In Which Alec Pulls a Marty McFly
[Dean = jstliketherifle, Sam = imnot_likeyou, Alec = smart_alec494, Ruby = ilove_atallman, Bela = enjoythe_ride. Anyone else mentioned is an NPC. We were bored one day. It's a bit of the extension of the wayward_au verse, but mostly for fun.]
Alec stepped out of the ware house and stretched. He had a bag slung on his back and the shot gun loose in one hand. Ghosts were easy prey for him and Jinx. Between the two animal sensitive noses and Alec's gift it was never hard to find the bones. And he was starting to think that one out of every four dockside warehouse had a pissed spirit in it. The Impala was right where he'd left her, safe and sound. Jinx sat near a rear tire while Alec opened the trunk to stow his gear. That was when things got a little odd. He was holding the shot gun but he was also looking at it. In the trunk. And sure Dad had more than one. . but not *this* one.
Dean had only gone to get coffee. Really. He was gone all of what, five minutes, and he had some mook going through the trunk of his car. Dean rolled his eyes slightly, figuring it was one of Bela's goons screwing with his car (again), and he rolled his eyes before pulling the gun out of his pocket, and coming up as stealthily as possible, aiming the muzzle right between his shoulder blades. "You're gonna wanna back away from my car -- right now."
"Oh for fuck's sake I knows she's made of win. But seriously?" Alec didn't even feel afraid. Cautious yes but afraid? No? Not with Jinx right there. Jinx who was undoubtedly getting ready to take the guy's hand off right about. . .
Jinx had a moment of startled confusion but a gun on his master was kinda not something he tolerated. But given who it was maybe he wouldn't actually kill.
. . .Now Alec heard that angry chainsaw through steel snarl and Jinx rose to his feet.
"Son of a -- " Dean stumbled back slightly when he saw the hell hound. He'd never seen one before, but there was no doubt as to what that was. And given the timing it really, really sucked -- his time wasn't up yet, but he didn't think that hell hounds discriminated. His fingers were itching for his shotgun but the kid was between him and the shotguns, so he was just going to have to settle for keeping his gun trained on the kid, and doing his best to keep his cool.
"Sure, right. Made of win -- whatever you want to call it, I don't like it when strangers screw around with my car."
Especially considering when they did, she got towed.
"She's not. . this is stupid." And with that he spun and dropped at the same time, sweeping a leg out. He snatched the gun as the guy went down. And then landed on his own ass when he finally got a look and nose full of scent. Jinx slunk forward between them, confused as all get out but Alec came first.
Dean landed on his back hard with a groan. He couldn't believe he'd let the kid get the jump on him. However, he was surprised when the guy wasn't standing over him, so he pushed himself up on his elbows, and when he looked at who it was, he pushed himself back further. "Son of a bitch."
Shapeshifter. His hand went for the silver knife in his back pocket and he tried to figure out since when skin walkers wandered around with hellhounds.
Alec's hand came up to tangle in Jinx's fur and collar clearly more of a gesture to seek comfort than to hold the hound back. "Holy Fuck. Dad." It was a statement and a question all in one.
Dean blinked. Several times. Then he pushed himself up on his elbows a little more and tilting his head to the side slightly. "I'm sorry -- what did you call me?"
He inhaled sharply. Same scent. "Dad. " It was like a sigh of relief this time.
"Kid, I don't have any. I think I would know." Actually, he probably wouldn't know, but hey -- He definitely didn't have one that was pushing twenty. He would have had to have the kid when he was around eight, and that -- well, he didn't think that was biologically possible.
Alec snorted. 'Cause yeah. . .Dean had kept such good track of them. He pushed himself up and dropped the gun in his lap and fished into his messenger bag for his glasses. Once he settle them on his face he could see Dean, the physical person better. And he wasn't right. Fewer freckles. Fewer stress lines. Fewer scars on his hands. "Oh maaaann what fresh hell is this?"
"You're telling me," Dean said with an eye roll. "Did Bela put you up to this? Because this is so up her alley."
". . . . Bela doesn't do schemey stuff with me."
Oh, Alec, that so wasn't helping your case. "But you do know her."
"Yes. I've been friends with her for a while. You've known her even longer."
Dean snorted before shaking his head. "So how much did she pay you for this? A couple grand? It better of been good."
"Dude. You're bitch-fest with Bela is between you and her. I don't get involved. It's a rule." He scratched Jinx between the ears. The signal being that Alec felt he was safe enough at the moment.
"My bitch fest? She shot my friggin' brother. Then she got my car towed, then screwed us over on a major job and expected us to save her ass. And then she sold us out to a psychotic vampire. The last bit? Was just in the last month." Dean clearly was not pleased. "I think it's a bit more than just a bitch fest."
"Well I know damned well Sam's shot her at least once. So I'd kinda guess they're even on that score." There was a pause. "Last month?" He sounded incredulous.
Now Dean was a little confused. "Sam hasn't shot her. Sam doesn't go around shooting people." Then again, that would depend on the circumstances. "And if he did shoot her, I think she would be whining at us to pay her friggin medical bills. And yeah -- in the last month. She's a big giant piece of work."
"Are we talking about the same Sam here? Super cranky boy king, with kinda a short fuse sometimes?" And why would Bela need medical? She wasn't even alive? He was starting to get an idea and he wasn't liking it much.
"Dude -- are you high?" Dean said, giving his supposed son a look. "Sam, my brother Sam, is the one who's more likely to pout you to death as oppose to actually cause you any physical harm. Yeah, he's got a temper, but he doesn't go around killing people if that's what you're implying."
"I wish I were high. He sulks like a professional. And I'm not implying anything." He rubbed at the back of his neck. "I'm gonna ask something I think I'm gonna regret hard core. What's the date?"
"November 27, 2007," Dean replied with a sigh. "Do I even want to know what date you think it is?"
Alec let his head fall back and thump into the bumper. "Fuck." And again. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." There was a thump for every swear. Jinx put his head in Alec's lap and whined a little. He got a head pet for it. "Yeah, my thoughts exactly."
"Alright, look -- I'm sorry you got stuck in Back to the Future or whatever, but I need to go meet my brother. So -- nice meeting you, and let Bela know I'm gonna kill her the next time I see her."
". . . you and Sam are apparently the only things I've got to a vaguely friendly face till I manage to get home. Because Bela won't know me. Amy won't know me. If she's even awake. Ruby won't know me and she's cranky even on a really good day. Ben's like . . .eight. No Nancy. No Bobby." He swallowed. Hard as how alone he was really struck. His fingers tightened in Jinx's fur.
Dean watched him for a minute, before starting to shake his head. He was listening to the names as he rambled them off, some he recognized, some he didn't, and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do about this. Some kid shows up, claiming to be his kid from the future, and he's supposed to just drop everything? He didn't have the time for something like this.
"Look, kid -- I don't know what to tell you."
"Yeah. I do that to people." He locked down all the angst and smirked. "It's a skill. Takes practice." He pulled himself to his feet. He'd just have to sort it out himself. Ben was going to think he'd taken off again. "You can keep the shot gun." He ejected the clip for the handgun he took from Dean and put it way before closing the weapons locker and then the trunk.
Dean watched him for a minute, before glancing over at him. "How'd you get into the trunk?"
Alec wordlessly took his keys, his Dad's key's, out of his pocket and held them up. He didn't offer them to Dean. Someday he hoped he'd make it home and need them again.
Dean's jaw set slightly as he reached into his pocket, finding the set of keys and softening slightly. He looked the kid over again, trying to sort out how exactly it worked. Because he was supposed to be dead in six months. How could he have a kid that had the keys to his car, when he was supposed to be dead in six months? He sighed heavily, before nodding towards the passenger's seat.
"Get in."
Alec nearly melted with relief and gratitude but knew to keep his mouth shut. The keys went back into his pocket. He nodded and opened the back door for Jinx and closed it after him and then opened the passenger door and slid in.
Dean settled in to the driver's seat and started to start the car. He started to drive for a minute, before looking over at him. "So what's your name?"
"Alec. As in Smart."
"Alec. And -- is it going to help me to ask who your mother is?"
"Nope. Don't really have one. Or if I did I figure she's got some lovely spots or is very short and round, looking a lot like a petri dish."
He paused for a minute. "....What year were you born?"
"'99 So, I guess right about now I'm roughly eight."
"Huh," Dean sighed slightly. "And when did we actually meet -- in the future?"
"2018."
"So -- I'm still around, then?" He was still around ten years from then. Something wasn't quite right about that -- there was no reason for that to have worked. At least none that he knew of at the moment.
Alec's jaw tightened and he looked away. "Why do you think I have the Impala?" He swallowed. "It's. . . this isn't the same. You would have told me if you'd met me when you were in your twenties, you know?"
Dean paused for a minute before continuing to drive. So he could still die. Fantastic. "....I guess you're right."
"Who knows. Maybe I've just cocked everything up. Maybe I die in two years. Maybe your Sam is different. Maybe I never make it free and you never have to worry about my bullshit. Quantum physics. A butterfly in China and that kinda shit."
Dean just blinked slightly at that for a minute, before shrugging. "Yeah, dude, whatever you say."
"If only it were that fucking easy. Not a gift I have."
Dean snorted. "You and me both."
Alec gives a short laugh. "Pretty sure even Sam lost out on that one."
Dean gave him a sidelong glance, wondering how much exactly he knew about Sam. "Yeah, well -- we can't always get what we want."
"But sometimes we get what we need?"
"So Jagger says."
Alec snorted. "So why were you at the warehouse district?"
"Tracking down a lead," Dean said with a sigh. "Nothing seems to be coming up though."
"What kind of lead. I'm just trying to figure out how I fell through a well here. 'Cause this sure as shit ain't Kansas. And Lassie fell through with me so he's not going to be getting any help."
He shrugged. "Think this could have been the possible murder site. Nothing seems to have come up though."
Alec snorted. "I just torched the bones."
Dean raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
Alec nodded. "Cake walk."
"Huh," he said with a nod.
"We were bored."
"Well, good for you."
"Universal Dad language for 'I have no fucking idea what to say.'"
Dean glanced back at him for a moment, before rolling his eyes slightly. "Well, what the hell do you expect me to say? I've seen some weird shit, but time travel ain't exactly one of them."
"To be honest, and I usually am, like brutally so, it's a first for me. I mean I didn't even think I had a time travel cherry to pop. And I gotta say, it's in my top five of weird."
"Only question is, how do we get you back. I figure that you can't really pull a Marty McFly considering you're what -- eight about now? But I figure you don't want to be stuck back here -- not when everyone you know is up there."
"Marty McWho?"
Dean blinked. "Marty McFly -- you know, Back to the Future? Michael J. Fox? Guy goes back in time, screws things up and he has to fix it so that he can still be born?"
"Uh. . . clearly Ben hasn't shown me that on yet." He gave Dean a sheepish smile. The same one he used to give his father when ever he missed a cultural referance.
"Oh," Dean said with a shrug. "Well -- yeah. You can't erase yourself from existence. But I'm assuming that you don't necessarily want to be here either."
"Not really. No offense and all but. . . "
"None taken," Dean replied, shaking his head. "I have a feeling it's just one of those things that shouldn't happen, ya know? Traveling through time? Just screws with people's heads."
"Yeah. I didn't mean to screw with your karma. And you startled the shit out of me." he quiet for a minute. "This isn't my world though. It's just. . . not. Subtley different." He pushed his glasses up to look around with naked eyes as if to confirm. "Hell I might not even exist here."
"Oh." Well, there goes that hope. "I still say Bela's involved somehow. She's always screwing with that spirit world stuff -- I bet you she tugged on the wrong string and you wound up here."
Alec raised an eyebrow. "Dude, Bela isn't this strong. And say what you want about the woman but she's careful and she knows her shit."
"Careful?" Dean said with a frown. "She nearly got herself killed by a spirit because she was greedy enough to steal the remains out from under us for a decent chunk of change, but didn't think to learn the motive's of the spirit in order to figure out that she might possibly become a friggin' target."
There's a long pause then he breaks out laughing. "Oh man, now I know why she doesn't deal in human remains."
Dean blinked for a moment, before tilting his head to the side slightly. "You really are friends with her, aren't you?"
He nods. "Pretty good friends, too. And I'm not saying she isn't mercenary, because that's Bela. But she's a good friend. She's really come through for me, for all of us a few times."
"Really?" Dean frowned. "For once she comes through for us? God, I hope I live to see it."
"Yeah. Me too." He's thinking. Wondering just how much is different here.
"So," Dean said with a nod. "Me -- then." He hesitated for a minute, not sure if he wanted to ask this question -- if he wants to know the answer. "Am I -- alive? Or am I some kind of spirit thing. Because, I could be around, but not around, if that makes any sense."
"You're alive. Hell, you're even still an Ordinary." He shakes his head. "Human. You're still human." Because he thought of the demons he knew as alive.
Dean let out a heavy sigh of relief. Oh, that was good. That was really good. That took a lot of weight off his shoulders, because that meant that even if it was a different world, there was still a chance for him to make it out of this in one piece. "And Sam -- he's still alive too, right?" He would have started firing off the 'did I still sell my soul?' kind of questions, but he wasn't sure if Alec would know that.
"Amazingly? Yeah. Not that people have made it easy. He's still human to. Before you ask." Alec slung his arm over the seatback to pet the dog for a minute.
Dean nodded slowly, following Alec's arm through the rear view mirror, and he was silent for a moment, before turning back to him with a look. "Alright, I gotta ask. What's the deal with the dog?"
"Sam thought I needed a baby sitter and a body guard. To be fair he was right. And, I dunno, maybe he was having a soft moment and gave me a puppy instead of having a flunky shadow me. Also, to be fair Jinx is way more dangerous than any demon that doesn't manage to be at least midlevel."
Dean nodded slowly for a minute. "Uh-huh. Sam becomes King of the Hellhounds in the future?"
"Kinda? Boy King, remember? The head of one of Hell's armies. He wants a hell hound he can have a hell hound." Alec shrugged. Even with Sam being with out most of his gifts he was still not taking any crap, and he had Ruby, Ben and Alec to back him up.
That got Dean a little quiet. Not that Dean was upset that Sam was looking out for his kid, but it was the way he was doing it that made Dean uncomfortable. Especially after the last encounter with Gordon. "So all that Antichrist crap is really true, huh?"
"They pushed him. He pushed back. Winchester trait. Don't fuck with family. He doesn't rule Hell though if that's what you're worried about." Alec is quiet for a minute. "It's a complicated mess. But it seems that half the people in Hell want to dick with one of you or the other."
"Shit, half of them already want to do that now," Dean grumbled slightly. "At least that much hasn't changed." He still wasn't comfortable with the Sam is the Antichrist news, but at least he knew why. Which made him feel slightly better. Not a lot, but slightly.
"Just a matter of who. I'm learning that. Friggin politics."
"They suck," Dean said with a heavy sigh, before he pulled into the motel, and leaned back slightly. "I have no idea how Sam's gonna take this."
Alec snorted. "Dude can't be worse than our first meeting back home."
"Oh yeah?" Dean said, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"I was having a really really bad day and he basically told me I couldn't possibly know how hard his life had been. This was followed up an hour or so later my me telling him that if he ever touched me again I was going to start breaking bones. Starting with his neck." He rubbed at the back of his neck. "We got over it pretty quick."
"Yeah, Sam can be like that sometimes." Thought it's usually directed towards his brother, rather than everyone else.
"Sometimes? Dude I love the man. He's my uncle, but he's like that a lot of the time." Alec considered. "Better lately though."
Dean just smirked before pushing his way out of the car. "Depends on the day. And when the last time he got laid was." Possibly an inappropriate topic of conversation to be having with his kid, but hey -- it was the truth.
Alec snorted "Sex is so not a problem Sam has. Seriously."
Dean ducked his head slightly, before looking at his son -- wow, that was a weird way to think -- for a second. "Are you sure we're talking about the same Sam? Because I'm pretty sure that my brother is the type that needs an emotional connection before he even thinks about taking off his pants." Unless Dean wasn't the only one who wound up with kids. Which would be fantastic, considering that the normal, white picket fence kind of life was what Sam had wanted all along -- even if he was the Antichrist. "Unless there's a Girl Queen to go along with his Boy King?"
"Ruby prefers Lady General. But uh. . .I think you're kinda right about his emotiona holding his pants up."
Dean took that. He processed it for a moment. "Ruby. You mean the demon Ruby?"
"Unless you know about blond woman named Ruby?" He paused, head tilting. "Though I guess maybe she isn't blonde right now. I dunno how long she's had that body come to think of it."
"Wouldn't know either way. I haven't actually had the pleasure. You'll have to ask, Sam, though -- I'm sure he could tell you."
"I will. I'm curious. Though she does seem really fond of the body she has." And with that he grabbed his messenger back out of the foot well and opened the door.
Dean closed the driver's side door and looked at Alec over the hood of the car. "Lemme guess -- you're friends with her, too?"
"Yeah." He shrugged a little helplessly. "I get along with most of the demon contingent." He opened the back door for Jinx.
Dean paused, mulling that over for a minute, before sighing. "Guess there's not much I can do about it, huh?"
"Why would you want to? Well, okay I can see where Alloces would be questionable. But the others?" He closed the back door and dropped his glassed back on his nose. Who knows what sort of wards they used.
The wards would be your basic salt lines and holy water traps -- nothing more advanced than that, really. Dean just shook his head slightly. "There's always an ulterior motive. You can't really trust them. You can't see their face." And that was really what it came down to with Dean. Seeing the real face behind the demon wearing the person -- demons have been screwing with his life for too long for him to start trusting them now.
"Some of them don't hide. At least no more than anyone else. Some of them are family. I'd trust them with my life." He pause. "Of course there are others that I'd take the Colt to with out a second thought."
"Good to know some things don't change," Dean replied as he opened the door, before glancing over at his brother. "Hey, Sammy -- you're never going to believe what happened to me at the warehouse."
There was a heavy sigh from the face behind the laptop, but Sam didn't look up. "Do I want to know, or is this one of those stories with too much information attached on the end?"
Yeah, that was Sam. Alec snagged Jinx's collar as the dog tried to get ahead of him as usual when entering an unknown situation. Alec didn't think this would be a good time to let Jinx do that. Alec didn't know what sort of fire power his uncle had and didn't want Jinx hurt.
"Oh, I think you're going to want to see this for yourself," Dean replied, tossing down his gear and flopping down on one of the beds. Sam rolled his eyes slightly, before looking up. He looked at Alec. Then he pretty much jumped about ten feet back.
"Dean, what the hell?" His brother just willingly bringing a shapeshifter in? Not like Dean. At all.
"Yo." Alec gave that lopsided grin and a shrug. Then he gave Sam one of those long cat stares. After a minute he pushed his glasses up. Just one gift. With a little fleeting swirl of a second one. He let go of Jinx's collar because it was pretty clear that Sam wasn't a threat.
"Not a skin walker," Dean said with a sigh. "He's my kid."
Now Sam was really confused. "You don't have a kid. And if he's your kid? You would have had to have been eight."
Dean chuckled. "He pulled a Marty McFly, Sammy -- he's from the future."
"And a step sideways. Kinda important that. Also, if I exist here? I'm like eight." He looked around the room to see what they used by way of protection. Not much, but what they did have was done in Holy water. He blinked his eyes shut and quickly put his glasses back on.
"Riiiiiight," Sam replied, studying Alec for a minute, before rolling his eyes slightly. "Did he put you up to this?" He meaning Dean.
"Sammy," Dean said, giving his brother a look. "Do you really think I would make something like this up?"
"Uhh -- yeah." Especially if Dean was trying to get him off the 'have to save my brother' track. Because this was definitely something he would pull.
"Seriously. Your nephew. Or close enough." He and Jinx stood int he middle of the room and he went to sit on one of the beds, aimed for Sam's his nose twitched and then he turned and headed for Dean's instead. He sat on the end, pulled his knees up and hooked his heels on the edge. Jinx curled up around him.
Sam studied him for a moment, before looking back at Dean. "You sure Bela didn't put him up to this?"
Dean rolled his eyes slightly, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his car keys, before nudging Alec to do the same.
Alec does so jingles them and rolls his eyes. "If Bela wants to jerk you guys around she does it withought me. The only scheme or scam I'd help her with is if she wanted to jack something from a meusam or such. Because, let's face it, that shit is fun."
Sam looked back and forth between the two sets of keys for a moment, before raising his eyebrows slightly. "Wow."
"Yeah. That's what I said," Dean smirked.
Alec put his keys away. "So this? Totally in my top five of weird shit."
"You aren't the only one," Sam replied, before shifting and turning to look at him more, ignoring the computer for the moment. "Do you have any idea how it happened?"
"Not a. . .well okay maybe a small clue. I just salted and burned the same ghost that Dad," He bit his lip, "That Dean went looking for. So I suppose there's that connection. But it was the only thing of any power in the warehouse that I found. And Jinx would have let me know if he picked up on something I missed."
Sam frowned for a minute, before shrugging slightly. "Could be a djinn." His eyes were drawn to Jinx at that point, tilting his head to the side slightly as he watched the dog. "They're hard to pick up on -- and they like open spaces like that."
"I don't think having his father in the past pull a gun on him was quite the ideal wish situation, Sam," Dean replied with an eye roll. "I say we call Bobby."
"No djinn. Unless they can actually mask their power to seem non-existant. Which would make it seem dead. And people trying to kill me is pretty normal. Gun? Easy."
Sam shrugged. "There's no lore that says they can't -- but I guess you have a point." Sam didn't know why, as he didn't know exactly how Alec was working that whole power thing. "But Dean's right, best bet is probably to call Bobby."
"Hey, I'm all for calling Bobby. There's some stuff of his hidden in corners that I haven't read yet. Maybe there's some thing I missed." He paused. "Calling Bela might not be a bad plan either. I have Rawlins' number but he gets real antsy with people he doesn't know and he doesn't know me yet."
"Who?" Dean frowned.
Sam paused for a minute. "Calling Bela might not be such a bad idea. She's got contacts we don't."
"Rawlins. He's one of her contacts. Magical arms dealer. We do some field testing for him and I sometimes work on the really tricky or delicate stuff in return for supplies or such."
"Huh," Dean replied, before glancing down at his watch. "Wonder if she's still in town?" There may have been a small shouting match before Dean headed out to the warehouse as Dean tried really, really hard not to kill her.
". . . Maybe I should call her?" Because yeah, he didn't know her, but he had always seemed much more able to not antagonize her.
"And what are you going to tell her? Hi, I'm Dean Winchester's kid from the future, and I need you to come help us figure out how to send me back?" Sam said, raising his eyebrow slightly, before shaking his head. "She'd hang up on you in two seconds. I'll call her -- seeing how I'm the only one who hasn't screamed at her today."
"She deserved it," Dean grumbled, before tossing Sam his phone so that he could pull up Bela's number.
"I was thinking more along the line of 'You don't know me so I know this is a little nerve wracking. But I need a favor. What can I offer you in return?'" Alec raised an eyebrow right back. "If she hangs up on you that's what I'm gonna do."
Sam sighed slightly, before leaning back against the chair and waiting for the person on the other line to pick up. "Bela -- Dean and I were wondering if you could drop by -- "
Dean had a feeling he was going to regret this, but he kept it to himself. This was definitely going to be a long day, though, and Dean had been hoping for a short one.
Alec tapped his fingers against his knees while waiting and then fidgeted a little. After a minute or two he uncurled, shed his bag and his jacket to prowl the room. His hand reached up to cover the barcode that was suddenly exposed without the jacket on, but then remembered that no one here was looking for it. He did a full circuit of the room, pausing to read just about anything left out. TV channel listing or research. he didn't care.
Sam watched him carefully as he talked with Bela. After a little while, he snapped the phone shut, before looking over at Dean as he tossed the phone back. "She said she'll be here in twenty."
"What'd you tell her?" Dean asked as he caught it, sliding the phone back into his pocket.
"That there's a possiblity of there being something good in it for her if she helps us out," Sam said with a shrug. "She's the one who's always out for a payday."
Alec just shook his head. It was so weird to watch all this bullshit as it happened. And their Bela had never been his Bela. He hoped that was still true. Because his Bela would help him. Their Bela would walk away. And he wasn't sure he would blame her, but he guessed that maybe he didn't know everything there was to know. People could change in a decade. "What ever she wants I'll cover it."
"You don't have to," Dean shook his head. "She owes us. We saved her life a couple times, plus there was that whole psychotic vampire bullshit."
"Well -- technically Gordon wasn't a vampire when she told him," Sam pointed out -- not in a tone that indicated that Dean was wrong in what he was saying, just that there was a discrepancy in fact. Sam was relatively sure that Bela would have still sent Gordon after them, either way. Especially if it was to save her own hide.
"He's still psychotic," Dean pointed out, before leaning back into the bed again, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Sam just shook his head, before turning back to Alec again.
"So Alec -- what year are you from?" Yes, that had the possibility of being the weirdest question Sam has ever asked.
"Gordon? God, he a self righteous, hypocritical, sanctimonious cock bite here to? Or is it just me that got the pleasure of kicking his ass?" He blinked at Sam for a second. "2019 and the motel rooms don't change any."
"Not here," Dean said with a sigh. "Dead. Sam decapitated him a couple weeks back." Because that was how you killed a vampire when he's out to kill you.
"2019," Sam said with a small nod. "Are the motel rooms the only things that don't change, or do we finally wind up with the flying cars and the teleportation systems?" Sam was mostly joking -- he figured that stuff like that wasn't coming anytime soon, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.
Alec made a put upon face at the Gordon comment. "Give him time. He'll crawl his way out of the Pit. And then he'll act like a dipshit and I'll kick him back down." He rolls his eyes. "And if he pisses me off that much again I'll let Jinx do the honor of dragging him down instead of doing it myself." He laughed about the flying cars. "Oh man, no. Most people can't even afford gas."
Sam frowned slightly at the initial comment. "Wait a second -- Gordon becomes a demon?" Because that news didn't bode well for them at all. Dean started to sit up slightly for that as well, wondering how exactly Gordon managed that particular upgrade.
Alec nodded. "Yeah." He shrugged. He knew the most demons were humans. Common knowledge, right?
Actually not so much. Not now, anyway. Dean ran a hand over his face, shaking his head slightly. "Well, that's just fantastic."
"Dude, no biggie. It's not like it made him that great. I kicked his ass in the middle of trying to get fall down drunk. And while I'm better equipped for a knock down fight with a demon, you could have done it." Seriously. They already took Gordon out once. "What's with the worry fest?"
"We almost didn't take him out," Dean replied. "He almost killed us twice now. Coming back as a demon again? So not what we had in mind." It also meant very bad things for him, because he was relatively certain that selling your soul meant a one-way ticket to Hell. And Dean? Not so thrilled with the idea of coming back as a demon.
"I'm pretty sure he steers clear of the family until he comes after me. And I'm fairly positive he'll want me before anyone else." He prowled the room again. "Shame. He'd still be a good hunter if he didn't get so fixated."
Dean looked over at Sam and was about to say something when there was a knock on the door to the motel room. "Speak of the devil," Dean muttered, before pushing himself up and opening the door, revealing Bela standing behind it. She gave them both a look, before stepping over the salt line and into the room, letting Dean close the door behind her. When her eyes fell on Alec, she glanced back at Dean before shaking her head slightly.
"Oh, God -- there's more of you."
Alec smiles, but it's genuine. "I most likely deserve that for something." His head tilted a little. She was still human, but he'd recognize the power spark of her soul anywhere. with or with out the dark shimmering demon swirl. "You're taller when I know you." He sounds more bemused than anything else.
Bela stared at him for a moment, looking at him almost as though she's trying to get a read on him, before turning back to Dean. "Do I even want to know?"
"Bela -- meet my son from the future," Dean said with a small smirk.
Bela eyes drifted from Alec to Sam to Dean for a moment, lingering on Dean as she responded. "Are you off your meds?"
Alec gave her that sheepish little boy look she'd be so used to twelve year in the future and possibly one step sideways. "I know it sounds like crack. Seriously. I really do. But I am so stuck and could really use some help. From you or maybe one of your contacts? Please?"
Bela watched him carefully for a moment, her arms crossing in front of her chest. "I'm flattered that you think that well of me, but what makes you think I know anyone who's expertise lies in time travel?" The question itself was a real one, but her tone was humorous. She wasn't quite convinced yet, but she'd humor them until either she was proven right or they managed to prove it to her.
"Well, I wouldn't say expertise, but I know you've dealt in some pretty weird shit. And maybe Rawlins came up with a few ideas here and there? Buried in that morass he calls a work bench?" Now he hit her with the hopeful look.
"Rawlins -- Howard Rawlins?" Bela frowned slightly. "I've only just started doing business with him. But I suppose it could be worth a try."
Alec heaves a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I know he gets antsy about strangers showing up and, obviously, he doesn't know me yet."
"I don't know what you're looking for," Bela said, frowning more. "Do you even have any idea how it happened?"
Alec shook his head. He obviously felt pretty easy in her company. "Not a clue. I went into a ware house for a simple salt and burn. Went off with out a hitch. I come out to stash my gear and there's Dad," He does that 'made a mistake' pause, "Dean, twelve years too young and, you know, not were I left him."
"Huh," Bela said with a frown. "Djinn?"
"Already ruled it out," Sam sighed. "We were going to call Bobby next, see what else he knows of that could play with time."
"And if it isn't a midnight ugly then I'm hoping Rawlins may have some idea of what sort of circumstances might be able to kick my ass like this."
"It could be some kind of object," Bela said with a shrug. "Cursed to send a person back to a certain point in time, but I haven't heard of anything with that kind of power."
He makes a frustrated noise. More like a growl than anything else. It wasn't directed at them. Just plain old frustration. "I just didn't see anything."
Bela tilted her head to the side slightly. "Djinn are knowing for being able to sneak up on people -- I wouldn't be so quick to rule them out quite yet."
"And Alec would have wished to be sent back here why?" Dean asked. "Wishes usually make logical sense. This just seems entirely random."
"You'd have to ask him that," Bela replied, gesturing in Alec's direction. "Not me."
"Can they hide from all your senses? Better than say. . .a wendigo?" He gave them a questioning look.
"Much better than a Wendigo," Bela nodded. "They're basically the supernatural equivelant of a genie -- very powerful. Places their victims in a heightened dream state, granting them their most desired wish as they drain the life out of them."
"Trust me," Dean said as he shook his head. "It's not fun."
"What if you don't dream?" He bit his lip. "God damn. Still don't think so though. Don't they need to trap you? A magical trap won't really work. and for once things are good. No one dying. No one dead. No one really trying to kill us. Everyone in the same place. Hell no one's even injured. I'm like happy. I wouldn't have even left except it's been months since I've hunted and it was driving me twitchy." So he was tweaking out just a little. He needs to get it out of his system. "Couple of salt 'n' burns. Few Wendigo. No biggie. Just. . .just. . .of the suck." He stops and takes a deep breath.
Jinx rolls his eyes and waits for the drama to be over.
Bela waited patiently for the moment, watching him work it all out, before tilting her head to the side slightly and looking at Dean, almost as though to say 'He's your kid.' Dean just glared at her before speaking.
"Yeah, well -- I was pretty happy too when it happened to me. It was after that that everything started going to shit," Dean shrugged. "You don't have to be in a bad place. You just have to be in the wrong one."
"Fucking multi-milion dollar body. I am not dinner for some blue skinned fucker. Let's call Bobby, see what he has in his attic. 'Cause I don't actually think this is a djinn."
"Fair enough," Sam nodded, before reaching for his phone to call.
Alec wasn't sure Bobby would have the answer though. The man was damned good but Alec has also read through a lot of what he had. "Will Rawlins work in trade now or is he only dealing in cash money at the moment?"
"Depends on what you have to trade," Bela shrugged. "He's a good businessman -- he knows a good offer when he sees one."
He went over to his bag with was still on the bed next to Jinx and fished through it, just double checking to made sure he had what he thought he did. "I can trade if I can find a grocery store and a health nut store."
"Grocery store is a few miles up," Dean said with a shrug. "Health nut store might be hard to find out here, though."
"What do you need?" Bela asked, starting to move closer to get a better look when Dean caught her by the arm.
"Sulfur. From the health store anyway. For some reason vitamin places sell it. Go figure, right?" He blinked a little, because Bela being in his personal space had never been a problem. It was hard to remember that he didn't know this Bela.
"I think I know where to find it," Bela replied, glaring at Dean as she shook off his arm. "It's a bit of a drive, but it's not hard to get there." Dean just gave her a look right back. Bela being nosy was never a good sign -- at least not in his experience. And he didn't know what version of Bela the kid knew, but Bela getting nosy usually ended in something getting stolen, and Dean just wasn't in the mood.
"Sweet." He grinned then pause. "Please tell me it'll be affordable. I can't jack it. That would ruin things." All ingredients in protective hoodoo had to be acquired fair and square. Hell it would even be better if Bela wasn't angry when she showed them the place to buy it.
Oh, Bela being in some state that wasn't at least mildly annoyed when around the Winchesters was next to impossible. However, she wasn't going to rub that in the face of some kid who really hadn't been anything but friendly to her. In fact, she was more amused with the fact that Alec seemed comfortable with her when he was Dean Winchester's son than anything else. "I can swing it if you can't," Bela said with a shrug. "It's not like I don't have the funds."
That got her his bright smile. The one his Bela saw from him all the time. "Thanks."
"No problem," Bela said with a small smile in his direction.
That was more like the woman he knew. He nodded to her and then looked over to see if Sam had made any progress.
"Yeah, Bobby, get back to us when you can," Sam sighed, before hanging up the phone, and looking over at the other people in the room. "Bobby has no idea."
"Figured he wouldn't," Dean sighed.
"Suuuuuck." Okay so Alec had an idea or two, but he wasn't even thinking about bringing it up until all other options were shot down.
"So, heading out to Rawlins then, yeah?" Bela sighed. "It's a bit of a drive -- the man lives in the middle of the bloody Pine Barrens."
"Just him and his ear shattering Metallica. Least he can't blow anyone up by accident." He made a face. "But I'm gonna need those stores first or I won't have anything to trade with. And while I trust him reasonably well he doesn't do much of anything for free."
"Sounds like they're on the way," Dean nodded, before reaching for his jacket and keys again. "Let's go."
"Sure." He slipped his jacket back on and this bag. Then he slapped a hand against his thigh and Jinx slipped off the bed and to Alec's side.
Sam and Dean both collected their gear, before heading out to the car. Sam went to toss the bags in the trunk as Dean headed over to the office to check out. Bela just headed to her car, leaning against the driver's side door and waiting for the boys to be ready to go. As soon as Sam was finished the the bags, he headed for the passenger's side door, his usual spot.
Alec had been heading there to with out even thinking. He blinked numbly at Sam who was opening the door.
Sam caught the look and just frowned slightly, confused. "....Am I missing something?" Because it might have been something that Alec had covered with Dean that he had missed.
"I just. . .you. . .where's your car?" He backed away from the front seat door though. He knew who had seniority here.
Sam frowned a little more, before shaking his head. "I don't have a car. Never could afford another one."
"Oh." He blinked. "Well no friggin skin of my nose. I never was fond of that little rabbit of sports car anyway." He nodded. "I'll just. . .sit in the back seat with Jinx, yeah?" He had forgotten how he picked up little bits of Bela's accent until the word slipped out. "Right."
Sam rolled his eyes slightly at the sports car comment. "I'm guessing that Dean wasn't too fond of it either?"
"Dude, I don't know how you folded your bean pole self into the thing. I either want a couple of tons of American steel or if I need to be able to hit 180 I want a motorcycle."
Sam laughed, shaking his head slightly. "When you're this tall, you get used to fitting into smaller spaces."
"Hey, six feet even isn't short. I am not event he shortest Winchester I will have you know." He opened the back door for Jinx.
"Oh no?" Sam said, arching an eyebrow. He'd seen Alec and Dean standing next to each other, and they pretty much came up even. "Don't tell me Dean has another kid."
"Yeah. I'm the youngest." there was a pause. "We think. Ben was way less of a surprise for Dad."
"Yeah?" Sam was a little confused at that one, though the name Ben was ringing a bell. "How so?"
"Uh, Dad had at least actually screwed around with Ben's mom. That helped the whole easier to swallow thing."
Sam processed that slowly. "Ben's last name wouldn't happen to be Braedan, would it?"
"That would be him, yeah. So maybe I am the shortest Winchester, since Ben kept his mom's name?"
Sam nodded slowly. "We just met Ben -- Dean said that Lisa said he wasn't his."
"She lied. Like a rug." It was a flat statement.
"Obviously," Sam sighed slightly. "So -- what did you mean by how he didn't screw around with your mom?"
"To the best of my knowledge I don't even have a mom, so he couldn't screw around with her."
Now Sam was a little confused. Again. Because he knew how biology worked. "You don't have a mom?"
"Test tubes and petri dishes all the way. He must have donated sperm at some point. And some bright boy at a lab was really paying attention."
Sam snorted. Of course his brother would donate sperm. Especially he was looking for a little extra cash. "That actually doesn't surprise me as much as you think."
"That he would donate or that it would be snatched up by the US government for weapons development. 'Cause the second's pretty odd dude, so I kinda hope you're surprised."
"Yeah, well -- the second is kind of odd, but knowing our luck? It doesn't surprise me so much. Of course Dean would get himself into something like that."
"He didn't do it on purpose. Not something you can volunteer for. But I guess John had an impressive enough service record and Dean was smart enough and good enough looking." He paused. "Hell, they didn't even change the way he looked. That's impressive."
"I'll take your word for it," Sam said with a smirk as Dean came around again sliding into the driver's seat.
"Hey, I was built pretty." He smirked. "It's a fact." He slid into the backseat and closed the door. Jinx layed his head on Alec's thigh.
Dean started the car, before getting ready to follow Bela's lead to the store in question.
Alec settled into the seat and pet Jinx. This was familiar. The smell was the same and just as safe. "I'd ask if life could get weirder, but I can think of at least four different things that could happen off the top of my head, so I'll just let that go, shall I?" He could maybe even cat nap back here.
"Four?" Dean arched an eyebrow, before shaking his head. "I'm not sure I want to know."
"Well, that was just kinda off the top. And you most likely don't want to know. Two even involved strip clubs." Alec was still allergic to them.
"Strip clubs? Seriously?" Dean frowned. "You're right -- don't want to know."
"I'm allergic to them. Totally ruined for me. And that is a damned shame."
"Big damned shame," Dean said with a heavy sigh, before continuing to drive. He stopped when Bela pulled into the health food store, pulling in alongside her and starting to get out. "So -- sulfur?"
"Yep and if we are really lucky this is one stop shopping. Sea salt, and black and cayenne pepper. And if they have a produce section? Blueberries.
Those are optional. And a Tupperware or something like. Not so optional." He checked a small pocket of his bag making sure the forged papers that declared Jinx an aid dog were there. And away they went.
Bela followed him inside, watching Alec carefully as he gathered the ingredients. And Dean spent the time watching Bela to make sure she didn't do anything stupid.
Alec was pleased to see that the place was more a froo froo grocery store then an vitamin place so they did have everything he needed. Including the fruit and the Tupperware. He goggled a little at how cheap everything was and was pleased to be able to afford it all. No one seemed to quite dare to challenge he dog let alone ask him for papers. The entire trip look ten minutes and they were back out at the car. Alec spread everything out on the trunk.
All three of them both leaned over his shoulder. "So what exactly is all this for?" Bela asked, looking over the ingredients carefully.
"Goofer dust." He pulls his jackknife out of his back pocket and uses it to scoop in the different ingredients, mostly salt and black pepper. He clearly wasn't making a lot. "I'm gonna trade this and a little foot track magic to him for info and some help maybe." When he was done measuring the bought ingredients he pulled a small box from his bag. Roughly the same size as the summoning box Dean used. He set it down and flipped it open. and rifled through, a few tea bags, a couple of nails, some feathers, stones other odds and ends and baggies of dirt. He took out two. They didn't really look any different to any one but him. A couple of pinches of dirt from each bag went in to the mix and he did this with his bare fingers and then used his finger to stir it. First clockwise then counter. He squinted at it and stirred in one more full circle. Clearly that satisfied him because he snapped the lid on and started packing everything up.
"Like for hellhounds?" Dean frowned, watching him as he worked. "Huh." He knew a bit here and there, but he'd never watched it actually be made before. Then again, there was always something different to learn.
"Yeah. Goofer dust will stop a lot more than Hellhounds though. It can get nasty spells to bounce off a property and keep out spirits to. All kinda of stuff. It kinda depends on what the Hoodoo that made it intends and how it's deployed and what it's made from. This shit'll stop a freight train filled with demons. But it absolutely will not do anything but protect. Use it for ill and it won’t work at all." He got his box reordered and slipped it back into his bag. "Won’t stop Jinx though."
Bela frowned at that. "Won't stop him specifically? I didn't realize you could specify it."
"Normally you can't. But he's mine. He'll hardly even listen to Sam anymore. So he's kinda covered under my power. Also, the thing that gives this the power kick is the dirt. And the people it came from like him. It's protective Dust. He's my protector. . . " Alec shrugged and picked up the Tupperware. "Some one else's Dust would hold him I think."
"Ahh," Bela nodded slowly, processing that for a moment. "Interesting."
"It's amazing the things you can learn when you're flat on your back for over a month. " He picked up his bag and gave her a bemused look. "You know what's kinda funny? It was you that brought me most of the books I learned a lot of this from."
"Yeah?" she said, raising an eyebrow slightly, before glancing back at Dean. "Apparently I do have my uses -- even in the future."
"Don't get your hopes up," Dean muttered.
Alec snorted. "I consider you a friend. A very good one. You and Dean still kinda hate each other though."
"Why doesn't that surprise me," Bela sighed.
"'Cause you aren't stupid? And neither of you are really the forgiving type?" It was just an observation he leaned a hip against the car with easy familiarity.
"Probably," Bela said with a nod. "So -- off to New Jersey, then?"
Alec stepped out of the ware house and stretched. He had a bag slung on his back and the shot gun loose in one hand. Ghosts were easy prey for him and Jinx. Between the two animal sensitive noses and Alec's gift it was never hard to find the bones. And he was starting to think that one out of every four dockside warehouse had a pissed spirit in it. The Impala was right where he'd left her, safe and sound. Jinx sat near a rear tire while Alec opened the trunk to stow his gear. That was when things got a little odd. He was holding the shot gun but he was also looking at it. In the trunk. And sure Dad had more than one. . but not *this* one.
Dean had only gone to get coffee. Really. He was gone all of what, five minutes, and he had some mook going through the trunk of his car. Dean rolled his eyes slightly, figuring it was one of Bela's goons screwing with his car (again), and he rolled his eyes before pulling the gun out of his pocket, and coming up as stealthily as possible, aiming the muzzle right between his shoulder blades. "You're gonna wanna back away from my car -- right now."
"Oh for fuck's sake I knows she's made of win. But seriously?" Alec didn't even feel afraid. Cautious yes but afraid? No? Not with Jinx right there. Jinx who was undoubtedly getting ready to take the guy's hand off right about. . .
Jinx had a moment of startled confusion but a gun on his master was kinda not something he tolerated. But given who it was maybe he wouldn't actually kill.
. . .Now Alec heard that angry chainsaw through steel snarl and Jinx rose to his feet.
"Son of a -- " Dean stumbled back slightly when he saw the hell hound. He'd never seen one before, but there was no doubt as to what that was. And given the timing it really, really sucked -- his time wasn't up yet, but he didn't think that hell hounds discriminated. His fingers were itching for his shotgun but the kid was between him and the shotguns, so he was just going to have to settle for keeping his gun trained on the kid, and doing his best to keep his cool.
"Sure, right. Made of win -- whatever you want to call it, I don't like it when strangers screw around with my car."
Especially considering when they did, she got towed.
"She's not. . this is stupid." And with that he spun and dropped at the same time, sweeping a leg out. He snatched the gun as the guy went down. And then landed on his own ass when he finally got a look and nose full of scent. Jinx slunk forward between them, confused as all get out but Alec came first.
Dean landed on his back hard with a groan. He couldn't believe he'd let the kid get the jump on him. However, he was surprised when the guy wasn't standing over him, so he pushed himself up on his elbows, and when he looked at who it was, he pushed himself back further. "Son of a bitch."
Shapeshifter. His hand went for the silver knife in his back pocket and he tried to figure out since when skin walkers wandered around with hellhounds.
Alec's hand came up to tangle in Jinx's fur and collar clearly more of a gesture to seek comfort than to hold the hound back. "Holy Fuck. Dad." It was a statement and a question all in one.
Dean blinked. Several times. Then he pushed himself up on his elbows a little more and tilting his head to the side slightly. "I'm sorry -- what did you call me?"
He inhaled sharply. Same scent. "Dad. " It was like a sigh of relief this time.
"Kid, I don't have any. I think I would know." Actually, he probably wouldn't know, but hey -- He definitely didn't have one that was pushing twenty. He would have had to have the kid when he was around eight, and that -- well, he didn't think that was biologically possible.
Alec snorted. 'Cause yeah. . .Dean had kept such good track of them. He pushed himself up and dropped the gun in his lap and fished into his messenger bag for his glasses. Once he settle them on his face he could see Dean, the physical person better. And he wasn't right. Fewer freckles. Fewer stress lines. Fewer scars on his hands. "Oh maaaann what fresh hell is this?"
"You're telling me," Dean said with an eye roll. "Did Bela put you up to this? Because this is so up her alley."
". . . . Bela doesn't do schemey stuff with me."
Oh, Alec, that so wasn't helping your case. "But you do know her."
"Yes. I've been friends with her for a while. You've known her even longer."
Dean snorted before shaking his head. "So how much did she pay you for this? A couple grand? It better of been good."
"Dude. You're bitch-fest with Bela is between you and her. I don't get involved. It's a rule." He scratched Jinx between the ears. The signal being that Alec felt he was safe enough at the moment.
"My bitch fest? She shot my friggin' brother. Then she got my car towed, then screwed us over on a major job and expected us to save her ass. And then she sold us out to a psychotic vampire. The last bit? Was just in the last month." Dean clearly was not pleased. "I think it's a bit more than just a bitch fest."
"Well I know damned well Sam's shot her at least once. So I'd kinda guess they're even on that score." There was a pause. "Last month?" He sounded incredulous.
Now Dean was a little confused. "Sam hasn't shot her. Sam doesn't go around shooting people." Then again, that would depend on the circumstances. "And if he did shoot her, I think she would be whining at us to pay her friggin medical bills. And yeah -- in the last month. She's a big giant piece of work."
"Are we talking about the same Sam here? Super cranky boy king, with kinda a short fuse sometimes?" And why would Bela need medical? She wasn't even alive? He was starting to get an idea and he wasn't liking it much.
"Dude -- are you high?" Dean said, giving his supposed son a look. "Sam, my brother Sam, is the one who's more likely to pout you to death as oppose to actually cause you any physical harm. Yeah, he's got a temper, but he doesn't go around killing people if that's what you're implying."
"I wish I were high. He sulks like a professional. And I'm not implying anything." He rubbed at the back of his neck. "I'm gonna ask something I think I'm gonna regret hard core. What's the date?"
"November 27, 2007," Dean replied with a sigh. "Do I even want to know what date you think it is?"
Alec let his head fall back and thump into the bumper. "Fuck." And again. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." There was a thump for every swear. Jinx put his head in Alec's lap and whined a little. He got a head pet for it. "Yeah, my thoughts exactly."
"Alright, look -- I'm sorry you got stuck in Back to the Future or whatever, but I need to go meet my brother. So -- nice meeting you, and let Bela know I'm gonna kill her the next time I see her."
". . . you and Sam are apparently the only things I've got to a vaguely friendly face till I manage to get home. Because Bela won't know me. Amy won't know me. If she's even awake. Ruby won't know me and she's cranky even on a really good day. Ben's like . . .eight. No Nancy. No Bobby." He swallowed. Hard as how alone he was really struck. His fingers tightened in Jinx's fur.
Dean watched him for a minute, before starting to shake his head. He was listening to the names as he rambled them off, some he recognized, some he didn't, and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do about this. Some kid shows up, claiming to be his kid from the future, and he's supposed to just drop everything? He didn't have the time for something like this.
"Look, kid -- I don't know what to tell you."
"Yeah. I do that to people." He locked down all the angst and smirked. "It's a skill. Takes practice." He pulled himself to his feet. He'd just have to sort it out himself. Ben was going to think he'd taken off again. "You can keep the shot gun." He ejected the clip for the handgun he took from Dean and put it way before closing the weapons locker and then the trunk.
Dean watched him for a minute, before glancing over at him. "How'd you get into the trunk?"
Alec wordlessly took his keys, his Dad's key's, out of his pocket and held them up. He didn't offer them to Dean. Someday he hoped he'd make it home and need them again.
Dean's jaw set slightly as he reached into his pocket, finding the set of keys and softening slightly. He looked the kid over again, trying to sort out how exactly it worked. Because he was supposed to be dead in six months. How could he have a kid that had the keys to his car, when he was supposed to be dead in six months? He sighed heavily, before nodding towards the passenger's seat.
"Get in."
Alec nearly melted with relief and gratitude but knew to keep his mouth shut. The keys went back into his pocket. He nodded and opened the back door for Jinx and closed it after him and then opened the passenger door and slid in.
Dean settled in to the driver's seat and started to start the car. He started to drive for a minute, before looking over at him. "So what's your name?"
"Alec. As in Smart."
"Alec. And -- is it going to help me to ask who your mother is?"
"Nope. Don't really have one. Or if I did I figure she's got some lovely spots or is very short and round, looking a lot like a petri dish."
He paused for a minute. "....What year were you born?"
"'99 So, I guess right about now I'm roughly eight."
"Huh," Dean sighed slightly. "And when did we actually meet -- in the future?"
"2018."
"So -- I'm still around, then?" He was still around ten years from then. Something wasn't quite right about that -- there was no reason for that to have worked. At least none that he knew of at the moment.
Alec's jaw tightened and he looked away. "Why do you think I have the Impala?" He swallowed. "It's. . . this isn't the same. You would have told me if you'd met me when you were in your twenties, you know?"
Dean paused for a minute before continuing to drive. So he could still die. Fantastic. "....I guess you're right."
"Who knows. Maybe I've just cocked everything up. Maybe I die in two years. Maybe your Sam is different. Maybe I never make it free and you never have to worry about my bullshit. Quantum physics. A butterfly in China and that kinda shit."
Dean just blinked slightly at that for a minute, before shrugging. "Yeah, dude, whatever you say."
"If only it were that fucking easy. Not a gift I have."
Dean snorted. "You and me both."
Alec gives a short laugh. "Pretty sure even Sam lost out on that one."
Dean gave him a sidelong glance, wondering how much exactly he knew about Sam. "Yeah, well -- we can't always get what we want."
"But sometimes we get what we need?"
"So Jagger says."
Alec snorted. "So why were you at the warehouse district?"
"Tracking down a lead," Dean said with a sigh. "Nothing seems to be coming up though."
"What kind of lead. I'm just trying to figure out how I fell through a well here. 'Cause this sure as shit ain't Kansas. And Lassie fell through with me so he's not going to be getting any help."
He shrugged. "Think this could have been the possible murder site. Nothing seems to have come up though."
Alec snorted. "I just torched the bones."
Dean raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
Alec nodded. "Cake walk."
"Huh," he said with a nod.
"We were bored."
"Well, good for you."
"Universal Dad language for 'I have no fucking idea what to say.'"
Dean glanced back at him for a moment, before rolling his eyes slightly. "Well, what the hell do you expect me to say? I've seen some weird shit, but time travel ain't exactly one of them."
"To be honest, and I usually am, like brutally so, it's a first for me. I mean I didn't even think I had a time travel cherry to pop. And I gotta say, it's in my top five of weird."
"Only question is, how do we get you back. I figure that you can't really pull a Marty McFly considering you're what -- eight about now? But I figure you don't want to be stuck back here -- not when everyone you know is up there."
"Marty McWho?"
Dean blinked. "Marty McFly -- you know, Back to the Future? Michael J. Fox? Guy goes back in time, screws things up and he has to fix it so that he can still be born?"
"Uh. . . clearly Ben hasn't shown me that on yet." He gave Dean a sheepish smile. The same one he used to give his father when ever he missed a cultural referance.
"Oh," Dean said with a shrug. "Well -- yeah. You can't erase yourself from existence. But I'm assuming that you don't necessarily want to be here either."
"Not really. No offense and all but. . . "
"None taken," Dean replied, shaking his head. "I have a feeling it's just one of those things that shouldn't happen, ya know? Traveling through time? Just screws with people's heads."
"Yeah. I didn't mean to screw with your karma. And you startled the shit out of me." he quiet for a minute. "This isn't my world though. It's just. . . not. Subtley different." He pushed his glasses up to look around with naked eyes as if to confirm. "Hell I might not even exist here."
"Oh." Well, there goes that hope. "I still say Bela's involved somehow. She's always screwing with that spirit world stuff -- I bet you she tugged on the wrong string and you wound up here."
Alec raised an eyebrow. "Dude, Bela isn't this strong. And say what you want about the woman but she's careful and she knows her shit."
"Careful?" Dean said with a frown. "She nearly got herself killed by a spirit because she was greedy enough to steal the remains out from under us for a decent chunk of change, but didn't think to learn the motive's of the spirit in order to figure out that she might possibly become a friggin' target."
There's a long pause then he breaks out laughing. "Oh man, now I know why she doesn't deal in human remains."
Dean blinked for a moment, before tilting his head to the side slightly. "You really are friends with her, aren't you?"
He nods. "Pretty good friends, too. And I'm not saying she isn't mercenary, because that's Bela. But she's a good friend. She's really come through for me, for all of us a few times."
"Really?" Dean frowned. "For once she comes through for us? God, I hope I live to see it."
"Yeah. Me too." He's thinking. Wondering just how much is different here.
"So," Dean said with a nod. "Me -- then." He hesitated for a minute, not sure if he wanted to ask this question -- if he wants to know the answer. "Am I -- alive? Or am I some kind of spirit thing. Because, I could be around, but not around, if that makes any sense."
"You're alive. Hell, you're even still an Ordinary." He shakes his head. "Human. You're still human." Because he thought of the demons he knew as alive.
Dean let out a heavy sigh of relief. Oh, that was good. That was really good. That took a lot of weight off his shoulders, because that meant that even if it was a different world, there was still a chance for him to make it out of this in one piece. "And Sam -- he's still alive too, right?" He would have started firing off the 'did I still sell my soul?' kind of questions, but he wasn't sure if Alec would know that.
"Amazingly? Yeah. Not that people have made it easy. He's still human to. Before you ask." Alec slung his arm over the seatback to pet the dog for a minute.
Dean nodded slowly, following Alec's arm through the rear view mirror, and he was silent for a moment, before turning back to him with a look. "Alright, I gotta ask. What's the deal with the dog?"
"Sam thought I needed a baby sitter and a body guard. To be fair he was right. And, I dunno, maybe he was having a soft moment and gave me a puppy instead of having a flunky shadow me. Also, to be fair Jinx is way more dangerous than any demon that doesn't manage to be at least midlevel."
Dean nodded slowly for a minute. "Uh-huh. Sam becomes King of the Hellhounds in the future?"
"Kinda? Boy King, remember? The head of one of Hell's armies. He wants a hell hound he can have a hell hound." Alec shrugged. Even with Sam being with out most of his gifts he was still not taking any crap, and he had Ruby, Ben and Alec to back him up.
That got Dean a little quiet. Not that Dean was upset that Sam was looking out for his kid, but it was the way he was doing it that made Dean uncomfortable. Especially after the last encounter with Gordon. "So all that Antichrist crap is really true, huh?"
"They pushed him. He pushed back. Winchester trait. Don't fuck with family. He doesn't rule Hell though if that's what you're worried about." Alec is quiet for a minute. "It's a complicated mess. But it seems that half the people in Hell want to dick with one of you or the other."
"Shit, half of them already want to do that now," Dean grumbled slightly. "At least that much hasn't changed." He still wasn't comfortable with the Sam is the Antichrist news, but at least he knew why. Which made him feel slightly better. Not a lot, but slightly.
"Just a matter of who. I'm learning that. Friggin politics."
"They suck," Dean said with a heavy sigh, before he pulled into the motel, and leaned back slightly. "I have no idea how Sam's gonna take this."
Alec snorted. "Dude can't be worse than our first meeting back home."
"Oh yeah?" Dean said, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"I was having a really really bad day and he basically told me I couldn't possibly know how hard his life had been. This was followed up an hour or so later my me telling him that if he ever touched me again I was going to start breaking bones. Starting with his neck." He rubbed at the back of his neck. "We got over it pretty quick."
"Yeah, Sam can be like that sometimes." Thought it's usually directed towards his brother, rather than everyone else.
"Sometimes? Dude I love the man. He's my uncle, but he's like that a lot of the time." Alec considered. "Better lately though."
Dean just smirked before pushing his way out of the car. "Depends on the day. And when the last time he got laid was." Possibly an inappropriate topic of conversation to be having with his kid, but hey -- it was the truth.
Alec snorted "Sex is so not a problem Sam has. Seriously."
Dean ducked his head slightly, before looking at his son -- wow, that was a weird way to think -- for a second. "Are you sure we're talking about the same Sam? Because I'm pretty sure that my brother is the type that needs an emotional connection before he even thinks about taking off his pants." Unless Dean wasn't the only one who wound up with kids. Which would be fantastic, considering that the normal, white picket fence kind of life was what Sam had wanted all along -- even if he was the Antichrist. "Unless there's a Girl Queen to go along with his Boy King?"
"Ruby prefers Lady General. But uh. . .I think you're kinda right about his emotiona holding his pants up."
Dean took that. He processed it for a moment. "Ruby. You mean the demon Ruby?"
"Unless you know about blond woman named Ruby?" He paused, head tilting. "Though I guess maybe she isn't blonde right now. I dunno how long she's had that body come to think of it."
"Wouldn't know either way. I haven't actually had the pleasure. You'll have to ask, Sam, though -- I'm sure he could tell you."
"I will. I'm curious. Though she does seem really fond of the body she has." And with that he grabbed his messenger back out of the foot well and opened the door.
Dean closed the driver's side door and looked at Alec over the hood of the car. "Lemme guess -- you're friends with her, too?"
"Yeah." He shrugged a little helplessly. "I get along with most of the demon contingent." He opened the back door for Jinx.
Dean paused, mulling that over for a minute, before sighing. "Guess there's not much I can do about it, huh?"
"Why would you want to? Well, okay I can see where Alloces would be questionable. But the others?" He closed the back door and dropped his glassed back on his nose. Who knows what sort of wards they used.
The wards would be your basic salt lines and holy water traps -- nothing more advanced than that, really. Dean just shook his head slightly. "There's always an ulterior motive. You can't really trust them. You can't see their face." And that was really what it came down to with Dean. Seeing the real face behind the demon wearing the person -- demons have been screwing with his life for too long for him to start trusting them now.
"Some of them don't hide. At least no more than anyone else. Some of them are family. I'd trust them with my life." He pause. "Of course there are others that I'd take the Colt to with out a second thought."
"Good to know some things don't change," Dean replied as he opened the door, before glancing over at his brother. "Hey, Sammy -- you're never going to believe what happened to me at the warehouse."
There was a heavy sigh from the face behind the laptop, but Sam didn't look up. "Do I want to know, or is this one of those stories with too much information attached on the end?"
Yeah, that was Sam. Alec snagged Jinx's collar as the dog tried to get ahead of him as usual when entering an unknown situation. Alec didn't think this would be a good time to let Jinx do that. Alec didn't know what sort of fire power his uncle had and didn't want Jinx hurt.
"Oh, I think you're going to want to see this for yourself," Dean replied, tossing down his gear and flopping down on one of the beds. Sam rolled his eyes slightly, before looking up. He looked at Alec. Then he pretty much jumped about ten feet back.
"Dean, what the hell?" His brother just willingly bringing a shapeshifter in? Not like Dean. At all.
"Yo." Alec gave that lopsided grin and a shrug. Then he gave Sam one of those long cat stares. After a minute he pushed his glasses up. Just one gift. With a little fleeting swirl of a second one. He let go of Jinx's collar because it was pretty clear that Sam wasn't a threat.
"Not a skin walker," Dean said with a sigh. "He's my kid."
Now Sam was really confused. "You don't have a kid. And if he's your kid? You would have had to have been eight."
Dean chuckled. "He pulled a Marty McFly, Sammy -- he's from the future."
"And a step sideways. Kinda important that. Also, if I exist here? I'm like eight." He looked around the room to see what they used by way of protection. Not much, but what they did have was done in Holy water. He blinked his eyes shut and quickly put his glasses back on.
"Riiiiiight," Sam replied, studying Alec for a minute, before rolling his eyes slightly. "Did he put you up to this?" He meaning Dean.
"Sammy," Dean said, giving his brother a look. "Do you really think I would make something like this up?"
"Uhh -- yeah." Especially if Dean was trying to get him off the 'have to save my brother' track. Because this was definitely something he would pull.
"Seriously. Your nephew. Or close enough." He and Jinx stood int he middle of the room and he went to sit on one of the beds, aimed for Sam's his nose twitched and then he turned and headed for Dean's instead. He sat on the end, pulled his knees up and hooked his heels on the edge. Jinx curled up around him.
Sam studied him for a moment, before looking back at Dean. "You sure Bela didn't put him up to this?"
Dean rolled his eyes slightly, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his car keys, before nudging Alec to do the same.
Alec does so jingles them and rolls his eyes. "If Bela wants to jerk you guys around she does it withought me. The only scheme or scam I'd help her with is if she wanted to jack something from a meusam or such. Because, let's face it, that shit is fun."
Sam looked back and forth between the two sets of keys for a moment, before raising his eyebrows slightly. "Wow."
"Yeah. That's what I said," Dean smirked.
Alec put his keys away. "So this? Totally in my top five of weird shit."
"You aren't the only one," Sam replied, before shifting and turning to look at him more, ignoring the computer for the moment. "Do you have any idea how it happened?"
"Not a. . .well okay maybe a small clue. I just salted and burned the same ghost that Dad," He bit his lip, "That Dean went looking for. So I suppose there's that connection. But it was the only thing of any power in the warehouse that I found. And Jinx would have let me know if he picked up on something I missed."
Sam frowned for a minute, before shrugging slightly. "Could be a djinn." His eyes were drawn to Jinx at that point, tilting his head to the side slightly as he watched the dog. "They're hard to pick up on -- and they like open spaces like that."
"I don't think having his father in the past pull a gun on him was quite the ideal wish situation, Sam," Dean replied with an eye roll. "I say we call Bobby."
"No djinn. Unless they can actually mask their power to seem non-existant. Which would make it seem dead. And people trying to kill me is pretty normal. Gun? Easy."
Sam shrugged. "There's no lore that says they can't -- but I guess you have a point." Sam didn't know why, as he didn't know exactly how Alec was working that whole power thing. "But Dean's right, best bet is probably to call Bobby."
"Hey, I'm all for calling Bobby. There's some stuff of his hidden in corners that I haven't read yet. Maybe there's some thing I missed." He paused. "Calling Bela might not be a bad plan either. I have Rawlins' number but he gets real antsy with people he doesn't know and he doesn't know me yet."
"Who?" Dean frowned.
Sam paused for a minute. "Calling Bela might not be such a bad idea. She's got contacts we don't."
"Rawlins. He's one of her contacts. Magical arms dealer. We do some field testing for him and I sometimes work on the really tricky or delicate stuff in return for supplies or such."
"Huh," Dean replied, before glancing down at his watch. "Wonder if she's still in town?" There may have been a small shouting match before Dean headed out to the warehouse as Dean tried really, really hard not to kill her.
". . . Maybe I should call her?" Because yeah, he didn't know her, but he had always seemed much more able to not antagonize her.
"And what are you going to tell her? Hi, I'm Dean Winchester's kid from the future, and I need you to come help us figure out how to send me back?" Sam said, raising his eyebrow slightly, before shaking his head. "She'd hang up on you in two seconds. I'll call her -- seeing how I'm the only one who hasn't screamed at her today."
"She deserved it," Dean grumbled, before tossing Sam his phone so that he could pull up Bela's number.
"I was thinking more along the line of 'You don't know me so I know this is a little nerve wracking. But I need a favor. What can I offer you in return?'" Alec raised an eyebrow right back. "If she hangs up on you that's what I'm gonna do."
Sam sighed slightly, before leaning back against the chair and waiting for the person on the other line to pick up. "Bela -- Dean and I were wondering if you could drop by -- "
Dean had a feeling he was going to regret this, but he kept it to himself. This was definitely going to be a long day, though, and Dean had been hoping for a short one.
Alec tapped his fingers against his knees while waiting and then fidgeted a little. After a minute or two he uncurled, shed his bag and his jacket to prowl the room. His hand reached up to cover the barcode that was suddenly exposed without the jacket on, but then remembered that no one here was looking for it. He did a full circuit of the room, pausing to read just about anything left out. TV channel listing or research. he didn't care.
Sam watched him carefully as he talked with Bela. After a little while, he snapped the phone shut, before looking over at Dean as he tossed the phone back. "She said she'll be here in twenty."
"What'd you tell her?" Dean asked as he caught it, sliding the phone back into his pocket.
"That there's a possiblity of there being something good in it for her if she helps us out," Sam said with a shrug. "She's the one who's always out for a payday."
Alec just shook his head. It was so weird to watch all this bullshit as it happened. And their Bela had never been his Bela. He hoped that was still true. Because his Bela would help him. Their Bela would walk away. And he wasn't sure he would blame her, but he guessed that maybe he didn't know everything there was to know. People could change in a decade. "What ever she wants I'll cover it."
"You don't have to," Dean shook his head. "She owes us. We saved her life a couple times, plus there was that whole psychotic vampire bullshit."
"Well -- technically Gordon wasn't a vampire when she told him," Sam pointed out -- not in a tone that indicated that Dean was wrong in what he was saying, just that there was a discrepancy in fact. Sam was relatively sure that Bela would have still sent Gordon after them, either way. Especially if it was to save her own hide.
"He's still psychotic," Dean pointed out, before leaning back into the bed again, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Sam just shook his head, before turning back to Alec again.
"So Alec -- what year are you from?" Yes, that had the possibility of being the weirdest question Sam has ever asked.
"Gordon? God, he a self righteous, hypocritical, sanctimonious cock bite here to? Or is it just me that got the pleasure of kicking his ass?" He blinked at Sam for a second. "2019 and the motel rooms don't change any."
"Not here," Dean said with a sigh. "Dead. Sam decapitated him a couple weeks back." Because that was how you killed a vampire when he's out to kill you.
"2019," Sam said with a small nod. "Are the motel rooms the only things that don't change, or do we finally wind up with the flying cars and the teleportation systems?" Sam was mostly joking -- he figured that stuff like that wasn't coming anytime soon, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.
Alec made a put upon face at the Gordon comment. "Give him time. He'll crawl his way out of the Pit. And then he'll act like a dipshit and I'll kick him back down." He rolls his eyes. "And if he pisses me off that much again I'll let Jinx do the honor of dragging him down instead of doing it myself." He laughed about the flying cars. "Oh man, no. Most people can't even afford gas."
Sam frowned slightly at the initial comment. "Wait a second -- Gordon becomes a demon?" Because that news didn't bode well for them at all. Dean started to sit up slightly for that as well, wondering how exactly Gordon managed that particular upgrade.
Alec nodded. "Yeah." He shrugged. He knew the most demons were humans. Common knowledge, right?
Actually not so much. Not now, anyway. Dean ran a hand over his face, shaking his head slightly. "Well, that's just fantastic."
"Dude, no biggie. It's not like it made him that great. I kicked his ass in the middle of trying to get fall down drunk. And while I'm better equipped for a knock down fight with a demon, you could have done it." Seriously. They already took Gordon out once. "What's with the worry fest?"
"We almost didn't take him out," Dean replied. "He almost killed us twice now. Coming back as a demon again? So not what we had in mind." It also meant very bad things for him, because he was relatively certain that selling your soul meant a one-way ticket to Hell. And Dean? Not so thrilled with the idea of coming back as a demon.
"I'm pretty sure he steers clear of the family until he comes after me. And I'm fairly positive he'll want me before anyone else." He prowled the room again. "Shame. He'd still be a good hunter if he didn't get so fixated."
Dean looked over at Sam and was about to say something when there was a knock on the door to the motel room. "Speak of the devil," Dean muttered, before pushing himself up and opening the door, revealing Bela standing behind it. She gave them both a look, before stepping over the salt line and into the room, letting Dean close the door behind her. When her eyes fell on Alec, she glanced back at Dean before shaking her head slightly.
"Oh, God -- there's more of you."
Alec smiles, but it's genuine. "I most likely deserve that for something." His head tilted a little. She was still human, but he'd recognize the power spark of her soul anywhere. with or with out the dark shimmering demon swirl. "You're taller when I know you." He sounds more bemused than anything else.
Bela stared at him for a moment, looking at him almost as though she's trying to get a read on him, before turning back to Dean. "Do I even want to know?"
"Bela -- meet my son from the future," Dean said with a small smirk.
Bela eyes drifted from Alec to Sam to Dean for a moment, lingering on Dean as she responded. "Are you off your meds?"
Alec gave her that sheepish little boy look she'd be so used to twelve year in the future and possibly one step sideways. "I know it sounds like crack. Seriously. I really do. But I am so stuck and could really use some help. From you or maybe one of your contacts? Please?"
Bela watched him carefully for a moment, her arms crossing in front of her chest. "I'm flattered that you think that well of me, but what makes you think I know anyone who's expertise lies in time travel?" The question itself was a real one, but her tone was humorous. She wasn't quite convinced yet, but she'd humor them until either she was proven right or they managed to prove it to her.
"Well, I wouldn't say expertise, but I know you've dealt in some pretty weird shit. And maybe Rawlins came up with a few ideas here and there? Buried in that morass he calls a work bench?" Now he hit her with the hopeful look.
"Rawlins -- Howard Rawlins?" Bela frowned slightly. "I've only just started doing business with him. But I suppose it could be worth a try."
Alec heaves a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I know he gets antsy about strangers showing up and, obviously, he doesn't know me yet."
"I don't know what you're looking for," Bela said, frowning more. "Do you even have any idea how it happened?"
Alec shook his head. He obviously felt pretty easy in her company. "Not a clue. I went into a ware house for a simple salt and burn. Went off with out a hitch. I come out to stash my gear and there's Dad," He does that 'made a mistake' pause, "Dean, twelve years too young and, you know, not were I left him."
"Huh," Bela said with a frown. "Djinn?"
"Already ruled it out," Sam sighed. "We were going to call Bobby next, see what else he knows of that could play with time."
"And if it isn't a midnight ugly then I'm hoping Rawlins may have some idea of what sort of circumstances might be able to kick my ass like this."
"It could be some kind of object," Bela said with a shrug. "Cursed to send a person back to a certain point in time, but I haven't heard of anything with that kind of power."
He makes a frustrated noise. More like a growl than anything else. It wasn't directed at them. Just plain old frustration. "I just didn't see anything."
Bela tilted her head to the side slightly. "Djinn are knowing for being able to sneak up on people -- I wouldn't be so quick to rule them out quite yet."
"And Alec would have wished to be sent back here why?" Dean asked. "Wishes usually make logical sense. This just seems entirely random."
"You'd have to ask him that," Bela replied, gesturing in Alec's direction. "Not me."
"Can they hide from all your senses? Better than say. . .a wendigo?" He gave them a questioning look.
"Much better than a Wendigo," Bela nodded. "They're basically the supernatural equivelant of a genie -- very powerful. Places their victims in a heightened dream state, granting them their most desired wish as they drain the life out of them."
"Trust me," Dean said as he shook his head. "It's not fun."
"What if you don't dream?" He bit his lip. "God damn. Still don't think so though. Don't they need to trap you? A magical trap won't really work. and for once things are good. No one dying. No one dead. No one really trying to kill us. Everyone in the same place. Hell no one's even injured. I'm like happy. I wouldn't have even left except it's been months since I've hunted and it was driving me twitchy." So he was tweaking out just a little. He needs to get it out of his system. "Couple of salt 'n' burns. Few Wendigo. No biggie. Just. . .just. . .of the suck." He stops and takes a deep breath.
Jinx rolls his eyes and waits for the drama to be over.
Bela waited patiently for the moment, watching him work it all out, before tilting her head to the side slightly and looking at Dean, almost as though to say 'He's your kid.' Dean just glared at her before speaking.
"Yeah, well -- I was pretty happy too when it happened to me. It was after that that everything started going to shit," Dean shrugged. "You don't have to be in a bad place. You just have to be in the wrong one."
"Fucking multi-milion dollar body. I am not dinner for some blue skinned fucker. Let's call Bobby, see what he has in his attic. 'Cause I don't actually think this is a djinn."
"Fair enough," Sam nodded, before reaching for his phone to call.
Alec wasn't sure Bobby would have the answer though. The man was damned good but Alec has also read through a lot of what he had. "Will Rawlins work in trade now or is he only dealing in cash money at the moment?"
"Depends on what you have to trade," Bela shrugged. "He's a good businessman -- he knows a good offer when he sees one."
He went over to his bag with was still on the bed next to Jinx and fished through it, just double checking to made sure he had what he thought he did. "I can trade if I can find a grocery store and a health nut store."
"Grocery store is a few miles up," Dean said with a shrug. "Health nut store might be hard to find out here, though."
"What do you need?" Bela asked, starting to move closer to get a better look when Dean caught her by the arm.
"Sulfur. From the health store anyway. For some reason vitamin places sell it. Go figure, right?" He blinked a little, because Bela being in his personal space had never been a problem. It was hard to remember that he didn't know this Bela.
"I think I know where to find it," Bela replied, glaring at Dean as she shook off his arm. "It's a bit of a drive, but it's not hard to get there." Dean just gave her a look right back. Bela being nosy was never a good sign -- at least not in his experience. And he didn't know what version of Bela the kid knew, but Bela getting nosy usually ended in something getting stolen, and Dean just wasn't in the mood.
"Sweet." He grinned then pause. "Please tell me it'll be affordable. I can't jack it. That would ruin things." All ingredients in protective hoodoo had to be acquired fair and square. Hell it would even be better if Bela wasn't angry when she showed them the place to buy it.
Oh, Bela being in some state that wasn't at least mildly annoyed when around the Winchesters was next to impossible. However, she wasn't going to rub that in the face of some kid who really hadn't been anything but friendly to her. In fact, she was more amused with the fact that Alec seemed comfortable with her when he was Dean Winchester's son than anything else. "I can swing it if you can't," Bela said with a shrug. "It's not like I don't have the funds."
That got her his bright smile. The one his Bela saw from him all the time. "Thanks."
"No problem," Bela said with a small smile in his direction.
That was more like the woman he knew. He nodded to her and then looked over to see if Sam had made any progress.
"Yeah, Bobby, get back to us when you can," Sam sighed, before hanging up the phone, and looking over at the other people in the room. "Bobby has no idea."
"Figured he wouldn't," Dean sighed.
"Suuuuuck." Okay so Alec had an idea or two, but he wasn't even thinking about bringing it up until all other options were shot down.
"So, heading out to Rawlins then, yeah?" Bela sighed. "It's a bit of a drive -- the man lives in the middle of the bloody Pine Barrens."
"Just him and his ear shattering Metallica. Least he can't blow anyone up by accident." He made a face. "But I'm gonna need those stores first or I won't have anything to trade with. And while I trust him reasonably well he doesn't do much of anything for free."
"Sounds like they're on the way," Dean nodded, before reaching for his jacket and keys again. "Let's go."
"Sure." He slipped his jacket back on and this bag. Then he slapped a hand against his thigh and Jinx slipped off the bed and to Alec's side.
Sam and Dean both collected their gear, before heading out to the car. Sam went to toss the bags in the trunk as Dean headed over to the office to check out. Bela just headed to her car, leaning against the driver's side door and waiting for the boys to be ready to go. As soon as Sam was finished the the bags, he headed for the passenger's side door, his usual spot.
Alec had been heading there to with out even thinking. He blinked numbly at Sam who was opening the door.
Sam caught the look and just frowned slightly, confused. "....Am I missing something?" Because it might have been something that Alec had covered with Dean that he had missed.
"I just. . .you. . .where's your car?" He backed away from the front seat door though. He knew who had seniority here.
Sam frowned a little more, before shaking his head. "I don't have a car. Never could afford another one."
"Oh." He blinked. "Well no friggin skin of my nose. I never was fond of that little rabbit of sports car anyway." He nodded. "I'll just. . .sit in the back seat with Jinx, yeah?" He had forgotten how he picked up little bits of Bela's accent until the word slipped out. "Right."
Sam rolled his eyes slightly at the sports car comment. "I'm guessing that Dean wasn't too fond of it either?"
"Dude, I don't know how you folded your bean pole self into the thing. I either want a couple of tons of American steel or if I need to be able to hit 180 I want a motorcycle."
Sam laughed, shaking his head slightly. "When you're this tall, you get used to fitting into smaller spaces."
"Hey, six feet even isn't short. I am not event he shortest Winchester I will have you know." He opened the back door for Jinx.
"Oh no?" Sam said, arching an eyebrow. He'd seen Alec and Dean standing next to each other, and they pretty much came up even. "Don't tell me Dean has another kid."
"Yeah. I'm the youngest." there was a pause. "We think. Ben was way less of a surprise for Dad."
"Yeah?" Sam was a little confused at that one, though the name Ben was ringing a bell. "How so?"
"Uh, Dad had at least actually screwed around with Ben's mom. That helped the whole easier to swallow thing."
Sam processed that slowly. "Ben's last name wouldn't happen to be Braedan, would it?"
"That would be him, yeah. So maybe I am the shortest Winchester, since Ben kept his mom's name?"
Sam nodded slowly. "We just met Ben -- Dean said that Lisa said he wasn't his."
"She lied. Like a rug." It was a flat statement.
"Obviously," Sam sighed slightly. "So -- what did you mean by how he didn't screw around with your mom?"
"To the best of my knowledge I don't even have a mom, so he couldn't screw around with her."
Now Sam was a little confused. Again. Because he knew how biology worked. "You don't have a mom?"
"Test tubes and petri dishes all the way. He must have donated sperm at some point. And some bright boy at a lab was really paying attention."
Sam snorted. Of course his brother would donate sperm. Especially he was looking for a little extra cash. "That actually doesn't surprise me as much as you think."
"That he would donate or that it would be snatched up by the US government for weapons development. 'Cause the second's pretty odd dude, so I kinda hope you're surprised."
"Yeah, well -- the second is kind of odd, but knowing our luck? It doesn't surprise me so much. Of course Dean would get himself into something like that."
"He didn't do it on purpose. Not something you can volunteer for. But I guess John had an impressive enough service record and Dean was smart enough and good enough looking." He paused. "Hell, they didn't even change the way he looked. That's impressive."
"I'll take your word for it," Sam said with a smirk as Dean came around again sliding into the driver's seat.
"Hey, I was built pretty." He smirked. "It's a fact." He slid into the backseat and closed the door. Jinx layed his head on Alec's thigh.
Dean started the car, before getting ready to follow Bela's lead to the store in question.
Alec settled into the seat and pet Jinx. This was familiar. The smell was the same and just as safe. "I'd ask if life could get weirder, but I can think of at least four different things that could happen off the top of my head, so I'll just let that go, shall I?" He could maybe even cat nap back here.
"Four?" Dean arched an eyebrow, before shaking his head. "I'm not sure I want to know."
"Well, that was just kinda off the top. And you most likely don't want to know. Two even involved strip clubs." Alec was still allergic to them.
"Strip clubs? Seriously?" Dean frowned. "You're right -- don't want to know."
"I'm allergic to them. Totally ruined for me. And that is a damned shame."
"Big damned shame," Dean said with a heavy sigh, before continuing to drive. He stopped when Bela pulled into the health food store, pulling in alongside her and starting to get out. "So -- sulfur?"
"Yep and if we are really lucky this is one stop shopping. Sea salt, and black and cayenne pepper. And if they have a produce section? Blueberries.
Those are optional. And a Tupperware or something like. Not so optional." He checked a small pocket of his bag making sure the forged papers that declared Jinx an aid dog were there. And away they went.
Bela followed him inside, watching Alec carefully as he gathered the ingredients. And Dean spent the time watching Bela to make sure she didn't do anything stupid.
Alec was pleased to see that the place was more a froo froo grocery store then an vitamin place so they did have everything he needed. Including the fruit and the Tupperware. He goggled a little at how cheap everything was and was pleased to be able to afford it all. No one seemed to quite dare to challenge he dog let alone ask him for papers. The entire trip look ten minutes and they were back out at the car. Alec spread everything out on the trunk.
All three of them both leaned over his shoulder. "So what exactly is all this for?" Bela asked, looking over the ingredients carefully.
"Goofer dust." He pulls his jackknife out of his back pocket and uses it to scoop in the different ingredients, mostly salt and black pepper. He clearly wasn't making a lot. "I'm gonna trade this and a little foot track magic to him for info and some help maybe." When he was done measuring the bought ingredients he pulled a small box from his bag. Roughly the same size as the summoning box Dean used. He set it down and flipped it open. and rifled through, a few tea bags, a couple of nails, some feathers, stones other odds and ends and baggies of dirt. He took out two. They didn't really look any different to any one but him. A couple of pinches of dirt from each bag went in to the mix and he did this with his bare fingers and then used his finger to stir it. First clockwise then counter. He squinted at it and stirred in one more full circle. Clearly that satisfied him because he snapped the lid on and started packing everything up.
"Like for hellhounds?" Dean frowned, watching him as he worked. "Huh." He knew a bit here and there, but he'd never watched it actually be made before. Then again, there was always something different to learn.
"Yeah. Goofer dust will stop a lot more than Hellhounds though. It can get nasty spells to bounce off a property and keep out spirits to. All kinda of stuff. It kinda depends on what the Hoodoo that made it intends and how it's deployed and what it's made from. This shit'll stop a freight train filled with demons. But it absolutely will not do anything but protect. Use it for ill and it won’t work at all." He got his box reordered and slipped it back into his bag. "Won’t stop Jinx though."
Bela frowned at that. "Won't stop him specifically? I didn't realize you could specify it."
"Normally you can't. But he's mine. He'll hardly even listen to Sam anymore. So he's kinda covered under my power. Also, the thing that gives this the power kick is the dirt. And the people it came from like him. It's protective Dust. He's my protector. . . " Alec shrugged and picked up the Tupperware. "Some one else's Dust would hold him I think."
"Ahh," Bela nodded slowly, processing that for a moment. "Interesting."
"It's amazing the things you can learn when you're flat on your back for over a month. " He picked up his bag and gave her a bemused look. "You know what's kinda funny? It was you that brought me most of the books I learned a lot of this from."
"Yeah?" she said, raising an eyebrow slightly, before glancing back at Dean. "Apparently I do have my uses -- even in the future."
"Don't get your hopes up," Dean muttered.
Alec snorted. "I consider you a friend. A very good one. You and Dean still kinda hate each other though."
"Why doesn't that surprise me," Bela sighed.
"'Cause you aren't stupid? And neither of you are really the forgiving type?" It was just an observation he leaned a hip against the car with easy familiarity.
"Probably," Bela said with a nod. "So -- off to New Jersey, then?"