything's fine? It makes schoolwork and prom dates seem kind of trivial, ya' know?"
"I know what you mean kid." Dean grimaces at the skyline of the city they are quickly approaching. "You don't see the world without looking for the monsters in it."
"Exactly." Mary slows to match the 40mph speed limit sign, "You know, I had a bad feeling about this hunt. I begged dad to let me come with him; bugged the shit out of him, and he still refused. Now I have no clue where he is, and-" She chokes back a sob.
"We'll find him." Dean reassures her. "Hell, he's probably waiting at your house right now for you to come home, so he can ground you for sneaking out."
"Maybe."
After two more hours of driving, and some sporadic uncomfortable conversation, they finally pull into the paved driveway of a tidy gray two-story house.
Mary sighs, and shuts off the engine. "Home sweet home. Dad's car isn't here."
Dean climbs out, stretching his legs, and looking the house over. "It's so…"
"Suburban?" Mary offers.
"Exactly." He chuckles.
Mary unlocks the door, and motions Dean through.
As soon as he steps on the welcome mat, his progress is halted. "Seriously?" He scowls.
"Oh, sorry!" Mary lifts the corner of the mat and scrapes away a part of the demon trap beneath it with her blade, so that they can move into the living room. "That'll probably happen a lot. Dad has this house riddled with traps and sigils. Pretty much the only supernatural being that can get in or out of here without incident is-"
"MARY ALEXANDRIA WINCHESTER!" A familiar voice booms through the house, shaking the walls, and causing some loose plaster dust to rain down around their heads.
"Shit." Mary squeaks, as the front door bursts open.
Dean reacts quickly; shoving Mary behind him, and drawing his blade from its sheathe. His eyes flash to a dangerous black, as he squints into the bright doorway.
As the light dies down, Dean's arms fall to his side limply.
"Hey Uncle Cas." Mary shuffles guiltily, but Castiel is no longer focused on her.
His steel blue eyes are locked onto the demon across from him.
Mary starts to panic; afraid the two may fight. "So… I found Uncle Dean…" She tries to alleviate the tension.
They remain motionless for nearly a full minute; each of them waiting for the other to speak.
Finally it is Cas who breaks the silence.
"Dean." A broad smile splits his face, and he closes between them; pulling his long-lost friend into a violent embrace. "I've missed you."
Dean pulls back, holding him at arms length, and looking him over, "How've you been?!"
"I've been well," Cas grins, then focuses his attention on Mary; who is attempting to slink from the room, "No thanks to you!"
She cringes, and turns back toward them slowly, "Yeeeah… Sorry about that."
"Sorry?!" Cas glowers, "Do you realize how worried I've been?! It's bad enough I have to babysit you, but then you disappear without a trace?!"
"I mean… I left a note…"
Cas strides over to her, and pulls her sleeve back; revealing a line of sigils up her wrist and forearm. "Well this explains why I couldn't find you." He scowls.
"Yeah… Again, just- reeeeally sorry about that." Mary gingerly slides her arm out of his grasp, and stuffs her hands in her pocket. "But I have to find dad…"
"He's only been gone for a week." Cas sighs dramatically, "He's probably fine."
"No he isn't. He hasn't called for two days." She snaps, "He always calls. You know something is wrong; you're just trying to spare me. Save it, I'm almost seventeen years old; I deserve to be a part of this."
Castiel bites his lip for a moment, before visibly giving in; his shoulders slumping in defeat. "Mary, I have my best Angels on it, but we can't find your dad."
"I figured that." She lifts her chin defiantly, "That's why I went to get Uncle Dean."
"How did you locate Dean?" Cas raises his eyebrows disbelievingly. "Not even I could do that."
"I have something you don't, Uncle Assbutt." She smirks, holding up her bandaged palm. "Winchester blood."
"You certainly do have that." Cas rolls his eyes. "It's the only explanation for your stubbornness and ignorance."
"It's also the only way blood magic can be performed." She grins. "Which is how I found Dean, and how I tried to find dad. It didn't work as well in dad's case; someone must have been warding the spell off. I did narrow it down to the city though, and from there I figured out who dad was hunting."
"You wanna enlighten us, kid?" Dean's gravelly voice cuts in, as he picks up a photo of Sam and Mary from the mantelpiece, and studies it.
"He was hunting a demon named Auceps."
"Auceps?" Dean looks up disbelievingly, "That is literally Latin for 'trapper'."
"Which is something dad would have known." She nods brusquely, "So either he didn't think it was relevant, or he knew something we don't. I'm gonna go with the second."
"Right." Dean sets the picture down. "What city?"
"Mooresville, Missouri." She scoops her keys up off the floor where she'd dropped them, and opens the front door. "So, let's get going."
As they file out the door Cas mumbles something along the lines of, 'That girl will undoubtedly be the death of me.'
"I just hope we aren't the death of her." Dean answers under his breath.
Cas glances back at Dean, nodding grimly.
Mary's aspect, however, is alight with excitement and hope; as she climbs into the drivers seat, and cranks Baby's engine to life. "Let's go get dad."