She laughed. She actually started laughing.
Not just a chuckle, or a giggle. Full out, belting laughter. They were sitting in a little pub, just down the road from Martha's home. He had thought here would be a good place—somewhere that just screamed "normal" and "comfortable." So that when he had to tell her that her world was rife with dangers she had never even imagined, at least she would be somewhere familiar. He had never in million years expected this kind of response. And while he was becoming pleasantly caught up in the way her eyes were shining, or the way her laughter made him want to grin like a fool, he couldn't understand this reaction in the least. Was it some sort of panic? Maybe some kind of denial?
"Am I…missing something?" he asked finally, when it seemed that she had wound down a bit.
Martha took a few gasping breaths, which seemed to steady her. She still had a bit of trouble maintaining a straight face when she finally looked at him again. She took a long gulp from the beer she had ordered and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "You could say that, Sam Winchester."
Sam smiled back at her, but he wasn't entirely sure why yet. His fingers were tracing the circle his own mug had left on the countertop. "You…you don't believe me, then?" That he could handle. He'd been expecting that.
Martha's eyes widened, and she grasped his forearm gently. "No, Sam, I do believe you. It's crazy, I know, and totally mad, but…I believe you."
Sam's eyebrows knitted together. "Then, wh-"
"Hold on." Martha's face had become serious, but also full of anticipation. A kind of inspiration was sparkling behind her eyes, as if she had a marvelous secret to share. "I have something to tell you, Sam, and it's going to sound crazy too. But now…now, I think that you can handle it." She almost squealed with delight, and she was gripping his forearm again. "Sam, it's the most amazing thing—the universe is so huge, and so strange, and so…so…brilliant! I've wanted to tell someone for forever, but I couldn't. No one would believe me."
She leaned forward and lowered her voice. "Sam Winchester, it's my turn to tell you something that will turn your world upside down."