Chapter Twenty. Epilogue.

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When Dean stepped through the door into the yard, he felt slightly dazed.

What he'd been witness to inside the Singer home had seemed like the plot of one of those B horror movies where brainless teens get hacked to death by axe-wielding monsters.

The idea that everything he'd seen and heard was true, made his head ache.

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All of this was so outlandish.

In the space of a few days he'd found his presumed dead brother and mother, been presented to the supernatural via the exorcism of a screaming demon from a dead human body, and to top it all off, in some alternate reality or whatever, a Dean Winchester had gone back to 1973, warned his mother to keep out of Sam's room on a certain night in November when a demon was due to drop in on his baby brother .

For a second he lost his balance, almost stumbling, his brain too overloaded to keep him on an even keel, only to feel the tug of his brother's hand latching on to his jacket.

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"Watch your step, Dean. Uncle Bobby isn't exactly house-proud when it comes to the yard."

Strangely enough, the touch of his sibling's hand grounded him and he wondered why that should be.

Why did having Sam by his side feel so right. He shrugged off the feeling of deja vu. His mother's story about alternate timelines was getting to him.

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"Dean." There was an anxious edge to his brother's voice that had been missing before.

Dean gazed down at him.

Sam's eyes were filled with an expression Dean hadn't yet seen there.

His kid brother had acted calm and controlled throughout this entire mess, even when he'd recited the exorcism in Singer's basement; whereas the sight of the writhing demon had scared the pants off Dean.

But now Dean recognised fear in the moss-green eyes.

"What's wrong, Sammy," he asked pulling the teen around to face him.

"You heard what mom said back there. The demon came into my room, he came specifically for me, Dean. What did he want? " The anxiety in Sam's voice notched itself up a level.

All the self-confidence the boy had exhibited until then fell away leaving a frightened teen in its place, though at the moment the floppy hair and wide pleading eyes made him look no more than a five-year old looking up to his big brother for help, something Dean didn't know how to give.

All this supernatural shit was beyond him. He couldn't give Sam the answers to his questions.

Back in the house he'd been so angry at his mother for spiriting Sammy away that he hadn't caught the implications of what she'd been saying concerning the kid.

The demon had come to Sam. The demon wanted something from him. But what?

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"Hey, squirt," Dean said, pulling the the boy close and tightening his arms around the skinny frame.

"Nothing's gonna happen to you while I'm around."

He could feel Sam trembling, and he was pervaded by a rush of protectiveness. He tightened his hold. He'd defend his little brother against the devil himself if he dared lay a hand on him.

"But what if the demon's biding his time. Maybe he wants my soul. Dean, I'm scared."

"What did I just say, Sam, " Dean soothed. "I'm gonna look out for you."

"You can't, Dean," Sam snuffled into his jacket. "Demons are powerful. Even the most experienced hunters like uncle Bobby and Mom can't kill them. All they can do is send them back to hell."

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Dean glanced back at the house. He'd stomped out vowing to himself never to go back, to take Sammy to Lawrence and let him have a normal life away from all this bullshit.

But Sam was right. He wasn't able to protect his little brother from anything supernatural. He didn't know how, but behind that scruffy front door were people who could.

Dean revised his decision.

This wasn't the time to hold a grudge against his mother, though he knew in his heart he'd never truly forgive her for taking Sam away, but now that he had his baby brother back, he wasn't going to lose him again, not to a demon, not to anything!

The only way to keep the promise he'd just made to Sam, that he'd keep him safe, was to go back inside and soak up everything he could from both Mary and Singer..

He'd do whatever it took. Sam was his number one priority now.

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He spared a thought for his other self, the one who had warned Mary. She'd said he was a hunter and Dean wondered what he'd been like.

Did that version of himself grow up in the hunting life? Did he have a Sam by his side. Did he love his little brother?

He pushed the thoughts from his mind. They were sterile. That Dean no longer existed. There was only him. The Dean who had just found his little brother.

Nevertheless, if that Dean had been a hunter then so could he.

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He pushed Sam back to arm's length, the better to meet his eyes.

"We gotta go back inside, Sammy. I was furious with Mary but she and Singer know how to protect you if anything should come calling, I don't. But, " he declared confidently, a cocky grin gracing his face as Sam gazed up at him. "I'm gonna learn. I gotta protect you, Sammy. I couldn't look out for you when you were a kid but I'm gonna make up for that.

Dean Winchester's gonna be the best hunter that ever was and all those demons out there had better start quaking in their boots. You ready to give your awesome big brother a hand here?"

Sam grinned up at him, the elder boy's confidence was contagious, and Dean swore the kid's smile warmed him as nothing had before.

"Yeah. I'll teach you all I know, Dean, " he assured his brother.

"Good enough, squirt," Dean smirked, ruffling the messy mop of hair and receiving a primordial bitch-face in return.

"Let's go back in there. Whatever that demon wanted with my baby brother, he's not gonna get it."

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With one arm curled around his sibling's shoulder, Dean walked confidently back towards the house.

Now he had a mission in life. One he was going to take very seriously. To look out for Sammy.

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Fate released a sigh of relief as she wrote up a correction to what had been an abhorrence in her time-line.

Mary should have died that dark night of November, but as She had witnessed many times throughout the aeons, fate could at times be side-stepped, but never truly avoided.

The enD.

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I hope everyone who read enjoyed the story. Thanks to all the wonderful people who reviewed. :)