Roads Untraveled ~ Sam Winchester

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Nine - Returned

Over the next couple of weeks, Sam and Dean had gone to visit Garth, his wife and their twin sons. They'd also ended up stumbling on a case in the process. During that case, they'd realised that, with God no longer on their side, their luck had run out. The case had taken a turn for the worst and Garth had had to step in, saving the day. With a phone call to Eden, Sam had told her that they were headed to Alaska. Apparently, Garth had spoken of a pool bar where they could play to get their luck back. They'd met a Goddess there and succeeded with said luck.
They had no idea just how much luck was coming to them...

"So... How was gambling your lives away?" Eden asked, watching them come down the stairs to the War room.
She was sat at the map table with her feet up, one hand on her ever-growing, fifteen week old bump and the other wrapped around a glass of blood that she brought to her lips.
"Why don't you ask these scratchers?" Dean replied, throwing down six winning scratch cards. They weren't winning them the full jackpot, but it was to get them by for the next few cases, at least.
Eden's brows raised.
"Nice. Welcome back, boys." She hummed.
"We didn't win the lottery, but we had no car trouble, our credit cards are working again and, oh! Back to back bacon, double cheeseburgers didn't kill Dean, so-"
"That was beautiful, by the way." Dean pointed an outstretched finger to his brother after placing his overnight bag down on the table. "I'm just saying, it wouldn't have killed her to give us a little extra."
"Well, she thinks we're 'real heroes'. Maybe they don't get shortcuts." Sam offered, following Dean into the library.
Eden took her feet from the map table and also walked over to the other room, where Castiel came out from around the corner, looking rather pensive.
"Pigeon. When did you get back?" Eden frowned.
"Is everything okay?" Sam asked.
The Angel simply stepped aside and out came...
"Jack..." Eden's blood drained from her face, making her porcelain skin turn grey.
The boy held up a hand.
"Hello."
"It's really him." Cas told them.
Sam approached the Nephilim, immediately engulfing him in a hug. He then held him by the shoulders as he looked him over briefly, then made way for Dean. He cupped the side of Jack's face and dipped his neck to look him directly in the eye before turning to Cas, who gave a sympathetic smile. Dean nodded, also taking the boy into a hug.
"My turn, bugger off." Eden breathed, nudging Dean's arm.
He stepped back a few paces as the Dark Angel wrapped her arms around his neck and Jack's fell around her waist.
"You have no idea how happy I am to see you." He mumbled into her hair.
"Believe me, I've got an idea, Sweetheart..." She replied, her voice shaky to accompany the tears she shed.

Jack had ended up healing Willow out of the unconscious state Chuck had put her in. Their reunion had been a private one in her room.
But eventually, all six of them were sat around the map table with beers and blood.
Jack was telling them about what he'd been up to since he returned from the Empty. Cas then explained that Billie had kept him there until Chuck went off-world.
Jack had also told them that he needed to stay hidden from Chuck, mostly through fear of Chuck trying to kill him again, but also that Jack now knew that Chuck was afraid of him.
"If I do exactly what Billie says – if I follow her plan, then I'll get stronger and... I'll be able to kill God." The Nephilim concluded, wearily looking around the table at everyone's equally shocked expressions.
Everyone's shocked expressions, except for Eden's, who simply looked deep in thought as she cupped her bump.
"What's on your mind, Vampy Pants?" Dean asked.
"Killing God is great and all... But what about Amara? Come on, we don't seriously think she's just going to sit there and watch her brother be killed, do we?" Eden sighed, sitting forward to rest her forearms on the map table. "I mean, we know they have family issues, but they're still going to be there for each other. Not to mention the 'imbalance of the universe' broken record we seem to keep playing on repeat."
Everyone looked to Jack.
"I don't know. Billie hasn't said anything about her or the balance." He replied.
"So, Death's got you on a need-to-know basis and you're supposed to just go with it?" Dean scoffed.
"Yeah, basically." Jack shrugged.
The older brother groaned, running a hand down his face.
"Okay, yeah. We've all got questions. But right now, this looks like the only plan we've got. I don't trust Billie, but I believe in her. I've seen what she's capable of, I've seen her library, she was right about Rowena... She's all we've got."