A/N: This is a follow up to my one-shot, The Best Pie. Takes place after Season 5, after Sam is back (how, I don't know yet, its not Sept 24th yet, but soon, so soon). Italics are flashbacks. Some AU, but what fanfic isn't?
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or any of its characters. I am, however, quite fond of them. I am also quite partial to my original characters :)
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The shrill tone of the phone disrupted the dream of a scantily clad blonde dancing with him at a bakery. He didn't even bother to look at the caller ID as he flipped open the phone.
"Cas," Dean mumbled groggily. "I thought we talked about this. Humans need sleep. Last time I checked, I was still human. " Dean rubbed his eyes and looked at the alarm clock next to his bed at the motel room. "Its 3 a.m. What could you possibly need?"
"Dean," sobbed a female voice.
"Annie?"
"Dean, it's Gran. She's gone."
"Gone? What do you mean gone?" Dean sat up, more alert than he had been ten seconds ago. In his world, gone could mean a lot of things, but none of them were good. Gran was ninety years old, so he already feared the worst. He threw a pillow at Sam in an effort to wake him. Sam stirred but didn't wake. Dean heard another muffled sob over the phone.
"She hadn't been feeling well after dinner and then on her way to her room after watching Letterman, she collapsed. I, uh, I called 911 and then took her to the hospital. They said they did everything they could, but it was too late. They said it was her heart."
"Damn, Annie, I'm so sorry." Dean put his hand over the receiver. "Sam" he shouted in a whisper. "Sam! Wake up"
"Uh?" was Sam's reply. "What's going on?"
"What I am going to do Dean?"
"Don't worry, Annie. Sam and I will be there as soon as we can."
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Annie hung up the phone and sighed. Sam and Dean were in Paducah, Kentucky, which would take any normal person at least nine hours time to get here from there. If she knew Dean, they would be here in seven hours or less. She realized she would need sleep to get through the coming days, but she couldn't bear to go upstairs and walk past Gran's room in order to get to her own. She decided to lie down on the couch and try to sleep. She closed her eyes and began to cry. The last thing she remembered before sleep claimed her was feeling a gentle touch on her forehead.
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In the days after Mary Winchester's funeral, John and the boys seem to settle in to the routine of the house that Gran and Annie had long ago established. When Annie wasn't in school or doing her homework, she did her best to help Gran keep up with the additional work that came with having extra people in the house. John hardly ever let the boys out of his sight and Dean continued to hardly ever speak. However, when Annie was around, John soon realized that she could be helpful with the boys, giving him a chance to rest, and to think.
Whenever Annie took care of the boys, he would do just that, or talk to Lillian Sheldon. He was grateful that she was allowing them to stay in her home and was glad that he had known her most of his life. He had grown up next door to the Sheldon's in New Salem, KS and they had been a fixture in his life for as long as he could remember. Although their daughter Rita was the same age as John, it was their daughter Heather, two years his senior, with whom he had found friendship at an early age. Heather had been a tomboy, so she had joined the boys in the neighborhood in playing baseball, riding bikes and many other things girls her age didn't want to do.
Heather grew up and married Rick Laughlin and John had danced with her at her wedding before he left for Vietnam. Annie was born a year later. Sadly, John was a pallbearer at Rick and Heather's funeral only two year's after he returned from Vietnam. They had been killed by a drunk driver on their way back to Lillian's house to pick up Annie. Annie had lived there ever since.
Lillian and John continued to be there for one another's joys and sorrows. Lillian and Annie came to see John and Mary get married. And they all mourned the loss of John's parents and Lillian's husband. And now they mourned Mary.
Lillian would sit and listen to him when he would talk about what he saw that night and she wouldn't look at him like he was crazy. Not like Mike. Not like the cops. She didn't say much. Just listened. Which was fine for now.
And Annie would take care of the boys. Dean wouldn't let Annie out of his sight when she was taking care of Sam. And he insisted on learning everything she was doing for him.
"I want to learn how to change his diaper, too," Dean demanded.
"Are you sure you can do it?" Annie asked
"I'm big enough. Besides he ain't heavy!"
"Yeah, I know, he's your brother," Annie said.
When Sam was napping, Annie tried to keep Dean occupied with other activities. He didn't want to play outside, and she couldn't blame him. But then she decided on a new approach.
"Dean, I am going to make an apple pie, today. Do want to help me?"
"Really?"
"Of course! Anyone big enough to feed his brother a bottle and change his brother's diapers, can certainly help me make a pie."
"I need to go get Dad's Swiss Army knife"
"What!" Annie exclaimed.
"MacGyver uses that for everything," said Dean.
"Well, I think I will handle the cutting today, but you can help with rolling out the pie crusts, okay?"
So soon they were making a pie together. Annie peeled, cored and cut all the apples, but she did let Dean help make and roll out the crust and stir the filling. By the time they put the pie in the oven, Annie wasn't sure if there was more flour covering herself, Dean or the kitchen counter. But she had worn Dean and herself out and convinced him to take a nap as well, by telling him the pie wouldn't even be ready to eat until after dinner since he needed to bake and cool first.
As she was cleaning up, she overheard John telling Gran about his visit to a woman named Missouri Mosley, and Annie realized that things would be changing once again.
