Dean dialed a number from inside a phone booth outside the gas station. He heard only an alert tone.
"We're sorry. You have reached a number that has been disconnected,"
Dean hung up the payphone and inserted another coin, dialed another number.
It rang once, then was picked up.
"Yeah?" Bobby's voice asked on the other end of the line.
"Bobby?" Dean asked.
"Yeah?"
"It's me,"
"Who's 'me'?"
"Dean,"
A dial tone sounded.
Dean watched Isabelle waiting by a car before he dialed again.
"Who is this?" Bobby snapped.
"Bobby, listen to me," Dean said.
"This ain't funny. Call again, I'll kill ya,"
The dial tone again.
Dean hung up the phone and walked out of the phone booth.
"Any luck?" Isabelle asked.
"You wanna try?" Dean asked. "Any family? Boyfriend? Girlfriend?"
Isabelle smirked "Is that your way of wondering if I'm single?"
Dean cleared his throat out of embarrassment "You hotwire the car yet?"
***
"You might want to stay in the car," Dean sighed as he and Isabelle drove up to a junkyard.
"Thought you said he was a friend..." Isabelle reasoned.
"Family." Dean corrected "Just wait here until I come to get you...ok?" He didn't wait for a response as he got out of the car and walked up the steps to the door. Dean pounded on the door, midway through the door opened. He smiled cautiously as Bobby looked at him suspiciously. "Surprise,"
"I, I don't..." Bobby started.
"Yeah, me neither." Dean glanced back towards Isabelle before looking back at Bobby "But here I am,"
Bobby took a silver knife and lunged forward, slashing Dean.
Dean grabbed Bobby's arm and twisted it around; Bobby broke the grip and backhanded Dean in the face. "Bobby! It's me!"
"My ass!" Bobby argued.
Dean shoved a rocking chair between himself and Bobby, holding his hands out "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! Your name is Robert Steven Singer. You became a hunter after your wife got possessed, and...you're about the closest thing I have to a father. Bobby. It's me,"
Bobby lowered the knife, stepping forward slowly. He placed a hand gently on Dean's shoulder.
Suddenly, Bobby slashed again, but Dean quickly subdued and disarmed Bobby.
"I am not a shapeshifter!" Dean exclaimed.
"Then you're a Revenant!" Bobby countered.
Dean shoved Bobby away, having taken the knife. He held it out in front of him "Alright." Dean sighed "If I was either, could I do this with a silver knife?" He rolled up his left sleeve, and, grimacing, sliced his arm above the elbow with the knife.
A line of blood appeared.
"Dean?" Bobby asked.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you," Dean laughed shortly.
Bobby broke, grabbing Dean in for a tight hug.
Dean returned the hug with enthusiasm, relief on his face.
"Your family reunions are weird," Isabelle voiced.
"Thought I told you to stay in the car?!" Dean huffed as he and Bobby pulled apart.
Isabelle shrugged "Saw you two hug, figured everything was water under the bridge," she closed her eyes as water was splashed on her and Dean's face. Isabelle used her sleeves to wipe it off.
"I'm not a demon either, you know," Dean spat.
"Sorry." Bobby said "Can't be too careful,"
***
"But...that doesn't make a lick of sense," Bobby reasoned after Dean explained how he and Isabelle arrived at his place.
"Yeah." Dean sighed "Yeah, you're preachin' to the choir,"
"Dean. Your chest was ribbons, your insides were slop. And you've been buried four months. Even if you could slip out of hell and back into your meat suit..."
"I know, I should look like a Thriller video reject,"
"What do you remember?"
Dean shook his head "Not much. I remember I was a hellhound's chew toy, and then...lights out. Then I come to six feet under, that was it,"
Isabelle quirked an eyebrow as the voices whispered to her once again...he was lying.
Dean cleared his throat to change the subject "Sam's number's not working. He's, uh...he's not..."
"Oh, he's alive." Bobby scoffed "As far as I know,"
"Good..." Dean nodded "Wait, what do you mean, as far as you know?"
"I haven't talked to him for months,"
"You're kidding, you just let him go off by himself?"
"He was dead set on it,"
"Bobby, you should've been looking after him,"
"I tried. These last months haven't been exactly easy, you know. For him or me. We had to bury you,"
"Why did you bury me, anyway?"
Bobby shrugged "I wanted you salted and burned. Usual drill. But...Sam wouldn't have it,"
"Well, I'm glad he won that one,"
"He said you'd need a body when he got you back home somehow. That's about all he said,"
"What do you mean?" Dean wondered.
"He was quiet. Real quiet. And then he just took off." Bobby recalled "Wouldn't return my calls. I tried to find him, but he didn't want to be found,"
"Oh, damnit, Sammy," Dean muttered.
"What?"
"Oh, he got me home okay. But whatever he did, it is bad mojo,"
"What makes you so sure?" Isabelle challenged.
"You saw the gravesite. It was like a nuke went off. And then there was this...this force, this presence, I don't know, but it, it blew past us at a fill-up joint. And then this," Dean stripped his jacket, pulled up his sleeve to reveal a handprint brand.
Isabelle covered her ears as the voices seemed to become louder at the revelation of the brand.
"What in the hell?" Bobby voiced.
"It was like a demon just yanked me out. Or rode me out," Dean claimed as he lowered the sleeve, seeing how Isabelle had reacted.
"But why?"
"To hold up their end of the bargain,"
"You think Sam made a deal,"
"It's what I would have done,"
"263 Adams Road Pontiac, Illinois," Isabelle recited.
"What?"
Isabelle tilted her head as she listened "It's where Sam is,"
"How do you know that?" Bobby wandered
"The voices never lie. They're what lead me to Dean," Isabelle reminded.
"Pontiac, Illinois?" Dean questioned.
Isabelle nodded.
"Son of a bitch,"
"Did I do something wrong?" Isabelle wondered.
"Pontiac, Illinois is where we just were Izzy,"