2010: Two Worlds, One Family

"Connor, keep eating while I talk to Sam, Dean, and Bobby."

"Mom, I'm stuffed!"

"You're thin as a pole." Evy said, poking him playfully in the stomach. "Eat."

Connor smiled. "You sound like you did before…"

Evy suddenly stopped smiling as a painful memory came to her. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"What's not?" Sam asked, breaking Evy from her focus on Connor.

Evy sighed. "Okay. Here's the basics. Six years after I landed in that other…world, dimension, whatever you want to call it, I got married. A year after that, I got pregnant, and nine months later, I had this handsome devil." Connor smiled, and Evy walked behind him and kissed his cheek. "I had three other kids, four grandkids, and a sickeningly normal life. Except for one thing."

"What's that?" Bobby asked.

Evy took a chair and sat next to Connor, taking his hand. "That's what I hope he'll tell me. I woke up one morning and Connor was missing."

"Missing?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. He was sick the night before. He'd been throwing up all night, so I got the other kids up and got their dad to take them to school. Peter came back and went to check on Connor and he wasn't in his bed."

"Oh, my God. Baby, I'm so sorry." Sam said.

"Okay. Now that you guys are all caught up, I need to talk to Connor."

"I don't know what to tell you, Mom." Connor said.

"Okay. Let's start with this. It's been two years since I got back here. But you look about fifteen years older. Do you know how old you are?"

"When I landed in Anchorage, I was ten. Just like I had been when I disappeared. I started looking for you, but, it was like…"

"Take your time, honey. What happened?"

"I kept getting older every day."

"That generally happens." Dean remarked dryly.

"Dean. Shut up." Evy reprimanded. She was in no mood to deal with his sarcastic, suspicious nature at the moment. "What do you mean you were older?"

"Like, years older. A week later I looked sixteen. A month later, I looked twenty-one."

"So what have you been doing? Have you been living somewhere?" Evy asked. "How did they react to you changing so much?"

"I've just been moving around, trying to find you."

"You…you've been wandering around? For two years?"

"I'd stop places and work for a few days to get enough money for a hotel. In my downtime, I'd go to the library and try to find you or anyone with the same name. I don't know if you know this or not, but there's dozens of Evelyn Winchesters."

"You were ten years old? And all alone?"

Connor saw his mother's eyes fill with tears. "Mom, please don't."

"Baby, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

"I told you, it's not your fault. It's not your fault."

"I was supposed to protect you…"

"You did. You did protect me. As long as you could and as well as you knew how. I know that, Mom. I was never upset or angry with you. I figured you were either looking for me or, after a while, thought I was dead. I never blamed you. Please don't put that on yourself. Please?"

"Okay. Okay, honey, I won't."

"Anyway, I wandered into Sioux Falls over a week ago and saw the coffee shop you used to tell me that story about in town."

Evy smiled. "I haven't thought about that in forever."

"I have. I remember every single thing you ever told me. It helped me find you. I figured since it matched the story exactly, you must be close by. I remembered the story you told me about Sir Sam and the gallant knights Robert and Dean too. So, I did a little asking around, and the sheriff pointed me here."

"I'm glad she did." Evy said, touching her palm to Connor's cheek. "You look exactly like your Dad."

"I miss him a lot."

"Me too."

"Baby girl, can we talk to you? In the living room, please?"

An annoyed Evy flashed Dean the female version of the Winchester glare, freezing the courage of both her brothers and Bobby. "No, Dean. I'm talking to him right now."

"Cricket? Please?"

"It's okay, Mom. I'm actually really tired. Could I lay down somewhere and take a nap?"

"You sure can. Come on, you can sleep in my room."

"I don't think so." Bobby said, speaking up from where he stood next to the kitchen sink, arms folded over his chest, the classic sign that he was annoyed but trying not to show it.

"And why's that?"

"What your brothers are afraid to say in front of him I'll say. I don't buy that he's your kid."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"A few reasons. One, he's older than you. You ain't having an older man sleep in your room. Period. Two, we don't know for a fact that he's who he says he is. Three, that world you were living in over there wasn't real. Anything that came out of it ain't real, either. Four, you're smart enough to know what I'm telling you is true."

John Winchester's ashes had been laid to rest more than three years earlier, but Bobby could swear that with Evy's stare towards him he'd come out of the ground and back into the house with no effort whatsoever.

"You done?" Evy asked coolly. "Sam, Dean, you agree with him?"

Dean looked all too eager and Sam reluctant, but both of them nodded.

"Mom, it's…"

"I swear to you, if you say it's okay, I will put you in time out. I don't care that I'm your mother and I'm ten years younger than you."

Connor wisely closed his mouth.

"As for you three. I don't care whether you believe me or not. He is my son. He is my family, whether this is the world I gave birth to him in or not. And if you give it a chance, he could become your family. Now, I already lost him once. I will not lose him again. If he goes, I go."

"Excuse me?" Dean asked incredulously. "You are seventeen, little missy. You don't get to dictate where you do and don't go…"

"Get off your hind legs, Dean. I'm not scared of you."

"Baitfish, I ain't put you over my knee since you came up to it. I will do it again if I have to."

"You can try." Evy dared him.

"Cricket, Dean's right." Sam said. "I'm sorry. You're not leaving."

A betrayed Evy stared at Sam so hard he had to look away from her, but Evy was unwavering. "I thought of all people, Sammy, you would understand. What it's like to have your life ripped away. You're telling me, right now, that if Jess came through that door, you wouldn't want another chance?"

"Jess is dead…"

"I know Jess is dead. I was there, remember? I watched her on that ceiling, bleeding to death. Did you think I'd forgotten that?"

"That's not what I meant…"

"Then stop deflecting and answer the question. If Jess came through that door, and she checked out, you're telling me you wouldn't want that second chance?"

Sam sighed. "No."

"Dean, same question. If Dad came back, or your and Sammy's mom, you wouldn't want that chance?"

"I would, baby girl, but I wouldn't trust it."

"Yeah. God forbid you ever leave what Dad told you to do and live a life of your own. Bobby? If your wife came back…"

"I get it." Bobby said. "Fine, kid. Go to bed."

"Connor, come on. Let's get you some rest."

When an angry Evy had left the room, all three men turned to each other in shock.

"You guys really trust him?" Dean asked.

"Hell no." Bobby answered.

"No. But let's let them have their moment for a while, then start looking into who that guy really is."