Title: Calls Me Home

Summary: A journey through seven seasons of Supernatural through the eyes of two Winchesters and a Singer.

Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Ruby Singer, Bobby Singer, John Winchester, and a whole ton of others.

Disclaimer: Everything you see here belongs to Eric Kripke and Co. The title belongs to the song "Calls Me Home" by Shannon LaBrie.

Author's Note:

Chapter Twenty Four

Dean smiled to himself as he finished wiping the side mirror clean. The Impala shined beneath the sunlight looking as if it were brand new. Even Ruby had to admit that she was impressed. They had been working small local hunts while he had been fixing up the car. Now it was all ready to go and Ruby wasn't sure if she was ready to leave. She had enjoyed the extra time with her father. It might have been a little selfish though knowing the boys had recently lost theirs. They already had another hunt lined up however she was worried that it was too soon for them to be going headfirst back into their normal routine. Despite her concerns, the Winchester brothers seemed to be in good spirits as they loaded up their beloved car. Dean admired how the car purred once they drove away from the Singer home.

"Do we need to give you two some time alone, Dean?" Sam chuckled in disbelief as they settled into the car.

"Oh don't listen to him, baby. He's jealous." Dean ran his hand gently along the dashboard as he drove them down the road.

Ruby sat in the back flashing him an amused smile. "Wow. Give you a couple of severed heads, some dead cows, and you're a regular Mr Sunshine."

"Got my car, got a case, things are looking up again." Dean admitted with a smile as their eyes met in the rearview mirror. "How far to Red Lodge?"

"Uh, about another three hundred miles."

"Good." Dean pressed the gas pedal down and they continued down the road.

They posed as reporters when they arrived at the sheriff's station in Red Lodge after stopping at a nearby motel to change into suits. The sheriff unfortunately wasn't forthcoming with information as the case was still ongoing and practically threw them out when Dean suggested that the dead cows might be part of some satanic ritual. The next logical place for them to go was to the morgue. They added white lab coats to their outfits and walked right into the morgue. There was an intern there in a lab coat as well with a name tag that said J. Manners.

"John.." Dean started only to get cut off.

"Jeff." The intern corrected him.

"Right." He chuckled nervously.

The blonde huntress smiled at the intern. "Jeff, I need your help. I can't seem to find Dr. Dworkin and the Sheriff's office is breathing down the hospital's neck wanting us to triple check the autopsy results for, uh, Christina Flanigan. That severed head that was brought in not too long ago."

"Oh that's because Dr. Dworkin is on vacation. Here I can pull up those results for you." Jeff led her out of the morgue toward Dr. Dworkin's office.

Once they were out of sight, Dean handed Sam a pair of latex gloves and slipped on a pair as well. Sam opened one of the compartment doors pulling out the tray that the headless corpse was laying on. A box rested between the dead woman's legs.

"Alright, open it." Dean told his brother.

"No, you open it."

"Wuss." Dean sighed picking up the box bringing it over to an examination table and flipped off the lid grimacing. "Well no pentagrams. At least we're not dealing with those satanists from Florida. So much f'd up crap happens in Florida."

"Yeah. Wow. Poor girl." Sam frowned looking at the severed head.

"We should check her mouth in case they left something in there. You know, like the moth in Silence of the Lambs." He suggested.

"Yeah man, go ahead." Sam nodded.

"No, you go ahead."

"What?" He looked at Dean confused.

"Put the lotion in the basket."

"Right. Yeah, I'm the wuss, huh? Whatever." Sam rolled his eyes and started poking his fingers around in her mouth. "Get me a bucket?"

"What?" Dean looked at his brother concerned.

"I might puke."

"Wait, lift up the lip again?" Dean tried to get a closer look.

"You really want me to puke, huh?"

"No. I think I saw something." He lifted the lip seeing a hole and pressed down on the gums only for a sharp tooth to slide out.

"A tooth."

"Sam, that's a fang. Retractable set of vampire fangs. You've got to be kidding me."

They shut the box placing it back with the body and shut the compartment. Throwing the latex gloves away, the Winchesters left the morgue only to run into Ruby who was holding a copy of the autopsy report. The three of them left the hospital getting back into the impala. Dean drove off back to the motel while they told Ruby what they found out in the morgue.

Ruby bit her lip showing Sam the report. "Well that makes a bit more sense. Maybe. The autopsy report said she died from decapitation. A very sharp knife is thought to be used. Like say a machete."

"You thinking it was another hunter?" Dean raised his brows at her.

"Well if Christina was a vampire then her cause of death lines up with a hunter doing it." Sam agreed.

The three of them were back in regular clothes and were at the local bar. Dean hustled in a game of pool while Sam watched. Ruby walked over to the bar sitting down and smiling at the bartender. She made small talk with him. At a nearby table sat an older dark skinned man watching and listening to her conversation. The bartender gave her a beer.

Ruby smiled thanking him. "So I'm looking for some people."

"Sure. Hard to be lonely." The bartender nodded his head wiping the bar top clean.

She pulled out a fifty dollar bill tapping it before setting it down on the bar. "That's not what I meant. These people would have moved here about six months ago. Probably pretty rowdy and liked to drink. Real night owls. Sleep all day and party all night."

"Barker farm got leased out a couple months ago. Real winners. They've been here a lot. Drinkers. Noisy as all hell. I've had to eighty six them once or twice." He took the money pocketing it.

Ruby smiled finishing her beer. "Thanks."

The man who was watching her was gone. Ruby shot a look over at the Winchesters and walked out of the bar. It was dark as she strolled down the alley nearby. The man followed her only to lose sight of where she went. He turned around only to find himself face to face with Sam and Dean who pinned him to the wall.

"Smile." Dean held a knife to his throat.

He looked at him in surprise and then rolled his eyes. "Oh for the love of... I'm not a vampire. Yeah that's right. I heard her in there."

"What do you know about vampires?" Sam looked at the man curiously.

Gordon sighed raising his lip showing that he wasn't a vampire. "See? Fangless. Happy? I know how to kill them. Name's Gordon Walker."

They let go of him and he led the three hunters to his car. He showed them his arsenal including a sharp hook that they can only assume that he had used on the vampires. Sam and Ruby shared a look. Gordon gave her a bad vibe that she couldn't quite explain. Her father always did tell her to trust her gut especially when it came to other hunters.

He chuckled slightly. "Sam and Dean Winchester. Can't believe it. You know I met your old man once? Hell of a guy. Great hunter. Heard he passed. I'm sorry to hear that. Big shoes. From what I hear you guys fill em though. Great trackers. Good in a tight spot. Can't say I've had the chance to meet your father, sweetheart, but I've heard great things about ol Bobby Singer."

"You seem to know a lot about our family." Dean held his arm in front of Ruby knowing what the man said upset her.

Gordon shrugged his shoulders. "Word travels fast. You know how hunters talk. Or not. Guess there's a lot your dad never told you, huh?"

"So those vampires. They were yours, huh?" Sam interjected before things could get too heated. "Did you check out the Barker farm?"

He nodded his head. "Yep. Been here two weeks. Oh that farm was a bust. Bunch of hippie freaks. They could kill you with that patchouli smell alone though."

Ruby narrowed her eyes at him. "Where's the nest then?"

Gordon smiled at her. "Look, sweetheart, I've got it covered. Don't get me wrong. It's been a real pleasure meeting you folks, but I've been on this thing over a year now. I killed a fang in Austin and tracked the nest all the way up here. I'll finish it."

"We could help." Dean offered.

The man shook his head. "Thanks, but I'm a go it alone type of guy."

"Oh come on. We're itching for a hunt." Dean frowned at him.

Gordon chuckled getting into his car. "Sorry, bud. I hear there's a Chupacabra two states over. Go knock yourselves out. It was real good meeting you though. I'll buy you a drink on the flip side."

Ruby huffed walking with the Winchesters through the local mill. "Sweetheart. I'll show you sweetheart, bastard."

Sam stifled a chuckle and reached over giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. Gordon hadn't lied about them being great trackers. It hadn't taken too long to track him down. The sounds of a scuffle grew catching their attention. Gordon was attacking a vampire with a machete and it wasn't going down without a fight. He had Gordon pinned to the table of an electric saw and turned it on just as the three hunters found them. Dean got the vampire's attention giving Sam the opportunity to pull Gordon to safety. After a bit of a struggle, Dean got the vampire pinned down using the electric saw to decapitate him which sprayed blood everywhere.

Gordon chuckled slightly as he caught his breath. "Maybe I do owe you that drink after all."

After a stop at the motel to let Dean get cleaned up, the three hunters met back up with Gordon at the bar. Ruby and Sam were clearly uncomfortable with how easily Dean seemed to be getting along with the older hunter. Neither trusted him all that much. Gordon praised Dean for the way he took out what the older hunter referred to as a 'fang' which only made Sam seem more uncomfortable.

"You alright, Sammy?" Dean looked over at his brother with a bit of concern.

"I'm fine." He responded flatly.

Gordon smiled taking a sip of his beer. "Well lighten up a little, Sammy."

"They're the only ones that get to call me that." Sam snapped at him.

Ruby cleared her throat smiling though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I think we're going to call it a night. I'm exhausted and Sam's not much of a drinker anyway."

"You sure?" The elder Winchester brother could tell something was off with her.

She nodded stopping to press a kiss to his temple. "Yeah I'm sure. Get back safe, alright?"

"I will. Promise." Dean smiled softly and watched as she left the bar with Sam.

Gordon chuckled shaking his head. "Oh you've got it bad, friend."

"Don't I know it." He took a sip of his beer.

The ride back to the motel was quiet until Sam parked the car and that was when she chose to speak up. "I know something is bothering you, Sam. Talk to me."

"It's Gordon. There's something about him. I don't like the way Dean acts around him either." Sam sighed as they got out of the car.

Ruby nodded in agreement. "Yeah me either."

"I'm going to call Ellen. Maybe she knows something about Gordon." He suggested once they were back in the motel room and pulled out his phone dialing her number.

"Harvelle's Roadhouse." Ellen answered.

"Hey, Ellen, uh, It's Sam Winchester. Ruby's here too." Sam said.

"Sam, it's good to hear from you. You're all ok, aren't you?"

"Yeah, yeah. Everything's fine." Sam reassured her. "I just have a question."

"Yeah, shoot." Ellen said.

"You ever run across a guy named Gordon Walker?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I know Gordon." Ellen confirmed. "Real good hunter. Why are you asking sweetie?"

"Well we ran into him on a job and we're kinda working with him, I guess." Sam explained.

"Don't do that, Sam." Ellen warned, her voice suddenly turning serious.

"I thought you said he was a good hunter." Sam demanded.

"Yeah and Hannibal Lecter's a good psychiatrist." Ellen quipped. "Look, he is dangerous to everyone and everything around him. If he's working a job you three just let him handle it and you move on."

Ruby bit her lip at that. "Ellen..."

"No, Ruby!" She interrupted her. "You just listen to what I'm telling you, ok?"

"Right. Okay." Sam agreed and the call ended a few moments later.

Back at the bar, Dean and Gordon were trading tales of previous hunts.

"So, I pick up this crossbow and I hit that ugly sucker with a silver-tipped arrow right in his heart." Dean was telling Gordon the story of one of his first hunts with John. "Sammy's waiting in the car, and uh, me and my dad take the thing into the woods, burn it to a crisp. I'm sitting there and looking into the fire, and I'm thinking to myself, I'm sixteen years old." He stared down at his beer bottle. "Most kids my age are worried about pimples or prom dates. I'm seeing things they'll never know. Never even dream of. So right then, I just sort of—"

Gordon nodded at him. "Embraced the life?"

"Yeah." Dean said.

He took a sip of his beer. "And Ruby? How'd you two end up crossing paths?"

"I've known her since we were kids." Dean said. "Loved her that long too." He cleared his throat. "So, how'd you get started?"

Gordon cleared his throat. "First time I saw a vampire I was barely 18. Home alone with my sister." Gordon started. "I hear the window break in her room. I grab my dad's gun, run in, try to get it off her. Too late. So I shoot the damn thing, which of course is about as useful as snapping it with a rubber band. It rushes me, picks me up, flings me across the room, and knocks me out cold. When I wake up, the vampire's gone, my sister's gone."

"And then?" Dean questioned.

He sighed. "Then…try explaining that one to your family. So I left home. And then bummed around look for information. How you track 'em, how you kill 'em. And I found that fang – it was my first kill."

"Sorry about your sister." Dean said softly.

Gordon frowned taking a long sip of his beer. "Yeah…She was beautiful. I can still see her, you know? The way she was. But hey, that was a long time ago. I mean, your dad. It's gotta be rough."

"Yeah…" Dean nodded and stared down at his beer bottle again. "He was just one of those guys. Took some terrible beatings, just kept coming. So you're always thinking to yourself, he's indestructible. He'll always be around. Nothing can kill my dad. Then just like that he's gone. I can't talk about this to Sammy. I gotta keep my game face on." He stopped and cleared his throat. "But, uh, the truth is I'm not handling it very well. I feel like I have this—"

He raised his brows giving him a knowing look. "Hole inside you? And it just gets bigger and bigger and darker and darker? Good. You can use it. Keeps you hungry. There's plenty out there needs killing, and this'll help you do it. Dean, it's not a crime to need your job."

There was a pause and then Gordon continued. "Know what I love this life? It's all black and white. There's no maybe. You find the bad thing, kill it. See, most people spend their lives in shades of gray. Is this right? Is that wrong? Not us."

"Not sure Sammy would agree with you, but uh…" Dean started.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't seem like your brother or Ruby are much like us. I'm not saying they're wrong, just different. But you and me? We were born to do this. It's in our blood."

"You wanna go get a soda?" Sam asked.

Ruby nodded and stood up off the bed. The two of them went out to the vending machine and each got a soda. They returned to their room and Sam stopped as if he heard something. He cautiously opened the door and looked around. They both went inside and he leaned against the door sighing in relief. Suddenly, a dark figure jumped Sam from behind. He knocked the first attacker down and a second attacker jumped out grabbing Ruby. She threw them over her shoulder. The first attacker got up and knocked Sam unconscious with the motel room telephone then they both cornered her. She reached for her gun, but it was too late. The attacker hit her with something heavy from behind and knocked her unconscious.

They woke up each bound to a chair and gagged with a sack over their heads. The bartender from earlier in the day pulled the sacks off of them. He showed his fangs at Sam and started advancing on him as Sam struggled to break free. Ruby looked up as a woman appeared in the doorway.

"My name's Lenore. I'm not going to hurt you. We just need to talk." She said.

"Talk?" Sam questioned sarcastically. "Yeah okay, but I might have a tough time paying attention to much besides Eli's teeth."

"He won't hurt you either." Lenore said. "You have my word."

Ruby scoffed. "Your word? Great thanks. Listen lady, no offense, but you're not the first vampire I've met."

"We're not like the others." She said. "We don't kill humans and we don't drink their blood. We haven't for a long time."

"What is this? Some kind of joke?" Sam demanded.

"Notice you're still alive." Lenore commented.

"Alright, correct me if I'm wrong here…" Sam started, "But shouldn't you be starving to death?"

"We've found other ways. Cattle blood." Lenore explained.

"You're telling me you're responsible for all the –"

"It's not ideal." She interrupted Sam. "In fact, it's disgusting. But—it allows us to get by."

The blonde stared up at her curiously. "Okay, but why?"

"Survival." Lenore said as it was the most obvious thing. "No deaths, no missing locals, no reason for people like you to come looking for people like us. We blend in. Our kind is practically extinct. Turns out we weren't quite as high up the food chain as we imagined."

"Why are we explaining ourselves to these killers?" Eli demanded.

"Eli!" Lenore yelled.

"We choke on cow's blood so that none of them suffer." He spat. "Tonight they murdered Conrad and they celebrated." Eli looked directly at them with hatred in his eyes.

"Eli, that's enough." Lenore said.

"Yeah, Eli." Sam smirked. "That's enough."

"What's done is done." Lenore said. "We're leaving this town tonight."

"Then why did you bring us here?" Sam asked annoyed. "Why are you even talking to us?"

"Believe me, I'd rather not." Lenore admitted. "But I know your kind. Once you have the scent you'll keep tracking us. It doesn't matter where we go. Hunters will find us."

"So you're asking us not to follow you." Sam realized.

"We have a right to live." She said. "We're not hurting anyone."

"Right, so you keep saying." Sam said. "But give me one good reason why I should believe you."

"Fine." Lenore said as she got up into his face. "You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to let you go." They looked at her in surprise. "Take them back. Not a mark on them."

Two vampires grabbed Sam and Ruby covering their heads again. They stuffed them in the back of a truck and drove them back to the motel.

"Looks like it's all coming from this side of town." Dean said as he pointed to the map as they discussed strategy back at the motel. "Which means the nest would be around here someplace, right?" He pointed to another area on the map.

Gordon agreed with a nod of his head. "Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Problem is there's 35 or 40 farms out there. I've searched about half of 'em already, but nothing yet. They're covering their tracks real good."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to search the other half." Dean said then glanced down at his watch. "What time is it? Where the hell are Sam and Ruby?"

He shrugged. "Car's parked outside. Maybe they took a walk."

As if on cue, the two of them walked inside looking disheveled and Ruby was the first to speak. "Dean, can we please speak to you in private for a moment?"

"Uh yeah, sure. Just chill out here, Gordon. We'll be right back." He followed them outside in confusion to the parking lot.

"Dean, maybe we ought to rethink this hunt." Sam sighed turning to look at his brother.

"What are you talking about? Where were you guys?"

"In the nest." The younger Winchester brother admitted.

"You found out?" Dean looked at them in shock.

Ruby shook her head. "They found us."

"Are you okay?" He checked them over though neither looked injured and pulled the blonde into his arms. "How'd you get out? How many did you kill?"

"None. They just let us go."

"They didn't just let you go, Sam." Dean snapped in disbelief.

She sighed looking at him. "Dean, that's exactly what they did."

"Alright fine." He relented pressing a kiss to her head. "So where is it?"

Ruby shrugged her shoulders. "We were blindfolded. I don't know."

"Well you've got to know something."

"We went over the bridge just outside of town, but Dean, maybe we shouldn't go after them." Sam admitted with a sigh of his own.

"Why not?" He shot a confused look at his brother.

"They're not like other vampires. I don't think they hurt humans."

"Then how do they survive?"

The blonde bit her lip. "Cattle mutilations. They said that they live off of animal blood."

"And you believed them?!"

"Look at us! They let us go without a scratch." Sam pointed out.

"What part of vampires don't you get, Sam? We find them, we waste em. That's our job."

Ruby pulled back from Dean staring up at him disbelief. "No that's not our job, Dean. Our job is to kill evil. We stop supernatural things that are hurting other people. They aren't hurting anyone. Except maybe the farmers raising the cattle."

"Of course they're killing people. It's what vampires do." He frowned shaking his head. "They're all the same. We have to exterminate every last one of them."

"Not this time, Dean." He pleaded with his brother.

"Gordon's been on these vamps for over a year. He knows."

"Oh Gordon?" Sam laughed in disbelief. "You're taking his word for it?"

"That's right." Dean looked at his brother.

"Ellen said he was bad news."

"You called Ellen? Well no offense, Sam, but we hardly know her. No thanks. I'll go with Gordon on this one." Dean scoffed.

Ruby glared him. "Listen here, Dean Winchester. I've known Ellen Harvelle almost my whole life. If she says Gordon is bad news then he is bad news. Look, if you can't trust her because you hardly know her then please trust me. You know me."

"I do trust you. I just.. I don't know. It goes against everything I was taught." He looked conflicted. "Gordon has a lot of experience with vampires though."

"Damn it, Dean. You don't think I see what this is? He's a substitute for Dad isn't he?" Sam snapped. "A poor one."

"Shut up, Sam." Dean said coldly.

"He's not even close, Dean. Not on his best day." Sam continued.

"You know what? I'm not even gonna talk about this." Dean said.

"You know, you slap on this big fake smile but I can see right through it." Sam spat. "Because I know how you feel, Dean. Dad's Dead. And he left a hole, and it hurts so bad you can't take it, but you can't just fill up that hole with whoever you want to. It's an insult to his memory!"

He started to walk away then turned around punching Sam hard across the face. It sent Sam reeling back though fortunately he didn't fall.

"You hit me all you want." Sam said. "It won't change anything."

"I'm going to that nest. You don't wanna tell me where it is, fine. I'll find it myself." Dean said and started going back to the motel room.

"Dean!" Sam called after him and the two of them followed him back into the motel room.

"Gordon?" Dean called out as he entered the room. Gordon was nowhere to be found.

"Think he went after them?"

"Probably. Give me my keys." Dean sighed.

Ruby went to grab them, but they weren't on the table. "He snaked them."

"Son of a bitch! I just fixed her too." He groaned heading back out the door.

The car started after Dean hotwired it. He turned toward Sam who had a map spread out across his lap.

"The bridge was four and a half minutes from their farm." Sam said and started tracing a path on the map he had placed in his lap. "They took a left out of the farm, then turned right onto a dirt road, followed that for two minutes slightly uphill, then took another quick right and we hit the bridge."

"You're good." Dean admitted. "You're a monster pain in the ass, but you're good."

The three hunters pulled up to the farm and saw Gordon's car already parked outside. The three of them crept quietly inside and saw Lenore tied to a chair covered in cuts. She looked deathly pale. Gordon circled around her slicing the bloody knife across her chest causing her to groan in pain. They assumed it was dead man's blood covering the knife.

Gordon spoke up as he saw their shadows in the doorway. "Sam, Dean, Ruby. Come on in."

"Hey, Gordon." Dean said. "What's going on?"

He smirked talking casually. "Just poisoning Lenore here with some dead man's blood. She's going to tell us where all her little friends are, aren't you? Wanna help?"

"Look, man –" Dean started to say something but was interrupted.

He dragged the knife across her arm and they could see the dead man's blood flowing through her veins. "Grab a knife. I was just about to start in on her fingers."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's all just chill out, huh?" Dean was trying to defuse the situation with Gordon. It didn't seem like he trusted Gordon either after seeing him with Lenore.

Gordon smiled. "I'm completely chill."

"Gordon, put the knife down." Sam said, trying to talk him down. Ruby stepped toward Gordon and Dean stopped her, pulling her back slightly by the waist.

He raised his eyebrows. "Sounds like it's Sam here that needs to chill."

Ruby huffed at him. "Just get away from her, asshole."

Gordon set the knife down pulling out a much larger one. "I'm wasting my time here. This bitch will never talk. Might as well put her out of her misery. I just sharpened it, so it's completely humane."

He looked to Sam as he said that and smirked then turned back to Lenore. Sam stepped in to block him.

"Gordon, I'm letting her go." Sam said and reached for Lenore.

Gordon pointed the knife at Sam's chest and seethed. "You're not doing a damn thing."

"Hey, hey ,hey, Gordon. Let's talk about this." Dean said.

He looked over at Dean. "What's there to talk about? It's like I said, Dean. No shades of gray."

"Yeah I hear ya." Dean agreed. "And I know how you feel."

Gordon snapped at him. "Do you really?"

"That vampire that killed your sister deserved to die, but this one…"

Gordon interrupted with laughter. "Killed my sister? That filthy fang didn't kill my sister. It turned her. It made her one of them. So I hunted her down and I killed her myself."

"You did what?" Dean asked in complete shock.

He shrugged. "It wasn't my sister anymore, it wasn't human. I didn't blink. And neither would you."

Ruby moved forward toward Sam slowly. "So you knew all along then? You knew about the vampires. You knew they weren't killing anyone. You knew about the cattle and you just didn't care."

Gordon scoffed. "Care about what? A nest of vampires suddenly acting nice? Taking a little time out from sucking innocent people? And we're supposed to buy that? Trust me. Doesn't change what they are. And I can prove it."

Ruby grabbed Sam and pulled him back. Before she could properly react, she was caught in Gordon's grasp.

Gordon grabbed her arm slicing his knife across it. He held the knife against her throat and dragged her toward Lenore. Dean pulled out his gun and pointed it directly at Gordon's head.

"Let her go. Now!" Dean yelled.

Gordon smiled. "Relax. If I wanted to kill her she'd already be on the floor. Just making a little point."

He held the cut on Ruby's arm over Lenore and let the blood drip on her face. Her fangs descended and she started hissing.

Gordon gestured to the scene in front of them. "You think she's so different? Still wanna save her? Look at her! They're all the same. Evil, bloodthirsty."

Lenore retracted her fangs and turned her face away from Ruby. "No, no!" She kept repeating over and over again.

"You hear her, Gordon?" Sam demanded.

Gordon was distracted looking down at Lenore and Ruby used the opportunity to push the knife away from her throat. She spun around and held her gun directly aimed at Gordon's head.

"Sam, get her out of here." Dean said and gestured to Lenore. Sam walked over and picked up Lenore. Gordon took a step toward Sam, but Dean still had his gun trained on him.

"Uh-uh!" He warned Gordon and looked at Ruby. Gordon turned around to see her with her gun trained on his face and smiling. "Gordon, I think you and I've got some things to talk about…Ruby go." Dean said.

The blonde lowered her gun shaking her head as she walked to stand near the door. "I'll stay out of the way, but I'm not leaving."

Gordon tried to leave, but Dean was still pointing his gun at him. "Get out of my way!"

"Sorry." Dean shook his head.

He protested. "You can't be serious."

"I'm having a hard time believing it too, but I know what I saw." Dean admitted. "If you want those vampires, you gotta go through me."

Gordon nodded and jammed his knife into the table.

He seethed. "Fine."

Dean looked at the knife then looked to his gun. He pulled the clip out and set it aside. Gordon walked up to him and punched him. Dean started fighting back immediately. Gordon grabbed for the knife again knowing he was outmatched. Dean groaned and fought to keep the knife away.

Gordon chuckled bitterly at him. "What are you doing, man? You doing this for a fang? Come on, Dean, we're on the same side here."

"I don't think so, you sadistic bastard." Dean snapped only to get thrown across the room into the wall.

Gordon taunted him. "You're not like your brother and Ruby. You're a killer like me."

Anger filled Ruby as she shot at Gordon intentionally missing. "Dean is nothing like you and he never will be either. He is a good man."

Dean got up using the distraction to kick Gordon back down. Gordon hauled him up against the wall and elbowed him in the face. Seeing her opening, Ruby grabbed a nearby crowbar and approached him from behind whacking the back of his head knocking him out cold. Dean looked at her in shock. Snapping out of it, Dean pinned Gordon's head under his elbow and lifted his body moving him to another room in the farm. He slammed his head into the door frame on the way out.

"Oh. Sorry." He said sarcastically then set Gordon down in a chair and tied him up. "You know, I might be like you and I might not. But you're the one tied up right now."

Ruby sighed in relief when Sam returned. "Did Lenore get out okay?"

"Yeah all of them did. What I miss?"

"Oh you know, just a bit of a fight and tying Gordon here to a chair." Dean kicked the chair knocking him over. "Let's go. Don't worry, Gordon. We'll let the authorities know to come looking for you. In a couple of days."

He chuckled walking out of the farm with his brother and Ruby. Dean tried to egg Sam on into hitting him back feeling as if he deserved it though Sam adamantly refused.

"You look like you just went 12 rounds with a block of cement, Dean. I'll take a rain check." Sam laughed through his nose.

"I wish we never took this job." Dean admitted. "It's jacked everything up."

"What do you mean?" He looked at him.

"Think about all the hunts we went on our whole lives." He said and Sam motioned for him to continue. "What if we killed things that didn't deserve killing? You know? I mean, the way we were raised…"

"Dean, after what happened to Mom, Dad did the best he could." Sam reasoned.

"I know he did." Dean said. "But the man wasn't perfect. And the way he raised us to hate those things. I hate 'em. I do. When I killed that vampire at the mill I didn't even think about it. Hell, I even enjoyed it."

"You didn't kill Lenore." Sam reminded him.

"No, but every instinct told me to. I was gonna kill her. I was gonna kill 'em all."

"Yeah, Dean, but you didn't." Sam said. "And that's what matters."

"Yeah. Cause you're a pain in my ass." Dean laughed.

"Guess I might have to stick around to be a pain in the ass, then." Sam smirked.

"Thanks." Dean said.

"Don't mention it." Sam nodded and climbed into the backseat. Dean looked lost in thought for a second.

Snapping out of it, he nodded his head. Ruby kissed his cheek before getting into the passenger side of the car. He finally climbed in and started the car lacing his fingers with hers as he drove away from the farm.

Ruby winced as Dean wiped the cut on her arm clean with peroxide. "One of my least favorite parts of hunting."

"At least it's not deep enough to need stitches." He assured her as he examined the cut applying a bit of antibacterial ointment onto it before covering it with a bandage.

She nodded her head in agreement sighing in relief. "Well good. Dad would probably kill me if he saw stitches in my arm."

"Nah, he'd kill Sam and I first. So, uh, what you said back there.. about me being a good man..."

Ruby smiled watching as he cleaned up the mess from patching up her arm. "That's because you are a good man, Dean Winchester."

"Not lately. I've been too in my head since Dad... and I've taken it out on you. I.. I shouldn't have and I'm so sorry. You know I don't blame you right? If it really was the demon that Dad met up with then I am glad you got out of there before you could have been seen. I don't know what I would have done if..." Dean trailed off sitting back down in front of her.

She crawled forward onto his lap silencing him with a gentle kiss. "As long as I have you, that bastard of a demon can't hurt me."

"Damn right." He smiled returning her kiss.

Ruby smiled brushing her fingers against his face gently. "And yeah you being a jerk hurt. I won't lie. I get it though. Everyone grieves differently. You can't keep it all bottled up inside though."

"It's more than that, Ruby. Yeah I'm upset that Dad is gone. It hurts. I just... he said something to me before he died. About Sam. It's been eating me up inside ever since." Dean frowned shaking his head.

Realization crossed her features as she looked at him. "It's about his psychic stuff, isn't it?"

"Kind of. He didn't go into specifics or give me any answers. I can't tell you though. I can't burden you with this too."

Ruby cupped his face gently within her hands. "We're in this together, Winchester. I'd rather you tell me and we can lean on each other for support through this instead of you bottling it up inside."

"I.. alright fine." Dean sighed and leaned in whispering his horrible secret to her.

Her brows furrowed and she gasped at his words. "Dean... no. No. I refuse to believe that. He was wrong about the vampires right? So he's got to be wrong about this too."

"I sure hope so, but I just don't know." He frowned.

Ruby met his eyes giving him a reassuring look. "He's wrong and I hate him for leaving you with this on your conscious. It's not fair. You know what though? It'll be okay. We've gotten out of tight spots before. No matter what happens, we'll be fine."

"Okay." For the first time since his father told him that, he felt calm and like everything might just be alright after all.