Another chapter. Hope you enjoy. All mistakes can be kept by the finder. It will be the last one for at least a month due to some university-stuff. Have fun and please review.

They were on the road again and it wasn't supposed to feel like this. They were back to the usual business and everything was as normal as it would get. Could get, really. Lisa and Ben were at home, they were alright with him again. Sam sat next to him in the Impala, the music was good and they had a mission. Cas checked on them every few days and at times Kali called. So yes maybe things were different – maybe even for them it wasn't normal to search for weapons and an angel – maybe being phoned by a goddess telling them news, being their home-base or whatever was far from normal for an hunter – and possibly it has been a long time since Cas had been a regular visitor but still it shouldn't feel this wrong. Dean drove, of course he did. But something had changed. He couldn't quite place it. Their little mission had been normal and then suddenly it hadn't been anymore. He couldn't place when things had changed but there was one event that marked the turn of events. It had been three days ago. The two of them had been feeling strange for some days before that, feeling as though the world had changed. Then Kali had called with some information about a relict that might come from heaven. The pagans wanted nothing to do with this stuff, with another apocalypse. But they knew what to look out for. So the boys had listened to her, driven to the place. It had been a church, small and nice but something was amiss. The pastor told them that an old grail had been stolen. No history on it but that it might have been old enough to be one of the things they were searching for. So they had reported to Castiel. While Dean had talked to Cas Sam had been inside searching for something that would tell them who had taken it. He was gone for some time and in the meantime Bobby had called. He wanted to meet them, told him that he had a suprise for them. The reason they were driving now. They were to meet him. But that really hadn't been the point. Rather it was Sam. When he came out of the church he had been different. Not a demon, Dean had tested for that. But silent. He had shown him a feather. One like the one Gabriel had left with Kali and Emilia. Still Dean was disturbed. Annoyed even. He couldn't figure out what had happened. There was no way that Sam would act like this over a feather.

Dean turned around to look at his brother only to find him reading a book about witchcraft. Yes they had tried to talk. As if that had helped though. Dean still didn't know. Only three things he was certain of. Firstly the talisman Sam held in his hand, was important. Why else would his little brother keep something he had found in a church. Why else would he finger it absentmindly whenever he seemed insecure. Secondly things really shouldn't feel like this. And thirdly they were in deep trouble. It was like every other time when things started to go downhill.

With no solution at hand Dean decided to let the music talk and drove further to the meeting with Bobby. Hoping that somehow there would be no bad messages.

I see a bad moon rising

I see trouble on the way
I see earthquakes and lightning

I see bad times today

When they stopped in an abandoned park Sam seemed to be normal again. The book was packed away and he seemed more alive than just minutes ago. He had found what he had been looking for Dean guessed. And it was strange that Sam was possibly even more alive than weeks ago. Yes his brother had been quiet for a little longer than the day at the church. Just not that extreme. So him looking alive shouldn't bother him. It really shouldn't and maybe it doesn't. But maybe it does. Things don't seem to make that much sense anymore.

When the two of them walked into the park they were silent. No need to speak. Even in this somehow eery athmosphere the park seemed to have they were comfortable with eachother. Yes in this moment in a lone park without any person around, the swings moving in the wind, trees without leaves, things seemed to be normal. Dean cuckled at that. They were a walking clichee somewhere between a horror-movie and an exrtemly disfunctional family. Even with his brothers odd attitude it felt better than any moment he had been with Lisa and Ben. Life was strange that way.

He breathed in and out and when they sat on a bank to wait and some rays of the sun found their way through the clouds. Dean could see Sam smile. It wasn't a full smile but it was there. His brother was at ease and that alone made Dean ignore the fact that an owl flew over their heads at broad daylight.

They heard a car followed by steps coming closer and it would have been easy to imagine Bobby walking towards them if it had only been one pair of feet they had heard.

They stood simultaneously. What they saw nearly stopped their hearts. And they had seen many things, too much had happened to them for this to be a suprise but still. Still their heads could not wrap around the fact that the people accompanying Bobby were their parents.

After everything was said and done, after they knew it really was their parents and not some imposers there was silence again. They stood there facing eachother. Not really like a standoff with Bobby standing between them but just the way they were. Two boys with their parents, their supposedly dead parents. And one of them didn't even know his mother. It was right and wrong and all the other things that Dean couldn't quite grasp. There was no way to make sense out of this. Yet a word left his mouth. Not more than a breath but he might as well have screamed it. They were all looking at him with this wonder and confusion as though he had said something stupid. Or maybe not all of them. He was too focused on his parents. Looking at Sam he found his brother to look oddly between afraid and confused. But then he had every right to be. He had been away for too long and their mother had died to early for him to remember. Bobby merely looked suprised at the word that had left his mouth. And it did so again when he heard the silent flutter of wings and felt the comforting presence of his angel behind him. "Cas..."
Even Sam seemed to relax a little after the arrival of the angel. "You called. What is it?" The whole focus of Castiel was Dean. As it was most of the time. When the man ignored him the angel moved his head to follow Deans eyes. What he saw suprised him. Not that anyone could see. Or maybe someone could. Dean had turned his head in hope of an explanation. What he got was not what he had hoped for. Rather it was an irritated angel.

Sam knew that Cas and Dean were having one of this silent conversations as they stared at eachother. And he understood. There was a deeper connection these two shared and they understood and they knew. It wasn't romantic, probably, but the two of them needed the comfort the other could offer in a situation like this. Where everything was different. Even though Sam could tell that and Cas obviously had no idea what was going on his brother seemed more relaxed than before. He himself looked around. Bobby kept things under control which Sam knew was a good thing. He had seen the shock of his parents when Cas had appeared and their confusion at the silent conversation Dean and Cas had. Or maybe the two of them were talking but Sam had stopped listening. It wasn't as if he they were talking to him and too much was going on to concentrate on an explanation the angel was unable to give. If they needed his input they would address him. The same way as every other time. He could see his father well on the way to say something, the face irritated by being ignored. He could see Bobby shooting John a look and Mary touching his arm as if to calm him. Sams body tensed. He couldn't help it but he had been in too many fights with his father and he expected things to blow up. But they didn't. Even in it's strange awkwardness this situation held more hope than he had felt in a long time. He wasn't ready for things to go downhill again.

A movement above the heads of his parents caught his eyes. The owl from before sat there watching them. Sam relaxed. He knew this owl as he knew the talisman. He wouldn't get mad at his dad. There was more hope than he dared to believe in. He souldn't feel that way but then things seemed to make less and less sense anyway. A chance given wouldn't kill anyone. Not yet. He knew he souldn't feel this trust but he knew that there was something that was amiss, something he had seen in his dreams months ago. A past revealed. Whether it was true or not had yet to be confirmed but what he had seen anything but bad. And it gave him hope. He smiled.

She saw how her sons looked at eachother. She saw how they had changed. Grown up. It was different but at the same time she felt like she knew them. The thid man. Or rather angel as Bobby had told them on their way to this place, looked so perfect where he stood. Next to Dean who stood in between Sam and the angel. It looked as if this was how it was supposed to be. Her and John had had an argument or two about the boys becoming hunters and about the past in general but things were fine now. And as she felt him want to talk again she stopped him and took action instead. Sam had been smiling a moment ago and now it was her who wanted to make him smile so she walked towards the trio and hugged her sons. There were no words needed. There should be now words. She could feel Dean respond and seconds later even Sam who had been a little hesitant. When she looked up the angel had vanished. They sat down and talked, caught up on recent events and on life in general. It was stange but right. Nothing seemed to stop this familiar feeling. When they walked to their cars t drive to Bobbys all seemed well. They wanted to organise their search for the lost relics. The boys had not been pleased but John would not be John if he didn't get what he wanted. Dean and John were going to drive in the Impala and that was that. It seemed to be a given but Mary had to chuckle when she saw how John had to drive shotgun. Her sons love for that car might be a bit unhealthy. When she watched Sam open the door to Bobbys car she caught him smile wistfully at an owl sitting on the bench the boys had occupied upon the arrival of her and the two other men. All would be well.

The world is closing in
Did you ever think
That we could be so close, like brothers
The future's in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change

When she walked down the stairs due to her thirst she felt strange. Again. It was the middle of the night and they had talked forever. They might have talked for minutes. She couldn't place it. There was so much said and so much more left unsaid that she wasn't sure how much time all of them would need. And she had yet to tell of the demon she had met. She had left that part of the story in the dark. For now. It felt important but she had seen how John had reacted when the boys had talked about demons. They had given them a brief rundown on the events of the past. Deans demon-deal and his death, Sams contact and learning with a demon, Dean coming back with the help of Castiel and the whole Apocalypse-affair. It had struck her as strange that despite all the detail they had left out most things about the demon that had worked with and betrayed Sam but when they had mentioned the Apocalypse she had forgotten. As the boys had talked about recent events, explaining what exactly they were searching she had been suprised. Not only by the fact that heaven was in a civil war and had lost some relics but by the fact that they had the help of a goddess. Her sons had left them mostly in the dark as to why the goddess was helping them but she knew that it was for someone she loved. This story had been new even to Bobby and judging the reactions of the older hunter in the room they were not pleased with the company Sam and Dean kept these days.

After she filled a glass with water she walked out to sit on the steps of the patio. It was where she saw him. Her younger son sat at the place she had intended to be the end of her journey. Undecided whether she should disturb him or not she looked around until her eyes fell upon him again. When he looked up she saw him give her a look she couldn't place. So she sat down next to him. She had seen this look before when they had talked about the demon. Mary closed her eyes for a second. "What makes you so sad Sam?" Only after the words had left her mouth she realised that she had never talked to Sam one on one. It was new but familiar at the same time. "I just. Talking about all that has happened I remembered a friend. He betrayed me. I still liked him." A vague explanation but somehow Mary got the feeling it was more than he had admitted to anyone before. "I'm sorry. Do you know why he did it?" She needed to know why her son was in so much pain. It was her instict. "You remember the demon we told you about. The one that helped me? That was her." Marys head shot upwards. Sam had thought of the demon as a friend? It shouldn't suprise her for he had obviously trusted her but the fact that the demon was female gave her a strange feeling as though there was a connection she was supposed to make. She couldn't so she continued to ask somehow unsure how to get Sam to talk, "Yes I do... What about her?" It wasn't the best tactic but maybe he would just tell her on his own. And he did. What came was a suprise to her and at the same time she should have suspected it. "I think I was in love with her. Her name was Ruby. I.. I still believe that she wasn't really evil. She had a soul and you know about my powers right?" He was silent for some seconds, the confession taking it's toll on him but he continued nonetheless, "I had a vision some weeks ago. It was the night you came back I think. It showed me something of her life. It made her the good one. I don't know what to think anymore. I want to believe it. No I do believe it but I'm not sure if it's true. I hate this feeling." At the end of his little monologue Sam had a hand in his hair. His eyes seemed unfocussed but her wasn't the only one who was disturbed. Mary couldn't help it. She remembered the night, Ruby, the spell. A spell she knew a lot more about now that she had had time to do some reasearch on it. "You know that Ruby. I'm sure she wasn't half as bad." That seemed to have caught him off-guard. Or maybe it hadn't. She wondered for a brief second only to find that it wasn't the fact she had stated but rather the knowledge she held that had suprised him. "I know." His voice sounded calm but she couldn't tell. After all the vision Ruby had shown her had been the first time she had really seen Sam since her death. And that was quiet some time ago. "How do you know?" As he trailed off she wondered for a moment whether she should tell the secret. "I met her. You remember when I told you about how I woke up and came here to Bobbys? She was there. She came back as well and I didn't trust her. So she showed me her memories. I knew the spell. I knew it was true. I was suprised." "Of course you are. Nothing like this has ever been before. My vision, the memories she showed you. Maybe they were the same. It was around the same time." And he was silent again. His voice still held the same tone as before. More than before though things seemed to make sense now. She remembered. This spell was one she and her mum had talked about when she was younger and her new research had helped with the gaps she had had to fill. It had been made to show the truth to other witches, to show that one was trustworthy. But at times there were people, normal humans who needed to be convinced of these things. And a powerful witch could do so by using this spell from afar. It would work if she really wanted for the person to know the truth. Was it possible that Ruby didn't know how much power she had or that she had wanted Sam to know the truth so much that she had shown it to him unintentionally? "It's possible." The only thing she answered. There was not much more to say. Explaining the spell would be too difficult for her at this late hour. They were safe for now. And when she saw Sam look at an own sitting on one of the cars she smiled a small smile. Maybe they were safer than they thought. Who knew.

Inside Dean had his eyes glued to the ceiling. He had heard Sam leaving and he had heard Mary. Things were still strange. They were still feeling wrong. But a part of him felt that wrong might just be the new right. This small family-gathering felt right enough. He could tell that things would go downhill soon. But the way things looked there was more hope than he had imagined even if a stupid arch-angel tried to start a new apocalypse. Even if he was stonger than Cas. There was Balthazar the wildcard. Who knew what he would do but Dean didn't like him. Then there was Gabe. Maybe. Who knew if the angel was really alive and what he was up to. There were Kali and Emilia. They helped more than they realised he thought. They really had become a home-base. Most research was done at Kalis house which after all had more than enough space and the possibilities due to a great library and contact to other gods were good. And there was always Emilia who made everyone smile when they were down. And now there was his family as well. Dean had to chuckle at that. John had been John. Coplicated. But he was obviously devoted and he would help them. And Mary? She seemed to be totally into this whole thing even though she had not wanted to be a hunter in the past. Yes things definietly looked brighter that way. When he looked outside towards his mother and brother he felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. He would just ignore the owl for now he thought as the tall bird flew into the direcction of the moon. For once the chaos he knew would come wasn't half as bad. Screw Raphael and whoever would now take over hell.