While These Visions Did Appear (7/8)
He didn’t sleep that night, not with Sam’s words in his head, the feel of him still clinging to his body as he stared up at the ceiling. There was nothing that was going to make it any better though so when dawn came, Dean didn’t try to hide from it any longer. He got out of bed and got cleaned up, dressed in fresh clothes and took the longest walk down Bobby’s stairs that he ever had.
Bobby and Sam were at the kitchen table, the file spread out between them. Bobby looked up in askance as he held the phone against his ear with his shoulder. Sam was hunched over something but Dean figured it was just a way to keep from looking at him since they both knew that file inside and out already.
“Wait, Elkins had what?” Bobby was looking at the phone like it’d suddenly grown a rattle tail. “No, it wasn’t with his…” there was a pause as he listened to the other end. “I was there John. Hold on.”
“Dean,” Dean looked up at Bobby as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “You keep all that stuff we got from the vamps the day we met?”
“Yeah of course.”
“Any antique guns in the lot?”
“Three of them. You need something?”
“Yeah, I might. Got ‘em with you?”
“I’ll grab them.”
He grabbed the keys and headed out for the car. He knew right where they were. Hell he and Sam could probably find their weapons blindfolded. He took all three and headed back inside. Bobby was still on the phone when he got back in. Dean set the guns down and Bobby took one instantly.
“Holy shit John. He has it.”
Dean looked at Sam for some clue as to what was happening but his lover was staring at the picture of John Winchester and his family before fire had taken his normal life.
“We’ll meet you there John.”
When Bobby hung up he looked at the gun in his hand one more time and passed it back to Dean. “I know that was a little out of line, telling John you’d come with the gun, but it’s important Dean.”
“I trust you Bobby,” Dean said as he took a seat at the table.
“I’ll explain about the gun on the way. Probably need to head out of here in a few hours, but I figure we need to take a look at this first.” Bobby pointed to the papers in front of them.
“Yeah.”
“You know what it all leads to.”
“Yeah.”
“Just want to hear it from someone else?”
“I don’t know Bobby. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. Why don’t we remember anything? If … if that’s true then why doesn’t John know us? Hell, why don’t you know that he has sons?”
Sam’s head snapped up at that. It was the closest either of them had come to saying it.
“Maybe you just took their identity?”
“Why isn’t the name Winchester on our IDs then?”
“Because you kept the identity and made other false ones to work with. I don’t know Dean. You want my opinion? I can come up with all kinds of reasons for you to have used those names, but I think the most obvious answer to this is the right one. Whatever happened to you and Sam, you are Sam and Dean Winchester.”
He closed his eyes and didn’t need to hear the footsteps to know Sam was walking down the hallway. He didn’t need to hear Sam to know he was emptying his stomach. He didn’t need to look down to see the understanding in Bobby’s eyes.
What he needed was to get the hell out. So he did. He got in the car and started driving. He drove until he couldn’t see, tears so thick in his eyes that the road blurred and he was in danger of damaging his beloved Impala.
He pulled off the side of the road and it was only then he could let go of the tears he’d been holding back for the past two weeks. It was only then he could admit that he’d known all along what the night before was about. It was only then that he could try to find the courage to say good-bye to the man he loved and try to figure out a way to be a big brother.
“Bobby.”
“Dean. I was beginning to get worried.”
“Yeah,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I just… can’t… “
“Look, I know this is a shock to you, but John’s really in over his head and I need to know I can count on you. The demon that he’s been hunting for eighteen years is making itself known and we have a chance at killing this thing. We need that colt though and we need you.”
“What’s the deal with the Colt?” Dean asked, trying to take his mind off Sam.
“According to legend, Samuel Colt made a gun for a hunter. The gun was supposed to be able to kill anything.”
“And John thinks that’s what I’ve got?”
“Yeah. Elkins was a hunter we knew and he spent most of his life tracking the damn thing. Vampires must have taken it from him when they killed him.”
“And we got it when we saved Sam.”
“Yeah. “
“Do we know if the stories are true?”
“Elkin believed. I saw the security he had for that thing Dean. I don’t know how the vampires got past it, but Elkin believed it was the real thing.”
“Guess we’ll find out then.”
“Yeah. You coming back soon then?”
“Bobby,”
“He’s going stir crazy pacing in your room Dean. Don’t think I can talk him down from this.”
“And there’s not a damn thing I can say that will make this easier. Time and space Bobby.”
“And the hunt?”
“Just… tell me where to meet you and I will. Bring Sam. He and I will work this out after we get this thing.”
“You sure?”
Dean let out a small bitter laugh. “No, but it’s all I got right now.”
There was silence for a while and then Bobby took a deep breath. “I’ll call you with the address. See you in the morning Dean.”
The door was unlocked and Dean could hear something happening behind it so he didn’t hesitate to enter. Bobby and John were both standing over Sam, looking at one another with shocked expressions as Sam grabbed his head, nose bleeding.
“Sam!” Dean yelled his name as he pushed past the others, already knowing if the blood was flowing that Sam would be hit hard enough he wouldn’t be able to stand. “I’ve got you,” he said as he pulled Sam close. Sam’s knees buckled on cue, as if Sam’s will had been holding him together and with Dean there he knew he could let go of that burden.
He managed to get Sam up onto the bed. He wasn’t sure whose hands were helping but as soon as Sam was laid out Dean was beside him and Sam was leaning into him. “What do you see Sammy?” he whispered into his ear, rubbing soothing circles over his lower back.
“Blue house. Night. Demon in the baby’s room. Not the Winchester house this time. He’s coming for the baby.” Sam shuddered and Dean knew Sam was almost through it.
“When Sammy?”
“Calendar says…” There was a pause and Dean knew it was because Sam was searching for the information, trying to find it in his pain addled mind. “tonight. He’s coming tonight.”
“Where?”
“Blue house. Rail road behind it. School across the street.” Sam opened his eyes and stared up at Dean. “Sorry, s’all I got.”
“You did good Sammy. Real good.” He said, barely stopping himself before he placed a kiss on Sam’s forehead. Sam seemed to realize that their normal routine wasn’t such a good idea anymore either because he pulled away from Dean quickly, turning over onto his other side.
Dean took a deep breath and when he looked up Bobby and John were watching him from the kitchen table.
“So…” John said slowly. “That was…”
“Sam has visions,” Dean was trying really hard not to think about John being there. About the possibility that the man was his father. “So we need to look for a blue house that has a train out back and a school across the street.”
Bobby nodded as he pulled out the area map that John had been working off of. He began looking for railroad tracks.
“He gonna be okay?” John asked.
Dean nodded. “Yeah, when they get bad though he has to sleep it off a while. Makes it worse when I have to ask for information, takes something out of him to try to look back into it and find what he missed the first time.”
“Sounds like a curse.”
Dean’s narrowed his eyes as he looked at John. “Got you the location of your demon didn’t it?”
John didn’t answer. Instead, he turned to the map to start helping Bobby find the likeliest place. They left Dean to take care of Sam, leaving a monster to care for their innocent so they could hunt another monster. Dean wanted to cry at the irony of it all.
The house was like every other house on the block, outside the color. The neighborhood was entirely bland and it was just another example in Dean’s mind to show why the normal life wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
They were at the top of the stairs, watching, listening for John and Bobby to send word down to them. Sam hadn’t talked to him since he’d woken up from his vision-induced sleep. He was as determined as Dean to show they could get through this hunt though so they were standing on the lower landing as Bobby and John approached the nursery.
“Really, I’d have thought you’d come more prepared than this,” a voice said from beside them.
Dean felt himself thrown through the railing and he was rolling to the floor, trying to get his breath as pain shot through his lower back and legs.
Sam was tossed down the stairs, the demon pausing momentarily to stare at the other man before he turned into the rooms. John and Bobby obviously heard him coming but they were still outgunned when the demon began tossing around his power. They didn’t do any better, being thrown down to join the boys in the living room.
“Look at what an interesting opportunity we have here,” the Yellow Eyed Demon said.
“Go to hell.” It wasn’t original but it would work, Dean thought.
“Oh, Dean… sweet Dean. You’ve been a pain in my ass for a while now. I think I should remedy that.”
Dean screamed as invisible knives tore at his chest.
“Stop it you son of a bitch!”
To Dean’s surprise, he did. The demon stared at Sam and Sam stared straight back.
“This might just make up for what you’ve done tonight,” the demon said, coming over to Sam as an invisible force brought him to his feet. “I can feel you Sam, I feel you like you’re one of my own, but I can’t find anything about you.”
The demon pressed closer to Sam and Dean struggled to his feet. The demon touched Sam’s face and Sam screamed. Dean could feel it as well, his heart pounding, his lungs on fire, his chest heaving, and the feeling that something was being ripped from the inside out. When the pain subsided he realized he was on his knees again, blood dripping from his mouth.
“Poor Sam,” the demon said as he watched the others fighting against whatever hold he had on them. “I can see it all now. You’ve been alone these last few years, left to the care of people who couldn’t possibly care for you like I can.”
“You leave him alone.” Dean stood again and the demon shook his head as he looked at Dean, the pressure building in his chest again.
“He is mine, marked since birth to sit by my side come the end of days.”
Dean rolled his shoulders back and looked at Sam. He couldn’t read the expression in Sam’s eyes, but Dean let his own emotions show plain as day. When he looked back at the demon he could feel the shock. “Sam is mine and mine alone,” Dean said. “You want him, you gotta get rid of me first.”
Dean felt the pressure fall from his chest and knew that he’d shocked the demon into dropping his guard. The gun shot sounded loud in the still house but the way the lightening danced over the demon’s skull kept Dean in one place.
Movement brought his eyes up to look at John Winchester and the colt as the man lowered it. There was something in his eyes Dean couldn’t read, grief and pain etched so deep it was hard to see but there was something like relief there as well.
“Dean,” he heard Sam’s whisper and he was moving before anything else could stop him. Sam was falling again, his world blanking out. Dean tried to get to him in time, but even as Sam fell Dean felt it too, the backlash of the demon’s power, the return of memory. He crashed to the floor as well, not knowing that even as he lost consciousness he had cushioned Sam with his own body, wrapping him in his embrace as they both fell.
On to Chapter Eight
Bobby and Sam were at the kitchen table, the file spread out between them. Bobby looked up in askance as he held the phone against his ear with his shoulder. Sam was hunched over something but Dean figured it was just a way to keep from looking at him since they both knew that file inside and out already.
“Wait, Elkins had what?” Bobby was looking at the phone like it’d suddenly grown a rattle tail. “No, it wasn’t with his…” there was a pause as he listened to the other end. “I was there John. Hold on.”
“Dean,” Dean looked up at Bobby as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “You keep all that stuff we got from the vamps the day we met?”
“Yeah of course.”
“Any antique guns in the lot?”
“Three of them. You need something?”
“Yeah, I might. Got ‘em with you?”
“I’ll grab them.”
He grabbed the keys and headed out for the car. He knew right where they were. Hell he and Sam could probably find their weapons blindfolded. He took all three and headed back inside. Bobby was still on the phone when he got back in. Dean set the guns down and Bobby took one instantly.
“Holy shit John. He has it.”
Dean looked at Sam for some clue as to what was happening but his lover was staring at the picture of John Winchester and his family before fire had taken his normal life.
“We’ll meet you there John.”
When Bobby hung up he looked at the gun in his hand one more time and passed it back to Dean. “I know that was a little out of line, telling John you’d come with the gun, but it’s important Dean.”
“I trust you Bobby,” Dean said as he took a seat at the table.
“I’ll explain about the gun on the way. Probably need to head out of here in a few hours, but I figure we need to take a look at this first.” Bobby pointed to the papers in front of them.
“Yeah.”
“You know what it all leads to.”
“Yeah.”
“Just want to hear it from someone else?”
“I don’t know Bobby. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. Why don’t we remember anything? If … if that’s true then why doesn’t John know us? Hell, why don’t you know that he has sons?”
Sam’s head snapped up at that. It was the closest either of them had come to saying it.
“Maybe you just took their identity?”
“Why isn’t the name Winchester on our IDs then?”
“Because you kept the identity and made other false ones to work with. I don’t know Dean. You want my opinion? I can come up with all kinds of reasons for you to have used those names, but I think the most obvious answer to this is the right one. Whatever happened to you and Sam, you are Sam and Dean Winchester.”
He closed his eyes and didn’t need to hear the footsteps to know Sam was walking down the hallway. He didn’t need to hear Sam to know he was emptying his stomach. He didn’t need to look down to see the understanding in Bobby’s eyes.
What he needed was to get the hell out. So he did. He got in the car and started driving. He drove until he couldn’t see, tears so thick in his eyes that the road blurred and he was in danger of damaging his beloved Impala.
He pulled off the side of the road and it was only then he could let go of the tears he’d been holding back for the past two weeks. It was only then he could admit that he’d known all along what the night before was about. It was only then that he could try to find the courage to say good-bye to the man he loved and try to figure out a way to be a big brother.
“Bobby.”
“Dean. I was beginning to get worried.”
“Yeah,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I just… can’t… “
“Look, I know this is a shock to you, but John’s really in over his head and I need to know I can count on you. The demon that he’s been hunting for eighteen years is making itself known and we have a chance at killing this thing. We need that colt though and we need you.”
“What’s the deal with the Colt?” Dean asked, trying to take his mind off Sam.
“According to legend, Samuel Colt made a gun for a hunter. The gun was supposed to be able to kill anything.”
“And John thinks that’s what I’ve got?”
“Yeah. Elkins was a hunter we knew and he spent most of his life tracking the damn thing. Vampires must have taken it from him when they killed him.”
“And we got it when we saved Sam.”
“Yeah. “
“Do we know if the stories are true?”
“Elkin believed. I saw the security he had for that thing Dean. I don’t know how the vampires got past it, but Elkin believed it was the real thing.”
“Guess we’ll find out then.”
“Yeah. You coming back soon then?”
“Bobby,”
“He’s going stir crazy pacing in your room Dean. Don’t think I can talk him down from this.”
“And there’s not a damn thing I can say that will make this easier. Time and space Bobby.”
“And the hunt?”
“Just… tell me where to meet you and I will. Bring Sam. He and I will work this out after we get this thing.”
“You sure?”
Dean let out a small bitter laugh. “No, but it’s all I got right now.”
There was silence for a while and then Bobby took a deep breath. “I’ll call you with the address. See you in the morning Dean.”
The door was unlocked and Dean could hear something happening behind it so he didn’t hesitate to enter. Bobby and John were both standing over Sam, looking at one another with shocked expressions as Sam grabbed his head, nose bleeding.
“Sam!” Dean yelled his name as he pushed past the others, already knowing if the blood was flowing that Sam would be hit hard enough he wouldn’t be able to stand. “I’ve got you,” he said as he pulled Sam close. Sam’s knees buckled on cue, as if Sam’s will had been holding him together and with Dean there he knew he could let go of that burden.
He managed to get Sam up onto the bed. He wasn’t sure whose hands were helping but as soon as Sam was laid out Dean was beside him and Sam was leaning into him. “What do you see Sammy?” he whispered into his ear, rubbing soothing circles over his lower back.
“Blue house. Night. Demon in the baby’s room. Not the Winchester house this time. He’s coming for the baby.” Sam shuddered and Dean knew Sam was almost through it.
“When Sammy?”
“Calendar says…” There was a pause and Dean knew it was because Sam was searching for the information, trying to find it in his pain addled mind. “tonight. He’s coming tonight.”
“Where?”
“Blue house. Rail road behind it. School across the street.” Sam opened his eyes and stared up at Dean. “Sorry, s’all I got.”
“You did good Sammy. Real good.” He said, barely stopping himself before he placed a kiss on Sam’s forehead. Sam seemed to realize that their normal routine wasn’t such a good idea anymore either because he pulled away from Dean quickly, turning over onto his other side.
Dean took a deep breath and when he looked up Bobby and John were watching him from the kitchen table.
“So…” John said slowly. “That was…”
“Sam has visions,” Dean was trying really hard not to think about John being there. About the possibility that the man was his father. “So we need to look for a blue house that has a train out back and a school across the street.”
Bobby nodded as he pulled out the area map that John had been working off of. He began looking for railroad tracks.
“He gonna be okay?” John asked.
Dean nodded. “Yeah, when they get bad though he has to sleep it off a while. Makes it worse when I have to ask for information, takes something out of him to try to look back into it and find what he missed the first time.”
“Sounds like a curse.”
Dean’s narrowed his eyes as he looked at John. “Got you the location of your demon didn’t it?”
John didn’t answer. Instead, he turned to the map to start helping Bobby find the likeliest place. They left Dean to take care of Sam, leaving a monster to care for their innocent so they could hunt another monster. Dean wanted to cry at the irony of it all.
The house was like every other house on the block, outside the color. The neighborhood was entirely bland and it was just another example in Dean’s mind to show why the normal life wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
They were at the top of the stairs, watching, listening for John and Bobby to send word down to them. Sam hadn’t talked to him since he’d woken up from his vision-induced sleep. He was as determined as Dean to show they could get through this hunt though so they were standing on the lower landing as Bobby and John approached the nursery.
“Really, I’d have thought you’d come more prepared than this,” a voice said from beside them.
Dean felt himself thrown through the railing and he was rolling to the floor, trying to get his breath as pain shot through his lower back and legs.
Sam was tossed down the stairs, the demon pausing momentarily to stare at the other man before he turned into the rooms. John and Bobby obviously heard him coming but they were still outgunned when the demon began tossing around his power. They didn’t do any better, being thrown down to join the boys in the living room.
“Look at what an interesting opportunity we have here,” the Yellow Eyed Demon said.
“Go to hell.” It wasn’t original but it would work, Dean thought.
“Oh, Dean… sweet Dean. You’ve been a pain in my ass for a while now. I think I should remedy that.”
Dean screamed as invisible knives tore at his chest.
“Stop it you son of a bitch!”
To Dean’s surprise, he did. The demon stared at Sam and Sam stared straight back.
“This might just make up for what you’ve done tonight,” the demon said, coming over to Sam as an invisible force brought him to his feet. “I can feel you Sam, I feel you like you’re one of my own, but I can’t find anything about you.”
The demon pressed closer to Sam and Dean struggled to his feet. The demon touched Sam’s face and Sam screamed. Dean could feel it as well, his heart pounding, his lungs on fire, his chest heaving, and the feeling that something was being ripped from the inside out. When the pain subsided he realized he was on his knees again, blood dripping from his mouth.
“Poor Sam,” the demon said as he watched the others fighting against whatever hold he had on them. “I can see it all now. You’ve been alone these last few years, left to the care of people who couldn’t possibly care for you like I can.”
“You leave him alone.” Dean stood again and the demon shook his head as he looked at Dean, the pressure building in his chest again.
“He is mine, marked since birth to sit by my side come the end of days.”
Dean rolled his shoulders back and looked at Sam. He couldn’t read the expression in Sam’s eyes, but Dean let his own emotions show plain as day. When he looked back at the demon he could feel the shock. “Sam is mine and mine alone,” Dean said. “You want him, you gotta get rid of me first.”
Dean felt the pressure fall from his chest and knew that he’d shocked the demon into dropping his guard. The gun shot sounded loud in the still house but the way the lightening danced over the demon’s skull kept Dean in one place.
Movement brought his eyes up to look at John Winchester and the colt as the man lowered it. There was something in his eyes Dean couldn’t read, grief and pain etched so deep it was hard to see but there was something like relief there as well.
“Dean,” he heard Sam’s whisper and he was moving before anything else could stop him. Sam was falling again, his world blanking out. Dean tried to get to him in time, but even as Sam fell Dean felt it too, the backlash of the demon’s power, the return of memory. He crashed to the floor as well, not knowing that even as he lost consciousness he had cushioned Sam with his own body, wrapping him in his embrace as they both fell.
On to Chapter Eight