Present 8
After the movie is done, Dean gets up off the sofa and looks at Sam expectantly. "Come on. We need to get going."
"Should I even bother to ask where we're going?"
"One last errand to run today, Sam. Then you're in the clear."
Sam hauls himself up wearily and the moment he does, he's transported through space once again. This time, he's on a beach. Around him, happy families are spread out on picnic blankets and beach towels, the classic vacation scene repeated over and over again, stretching into the horizon. Overhead, the sun beats down and, in the waves, children are running around splashing each other and laughing hysterically.
Except one of those children has ventured further out and is now struggling against the stronger currents. Sam looks around for a lifeguard or parents or anyone about to help but no one else seems to have noticed. He starts to toe off his boots, getting ready to go in himself, but Dean stops him.
"Just wait Sam" his brother says calmly.
Sam shoots Dean a glare, about to tell him to go screw himself. Sam isn't about to stand by and watch a child drown, but before he can do anything a large wave comes out of nowhere and the struggling boy disappears underneath of it. Sam gasps in shocked horror, thinking he's just seen another person die, but when the wave recedes, he sees that it's pushed the boy back into the shallows, where he's now sitting on the sand, spluttering a little but otherwise unharmed. Now, finally, a parent seems to have noticed and the boy is scooped up and rushed to safety.
"I don't understand" Sam says. "Did you do that?"
"Yes" Dean answers, still staring out at the sea.
"But why?"
"That boy was supposed to die today. Now he won't."
"Isn't that against your whole MO?"
"It is" Dean agrees "that's why I can only do it for a few, and only for the ones that won't have too many long-term consequences, but once a day, I pick someone, and I save them. I guess it's sort of like my gift to myself. It helps keep me sane."
Sam looks at Dean for a long moment, searching his face for some trace of emotion, a hint of the expressive passion that those features used to contain. After a while, he almost thinks he sees it, a slight tightening of the eyes that Dean used to get whenever they were too late to save a victim on a hunt. He has to admit though, that it's equally as likely that he's imaging it.
"Why did you really bring me along with you today, Dean?" he asks.
"I was stalling."
"What?" Sam asks, startled by the frank admission.
"I don't like the thought of letting you go. I guess I just assumed that you'd always be there."
"You never even came to see me!"
"I got busy" Dean shrugs. "It was nice though, knowing that you were out there somewhere."
"Can't you come visit me in Heaven or something?" Sam asks, trying to be conciliatory.
"No. Most of the Angels still don't like me very much. We have an agreement. I stay out of Heaven and they stay away from Earth."
Sam thinks about what that means. As one of the few humans with actual knowledge of the afterlife, he's always had the rare privilege of knowing that someday he'd get to see his loved one's again, if he could shake off his annoying immortality that is. They may not know for sure, but billions of humans have the same hope. Not Dean though, not only can he not die, but he's also literally banned from Heaven. If the people he loves go there, he can never see them again. For a moment, Sam almost changes his mind about leaving, but then he thinks of his kids. They've been waiting for him for far too long.
"I'm sorry" he says, "but I have to go."
"I know" says Dean, then he reaches over and places his hand briefly on Sam's shoulder.
Sam doesn't feel any pain but there is the sensation of something falling away from him and when he turns around to look, he sees his body lying quietly on the beach.
"Congratulations Sam. You're dead."
Sam looks at his brother and sees a silver chain wrapped loosely around his wrists, that now appears to be disintegrating. The binding spell has been broken by the death of the caster.
"Ready for one last trip little brother" Dean asks with a decent approximation of his old grin.
"But I thought you couldn't come with me?"
"I can't but I'll get you to the door."
"Then let's go" Sam says, expecting Dean to teleport them again but instead Dean puts his fingers to his mouth and whistles like he's calling a dog. Suddenly, right in front of them, sitting improbably on the sand, is the Impala. Sure, she's pale now instead of coal black but the fact that she's changed doesn't make her any less the Impala.
Sam gets in the passenger side door, savouring the familiar squeak of the hinges. Dean takes his old position to Sam's left and revs the engine. They were off.
End.
