𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 || 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫

Epilogue

Note: Added the song above if y'all wanted to listen while you read. Lastly, credit goes to the creator of the SPN banner at the end that I found online - I'm not sure who you are but you did a fantastic job on it! I hope everyone enjoys this final chapter of the Heart series :)

Episode: Season 15 - Carry On Pt. 8

His hand was lukewarm, growing slightly colder by the minute, clutched tightly in my own. A tiny smile split my face as I glanced down at our intertwined fingers. The soft, supple skin of adulthood had slowly shifted with age into wrinkles and age spots. Oh, how we had changed! But we had been oh-so-happy, me and my Sam. We had lived our lives happily and fully, just as Dean had wanted. And even though I had been scared to live a life without him in it, I found myself loving Sam so dearly and deeply as the years went by.

"I love you, Sammy," I whispered softly to him, squeezing his hand gently while, with the other, my fingertips caressed the white stubble on his face, "It's okay, you can go now."

Leaning down towards him, I pressed my lips so gently against his. And when we finally broke away, there was a sad smile on his face. Tears welled up in my eyes as I saw his hazel-brown orbs slowly close one final time, the heart monitor flat-lining instantly.

Yasmin, my now 43-year-old daughter, put her arm around me while I wept bitterly. It had been his time, I knew. But no matter how much loss in life I had suffered - we had all suffered - it never got any easier. No, the only comfort now, as I sat there with Yasmin, my 42-year-old son, Roman, and my 21-year-old son, Dean, surrounded on all sides by my grandchildren...was that Sam was finally with Dean.

My own death didn't come like theirs had. It wasn't tragic and untimely like Dean's or long-expected and bittersweet like Sam's. No, when Death came and took me by the hand, it was peaceful, perfect.

I crawled into bed one night, snuggling down into soft sheets in which Sam's scent still clung no matter how many years he had been gone from me. My brown eyes lingered on a photo of myself and my boys on the nightstand, all three of us smiling happily - our carefree days. Tears threatened to spill over wrinkled cheeks and I sucked in a shuddering breath to keep them at bay. I missed them so much...

I suppose someone on high heard me that night, heard my wishes, my silent prayers. For with the red-and-orange tinted breaking of the dawn just over the skyline...I left this world.

When I awoke once more, I was no longer on Earth. Although it did look very much like a place I had been to once before... No, this felt different. I knew that instantly even as my eyes flicked over the towering pine trees, white-capped mountains, flowing brooks and wildlife that encompassed this place.

I began to walk, not knowing which direction I was headed in, and found myself standing just across from a trickling brook nearby. Glancing down into the clear blue liquid, I couldn't help but gasp, my hands instantly finding my face. I was...I was young again! Where there had once been wrinkles had been replaced with the soft, clear skin I used to possess, long, flowing ebony hair falling around my face in a dark cloud. A light laugh burst free from my lips, taking in the sight of my old Charmed t-shirt and cut-off jeans, chipped black nail polish at the ends of my fingertips. I looked just like I did at 21!

Twirling around to get a full view of myself, my grin widened. If I was being honest, I missed being young. But a sweet sound hit my ears then, knocking me completely free of my reverie. It was a sound I hadn't heard in so, so long...

The engine revved again, much louder this time, the sound breaking the silence of the forest I was in. My feet began to move before I even knew where the sound would lead. Faster, faster, I egged myself on until finally, I burst free of the trees onto a wide asphalt road. Stepping out onto the concrete, my Converse-clad feet crunching a twig as I did, my eyes landed on a sight that sucked all the air from my lungs.