The boy paused in the doorway, looking just a little apprehensive, not of Jo or her baby bump, but of the tall, stoic man lurking beside her that was supposed to be his future self. He reminded him of his father, in a way, and he wasn't quite sure if that was a good or bad thing. He wasn't afraid of the man exactly, but he was smart enough to be a little apprehensive. "Um ..." he replied, as he looked at the two of them.

Her smile softened even further as she held her arm out to the little boy, understanding why he was a little apprehensive but not prepared to coddle what was a silly fear. Dean might be intimidating, but he would never allow a child to be harmed. "C'mon," she cajoled the littler one. "I have magic hugs, I promise. I can make this one stop worrying and smile with a hug, imagine what they can do to you?"

Dean spoke finally, seeing the worry and fear on the boy's face - a face he knew all too well. He had sometimes thought about what advice he'd give himself if he could go back in time, what things he might have done differently, and now it seemed he had that chance. Even if the kid didn't remember any of this, maybe there'd be a part of him deep down inside that did. He knew it probably wouldn't change anything, but maybe it would at least make him feel better, knowing there was still hope left in the world. He lifted an arm to wave the boy over, a small smile on his face. "Come on. I won't bite. Promise."

The boy relented at last and went into their arms, almost wishing he could stay there forever, but even at seven, he knew that was impossible. He'd made a promise to keep Sam safe, and it was a promise he had no intentions of breaking.

It was odd, perhaps, to have one arm wrapped about a child and the other about the man that child had grown into, in another dimension. But Jo didn't let her thoughts linger there - they were both Dean, and they both seemed to need someone to be calm and balanced, at least for a little while. Her hand stroked little Dean's hair before holding him close, resting her head against her Dean's chest. When their son was this age, he'd have a little sister toddling around behind him. It was a startling thought.

The boy that was Dean let himself get wrapped up in that embrace, and for a moment, it almost felt like he belonged there - like he was their son and like he'd never have to leave, but he knew it wasn't true, but as much as he wanted it, he knew they weren't his real parents. Neither were Ellen and Bobby, no matter how much he loved them. He felt the tears coming again and held them back, but for a sniffle that neither Dean or Jo would be able to help noticing.

Hearing that little sniffle, Jo glanced worriedly up at Dean, still stroking her hand softly against the little boy's back. She didn't know how to make things better; this little boy had lost his mother not so very long ago, and worse, he knew that the monster under his bed was real. But the monster wasn't going to get him while he was here, at least. "You know what? I think we should watch a movie before bed," she suggested. "We have popcorn."

"A movie?" he asked, looking up at Jo expectantly, unshed tears shining in the innocent green eyes that wouldn't stay innocent much longer.

"I think that's a great idea," Dean replied, sensing the tension in the boy and knowing he was close to tears. If there was one thing he - they - could do, it was make the kid's stay here pleasant. It was the least they could do. "I'll make the popcorn, while you two pick the movie."

"Aye, aye, sir." Jo saluted as Dean handed out who was doing what, knowing full well it would irritate him just a little. She never could resist teasing him whenever the opportunity arose, on the pretext that it was all in preparation for having kids. Nothing at all to do with the fact that she loved his passion, in all the ways it came out, even when he was arguing with her. She winked at little Dean, grinning. "So this fine gentleman gets to take me downstairs, huh?"

Well, arguably, Dean would have to go downstairs, too, to get to the kitchen, but he didn't mind sharing Jo with his seven-year-old self, knowing he was going to be the one to end up with her either way. It was a little ironic in a way, and he remembered something Ellen had asked earlier about whether it would skew his preferences for blonds when he was older. Whatever happened, it made Dean's heart ache to know the kid was going to have to witness Jo's death someday, just like he had. He paused a moment to look at the two of them, whatever jealousy he might have felt turning suddenly to sympathy. "I'll meet you two downstairs," he said, touching a kiss to Jo's cheek and ruffling the kid's hair before disappearing from the room.

"Sounds like a plan." She kissed his cheek in answer, letting him slip away as she looked down at the little fellow beside her. "So what sort of movies do you like?" she asked him, uncertain if he was ever allowed to watch movies at this age. She bent to fetch the soft blanket off the bed Dean had made up for him, her hand capturing the little boy's as they headed out of the room and down the stairs.

"Promise you won't laugh?" he asked, as she took his hand to lead him from the room. Whether he was allowed to or not, he had always loved the movies, and why not' It was an escape from reality for awhile, even the bad horror movies his father forbade him to see. Sometimes he'd sneak downstairs and watch them when everyone else was asleep. He didn't know it, but he wasn't really fooling anyone - Bobby and Ellen just couldn't find it in their hearts to scold him about it.

"Why would I laugh?" she countered with a smile. "What, big bad hunters aren't supposed to like chick flicks or Disney' Because I like both, and secretly, I think he does, too. He doesn't argue too much when I put one on." She lowered her voice as they descended the stairs. "He knows all the words to Sleeping Beauty."

"Sleeping Beauty," the boy Dean echoed with wide eyes. "He likes Sleeping Beauty?" he asked, incredulously, breaking into a very boyish chuckle. He said nothing about how Briar Rose was sexy in her bare feet like his older counterpart might, but he found it somehow funny that a full grown man - and a hunter, no less - was fond of a movie that had been made for little girls. "That's funny."

"He'd never admit to it," Jo laughed, drawing him down the stairs. "I caught him singing along a while ago, using a beer as a microphone." And she had laughed herself silly at the irritable stuttering that had followed.

"Really?" he asked, still sounding a little incredulous. Somehow, he couldn't imagine that, and yet, he'd remembered happier times when his parents had done things like that, when they'd laughed and had fun. It hadn't always been easy, and his parents didn't always get along, but whenever they fought, they always managed to somehow forgive and forget and get back together again. But that was years ago, and he feared his father was no longer capable of such laughter. Dean wasn't his father, though - Dean was himself all grown up. "I promise I won't forget how to laugh," he told her, looking up at her with those innocent eyes of his, having no idea what future awaited him.

"Good," she smiled down at him fondly. "Sometimes the best thing you can do is laugh, even if it's not that funny. Besides, you have the cutest smile I have ever seen, and it's gonna grow up into a smile that makes me come over all girly and blushing. You should never lose that smile." She gave him a little nudge into the living room, where Ellen had outfitted them with the world's biggest couch, dominating the room and announcing that it was definitely a place for a family to relax in.

It wasn't the couch that made the boy gasp in surprise, but the television set. From the past as he was, he'd never seen anything quite like it. "Wow, is that a TV set' It's so ....skinny." That was the only word he could think of to describe it. A huge and yet thin screen unlike anything he'd ever seen before. The technology he knew was nearly thirty years old.

"Oh, sweetie, you're gonna watch technology change a whole lot over the years," she promised him with a warm smile, dropping the blanket on the couch. "Computers will get smaller, and everyone will have a mobile telephone that belongs to them, and ....yeah, it changed a lot while I was growing up, too." She chuckled, easing down onto her knees in front of the DVD rack. "Come here, take a look see at these and decide what you wanna watch."

"I know he can hear you," Jo laughed fondly. "First time his daddy swore at him, he kicked him right in the ear." She grinned, remembering that day very well. Dean had been trying to get their son to kick, eventually getting frustrated enough to swear, however mildly, and had ended up delighted with the pinpoint accuracy that had almost popped his eardrum.

"Why did he swear at him?" the younger Dean asked, looking from one to the other for an answer. His father swore sometimes, usually when he was angry, but when the boy had uttered his first "Son of a bitch," his father had whacked the back of his head so hard it had made him dizzy.

"He was trying to get him to move, and it wasn't happening," she laughed, looking over at the larger Dean with a wide grin. She was never going to forget the mixture of annoyance and delight on his face. "Not really that patient, you know?"

"Mom always used to say that good things happen to those who wait," he said, not because he wanted to remind Dean about that, but because his memories of his mother were still very vivid in his mind, and his heart ached for her loss. There were still nights when he cried himself to sleep about it, but even at seven, he was too proud to admit that to anyone - not even Ellen or Bobby.

"Sometimes," Jo nodded, stroking her fingers through his hair. "But most of the time, if you want a good thing to happen, you have to reach out and make it happen. It's one of those things our parents tell us when we're little, to teach us how to be patient, and it's not always true. But that doesn't mean it isn't true sometimes."

"That doesn't make sense," he told her, his fingers searching her bump for more movement. "How are you supposed to know when to wait and when not to wait?" he asked.

"You don't," Dean interjected, returning to the couch with the remote in hand. "You just have to listen to your gut."

"It's all a part of growing up, sweetie," Jo nodded in agreement with the older Dean, leaning back so that both versions had full access to the shifting baby in her womb. "Hey, look at this ..." She paused, watching her bump for a moment, and then pressed into what seemed to be an empty spot. There was a moment of motion within, and then a very obvious hand pushed out where she had pushed in.

"How did you do that?" the boy asked incredulously as he watched the movement inside her tummy, completely forgetting his worries and concerns, at least for the moment.

"Oh, it's all him," she chuckled, glad she could distract the little boy, even if the man tended to hold on tightly to his worries. "If you press ....there ....he'll do it again."

The boy looked up at her, and then to the man as if for permission to touch his wife, but Dean only nodded and smiled and waved him on. Those same tentative fingers copied what Jo had done, but gently, tenderly even, as if he was afraid of hurting her. "Like that?"

"Little bit harder, sweetie. I promise, I won't break." She smiled, encouraging the little boy to enjoy playing with the baby in her womb as much as he liked. She was pretty sure baby Sam wouldn't mind, and judging by Big Dean's expression, he didn't mind it too much, either.

Why should Dean mind" It was a smaller version of himself that was touching his wife, and he knew from experience that the kid was too young to know about the birds and the bees yet. That was something he'd picked up on his own with the help of Playboy magazines and personal experience, though he thought Ellen might have given this version of himself a few pointers. He'd often wondered what that Dean had been like, but he'd never expected to meet himself first hand, though this was a miniature version of that Dean.

The boy pushed a little harder, still afraid of hurting her, but hard enough this time to get a response. He laughed again at the answering response from the child growing inside her. "Hello, baby!" he called softly as he leaned closer.

Grinning, Jo watched as the little boy played with the baby inside her, one hand wandering over to touch her Dean's fondly. In a few years' time, would this be their Sammy talking to his little sister in her womb' It was a nice thought; a comfort to know that they had so much to look forward to. Not so much of a comfort to know what this little boy had ahead of him, but there were good times mixed in with the bad, the times that made the suffering worth it. "I think he likes you."

"Really?" the boy asked, a smile on his face, green eyes shining with pride at the thought of that. Just who was it in there that was kicking back at him to acknowledge his presence, he wondered. He didn't go quite far enough to think it might be his own son in there - that was just too much to wrap his young head around yet.

"And I think it's gonna be morning before we watch this movie if you two keep oohing and aahing over my son," adult Dean chided affectionately, a teasing smirk on his face. If he'd been jealous of the kid before, he wasn't any longer.

Jo laughed, rolling her eyes. "I think the old man's getting antsy for his popcorn and King Kong," she told little Dean. "Hop on up here, make yourself comfortable." She'd shaken out the blanket, ready to curl up with both of them on the couch and enjoy what, in her opinion, was a very silly movie. Much better than a bedtime story, anyway.

"You forgot the root beer," Dean teased back with a wink at Jo, as he leaned over to help her with the blanket, young Dean between them, as if he was their son. Like Jo, Dean couldn't help wondering if this was what life would be like a few years from now with Sam snuggled between them and Hope still waiting to be born. There was a third child, too, they'd been told - one no one seemed to have foreseen. A son named Johnny, presumably named for his father.

"Oh, poor baby," she teased, laughing once again as they all managed to find somewhere comfortable on the couch, all touching each other somehow. It wasn't like relaxing at Bobby and Ellen's, where cramming everyone onto the couch was like a small military effort and no one ended up all that comfortable anyway. It was a real family kind of feeling, one that made her smile softly. "Okay, Godzilla, press play."

"King Kong," Dean corrected with a grin, barely repressing the desire to beat his chest like a gorilla. Later that night, both him and his Mini-Me might be doing just that. "Grab some popcorn and get comfy. Here we go!" he exclaimed, as though they were going on a voyage of some kind.

Comfortable together in their warm little cocoon on the couch, they settled in to watch the movie. Two hunters, and a mini-hunter, watching a monster movie for fun. So what if it resulted in a late night for the littlest Dean' A late night was allowed once in a while, even in so-called normal families, and they were far from normal, after all.

A couple of hours later found Jo supervising the brushing of teeth and tucking into bed, while Dean picked up in the living room. Though the boy had had a long day and was obviously tired, as evidenced by the amount of yawning he'd been doing toward the end of the movie, he'd stayed awake for the whole thing, riveted to his seat to the very end.

"Uh, uh ....all of them, not just the front ones," she chuckled, knowing every kid tried to get away with only doing the bare minimum when it came to teeth brushing at some point. Stood to reason that Dean would have been the same.

It wasn't that he didn't like brushing his teeth - it was just he was too tired. He obediently complied, however, doing the best he could with minimal effort before flashing a fake grin at her to see if she approved of the job he'd done.

"I know what we're sending him back to," Dean replied, though admittedly that other Dean's life had been a little different than his. They had made different choices and reached different fates, but he didn't think their childhood experiences had been all that different. "If both of them had come through ..." He exhaled a sigh. "Without them to stop him, Lucifer would have burned this world years ago."

Jo sighed softly with him, nestling closer. "And we wouldn't be here," she agreed quietly. She hadn't wanted to admit it, but it was true. The little boy sleeping not so far away had to live through a world of crap, just so the world itself didn't burn. That was all there was to it, really. "I'm so sorry, baby."

"What was it Mr. Spock said" The good of the many outweighs the good of the few or the one?" he asked. Yes, he'd seen a few Star Trek movies, surprisingly. He really preferred Star Wars, but he'd watch just about anything late at night when sleep wouldn't come. "It's not my life, and yet it is," he replied with a shrug. "It's just weird, you know" How many mes are there, anyway?"

"The needs of the many, but yeah, pretty much." She'd seen a lot of movies over the years she'd been without her memory. "You really want to go into the infinite possibilities conversation?" she asked him softly, stroking her fingertips against his jaw. "Right here, right now, there are two of you. There are two of Sammy. But we can fix the multiple of you. He wants to go home, sweetie. He needs to be with his Sam, he can't get away from that feeling that he's letting him down by not being there."

"Yeah, well ....I know what that feels like," Dean replied, with a frown, almost wishing he hadn't said it. It wasn't that he wanted to go back to his own reality so much as it was he still felt the loss of Sam and worried that he'd let him down somehow by staying here. And yet, he'd been assured that only part of him had been tugged to this world, while the other half had remained back home with Sam fighting Leviathans or whoever their enemy was now. "You know what?s gonna happen, Jo. His dad is gonna trade his life for his. He's gonna make a deal with a demon to save Sam. He's gonna watch all his friends die, including you and Ellen, and then he's gonna say yes to Michael. His life is gonna be sh*t, and I can't do a damned thing to change it."

"It's not going to be as bad as all that," she corrected him softly. "I was never born in this reality. My mom miscarried when she was attacked by a vamp. Ellen is still here, married to Bobby. He's gonna meet his little sister before he dies, and he's going to save her. He's going to have all the good, with the bad that comes too. But he's never gonna be without family, and you've seen yourself how loved he was. They know he's not you. They love you, but they still miss him. Being missed ....that's not a bad thing."

"Yeah, okay ....Point taken, but it's still gonna suck," he replied, turning onto his back and tucking an arm behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. "Probably suck more for you not being there." And from what he knew of this world's history, Ellen hadn't been killed, like she had back home. The proof of that was living right there in the Singer house. No, it had been him and Sam and Cas who had died instead, though he still wasn't too sure what exactly had happened to Cas. He was tempted to ask if she'd miss him, or if Ellen or Bobby or even Ayden would miss him, if he was gone, but deep down, he already knew the answer. It didn't matter a damn to him that they weren't the same exact people he'd known back home - he didn't love them any less for it, and he had to assume they felt the same.

"Best case scenario, I'd be a vamp," Jo chuckled quietly. "You're not twisted enough to marry a monster, no matter how cute she is." Unlike him, she stayed on her side, their unborn child too heavy now for her to lie on her back without severely restricting her ability to breathe. "So what are we gonna do tomorrow, then?" she asked Dean thoughtfully. "When you were a kid, what constituted a good day?"

"Give him the best goddamned day of his life, that's what," Dean replied, without hesitation, turning his head toward her, a curious expression on his face. "A good day?" he echoed, having to think about that a minute. "When I was a kid about his age" Mmm, probably playing baseball with Bobby and Sam and going out for burgers or pizza. And pie. Don't forget the pie, with lots of ice cream." It was interesting how things hadn't really changed all that much, now that Dean was an adult.

"All right." For a moment her lips twitched, wondering how little Dean would react to seeing his older self demolishing a burger. "Then that's what we'll do. We'll go out in force - you, me, Dean, Bobby, Ellen; hell, maybe Sam and Becky'll come along, too. Lots of protection. And we'll play baseball, and we'll go out for burgers."

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" he asked, turning toward her again. "I mean, leaving the yard. If Hades wants to kill him, he'd be safer here. Don't you think?" he asked, not wanting to consider what would happen if Hades' plan succeeded. It would change everything. "Ever wonder what would happen if Lucifer went up against Hades?" he asked, a small smirk on his face. That was a battle he'd have loved to have seen and might yet, if Gabriel decided to go up against Zeus someday. They might be allies now, but there was that whole enemy of my enemy is my friend thing going on.

"I guess so ..." Jo couldn't help laughing at the smirk on his face as he considered putting two kings of hell up against each other and watching the result. "You're such a dope," she accused him fondly, poking at his stomach. "All right, how about this then" We have a yard right here. We could order in, invite Bobby and Ellen round and make them play baseball while I laugh."

"Are you kidding" I'd pay to see that. It would be like ....like Ali vs Frasier or something." He wasn't sure if she'd get the boxing reference, but he was just trying to make a point. "Sounds like a plan, Mrs. Winchester. I knew I married you for some reason," he said, sliding his arms around her and pulling her close - or at least, as close as he could with that burgeoning bump between them. He felt something - or rather, someone - kick him as if to remind them they weren't alone, and he chuckled. "Someone's jealous again."

"Oh, so you only married me for my brain, huh?" she teased laughingly, happy to ease as close into his arms as she could get. She laughed louder when their son decided to kick his father square in the stomach. "He'll get over it," she told Dean affectionately. "You're my number one guy, always."

"That and another part of your anatomy," he teased, waggling his brows at her in the moonlight. "Just remember that the girls belonged to me first," he added, starting to kiss his way down her neckline. There was more than one way to make love, after all.

Giggling softly, she curled into him, knowing full well this wasn't going to go too far with his younger self not twenty feet away from them. Weird was one thing, but chancing little Dean seeing big Dean in action' That might have been pushing it a bit. "When I'm back in bendy form, you and me are gonna have one crazy weekend somewhere to celebrate."

He paused in his ministrations to smile up at her. "Mmm, bendy form. I like the sound of that." And back up he went, leaving a trail of soft kisses against her neck before he reached her lips. So far, so good. Everything was quiet in the other room.

Despite everything that had happened, everything that was happening, nothing was going to stop Jo from thoroughly enjoying her husband while they were both in the mood. Laughing still, she wrapped her arms around him, lips seeking his to reinforce that, no matter where she was, he had always been the only one for her.

It wasn't easy making love to a woman who looked like she'd swallowed a beach ball, but somehow Dean managed. He'd learned a few tricks in his day, and over the last few weeks and months had put those skills to good use. There was more than one way to make love, after all, and it was more about making her happy than anything else. An hour or so later, and they were both fast asleep in each other's arms, contentedly exhausted. It was a welcome distraction for both of them, only in part due to the day's events.

"Special" Like how?" he asked, needing to know, needing some small scrap of hope to hold onto, otherwise, what was the point of it all" Was he going to spend the rest of his life running and hiding from the monsters that were trying to kill him' It didn't seem like much of a life to him.

God, how did she answer that' Jo floundered for a moment, wishing her Dean was there to help. "Uh ....well, people are gonna look to you," she told the little boy. "You're gonna be so good at what you do that you inspire people like us to keep doing what we're doing. Because of you, hundreds - thousands - of innocent people are going to live out their lives never knowing about the monster under the bed. I know it sucks to know the truth, but if we didn't know it, a lot more people would get hurt. I mean it, little man - the man you're gonna be inspires me every day, and I'm not the only one."

Done checking the house and making sure everything was safe and secure, Dean was on his way back to the bedroom, pausing outside the door so as not to intrude when he overheard the last part of that conversation. It wasn't anything he hadn't heard before, but it was the first time he'd heard Jo telling it to someone else, even if that someone else was a younger version of himself. He remained in the hallway a little longer, waiting for the right time to enter where he wouldn't be interrupting, feeling just a little weird about eavesdropping.

Inside the room, the boy was looking at Jo with wide-eyed wonder, hardly believing what she was telling him. "Really?"

"Really." Unaware of the older version eavesdropping behind the door, Jo picked up the only thing she thought might convince the little one in her arms. "Until just a few months ago, I didn't know who I was," she told him quietly. "I didn't have any memories, I didn't even know my own name. I didn't have family; I didn't have any link to who I was, or what I was supposed to do. And then a hunter called Dean made one hell of a noise in the alley behind the bar where I was working, and I had that link again. Even without knowing how or why, I followed him. I loved him, and I always will. And it wasn't until I got my memories back that I realized I'd always loved him, all the time I've known him. But if it hadn't been for him inspiring me, I wouldn't have left that bar. I wouldn't have met Bobby and Ellen, I wouldn't have married him. I know he can seem kind of gruff and intimidating, but he cares. He cares so deeply, for all the billions of people he'll never meet, all those people who'll never know he exists, who'll never know that they're alive because of him. So you hold onto that big heart of yours, okay' It's the most wonderful part of you, and it always will be."

The boy looked at her with that wide-eyed expression of his again, not understanding everything she was telling him, but getting the gist of it. He was going to grow up to be the man she was married to. He wasn't really sure how it all worked, but that seemed to give him some comfort. "Does that mean I'm gonna marry you some day?" he asked, uncertainly, not quite understanding that she and that Dean were from a different world, a different reality.

In the hallway, the man that was Dean had teared up, Jo's words touching him deeply. Though he knew she loved him, he had never realized that she thought so much of him. He didn't think much about what he did, what he'd always done, making selfless choices for those he knew and loved and even those he didn't. He had never thought of himself as a hero, even if that was what he was. He was just a guy doing his best with the circumstances he'd been given, but her words touched him deeply and he had to stifle a sob of his own.

"How else do you think I became a Winchester?" Jo asked the little boy in her arms, carefully not giving him a resounding yes in answer to his question. Ellen had told her a little about the life of this Dean, and she knew he had a love of his own waiting for him as he grew up. "I'm not your sister, because if I was, the whole baby thing would just be ewww."

That got a smile out of the boy - to think he might someday be married to someone like her, if not her. She reminded him of his mother in some ways, but at only seven years old, that didn't really bother him very much. "Are you sure it's okay if I stay here tonight' I don't want to make ....make anyone mad." It was the bigger Dean he was referring to, but it felt weird calling him by the name they both shared.

"Of course I'm sure," she promised him, knowing that Dean would feel better having his younger self closer after the scare they'd both had coming out of deep sleep. "No one's gonna be mad about it. I'd feel better having you right here with us, anyway, and I win all arguments because I am the woman of the house. So there." She winked at him with a grin.

"My mom used to say the same thing," he said, climbing under the covers to get cozy. He sniffled again, but it seemed the storm clouds had passed overhead again. The mention of his mom got a frown, but he let it go at that, giving no hints what he'd been dreaming about when he'd woken up screaming either. It was better not to talk about it while it was still dark.

In the hallway, Dean echoed that frown. He could easily guess what the kid had been dreaming about since he'd been that seven-year-old boy himself a long time ago - or a pretty close copy.

Smiling gently, she helped him settle down beneath the covers, glancing toward the door where a telltale shadow cast by the hall light betrayed the lurking figure just out of sight. "Moms are very special people," she agreed quietly with the comment made to her, forgetting that she herself was a mom already. "Mine was a wonderful lady, and I never appreciated her as much as I should have. Making up for it with Ellen."

"I thought Ellen is your mom," the boy said, as he curled up beneath the covers. He remembered what she'd said about being brought to this world, but he wasn't quite clear on the details. "Is there two of everyone?" he asked curiously, before surrendering to a weary yawn.

In the hallway, Dean was trying to regain control of his own emotions while waiting for a good time to make his return.

"The Ellen here isn't my mom, but she would have been, if she'd had children," Jo explained gently. "Back in the world I'm from, Ellen was my mom, and I loved her so much. I got very lucky when I was brought here." She smoothed his hair back off his face as he yawned, gentling her voice. "Only very special people have more than one of themselves," she promised him. "And you are a very special person."

He smiled sleepily up at her, partly at the soothing touch and partly at the compliment. He wasn't sure if she was being honest or if she was just being nice, nor did he care. "You won't leave me alone, will you?" he asked, as his eyes grew heavy.

"I promise, little man, you will not be alone," she assured him softly. "We'll be right here beside you all night, and we'll be here when you wake up. You can make pancakes for breakfast with Dean."

"I love pancakes," he said sleepily, eyes drooping closed as he started drifting off to sleep again.

The elder Dean seemed to sense that the time for talk was over and he crept quietly back into the room, touching a finger to his lips to silently tell Jo not to wake the boy by acknowledging his return.