╭-°—✞——✞—°-╮

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗪𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗬

𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿

╰-°—✞——✞—°-╯

SPECIAL APPEARANCE BY

MATTHEW DADDARIO AS WILL ANDERSON

Delaney nervously bit on her thumbnail as she stared out the motel room window where a cop car was parked across the street. She pressed the phone to her ear and bounced anxiously until Dean finally picked up. "Dee, there's a cop car outside."

"You think it's for us?"

"I don't know. Sammy doesn't think so, but they've been sat out there for like five minutes now," Delaney explained, relaxing only slightly when Sam stood behind her and squeezed her shoulders assuringly.

"I don't see how, Della. We ditched the plates and the credit cards."

Delaney finally fully relaxed when she saw the cop car drive off down the road. "Oh, they're leaving. False alarm."

"Told ya, kiddo," Sam chuckled, squeezing her shoulders once more before he walked back over to his bed to lay down.

"See, Della, nothing to worry about, okay? "

Delaney scoffed slightly and allowed the curtain to fall back in front of the window, walking over to her own bed to sit down in the middle where her lore books had been left open. "Yeah because being fugitives is both a dance party and a good weight on my anxiety."

"Della, people dig the danger vibe!"

"So did you get anything yet?"

"Are you kidding me? How could I? You got me sifting through fifty square miles of real estate."

Delaney tucked the phone between her ear and shoulder, lifting the book into her lap and flipping through the pages to try and find what they could be dealing with this time. "Well, that's where all the victims disappeared."

"I got diddly-squat. What about you?"

"Uh, Sammy found one thing and we're pretty sure it's that. We're hunting a Djinn."

Dean's laughter was loud in her ear and Delaney dropped the phone at the sound, quickly picking it back up. "A freaking genie? What? You really think these suckers can really grant wishes? This isn't Aladdin, Della."

"I don't know. I guess they're powerful enough, but not exactly like Barbara Eden in Harem Pants. I mean, according to this, Djinn have been feeding off people for centuries. They are all over Koran."

"My God... Barbara Eden was hot. Way hotter than that Bewitched chick."

Delaney rolled her eyes even though Dean couldn't see her. "Are you even listening to me right now, Dean?"

Dean awkwardly cleared his throat on the other end. "So you were saying? Where do the Djinns lair up?"

"Ruins usually. Bigger the better - more places to hide," Delaney informed, reading from the Koran in her lap.

"You know what, I think I saw a place a few miles back. I'm gonna go check it out."

Delaney abruptly stood up from her bed, startling Sam who had been focused on his own book. "What? No, no, no, no. Come pick up Sammy and I first."

"No. I'm sure it's nothing, Della. I just want to take a look around."

Delaney sighed as she heard the dial tone, signaling Dean hung up. She tossed the phone on the bed and placed her hands on her hips. "Sam, I hope he isn't doing something stupid."

-°—✞——✞—°-

Dean entered what looked like a factory with a flashlight, swinging open a creaky door. He walked through an abandoned office with a typewriter, file cabinets, and other furniture that were quickly collecting dust. Besides for a dripping water sound somewhere deeper in the factory, it was just Dean in the old building.

Dean looked back and forth in the office a few times and then started to walk back the same direction he came from but this time went down the hall. He continued down the hall as he saw nothing out of the ordinary so far, but was quickly blindsided by the Djinn and was pinned against the wall full of windows. He dropped the flashlight and the Djinn slammed his right hand up against a wall, forcing Dean to drop his knife next.

The Djinn was bald, with curling blue tattoos all over its white face. The Djinn opened its left hand, which began to glow blue along with his eyes. He put his glowing hand on Dean's forehead and Dean's eyes rolled up and took on the same faint blue hue as the Djinn.

-°—✞——✞—°-

Dean sat up in bed, cheat heaving as if he woke up from a bad dream. His eyes adjusted to the dark room to see an old time movie on the TV to his right and froze when he saw his chest was bare and there was a naked brunette to his left on the bed. He blinked rapidly as he not only remembered how he got to the house, but who the woman next to him even was. It also didn't help the necklace around his neck wasn't his father's amulet and was switched for a gold chain with a cross on it.

Even though he didn't know the woman, Dean still quietly got out of bed so he wouldn't wake her and threw on a pair of jeans and brown long sleeve that were on the ground. He made his way down the stairs and into the living room, pulling out his phone and put Delaney's phone number in.

"Hello?"

"Della!"

"Dean?" Delaney yawned and there was rustling on the other end, meaning she most likely sat up in bed. "What's going on?"

Dean scanned the expansive apartment around him, leaning against the back of the brown couch behind him. "Uh... I don't really know. I don't know where I am."

"What? What happened?"

"Well, the Djinn. It attacked me."

Delaney laughed lightly and Dean could hear her steps going down a pair of steps on the other end, which was odd to him because their room was on the first floor of the motel. "Wait, gin? Are you drinking gin?"

"No, Delaney, the Djinn, the scary creature. Remember? It put its hand on me, and then I wake up next to some hot chick," Dean whispered, continuing to look around the apartment to give him any sign of what happened.

"Who - Carmen?" Delaney asked, sounding worried about what Dean rambled on about.

Dean froze mid-step and balked at how Delaney knew the name of the sleeping woman upstairs. "I'm sorry, who?"

"Ah, I get it. You're drunk-dialing me again."

"Delaney, I am not drunk. Would you quit screwing around?"

"Look, it's late and John is going to be waking up in like four hours and I would like some sleep before that happens. So - "

"John?"

"Yeah, you know... your godson? Wow, you really are out of it tonight," Delaney laughed lightly as if finding the whole thing humorous. "Just go get some sleep and we'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

The dial tone sounded in Dean's ear and he huffed as he pulled the phone away from his ear. "I swear, I'm gonna kill that little brat one of these days."

On the table across the room, Dean noticed mail on a wooden table and walked over to it, picking up the envelopes. One was addressed to Carmen Porter and two to him, both with the same address on it:

DEAN WINCHESTER

53 BARKER AVENUE

LAWRENCE, KS

66044

"Lawrence?" Dean whispered, dropping the mail back onto the table. "What the hell?"

"Honey? What are you doing up?" Carmen asked, now adorned in a purple silk robe as she walked over to him.

Dean whirred around and gave the woman a nervous smile, chuckling softly. "Oh, hey... Carmen. I, uh... just... I couldn't - "

"Aw, you couldn't sleep," Carmen cooed, running her hands up his chest and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Well, why don't you come back to bed, and let's see if I can do anything to help."

"Sure," Dean replied softly with nod, awkwardly placing his hands on her waist. "Uh, yeah. You go ahead and I'll be there in a minute, okay?"

"Don't stay up too long," Carmen warned him and kissed him softly before she was out of the room and headed up the stairs to their bedroom.

Dean noticed framed photos on a bookshelf and walked to see three framed photos on two of the shelves. One was of Carmen laid on a beach with an easy smile on her face. Another was a selfie of Dean and Carmen at a bar. The third one was of the two apparently on a date at a restaurant seeing as the two were in dressy clothing, a candle between the two on the table.

When he turned around to just go up and figure it out all out tomorrow, he froze when he saw another frame on the side table by the couch and rushed over to it, picking it up. In the photo were him, Delaney, Sam, and their mom and it seemed to have been taken not too long ago. In Delaney's hands was a college diploma from Stanford and playfully glared at Dean as he goofily grinned and wore her graduation cap on his head.

Before Dean even knew what he was doing, he dropped the frame and ran out of the house, hopping into the Impala that was parked right outside the house. Not that it should have come as a shock to him with how his night was going, but the Winchester's childhood home stood as it originally had looked before the fire destroyed it. He slowly stepped out of the Impala and walked up to the front door, pounding on it until the porch light turned on.

"Dean?" Mary Winchester asked, wrapping her robe tighter around her small frame.

Dean felt as if all the wind had been knocked out of him as his mother - his dead mother - stood in front of him. She was just as beautiful as he always had imagined she'd age to be, even with her blonde hair being slightly knotty from sleep and her green eyes slightly rimmed in red from exhaustion.

"Mom?"

"What are you doing here, sweetheart? Are you alright?"

Dean couldn't believe his eyes, his brain still not processing his mother was alive and well. The urge to cry only grew the more he stared at her. "I - I don't know."

"Well, come inside," Mary said and stepped back to allow her oldest child inside the house. "Lanes to say you called her and then Carmen just called and said you just... took off."

"Carmen?" Dean rasped and then remembered that was his supposed girlfriend. "Right. Let me ask you a question. When I was a kid, what did you always tell me when you put me to bed?"

"Dean, I don't understand - "

"Just answer the question," Dean cut across his mother, desperate to know this wasn't just a dream or something.

If Mary was surprised by Dean's outburst, she didn't show it and smiled softly at him. "I always said the angels are watching over you."

Dean's eyes watered and he rushed over to his mother, hugging her tightly. "I don't believe it."

Mary rubbed her son's back soothingly and sighed softly. "Honey, you're scaring me. Now, just tell me what's going on."

"You don't think that wishes can - can really - "

"What?"

Dean closed his eyes and shook his head, deciding to not think about his one life wish and hugged his mother again. "Forget it, Mom. I'm just - I'm happy to see you. That's all. You're so beautiful."

Mary chuckled softly, pulling away from her son with a fond smile. "Honey, what are you talking about?"

Dean cleared his throat and walked around the room, taking in the blue wallpapers with the flowers littered around it and the spacious rooms of the house that connected to each other. "Hey, when Sammy, Della and I were young, was there a fire here?"

"No, never," Mary replied, walking over to her son who had stopped by the bookcase that took up the wall next to the archway between the foyer and the living room.

"I thought there was," Dean whispered, staring at a photo of John, Mary, Dean, Sam and Delaney and smiled. Dean looked to be about eleven, making Sam nine and Delaney five. "I guess I was wrong."

Multiple photos of the Winchesters littered the bookcase, two of Dean holding Sam and Delaney when they both came home from the hospital. Sam looked upset in the one of Dean holding Delaney because he seemed he wanted a turn at holding the new baby girl. Another was of Dean and Sam dressed up in matching soccer uniforms. Then there was one of Sam holding Delaney on his shoulders as she reached for an apple on a tall tree.

Dean picked up a black and white photo of John in a softball uniform, smiling at the camera as he held the bat behind him as if he were gonna take a swing at the camera. "Dad's on a softball team. Dad's softball team - that's - that's funny to me."

Mary seemed to become sad, looking down at the photo of her husband. "He loved that stupid team."

"Dad's dead?" Dean questioned, hating that his family was yet still broken even in his dream world. "And the thing that killed him was a..."

"Stroke. He died in his sleep, Dean. You know that."

Dean, even though upset John wasn't there to be with the family, was relieved he died peacefully. "That's good."

"Come again?"

"I - I mean... I'm glad he went peacefully. I mean, it - it sure beats the alternative."

Mary's shoulders slumped, her hands falling to her sides. "You've been drinking."

"No, I haven't, Mom."

"I'm just gonna call Carmen and have her come pick you up, okay?" Mary stated softly and went to pick up the phone next to her, but Dean was quick to stop her from doing so.

"No, no, no. Don't do that," Dean quickly rambled out and backtracked when Mary gave him an odd look. "I want to stay here."

"Why?"

Dean smiled brightly and looked around the house, the same house he never thought to see the same again. "Because I miss the place. It's okay. You go to bed, okay?"

Mary watched her son sit down on the couch, looking around as if he were in a dream. She walked over to him and stroked his face lovingly as a mother would. "Dean, you're sure everything is alright?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Okay. Get some rest. I love you," Mary kissed Dean's forehead and went back up the stairs to go to bed.

"Me too," Dean replied and laid back on the couch, throwing his arm over his eyes. He didn't know how the Djinn put him here, but he wasn't complaining. Not yet.

-°—✞——✞—°-

The next morning, Dean had woken up to a photo of the Winchesters in front of a Christmas tree and that reminded him of what happened. He had tried to dial Sam and Delaney as he rushed out of the house and into the Impala, but Dean was met with both of his siblings voicemails. He tossed the phone onto the seat next to him, speeding off towards the college campus that was only a few minutes from the house.

Dean was sat in the office with one of the professors that he wormed his way into by telling the professor he was a student of his. He hadn't done a case by himself in a long time, so it was a bit weird to him not having Delaney or Sam to call for back up. The bright side of the whole thing was, the professor agreed to help Dean figure out all he could on Djinns.

The professor had opened a multitude of books and articles for Dean that spoke about Djinns as they stood in front of the desk together.

"A lot of Muslims believe the Djinn are very real. They are mentioned in the Koran - "

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get to the wish part," Dean cut the professor off, needing to get to the info he really needed so he could get back to the house before Delaney arrived and his mother wondered where he went.

"What about it?" the professor asked.

"Do you think they can really do it?"

The professor was quiet for a long moment before he shook his head. "No, I don't think they can really do it. You understand these are mythic creatures."

"Yeah, no, I know. I know. I mean in the stories - say you had a wish, but you never even said it out loud, like that a loved one never died or that something awful never happened."

"Supposedly, yes. I mean, they have godlike power. They can alter reality however they want - past, present and future."

Dean leant his hands on the desk and skimmed the books on the desk. "Why would the Djinn do it? What, self-defense? Or maybe it's not really evil."

"Son?"

"Hmm?"

"You been drinking?"

Dean chuckled and turned to the professor. "Everyone keeps asking me that, but no."

-°—✞——✞—°-

Dean sighed dreamily as he ate a sandwich Mary had made for him when he came back home. "This is the best sandwich ever!"

"Thank you!" Mary called from the kitchen where she washed the dishes.

"I tried to get ahold of Sam and Della earlier. Where are they?" Dean asked around a mouthful of food.

Mary placed the leftover sandwich stuff into the fridge and glanced over her shoulder to Dean. "Oh, they'll be here soon. Sam sooner than Lanes most likely."

"Good. I'm dying to see them."

"Sweetie, I - don't get me wrong," Mary began, walking into the dining room with a mug of coffee in her hand and sat down next to Dean at the table. "I am thrilled you are hanging out here all of a sudden, but, uh, shouldn't you be at work? You know... at the garage?"

Dean paused for a moment, momentarily forgetting his day job wasn't hunting anymore. It was a mechanic at a car garage in town. "Right. The garage. No, I - I have a day off. Good thing."

"Mmm," Dean moaned softly, taking another bite of his sandwich and glanced out the window. His chewing slowed slightly as he noticed the lawn looked like it need some care. He stood up and walked over to the window to get a closer look at it. "That lawn looks like it could use some mowing."

"You want to mow the lawn?"

Dean grinned widely at the thought of doing something so mundane. "You kidding me? I'd love to mow the lawn."

-°—✞——✞—°-

Dean sat on the porch steps with a beer in his hand after he had finished mowing the lawn and he had never felt more relaxed in his life. He took another sip of his beer as he saw a car pull up and Sam step out of the car with a blonde girl that Dean recognized as Jessica, who Sam had dated for a year while they did a case by Stanford so they could keep an eye on Delaney while John ran off to do whatever it was he did.

Dean rushed over to the pretty blonde and wrapped her up in a tight hug, who seemed surprised by the affection. He had never been so happy to see her and he was still upset Sam had broken it off when he did. Jessica was such a good part of Sam's life and when they broke up, it was rough to see Sam thrust himself into the business to keep his mind focused on anything but the blonde haired, blue eyed girl that stole his heart.

"Hello to you too, Dean," Jessica grunted and took in a deep breath again when Dean let her go. "Missed you...too?"

Sam walked over in a gray track jacket and yellow polo and khakis, wrapping an arm around Jessica.

"Sammy! Look at you, man. You're with Jessica. I don't believe it," Dean laughed, shaking his head as he couldn't wrap his head around how much of his wish came true. "Where'd you guys come from?"

Sam furrowed his eyebrows as he assessed his brother with a confused expression. "Uh... we just flew in from California."

"California! It's a beautiful state, huh? Della went to school there," Dean exclaimed.

"Uh, yeah," Sam noticed the beer bottle in his brother's hand and shook his head. "I see what Della meant when she called me late last night. See you are starting Mom's birthday with a bang, as usual."

"Mom's birthday? That - that's today?"

"That's kind of why we are here, Dean. Don't tell me you forgot," Sam responded.

Dean opened his mouth to respond and stopped when he heard a groan from behind him. He spun around to see Delaney walking over with a one-year old baby in her arms with matching dirty blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes, who he assumed to be John. She wore a white dress with a lace covering the white material beneath it and black heels.

"Damn, I told Will we should have left earlier!" Delaney huffed as she stopped in the small circle Dean, Jessica and Sam had formed, shifting John to her other hip. "You beat me again, Sammy."

"I even had to take a plane this time," Sam mused with a triumphant grin. "Face it, Squirt, now that you have John, you won't be the fastest anymore."

Dean stared John in Delaney's arms that had on a t-shirt with a print of the front of a suit on it and black jeans, white sneakers adorning his tiny feet. His baby sister had a freaking baby. The diamond glinting on her left ring finger that was nestled next to a silver wedding band also lead him to believe she was married. Before him or Sammy.

"Thanks, babe, I totally have the bags!" a male's voice rang out a few feet away and the group glanced over to see Will Anderson - yeah, that Will - walking over with two suitcases and what appeared to be John's baby bag.

Dean blinked as he took in the sight of Will with his mass of black hair, bright blue eyes and athletic build that was clearly from his years of football at the college. The letterman jacket that he wore had a Los Angeles Rams patch sewn into it with a C stitched above it to show he was the captain of the team.

"Della, you - you married... and have a ..."

Delaney rose an amused eyebrow at her brother. "Still drunk I see."

"Hey, Dean," Will greeted Dean, patting him on the shoulder and shooting the same greeting to Sam and Jessica. "Your sister told me about your little phone call yesterday. You good, dude?"

Dean cleared his throat as he stared at Will for a long moment. "Uh... yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Just excited to celebrate Mom's birthday."

He watched as the four made their way into the house to say hello to Mary and he stayed on the lawn, not believing that not only were Mary and Will alive, but his sister was married and had a kid while Sam had Jessica by his side. His family was happy.

-°—✞——✞—°-

At the dinner, Dean found out that not only were Jessica and Sam now engaged, but Delaney had opened up her own lawyer firm in Kansas that Sam would be co-owning with her. They would be opening one firm in California as well so that Sam could handle all the business there without needing to travel back and forth between the two states, unless it was dire.

Dean had also seen a woman in white, filthy from head to toe. He had originally seen her at the campus and she disappeared on him when he tried to get close to her so he had just disregarded it. Now she showed up again, looking as if she had played in the mud somewhere and, of course, he looked crazy to everyone when he tried to follow her again.

Thankfully, no one had brought it up on the way back to Mary's and they entered the house, the four girls laughing about something that Carmen had said. He didn't know what could have been so funny as he had and Sam had been talking about the engagement and they didn't hear what it was.

Delaney walked away from Mary, Will, Carmen and Jessica to follow her brothers into the living room, John still in her arms as his head rested on her shoulder. It seemed as if he tried to fight off the sleep that wanted to take over, the pacifier in his mouth bobbing every once in a while. "So, Dean, what was that back at the restaurant?"

"Oh, I thought I saw someone. I'm sure it's nothing."

"Well, I had a lovely birthday," Mary announced and smiled warmly at the family that surrounded her. "Thank you. Good night."

"Night, mommy," Delaney said to Mary and smirked at Sam's eye roll. "Still the princess, Sammy-cakes."

Sam mocked her back and playfully pushed her head away from him with a laugh. "Bug off, you little brat."

"Anyways, I'm beat and ready to turn in. Pretty sure this little guy is too," Delaney said, bouncing John a bit in her arms and kissed his forehead. "Will, you ready to turn in?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Dean called after his sister, brother-in-law and Sam. "Come on. It's not even nine o'clock yet. Let's have a drink or something, yeah?"

"Maybe another time," Sam agreed, freezing in his spot in the archway between the foyer and living room.

"Come on, Sammy. Look at us, huh? We both have beautiful women on our arms and Delaney married Will and had a son! You're engaged. We should celebrate. Mom will be here to make sure John is fine, right?"

Delaney stared at her brother for a long moment, not knowing where any of this came from. She turned back to Carmen, Jessica and Will with a sheepish smile. "Babe, can you take John upstairs to bed and I'll meet you up there in a minute?"

"Sure," Will took John from Delaney, who immediately started to cry and reach his arms out for Delaney. "Oh, I know. She's a mean old lady ditching us, huh bud?"

"Night, Laney!" Carmen and Jessica chorused, walking up the steps together behind Will and the screaming John.

Delaney waited for the girls and Will to be out of earshot before she gripped Dean's ear and dragged him into the kitchen with Sam trailing behind her.

"Ow, Delaney!" Dean yelled and pulled out of her grasp. "Geez, even here you have a death grip and mean."

"I - okay. What's gotten into you lately, huh? I mean this whole warm, fuzzy, ecstasy-trip thing."

Dean frowned, crossing his arms. "I'm just happy for you, Della, and for Sammy."

"Uh, that's actually another thing," Sam chimed in, loosening his tie. "Since when do you call me Sammy or her Della? Dean, come on. You don't talk to Delly or I outside of holidays."

Dean was taken aback at that information because he couldn't imagine a day where he didn't speak to either Sam or Delaney. "We don't? Well, we should. I mean, you're my brother and sister. I'm the godfather of Delaney's kid."

"You're my brother and sister?" Delaney scoffed in annoyance. "You know, that's what you said when you snaked my ATM card. Or when you bailed on my high school graduation or when you hooked up with Rachel Nave."

"Who?"

"Sam's prom date - on prom night," Delaney informed her brother.

Dean rolled his lips into his mouth as he had been cornered on that one. "Yeah.. that does kind of sound like me. Well, hey, guys. I'm sorry about all that."

"Hey, it's alright, man," Sam assured, brushing off Dean's hand from his shoulder. "We just - you know, Delly and I aren't asking you to change. I just, uh - I don't know. I guess we don't have anything in common, you know?"

Delaney pat Dean on the chest as he passed him by and jumped when Dean tugged on her arm. "Wha - "

"We do have something in common," Dean argued and let Delaney's arm go. "Hunting."

"Hunting? Dean, we've never been hunting a day in our lives," Delaney countered, placing her hands on her hips. "Dad wouldn't even let me wield a knife until I was ten because he didn't want me getting hurt."

"Yeah, cause you are the princess," Sam mumbled, earning him a punch to the arm from his sister. "Ow, Delly!"

"Well, you deserve it, butthead."

"Oh, good comeback there, shortstack."

Dean blinked as he listened to the two bicker back and forth. It was the same type of argument that he and Delaney would have, then Sam would cut in a minute later to call it off and mockingly call them children. Now he knew how Sam felt anytime the two had a childish argument. "Well, uh, we should go hunting sometime then. I think you guys will be good at it."

"Right..." Sam trailed off and slowly backed away. "Get some rest, Dean."

"Yeah, sleep tight, Dean," Delaney added and glared at Sam when he purposely stopped short so she bumped into him. "Ugh, Mom, Sam is being mean to me!"

Dean ran a hand over his face as he heard his sister yell down the hall to Mary about Sam and the sound of another smack and Sam whining at Jessica for hitting him. His wish was really something else and he didn't expect it to be like this.

-°—✞——✞—°-

Later the next night, Dean was sat on the couch in his living room as he barely paid attention to whatever was on the TV. His mind raced too much over the fact he wasn't close with Sam nor Delaney and the two seemed to be closer with each other. Sure he was glad that Sam and Delaney were still close, but it hurt him to know that his relationship with Delaney had been transferred to Sam instead and now he had no relationship with either sibling.

A beer appeared in front of his face and snapped him out of his thoughts, taking the beer gently from Carmen. "My favorite. I guess you know me pretty well."

"Afraid so," Carmen replied and sat down next to Dean. She was in her purple robe once again and Dean tried not to glance at her long legs as she folded them underneath herself. "You okay?"

"Sammy, Della and I - we don't get along."

"Well, you don't really spend much time together," Carmen reminded him, making herself comfortable in Dean's side as his arm rested on the back of the couch. "I just think you don't know each other all that well. For the record, they don't know what they're missing."

Dean nodded absentmindedly and exhaled heavily. "I can fix things with Della and Sam. I can make it up to them...to everyone."

"Okay..." Carmen trailed off, not knowing why Dean had brought all of that up. "What's gotten into you lately?"

"This isn't gonna make a lick of sense to you, but I kind of feel like I've been given a second chance. I don't wanna mess it up."

"You're right that doesn't make any se- " Carmen was caught off by Dean pressing his lips softly to hers and she giggled in surprise.

"You know, I get it. Why you're the one."

"Well, whatever has gotten into you. I like it," Carmen smiled as Dean leant in again and pressed his lips back to hers. She allowed him to lay her back on the couch and when his lips went to press themselves down her throat, she groaned and sat them both back up. "No, don't do this to me now. I've got to get ready for work."

Dean threw his head back in frustration with a pout. "You have to work now?"

"I told you," Carmen said, walking up the steps to their room and stood in front of their closet. "I have to night shifts on Thursday."

"Right, you have the night shift at the, uh..." Dean trailed off, noticing Carmen pull out a pair of a scrubs. "Hospital. I'm dating a nurse. That is so... respectable."

After a dozen kisses and Carmen practically tearing herself away from Dean, she had finally left for the hospital and Dean had sat back down on the couch to watch TV with his beer in hand. He flipped through the channels for something good to watch until he went to bed, but froze when a news channel came on and spoke about the United Britannia Flight 424 that crashed a year ago.

"No, no, no. We stopped that crash!" Dean whispered and shut the TV off, taking a seat in front of the laptop on the kitchen table. He searched articles for all the things he and his siblings had stopped from happening because they fought off whatever supernatural being was there. Each one had ended awfully because the three nor John were there to stop the supernatural from taking over.

Dean noticed the woman he had been seeing walk past and he scrambled after it to his room where he heard sounds from his closet. He slowly opened it and stumbled back when he saw multiple corpses hanging from the ceiling and whirled around to see a girl with a bullet in her hand flicker in and out of existence, before disappearing along with the corpses.

Needing some air, Dean grabbed his jacket and drove off to where he believed his father's grave was, it being where Mary's had originally been in the other life. His real life. He sighed sadly, shaking his head as he stared down at John's tombstone.

JOHN WINCHESTER

1954-2006

LOVING HUSBAND & FATHER

REMEMBERED FOREVER

"All of them. Everyone that you saved, everyone Sammy, Della and I saved... they are all dead," Dean whispered into the night air, bracing himself as a cold breeze blew by. "And there's this woman that's haunting me. I don't know why. I don't know what the connection is - not yet, anyway. It's like my old life is coming after me or something, like it doesn't want me to be happy. Of course, I know what you'd say. Well, not the you that played softball, but you'd say Go hunt the damn Djinn. It put you here. It can put you back. Your happiness or all those people's lives - no contest.

"Right? But why? Why is it my job to save these people? Why do I have to be some kind of hero? What about us, huh? What, Mom's not supposed to live her life? Delaney and Sam are not supposed to get married or have children? Delaney's supposed to have that evil inside of her the rest of her life and have to constantly worry? She has bad enough anxiety as it is and this only makes it worse. Why do we have to sacrifice everything, Dad? It's..."

Dean sniffled loudly and wiped away his tears, clearing his throat as it had become scratchy and choked up as he got progressively more upset. All he wanted in life was for his siblings to be able to have families and for his mother and father to be alive and together. Why couldn't he have that? Why was he always expected to save these strangers he didn't even know all over the United States? It wasn't fair that God made this his life.

He didn't ask for any of this. He didn't ask for the yellow eyed demon to target his baby sister and give her psychic powers or that she could potentially become evil. There was always a constant worry in the back of his head about Delaney and it sucked. Sam nor Delaney knew what he constantly battled on the inside. Sure, they battled scary demons on the outside, but Dean had his own demons on the inside he never shared. Those sometimes being scarier than the demons he fought on a daily basis.

Dean allowed a sob to escape and wiped his face again that became wet with tears yet again. He knew what he had to do, even though it would mean having to give this life up.

-°—✞——✞—°-

Dean fumbled around in the cabinets of Mary's house, trying to find any silver that he could possibly find. He had gotten some stuff from his own house, but still needed just a bit more to make sure he had enough for this hunt. Footsteps behind him, alerted him and he quickly turned and grabbed the bat that swung at him, sending the person onto their backs.

"Whoa, Della. That's embarrassing how easy that was," Dean breathed, forgetting Delaney didn't have the combat skills anymore. "What are you doing up?"

Delaney whined as she sat up, rubbing her head and taking Dean's hand to help her up. She felt John's tiny hand wrap around her pajama pants and she ran a hand over his head to assure him she was okay. "John was getting fussy and wouldn't sleep so I took him down here to try and tire him out. What the hell are you doing here?"

Sam appeared in the archway to the living room and leant against the frame to catch his breath. "What's going on?"

"If this were a robbery, Delaney would have been dead," Dean replied, gesturing to Delaney who had picked up a whining John. "Anyway, I was looking for a beer."

"In the china cabinet?" Delaney questioned, bouncing John in her arms and made him lay his head on her shoulder. She kissed the side of his head as her son gripped the blanket in his hand in his hand and rubbed at his sleep heavy eyes.

Sam flipped the light switch next to him and tilted his head when he noticed the silverware on the coffee table. "That's Mom's silver."

"Sam..."

"Wait," Delaney laughed incredulously, eyes bouncing between the silverware and her eldest brother. "You broke into the house to steal Mom's silver?"

"It's not what it looks like, okay? I didn't have a choice."

Sam crossed his arms and stared at Dean in disbelief. "Oh, yeah? Why not? What's so damn important that you got to steal from your own mother?"

"You want the truth?" Dean asked, stuffing his hands into brown jacket pockets.

"Yeah, we kinda do," Delaney answered.

"Uh..." Dean trailed off, trying to figure out a good enough lie for needing all the silver. "I owe somebody money. A bookie. I lost big on a game. I got to bring him the cash tonight."

Delaney closed her eyes and hid her face in Sam's arm because if she looked at Dean any longer, she might hit him even with the baby in her arms. "I cannot believe we are related."

"Sam, Della, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that we don't get along and I wish that I could stay and fix it," Dean admitted, eyes bouncing between his two siblings. "But I got to do this. People's lives depend on it."

"Dean, what are you talking about?" Sam questioned softly.

"Nothing. Forget it," Dean waved him off, knowing no matter what he said that he could never get his siblings to see what he had to do. "Just, uh... tell Mom I love her."

"Dean..."

Dean's gaze diverted to John who was still in Delaney's arm and he licked his dry lips. "Della, can I hold him for a second?"

"Uh... okay?" Delaney gently passed John to Dean so she wouldn't wake him and stepped back to stand next to Sam while Dean held John close to him.

Dean hugged John tightly to him and swayed back and forth with him, kissing his godson's forehead. "I'm sorry I won't be here to watch you grow up, little man. Just look after your mom, aunts and grandma for me, okay? You're gonna be the man of the house while your dad is away for his professional football games and all that. Just know I love you, buddy, even if I had just met you."

Delaney took John back when Dean handed him back to her after he hugged and kissed him one more time. "Dean..."

"I'll be seeing you guys," Dean said to his siblings, slapping Sam on the shoulder and kissing his sister's forehead. Before he could convince himself not to end this case, he grabbed whatever silver he needed and rushed out of the house.

As Dean got into the car, Delaney and Sam got into the Impala with him and he raised an eyebrow at his siblings. How the two got dressed into regular clothes so quickly and how Delaney put John down for bed the way she did was beyond him. "Get out of the car."

"We're going with you," Delaney said from the back seat, popping her head into the front. It was almost uncanny how easily this reflected his true life.

"You're both just gonna slow me down."

"Tough," Sam argued with a shrug.

Dean narrowed his eyes at both of his siblings, his protective side kicking in. Sure he wanted his siblings as back up, but this version of his siblings didn't even know how to fire a gun. If anything went sideways, they could get seriously injured for lack of knowledge on what to do. "This is dangerous and you could get hurt."

"And so could you," Sam countered right back.

"Guys - "

"Look, whatever stupid thing you're about to do, you're not doing it alone, and that's that," Delaney said with finality.

Dean eyed both of his siblings, not knowing why they both suddenly wanted to help him out. "I don't understand. Why are you doing this?"

Delaney sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Because you're still our brother."

"Bitch."

Delaney blinked in surprise at the insult and exchanged a look with Sam, who seemed just as confused. "Wh- what are you calling me a bitch for?"

"You're supposed to say jerk."

"What?"

"Never mind," Dean replied and turned on the Impala, peeling off down the road.

The car was silent for a few minutes as Dean drove down the empty, dark roads. The only sound was the purr of the engine and the occasional nighttime critter chirping or howling somewhere in the distance.

"What's in the bag?" Delaney asked, gesturing to the brown paper bag on the front seat between Sam and Dean.

"Nothin'"

"Nothin'?" Delaney repeated and it sounded like she didn't believe him. Smart girl. "Fine, don't tell me." She grabbed the bag and opened it, digging around inside of it to take out whatever was inside.

Dean shook his head frantically and glanced at Delaney through the rearview mirror. "You don't wanna do that."

"Oh, really?" Delaney challenged and pulled her arm back out of the bag to reveal a jar of blood in her hands. She squeaked and dropped the jar onto the seat next to her, not expecting that to be what Dean had hid. "What the hell is that?"

"That's blood," Dean explained with a lazy shrug. "You really don't wanna know why I have it."

Delaney tentatively placed the jar back in the bag and put it back on the seat between her brothers. "Uh... I think I want to know. I really, really do."

"Yeah, well you're gonna find out sooner or later. I needed a silver knife dipped in lamb's blood."

Sam scoffed incredulously as his eyes widened. "Wh- you needed a silver knife dipped in lamb's blood. Why?"

"Because there's this creature, a Djinn, and I have to hunt it."

"Wow, I really should have listened to Sam for once and stayed back like he asked," Delaney whispered to herself, sitting back in her seat as she held the sides of her head.

"It's the truth, guys. There are things out there in the dark. There - there - there are bad things. There are nightmare things and people have to be saved. If we don't save them, then nobody will."

Sam turned in his seat so his was back was leant against the door and one of his legs were pulled under him on the seat. "I - I really want to help you. I do, but you're having some kind of psychotic breakdown. So I just - "

"Oh, I wish," Dean mumbled, cutting off Sam mid-sentence. He rolled his eyes when he noticed Sam dial a number in his phone and snatched it out of his brother's hands, flinging the device out the open window.

"What the hell was that, Dean? That was my phone!"

Dean rolled his window back up and shot his brother an apologetic look. "I'm not going to a rubber room, Sammy, and we got work to do."

"Dean, Sam was trying to help you out. We don't want you to get hurt," Delaney defended Sam, her head coming back into the front.

"What?" Dean barked out a laugh, motioning between his two siblings. "You protect me?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh, that's hilarious. Why don't you two just sit tight and try not to get all of us killed?"

Delaney and Sam both kept quiet as Dean reached forward and blasted music from his stereo. The rest of the ride being quiet besides the rock music blasting from the Impala's stereo.

When Dean pulled the Impala to a stop outside the old factory he had been out when the Djinn attacked him, he noticed both of his siblings passed out. He shined a light in both of their faces, effectively waking them both up. "We aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto. Welcome to Illinois."

"And you think something's in there?" Delaney asked through a yawn, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"I know it is."

Dean took what he needed out of the Impala and lead his siblings through the factory and into the hall where the Djinn had originally attacked him, but nothing popped up as Dean shined his flashlight around.

"Dean, come on. Carmen has to be worried about you and I'm sure Will is worried sick about Delaney because she's been gone for so long. Let's just go," Sam begged, making sure to keep Delaney by his side in case something did happen.

Dean held up a hand to shut up his brother, his ears perking up to listen for a sound from somewhere in the factory. "Shh."

Delaney grabbed onto Sam's hand and he clutched it tightly so he could make sure she was alright. The sound wound up turning into a high pitched whimpering. "What the hell was that, Dean?"

"Just... stick behind me and keep your mouths shut."

Dean lead his siblings into a larger room where the same bodies he had seen hung in his closet were just a few feet away. An emptied blood bag was hung next to one of the bodies.

"What the hell is that?" Delaney whispered, inspecting the bag.

Dean glanced to the right to see the woman he kept seeing the past two days and approached her to see she was thankfully still alive, but most likely not much longer with how weak and gray she looked. A blood bag next to her was still pretty fully. "It's her."

"Dean, what's going?" Sam asked, scanning the predicament the woman seemed to be in.

"Shhh," Dean hissed at Sam and pulled him back from the woman and behind a stack of shelves to hide from the Djinn that had just rounded the corner.

The girl sobbed and asked the Djinn where her father was, but he sent her back to sleep and took a long sip from her blood in the bag next to her. The sound of Delaney choking back bile alerted the Djinn and before he could find their hiding spot, the three Winchesters were quick to move around and duck behind the steps that lead out of the large room.

The Djinn eventually went back up the steps when he didn't find the Winchesters and Delaney collapsed back against Sam's chest as her own heaved in fright. "This is real? You're not crazy?"

Dean ignored his sister's questions as his brain started to piece together the puzzle. "She didn't know where she was. She thought she was with her father." He guided his siblings back over to the woman and he scanned the area around them. "What if that's what the Djinn does? It doesn't grant you a wish, it just makes you think it has."

"Dean, look, Delaney is frightened and this thing can come back. Can we just go please?" Sam pleaded, checking over his shoulder to make sure the Djinn didn't come back.

Dean brushed past his siblings and walked over to a hanging lightbulb, staring at it as if it were a beacon of light. He gagged on his saliva and gasped hoarsely as he realized that he must be like that woman hanging just feet away. He whirled back around to his siblings, panic clear on his face. "What if I'm like her? What if I'm tied up in here some place? What if all this is in my head?"

Dean ran a hand over his mouth, walking back over to the woman and circling her body. " I mean it could, you know, maybe it gives us some kind of supernatural acid, and then just feeds on us slow."

"No, Dean, that doesn't make any sense, okay?" Delaney said, grabbing onto Dean's arm to try and get him to look at her.

Dean froze as realization dawned on him and he dropped his arm to his side. "What if that's why she keeps appearing to me? She's not a spirit. It's - it's like more and more like I'm catching flashes of reality. You know, like I'm in here somewhere, and I'm - I'm catatonic, and I'm taking all this stuff in but I, but I can't snap out of it."

"Okay. Look, yeah, you're right and we were wrong. You aren't crazy, but we need to get out of here fast," Sam said, shaking Dean to snap him out of whatever was going through his mind.

Dean shook Sam's hand off him and stepped away from his siblings who both shot him desperate looks. "No, no, no. I don't think either one of you are real."

Delaney let out a small screech of frustration and grabbed onto her brother's arms. "Did you feel that? You feel this, Dean, huh? This is all real! This is not some kind of acid trip. I'm real. Sam's real. That thing is gonna come down here and kill us for real. Now, please!"

"There's one way to be sure," Dean argued, prying Delaney's hands off him much like he had with Sam.

Delaney held her hands up in defense as Dean whipped out a knife and slowly backed away from him to stand next to Sam. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?"

"It's an old wives' tale. If you're about to die in a dream, you'll wake up."

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's crazy. All right?" Sam argued, eyes widening as Dean turned the blade to face himself. "You're gonna kill yours- "

"Or I'm gonna wake up. One or the other," Dean cut off Sam with a simple shrug.

"Look, this isn't a dream, alright?" Delaney whispered, still holding her hands out so Dean knew she wasn't going to do anything. "We are here with you now, and you are about to kill yourself, Dean."

Dean pretended to think for a moment before shaking his head. "Uh, no I'm pretty sure. Ninety percent sure, but I'm sure enough."

"Wait!" Sam yelled, causing Dean to freeze in his plunging the knife into his chest.

Dean nearly dropped the knife when Mary came out of the darkness to his right in the same nightgown she had died in and Carmen walked over from behind Delaney and Sam.

"Why did you have to keep digging?" Delaney asked, her hands now back at her sides and Will stood to her right with John in his arms and Jessica stood on Sam's other side. "Why couldn't you have left well enough alone? You were happy."

Mary walked over to Dean and stood directly in front of him, stroking his cheek lovingly. "Put the knife down, honey."

"You're not real," Dean said, shaking his hand as his grip on the knife only tightened. "None of it is."

"It doesn't matter. It's still better than anything you had," Mary replied gently. "It's everything you want. We're a family again. Let's go home."

Dean shook his head and stepped further back from his alternate family. "No... I'll die. The Djinn will drain the life out of me in a couple of days."

"But in here, with us, it'll feel like years. Like a lifetime," Mary informed him and grabbed his chin to make him look at her, the tears welling in his eyes again. "I promise, honey. No more pain. No more fear. Just love and comfort and safety. Dean... stay with us. Get some rest."

"You don't have worry about Laney anymore," Will spoke up, easy smile on his face as he glanced down to the youngest Winchester next to him. "You'll get to watch her live a full life by your and Sam's side."

Carmen took over Mary's spot in front of Dean and brought him down for a kiss. "Please stay, Dean. I love you. We can have a future together and have our own family."

Sam stepped forward with Delaney and they each placed a hand on Dean's shoulder. "Why do we have to be the ones to save everyone? Haven't we done enough? I'm begging you. Give me the knife."

Dean's eyes flickered from Sam's outstretched hand to his brother's tear stained face that matched Delaney's next to him. The Djinn really sent out the big guns to get him to stay, but he knew better. He knew this wasn't real and that he needed to get back to the real world where his real family was. He stepped back from the group and shook his head, sniffling.

"I'm sorry."

-°—✞——✞—°-

Delaney ran around the large room of the factory, checking each person hung from the ceiling to see if it was Dean. So far she had no such luck and quickly started to lose hope of finding him alive since he had been gone for a whole day and still no sign. Delaney and Sam couldn't get into a car fast enough and get themselves over to Illinois to find Dean before the Djinn killed him.

"Dean!" Delaney yelled, seeing him a few feet away and ran over to him, holding his face in her hands. "Dean, hey, come on!" She looked up at the ropes hanging him from the ceiling and his pale face and dazed eyes didn't do anything to help ease her worry. Luckily, the blood bag next to him was still full so that meant the Djinn hadn't done too much damage to him just yet. "Wake up, Dean!"

Dean moaned softly and Delaney nearly cried in joy as his eyes focused on her and Sam who now stood behind her. "Auntie Em, there's no place like home."

Delaney wrapped her arms around Dean's torso tightly, hugging him close to her and letting the tears fall freely down her face and soak into Dean's white long sleeve shirt.

"We thought we lost you, Dean," Sam laughed and pulled out the tube in Dean's throat.

"You almost did."

"Sammy, help me get him down," Delaney instructed and the two siblings quickly got to work on freeing Dean from his restrains.

Dean's gaze fell behind his siblings' shoulders and gasped. "Sam, Della, behind you!"

Sam turned to see the Djinn next to him and swung the silver knife at him, which he quickly dodged. The Djinn got the upper hand and forced Sam to drop the silver knife on the ground, holding him by the throat. The Djinn's hand glowed blue and he moved it toward Sam's forehead, but Sam struggled hard against him and tried to stop the hand from meeting his forehead. The Djinn opened his fist and blue light began to appear around his hand.

When his hand was almost at Sam's forehead again, Delaney thrusted the knife into the back of the Djinn, turning it and the blue light go out of the Djinn's eyes. Delaney pulled out the knife and it fell to the ground dead just as Dean broke out of the ropes, stopping next to his siblings.

Dean swayed a bit, looking like death with pale face and red-rimmed eyes, but he stumbled his way over to the woman he saw in the Djinn's reality with his siblings behind him. He put his fingers to her neck to feel for a pulse. "She's still alive!"

Sam took the knife from Dean to cut the woman down while Dean pulled out the tube from her neck. As the girl fell down from the restraints, Dean effortlessly caught her and held her up bridal style.

"It's okay. I gotcha, I gotcha. We're gonna get you out of here. I gotcha."

-°—✞——✞—°-

The next day, Delaney paced around the room with her phone pressed to her as she spoke to the hospital on the phone. Sam sat on his respective bed while Dean sat on his and Delaney's, flipping through a magazine.

"Okay, uh, thank you so much for the update," Delaney said and hung up the phone, pocketing it in her back pocket. "That was the hospital. The girl's been stabilized. Good chance she's gonna pull through."

"That's good," Dean nodded, continuing to flip through the magazine as his sister sat next to him on the bed.

"Yeah, but how about you? How are you doing?"

Dean shut the magazine and flung it behind him and Delaney onto the bed. "Yeah, I'm alright. You should have seen it, guys. Our lives. Sam was such a damn wuss and Delaney, you were definitely the princess."

Sam chuckled along with Delaney and leant his elbows on his knees. "So, we didn't get along then, huh?"

"No, it was weird. You and Delaney were the close siblings and you argued the way Della and I do. I swear, now I know why you call the both of us children all the time. The arguments were..." Dean paused to laugh at the memory of it all. "Just wow."

"I thought it was supposed to be the perfect fantasy," Delaney thought aloud.

Dean shook his head with a small scoff. "It so wasn't. It was just a wish. I wished for Mom to live. Mom never died, we never went hunting, and the three of us just never, uh - you know."

"Well, I'm glad we do," Sam whispered, earning his siblings' attention. "I'm glad you dug yourself out, Dean. Most people wouldn't have the strength. They would have stayed."

"Yeah... lucky me," Dean sighed, fiddling with his thumbs as he avoided his siblings gazes. "I got to tell you though, guys - Delaney had married Will and son and you had Jess. Mom would have had more grandkids."

Delaney watched as Dean pushed himself off the bed and walked around with his hands dug deep into the front pockets of his jeans. "Yeah, but that wasn't real, Dee."

"I know," Dean said, sitting down on the dresser across from the beds. He looked as if he were sad and in a daze. "I wanted to stay. I wanted to stay so bad. I mean, ever since Dad... all I can think about is how much this job's cost us. We've lost so much and we have sacrificed so much."

"But people are alive because of you," Sam reminded his brother, trying to get Dean to see the good side of the hunting business. Innocent people were safe and alive because of them. "It's worth it, Dean. It is. It's not fair, and... you know, it hurts like hell, but... it's worth it."

Delaney frowned as Dean merely scoffed, bowing his head with a sad and distant look on his face. She hated that Dean struggled so strongly with this life in more ways than she could imagine. He was always so into the hunts and wanting to finish them that she never stopped to wonder if he truly wanted any part of it. Sure, he said he wanted to be, but it was obvious this life wasn't exactly his highlight.

Maybe when they finally found the yellow eyed demon, the three could retire and live out Dean's wish. They deserved that much.

AUTHORS NOTE

Hi hey hello

This chapter took me four hours to write and I am honestly so in love with it. I have been planning this chapter ever since the start of this whole entire series and I am so happy to finally share it with you guys! I was so excited to finally bring in Will and their son John and then to bring in Jessica who hasn't even made it into the story before was just AMAZING. Plus, to do almost a full chapter in Dean's POV was honestly so much fun and I loved being able to express his hidden inner feelings to give more of a perspective on why Dean is the way he is to Delaney.

Now we are done to two final chapters of book two and it'll be in two parts so the next two chapters will most likely have the same chapter name unless I decided to name them two separate things. Ya'll aint ready for these last two chapters because neither am I, so I'll know you're a damn liar if you say you are

ALSO, THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO winchessta BECAUSE SHE HAS LISTENED TO ME ENDLESSLY SPEAK ABOUT THIS CHAPTER SINCE THE LAST FEW CHAPTERS OF BOOK ONE. SHE IS THE REAL MVP FOR KEEPING ME SANE AND SUPPORTING MY IDEAS FOR THIS CHAPTER! PRETY SURE SHE WAS MORE EXCITED FOR THIS CHAPTER THAN I WAS. LOVE YOU, TILLS!