What if someone else did a little time traveling?
John stalked into the cabin Mary had directed him to with Mary and those two "hunters" right behind him. His life had been going so well until they showed up. OK, a little money problem and some insecurity about future employment, but that was nothing compared to this.
"So, there's salt in the kitchen, the fixtures are pure iron, I think there are some silver bullets around," Mary was saying. What was she even talking about? How could he know so little about his wife.
"That's not going to do much good," Dean said.
"Well, what will kill an angel, or at least slow it down?" Mary asked.
"Not much," Sam admitted.
"Great," Mary said.
"He said not much, not nothing," Dean pointed out. "We can draw sidgils on the walls and if she comes near we can blast her away."
"Like Sam did at the garage?" John asked.
"Exactly," Dean said, feeling weird teaching the man who had taught him to hunt.
"And this is holy oil," Sam said, pulling a canister from his duffel. "It's like a devil's trap for angels."
John was glad the cabin was just one room plus a kitchen and bathroom. It would make it a little difficult for these guys to leave him out of the loop.
Sam started pouring the holy oil in a circle. Dean cut himself and began drawing the sidgils on the walls. "That has to be done in blood?" John asked.
"Yeah," Dean said.
"Do we need more?" John asked. He would do whatever it took to keep his wife safe.
"No, these two ought to do it. We just need to touch it if she comes inside."
"Now, you said you would explain when we had a minute. We have a minute," Mary said.
Dean looked at John. "You're explaining to me, too."
Dean sighed. "We're from the year 2010. Our names are Sam and Dean Winchester. We're your sons."
"What?" John asked. Even with everything else that had gone on today, he found it a little difficult to believe in time travel.
"How?" Mary asked.
"An angel sent us back. Not the one that's trying to kill you. A friendlier one."
"I don't believe it," John said.
"We were named after Mary's parents. She used to sing Hey Jude to me at night instead of a lullaby because that was her favorite Beatle's song. She used to make me chicken and rice soup when I was sick because that's what her mom made her. You used to toss a football around with me, because your dad had always wanted you to be a pro-football player."
John didn't know how he knew all this stuff, but he still didn't believe him. He was also troubled by the fact that an angel was trying to kill him. Sure, he'd been shot at in Vietnam, but that was war. As far as he knew, nobody had ever wanted him, personally, dead. "Why is an angel trying to kill us."
Before they could answer him, Mary cried out. "This means I raised my children as hunters. I can't believe I did that. I hated that life."
"You didn't."
"I obviously did."
"No, you didn't. Because you're dead," Dean said.
"What happened?" Mary asked.
John wasn't sure he wanted to hear this. He couldn't imagine his beautiful Mary dead.
"November 2, 1983, exactly 6 months after Sam was born, the yellow eyed demon came into his room."
Dean stopped there. He wasn't quite 5 years old that night, but somehow he could remember every detail.
"What's a yellow-eyed demon?" John asked.
A bright light enveloped the room. "Angels?" Mary asked.
"Not sure," Sam and Dean answered together. This wasn't the usual way angels appeared, but it wasn't like they had a huge amount of experience with hostile angels. But, they had probably had enough.
"Dad?" Dean asked, when their father appeared before them. Not their father from the past, but the way he looked the last time he had seen them.
"What's going on?" Future John asked.
"Wait, that's me in the future?" Past John asked.
"'Fraid so," Future John answered. He recognized himself…and Mary. His beautiful Mary. "I've missed you so much Mary."
"How are you here, Dad?" Sam asked.
John looked at Sam. He looked older. He wondered how much time had passed. "How are you here?" he countered.
"Angels. Now you. And while we're at it, exactly when are you from?" Sam asked.
"Well, the last thing I remember, I climbed out of Hell and saw Dean kill the Yellow-eyed demon," John said.
"If you hadn't climbed out the yellow-eyed demon would have killed me instead," Dean pointed out.
"Glad to have helped. Anyway, after that, I felt a glowing light and then I was here."
"Weird," Dean said.
"So, what are you doing here? This is before you were born."
"They're here to save us from angels," Mary said.
"Angels? There's no such thing," John said.
Sam smiled. How many times had Dean said that until he had been convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt? And Mary had said the exact same thing earlier tonight. He was definitely from a family of skeptics.
"They exist and they're bigger dicks than demons."
"What about the one that sent you back?" Past John asked.
"Cas? He rebelled against Heaven. Decided to think on his own. He's a friend," Dean said.
"So, why is this other angel trying to kill us?" Past John asked once again.
Future John decided to just listen instead of asking a million questions of his own. Hopefully things would become clear. Besides, he was just so happy to be out of the pit and with his boys, and Mary, that he didn't care what was going on.
Sam looked down at the floor. "To prevent me from being born." He never felt lower, and he had felt plenty low lots of times in the last couple of years.
"Did you decide to lead that demon army?" Future John asked, suddenly back in the thick of things.
"Demon army?" Mary asked. That sounded scary.
"To continue the story from earlier," Dean began, realizing he was going to have to tell it from the beginning, "the yellow-eyed demon came into Sam's room the night of his 6 month birthday and dripped demon blood into his mouth. Mom disturbed him and he killed her."
"Way to sugarcoat, Dean," Future John admonished when he saw Mary go pale.
"No time. Anyway, 22 years later, the demon gathered up all the kids he had done that too, all the same age by the way, and had them fight to the death until there was only one left so that he could lead a demon army."
"And that one was Sam?" Past John asked. These guys, who were older than him, were supposed to be his sons. He was finding it kind of difficult to like Sam, though. He was putting their lives in danger, and had apparently killed a bunch of other kids so he could lead a demon army.
"Not exactly," Sam said, shooting Dean a look. "I was killed, but Dean sold his soul to bring me back."
"Dean!" Future John said.
"Hey, you did it first," Dean defended himself.
"What do you mean?" Past John asked.
"You sold your soul when I was in the hospital dying," Dean said.
"You weren't supposed to know that," Future John said.
"We're not idiots, Dad," Sam said.
"OK, so then you led the demon army?" Future John asked Sam.
"No. I never led a demon army." Sam figured at this point, that might be his one redeeming nonaction.
"Then why does an angel want to prevent your being born?" Future John asked, knowing something was being held back.
"I started the Apocalypse." When nobody said anything, Sam added, "I didn't mean to.'
Despite himself, Dean laughed. Whenever Sam got in trouble when he was a kid, Dad always kind of stared him down and Sam almost always said, "I didn't mean to."
Future John chuckled, too, remembering the same thing.
"What?" Mary and past John asked.
"Just remembering when he was a kid," John shook his head. "So, how did you accidentally star the Apocalypse?"
"It's a long story," Dean said, wanting to spare Sam the degradation of telling their parents about drinking demon blood.
"So, anyway, Mom, you should leave Dad when this is all over," Sam said.
"So we're never born," Dean concluded. "Yeah, do that."
"I can't," Mary said.
"No," Past John said. He couldn't imagine life without Mary.
"No," Future John said. He couldn't imagine life without Sam and Dean.
"This is bigger than any of us," Dean said.
"You don't understand. I can't. I'm already pregnant."
"You are?" Past John asked.
"I was going to tell you tonight."
"Fine. Dean's not really the problem. Go raise him as a single mother or whatever," Sam said.
The lights flickered and the cabin shook. Anna walked in with someone else. Sam stood in front of his parents to shield them. Anna advanced on them. The other man started towards Dean and Future John.
"Who are you?" Dean asked.
"Uriel."
"Oh, come on," Dean whined. He hadn't liked Uriel since day one.
Anna decided to just go with her original plan of killing Sam. As long as Lucifer didn't have his vessel, everything would be OK. She had nothing against John and Mary. Not really.
She lunged at Sam and stabbed him with her sword. He doubled over and fell to the floor.
Dean looked over from where he and his father were fighting Uriel. "Sammy!" he yelled.
John looked over, too. "No!" he yelled.
Sam choked out some blood and gasped for air before closing his eyes and giving up his last breath.
"Come on, Uriel," Anna called.
"What about the rest?" Uriel asked. He was looking forward to cleansing the cabin of the rest of the human vermin. He hated humans, but he never admitted that out loud. He remembered what had happened to Lucifer.
"The rest don't matter," Anna said.
"Fine," Uriel grumbled. One of these days Anna wouldn't be his superior.
"Is he dead?" Mary asked. It was so weird. She knew that these men were her sons, but it was hard to think of them that way.
Dean was kneeling next to Sam. "Yeah," he sobbed.
"John, let's leave them alone," Mary whispered. Sam's brother and father were caught up in grief. This was her future and she didn't want to see it.
They went outside and they were covered with light and there was loud static. Mary covered her ears. She heard John say yes and then everything stopped.
"John?"
"Not right now," he said and put his fingers on her forehead to knock her out. Then he went inside the cabin.
"Dean, go home. You need to say yes to me."
"What? Michael?" Dean asked.
"This meeting is more than a little overdue don't you think?"
"What's going on?" John asked.
"It's the archangel Michael," Dean answered his father. "How did you get in him?"
"I told him I needed to talk to you in order to sort everything out. Then he and Mary can live their lives, happily ever after."
"After this?" Dean asked, not quite believing that.
"I've erased their memories. They won't remember you at all."
"Then, she'll still die," Dean protested.
"You knew that always had to happen," Michael said.
"Why?" Future John asked.
"It's time for you to rest," Michael said and John disappeared.
"Where did he go?" Dean asked.
"Heaven," Michael said.
Sam disappeared. "He's safe and sound at home, and now it's your turn."
The End.