ZEN i [JACK KLINE]

S I X T E E N

16| W E L C O M E H O M E

THE NEXT MORNING, Zen walks to the kitchen with a sigh before grabbing herself a beer. She heard the bunker doors open, signalling her that Sam and Dean were back from their hunt. She walks back to the library, where she had left Jack. After the small 'kiss' they had almost shared, they both pretended it didn't happen and went on with their lives. She was glad Jack didn't bring it up, she hated confrontations.

She walks in the library with a sigh. " Took you guys long enou-"

The sound of glass shattering on the floor filled the room, making the boys look over at her direction in shock. Her eyes trained on the person beside her brothers, welling up in tears as she stared at the familiar man in the trench coat.

" Cas?", she whispers unbelievably.

The angel smiled softly at her direction before replying with, " Hello, Zenja."

She covered her mouth to silence her cries. He was really here. She wasted no time and quickly walked up to him, wrapping her arms on his torso.

" Y-You're really here...", she mumbles against his chest.

Castiel wrapped his arms around the woman tightly. " Yes, I am."

She pulls away from him and lets out a breathy laugh. " I knew you'd come back...I knew it.", she states.

" B-but we burned your body, and what's burned stays dead. How...", Jack states in shock.

Dean looks at him and replies, "Well, that's the question we've been askin'."

Zen furrows her brows and looks between her brothers just as Sam asks, "Jack... did you, uh... Did you bring Cas back?"

She looked at Jack and her replies with, " I don't know. I wanted him back. I... begged for him to come back, but-"

"Well, here he is.", Dean states with a smile.

"Because of me?", Jack asks with a happy glint in his eyes.

Sam sighs. "We don't know. We don't know, Jack. But we- we- we think maybe-"

"Thank you, Jack.", Castiel cuts him off.

Jack walks over to Cas and hugs him, while Dean stands at the opposite end of the table looking on. Zen stares at the father and son in happiness, this was all Jack wanted. A family.

"I missed you so much...", Jack mutters as he pulled away.

Castiel smiles softly at him before saying, "Sam and Dean tell me you're doing well."

Jack grins and gives Zen a look. "I am. I... Watch this."

Jack walks back to the table and levitates a pencil for a few seconds, then chuckles.

"Wow.", Sam states, impressed.

Jack gives him a grin. "I can move the pencil. Zen...she helped me.", he says, sending her a smile. "And... I found a case. Hunter's case."

Dean furrows his brows. "What kind of a-"

"Zombies.", He whispers confidentially to Cas before facing the Winchester siblings. "know what zombies are now."

He pulls the info up on the computer and clicks a button. "You see?"

"Wait. Where'd you learn to do that?", Dean asks.

Jack looks up at him. "By watching you, Sam and Zen.", he answers and Dean looks at him impressed.

Jack continues. "Three days ago, a vintage pocket watch with a personal inscription was sold at a pawn shop. But when they went to authenticate it, they found out that it'd been buried with its owner... 20 years ago. And when they checked out the grave, it was empty.", he reads and looks up at Zen with a smile before continuing. "Which means... the dead are rising in Dodge City, Kansas."

Zen froze at the name of the city and sends Dean a look. " Oh boy...", she mutters when she sees Dean's face. She knew how much he loved cowboys since he forced her to watch some cowboy show years ago. In fact, she bought him his first cowboy boots when it was his twenty-fourth birthday.

A dreamy expression crosses Dean's face and Zen imagines soft cowboy music playing in the distance. Cas glances up as if he heard the music as well, and Dean looks down to hide his smile. Jack glances between the three of them, confused.

"Right. O-or maybe it's a-a grave robbery, but...", Sam says.

Jack looks down disappointed and mutters, "Oh."

"Yeah, but we should probably check it out.", Dean states, shocking everyone in the room except for Zen.

"Wait. Really?", Cas questions.

Dean nods. "Yeah, we've done more on less. Besides Dodge City's kind of, uh, kind of awesome.", he grins.

He then clears his throat and says, "All right, well... three salty hunters, one half-angel kid, and a dude who just came back from the dead. Again. Team Free Will 2.0. Here we go. Oh by the way, Zen. Your nuggets are on the table.", he points at the paper bag beside Jack's laptop.

Zen's eyes light up and kisses her brother's cheek. " Oh thank God, I'm starving.", she states before she walks over to sit across from Jack. She looks at him and offers him a nugget.

" It's good, I promise.", she says. Jack smiles lightly at her and takes it.

Castiel furrows his brows as he senses a strong wave of power radiating from the two. His eyes widened just a fraction when he realises what it was.

" I can't believe it...", he mutters, catching everyone's attention.

" Can't bewrieve whot?", Zen asks with her mouth full of nuggets.

Castiel ignores her question and shakes his head. " I've heard of it but never in thousands of years have I encountered this...", he mutters as he looks between Jack and Zen.

" Encounter what?"

" What are you on about Cas?"

Her brothers ask at the same time. Cas looks at her and says, " Do you...feel a connection with Jack?"

Zen stops eating and looks at him curiously. " I-yeah, I have...", she replies. " I was hoping I'd find something about this in the bunker's library but I found nothing."

Castiel shakes his head. " This...what you have with Jack is not written in any book for we weren't sure it was real."

Intrigued, Jack asks, " What? What is it?"

Castiel sighs and looks between the Winchesters. " Have you ever heard of soulmates?"