The Family Business

Backfire

"I'm waiting," Mary Winchester said casually. She stood in the entryway of the kitchen holding a paper bag of what looked to be groceries.

"Here mom let me get that," Sam said moving to take the bags from his mother's arms. 

"Dean," Mary crossed her arms over her chest giving her oldest her patented mom glare.

"Why does it gotta be me?" Dean asked wide-eyed. "Maybe he's Sammy's or even Cas'."

"Oh, so you refer to yourself in the third person now?" Mary tilted her head making Dean fidget.

"Dean is very unhappy with your automatic assumptions," Dean sassed.

Mary took a calming breath and looked at the faces around the room, Castiel was the picture of calm while Sam's face was tomato red while he bit his lips trying to hold back a laugh. Her gaze finally settled on the young couple they stood side by side to show their unity and partnership. John used to walk slightly ahead of her out in public, he would tell her that the highest ranking officer always lead the way so as to protect those in his charge. But behind closed doors, at gatherings or dinners, he stood by her side, always. Equal to him in every way, she smiled at the memory.

"How old are you sweetheart?" Mary asked gently.

"You don't have to answer that," Dean piped up but instantly recoiled when his mother sent a glare his way.

"I'm nineteen ma'am," Ben answered with a nod of his head.

"So that would mean roughly twenty years ago you were conceived which would make Sam fourteen?" Mary asked sarcastically.

"Fifteen," Sam corrected with a smirk.

"Want to change your answer, Dean?" Mary asked.

"Hey Mom! Welcome home, so this might come as a shock but I would like you to meet your grandson that I had no idea about and haven't even gotten the whole story yet myself, Ben." Dean said sarcastically. "Ben this is my mom, your grandmother, Mary Winchester. All acquainted? Great!"

"Oh don't act like a toddler Dean," Mary scolded then turned to Ben. She took in his appearance with a watery smile, he looked like a blend of John and Dean. There were attributes about him that she assumed was his mother, but he had his grandfather's jawline and fathers nose and lips. Mary quickly dashed away any evidence of tears and held her hands out to him.

"Come on now!" she said with a sniffle and laugh. "I thought I'd never have grand-babies, and now I have two."

Ben chuckled as he was wrapped up in his grandmother's hug "I never thought I'd have a grandma."

While Ben told Mary about baseball and his past with Dean, he told her about how he thought she had died and she looked really great for her age. In which she launched into her story of how she was on earth. Sam looked at Dean and tilted his head holding up two fingers. 'Jack' Dean mouthed back, Sam nodded in understanding.

Dean shuffled through the bag of groceries "Oh kid, you're in luck. Winchester surprise for dinner!" 

"What is Winchester surprise?" Krissy asked skeptically.

"It'd hard to explain," Sam answered.

"Are we going to address the Rowena problem?" Castiel asked.

"Right! So get this," began Sam. "Rowena made mention of visiting a few old friends, well apparently one of them wasn't too excited to see her and she lashed back."

Sam flipped his tablet around revealing an image of a police sketch of a woman who looked a lot like Rowena above it in bold letters "Police looking to question a woman in Jackson murder." 

Dean pinched the bridge of his nose, mumbled 'son of a bitch' then sighed "I need another beer."

"How many people am I making dinner for?" Mary asked.

"Eight including you," Castiel answered.

"Don't you mean nine?" Asked Krissy.

"I don't eat," He answered.

"Dinner or Winchester surprise?" Ben asked with a chuckle.

"At all," Castiel continued. "I am an angel, we do not need food to sustain ourselves."

"Unless he's out of grace," Sam supplied.

"Yeah, then he eats like a horse," Dean said with a smile.

"So like you then?" Mary said with a laugh as she started dinner.

"Sam reach out to the witch find out where she is, let her know we need to have a chat," Dean changed the subject.

"On it," Sam stepped out of the room to make the call.

"So who's going to fill me in on how mom and Jack are back from apocalypse world?" Dean asked looking between Mary and Castiel.

"Sure right after you tell me about how you now have a kid." Mary shot back at him.

"I met his mom at spring break, we did what spring breakers do and I left. I had no idea he existed until ten years ago, the whole apocalypse not happening a year or so later brought me back to them I did the cookie cutter thing for a while. Met back up with Sam tried the whole hunter with a family thing, it didn't work out. Asked feathers here to erase their memory, which he failed to do,  then I stayed away sent money anonymously some times. A few days ago he popped up on a case and now we're here," Dean quickly explained. 

"You sent money?" Ben asked.

Dean sighed and nodded.

"What he didn't tell you is that three years ago a Lamia murdered my mother," Ben said.

"You haven't told me any details about that Ben," Dean said quietly.

"No better time to talk about it then now," Ben said narrowing his eyes at Dean. "It was my sixteenth birthday, thankfully I didn't have baseball practice that day. I was the one who found her, her blood soaked our living room floor."

"Ben," Dean said gently.

"It splattered on our living room walls,"

"Ben!" Dean's voice held a silent warning this time.

"She was laying in the middle of the room just on the other side of the couch," Ben zoned out as he recalled the memory. "Her ribcage looked like it had just been pulled open like it was a bag of chips or something."

Dean stood up so quickly his chair flew back an additional foot then fell over. He stomped out of the room not bothering to pick it up.

Ben took a shattered breath and looked at the faces in the room, he had been so lost in the memory he didn't even realize Sam had come back or that Jack, Aiden, and Josephine had joined them. 

"I'll just..." he motioned towards the door Dean disappeared through. Sam's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Give him time," Sam said while shaking his head. 

"I'm sorry."

"We know," Mary said gently. "But don't forget, he lost her too."