Chapter 12: The Old

"I don't know if you can hear me…" I said as I sat down next to him. "But, I had to see you."

I looked down at Dean. Never in the time I had known him had he ever looked so defenseless. Now I understood why he was so scared whenever I was in the hospital, or when I came back down from the realm. He was lifeless and pale. I hated it.

His hand was lying there, so I took it and brought his fingers to my lips. I let a small cry escape from my mouth.

"Don't leave me. I know that sounds selfish since I left you but I didn't mean to! And I know you don't mean to be like this either but please… don't leave me." I was becoming hysterical. "You know, the whole time I was in the realm, every time I would go to sleep I would have dreams about you and me. And everything we could do when I got back. God I was so determined to get back to you. But I would think about our lives, and what they could be. The whole semi-normal but not boring thing we had wanted seemed like it would be so easy to achieve once I was back. But of course, nothing is ever easy in our lives."

I paused for a minute. I needed to let him in on everything. Because I hadn't don't that in a long time.

"But these dreams, they were so perfect. Some were just of you and me. Sweet things like holding each other under the sunset in San Francisco, or more intense things… you would have probably liked the more intense ones." I laughed and blushed some at the memory. "But then sometimes it wasn't just us. Sometimes we were a little bit older, and we actually had a kid! And we didn't screw up! We were a family, it was nice."

I down for a second to catch my breath that I didn't even know I was holding.

"So see you can't leave me yet. Because if you do, neither of us will get to experience any of this, because you wouldn't be here…. And I wouldn't want to do any of the things I had dreamed about with anyone but you."

Still nothing. The doctor's said he was under watch for forty-eight hours and if he didn't wake up they would have to pull the plugs and he would die. It had been almost forty hours. I guess I misjudged the metal. He had lost a lot of blood, was almost choked to death, and on top of that he had apparently been emotionally traumatized for a year and a half.

"Please baby, just wake up…" I whispered into his hand. No movement.

I shook my head and stood up. Then I leaned over and kissed him lightly.

"I love you, always." I said softly. One of my own tears fell onto his face.

Nothing.

I closed my eyes and turned to leave.

"Just where do you think you're going?" A quiet voice said from behind me.

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(Gabi's POV)

We were too late. Dean may die and if we could have been there, he may have been ok.

This wasn't fair. Annie was dying all over again. She wouldn't eat or sleep. She just walked in and out of his room, crying periodically.

Sam and I hated keeping Ellie at the hospital but neither of us would go home. I wouldn't leave with out Annie and he wouldn't leave with out Dean. Neither of them were going anywhere.

John was here to, but he wasn't in good shape.

I felt like the only halfway sane person around. And I never felt that way. Hell I was the most insane out of all of them. But I wasn't going to sit around and watch my entire family crumble.

I had one way out with Sam though. Ellie. She was my bait. Ok so it may have been awful to use my daughter as bait, but if Sam had her he was so much more at peace and seemed a little bit more relaxed. So I basically refused to hold her.

John was another story. See Ellie made them both a lot better. But I didn't have two of her and I wasn't planning on having two of her any time soon.

So I had to find another alternative. I tried using myself as Sam's emotional decoy; it worked, but not as well as Ellie. That kind of hurt. But I got over it.

Something needed to happed, something good for once. We needed a reason to believe that things would be alright.

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(Dean's POV)

"So tell me what I have been so lacking in believing lately." Annie said as she propped herself up on her elbow and looked down at me. I smiled and traced my fingers along her bare shoulder blades.

"Would that be… I love you?" I questioned. She smiled.

"Again… this time put more feeling into it." She joked. I laughed a little and nodded.

"I love you…" I kissed her hand. "I love you…" I reached up and kissed her neck. "And… I love you." I kissed her on the lips.

"Mmm, much better." She said. I looked into her eyes. The blue was back. Everything was back.

"What are you looking at Winchester?" She asked cockily. Annie hadn't called me that in a long time, I missed it.

"Just the most beautiful and amazing woman I have ever known." I said honestly. She laughed and lay back down.

"Well don't let your wife hear that, she may get jealous." She teased as she cuddled herself back into my arms.

"She won't ever know." I replied smiling. Annie giggled and looked up at me.

"Hey Dean…" She said.

"Yeah babe?" I asked

"I love you too." She told me. I pulled her tighter and kissed her forehead.

"So in honor of you being fully back from the… well wherever you were. And that thing being dead, what do you want to do today?" I asked her.

She thought for a second and then got a mischievous smile on her face.

"Do you think anyone would mind if we just didn't leave our room today?" She asked, blushing a little. I laughed.

"I know I wouldn't." I said before pressing my lips to hers.

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(Two years later)

"You really suck you know that?" Annie said before kissing me lightly.

"Yeah, but you still love me." I said smiling.

"Everything hurts…" She complained. "My head, my body… and in a couple months I am going to be all fat and ugly and I don't want to be…"

She buried her head in my shoulder. I ran my fingers through her hair and kissed the top of her head.

"Baby you are never going to be ugly." I told her.

"Don't say that word!" She told me. "I don't want to think about it."

"Annie, are you sure you are ok with this?" I asked her. She sighed.

"No I am, I mean what choice do I have now? I'm just scared." She told me. "If the whole shock and scared as hell thing would pass I think I would be pretty happy about it."

"Man if we are going to have a kid in this house we have to stop cursing. When it goes to kindergarten we might get some not so good calls from the school." I joked.

"Well it is our kid Dean; it's bound to be a trouble maker." She said laughing some.

"Good point… but we can't just keep saying 'it', that feels kind of weird." I told her.

"I know… well then what should we call… it?" She asked, really trying to avoid saying 'it'.

"I don't know…when do we know whether it is a boy or a girl?" I asked, getting way ahead of myself.

"Not for two more months. That is a hell of a long time to call the baby 'it'" She said.

"We'll figure something out… we always do." I said. She nodded and buried her head back into my shoulder.

"Dean?" She asked.

"Yes?" I replied.

"Can you carry me to our room? I don't want to walk…" She said. I laughed and collected her in my arms.

"I love you." I told her smiling. She rolled her eyes.

"I guess I love you too." She joked.

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I knew it was a dream. All of it. But it was nice, being in that world with her again. And luckily, her voice was the one that brought me back to reality.

She had started to leave my room. When I opened my eyes she was almost to the door.

"Just where do you think you're going?" I asked.

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(Annie's POV)

I closed my eyes and turned slowly.

"If I open my eyes am I going to be dreaming?" I asked quietly.

"Don't think so, but if you were it would be a damn good dream." He said with his usual arrogance.

"And why would that be?" I said as I opened my eyes.

"Because I'm in it, you can't go wrong with a dream like that." He joked. I laughed a little and walked back over to where I had been seconds before and sat down.

I was crying, and I wasn't trying to stop it. But these weren't sad tears, they were happy ones.

"Hey I thought the crying would be done by now…" He said as he slowly reached up to wipe a tear off my face.

"Don't worry, they are good tears." I said as I grabbed his hand. "I'm supposed to go get someone… like a nurse or doctor or something if you wake up…"

He stopped me from getting up.

"Not yet… come here…" He told me as he moved over in the hospital bed. I sat down with him and looked him in the eyes.

"Now I need you to help me with something." He said.

I nodded.

"I really want to kiss this girl who is sitting on my bed with me right now, but it hurts like a bitch to sit up, so do you think you can get her to come down here?" He asked. I laughed. These drugs made him even more amusing.

"Sure do." I said before leaning down and pressing my lips to his. This kiss wasn't fast or rushed. But slow and passionate. We took our time. And it was the best kiss I think I had ever had.

"I love you…" He whispered to me.

"I love you too…" I replied.

And it felt right.