AN: Epilogue to the epilogue! That this exists is due 90% to ScealaiTheRakker and their rabid little plot bunny.
No plot, no real purpose except a bit of lighthearted fun. It does refer to some events from season 15, so beware of spoilers if you haven't watched that far.
Thank you so much for reading!
* * *
There was a lot on the Winchesters' plate, to put it mildly.
Chuck was out there, he was pissed, and they didn't know his timeline. Jack was, frankly, a mess.
The good news was that they had a fully powered up bunker and Mrs. Butters to cook, clean, and mother them. And they had as many monster hunts as they wanted, without the time and effort of research.
But they probably still shouldn't be making this stop.
Sam couldn't help himself. There were moments when he got to see the old joy in his brother, and he wanted to see more of it. So when he saw the sign for a carnival and pointed it out to Dean. "Check it out. We should go."
Dean's eyebrows shot up. "What gives? We need to get home. And you hate carnivals."
"But you love them."
Dean hmmed. He was interested but not convinced. Luckily, Sam knew exactly what Dean loved most about carnivals.
"Elephant ears, Dean. Fresh squeezed lemonade. Giant soft pretzels and cheese."
Dean was thinking about it. Wavering.
"Salt and vinegar fries," Sam continued. "Corn dogs. Funnel cake." Dean pretended to ignore him, but Sam had a coup de grace. "Deep fried Oreos."
Dean's eyes lit up and he changed lanes. "Maybe we can stop for a little while."
Sam knew stopping was the right decision when he saw the look on Dean's face as hit bit into some fried apple pie. Dean said something unintelligible through a ridiculously full mouth and Sam smiles indulgently. Cheesy as it was, this was Sam's motivation for everything these days. As the years has passed, he'd outgrown vengeance, and lofty goals like make the world a better place and even defend free will could feel cold.
Watching the people he loved experiencing joy? That, Sam could get behind. He'd said goodbye so many times that he knew better than to take a single moment, a single smile for granted.
And, as he always had, Dean occupied the top spot on the short list of people Sam loved, filling it with the verve with which he did everything.
Sam remembered learning the phrase joie de vivre in high school and thinking it had probably been invented to describe Dean.
Sam rolled his eyes obligingly as Dean chased a drip of apple filling down his chin with his tongue and the woman who'd sold him the food nearly went crosseyed watching. Sorry, lady, Sam thought, knowing his brother well. His attention's on the food right now.
Abruptly, Sam's relaxed mood dissipated as the back of his neck tingled with the sense of something other. After so many years of hunting, he could often sense the presence of something supernatural. Sam surveyed the area carefully. He wasn't yet ready to alert Dean, whose hunting senses were even stronger, but who was still utterly focused on his food.
There were people everywhere. But besides Dean's admirer, the only ones paying attention to the Winchesters were two little girls on a nearby bench. They had their knees drawn up and were whispering back and forth behind their hands. They couldn't have been more than 7 or 8, and seemed much too small to carry the large backpacks bracketing them on the bench.
Sam's brow furrowed as he tried to figure out what had grabbed his attention and study them without being obvious about it.
Some of their words carried to him.
"...just as gorgeous..."
"...inappropriate. You're a kid now..."
"...won't even have the important bits for like 10 years..."
"..stop me from looking..."
The girls could hardly have looked less alike. One had pale skin, frizzy, shoulder-length blonde hair, and a Nordic cast to her features. The other was Asian, or partly, with long black hair and a rosebud mouth. But they looked up just as Sam nudged Dean to reveal matching gray eyes.
Sam's mouth fell open.
Oversized backpacks had replaced oversized purses, the young faces had replaced the old, but those eyes were the same.
Next to him, Dean was staring too, his food forgotten. "Kay and Letty?" he asked.
"Sophie and Livvie," said the blonde girl, with an impish grin that was pure Kay. She hasn't answered Dean's question, but there was no doubt in Sam's mind.
"It's Olivia," said the dark-haired girl primly, then ruined her complaint by grinning too. "You're not alone, you know," she added. "Someone had to give your friend a heads up."
"The friend with the twins," clarified Sophie/Kay/Yemoja.
Sam took a step closer, his mind spinning with questions. Before he could formulate a single one, Olivia/Letty/Oshun looked up...and up at the tall man. "Daaaaaang," she drawled. "You're big from this angle."
"They're big from any angle," interjected, er, Sophie. "I told you that." The words sounded all kinds of wrong spoken in a little girl's voice.
"And I told you you're a big, fat liar."
"You're just jealous, string bean."
"Sophie! Olivia!" called a woman.
In a flash, the girls were off the bench and wearing those huge backpacks. Sophie gave them a jaunty salute. "You know, those we help traditionally leave offerings. Chocolate and coffee are always good."
"We aren't old enough for coffee!" Olivia sounded exasperated.
"With that attitude, you're never gonna have any fun." Sophie was making her way through the crowd.
Olivia took a quick second to give the Winchesters a nod that might have been thanks. "Remember, not alone," she said, sounded so far behind her apparent age. Then she raised her voice, sounding like a little girl again. "Wait up, Soph!" And they were gone.
Sam turned to Dean, his mind reeling. The entire encounter had taken less than two minutes, but the implications were staggering.
"They made it back! And found each other!" If Dean grinned any wider, he might break his face. "Hot damn!"
"And it sounds like they somehow got word to Garth about Lurene's," Sam mused. "I wondered where that came from, and right when we needed it the most." Another thought hit him. "I wonder if they're the reason Garth and Bess had twins."
Dean stuffed the last of his food in his mouth. "Who cares? It's just nice to know we have a couple more allies out there, even if they look like Power Puff Girls." He licked his sticky fingers. "Course the those girls could kick some serious ass." He gave the woman who was still watching him raptly a nod and smile of farewell. "Let's blow this popsicle stand. Mrs. Butters promised to make her homemade pot pie."
Sam followed obediently. He let the familiarity of the situation wash over him, still soaking in Dean's joy. "How can you possibly be hungry after all of that? And why do you know about the Power Puff Girls?"
WINCHESTER * WINCHESTER
"I got your delivery and left it under the tree like you asked." Serge's voice came clearly through Sam's phone, on speaker and setting on the table between Sam and Dean. The alternate world hunter sounded confused, but he wasn't the type to ask questions.
"Thanks, Serge. We appreciate your help. You kept the cigars, right?"
"Smokin' one now, Chief."
Sam ignored the amused look he knew Dean would be sending his way at Serge's use of the honorific. There was no point in correcting the latter. Sam knew that from experience.
The other hunter had his home base in North Carolina, and he'd been more than willing to pick up their delivery of Ecuadoran coffee and French chocolate and drive them down to leave in Della's Hollow under a very specific tree. He would have been willing even if they hadn't fed his vice with a pair of fine stogies from the bunker stores.
"I kept an eye out all night and didn't see a thing, but in the morning, everything was gone. Something I gotta watch out for?"
"Nope. Just repaying a favor," Dean reassured him.
The sound of a long exhale came through the phone. "And you do pay well. Strasvutsia."
Sam hung up the phone and smiled at Dean. It was nice to know that they'd thanked the Ibejis, even in some small way. And it was even better to know that they were out there. It tasted like hope, which maybe Chuck hadn't completely squashed after all. They weren't alone. Maybe they could somehow win.
"Boys!" Mrs. Butters' voice was strident with irritation. "Who drank all of my cooking wine?"
Sam's eyes went wide, matching Dean's guilty expression.
By the time Mrs. Butters came around the corner, the hub was empty.
* * *
AN: The end, really this time. If it wasn't clear, it takes place during season 15, episode 14, Last Holiday. More cheerful than the first epilogue, I think.
Strasvutsia is a casual Russian goodbye, if Google translate is telling me the truth.
sfaulkenberry: The shirtlessness abounds in this fic! Don't know what made me just revisiting it, but I'm not sorry! And I do love to give Sam some comfort that he missed out on in the show (ahem, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, ahem). Sweet boy deserves it. I'm glad you like the schmoop, or as a fabulous commenter said on a different story, "nest of schmoopy goodness." So fun to write!
Timelady66: I adore that moment in the "green room" and of course Zachariah getting it. :-) They do give each other hope; they take turns supporting each other, which I love. Yeah, I love almost everything about the show, honestly. So glad you are reading and commenting!
printandpolish: I know -- the poor boys really took it in the teeth. When they came into the nonmagical world, they should have found the writers and punched them ala Arnold Schwarzenegger in Last Action Hero. I absolutely love you quoting the fabulous scene with "I believe in us." Me too!
bagelcat1: A toasted marshmallow is a fabulous analogy! Yummy too...pairs well with chocolate...oops, now I'm drooling. I'm just thrilled that you find the affection and brotherly interactions authentic. I work harder on that part of my stories than any other. Thanks for your comments on this story that were both kind and helpful.
Lena: Sheesh! Making me blush! As always, knowing that you like a story makes me very, very happy. Was there enough shirtlessness for you? *snicker* A kintsugi is a bowl or other piece of pottery that broke and was fixed with something shiny and gold, so what were cracks are now like bright veins, making it more beautiful than it originally was. I agree that AU Bobby wasn't the same. I saw Jim Beaver on NCIS and started ranting about missing Bobby. lol Let's see...feeling mean, so I'll put Dean in a yellow Yugo! Ha!
Jenjoremy: I was probably the woman behind you who ran into you right after you ran into the wall. (Yeah, sorry.) There sure was a lot of gratuitous WBA (Winchesters' Bodies Appreciation) in this story. I hope this epilogue took a little of the sting out of the last one!
muffinroo: Oh thank you! I can't resist throwing in flashbacks, and I do love Wee / teenchesters. I think they're each other's hope, always.
BruisedBloodyBroken: I'm not above a little darkness, but I didn't want it to be too much of a shift in the feel of the story, if that makes any sense. This epilogue certainly goes in a different direction! I love what you said about the darkness. I used to think it was one of the tragedies of humankind that we need the bad in order to see the good, but now I think the bad/dark only makes the good/light that much sweeter. But that is an idea for a different place and medium!
Atlasina7: I think all of the Winchesters believed in each other, which I love. Thank you for commenting so faithfully!