What the Hell?

Dean opened his eyes to see an overcast sky. For some reason he couldn't remember, he was laying on the ground. Had he gotten drunk last night? He couldn't remember…

Gabriel! Memories hit him like a racing train. He sat up and looked around. Sam and Bobby also lay on the ground, and Dean scrambled over to them, quickly checking their pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief over the fact that they were alive. Still, he didn't like whatever Gabriel had thrown them into.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauties! Wake up!" He shook both of them until he heard them groan.

Both of them blinked up at the sky and then he saw realization as they remembered. A string of curse words came out of Bobby's mouth. Sam looked at their surroundings.

"Where are we?" He asked, and for the first time, Dean took a serious look around.

They were in the remains of some house. It looked like fire or some sort of explosion had gutted it. What was left was falling apart from exposure to the elements. It appeared to be in the middle of some sort of junk yard as there were rusted and destroyed cars all around them. The atmosphere was creepy and everything seemed to scream that something bad had happened, as it appeared that no one had been here in years.

"I have no clue." Dean said, standing up and brushing some of the dirt on his hands onto his jeans.

Bobby's eyes grew wide. "I do." He suddenly took off in between the small spaces between piles of cars and knocked over cars.

"Bobby!" Dean and Sam followed him, trying to keep up, but Bobby seemed to know exactly where he was going. Suddenly, he stopped in shock, staring up in horror at something. Dean and Sam took a moment to get their breath back.

"What the hell, Bobby?" Dean glared, but Bobby didn't notice.

"My house…" Bobby finally said.

"What?" Sam looked at their surrogate father, confused.

"That was my house." He pointed up at what he had been staring at. The boys directed their gaze upwards.

The sign reading "Singer Salvage" was old looking. It was faded and corrupted, hanging upside down by a single chain, which was the only reason why it was still up. It had obviously not been taken care of, just like everything in the yard.

The Winchesters felt a chill go down their spines. Their home was gone and it looked like none of them had even tried to come back.

"What the hell happened?" Dean whispered.

"Is this…is this the future?" Sam asked quietly.

"What?" Dean looked over at his brother, being unable to think of any way to comfort Bobby over the loss of the home he had always had.

"Well," Sam frowned, glancing back at Dean, "he said that he was taking a leaf out of Zachariah's book, and didn't he send you to the future to try to convince you to do what he wanted."

Dean blinked suddenly thrown back into that terrible version of 2014. He saw Sam with Lucifer in the driver's seat, a broken, human Cas, and his own coldhearted, dickish future self. That was a future that he had vowed he would never allow, but, as he looked at the abandoned salvage yard, he wondered if somehow the future had ended up being worse than that.

It was certainly different from what he could tell.

Bobby sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. "Alright." He scratched his head a bit and moved on, something that Dean found to be amazing. "So, I guess we should head over to Jody's place."

"You think that's safe?" Sam asked, remembering the sorts of things that Gabriel had been up to in the past.

"Well, it's as good a place to start as any." Bobby gestured around, "Besides, do you see any working cars? If we're getting anywhere, it's on our own two feet."

The brothers looked around and Dean suppressed a groan.

At least when Zachariah dumped him in the future there were enough cars around for him to hotwire one.

By the time they reached town, Dean was thoroughly reminded of when he had come back from Hell. He was thirsty, his feet hurt, and he really did not want to walk any further. Going to Jody's was looking like a better idea every single second. When her house came in sight, he let out a sigh of relief.

The three of them walked up to the front door. Bobby had the honor of knocking. "Jody?" He knocked harder on the door. When there was still no answer, he turned away. "Must be at work," he reasoned.

There was a click behind him as the door unlocked. As they whirled back around, the door creaked open. A single eye appeared in the crack. "Who are you?" A young, female voice said.

"Uh, Bobby Singer?" Bobby raised an eyebrow.

The eye in the doorway narrowed. "I've never heard of you."

The three hunters looked at each other. How could this person have never heard of Sioux Falls' resident drunk?

Bobby turned back to the door. "Is Jody home?"

The eye looked behind them as they heard the sharp sound of a shotgun being readied to fire. They whirled around and lifted their hands automatically.

"She certainly is." Jody looked down the barrel of the shotgun, which was aimed directly at them. Her eyes roamed over the three of them, suspicious. Dean saw Bobby blinking at her shorter hair, the new lines on her face, and the stance that any of them would recognize in a hunter. Dean knew that the two of them had gotten closer since Death had started raising zombies, so seeing her taking the same path as them probably hurt.

Jody's eyes moved momentarily as the person in the doorway opened the crack wider, revealing a young woman, still a teen probably, with long, dark hair and blue eyes. "Good job, Alex. Luckily, I hadn't left yet."

"Dean and Sam didn't look right so that's why I called. And I didn't recognize the old man," the young woman, Alex, waved her hand over at Bobby.

"Jody, don't you recognize me?" Bobby started to take a step forward, but Jody aimed right at him.

"Yes, I recognize you." Her voice was a bit hard, and with a glance over at Alex, Dean realized that this girl was under Jody's protection. "I also know that Bobby Singer's been dead for several years."

All three of them froze, and Dean felt his heart plummet. Bobby was dead, in this time.

Just like in that twisted version of 2014.

Dean swallowed down his panic, but this was obviously not the same future that he had been to previously, so there was no reason for things to be as bad as they were there.

Also, apparently he and Sam don't "look right," so at least that must mean that the two of them are still themselves, just older, right? Right?

Bobby was the first to get over his shock, and as he went to say something, Jody beat him to it.

"The boys said that they salted and burned your body, but," her hand trembled a bit from where it was gripping the shotgun, "for all I know, zombies could come back from that. And I would really rather not have to deal with zombies again."

"Why?" Alex asked from the doorway.

Jody gave her a look that said that the two of them would talk later. Meanwhile, she gestured with the gun to indicate that they should move into the house. Alex moved aside and they entered the house, going over the rug in the doorway. They saw Jody glance down as they moved in.

"Not demons." She muttered, as she had them move to the living room. She looked over at Alex, who nodded and left the room, bringing back a silver knife and three glasses of water.

"Oh, come on, really?" Dean moaned.

"Better to be safe than sorry, that's what Bobby told me." Jody said, the shotgun still not coming down an inch.

Bobby looked at her, a slightly proud glint in his eye. "Well, you know the drill, boys." He agreed with her.

The Winchesters sighed, but allowed themselves to be nicked with the silver knife and drank the holy water. To their surprise, Alex then got up in their faces and studied them carefully.

"Not vampires." She declared, looking at Jody as she moved away.

"Definitely not demons, werewolves, or shifters." Jody agreed, and finally the shotgun came down. Jody didn't let go of it though. "So, what's going on then?"

The three of them looked at each other.

"What year is this?" Dean finally said.

Jody tilted her head at him a bit. "It's 2014. Why?"

Dean felt a sudden surge of panic race through him. It was 2014. It was 2014! And sure, there didn't seem to be Croatoan victims running around, or Lucifer for that matter, but still. This wasn't something he wanted to see, even if it was different. He squashed it down though. He needed to focus right now, not wonder where everyone (besides Bobby, who was apparently dead) was, and if they were alright.

"This may be hard to believe." Bobby was saying. "But we're from 2011."

"Ah," Jody said, nodding. "Not as hard to believe. I helped Sam and Dean with a case that involved time travel before."

"Really?" The three hunters and Alex asked, staring at her.

She gave a nonchalant shrug. "Dean got sent to the 1940's by the god of time, Chronos. Sam asked me to bring a bunch of stuff from Bobby's storage to see if we could find an answer since…" Her gaze moved over to Bobby and there was a definite hint of sadness there.

"I see." Bobby said, seeming to be perfectly at ease with the fact that within three years, he would be dead. Then again, as a hunter, he had accepted that he could die at any time when he chose this path.

"So, you believe us?" Sam asked, tentative.

"For now," she responded, but she pulled out her cell phone. "Let me make a few calls." Jody handed the shotgun to Alex. "If they do anything untoward to you, shoot them." Alex nodded as Jody stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her.

There was an awkward silence as Alex stared at them.

"So, who are you then?" Bobby once more took the lead.

"I'm Alex." She finally introduced herself, settling down in a nearby chair. "I was kidnapped and raised by vampires. Jody saved me with some help from Sam and Dean." There was obviously more to that story, but they were really not going to pry it from her. "Since I don't have any other family, Jody said I could live with her if I wanted."

"So Jody's a hunter?" Bobby asked to confirm it.

"Yeah." Alex nodded. "She keeps on ear on the police scanner for any weird cases. Jody says she's not very good, still a novice, but…" A slight smile crossed her face. "She seems pretty good to me."

"I see." Bobby sat back, a hint of sadness now in his eyes. Dean understood the feeling. Yet another friend had been dragged into this world where most people don't end up living long. It was another friend whose life would probably end bloody.

Jody sighed as she came back into the room. "I couldn't reach Sam." She told more to Alex than the three hunters. "But I managed to get a hold of that person, so with his abilities, he should be able to verify that it's them."

"Really?" Alex's face lit up a bit. "I like that guy. He's funny."

"Don't make fun of him just because he's a bit…different." Jody scolded a bit. She turned back to Bobby, Sam, and Dean. "I have to go in, but Alex here will make sure you don't do anything too stupid. Stay here. I'll be back in the afternoon which is when our friend will arrive." She gave them a stern look. "Try anything and Alex will shoot you."

Jody and Alex exchanged a hug. "Be a good girl." She patted her a bit on the head as she walked back through the door.

Alex went back to staring at the three hunters in the living room. The silence was once again uncomfortable.

"Like video games?" Alex finally asked.

Dean couldn't help but wonder who Jody's friend must be. It must be someone that he and Sam knew, because they wouldn't let someone shady hang around Jody, Bobby's friend. Something else was bothering him though, even as he trounced Alex on what must be this timeline's latest MarioKart game.

Jody had only mentioned Sam and Bobby. Bobby was dead, and Sam was obviously busy, but why hadn't she mentioned Dean. Instead of calling Dean when Sam was unavailable, she instead called this mysterious friend.

So, where was Dean in all of this?

Jody came home shortly after noon, saying that her friend was close so she was going to make some lunch for all of them. She started making burgers within the kitchen, and Dean was almost drooling over the smell.

Then, he heard the sound of a car pulling up outside and parking. He glanced away from the screen as Sam struggled to not swear at Alex and Bobby chuckled from where he sat.

Alex heard it too as the sound of a car door opening and shutting reached their ears. "Good, he's here." She turned her face back towards the screen to prevent Sam from sneaking up behind her to win. "I'm hungry."

"Yeah, yeah." Jody said as she walked passed them all into the hallway. They heard a knock on the door before Jody apparently opened it.

The race was quickly finished and Alex headed to the kitchen while the three hunters stood up and faced the door. They could hear Jody's and another low voice out in the hall. They glanced nervously at each other, not knowing who they were about to meet.

Heavy footsteps came down the hallway, indicating that the person was probably male. Dean braced himself ready for anything.

It turned out that he wasn't as ready as he thought as Castiel appeared in the doorway.

AN: I really like Jody. She's got sass and brains, and really what more could someone want? I like the idea of her and Castiel getting to know each other. Jody's kind of like Bobby in that she takes in strays and takes them under her wing like she did Alex. Can you just see her mothering Cas? Hilarious, right? Anyway, by starting out at Bobby's house, it really gives a feel of how much things have changed on the show, and I wanted to make that clear right away. Also, writing Alex is hard because there's so little to go off of. Ugh.