Rating:PG-17

Sam went to the refrigerator to retrieve a bottle of water then sat back down as they waited for John to make his announcement. Dean shifted in his chair as he got the feeling that he wasn’t going to like what his father had to say.
“Go ahead, Dad,” he encouraged John who seemed to be having a hard time speaking.
“Um... I know you two will be mad that I haven’t told you this before now, but…”
“What is it?” Sam asked as he began to feel apprehension but a bit of excitement.
“I am getting married in three months.”
Sam smiled.
“What?” Dean asked as though he could not believe what he had just heard; he raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips.
“Who is the lucky lady?” Sam asked as he mentally began to get used to the idea.
“You are going to marry someone we've never met?” Dean asked.
“Well, she has vacation next week I was hoping she could come for a visit with her daughter who is out of school.”
“She has a kid?” Dean asked.
John shifted in his chair, “Yes, she is a bit younger than me, but her daughter is fifteen.”
“Fifteen?” Sam said surprised.
“How young?” Dean wanted to know.
“She will be thirty-six this year.”
Sam laughed, “You go Dad.”
Dean glared at his brother.

“How long have you known this woman?” Dean asked as he tried to relax in his chair.
He hadn’t seen his father in a while, but he never expected this. Of course, his father needed companionship just as he and Sam did, but marriage? He knew he should be reasonable; his father was a grown man. He could do as he chose to do.
“I have known Vickie for about a year or so. She was a nurse at the hospital when I was sick. We talked and realized we had a lot in common though she is divorced from an abusive man. He is a cop.”
“So she has had a hard life too?” Sam said.
He could see how his father would be drawn to someone who had gone through problems though they would not be very similar to having to track down your wife’s killer.
“Does she know about what you have done in the past? The supernatural stuff?” Dean asked next.
John nodded.
“I explained the best I could without too much detail at first. Eventually I told her the entire story. She is a believer in “things that go bump in the night”.
“That’s good,” Sam said as he recalled the many times he had wished he had told Jessica, his ex-girlfriend about his ghost hunting. He still believed it could have saved her life.

Dean looked at his father. The man seemed healthier than he had ever seen him. Maybe this woman had contributed to that just by loving him. He could not deny part of him always hoped his father would not remarry though he realized it was pure selfishness. He and Sam had begun to settle down with their families. It was time his father had a chance too.
“Well if she wants to come meet us while you are here, feel free to tell her its fine,” Dean said as he finally smiled at his father.
John felt relieved that his boys had taken to the idea so well, though he had known Dean would be the hesitant one. Despite that fact, he and Sam had always butted heads in their hearts they were alike in ways that Dean was only beginning to understand. Vickie had held more faith that his sons would be okay with her visiting the he had, Dean’s stubbornness was something he had dreaded. Maybe his grandchildren had something to do with softening up their father.

Even though Dean had always been good about taking care of Sam, it was possible that early training had a bit to do with his way with his kids. On the other hand, maybe John just wanted to believe he had a hand in teaching his son the finer skills of parenting, no matter how indirectly.
“What’s the name of our new little sister?” Sam asked.
“Alexis, she is a junior at her high school. She is a good kid. Her father is Afro American and Hispanic so I fear I will spend the next few years chasing boys away from the house, she is quite a beauty, just like her mother,” John laughed.
Dean smiled he dreaded those coming days himself, he did not envy his father that duty. “And Vickie?” Sam said.

“She is a Blonde with hazel eyes and long hair. I had not planned it to turn out this way, it just happened. Though she is not much like your mother.”
“What do you mean?” Dean asked hoping his father would give them more information about the future stepmother.
“Well, she is a bit sassy like your Cassie,” John said as he looked at Dean who grinned. Sam waited because he did not want to interrupt John’s thought.
“But she is also quiet like Sara though I know Sara has a stubborn streak,” he teased Sam. John hesitated.
“I don’t think she is the typical Winchester woman, I believe I purposely chose her for that reason.”
“As long as you think it will work,” Sam interjected.
Dean nodded, “Not all of us can handle a Cassie type.”
John laughed.
“That is certain,” he said.
Dean knew he meant it good-naturedly as he smiled at his father.
“Maybe she will surprise you,” Sam said with at grin.
“I’m too old for too many more surprises,” John said as they got up to leave the kitchen.

-- Dean spoke with Cassie that night about the possibility of them moving to California.
“I can do my work from anywhere, if you think we should move I am all for it, though mom will not be happy about it,” Cassie said as she lay in her husband’s arms. “I just think that at this point we should all be in the same general metropolitan for a change,” he said as he looked down at her.
“I agree but I know you will miss your crew.”
Dean nodded against the back of her head. He had gotten used to supervising though he was certain his boss would not mind giving him a good reference. He would talk to Sam and his father first, about how they felt. However, if they all agreed they could be in California before his father’s wedding day.

The following weekend,
After the decision was made to move to California John, figured Vickie and Alexis should just come for a weekend visit and save the vacation time for a family thing later on.
“Hi, come in, I am Cassie,” she said as she and Cassidy backed away from the door to let her future relatives in the house.
“Nice to meet you. Oh what a beautiful baby,” Vickie said. “Thanks,” Cassie said to the petite Blonde woman with sparkling eyes and a wide smile that showed off perfectly even teeth. “This is Alexis,” John said as the teenager came in wearing jeans with a pink hoodie and sneakers. Her long hair was in two braids and she wore earphones but took them off when they walked in.
“Hi,” she said showing off her braces.
“Hi Alexis,” Cassie said with as smile as she grinned at girl.
Cassie imagined her own daughters would look a lot like her when they grew up her eyes were the same bluish grey as the baby’s. John had not exaggerated she was a beautiful young lady.
“May I hold the baby?’ she asked as she looked at Cassidy who was blowing bubbles against her mother’s shoulder and as she made noises.
“Sure, just beware she loves to wiggle and jump around.”
“I’ll be careful,” she said as she took the baby to the sofa to sit down.
Cassie smiled at John who seemed to be beaming just as Sara came in to meet the new comers.

“This is my other daughter-in-law, Sara,” John said to Vickie.
“Hi Sara, nice to meet you,” Vickie said as she took Sara’s hand.
John went around the ladies to take the bags into the guest room. He passed Deanna and the boys on the way to the living room.
“I’m Dee Dee,” the little girl said to the teenager as she and her brothers surrounded Alexis and the teen smiled.
“I’m Jason and that’s Marty,” Jason said as the spokesperson for he and Marty who had already taken a spot near Alexis leg to watch her.
It was obvious he liked her already as he reached to touch one of her pigtails.
“Alexis loves kids I am sure they will all get along fine,” Vickie said to the Sara and Cassie as they watched.
“They are an easy bunch to love,” Sara said as she rubbed her stomach.
“So it looks like we will all be together for the birth of those babies,” Vickie said.
“Looks like it,” Sara agreed as Cassie smiled.

--- When Dean arrived home, Cassie was the only one in the kitchen so he snuck up behind her to kiss her on the neck.
“Hey Sweetie,” she said.
“Hey, where is everyone?”
“I think Sara is up talking to Alexis in the room with Deanna and your Dad is in the guestroom with Vickie. Sam is in the study on your computer doing some homework. The boys are playing in their room if they have not gone in to stare at Alexis again.”
“So Marty has a crush already?”
“You know him, he is going to be like his father with the ladies, I think,” she said as she turned so he could hold her in his arms.
“Someone has to be like me, right?”
Cassie rolled her eyes, before he kissed her.
“I take that as a yes,” he said before he kissed her again.
Sam came in during the second kiss.
“Hey, we have company I hoped you would be on your best behavior,” he teased the couple.
“Your wife is pregnant, you are not the one to talk,” his brother told him with a grin.
“Touché.”

At dinner, Dean finally had a chance to meet Vickie and her daughter. He was not as impressed as the rest of the family had been because he got a bad feeling when he met his future mother in law. However, he shook his head and smiled during dinner, since Deanna seemed to enjoy the newcomers he figured that maybe his hesitancy was just the fact that he had to get used to the idea of his father getting married again. He decided he would just relax and enjoy the excitement of the mood. His brother was going to be a father, his father was getting married again and they were moving in a couple of months. Things in their lives were changing rapidly.

-- That night in bed Sara told Sam about something she had done that she was uncomfortable about.
“I read her mind,” she said as she frowned at her husband.
“What?”
“I read Vickie’s mind, I didn’t mean too, it just happened.”
“Until today I have avoided reading minds because we are all family and it just seems too personal. But during dinner I knew what she was thinking and I don’t think John should marry her.”
Sam pulled her back into his arms with fear in his heart.
“Sara what was she thinking?”
“That John is a good catch; he is handsome and needs someone...”
“And.”
Sara bit her lip.
“She is full of anger at her ex-husband. Maybe it’s innocent but what if she is setting your dad up to kill her husband because he used to abuse Alexis as well as her.”
“Why are you saying that? Dad knew that her ex hurt her, he told us,” Sam asked.
“It’s what she was thinking.”
Sam sighed.
“I’m sorry Sam I wish I did not know, I wish it with all my heart.”
“Well, I will talk to Dad to see if he knows about the other incidents, maybe it was surface anger that she will get over once we all get to know one another.”
“I hope so Sam, I really do.”

-- Sam spoke with John about what Sara had said the next morning after breakfast. John listened but did not seem concerned the way Sam had been the night before.
“It’s natural for her to be angry but she is trying to move on. I appreciate you sharing what happened with Sara. I, of course, am not going to tell Vickie about the various gifts in the family unless there is a time that it has to be shared.”
Sam agreed sometimes too much information only made things worse.

Vickie went shopping with the girls the next day, since Sara had mentioned she needed maternity clothes. They all decided it was as good an excuse as any to get to know one another. At the maternity store, Cassie and Vickie waited with the younger girls while Sara tried on the items they had chosen. A couple of times Cassie grinned and reminded Sara that she was only going to get bigger as Sara complained about the sizes. Vickie laughed at the two of them while she could see that they got along well. When they were done Sara left with four outfits that would carry her through the next couple of months. Before they went back to the house they stopped for lunch at a deli where John, Sam and the boys met them.

“So how did it go?” John asked Vickie as they all sat down at a table they had assembled to fit the size of the group.
Cassidy could be heard as she made her array of sounds though Cassie tried to quiet her all the while she smiled at her daughter.
“Shhh,” Deanna said to her baby sister.
The baby only grinned at her.
“Honey, she thinks she is talking too she is fine,” Cassie said as she put the baby in her lap.
“I got a few outfits, that will last a while,” Sara said as Sam had a seat beside her.
“What I want to know is did you wear out the credit card?” he teased.
“Oh absolutely,” she laughed.
John smiled at the two of them. Their family seemed to be growing by leaps and bounds, he had never foreseen anything like it in his years of hunting. He had actually never thought any of them would marry but their luck had changed. He watched Alexis as she helped the little ones with their trays and felt Vickie’s eyes on him as she smiled. He hoped that he would be a blessing to her. He did not think that men should hit woman no matter what they did. It was better to walk away.

TBC

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