Beta: Zylstra :D

All my mistakes are my own so if you see any. You know what to do.

Chapter 21

Mary looked behind her towards the door and back to her guests around the table. Mary pushed her chair out from under the table. "I'm going to go see who that is, excuse me." As she got closer, the voice sounded familiar. The chilly wind slapped her as she looked over Lisa's shoulders "Andrew, Is that you?"

"He was just leaving," Lisa said. Mary could hear the bitterness radiating from her voice. Until then, Mary hadn't noticed the tension between the two.

"Hi, Mrs. Winchester. "Andrew nodded, tying to wipe away some dirt off his face.

"I… wow, why are you covered in dirt?" Mary asked, folding her arms over her chest. Of course there was going to be drama on one of her favorite days of the year. "It's Thanksgiving. I mean, you're always welcomed here but aren't you supposed to be eating with your family?"

"It's, uh…it's been a long morning..." Andrew ran a hand over his knuckles. Mary was shocked to see the slight bruising on each knuckle.

"Oh my God… your knuckles… what happened?"

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me…"

All of a sudden, Lisa cut in, fuming. "She doesn't need to hear your lies."

"Um… why don't you come inside for a moment? You know, get cleaned up." Mary suggested.

Andrew frantically shook his head. "No. What I have to share with you is… is in my car."

Lisa backed away from the door. "I'm not going to stand here and listen to this again."

Both Andrew and Mary watched as she stormed upstairs.

"What was that all about?" Mary asked as she watched Andrew ran his shaky hands through his dirt-caked hair. "Are you alright?"

Andrew looked up at her with a frightened expression. "No…no, I'm not okay- I mean everything is not…okay. I think I just killed him…." Mary kept her mouth closed. Nothing was making sense but she didn't want to interrupt him. "…he's not waking up and I don't know if he's going to and- and I don't even know if I'm seeing things now… everything is so messed up! You need to fix this. Please, fix this," Andrew finished. By this point, tears were running down his face.

"Shhh- shhh-shh. Andrew, calm down," she said placing her hand on his cheek. Andrew leaned into her touch. Something must have really spooked him. "Now, what did you want to show me in your car?"

"I, uh… you'd have to see it for yourself."

"Okay, just let me slip on my shoes and I'll meet you out there."

Andrew only nodded before turning away.

After Mary put on her shoes, she walked into the dining room where the guests were still eating. The conversation was quieter than when she left but there was still conversation.

Everyone looked up at her as she started talking.

"Everything's okay." she said, then paused. She couldn't tell them that Andrew was at the door panicking and saying that he thought he killed someone. "A friend just popped by to give me something… in their car," she quickly filled in. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Anna smirking at her. Mary had always been able to tell when someone was lying even though she was a bad liar herself.

"Do I know this friend?" Anna asked.

"Oh, just someone from college. Uh… John, could you help me with whatever she has in the car? She said there were a few things in the car."

John nodded as he took one more bite of his mashed potatoes.

As John was tying his shoes, he looked up at her. "Are you sure everything alright?"

Mary leaned against the railing, rubbing the goose-bumps off her arm. She had known Andrew for a long time she knew he wouldn't hurt her. But she hadn't seen him in months and now he suddenly was knocking on her door. "I don't know… I just have this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Andrew was at the door… and he was just saying some weird things."

"You want me to go have a look first?" John asked. He stood up and started to wrap his arms around Mary's waist but she slipped out of his grip with an apologetic look.

Mary smiled, but shook her head. "We'll do it together. I'm sure it's not too serious." Mary said, heading outside with John trailing behind her.

When they got outside, they found Andrew pacing and whispering to himself in front of his Jeep. Andrew was so out of it that he didn't even realize them watching him. By the look of it, he must've been pacing since he came outside.

"Something really did a number on this kid…" John muttered.

Mary glared at him. "John, be nice. He's a good kid."

"Yeah… sure he is." She just rolled her eyes at him.

Mary cleared her throat. Andrew briskly turned his head towards her, not paying any attention to John. "Hey, you said there was something in your car?"

"Uh… yeah- yeah of course." Andrew walked over to his car and slowly opened the passenger seat to reveal a man inside who had his head turned to the side. "He's not waking up… and… and everything's not right!" he said. "Everything's not aright… oh God… what if I put him in a coma, or killed him? Oh God… you need to fix him… just fix him."

John snickered. "Damn kid, calm down." He leaned into Mary's ear. "He looks like he's doing the potty dance..."

"What happened?" Mary asked.

"It was raining. And- and this guy… he was in the graveyard and I thought it was- one of those teenagers… and I just tackled him to the ground. And he started swinging then I swung a few times and then- then he just passed out!" As Andrew was talking, she stepped closer to the stranger. John stopped her.

"Whoa, you sure you don't want me to check it out first?"

"I'll be fine, if anything bad happens, I have the two of you."

Mary walked to the man in the car as John tried to put together Andrews babbling.

She wondered how badly the stranger was hurt for Andrew to think that he had killed the guy. From what Mary could see, there wasn't any blood anywhere. And even though the man was a bit dirty, he wore a black suit. Maybe to show his respects to a loved one.

The man didn't look like his chest was moving so she went to check his pulse. As soon as she touched the man's neck, there was a surge of lightning and the man suddenly jolted awake with a sharp breath. Mary flinched away and stepped back a little, startled, John suddenly at her side.

The man turned to look at her. Mary's heart stopped beating. "… Dean?"

*S*P*N*

Mary wrapped a green blanket around a shivering Dean. Because his clothes were wet, she had made him strip to his boxers. He still looked weak, just like the last time she had seen him. After she had told Andrew to get some rest, promising to come back later, she had managed to get him to the upstairs bathroom without the guests seeing. Mary didn't know what they would think if she told them now. Hell, she didn't even know what to think. Here, was her son who had died six months ago but was now standing in front of her, like nothing had ever happened.

"What's cooking…?" Dean said awkwardly, wrapping the blanket around himself tighter. "Something smells great…. why are all those people downstairs? And what happened to Andrew? He just left so suddenly and-."

"Are you really here?" Mary interrupted, touching his jaw.

"Yeah… I think so…" Dean looked a bit frightened.

Mary withdrew her hand. "Oh my god… I'm so sorry…"

"Are you okay, mom? Why are you looking at me like that?" Dean asked, his right hand crept up to his face. "I mean… is there- is there something on my face?"

"No, Dean-o and yes I'm okay… uh… why don't you go get something to wear?" Mary asked him. "I'll just be downstairs…" She quickly turned around to leave the bathroom when she heard a whisper. Dean had discarded the green blanket and was now staring at himself in the mirror, almost frightened.

"When… how did I get so… so skinny?" Dean asked, touching his ribs. He stuck his stomach out a little, as though he was trying to get rid of them but the movement didn't help. "I really hope this dream turns out good… no need to ruin the perfectly great day I had yesterday… you even made me chocolate chip pancakes…"

"I don't…" Mary whispered. Dean put his hands at either sides of the sink and looked at her through the mirror. "Dean… what happened yesterday?"

"What do you mean 'what happened yesterday?' It was my 18th birthday!" Dean said. "How could you forget? Is this some kind of joke?"

Mary laughed nervously.

Dean narrowed his eyes. "Why are you laughing?"

Mary crossed her arms over her chest, no longer laughing. "Because this isn't a joke. Yesterday wasn't your birthday. It was November 24th… and today is November 25th… Thanksgiving."

This time, Dean turned around to face her. "You know what," he said. "I'm just gunna go back to bed and see if I can't wake up from this terrible nightmare. Right. Now."

"Dean, wait!" Before she could say another word, he was ducking into his room.

*S*P*N*

Dean rested his forehead on his bedroom door. All he wanted to do was sleep.

This had to be the most bizarre, most vivid nightmare he had ever had.

His bones ached and he felt weird. His body, didn't feel good, didn't feel like his own. He felt weak. Almost as if was borrowing his own body. This body looked and felt like it had been pushed to its limits and he didn't like that. He felt sick in this body and he couldn't shake the feeling that this nightmare would only get worse.

"Oh my God… it's really you…" Someone quietly said from behind him.

"Lisa?" he asked, turning around. The only thing lighting the room was his dim lamp. He had expected her to have a disfigured face and bones that were too big for her body but when he saw that she wasn't, he let out a sigh of relief. Instead, she sat perfectly still with her feet crossed on his bed, hugging his pillow and leaning against his headboard. Maybe this wasn't a nightmare after all. As he walked closer to her, he realized that tears were streaking her cheeks. He quickly kneeled in front of her and put his hands on the sides of her neck. "It's okay, it's okay. I'm here. What's wrong? Why are you crying?" he asked, stroking his thumps along her jaw.

"Lisa, hey, what's wrong? Why are you up here while everyone's visiting downstairs?"

"Because. Dean I um- I have this crazy thing to tell you," she said slowly.

"I'm sure it's not as crazy as my night…"

"I'm not so sure…" Lisa said, griping her arms.

"Okay um… well, I woke up in Andrew's Jeep, in this suit that was soaking wet. And when I come into the house, all these people are here in my house eating- and then my mom tells me that it's Thanksgiving, which is crazy! Then she asks me if I'm really me and touches my cheek then I get this knot in my throat for some reason… and then here you are…upset. And I don't know why or even how to make you feel better and it's just," Dean took a breath. "Been a crazy hour. Now, what's wrong with you? Are you hurt? You know whatever it is, you can tell me."

"You don't remember?"

Dean cocked his head to the side. "Remember what?"

"Um… nothing, just what I'm about to tell you isn't going to make any sense uhh…Dean… I'm, uh…"

"You're what?" Dean coaxed.

Lisa moved the pillow she was hugging. "I'm… pregnant."

Dean could almost feel the color draining from his face. He looked at her protruding stomach and withdrew his hands from her neck before he stood up, backing away slowly. The two words kept echoing in his mind. "What… is this some kind of a joke?"

"It's yours, I promise. I'm six, almost seven months pregnant. I'm due in February. The tenth to be-"

"That's bullshit." Dean scoffed. Lisa flinches like he had yelled at her. "We've never had… you know..."

"Had sex?" Dean cringed at how blunt Lisa is. He suddenly noticed that he was still in his underwear. "We… actually did. It was on our anniversary. And a few other times after that…" Lisa scooted towards the edge of the bed and slowly stood up. She took a few steps towards him but Dean found himself taking steps back. "Are you okay?"

"I, uh… I don't know. The last time I saw you, you weren't pregnant and all of a sudden, you are. If what you said happened, then why can't I remember it?"

"I don't know. I don't even know how you're even here right now. You know, I found out that I was pregnant the week after your funeral."

Everything felt like it was in slow motion. Funeral? His funeral? It couldn't be. He was standing in front of Lisa right now. Alive. "My what?"

"Your funeral," Lisa repeated.

Dean looked straight into her eyes. "You would tell me if this was all some big joke, right?" Dean asked. He honestly wasn't sure he wanted to hear the truth. The truth meant that this- this nightmare was his reality. "Right?" When he tried to move away, his back hit the door. Lisa closed the gap in between them. He hadn't even realized how close she was to him. "How did you…?"

Before he could say another word, his face was suddenly inches away from hers. Dean could feel his heart pounding wildly against his chest. Lisa slowly, and gently kissed the side of his mouth. "I promise." she whispered, withdrawing from him.

"No…" All of a sudden, Dean felt cold. He needed her warmth and suddenly wished that he hadn't pushed her away just a second ago.

Lisa nodded, sadly. "Yes."

"But I was- I've been in remission for…" Dean started counting his fingers. "Seven… seven months now... I was doing so good…" Dean put his hands on his ears, hoping to block out everything he was hearing, everything that was happening "Seven…" He whispered, more to himself. "Is this how I got so skinny? I got sick again?"

Lisa silently nodded. "The doctor-"

He put his arms around Lisa and swallowed the heavy knot in his throat. This was just too much.
"I don't want to hear anymore…" Dean said. He sluggishly went to his bed and lied down on his side, facing away from Lisa. He felt like all the energy had been sucked out of him.

How could something like this happen to him? Why him in the first place? How would people treat him now? These and a million other questions were filling his brain. Everything was all wrong. The cancer had come back, his body had failed him… he had lost his life. But, If everything that was said was true, then he had been given a second chance and cancer free. But how?

"Why me?" he whispered to himself.

A voice answered. "I couldn't tell you…" He felt a dip in his bed. "I brought you some food."

"Thanks mom…" he said, even though he wasn't hungry.

"Everyone left already." She told him. "You've been up here for a while now."

Dean signed. "I figured… did you tell them anything?"

"I had to," she said simply. "You want to talk about anything?"

"Do you?" Dean backfired.

"No," his mom breathed.

"Then, I don't want to either," he answered back.

His mom slowly started smoothing his hair down. It was still damp but he knew she didn't care. Dean wasn't sure he liked the sudden feeling but he didn't want her to stop because Dean knew he needed it as much as she did.

*S*P*N*

I'm honestly and truly sorry about the wait. Life happened so I hopped you enjoyed this chapter. It's a pretty big one. Who saw this coming? Loving all 109 reviews and I really appreciate them! all my mistakes are my own so if you see any. you know what to do.

*** Next chapter Preview:
Andrew heard the bell ring, signaling someone had just walked in. He finished signing the piece of paper before he looked up. He almost let go of his pen. Andrew scoffed.

"So now you're stalking me at work, huh? I figured it was only a matter of time," Andrew said.