"I might've found one," Sam said. The three hunters had been searching for a case all afternoon, pouring through newspapers and articles online. "Man falls on his own power saw."

"Ooh, gory," Amie smirked, wondering if they had finally found a case. She tucked her hair behind her ear and leaned forward slightly. "Is there anything to suggest supernatural? It could just be a freak accident."

"Not in the article," Sam sighed, typing on his laptop again. "Although... This is the third father to be maimed or killed in the past two months in this town. Pattern of victims."

"Where is it? If it isn't too far away I guess we could check it out," Dean said through a mouthful of fries. He craned his neck to see Sam's laptop screen, but could not reach.

"Cicero, Indiana. Not too bad."

"That's great," Amie exclaimed, folding her newspaper, which Sam quickly realised had been opened on "announcements" instead of any news that could have lead them to a case. "Let's get going."

"I dunno," Dean shrugged, sheepish. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, looking down at the table. "Cicero's like an hour away."

"Dean, come on," Sam said, closing his laptop. "I've seen you drive four hours for a werewolf."

"Yeah but-"

"Come on," Amie pouted, draping herself over Dean's shoulders. "Please can we at least see... I'm so bored."

Dean glanced at Amie and sighed. "Fine."

Amie squealed and ran to pack her bag, determined to leave that day. She grabbed the clothes from her draw hurriedly, stuffing them in to her bag in a careless manner. They had been stifled up for weeks with no case, and she was growing sick of it.

"Dean," Sam muttered, walking over to the table and sitting down. "Why do you really not want to go?"

"What're you talking about Sammy?" he smirked, packing away his own papers. "I don't really care, I just think it's a dead-"

"No you don't," Sam interrupted. "You never say no outright. What is it keeping you away from Cicero? Is there something bad there?"

"You could say that," Dean sighed after a moments pause. He rubbed his hands over his tired eyes then through his hair. Dean glanced at Amie, then whispered, "I went there a few years ago. Probably 8, 9, I don't know."

Sam moved closer to Dean, now worried. "What did you find?"

"A girl."

"A girl?" Sam questioned, furrowing his brow at Dean. What girl? A ghost?

"There was a woman. We hit it off, next thing I know we're in her attic doing things I'd never done before... If you ever get the chance to date a yoga instructor, by the way, do," Dean said, nodding his head.

"So?" Sam replied, keeping his voice down. "You still have feelings for her?"

"No, no," Dean snapped, growing angry. "I've got Amie. I just... I always said I'd go back for her. We broke it off saying that one day we'd... You know... No strings attached."

"So? Dean, you ca-"

"Will you shut up?" Dean hissed. "I don't want to do anything with her. I never want to see her again. And least of all do I want her to meet Amie... Can you imagine? After Jo and the trickster, she has enough reasons not to trust me... This would be enough to push her over the edge. I just hope we go there and it's a dead end."

(o(o(o(0)o)o)o)

"Why are we going here again?" Sam asked as the three approached a house. Bright balloons were hung around the house's entrance, cars parked along the road. There was clearly a party going on.

"Because the man's wife is coming here later," Amie explained, ringing the doorbell and lowering her voice. "She's grieving, so who knows when she'll come out again? Let's just take this chance rather than draw attention to ourselves by dropping by her house."

"So who lives here?" Dean asked anxiously. Before Amie could answer, however, the door opened, a brunette woman standing in the doorway.

"Lisa!" Amie smiled. "We came to see Ben."

The woman, however, was staring curiously at Dean.

"Sorry, who are you?"

"You don't remember?" Amie asked, pretending to be surprised. "I'm Amie, we used to go to high school together before I moved away senior year. Oh, come on! We were best friends!"

"Oh, yeah," Lisa said slowly, glancing at Amie. She didn't pay much attention to her, still searching Dean's face.

"This is Sam, and that's-"

"Dean," Lisa interrupted. "I knew it was you."

(o(o(o(0)o)o)o)

Amie stood in the kitchen with Sam while Dean spoke to Lisa. "Okay, so we're looking for a young woman-"

"Are you okay?" Sam asked, looking down at Amie.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Amie drank out of a small plastic cup, sipping her black current juice. She looked out of the windows, watching Dean and Lisa talk. "They were together, weren't they."

Sam swallowed, watching them too. "Yeah."

Amie felt a stab in her chest, drawing in a deep breath. She steeled herself and looked away. "That's why he didn't wanna come here."

Sam glanced at Amie, then nodded his head.

"It's my fault, I suppose," Amie sighed, smiling at Sam, pretending she didn't care. "I won't get jealous. It'll be okay."

"Of course it will," Sam smiled at Amie. He reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing it.

As Amie watched out of the window, Dean walked away from Lisa and over to have some cake. Lisa walked into the kitchen with the wife of the victim, and whilst Sam integrated himself into the conversation, Amie watched Dean. He spoke to Ben, Lisa's son, who looked suspiciously familiar. Dean obviously agreed, as when Ben ran away he rushed in to speak to Lisa privately.

Amie excused herself and went to the bathroom. She ran up the stairs and hurried in to the room then locked the door and sat on the toilet, rubbing her eyes with her palms. She had told herself she wouldn't get jealous again. After going through so much with him, Amie only wanted to be happy with Dean. But this was something she did not expect.

Dean and Ben were so similar... The child looked frighteningly like Dean and clearly had similar interests, as shown by the playlist for the party. Tears built up in Amie's eyes until she was struggling to keep them in. As Amie imagined the children she and Dean would never have, the dam broke, and tears poured down her cheeks. Amie covered her mouth with her hand, trying to be silent, but sobs racked her whole body.

There was a light knock on the door. Amie swallowed and breathed out heavily. "Occupied," she called.

"Amie?" Sam's voice called gently. "It's me."

Amie closed her eyes. Should dean's brother see her like this? A sobbing, emotional, jealous wreck? As she began to question, she realised what her mistake had been; he was not just dean's brother, but her best friend. Amie stood up and unlocked the door.

Sam walked in immediately and locked the door behind him. "What is it?"

Amie shrugged, leaning back against the wall and sliding down it.

"Do you think Dean is... You know..."

"In love with Lisa? No, he made it very clear before we came tha-"

"No," Amie sniffed as Sam sat down next to her. Amie looked up at Sam with red eyes, her eyebrows furrowed and cheeks pink. "Do you think Ben is his child?"

Sam clenched his teeth and looked down.

"That's the part where you say no," Amie whispered, her throat closing up so that she couldn't speak out loud. She wanted more than anything for Sam to tell her it was impossible, the age would be wrong.

"I don't know," Sam sighed after a moment's pause. Amie's face crumpled and she slowly lay her head on Sam's shoulder. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"You know, Jess and I had picked out kid's names," he whispered lightly after a moment of silence.

"What?" Amie questioned. Jess was pregnant?

"We always dreamed about... One day... A long way in the future... Having kids. A boy and a girl," he smiled softly.

Amie swallowed, lifting her head. "What would they have been called?"

Sam sat still, tears filling his eyes. He looked up at the ceiling, then straight into Amie's eyes. "Mary and Joel," he smiled, a tear spilling down his cheek. "We were going to name them Mary and Joel."

(o(o(o(0)o)o)o)

Amie sat on the corner of the hotel bed. She had been thinking for a long time, alone in the dark. Dean was staying at Lisa's in order to protect both her and Ben, and Amie was going silently insane. At the first light of dawn she decided to lie down and get some rest.

If Dean had a son, was it a good or bad thing? She supposed it was a miracle. Dean would be a great father.

The problem was that it wasn't to her baby.

Would he leave her? Stay here with Ben, look after him? Would she look after Lisa, too?

Would they get married?

After a painful amount of silence and worst case scenarios, the door clicked open. Amie didn't stir, but she knew it was Dean.

He walked over to the bed and collapsed next to her, closing his eyes. Without looking at him, but staring defiantly at the ceiling, Amie whispered in the dark: "is he yours?"

Amie waited for a long time. Her heart felt as though it was being squeezed by a giant rubber band. She waited, prayed for a rejection, for anything - a disagreement, an argument, a spiteful comment.

"I don't know," he whispered back. Amie closed her eyes, a tear sliding into her hair and onto her pillow. "Maybe. Lisa said no, but..."

"It's okay," Amie whispered, sitting up. "If he is, though, you know you have to look after him."

"I know," Dean sighed. He sat up too, looking longingly at Amie. "I want to look after you, too, though," he whimpered.

Amie screwed up her face, tears gushing rather than falling. "I want that too," she whined. "But it's him you have to think of."

Dean swallowed but said nothing. After a few moments of excruciating silence, Amie stood up and walked to the window. She stared up at the moon.

"The thing that hurts most," she croaked, "is seeing you with Ben was like seeing one of my dreams. I want a baby - so so badly - and I will never have one."

Dean sucked in a shuddering breath and closed his eyes. He imagined Amie as a mother; laughing, happy, a terrible cook and yet the most perfect parent imaginable. He got up and walked over to Amie.

"Can we just sleep together, in the same bed?" He asked. "Like nothing's changed. At least for tonight."

Amie turned to face him. She loved him - oh, how she loved him - but how could she keep him away from his son?

"Of course," she whispered, hugging his chest tightly. He wrapped his arms around her. "We never should have come here."

(o(o(o(0)o)o)o)

Dean walked briskly into the hotel room, holding flowers. "Amie!" He shouted, looking around. After searching, he realised she wasn't there, poured a jug of water and placed the flowers in. He then went to Sam's room and knocked on the door.

Sam opened it, smiling at him. "Hey Dean."

"Hey, Sammy," he grinned, walking in. "You know where Amie is?"

"She went to get some dinner. Everything okay?" Sam asked, closing the door and raising an eyebrow. "You look extraordinarily - no, suspiciously - happy."

"Yeah," Dean sat down. "Ben isn't mine."

"That's great for you and Amie," Sam smiled, imagining how relieved Amie would be to hear that. Life could return to normal. "But I thought you'd be a bit... Well, upset."

"Well," Dean sighed, looking up at Sam, grinning. He put his feet up on the small wooden table and leant back in his chair. "This whole thing has opened my eyes. I realised... I want all of that, Sammy. I want a house and a wife and kids. Maybe... Maybe I can still have it."

"Dean, we're hunters. You know that," Sam said awkwardly, shaking his head. He had wanted all of that, too; but the life of a hunter is inescapable.

"I know," he sighed, jumping up. "I don't know how I can make it work. But I will. The first step is making Amie forgive me for this week."

Sam scoffed, folding his arms. "Yeah," he nodded. "I know I'm your brother and you were only doing what you had to but... This week was hell for her. It's gonna have to be one hell of an apology."

"The second step," Dean smiled, unbothered by Sam's challenge. "I propose."