Preparing For The Future (Book Twelve of The Bad Wolf Chronicles)

The Bad Wolf's Guide to Being a Winchester

"Come on, let's say goodnight to your brother and sister."

Four-year-old Dean grinned as his mother, Mary, turned on the lights in the house's nursery and set him down. He hurried to the dark grey crib and leaned over, looking down at his baby brother, then kissed him on the forehead. "'Night, Sam," he whispered, then moved to the crib that was a lighter grey, almost silver. He looked down at his brother's twin, and he grinned, bending down to kiss his baby sister on the forehead, too. "'Night, Jessie."

Mary chuckled, giving her children the same affection. "Good night, loves."

"Hey, Dean!"

Dean turned around as an older man wearing a shirt for the Marine Corps walked in. "Daddy!" he rushed over, hugging him.

"Hey, buddy!" John grinned, picking him up. "So, what do you think? You think Sammy's ready to toss around a football yet?"

"No, Daddy!" Dean laughed, shaking his head.

John laughed as well. "No," he agreed.

"You got him?" Mary asked, walking by.

"I got him," John confirmed. He adjusted his grip on Dean, looking over the twins. "Sweet dreams, you two," he whispered, then walked out of the room, turning the lights off.

***

Mary woke in the middle of the night to strange noises coming from the baby monitor on her side of the bed. She frowned, reaching up to turn on her light. "John?" she mumbled, turning around, only to find the bed was empty.

Frowning, she stood up and headed down the hall to the nursery. She peeked in, relaxing when she saw the figure standing over Sam's crib, Jessie mysteriously silent. "John?" she asked. "Is he hungry?"

"Shhhh," John responded, turning his head slightly.

"All right," Mary held up her hands placatingly, turning to head back to bed. She frowned when she saw the light by the stairs flickering, and she walked up to it, tapping her finger on it until the light steadied. She sighed, about to head to bed again when she saw another flickering light – this time coming from downstairs. She walked down the stairs to see what was going on and froze in horror at what she saw.

It wasn't so much that the light was from the TV in the room. No, it was horror at seeing her husband snoring in front of it. If John was down here . . . then the man up in the nursery . . .

"Sammy!" she turned tail and ran back upstairs. "Jessie!"

She burst into the nursery and blanched, her eyes wide.

***

John started awake when he heard his wife's piercing scream. "Mary?" he shouted, scrambling out of his chair and running up the stairs. "Mary!" He burst into the nursery, looking around. "Mary?"

He didn't find his wife, but he did hear whimpers coming from the silver crib. He walked over and looked down at Jessie, seeing her squirm slightly. "Hey, sweetheart," he smiled, leaning down and running a finger over her cheek. "Bad dream?"

Jessie settled down slightly, blinking slightly, then yawned. John chuckled fondly, then moved to the next crib. "Hey, Sammy," he bent down, seeing he was wide awake. "You OK?"

A drop of something dark hit the fabric next to Sam's head. John frowned, reaching out to touch it, only to watch two more drops land on the back of his hand. John's eyes slowly widened, and he looked up to see where the liquid was coming from.

Staring back at him from the ceiling was Mary, sprawled on the ceiling, her eyes wide, her stomach sliced and making her white nightgown stain red. "No!" John shouted, collapsing in pure shock. "Mary!"