"Remember Emily from Burkittsville?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, the kid who was almost sacrificed to the Vanir-scracrow thing, right?" The other Dean replied.
"Yeah," The Dean of the universe replied, "Well, apparently after that she went and became a hunter. And then, after I got back from Hell, we ran into each on a hunt..."
Rosebloom, Arkansas
2008
"Look, pal," A female voice said, as Sam and Dean interned the police station, "Call my supervisor if you don't believe, but I need to see that body."
The pair of hunters exchanged looks, then went towards the voices.
"Look, young lady, I don't know what kind of prank you're trying to pull here," The desk officer was saying firmly to a blonde woman with their backs to them, "But impersonating a federal agent is a serious offense."
"Or it would be if except I'm not impersonating one," The young woman insisted, "I am one."
"Excuse me," Dean called out, causing both parties to look at him and he was surprised to see he recognized the young woman. "Emily?"
"Dean?" The young woman exclaimed back, looking like she had just seen a ghost. Well, like normal people look when they just saw a ghost.
"You all know each other?" The desk officer said.
"Yes," Dean said quickly, getting a look at the badge on the desk, "Agent Person, she usually does undercover work, they never see it coming with that baby face of hers."
It was actually a good cover story. In her black slacks and matching blazer over a ruffled blouse, her youthful face was the only thing keeping her from completely passing as a federal agent.
"As for us," Dean continued, "I'm Agent Perry, this is Agent Tyler, we're ah, here about the dead body as well."
"Dental records identify the body as Alex Copper," The corner explained, "Apparently he was out camping with his girlfriend, Rose Dolton. We have search parties out searching for her now, but I don't see how the FBI could help."
Dean was about to provide some sort of explanation when Emily spoke up, "We have reason to believe this is linked to an animal smuggling ring we've been investigating. We think perhaps one their more...dangerous predators got lose."
The corner's face visibly paled. "H-have the police..."
"Been informed?" Emily finished, "Of course, they're getting all the civilians out of the woods as we speak."
The corner left out a sigh of relief.
"So," Sam said, before things could get out of hand, "Cause of death?"
"Blood loss from his throat being ripped out," The corner explained, "There are some defensive wounds but he clearly didn't stand a chance against whatever killed it."
"So, what, we thinking werewolf?" Dean asked, back at the hotel, looking over case files and lore books with Emily.
"No, the timing's off," Emily said, flipping through one of the books, "There wasn't even a crescent moon last night, let alone a full one."
The federal agent get-up had been shed and replaced with a pink-and-brown stripped sweater, worn-out looking blue jeans and sturdy black boots. An anti-possession charm that had been hidden before now hung freely from her neck. Fading cheap make-up revealed she just recovered from a black eye. When she pushed her hair out of her face so she could see better it revealed her knuckles were slightly scuffed up. There was a cut on her forehead, just by her hair line. She had been in a fight recently, and if the scar on the side of her face, a wide pale track of healed stitches starting at her jaw and curving up into her hair line was any indication, it wasn't the first time.
This was not the same girl they had put on a bus to Boston four years ago.
"So, ah," Dean began, "How long have you been hunting?"
"A little less than four years now," Emily replied, "After what happened in Burkettisvile, I was white knuckling it, this was the only thing I found that actually let me function."
Dean didn't think that was a good reason to become a hunter. At all. "So you just went out there with no training, no skills whatsoever?"
"I learned on the job," Emily replied, "And hey, I managed to stay alive so far."
"Though from the looks of it, that wasn't easy," Dean commented, observing her battered features.
"Is there some kind of point to this integration, Dean?" Emily snapped.
"No," Dean replied, suddenly feeling like he had done something wrong, "It's just...this isn't the kind of life you just jump into. I mean, you're just a kid."
"A, I didn't just jump into it, I've been at this for four years," Emily said coolly, "B, I'm not a kid anymore, I'm nineteen."
Dean raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, maybe that's not the best argument," Emily conceded, "Especially after what happened today."
"How often does that happen, anyway?" Dean asked.
"More than I care to admit," Emily replied, "And then I've had to get creative."
"Creative?" Dean responded, "What does that mean?"
"Crawling through windows," Emily admitted, somewhat casually, "Describing myself as a candy stripper, an intern occasionally...you'd be surprised how often it works."
"Okay, that's...pretty creative," Dean said, actually impressed.
"So is faking your death," Emily replied.
"What does that mean?" Dean replied.
"Just because you didn't know about me, doesn't me I don't know about you," Emily explained, "People talk. Word on the street says you're the best hunters out there. Even other hunters are scared of you. Someone says the name Winchester, people make the sign of the cross."
"Okay, okay, I get the point." Dean cut her off, "So what does this have to do with someone faking their death?"
"Word got a around a few months ago," Emily began, "You were dead. Killed by a demon or something. Yet," She gestured widely towards Dean, "Here you are, the picture of health."
Dean was silent for a moment, not sure how to respond.
"So?" Emily continued, "Why'd you do it? Was it for some kind of job or something?"
Dean squirmed, trying to think of a good lie. Finally he decided to just go with, "Or something."
Just then Sam came back into the room, saying, "Okay, good news, I think I figured out what we're dealing with, bad news, it's gonna be really hard to find and really hard to kill..."
Bitter Creek Woods
A Day Later
"Sam! Dean!" Emily shouted, "I found her!"
Rose Dolton was handing by her wrist in the center of a cold damp cave. She was soaking wet, freezing and semi-conscious, but she was still alive.
Sam and Dean came running into the catacomb as Emily was cutting the slightly older woman down. "Have you have found it yet?"
"No," Sam replied, "Nothing."
"But it could be planning some sort of sneak attack." Dean pointed out.
"All the more reason to get her out of here if we can," Emily said, supporting Rose's full weight, "Is somebody gonna help me?!"
"Right," Dean said, hurrying over to help her, throwing one of Rose's arm over his shoulder, "Sam, you got the flame thrower?"
"Yeah," Sam replied, readying it, and walking in front of him as they made their way through the tunnels.
Somewhere halfway through the crack someone started screaming. "What do you think?" Emily asked, "The Windego trying to trick us, or someone what actually needs help?"
"Rose," Dean began, "Did you see anybody else in here? Anybody alive?"
Rose just shook her head.
Suddenly there was a flash of movement and Sam was on the ground. Thinking Emily grabbed the dropped flame thrower and lit it, catching the attacker on fire before he could make the kill. Far from being beaten through, the flaming creature rose up with a pained, angry howl and charged at Dean and Emily.
"Uh oh," Was all Dean could think to say.
"Run!" Emily shouted, dragging Dean away.
The monster chased after them until they ran straight into a corner. "Any ideas?" Dean asked, totally at a lost.
"Just one," Emily said, pulling on the flame-thrower again, sending a gust of fire into their attackers face.
The Windego backed up actually whimpering before falling to the ground. It rolled around then, stopped, finally dead.
After disposing of the body, the three hunters got Rose to the hospital and then quickly prepared to leave. Dean was about to put his bag in the car when there a knock on the door. "Dean?" Emily's voice called out, "It's Emily."
"Come in," Dean replied.
Emily did. "I just wanted to say goodbye before I go," Emily explained, "Thanks for the help."
Dean blinked. "You're thanking me?" If anything Dean felt it should be the other way around. Aside from saving both his and Sam's life, she had been basically been leading the charge all day. She had been the one to find to the cave and of course she had been the one to find Rose.
"Yeah, for what you did with the desk officer yesterday," Emily explained.
"Don't mention it," Dean replied, then after a minute he added, "And I was wrong yesterday."
"Wrong about what?" Emily asked suddenly nervous.
"About you," Dean replied, "I shouldn't have doubted you."
"No, I don't blame you," Emily replied, "If the roles were reversed, I'd be a little weary as well."
"Well," Dean began, "That attitude is way too healthy for me. You're actually creeping me out a little."
Emily laughed, throwing her arms around Dean. He jolted at first, startled, then reciprocated the hug. Somewhere along the line, Emma's lips somehow met Dean's, then the younger hunter quickly pulled back. "I'm sorry," She said, "I don't know why I did that."
"I think I do." Dean replied. He was well acquainted with the adrenaline rush that came near-death misses. The urge to reach for the first warm and willing body available to him. The need to reaffirm that he was still alive. Right now he wanted to help her do that. So he kissed her again, pulling her closer to the bed...
Cicero Indiana
Present Day
"Woe, woe, woe," Dean interjected quickly before things could get any further, "Stop right there, okay? During this experience I have met my kid, have my brother beg me to kill him, and caught myself making out with my best friend. I do not need the details of how I deflowered a nineteen-year-old, okay?"
"Actually I don't that was her first..." The universe's Dean began.
"Stop!" Dean shouted, "Just get to the part where she had our baby."
"Well, the next day she was gone," The other Dean explained, "And she never told me she was pregnant. Then I ran into her on another hunt..."
Carthage, Minnesota
2010
Dean didn't see her at first when he walked into the store. Then as he walked past the counter he noticed the wide pale line of healed stitches. That made him turn on his heel. "Emily?"
She turned around looking like she'd been caught in something. "Dean?"
"Hey, long time no see," Dean replied, "So you in town over the..." His voice trailed off in case there were other people around.
"Omens?" Emily finished, "Don't worry, we're alone."
It was then Dean noticed no one was manning the counter. In fact, they were the only two people in the whole store. "Did we just walk into an ambush?"
"I don' t know, but I think we need to walk out of here slowly," Emily said, backing up.
Suddenly the doors to back burst open, and two men appeared, their eyes a shinning black. "Not so fast," One said, and with the flick of his wrist, the hunters found themselves pinned against the freezer section.
"You know," The lead demon said sauntering over to them, "I wasn't expecting this pretty little thing to be here." He stoked Emily's cheek, his finger tracing her scar.
"Leave her alone!" Dean seethed.
"And if I don't?" The demon mocked, turning to face Dean, "What are you going to do about it?"
At that point Dean saw Sam sneaking in with the knife. "Nothing," Dean said, feigning defeat.
The demon chuckled evilly. "That's what I thought." He turned back to Emily. "So I going to have a little fun before..." His voice trailed off when he heard the sound of a body hitting the ground. He turned around to see Sam standing over his fallen comrade. Before he could react, Sam stabbed him the gut.
The demon fell to the ground and with him Dean and Emily. "Are you okay?" Sa, asked, helping her up.
"I think so," She said.
"Then let's get out before more show up," Dean said, as they were already heading out the door.
As Sam and Dean headed for the Impala but Emily broke off. "We're stand a better chance together." Dean said when he saw her going off.
"Sure," Emily said, suddenly very nervous, "It's just...there's something in the car I need to get, and I can't leave it there..."
Suddenly there was the soft sound of cooing. They all turned to find a baby who couldn't be more than a few months old in car with the window rolled down, failing its arms, as if trying to get the hunters attention.
That was when Dean realized it was the only car in the parking lot other than theirs.
"What are you doing with a baby?" Dean asked.
"It's a long story," Emily said, taking the baby out of the car seat, "Can we just go?"
A little while later they were on the road, with Emma in the backseat holding the baby, now wrapped in a pink blanket.
"So Emily," Dean spoke up, "Are you going to tell us, ah, what's going on with the kid?"
Emily paused for a moment then said, "Her parents were killed by something .I'm not sure what, because it was gone by the time I got there. I'm just trying to figure out what to do with her now."
"And you thought bringing her on a hunt was a good idea?" Sam questioned.
"Well, that was kind of an accident," Emily replied, sinking into the seat.
"Don't worry," Dean said, "We'll get you both out of here."
Later on at the hotel Dean had been left with the baby while Emily and Sam left to retrieve some weapons she had gathered that she didn't want winding up in the wrong hands. "Looks like it's just you and me little girl," Dean commented, walking the baby around the room. She was extremely calm, yawning in this stranger's arm. He had to admit, the kid was adorable. She was small, with a few bits of hair and big eyes that looked like they might be turning green.
"Ah, is someone ready for a nap?" Dean asked, "Yeah, someone's ready for a nap." He laid her down on one of the beds, and put the blanket over her. "There you go." It was then he noticed the tip of a piece of paper sticking out from a pocket of the shabby dipper bag. Curious, he pulled it out and discovered serval more pieces of paper. Except they weren't paper. They were pictures. One was of Emily and the baby, smaller than she was now. Emily had her hand up to the lens, as if she was trying to stop the picture from being taken. The other one was her in what looked to be a hospital, clearly drugged out, limply holding the baby. That didn't make any sense. Why would she be in a hospital bed with someone else's kid? Unless she had lied about where she got her. Unless this was her child.
Dean quickly undid the large piece of paper that caught Dean's attention. He slowly unwrapped it, suddenly afraid of what he'd find. Sure enough, it was a birth certificate. And the spot for the mother's name, it said: Emily Dawson.
Just then the door opened. "Well, that was worth the run," Sam was saying.
"Trust me," Emily was saying, "You don't want these..."
"What is this?" Dean said, standing up and holding out the birth certificate.
Emily eyes widened and she looked almost terrified. "Dean, I can explain..."
"You mean the take-your-daughter to work day or why you lied to us about it?" Dean challenged.
"It really was an accident," Emily said, "I wouldn't put her in danger like that, I'm just figuring out what I want to do. And I didn't tell you because..."
Suddenly it struck him. "Is she..."
Tears were welling in her eyes now. "Yes." She sobbed, letting the tears fall down.
Dean froze, not even knowing where to began. "I...I have a daughter?"
Emily nodded. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
Before things could go any further there was a knock on the door and a man's voice called out, "State Trooper, open up!"
The three looked at each other. "Did anyone see you guys?" Dean asked.
"No," Sam replied.
"Open up!" The trooper called again.
"Look," Sam said, "I'll handle this, you two, just stand back and...try not to kill each other."
Emily stepped behind Sam as he opened a door. "Is there a problem officer?"
"A small one Sam," The trooper said, pulled off his sunglasses and revealing a pair of demonic black eyes, "We just, ah, need you all to come with us."
Instantly Sam splashed holy water on the creature. "Grab the kid and run."
While Emily scooped up the baby Dean stabbed the demon fatally. They ran into the door way only to find four more demons getting out of the police car.
"Give me the knife," Sam demanded, holding out his hand, "I'll buy you two some time to get out."
"Sam, no," Dean replied.
"You wanna make your daughter an orphan?" Sam snapped back, "If we're lucky."
Dean placed the knife in Sam's hand, then grabbed Emily by the arm and rushed to the car.
"Won't this be fun," A female demon commented in a sing-song voice, grinning like a child that had been promised ice cream.
"Easy there, sugar," The new lead demon warned, "We need this one alive."
"Just try it," Sam warned.
"Gladly," The demon said, before an unseen force pinned Sam to the ground, hard. He leant down and said, "Damn, he's not out yet." He took Sam's head in his hands as he said, "Looks like we're gonna have to do it the hard way."
"Ooh, ooh," The female demon said enthusiastically, "Can I do it?"
"Sure, baby girl," The lead demon said, stepping back, "But remember..."
"Yeah, yeah, we need him alive," The female demon said, sounding almost board, "But I can leave him a little bruised, right?"
However, before the demon could do anything they were interrupted by the sound of skidding tires and bodies hitting the ground. Sam found he was able to blot up and slash at the female demon. As ran to the waiting Impala, he stabbed the lead demon fatally, then ran to the open door, getting in the back and slamming the door.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me," Dean saying to Emily as he drove at break-neck speeds, "What kind of person doesn't tell someone they're having their baby?! Didn't you think I would want to know, that I had a right to know?! And what kind of name is Hunter? Serious, that's not even a girl's name."
"Actually it's gender neutral," Emily replied, "And since her mom was a hunter, and her dad was a hunter, it just seemed to fit."
"Yeah, even though you didn't want to tell the dad about her," Dean shot back.
"Uh, guys," Sam spoke up from the back, "Is this really the time and place to have this conversation?"
That turned the whole car quiet enough to hear a pin drop. "Sam's right," Dean said finally, "We need to put as much distance between ourselves and those mooks as possible, and regroup. But then...we are talking about this."
They didn't stop driving for the next two days. When they finally got to Bobby's a whole different kind of Hell broke loose.
"I don't know what you want me to stay," Emily said.
"How about why," Dean snapped, "Why did you hide her from me?"
"Because I wasn't sure if I was even going to keep her," Emily revealed, "I mean, look at our lives Dean. Look at happened, think about where it could've gone. That's why-before she was born I started looking into adoption. "
"Okay," Dean countered, "Then why do you still have her?"
"Because I hit a snag on some issues I had a few years ago, and I had leave before I could fill out the paperwork," Emily said, "I was still going to do it, but...she's my daughter and I love her. God forgive me, I know it's selfish, but I can't let her go. That's why I went of this hunt. I thought if I could remind myself of how dangerous it was, I could bring myself my do it."
"Really?" Dean deadpanned, "You put Hunter in danger so you can take her out of it? Does that sound like a sane plan to anyone else in this room?!" He looked to Sam and Bobby for support.
"I gotta admit, it wasn't the best plan in the world Emily," Bobby said.
"And do you have any bright ideas?" Emily challenged.
"Maybe quit the life when you realized you wanted to keep her?" Sam suggested.
"Because that always works out so well," Emily mocked.
"You could've asked me," Dean seethed, "I'm older, I'm her father, if you had just talked to me we could've figured something out."
"You mean like you are with the Apocalypse?" Emily shouted.
The room got deathly silent again. Which was how they were able to hear the truck pull up outside. "Here, Winchester, Winchester, Winchester," A familiar, female, sing-song voice said, "Come out and play."
Dean ran over to the window and looked out and saw to his horror, the female demon from the motel, alive but battered, leading a new group of demons.
"Damn," Dean cursed, "It's that psychotic woman child from the hotel."
"Sam," Bobby quickly ordered, "Take Emily and baby to the panic, and then meet us back here."
"I'm not leaving you guys to fend for yourselves," Emily protested.
"Well, we can't leave Hunter to fend herself," Bobby pointed out, "I think we have a better shot on our own than she does."
Seeing his point she allowed Sam, who had picked up Hunter, to lead her to the panic room.
While Sam was doing that Dean and Bobby got on either side of the door. "I count five including your friend from the motel," Bobby said, speaking out, "Which I'm assuming is the one with the gapping slash in her chest."
Dean nodded. "I could've swore that bitch was dead."
"You can't get rid of me that easy Winchesters," She called out, as if she could hear what was going on inside, "Harlow, would you do the honors?"
Suddenly the door swung open, hitting Bobby in the face. Dean lunged at the first demon, only to find himself thrown across the room. As he righted himself he saw the female demon sauntering towards him with a manic smile on her face. "That was a very mean thing you did, " She said, "Killing my friends."
"What can I tell you sister," Dean replied, "Easy come, easy go."
"Not so easy," The demon giggled, pulling out and knife and grabbing Dean by the collar, "'Cause I can do anything to you I want."
Just then Bobby got a hold of the knife, stabbing two of the other demons.
"Meanie!" The demon shouted, sending Bobby into the wall, "I'll deal with you later."
Just then Sam busted armed an extra angel blade they hand lying around. He stabbed one demon before an invisible forced pinned him against the wall.
"You can wait too," The demon said, "Now," She put her knife on the side of Dean's face, "I think I'll start by giving you a mark to match your pretty little girlfriend's. Would you like that ,hum?"
Dean felt the first sharp pain of the knife cutting into his skin then suddenly the demon let go of both him and the knife, screaming. Steam was coming up from her back. She turned around and found Emily with an open flask of holy water the scared liquid dripping out from brim.
"Okay," She said, reaching out and grabbing Emily by the throat, "I guess I'll have to deal with you first." Then she trusted the knife into Emily's chest.
"No!" Dean shouted, finally getting back to his feet and pulling the demon off of Emily, but it was too late. The young huntress was on the ground bleeding out.
Dean picked up the demon knife from where it landed, and killed the demon, then rushed to Emily, putting his hand on the wound. "If I can stop the bleeding then..."
"Dean..."Her voice trailed off, "Hunter..."
"As long as you left her in the panic room, she'll be fine," Dean said, "Sam! Bobby!"
Other two men were halfway over to them. "Aw, Hell," Bobby cursed, "Strait threw and threw."
"You need to...promise me..."Emily said weakly.
"No," Dean said, "Don't talk like that. You're going to be fine. I'm still not done wringing you out for your questionable parenting choices."
Emily managed a smile with blood-stained teeth. "Take care of Hunter?" She requested, "Do what's best for her."
"I will," Dean vowed, "I promise."
"T-thank...y-y-you," Emily managed to say, then closed her eyes.
Two hours later the three hunters watched as Emily's body burned on the pier in silence. Dean had Hunters cradled in his arms.
"What are we going to do with her?" Sam asked at last.
"The only thing I can do," Dean replied, blankly.
Cicero Indiana
Two Days Later
Lisa wasn't surprised to see Dean Winchester and his brother Sam on her doorstep, as he had called saying he needed to ask a favor of her, but wanted to actually ask it in person. She however, was surprised to see him holding a little baby girl.
"Dean what are you doing with her?" She asked.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Dean replied somberly.
And so Dean told Lisa about everything that had happened and asked him if she would take in Hunter, at least for the time being.
"I know it's too much to ask," Dean finished, "And I understand if you say no, but with what's going on I can't walk away. Not yet at least."
"What exactly is going on right now?" Lisa.
"You don't wanna know," Dean assured her, "But...it's bad. It's what got Emily killed."
"Alright," Lisa replied, "I'll do it."
Both Dean and Sam looked at Lisa in surprise. While yes, this had been their only hope, they never thought she would actually do it.
"Really?" Dean asked hopefully.
"Who could say no to this little heartbreaker?" Lisa retorted, weakly smiling.
"Thank you, Lisa," Dean said, clearly grateful, "Thank you so much. You don't know what this-"
"I think I do," Lisa interjected.
A few hours later, after they had did everything they could to help get Hunter settled, Dean drove away, tears streaming down his face.
Cicero Indiana
Four Months Later
"How's she doing?" Lisa asked, walking into the living room, where Dean and Hunter were lying in the floor on a blanket.
"She's got that squeaky octopus thing right where she wants it," Dean answered, "I think it might owe her money."
Lisa smiled. This was best she had seen Dean since he got here. "And you're sure you'll be okay?"
"I think I watch my own kid for half an hour," Dean assured her, "But thanks for the concern."
"Okay," Lisa replied, "But just in case, quick rundown before I go. I got formula bottles ready in the ridge, dippers' are in the nursery, and if it's a real emergency, call me, alright?"
"Okay, Mom," Dean snorted, "Don't worry, Lisa, I got this." Then he looked down at Hunter, who had her free hand wrapped around one of his finger and said in the dumbest baby voice you ever heard, "Don't we got this, hun? Is Aunt Lisa just being silly? Silly Aunt Lisa!"
"Ha, ha," Lisa said ,then finally heading for the door added, "Goodbye Dean." Then waving at the baby said, "Goodbye Hunter." Then she finally went out the door.
"Looks like it's just you and me baby girl," Dean observed.
For the first five minutes everything was fine. Dean let Hunter roll around on the blanket, and when she started crying he got her a bottle.
"There you go," Dean said as she sucked on the bottle, "And Aunt Lisa was worried." After a minute, he added, "Tough to tell you the truth, I don't really blame her. I haven't exactly been the most stable person lately." He brought his head a little closer to his daughter so their foreheads were slightly touching as he said, "But I got an awesome reason to hang on."
Just then there was the sound of a commotion outside and Dean could swear head a baritone that he hadn't heard in a while saying, "Sam, you're being ridiculous! You have to tell Dean you're not dead, it's cruel not to!"
"I think I might have spoke too soon," Dean said fairly certain this was some kind of hallucination, but going to the door anyway.
"I'm being cruel to be kind!" Sam's voice argued, "I've been watching them. It was a little touch and go there for a while , but Dean's finally happy! If I go in there, he'll just leave! And what do you know?! It's not like you've been around lately!"
Dean opened the door to fin Cas dragging a struggling up to the door, saying "Well, it's a good thing I-" His voice trailed off as he noticed a stunned Dean staring at him. "Oh," He said, "Hello Dean. Good news, I managed to raise Sam from perdition, but he did not inform you of this development because he is truly a horrible person." That last part was more directed at Sam, "Would you mind helping me get him inside?"
All Dean could manage to say was, "Hun?"
"See?" Sam spoke up, "You broke him! Again!"
"No, I'll be fine," Dean managed to say, "I just...don't have a freakin' clue what's going on. Did I fall asleep? Am I dreaming? I mean, don't get me wrong, if this is a dream it's an improvement, but..."
"I assure, you Dean, this is very real," Cas replied, walking past Dean into the house.
After getting Sam sat down on the couch, then running a battery of test on both him and Cas, Dean had a bunch of questions.
"Oaky, so you got Sam out of Hell," Dean stated, "How? I mean, Lucifer's cage that's gotta be...the most guarded place in the pit." At least he hoped it was. He didn't the Apocalypse starting again.
"It wasn't easy," Cas explained, "I nearly forgot his soul."
Both Winchesters did a double take.
"But I didn't," Cas replied, "I checked and went back for it."
"See," Sam spoke up, "This is another reason I didn't let Dean know I was alive. I had no clue what brought me back, I didn't know if there was some grand evil plan I was bringing right to their door, I mean, couldn't you have a least left a note?"
Cas just stared, not really comprehending.
"Never mind," Sam said, " I prayed to you so many times that I lost count, and you never bothered to answer."
"I've been a little busy with a civil war," Cas countered.
Again, both men balked. "You could've lead with that." Dean said.
"You just seem more concerned with Sam being alive," Cas replied.
"Speaking of which," Dean said, "If you're so busy why'd you take time to drag Sam back here?"
"I had flown off-course," Cas replied, "I found Sam, and he wasn't with you, and I...I believe the phrase is lost it?"
"Yeah," Sam "That's a good word for it."
Dean gave his younger brother a questioning look, and Cas just turned as stared at Sam. "Y-you tackled me, knocked me out, brought me here, and when I woke up and tried to get away use your tie to tie my hands behind my back, and when I fought back, you bit me!" Sam pulled down his shirt revealing a very deep teeth indentions in the shape of a human mouth, first showing it to Cas, then Dean.
"Yeah," Dean said, "Yeah, that's a...nasty bite. Maybe we should get that checked."
Just then the door opened and Lisa's voice called out, "Okay, we're back-" Her voice trailed off as she noticed the motley crew in her living room.
"Here, take your niece for a minute," Dean said, handing Hunter off to Sam than standing up. "Lisa, Ben," He began, "You remember Sam. Apparently, he's alive. And this is Castiel, the angel I told you about."
"Nice to meet you?" Lisa said slowly, still processing what was happening.
"Nice to meet you, too," Cas said equally awkward, "I heard a lot of good things from Dean."
"Dean," Lisa began, "What is going on?"
"I'm still trying to figure that out myself," Dean began, "But, ah, the broad strokes is, Cas got Sam out of Hell, but Sam was didn't know how he got out so he was staying away, and when Cas found out he him brought him back here, they explained all that, and that was about when you came in."
"Well," Sam said standing up and handing Hunter to Dean, "It looks like you two have a lot to talk about so, I'll just-"
"Oh, no you don't," Dean said, pushing Sam back down, "And you're not going anywhere either." He pointed at Cas, "You're explaining the civil war thing in more detail."
Lisa just blinked. This was all moving way too fast for her.
"Maybe I should take Hunter upstairs," Ben suggested.
"Yeah," Lisa said blankly, "You do that."
Cicero Indiana
Present Day
"Five years later, we're here," Dean finished, "Crammed in a car with our doppelgangers spying on our kids first day of school, and apparently not checking with each other about it."
"And the civil war?" Sam asked, "How did that end?" He couldn't picture how that happened without a lot of fallout.
"You know how they killed Julius Caesar?" Cas spoke up, "It was kind of like, except more complicated."
"And what do you have to do with any of this?" Dean asked Bobby, "You only came up once during that story."
"I check in," Bobby protested, "And I watch her sometimes. I have as much stake in this as anyone else in this car."
"Speaking of which, is there any way we can get out of this car?" Sam spoke up, "We're gonna need a little room for the spell."
"I think there's an ally way behind the school," That universe's Dean said, "You could get out and do it there-"
"I think Hunter just fell," Cas suddenly declared, pointing out the window.
All head turned towards the playground where the five-year-old was on the ground. Another little girl in a black-and-white pentifore helped her up and the two ran off.
"That's my girl," The other Dean observed.
"Great," Dean said, trying to sooch out, "Now that we got that taken care of could you guys let us out?"
It took a little moving around but eventually Sam and Dean were able to half slide, half fall out, pick themselves up and head to the ally.
For once Sam and Dean were able to put the ingredients together carefully. Then Sam read the spell, " Skicka dessa fiender härifrån till andra världar tills jag kalla dem att återvända."
A trash can fell over as the wind gushed, and then once again, came the bright flash of light.
A few hours later Dean was waiting with the other first day Kindergarten parents for Hunter to come out. Finally he saw the little girl running out of the doors. "Daddy!" She shouted when she saw her father, running to him.
"Hey, there, honey," Dean said as she practically leapt in his arms, then noticing she was holding something said, "What's that?"
"My name tag," Hunter replied then as the two walked hand in hand to the card she continued to chatter happily about her day.
"So, how'd it go?" Sam asked when they got to the card.
"I think we got another geek on her hands," Dean commented.
"Geek?" Hunter squeaked.
"It's mean's your..."Dean tried, "Really enthusiastic about learning."
"Oh," Hunter replied softly, "Cool."
"Sure," Dean thought, " Let's go with that."
Still, he couldn't help but smile.