Chapter 21

Four days later, Sam and Dean finally made it back to Bobby's house in the early afternoon on a nice cloudless day.

Dean, Sam, and Bobby were sitting in the kitchen each with an open bottle of beer in their hands, while Clay was napping peacefully in the spare room. Sam and Dean had been talking to Bobby about what happened with Bela.

"Damn." Bobby muttered, and then sipped his beer.

"Yea." Dean replied with a nod.

Bobby put his beer back down, "all that and you didn't get the colt?"

"No," Sam said blankly, "Lilith has it."

"So what's our next move?" Dean asked his he brought the bottle in his hand to his lips.

"We find Lilith," Sam replied without giving it a second thought, "and we kill her…before she gets you. Then this whole thing wipes clean."

Dean finished taking a swig and then chuckled mirthlessly, "You make it sound so easy."

Sam looked Dean in the eye and returned the chuckle.

"Well…we got another tiny issue." Bobby admitted.

"What?" Sam and Dean asked in unison as their heads looked in Bobby's direction.

Bobby shrugged, "The kid's been sleeping an awful lot lately…I think something's wrong with him."

"When did this start?" Sam asked urgently as he sipped his beer.

Bobby thought for a moment before responding, "'bout four days ago."

Sam placed his beer on the kitchen counter and then headed toward Clay's room, "I'm gonna go check on him."

Dean and Bobby nodded after him, but didn't say anything.

Sam went through the sliding double doors, and then up the stairs and crept along the small hallway until he reached the spare bedroom where Clay was staying.

He rapped on the door a couple times, and pushed it open slowly when he didn't receive a reply.

Sam walked up to the bed where Clay was fast asleep and knelt down so he was eyelevel with the kid. He then began to nudge his son gently.

Clay's eyelids cracked open, revealing his brilliant sleep-hazed blue eyes. He yawned and then grinned at Sam, who returned it.

"Hey kiddo, I'm back." Sam whispered.

Clay sat up slowly, "I can see that." He said with a smile, his voice thick with sleep.

"Why you been hiding from Bobby?" Sam asked with concern.

Clay shrugged, "I…I don't really wanna talk about it just yet. In a few minutes when I'm a little more awake, okay?"

Sam nodded and then stood up to his full height.

"Why don't you get some clothes on, and then meet Bobby, Dean, and I downstairs in a couple minutes okay?" Sam reasoned with a warm smile.

Clay's heart constricted with fear at the thought of being down there with all three of them. But he figured he'd give Sam a chance to explain himself. If worse came to worse, Clay knew how to get out of sticky situations.

So Clay nodded, and then flipped the sheets off his body, and stood from the bed to get dressed as Sam walked out, closing the door behind him.

xXx

A few minutes later, Clay came down the stairs albeit apprehensively. He walked through the sliding double doors, and into the kitchen where he was met with stares from Sam, Dean, and Bobby. Dean and Bobby were standing with their backs to the counter, and Sam was sitting at the round wooden table.

Clay gulped with nervousness, and then sat at the small round table across from where Sam was sitting.

"So what's going on Clay? What's bothering you?" Sam asked seriously as he played with the beer bottle in his hand.

Clay shrugged shyly, "I-it's not really that important."

"No," Sam said simply, "Come on, what's going on?"

Clay sighed, and then looked over at Bobby who returned his look questioningly.

"I-I-I was snooping around a few days ago." Clay admitted with a whisper.

Sam's and Bobby's eyes widened. They feared what this meant for Clay if he found what they think he found. Dean shook his head with disbelief.

"I looked through some books…and found that B-Bobby is really into the occult." Clay said with a nervous shrug.

Bobby gave a humorless chuckle when Clay said he was 'into' the occult; like it was a hobby and not a lifestyle.

"What else did you see?" Sam asked nervously.

"I um…I looked in the cabinet. The one Bobby always keeps locked." Clay admitted guiltily.

"Son of a bitch." Dean muttered with disbelief.

Bobby and Sam sighed as their fear was realized.

"It was unlocked, in my defense!" Clay said quickly.

"Why were you snoopin' kid?" Bobby asked as he folded his arms across his chest, "What the hell were ya lookin' for?"

Clay fought the urge to cry, he didn't want to seem weak in front of these people if they turned out to be psychos.

"I-I just w-wanted to know what Sam and Dean do for l-living." Clay stammered, "and I th-thought Bobby was in business with y-you guys or something."

Sam chuckled humorlessly, "Well, I guess you could say that."

"Sam!" Dean warned urgently.

"Dean, Clay's not an idiot!" Sam snapped defensively, "he was gonna find out sooner or later anyway."

"What happened to reserving his innocence, or whatever pansy line you threw at me?" Dean asked angrily.

Sam rolled his eyes, "Dean, if he's gonna be with us for a while then he was gonna find out eventually."

Dean sighed in defeat, "Yea I know." He muttered.

Sam looked back to Clay and offered him a reassuring smile, which Clay didn't return.

"We…Dean, Bobby, and I…we're hunters, Clay." Sam explained.

"Hunters?" Clay asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yea," Sam replied with a nod, "we hunt…ghosts, demons, evil things."

"Are you insane?" Clay asked seriously.

"I wish." Sam and Dean muttered at the same time.

Sam rolled his eyes, "No…we're not crazy."

"C-can you prove it?" Clay asked fearfully.

Sam chuckled, "Well look at us." Sam replied as he motioned between Clay and himself, "when I was six months old, a demon bled into my mouth…and that's how I got my abilities."

Clay's eyebrows knit together as he thought about it, "So…I got my abilities from you…the demon blood got passed down?"

Sam nodded in confirmation, "But for some reason you're stronger than me."

"I am?" Clay asked with wide eyes.

"Yea…at least that's what Pamela told us." Sam admitted with a shrug.

Clay nodded in understanding, but urged Sam to continue.

"We don't know for sure…but we think that maybe the demon may have bled in your mouth when you were a baby too."

Clay swallowed the lump that formed in his throat.

"S-so, your blood…mixed with the demons blood made me stronger than you?" Clay asked with bright eyes.

"We think," Dean piped up making all the eyes in the room travel to him, "we're not a hundred percent."

"So what was the business you guys just took care of?" Clay asked, clearly wanting to change the subject.

Sam and Dean exchanged soulful looks and then explained to Clay how Sam had died a little while ago. And Dean, stricken with grief, made a deal with a demon to bring Sam back from the dead. They then went on to explain that most deals with demons come due in ten years, but the demon said she would bring Sam back and in exchange Dean would get one year with him.

They made sure that they mentioned that Sam's destiny was to lead the demon army that they accidently let out of Hell, but the plans got screwed up when Dean killed Azazel.

Sam then explained what they had just found out about the demon Lilith. How she held Dean's contract, and how she wanted Sam dead because she didn't want the competition.

And of course, they told him that Dean's deal comes due in a little over two weeks.

Clay stared at Sam with his mouth agape for a moment before closing it, and began his thought process.

Call him crazy, but he believed them. He didn't really know why, but he definitely did believe them.

"Well," Clay said more confidently, "I'm gonna help you too, Dean."

Dean nodded in appreciation, "Thanks kid."

Here you guys go! Sam and Clay reunited! Lemmie know what you think! :D