"Why' I think that would be hysterical," Sam whispered back as he slid the ring onto her finger.

"I can hear you," Ares remarked, just as quietly, standing no more than two feet away from the pair.

"I give you this ring as a symbol of my never-ending love for you," Sam told Becky, trying hard not to laugh at the goings on around them.

Ellen was laughing as Hebe caught Alex and tossed him back to Ayden, glancing over at Jo and Dean with a grin that slowly faded into a smaller smile. She nudged Bobby, murmuring to him with a nod to Jo, who was gripping her seat with white knuckles in an attempt not to squeeze Dean's hand tight and give away that a certain something was happening a little earlier than expected. It wasn't the staid, quiet ceremony most people would be happier with, but it was definitely a Winchester wedding.

Dean was mostly oblivious to everything going on around him, completely focused on the wedding and beaming from ear to ear. He hadn't witnessed too many weddings in his day, all of them just within the last few years, and he was in his glory, surrounded by more family and friends than he could have ever hoped for. If only his Sam could have been here to see it, but even the thought of his brother couldn't lower his spirits today. In front of him, Becky and Sam were looking at each other expectantly and Ares was just about to pronounce them man and wife, when he felt a tug on his trousers and turned around to find Bertie grinning up at him.

"I am not finished yet, Master Robert," he scolded the boy, sweeping him up in his big arms and turning back toward the couple. "I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may ..."

He broke off with a chuckle as Sam had already pulled Becky close and was kissing her as was his due now that they were married.

As Bertie giggled, throwing his arms around his Uncle Ares' neck, Becky went easily into Sam's arms, sharing a grin through that kiss as she heard her sister and grandfather cheer from somewhere behind her. They might not have wholly approved of the family she was marrying into, but they couldn't deny that if anyone could look after her, it was Sam Winchester.

"Congratulations! Where did you say the food was?" Ephraim was quick to ask, grinning as he rose to be among the first to properly congratulate the newly-wedded couple.

"Follow me, Ephraim!" Ares broke in, Bertie easily hoisted in one arm. "I'll have you know, I made the baklava myself ....with some help, of course," he boasted as he led the older man toward the feast that had been laid out a short distance away. Now that his part in the ceremony was over, he could relax and enjoy the party.

Jo raised her head, offering Dean a warm smile. "Why don't you get Henry settled, baby?" she suggested, nodding toward his grandfather seated close to them. "I'll take my time with my passengers."

"Are you sure?" Dean asked, seeing as how Ares seemed to have taken charge of their son. There were enough adults around to wrangle the two boys without much trouble. Dean had never even known about Henry's existence until recently. In a way, it was Becky and Sam who had brought them together, and Dean was enjoying getting to know his father's father at long last.

"Of course I'm sure." If Jo sounded a little strained, no doubt he could put it down to the weight of their unexpected twins pressing on as she sat down.

A gentle hand touched Jo's shoulder, drawing their attention to Hebe, Ares' mischievous but gentle-hearted sister. "I will take care of your wife, if you wish it," she offered warmly. After all, taking care of Jo was the sole reason Ayden had insisted on inviting her.

Dean looked from one woman to the other, a puzzled look on his face. Jo was pregnant, yes, but she wasn't due for at least a few weeks yet, wasn't she" "Why would I need you to take care of my wife?" he asked, curiously and just a little defensively. After all, wasn't that his job"

Jo glanced between the pair of them and sighed. "Because I'm in labor, baby," she told him gently, patting his leg. "Won't need to do anything for at least an hour yet. I didn't want to worry you."

"You're what"!" Dean exclaimed, loud enough for his voice to carry beyond that of just Jo and Hebe. Of course, they'd been through this once before, so he had a better idea what to expect, but he hadn't been expecting this today, of all days.

"A little louder, Big Bird, I don't think they heard you in Sparta," Ayden joined in, Alexandros perched on her hip and grinning his gummy grin at everyone around him. "Calm down, okay' Everything is catered for. What good would I be if I didn't see this coming?"

"Catered for?" Dean echoed, his one-track mind focused on his wife now and starting to panic. Why facing an imminent birth was a scarier prospect than facing a monster, he wasn't sure. "Why are you talking about food when Jo is in labor?"

Ayden eyed her brother for a long moment, and gave up. "Grandpa" Shall we go and have something to eat?" Ignoring Dean now, his little sister offered her arm to Henry with a smile as Jo let out a helpless laugh.

"Dean ....do you remember what your little sister's special gift is?"

Dean eyed her back, almost as if he daring her to challenge him. "Of course, I do! It's to annoy me!" he said, calling after his sister, a little too loudly. But it was all in good fun. He didn't really mean any of it, and hopefully, Ayden knew him well enough to know that. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, turning his attention back to Jo, now that Henry was in good hands.

Jo rolled her eyes, pausing for a long moment to let her contraction pass. "What good would it have done?" she pointed out to Dean fondly. "You'd have made me miss Sam's wedding, and you would have missed it, too, for what? Hours of watching me pacing around and swearing. We're in good hands here, you know. Gods and all."

"Yeah, it's not exactly Allstate," Dean said, taking a look around and quoting a car insurance commercial. Better than car insurance, actually. "So, are we doing this here then?" he asked, turning back to Jo. "I mean, what?s the time frame here" Are we talking minutes, hours, days?"

"May I?" Hebe asked, her hand hovering over Jo's rigid bump. The woman in question managed a pained nod, and the Goddess of Youth laid her palm gently on the cresting rise for a moment. "An hour, perhaps a little less until your water breaks," she offered. "At most, an hour after that. I would not recommend eating anything until afterward."

Dean felt the panic rising, but thankfully, held it in check. It's just a baby, he told himself. We've been through this before. Everything will be fine. We're in good hands. Two babies! he inwardly corrected himself. Had Ayden foreseen that, he wondered" Sam sure as hell hadn't. "Okay, so, uh, what do we do until then?" he asked uncertainly, looking to Hebe for help.

"Until her water breaks, staying upright and moving is best," Hebe suggested, smiling at Jo's grimace. "You'll know when it's time to find somewhere to give birth, and I am sure Ayden has somewhere prepared for you."

Jo sighed. "At least someone knows what?s going on."

Sam laughed. "I'm not sure Dad would appreciate that analogy," he told her, eyes so like his father's dancing with amusement. "Things have already changed," he said, weaving his fingers into Jo's. It didn't seem to matter much what their age difference was in this time; she was and always would be his mother. He'd lost her once, and he wasn't about to lose her again. "Far as I know, you never had twins."

"I don't think the change is that big," Jo tried to assure him. "Don't tell your dad this, but I know for a fact there's two girls in here, and they're identical. One tiny difference, sweetheart - one egg split in two. They're both going to be Hope, at least genetically."

"Two girls?" he echoed, arching his brows. "But what about Johnny?" he asked, wondering if his little brother would ever be born or had that changed, too' There was still time yet, of course, but there was no way of knowing if his parents would want a fourth child, now that they were having twins.

Jo's brow rose, though she had to pause before answering, not wanting to worry him with any strain in her voice. "You really think that there won't be a Johnny?" she asked gently. "Your dad's excited to meet him. So am I. Besides, we can't have Bertie outnumbered, can we?"

"I'm sorry," he found himself apologizing. "It's just hard not knowing what will happen sometimes and wondering if things will happen the same." That wasn't exactly what was bothering him, though. It was the fact that he often missed his younger siblings, Hope and Johnny, more than he cared to admit, but he'd always believed they'd join him here again someday, even if he did have to watch them grow up all over again.

Jo considered him for a moment. "You know Bertie said his first word earlier today," she mused, stroking her thumb over his fingers. "I'm willing to bet you can't guess what it was."

"Probably Da-Da," Sam remarked, with a smile. He knew how much Bertie looked up to his father - their father - because in a way, Sam was Bertie, just an older version of him. "I'm glad he'll grow up in a world that's better than the one we did," he said, meaning himself and Hope and Johnny. "I'm gonna make sure of that."

"Actually ....it was "Sammy"," Jo told him with a grin, squeezing his hand. "I know you will, little man. We all will. Your dad and me, we're not going anywhere. We're going to be embarrassing you when your daughters are bringing home nice men or women to meet the parents."

Sam's eyes widened to learn Bertie's first word had been his name, but then he was rolling his eyes and laughing at the rest of what she'd said. "It should be fun trying to explain why our kids aren't much older than my siblings," he said, though it wasn't all that unusual when there was an age gap such as theirs between births. If anyone did the math, though, they'd wonder how Jo had birthed Sam at such a young age. "Wait," he said abruptly, as something else she said seemed to hit home. "Daughters?" He furrowed his brows quizzically. "Have you been talking to Ayden?"

She laughed, one hand pressing onto her bump as the amusement helped to weather through another contraction. "Sammy ....since she got hopped up on god-juice, has Ayden ever given anyone a straight answer to a question like that?" she asked with a wide grin.

Sam grinned, as he glanced over at the eclectic group of guests mingling near the food. There was his father, standing near Ayden while gobbling up the food on his plate. "How much do you wanna bet he's pestering her about the twins right now?"

"And losing," Jo agreed warmly. She squeezed his hand. "You should go and mingle, little man. I'm okay, I promise. And you get to hold your little sisters tonight before you two go disappearing off to some romantic destination for a week or two."

"I should probably go find Becky," he said, though he didn't want to leave Jo alone either. "May I?" he asked, lifting a hand toward her bump, but asking permission before he dared touch.

"Of course you can." She let her hand fall, hoping he wouldn't be able to feel the tension in her gravid belly between contractions. It wasn't the best sensation, even from the outside, but hopefully he wouldn't know what he was feeling.

Very gently, he laid his hand against his mother's bump, inside which his little sisters were getting ready to be born. "You two go easy on, Mom, you hear?" he whispered, leaning a little bit closer, so that they could hear what he was telling them. "Don't give her a hard time, or you're gonna have to answer to me," he warned them, with a smirk and a wink up at Jo.

"I'd listen if I was you," Jo added with a low laugh. "He's got a scary wife now who'll back him up if you don't do what you're told. She uses words longer than your legs."

Sam chuckled, giving Jo's bump a gentle rub. "I can't wait to meet them," he told her, leaning close to brush a kiss to her cheek. "I better go find Becky. Are you sure I can't get you anything?" he asked. Or anyone.

She pecked a gentle kiss to his cheek in answer. "I'm sure, kiddo," she promised him. "Go and enjoy yourself - it's your wedding day!" After all, she had her glass of water and was pretty sure she was under the watchful eye of at least one Olympian, not to mention more than one nosy mortal.

"I love you, Mom," he whispered, needing her to know that. Even if she hadn't really been the woman who'd raised him, in a strange way she was. It didn't much matter whether she was the Jo of the past or the future; to him, she was just Mom.

"I love you back, Sam," she promised him fondly. "Now shoo, before your aunt winds your dad so tight he explodes." She nodded toward Dean and Ayden - the newest Olympian on the block was grinning mischievously at her brother, quite deliberately keeping her mouth shut, it seemed. That surprise side-effect of no one being able to lie to her, and her not being able to lie to anyone, was resulting in some interesting conversations these days.

All Dean wanted to know was whether the twins were going to consist of a boy and a girl or two girls, as it was already assumed one of the babies waiting to be born was that of their daughter Hope. All he wanted was a yes or a no, but it seemed Ayden was being coy.

Sam glanced over at the pair and chuckled. "I better go rescue her," he said before turning back. "Thanks, Mom." What he was thanking her for, he didn't say, nor did he think it needed saying. She loved him and accepted him for who he was and that was enough.

Jo smiled, waving him on his way as she took a sip from her water. One hand rubbed over the tense crown of her belly - the main event couldn't come fast enough for her liking.

By the table, Ayden had managed to school her grin into something less teasing for her brother. "You do know that if I tell you this, you're going to think you can get answers about the future all the time, right?"

"What's the point of knowing the future if you can't tell anyone" I assume if you knew something bad was going to happen, you'd warn me, so why can't you share good stuff, too' I mean, it is possible to change things, if you know what?s going to happen in advance, right?" Dean argued, though there were some things - like the birth of their twins - that couldn't be changed, nor did he want them to be changed. "Just how far into the future can you see?" he asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at her and wondering just how much she knew.

Ayden rolled her eyes. "The future is always changing, Dean," she reminded him. "It isn't a set stone path. I see all the possibilities. Which, you might think, would be why I don't talk about it."

"Well, there aren't that many possibilities here, Ay. It's either a boy and a girl, two girls, or two boys, but since we already know Hope is in there, it kind of narrows the possibilities. I mean, it's not like there's a chance they might be Siamese twins or something, right?" he asked, though the mention of that put a worried expression on his face. "They're gonna be okay, right' Healthy and everything?"

"Maybe a little bit," she admitted impishly. "Question is, though ....is it working" Or do I have to drop more enormous hints about what?s under this dress to drive you wild enough to find a closet and do a little consummating ahead of schedule?"

"Oh, is that your plan?" he asked, with a hint of amusement in his eyes. He took a quick look around to see if anyone was watching. "How long do we have to stay?" he asked, leaning close to brush his lips against the side of her neck.

She laughed softly against his ear, her fingers flexing with affectionate impatience in the folds of his tux. "We could slip away for an hour or so and come back in something more comfortable for the evening," she suggested, gently nipping at his ear.

"Think anyone will miss us?" he asked, though if his mother gave birth any time soon, they might not miss them at all for a while. He was trying hard to master his body, but his body had other ideas.

Becky laughed her softly husky laugh against his ear again. "Sam ....we just got married," she reminded him wickedly. "Even if they do miss us, they're not going to come looking. Your dad might yell a few tips through the door, but he's a little distracted, anyway."

Sam smiled, that mischievous gleam in his eyes again. "Where do you want to sneak off to?" he asked, obviously not opposed to the idea, though he was hoping his father wouldn't do as she said.

"There's a whole bedroom I got dressed in," she grinned cheerfully, nuzzling a slow kiss to his lips. "With a lock on the door and everything." A loud laugh drew the eye to where Alexandros and Bertie were investigating each other, holding the attention of everyone else gathered around. "That's our cue."

Sam's head swung toward the sound of laughter before turning back to his new bride. "Lead the way," he said, though he knew his way around Ares' villa almost as well as Ares himself.

As the newly-weds slipped away, Ayden tucked herself under her own husband's arm. "Coping with the strangeness of a mortal wedding better this time, gappy-toes?" she asked him, deliberately mangling the Greek endearment that was his preferred way to refer to her.

Ares furrowed his brows at his own bride, even as she slipped beneath his arm. "Why do you always insist on calling me that?" he asked, thinking she was purposely mangling his Greek, which was exactly what she was doing.

"Because you always rise to it," she informed him fondly, rising up onto her toes to kiss his bearded cheek. After all, she was perfectly capable of using the correct word these days; using that version was all about teasing her warlike husband.

"I could just as easily rise to something else," he told her, with a teasing gleam in his eyes, clearly referring to a different kind of rising. He hadn't yet noticed that Becky and Sam had snuck off, but it wouldn't have mattered much if he had.

Ayden giggled softly, hugging his arm. "We are hosting this party, darlin'," she reminded him in amusement. "It'd be very rude to just rush off and play, especially when Jo's about an hour away from having two new babies for everyone to cuddle."

"She's going to have them here?" he asked, glancing over at the woman in question who was relaxing in a chair, Dean right beside her, despite her warning for him not to hover. "I hope she has the good sense not to have them on the lawn."

"Did you not even notice that I invited your sister to Sam's wedding?" she asked laughingly. "Hebe knows more about delivering babies than I do, and the healing stuff, too. Everything's set up and ready for them in the guest room, and this way means that Jo doesn't have to spend the next three months feeling awful about the way she looks and feels. She's just going to be tired."

"No, I noticed. Of course, I noticed," he quickly replied, as if to cover his own mistake. "I just thought you were being polite in inviting her," he said, regarding his sister's appearance at the wedding. "What else do you know that you aren't telling me, wife?" he asked, turning to face her, his big arms going around her tiny waist.

Enveloped in Ares' arms, Ayden knew they made an odd couple at first glance. The frankly huge God of War towered over his significantly smaller wife, a goddess herself since the birth of their son. But Ayden didn't mind. She'd never minded being dwarfed by Ares, even right at the beginning. "Everything," she told him, as much an honest answer as a tease, and they both knew it.

"Can you tell me when Alexandros will have a baby sister?" he asked, that hint of teasing in his eyes again. He was careful to phrase the question so that she didn't have to answer it completely honestly if she didn't want to.

"Yes, I am very capable of telling you when that will happen," she informed him, giggling her way through an answer that she knew was just as frustrating as having her not answer at all.

"Does that mean it will happen?" he asked, as amused by this line of questioning as she seemed by answering. He knew the future was changeable and that she saw probabilities, and he was satisfied with that. Even the Gods couldn't predict everything.

Of course, giving a straight answer was a problem when it came to speaking with most people - the main side effect of her enhanced gift was an inability to lie. But Ares didn't really count as most people; he knew intimately that an answer given didn't necessarily mean the future would not change before it arrived. "Yes, it does," she told him, biting her lip with a smile.

"And do you know when this event will happen?" he asked, pressing her further, though he knew she might not want to answer that question. There was a smirk on his face as he contemplated having another child, now that Alexandros wasn't waking them in the middle of the night anymore.

"I would rather not put a date on it," she said carefully, not failing to answer so much as answering implicitly. She laughed, hugging him about the waist fondly. "You know better than to try and pin down the future, anyway. Enjoy your son while he's still tiny."

"Well, I was just thinking perhaps we could work on making that a reality," he said, not having to hint too hard about what he meant by that. If his sexual appetite was anything to go by, they might end up with half a dozen children before they were through.

"I thought we do that pretty much every night anyway," she teased with deep affection in her tone.

A little way away, Jo suddenly gasped softly, sitting straighter as she glanced at Dean, half-laughing at her surprise. "I think now is the time I should really go and get out of this dress, baby."

Attentive to her needs, Dean reached to help his wife up from the chair, as soon as she gave the word. "Ayden, it's time!" he called, though it should probably have been Hebe he called for. Several heads turned toward Jo when they heard Dean's announcement, not a single person wondering out loud where Becky and Sam had disappeared to. At least, not yet.

"I know, Big Bird, keep your wig on," Ayden told her brother. "Why don't you help your wife inside and into something more comfortable" You know where your room is - it's all ready for you."

"I'm not wearing a wig," Dean muttered, taking his sister literally, as he drew an arm around Jo's waist. "You okay, baby' Can you walk?" he asked, unsure if he should carry her instead. He knew Jo had her pride, anyway.

"Yanno, I don't think they heard you in Athens. Wanna try announcing that again?" Bobby remarked as he wandered over to see if they needed any help.

Jo rolled her eyes, grateful for the help as she stood upright once again. "I can walk," she promised him firmly. She lowered her voice to add something for his ears only. "At least until we're out of sight, anyway. Don't start giving Ellen ideas."

Dean's expression sobered further as he watched Jo struggling to birth the second twin. It hurt to see her in pain, even when that pain had a purpose such as the birth of a child. What he wouldn't give to trade places with her, to suffer that pain for her, instead of watching helplessly, but this was the way things were and had been since the beginning of time. "Okay, whatever you want, baby," he told her, pushing her hair away from her face and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Almost done. Just a few more pushes," he encouraged, though he had no way of knowing whether or not that was true.

He was right this time, though. Just a few minutes later, there were two little voices making themselves known as Hebe employed just a little of that Olympian power of hers to wash and dry the girls. "Come here and meet your daughters, Dean," she told him. "Jo and I have a little more to do yet."

"Daughters?" he echoed, surprised to learn Jo's instincts had been right - or maybe Ayden had spilled the beans, but right at that moment, he didn't much care. "You gonna be okay if I check on the ....the girls?" he asked of Jo, never letting go of her hand for a second.

Panting but smiling, Jo nodded, finally allowed a breather while her body prepared for that last expulsion before she could be healed up. "Go and say hello to your girls, Dean," she told him affectionately. "Before they summon everyone in here to look up my hoohar."

"Our girls," he corrected, smiling at long last. He brushed a kiss to her hand before letting go to look on the newest members of the family for the first time. "Jo?" he said, blinking in astonishment as he took his first look at the tiny babies. "I, uh ....I can't tell which is which. I mean ....They both look alike." Twins he was expecting, but not identical twins.

"That'd be because they're identical, princess," Jo told him with a smile, resting back on her elbows for the time being. "Future doesn't change that much. I figured, once we knew it was twins, that it was one egg split in two. Two Hopes for the price of one."

"I put a bracelet on your firstborn," Hebe told him in amusement. "Believe me, I know the difficulty around having identical children until they start to show their differences."

Both girls were screaming indignantly at being born into the world, and Dean wanted to scoop them both up in his arms and comfort them, but it wasn't that easy. Instead, he leaned close and caressed each tiny red face with a finger. "Shhh, it's all right now. No one is gonna hurt you ever. Your mama and I are gonna take real good care of you. Promise," he whispered, remembering promises he'd made before and had been unable to keep and pushing them from his mind. Things were different now. Everything was different.

"Need a hand?" a voice asked - Ayden, having made use of her newly-mastered teleportation skill, or whatever it was, to get inside the room without opening the door or announcing to everyone outside that was where she was going.

"Yeah," Dean replied, sniffling suspiciously as he hovered protectively over the newborns. "Identical girls, but I assume you knew that already," he told his sister.

"Still not pleased that I let you find out for yourself?" Ayden asked with a smile, moving forward to help him tuck the babies securely in their blankets so he'd be able to hold both at once. "It wouldn't mean as much to you if you'd known in advance."

"I don't blame you for not telling me, if that's what you mean," he replied, tucking a blanket around the one with the bracelet - the eldest that he assumed they were naming Hope. "Explains why Jo never fussed over a boy's name much, though."

Ayden rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well ....she threatened to cut her name into my arm with that Hind's Blood Dagger if I didn't give her straight answer," she smirked, knowing perfectly well that Jo wouldn't have done it. "I figured it was probably best not to push the hormonal hunter too far."

"So, did everyone know but me?" he asked, feeling a little left out, though it hardly mattered now. He couldn't have asked for a better surprise, and it was almost Christmas.

"I only told Jo," Ayden assured him, lifting the younger into her arms. It wasn't a lie, as such - she hadn't actually come out and told Sam and Becky that both babies would be girls. "Get Hope settled in one arm, Dean, then you can cuddle both of them. What did you decide to call this one, in the end?"

Over on the bed, the women had finished with the messy end of the business, Hebe working on making Jo calm and comfortable and clean after her long afternoon.

"Jo suggested Annabel ....Hope Ellen and Annabel Mary," he told her, though he wasn't sure if that was still what Jo wanted. He settled Hope in one arm, easily and naturally, like he was born to it. This wasn't his first day with a newborn baby, after all, and he'd taken to it like a duck to water.

"Sounds good to me." Ayden smiled, gently settling Annabel into his other arm, taking the opportunity to kiss her brother's cheek before stepping back. The twins were already starting to calm now they were being held.

"Well, look at you," Dean said, his expression softening as his daughters settled down now they were in their father's arms. "Wait 'til your brothers see you," he said, a soft smile on his face. "Jo, you wanna say hello to your daughters?" he asked, though unlike him, she'd been carrying them inside her for the last nine months.

Jo chuckled from where she was now sitting on the edge of the bed. "Give me a couple of minutes to get changed, baby," she told him. "And take a picture of you, because you look so cute like that." Ayden and Hebe were already gone, that helpful ability to vanish coming in very useful right about now.

He blinked as Ayden disappeared, practically right before his eyes. He wouldn't have minded if she'd stayed. As for Hebe, he was grateful for the goddess' help, but immortals still made him uncomfortable sometimes. "Are you okay?" he asked, looking over at Jo, a little surprised to see her recovering so quickly. He supposed he had Hebe to thank for that, too.

"I ....feel pretty fantastic, actually," Jo admitted as she rose to her feet. "I don't know what she did, but I don't feel like I just gave birth." She didn't look like it, either. In fact, apart from the natural swell of her breasts, she didn't look as though she had been pregnant at all.

"You look fantastic, too," he said, looking her over and noticing the change. "I guess I should thank Hebe for her help, huh' And apologize for being whiny," he added with a smirk. Now that the twins were born and all was well, he could relax a little.

She laughed, rummaging for pajamas in the chest of drawers. She didn't think anyone was going to mind that she wasn't getting dressed up again for the rest of the party. "I kinda think she already knows, baby," she assured him, shucking out of the soiled shirt and into a fresh t-shirt and shorts. "Seems like they already know you're the boss."

"Am I?" he asked, looking from one daughter to the other. "I kinda thought that was your job," he teased, as he watched her get dressed. But now was not the time to let his mind wander to that of sex when she had just birthed twins. "You think we can handle three kids under the age of three?" he asked, though it was a little late for that. He took a seat on the edge of the bed, still juggling one twin in each arm.

"It's too late to give them back now." Jo laughed, returning to sit herself on the bed with him, stroking her fingers over Annabel's soft head as she leaned close to kiss his cheek. "One more, in a few years. I think these two came early."

"One more?" he echoed, brows arching upwards. He knew what Sam had to say about the future, about his siblings. They'd met Hope in the flesh, but not even Sam had foreseen twins.

"We still need Johnny to complete the set," she reminded him with a fond smile. "But definitely in a few years. I have a feeling these three are going to be a handful for a while."

"Johnny, right," Dean replied, unsure if he believed the future could really be predicted with any real accuracy, even though the proof was right in front of him. "What if ....what if we'd decided not to name her Hope?" he asked. It wasn't that he didn't trust Ayden's visions of the future, but that he wasn't sure if they were truly set in stone.

It was enough for Dean to know what the couple had been up to, but he didn't hold it against them and at least knew better than to mention it. "This one is Hope," he said, lifting the older twin up a little to indicate which she was. "And this one is Anna," he said, doing the same with the other twin.

"Oooh, gimme Hope," Becky demanded, fingers flexing in the universal symbol for "gimme". She flashed a grin at Sam. "I think it's about time we met."

Jo chuckled, grunting a little as Bertie adjusted himself on her lap to cuddle in. The little boy had had a long day.

"Actually ..." Sam started a little tentatively. "Would you mind if I held Hope?" he asked, looking to his mother and then to Becky, as if for permission before turning back to his dad.

Jo grinned. "I don't think we can say no to that, really," she said, biting her lips to keep from laughing as Becky nodded enthusiastically from behind Sam before schooling her own expression when his eyes wandered back to her.

"Can I cuddle the other one, then?" the bride asked hopefully, giving in entirely too easily for her initial demand to be anything but designed to get Sam to ask for himself.

"Be my guest," Dean replied with a chuckle. "My arms are getting tired!"

Sam stepped forward to very carefully take Hope from his father's arms, while Becky took Anna.

Dean couldn't help but give Jo a knowing smile as the pair said hello to the newborns for the first time. "Now, little man!" he said, turning to Bertie. "How about a hug for your Dada!"

Bertie crowed happily, lunging off Jo's lap to throw his arms around Dean's neck, hugging close with the familiar "D-d-d-d-d" that was all he was managing of Dada just yet. So close, though.

Becky giggled, dipping her head to smell little Anna as she cuddled the younger twin close. "Babies always smell so nice," she murmured. "So what did you call this one in the end?"

"Anna Mary," Dean replied, watching a moment while Sam and Becky snuggled the twins, even as he caught Bertie in his arms. "He's so close to saying it!" he remarked on Bertie's attempt to say Dada, laughing at the little boy's efforts.

"Whaddya wanna bet as soon as he masters Dada, he'll be a big talker?" Jo suggested, crossing her legs comfortably as she watched her youngest children being cuddled by three people she loved most dearly.

"Maybe," Dean said, though he wasn't so sure. Sam wasn't a big talker, but this younger version of his son was different. The only thing the two of them shared was their DNA, almost like twins born twenty years apart. "Hope and Anna might look alike, but they're two different people, just like Sam and Bertie."

Jo was watching Sam with Hope, wondering what was going through her eldest son's mind as he cuddled with a baby sister who had arrived almost two years early and brought an unexpected twin sister with her. She almost wished she could send him into the future to see what the world he had created looked like, how happy their family would be. She refused to accept any other future herself.

There wouldn't have been much point to Sam and Hope's journey here or to Sam's decision to stay if their future wasn't a happy one, but he doubted there was any way to know for sure. Dean was a little too busy juggling Bertie to pay much attention to what was going on with Sam and Becky, but Jo would likely notice that Sam's expression had softened and that there were tears in his eyes as he held his baby sister close.

It was sad to see Sam so touched by this first chance to embrace his little sister; sad, too, to know that he was still struggling with his decision to remain, despite all the good he knew he had done. Jo frowned thoughtfully, waiting until Becky had engaged Sam in quiet conversation before leaning over to Dean.

"We really need to find a way to show him that he made a good decision, baby," she murmured. "It's getting harder for him to accept that he's not quite the big brother he wants to be."

Dean paused a moment in his snuggling of Bertie to glance over at the little boy's older counterpart. He hadn't really noticed that Sam was having a problem with it; it was confusing, to be sure, but he was glad Sam had decided to stay and he was proud of him, too. Maybe he didn't tell him that often enough. He wasn't sure if there was any way for Sam to know for sure that he was right where he belonged. It had been Sam's decision to stay, knowing Bertie would grow up to take his place in Hope's life, but it had to be hard. He was likely missing his sister the same way Dean sometimes missed his brother. There was only one thing he could think of that might help, and it was a long shot. "Should I talk to Ayden?"

Jo nodded slowly, stroking her fingers through Bertie's hair as he cuddled into Dean's chest. "I think she might be the only one who might be able to find a way to prove to him that the future is a better place because he's here with us," she murmured thoughtfully.

"I don't know if the future is a better place," Dean pointed out quietly. "But our lives are better for it." It was his way of saying how much he'd miss Sam if he left, and how much he missed Hope. The beauty of Sam's decision was that no one was really making a sacrifice by his decisions to stay, except Sam, but they'd known that all along.

"So maybe there's a way for Ayden, or someone she knows, to show him what his place in the future looks like," Jo mused softly. "I think that's the problem. He doesn't know where he fits in their lives, and he might start pulling away because of that."

"Yeah," Dean agreed, looking over at the newlyweds and the newborns again. There was some irony to be found in that somewhere, but he wasn't quite sure where. "But he's got us and he's got Becky," he pointed out, as quietly as he could, not going on to point out everyone who cared about Sam. "Maybe he just needs to find his place in this time," he suggested, though he'd hoped Sam was already doing that with the Men of Letters.

"I think seeing how everything fits together in a future that's better than the one he came from would help," she suggested quietly. "Yeah, I do think you should talk to Ayden about it. Maybe we could sort something out as a Christmas present or something."

"After they get back from their honeymoon," Dean said, which would give him time to talk to Ayden and see if such a thing was possible. "They are going on a honeymoon, right?" he asked, just loudly enough for the other pair to overhear.

Becky's head snapped up, recognizing that the quiet conversation on the bed had come to a point where it was safe to be hearing it again. "Yes, we are," she informed Dean with a grin. "I'm going to drag your son all over Crete and Santorini, and we're gonna go to Turkey and take a look at Troy, too. Because I am a nerd, and proud of it."

"Sounds romantic," Dean remarked, a sarcastic smirk on his face, but not every couple needed romance. He couldn't really see Sam and Becky cavorting in the sea and surf when they could be exploring some ancient ruins or other instead.

"Romance is where you find it," Becky reminded him with a grin. She'd tipped Anna up onto her shoulder, holding the baby girl safely in place with one arm as she swayed automatically, her other hand rubbing gently against Sam's back.

"You're a natural, Becky," Dean said, seeing how comfortable and natural she seemed with the newborn. "You two gonna make us grandparents before we turn forty?" he teased.

"Dad, we only just got married today," Sam reminded his father, a little more timid with the newborn in his arms, but that was only because it was Hope.

Becky snorted with laughter. "You let me practice on Bertie-boy, figures I'd be a bit more confident with these two, right?" she defended herself, wondering how strange it looked to see a bride jostling a very newborn baby in one arm, anyway.

Jo chuckled. "Stop wishing grandchildren on us," she told Dean fondly. "We have enough trouble with the children part right now!"

Jo smiled, risking squishing the twins for a moment to hug him one-armed. "Love you back, Sammy," she promised softly. "And congratulations on getting married. I'm sorry I stole your thunder on your big day."

"We shared the thunder," he replied, mirroring her smile. "Best wedding present ever," he added, looking down at his little sister in his arms. "It'll be weird watching them grow up together," he murmured, more to himself than to Jo.

"Double the trouble," she warned in amusement. Jo wasn't going to admit it out loud, but she was looking forward to seeing how Dean dealt with two little girls. She had a feeling he was going to either take to it like a duck to water, or be totally out of his depth.

"Double the fun," Sam added with a chuckle, just as the door opened and Dean returned with a plate full of food.

"I'm back!" he announced, as though they needed warning. "And I've brought dinner!"

"Have I mentioned recently that I love you?" Jo asked her husband, rising to swap the baby in her arms for the plate he'd brought with him. She was ravenous; not being allowed to eat for most of the day had not been a fun experience.

Dean set a glass of what looked like apple juice on a table before swapping the plate for the baby. "I told everyone they have to wait until tomorrow to visit. You need your rest," he told her. He was going to stand firm on that decision, too.

"I guess Ellen and Bobby are going to swing by to grab Bertie in a little bit then, huh?" she asked, perching back on the bed to devour the contents of her plate. She glanced at Sam with a grin. "Since, yanno, big bro there has more important things to do this evening."

"Except for Bobby and Ellen!" Dean corrected, though he thought that kind of went without saying. "And Ayden and Ares might pop in, but I mean, it's their house!" he said with a smirk and a shrug. "Where's that pretty wife of yours gone" She was right behind me!"

"I'm coming, keep your toupee on," Becky groused from behind him, flashing Dean a bright grin. She flourished Bertie's pajamas in one hand. "I made a stop on the way so the littlest little man can get comfortable before we haul him off to sleep with his ass on Bobby's beard all night."

"I'm not wearing a toupee, smart ass," Dean corrected, though he had a feeling she was kidding. He couldn't help chuckling a little at the mental image her remark put in his head. "I'm glad I don't have to be there when he wakes up in the morning."

"Dude, you're going to be wide awake long before he is," Becky predicted, gesturing to the twin girls. "Won't be long before they want feeding, will it' Did you guys bring formula, or does Ayden have that covered?" This was all a little muffled; she was working on carefully undressing Bertie while not disturbing the toddler's sleep.

"Uh ..." Dean replied uncertainly, looking to Jo for an answer. Formula wasn't really his department, and he'd had other things to worry about, like keeping Bertie out of trouble and making sure Ares had enough beer.

Sam chuckled a little to himself, not really surprised by his father's behavior. "I hope you brought diapers," he remarked.

"You two should probably go see to your guests. This is your wedding, after all," Dean suggested, though he wasn't trying to get rid of them.

Jo snorted with laughter. "Ayden had everything covered," she pointed out in amusement. "Pretty sure we've got everything we'll need. She can't resist being right."

Becky laughed quietly, gently lifting the now pajama'd Bertie up onto her shoulder. "We should hand this little guy over to his grandparents for the night, too," she agreed. "You know, before we go and make you grandparents."

Sam frowned a little at Becky's remark. He'd have to tell her later that he'd promised his mother not to make any babies until Johnny was born, but when would that be? Everything was changing, and he couldn't rely on his knowledge of his past to foretell the future anymore. He very carefully laid baby Hope back in her mother's arms and brushed a kiss against her cheek. "We'll come by tomorrow before we leave for our honeymoon," he assured her, whispering "Love you," just for her.

Setting her mostly empty plate aside, Jo took Hope into her arms with a smile that softened just for Sam as he made his promise to say goodbye before he and his new wife set off on their own personal adventure for a week or two. "Don't forget to have fun," she told him impishly.

Becky grinned, wriggling her free hand in a silent goodnight to her parents-in-law as she moved toward the door. They needed to hand Bertie over to Bobby and Ellen for the evening before they could get back to the fun.

Dean stepped forward to give Becky and Sam a hug in turn, congratulating them both, but to Sam, he added quietly, "I'm proud of you, son."

Nothing Dean said could have meant more to Sam than that, and he returned his father's hug, careful not to squish Anna. "Thanks, Dad," he said, before joining Becky at the door. "I can take Bertie," he told her, reaching to rescue her from having to lug the little boy around.

"Good, 'cos your mini-me is really heavy," Becky laughed, gently manhandling the baby boy into Sam's arms and ushering them both out of the room with a last smile for the new parents. Drawing the door closed behind her, she turned to Sam. "So ....delivery for the Singers, and then we get to concentrate for a few hours, huh?"

"If that's what you wanna call it," Sam remarked with a smirk. "Okay, little man. It's time to go see Gramma and Grampa," he said as he took Bertie into his arms, not quite as effortlessly as his father might have. "You don't think they're gonna want us to stay a while, do you?"

"Who, Ellen and Bobby?" Becky asked, falling into step beside her husband with a fond smile. "I think they know we're a little bit impatient for some quality time together, honey."

"What, a quickie isn't good enough for you?" he teased further, though he was looking forward to consummating their marriage slowly and thoroughly, once they were alone - so long as neither of them passed out first.

"Sugar muffin, that was just to take the edge off," she assured him teasingly in return. "You're going to need help walking by the time I'm done with you tonight, husband." She winked wickedly at him, knowing perfectly well that she was likely going to be a little jelly-legged, too.

"Sugar muffin?" he echoed with a chuckle. "That sounds more like something I should call you, don't you think?" He adjusted the little boy in his arms, as they went in search of Ellen and Bobby. "You think they're still celebrating or they're in their room?"

Becky paused, tilting her head thoughtfully. "It sounds like the party's broken up," she mused. "Their room, then" I mean, they're probably going to go and visit your mom and dad, but Ellen's gotta want out of those shoes, at least."

"Yeah, I'm sure they'll want to see the twins," Sam said, feeling weird saying that, though they'd known for months that his mother was having two children, not one. "You don't mind sharing our anniversary with them, do you?" he asked. As far as he was concerned, it was just more reason to celebrate.

"Why would I mind that?" she asked in answer, her smile brightening. "I think it's amazing that your little sisters couldn't wait just one day, they absolutely had to crash your wedding!"