Ellen drew back, letting Bobby have his moment with the little boy, and to her surprise, she found Jo's hand in hers. The other woman was just barely keeping it together, not wanting to break down in tears in front of the brave little man who had to go home, whether she wanted him to or not, and for a moment, both women understood each other perfectly.

Even Bobby got a hug from the boy and why shouldn't he" He was in some ways more of a father to him than his own flesh and blood. For his part, Bobby kept himself together, knowing this was a final goodbye to the little boy he had helped raise. He would never see this particular little boy again, and it was a bittersweet moment knowing what he was sending him back to. There was so much he wanted to tell him, so much he wanted to warn him about, so much he wanted to save him from, but he knew if he spoke one word of it, it could change everything and not for the better.

He cleared his throat to hide the emotions that were sneaking up on him and hugged the boy back. "I'm proud of you, son. You never forget that."

The boy clung to Bobby a moment, before Bobby pulled away finally and the only one left who hadn't yet said a word was Dean.

Big Dean and Little Dean. Old Dean and Young Dean. The same and yet different. One would live and one would die - one was, in all reality, already dead. What should he tell his younger self" Did he have any wise words for him at their parting" There was really only one thing he could say, only one thing that mattered, and he had a feeling the boy knew it already. It was a little weird hugging someone who was really yourself, but both Deans knew weird very well by now, even at a mere seven years old.

"You take care of your brother, okay' That's the only thing you need to remember. Just take care of your brother," the elder Dean told the younger in a quiet whisper of words.

The boy nodded, tears shining in those familiar green eyes as he looked up at Dean with a solemn expression on his young face. "I will. Promise," he told the older version of himself. Like Dorothy in Oz, he looked from one to the other, as if trying to memorize each face, but it was Jo he turned to last, knowing he'd miss her the most, knowing he'd never see her again, and then he was hugging her one last time and trying hard not to cry, but he knew he couldn't delay this parting forever. Sam needed him, and that was more important than anything else.

Choked up with her own attempt not to cry, Jo let the little boy wrap his arms around her, ignoring the ache in her back once again to bend and hug him in return one last time. "It's all gonna come good," she promised him again. "You're gonna be such an amazing man, sweetie. You and Sam are gonna be amazing men together." Behind her, she could feel Artemis moving closer, sensing that it was time the goodbyes drew to an end. Crouching down, Jo wiped the little boy's face dry. "Can't go home all tearful over an old lady like me."

The boy didn't even bother to try hiding his tears. It was breaking his heart to leave them, but he knew he had no choice - somehow, he knew he had more important things to do than be a normal kid. All that had ended the night of the fire. He had bigger responsibilities now. He had to keep his promise and watch over his little brother, and in doing so, one day, save the world. "Thank you," he told the group collectively, his gaze taking in each face as if to commit them to memory. He wondered if he'd wake up in his own time and think all this had been a dream. He secretly hoped he remembered at least a little of it - just enough to give him hope in the dark of the night. "I'm ready now," he said, as he turned to bravely face Artemis and his future fate.

As Jo rose to her feet, wiping her own eyes, Artemis moved to one knee beside little Dean. The Goddess of the Hunt was smiling, pride in her eyes for the bravery it took all of them to send this little one home to his own time. "I am going to take you back to the moment just after Strife stepped through the portal," she explained to him. "It is your choice whether to tell the people who love you in your time what has happened. If you choose to remember, you will remember for a few years before the memory fades. That is the best that I can do for you, small human."

The boy nodded his head in understanding. He wasn't sure if it was wise, but he hoped he remembered if just for a little while. It would be his secret though, one he shared with no one. One of many yet to come, and not an easy one to bear, but maybe in the coming years, it would give him the courage to do what needed to be done, knowing it would all be all right in the end. What more could he say that hadn't already been said" He sniffled again and wiped his face wish his sleeve. "I understand," he told her, lifting his gaze to the small circle of people he'd come to love - even to the older Dean. "I won't forget. Promise," he told them all, though what exactly it was he was promising not to forget wasn't clear. "I'm ready, ma'am. Take me home."

"Be safe, little man," Jo told him, her voice just a little thick as she clung to Dean and Ellen's hands. She'd failed to tell Hope just that before her daughter had returned to the future she had come from; she refused to fail in sharing that sentiment this time.

Artemis took the little boy's hands in hers, wrapping his fingers about a piece of bone she and her brother had located barely hours after she had brought this small Dean Winchester to this time. "When the bone breaks, you will be home again," she promised him, gently applying pressure to snap the rib he held.

The little boy who would grow up to be arguably the greatest hunter who had ever lived nodded his head obediently, one last brave but hopeful glance to those he was leaving behind. "I'm gonna make you all proud!" he hurriedly exclaimed, and then the bone snapped and he was simply gone, as though he'd never been there at all.

There was silence for a long moment in the wake of that departure, and Jo slowly became aware of the sound of someone crying. It wasn't her; it was Ellen, abandoning her grip on the younger woman's hand to turn to Bobby and hide her face against his shoulder as she relived all the moments of the life they had sent that little boy back to. Jo's own dark eyes turned to Dean, wide with worry for the mother figure in their lives.

Even Dean's eyes were suspiciously wet with tears as he turned to take Jo in his arms pull Bobby and Ellen into a group hug. Unlike them, he didn't love the kid exactly, but it was a little like saying goodbye to a long-lost son or a part of himself that he'd never know again. He, more than anyone, knew what kind of life the boy had endured as he'd grown into a man, but all of it was over now. As far as he could tell, nothing had changed, and the Dean Winchester this reality had known had passed on to the great hunting ground in the sky. "May he rest in peace," Dean muttered a prayer to whatever gods and angels were still watching over Heaven.

They clung to each other for a long moment, each grieving in their own way for a little boy who only had memories of them in this time to cling to himself. But it was Ellen who finally managed to pull herself together, wiping her eyes roughly dry. "Life goes on," she said firmly, looking at each of them. "I'm gonna put some coffee on." And escape, for a little while, the sadness that would hang over them for a few hours.

"I'll come, too," Bobby said, sensing the need to separate into couples, if only to give each other a little space to grieve in private. He wasn't the huggy feely type, and yet, there was concern in his eyes for both Jo and Ellen. There wasn't much he could do for Dean, not right now anyway.

It took a lot these days to bring Dean Winchester to tears. Here was a man who had lost countless loved ones, died several times, spent 40 years in Hell, battled demons and vampires and all kinds of monsters, and all it had taken was one tiny boy to bring him to tears. He'd known this day was coming; he'd seen the future, after all, or one possible future, and he'd met the man who this child would become, but to witness the miracle of birth with his own eyes and know that the tiny infant lying in his arms was that of his own flesh and blood was more than he could have ever hoped for or imagined.

"God, Jo, he's so little," he remarked, as he peered down at their newborn son with tears in his eyes and wonder on his face. He chuckled a little. "Nothing wrong with his lungs though."

Exhausted and sore, Jo looked over at him from where she lay in the bed, propped up by pillows, and smiled to finally see her husband holding their son in his arms. All right, so it had happened three weeks sooner than they had been expecting, but was that really a bad thing" It meant that both Sams would have different birthdates to celebrate, and that could only help the elder to accept the situation more easily. "He didn't feel little coming out," she chuckled quietly, pulling the uncomfortable tie from her hair. "We did good, huh?"

"You did good," Dean replied with a smile, his gaze riveted to that of their son, awed by the tiny perfectly-formed child that had just come into the world. "He's beautiful," he said further, understanding at last what it was his own parents must have felt at his own birth and that of his brother. There was just something miraculous about it. "They say a newborn child is God's way of saying the world should go on," he added quietly as he touched the boy's tiny perfect fingers.

"Which god?" she asked with a low chuckle, but she understood what he meant. She didn't need him to make it plain; it was clear to see in the way he looked down so adoringly at their firstborn son, nestling in his arms. "So ....not April 25th, then."

Under other circumstances, he might have answered that question and even gotten into a philosophical discussion regarding theology, but not today. Today the birth of their son was proof positive that there was someone - some all-powerful being - who was watching over them. He chuckled again at Jo's comment. "I guess not. Maybe that will make it easier to keep them separate." He paused a moment as he marveled at the small life in his arms. "What do you say, Sammy' Would you like to say hello to your mom?"

"Don't you wanna cuddle with him more?" she asked in surprise. Of course she wanted to, but there would be plenty of time to cuddle with their son. Right now, she was enjoying watching Dean hand over all control of his life and whims to the tiny baby in his arms. "You look pretty damn cute holding him."

"Course I do," he replied, as if she should know this already. "But you're his mother, so I thought you'd like to, you know, get to know him better." Not to mention figure out how to stop him from screaming blue bloody murder.

She smiled wearily. "How about you come over here and cuddle with both of us?" she suggested in a warm tone. "I don't wanna risk dropping him so soon after he squeezed outta there."

"You sure your eardrums can take it?" he teased, though the infant was finally starting to settle after being so rudely and abruptly thrust into the world. Dean settled himself on a chair beside her bed, leaning close so she could get a good look at their son. "What do you think of your firstborn, Mama?"

"Honey, after what I just did, a fifty tonne truck could rattle by the open window, and I wouldn't notice," she laughed, easing closer to the edge of the bed to look over at their little Sammy. She reached out, stroking a shaking finger against the tiny cheek softly. "Grumpy little looker, isn't he?"

While Dean was obviously enamored of their young son, it didn't escape his attention that she had just been through a hell of her own and was shaking like a leaf. "You okay, baby' Do you want me to get the doctor?" he asked, all concern for her, despite the joy he felt at their son's birth.

"I'm good," she promised him. "Just tired and weak. Took a lot more than I was expecting to get this far. Ayden's gonna be so pissed - she was looking forward to teasing me about being fat and pregnant while she's in the pretty pregnant stage." She laughed softly once again, relaxing against the pillows. "I bet Apollo could fix me right up if we asked him to."

"Baby, you have never been fat," he told her, smirking a little in amusement at her self-critical remark. In fact, like most men, he'd never found her more beautiful than when she'd been with child. "Do you want him to?" he asked, that smirk fading a bit when she mentioned Apollo. He couldn't much blame her if she wanted the Olympian to use a little of his mojo in her favor.

Jo considered it for a moment. "We'll see how it goes," she said finally. "I don't want him here, drawing attention to us while we're away from home. And I don't wanna have to ask Ellen and Bobby, or Sam, to stand guard while we're here. I just wanna relax and sleep and learn how to be a mom."

Dean's thoughts turned to the Jo and Sam he'd had a peek at in the future - a wife and son he was trying to save from a hopeless, desperate fate. He made some promises to that Jo, and they were promises he intended to keep. There would be no sacrificing himself for the common good. He had seen the future, and he knew it would only backfire. He pushed those thoughts aside at the mention of Bobby and Ellen. "Speaking of Gramma and Grampa, they're waiting to meet the younger Winchester. Bobby might start making demands soon if we don't let them in."

Jo laughed aloud at the thought of Bobby demanding to see his grandson - because as far as she was concerned, Sammy was his grandson. They were family. "As much as I'd like to see that, maybe we should let them in," she conceded with a grin. "We don't want him to get himself banned by the nurses."

As much as Dean wanted to enjoy these first few hours alone with his new little family, Bobby and Ellen were family, too, and he knew it would be selfish of them to deny them this simple pleasure. "Point taken," he replied, looking once more to the small bundle in his arms. "What do you say, little man' You wanna meet your Uncle Bobby and Aunt Ellen?" he asked, wondering if they'd prefer that or Gramma and Grampa. The couple was, after all, the closest thing their children were going to have to grandparents. The baby just gurgled up at him as he searched for his fingers, and Dean laughed. "I can't help but wonder what Sam is gonna think of you," he told the boy, chuckling a little at the irony of it. They'd just said goodbye to the boy that had been his younger self and were welcoming the infant that would one day grow up to become Sam.

Jo's smile softened at the mention of Sam - the older Sam, the Sam who was only just beginning to find his feet in this past of his he had chosen to remain in. She had a feeling he was probably more concerned about her than the baby, but she didn't mention this to Dean. "I hope someone called him," she said thoughtfully, although hopefully he had the wits to call Bobby and Ellen if he couldn't get hold of them.

Dean frowned a little at the thought of Sam, as well. "I wish I could keep him little forever," he mused aloud, knowing that was impossible, no matter how much he wanted it. He'd wished the same thing once about his brother Sam, but as the old saying goes, time waits for no one. "At least, we know he turns out well. Hope, too."

"And their little brother," Jo reminded him with a quiet chuckle, easing herself up to sit more upright against the pillows. She held out her arms. "C'mon, hand him over and get those two old grumps in here before we have a situation on our hands."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, moving to his feet and leaning close to ease the newborn into her arms. "Careful now. Watch his head," he instructed, as though he knew what he was doing. Well, he had taken care of a baby at least once before, not to mention all the experience he'd had taking care of his brother.

Dean seemed to sense that sadness in Ellen, and even a little in Bobby, though this was supposed to be a happy moment for all of them - a moment worthy of celebration. Despite that, the sadness of sending the seven-year-old Dean home still hung over all of them, knowing how that Dean's life was going to turn out. "I know it kinda goes without saying," he started as he looked from Bobby to Ellen and back, "you guys are like family to us. You're the one who once told me that family doesn't end with blood, remember" Doesn't matter which universe we're talking about. You were more of a father to me than my own Dad, and Ellen ..." Dean broke off, not wanting to speak for Jo.

"You don't have to explain, boy. We both know how you feel," Bobby broke in.

"Ellen's my mom," Jo said simply. She looked up at the older woman. "I know you don't know me, but I know you. You raised me, you taught me most of what I know. It's because of you that Dean's still alive, you know that' The part of you that died with me, you chose that when you could gotten away. You stayed with me, and because you did, Sam and Dean got their shot on the Devil. But even if you don't know me, and never feel the same way I do, I'm always going to love you, Mom. And I'm always going to love Bobby for making you happy."

Ellen listened quietly, tears in her eyes for the second time that day as she smiled at the younger couple. "Oh, sweetie," she managed, more than a little choked up. She wrapped an arm around Jo, kissing her blond hair. "You can call me Mom anytime you like. Both of you."

"That goes double for me!" Dean replied, glad Jo had not only saved him from trying to find the right words but had finally told Ellen how much she meant to her - to them both.

"Knock it off before we all start crying," Bobby scolded affectionately. There was a smile on the gruff man's face, his own eyes shining suspiciously. "Well, whad'ya think of your new family, kid?" he asked, as he turned his gaze back to the little bundle in his arms. "You're kinda scrawny, ain't'cha" But I got it on good word you'll turn out all right."

Jo laughed softly at Bobby's scolding, leaning into Ellen's embrace. It felt like they'd reached a turning point, with Sammy's birth - she and Dean both had finally told these two very special people just how special they were, and no one had argued. It was accepted, and that felt wonderful.

Beside her, Ellen sniffed, shaking her hair back from her face. "Well, what size did you expect him to be?" she demanded from her husband. "Three weeks early, 'course he's a scrawny little potato."

"Looks more like a prune than a potato to me," Bobby pointed out further. "Got more wrinkles than an old man. Must take after his dad," he teased with a straight face.

"You would know, old man," Dean countered with a grin.

"What do you say, Ellie?" Bobby asked, looking over at his wife with a wistful smile. "You wanna hold your grandson?"

"Are you kiddin'?" Ellen's expression was priceless; as she needed asking. She unlooped her arm from about Jo and rose to her feet, moving to take the "scrawny" little bundle from her own husband. Of all of them, she seemed somehow the most confident with the baby, though she'd never had one of her own. Perhaps some part of her knew what Jo's Ellen knew, perhaps it came naturally. Whatever it was, she gently jostled the little boy as she rocked him. "Heavy for your size, aintcha?"

Dean exchanged a soft smile with Jo, all of them still feeling the loss of the boy Dean. The arrival of baby Sam couldn't have come at a better time, easing the pain and grief a little. He moved around to settle himself on the bed beside Jo, taking her hand in his and touching it to his lips, while Bobby and Ellen oohed and aahed over their son.

Despite her weariness, Jo shared that smile with Dean, her fingers wrapping easily around his as he sat with her on the bed. She might have wanted to sleep, but right now, she didn't want to miss a moment of their family getting to know the newest member. She did, however, jump a little when there were suddenly three more people in the room.

Ayden immediately threw up in the bathroom, still not entirely used to this translocation on a pregnant stomach business, but it was Brian who was the biggest surprise, looking like he'd been dragged out of his bed at whatever motel he'd stopped in for the night.

"You mind giving a fella some warnin' when you do that?" he demanded of Ares, pulling his glasses out of his top pocket to find out exactly where they were.

"You're welcome," Ares replied, more concerned with Ayden's reaction to their mode of travel than Brian's annoyance. He wasn't overly surprised by it. This was what happened when you attempted to help mortals who didn't understand what it was like to be, well, like him. "If you will excuse me," he said, turning to go check on Ayden if only to hold her hair back while she turned green. Personally, he thought the man should be thanking him, but he knew it was unlikely.

Ellen snorted with laughter, rolling her eyes at the dramatic entrance. "You figured on bypassin' hospital security, Brian?" she teased, the baby boy in her arms barely even noticing the additions to the gathering as he smacked his lips and settled in for a deeper sleep.

Jo, on the other hand, was watching her stepfather with a grin, waiting for him to realize where he was and what he was seeing.

Brian stared around him, his mouth dropping open. "How'd I ..." His eyes focused on Jo and Dean, and a warm smile crossed his weathered face. "You survived then, missy girl." Without another word, he moved to embrace Jo, offering Dean a hand in greeting. "And you."

Dean grinned from ear to ear, obviously amused at Brian's reaction to finding himself suddenly plucked from wherever he'd been and deposited here. "I'm sure he meant well," he remarked, regarding Ares as he clasped hands with the man who was the closest thing to a father-in-law that he was likely to ever have here. "Thought you'd like to meet your grandson sooner rather than later." Of course, Brian had already met the Sam and Hope of the future, but this younger, smaller version was another matter altogether.

"Thought I already did," Brian remarked with caustic amusement of his own, sinking down into a chair beside the bed. "Tall fella, 'bout twenty-one, got himself a girl for Christmas?"

Jo snickered softly, gesturing toward Ellen and Bobby. "Not that one," she told the man who had protected and sheltered her for three years before Dean had arrived on the scene. "That one. All of two hours old, if that."

"Well, I figured you weren't still laboring," Brian pointed out with a chuckle, looking over at the somewhat possessive cuddle Ellen was giving the baby. "Weren't coming purely to see him, though. Came to see you two, see how you're gettin' on. I wasn't expecting the ride." He glanced over to the doorway as Ayden and Ares came back into sight. "Thanks, by the by."

"The proof is in the pudding, so they say," Dean remarked to his wife, unsure what that saying meant exactly, but it sounded good. He turned to Ayden and Ares as the two continued to quietly quarrel while his sister cradled his son. "How do you feel about being godparents?"

"Aww, don't you like that pet name?" Ayden giggled, leaning into Ares fondly. Dean's query, however, wiped the smile from her face, genuine surprise in her eyes as she looked at the new parents over the top of their son. "Seriously?"

Jo smiled, glancing at Dean. They hadn't actually talked about this, but it made sense. "Well, give it a few months, you're both gonna be gods," she pointed out in amusement. "Kind of made to be godparents."

No, they hadn't discussed it, but it did make sense. There was no one else Dean could think of who'd fit the role better, and not just because they were both going to be gods, for lack of a better word. Dean preferred to think of them as Olympians. As far as he was concerned, there was only one God, even if He was AWOL. "Seriously," Dean replied, glad Jo hadn't argued with him on this. Though they hadn't discussed it, he'd given it a lot of thought. "Who better to watch over our son than a couple of Olympians" Besides, you're my sister. Just remember what I told you about Free Will," he added, pointedly addressing Ares.

"Free Will, right," Ares echoed. "A mortal's right to choose his own fate."

"Everyone's right to choose their own fate," Jo corrected him gently. "Not just mortals. Your own children should have that choice, if they want it." That might have been a bit much for the Olympian himself, but Ayden was well grounded on the mortal plane, and would be for a long time to come, no matter what changes she underwent. She'd help him.

Ares arched a blond brow at Jo's statement and looked to Ayden, his gaze drifting to the swell of her abdomen, where their child was growing inside her. "My father might have something to say about that," Ares murmured quietly, half worried a lightning bolt might come down and strike them all dead if Zeus overheard him, though he knew he had at least a few allies on Olympus.

"He gotta move with the times or get left behind," Jo told him, still gently, but she didn't press the point. She could understand why Ares was so wary of jeopardizing the newly healed relationship between himself and his own father. "So ....what do you say' Will you be Sammy's godparents?"

Ares turned his gaze back to the small child in his wife's arms, and his expression softened with a hint of the love he felt for her and for all the mortals gathered together in this room, including the infant in question before looking to Ayden, as if for an answer. He realized it wasn't so much her they were waiting for an answer from, but him. It was doubtful she'd decline the honor, after all. "I am not sure what is involved in being a godparent, but I would be honored to accept such a role."

Ayden smiled, the pride and love for her husband on her face evident even if you weren't looking for it. "He's right," she agreed. "It'd be an honor." They didn't know if this was why the Ayden of Sam's future had ended up as guardian and parent to the children after their parents' death, but they were all determined to make sure that would not be necessary this time around. "And, you know, means we get to give him back after we get him high on sugar."

Ares was giving her that look again, like she'd said something he didn't quite see the humor in, but Dean was laughing and slapping him on the back, like an old friend. "Does that mean we are both the Sams' godparents?" he asked, seemingly the only one in the room to whom this thought had occurred.

Jo leaned out of the way as Dean celebrated in his own way, smiling wearily once again. "The older Sam is an adult," she explained. "He doesn't need godparents, but maybe you should ask him if he'd like you to take that role for him?"

Ayden rolled her eyes at her brother. "Geez, calm down, dude," she told him, handing over the baby. "It's past midnight, you should be half asleep after the day you've had."

"Too excited to sleep," Dean replied, smiling from ear to ear, though he couldn't say the same for Jo. He glanced to his wife with a small frown before turning back to find Ayden handing him his son, but it was Bobby who stood up and spoke for the group.

"We should probably call it a night before we wake the whole ward," he told them. "You did good, kid," he told Jo, leaning close to brush a kiss against her cheek. "Get some rest. We'll come by tomorrow to check on you."

Jo laughed softly at the compliment from Bobby, which meant the world to her. They'd come a long way in this world from the man who had locked her in a cellar with Dean without even saying hello the first time they'd met. "Thanks, Bobby."

Brian muscled his way in to hug her next, elbowing Ellen out of the way to do so. "You get some sleep," he told both new parents. "Little folks are hard work."

"Don't worry," Dean assured his father-in-law. "I'll take good care of them both." It wasn't a difficult promise to make, now that he was a husband and a father. He would have offered Brian a hand, but his arms were too full of baby Sammy.

"And yourself," Brian reminded him with a chuckle, easing back to let Ellen envelop all three in a many limbed hug peppered with kisses. She didn't often get the chance to shower people with affection, so Jo, Dean, and Sammy were all getting the most out of it tonight.

"You did so well, darlin's," she told him fondly. "Anythin' you need, you call us, okay' We'll bring in a bag of stuff tomorrow."

"Thanks, Ellen," Dean told her as he brushed a kiss against her cheek and hugged her back. He wasn't just offering thanks for visiting, but for everything she had done and continued to do for them both.

"Love you, Mom," Jo whispered into her ear, earning herself an extra tight squeeze for a brief moment before Ellen finally let go of them all.

"Sleep as much as you can, sweetie," she told them both. "You're gonna need it." Stepping back, she moved to join Bobby and Brian, ushering them out of the room. The nurses would no doubt be a little surprised to find an extra male leaving the premises, but he was hardly a patient absconding.

That only left Ayden and Ares, the latter of which was looking a little awkward and uncertain of his place in this particular little family, which was probably slightly comical, considering he was supposed to be the big badass God of War. "I suppose we should be going, as well," he said, waiting for Ayden to make the first move.

Reluctant though she was to leave, Ayden could see that Jo was desperate for some shut-eye, and Dean was probably close to the same feeling. "Yeah, I guess we should," she nodded in agreement with her husband, tucking her hand into his. "Can we come back tomorrow, though' You know, not this late. In the afternoon, maybe?"