A/N: MAJOR SEASON 14 SPOILERS
Despite how hard Jack had tried, there was no changing what he had done.
Mary Winchester was dead.
Sam, Dean, and Cas would never forgive him for that. He knew it, felt it in the soul he wasn't sure he had anymore. How could they ever forgive him?
Jack had been given a family with the Winchesters, and he had loved it more than anything. They accepted him, made him feel welcome.
And in return, all he had done was cause them pain and kill the one member of the family they had fought so hard to get back.
Jack didn't want to forgive himself, let alone ask for the Winchesters forgiveness.
So as Dean and Sam quietly cried, Mary Winchester's lifeless body on the ground before them, Jack sunk to his knees, covering his face with his hands.
Because it was all his fault. And it had been an accident.
There had been too many accidents.
"I didn't mean to," He whispered, tears filling his eyes. It was true, and Jack knew that if he didn't say it now, he'd never get the chance. He could hear Cas's footsteps approaching, bound to find them all. Jack could only imagine what he would make of the scene. "It was an accident!"
Sam didn't seem to hear him, focused on Mary. Jack could feel his pain from here.
Cas just stood and watched, unsure what to do. Unsure who he was to comfort, who he was to go against.
It was Dean that looked up at Jack. Dean, of all people. Who had been furious. Who had swore that if something happened to Mary, then Cas was dead to him.
Dean, who hadn't even liked Jack in the first place, but then had grown to love him just as much as Sam and Cas did.
"I just wanted her to stop," Jack whispered shakily, tears falling down his face. "She- she was yelling and she wouldn't stop. I just wanted her to stop, I didn't want to hurt her, I just-" He sobbed. "She said there was something wrong me. Maybe she was right." Dean froze at the words.
Mary had told Jack there was something wrong with him?
Mary had told Jack there was something WRONG with him.
Sam and Cas seemed to fade away, even Mary's lifeless body did too. All Dean could see now was Jack, who looked so helpless, so guilty, so broken.
And for a moment, it flashed Dean back to an old scene.
John, punching him to the floor, slamming cabinets in a ratty hotel room, yelling, always yelling. Screaming at Dean that he was wrong, there was something wrong with him, why couldn't he fix it and just be normal?
John, believing that there was something wrong with Dean, and not being shy about saying it.
Something wrong with him. Like Dean could control who he was.
Those were words that should NEVER be spoken to a kid. Dean knew that. There was nothing WRONG with Jack. He had made mistakes, horrible mistakes, but they all had. Killing Nick hadn't been a great idea, but it didn't mean there was something wrong with Jack.
And as Jack sat there, sobbing and wracked with guilt, Dean suddenly didn't blame him for what he had done to Mary.
If he had been able to make John stop all those years ago, he would've done the same thing Jack did. There was only so much someone could take, and when somebody didn't stop...
Then things like this happened.
Jack wasn't expecting any of them to talk to him. Look at him. Acknowledge him in any way, except maybe to try and kill him.
So he certainly wasn't expecting Dean to get up and walk away from Mary's body, and to stop before Jack.
Jack looked up at him, at the most complicated expression he had ever seen on Dean's face before. He half thought Dean would draw a gun and shoot him right then and there.
But that's not what happened.
"Get up," Dean whispered. Jack sniffled.
"What?" He croaked.
"Get up," Dean ordered. Jack rose to his feet, and Dean studied him for a minute before grabbing Jack and hugging him.
Jack froze in surprise. He thought that Dean would never even look at him again, let alone come close enough to hug him. But now, Dean wrapped his arms around the kid tightly, protectively.
"It's okay," Dean said shakily. Jack hugged him back, burying his face in the endless layers of flannel, still crying.
"No it's isn't." Jack insisted. Dean hugged him tighter, and Sam and Cas looked on, confused and conflicted.
"There is nothing wrong with you," Dean proclaimed. "Nothing."
Dean glanced over at Cas, and reached out an arm, gesturing that the angel should come closer. Cas stepped forward tentatively until Dean grabbed him and pulled him into the hug.
"I'm sorry," Dean said, resting his head on the angel's shoulder, Jack sandwiched between them. Cas didn't have to be told what for. Things had been said, ugly things, but he knew Dean hadn't meant them.
It was nice to be told that though.
Finally Dean looked over at his little brother, as Sam still stood over Mary's boy, looking lost. Dean pulled him into the hug as well.
And the little family that Jack thought he had destroyed hung onto him, shielding him.
They were upset, Jack knew.
They were angry.
But they knew he had made a mistake.
They knew he regretted it more than anything else in his life.
And the fact that he hated himself for it somehow made them not hate him.
They may be forever angry with him, but at the end of the day, Jack was family.
And family's got your back. No matter what.