Chapter 94

"Guys, meet Jack," Chuck announces as a boy appears next to him. He's easily younger than everyone else in the room, with the possible exception of Adam. He almost looks like a younger Jimmy Novak, which is kind of weird.

Jack looks down at him, confused. "Should I know you?"

"Probably not," he replies. "But you do know some of these guys. Go, shoo, mingle." He waves Jack away, then disappears.

Jack looks around, then meets Sam's gaze and sighs in relief. He smiles his adorable little smile and walks up to them. "Hi!"

"Hi?" Sam says awkwardly. Why would Satan's child come up to him?

"What's going on?" he asks, glancing around the room. "Are they friends?"

"Um..." Sam looks between Dean and Castiel helplessly.

"Look, kid," Dean says, stepping up to the plate. "We don't know you."

"But —"

"You're Lucifer's kid, right?" Dean asks, just to make sure this is the right person before he tells him to fuck off. It would be awkward if he was just some human.

Jack cocks his head in confusion, much like how Castiel does. "I told you. Lucifer means nothing to me. I thought you understood that."

With everyone's attention on the new arrival, no one notices Lucifer disappear with the flap of his wings, unable to listen to this kid — kid — any longer.

"What are you talking about?" Dean demands. "He's your ."

"Castiel is my dad," Jack replies. "I told you that. My mother said he would take care of me — and you all have. Don't you remember?"

"We don't know you," Sam tells him. "I don't think you're from our world."

"How is he not from our world?" Dean demands. "He's very clearly in our world."

"He's from an alternate timeline," Castiel explains. "An alternative universe where things continued as normal, and Chuck never interfered."

"But that's impossible," Dean protests. "I mean, you can't just, like, change timelines. That's stupid."

"And?" Sam asks. "A lot of things are stupid and true. And it's not like we've never experienced something like this before. Remember when Balthazar stuck us in an alternate dimension where this was all a tv show? Maybe it's the same deal."

Jack looks genuinely confused, glancing between the three of them helplessly. "But I didn't open up a portal this time."

"''" Dean repeats, clearly taken aback by that. Before Jack can speak, Dean adds, "You know what? I don't want to know."

That seems to upset Jack slightly, but before he can start to dwell on it, Sam says, "Hey, Jack, we don't really know who you are —"

"So back off," Dean finishes.

Sam elbows him in the gut, then continues speaking as if Dean never interrupted. "But since you're here, make yourself at home. I don't know who you know already, but those are my parents, John and Mary; that's Bobby, Ellen, Jo, Michael, Adam, Samandriel, Charlie, Meg, Gabriel, and..." Sam pauses, looking around the room in confusion.

"And?" Dean repeats. "And what?"

Sam is about to point out that Lucifer isn't here, but decided against it. He doesn't want to start a fight, and with Dean being as short tempered as he is, just the name leaving Sam's lips is probably enough to do that. Instead, just says, "Well, he knows us already. No need to reintroduce ourselves." Dean and Castiel seem to believe it, much to Sam's relief.

Jack smiles at them, not seeming phased by the wariness nearly everyone shows. "Hi!"

The only person to say, "Hi!" back us Charlie. "Welcome to our humble abode. You'll probably learn to hate it here, but it might be fun for a little while first."

"That's not very reassuring," Jack observes.

"But it's true," Meg adds with a shrug. "Sorry."

Jack clearly doesn't know how to respond to that, so Sam steps up, saying, "Really, guys? Give the kid some hope."

"Hey, if he can't handle the truth, he shouldn't be here," Dean replies, though it's clear that in his mind, Jack shouldn't be here either way.

"I can handle the truth," Jack protests, almost as if he's trying to prove something to Dean, like this is a habit of his, which raises some questions about how Dean acted towards him in the other world.

"Uh huh, sure you can," Dean deadpans, sounding bored of him already.

Hopefully, Jack's time here will be as short as Jesus' was, because Dean clearly won't stand for him becoming a permanent resident.