Disclaimer - Please see previous chapter.
As I said it is a bit of a monster so would appreciate thoughts and help of anyone and everyone.
Sam woke to find himself staring up at a bright blue sky. Jo moaned beside him, and he turned, lifting himself on his elbows to see if he could see his brother. Dean was lying on the other side of what appeared to be the remains of the cabin floor. He was bleeding slightly and looking more than a little embarrassed that they had caught him
"What the fuck have you done, man?" Sam yelled accusingly as he stood up.
"You shouldn't have come here," Dean snapped back. "I could have finished, I could have helped him!"
"Dean, what is going on?" Jo asked, barely controlling her anger. "Where are we?"
"I have no idea; it didn't say we'd move, it would just…"
"Just what? What the fuck did you do?"
"It's gone wrong, it's all gone wrong," Dean despaired, slumping forward. "I told you not to come looking for me!"
"Dean, tell me what you were doing. Were you trying to summon the demon?" Sam asked, hoping a more calm tack would help.
"Do I look like that much of an idiot?" Dean looked his younger brother as he began to shiver slightly. Sam unzipped his jacket and took off his overshirt, handing it to his brother.
"Well, what the fuck were you doing, man? Auditioning for the undead version of the Chippendales?" Dean snorted his reply.
"Guys, where's the kid?" Jo asked, looking around. They were in a clearing where the cabin had obviously been. All that remained were the floorboards they were standing on.
"You brought Molly?" Dean bolted upright. "You bastard Sam, you total bastard."
They walked round the clearing shouting her name, hoping that she was around somewhere.
"Look, it's morning. Something happened to the cabin, and the car is gone," Jo said. "Maybe my mom came and got Molly, and she decided to leave us here overnight as a lesson."
Dean nodded before adding caustically, "Yeah, and Ellen decided to remove three walls and the roof while she was at it."
"Well, I don't fucking know, do I?" Jo retorted angrily.
"Dean, what was it you were up to?" Sam stood firm in front of his brother.
Dean bit his lip before he explained. "In the database, there was a ritual."
Sam didn't move. "And?"
Dean took a few steps around him before Sam grabbed his arm and fixed him with a stare. Dean didn't want to do this - it had gone wrong and that was it.
"What ritual, Dean?" Jo asked.
"It was kinda of like a summoning, but not."
"Who did you summon, Dean?" Sam asked angrily. Did his brother just release something else that wanted to kill them?
"Dad. I was trying to get Dad's soul out hell, all right?" Dean replied, pulling his arm away from his confused brother.
"You tried to bring your father back?" Jo asked.
Dean stormed onward toward the road; it looked more of a dirt road in the light of day than the road it had looked at night
He paused for a second. "No. I just wanted to release his soul," he said, then resumed walking.
Sam watched him walk off; he knew what performing a ritual like that meant to his brother. He knew it was eating Dean up knowing what his father's eternal soul was probably going through day after day.
Dean stopped and turned round. "It was a ritual for summoning the soul of a loved one. You could bring it to you, and then you can help it cross over to the right side."
"So, you thought you could summon Dad's soul and let it pass over peacefully."
"Yeah, well, I had to try," Dean explained, deflated.
"Why didn't you tell me, bro?"
Dean started walking down the road trying to flag down a ride. "You'd have tried to stop me."
"Damn straight we would have," said Jo, glaring at him.
As they got back to the Roadhouse, a couple of cars passed by.
Jo was still angry with Dean, and as for Sam, she just didn't want to talk to him. She stormed forward before stopping. The Roadhouse was different; it wasn't a bar anymore, it was a diner.
Jo looked scared. "What?"
"I'll check the house." Dean started to take off down the road.
"Jo, we'll find out what has happened, okay?" Sam said reassuringly.
She took off running and burst inside. The place looked like any other roadside diner, with its Formica-topped counter, and booths running down the sides.
"Hi, can I help you?" a waitress, walking past carrying a coffee jug, asked.
"Where is she?" Jo asked agitatedly, desperately looking around.
"Look, lady, if I don't know who you're looking for, how can I help you?" the waitress said.
"Ellen, Ellen Harvelle?" Sam added clarifying who Jo was asking for; the waitress looked at them for a second.
"Harvelle, you say? Funny, this place used to be the Harvelle Roadhouse, hasn't been in years though." The waitress shrugged and started to walk off to serve her customers.
Jo desperately grabbed at the woman's arm. "What do you mean?"
"Hey, watch it," the woman said, trying not to drop the pot.
"She's sorry," Sam apologised. "What do you mean it hasn't been in years?"
"They sold up; about, The woman turned her head toward the kitchen. "Hey, Frank, when did they build this place?"
"Two years ago," said the large short order cook as he came through the door.
"Yeah, be over two years ago."
Jo started to get aggravated. "No! She would never sell."
A petite brunette came into the diner and sat by the counter; Frank went over to her and kissed her tenderly on the cheek.
Sam took a breath, "Do you know where Ellen went?"
The waitress nodded as realization blossomed across her face. "Oh, you another one of those are you?" She went into the back and pulled out a postcard. "Getting less of you guys lately, I thought you'd all heard that they moved to Seattle. Here's the address, though you two are younger than the ones that usually ask."
"Seattle?" Jo was confused. Why would her mother be there?
"Oh yeah, honey. They followed that girl of theirs, and she went looking for him they say. Big stink, I'll tell you; but that Molly Winchester always was a headstrong one. Poor Ellen, what a mess, not like she didn't enough on her plate what with that husband of hers. He was as stubborn as a mule most times,. but after what they say happened, you can't blame the man."
"Wait? Did you say Molly Winchester?" Sam asked, stunned.
"Yeah, first that kid took off - good riddance if you ask me - but then Molly did too. Ellen was beside herself with worry, and as for John, if he saw that boy again I swear he was going to put a bullet in him. Good thing that girl was adopted 'cause the way that boy worked his way through this town, I don't think her being blood would have stopped him." She went back to serving customers.
Jo slumped in one of the chairs. "John and Ellen Winchester?"
Dean came running in the doorway, "House is gone, and I found this."
He threw the newspaper on the table between Jo and his brother, pointing wildly at the date: May 3rd, 2026.
"Holy shit," Sam said, oblivious to Jo, who was repeating the words, "John and Ellen Winchester," under her breath, as he stared in horror at the paper.
Dean stood there, waiting for Sam and Jo to take in what he had found, he felt a tap on the shoulder; he straightened and turned round. "Yeah?"
He went flying over the table as the fist connected with his jaw.
"Frank!" the petite brunette yelled.
"You stay away, you hear me?" Frank threatened. Dean took a swing at him, sending the man to the floor.
The whole diner just looked at him, and the waitress, who had been talking to Sam and Jo, dropped her coffee pot. "Oh, good Lord, he's back."
Dean started to head toward the door, "Think it's time to go."
"Think you're right," Sam said getting up from the table as him and Jo followed Dean outside.
The three of them had reached the parking lot when the brunette came running out.
"Wait," she called.
The three of them stopped, and turned.
"Oh, I never thought you'd…," she pulled Dean down toward her, threading her hands though his hair, her mouth catching his in a passionate kiss as she worked her way into a ball of want and need.
Frank stumbled out of the diner holding a hand to his bleeding nose. "Geraldine, you get away from him!"
She pulled away, her eyes full of desire as she looked at Dean. "You'd better get out of here. But if you're ever back this way, call me."
She ran back toward the diner, and Frank.
"What the fuck was that?" Sam asked.
"How the hell do I know?" a confused, and more than slightly aroused Dean, asked. "Seriously, I only went back to the house."
"What the hell did you do, Dean?" Jo asked accusingly.
"Ten minutes I was away from you guys. Ten minutes!" Dean was insulted. Jo and Sam stared at him for a second, neither responding to his statement causing Dean to rolled his eyes.?) "So, what did you guys find out?" he asked
"They're in Seattle," Jo snapped, angrily storming off.
"What happened?" Dean quickly asked his brother.
"Well, not only have you stranded us nineteen years in the future, but it appears Ellen's married to someone called John Winchester."
Dean stood still as he watched Jo try to get into one of the cars in the lot.
"You're shitting me."
Sam looked at his brother. "Yeah Dean, I'm shitting you, 'cause I have nothing better to do than make that shit up."
The road to Washington State had been a long one. From what they could find out in various bars along the way, there had been something called 'the pulse'; the US was now a total mess, and you didn't venture to the West Coast unless you had a death wish, or a serious amount of cash to pay for protection, 'cause that's where the freaks lived'.
They had kept to the back roads, had not seen the large towns or the cities but when they had gotten to Seattle, they found out exactly what the people they had talked to meant. It was zoned off into sectors. Sam reasoned that it would be quicker to skirt round the police gates if they got rid of the car, and the other two agreed.
It was funny, Sam thought, three weeks of this and he hadn't had a single vision, not a single dream of his brother attacking people. Since the first time since Amelia's death, he felt somewhat at peace, even though it was as if the rest of the world had gone to hell.
After searching for a number of hours, they finally found the address on the postcard The block of houses looked run down. It was situated near a warehouse district, and Sam, Dean and Jo saw various couriers and labourers passing by on their way to and from work. The three of them stood there, at the bottom of the steps, as they tried to work out what to do.
"I'm going in," Jo announced.
"Wait a minute here, and think," Dean said. "Firstly, this may not be our world; it could be a freaky Superman bizarro one. Secondly, if it is our world, then that means it's twenty years in the future and your mother is now in her sixties. So, her long dead daughter striding in there is either a) gonna give her a heart attack, or b) which is more likely gonna get you shot!"
"I'm not staying out here, not when she's…" Jo was cut off.
"What? Married to our long-dead old man?" Dean sighed heavily. "Look, I know I fucked up major style here, but us jumping out shouting 'hi there' is not going help things, is it?"
"I'm not staying out here!" She walked up the stairs and knocked on the door.
"I hate to agree with her, but she's right, Dean," Sam said, taking a couple of the porch steps at a time.
"Great. I get outvoted by geek boy and amateur girl," Dean muttered as he grudgingly followed.
They could hear laughing inside, lots of people. Great, Dean thought, let's interrupt them while they're having a party. Part of him hoped that this was some parallel world. If it was, would that mean that there were other versions of him, his brother, or even Jo?
Sam banged on the door and they waited. It seemed to take forever for someone to answer. Sam swallowed, this was nerve-racking; what the fuck were they meant to say? "Hi Dad, glad to see you're out of hell. Yeah, it was us, got thrown forward in time 'cause of it. By the way, quick question, how long have you been doing Jo's mom?"
The door was opened by a guy with glasses, he was covered in paint. He looked at the three of them for a second, gesturing them inside, saying to Dean, "Hey, muto, you're back. You are not Mr Popular round here, just warnin' you. Who are your friends? You lost the ability to speak? Come on, bip, bip, bip."
The three of them walked inside the door; a group of people were in the process of painting the front room. Sam looked around, a couple of them looked slightly 'wrong' as if they had been in an accident or something. This is what the guy they hustled at that bar in Wyoming had meant when he said the West coast was full of freaks.
"Hey, gang, look whose decided to come back to give us a hand! And he brought some help," the guy who opened the door, announced.
Suddenly, a large blur slammed Dean up against the wall with a ferocious growl. Two of the others in the room produced weapons from somewhere, and a slight young woman stepped between them and the guy who had let them in.
Dean was dangling a clear foot above the floor, and the guy, who looked slightly canine, did not appear to want to let him go. Sam went to help, but the slight woman girl moved quickly, tripping him up, sending him to the ground. Seconds later, she had immobilised and disarmed Jo.
"What the hell?" someone asked. Sam knew that voice; it had only been weeks since he'd heard it last. He swallowed heavily and looked up, feeling guilt pressing down on him, memories of what had happened still fresh in his mind. "Amelia?"
She stood there scarf covering her head and paint specks covering her face. "What?" She was disorientated by his saying of that name. She looked at the dog man holding Dean up against the paint covered wall.
"Joshua," one of the men said firmly; he was tall also wore glasses, and seemed to be slightly better dressed than the others. "Put him down, Joshua."
The dog man growled again. "Not medium fella," he said with certainty, causing the others in the room to burst into chatter.
The first man, 'Normal' someone had called him, looked confused. "You sure?"
"Not medium fella," Joshua stated coldly.
The others stayed still, guns drawn on them, as the one someone had called Logan pulled out a cell and started to call someone.
'Amelia' squatted down to Sam, and touched his face. "Sam-I-am?"
The woman who disarmed Jo pulled her back. "Sorry, Moll, until we get the all clear you don't go near."
"Molly?" Sam asked, trying to get up.
"Molly, move," the girl said. "G2, now!"
"Yeah, right, G2," Molly said, running into one of the back rooms. A lizard face man chomping on a cigar came out; he looked at the three of them, especially Dean. "Well strip me naked, bend me over, and present my scaled ass to the familiars. Not another one!"
"Thanks for the image, Mole," Logan said. "Van should be over in ten to pick them up."
Molly came back into the room. "They're ready to go. Mole, you take them to the veterans tonight. You hear me? Close down TC and get all G2, and I mean all, down with the veterans."
The lizard man looked at her. "What? I get the lock down, but all of them and the veterans? It's cold and damp down there."
"I don't care! You take them there, nowhere else. If they are anywhere else, I will come in there and cut off whatever reproductive organs they gave you," Molly yelled. "Max will back me on this!"
"Max ain't here Moll, and who says you get to say where…?" the woman with the gun trained on Jo said.
"Gem, this isn't the time to argue," Molly said firmly. "Trust me, if there is any chance that they are who I think they are, then all G2 should go to the veterans."
On seeing Molly's agitated state, Logan added, "It's easier to defend, Gem."
"Right." The red-haired girl put the gun closer to Jo's brow.
Dean was still scrambling against the wall. Molly patted the dogman on the shoulder. "Joshua, put him down, please."
The dog man looked over at Logan who nodded. Joshua grudgingly lowered Dean to the floor, growling at him again before taking a step back.
"Not medium fella," he hissed.
"Thanks," Dean said rubbing his throat, as he took a long look at Joshua, "Think you earned your dog biscuit today fido."
One of the others grabbed Dean's arm and twisted him round so another one, Biggs; Sam thought he had heard someone call the guy, could pull the collar of Dean's overshirt down. Sam could see the expression on his brother's face Dean couldn't move, as he was held firm against the wall. Sam saw the guy shaking his head as he released him. They proceeded to do the same thing to him and Jo.
As Mole went into the back room, Molly watched as Sam was hauled to his feet. "It can't, it can't be Sam-I–Am," she said, shaking her head.
"Molly, we're going to take them to Sam Carr," Logan said.
She nodded, turning to look at him. "Mom and Dad - what will I say?"
"Nothing yet, not till we get it confirmed who the fuck they are," Biggs said.
They had been bundled out of the back of the house into a van. Jo, Sam and Dean found themselves faced with the guy Biggs, and the man they had called Logan. As a couple of the other got in the front.
"And you two just couldn't wait to go inside," Dean mumbled, while trying to loosen the restraints around his wrists. Sam just sat silently, staring at the woman in the passenger seat who had taken him down. To say the small woman was freakishly strong was an understatement.
"This is all your fault," Jo spat out in Dean's direction.
Dean looked at her. "Grow up, Jo. You've been spouting that tune since we got here, and it ain't changed things one bit."
The van stopped, and they were pulled into some sort of clinic; Biggs continued to train his gun on them.
A man in a white coat walked in and greeted Logan, who this 'doctor' and the others were treating as if he was in charge After getting all the facts of the situation, the 'doctor' turned his attention to the small group of confused individuals in front of him. He stared at them and proceeded to walk round them, weighing them up individually.
"Remarkable."
"Long time since I've been called that," Dean joked, hoping that would ease things.
The man stopped and turned to Biggs and Logan, slightly shocked.
Logan smiled a little and pushed his glasses further up his nose. "I know."
"Like we don't have enough problems as it is," Biggs said.
"Do you know who I am?" the 'doctor' asked them. He brushed Jo's hair from the back of her neck for a second. Both brothers tensed slightly, not liking the fact that this guy was touching her. He took a step back after seeming perturbed about not finding something. "Should we?" Sam asked.
"It's just a question. My name is Dr Sam Carr. You've met Mr Biggs and Mr Cale," he said.
"And Dogman and Lizardboy," Dean said, not liking the current situation one bit.
"Joshua didn't take to him," Biggs smirked.
"I can imagine," Dr Carr said, examining the back of Sam's neck.
"Where are Ellen and Molly?" Sam asked.
"We ask the questions," Biggs stated.
The doctor turned to Logan. "I'll need to run tests, full blood and tissue workups as well as skeletal and muscle profiles; chromosome typing as well. I'll need to get as much genetic information as I can."
"That's why we brought them to you, Doc." Biggs said answering Dr Carr's question before Logan got a chance to open his mouth.
"Obviously you have what you need for them," Logan said, nodding to Sam and Dean. "What about her?"
"Family comparison would be advantageous. You talked to Ellen?"
"Mom and Pop are a couple of hours out," Biggs said. "Moll and Joshua should be on their way here. Though it depends how soon they can calm Normal down."
Dean, Sam and Jo were ushered into another room; scrubs were thrown at them as they where freed from their restraints, they were ordered to shower and change, by Biggs, as the others watched on. Dean moved to say something but took a step back noting the 9mm in the guy's belt, guessing that most of the others in the room where armed as well. Logan realising their understandable discomfort nodded toward one of the others who disappeared.
An orderly appeared with a screen to provide some privacy for Jo, but the girl, Gem, followed her round it as all bar one of the armed men left as Dean and Sam resigned themselves to doing as they were told.
Once changed, the three of them found themselves in a bare examination room, the clothes they had arrived in gone. They were left to await the next indignity.
"Great, Dean," Sam said accusingly as his brother hopped on a gurney. Jo shivered and tried to comb out her damp hair with trembling fingers.
"Look, so far they think we are 'remarkable' and they ain't tried to kill us," he said, then he remembered the mutant called Joshua's reaction to him. "Well, they ain't tried to kill you. That actually makes a change."
"Shut up, Dean." Jo said.
After about twenty minutes, the doctor returned. He was flanked by two men with guns, and he was holding syringes.
Dr Carr looked at them for a second, and sensing their apprehension, tried to put them at ease. "I'm just going to take some blood and tissue samples so I can run some tests."
"Tests, why do you need to run tests?" Jo asked, though he didn't answer her question. He did however, proceed to show them the empty syringes in an attempt to calm their fears.
As the doctor left the room Sam caught a glimpse of the girl who was in the apartment earlier; she was the living ghost of her mother, the only real difference being the color of her hair. Although Sam had only known the woman for one day, the memory of Amelia's death cut him deeply.
"Molly!" he yelled as the door closed.
She turned around and looked at them. She had Logan and Joshua at her side, and the dogman didn't look too happy.
As time passed, the three of them stalked round the room growing more and more restless in the small room with the tiny barred window and single locked and most definitely guarded door. They knew this as they passed the armed men each time they had been dragged out for the tests, they had been first stuck in MRI machines, then forced onto treadmills; not to mention the various other tests. Including more needles than Dean could count – he swore that he would never look at a guinea pig in the same way again.
The sun had gone down, when they had been finally given something to eat, left to rest for a few hours before the next round of tests. This gave them only a short time to come up with a plan to escape from the small room, that had only one way in and one way out, this is when they heard a commotion outside.
"I want to see her. I want to see her now!" a voice shouted. Jo's face lit up; she ran to the door and tried to pull it open.
"Mom, I'm in here. Mom!" she cried. Both Sam and Dean ran to the door to help her.
"I don't care what you say. You can't tell us that they're here and expect us to sit and wait, Logan," another voice yelled. "I am not one of your damn causes, and I don't take orders from you or any of Max's little soldiers!"
Sam stepped back for a second. No, it couldn't be. Dean still pulled at the door as Jo continued to pound away on it.
"Dad, we've got to get all the results in. They're not making any sense." They could hear Molly's voice. "Their chromosomes are reading normal, they've got scars that are too old for them to be clones, and they're ordinary. Dad, it can't be them, it doesn't make any sense."
"This is our family business, Molly, not theirs. When has it made sense?" Ellen asked.
"I know, but," Molly tried to argue, "Dad. Please."
The handle of the door moved before the door swung open and he was standing there. They both were there. Ellen just looked over and saw her little girl; Jo threw herself into her mother's arms. Ellen looked different, her hair had a bit of white in it and there were lines on her face, but Jo just didn't care. All the fear that had built up in the time that she had been in this crazy place came out, she began to sob.
Sam just stood there staring shaking his head. "No, you're dead. We burnt your…"
"How?" Dean asked unsure to what was going on.
John just stood there, tears rolling down his checks. He grabbed Sam and hugged him tightly. Dean took a step back before John shot out an arm, clutching at him, and pulling him close. He held onto both his boys; he was never going to let them go ever again.
"John?" Logan asked.
"They're ordinary, right?" John asked.
"As far as we can tell," Dr Carr stated. as he stood behind Logan in the hallway, "All tests show that they're not carrying anything communicable. No familiar traits were found or anything else related to Manticore. As for them not aging, I have no idea. There were no crystalline remnants that could be put down to cryosuspension in any of their systems. But to be honest, John, why would anyone want to do anything to your family twenty years ago?"
"Then we're taking them home," John stated. "Anything else you need, you can get it there."
"Dad?" Molly said.
"Girl, get them some clothes," John said. "They're coming home with us."
"Sure, Dad," Molly said.
When they arrived back at the house no-one was sure what to say. The dogman insisted on coming with them, as did Biggs, that was until John forcefully told them 'no'; although he relented at Joshua when the dogman began to wine, saying something about how he had to stay until little and medium fellas came back.
Salt lines had been laid, and Dean was damn sure the first glass of water Ellen had given them had definitely spent some time in a church font. When the three of them didn't start blowing chunks of pea soup, Ellen actually began to relax. However, John insisted that he and Ellen drank as well, just to reassure the three of them.
John looked so much older now, still strong, but his beard was more white than black. He was in his late 60's now; if they could believe that, not bad for a dead man.
Sam tugged on the shirt he was wearing, it kind of itched. Molly had said that various people had donated the clothes, though the underwear was new, and so were his and Jo's boots, someone they knew was the same size at Dean. Sam bet that the majority of the clothes he was now wearing belonged to the dogman, and that he would be covered in hair for weeks.
Sitting around the kitchen table Dean, Sam and Jo talked about how they'd woken up and not known where they were. How they'd made their way to Seattle, how the world they had known had changed in what seemed less than a heartbeat.
Jo kept asking what happened to the Roadhouse, where was Ash? To be told he was alive and well, living in what remained of Denver with some ex Las Vegas showgirl.
Bobby hadn't made it through the pulse; looters. It had been quick, John had said. People had been scared out of their minds and had taken to looting, acting as a mob. The power grids had gone down, and Bobby had a couple of old gas powered generators in his yard, they had just come to take them. The three of them and Ash had just boarded themselves in the roadhouse until the worse had passed.
As for his coming back, John explained that the first thing he remembered was waking up in some kind of circle; Ellen had been standing over him with a little girl in her arms. She had gotten the two of them to the nearest hospital. He was suffering from severe dehydration, as well as other things, and the girl had lost a lot of blood. After he had gotten out of the hospital, he hadn't known what to do; he'd tried to find the three of them, tried to find the demon in case it had been involved, but all trails were cold. He'd hunted a bit but always ending up coming back to the Roadhouse, and then one day he just stayed. Jo didn't look happy about it.
Ellen explained that with Jo's disappearance, and the time that Molly had to spend in the hospital, she couldn't give the child up and had ended up raising her as her own. Stubborn child, she'd mutter every once in a while, though she held onto Molly's hand through most of the conversation. Sam asked about the dogman – who was he, what was he?
The dogman explained that his name was Joshua, he was father's first. Molly explained about the transgenics, about how the majority lived here, to which Dean asked if they were hunting them these days.
John laughed. "No, but we know one or two who could definitely use a bullet up the ass."
Ellen smiled at that comment. She explained that although neither she nor John actively hunted anymore, they were now kind of a 'go between' for hunters coming into the area and something called TC. If the hunter wasn't sure if there were transhumans in the area he was heading to, he'd come to them. He'd be hooked up with some information and something called an X-6 to help him. If one was available, he'd be on his way. In return, any hunter with intel regarding some sort of snake cult would pass it TC's way.
Sam was full of questions regarding how they'd found out about the transgenics, why come to Seattle, and why did the waitress in the diner say that Molly had run off to go looking for someone?
John nodded and looked at Ellen, telling them they would explain that in the morning, but it was late, and the three of them had probably not had a good nights sleep in about, say, 20 years. As the family went to bed, the dogman seemed to take up residence in the hallway Dean looked at him for a second, he'd always wanted a dog growing up, but why did his family now have to get one that was almost 7 foot tall?
First, he heard the footsteps, not loud ones. He figured it was Jo was getting up for a drink or something. Dean opened an eye to see a shape towering over him. He knew that it damn well wasn't Sam.
Dean jumped up, slamming his palms into the intruder's chest, causing it to fall over Sam who was sleeping, sprawled out on the floor. It didn't stay down for long, Dean was barely on his feet when suddenly, it was up again, facing him
Sam was up now as well, though the intruder grabbed Sam, throwing him against the wall allowing it a clear path to Sam's brother. Dean had his knife ready, but then he heard the hammer of the gun being cocked back as the lights flicked on.
"What's your mission and designation?" the voice ordered. Dean flinched as the lights flicked on, it was his voice. Hell he was looking into his own eyes
"Your mission and designation soldier!"
"Alec! Dean! Stand down," Ellen yelled, as she and the others appeared in the open doorway.
Dean wasn't sure what to do; Sam rubbed side, that hurt. He looked up and saw his brother poised with his bowie knife, having a gun pointed at him by his brother? Sam blinked.
"Alec, you were told to stand down," John said. "This is my house, you do as you're told."
Alec just stared at Dean; as he slowly lowered the gun, Dean lowered the knife.
"What the fuck?" Jo muttered as she got up from the other battered couch she had been sleeping on.
Alec grabbed Dean's head, looking at the back of his neck.
"Alec!" John shouted. Both Dean and Alec looked over at John.
"Dad?" Dean asked.
"Pops?" came Alec's question.
Joshua turned to Molly. "Medium fella back."
She nodded as see surveyed the scene. "Yep, there goes the conversation we were saving for tomorrow."
"Jesus, you're bleeding," Ellen said to the figures in front of him
"Nice of you to notice," Dean said, wiping the blood from his jaw from the split lip he had received in the scuffle.
John sighed. "Alec, what have you done now?"
"Shit," Dean's double said looking at his bleeding shoulder, "Must have torn it open."
"Let me guess, you got shot – again!" Molly said. "What is it with you? You and Max go out and play and you always come back with a bullet in you."
"I took it out this time," he said, giving her a little grin. Dean watched the look on his double's face, it was like looking in a mirror, and that was creepy.
Ellen returned with the first aid kit. "Sit down here, boy."
Alec sighed and stepped over to her, throwing his gun to Joshua. "You know, one of these days, you actually got to start treating me according to my rank, Ellen."
"Rank? What rank would that be? The one no-one outside Terminal City is suppose to know you have? Or is it the biggest asshole in Seattle one?" Molly enquired, as she went for some ice for Dean's lip.
"So you're pissed," Alec said to Molly as Ellen tended to his wound. He looked at the three new arrivals. "Can we please not air our dirty laundry in public?"
"That would make a change. I wasn't the one who took off when I promised to be here," Molly said to Alec as she handed Dean the icepack. "How's Max?"
"With roller-boy, and I'm back in time aren't I? If it wasn't important I wouldn't have gone," he said, before adding flirtingly, "Molly, sweetheart, you know there is only one girl in the world for me. But Ellen won't leave Pop, and I have accepted that."
Molly bit her tongue, not rising to the bait as Ellen rolled her eyes.
Jo shuddered, not only was her mother with the man she held responsible for her father's death, but someone identical to Dean was flirting with her.
Ellen ripped the old gauze padding from the wound causing Alec to wince.
"I know they gave you a higher pain tolerance than that," Ellen said as she began to prod at his shoulder.
Alec gritted his teeth. "If you weren't the closest thing I had to a mother."
"Alec, what are you doing here?" asked Joshua. "You should be at TC?"
"Got there big fella, saw the lock down. Biggs told me what was going down." He said, more officiously, "Put him on KP, he should have been here."
"This is our business Alec, not yours," John said firmly.
"OK, color me curious," he said. "Three people back from the dead, not aged one day, one with my face. I want to know if I'm going have to start putting people down."
Dean's hand tightened on his blade. "Just try it."
"Dean," John said, before cuffing Alec round the head. "No-one is putting anyone down."
Molly shot Alec a look. "Well, maybe not yet."
"What the hell is going on?" Sam asked. "Who is he?"
"You sure this is Sammy? I mean really Sammy?" Alec asked John, to which he nodded. He studied Sam for a second. "Pops, here, has been telling me stories about you and my original for years."
"Original?" Dean asked, confused.
"Yeah," Alec said. "Saw pictures, but you're good looking enough in the flesh. Not a bad swing either, for an ordinary. Lab boys must have thought they'd won a watch when they picked your DNA up."
"What are you talking about?" Dean asked, not liking the way this sounded. His DNA? Who had been doing things with his DNA?
"Dean, Sam, Jo meet Alec, or 494. He's your transgenic clone, Dean." Molly said.
"My… what?"
Alec glanced over his shoulder as Ellen cleaned the open wound, "I'm you, almost, with bits added – and you know I prefer genetically empowered and it's X5-494 – if you're gonna use my designation, use it properly."
"Yeah, right," Molly said sarcastically.
"You two, watch it," Ellen interrupted.
"Bits added?" Jo asked, wishing that she could wake up from this nightmare.
Alec grinned. "You know, bit of cat, bit of bird, bit of the other."
"How?" Jo asked, stepping closer to Sam. Dean just stood there dumbfounded.
Alec shrugged. John and Ellen didn't say a word; they both looked tired.
The dogman walked over to the table and pulled up a chair to sit by the new arrival. That's why he'd attacked Dean as they had walked through the door earlier, Sam thought, 'cause his brother wasn't the man sitting at his father's kitchen table.
"Don't they know?" Alec asked Ellen.
She shook her head. "No, not all of it, and definitely not about you."
"Story of my life," Alec said. "Not really wanted by anyone."
"Put away the violin, Alec," Molly said. "No-one has asked for you to play your fiddle."
"Some people like it when I play," Alec said, glancing up for a second in the direction of Jo.
Dean stepped in front of Jo, not liking the other man's tone.
"OK, don't feel threatened, man." Alec mumbled something about prior claims.
John sighed. "That better be blood loss short circuiting your brain, boy, 'cause I will not stop her neutering you this time. Hell, I'll even give her a hand."
Ellen hovered for a second, standing over Alec with bandage in hand. Her expression was grim. "Sorry," Alec said, looking upwards. "Blood loss, sure it's blood loss."
Joshua looked up at Ellen. "Mitzy and Grey at command – heat."
Dean noted that Ellen nodded; she'd taken the dogman's cryptic comment as some sort of explanation for the other man's behaviour
"So? How did this happen?" Dean asked, not moving from in front of Jo.
"You tell me, man. How did a secret government project get your DNA? I'd ask them but there ain't a lot of people in the know left. They sure as hell didn't tell me when I was growing up," Alec replied. "Actually, could ask the same from you, how the hell did you get here? Shouldn't you be, what? Almost 50 by now?"
Alec thought of something, before turning to John. "We're gonna have to change our stories aren't we? 'Cause back at the Roadhouse, we told people that he was my father."
Sam thought Dean was going to pass out at that point.
"Alec, you staying here tonight?" Molly asked.
"Yeah, but it looks like it's getting a little crowded out here," he replied. "You offering to share? I'm fine with that but only if you promise to keep your hands to yourself this time."
"You two together?" Sam asked, slightly horrified.
"No," Molly said firmly.
"She loves me really," Alec said in the same slightly cocky way Dean did.
"Is that my tee shirt?" Alec asked, looking at what Dean was sleeping in.
"Might be," Molly said, smiling as she went to get an extra pillow and blanket.
"Come on, Molly, I'm sorry. I really am," Alec protested.
"It isn't just me you have to apologise to," she said, throwing a pillow at him. "Do you know how much chaos you've left in your wake?"
"Yeah, but did you need to give away my clothes?" Alec said before turning to look at John and Joshua for some kind of help.
John stood up and patted Alec on the shoulder. "On your own."
