Topic: 'Til Death Us Depart (AU)

Jo Winchester

Date: 2012-09-27 12:07 EST
Every now and then, Providence shines down on a single place and time, illuminating it as something special, something never to be forgotten. August 24th, a gloriously sunlit day, saw the gathering of a family made more of loyalty and love than blood in a small, stone-built church outside Sioux Falls, to see two of their number joined in holy and legal matrimony. It might have been any small wedding party on any day, but for the foreknowledge that marked it as memorable before it ever began.

Inside, the sunlight streamed in through the beautiful stained-glass window that stood behind the altar, bathing the priest, the groom, and the two who stood for his parents in a blaze of multicolored light. In silence, the groom's sister, resplendent in red and acting as bridesmaid, led the way down the long straight aisle, the bride and the man who was as close to her as any father could be following on behind. There were smiles and nervous laughter, an air of aching anticipation ....but all eyes were on the bride and groom, no matter what was coming.

The groom stood at the front of the church, near the altar, the epitomy of calm. He'd been a bundle of nerves for days, but now that the big day had arrived - the day they'd been preparing for weeks for - he felt oddly calm. The calm before the storm perhaps, determined not to let anything come between him and his bride to be, whether it be gods, angels, demons, or the tooth fairy. Bobby had bought him a new used suit for the occasion - a black suit over a white button-down shirt, and a blue striped tie. It wasn't a tuxedo, but it was neat, and clean, and pressed, and he knew he looked pretty damn good in it. Without a best man, Bobby was serving as both father of the groom and best man, and he and Ellen had pooled their money together to come up with a pair of plain silver rings for the occasion, much to Dean and Nim's surprise.

Ayden reached the altar, making a silly face at Bill as she moved to stand opposite him, making up numbers at Ellen's side. The two women had shaken out their best for the day, even knowing that it may well be ruined in the hours to come; Ayden in strapless, jaw-dropping red, and Ellen in slightly more matronly teal and black, covered up demurely with lace. The only thing out of place were the three open dufflebags placed around the steps onto the altar, each holding assorted weapons.

Even Bobby had dragged out his best suit - one he kept for special occasions, glad this occasion was a happy one and not the kind he usually wore a suit for, though as far as Bobby was concerned, it wasn't over 'til the fat lady sang. He'd been on pins and needles for days, going over the plan time and again, making sure everyone knew what to do, in case the sh*t hit the fan. He hoped Ayden's vision was wrong, but he wasn't taking any chances. He'd even brought The Colt along, just in case. If he wasn't so on edge, he might even enjoy himself, at least for a while.

And Nim' Ellen's own wedding dress fit her like a glove, simple and sleeveless, more ivory than white, snug to her waist and flaring from her hips to sway beneath her knees as she moved down the aisle. Sapphires borrowed from Ellen's jewellery box sparkled at her ears, her hair caught back from her face but left to sway on her shoulders. One arm looped through Brian's, the older man almost bursting with pride; the other hand held a small bunch of wildflowers Bill had picked for her that morning. But her eyes, dark and fathomless, were fixed on Dean, as calm as him even in the midst of the nerves that radiated from everyone else.

Dean watched his bride to be from his place near the altar, his eyes fixed on the her, feeling like he was about to burst wide open with pride and joy. She was a vision to behold as she walked down that aisle toward him, as beautiful as the day he'd first met her. Despite everything, he found himself smiling as she approached, anxious to make her his once and for all. They belonged together, and no one was going to tear them apart.

Surrounded by such a concentration of armed and obviously dangerous people, the priest kept his opening words to a minimum, evidently hoping to be done and away from the weapon-wielding group as soon as possible. As he stammered his way through the declaration of intent, Nim folded her hands into Dean's, her bouquet already passed from Brian to Ayden, gazing up at him in silent adoration. It didn't matter what was being said; everyone here knew that all they were witnessing was the formalising of a union that was already unbreakable in most eyes. And despite her discomfort in wearing a dress - Ellen's dress - and knowing that the calm all around them wasn't going to last, the bride couldn't help smiling. The words didn't mean anything, not really. The promises had already been made, one way or another.

Somewhere at the back of Dean's mind, he knew he couldn't let himself get too lost in the moment - that was precisely what Hades was most likely hoping for, to take them by surprise when they least expected it - but it was difficult focusing on anything but the vision in front of him. It was like a dream come true, and even though he knew it was meant to be, that she was meant to be his, that they were meant to be together, he kept wondering if he wasn't just dreaming and that he'd awake to find himself alone in some cheap motel room waiting for the next hunt. He said nothing; no words passed between them as yet, but it wasn't so much what he said, as what he didn't say that was important. If the saying was true that the eyes are the window to the soul, then Dean Winchester's eyes at that moment in time were telling his Nimue how much he loved and adored her.

Every nuance of feeling was reflected back to him from the dark eyes he seemed locked to, unable to look away from his adoring gaze even when it came time to repeat the words that would bind them legally to one another, as rings crafted of delicate silver were taken into their hands to slip over calloused knuckles and rest about fingers that then entwined once again in loving confirmation of the vows taken before their family.

Yet, as the ceremony moved on and there was no distraction, the bridal party began to grow antsy. Brian half-turned to look down the aisle to the wide door at the far end, exchanging a glance with Ayden as she crouched to take a handgun from the duffle by Ellen's feet. Ellen herself looked to Bobby, asking him in silence just how secure the sacristy to the right of the altar was. As beautiful as the joining of two lives was, it would mean nothing if those lives were cut short just moments later.

Bobby had been standing in silent vigil, sharp eyes on the lookout for any sign of trouble, but so far all was quiet. Bobby knew Hades might just be trying to lull them into complacency, but that if that was his plan, he was barking up the wrong tree. He caught Ellen's gaze and nodded back, having checked the sacristy himself just before the ceremony had begun. He'd even left a cache of extra weapons and ammo there, just in case they had to make a hasty retreat and defend themselves there. As for Dean, he seemed oblivious to the possibility of danger, lost in the moment he thought would never happen to him, trusting the others to warn them if there were any signs of danger.

For Nim, no one else existed but Dean in those precious moments. It was the culmination of years of adoration on her part, though she remembered only a very little of it personally. But she knew, to the deepest part of her soul, that no matter who she was - Joanna Beth Harvelle, Nimue Morgan, or Nimue Winchester - this was a beginning as much as an end, and she felt blessed to have Dean right there with her. As the priest intoned the final words and added, in his shaking voice, "You may now kiss your wife, son," her lips curved in an inviting smile, now inextricably linked with the man who possessed her entirely, heart, mind, body, and soul.

Jo Winchester

Date: 2012-09-27 12:12 EST
There were a few defining moments that stood out in Dean's life, most of them tragic. When Dean looked back on his life, there was a handful of happy moments, moments he'd never forget, but this moment was, by far, the happiest. Despite courting imminent danger, he felt an exuberant joy fill the very core of his being the likes of which he hadn't felt since that first day on the beach back in Chicago when he'd first realized he loved her. It had only been a few months since then, though it seemed longer, but today marked the beginning of a new life together, a long life, if he had anything to say about it. Dean mirrored Nimue's smile, eyes bright with happiness, as he slid his arms around her and pulled her close to give his wife her first kiss and claim her forever as his own.

The silence that enclosed them was more loving, more congratulatory, than any amount of applause might have been. Of course, their guests didn't exactly have hands free to clap, but there was no mistaking the sense of a job well done that wrapped about the couple as they kissed. The chaos, when it came, broke with barely a moment's warning.

Brian's attention was caught by a flicker in the light that streamed through the rose window behind the altar, and quite suddenly he was moving, launching himself toward the altar. "Sorry, padre," he grunted as he collided with the priest, bearing him to the ground, raising his voice to shout, "Get down!" barely a second before the beautiful stained window shattered, spilling shards of multicolored glass over the wedding party as hybrids came into view, clambering over the now open stonework. In the same moment, a crash from the main doors announced a second attack from that direction.

Though Dean knew Nim was a hunter in her own right, his initial reaction was to protect her. As soon as he heard Bill's warning, instincts kicked in, the romantic moment shattered just like the stained-glass window, and he pulled Nim to the floor, shielding her with his body. It was her they were after, after all, and as her newlywed spouse, it was his job to protect her. He pulled the Beretta from an easily accessible jacket pocket, as he bent over Nimue to cover her from shattering glass.

For once, Nim didn't object to being pulled about and protected, using the moment of safety under the encompassing lean of her new husband's body to pull up her skirt and pull her Glock from the holster on the inside of her thigh. The wedding was officially over. As Brian clapped a hand over the gibbering priest's mouth and shoved him bodily underneath his own altar, further down in the church things weren't quite so calm. Ayden, already bleeding from the back of her right shoulder thanks to a large and impressive piece of some unknown saint's glass face, was crouched in the middle of the main aisle, already firing at the wave of hybrids that were advancing toward the altar in their slow, inexorable fashion.

In the pews beside her, Ellen was pulling open the duffle she'd had ready by her feet, tossing shotguns and shells to Bobby and Bill before arming herself. Bobby caught the rifle and ammo and immediately moved to take Ayden's back, wasting no time in shooting past the girl toward the advancing creatures. Bill did the same, but instead of covering the door, he turned to fire at the Hybrids that were streaming through the windows, the only thing standing between them and the bridge and groom.

Well, at least they'd gotten past the "I now pronounce you man and wife" part. Dean was glad of that. Now he just had to keep his newlywed wife from getting killed. Dean had given them all a lesson in how to kill Hybrids, but he knew it wasn't as simple at that. The things were swarming like ants, and they could easily be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of them. Dean hoped Gabriel had Ayden's back as he saw her put herself in harm's way, torn between wanting to protect his wife and his sister, but there was no time to think now. Only time for action.

"You okay?" he asked Nimue quickly before rolling off her and yanking The Colt from the holster he'd belted on beneath his jacket. The thing was cumbersome and only held six bullets, but The Colt was the one sure thing among them. He turned onto his back just in time as one of the things came lumbering toward him and Nimue, and the first of The Colt's bullets found its way into the middle of its forehead.

Rolling into a crouch beside Dean, Nim offered him a wild, tense grin. "Oh, I'm just peachy, darlin'," she drawled, drawing Ruby's Knife from the holster on her other thigh. Armed and ready, she glanced from doors to window, making a guess at the numbers that were coming for them.

"Brian, get outta the way!" Ellen's voice barked out sharply, and Nim's head shot around to seek out the man she thought of as her father. She caught sight of him just before he went down under the first reaching grasp of the hybrids from the window, but Ellen was there first, shotgun blasts knocking the creatures back as Brian scrambled to his feet and back from immediate danger.

Behind them, Ayden was audibly panicked as she reloaded her handgun. "Where is the Alpha?" she demanded in a harsh tone. Nim glanced at Dean, rising onto her feet to join in the fray. They both knew, just from the sheer numbers here, that there was going to be more than one Alpha to take down.

Dean would rather have taken the Knife and spared Nim the bloody task of slicing instead of shooting, but he was the better shot with a gun, nearly every shot finding its mark. He rolled to his feet once he knew his wife was okay, shards of broken glass crunching beneath his feet, a few minor cuts and scraps courtesy of the shattered window. "I don't know!" he shouted back to Ayden, casting a quick look around for any Hybrids without markings that would mark them as Alphas. "There!" he shouted, pointing at the back of the pack that had poured in through the window, keeping toward the back for now and seemingly giving orders.

"Cover me!" he called as he started that way, a gun in each hand, almost wishing he'd opted for a machete, blasting his way through crowd, aiming always for a headshot, coming up beside Bill, who was doing the same.

"Dean!" Nim had shouted at him like that once before, long ago before she had ever come here, that same mixture of anger and fear as he threw himself headlong into danger. Raising her Glock, she turned to face the onslaught from the door with Bobby, Ellen, and Ayden, trusting to the men behind them to protect their backs. Between the steadily firing ranks, Brian yanked the priest out from his hiding place and shoved him toward the sacristy.

There was a method to the madness, though he had no time to explain it to Nimue or anyone else. He was the one carrying The Colt, and it was the Alpha who was his target. The sheer numbers were overwhelming, and Dean knew if they couldn't find and kill the Alphas, they'd have to hold up in the sacristy and come up with a better plan. He flashed back momentarily to the fight with the hell hounds back home. As much as he didn't want to torch a church, if that's what it took to kill them, they might not have much choice.

Jo Winchester

Date: 2012-09-27 12:16 EST
"There's too many of them!" Bill shouted, as he fired into the crowd, taking a few down, but not seeming to slow them down much.

"I just need you to clear me a path to the Alpha!" Dean shouted, unable to look back and see where Nim had gone or how she and the others were faring.

The hybrids had poured in through door and window and were beginning to surrounded the little knot of fighters, threatening to cut them off from their only route of escape entirely. As Brian launched himself to Dean's side, joining Bill in clearing the path the younger hunter needed, things were going from bad to worse in the body of the church. Gun out of ammunition and no time to reload, Nim had launched herself right into the fray, laying about her with Ruby's Knife. Ellen shouted for her to get back to them, laying her own back against Bobby's as she continued to use the sheer force of a shotgun blast to force the hybrids back.

"I'll get her!" Ayden volunteered recklessly, pushing into the mass of reaching hands and overgrown nails, ignoring the many new scratches that appeared on her arms as she did so. Yet scratches were all that she got; without needing to manifest, the archangel on her shoulder had her covered, clearing the path enough for Dean's sister to grab his wife by the hair and pull her bodily back out of the mass of creatures that were here to kill her.

Dean set his jaw, annoyed their guns were having very little effect on the Hybrids. Dean took a point blank shot with The Colt as one of them bore down on Bill and shoved the Beretta back in his jacket, as it was having little to no effect. "Screw it," he muttered, yanking a knife from some hiding place beneath his jacket, which was now a torn mess, and plunged head long into the fray, tearing his way through on his way toward the Alpha. He disappeared from view as he was swallowed up by the crowd.

Bill dropped back as Dean disappeared, a sidelong glance at Brian. "Blades!" he shouted, seeing that guns seemed to be having little effect. He switched weapons on the fly and started hacking his way toward Dean's back.

That one word did the trick. Almost as one, the hunters still wielding their guns tossed them aside, suddenly bristling with wicked-looking machetes as they drew back together. Nim scowled at Ayden, unable to spare a hand to rub her sore head with as she tossed the younger woman her own machete.

Backing up onto the steps of the altar sanctuary, Ellen glared into the seething mass of bodies, already spattered with congealing dead blood. "There it is!" she yelled suddenly, spying the other Alpha at the back of the heaving crowd of hybrids. Her eyes turned suddenly as a third Alpha, unexpectedly and frighteningly fast, suddenly surged from the pushing, grasping mass to take hold of Nim. "Damn it all to hell - Nim!"

Dean heard Ellen shout for Nim and his blood turned cold, but he was too deep in the pack and too close to the Alpha to backtrack, trusting the others had his back and would come to Nim's rescue. Hacking his way through was slow, tedious work and it seemed the more hybrids he killed, the more that poured in to take their place. His jacket was torn to shreds, claws cutting right through the cloth to scratch at his flesh, splattered with dead blood that was enough to make him feel sick. Driven back and surrounded by hybrids, he had no choice but to fire The Colt, several distinctive shots heard among the fray.

Bill heard Dean fire and saw several hybrids drop, relieved that The Colt, at least, seemed to have an effect on them, though he'd lost count of shots and wasn't sure how many the younger man had left. He swung his gaze back just in time to see a third Alpha come swooping in for Nim, and he turned back, leaving Brian to cover Dean, screaming like a berserker as he came at the Alpha, machete held high.

Nim had been forced down onto her knees, the hybrids that belonged to this Alpha moving in around her as the controlling creature reached down with a clawed hand to grip her throat, the Knife knocked from her hand and lost among the throng. The experience was only too familiar; she'd already been half-throttled by one of these things this year, though admittedly she was in better shape this time. She vaguely heard a name shouted, darkness beginning to fill her vision as she struggled for breath. Suddenly, a screaming banshee erupted from the mass of bodies behind her, and the Alpha's head was sliced clean from its body. The creature fell, dead fingers pulling Nim down with it as a full third of the hybrids attacking the beleaguered group on the altar fell, disgorging their demonic parasites into a dissipating cloud above them. Gasping for breath, Nim sagged, grateful for the brief respite, looking up in astonishment at Bill Harvelle.

The smile on Bill's face was a smug one as he sliced the head right off the Alpha. Now, that wasn't so hard, was it' He bent down to offer Nim a hand. "You all right, little girl?" he asked, as he pulled her to her feet, his back to the swarm that had gotten past Dean.

Breathless, grey in the face and feeling weirdly nauseated, Nim was unsteady on her feet as Bill pulled her up, seeing in him for the first time what he might have been like as her father when she had been Joanna Beth Harvelle, a whole lifetime ago. She swallowed hard, lifting a hand to her throat to rub gingerly, both of them granted a reprieve from the mass of fighting for a brief moment as the other two Alphas regrouped and urged their linked hybrids onward. "Yeah, I ..." Her voice rasped in her throat, and she paused, coughing to clear it a little. "Thanks."

Bill smiled back, proud of the girl who was his own flesh and blood. Though he hadn't raised her and hardly knew her, he recognized something of himself in her, and would have been proud to have called her his daughter. Those thoughts, however, would never have a chance to be shared. As soon as he turned around to see how Dean was faring, he was met with a clawed hand that took him by surprise, cutting his throat and dropping him to his knees, blood pouring from the wound.

Meanwhile, Bobby was gathering up Ayden and Ellen and shouting for everyone to head toward the sacristy to regroup and form a defense. One Alpha was down, but there were two to go.

Sprayed with the heat of Bill's blood, Nim barely had time to register the unearthly snarl that erupted from her own mouth in the shock of a very suddenly, very bloody death. She seized the machete from Bill's hand as the hunter went down, swinging it about to decapitate the creature that had killed him, swift revenge that would not bring him back.

With Ayden and Ellen backing up to the sacristy with Bobby, Brian shouted for Dean and Nim, torn between the two of them separated by so many bodies. "Get back here! Now!"

Jo Winchester

Date: 2012-09-27 12:20 EST
Bill collapsed, human blood pooling on the floor around him, mingling with the blood and stench of the fallen hybrids. There was no time to mourn him now, and nothing that could be done to save him. He was gone, the reapers already coming to take his soul away. It was, at least, a quick death. He'd died a hero saving the daughter he'd never known.

Behind them, Dean had made progress, but was nearing exhaustion. At least count, he had two shots left in The Colt, but he needed to save at least one bullet for the Alpha. He swung the machete, slashing at yet another Hybrid, but another came at him from behind, dragging claws across his shoulder deep enough that he lost his hold on the machete.

Turning back toward Dean as she heard Brian yelling for them both, Nim was in time to see those claws rake over his shoulder, to see the blood erupt from the fresh wound. "Dean!" Again, his name rang out from her lips, abruptly cut off as a flailing arm caught her hard in the temple, knocking her down into the pooling flow of Bill's blood. A wave of nausea washed over her, and there was no time to suppress the reflex to vomit, the contents of her stomach taking a badly timed trip to visit the outside world as around her hybrids closed in.

"Dammit ..." Brian snarled, snatching up Ruby's Knife from the ground near his feet. "Bobby!"

Bobby was snarling and cussing like a sailor at sea, wondering why he'd agreed to this foolishness in the first place. Seeing Nim go down and Brian snatching up Ruby's Knife, he scooped Nim up off the floor, catching her around the waist and half dragging, half carrying her toward the sacristy. "Time to go, girl," he told her, not taking no for an answer. He fired a shot at a Hybrid that dared get in his way, slowing it down enough to get past, but not stopping it. "Take that, you son of a bitch." He glanced over at Dean, bleeding and nearly surrounded but closing in on the Alpha. "Take the shot, boy, and be done with it," he muttered to himself as he dragged Nim toward the sacristy.

Nim heaved as Bobby caught her up, nothing left to throw up but far too shaken by now to be able to offer up anything but a groan as she was dragged back toward the sacristy. Ellen had already shoved Ayden inside, pretty much banning the youngest of their party from joining in the fight any more since she was bleeding from innumerable cuts and scrapes. The older woman stood guard at the door of the last defensible place in the church, keeping Bobby's path clear as across from them, Brian began to fight his way toward Dean.

It was clear now that this fight was too much for them; down three fighters, there were still more than thirty hybrids under the control of the two Alphas coming for them, and even with all the experience shared between the Singers, Brian, and Dean, they couldn't hope to win this battle. Not without intervention from some higher power.

Dean couldn't change a glance back to see where the others were headed, but he had a feeling things weren't going well, and he was starting to blame himself for that. He'd been sure they'd be able to hold their own, given their experience and weapons, but he hadn't expected Hades to send three Alphas and more than triple the hybrids Dean had gone up against the last time around. The machete was lost and one arm hung useless by his side, the only weapon left to him was The Colt, and he only had two shots left. Relying on instinct, he shoved a boot into the middle of one hybrid knocking it backwards to tumble into the others like a pile of dominoes.

He took advantage of the moment to level The Colt and take a shot at the Alpha, but he was knocked aside by another and the shot went wide. With only one shot left, he whirled around and fired blindly at a hybrid who charging at him headlong, dropping it before it had a chance to tear his chest wide open. Out of ammunition, he had to either find the machete or retreat toward the sacristy to reload The Colt, but Brian couldn't clear him a path. It was useless.

"Dean ..." In the sacristy, Nim was scrabbling back toward the door, weak but determined to stand by Dean's side. She wasn't going to see him dead, not today, not any day soon, not if she could help it. Ayden, fingers slick with the blood that ran from her own injuries, gripped onto her sister-in-law, preventing her from getting past Ellen who still held her ground at the door with knife and machete. As Brian went down under a surging push of the mindless creatures, a thundercrack that shook the church to its very foundations suddenly rolled over them, the sound echoing around until ears rang painfully with the vibration.

Quite suddenly, a good portion of the remaining hybrids stiffened and fell, their demonic parts rising into that familiar swirling thundercloud of spirit that faded away. Less than ten feet from the door to the sacristy, the second Alpha swayed for a moment, a thin line of blackened red pooling at its throat. Its head slid from its body, and the body itself collapsed, revealing behind it the hunter who had taken it down, both hands still on the hilt of a bloodied machete. She was small and blonde, fierce in triumph, and suspiciously familiar to the eyes. Her head turned toward the last Alpha, voice lifting to shout to someone who had not yet made themselves known. "Quit pansying around, would ya?"

"Dad!" another voice shouted, a young man appearing as if out of nowhere in the midst of the fray. "Duck!" the young man shouted, hefting a gun that looked suspiciously like The Colt that had too quickly run out of bullets and squeezing off a shot that took both the Alpha and Dean by surprise. The shot was close enough that it blew the thing's head clean off, the body collapsing on the floor, as the remaining hybrids quickly followed, the demonic parts of their soul swirling like smoke around them before disappearing into thin air, leaving nothing but dead bodies and blood in their wake.

The young man let out a joyous whoop as if he'd just won a contest, a c*cky grin on his face as he turned to the blond girl who was watching him and lifted the gun to blow the smoke from the barrel. "Piece of cake," he muttered smugly.

"Piece of cake?" The girl scoffed at him, bending to wipe the blood from her blade before sheathing it on her thigh once again. "C'mon, you were, like, two feet away. Not even Johnny could miss at that distance." She turned toward the sacristy, offering up a warm smile to the Singers.

"Hey, Uncle Bobby," she greeted the eldest of the hunters familiarly, and blinked, stopping in her tracks as her eyes touched on Ellen. "Oh my god, Aunt Ellen, you're wearing a dress! And it's real pretty ....wait a second, what?s the date?" Her eyes turned back to her companion enquiringly, seemingly unaware of the incredulous stares that had settled on her from that doorway.

The young man who had not yet offered a name snorted in reply. "Easy for you to say. All you had to do was take a whack. Shooting this thing takes skill. I've only got six shots, you know." Yeah, his logic made no sense. Like father, like son, after all. "Hey, Dad," the young man smiled down at Dean, shoving The Colt back into a holster at his waist, fancying himself something of a cowboy. "You okay' You look like crap."

"Who the hell..." Dean started, as he looked between the pair. The boy - as far as Dean was concerned, he was a boy - looked far too familiar. In fact, if he didn't know better, he'd swear it was him roughly ten years ago or so. And there was something oddly familiar about the girl, too.

Jo Winchester

Date: 2012-09-27 12:23 EST
Bobby was watching all this with a scowl on his face. "I don't know who you two are, and I don't care, but we've got some wounded here, so if you wouldn't mind holding off on the niceties 'til later, I'd be much obliged."

Denied a chance to counter her companion's assertion that she'd had it easy, decapitating a creature that stood at least a full foot and half taller than her, the girl jumped to do as Bobby said, moving toward him. "Sure thing, Uncle Bobby."

It took a moment for Ellen to step out of the way, however, her sharp eyes taking in both newcomers and looking first to Dean, and then to Nim. Moving aside for the blonde stranger, she nudged Bobby gently in the back, meeting his eyes in that strangely informative manner some couples had, communicating a suspicion that wasn't as far-fetched as it might seem.

"Hey, Sam?" the girl's voice called from the sacristy. "Did you remember the bandages, or did playing cowboy kinda make it slip your mind again?"

Ellen's gaze snapped back to Dean and the boy standing with him. "Sam?" she repeated in shock, looking the two of them over. If she didn't know better, she could have sworn she was looking at an echo of Dean when he was twenty or so.

"What the hell do we need bandages for when we have a god at our beck and call" Where is he, anyway' He was here a minute ago." Sam slid an arm around Dean's back and hefted him to his feet.

"Sam?" Dean asked as he looked at the all too familiar face wavering in front of him. The gears in his head clicked and he said what Bobby and Ellen were most likely already thinking. "You're from the future."

"Bingo!" Sam replied with a smile, though that smile quickly faded when he took a better look around at their surroundings. "Where's Mom?"

"Oh dear lord ..." Ellen rolled her eyes as her suspicions were pretty much confirmed. She shook her head, nudging Bobby's shoulder. "We can't stay here, we gotta get back to the house."

A clumsy pile of bodies near the altar itself heaved, one arm appearing, and Brian's voice made itself known in a muffled protest. "A little help here?"

From inside the small room behind Ellen, Ayden's voice was audible but incoherent as she shakily seemed to be taking charge of the girl who had joined her and Nim.

Bobby grumbled under his breath as he started toward Brian to dig him out of the mess, wondering what the good Father was going to say about all this. He didn't think a small donation to the church was going to cover all the damages, and he had no idea how he was going to explain. Maybe whoever had plopped the Wonder Twins here from the future would be able to help, or at least, to explain. "Just when you think you've seen everything..." Bobby grumbled to himself as he helped Brian dig his way free.

Dean staggered to his feet, searching the church for his wife. "Nim?" he called, intent on one thing and one thing alone and that was finding her and making sure she was all right.

As it happened, it was Sam who stumbled across Bill's body first, all the c*ckiness going out of him. He wasn't sure who the man was, but it was obvious to him he'd been a friend, not a foe. He very carefully rolled the man over onto his back and leaned over to push his eyes closed, pausing a moment as if to whisper a prayer.

Ellen nodded to Dean, letting him past her and into the sacristy as she moved among the bodies of the hybrids, lowering onto her knees beside Bill's body, impressed with how respectful the boy was. There was no way they were going to leave him here.

"Who was he?" Sam asked, looking up at Ellen with serious young eyes that looked too much like Dean's. The blood didn't seem to bother him, despite his age, but there was too much devastation here, too much death. It looked like he and Hope had arrived just in time, and that wasn't an exaggeration.

Ellen was quiet for a moment longer, laying Bill's hands against his stomach before she answered the boy. "A damned good friend," she told Sam in a voice that throbbed with suppressed grief. "And a hero." She stared down at her friend, the man who - in another world - she had apparently loved and married, and borne a little girl with. Drawing in a sharp breath, she looked up at Sam, her eyes kind as she took in all the similarities to his father. "Go on and help your dad," she told him firmly, glancing over to Bobby and Bill. "We've got this."

"I'm sorry we didn't get here sooner, Aunt Ellen. Apollo..." Sam broke off, uncertain how much he was allowed to reveal. "We got here as soon as we could," he explained with a frown, lowering his head a moment in a moment of quiet respect for the fallen, before moving to his feet. "I better go help with the bandaging before Hope kicks my a$$."

The older woman nodded, patting the boy's arm to send him on his way as Brian and Bobby moved to join her, the three hunters of the older generation saddened but stoic to the need to honor their fallen friend in the only way they could.

Inside the little sacristy, Nim was sitting with her back to the wall, staring wide-eyed at the girl Sam had identified as Hope as she set about cleaning Ayden's deeper cuts. The girl was eerily familiar to look at, dark eyes and blonde hair and a cast to her smile that Nim saw on the pillow beside her every morning when she woke up. But it couldn't be, could it' Hearing her name called, she struggled to push herself to her feet, still feeling nauseated and weak. "Dean?"

Dean looked as bad as everyone else, his suit jacket torn and stained with both his own and hybrid blood, blood soaking the sleeve of his left shoulder where one of the creatures are ripped into his shoulder. The look on his face was grim as he knelt down beside Nim, cupping her face in his hands as his gaze met hers. "You okay?" he asked, a worried expression on his face.

Jo Winchester

Date: 2012-09-27 12:28 EST
Sam followed his father into the smaller room to the side of the church and looked around for his sister. The c*cky attitude was gone, replaced by a quiet, serious demeanor not unlike that of his father, equal concern apparent in his expression and bearing. He cast a brief glance at his would be parents, sensing now was not the time for an introduction, giving them space as he made his way to his sister's side and leaned close to whisper in her ear, "I think Mom's pregnant."

Ayden glanced over her shoulder, green eyes curious as she overheard Sam's whisper to his sister. What was more interesting was the drawling response he got. With no attempt at keeping her voice down, Hope answered her brother without looking up. "Kinda hope so, or you're gonna go poof on me anytime now. Where did you leave the bag?" Now she looked up, but it wasn't to Sam she looked. Hope's dark eyes touched on Dean and Nim, bloodied but alive and completely in one another's space. "Dude, this is totally inappropriate for us to be looking at."

Nim had sagged back onto her knees as Dean dropped to kneel with her, her own hands rising to curl at the back of his neck, resting her forehead to his. "I'm fine, none of them got me," she promised her husband of less than one hour, ignoring the dried blood that darkened her face. "I don't know why, I'm just ....shakey, that's all." Her hands loosened on him, smoothing down to gently touch the torn fabric over his injured shoulder. "You're bleeding."

Sam followed his sister's gaze back toward their parents, a thoughtful expression on his face. You could almost see the gears turning in his head as he sorted out what day it was, what day it had to be. "That's just because you haven't been conceived yet," he replied quietly, not quite as brash as one might think. His voice was quiet again as he turned back to his sister. "I think it's their wedding day." His gaze then turn to the young woman whose wounds his sister was tending. She didn't look much older than him, but there was something strangely familiar about her. "Are you Ayden?" he asked, having seen her photo when she was younger, ten or so years younger, to be exact.

Dean pushed Nim's hair back from her face, taking a harder look at her, frowning at all the blood, though thankfully very little of it if any seemed to be hers. His hands moved over her as he examined her for any sign of injury. "I'm fine. I've had worse," he replied stoically. The pain in his shoulder was nothing compared to the pain he'd endured in Hell. "You're probably in a bit of shock," he remarked in regard to her shakiness. Hell, he wouldn't be too surprised if his own hands weren't shaking after what they'd just been through.

Nim laughed softly, the sound a little too shuddering for it to be entirely mirthful. If anything, it was an edge of hysteria she was holding a very tight grip on that urged that sound from her throat. "I've never thrown up in the middle of a fight before," she conceded, inching closer to him. Her dark eyes searched his, pained and trusting enough to show him the fear. "They really want me dead, don't they?"

Hope shrugged, gently sticking a thick bandage over the deepest of Ayden's injuries as her brother spoke. "Hell of a way to make it memorable," the youngest Winchester commented mildly. It wasn't that she wasn't capable of feeling what had happened, what they had been through. It was more that she, like their father, stored up the immediacy of events to feel later, when there was time to work through it all in private.

Ayden pushed her dark hair out of her face, glancing from girl to boy in blinking astonishment. "I'm sorry ....You haven't been conceived yet?" she demanded once the worst injury was covered, twisting to face both the newcomers. "Yes, I'm Ayden. Who the hell are you?"

Dean wrapped his arms around Nimue and held her close, satisfied though shaken and duly upset, she had only suffered minor injuries. It could have been a lot worse. He could very well have lost her, and he was already privately blaming himself for what had happened. "Shh," he told her quietly, in an attempt to soothe and console her. "It's okay, baby. I'm not gonna let them hurt you." He knew it was an empty promise, and he knew he'd do just about anything to keep her safe, short of selling his own soul again.

Sam cast a questioning glance at his sister as their aunt questioned their identitiy, knowing they might freak out when they found out they were from the future. Apollo had sent them here without an instruction manual regarding what they were and were not allowed to reveal about themselves and the future. In some ways, more like his namesake then his father, he considered his answer carefully for a moment before deciding the best way to reply was with the truth. "I'm Sam and this is my sister, Hope. We're, um, sort of from the future."

"Sort of from the future?" Ayden's expression didn't really alter, though she did pin Sam with a look that suggested she was seeing a lot more than what he wanted to share. "Kid, if you're from the future and you know who I am, then you gotta know that I'm gonna get the truth eventually, right?"

Hope snickered, rather pleased not to be in the firing line of this conversation. She tore her eyes from a greedy contemplation of how loving her parents were as a newly married couple, and flashed Sam a smirk. "What did I tell you?" she demanded with a smile, rocking back onto her heels. "You can't fool a psychic, Bertie. Hell, you can't even lie to me."

Wrapped up in Dean's arms, Nim held him carefully, not wanting to put any pressure on his injured shoulder. Slowly, her shaking subsided, and her eyes turned to the trio engaged in earnest conversation not so far away, passing over the recumbent form of the priest, who had sensibly passed out the moment he'd gotten out of immediate danger. "Dean," she said very softly, drawing his attention to the strangers who weren't quite strangers, "is that Sam' Is that ....is he our son?"

Sam's brows drew downward into a scowl that was very reminiscent of his father. "I'm not a kid. I'm not much younger than you," he pointed out. Though he looked younger, he had, in fact, just recently turned twenty-one - old enough to drink legally. He turned that gloomy scowl on his sister. "Which would be why I'm the favorite, and you're not." He stuck a tongue out as his sister, just because. "If you have everything under control, I'm gonna go check on, uh..." He peeked over at his parents, only to find his mother looking their way. "Don't look now, but I think our cover's been blown." He made no comment about the hated nickname, allowing his sister to use it, but no one else.

Dean pulled his attention away from Nimue, turning toward the trio nearby, his gaze first looking Ayden over, frowning at the look of her. It seemed none of them had gotten out of this without some injury or other. He didn't yet know that Bill had died. His gaze drifted to the pair that had appeared out of nowhere. There was very little mistaking that they were related by blood. From what little he knew of the future, he had to assume that the pair was, indeed, their offspring. "I think so," Dean replied quietly. "He called me Dad." It sounded ridiculous even to Dean, but he'd seen stranger things in his life, and it wasn't out of the question when gods were involved.

Jo Winchester

Date: 2012-09-27 12:32 EST
"He looks just like you," Nim murmured back to Dean, her own gaze turning greedy as she looked over the boy who was apparently her son, noting every detail, before shifting that same gaze to the girl who looked too much like her not to be their daughter. "I guess we must be doing something right." She pushed to stand up, still shakey on her feet but steadier than before, her skin beneath the dried blood pale. "It didn't say anything about this in the journal."

Dean followed Nim to her feet, an arm wrapped around her as much to support her as to support himself, feeling suddenly whoozy as if he'd stood up too quickly, but he knew it wasn't that at all - it was simple blood loss. "Didn't get that far," he explained shortly, as he started to sway, knees buckling.

Fortunately, Sam reacted quickly, moving to catch his father beneath one arm and ease him back onto the floor. "Easy, you've lost a lot of blood."

Hope snorted loudly at her brother's comment. "We had a cover?" she asked him, finally looking up at Sam with sardonic amusement. "Since when does having a cover include shouting "Dad" across a battle scene?" She grinned as she shifted up onto her feet.

"Someone should go see if Apollo landed okay," she added, and Ayden was quick to heave herself to her feet and volunteer for that task. Rolling her shoulder, Dean's sister took up her gun from the debris on the floor and moved out of the sacristy, blatantly escaping from being involved in the odd little reunion or whatever that was about to take place.

"I needed him to duck!" Sam exclaimed in reply to his sister's teasing remark. "A little help here?" he asked as he took Dean's weight off Nim.

"Says the guy who forgot the bandages," Hope muttered from where she was crouched by the unconscious padre, checking him over for injury. Finding none, she stood up once again, offering Nim a shy little smile as she slipped between her mother and father to take Dean's weight herself.

Stepping back from the little group, Nim leaned weakly against the wall, one hand rising to her churning stomach as she stared, wide-eyed at the three of them. "This is ....this is just too surreal," she heard herself sigh, shaking her head.

"But cool," Hope grinned back, lowering down carefully onto one knee to help Sam guide Dean back onto the floor. "It's really cool, isn't it, Mom?"

"She doesn't look so good," Sam remarked to his sister, once they had their father settled on the floor, that obvious concern etched on his face once again that was so reminiscent of his father.

Suddenly it struck Dean why Nim wasn't feeling so well, other than the obvious shock of the attack. After all, he'd seen her handle things like this before, and she'd always bounced back quickly, quicker than him in some cases. "You're pregnant," he said, doing the math in his head. He hadn't expected it to happen so soon, but it would explain a lot. So, they had already managed to change the future, it seemed.

Sam looked between the trio, frowning again, and he moved to his feet, letting his sister handle things here for the time being. "I'll go get the bandages."

He stepped over to his mother, looking more concerned about her than he had about anyone since he'd arrived there. "You should take it easy," he told her. "Uncle Bobby will have everything under control soon." Whether he knew this because it had already happened or it was an insight, he didn't say. He took gentle hold of his mother's arm and led her to a chair where she could rest. Once out of earshot of the others, he leaned close as he settled her into the chair. "You're about five weeks. I'll be born in April." He didn't want to shock her, but he thought she should know. She was going to find out sooner or later anyway, and hell, it was his own life that was at stake.

Nim started in shock at Dean's announcement, stunned enough not to resist as Sam took her arm, moving along with him without a word of protest. Settled down into the chair he chose for her, she stared up at him. My son. Dark eyes travelled over his face in amazement, her fingers reaching to curl into his hands. "I'm pregnant?" she whispered, still too astonished that this was her son in the flesh in front of her to absorb the news that he was also just beginning to develop in her womb as well. Very, very slowly, a tiny smile began to take its place on her face as she gazed into Sam's face, reaching up to touch his cheek as though he might disappear if she moved too fast.

Kneeling beside Dean on the floor, Hope looked from her bleeding father to her brother taking care of their mother and rolled her eyes. "Geez," she said cheerfully, "subtlety's really not something the guys in this family do well, is it?" She flashed Dean a smirking grin, drawing a small iron knife from her boot to slice the shirt and jacket over his bleeding shoulder neatly open. "I know I'm probably gonna go to a special hell for even thinking this, but Dad ....you're a babe." Words nicely timed to distract him in the second before she swiped the cleanest bit of cloth she could find to hand over his clawed injury.

Once Nim took a good long look at Sam, it seemed obvious that he could be none than their son. He was the spitting image of his father, though in some ways, he was more like his mother. Like her father, Hope was the brasher of the pair, while Sam was quiet and thoughtful. He mirrored his mother's smile as she touched his cheek. Like most first-born sons, he had a special place in his heart that belonged only to her. He nodded his head to assure her that what he was telling her was true. "I'd give the date but that would spoil the surprise." There was an impish gleam to his hazel-green eyes, so like his father's.

Dean watched mutely as Sam led Nimue to a chair. It came as no big surprise to him that the boy declared himself their son. He turned his head toward the girl, who looked perhaps a few years younger. Not quite the spitting image of her mother, she looked enough like her that there could be no mistake. He winced a little as she cut away the shirt, hoping she knew what the hell she was doing for one so young. There were a lot of questions that needed answering, but this wasn't really the time or the place, and he wasn't much feeling like staying here any longer than necessary.

He arched a brow at her remark, his face turning a shade paler than it already was, hearing his own words thrown back at him. "What's your name?" he asked out of curiousity, not having caught it earlier in all the excitement. If he had to hazard a guess, he'd have guessed Mary or Ellen, but the names didn't quite seem to fit the young face that was looking back at him.

"Me?" His daughter lifted her eyes from the rough patch-up she was performing on his shoulder, the same dark shade as her mother's but infinitely younger, more innocent despite her obvious joy in the hunt. "I'm Hope. Hope Mary Ellen," she clarified, evidently not at all concerned with upsetting the course of history. If Daddy asked for something, Daddy got it. "I got more of a mouthful, I'm the only girl." Using masking tape, she stuck a makeshift bandage over the wound on his shoulder, patting it lightly.

Nim raised a brow at her son's cheeky comment, amused and just as deeply relieved to discover that two of their children were going to grow up fit and healthy, even if they were hunters. "Sweetie, you're a big enough surprise as it is," she assured Sam, drawing in a slow breath. "We need to get out of here. It's not just me they're after, is it?"

Jo Winchester

Date: 2012-09-27 12:36 EST
Sam frowned at his mother, feeling an odd sense of displacement. She was his mother and yet she wasn't, not yet anyway. She was years younger than the mother he knew, not much older than himself. There was no time for explanations now, but if he and Hope didn't accomplish what they'd come here to do, they might not have a future. "No," he replied, turning soberly quiet. "It's all of us."

"That doesn't sound good," Nim murmured, looking over to where Dean and Hope seemed to be bonding. As the initial shock passed away, she was resuming her usual forthright personality, but she still felt weak. "Okay, we gotta go, now." Pushing herself up onto her feet, she swayed, muttering a truly imaginative curse under her breath as she clutched at Sam's arm.

Sam wasted no time when he saw her sway, sliding an arm around his mother's waist to hold her steady as she stood, his expression one of obvious adoration and deep concern, different from the way Dean looked at her, though the features were nearly the same. "I've got you," he assured her as he took her weight.

Dean tried to hide the wince as his daughter taped up his shoulder. It wasn't as bad as it looked, but it still hurt like hell. He felt a little groggy from the blood loss, not to mention exhaustion and shock. Despite that, he smiled weakly, feeling a surge of warmth and affection for this girl that was his daughter. "You a Daddy's girl, 'cause I think I'd kinda like that." He arched a brow as she continued. "There's three of you?" he asked, curiously.

Hope's smile for Dean was warm and exuberant as he asked her about their family. "Yeah, we got a little brother," she told him, not bothering to answer the query about being a Daddy's girl. It was pretty damned obvious, after all. "Too young to come on this trip with us, though. The adults got whiney when he tried to sneak out with us, got himself grounded." She looked over to Sam curiously. "You think there's enough room in the cars for us, too?"

Dean seemed to be a thousand miles away for a moment as he processed this little bit of information. Whatever had happened in the future, it was obvious to him that things had changed. They had a third child, one that he'd known nothing about, one that no one had predicted. "They didn't win then," he remarked thoughtfully, more to himself than to anyone else. But then why were they there" And more importantly, how had they gotten here" There was some part of the puzzle he was missing.

Sam looked back at his sister and smirked. "We'll make room."

"Dude, the last time I sat on your lap, you bled on me," Hope informed her brother pointedly, moving to rise onto her feet. She gripped Dean by what was left of his jacket to heave him up with her, leaning him against the wall. "You stay there a sec." Turning, she moved to gather together the weapons that were strewn about the sacristy, tossing them into the empty duffles that lay about.

Leaning against Sam, Nim's eyes went to Dean, checking him over even from this distance. Her lean brought her into proximity with the hybrid blood that had spattered on their son's jacket, however, and she paled further, her sway more pronounced.

Tactful as ever, it was Hope who drew attention to it when their mother fainted. "Timber!"

Fortunately, Sam already had a firm hold on his mother's waist, and caught hold of her before she could slip out of his grasp. Though slight of build, he was as tall as his father and had no problem scooping her up into his arms, as light as she was. "You better keep an eye on Dad before he does the same thing," Sam warned, shifting Nim's now unconscious form as he looked over at his father who looked a sickly shade of pale and like he was ready to slide down the wall.

"Nim..." Dean muttered, lacking the strength to help her himself.

"She's okay," Hope assured Dean, tucking the duffles over her shoulder as she came back to him. "Pregnant women faint when they smell bad stuff, and trust me, Sam smells bad. Okay, c'mon then." She looked up, nodding to Sam to lead the way. No doubt there had been enough time by now for the others to gather Bill and Apollo and bring the cars around. They had to get out of the church before the padre came around.

For some reason, Dean seemed to accept this answer, maybe because it was coming from his own daughter, someone he trusted implicitly. "Are you real?" he asked, turning his head toward her, confident Nim was in good hands with Sam. "She was just pregnant with you when..." He trailed off, his voice breaking, the events of the day and the pain and exhaustion finally getting the best of him. "We must have changed things somehow."

Sam already had things well in hand and was making his way out of the sacristy, picking his way over fallen bodies that had once been hybrids.

"Well, it was your sperm that made me, so if you're real, then so am I," was Hope's less than appropriate answer as she drew her father out of the sacristy after Sam. She had no idea how they were going to explain away the seventy or so exhumed corpses now littering the nave, and frankly, hoped that the priest would remember just enough not to want an explanation. "You do the time hoppin' thing a lot?"

At the open doors to the church, Ellen was waiting for them, her face drawn and utterly serious as she watched the group coming toward her. Beyond her were visible the three cars - Dean's Impala, Ayden's Impala, and the Singers' big truck, all waiting to take on passengers and convey the group back to the relative safety of the salvage yard.

"Thanks for the biology lesson," Dean told his daughter sarcastically. Apparently, she got that trait from him. "Yeah, no..." He frowned, realizing the answer to her question was a lot more complicated than it seemed. "Long story," he told her, wincing as he pushed off the wall and followed her through the church, carefully stepping around the bodies, letting her lead the way. "What a disaster," he muttered to himself.

At the doors, Ellen was directing Sam to put Nim in the Impala with Bobby and then put himself in the other Impala with Ayden, apparently more than prepared to bully everyone into doing as they were told at this point. As Hope and Dean came up to her, she met both pairs of eyes calmly. "Put your dad in with your mom," she told the girl, "then get in with your brother. We're goin' home, fast."

Hope cleared her throat, watching as Nim stirred awake, sitting up in the back of Dean's Impala. "Aye, aye, captain," she nodded to Ellen, giving Dean a tug.

Jo Winchester

Date: 2012-09-27 12:41 EST
Sam did as he was told, knowing better than to argue with Ellen. Dean climbed in beside Nim and slid his uninjured arm around her as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes, close to unconsciousness himself. There was a lot to think about and even more to do, but with any luck, there would be time for that. He looked over at Nim finally and reached over to brush her hair back from her face, leaning close to press a protective kiss against her bloodied forehead. "I'm sorry, baby," he whispered quietly.

Barely conscious still, but acutely aware when Dean slid in beside her, Nim nestled into him as car doors slammed and engines began to rev. "What for?" she managed softly, fighting the urge to pass out once again as she tipped her head back to look up at him, concern painting her face.

"For screwing up our wedding day," he replied with a frown, not yet knowing about Bill, or he'd feel even worse. The guilt and the grief would be there waiting for him in a few days, when realization kicked in. "I love you," he whispered, leaning his head against her shoulder and reaching over with his bandaged up arm to lay a gentle hand against the place where their son was growing inside her. "We're gonna have a baby."

The smile she gave him was faint, mirthless in her grief for the man who had died protecting her as much as still in the grip of the shock of recognising just how high on the enemy's hit list they were. "We'll never forget it," she mused quietly, gathering Dean in against her shoulder, looking down to where his palm rested over the flat softness of her belly. Her hand lowered to cover his as her lips touched his hairline tenderly. "We're gonna have more than one," she promised him, determined to make the two people sat in the car ahead of them a reality.

"I'm gonna make it up to you someday," he told her as he leaned against her, hoping he didn't reek so badly of hybrid blood that he'd make her retch again. He felt the tears and the grief pressing against him, but he managed to keep it in check, at least for now. "We're gonna have three," he told her, somewhat amazed by the thought, even though it hadn't quite sunk in yet. "Hope said there's a third. A boy."

"Three?" Now that was news to make her smile genuine, despite the pain and turmoil of what should have been a sacred rite's disruption. Though the nausea was still there, it seemed as though her need to retch or pass out had eased off, but she felt bone weary. "We've got a busy coupla decades coming then." She hugged him gently, wincing as the Impala bounced over bumps in the road. "Baby, how bad were you hurt?"

The jostling made his head ache, and his shoulder felt like it was on fire, but he'd been worse. "I'm okay. Just need some rest." Okay, so he needed a little more than that, but he didn't want to worry her. "Is Ayden okay' She got hurt, I think." Now that he knew Nim was okay, his thoughts turned to Ayden. Everything was a bit of a blur. "We should have never tried to go up against them." He blamed himself, though it hadn't been solely his decision and they couldn't have known exactly what to expect.

Nim squinted ahead to the red Impala. "Well," she told him quietly, "she's driving, so I think whatever Hope did to patch her up did the trick. I didn't see anything serious." And this being Nim, he could trust that nothing was seriously wrong with his sister. Hunters knew what was life-threatening and what wasn't. The self-blame she could feel radiating from him was enough to spark off her own guilt, but she knew for a fact that her guilt had foundation. Bill Harvelle was dead, because of her. "We couldn't have known," she murmured softly, her voice thick with grief.

"The hell we couldn't have. I should have known. I've seen them in action." If there was one thing they could take away from it all, it was that it was a learning experience. It was only a matter of time before they figured out how to defeat them, or so he hoped. Otherwise, there wasn't much of a future. He furrowed his brows as a thought came to mind. "Maybe..." He paused a moment to lick his lips. "Sam and Hope are from the future. Maybe they'll know what to do."

"Maybe they will." Nim had nothing else she could say to this, weary and aching and wishing for home and safety. Today could not have been more of a disaster than if they had planned it outright. She felt as though she had exchanged Bill's life for Brian's with her insistence on going through with the wedding, as though she should have agreed to the initial idea to change their plans and stay safe a while longer. But truly there had been no way to know that Hades would send so many things after them, that he was so determined to end the Winchester line for good that he would risk exposing the supernatural world to the community at large in such a way.

Yet in the midst of the guilt and grief and anger, there was Hope and Sam. Their children. Proof that no matter what happened, there was a future and it was bright enough to bring two healthy, vital young people to their rescue when they needed it most. So maybe they could have predicted what had happened today, maybe not. But good had come from the bloodshed, too ....a marriage sealed with a kiss, and the promise of children to bless that marriage. That wasn't such a bad day's work, after all.

((Phew! We survived a scene with ten characters - TEN - and it's not a massive confusing mess! I want a chocolate medal I can melt down and pour over ice cream! Congratulations to us, and - you guessed it - uberlicious magniflorious fantabulosa thankie poos to Dean's player!))