"So, this must all seem pretty strange to you," Sam said to Mary.
"Actually no. I was telling your father and brother that I used to be a hunter."
Sam was shocked. He couldn't believe it. "Weird," was all he could think to say.
"There's something else," Mary said. "Ten years before you were born I made a deal with a demon and he said he was going to swing by in ten years. I think it had something to do with you, but I don't know what."
"He dripped demon blood in my mouth," Sam said. This was his mother. He didn't really know her, but apparently she was how it all started. She deserved the truth.
"What?" John and Dean asked as they walked in the door together.
Sam and Mary turned around.
"When did you find that out?" Dean asked, thinking it had better have been while he was in Hell. He didn't like it that Sam would keep that big of a secret from him.
"Yellow Eyes told me at Cold Oak."
"That was a year ago, Sam. You didn't think this was important," Dean yelled.
"I was afraid of the way you'd react. Clearly, I was mistaken," Sam said sarcastically.
"OK, salt lines are done," Bobby said coming in. "What's going on?" he asked, picking up the tension in the room.
"Nothing," all four Winchesters answered in unison.
"Yeah, right."
There was an awkward silence.
"We need to figure out how we're back in the land of the living," John said finally.
"I know a psychic, Pamela Barnes. She lives in Illinois," Bobby said. "Maybe she'll have the answers."
"Great. I can get my car while we're there," Dean said.
"I'll give her a call. We'll leave first thing in the morning," Bobby said and headed out of the room to use the phone and give the family some privacy.
"There's still one thing I don't understand," Dean said. "The night I bit it, or got bit, how did you make it out? I thought Lillith was going to kill you."
"Well, she tried but she couldn't," Sam answered.
"Who's Lillith?" John asked.
"Big time demon," Dean answered.
"What do you mean she couldn't kill you?" Mary asked. She'd never heard of a demon who had problems in that area before.
"She fired this white light at me and it didn't do anything. I don't know who was more surprised, her or me. She bailed pretty quick after that."
"You got any other weird stuff going on?" Dean asked.
"No."
"Are you sure about that?" Dean asked. He knew Ruby had been planning on teaching him something the night he died. Without him around to keep Sam on the straight and narrow, who knows what he'd been up to?
Sam didn't bother answering. He knew he was lying, but somehow it still hurt that Dean didn't believe him.
"Why don't we all go to bed?" Mary suggested. She was tired and she was thrilled to meet her sons, but they were strangers to her. She wanted some alone time with John.
"OK. We'll take Bobby's spare room. You two can sleep down here," John said.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
"So, what do you think of our boys?" John asked when they were settled in bed.
"It's weird for me to think of them as grown up. The last thing I remember they were so little. Why did you raise them as hunters?"
"I didn't have a choice, Mary. I had to find what killed you and once I knew about all these things, I had to kill them. I couldn't just let innocent people die. There didn't seem a way to keep the boys out of it."
"How old were they when you started them hunting?"
"Dean found out about the supernatural about the same time I did. I took him on his first salt and burn when he was seven. I didn't want Sam to grow up so fast, though. He didn't find out about it until he was 8 and I didn't take him hunting for anything until he was ten." Hearing himself speak, John realized how stupid he had been. Taking little kids hunting with him.
"Did you stay in Lawrence?" Mary asked. She had always liked the town. Her family had lived there for generations.
"No, we moved all around."
"So, the boys didn't have a home?" Mary asked, distraught. She had been raised a hunter, but at least she had always had a home base.
"No, we went where the hunts took us, living off credit card fraud and hustling pool and poker." John was ashamed of himself. He had failed Mary. He could tell by the look on her face that this was the last thing she had wanted for her sons.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
When Sam was sure that Dean was asleep, he got up quietly and snuck into the kitchen. He pulled out his cell phone and called Ruby. "Where are you?" he whispered into the phone.
"I'm nearby. I figured after the beating you took, you'd want some more pretty soon."
"Yeah. I'll sneak out now and meet you by the gate," Sam whispered. He hung up and looked back to make sure Dean was still sleeping. He was, so Sam opened the door as quietly as possible and slipped out into the night.
"We gotta do this fast, Ruby," Sam said.
Ruby pulled out a knife and cut her arm. Normally she would give Sam a hard time about rushing it and all, but she was worried about everything that was happening. She hadn't expected Dean to get sprung from Hell.
"What's going on, Ruby?" Sam asked before he started sucking on her arm.
"I wish I knew. Dean doesn't know what pulled him out?"
"No, he doesn't even remember being there," Sam answered when he had drunk his fill.
"Who were those other people with him?" Ruby asked. She knew Bobby, of course, but not the other two.
"Those were our parents," Sam answered.
"What?" This was getting too weird. What could this mean?
"I don't know what's going on, but I have to get back or Dean will wonder what I'm up to. He's already suspicious of me."
"Why?"
"I told them about Yellow Eyes dripping blood into my mouth in my nursery," Sam explained.
"Why would you do that?" Ruby asked. Maybe it would be a good thing if his family decided to ditch him. It would leave him more in her control. But she knew whatever she did, she couldn't make that suggestion. That would push him away from her.
"I really don't know. It was probably a mistake. I need to get back now, though," Sam said, and loped off. Ruby's blood always made him feel better after he was hurt. He didn't think demon blood was a bad thing at all. Anything that made you feel this good couldn't be bad.