The screen showed a young woman was sitting on the floor of her home, unpacking boxes. She came across a photo of herself and her husband at their wedding. She began to cry just as her daughter came into the room.
"Well that's an upsetting way to start an episode," Jody said.
"Mommy?" The girl asked.
The mom looked up. "Hey, sweetie. Why aren't you in bed?"
"There's something in my closet."
In the girl's bedroom, the mom opened the closet doors and looked inside as the girl watched from her bed.
"Wait, that room looks familiar," Dean muttered before he realized. He turned to Sam to find the same shocked look staring back at him.
"Goddammit, why this case?" Sam whispered as he turned back to the screen, resting his face in his hands.
Dean sunk lower into the couch, Cas squeezing his hand beside him. That was something he loved his boyfriend for. Cas knew when Dean needed a lot of affection, and when he was too scared to accept it. Dean wanted Cas to take him in his arms and comfort him, but he also didn't. Part of him thought it was because John was there and he was tired of being judged for loving Cas. Actually, all of him thought that. He was too tired to stand up for himself, so he just suffered.
"See? There's nothing there."
"You sure?"
"I'm sure. Now, come on. Get into bed."
The girl crawled into bed and her mom tucked her in. "I don't like this house."
"You're just not used to it yet. But you and your brother and me –- we are going to be very happy here. I promise." She kissed her daughter on her forehead. "I love you." She turned off the light and got up to leave the room.
"The chair," the girl called out.
"Okay." She moved a chair under the doorknob of the closet. "The chair. Just to be safe." The girl lied down and went to bed.
Jenny left. And after returning to the living room, she continued unpacking boxes. She stopped when she heard the sound of scratching coming from the basement. "Please, God, don't let it be rats."
"I have a feeling it's not rats," Bobby muttered.
A few moments later, she went downstairs into the basement with a flashlight. She tried turning on a light, but the switches didn't work. "Terrific."
The scene returned to the girl's bedroom. The chair began moving on its own, away from the closet doors. She sat up in her bed, wide-eyed and afraid.
Mary suddenly seemed more interested in this episode.
Back in the basement, the mom kept looking around. On the floor, she saw a large black trunk. She kneeled down and opened it, pulling out old photos of the Winchester family. Written on the back of a picture were the words, "The Winchesters. John, Mary, Dean, and Little Sammy." She smiled.
"I remember that picture. We took that a few days ago," Mary said. She turned to look at her boys and saw the sad looks on their faces. "Well, for me at least." Clearly, it had been a lot longer. And a lot had changed in that time.
In the girl's bedroom, the closet doors opened by themselves. Standing in the closet was what looked like a person, but it was entirely made out of fire. The girl screamed, and the screen went black.
"What the hell was that?" Kevin asked, his eyes wide in confusion and a tad bit of fear.
The screen faded in to show a motel at night. While Sam was sleeping, he began dreaming of the mom from earlier. She was inside her bedroom, screaming for help. Sam woke up, confused.
"What was that?" Mary asked.
It was then that people realized just how much Mary didn't know. While Dean, John, and Bobby had been the only ones there during Sam's vision arc, the others had at least been told at one point or another. Mary's been dead since the beginning; she had no clue what was going on.
The next morning, while Dean was on the computer, Sam was drawing a picture of a tree.
"All right. I've been cruisin' some websites. I think I found a few candidates for our next gig. A fishing trawler found off the coast of Cali –- its crew vanished. And, uh, we got some cattle mutilations in West Texas."
No response.
"Hey," Dean called and Sam looked up from his drawing. "Am I boring you with this hunting evil stuff?"
"No. I'm listening. Keep going."
"And, here, a Sacramento man shot himself in the head. Three times."
"How does someone manage to shoot themselves three times in the head?" Charlie asked.
"I mean, if you only hit the sides of your head and in rapid succession, I guess it's plausible. It'd hurt like hell, though," Kevin explained.
"I don't want to know how you know that," Claire said after a moment.
Dean waved his hand in front of Sam's face. "Any of these things blowin' up your skirt, pal?"
"Wait. I've seen this," Sam said, looking at the picture he was drawing.
"Seen what?"
Sam got up from the bed and went searching through his duffel bag.
"What are you doing?" Dean asked.
Sam found a photo of their family from when he was a baby. He compared the tree in the photo to his drawing. They were the same. "Dean, I know where we have to go next."
"Where?"
"Back home –- back to Kansas."
"Okay, random. Where'd that come from?"
He showed the picture to Dean. "All right, um, this photo was taken in front of our old house, right? The house where Mom died?"
"Yeah."
"And it didn't burn down, right? I mean, not completely, they rebuilt it, right?"
"I guess so, yeah. What the hell are you talkin' about?" Dean asked, having no clue where that was going.
"Okay, look, this is gonna sound crazy but....the people who live in our old house –- I think they might be in danger."
"Why would you think that?"
"Uh...it's just, um....look, just trust me on this, okay?" He started to walk away, and Dean followed him.
"Wait, whoa, whoa, trust you?"
"Yeah."
"Come on, man, that's weak. You gotta give me a little bit more than that."
"I can't really explain it is all."
"Well, tough. I'm not goin' anywhere until you do." Sam sighed. Dean waited expectantly.
"I have these nightmares," Sam started.
Dean nodded, "I've noticed."
"And sometimes....they come true."
Dean was stunned "Come again?"
"It's weird seeing Dean not knowing about Sam's visions. He's known about them as long as I've known him," Jody said.
"Look, Dean....I dreamt about Jessica's death –- for days before it happened."
"Sam, people have weird dreams, man. I'm sure it's just a coincidence." He sat down on the bed.
"How often do coincidences happen in our profession?" Cas asked, already knowing the answer.
Dean sighed. "Absolutely never."
"That's just the Winchester luck," Sam said.
"No, I dreamt about the blood dripping, her on the ceiling, the fire, everything, and I didn't do anything about it 'cause I didn't believe it. And now I'm dreaming about that tree, about our house, and about some woman inside screaming for help. I mean, that's where it all started, man, this has to mean something, right?"
"I don't know," Dean said, looking a tad overwhelmed.
Sam sat down across from Dean. "What do you mean you don't know, Dean? This woman might be in danger. I mean, this might even be the thing that killed Mom and Jessica!"
"All right, just slow down, would ya?" He stood up and began pacing. "I mean, first you tell me that you've got the Shining? And then you tell me that I've gotta go back home? Especially when...."
"When what?"
"When I swore to myself that I would never go back there?" Dean practically whispered.
Dean clenched his jaw. He knew this was coming, but he still didn't like seeing it. His Dad had already seen him break down one too many times yesterday, and he didn't want to add any more to it.
Cas adjusted his arm around Dean's shoulders and as much as he wanted to, Dean didn't fight it when Cas pulled him so he laid his head on the angel's shoulder.
"Look, Dean, we have to check this out. Just to make sure," Sam said.
"I know we do."
Sam and Dean pulled up outside the old Winchester house.
"You gonna be alright, man?" Sam asked.
"Let me get back to you on that." They get out of the car. After knocking on the front door, the woman from earlier answered it. Sam was shocked that she was the same woman from his dream.
"Yes?"
"Sorry to bother you, ma'am, but we're with the Federal—" Dean started.
"Again with it being way too easy to lie," Claire mumbled.
Jody leaned over and nudged her to get her attention, then shook her head. Don't say that.
"I'm Sam Winchester, and this is my brother, Dean. We used to live here. You know, we were just drivin' by, and we were wondering if we could come see the old place," Sam cut him off.
"Winchester. Yeah, that's so funny. You know, I think I found some of your photos the other night," the lady said.
"You did?" Dean asked.
She nodded and stepped aside. "Come on in."
With a quick look at Dean from Sam, they followed her inside.
Inside the house, the three of them went to the kitchen. The little girl was at the table doing homework while a little boy, a toddler, was in his playpen.
"Juice! Juice! Juice! Juice!" The little boy cried.
"That's Ritchie. He's kind of a juice junkie," she said as she took a sippy cup out of the refrigerator and handed it to Ritchie. "But, hey, at least he won't get scurvy." She walked over to the little girl. "Sari, this is Sam and Dean. They used to live here."
"Hi," Sari said.
Dean waved.
"Hey, Sari," Sam said.
"So, you just moved in?" Dean asked the woman.
"Yeah, from Wichita," she answered.
"You got family here, or....?"
"No. I just, uh....needed a fresh start, that's all. So, new town, new job –- I mean, as soon as I find one. New house."
"So, how you likin' it so far?" Sam asked.
"Well, uh, all due respect to your childhood home –- I mean, I'm sure you had lots of happy memories here." Dean smiled weakly. "But this place has its issues."
"That place has had issues since I was born," Dean muttered.
Sam looked over and instead of doing an obvious show of support, knowing Dean would reject it, he turned his body on the couch so he was resting against the armrest and threw his gargantuan legs over both Cas and Dean's laps.
Dean sat up in shock and looked at his brother. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
Sam smiled when he saw Cas smiling back, knowing he'd done good. "What? I need to stretch and I don't want to get up."
Charlie looked over and noticed the cuddle pile, so she got up and moved to sit on the floor, leaning back against Dean's legs. She looked up and smiled when she saw his bewildered face. "What? I thought we were doing a cuddle pile."
"Well, if that's the case..." Claire got up and moved Sam's legs a bit, depositing herself in Cas's lap, curling up in a ball, and resting her head against his shoulder.
Kevin smiled and did the same thing as Claire, only in Sam's lap. He laid against the expanse of Sam's body and Sam wrapped his arms around the teen to keep him from falling.
Dean had to fight a smile at seeing his family all tangled together to make him feel better. Their group had been incredibly busy, and one of them had been dead, so they hadn't had a chance to just relax. Looking over, it was adorable to see both Sam and Cas holding on to the kids like they were the most precious things in the world. He looked back to see Jody smiling at Claire and Cas while Bobby was smiling back at him.
"You want to join in on this, too?"
Jody lightly shook her head. "Nah, you've got your hands full enough."
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"Well, it's just getting old. Like the wiring, you know? We've got flickering lights almost hourly," the lady explained.
"Oh, that's too bad. What else?" Dean asked.
"Um...sink's backed up, there's rats in the basement." She paused. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to complain."
"No. Have you seen the rats or have you just heard scratching?" Dean asked.
"It's just the scratching, actually."
No one said anything, for they all knew what resided in the house, having heard the story from the boys before. Well, everyone except Mary.
"Mom?" Sari asked and the lady kneeled down next to her. "Ask them if it was here when they lived here."
"What, Sari?" Sam asked.
"The thing in my closet," she said.
"Oh, no, baby, there was nothing in their closets." She turned to look at Sam and Dean. "Right?"
"Right. No, no, of course not," Sam hurriedly said.
"She had a nightmare the other night," the lady explained.
"I wasn't dreaming. It came into my bedroom –- and it was on fire."
Sam and Dean were shocked.
"That poor kid. To see something like that so young,"
Later, Dean and Sam were walking back to the car.
"You hear that? A figure on fire," Sam said.
"And that woman, Jenny, that was the woman in your dreams?"
"Yeah. And you hear what she was talking about? Scratching, flickering lights, both signs of a malevolent spirit."
"Yeah, well, I'm just freaked out that your weirdo visions are comin' true."
"I think we all were when we first heard about it," Jody said.
"Well, forget about that for a minute," Sam said panicked. "The thing in the house, do you think it's the thing that killed Mom and Jessica?"
"I don't know!" Dean yelled.
"Well, I mean, has it come back, or has it been here the whole time?"
"Or maybe it's something else entirely, Sam, we don't know yet."
"Well, those people are in danger, Dean. We have to get 'em out of that house."
"And we will."
"No, I mean now."
"And how you gonna do that, huh? You got a story that she's gonna believe?"
"You boys gotta think with your heads. You're complete strangers to her. She's not gonna want to leave with no evidence, especially if you come with one of those craptastic stories you usually do," Bobby said.
"Yeah, yeah, we know that now," Sam agreed.
"Then what are we supposed to do?"
The boys head to the nearest gas station.
"We just gotta chill out, that's all. You know, if this was any other kind of job, what would we do?"
Sam sighed. "We'd try to figure out what we were dealin' with. We'd dig into the history of the house."
"Exactly, except this time, we already know what happened."
"Yeah, but how much do we know? I mean, how much do you actually remember?"
"About that night, you mean?"
"Yeah."
"Not much. I remember the fire...the heat." He paused for a moment. "And then I carried you out the front door."
"You did?"
"Yeah, what, you never knew that?"
Sam shook his head. "No."
"Yeah, Dad was too obsessed with drinking and hunting and you were just a traumatized 4-year-old trying to raise a 6-month-old by yourself to ever tell me about that night. Even when you were older you couldn't bear to talk about it. Not that I blame you. I can barely talk about Jess even after a decade," Sam explained.
Dean pursed his lips and clapped his brother on the knee, the only part of him he could reach.
John on the other hand glared at his sons. How dare they call him obsessed with drinking. Sure, he'd have a beer or two a night, but that was to take the edge off. And he helped raise Sam, it's not like he abandoned the boys.
Bobby glanced at the hunter, noting the angry squint of his eyes and the retraction of his lips, showing an ugly snarl. He then glanced over at his boys, smiling at the happiness in both their eyes and the small smiles adorning all their faces.
Bobby was happy his boys had found a family outside him and each other. They both had an angel, a little sister, friends, and kids. He was hoping that having John there, even temporarily, wouldn't set them back. All of them had made incredible progress mentally and they didn't deserve to suffer again. Dean was finally starting to learn how much he meant to his family and lean away from his depressive and suicidal tendencies as well as learning to deal with his ADHD, depression, and other mental illnesses. Sam was also getting over his depression as well as his PTSD. Both of their nightmares were starting to wane and they were learning to open up to their feelings.
And he couldn't forget Cas. Though the angel wouldn't get set back by John's presence, Dean's setbacks would affect him, too. The angel was also getting over his PTSD and learning to trust himself and his judgment even nearly 3 years after Naomi brainwashed him as well as dealing with the depression he'd dealt with before even meeting the Winchesters. The kids' presence definitely helped on the bad days, but it was their own motivation that helped further them.
John better not fuck his boys up, not when they were doing so well.
"And, well, you know Dad's story as well as I do. Mom was....was on the ceiling. And whatever put her there was long gone by the time Dad found her."
"And he never had a theory about what did it?"
"If he did, he kept it to himself. God knows we asked him enough times."
"Okay. So, if we're gonna figure out what's goin' on now...we have to figure out what happened back then. And see if it's the same thing."
"Yeah. We'll talk to Dad's friends, neighbors, people who were there at the time."
Sam paused for a moment. "Does this feel like just another job to you?" Dean said nothing for a moment. "I'll be right back. I gotta go to the bathroom." He walked away. After turning a corner, he stood next to the bathroom door and took out his cell phone. After making sure no one could see him, he dialed a number.
"Wait, you never told me about this," Sam said, looking to his brother.
Dean just shrugged and gripped Cas's hand under Claire and Sam's legs.
"This is John Winchester. If this is an emergency, call my son, Dean at 866-907-3235." The beep sounded.
"Dad? I know I've left you messages before. I don't even know if you'll get 'em." He cleared his throat. "But I'm with Sam. And we're in Lawrence. And there's somethin' in our old house. I don't know if it's the thing that killed Mom or not, but...." His voice broke. He paused, barely keeping himself together. "...I don't know what to do." He began to cry. "So, whatever you're doin', if you could get here. Please. I need your help, Dad." He hung up sadly, with tears in his eyes.
"Are you really crying over the fact that I didn't answer your call? I was busy hunting for the thing that killed your mother, something you couldn't be bothered to do," John ground out toward the eldest.
Dean ground his teeth and ignored him. He wasn't going to give in and give John what he wanted. Instead, he kept his eyes on the screen. He looked over at his boyfriend and startled a bit when he saw the murderous rage on Cas and Claire's faces. He turned to look at the other three on the couch and was confused to see the same look on their faces.
"You're not even gonna answer me?" He huffed out a breath. "I knew I was gonna have to train you all over again. Couldn't even-"
"That's it!" Sam yelled, wrapping his arms tighter around Kevin as he threw his legs over the couch, making sure not to kick Charlie in the head. Once he was standing, he set Kevin on his feet and stalked toward John, grabbed him by the collar, yanked him to his feet, and slammed him into the nearest wall.
"You don't get to come back and expect us to be your fucking soldiers anymore, ok? We've moved on, we've grown. Dean was fucking hurt when you didn't show up, ok? We both were. That was personal for both of us, and you weren't there. And Dean trusted you. He trusted you more than he should've."
"Don't you talk-" John tried.
Sam slammed him against the wall again and slid him up it a little until John's feet no longer touched the floor. "No, it's my turn, you're done talking," Sam growled. "Dean has been your soldier since he was a child, and he just started getting over that a couple of years ago. If you start trying to mess with him again, you're gonna have a lot more firepower than just me coming after your ass."
After a moment, Sam finally let him go and John fell on his ass. Sam turned to walk back to his seat, but paused and looked back. "Just so you know, we wanted to look for what killed Mom, it's what we were raised to do. You're the one that sent us on those hunts." He turned back and headed toward the couch. Kevin was still standing where Sam put him, shock written on his face. Sam picked him and sat on the couch, pressing himself into the spot between the cushion and the armrest, and placed Kevin in his lap. The boy curled up in his lap and Sam wrapped his arms around him. He looked up when he felt a hand on his shin to see Dean looking at him with a sad look in his eyes.
He always did hate when we fought. Especially about him. Not that that happened often.
The air in the room was much more somber.
"John, you could've at least answered. Even if you have to distance yourself for some reason, that doesn't mean you have to ignore them," Mary said. "They needed you, Dean needed you, and you let them down. By the sounds of it, you let them down a lot."
John sighed. "I couldn't call them. It would've tracked them down and killed them."
"It could've done that whenever it wanted to, it didn't need a phone call," Sam said.
John huffed, but stayed silent.
In the house, Jenny was showing a plumber to the kitchen, near the sink. "No, sir, nothing weird down there, I promise. The sink just backed up on its own."
"Well, I'll take a look."
"Thanks. Oh, okay, I'll get out of your way," and she left.
The plumber set down his tools and began looking at the pipes under the sink. A few feet away, by Ritchie's playpen, a toy monkey was sitting with cymbals in its hands. Without warning, the monkey started up. It clashed its cymbals together loudly while cackling.
"Well, that can't be good," Claire mumbled.
After a moment, the plumber looked up, confused and the toy stopped. The plumber stood up and tried turning on the garbage disposal, but it didn't work. Instead, he rolled up his sleeve and stuck his hand down the disposal.
"WHY?! Why would you do that?!" Charlie nearly yelled. "Nothing good can come from that."
"Glad to know I'm not the only one afraid to stick their hand down the garbage disposal," Dean muttered.
He thought he felt something in the drain, but when he took his hand out, there was nothing there. He stuck most of his arm back down the disposal. Suddenly, the garbage disposal started up and the plumber's arm was being completely torn apart as blood splattered everywhere. At the same time, the cymbal-clashing monkey started up again, cackling as the plumber screamed. The screen went black.
The kids all covered their mouths as the boys sighed. They knew that was going to happen and they were prepared for it.
"Holy fuck, I knew that was going to happen, but still. That's my worst nightmare," Charlie said.
Dean shivered, as it was one of his, too, and his anxiety didn't appreciate that visual.
The screen faded in to show Guenther's Auto Repair. Sam and Dean were talking to the owner of the garage.
"So you and John Winchester, you used to own this garage together?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, we used to, a long time ago. Matter of fact, it must be, uh...twenty years since John disappeared. So why the cops interested all of a sudden?" The owner asked.
Oh, we're re-opening some of our unsolved cases, and the Winchester disappearance is one of 'em," Dean explained.
"The 'Winchester disappearance' happened a lot over the years," Bobby mumbled.
"That it did," Cas and Crowley agreed.
"Oh, well, what do you wanna know about John?"
"Well, whatever you remember, you know, whatever sticks out in your mind."
"Well...he was a stubborn bastard, I remember that." He laughed. "And, uh, whatever the game, he hated to lose, you know? It's that whole Marine thing." Sam and Dean nodded. "But, oh, he sure loved Mary. And he doted on those kids."
"Not for long," Kevin mumbled.
"But that was before the fire?" Sam asked.
"That's right."
"He ever talk about that night?"
"No, not at first. I think he was in shock."
"Right. But eventually? What did he say about it?"
"Oh, he wasn't thinkin' straight. He said somethin' caused that fire and killed Mary."
"He ever say what did it?" Dean asked.
"Nothin' did it. It was an accident –- an electrical short in the ceiling or walls or somethin'. I begged him to get some help, but...."
"But what?"
"Oh, he just got worse and worse."
"How?"
"Oh, he started readin' these strange ol' books. He started goin' to see this palm reader in town.
"Palm reader? Uh, do you have a name?"
The owner scoffed. "No."
Later, the car was parked by a payphone, where Sam was looking through a phonebook.
"All right, so there are a few psychics and palm readers in town. There's someone named El Divino. There's, uh –-" He laughed. "—there's the Mysterious Mister Fortinsky. Uh, Missouri Moseley—"
"Wait, wait. Missouri Moseley?" Dean cut in.
"Ahh, good 'ole Missouri. It's been a long time," Dean said.
"Yeah, we should give her a call soon," Sam added.
"What?"
"That's a psychic?"
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess so." Deam went into the backseat of the car and pulled out John's journal.
"In Dad's journal...here, look at this." He opened to the first page. "First page, first sentence, read that."
"I went to Missouri and I learned the truth," Sam read from the journal.
Dean shrugged, "I always thought he meant the state."
"I mean, that's fair. Not many people named 'Missouri'," Jody said.
At Missouri Moseley's house, she was escorting a man out while Sam and Dean sat on the couch, waiting.
"All right, there. Don't you worry 'bout a thing. Your wife is crazy about you." The man thanked her and she closed the front door behind him. "Whew. Poor bastard. His woman is cold-bangin' the gardener."
"Why didn't you tell him?" Dean asked.
"People don't come here for the truth. They come for good news." The boys stared at her. "Well? Sam and Dean, come on already, I ain't got all day." She left the room and Sam and Dean exchanged a confused look before following her into the next room. "Well, lemme look at ya." She laughed. "Oh, you boys grew up handsome." She pointed a finger at Dean. "And you were one goofy-lookin' kid, too." Dean glared at her while Sam smirked. "Sam." She grabbed his hand. "Oh, honey...I'm sorry about your girlfriend." The boys are shocked.] And your father –- he's missin'?"
"How'd you know all that?" Sam asked.
"Well, you were just thinkin' it just now."
Sam raised his eyebrows, surprised.
"Well, where is he? Is he okay?" Dean asked.
"I don't know."
"Don't know? Well, you're supposed to be a psychic, right?"
"Boy, you see me sawin' some bony tramp in half? You think I'm a magician? I may be able to read thoughts and sense energies in a room, but I can't just pull facts out of thin air. Sit, please." Sam smirked at Dean and they sat down. "Boy, you put your foot on my coffee table, I'm 'a whack you with a spoon!" Missouri snapped at Dean.
The kids all chuckled.
"Haha, very funny. Laugh at me getting bullied."
"I mean, someone's got to lower that ego of yours," Bobby said.
Dean turned to glare at his father. "I'll get you back for that."
Bobby smiled. "Mm-hmm, sure ya will. I'll be waiting."
"I didn't do anything," Dean yelled.
"But you were thinkin' about it."
Dean raised his eyebrows and Sam smiled. "Okay. So, our dad –- when did you first meet him?"
"He came for a reading. A few days after the fire. I just told him what was really out there in the dark. I guess you could say...I drew back the curtains for him."
"What about the fire? Do you know about what killed our mom?" Dean asked.
"A little. Your daddy took me to your house. He was hopin' I could sense the echoes, the fingerprints of this thing."
"And could you?" Sam asked.
"I...." She shook her head.
"What was it?"
"I don't know. Oh, but it was evil," she softly said.
At the Winchester house, Jenny was on the phone in the kitchen while Ritchie jumped around in his playpen.
"Look, I feel just awful about the poor man's hand." ... "Wait, but how can I be held liable?" ... "Yeah, but I can't afford a lawyer." She began to hear noises from upstairs. "Okay, listen, you just gotta let me call you back." She hung up. "Ritchie, um, Mommy's gonna be right back, okay?"
"Okay."
Jenny left the room.
"I have a feeling something awful's about to happen," Rowena said.
"I have to agree," Crowley mumbled.
"So...you think somethin' is back in that house?" Missouri asked the boys.
"Definitely," Sam said.
"I don't understand."
"What?"
"I haven't been back inside, but I've been keepin' an eye on the place, and it's been quiet. No sudden deaths, no freak accidents. Why is it actin' up now?"
"I don't know. But Dad going missing and Jessica dying and now this house all happening at once –- it just feels like something's starting."
"That's a comforting thought," Dean added.
At the Winchester house, while Ritchie was alone in the kitchen, one of the screws on his playpen mysteriously came out of place and one of the playpen's sides fell to the floor. At the same time, the safety latch on the door of the refrigerator came undone and the refrigerator opened.
"Fuck," Jody whispered, memories of her young son flashing before her mind. She missed him every day, but his and her husband's death led her to meet some of the most wonderful people in the world, as well as some more wonderful kids that she's proud to call her own.
Curious, Ritchie walked over to it. Inside, he saw his sippy cup full of juice. "Juicy." He climbed into the refrigerator and sat on one of the shelves. Suddenly, the refrigerator door closed and the safety latch locked into place. The screen went black.
The screen came back and Jenny returned to the kitchen.
"Oh, baby, either we have rats or Mommy's going crazy." She saw that the playpen was empty. "Ritchie? Ritchie?!" Panicked, she rushed into the other rooms and tried to find him. "Baby, where are you?!" She came back into the kitchen, breathing heavily. She saw milk leaking out from inside the refrigerator. She went over to it and opened the door.
"Mommy."
"Oh my God!" She took Ritchie out of the refrigerator and held him in her arms. A few moments later, there was a knock on the door. She answered it and saw Sam, Dean, and Missouri. "Sam, Dean. What are you doing here?"
"Hey, Jenny. This is our friend, Missouri," Sam introduced.
"If it's not too much trouble, we were hoping to show her the old house. You know, for old time's sake," Dean added.
"Like she's just gonna let two strangers bring in another stranger
"You know, this isn't a good time. I'm kind of busy," Jenny said.
"Listen, Jenny, it's important," Dean urged and Missouri smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow!"
The kids giggled again, so Dean flicked Claire on the arm.
"Ow, what was that for?"
"For laughing at me."
"I wasn't the only one!"
"I know, but you're the closest to me."
Claire glared at him and socked him in the arm.
"OW!" He yelped, grabbing his arm where she hit him. "That's it, come here."
Cas smiled and let go of Claire right before Dean grabbed her and pulled her into his lap, her shrieking in shock and glee.
"Let me go!"
"Nope, you need to be punished." Instead of the punishments he was dealt as a child, Dean just tickled the teen.
She shrieked and kicked her legs, trying to escape the man, but she was no match for the 6'1" hunter holding her hostage. They were both laughing and Cas was smiling as he dodged flying feet.
When he felt she'd had enough, Dean stopped tickling her and just held her close to his chest. "Learn your lesson yet?" He asked, peeking over her shoulder to get a better look at her face.
She nodded as she panted and tried to regain her breath. "Yeah, yeah, I won't laugh at you anymore."
He smiled and gave her a quick squeeze before adjusting her on his lap. He looked over as he felt an arm go around his shoulders and he turned so he was leaning against Cas's body. He pulled his knees close to his chest, holding Claire closer to his body.
"Give the poor girl a break, can't you see she's upset?" She then turned to Jenny. "Forgive this boy, he means well, he's just not the sharpest tool in the shed, but hear me out."
Dean looked stunned.
"About what?" Jenny asked.
"About this house."
"What are you talking about?"
"I think you know what I'm talking about. You think there's something in this house, something that wants to hurt your family. Am I mistaken?"
"Who are you?"
"We're people who can help, who can stop this thing. But you're gonna have to trust us, just a little."
Jenny looked unsure. A few moments later, Missouri and the boys were in Sari's bedroom.
"If there's a dark energy around here, this room should be the center of it," Missouri said.
"Why?" Sam asked.
"This used to be your nursery, Sam. This is where it all happened." Sam glanced at the ceiling. While Missouri looked around the room, Dean pulled out his EMF meter. "That an EMF?"
"Yeah."
"Amateur."
The kids didn't giggle that time, finally noticing how she was bullying him.
"Isn't that the EMF meter you built?" Sam asked.
"Umm, yeah. It is," Dean said.
"Woah, you build an EMF meter?" Kevin asked.
Dean nodded. "Yeah."
"How come you don't ever use it?" Charlie asked.
Dean swallowed. "Umm, it was a piece of garbage. Didn't work right."
Cas sighed. "No, it worked wonderfully." Dean snapped his head over, lightly shaking his head. Cas ignored him. "This was the last time he ever used it because everyone he showed it to wrote it off. Nobody praised him for his skill."
Everyone but John, Mary, and Crowley frowned.
"Dean, you realize you're really talented, right?" Sam asked.
Dean rolled his eye. "You don't have to compliment me just because Cas got onto you about it. It doesn't matter."
"But Dean, you're really smart, and I'm not just saying that. You're one of the smartest people I know."
"You don't know many people," Dean mumbled.
"Shut up. You built an EMF meter from a box of scraps. You can pull movie and tv show references from thin air, you can pick evidence out of a bunch of random garbage, and you're just as good at research as I am, you just hate doing it. There's a lot of other examples, you just don't see them because you're brain won't let you see them."
Dean swallowed again and looked away from his brother. He looked down when he felt Claire pat his chest, then Charlie pat his leg. He sighed and rested his head against Cas's shoulder.
Cas leaned over and kissed the top of Dean's head. Dean smiled and closed his eyes, listening to the case he worked on nearly a decade ago.
Dean glared at her. He nudged Sam and showed him that the EMF was beeping frantically.
"I don't know if you boys should be disappointed or relieved, but this ain't the thing that took your mom."
"Wait, are you sure?" Sam asked and she nodded. "How do you know?"
"It isn't the same energy I felt the last time I was here. It's somethin' different."
"What is it?" Dean asked.
"Not it." She opened the closet. "Them. There's more than one spirit in this place."
"What are they doing here?"
"They're here because of what happened to your family. You see, all those years ago, real evil came to you. It walked this house. That kind of evil leaves wounds. And sometimes, wounds get infected."
"I don't understand," Sam said.
"This place is a magnet for paranormal energy. It's attracted a poltergeist. A nasty one. And it won't rest until Jenny and her babies are dead."
"You said there was more than one spirit."
"There is. I just can't quite make out the second one."
"Well, one thing's for damn sure –- nobody's dyin' in this house ever again. So whatever is here, how do we stop it?" Dean asked.
At Missouri's house, Sam, Dean, and Missouri were sitting around a table. On the table were different herbs and roots.
"So, what is all this stuff, anyway?" Dean asked.
"Angelica Root, Van Van oil, crossroad dirt, a few other odds and ends."
"Yeah? What are we supposed to do with it?"
"We're gonna put them inside the walls in the north, south, east, west corners on each floor of the house."
"We did things so differently back then. Even though we'd been doing that for over a decade, we still had no clue what we were doing," Sam stated.
Dean nodded. "Yeah, we finally got our shit together this year."
"We'll be punchin' holes in the drywall. Jenny's gonna love that."
"She'll live."
"And this'll destroy the spirits?" Sam asked.
"It should. It should purify the house completely. We'll each take a floor. But we work fast. Once the spirits realize what we're up to, things are gonna get bad."
Back at the Winchester house, Missouri was walking Jenny and her kids outside.
"Look, I'm not sure I'm comfortable leaving you guys here alone," Jenny said.
"Makes sense," Rowena said and Jody nodded.
"Just take your kids to the movies or somethin', and it'll be over by the time you get back," Missouri told her. Jenny, still slightly unsure, left with her kids and Missouri went back inside.
Inside the house, Sam went into one of the rooms with a hammer. He knelt down by the wall and began using the end of the hammer to hit against the walls. While he was doing that, a plug on the other side of the room took itself out of the outlet. A lamp began to move on its own also and the plug snaked its way towards Sam. Downstairs in the kitchen, Dean was punching the wall with a small ax. Behind him, a drawer began to open on its own. In the basement, Missouri was looking around. She brought a bag full of herbs to the wall. She heard a noise and turned around to see a table coming towards her. She screamed as it pinned her against the wall. Back in the kitchen, Dean also heard a noise. He quickly ducked just as a knife hurled itself into a cabinet. He placed a table in front of himself as more knives came through it. Upstairs, Sam was chopping a hole in the wall and the lamp crashed to the ground. Sam turned around to see what the noise was, and the cord wrapped itself around his neck. Sam fell to the ground, trying to get the cord off. Eventually, he lied weakly on the floor and Dean ran upstairs and into the room.
"If I didn't know you were still alive, I'd be worried," Crowley said.
Dean turned around with a smirk on his face. "Aww, you worry about us?"
"I take it back. I hope you die."
"Ah! No take-backs!"
"What are you, five?"
"Sam!"
Dean rushed over to Sam and tried to get the cord off, but it wouldn't budge. Instead, Dean kicked a hole in the wall and threw the bag of herbs inside. A blinding white light left the room. Once the spirit was gone, Dean went back over to Sam, who was completely lax on the floor. Dean unraveled the cord from around Sam's neck and pulled him into a fierce hug. The screen went black.
A few hours later, Sam, Dean, and Missouri were standing in the extremely messy kitchen.
"You sure this is over?" Sam asked.
"I'm sure. Why? Why do you ask?" Missouri asked.
"Never mind." He sighed. "It's nothin', I guess."
"Listen to your gut, boy. It's kept you alive thus far," Bobby said.
"Barely," Sam retorted.
They heard Jenny enter the house. "Hello? We're home." She came into the kitchen and looked around. "What happened?"
"Hi, sorry. Um, we'll pay for all of this," Sam said and Dean looked confused.
"Don't you worry. Dean's gonna clean up this mess," Missouri said as Dean stood there, not moving. "Well, what are you waiting for, boy? Get the mop." He began walking away. "And don't cuss at me!" Dean walked away, muttering under his breath.
"She really didn't like you, did she?" Charlie asked.
"No, she did not. Granted, not a lot of people do," Dean told her. When he looked around a saw a lot of annoyed faces, he added, "alright, but if they do like me, it takes them like 12 years. Not that I blame them, I am quite insufferable."
Cas lightly cuffed the back of his head. "Stop lying."
The kids giggled again as Dean stumbled for words, and came up with none. He leaned back against Cas's shoulder. "I hate you."
"No you don't," Cas said as he kissed Dean's forehead.
Dean sighed. "No, I don't."
A little while later, Missouri and the boys left the house. Jenny waved and shut the door behind them.
Later that night, Jenny was in bed, reading a magazine. She yawned and put the magazine on her bedside table. After turning off the light and sliding underneath the covers, she went to sleep. A few seconds later, she opened her eyes, startled. The bed began to shake violently and she screamed and got out of bed. Meanwhile, outside, Sam and Dean were sitting in the car.
"All right, so, tell me again, what are we still doin' here?" Dean asked.
"I don't know. I just...I still have a bad feeling," Sam said.
"Good thing we stayed," Sam said.
"Why? Missouri did her whole Zelda Rubenstein thing, the house should be clean, it should be over."
"Yeah, well, probably. But I just wanna make sure, that's all."
"Yeah, well, problem is I could be sleeping in a bed right now." He slid down in his seat and closed his eyes.
Sam looks up at Jenny's bedroom window and saw her screaming, just as in his dream. "Dean. Look, Dean!"
They rushed out of the car and ran towards the house.
"You grab the kids, I'll get Jenny," Dean told his brother.
Inside Sari's bedroom, the figure made out of fire was standing by her closet.
In the hallway, Dean rushed to Jenny's bedroom door. "Jenny!"
"I can't open the door!"
"Stand back!" She moved back as Dean kicked down the door and brought her downstairs.
"No, my kids!"
"Sam's got your kids, come on."
While carrying Ritchie in his arms, Sam went to Sari's bedroom, where she was screaming for help. Sam went to Sari's bed and picked her up in his other arm.
"Don't look. Don't look!" They left the bedroom.
Outside, Dean and Jenny rushed out of the house.
Inside the house, Sam rushed down the stairs and put the kids down on the floor. "All right, Sari, take your brother outside as fast as you can, and don't look back."
Dean looked at his brother. "Wait, you said that?"
Sam nodded. "I forgot about that, but yeah. Ironic, innit?"
Suddenly, an invisible force made Sam fall to the floor. He slid backward into another room, crashing into a table. Sari screamed and ran outside with Ritchie to Dean and Jenny.
Dean kneeled down to Sari's eye level. "Sari, where's Sam?"
"He's inside. Something's got him," she cried.
Panicked, Dean looked at the front door. It slammed shut on its own, and the screen went black.
When the screen came back, Dean opened the trunk of the Impala and grabbed a rifle and an ax. He rushed to the front door and began chopping away at it.
"Goin' full Johnny on the thing," Kevin said.
In the kitchen, Sam got flung into a set of cabinets. He stood up and was pinned against the wall by the invisible force. He couldn't move any part of his body. The fire figure made its way towards Sam.
"What is it with you and getting thrown into things?" Dean asked.
"I don't know! It's not like I ask them to throw me around. I've had too many concussions, I don't want more."
Dean continued chopping down parts of the door. Eventually, he made a hole that he was able to step through. He walked through the house, looking for Sam. "Sam? Sam!" He found Sam. As he looked at the fire figure, he raised his gun.
"No, don't! Don't!"
"What, why?!"
"Because I know who it is. I can see her now."
Suddenly, the fire vanished. Instead, standing in front of them was Mary Winchester, exactly as she was the night she died. Dean's expression softened. In shock, he lowered his gun slowly.
"Mom?" Dean whispered.
Mary leaned forward in her seat. "I don't remember this."
Mary smiled and stepped closer to him. "Dean." Tears formed in Dean's eyes as Mary walked away from him and went to Sam. Dean watched her, never taking his eyes off her. "Sam." Sam smiled weakly, crying. His mother's smile faded. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
She looked at him sadly but said nothing. She walked away from them and looked up at the ceiling. "You get out of my house. And let go of my son." Once again, she burst into flames. When she was entirely engulfed, the fire reached the ceiling and disappeared and the force holding Sam to the wall was released. He walked over to Dean, and the two of them looked at each other, stunned.
"Now it's over," Sam said.
"I'm glad I was there to protect you, boys, even if I don't remember it."
"I'm glad you were there, too, Mom," Sam said.
Dean didn't know what to say. It was still weird being in the same room with her after all these years. He loved her, of course he did, but it was still weird.
The next morning, Dean was standing by the car with Jenny, looking through old photos.
"Thanks for these," Dean said.
"Don't thank me, they're yours."
Dean put the trunk of photos into the car.
Sitting on the front steps of the house, Sam was joined by Missouri.
"Well, there are no spirits in there anymore, this time for sure."
"Not even my mom?"
"No."
"What happened?"
"Your mom's spirit and the poltergeist's energy, they canceled each other out. Your mom destroyed herself goin' after the thing."
"Why would she do something like that?"
"Well, to protect her boys, of course." Sam nodded, with tears in his eyes. Missouri went to put her hand on his shoulder, but she stopped herself. "Sam, I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"You sensed it was here, didn't you? Even when I couldn't."
"What's happening to me?"
"A lot," Sam said.
"I know I should have all the answers, but I don't know."
"Sam, you ready?" Dean called out.
Sam nodded and went to the car.
Jenny thanked all of them.
"Don't you boys be strangers," Missouri called out.
"We won't," Dean yelled back.
"We totally were."
"See you around."
Jenny waved.
They smiled, got in the car, and drove away.
Later, Missouri walked inside her house and set her purse on the table. "That boy...he has such powerful abilities. But why he couldn't sense his own father, I have no idea."
The camera panned over to her couch, where John Winchester was sitting.
The boys' jaw fell open as their eyes widened.
"WHAT?!" Mary yelled, standing up so fast her chair flipped over. "You heard his call and you still didn't go see them?! What is wrong with you? You showed up, meaning you heard how upset your son was, but you never went to see them."
John stood up, too. "I did what I had to to keep them safe. I wanted to make sure they dealt with whatever was in the house, but I couldn't see them. Whatever killed you would kill them."
"It would've known they were in the area no matter where you were if it was following you! It probably knew where they were 24/7. You didn't protect our boys, you abandoned them."
"I did what I could to protect them! I don't expect you or them to understand, but I did what I had to."
"That's your excuse for everything, John," Bobby said, throwing in his two cents.
"Excuse me?" John seethed. How dare they question his methods. He knew what he was doing.
"Boys, Mary, cool it. The episode is almost over and our boys don't need to hear this, even if they're in their mid 30's."
Sam and Dean's heads snapped up when they heard Jody say 'our' and they smiled.
The Winchesters huffed and all four of them sat down.
"Mary's spirit –- do you really think she saved the boys?" He asked.
"I do."
John nodded sadly and twisted his wedding ring on his finger.
"John Winchester, I could just slap you. Why won't you go talk to your children?"
"I want to. You have no idea how much I wanna see 'em. But I can't. Not yet. Not until I know the truth."
They shared a look and the screen faded to black.
"That still makes no sense, but I don't want to argue about this. What's done is done and you can't change this. But you can make this better," Mary said toward John.
Then, everyone turned to look at Sam as "Lolipop" blared from his phone. Everyone on the couch smiled as Sam moved to get his phone out of his pocket.
"Hey," he greeted whoever was on the phone. He was silent as the other person spoke. "We're just watching a tv show about our lives with some friends and family" ... "Yes, like the one you put us in."
That got some weird looks from around the room and smiles from others.
"No, you haven't shown up yet. We've just finished an episode if you want to stop by. You done with stuff up there?" ... "Alright, see you soon, love you."
John fumed at the mention of the youngest Winchester's boyfriend.
Suddenly, a short man appeared on the armrest behind Sam's head. Sam looked up and smiled as the other man leaned down and kissed him on the lips.
Sam looked over and smirked at the steam pouring from John's ears before turning back to his boyfriend. "How are things up in Heaven going?"
"Oh, just peachy. Had to break up a lot of fights, recently. For creatures that can't function without orders, they're useless at following them."
"I take it they're still trying to go after me?" Cas asked, slightly shrinking at all the attention focused on him.
"Hello, little brother, and yes. They still think you should be punished for betraying them, which I think is bullshit," Gabe explained. That was the moment when Gabe noticed everyone else in the room. While he'd never met Charlie, he knew how important she was to the boys and how much her death affected them. She should've been happy in Heaven, so something powerful must've brought her back without him knowing.
Speaking of powerful, he was surprised to see Bobby as well as Mary and John Winchester. Now that must've taken some real power.
"Well, hello, Bobbert and the Winchesters. Enjoying your time on good 'ole Earth?"
"Hello, Gabriel," Bobby muttered, not at all ecstatic to see the archangel.
Gabe could feel the hatred from almost everyone in the room toward the eldest Winchester, so he decided to ignore him for now. He instead looked down at the teen in his boyfriend's lap. "I see you've taken my job as the grand moose cuddler."
Kevin looked up and his eyes widened when he realized who Gabe was. "I-I'm sorry."
Gabe waved his hand. "Nah, it's fine, I'm just messing with ya. Move over." He shoved Sam's legs over and plopped down between the brothers.
"Glad you could join us," Dean muttered.
"I'm glad, too, Dean-o. Couldn't leave my bae to be a third-wheel."
Dean rolled his eyes and the next episode started.