Lily Winchester

Prologue

Lawrence, Kansas
22 years ago

A woman, Mary Winchester, wearing a white nightgown, carries a small boy girl into a dark room.

"Come on, let's say good night to your brother." She says as she turns on the lights: it's the nursery of a baby, who is lying in his crib and looking over at Mary and his two siblings. Mary sets the boy and girl down. The boy leans over the side of the crib and kisses the baby on the forehead.
"'Night, Sam." He says. Mary nudges the girl forward

"Don't be shy." She says softly. The girl blushes before leaning over the crib and kissing her baby brother's forehead, whispering a soft good night.

Mary leans over Sam as well.
"Good night, love." She brushes Sam's hair back and kisses his forehead.

"Hey, Dean, Lily" a voice sounds from the doorway. John Winchester stands there wearing a USMC T-shirt. The children rush over to him.
"Daddy!" The girl squeals, jumping into his arms.

"Hey, darling." He chuckles kissing her cheek before setting her gently back onto the ground.

John then scoops Dean up.
"So what do you think? You think Sammy's ready to toss around a football yet?" he asks. Dean shakes his head, laughing.
"No, Daddy." John laughs.
"No."

Mary passes John and Dean with a half-asleep Lily in her arms.

"You got him?" she asks
"I got him." He replies hugging Dean closer.
"Sweet dreams, Sam." John says as he carries Dean out of the room, flipping off the lights. Sam watches them go, gurgling, then tries to reach his toes.

The baseball-themed mobile above Sam's crib begins to spin on its own while Sam watches. The transportation-themed clock on the wall ticks, ticks, stops. The moon-shaped nightlight flickers.

On the other end of the hallway, Mary lays down a sleepy Lily into her pink bed.

"Time for bed." Mary says as she tucks the girl in.

"Can you sing our song?" Lily slurs.

Mary smiles, "Of course."

Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
Go to sleep my little baby.
When you wake you shall have
all the pretty little horses.

Dapples and bays, pintos, and grays,
all the pretty little horses.
Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
Go to sleep my little baby.
Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
Go to sleep my little baby.
When you wake you shall have
all the pretty little horses.

Not even halfway through the song, Lily's body relaxes and she falls asleep.

"Goodnight, Lily" Mary whispers as she turns the lights off. The nightlight flickers.

Lights flicker on a baby monitor sitting on a nightstand next to a photo of Mary and John. Strange noises come through the monitor. Mary, asleep in bed, stirs. She turns on the light on the nightstand.
"John?" she asks, only to find she's alone. She gets up and walks down the hall to Sam's nursery. A silhouette, stands over Sam's crib.

"John? Is he hungry?" Mary asks.

John turns his head.
"Shhh."
"All right." Mary sighs as she heads back down the hallway. The light by the stairs is flickering. Mary frowns and goes to tap at it till the light steadies.
"Hm."

More flickering light is coming from downstairs: Mary investigates. The stairs creaking as she descends A war movie is on TV and John has fallen asleep watching it.

'If John is here,' Mary realizes, 'then the man upstairs can't be John.' Mary stumbles back up the stairs and down the hallway.

"Sammy! Sammy!"

Mary comes crashing into Sam's nursery and stops short.

Downstairs, John wakes up to Mary's scream.

"Mary?" John scrambles out of the chair.

"Mary!" John yells as he dashes up the stairs towards Sam's nursery

John bursts through the closed door of the nursery.
"Mary." John says. The room is quiet and appears empty except for Sam awake in his crib and John. He glances around and pushes down the side of Sam's crib.
"Hey, Sammy. You okay?" John asks

Something dark drips next to Sam. John touches it. Two more drops land on the back of his hand. It looks like blood. John looks up. Mary is sprawled across the ceiling, the stomach of her nightgown red with blood, staring at John and struggling to breathe. John collapses onto the floor, staring at Mary.
"No! Mary!" He cries out.

"Daddy?" Lily asks from the doorway, staring at his crumples form. Looking toward the ceiling, Lily's eyes widen and she lets out a screech of fear.

"Mommy!" Mary bursts into flame. The fire spreads over the ceiling. John stares, frozen. Until he hears the sound of Sam and Lily's wails. John, reminded he's not alone, gets up and scoops Sam out of his crib, and rushes out of the room.

Dean wakes up to a scream and runs down the hall to investigate.
"Daddy!" he yells John shoves Sam at Dean.

"Take your brother outside as fast as you can and don't look back! Now, Dean, go!"

Dean turns and runs, and John turns back to the nursery and picks up Lily's sobbing body. He looks to the ceiling.
"Mary!"

The entire room is on fire, and Mary herself can barely be seen. John's eyes widen

"Mommy!" Lily's eyes take a last look at her mother's body as John rushes out of the house.

Dean runs outside, holding Sam.
"It's okay, Sammy." He says as he rocks his brother.

Dean turns to look up at Sam's window, which is lit with gold. John's figure runs across the lawn, he puts his hand on Deans back and leads them both away.

"I gotcha." He says. Dean looks up at his sister's shivering form.

"Lily?" Dean asks. Wide, tear-filled eyes meet his own.

"She's gone." She whispers

Fire explodes out of Sam's nursery window.