Our Brother's Son
Beth had tried everything she could think of to find her missing fiancé, Adam Milligan. When he first went missing, seven years ago, she filed a police report. When the police found nothing, she printed off missing person posters and papered the town. When no one called, she put his face on a website with thousands of other missing souls.
Beth didn't hold much hope; she knew the statistics, but she didn't give up all hope, either. She wanted her fiancé to know about his unborn child. She wanted her baby to one day know its father.
Yes. When Adam went missing, she was already pregnant. Birth control pills don't mix well with antibiotics; in fact, it pretty much nullifies the birth control. Both of them being pre-med students at the University of Wisconsin, they should have known that. Beth hadn't had a chance to tell Adam, yet; she was still trying to figure out how to juggle a full load of classes, a nearly full-time job, and now motherhood. Together, him and her, she thought they could pull it off.
Without him…
Without Adam, med-school was impossible. Beth became a medical transcriptionist, working from home and around her baby's schedule. It was hard, but she made it work. Their apartment was tiny, but clean and in a good neighborhood. Like every mother, she wished she could give her son more than she had; but she loved the boy. And he grew up happy and knew he was loved.
Every year on Adam's birthday, which was also the Feast of St. Micheal's, Beth updated his missing person profile and prayed to his patron saint that this would be the year he came home. Every year she spent the day dedicated to asking for any news of what happened, where he went, where he was… Every year her hopes and prayers went unanswered.
Until this year.
Someone posted on the website that they had information concerning Adam Milligan.
Which is how two tall men in flannel and work boots came to be sitting on her couch across from her and her pastor, who was concerned about her meeting strangers alone. They introduced themselves as Adam's elder half-brother. They were very sorry to tell her that Adam had been murdered back when he went missing. They had personally scattered his ashes.
They were very sorry for her loss. And even sorrier that they didn't know Adam well enough to know about her, or they would've told her sooner, and spared her the years of not knowing. They told her, if it helped at all, that Adam's killers had been brought to justice and were now dead.
Her son snuggled in her arms as she cried and held him tight. The six year old didn't understand the concept of death and he never had a father so he didn't understand how final his loss was now. But young Will knew his mommy, who was his whole world, was hurting. And much like his young uncle had done for his step-grandmother years ago, he told her he loved her and that everything would be okay.
The men who would have been her brothers-in-law, who were Will's uncles, let her cry. No words would change what was. Grief and tears had their place when there was a loss. Few knew that better than the Winchesters.
"Why?" she asked when she found her voice and caught her breath. "Why would anyone want to hurt Adam?"
Both men winced at the question.
"It was our fault," Dean told her, voice husky with emotion and shame. "Our family has enemies and we didn't do enough to protect him."
Beth wanted to hate them for that, to rant and rail and hurt them however she could. But she wasn't the kind of person to hold on to hate; to blame the wrong men for the evil done in this world.
"If you or Will ever need something, anything, call us." Dean slid a piece of paper across her coffee table. "Anything, big or small. it's the least we can do for our brother's family. For our brother's son."
