Angelica Lilith Winchester

TEN

"A-Angie?" Dean stammered, staring at me.

"Hey, Dean-y."

Dean shook his head, incredulous.

"Um... Dean, how---" Sam gestured back to where we had just left John and Mary.

"I-I-- I don't know. You said that the--- the pearl gives you what your heart desires, right? So, my heart desired--- I--- I've wanted this, man. I've--- I've wanted this since I was four years old."

"Okay, I know, and I-I-I--- I love this, too, Dean. I do, honestly, but--- but messing with time---"

"No, no, no, Sam," Dean shook his head.

"He's right, though, Dean. You know how this ends. Things change," I voiced.

"Yeah, great--- we got our family back together. I'll take that change," Dean replied stubbornly.

"That's not what we mean," Sam shook his head.

"Stop. Just stop, okay? Look, can--- can we just have one family dinner? Just one? Us--- all of us together. That's what I want. Can you just give me that?"

Dean began to walk away then.

"Dean---" I called out, but Sammy shook his head, stopping me.

------

I sat on the front porch of Jody's house. It had been exactly two weeks since the boys had dropped me off. I still hadn't unpacked, choosing instead, to sit on the front steps and wait, sure that Sam and Dean would be back for me any day.

"Angelica? It's getting dark. Why don't you come in and eat dinner?" Jody appeared in the doorway.

"I'm not hungry," I replied stubbornly.

Jody sighed, taking a seat beside me at the steps.

"They're not coming and there's no sense sitting out here in the dark. Come on inside."

"No."

"Angie---"

"Don't call me that. Dean's the only one who calls me that."

"Fine. Just come in soon, please," Jody sighed heading back in and closing the door.

I looked at the bag sitting at my feet on the step as the last of the sun disappeared, leaving only the stars and the porch light to see. I made up my mind right then. Swinging the bag onto my back, I headed down the steps and broke into a run. I wasn't going to sit around and wait for my adoptive family to get me. If I couldn't hunt with them any more, I would just do it on my own.

------

The table was set and we were just missing Sam and Dean.

"Why was Dean so surprised when you said who you were?" John asked me.

I looked into his eyes.

"That's a long story..."

"We got time."

Taking a deep breath, I started at the beginning. I was just finishing explaining how I ran away from Jody's and began to hunt solo when Sam and Dean walked in with the supplies. 

"We have a problem," Dean said.

XxX

"A 'temporal paradox'?" John asked.

Mary was in the kitchen making the casserole while Sam and Dean explained what was happening.

"That's what Sam's calling it," Dean expounded. "Egghead."

John laughed as Sam rolled his eyes. Dean continued to clarify what needed to happen.

"Basically, uh, if you don't go back, Sam never gets back into the life, um, and Mom, she, uh..."

"What?" John asked.

"Well, with everything that we did--- with God, the Darkness--- she never comes back," Dean avoided eye contact with his father. "Sam thinks she'll just fade away."

"Okay. I mean me versus your mom. That's--- that's not even a choice. Does she know?"

The boys shook their heads.

"Tell her," I spoke up.

XxX

We all sat around the table in silence, John at the head, Mary to his right and Dean at his left. Sam sat beside Dean and I sat across from him next to Mary. Everyone focused on their plates, not wanting to bring up the inevitable.

"Alright," John said, breaking the silence. "Near as I can tell, we have two choices. Alright, we can think about what's coming. Or we can be grateful for this time we have together. Now me..."

He took Mary's hand in his.

"I choose grateful," he kissed her hand.

It was like all the tension had evaporated as John continued his little speech.

"So, to whatever brought us together, we owe you one. Amen."

Everyone chimed in with an 'amen' and clinked our glasses together, enjoying the rest of the meal.

"So, Angelica... if they ditched you, how did you end up here with them?"

Dean choked on the bite of food he had just put in his mouth at John's question. I smiled, and explained how I had been staking out the boathouse where a nest of werewolves were staying and how they showed up, killing them before I could.

"I was being so careful to stay off grid so they wouldn't run into me... I don't know what happened..." I smirked across the table at Dean.

"Well, it sounds to me like you were supposed to end up back with them."

"Yeah," I agreed looking to John then back to the brothers across the table from me. "I guess so."

XxX

We all stood in the library, preparing to say good bye to John. I was the only without tears in my eyes.

"I hate this," Mary said, grabbing John's hand.

"So do I," John agreed. "Okay." 

He turned to face her.

"My girl. I miss you so damn much."

"Me too."

They kissed and then embraced. As they pulled apart, John turned to face the boys.

"You two. Take care of each other," he commanded.

"We always do," Sam replied.

"Good to see you, Dad," Dean told him.

"Yeah. I am so proud of you boys."

Sammy struggled to smile through the tears as the pair of them were pulled into a group hug with their father.

"I love you both so much," John told them.

"I love you, too," Dean responded.

John pulled back, winking at me before taking Mary's hand.

"Okay. Okay, I'm ready."

Sam put the pearl on the corner of the table. He and John nodded at each other and he brought a bowl down on the pearl, smashing it into dust. Dean flinched at the sound and I reached over, taking his hand and squeezing it. John was staring at Mary as he vanished and she began to sob. As we walked out of the library, we caught sight of Cass.

"Mary, Sam, Dean... Angie. What happened?"

Sam scoffed and looked to Dean.

"What happened?" he repeated.

"Well, there's a story," Dean sighed, squeezing my hand again.