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Sam and Dean are sitting on their porch on a beautiful fall morning. It feels like a quiet Sunday, so it probably is. Days don’t matter here. They're relaxing and enjoying the cool morning air as they sip from their mugs of coffee in between the occasional conversation.
They're used to comfortable silences, and without hunting, they don’t have any worries that make the silence heavy or awkward.
The boys had returned from a road trip last night. After a blissful period of holding up in the cabin for who knows how long just soaking each other in, they had started to expand their heaven experience and had gone exploring recently, which was just another word for vacations. After all the family trips they never got to take together, they now had all the spare time in the world. So they got to work seeing the country as tourists instead of hunters.
The Grand Canyon had been first. This time without farty donkeys, just the two of them drinking beers while dangling their feet over the edge as the sun set and painted the canyon red, orange, and purple. Their next trip was to the beach, they hadn’t been sure what coast. Maybe it had been a magical combination of all the most beautiful beaches in the world. They had just picked a direction and driven and magically ended up on a serene beach at noon when it was a perfect sunny 80 degrees with a slight breeze. They had stripped down their boxers while racing to the waves and romped in the water all afternoon.
Their most recent trip had come about when, during dinner days ago, Dean had asked, “Hey, remember that giant peanut in Ashburn, Georgia?”
And it was such a silly question that Sam laughed, but yeah, he remembered it. Even the weirdest and smallest memories were just below the surface here. Just waiting for them to dip their hands in the well of memories and bask in them together.
Sam replied, “Yeah, Dad had just finished an easy job, so he was in a good mood, and we had just eaten at a diner down the street. When we passed the peanut, he laughed and pulled over and took a picture of us with that old camera he used for evidence.” Dean had been 12 and Sam 9.
Dean chuckled at Sam’s recollection. He remembered their goofy smiles in the picture their father had taken and then taped to Baby’s dashboard for a while. “Let’s check it out,” Dean offers with a grin. “I bet you're as tall as it is now.“
So they had packed a light lunch, which was all they ever seemed to need when traveling these days, and they had gone. The magic of heaven geography meant they could indulge in any travel whim without the usual downsides of road trips like days on the road.
The peanut was still standing and appropriately giant, and the diner down the street was still there. But there was now a roasted nut stand right next to the statue that caught their eyes, and the boys shared a paper cone of piping hot candied peanuts and then spent the drive home reminiscing of other times traveling with Dad had been fun and almost normal.
Sam had gone to the bookshelf this morning as the coffee brewed and found a book he vaguely remembered buying at a gas station as a kid called 101 US Places to Visit Before You Die, apparently put there by heaven magic to accommodate their new road tripping hobby. He had smiled at the irony of the title now. It was by his chair on the porch. He’s about to open it and go over some ideas with Dean when his brother asks, “Do you hear that?”
His hunter instincts have him immediately still while he listens.
There is rustling in the bushes to the left of the porch.
Back on Earth, this would have been cause for alarm. They would have drawn their guns in unison, as they did most things, and been ready to fight. Instead, they sit curious but relaxed on their porch, holding their steaming cups of coffee.
After a moment, Miracle trots through the bush as sweet and fluffy as the day Dean had found him in an empty world.
Dean whoops and runs down the porch steps before Sam can rise from his chair. That’s fine with him. They had had plenty of time together, so he’s content to let his brother greet the dog first.
Dean throws himself down on the grass and squeezes Miracle, who covers him in kisses. Sam understands the instinct.
“Where have you been, buddy? Oh man, I missed you,” Dean coos as he scratches Miracle’s belly as the dog wiggles on his back in the grass.
Sam kneels beside them and joins his brother in scratching the dog's belly. “Hey, Miracle, it’s good to see you.” At Sam’s greeting, Miracle flips back over to leap at Sam and kiss his face. As much as Miracle adored Dean, he had spent a much longer time with Sam.
“Looking good, buddy,” Sam whispers into Miracle’s fur. The last time he had seen Miracle was at the vet's office all those years ago to say goodbye. It’s great to see him active after seeing him slow down over the years.
“He saved me, you know,” Sam tells his brother. Dean pauses in petting Miracle to listen as Sam continues. As he had proven before, heaven had freed Dean and allowed him to embrace emotional discussions without putting walls up. So now, when either of them needed a moment to grieve for what they had lost–which seemed to happen less and less as time in heaven went on–Dean would accept it instead of bristling or making jokes.
“After you died, taking care of him was the only reason I got out of bed most days. Sometimes it helped that I wasn’t the only one missing you, but it fucked me up seeing him look for you everywhere in the bunker.”
Dean’s eyes begin to brim with tears, thinking of his brother and dog mourning him.
Sam puts his hand over Dean’s on Miracle’s head and squeezes it, then continues,“After we left the bunker, I sometimes wondered if it was fair to take him on the road with me while I wandered around aimlessly in a depressive haze,” Sam admits, thinking of the nights spent drinking himself asleep in motel rooms while neglecting Miracle’s walks, and how after a particularly nasty bender one night he had researched the local animal shelter the following day, just in case.
“But I couldn’t give him up. I had to take care of him for you. We always did our best living in survival mode when we had to keep going to take care of each other, and he was all I had left of you to live for and care for.”
His brother seems to choke on tears he had been holding back and clings to him, squeezing Miracle between them. The dog doesn’t protest. Dean kisses his forehead, then his cheek, and finally, his lips.
“You did it, Sammy. You not only kept yourself alive, but you took care of him. You're fucking incredible,” Dean praises with a small tearful smile.
“Eventually, Miracle and I had a good life together, didn’t we, buddy?” Sam asks the dog while stroking his ears. “When DJ was born, Miracle came alive again. It was like he needed a Dean to love to be happy. My son grew up with a dog as his best friend, like any normal kid. They were partners in crime until the end.”
Dean cheers up hearing that.
“He died old and happy. The vet said he was one of the oldest and happiest dogs she has ever seen. DJ was so brave saying goodbye even though he was only 12,” Sam reminisces proudly.
His son had stayed by the dog's side the whole time at the vet. Only after they had been given Miracle’s ashes and they had gotten into the Impala where Miracle and DJ had frequently shared the passenger seat had he burst into tears with the urn in his lap.
They had gotten other dogs and a few cats and reptiles as he grew older, but Miracle had been his son’s first pet and his first experience with loss. Sam had been heartbroken for his son but also so thankful that it had been a normal, non-supernatural loss. And that he was there for his son to help him through it
“Why did it take him so long to find us though?” Dean asks.
“Well you did take him off the street, Dean. Maybe he had another family to visit first,” Sam jokes.
Dean shrugs innocently. “Or maybe he was waiting for us to settle in after some ‘we time,’“ he counters. “Anyway, now that he’s here we gotta go on a trip just for him. It’s his heaven too, ” Dean insists as he gets up and dusts himself off. Sam does the same, and Miracle barks his agreement as they walk up the porch steps with Miracle leading the way.
Sam already has a particular park in mind he had read about in his book. He smiles and kisses his brother. “Ok, but next time it’s my turn to choose a location.”
.