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Chapter 5

Transdimensional time hopping appeared to make one incredibly nauseous. Dean was fairly certain he could feel his breakfast about to make a reappearance, and there was a distinct buzzing in his head. He was inside Bobby's kitchen now, rather than outside in the driveway. He glanced behind him, finding Millie looking as equally green, her hands on her hips, taking deep breaths as if to prevent herself from throwing up.

"You good?" he asked.

"Peachy," she answered, giving him a weak thumbs up.

The kitchen didn't appear much changed since the last time they had been in it. Dean moved to the window, peering out to see that it was now dark outside.

"Where's that damn angel?" Dean griped.

"Right here, pretty boy."

Gabriel leant rather nonplussed against Bobby's desk. Dean and Millie both glared at the angel.

"Where is everyone?" Dean asked.

Gabriel glanced out the window to the scrapyard. The sound of engines pulling up to the house alerted them to the arrival. Millie and Dean crossed the room to peer out the den window. Dean spotted himself, Jo, Ellen, Sam and Cas as they approached the house. The four humans looked relieved, almost elated, however the angel in their midst appeared less so. He sensed something, and surveyed Bobby's house, watching as the group of hunters he'd somehow befriended - a plot in his angelic existence he still contemplated the sanity of at times - aimlessly wandered into the house. Dean watched himself turn back to face Cas who was glaring up at the house. While he couldn't hear what he was saying, he imagined that he was questioning the suspicious way that the angel was scanning the house.

At the same time, the door to Bobby's house swung open and Jo sauntered into the room, deftly kicking off a pair of black heels and disdainfully tossing them across the room. His attention was drawn to the tight black dress she was wearing which barely graced her mid-thigh and stared as she pulled down her hair which had been fastened in an elegant top knot, blonde curls cascading down her shoulders. He pretended not to focus for far too long on the deep v-cut of her dress as Ellen and Sam followed her into the house. Sam was grinning triumphanty, almost knocking into Jo as he came into the library.

"We got it Bobby!" he declared.

He walked straight past Millie and Dean as if they were't there, and as they both watched, stunned, they turned to find the old man sitting behind his desk. Dean swore that Bobby hadn't been there moments before when Gabriel had plonked them in his kitchen. Instead, he was positive that Gabriel had been leaning against the desk looking far too pleased with himself.

"What the hell is this? They can't see us?" Dean demanded, his eyes now focused back on Jo who was in the kitchen, rhythmically raising to stand on her toes as if stretching out the withered muscles of her feet thanks to the heels she'd been wearing. She smiled at her mother who came to stand beside her, both women simultaneously reaching for a bottle of tequila and smirking at each other. The final arrivals into the home were himself and Cas, neither of whom seemed to clock the presence of Dean, Millie or Gabriel.

"That's you," Millie stated, tapping Dean's arm with the back of her hand, wondering aloud. Her mind was racing. She was starting to get seriously dimension-sick and there was a pit in her stomach. He glanced down at her and bobbed his head in agreement.

The Jo in this reality declared that she was going to shower and get changed. Dean watched himself give her a onceover as she left the room. Sam, who was too fixated on telling Bobby exactly what it was that they had managed to get, appeared not to notice. Ellen turned to Cas, the angel still casting a suspicious look around the house, something the older woman didn't appear to miss, "You good, Cas?"

Dean steeled himself for the moment that the angel realised they were being watched - by another version of Dean and an archangel no less. Whatever reaction he was waiting for never materialised, instead the angel turned back to Ellen and nonchalantly nodded his head. Ellen grinned, "How about a few shots, hey angel? Think we've earned it."

She took the bottle of tequila and directed Cas to the table. She lined up shot glass after shot glass. To his surprise, Dean watched as Cas planted himself opposite Ellen on the other side of the table. Cas asked her, "What are we drinking?"

"Tequila. Straight."

Dean and Millie, the observers, watched as the scene before them came to a sudden stop, the rest of the picture suspended in time. They both spun to face Gabriel who was now reclined on the couch as if it were a throne.

"What the hell is this?" Dean demanded.

Gabriel leant his head on his wrist, watching the duo before him, "This? Right here? This is your future Dean. Where you, me and little mini-me just came from is ten days before where we are right now."

"What?" Dean asked, at the same time Millie said, "Same timeline?"

"What I just said, and correct little one," Gabriel answered. "Where we came from? November 8th, 2009. This right here - November 18th, 2009."

"You're lying," Dean replied.

Gabriel chuckled, "You don't believe me? Well, you're going to want to."

"And why's that, huh? Why the hell should we believe anything you've shown us?"

Gabriel looked pointedly at the girl who stood beside him, "She's not convincing enough for you?"

Millie narrowed her eyes at the archangel. Dean crossed his arms over her chest, his tone threatening, "Careful, angel. Leave her out of this. So this is-"

"Your timeline? Bingo!" Gabriel said triumphantly. "I'd bear that in mind if I were you, Dean-o. The show is just getting started."

The air around them appeared to swirl and the room suddenly came to life again. Dean watched himself with Sam sitting at the table. He recognised the Colt immediately.

"How the hell did we get that?" he asked.

Gabriel sighed, shaking his head as if in disbelief, "I can't give it all away, now can I, Dean?"

Dean had never been closer to suckerpunching an archangel. It was a tally he never thought he would have to keep. Shaking his head, he turned back to the scene. Jo - now in a short sleeve black t-shirt and denim, now looking much more like herself - had taken a seat with Ellen and Cas at the table. He smirked as he watched the angel absolutely down the line of shots that had been placed in front of him, saying simply, "I think I'm starting to feel something."

Dean watched as he pushed himself out of his chair and crossed the room to the kitchen where Jo was bent over at the fridge. She'd pulled a beer out and as she'd turned around, he was standing over her. He watched himself as he leant back against the kitchen bench, looking down at Jo. He was hitting on her. He could recognise that much in himself. He pursed his lips and arched an eyebrow, not at all surprised he'd chosen to hit on on of his - admittedly, gorgeous - oldest friends.

"Gross," he heard Millie mutter. He turned back to look at her, a comical expression on his face. She shrugged, smiling sheepishly, she told him, "It's weird watching you hit on my Mom, okay?"

Dean watched as whatever line he said to her had apparently worked. His eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he felt an instant pang of jealousy - towards himself - as Jo placed a hand on his cheek and appeared to pull his face closer to hers. Then she stopped him, and he watched as his grateful expression turned to one of sheer disappointment as she chuckled, shaking her head good naturedly and walked back across the room with a beer in hand. He watched himself taking a swig of his beer as Jo walked away from him, a smile on her face. They watched as the group stood together with a camera pointed at them. Bobby, seated in his wheelchair, Dean's arm around Jo's shoulder with Sam and Ellen beside them, and Cas their trenchcoat-wearing angel-of-choice standing stoically as a guardian alongside them. As the camera clicked capturing that photo, Dean and Millie exchanged a worried glance as they heard Cas said, solemnly, "This is our last night on Earth."

X - X - X - X - X

Another rush of dizziness overcame him. All too soon, Dean found himself on a familiar street. It was empty, the greyness of the scene almost feeling as an entity itself; claustrophobic, clawing, closing in around him. Gabriel had snapped his fingers again. Millie beside him was bent forward, her hands on her knees, biting back the bile that was attempting to make an appearance.

"Damn angels," she grimaced, earning a smirk from Dean as she straightened up, taking a steadying breath before watching him. She paled as she realised where they were, swinging her head around her. She recognised the street - though the last time she had been here, she'd had her mother beside her and her suddenly resurrected father. "We're in Carthage."

Dean nodded at her, "Looks that way."

Gabriel, who had remained wordlessly walking up behind them said, "Correct darlin'. Carthage, Missouri. November 19th, 2009."

The angel walked up beside then, surveying the scene before him. As he came to a stop at Dean's side, both he and Millie watched as the same version of himself that he had just seen in Bobby's living room lead Jo, Ellen and Sam down the middle of the street. They all held shotguns in their hands, poised to strike.

"Shouldn't have come here boys."

Dean groaned as another demon he hoped never to see again materialised in the middle of the street. He watched himself take the pistol and raise it in Meg's direction, aiming squarely at the demon's face. All of the hunters had their weapons raised and directed at the demon. Dean's heart was racing. He looked at Gabriel who was silent as he, too, watched the scene unfold.

"This is real, isn't it?" Dean questioned, already knowing the answer. His future was being played out for him in real time. He felt Millie grasp the sleeve of his shirt and his attention was swiftly brought back to the scene before them.

"Didn't come here alone, Dean-o," Meg taunted. It was the sound of growling hellhounds that made the observers stop breathing. The group in front of them appeared to freeze. Dean watched as his resolve appeared to crumble momentarily, before he retrieved whatever bravado he had left, stating to Meg, "Hellhounds."

The demon grinned, "Yeah, Dean. Your favourite!"

Millie chanced a look at the man beside her whose jaw was firmly set. She could sense the violent anger and fear that rolled off him as he watched the scene play out.

"Come on boys. My father wants to see you," Meg said.

It was Sam who responded, defiantly, "I think we'll pass. Thanks."

"Your call. You can make this easy, or you can make it really, really hard," the demon taunted.

Dean watched as he looked back at Ellen, the older woman nodding at him.

"When have you known us to ever make anything easy?" Dean replied.

He watched himself take aim at a hellhound standing at Meg's feet, the pistol firing and catching the invisible hellspawn, causing black oooze to drip onto the street. He watched himself, shout, "Run!" and the group turned on their heels with Meg's hellhounds in pursuit. He saw himself be pulled to the ground by one of the beasts, and the sickening moment that Jo turned around to help him, calling his name and firing off four rounds in quick succession, saving his life. And in the next moment, his heart lurched in his chest as he watched one of the hellhounds leapt unseen at Jo's side and tore horrifically through her flesh, causing her to drop to the road and her blood to splash up her neck.

"No," he heard Millie say. Dean felt her grip his arm, watching himself scoop Jo up off the road, and follow the rest of the group inside an empty hardware store as Sam held the door opened. He moved on instinct, Millie and Gabriel following on his wake, ducking inside the hardware store just as Sam secured it with iron chains. They watched as he placed the now blood-drenched Jo against the store counter and leant her upright, Ellen kneeling at her daughter's side. Both brothers came to look down at her, Jo whimpering at the evident horrific pain that had now consumed her. The observing trio stood in silence. Dean glanced at the archangel beside him, and to his credit, even Gabriel appeared disturbed by the scene before him.

"She's dying, isn't she?" Millie stated, rather than asked.

Dean's mouth tasted acidic. The scene was so realistic that he could smell the acrid stench of blood and gunpowder. He watched as Jo pressed the bandages to her side, her usually vibrant face ashen and turning a shocking shade of purple. She appeared to be just holding on to consciousness, aware of her desperate friends moving around her, searching for an exit as hellhounds howled incessantly outside the hardware store. Dean watched himself searching for a radio and desperately reaching out to Bobby for help. Then he watched he and Sam attempt to plan an escape, their quiet whispering a couple of feet from where Ellen knelt beside Jo, brushing the blood soaked hair out of her daughter's face.

"Stop. Guys stop," Jo said weakly. She had watched the brother's desperately try to come up with a plan that would save them all. What they didn't know is that the moment that hellhounds claws had torn through her skin, severing nerves and arteries, she'd lost feeling in her legs. The blood seeping from her wound burned to touch, her heart throttled arrythmically against her ribcage. She knew that she was dying. She'd been sentenced the moment the beast's claws caught her. She watched as both brothers finally turned to look at her, approaching her slowly. "Can we be realistic about this please?"

Dean watched himself and his brother exchange a nervous look. The Dean observing the scene imagined that his counterpart's heart was dropping as his was as Jo laid out her plan, grimacing with every slight movement she made. She winced, "I can't move my legs. I can't be moved. My guts are being held in by an ace bandage-"

"I can't watch this, Dean," he heard a shaking voice say.

Dean wasn't sure that he could watch it either. Meeting Millie's eye, he noted how deathly pale she looked, and she'd wrapped her arms around her midsection. Her eyes were glassed with tears and, for the first time since he had met her, she appeared shaken. Terrified even, watching her mother die in front of her. Before she was even born. He shook the horrific thought out of his mind that - as it appeared, in this lifetime - she would never exist.

"Don't look, sweetheart," Dean implored, turning away from the horrific scene in front of him for a moment to step closer to her. For whatever reason, she couldn't appear to tear her eyes off Jo. Dean stepped right in front of her, forcing Millie to look up and meet his gaze. He felt the intense sorrow there and wanted desperately to take her pain away. "Don't look, okay?"

She nodded weakly. On instinct, Dean pulled her against his chest and her arms locked around him tightly. She buried her face in his chest, attempting to wrought the images from her mind. Unable to dismiss the rest of the scene, he turned back to the face the group, a lump forming in his throat and he forced himself to grind his teeth to keep from screaming as he overheard the rest of Jo's plan, "We let the dogs in. You guys hit the roof, make a break for the building next over, and I can wait here with my finger on the button-"

"Enough, Gabriel," Dean said, turning to the angel.

Gabriel snapped his fingers and the scene froze. He appeared to ignore Dean, shifting the imagery further along. As Dean watched, he saw himself kneel down beside Jo and grasp her hand, placing in one of her palms a homemade detonator, handing her her death sentence. Dean gripped Millie tighter, noting that the young woman appeared to be trying to block out even the sound of what was happening by pulling one of her hands up to cover the ear that wasn't pushed against his chest. He watched as he pressed his lips to Jo's forehead and when he pulled back, looked in her face. He grimaced as - for the first time - he kissed Jo. His mind then seemed to tune it out, and he seemed to miserably watch as he pulled away from her. His senses seemed dulled. Dean watched, horrified, as Ellen crouched beside her, never having entertained the thought of leaving her only daughter behind. So he watched, as he and Sam absconded to the roof, leaving the Harvelle women to pay the ultimate price for he and Sam's survival.