I sit at the table with Dean in this truck stop diner, waiting for Sam. We had left his ass at the hotel across the street, telling him to meet up for breakfast. I see him crossing the parking lot with a couple of newspapers in his hands. Sam has been searching non-stop for cases since we escaped from the seven deadly sins.
Well, they escaped. I unfortunately had been infected with lust, which led me to act out of character toward Dean. From the stories he told me, I had been all about being with him. Nothing super out of the ordinary there but I was adamant about being with him and apparently threw myself at him a few times. Of course, I don't remember a single minute of it.
Sam sits down beside me, across from Dean and lays the newspaper on the table between them.
"Found something, maybe"
"What is it?" I ask, grabbing the paper. "Man falls on power saw? How is that our thing?"
"Well, it's not the only thing I found. Four other deaths in the area. People falling off of ladders and drowning in their Jacuzzis all over the neighborhood. This Morning Hill gated community."
"Ok, where?" Dean asks, watching for our order.
"Cicero, Indiana." I tell him and see his eyes cut toward me, then the paper and then back to scanning the crowd. What is up with that? What's wrong with Cicero, Indiana?
We finish our breakfast and head back to the motel. Once inside, Sam sits down at his laptop and begins investigating the case and Dean sits on the end of the bed we had shared last night. I go to the bathroom and after washing my hands, I hear the guys talking.
"I don't think we should go to Indiana," Dean says.
"Why?" Sam asks, puzzled.
Dean's voice lowers so I put my ear to the door to hear.
"Remember that road trip I took, uh... gosh, about eight years ago now? You were in Orlando with Dad wrapping up that banshee thing. "
"Yeah. Yeah, the five states, five-day –"
"Yeah. Well, kind of. Although I spent most of my time in Lisa Braeden's loft."
"Who is Lisa Braeden?"
"She was a yoga teacher. It was the bendiest weekend of my life," Dean says, a dreamy lilt in his voice.
"And?" Sam asks, still puzzled.
"And," Dean pauses, nodding his head toward the bathroom. "I just don't want to run into her and make Nic uncomfortable. I just, I care about her, ya know. Lisa was, well, she was tenacious. She wanted me all to herself. We never left her loft the whole time."
I open the door and walk into the room pretending not to have heard a word. I sit on the end of the bed Sam had slept in and grabbed my duffel, feigning naivete. I was pissed. Dean was trying to protect me from being hurt by an old hookup that apparently had been possessive and greedy but there was a possible case needing investigated.
"So, Indiana, huh?"
Dean and Sam both look me. I see fear and sadness in green eyes and pity and warmth in hazel ones. Continuing with my act of innocence, I begin packing my things into my bag.
"Uh, yea. Listen, Nic," Dean says, standing up and walking to me. "Can we talk?"
"Sure. What about?" I refuse to look him in the eye , just keep stuffing my bag. I know if I look at him I will break and tell him I know all about Lisa and that he is willing to ignore a case just to protect me. It kind of pissed me off that he would manipulate our pledge to fight what we let escape when Hell's Gate was opened just to preserve the memory of "the best weekend of his life".
"Thing is…..look, I've been in Cicero before," Dean tells me.cautiously. "'Bout eight, nine years ago."
I look up at him and meet his eyes. "Yea, had the best weekend of your life there, right? I heard you. I heard all about Gumby girl. Listen, I'm going to work the case. I don't care about your past conquests and hookups ok?" I go back to packing for a moment, but my anger at him thinking I need protecting has my eyes snapping back to his. "I'm a big girl Dean. I can handle it if we meet up with her." As long as she didn't try to get with him again, I think to myself. Otherwise I'd be furious!
The boys quickly pack up their things and meet me at the back of the Impala. I'm still miffed about Dean's overwhelming urge to keep me from meeting someone from his past. Did he actually think she would try to make a move on him? Would he reciprocate? Is that what he is worried about? I let these thoughts plague my brain as I settle into the backseat. I pull my earbuds out of my bag, plug them into my phone and turn on my playlist. I'm just going to enjoy the ride and not worry about meeting some chick named Lisa.
We pull into the Cicero Pines Motel and Sam gets out, going to procure us a room for a few days. Long enough for us to work this case and move on. I catch Dean's green eyes staring at me through the rearview mirror. The look of worry and concern obvious. I hate seeing him troubled so I pull my earbuds out and smile at him. "Dean, I'm fine. I'm sorry about earlier. But seriously, I know you have a past. I know there have been other women. I'm not naive or stupid."
"Nic, I just don't want to see you get hurt. I know you know there have been others but Lisa, well she's a bit of a wildcard. I was practically a slave for her that weekend. But always rewarded my good behavior with mind-blowing…." Dean stops himself, realizing just who he was talking to. "Sorry." He looks away sheepishly.
I shake my head at his bashfulness. Sam gets back to the car and we unload and head into the room.
"I'm hungry," I tell them after a couple of hours of reading and inspecting what information we have on the case in the area.
"Me too," Sam agrees, shutting his laptop and standing up. Dean is laid out on the bed behind us with his eyes closed, not much investigating going on from his end. He sits up and slips his boots on, tying them while Sam and I wait on him.
"Let's go then."
Walking through the diner we find a booth toward the back of the room. The waitress immediately comes over, hands up three menus and tells us she'll be back in a bit. I peruse the menu and order a cheeseburger platter with a strawberry milkshake when the waitress returns. Sam orders a cobb salad with water. The waitress winks at Sam and I see his cheeks turn pink. Seeing Sam embarrassed by female attention warms my heart. I love Sam. He is my big little brother. And I knew the story of how he get out of the life for a while and went off to Stanford until Dean came waltzing back into his life when John went missing. I heard of how he lost his girlfriend Jess so tragically. I sympathized with him over the loss of his love and just wanted him to be happy again.
Dean orders the same thing I did, going for a coffee instead and the waitress takes the menus and walks away, a little extra sway in her hips. I smile knowing that was for Sam's benefit as I see him notice it also. I grin knowingly at him but he just shakes his head, lowering his chin to his chest.
When we leave the diner, Dean suggests we go by the hardware store since we were running low on rock salt, lighter fluid and paint. Walking through the door, I notice a dark-headed woman
Standing near the front of the store, happily chatting to one of the employees as he is filling balloons with helium and handing them to her. Most of the balloons are plain everyday multi-colored ones but one has 'Happy Birthday' written on it. She must be having a party I think as I follow the boys through the aisles.
"Dean?" I hear a female voice call out and I look up to see the woman from the front of the store, looking toward us. She now has about 20 balloons floating above her.
Dean turns and looks and then glances at me. "Lisa?"
"Yea," Lisa says, happily and then something in her changes. Her face holds a look of surprise at first but suddenly turns to trepidation, and slight fear. Her eyes begin darting around, not looking at any of us and then she quickly says, "Well, it was nice seeing ya." She goes to leave but Dean speaks up. "What's with all the balloons?"
"Oh!" she says, looking up at the floating orbs. "I'm having a party."
"A party?" Dean says, joyfully. "Well, Sam here loves parties. Oh, that's right. This is my brother Sam," Dean says motioning to his brother introducing him to his ex. "And this is...my friend Nic, Nicole." Dean nods his head toward me and Lisa cuts her eyes at me. I give her a little smile , trying to be as mannerly as I can although I'm fuming inside. A friend? A friend?!
My inner monologue blocks out the rest of their conversation. 'He sees me as just a friend, a hunting buddy. Nothing more than just a way to let off steam.' I shake my head slightly as I hear Dean say, "Yea 5:00."
"What's at 5:00?" I ask as I watch Lisa walk away, glancing back at us over her shoulder.
"Party at Lisa's," Sam says, rolling his eyes. "She just happens to live in the same gated community that all the unexplained deaths have taken place. Dean thinks we might be able to get in and do some recon, find out what the hell is going on."
I look at Dean and he raises his eyebrows, smirking.
INSERT DEAN SMIRKING HERE.
I just roll my eyes and head off down the aisle to pick up the supplies we were here for. When we get back to the hotel, Dean keeps talking about how this party is perfect for us, that we can get in there and do some inside investigating to see what we are up against. I pay no attention to his blabbing as I go through my duffel to find something appropriate for a lawn party, as I was very cheerfully told that it was called. I could care less what this stupid fucking party was referred to. I just wanted to get in, get information and get the hell out of there. I didn't need to see Dean hit on all the women who I'm sure would be at Lisa, the yoga teacher's "lawn party"
At quarter to 5 the three of you loaded up and headed to the address Lisa had given Dean. I was surprised when we pulled into the driveway of modestly sized house in the suburban development. Teaching yoga has its benefits I thought as I appreciated the wide shiplap-panelled home. The front patio was supported by stacked stone pillars and the door was a good quality thick stained mahogany.
Dean rang the doorbell and I could hear voices coming through. The door opened and there stood Lisa. She smiled tentatively at us and stepped back to allow us entrance.
"So, uh, who's the party for?" Sam asks.
"Ben. My son. " Say what now?
"Oh. You have a..." Dean asks, shocked.
"Yep. " Lisa answers, nodding for us to follow her to the back patio. We step out into the backyard and kids are running wildly.
She gestures across the yard to a young boy wearing a black jacket and jeans. He is opening presents.
"That's him."
All three of us look to see a young kid opening a gift to reveal a CD.
"Yes! AC/DC rules!" Ben yells, excitedly holding up his fingers in a bull horn manner.
"How old…" Dean asks, uneasy.
"Eight," Lisa answers. I internally groan. This is Dean's son, I just know it. Dean had a wild weekend with this woman 8 to 9 years ago and now I am looking at his son. No wonder she acted so aloof in the hardware store earlier. She knew she had given birth to his kid and he was about to find out her big, dark secret.
"Excuse me," Lisa says, turning back into the house. I watch her approach a woman and small girl who had just arrived, present in hand.
"Well, let's party," Dean says trying to sound upbeat but I can tell he has put 2 and 2 together and realizes we just crashed his unknown son's birthday party.I follow him and Sam over to the food table where there is a large race car themed cake sitting in the middle. As Sam and Dean are filling their plates I overhear two of the women who are sitting behind us start talking.
"Did you hear Lisa call him 'Dean'?" the first woman says.
"Yeah. Why?" the second woman asks, confused.
"You don't know about Dean? The Dean. Best-night-of-my-life Dean?"
"No! Tell me." Yes, please enlighten us with the tale of Lisa and Dean. I am just dying to hear about the man that I am in love with and the woman who kept his child hidden from him.
"Oh, my god, so, they had this crazy, semi-illegal – "
She cuts off as she sees me staring at them, obviously listening to their gossip.
They eyeball me until I follow the boys off.We find Ben near a bouncy house, eating a piece of cake and watching the other children jump.
"What's up?" Ben asks, looking up at Dean then over to me and Sam.
"What's up with you?" Dean asks. I can tell he is weirded out by how much this boy reminds him of himself. If it wasn't so damn infuriating it would be hilarious.
A woman and her little girl walk by, and in unison, Dean checks out the mom as Ben checks out the girl. Then they each take a bite of cake. I roll my eyes at Dean's blatant lack of self control around a pretty woman. Seems his son has the same affliction.
"So, it's your birthday," Sam says, standing there awkwardly.
"Guilty."
"It's a cool party," I speak up. It's not Ben's fault his mom is a major bitch and never contacted Dean and told him he had a son.
"t's so freakin' sweet. And this moon bounce – it's epic." Yea, Ben is Dean made over.
"Yeah. It's pretty awesome," Dean agrees.
"You know who else thinks they're awesome? Chicks. It's like hot-chick city out there." Ben says then smacks Dean on the chest.
We watch as Ben sets his cake down and follows a girl into the moon bounce. "Look out ladies, here comes trouble!"
Dean watches him, rolls his eyes up as he does some mental arithmetic, then darts inside the house to find Lisa. I'm sure he is about to lay into her about keeping Ben from him, his father. I can't help but giggle when Dean almost knocks a trash can over in his haste.
Sam and I continue to watch the kids and Ben bounce and jump around inside the giant blow up castle.
"So, looks like you have a nephew," I say as nonchalantly as I can.
"Seems that way, huh?" Sam answers, looking at the boy who reminds him of his brother from younger years.
:So, some of the children that were invited--," Dean says as we are headed back to the motel later in the evening. The party had been eye-opening for all of us.I found out that Dean had been the talk of the town after his weekend holed up with Lisa all those years ago; Sam had found out that he had a nephew and Dean had found out that the Winchester bloodline was one person greater. He had a son. " --half of the kids invited didn't make it because each one of them has had a recent death in the family. And not like grandparents or anything, but their own parents. Freak accidents, each of them." Dean had yet to mention what he discussed with Lisa but there had been definite tension between the two after their conversation inside the house.
"That's weird," Sam admits and I nod my head in agreement.
"Yeah, something's up. Something these nice, big gates can't protect them from."
The next morning Sam and I are playing our parts as insurance agents and going to each home that had had a death, investigating the "bizarre and unusual deaths" in the area. At each one, near the scene of the "crime" we find a a dark red substance and in each instance the child of the family just stands nearby, eerily staring at us.
At the home of the Dickinson's, Mrs. Dickinson leads us around back of the house and points to a ladder leaning against it.
"This is, um, where he fell, " she motions toward the ladder.
"I see. Now, how exactly did he – "
"He was just inside changing a light bulb. Must have lost his balance. "
"Were you here when this happened? " I asked as I look up at the top of the ladder. The daughter is standing there in the second floor window, staring at us.
"No. I was out. Uh, the only one here was our daughter, Dakota."
I wave at Dakota but she only glares back, unmoving. I tear my eyes away from her and notice, once again, the dark red substance is staining the window sill and a railing.
"Okay," he pauses and looks to me. "Well, uh, I think that's all I need." I nod and we turn to follow her out of the yard.
As we are following her, her ponytail sways and I notice a strange injury on the back of her neck. It's in an oval shape, with multiple dots around it, like the mark from a sucker or teeth. I elbow Sam and vaguely point it out to him. He tries to study it as close as he can without going noticed.
Mrs. Dickinson stops at the gate and smiles. "Thank you."
We grin at her and walk out of the yard. We discuss the wound on her neck as we go to meet Dean in town. We get to the Impala but Dean is nowhere near it. I look around and see him across the street, sitting on a park bench. Ben runs up to him and gives him a high five
I smile at the camaraderie between them. I stand and watch them talk amongst themselves before Lisa barges over, looking pissed and begins yelling at both of them. She grabs Ben by the wrist and jerks him away and goes to walk off, dragging a hesitant Ben. Ben pulls away from his mother, running back and hugging Dean. Dean's whole face lights up until he looks over at Lisa and his whole demeanor changes. Dean looks around and sees three boys staring at him intently. He shakes it off and walks across the street toward me and Sam.
"Something's wrong with the kids in this town."
Back at the motel, the three of us use whatever avenue of research we can get our hands on to figure out what is going on in Morning Hills. Sam is on his laptop, I'm reading a tomb from Bobby's library while Dean is flipping through the pages of John's journal.
"So, what do we know about changelings?" Sam asks.
"Evil monster babies?" I ask scrunching up my nose.
"No, not necessarily babies."
Dean sits up on the bed, "They're kids. Creepy, 'stare at you like you're lunch' kids?"
"Changelings can perfectly mimic children.," Sam says as he continues reading the screen. "According to lore, they climb in the window, snatch the kid. Y'know, there were marks on the windowsill at one of the kid's houses. Looked to me like blood."
"And there's one at every victim's house," I say, realizing that we have found our monster. "Any idea on how to waste them?"
"Fire. We have to torch them."
"The changeling grabs a kid, assumes its form, joins the happy fam just for kicks? " Dean asks, sitting up on the bed.
"Not quite. Changelings feed on the mom: synovial fluid. The moms have these odd bruises on the back of their necks," sam explains. "Changelings can drain them for a few weeks before mom finally croaks."
"And then there's dad and the babysitter..." I add.
"Yeah. Seems like anyone who gets between the changeling and its food source ends up dead," Sam confirms.
"And fire's the only way to dispose of them?"
Sam nods. "Yup."
"Great. We'll just bust in, drag the kids out, torch them on the front lawn. That'll play great with the neighbors. What about the real ones? What happens to them? "
"According to lore, they stash them underground somewhere. I don't know why, but if it's true, the real kids might be out there. "
"We better start looking," I say, getting up to put my shoes on.
"So, uh, any kid in the neighborhood is vulnerable?" Dean asks, an unrecognizable lilt in his voice.
"Yep."
"We gotta make a stop. I want to check on someone.
"Dean, if the real kids are still alive, we don't have time. We—" I start. I don't really want to hear that he wants to stop by her house.
"We have to," he pleads with us. I look to see fear and anxiety in his eyes and realize he is talking about Ben. I nod in understanding and we head out
We pull up outside Lisa's and Dean goes to get out. "I've got to check on him."
Sam and I smile at him and watch him walk up to the front door and ring the bell. Lisa answers and I can tell she is surprised to see him. They talk for a few minutes until Lisa slams the door in his face. The bitch! He was just checking on his child, you know, the one you kept from him! Dean walks back down the steps and turns to see Lisa in the front room, reading a book. Ben is sitting next to her, book in his hand but staring at his mother. Suddenly Dean turns and runs back to the Impala.
"They took Ben. He's changed," he announces, worried.
"What?! Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. I checked his windowsill."
"Blood?" I ask anxiously. This is Ben, Dean's son we are talking about. If a monster has took him, I knew Dean would fight tooth and nail to get him back, even though he just met the kid.
"I don't think it is blood, and I think I know where the kids are." He starts the Impala and speeds off toward the other end of the neighborhood.
Most of the houses here are in different stages of construction. Dean parks in front of a semi-finished home, with a "Cicero Realty For Sale" sign. Sam picks some up and inspects it on his fingers.
"Red dirt," Sam verifies. "That's what was on the window."
"Ah, you take the front. We'll go around."
I follow Dean around the back of the house and we make our way in through a doorway that only has a sheet of plastic covering it. We enter to a hull of a kitchen, island in the middle of the room and a sink to the opposite side. To the right is an open door. I go to inspect it and see stairs leading down. I clear my throat to get Dean's attention and nod toward them. We slowly descend and come to a great room, like a den.
We find a series of cages, each containing abducted kids. The real Ben is in one.
Dean runs over to the cage holding his son and tells him, "Ben... Ben... it's okay. I'm gonna get you out of here, okay?" Ben nods.
I walk along the cages, checking each child to make sure they are still alive. I come across one that is holding an adult. I recognize her as the realtor from the billboard at the entrance to the community.
Dean opens Ben's cage pulling him out and hugging him.
"Come on. Let's go," Dean says as we hear a commotion upstairs. He sets Ben down and ruffles his hair. "All right, come on."
Dean and I begin breaking open the cages and I notice Ben helping the children out.
"It's okay. You're gonna get out of here, all right? Hurry!" I hear him say.
"Come on, girls! Come on! Keep moving, keep moving." He looks up and see the basement window. "Okay, everybody back! Everybody back!"
He clears off a windowsill and prepares to smash the glass. Ben and I help usher the other kids away.
"Cover your eyes!" Dean yells. He breaks the window with a plank of wood, and begins to brush the glass off.
Ben takes off his jacket and hands it to Dean. "Here. Use this."
Dean looks at his son proudly, then takes the jacket and lays it over the broken window. "All right. All right, Ben. Come on. Come on."
Ben, indicating another kid, tells Dean, "Him first."
Dean picks up the sickly boy and pushes him through the pane. I begin ushering kids toward Dean so he can pick them up and get them out.
Sam runs in. "Hey! There's a mother!"
"A mother changeling?" I ask and the realize why the realtor was caged. The changeling had taken over her likeness.
"Yeah. We gotta get these kids out quick."
"Right there, right there. There's one more," I tell him, pointing to the cage with the woman in it. "You got to break the lock!"
"I guess that's why the changelings are keeping the kids alive – so the mom can snack on them." Sam says as he frees the woman. "There. Come on, I gotcha."
One of the last kids to escape turns and starts screaming. We all look behind us to see the changeling who has been pretending to be the realtor.Dean goes flying and lands on his back, groaning in pain. The Changeling Mom turns around. Sam points a homemade torch at her, lighter ready to fire it up. She kicks the lighter out of his hand, then roundhouse kicks him again, throwing a few punches before throwing him across the room. Dean gets to his feet, and lunges after her with a 2x4. She punches and knocks him down again.
"Ben, get them out of here!" I yell as I lunge toward the flamethrower. I turn to see Dean, on his knees, grab a brick and surge to his feet again to clock the Changeling Mom. Before he can get to her, I ignite the blowgun and burn her to a crisp. We turn to see Ben and all the other kids, looking at us through the broken window.
We get all the kids, except Ben back to their rightful homes. We tell the parents that all the kids had gotten together to play a trick on everyone and we stopped it. Each of the family thanked us and we went on our way.
Ben sits beside me in the backseat of Baby. I catch Dean leering at us through the rearview mirror and I smile at him. We arrive at Lisa's to find her standing on the front steps. She sees Ben get out of the car and runs toward him.
"Ben?! Ben! Baby, are you okay?"
"I'm okay, Mom," Ben tells her from inside the bear hug she placed him in.
"Oh, my god," she sobs. "What the hell just happened? "
Dean looks to the ground before speaking. "I'll explain everything if you want me to, but, trust me, you probably don't. The important thing is, is that Ben's safe."
"Thank you." She hugs Dean. "Thank you!"
Sam and I stand next to Baby and watch the happy reunion. "Uh, we'll give you guys some time."
Lisa smiles down at her son. "Come on."
She leads the way back into the house and Dean looks back at us before he follows.
Sam and I walk back to the hotel and to my surprise, there is a blonde-headed woman sitting on the foot of Sam's bed. I automatically grab for my gun before Sam stops me. I look up at him to see him staring at her pensively.
"Sam, do you know who she is?" I ask him.
"Yea, Ruby."
"Sam," she addresses him. "I'm here to help."
Sam walks into the room and sits at the table. He picks up a notepad and his phone and begins dialing numbers. I watch in amazement as he calls several numbers, asking about the people listed on the paper and cross each one of them off. As he marks through the last name he puts his head in his hand and mutters, "Oh, my god!"
I walk over and put my hand on Sam's shoulder in comfort. He looks up at me and then over to Ruby, who he had awkwardly explained to me was a demon hunter. As in she was a demon but she hunted demons. She had been the one to actually take out the three demons back in Nebraska. Her and her demon-killing knife. After the shock of knowing Sam had been in contact with a known demon and then realizing she had saved his life, I accepted her. Not fully, but I recognized that if it hadn't been for her, Sam would most likely be dead so for that I approved her presence for now. I would be keeping my eye on her though.
"They're dead. All of them. All of my mom's friends. Her doctor, her uncle – everyone who ever knew her, systematically wiped off the map one at a time," He huffs out a laugh. "Someone went through a hell of a lot of trouble trying to cover their tracks."
"Yep. The Yellow-Eyed Demon," Ruby nods.
"So, start talking," Sam says, standing up, towering over her. "All those murders... what was the demon trying to cover up?"
"I don't know."
"What happened to my mother?"
"I honestly don't know. That's what I'm trying to find out. All I know is that it's about you. "
"What do you mean?" I ask, curious.
Ruby laughs. "Don't you get it, Sam?It's all about you. What happened to your mom, what happened to her friends. They're trying to cover up what he did to you. And I want to help you figure it out."
"Why would you want to help me? "
Ruby shrugs. "I have my reasons. Not all demons are the same, Sam. Not all of us want the same thing. Me? I want to help you from time to time. That's all."
We hear the purr of Baby's engine pull up outside and Ruby looks toward the window. "Gotta go." And with that she blinks out.
Dean walks through the motel and sees Sam and I standing there. He looks to his brother and then to me and I can tell he has bad news.
"What is it Dean?" I ask.
He bows his head and walks out the door. I follow him and watch him walk to the driver door of the Impala and lean back against it.
"She doesn't know."
"Who doesn't know what?"
"Lisa. She's not sure if Ben is mine or not."
Whoa! I knew she was a bimbo but to not know who the father of your child is, just wow!
"So, what are you going to do?" I ask gently. I'm afraid of the answer.
"I gotta know Nic. If he's mine, I need to set up some protection for him," he tells me. "Monsters find out I have a son, they'll come for him."
"Okay," I concede.
"I think I should stay here and find out," he says and I can feel my heart jump right out of my chest.
"What? For how long?"
"However long it takes!"
"So you're just going to leave Sam and me to go play happy house husband with some chick you spent a weekend with a million years ago?" I'm pissed now. "What if he ain't even yours? Who knows how many Tom, Dick and Harry's could be that boy's father?"
Dean stands up and heads toward the motel room. "This is just how it's got to be!" He picks up his bag and stalks past me, gets in the car and leaves, squealing the wheels out of the parking lot.
I watch until I can't see his brake lights anymore. Sam steps up beside me and wraps an arm around my shoulders. "I'm sorry Nic."
I let the tears flow then. Dean Winchester, the man I was in love with, just left me in the parking lot of a motel in Indiana to go play father to a kid who might not even be his!