September 19, 2010. The day Dean's world truly fell apart. If he thought his world had ended on May 2 in Stull Cemetery four months earlier, he had been so wrong. Because on September 19, 2010, he learned that his daughter had run away in the middle of the night. For the first time since arriving at Lisa's, he didn't immediately take off for the bar as soon as he was awake. Instead, he was woken up to Lisa saying Mack was missing. "What are you talking about?" he had grumbled, still not fully awake or comprehending what was going on.

"Mack is gone," Lisa repeated. "She's not in her room and I can't find her anywhere else in the house." Somewhere in Dean's sleepy, hungover brain, he finally comprehended what she was telling him. And then everything stopped. "She… She's gone?" he asked, abruptly feeling a lot more sober than he had in months despite his raging headache. "How? When?" Lisa shook her head. "She must have snuck out in the middle of the night… I don't know."

Dean leapt to his feet, his heart thudding out of his chest. "She was there when I got home last night. She was asleep in her bed. What the hell?" Ben came down the stairs, rubbing his eyes sleepily and yawning. "Mom? What's going on?" Lisa frowned over at her son, "Mack's missing." Ben blinked in surprise. "Wait… you mean she actually ran away?" He realized his mistake as soon as the words left his mouth. Dean rounded on him with a murderous look in his eyes. "What do you mean, 'she actually ran away'?" he asked, voice deadly calm. Ben swallowed hard, backing up a step.

"Uh… w-well… I…" Dean tried to advance toward him, but was stopped as Lisa put a hand to his chest. "Dean, stop," she said. "He's just a kid."

"That kid knows something he's not telling us," Dean growled. "Get off me." Lisa stood her ground. "Dean, please. I know this is a stressful situation, but you can't hurt him." Dean was livid as he glared from Ben over to Lisa and back. "What do you know?" he growled at Ben. "I… I don't…" Ben shook his head, trying to come up with something to say. "Spit it out!" Dean snapped. "Dean," Lisa chastised him.

"I told her to run away," Ben admitted quietly. The room fell deathly quiet. "What?" Dean hissed in a whisper. "W-well, she… she doesn't have any friends because everyone b-bullies her all the time and I… I told her… since no one cares about her here… that she… that she should…" Lisa had to do everything she could to keep Dean from lunging at her son. "Why you little-!"

"Dean!" Lisa shouted, shoving him back with all her strength. "I ought to ring your little neck!" Dean yelled. "Dean, quit it!" Lisa said. "It's his fault! She's gone and it's his fault!" While Dean was yelling at Lisa, Ben took the opportunity to retreat quickly back upstairs to get ready for school. Dean noticed. "Yeah, you better run!" Lisa was furious, "Dean, seriously, stop it! If you touch my son, I'll kill you."

Dean instantly deflated. "I… I don't…" he swallowed, hanging his head. "I'm sorry…" Now that his initial anger had vanished, the grief and hopelessness washed over him anew. "I just… I can't…" Despite the threats and anger she'd been giving him just moments before, Lisa drew Dean into her arms, hugging him tightly like she did the first night he and Mack showed up on her doorstep. "Shh… It's going to be okay. We'll figure it out, alright? We'll find her."

Somewhere in the middle of Iowa, Mack trudged along the side of the road. She had run out of money pretty quickly and had been hitchhiking ever since. She was exhausted, hungry, and really needed a shower. As she was walking, a 1981 step-side GMC Sierra Grande pulled up beside her. "Need a ride, sweetheart?" She looked up at the giant truck, stopping in her tracks. The driver looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't quite place why. Meanwhile, the driver couldn't believe what he was seeing. The little girl on the side of the road was the spitting image of his eldest son, Dean.

She had the same complex, hazel-green eyes and full lips. Her long brown hair was the same shade as his younger son, Sam's. He remembered back in 2004 when that stranger showed up at the motel room he and Dean were staying at during a hunt and had dumped some baby at Dean's feet, claiming the thing was his. DNA tests had proved her claims to be true, but John still hadn't been happy to suddenly have a distraction pulling Dean away from concentrating on the job. Was it so crazy to think that maybe, just maybe, this young girl standing on the side of the road beside his truck was that same distraction from all those years ago?

"S-sure," she answered his question and he smiled. He leaned over, opening the door for her and she climbed up into the large vehicle. As soon as the door was shut and she was situated, they started driving again. "What's your name, little lady?" She kept her gaze on her lap, playing with one of her fingernails as she answered quietly. "I'm Emily." Emily… What was it that that thing had been named? He was pretty sure it started with an 'M'. Which meant that if this girl was who he thought she was, she had just given him a fake name.

He vaguely remembered reading the birth certificate back then. What was that name? "So, where you headed, Emily?" he asked, already starting to form a plan in his head. "Sioux Falls, South Dakota," she answered. "I'm going to find my Grandpa Bobby." Sioux Falls… Grandpa Bobby… Could easily be Bobby Singer. Silence fell in the truck for a couple miles and then Mack spoke up again. "What's your name?" John smirked, glancing over at her. "My name's John Winchester."

Mack's eyes widened in surprise and- dare he think it?- fear. "Um… I think I wanna get out now," she said, one hand fumbling for the door handle. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" he asked her. "I thought you needed a ride." She was shaking like a leaf, seeming unable to work the door. He'd locked it anyway; she couldn't get out unless he wanted her to. "N-no," she shook her head vehemently. "I-I think I can manage on my own…"

Certain of her identity as Dean's daughter now, he pressed on, ignoring her. "You know, there's something else I'm dying to know. What are you doing hitchhiking with strangers instead of off safe with Dean?" He grinned as she stared back at him in terror.

Dean was almost three weeks sober. After Mack disappeared, he had done everything he could to try and find her. But it had been three weeks and there was no sign of his daughter anywhere. He had returned to Lisa and Ben's with his proverbial tail between his legs. His initial reaction after finding out Mack was gone kept replaying in his head, making him feel sick. After everything he did over the years to not turn into his father while raising Mack, he had still turned into him anyway.

That was why he was hesitant to return now. After the way he'd threatened Ben and yelled at Lisa, he wouldn't blame her for throwing him out now. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door and waited. Lisa opened the door a few moments later, dressed in her dressing gown and slippers- it was nearly midnight. "I know I don't deserve it, and I wouldn't blame you for turning me down, but is there any chance you'd let me come back?" he asked pleadingly. "I promise I'll do better. I'll get a job, I'll help out around the house, whatever it takes to prove myself to you."

Lisa didn't answer right away. She just stood there studying him silently and Dean felt like he could sink straight into the ground and die right there and then. And then she held out her hand for him to take. He reached out, latching onto it, and she pulled him inside and shut the door. She led him into the living room and they sat together on the couch where he broke down while she just held him. "I'm sorry, Dean," she told him. "I'm so sorry."