Title: I've Wandered Much Further Today than I Should

Author/Artist: Hanyo

Characters/Pairing: Gen, so no pairing; 4 OCs, Sam, Dean

Fandom: Supernatural

Rating: PG

Warnings: The whole damn story is just a big, future!fic, AU spoiler for Playthings, and I'm sure y'all will figure out what I mean by that as you read.

Notes: Title? A lyric from 'House at Pooh Corner'; I fucking love that song. Also? Concrit is love. :D

Disclaimer: I borrowed EVERYTHING but the OCs for this fic. Seriously.

"Really? You'd do that for me?"

'Yes. Just, please… don't hurt him.'

"…You mean it?"

'I wouldn't lie to you.'

"…"

'Please, let him go.'

"… Alright."

'…'

"He'll be okay now. Promise."

'Thank you.'

"You're welcome… are you ready?"

---

Estrella Wildey looked over the scene solemnly; a blanketed, limp body was being lifted into the coroner's van. She sighed and bowed her head, letting her bangs shield her eyes. She was sick of death. Seeing it, hearing about it, being near it; enough already. But of course, thinking like that would get her nowhere; the universe had had it out for her at the start, and she got dealt the Death cards in the Tarot Deck of Life. God, metaphor-wise, she was starting to sound like her sister. She looked up at the thought of her sister, and there she was standing next to the disheveled woman who was speaking to the coroner.

"Hey Karen," Estrella said, walking up to her older sibling, "we good to go?"

The shorter woman looked up, "Oh, uh, I guess so." She turned to the other woman just as the coroner walked away, "You gonna be alright, Deanne?"

The dark-haired woman blinked, and then smiled semi-sweetly, "Yeah. I think I will be."

"And Taryn?"

Deanne's smile brightened just a bit at the mention of her son, "He'll be alright too. I'm sure he will be." She laughed to herself, "I know he will be; it's in our family's blood to be strong, a little pond water won't get to him." Still smiling, she dropped her gaze down to her feet, "I owe you both a lot. You saved me and Taryn; I don't know how I could repay you for that."

Estrella smiled, "It was all no problem; we told you, it's our job."

Deanne looked up and stared at the taller Wildey sister, than wrapped her arms around her appreciatively, "Still, thank you."

Estrella, caught off guard, hesitated, but mimicked Deanne's gesture all the same. "You're welcome." Karen, who shockingly had not uttered a word for more than thirty seconds, snorted and absentmindedly scratched a particularly itchy spot on her nose. Estrella glared and growled at her, but that only intensified her sister's giggles.

Oh, she would get it when they got back to the motel.

Deanne pulled away just then, obviously a bit embarrassed at her frankness due to the red tint creeping up in her cheeks, and called out over Estrella's shoulder, "Taryn! Come on, we need to leave!" Almost immediately, a little boy, no more than six, with a mop of dark brown hair and wide green eyes came rushing out of the tiny home and was shyly hiding behind his mother's leg in no time flat.

The sisters smiled down at him kindly, "Bye Taryn. Hope we can see you again sometime." Estrella said.

"Yeah, you're a pretty cool little dude, man." Added Karen.

Taryn blushed, but smiled back nonetheless, "Thank you." he said softly.

Deanne let out an odd sort of half-laugh and picked up her son. Cradling him gently, she spoke to the sisters again, "Really, thank you so much. I don't know what I'd have done if I'd lost him. Are you sure there's nothing I can do before we leave?"

Estrella made to say something, but Karen beat her to it, "Actually," she began, ignoring Estrella's 'What the fuck?' look, "Could you tell me something?"

Deanne blinked, "Sure, of course. What do you want to know?"

"While you were talking to the coroner, you didn't say that your dad was… your dad, but you called him Father, and..." After a short pause and a Glare™ from Little Sis™, Karen added, "I mean, I know it isn't our place to know anything personal- !"

"Oh no," Deanne interrupted, "it's alright, I can see why you'd be confused. You see, my biological dad died when I was just a baby, so his older brother raised me. My adoptive father was really my uncle, but since he raised me, I always called him Father." She trailed off into silence, staring over at the deep duck pond that sat behind the tiny house she and her son were about to leave.

Karen widened her eyes and spoke up again, "Really? Wow, I never would've expected that. I mean the older pictures of him and you now look pretty similar, I could've sworn you both were father and daughter." She paused, then added, "Well, I mean, you two were uncle and niece so it wouldn't be that amazing that you looked alike and… yeah."

Deanne laughed, "Well, I'm glad to know that we looked alike, my dad was very handsome back in the day."

Karen caught sight of Estrella and stared down at the ground, embarrassed. Estrella bounced on her heels, "So… uh, you'll both be alright?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, we'll be fine, I'm sure."

"Well, uh…" Estrella hesitated, "I guess, uh, we should go, then." She said, gesturing to herself and Karen. She turned, "We should go, yeah?"

Karen nodded, "Yeah. We need to get back on the road soon. I think I've already got a lead on a new case." She added mutedly.

Estrella nodded curtly and turned back to Deanne, "Well, uh, goodbye then."

Deanne nodded, still smiling, then turned and began walking to a small car that was half-hidden by a white and blue ambulance.

When she was out of sight, driving away in said small car, Estrella turned back to Karen and smacked her upside the head. Karen clapped a hand over the spot that was hit, "Hey, what the hell was that for?!"

"You were being rude."

Karen rolled her eyes, "I was not, I'm curious, is all."

"Please, like it's all any of your business to begin with."

"Hey, this was a case, and that means we need all the background info we can get."

"We already stopped the spirit, Karen! We don't need anymore background information!" Estrella exclaimed, arms wide open at her sides.

Together, the pair walked over to an old, black Charger. Karen fished some keys out of her pocket and unlocked the doors, "Whatever Stella." She said, sighing.

Estrella glared again and flared her nostrils, "It's Estrella, Karen."

---

"Winnie-The-Pooh woke up suddenly in the middle of the night and listened." A young boy of around ten read smoothly from the large, tattered book. A younger boy of around six sat next in his lap, with his tiny head buried in the crook of the older boy's neck. "Then he got out of bed, and lit his candle, and stumped across the room to see if anybody was trying to get into his honey-cupboard and they weren't, so he stumped back again, blew out his candle, and got into bed. Then he heard the noise again. "Is that you, Piglet?" he said. But it wasn't. "Come in, Christopher Robin," he said. But Christopher Robin didn't. "Tell me about it to-morrow, Eeyore," said Pooh sleepily. But the noise went on. "Worraworraworraworraworra," said Whatever-it-was, and Pooh found that he wasn't asleep after all."

"Dean?" the younger boy asked suddenly.

"Yeah, Sammy?"

"… I love you."

Dean raised an eyebrow, "Really? I'm touched, little bro."

"De-an!"

Dean smiled knowingly, "Okay, okay, love you too." Sam blinked up at him, then mirrored his smile and snuggled closer. Dean laid a kiss on top of his head, then asked, "Is It okay if I continue your book now?" Sam nodded fervently and tightened his arms around his brother, and Dean took that as the greenlight to keep on reading,

"What can it be?" he thought. "There are lots of noises in the Forest, but this is a different one. It isn't a growl, and it isn't a purr, and it isn't a bark, and it isn't the noise-you-make-before- beginning-a-piece-of-poetry, but it's a noise of some kind, made by a strange animal. And he's making it outside my door. So I shall get up and ask him not to do it."