In Which Ben Wakes Up in a Different World...
Ben started awake at the sound of a gunshot and sat up straight. He looked around the room with foggy eyes until they settled on the television that was still on across the room. He looked back at the desk, picked up the remote that was there, then turned and turned the television off. The clock on top of the television read 3:51am, and he yawned as he got up, leaving the pile of books behind on the desk.
He looked around, then saw the soft light coming from one of the doorways. Something felt off, but he was figuring that he had spent the night up cramming again and that was clouding his judgment. He yawned again, then made his way into the bedroom. A shape was already sleeping, curled up in the covers as he slid into bed. He wrapped his arms around the warm body, then closed his eyes to go to sleep...
... only to have them fly open as he stared around the bedroom the next morning, wondering just where the hell he was. He didn't recognize the place at all, and it sure as hell wasn't the motel that he had just been staying in. Hell, he wasn't even in his own clothing...
He was out of bed in an instant, looking for some shoes or something to make a quick getaway when he stopped at seeing the picture on top of the dresser. He grabbed it and looked, not believing his eyes. Mom... and Dad... with him and Alec as teenagers. In front of his home in Cicero... the home that burnt down before Ben even knew about Dean being his father or about Alec at all.
"This isn't possible..."
"Mmmm," Anna sighed softly as she rolled over in bed next to her. She shivered slightly at the loss of body heat next to her, and she rolled over to face him, looking back at him with a bit of a pout. "Ben, come back to bed. We don't have to be at your Dad's for a few hours."
Turning slowly, he looked at Anna in the bed. It was Anna all right, but Dad... "I don't want to go there," he stated. Why would they be going there when he didn't even know where he was.
She blinked at him again, before sitting up slightly. "Ben, what are you talking about? It's his birthday. And you love going to see your parents. Everyone's going to be there."
"How? Anna, my folks are dead."
Anna's eyebrows went up, before her eyes narrowed slightly. "Did you hit your head or something?" Her voice was more concerned, than anything else. Ben's parents were far from dead, and they would be very worried to hear him say that. "Your parents aren't dead, Ben. They've been married for like -- twenty something years. I mean, yeah, there was a bit of a scare with your dad and the accident, but both he and the Impala are fine." And at that, she smirked. "In fact, I think Dean was more worried about her than he was his own health."
He looked at the picture in his hands again, the words not matching the memories. and he shook his head. "No, Mom was in a car accident on my birthday..."
"No, babe, she wasn't," Anna shook her head, starting to climb out of bed, and placing her hands on his arms lightly. "Ben, are you okay?"
He looked up at her, his eyes so confused. "I don't know. This doesn't feel real. Nothing's like what I remember..."
"Okay, it's okay. Look, c'mere," she sighed, taking his hand and pulling him back towards the bed and sitting him down. "Just sit with me, take a couple deep breaths, we'll figure this out, alright?"
Ben nodded, putting the picture down and following her. The only thing that felt right here was Anna and how she worried about him. "I feel like I'm going crazy. I'm not even sure where I am..."
"We're not far from Stanford," she said softly, sitting down Indian style next to him. "Where you go to school."
"Stanford... I'm at engineering school still?" Another thing that was sorta right. Misplaced, but it was right.
"Yeah," she said with a nod. "Doing pretty well, too."
"And Mom and Dad...?" Dad's birthday was in January. It couldn't be January already... it was just April...
"Alive, well and happy. They moved out here around when your uncle Sam got the job teaching at Stanford. You know Sam and your dad -- they can't live more than two towns from each other or else they go nuts. Plus you were going to school here, and Alec got stationed out here -- so it worked. Everybody was close except your grandparents, but they love that house in Lawrence too much."
Sam... teaching? "And how did you end up here?" He turned to look at her, wondering if in this crazy dream, they were still the same as they had always been.
"Well, you and Alec were going down to Miami Beach, Amy's car broke down on the side of the road, you boys slowed down and offered a ride to the pretty model and her best friend?" she gave him a bit of a grin at that. "You don't remember any of this?"
Ben smiled a bit. "You hitchhiked." Yeah, that was familiar. "And Amy... with Alec still?"
"Uh-huh. She's looks like she's about ready to pop too," Anna said with a bit of a laugh. "You know, I gotta give your brother some credit. I didn't think anyone would get her to put on any weight for any reason, but the two of them are downright domestic."
"Well, he always was big on family..." It felt nice... but still not right. More like he wanted it to be right, but not sure if it was. He relaxed a bit, leaning back into her arms a bit more. "It just seems weird. Like a dream..."
"I always thought they were a little weird too," Anna said with a nod, resting her chin on his shoulder. "Regardless of the fact that Marines were always her type, I didn't think she'd settle down for anyone."
"Neither did I." Marines... no, that wasn't right. Wasn't it? Alec was a military guy, but... He shook his head and just curled up into her, turning to look up at her face. "Maybe I'm just getting sick or something. Things just feel off."
She moved her hand against the top of his head, checking him to see if there was a fever. "You don't feel warm -- but you might be right." Then she turned to face him with a bit of a sigh. "You should probably just go back to bed like I said. Otherwise, your cousins are gonna kill you in whatever sport you four decide to entertain yourselves with." It tended to be tackle football. Just because Michael claimed he needed the practice.
Cousins? "Yeah, can't be the weak one now, can I?" He stretched back out on the bed, looking up at her. He was so confused as to what the hell was going on.
Anna moved to stretch out next to him, letting her chin rest on his chest and looked back at him. She could still see the confusion in his eyes and she didn't know what to do to fix it. "Are you sure something didn't happen? Or you didn't get hurt?"
"Last thing I remember was at a gas station..." He rubbed his eyes. "Then I was pushed and there was this blue light...' He laughed a bit. "I know I sound crazy now."
"Yeah, little bit," she said with a bit of a teasing grin, before leaning in to kiss him gently. "Why were you at a gas station? We barely drive as it is..."
"I thought someone was in danger."
"So why didn't you call the cops or something?"
"I... I don't know. I guess I thought I could handle it myself."
She sighed slightly. "Don't make me start worrying about you too, okay? It's bad enough Amy wants to drag your brother to Canada every time it looks like his unit is going to get called up."
"Guess we both just take after Dad."
"Guess so," she replied, before tilting her head to rest against his shoulder. "Just be careful when you're trying to go rescue people. I don't want you getting hurt."
"I'm always careful." Ben closed his eyes. "What time do we have to meet my dad?"
"Party starts at two, so we've got time."
"Good." He snuggled into her. "I've missed you."
"I only went to Colorado," she sighed, curling into him as well. "You could have come with me."
Colorado. Mama. He smiled a bit. "Well, sometimes you just need time with your family. How's Mama?"
"She's good. She's got a couple new kids around, and Gina and Noah brought the baby by, so it was nice to see them."
"Has Blake grown any?"
"Like a freakin' weed. He gets bigger every time I see him. I swear, they have to be feeding him growth hormones."
"Yeah, well Noah's always been a bit overprotective of Blake." Things were starting to feel right now and he yawned. "I think you're right and I need to get some more sleep."
She shifted up, kissing the top of his head lightly, before nodding. "I'll wake you up with enough time to get ready, okay?"
"Okay." He smiled up at her. "I love you."
"Love you too," she said with a grin, before curling in closer.
Holding her close, he watched the wall behind her a moment, trying to figure out just what was going on in his head. However, nothing was making sense. If this was a dream, he wouldn't have these ideas... unless... maybe the thing with the demons and stuff was just one big nightmare? But it had felt so real...
Maybe Dad would be able to clear things up? Yeah. Ben closed his eyes, content to wait until he could talk to his father later and see what was going on.
***
The new Winchester house was rather large, but that was mostly because Dean had put a lot of work into it. When they first bought it, it had needed a lot of upkeep, but Dean didn't mind getting his hands dirty, and slowly but surely it started to look more and more like a house. They added on a floor, furnished all the rooms, and while Lisa claimed that it still wasn't done and never would be, it was still a pretty fantastic place for a mechanic and a yoga teacher to be living. The front yard had a large garden and a thick green lawn, with a wide driveway already stocked with cars and people milling around.
As Ben and Anna pulled up to the driveway, Lisa and Ruby were talking in front of the house. Lisa had a cup of soda in her hand while Ruby had a five year-old girl with light brown hair sitting on her hip, resting her head on her mother's shoulder lightly.
Ben got out of the car first and just leaned against the passenger door. He blinked, as the house was very familiar, and he added it to the list that this was his reality. But when he saw his mother, standing there alive and smiling, all other thoughts left his mind as he just stared at her.
Ruby was the one who turned first, giving them both a bright smile. "Well, look who finally showed up."
Lisa turned as well, giving Ben a bright smile, before tilting her head to the side slightly when she saw the look on his face. "Ben, you alright?"
Ben didn't say anything, just walked over and gave her a tight hug, holding onto her like he hadn't seen her in years. Because he felt like he hadn't inside. He had seen her die in his arms. And here she was in front of him. It wasn't possible.
Lisa was caught a bit off guard by the hug, but Ruby managed to grab her soda before it spilled, and after a minute she was relaxing and sliding her arms around her oldest rubbing his back lightly. "If you miss me so much, you should come by the house more often," she teased lightly.
Ben pulled away a bit, looking up at his mother as he bit his lip. His eyes were wet with tears he was doing his best not to shead. "I really should. It feels like... I dunno. I really miss you Mom."
Lisa watched him carefully for a moment, before moving her hand and brushing it lightly against the side of his face, before turning him back towards the other person who was there. She would talk to him later. Right now, they weren't really alone. "Don't be rude, Ben. Say hello to your aunt and your cousin."
Rubbing the back of his neck, he turned to look at Ruby. "Hey Ruby." Because calling her Aunt Ruby just doesn't feel right. Then he saw the little girl and was confused because he had no idea who she was. But she looked like Ruby but with a bit of Sam in her. "Wow, you and Sam had a kid?"
Ruby stared at him for a minute. "Sam and I had three kids," she sighed slightly, before nudging her daughter lightly. "C'mon Olivia, say hi to your cousin Ben." Olivia only blinked at Ben for a moment, then buried her head further into her mother's shoulder, and Ruby rolled her eyes. "Alright, party pooper. You're going back to your dad. I swear, Sam's the only one who can get anything out of her these days."
Ben's eyes widened a moment, then he covered it like Dean always did when he had forgotten something and was acting like he didn't. He snorted and shrugged his shoulder. "I knew that. I was just teasing, thinking you had another one. Every time I see you, it's a new kid. I'll take her to Sam."
Awkward, yes. At least the kid would be silent and not ask Ben questions he didn't know the answers to.
"Uh-huh," Ruby looked at him for a moment, before shifting and starting to hand her daughter over. Olivia didn't seem all that keen to go at first, but she wasn't going to complain if the end result was what she wanted. "I think he's out on the porch with your dad and the grill. Don't let them set themselves on fire."
"That's an option?" Ben smiled, holding Olivia in a similar fashion as how Ruby had held her, and he looked at her. He still felt like he had never met her before, but she was adorable. "Shall we go find our Dads, Olivia?" he asked in a cheerful voice, then looked over at Anna to see if she was going to join them.
"I'll follow you in a sec," Anna said with a nod, the look from the two women in front of her telling her that she wasn't going anywhere. Olivia, on the other hand, just looked at him before turning around and resting her chin on his shoulder, looking back at the front yard.
"Please don't let them set themselves on fire," Lisa sighed, before looking back at him. "I'd like to have one of your father's birthdays that didn't involve a trip to the emergency room."
"If you didn't want them to set themselves on fire, you would cater the parties." Ben smiled and leaned in to kiss Anna's cheek, then started off to find where his Dad and Sam would be starting the next neighborhood fire. He leaned his head against Olivia's a moment, smiling. "You know, you can talk to me. I promise I'll listen."
And all that particular comment got him was her sticking her tongue out and letting out a slow pbbbbbbbbbbbth.
"Oh really? You know what they say about what the appropriate response to someone sticking out a tongue is?" He shifted her a bit and kissed her on the cheek. "It's them asking for a kiss." No, Ben was not aware of just what this might do for Olivia's social life for the rest of her existence, but it was a good way to reciprocate to him.
"Ewwwwwww," she squirmed, trying to get away from him as she rubbed at her cheek. "Gross."
"You're the one who asked for it." He smiled and tickled her a bit as he rounded the corner of the house. He was able to see Dean and Sam on the porch with the grill. Well, Dean with the grill and Sam standing behind him and away with a beer as he supervised from a safe distance.
"Mom wanted me to warn you not to set yourself on fire," Ben shouted. They both looked good. Healthy. Happy. It made him smile.
Dean gave his son a look over his shoulder, before snorting slightly. "I can handle working a grill, thank you. I've been doing it for a while now."
On the sight of Sam, Olivia started to squirm even more, turning around in Ben's arms and reaching out for her father. "Daddy!"
Sam put his beer down, coming to meet Ben as he saved him from the squirming mass that was his youngest. "Hey Princess. You wanna come tell Uncle Dean how you want your hot dog?" Sam kissed her forehead, then looked at Ben. "How are you, Ben? Classes going well?"
"I guess. Woke up with my head buried in a book at 3am this morning..." Ben wasn't really sure how his classes were going, but that could work as an excuse. He followed Sam up onto the porch and leaned against the rail, just watching his father. Something in his heart tugged at how this was not really something Dean-like, but much better. "Mom doesn't want you spending another birthday in the ER apparently."
Olivia just clung to her father for a moment, before looking over at Ben as she whispered in Sam's ear, everything about her telling him that she felt like Ben had committed a capital crime. "He kissed me."
"Hey! Last year? Wasn't my fault. That was all him," Dean pointed the tongs in his hand back at his brother before going back to turning the hot dogs. "He was the one who's clumsy ass knocked me down a flight of stairs."
"Well, he's your cousin and he can do that... as long as it's on the cheek." Sam smiled at her, tickling her gently and then pulling her into his lap as he sat down on the rocking swing. Then he held his hands up innocently. "Sure, Dean, and it had nothing to do with the huge box that you were carrying down to show Alec all of the war memorabilia you got at that yard sale for him."
"You're the one who backed into me, Sammy," Dean replied, giving him a look. "I needed stitches -- nearly gave Mom a heart attack."
Olivia didn't look at all pleased with Sam's answer, but she didn't voice it, just leaned back against him and got comfortable in his lap.
Sam just shook his head, using his legs to start swinging the seat back and forth gently. "Whatever you say, Dean. You lived, and that's all that matters."
"Where is Alec anyway?" Ben asked, looking around. "I haven't seen him or Amy yet..."
That, apparently was Alec's cue. He came out onto the porch carrying a large bowl of salad. "Mom had Amy and I on salad duty. You know her. There has to be something healthy involved." He set the bowl on the table at the end of the porch where the rest of the food was slowly accumulating.
"Making salad. Much more work than it probably should be," Amy said with a sigh as she followed him out, one hand on her very pregnant stomach as she sat down on one of the benches near the table, before giving Ben a grin. "Hey, honey. When'd you get here?"
Ben's eyes widened. Wow, Amy was VERY pregnant. That he wasn't expecting. He managed to blink away his shock though. "We... uh... We just got here. Anna's up front talking to Mom and Ruby." Yeah, the shock wasn't disappearing. "... I really need to come around more often."
Sam just chuckled, rocking back and forth as he sang a song to Olivia, lost in their own little world.
Alec leaned on the rail next to Amy's shoulder. "I've been telling you that for months. But does anyone listen to me?" Jinx came trotting out of the door then licking his chops from something he undoubtedly stole from the kitchen, and settled between Amy and Alec. Where either could pet him easily.
"You'd be upset if they did," Amy teased, patting his leg lightly before moving over to scratch Jinx behind the ears. "Then no one would ever tell you you were right."
"Your mom says that all the time too," Dean nodded, closing the grill to give the burgers some time to cook. "She misses having you around, ya know."
"Hey, she's the one who wanted me to go to college," Ben pointed out, smiling a bit. "I'm almost done. I think."
Alec snorted, "You only think? A little late to change your major, dude."
"Let him be," Amy sighed. "You know, the average is that people finish college in six years now. Or at least that's what I read. Do you know how much reading you can do when you're too huge and bloated to work?"
"I wouldn't know," Ben stated. "How many do you have in there, anyway?" Behind him, Sam winced from his spot. Not a good question to ask. He learned that from experience.
"You aren't huge, or bloated. You do all that yoga and arobics for pregnant women. There isn't an ounce of spare weight on you." He looked up at Ben, "And you," He pointed, "Don't tease her about it."
"You're sweet," Amy said, looking back up at her husband. "And you're supposed to say that if you ever want to have sex with me again. As for your question," she turned back to Ben with a sigh. "There's only one. It just seems to have received the dominant Winchester genes of being huge."
"Hey, I was a small baby," Sam shouted from his spot. "The height came later. Dean, however, was a porker apparently." Because yes, you were supposed to poke fun at the birthday boy.
Ben chuckled. "I was always told I was cute and tiny."
"You understand that no matter what any of you say, I'll side with my wife. As far as I'm concerned you were all huge babies." He was trying not to laugh.
"So he or she's got Dean's genes. Either way, it's bad news for me," Amy laughed, while Dean just gave them both looks over his shoulder.
"Alright, who's ready to eat?"
"When aren't any of us?" Sam picked Olivia up, aiming to go get her a hot dog. "Michael!" He looked past Dean where his eldest was. "Go find your sister and mother and tell them that if they want to eat, they had better hurry up."
Ben followed Sam's eyesight, now just picking out the teenager that again, he didn't know recognize beyond the fact that he was almost a perfect match to Sam is he was that age.
Alec looked down at Amy. "You want me to get your plate." She wasn't an invalid, but she was extremely pregnant, so he was trying to be a good husband. Since this was his fault anyway. Or so she said.
"Please," she said with a smile. "A cheeseburger. I can fix the rest of it over here."
"Sure, Dad," Michael sighed, before turning and shouting after his sister. "Hey Fart Face! Food!" With that, he disappeared around the corner of the house to get his mom and aunt.
Dean smirked at his nephew, before turning back to his niece. "And what do you want on your hot dog, sweetheart?"
"Ketchup," she said with a nod. "And mustard."
"I'm not a fart face, booger head!" a voice came from a tree and a head popped out upside-down from the branches. Sam's middle child then did a flip over the branch to land on her feet, a trick her gymnastics class had taught her. She then took off in a run for where everyone was, doing a cartwheel until she was on the other side of the grill from Dean and smiled brightly. "I want a double cheeseburger with fries!" she stated with a big grin while talking to Dean like he was a guy at a McDonalds drive-thru.
"Mary..."
"Dad, it's Parker," Mary Parker Winchester pouted at her father. "I hate Mary."
"That's your grandmother's name," Sam reminded her as he took the hot dog from his brother and got Olivia settled at the table in her booster seat. "You shouldn't hate it."
"I don't want grandma's name. There are ten other Mary's at school and they are all mean and I don't want to be like them."
Ben didn't move from his spot against the railing, instead just watching the controlled chaos around him from a distance.
Dean served up the double cheeseburger for Parker, but gave her a look as he did. "No fries, but there are potato chips over there by Amy. And don't do gymnastics stuff around the grill, alright? Aunt Lisa said no trips to the emergency room."
"That's right. We're having a hospital free day for once," Lisa said as she came around the side of the house with Michael and the other women.
"You're no fun." Parker wrinkled her nose in disapproval and went over to the table and sat next to Amy, closer to the chips, and took a BIG handful.
Sam looked over at his older daughter. "Mary..." he sighed at the glare from his daughter, "... Parker, what do you say to your uncle?"
"Thank you Uncle Dean," Parker muttered, then grabbed the ketchup before Michael could and took her time putting it on her burger and then a pile for her chips.
Ruby rolled her eyes at her middle child before heading over towards her husband. "How did all our kids wind up hating the world?"
"Hey!" Michael said, his mouth full of the burger he'd just gotten from his uncle. "I'm gof wit the world."
Ruby looked back at him before turning back to Sam. "Okay, I take it back. Two of them hate the world, one of them just has no manners."
Sam leaned over and kissed Ruby quickly. "The girls take after you, and Dean babysat Michael too much growing up," he reasoned. Obviously none of this was his fault.
Lisa laughed as she went up to help Dean, which consisted of just wrapping her arms around his chest and kissing his shoulder. "You shouldn't be working. It's your birthday."
"It's not work," he replied, turning and kissing the top of her head before going back to the grill. "Besides, if I trust it to this one, we definitely will end up in the emergency room." By 'this one' he meant Sam.
Lisa chuckled and pushed away to get herself a plate. "We learned that lesson a few years ago. Maybe you should relinquish the grill to one of your sons one day..."
Ben just kept his spot on the railing, listening to all the conversations. It was his entire family, together and happy and it was just perfect. Some part of him thought it was too perfect, it wasn't going to last, it was all a lie, and for a moment he let himself fall back to wonder why he would even think that. Didn't he want everything to be perfect for his family? What was causing him to second guess this good life?
"Maybe," Dean said with a shrug, before moving to serve Ruby, Anna and Sam as well. "Maybe not. I'm happy to do it."
Anna collected her hot dog from Dean, before making her way over to Ben and giving him a bit of a nudge. "Aren't you hungry?"
Sam sat on the bench next to Parker, making enough room for Ruby to sit basically in his lap, and reached over to grab the ketchup from his daughter for his food. she glared at him, and Sam smirked and playfully stuck his tongue out at her.
Lisa shook her head. "Not saying that you aren't. You do a wonderful job. You're just not the most careful and cautious person. I plan on turning old with you, Winchester, which means you need to get old too."
Ben smiled and looked at Anna. "I'm good. His arms free, he could pull her a bit closer to lean against him. "Couldn't ask for anything better."
"Okay," she said with a nod, before leaning into him.
Ruby took the seat Sam offered, and shoved lightly at her son's shoulder as he made a face over his burger. "Can you two not completely rob me of my appetite," he groaned, giving them a look. "I'm trying to eat here."
"Maybe if you rearranged your face, the rest of us wouldn't be sick looking at you," Parker said over the table at her brother.
"Hey, both of you quiet down or neither of you get any desert," Sam stated firmly. "You both remember what your best behavior is, right? Time to show it."
"Besides, I gave birth to all of you," Ruby replied, sliding her arm around her husband's neck. "Which means I get to be as nauseating as I want, and you just have to put up with it."
Sam smiled, wrapping his free arm around Ruby's waist to keep her close as he used the other to pick up a potato chip and feed it to her. Yes, he enjoyed torturing his children just as much as they did him.
Ben leaned down a bit to whisper in Anna's ear, "Why is it we're not married yet?" he asked softly.
"Oh, come on," Dean said, making a face as he grabbed his own plate and turned off the grill. "None of us want to see that."
Anna's eyebrows just went up, and she stared back at Ben with a confused look. "Because we're -- not?" A pause. "Is that your way of trying to ask me something?" Because now, and that way, in her opinion, really wasn't the time or way.
Ben leaned back innocently, a small smile on his face. "No, just asking, that's all."
Sam gave Dean a look. "Oh come on, I was still a teenager and force to watch you Lisa to that all the time when you first got together. You'll live."
Lisa sat next to Dean and gave him a look. "I actually miss it sometimes," she not so subtly hinted.
"Think of the little ones, Sammy," Dean teased, before nodding over at Olivia, who had her half eaten hot dog in front of her and both hands covering her eyes.
"Are you guys done making kissy faces yet?"
Sam sighed dramatically, giving Ruby an apologetic look. "You'd think they'd be grateful we're a big, loving family. They could have it a lot worse, ya know."
Parker looked over at her sister, then reached across the table to steal her pickle.
"Olivia, honey, it's safe to look," Amy sighed, before turning back to her own food. "And don't look at me, Sam -- I don't mind."
"I'll just make it up to her later when the kids are asleep," Sam said with a smirk.
"Ewwwww..." Parker whined as she finished the pickle.
Ben watched a moment longer, then slid off the railing. "I guess I should eat if everyone else is."
Alec was getting his own plate ready and had stolen an unclaimed hot dog for the wounder mutt. "Uh yeah. Before the kids steal all the food. You can't afford to be any thinner." He stole the ketchup and applied it to his burger.
"I'm sure Lisa would agree with that," Anna nodded before moving to sit at the table.
"I just don't get hungry," Ben pointed out, getting a single hot dog and sat down at the table. "And I like to play baseball, so I need to stay fit."
"Which lets you know which of our genes he takes from," Lisa smiled as she watched her husband eat.
Alec gave his brother a mock indignant face. "Are you saying I'm fat. I think I'm hurt."
Ben smirked, but shrugged innocently. "You're the one complaining about salads."
"That's because I'm svelt already. I don't need health food." And like a truly mature individual and expecting father that he was, he stuck his tongue out at his brother.
Ben was about to retort when Olivia scrunched up her nose. "Eww! Daddy, now they have to kiss," she said loudly to Sam who looked at her, then at Ben who suddenly was not looking at anyone in particular.
"I. . .what?" Alec gave his youngest cousin a confused look.
Olivia's hands were over her eyes and she cringed. "Ben said that if someone sticks their tongue out you have to kiss 'em."
Sam chuckled and looked down at the middle child. "Looks like you owe me a kiss then."
"No More Kissing!" Parker stated, crossing her arms and shaking her head.
"Oh no, I'm not kissing that thing," Ben tossed a pretzel at Alec. "I don't know where it's been."
Alec first tried to catch the pretzel in his mouth and when he missed he tossed a chip. "Hey, that's my wife your talking about."
"But you still don't want to know where it's been," she teased.
"Alright, children. Don't make me separate you two like I had to when you were kids." Lisa smiled, moving the pretzels and the chips away from Alec and Ben.
Ben gave a fake pout. "He started it."
Alec match it exactly. "Did not!"
Dean just shook his head at his son. "Split the blame. Always works out better for both of you that way."
"60/40?" Which of course meant Alec got the 60, because that was how Ben thought.
Alec made a scoffing noise. "50/50."
Ben just waved him off in a whatever motion and reached for a pickle. Lisa chuckled and kissed Dean's cheek. "That, however, they get from you and your brother." She got up to go get a refill on her drink.
Alec grinned unrepentantly at his mother. "And you thought the behavior adorable enough to marry and have two kids with the man."
"Staying married to me is the important part," Dean said with a grin. "Because that was adorable twenty-five years ago when you're eighteen, nineteen."
"Yes, well you boys are just lucky that there are women out there who will put up with your antics. It will give you both reassurance when you have kids that they will be accepted as human beings." Lisa was behind Michael and leaned down to kiss the top of his head. "It's not their fault they got the genes."
Parker pointed at her brother and laughed. "You're a freak!"
Alec gave Amy a peck on the cheek. "You'll still think I'm adorable when we're 90, right?"
She grinned a bit before nodding. "Old and wrinkly, but still adorable."
Michael on the other hand, just looked up at his aunt, before shooting a glare at his sister. "Shut up!"
Parker made a face at her brother, then looked up at her parents with an innocent face. "I'm done, can I be 'scused?"
Sam sighed. "Sure, go on."
Parker beamed and scrambled to get up and head back towards her tree. "Don't climb the trees!" Sam shouted after her.
"Excuse me, I'll be right back," Ben said, getting up and starting towards the house. Nature called.
Alec watched his brother leave, feeling a little bit concerned, but he tried to shake it off and instead fed a bit of hotdog to Jinx under the table.
Amy shifted slightly so that she was leaning against him a bit before looking at him. "What is it?"
"Ben's acting weird. Just a little." He shrugged. "Maybe it's me?"
***
Wandering into the house, Ben had to stop. The inside didn't match the outside, at least not in his head. Everything was new and warm and homey, and he had been expecting something... not so much. He wandered into the living room and looked at all the pictures on the mantel, smiling at pictures of him and Alec through the years. He didn't remember any of these events though; like the one of him and Alec as teenagers getting ready for a fishing trip... or them as kids with Dean going to a ball game... or him in a tux with some girl at what he assumed was his prom. Other pictures like Sam and Ruby on their wedding day, Alec's military picture and then his wedding picture; Sam's kids through various points. A picture of Ben and Anna at some beach together.
"Ben, are you ok?"
Ben turned and saw his mother standing there. He nodded, putting the picture down. "I don't know, Mom. It feels like I'm in some kind of dream. This life... I don't remember it."
Lisa took Ben's hand and led him to the couch, sitting him down as she reached up to check his head for a fever. "What do you mean you don't remember?"
"Exactly that, Mom. Nothing's what I remember. Last thing I remember was that had had died, Dad died, and I was some kind of freak..."
"Shhh," Lisa pulled Ben close, kissing his forehead. "Baby, it's ok. You just had a bad nightmare again, that's all."
"Nightmare?"
"Yes. You used to get really bad ones when you were little. It sometimes took Dean hours to convince you that everything was fine and there wasn't any monsters or demons trying to hurt you." She pulled him closer, smoothing hair on Ben's head. "You stopped getting them when you were seven, and we never mentioned them to keep them from happening again."
"So it's just a nightmare?"
"Yes, sweetie. Just a very long, scary nightmare. It'll haunt you for a few more days, but eventually you'll forget it and then it'll seem funny that it even bothered you this much. And the things you don't think you remember will come back."
Ben bit his lip, then leaned back and looked at his mother. "What did I dream about as a kid?"
Lisa thought for a moment, then nodded. "You had a really bad one where you thought these little creatures kidnapped you and locked you in a cage, and then pretended to be you so that they could kill me. I forgot what you called them..."
"... changelings?"
She snapped her finger. "That's it."
"But... that happened."
"No, it didn't. The only time you've even gotten lost was the one time you decided to walk yourself to the park and the mailman brought you home. That's it."
"Really?"
"Would I lie to you?" Lisa kissed his cheek again, then got up. "You can ask your Dad too. He'll remember it. I think he aged 10 years when we couldn't find you, and then you and Mr. Jenkins came strolling up the street with you in your pamper. He almost got a GPS chip installed into your shoes after that." Checking over the pictures, she started for the door. "I'm going to go back out before the others get worried. Don't be too long, ok?"
"Sure Mom." He watched her leave, then got up and stared at one of the family pictures. Yeah, it had to be a bad dream, that's all.
He looked around, then saw the soft light coming from one of the doorways. Something felt off, but he was figuring that he had spent the night up cramming again and that was clouding his judgment. He yawned again, then made his way into the bedroom. A shape was already sleeping, curled up in the covers as he slid into bed. He wrapped his arms around the warm body, then closed his eyes to go to sleep...
... only to have them fly open as he stared around the bedroom the next morning, wondering just where the hell he was. He didn't recognize the place at all, and it sure as hell wasn't the motel that he had just been staying in. Hell, he wasn't even in his own clothing...
He was out of bed in an instant, looking for some shoes or something to make a quick getaway when he stopped at seeing the picture on top of the dresser. He grabbed it and looked, not believing his eyes. Mom... and Dad... with him and Alec as teenagers. In front of his home in Cicero... the home that burnt down before Ben even knew about Dean being his father or about Alec at all.
"This isn't possible..."
"Mmmm," Anna sighed softly as she rolled over in bed next to her. She shivered slightly at the loss of body heat next to her, and she rolled over to face him, looking back at him with a bit of a pout. "Ben, come back to bed. We don't have to be at your Dad's for a few hours."
Turning slowly, he looked at Anna in the bed. It was Anna all right, but Dad... "I don't want to go there," he stated. Why would they be going there when he didn't even know where he was.
She blinked at him again, before sitting up slightly. "Ben, what are you talking about? It's his birthday. And you love going to see your parents. Everyone's going to be there."
"How? Anna, my folks are dead."
Anna's eyebrows went up, before her eyes narrowed slightly. "Did you hit your head or something?" Her voice was more concerned, than anything else. Ben's parents were far from dead, and they would be very worried to hear him say that. "Your parents aren't dead, Ben. They've been married for like -- twenty something years. I mean, yeah, there was a bit of a scare with your dad and the accident, but both he and the Impala are fine." And at that, she smirked. "In fact, I think Dean was more worried about her than he was his own health."
He looked at the picture in his hands again, the words not matching the memories. and he shook his head. "No, Mom was in a car accident on my birthday..."
"No, babe, she wasn't," Anna shook her head, starting to climb out of bed, and placing her hands on his arms lightly. "Ben, are you okay?"
He looked up at her, his eyes so confused. "I don't know. This doesn't feel real. Nothing's like what I remember..."
"Okay, it's okay. Look, c'mere," she sighed, taking his hand and pulling him back towards the bed and sitting him down. "Just sit with me, take a couple deep breaths, we'll figure this out, alright?"
Ben nodded, putting the picture down and following her. The only thing that felt right here was Anna and how she worried about him. "I feel like I'm going crazy. I'm not even sure where I am..."
"We're not far from Stanford," she said softly, sitting down Indian style next to him. "Where you go to school."
"Stanford... I'm at engineering school still?" Another thing that was sorta right. Misplaced, but it was right.
"Yeah," she said with a nod. "Doing pretty well, too."
"And Mom and Dad...?" Dad's birthday was in January. It couldn't be January already... it was just April...
"Alive, well and happy. They moved out here around when your uncle Sam got the job teaching at Stanford. You know Sam and your dad -- they can't live more than two towns from each other or else they go nuts. Plus you were going to school here, and Alec got stationed out here -- so it worked. Everybody was close except your grandparents, but they love that house in Lawrence too much."
Sam... teaching? "And how did you end up here?" He turned to look at her, wondering if in this crazy dream, they were still the same as they had always been.
"Well, you and Alec were going down to Miami Beach, Amy's car broke down on the side of the road, you boys slowed down and offered a ride to the pretty model and her best friend?" she gave him a bit of a grin at that. "You don't remember any of this?"
Ben smiled a bit. "You hitchhiked." Yeah, that was familiar. "And Amy... with Alec still?"
"Uh-huh. She's looks like she's about ready to pop too," Anna said with a bit of a laugh. "You know, I gotta give your brother some credit. I didn't think anyone would get her to put on any weight for any reason, but the two of them are downright domestic."
"Well, he always was big on family..." It felt nice... but still not right. More like he wanted it to be right, but not sure if it was. He relaxed a bit, leaning back into her arms a bit more. "It just seems weird. Like a dream..."
"I always thought they were a little weird too," Anna said with a nod, resting her chin on his shoulder. "Regardless of the fact that Marines were always her type, I didn't think she'd settle down for anyone."
"Neither did I." Marines... no, that wasn't right. Wasn't it? Alec was a military guy, but... He shook his head and just curled up into her, turning to look up at her face. "Maybe I'm just getting sick or something. Things just feel off."
She moved her hand against the top of his head, checking him to see if there was a fever. "You don't feel warm -- but you might be right." Then she turned to face him with a bit of a sigh. "You should probably just go back to bed like I said. Otherwise, your cousins are gonna kill you in whatever sport you four decide to entertain yourselves with." It tended to be tackle football. Just because Michael claimed he needed the practice.
Cousins? "Yeah, can't be the weak one now, can I?" He stretched back out on the bed, looking up at her. He was so confused as to what the hell was going on.
Anna moved to stretch out next to him, letting her chin rest on his chest and looked back at him. She could still see the confusion in his eyes and she didn't know what to do to fix it. "Are you sure something didn't happen? Or you didn't get hurt?"
"Last thing I remember was at a gas station..." He rubbed his eyes. "Then I was pushed and there was this blue light...' He laughed a bit. "I know I sound crazy now."
"Yeah, little bit," she said with a bit of a teasing grin, before leaning in to kiss him gently. "Why were you at a gas station? We barely drive as it is..."
"I thought someone was in danger."
"So why didn't you call the cops or something?"
"I... I don't know. I guess I thought I could handle it myself."
She sighed slightly. "Don't make me start worrying about you too, okay? It's bad enough Amy wants to drag your brother to Canada every time it looks like his unit is going to get called up."
"Guess we both just take after Dad."
"Guess so," she replied, before tilting her head to rest against his shoulder. "Just be careful when you're trying to go rescue people. I don't want you getting hurt."
"I'm always careful." Ben closed his eyes. "What time do we have to meet my dad?"
"Party starts at two, so we've got time."
"Good." He snuggled into her. "I've missed you."
"I only went to Colorado," she sighed, curling into him as well. "You could have come with me."
Colorado. Mama. He smiled a bit. "Well, sometimes you just need time with your family. How's Mama?"
"She's good. She's got a couple new kids around, and Gina and Noah brought the baby by, so it was nice to see them."
"Has Blake grown any?"
"Like a freakin' weed. He gets bigger every time I see him. I swear, they have to be feeding him growth hormones."
"Yeah, well Noah's always been a bit overprotective of Blake." Things were starting to feel right now and he yawned. "I think you're right and I need to get some more sleep."
She shifted up, kissing the top of his head lightly, before nodding. "I'll wake you up with enough time to get ready, okay?"
"Okay." He smiled up at her. "I love you."
"Love you too," she said with a grin, before curling in closer.
Holding her close, he watched the wall behind her a moment, trying to figure out just what was going on in his head. However, nothing was making sense. If this was a dream, he wouldn't have these ideas... unless... maybe the thing with the demons and stuff was just one big nightmare? But it had felt so real...
Maybe Dad would be able to clear things up? Yeah. Ben closed his eyes, content to wait until he could talk to his father later and see what was going on.
***
The new Winchester house was rather large, but that was mostly because Dean had put a lot of work into it. When they first bought it, it had needed a lot of upkeep, but Dean didn't mind getting his hands dirty, and slowly but surely it started to look more and more like a house. They added on a floor, furnished all the rooms, and while Lisa claimed that it still wasn't done and never would be, it was still a pretty fantastic place for a mechanic and a yoga teacher to be living. The front yard had a large garden and a thick green lawn, with a wide driveway already stocked with cars and people milling around.
As Ben and Anna pulled up to the driveway, Lisa and Ruby were talking in front of the house. Lisa had a cup of soda in her hand while Ruby had a five year-old girl with light brown hair sitting on her hip, resting her head on her mother's shoulder lightly.
Ben got out of the car first and just leaned against the passenger door. He blinked, as the house was very familiar, and he added it to the list that this was his reality. But when he saw his mother, standing there alive and smiling, all other thoughts left his mind as he just stared at her.
Ruby was the one who turned first, giving them both a bright smile. "Well, look who finally showed up."
Lisa turned as well, giving Ben a bright smile, before tilting her head to the side slightly when she saw the look on his face. "Ben, you alright?"
Ben didn't say anything, just walked over and gave her a tight hug, holding onto her like he hadn't seen her in years. Because he felt like he hadn't inside. He had seen her die in his arms. And here she was in front of him. It wasn't possible.
Lisa was caught a bit off guard by the hug, but Ruby managed to grab her soda before it spilled, and after a minute she was relaxing and sliding her arms around her oldest rubbing his back lightly. "If you miss me so much, you should come by the house more often," she teased lightly.
Ben pulled away a bit, looking up at his mother as he bit his lip. His eyes were wet with tears he was doing his best not to shead. "I really should. It feels like... I dunno. I really miss you Mom."
Lisa watched him carefully for a moment, before moving her hand and brushing it lightly against the side of his face, before turning him back towards the other person who was there. She would talk to him later. Right now, they weren't really alone. "Don't be rude, Ben. Say hello to your aunt and your cousin."
Rubbing the back of his neck, he turned to look at Ruby. "Hey Ruby." Because calling her Aunt Ruby just doesn't feel right. Then he saw the little girl and was confused because he had no idea who she was. But she looked like Ruby but with a bit of Sam in her. "Wow, you and Sam had a kid?"
Ruby stared at him for a minute. "Sam and I had three kids," she sighed slightly, before nudging her daughter lightly. "C'mon Olivia, say hi to your cousin Ben." Olivia only blinked at Ben for a moment, then buried her head further into her mother's shoulder, and Ruby rolled her eyes. "Alright, party pooper. You're going back to your dad. I swear, Sam's the only one who can get anything out of her these days."
Ben's eyes widened a moment, then he covered it like Dean always did when he had forgotten something and was acting like he didn't. He snorted and shrugged his shoulder. "I knew that. I was just teasing, thinking you had another one. Every time I see you, it's a new kid. I'll take her to Sam."
Awkward, yes. At least the kid would be silent and not ask Ben questions he didn't know the answers to.
"Uh-huh," Ruby looked at him for a moment, before shifting and starting to hand her daughter over. Olivia didn't seem all that keen to go at first, but she wasn't going to complain if the end result was what she wanted. "I think he's out on the porch with your dad and the grill. Don't let them set themselves on fire."
"That's an option?" Ben smiled, holding Olivia in a similar fashion as how Ruby had held her, and he looked at her. He still felt like he had never met her before, but she was adorable. "Shall we go find our Dads, Olivia?" he asked in a cheerful voice, then looked over at Anna to see if she was going to join them.
"I'll follow you in a sec," Anna said with a nod, the look from the two women in front of her telling her that she wasn't going anywhere. Olivia, on the other hand, just looked at him before turning around and resting her chin on his shoulder, looking back at the front yard.
"Please don't let them set themselves on fire," Lisa sighed, before looking back at him. "I'd like to have one of your father's birthdays that didn't involve a trip to the emergency room."
"If you didn't want them to set themselves on fire, you would cater the parties." Ben smiled and leaned in to kiss Anna's cheek, then started off to find where his Dad and Sam would be starting the next neighborhood fire. He leaned his head against Olivia's a moment, smiling. "You know, you can talk to me. I promise I'll listen."
And all that particular comment got him was her sticking her tongue out and letting out a slow pbbbbbbbbbbbth.
"Oh really? You know what they say about what the appropriate response to someone sticking out a tongue is?" He shifted her a bit and kissed her on the cheek. "It's them asking for a kiss." No, Ben was not aware of just what this might do for Olivia's social life for the rest of her existence, but it was a good way to reciprocate to him.
"Ewwwwwww," she squirmed, trying to get away from him as she rubbed at her cheek. "Gross."
"You're the one who asked for it." He smiled and tickled her a bit as he rounded the corner of the house. He was able to see Dean and Sam on the porch with the grill. Well, Dean with the grill and Sam standing behind him and away with a beer as he supervised from a safe distance.
"Mom wanted me to warn you not to set yourself on fire," Ben shouted. They both looked good. Healthy. Happy. It made him smile.
Dean gave his son a look over his shoulder, before snorting slightly. "I can handle working a grill, thank you. I've been doing it for a while now."
On the sight of Sam, Olivia started to squirm even more, turning around in Ben's arms and reaching out for her father. "Daddy!"
Sam put his beer down, coming to meet Ben as he saved him from the squirming mass that was his youngest. "Hey Princess. You wanna come tell Uncle Dean how you want your hot dog?" Sam kissed her forehead, then looked at Ben. "How are you, Ben? Classes going well?"
"I guess. Woke up with my head buried in a book at 3am this morning..." Ben wasn't really sure how his classes were going, but that could work as an excuse. He followed Sam up onto the porch and leaned against the rail, just watching his father. Something in his heart tugged at how this was not really something Dean-like, but much better. "Mom doesn't want you spending another birthday in the ER apparently."
Olivia just clung to her father for a moment, before looking over at Ben as she whispered in Sam's ear, everything about her telling him that she felt like Ben had committed a capital crime. "He kissed me."
"Hey! Last year? Wasn't my fault. That was all him," Dean pointed the tongs in his hand back at his brother before going back to turning the hot dogs. "He was the one who's clumsy ass knocked me down a flight of stairs."
"Well, he's your cousin and he can do that... as long as it's on the cheek." Sam smiled at her, tickling her gently and then pulling her into his lap as he sat down on the rocking swing. Then he held his hands up innocently. "Sure, Dean, and it had nothing to do with the huge box that you were carrying down to show Alec all of the war memorabilia you got at that yard sale for him."
"You're the one who backed into me, Sammy," Dean replied, giving him a look. "I needed stitches -- nearly gave Mom a heart attack."
Olivia didn't look at all pleased with Sam's answer, but she didn't voice it, just leaned back against him and got comfortable in his lap.
Sam just shook his head, using his legs to start swinging the seat back and forth gently. "Whatever you say, Dean. You lived, and that's all that matters."
"Where is Alec anyway?" Ben asked, looking around. "I haven't seen him or Amy yet..."
That, apparently was Alec's cue. He came out onto the porch carrying a large bowl of salad. "Mom had Amy and I on salad duty. You know her. There has to be something healthy involved." He set the bowl on the table at the end of the porch where the rest of the food was slowly accumulating.
"Making salad. Much more work than it probably should be," Amy said with a sigh as she followed him out, one hand on her very pregnant stomach as she sat down on one of the benches near the table, before giving Ben a grin. "Hey, honey. When'd you get here?"
Ben's eyes widened. Wow, Amy was VERY pregnant. That he wasn't expecting. He managed to blink away his shock though. "We... uh... We just got here. Anna's up front talking to Mom and Ruby." Yeah, the shock wasn't disappearing. "... I really need to come around more often."
Sam just chuckled, rocking back and forth as he sang a song to Olivia, lost in their own little world.
Alec leaned on the rail next to Amy's shoulder. "I've been telling you that for months. But does anyone listen to me?" Jinx came trotting out of the door then licking his chops from something he undoubtedly stole from the kitchen, and settled between Amy and Alec. Where either could pet him easily.
"You'd be upset if they did," Amy teased, patting his leg lightly before moving over to scratch Jinx behind the ears. "Then no one would ever tell you you were right."
"Your mom says that all the time too," Dean nodded, closing the grill to give the burgers some time to cook. "She misses having you around, ya know."
"Hey, she's the one who wanted me to go to college," Ben pointed out, smiling a bit. "I'm almost done. I think."
Alec snorted, "You only think? A little late to change your major, dude."
"Let him be," Amy sighed. "You know, the average is that people finish college in six years now. Or at least that's what I read. Do you know how much reading you can do when you're too huge and bloated to work?"
"I wouldn't know," Ben stated. "How many do you have in there, anyway?" Behind him, Sam winced from his spot. Not a good question to ask. He learned that from experience.
"You aren't huge, or bloated. You do all that yoga and arobics for pregnant women. There isn't an ounce of spare weight on you." He looked up at Ben, "And you," He pointed, "Don't tease her about it."
"You're sweet," Amy said, looking back up at her husband. "And you're supposed to say that if you ever want to have sex with me again. As for your question," she turned back to Ben with a sigh. "There's only one. It just seems to have received the dominant Winchester genes of being huge."
"Hey, I was a small baby," Sam shouted from his spot. "The height came later. Dean, however, was a porker apparently." Because yes, you were supposed to poke fun at the birthday boy.
Ben chuckled. "I was always told I was cute and tiny."
"You understand that no matter what any of you say, I'll side with my wife. As far as I'm concerned you were all huge babies." He was trying not to laugh.
"So he or she's got Dean's genes. Either way, it's bad news for me," Amy laughed, while Dean just gave them both looks over his shoulder.
"Alright, who's ready to eat?"
"When aren't any of us?" Sam picked Olivia up, aiming to go get her a hot dog. "Michael!" He looked past Dean where his eldest was. "Go find your sister and mother and tell them that if they want to eat, they had better hurry up."
Ben followed Sam's eyesight, now just picking out the teenager that again, he didn't know recognize beyond the fact that he was almost a perfect match to Sam is he was that age.
Alec looked down at Amy. "You want me to get your plate." She wasn't an invalid, but she was extremely pregnant, so he was trying to be a good husband. Since this was his fault anyway. Or so she said.
"Please," she said with a smile. "A cheeseburger. I can fix the rest of it over here."
"Sure, Dad," Michael sighed, before turning and shouting after his sister. "Hey Fart Face! Food!" With that, he disappeared around the corner of the house to get his mom and aunt.
Dean smirked at his nephew, before turning back to his niece. "And what do you want on your hot dog, sweetheart?"
"Ketchup," she said with a nod. "And mustard."
"I'm not a fart face, booger head!" a voice came from a tree and a head popped out upside-down from the branches. Sam's middle child then did a flip over the branch to land on her feet, a trick her gymnastics class had taught her. She then took off in a run for where everyone was, doing a cartwheel until she was on the other side of the grill from Dean and smiled brightly. "I want a double cheeseburger with fries!" she stated with a big grin while talking to Dean like he was a guy at a McDonalds drive-thru.
"Mary..."
"Dad, it's Parker," Mary Parker Winchester pouted at her father. "I hate Mary."
"That's your grandmother's name," Sam reminded her as he took the hot dog from his brother and got Olivia settled at the table in her booster seat. "You shouldn't hate it."
"I don't want grandma's name. There are ten other Mary's at school and they are all mean and I don't want to be like them."
Ben didn't move from his spot against the railing, instead just watching the controlled chaos around him from a distance.
Dean served up the double cheeseburger for Parker, but gave her a look as he did. "No fries, but there are potato chips over there by Amy. And don't do gymnastics stuff around the grill, alright? Aunt Lisa said no trips to the emergency room."
"That's right. We're having a hospital free day for once," Lisa said as she came around the side of the house with Michael and the other women.
"You're no fun." Parker wrinkled her nose in disapproval and went over to the table and sat next to Amy, closer to the chips, and took a BIG handful.
Sam looked over at his older daughter. "Mary..." he sighed at the glare from his daughter, "... Parker, what do you say to your uncle?"
"Thank you Uncle Dean," Parker muttered, then grabbed the ketchup before Michael could and took her time putting it on her burger and then a pile for her chips.
Ruby rolled her eyes at her middle child before heading over towards her husband. "How did all our kids wind up hating the world?"
"Hey!" Michael said, his mouth full of the burger he'd just gotten from his uncle. "I'm gof wit the world."
Ruby looked back at him before turning back to Sam. "Okay, I take it back. Two of them hate the world, one of them just has no manners."
Sam leaned over and kissed Ruby quickly. "The girls take after you, and Dean babysat Michael too much growing up," he reasoned. Obviously none of this was his fault.
Lisa laughed as she went up to help Dean, which consisted of just wrapping her arms around his chest and kissing his shoulder. "You shouldn't be working. It's your birthday."
"It's not work," he replied, turning and kissing the top of her head before going back to the grill. "Besides, if I trust it to this one, we definitely will end up in the emergency room." By 'this one' he meant Sam.
Lisa chuckled and pushed away to get herself a plate. "We learned that lesson a few years ago. Maybe you should relinquish the grill to one of your sons one day..."
Ben just kept his spot on the railing, listening to all the conversations. It was his entire family, together and happy and it was just perfect. Some part of him thought it was too perfect, it wasn't going to last, it was all a lie, and for a moment he let himself fall back to wonder why he would even think that. Didn't he want everything to be perfect for his family? What was causing him to second guess this good life?
"Maybe," Dean said with a shrug, before moving to serve Ruby, Anna and Sam as well. "Maybe not. I'm happy to do it."
Anna collected her hot dog from Dean, before making her way over to Ben and giving him a bit of a nudge. "Aren't you hungry?"
Sam sat on the bench next to Parker, making enough room for Ruby to sit basically in his lap, and reached over to grab the ketchup from his daughter for his food. she glared at him, and Sam smirked and playfully stuck his tongue out at her.
Lisa shook her head. "Not saying that you aren't. You do a wonderful job. You're just not the most careful and cautious person. I plan on turning old with you, Winchester, which means you need to get old too."
Ben smiled and looked at Anna. "I'm good. His arms free, he could pull her a bit closer to lean against him. "Couldn't ask for anything better."
"Okay," she said with a nod, before leaning into him.
Ruby took the seat Sam offered, and shoved lightly at her son's shoulder as he made a face over his burger. "Can you two not completely rob me of my appetite," he groaned, giving them a look. "I'm trying to eat here."
"Maybe if you rearranged your face, the rest of us wouldn't be sick looking at you," Parker said over the table at her brother.
"Hey, both of you quiet down or neither of you get any desert," Sam stated firmly. "You both remember what your best behavior is, right? Time to show it."
"Besides, I gave birth to all of you," Ruby replied, sliding her arm around her husband's neck. "Which means I get to be as nauseating as I want, and you just have to put up with it."
Sam smiled, wrapping his free arm around Ruby's waist to keep her close as he used the other to pick up a potato chip and feed it to her. Yes, he enjoyed torturing his children just as much as they did him.
Ben leaned down a bit to whisper in Anna's ear, "Why is it we're not married yet?" he asked softly.
"Oh, come on," Dean said, making a face as he grabbed his own plate and turned off the grill. "None of us want to see that."
Anna's eyebrows just went up, and she stared back at Ben with a confused look. "Because we're -- not?" A pause. "Is that your way of trying to ask me something?" Because now, and that way, in her opinion, really wasn't the time or way.
Ben leaned back innocently, a small smile on his face. "No, just asking, that's all."
Sam gave Dean a look. "Oh come on, I was still a teenager and force to watch you Lisa to that all the time when you first got together. You'll live."
Lisa sat next to Dean and gave him a look. "I actually miss it sometimes," she not so subtly hinted.
"Think of the little ones, Sammy," Dean teased, before nodding over at Olivia, who had her half eaten hot dog in front of her and both hands covering her eyes.
"Are you guys done making kissy faces yet?"
Sam sighed dramatically, giving Ruby an apologetic look. "You'd think they'd be grateful we're a big, loving family. They could have it a lot worse, ya know."
Parker looked over at her sister, then reached across the table to steal her pickle.
"Olivia, honey, it's safe to look," Amy sighed, before turning back to her own food. "And don't look at me, Sam -- I don't mind."
"I'll just make it up to her later when the kids are asleep," Sam said with a smirk.
"Ewwwww..." Parker whined as she finished the pickle.
Ben watched a moment longer, then slid off the railing. "I guess I should eat if everyone else is."
Alec was getting his own plate ready and had stolen an unclaimed hot dog for the wounder mutt. "Uh yeah. Before the kids steal all the food. You can't afford to be any thinner." He stole the ketchup and applied it to his burger.
"I'm sure Lisa would agree with that," Anna nodded before moving to sit at the table.
"I just don't get hungry," Ben pointed out, getting a single hot dog and sat down at the table. "And I like to play baseball, so I need to stay fit."
"Which lets you know which of our genes he takes from," Lisa smiled as she watched her husband eat.
Alec gave his brother a mock indignant face. "Are you saying I'm fat. I think I'm hurt."
Ben smirked, but shrugged innocently. "You're the one complaining about salads."
"That's because I'm svelt already. I don't need health food." And like a truly mature individual and expecting father that he was, he stuck his tongue out at his brother.
Ben was about to retort when Olivia scrunched up her nose. "Eww! Daddy, now they have to kiss," she said loudly to Sam who looked at her, then at Ben who suddenly was not looking at anyone in particular.
"I. . .what?" Alec gave his youngest cousin a confused look.
Olivia's hands were over her eyes and she cringed. "Ben said that if someone sticks their tongue out you have to kiss 'em."
Sam chuckled and looked down at the middle child. "Looks like you owe me a kiss then."
"No More Kissing!" Parker stated, crossing her arms and shaking her head.
"Oh no, I'm not kissing that thing," Ben tossed a pretzel at Alec. "I don't know where it's been."
Alec first tried to catch the pretzel in his mouth and when he missed he tossed a chip. "Hey, that's my wife your talking about."
"But you still don't want to know where it's been," she teased.
"Alright, children. Don't make me separate you two like I had to when you were kids." Lisa smiled, moving the pretzels and the chips away from Alec and Ben.
Ben gave a fake pout. "He started it."
Alec match it exactly. "Did not!"
Dean just shook his head at his son. "Split the blame. Always works out better for both of you that way."
"60/40?" Which of course meant Alec got the 60, because that was how Ben thought.
Alec made a scoffing noise. "50/50."
Ben just waved him off in a whatever motion and reached for a pickle. Lisa chuckled and kissed Dean's cheek. "That, however, they get from you and your brother." She got up to go get a refill on her drink.
Alec grinned unrepentantly at his mother. "And you thought the behavior adorable enough to marry and have two kids with the man."
"Staying married to me is the important part," Dean said with a grin. "Because that was adorable twenty-five years ago when you're eighteen, nineteen."
"Yes, well you boys are just lucky that there are women out there who will put up with your antics. It will give you both reassurance when you have kids that they will be accepted as human beings." Lisa was behind Michael and leaned down to kiss the top of his head. "It's not their fault they got the genes."
Parker pointed at her brother and laughed. "You're a freak!"
Alec gave Amy a peck on the cheek. "You'll still think I'm adorable when we're 90, right?"
She grinned a bit before nodding. "Old and wrinkly, but still adorable."
Michael on the other hand, just looked up at his aunt, before shooting a glare at his sister. "Shut up!"
Parker made a face at her brother, then looked up at her parents with an innocent face. "I'm done, can I be 'scused?"
Sam sighed. "Sure, go on."
Parker beamed and scrambled to get up and head back towards her tree. "Don't climb the trees!" Sam shouted after her.
"Excuse me, I'll be right back," Ben said, getting up and starting towards the house. Nature called.
Alec watched his brother leave, feeling a little bit concerned, but he tried to shake it off and instead fed a bit of hotdog to Jinx under the table.
Amy shifted slightly so that she was leaning against him a bit before looking at him. "What is it?"
"Ben's acting weird. Just a little." He shrugged. "Maybe it's me?"
***
Wandering into the house, Ben had to stop. The inside didn't match the outside, at least not in his head. Everything was new and warm and homey, and he had been expecting something... not so much. He wandered into the living room and looked at all the pictures on the mantel, smiling at pictures of him and Alec through the years. He didn't remember any of these events though; like the one of him and Alec as teenagers getting ready for a fishing trip... or them as kids with Dean going to a ball game... or him in a tux with some girl at what he assumed was his prom. Other pictures like Sam and Ruby on their wedding day, Alec's military picture and then his wedding picture; Sam's kids through various points. A picture of Ben and Anna at some beach together.
"Ben, are you ok?"
Ben turned and saw his mother standing there. He nodded, putting the picture down. "I don't know, Mom. It feels like I'm in some kind of dream. This life... I don't remember it."
Lisa took Ben's hand and led him to the couch, sitting him down as she reached up to check his head for a fever. "What do you mean you don't remember?"
"Exactly that, Mom. Nothing's what I remember. Last thing I remember was that had had died, Dad died, and I was some kind of freak..."
"Shhh," Lisa pulled Ben close, kissing his forehead. "Baby, it's ok. You just had a bad nightmare again, that's all."
"Nightmare?"
"Yes. You used to get really bad ones when you were little. It sometimes took Dean hours to convince you that everything was fine and there wasn't any monsters or demons trying to hurt you." She pulled him closer, smoothing hair on Ben's head. "You stopped getting them when you were seven, and we never mentioned them to keep them from happening again."
"So it's just a nightmare?"
"Yes, sweetie. Just a very long, scary nightmare. It'll haunt you for a few more days, but eventually you'll forget it and then it'll seem funny that it even bothered you this much. And the things you don't think you remember will come back."
Ben bit his lip, then leaned back and looked at his mother. "What did I dream about as a kid?"
Lisa thought for a moment, then nodded. "You had a really bad one where you thought these little creatures kidnapped you and locked you in a cage, and then pretended to be you so that they could kill me. I forgot what you called them..."
"... changelings?"
She snapped her finger. "That's it."
"But... that happened."
"No, it didn't. The only time you've even gotten lost was the one time you decided to walk yourself to the park and the mailman brought you home. That's it."
"Really?"
"Would I lie to you?" Lisa kissed his cheek again, then got up. "You can ask your Dad too. He'll remember it. I think he aged 10 years when we couldn't find you, and then you and Mr. Jenkins came strolling up the street with you in your pamper. He almost got a GPS chip installed into your shoes after that." Checking over the pictures, she started for the door. "I'm going to go back out before the others get worried. Don't be too long, ok?"
"Sure Mom." He watched her leave, then got up and stared at one of the family pictures. Yeah, it had to be a bad dream, that's all.