Dean dropped to his knees as he fell through the portal. He was filthy, still covered in the blood and grime of Purgatory. His heart thudded as he spun around. "No, no, no, no, no," he protested. "Cas!" It was too late- the portal had closed. "Cas!" he cried hopelessly. A sharp pain in his left arm reminded him that he had other things to worry about besides the fact that his angel had been left behind in Purgatory. He had to figure out where he was and how to get to Benny's grave. With a shattered heart, he turned away from where the portal had been. He adjusted his grip on his Purgatory blade, moving forward with a deadly calm.

After a few minutes, he stumbled on what appeared to be a campsite. Sure enough, as he made his way through it, he was suddenly blinded by a flashlight. "Oh!" the man holding it cried as he took in Dean's dirty appearance. "Where am I?" Dean asked him. "What?" the man queried. A woman got out of the tent and joined the man. Dean cocked his gun, pointing it at her and the man. "W- hey, hey!" the man protested. "Where's the road?" Dean growled.

"Twelve miles, that way," the man pointed. Keeping his gun pointed at the couple, Dean picked up a backpack from the ground and took off in that direction. Four days of hitchhiking later, Dean reached Clayton, Louisiana. He walked down the road, clutching his left arm to his chest. The closer he got to Benny's family farm, the more restless the vampire became. "Easy, man," Dean muttered. "Nearly there." As night fell, he finally reached a stone pillar with the name 'Lafitte' on it. He paused, reading it, and then walked onto the land.

He found a shovel in the abandoned barn on the farm, and then headed out to the windmill. He started at the base, pacing slowly and deliberately away from it, counting the steps. "This better be you, you son of a bitch," he muttered. The pulsing red and white light beneath the skin of his left arm seemed to pulse and writhe impatiently. Dean began digging, grunting in pain as the vampire continued to move around restlessly in his arm.

After several hours of digging, he threw the shovel down, hoisting himself up to sit at the edge of the grave. "Alright," he panted, getting to his feet. "Hold on, you bastard," he rolled up his sleeve, showing off more of the pulsing red and white light. "Hold on!" He cut his forearm with a knife, letting the light drain out onto the bones in the grave. "Anima corpi… Fuerit corpus… totem resurgent." Dean groaned as the last of the light fell onto the bones, falling back on the ground. "Wow," he hissed. He rolled his sleeve back over his wounded arm, gasping in pain. From behind him in the shadows, Benny walked up, grinning. "Wow. That was fast," Dean acknowledged, holding his injured arm as he got to his feet.

"No thanks to you," Benny smirked. "The hell took you so long?" Dean glared at the vampire. "You're welcome," he told him sarcastically. Benny cracked his neck. "Everything working?" The vampire rolled his shoulders back. "Good enough," he let his vamp teeth descend and retract. "So… what now?" Dean inhaled deeply, "Like we talked about, I guess." Benny nodded. "Then this is goodbye."

"Keep your nose clean, Benny. You hear me?" Benny took a step forward, holding out his hand. Dean took it and shook. "We made it, brother," the vamp grinned. "I can't believe it." He laughed, pulling Dean in for a hug. "You and me both," Dean replied. The vampire released him, thumping him on the back as he headed off into the trees. Dean watched him go, a single tear running down his cheek.

The Impala pulled up outside of Rufus' cabin and Sam climbed out of the driver's seat. It had been over a year and then he suddenly got a message from Dean on the one phone that he kept charged three days earlier telling him to meet Dean at the cabin. He headed inside, barely making it a few steps before he was tackled to the floor by his older brother. Sam sputtered as Dean doused him in holy water. "What the-? I'm not a demon," he said. Borax was next. "Or a Leviathan. What-" Dean grabbed his arm, cutting it with a knife. Sam gasped in pain. "Or a shifter. Good." Dean stood up. "My turn. Come on. Let's go."

He held out the bottles of holy water and Power Clean to Sam. "I don't need to," Sam shook his head. "I know it's you." Dean got angry. "Damn it, Sammy!" He splashed the holy water and Borax over himself, then held the knife out to Sam as the younger Winchester stood up. "Come on!" Sam shook his head again, "No! Dean, can't I just say hello?" Expression grim, Dean rolled his own sleeve up, cutting his arm. "Alright," he bound the wound. "Well, let's do this."

"I don't know whether to give you a hug or take a shower."

Dean laughed, "Come here." He opened his arms and Sam stepped forward, hugging him tightly. "Dude. You're… freakin' alive," Sam stepped back, hands in his hair. "I mean, what the hell happened?" Dean shrugged, "Well, I guess standing too close to exploding Dick sends your ass straight to Purgatory. Where's Mack?" Sam didn't answer the question. "You were in Purgatory? For the whole year?" Dean nodded, "Yeah, time flies when you're running for your life. Seriously, where's Mack?"

"Well, how'd you get out?"

"Sam, where the hell is my daughter?" Dean snapped, raising his voice. "What about Cas? Was he there?" Dean was fuming. "Cas didn't make it," he snarled. "Where. Is. My. Daughter. Sam?" Sam shifted in place, swallowing hard. "What exactly does that mean, 'Cas didn't make it'?"

"You tell me where my daughter is, and maybe I'll tell you more," Dean glared. "L-look, Dean… I… I tried to stop her, okay? But… But she was dead set on it." Dean folded his arms across his chest, waiting for Sam to continue. The younger Winchester shifted in place again, avoiding his gaze. "A-and she's as s-stubborn as you are w-when it comes to things like that, s-so…"

"So what?" Dean hissed when Sam didn't continue right away. "She ran away, Dean, I don't know where she is." Dean's heart stopped in his chest. First he lost Cas at the finish line in Purgatory, now Sam was telling him his daughter was missing? The thought of getting back to Mack, of reuniting with her again, was the main driving force that had compelled him to seek out Cas and get out of Purgatory in the first place. How the hell was he supposed to function without either of them? "So what happened to Cas?" Sam pressed. Dean turned his back on Sam, fighting back tears as he spoke. "Something happened to him down there. Things got pretty hairy towards the end, and he… just let go."

"So Cas is dead? You saw him die?"

"I saw enough," Dean managed to choke out. "So, then what, you're not sure?" Sam asked. "I said I saw enough, Sam," Dean snapped, turning back to face his brother. "Right. Dean, I'm sorry." Sam was giving him his signature puppy dog eyes, which Dean couldn't stand at the moment. He didn't need pity. "Me too," he said. "So, you- I can't believe you're actually here," he took two beers from the refrigerator. "You know half your numbers are out of service? Felt like I was leaving messages in the wind."

He sat down at the table, setting down one of the beers for Sam who remained standing. "Yeah, I- I- I didn't get your messages." Dean took a sip of his beer. "How come?" he demanded. "Probably because I ditched the phones," Sam shrugged. "Because…?" Dean prompted. "I guess, um… something happened to me this year, too. I don't hunt anymore." He smiled tentatively. Dean stared back at him blankly. "Yeah. And Sasha Grey's gone legit." Sam exhaled. "What?"

"Nothing. Um, she did a Soderbergh movie," Sam muttered. "What?" Dean asked. "She did a Soderbergh-" Sam started to repeat. "No. You, Sam. You quit?" Sam nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I- you were gone… Dean. Cas was gone, Bobby was dead… Kinley ran away. I mean, Crowley even shipped off Kevin and Meg to parts unknown."

"So you just turned tail on the family business."

"Nothing says 'family' like the whole family being dead."

"I wasn't dead," Dean stood, walking around Sam. "In fact, I was knee-deep in God's armpit killing monsters, which, I thought, is what we actually do." Sam nodded, "Yes, Dean. And far as I knew, what we do is the very thing that got every single member of my family killed. I had no one- no one. And for the first time in my life, I was completely alone. And, honestly, I- I didn't exactly have a roadmap. So, yeah, I- I fixed up the Impala, and I just… drove."

"You weren't alone," Dean snarled. "You had Mack. Or you should have had Mack. Why the hell would you let her run away?! She was kidnapped six times in the last four years! You had a responsibility to look after her!" Sam returned Dean's glare with one of his own. "I told you, Dean. I tried to stop her. She wouldn't listen to me! As soon as she realized you and Cas were gone, she became dead set on getting answers."

"With you."

Sam didn't say anything. "You didn't let her look for answers alone, did you Sam?" Sam looked away. "You… No, you know what? Good… That's good. You didn't bother looking for me. That's what we always told each other- don't look. Of course, we always ignored that because of our deep, abiding love for each other, but not this time, right, Sammy? This time, you let my daughter run off, AND DO IT HERSELF!" Sam was giving him puppy dog eyes again. "Look, I'm still the same guy, Dean."

"Well, bully for you. I'm not." Dean walked away, slamming the front door behind him. "Welcome back," Sam muttered.

Dean went over to the Impala, rummaging through the glove box and getting out the box containing all the phones Sam had neglected during his year off. He started back toward the cabin, and then paused, looking out into the trees around them. The darkness of the forest here was different from the darkness of the forests of Purgatory. For reasons other than the fact that the forests here weren't infested in nothing but monster souls. Purgatory had felt more pure. Part of him longed to be back there again.

Back with Cas. Back where the rules were simple- kill or be killed. Out here, on Earth, things were so much more complicated. Here he had to deal with a brother who quit for a year and neglected all his other responsibilities. A missing daughter… Once again, Dean felt himself breaking down. It was too much, to go from mourning Cas to mourning Mack as well. He hadn't even really acknowledged her birthday this year, not like when he first arrived in Purgatory. He'd realized when the day had come around, but had been too busy trying to fight his way to the portal with Cas to think about it.

"This is why you needed to make it through, Cas," he said, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I can't do this without you. Not again. I barely made it the last time, and that's only because I had Mack with me. This time…" He trailed off, unable to speak any more because of the grief. He wished he and Benny hadn't agreed to part ways when they got topside. Maybe if he had that one piece of familiarity, something to cling to, it wouldn't hurt so bad. Taking a deep breath, he looked up at the sky, heart aching at the sight of the stars. God, it hurt, but he couldn't go back inside and face Sam until he'd calmed down. He set the box of phones on the porch railing, scrubbing his hands over his face to wipe away the tears.

Taking a few more steadying breaths, he picked up the box and headed inside. He headed straight to the couch, ignoring Sam in the kitchen. "You want some dinner?" Sam asked. "Pass," Dean replied, putting an earphone into his ear. "Okay," Sam muttered, turning back to whatever he was making on the stove. For the next several hours, Dean charged and listened to the different voice messages left on the phones. Most of them didn't matter and he just dismissed them, but then he got to one phone in particular. The longer he listened to the messages the angrier he became, until he finally turned to glare at Sam who was eating dinner at the table. "What?" Sam asked.

Instead of answering, Dean pulled the earphone out, putting the phone on speaker and playing the first message. "Sam Winchester, it's Kevin Tran. Crowley had me at his warehouse, and I just escaped. I don't know where I am. And I don't know if he or- or any other demons are still after me. I need your help. Call me back. It's Kevin Tran." Sam frowned, "When was that?" Dean played the next message. "Sam Winchester. It's Kevin Tran. I called you a week ago. Call me, please. I don't know what the hell I'm doing here, man." Sam put his spoon down. "Okay," he stood up. "I get it. So, what, you want to… strategize or something?"

Dean just played the next message. "Sam, it's Kevin. I'm… Whoo! I'm so good." Sam furrowed his brow, "Is he… drunk?" The message continued, "Three months since you ditched my ass. Haven't slept for more than four hours a night. It's all good in the hood." Kevin cleared his throat. "Uh, if you're still alive, eat me." Dean played the next one. "Eat me!" And the next. "Sam, it's been six months. I can only assume you're dead. If not, don't try and reach me. You won't be able to. I won't be calling this number anymore." Dean stood. "First Mack, then Kevin," he glared at Sam, voice scarily calm. "He was your responsibility, too." He tossed the phone at Sam's chest. "And you couldn't answer the damn phone."

Sam had figured out that Kevin had been heading to Centreville, Michigan when he left the last voicemail, so he and Dean were headed there to talk to his old girlfriend and see if they could pick up the trail. They made a pit stop at the Palm Motel on the way. Dean nearly had another mental breakdown by the vending machine while Sam took their stuff to their room because two little boys ran by playing with toy guns and made him remember Purgatory. Taking deep breaths in through his nose and out through his mouth so he wouldn't hyperventilate, he made his way back to the room quickly.

He sat on the edge of one of the beds, rubbing his hands together to prevent them from shaking as he continued to breathe. Sam came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, leaning against the doorframe. "You okay?" he asked. Dean glanced up at him nervously. "Yeah. Yeah, hey, what do you say we blow this joint, hit the road?"

"Now?"

"Yeah, Kevin's not getting any more found," Dean pointed out. "The kid survived a year without us. He'll be okay for another twelve hours. Besides, when's the last time you slept?" Before Purgatory. Dean kept forgetting not sleeping or eating was a Purgatory thing, not an Earth thing. He had to take care of his basic human needs now. "Hmm," he hummed. "What?" Sam questioned. "Nothing. Is that, uh, that how you rationalized taking a year off? People will be okay?"

"People were okay, Dean. You're okay." No, he wasn't. He just refused to break down in front of Sam. He was barely holding it together. "Wow," he scoffed. "Look, I did what we promised to do. I moved on. I lived my life." Dean rolled his eyes. "Yeah, no, I'm getting that." Sam tried to defend himself. "Look, it wasn't like I was… just oblivious. I mean, I read the paper every day. I saw the weird stories," he sat on the other bed facing Dean, "the kind of stuff we used to chase."

"And you said, what? 'Not my problem'?"

"Yes. And you know what? The world went on," Sam replied. "People died, Sam," Dean glared. "People always die, Dean. Or maybe another hunter took care of it. I don't know, the point is, for the first time, I realized it wasn't only up to me to stop it." Dean was fuming. "Hmm. So what was it, hmm? What could possibly make you stop just like that? A girl? Was there a girl?"

"The girl had nothing to do with it."

"There was a girl."

"Yeah. There was. And then there wasn't. Any more questions?" Dean moved so he was sitting on the floor at the end of the bed with his back to Sam. His brother hadn't just abandoned all his responsibilities. He'd abandoned all his responsibilities for some girl. And now he had the audacity to try and explain himself. "Look, I know this is gonna sound crazy to you. I don't even necessarily need you to understand. But… you need to know. I didn't just drop out, Dean. I found something. Something I've… never had in all my life."

"Yeah, what was her name?" Dean asked bitterly. "Amelia," Sam replied. "So, what, you, uh, you dropped your peanut butter in her chocolate? How'd it happen?" There was a beat of silence. "I hit a dog." Dean whirled around, pointing a finger at his brother. "I knew I smelled dog," he accused. "And I knew you'd throw a bitch fit," Sam shot back. "Hey, the rules are simple, Sam. You don't take a joint from a guy named Don, and there's no dogs in the car!" Sam rolled his eyes. "Alright, what about you?" Dean blinked. "What about me?" Sam gave him a pointed look.

"Look at you. You still got that look. You're shaky. You're on edge. What was it like?" Dean swallowed, averting his gaze. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Sam pressed gently. "Try me." Dean's eyes darted across the wall of the motel room as he thought about his time in Purgatory. "It was bloody. Messy. Thirty-one flavors of bottom-dwelling nasties. Hell, most days felt like three hundred sixty degree combat. But there was something about being there. It felt pure."

After interviewing Kevin's former girlfriend and learning he hadn't been to see her, Sam and Dean split up to interview students on campus to see if they had spotted Kevin. Sam was sitting at one of the outdoor tables with his laptop, lost in thought. He was startled out of it when Dean took a seat across from him. "Don't judge me. I got bupkis," he announced. "Well…" Sam started. A waitress came out, placing a plate with a giant burger on it in front of Sam. "And here you go," she told him. "Ah, thank you." As she walked away, Sam slid the plate toward Dean and refocused on his laptop. "Sweet mother of God. It's for me? Seriously?" Dean grinned.

"Check this out. So, I went through the campus security archives around the time Kevin should have been here," Dean took a bite of the burger. "Anyone look familiar?" Sam turned the laptop toward Dean, who was chewing with his eyes closed. The laptop showed footage of Kevin wearing a baseball cap. "Dude, it's a burger," Sam said. Dean opened his eyes. "It's a treasure," he said. "Alright, so, what, Kevin comes all the way to campus and doesn't see his girlfriend?" Sam shrugged, "I don't know… but I went to the computer lab and found the computer he was on."

"And?"

"And I found the website he was visiting, found his account username, hacked in the website, found when else the username was logged in, and then I reverse-tracked the IP address back to the original user, Kevin, who has apparently been using the same wireless router for the past two months." Dean stared at him blankly. "That is spectacular work," he deadpanned. "Any chance I can get that in English?" Sam nodded, "Yeah. I think he's in Iowa- at a coffee shop." He showed Dean a map on the laptop.

Sam and Dean were in Fairfield, Iowa at the last known location for Kevin. "A church?" Dean questioned. "You sure this is right?" Sam nodded, "Barista at the coffee shop swears he's seen Kevin ducking in here the past few months." He tried the door, then knocked. "Kevin. It's Sam and Dean Winchester. Open up." There was no answer and he shook his head at Dean, who began to pick the lock. Upon entry, they were both sprayed with Borax by Kevin from a large water gun. "Stop! Stop! Not Leviathans! It's us!" Dean yelled. "What the hell happened to you guys?" Kevin demanded. "Cliff notes? I went to Purgatory. Sam hit a dog."

"For real?" Kevin asked as Dean wiped his face with his sleeve. "You want some towels?" He led the Winchesters further into the church, symbols painted on the floor. "Who taught you all this?" Dean eyed the symbols. "I guess… God," Kevin shrugged. "God taught you how to trap demons?" Sam gaped. "Technically, yeah." Sam held up a hand, "Wait, wait, hold on. Crowley kidnapped you. I saw that. But then you left a message saying you escaped. How?"

"Well, first he took me to a warehouse. There was a tablet, like the last one," Kevin began. "Wait, there's another tablet?" Dean questioned. "So another Word of God?" Kevin nodded, "Yes."

"How many Words of God are there?"

"I just became a Prophet, like, a year ago," Kevin rolled his eyes. "Well, did this tablet have a name?" Sam asked. "'Demons'," Kevin replied. "What about demons?" Dean raised his eyebrows. "As far as I could tell… everything." Kevin went on to explain that as he was reading the tablet, he saw something about Hell gates and how to open them. He tricked Crowley, saying that he was working on the spell to open the one in Wisconsin, but he was really reading up on a different section of the tablet- how to destroy demons. "You son of a bitch," Dean grinned. "Wait. Kevin? Where's the tablet now?" Sam asked. "Safe."

"Safe where?" he pressed. "Hey. As long as it's safe, okay?" Dean glared over at his brother, then turned back to Kevin. "Were you able to read anything else off the tablet before you stashed it?" Kevin shrugged nonchalantly, "Only the stuff about closing the gates of Hell. Forever." Sam and Dean gaped at him. "Come again?" Dean asked. "Banish all demons off the face of the Earth, lock them away forever," Kevin continued, smirking a little. "That could be important, yeah?" Sam and Dean exchanged a look. "Closing the gates of Hell forever," Dean echoed. "Yeah. Yeah, that could be important."

The Winchesters exited the church to talk privately. "This kid is sitting on a bombshell," Dean shook his head. "Hell, he is the bombshell." Sam looked away. "What?" Sam looked back at him. "That. I mean, there's no way Kevin's getting out of this intact, is there?" Dean shrugged, "Well, he's doing pretty well for himself so far." Sam huffed, "Yeah, he got out."

"And now he's in it… whether he likes it or not."

"So… free will, that's only for you?"

"I can't believe what I'm hearing. Sam, we have an opportunity to wipe the slate clean. We take Kevin to the tablet, he tells us the spell, we send every demon back to Hell- forever. Every single bastard that destroyed our lives, killed our mother, killed Jess. And you're not sure?"

"It's not that simple, Dean," Sam argued. "How is it not that simple?" Dean snapped. "It's just not!" Dean shook his head. "This is about that girl again, isn't it? Did you even want to meet back up, Sam?" Sam scoffed, "Of course I did, Dean. I told you, I broke things off with Amelia." Dean rolled his eyes, "Right. Sure. You know what? You can deal with this Kevin thing yourself. I'm gonna go find my daughter you lost."

"Dean, wait."

Dean ignored him, heading to the Impala and driving off.