"If you tell me to shut my cakehole Dean, I will punch you in the throat."

•¤•¤•¤•

"Dad's on a hunting trip. And he hasn't been home in a few days."

Sam's expression doesn't change while he takes this in and Jess glances up at him. "Jess, excuse us. We have to go outside." He says after a moment, giving Dean a look as he ushers his girlfriend back to bed while simultaneously putting on jeans and grabbing a jacket.

"I mean, come on. You can't just break in, middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you." Sam grumbles, stomping down the stairwell beside Dean.

"You're not hearing me, Sammy. Dad's missing. I need you to help me find him."

Sam rolls his eyes with a scoff, "You remember the poltergeist in Amherst? Or the Devil's Gates in Clifton? He was missing then, too. He's always missing, and he's always fine."

Dean stops and turns around, causing Sam to stop too. "Not for this long." He argues, "Now are you gonna come with me or not?"

There's no hesitation in the younger Winchester's response, no pause to think, just, "I'm not."

Dean's eyes blow wide and his eyebrows shoot up incredulously, "Why not?"

"I swore I was done hunting. For good."

"Come on. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't that bad." Dean shrugs off, starting down the stairs again with Sam following.

"Yeah? When I told Dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45."

Dean stops at the door to the outside, "Well, what was he supposed to do?"

"I was nine years old! He should've said what Jude told me, don't be afraid of the dark."

"Don't be afraid of the dark? Are you kidding me? Of course you should be afraid of the dark. She knows what's out there, what was she thinking?"

"Yeah, I know too, but still," Sam shakes his head, "The way we grew up, after mom was killed, and dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her," Dean glances outside as Sam continues, "But we still haven't found the damn thing. So we kill everything we can find."

The older Winchester's face grows serious, "We save a lot of people doing it, too." There's a brief pause as they hold each other's gaze.

The youngest swallows, taking a breath, "You think mom would have wanted this for us?" Dean rolls his eyes and slams the door open, climbing the short flight of stairs from the door to the parking lot. Of course, Sam persists and follows. "The weapon training, and melting the silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors." They cross the parking lot to a beautiful sleek black Impala.

"So what are you gonna do? You're just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?" Dean snaps, turning around to face his younger brother.

"No. Not normal. Safe."

"And that's why you ran away." Dean accuses, looking away.

"I was just going to college. It was dad who said if I was gonna go, I should stay gone. And that's what I'm doing."

"Yeah, well, dad's in real trouble right now. If he's not dead already. I can feel it." Sam stays quiet, mulling it over. "I can't do this alone."

"Yes you can."

Dean looks down and mutters, "Yeah, well, I don't want to."

Sam sighs and looks down, thinking over his options before lifting his head. "What was he hunting?"

The older brother grins as he opens the trunk of the Impala, then the spare-tire compartment. He props the lid open with a shotgun and digs through the clutter. "All right, let's see, where the hell did I put that thing?"

Sam watches him dig around a little, scrunching his nose at the mess, "So when dad left, why didn't you go with him?"

"I was working my own gig. This, uh, voodoo thing, down in New Orleans." He answers distractedly, still searching.

"Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself?"

Dean looks over at Sam, "I'm twenty-six, dude." He pulls some papers out of a folder. "All right, here we go." He slaps them and continues on, "So, dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago, this guy," Dean handed one of the papers to Sam. "They found his car, but he vanished. Completely MIA." The paper is a printout of an article from the Jericho Herald, headlined "Centennial Highway Disappearance" and dated Sept. 19th 2005; it has a man's picture, captioned "Andrew Carey MISSING". Sam reads it then glances back to Dean.

"So maybe he was kidnapped."

"Yeah. Well, here's another one in April." Dean tosses down another Jericho Herald article for each date he mentions, "Another one in December 'oh-four, 'oh-three, 'ninety-eight, 'ninety-two, ten of them over the past twenty years." He takes the article back from Sam and picks up the rest of the stack, putting them back in the folder. "All men, all the same five-mile stretch of road." He pulls a bag out of another part of the arsenal. "It started happening more and more, so dad went to dig around. That was about three weeks ago. I hadn't heard from him since, which is bad enough." Dean grabs a handheld tape recorder, "Then I get this voicemail yesterday." He presses play.

The recording is staticy and the signal was clearly breaking up.

"Dean...something big is starting to happen...I need to try and figure out what's going on. It may... Be very careful, Dean. We're all in danger."

Dean presses stop.

"You know there's EVP on that?"

Dean smirks, "Not bad, Sammy. Kinda like riding a bike, isn't it?" Sam shakes his head with a roll of his eyes. "All right. I slowed the message down, I ran it through a gold wave, took out the hiss, and this is what I got." He presses play again.

A sad woman's voice is heard, "I can never go home..." Dean presses stop.

"Never go home." Sam echoes as Dean drops the recorder. He puts the shotgun back inside with the rest of the arsenal, stands straight, and shuts the trunk, then leans on it.

"You know, in almost two years I've never bothered you, never asked you for a thing."

Sam looks away and sighs, then looks back. "All right. I'll go. I'll help you find him." Dean nods. "But I have to get back first thing Monday. Just wait here." Sam turns to go back to the apartment but is stopped by Dean.

"What's first thing Monday?"

Sam hesitates, "I have this...I have an interview."

"What, a job interview? Skip it."

"It's a law school interview, and it's my whole future on a plate."

"Law school?" Dean repeats with a smirk.

"So we got a deal or not?"

Dean's smirk changes into a grimace, "Actually, one more thing."

"What?" Sam snaps, just trying to hurry up and pack. Dean gives him a look and realization slowly dawns on Sam. "Oh. Oh, she's going to be pissed."

><><>♡<><><

J

ude wakes with a jolt upon hearing the familiar rumble of an engine. She snatches one of her many, many rifles from under her bed (the others in other easily reachable spots around her house) and storms towards her front door, slamming the screen door open and stepping out onto her porch. She aims the barrel at Dean who had stepped out of the driver's side and holds up his hands.

"MJ, it's me!" He hisses.

Her eyes narrow as she aims for his head, pumping the gun, "I know." She growls, "You have five seconds to leave or give me a damn good reason not to shoot." The passenger door opens and she sucks in a breath, thinking it's John but is even more shocked when it's Sam that steps out next. "Sammy?"

"Hey Jude." He greets casually, glancing between his two older siblings. "What did you do to piss her off?" Sam asks Dean.

"Exist." Jude says the same time Dean says "Nothing".

Dean shoots her a frown, "Aw, c'mon MJ, you can't stay mad at me forever."

She raises the gun again (having lowered it when her baby brother stepped out), "Actually, I can, I'm a Virgo." His frown deepens. "Why are you here?" She then shakes her head and looks at Sam, "Why did you bring him here?"

"Dad's missing." Dean answers.

She scoffs, lowering her gun again and turning to head back inside, "He's always missing." She retorts, "Remember when he left us alone for a whole month? He'll come strolling back in, licking his wounds." She opens her door and is almost in but Sam stops her.

"Not this time," he insists, "he dropped a case."

Jude shuts her eyes, John Winchester was many things- a terrible father, a drunk, an asshole, neglectful, the list goes on for miles- but he never, never, left a case unfinished. She glances over her left shoulder at her younger brothers, then groans as she nods inside.

"Come on, you'll let all the 'squitos in." She beckons, depositing the rifle against the wall by the front door and flicking on the living room light after doing so. She heads for the kitchen after her brothers come in, closing the door behind themselves.

"Uh, nice place." Dean says awkwardly, taking a seat beside Sam on the couch as Jude makes a pot of coffee.

"Thanks," she calls back. She reappears in the entryway of the kitchen, leaning against the doorway and crossing her arms. Her dirty blonde hair was a mess from just waking up, and her green eyes were watery from just yawning. "I'm guessing this wasn't just a social visit?" Jude inquires.

Dean shakes his head, "You know dad better than any of us, you always had a knack for getting in his head." He gives her pleading eyes, "We could use that to find him."

"Bullshit." She says immediately, pushing off the wall and stepping into the living room, "You just want the Winchester Clan back together in hopes of dragging Sam and I back into dad's little revenge crusade." Jude juts her chin at Sam, "How did you even convince Sammy to join?" She then pauses and turns back to the youngest, narrowing her eyes on him, "Don't you have that interview on Monday?" He shrinks under her gaze.

"If the three of us work together, we'll find dad before his Law thing."

"Oh, Sam, what have you done?" Jude asks, ignoring Dean. She rubs at her temples and heads back into the kitchen to pour the three of them coffee. Surprisingly she does nothing to Dean's. "Okay, fine, I'll help you." She then glares at the second oldest, "But if it gets too close to his interview, he walks, no matter if we've found dad or not."

"Yeah, sure."

"I mean it, punk." She insists, "If he's not in that interview eight am sharp, you'll be sorry Dean Winchester."

"Okay, okay, he'll be back in time!" Dean huffs, throwing up his arms. "Do you have pie?" He asks suddenly, sipping his coffee.

Jude rolls her eyes, "There's donuts in the kitchen, help yourself. Sam, you take the guest room and you," she points at Dean, "You can take the couch or grab the air mattress from the hall closet. I don't care." She stands up, putting her mug in the microwave to heat up again in a few hours before heading for her room. "Goodnight boys." She calls over her shoulder tiredly.

"Night!" Sam calls back, Dean only grunting in response as he digs in her fridge. Sam waits for her to shut her door, then a few minutes after, before turning to Dean. "So why is she mad at you?" He asks, then quickly adds, "And don't say you didn't do anything or that you don't know because she was ready to blow your head off when we got here."

"She was bluffing." Sam raises an eyebrow while tilting his head. Dean rolls his eyes. "We had a... little argument before she left."

It's Sam's turn to roll his eyes, "C'mon Dean, just tell me."

Dean's quiet, before shaking his head. "We should grab a few hours." He says instead, standing and putting his now empty cup in the sink, wiping chocolate frosting from his lips as he heads to the hall closet, grabbing a fluffy comforter instead of the deflated air mattress and heading back to the couch. He nods for Sam to move, and begrudgingly the youngest does.

Neither tell each other goodnight as Sam makes his way to the guest room.

><><>♡<><><

Sam snorts as he steps into the living room, watching Dean sleeping halfway off the couch, mouth wide open and sawing logs while drying his hair with one of MJ's thousands of fluffy towels. He smiles at his sister as she brings him a cup of coffee yet again, this time in a mug in the shape of a dalmatian's face.

"He's the one that wants to find dad dearest and yet..." MJ waves a hand to Sleeping Beauty passed out on the couch. "Typical."

"I forgot how loud he snores."

"Is it weird that he's actually quieter when he's asleep? It's like he's almost tolerable." She shakes her head before yawning, stretching her arms over her head. Both her and Sam were already dressed for the day, both sporting matching red flannel she bought for Sam's birthday. She wears a Sailor Moon shirt beneath, with ripped skinny jeans, and well-worn red converse on her feet. Her long blonde hair was pulled up into a French braid that Sam helped her with and she flicks her bangs out of her face as she heads into the kitchen.

"What's for breakfast?" Sam asks quietly, moving to follow her but pauses when she comes back with two frying pans in her hands. She smiles fondly at him.

"French toast, scrambled eggs, and tofu dogs for you." She answers before making her way over to Dean and climbing onto her coffee table after kicking off her shoes, standing on the wooden surface in her Scooby Doo socks. "I call this little ditty: Rude Awakening." She opens her arms as far as she can, a frying pan in each hand, then starts clanging the pans as loud as possible while screeching 'I'm a Barbie Girl' at the top of her lungs.

Luckily she lived on a ten acre ranch with no neighbors for miles so the only one that would be complaining is the currently spasming Dean Winchester who fell onto the floor with the comforter tangled around his legs. He covers his ears and glares up at his sister.

"WHAT THE FUCK MARY JUDE!?" He roars over her singing and still banging pans. She stops and grins down at him, sticking her pans under one arm and ruffling his hair.

"Good morning sleepy head." She coos before heading for the kitchen. "Stop being a baby and come eat." He sighs, dragging a hand down his tired face and standing up, glaring at a snickering Sam on his way into the small kitchen/dining area.

Once they're all seated and eating, MJ points at Dean with her fork, "What the hell was dad hunting anyways?"

"Missing persons," he replies, Sam pulling the folder from the duffel at his feet. He slides it to her and she uses her left hand to flip through it, furrowing her brows.

"All men, all in the same area?" She asks, reading over the articles. "But they're all different ages, different ethnicities, careers... what's the connection?"

Dean shrugs, "That's what I want to find out."

She shakes her head, dropping the stack of papers, "I mean, they're all men so that's one connection."

"We should head out soon, we're losing daylight." Dean urges, scarfing the last of his heavily syruped french toast and standing, dropping his plate into the sink before heading out without even washing his plate.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" MJ calls after him, raising a brow. He pauses in the doorway and turns around.

"Uh," he glances at her, then the sink, "Thanks for the food." He says before ducking out.

"Wash your plate, you punk!" She shouts after her brother, standing with a huff and grabbing hers and Sam's plates. "I thought I raised him better." She grumbles, heading to the sink and starting on the dishes. Sam stands and joins her at the sink, becoming the designated dish dryer and stacks them neatly in the rack on the counter. MJ smiles gratefully at him. "At least my baby bro is still a sweetheart."

"I'm taller than you, so not really a baby anymore."

"Hey, I changed your diapers because Dean was too squeamish, you're always going to be my baby bro." She blows soap foam at him and giggles when it lands on his bangs, "Ya got that, bubbas?"

"Yes ma'am." Sam chuckles, wiping the soap off.

><><>♡<><><

Sam's rifling through a box of tapes in the passenger side of the Impala with the door open. Dean spots him as he comes out of a convenience store, carrying a load of junk food. "Hey!" He calls out, making his way over to his brother. Sam leans out to look at him, "You want second breakfast?"

Sam scoffs and leans back into the car, "No, thanks." He goes back through rifling through cassettes. "So how'd you pay for that stuff? You and Dad still running credit card scams?"

"Yeah, well, hunting ain't exactly a pro ball career." Dean responds as he puts the nozzle back on the pump. "Besides, all we do is apply. It's not our fault they send us the cards."

"Yeah? And what names did you write on the application this time?" Sam asks as he swings his legs back inside the car and closes the door.

"Uh, Burt Aframian." Dean climbs into the driver seat and puts his soda and chips down, smirking at Sam. "And his son Hector. Scored two cards out of the deal." He adds as he closes the door.

Sam snorts, nodding, "That sounds about right." He drops a cassette back into the box with an annoyed huff, "I swear, man, you've gotta update your cassette tape collection." There are at least a dozen cassettes in the box on Sam's lap; some have album art, others are hand-labeled.

"Why?"

"Well, for one, they're cassette tapes. And two," Sam holds up a tape for every band he names. "Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica?" Dean takes the box labeled Metallica from Sam. "It's the greatest hits of mullet rock."

"Well, house rules, Sammy." He pops the tape in the player. "Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole."

"You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve-year-old." Sam scoffs, "It's Sam, okay?" he insists.

Dean furrows his brows, "You never give MJ lip when she calls you Sammy." He glances in the mirror of his side, looking for any signs of MJ. "Speaking of, where is she?"

Sam shrugs, but before he can respond, Jude struts out of the convenience store with big hello kitty sunglasses, a plastic bag with ten bags of gummy worms and bears, and two bottles of root beer. She walks over to them and Sam gets out to let her climb into the backseat, handing him one of the bags of candy after she settles.

"How did you pay for all of that?" Dean asks, glancing at her in the rearview.

She grins, holding up a credit card- Dean's credit card. Her brother's hand goes to his pockets, patting down his pants in search of his wallet. He watches as she lifts that too.

He snatches both items from her, "Always with the sticky fingers Mary Jude."

She sticks her tongue out at him and turns to Sam, winking, "It's what I do." Her eyes roam over the load of cassette tapes in Sam's lap and her lip curls in distaste. "I see the collection only doubled while I was gone."

"House rules-"

"If you tell me to shut my cakehole Dean, I will punch you in the throat." He rolls his eyes at her threat, instead pushing play and raising the volume to max. AC/DC's Back in Black blasts in the Impala as they pull out of the gas station, heading back onto the highway.

What I wouldn't give for the power to turn on/off my hearing*, Jude grumbles in her head as she slouches in her seat, picking at the toy soldier stuck in an ashtray. Along with her Ken doll's arm that Dean broke trying to get the toy back out. It was Ken or Barbie and she was not sacrificing her Western Barbie so Ken it was. Jude still had her too.

"So, Jude Parker, huh?"

Jude glances up at the rearview to meet eyes with Dean, "Yeah, and?"

He shrugs, "Didn't realize you still had a huge crush on that Tony guy."

"Tobey, Dean. It's Tobey." She rolls her eyes, "And I had a thing for Doc Oc."

"Seriously?" Sam snickers, butting in as he turns in his seat to look at her. She shrugs.

"Sometimes a girl wants a guy that will ravish her-"

"Oh-kay!" Dean shouts, turning the music back up as he does. Sam and Mary snicker, shaking their heads at his childishness.

><><>♡<><><

MJ squints her eyes to read a sign they pass, Jericho 7, it reads. Her eyes flicker to the back of Sam's head as he shuts his phone, hanging up with a "Thank you."

He looks over to Dean who had glanced at him before putting his eyes back on the road, "Alright. So, there's no one matching dad at the hospital or the morgue. So that's something, I guess." MJ bolts up between them suddenly and slaps Dean's shoulder, startling him as she points ahead.

"Look!" Her two younger brothers follow her finger to the bridge ahead of them with two cop cars and loads of officers investigating a third car, along with the entire bridge. Dean pulls over as all three study the officers for a moment before Dean reaches over Sam and starts digging in the glove department and pulls out a box full of ID cards. MJ rolls her eyes, digging in her backpack beside her and pulls out her own box of IDs. Sam goes from staring wide-eyed at Dean, to staring wide-eyed at MJ.

"Marshals?" She asks, holding a card up. Dean nods and picks the same one before smiling at Sam.

"Let's go." He calls. MJ turns to Sam and points at him.

"Stay here, three's a crowd." She urges before hurriedly catching up to Dean while slipping on a black blazer over her flannel and flattening her hair as she tries to compose herself. She sniffs, relaxing her facial features into a neutral mask as she matches Dean's pace easily. They reach the two deputies, who are conversing through what seems to be the newest victim's car.

The one on the driver's side, Deputy Hein, shakes his head with a stumped frown, "No sign of struggle, no footprints, no fingerprints. Spotless. It's almost too clean."

"So, this kid Troy. He's dating your daughter, isn't he?" The other, Deputy Jaffe, inquires.

"Yeah."

"How's Amy doing?"

Hein sighs, "She's putting up missing posters downtown."

"You fellas had another one like this just last month, didn't you?" Dean interrupts, walking back around with MJ shadowing him silently. Jaffe turns to face them, his eyes lingering on the oldest before turning back to Dean and squinting his eyes in suspicion.

"And who are you?"

Dean and MJ flash their badges briefly in perfect sync before redepositing them into their coats smoothly. "Federal Marshals." she replies, adding a deep silky indent into her voice.

Jaffe pauses, narrowing his eyes again as he looks both over, "You two are a little young for marshals, aren't you?"

Dean gives a short dry laugh, "Thanks, that's awfully kind of you." He retorts as he heads for the car, giving it a once over. MJ doesn't smile, or fake laugh, she looks the Deputy in the eyes and almost seems to challenge him.

"Did you have one last month, yes or no." She asks slowly, as if speaking to a child. Dean recognizes it as her mom voice and lets a smirk lift the right corner of his lips.

Jaffe eyes her cautiously, "Yeah, that's right. About a mile up the road. There've been others before that."

"And from what I heard- apologies for eavesdropping- you knew the victim?" MJ stays with the Deputy while Dean wanders around the car, scanning every inch of it but still listening to the conversation.

He nods, "Town like this, everybody knows everybody."

"Any connections between the victims, besides that they're all men?" Dean calls over the roof of the car, glancing over at his sister and Jaffe.

"No. Not so far as we can tell."

"Any theories?" MJ inquires, crossing her arms and leaning back on her right foot as she glances at the car.

"Honestly? We don't know. Serial murder. Kidnapping ring..." Jaffe shrugs, staring at MJ.

"Well, that is exactly the crack police work I'd expect out of you guys." Dean sneers, smiling tightly at the Deputy. MJ sharply turns her head to Dean and glares at him.

"I'm sorry about my partner," she apologizes as she turns back to an offended Jaffe, "he has an ego that's bigger than that big head of his and has a problem with authority." She gives him another pointed look and nods to the impala. He gets the hint and starts heading that way. "I'll be sure to file a fully detailed report on his behavior and I promise you his tasteless comment won't go unpunished. Thank you for your time." She forces a smile at Jaffe before speedwalking after Dean and swatting him hard upside the back of his head.

"Ow!" He hisses, glaring at her only to get slapped on the shoulder twice and shoved in the back. "Why are you beating on me for!?"

"'Crack police work'? I thought I taught you better manners- what is wrong with you?"

Dean steps in front of her and stops her in her tracks, "Come on. They don't really know what's going on. We're all alone on this. I mean, if we're going to find dad, we've got to get to the bottom of this thing ourselves."

Jude simmers but stops short of berating Dean some more when she spots a Sheriff and two FBI agents approaching behind Dean. "Can I help you kids?" The sheriff asks pointedly, giving both disapproving stares.

"No, sir, we were just leaving." Dean replies. As the agents walk past them, Dean nods at both. "Agent Mulder. Agent Scully." the younger Winchester heads pass the Sheriff who turns to watch him. Jude stops at his side and shakes her head with a sigh.

"I hate my life." She groans, forcing a smile when the Sheriff turns to her before walking after Dean. They climb into the impala and drive off.

"What was with the slapping?"

"MJ's just feral."

"That is-" She stops before nodding, "Okay, true. But you deserved it." She turns to Sam and gestures at Dean, "This shithead was being an asshole to the cops."

Sam shakes his head disapprovingly and joins his sister in scolding Dean who defends himself the best way he knows how; he cranks the music impossibly loud once more.

><><>♡<><><

While Sam and Dean went to look for Amy, MJ decided it would be better to divide and conquer and headed to the local library. She has multiple windows open with different searches on the page for the Jericho Herald. She scans each result, reading and cross-reading and writing everything she finds in a notebook.

• Only missing persons, no bodies so far
• recent victim: Troy Squire
• victim is dating Deputy's daughter; Amy Hein
• failed results for search of 'centennial highway murder'

Just as she finishes her last note, her phone rings and she hurriedly answers it while getting dirty looks from the other library goers. "You got Jude."

"Hey, so we spoke with Amy."

"And?" She asks, backspacing on the computer and searching 'hitchhiker murder centennial highway' and getting nothing. A frustrated exhale slips her lips.

"So get this," Sam starts, "the local legend is of a woman getting murdered on th-"

"No, no murders. Nothing pops up with that specific word." Jude cuts him off, "I mean, it's a small town, you'd think at least one person would've been murdered but no. So far, only the recent missing persons and wild animal attacks... no murder."

"Gee, don't sound too upset about that." Dean chides, snickering at the annoyed huff he earns.

"So if not murder, then-"

"Suicide." Jude breathes, finishing for Sam. "Of course- uh, hang on." She maneuvers her phone between her ear and her shoulder and types in 'woman suicide centennial highway' and gets an article from 1981. She grins, "And the pup's name was Bingo." She skims through the article before sucking in a breath.

"What, what is it?" Sam asks.

"D'aahhh," she re-scans the page to make a summary. "April 25th, 1981. Constance Welch, jumps off Sylvania bridge and drowns, dying at 24."

"Damn." Dean says, voice grim. "Does it say why?"

Jude nods, "Uh, yeah." She clears her throat, "An hour prior, she calls 9-1-1. Her uh, her two kids were in the tub and she left for a few minutes... came back and they were dead." She scrolls down, past the picture of Constance, past the quote left by her husband, and finally onto a picture of said husband at a familiar bridge. "I think we got our spirit."

"Oh yeah?" Dean asks.

"Sylvania Bridge? Same bridge from this morning." She informs, earning a hum from Dean.

"Okay, let's regroup at the diner two blocks up from the library, grab a bite-"

"Dude, you just ate."

"For MJ," Dean says forcefully, "and then head back to the bridge."

"Sounds good. Lemme just print this article and jot down anything I find important."

Dean snorts, "You still into scrapbooking our cases?"

"I don't scrapbook. I'm gathering all the facts, making sure we turned all corners and didn't overlook-" she gasps when the phone goes out. "That bitch hung up on me." Jude seethes. She pouts and sets her phone down with an audible 'thunk' and finishes her notes before printing the article, along with information on the husband.

><><>♡<><><

The three walk along the bridge, approaching the railing to lean over it and peak over it to look down at the river below.

"So this is where Constance took the swan dive." Dean murmurs. Jude rolls her eyes at his bluntness.

"So you think dad would've been here?" Sam asks, looking over at Dean.

"Well, he's chasing the same story and we're chasing him." The second oldest replies. He pushes away from the railing and continues walking, Sam following. Jude stays a moment longer to study the water below and shuts her eyes, listening for a few minutes before reopening them and heading after her brothers. She lags behind, simply glancing around and trying to see with fresh eyes.

"Okay, so now what?" Sam pushes.

"Now we keep digging until we find him. Might take a while."

Sam stops, "Dean, I told you, I've gotta get back by Monday-"

"Monday, right. The interview."

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I forgot." Dean tilts his head to the side, eying Sam with a bemused glint, "You're really serious about this, aren't you? You think you're just going to become some lawyer? Marry the girl?"

Sam shrugs, "Maybe. Why not?"

"Does Jessica know the truth about you? I mean, does she know about the things you've done?" Dean asks, trying and succeeding to get under Sam's skin. This proven by the youngest stepping closer with squared shoulders.

"No, and she's not ever going to know."

"Well, that's healthy. You can pretend all you want, Sammy, but sooner or later you're going to have to face up to who you really are."

"And you would know all about pretending, wouldn't you, Dean?" MJ steps in, her inner protective instinct taking over. Dean spins back around.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, please, Dean." She scoffs. "Pretending that this life is what you want, pretending that the way we were raised was for the best, pretending that giving a child a sawed off shotgun and instructions- no, orders- to protect his siblings with his life is totally fine, pretending that John Winchester is a hero; a good father."

Dean flares up and gets in her face, "You shut your mouth you don't know what you're talking about. He's our dad, how can you say that?"

"It's because he's my dad that I know what I'm talking about."

Dean shakes his head, "You two really are so deep in denial of who you are, huh?"

"And who's that?" Sam asks tersely.

Dean walks away, "You're one of us."

Sam hurries to get in front of Dean, "No, I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life."

"And it sure as hell won't be mine." MJ adds, moving to stand beside the youngest.

"You two have a responsibility to-"

"To Dad?" Sam interrupts, scoffing. "And his crusade? If it weren't for pictures I wouldn't even know what mom looks like." Jude flinches, which goes unseen by her brothers. "And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, mom's gone. And she isn't coming back."

Dean grabs Sam by the collar and shoves him against the railing of the bridge. "Don't talk about her like that." He growls.

"Dean!" Jude hisses, grabbing at his shoulder by his jacket and pulling at him. "Let him go!" She demands. It's tense, but he does, shrugging her off and stomping off. She sighs in relief and shoves trembling hands into her jacket pocket, glancing over at Sam. "You good?" He glares at the back of Dean's head but nods. She nods back. "You really shouldn't have brought up mom."

They tense when Dean freezes, "Sam, Jude." He calls and both move to stand beside him, MJ between her brothers as a shield for Sam. Her eyes grow wide when she spots the reason Dean stopped. Constance stood at the edge of the bridge.

She looks over at them, then steps off the edge.

"Constance!" Jude shouts in vain, the first to take off towards where the woman once stood. She looks over, soon joined by her brothers.

"Where'd she go?" Dean asks.

"I don't know." Sam answers.

Behind them, the Impala's engine roars to life and its headlights come on. The three turn to look, all with wide eyes.

"What the-?" Dean mutters.

"Who's driving your car?" Sam asks, looking at both his siblings as if to confirm that it's neither of them. Dean pulls the keys out of his pocket and jingles them, causing Sam to glance at them.

"I was afraid you were going to say that." Jude groans. The car jerks into motion, heading straight for them, causing the three to book it.

"Dean? Go! Go!" Sam urges, pushing him while Jude pushes him. The car is moving faster than they are and when it gets too close, Sam and Dean dive over the railing while their sister dives in the opposite direction and hits the pavement hard. The car comes to a halt, then slowly goes in reverse and turns until the headlights cast Jude in their bright glow.

She squints and raises her left hand to block it out some. The engine revs as the impala threatens to drive at her. "Constance, please." Jude pleads, her lip busted from when she slammed face first into the ground and a salty copper taste fills her mouth. "Please don't do this." The engine revs again and Jude moves to stand despite her arms and legs screaming protests. The squealing of tires makes her move faster. Just as she stands, the lights die as does the engine.

Jude breathes a ragged sigh of relief before she gasps, limp-jogging to the railing where her brothers had leapt and leaned over the edge in time to see Sam hanging on. She immediately latches onto his wrist, before grabbing him by his shirt near his shoulder and pulling with all her might to help drag him over the rail, and back onto solid ground. They both look over, searching for Dean and hoping he was also hanging on but with a quick scan they see he is not.

"Dean?" Jude tries quietly. "Dean!?" She tries again, louder.

"Dean!" Sam joins in her yelling.

"Oh God- DEAN!!" She screams, cupping her mouth to sound louder.

Below, a filthy and annoyed Dean crawls out of the water and onto the mud, panting. "What?" He yells back tiredly.

"Hey! Are you all right?" Sam calls down to him. Dean holds up one hand in an 'ok' sign.

"I'm super."

Jude and Sam laugh, relieved. The former steps back and falls to her knees, breathing heavily as she stares up at the starry sky. "Are you all right?" Sam asks her next.

"Super duper."

Dean reunites with his siblings but makes a beeline for his car and immediately gets to work on checking on the engine. MJ rolls her eyes.

""Oh I'm so glad my awesome older sister and our brother Sammy are okay, I love them so much and would hate it if they got hurt", aww, Dean how sweet. We love you too, bud." MJ grumbles, walking over to lean against the front left wheel, watching Dean over her shoulder.

Sam snorts, glancing around before slinking over to stand in front of Jude just as Dean shuts the hood and leaning on the hood. "Your car alright?"

Dean nods, "Yeah, whatever she did to it, seems alright now." His lips dip into a frown. "That Constance chick, what a bitch."

"Well, she doesn't want us digging around, that's for sure."

MJ scoffs, "Huh, she seemed really ecstatic to share her trauma to me."

Sam pushes her playfully and she giggles, before the tallest one turns back to Dean, "So where's the job go from here, genius?" He inquires as he settles on the hood beside the middle child. Dean throws up his arms in frustration, flicking mud from his hands. Sam sniffs and scrunches his face while MJ pinches her nose and reels away while making a gagging sound.

"Oh, yuck, that- that is foul. You reek!"

Sam nods in agreement with the oldest, "You smell like a toilet."

Dean looks down before his green eyes glitter with mischief and he lunges for Mary, grabbing her in a large hug. She shrieks and shoves at him to no avail. "Aw, c'mon, Jude, give your little bro a hug!"

"Dean! Let me go, your stench is going to kill me!" Sam chuckles, shaking his head at his siblings. Mary reaches out for him. "Sammy save me!" He raises his hands and backs away.

"Sorry, I'm not going anywhere near that."

"Sammy~" Dean calls, finally letting go of Mary and opening his arms to the youngest. Sam continues to back off as the other advances. Dean breaks out into a run as Sammy sprints off, zig-zagging to dodge the pursuing Dean. "Just one little hug!"

MJ grins, watching as Dean finally catches Sam and rubs his muddy and soaked hair into his face while holding him in a death grip. Her smile starts to slowly fade and she sniffs, opening the impala's door. "Alright boys, we should really hit the showers. Charge up, get our bearings for tomorrow." They sober up and follow her lead, all climbing in before taking off back into town.

[AN: And that is a wrap. I wish to thank -episkey for writing a kick ass story and motivating me to FINALLY write this one. They have one if the best fanfics in Supernatural, seconded by their other one (and the sequel). So huge thank you for that! I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it.]

~Cassie😘💖
Published: May 29th, 2022