Carry on My Lights

November 19, 2050

Time is constant, the only thing that makes sense. Time is the Ultimate diary. He sees life from every being that has lived and died. A testimony to Life.

I once saw time as a curse. I was born the daughter of a human mother and a vampire father. I was given the gift and curse of being a human and a monster; a dhampir. I thought it was a punishment, seeing people live their lives, not knowing about the hidden world I'm from.

Time was a cruel master to me. To this day I can remember every single triumph and failure. Some more painful. In the end, it serves to remind us of the things that made life so good. A lesson I give credit to the two most important men in my life.

What started as a promise grew beyond just looking after the Winchester brothers. Bonds that started in friendship, grew into bonds of family. I was able to live again.

Dean was the big brother I never had. While I was technically the oldest, he was older and wiser in the things that mattered. He looked out for me as he did his brother. He never thought he was strong, but I knew better. He had strength that saw him through hell, purgatory, the Mark, darkness and the chaos of Chuck. Even when he felt broken, he stayed with us. He did the best he could, and I couldn't be prouder of him. Like Gabriel, he was and ever more shall be mio fratello. It was okay for him to go.

Sam was the chaos in my life. In his gentle and persistent way, he found the chinks in the armor around my heart. I will admit he did it when I saw him as a baby. Eventually, it became clear that what I was searching for was him. We may share a soul, but our love was very real. It was because of that love that I went to hell with him, fought to save his soul from the demons that manipulated him, let him pour his soul when in despair. I ended up giving him more grief and warned him, but he stayed. He stayed and won my heart and soul.

Together we took on the world. Saving people, hunting things. The family business...

I always knew one of us would die on the job. In truth, all three of us have died multiple times. When we were finally freed from Chuck's machinations, I knew. Maybe I cursed us by waiting for the other shoe to drop or the ground to literally fall from under our feet. In the end, I proved myself right.

I sometimes wondered if Sam resented me for following through with Dean's request to not use my abilities to heal him that night. I often blamed myself for not getting there on time after making sure the kids were safe. I asked myself why I didn't call for Kess. It haunted me because I was the one that had to explain to Jess why her uncle wasn't coming home.

I was reassured by Sam. He showed me that he didn't blame me. We saved each other as we've always done. We held each other up and Haley when we told her. In that moment, we truly felt the meaning of that declaration so long ago: always and forever.

Time became our healing balm as we left the bunker and took Jess and struck out on our own. We made our own normal as we welcomed our son Dean Zeppelin the following year and then three years later the twins JR and Ellie. We built our own normal that included school, sports, PTA as well as magic, weapons training and lore. We also had the added bonus of raising Wilders; a joke that became a source of income.

Sam and I lived a good life together. We can both attest to that. We have our family, our children and their significant others. We know that they will be okay even when we had our moments of sadness because Dean couldn't share it with us; that he would never know that Haley had been pregnant when he died and gave birth to a beautiful girl named Kayla. Maybe she told him when she passed two years ago. I have hope. Always did.

I am not sorry that our time is near. Sam and I did as promised, and that was to live. I kept mine especially to Sam. He made me promise to live so long ago and I did. Where he was, I was. I lived when I was with him. Even as our time grows short, I will never leave him.

I don't worry for my children. I know they will be fine. Sam and I taught them well. They have gone out and made their mark on the world. It is the greatest gift a parent could have.

As I sit here writing my last words, I feel a sense of contentment. I don't fear death and I won't be alone dying. No fears and no regrets. I leave my children the words their father and I lived by for that is time's mark on us all.

Always and forever.

~0~0~0~0~

Jess finished reading the last words of her mother and glanced at her brother Dean as he tried not to cry as he rubbed the tattoo on his forearm. Their youngest siblings John Robert and Ellen Jo were sniffing.

"Mom really knows how to say things," Dean said.

"It feels like she is still here," Ellen Jo added.

Jess listened to her siblings as she shifted to look at her parents. They looked peaceful, like they were asleep even though they had just passed. Just as she always saw them even when her father's health failed.

She knew, hell all of them knew that their parents were going to die together. She remembered living in the bunker and the scary and sad times, but what stood out was the level of devotion her parents had for one another and she remembered her "Unca Dean." They would be happy where they went, and they would be together

"So, what do we do now, Jess?"

Jess looked at Dean. Her expression turned into that firm one her mother had used. Her hazel green eyes danced with mischief. "We've got work to do."

A/N: The end of an era has come but we all know that the story never really ends. Tag to Carry On.