Dean listened to John very carefully but his brain was exploding with thoughts and crazy ideas. He couldn't make it stop.
Am I delusional? Did I really loose my sanity this time? All this time my father was manipulating me? All what I lived was a lie? wondered Dean. Suddenly the twister of thoughts stopped as Dean heard something that turned his blood into ice, took his breath away, made his heart stopped. His father was planning on sacrificing himself in order to save Sammy.
"No, Dad! Please, don't do that" cried Dean, but was too late. His father had that kind of look in his eyes that screams I'm so not going to argue with you about this kiddo.
After an awkward moment when both men realized that they were equally eager to sacrifice themselves to get back Sammy, John Winchester spoke. "Dean, I made my mind up a month ago. Nothing you can say or do is going to change what I have chosen, you understand, son?"
"Yes, sir." Dean's world was falling apart. He has just realized how much his father had done for him, how much his father cared about him and Sammy and now, he was going to lose his only hope of getting his family back.
"I…I…figured out something, Dad" said Dean knowing he couldn't argue with his father about his sacrifice.
"What's that, son?"
"Sammy…Sammy…he…sent me an email with an anagram….he also spoke with me a couple of times."
"He did what?" questioned John raising an eyebrow.
"Spoke with me…you know… telepathy…well, in this email he warned me …warned me about Wolverine…He said it was a trap and that…."
Dean was sweaty and breathless. His mind was thinking so hard that he was consuming what little energy his body still had.
"Son?" asked John and rose from his chair concern for his eldest clouding his face. Bobby also stood up with worried eyes.
"I'm….I'm… .I can't… DAD?" Dean was extremely pale; his breath came in small pants, his heart racing at an insane speed. His body started to collapse.
Bobby and John were by Dean's side in a second, not knowing what was going on.
Jack, who had been silent all this time and sitting at another table ran to Dean's side, took a couple of pills from a bottle Dean had in his pocket and made him swallow them.
"Easy…easy, Dean…Come on, take the pills…try to breath… that's right, in and out…in and out … Take it easy…in and out"
John was watching the scene with stunned eyes. Fred had already told him about Dean's medical problems but he had hoped that they would go away with some Tylenol and a couple of sleeping hours. But now his son was….ill….Winchester men were always in danger. They had a long history of self-made stitches and casts, short visits to the hospital and nothing that some aspirin and scotch couldn't take away but that was beyond what any father could take.
"Dean? Open your eyes, son…please. What's going on, Bobby?" A few tears appeared in John's tired eyes.
"I don't know" Bobby was terrified. That boy was like a son to him.
"He's having an arrhythmia right now, you know, because of his heart condition. But I just gave him his medicine so we just have to wait… By the way, I'm Jack" Jack offered his hand to John.
"Jack? Who are you? How you know about Dean's condition? Where did you meet him?" asked John with bewilderment.
"I'm a hunter, we met on the road to here and Dean told me, you know, when he almost died last week" said Jack with half a smile. "Dean, open your eyes. Slow and easy….That's great. Are you feeling ok now? Do you need your inhaler?"
Dean opened his eyes but they were unfocused and glassy. His hands were on his chest as if trying to hold onto his heart. He could feel his father's hands in his hair and on his back and that comforted him. He spoke with a confused whisper. "I'm ok. Sammy."
John gave Jack and Bobby a confused look.
"He's always a bit disoriented after an episode like this." Jack explained. "Dean, I'm Jack, remember?"
"Jack, yeah… my sidekick boy" said Dean with a faint smirk. "Did you get the license number of the truck that ran over me?"
"Son, are you ok? Do you want to lie down for a bit? Should I call a doctor?" John was kneeling in front of Dean with his hands supporting Dean's head.
"I need a long night of sex with a set of frisky twins and a couple of beers, that's all" Dean lifted his head off John's hands. "Don't worry, I'm fine".
"Are you sure? If you can't fight, it's ok, son."
"I can do whatever Sammy needs me to do, sir," said Dean with fury and determination in his eyes.
"OK then…What were you saying about an anagram?"
Dean took a deep breath trying to leave behind his illness and focus only on Sammy and spoke "Sammy send me this to me" said Dean searching in his jacket pocket until he found a crumpled piece of paper and handed it to John.
" SARA MUDDTTES BY NOON, LOVE MISTER PANWIRA "…and what is that supposed to mean?" asked Bobby confused.
"It took me a while but I figured it out…it says: Dean, Wolverine is a tra(M)p, trust nobody, Sam"
The four men stayed silent for a while thinking about those words.
"Well, Sam told me something similar in a dream. Don't worry, Dean, we are on full alert and came with a lot of company. Come with me," said John inviting Dean and Jack to leave the café.
They started walking to the hotel. Dean still pale and unsteady on his feet but his Dad didn't notice, he was in full Rambo mode right now. Jack was walking by Dean's side and from time to time gave him a comforting hand on the shoulder or made him stop to catch his breath. Bobby was walking by Dean's other side giving him concerned looks and when Dean had to stop for the third time, he passed his arm around Dean's waist and helped him towards the hotel.
Meanwhile, John Winchester was talking and talking, almost ranting, telling his elder son all his clever plans not looking behind him, not once.
"Son, this town is a hunter's town right now. We made all the inhabitants leave town and brought in almost 100 hunters from all over the country. All the signals made us believe that a huge war is coming and we thought the first fight is going to take place here. It's going to be nasty but I'm sure we can win. We have covered almost all the houses and farms in town. We are fully equipped and everybody knows that they can't hurt Sammy. He's only for Bobby, you and me….and Jack if he wants to help." With that last word John opened the main doors of The Healthy Cat Inn.
Inside the hotel were almost 50 hunters cleaning their weapons, making rock salt cartridges, and studying the map of the town.
"John" said one of the hunters. "We are ready."
"Good, good" said John clapping that man's shoulder. "This is my son, Dean, and another fellow hunter Jack. Son, this is JD. He's the one in charge of the arms and ammunition."
JD was a tall black man with huge muscles everywhere and a monumental army tattoo on his arm. "Nice to finally meet you, Dean" said JD smiling.
"Sure" said Dean. He had put his 'I'm a completely healthy good-looking bastard' mask in place. "So, JD, what's the big plan for tonight then?"
JD gave Dean a bigger smile and started sharing all the nasty details.