Did I plan for this to become a complete AU but with a lot of the characters? No.

Is that what this story is now becoming? Yes.

My bad. You've been warned.

On with the show!

Mary ran across the parking lot quickly in the pouring rain. A car pulled up alongside the curb. Balancing a tray of coffee cups, she opened the passenger door and climbed inside.

"You got enough coffee there?" the driver asked her.

Mary chuckled. "You making jokes today Bobby?"

Bobby shrugged, pulling away from the coffee shop. "When I feel like it."

"I told the boys I'd bring them something back," Mary explained. "They think I met up with a girlfriend for breakfast."

"A girlfriend, huh? Like who? Ellen?" Bobby teased. Mary rolled her eyes. Bobby chuckled as he pulled into a parking spot next to Mary's car. "You must like having Sam back home, don't you?"

Mary smiled. "I really do. I just wish it was under different circumstances."

Bobby shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Speaking of..."

"I'm telling you, M, there's no connection."

"There has to be!"

"I've looked over all the evidence available. There are no signs of demonic anything."

Mary scoffed. "Are there any similarities between that and Sam's nursery fire?" she asked. Bobby shook his head. Mary groaned in annoyance. "None of this makes sense."

Bobby leaned across the center console. "Mary, you know I'm sorry that Sam had to lose his girl like this. There are some sick sons of bitches out there and maybe they just happened to cross paths. I know you want answers to help with his pain, but maybe we should just leave law enforcement to deal with it."

Mary sighed. "Check again."

"Mary-"

"Check again!"

"This thing hasn't appeared since that night Sam was a baby," Bobby tried to reason. "Why would it suddenly come back now? After 22 years?"

Mary started to tear up and she quickly wiped her face. "I just don't know how I could live with myself if I'm the reason bad things keep happening in Sammy's life."

Bobby sighed sympathetically and handed Mary his pocket hanky. "I'll check again."

Mary smiled genuinely. "Thank you, Bobby."

Bobby nodded gruffly. He watched as Mary got out of his car, into her own, and drove out of the parking lot.

"The things I do for this damn family," he muttered, driving off in the opposite direction. "Good thing I moved out here in the first place."

Mary walked in through the front door, coffees in hand, to find her youngest son lying on the couch, still in his pajamas. "You're not going to work today?" she asked while frowning.

"No," Sam pouted. "Dean won't let me."

"Why not?" Mary set the coffees on the end table and crouched down next to him.

"I fell asleep at work yesterday," Sam shamefully admitted. His face turned pink. "There's a couch in the breakroom where we eat for lunch. Apparently, Dean told the guys to just leave me there and now he won't let me go in today because he doesn't think I'm sleeping."

"Well, are you sleeping?" Mary examined her son. He did not look like he was doing well. Sam's eyes were bloodshot and he was acting like he could barely keep them open. His skin looked pale and his breathing sounded shallow.

"I'm sleeping fine!" Sam reached behind him and grabbed a coffee. "He's the one being all paranoid and shit."

"Yeah, maybe you shouldn't be drinking this," Mary said, taking the coffee back. "Why don't you go back to bed for a bit?"

"Mom, noooooo!"

That's it. "Samuel James Winchester, I know you are behaving this way because you are tired. Go to bed and I will come to check on you later."

Sam jumped off the couch and proceeded to stomp upstairs, like a child that had just been scolded. It's been years since he got the Mom Voice. She mostly saved it for Dean.

Mary sighed, listening as her son went upstairs, slamming the bedroom door behind him.

"Leaving town, huh?" Dean asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I gotta go see my sister," Bobby lied on the phone, trying to come up with some explanation. "Family emergency."

Dean's bullshit radar started going off. "You don't have a sister," he accused.

"You don't know that! I'll be back in a few days."

Give the old man a break, Dean. He deserves some time off anyway. "Fine. Maybe while you're gone, I'll teach Sam how to use your socket wrench."

"Boy, I will shove that same socket wrench up your ass if you touch it."

Dean smirked. He loved it when they poked fun at each other. "Have fun with your sister, Bobby. I hope for her sake she's just like you."

Dean hung up his cell. No Sam, no Bobby. Today was going to be hell in the auto shop.

Sam woke up to someone opening his bedroom door. He quickly glanced at the alarm clock and realized it was 11am; much later than Sam would sleep in on a normal day.

"Hey champ," John said, coming into the room. "Mom sent me up here to check on you. She said you weren't feeling well again?"

Sam nodded into his pillow, closing his eyes again.

John's instincts kicked in. He rested his hand on Sam's forehead before retreating into the bathroom. Sam could hear him rummaging through drawers and cabinets. "Mary!" he also heard John call, followed by footsteps coming up the stairs.

Sam swore he fell asleep for a minute, because the next thing he knew, something was getting gently shoved into his mouth, followed by someone brushing his hair out of his face.

Mary hummed, removing a thermometer from Sam's mouth. "101.3," she read out loud. "I knew it."

John sighed. "I'll make a supply run. Been a while since we had anyone sick here."

Sam felt like crying. He hated being sick. The last time he was sick, he and Jess had matching food poisoning from a new take-out restaurant. Jess was over it after a few hours, but Sam was down for almost three days. It was embarrassing with his girlfriend tending to him and it felt equally embarrassing now with his parents. He was an adult now who had been on his own for almost four years; he didn't need to be babied now that he was home.

On the other hand, it felt nice when his mom pulled his blankets up over his shoulders and when his dad got a humidifier down from the hall closet and set it up in his room. He fell asleep to the sounds of his parents whispering as they went through the bathroom making a supply list.

Okay, maybe this won't be so bad.

Dean had never felt more relieved to flip around the "open" sign hanging on the door. Today felt like one of their busiest days ever.

Finally feeling a migraine coming on, Dean dug around the drawers behind the counter for the emergency pain medication. He heard the bell on the front door ring. "We're closed!" he yelled out, but there was no response. No voice or any indication that a customer had heard him. Irritated, he yelled out again: "I said we're closed!"

Dean prepared himself for a fight. Head throbbing, he stood back up and turned to face the door, seeing a familiar blonde standing in the middle of the shop. "Jo?" he called, jaw dropped from shock.

The girl smiled and rocked back on her heels. "Hey Winchester."

coffeeaddict13