So here is finally is, the last chapter of this story. I may write an epilogue if you guys feel that it needs one or you would like to read one. I hope that you have enjoyed it. Thank you for sticking with me all the way though. It means so much to me to have people read my work.
This story is the prequel to "I Chose Family," so if you want to know what happens, (and you haven't read it yet since I posted that one first) you can read it there.
Thanks for everything! I hope you like it!
Jem.
Samantha stood in the doorway of the motel washroom. Unsure of whether to move forward towards the awful sight or to retreat into the safe confines of the bathroom. Unable to decide she remained frozen in place, her gaze never wavering from what was left of her family.
There sprawled on the two motel beds were the bodies of her uncle and her father.
Her eyes were dry now, she had cried out all her tears on the damp gravel clutching their bodies.
Castiel had found her there curled into her father's side. Despite his own grief and his guilt at not being able to reach them in time, the usually reserved being pulled the shell of a girl into his arms. Instinctively she leaned into his warmth and they remained there for what seemed like hours.
He had not said a word once Samantha had pulled away from his comfort, simply used his angel powers to transport them to the motel room. It was only then that he told her that he did not have the means to lay siege to hell to bring their souls back.
Samantha gave no sign of understanding, she had simply moved to get the first aid kit and had begun to painstakingly put her family back together. She cleaned and bound all of their wounds with such gentleness that it was uncertain if she understood that they could not feel anything.
After a few moments of observing in silence Castiel left her to her pointless task with the unfeeling instruction to contact him when she was ready to burn what was left of her loved ones.
All this Samantha had accomplished without tears, her face a blank mask that did not betray the devastation that lay beneath. Now that she had taken care of the cuts and gashes, she had no idea were she was to go from here.
Ever so slowly, she moved forward into the room. Grabbing a nearby chair she moved to sit at the foot of the bed between the two figures.
Her eyes travelled over the faces of one then the other, landing on the familiar jaw line of her father. With her face still devoid of emotion, she studied the features she knew so well.
"I remember Dad, the first time you told me about uncle Sammy." She began to speak, her voice raw and soft at the same time. "I was quite little and I guess I had been driving you crazy all day with questions. That night you brought me out to the impala, bundled me up and told me of the last time you saw your brother."
She absently ran a hand through her hair. "I remember being shocked and amazed that Sam had given up his own life for yours, but you never batted an eye. You just said that that was the kind of person Sam was."
She leaned forward shifting her gaze to her uncle's still form. "You see Sam, from that day you were my hero. The person who had single handedly saved the world and my father's life. I always told myself that if I had the chance, I hoped that I would make the same decision as you. I would find the strength, I would chose love. I would chose family."
Samantha pulled back tilting her head to the ceiling so that the freshly falling tears tracked down her face. She breathed in deeply, before she continued bitterness filling each syllable. "Still I guess it really didn't work out for you did it Sam? Look where this path has taken us. It would have been better if you had come back to Dad way back when he was with Lisa." Samantha shook her head in an attempt to clear away the anger that was slowly rising. She wasn't angry at them, not really. All she wanted more then anything was to have them back with her right now.
"Still I worshipped you," she continued with a sad smile. "I planned how I would one day be good enough to earn your name. Big plans. Wishful thinking really. The one time I am able to save my family and I fail. I lay there and watched you die, completely helpless and useless."
A cold laugh bubbled up to the surface. "Are you proud of me now Dad?"
She waited, silence breathing down on her, making the lack of answer choke the air from her lungs. Rubbing a hand over her face, Samantha shifted her weight onto her knees still staring at her family.
"Cas wants me to burn you now. To make sure that you won't get stuck here, but how can I do that? How can I make this so final, to give up on you in every way?" A sob broke the last words and she covered her face as another swell of pain rose up.
"How can I?" she mumbled through her fingers. "Dad... what should I do?" She stood up and moved to her father's side, trying to seek some guidance. She continued in a whisper. "Dad please, what am I supposed to do?"
Suddenly she sprang back, threw her head back to the sky and released a howl of pain. "What am I supposed to do?"
The next moment she was moving around the room, throwing items into her duffel, all the while scream for Castiel to get his feathery ass down there.
"What is it Samantha?" came a tired voice behind her.
Samantha did not stop moving but this time she addressed the angel. "I need you to bring me back in time to before I was born."
For the first time since Samantha had been acquainted with the heavenly being, he looked dumbfounded. "If this is one of your jokes, I do not understand it."
"It's not a joke Cas. I'm going to save my families lives. The best way for them to be protected from that bitch Monika, is for Sam to tell my dad that he was alive right from the start." She turned to Cas with a bright smile. "So I'm going to make him."
"You want to change the past to save your family?" Cas asked with an air of caution. "But you could change the future drastically, who knows what consequences would be in store?" The angel seemed to be becoming more and more agitated with ever word. "You could change everything you have ever known. You could erase your own existence. Is that something that you are willing to risk."
Samantha's green eyes locked with his blue ones, not one trace of fear or regret could be found there. "For them," Samantha's gestured to the two unmoving figures, a smile growing on her face. "For them, I would."
She stood tall with confidence and determination. Staring down at doom with a cocky smile, every bit a Winchester as her family members had been before her.
A brief moment past where Samantha could have sworn that Castiel looked impressed, then his usual pensive expression returned. "If I do this for you, you will only have one chance to change what happened. I will not have the energy to bring you back again." He waited for her nod of consent before continuing. "Also because Monika has the Cup of Time, she will be able to sense when you have moved through time and may follow you, so be careful."
Castiel cocked his head at her, studying her determined stance. "I hope that you come out of this on top Samantha, but if you do not, do you wish me to wipe the minds of everyone you meet of your existence?"
Samantha's eyes flicked to her father, a dull ache rising in her chest that the thought of him never remember the life that they had lived together. Yet even this pain seem preferable to facing the rest of her life without the only people she loved gone.
With a glimpse of a smile Samantha nodded and Cas stepped forward. "I will bring to back to the night that Sam decided not to tell Dean of his return." With that he pressed his fingers to her forehead.
Within two heart beats the world melted away and her entire life moved by her. Emotions and images pushed through her very soul, pulling her back until they reformed into a unfamiliar street. Samantha stood at the edge of a house completely covered in shadows.
There across the front lawn stood Sam under a busted street lamp. A wave of relief crashed over her and she resisted the urge to race over to him. He has no idea who you are, she reminded herself harshly.
She couldn't see his face, but she could see that he was staring quite intently through a large window. He remained there unmoving until his shoulders drooped in defeat and he made his way silently down the street. Sam's tall frame curled in on itself, his hand shoved into his pocket, he suddenly looked quite young to Samantha. A surge of protectiveness coursed through her, as she remembered the longing that she had seen on his face in her time. She would save him this time, not only his life but from the loneliness as well.
As the figure of her uncle receded into the black, Samantha stepped under the street light and looked at what had been the object of Sam's gaze.
There was her father sitting a dinner table with two unknown people. Samantha could only assume that they were the Lisa and Ben that she had heard her father speak about. Though he was younger, he seemed tired and as if the years had weighed heavily upon him, but he was alive. That fact was all Samantha could hold onto in this moment, my family is alive!
A part of her heart that had died on the cold gravel to the howl of the hounds began to beat again at the sight of her father. Slowly all doubt or fear that she had been squashing down since the moment that she had made the drastic decision to change her family's future fled away, leaving in it's place determination and a warmth.
In this world, it is the smallest actions that can sometimes make the greatest difference. Whether this fact is known or not, each choice can effect were life leads. Samantha closed her eyes, her father's voice filled her head. It was not soft like a memory but strong as if he was right beside her, his hand placed comfortingly on her shoulder. Life will throw choices at you. We Winchesters chose family.
Samantha stood tall then, lifted her head as a contented smile spread across her face. She had made her choice. Whatever it took, whatever the price she would succeed. For them, she would.
The End