Fox verse: "Alec's Name is Mud"
Title: Alec's Name is Mud
Author: lori_leaf
Beta: minx999
Rating: PG-13 for language
Summary: There was something irresistable about the large pile of mud behind Bobby's house. No ten year old boy could possibly keep his distance.
Author's Note: This is part of my Fox 'Verse. It works as a stand-alone story. The only thing you need to know is this is a crossover between Dark Angel and Supernatural. I've messed with both timelines. It's 2007, Dean is 19, Sam is 15. John found Alec in a school during an undercover mission. Alec is 10 years old. He's been living with the Winchesters at Bobby's house for a few weeks.
Alec dug his bare feet into the mud. He relished in the gritty texture and cool temperature against his skin. It squished satisfyingly between his toes. He dipped one finger into the dirt and dragged a grayish brown glob up his shinbone. It stood out starkly against his pale skin. He dipped in a hand and created a careful handprint on his rolled up jeans. The mud clung to the denim and he could feel dampness slowly settling into his jeans.
He pondered that for a moment before lowering his bottom to sit in the mud pile. Sure enough, a steady dampness soaked into the seat of his pants. He grinned and thrust both hands into the mud pile, admiring how thoroughly the mud coated his skin. War paint!
He smeared the dirt across his face like he had been taught to do to create camouflage. Alec knew he had to look like a warrior now. He re-dipped his hands and then stared at the smooth white side of Bobby’s house. He was in the backyard. No one would ever notice. He carefully pressed his hands against the stark whiteness and beamed as his hand prints clearly shown. Alec Was Here. There it was, clear as day. Unable to resist, he rolled in the mud pile and then pressed his entire body against the wall before jumping back to admire his work. It was beautiful! There he was, arms outstretched, a full body print like a stamp. Perfect. It was Alec. A clear picture of Alec where before there was nothing.
A shadow moved behind him, marring his perfect mud print. Alec whirled around, unhappy to have been caught. Dean Winchester stared at him for a moment before he burst into laughter.
“What the hell are you doing, kid?”
Alec refused to feel silly. It wasn’t silly. It was camouflage. It was tactics. There was nothing silly about being covered in mud. He toed at the dirt, “Nothing.”
Dean reached out to pluck at Alec’s mud crunchy hair but the kid dodged with a scowl.
“This doesn’t look like nothing. This looks like lots of something. Shit, kid... Bobby sees this crap on his house, he’ll kick your ass.”
Alec tried to brush the mud off the wall but only succeeded in smearing it. He shrugged in an attempt to look nonchalant. “Don’t care.”
Dean obviously didn’t believe him. “Sure...”
The kid crouched down over the mud pile and squished a glob of mud in his fist. “It was fun.”
The older boy attempted to look far too adult to be interested, “Looks like it.”
Alec looked up with a grin and held out a muddy hand. “You wanna?”
Dean was tempted but shook his head no. “Dad catches you doing this, worst he’ll do is pop you on the butt a few times. It’d be embarrassing but over in a few minutes. He catches me making mud angels on Bobby’s walls though, and he’ll have me running. I hate running. I’ll be out in the sun for an hour and then I’ll suffer for a week while my muscles are all pissed at me. No thank you.”
Alec seemed disheartened by this news, “John’ll be mad?”
“Probably, but hey, we can fix this.” Dean grinned, “How do you feel about taking a swim?”
Alec didn’t like the idea at all. Swimming meant endless laps or lung capacity tests. Neither option was particularly appealing. It was still better then facing John’s disappointment though. “Sure, swimming is... awesome.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t dunk you. We’ll just get the mud off and tell Dad you fell in. He’ll be less pissed at a wet son versus a muddy one.” Dean put a hand on the back of Alec’s neck and ushered him towards the creek.
It was going to be cold, but Alec was a trooper. If Dean planned it right, the kid would only be outside for another few minutes.
Alec looked at the water with distrust. “So... swim?”
Dean nodded. “Yep.”
The boy sighed and then walked in the water fully dressed. He hunched down and scrubbed at his clothes then attacked his face and hair. Dean half expected that the kid would find some joy in splashing around in the water after his adventures in the mud pile, but Alec was fully focused on the task at hand. It only took him a few minutes before he scuttled out of the water, wet, but clean.
Alec shook himself like a wet dog before staring up at Dean miserably. “Okay I’m clean. John won’t be mad now?”
Dean looked around making sure no one was nearby before making grabby hands at Alec’s clothes. Alec began peeling off his layers as Dean laid them out on some branches to dry. The older boy wrapped his flannel shirt around his brother before pursing his lips, mentally steeling himself for the conversation he was about to start.
“Why don’t you call him ‘Dad’?”
Alec pulled the flannel shirt tighter around himself, his wet hair soaking the collar. “John?”
Dean smacked him on the back of his head. “Who else would you call Dad?”
Alec scowled. “He’s your dad.”
“Yeah and he’s Sammy’s dad too, doesn’t make him any less my dad or your dad.”
“He’s not my dad. I’m engineered. I’m like a really awesome toaster oven you order from a catalogue. I might look like your old toaster oven, but I’m not the same. All my insides are different and I’m manufactured to be better. We share DNA, Dean, but you guys don’t owe me anything.”
Dean’s eyes narrowed. “You’re a little shit, you know that? You’re not a toaster oven, you’re my brother. My shitty little brother.”
Alec patted at Dean’s chest, “Sure, Dean,. I’m your brother.”
Dean knocked his hand away. “Don’t be condescending, you little jerk! You’re my brother. How many times we gotta talk about this? You may be an unexpected addition to the family, but you’re not an unwanted addition to the family.”
Alec just shrugged.
Dean huffed. “Look, just call the old man ‘Dad,’ okay? Maybe you don’t pay attention but every time we go into town and you call him ‘Daddy,’ he gets all misty eyed and happy. Then we get back to Bobby's, and you call him ‘sir’ instead and he clams up. It makes him feel like crap that you don’t treat him like family. He doesn’t deserve that, so if you don’t feel like he’s your dad, just do a better job of faking it.”
“You call him ‘sir,’” Alec countered.
Dean poked at the kid’s chest. “I sometimes call him ‘sir’ as a sign of respect. I also call him ‘Dad’... as a sign of respect. He’s not ‘John’, he’s ‘Dad.’ Got it?”
Alec dug his bare toes into the ground looking shamefaced before smiling mischievously at Dean. “Sir, yes sir.” He completed his bit of sass with a well-executed salute.
Alec barely ducked Dean’s swat to his head. “Smart ass.”
The kid shifted from foot to foot. “It’s cold, Dean. Not that I’m not grateful for you making me sit in an icy cold creek and then taking all my clothes away from me... but it’s cold.”
“I gave you my flannelshirt.”
Alec repeated, “Cold.”
Dean groaned. “Fine. We’ll get you inside and I’ll come back for your clothes in a few hours when they’re dry. It won’t be the first time I helped a little brother avoid trouble.”
Dean surveyed the path through the woods and then looked down at Alec’s bare feet before sweeping the kid up and onto his back.
“This is called a piggyback ride. It’s a very important lesson in covert operations and far more effective then a fireman's carry... at least when the subject is scrawny.”
Alec tightened his grip on Dean’s neck. “I’ve had a piggyback ride before Dean.”
Dean feigned innocence. “Have you?”
Alec knocked his ankle into Dean’s side. “You’ve given me a piggyback ride before.”
Dean beamed. “Great. That means you can hold on and I don’t need to use my hands.” And with that, Dean released his grip on Alec’s knees and took off at a break neck speed towards the house.
Alec clung on for dear life as Dean took great pleasure in barely avoiding tree branches and roots. By the time they got to the house, Dean was out of breath and Alec’s hair had gone from ‘soaked’ to barely ‘damp.’ Dean took another careful look around before sneaking Alec into the house and up to his room.
Alec was putting a dry pair of jeans on when John entered the room. Both boys tried to look innocent.
John ignored their looks and sat on Sam’s bed. “Did I ever tell you guys about Deano’s laundromat when he was three?”
Dean grimaced, “Dad...”
John continued, “Dean, here, decided to save his mom some time when he was about three years old and bathe both himself and his clothes at the same time. I guess he figured that everything had to get wet and soapy to get clean and it’d be a waste of time to clean a kid and his clothes separately. So, Dean hopped into the tub with everything on, shoes and all. Mary comes in and sees her little angel beaming up at her, so proud of himself.”
Dean covered his face with his hands.
John grinned. “She couldn’t decide if she should spank him or take a picture.”
Dean turned red and Alec casually positioned his hands over his butt.
“She took a picture.” John laughed. “Mary took a picture. ‘Course that only worked the first time Dean did it. The second time, he earned himself a spanking. Kids get away with cute hijinks once. They get warned, then they suffer the consequences if it happens again.”
John stood up and tousled Alec’s hair. “Hope you had a fun day, kiddo. Consider this your picture for the baby album.”
John had his hand on the doorknob, ready to leave, when Alec’s voice stopped him. “Thanks... Dad.”
John beamed, and then tried to hide it under a veneer of sternness. “Sure thing, son. Now get dressed and help Bobby wash the mud off his house.”
John made it all the way down the hallway before he burst into laughter. “Little boys and mud piles... I suppose it was inevitable.” Dad. He said Dad. That’s his kid. His kid.
Author: lori_leaf
Beta: minx999
Rating: PG-13 for language
Summary: There was something irresistable about the large pile of mud behind Bobby's house. No ten year old boy could possibly keep his distance.
Author's Note: This is part of my Fox 'Verse. It works as a stand-alone story. The only thing you need to know is this is a crossover between Dark Angel and Supernatural. I've messed with both timelines. It's 2007, Dean is 19, Sam is 15. John found Alec in a school during an undercover mission. Alec is 10 years old. He's been living with the Winchesters at Bobby's house for a few weeks.
Alec dug his bare feet into the mud. He relished in the gritty texture and cool temperature against his skin. It squished satisfyingly between his toes. He dipped one finger into the dirt and dragged a grayish brown glob up his shinbone. It stood out starkly against his pale skin. He dipped in a hand and created a careful handprint on his rolled up jeans. The mud clung to the denim and he could feel dampness slowly settling into his jeans.
He pondered that for a moment before lowering his bottom to sit in the mud pile. Sure enough, a steady dampness soaked into the seat of his pants. He grinned and thrust both hands into the mud pile, admiring how thoroughly the mud coated his skin. War paint!
He smeared the dirt across his face like he had been taught to do to create camouflage. Alec knew he had to look like a warrior now. He re-dipped his hands and then stared at the smooth white side of Bobby’s house. He was in the backyard. No one would ever notice. He carefully pressed his hands against the stark whiteness and beamed as his hand prints clearly shown. Alec Was Here. There it was, clear as day. Unable to resist, he rolled in the mud pile and then pressed his entire body against the wall before jumping back to admire his work. It was beautiful! There he was, arms outstretched, a full body print like a stamp. Perfect. It was Alec. A clear picture of Alec where before there was nothing.
A shadow moved behind him, marring his perfect mud print. Alec whirled around, unhappy to have been caught. Dean Winchester stared at him for a moment before he burst into laughter.
“What the hell are you doing, kid?”
Alec refused to feel silly. It wasn’t silly. It was camouflage. It was tactics. There was nothing silly about being covered in mud. He toed at the dirt, “Nothing.”
Dean reached out to pluck at Alec’s mud crunchy hair but the kid dodged with a scowl.
“This doesn’t look like nothing. This looks like lots of something. Shit, kid... Bobby sees this crap on his house, he’ll kick your ass.”
Alec tried to brush the mud off the wall but only succeeded in smearing it. He shrugged in an attempt to look nonchalant. “Don’t care.”
Dean obviously didn’t believe him. “Sure...”
The kid crouched down over the mud pile and squished a glob of mud in his fist. “It was fun.”
The older boy attempted to look far too adult to be interested, “Looks like it.”
Alec looked up with a grin and held out a muddy hand. “You wanna?”
Dean was tempted but shook his head no. “Dad catches you doing this, worst he’ll do is pop you on the butt a few times. It’d be embarrassing but over in a few minutes. He catches me making mud angels on Bobby’s walls though, and he’ll have me running. I hate running. I’ll be out in the sun for an hour and then I’ll suffer for a week while my muscles are all pissed at me. No thank you.”
Alec seemed disheartened by this news, “John’ll be mad?”
“Probably, but hey, we can fix this.” Dean grinned, “How do you feel about taking a swim?”
Alec didn’t like the idea at all. Swimming meant endless laps or lung capacity tests. Neither option was particularly appealing. It was still better then facing John’s disappointment though. “Sure, swimming is... awesome.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t dunk you. We’ll just get the mud off and tell Dad you fell in. He’ll be less pissed at a wet son versus a muddy one.” Dean put a hand on the back of Alec’s neck and ushered him towards the creek.
It was going to be cold, but Alec was a trooper. If Dean planned it right, the kid would only be outside for another few minutes.
Alec looked at the water with distrust. “So... swim?”
Dean nodded. “Yep.”
The boy sighed and then walked in the water fully dressed. He hunched down and scrubbed at his clothes then attacked his face and hair. Dean half expected that the kid would find some joy in splashing around in the water after his adventures in the mud pile, but Alec was fully focused on the task at hand. It only took him a few minutes before he scuttled out of the water, wet, but clean.
Alec shook himself like a wet dog before staring up at Dean miserably. “Okay I’m clean. John won’t be mad now?”
Dean looked around making sure no one was nearby before making grabby hands at Alec’s clothes. Alec began peeling off his layers as Dean laid them out on some branches to dry. The older boy wrapped his flannel shirt around his brother before pursing his lips, mentally steeling himself for the conversation he was about to start.
“Why don’t you call him ‘Dad’?”
Alec pulled the flannel shirt tighter around himself, his wet hair soaking the collar. “John?”
Dean smacked him on the back of his head. “Who else would you call Dad?”
Alec scowled. “He’s your dad.”
“Yeah and he’s Sammy’s dad too, doesn’t make him any less my dad or your dad.”
“He’s not my dad. I’m engineered. I’m like a really awesome toaster oven you order from a catalogue. I might look like your old toaster oven, but I’m not the same. All my insides are different and I’m manufactured to be better. We share DNA, Dean, but you guys don’t owe me anything.”
Dean’s eyes narrowed. “You’re a little shit, you know that? You’re not a toaster oven, you’re my brother. My shitty little brother.”
Alec patted at Dean’s chest, “Sure, Dean,. I’m your brother.”
Dean knocked his hand away. “Don’t be condescending, you little jerk! You’re my brother. How many times we gotta talk about this? You may be an unexpected addition to the family, but you’re not an unwanted addition to the family.”
Alec just shrugged.
Dean huffed. “Look, just call the old man ‘Dad,’ okay? Maybe you don’t pay attention but every time we go into town and you call him ‘Daddy,’ he gets all misty eyed and happy. Then we get back to Bobby's, and you call him ‘sir’ instead and he clams up. It makes him feel like crap that you don’t treat him like family. He doesn’t deserve that, so if you don’t feel like he’s your dad, just do a better job of faking it.”
“You call him ‘sir,’” Alec countered.
Dean poked at the kid’s chest. “I sometimes call him ‘sir’ as a sign of respect. I also call him ‘Dad’... as a sign of respect. He’s not ‘John’, he’s ‘Dad.’ Got it?”
Alec dug his bare toes into the ground looking shamefaced before smiling mischievously at Dean. “Sir, yes sir.” He completed his bit of sass with a well-executed salute.
Alec barely ducked Dean’s swat to his head. “Smart ass.”
The kid shifted from foot to foot. “It’s cold, Dean. Not that I’m not grateful for you making me sit in an icy cold creek and then taking all my clothes away from me... but it’s cold.”
“I gave you my flannelshirt.”
Alec repeated, “Cold.”
Dean groaned. “Fine. We’ll get you inside and I’ll come back for your clothes in a few hours when they’re dry. It won’t be the first time I helped a little brother avoid trouble.”
Dean surveyed the path through the woods and then looked down at Alec’s bare feet before sweeping the kid up and onto his back.
“This is called a piggyback ride. It’s a very important lesson in covert operations and far more effective then a fireman's carry... at least when the subject is scrawny.”
Alec tightened his grip on Dean’s neck. “I’ve had a piggyback ride before Dean.”
Dean feigned innocence. “Have you?”
Alec knocked his ankle into Dean’s side. “You’ve given me a piggyback ride before.”
Dean beamed. “Great. That means you can hold on and I don’t need to use my hands.” And with that, Dean released his grip on Alec’s knees and took off at a break neck speed towards the house.
Alec clung on for dear life as Dean took great pleasure in barely avoiding tree branches and roots. By the time they got to the house, Dean was out of breath and Alec’s hair had gone from ‘soaked’ to barely ‘damp.’ Dean took another careful look around before sneaking Alec into the house and up to his room.
Alec was putting a dry pair of jeans on when John entered the room. Both boys tried to look innocent.
John ignored their looks and sat on Sam’s bed. “Did I ever tell you guys about Deano’s laundromat when he was three?”
Dean grimaced, “Dad...”
John continued, “Dean, here, decided to save his mom some time when he was about three years old and bathe both himself and his clothes at the same time. I guess he figured that everything had to get wet and soapy to get clean and it’d be a waste of time to clean a kid and his clothes separately. So, Dean hopped into the tub with everything on, shoes and all. Mary comes in and sees her little angel beaming up at her, so proud of himself.”
Dean covered his face with his hands.
John grinned. “She couldn’t decide if she should spank him or take a picture.”
Dean turned red and Alec casually positioned his hands over his butt.
“She took a picture.” John laughed. “Mary took a picture. ‘Course that only worked the first time Dean did it. The second time, he earned himself a spanking. Kids get away with cute hijinks once. They get warned, then they suffer the consequences if it happens again.”
John stood up and tousled Alec’s hair. “Hope you had a fun day, kiddo. Consider this your picture for the baby album.”
John had his hand on the doorknob, ready to leave, when Alec’s voice stopped him. “Thanks... Dad.”
John beamed, and then tried to hide it under a veneer of sternness. “Sure thing, son. Now get dressed and help Bobby wash the mud off his house.”
John made it all the way down the hallway before he burst into laughter. “Little boys and mud piles... I suppose it was inevitable.” Dad. He said Dad. That’s his kid. His kid.