Title: Nine Months: The Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize…

Warnings: Nope.

Notes: Nope.

Enjoy!

Fishing.

It's supposed to be a simple thing that fathers and sons do for a good time. Right?

Wrong. At least with the Winchester family.

It's a Sunday and Dean decides to take River to the pond and do a little fishing.

But Panny and Patty beg. And it's surprising how much just-over-two-and-a-half-year-olds can cry and scream until they get their way.

So Dean packs all three of them in the car, fishing rods tossed in the trunk.

He gives Mackenzie a kiss on the cheek before they leave. "You're a good dad, Dean," she whispers before he's out of earshot.

"A good mother would join us," he teases with a smirk because she's spending the day at home. Peaceful, quiet, child-free home. And he's taking the kids. The crying, screaming, please-daddy-please kids.

But she just answers with a, "Enjoy the children, dear," and a smile that would warm him to his heart if she wasn't getting the better end of this deal.

He gets in the car – children begging in the back – and pulls out.

They're on the road for ten minutes before they park at the local pond.

Careful to keep an eye on them, Dean lets out his youngest children first before helping River. He sends them to find a nice spot in the shade where they can fish and eat the lunch Mackenzie packed them.

He grabs the fishing rods and dead bait out of the trunk, careful to keep the kids within eyesight. As he closes the back of his baby, he sees her.

A long blonde haired, blue eyed, tanned woman. He can tell what she's thinking and if he wasn't married, wasn't a father, wasn't happier than ever with his current life, wasn't in more love than he can ever imagine, he might be thinking the same thing. But he isn't. Instead he's thinking about how close the girls are to the edge of the pond when she speaks, "Cute kids."

"Thanks," is all he responds and he hopes she drops it, hopes she takes the hint. But she doesn't.

Instead, she's following him over to the water's edge and she sits at the picnic table where he puts their lunch.

"Pandora, don't get too close," he scolds, working his way over to his children and ignoring the woman watching him with hawk eyes.

He manages to get the kids rigged up. River has a fishing rod and sits at the edge of the rocks. Pandora and Patia sit on either side of him with their own rods. All three children are as happy as larks and it shows.

They giggle and laugh and Dean can't help but smile with them because they're his kids and they love life.

It's almost noon so Dean tells them sternly, "Stay right here. I'll go set up lunch, okay?"

"Okay Daddy," is heard from River while the other two manage a, "K," and a giggle.

Dean gets to the picnic table before he realizes the woman's still sitting there. He mentally rolls his eyes, but ignores her while she tries to sink a line in him. Pun intentional.

"You work so well with your kids. They're adorable."

"Thanks." He sets out lunch for four while cutting the sandwiches and cheese.

"The oldest one looks like you. He's so handsome. What's his name?"

"River."

"That's so cute." Dean sets out the juice boxes, hoping the woman will go away, but she doesn't. "What about the girls? They're twins right?"

"Yeah." He sticks the straws in the boxes before placing them on the table.

"What are their names?"

"Pandora and Patia."

"That's cute."

"My wife named them." Okay, so it's a lie – Dean and Mackenzie named them together – but maybe she'll go away if that's what he says.

"Oh," is what she manages before pulling her skirt up higher. If Dean looked, he dares to guess that he'd see her undergarments. So he doesn't look. Because he's got a wife and kids and he couldn't be happier. "What happened to her?"

"Nothing," he responds, standing back and admiring his picnic, "she's at home."

And she strikes. She pushes him into the table, bring her face as close as she can. "Affairs are so hot," she whispers.

And he's had it playing Mr. Nice. He pushes her back and she falls. "I'm not leaving my family. Ever." His eyes are fierce and there's a warning in his voice.

But before she can respond, he hears his child screaming.

Apparently, while he was trying to ignore this woman, something big caught River's line. Riv tried really hard to bring it in, but it was too big and brought him in.

Dean's head snaps toward the sound and he sees his son drowning in the twenty-foot deep pond. And before he knows it, Panny's trying to 'swim with her brother'. And where one twin goes, the other must follow.

Dean sprints as fast as he can to the pond. He sheds his coat on the way and then he's diving in, shoes and all.

When he's under the water, he sees his daughter and grabs her before coming up. She screams and Dean thinks that's the sweetest sound he's ever heard.

Holding on tight, he looks around, but there's no sign of either of his other children.

"Hey, buddy!" Dean looks up and there's a good Samaritan at the top of the rocks where his children were fishing seconds ago. "Give her here!" Dean manages to give his daughter to the man on top of the rocks.

And he goes back under the water. He can't see any of them and panic strikes his heart. They can't be dead. They just can't.

He comes up for breath before heading back down again. And that's when he sees his son.

River's lifeless body is lying on the bottom of the pond. Right next to his is Pandora.

Dean wants to cry, but he doesn't. He just swims toward them and seconds later they're in his arms.

He gets to the surface and passes up his baby girl before his son.

Two seconds later, he's on the top of the rocks, meeting chaos.

Patia is sitting on the grass, crying. The good Samaritan is doing CPR on his oldest.

Breath, breath. Thirty compressions. Breath, breath.

Dean dips his head down and begins it on his daughter. Patia tries to climb on him just as Dean realizes there's no air getting into his eldest daughter.

He shoves one daughter in an attempt to save the other. Patia lands hard on the ground and cries harder, but Dean can't help it. He has to save Pandora.

Breath, breath. Thirty compressions. Breath, breath.

After two sets of compressions, he hears River coughing up water and crying.

Dean thanks God as he gives his daughter two more breaths.

He hears River stop crying and soon after Patia's quiet too. The good Samaritan is on the phone with 911.

Dean's doing compressions again and then there's more breaths. And he's lost count on how many he's done.

Then he hears her intake of breath and the cough and she spits up water and Dean clutches her to his chest.

Her wails mix with the cop car that just pulled in, ambulance following seconds later.

"Come here," he tells his other children. He sits on the ground and both girls are in his lap while his son stands, holding onto his father's neck.

And if there ever was a second Dean would cry over his children in front of them, ever was a minute he'd break down, it'd be now. But he holds his tears in, saves them for later with Mackenzie.

"Sir, may we take a look at your children?" Dean looks up and there's the paramedic, emergency pack on his shoulder.

"Yeah," Dean manages. He hands over Pandora to one medic and River to the other. They cry for their father, but he knows what's best for them.

Dean stands, holding Patia as if his life counts on it. He walks over to the good Samaritan.

The man holds a striking resemblance to John Winchester, but that's impossible. John Winchester is dead – cremated. "Thank you," Dean says, sticking out the hand not used to hold Patia.

The man can tell Dean's voice is holding all the emotions he means: thanks to the man for saving his children, guilt to himself for letting something like this happen, relief because all his children are safe.

"No problem," the male replies, shaking Dean's hand. He looks at Patia, whose head is dug into her father's neck, and smiles, "I bet you'll be an all state swim champ." She digs her head farther into her father and doesn't say anything.

Dean smiles at his shy daughter before a medic calls him over, "Mr. Winchester?" Dean looks and nods before giving the Samaritian one more smile. He heads over to the paramedic with River.

Dean squats down, standing his daughter between his legs. "River," the medic begins, "is fine. He got one cut over here," she gestures to a patched up area on his son's forehead, "probably from hitting the rocks under the surface." Dean nods and watches his son, who isn't looking at him because well, River's expecting to get yelled at.

Dean tilts his son's head toward him and smiles, "You okay, buddy?" River nods quickly. "Okay, come here."

River shifts off of the picnic table and into his father's arm for a hug. Dean squeezes the boy as if he's going to loose him in a minute – because, hell, he almost did.

"May I look at her," the medic asks, gesturing to Patia.

Dean nods and Patia doesn't smile because she wants her daddy. But Dean puts her down and makes her stay for the medic to look at her.

He takes River's hand and they walk toward Pandora. The medic declares that she's perfectly fine also. Dean kisses her forehead before sending his son and eldest daughter to clean up the picnic table. They'll go home instead.

The two scurry off and Dean starts to fill out forms that the medic gave him. Something about release forms.

Dean's just signing his name at the bottom of the third form – because three children equals three forms – when the medic with Patia brings her over. "She's fine," the woman tells Dean with a smile. Dean looks at his daughter who's looking at him with the please-take-me-home look.

"Thanks," Dean says, switching: papers for his daughter.

A few minutes later, Dean's packing the wet Winchester family into the car and tossing the picnic basket and rods that the police officer was nice enough to get out of the lake back into the car.

They were never going fishing again.

They're home minutes later and all three children are itching to tell their mother what happened.

Dean manages to escape Mackenzie for the day. He'll tell her everything after the kids are asleep. And she knows it.

"So what happened," Mackenzie says, walking into their bedroom after putting the kids to bed.

Dean sighs, dropping the towel he used in the hamper before sitting on the edge of the bed.

She stands between his legs, arms on his shoulders, waiting.

And he dives in, telling her about the woman at the park and how he was making lunch when it happened. He tells her about EMS coming and about the good Samaritan, the cop and the medics. "I took them home after the paramedics checked them out."

She nods, a simple gesture. His story scares her and he knows it. He hugs her and she disappears to take a shower.

While she's gone, he misses his children, can't stand to not see them tonight. They almost died today and he wants to be by them.

So he heads into his girls' room and picks them up. They're still sleeping, but it's okay. He deposits them in his and Kenzie's bed before heading to River's room.

He gets his oldest and places him in the bed too.

Dean climbs in with them and holds them all close – an empty space for Mackenzie, River, Patia, Pandora, Dean.

Seconds later, Dean's asleep with his children.

And when Mackenzie comes out of the bathroom, all she does is smile.

Because Dean's children almost dying is something that Dean won't get over easily.

But having them close to him can only speed up the process.