12:00 AM. The bomb went off.
Everything was gold. Sam looked around. It was a vast darkness with gold veils. He could see through them, pushing them aside, searching for something. He wasn't really walking. He was just there, almost floating through this world, searching. He felt pain. It started in his chest, and reached out from there. Pain everywhere, but it wasn't as much as he thought it would've been. There was something there. An amulet.
Sam reached out and grabbed it. It glowed in his hand. It was the amulet that showed that God was near, and it was glowing. Sam wasn't sure what to make of that.
"Dean." He said softly, remembered. This was Dean's. He had given it to Dean as a gift, on Christmas, years ago. And somehow it was here, in this empty space.
"Am I dead?" He asked no one.
"No." Nobody replied back. He knew that voice. It was a woman's. He hadn't known her that well, so it took him a few seconds to recognize that tone.
"Goddess?" He asked.
"I hate that name." She replied, stepping into the light. Amara looked the same as she had a few years ago, with her perfect hair and black dress. A little smile curled on her lips.
"Amara…"
"Yes?"
"Where am I?"
"In your own head." She said. "You're asleep. Jack is worried, but it'll be fine."
"Jack? He's alive?"
"A miracle, perhaps." Amara said. "Somehow, he had a little surge in power. Maybe it helped him contain the explosion. Maybe you were knocked unconscious when that happened, and maybe I'm showing you a version of your soul."
"Why?"
"Why? Why do we do anything, Sam?" Amara said. "I came about something else. My brother… he left a lot of things open. Unfixed. And what is life without chaos? But he owed you something, and I'm here to help you get it."
"What?"
"My brother never gave you his gift, so I'm giving one to you." She said. "Not just the four thousand lives, and your family. You won't have nightmares anymore."
"Why?"
"Why do you keep asking why? You've earned this." She said. "The nightmares… they can go away, and you've earned a good life. No more nightmares."
"Th- thank you, Amara."
"Don't thank me." She said. "Also, I have another gift… for everyone, more or less. You'll see it when you wake up. And Sam…"
"Yeah?"
"He is your son." Amara said. She smiled, vanishing into the dark. Sam opened his eyes to see Jack, and his tear stroked face, in front of him.
"He's okay!" Jack said. He turned to face someone. "He's okay."
"He's awake?"
"Yeah!" Jack said. Sam's ears rang. The other person kneeled down next to Sam. He looked at her, his eyes blurry but sure of who she was.
"Jack told me about the bomb. He says you gave him the strength he needed to save everyone." She said, smiling. "But he hasn't told me how long I was gone."
"Not too long." Sam smiled weakly. Eileen's face came into focus. "Not too long."
The second surprise came a few days later. Sam, Jack, and Eileen returned to the Bunker. Lucifer probably realized that they had survived and was now planning a new attack on them, now that he knew they had Jack. Karyn, Alan, Wendy, and the others were going to be on trial for setting the bomb. It had supposedly malfunctioned, but they would get enough years in prison to make sure Jack was safe. Cas followed Jack around for the next few weeks, never letting him out of his sight. And the surprise… it came at breakfast.
"Pancakes?" Dean said.
"Chocolate chips?" Jack asked.
"I've got them." Dean smiled. He poured a little too many on Jack's pancakes. The family sat at the table. Almost all of the seats were taken. Just one was left open, unpurposefully. There was a knock on the Bunker door, that echoed through the whole facility. Mary's pancake slipped off her fork. Everyone looked up but Eileen, who couldn't hear it and was focused on her pancakes anyways.
"Cas, can you get that?" Sam said.
"I'll go with you." Dean said. They walked to the door. They opened it, and took a moment of silence to acknowledge the person on the other side of the door.
"Charlie." Dean said softly. Charlie smiled.
"Hey Dean." She said. "I'm back."