HOME (part 2) Chapters 52 - 55
52.
January 5, 2019
This was new.
They were headed out on a job and there were three cars on the road instead of just the Impala. To start, Lisa rode with Dean, Sam and Walker took her extra-cab pickup, and Ben started out solo in his Mustang. They watched Garth, waving goodbye from the bunker’s doorway as he receded from view.
They did a bit of musical chairs as they went. For part of the time, Dean rode shotgun with Ben while Sam drove the Impala and Lisa and Walker took the opportunity to talk about Ben’s future while riding together in the pickup.
Everyone stopped to eat (a diner, of course). Yeah, it was totally weird, but Dean felt like it was probably as close to a family vacation as he’d ever gotten.
Sam even rode with Ben for awhile. Sam couldn’t help but think how that would never have happened a few months ago and he was glad that things between them were easier now.
“You don’t have a car of your own?” Ben asked, looking over at Sam folded up in the passenger seat of the Mustang with suspicion. The way he said it made it sound like Sam wasn’t a real person if he didn’t have his own car.
“Nah,” said Sam. “I mean, the Impala is ours, but Dean’s so in love with it I just act like it’s entirely his. I dunno…I always seem to be able to, um, use a car when I need one,” Sam said, looking straight ahead.
“You mean steal a car when you need one, right?” Ben asked directly.
“I like to think of it more as borrowing,” Sam offered.
Ben huffed. “I bet you do,” he said as he chuckled a bit. “Seriously, man, haven’t you ever wanted a car? I mean, Mary here, just knowing she’s all mine…you don’t want that?”
“Guess not,” replied Sam. “Maybe I’m not crazy about driving when I don’t have to since I’ve been sitting in cars all my life.”
“Maybe you just haven’t found the right one,” Ben said. “Cars are like women - “
“Christ, you sound exactly like Dean,” Sam cut him off. “I was hoping that not every one of Dean’s idiotic theories had rubbed off on you.”
“I just mean that when you find the right one, you know. It just clicks,” Ben finished. “But you won’t find it if you don’t look.”
“Says the guy to has the car and NOT the girl,” Sam pointed out, smirking, as he nodded toward the pickup in front of them with Walker at the wheel.
“Hey, one thing at a time,” Ben responded.
53.
The trip went well and the weather was good. It took a couple of days, but eventually they pulled up in front of a rather rustic cabin in the hills outside of Bullard, Texas.
Dean was the first one out, looking around, “Where are the longhorns?” he asked, looking slightly disappointed.
“This isn’t ranch country,” Walker informed him as she climbed down from the pickup. “You want to see cattle you’re going to have to drive about another half a day west.”
“Crap,” pronounced Dean. “Well, thanks for finding this place anyway, Blue.”
“It’s not fancy, but they didn’t want a deposit and they were fine with us paying one month at a time,” she replied.
“Yeah, Sammy and I are so used to Egyptian cotton sheets and room service, I don’t know if we can do this,” Dean teased.
“It’s exactly what we need,” Sam said, coming up next to Walker and putting an arm around her. She stretched up for a kiss and he dipped his head down to meet her lips.
Dean regarded them with mock disgust. “This place does have two bedrooms, right?”
“Definitely,” Walker smiled up at Sam.
“Awesome,” said Dean, “Hey Lis’, what’ve we got to eat?” Dean yelled over to the Impala where Lisa was standing up and stretching after the long ride.
“Not your servant!” she replied. “I was wondering what you were going to make for me.”
Dean rolled his eyes. “Alright, pop the trunk would ya? “
54.
Ben couldn't believe how easy it was. The dean of students at the Brook Hill school looked over his transcript and only asked him a few questions. With one call to Ben's high school principal to vouch for him (of course it was Garth on the other end of the line, back at the bunker, doing his best Monsignor impression, talking up how great Ben had done at his non-existent Christian high school, bless him), he was in. The dean at Brook Hill couldn't believe that Ben had come along right when they really needed him. This kid was willing to work for very little pay and he was obviously, academically, far ahead of his grade level.
Ben told him that he really wanted some teaching experience. That he had decided to take a year off between high school and college, but didn't want a hole in his transcript (that part was true), so he hoped he could tutor. Ben said he was considering becoming a teacher (not really true, well, not until he had gotten to know Walker...now he was a bit more interested in the idea). He threw in that he was especially into football (he wasn't, but Dean had made that part of his training and he thoroughly understood it now) and the dean of students practically fell over himself to shake Ben's hand and welcome him on board.
Dean couldn't help but smile later as Ben related the whole thing to him. The kid was a natural. Smart and sincere like Sam...always a few steps ahead of everyone like him. ‘He'd make a damn good hunter,’ Dean thought. Then immediately told himself to shut up and forget he ever thought that. He didn't want that for Ben.
Even though Ben would be spending as many evenings as possible with everyone at the cabin, it had to look like he was there on his own, so he moved his one bag of clothes and one box of books into the room that the school provided him. It was small, but clean. He could live with it. And, bonus, all of the dorm rooms had the same layout so he could map out the best areas for surveillance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few days later, Ben met the football team briefly (Austin met his eyes with an intense, level gaze as if he could see through him. It made Ben shiver slightly, though he had no idea why the kid would have that effect on him.) and then met with the coach to discuss who on the team needed academic help. As they went down the roster, Ben asked about a few specific kids, so as not to make anyone suspicious. One of those he asked about was Austin.
"So, how's the quarterback doing?" he asked casually.
"Austin?" responded the coach, "Academically, he's great. Actually, he's great all-around."
"How so?" asked Ben, trying to act disinterested.
"I've never had a kid like him," the coach admitted. "He's good athletically, but it's more about how he is with the other guys. I've never seen a team leader like him. The rest of the guys would probably lie down and die for him. That, and the fact that somehow, he seems to be able to change a play at the last second; you'd think the rest of the guys wouldn't catch that, but somehow he communicates it and the rest of the guys execute it the way Austin planned every time. The kid's a Godsend," the coach finished.
"Sounds like it," said Ben. Well, Sam and Da..er, Dean HAD said this kid was special.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the end of the first week, Ben had the practice schedule down cold and knew when the team would be on the field. Time to take a trip to Austin's dorm room.
Austin shared his room with a guy named Nick. Nick was the team manager and, according to the coach, Austin's best friend.
Ben got into the room and started setting up the hidden camera. He felt a bit bad. He had already grown to like these guys. Austin was smart and even though Nick was a bit shifty, he was a good friend to Austin; best one he had. Still, Dean said they had to find out what went on in that room, so Ben set up the cameras.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The footage started to roll in to Sam’s laptop back at the cabin. Austin studying. Nick and Austin playing video games. Austin falling asleep on his desk and Nick coming up behind him and rubbing his neck while Austin made contented sounds in his sleep (that got a raised eyebrow from Dean). "This is the most anti-climactic guy-on-guy porno ever," Dean commented, rolling his eyes as he watched the video over Sam's shoulder. Sam watched the feed as the hours passed and saw Nick roll over in bed to face Austin's sleeping form across the room so that he could watch him.
'That's a little creepy,' thought Sam, but overall, Sam was bored to death with this video stakeout.
The pattern of surveillance and tutoring went on for another three weeks...
At the end of the third week, Ben was kicking back in one of the dorm rooms. The last kid he had to tutor that night, Jason, had just left for dinner before football practice and Ben was packing up his computer when Austin barged in.
"Jason forgot his play book and asked me to come get it before practice," Austin said by way of an explanation. "I've been meaning to thank you for helping the guys. I guess you're pretty good. They say they're starting to get some stuff they've never understood before."
"Well," said Ben, "it's my job, but you're welcome."
"You're good at it," surmised Austin, looking Ben over carefully.
"I enjoy it," Ben responded, honestly.
The kid's room they were studying in was the standard high-school bedroom, except for the rather tacky blacklight picture of Jesus painted on velvet hanging on the wall. Austin walked in front of the illuminated blacklight on his way to Jason's bookcase and Ben saw something on his hand for a second.
"What's that?" he asked Austin.
Austin smiled, "The UV tattoo?" he responded, "It's cool, huh? All the guys have one...we thought blacklight would be good so our parents didn't freak out, you know? You won't tell anyone, will you?"
"No, it's cool," said Ben, playing along, "What's it mean?"
"The 999?" he asked. "It's supposed to be this thing just for the team, you know? It's just about being just short of perfect; one shy of 1,000; you know; the perfect batting average...it reminds us that you can always keep striving; always get better; always get one more win. It was Nick's idea," Austin finished. "The guys thought it was cool. Everyone on the team has one. Now that you know what it means, you can't tell anyone, okay?"
"Okay," responded Ben.
55.
Walker was the first one Ben told. He mentioned it in passing when he was on the phone with her talking about a wide receiver who just could not get a handle on reading Shakespeare no matter what Ben tried with him. After Walker gave him some ideas on how to get through to the kid, Ben mentioned the tattoos. "Sneaky kids got the only kind of tattoo their parents aren't likely to see," Ben chuckled.
" 'Kids', huh professor?" Walker teased him, "You're almost their age, you know," she laughed. "Wait a minute," she said, "What was the tattoo again?"
Ben explained it just as Austin had. He didn't know what to make of it when Walker suddenly said she had to go and she'd call him right back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Walker knew...but she had to be sure. She grabbed a copy of the Bible and there is was:
"Revelation 13:16-18
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a MARK in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the MARK, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."
Sam was out on a supply run with Lisa. Dean was cleaning his revolver in another room. It helped calm him down when they were stuck in this sort of God-forsaken holding pattern on a hunt. Dean hated waiting.
"Dean!" Walker yelled. "Dean, get in here!"
Dean showed up at the door as if he had run a sprint to get there. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Ben, he just called," she said in a rush, "he had a question about tutoring one of the kids and -"
Suddenly, Dean was looming over her. He grabbed her shoulders none too gently, "Is he okay?!"
"Yes! Ow!," she replied, squirming away from his painful grasp, "It's not like that."
Dean visibly relaxed. "Sorry," he apologized, "it's just; it's Ben..."
"I know," Walker said, "it's okay." She understood Dean's intensity where family was concerned. "Anyone ever told you that you're a little tightly wound?" Walker admonished Dean, rubbing her shoulder.
"I've been told," Dean said matter-of-factly. "So what'd you find?"
Walker told Dean what Ben had related to her. "What the hell is a ‘UV tattoo’?" Dean asked.
"One that only shows up under blacklights. In regular light, you can't see it," Walker explained.
"Sneaky kids," Dean said, mostly to himself, "And you know this how?" he asked Walker.
"I've got an anti-possession tattoo like you and Sam. Got it when I learned about how my mom died," Walker said, "but you can't see it," she smiled like a know-it-all. Dean nodded approvingly.
"So this entire team has this, what, motivational tattoo?" Dean asked. "So what?"
"That's the thing," said Walker. "They think that's what they have, but Dean, it's not 999, it's 666...look." Walker held out the open Bible page to Dean.
Dean read it, even though he pretty much knew everything relating to any kind of evil son of a bitch that was written in the Bible entirely by heart, "So these stupid kids think this is about team spirit or some shit, but it's because of Austin; because he's the Antichrist?"
"Yeah, but I don't even think Austin knows that's what going on," Walker said. "Ben told me that Austin said the tattoos were his roommate Nick's idea."
"Nick, the creepy kid who watches Austin while he sleeps?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, that's the one," Walker confirmed. "I think we need to take a closer look at Nick."
"Agreed," said Dean. "Did Ben figure this out?" he asked with pride.
"No," said Walker without further explanation.
Dean understood immediately, "Nice work, Blue," he said appreciatively.
Walker smiled.
next - HOME (part 2) Chapters 56 - 59
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January 5, 2019
This was new.
They were headed out on a job and there were three cars on the road instead of just the Impala. To start, Lisa rode with Dean, Sam and Walker took her extra-cab pickup, and Ben started out solo in his Mustang. They watched Garth, waving goodbye from the bunker’s doorway as he receded from view.
They did a bit of musical chairs as they went. For part of the time, Dean rode shotgun with Ben while Sam drove the Impala and Lisa and Walker took the opportunity to talk about Ben’s future while riding together in the pickup.
Everyone stopped to eat (a diner, of course). Yeah, it was totally weird, but Dean felt like it was probably as close to a family vacation as he’d ever gotten.
Sam even rode with Ben for awhile. Sam couldn’t help but think how that would never have happened a few months ago and he was glad that things between them were easier now.
“You don’t have a car of your own?” Ben asked, looking over at Sam folded up in the passenger seat of the Mustang with suspicion. The way he said it made it sound like Sam wasn’t a real person if he didn’t have his own car.
“Nah,” said Sam. “I mean, the Impala is ours, but Dean’s so in love with it I just act like it’s entirely his. I dunno…I always seem to be able to, um, use a car when I need one,” Sam said, looking straight ahead.
“You mean steal a car when you need one, right?” Ben asked directly.
“I like to think of it more as borrowing,” Sam offered.
Ben huffed. “I bet you do,” he said as he chuckled a bit. “Seriously, man, haven’t you ever wanted a car? I mean, Mary here, just knowing she’s all mine…you don’t want that?”
“Guess not,” replied Sam. “Maybe I’m not crazy about driving when I don’t have to since I’ve been sitting in cars all my life.”
“Maybe you just haven’t found the right one,” Ben said. “Cars are like women - “
“Christ, you sound exactly like Dean,” Sam cut him off. “I was hoping that not every one of Dean’s idiotic theories had rubbed off on you.”
“I just mean that when you find the right one, you know. It just clicks,” Ben finished. “But you won’t find it if you don’t look.”
“Says the guy to has the car and NOT the girl,” Sam pointed out, smirking, as he nodded toward the pickup in front of them with Walker at the wheel.
“Hey, one thing at a time,” Ben responded.
53.
The trip went well and the weather was good. It took a couple of days, but eventually they pulled up in front of a rather rustic cabin in the hills outside of Bullard, Texas.
Dean was the first one out, looking around, “Where are the longhorns?” he asked, looking slightly disappointed.
“This isn’t ranch country,” Walker informed him as she climbed down from the pickup. “You want to see cattle you’re going to have to drive about another half a day west.”
“Crap,” pronounced Dean. “Well, thanks for finding this place anyway, Blue.”
“It’s not fancy, but they didn’t want a deposit and they were fine with us paying one month at a time,” she replied.
“Yeah, Sammy and I are so used to Egyptian cotton sheets and room service, I don’t know if we can do this,” Dean teased.
“It’s exactly what we need,” Sam said, coming up next to Walker and putting an arm around her. She stretched up for a kiss and he dipped his head down to meet her lips.
Dean regarded them with mock disgust. “This place does have two bedrooms, right?”
“Definitely,” Walker smiled up at Sam.
“Awesome,” said Dean, “Hey Lis’, what’ve we got to eat?” Dean yelled over to the Impala where Lisa was standing up and stretching after the long ride.
“Not your servant!” she replied. “I was wondering what you were going to make for me.”
Dean rolled his eyes. “Alright, pop the trunk would ya? “
54.
Ben couldn't believe how easy it was. The dean of students at the Brook Hill school looked over his transcript and only asked him a few questions. With one call to Ben's high school principal to vouch for him (of course it was Garth on the other end of the line, back at the bunker, doing his best Monsignor impression, talking up how great Ben had done at his non-existent Christian high school, bless him), he was in. The dean at Brook Hill couldn't believe that Ben had come along right when they really needed him. This kid was willing to work for very little pay and he was obviously, academically, far ahead of his grade level.
Ben told him that he really wanted some teaching experience. That he had decided to take a year off between high school and college, but didn't want a hole in his transcript (that part was true), so he hoped he could tutor. Ben said he was considering becoming a teacher (not really true, well, not until he had gotten to know Walker...now he was a bit more interested in the idea). He threw in that he was especially into football (he wasn't, but Dean had made that part of his training and he thoroughly understood it now) and the dean of students practically fell over himself to shake Ben's hand and welcome him on board.
Dean couldn't help but smile later as Ben related the whole thing to him. The kid was a natural. Smart and sincere like Sam...always a few steps ahead of everyone like him. ‘He'd make a damn good hunter,’ Dean thought. Then immediately told himself to shut up and forget he ever thought that. He didn't want that for Ben.
Even though Ben would be spending as many evenings as possible with everyone at the cabin, it had to look like he was there on his own, so he moved his one bag of clothes and one box of books into the room that the school provided him. It was small, but clean. He could live with it. And, bonus, all of the dorm rooms had the same layout so he could map out the best areas for surveillance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few days later, Ben met the football team briefly (Austin met his eyes with an intense, level gaze as if he could see through him. It made Ben shiver slightly, though he had no idea why the kid would have that effect on him.) and then met with the coach to discuss who on the team needed academic help. As they went down the roster, Ben asked about a few specific kids, so as not to make anyone suspicious. One of those he asked about was Austin.
"So, how's the quarterback doing?" he asked casually.
"Austin?" responded the coach, "Academically, he's great. Actually, he's great all-around."
"How so?" asked Ben, trying to act disinterested.
"I've never had a kid like him," the coach admitted. "He's good athletically, but it's more about how he is with the other guys. I've never seen a team leader like him. The rest of the guys would probably lie down and die for him. That, and the fact that somehow, he seems to be able to change a play at the last second; you'd think the rest of the guys wouldn't catch that, but somehow he communicates it and the rest of the guys execute it the way Austin planned every time. The kid's a Godsend," the coach finished.
"Sounds like it," said Ben. Well, Sam and Da..er, Dean HAD said this kid was special.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the end of the first week, Ben had the practice schedule down cold and knew when the team would be on the field. Time to take a trip to Austin's dorm room.
Austin shared his room with a guy named Nick. Nick was the team manager and, according to the coach, Austin's best friend.
Ben got into the room and started setting up the hidden camera. He felt a bit bad. He had already grown to like these guys. Austin was smart and even though Nick was a bit shifty, he was a good friend to Austin; best one he had. Still, Dean said they had to find out what went on in that room, so Ben set up the cameras.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The footage started to roll in to Sam’s laptop back at the cabin. Austin studying. Nick and Austin playing video games. Austin falling asleep on his desk and Nick coming up behind him and rubbing his neck while Austin made contented sounds in his sleep (that got a raised eyebrow from Dean). "This is the most anti-climactic guy-on-guy porno ever," Dean commented, rolling his eyes as he watched the video over Sam's shoulder. Sam watched the feed as the hours passed and saw Nick roll over in bed to face Austin's sleeping form across the room so that he could watch him.
'That's a little creepy,' thought Sam, but overall, Sam was bored to death with this video stakeout.
The pattern of surveillance and tutoring went on for another three weeks...
At the end of the third week, Ben was kicking back in one of the dorm rooms. The last kid he had to tutor that night, Jason, had just left for dinner before football practice and Ben was packing up his computer when Austin barged in.
"Jason forgot his play book and asked me to come get it before practice," Austin said by way of an explanation. "I've been meaning to thank you for helping the guys. I guess you're pretty good. They say they're starting to get some stuff they've never understood before."
"Well," said Ben, "it's my job, but you're welcome."
"You're good at it," surmised Austin, looking Ben over carefully.
"I enjoy it," Ben responded, honestly.
The kid's room they were studying in was the standard high-school bedroom, except for the rather tacky blacklight picture of Jesus painted on velvet hanging on the wall. Austin walked in front of the illuminated blacklight on his way to Jason's bookcase and Ben saw something on his hand for a second.
"What's that?" he asked Austin.
Austin smiled, "The UV tattoo?" he responded, "It's cool, huh? All the guys have one...we thought blacklight would be good so our parents didn't freak out, you know? You won't tell anyone, will you?"
"No, it's cool," said Ben, playing along, "What's it mean?"
"The 999?" he asked. "It's supposed to be this thing just for the team, you know? It's just about being just short of perfect; one shy of 1,000; you know; the perfect batting average...it reminds us that you can always keep striving; always get better; always get one more win. It was Nick's idea," Austin finished. "The guys thought it was cool. Everyone on the team has one. Now that you know what it means, you can't tell anyone, okay?"
"Okay," responded Ben.
55.
Walker was the first one Ben told. He mentioned it in passing when he was on the phone with her talking about a wide receiver who just could not get a handle on reading Shakespeare no matter what Ben tried with him. After Walker gave him some ideas on how to get through to the kid, Ben mentioned the tattoos. "Sneaky kids got the only kind of tattoo their parents aren't likely to see," Ben chuckled.
" 'Kids', huh professor?" Walker teased him, "You're almost their age, you know," she laughed. "Wait a minute," she said, "What was the tattoo again?"
Ben explained it just as Austin had. He didn't know what to make of it when Walker suddenly said she had to go and she'd call him right back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Walker knew...but she had to be sure. She grabbed a copy of the Bible and there is was:
"Revelation 13:16-18
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a MARK in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the MARK, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."
Sam was out on a supply run with Lisa. Dean was cleaning his revolver in another room. It helped calm him down when they were stuck in this sort of God-forsaken holding pattern on a hunt. Dean hated waiting.
"Dean!" Walker yelled. "Dean, get in here!"
Dean showed up at the door as if he had run a sprint to get there. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Ben, he just called," she said in a rush, "he had a question about tutoring one of the kids and -"
Suddenly, Dean was looming over her. He grabbed her shoulders none too gently, "Is he okay?!"
"Yes! Ow!," she replied, squirming away from his painful grasp, "It's not like that."
Dean visibly relaxed. "Sorry," he apologized, "it's just; it's Ben..."
"I know," Walker said, "it's okay." She understood Dean's intensity where family was concerned. "Anyone ever told you that you're a little tightly wound?" Walker admonished Dean, rubbing her shoulder.
"I've been told," Dean said matter-of-factly. "So what'd you find?"
Walker told Dean what Ben had related to her. "What the hell is a ‘UV tattoo’?" Dean asked.
"One that only shows up under blacklights. In regular light, you can't see it," Walker explained.
"Sneaky kids," Dean said, mostly to himself, "And you know this how?" he asked Walker.
"I've got an anti-possession tattoo like you and Sam. Got it when I learned about how my mom died," Walker said, "but you can't see it," she smiled like a know-it-all. Dean nodded approvingly.
"So this entire team has this, what, motivational tattoo?" Dean asked. "So what?"
"That's the thing," said Walker. "They think that's what they have, but Dean, it's not 999, it's 666...look." Walker held out the open Bible page to Dean.
Dean read it, even though he pretty much knew everything relating to any kind of evil son of a bitch that was written in the Bible entirely by heart, "So these stupid kids think this is about team spirit or some shit, but it's because of Austin; because he's the Antichrist?"
"Yeah, but I don't even think Austin knows that's what going on," Walker said. "Ben told me that Austin said the tattoos were his roommate Nick's idea."
"Nick, the creepy kid who watches Austin while he sleeps?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, that's the one," Walker confirmed. "I think we need to take a closer look at Nick."
"Agreed," said Dean. "Did Ben figure this out?" he asked with pride.
"No," said Walker without further explanation.
Dean understood immediately, "Nice work, Blue," he said appreciatively.
Walker smiled.
next - HOME (part 2) Chapters 56 - 59
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