We're not calling it Babe 5/?
Chapter 5
"What the hell?" Dean asked while he watched the woman and the girl walking away. The girl was still talking animatedly with wild gestures and a glance over her shoulder now and then aimed at the supposed to be puppy in Dean's arms.
Instead of an answer Sam did this thing with his jaw that indicated that he had no clue either.
"Seriously, what the hell?" Dean repeated. He looked down at Mac in his arms and the little fellow looked like he always did. Pig snout, pig ears, tiny piggy feet.
He could believe that the little girl didn't know the difference between pigs and dogs. Pet pigs weren't that uncommon but it was possible that she'd never seen one before and that every baby animal was a puppy to her. It made sense. It was endearing and cute and it was something little kids did. If he believed Pixar it was common for them to mistake a big ass monster coming out of their closet for a kitty.
But the mother? She knew enough about dogs to even guess a breed. This didn't make sense.
They walked back to the car with Dean still carrying the little pig. Mac didn't seem to mind and used the advantage of the high spot for an interested look around.
Back at the car Dean put him in his usual spot in the foot room where Mac immediately stuck his snout into the shirts, sniffing around, before he settled down with a happy sigh.
The brothers sat in the car for a long minute, eyes on the pig at Sam's feet who didn't seem to have a care in the world. Who clearly didn't look like a dog. Never did.
"It has to be some kind of glamor." Sam finally said. "You know they can do that."
"He never looked like a dog to me." Dean pointed out. If this was a glamor it was a complicated one. Nothing he would have expected a baby to do. Appearing like a generic dog? Maybe. Appearing like a specific breed and only to strangers? No way. Except that Mac did.
"To me neither." Sam agreed, confirming that he hadn't been effected by the glamor. "Why would he do it anyway?"
Dean thought about everything they'd done and said since Mac was with them.
"We have talked about him not being a dog quite often." Dean finally said. "That it would be easier if he was a dog. And you bought him dog stuff."
"Only because a small town pet store doesn't have that much in the more exotic department." Sam defended himself. "They had bird seed but there was not much else beyond the common stuff for cats and dogs."
Dean nodded to that but kept his eyes on the little pig. It was half asleep and looked just cute and innocent. But this was a supernatural creature. His mother had let them in circles all day with her glamor. This was the reason they couldn't just drop him off somewhere. People wouldn't understand.
"And how did he even come up with a disguise like that?" Sam interrupted his thoughts. "Even if he picked up on the dog thing, and that's a big if, a Golden Retriever is pretty specific."
Dean scowled at Sam's dismissive words but he did have an answer to his question. Without a word he reached for the box of biscuits he'd dropped in the back seat and threw it in Sam's lap.
At the rustling tiny ears perked up and Mac made a hopeful noise.
"What?" Sam fumbled with the box but he caught it before it fell to the floor, much to Mac's disappointment. The pig was now sitting on his back legs, still careful with the injured one, Dean noticed, and his eyes were transfixed on the box. The box with a happy Golden Retriever puppy lolling its tongue back at him.
"Oh." Sam made.
"Yeah, oh." Dean started the car. "You should give him one, he did good."
Before he got the car moving, Dean leaned over to scratch the pig behind the ear. "You're a smart little fellow, aren't you? Playing dress up for the little girl. Good boy."
"I wonder if we can make him do it on command." Sam mused but finally fished one of the biscuits out of the box. Mac snagged it out of his fingers and for a second the crunching was the only noise in the car. "How do we even know when he does it? It's not that he looked any different to us."
"He's smart." Dean had no doubt about that. "I'm pretty sure we'll figure something out."
When Mac was done with the biscuit, he looked up at Sam with hopeful eyes.
Turned out that Sam's puppy dog eyes of doom were nothing compared to little piggy eyes. Or maybe Sam just wasn't used to be on the receiving end of one of those looks. He gave Mac another biscuit. Not even an hour later the box was empty and a stuffed but happy little pig was sleeping between Sam's feet.
"We should stay at the bunker for a while." Dean suggested. "See if we can establish some ground rules."
Train him, were the words on Dean's mind but they felt wrong. Mac wasn't a dog they could train, he was more. However, if they wanted this to work they needed to take Mac with them on hunts, leaving him alone in the bunker for days wasn't an option, but for that Mac had to learn a few things first.
If this glamor thing worked the way Dean hoped, there shouldn't be much of a problem once they'd figured out the basics.
No animals allowed? I'm totally not bringing my invisible pig inside, no sir. Dean snickered at that thought. This ought to be fun.
They reached the bunker late in the evening and all Dean wanted to do was to take a shower and drop dead on his bed. But then he caught sight of Mac who was on a discovery tour through the garage and everything else was forgotten.
Dean carried the bed and begs full of stuff for Mac into the living area of the bunker. Sam followed with the rest of the purchase while Mac was hobbling around them. He wasn't up to running just yet but he was getting there.
Give him one or two more days, Dean thought with dread. They needed to make the bunker piggy proof by then. Sam would throw a fit if Mac chewed on one of the books. But there were other things to think about. Pigs and stairs didn't go well together either. Maybe he should invest in some of those child gates for stairs before Mac made a nosedive down a staircase. Those gates would be great for blocking doors too. Not even Dean had seen all the depths of the bunker, he didn't want to think about little Mac getting lost somewhere in this labyrinth.
Dean set the bed up in a corner which he declared Mac's. From here Mac would have a good view on what was happening around the bunker but wasn't in the way and had a quiet place when he wanted some quiet time for himself. To show him that this was his place, Dean put the shirts on top of it, creating a little nest. And of course Mac got his blanket.
The toys ended up in a pile next to the bed but it took Mac approximate two seconds to send them scattering over the floor. The sounds of delight were too cute to say something about it and Dean just made a mental note to look where he set his feet from now on.
The bowls for food and water went in the kitchen and one whole cupboard was declared Mac's as well.
"What the hell is all this stuff?" Dean asked when he put the last can of whatever in the cupboard. "Does he need all this?"
"Pigs can eat everything humans eat." Sam shook out the bag and folded it neatly. "They don't need special food."
"So why did you buy special food?" Dean asked and closed the cupboard, so many happy dogs were kind of disturbing. The more he looked at their lolling tongues the more he was convinced that there had to be hallucinogens in the food. No normal dogs looked that happy.
"I told you." Sam huffed but his cheeks turned a little pink. "That lady loaded my cart with stuff for growing puppies."
"I'm hoping for you that Mac likes this stuff." Dean said. "Otherwise I'm going to feed it to you."
Sam threw the plastic bag in his direction but being light plastic it didn't make it farther than a foot before it dropped to the floor.
Laughing Dean left the kitchen to set up the litter box in the bathroom. He hoped that they could get Mac used to this idea without too many accidents. So far Mac hadn't peed in the car and had let them known whenever he needed to go. So maybe this would work out with no accidents whatsoever. Or with only accidents on Sam's stuff, Dean would be okay with that.
With his toys and other things scattered all over the bunker Mac was now officially a member of the bunker's household.
About an hour later even Mac seemed to be exhausted from his exploring and they decided to turn in. Dean carried a sleepy Mac over to his bed and to his surprise the pig snuggled under the blanket and into the shirts without a fuss and instantly went to sleep.
"That was easier than expected." He whispered and gave him a last pat on the head before he left the little guy alone.
They never locked their doors and most of the time they kept them ajar. A closed door meant "Leave me alone", a rule they had established due to a life on the road with little to zero privacy. The most common reason for wanting some private time was jerking off but lately Dean didn't even feel that need that often anymore. Not if it wasn't fueled with violent thoughts. Thoughts of blood and pain. And he really didn't want to go there.
So his door was ajar like always but tonight he wondered if Mac would feel the need to join him like the other night. The little guy was alone in an unfamiliar place so it would make sense if he wanted to be close to Dean. If it hadn't been for Sam, Dean would have brought Mac to his room immediately. Now he had to wait and see what the pig would do.
Dean woke up to something cold and wet on his face and little distressed noises.
"Wha...?" He croaked out but his throat felt dry and raw and he wondered if he'd been screaming. If so it hadn't been loud enough to summon Sam. It had, however, been loud enough to get Mac's attention.
"How did you get up here?" Dean squinted at the pig's face only inches from his own. Mac was standing on his chest, all four feet digging into his flesh, but for some reason it felt good. Comforting, grounding.
The cold and wet thing he'd felt earlier was Mac's snout, nuzzling along his jaw and cheek, while the little guy made whiny noises.
"I'm fine now." Dean assured him. "I'm fine."
He had nightmares for a while now and he had the suspicion that Sam knew about them but as long as Sam didn't mention them, they could pretend they weren't there.
Dean picked Mac up and set him on the mattress next to him.
"You want to sleep here tonight?" He asked but if he was honest, he wanted the pig to sleep next to him tonight. He wanted to wrap his arm around him, wrap his whole body around him, and to hold on to the little guy. So he did.
Mac didn't seem to mind, quite the opposite if the way he snuggled into Dean's chest was anything to go by, and Dean only stayed awake long enough to wonder what his life had become that he was spooning with a pig. Then sleep took him under again but it was dreamless this time.
Chapter 6
Masterpost