A/N: Okay, so mixed reviews on miss Jenna...do you not like her, or do you not like her with Dean? I'm curious. If you would rather private message than post your opinion of her in a review, have at it! Thanks so much for sticking with this story. I know the updates are sporadic, but, hey, I try. Enjoy!

John nodded toward Dean by way of greeting before pulling him into a quick, awkward hug. He pulled off his jacket and hung it on the back of a chair before sitting down with a huff next to MJ. MJ didn't look up at him, and Dean saw her try to discreetly wipe the tears from her eyes.

Dean slowly made his way toward John, tucking his gun back into his waistband at the small of his back. "Dad, what are you- I mean we've been looking for you."

"I know." John said looking up at his eldest son, "It wasn't safe to make contact with you."

"Meg." Dean said realizing that John was here because her plan to lure him in had worked. "Dad, it was a trap. I didn't know, I'm sorry."

John shook his head. "It's alright. I thought it might've been."

Dean sat down on the edge of the bed, facing his father. "Were you there?"

"Yeah, I got there just in time to see the girl take the swan dive. She was the bad guy, right?"

"Yes, sir." Dean and Sam answered in unison. Dean glanced over at Sam, who had moved closer to them, but hadn't relaxed his stance at all.

"Good. Well, it doesn't surprise me. It's tried to stop me before."

Sam took another step toward his father. "The demon?" He asked breathlessly.

John nodded. "It knows I'm close. It knows I'm gonna kill it. Not just exorcise it or send it back to hell—actually kill it."

Dean sat up straighter. "How?" As far as he knew, there was no way to actually kill a demon.

John gave a small smile. "I'm working on it." He sat back with a sigh and turned toward MJ. "Mary Jane, I'm so sorry about what happened. If I had known Wendy had taken off I would've been here in a heartbeat." He reached out, placing a hand on her cheek. "You should've called me."

She nodded, pulling back from his touch and quickly wiping away another tear that threatened to fall. Dean frowned at the sight. You didn't cry in front of John Winchester. That was a simple fact of Sam and Dean's childhood. Dean had long ago accepted it, but seeing MJ try so hard not to break that rule angered him. He watched MJ closely, wondering what she must be feeling, finally seeing her father after being seemingly abandoned by him for months.

"I'm gonna make it up to you." John continued, as if reading Dean's thoughts. "Tomorrow morning I'm going to the Courthouse to get legal custody of you."

"What?" All three siblings asked in unison, voices laced with disbelief.

John looked to Dean when he answered. "I'm grateful for what you did, Dean, taking care of her. But this is no life for a teenage girl. I've made other arrangements." He turned back to MJ, his strained smile not reaching his eyes. "You'll be safe. I promise."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sam asked, now standing right in front of John, staring daggers at him.

Dean stood, taking up position next to Sam, closing ranks on John. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Other arrangements? What does that mean?"

John stood in front of his sons. MJ stayed seated, mostly because she didn't trust her legs to hold her. She said nothing, but they all knew she was listening intently.

John hesitated before answering. "A friend of a friend is going to take MJ in for the next few years. I'll retain legal custody, but she'll live with them. I spoke to an attorney. He's going to set up a meeting with the Judge tomorrow to finalize things. It's for the best, boys." He said looking between Sam and Dean. "And it's non-negotiable."

Dean couldn't help but think that everything John was saying sounded oddly…rehearsed. Like lines being delivered by a mediocre actor.

No one spoke. John looked determinedly at Sam and Dean, although there was no way he didn't notice MJ practically crumble at the table, unable to hold back the sobs any longer. She didn't look up, at any of them.

Dean stared at his father, feeling as if his two strongest instincts were doing battle in his head. It went against his nature to question his father's decisions. Sam may have balked at an order from time to time, but not Dean. He obeyed. Always. But in the past 7 months Dean's purpose in life was taking care of MJ and that meant keeping her close no matter what John said. Dean had never felt so conflicted in all his life. He turned to Sam who didn't look at all conflicted. In fact, the death glare he was sending John's way pretty much said that he was going to have no problem at all defying this particular order.

Dean turned back to John. "Friend of a friend?" He asked skeptically.

"They're good people, Dean. She'll be safe there."

"Over my dead body." Sam said slowly, his eyes deadly.

"Excuse me?" John said, turning toward Sam.

"You heard me. It's not gonna happen."

"Sam-" Dean said.

"No, Dean." Sam said before turning back to face his father. "You waltz in here after seven months of us searching for you! Seven months of taking care of MJ, and you think you're just gonna take her from us and dump her with some strangers?" Sam shook his head, eyes still boring into his father's. "No."

John held Sam's gaze. "Mary Jane is my daughter, Sam and I will decide what's best for her, and this is what's best for her. Not traipsing around the country with two grown men, living out of motel rooms and hunting monsters!"

Sam let out a humorless laugh. "Yeah, 'cause you were so concerned with her quality of life before. Did you know how she was living, Dad? How could you leave her with that piece of trash Wendy and just turn your back on her?" Sam was shouting now, his face inches from John's. "What makes you think you have the right to come in here now and act like a parent?"

John grabbed onto Sam's collar. "You watch your tongue, young man!"

Dean shoved himself between them, pushing them apart. "Sammy, that's enough!" Dean said before turning to his father. "Dad, I understand why you're doing this."

Sam opened his mouth, no doubt to let Dean have it for siding with John, but was cut off by Dean as he continued.

"But you are dead wrong."

John stared at him for a moment. "I beg your pardon?"

Dean shook his head vehemently. "You're wrong." He repeated. "You want to keep her safe, you leave her with us. It's the only way."

John shook his head, taking a few steps away from Dean. "No, Dean. She needs to be away from all of this. Far away."

"Dad." Dean said, his jaw set and eyes hard as he stared down his father. "I'm not gonna let you take her."

John sighed loudly. "Dean, you don't understand."

"Well, then explain it to me, Dad! What the hell has got you so worried you want to send your own daughter off to live with strangers?"

John looked long and hard at Dean. His expression shifted from frustrated to determined, as if he had been struggling with something and finally decided how to proceed. "Look, Dean, the fact is that you can't keep her safe. You tried and you failed."

Dean looked at his father in shocked anger.

"You think I don't know about all of it? The drug dealer?" John took a step toward Dean. "McWhorter?" He shook his head. "She hasn't been in school. You're too soft on her. You let her get away with murder and because of that she's gotten herself into trouble. Well it ends now."

Dean's brows furrowed. "How did you-"

"It doesn't matter. The point is she's in danger when she's with you and you know it." John gathered up his jacket. "It's done. She goes with me tomorrow and that's final."

"No." Her voice was so small when she uttered that one word, but the three men reacted as if she had screamed it at the top of her lungs. All eyes turned to her, still sitting at the table, looking down at her hands, fumbling with the strings of her sweatshirt.

"Mary Jane?" John questioned, taking a step in her direction.

She finally looked up, tears streaming down her cheeks. She looked her father in the eye and took a shaky breath. "I said no. I won't go with you, Dad. You can't make me."

John took a step toward her, tossing the jacket down and taking a deep breath, his jaw set in anger. "You wanna bet?"

"Dad." Dean warned, taking up position between his father and sister.

MJ stood, but stayed beside the table, Dean creating a barrier between her and her father. "For the record, Dad, I did call you. I called you the minute CPS came to my door." Her breath hitched as she choked back a sob. "I called you first, Dad." She said, clearly hurt. "And you didn't answer. You never answered. Maybe if you had you would've known she split." She roughly wiped at the tears on her face with the back of her hands. "You didn't answer your phone," she repeated, "so then I called Dean. And guess what? He picked up the phone. He dropped everything and he came for me. He took care of me when you couldn't be bothered, so don't you dare accuse him of not keeping me safe. You don't have the right."

John was obviously thrown by her speech. He stared at her for a long moment before shaking his head and looking at her determinedly. "Mary Jane, you don't understand. This is only about keeping you safe. Please, you have to trust me. This is for your own good."

MJ crossed her arms, standing her ground, eyes on her father. "You'll have to drag me out of here kicking and screaming."

John took a step toward her, anger flashing in his eyes. "You think I won't, little girl?" He all but growled.

Dean placed a restraining hand on his father's chest. "Dad, enough."

Sam stepped forward, standing beside Dean.

John's eyes shifted between his three children, looking torn. When he finally spoke it was in a much calmer tone.

"Dean, I need to talk to you outside." He said turning and snatching up his jacket before heading quickly out the door.

Dean gave Sam a meaningful look. Sam looked torn, clearly wanting to hear what John had to say, get his questions answered, but he nodded his agreement to Dean, closing the distance between himself and MJ. He placed his arm around her shoulders, steering her toward the bed as Dean followed his father outside.

Dean found John pacing quickly in front of the motel room. He looked up at Dean when the younger man stepped outside, closing the door behind him. Dean saw that the anger on his father's face was gone, replaced by a look of profound frustration…and something else Dean couldn't quite place.

"You let her talk to you like that, Dean?" John asked. "You weren't raised liked that. You need to make her show respect." He snapped, not slowing his pacing at all.

Dean crossed his arms, following his father's movement with his eyes. "Seriously, Dad? She's plenty respectful. She's upset right now and with good reason. I'm not gonna scold her for that."

John was shaking his head. "Just having her with you makes you guys vulnerable. You're too focused on her safety to be on your best game."

Dean took a deep breath. "That's a load of crap and you know it. If anything I'm more cautious and alert with her around. Sammy, too. We have to be."

"She should be in a normal home, Dean."

Dean scoffed. "What's normal, Dad?" He moved forward, stepping into John's path, forcing him to halt his pacing. "Forget normal." He said meeting his father's eyes. "She belongs with her family. All of us."

John didn't respond. He looked down, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets.

Dean continued, allowing just a smidge of hope to work its way into his voice. "Come on, Dad. Come with us. Forget about these normal people and we can all stay together. MJ needs you." He lowered his voice, swallowing hard. "I need you."

John looked up, not quite looking Dean in the eye. "I can't, Dean. It's not safe for me to be around you kids." John turned his back to Dean, taking a couple steps toward the parking lot. "You saw what happened yesterday. If he knew I was with you, he would use you against me. I can't have that."

"Dad,"

"No, Dean. I won't do it."

Neither spoke for a moment. John still didn't turn around, gazing out over the parked cars.

Dean sighed, not sure what else to say to convince his father that he couldn't snatch MJ away from him. He wasn't coming up with any brilliant arguments, so instead he asked a question that had been plaguing him since the argument started inside.

"How did you know about McWhorter? Or the drug dealer?"

John turned around slowly, facing Dean. He ran a hand through his hair. "I've been talking to Bobby."

Dean's jaw clenched making the muscle in his face twitch. "He didn't tell me."

"I asked him not to." John said simply.

Dean pushed his frustration and anger aside, knowing now was not the time. Besides, John had only answered half of his question. "Bobby didn't know about Biz." Dean said, saying the name as if it were a dirty word.

John shrugged. "I've been in Chicago since you guys got here. I've been keeping tabs on you."

Dean considered his father curiously. "Why?"

John didn't answer, and Dean was finally able to place the emotion dominant in his father's eyes: fear.

Dean took a step toward his father, determined to know the truth. "Dad, what is going on? What are you afraid of?"

John took another step closer to Dean and looked around carefully, as if he were expecting eavesdroppers to be hidden amongst the parked cars. He leaned toward his son, lowering his voice. "There might be someone…something after Mary Jane."

"What? What kind of something?" Dean practically shouted.

John gestured for him to keep his voice down. "I don't know, a demon maybe. All I know is I'm not taking any chances, Dean."

"What makes you think something is after her?" Dean asked, glancing at the motel room door, glad Sammy had stayed inside with MJ, that she wasn't by herself.

"Wendy called me freaking out. She said she had to take off because something evil wanted Mary Jane and was going to use Wendy to get to her."

"You've been talking to Wendy?" Dean asked, shocked. He wondered how many more bombs his father could drop on him in one night.

John nodded. "She tracked me down about a month ago. She was petrified. Wouldn't tell me where she was, just kept saying that she needed to be far away from Mary Jane."

Dean shook his head. "How do you know she wasn't just high out of her mind and hallucinating?"

"She was lucid, Dean and she was scared as hell." He took a deep breath. "She said he came to her once before and told her that he'd be back someday for Mary Jane."

"He? Who-or what is it?"

The fear in John's eyes seemed to intensify. "All she said was he was mean as hell, he wanted Mary Jane and his eyes…his eyes were pitch black."

Dean turned away, running a hand over his face. "Christ." He spat before turning back to his father. "Do you think it's connected to the demon? Maybe another trap to lure you in like with Meg?"

"I don't know, Dean. All I know for sure is that I need to keep her safe and for me to do that she needs to be as far removed as possible from this life."

"Dad you know as well as I do if this thing wants her it's not gonna make a bit of difference where you hide her, it'll find her. Her only hope is to be with people who are ready for it and know how to fight it. Not some civilians who'll piss their pants and run at the first sign of something supernatural." Dean shook his head, pointing toward the motel room and MJ. "If you send her off with these people, unprotected, she doesn't stand a chance."

Dean could see his logic was working on his father. He was coming around and Dean hurriedly continued while he had a chance at winning this.

"If she stays with us, you know we can keep her safe. This thing won't get anywhere near her."

John was frowning at Dean, and the fear was still there, etched onto his face, but Dean could see that he had been persuaded. "You'd better keep closer tabs on her, Dean. And no more running wild. Part of keeping her safe is limiting her freedom."

Dean nodded quickly. "Yes, sir."

"And you need to get the hell out of Chicago. Tonight."

"You got it."

John heaved a deep sigh of frustration. "I'm not thrilled with this, Dean."

"I know, Dad. But you gotta trust me. This is the right decision."

"We'll see." John turned, heading back toward the motel room.

"Wait, Dad." Dean called to him, making John stop in his tracks and turn back.

"You have to call us if you find anything out about this…demon or whatever it is."

John pointed a stern finger at Dean. "Don't you go looking for this thing, you hear me? Your job is to keep her far away from it, not hunt it down, ya got me?"

Dean crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not gonna go after it, but if it comes after us, the more we know the easier it will be to fight it." Dean reasoned.

"I'll get in touch with you if there's something you need to know." John turned back toward the room and again Dean called out, stopping him.

"What was going on before I got here tonight? Why were Sammy and MJ so nervous and upset?" Dean hadn't planned on asking John that question. He had intended to wait until he was alone with Sam to find out what that was all about. For some reason his mouth wasn't in agreement with his brain on that one, and the words had just spilled out before he could stop them.

John gave his son a small smile. "You know those two. They can read people far too well. I think they had an idea of why I was here before I'd even opened my mouth." The smile was gone as quickly as it had appeared. "She's really attached to you, Dean." He looked ashamed, not meeting Dean's eyes. "I think you're the first person who's ever really taken care of her." He kept his eyes cast downward as he made his way back inside.