"Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment, until it becomes a memory." - Dr. Suess

• • •

Noah tapped his feet to the beat of 'Saturday Night Special' as he felt the Impala gliding over the roads smoothly beneath him. Dean's phone began ringing and he answered it, putting it on speaker.

"Yeah?" he answered as Noah turned the music down. "There's a cop car outside," Came Sam's whispered voice.

"You think it's for us?" Noah questioned. "I don't know," Sam responded. "I don't see how, I mean we ditched the plates, the credit cards," Dean furrowed his eyebrows.

Sam sighed, "They're leaving, false alarm."

"See? Nothing to worry about," Dean spoke to his brother, his tone calming. "Yeah, being fugitives is a freaking dance party," Sam said, sarcastically.

"Hey man, chicks dig the danger vibe," Dean grinned. "So, you guys got anything yet?" Sam questioned. "Man, you've got us out here searching a fifty mile radius, you really expect us to find anything?" Noah raised an eyebrow.

"Well, that's where all the victims disappeared," Sam replied. "Well we've come up with diddly-squat, what about you?" Dean stated.

"Just one thing, I'm pretty sure of it now, we're hunting a djinn," Sam answered. "A freaking genie?" Dean laughed. "Yep," Was Sam's simple reply.

"No way, you think that these suckers can really grant wishes?" Dean questioned. "I don't know, I guess they're powerful enough, but not exactly like Barbara eden in Harem pants, I mean, djinn have been feeding off of people for centuries, they're all over the Qur'an," the flipping of book pages could be heard in the background, behind Sam's voice.

"My God," Dean stated, "Barbara Eden was hot, wasn't she? And way hotter than that 'Bewitched' chick."

Noah raised his hand, smacking Dean on the back of the head, making Dean throw him a glare for a split second. "Are you even listening to me?" Sam deadpanned.

Dean cleared his throat, "Yeah, so uh, where do the djinn's lair up?"

"Ruins, usually, the bigger, the better, more places to hide," Sam explained. "Alright, I think I saw a place a couple miles back, I think we're gonna go check it out," Dean informed his brother.

"Wait, no, no, no, come pick me up first," Sam tried.

"Nah, I'm sure it's nothing, I just wanna take a look around," Dean excused. "Take care of my dog, giraffe!" Noah teasingly stated, earning a laugh, before Dean hung up the phone.

The Impala came to a slow stop on the wet asphault, before the two climbed out, flashlights in hand. Dean slowly opened the door, as it made an eerie creaking noise.

There were several leaks in the ceiling, allowing moonlight and rain water through. The men walked down the long hallway before coming to two seperate entries. Dean took the left and Noah took the right. As Noah walked down the hallways, scanning over everything he could see with his flashlight, he heard a loud thud, as well as a yelp.

"Dean!" he shouted, running back down the hallway and to where Dean had entered. He walked down the passage, seeing Dean passed out on the floor, but as he went to run to him, an arm grabbed his waist and a hand touched his head.

His eyes rolled back into his head as his vision faded to black.

• • •

Noah shot up, staring ahead at the wall. He was on high-alert as he panted for breath. Glancing to his right, he saw a random TV show playing on a TV, he felt that he was in a bed. He looked down, he was naked. He looked to his left, and there was a pale back facing him.

Noah stared at shock, moving the covers a bit, there was a man, maybe a little younger than him, in his bed, also naked. He was tanned, with dark brown hair, and freckles dotting his bare skin.

Noah stood up out of the bed, finding a random hoodie and a pair of jeans, which he promptly threw on.

He walked into another part of the house he was in, looking around, it was a living room. There were bookshelves lined floor to ceiling with books, family photos, everything else he could imagine for a typical suburban living room.

He was still looking around, admiring the equipment on the floor when he heard footsteps behind him. Noah whipped round to face the man from before in loose and low hanging basketball shorts, smiling at him, "What on Earth are you doing up this late?"

"Uh," Noah stuttered, "Um, I just couldn't sleep," he glanced at the counter behind him, where some mail was piled up, one of the names was, "Owen."

"You sure you're okay, baby? You're acting weird," Owen approached him, titling his head in the most puppy-like way.

"Yeah, I just..." he gulped, "Had a weird dream, is all, go on back to bed, I'll be in there in a bit," he smiled.

Owen stepped closer to him, smiling as he wrapped his arms around Noah's neck, "If you don't wait too long, I might be able to do something that'll put you right back to sleep," he bit his lip. Noah chuckled, but he wasn't expecting it when Owen kissed him.

He didn't reciprocate for a moment, shocked by the fact that the man was kissing him, but he did eventually sink into it. It was warm, and comforting... inviting.

He pulls away, looking at the slightly taller man in awe. Owen smiled at him before turning and going back to the bedrrom. Noah turns back around, looking at the letters on the counter. Rusellville, Arkansas. His hometown.

Noah whipped his head up, staring at the wall ahead of him in shock. But then his eyes caught the photos on the bookshelves, and he stepped closer.

Owen holding Noah bridal-style on a beach, with water crashing all around their legs. Noah had his head tipped back in joyous laughter as Owen smiled down at him. Noah stared at the photo for a moment before another caught his gaze.

He and Owen were locked in a passionate kiss in black matching suits, Noah wearing a blue tie, and Owen wearing a green one. Noah's left hand was on Owen's chest as they smiled into the kiss, a yellow gold band wrapped around his ring finger.

Noah looked down at his hand, seeing the piece of jewelry. His mouth gaped open slightly, whatever was happening didn't make any sense. His gaze skimmed over another picture, making him narrow his eyes. In it, a Christmas tree was behind him as he cradled a brown tabby cat, as though it were a baby, and smiled at the person taking the picture.

He continued scanning the pictures of himself and Owen, from vacations, their honeymoon, or their wedding when his eye caught a picture of himself holding a baby. He stared in shock, before picking up the frame. It was dated for two years ago. He took the picture out and flipped it over. Written in sharpie on the back was 'Elijah Anderson - Baby Nephew.'

Noah gazed at the words in confusion for a moment before his eyes caught... a picture of a blonde woman in a wedding dress, with a brunet man in a gray suit stood beside her. Noah stood to the side of her, as another young man stood next to him, and... and his mother and father stood beside them as well. Noah picked up the frame, entranced as he took in each of their faces.

Then it hit him, the bride was Nikki, the young man beside him was Richard... Noah dropped the picture frame, it crashed to the floor with a loud shatter, and he rushed out the door, barely grabbing a denim jacket on his way out, and hopped into a navy blue pick-up truck. He sped down the road as he used memory to retrace where he was going and before he knew it, he was staring at the red brick building he once called home.

He jumped out of his car, running to the door and ringing the door bell. He bounced on the balls of his feet as he chewed on his lip. He knocked on the door and rang the bell again. The porch light came on and he stared in awe as his mother opened the door.

"Hey, Noah, what's going on?" she asked him, clearly worried. "U-um," Noah stuttered, his mouth running dry. He eventually just pulled her into a strong hug, as she made a noise of surprise.

"Laura, who was at the door?" he herd a voice come from the hallway. Noah looked up, and there was... Nicholas. His father. He felt his heart drop to his stomach as they met eyes. "Noah, what on Earth are you doing here this late?" Nicholas furrowed his eyebrows, stepping closer.

Noah slightly shook his head, "I don't believe this," he whispered.

"Son?" Nicholas inquired, placing his hand on Noah's shoulder. Noah flinched away on instinct, making his parents stare at him in confusion and worry. Noah took a deep breath, staving off tears as he brushed his hands through his hair.

"Did you and Owen get into a fight, sweetie?" his mom asked. Noah gulped, shaking his head as he ran his hands down his face. "Are you drunk?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Noah sighed, rubbing his eyes, "I kind of hope so."

Lauralie looked to her husband, sharing a look with him. Neither of them knew what that meant. She turned back to her son, "Alright, well Richie and Raegan are gonna fly in tomorrow, Lord knows they wouldn't wanna make the drive all the way from Mississippi," Lauralie chuckled, "And Nikki, Jason, and Elijah will be driving out of town around noon."

"Right," Noah nodded, taking this information in, as he played along. "But I think maybe you should stay here for the night," Lauralie advised. Noah didn't argue.

• • •

Noah spent the entire night looking around and learning small parts of everyones lives. He was still shell-shocked and confused. Nikki had graduated high school, married her high school sweetheart, and gone to school for Computer Programming. She was still 20 and working on her degree, and her husband, Jason, was in the military. He had just returned from a deployment to Malaysia. Jason and Nikki also had a little boy named Elijah. Noah couldn't help but notice that it was his middle name.

Richard had gotten into college himself, at Southern Miss in Mississippi, and he was working on a degree in psychology. He had met a girl on campus and they had started dating about a month ago, and it was clearly serious, given he was bringing her home. Noah also realised that the reason everyone was coming home was because it was Lauralie's birthday.

Noah had of course learned more about himself as well, such as the fact that he was of course married to Owen, and had been for three years now. And that their cat's name was Miguel. Thinking about the cat made him think of Delta as he drove back to what was apparently his and Owen's home.

He took a deep breath as he clutched the steering wheel, turning into the driveway. He unlocked the door and entered, seeing the cat on the couch, which he scoffed and rolled his eyes at. Owen was walking out of their bedroom, now dressed in teal scrubs. "Hey, baby," he greeted when he saw Noah walk in, "You alright? You kind of took off last night."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, honey," Noah smiled, "Um, you got work today?"

"Yeah," Owen smiled with a soft sigh, "They need me to help train the new girl, teeth won't clean themselves!" Noah chuckled, "Yeah."

"Well, you are lucky because you are on sabbatical, so you have the week off," Owen leaned over, pecking Noah's cheek before grabbing his lunch bag and his keys, "I will be home in time for dinner tonight, though, but I want you to have your clothes picked and ready to be put on, you take way too long to get ready."

Owen laughed as he made way for the door. "Oh, uh, hey!" Noah called after him, "Where's Delta?"

"Who?" Owen furrowed his eyebrows. "Delta, she's a german shepherd, about this tall," he chuckled as he gestured for her height when sitting. Owen burst out laughing, "Yeah, right, like you would ever willingly own a dog."

Noah's eyebrows shot up as his eyes widened. Huh. "Alright, love you babe, I'll see you later!" Owen called over his shoulder before walking out the door.

Noah stared after him, mouth agape for a moment. Okay, he needed answers. He needed to understand what was going on.

• • •

Noah knocked on the man's door. He opened it, "Hello? How can I help you?"

"Hi, I'm working on a short story that includes mythical and theological creatures and I was wondering if I could maybe ask some questions on a certain one that I can't seem to find much on," Noah stated.

The professor nodded, and opened his door, "Of course, have a seat."

Noah sat down. "What creature in particular would that be?" The man asked him, a kind smile on his face. "Um, I'm having a hard time researching djinns," Noah informed him. He nodded, standing to grab a book off of his bookshelf.

He sat back at his desk with it in hand, "Yes, they are mysterious creatures, people of the Islam faith believe them to be innate creatures, they don't fall on either side of the moral boundary, they are created with fitra, and like humans their environments change them, they have been angelicised into the creature of a genie, but the jinn, or if we're speaking in the terms of a singular, a jinni, are fascinating creatures," he mused as he overviewed the creature, "They are all over the Qur'an."

"Right," Noah nodded, "But if we're speaking in the fictional sense, would they be able to grant wishes like the typical stories of genies?"

"Well I would assume so, they have godlike power, they can warp or alter reality however they wish to, but it is all fiction, so I'm sure you can change the legend however you wish, that is the interesting thing with mythology, they are all stories, and you can choose to do whatever you please with them," the man smiled at him.

Noah nodded, "Thank you for that, Professor, that was very helpful, one last qustion and then I promise I'll be out of your hair... how would these creatures typically be killed in the stories, say I wanted a character to kill one?"

"Well the original legend said a silver knife dipped in lambs blood," the professor answered. Noah nodded, pursing his lips, "Thank you, sir , you've been a great help."

• • •

Noah stepped back into what he still couldn't see as his own house, sighing. Okay, he was mad at himself for not thinking to do this last night, but he was panicking. Hell, he was still panicking because none of this made any sense... well some of it made sense, but he didn't understand why the damn thing would attack him just to grant him a wish.

Noah pulled his phone out and went through the contacts, but he furrowed his brows as he saw that neither of the Winchesters were there. He shook his head, and searched... but Brian wasn't there either. Not even Bobby. He stared at his phone in confusion for a moment before before shaking his head and dialing Dean's number.

'This caller does not exist.'

He tried Sam. 'This caller does not exist.' Brian. 'This caller does not exist.'

Noah grew angry as he grit his teeth, and redialed each of them. Same response every time. Noah grew overwhelmed as he chucked his phone at the wall. He took a deep breath before picking up his somehow unbroken flip phone, running his hands through his hair. This was so stressful.

He walked into the bedroom, scrounging until he found a laptop and he googled the name,"Brian Allyn.' In a way, he wished he hadn't found anything. All that he found, was an official death statement. He died a few years ago... and the report stated that whatever attacked him seemed to be an animal, and he was mauled, and left in the woods. Tears flooded Noah's eyes as he had one thought. Wendigo.

The same damn hunt that injured him so badly, that he nearly lost his leg on... that Noah saved his life on. Noah stood up as tears began to fall, rubbing his hands over his face. He stepped back and fell against the wall, sliding down until his head was in his knees. He sobbed for a moment or two before a surge of determination flooded through his veins and his breath hitched as he caught the sob in his throat and forced it down. He needed to find this damn djinn.

But first, he needed to find the Winchesters.

Standing up and roughly wiping the tears from his face. He could not cry, not right now. He needed to fix this. And he wanted to sob again as he thought it all over. He finally had his family back together... but were they really his family at this point?

But then why do his siblings, his mother... why don't they deserve happiness? Is he being selfish? He has a life, they have lives... why should he rip that away from them? Don't they deserve to live their lives, to go to college, to get married, and have families of their own? He shouldn't take that away from them...

And then the thought occurred to him. If he had never been a hunter in the first place... all those people he had saved had never had anyone to help them. All the shit he prevented... thousands of people had lost their lives. And then realized that... no, he wasn't being selfish for wanting to be with the Winchesters. Because they helped people, he helped people.

And... why should he get his family when thousands or more people had lost theirs because he wasn't there to save them?

So he took a seat, and he googled Dean's name. Hospital records, and a birth certificate. He was still wanted by the police... but that's all, no personal information. So he tried Sam, all the same things came up, how he was a fugitive, and all. But his MySpace account also popped up.

Noah all but sobbed in relief as he clicked on the link. It clearly hadn't been updated or maintained since Sam was in college, two years ago now. But it was something. And so, Noah pulled his inner-Garcia out and... he hacked the mainframe of the website. And he got Sam's email address. He sat back in his chair, shakily sighing in relief, as he thanked the heavens that he found something.

He could only pray that Sam used the same email address.

He opened the email, and began typing. '163-555-8726 is my phone number, please call me, Sam. This is important.'

He sat back and he closed his eyes. All he could do now was wait.

• • •

Everything was fading in and out. He could swear he saw a warehouse, before it faded to black again. Then he saw Dean's bruised face, he looked half-dead. And then he saw a girl. But everything faded too quickly for him to process or take it in.

• • •

Noah snapped awake. He glanced at the clock, it was nearing six. He checked his phone, four hours had passed, and he had no calls. He sighed, Sam probably didn't have the same email address as he did back in college.

He thought over everything. He was going to abandon his family, find the djinn, and kill it, possibly undoing the magic. He could get killed and if he doesn't... he still might never see his family again. He decided that maybe he would go to dinner with them tonight and leave afterwards to track the djinn.

He took a deep breath before walking to search his dresser. He found a blue button up shirt, and some black jeans. He pulled the jeans on first before slipping the shirt on over the t-shirt he ws already in. While rolling up his sleeves he noticed something black on his forearm and he rolled them up further, seeing several roman numerals. Tattoos.

He stared in awe at the ink, he was deathly terrified of needles... but this version of him never had the reason he had, so of course, this version of him was fine with it. He read the numbers, each of them was a birthday. His sister's, his brother's, his mother's, his father's, his nephew's... probably one that was Owen's.

He shook his head, and blinked back the tears. Everything seemed to overwhelm him now. He pulled on some shoes but his phone rang right as he went to lace them. His heart dropped into his stomach as he could feel his heartbeat pounding in his chest, as he answered, "Hello?"

"Who is this?" Came a familiar deep voice. Noah sighed in relief, "Dean."

"How the hell do you know our names?" Dean barked. "Listen to me, I don't have time to explain, my name is Noah, and I'm a hunter as well... I... look, I need to handle something in Illinois but after that... I need to meet with the two of you."

Harsh whispers could be heard, though Noah couldn't tell what they were saying. This went on for a moment before Sam's voice flooded the speaker, "Where?"

"What state are you in?" Noah asked. "Ohio," Sam answered. "Give me 24 hours, I'll call you back and give you an answer, if I don't call... assume that I'm dead," Noah responded, grabbing his bag.

Sam gave a shaky breath, "Okay," he agreed. Noah nodded, before hanging up the phone and throwing it into his bag. He grabbed a silver knife from his collection, thankful he was still a collector here, and tossed it into the duffle as well. He marched out front, holding the duffle. He stared back at the house with sad eyes before looking to the blue pick-up in front of him. He missed the Jeep, he missed Delta... he was ready to fix this.

Noah threw the bag into the passenger sat of the truck before kicking it into gear and driving as fast as he could manage. En route to Illinois, he turned on the radio. He couldn't help but find the song that came on, ironic, 'Goodbye Time.'

He clutched the steering wheel with white knuckles as he stared ahead at the open road with uncertainty.

• • •

After a stop at a butcher for lamb's blood, Noah had driven an hour when his phone started blowing up. He saw every call was from Owen and when he was fed up, he rolled the window down and tossed his phone out.

• • •

Arriving in Illinois, it was far past nightfall, and raining. If he were in the Impala, it would feel eerily similar to before. He clicked his flashlight on, other hand clutching his silver knife dipped in lambs blood. He stepped down the hallways, it looked the same as before. Holes in the ceiling allowing water and moonlight to puddle on the floor and desks.

He recalled what hallways Dean had turned down and he kept close to the walls. He rounded a corner and saw a girl with her hands tied above her head and something draining her blood. The djinn was stood right in front of her, looking as though it was sniffing her hair. She was mumbling about her father before it allowed it's hand to turn blue, and touched her head, making her head fall limp again.

It then stepped back and unhooked the part of the drip that was putting the blood into a bag and squirted it directly into its mouth. Noah cringed, the thing was a nasty son of a bitch. When it finished it's snack, it walked into a different room and Noah quietly crept into the room.

He looked at the girl, and then he recalled. That damn dream. It was the same girl, this was the same warehouse... that meant Dean was somehwere here.

But why would he see this place in a dream unless... it dawned on him.

This damn thing had him held somewhere here, tied up, and draining the life out of him while it made him think that he had been granted a wish. This... this was all in his head.

Everything felt like it came crashing around him, his mind ran into overdrive, how could he wake up?

Then he recalled an old wives' tale. If you are about to die in a dream... you wake up.

He thought out the possibilities. It either drained the life force out of him, and killed him in a matter of days, he wakes up, or he accidentally kills himself. Out of all of his probablities, the chance of waking up was the only positive option, and it still came with the risk of death that he had if he decided to stay with his family. So... he had to take a risk.

He held the knife up, clamping his eyes shut as he prepared to stab himself. He brought his hand down, and-

"Wait!"

He looked up. Before him stood the Nikki from the pictures, and Richard as well. He sobbed dryly from shock, he had yet to see them in person. He was in awe. "Noah, don't," Richard pleaded, "Why did you have to dig?"

"Why couldn't you have just let it be?" a voice behind him. He turned, there stood his mother and father. "You had the chance for a normal, happy life," came another from his left. He turned and saw Owen, and Jason holding baby Elijah.

His mom stepped closer, "Put the knife down, honey."

He stared at them all, taking in their faces. He looked at the baby, he felt like crying. But he pushed it back...

"You're not real, none of it is," Noah shook his head. "It doesn't matter," his father stated, "It's still better than anything you had."

"What?" Noah breathed out, shaking his head. "It's everything you want," Said Nikki, "We're a family again."

"Let's go home," his mother gave him a comforting look.

Noah went over all of it in his head, down to the last detail... and he made his decision. He looked to his mother and nodded, before putting on a bittersweet smile.

He looked to each of their faces, looking between all of them. Their pleading expressions.

He looked down before looking back up to his mother, "I'm sorry."

He plunged the knife into his chest, and he felt his vision go dark. He heard Richard, and his father shouting his name, "Noah! Noah!"

• • •

Everything faded back in slowly as he blinked, The voice shouting "Noah!" shifted to Sam's.

Noah looked at Sam, who now stood in front of him. He glanced around, "Noah, Oh God, come on," he heard Sam say. Sure enough, he was tied up and beng drained into a blood bag, Dean was weakly grasping his bearings, rope still around his wrists.

"Oh God," Noah groaned out quietly. "Oh Thank.." Sam trailed off as he reached for the needle in his neck, "I thought we lost you for a second."

"You came real close," Noah shut his eyes as Sam pulled the needle out. He looked up, seeing Dean behind Sam. He nodded at him, as Dean massaged the bruises on his wrists and reacclimated to walking as his body rushed to replenish the lost blood.

"Come on, let's get you down," Sam stated as he brought his knife up to the ropes, and started sawing through them. He was halfway through them when the djinn came out of nowhere. "Sam!" Dean called out in warning. Sam turned, slashing the knife at the djinn, who dodged it.

Noah lost focus on the fight between Sam and the djinn as Dean moved to finish cutting his ropes loose, and the two snuck around another way to get the djinn from behind. When they got where they could get the jump on it, it was holding it's glowing hand up at Sam.

Dean grabbed the knife that Sam had dropped and stabbed the djinn through the back, and into it's heart.

It's eyes stopped glowing and Dean let it fall. Sam caught his breath, panting as he looked to Dean and Noah. Noah grabbed Dean's shoulder as well as Sam's and pulled them both into a hug. He sighed, "My God, I missed you two."

Sam chuckled, as did Dean, though Dean's was much weaker. Then Dean seemed to remember something.

Noah pulled away as Dean stepped back and stepped around him, walking to where that girl was. She was deathly pale, and bruises covered her. She was bloody too.

Dean reached a hand up, feeling a very weak pulse as a tear ran down her cheek, "She's still alive," Noah said in shock as he saw the tear.

"Sam," Dean stated, reaching for the knife. Noah got ready to catch her body as Dean cut the ropes and Sam pulled the needle from her neck. Together, he and Dean supported her body weight.

"I've got you, we're gonna get you outta here," Dean told her as she began to come back to conciousnous, "I've got you."

• • •

Noah slowly blinked awake, a dull pain flaring in his chest. He had slept for nearly twelve hours, as he was sure Dean had. He felt the warm mass of fur next to him and sighed in relief as he felt Delta. Everything was normal again. He stared at the ceiling as he thought back. Yeah, he had a normal life, sure, he had a family.

But he didn't have his family. And he needed his family. More than anything, he would always need his family.

• • •