One last time—for this story—thank you so much Jenjoremy for beta'ing for me. It's been a project that's taken months and she's come through for me each time.

Thank you Gredelina1 for starting this journey with me and still encouraging when we stopped traveling it together.

Thank you all for reading and reviewing. You made the process a pleasure. I started posting this story almost exactly nine months ago. The fact so many of you have stuck around from the beginning to now means a lot to me. I hope to see you again with a future story xxx

Epilogue

"This is weird," Dean said. "Shouldn't I just meet you back at your place later?" He raised his eyebrows hopefully.

"No," Sam said seriously. "You belong here as much as they do. Bobby isn't making a fuss, so you shouldn't either."

Dean glanced at Bobby and saw him tugging the collar of his shirt. He looked just as uncomfortable as Dean felt. "Bobby's making a fuss," he said. "He's just quieter about it."

Sam sighed and Dean could see they were really bothering him. "You don't have to stay," he said. "Neither of you, if it really bothers you that much."

"We'll be fine," Bobby said, picking up his beer and taking a swig. "We're here to celebrate your birthday, and we're going to have a good time."

"My fifty-ninth birthday," Sam said brightening.

Dean grimaced and Bobby shook his head. "Doesn't matter how many times you say it; it doesn't get any less weird that you're fifty-nine."

Sam shrugged. "You'll get used to it by next year, when I'll be sixty…"

Dean balled up a napkin and threw it at Sam. "We get the point. You're an old man. But if you think that makes you the big brother, you're dead wrong."

Sam laughed. "I'm the little brother still. Gotcha."

Besides, Dean thought, Sam's source in the fountain of eternal youth seemed to be gone now. He'd cut himself for a spell a few weeks ago, and it hadn't healed straight away. God had brought him back as he was. Michael's grace was gone. They would age naturally together, as they should have done all along.

Sam checked his watch and looked excited. "They should be here soon."

Dean, Bobby and Sam were in Missouri's backyard, sitting at a table decorated with colorful napkins, balloons and noisemakers. It seemed a more appropriate setting for a child's birthday party, not a fifty-nine-year-old man's, but Missouri had organized it, and Sam hadn't complained.

Dean was on edge, anxious because Missouri had gone to the airport to pick up her son and his family, Sam's family. Dean and Bobby were going to meet them for the first time, and Dean had no idea what to expect. He almost wished Castiel was there to take the position of most-out-of-place-guest at the party. He'd had things to do in Heaven though, and Sam hadn't pushed him. Perhaps he was thinking Castiel standing sentinel at a birthday party was a bad idea, too, especially with Patience there.

Dean heard the bang of a door and Missouri called, "We're here!"

Sam leapt to his feet, grinning from ear to ear. The back door flew open and a little girl ran out. Her long hair bounced on her back as she ran at Sam, and when he caught her and spun her in a circle, her bright laughter filled the air.

"Uncle Sam!"

"Patience!" Sam said rapturously. "My favorite girl is here!" He set her down and kissed her cheek.

"Where did your beard go?" Patience asked.

"I shaved it," Sam said, rubbing his chin. "It was time for it to go. What do you think?"

"I like it much better," she said seriously. "You're much less scratchy now."

Sam laughed. "I'll have to grow it back. I don't want to lose my scratchiness."

"No!" Patience wailed with mock horror.

Sam hugged her again and then held her at arm's length and smiled at her. "Then I will keep shaving, just for you."

Patience grinned and then looked back as the people that had to be her parents—the resemblance was clear—came down the steps into the yard.

"Tess," Sam said, hugging the pretty woman. "How was the flight?"

"It was fine," Tess said. "Though Patience and James had to toss a coin for the window seat."

"I won," Patience said with supreme satisfaction.

"Good for you," Sam said, then embraced the man. "Hey, James."

"Hey, Dad," James said. "Happy birthday."

Dean's heart skipped at the word. Sam was someone's dad. He'd been told, but seeing the proof, the way Sam and James looked at each other, made his mind reel. This was the world Sam lived in without him.

James' eyes moved past Sam to where Dean and Bobby sat, fiddling awkwardly with their beer bottles. "Hello."

Patience turned to look at them, too, and she gave them a look that made Dean feel like she was appraising them. "Hi," she said brightly.

"Sorry," Sam said, running a hand through his hair. "Dean, Bobby, this is James and Tess. Dean's my brother," he explained. "And Bobby is one of my oldest friends."

"It's good to meet you, Dean," James said, reaching out a hand to Dean.

Dean shook it and said, "I've heard a lot about you all."

"You're Uncle Sam's brother?" Patience said as James greeted Bobby.

"I am."

Patience looked back at Sam who nodded. "You don't look old enough," she said.

Sam laughed and winked at Dean. "Dean's my younger brother, Patience."

Dean resisted the urge to roll his eyes. She noticed that Dean looked too young, but Sam, who was technically four years younger, got a pass. He guessed she was just used to the way he looked.

"Oh," Patience said. "That makes sense."

James, Tess and Missouri took their seats, and Missouri handed James a beer and poured Tess a glass of wine from the bottle in the ice bucket. Dean had seen bottles of champagne in the kitchen, too, and he was hoping he'd be able to stick to his beer when those were opened.

"Uncle Sam is really my grandpa," Patience said to Dean. "Even though my daddy had another father, too. So does that make us related?"

"Uh…" Dean looked to Sam for help.

Sam grinned. "You can be related if you like, Patience. Dean won't mind."

Patience shrugged. "Okay."

She pulled up a chair next to Sam and he ran a hand over her hair. Dean noticed how his brother was perfectly comfortable with her, with them all. He belonged here with them as much as he did in the Impala with Dean.

"So, what do you do, Bobby?" Tess asked.

"Uh, I own a salvage yard," Bobby said. "Do some occasional repairs, too."

"Sounds interesting," James said. "You get many classics?"

"Yeah, some," Bobby said.

"James and Tess are lawyers," Sam said.

His pride in his son and daughter-in-law was obvious, and Dean listened as Bobby asked them questions about their work, relaxing into the conversation. It felt like a normal conversation that would happen with any civilians meeting each other for the first time. The fact Sam, Dean and Bobby were really hunters of supernatural monsters didn't seem to matter. They weren't playing a role; they were just living a different kind of life for a while.

This was what Sam's life had been, Dean realized. He'd hunted for the years he'd been trapped, but it hadn't defined him. He'd had this whole other life that was normal with these people that he loved.

He'd always wanted that. While Dean had been learning the world of the hunting life with his father, Sam had been dreaming of normal. Now he had it. He had this life that coexisted with his hunting.

There was a lot Dean blamed Michael for, taking Sam away from their family for one, but there was stuff he'd given him along with that time. Sam had experienced the real world that most of the world lived in, just as he'd always wanted. He'd formed these relationships that he obviously cherished. He had a son and granddaughter. He'd seen and done things he said were incredible.

While there was plenty of blame to be laid on the archangel, Dean thought there should be a little thanks, too. Because of him, Sam had experienced the things Dean had always wanted for him.

He had a home.

Tess and Patience were in bed, and Sam was sitting with Dean, Bobby, James, and Missouri around the fire pit they'd lit to offset the cool May night.

As the evening had worn on, Dean and Bobby had relaxed, and now that Patience and Tess were gone, there was a new freedom to discuss the truth with the people that knew Sam's real story of the time he'd lived through. To Sam's discomfort, that meant Dean was free to ask his questions about what Sam's life in the past had been like.

"Okay," he said. "I've got a new one. Did you wear flares, Sammy?"

Sam took a swig of his beer and tried to pretend he hadn't heard the question.

"I can answer this one," Missouri said happily. "He did! He wore big flares."

"They weren't big!" Sam protested while Dean dissolved into laughter.

Sam scowled at her. He'd worn them as she'd given them to him. He'd only had one pair of his own pants to wear in the early days, and the things of Richard's she'd given him had been dated.

"Missouri had an avocado bathroom suite," he said vengefully.

Missouri shrugged as Dean laughed again. "It was the height of fashion at the time. You've got no appreciation for the history of interior design, Sam."

"They were fashionable," Bobby said knowledgably. "Lots of homes had them."

Dean coughed to calm and asked, "Did you disco, Sam?"

"I went to a disco once or twice," Sam said.

"Once or twice?" Missouri said, raising an eyebrow.

Sam scowled at her. "Okay, fine, yeah. I did. I went there to have fun."

Dean smiled wolfishly. "Did you do the Running Man?"

"No, but I did dance. I'd look pretty weird if I didn't."

"He swing danced once," Missouri said.

Bobby choked on his beer. "He did what?"

Sam glared at Missouri. "Whose idea was it?"

"Mine," she said happily. "But you were very good at it." She addressed Dean who looked elated at this new ammunition for teasing Sam. "We went to a jazz club for Sam's fiftieth birthday, and he really got into it. I've got a photograph of us dancing together that George took somewhere."

"You've got a photo!" Dean said. "Why didn't that make it into the scrapbook?"

"It didn't make it into that particular book. I have other photo albums full of more personal pictures though."

Sam groaned. If Missouri started flashing photos of Sam in the nineties, he wasn't going to be happy. He'd avoided the biggest clichés, but he still had to fit in with the times.

"What about that time you bought Patience a Pogo Ball?" James asked.

"What was wrong with that?" Sam asked.

"Nothing until you demonstrated how to use it," James explained.

Dean beamed at him. "Come on, spill the beans, what happened?"

Sam tried to warn James to keep quite with a look alone, but James either missed it or ignored it.

"They were the toy to have in the eighties," James said. "I missed out on them as I was too old to go bouncing around when they came out, but they came into fashion again a few years ago, and Sam went all retro for Patience's birthday." He chuckled. "I'm pretty sure she did it on purpose, but Patience couldn't seem get the hang of it, so Sam showed her how it worked. He Pogoed his way right into the flowerbed, crushed Tess' chrysanthemums to pulp."

Dean cackled. Sam was glad to see him laughing and relaxed with James, but he wished it came at someone else's expense.

"What about the paper route?" Missouri asked.

James laughed. "I'd forgotten about that. I broke my arm when I was fourteen so couldn't do my route. Sam volunteered to do it for me."

"Did you have the paperboy sack?" Bobby asked, his eyes twinkling.

"Yes," Sam said defiantly. "And I rode James' bike to do it."

Dean roared with laughter and Sam shook his head, smiling fondly. As embarrassing as this walk down memory lane was for him, it was good to see Dean and Bobby so happy.

"I've got another one," Dean said. "Most embarrassing thing you wore."

"I can't think of anything," Sam lied.

"Come on, you lived through the eighties," Bobby said. "You must have worn some horrors."

"You lived through the eighties, too," Sam pointed out.

"I was too busy for fads," Bobby said. "Trucker caps are timeless."

"I've got something," James said. "I've even got photographic proof at Mom's."

"Yeah?" Dean asked.

"Pink," James said with satisfaction. "

Dean's mouth dropped open. "You wore pink!"

"That was your fault, James!" Sam said, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "And you wore it, too."

"I did, but I was the groom, and it was Tess' color scheme, not mine."

Sam joined their laughter, not caring that it was at his expense now. He was happy to be there with the people he loved enjoying themselves. He'd never imagined he would have this.

He was supposed to be dead now. He was never supposed to see this birthday. God had brought him back though, and he was grateful for it. He had been prepared to die for the world, and it had seemed a fair price, but he'd never been able to prepare himself to lose these people, no matter how hard he'd tried to. The fact that he had them, that they were together now, the two parts of his life coming together at last, made him happier than he could say.

"I've got one," Bobby said. "Best moment since 1978."

Sam considered. There had been some great ones, a lifetime of them, and most involving someone he loved: finding Missouri, meeting James, Live Aid and Berlin, simple moments with George, his first call with Bobby and seeing his father, holding Patience for the first time, seeing Dean standing in his house after all those years apart. But he thought this moment was the very best. He was with all of his family, and they were happy together. The two pieces of his life were merging.

"I think right now," he said. "This minute."

Missouri smiled and Sam knew she had been reading his mind again. "I think that's a good choice," she said.

Sam's life had been a long one, and there had been good and bad during that time, but the world was safe now. He and Dean were going to keep on saving lives together, and Sam would be able to grow old with him as he should.

All in all, Sam was happy with his life. He had experienced things that had changed him, both for the good and the bad, but the future looked brighter than it ever had before.

After thirty-two years apart, Sam had Dean back, and they would face whatever came next together.

He had his brother, he had his family, and his had his time.

It was everything he needed.

~ The End ~

So… That's where it ends.

This story has been an amazing experience to write and share with you all. I never expected it to be popular as Dean was absent for most of it and the process of Sam living through all those years could easily become boring. I have been amazed by how many of you were willing to come on this journey with Sam and the lovely things you have said. You connected with this world and these characters—especially George—in a way I couldn't have imagined.

I will never write another story quite like this. It's been my longest single piece and one of the most challenging, but I learned a lot and tested myself in ways I couldn't have anticipated. I love that the idea came and that I had come wonderful people in my life to encourage me to write it—Jenjoremy and Gredelina1.

Thank you all for reading. Thank you especially those of you that shared your thoughts and feelings for the story. You made all the work worth it and gave me the motivation to keep writing each new story that's come since.

Until the next story…

Clowns or Midgets xxx