Don't own Supernatural

The car was quiet as John drove down the highway. Sam was sitting in the passenger seat with Dean in the back. Dean hadn't looked at his father for the past couple of days. Jo had wanted to go on a case and Ellen refused to let her. The Winchesters took it only to find Jo having joined them as well. John wouldn't have it and went to take her back while his sons handled the hunt. The two got into a shouting match and that's when John let something slip.

"I'm already responsible for your father. I don't want to be responsible for you!"

After that John confessed to being her father's partner on his last hunt. John made a mistake which cost Jo's father his life. Jo stormed off after that. Dean barely spoke with him since, leaving Sam to be the middleman for once.

They were on their way to Baltimore. Sam spotted a murder in the papers which reports no evidence behind. Even the surveillance tapes came up blank. Was worth looking into.

They went with the insurance gig when approaching Karen. She told them about a supposed nightmare where her husband saw a pale woman with dark red eyes standing at the foot of their bed. But she vanished after he blinked.

"And that was the only time he had that nightmare?" John asked.

"That I'm aware of, yes," She answered. They thanked her for her time and left the building.

Sam nudged his father on the shoulder. "Hey, what are you thinking Dad?"

John ran his hand over his mouth. "I'm not sure yet. If it was a vengeful spirit it would have appeared before him multiple times to tourture him or would have killed him the other night before his wife woke up. Or killed both of them at the same time."

"Maybe the spirit didn't go crazy enough to go for both," Dean growled.

John rolled his eyes. "Alright then, what do you suggest?"

"Let's double check the scene of the crime," Dean suggested and they headed over to Tony's office.

It was late at night. Sam picked the lock and the three Winchesters ducked under the police tape, entering the office. There was a pool of blood left from where Tony's body was. According to the report Sam had, Tony's throat was slit so deep some of the spinal cord was showing. Dean finds a sheet of paper that the cops seem to have left. Written all over it was the word "danashups".

"A name," Sam suggested.

"Maybe a place," John figured.

"Well one thing I do know is that this word is everywhere," Dean pointed out gesturing to the glass table that appeared to be smudged. Sam breathed on it and in the fog Danashups appeared again.

"Well I'd say we've officially crossed over into weird," Sam said.

"Alright, Sam, you go through Tony's computer. Dean, you and I will go through physical records," John ordered. Both of his sons nodded and they got to work.

Two hours later they came up with nothing. Sam said he needed another half an hour to crack Tony's password so Dean went to talk with Karen again while John double checked the files. Another hour and still no results so the two went back to the hotel to call it a night. Only to find the police waiting for them.

Karen was dead. Dean had found her just seconds before the police did so now all three of them are under arrest. Thankfully they already had worked on a cover story in advance just in case. John learned that Tony was in the military around the same time he was, so when the detective questioned him and Sam, Officer Ballard, he said that they were old military friends knowing that his sons have rehearsed the same story.

Despite that though, the officers questioning them were still suspicious. What the police do have on John's record does not paint him in a good light. Dean was even worse off as, according to Officer Ballard, Dean was accused of murdering several women in St. Louis and was officially declared dead. John had no idea what that was about.

After the questioning, Ballard left him to his own devices. Either to question his sons or just to rile him up, he wasn't sure which. Left alone to his thoughts he started to ponder about Dana Shulps. The thought occurred to him that the message must be coming from the spirit. Meaning it wasn't coming out right. The police had left him with a pen and paper so he started going through various combinations. Nothing was popping out at him though.

The door opened and a man in a suit entered. "Mr. Winchester. I'm Jeffery Kraus. I'm your oldest son's lawyer." He handed John a sheet of paper. "Your son wanted me to give you this." John took it. It read:

Hilts-

It's a street

Ashland

-McQueen

"Got it thanks," John muttered to the lawyer.

"Anything else you need?" Kraus tried to continue when the door opened again revealing Ballard. Apparently they needed him for Dean. John knew this was his chance for escape and quickly went out the window, inching across the ledge until he reached the fire escape where he reunited with Sam. Together, they went back to the motel. Along the way John asked. "Hey who the hell are Hilts and McQueen?"

"What, you've never seen The Great Escape Dad?" Sam asked with a smile. John shook his head. He really needed to learn his son's codes at some point.

John hacked into the system to get a look at Karen's autopsy record while Sam looked up everyone who had died or went missing in Ashland Street. Eventually John couldn't help but ask. "Hey Sam, how long do you think Dean is going to be mad at me?"

Sam gave a sigh. "I don't honestly know Dad. To be honest I've never really seen Dean mad at you before."

John ran a hand through his hair. "I really screwed up on that last case."

"No you didn't," Sam assured. "Dean and I handled it just fine. And you did the right thing by driving Jo home. If not for herself then for her mom's piece of mind. Look, I don't know what happened between you and her dad, but I do know that you've learned from that. You're not the same man you were back then."

"You really think so?" John asked.

Sam huffed out a laugh. "I mean, how long has it been since we had an argument now?" John smiled. The whole clown thing notwithstanding, Sam and John have started to grow closer since the car accident.

The two were startled by a knock on the door. John went and opened it with one hand on his gun. It was Officer Ballard. But instead of pointing her own gun at them she just showed them her bruised wrists. Which matched the ones on the last two victims.

Officer Ballard is now a target.