Part Three
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Now our luck may have died and our love may be cold
But with you forever I'll stay
We're goin' out where the sand's turnin' to gold…
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Dean is fifty-two, the same age that John Winchester was when he died, and Sam is technically forty-eight. They've tried a whole new round of spells and talismans and one episode of black magic which has them both sworn off magic forever. Nothing works. Sam looks twenty-three, the same as he did when John Winchester died, and for the first time Dean watches his brother and realizes he's gotten the wish he made back after Cold Oak; short of a hunt gone wrong, he'll never have to live without Sammy. Never.
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Dean is fifty-seven when they meet Lucy Willacy, who is thirty-three and calls Sam 'young man' when they show up at the church where her mother is being buried. They always figured Dean had an actual kid out there somewhere; Lucy tells Dean straight-up that her mom decided not to tell him she'd gotten pregnant from their week-long fling back in '02 because Dean was a great lay, but terrible father material. Lucy's a grown up, married with a baby on the way and a good job as a court stenographer and frankly, she doesn't need or want a dad. O'Connell, the Roth boys, Jon or Sondra are more Dean's kids than Lucy, but on the day her son is born, a savings account labeled 'College Fund' opens with a hundred bucks in it, and every month, another hundred is deposited for him. Many years later, Henry Willacy will graduate from UVA with a degree in mechanical engineering and a penchant for classic cars.
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Dean is sixty and Sam fifty-six when they get a package at their Jamestown, North Dakota P.O. Box from one FBI Special Agent Barr. Inside are their official criminal files, documents proving credit fraud and grave robbing, and a printout indicating that the computer files on them have been removed from the central database. At the bottom of the stack of paper is a piece of construction paper covered in crayon scribbles, a crooked signature of 'AMANDA' in pencil. On the back, in clearer handwriting, is 'Without you two, I never would've grown up to have my daughter. I needed to say thank you. Enjoy the freedom, and don't get caught, okay? -Lucas'.
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Dean is sixty-three when his kidneys begin to fail. Sam gives him one of his own, but the transplant- for what appears to be completely medical reasons – doesn't take, and rejection leaves Dean weak and on dialysis. The nurses call Sam an 'old soul' as he sits by his brother's bedside and makes jokes about things he looks too young to remember. Lucy comes to visit, but she's not nearly a close enough match to donate, even if she was willing, and she's awkward around the father she won't ever know. Jo Harvelle, surprisingly, is the one who appears- her own kids, college-aged twins Ash and Caleb, in tow – and offers the cabin Ellen built on the old Roadhouse lot years ago, now sitting unoccupied. It's the first home they've had in decades, and the first thing they unpack is the picture of John and Mary smiling for the camera.
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Dean is sixty-four when he tells Sam there's just one job he needs to finish. The drive to Missouri isn't quiet, but that's because Dean has to blast his worn-out tapes at ear-shattering decibels just to mess with the other drivers rolling past in sleeker, more energy-efficient cars. He and Sam sing along, they talk about old hunts and Dad, they throw 'bitch' and 'jerk' back and forth so many times it becomes a chant. Cassie is widowed going on two years now; she gasps when she sees sixty-one-year-old Sam exactly as she remembers from 2005, but it's Dean she has to sit down for. Sam makes himself scarce for two weeks while Dean and Cassie work out all the things they've put off for way too long, and tries to work himself out alone.