Chapter Eight - Conclusion
Part one of the party was a sit down dinner with the family which Lilly always enjoyed even though in her realm it wasn't cool. Her siblings stood up and sang happy birthday to her after they brought in the cake. Lilly got up to hug each one though Cameron turned red as she kissed his cheek. Angel waited patiently for her hug and Lilly gave her an extra twirl around the room avoiding all the decorations. Sam and Cassie were proud of their daughter. Cassie inwardly sighed because her love for Sam was great but her desire for Dean to see his child wavered on days like these.
The passing of years was emotional for the entire family though they rarely spoke of it except in murmured whispers. Sam felt destined to be with Cassie after he had been with them for a few months. Several years into the relationship it had become second nature to have a family. He never had believed it could have fulfilled him quite so much in his hunting days. It was then that he would wish that Dean had the chance for such a life.
Second part of the party started as Lilly's friends arrived to play video games, eat snacks and watch movies until well after midnight. The older people as well as siblings had disappeared to an upstairs room for their own movie watching time.
Near one o'clock in the morning after the teens had left Cassie yawned as her eldest stopped by their room to thank them for the party. It hadn't been the most elegant or outlandish affair but she had enjoyed it.
"Thanks mom and dad," she said as Cassie held the door ajar with a smile.
"You are welcome."
"Good night," Sam said from inside the room.
Lilly laughed, she didn't think she would ever get tired of her parents shenanigans. It wasn't as though she didn't know what was going on inside the room. She was a teenager after all.
Lilly had the dream again that night after the party. She could see her father so clearly like he stood before her. The picture she had of him as a child had been replaced by ones Sam had given to her. There were a few of them together and a few of Dean that were unposed. She was grateful Sam had the good sense to get some pictures of them with disposable cameras over the years. She woke up with the sheets wrapped around her legs. She had to calm herself to untangle them. She stood up as though somehow that would break the spell of the dream. Angel wandered in the room.
"Hey what's wrong?"
"Go to bed," she said before she hugged her little sister. The poor kid had enough issues being a sensitive without her being mean.
"Lil?"
"Yeah I'm fine Angel; do you want me to take you to bed?"
She wiped her eyes before she nodded.
Lilly sighed, "Okay."
Several minutes later she returned to her own room to sit on the edge of the bed. She knew she should talk to at least Sam about the dreams. She had them several times a week even more when her parents talked about her father as though she had known him. She understood that they didn't want to hide things from her so she kept her mouth shut. She didn't want them to stop telling her things but at some point she had to express the ache it caused in her chest from not knowing him first hand.
The thoughts were rare and the stories even rarier though she her never wanting them to feel bad was what kept her quiet. She loved them too much and enjoyed her family as it was. She was her father's child without having met him but she had no idea. Her keen desire to protect with little thought of how it affected her was all Dean.
She crossed her legs before she bit her lips. There had to be a reason that she saw him so clearly unless it was just supposed to be a comfort or protection dream of sorts. She had read about them a few times over the years. People came in dreams to let you know they cared or were watching out for you.
She had liked that idea. To think that her father was somewhere watching over her was a comfort especially since she never met him in her life. She remembered that there had been another dream that night but its seemed more vivid like. She has spoken with him. It was half in her thoughts and half missing. She reached for a writing pad she kept near her bed. Thoughts seemed to fly away from her mind. "Crap," she muttered. She held the pen in her hand as she hit the pad with it. She took several deep breaths.
In past dreams Dean has said he wished he had known her and hoped she was well. Lilly had not wanted to dream of her father because she had heard her parents talking as a young girl and she knew earlier than she wanted that he had gone to hell. Tears welled up in her eyes at the thought of it. She had heard her mother crying as she and Sam talked of it. Everything she had heard of Dean made him sound so wonderful how could he be in hell?
Lilly had been given the sanitized version of his death to keep her sane she imagined. The dream memory returned. He had said, "If you ever need me I am here for you; always in your dreams."
She wrote it in her book with a smile on her face. That was her father the man she never knew but he had been in her dreams. She thought she had nothing to worry about with Sam as her earthly father and her real father in the other world she was set for life. Being sixteen was going to be a good year for her.
-Sam held Cassie in his arms in their room. Over the years he had learned to enjoy his lot in life not because he didn't actually like it but because he didn' feel worthy at all. On a normal day he still got up checking devils traps that were all over the house. He knew Cassie put up with it because it made him feel safe but it also kept him sane. He refused to get involved in the world they lived that he would forget there was another world so close to them that he felt was just waiting to pounce on them.
Cassie moved in his arms to look up at him, "You think so loud, Sam, what's wrong?" she asked with a smile at him.
"Nothing, absolutely nothing, its all perfect and I am glad," he said before he leaned down to smother her face with kisses.
The next morning Cassie and Sam went down stairs to find the triplets at the kitchen window looking out at the Impala. Cameron and Jade stood side by side mesmerised while Angel was closer to the door as though she might be considering going outside.
The sun shone bright on the big black car that Sam used from time to time mostly to keep it in good working order. Sam noticed the car needed a wash badly as he leaned near the window to see what was going on.
"Lilly is in the car," Angel informed him from near his leg, he looked down at her with a wink.
"Why?" Cassie asked as though for some reason the three in the house had an insight into their older sister's acitivities. Cassie could only guess it had much to do with turning a year older.
"I saw her get in there earlier," Angel provided with a look at her mother.
Cassie wondered all the information the child had regarding her sister but she didn't feel it was right to put that responsibility on one so young. She ran her fingers over Angels hair as she stood near her.
"I'll get her," Sam said as he opened the back door.
He walked slowly near the vehicle and peeked in the backseat. It was a flash of the first time that he had found her in the car more than thirteen years ago that he saw. A little curly haired girl cuddled up with a pillow in the leather back seat of her daddy's car. He smiled to himself as the present day Lilly seemed to move closer to the pillow she held; her long legs stretched out.
He tapped on the window lightly. Lilly moved away from the pillow before she let out a big yawn.
Sam opened the door and got in the front seat. "Are you okay?" he asked with the voice of years of being Lilly's surrogate father. It was kind and endearing to her.
"I'm better uncle Sam. I have been having dreams about...about Dean. If I sleep in the car I don't get them," she said as she straightened up on the back seat before she looked at him. She never wanted him to believe she didn't appreciate him or not love him like a dad.
"You might have to find another way of dealing with the dreams, they aren't bad are they?"
"No they are wonderful and I can feel his love for me. I just tend to stay awake after, I mean I don't need much sleep but..."
Sam shifted in the seat to look at her full on. "This car is your birthday gift if you want it..." he began.
"No Way!"
"After you get your license of course..maybe then the dreams will change some how I am only guessing he tried to say before she smothered him with kisses all over his face while she hugged him across the seat.
Cassie laughed while she watched them from inside just before the kids all burst out the door. They could see or feel the happiness of the two in the Impala; they wanted to join in.
"Thank you so much, but I will need a job just to take care of this piece of junk," she teased him.
"Yeah its getting old but with upkeep and patience it will last a few more years. As far as a job well talk to your mother about some leads she had on that one.
Cassie walked up to the driver side door and tapped on it so Sam would open it.
"Is the party in here?"
"Yeah another party," Angel said as she did a little dance near the door.
They all laughed, she wasn't usually so outgoing. Jade and Cameron joined in with their own dancing Cassie, Sam and Lilly could only shake their heads.
There was never a dull moment at the Winchester house.
The End.