Dean and Sam were on a hunt. A bulletin from the magical community in Colorado reported that a wendigo would soon become active, so they had offered to go and kill it.
It was so much easier to be a hunter when you could make money selling the things you killed to the magicals. And Wendigos were such a pain in the ass to deal with that the Ministry paid a hefty bounty for a confirmed kill.
So they had gone deep into the Colorado wilderness with Bear acting as their guard dog. Though Sam was mystified as to why Dean had bought ten of those re-fried burritos at the gas station. He could normally only eat one or two before his stomach started complaining.
All he said was that it was the key ingredients to the world's worst dung-bomb, and that was it.
"Mort, are there any other survivors?" Dean asked out loud for Sam's benefit. The others looked at him as if he were crazy, but Sam knew he wasn't.
"Just the wendigo's left in here. Good. Then I won't feel too guilty about letting a Bear Bomb on this bastard," said Dean.
"What is a 'Bear Bomb'?" asked Sam in open confusion.
"Just tell me when we're close to the open air so I can get it started. Bear can guard the entrance until it goes off," said Dean cryptically.
The wendigo was very, very careful around Bear for some reason. The one time it got too close to Bear, the dog had ripped it's arm off. Hence why the civilians were sticking close to the dog and not the hunters.
Once they saw open daylight, Dean sent Sam on ahead with the civilians and then leaned down to face his dog.
"Hey Bear, look what I got. Your favorite treat!" said Dean evilly.
Suddenly Sam had a foreboding feeling as to what a Bear Bomb was. And why Dean had brought those burritos along without eating any.
Bear guarded the entrance that lead to the survivors, who were sticking around mostly out of a desire to see this thing dead. For five minutes he kept the wendigo in the mine until he got an odd expression on his furry face.
Then he started doing a dance Sam half-recognized as his warning sign to them that he needed to go out and do his business, only some of the movements were wrong.
"Go get 'em Bear!" said Dean. Bear took off towards the mine, and was a good five feet inside when he let loose the most massive wet fart Sam had ever heard in his life.
The others stared at Dean in disbelief. Until they heard the thump. Looking inside (and gagging at the worst smell they had ever encountered) they found an unconscious thing inside out cold from the stench.
Bear sat close to the thing wagging his tail. Only Dean could get close enough to set the thing on fire, but not before cutting off a few more limbs to show proof of kill.
When he got out into the fresh air he removed his gas mask.
At least Sam now had a reason for why Dean had brought one.
"What was that about?!"
"That...was a Bear Bomb. Found out by accident a day after he was released from the vet's office that Bear and burritos do not mix, especially when you don't have a gas mask handy. He seems to love the things, but the smell tends to linger...and I might have been banned from the motel I had been staying in that night... good thing I was able to make a fast get away before that old hag came in to clean."
Actually she came to snoop, but ended up running head first into the noxious cloud. Dean later picked up a paper about a meth lab at the room he had been staying in that had gone off, making the room unusable...until the smell finally went away.
Considering how many of those wet burritos Bear had eaten before they left, Dean didn't think it ever would go away. He hadn't laughed that hard in quite a long time, and had kept the article.
Sam privately made a note never to feed Bear anything from a Mexican restaurant and they left.
They had to stop ten minutes later so Bear could do his business though.
Sam had never been more glad that Dean had saved Bear, their official 'mascot' according to an amused Ellen and Jo, than when the massive dog tackled the shifter who was masquerading as Dean to kill his latest victim.
The dog was so big he easily pinned the fake and Dean was quick to change the damn thing's features so that when the cops broke in a few seconds later he wouldn't end up pinned for the crime.
The thing cursed Dean out when he casually mentioned that the Ministry was heading this way to have a word and possible execution for the shifter. Normally they would deal with the thing themselves, but they were stuck dealing with the human authorities, and it was simply easier to have the fake FBI agents from the American Ministry kill it for them.
They were still credited the capture, which was all that mattered.
"So you saw someone almost die in our old home?" asked Dean.
Sam had a vision, not unusual but this one had left him sick. And it wasn't because of the subject matter.
Dean wasn't five minutes from the house when his magic pinged on something. He immediately parked close to a diner and stopped. Taking a deep breath, he sent another 'ping' of magic, hoping he was wrong.
To his anger, he got the same ping back in less than a minute. Apparently they weren't the only ones who picked up on the almost accident at the house.
"Dean?"
"He's here."
Sam froze when his mind processed that announcement. There was only one person who could set Dean off that fast, and they hadn't seen him in years.
Bear started growling, in response to Dean's rage.
"Calm down Dean. It might be a coincidence."
"Either way, I'm returning that damn journal to the bastard. Ours is better organized and it's more accurate to boot," said Dean flatly.
Dean and Sam had cross referenced John's journal, and about a third of it was inaccurate. They always checked their information through multiple sources before it was added to their books.
Dean drove until he came to a local psychic. Evidently John thought Sam might sense what was happening at the house and was wisely avoiding the hotels. Either that or he didn't want to be recognized.
It made more sense for it to be the latter over the former.
Missouri, as the plate outside proclaimed, took one look at Dean's soul and winced.
Dean was well aware that his past life had been much more difficult and painful, and that his current one was infinitely better. Mort had been very talkative about how 'Harry' had been manipulated by someone before he was even born. It was one of the few things Mort would talk about.
He didn't say a word, but handed her the book.
"What's this?"
"Tell the idiot currently hiding on the second floor that we didn't appreciate having to finish his hunt and that he can keep his damn journal, because we don't need it to do our jobs," said Dean flatly.
Her eyes widened in shock, trying to avoid looking to the room where John Winchester was currently hiding.
"How..."
"I put a tracking spell on the last letter I sent to him when I 'bought' the Impala so I would know when he was in the same town. There's a reason we haven't seen each other in nearly a decade, and I see no point in breaking that streak for a man too stupid to even figure out how to find the demon's name," said Dean.
"Tell him the Harvelle brothers will deal with this and he might as well leave," said Sam equally annoyed.
Missouri nodded and they left to talk to the woman who owned their old house.
Needless to say John was horrified that they had known exactly where he was and that he had been in the town without running into him. And that Dean hated him enough to put a tracking 'spell' on him to make avoiding his birth father easier.
Dean looked at the ghostly figure of their mother in sadness. He hadn't known she was trapped here keeping the place safe from dark spirits.
Mort appeared when they were pinned and spoke to Mary Campbell.
Their mother knew about what happened between them and John, and didn't blame them for abandoning him to become Ellen's sons instead. Dean knew Mort would see Mary Campbell safely to heaven once this was over...though he was surprised when she told him where to find her parents house and their old hunting gear.
They decided to make a quick stop to the old Campbell home in order to salvage anything of use, as it had been kept safe by the American Ministry at Mary's request. Once it was cleared it could be restored or destroyed since all heirlooms were removed by their proper owners.
Missouri decided to ask Sam why they hated their father so much. She had helped care for Dean as a child and felt that the younger brother wouldn't react as strongly as Dean had.
John had kept his mouth shut about what had happened between the three of them.
"John... he wasn't a good father. He would go out on hunts and after come back drunk as hell. Dean did his best to shield me from it, but it got really bad when I was ten. Dad went on a hunt with Dean, and after that Dean started looking for other hunters. Bobby gave us the address to the Roadhouse and when we finally had a hunt close enough for us to try and make a run for it, we left. Dean made a point to keep us away from roads to avoid him. Everything was fine for about a year, then he found us again by accident. That's when we found out he had never encountered a natural-born before," said Sam.
"John's never found a natural-born witch? They're almost impossible not to run into, especially in the rural towns!"
"Well he didn't know Dean was one, and he reacted badly when Dean's magic protected him from a werewolf. Dean knew it was only a matter of time before John came back so drunk that he wouldn't hesitate to hunt us, so he made a point to find us a place to run to. After John found us again, things seemed to look up... then he gave Dean the Impala as a way to make amends. Dean got suspicious, so he asked a reaper to see if John was on the up-and-up..."
"Wait, Dean asked a reaper? Humans can't see reapers! Even I can't!"
"Well Dean's aura allows him to see reapers. He's always been able to see them, but the only one he talks to is Mort. Mort went to see whether John was indeed being sincere, but he also found out that he had a third son, one we were never told about."
"John had a third son?"
"One never raised a hunter like we were. His name is Adam. The minute Mort mentioned our half-brother, he got really pissed off at John. So instead of just accepting the car he wrote a letter telling him to get out of our live and to never come back, along with enough money to 'pay' for the Impala and the gear he left behind. After that we never spoke to him again until a few months ago when he called Dean telling him he was on the hunt for the demon that killed our mother. We knew something big was going on because John knows not to call Dean for anything and he left that journal behind. Not to mention leaving a hunt unfinished," said Sam.
Missouri saw what was going on. Dean was betrayed by John because his father despised him for being a natural-born and learning about a half-brother who had gotten a childhood they had lost too young had been the last straw. It also explained why he had been so angry when he had shown up at her doorstep...he didn't want to take on John's hunt for Mary's killer.
She could see why Dean didn't want anything to do with his birth father. She would be furious with someone if she had been hurt that badly too.
"Well don't be afraid to call boy. I knew your brother when he was just a boy before that night, and I would appreciate being kept in the loop," said Missouri sternly.
"Yes ma'am," said Sam with a chuckle.
He put her number under the list for psychics. She was one of only two people on it, the first being Pamela.
"DEAN!" screamed Sam.
His brother had gotten a nasty shock from a taser in the water, and despite having killed the damn thing they were hunting, he was in critical condition.
The doctors looked rather grim, and Mort said there was nothing he could do without setting off all sorts of alarm bells.
So Sam valiantly tried to find a way to save his brother's life. Dean was on borrowed time and they all knew it.
In a last ditch effort he went to some faith healer two towns over.
And what happened after left Dean in an absolute rage.
"Someone in that group has a reaper on a leash! And they're using it to perform false miracles!" he said angry.
Mort looked equally as pissed off. He did not like it when humans tried to force the balance in their favor. When it was your time to go, it was your time to go unless you had divine help saying otherwise.
"You think it's the husband?" asked Sam. He knew there was no way Dean would let this continue. He happened to like reapers.
"No. I looked him up a few hours after we came back. I think it's the wife," said Dean flatly.
"What can we do?"
"First we have to find out how she's doing this, and put a stop to it. Miracles or not, only god has the right to chose when it's okay to exchange one life for another," said Dean.
He might not believe in the bastard, but he believed Death when the entity said God existed.
This is one of the few hunts I can intervene in, because the fool is directly interfering with the balance. No one would think twice about my help, said Mort crossly.
Because this woman was forcing a reaper to do her bidding, Mort could help Dean out just this one.
"Good to hear. Looks like Mort's in on helping us put a stop to this," said Dean.
"You know just once I wish I could see Mort like you do, if only so I wasn't hearing half the conversation," complained Sam.
That is easily fixed, said Mort blandly. He wasn't used to people actually wanting to see him. Most generally tried to avoid him if possible.
"After we're done with this mess," said Dean.
Dean cornered the wife a few days later, and saw some weird talisman in her hand with what looked like blood. Which begged the question of who's blood, because not just anything would do to bind a reaper of all things.
Unfortunately Dean didn't see the reaper come up from behind him and grab his arm. He felt something try to rip his soul out, but Mort was keeping it firmly in place.
The reaper stared in shock when Death appeared and touched the woman. The last 'miracle' her husband would create would be to save the one girl who still believed. Death felt it was poetic justice, personally.
"Sir?" said the reaper in surprise.
This one is marked by me personally. His soul cannot leave just yet...though at least now he's made a good head start towards reawakening the power he surrendered when he made that agreement,said Death blandly.
"I apologize, sir. She had blood from my mortal body in that talisman."
Death wagged his finger at the reaper. It wasn't the reaper's fault, though how she had found the blood of his mortal shell was something he would very much like to know. Perhaps she got lucky, or someone had told her. Either way, Dean would make sure to destroy the notes on how to make another for him.