Title: The Swap
Rated for: T
Genre: Family, Friendship, Adventure,
Fandom/Universe: Supernatural
Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Bobby Singer, Castiel / Pastor Jim, Mary Campbell, Samuel Campbell, Deana Campbell, Christian Campbell, Mark Campbell, Gwen Campbell, Henry Winchester, John Winchester, Adam Milligan, OC's - Diana & Samantha Winchester.
Pairings: NONE
Spoilers/Warning: Mentions or info of some episodes through all 9 seasons. This chapter is somewhere between all the Leviathan stuff.
Disclaimer: Supernatural and all related characters are copyright Eric Kripke, Kripke Enterprises & The CW Network. No infringement intended. Good Omens and all related characters belong to Neil Gainmann and Terry Prachett. No infringement intended.
Summary: Trying to find a way home sends both sets of Winchesters back to the scene of the Hunt and then to an old friend for some help...
Status: in-Progress
Author's Note: Its been a while, I know. So...I sort of on purpose, accidentally wiped my sd card with all my fics. All the one's I've been working on and some new ideas I got... So if there's anyone who can help me recover that one folder from it... Please HELP! I beg... pretty please.
Chapter: Picture of Your Dreams
They sat around the table in the war room at the camp. Hunters and the Men Of Letters… but Sam could see they were divided.
Samuel sat at the head with Deanna and Mary to his left, along with the rest of the Campbell's. To his right sat Henry and the Men Of Letters. And John…
"So, this…Magnus," Samuel leveled his angry glare to the right. He barely gave John a passing glance before ignoring him. "Didn't have much in the way of information…?"
"You can practically see wisps of smoke coming off Samuel's bald head." Lucifer's voice felt like a puff of hot air scorching Sam's left cheek.
Sam drew in a sharp breath and quickly stuffed his hands under the table. He pushed as hard as he could against the wound but it wasn't working as well anymore. It had healed too much to cause him the pain required to banish the vision of Lucifer.
He cast a panicked glance to Henry and then Samantha but they were focused on Samuel and his demand for answers. It was clear to Sam, that this…adventure… because it couldn't be called a Hunt, hadn't gotten him any closer to being included into their 'inner circle'. And Sam was beginning to see that Henry wasn't allowed much more. Samuel didn't care for the Men Of Letters one little bit.
"…I know how to get to Diana." Henry sighed heavily and turned his focus on Mary. "I just can't be sure I can get her back in time."
"Time?" Samuel snapped. "Your Men Of Letters played around with my granddaughters head!"
Samantha stiffened in her seat. She didn't look up from her hands where they were fisted on the table. She was angry about the glamour too and she'd told Samuel because he'd demanded a full debrief. He'd made Samantha tell him what Magnus did and what he'd said about Sam…
She glanced towards her boy version and no, she did not feel the least bit sorry to have told Samuel that Magnus knew what Sam was hiding.
"How do we get my daughter back?" John cut into the yelling which just pissed off Samuel some more.
"No." Mary glared at Samuel before he could fight with John. "I've had enough with the arguing, Dad. I don't care what the hell stories he glamoured Sammy with. You're the one who sent her there as a Hunter. You're the one fighting with the Men Of Letters when they're the ones with the answer to getting Diana. So no more!"
There was silence from the table. Both sides just a little surprised to see John and Mary on the same page. And standing up to Samuel Campbell.
"Uhm…" Charlie raised her hand tentatively. "I have locations? Well, possible locations for where to get-." She stopped seeing the glare leveled on her by Samuel.
"To open the door we need a few things." Henry opened the leather journal in front of him and flipped a couple of pages. "The Seal we have stored at the Portsmouth Rhode Island chapter house. The Avila's are on their way here." He turned his attention from the pages he was skimming over to frown at Samuel. "Charlie and Ash have kindly been looking for the locations where we may obtain fruit from the Tree of Life. However, the most difficult item to procure will be the Archangel grace."
"How do we-?" Mary sat back, her expression worried and frustrated. "Don't you have any way of…I don't know, summoning one?"
Sam could see her hoping the Men Of Letters had the answer to that too. He glanced over to them but their expressions were shuttered and didn't offer her any of hope of help. Aside from Henry, the other Men Of Letters weren't interested in doing anything for Samuel or the Hunters.
"I can get the Archangel." Sam felt the heat of all their eyes on him.
"Ooh, now…you think this is going to get you 'in'? Oh, Sammy."
He tries his best to ignore Lucifer's laughter. But he's right about Sam and why he's offering to get the grace for them.
"Can you now?" Samantha glares at him. "What else can you get, Sam? How about the whole fucking story!"
"Samantha-."
"Quit defending him!" Samantha turns to Henry. He knows why she's lashing out at Sam and her guilt about losing Diana was used by Magnus against her. She's furious with all of them, Hunters and Men Of Letters, because of it.
"Hey!" Mary shoves to her feet, hands planted on the table and yells at her daughter. "Knock it off and shut up."
"Mom-."
"Enough." Mary snaps. "I've had enough from you, Samantha. I don't care about what he's hiding. Not right now." She glances at Sam but he doesn't say anything else. "I want my daughter," she turns her gaze on everyone at the table. "So lets work together." She stares right at Samuel when she says; "Anyone who can't… there's the door."
"Oh, snap!" Lucifer gleefully points to Samuel's face and the bulging vein they can all see popping on his bald head. "Sammy, Momma Winchester is soooo hot right now. I mean, really. She is the… wow."
The silence at the table is broken when Samuel shifts in his chair and turns to Henry. "Explain it again."
With a heavy sigh, Henry nods to Charlie and Ash. "Oh, okay, well…we did find a couple places the Tree of Life may be located."
"Or we could just ask a demon but hey," Ash smiles. "Whatever man."
"No." Sam is quick to jump in. "No demon deals, no crossroad deals, just… no." he shakes his head at the group and thankfully no one fights him on that.
"Anything else?" John ignores Samuel's glare. He doesn't care how angry his ex-Father-in-law gets. All John wants is his little girl, for a chance to tell her he's sorry not to have been around for her like he should've. Because he truly believes if he'd just taken the girls when he left Mary…
"We'll need something that's been to the place where Diana is…" Henry looks to Sam who nods.
"Whatever I can do…" he sighs because there's no way of staying here. Sam isn't going to get a clean slate and really, after everything he's seen here… "The door… it will stay open for 24hrs."
"All we know for sure is that it will open to Sam's side. No idea where or if Diana will be close enough to bring through before the 24hrs are up." Henry glances at Sam because the other concern is what other things could come through from Sam's side.
"You should close it." Sam tells them. "Don't wait the 24hrs. Just close the door."
"Yeah, we'll do that. Thanks." Samantha snaps at him. "I am not going to leave my sister on your side with whatever the hell has been hunting you and your brother."
"Then you don't want them coming to this side." Sam retorts.
"Could they?" Deanna turns to Henry.
"We've never opened a door like this, Deanna. We don't know what could come through; monsters or otherwise." Henry couldn't get more information from Magnus and they'd been …kicked out rather abruptly.
"Well," Ash leans back in his chair smiling at them. "We figure Sam can get through no problem since that's where he's from. Same goes for Diana…problem is, getting Diana to come through when we don't how far away she's going to be."
"What about our phones?" Samantha hasn't been able to get a location on Diana's from this side, but if she's on the other side with Sam then maybe she could.
"No." John is shaking his head because he knows what his daughter is thinking of doing.
"We can sink up on his side." Samantha protests. "I get Diana's location-call her! Tell her we've got a way home, she's going to come running-."
"You're not going!" John yells at her.
"Not-." Samantha huffs. "I'm not about to sit on this side, twiddling my thumbs, while he's on the other side reuniting with his brother." She slams both hands on the table and stands up. "Because that one, I can guarantee, will take the scenic route!" she shoves away from the table and stomps out of the war room with John yelling her name.
W
They're on the road with the gray light of dawn when Diana blinks then reaches a hand to her eyes-. "Fuck!" The blare of the horn broke Diana from her daze. In the passenger seat, Dean startled at the horn blasting and looks behind them. Bobby felt disoriented too and both get flung forward as Diana hits the brakes. The seat belt snaps Dean back into the passenger seat only for Bobby to smack into it.
"What the…hell?!" Dean sucks in a harsh breath, both hands rubbing at his chest where the seat belt dug into him. Behind him, Bobby lets out a few curses as he scoots back. "How'd we get here?" Dean frowns looking around and turning towards the back seat.
She remembers being in the clearing… "… what…?" she looks around trying to calm her breathing. "Where are we?" There's dirt and pebbles hitting her black Defender but that's not what's worrying her at the moment.
"When did we get on the road?" Bobby asks and looks around but its closer to dawn…
Diana frowns and Dean's staring at her like she maybe knows what happened to them-. "I don't even remember getting in the car!"
"Did he…?" Dean shakes his head because what he's thinking… "He… spelled us?"
"Is everyone ok?" Bobby grabs each one by their shoulder and looks at them.
"Yeah," Dean offers a shaky nod. "I think."
"What… what's the last thing you remember?" Diana turns in her seat to look at them. They all look at each other, thinking…
"I've got an idea." Bobby grumbles and he's got a red splotch on the side of his face from hitting the back of the passenger seat.
"The door…" Dean breathes out.
"Frank's coordinates." Bobby adds. "We drove there."
"Cuthbert…" Diana nods because that she kinda remembers. "That …son of a bitch!"
"He said No." Dean looks to Diana and she's glaring at the road.
"…No… he can't tell me 'No'…" Diana mutters under her breath as she steps on the gas and gets back on the road.
"Hey!" Dean exclaims. "You've got delicate cargo!" because Bobby gets tossed to the left and smacks into the window. Dean grabs the dash but he also hits the door and both men are cursing. "Where the hell are you going? Diana!"
"Back to the door!" she yells at Dean. "Son of a bitch said 'No' then wiped me! Me."
"You?" Dean glares. "What about me?" because it wasn't like she'd gone there on her own and then he looks behind them to Bobby. "Us! I mean us."
"You sure you're going the right way?" Bobby scowls from the back seat and then he curses again but this time he's got both hands on the back of the passenger seat when Diana hits the brakes and skids to a stop in the middle of the road.
"Damn!" Diana drags in a ragged breath. She looks around and Bobby's right, she's not sure which way to go, she's not even sure what road they're on. She makes a grab for the dash in front of Dean but he shoves her hand away. "Map! Get the map-."
"What for?" Dean scowls and he's not moving.
"What- you're the fucking navigator, Dean! So navigate us back to the gate!"
"Hey," Dean snaps and waves a finger in her face. "Don't be getting bitchy with me."
"Both of you!" Bobby yells from the back seat. "Knock it off!" he glares at Dean. "You two bicker worse than you and Sam ever did."
"Get the damn map!" With a frustrated yell she slams both hands on the steering wheel. "He can't just…I'm a Woman of Letters!"
"Yeah?" Dean scowls. "Just you, huh? He spelled us too, we were there!"
"This isn't about you!" Diana yells at him. "There's protocol, Dean. He can't just… I'm a Woman of Letters and he can't-."
"He did and he said no to helping you." Dean points out angrily.
He's got my way home, Dean!" she drags in a heavy breath and shakes her head. "No, no I'm not taking no for answer." She smacks Dean's hand off the gear shift and starts to drive only she still doesn't know which way to go. "Uncle Bobby-."
"What's the plan here?" Bobby cuts in. " The man said 'No' and put us all on the road."
"He's not about to change his mind." Dean adds. "Even if this time you aint asking him nice."
"Nice got me a 'No'." Diana glares at them both. "This time I'm kicking in his door and making him tell me what I need to know."
"Yeah, that's a smart idea." Dean grabs the keys and takes them out of her reach. "We don't even know how the hell he did this to us. Kicking in his door-."
"The keys!" Diana yanks off her seat belt and practically climbs on Dean to get them out of his fist. "Don't make me punch you!"
"Take a shot, Di!" Dean taunts and then tosses the keys back towards Bobby. "Hey!" he grabs Diana around the waist when she tries to go after her keys. "Knock it off!" he yells when she tries to jab her elbow at him.
"Both of you!" Bobby yells. "Acting like some damn kids!"
Diana huffs and blinks her eyes furiously because she doesn't want them to see her crying. "What the hell am I supposed to do now?"
W
"What if some of us…" Ash looks around the table of angry silence. "Go with? I'm dead on his side. So … shouldn't be a problem."
"Ooh!" Charlie exclaims. "Multiverse travel!"
"Eehh, are we sure it's a multiverse?" Ash isn't sure that he agrees with that considering the possibilities and that's a conversation they've never quite finished.
"Okay, so it could be an alternate universe." Charlie shrugs off the reminder. "This could be the proof! Imagine actually going-."
"No." Mark shakes his head. "Nope, Charlie-."
"But its totally safe!" Charlie protests.
"Bull shit!" Mark retorts. "You guys have been arguing this multiverse theory since we learned about Sam." He turns to Ash. "What was that Big Bang inflation thing you were saying?"
"Oh, uhm, well," Ash looks up in thought. "Its Vilenkin's theory, dude suggests the Big Bang led to rapid inflation but its not constant so its mostly stopped within our cosmological view but it might still be active in some areas far, far, far off in the universe that may still be expanding." He smiles at the silent table staring back at him.
"Which conflicts with string theory predictions that there isn't enough dark matter to drive universal inflation or that others will collapse under their own weight. Which is why there are some theorists saying we create daughter universes with each choice we make." She rolls her eyes because as she's argued before, that would also take some type of energy to create so then why wouldn't there be enough energy to create an alternate universe?
"Don't forget the Outer and Inner Universe theories-."
"No." Samuel cuts in with a fist against the table and glare leveled at the Man Of Letters chiming in with more scientific gibberish the rest of them can't even begin to understand. "We aren't here to discuss anything other than getting Diana home."
"Right," Henry sighs and frowns at Steven, the Man Of Letters set to the task of studying the rift and documenting everything. "We don't have all the ingredients… yet. Even so, there's no guarantee we'll have enough to try opening the door again. And Sam has a point… we don't know what can come through from his side if we leave the door open…"
"Then we have to go!" Charlie insists.
Chris laughs seeing the look on Mark's face and points. "Charlie, you can forget about that. Mark's not about to let you go universe hopping without him."
"And just because Mark's dead on that side," Gwen chimes in. "Doesn't mean you are. Laws of time travel-."
"Don't apply!" Charlie cuts in smirking. "We aren't going to time travel-."
"Eeh, I don't know about time travel but what if there's an adverse affect to there being two of you in the same verse?" Ash wonders.
"Well, then how does that apply to Samantha and…" Mary nods towards Sam. "They've been inhabiting the same space and time, even touched. So…?"
"Oh," Charlie sits up. "We have a theory about that-."
"Opposite sex." Ash cuts in wearing an amicable smile and then winks at Sam. "Genetically, they aren't an exact match."
Gwen chuckles. "So your boy bits are good for something, after all. Other than, of course."
Sam feels his face grow hot and they're all staring at him,.
"Wanna show her." Lucifer taunts in his ear. "I mean, she's… what, second cousin? Third?"
"Let's get these ingredients." Samuel orders. "Mark can go get the fruit-."
"We have a team." Steven cuts in. "They are specially trained Men Of Letters-."
"Then Mark wont have to babysit any of them." Samuel levels his glare on the other Men Of Letters at the table. "Do I have to remind you how many Hunters have died on those 'errands' the Men Of Letters were' too busy' to handle?"
"Road trip." Charlie nervously says. "We should definitely pack light, and sunscreen. Lots of…" she trails off and smiles.
"Leave Samantha out of this." John orders, his eyes on Samuel. "I've already lost one daughter. I'm not about to lose our only child left-."
"MY." Mary cuts in. "She's my only child. You have a family to take care of, John. So do that. Go take of your family and leave us to handle Hunter business."
"Enough with both of you!" Deanna glares at them both. "All your bickering isn't helping us get Diana home." She turns to John and draws a calming breath. "You've been very clear about this… life we lead. Its not one that you want and you've made your choice, John. So have our girls. … Diana chose to be a Woman of Letters and a Hunter. Whatever her reasons, this is the life she wants… and you've pushed her away. You still have Samantha…and you'll lose her too in you persists."
John angrily gets up from his seat and stomps out of the war room, exactly like Samantha had done just a few minutes before.
Sam sat there listening to the others figure out the next steps. He couldn't let John go without talking to him… " Excuse me." He said quietly and got up.
He'd left so many things unsaid with his Father… their last actual conversation had been in anger and they'd never had the chance to clear the air. Sam couldn't help feeling like this was his opportunity to try and get some closure.
"Hey," Sam called as he hurried down the front steps. He'd almost added 'Dad' and knowing that he couldn't say that to this John hurt more than he'd thought.
John paused mid step and seeing Sam hurrying towards him almost started walking again.
"Hey, uhm…" Sam dragged in a breath and stopped in front of John. "…Adam…" he saw the hard look come over John's face and knew it had been the wrong thing to say. Sam didn't know why he'd even mentioned their brother…
"Liar, liar… Sammy."
Sam closed his eyes and made fists of his hands but he still couldn't completely banish Lucifer. Still, he drew a breath and looked at John.
"What about my son?" John demanded.
There was exclusion in that tone and Sam felt it again. Same as when he'd try and talk to his Dad about doing something normal, something that had nothing to do with the supernatural.
"You-." Sam bit his lip. This wasn't his Dad. "My Dad, he never told us we had a brother. He never told us about Adam." He looks around the camp for a moment before turning back to John. "Adam… he didn't know about any of this."
"At least that other me did something right." John scowls. He swipes a hand through his hair and looks at Sam.
"Adam died." Sam snaps. "He didn't know how to protect himself. My Dad didn't prepare him for this, for the things that want us dead."
"He was Hunting-."
"No." Sam cuts in, shaking his head. "No, Adam didn't Hunt. The supernatural hunted him. Because of us, because of Dad. Because we're the Hunters…" Sam sucks in a heavy breath. "We are Hunters. Its in our blood. Its who we are. We're Men Of Letters, legacies… you can't just cut that part out of us. Because… you do that…. And we are just as dead."
"My girls…" John shakes his head.
"Are Women of Letters." Sam reminds him. "They're Hunters and they know how to protect themselves. That's why Diana will survive on my side. Its one reason I know my brother will be ok. He has a more than capable Hunter at his side to help with th-."
John glares. "I want to know what you're hiding!" he takes a step closer and grabs Sam shirt. "You owe us that!"
Sam had almost let slip about the Leviathans. He'd clamped his mouth shut too late but this… "Owe you?" Sam grabbed John's wrist and glared. "I'm not your son. Remember?" he pulled off John's hand and stepped away.
"Oh Sammy." Lucifer laughs. "Is Sammy gonna cry now? Ohh, boo hoo." he skips around the pair but Sam walks off and Lucifer skips after him. "Sammy, you butt-hurt cus your other verse Papí refuses to acknowledge you?"
W
Dean's sitting on the bed in his new room. He's finally put all his things where he wants them and now there's nothing else to do. They struck out with the Man Of Letters and the Leviathans are making his life way too public. Worse still, is Baby has been confined to the Bunker's garage where they still have Frank in his RV.
"Hey…" Diana gives the door a light knock and pushes it the rest of the way open. She's calmed down now…embarrassed about her meltdown. She's apologized to Bobby for threatening to hurt his balls when he still refused to give back the keys.
Diana had been hoping, more than she'd wanted to admit, that Cuthbert would get her back to her family, back to Sammy and her verse… but he didn't and they couldn't get back to the clearing either.
The drive back had been…uncomfortable and she hadn't like Dean being in the driver seat of her Defender. She still owed him an apology for hitting him and then… well, Dean will probably annoy her before she's done apologizing. "Settling in?"
Dean just nods. "Yeah," he looks around his room again and feels…weird.
"Yo," Diana sits on the other end of the bed facing him. "You've got a weird expression." She wiggles her finger in the direction of his face. "Sort of… sad? No, more like…. melancholy. Huh." That's not exactly what she'd expect of him. But it was sort of how she was feeling too.
Dean nods again. "Yeah, guess I'm…" he sighs and lays back on the bed to stare at the ceiling. "I'd never have found this place…"
"Well," Diana sighs and looks around his room and finds it kinda sparse. "I'm not gonna lie, the fact this side has pretty much killed off all our loved ones…sucks." She sighs heavily and then turns to look at him. "For both of us."
"Nope," Dean shakes his head. "You're going home, Diana. Back to everyone we love…"
Diana utters a soft chuckle and stretches out on her side beside Dean. "You forget Magnus said 'No'…?"
Dean smiles. "Oh, I was there…" he sighs again and they're quiet for a while. He starts to think about that time he'd almost had that apple pie life and giving it up… "Dad…you said he's got normal?"
"Uh huh," Diana nods. "New wife- nurse, and their kid. Adam… already told you about that."
"Yeah…" Dean breathes out heavily and he's wondering why his version of John couldn't do that too? "Baby… she's been mine for as long as I can remember. She's been home…our bed, our play room…"
"Dad…" Diana shakes her head frowning. "I can't believe he'd do that to you guys. That's van life to the extreme."
"We settled down in places." Dean lightly protests. "Plenty of fresh starts, first day of school…and a whole lot of time by ourselves to get in trouble."
That perks Diana up and she pushes up on her arm to look down on Dean. "I hear some story telling coming on…"
"…I was 16. Got in some trouble… stealing." Dean casts a look towards her but she's not jumping in with any jokes or trying to scold him. "Spent two months in a boys home…" and that's more than he'd ever told anyone. Even Sammy doesn't know, maybe he doesn't remember…
"Where was Dad?" Diana is hoping there's a good reason John had allowed that to happen.
"Dad…" Dean drags in a heavy breath. "…Dad left me there."
"That…" Diana huffs an angry breath but stays quiet. She wants to say John is a jerk in both versions but then, she doesn't know the whole story. But the expression on Dean's face tells her enough because there's hurt in those green eyes…
"I gave the cop a black eye." Dean says and they both chuckle at that.
"Of course you did." Diana lays down again and stretches a hand to place on Dean's shoulder. "What a bad ass."
Dean chuckles. "That's me…" he quiets down and tells her; "…got some good grades…joined the wrestling team…kinda learned to play the guitar."
"Oh that was totally for a girl." Diana gives him a little shove, smiling.
"Hey, what can I say?" Dean just shrugs, smiling too. "That place…those two months, Di… it's the first time I really wanted to stay."
"Could you have?"
Dean's answer is a heavy sigh and a hand wiping over his face. "No."
"Because…" Diana drags in a breath and knows as soon as she says it that she's right about Dean. "…you couldn't leave Sam…"
"Gotta take care of Sammy." Dean repeats the order he's tried his whole life to follow. Every breath, all his choices, anything that's really mattered in their lives… Dean's always choosing to protect Sam.
"But there's no Sam to take care of now, Dean." Diana points out. "He's on my side. With Mom and Dad and the rest of the Campbell's and the Men Of Letters. With Pop… and maybe its gonna take a while for Sam to be accepted- well, grandpa Samuel wont be easy but Pop is definitely gonna take in Sam. You don't have to worry about him, Dean."
Dean turns his head to look at Diana. "Then what am I supposed to do?"
That's the question he doesn't have an answer for. He's not sure what to do if its not about taking care of Sam. That's all he's ever done so…now, what?
Diana sighs and slips her hand to cover his cheek. "I think you're forgetting about the Leviathans making you a very public enemy, bro."
Dean sort of chuckles. "Oh, yeah, almost forgot about those ass-hats."
"That's okay." Diana assures. "You got me to remind you. So lets hunt us some shark faced monsters. Hmm?"
"Oh," Dean sighs. "Maybe, just wait 'till morning, Di?"
"Yep," she pats his cheek and lays on her back. "We should get some rest before taking on Leviathans… and we are so calling blue eyes for back up."
"Damn it, Diana." Dean scowls but she's laughing so he just lets it go.
W