when all we wanted was the dream - SN fic - PG

[tigriswolf]

Title: when all we wanted was the dream
Fandom: “Supernatural”
Disclaimer: not my characters; just for fun. Title from “Wait” by Sarah McLachlan. 
Warnings: slight AU; spoilers for season two
Pairings: Bill/Ellen
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 750
Point of view: third

 

 

She remembers him vaguely, as a solemn little boy with eyes only for the baby. He was such a serious child, those few days she cared for him and Sammy, never letting his brother out of his sight. Jo herself was a newborn, but Bill said he owed John and they had to help.

Please, babe, Bill had pled. Just a couple’a days. I gotta do this with Johnny. She’d nodded her assent, studying the two little boys, cradling Jo close.

Bill kissed her hard and walked out the door, on John’s heels, and she had three babies to deal with instead of just one.

Dean never left Sam’s side, not for anything. He never spoke, either, just kept his eyes on her or Sam, always on the lookout for a threat. 

Bill and John came back a week later, triumphant and smiling. After John took his boys and left, Bill told her, I haven’t seen Johnny smile like that since he first wed Mary.

 

When Jo’s all of three, Tony enters the world shrieking and howling. Jo loves her little brother, promising Ellen and Bill to always look after him.

Ellen remembers that solemn little boy and tells her daughter to just be Tony’s friend.

 

Bill dies in the autumn after Tony’s seventh birthday, on a solo hunt. He’d sworn it’d be his last, that once it was over, he’d be home for good.

The night Ellen learns that Bill’s dead, she curls up in their bed with their children and sobs.

 

John comes by not long after, sons grown large by his side. Dean’s still silent but Sam’s into everything, a welcome distraction for Jo and Tony. John sets Dean to watching them, keeping the younger kids safe, and pulls Ellen from her misery with stories about Bill from the war.

The Winchesters stay for the better part of a month and Ellen’s sorry to see them go. 

 

Ellen doesn’t see Dean or Sam for years, though John swings by now and again. Jo and Tony grow, and she teaches them to shoot. Jo wants to go to school, but Tony just wants to hunt. 

She wishes he’d pick another path, but he is his father’s son. She sends him to Caleb for guidance and doesn’t see him for months at a time.

 

When Jo’s twenty-one, John’s sons break into the Roadhouse. Tony’s still with Caleb, out hunting something; she hasn’t spoken to him in five months, hasn’t seen him in six.

She doesn’t know them as John’s boys, at first; they’ve grown so much, have changed so much—but then she hears their names, sees how Dean watches over Sam, and she knows.

From Dean’s bearing and Sam’s expression, she also knows that John is gone. She offers her condolences—Bill’s been dead for eleven years, but his loss still aches—and Dean snipes at her, his words and tone telling her to back off.

He isn’t a solemn little boy anymore, isn’t quiet or muted. He’s dangerous and capable, bright and loud. If she hadn’t seen him as a child with her own eyes, she wouldn’t believe he’d ever been that boy.

While they’re still there, waiting for Ash’s information, Tony walks through the door. Dean is lightly flirting with Jo—nothing truly serious, either because he’s still shaken by John’s death or he knows Ellen’d castrate him—and Sam’s talking with an old, grizzled hunter in the corner.  

Tony takes in the bar at a glance, Ellen sees, cataloguing where everyone is and who might be a threat. He’s all of eighteen and already a hunter. He hugs her and Jo, kissing them both, but his eyes never leave Dean. 

They’re John Winchester’s sons, Ellen tells him. Living with Caleb, Tony’s definitely heard the stories of one of the most respected hunters in the United States. She doesn’t know if he’d figured out that Uncle Johnny was the same man, but when he meets her gaze, she sees the deep sadness.

Caleb told me he’d passed, Tony says and she nods.

 

Dean and Sam leave the next day, heading back to Bobby’s. Ya’ll are welcome anytime, she tells them as they go. 

Sam smiles. Dean nods. Neither of them says a word. 

Ellen puts Jo and Tony to work restocking the bar; she sits at a table and stares at the corner where, years before, a solemn little boy huddled beside his baby brother and watched the world with wary eyes.

Not much has changed.

 

Comments

[bluesister.livejournal.com]

Ellen remembers that solemn little boy and tells her daughter to just be Tony’s friend.
Good to see John's parenting helping someone. ;)

[tigriswolf]

Yeah.

Thank you for reading!

[shea-fleur.livejournal.com]

Very nice slice of life. Says so much about Dean's character, and what went into making him who he is.

[tigriswolf]

Thank you for reading!

[iamstealthyone.livejournal.com]

Interesting twist on things, having Jo have a little brother. Good POV. Nicely done. :)

Favorite lines:

Jo loves her little brother, promising Ellen and Bill to always look after him.

Ellen remembers that solemn little boy and tells her daughter to just be Tony’s friend.

Love this. So bittersweet.

Ellen puts Jo and Tony to work restocking the bar; she sits at a table and stares at the corner where, years before, a solemn little boy huddled beside his baby brother and watched the world with wary eyes.

Not much has changed.

Yeah, Dean will always look out for Sam.

[tigriswolf]

Thank you so much!

[sadelyrate.livejournal.com]

Your AUs rock.
...especially if I realize it says AU in the Warnings-section and don't go all "But that didn't happen!"...;)

And outsider POVs on the boys, seeing them as they are, are intriguing. Damn it, the Harvelles are intriguing. The more I think about them, the more I want to know more and the more impatient for Season Three I get...

How come you can take any character and make 'em cool?
Not that I don't like Ellen, but... yeah, this rings true. :)

[tigriswolf]

*giggles*

Sillyhead--always check the warnings!

[fleshflutter.livejournal.com]

That was brilliant. Loved how you used the idea of Jo having a brother. :)

[tigriswolf]

Thank you so much!