Sioux Falls, South Dakota Fall 2011... I tucked the blankets around Paige, kissed her on the forehead, and snapped my fingers twice to make sure she was asleep. She mumbled something that sounded like my name and settled into the pillow with a soft sigh. I couldn't help but wonder what she was dreaming. Whatever it was, it seemed pleasant.

We'd come full circle, Paige and I. We'd arrived in Sioux Falls nearly a week ago, and here we were again, getting ready to leave.

After Montana, we'd driven to Lawrence to see the old house. It was just as I remembered it. Well, just as I remembered it looking the last time Sam and I had been there anyway. I'm not sure why I went back there. It just seemed like the thing to do. I was slowly but surely saying good-bye to my life on Earth, and it seemed logical to begin at the place where it had all started. But somehow, after all these years, it was just a house.

After that, we'd gone to see Missouri. Not the state of Missouri. Missouri Mosely, a psychic that had helped my dad after Mom had died. She'd helped Sammy and I, too, on occasion. I knew she was gonna kick my a$$ seeing me again, but she seemed to take a liking to Paige right off the bat. Offered us lemonade and cookies, of all things. She told me to teach Paige to hunt, teach her to protect herself. No one seemed to understand that I didn't want anything to do with that life anymore, but she was probably right. The demons had tried using Paige to get to me once already, and I had to do what I could to try and keep her safe, just as I had Sam all those years.

The last stop on my "Dean Winchester, this is your life tour" was Greenville, Illinois, where Mom was buried. I didn't realize at the time how visiting Mom's grave might upset Paige, having just lost her own mother recently. I didn't realize it until it was too late. The difference between us was the fact that she had family back on Rhydin, and I didn't. All I had was Paige. She told me she thought my mom was watching over me and was proud of me. Wishful thinking maybe, but it's comforting to think it might be true. I guess we'll never know for sure.

I hadn't expected to see Bobby. The fact is I'd done my best to avoid Bobby. Bobby was the one person I knew would see right through me. He'd know what I was thinking before I knew it myself. I'd known Bobby since I was a kid. He was like a second father to me and Sam. In some ways, he was more a father to us than our own Dad. He knew me better than anyone, even better than Sam.

Bobby had a habit of always being one step ahead of things. It's what had kept him alive all those years. I wasn't sure what it was exactly. Hunter's instincts, second sense, dumb luck. Whatever it was, it had saved his life numerous times and ours, too. So, it wasn't any big surprise to run into him back in Sioux Falls. I think part of me was almost hoping we would.

It took a little effort convincing him I was who I said I was. I wasn't Leviathan or whatever the hell the monster of the week it was that he was hunting at the time. But eventually, he realized I was telling the truth, and offered to put Paige and me up in a motel, until it was time for the Nexus to whisk us back to Rhydin. It was the least he could do, he said.

So, here we were staying in a cheap motel just outside Sioux Falls waiting for a portal to open up and take us back home. Home to Rhydin, that is. It seems strange to call it that, but that's what it's become. Home. And all because of a girl. Who'd have thought'

Anyway, I tucked Paige in and then ducked outside. Bobby wanted to have a few words and explain a few things, and I didn't see any reason why Paige had to be part of that. She'd seen and heard enough already. There was no point in upsetting her further, so I stepped outside alone. It was most likely the last time I was ever going to see Bobby, and there were some things I needed to say.

"Split your soul," Bobby echoed. "Why would he do that' As if one Dean Winchester isn't enough to worry about."

I ignored the comment and continued. "He said it was orders from high up."

"How high?" he asked.

"High."

"Like, God high?"

"I don't know, but you have to admit stranger things have happened. Things we can't explain."

"Yeah, like what?"

"Like, how'd Sam and I end up on a plane before Lucifer went ballistic" How'd Cas" chunky soup parts get mysteriously reassembled" Where'd Chuck disappear to' And that's just for starters."

"Hell if I know, kid," he muttered, rubbing his graying beard in contemplation.

"I'm not a kid," I corrected, narrowing my eyes.

"Look in a mirror lately' You sure as hell look like a kid."

"Trust me, I may look like a hormonal teenager, but it's me inside here, Bobby."

He snorted in amusement. "Dean, you're a hormonal teenager, no matter how old you are."

"Are you finished?" I snapped. "Or do you wanna crack wise on the fact that I'm jail bait and dating an older woman?"

Paige was only nineteen, but with me at seventeen, it made her two years my senior. Age had been an issue in the beginning, but it wasn't so much anymore. She'd met Older Me, and the age thing hadn't seemed to bother her, either way.

"No, but now that you mention it?" Bobby began.

"Just drop it, okay?"

"Okay, here's an interesting question. How come this Ezekiel didn't Benjamin Button you back to your charming thirty-something self?"

"I don't know," I admitted, "but I have a theory."

"Well, spit it out, Einstein."

"You're not gonna like it."

"I already don't like it."

"Okay." I paused a moment, knowing he was going to think I was off my rocker. "My theory is God."

"God," he echoed, furrowing his gray brows at me dubiously.

"Yeah, God," I repeated. "Only I'm starting to think God isn't the deadbeat dad I've always thought him to be, but more like a kid playing with his toys."

I watched as the light bulb went on in Bobby's head. "And we're the toys," he added, finishing my thought.

"Just think about it," I continued, getting more animated. "What's a kid do when his toys get broken?"

"Tries to get 'em fixed. Or gets new ones."

"Right. So, let's say we're all here for God's entertainment. We're the movie of the week" or millenia" or whatever. Angels, demons, humans, the whole kit and caboodle. We're just a bunch of Tinker Toys that God's created for His own amusement."

"Look, just' Promise me you won't forget about him, okay' And promise me you'll look after Sam. And figure out what happened to Cas."

"Dean, it's not your responsibility anymore. You've been given a gift. You've got a chance to start over, to live a normal life. Don't blow it this time. Go back to' wherever you came from and be happy. Let us" Me and Sam and you? Christ, it sounds crazy to put it that way....Let us worry about it. You just worry about making that girl in there happy."

I smiled a little at the lecture. He always did have my best interests at heart, probably more than my own father had. "Don't worry, Bobby. I'm not gonna blow it. I just need to know you'll take care of things here. You'll watch out for Sammy and?" I was going to say me, but I didn't.

"Ain't I always" Ain't that what I've been doing since you were ten?" He smiled and squeezed my shoulder. "Now, go back to bed, so I can get my drunk on, ya idjit."

I surprised him then and gave him a hug, and just as surprisingly, he hugged me back. He might not be able to say the words, but I knew calling me an idjit was Bobby's way of saying he cared.

"I'll call you in the morning, and we'll have breakfast," I promised as I broke away and started back toward the door of the motel room I was sharing with Paige.

"Get some rest, Dean, and remember what I said.?

I smiled and waved and went back inside to find Paige just where I'd left her. I never did meet Bobby for breakfast. By the time morning rolled around, he was gone.