There was a consistent beeping in the background which was just a little too loud for Henry to ignore. Its frequency increased as he continued his fight to full consciousness. He lifted his head to get a look at his surroundings. From what he could see it looked like he was in a hospital, though very different from his day. A series of beds, empty, filled with another patient, or closed off with a curtain stretched to either side. IV racks, gurneys, and trays of medical supplies dotted the hall. It was recognizable but thing like the lighting, machinery, and furniture distinguished it from his day.
His day, right.
Henry dropped his head back onto the pillow. 'His day' as in 60 years ago.
"Good to see you're back with us, Mr. Wells." A young man in what must be a uniform arrived at his bed with a cheerful smile. "We were worried when your cousins brought you in. Not often that we see accidents like yours."
"Right, I'm sorry but what happened?" Henry asked.
"It's alright to be a bit disoriented." The young man, a nurse, he presumed (though the gender and teal suit were unexpected) nodded as he fiddled with the various machine's Henry was hooked up to. "Honestly, you're lucky to be awake at all, Mr. Wells. According to your cousins, you tripped on a catwalk in the abandoned mill outside of town and fell stomach first onto some machinery. Though, the cops are still looking into that." He added with a sense of a shared secret. "The surgeons had to remove a bit of your small intestine and rearrange your abdominal muscles. You've been in an induced coma for two weeks while we waited to see how you'd react…but you've made it and that's what's important!" He patted Henry's arm. "Usually, one of your cousins is around, do you want me to check in the lobby?"
"That would be appreciated, thank you."
The nurse nodded and walked off through a pair of doors at the end of the ward.
Henry was still a bit shocked. There was the background shock or suddenly appearing in the 21st century to find his son was dead and grandchildren were hunters but in the forefront of his mind was the fact that he was alive. He had not expected to survive this, not by a long shot. He took a deep breath (not a good idea considering his stomach was recently rebuilt) and squared his shoulders. He was a Man of Letters, generations of supernatural study lay behind him, he had faced the worse Hell could throw at him and came out alive, he would square his shoulders and keep the legacy of the Men of Letters going. His little pep-talk may have bolstered his spirits but he was still terrified and his stomach did hurt quite badly.
The doors opened twice before the nurse returned with Sam at his shoulder, fidgeting John's journal between his fingers.
"You're alive." Same said as he took a seat next to Henry and watched the nurse continue his rounds.
"I am, though I did not expect this outcome."
Sam winced and nodded a bit guiltily. "The trick with the bullet and the devil's trap was actually pretty ingenious."
"And I only had to get my gut ripped open to achieve it." That was unfair, Henry knew that.
"Yeah, sorry about that." Sam's sheepishness increased. He laced his fingers together over the journal. "Look, Henry, I know our introduction was less than pleasant but you're still family, some of the only family we've got left, and we'd like to help you."
"Will you let me go back to my own time, get back to my home, my wife, my son?"
Sam shook his head. "I don't think so. No- stop, don't start." He held up a hand as Henry opened to mouth. "We've had a bit of experience with time travel in the past- it's not easy but we've done it. It won't be possible without screwing things up. You wouldn't get a McFly reference but if we sent you back it would change your future, our past.
"John wasn't raised as a Man of Letters, he had no idea of anything relating to the supernatural. If you go back, if you train him to be your legacy it would change everything and that wouldn't be good. End of the world sort of not good."
Henry gave Sam a rather incredulous look. "You seem sure of that."
"Believe me, I am." Sam laughed but his face was dead serious. "You didn't exactly have a positive view of hunters when you came through. How likely would it be that the Winchester legacy would marry a Campbell and have us?"
"I fail to see the importance."
Sam took a deep breath and launched into what seemed to be the entire life story of him and his brother. Sam's exposure to demon blood, Mary Campbell's death and John's harsh introduction to the supernatural, demon's and angels, the actual battle of Armageddon, Purgatory, and the destruction of the Leviathan.
"…and even if that doesn't convince you, there's still the Grandfather Paradox. We might rip apart time and space if we sent you back." He finished.
"I'll never see John again," Henry said, though it wasn't as much a protest as a statement. "He'll die thinking I abandoned him."
"Yes." Sam looked him in the eye as he said it.
"Right."
There was a stretch of silence.
"You'll be able to stay with us, if you want." Sam offered. "We might be hunters and we might be living out of the back of a 50 year old car but we have room for another and you seem to know more than enough about what we do."
"What other option do I have?"
"We could disappear. We're good at it. You could be 'Howard Wells' who lost his memory after a mysterious accident. You could adapt life here and start over again. You could get out of the business."
Henry's eyebrow's knit together "Why would I want to leave this? I know too much about it to pretend I don't know what's in the dark."
Sam nodded like he knew what Henry meant all too well.
And that was how, after another week of recuperation and well dodged questions from the police, another Winchester joined the Impala.