Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural.
Author's Note: This is part four of series Skies on Fire.
"Uriel!" Jessica gawked at her brother. She wondered if he was high. "What makes you think that dick would help us?"
John admitted Uriel was a long shot, considering their family history, but he was also their only option. "He'd do anything to save Mary," John said. He sincerely hoped that was true. As far as he knew, their side valued Mary over any other soldier. Hopefully that meant they were willing to work with John and Jessica.
"Fine," Jessica huffed. She fell back into the arm chair. "How do we contact him?"
Her brother sighed. That was tricky. When they were younger, all they had to do was call for Castiel or Anna. Uriel, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with them and never answered when summoned. "Doesn't mean he never heard us..." John mumbled. He turned to his sister. "If we call him, he should hear us. We just have to explain the situation and hope he'll respond."
"And if that doesn't work? He's never come before, how do you even know he can hear us?"
John shrugged. He was going on faith at this point. He glanced at the ceiling of his parents' old house and silently prayed this would work. "Uriel! Uriel, I hope you can hear me, it's John Winchester! We need your help! Mary's in trouble!"
He paused and waited. The clock on the mantle ticked away the minutes. John glanced at Jessica and bit his lip. He was beginning to have doubts about his plan.
"What kind of trouble?" a deep voice rumbled from the doorway.
John and Jessica turned to find Uriel, decked out in suit and tie, standing rigidly in the doorjamb between the study and the den. John was uneasy in the angel's presence. Maybe it had something to do with his demon half, or maybe it was all the stories his dad and uncle had told him about Uriel. He knew his uncle especially disliked "the specialist."
Jessica crossed her arms. Just looking at the angel made her blood boil. All those times when her parents had needed divine intervention and he'd never bothered to give a damn, just because Dad was tainted with demon blood and Mom actually was a demon. She narrowed her eyes at the bastard.
Uriel cocked his head at the blond girl standing before him but said nothing. She was not his concern. "Is this about Mary going to the past?"
John nodded. "Sort of. Jessica had a vision of something horrible happening to Mary while she's in the past. We need you to send us back there so we can protect her."
The angel was silent. He closed his eyes and tensed his body. John assumed he was communing with the others. Moments later, Uriel looked hard at John. "Castiel is with her. He can protect her."
"Castiel is dead!" Jessica spat. "How the hell can a dead angel protect our cousin?"
"Castiel was dead," Uriel corrected. John and Jessica exchanged a glance. Sensing their confusion, Uriel sighed and explained. "He was resurrected and sent to Mary. His death took a greater toll on her than was anticipated. She was unwilling to continue the fight without her lover by her side."
Jessica just shook her head. The whole thing was whack. "Even if you sent him back, John and I are the only ones who know what's going to happen. We have to go back and at least warn Mary."
Uriel was silent again and visibly frustrated while he communed. Finally, he looked at the two kids and they realized he'd relented. "It is agreed. You will be sent back to save Mary and change the future." He eyed them suspicously. "We must win."
Jessica snorted in disbelief. "I can't freaking believe this. How can you not trust us? How can you think we like the world the way it is?"
"It is in your nature," Uriel said simply. He looked from one sibling to the other and his expression changed into a smirk. "You think you can fight what you are. You are nothing but demons. You may look human, you may act with good intentions, but you cannot deny what you truly are. One day, you will embrace your true selves and we will be there to stop you."
John could have punched the bastard. "How dare you?" he spoke through gritted teeth. "We didn't choose this. We were born like this and we've lived every damn day of our lives with that hanging over our heads! Do you think we don't know what we're capable of? Do you think we don't walk around this Hell with urges to destroy and kill and maim? It takes everything we have to surpress our demon halves but we do surpress it. That makes us different from the demons."
The boy and the angel locked eyes for what seemed like eternity. Uriel broke his stare first. He glanced at Jessica. "If you can keep your premonition from coming to pass, we may rethink our position on half-breeds."
Jessica nodded, more to appease him and speed things along than agree to the terms and conditions of the contract. Every moment they wasted in the future Mary was coming closer to her death in the past.
Somersaulting out of the way of a vengeful spirit, Mary couldn't help but grin. She loved hunting, proper hunting, not the gut-wrenching battles between Heaven and Hell that dominated her life. This was cut and dry: shotgun full of rock salt, some kerosene, and a cemetery. This was a hunt.
She sensed more than heard the spirit approaching from behind and swung the twelve-gauge level with its abdomen. It screeched as it came into contact with the rock salt and dissipated.
"Nice shot," Dean complimented. Mary beamed and tossed a match into the freshly dug grave.
This was their first hunt as father and daughter and it had gone off rather well. Sam had been pretty persistent about coming along but Dean refused his little brother's assistance. He wanted to spend time with Mary and try to figure out their relationship. Luckily, Ruby was able to convince Sam to stay behind with her at the motel room. Yeah, luckily was the word Dean was looking for.
Getting Mary away from Castiel had been more difficult. She positively refused to let him out of her sight and rarely out of her grasp. The first night Castiel returned, he and Mary disappeared somewhere, though Dean had a sinking suspicion it was to a motel room a few doors down from the one he shared with his brother. The good thing about Castiel was that he was so busy dealing with the seals it didn't take long for him to find an excuse to leave Mary alone with her father.
Mary smirked. Dean was easy to read. His set jaw and slight tick of his eyes was stereotypical of fathers with pretty teenage daughters. Not that he has any reason to worry about me, Mary thought, I'm dating an angel for crying out loud, that's pretty hard to top. She found herself reminiscing on her first night with Castiel since his resurrection. He burned in her hands, feverish and impatient. His roughness, bordering on abuse, had frightened her at first. She fearfully shrank back towards the headboard. "I'm sorry," he whispered. He shook and collapsed on all fours. Mary slowly made her way towards the terrified being and lifted his chin. His eyes betrayed his fear- fear of losing her, fear of leaving her. He was so scared for her that he had lost himself in his emotions and, unable to properly express his emotions, had channeled his fear into his treatment of her. She lightly kissed his temple and pulled him on top of her, running a pale hand down his thigh. He cried on her breast until his fear was washed away. They refused to separate for the rest of the night.
The ride back to the hotel began uneventfully, until Dean blasted AC/DC from the Impala's speakers and caught Mary singing along. She laughed at the grin on his face. "You only have yourself to blame," she said.
"Apparently I raised you right." He smiled at her then returned his attention to the road. He felt like he was making progress but in what direction he couldn't be sure. They trusted each other, that much he knew to be true. He figured that was the most difficult hurdle and now that they'd jumped it, they could find common ground as... As what? Father and daughter? Dean didn't expect that to happen overnight. Mary knew a different version of him and he, well, he was just out of the fatherhood loop entirely.
"What are you thinking about?" Mary asked. Dean had a look of concentration on his face that Mary recognized instantly. He was worried about something, not life or death something, but something important nonetheless.
Dean eyed his daughter, unsure if he should broach the topic. Her intense green eyes looked at him expectantly and he suddenly realized she idolized him. She had the same expression Sam wore growing up. Dean knew he couldn't lie to her because in that instant he realized that she was his daughter, even if she was out of her time, and he loved her desperately. "It's just.." he began slowly, carefully choosing his words, "I know that you're my daughter and you know that I'm your father but at the same time, we aren't anything to each other."
Mary lowered her gaze but didn't say anything. Dean chewed his lip before continuing. "I want you to know, regardless of where our relationship stands at this very moment, that you are my daughter and I love you and I'm damn proud of you."
Tears welled up in Mary's eyes. She lunged across the car and hugged him. Dean was so surprised it took all his willpower to keep from swerving the car.
Neon lights blinked, crackling with energy. The night air was hot and suffocating and still. Then a ripple began, slow at first, then faster and faster across the motel parking lot. Two slight figures fell out of the darkness and onto the pavement and the air was still once more.
Jessica rolled onto her back. Her head throbbed something fierce and her palms felt raw. She could feel the abrasions when she rubbed her hands together. "That's gonna hurt in the morning," she muttered bitterly.
"I think it is morning," John mumbled. He pulled himself up from his stomach and looked around. "Where the hell are we?"
A car rumbled in the distance but Jessica could tell it was getting closer. She began to think lying in the middle of the road wasn't the best idea, so she crawled onto the sidewalk, followed closely by her younger brother. Jess leaned back into a wall and craned her neck to see where they were. A row of heavy wooden doors, each with a peeling number painted on the front and identical drapes in the windows, greeted her sight. Must be a hotel, she surmised.
The car they heard earlier pulled into the lot and parked several spots down from where Jessica and John were sitting in the shadows. They watched a man with short dark hair slip out of the driver's seat and adjust his leather jacket. He glanced at the girl jumping out of the passenger's seat, her boots hitting the ground with a dull thud.
"Oh my God," Jessica squealed, pointing at the man. "Is that Uncle Dean?"
John peered into the distance. "Well, that's definitely the Impala. And he looks like..." John gasped and vaulted up, pulling his sister with him. "It's Mary!"
Jessica whipped around her brother and squealed. "Mary!" She raced down the sidewalk. John stood dazed for a moment then quickly followed the very eager sixteen-year-old.
Mary clung to her father like her life depended on it, silent tears rolling down her pink cheeks. She'd lost him in the future and found him in the past. She was determined not to lose him again. If she could find a way to change her future and never face the pain of losing her parents, by God she would. For months after that night, she lived as though dead. She was a shell of the bright child she had been. Seven going on eight years later, she was no longer a shell and no longer a child. She was a warrior and a lover and finally, a daugher again.
"Alright, kiddo," Dean laughed. Mary got the hint and released him from her grasp. She wiped her face dry. "Sorry," she said. She smiled at him. "I guess I just got carried away."
Dean wasn't sure what she meant by that but decided to shrug it off. Mary was mum about his future, and her future by association, and he wouldn't force her to talk about a subject that was uncomfortable for her. "Don't worry about it," Dean assured her. "I'm your dad, you're allowed to hug me. Except in public. I do have a reputation, you know."
Mary just laughed. She remembered hearing all about Dean's "spare time" as Mom referred to it. Apparently he was quite the womanizer. But that was before he hooked up with Mary's mother. After that, he only had eyes for one woman, although Mary stole his heart. She always was a Daddy's girl.
They pulled into the motel parking lot, Dean jumping out of the car before the engine even died. Mary sat a moment longer, studying her father. He wasn't very physically different from the last time she'd seen him eight years ago. A few pounds lighter and clean shaven, but he was still Dean Winchester. And he was still fiercely overprotective of her and Sam.
Mary groaned inwardly as she stepped out of the Impala. She knew she hadn't landed properly after that stupid somersault. She thought she might have bruised a bone. Shutting the car door, she winced as she threw out her arm. "Ya'll better have good painkillers in this decade."
A high pitched voice caught Mary's attention. She paused by the car. She recognized the voice but didn't think it possible. Perhaps her mind was playing tricks on her. She missed her cousins so much maybe her subconscious had finally snapped. That was it, she must be hearing voices.
Then she heard the heavy footsteps of someone running and pivoted. "Jessica?" she asked breathlessly. It couldn't be, no it was impossible. Jessica couldn't be here, she was in the future with her brother. And there, running mere feet behind his sister, was John.
Mary stood frozen in astonishment before her brain caught up with the unfolding scene. She shrieked in delight and threw her arms around her female cousin. Once John finally caught up, Mary pulled him into the hug, too. "What the hell are you two doing here?" Mary asked into their hair.
They separated but continued to hold hands. "We had to come help you," Jessica explained. Her face was shining. Mary knew her's was, too.
"Mary." Dean strode up behind his daughter. "These friends of yours?"
Jessica had to stifle a giggle. John was surprised Dean didn't notice the family resemblance. Mary shook her head and laughed. "Just get Sam and Ruby out here. They'll want to hear this."
Dean was curious but did as he was told. Sam and Ruby stepped out onto the sidewalk looking very perplexed. John and Jessica's eyes went wide and they squeezed each other's hand. Mary couldn't contain herself as she introduced them. "These are my cousins, Jessica and John."
Sam's jaw hit the floor. He was looking at his kids, his future, grown-up kids. He looked them up and down, satisfying himself that this wasn't a trick. It couldn't be. John was the spitting image of his father, and Jessica looked just like her grandmother, blond hair and all. But there was something about the both of them that Sam couldn't put his finger on. They were Winchesters, that was for damn sure, just the way they carried themselves and their cheeky grins was enough to assure him of that fact. It was the expression in their eyes that made Sam pause. He had a very worried feeling that their eyes would turn pitch black at any moment and that such an event would be a commonplace occurence.
John and Jessica spoke in unison. "Hi Uncle Dean... Dad... Mom."