CHAPTER 3

Sam, Dean and Bobby stared at the tattoos, shocked, before their gazes moved back to Lily. They had rarely seen the tattoos on others, and never on children. The boys lowered their shirts, as did Lily, who worked her jaw a bit as she looked at the ground.

"The other Boy Scout moms hate me. I told them it was a Wiccan protection sigil." She spoke quietly, "Because I had to give…some explanation. Now they all think I'm a witch despite the fact that we attend the Lutheran church regularly. They know where we came from and they sort of understand, but still the fact remains that these two boys have tattoos and their sons see that and ask for one, too. Add to that the fact that it's a pentagram and therefore, forbidden and cool."

"Why did you show us that?" Sam asked softly.

Lily smiled again, though it was more of a grimace. "I caught a demon on my front porch last February. It attacked me. The boys were in their room and heard me shouting. They ran across the street for help and Chuck ran over here and read an exorcism. The vessel…died on my porch. Try to explain that one to the cops." She shook her head slowly. "We got the tattoos the following week."

Sam and Dean glanced to each other, having also noticed something else peculiar. The boys and their mother as well, were all in incredible shape – fighting shape. There was definition in their arms and their legs were also muscular, something that the Winchesters hadn't seen since they looked in the mirror at themselves many years ago.

"Sam, Dean, Bobby, may I present my boys, Sam and Dean."

The three men looked at her with surprise. Lily and her sons all started to laugh.

The taller one stepped forward, "I'm Sam, I'm thirteen and I'm oldest." He shook Sam's hand, as the hunter stared at him, shocked, he then shook Dean's, and then Bobby's.

The shorter one came forward next, "I'm Dean, I'm thirteen in two weeks, and I'm smartest."

The taller one slapped him on the back of the head.

Lily added, "Sam was my father's name and Dean was their other grandfather's name."

Dean's eyes were wide, though his eyebrows were together over the bridge of his nose, and his gaze was tense, and Sam's was similar, though more in shock than anything else. Bobby kept looking from little Sam to little Dean and back to Lily, unsure of what to make of everything. Lily chuckled. "You look like you don't believe us. Don't really blame you, though. But the problem isn't their first names, it's their last."

"What's their last name? Beretta? Wesson? Browning?" Dean didn't look convinced yet.

Lily was still quietly chortling when she went over to her purse and pulled out her wallet.

"Close. It's Remington." She showed them her driver's license.

Sam Winchester was looking at the floor and smiling. Bobby just looked floored. Dean looked at the driver's license in her wallet and at their faces before he started to laugh. He leaned forward on his thighs, chuckling, looking from the boys to their mother and then back to the driver's license. He let out a tired sigh as he grinned, running a hand down his face. "Okay, that's…that's hilarious. How long did it take you to come up with this one? Really lady, I don't know who you are, but this is…really funny! Do you happen to know Becky Rosen, do you?" he asked dryly.

The family just looked at him with small, awkward smiles on their faces. "Well, I know about her. She's a hoot; seriously misdirected, though."

Dean's face slowly went slack and looked at his brother and Bobby. "Do you believe this? Really?" They just shrugged their shoulders, at a loss.

Sam Remington looked at his brother and grinned, "Told you Dean wouldn't believe us. You owe me ten bucks."

Lily just rolled her eyes and snorted. "You both owe me ten dollars. You didn't think they'd even show up."

Just then, there was a knock at the front door. Lily looked at her watch and then toward the front of the house, her expression turning tense. "Oh crap, you guys ready to go?"

Their smiles were replaced with nervous looks as the young boys nodded and ran to get their packs. Lily looked distraught and followed them to the front door.

She opened the door and a man was standing there. He smiled at her. "Boys ready?"

Still unsmiling, Lily nodded at him.

The man looked at her with an understanding smile. "It'll be alright, it's just for two nights. They'll be fine. We'll keep them occupied and busy. They'll just fall into their bunks and be asleep before they have time to get nervous." Sam, Dean and Bobby had followed and were shamelessly listening in.

"Yeah, but…who's gonna distract me?" Lily had a smile on her face, but tears glistened in her eyes. She'd had no idea this would be so hard.

The man put his hand on her shoulder. "Lily, you spoke to Dave. He really feels that all of you are ready. He wouldn't have asked me to organize this campout if he wasn't sure."

Lily was trying to maintain her composure. She tried to smile. "He may be convinced, but I'm not."

"He's on call tonight if you need to talk." The man looked over her shoulder and saw the three men standing there. All three of them had a concerned look on their faces.

Lily turned to them as well and tried again to smile. "Jeff, these are, ah, friends of Chuck Shurley. I know them from their association with him… Sam, Dean, Bobby, this is Dr. Williams. He's my – our counselor's partner. He's also the boy's Boy Scout leader."

The doctor smiled at them. "Really? Sam and Dean?" He walked inside and reached over to offer his hand to shake. All three of them smiled and shook the man's hand.

The boys just stood at the door. Their faces were blank, but their eyes were alert and they were darting looks out the door and then back to their mom. The Winchesters were watching them and then Dean approached and nudged them out the door. He stopped them on the porch and looked into their eyes, taking a deep breath through his nose. "You want to go." It wasn't a question. "But, you're going to be worrying about your mom."

The boys didn't say anything; they just looked at the floor.

Dean smiled at them, "Something tells me you feel ready for this, but you have been holding back because your mom hasn't been."

Sam Remington looked up at him. Then he just nodded. "We have sessions with the doctor with our mom and alone," he murmured. "The doctor is doing this for us. We have training and can take care of ourselves for the most part. Mom put up protection sigils and talismans all over the house, so she should be okay. She even put some in our sleeping bags. We have the tats and we'll hide salt and iron and silver all over the camp, but…"

Dean looked impressed at their planning. "Sounds like you have most things covered." He looked at them intensely. "Is this the first time you've been away from your mom since - the event?" Dean was conscious of the fact that the family did not directly reference what happened in Carthage; they only referred to it as 'the event'.

Both boys nodded.

"If I promise to keep your mom occupied, will you feel better?" he asked quietly.

Both boys looked at him, suddenly angry. They looked at each other, and then Sam Remington took a deep breath. Both of his hands were in fists. He looked Dean in the eye. "We both read the gospels and the later chronicles. So we know how you 'occupy' women," he growled, prompting Dean to blink in surprise. "We also know you keep your word. If you promise to leave our mom alone, we'll trust you to take care of her. We know our mom is pretty."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Dean protested, putting his hands up in the air defensively, shifting on his feet uncomfortably. "Not that sort of occupied! Geez." He looked to Lily briefly before looking back to the boys, folding his arms awkwardly. "We'll…stay here until we're sure she can handle being alone. Then we'll get out of her hair. I promise we'll distract her and hopefully, she'll be able to sleep. Alone." Dean looked a bit nonplussed. "Why would your mom let you read those books?"

"Chuck gave us edited versions. We can read between the lines, though," Dean Remington muttered, also looking angry.

Dean was impressed with their defense of their mom, so he didn't take offense at what they were saying to him. He smiled at them. "Go in and give her a hug while I talk to Bobby and Sam." He turned to reenter the house, but turned back to them. "Wait a minute, what sort of training are you talking about?"

"We have target training with pistols, shotguns, and knives. Hand to hand, and Latin," Dean Remington answered.

Sam Remington added, "Along with strength training and cardio. Our trainer told us we'll start using weights next year. Mom does weight training and cardio, hand to hand and yoga. She's also hell with a knife!"

"And the protection talismans and sigils?" Dean asked, eyes narrowed.

"Outside, they're behind the shutters and under the door mat. Mom put the shutters up after she found out all this was real. So she could hide them. Inside, they're hidden behind furniture, or paintings. Take a look at the window sills, too."

Dean swallowed hard and was looking impressed, though subdued, as he reentered the house behind the boys.

AN: The names I chose for Lily's sons was strictly for kicks and giggles and for the record created a raging pain in my butt... Also the choice of her car was for fun as well. Hey, at least I made it blue! (For the record, I know someone who owns a late model Impala and she truly loves it.) Also, I can't drive down the road without running into one (not literally) – they seem to be very popular in my town. The trunk is quite huge – seriously two medium size bodies or 1 larger Sam-sized body would fit comfortably.