Supernatural 1. The Beginning

**Chapter One**

Hi my name is Samantha Winchester; I am 40 years old and an FBI agent based in Washington DC. I recently lost my father, my last parent so have been using my connections to try and find the rest of my family, my brother, John and my nephews, Dean and Sam. I need to find my family for two reasons. I want him to be godfather to my twins (due in August) and to pass on an inheritance to my nephews. Yes, we are those Winchesters; my father cut John off when he married a young woman named Mary Murphy in 1974, but he did leave an inheritance to all his grandchildren.

Although, my father disinherited my brother, we kept in touch and I was at the birth of both my nephews, Dean in 1979 and Sam in 1983. In November 1983, the family was attacked by a Demon. Yes, I know about Demons, and the other things that go bump in the night. I tried to warn John that something was coming but he didn't believe that I could see what was coming. Since an early age, I have had visions of things that were going to happen. Shortly after the attack, John took the boys and disappeared and I have not heard from him or them since.

The FBI is reporting that my brother died nearly two years ago, and that my nephews died in a major explosion two months ago. My other contacts are reporting that although John is dead, the boys are very much alive. I have therefore taken time off from work before my maternity leave starts to track down John, Dean and Sam. I won't be doing this alone however; my husband, William Talbot a hunter is coming with me. We decided to head west and will start with the best hunter that Bill knows, Bobby Singer. Bill has known Bobby for a while, but the hunting world is so secretive that William hasn't asked him about the Winchesters yet. I am taking along my proof of identity and my documentary evidence on my links to John, Dean and Sam just in case.

Whilst trying to track down John and the boys, I have been researching both sides of the family and found out something interesting. Running down the Winchester side of the family, in every generation there is a Sam, I think that this is more than a generational thing of passing on the name. I also discovered that the youngest child in our family inherits a gift, I don't know if this has passed to John's Sam. I do know that I received a gift as did my Uncle Sam, my grandfather Sam and going on back through the family. The gift in my case as I have stated before is visions, my uncle was telekinetic (could move things with his mind), and my grandfather was both. My gut feeling is that Sam has inherited his great grandfather's gifts; he may not know how to use them as wasn't around the family to learn how.

On Mary's side of the family, all of her relations died within three years of her death it was as if someone was trying to hide or cover something up. On further investigation, I discovered that my Sister-in-Law was related to a long line of hunters. I don't know if Mary was aware of this, and that this is the reason for the attack on her life and the lives of all her relations and close friends. The first in the line of hunters was given a revolver by Samuel Colt. The revolver was built to kill anything Supernatural, and was intended to be passed down the family line to the oldest child who was to become a hunter.

Two years after the revolver was given to Dominic Murphy, he went into hiding and the current whereabouts are a mystery. Hunter history shows that Dominic Murphy was one of the greats, and the reason for his disappearance is not clear. There has been speculation as to what happened to Dominic when he disappeared but what is most likely is that as he started a family he felt that he should settle down, do the occasional hunt and raise his family and pass the mantle onto the next generation. One of the theories is that Dominic met and fell in love with his guardian angel, and that this has been passed on down the line of the Murphy's.

Dominic had a son, and two daughters, his son become a hunter (Frank Murphy), Frank had a son (Glenn) and a daughter and the son became a hunter. In each generation, to keep them safe the daughters knew nothing about what their brothers where doing just that they left home at the age of eighteen and they saw them again at family gatherings (sometimes a little worse for wear) but very rarely apart from that. Glenn married and had a son (James) and a daughter (Mary). James went on to become a hunter and a pastor.

As far as I can tell, John never knew that his Pastor Jim was Mary's brother James. John and Mary had a very small wedding and family was not invited (I didn't speak to him for a six months for that.) We did however talk again, he was angry that Dad had cut him off and thought that I was siding with Dad, he didn't ask me just assumed, by brother can be incredibly stubborn. We got past that and had a really great relationship and I adored Mary and loved my nephews.

Bringing together the Winchester / Murphy family bloodlines, the hunters in the family, the angelic bloodline and the special gifts has lead to the attacks on the family. I am convinced more now than ever that these will continue until we can find the Colt and bring down the Lucifer's agent on Earth. At this point, William tells me that Lilith has risen again and if she has we are in real trouble as not only will she go after John, Sam and Dean but she will come after me, Will and my twins.


	2. Samantha

**Links to NCIS and Criminal Minds, I don't own any of the characters. **

Bringing together the Winchester / Murphy family bloodlines, the hunters in the family, the angelic bloodline and the special gifts has lead to the attacks on the family. I am convinced more now than ever that these will continue until we can find the Colt and bring down the Lucifer's agent on Earth. At this point, William tells me that Lilith has risen again and if she has we are in real trouble as not only will she go after John, Sam and Dean but she will come after me, Will and my twins.

**Chapter Two**

After arranging to take leave from our respective jobs, mine at the FBI and Will from the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, and locking up the house we set off for South Dakota to meet with Bobby Singer. We packed up the Ford Escape (Hybrid), I know not the kind of car you expect a hunter to drive, but with two additions coming into the family we had to think space and accessibility and a SUV made more sense. We still have the '67 Impala I inherited from my father. He gave it to me when I passed my driving test. Years before he had given one to John when he passed his test, and I absolutely fell in love with the car so my dad got me one as well. It's in storage while we go across country, but Will uses it when we are in town. I intend to pass it down to the kids.

As we drive cross country, my thoughts drifted to John, and how I missed my big brother. There was a large age gap between John and myself, John is 13 years older than me, and my parents had given up hope of having any more children. My mother suffered several miscarriages between the time my brother was born and when I was born in 1967. Unlike my parents who were incredibly overprotective (understandably so, some people have said) John allowed me to be myself to go outside and play. He would take me to the park and allow me to climb trees, and fall over and graze my knees; I was a real tomboy when I was young.

In 1970, John joined the marines and left for Vietnam, this was the first time I remember him and my dad fighting, Dad shouted things about him running out on his family and his responsibilities and how could he do that if he loved us. I ran out of the room crying and went and hid in my bedroom closet, John found me later, and took me out for ice-cream and explained that he still loved me but that he needed to leave so that he could protect us. He came back in 1973, and there was another screaming match between him and my father, John didn't want to join the family business and dad was insisting that if he came home he needed to join the 'firm'. John told him that he wasn't going to join the family business as he had seen the damage that our family business could do, and until my father was willing to counteract some of the damage then he didn't want to know. Dad told him that if he left, then he was to stay gone. It broke my heart and again I ran and hid in the closet, again John found me and took me out in the impala, told me he would always love me and that whatever dad said about him I should never forget that, and I never did.

We kept in touch, he would phone when Dad was at work and he knew I would be around. In 1974, John told me was getting married he had met a great woman Mary and that he would be settling down in 

Lawrence Kansas, and he wanted me to attend the wedding. Mum knew what was really going on, so she told my Dad told my dad that I was going to camp for the summer; she was sad that she couldn't go as well but knew that she couldn't up and leave without telling him the real reason and if she did he wouldn't let her go. John picked me up at Topeka airport in the Impala and we drove together back to his apartment in Lawrence. I met Mary and instantly fell in love with her, I hadn't been sure that I would when he told me about her; I didn't think anyone was going to be good enough for my big brother. John, Mary, Mum and I decided that I would spend my summers for the next few years, 'at camp' in Lawrence Kansas which would allow me to spend time with my big brother and his wife.

In 1978, a got a call to tell me I was going to be an Aunt, I didn't feel old enough to be an Aunt, I was 11 years old for goodness sake. In early 1979, Mum and I visited John and Mary, whilst Dad was away on an overseas business trip. During the visit Mary went into labour and my nephew Dean arrived kicking and screaming, and I immediately fell in love with the new addition to the Winchester clan. After, Mum and I went home; John and I continued to keep in touch. Over the next 3 summers, I would visit with the Lawrence Winchesters and I could tell how happy John was, he had started a local business, he co-owned a garage, he was in love with Mary and they had Dean. During my yearly visit in 1982, he told me I was going to me an Aunt again and I could tell that the whole family was really happy about this. Sam's entrance into the world was an altogether different experience than Deans. Whereas Dean came in very loudly and let everybody know he was there, Sam came in very quietly and the whole room were concerned for a while that he was alive. Sam, took in a deep breath and opened those wonderful brown eyes, yawned and fell asleep in Mary's arms. Three months later I started seeing Mary on the ceiling, blood dripping from her stomach and fire surrounding her, I phoned John and told him what I had seen and he told me to stop being silly, that it was just a nightmare. Three months after that Mary was dead, and John had dropped out of sight.

As we pulled up to Bobby's Salvage yard, I still recall our last conversation as if it was yesterday and tears start to fill me eyes. John had phoned me a couple of days after the fire wanting to know how I knew what was going to happen, he wanted to know what had I done to Mary and why would I do that to him and to her. I was 16 years old at the time, and I couldn't understand why the brother I adored and spent so much time with could think that I had something to do with Mary's death. That was the last time I heard from him or the boys. Over the years I had other dreams but never again about a member of my family, and will never know why I received that particular vision, and why I couldn't help save Mary when I have been able to save so many others. As the car stops, Will looks at me he sees the tears in my eyes leans over, kisses me and tells me that everything will be alright.


	3. Will and I

I love the way that Will supports and cares for me, and as he is reassuring me that everything will be alright my mind goes back to how Will and I met.

We were introduced by a mutual friend. I work for the FBI in the Behavioral Analysis Unit at Quantico, and a case several years ago, took me to Baltimore where I met a young officer in the homicide division, Tony (Anthony) DiNozzo, we kept in touch over the years and when he transferred to NCIS based in Washington I helped him settle in. We both came from wealthy slightly dysfunctional families, so had a lot in common. This meant that we were more like a brother / sister, and therefore we would celebrate birthdays; act as 'the stand by date' in case of emergency and also as the other ride when needed.

As has become our tradition, Tony and I went out to celebrate his birthday and on this particular occasion we brought along colleagues from our respective offices, this was the first time I met Will. Will was my age, he was 6ft 4" tall with dark blonde hair and intense blue eyes and was he appeared to be the heart and soul of the party. I thought that he was the complete opposite of me and therefore I thought that he wouldn't look in my direction so I sank into the background at the bar, nursed my glass of Pinot Grigio wished Tony a happy Birthday and left. A couple of days later, Tony called me asking me if we could get together, he needed to talk to me about something. As I walked into the bar where we were meeting I noticed that Tony wasn't there but Will was. I walked up to the booth he was sitting in and asked "where's Tony? ", Will responded "he's not coming, it's just me". I couldn't understand what was going on. "I didn't know that NCIS needed the BAUs help" I asked, Will replied "We don't, I wanted to talk to alone".

I sat down ordered a drink, and we started to talk, he told me that he had seen me walk into the bar and had been totally blown away, he thought that I was beautiful, the last person to tell me that was John and I almost fell apart there and then, that I was confident and that as I worked at the BAU I must be smart. He therefore couldn't understand how I drifted into the background at the bar and didn't actively take part in the party. I told him that I had seen him when I walked him that I thought he was incredibly handsome and that he was a live wire and that he wouldn't want to talk to me, the shy geeky BAU agent. I couldn't believe how quickly time passed during that first meeting; we talked for hours getting through a bottle of wine and two very large Chicken Caesar Salads.

We then started talking on the phone regularly, taking things slowly to start with as Will had been badly hurt by his last relationship. We had been dating for approximately three months when I told Will about the Winchester family history, my abilities and the abilities of the members of the family. I expected him to run for the hills, but he then told me that he knew all about the 'Supernatural', that he had been raised by a hunter, when he heard about something in the DC he would go investigate and kill the evil sons of bitches that were causing the problem and that he wasn't going anywhere.

For our six month anniversary, Will invited the gang to the bar where we all met, ordered Champagne all round, as we were drinking I noticed that there was something in the bottom of my glass. It was a diamond and amethyst platinum ring, I looked at Will and mouthed "Are you sure", he mouthed "Yes", I mouthed "Yes, I will", I took the ring from the glass and slide it onto my ring finger. Tony turned around at that point; slapped Will on the back gave me a hug and told the rest of the bar that "Congratulations were in order". The wedding was going to be the following year, and this was the first time I tried to track down John, Dean and Sam as I wanted my big brother at my wedding, but we had no luck.

We set the wedding for the 18th August; the venue was this stunning place on the edge of Chesapeake Bay. The day started out with a great sunrise, I watched as the sun came up with butterflies in my stomach this was something that I never thought that I would have. The day for me was bittersweet, I was marrying the man of my dreams but my brother and his family were not there to celebrate with me. I remember seeing Will as I walked into the hall for the ceremony and thinking 'how did I get so lucky', Will confessed during our first dance that as I was walking down the aisle he leaned over to Tony, who was his best man and said "how did I get so lucky", Tony replied "I don't know, but you had better treat her right or all hell will break lose". John may not have been there but my surrogate brother was looking out for me.

To celebrate our 2nd Anniversary Will arranged a trip to the Lawrence, Kansas so I could see my brother's old house and see if I could find any clues as to where he might be. I started feeling really ill during the trip; we both put it down to being back where I spent such happy times and where everything had gone really wrong. When we got home I was still feeling awful I made an appointment to visit the doctor, Will had to work so was unable to come with me, the doctor took some blood and told me he would get back to me within the next couple of days with the results. Will and I were anxious for the next couple of days, waiting on the results of the tests, in turned out that we had nothing to worry about. The doctor called on the evening of the 3rd day and told me that I was pregnant; I thanked him and arranged to go in and see him again the following week. At the appointment the following week, the doctor did the scan and that's when we found out we were having twins.

Will and I knew then more than ever before that we needed to track down John and the boys; I needed them to be connected to the newest family members. We both requested a sabbatical from work and set off for South Dakota. I came back to present day, and as I looked up again, into the eyes of the man that had stolen my heart, he knew what I had been thinking about, and it was almost as though at times he could read my mind.

We opened the doors to the SUV, walked up the stairs to Bobby's front door and knocked. The front door opened and Bobby Singer was standing in front of us, this was the first time I met the man, but the next thing I know he has thumped Will on the arm and then pulled him into a big old bear hug exclaiming "Will Talbot, how you doing?, where you been?, what you been doing?, why haven't you contacted me recently? ", Will told him to "Take a breath, I'll explain everything. Do you think we can come in and grab a drink, it's been a long drive." At this point Bobby turned and spotted me for the first time. "Of course, come in, come in and I'll get you some water"..


	4. Bobby

Bobby presented Will and I with shot glasses of water, I looked at Will and he picked up on what I was thinking "How is this supposed to quench my thirst?" The look in his eyes said everything is ok, just drink the shot, and Bobby will get us a longer drink. We both drank down the shots and Will turned to Bobby and said "Satisfied, can I get a beer now and Sam will have tea if you've got it, if not regular water 'not holy water." I looked quizzically at Will, and mouthed 'holy water'.

Bobby said "Sure and disappeared into the kitchen to get what we wanted". Will turned to me and explained that this was a test Bobby did with everyone that he hadn't seen in a while. The shot glasses contained a shot of holy water and that this would detect if the person had become possessed since the last time he had seen them, and more so with me as he had never met me before.

While we were waiting for Bobby to return with the drinks, Will told me that he had met Bobby when he was nineteen and he had just lost his parents to a demon attack. Will's parents were killed in what the local police referred to as a B&E gone wrong, he didn't know at the time that it was a demon attack. It was a couple of weeks after the accident and a FBI agent called 'Robert Plant' turned up at the house asking a series of what he thought were very strange questions. The police never solved the case, and this led Will to studying Law at Stanford and then at Northeastern. He joined the police in Bisbee, Arizona where he worked his up from beat cop to Homicide Detective and then joined the FBI and later NCIS. During his time as a Homicide cop in Bisbee he discovered that there was no FBI agent 'Robert Plant' and there never had been. This sent Will off trying to find who this person was and why he had turned up impersonating an FBI agent asking those strange questions.

At this point Bobby returned with the beer and tea, I was dying for a coffee but was avoiding caffeine whilst I was pregnant. Bobby handed us the drinks, moved some of the books off the sofa and asked us to sit down. At this point Bobby took up the story; he said that through his contacts he had heard that William Talbot was trying to track down an FBI agent 'Robert Plant'. Bobby knew that this was one of the names he used when investigating and he recognized Talbot from a case he had investigated years earlier to avoid red flags being thrown up, he called William Talbot and arranged to meet. Will and Bobby met and Bobby explained what had killed Will's parents, and about hunters. At first Will was unsure, however after Bobby showed him what he found out about his parents death Will started to believe.

Will took the chance at the natural break in the history to introduce Bobby and myself. As soon as Will started to explain who I was, Bobby's whole composure changed, it was though he appeared to crumble in on himself. Will picked up on this immediately and asked 'What's up?' Bobby said he wanted me to prove I was a Winchester, this was not entirely unexpected and I reached for my bag and my paperwork. Bobby looked it over quickly and said he wanted to validate everything, again not unexpected in order to give him a chance to run the paperwork we excused ourselves and left to stay at a local hotel. We 

said we would be back in a couple of days to give him the opportunity to check that I was in fact who I said I was.

We got to the hotel, about 30 minutes away, checked in and went out and found a really good local restaurant grabbed something to eat and went back to the hotel where we crashed out, it had been a long day after all. I woke up a couple of times in the night the twins were moving around more than usual and kept kicking my bladder, I was also starting to think that something major was about to happen but I didn't know what. We spent the following day, investigating Sioux County, South Dakota where Bobby's salvage yard was based.

After we left Bobby was on the phone to Sam and Dean asking them whether or not they had an Aunt Samantha. As the boys had both been so young last time we had met, and after their father had taken them on the road we were no longer in touch their response was "NO!" Bobby hung up and started to do the background checks that hunters do, he checked birth records, college transcripts, employment history, and security clearance. Two days later, Bobby phoned Sam and Dean back and told them that he thought that they should drop by the salvage yard as there was someone that they needed to meet, who had information about their father. He then phoned Will and told him that he had run all of his checks and that I had "checked out" as he phrased it and that we should drop by the salvage yard in a couple of days.


	5. The First Meeting

Whilst we were waiting to drop by Bobby's house, Will and I were doing some research of our own. I was looking into the Winchester family background and Will was researching the Talbots. We were trying to answer the questions that had been raised over the past 30 years for both of us.

Why was it that I families had been 'cursed' for want of a better word? What abilities did I have? Did I have any dormant abilities? My grandfather after all was precognitive and telekinetic, my precognition was apparent but was the telekinesis laying dormant or just not there. As I was having twins what would happen to them? Would the youngest one continue the pattern or would the abilities be passed to both of them? My earlier research had shown that this was the first set of twins in the Winchester line. Will needed to know why his parents had been targeted, as far as he could tell he didn't have any abilities. However, it was strange at times how we could look at each and know exactly what the other was thinking without having to say anything. Will told me that on more than one occasion this had happened on a case as well, he said he had been working with Tony and they would look at each other him and he would know what Tony was thinking.

We would take breaks to investigate the town, grab a meal and start researching the best possible items to fill a nursery with. We were making a list so that as soon as we returned to DC we could purchase the items and decorate the nursery, I now had a little less than 3 months to go. We both decided that we would need to demon proof the nursery but needed to do this as subtly as possible (a bright red devils trap on the ceiling might raise some questions with colleagues). We found a carpenter (also a hunter) who could make us a crib and he would add all the needed protections. We decided to lay a hardwood floor and make a devils' trap in lighter wood by the door and window and then cover this with rugs and lastly on each corner of the ceiling we would paint angels.

As we were packing up on one of our research sessions, and getting ready to go out and get something to eat, Bobby phoned and asked us to drop by the following day. He said it was important but wouldn't tell us anymore than that. My stomach flipped, would I finally to be getting some information about where John, Dean and Sam were? We headed out to eat but my heart really wasn't in it, Will looked across the table at me and said "Everything is going to be alright" in the calming way that he has. I knew immediately that he was right, that there was no reason to worry as I could not affect the outcome of the news.

We arrived at Bobby's at about 10 the following day, and as we pulled up I saw it. It was John's car, I couldn't believe he still had it my heart leapt into me throat and tears came to my eyes. I was going to see my brother after 25 years, I was going to be able to introduce him to my family and hopefully see my nephews again. As I walked past the car, it was still how I remembered it, sleek black and spotless, I laid my hand on the hood, and I was hit by the old memories of him driving me around Lawrence with Mary and Dean during my summer vacations. As I stood there with my hand on the hood, a voice came from the house "Hey lady, get your hand off my car", it wasn't Johns voice it was too young. A rush of 

thoughts flooded my brain. Why did John get rid of the car he loved it so much, whose car is this and why did Bobby want us back if John wasn't here. My knees went out from underneath me, and the next thing I remember was Will and Bobby leaning over me in his living room. I turn to Will who was fussing over me making sure that I was alright, that I was not hurt, and that the babies were ok, I took a sip from the glass of water he handed and then sat up.

As I look around the room, I see two men standing in the corner of the room, one who is looking slightly sheepish Will must have laid into him when I passed out. They step out of the corner, and as I get a better look at them I can see who they are without having to be told, they look so much like their mother and their father. I attempt to stand up and Will pushes me back down telling me I need to rest. I tell him I am fine, that I can rest later and that I need to do this now. Will helps me up, and I turn to the two men I have a lump in my throat is has been 25 years since I have seen either of them.

Bobby tells them that it is ok, that he has checked us both out we are not possessed and that Will is a hunter and that I am his wife. The men slowly step further into the room. The oldest one starts to apologize, I put my hand up and stop him saying "Dean, it's ok; I understand totally, you must love the car as must as your father does." He glances at the younger one and mouths 'what the f…, is going on', Sam mouths back 'I have no idea'. I realize at this point that Bobby has got them here but hasn't told them who we are. I move towards them and shortly I am standing in front of my nephews. I take in a deep breath, I know that this is going to be hard for me and them, and begin "my name is Samantha Winchester, and I'm your aunt". They look at the each other and then back at me and Dean states "That's a load of bull lady, we don't have an aunt." Bobby interrupts at this point as he can see that this is about to get heated. He tells the boys that it's true, I am Samantha Winchester that I arrived a few days ago, and that he has done all the usual and several other checks to verify me details.

Will and I tell Dean and Sam that we understand that they probably need sometime. That they will want to read through Bobby's research and verify this for themselves. We tell them that we are staying at a local hotel tell them Bobby has the number and that once they are happy that everything is ok and they want to talk some more to get Bobby to give us a call. I reluctantly left, as I knew nothing else was going to be accomplished now and until Dean and Sam were secure in the knowledge of who I was they wouldn't tell me anything about John.


	6. Should we or shouldn't we?

As Will and I drove away I looked in the rear view mirror hoping against hope that this wouldn't be the last time that I saw my nephews. I had so many unanswered questions about John and Dean and Sam could hopefully fill in the blanks. We arrived back at the hotel and waited for a call from them.

At the salvage yard, Dean and Sam turned to Bobby and started with the questions "What do you know old man?", "Who the hell is that?", "Where's the evidence?", "Are you sure it's true?" Bobby put his hand up and got them to sit down and started to explain what he found out. Bobby stated that he had verified all the paperwork that I had left with him. He past this over, both John and my birth certificates, John's and Mary wedding picture with me as a flower girl, my school transcripts, and the Winchester family tree. The more he said that he was able to verify the story, the more Dean and Sam started to calm down and their faces went from shock to calm to annoyance.

Dean turned to Sam stating "Dad and his secrets, I can understand why he hide the storage lock up from us, but why would he hide family?" Sam in turn turned to his brother and stated "I don't know Dean, but what do we do now? Do we ring her back and get to know her or do we follow Dad's lead and keep her shut out of our lives?" They seemed to be working themselves back up into a state.

So Bobby jumped in and said "You don't need to make any decisions this minute, take some time, do some research", he knew this was how Sam worked things through in his head, "fix a car", knowing that this is how Dean worked out his issues, "there isn't a shortness of cars that need to be repaired in the yard"."You can come back for dinner and decide at the end of the day, I'm sure that Samantha is not going anywhere and will totally understand that you need to take the time to process all of this."

Dean turned to Sam "Sounds like a plan" he declared and walked out the front door across the salvage to a Red and White '67 Chevy Impala that he had been fixing up on and off since he had turned 16, originally it was going to be his car, then when John gave him the Impala the plan changed. He decided to do the car up and give it to Sam. Once Sam had dropped out of Stanford and joined Dean back on the road this idea had been put on the back burner, but he still loved working on the car and knew at some point that he would give the car to Sam. He knew that his love of the car came from his father but he didn't know how much of a family tradition it truly was. He turned on a radio, picked up a wrench and started on the carburetor, this had been acting up last time he had turned on the car. As he started on the car, Dust in the Wind started on the radio and he slipped down the side of the car head and his hands and screamed out to no one in particular "Why Dad, Why do you keep doing this to me.."

In the house, Sam set up his laptop and started researching 'Samantha Winchester' he wanted to see if he could find out any more information. He knew how he felt; this was someone he needed to speak to. He had so little family and if someone could fill in some of the blanks for him then he needed to speak to them. He was also sure that Dean wouldn't want to speak to them, to find out anything about their family. This threw him into turmoil as he didn't want to go against his brother, every time that happened one or both of them suffered, he had been possessed, Dean had been kidnapped by Gordon and he had then been blown up and both of them had been shot up, but he really wanted to find out more about his family.

The evening drew in and Bobby shouted out at Dean to start clearing up as dinner was about to be served. Dean packed the tools away, turned the radio off and headed in; he went upstairs to the bathroom and washed up. As he walked downstairs he still wasn't sure what they would be doing. He thought that they should at least speak to this 'Samantha Winchester' and find out if she knew more about the family, he was concerned about Sam and his promise to both him and Dad. He didn't know if Sam would want to speak to her though, family could be a sensitive subject to him sometimes he wanted to know more and other times he just shut down. Which way was he swinging today? He walked into the kitchen and asked "What's cooking, Bobby". Bobby turned to him, handed him plates, knives, forks, spoons and as he went to hand him the glasses Sam walked in. He passed the glasses to Sam and Sam and Dean set the table for the three of them and they sat down and started to eat.

Following dinner they made their way outside with a beer each and Bobby broached the subject that had been hanging there all through dinner, but hadn't been mentioned 'Samantha Winchester'. "So boys, what are you going to do?" Sam and Dean answered at the same time "I think that we should get her back here, so we can ask her some questions" they then turned to each other "You do". Bobby laughed it was uncanny he thought how they could do that, at times they were so synched that if you didn't know better you could swear that they were reading each other thoughts. Sam started "I need to know what she knows about Dad and Mum, she has memories from when they were young, before he started down this track, you have those memories to Dean but I don't and really need to know about Dad before demons and other supernatural things came crashing into our lives." Dean continued "I know and I need to know what she knows about the supernatural? She is married to a hunter after all." "That seals it then" Bobby said "I'll call them and get them back here in the morning, 10am ok for the both of you?"

It was about 10pm when the phone rang in the hotel; Will answered it in a hushed voice as I had just drifted off. Bobby told him the news and Will said we would be back in the morning. He gently nudged me awake and told me that Sam and Dean had made a decision that they wanted to talk to me and that we should swing by Bobby's around 10am tomorrow. I leaned up and kissed him, he put his hand to my stomach and the twins moved around they knew that I was happy and so it would seem were they, I was going to get my answers and my family was growing again.


	7. My Family

I woke early the following morning with butterflies in my stomach this was the day that I had been hoping for, for the last 20 years just after John had walked out of my life and took my nephews with him. I had to deal with my parents' deaths on my own, the wills and the disappointment from my father when I didn't join the family business but went into law enforcement instead. My mother's disappointment that I hadn't married and had children before she died, all of these things are much easier to deal with if you have someone you can talk to around you and this had been John. Even though there was a large age gap, we could always talk about things. He would tell me about things that had happened to him during the war, his relationship with Mary and how he was frightened that he wouldn't be a good father. I told him that he would be a great dad; he had been like a father to me more so than my own dad. My father was cold and distant at times and very rarely around spending lots of time at the office or on trips for business.

After Will woke up, we went and had breakfast, he could tell I was nervous and he leaned over grabbed both my hands in his raised them to his lips kissed them and said "You know how much I love you, that whatever happens today our family is going to be great, the kids will be loved and they will know who they are, who their family is and what they have done to keep the world safe." I leant across the table drew his face to mine and kissed him deeply, he always knew what I needed to hear and how to make me feel safe and I loved him for that. After we finished breakfast we headed back to the hotel room where I collected some of the old family pictures as I wanted to be able to show Dean and Sam their family and we left for Bobby's salvage yard.

As we pulled up in the yard, Dean was out front leaning against the Impala and my stomach flipped thrice, once with butterflies and then the babies reacting to the butterflies. I couldn't get over the fact that Johns' car was in front of me and I could reach out and touch it. I needed to know where my brother was and what had caused him to give away his pride and joy; I just hoped it wasn't for the reason I that come to my mind. He had once told me when I asked if I could have the car that the only way I would get the car, "was over my dead body". Will and I got out of the SUV, and I slowly approached Dean and put my hand out hoping that I would get a better reaction than two days ago, he stared and me but took me hand in his and shook it. With that we headed inside.

We were greeted at the door by Bobby and Sam, Bobby offered us a drink. We moved into the living room and sat down drinking our drinks in an awkward silence. No one knew who should start or even how to start the conversation. Eventually I reached into my bag and pulled out the photo album I had brought with me and asked Sam and Dean if they wanted to see pictures of John when he was young. The album covered John's life from the beginning to the last time I had seen him at the hospital when Sam was born. Sam took the album and a smile came across his face, I could tell how much he wanted to see these pictures it was as though he had never seen pictures of when his father and mother 

were young. Dean was slightly more apprehensive but they sat next to each other flipping through the album and every now and then would look up at me and ask a question about who was in the photo. As they were viewing the pictures I could see so much of John and Mary in the boys, my heart was filled with joy. A hand touched mine and I looked up and Will was smiling at me, "I know our kids will have your kind eyes and my smile" he said to me and I smiled back at me "I hope so" I replied.

When the boys reached the last picture in the album they both looked up and said "is this it?" I took the album back and knew that the hard part of the conversation was about to start. "Yes that's the last photo that I have. It was the last time I saw John. I was on my annual visit to John and Mary's, when Mary went into the hospital to have Sam. Whilst John was with Mary in the delivery room I stayed in the waiting room keeping Dean occupied." Sam looked at Dean who shrugged his shoulders and said "I was four dude, I don't remember anything". I continued telling them what I remembered about the day that Sam was born how much he weighed and how long he was. This caused Sam to move uncomfortably in his chair and Dean to smirk slightly. I turned to Dean and said "I was there the day you were born as well", and told them his height and weight which caused the reverse reaction.

By the time we had finished looking through the album it was lunchtime and we all headed for the kitchen were Bobby had prepared lunch for everyone and we sat down to eat. As we eat a leisurely lunch, the twins were moving around a lot and I couldn't work out what was either upsetting them or making them happy, I hadn't worked out how their movements changed according to mood yet. I excused myself from the table telling everyone that I needed to take a walk. I left the men at the table and went outside as I spotted the Impala, and walked slowly towards it I had sudden rush of emotions. It was though I had started to pick up on what the twins were feeling, at first this was unsettling and I started to feel dizzy and reached out to steady myself. The next thing I knew was Will's arms were around me, and I was leaning against the Impala. This time there was no "lady get your hands off my car", instead there was "are you alright, do you need anything, we need to get you inside". We started back towards Bobby's; on one side I had Will and one the other Dean who were both keeping me upright and steady. I don't know what had brought Will and Dean outside but at that moment I was just glad to see them.

We stepped into the house and I moved to the sofa and sat down, Bobby appeared with a glass of water and Sam brought in a damp flannel, which he put around the back of my neck. They all stood over me with concern on their faces. I turned my face to each of them in turn and said "I'm ok, just a lot of emotions all at once and the twins were dancing up a storm". Sam and Dean turned back and said "do you want to take a break; we have time we can get together again tomorrow and pick up from there". I turned to them and said "No, I'm ok. Give me a couple of minutes I just need to get the twins settled again, I'm not sure what set them off". I sat there quietly watching the concern on Sam and Dean's faces and saw John during Mary's pregnancy, it was amazing how like their dad they were, I just hoped that my children would be like that with their dad. The twins settled right down, and my emotions leveled off I no longer felt all the emotions coursing through them, this was something new and I would need to look into it but not now.

As I was feeling more like myself and the twins were now calm, I asked Sam and Dean if they had any questions about anything they had seen in the album or in general. Sam started by asking "Where have you been and why didn't Dad tell us about you?" I responded "Well, I'm not sure why your Dad didn't tell you about his family. We had a falling out when you were about 5 months old Sam, I phoned your Dad to tell him about a vision I had had of Mary on the ceiling with blood dripping from her stomach and him leaning over your crib." As I was talking about my vision, Sam turned to Dean, his face dropped, and he stood up and started pacing saying "He knew, he always knew, why didn't he stop it" Dean turned to Sam and said "He didn't believe, any more than I believed you when you first told me, I told you it was a nightmare, that's probably what he thought". They were having the discussion as though Will and I weren't in the room. I looked at Will and we both whispered, another youngest Winchester with a gift.

I interrupted the boys as I could see from the body language that this was about to get very vocal. "Sam, Dean's right, John thought that they were just nightmares. He didn't know about our family's history. The youngest member in each generation of the Winchester clan has a gift. I have visions and have had them since the age of 14, my uncle John's younger brother was telekinetic (could move things with his mind), and my grandfather was both."

This made Sam's eyes go even wider and he exclaimed "That explains so much" we all looked at him in puzzlement and he proceeded to tell us about what the demon had said to him whilst he was trapped in Cold Oak, "I am looking for the best & brightest of your generation, that there were other generations, let's just focus on yours at the moment" and how at the time he had tried to get the demon to tell him what he meant but how he was also focusing on trying to find a way get out of there alive. Dean in turn said "What the hell, dude, when I asked you after if he told you anything else, you told me no. You didn't think that I needed to know this? That this wasn't important, that maybe we could have used that information for research purposes." Sam looked back at this brother slightly forlornly and whispered "I didn't know how to tell you, it turns out that it was my fault that Mum died after all, I couldn't bear for you to look at me with disgust." Dean pulled Sam towards him, grasped his face between his hands and said "How could, you think that, that I would ever blame you for Mum's death. This is not your fault; it has never been your fault" The boys were both deep in their own thoughts and had obviously forgotten where they were and who they were with.

Will and I left as we were both starting to feel uncomfortable at being here during a deeply personal moment between Sam and Dean. On the way out we turned to Bobby and said "let the boys know that I am sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories or cause problems between them. That we will be at the hotel and if they want to get in touch again you've got the number." Will and I left the salvage yard, and I looked into the rear view mirror hoping that this wasn't the last time I would see the boys, they had found out some of their history but I still had unanswered questions. We arrived back at the hotel and I started to feel unsettled again, and the twins were moving around a lot again. I really needed to work out why all of a sudden at 6 months I was picking up the twins emotions, it hadn't happened before and as far as I was aware this wasn't one of the Winchester gifts..


	8. Another Day in Sioux Falls

As it was still early Will and I decided to walk around town, I was hoping that this would calm the twins down and also help me work through the thoughts flooding my brain. AS Will and I walked through town hand in hand I instantly found myself comforted, this was the pattern whenever I had my hand in Will's hand it comforted me and after we had found out I was pregnant, it had also calmed the twins down. Will and I didn't have a direction in our heads as we walked we realized we had been walking around just enjoying each other's company for just over an hour and that it was close to dinner time.

We started to head back towards the hotel, and stopped off at one of the local restaurants that did incredible food. As we sat waiting for our order to arrive Will turned to me and said "What's been upsetting you all day, and before you say nothing I know something is not right with you". I took hold of his hands across the table and replied "I'm not sure, things are happening but I don't know how to explain them to you." He raised my hands up to his lips kissed them and said "You know that you can tell me anything and I won't think you are crazy. You know that I love you, the twins and will do so no matter what happens now or in the future." Our food arrived and as we ate our meal I tried to explain to Will what had been going on over the last couple of days.

I told him that at lunch today the twins had been kicking up a storm and that I thought the best thing would be take a walk and calm them down as this always worked in the past and this was why I had left the house. That as I stepped off the porch and I had seen the Impala I was flooded with the memories of John & I in the car, John and Mary and finally John, Mary and the boys coming back from the hospital to the house in Lawrence. The emotions that these memories brought up seemed to be escalated threefold, it was as though the twins were picking up on my emotions and feeding into them as well and at this point I had found it all so overwhelming I had almost passed out and this was when you and Dean had found me. As I came to in the living room I had tried to work out what had brought you both outside at that exact moment that I needed you. I told him that the connection with the twins had gotten stronger over the last couple of days since we had been in South Dakota and I was starting to get the answers I had been looking for.

Will responded "I came outside as I heard a young female voice in my head telling me that you were in trouble and that you needed me that I needed to bring someone else with me as I would need the help to bring you back inside." Will continued "I don't know whose voice it was just that the urgency of the voice meant that I got up from the table and asked someone to come with me as you were in trouble", Dean got up and told Sam to grab a cloth and the first aid just in case and asked Bobby to grab a drink as well. We looked at each other, not with concern as most people would do in this situation but with slight bemusement, we did after all know about the Supernatural, so this would be yet another thing that we would need to add to our lists of items to research for the Winchester / Talbot family trees.

We had finished our main meals and ordered drinks and desert and continued our discussion on our new family and our ever expanding abilities. Every time we seemed to an answer more questions came up. We had discovered that the youngest member in each generation of the Winchester clan possessed some kind of mental ability, but we didn't know how having twins would affect this, was the way my emotions were being affected another ability, did both of the twins have the ability or only one, why did Will hear a young female voice and who was she. We discussed it and agreed that we needed to speak 

to Dean and Sam again to see if they knew anything about the abilities especially after Sam's comment about Cold Oak.

After we finished our meal we headed back to the hotel, by this time the twins were calm and so was I. As we walked back we discussed what we knew and what we thought might be happening, we knew that I had visions and by the sound of it so did Sam, that it may be possible that Will had a latent ability, possibly telepathy and empathy and that he too was being affected by the twins. In order to confirm Will's abilities and where they were coming from then we agreed that we needed to learn more about his family's history and Bobby could definitely help us with that. We decided with the birth of the twins approaching we needed to know the potential abilities that they may have.

When we got back to our hotel the light was flashing on the phone, I hit the voice mail button and there was a message from Sam "If it is no trouble could you both stop back at Bobby's in the morning as Dean and I wanted to talk with you some more about Mum & Dad" the message ended and I hit the play button again, I couldn't quite believe it they actually wanted to see us again I had convinced myself that after the heated discussion at the end of our second meeting that they would decide to follow their father and cut me out of their lives.

At 10am the following day we were again pulling into Singer Autos Salvage Yard to meet with Bobby and the boys and to discuss the Winchester family. I was feeling calm and so were the twins I just hoped that I could keep our emotions under control that whatever I was presented with I could hold it together because I wasn't sure if I could deal with another episode like yesterday. As we opened the car doors Dean stepped out from behind a red and white impala, what is it about impala's and the Winchester's it would appear that we really do have a love of the cars; he approached wiping his hands on a rolled down set of overalls and said "Hi, Aunt Samantha" that seemed so weird to me, firstly that someone was calling me Aunt and secondly calling me Samantha. I hadn't been Samantha in such a long time, most people I knew called me Sam, and the only time I was called Samantha I knew I was in trouble. I replied "Hi, Dean just call me Sam". He looked at me quizzically and said "this could get confusing really quickly" and it suddenly registered that during our discussions there would be two Sam's in the room and could get confusing as to who was being expected to answer the question. I replied "call me Toni, my middle name is Antoinette", "Ok, Aunt Toni" Dean replied lets go in, I'll get cleaned up and we can continue our conversation from yesterday. As the door opened to the house I turned to Dean and said "You don't need the Aunt, Toni is just fine" at that moment Sam walked past and looked at the pair of us perplexed, I told Dean that I would fill Sam in whilst he went and cleaned up.

I told Sam about the agreement to call me Toni, to avoid any confusion whilst we were together and that as they were both old enough I didn't think that they needed to call me Aunt. As I was explaining the origin of the name, Dean walked back into the room. I explained that this was in honor of his great grandmother's, she was Antoinette Dubois who had been born in a small town on the outskirts of Richmond, Virginia and was descended from a group of Huguenot immigrants who settled in what is now Powhatan County. Sam seemed fascinated that I had researched the family back that far I told him if he wanted I would give him the family trees and the research that I had done on the Winchester family tree. He said that he would like that and I went out to my car to grab my laptop and cables to link 

my laptop to his. We turned on our computers and Dean, Will and Bobby looked at us and almost in unison said "Geeks of the world unite", Sam and I turned to them and said "Yeah, they do" we very quickly transferred the family tree files from my PC to his PC. At least now there would be someone else who could help me work up the family history if we took a branch each, maybe we could get it done quicker.

Bobby, Dean and Will brought in a tray of drinks and selection of snacks (peanut brittle, chocolate chip, macadamia nut cookies, brownie squares and doughnuts) so we all settled down to start up where we had left off yesterday. Before we began I turned to Dean and Sam and said "I need to know you've not mentioned John once, you are driving his Impala, where is he, what's happened to him". Will leant over, put his hand on my stomach and pulled my face around to his and said in a whisper "stay calm, remember the twins are picking up on your emotions" this calmed me down. I replied "I need you now, can you sit beside me and make sure that you we stay calm". As I turned back to the boys I noticed that their faces had dropped, Dean started and Sam was sat next to him mirroring Will's attitude with me and Bobby was behind him with his hand on his shoulder, I suddenly knew that this was going to be bad.

Dean started "I don't know how to say this other than to just come straight out and say it. Dad is dead; he died in November 2006, he was killed by the same demon that killed our Mom." Dean took a deep intake of breath and Sam picked up from there "He made a deal with the yellow eyed demon to save Dean, the yellow eyed demon is the one who killed Mum, this demon is now dead Dean killed him a year ago at the Devil's gate in Wyoming". Although I had known deep down that this was the case what with the Impala sitting outside it was still a shock but my emotions were staying calm. Dean picked up on what I had been thinking and said "No, I've had the car since I passed my driving test and Dad realized that he needed more room for the weapons, said it was a family tradition, and brought himself a truck." I said "Yes, it is a family tradition, your great granddad set up the tradition that whenever a Winchester passed their driving test they got a car. Your dad picked the Impala, and when I passed my test I got one as well, it reminded me of all the good times I had with your Dad. I was surprised he had passed it on that was all as he told me he would never part with the car."

I asked but knew the answer "Where is he buried?" Dean replied he's not buried anywhere, he was cremated, and Sam said "We took his dog tags and put them with Mum in Lawrence". Dean turned to him and said "They are?" Sam said "Yes, it seemed like the right thing to do" Both boys turned to me and said as one "Toni are you ok?" I turned to them and replied "Am I ok, are you two ok? How are you dealing with all of this? I can only imagine how hard this must have been for you on your own. Dean if you are anything like your father, and from what I've seen so far you are then you must have been feeling like this was your fault. I can tell you from knowing your father that this is not your fault that he wouldn't want you blaming yourself and that if he had to he would do it again. I also know that as a parent you do anything to keep your kids safe, and before you say it making a deal with a demon is extreme but if you know about the supernatural and you can use it, then making the deal is a no brainer" As I was talking looks were being exchanged between Dean, Sam and Bobby I thought that I need to get at the bottom of that later but now I turned to the boys and said what else do you want to know..


	9. A family starts to come together

Whilst we had been talking the full implications of what the boys had told me hadn't had the chance to really sink in. During a break in the conversation, Bobby and Sam went to get everyone a drink and Dean and Will started to talk about hunting and the monsters that they had tangled with. As the room became suddenly quiet I felt the need to get out and getting some fresh air. , I was finding it hard to breathe, I had lost my brother, and he wasn't coming back this time. I made my way outside and sat on the porch swing. I sat there swinging slowly, rubbing my stomach and thinking about what I had lost. As I was sat there I noticed that my cheek was getting damp, I looked into the sky expecting to see rain but the sky was clear and I realized that I had started to cry and soon I was sobbing so hard that I was having a hard time catching my breath. I started to scream at the heavens "How could you do this to your sons? How could you leave them alone fighting this fight?"

I had told Dean I understood but he wasn't here now and I was angry at John, had he realized the damage and the pain he would cause doing what he did. I then yelled at the heavens "How could you do this to me, you left me with Dad and Mum, you cut off communications with me for over 20 years, what did I do to deserve that, you cut me out of my nephews lives, you never got to meet my husband a great man who loves me, you never got the discover the family secret, and you blamed me for Mary's death I was 16 years old how could you think that I was linked to that". As I was yelling I was getting angrier and angrier at John, the tears dried up and suddenly from the pit of my stomach I could feel the anger boiling up and as it reached its peak the windshields in some of the cars in the salvage yard exploded. I turned around and found Dean and Will looking at me in astonishment and concern.

Will said "Bobby's back with the drinks and after that display I really think that you need a drink and so do we". We made our way back to Bobby's living room and began to drink in quiet Sam picked up the obvious tension and asked "What's going on". I said "I was a bit upset by the news and had to go outside for some air and to vent". Dean jumped in with "A bit upset, what happens when you are very upset, and why did Dad blamed you for Mum's death?" As Dean was talking Will was moving himself into the space between Dean and me and he turned to Dean and said "Back the hell off. You don't know what you are talking about. You've had a year to deal with the news of Johns' death, your aunt has had 20 minutes, so if she needs to vent at your Dad then she will vent at your Dad. Bobby by the way we owe you half a dozen windscreens, sorry about that". Bobby looked at Will in response and said "Don't worry about it, there all Junkers and only used for spare parts so windscreens are not important."

As the tension was growing in the room I could feel a pressure in my head building. It was the same feeling as I had just before all the windscreens went bang and I knew I couldn't let that happen in her, so I started to hum (Stairway to Heaven) in the hopes that it would calm me down. Everyone in the room turned to look at me and in unison said "Led Zepplin" I said "Yes, it calms me down. It's a trick John taught me and this was the song he used to use." Dean said "I know, he taught me the same trick. Remember Sam I told you about it on the flight from hell" Sam and Dean exchanged a knowing glance and turned to me and said "We'll tell you about it someday".

Will stepped away from Dean and came and sat next to me on the couch and said "Are you sure you're ok, you got quite a shock today. I know you really hoped he was still alive." As he was talking to me in the quiet manner that he has I was becoming calmer and so were the twins. I said "Yes, I'm fine. It was a shock to find out about John and I hadn't really prepared myself as well as I thought I had, but I'll be fine. As to the other thing that's new and I'm not sure how I feel about that, the visions I can deal with but being telekinetic is a whole new ball game. I'm wondering however whether it's my power or the babies. Do you think it's possible that one of them is empathic and the other is telekinetic? You know I have been picking up on their emotions over the last month and that may explain what happened outside."

I could see from the corner of my eye Dean, Sam and Bobby looking at each and mouthing "What the hell is going on?" I turned to them and told them that they all needed to sit down as I had something to tell them, Will took my hands in his and asked me "Are you sure you want to do this?". I said "They have a right to know, it's their family too". Dean, Sam and Bobby sat down and I began to tell them what I knew about the Winchester history. How the youngest in every generation was named Sam or a variation thereof 'Samuel' and 'Samantha' and that yes they were related to those Winchesters and had an inheritance coming to them of close to 5 million each. I assumed that as John had not told the boys of my existence and as Dad had cut him off then he hadn't told him about his parents either. I told them about my parents and the huge argument that Dad and John had had when John wanted to do things his own way. Dean looked at Sam and said "I told you, you two were more alike than you ever wanted to admit".

I reminded them of the conversation that we had during our first visit about the last time I had spoken to their father, but included everything that I hadn't told them last time. I told them how after Mary had died John had phoned me and asked me "Why did you do it, why did you hurt Mary, I thought that you loved her. " I told them that I had pleaded and begged him and tried to explain to him that I had nothing to do with Mary's death, but either he didn't believe me or he needed someone to blame and at that time I was as good as anyone. Both of the boys jumped in "It wasn't your fault and I am sure as soon as he spoke to Missouri he realized it to but the stubborn son of a bitch wouldn't know how to apologize. He probably thought that he had done too much damage for you to ever forgive him. He may also have thought when he knew about the demon that he was keeping you safe, he was really great a keeping things secret to keep people safe." I asked "Missouri, who's Missouri", Sam replied "She's a psychic that Dad met in Lawrence shortly after Mum died. She told Dad about what's really out there and put him on the path to find the demon that killed Mum. "

We had been talking for about an hour and I asked Bobby if I could get another mug of tea and asked the boys if we could take a break from the family history for a couple of minutes. The boys said "No problem" and headed into the kitchen with Bobby. I needed to get my head straight after the last revelation. John had know all this time that I wasn't involved, he knew what had killed Mary and he hadn't bothered to ring me and tell me he was sorry. I could feel the anger growing again and I then felt a hand reach for me and I started to calm again. Bobby and the boys came back in with the drinks, I took my tea and as I slowly started to drink it I was getting calmer and calmer. It was strange 

even after all this time how my big brother could get to me as though I was a teenager who needed his love and approval.

I started to tell the boys what I had found out when I researched the family tree, how the youngest Winchester in each generation had inherited a gift and that I was unsure what this meant for the twins. That in the whole Winchester history there had never been a set of twins born to the youngest in a generation. Sam almost leapt up with glee, he could see the potential for research and a wide smile brightened up his face, this was something he could do to help. His smile reminded me so much of John at that age, how one smile from him and I could feel everything would be ok. I could see so much of John in both of his boys, I wonder if they knew how alike they really were.

We also discussed what I had found out about Mary's side of the family and the links to the Colt. How she and Pastor Jim were related and how the oldest male in her family had all been hunters so with or without her death, Dean was destined to be a hunter. What was not destined was for Sam and John to join the group as well. Dean should have received the Colt on his 18th birthday and along with it the ability to create bullets for it. The Colt however had disappeared many years ago along with the ability to create the bullets. Dean came back with "We have it we have the colt however all the bullets are gone. Bobby has been trying to get it working again."

Sam and Dean sat there in quiet and shock, I could sense the thoughts being passed between them. How did we not know any of this, why didn't Dad ever tell us and why was Mum targeted, was it my fault. I looked Sam square in the face and said "It was never your fault, anymore than it was my fault. Whatever that thing told you, you are not too blame for anything, Your Mum's death, Jess's death or your Dad's death and that goes for you to Dean. Your Dad was probably so focused on the demon that killed your Mum he didn't research her family, I mean why, would he think it was important. I did it to try and find him; I was trying to see if there were any relations he would go to after Mary's death. I contacted Jim Murphy and explained who I was and once he had done the checks he told me he knew John Winchester and that he would pass on my contact details and get John to get in touch. He never did. As to our family history, I was just coming into my powers when he left and it was then that our parents told me what was happening, if he had been around he would have been told. I was also told how to control them, this gives me the ability to manage the pain when a vision strikes and also to call one when required.

As I was saying this I looked at Sam and as in unison we both reached for our heads, I could tell from my experience what was affecting him. He hadn't been shown how to manage the visions and the pain. I would need to sit down with him and show him the exercises my uncle had shown me to control the visions and manage the pain. As I was clearing all thoughts from my head to focus on the vision as I had been taught, I got a clear picture of Sam laid out on a bed in what come across as an old town from a western TV series and Dean sitting in a chair talking to his non moving brother in complete agony. He got up kicked a chair and left the house, got into the Impala and drove to the nearest crossroads where he summoned a demon and made a pact with him. The next thing I was back in the room with Sam, who was looking at his back and Dean came into the room and grabbed him into a hug. After this the vision broke and I was back at Bobby's looking at my nephews 

wondering if this had already happened or did I need to stop this from happening. Then I remembered something that I had seen in the vision as Dean was leaving the town, it was a bell with an old oak tree on it. This was Cold Oak, North Dakota and I recalled the conversation when Sam had mentioned Cold Oak and what the demon had told him. This had already happened, why was I seeing something that had already happened and had Sam seen the same thing. Had he felt the pain his brother was in that forced him to the crossroads? Was the deal the reason for the tension between the two boys? Sam turned to me and said "Yes, it did" and he then turned to Dean and said "I get it now, I may not have got it before but I get it now, I get why you did what you did. I still don't like it but I get it now."

I looked at Sam and said "we need to talk some more, but I need to go and rest now. If you boys and Bobby don't mind we will swing back tomorrow and we can talk some more." Sam looked up worried, do the visions really take that much out of you when you control them, I said "No, being pregnant takes that much out me". He replied you are definitely a Winchester, you've got the snark down completely".

Will and I left Bobby's with a plan to return the following day at 10am, Will would talk to Bobby and Dean about hunts they had been on and I could talk to Sam about controlling his visions. We also said that we would need to do some more research into old 'Yellow Eyes' as Dean referred to him and his links to Lilith if any.


	10. The lessons begin

When Will and I arrived at the salvage yard the following day, Bobby and Sam were sitting on the porch reading and drinking coffee and Dean was taking the opportunity to give his baby a good once over. We walked up to porch and greeted everyone whilst Bobby offered us a drink Sam went and checked with Dean if he wanted a drink, Dean told him a coffee would be great and that he it would be another hour before he was finished working on the car. Sam said that would be okay as Will and Bobby were going to catch up, and that he and I would be sitting down talking about family stuff and ways to manage his visions.

As the weather was so good, we all decided that we would take the opportunity to sit outside in the sunshine. Whilst Sam and I sat on one side of the porch, Will and Bobby made themselves comfortable on the other side. Bobby and Will were taking a trip down memory lane and discussing old hunts and looking through some of Bobby's texts.

Sam and I sat in an awkward silence for a couple of minutes trying to work out how to approach what we both knew would be a difficult subject. Sam started to fidget in his seat so I reached over put my hands on top of his and said as soothingly as I could manage "it's going to be alright, I know that this is scary but we will get through this together the way family does, and we are family". Sam looked at me and replied "I know, it's just that it's only in the last two years that anyone has known about my visions and I thought that they were demonic and so as far as they are concerned I have not wanted to look any deeper."

I looked him straight in the eyes and told him "It's going to be alright, our powers are not based in good or evil, it's what you do with them that make them that way and from what I know about your father and therefore you and your brother you would only use these powers for good. You have been hunting evil and from what I heard about Cold Oak, you chose not to kill Jake and lost your life instead. That's definitely coming down on the side of good."

Sam responded "I know, but the demon showed me something in Cold Oak and I am not totally sure what's true anymore." As Sam said this Dean stepped onto the porch, and said "what are you talking about Sam, when we spoke in Cold Oak you never said anything to me about any of this." Sam looked sheepishly at his brother and said "I didn't know how to tell you what he had shown me and then what he told me. After what Dad told you and the events in Minnesota I didn't want to add to your stress and we already had other issues to deal with." Dean said "this isn't over but you need to talk to Toni and I need to wash up. Do either of you want anything whilst I'm in the house." I had a tea, Sam went for a coffee and Dean went to check with Bobby and Will and disappeared into the house to clean up and get the drinks.

I looked at Sam and said "are you ready to start or do you want to clear this up with Dean first." Sam replied "No it's ok we should continue. I can speak to Dean later when you've gone." "Ok, let's get started then" We started talking about the family history and how I had been told about the Winchester gift by my father. That we came from a long line of powerful and exceptional people and that I could show him how to manage the pain that the visions bring and how I was able to tap into my visions on demand and how with some help he might be able to do the same thing. That ultimately the powers that we had were not good or evil only what we decided to do with them. How that at any one time across the world a percentage of the population possessed 

some kind of psychic ability. That the Winchesters seemed to have this focused in their bloodline but that this was not necessarily a bad thing.

I explained to Sam that as I came into my gifts I had been scared, and my Dad sent me to spend time with my Uncle Samson who also had the gift and that he could help me as my powers emerged. Uncle Samson or Son as he was referred to by the family told me how he had learnt to control his powers that his Uncle had taught him the same way he was teaching me and that I would be responsible for teaching John's youngest child. I told Son about my dream and John's reaction and how he had now disappeared. Son told me that "Don't worry Toni, I'm sure he and the boys are fine and will be fine for many years to come." Son and I started the lessons, they started with learning how to control the pain, and this was to not fight the visions when they hit but to go with it. Son didn't have visions himself but he had learnt the same lessons for his telekinesis and to stop the pain associated with moving things. I learnt that if I allowed a vision to open up and didn't fight it there was no pain and I was actually able to delve deeper into the vision and keep the vision open for longer. This meant that I could find out more information which would steer me in the direction where I would be able to help people.

I turned to Sam and said "are you sure that you are ready to learn what Son taught me, or do you want to take a break and go clear things up with Dean?" Sam said "No, I'm ready. Anything that will mean that I'm not in pain when a vision hits, I haven't told Dean but the pain is getting unbearable and it is taking longer and longer to get over." Right easy start, what do you feel when a vision is coming? He told me It's like a really bad headache, the pain builds behind my right eye and slowly rolls backwards and across my head, could be compared to the start of a migraine. I said okay, do you have this pain at any other time or just when a vision is starting. "No" Sam said only when a vision is coming, "Great I said" and Sam looked at me with bewilderment, "That's not quite how I meant it, but if this is unique identifier then we can set up ways of working with the trigger. When you feel a vision starting sit down breathe slowly in and out and clear your mind of any other thoughts, I know that's easier said than done but it really works. As we were sitting there talking I could tell from the change in Sam's demeanor that something was starting. I looked him squarely in the eyes and said remember what I told "Breathe". Sam started breathing slowly and I held his hand and said "Clear your mind and let the vision come, don't fight it", close your eyes empty your mind, remember don't fight what you are seeing.

As this was happening Dean came back with the drinks and as he approached Sam he could tell what was happening, he started to rush towards his brother. I got up and got between the boys, took hold of Dean and told him calmly everything is alright, he needs to breathe and clear his mind of all thoughts, if he hears you it will bring him back to the present and thoughts will rush in and the pain will start. Dean looked at me, not totally convinced and "I told him, this has been working for me for the past 20 years" he relented a little didn't leave Sam's side but didn't open his mouth. Slowly Sam came out of his latest vision and looked between Dean and I, I asked him how he was feeling and he said "Ok", Dean turned to him and said "Tell me the truth, how are you really feeling, no lying, no hiding information from me because you think I can't handle it or you think it will stress me out". Sam turned back to him and said "I'm really ok, the information that Toni gave me totally helped, my head isn't pounding as it usually does and I am 

much clearer on what I could see." Both boys looked at me and smiled, Sam got up from where he was sitting and came and gave me a huge hug whilst Dean put down the mugs of drink and came up and took my hand in his and said "Thanks for that".

Sam called Bobby and Will over and told everyone that we needed to go inside and he would tell us what he saw.


	11. The Vision

I References to season 2/ 3 finales, if you haven't seen them don't read on./I

We all walked into the house and took seats in the living room. Dean stood beside Sam looking very concerned and resting his hand on Sam's shoulder. Sam looked at Dean and said "Everything is OK; there is less pain than normal. The lesson appeared to have worked. I'm sure with more time and lessons the pain will go away completely. So stop worrying about me." Dean could tell from the look in Sam's eyes that something was really up and said "It's my job, I am never got stop worrying about you," and to lighten the mood threw in "Bitch." Sam replied in their normal banter "Jerk".

Sam started looking around the room at each one of us in turn, I suppose you want to know why I called you all inside. As one we turned back to Sam and said "If you are ready to tell us". Sam grabbed a six pack and a glass of juice from the fridge and handed them out and said "Ok then let's start. He looked at Dean with concern in his eyes and said "I know who holds the contract and I think that I know where they are." Dean looked at him with hope in his eyes; this suddenly disappeared as he realized that there had been a break in Sam's voice as he said this. "What is it Sam, this is good news isn't. If we know who holds the deal, then we can take them out and break the deal." Sam took a deep breath looked at Dean, then at everyone in turn around the room ending with me. "Sam" I said "what is it, you need to tell us everything you saw so that we can work out what we need to do." As Sam went to say something the breath he was holding caught in his throat, and his eyes started to fill with tears. I took his hands in mine and said "It's going to be alright, you need to let us help you."

Sam said in a low voice "If we go after this thing, then you all die, I saw it. One by one, you all die and I'm left alone with the twins. We don't get to the thing until it's too late for Dean and the hell hounds take him to hell and it's all my fault." At this Dean moved towards his brother took hold of his shoulders turned him to face and said "When will you get this into your head, this isn't your fault. I knew what I was doing when I made the deal and I will never regret it." Sam retorted "I know but if I had killed Jack when I had the chance he wouldn't have been able to kill me and you wouldn't have had to make the deal" Dean took a step back as Sam's words hit him; he hadn't realized that Sam had been thinking that. "Listen to me, you didn't kill Jake until there was no choice and other people lives were in danger. It's not in your nature to kill someone. You only took him out at the Devils Trap when was no longer human and had threatened Ellen after all, and then proceeded to let Hell lose. I don't blame you for being who you are, who do you think kept me in check all this time. Why do you think that the demons try and keep us apart we are two sides of the same coin. The Yin and Yang so to speak." At this point he clipped the back of Sam's head and said "Now look what you made me do, total chick flick moment and you know I don't do chick flick moments" A small laugh left Sam at this and the tension that had been building in the room dissipated.

"Right then" Bobby pitched in "Who holds Dean's contract and what did you see?" Sam took a long swig from his bottle of beer and started to tell us everything he had seen. "Bobby, Dean and I are camped out in a cabin somewhere in the woods. Dean is reading and Bobby tells us he has found a way to find Lilith." At the mention of Lilith's name I felt the blood drain from my face, Will grasped my hands and told me "It's going to be alright Toni. We always knew that she might be back and that we may need to deal with her. Between the four of us we will make sure that she doesn't get her hands on 

the twins." I looked Will square in the eyes and said "You mean five of us don't you." Will said "No, I said four and meant four, you and the twins are sitting this one out. I will not let you put yourself in danger." "You won't let me! I am old enough to make those decisions for myself. These are my children too and if I need to do something to keep them away from her then I will."

As Will and I were having our heated conversation, Dean was tensing up and mumbling under his breath "What have I done? What have I brought down on the Winchesters?" I could hear the words clearly in my head, stood up and walked towards him, clasped his hands in mine looked him straight in the eyes and told him "You did the only thing that you could do with the information that you had at the time, you saved your brother. You didn't bring anything down on the Winchesters that wasn't already after us. With the family history we were always going to be a target. What we have to do now is work out how to get you out of this deal and take down Lilith."

We turned back to Sam apologized for the interruption and asked him to continue what he could remember from his vision. Bobby starts to scry for Lilith and the pointer of the device comes to rest on top of the name of a town. I can't see the name of the town. Dean starts to say that we aren't going to go after Lilith as we have no proof that she holds the contract. The vision then jumps to the basement and me calling Ruby and Dean and Ruby getting into a fight and he grabs her knife from her. Then we are outside houses in a suburb, Bobby drops up a rosary into the sprinkler system and sets it off. This holds back groups of what I can only assume are demons as they start screaming when the water hits them. Dean, Ruby and I enter one of the houses and try to find Lilith, we walked through the house and found the residents and placed them in the basement. We discovered that the daughter of the family was no longer being possessed by Lilith but we did not know where she had gone. As we wandered around the house, the clock started to strike midnight and Dean saw the hell hounds. We moved into the dining room blocked the entrances with goofer dust to keep the hell hounds at bay. Too late Dean realizes that we in the room with Lilith and not Ruby, as she has me pinned to the wall she opens the doors and lets the hell hounds in and they tear Dean to pieces. As Sam finishes his vision, he has tears streaming down his face and Dean fully understood why he had appeared so shocked after the vision had ended. He knew what it felt like to watch your brother die and he walked up to Sam looked him square in the eyes and said "We are going to make sure that is not going to happen."

I turned to Sam and said "I know that this is tough but can you recall where this happened, the town on the map?" Sam replied "I can't see it clearly enough to tell which town she is in, I wish that I could remember as it mean that maybe I could save everyone and myself." I said "OK, let's take this slowly and I'll walk you through the vision and we can see if we can jump back into it before everything hit the fan. Sam we need to go sit outside on the porch away from everyone and where it is quiet, Sam and I walked outside leaving Bobby, Dean and Will instead reeling from the information that had been landed on their laps. OK Sam I said let's get started, close your eyes and breath slowly in and out. I need you to put your feelings of guilty to one side for the moment and focus on the scrying device that Bobby is using. Can you see it? Sam nodded and said "I can see it, it's moving backwards and forwards over the map." Focus on the top right hand corner of the map, is it a map of the whole US or just a section of the US. Sam replied "It's the whole US." Great, Sam whereabouts on the map is the scrying device. "It's in the middle of the map" OK a couple of more questions and we should be able to find the location. "We 

are in the middle of the US, are we in the north or south of the mid part of the US."It's the north". Ok can you see any major land marks like lakes, mountains, or rivers? "I can see a Lake, it looks like Lake Michigan" That's great Sam; it means that we need to focus on Indiana or Illinois. Do you think that as it is narrowed down to two states that you can actually focus in on where she is? "I should be able to" Sam replied. Sam started to breathe in and out slowly following the lesson that I had shown him earlier in the day. As he was doing this I noticed the expression on his face was changing from one of peace to one of pain I reached out to him, laid my hand on his arm and said "Sam you need to stop pushing, let the information come of its own accord." Sam replied that he would try, it was just important that he find Lilith as so much was hanging on him tracking her down. I said "I know Sam but pushing yourself is not going to make the answer appear and it will only hurt you." Sam let go and started to breath more slowly and his expression relaxed and I could tell that something was happening, all of a sudden he jumped up and rushed inside and I followed along behind him.

Whilst Sam and I had been working on the porch, inside Bobby had declared "its research time. We need to find out who this Lilith is and why she is after the Winchester clan. Dean take Binsfield Classification of Demons and see what that says, Will take the net and I'll take the Key of Solomon." As everyone had been deep in thought researching Sam bursting through the door had shocked everyone. Sam then exclaimed "I know where she is, or where she is going to be. She's in New Harmony, Indiana. We can go stop the bitch before she hurts anyone in our family or in that little girls family" Bobby caught hold of Sam as he attempted to leave and said we need to know who and what we are up against before we go after her. Dean, Will and I have been researching and we can discuss what we have found and develop our battle plan.


	12. The Aftermath

With his hand still on Sam's arm Bobby said "Sam you need to calm down, rushing off half cocked is only going to get you hurt. Dean, Will and I have been researching Lilith and we need to discuss what we have found out and why she is after the Winchesters." Sam visibly relaxed and said "I know we do, it's just that I can't let what I saw come true. We need to stop her before she takes Dean to hell and she and her demons hurt all those people in New Harmony." As Sam finished his statement Dean had reached his brother and turned him so that they were looking at each other and said "We will Sammy, but we need to go in smart or everyone is likely to get hurt in the process."

Whilst Bobby and the boys were having this discussion, I had moved into the living room and sat on the sofa along with Will "I need you to tell me that it will be alright, that the twins will be safe, and that Lilith is not going to take them and in the process kill you." Will looked me in the eyes rested his hands on my stomach over the top of the babies and said in his calming voice "Everything is going to be fine, no-one is going to get a hand on anyone in our family that includes Dean and Sam. I won't let them." I leant in and kissed him forgetting where we were until I we were brought back to the present by heavy coughing noises behind us. I turned around to see Dean and Sam looking a little awkward, after all the last thing a family members wants to see is a relative kissing especially if it is one they have only just met.

We all decided that as it was getting late in the day we would get something to eat and discuss Sam's vision and what Bobby, Will and Dean had found out about Lilith and her possible reasons for wanting Dean's soul, Sam and the twins over the meal. We all worked together to get the meal ready, Will and I made the salad and fries, Dean and Bobby grilled the steaks on the barbecue and Sam sorted the drinks. We went outside to the porch and ate our meals in relative quiet knowing that the upcoming conversation was going to be tense and no-one was really looking forward to it. We finished the meal, and turned to the matter at hand, Lilith and what her plan was and how we could stop her and save Dean and everyone else in the process.

Dean started "Description s of Lilith appear in Iranian, Babylonian, Mexican, Greek, Arab, English, German, Oriental and Native American legends, although the most of the legend originates from Jewish lore." Bobby took up from there "In Jewish lore Lilith was the first wife of Adam who left the Garden of Eden when she would not be subservient to Adam. Adam asked God to bring her back to him and he sent 3 angels after her. Whilst she was away she become a lover with demons and gave birth to 100 children a day. When the angels came to take her back she refused to go and her children were taken away from her. That following the killing of her children Lilith became attracted to children and launched a reign of terror against women in childbirth and new born infants. Lore states that to protect the children against Lilith children were given amulets bearing the names of the angels sent to bring her back to Adam. " Will continued "In medieval Europe she is the wife, concubine or grandmother of Satan. There is no lore on how to kill Lilith, but as she is a demon the Colt is our best bet along with 'Rituale Romanum'"

"OK" Sam said "now we know who she is. I think we can understand why she wants the twins. She is trying to replace her missing children. Do we know what she wants Dean and" Before Sam had a chance to finish his thoughts, I yelled "They aren't her children, they are my children and she can't have them." I 

could feel myself getting angrier at the idea of this thing taking my children for hers and killing my family. The cup in my hand started to tremble and the drink which had cooled down a while ago started to bubble up as though it was boiling again. I felt an urgent need to get away from everyone as it felt that I couldn't breathe and that the walls were moving in although we were outside. I stood up and as I did so there was this incredible pain in my side, I screamed and collapsed as I was going down I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Will was going down as well. As we went down, Bobby raced to Will's side, Sam and Dean came rushing to me before I tipped off the porch. They moved us back to the chairs on the porch and Dean ran into the house to get two glasses of water. When he returned Will was by my side and the colour was slowly returning to his face. Dean handed him one of the glasses of water which he drank and passed the empty glass back to Dean, he took the full glass and handed it to me. As I slowly sipped the water, Will moved himself into the seat next to me and placed his hand over my bump and leaned my head against his shoulder and said "It's ok, nothing is going to get the babies I won't let it" as he said this I felt the twins moving around and the pain in my side subsiding slightly but not going away completely.

"Ok" I said "We know where she is and when she is going to be there, what do you say we go stop the bitch before she hurts anyone". Will looked me square in the eye and said "You aren't going anywhere; I am not risking you and the kids. We are going to take you back home, I want you near your obstetrician you are getting closer, and it's only 8 weeks now before the babies are due. Bobby, Dean and Sam can head to New Harmony to start things off while I take you home and set up the nursery, I'll catch them up in a couple of days once I know that you and the twins are safe." I started to respond and another voice from across the room pitched in "Toni, I know you saw what I saw. You have so much to teach me about my gifts and about my Dad, I need you to be safe." At that Sam glanced at his brother and rephrased the last sentiment "We need you to be safe. You are family and that something that we have had very little of and we have missed so much." As Sam finished I launched in before Bobby could interrupt as well, "I know you all want to keep me safe, but I need to be there. I need to be a part of keeping my children safe and if the last few days have shown me anything it is that I am slowly becoming more powerful and I may be needed. I just need to work out what is causing the surges and how I can control them otherwise I could be a danger to the obstetrician and anyone else in the hospital, the best place for me to learn how is somewhere I can do very little damage to anything or anyone." I glimpsed at Bobby and said "Sorry Bobby, but if I continue blowing things up when I get upset a salvage yard is as good a place as any." Bobby laughed and said "I agree with you. You need to come and you need to learn how to use your new found gifts." I was shocked as I had expected Bobby to side with Will, Dean and Sam and not me.

Will, Dean and Sam all turned to Bobby and in unison said "You cannot be serious, we are not taking Toni with us" the four of them continued the discussion and as it went on it got more and more heated. As I sat there I could feel a pain in my head growing and suddenly car windscreens started to blow out one after another across the scrap yard, the only cars to remain safe were Bobby's truck, Dean's Impala, my SUV and the car that Dean had been working on for Sam. After the last windscreen went, Bobby turned to Will, Dean and Sam and said "That's why Toni needs to come, after she has learnt how to control her new gift it will be powerful weapon against Lilith, and one that she may not know about and 

will therefore give us an element of surprise." Will and the boys finally relented and said "OK, we will all go to New Harmony. How long do we have before Lilith gets there and how long does Toni have to control her gifts and teach Sam more about his gifts." Sam answered "Lilith took Dean to hell on May 2. This gives us just under 8 weeks." When Sam finished, I said "I am so sorry Sam there is no way we will not let Dean go anywhere and especially not on that date." Will and Bobby looked at me quizzically and Dean said "I didn't appreciate it. Why didn't it register what the day was when I brought you back? Oh god, what have I done." Will and Bobby were still looking between the three of us wondering who was going to tell them what was going on. As Dean had moved to Sam and was talking to him in a huddle, I turned to Will and Bobby and said "May 2 is Sam's birthday. Dean is due to die on his birthday."

As I finished telling Will and Bobby the latest revelation, Sam turned to me and said "You've got 8 weeks left, the babies are due on May 2 aren't they?" I looked from Will to Sam and told him "Yes, they are. It would be a great Birthday present." Sam looked at me, and asked "Is your birthday May 2?" Before I had the chance to answer him, Will jumped in and said "No, it's mine. Toni's birthday is in February." and in an attempt to lighten the mood threw in "I'm her toy boy." I reached over and lightly thumped his arm and told Dean and Sam "He's kidding, I'm only 3 months older than him." Bobby, Dean and Sam all started to laugh at this and the tension was gone. The pain in my side had subsided completely and the babies were silent again. As we had reached the decision on what we were up against and who would be going, Will and I decided to return to the hotel for the night and agreed that we would be back the following day to come up with a game plan. Dean, Sam and Bobby escorted us back to the SUV and as we were closing the doors to the van Dean and Sam said in unison "We'll see you tomorrow, we've got work to do!"


	13. The Inheritance

We had spent the past four weeks at Bobby's working on a way to stop Lilith and helping Sam to control his powers. The more time I spent with Dean and Sam the more I felt like I did when I spent the summers with Mary and John, they were both so much like their parents. Dean was like John in the protectiveness of his family and Sam was like his John in how stubborn he could be. Both Sam and Dean were like Mary in the depth of that love and that went beyond blood I saw the way that they were with Bobby and now with us. Although Will and I were blood, Dean and Sam had not met us until last month and they had taken us into their heart and protection in that time and I felt like they had known us forever.

I had taken the opportunity to contact the family solicitor and told them that I needed to release Sam and Dean's inheritance. The papers had arrived at the hotel, Will and I had been staying at, that morning. We pulled into the salvage yard as Will and I had done every morning for the last four weeks, Dean had his head under a car hood and Sam and Bobby were on the porch with their heads in books. As we approached everyone fell into the morning ritual, Dean went to clean up and Sammy and Bobby went to grab drinks. Everyone sat down in what had become their designated seats, Will and I on the sofa and Bobby, Sam and Dean in armchairs. I had brought the inheritance papers with me and I decided that before we did anything else that day I let Sam and Dean know about the inheritance and pass them the papers, I just wasn't quite sure how to broach the subject as everyone had been so focused on Lilith lately Winchester family history had taken second place.

I turned to Sam and Dean and said "Ah, guys there is something that I need to tell you and I'm not quite sure how you will take it or what it will mean to you." Sam looked at Dean and turned back to me and said "It's ok Toni, by now you should know that you can tell us anything and we will be fine." "Ok" I replied, "well you know that you are related to the Winchesters, and that your father and your grandfather had a falling out when John came back from Vietnam and wouldn't join the family business. Your grandfather didn't take this well and cut John out of his will but he always hoped that your father would see sense and come back to the fold. As much as I loved my father he and your father had a lot in common, they were both incredibly stubborn and never wanted to admit that they were wrong. As the years passed by however John coming home seemed more unlikely especially after your mother's death. After my father's death I realized that added codicils to his will that left you both large inheritances." As I finished I handed them the papers showing them that they now owned 6.25 of the Winchester Corporation, and that they each had access to 1.5 million in cash."

Dean looked at me and said "are you serious? Is this really all ours", I responded "Yes. It's real. The lawyers have released the shares and the funds have been transferred into bank accounts. I need to send the lawyers back the completed papers for the bank accounts and then they will send you ATM cards to allow you access to the funds" Sam said "But according to records Dean is dead so how can he hold shares and a bank account?" "It's Ok, I've had the lawyers sort that as well, as the surviving member of the Winchester, I had the body exhumed from St Louis in order to rebury it in the family plot and during the exhumation brought it to the attention of the authorities that this was not my nephew Dean Winchester I even had the blood tests done to prove it. As it had been proven that the person who had been buried was guilty of the murders in St Louis, Dean's record has been cleared this includes the murder and the grave 

desecration. I also requested that the lawyers sort the credit card frauds and have paid off all the debts, so all of the companies have cancelled the legal actions. Which means that both you and Dean can hold bank accounts and not have to worry about the FBI tracing the accounts to find you as you no longer on the FBIs wanted list?"

As I finished telling them what the lawyers had been up to over the past four weeks, both Sam and Dean stood up and walked over to me, I let go of Will's hand and stood up as well and was enveloped into a hug by both of my nephews. Dean said "Thank you; you don't know how much this means to me, means to us." I said to him, "Yes, I do. I have my nephews back. I would do anything to ensure that they stay that way and that they stay clear of the law." As I was released from the hug, I said "Sam you know that this means that you can go back to Stanford and finish your law degree if you want. Your scores still stand and the Dean of Admissions said anytime you want to go back you can. Dean, MIT are holding your place open as well. Your grandfather ensured that the place was there and that the funding was available at any time should we want to take up your place." Dean looked sheepishly at Sam as Sam said "MIT, you applied and were accepted to MIT. You never told me and then when Dad kicked me out you still never said anything.." At this point I jumped in and said "I am so sorry Dean, I didn't know it was a secret, when I was trying to track you and your father down I did a search at all the Universities and your name came up at MIT and then when going through my father's papers after his death noticed the letters to and from them keeping the place open." Dean looked at me and said "It's alright Toni, you weren't to know that I hadn't told Dad and Sam I had applied and been accepted. At the time, I couldn't leave them there was too much going on and I needed to be there for Sam. I just used the skills for other things instead, built things for Dad to use of hunts. Sam I'm sorry that I didn't tell you but as I wasn't going to go I didn't think it mattered and I understood when you applied and left that you needed to do that. I also understood where Dad was coming from which is why I didn't say anything then either. You know he was worried about you being safe, he had lost so much already and now we know that he had lost a lot more as well."

I said "Now that Winchester family business is out of the way, what do you say we focus back on Lilith and how we deal with keeping everyone out of her clutches." "Great" everyone replied in unison Dean said "We know where she is going to be, that we can trap her in a devil trap and that with the combined powers of the Winchester family, the colt we can take the 'demon bitch down' and stop her harming any more innocents or members of the Winchester clan. The next thing is to determine when we leave for New Harmony, Indiana and how we can convince a family of complete strangers to let us into their house and to allow a demon in and then to demon proof it without her realizing it." I pitched in "Why can't we get Lilith to come after us instead of us going to her, we know that she wants Dean but that she also wants the twins. I suggest we go home to Washington DC and I'll act as bait. We can let other hunters in the Indiana area know that there is an increase in the New Harmony area, and make it uncomfortable for her to stay there. If we don't go to her then she will come to me, and we know when she will come that date is not changeable. We have four weeks to set up everything we need in the house in Washington and it wouldn't appear odd to any of her scouts for me to go home this close to the birth however a trip towards Indiana may raise flags with her and deter her from turning up there. Before you all jump all over me, we had this argument four weeks ago 

and I won then and nothing has changed in four weeks. The only thing that has changed is where the face down takes place. Will, you having been pushing me to get back to the house and set up the nursery. We have the extra rooms; we have a five bedroom house, so Bobby, Dean and Sam can stay with us. This shouldn't raise flags with Lilith as they are family so visiting for the birth wouldn't be unusual. What do you all say that this fight is on our turf and in our terms?" Everyone looked at each other said in unison "We don't like this any more than four weeks ago, but it makes sense to do this on our terms and when we know the lay of the land. We'll leave for Washington in the morning." I smiled rubbed my stomach slowly and said in whisper to the babies "It's going to be alright, we'll get you home and safe and no-one is going to hurt you, your father or your cousins ever." As I finished this there was a small flutter, I was filled with a sense of warmth of calm and I had the sensation that the twins believed me and that they knew that they were loved and would be safe.


	14. Home Again

_As I finished this there was a small flutter, I was filled with a sense of warmth of calm and I had the sensation that the twins believed me and that they knew that they were loved and would be safe._

As we had all agreed that we would leave Bobby's the following day and head to Washington rather than New Harmony Indiana. We discussed breaking into 2 groups, I had tried to get the guys to agree to them all going ahead and setting up the house, and I would catch a train back and meet up with them in a couple of days. In unison they had all said that with Lilith on the loose and after the twins they didn't feel it would be safe unless one of them was with me. So in the end the decision was made that I would travel with Sam in the SUV and Will, Dean and Bobby would go ahead in the Impala. It is normally a 22 hour drive in the best of conditions but with a heavily pregnant woman on board who would need regular breaks this was going to extend the amount of time it took us to get back and Sam and I would aim to get back to my house in Georgetown, DC in 4 days. Will, Dean and Bobby decided that they would drive straight through and that this would give them time to start to set up all the traps and that we would need on the 2nd May.

Will and I arrived at Bobby's early the following day and as Will transferred his belongings to the Impala, Sam put his stuff in the SUV. Will walked me to the SUV to say goodbye and he pulled me into him, put his hands on either side of my now very pronounced bump and kissed me deeply, as he pulled away from the kiss I turned to him and said "You be careful, we can't lose you. You know I need you in my life and that is never going to change. The twins need their father and if what I have been feeling over the past 8 months is any indication we are going to need you in more ways than one. You know we had talked about which room to make the nursery, I was thinking that we turn the study off of the Master Suite into the nursery which means that the twins will be close. I'd suggest that Dean and Sam have the rooms on the third floor, and Bobby is in the bedroom on the same floor as us. This means that the boys have some privacy something they probably haven't had in a while. I'll see you later in the week; you know we won't push it and that if we need to take a break we will." As I got to climb into the driver's seat, the car keys were swiped from my hands and a voice said "Oh no you don't, you are not driving anywhere in your condition" and the next thing the keys were travelling through the air and I heard "Sam catch". I looked up and was confronted by Dean with Will at his shoulder he looked at me as though to say "What were you thinking. You just got over telling me to take care and you were thinking of driving, I don't think so."

Sam arrived with the keys and said "Toni you ready to leave." I said "Yes, I'm ready. The sooner we leave, the sooner we get back to Washington." He turned to Dean and said "Dean take care of yourself, I'll see you in a few days," and in the time honored tradition of the Winchester male thumped each other on the shoulder and then followed the 'Bitch / Jerk' I had come to expect from them it was their way of showing each other how they really felt without getting 'chick flick' as Dean had referred to it on more than one occasion. Sam and I got into the SUV and Bobby, Dean and Will got into the Impala and we set off on our separate drives. I knew that going home would be different the expectation that I had felt driving to South Dakota had gone and I had heading back with optimism and a slight apprehension.

__

_**24 hrs later**_

As Sam and I were heading out of the motel to start the second day of our drive back, my mobile rang, and it was Will to tell me that they had arrived home. He was taking the opportunity while Bobby and Dean got breakfast to let me know that they had arrived back and that they would start work on the house, later after they had all grabbed some sleep and were fully rested. He told me that they had taken it in shifts to make the drive which I later found out from Sam was huge as Dean normally wouldn't let anybody else take the wheel of the Impala.

_**4 days later**_

The time on the road had gone quicker than Sam and I had expected as we spent the time talking about John and Mary. My recollections that hadn't come up at Bobby's because it was hard to talk about Mary in front of Dean, I could tell that it hurt him a great deal and so limited my stories. However it was different for Sam he couldn't remember his mother and the things I would tell him about her filled in the blanks that he had and it gave him a better picture of her and why his father reacted the way he did. I phoned Will telling him that I was I directing Sam to the block where our house was, we would be there in approximately 10 minutes. As we pulled up to the garage Will, Dean and Bobby were there to greet us. The moment I saw Will my heart soared and the babies kicked as though they knew their daddy was there and they had missed him as much as I had. Sam pulled the SUV into the garage and parked it next to the two Impala's in the garage, mine and Dean's, they were almost identical apart from the road dust and number plates you couldn't tell them apart. As we climbed out of the car, Dean turned to me and said with a crack in his voice "You said you had an Impala, but I didn't realize it was exactly like Dad's." "I know", I said "it was a family tradition when you passed your driving test you got a car and I had fallen in love with John's Impala so that's what Dad got me. In order to keep it in good working order I had to learn how to look after it. It was my baby and my connection to John for so many years." I replied and could feel a lump building in my throat, John was gone and I never got to tell him how much he had influenced my life and the decisions that I had made.

We all made our way back to the house to get a drink. As we entered the kitchen Dean whispered to Sam "Can you believe this house; I knew that we were related to money, Toni gave us the shares and the financial papers as our inheritance but I don't think it had sunk in until I saw this house." Sam said "Dude, what you thinking she's standing right there." I looked between Dean and Sam and said "It's alright Sam; it is all a bit daunting the first time you see the house, it has been in the family for at least 3 generations. It was built for my grandfather so that he was close to the decision makers. It took Will a little while to get used to the size of the house and the family he was marrying into." I felt Will sidle up to me and I felt his hand slip into mine and he said "Yes, it was a bit daunting; I couldn't believe that this woman would ever want me. She appeared to have everything but then when we started talking I realized that this is all stuff and is not what is important. What is important that you have family to share your life with." I continued "Dean and Sam I hope that you come to feel at home here, I know that you will never really stop your wandering, there is too much water under the bridge to change that now, but I hope that you will think of this as your home as much as you think of Bobby's as your home."

As we had finished our drinks I needed to clean up and I thought that Sam probably felt the same and said to Dean "Can you take Sam up and show him where you are staying, I'm sure he wants to clean up." After Dean and Sam left the room, I leaned over to Will and said I'm going up to our room I need to freshen up." Will said "I'll come with you there is something that I need to show you" We walked into the master suite on the 2nd floor, Will came up behind me, laid his hands on the twins and said "Let me show you what Dean, Bobby and I have done in the nursery." We walked into the new nursery, all of the office furniture had been moved out, and in its place were the two cribs that we had ordered in South Dakota, the ones with devil traps at the heads and the Latin incantations on the foot. Will glanced at the ceiling and I looked up as well there was a devils trap on the ceiling over the entrance to the room. I turned to Will with tears in my eyes and grasped his face in my hands and looked deeply into his eyes and said "I love it; you've all worked so hard on demon proofing the room for the twins." As we were talking Will moved his hands onto the twins again, and we both felt a sudden and overwhelming feeling of peace and love. I looked back into Will's eyes and said "The twins love it too. OK so the nursery is all set up, Sam, Dean and Bobby are settled in their rooms, we just need Lilith to take the bait and come for us."

Will and I walked back downstairs, into the kitchen and met with Dean, Sam and Bobby. We agreed that we were going to go out and grab something to eat and then we would come back and start working on the next phase of the plan to get rid of Lilith.


	15. New Additions

_**As this is a fiction, I have taken a little bit of a license with the exorcism ritual. It's based on the**_ 'Norvus Ordo Rite'

_Will and I walked back downstairs, into the kitchen and met with Dean, Sam and Bobby. We agreed that we were going to go out and grab something to eat and then we would come back and start working on the next phase of the plan to get rid of Lilith. _

The next three weeks passed quickly as the house was arranged for the anticipated arrivals, Lilith and the twins. The plan was to get Lilith to attack at the house, once she was inside to lure her into the study where a devil's trap was strategically placed. Once in the trap, we would interrogate her to find out what she wanted with Dean's soul and the twins. When we had the answer then Sam and Dean would exorcise her. We ensured that Lilith could get into the house, but that she would not be able to get near the twins in their nursery. Once the house had been demon proofed Dean, Sam and Bobby spent the time researching exorcism rituals trying to find the best one to remove Lilith from the possessed person; although we had the colt we disliked the idea of using it as this would result in the death of an innocent. Having researched all of the exorcism rituals, they decided that the one that the greatest chance of working and not harming the possessed person would be the 'Norvus Ordo Rite' fortunately this was one that Dean, Sam and Bobby were familiar with and had used on more than one occasion. As a result of their research Sam and Bobby had found that with a couple of changes to the ritual and by tapping into Sam's and my powers instead of just sending Lilith back to hell the ritual could be used to kill her.

During my last visit to Dr Roark, my obstetrician, I told her that I although I would have the twins in the hospital as this was the safest thing for them, I wanted to them to be home within 24 hours of delivery. I told Will that I thought that we could protect them better at the house than at a hospital as we couldn't put up devils traps around entrances to a hospital nursery or to my hospital room. I also said that as Sam had seen Lilith possessing a girl she could also possess any member of the hospital staff and take the twins out of the nursery anyway. Dr Roark thought that this was an unusual request but as I said that it was either this or I had the twins at home, she agreed but said that she would only let the twins out of the hospital if they were strong enough.

The morning of the 11th April started like every day since we had returned home, everyone met in the kitchen and had a relaxed breakfast, discussing what was about to happen what they had found out in their latest research. Dean and Sam had accepted Will and I as family in the way that I had always hoped for. As we were clearing away after breakfast, I felt a cramp in my lower back this subsided after a couple of seconds, I put it down to the twins moving around and catching a nerve. The cramps started again as I was tidying up and preparing the nursery and continued off and on for the next two hours. I decided to lay down to see if this would calm the babies down and get them to move away and stop lying on the nerve hoping that this would stop the cramping. Will stuck his head in the bedroom an hour later and asked "Are you alright? 

I have felt that something is off all morning." I said "I'm fine, it's just the twins are moving around a lot and keep pinching a nerve in my back." Will said "Are you sure that is what it is, the twins seem perfectly calm to me." As Will finished that statement, another cramp hit and this one was more powerful than any of the others that I had felt all morning. I grabbed hold of Will's hand and squeezed until the pain subsided. I said "We need to go to the hospital I think that I'm having contractions and Dr Roark told me to come in as soon as I thought that I was having contractions." Will grabbed my bag from the nursery it had been ready for a while, as at the last visit the obstetrician told us that as I was expecting twins there was a greater chance that they would be premature. I had managed to make it to 39 weeks, which would make the twins a week premature but at the check up two days ago, the obstetrician had told Will and I that if the twins should arrive in the next week then there shouldn't be any problems with the health as their lungs were fully developed. Will and I headed down to the study to let Bobby, Dean and Sam know we were leaving, as we came in through the door Sam, said "Toni is everything alright? Do you need anything?" Will replied "Yes. Can you ensure that the nursery is set up as I need to take Toni to the hospital we think that the twins are on the way." Sam looked at the two of us and said "Alright, one of us will drive you to the hospital while the others stay here and finish preparing the nursery."

At this point, Dean and Sam started to play rock, paper, scissors I looked between them and said "Excuse me, but could you tell me which one of you lost and who is driving me to the hospital as these contractions are getting stronger and more frequent." They looked back at me and Sam said "Dean, but it's not who lost it's who won and in a complete fluke Dean won. Whenever we've played in the past he has always lost. We both wanted to take you to the hospital so it only seemed fair to choose this way." As another cramp took hold I grabbed hold of Will's hand and said "Ah, Guys we really need to leave now." Dean grabbed the keys for the Impala turned to Sam and Bobby and said "Make sure everything is ready we need to keep Toni and the twins safe. I'll call you when I have news."

At this we headed out the door to the garage, the Impala and Georgetown University Hospital. We arrived at the hospital approximately 15 minutes later and headed straight for the maternity ward. Whilst Will was filling out the paperwork to get me booked into the hospital, Dean and I were taken back to a room and told that Dr Roark would be along to check on me shortly and that I should get changed into the gown. At this Dean said he was going to go and let Bobby and Sam know what was happening and grab some coffee. Shortly after Dean left Will walked in accompanied by Dr Roark who said "Alright Toni, why don't we take a look and see what is going on and how far along you are." She carried out her exam and turned to us and said "Yes, you are in labor. You are at about 7 centimeters dilated, there's another 3 centimeters to go. Based on your rate of dilation so far I would estimate that the twins will be here by the end of the day. I'll come back and check on you in an hour. A nurse will be in to check your blood pressure and hook you up to the fetal monitor so that we can keep a track on the babies' heart beats." As Dr Roark left the room Dean came in with a coffee for him and Will and asked "OK, so what's what." Will turned to him and said "The doctor is saying it's going to be a few more hours at least. If you want to go back to the house, don't feel that you need to stay here." Dean said "Are you kidding, you're not getting rid of me that easily. I want to be here, we all did, hence the rock, paper, scissors. Also, who else are you going to get to do the coffee 

run?" A nurse appeared and said "OK, Samantha. I'm here to take your blood pressure and set up the fetal monitor." Will, Dean and I looked at each other and smiled, I turned to the nurse and said "You can call me Toni everyone else does, Samantha is a family name but I don't use unless it is on formal occasions." The nurse said "No problem, I know how that is. My parents named me Jacqueline, but I go by Jackie. If I anyone calls me Jacqueline I flashback to my youth and think I'm in trouble." At this there was a low level laugh around the room. As we had been talking Jackie had put the blood pressure cuff on my arm and taken the pressure. She wrote it on my notes and walked around the bed to put on the fetal monitor.

After the monitor was on Jackie left the room and saying on the way out "I'll be back in 30 minutes to check your blood pressure, the babies' heart beats and how frequent the contractions are." "OK, Jackie. We'll see you in 30 minutes." I replied and reached over and squeezed Will's hand, looked at him and he said "It's going to be alright, I know they are a week early but they are fine. You know that and I know that. Their heart beats are strong and just think by the end of the day we are going to see our babies. You do know how much I love you don't you." I leaned in to him, kissed him and said "Yes, I know. Whilst we have the time have you thought about names, we have been too busy over the past 6 weeks to really think about anything other than Lilith and keeping the twins safe." At this Dean who was sat in the corner of the room watching 'Oprah' piped up, I recommend Dean. Will turned to him and said, "I think one Dean in the family is enough don't you." Will started again and said "Are we sticking with Winchester tradition, the youngest having to be named Sam or a variation therefore." I replied "how about we change the tradition slightly instead of Sam being the first name we make it a middle name." Will smiled at me, leaned in and kissed me lightly to which there was a slight coughing in the background and "Is this really the time and place for that. Do you know how traumatizing it can be for a young person to see oldies making out." At this I pulled out one of the pillows from behind my back and threw it at Dean, "I'll give you oldies.. Can I now have my pillow back, pregnant woman in labor here?"

"OK, back to baby names. How about Hope Mary & Faith Elizabeth if they are both girls, and we add Samara to the youngest and Aidan John & Cole Matthew and we add Samuel to the youngest." Will looked at me and said "I love them; they include the people who have been loved by both of us, but how about we add Dean and Bobby. It would be Aidan John Robert and Cole Dean Matthew." I countered with "Cole Dean Matthew William, this means that all the important men in my life are included. As we finished our discussion, Dean returned the pillow and leaned in and hugged me and turned to Will and said "Do you want a coffee? I'm going to get myself a coffee."

Three hours had passed and Jackie and Dr Roark had been in and out of the room several times keeping check on what was happening, at the latest check up Dr Roark said "OK Toni it's time to move you to the delivery room. Will, are you coming?" He said "Try keeping me out." They moved me out of my room and into the delivery room; Cole Dean Matthew William made his very loud entrance into the world at 11:45pm, much like his namesake 29 years ago, and was followed by Aidan John Robert Samuel at 12:05am, who was a lot quieter. I told Will that he needed to stay with Cole and Aidan until we were back to my room. The boys would have separate birthdays and while they were identical twins this would be one of the things that would 

separate them. I had been settled back in the room with the twins when Dean reappeared at the door, I signaled him and he came into the room. I said to him "I would like you to meet Cole Dean Matthew William and Aidan John Robert Samuel." Dean looked at the twins and said "They are handsome boys Toni. I'm going to go home and tell Bobby and Sammy and ensure that the nursery is ready for you to bring them home. Just give the house a call when you are ready to leave and someone will come and collect you." I looked at Dean and said "Thank you, you do know that we won't be able to come home in the Impala that whoever picks us up will need to drive the SUV." Dean looked at me and said "If I come I'm sure I can be a soccer mum for the day" and he exited the room before I had the chance to throw the pillow at him again. I turned to Will and said "Aren't you going home too? You need as much sleep as I do." He replied "It's OK, as this is a private room, I've cleared it with the hospital that I can stay here with you. I'll sleep better if I'm in the same room with you and Cole and Aidan until we get home."

At 3pm the following day Dr Roark came to do her rounds and said that she was happy that the babies were strong enough to go home. Will rang the house from his cell phone and was told that Dean would be there to pick us all up in 30 minutes. I was happy that I would be home with all my boys in under an hour. Dean walked into the room to find us ready to leave and said "Your chariot waits." We walked out of the hospital, Dean was carrying Cole and Will was carrying Aidan. This was the beginning of the next chapter of my life, all we needed to do was stop Lilith and that would be easier as the danger of me going into labor during her attack had been removed. We arrived back at the house and Dean pulled the SUV into the garage, the door opened and Will released both of the baby seats from his seat in the back and handed Cole down to Dean and walked out with Aidan. I walked ahead of them and as I reached for the back door it opened and there was Sam and Bobby with the biggest grins on the faces. Dean and Will walked past them into the kitchen and as they put the seats down on the table, I said "Sam, Bobby I would like you to meet Cole Dean Matthew William and Aidan John Robert Samuel. Now if you don't mind I'm going to take my boys upstairs and get them settled in their nursery and lay down and get some sleep myself." Everyone nodded and after I had picked up Aidan, four sets of hands went to get Cole. Will said "Sorry, guys. Father's privilege."


	16. The prophesy

_Sorry it has been a while since the last chapter, slight writers block and busy at work. I thought that I would start with a breakdown of the current powers in the Winchester / Talbot family. No battle quite yet, but we are getting there._

_The Winchester Family Powers_

_Toni – Psychic_

_Will – Empathy_

_Aidan – Empathy (possibly psychic – too young to tell at present)_

_Cole – Telekinetic (possibly psychic – too young to tell at present)_

_Sam – Psychic and Telekinetic _

Aidan and Cole were approaching the end of their third week and a routine had settled in the house. The boys were very quiet and had settled into their nursery well and as an added bonus Will continued to pick up what the twins were feeling and what they needed before they started to cry. Will and I were spending a lot of time with the twins or catching up on the lost sleep which meant that 'Lilith watch' as it was being referred to was left to Bobby, Dean and Sam.

Bobby had been doing the rounds and catching up with other hunters to see if they had any news on Lilith, where she was, what she was doing or what she wanted. Every couple of days the phone would ring and a hunter was providing him with information. The news coming back was that she was heading towards Georgetown, DC. There were only three days left until Dean's deal was up and Sam's vision was due to come true, we were all hoping that as the fight was no longer in Indiana then the outcome of the deal and the fight would change and that no-one would be losing their lives on May 2nd.

The house was ready for the Lilith's arrival, the devils traps were in place on the ceiling in the study and the main living room. Salt and cats eye shells had been laid down along with several pentacles that Sam had found in the 'Key of Solomon' that would stop Lilith or any other demon from coming into the house that way. With the protection in place, Sam and Will continued the research into the family history. Will wanted to know the reason that the demon had come after his parents and which demon it was. Sam wanted to see if he could uncover the reason that the youngest in each generation of the Winchesters had special powers. During one of these research sessions, I was overcome by a sudden sensation of sadness; I walked into the study to find Will deep in thought and looking as though the world had been turned on its head. Will who had heard me come into the room and looked up at me and as our eyes met I could see tears in his eyes so I asked him "What's wrong", he replied "It's all my fault, my parents are dead because of me, the demon killed them to get to me. Lilith was the demon that killed my parents and it's my fault she is coming after the twins." I walked across to him bent down and took his hands in mine, kissed them gently as he had done so many times for me in the past and told him firmly but gently "It is not your fault, any more than it is my fault that Mary died or Sam's fault that Jessica died. We are dealing with a demon that has her own twisted reasons for doing what she does. What would make you think that your parents' death or her coming after the twins is your fault?" Will handed me over a piece of paper he had found in one of the books that had been brought with them from South Dakota and said "I found this, it's a prophesy, it is written in Latin but the direct translation reads 'The merging of two great houses will lead to the downfall of the queen.' The prophesy goes on about about how the youngest children of two households will be joined by marriage at the turning of the 21st Century and that both of these children will have powers. Two children would be born from this union bringing together the bloodlines and these children would have the ability to rid the world of all evil."

As Will finished telling me about the prophesy Bobby, Sam and Dean walked into the room, Will raced across the room, pushed Bobby against the wall and screamed in his face "Did you know that this would happen? Did you know that this is why they died? Why didn't you ever tell me? I could have saved Toni the pain, I would have stayed away and she wouldn't be facing the loss of her children." At this the baby monitor on the desk started to buzz and I reached over to Will and said "Will you need to calm down; Aidan is picking up on your emotions. I need you to check on the twins with me, Aidan and Cole need to know that you are alright that there is nothing to be afraid of." We went upstairs to check on the twins leaving Sam and Dean looking stunned and Bobby looking concerned." Sam said "Bobby what is Will talking about saving Toni pain and the reason that they died." Bobby looked between Sam and Dean and said "Will must have found the prophesy" and handed them the piece of paper that Will had just handed me and a silence came across the room.

As Will and I walked up the stairs to the nursery I said "Will, I know it is normally you telling me this but you need to calm down, We know that Aidan is empathic and he is picking up on your emotions and projecting them. If Cole picks up on them then we may have to redecorate the nursery, we don't know what damage a 2 week old with telekinetic powers can do." As we walked into the nursery Will took hold of me and pulled me towards him slowly and leaned and kissed me and said "I'm sorry I know this is all my fault. You shouldn't have to go through this pain." I looked back at him and said "I'm not sorry, before you my life was empty, I had work and very little else, I wouldn't have two wonderful children, and I wouldn't have Sam and Dean back in my life. I don't regret meeting you or marrying you for a second and no prophesy is ever going to make me regret that. I don't want to hear you say that any of this is your fault or that I would be better off without you again."

When Aidan heard our voices he started to calm down and the crying that had been heard through the baby monitor in the study dropped to a whimper. I looked at the mobiles over the boys cots; we were using dream catchers with wind chimes instead of the cutesy ones with animals or teddy bears. We both felt that this would alert us to any change in movement around the cots and that with our family history any protection that the dream catcher could provide was an added bonus. The wind chimes had been kicking up a storm when we were coming up the stairs had now calmed right down. Will went and picked Aidan out of his cot as I went to get Cole. After picking up both boys from their cots, we went over to the rocking chairs that we had set up in the corner of the room to spend some time with them. Once we had sat down, Will spoke to them and said "Aidan, Cole it is ok boys, Daddy's ok. I'm sorry I upset you. I didn't mean to yell and you know that I love you and mummy." At this both boys calmed right down and Will looked at me and said "Aidan wants you to know it is lunchtime and that he knows that everything is ok and that Cole is ok as well." I looked at Will and said "I'll feed the boys, do you want to hang out with us or go downstairs and find out what Bobby has to say." Will said "I'll stay here I want to make sure that the boys are alright, I know that I scared them and you and I'm sorry for that." Will sat in the chair next to me and held Aidan whilst I fed Cole and then took Cole so that I could feed Aidan, we burped and changed them. I looked at Will and said "You need to have this out with Bobby and you can't really do that with us in the house, I need some things from the shop why don't I take the twins for a walk and you can stay here and talk to Bobby about the prophesy and what he did or didn't know."

We walked back down the stairs with the boys and their bag ready to go for the walk. When we walked into the study with the boys, I told the gathering that I was going to take the boys out for a walk. As I was speaking Dean looked at Will and said "are you serious, you can't be letting her go out on her own with the twins." I moved next to Dean and reached over with my free hand and clipped his shoulder and said "What do you mean letting me go out, I'm a grown woman with two children, I am quite capable of looking after myself and my children walking to the corner store. Will has to speak to Bobby and that will be easier to do with the twins out of the house, voices are bound to get raised. I also need to get some fresh air, apart from visits to the hospital I have been in the house for three weeks." Dean looked at me slightly deflated and said "Toni, I didn't mean anything by it, it's just that I don't to lose any more members of my family and Lilith is heading towards us and wants the twins. The house is all set so that you and the twins are safe here. How about I come with you, this way you'll have some adult company and I'll be out of the way whilst Bobby talks to Will about the prophesy. Sam do you want to stay here and help with the research that I'm sure is to come or do you want to come with." I looked up at Will and said "If Will is happy with that then I don't have a problem with that." Will who had been holding Cole walked up to Dean handed him over and said "That's great, thanks Dean; I know I don't have to say it but keep them safe. Sam would you mind leaving too; we can research when you get back, I just really need to speak to Bobby alone." Dean, Sam and I headed to the hallway put Aidan and Cole into the coats and pram, said goodbye to Bobby and Will and left for our walk.

Whilst we were getting the boys ready Will had headed to the kitchen and grabbed two coffees and headed back to the study. As we left I heard Will ask Bobby in a calmer manner, "Did you know about the prophesy before today, and if so when and why did you never tell me. I've known you for close to 20 years, once I found out about the supernatural and who you were, you became family to me. You were the first one I called when I was thinking about asking Toni to marry me. I knew that you'd been married and knew a lot of married hunters and I valued your opinion, did you think I could make a marriage work whilst hunting part time. I even told you her last name and never once did you say this is not a good idea, this is going to lead to pain in the future. You told me to grab the chance of happiness with both hands. Look what has happened as a result of that decision we may lose the twins, I know that neither Toni nor I would survive that, we have already lost too much, too many family members. I can't be responsible for bringing that much pain into her life."

Bobby responded "Yes, I knew about the prophesy before today, It is why I was investigating your parents death. Any death that occurred and looked as if the prophesy might be coming true was investigated by the hunter community. I didn't tell you about it for the same reason as I told you to grab happiness with both hands; you've seen the amount of evil in the world, both the supernatural and then the non-supernatural evil that you and Toni deal with on a daily basis. You are not the only one who has come to think of the other as family. You are like a son to me, and I would do anything to protect you from harm both physical and emotional. So why wouldn't I tell you to get as much happiness as humanely possible? I never told you about the prophesy as you didn't need to think that you were responsible in any way for your parents' death, it was never your fault, and it was all the demons fault. Yes, you told me Toni's last name, but there was no way I could make the link between her and the family in the prophesy. The prophesy spoke about the youngest member of the bloodlines having powers, I knew about your empathy but I didn't know that Toni had powers. By the time I linked all of this together it was too late, you were married and having twins, as far as I could tell the prophesy was coming true and there was nothing that we could do to prevent it. I am sorry that you had to find out the way you did. I meant to tell you once the house was demon proofed and the twins were safe but I didn't know how to tell you without you blaming yourself for everything that happened or is about to happen. You don't deserve that and neither does Toni; you are both great people who have been handed a really bad hand. At least we know who is after the twins and why. We just need to work on keeping the six of you safe, as I am sure that Dean and Sam have a role to play in this as well. It don't think that the only reason Azazel came after Sam is because he has powers, I think that there is a link into the prophesy."

Just as Bobby finished speaking Sam walked into the study followed by me holding Cole and finally by Dean holding Aidan. Aidan immediately started to fuss and Will looked at Sam, walked over to him grabbed him by the arm and walked him out of the room. Aidan calmed down just as quickly and Dean looked at him, to me and then Bobby confused, I walked up to him and said "It's ok, it's just that Sam was upset and about to bust out on Bobby about something he overhead when we came in the room." Dean said "OK, as long as everything is alright I don't fancy having to take the twins out again, it's like a mob scene, the amount of woman coming up and cooing over them was frustrating. Is it like some kind of magnet, and why did they all assume that I was the father and not Sam." I looked at him with a huge smile on my face and said "That might be because you were pushing the pram and not Sam, that's normally something a parent does. I did try to tell you and to push it but you wouldn't have it so that's what you get. I thought that you would have loved being hit on my all those women." Dean looked at me and said "Normally, yes but with my cousins there it felt weird. I'm not sure if I can explain it. I think that I should go find Sam and make sure he's OK, he tends to wig out whenever Azazel is mentioned as though what he did to Mum and Jessica was his fault, I keep telling him it wasn't but that demon did a really good job on his head in Cold Oak." Dean put Aidan in his rocker and went in search of Sam and Will; I looked at Bobby and asked "is everything good now? Is Will OK." As I finished my sentence I felt a hand on my shoulder and I was turned towards my husband who said "I'm as OK as I'm going to be at the moment, it'll take a while but I'll be fine if I've got you and the boys." As he was about to finish his sentence Dean and Sam walked into the room and the three of them said in unison "We've got work to do." Will and Sam said "We need to investigate the prophesy and what it means, when and how this is supposed to go down", Dean said "and gear up. Lilith is due in two days and we need to be ready for her."

At that everyone started to walk towards their assigned positions in the study, I coughed gently and said "Ah guys, need a hand to get these two upstairs to the nursery, they need a diaper change and feeding." They all looked at me sheepishly, Dean stepped forward and said "No problem; Will you and Sam start the researching I'll help Toni with the twins." He reached down picked up Aidan from the rocker and headed out the door, seeing him with Aidan filled my heart with joy as this was how John had been with him and Sam when they were that small, I then felt a lump growing in my throat as I remembered that my sons would never to get to meet their uncles. That they had both been taken away by the things that went bump in the night and I vowed at that point they wouldn't lose any more relatives no matter what I had to do to stop it. As I was leaving the room I could feel eyes on the back of my head and I turned slowly to see Sam staring at me with concern in his eyes as though he knew what I had been thinking. We needed to talk about his abilities, but now was not the time we needed to deal with the challenges at hand.


	17. Preparations

[I] Sorry it has been a while since the last chapter, slight writers block and busy at work. [/I]

As I was leaving the room I could feel eyes on the back of my head and I turned slowly to see Sam staring at me with concern in his eyes as though he knew what I had been thinking. We needed to talk about his abilities, but now was not the time as we needed to deal with the challenges at hand.

The days passed quickly with Will, Bobby, Dean and Sam researching the Winchester / Talbot family trees and what the links were to the prophesy. Whilst they were doing that I spent a lot of time with Aidan and Cole talking to them about what was going on and trying my best to keep them calm when the house was so full of stress. In order to stop myself going stir crazy, I convinced all the men in my life that it would be alright for me to take the twins out for a daily walk. That I could keep them safe and that they didn't need to escort me every time. I took this opportunity to spend an hour every day with the boys in their pram walking them around the block and getting some much needed fresh air. The last thing I wanted was to interrupt the research so I was using the tools that my grandpa and my uncle had taught me to strengthen and manage my powers. Finally I was able to tune into May 2nd to see what Sam had seen and if the changes we had made would affect the outcome of the confrontation with Lilith. So occasionally I would take the twins and we would drive out to Rock Creek Park to get some real fresh air and I would stand in the middle of the woods and let out an almighty scream, this allowed me to release all the tension that was gathering whilst the guys were working in the study and allowed me to manage my powers and the link that I had to the twins.

During Aidan and Cole's nap times I would take the opportunity to get away from the study and start focusing my powers, I wanted to see if I could tap into the residual of the twins powers especially Cole's telekinesis, I wanted to be able to move Lilith into the devils trap if needed. I was also taking the occasion to learn the exorcism ritual, as powerful as she was we needed to ensure that once she was in the trap we could exorcise her as quickly as possible. I had managed to tap into the residual of Cole's power and I had reached the point where I could move things around or hold them stationery in the room at will. I was busy practicing one day when I was brought back to reality by a yell and a thump and Will, Bobby and Dean running in from the study. They all looked at me and saw Sam sitting on the floor and asked what's going on. Sam looked at me and said "Nothing, I had come in to talk to Toni and see if we could run over some of the drills and tripped over one of the boys' toys." With that he turned around and showed Will, Bobby and Dean the soft toy I had been practicing with. They all shrugged their shoulders, looked at Sam as if to say 'What was all the fuss about then' what they actually said was "ok" and returned to the study. Sam turned to me with fear in eyes and said "We need to talk, you can't keep doing this."

I looked at Sam and said pleadingly "Doing what, Sam. What can't I keep doing? What I have been trained to do my whole life, keep my family safe. I need to do this Sam, I can't lose anymore members of my family I have lost too many already, the price is too high. This ends now, I am ending this now. When Lilith gets here she's not leaving this house, either way I'm taking her out. Hopefully I can do this the easy way and get to walk away but if necessary then you need to promise me that you will be here for Will and the boys."

Sam looked at me with sadness in his eyes and said with sorrow in his voice "Toni, you know I can't promise you that. You're not the only one who has lost too much. Dean and I have lost as much as you have. We lost our Mum, our Dad, I lost my girlfriend. We lost you for the best part of our lives. I know that we're not the twins' parents but they're our family too. What I will promise you is that Dean and I will always have your back, that Winchesters stick together and that no Winchester is dying on May 2nd. Do you think that maybe as the prophesy is about the twins, that it is the joining of their powers that would lead to Lilith's downfall and that is why she wants them dead. That with Will out of the way as well, there would be no chance for any more Winchester / Talbots. That maybe with the powers that you and I have we could link our powers together and everyone would live through this."

I looked at Sam and said "Ok, we can try this. We need to figure a way to get you out researching to practice as I know Will and he will never let me do this and I assume that Dean will react the same way about you taking on Lilith as well." Sam looked at me and said "No worries leave it to me. I'll get Dean to agree to me spending the time with you and not raise suspicion. I know that Dean loves you, if he knows that by my doing this that I am keeping you safe it won't be a problem. As far as Will is concerned that is all yours, I am not getting into the middle of a marriage, even for my favorite aunt." I looked at him, cuffed his shoulder and said "don't get cheeky with me; I'm your only aunt."

Sam volunteered to look after the twins that night giving Will and I the chance to go out and grab a meal and a coffee at one of our local restaurants. Whilst we were out, Sam sat Dean and Bobby down and explained what had been going on in the solarium earlier that day and what he had agreed to do. I found out later that Dean had clipped him as had Bobby and the twins had taken the chance to make their feelings known about the subject as well. Aidan had started crying at the exact moment that Dean had clipped Sam and then there was a very loud crash at the exact moment that Bobby had clipped him. The boys were getting stronger and more sensitive; their early years were going to be a lot of fun unless we could find a way to channel these powers. My powers hadn't shown until I was a teen, Will's hadn't appeared until he met me and I had found out that Sam's appeared around his 22nd birthday. When Will and I arrived home the house was back in the same order it had been when we left but the twins were happily sitting with the cousins in the living room listening to "Come around more Alabama, by Steve Carlson with Jensen Ackles providing vocals." Dean looked at me as I entered the room and mouthed really, I looked back and said "What they are great singers, the boys really appear to like it as a lullaby.." April 27th had drawn to a close and we were fast approaching L-Day as it had become known in the Talbot residence.

The next three days Sam and I spent the time in the solarium working on our plan and Dean and Bobby kept Will occupied and away in the study. The morning of May 2nd arrived and we were all apprehensive, Sam and I were confident that we had the fire power down and that we had the exorcism ritual memorized. So that no matter what Lilith threw at us and we were sure that she would throw things at us, both literally and figuratively we would be able to counter it. Whereas the previous days had seemed to pass so quickly, today was passing very slowly. I was anxious about this take place with the twins in the house, I really didn't want them to get hurt but I knew that we couldn't split up the family as this would make a greater target. We had researched all the protections against higher level demons and laid these around the nursery so I knew in my heart that we had protected them but I still couldn't help worrying, it's the mother in me.


	18. Exorcism 101

[I] The chapter was getting very long so I split it in two. Hope you like and finally the showdown is here…

Ritual from the following website - .

[/I]

When Will and I were putting the twins down for the night Sam, Dean and Bobby had gone to collect the evening meal from our local Italian restaurant. After the boys were down, we all sat down in the dining room to sit and talk and eat we had decided on Caesar salad, baked ziti, eggplant parmigiana, stuffed peppers, and stuffed zuchinni to follow with raspberry panna cotta. The meal started off with everyone in deep silence but during the course of the meal the tension slipped away and the conversation returned to the normal witty banter. After the meal was over, Will and Sam made coffee and I went upstairs to check on the twins I wanted to quiet the feeling that I had been coming and going during dinner that something was wrong. I had been putting it down to me being an overprotective parent and knowing what was about to go down in a couple of hours. As I came down the first staircase from the nursery I heard a crash and raced down the stairs to the kitchen, hoping to catch Sam and Will before they headed into the study and into the trap that I knew was waiting there for them. When we came through the door we were faced with Dean and Bobby pinned against the far wall and an 8 year old girl with short brown hair was standing staring at them. She turned around as we entered and as she went to raise her hand Sam and I linked our hands as we had been practicing and pushed her under the devils trap. When she was in the middle of the trap Bobby and Dean dropped off the wall and all eyes in the room turned us. We both said "Not now guys, we'll explain everything later, we need to take Lilith down now."

"You really think that the two of you are strong enough to take me out.." as we watched the young child in the middle of the devils trap transformed into a blonde 20 something and she started to laugh manically "You think you are going to be able to save anyone, you couldn't save Mary, Jessica or John. How do expect to take me out? I'm a whole lot stronger than my young apprentice Azazel. However in retrospect I never should have sent a boy to do a man's work or in this case a woman's work. He was supposed to have you ready for me Sam, Will you were supposed to have died years ago. With you gone there was no chance of that prophesy coming true that can be easily resolved now. Dean are you ready to go, I think I'm going to forego the hounds on this occasion that body of yours is too good to get ripped apart; I want you whole for me to play with, and play we will."

The tension in the room was quickly escalating as Lilith goaded everyone more and more, we needed to keep calm heads if we were going to defeat her and send her back to hell where she belonged. With my hand still firmly in Sam's I started finger spelling that we needed to get everyone to calm down before she grew any stronger as she was feeding off everyone's rage and fear. Sam fingered back how do you suggest we do that without giving the game away. I looked at him mouthed "no problem" and applying my training I picked up on Will and Aidan empathic abilities, turned the power around and projected feelings to everyone in the room getting them to chill out. When Lilith sensed the change in the atmosphere she turned to me and said "Antonia - it's not going to work for long you know, you can't keep this up all night at some point you'll fail and as soon as you do I'm out of the circle and you will be the first one I slaughter, then I'll kill poor Will, Dean, Bobby and Sam I'm still deciding whether to kill you or to let you lead my army, I'll need someone to keep them in line until my sons come of age." I looked at Lilith and said "Your sons, in all the research we did we couldn't find any sons they are all daughters." Lilith laughed and a cold chill ran down my back as I suddenly realized that she was talking about taking Aidan and Cole. I screamed at her "I won't let you take them, I'll die first" Lilith responded "Sweetheart I just explained that's the plan." As the panic was rising in me I felt this sudden wash of calm and I looked around the room and Sam, Will, Dean and Bobby were looking back at me with kindness and love on their faces. When they had been hit by the feeling of calm they had realized what all of the practice sessions in the solarium had been about and decided that the best way that they could help in this situation was to remain calm, and send back feelings of love and support no matter what Lilith said to get arise out of them. All of the while that Lilith was taunting everyone in the room she kept trying to escape from the Devil's trap but due to the diligent research that Bobby, Sam, Dean and Will had carried out she was not getting out of this so easily.

Sam started finger spelling again and stated that I think that we need to start the exorcism ritual before she has a chance to get any stronger, or we get any weaker. We need her gone before midnight as that is when I saw the hell hounds turning up for Dean. I know that she said she has called them off but she's a demon and demons lie. I nodded my head in agreement looked at Will mouthed I love you at him and Sam started the ritual.

"Exorcizo te, immundissime spiritus, omnis incursio adversarii, omne phantasma, omnis legio, in nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi eradicare, et effugare ab hoc plasmate Dei. Ipse tibi imperat, qui te de supernis caelorum in inferiora terrae demergi praecepit. Ipse tibi imperat, qui mari, ventis, et tempestatibus impersvit. Audi ergo, et time, satana, inimice fidei, hostis generis humani, mortis adductor, vitae raptor, justitiae declinator, malorum radix, fomes vitiorum, seductor hominum, proditor gentium, incitator invidiae, origo avaritiae, causa discordiae, excitator dolorum: quid stas, et resistis, cum scias. Christum Dominum vias tuas perdere? Illum metue, qui in Isaac immolatus est, in joseph venumdatus, in sgno occisus, in homine cruci- fixus, deinde inferni triumphator fuit. Sequentes cruces fiant in fronte obsessi. Recede ergo in nomine Patris et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti: da locum Spiritui Sancto, per hoc signum sanctae Cruci Jesu Christi Domini nostri: Qui cum Patre et eodem Spiritu Sancto vivit et regnat Deus, Per omnia saecula saeculorum. (K) Amen."

As we were reciting this Lilith started to laugh from the middle of the devils trap, "you think that this is going to work on me, you know how strong I am so what makes you think that you are going to be able to get rid of me with a simple exorcism." With that I picked up on the second part of the ritual

"Adjuro te, serpens antique, per judicem vivorum et mortuorum, per factorem tuum, per factorem mundi, per eum, qui habet potestatem mittendi te in gehennam, ut ab hoc famulo Dei (N)., ad Ecclesiae sinum recurrit, cum metu, et exercitu furoris tui festinus discedas. Adjuro te iterum (in fronte) non mea infirmitate, sed virtute Spiritus Sancti, ut exeas ab hoc famulo Dei (N)., quem omnipotens Deus ad imaginem suam fecit. Cede igitur, cede non mihi, sed ministro Christi. Illius enim te urget potestas, qui te Cruci suae subjugavit. Illius brachium contremisce, qui devictis gemitibus inferni, animas ad lucem perduxit. Sit tibi terror corpus hominis (in pectore), sit tibi formido imago Dei (in fronte). Non resistas, nec moreris discedere ab homine isto, quoniam complacuit Christo in homine habitare. Et ne contemnendum putes, dum me peccatorem nimis esse cognoscis. Imperat tibi Deus. Imperat tibi majestas Christi Imperat tibi Deus Pater, imoerat tibi Deus Filius, imperat tibi Deus Spiritus Sanctus. Imperat tibi sacramentum Crucis. Imperat tibi fides sanctorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli, et ceterorum Sanctorum. Imperat tibi Martyrum sanguis, Imperat tibi contentia Confessorum. Imperat tibi pia Sanctorum et Sanctarum omnium intercessio, Imperat tibi christianae fidei mysteriorum virtus. Exi ergo, transgressor. Exi, seducor, plene omni dolo et fallacia, virtutis inimice, innocentium persecutor. Da locum, dirissime, da loocum, impiissime, da locum Christo, in quo nihil invevisti de operibus tuis: qui te spoliavit, qui regnum tuum destruxit, qui te victum ligavit, et vasa tua diripuit: qui te projecit in tenebras exteriores, ubi tibi cum ministris tuis erit praeparatus interitus. Sed quid truculente reniteris? Quid temerarie detrectas? Reus es omnipotenti Deo, cujus statuta transgressus es. Reus es Filio ejus Jesu Christo Domino nostro, quem tentare ausus es, et crucifigere praesumpsisti. Reus es humano generi, cui tuis persua- sionibus mortis venenum propinasti. Adjuro ergo te, draco nequissime, in nomine Agni immaculati, qui ambulavit super aspidem et basiliscum, qui conculavit leonem et draconem, ut discedas ab hoc homine (fiat signum crucis in fronte), discedas ab Ecclesia Dei (fiat signum crucis super circumstantes): contremisce, et effuge, invocato nomine Domini illius, quem inferi tremunt: cui Virtutes caelorum, et Potestates, et Dominationes subjectae sunt: quem Cherubim et Serpahim indefessis vocibus laudant, dicentes: Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus Dominus Deus tibi Verbum caro factum. Imperat tibi natus ex Virgine. Imperat tibi Jesus Nazarenus, qui te, cum disciplulos ejus contemneres, elisum atque prostratum exire praecepit ab homine: quo praesente, cum te ab homine serparasset, nec porcorum gregem ingredi praesumebas. Recede ergo nunc adjuratus in nomine ejus ab homine, quem ipse plasmavit. Durum est tibi velle resistere. Durum est tibi contra stimulum calcitrare, Quia quanto tardius exis, tanto magis tibi supplicium crescit, quia non homines contemnis, sed illum, qui dominatur vivorum et mortuorum, qui venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos, et saeculum per ignem. (K) Amen."

As we were reciting this Lilith started to scream in pain, the exorcism was starting to work. To finish the ritual, Sam and I joined together saying the words in unison and feeding on our joint powers.

"Adjuro ergo te, omnis immundissime spiritus, omne phantasma, omnis incursio satanae, in nomine Jesu Christi Nazareni, qui post lavacrum Joannis in desrtum ductus est, et te in tuis sedibus vicit: ut, quem ille de limo terrae ad honorem gloriae suae formavit, tu desinas impurgnare: et in homine miserabili non humanam fragilitatem, sed imaginem omnipotentis Dei contremiscas. Cede ergo Deo qui te, et malitiam tuam in Pharaone, et in exercitu ejus per Moysen servum suum in abysseum demersit. Cede Deo qui te per fidelissimum servum suum David de rege Saule spiritualibus canticis pulsum fugavit. Cede Deo qui te in Juda Iscariote proditore damnavit. Ille enim te divinis verberibus tangit, in cujus conspectu cum tuis legionibus tremens et clamans dixisti; Quid nobis et tibi, Jesu, Fili Dei altissimi? Venisti huc ante tempus torquere nos? Ille te perpetuis flammis urget, qui in fine temporum dicturus est impiis: Discedite a me, maledicti, in ignem aeternum, qui paratus est diabolo et angelis ejus. Tibi enim, impie, et angelis tuis vermes erunt, qui numquam morientur. Tibi, et angelis tuis inexstinguibile praeparatur incendium: quia tu es princeps maledicti homicidii, tu auctor incestus, tu sacrilegorum caput, tu actionum pessimarum magister, tu haereticorum doctor, tu totius obscoenitatis inventor. Exi ergo , impie, exi , scelerate, exi cum omni fallacia tua: quia hominem templum suum esse voluit Deus. Sed quid diutius moraris hic? Da honorem Deo Patri omnipotenti, cui omne genu flectitur. Da locum Domino Jesu Christo, qui pro homine sanguinem suum sacratissimum fudit. Da locum Spiritui Sancto, qui per beatum Apostolum suum Petrum te manifeste stravit in Simone mago; qui fallaciam tuam in Anania et Saphira condemnavit; qui te in Herode rege honorem Deo non dante percussit; qui te in mago Elyma per Apostolum suum Paulum caecitatis caligine perdidit, et per eumden de Pythonissa verbo imperans exire praecepit. Discede ergo nunc , discede , seductor. Tibi eremus sedes est. Tibi habitatio serpens est: humiliare, et prosternere. Jam non est differendi tempus. Ecce enim dominator Dominus proximat cito, et ignis ardebit ante ipsum, et praecedet, et inflammabit in circuitu inimicos ejus. Si enim hominem fefelleris, Deum non poteris irridere. Ille te ejicit, cujus oculis nihil occultum est. Ille te expellit, cujus virtuti universa subjecta sunt. Ille te execludit, qui tibi, et angelis tuis praeparavit aeternam gehennam; de cujus ore exibit gladius acutus: qui venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos, et saeculum per ignem. (K). Amen.

* Praedicta omnia, quatenus opus sit, repeti possunt. donec obsessus sit omnino liberatus.  
* Juvabit praeterea plurimum super obsessum saepe repetere Pater Noster, Ave Maria et credo, atque haec quae infra notantur, devote dicere."

As we got to the end of the ritual there was a final scream from the centre of the devils trap and that's the last thing that I remember as I felt myself collapsing to the floor.


	19. Fallout

As we got to the end of the ritual there was a final scream from the centre of the devils trap and that's the last thing that I remember as I felt myself collapsing to the floor.

I felt myself waking up and when I looked around the room I could see that Lilith was gone, we had done it we had actually managed to vanquish her. I turned to talk to Will, Sam, Dean and Bobby, confirming that we had done it. We had won we were safe, Lilith couldn't hurt us anymore. Instead of speaking to them, I saw Will carrying me to the couch and placing me gently down what was worrying was that I was unable to feel his arms around me or any part of my body. I tried screaming to make Will, Sam, Dean and Bobby but nothing was coming out. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sam grab his head as though he was having a vision, I walked towards Sam I thought if I got close enough I could maybe whisper in his ear and let him and everyone else know that I was still hear. It didn't work and I was starting to worry that I wouldn't be coming back from this.

I could hear that they were trying to decide whether phoning an ambulance and getting me to a hospital was the best cause of action, or if the reason that I had collapsed in the first place was supernatural and taking me to a hospital would be waste of time. I knew that Will was getting frustrated and his voice was getting louder as he was telling Dean and Bobby, "We need to get her to the hospital, it could be anything and the only way we will find out is having them run tests. I can't lose her, I just can't" Dean replied "I know Will, but it can't be a coincidence that Toni collapsed at the exact moment that she and Sam exorcised Lilith. I don't think a hospital is going to find out what is wrong with her, it is probably something supernatural and we need to work out what and how to fix it." Will looked from Dean to Sam and said "It's the first time since I've know her, that I can't feel any emotions coming from her. Sam can you feel anything? Is she still here? Are we going to get her back?" Sam looked back at him crestfallen and said "I can't feel anything either. I'm sorry Will I should have stopped her from doing this; I knew it was risky but thought that if we did it together then it would reduce the risk."

Whilst the big boys debated whether or not to take my body to the hospital, I went and checked on my sons. I wanted to make sure that the confrontation with Lilith and my drawing on their powers hadn't hurt them. Before I entered the nursery the boys I could feel them starting to stir, and went I entered, I whispered to them "It's ok. Mummy's here. I'll always be watching over you, no matter where I am. Daddy and your cousins will keep you safe even if I can't." Aidan and Cole rolled over in their cribs and opened their eyes, stared directly at me and lifted up their hands as though they wanted me to pick them up. They were smiling as though they had heard me and wanted me to pick them up. Cole rolled back on to his back stared at his mobile and it started to move. At this my heart soared they hadn't been affected by what had happened in the study, 2 floors below them and hadn't lost their powers.

Shortly after that Will, Sam and Dean entered the nursery, they all looked at Aidan and Cole and Will asked "What's up boys, what's causing the fuss." While Will was talking to the boys, they turned to look at me and started to smile, I said "It's ok. Daddy's not mad at you; he's just a little bit upset at the moment." Will turned to Sam and Dean and said "Did you see that, the boys smiled. I can't see what they are smiling at though, but I know they aren't smiling at me. They seem to be looking over my shoulder but there is nothing there. Sam, are you sure you can't sense anything because I could swear that Aidan and Cole can see Toni and that she's talking to them." When Will finished talking the mobile over Cole's head started to rotate and it picked up speed - getting quicker and quicker. As he was unable to talk, Cole was sending his father a message in the only way that he knew, he just needed Will to hear him. Will reached into his crib and picked him up, and said "Is that it Cole, can you see mummy, is she in the room with us." The mobile picked up speed again, and at the same time the stereo turned on and started playing ""Come around more Alabama, by Steve Carlson with Jensen Ackles" the boys' favorite lullaby. Will looked at Sam and Dean and said "Toni's definitely here, Cole and Aidan can see here. So what do we do now? How do we get her back?"

Sam said "We need to do some Research. I think that we should start with Bilocation or Astral Projection. Will do you know if you have a spirit board in the house? I tried that to communicate with Dean during his stay at the hospital in South Dakota. We could try it and see if we can talk to Toni. I also think that this solves the hospital question. We need to keep Toni at the house. How about we bring her up to her bedroom from the study and make her more comfortable." Will nodded in agreement and said "I'll go and get her. I'm not sure that we have a spirit board; it's not something that Toni would normally have lying around the house. We can check f there was one in the selection that Bobby brought with him. If not Dean can you run out and pick one up, I really to need to have a conversation with my wife.." Dean nodded at Will and said "Sure, I'll run out and pick one up anyway as it may be quicker than searching through all of Bobby's belongings."

Dean left to go and pick up the spirit board, Sam went to the study to start the research and let Bobby know what was going on and Will followed him to collect me and bring me back upstairs to our room. He laid me down carefully on my side of the bed, and climbed onto the bed beside me and wrapped himself around me. Although I couldn't feel his actual presence I could feel the love that he felt for me, it must be the residual from the boys power shift. If I could feel my heart I know it would be swelling to bursting but as it was my soul as that is the only way I could describe what I was feeling was that I was light as a feather.

An hour later the spirit board was set up on the floor at the bottom of the bed, I thought this is never going to work how am I going to move anything I don't have a physical presence to do it with. Will came and sat on the floor on one side of the board and I sat on the opposite side. We put our hands on the table and Will started asking the questions.

"Toni, are you here" – I pushed the table towards the 'Yes'

"Were you in the boys room before" – again I pushed the table towards 'Yes'

"Do you know what happened to you?" – this time I pushed the table to the 'No'

"Should we take you to the hospital, or do you want to stay here" – I move the table around spelling out 'H – E – R – E'

"Can you feel anything, are you cold, hot" – I moved the table around spelling 'N-O-T-H-I-N-G."

Dean, Sam and Bobby had remained downstairs doing the research giving Will some privacy to ask the questions he needed to ask. Will was asking his next question; Sam and Dean appeared at the door.

"Why did you do it, why would you put yourself in danger like that" – I moved the table around 'K-E-E-P Y-O-U S-A-F-E'

I was about to finish with 'Keep the boys safe' but was interrupted by Will saying, you didn't need to do it that way. He looked up at Sam and Dean and said "We all need you as much as you need us. We could have found another way." Sam coughed to bring Will's attention back to the present and what we were trying to accomplish getting me back into my body or onto the other side.

At that moment I saw a light and it was getting brighter and brighter in the corner of the room and then it faded out and I saw someone standing there, it looked an older John. I walked up to him and said "Is it really you John." He smiled at me and said "Yes, Beanpole it's really me. I see you met my boys. They are great boys aren't they, I'm so proud of the way they turned out even with the life they have led." When he used his nickname for me he brought a smile to my face, I knew it was really him. I leant in to hug him and realized that would be pointless as neither of us had a body.

I replied "Yes, John they are great. You can't believe how pissed I was at you when I found out that you were dead. That you made a deal for Dean and yes I know the phrase 'pot calling the kettle black' comes to mind. But, I can still be mad at you. You took away the opportunity to get to know my nephews and help you through the grief. I had no-one around to help with Mum and Dad's funerals. You didn't get to give me away at my wedding or even see my wedding and have you seen your nephews. They are beautiful boys John. Have you come to escort me to the other side? Is that why you are here?"

All the time that John and I were talking, Cole and Aidan were watching us and reacting to my voice and that they could see someone else in the room that they didn't know. The mobile in their room started to spin like mad and the stereo volume shot up and '(Don't Fear) The Reaper' started to play. Will and Dean rushed into the nursery to check on the boys and Sam rushed to my side. He put his hand on my throat and started to feel for a pulse, he shouted to Will "we need to get Toni to the hospital, her pulse is way down I think that we are going to lose her…"

[I] I know I'm completely rotten – does Toni get to live or should she pass on ? I've not decided yet and I could go either way… [/I]


	20. Diagnosis

He put his hand on my throat and started to feel for a pulse, he shouted to Will "we need to get Toni to the hospital, her pulse is way down I think that we are going to lose her…"

I watched Will grab the phone and dial 911, "I need an ambulance, my wife collapsed and she hasn't come around yet and now her blood pressure is now dropping." The operator replied "Ambulance is on its way and should be there in 10 minutes." Will turned to Sam and asked "Can you wait for the ambulance downstairs and show the paramedics up when they arrive; I can't leave." Sam said "No problem," and headed downstairs to wait.

Will sat next to me on the bed and whispered in my ear "Toni, you have to come back to me. You can't leave me alone, not now, I need you, and the twins need their mother. I can't raise them on my own. I don't know how to be a parent to two children let alone two special kids. I don't know how to teach them to use those abilities." My heart was breaking listening to him spill out everything he was feeling. All I wanted to do was hold him in my arms and tell him that it was going to be alright. That was hard as I wasn't convinced that it would be. John wouldn't have suddenly appeared without a reason, and I was starting to think that he maybe he was there to take me 'home' with him.

Aidan started to cry, and Cole started his mobile turning. I walked to the cots and stood between them, reached down and stroked their foreheads and said "It's alright boys. Daddy's just upset at the moment. Don't worry everything is going to be alright. I turned around and realized that John was standing behind me looking at the twins. "John, you didn't answer me. Now that Lilith is dead and the family is safe is it time for me to leave? Is that why you are here, to take me back with you?" John smiled at me and said "I'm not sure how this is going to turn out or what is going to happen. I'm here because when you banished Lilith and collapsed you called out to me and God let me come down here to be with you."

We smiled at each other, and I continued "John, I'd like you to your nephews, Cole Dean Matthew William Talbot born on 25th April and Aidan John Robert Samuel Talbot born on 26th April." John pulled me into a hug and said "Beanpole, they are beautiful children. I know that you will be an amazing mother; you were amazing with Dean and Sam when they were babies. I am surprised though as I thought that you would be the one to rebel and break the family tradition and not include a Sam in your child's name." I looked at him with a broad smile "Yes, I included Sam but about honoring your Sam and not keeping up the family tradition. We also included John, Dean, Matthew, Robert and William to honor all the important men in our lives."

Dean came in and picked up Aidan hoping that he could calm him down and then in turn calm his brother down. Dean sat down in the armchair and started humming "Ramblin' Man" to Aidan as in the past he had used this to calm him down. John watched him with Aidan and a look of pride came over his face, I turned to him and said "He is brilliant with his cousins. You should be very proud of them Sam and Dean are amazing men." John said "I am but I can't take the credit, I didn't really raise them. I was so caught up with chasing down the thing that took Mary from me I pretty much left Dean to raise himself and Sam. I regret that I never got to the chance to tell Sam, I did tell Dean but I think that it got lost when I told him that he may have to kill Sam." When I heard John say that I yelled at him "You told Dean what", reached over and thumped him. Aidan screamed suddenly and the mobile over Cole's bed went manic. I walked up behind Dean and learned down to Aidan and said "I'm sorry baby; Mummy was really mad at Uncle John but it's alright now. Can you calm down for her please?"

Sam came in followed by two paramedics, checked my vitals put me onto the stretcher, took me downstairs and out to the waiting ambulance. Will turned to Dean, Sam and Bobby (who had followed them upstairs) and said "can someone stay here with the boy, we can't take them to the hospital with us." Dean looked at Sam and then at the twins "I'll stay here," he said "and Sam and Bobby can with you, I'm sure you'll appreciate the support at the hospital and you'll need someone there to bring you home later." Again, I could feel the wave of pride coming from John. In spite of everything that Dean had seen, he was still a man who put the thought and feelings of others before himself. In that moment I knew that if Aidan and Cole turned out half as well as Dean I would be as proud a parent as John was. I was torn as I wanted to know what was happening to my body, but I also wanted to be at home with my boys. If this was going to be my last night on earth I didn't want to pass it separated from my boys. John looked at me and said "It's ok, I know what you are thinking but you can get back here at anytime go be with your body and see if that answers any questions."

Thirty minutes later I was lying on a gurney at the hospital. The doctor in charge of my treatment had ordered an MRI. Sam and Bobby arrived at the hospital about 10 minutes after Will and I. Sam volunteered to complete the medical forms for Will so that he could be with me. After the doctor completed the initial tests, Will sat beside me holding my hand and talking to me in the hope that he would get some response. He was still concerned that he had not been able to pick up any emotions from me. Sam and Bobby walked into the room and Will looked at Sam and said "Are you picking up anything, cos I still can't feel her." Sam shook his head and look deflated "I'm sorry Will, I can't feel anything either. The spirit board and the way that the twins were reacting lead me to believe that Toni's still around somewhere and we will get her back." Will looked at him and said "I hope so, I can't lose her. We can't lose her." Fifteen minutes later and they wheeled my body off to the MRI. Whilst my body was off having the scan I watched as Will, and Sam paced the room and Bobby sat in the corner of the room.

Bobby got up and left the room, I watched him go and I was surprised that he would do that as Bobby had come to be with Will. Bobby was the closest thing to family that Will had and he wanted to be there for him. I followed him through the hospital until he reached Chapel, he entered and sat in the front pew. With everything that Bobby had dealt with in his life I hadn't realized that Bobby believed in a greater power so seeing him at that moment made my heart break. I sat next to him in the pew, put my hand on his shoulder hoping to give him some comfort as he started praying "God, this isn't something that I do very often, I know that I should show up more often. Please don't hold that against this family. I need you to bring Toni back, she's needed here. The family has had too much heart break in their life already; demons took Will's and both of Sam and Dean's parents. Demons have broken apart this family for over two decades and it has only just come back together again, please give them the opportunity to do that. I know that she has brought Will alive again. He was so lost after his parents' death and that when he met me he was out for vengeance and didn't see anything apart from getting back at what had taken them away from him. He met Toni and for the first time in a long time he saw that there was something else worth living for apart from revenge."

I suddenly felt a tug in my heart and found myself back beside my body in the room in the ER. I was watching as Will seemed to collapse in a heap on the floor and Sam leading him to one of the chairs. Sam turned to the doctor and said "A Cerebral Aneurysm. What do you have to do now?" The doctor said "We need to take her to surgery immediately where the neuro-surgeon will perform an endovascular coil. The surgeon will pass a catheter into the aneurysm, and release a series of platinum coils, the coils will initiate clotting and this should eliminate the aneurysm. Mr. Talbot, I need you to sign the surgery release form before we can proceed." Sam turned to Will "Will are you with us? You need to sign this so they can Toni to surgery and bring her back to us." Will stood up from the chair, walked up took the forms signed them and handed them back "How long will she be in surgery? When she comes back how long will she be unconscious for?" The doctor turned to Will and said "Let me get Mrs. Talbot into surgery and then I will come back and answer all your questions." The doctor left the room and Bobby walked back in and looked at Will and Sam and could tell something huge had happened. Both of them had had tears in their eyes. Will walked to the bed and started to stroke my head and said "Stay strong baby. We know what's wrong now. We'll get you back you just need to stay with us for a little while longer. OK, can you do that for me?" As he was talking to me, two orderlies came in to take me down to surgery, Will leaned over kissed my forehead and said "We'll see you in a couple of hours.." The doctor reappeared and said "Follow me I'll show you where you can wait for Mrs. Talbot to come out of surgery and answer any questions you have"

Sam turned to Will and said "I'm going to go and get some coffee and let Dean know what is going on? Who else wants a coffee? Bobby, you staying in the waiting room with Will?" Bobby replied "I'll take a coffee, and yes I'm going to stay with Will. I think that's where I'm needed now." Will looked up as though he had suddenly realized that a conversation was happening around him. "What's going on. Someone should let Dean know what's happening and that we won't back at the house tonight." Sam said "Yeah, I'm going to grab coffee and call Dean and let him know what's up. Do you want a coffee?" Will said "Yeah, that would be great. We'll meet you in the waiting room." Will and Bobby walked off towards the waiting room and Sam headed to the cafeteria to place the call and grab the coffees.

I felt myself being pulled again but this time it was back to the house and my twins. I was back in the nursery at home and saw Dean with Cole on his lap humming to him; Aidan was asleep in his cot. Shortly after I got back the phone rang and Dean got up walked into the bedroom picked up the phone and I heard his side of the conversation with Sam. Dean's face feel as Sam told him I was in surgery and was suffering from a burst brain aneurysm. I looked at John at this point and said "what happens now, do you know." John said "I'm sorry Beanpole; I really don't know what is going to happen. I will stay with you throughout though, you want be alone."

Back at the hospital Will, Bobby and Sam had been informed that the surgery would likely take 3 hours. They were passing the time by alternating between sitting placidly in the waiting room and pacing back and forth, occasionally someone made a run to the cafeteria for coffee. Nurses had been coming in to the room every 30 minutes to keep us updated, the Winchester name and the donations to the hospital went someway to the preferred treatment. Two hours into the surgery, and things took a turn and the alarms on the monitors started bleeping madly. The surgeon shouted out, I need the paddles we are losing her…


	21. Decision Time

_I apologize if there are any medical inaccuracies; I did my best at research on Google._

Two hours into the surgery, and things took a turn and the alarms on the monitors started bleeping madly. The surgeon shouted out, I need the paddles we are losing her…

* * *

The heart monitor was showing signs of 'Ventricular tachycardia', the heart rate was speeding up and irregular. The paddles were passed to the surgeon, who shouted "Stand clear" the surgeon released the charge. The lines on the monitors were slowing down and showing a more regular pattern. The surgeon said "we need to finish this off and get her out of the OR onto the ward as I'm not sure her heart can take much more stress."

Back in the nursery I was watching over my twin sons. In the corner of the room a brilliant light appeared and I felt a sudden rush of warmth and peace pass through me. I turned to John and said "is this it, is time to go now." John said "I don't know, that decision is down to you; the doorway is open but it is up to you whether or not you make that transition. As I said before whatever your decision I will be there with you."

I turned back to look at Dean holding Cole humming to him, I walked up behind him and leant down and whispered in Cole's ear "It's ok baby, Mummy's coming home, I just need to work out how to get here." At that Cole looked up and over Dean's shoulder and Dean looked at him and said "Hey, buddy, what's up. Can you see your mummy? Is she still here?" At that moment the phone rang, Dean reached over and picked it up "Hello, what's up." On the other end was Sam telling Dean what was happening "There has been a problem in the operating room, Toni's crashing and we don't know if she's going to make it." Dean responded "Sam, tell Will she's going to make it. She's here and has been talking to Cole." I walked across to the spirit board and started to move the table around; Cole cooed in Dean's arms and leaned towards the board which brought Dean's attention to it.

**_"Minnie says I Love you and that I'm not going anywhere, and I'll see you soon"_**

Dean said "Sam, I think I've got a message for Will from Toni." He gave Sam the message, Sam relayed the message to Will and in return said "That's great Dean, Will's smiling, it's the first time I've seen him smile in 5 hours and he is looking hopeful. Hold on a second the nurse has just come out of the operating room for our half hourly check." With Cole sat on his lap Dean thought that it was taking forever for Sam to come back and update him on what was happening, in reality it was just over a minute later. "Dean, they thought that they were going to lose her for a while but they managed to get her heart back into rhythm again.

Dean asked "So she's going to be alright then?" Sam replied "We should get a better idea of what is going to happen in an hour. They will have finished inserting the endovascular coil and she will be in recovery waiting to move into ICU." "Sam, ICU! Why is she going into ICU?" I could hear the near panic in his voice, and I walked across to the chair and gently stroked Cole's head to keep him calm, the last thing that Dean needed was two anxious babies and things flying around the nursery. On the other end of the phone Sam was saying "Dean calm down, it's standard procedure, it's so they can monitor her closely for the next 24hrs and then she'll be transferred into a private room. I know that you are really concerned about Toni, and that you are in your natural protective mode but you need to stay calm. Remember that Aidan can pick up on your emotions and transmit that to Cole." Dean nodded and said "I know Sammy it's just really hard being so far away and not being able to do anything. It reminds me of how I felt when you disappeared on me, and you've done that three times and look how well they all turned out." "I know Dean, but I'm safe now and so are you. We didn't really get a chance to think about this before everything happened but you're safe, really safe, Lilith and her hell-hounds are not going to drag you to hell anymore Dean. You get to live your life and we have a new family to go along with it. We have a clean page in the Winchester Journal."

Dean smiled and said "I know Sam, just get back here soon. I will need some help when Aidan wakes up so far Cole has been pretty quiet but with them both awake it could get noisy really fast. Every now and then, I swear Toni is talking to him and keeping him calm, I'm assuming that when her body heals her 'soul' will be dragged back to it. Mine did in South Dakota and once she has gone then the twins will only have my emotions to pick up on and you know that's probably not a good thing.." Sam laughed on the other end of the phone and said "As soon as Toni is out of surgery, I'll leave Bobby here with Will and come back."

Just over an hour later and Sam walked into the house, climbed the stairs to the nursery and saw Dean sitting in the chair with Cole resting against one arm and Aidan laying on his back staring up at his mobile in his crib. Sam looked at his older brother and his heart melted this was his Dean the big brother that he had wanted back for so many months, the brother he had begged to come back six months ago in that ramshackle motel room. Dean looked up and said "I'm glad you're back Aidan has just woken up and they both need to eat. With everything going on I didn't want to leave the nursery to go prepare something whilst Aidan was asleep and Cole was with me, I thought if he woke up and couldn't sense his brother in the room he might freak out." Sam nodded at his brother and disappeared downstairs to prepare two bottles for the boys.

Back at the hospital I had been moved into the ICU and Will was sitting beside the bed, stroking my hand and talking to me. He had been told that he would have to leave the room in just over an hour as visiting time was over at 9pm. As much as Will wanted to stay with me he knew that he had to listen to the advice of the hospital and he needed to get back and see his boys. He leant in kissed me and said "don't you ever do that to me again. The thought of losing you was killing me. I should be used to it with you working for the FBI but until now it was never something that had crossed my mind as a reality. I'm going to go home and check on the twins but before I do could you please open your eyes just to let me know your ok." He was stroking my hand and I could feel it, which was something that I hadn't done since I had been disconnected from my body.

I was becoming more and more aware of my surroundings and could feel his hand move up and down my arm. As I became more aware of my surroundings my hand twitched underneath Will's hand, he reached up to my face and stroked down the side of it "Toni, are you there? Can you hear me?" While he was reaching up to my face he also pressed the alarm button for the nurses' station. One of the nurses appeared at the door looked at Will and said "You buzzed." Will said "Yes, I think that my wife is coming around. She just moved her hand." As he finished the sentence, my hand moved on the side of the bed coming up towards my nose, I had a horrendous itch that I needed to scratch. "Did you see that" he said to the nurse, "yes" she said, "I'll get the neuro-surgeon."

Shortly after the nurse left, my eyelids started to flutter and I slowly opened my eyes and turned my head and looked at Will. I attempted to say something but my throat was dry and as Will was about to pass me a drink the neuro-surgeon walked in. "Wait a minute Mr. Talbot, Mrs. Talbot can have a small sip of water and then I want to check her over." Will passed me a glass of water with a straw, so that I could take a couple of small sips. The neuro-surgeon walked towards me and he said "Mrs. Talbot, do you know where you are?" I attempted to speak and let her know that I wasn't sure as the last thing I remembered I was at home in my study. All that came out was a deep rasp, Will looked at me and said "it's ok, take it slowly and have another sip of water." The surgeon looked back at me and said "Mrs. Talbot, my name is Dr Jamie Brodie I'm a neuro-surgeon here at Georgetown University Hospital. You were brought in 7 hours ago with a Cerebral Aneurysm; we took you into surgery to insert an endovascular coil. We are going to keep you in ICU for the next 24 hours to monitor your condition and then we will move you into a private room. We have you on Do you have any other questions?" I looked at Dr Brodie and said gruffly "No, that's fine. I don't have any questions at the moment, but if I think of anything I will ask one of the nurses or speak to you before I'm moved." Dr Brodie turned to the nurse that had followed her into the room and said "Check blood pressure and temperature every ten minutes and let me know if there are any changes." Dr Brodie left the room and said "Mrs. Talbot, I'll see you tomorrow. Mr. Talbot you have thirty minutes and then you have to leave, Mrs. Talbot needs her rest."

I looked at Will and motioned for another sip of water and took a couple of sips handed Will back the glass. He sat on the edge of the bed, grabbed my hand and said "Hey there beautiful, welcome back" Will said "you really had me and everyone worried." I said in no more than a whisper "I'm sorry I worried you. What happened? Why am I in the hospital? If you're here, who's with the twins? Are they safe? The doctor said something about a Cerebral Aneurysm but the last thing I remember is preparing to trap Lilith. Did we get her? Is she gone? Is Dean safe?" Will looked up at me and said "Toni, please calm down. I'll answer your questions but you need to calm down or you're going to send your blood pressure up again. First things first, the twins are fine Dean and Sam are looking after them. Dean has been with them since we brought you into the hospital and Sam went home when you came out of surgery." I looked up at him and he said "Bobby is downstairs in the waiting room. You're only allowed one visitor at a time. Lilith is gone, the twins and Dean are safe. We'll talk about how reckless you were when you're out of ICU and at home." I looked at him sheepishly, and said "I'm sorry you know that I love you don't you?" My eyes were getting heavy and I really wanted to sleep again, Will looked at me and said "Sleep, you need your rest and I need to get home and see the boys. I will be back first thing in the morning." He then left me to my sleep and went back home to our family.


	22. Awakening

_My eyes were getting heavy and I really wanted to sleep again, Will looked at me and said "Sleep, you need your rest and I need to get home and see the boys. I will be back first thing in the morning." He then left me to my sleep and went back home to our family._

* * *

Three days later and I was now in a private room having been moved out of ICU with a reasonably clean bill of health. I was still being closely monitored although the checks were now down to once an hour from once every ten minutes. On the last visit by Dr Brodie she had updated Will and I on my condition. She explained the surgery and that I would need annual checkups to ensure that the bleed from the aneurysm was not recurring. As she was telling me this all I could think was that this was not over, that I would live the rest of my life not knowing if or when the time bomb in my brain would go off.

When Dr Brodie left Will took hold of my hand, and a wave of calm came over me and said to me "I know that this is scary Toni, but we will get through this as we have got through everything else. You know that this is not going to affect your work at the bureau. The surgeon has said that she will clear you for duty when you are discharged. You will still have a job that you love. Lilith is gone. Aidan and Cole are safe. This is not going to affect the way that they see their mum or how you interact with them. Dean and Sam are safe and you have contact with them they are not going to drop out of your life again." I smiled back at him and said "I know that but it's just really scary, I have a time bomb that could go off at anytime. The other thing is what effect will this have on my abilities and my ability to help the boys with their powers." As I finished that sentence the room to my door opened and Sam walked through "You don't need to worry about that Toni, I can help with teaching the boys on how to use their powers like you taught me. That's what family does for each other" and as he finished the sentenced he looked back over his shoulder and said "don't you agree Dean."

A huge smile came to my face as I saw my nephews for the first time in 4 days. "Of course. That's what we are and family is everything, Dad taught us that. Admittedly until recently we thought he was talking about the two of us." Dean replied, as he was taking about John a bittersweet smile came to my face, I was remembering John being there for me, I hadn't told anyone yet about what I had seen and felt when I was out of it. Sam and Will looked at each other and then at me and said "What is it Toni? What's brought the smile to your face and the sorrow to your heart?" I looked between the three of the men in my life and said "I saw him, I saw John. It felt so real at the time but now I think that it was all a figment of my imagination resulting from the aneurysm. I missed him so much that as I was drifting away I imagined John was there to provide me with comfort. I thought he was there to bring me home, now I'm not so sure." Will was sitting on the edge of the bed leaned in and stroked the side of my face, Dean and Sam came to the side of the bed and held my right hand. They said at the same time "I'm sure it wasn't your imagination. You almost passed away twice that day and knowing what we know about the supernatural we're sure that a loved one would have come down to escort you over to the other side. You need to take comfort in that."

I looked at Dean and Sam and said "Thank you, thank you. You have protected my family when I couldn't. I can't thank you enough for doing that." Dean leaned down and said "Toni, you don't need to thank us for doing that. It has been an absolute pleasure. I've loved getting to know my cousins. Although they are identical even at this age they have their own personalities."

I suddenly felt this wash of complete love coming from everyone in the room, I looked from Will to Dean and ended up at Sam and said "The boys powers haven't gone. I suddenly felt a wave of love, and it was different to the wave of calm that I feel whenever Will is around. It felt the same as when I was pregnant with the boys and I knew that something was up. I didn't think that I would retain my powers after our confrontation with Lilith. I don't know if I can cope with that much power, especially with an aneurysm that may blow at anytime." Will looked at me and said "It's going to be alright. You learnt how to manage your power the first time and the doctor said that you've probably had the aneurysm since you were young. If learning how to use the power the first time or doing all of the training at the house didn't cause it to blow then I doubt that learning how to manage it this time will be any different." I took hold of Will's hand and said "Have I told you lately how much I love you and how grateful you came into my life." There was a loud cough from the other side of the bed and Sam said "Eh guys, we are still here.."

Dean took the opportunity and asked "Toni, has the doctor given you any idea of when you are going to get out of here?" I said with a little bit of hurt in my voice "You eager to get back on the road already?" Dean said slightly deflated "No, it's nothing like that. It's just Sam and I don't do hospitals. It's where we lost Dad and there are too many bad memories. We can't wait to get you home. We had even discussed hanging around for a while if that's ok with you." I grabbed hold of Dean's hand and said "Of course it's ok. You and Sam can stay as long as like. The doctor said that I should be able to go home in a few more days. They just want to make sure that my blood pressure is steady and that the coil has taken. I go for a CT scan tomorrow and the doctor will be back in after that to give me a better idea."

Sam and Dean looked at me and said "Ok we will head home, we've left the twins with Bobby for long enough. We're not sure who will have suffered the most." They headed out the door, when the opened the door to leave I said "Boys, thank you for coming and thank you again for looking out for my boys. I hope to be home soon." With that they left and I was left in the room with Will. He climbed up beside me on the bed reached up to my face and pulled it gently towards him and kissed me. His kiss was full of passion and love. I reached back and stroked the side of his face and kissed him back, transmitting the way that I felt about him in the kiss. He leaned down to me and said we need to stop this now before someone walks in or your blood pressure sky rockets and they won't let you home. We sat with him beside me on the bed for the rest of the visiting time, talking about our future, what we wanted and what it meant for the family now that Lilith was gone. Knowing that there other things out there in the dark that may come after the Winchester / Talbot clan how would we deal. We discussed the possibility of becoming a resource for other hunters to use, with our contacts we could become a research centre and with the family resources opening up fully stocked safe houses in different cities across the states that could be used for hunters. We decided that when I got home we would discuss this more as a family and make that decision together.


	23. Return Home

_We decided that when I got home we would discuss this more as a family and make that decision together._

Ten days later and I was fit enough to be released from hospital and sent home to my boys. Will was coming to the end of his sabbatical time, his boss at NCIS had been understanding whilst I was in the hospital, but he now needed to get back to work at the end of the month. Bobby told us that he needed to get back to the scrap yard as he had been gone now for 2 months and this was his business and he couldn't afford to let it go under.I had expected Dean and Sam to leave and get back on the road as well hunting done the rest of the demons that had escaped from the Devils gate a little over a year ago. I felt ashamed that I had missed 10 days of my son's lives; they seemed to have changed so much in such a short amount of time. Aidan it seemed was even more attuned to how his brother was feeling and would reach out towards him just before Cole started to cry. Cole's powers also seemed to have grown and he was moving things towards him in the nursery. Will said that on several occasions he had removed the stuffed whales; that the boys had received from one of his colleagues, from their cribs to come back into the room later on that same day and find them wrapped around them again. Will told me that on occasion the stereo in their room and switched on and started playing '' which was one of my favourite songs.

A couple of days before Bobby was due to leave for South Dakota, Bobby was sitting in the study watching the boys who were happily laying on their backs happily playing with their feet and the soft balls he had given them. Bobby was taking the opportunity to do some more research on the Winchester clan and the prophesy. He wanted to ensure that with Lilith gone, the prophesy had come true and that for the immediate future we would be safe. Will and I walked into the study and he was lost in watching the boys, he had a smile on his face that I can't remember seeing since we brought the boys home. It was nice to see him this happy, after everything we had all been through it was great to start to see the happiness returning to the house. Will coughed gently and Bobby looked up slightly surprised and said "Hey Will, the boys are fine. If you and Toni want to take off for a couple of hours, then I'm happy to stay here and watch them as I may not get the opportunity again for a while." Will turned to me and said "We may well do that but before we go we have an important question we want to ask you." Bobby looked back at us with concern on his face; the old hunter's instinct kicking into overdrive. Will looked back at him and said, "No Bobby, it's nothing bad. We wanted to know if it would be alright if we refer to you as Grandpa Bobby around the boys. You are the closest thing that I have to a father and I would be honoured if you would be my boys' grandpa."

Bobby got up from his seat came over and hugged Will and then myself. He said "I would be honoured if Aidan and Cole called me grandpa. Will, I've told you before that I think of you like a son and I now think of the whole Winchester clan as family as well." I looked at Bobby and said with my tears coming to my eyes "That's wonderful Bobby, as I've come think of you as family as well and we had another question that we wanted to ask you. We wondered if you would consider becoming one of Aidan and Cole godfathers. Bobby walked back up to me enveloped me up in his big arms and said "I would totally love to be one of their godparents, and of course I will be back. You aren't going to be able to keep me away from my grandsons. I plan on visiting at least, on the major holidays and their birthdays. I just need to get some help in at the salvage yard. Preferably someone from the hunting community, I will also need to baby proof the house as I expect you to visit me as well." I looked at Bobby and with a lump in my throat said "of course we will visit, and if you want any help baby proofing the house I would be more than willing to bundle the boys in the SUV and drive out and help you with the tidy up. You have so many rooms, we could turn one into a library and get some of the books off of the floor and onto shelves so we could find them when we need them."

Just as I was finishing my sentence, Dean and Sam walked into the study and said "Find what when we need them", I laughed and said "Bobby's books, he's talking about baby proofing the house so we can take the boys to visit." At this Dean looked at Bobby and burst out laughing, Bobby turned clipped the back of his head and said "what're you laughing at, you idgit. I know you saw that the house was tidy at least once this past century. Also I will do anything for my grandkids; I need to keep them safe otherwise I'm likely to lose the whole house, in a whirlwind of Cole's making." At that point I clipped him on the back of the head and said "Those are my kids you are talking about and he has got a lot better at controlling his temper and his powers but he is still only 6 weeks old what do you expect. If I were you I would be more concerned about his mama sending things flying around the room if she gets upset," he looked at me and said "You know I was only joshing you, don't you." I said "I know, and you know that I trust you with my boys' lives don't you." He nodded his head and with that the small family meeting was called to an end.

Will looked at me and said "I'll go feed the boys, you talk to Sam and Dean" and with that he picked up Cole whilst Bobby picked up Aidan and they walked away to the kitchen. Dean and Sam looked at me with concern in their eyes, lately any conversation that started with talk to Sam and Dean had not been good news, e.g. I know how to send Lilith back to hell, I had seen their father whilst I had been in surgery (still not sure if that was real or not), I would need constant monitoring for the aneurysm in my brain and there was no guarantee that it wouldn't burst or lead to something much worse in the future. Although they are both in their twenties, Dean almost in his thirties and they had been chasing the supernatural all of the lives at that moment in time they looked so small and so lost as though I was about to tell them their favourite pet had died. I grasped their hands in mine and pulling on my empathic powers that I had inherited from Aidan, I sent a wave of love and reassurance to both of the boys. "Dean, Sam it's okay, really it's nothing bad, I just have a favour that Will and I wanted to ask you. Will and I wanted to know if Sam if you would be Aidan's, and Dean would you be Cole's godfathers." I suddenly found myself in the middle of a Dean and Sam sandwich they were both hugging me hard and kissing me on the cheek. I coughed and said "Ah guys need some air here. Can hardly breathe.." They both let go and Dean turned to me and said "I'm sure I speak for Sam when I say we would be honoured to be Aidan and Cole's godfathers." Sam stood beside Dean nodding vigorously and said "it would be a total honour, when and where is the ceremony?"

I said if we join Will and Bobby in the kitchen, we can discuss this further. You will be sharing godfather duties with him. Sam and Dean looked at each and said "That's so cool." The three of use entered the kitchen and I said, "We have our godfathers." I looked back at Dean and said "There will be no placing of cotton wool in the cheeks and repeating lines from the Godfather films around my boys. There are enough scary things in the world already I don't want my boys afraid of their cousins." We all sat around the table and Will and Bobby continued to feed the boys. I told them "We will be holding a small ceremony in the local church on the 7th June; this would obviously mean that you would have to come back from South Dakota or the road for the ceremony." Bobby said "I'll be back at the beginning of June you can count on that."

Sam looked at me slightly deflated with sorrow in his eyes; Dean who was sitting behind him had the same expression on his face. I asked "Boys, what's wrong?" Sam said "Dean and I have been talking and we would like to stay here for a while longer if that's alright." I positioned myself between them reached an arm around each of them and said "I'm sure Will agrees with me, you can stay here as long as you like, I just thought that you might be itching to get back on the road what with Lilith being toast and all." Sam said "No, we thought that we might take the opportunity to live 'regular' for a while. George Washington University (GWU) has a great legal department, I've spoken to the Dean at Stanford and they can transfer my paperwork here and I can start classes in September, he even pointed me towards a job in the Legal department at NCIS that I can do between now and then. We could still hunt at the weekends and in the breaks, but there are other hunters, we don't have to save everyone."

Dean picked up and said "I know you said you asked MIT to keep my spot open, but I thought that I may change my major and have been looking at classes as well, I thought that I might try out Forensic Sciences. I have the grades and could start in September at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), it's only 2 hours from here and if we brought a property then we could make it something that is halfway between GWU and VCU." Sam dove in and said "We've actually got an appointment to look at a property on Friday in Falmouth, VA. It's a farmhouse with 9 acres (6 pasture and 3 wooded) so we will be able to continue with target practice without disturbing the neighbours."

I looked at Will and said maybe this is the ideal time to talk about what we discussed before I was discharged from the hospital. Everyone around the table looked at me as if to say "What are you talking about." Will said "Sounds like a plan to me, just let me put the boys down and we'll grab the beers and drinks and sit down in the living room and talk." I said "Do you want a hand?" Will said "No, it's ok, Grandpa Bobby already offered." They both disappeared upstairs to put the boys down for the night and Dean, Sam and I grabbed the drinks, beers for the boys and a diet soda for me and headed to the lounge where we would sit down and discuss the potential future for the Winchester Clan - all 7 of us.


	24. The way ahead

_They both disappeared upstairs to put the boys down for the night and Dean, Sam and I grabbed the drinks, beers for the boys and a diet soda for me and headed to the lounge where we would sit down and discuss the potential future for the Winchester Clan - all 7 of us._

After Aidan and Cole were down for the night, we all sat down for the Winchester version of a family meeting. We could now discuss the idea that had been running through my head since I started recovering at the hospital. Now that Dean and Sam were thinking about staying in the area then it may work out better than I had originally envisioned. Dean and Sam handed around the drinks and I started to explain the idea, of using the Winchester money and company to good use.

I started to tell them about the idea I had when I was laid up in the hospital. Creating a network for hunters, that would include a series of safe houses and libraries scattered across the states. The houses would be clean and fully stocked, with food and equipment. They would be fully protected and would stop the hunting community having to stay in run down motels or squatting in boarded up properties. It would provide hunters with a safe place to rest and would hopefully provide them with some security and mean that they were better rested. The houses would have all have high speed internet access allowing them to research without the fear of being watched or having to find an unsecured wireless network. The network would also provide the hunter with access to expert researchers if needed and that is where we would come in.

Bobby, I was hoping that you would agree to become a researcher, with the knowledge that you have gained over the years and your access to books, I think you would be a great font of knowledge. When I go back to work, they've agreed to my being based in DC, and not going out into the field, so I would act as another researcher and I could also point hunters towards hunts if I see anything 'hinky' come across my desk. Also with the contacts I have in the FBI and Will has at NCIS we can assist them in steering clear of the law and potential issues.

Dean and Sam, hearing that you want to stay in the area, I was hoping that you wouldn't mind using some of the land that you are looking. I was thinking that we would put up some accommodation, a library to house my original supernatural texts, and we could also add some computers that would hold scanned copies of Bobby's texts. I thought that if we were building accommodation and a library it might be an idea to include a medical centre so that hunters had a safe place that they could come to get fixed up and not have to worry about explaining about what happened.

Although I'm not involved on a daily basis with the Winchester Company, my father left me a seat on the board and the voting that went with it. He also left each of his grandchildren seats on the board and the appropriate voting rights to go with them. So that means that Dean and Sam have seats and voting rights as well and until the twins turn 21, I have their veto. Dean, I thought that with your technical knowledge we could set up a meeting with the Head of Research and Development, Jeff Morgan and you could create a new range of weapons for hunters.

Bobby took a swig of his beer and said "It's a great idea and I'd love to be a part of it. Maybe when we tidy up the scrap yard, we could put up an extension and after we have scanned my books we could put them into the extension and use it as a library. Maybe I could add another couple of rooms at the same time as part of the safe house network. I got up and from my chair and walked across the room to him and gave him a huge hug and whispered in his ear "Have I told you lately, how grateful I am that you are in my life. That my boys could have a better grandpa, I love you." At that Bobby suddenly got all squirmy and whispered back "I love you too, you idjit."

Dean and Sam looked at each other and then at Will and I and said "Toni, you've really thought about this haven't you." I said "I had some time whilst I was laying in a hospital room staring at blank walls or day time TV. Think how different our lives may have been if John had access to this kind of network. From what you tell me if you it would be an extended version of the roadhouse. I know you said you wanted normal but Dean you are so much like your father and with this then you will still be involved. Sam this plays to your strengths, also if we do this then there is strength in numbers. Dean and Sam looked at me again and said "We're in and I walked across the room from where I had been standing next to Bobby to them and gave them each a hug. I said "Thank you, you won't regret this I swear. It's going to work out great."

We spent the rest of the evening discussing the new family project and how we could possibly go about setting it all up and how it had the potential to help a lot of people. The following morning, Bobby left for South Dakota promising that he would be back in time for the christening in 3 weeks. Before Bobby left Dean asked him if he could finish spray painting the Impala blue for Sam and drive it back in 3 weeks. Sam knew that Dean had been fixing up a car for him but didn't know it was the Impala. Dean told me he was planning on giving it to Sam as a birthday present; but that it had been delayed when everything had gone to 'hell' on his birthday and we really hadn't had the opportunity to celebrate properly. I told Dean not to worry that we would celebrate properly when Bobby got back. You do only reach your quarter century once in your life.

After Bobby left, Dean and Sam contacted the real estate agent and changed the viewing of the property in Falmouth, and asked if she had any other large properties (4+ bedrooms) with a large amount of land i.e. more than 5 acres in her listings. The realtor, Hailey told Dean and Sam that she had some additional properties that she could show them. The first property was a new build on 11 acres of land, the second was on the waterfront with a barn that could be converted and extended quite easily to accommodate the library and hunters quarters, the third was in 10.50 acres of woodland, which made it very private and units could but up throughout the woodlands, and the last property was not in Falmouth but was situated in Stafford on 10 acres, with a pool, a 3 stall barn (again this could be converted) fenced pastures, and it was surrounded with woods making it extremely private.. Sam fell in love with it when he saw it and Dean saw the potential and the quiet so they put an offer on the property in Stafford. Their offer was accepted and they were told that as it would be a cash purchase they could exchange contracts and complete within the month. They would therefore be settled into their house before they started college in the fall.

The next three weeks went by quickly, with Will back at work everyone had settled into a new routine. With Will in the shower I would get up and make the breakfast and coffee for the 4 of us. Sam was going into the office with Will and Dean was now used to the early mornings as he had been getting up early whilst I was in the hospital. After breakfast, Will and I would go upstairs and get the twins up, Will would feed one of the twins and I would feed the other, we would alternate which twin we fed each day, using it as a bonding time with our sons. Sam and Will would leave for the office just after 8am, and Dean and I would spend the day with the twins. Some mornings we went to the store, other mornings we would take the twins to the park and other days we spent at home entertaining the boys. Since contracts had been exchanged on the property in Stafford, Dean was meeting with architects developing plans on converting the barn into a library, living quarters and adding an extension for a medical suite. Dean wanted the work to be as close to completion by the time Sam and he went to school, as they thought that would mean fewer distractions.

Two days before Aidan and Cole were due to christened, Dean and I were sitting in the solarium watching the boys with their play gyms and drinking coffee. The play gyms were designed to assist children to develop good reflexes. With Cole's gifts this was even more essential, we had decided that we would try and help him the boys from as early as possible to get a handle on their gifts. While Dean and I were talking, discussing the plans for the Stafford property and the new direction his life was taking we heard a familiar rumble. The stereo that had been playing softly in the background picked up and "The boys are back in Town" started to play, which brought a smile to my face, it was the song that Cole had picked to play when his dad and uncle came home. We picked the boys up and headed out to the garage to meet Sam and Will, to find Bobby parking Sam's Impala. Bobby climbed out of the car and said "I don't know why you love these things so much, they handle like a boat." Dean smiled at him and replied "That's the fun of it, they may handle like a boat but they are so much better than anything on the road today. And before I forget, welcome back, grandpa." Bobby walked up to me, gave me a peck on the cheek, and on his way pass Dean clipped him on the back of the head, mumbling under his breath "I'll give you grandpa.." We all went back into the house, I handing Aidan over to Bobby and said "here, do you want to hold your grandson for a while I'll pour you a coffee, I'm sure you could use one after the journey you've had." Bobby looked down and said "I've missed this. The boys are getting bigger. " Dean said "I know and they are getting their own personalities as well, Cole is like Will and Aidan is a lot like Toni. Cole is much more expressive about what he wants and Aidan is much more thoughtful. It's going to be interesting watching them grow up."


	25. Changes

_Dean said "I know and they are getting their own personalities as well, Cole is like Will and Aidan is a lot like Toni. Cole is much more expressive about what he wants and Aidan is much more thoughtful. It's going to be interesting watching them grow up." _

Two months passed since the boys christening and Bobby was back in South Dakota. He had returned a week after the christening to oversee the building work at the salvage yard. In the intervening months the library had been completed and the new apartments were part of the way there. Dean and Sam had moved into the house in Stafford a week after Bobby left not wanting everyone to leave at the same time. Over the last six weeks, the barn on the property had been converted into five apartments, and an extension added that included a library, and the medical centre. The structure of the extension was completed, and all that was left was to kit it out with the right equipment. Dean and Sam had also added some touches of their own to the property, around the perimeter were scattered devil traps and repellents.

It took a while after Dean and Sam left the house but eventually Will, the boys and I settled into a new routine. Will would get up and shower and I would go make coffee, put the milk on for the boys and meet Will in the nursery to feed the boys. Will and I would feed the boys continuing to take turns to feed Aidan and Cole on alternating morning and evening feeds. Sam would arrive shortly before 8am and top up his coffee and then travel into the office with Will. On occasion I would bundle the boys up, put them into the SVU and drive out to the 'Winchester Farm', taking with me the items that we had picked up to stock the safe houses and library. Sam had spoken to one of the tech guys in the office and told him the best computers and security to get to set up the network of computers that we aimed to have installed here and at the other compounds around the country.

Dean and Sam were coming to the house every Sunday for dinner. I loved this time, as it gives me the opportunity to catch up with what my nephews are up to. Sam is excited about the work he is doing at the NCIS legal department and Dean is energized that the work on the property is coming together as he able to see how this will help the fight against evil. As Dean and Sam are now working from a base, hunting is becoming harder unless it is within driving distance. In order to help I offered them the use of one of the company jets, Dean was hesitant at first due to his fear of flying. I recommended that this might be one way to overcome his fear. Learning how to fly the jet as it would mean that he was in control, and the basis of his fear was probably his feeling that he had lack of control over the situation. Dean wasn't sure at first but Sam said it sounded like a great idea and that he was interested in learning as well so Dean signed up for lessons. He is now 5 hours away from passing his pilot licence. This meant that they would be able to use the jet to get to hunts further away or to go and visit Bobby more often.

Three weeks later and Dean was due to start his first day at VCU. The night before and we had them over for a meal and to catch up. I was sensing that although Dean had made the decision to go back to school he was still apprehensive about what to expect. He thought that he was going to be the oldest student in the class and that put him on edge. After the meal, Dean and I went upstairs to check on the twins and I told him "I know that you're nervous about starting school tomorrow but don't be there is nothing to worry about. Even if you are the oldest student in the class think about the advantages that brings, and what you will know that the other students have yet to learn. You have the ability to fit into any situation, just think about all the people that you have pretended to be over the years." Dean looked back at me and said "I know, it's just a little nerve racking, making the decision is one thing following through on it is another. Is it alright if I sit here with Aidan and Cole for a while, being out on the farm I've missed just sitting with them." I turned to him and said "No problem, you know where we'll be when you're ready to talk or want some adult time." Dean smiled at me and I left three of boys together.

I walked back into the living room and Sam and Will were sitting talking about a case that had crossed Will's desk. He thought that they may be something 'supernatural' going on and wanted Sam's opinion. When I walked through the door they stopped talking looked up at me and when he realised that Dean wasn't with me Sam said "Is everything ok?" I said "its fine. Dean wanted to spend some time with Aidan and Cole, I don't know what but I think he finds it soothing." Will looked at me and said "I know why, Toni, I'm surprised you hadn't picked up on it. Its Aidan when he's sleeping he's empathy is on full calm mode and anyone around him is instantly calm. Dean probably doesn't realise that is what is going on just knows that is how he feels." At that moment Dean walked through the door and said "I don't realise what is going on?" Sam smiled at his brother and said "you're picking up good vibrations, Aidan's giving off a calm vibe and you've been picking up on it." Dean looked at me guiltily and said "I'm sorry Toni, Will. You know I would never do anything to hurt the twins." I walked up to him, gave him a hug and said "I know and I'm sorry to. It's not your fault, the twins are too young to control their powers and Aidan's empathy is broadcasting tranquillity at anyone when he's asleep. Will, Sam and I are probably immune to the effects because of our powers." Dean said "okay then, what we you all talking about before our brief detour into the calming powers of my cousin."

Sam looked at Dean and said "Will and I were discussing how much things have changed over the last 6 months. You and I've met family we didn't know anything about, and Toni and Will have added to that with the twins. We got you out of your contract and finished Lilith off at the same time. We've brought a house and settled down, something I never thought that we would do growing up. I'm going back to school and after 4 years I have to admit I'm a little nervous." Dean looked at Sam and said "I know every now and then I pinch myself. If you had told me a year ago that I would have sold my soul to a demon, got out of the deal and killed one of the worst demons known to man I would have laughed. Now I'm about to do something I never thought I would do and I know that it would knock the stuffing out of Dad and make Mum so proud. I'm nervous but excited and can't wait to attend my first lecture and find out if there is anything we can use in our other lives or to assist other hunters."

"Dean" I asked "do you know what classes you have tomorrow and which professor you have?" Dean replied, "Yes, I've got CHEM101 - General Chemistry followed by Chemistry Lab. I think that the professor is Carl Wolff II." "I know him" Will and I said at the same time, looking at each other and grinning. Dean looked at me and said "Really, do you have a good relationship; he's not going to see Winchester on the roster and give me a hard time is he." I laughed and said "No, I know Carl professionally he has testified on some of the cases that I've worked on and as far as I know there is no animosity there. You should be fine, I've got his number if you want I could give him a call and feel him out." Dean glared at me and said "Don't you dare, it's bad enough being the oldest in the class, and I don't need the professor to single me out for special treatment because of my Aunt." I said "Ok, I won't embarrass you in front of your fellow students" Dean looked at the clock and turned to Sam and said "Sam, we need to get going we both have to be away early in the morning. I've got class and you've got the last week of work." With that the boys left for the night, promising that they would be back at the weekend as usual and fill us in on their week.

_Next chapter – Dean's first week at University and Sam's last week at NCIS and a possible case..._


	26. The Farm

_I said "Ok, I won't embarrass you in front of your fellow students" Dean looked at the clock and turned to Sam and said "Sam, we need to get going we both have to be away early in the morning. I've got class and you've got the last week of work." With that the boys left for the night, promising that they would be back at the weekend as usual and fill us in on their week. _

The week seemed to drag but finally it was Sunday, Will and I were upstairs getting Aidan and Cole ready for a trip out to the farm. Sam phoned last night and asked if we could come out to the farm instead of them coming into the city. He needed to prepare things for his start at GWU the following day and Dean was up to his eyes in course work. I said "No problem, we'll see around 12 tomorrow", I was excited as I hadn't seen what they had done to the farm in 2 months. Will and I had taken Aidan and Cole out when Dean and Sam where thinking of buying the farm and I was looking forward to seeing the changes that they had made since then. Will took Aidan and I took Cole and we put the boys into the SVU and headed for the farm. Travelling with two small boys is never an easy task, but Dean and Sam had made it a little bit easier for Will and me by setting up one of the rooms at the farm as a nursery for the boys. We arrived at the farm an hour later. Aidan and Cole had drifted off to sleep during the drive so Will decided against honking the horn to alert them that we were there. As we pulled up Dean appeared from the garage with a huge smile on his face and he was beside the car as it stopped. He walked up to the back of the car and as he approached Aidan and then Cole woke up, it still amazed me how well tuned into the Winchesters both of my boys were. Dean slid the rear door open and leant into the car unstrapped Aidan and lifted him out of his chair while Dean was taking Aidan out of the car, Will was at the other door taking Cole out of his seat. Will passed Cole to me collected the twin's belongings and the five of us walked into the house.

As we were walking in Dean turned to us and said "Thanks for agreeing to come and do lunch here, it's been a really hectic week and I needed the time to catch up." I turned to him and said "Like I said to Sam, it's really no problem. I'm excited to see what you've done with the place since the last time I saw it. Will and I both understand how stressful the first week at university is and that you need the time to work on your course work." Dean smiled and said "It has been an adjustment and it is something growing up I never thought I would do. Dad was so against Sam or me leaving as he didn't think he could protect us if he wasn't around." A sad look came over Dean's face as he was saying this and I could tell this was bringing up memories of John and the time that Sam left to go to Stanford. I came up beside Dean took my free hand rubbed his shoulder and said "Mary and John would be so proud of you Dean. As a parent myself I know that all we want is for our children to be happy and feel fulfilled in their lives. I know that John would be incredibly proud of you and would be telling all his friends how well his son is doing, from what you've told me that is how he was with Sam when he left." Dean said "Sam is setting up dinner on the patio, and that's one of the weirdest things I've ever said."

We all headed out to the patio where Sam was finishing off the table, at the corner of the patio the BBQ was heating up. Dean said "We decided to go healthy, Sam picked up some great Tuna steaks last night and we thought that we would have those with salsa verde and new potatoes salad." Will and I turned to him at the same time and said "That's sound great, is there anything I can do." We then looked at each and said "great minds think alike." Sam said "No everything is under control and it's nice to take care of you for a change after everything you've done for us in the past." I walked up to him pecked him on the check and said "It's not a problem after all it's what family does for each other. I wouldn't have it any other way after all I've got so much more out of this."

Sam and Dean looked at each other and smiled, Cole started to squirm in my arms and his face started to scrunch up. I turned to Will and said "I think someone is trying to tell me its lunchtime." Will said "I was about to say that Aidan is ready for his lunch", Dean looked at us and said "how do you know that, he's perfectly quiet, he's been busy watching everything going on very closely." Will turned back to Dean and said "Aidan is never vocal about his feed, if I'm around then it's a feeling I get that he's hungry. As Toni is around both boys all the time it's harder for her tell unless Cole starts crying. Cole and Aidan haven't quite synched together yet so she has learnt to tune them out otherwise she would be living with constant empathic attacks." Both Sam and Dean looked at me and Sam said "I knew that you were training again but I didn't realise that you had managed to get it under control yet." I smiled back at him and said "I know I only managed to really get it under control this past week, up to then Will was coming home to a stressed out harridan. Dealing with the boys all day both their subliminal and conscious emotions was tiring and so before my aneurysm blew I needed to work out how to tune out the subliminal emotions." Will turned back to Dean and said "Can you show me where we can make up the bottles for the boys so that we can feed them and lay them down before we eat." Dean said "No problem, right this way" and walked into the kitchen with Aidan in his arms. Will walked up to me and took Cole and said "I'll feed them, change them lay them down for their nap and then we'll be back for lunch." I leant up kissed him and said "that's great, if you need any help then just give me a shout." Since Dean and Sam moved out, and Will returned to work, he had taken to feeding the boys on the weekend and any chance he got as this was his bonding time with his boys.

Half an hour later Will and Dean were back, the boys were down for a nap and lunch was about to be served. We all sat down for lunch, and started talking about the last week. Dean started with his first week of classes "It's been a hectic but really great week. After getting back into the swing of things the week went quickly. My first class was Chemistry 101 – it was split into 2 sections, the lecture and then the tutorial (the practical assessment of what we learnt in the lecture). Initially the lecture was tough but then all the things I learnt in school came flooding back and it all made sense. I had thought that I would be the oldest person in the class but there were a couple of other students close to my age in the class as well. Both of them had decided on a career change and moving into Forensic Science. One of them is Roger Bullock, he's a couple of years older than me, and he was working for South Carolina PD as a homicide detective. He's married with a 6 month old daughter named Elizabeth; he recently lost a partner and decided that he needed a career change so that he wasn't in the field any more. The other older student is Erica Gibbs, she is the same age as Sam and was working as an administrator for the Police Department in Scranton Pennsylvania." I turned to Dean and said "all that worrying you did last week, and you weren't the only mature student in the class." Dean smiled answering through a mouthful of tuna and salsa and said "I know and it was all for nought. Erica and Roger are really great and we have already decided that as the oldest students in the group we are going to help each other through the next 4 years."

This news made me really happy, I had to admit that this week had gone past so slowly following our last meeting I was really concerned. I was sure that Dean would find out that he was the oldest student in the class and go back to his life on the road and I would lose one of my nephews. Now the concern was transferring from him to Sam; I could feel 2 sets of eyes on me at the same time and turned around to find Will and Sam staring at me. Sam said "Toni, you really don't need to worry, I'm going to be fine. I know that it's going to be weird for the first couple of days but I've been to college before so at least I know what to expect." I looked back at him and said "I'm sorry I know I shouldn't worry but it's what family does. Ask Will I'm a natural born worrier from way back. I think it goes back to receiving my visions at such an early age and not understanding what they meant."

After we finished the meal, Dean took me on a tour of the farm. The barn had been fully converted into a library and medical centre with 4 apartments for hunters. As he was showing me around Dean had a huge smile on his face and he was radiating happiness, I didn't need my empathic powers to be on to tell me he was content. I congratulated him on the work that had been done on the barn. Dean beamed back at me and said "Sam and I discussed it and we are going to build a training centre next to the barn. It would be part gym, part rehab centre and part shooting range. The shooting range would have gun lanes, archery lanes and lanes where they could throw knives." We arrived back at the house and found Will and Sam in the pool, taking advantage of the exceptionally warm weather. When Dean and Sam brought the property they knew that there was a pool and had child proofed it but had also brought seats for the boys so that they could go into the pool safely. Will asked if I wanted to join them in the pool, I said "No, it's alright. I'll stay here and watch." Shortly after Dean appeared and joined Sam, Will, Cole and Aidan in the pool. As I sat watching the men in my life I was filled with a huge sense of love, pride and fulfilment. I couldn't believe it had only been 7 months since Dean and Sam came back into my life and 5 months since Aidan and Cole were born. Two hours later and Will, Aidan, Cole and I were heading back home leaving Dean to his chemistry homework and Sam preparing for his first day at GWU. We agreed that they would come to us Friday night instead of Sunday as Dean didn't have class on Friday's and it would easy for him to meet Sam in the city and come over to us for dinner in the evening. This then left them the weekend for catching up on the course work that they had to do before the next week.


	27. Thanksgiving

_We agreed that they would come to us Friday night instead of Sunday as Dean didn't have class on Friday's and it would easy for him to meet Sam in the city and come over to us for dinner in the evening. This then left them the weekend for catching up on the course work that they had to do before the next week. _

_

* * *

_

The next two months went by fast, Dean and Sam had settled into their routines at their universities and Friday night dinners were still going strong. It was Thanksgiving and Sam and Dean were due any minute, I had been cooking since early this morning and Will had taken the boys for a walk to get them out of the house for a while. I heard the front door opened and yelled "Will, you're back early I thought that you were going to be gone for another 30 minutes." I heard Dean yell back "Guys, you there. I've got a surprise for you." I walked into the hallway to see Will, Sam and Dean standing there looking likes 'cats that ate the cream'. I looked up as they all moved to one side and standing behind them was Bobby with a smile on his face "Surprise". I rushed forward and pulled him into a hug and said "It's great to see you. You've been missed around here. My boys need to see their grandpa." I asked Will "Did you know about this?" He said "Yes. We figured that it would be a great idea to have all the family here for Aidan and Cole's first Thanksgiving." I asked Dean and Sam "How did you manage to organise all this with your workloads. You've both been so busy with school and setting up the farm." Dean said "We borrowed the company jet and flew up to Sioux City and picked Bobby up and he has been hiding out at the farm since Sunday. It's been really helpful because he has been able to help with the research centre, he's catalogued and organised the books and has started creating a library of helpful websites as well. When you phoned earlier this week and asked about bringing the twins by I felt guilty about turning you down, but we didn't want to ruin the surprise."

By now everyone had taken their coats off, Will and I started to get the twins out of the stroller and Bobby and Sam asked "Can we help", I looked at them and said "Of course, you can." With that Bobby picked up Aidan, and Sam picked up Cole. We then walked into the dining room, where I had been in the middle of laying the table. Will and Dean asked "Is there anything we can do?" I looked at both of them and said "Can you finish laying the table and check what people want to drink; I need to go check on the turkey." Dean and I headed into the kitchen, so that I could check the turkey and start on the other parts of the meal to go with it. Dean grabbed drinks for everyone and headed back to the dining room to hand them around.

I put the water on for the vegetables and as I started to chop the carrots I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to see John standing there. I dropped the carrot that I was holding and exclaimed, "John, what are you doing here? Last time I saw you I was unconscious and on the verge of dying. My aneurysm isn't about to burst is it?" John walked towards me and pulled me into a hug and I melted into his arms and broke down. Even when I had been on the verge of death, I hadn't felt his arms around me, and this brought all my memories back of my big brother and how close we were with none of the anger there from the last time. I stepped backwards away from John and I heard a gasp from the doorway, we both turned around to be confronted by Dean standing there with a look of complete disbelief on his face. I thought that he was concerned as he had overheard my conversation and thought that I was talking to myself, I was wrong.

Dean turned from looking at me to look at the place where John was standing. I could see a look of unease and hopefulness come across his face. I could sense that he wasn't sure that he was seeing was real but deep down wanting to believe it. Dean's hunter instincts were kicking in and both John and I could see that he was torn between leaving me alone in the kitchen with a 'ghost', staying there and finding out what was going on or going to get help. I picked up on his uncertainty and said "It's ok Dean. It's really John. I thought that I was dreaming it at first but it's really him." Dean walked towards John and grabbed him into an all encompassing Winchester hug. "Dad, what's going on? What are you doing here? Is someone in danger?" and he continued with a barrage of questions. John turned to him and said "I'll explain everything. Just give me a minute with your Aunt, will you. Can you go let Bobby, Sam and Will that there will be someone else at dinner." Dean left the kitchen and walked to the dining room fighting back his instincts to stay and find out what was going on.

After Dean left I walked back to the sink and continued preparing the vegetables for dinner, I needed to do something to calm myself down otherwise I feared that my powers would start to get out of control. After all the Winchester powers are linked to our emotions, it was a lesson I learnt at an early age and had taught Sam during our stay as Bobby's. John walked up beside me reached over and grabbed a carrot and started to chop it up as though it was the most natural thing in the world. The knife he was cutting the carrot with started to float away from him and he looked at me and said "Toni, I know you're upset with me but could you please give me back the knife. If you keep taking away the cutlery we'll never get dinner on the table."

I finished the vegetables, and put them on to cook and then I looked at him and said "Sorry, it's just you're here and last time I saw you I was close to death how can I not be emotional about that. And, how do you know it's me that's taking away the knife anyway!! You disappeared on me 26 years ago and haven't been in contact with me since then. Before you disappeared, I seem to remember you telling me that I was crazy and I was responsible for Mary's death. You never gave me the opportunity to explain what was happening and what I had found out from Dad and Uncle Sam."

John looked at me and took hold of my hand and said let's sit for a while I need to talk to you without the rest of the family around. He started with "I know I abandoned you and I've regretted that decision ever since. I did keep a track on you, I knew that you had been spending time with Uncle Sam and did some investigating to try and work out why. Once I found out why you were spending time with Uncle Sam I didn't know how to apologise to you. I kept track of you, I knew when you graduated and I even left the boys with Bobby for the weekend and came down to watch the ceremony. I was there in the back ground at Mum's and then Dad's funeral. You don't know how much I wanted to be there to support you for that. I just thought that I couldn't add the extra stress of dealing with me and our background at the same time as you were dealing with Mum and Dad's death. I even kept track of the men in your life, I did background checks on all of them and would have been there to protect you should anything ever of happened to you. I know that doesn't excuse me for leaving you or for blaming you for Mary. I love you and I love the fact that you have been able to provide my boys something that I never could a normal life. Sam tried to get away and get his normal but he was dragged back into it. Dean never managed that as I left him to look after Sam whilst I chased down the thing that took Mary. I then left them both on their own to deal with it and every other evil out there. I never meant for any of that to happen to them. I love my boys with everything that I have and I only ever wanted for them to be happy."

As John finished the statement I looked up and saw Dean and Sam standing in the doorway. John hadn't seen them yet I got up and walked towards the counter as Sam said "You were tracking Toni all this time and you didn't think to tell us we had relatives. When Dean told you in Manning, Colorado that I was having visions you didn't think to tell me that this is a family thing, all this time I've been thinking that this was linked to the thing that killed Jess and Mum. It wasn't, we still don't know why Azazel was coming after all of the children with gifts and why the Winchesters have been cursed like this." As Sam finished Dean turned to him and said "Sam, I've told you and so has Toni that the powers that you have are not a curse they are a gift and what you do with them is what will turn them into a curse." Sam looked at this brother and said "I know I'm sorry." Dean turned to John and said "We need to talk about all of this, but I can't do this now. Toni is there anything you need to do to get dinner on the table. The boys are starting to get hungry and so are Will and Bobby." I looked at him and said "the vegetables should be done in a couple of minutes, can you please pull out the turkey and put in on the tray to cool down ready for carving." Dean said "No problem", he headed for the oven, pulled the turkey out and put on a carving tray. Whilst he was doing that Sam headed to the stove to check the vegetables, pulled out a pan and started to make the gravy with the left over juices from the turkey pan. John looked at his boys with pride in his eyes and said "Ok, we'll continue this discussion over dinner and I'll let you know why I'm here."

Sam finished making the gravy, drained the vegetables into dishes which were taken into the dining room where we all sat down for a long overdue family conversation and a happy Thanksgiving.


	28. Things to be thankful for

_Sam finished making the gravy drained the vegetables into dishes which were taken into the dining room where we all sat down for a long overdue family conversation and a happy Thanksgiving._

* * *

Bobby was at one end of the table with Will on his left and me on his right. Cole was sitting between Will and Dean while Aidan was sitting between Sam and I. This meant that Will and I could feed the boys. At the other end of the table was John which meant that he was sitting between his two boys. Will carved the turkey as the vegetables and potatoes were passed around the table. During the boys 6 month check up the Paediatrician had said that we could start to introduce solids into their diets, so when the vegetables reached Will and I, we each took out some carrots and cut them down for the boys to eat. We put them into the bowls that were sitting next to our plates to cool down before giving them to the boys to eat. After everyone had their meals I decided that we should go around the table and say what we were thankful for. There were some grumbles from Dean who thought this was a stupid idea but after a clip around the back of his head agreed to take part.

I started with "I'm thankful that I have my family in my life for the first time in over 25 years and that everyone is healthy and happy."

Will followed "I'm thankful that Toni agreed to marry me and that our twins are safe and healthy. That I still have Bobby in my life as an anchor and that I've been welcomed into the Winchester clan by Sam and Dean."

Bobby followed with "I'm thankful that Will and Toni have allowed me to become as much of their family as John did with Sam and Dean. That I have the opportunity to get to know Cole and Aidan and help the hunting community in my own special way."

Sam followed with "I'm thankful that we know our family that I've been able to go back to school and still keep hunting. I'm especially thankful that the threat to Dean has gone and that Lilith and Azazel are dead."

Dean followed with "I'm thankful that we managed to kill the thing that killed Mom, that Lilith is dead and no longer after any members of my family."

John finished with "I'm thankful that my family has finally got the opportunity to meet and have connected in a way that I could only dream of. I'm also thankful that Dean and Sam will get to lead the lives that I always wanted for them. That they hunt because they want to and not because they have to or that they are pursuing my vengeance."

After everyone had gone around the table we ate the meal and the discussion was kept very general. Every time that John started to talk about why he was here Dean would stop him and say "Not now Dad. We need to wait until Cole and Aidan are out of the room as I'm not sure that I can hold my temper and we don't them in the room if I do as things are likely to get dangerous with knives in the vicinity of a telekinetic." I could feel the emotions coming from Dean at that moment and knew that he only had Cole's best interests at heart. I looked up at him and said "I know that you love your cousin but it doesn't matter if he is here or upstairs in his nursery he is going to pick up on his brother's emotions and things will start to fly." Dean looked at me and said "I know but upstairs it's soft toys and stereos that he can turn on and off down here there are knives, forks and glasses that can do people real damage." "Alright" I said "If it'll make you more comfortable we will wait until the boys are in bed and then discuss why John's back." Dean nodded and said "Thanks for understanding."

We finished the meal and Dean and Sam offered to put the boys to bed while Bobby and John cleared the table. In the kitchen I put on a pot of coffee and set up a tray with some glasses for brandy, scotch or port and mugs for coffee and then walked into the living room followed my Bobby, Will and John where we met Dean and Sam. Dean, Sam and I poured ourselves a mug of coffee, while Bobby and Will went for the scotch and John for the brandy. Dean started the conversation by saying "Ok, the boys are in bed. Now Dad why are you here and how long for?"

John reached forward took a large swig of brandy before he started to explain "I'm only here for tonight. The reason I'm here is nothing bad. I'm not here for your Aunt and yes Toni it was really me that you saw after Lilith's attack. I've been given the opportunity to set some things straight and give you all a heads up.

Dean, firstly I should never have told you may need to kill your brother, and then leaving you alone to deal with that while I handed over the colt and myself to Azazel." Dean went to say something and John held his hand up and said "Dean, please let me get this out and then we can all talk. Sam, I know in Manning, Colorado we moved forward in our relationship and then I tell Dean that he may need to kill you. That wiped out any trust you had in me, I never meant to hurt you but I didn't have all the facts when I said that to Dean. I just knew that Azazel had visited you in the nursery and dripped blood in your mouth. I knew about the visions and I knew about the gifts in the Winchester family."

As he said that he looked from Sam to me and then back again. "I thought at the time when Azazel dropped the blood in your mouth it would corrupt your powers as you didn't have anyone to guide you. I know that is my fault, I took you away from anyone who could have taught you how to manage them and use them for good. I was afraid and after 23 years of fighting evil, my automatic fallback position was slash and burn. I know that is no excuse but it was where my head was at when I told Dean what I told him. I am also ashamed that I told Dean this at the same time as telling him how proud of him I was of him. I am Dean, you are an amazing man and that has very little to do with me and is all about you.

Sam you are amazing man as well and again that has little to do with me and has everything to do with Dean and how he raised you. I gave you the tools to protect yourself but Dean gave you the strength to strike out on your own and the confidence to show your emotions without it being thrown back in your face.

Bobby, I appreciate that you have become a father to my boys. You are a point of contact that they know that they can go to and someone that will help with research.

Will, you are the man that I always wished Toni would meet, someone to take care of her and protect her with his own life. I only wished that I had, had the opportunity to do the big brother thing, so for what's worth here it is now. Take care of my little sister, if anything happens to her you know that I'll be after you and as I am no longer earth bound you know that that could be bad.

Toni, we spoke in the kitchen so you know how I sorry I am about what happened when you were young and how much I regret not seeing you or talking to you for so many years. I have always been watching over you in my own way and was there for all the major events in your life even if you didn't know it. When the gates to hell opened and I managed to get through, after Azazel was killed and I moved on I was given the opportunity to become the boys' guardian angel. I will always be there for them and for you. If you need me at any time all you need to do is recite this incantation and I will be back."

During the conversation I could feel the tension in the room raising and dropping, I tried as hard as I could to project a calming influence around the room in order to keep everyone centred and my boys asleep. As tough as this evening was turning out to be we didn't need to be tidying up a nursery and calming down two agitated young boys. Sam and Will realised what I was doing, Sam walked across the room and sat next to me on the couch. Will leant in and said "Toni, you need to stop this, you are only going to hurt yourself and us. We need to be able to feel these emotions. I know that you're concerned about Aidan and Cole, but we will all make sure that they are safe and protected. No one in this room is going to let their emotions get out of control." As Will finished speaking, a three way staring contest was happening, Sam was looking between his brother and his father warning them to keep their tempers, and Dean was looking at Sam and John doing exactly the same thing.

Dean started very calmly and said "Dad you've had your say, now it's my turn. I followed your orders my whole life. From the time that you put Sam in my arms and sent me out of the house, to cutting him out of our lives when he left for Stanford, and then leaving him at the side of the road to go hunt the Vanir in Indiana, I did everything that you told me. When I was lying in that hospital room, do you know that I saw you sitting there watching me, you didn't say anything to me, you just sat there. Did you think that I couldn't hear you? That I didn't need to hear that you were proud of me? That I was an ass for letting the demon get the better of us, but you just sat there. Then you gave up, you handed the colt and yourself over to the thing that killed Mom, possessed you and tried to kill me. Did you think at all about the effect that would have on me or were thinking only about yourself? Did you really think through what you asked me to do? Did you think that after looking after Sam for over 25 years that I could actually kill him? Was that the plan? At the end of the day did you know that I would do anything to save him, whereas at the first sign that you thought he was turning you would have put a bullet in him?"

John looked at Dean with tears in his eyes, and I could feel the pain in his heart as he realised how much his son had had to deal with and how much he had really laid on his shoulders.


	29. A heartfelt conversation

_**As this is an AU, only some of the events in season 4 have been included obviously as Dean didn't get sent to Hell. The brother's relationship is still really strong and is not disintegrating as it is on the show. Ruby does not appear in this story at all and Sam has learnt to control his powers for the good and is not 'yet' pulling demons from people.**_

_John looked at Dean with tears in his eyes and I could feel the pain in his heart as he realised how much his son had had to deal with and how much he had really laid on his shoulders.__  
_  


* * *

John looked up at his son and said "I'm sorry, I realise now how much pain that must have caused you and the damage it did to your relationship with Sam. At the time I thought that I was telling you to do the right thing for the world. Yes, there was always the expectation in the back of my mind that you would protect Sam above everything else. However, I never expected you to sell your soul to bring him back. That is all on me and the example I set for you, selling my soul for you at the hospital.

John looked at Sam expecting him to blow up at him, which he hadn't done yet. I could sense that there was the expectation that things would start to fly at his head. Sam shrugged his shoulders at his father and said "I don't know what you expect me to say to you! You told Dean to kill me if he couldn't save me. You've say that you understand how that made him feel and that you understand how that must have made me feel as well. I'm not sure that you really do understand. From the time that I started having the visions I felt alone, even after we found the kids with special powers and more so when Max, Anseem, Eva, and Jake started attacking others. I thought that was what was in my future. To then find out I wasn't the only one in the family with these powers? That it wasn't automatically a one way trip to hell. Do you know how it felt to know that we had family that you had kept away from us? Do you know how it felt to that you blamed Toni for Mum's death and for my demon problems? Do you know how it felt when Dean and I realised that we had an Aunt and Grandparents who could have helped us / prepared us for what was to come and you had always told us we did have any family? Do you know what it felt like to think that you blamed me for Mum's death? I lived with that guilt for most of my life, and then to actually find out that you had told Dean to kill me? Did you know that that Yellow Eyed son of bitch showed me that night that I got to see him stand over my crib and drip blood into my mouth? We finally connect with family and I understand that the powers that I have are not evil and are far from it and now you're back to warn us. Take a moment and think about how really feel and how I've always felt in this family?"

As Sam was still sitting next to me, I reached over and placed my hand on his knee hoping to calm him down. He looked at me as he did since the run in with Lilith, with love and concern in his eyes. "I'm ok, Toni really. I'm not going to let this get to me. He can't hurt me anymore. After River Grove, I gave up on John ever being proud of me or understanding me. What I can understand is how he could expect one son to kill the other. It's all a little too Cain and Abel for me. If I was such a threat, why didn't he kill me himself, after all I didn't leave for college until I was 18 and then we met up again in Chicago and Salvation he had ample opportunities. If he didn't want to put a bullet in me, he could have laced one of my drinks with something. To ask Dean to do that is too much."

Dean walked up to his brother put a hand on his shoulder and said "I told you on more than one occasion that I was always going to save you. I appreciate that you feel the weight of that but it's not yours to carry"

I looked between my nephews, who were growing in self-assurance as I sat there and said "This is not a burden that either of you should be carrying, you both need to let it go. As long as you are carrying it around it's going to be between you and any future relationships that you may have or want. Will taught me that. I needed to let go of the guilt that I felt about Mary's death and your disappearance before I was ready to move on with my life."

John looked at me and said "Beanpole, when did you get so smart?" I got up from my chair walked up to him, clipped him around the back of the head and said "Around the same time that you got stupid. Now talk to your son."

John turned to Sam and said "I'm sorry that I ever made you feel that it was your fault that your mother died. Since I passed on, I've found out a lot that I didn't know before. It's not your fault and never was your fault that Mary died, Mary made a deal with Azazel when she was 19, she thought that she was making the deal for herself that he would come back for her in ten years, It wasn't until she went into your nursery that night that she realised what she had agreed to, and by then it was too late. If she had known what the deal was she would have done more to protect you and your brother."

Dean and Sam looked at John with confusion in their eyes; Dean said "What do you mean she would have done more to protect us? How could she have protected us? She didn't know anything about demons' and the things that go bump in the night?"

John took in a depth breath and said "Toni, I understand that you have been researching the family trees and that you have been sharing this knowledge with the boys. That you found out that Mary came from a family of hunters, that Pastor Jim was Mary's brother. What the tree doesn't tell you is that Mary spent some time as a hunter as well when she was younger. Her father very much like yours broke the mould, and did what other Campbell's hadn't done before - train his daughter in the ways of a hunter. Mary learnt about demons and devils traps, laying down salt trails and exorcism rituals. In April and May 1973 there was a spate of deaths around Lawrence, Mary and her father interviewed some of the families and discovered that they were after Azazel. When a friend of Mary's was attacked in her home, she and her father went to try and stop it. They managed to stop him from making a deal with her however it put your mother's into Azazel sight lines. Later that night, Mary slipped out to meet me; we were running away together as she was tired of the life and wanted a 'normal' life. Whilst Mary was out of the house, Azazel attacked her house and killed both of her parents, possessing her father in the process. On the way out of town we stopped by the railway tracks to talk and the next thing I know I was being pulled out of the car by her father who hit me and I then felt an extreme pain in my shoulders and I passed out. When I came to I was laid out in the back of the Impala and Mary was driving us out of state. We got married several days later and moved into the house in Kansas were we lived until that fateful day in November 1973. When I met up with Mary recently she told me all that the deal that she made was to save my life, after her father pulled us out of the car he snapped my neck. That when she made the deal she thought that he would be back for her soul in ten years, not for her child."

I looked from Sam to Dean and then to John and they all had tears in their eyes, realising what that Yellow Eyed son of a bitch had done to their family. How the ball had been set rolling and that one way or another no-one could have prevented what came down on the family.

John continued "So you can see Sam none of this is your fault, it was never your fault. That you are so much like your mother, she wanted out of the life wanting a normal life. That when you wanted to go away all I could think of was I would be able to protect you, I didn't realise that this was what you really wanted or that you were inclined to want that way anyway. I know everything you went through after my death, that you felt guilty for always butting heads with me but I want you to know that there was nothing to feel guilty about. We challenged each other but I was always proud of you, I've always been proud of both of you."

Sam walked up to his father, gave him a hug and said "I'm sorry that we always butted heads that you felt that the life you gave me was never good enough. I'm glad that we have reached an understanding and that you are at piece and finally back with Mom. Dean and I are in the process of making great lives for ourselves. We are both in school, and with Toni's help I have control of my powers and can use them to help others. We are putting the family business to good use Dean is working with Jeff Morgan, I don't know if you remember him, they've sent up a department that deals with the research and development of weapons and tools for hunters. Dean and I both have pilot licences and we can travel anywhere across the company in a couple of hours which has opened up the hunt opportunities. Bobby has set up a great library for hunters, on the land that we own we've built a medical and resource centre for hunters. So you can see that we've taken all the lessons that you gave us and put them to great use, I'm proud to be able to call myself Winchester. Will and Toni have been amazing and it terrified us all when we thought that we were going to lose her, but it's great to know that you were there with her. I don't want to push here but you said that you were here for two reasons, one was to talk about the past and to 'chat' and another was to warn us. What do you need to warn us about?"

John said "Can we grab another round of drinks and then I'll tell you."

* * *

_Well – choices – does John warn them about the possible apocalypse or is there something closer to home?_

_Feedback is gratefully received, is there anywhere that this story can be improved._


	30. Descendents

_**Again I can't point out that this is AU that anything about angels and / or demons is purely fictional and should not be taken literally. Hopefully with this chapter I haven't offended anyone and apologise f I have.**_

_**John said "Can we grab another round of drinks and then I'll tell you."**_

John refilled his brandy, Bobby his scotch and I went out to the kitchen to brew a fresh pot of coffee. While I was standing filling the pot with water, I felt hands come around my waist and I leant backwards and was rewarded with a kiss to the side of my neck. "Are you ok with everything that has happened and what you've found out over the last couple of hours?" Will asked me. While the coffee was percolating Will led me to the kitchen table and he pulled me down onto his lap. "You know that I love you don't you, that we all love you and that we are all just worried about your health. That we trust you but that sometimes you do things for the good of others and forget about the potential effects that it can have on you. Dean and you are a lot like in that respect." I replied "I'm fine, I know that you're worried about me, but I really am feeling ok. My head feels fine and I'm not using any of powers to keep the peace in the living room so I'm not putting any strain on the aneurysm if that's what you are worried about. Can you take the coffee back into the living room, I'm going to go check on the boys."

I went upstairs to the nursery to check on my boys during the conversation downstairs they had been quieter than I had expected and before the next revelations I wanted to make sure that they were both alright. When I walked into the room, the stereo was on very low playing "Amazed" by Lonestarand the mobiles over their cots were turning very slowly. Both of the boys were asleep and I was allowing myself a minute to open myself to their emotions to check that they were alright when I felt a hand on my shoulder. "I thought that I asked you to take the coffee into the living room" I said without turning around, knowing from the hand on my shoulder that it was Will. The hand left my shoulder and turned me around slowly to face him and he responded "You did, but when I dropped the drinks off I realised what you were going to do and it is just as easy for me to pick up the boys emotions as it is for you. If I do it I'm not opening myself up to a potentially life threatening incident. By the way the boys are fine. I sometimes come in here when you're asleep and sit watching them. I switch on the stereo low and switch on the mobile low and this is their peaceful place. Its how I know without having to check their emotions that they are ok, that what is going on downstairs hasn't reached them and they will always be alright as long as they have both of us in their lives. This means my love that you really need to take care of yourself and not overtax yourself no matter what your brother tells us next."

I nodded at him, reached up and very gently put my hands on either side of his face and pulled him in and kissed him very gently. As I withdrew from the kiss, he said "We had better stop this now or we will never get back downstairs and we still have visitors. We also need to find out what John has to tell us." I looked up at him and said "We will get back to this later I promise now as you so kindly pointed out we have guests and John has a limited amount of time."

We went back down to the living room and were met by 'we know what you've been doing' looks from around the room. I went up to Sam and Dean and clipped them on the back of the head and said "We weren't actually doing anything but checking on the twins. Shall we move on and let John finish what he started earlier on." The look that I gave Bobby and John more than covered the ear clipping they should have received.

John took a deep breath and said "Yes, I need to tell you what I now know about the past and what this could mean for the future. As you all know Toni and Sam and every youngest generation of the Winchester clan has powers. What you don't know is where these come from why Lilith wanted Toni, Dean, Sam and the twins dead and why all of you are still in danger from the demon hoards. We need to go back many generations to the start of all of this. How much do any of you know about the hierarchy of angels?"

Sam responded "I know that there are three hierarchies of angels; the seraphim, cherubim and ophanim make up the first hierarchy and these angels have already reached liberation, thus no longer active in the work of evolution. Then there are the thrones, dominions and principalities in hierarchy two who work as heavenly governors. Lastly there are the powers, archangels and angels who work as heavenly messengers." We all looked at him in wonderment, when was it ever have been necessary for Sam to find out about the hierarchy of angels. As though he knew what was going through every ones head Sam spoke up "as part of my undergraduate course load, I took a course in Theology and one in Philosophy. They were recommended as a good basis for my law school as they would provide me with the ability to analyse texts and assist in skills building. The course in Theology looked at the both testaments and covered areas such as the hierarchy of angels. Why did you want to know how much we know about the hierarchy of angels?"

John responded "Well, seeing as everyone now has the same basic knowledge of the hierarchy of angels, I can tell what I've found out since I passed over. Toni, I know that you've been researching the family tree but I doubt that you've been able to go back far enough to find out the truth. There are old texts that discuss the possibility of angels and humans mating and the women having children from these relationships. In ancient texts they were referred to as nephilim as they were descended from 'fallen angels'. Well it turns out not all of the nephilim were descendent of 'fallen angels', some were the children of archangels. Archangels, as the messengers of heaven are incredibly powerful and these are angels that tended to fall more often and led to the thinking that the nephilim were the children of fallen angels. An archangel has a multitude of powers to allow them to act as messengers and when needed warriors of god. These powers included but were not limited to empathy, telekinesis, thought projection along with amazing strength and the ability to kill at the touch of a hand. Now each of the nephilim inherited a part of their fathers' powers and depending on whether their father was a fallen angel or not would depend on how these powers would manifest in later life."

When John finished telling us that part of the instalment he looked around the room to presented by shock in all our faces and the sudden knowledge that we knew what he was about to say. He took a large mouthful of his brandy and proceeded to tell the rest of his story.

"If you take the family history back far enough, you will discover that one of the Winchester ancestors and one of the Talbot ancestors was a nephilim. That the powers throughout the years have presented themselves in the families in different guises, in some of the descendents they received only part of the powers whilst other descendents like Toni and Sam appear to have inherited more than one power. The further down the family tree we travel the easier it has become for the members of the family to get a handle on their powers. Will, I'm assuming that the same is true of the Talbot line although I didn't manage to talk to your parents for very long before I got sent down here to explain what is going on. I'm told that as far as the powers skipping the eldest member of the Winchester clan, this is not a slight on you or me Dean. Our descendent already had a child when she became pregnant with the nephilim, and she never told anyone who the child's father. In those days it would have led to her being thrown out of the house and in some circumstances would lead to her death."

Sam looked up at John, and I could feel the fear and the trepidation emanating from him and when I looked at Will I could tell that he was feeling it to. "So what you are telling us is that we are related to one of the archangels, do you know which one? What was it about our ancestor that led to her being chosen above the others?" John looked at his son with compassion and love in his eyes and said "I know that this is a lot to take in. Not just for you but for all of you. You have to understand that I didn't know any of this until I got to the other side and met your mother again, and our descendents. When you arrive at the gates, everyone is there to meet you."

There was a sigh from across the room and we all looked around and saw Dean with a look of complete bafflement "You're not buying this bull are you. Sam you know better than this. There is no heaven, there are no angels. If there are where have they been for the last 25 years?"

Sam responded, "Dean, you told me that Mum used to tell you that there were angels watching over you when you slept. What if there really were. What if a great great relative was watching over us! The angels couldn't step in to stop what happened as that would be denying free will and from what I've learnt God want us to have free will. As much as you don't want to hear this, Mum made a deal and God couldn't step in to stop it playing out. Having heard what Dad has just said explains so much to me. What I'm not quite sure about is why they felt that we needed to know this now."

John jumped in to the conversation again and said "The reason that you needed to know this is that the threat from the 'fallen angels' or 'demons' did not go away with the death of Lilith. Instead of Lilith you now have Samael after you, he was originally Lilith's partner but when he and she started to procreate God castrated him stopping them from having any children_. _Lilith then left him to go and procreate with others. As you can imagine this didn't go down well with Samael and he has been attempting to attack heaven and the agents ever since. He knows that for the first time in two millennia, two descendents of an un-fallen archangel have joined together and produced children themselves. The power that this family holds could wipe the 'fallen ones' and their children off the face of the planet without the aid of heaven. This means that the armies of hell are going to target the Winchester / Talbot family. You need to ensure that the house is fully protected and that the twins are not let out of your sight at all unless the person has been thoroughly vetted. Bobby you know what I mean by that. We need to protect these children and all of you."

John finished telling us what he needed to before he disappeared and I stood up to walk across the room to give him a hug and thank him for coming. However, as I was half way across the room, I realised that that all I could hear was a rushing in my ear like a running water. I turned to face Will and become conscious that the room was spinning and that the rushing was getting louder, the next thing I knew Dean was sitting me down in the chair and Sam was on the phone calling for an ambulance. I started screaming in my head 'Not again, why does this keep happening. I've just found out that I need to protect my twins and you want to take me away from them, leaving them unprotected and at the mercy of a bunch of demons. It's not my fault that I'm descended from one of your children, why do you keep testing me. What did Will and I do to offend you?" As I finished my little tirade, I saw a bright light out of the corner of my eye and someone walking out of it towards me. I shouted at them "I'm not going with you, you can't make me. I need to stay here and protect my family."

_I did it again... Left you hanging, I do love to put Toni through the wringer though. Do you think you know who is it at the end of the light, it's not John as he's still in the room. Any thoughts.._

_Hope I didn't push it too far with the angel connection but it has been 'buzzing' at the back of my brain for a while, ever since the powers to demon connection._


	31. A Family History

**Sam, Dean, John and Bobby belong to Eric Kripke and the CW all other characters are figments of my wild and vivid imagination.**

_As I finished my little tirade, I saw a bright light out of the corner of my eye and someone walking out of it towards me. I shouted at them "I'm not going with you, you can't make me. I need to stay here and protect my family."_

The figure moved towards me steadily, from a distance I couldn't quite tell who it was, the height was throwing me. The possibility of it being my father or my Uncle Sam, as well as my mother or my grandmother crossed my mind. All the members in my family had been tall. My mother was 5'11 and my grandmother was 5'10. So from a distance I couldn't tell who was headed towards me. However, when they stood in front of me I realised that it was not a family member that I recognised. They turned to me and said "You really shouldn't worry so much Samantha I'm not here to take you home, but I wanted to help you and the only way to do that was to bring you here. First things first, let me introduce myself, my name is Ramiel and I am for want of a better word on of your 'sire'. I am the angel of hope, and I'm credited with two tasks: I'm responsible for divine visions, and guiding the souls of the faithful into heaven.

Let me explain, I know John has told you some of the story, but I can fill in some more of the story. I saw your foremother Sarah around 4000 years ago in a small village on the banks of the River Jordan. I feel deeply in love with her; however she was married to Luke, the village doctor and I kept my distance out of respect for that relationship. A year after their marriage they had a son, John. I watched her and her family and although they tried for another child, Sarah did not become pregnant again. I could tell that this was causing her a great deal of heartache as she wanted to give Luke a family and she spent a lot of time at prayer asking for another child, wondering why God would do this to her.

I stood by and watched this pain for 4 years until I could bear it no longer. I'm able to travel around as you see me now but I can't interact with anyone in this form unless they are at my fathers' gates. As you know demons have the ability to possess people, they inherited this ability from our father and are therefore not the only beings that can do this. I did something in order to relieve her pain. I possessed Luke and spent the night with Sarah, approximately nine months after that night she gave birth to a boy who she named Samuel, 'God has heard'. As Samuel grew up he started to show some of my abilities and I realised that this would lead him to be a target for heaven and hell, so I protected him and watched over the family as closely as I could.

Over 4000 years the family grew, Samuel married and had his family and so on down the line until we reach the current day. I had hoped that as the line got further away from me, then the powers would get weaker however as I followed the family line I realised that these abilities did not get dimmer. As soon as I realised this, I also knew that this would put the family on the 'fallen one's' radar and that would put them into potential danger. All this time there has been someone watching over the Winchesters. When I wasn't around I asked one of my fellow angels to watch over them. That little voice in your head is real and has been pointing you in the right direction. The choices that you have made; learning how to manage your powers from your Uncle Sam, joining the FBI and becoming a behavioural analyst, which ultimately allowed you to use your powers for good.

What I didn't foresee was you marrying Will and joining two nihilim families. As you can imagine that the children of arch angels are not discussed around 'the water cooler'. I can tell you a little of Will's 'sire' but I don't know the whole story and that will be revealed to him separately. Will's sire is named Raguel, he is the archangel of justice, fairness and harmony and all of his descendents have been linked to the justice profession in some way. Will as you know is an NCIS agent, his father was a lawyer, his grandfather was a law professor and his great grandfather was a sheriff in Lawrence, Kansas.

I looked at Ramiel and for the first time I spoke "Ok, that explains the powers but it doesn't explain why it skips the oldest member of your bloodline, why I was selected and not John and why Sam was selected and not Dean."

Ramiel responded "It's not that they haven't been selected but their powers are dormant, they have never been triggered. I'm not sure what causes a power to trigger. I'm not sure why yours triggered at the age they did or Sam's to trigger at age 23. I know what Azazel told him in Cold Oak but he told him that to play with his mind. He was trying to get him to use his powers for evil. As soon as powers are used for the wrong reason they turn the person 'to the dark side' so to speak. George hit the nail on the head with that idea. It's possible that powers are like a recessive gene, and that only a percentage of the family have it as dominant gene and that the powers come to the forefront whenever there is a threat to the family. I'm not sure yet why it is appearing more dominant in the youngest member of each generation, I just know that throughout the generations this is what has happened."

I looked at Ramiel again and everything that I was feeling came out in a sudden rush, "Ok, so you've explained about the family history and you said that you are not here to take me home so can you send me back to my family. I really need to get back to them! They will be so worried about me; this is the second time that they've nearly lost me and this time, I'm not there to let them know that I'm alright. "

Ramiel looked at me and said "That's not the only reason I needed to speak to you, I needed to warn you about another attack on the family. I know that John told you about Samael. He was incredibly dangerous and even more so now that his reason for being has been killed. You did what you had to do protecting the family from Lilith calling on your powers the way that you did. I wouldn't recommend doing that again because with your health issues it will possibly result in you ending up in a coma or your death. There's nothing I can do to stop this, as much as I would love to protect you in the same way that you want to protect Aidan and Cole (great names by the way). I'm not sure if you knew their meanings when you picked them, but for the boys' destinies that are fitting, Aidan means 'Little Fire' and Cole means 'Victory of the People'. I can't step in and solve your medical problems, what I can do is to tell you that you are not alone. In order to defeat Samael, then you, Will, Sam, Aidan and Cole need to work together. Samael is not likely to attack yet, he is waiting for his 'special day, June 2nd. This is the day that God took away his ability to father anymore children and put the wedge between him and Lilith. This gives you six months to research, prepare and protect the family. I know that you want to protect the twins but without their powers you want to be able to stop him and he will rain terror down on earth.

I went to say something, ask more questions but was interrupted with a hand on my forehead and coming to in the back of an ambulance with a mask covering my mouth. I reached up and attempted to take it off, to have a hand reach down and say "You need to keep that on for a little while longer Mrs Talbot. We're almost at the hospital and we need to get the doctor to check you out." Again I reached for the mask moved it to one side and said "Where's Will? I need to talk to my husband." As I finished speaking i saw the paramedic slide down the seat to be replaced by Will. I could see the fear in his eyes and in his speech as he said "Toni, please don't talk, don't worry everything is going to be fine. Please can you keep the mask on just for a little while longer? We can talk about what happened when you get the clean bill of health and your home again." I looked at him and went to ask about Aidan and Cole and he pre-empted me and said "The twins are fine; Sam, Dean and Bobby are staying with them until we get home again." He leant down and kissed me on the forehead, slowly stroking my hair away from my face and held onto my hand. He whispered "I love you so much, can you please stop scaring me like that. I don't know what I would do if I lost you." I looked back at him and with the hand that he was holding spelt out "I love you 2. I'm sorry."

**Feedback as always is gratefully received. **


	32. Together again

_He leant down and kissed me on the forehead, slowly stroking my hair away from my face and held onto my hand. He whispered "I love you so much, can you please stop scaring me like that. I don't know what I would do if I lost you." I looked back at him and with the hand that he was holding spelt out "I love you 2. I'm sorry."_

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When I arrived at the hospital they called for Dr Brodie, who ran some tests and sent me home the following day with. Sam picked us from the hospital while Dean and Bobby stayed at home with the twins. When we arrived home, Dean and Bobby met us at the door with Aidan and Cole. We moved into the living room and sat down, Dean handed Cole to me and Sam passed Aidan to Will and said "who wants a drink?" Dean and Sam took our drinks orders and went to the kitchen made the drinks and then came back 5 minutes later with them.

I looked around the men gathered around the room and started "Well I suppose you want to know what happened? To start off John was telling the truth. I thought that I had died and was being escorted to the great beyond when I was met by someone walking out of a bright light. As he approached I realised that it wasn't someone I recognised from family pictures or that I had met before. When he reached me he introduced himself as Ramiel."

When I mentioned the name Ramiel, Sam jumped in and said "Ramiel isn't he the angel of hope and responsible for divine visions, and guiding the souls of the faithful into heaven." Everyone looked at Sam and Dean said "Dude, I've said it before you're a walking encyclopedia of weirdness." Sam looked back at his brother and said "I know it's what comes of spending time in college and as the resident researcher for a family of hunters."

I coughed slightly and said "Is it ok if I continue my story, or do you two want to have a brotherly discussion on the merits of good research." Everyone looked at me as though I had two heads, normally I was fairly laid back and for me to comment like that meant that something was up. Sam and Dean both held their hands up in surrender and said in unison "Sorry, please continue."

I took a quick sip of my drink and continued with my tale. "As Sam stated Ramiel is indeed the angel of hope, and he's credited with two tasks: he's responsible for divine visions and guiding the souls of the faithful into heaven. At first I thought that this time it was finally my time and that he had come 'to take me home' as the saying goes. It turns out that there is more to Ramiel. Ramiel is the Winchester sire. You know that John told us about the fallen angels and the arch-angels. Ramiel is one of the arch-angels, he is the one responsible for all of the powers that we have." I continued to relate the story that Ramiel had told me to everyone.

When I looked around the room, I could tell that Sam was relaxing for the first time in a long time. It was as though he had finally accepted that the abilities he had were not born from something evil. That he was not destined to turn evil and that he could possibly have a 'normal' life. Dean seemed to be shocked that everything he believed was being turned on its head. Bobby sat there with the deep research look on his face and I could tell that he was itching to get his head into a book. Will walked up to me took me in his arms and said "I'm sorry that you went through all that and that you had to learn all that on your own. I think it's you should go and lay down; you did only get out of the hospital this morning. Head upstairs and I'll be up with the twins in a minute, and you can lie down together. I think that they need to spend some time with their mum and I think that the rest of us need to let this sink in."

I grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen on my way upstairs, and went into the master bedroom changed out of the clothes I'd been wearing for the last 48hrs and headed into the bathroom. I decided before I laid down for a rest I needed to clean up, shortly after I stepped into the shower I saw a shadow walk past the screen door. The door slid backwards and someone stepped in behind me. I turned around and gently hit Will as he reached towards me and pulled me towards him. "You nearly gave me a heart attack, do I need to remind you that I only got out of the hospital this morning." He learned down gently kissed me and answered "I'm sorry. It's just I love you and needed to spend some time with you alone, I had intended to come up here and lie down on the bed with you but then I heard the shower and decided that I'd join you." As he was talking to me he reached up and grabbed hold of the shampoo bottle and said "Lean your head back, I 'm going to give you a head massage to relax you and then you can go lie down and take a nap. While you're doing that I'm going to check in with Dean, Sam and Bobby." I looked at him with puppy eyes and said "So, you're not going to come and take a nap with me anymore than. A shower is all I get." He turned to me and said "We have guests; I know that they're family but I just want to check that they're ok and I'll be back up. I also need to get the boys their milk."

Will very carefully massaged my head as he washed my hair and we both then got out of the shower. He very gently wrapped my robe around me and I headed towards the nursery to look in on Aidan and Cole. I sat in the rocking chair in the corner with Aidan and Cole in each arm and started to hum 'Hallelujah' to them at which point the music system in the corner turned on and started to play 'Something inside so strong'. I looked at my boys and said "OK, so Mummy doesn't hum very well." Aidan turned in my arms towards the bedroom door and 'Father and Son' started to play instead. From this I knew that Aidan had seen his father in the doorway and that Cole through his link with his brother was aware of him to. Shortly after my first incident we noticed that particular pieces of music would play when certain people were around them. For me it was 'The River' by Garth Brooks, for Will it was 'Father and Son' by Yusuf Islam, for Bobby it was 'Luckenbach, Texas' by Waylon Jennings , for Sam it was 'What a wonderful world ' by Sam Cooke and for Dean it was 'Ramblin On' by Led Zepplin. This had changed over time as at one point whenever Dean was near the boys in the nursery you could hear 'Some kind of monster' by Metallicar. This was the song that Dean had hummed to Cole when I was in the hospital the first time.

I looked up at Will and smiled and he walked into the room. I asked "Is everything ok downstairs?" He smiled back at me and said "Yes, Toni everything is fine. Sam and Bobby are in heavy research mode and Dean is cleaning his guns. You know that's what they do when they are concerned about anything." He picked up Cole and walked to the other chair in the nursery sat down in it and handed me one of the bottles he was holding. We started to feed Aidan and Cole and then put them down for a nap, after which we walked into the bedroom, changed into t-shirts and sweats, and lay down on the bed next to each other and took a nap.

We were awoken a couple of hours later when the stereo in the boys room started to play 'Knocking on Heavens Door'. We got up, went into the bedroom and went downstairs to meet with Sam, Dean and Bobby to try and find out what had set the twins off. When we got downstairs, we were met in the hallway by Dean and his friends from college Roger, and Erica. Dean looked at me and said "With everything that's been going I didn't get a chance to run this past you. Is it alright if Roger, Erica and I spend some time in the solarium as we have some a paper due for Calculus and Analytical Geometry, as Math's has always been my strong suit I said that I'd help the others out?" At this both Roger and Erica looked at him, and Erica said "hey, we're not stupid you know just out of practice." Dean leant down to Erica and said "I know that you're not stupid, I didn't mean it like that." As Dean was defending himself I could see the look on her face and knew that she was playing with him and that he hadn't picked up on it yet. Roger was standing in the background laughing at the pair of them. Dean turned to him and said "What you laughing at?" Roger replied "She is pulling your leg and you fall for it every time."

I coughed gently trying not to interrupt them too much and said "of course it's not a problem, you should know by now that I want you to feel at home here. I understand the need to do college work and the tight deadlines that you have. I'm sure that Sam and Bobby have got everything else under control. You know where everything is? Will and I are going to take the boys for a walk, I need to get some fresh air and it will be good for Aidan and Cole as well."

Dean said "Great, we'll see you when you get back. Don't stay out too long; don't forget that you only got out of the hospital this morning." As Dean was saying this Sam and Bobby stepped out from the study and Sam said "Why, what's going on." I turned to him and said "It's ok, Dean is going to study with Erica and Roger in the solarium, and they've got a calculus paper due and they going to help each other with it. Will and I are going for a walk with Aidan and Cole" as Sam stepped forward as though he was going to go with us, I put my hand to his chest and said "Sam, its ok. Will and I are going to take the boys for a walk around the block everything is going to be alright. You stay here and help Bobby with the search for Samael and Ramiel in our family tree."

Erica and Roger turned to Dean and said "your researching Samael, isn't the name of the mate of the first demon that Lucifer turned." As a group we all turned and looked at them and said "You know about demons and Lucifer. How do you know about these things and why aren't you wigging out right now."

_What do Roger and Erica know about Demons, and can they help the Winchesters in their upcoming battle_


End file.
