Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise; the original concept of this story was inspired by 'To Hell & Back' by EventRider87, but I've added my own spin to things and have received EventRider87's permission to use their idea for this
Feedback: Much appreciated
AN: The concluding epilogue; I just thought it would be good to show everyone how things have gone for our favourite hunting family since they were able to thwart the Apocalypse and make better plans for facing the consequences.
The Corrupted Innocent
Five Years Later…
"Daddy!"
No matter how often Dean heard those words, he wasn't sure he'd ever get tired of it, particularly not when he came home after a hunt.
"Hey there, kiddo," he grinned, bending down to pick up the little girl as she ran towards him, sweeping her up in a hug. "How's things?"
"Same," Johanna Abigail Winchester replied as he put her back down, dressed in her usual dark trousers and dark pink shirt, grinning at him with that warm hero-worship he didn't think he'd ever get tired of. "Mommy sold a few things to some rich guys, and Unca Sam an' Aunt Sarah came 'round wit' James."
"Sarah's here too?" Dean grinned at his daughter.
"She needed a break," Johanna returned his grin, her dark hair a sharp contrast with the face that made him think of his mother during those trips back through time. "Her daddy's being a poopy-head."
"She said that?"
"I got the gist," Johanna said, in that teasing tone that she always used when she was trying to copy her parents.
"Well, that's Aunt Sarah's dad for you; he doesn't get our brand of awesome, so he never bothered to try," Dean shrugged.
"Why can't we just tell him you're a hero, Daddy?"
"It'd be… tricky," Dean shrugged, even as he gave the girl a tentative smile. "C'mon; let's get inside."
"Dean!" Bela grinned as he walked into the house, walking over to give him the warm hug that had become just that sweeter in the last couple of months. "How did it go?"
"Simple enough," Dean grinned. "Just a standard salt and burn; only got tricky because people hid it after they did the deed."
"And no regrets about not letting me come along?" Sam put in as he held Jim, the newest Winchester still a month or so away from his first birthday. Johanna had never shown any sign that she was jealous of not being the baby of the family any more, and was actually eager to meet her own little brother, but Dean still wondered how they'd manage to keep this lifestyle up with another kid to worry about.
"Nah," Dean shook his head, putting thoughts of the future aside for the moment. "We need to keep things in order; no point putting all hands on deck if we don't have to… and talking of being on deck, how's your dad?"
"The same," Sarah smiled, stretching her arms as she looked around the room. "He appreciates the work your grandmother's brought in, but he just can't seem to get over the fact that you actually were antique dealers."
"And he can't even prove that you weren't in the job when you met, thanks to all our new contacts," Bela observed with a smile.
"Yeah, that's Grandma for you," Dean affirmed with a cool grin before looking back at Sarah. "Still, I have to appreciate you giving us all those contacts in the first place."
"Well, if I can't help my boyfriend's time-displaced grandmother get a job, what am I still doing in New York?" Sarah grinned.
"And we all appreciate it," Sam said, leaning over to kiss Sarah's forehead and stroke his son's face. As the baby gurgled in his mother's arms, Sam smiled at the baby in a way that made it clear he still couldn't believe that he'd been so lucky. Once Lucifer had been sent back to the Cage and the Apocalypse had been officially put on hold, Sam had basically settled down with Sarah, alternating his time between less regular hunts (often when Dean felt he needed back-up) and working security through one of the firms the Blake auction house occasionally used.
Dean was still a full-time hunter, but Bela had managed to return to some of her old flats to give herself somewhere safe to raise their daughter, even if she had to keep moving from one to the other to make sure that none of Dean's demon enemies worked out where to find them. Deanna still visited as much as possible, but she had also continued in her developing niche as an expert in cursed objects, which had led to Bobby and Sarah using a range of their contacts to help her become an officially qualified antiques expert (as much as any hunter could have an official degree in anything). These days Deanna tended to alternate between being an active hunter and serving as an expert in various antiques for a range of auction houses, taking care to bring any potential curse objects to the attention of other hunters.
As for the rest of Dean's family, Adam had come through his time as Michael's vessel reasonably intact mentally, but once his mother had been brought back to life with no memory of the day or so prior to her death or her time in Heaven, Adam had made it clear that he wanted her kept safe from this part of their world. The rest of the family had understood his decision, and Bobby had managed to work with Jodie Mills to set up a fake backstory that the Milligans had been in Witness Protection after witnessing an organ smuggling ring in operation at Kate's hospital, Kate's amnesia being attributed to a bad reaction to the drugs one of the gang had given her to try and stop her testifying. Dean and Sam still dropped in on Adam on occasion, and Castiel had assured them that various wards were set up around Adam's location to ensure that nothing supernatural found him, but in general they were content to let him make his own life outside of the business, and Dean was actually proud that his youngest brother had made a life outside of hunting.
Looking at the little girl who was now playing with her model Transformers (he'd never been happier that his daughter didn't turn out to be a 'Barbie' girl), Dean felt hope that Johanna would have a chance at a normal life. Dean might 'enjoy' being a hunter himself, but from the moment that Johanna had been born, he'd vowed that he'd do everything in his power to avoid making her deal with the kind of childhood he'd had with John Winchester. His daughter knew the basic details of what was out there, as well as how to protect herself if there was an attack, but it had been made clear that she was never to actually follow them on a hunt.
For the most part Bela had semi-retired from the traditional hunting routine to focus on raising Johanna, with Bobby, Sarah or Deanna taking over as the little girl's guardians when something came up that needed Bela's specific expertise in the field. Dean and Sam still did most of the legwork these days, but things had frankly become a lot simpler since the Apocalypse ended and Gabriel returned to Heaven to keep an eye on Michael.
It wasn't as though the monsters had stopped completely, but they had a tentative 'truce' with Crowley after he'd been 'persuaded' to return Bobby's soul after their deal which had pretty much taken demons off the board. Obviously getting the demons to go back to Hell for good wasn't an option, but Crowley had agreed to only make deals with people who clearly knew what they were doing and cut down on any demons who'd basically force other people to make a deal, as well as restricting the number of active demons to pre-Apocalypse levels. There'd been a few interesting creatures out and about, such as their run-in with those dragons who had been attempting some kind of ritual, but for the most part Dean felt that everything had returned to the way it had been on those early days, when he and Sam had been taking down monsters and not having to worry about angels and the Apocalypse.
Admittedly, a strange part of Dean regretted that Castiel wasn't as significant a part of their lives as he'd been during the Apocalypse, but he appreciated that the angel was busy rebuilding Heaven with Michael and Gabriel. Raphael apparently still wasn't totally satisfied at the decision to call off the Apocalypse, but with Gabriel firmly against it and Michael apparently giving considerable thought to the Winchesters' words, the third remaining archangel seemed content to fume in silence and see how things played out. Castiel still showed up when the Winchesters were dealing with a suitably imposing hunt or found any sign of angelic involvement on Earth, and would occasionally drop in for a more straightforward visit if things had been quiet on both fronts, but Dean had to accept that their angelic ally had bigger concerns than them these days…
The hunter's moment of contemplation was brought to an abrupt end when the closet door was suddenly surrounded by a brilliant white glow. The adults had just moved into a defensive position around Sarah and the children before it burst open and a tall, thin, dark-haired man in an old-fashioned blue suit stumbled out of the door, looking urgently around the room before his gaze settled on Dean and Sam.
"Which of you is John Winchester?"
"What?" the Winchesters said, Sarah tightening her hold on James as Bela pushed Johanna behind her.
"Please, time is of the essence!" the man said urgently. "Which of you is John Winchester?"
"Uh… neither of us?" Sam said, looking uncertainly at the new arrival.
"That's impossible," the man said
"That's absolutely… what did I do wrong?"
"Who… are you?" Dean quickly corrected his initial choice of words.
"Not now; I'm thinking," the man said.
"Are you from Narnia?"
"Wha-?" the man began, looking at Johanna as she looked curiously at him from behind her mother. Using the moment of distraction, Sarah pulled out the bottle of holy water that she had kept on herself since she reunited with the Winchesters and threw its contents in the man's face. The group took a moment to confirm that the man had no reaction to the water before Dean grabbed the man and slammed him against the wall.
"I assure you, I am not a demon, and there is no need for violence," the man said, looking indignantly at Dean after getting past his initial wince of pain. "One of you must-"
"The only one here who 'must' do anything is you," Dean glared at the man. "You don't just get to walk out of a closet into our home asking about my dad and then start criticising-"
"Your father?" the man interjected, looking at Dean with new intensity. "You are John Winchester's son?"
"I'm named after him!" Johanna said, grinning over at the man before Dean or Bela could stop her. "He's my grandpa!"
"Johanna," Bela looked pointedly at her daughter.
"But Mommy, he's not bad; Aunt Sarah tested him with the water!" Johanna smiled back at her mother.
"Jo-" Dean began, but stopped when he looked at the strange man and saw the new arrival staring at his daughter as though she'd just hit him in the face.
"Impossible…" the man said, shaking his head in denial.
"What?" Dean looked intently at their strange guest. "What does my dad have to do with anything?"
"Your… dad?" The man looked at Dean with new intensity. "You are John Winchester's son?"
"We both are," Sam said, moving to stand beside Dean. "And who are you?"
The man looked between Dean and Sam for a few moments, before he sighed and nodded.
"My name is Henry Winchester," the man said. "I'm your grandfather."
"…Huh," Sarah looked over at Bela. "Should I be surprised that I'm not surprised about that?"
"Well, it's not like he's the first time-displaced grandparent we've dealt with since we married these idiots," Bela smiled.
"Hey!" Dean and Sam turned back to glare mockingly at her.
"Mommy!" Johanna looked anxiously at her mother. "Daddy's not an idiot!"
"No, he's just got his own style of doing things," Bela grinned.
"There's… you have another-?" the man who was apparently Henry Winchester began.
"Maternal grandmother," Sam clarified.
"Maybe you knew her back in the day?" Sarah asked, looking at him with a thoughtful expression. "I mean, I assume you knew something about the supernatural if you ended up… well, here…"
"How did you do that anyway?" Dean looked at the man with a new intensity. "I mean, what's to stop someone else just zapping in through another cupboard like we became the new exit for Narnia?"
As though in response to Dean's words, the closet door rattled again, prompting Bela to grab Johanna in her arms and run out of the room with Sarah and the baby, leaving Dean and Sam to take up a defensive stance alongside their apparent grandfather. The door opened in another burst of bright light and a young woman emerged from the closet, wearing a ballgown that seemed to be from the same era as the man's suit, the gown splattered with blood and her eyes completely black.
"Hello, Henry," she grinned mockingly at the new arrival. "You always did forget the finer details of your spells."
"And who the Hell are you?" Sam asked.
"Abaddon, Knight of Hell, at your service," the woman mockingly curtseyed at Sam before focusing her gaze back on Henry. "Now then, why don't you be a doll and give me what I want, and I promise to kill you and your friends here quickly."
"You know I can't do that," Henry
"You're not a fighter, Henry," Abaddon observed mockingly.
"Maybe he's not," Dean said with a cool glare, "but we've got a few friends who probably can. Cas! We've got a Knight of Hell down-!"
Abaddon lifted her arms and sent Sam and Dean flying into the walls, only to find herself with an angel blade held against her throat and a new figure standing before her in a suit and trenchcoat.
"Release them," the figure said coolly.
"Who… Castiel?" Abaddon looked at the new arrival in surprise, before she broke into a chuckle. "Do you really think you can stop me?"
"Potentially not," Castiel said, even as he kept the blade against the demon's throat. "But I'm not alone."
"And when the back-up is me, he doesn't really need that much more," Gabriel added, as the archangel suddenly appeared in front of the demon. "Hey there, Toots."
Eyes widening in panic, Abaddon threw back her head and leapt from the woman's mouth in a burst of smoke, only for Castiel and Gabriel to 'stab' the smoke with their angel blades in one hand while the other glowed with white light while pointing at the demon. The smoke almost seemed to be screaming as it crackled in the air above them, before the twisted experience came to a halt and the smoke dissipated, leaving the woman to be caught by Gabriel as she fell to the ground.
"Gotcha," the archangel said, grinning at the woman as he picked her up bridal-style and put her down on a nearby couch.
"Is she-?" Henry began, looking uncertainly at the woman.
"She will recover," Castiel said, although Dean noted a faint glow from Gabriel's hand that suggested it wasn't going to be a simple job. "She merely needs rest."
"Th… thank you," Henry said, looking at the two men in confusion. "Who are-?"
"I am Castiel."
"And I'm Gabriel," the archangel added as he stood up with a nonchalant grin. "Y'know, it still feels odd just saying that…"
"…What?" Henry said, looking at the two angels in awe before he turned to look at Dean and Sam. "You… you know angels?"
"War buddies," Dean shrugged. "They helped us save the world, Cas saved us from Hell when a couple of deals went bad, Gabe spent a few minutes literally inside my wife; it's weird, but it's a whole thing."
"And maybe now you could spare the time to answer a few of our questions?" Sam said, folding his arms as he looked at Henry. "Starting with what the Hell you're doing coming out of a closet with a Knight of Hell behind you looking for Dad?"
The next few hours were the most complicated and emotionally trying time Dean had experienced since Bela had given birth, when Dean had been practically terrified that he was going to drop the baby or make some kind of mistake no matter how often everyone else had assured him that he was going to be a great father. Learning that the man John Winchester had hated for abandoning him had actually had a good reason for it had been a bit jarring at first, but considering the situation he'd been facing when he made the time jump, Dean had to concede that the man's reasons had been sound enough, and he appreciated that the man had intended to go back.
Of course, stopping him from trying to find another way to go back had been hard, but as Gabriel had pointed out, there was no way that someone with Henry's knowledge would be 'allowed' to raise John Winchester to prepare him for the supernatural under any other circumstances than what he'd endured. Even apart from that, there was no way Dean would allow anything that would risk creating a timeline where Johanna didn't exist, and Sam had made it clear that he had the same sentiment where Jim's existence was concerned. That said, once Josie had regained consciousness, she had been surprisingly accepting of the situation, thanking the angels for dealing with Abaddon and encouraging Henry to consider the potential of their new lives rather than brood on what might have been.
Dean was fairly sure there was more to the woman's reasons than just not wanting to fixate on the past, but if it meant that their grandfather wasn't going to basically try and do on purpose what Marty McFly did by accident, he supposed he could deal with that.
Despite the initial reluctance of Larry Ganem to share his information with them, it didn't take long for the group to find the geographical location of the Men of Letters bunker in Kansas. The moment he led his family walked into the bunker, taking in the scope of the building and establishing the scale of its defensive wards, Dean knew that they had found exactly what he was looking for.
Safe, secure, close enough to a major city for schools, and we've even got a couple of conventional houses in the area we could stay in if anyone's coming over…
Dean wasn't sure how they'd been lucky enough for time travel to give them these kind of advantages when everything he'd seen in the movies suggested it screwed things up more than it helped, but if it helped him give his daughter a normal life, he wasn't going to complain.
Looking over at Bela as she took a sword out of Johanna's hands and teasingly assured the little girl that she could practise with the weapon when she was older, Dean didn't know what kind of warped chain of fortune had led to him falling in love with a former thief who he'd once been willing to kill just for being such a bitch, but he wasn't going to complain. He finally got Sam's desire for a normal life, and even if it was in a weird way involving time travel, escaping from Hell, and cursed paintings, he was happier than he'd ever imagined he could be.
Maybe we can give the new kid a single place to live while we keep up with the hunts…
Even as a part of him had to wonder what other secrets lurked in their family tree, Dean wasn't going to object to the idea of them finally having a home.
AN 2: Well, that's the end of this series; I just rather liked the idea of the Men of Letters Bunker being the Winchesters' first true home since Mary's death, so wanted to give them another chance to start living there, particularly when they had access to better allies to take down Abaddon and save Josie with such comparatively limited effort this time around.
No plans to take this fic any further now that the bunker has been claimed, Abaddon is dead, and they have no reason to make some of their bigger mistakes such making contact with Metatron or taking the Mark from Cain, but if anyone comes up with something they'd like to see this strange new generation of Winchesters deal with, let me know (I may do something with the British Men of Letters once I've had time to analyse that storyline in depth).
