Time went on.

Evie-Marie began walking when she was nine months old… and started running about five minutes later!

Within half an hour, she had fallen over hard enough in one of the cold-tiled corridors of the Bunker to severely bruise both her knees and palms, bloody her little nose and chin and knock one of her brand-new teeth right out.

Half an hour later she had finally cried herself to sleep in her father's strong arms as he cuddled her on his lap, still sniffing and whimpering every few moments even as she dreamed, her little plump cheeks still shining from the recent tear tracks…

… and it had made Dean's decision for him.

He was up bright and early the next morning: "Cas! I'm just popping out a minute! Can you keep an ear out for Evie when she awakes?"

"Of course, but where are you go…?"

But all the angel got for an answer was the clang of the Bunker door.

Sam didn't know where his brother had gone either when he returned from his job, which caused him to be immediately concerned despite Castiel's calm reassurances that Dean would never have left his daughter.

Just as Sam was anxiously starting to trace the GPS whereabouts of the older Winchester's cell phone, he was relieved to hear the rumble of the Impala outside the bunker and hurried to greet his brother: "Where the hell have you been?"

"Tell you in a minute." Dean grinned at him even as he came down the stairs. "Where's my munchkin?"

Sam followed him with some considerable irritation to the kitchen, where the little girl was settled in her highchair, still pouting slightly over her split lip but in no way letting it spoil her messy enjoyment of the sauced spaghetti that the angel had prepared. "Ddddddddddaddddddddddaddddddd!"

"Heya, baby!" He took his usual seat beside her and reached in to kiss her head, wary of getting a damp, red, tomato-coloured handprint… or two… on his over shirt as he did. "I've got a surprise for you!"

Even as Castiel plated up another, and much larger, portion of the spaghetti and passed it to his friend, Sam had already lost his patience: "Are you going to tell me or what? Why did you go off on your own? And where have you been?"

The older man sat back in his chair and regarded his younger brother with such an innocent expression on his face that the others both immediately felt their hearts plummet: "Oh god, what have you done?"

"I've bought a house."

The Bunker was momentarily so silent, and Castiel and Sam so seemingly stunned if their blank expressions were anything to go by, that Dean couldn't help but expect a tumble-weed to slowly drift through at any minute…

The thought made him chuckle.

"You've done what?" His younger brother couldn't seem to momentarily comprehend the words…

"I've bought a house!"

He relented as they both still stared at him. "Well, Mary Jefferson's house to be exact. You know, the lady who was being haunted by her little girl…?"

"I…" Sam shook himself physically and reached for his mug of coffee… while wishing desperately it was full of whiskey instead and that he hadn't promised Dean that he would give up alcohol as well…

… what a ridiculously stupid idea that had been? Why on earth had he done that?

The hot beverage at least seemed to help. The young man glugged it down and then tried to speak calmly: "Okay. I remember the lady. And… Julie, wasn't it? Her daughter who you convinced to go to heaven with her grandmother? And you've… bought her house?!"

"That's her." Dean nodded even while he was slurping up a mouthful of spaghetti in his hunger, unaware that he was getting nearly as much of the sauce around his mouth as he did as his daughter already had on hers. Sam sighed at him but refrained from commenting.

His brother continued: "Well, I met her a few days later. Mary, I mean. In the store when I was getting more diapers. And she recognised me and thanked me again, and I gave her my number in case she had any more problems…

Anyway, she called me last week to say that she and Matt have decided to move on: they're leaving Lebanon for good. And for some reason she wondered if I'd be interested in the house: she said that… she felt somehow that it was connected to me somehow.

I went out to have a look but it really does need a lot of work… And even though, she said I could have it at a discount… a really good discount in fact… I wasn't sure.

Not until yesterday. Evie-Marie deserves a house with a soft carpet to fall on! And a lawn to play out on."

"That she does." Castiel smiled.

"So anyway." Dean continued. "I called Mary last night and told her that as long as I could get the money together, then I'd have it. That's where I've been."

There was another silence. Castiel was quite happy with it… but Sam… "So where have you got the money from?" he burst out. "Damn it Dean, I want our little girl as safe as you do, but if you've maxed out our remaining credit cards again…

We've got to live here!"

"No. No. I…" Dean sighed to himself: shit, Sam was really going to be pissed at this bit. "Look."

And he was holding out a printed form to his brother. The younger man took it from him, his eyes widening as he read the words: I can confirm you are a winner. "What's this?"

Dean took a deep breath: "I was on my way to the bank trying to work out how I was going to get the money, then…"

"Then? Then?" The older Winchester's assumption had been correct: his brother's temper was definitely rising as Sam suddenly had the horrible feeling that he could see exactly where this was going. Even Evie was staring anxiously at her uncle, a small worm of spaghetti dangling neglected from between her tiny pink lips. "This better not be anything to do with that….tell me it's nothing to do with that… damned goddess!"

"Sam, watch your tone around the baby please." Castiel rebuked while Dean nervously ran his hand up and down the back of his head and neck smoothing and re-ruffling the short hair there: "Yeah… sorry, Sammy."

The younger man bit viciously at the inside of his lower lip and sucked down the pain and sudden blood in an effort to remain calm. "Just tell me," he eventually managed to bite out.

Dean decided that conciseness would probably be the best policy: now was not the time for him to joke, however much he loved winding his little brother up! "So I… er… well…

Baby began to drive herself." The other two men stared at him. "She… er… she turned us around, with me doing a little bit of panicking and tugging at the wheel and stamping on the brake with absolutely no effect whatsoever, but we ended up right outside the convenience store, so I took the hint and went in and er…

Well, the Perspex on the lottery stand had a blue reflection on it, although I couldn't see what might be causing it, and it was that same damned blue so… well, I knew what it was, Sammy… so I er… I… bought a scratch card. Well, I bought three because it was only then that the blue faded… and the third…

… was a winner. I won sixty thousand dollars! Which Mary had offered me the house for!

So I've been in the bank where I showed them the scratch card and they let me call the lottery people and were happy to let me open an account once they'd received this confirmation that I've definitely won and the money is going to be wired straight into it within the next three days and then I went to see Mary and put a formal offer in for the house but as we're doing it between us without an agent it looks like it's going to mean doing a ton of paperwork which I've been trying to work through today, although I'd like you to look at a couple of forms for me Sammy as it's all a bit technical so I brought them back with me, and then I… just drove around for a little bit because I couldn't quite believe what I've done…"

Dean suddenly went quite pale, not only through a near complete lack of breath due to the length of this speech, and sat back in his chair. "I've bought a f…. I've bought a house, Sammy!"

He had indeed.

And it had such potential.

Sam stood in the hallway and looked around at the faded walls that, although now devoid of the last surviving pictures had the years of neglected dust to still show clearly where they had once hung. All the shattered glass had been cleared up and the windows boarded over rather than replaced… and the same lack of care showed all the way around Mary Jefferson's house.

It was five weeks later and they were all there exploring Dean's… 'it's our house, Sammy. Stop being such a princess just because this is the Lady's work. You say you still believe in God even after everything: well, I believe in her so just shut up and stop sulking'… their new home.

Or it would be after a lot of work.

The only room that had seemed to be at first sight liveable in was the one that had clearly belonged to Julie as it had been painted in soft pinks and purples and carpeted with rainbows and unicorns, and had obviously never been touched since her death. But even then, there were signs of damp creeping in around the peeling windows and a worrying darkened area in the corner of the ceiling.

The rest of the rooms were worse. Grief, stress, and the pressure of suddenly finding herself abandoned with only a single income had left Mary with the incapacity to keep her home maintained to even the minimal standard… and the damage that the increasingly unstable ghost of her daughter had caused definitely hadn't helped: kitchen cabinets and door frames were unnaturally warped and barely useable; holes were in and in two cases through the walls from where heavy objects had been hurled at them; there was hardly an intact piece of glass anywhere in the entire building.

But as Sam stood in the hallway and looked around: his mind still focused on the four bedrooms, three bathrooms (one ensuite), dining room, large kitchen and a sitting room with full length French windows that, once repaired and re-hung, would open out onto a huge established if majorly overgrown jungle of a garden with a patio and access to the attached double garage…

… shit, it was his dream home. He had always dreamed of living in a house like this.

"This okay, Sammy?"

The younger man turned to find his brother and niece both watching him: Evie up securely in her daddy's arms but staring at her uncle every bit as intently as her father was. Sam glanced at Dean, saw the other man's underlying anxiety and nervousness as to his response… and instantly forgot all his pettiness about how it had all come about. "It's beautiful. It really is. You're right, it needs a lot of work but we're going to make it perfect for that little girl to grow up in."

Dean's relief was palpable. Sam couldn't help himself from stepping in for a hug, wrapping his arms around both father and daughter, and laughing as Castiel immediately took the chance to also join in and make it a four-way embrace. "There are flowers open everywhere outside: their scents are carrying throughout the entire area and the bees are singing in harmony. It is even more perfect than my father's garden in heaven and I do not say that lightly.

We will be happy here, Dean Winchester."

"We will indeed." His friend agreed.

And Sam nodded in agreement as his brother's eyes found his own: "Let's get to it."

It took longer than they thought to renovate the house as it turned out that there was even more work to be done than could be seen at first sight. And although Castiel was able to 'mojo' a few of the more serious internal problems away (such as the black mould which turned out to have had far more of a hold on the integral structure of the building than had first been realised), all the men understood that a house suddenly altering miraculously overnight from a near ruin to looking as good as it had been when newly-built would definitely be noticed in the community.

And also because Dean had made a second decision. He was going to get a job as well as it wasn't fair for his younger brother to have all the financial pressure and… well… he needed to do something. As much as he adored being at home with his beautiful daughter, Dean needed to do something.

A quick phone call to his old boss from when he had lived with Lisa provided him not only with a contact name in a building firm local to Lebanon, but also he got a willing, and for the first time ever in his life, genuine referee. Dean had spent a whole year doing construction and had gotten a name as a good and reliable worker. Soon enough, he was out on the local building site and bringing in a good regular wage.

More importantly, he was happy.

Sam couldn't help but grin to himself: all those years of his brother denying that he had ever wanted anything different from doing the 'family business' and here Dean was… completely enthused about coming home with aching limbs, blistered hands, a paycheque every week, and his little girl running to greet him as he came through the door…

Dean's absence during the day made the work on the house take longer, but in a couple of months they had managed to clear the ground floor of the house and make it presentable enough for a few of Evie-Marie's toddler and baby friends, and their mothers and one father, to come and join her on the weekend nearest to her first birthday. The brothers had also cleared the patio and grassed part of the garden and erected a large gazebo for cover in case of rain, but actually the day proved to be pleasantly warm enough for the small gathering to sit outside: the young children all playing happily together with soft toys on rugs on the ground and smooshing the frosting from small pieces of cake into the grass, toys and each other's clothes.

What was even more special to Dean though, was the day of his little girl's first birthday itself. Not only were Benjamin and probably the entire existing members of the Pawnee tribe invited and all arrived in the morning to seemingly completely fill the whole of the Bunker with lots of noise and excitement, but also the few people that he considered to be his 'family' had made the effort to be there. Jodie and Alex came down from Sioux Falls and Claire arrived from goodness knows where with a huge cuddly pink rabbit as a present. She immediately hit it off with Charlie, who had first found her way to the Bunker a couple of days after Evie had been born and had taken to dropping in every few weeks since, bringing increasingly larger versions of batman outfits for the child she considered her niece (and usually pizza for everyone else).

Yes, that day was incredibly special to Dean. So much so that the rich and aromatic scent of contented omega filled the entirety of the vast underground space for more than a few days following.

More time passed.

Evie-Marie had two more birthdays and got seemingly more precocious every day. She was very strong-willed, had her father's sense of right and wrong and would stand up for any other child that she felt was being unfairly treated, which had both Dean and Sam despairing that she was going to be in constant trouble with the teachers when she got to school.

She was also completely fearless and such a tom-boy that all the other little boys in the entire world would be put to shame by her daring (not that Dean was going to be likely to let any little, or big, boys get near her when she grew up which Sam couldn't help but grin at the thought of witnessing: his brother and niece both seemingly being equally stubborn).

The only thing that was possibly going to save Dean from a lifetime of stress with his daughter was that she absolutely adored him and was usually to be found where her daddy was: helping him with the cooking, or watching with interest as he repaired the engines of the cars in the garage or cleaned the hunting weapons, (always kept ready for use, just in case), or asking to be read a story which he would always do despite how tired he might be (and which both Sam and Castiel would both deny under torture that they always stopped what they were doing to listen to the deep voice relating the tale as well.)

She did spend time with the two other men in her life. She was obviously very intelligent and her uncle was very careful with much or how closely he let her watch him work on his laptop: he had a sense that she would use his machine for far worse than basic porn once she got older!

And Evie also loved spending time with Castiel in the garden. He had taken it on as 'his' job while the brothers concentrated on the house and talked to her as he worked, telling the eager little girl all about his father's creations and how important to the balance of the world they all were, especially the bees.

Evie-Marie absorbed all this information like she was a living sponge. And it showed in her artwork. Her favourite thing was to sit with coloured pencils and try to draw everything, from black and yellow striped winged insects to squiggly versions of pentagrams and strange metallic-looking devices that Sam had no clue about how to praise but that Dean took one look at: "I think that's a cylinder head!"

It had taken them the best part of eighteen months working around their respective jobs to complete the basic structure of the house and its permanent fittings such as the kitchen and bathrooms. Despite Sam's often voiced concerns, Dean had obviously used some of his slightly more dubious methods to ensure that they had the money to do it up properly, but the younger Winchester was more than a little relieved when he met some of his brother's new workmates and heard their complaints about continually losing at the Friday after-work poker sessions!

His own boss had kept his word and Sam was now a certified Book-Keeper after two years of hard work and study. They had celebrated the day he had received his certificate, and his brother had proudly gotten it framed for him to hang in the office where he worked.

Dean had also had a copy made and framed to hang on the wall of the house, alongside the certificate of his own newly passed GED. Aside from the built-in cupboards they had very little actual furniture: there were beds in each of the bedrooms plus Evie-Marie had a child-size vanity set. Downstairs was an old but comfortable sofa in front of the largest television set that Sam had ever seen: he had sighed at his brother in exasperation and received a smirk in response. There was an old wooden dining set in the kitchen, worn and marked enough for them not to worry about the little girl spilling glitter and glue all over it, and that was about it so far.

But it was their house and the rest of the nice things would come.

By now the brothers and angel were spending a few nights a week there as well to keep up appearances of 'being normal', (and Sam had brought a couple of possible girlfriends around to spend the night), but the concrete underground building was still home somehow.

Sam and Castiel would go off on the occasional hunt when there was no-one else in the vicinity to do it, leaving Dean behind which he hated but accepted somewhat begrudgingly every time: Evie-Marie must and would always be his first concern despite his inevitable worry over his brother and friend from the moment they left until the moment they returned. He would never tell the others but he always made sure to stay tight to the Bunker when they away, only ever leaving it for work purposes, just in case he was needed to hit the Men of Letters' books and at least make himself useful that way. (His brother and the angel were never stupid enough to tell him that they both went away a lot happier knowing that the omega and his daughter were safely inside the walls of the warded and fortified building.)

The Bunker was also the place Dean needed to be when his Heats hit.

Luckily they had been in the building when his second one had occurred, about twelve months after the first and when Evie-Marie was about eighteen months old. It was the little girl herself who gave Sam and Castiel the warning: one minute she was happily playing with her favourite push-along doggy toy and the next, after just one whiff of her father's pheromones wafting along the Bunker's corridors, found her snatching up her comfort blanket and simply settling down on the floor to sleep.

"Evie honey?" Sam knelt to pick her up, surprised by her actions as it was usually a major battle to get her to take a nap. "You okay?"

The large green eyes opened sleepily to stare at him momentarily before closing again: "Dadad…. shhhh…."

"Sam!" The younger man turned, the toddler in his arms, as his brother stumbled up the stairs looking flushed and green in complexion all at once: "I think this… thing… is happening again. Can you call my work and tell them I've got the flu or something? And can you look after Evie? And would you have… erm… would there be…"

"I put two new packs of batteries in your bedside drawer after last time." Sam had already caught on. "I'll call your boss and then I'll bring you a tray to leave outside your room. And Dean…?"

But the other was already heading back down to his room, holding the wall with one hand. "I'll be fine."

"I know." The younger man shouted behind him. "I was just wondering… do you think you might see Samuel again?"

His brother paused momentarily. "I… I have been. Quite often, Sammy. And I'm pretty sure that Evie sees him most nights as well. I'm sorry, I should have told you."

But Sam was nodding thoughtfully: "She chatters away in her sleep to someone… I was worried at first but… I'm glad she's knowing him."

"Thanks, Sammy."

The younger man looked down the steps at his brother and blinked back a tear at the soft, genuinely spoken words. "Just get yourself in there," he smiled. "And make sure you stay hydrated!"

This Heat was nowhere near as bad as the last one for a few reasons: firstly Dean now knew what to expect; it only lasted three days … and most importantly, he did indeed meet his loving young mate again in the glowing blue version of his room to help him through the worst of it.

And for the next one a year later as well. And the year after.

By this time Dean had realised that they would be an annual event (which secretly he was incredibly relieved about, and he made sure to be somewhere near the Bunker when they were due.) He felt a lot safer hidden well out of sight of the rest of the world in general, and particularly from the watchful eyes of their ever-increasing circles of friends (and more importantly the parents of Evie's little playmates, some of whom were definitely interested in getting to know the three 'single' men better and would often make unexpected visits to the house at short notice.) At least the construction company where he worked were okay with his occasional absence, especially as those were the only times that he ever did have to call in sick.

Once the little girl had turned two years old she had ceased to be affected by the scent of his Heat and would keep her sleeping patterns as per any other day, although she could always sense hours before her father when it was coming and actually would be more protective of him than even the others were.

In fact Evie-Marie would get quite aggressively cross if Sam or Castiel lingered longer outside Dean's door than was necessary to bring him a fresh tray of food and would tell them quite pointedly every time that they shouldn't be bothering her daddy: the younger Winchester couldn't help but wonder if she was going to be an Alpha when she presented…

Sam also couldn't help but dread how on earth were they ever going to get Evie to go to school when the time came if she was already this vigilant over keeping her omega father safe?

Yet more months passed.

They were all in the Bunker one Saturday afternoon. Sam thought he had found a possible case and had wanted to use the Men of Letters books to research his theory behind the strange events going on in Florida. Castiel was helping him, while Dean and Evie-Marie were down in the kitchen cooking up something for dinner that smelt absolutely amazing.

It was incredible enough that the younger Winchester's stomach was rumbling so much in anticipation that it was distracting him from the books. He sighed in exasperation and closed the one that he was looking at with a thud. "Hey Cas? Evie's birthday is next month: what do you think we should do for it?"

"I was asking Dean about that." The angel responded. "He wants to take her to spend a few days with Benjamin on the reservation: he thinks it's expecting too much of the old man to come here since he had that stroke and it would be good for Evie to learn about their history…"

"Mmmm."

"Sam, I know that you still have reservations about the man," his friend couldn't help but snort at Castiel's unintentional pun, "but he means a great deal to your brother. And to your niece."

"Mmmm."

They were interrupted by a loud thumping at the heavy metal Bunker door.

Sam and Castiel stared.

First at each other and then up at the door.

On which somebody had just definitely knocked.

Extremely loudly.

"What the…"

The thudding noise came again: whoever was outside was extremely insistent. And seemingly determined to get the attention of whoever was inside.

Sam was reaching for his gun even as he began to carefully move up the steps. "Be ready," he warned Castiel. The words 'to protect Dean and our little girl with your life' didn't need to be added.

Slowly he opened the door, ready to face who or whatever was outside…

And then he stared as a man moved into view…

A young man who was every inch as tall as he was, incredibly handsome with green eyes that reminded Sam immediately of both his brother and his niece, and dimples that went as deep as his own. And an extremely wide grin.

"Wow." The stranger said. "I know I was told you were identical… I mean I know my mom is identical… but… wow." And then he was grabbing hold of someone standing just behind him and pushing forward a teen-aged boy, much smaller than the man but with the same eyes and dimples, straight past Sam and into the Bunker. "Come on, squirt!"

"Hey!" Sam stepped back and turned in a panic as somehow both the two strangers were now at the top of the steps and heading down them… well, the boy was. The man simply, and quite abruptly, leapt straight over the top of the railing, nearly exactly where Evie had so nearly come to grief just that short few years before, and landed easily on the floor below.

"What the f…?" Sam began even as the boy spoke with some considerable irritation: "Oh for Our Lady's sake stop showing off!" and Castiel was stepping forward with determination to stop both of the intruders…

They were all interrupted by the sound of running footsteps. Two sets of running footsteps: heavy but quick treads and much lighter but equally hurried ones… and then Dean and Evie-Marie burst up the stairs that led to the rest of the Bunker and skidded to a sudden halt to each stare at the new arrivals in stunned disbelief…

"Samuel?" Dean's voice was hardly more than a hushed whisper…

The young man stepped forward to meet him, reaching to tenderly hold the older Winchester's face in his large but gentle hands and leaning down to rest their foreheads together, tears streaming down his stunning face. "I've found you. I've found you!"

Then Samuel was suddenly wrapping the omega in a tight, tight embrace and holding tightly: "Dean. Oh, my darling baby Alpha. I've finally found you!

I'm never letting you go again!"