Eileen grasped at Sam and sobbed. "She lived. I didn't think she was going to live."
Sam sat there, ramrod straight and didn't hug her back. "What was that?"
Because Eileen wasn't looking at Sam, she couldn't hear what he said, but from the way she could feel his chest fall, she could tell he'd said something. She sat back.
"What did you say?" she asked.
"What. Was. That," Sam enunciated.
"What was what?" Eileen signed with an innocent look on her face.
"That show was about me and Dean. Dina and Samantha - they didn't even try. How long have you known about this show?"
"Since it first started," Eileen admitted. "Five years."
Sam grimaced. "You kept this from me for five years," he said. "Who else knows about it?"
"Everyone," Eileen said. "It's a very popular show. But you don't watch a lot of TV so I knew you wouldn't hear about it."
"Then why did you show this to me?"
"It seemed like the right thing to do."
Sam didn't say anything. He was upset. This show portrayed his life. Not exactly the same as it happened, but close enough. But that ending. Samantha went to law school and Dina kept hunting, alone. It made Sam feel guilty even though he had no reason to. And it made him feel upset, though part of him recognized that the show was only five years of these characters' lives, when he and Dean had hunted together for fifteen years after their dad was killed. They'd been through so much more. They'd both died and had been brought back to life multiple times. . . . Sam understood how tired Dean was and he forgave him for not letting him call an ambulance, but it still hurt.
"Who made this show?" Sam asked, starting to feel angry. Who would do this? Who could do this? Who knew his and Dean's life story?
"Written and created by Alexandra Osterwind," Eileen said, signing the name.
Sam sounded it out. "That's an unusual name. Who is she?"
"Sam, I looked her up in every database that I could find. I Googled her. Nobody is talking. The only person I could find was a woman who was killed while climbing Mt. Everest a couple of years before the show started. It must be a pseudonym," she said and spelled out.
"Well, there are only a few possibilities of who it could be. It could be you-"
"Me? Sam? How-" Eileen interrupted and Sam interrupted back.
"I know, I doubt you could have been a showrunner without my noticing, but I had to say it. And technically it could have been me. But it wasn't. Another Hunter? I'm not sure there are too many Hunters who are still alive who know everything."
Eileen's face dropped and they both took a moment to think about all the people who they'd lost over the years.
"I think it could be fanfiction of Chuck's books," Eileen said finally.
"I thought they were out of print."
"Could be someone who read them a long time ago. Or more recently - there are still files floating around the Internet."
"Or it could be Chuck. He's bored, wants to play God, if he can't be God. Write a new version of his story where he's not the bad guy."
"Do you think we should try to find out?"
"Sure, why not?" Sam said. "I love Florida in June."
Sam drove their rented Jeep slowly down the swampy road to where Chuck was living, or more accurately, hiding. He parked the car at the edge of what could be called a driveway and he and Eileen walked the rest of the way to the house. It was 90 degrees and a million percent humidity and they were both sweating from just the short walk.
Chuck was sitting on his front porch with a shotgun in his lap. His hair and beard were long and unkempt and he had a beer belly, no doubt from all the beers that were lined up on the porch railing.
He stood up with the shotgun at the ready, but when he saw who it was, he sat back down.
"Sam Winchester," he hailed. "Eileen. How nice. Just who I was hoping to see after all these years."
Without preamble, Sam said, "What do you know about Wayward Girls?"
"There aren't any girls here. Just me and the gators."
"The TV show."
"I don't have a TV."
"You could have read about it on the Internet."
"No Internet either."
"Do you think he's lying?" Eileen signed to Sam.
"I don't know," Sam signed back. Out loud he said, "Who's Alexandra Osterwind?"
At the sound of that name, a huge grin broke out on Chuck's face. "I guess there are still things that I know that you don't. I got a visit from one of my former angels telling me about her. Nobody told you, huh? Interesting."
"Tell us who she is. Now."
"She's . . . oh, this is a sweet moment . . . I'm going to savor the look on your face for a long time. . . ."
"Chuck," Sam prompted.
"She's God," Chuck said.
"No, Jack is God," Eileen said.
Chuck laughed. "That's what you think," he said and laughed so much he gave himself a coughing fit. Without putting down the shotgun he grabbed the nearest beer bottle and took a swig. "Ah, that hits the spot."
"What do you mean she's God?" Sam asked.
"You know what, Sam, you deserve to know. Let's see if I still have any summoning power. You should hear it from the horse's mouth." He looked up at the sky theatrically and said, "Hey, Jack, your old pal Sam is here and he wants to know about the new management."
Then he shrugged as if to say that was the best he could do.
But it must have worked because in a moment, Jack appeared, in the same clothes that Sam had last seen him in, looking exactly the same.
"Hello!" Jack said, sounding just like his old self.
Sam started toward him with his arms open, then stopped and held out his hand to shake instead. Jack looked at Sam's hand for a second, then shook it.
"Good to see you, Jack," Sam said.
"It's good to see you too. Hi, Eileen," he added, signing it.
"Hi," Eileen said, hanging back and sounding shy. She hadn't been there when Jack had transformed into a god and being in his presence was intimidating.
"Jack, Chuck said that you're not God, that some woman named Alexandra Osterwind is . . . and she's also the creator of a TV show about my and Dean's life," Sam said. "Is that true?"
"It is," Jack said. "So much happened since we last spoke. When I got to heaven, it turned out I wasn't God after, but the Buddha. I didn't know it at the time, but that's why I had to be hands off."
"You're a bit skinny to be the Buddha," Eileen said. "And a bit white."
"Yes, true. I'm not actually him, but the embodiment of nirvana. All souls that have finished their mission in this world and are no longer being reincarnated are with me. Alexandra made some changes to the afterlife. First she changed it from reliving happy memories to a more freewheeling place. But once it seemed that it was better to be dead than alive, she changed the afterlife to be more in line with Buddhism. Dean's soul is with me now and we are one with the universe. It may not be the afterlife that you had hoped for, but I promise you that it's beautiful."
"Oh," Sam said, not sure of what to make of this information. "But who is Alexandra Osterwind? How is she God?"
"I don't belong here, Sam. I came to vouch for God, but I'm going to ask Jesus to come and tell you the rest." He turned around to look at Chuck. "I will not come again, even if you call."
Chuck saluted sarcastically and Jack disappeared.
"Jesus?" Eileen said.