fic: Identity (Crisis)
Title: Identity (Crisis)
Series: Heritage
Rating: PG-13 for language
Word Count: About 1300
Characters: Dean!Alec, Sam, John, Mary
Disclaimer: I don't own anything DA or SPN...speaking of which, Season 3 Thursday, whoot!
Summary: Takes place after Heritage, more little snippets mostly, though I've thought of a plot line now, so this may actually go someplace eventually ;-) This one is mostly Alec trying to figure out how to be Dean.
***
They ran into a transhuman in Colorado, one of the desert units, and John tried to light it on fire. Alec stopped the flare gun and then doubled up in laughter.
“Seriously? This is what you do? Seriously?”
“I thought it was a Wendigo.”
“Yeah,” Alec said, “whatever that means.”
Alec gave the transhuman some money and told him to avoid Seattle and crazy men with flare guns.
Later that night John shot a real Wendigo in a mine shaft and Alec didn’t find it nearly as funny anymore.
***
They wound their way back to Kansas, much like Alec’s first trip there. But this time, John dragged him along on all his hunts, and Alec thought he preferred sitting around and shooting the shit with Sam. But John was okay. A little gruff, and he didn’t always seem to appreciate Alec’s less gentile quirks.
Like the time he noticed that Alec was less concerned with the poltergeist and more concerned with casing the joint for when the family finally left to stay with friends until it was over. He had the DVD player in his arms when the chandelier hit the dining room table. John didn’t have to tell him to drop it and get his ass in gear after that, but he did anyway.
Or the time they found a stash of cocaine under the stairs at one of their cases and Alec scooped it up to sell later. John took his backpack and threw it into the burning open grave with the bones below. Alec stared at him until John told him to knock it off, and maybe he meant the staring, but Alec made sure to keep his hands off from then on.
At least when John was around.
He was still running a few scams and making a little cash on the side when John finally took him by the shoulders and steered him into a chair in their latest hotel room (lace doilies everywhere, a picture of a posed horse on the wall, and what appeared to be handmade quilts).
“Look,” he said, “I know that things have been difficult for you, but from now on, we’re doing things my way. No more thefts.”
Alec nodded seriously. “Okay, so what name should I use on this credit card application?”
***
Back in Kansas, John became an upstanding citizen again. He’d been on vacation, he told them at the shop, and run into his long lost son, who needed a job.
The man who handed Alec the wrench said, “Good to have you, Dean,” and showed him how to replace an alternator.
They hung around the shop until it closed and Mike left them to lock up.
John said, “Out there, we use fake names to protect ourselves. Not everyone appreciates what we do. But here we’re Winchesters.”
Alec wondered where there was time in between fake names and Dean Winchester to be Alec.
***
Mary gave him a hug when they got home and Sam put down his book to welcome him back, even if he did look a bit confused about it.
“What’re you doing back, man?” he asked, when John and Mary had gone to get the spare room ready.
“Oh,” he said, “I just couldn’t stay away. Your mom’s a great cook.”
Sam stared at him intently.
“Your dad offered me a job. At the shop. And you know, the other thing, too.”
Sam stared more intently.
“I guess I’m your brother?”
Sam gave him a hug that lifted him off his feet.
***
In the spare bedroom, he took the picture of John and Mary and Sam out of his pocket and hung it on the wall with a tack.
A few days later, Sam had put it back in the frame and hung it properly.
It felt a little bit less like a spare bedroom after that.
***
A week after he’d arrived for the second time in Lawrence, John took him and Sam out to a field where he’d set up targets and told them to practice.
They practiced shooting guns and arrows and throwing knives until Sam finally threw his hands up in disgust.
“I don’t get it, I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember. How come you’re so much better at it than I am?”
“Superior vision and hand-eye coordination. Plus, I can speak over ten languages and play piano at a concert level.”
“What?”
“I’m a quick learner.”
“No seriously. What?”
“I’m X5, Sam.”
“Oh. Right.”
“Yeah.”
John made them run afterwards. Alec paced Sam the entire time, and they talked about pool and video games and not the fact that Alec was a genetically engineered super soldier. He thought they were both probably grateful.
***
Mary tried to cook something different every day. She didn’t say it, but she was trying to figure out what Alec did and didn’t like. But he seemed to like everything.
One night after dinner she said, “What’s your favorite, Dean? What can I make for you tomorrow?”
He thought about if for a while, then said, “Hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.”
She made a terrific casserole and he thanked her for it, but afterwards he thought about Max and Joshua and wondered what they were doing while he was playing house.
When he got Max on the phone she said, “What, Alec?” and her exasperation made him feel like himself again.
***
Sam started packing for college weeks before he would be leaving. Alec sat on his bed, leaned against the headboard and bounced a ball off the ceiling.
“Dude,” Sam said at some point (574 bounces), “knock it off.”
“What’s so great about Stanford, Sammy?”
“Well for one thing, Dean, it’s a good school,” he said, and made a grab for the ball. “They haven’t let the Pulse affect the quality of their academics.”
He missed it and Alec held it in his hand for a while, considering. “That and the free ride.”
“Well, yeah. There is that.” Sam looked like he wanted to say something else. Alec bounced the ball off of his forehead.
“Don’t hurt yourself with all those deep thoughts.”
Sam sighed and Alec resumed bouncing the ball.
***
On the news they started warning people to check for barcodes on the back on the neck. Alec put his hand back to rub against his. It was a good thing he’d always looked good in turtleneck sweaters.
Logan told him on the phone that he could remove it, at least for awhile, and he and Sam snuck into a clinic one night to take care of it.
While he was lying face down and doing his best to hold still, Sam said, “What was it like, growing up at Manticore?”
“I think it was a lot like summer camp,” he said. “We slept in bunk beds, had a lot of organized activities, and tried not to piss off the counselors.”
After Sam was done he sat up and looked at his little brother and finally started to appreciate what Max had been trying to tell him about family. He felt insanely grateful that Sam had grown up in Kansas, under John and Mary’s roof.
Sam said, “I never went to summer camp.”
Alec said, “Good.”
***
During the day, Alec tinkered with cars at the garage and got more used to being called Dean. When he came home he tinkered a little with the car in their garage and sometimes John helped him and Mary brought them water or beers and Sam sat in the passenger’s seat and read his books and Alec got more used to the idea of being Dean.