Fandom: Supernatural
Title: Ages, Epilogue(
Click here for all chapters in order)
Characters/Pairing: Sam/Dean, John, OFC, OMC (overall story includes Sam/Dean, Dean/John and Dean/OFC)
Rating: R (thematic reasons)
Word Count: 1331
Summary: AU - Daniel's, Dean's and Sam's POV. Seven Years have passed since Dean and Sam and John destroyed Javal. Daniel is turning 8, and Sam has come home to Dean.
A/Ns & Warnings: This is the end of Ages. It took me a long time to come back to this because the whole story was very vivid and it left me kind of aching. Thank you to those of you who stuck with me through the whole adventure.
He was eight years old. Just like every year before that he could remember, which admittedly was only since he was five, his Grandpa and his Aunt Jenny and his Uncle Sam were all there. They were asleep and it was just him and his Dad, sitting alone in the cold midnight waiting.
Daniel Winchester was a pretty smart kid. He knew which of the fancy designs in the windows were there to keep out the bad things and which were just decoration. He knew how to make macaroni and cheese and Uncle Sam’s favorite sandwich. He knew all about the demons and angels and not to talk about them outside of home.
He even knew that this was something special. It only happened on his birthday.
He held his father’s hand as the air in the little circle behind the diner began to shimmer. She was beautiful. Maybe he was a little biased, she was his mother after all.
“Hi Daniel.” She blinked as she became more solid. He couldn’t touch her, and sometimes that made her cry, and it always made his Dad cry. “Dean.”
Beside him, his father sniffed and encouraged him closer. “Sam and Jenny send their love,” his father said, and his mother nodded, though her eyes were full on Daniel.
“Aunt Jenny’s pregnant, Mommy.” Daniel said. “Her tummy’s big and it smells like a boy.”
“Smells like?”
His father chuckled. “He has his own gifts.”
“Have you had a good birthday?”
He nodded, holding up the watch his Grandpa had given him. “Grandpa gave me a watch that’s older than he is and Aunt Jenny brought me a bunch of games, and Kathy came for dinner and Uncle Sam is going to take me out on a long hike tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a good birthday. I wish I could be there with you.”
He yawned and tried to hide it, but he’d been up since before daylight in his excitement and his father’s hand petted over his head. “Well, I think that’s the sign that it’s time for you to say goodnight, and go wash up.”
Daniel looked up at his mother, at her long black hair and her sad eyes. “I love you Mommy.”
“I love you too, Daniel. Sweet dreams.”
She blew kisses at him as he hugged his father and trudged toward the house. He knew his father wouldn’t follow right away, that he had his own things to say. Daniel stopped on the porch, watching as his father stepped close to the circle, his eyes closed. She moved as close as she could and from a distance it looked almost like they were kissing.
He was thirty-two years old, with a son who had just turned eight, a diner in a small town in Montana, and the wife who had died seven years before in a conjuring circle in his yard. He knew Daniel was watching. He knew Sam was watching.
“He’s so big.”
He nodded, opening his eyes to look at her. “He looks like you.” He wanted to touch her, to reach into that circle with all the power at his disposal and bring her back to him…but his was a very fine balance…and that would tip it and end the peace he’d worked so hard to forge.
“I love you Dean.”
She was starting to fade and he stepped back, swallowing the emotion. When she was gone, he turned to the house, following his son up to his room. “Good birthday?”
Daniel smiled and nodded. “Great birthday.”
Dean kissed his forehead and tucked him into bed. “Make sure you let Sam think he’s teaching you something tomorrow, okay?”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “I know…don’t worry.”
“Show him that cave you and Kathy found. He’ll like that.”
“You sure you can’t come with us?”
“I have to stay and mind the diner…and keep an eye on your Aunt Jenny, that baby’s going to come any time now.”
“Two days, at least.” Daniel countered.
Dean smiled and nodded. “Yes, but she doesn’t know that.” He tucked the blankets in around him and stood. “Sleep.”
He sighed as he closed the door and crossed the hall. Sam sat in the chair by the window of his bedroom, looking out at the yard. “She really is beautiful.” Sam said softly, not really looking up. “And Daniel…he’s…perfect.”
Dean sat on the bed and sighed. Sam had been gone a long time this time, months, almost a year. Dean had waited for him…waited for the running and hunting to be done. He closed his eyes and breathed in the smell of family. “Will you stay?”
Sam turned, his green eyes haunted, but he nodded. “Yeah. I’ll stay.”
Dean held out his hand and after a slight hesitation, Sam stood, taking his hand and coming in close. The door closed as he leaned in to kiss Dean, his breath warm, his lips warmer still. Together they sank into the bed, melting against one another. The summer night was still, and their bodies hungry for touch.
He was twenty-eight years old when he made the decision to stop running. He was tired, beat to hell. He’d chased down demons and monsters for eight years and all he had to show for it was body marked with scars.
He watched his brother say good bye again to the wife he’d lost to the war between heaven and hell, felt his need…felt him let go of her when he could have wrested her back to him. Dean had come a long way since the night he’d killed Javal.
The first year was filled with fear and anguish and running to keep ahead of everything that came at them. Both sides wanted to kill them. Dean had tried over and over again to free them both of the gifts Javal had put inside them, but in the end, they both had to accept that this was who they were.
Dean dealt by settling down, striking a balance. He lived behind sigils and salt lines, and he stayed out of it all. In return, they left him alone. They watched. They murmured. But they left him alone.
Sam had dealt with it by hunting. Anything and everything. Moving. Staying one step ahead of whatever hunted him. It was exhausting. He breathed in deep and closed his eyes, listening as Dean came into the house, and tucked Daniel in. Down the hall his father snored. In the guest room above the diner, Jenny tossed, uncomfortable in the last stages of her pregnancy. He envied them.
“She really is beautiful.” Sam said softly when Dean had come to him. “And Daniel…he’s…perfect.”
Ten months he’d been gone. Ten months since he’d tasted Dean’s lips or felt his hands on his back. He wasn’t sure Dean wanted him…wasn’t sure of a lot of things…only that he was tired of running and he wanted something more.
“Will you stay?”
There was so much more in that question as Sam looked at Dean. There was desire, there was love…he wasn’t asking if Sam would stay in his bed tonight…although that was part of it. He was asking Sam if he was reading him right, that Sam was done, and home. He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I’ll stay.”
Dean held out his hand then and Sam went to him, pushing the door closed with a thought and reaching for his brother with his entire being. Hands both physical and psychic pushed at clothes and brushed over skin as they sank together, the edges blurring and the world disappearing.
“Sam.” Dean whispered his name and kissed over his neck, their bodies sliding together.
“Dean.” Sam held to him, as Dean sank into Sam. His body, his mind filling Sam with his want, his need…Sam echoed it back to him, letting go of the fear and the past and the scared little boy…that had pushed so hard for normal…finally letting Dean’s forgiveness wash through him, accepting it and forgiving himself.