American Noise

25. Jack in the Box

BUNKER

Dean led the eulogy. "We know it wasn't easy for some of you to get here, and we thank you. We, uh -- We gave her a hunter's send-off a few days ago. But we know that her family went beyond just us. Some of you hunted alongside her. Some of you fought Michael with her in the other world. You know, we lost our mom once before. But we got a second chance with her. And we got to know her not just as "Mom," but as someone who was tough and strong. Stubborn as Hell. Someone who had opinions and wasn't shy to use them. She could handle a machete. She could handle a vampire. She could handle our old man. She couldn't cook worth a damn. Mom, you weren't here long enough. But we're so glad for the time that we had. Goodbye, Mom."

"Bye, Mom," Sam said.

"Bye, Mary," Jayci stated softly.

"To Mary," the hunters replied.

Suddenly, a hatchet went sailing into the air, killing a guy instantly and shocking the hunters as Bobby appeared.

As the hunters removed the body, Bobby said, "Make sure I get my hatchet back. Damn wraith. Knew him from a nest your mom and I busted up on our last hunt. Probably here to gloat. The bastard."

"Thanks for coming out," Sam told him.

"A hunter's memorial, complete with monster. Mary would have appreciated that," Castiel noted.

"Now that you mention it, yeah. How are you?" Bobby asked.

"Hey, you know. It's tough," Sam replied.

Jayci nodded. "I got my family to help me."

"And the other one?" Bobby wondered, seeing Dean boxing up Mary's things. "Yeah, Dean seems to be doing okay."

"Hard to say," Sam said.

"Yeah. Maybe he's like me. Bein' teary in public's not my style."

"Hey. Uh, most everybody's headed out, but Bobby's gonna stick around. I thought maybe we could open that scotch Ketch left and hang out, talk about Mom," Sam suggested.

""Talk about Mom"?" Dean repeated.

"Yeah."

"Isn't that what we've been doing?"

Sam, Castiel and Bobby sat in the kitchen drinking beer as Sam looked at an old photo of Mary and the brothers from 1983. Jayci had gone to her room.

"Thanks. Memory lane?" Bobby wondered.

Sam nodded. "Yeah. I mean, Dean couldn't have been but four years old."

"You know, at one time, you boys were good-lookin'."

"Thanks."

"Sam. What exactly happened to her? Because I'm hearin' the kid-"

"Hey," Sam greeted, seeing Dean.

"Hey," Dean answered.

"You need anything?" Castiel asked.

"Yeah, I need a drink."

"Bar's open," Bobby told him.

"Nah, we need to get outta here for a while."

"But, dude, we got to talk about Jack," Sam said.

"About that. I liked the kid. I like his sister. We fought together. But there's only one way this ends," Bobby told them.

"Bobby's right. We have to find Jack and help him," Castiel decided.

"What? That kid -- he killed Mary!"

"I know that."

"Ah-ah. Don't say "but.""