Milly sat at the kitchen table, lightly tapping her red crayon against the blank page. She stared at the ticking clock on the wall, watching the arms as they seemed to move slower with every passing hour. Sam and Dean were on a "super important hunter-spy mission" as they told her, to retrieve the Colt. It was the only weapon that gave them a chance against Lucifer.

Bobby had already been told they had the colt and were on their way back so they were due to return any minute. Milly's eyes had been glued to the clock for the past half hour, unable to concentrate on anything else.

The moment Milly heard the front door open, she turned so fast in her chair, that it nearly tipped backward. The group began filing into the living room and barely had time to put their bags down before the kid came running in. When she spotted the angel, she gasped in excitement.

"Castiel!"

Both Ellen and Jo froze, a child being the last thing they'd expect to find in Bobby Singer's house.

Milly wrapped her arms around the angel's torso and he stood rigidly, not having the slightest clue what to do about her.

"Um, hello Milly." He responded, looking over to the brothers for help.

"Who's kid is that?" Ellen questioned, her first thought being she was some kid Bobby had taken in after something killed her parents. Milly released Cas and turned to the two women. She was excited to meet them, especially since one of them happened to be this famous "Jo" she heard about at the convention.

"You didn't tell 'em?" Dean asked Bobby, trying to mask his disappointment.

"Course not. What'd be the fun in that?"

Dean made a mocking face at him before turning his attention to Ellen and Jo.

"She's mine."

Jo choked on the water she was drinking and Ellen stared at him blankly, trying to figure out if he was serious or not.

"Hi, I'm Milly." She smiled with a friendly wave.

"Hi…" Ellen replied as Dean handed Milly the shopping bag of food he was holding.

"Why don't you go put this in the kitchen?"

"Okay!"

All six adults watched the little girl bound into the other room before Bobby and Sam sat back to watch the show.

Ellen smacked the side of Dean's head and he looked at her incredulously.

"Ow?"

"What the hell, Dean Winchester?"

"Since when do you have a kid?" Added Jo.

"Since like two months ago. It's a very long and confusing story."

"Start summarizing," Ellen responded, her tone low and intimidating.

Sam leaned forward in his seat with a grin like he'd been waiting his whole life for this moment.

"I hooked up with a goddess, she got pregnant, the kid aged up magically, found us, mom disappeared, and now here we are."

There was a moment of silence after Dean had finished where no one spoke or even moved. Ellen and Jo didn't have the words to reply. Neither one could decide which part was more dumbfounding. Dean hooking up with an actual god or Dean having a kid.

Suddenly Milly came back into the room, completely oblivious to the tension. When she noticed Ellen and Jo staring at her in shock, she stopped.

"What?"

"Nothing sweetheart, they just need a little time to process that you exist," Dean explained, placing his hand on the top of her head and she nodded in understanding.

"Oh, okay. That seems to happen every time." She told him and he chuckled.

"Why would you hook up with a goddess?" Ellen asked, finally able to form a question.

"He didn't know," Milly answered for him and Dean scoffed.

"She tricked me." He corrected, not liking how the story always made him sound like an idiot.

She was a beautiful woman who was into him. Why would he be suspicious that she was thousands of years old with secret intentions of producing offspring to murder her own father?

"First it's an angel now a half-god. You boys really get around." Ellen muttered, looking over at Castiel.

"So you really have a daughter…" Jo trailed off, still stunned from the truth bomb, and Milly looked up at her in wonderment.

"Are you Jo?"

"Yeah?"

"It's nice to meet you. Dean says you're pretty-"

"Cool! I told her you're pretty cool." Dean chuckled awkwardly, picking up a book off the table he stood next to and handing it to Milly.

"Here's this, the adults gotta talk about apocalypse things okay?"

Without giving her time to respond, he took her shoulders and gently moved her away from Jo, who had a knowing smirk on her face.

Later that evening, they all sat around the living room, enjoying their "last night on earth" as Castiel had described it. The following day they were going to Carthage to face Lucifer and hopefully put an end to this nightmare.

Milly wanted to ask to join them but she knew the answer would be no like it always was. Perhaps the way to avoid the answer "no" was to avoid asking in the first place and just tell them…

"I'm coming with you guys tomorrow." She told them firmly, causing Dean to raise his eyebrows in amusement from the sofa across the room from her.

"Oh is that what you think?"

Milly stood as tall as she could at four foot two, refusing to back down.

"You need all the help you can get, right?"

"Right. Unless that help is coming from a two-month-old."

"I'm nine." Milly pouted, causing him to fight back a smile.

"C'mere." He beckoned, crooking his finger at her. She walked up to him and he stood her between his knees and cupped her little face in his hands.

"I need you to stay here, alright?"

Ellen and Jo watched in fascination as Dean spoke to the little blonde, they'd never seen him so gentle before. She'd never admit it, but it made Jo's heart ache like she longed for something she both wanted someday and missed from the past.

"If the world is gonna end, what does it matter if I go?"

"Since when are you so pessimistic?" Dean wondered, removing his hands from her face.

"I don't know what that means, but what if there's something I could've done but I didn't because I was here. And then we lose?"

All six adults were silent, each contemplating that idea in their own minds.

The kid had a point.

It didn't change the fact that this mission was no place for a child, but she had a point.

Dean met Sam's eyes and they both knew they were thinking the same thing.

"Milly is right," Cas stated, breaking the silence.

"She's a kid, it don't matter." Bobby snapped back at him.

Milly wrapped her arms around herself uncomfortably. The last thing she wanted was for them to argue.

"That child is ten times more powerful than every single one of you."

"Come again?" Ellen asked, raising her eyebrows at Cas.

"She can move things with her mind Cas, that doesn't mean-"

"She can what?" Jo exclaimed, cutting Sam off and looking at Milly.

"Show 'em what you got kiddo," Dean told her softly, patting her back as he stood up.

"Sam, can I speak to you?"

The brothers left the room while Milly glanced around. She unwrapped her arms from around herself and held her hand out in front of her causing Bobby's desk and everything on it to slowly rise off the floor.

"Holy mother of god," Ellen muttered.

Dean walked into the hallway and Sam followed a few steps behind, facing his brother's back.

"I'm literally the worst parent in the history of parents," Dean muttered.

"That's probably not true…" Sam replied causing him to whirl around with a pointed look on his face.

"No, see that's where you go "oh no, Dean, you're doing the best you can." Ya know, encouragement?"

Sam sighed heavily, leaning his back against the wall.

"I don't even think we have the opportunity to be anything better than the worst."

Dean ran a hand over his face in frustration. Milly didn't deserve this kind of pressure or this kind of lifestyle. He had decided long ago that he wouldn't have kids because raising them as a hunter felt worse than not having them at all. But now that choice had been taken from him and he was left not having a clue what to do. This wasn't just about hunting though. This was a war between heaven and hell where Earth was going to be caught in the crossfire. This had never been part of the equation. There was no way to leave her out of it when he and Sam were two key players whether they wanted to be or not. This was the fate of the entire world they were talking about, billions of lives at stake. If they didn't succeed in stopping Lucifer, the consequences were going to be catastrophic. And it wasn't like Milly was just some random kid. She was the daughter of a god and an archangel's vessel, which had to mean something. Dean needed it to mean something.

"I really hope that Athena bitch knew what she was doing," Dean grumbled before heading back towards the room, leaving Sam in the hallway.

"Yeah… me too."

"Alright Mils, c'mere for a sec," Dean told the girl, walking back into the living room and she hopped off her seat to follow him to the kitchen where he had her sit down at the table.

"I didn't know he had it in him to be a father," Ellen commented quietly, coming to stand beside Sam as they watched Dean crouch down to look up at the girl.

"He's a natural, I mean, he basically raised me, growing up. I think the hardest part with her has been convincing himself that he's not going to screw it up.

Ellen chuckled with a slight shake of her head.

"Oh, he will. He definitely will."

"Well, don't tell him that."

"I screw up all the time, Sam. Every parent does. You can read every parenting book ever written and you'll still screw up. But that doesn't mean you'll fail. You only fail if you give up on her. And you Winchesters aren't exactly the type to give up."

Dean looked up at Milly who was watching him curiously, wondering what he was going to say to her.

"Listen, I'm not going to pretend like I'm okay with this, because I'm not. But I know better than to underestimate you."

"Are you saying I can come with you?"

Dean hesitated, hoping some brilliant solution would pop into his brain in time, but it didn't.

"Yeah, but I need you to understand what we're walking into here. This isn't like the other times, Milly. This is the worst of the worst and Sam and I can't do our job if we're also trying to keep you safe."

"Well, maybe my job is to keep you safe."

Dean couldn't help the smile that crept onto his face.

"That's a tough job."

"I can handle it. I'm not afraid." She told him, more so in an attempt to convince herself, rather than him.

"Everybody get in here! It's time for the lineup. Usual suspects in the corner." Bobby called from the living room where he was setting up a camera.

"Oh come on, Bobby. Nobody wants their picture taken." Ellen told him, as she and Sam walked into the room.

"Hear, hear."

"Shut up. You're drinking my beer. Anyway, I'm gonna need something to remember your sorry asses by." He replied, backing up in his wheelchair where everyone else had gathered in the room.

"Ha! Always good to have an optimist around." Ellen retorted, wrapping an arm around Milly who stood between her and Bobby in the front.

"Bobby's right. Tomorrow we hunt the devil. This is our last night on earth." Cas told them all, causing every smile to fade as the realization set in, and the camera flashed, capturing the moment.