It takes them almost half an hour to calm Priestly down.

They sit him down at Missouri's table where it all began and try to coax some sense out of him.

Dean takes charge, feeling responsible for his twin and selfishly wanting to quell the foreign sense of panic he feels in the back of his mind.

"Come on, Priestly. Just tell us again… How do you know Missouri?" He's kneeling in front of his brother, concern etched in to his face and his voice and he can feel the confusion and fear in his twin and it's like being inside his head.

Dean can't quite get over that feeling.

Priestly is sputtering and speaking in fragmented thoughts and sentences. His eyes are still wild, but he's sitting down and he no longer looks like he's on the verge of passing out.

He mumbles incoherently, saying, "Not possible… just dreams… can't be real… still dreaming…"

He starts hyper ventilating again and Dean shakes him once roughly, and demands that his twin look him in the eye.

When he does, Dean gasps audibly and nods once, his brow furrowed in disbelief.

"He saw you," he says suddenly, standing up and letting his eyes fall to Missouri. "He's been seeing you in dreams since he was a kid. Since about the time Dad had you start looking for him. You've been appearing in his dreams along with this house. He had no idea who you were or where the image was coming from, but he saw you."

There's sweat on Dean's forehead and his face has gone pale. He's trembling slightly and doesn't notice right away when Priestly rests a hand on his arm.

"How do you know that, Dean?" Missouri ventures carefully, stepping towards the twins.

"I don't know," Dean mumbles, not making eye contact, focusing instead on the hand touching his arm. "I just looked at him and it's like… it's like I saw his thoughts."

Sam's eyes widen and he wishes he could make a quip about not being the only freak anymore, but he knows it's far from the right time.

"Dean, honey, look at m-" Missouri places a hand on Dean's shoulder and the words stop dead in her mouth.

Sam watches her eyes go wide and glassy and her mouth go slack.

"Missouri?!" Sam leaps forward, and grabs her shoulders, shaking her. As he does, her hand disconnects from Dean's shoulder and suddenly she's back, breathing hard and looking more undone than Sam's ever seen her.

He sits her down in the chair opposite Priestly and for a moment she simply tries to catch her breathe while Sam alternates his stare between her, Dean and Priestly, all looking about the same amount of bewildered.

"Never…" she starts suddenly, still panting. "Never have I felt power like that." She lifts her eyes and stares at the twins, shaking her head in disbelief. "No wonder someone wanted to keep you boys apart."

The room is silent for about a minute before all three boys start talking at the same time, demanding answers and clarification and just what the hell was all that?

Missouri's face is scrunched up and she looks like she's suddenly got one hell of a headache, but she tries to explain.

"When you boys touched, it's like you awakened some latent psychic ability. The mental connection between twins is strong, yes… but not this strong." She rubbs her forehead before eying the twins again. "You boys are special. Very special… and very powerful. I've never encountered psychic energy that strong… not even in you, Sam," she says, glancing at the youngest Winchester.

And they're all struck silent again, an atom bomb having just been dropped upon them.

It's Priestly who breaks the stillness.

"So, I'm still on that acid trip, right?"

*****

It all kind of comes out in a tumble after that: the stuff about psychics, about ghosts, about hunting, and about monsters being real.

Priestly just sits on the couch, looking like he's just suffered a stroke and absorbs.

The boys take turns telling him about what they do and why and how their father really raised them.

They also take turns silently freaking out because Jesus Christ Missouri just told them that Dean and Priestly are suddenly the Psychic Wonder Twins.

"All these years," Priestly says suddenly, speaking for the first time in fifteen minutes, "I thought she was crazy… my mom. I mean, she was crazy, but she also told me some of the stuff you're telling me now. She tried to tell me things like demons and stuff were real, but I just thought that she'd skipped her meds. But… she was right? I mean, this shit is real?" He looks up at his pacing brothers, eyes begging them to tell him it was all a lie.

"I'm sorry," Dean says, and Sam knows he means it. "It's true. I wish to hell it wasn't, believe me, but it's true."

"And… a demon really killed our parents?" He asks, still processing.

"Ya… it did… and it took a while, but we found him, and we put him down hard." Dean's eyes are stony and there's a sense of tired pride in his words. "He's gone, but there are more like him out there, and it's up to Sammy and me to hunt them down, one by one."

"Why?" Priestly asks, and it makes Dean stumble mentally.

"Why what?"

"Why is it up to the two of you? Why is it up to you to hunt them?"

And fuck. That's the question Dean has asked himself over and over again since he was a kid. It's the question he's asked his father, asked himself, asked Sam and asked a God he's not sure exists.

Why them?

"Because we can," says Sam, and he turns to face his older brother, a tired smile on his face, and Dean's not one for hugs, but if there was ever a moment for one…

"Good enough for me," Priestly says and stands, hands on his hips.

"So," he beams, trepidation thrown out the window, "When do I learn how to bend spoons?"

*****

Priestly is entirely too enthusiastic the first time Dean gives him a gun.

He has the same expression on his face that Dean had when he found out one of Sam's friends was a Swedish gymnast: pure, unfiltered glee.

It makes Sam a little nervous.

Hell, it makes him a lot nervous knowing they've only been training Priestly for two weeks. For Dean to put enough trust in his brother to give him something that could take his own face off is… monumental.

Sam is watching the beginning of today's target practice when he notices something: Priestly is good. Like, really good.

Dean good.

"It's the connection."

Sam nearly jumps out of his skin when Missouri walks up behind him.

"What?" he manages intelligently.

"The connection," she says again, watching Dean instruct his twin, noticing that words are being used less and less. "The more time they spend together, the more sensitive they are to the other's mind. It's like Priestly is able to tap into Dean's knowledge and skills and use them as his own."

Sam just stares at his brothers, unsure whether the idea fascinates or terrifies him.

"They'll be stronger together," she says, tilting her head as if listening to something Sam can't quite hear. "You'll notice it too. Priestly will pick up quickly on things Dean is good at, but Dean will do the same. He'll be able to sift through Priestly's own special talents and skills, and it will ultimately make him a better hunter."

She turns to Sam now. "I know you're scared, honey," she says, and holds up a hand before Sam can argue. "I know you want to be happy that you're not the only… "special boy" in your family, but I also know deep down that you're afraid that Priestly will form a connection with Dean that surpasses your own." She puts a hand on Sam's shoulder and squeezes gently. "Dean loves you more than anything else in this world or the next, honey. You know that. And he'll come to love Priestly too, but in a different way. Things will change, yes, but your brother's love for you is one of the few constants in this life of inconsistencies."

Sam hugs her suddenly, and it takes her a moment to adjust before she hugs him back.

"Thanks," he says, and Missouri hears the tremor in his voice and hugs a little tighter.

*****

"Where will you boys go?" Missouri asks from her front steps.

Dean stops tossing stuff in the trunk long enough to answer, "Back to Santa Cruz. Priestly's got some business to finish there, and then off to Bobby's for some recon. After that…" Dean trails off and shrugs and Missouri knows that's it's just as much a mystery to him as it is to her.

They'll go where they're needed, wherever that may be.

Sam exits the house behind her and hunches over to give her a hug goodbye, pecking her on the cheek and whispering, "Thanks."

Priestly is last to leave the house, and bows his bright head awkwardly for a moment before Missouri places a hand on his arm and says something the other boys can't hear. And then Priestly's wrapping her up in a tight hug, burying his face in her shoulder.

And then it's over.

The boys pack themselves into the car with Priestly riding shotgun and wave goodbye as they pull out of the driveway and hit the road, together again after a lifetime, and finding themselves feeling a little more whole.

Read the next story in the Lost and Found 'Verse Look Back, Leap Forward