It was early the next morning when the doorbell rang, arousing John, Bobby and Caleb from their light sleep. Matt was completely out of it, while his brothers and sister were upstairs in their respective bedrooms.
"Who is knocking on the door at this hour?" John whispered.
Bobby and Caleb starred at each other exchanging guilty looks. Neither had mentioned Lily to him, neither knew how too. John walked to the front of the door and cracked it open. An woman in her late fifties stood with graying blonde hair, pointed nose and high cheek bones, clutching her hand loosely is a little girl with red hair tied up with strains flying askew, she had a far away look to herself.
"Is this the residence of Matthew Winchester?" the woman asks.
John looked around, keeping his hand on the door, "yes it is. But he's not available right now."
"Who are you?" asks the woman.
"My name's John Winchester, Matthew's my son. Who are you?"
The woman's eyes narrowed, "I'm his-was his mother-in-law."
John felt himself fighting the urge to laugh, this had to be some kind of mix-up. Caleb and Bobby appeared behind him.
"Not you." The woman spat out at Caleb.
"Nice to see you too, Mrs. Thomsen long time no see," Caleb replied, his meeting with her hadn't been one to talk about. He bent down to Lily's height, "hey there Lily, you wanna go see Matt?"
Her eyes instantly light up and she looked up at Caleb who nodded outstretched his hand to her.
"Tell Matthew to take care of the brat."
"The brat?" demands Bobby, "she's just a little girl! And she just lost her mother and last time I checked your daughter."
Kirsten flinched and then frowned, "Kira stopped being my daughter when she gave birth to that," and Kirsten turned and walked down the steps and didn't look back, not once.
Lily had jumped onto the sofa and climbed beside Matt, so her body was now next to his. She didn't seem to take in the fact that Matt was asleep and snoring lightly.
"Would someone mind explaining who that little girl is to me?" asks John.
Caleb scratched his head, "do you remember how I talked about Kira?"
"The girl who died?"
"She wasn't just Matt's good friend, she was Matt's wife. And that little girl is hers-theirs."
John stood there flabbergasted. A child getting married should be a good thing. It really should. Mary used to talk about how nice it would be to see all of their children get married, have John walk Noah down the aisle and having grandchildren. The moment she died, John was certain every chance of his children being happily married with grandchildren went out the door. Marriage and children meant more people, more liabilities. Kira was a liability and this little girl was a liability.
Matt's eyes fluttered awake and then wide awake upon seeing Lily. He sat upwards and pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms tightly around her.
"Lily?" he whispers quietly, he thought he'd never see her again, tears begin to dribble down his cheeks, "its okay, it's okay. Are you hungry?"
Lily shook her head before burying her face into his shoulder. John felt himself break at the sight of the pair, haunted by the death of a wife and a mother. It was something he could relate too and something he never wanted his children to experience.
The sound of loud footsteps on the stairs made Lily jump and begin to cry, Matt pulled her closer whispering words of comfort into her ear.
"Who's that?" Sam asked rather loudly.
Bobby and Caleb looked to John.
"This is Lily, your niece."
"Our what-now?" asks Dean.
"Niece." John repeated.
Noah looked to Tom who stood choking back tears, he looked all jerky. Reapers couldn't cry, she could recall Tom telling her that once. She stood closer to him, wanting to hold his hand but it would look weird.
Lily shyly and timidly peaked her head out getting a glimpse of them before burying her head into Matt's shoulders.
"Why don't the two of you go upstairs?" asks Bobby, "take one of the rooms and take a nap the little one looks like she needs one."
Matt looked up thankfully before walking away leaving the others standing a bit confused in their midst.
"Is she really Matt's kid?"
"Not biologically midget." Caleb told him bluntly.
"Won't matter to Matt, in his eyes that kid is his," Bobby replied, "and did you not see how happy she made him? The pair need each other."
John nodded; silently agreeing. After the fire, Dean was completely mute. Wouldn't say a word to anybody, but it was baby Sam who had needed him. Since Matt wasn't really all there that year, he was distant didn't like to be held or touched. Deadly afraid of the stove or fireplace, Noah was just a baby as well talking and walking as if nothing happened. She couldn't be there for Sam, and John wasn't emotionally there the first year either. It fell to Dean, but slowly he began to talk again and become sort of like the little boy he had been before the fire.
Matt came downstairs about a half an hour later, looking much better than he had. Almost like the usual self, he stared at his family nervously.
Taking deep breath he whispered, "You can say whatever the hell you want about me being stupid or reckless, but one mark towards Lily and I will walk away," he wished his voice sounded more serious, and he knew instantly his father knew it was a bluff.
"We won't say anything," and John's voice seems to echo off the walls, "She's family."
Matt smiled weakly, half numb and half in shock. He felt himself begin to shake, Lily was back. She was safe with him, he wouldn't let her die. He felt Dean's arms holding steely onto one, while Sam's much boner ones held onto the other. Matt didn't bother to shoo the arms away as he was lead to the sofa and forcibly put down.
"You want a drink boy?" asks Bobby, a shot of whiskey in his hands, "like my daddy used to say just because it kills your liver doesn't mean it ain't medicine."
Matt took the whiskey thankfully and downed it in one gulp, not even minding the painful after taste.
SPNSPN
"You know what the worst thing is?" asks Matt looking to his father.
The pair were sitting alone in the study, the others had gone to bed early. John and Matt were sharing a drink, quietly together. John looked up.
"I can't get the image of her out of my head, every time I close my eyes I see it. Her eyes-
"Glassy?" asks John quietly shaking his own glass, "beating into you, wide?"
Matt opened his mouth a little and then closed it, "I never thought about how seeing Mom like that would change you."
"You saw her," John reminds him quietly, as the night of the fire replayed in his mind, the fire and heat just as real as it was back then, "I couldn't get you out of the nursery fast enough."
Matt shook his head violently, "I only saw the flames take her away. I never saw her on the ceiling."
John looked gravely at his son, "I'm so sorry about your wife Matt, I would have done anything to protect you from this."
Matt's lower lip trembled, "she called me terrified, that night. Caleb and I were a few states away," he paused to wipe the tears from his eyes, "said someone with black eyes was following her. She was so scared, petrified. I tried to tell her to get salt and stuff, and then I heard her scream, god I wanted to die at that moment. Wanted to just disappear, start over. Pretend I never heard it. When Caleb and I made it back, the instant I opened the door it was almost okay. Until I smelt the blood, it was so strong so distinctive. It's horrible when someone dies on a hunt, but knowing it was hers made it a thousand times worse. She was in the living room….(his voice began to break)….in her own of blood," he stood and punched the wall, "and I could have stopped this from happening."
"How?" asks John.
"I could have warned her-
"There is no possible way you could have warned her, you didn't know and it's not your fault."
"You didn't know anything about this world when Mom died, but I did. I knew stuff was out there lurking, and I didn't teach her how to defend herself. I'm so stupid."
"Not stupid. We're going to find the thing that took Kira from you-
"No I am."
"All right."
"Then we find the thing that killed Mom."
John nodded and smiled, "you got it."
A/N: sad? I thought it was….reviews please!