A.N.: So this is it. Fifteen years. It's been quite a roller coaster. I know we all have different feelings about how the show ended, but I'm so thankful for everyone's support. Carry on, my wayward children. Carry on.
"Mom, I need to talk to you." Samantha closed the office door behind her, sitting down on a case of files. She and Robbie had just turned sixteen, and both of them were growing up fast.
Grace took her headphones, off, double checking that her work was saved before swiveling around in her chair. "Sure. What's up, honey?"
Looking down at her shoes, Samantha took her time to start talking. "I... I think Dad's cheating on you." Grace swallowed the lump in her throat as her daughter kept talking. "I went to go register for class up at the college, y'know, the summer ones Robbie and I are doing? He did his paperwork for Statistics the other day, and I went to go turn mine in for Bio and... there's no Professor Winchester there. At least not teaching in person. He's got two online classes and that's it. He doesn't go to conferences... They said he doesn't even live in town. They've seen him like twice."
"Samantha, honey -"
"Dad goes away all the time. Or he says he's at the office working on stuff for school, or he's out late grading papers, or he's at a meeting or... Mom, it doesn't add up." She finally made eye contact with her mother, clearly trying not to cry. "Why aren't you mad? Or sad, or something? What -"
Grace sighed, knowing the time had finally come. She and Dean had been stalling for as long as they could, but their kids were too old, too smart for it anymore. "Your father teaches American Mythology and Theology online. But he and I... Samantha, we should talk about this as a family. Go get your brother."
She and Robbie appeared at the door a moment later. Grace closed her laptop, telling them to "Come with me." The twins shared a look, following their mother to the laundry room. They watched in surprise as she moved a panel on the wall, revealing a doorknob. The wall swung open, and they followed her down an old set of stairs.
They walked into the main room of a multi-story bunker, books and old weapons piled everywhere. Neither of them said a word as they followed their mom down the next set of stairs. They were too busy trying to take everything in. Music blared from another room. Grace knocked on the door, the classic rock station being switched off. "Gracie, what's -" Dean stopped dead as he saw their kids behind her. Looking back to Grace, he sighed, asking, "It's time, isn't it?"
The four of them sat at a table in the great room of the bunker, Dean pouring himself a drink as Grace explained. "Everything your dad teaches about, Heaven, Hell, angels, demons, witches, monsters, all of it... it's all real. Your dad and I met when we were kids. Umm, we tell people - we told you - we met when I was around your age. Well, it's sort of true. We'd met earlier, but Grandpa John, Dad, and Uncle Sam left and came back a lot. Any time there was a monster in town. They came back so your Uncle Sam could go to high school in one place, and then they left again. Eventually your dad and Uncle Sam ran into me again, and I went with them to fight monsters. That's what your dad does when he goes out of town. He tries not to be gone too much," she looked over to Dean, reaching for his hand, "but if there's a really bad problem... well, he's the best. When he's not hunting, he's down here doing research. We put together a database for other hunters to help identify what they're looking at, and he helps keep things up to date and consults when other hunters have questions."
Robbie spoke first, looking to his dad. He and Dean had been close since the twins were born. He had his mom's nose, but his smile was all Dean's. He'd just made the football team, and was busy living the apple-pie life that Dean wanted so much as a sixteen year-old. "You and Mom hunt monsters, and Uncle Sam knows... wait, does he go with you?"
"Yeah," Dean nodded. "Sam and I hunted together for years before we settled down. Your Uncle Bobby too. And Uncle Cas, well, Uncle Cas is an angel. That's why we don't see him except for the big holidays. He's always pretty busy. And your Aunt Eileen, she was a hunter too. She stopped once she married Uncle Sam, like your mom pretty much stopped when we got married and had you two. We come from a family of hunters. Well, I do. We go back for generations. Your mom learned a lot of it when we were kids, and she just kept studying. But she's powerful. Gracie, do you want to tell them?"
"I might as well. They're getting a ton of information already." She looked back to their kids, saying, "I'm a witch, sort of, and that means there's a chance you might have some powers too. But the most important thing you two need to know is that all of those scary things that lurk in the dark are real. The good things too - angels, Cupid, things like that."
"Now I have to double check with your Uncle Sam, but I don't think your cousins know yet. We both tried keeping it from our kids, keeping you guys in the dark as long as we could. It's not good to have to grow up and learn about the scary stuff in the world too early," Dean said, Grace giving him a pointed look. "I grew up like that, and we wanted a better life for you two. But our family... I don't want to say we're cursed, but the big cosmic forces and the annoying monster ones seem to like us, for better or worse. So I think it would be a good idea if... we're not going to teach you everything. This is no life to live. I don't want you to have to live it. But it would be a good idea if you knew how to defend yourselves."
Grace agreed, telling them that, "I know you wanted to take some classes over summer, get a head start on your college credits, and that's great. But I think when you come home every day, we're going to have some classes down here. Just in case. There are things out there that don't like our family, things that might come after you."
"This is important," Dean stressed, leaning in to emphasize, "you can't tell anyone about any of this. If the rest of the world knew, they'd panic. And they'd hunt us down, because we don't always do good things when we're saving people. There's collateral damage. I know we mess up, we let it slip, we tell people that we love." He glanced to Grace, squeezing her hand. "It happens, but we have to be careful. The monsters out there, they go after the people we care about. I wouldn't trade your mom for anything. I'd burn down Heaven and freeze over Hell for her. I almost have. But I wish I didn't drag her so far into this life. I wish we could've had normal lives. We can't, but you two... you two can. You can have real lives and you can be prepared for what's out there. Now who wants a tour of this place?"
It was a dream she had fairly often. The one thing they would miss out on, watching their kids grow up. She had searched Heaven for them, searched her library for their books, but to no avail. That was going to be the final straw, the final thing Chuck was going to drop on them: He had dissolved them into the Empty, merged them so completely that there was no getting them back. She'd talked to Dean about asking Jack to bring them back, but he was adamant that things should stay the way they were. Best not to disturb the Empty.
So they settled for taking care of the hunters' kids, all of them who had been killed before their parents. There were always a handful who would rotate between the old hunters' houses, reuniting with their parents once their parents got to Heaven. Grace would bring their parents herself, making sure they made it safely and were able to get all set up there before she left for Earth again.
Being able to visit made things easier. Being Death made things easier. She could freeze herself in time, appearing just like she had they day she'd first walked Dean into Heaven. But when she went back to Earth, she made sure to look like she was aging along with Sam.
Of course, being able to visit made things harder too. She could show Dean pictures of Sam and Eileen's wedding, of their son that they named after him, but she knew he could never come back to visit with her. But she would stop by anyway, showing him photos as the boy grew up.
She was there when he first learned about what his parents really did, about how his Uncle Dean had saved the world so many times, about all of the family he had never known. Grace was the one to tell him about Heaven and Hell, and about how she had become Death.
While Sam and his family moved into town, Grace kept the house that stood over the bunker. She and Miracle made it their base of operations, but welcomed plenty of hunters in as well. It became a place to stop when they were passing through, a place where any hunter could get a homemade meal, a hot shower, and a comfortable bed to sleep in. Charlie and Stevie eventually moved into the bunker, making it their research base. Other hunters would stop by and stay for a while, even when they weren't on their way across the country. The bunker, and the house above it, became both a welcoming place and a training area. They were never lonely there, having holidays and birthdays and reunions as often as they could.
It was hard watching Sam and Eileen grow old and give up hunting. It was even harder walking Eileen into Heaven, then coming back to help Sam and his son with the funeral. She stayed on Earth more often after that, as Sam got older and his son moved out. He needed the company, and the reassurance that Dean and Eileen were waiting for them.
It was still difficult to stand by Sam's bedside with his son, watching as the light faded from his eyes. Turning to the boy, she smiled sadly, telling him that it was time. "I'm going to take your dad up there, and then I'm not coming back." She snapped her fingers, transforming into the younger woman she had been on the day Dean died for the last time. "We've trained you well. It's time for us to leave you here, but we're going to be waiting for you. We're going to be watching over you, and we're going to be so proud." She glanced over her shoulder, the shadowy figure of a much younger Sam standing next to her, invisible to his son. "We're already so proud. Your Uncle Dean - I've told him all about you. There are so many people up there who love you so much. You're going to have angels watching over you." She gave him a hug, turning to Sam. "Ready?"
"Ready," he nodded, taking her hand.
She dissolved into a white light, but to her and Sam, all they did was take a few steps into the kitchen. They came out onto a bridge, finding the Impala parked right in front of them. Dean stood staring into the dark water, smiling as they appeared. "Was it a good one?" he asked, turning to hug his brother.
"Yeah."
"We're here for good. I'm staying," Grace told him, watching as Death's ring disappeared from her finger. She felt her power fade, Jack making good on his promise that she could stay and he would appoint another Death. She'd done her job, and she'd done it well.
Dean fished his keys out of his pocket, the three of them getting into the car. "Where do you want to go?"
"Let's go home. I want to see that house you've been working on. And all of our friends. Sam should see Eileen. And we - we can finally rest."
