Chapter 1

Apple pie life

"You gotta promise not to try to bring me back. You go find Lisa. You go live some normal apple pie life. Promise me, Dean. Promise me."

Dean's eyes flew open, just like every morning. The dream was always the same. He was trying to save Sam, but he couldn't move. Every night he had to watch Sam falling into the cage. Over and over again. It was killing him.

"Good morning," Lisa murmured sleepily and touched Dean's chest.

He tried his best to smile at her. She was an amazing woman; she would have deserved someone much better than him. He was broken and he wasn't sure if he could ever be whole again.

"You okay?" Lisa asked quietly, running her fingers over Dean's cheek.

Dean nodded, although it was a lie. He wasn't okay, no matter how hard he tried. He had a good life with Lisa and Ben, he knew how grateful he should have been. Of course, he was grateful, but he wasn't okay. He had failed to protect his baby brother. He had lost Sammy. How was he supposed to ever be okay? Yet he was determined to look after Lisa and Ben.

They had taken him in when he had been nothing but a broken shell of the man he had used to be, he owed them everything. And this life, this comfortable apple pie life wasn't so bad. A part of him had always dreamt of this. He had a nice suburb home, a steady job, Sunday barbecue with the neighbors, homecooked meals… Everything should have been perfect.

No monsters, sleazy motels, bad food… Who would have missed that? He was living the life most people hoped to live. Yet sometimes he felt that he didn't belong here. This life wasn't meant for him, not after everything he had seen. For months he had tried to find a way to save Sam, but he had failed. Again. He had failed his brother. How could he ever forgive himself?


3 months later

Dean blinked his eyes, trying to clear his blurry vision. What had happened? He blinked again and saw someone sitting on a chair across the room. What room? Where was he? He tried to concentrate on the person in the room. His eyes widened and he gasped as he recognized him. Sam. Quickly Dean got into a sitting position, staring at his brother disbelievingly. This couldn't be real, he was dreaming. Or then… he was dead. Something had attacked him, he remembered that now.

"Hey Dean," Sam said smiling.

Dean couldn't say anything, he simply stared at Sam. This wasn't real, it couldn't be. They were both quiet for a moment before Sam started to chuckle.

"Well… I was expecting… I don't know, a hug, some holy water in the face, something."

"Am I dead?" Dean asked after finally finding his voice.

Sam stood up, he looked amused.

"This is heaven?" Dean continued. It certainly didn't look like heaven, more like some sleazy cottage. "Did that thing kill me?"

Sam shook his head.

"No, I got there in time. You were attacked by a demon."

Dean tried to remember everything. He had been in the garage when someone had attacked him from behind.

"You thought we wouldn't find you, Winchester?"

Definitely a demon. Dean looked at Sam again, unsure of what to think.

"Is this real? Are you real?"

"Yeah," Sam replied smiling. "I'm real."

He paused and took a knife out of his pocket.

"Here, let me save you the trouble."

Dean stared at him as he cut his arm and took a long gulp of salt water.

"All me," Sam assured. "That's nasty."

Slowly Dean stood up, he was still afraid that he would wake up soon.

"Sammy?"

"Yeah, it's me."

This was real. Dean walked over to his brother and hugged him tightly. For a moment everything was alright again, until he remembered what had happened to Sam. How could his brother be here?

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," he murmured, pulling away from Sam. "You were gone. I mean, that was it. How the hell did you…?"

"I don't know," Sam cut in.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

Sam shook his head.

"I mean, no idea. I'm just back."

"Well, was it God?" Dean asked. "Or Cass? Does Cass know anything about it?"

"You tell me," Sam sighed. "Cass hasn't answered my prayers. I don't know where he is. I mean, I was… down there and then next minute, it's raining and I'm lying in the field alone. It's kind of hard to look for whatever saved you when you got no leads, but believe me, I looked. For weeks."

"For weeks?" Dean repeated. "How long have you been back?"

Sam hesitated for a moment before replying.

"About a year."

Dean stared at him disbelievingly.

"About a year?"

"Dean…"

"You've been back this whole time?" Dean snapped. "What, did you lose the freaking ability to send a text message?"

"You finally had what you wanted…"

"I wanted my brother, alive!" Dean shouted.

"You wanted a family," Sam argued. "For a long time. I know you, Dean, you only gave it up because of the way we lived. But you had something, you were building something. Had I shown up, you would've just run off."

Dean couldn't believe what he was hearing. For months he had grieved for his brother, blamed himself and Sam had been alright the whole time.

"Look, I'm sorry," Sam continued. "But it felt like after everything, you deserved some regular life."

Regular life? Had Sam honestly thought that Dean could have simply forget him and move on? Dis he know Dean at all? Thankfully Sam was quiet until Dean had managed to pull himself together.

"What've you been doing this whole time?" he snapped.

"Hunting," Sam replied.

Dean crossed his arms.

"You left me alone and you were flying solo?"

Sam shook his head.

"Not solo."

"What?"

"I hooked up with some people."

"You? Working with strangers?"

"They're more like family," Sam replied. "And they're here."

Dean had no idea what to think as Sam led him to the door and opened it. As they stepped into some kind of living room, Dean noticed four people in the room. Two men and a woman were sitting at a long table, one woman was standing next to the wall. Dark-haired woman at the table stood up and greeted Dean.

"Hey."

"Hi," Dean replied, trying to understand what was going on here. There were all kinds of books and papers lying on the table and the men were cleaning their guns. The woman looked at Dean curiously.

"My God, you have delicate features for a hunter."

Dean frowned.

"Excuse me?"

"Dean, Gwen Campbell," Sam introduced them.

"Good to finally meet you," Gwen said.

"And this is Christian," Sam continued, pointing at one of the men. "And Mark. Campbell."

Mark gave Dean a bored look, but Christian shook his hand.

"Hi," Dean managed to say. "Cam… Campbell? Like…"

"Like your mom," Christian finished.

"Third cousin, third cousin," Sam explained. "Something, something, twice removed. Grew up in the life, like mom, like us."

"Aren't you forgetting someone, Sam?" Christian asked, he sounded amused.

Sam seemed confused for a moment until he glanced at the second woman. She was a small and pale redhead; Dean hadn't really paid attention to her.

"Yes, of course," Sam said and motioned the woman to come to him.

"Sweetheart," he continued and wrapped his arm around the woman's shoulders. "This is my brother Dean, Dean this is my wife, Esme."

Dean's eyes widened.

"Your…wife?"

"Yeah," Sam confirmed.

The woman seemed nervous; she blinked few times before looking at Dean.

"Nice to meet you."

Her voice was quiet but clear.

"You too," Dean murmured.

He had so many questions that he didn't even know where to start. Suddenly he had a bunch of new cousins and Sam had a wife.

"Dean," a male voice suddenly said from the door.

Dean looked up and saw his grandfather. His dead grandfather.

"Samuel?"

The older man smiled and walked over to him.

"Come here."

The hug didn't last for long, Dean was utterly confused about everything. What the hell was going on here?