It was silent in the hospital room, save for the sounds of Garth retching behind the closed bathroom door.

"Where are Maddie and Zep?" I asked, in an attempt to fill the awkward silence.

"At a friends' house back in Lebanon."

I nodded, chewing my lip.

"Anything on Gadreel?"

"Actually, uh, yeah," Sam said. "Turns out, he, uh, he left some grace in me before he bolted."

"You know how wrong that sounds, right?"

"Wouldn't worry about it. Cass took care of it."

"Hmm," I hummed as there was more retching and coughing from the bathroom.

"Just breathe, Garth! Work it out," Dean called, then nodded to my arm. "What happened to your arm?"

I looked down, realizing part of the Mark was visible.

"Oh. It's a..." I pulled my sleeve up so they could see it better, "gift from Cain."

"Like... the wrestler?"

"You wish," I scoffed, looking over at my husband. "Uh, no. The uh... the Old Testament dude."

The toilet flushed as I continued.

"He got all biblical on me and gave me his Mark."

"What does that even mean?" Sam asked curiously. "How- how did that happen?"

"Crowley and I found him, and he gave me this so I could eighty-six Abaddon once and for all."

"You worked a job with Crowley?" Dean demanded.

"The devil you know..." I trailed off, realizing it was way too quiet in the bathroom. "Garth?"

"What?" Dean asked.

We all rushed over, flinging the door open to reveal an empty bathroom with the window open.

"Son of a bitch," Dean swore.

We hurried out of the room, heading outside as we searched for any sign of Garth.

"Why would Garth run from us?" I asked.

"Why haven't we heard from him in the last six months?" Sam added. "Did you test him?"

"He was unconscious. No, I- he steal a car?"

Dean noticed a pair of boxers on the ground.

"Did he... steal a car naked?"

I nudged his arm with my shoulder, pointing at the roof.

"I'll see what I can find on those cameras. Why don't you and Sam go talk to farmer Brown, see about that cow."

"Yeah," he eyed me skeptically, but agreed.

I headed back inside the hospital while they left, and headed up the the receptionist.

"Hey, sorry, but I was wondering if I could get access to the security footage outside."

"Sure thing, Agent. One sec."

Twenty minutes later, I was leaving the hospital with several photos taken from the security cameras as my phone rang.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"So, the cow wasn't just killed. It was eviscerated," Dean informed me.

"Well, why was Garth there?"

"He said he was on a hunt, right? Maybe he was hunting whatever killed it."

"Why would he run? The whole thing's starting to stink. You know that, right?"

"Yeah. What about you? Any luck?"

"Uh, nada," I lied. "Cameras were pointing in the wrong direction."

"You're kidding," he scoffed, sounding unconvinced.

"Wish I was."

"Hmm. So..."

"... So Garth's a hunter. If he wants to stay gone, he's gone."

"We got nothing?"

"Well, what can I say, Dean? We lost this one. Send me a postcard."

I rounded the corner, running into Dean's chest, and he snatched the photos out of my hand. Sam was glaring disapprovingly at me beside him, as they looked through at the perfect shots of Garth's escape.

"Wow. Make, model, license plate," Dean glared at me as well. "Really, Ellie?"

"I told you guys we can't hunt together," I said stubbornly. "It's for your own good."

"I hear you. And after we find Garth and get to the bottom of this, we're gone. But until then, no more games."

I nodded reluctantly, and sighed.

"Ride belongs to a girl named Bess Meyers. She lives in the next town over."

⁘

It turned out, Bess Meyers was Garth's wife, and they were both werewolves. Dean and I went to go investigate their pack while Sam went to the police station the next morning. We were both still skeptical, despite Garth's assurances, and remained wary the entire time we were around the pack. Even though it seemed kosher, the longer we stayed in town, we realized there was a subgroup of the pack who didn't like things how they were. We took care of the werewolf, Bess's stepmother Joy, that was off the rails, and then prepared to ditched town.

I pulled the pimp mobile into the parking lot next to the Impala and climbed out.

"I'll send you a postcard," Dean said evenly, face stoic.

"Yeah," I muttered.

He turned to get back in the Impala with Sam and I hesitated before grabbing his attention again.

"Hey," he turned to face me again. "Uh, listen, that night, that, uh... You know, we went our... our separate ways..."

"You mean the night you split?"

I paused, then nodded, not meeting his gaze.

"Fair enough. I was messed up, Dean. Kevin was dead, and I... I don't know what I was."

"Okay."

"Hell, maybe I still don't. But, uh... I know I took a piece of you and Sam in the process, and for that..." I trailed off, trying to find the right words. "Somebody changed the playbook, you know? It's like what- what- what's right is wrong and what's wrong is more wrong and... I just know that when... when we rode together..."

I paused again, searching for the right thing to say. Sam had climbed out of the Impala, also listening to me vent silently. I knew he was the one I had to convince, not Dean, but I just didn't know how to make him understand.

"We split the crappiness," Sam finally said quietly.

"Yeah," I nodded. "So..."

Dean looked over at his brother, knowing like me, that it was his call whether or not I'd be back in the group or not.

"Okay," Sam decided.

"Okay?" I asked.

"But something's broken here, Ellie."

"I'm not saying it's not. I... I just think maybe we need to put a couple W's on the board and we get past all this."

"I don't think so," Sam shook his head. "No, I-I wish, but... We don't... see things the same way any more. Dean at least stayed... he tried. And tricking me into letting Gadreel possess me? I can't trust you- not the way I thought I could, not the way I should be able to."

I shifted my weight, chewing on my lip as I nodded my head in understanding.

"Okay, look. Whatever happened... we're family, okay?"

"You and Dean both talk about that like it's some sort of cure-all, like it can change the fact that everything that has ever gone wrong between us has been because we're family."

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, threating to fall, but I refused to let them.

"So, what- we're not family now?"

"I'm saying, you want to work? Let's work. You want to be family..." Sam paused, letting me fill in the blank. "Those are my terms."

I looked over at Dean, who's expression remained stoic, and then back at Sam, nodding once. I watched him climb into the Impala, then looked back at Dean.

"I'll follow you," I muttered, climbing into the pimp mobile.