Warnings: Complete AU

Pairing: Deanna/Caleb

9 - Welcome to the family

John Winchester stepped over the threshold with its kiddie corral and had himself a look around the house while he could. The little gates were in nearly every doorway, toys strewn everywhere. He found a wall covered in pictures of this house's family. A tall man with blue eyes and no hair stepped into the hallway and froze. "Can I help you?"

John turned and looked him over. "Sam?"

"No, he's um… already headed back to school. We won't see him until Thanksgiving." He wiped his hand on his shirt and held it out. "Caleb Bailey."

John took it but didn't give his name. "Good to meet you. I'm told Deanna Winchester also lives here."

"Yeah. My wife, Deanna Bailey. You a friend of the family?"

"Yeah. You could say that."

"She's off at the store. She'll be back in a minute." Caleb picked up a few toys and gently placed them in a pen as not to make too much noise. "You want to wait?"

"Yeah. I would." He nodded and followed Caleb to the living room where there were even more toys to pick up. "You got kids?"

"Three." Caleb nodded. "Down for naps." He made a space for John to sit. "I didn't catch your name."

"I didn't give it. I'd really like to talk to Deanna first."

"Does she know you're here?"

"No."

Caleb motioned to the hallway. "I'm gonna get a beer. You want one?"

"No. Been sober 20 years." John fiddled with his watch. He had his chip strapped to the bottom of it. As a reminder. "I'll take a glass of water or tea if you got it."

"Sweet? Deanna makes the best."

"Sure." John looked around the cozy living room while he waited. Wedding pictures. Baby pictures. Sam graduating high school. He took his glass and sipped it slowly. It was a good strong and sweet tea. Caleb sat with his beer. "Early to be drinking?"

"It's my day off. I take a drink here and there. Kids are down and Deanna will be back soon." Caleb sipped his beer. "You know, if you gave me your name, I could call her and tell her you're here."

"I'll wait." John and Caleb sat with their drinks and waited. "How… um… how long you been married?"

"Seven years. Met Deanna when she came up to go to college. We hit it off right away." Caleb smiled to his beer, his finger spinning his wedding ring around his finger.

"I heard she went to college. Teacher?"

"Nurse. She's teaching cause… well… we're baking number four now." Proud smile on his face.

"Four kids in seven years." John raised his eyebrows.

"Four kids in five years." He corrected softly. "Deanna's ready to have me snipped."

"I had two myself. They'll eat you alive."

"That they will." Caleb smiled at his beer. The back door opened and shut softly. A humming came out as paper crinkled, cabinets opening and shutting. John got to his feet and ran a hand through his hair. Caleb stood and leaned around the corner. "Sweetie, you have company."

"What?" Deanna appeared a moment later. "Are the kids down?"

"Yeah." Caleb nodded and helped her over the gate.

Deanna looked at John and shook her head. "I'm sorry… do I know you?"

"You look beautiful." John couldn't stop the tears from flooding his eyes as he looked her over. Tall, blonde and green-eyed like her mother. Round around the middle with a baby. He sniffed and cleared his throat. "It's been a long time."

Deanna looked to Caleb who shrugged. She approached slowly. "I'm really sorry. Who are you?"

"John Winchester." He breathed in through his nose. "It's taken me a long time to find you, sweetie." She shook her head and her eyes flooded the same as his. "I know. I'm sorry." He pulled a picture out of his flannel pocket. It was the only one he had. The four of them before the fire.

"They said you… left us." She sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. She took the picture and sucked in a deep breath at the sight. "It's been 22 years, Dad. Where have you been?"

He sobbed. "I didn't leave you. You were taken from me cause I'm a sorry excuse for a human being." He sniffed. "I was drunk and I nearly killed you both trying to leave town with you. They took you away and then I lost you. I was supposed to clean up my act and by the time I finally did, I couldn't find any traces of you. I've been all over Kansas. By the time I'd gotten wind of where you'd been placed, you were gone to college and no one would tell me where."

"We needed you." She gripped her husband's hands but kept her eyes on her father. "We needed you."

"I know. I'm sorry." He loosened his watch and slipped the chip out. "I've been sober. All this time. Looking for you. Making sure I had a job so that I could get you back but no one would let me have you back."

"How'd you find me?" She asked softly.

"Would you believe I talked to a psychic?" John laughed and wiped at his eyes with the backs of his hands. "I went back to Lawrence and I talked to a psychic. She told me exactly where to find you. Said you were happy and healthy but she didn't say anything about the husband and kids. Said you were teaching."

"Yeah. Here and there. Between kids." She rubbed her belly. She looked to her husband. "Sweetie. Meet my father. John Winchester." She took a shaky breath. "Daddy, this is my loving husband, Caleb Bailey."

"It's good to meet you properly." Caleb shook his hand again. "Would you like to stay for dinner? It's gonna be a Biggerson's night, I think."

"No, sweetie. I don't want to go out." Deanna shook her head. "I don't know when Sam's getting back."

"I'll call it in and pick it up. I thought Sam had left." Caleb frowned at her.

"He missed his bus. He called me a little bit ago. He's trying to book a flight. I gave him the card number." Deanna looked to her father. "I don't know how he's going to react."

Caleb looked to John. "You like steak?"

"Yeah. Sounds good."

"Okay. It's settled. I'll call in our regular. Sam gets here when he gets here. Family reunion." Caleb left them alone while he called in the order.

"Tell me about your life." John watched her sit in Caleb's vacated space. He returned to his chair.

"It was hard, Dad. I didn't understand." She breathed in and out. She found a package of wipes and used them to clean herself up. "I was four." Her shoulders hunched. "I kind of remember the fire. And I kind of remember the crash. I stayed at Mike's for a long time. Then… I think she got sick, his wife, and they couldn't find you. Mike sent us to foster care. It was hard to stay together. They moved us around a lot. They kept trying to send Sam off by himself because he was still a baby. I didn't make things easy for myself. I stopped talking for a while and they… thought there was something wrong with me."

"I'm sorry." John repeated and lowered his eyes to his hands.

"Everywhere we went, I took care of Sam. I wouldn't let him out of my sight. I'd crawl into his crib at night. I'd scare the poor people taking care of us and then we'd go someplace else. When I started to calm down, Sam started to act up. So… they tried to separate us again. Sam ran away to find me. He was scary good at it. When I was 15, they said they had run out of placements unless we were going to cross state lines. The better families we'd been with had worse kid that needed more attention and there was a whole slew we refused to go back with. Because I was almost 16, they sat me down with a judge. We had a long conversation about what was best for us. They wanted to separate us again. I told that judge to go fuck himself."

John laughed. "Did you really?"

"I did. It was the first time I'd used that word and I told him so. I explained that my father had always said that family is stronger together. Maybe he'd given up on us but I hadn't. Sam was my responsibility and I was going to make sure he survived. The homes were awful half the time. The other half they were okay. Sam gets angry so fast and when we're apart, his temper just… It's better now that we're both out of the system. He's… he got in to Stanford, Dad. Stanford. He's going to law school."

"Look at that. I got a teacher and a lawyer." John let the tears slip down his face again.

"I'm going." Caleb cleared his throat. "I think I heard them stirring."

"Okay." She nodded. When he left, she turned her eyes back to her father. "I agreed to a home in Nebraska because the couple had the space for one but would take two if we shared a room. I promised that judge that Sam's temper would be… tempered and I would graduate without a record or a pregnancy. I graduated and um… I had to leave. They were nice folks, though. They let me come visit Sam. They helped me get into school in Lincoln. Their church found me a family to live with while I went to school. Got me a job. Then I met Caleb. This is his house. It was his parents' house. I never met them. They were gone when he was 17. We just… clicked."

"He seems like a nice man. How old is he?"

"He's 32. I know. He's older. A lot of the church ladies had concerns. He was good to me. Within a year we were married. We agreed that I would graduate nursing school before we had kids. I cut it close." She made a face. "We have three with one on the way." She smiled and touched her belly. "Mary is the oldest." She sniffed back the tears when his eyes filled again. "Then Penelope. Penny for short. John came next. Sam got mad at me for naming him after you."

"I don't deserve it." John wiped at his face. "But thank you. I'm glad you had… some faith in me."

"I don't know about that but I wanted to be able to tell them something about where I came from."

"Deanna! These fucking gates." Sam tripped into the house. "The card didn't go through!"

"Sam!" Deanna jumped to her feet and tried to dry her face before Sam saw.

"Oh. Hey. I didn't know you had company." Sam set his bag down. "Um… I got like two hours to make payment or they'll cancel my reservation."

"Yeah, yeah." Deanna nodded. "Sam, come in."

John looked his son over as he rose off the chair once again. He wrung his hands together as he had to look up a bit to meet his son's eye. They shook hands. "Hey Sam." Sam tilted his head at John then at his sister.

"It's Dad." Deanna said simply. "He found us." Sam stormed out of the house. Deanna breathed slowly. "Don't worry about that. It's what he does. It's better than when he starts throwing punches."

The next half hour turned into a whirlwind while Deanna had to get her kids washed for dinner, Caleb had to get dinner laid out. John picked up toys and put them in bins while he examined photos on walls. He poured juice into little cups with lids and prepared a bottle of milk for his namesake. Deanna introduced him as Grandpa to her children. Four year old Mary, two year old Penny, one year old John.

Caleb handed over the chicken shredding to Sam when the moody man returned. He didn't look at John but he did resume his duties as uncle and brother. They crammed around the table to eat. Caleb somehow managed to eat his steak while feeding Penny simultaneously. Deanna cleared her throat. "Dad. I told you about us. Tell us what happened?"

Sam made a face at Deanna but she waved a credit card at him and then shoved it inside her blouse. He sat back and picked at his dinner. John couldn't really blame him.

"I never intended to let things get so out of hand." John sipped his tea. "When your mother died… I didn't handle it so well. I was just over 30, I had two kids. Four years and a six month old. Your mom did all the heavy lifting. We were living in a motel. I was mooching babysitters so I could work. Drinking was easy to do. Everyone wanted to buy me a beer because I had gone through such an ordeal. I didn't realize how bad it'd gotten until Mike showed up at the motel and said maybe you kids should go live with him for a while. While I got myself together. I told him to stick where the sun don't shine. I packed up you kids and I wrapped the car around a fire hydrant on my way out of town. I woke up in the hospital with a busted leg. Then they told me that Deanna broken her arm and Sam had a concussion because I didn't strap the seat in right. I could have killed you." John looked right at Sam but Sam was staring at his mashed potatoes. "Instead of getting sober, I got drunker. Mike took you kids and I spiraled. He bought me out of the business. The insurance money came in. Mike told me to get lost. I wouldn't do you kids any good, the condition I was in.

"I rambled. Got myself beat up. Robbed, stabbed, and I came to in a soup kitchen. I'd found a way in overnight and vomited on the sack of potatoes for the next day's meal. They got me sober. They got me through the shakes. Then I realized that it'd been two years since your mother died. I got myself together and I went looking for you kids. Mike had had a heart attack after his wife died. He was living in Topeka with his sister. I tracked him there. He said you kids had been gone a year. I was close to picking up a drink but I swore I was going to get you back. I went to the courts. My police record did all the speaking for me. I wasn't sober long enough. So… they gave me a list of things I had to do."

"Like what?" Deanna kissed her son's head as she fed him his bottle after she'd cleaned the potatoes and macaroni off him.

"I had to get settled. I had to get a job. I had to get a place where I could raise two kids. I kept imagining you two. You would be six and Sam would be two. It wasn't too late to be a dad. I jumped through the hoops. I kept going to AA. I made sure my sponsor was made of the good stuff. I opened a checking. I paid my bills. I opened a savings. Two years before they would let me plead my case again. They all agreed I was doing better. I still had anger issues. I had to go to anger management. It was another year before I could go back. I had my five year chip and I was working full time. I had a house I was renting. Empty rooms all made up for my kids. You were 11 and you were seven. I was missing all the stuff that I shouldn't miss. That's when they told me they couldn't find you. You were lost in the system but given my record, they wouldn't tear you away from any steady housing you had.

"I moved to… Kansas City. I hired a lawyer. I refused to touch the savings. That was for you guys. I didn't have a lot of money. That first lawyer took what money I had and ran. The second lawyer talked a good game but my record scared him off. Then it boiled down to the fact I was a single father with a history of alcoholism and violence and even if I had a job, which I did, it didn't afford me much time with my kids and that wasn't a good environment for children. Finally, I found a lawyer who was appalled at all the reasons my case had been turned back. She got on the wire to all those people she knew. She tracked you kids down. I wasn't allowed to visit or write or call. Nothing. We were getting close. Then she said you'd been moved again. She was working on finding out where. When she tracked you down, you weren't there. It kept happening. I was losing hope. I was at AA meetings twice a day. I was in danger of losing my job. My house."

Sam looked to his sister. He didn't say anything but it was the most he'd given anyone all evening. John took a breath and a sip of his tea. "It must have been '95 when they told me that the two of you were gone. Nowhere in the state of Kansas. When she looked deeper into the case, it seemed that all the trouble I'd been having was due to a filing error that must have happened sometime in '83. Somewhere someone had put a document in your files that stated my parental rights had been terminated. Thing was… the document was there but it had never been officially signed and filed. It was a draft. Correcting it would take more time and money than I had. She told me she'd keep working on it but without officially overturning a document that was never officially put into place… and no one could find you."

"Then what happened?" Caleb urged and sipped his beer.

"I put my nose to the grindstone. I got a smaller place. I socked every cent I had into my savings. I needed to hire a big shot lawyer to get it done and I was running out of time because… you kids were already teenagers. When Deanna turned 18, I figured I could find her. I spent weekends driving all over the state. I interviewed foster families… with their agent people. I did everything right. I couldn't find you. I gave up for a little while. I kept thinking… Okay, I just need to find Sam and Sam will know where Deanna is. Or I'll find Deanna and she'll know where Sam is. I called high schools to get copies of diplomas. No one had a record of Deanna Winchester graduating. So I gave up."

"Why?" Deanna asked softly.

"That lawyer drilled me with statistics every time I walked in. Kids in foster care get police records. They're sealed usually once they turn 18. There's higher chances of teenage pregnancy and dropping out of school. Sometimes they just run away." John ate a bit just to have something to do with his mouth. "When Sam turned 18, I got into it all over again. AA three times a day. Working part time here and there. Spending all my time looking for a clue. Kept thinking I'd just have to find the right high school."

"But we'd been in Nebraska since '94." Sam spoke softly.

"Yeah. That's what I found out last year. Thing was… The lawyer cut me loose after you turned 18, Sam. She couldn't help anymore. It was too much. I gave up again. Then she calls me a year ago. I'd spent so much time looking under every rock and crevice in Kansas and you weren't even in Kansas. She'd had dinner with a judge who listened to the tale and remembered a boy and girl transferring state systems just to have a chance at a normal life." John drew in a deep shuddering breath. "I… they told me not to get my hopes up. It might not be you guys. The records they had uncovered had been full of violence and learning disorders and those didn't bode well for successful lives."

"So… when did you see the psychic?" Deanna pressed.

"Well. I had to start over. Kind of. I needed as much information as I could get. Went to Lawrence to get copies of birth certificates and doctors records. I saw this ad. I was a hair from taking a drink and I thought… better the money goes to a person trying to make a living than losing my sobriety. I didn't believe anything until I sat down and she stared me. Said I was long overdue. Said she had a lot to tell me but the most important thing I could do was get to Nebraska." John shook his head. "I hadn't even said hello yet. I pressed for details. She said that there was a teacher who looked just like my dead wife. She gave me the exact address. Even warned that the door would be open and not to trip over the gate."

"When was that?" Deanna pressed.

"Six months ago. I… didn't want to believe it and it not be true. It took a lot of nerve to get here. I shouldn't have wasted any time. I should have come straight here." He took a deep breath. "And look. She was right. I've got a teacher for a daughter. Gonna have a lawyer for son. I've got grandkids and a son-in-law." He fiddled with his fork. "I've been talking to my group in town. Separate from my AA. They agree that… um… I shouldn't just assume to walk in and be your dad. I should give you all your space… but I'm moving to Lincoln. That's my choice. I have um… savings that I want to give the two of you. I've been saving a long time and I wanted it to be your college fund but… that's if you even want it. I'm sure you have student loans and the like… and it's yours. You're both welcome to it."

"Dad." Deanna reached over and touched his hand. "We got time for all this. We do."

"I don't." Sam spoke up. "I, for one, could use some cash today. I got an interview on Monday. Law firm internship."

"Right." Deana pulled her credit card out of her blouse. She almost handed it to Sam but paused when she met his eye. They had some sort of silent argument that had Sam's face turning red.

"I got it." John stood. "I don't do credit cards but I got cash."

"Sam." Deanna gnashed her teeth at her brother when he leapt up to take the hand out.

"What? I'm not even sure what to do with a father I don't even remember. All I got is a scar on my head from a car wreck I was too little to remember." Sam took the money John handed over. Then he and Deana left the room arguing.

Caleb raised his beer to John. "Welcome to the family. Murder and mayhem every Friday night. Cheers."