Love Never Fails

50. The Big Empty

MADISON, WISCONSIN - BAILEY'S HOUSE – NIGHT

Wes Bailey opened the door, got home. He moved to the kitchen and turned the light on. Suddenly, he heard a voice belonging to his wife, Erica Bailey.

"Hi," Erica greeted.

Wes was surprised, but not shocked. "No." Erica nodded. "How? You're... dead."

"I was. But..." she got closer to Wes, "aren't you gonna say hi back?"

"Hi."

"I missed you, Baby Bear."

Erica leaned in to kiss her husband. Instead, she stabbed him. Wes fell to the ground with a thud, dead, blood pouring everywhere. Erica left the house.

BUNKER – MORNING

Sam entered the bunker with breakfast. "Hey. How you feelin'?"

Dean was working on his laptop. Sylvie was nursing Claudia while the kids ate cereal. Dean looked up at Sam, but didn't reply.

Sam looked to Sylvie for a reply and she said, "I think he's good."

"What you, uh, working on?" Sam asked.

"Dead guy in Madison. Police say it was a home invasion, but neighbor claims that she saw the Vic's dead wife leave the crime scene," Dean informed.

Sam came down the stairs. "Let's check it out."

"What, you ready to ditch Damien? What do you wanna do? Leave him in a ring of holy oil with some Netflix and a frozen pizza?" Dean asked.

Sam said sarcastically, "Ha. No. Actually... I thought we'd, uh, bring him along."

Dean scoffed. "Uh, hell, no. What, "Adventures in Babysitting" the Antichrist? No, thank you."

"Dean, we can't hide him forever. And, you know, just keeping him cooped up here isn't working," Sylvie said.

"Yeah, it is, actually. You wanna know why? Because as long as he's here, he's not out there doing God knows what. So what, does this mean that your plan for bringing Mom back isn't working? 'Cause I'll say it again — our mom and my wife, your sister, are dead, Sylvie. Lucifer ripped out their freakin' hearts. Now, the sooner you and Sam can wrap your heads around that, the sooner we can all move on."

"Mom's gone?" Adah asked. "And Gramma?"

Brianna's and Maren's lips quivered and they started crying.

Gideon glared. "Mom and Gramma aren't gone!"

"So you're saying you want to move on, from Mom?" Sam asked.

The brothers stared at each other before Dean said, "Right now, I wanna kill some dead guy's dead wife."

"Dean, that isn't what this is about. Jack needs to get out. He needs to get some air. We all do. He's a good kid. He is, just... give him a chance, please. For me and Sylvie."

Dean turned to his youngest daughters and placed a hand on their shoulders. "Bri, Maren, I'm sorry, but it's true."

Brianna hit her father's arm. "Don't touch!" She ran away, still in tears.

Maren ran after her, followed by Adah and Gideon.

Aiden met his father's eyes before saying, "Spencer sounds like he's crying." He followed his siblings.

Sam and Sylvie, holding a cooing Claudia, knocked on Jack's door.

"Jack?" Sam asked, opening the door. "Hey."