At the Doorstep of Discovery

When the doorbell rang, Lisa was ready to greet another guest who had come to celebrate her kids birthday. Seeing Dean instead caught her off guard. All she could do for a second was look at him while trying to figure out if she was hallucinating.

"Dean," she exclaimed, finding her voice. When he returned her greeting with a little less surprise in his voice, Lisa couldn't help notice how her body was responding to his presence. It was like they had just been together a few days ago. "How long has it been?" she asked trying to focus on conversation rather than how good he still looked.

"Eight going on nine years now. Crazy right?"

Crazy summed it up. "Yeah, so…what are you doing here?"

When he told her he was just passing through, remembering how much she liked surprises, for a second she couldn't believe after so many years that he would remember how she used to be. Lisa still liked surprises, though not an old flame showing up on her doorstep, or maybe she did. How many times had she thought about him over the years? How many times had she wished things would have turned out differently? Knowing she needed to say something, Lisa took in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, you kind of came at a bad time. We're having a party"

The moment he told her he loved parties, was the moment she gave up on getting him to leave. leading the way to her kitchen, Lisa remained focused on what was going on with the kids and adults. Keeping her mind busy with what they were doing eased her nerves. As she approached the double doors leading out to her very full backyard with Dean behind her, two children ran in chasing one another with water guns. Just outside she stopped, smiling as she saw Ben at one of the picnic tables eating a sandwich while grabbing a small square package. Several of his friends were sitting with him.

"So, uh whose the party for?"

Glancing around the yard, Lisa smiled as she saw her daughter crawling into the moon jump with another little girl. "Ben, my son." She pointed to him as he got the package open. He was thrilled with the gift she had gotten him, exclaiming that AC/DC ruled. Glancing back at the moon bounce, another smile formed on her lips. "And my daughter, Ella." Lisa pointed her out, though in the moon bounce it was difficult to really see her.

She glanced back at Dean, watching as he raised his left brow, possibly realizing how much she had changed, or so Lisa guessed.

"How old…"

"Eight." When she looked back into the house, Lisa noticed her friend Dee arriving with her daughter Katie. "Oh, Dean could you excuse me for a minute." Dee had recently lost her ex in a horrible accident. She hadn't expected her best friend to come, but was glad to see her.

When he made the decision to bring Sam to Indiana so that he could get reacquainted with Gumby, Dean hadn't expected all of this. As he walked over to the table laden with food and two cakes, he tried wrapping his mind around this party and her two kids. The table had a Happy Birthday Banner taped on the front. For that matter the whole yard was decorated with streamers and balloons, wherever they could hang. Deciding to take a slice of the racetrack cake, Dean turned around spotting two women sitting near a fence goggling at him. Both women looked older to him. "Hi"

"Hello," the woman with the short cropped dark hair answered. Her voice was deep, like she was trying to be seductive. Suddenly being anywhere other than where he stood seemed like a much better option. Inside, Lisa was still talking to her friend, so Dean went in the other direction, to the back of the yard, up two stone steps, and through a fence gate where the moon jump was located.

Ben was standing to his right against the fence, his eyes focused on the kids inside. Dean glanced at the bounce, watching one little girl slide out followed by Lisa's daughter. While Ben sort of looked like her, Ella was a miniature version of Lisa.

"Come on Elle, let's go to your room." The little girl with red hair said.

Before leaving, Ella looked at him, staring up in his eyes just as her hand was grabbed, and the other girl led her away.

Looking back at Ben, Dean noticed the kid's eyes were on the bounce as another girl climbed in. "What's up?" Ben asked.

"What's up with you?" At that moment a mother and her daughter passed them by, heading back in the fenced yard. Dean eyed her, turning to watch as she walked into the house. She had a tight ass, but didn't stand a chance against Lisa. What he hadn't noticed was that Ben had assessed the smaller version of the mother much in the same way.

"So it's your birthday."

Ben's eyes were back on the scene in front of them, though he did answer. "Guilty."

"It's a cool party." There were more kids around than Dean had ever been near. He briefly thought of his childhood, and the times he had to steel things especially for Sam. They never had a party like this. Dean was happy to see Lisa doing well for herself, and wondered if she was married though he hadn't seen a wedding band or engagement ring on her finger.

"Dude, it's so freaking sweet. And this moon bounce, it's epic." The boy knew how to use his words, though Dean would have chosen chaotic to describe the scene. Still, standing with Lisa's kid, he found he was actually comfortable.

"Yeah, it's pretty awesome." More kids were climbing into the bounce.

"You know who else thinks their awesome?" Before Dean could ask, he had his answer.

"Chics." Ben smacked his upper arm with the back of his hand as he continued. "It's like hot chic city out there." Ben set his plate down on a nearby table before joining his chics.

What the kid said suddenly reminded Dean of how he was around Ben's age. Suddenly something clicked. He looked upward, calculating the last time he saw Lisa, before remembering how old the kids were. When realization hit, Dean was stuck in place. Yeah Ben was a lot like him in many ways. The kid had great taste in music for one, and liked AC/DC. In his limited experience with children, he had never encountered one who knew his bands, like Metallica, Zeppelin, and AC/DC. Then he remembered Ella, how she stood looking at him with such an intense expression.

Suddenly he was stumbling into the yard, making his way to the house while trying not to bump into anyone or anything. When he walked inside, Lisa's friend was heading in the direction of the yard. The woman looked hurt. Lisa was watching her, and any other time, Dean would have given Lisa space. Right now he needed to see if his assumptions were correct. "Hey. So I uh saw your daughter, and met Ben."

Her eyes focused on his face for only a moment before drifting back to her friend. Ben was talking to another girl. So much like him when Dean was that age. "Cool Kid."

She nodded, whispering her acknowledgement. "You know I couldn't help but notice that uh they're turning eight." Now she was looking at him. When Lisa didn't say anything he continued. "You and me, you know."

Her look of surprise was followed by a nervous laugh before she turned to the counter behind her. Her reaction indicated that he'd thrown her off. "You're not suggesting that they're yours?"

Was that what he really wanted to know? "No…nah, of course not." He'd only said that to appease her, before the rest slipped out. "They're not are they?" With all that was going to happen in less than a years' time, Dean sort of hoped he was wrong.

Her reaction didn't give him much encouragement at first as she slammed the cabinet she had put some napkins in nervously. She looked back at him with a less convincing expression before recovering. "No!" Now she looked sort of annoyed that he would ask such a thing.

"Right." They needed a subject change. Fortunately, Lisa's friend and her daughter walking through the kitchen on their way out, gave him his opportunity to talk about something else. "Something wrong with your friend?"

Lisa revealed that she was the wife of the man Dean had read about in the paper, who had a fatal accident. The other thing she told him, getting his full attention had to do with a lot of bad luck going on in the neighborhood. Thinking of something happening to her had him in full investigative mode. The next few minutes he asked if there were any more accidents. Lisa filled him in on the four other deaths in her community.

Once in his car, Dean called Sam letting him know they had a job to take care of.

AN: Hey everyone. I've decided to tackle two stories at once. This is mostly like The Kids are Alright, at least at first. Next few chapters are going to veer away from that episode, though some things will remain the same.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Feel free to leave feedback, much appreciated