Thank you so much Blondie 20000 for the feedback! Yup, honestly I've only written a few other OC characters before (back when I wrote for Roswell - the original series) but usually I just stick with the show characters. So basically I jumped ahead to Dean being 17 making Jo and Sammy both 13 and boy have the Winchester lives changed but in a good way.

I hope people enjoy this next part.

Thanks and enjoy!

Val

Chapter 24

John smiled as the bundle in his arms. Never did he think he would be a father again. Even after falling in love with Gamma and getting married did he imagine he would be a father again.

It never crossed his mind since Gemma had a tubal ligation when she was younger and couldn't get pregnant. He wasn't a fool; he knew his wife would have loved to have a baby. He saw it in her eyes whenever Bonnie and Caleb came over with Caleb Jr. but due to John's past run ins with the law neither even considered adoption as an option.

Then four months ago Rufus was hunting a vamp nest with Bobby's friend Jed. The nest had a human honey trap…a young pregnant homeless girl who went into labor as they were clearing the nest. Jed put his medic training to good use and delivered the baby, but he wasn't able to save the young mother.

Jed wasn't surprised, he could see that the vamps must have been feeding off of her as well as using her to lure victims and between the loss of blood and the poor living conditions the young mother's heart basically gave out on her.

Jed had asked Rufus if they should drop the baby off at a fire station, but the other hunter took one look at the child and said no. Instead he sent Jed to buy enough essential for the newborn to make it back to Sioux Falls.

John was shocked when he opened his front door to find Rufus standing there with a newborn baby in his arms. He would never forget sitting in the living room with Gemma, Rufus and the boys.

"John, it's a miracle this baby made it. She deserves to be with a family that will give her the special love she truly deserves considering how she came into this world." Rufus said as he watch Gemma positively glowing as she held the baby.

"John," Gemma said as she held the baby in her arms. "She's meant to be raised by a hunter's family. She's meant to be ours."

John looked at his wife, still unsure about the idea of bringing another child into their world but it was when Dean went over and took the baby from Gemma and said with a grin, "she's a tough little son of a gun…she'll definitely live up to the name Winchester."

John looked over at his other son, "Sammy?"

The younger boy looked over at his big brother gently rocking the little girl in his arms and smiled at his father. "As long as I don't have to change diapers it's okay with me."

John reached over and pulled Sam into a head lock and told the boy he would be changing all the stinky diapers for being a wise guy.

So thanks to Bobby's connections Gemma and John were able to legally adopt Colleen Amelia Winchester without dealing with all the usual child services and courtroom appearances. Just a few papers signed and certified by a judge in Bobby's living room over a bottle of Jack.

It actually surprised him how much he was enjoying being a Daddy again. He knew it was because he saw the joy the infant brought to his wife and sons…oh who was he kidding this little girl brought so much joy to his life too.

God how his life had changed in the four years since him and Caleb had been able to track down and kill that yellow eye bastard who killed his Mary. He would never forget the call at 3:00 AM that faithful Thursday from Caleb. He had just finished a hunt were he exercised a demon. The creature tried to make a deal and gave up Azazel.

John knew what he had to do. He woke Gemma, told her he loved her, but he had to go…he had to finish it. She was a hunter's daughter…she understood him in a way nobody else could. She just made him promise to come back to them…a promise they both knew was worthless…there were no guarantees, but it was a promise of hope and he would never deny his Gemma hope.

He was gone almost three months but in the end between Caleb, Bobby, Jim and Gemma's Dad hunters network they tracked down the fable Colt that John had heard was the only thing that could do the job and then they found Azazel and John put the bullet that sent him back to Hell between his eyes.

When it was all said and done he realized it didn't feel like he thought it would. He got the bastard for Mary and his boys sake, but he realized he had truly moved on. He wasn't consumed by anger any longer. So when he finally came home he asked Gemma to marry him.

John was pulled out of his thoughts when the front door opened, and his sons came in. "Hey Dad," they both called out as they walked into the living room.

He smiled as Sammy came over and looked down at his baby sister and kissed the top of her head.

"Dad, is there anymore of Mom's pasta salad left, I'm starving?" Sammy asked as he made his way towards the kitchen.

"You touch the fried chicken Gemma made for supper squirt and I'm telling her." Dean shouted after his brother as he sat next to his Dad. "I can take her if you want."

"Thanks, I have a few things I want to look up for this hunt before I leave tomorrow." He said as he passed the infant to his son.

"Hey Leenie Beanie," Dean cooed to his sister before asking his father. "Dad did you talk to Gemma about this hunt?"

John sighed. Dean had been itching to go on his first real hunt. Strange that five years ago he was considering starting to bring Dean on his first hunt whether he wanted to go or not. Then Bobby's sister sent that prick Roy to kidnap her daughter Jo and his son at the age of twelve was forced to take a human life.

That one action was the beginning of the biggest change to the Winchesters men lives with a chance encounter at the zoo with the woman who would come in and steal all their hearts.

After almost not making it back to his boys from a hunt he thought would be a simple salt and burn he realized that as badly as he wanted to get the bastard demon who took his Mary from them that he needed to make some serious changes for his sons sake and with Gemma by his side he began making those changes.

He had decided that he would use Sioux Falls as his home base. He even swallowed his male pride and agreed to use part of the trust fund Gemma's birth parents had set up for her when she was a baby before they died to buy a modest three-bedroom house not too far from Bobby as well as a small garage in town that he could run in between hunts.

He had also agreed with Gemma that the boys deserved to focus on school and even though he still train with them he hadn't brought them on a hunt. Now Dean was going to be on spring break and wanted to go on this hunt John had him help do the research on.

"Son, there's a chance I won't be done before the week is up and won't be back before school starts up again next Monday." John tried to reason.

"Come on Dad, Caleb was hunting when he was my age," Dean argued.

John sighed, "I know Dean and I know how badly you want to go but Gemma and I discussed it last night. A hunt during the school year is out."

"And you both will find some excuse when summer starts too, 'Dean you need to work at the garage…Dean it's too close to the lunar cycle, you have to stay to watch Sam while Gemma is gone during those nights…Dean I need a more experience hunter to back me up'. Come on Dad, I've been training, and I did the bulk of the research on this case. I deserve to go."

"Look Dean, I get that you're itching to get out there and you will but not this time. Bobby and I will handle this one. I swear, this summer you can go on a hunt but right now I need you to stay and guess what I do need you to work at the garage, I have two engines that need to be completely rebuilt and I need you to work on them for me."

"Fine," Dean huffed as he looked down at Colleen when she sneezed. "Bless you," he murmured to his sister. He looked up suddenly when he digested everything his father had just said. "Wait…Bobby is going with you?"

"Yup he's going to be my back up, why?" John asked knowingly.

Now it was Dean's turn to sigh as he said, "let me guess…Jo is staying with us."

John shook his head at his son, he knew back when they first met Jo this was going to happen. Dean became instantly attached to the young girl and she had even innocently given his son his first kiss. Dean fawned over Jo those first few years but as they grew older and Dean became a teenager the four years age difference truly began to make a difference in their lives.

Now Dean just saw Jo as a little kid but Jo…oh poor Jo…it was her turn to have those overwhelming feelings for Dean that he had for her when he was younger. Thanksgiving Gemma had to console Jo twice when Dean had told her to get lost and go play with Sam or something because he was busy with his then girlfriend.

John knew that this was going to happen seven years ago, but it didn't make it any easier to deal with the 17 years old boy and 13 years old girl.

Of course faith decided to really be a dick and not only was Jo pining away for Dean, but Gemma had told John last night she thought Sammy may have a bit of a crush on Jo. Yup faith was definitely a dick.

John sighed as he tried another tactic to convince Dean he was needed at home. "Son, this is the first hunt I've gone on since we got Colleen. Give your old man a break and stay home and help Gemma."

Dean looked down at his baby sister, "you play dirty old man."

John laughed as he stood up and patted Dean on the shoulder, "I can count on you then to not give Gemma a hard time and to keep Sammy in line?"

"Yeah you can but Dad you need to talk to Gemma. I'm not a little kid anymore and she needs to let me be my own man." He said as he looked up at his father who nodded his head in understanding.

"I get it Dean; I do but you need to get that even though you may not call her Mom she sees you as her boy…her son and her instinct is to protect you."

Dean ducked his head, blushing at his father's words. He remembered the first time Sammy called Gemma Mom, it was a few months after she had married their father and they had just moved into their new home.

Sammy had been running around barefoot one morning and ended up with a huge splinter in his foot. Gemma asked why he wasn't wearing his slippers and Sammy admitted he left them at Gemma's old apartment that they had lived in before they moved.

Gemma had shook her head as she sat the child on the kitchen counter and took care of him. When she was done she had kissed him on the forehead and told him that she would buy him a new pair of slippers when she went shopping later that afternoon.

Sammy had slid off the counter, shouted a carefree 'Thanks Mom,' as he ran back upstairs to get dressed for the day. Dean had been at the kitchen table eating his breakfast and he almost choked on his cereal when he heard Sammy call Gemma Mom. He remembered the look of joy on her face when she had turned around and he also remember how quickly that look disappeared when she saw the way Dean was looking at her.

He loved Gemma, he did but hearing Sammy calling her Mom felt like a betrayal to their real Mom. Gemma quickly told him that she didn't expect Dean to call her Mom…that it was fine. She had also said she would speak to Sammy and tell him not to call her Mom if it made Dean uncomfortable.

He knew that Gemma loved them and knew how much it meant to her for Sammy to call her Mom and how much it meant to Sammy to have a Mom. So he told her it was fine for Sammy but that he couldn't do it. She had smiled and nodded her head. Telling him it was fine.

The teen looked at his father. "Gemma always said she understood why I didn't call her Mom."

"Didn't say that she didn't understand son, I just want you to understand that you're her child in her heart…she's not ready to let you go hunting yet but I can see where you're coming from. The three of us can sit down and talk when I come back."

Dean smiled at his father, "okay. Thanks Dad."

"Why don't you tell Sammy to finish eating and that he's on Colleen duty while you help me finish this research." John told him.

Dean did a quick sniff and grinned, "perfect timing Colleen, Sam is gonna love changing that diaper."

TBC