Kate sat on the old couch in the back of Bobby's garage, watching her father tinker with his truck. It was a good day, so conversation was an option, and John was curious.

John was also trying hard to stay calm.

He was really struggling.

"So, she looked good?" He casually wiped his hands on a rag before rolling himself under the vehicle, where, cleverly, his face was hidden.

Kate answered softly, knowing how he felt and not wanting to upset him more. "She looked great, Dad." She paused. "Well...two of the times she looked great. Wait. Technically, three, but the one time we were in Heaven, so I'm not sure that counts."

John wheeled himself out from under the truck to eyeball her. "How many times did you meet her?" He tried not to be jealous or upset.

He was struggling with that, too.

"Four, I think. The first time...she...hated me." Kate frowned at the memory, and started that fidgety thing she'd been doing lately, where she mangled the hem of her shirt, wringing her hands together. "That one was...totally fucked up. But the other times, yeah, she was...she was great."

John was at a loss for words, so he rolled himself back underneath, pretending to wrench something while blinking back tears.

"You know what's really messed up?" she asked.

John quickly wiped his eyes and rolled out again, dumping the tools in a box and sitting up to see her better. Who's he kidding? He wasn't fixing the truck today. "What?"

Her eyes were on her hands, twisting and tugging the fabric of her shirt which hung too loosely on her. "I want to tell you I'm sorry...that...I'm sorry I got to see her and you didn't. But at the same time, I...I'm so fucking glad it wasn't you stuck in that spell." She raised her eyes to his. "You know what I mean?"

He took a deep breath. "I'd rather none of us had to deal with it, frankly. I...don't know that I could've...I mean, she..." He stopped there, unable to continue for a minute.

"I'm sorry, Dad," she said, "I really am."

Sighing, John stood, moving to sit with her. He dropped heavily onto the couch, prompting her to scoot a little, her hands still twisted in her shirt. He gently pried them loose, rubbing his finger along their backs before bringing them to his lips, kissing them quickly. "There's nothing to apologize for, and you know it, Kate." He squeezed before letting go, catching her look of surprise at this level of affection.

"What?" He huffed, feeling how red his cheeks were getting.

She shook her head a little, a half smile on her lips. "Nothing," she whispered. "I'm just..." It bothered him that she was still getting used to him being alive. He really needs to kill that angel.

She lowered her eyes and sighed. "There are a couple things I need to tell you."

Oh, shit, John thought, scrubbing the top of his head and taking a decent sized breath. He could do this. "Okay..."

"First off...Mary...in one of the jumps...told me to give you a message."

Double fucking shit.

Kate looked up, tears in her eyes, her voice breaking a little. "It was...um...a reality so close to ours, I actually thought I was home. Everything...everything was the same, except...except she was in the kitchen with Bobby, not you."

"With Bobby? With Bobby, how?" Really, John? That was the first thing that popped into your head?

Kate chuckled through some tears, shaking her head. "Honestly? I don't know. She was just there - standing in the kitchen next to him when I showed up. I mean, she lived there, but they didn't act like they were a thing."

Oh. Well. That's okay, right? "So...what…? I mean…"

"I had to tell them who I was - that I wasn't…I wasn't their Kate. Their Castiel came and backed me up, and it was really tense for the first day. But Mary...she...she made me feel a lot better. She was so...nice."

The corner of John's mouth rose a little. "That was Mary," was all he said.

The only person he could now talk to about his wife, was his daughter, born after Mary's death. What the fuck kind of life was he living? Their own sons didn't know her. John's eyes pooled with tears, and he found himself mangling his own shirt in an effort to keep them at bay.

Don't cry. Don't fucking cry while your daughter is sitting right there.

"We talked. She...asked all about you - what you were doing, how you were." Kate paused, wiping her eyes. "She told me to take care you, and she said to tell you that...that she loves you, that she'd always love you..."

Failed.

John's throat tightened, and he swallowed convulsively. The first tear fell against his will. The rest followed as if no restraint existed in the first place.

She leaned against him, letting him hold on and cry. John never grieved like this. He spent too much time being angry, lost, and desperate, needing to take care of his children more than he needed to take care of himself. Sometimes, John wondered...if he had taken the time, would he be the same person today? Would the boys?

Just don't make the same mistake now.

Kate burrowed close, gripping him tight. "It's okay, Dad. It's okay..."

He let her comfort him, until he was able to pull himself together, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. She produced Kleenex, shrugging a shoulder as she handed it over. "Dean keeps shoving them at me, so..." She kind of shrugged again, politely averting her eyes as John blew his nose and cleaned up his face.

He tossed the used tissues into the garbage can, sniffing one last time. "You know...I can't change what happened. I want to, but...that means I wouldn't have you, and...I can't give you up." He leaned over, kissing the top of her head.

John didn't have a ton of fatherly moments he could hang his hat on, but that statement, he was sure, was one of them.

But instead of a smile, Kate's face fell, and she swallowed hard, looking away, lost in thought.

"Kate…?" Once again, John wished he could see inside her head, and understand what was going on in there.

She faced him again, and smiled, but it quickly faded. "There's more..."

More? "More what?"

"There's no real good way to say this..."

That's never good...

She looked up at him. "In every reality I met her...Mary hunted."

John blinked.

Kate shifted in her seat, facing him. "And...in the last one, where I stayed a couple years...Sam and Dean confirmed that her whole family hunted. She...she quit when you two ran off to get married."

John blinked again.

Kate raised her eyebrows. "Dad?"

John wasn't sure how to react; the warm/fuzzy memory bliss from a moment ago was suddenly replaced by a need to be defensive...or aggressive...or maybe both. "What are you saying?"

She held up her hands. "I'm just saying...maybe we should check. I mean... Over there, Mary made a deal with Azazel, and - "

Enough. "Stop right there."

Kate's mouth clamped shut, her jaw clenched.

"I know Mary." John's voice shook, his finger pointing at her. "There's no way - "

She was ready for him. "Listen to me." John's jaw clenched. "The boys went back in time...met her. Met you. Dean was there when you got the Impala. Samuel and Deanna Campbell hunted. You should at least investigate, Dad, just to see."

John stood up, pacing, his hands in his hair, sliding to lock behind his head. The idea that his Mary hunted was ludicrous. Maybe in some other fucked up reality, she had to encounter the shit he has faced. But here?

No. Fucking. Way.

Standing still, he slowly shook his head. There was a lot he'd sit and listen to, but this wasn't one of them.

Without looking back, without acknowledging Kate at all, John walked out of the garage.

xxxxx

Bobby sat at his desk, rifling through a stack of papers he'd been purposefully ignoring. Sometimes it was hard to remember that he owned and ran an actual business, and it had absolutely nothing to do with killing monsters.

Adam was off with some friends from college, which was partly why this paperwork needed Bobby's attention. The kid didn't want to leave because of Kate's whole...thing...going on, but this camping trip had been planned for a while, and it was good for him to get out and maybe not think about shit for a while.

Bobby pretended that Adam's constant texting (asking how Kate was doing, whether Bobby finally paid the towing company) wasn't interfering with Adam's not thinking about shit for a while.

So engrossed in scanning over a recent order, Bobby missed the Pissed Off John Winchester sounds until they were practically on top of him.

"I can't fucking believe...of all the fucking fucked up shit we have going on, that was the most fucked up piece of bullshit I've ever fucking heard."

Bobby's eyes scroll up to find John pacing the library, alternating between draining and waving around a bottle of beer, while muttering under his breath. Bobby sighed on the inside, setting the order form on top of another pile, and wetting his lips. "What's with all the potty talk?"

John snorted, taking a healthy pull on the bottle, swallowing before answering. "Kate. She said Mary, my Mary, was a hunter."

Bobby's eyebrows raised.

"I know! It's ridiculous. Kate's delirious. Or something. She's mixing wherever she was with now, and she's gotta...she's gotta stop. This went too far."

Bobby thoughtfully ran his tongue back and forth over his teeth. "Where's Kate now?"

John tosses a half-assed look over his shoulder. "Garage. Jesus Christ, we were married! It wasn't always...perfect...but…" He faced Bobby, pointing with the bottle. "She was my wife."

Bobby nodded, leaning back in his chair. "I know, that's just...fuck, John. What should we do? Who do we check with to see if it's true, here?"

John froze, bottle poised on his lips. "What are you talking about?"

Bobby fired back a What Do You Mean? look.

"She was my wife, Bob. I'd have known if she was a hunter, for Christ's sake! Maybe she...maybe she hunted in those other places, but she sure as fuck didn't hunt here!"

Bobby took off his cap, fully grasping the situation at hand. He nodded slowly. "You're right - because back then, you knew all the signs." John began sputtering, but Bobby cut him off. "I mean, naturally, you'd know what to look for, because you had extensive training and experience, right? And given all the fucked up crap we've seen, the weird and the bizarre woven together - " John shook his head, like Bobby didn't understand his point, but Bobby kept going. " - of course you'd instantly recognize something amiss, something that didn't add up."

Bobby got to his feet, walking around his desk, to lean against the other side, just so he was ready, in case, say, John Winchester decided to get angry. Angrier. "And what weird and bizarre event could possibly flag a hunter's senses and make him look more closely?" He pulled at his beard. "I dunno...maybe...maybe demon blood in your son?"

It was a bit heavy, and perhaps a tiny bit rude, but Bobby knew, without a doubt, that Kate was left hanging in the garage, and that was a whole other mess that'd need to be cleaned up. Bobby knew John loved her, but sometimes, John's head was shoved so far up his ass, he forgot to take his children into consideration before spewing and doing.

To make this already volatile situation more fun, Dean and Sam walked in, Sam's face paling at the mention of demon blood.

"What's going on?" Dean asked, eyes swiveling between Bobby's defensive stance against his desk and John's murderous look.

Without taking his eyes off John, because Bobby's not stupid, he answered, "Just chatting with your dad. Kate told him your mom knew about hunting in some of the worlds she was in. In fact, she was a hunter herself."

Sam's jaw dropped open. "Holy shit - that...that would explain a lot!"

Dean turned on him. "Dude! There's no way Mom was a hunter!"

John plastered a satisfied smirk on his face. See? But it was soon wiped right off.

Dean's forehead wrinkled up just as Sam geared up for an almighty protest. "Well, hold on. I mean...did Kate say she knew Mom was a hunter here? Or just in those other places?"

Sam nodded, looking proud that his brother didn't leap off a cliff because of a gut feeling. John wasn't as proud that his only potential ally flipped sides.

"Dad?"

Oh - that was for him. John opened his mouth, then shut it, as he replayed his conversation with Kate over in his mind. He glanced at Bobby, who patiently waited for John's rational brain to catch up. "No, she...no. She just said we should probably...check...and…"

He stopped there, shoulders sagging, guilt seeping into his everything. "Fuck."

Figuring the coast was clear, Bobby walked over, placing a hand on John's shoulder. "Go talk to her."

John cringed, knowing Bobby was right. He held up his beer. "Gonna need a couple more, first."

Bobby snorted. "Probably need more than beer."

John sighed. That was the truth.

Sam held up a hand. "Hold on, talk to who?"

Bobby rolled his eyes. "You know another girl that lives here?"

Huffing, Sam pulled out his bitchface and faced his dad. "What'd you say to her?"

It didn't matter that John knew he was in the wrong. Any time Sam used that snippy tone coupled with that fucking look, John was instantly irritated. Before he could retort, the back door creaked open, and everyone froze as Kate walked in.

Startled at the sudden audience, she flinched as the full force of everyone's gaze hit her. Her eyes went flat. "What's going on?"

No one moved, then all eyes locked on John, waiting.

Double Fuck.

Swallowing hard, John ran a hand over his mouth. Rolling his shoulders, he faced his daughter. "We should...probably start looking at the whole Campbell family, starting with her dad…"