We Start and End with Family - Chapter 10
Title: We Start and End with Family
Summary: Two years after losing his brother, Dean has settled down and started a new family, but he’s never forgotten the family he left behind and his past has not forgotten him.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Violence, ritual abuse and nudity with children present, but not involved. Distorted uses of biblical quotes/Christian doctrine/ceremony.
Spoilers: Through early Season 6
Word Count: 3,360 for this chapter
Author’s Note: Diverges from canon about two minutes before the end of ‘Swan Song’ (no Sam spying on Dean and Lisa).
Written for spn_reversebang. The beautiful art featured along with this story was illustrated by puguita, whose art prompt and bountiful creativity inspired the story. All her illustrations can be found together at the art master post.
A million worlds of thanks to the truly awesome agent_jl36 and ebony_quill for their scene edits and the tremendously kind durtydeefla82 for taking the time to do a read through and edits for the whole shebang on extremely short notice.
The story master post can be found here.
~~~
Continued from Chapter 9
When Sam opened his eyes he was standing in a church. Soft light spilled in through the stained glass windows to amend the flickering glow of lit candles. The slight disorientation of Castiel zapping him there quickly passed and Sam was able to focus on the people that filled the pews. Most were hunched over in prayer and hadn’t even noticed Castiel and him appearing before them.
“Is that Michael?” a boy asked.
There was wonderment on the young face that momentarily set Sam back. He’d come prepared to tear apart everyone inside these walls. As the people began to raise their heads with looks of shock and hushed whispers Sam realized they were mostly, if not all, humans. This couldn’t be the right St. Peter’s Church.
Sam turned to tell Castiel as much when a panicked man shouted from the back. “Lucifer has risen!”
Some of the people hurtled themselves from the pews, climbing blindly over others who had resumed their prayers with increased fervor. Sam didn’t have time for any of them. While this had to be the place, what he didn’t see was Dean. A moment later, he didn’t see Castiel either.
Quickly he turned in search of the angel who he found standing in the back corner. Sam ignored the mix of desperately mumbled warding prayers and condemning shouts as he shoved through the flustered crowd. The glimmer of hope he’d held was gone when he saw past Castiel.
Lisa lay on the floor with her mouth gagged, arms and legs bound. Blood soaked her shirt. It took a moment of careful watching before Sam could make out the uneven rise and fall of her chest.
Kneeling down beside her, Castiel put his hand against her. At the touch Lisa gasped sharply and jerked up. Her eyes flew open and she fought against the bindings until her eyes locked questioningly on Sam. When he crouched down and flipped out his knife, fear returned to her face. She began to struggle again, screaming against the gag.
“It’s okay.”
She remained unconvinced until he started to slice through the ropes. The moment her wrists were free she moved her hands to her stomach, pressing tentatively against it before reaching up to yank the gag free from her mouth.
“Sam? Oh my God. How...” Her hand returned to her bloody shirt. She pulled it up enough to see the crimson stained bandages. After a slight hesitation she pulled back the gauze. Whatever injury she was looking for wasn’t there. While Sam furrowed his brow, Lisa automatically looked to the angel. “You’re Castiel.”
Before Castiel could reply, Sam stepped in. His hands gripped Lisa’s shoulders. “Lisa, where’s Dean?”
As if everything hit her at once her hand came up to her mouth. “I don’t know.” She struggled to keep her tone steady, but it fell to a whisper when her eyes met Sam’s. “I don’t know if he’s even alive. They were drowning him...I tried to stop them…” With a glance down to her shirt she took in another quick gasp. “Where are the kids?”
“They’re at Bobby’s. They’re safe.”
“No. They’re not safe.” Lisa’s tone was desperate. “They're sending people after Mary. That’s why Dean was fighting them.”
Taking a deep breath she used the wall for support to get back to her feet. The look in her eyes was the same one Sam had seen in Dean’s when his brother had been trying to decide whether to get his children to safety or to find his wife.
“Castiel will get you back to Bobby’s and make sure everyone’s safe.”
The angel’s determined eyes settled on Sam. “There’s no time for that.”
“Just do it.” While all he wanted was to see his brother safe, if they saved Dean in place of his children, they’d end up losing Dean anyway. After a long moment of staring into Castiel’s eyes, the angel gave an understanding nod. “I’ll find Dean,” Sam assured Lisa.
Before he could turn away she grabbed his arm. “They kept talking about a ritual and this book, but I don’t understand because they said they got it from Dean. I mean, what kind of book could he have? He doesn’t even read the newspaper.”
Sam knew there was no way Dean could read a newspaper without seeing cases. He also knew there was no way Dean had actually read that book. If anyone in the group could read it though they would have enough information to at least break open a devil’s gate. While he could hope that Dean and Bobby were wrong in thinking that the ritual could touch the cage, it didn’t matter. Whether or not it could, the people who had left Lisa to die beside them while they prayed for the end of the world wouldn’t hesitate in killing Dean to try.
His lips pressed into a grim line as Sam looked to Castiel. “Get back here fast.”
~~~
Ben sat at the kitchen table, his fingers idly tracing over the scratches in the wood. A much younger Dean's Swiss Army knife had put some of nicks into that table. Bobby tried not to think about it while he listened to the rickety chair squeak as Ben anxiously swung his legs. Somehow even Mary knew her parents were in trouble. Usually she was a big eater, but right now she stubbornly refused to down even one drop. Her tiny hands shoved the bottle away.
Suddenly the squeaking stopped. “Is Dad gonna be okay?”
If he wasn’t so knotted with worry, Bobby would have smiled. While the kid had been quick in taking to calling him Grandpa, he’d stubbornly resisted calling Dean by what he really was - Ben’s dad. Dean loved the kid, spent all his free time fussing over him and was willing to die for him. It didn’t have a damn thing to do with blood or a marriage certificate. Ben was family to the core.
But right now a smile was the furthest thing from Bobby’s lips. “Not once I get a hold of him,” Bobby growled. At Ben’s worried look Bobby took in a careful breath. “Your daddy’s gonna be just fine. He’s done stupider things and come out smelling like a rose.”
Ben’s face said the kid was thinking way too hard about something. “Uncle Sam says I should know how to shoot by now.” Ben warily glanced up from the table as he gauged Bobby’s reaction. “Why won’t Dad let me hunt?”
There was a can of worms that Bobby didn’t want to touch with a ten foot pole on a good day and today was damn far from a good day. All the same, the answer was so plain that there was no reason to avoid it. “’Cause he loves you.”
“But he was a hunter and he saved people all the time and he needs my help to protect Mom and Mary, but he won’t even let me shoot a gun and that’s not even hard...”
When the kid finally had to stop for air, Bobby cut in. “And you know it ain’t hard because...?”
A sheepish look crossed Ben’s face. The boy knew damn well that his dad didn’t want him messing with weapons and had never said a word of complaint about it before. Bobby knew it was no coincidence this was coming up after Sam’s talk with Ben. Sam never had known when to leave well enough alone.
“Ben, there’s a few things you need to know about your Uncle Sam.”
Bobby didn’t have time to come up with proper wording before there was a thud at the front door. It wasn’t a knock, but the sound of a body colliding with wood. When Bobby jumped to attention, Ben hopped off his chair. Quickly Bobby passed Mary into Ben’s arms. She squealed in protest, but Ben held her firmly despite her wiggling.
“You get to the panic room.” Ben’s mouth opened to argue, but clamped shut when Bobby again spoke, “Get your sister somewhere safe.”
As predictably as Dean, once the focus of the order shifted to protecting someone else, Ben was spurred into action. Bobby grabbed for the closest shotgun while Ben took off down the hall. Taking up position just out of sight of the front door, Bobby’s finger tensed on the trigger.
With a shattering crack the doorframe gave way. Bobby hesitated only long enough to verify that what walked through wasn’t Sam or Dean before he fired off the first shell. Anyone else deserved to get their asses shot just for busting his door.
Taking out the first two was like shooting ducks in a barrel, but there wasn’t just two. There was a damn swarm of them. Bobby scrambled for more shells and moved into sight to stop any of them from heading down the hall.
The shotgun was ripped from his grip before another shell could leave the barrel. Several men tackled him to the ground, knocking the air from his lungs. Two held him pinned to the floor while he struggled to catch his breath. Bobby’s eyes focused just in time to see the knife blade raised over him by a third man.
A gunshot sounded and the man fell limply on top of Bobby. The men holding him were startled long enough that Bobby could pull free from their grips and shove the body aside. When he looked up Bobby saw not Sam or Dean, but Ben standing with the Colt heavy in his hands. The boy was struggling to cock the stiff hammer back for another shot when Castiel appeared in the middle of the room.
“We sure could use that angelic assistance here!” Bobby shouted as he took a swing at the closest man.
After the man in front of Bobby fell he got his first clear view to see that it was Lisa, not either of the boys standing beside Castiel. While her shirt was stained with blood she physically looked no worse for the wear. Shock spread across Lisa’s face as she took in the scene.
“Mom!”
At Ben’s call Lisa ran to her son. Immediately she put herself between Ben and the closest threat. Ben tried to move past her to shoot the man rushing towards them, but Castiel intercepted. The man collapsed to the ground with a touch.
“Get to cover!” Bobby called out.
Lisa headed down the hall, pulling Ben along with her. After hearing the solid clang of the panic room’s door, Bobby focused back in on his own problems. He shot the shells he had loaded before switching to beating the men with the shotgun itself. When he looked over his shoulder to see what was taking that angel so damn long he saw Castiel standing within a small circle of fire.
Bobby smashed his elbow back into the face of the last man still standing. He wasn’t sure if the crack he heard was the man’s nose or Bobby’s own back trying to give out. His chest heaved as Bobby shook out his exhausted arms and shuffled back over to Castiel.
“I’m too damn old for this and don’t you be giving me that dirty look,” Bobby told the scowling angel. “I ain’t the one that opted for the fire in the middle of my living room.” When Castiel only stood still and continued glaring, Bobby looked back down to the short ring of flames. “Is that...?”
“Holy fire, yes. Apparently I have underestimated this group’s mystical prowess.”
“The news just keeps on getting better.” Bobby left Castiel just long enough to grab a bucket of water. At the oddly concerned look on Castiel’s face, Bobby’s gut tightened. “Where are the boys?”
With the fire out the, the angel was gone before an answer came.
~~~
It didn’t take long for Sam to find where Dean was being held. While part of the people in the church had fled, others held their ground. Sam headed straight for the door they were guarding. If they’d thought they stood a chance at hand to hand combat against him, they were wrong. In a flurry of motion Sam beat through the men that blocked his way and threw open the door.
The first thing he saw at the base of the stairs was the flickering circle of fire that surrounded two men. It took him a moment longer to see the third man on his knees and another second to realize that man shoving the dagger into his own bare chest was his brother.
Sam ran forward, opened his mouth to cry out to Dean, but was grabbed from behind by the time he reached the bottom of the steps. A horde of hands gripped him, holding him back and forcing him only to watch. He was too shocked by the sight to even breathe.
As Dean shoved the blade into himself a man in blood stained ceremonial attire stormed towards him. Unnoticing of the flames, the man strode through the ring of fire to rip the dagger from Dean’s chest. Dean’s head tilted back in a silent, agonized scream. The man’s hand latched onto and tightened around Dean’s throat.
“Betrayer!” the man spat in Dean’s face. “You will not corrupt what the Lord has set forth.”
“Touché, padre.”
Dean’s eyes were unfocused but seeped defiance as he coughed out the words. Fury raged over priest’s face, he pulled the dagger back to again drive it into Dean’s body. Before the priest could complete the strike, Sam broke free of the men that held him. He grabbed the priest’s reared back arm, jerking the man again through the flames and throwing him to the floor.
The priest’s alb was alight by the time Sam twisted the dagger from the man’s hands. Out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw the other two men leap from the circle and his brother slump forward. Sam was hit with another emotion he hadn’t felt for years. Pure rage.
A trace of confusion flashed over the priest’s face as he met Sam’s eyes. ”You were reared on the blood of Azazel and have housed the fallen. You have no dominion here.”
Every fiber of Sam’s being wanted to kill the man slowly, but he didn’t have the time to waste. Instead he simply drove the bloodied dagger into the man’s heart and shot a look to the others that hung by the door, daring any one of them to be next. No one answered the challenge.
Sam grabbed a large salad bowl from the closest buffet table, emptied the contents and filled it with water from the pool. While he ignored the flames consuming the priest, he splashed out the fire that burned around Dean. He skidded across the wet cement of the basement’s floor and dropped by Dean’s side.
“No...”
Dean’s entire body shivered uncontrollably. His skin was cold and wet. It was hard for Sam to touch him knowing that every contact could only bring more pain to the latticework of cuts over the bruises that covered his brother’s naked body. With a glance towards the priest, Sam hoped the man was still conscious enough to feel the flames.
Carefully he rolled Dean onto his side. When Dean coughed, dark blood spilled from his mouth. Quickly Sam shrugged out of his jacket and laid it gently over Dean’s shaking shoulders.
“Sam?” Dean parted his eyes, squinting against the overhead lights. His voice was a trembling whisper. “We gotta stop meeting like this.” Dean struggled to lift his head, his eyes scanning the room. “Where’s Lisa? Is she...”
“She’s fine, Dean.” Sam almost choked on the words as he tucked the jacket around his brother. His unsteady fingers unbuttoned his shirt, quickly pulling it off to press the rumpled fabric to the gushing wound on Dean’s chest. “Castiel took her back to Bobby’s.”
“Cas showed?” A ghost of a smile touched Dean’s blood coated lips. “Dick needs to work on his timing.”
Dean’s muscles continued to quake as his body began to slip into shock. Sam pulled him closer, cradling Dean against his bare chest to try to share his warmth. The moan that left Dean turned into another cough that left blood trickling down Dean's chin.
“Everyone’s gonna be fine and Castiel’s coming back so just hang in there,” Sam said.
“No problem.” Sam huddled over Dean to hear his softly spoken words. “Thanks for coming back, Sammy. I...”
While Dean didn’t have the energy to say it, he didn’t have to. Sam could see it in his brother’s exhausted eyes. “I know. Bobby told me everything. Me too, Dean. I’m not me without you.”
He had been so sure that he could live without Dean, but Dean had been right. There was a hell of a difference between surviving and living.
“You’ll be fine.” It had been a long time since Sam had felt panic, but Sam felt it now with the slackening of Dean’s muscles and the sight of the fight slipping from his brother’s eyes. “You were right. You’re stronger than me.”
Sam had thought so, had for a long time, and seeing Dean with his family had reinforced that. But he’d been wrong. Family gave Dean his strength, not weakened him. The only reason his brother was letting go now was because he thought everyone would be okay without him. He was wrong
“No, Dean. I’m not. And Ben...”
Before Sam could get out the words Dean’s head lolled limply against Sam’s chest. His breaths sounded wet, like the shallow inhales were pulling more blood than air into his lungs. A moment later the uneven breaths fell silent.
“Dean?”
Pain clutched Sam’s chest so hard that it felt as if his heart too had stopped. Since Sam had dived into the cage he hadn’t felt the sting of a single tear, not so much as a hitched breath. He never thought he’d feel enough to cry again, but the tears spilled over his cheeks as he gripped Dean’s body against him.
“Sam.”
At the calmly spoken tone, Sam slowly pulled his head up from where it was buried against Dean’s hair. He looked down to Dean who remained still in his arms before glancing up to see Castiel standing over him.
Sympathy spilled from the angel’s usually detached eyes. Castiel crouched across from him and held out his arms. They didn’t need to exchange words for Sam to know that Castiel wanted to take Dean from him. Sam shook his head and the angel gave a subtle nod before his hand reached out to touch Sam’s forehead.
In a flash the main floor of the church replaced the basement around them. People milled around the pews in confusion. Their panicked arguments slowly gave way to confused murmurs as everyone looked up to see Castiel standing over him and Dean in front of the altar. Sam too raised his uncertain eyes to the angel. The last place he wanted to be was in front of these people.
“Father Reed did not speak for heaven.”
As Castiel’s words addressed the assembled crowd, the angel leaned over Dean. When the angel’s fingers pressed against Dean’s head the gashes and bruises that had littered Dean’s skin vanished. By the time Sam recovered from his shock, Dean was again drawing air into his lungs.
Dean blindly fought Sam’s grip. While Sam's instinct was to tighten his hold on his brother, he realized that Dean was only aware that he was being pinned, not who was holding him. “Hey, Dean, it’s okay.”
“Sammy?" Dean's eyes fluttered open. "What the...”
His brother startled upright in Sam’s arms. When the jacket fell from Dean's shoulders, Sam repositioned it over Dean's lap. Dean was obviously disoriented and just looked confused by the action until his eyes fell on the parishioners gawking at them. With Dean again breathing beside him, Sam found it hard to care that they were there.
In disbelief, he ran his hand over the now unmarred skin of Dean’s back. His brother jerked at the touch and slapped his hand away. “Dude! I ain’t that happy to see you.”
With a shallow chuckle and a shake of his head, Sam glanced up to Castiel. Suddenly Lisa’s lack of injury registered. Apparently since Sam had taken his jump Castiel had gotten his angelic powers back and then some.
When he looked back to the crowd a boy with eyes nearly as blue as Mary’s stood at the bottom of the steps. The pale kid tilted his head as he looked at Dean, then to Castiel. “Is that an angel?”
“Yeah, he is,” Dean said. “But you can trust this one.”
It seemed to mean something to the boy. The nervous kid disappeared back into the crowd only to reappear a moment later with a folded pile of clothes that was obviously Dean’s. The boy crept up the steps and stopped just within arms reach of Dean before holding the clothes out to him.
The kid’s bottom lip trembled as Dean took the clothes. “I-I didn't know...”
“Hey, not your fault. The cookies were awesome.” Dean gave the kid a tired, but sincere smile. “Just don’t trust humans either, okay?”
The kid gave a little nod before dashing back down the steps. While Dean's eyes were locked on the kid, Sam couldn't take his eyes off his brother. Dean's movements were exhausted, but anxious as he slipped on his shirt and flannel.
Still sitting with Sam's jacket over his lap, Dean looked up to Castiel. “How about getting my undead, naked ass somewhere a little more private?”
Continue to Chapter 11
Summary: Two years after losing his brother, Dean has settled down and started a new family, but he’s never forgotten the family he left behind and his past has not forgotten him.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Violence, ritual abuse and nudity with children present, but not involved. Distorted uses of biblical quotes/Christian doctrine/ceremony.
Spoilers: Through early Season 6
Word Count: 3,360 for this chapter
Author’s Note: Diverges from canon about two minutes before the end of ‘Swan Song’ (no Sam spying on Dean and Lisa).
Written for spn_reversebang. The beautiful art featured along with this story was illustrated by puguita, whose art prompt and bountiful creativity inspired the story. All her illustrations can be found together at the art master post.
A million worlds of thanks to the truly awesome agent_jl36 and ebony_quill for their scene edits and the tremendously kind durtydeefla82 for taking the time to do a read through and edits for the whole shebang on extremely short notice.
The story master post can be found here.
~~~
Continued from Chapter 9
When Sam opened his eyes he was standing in a church. Soft light spilled in through the stained glass windows to amend the flickering glow of lit candles. The slight disorientation of Castiel zapping him there quickly passed and Sam was able to focus on the people that filled the pews. Most were hunched over in prayer and hadn’t even noticed Castiel and him appearing before them.
“Is that Michael?” a boy asked.
There was wonderment on the young face that momentarily set Sam back. He’d come prepared to tear apart everyone inside these walls. As the people began to raise their heads with looks of shock and hushed whispers Sam realized they were mostly, if not all, humans. This couldn’t be the right St. Peter’s Church.
Sam turned to tell Castiel as much when a panicked man shouted from the back. “Lucifer has risen!”
Some of the people hurtled themselves from the pews, climbing blindly over others who had resumed their prayers with increased fervor. Sam didn’t have time for any of them. While this had to be the place, what he didn’t see was Dean. A moment later, he didn’t see Castiel either.
Quickly he turned in search of the angel who he found standing in the back corner. Sam ignored the mix of desperately mumbled warding prayers and condemning shouts as he shoved through the flustered crowd. The glimmer of hope he’d held was gone when he saw past Castiel.
Lisa lay on the floor with her mouth gagged, arms and legs bound. Blood soaked her shirt. It took a moment of careful watching before Sam could make out the uneven rise and fall of her chest.
Kneeling down beside her, Castiel put his hand against her. At the touch Lisa gasped sharply and jerked up. Her eyes flew open and she fought against the bindings until her eyes locked questioningly on Sam. When he crouched down and flipped out his knife, fear returned to her face. She began to struggle again, screaming against the gag.
“It’s okay.”
She remained unconvinced until he started to slice through the ropes. The moment her wrists were free she moved her hands to her stomach, pressing tentatively against it before reaching up to yank the gag free from her mouth.
“Sam? Oh my God. How...” Her hand returned to her bloody shirt. She pulled it up enough to see the crimson stained bandages. After a slight hesitation she pulled back the gauze. Whatever injury she was looking for wasn’t there. While Sam furrowed his brow, Lisa automatically looked to the angel. “You’re Castiel.”
Before Castiel could reply, Sam stepped in. His hands gripped Lisa’s shoulders. “Lisa, where’s Dean?”
As if everything hit her at once her hand came up to her mouth. “I don’t know.” She struggled to keep her tone steady, but it fell to a whisper when her eyes met Sam’s. “I don’t know if he’s even alive. They were drowning him...I tried to stop them…” With a glance down to her shirt she took in another quick gasp. “Where are the kids?”
“They’re at Bobby’s. They’re safe.”
“No. They’re not safe.” Lisa’s tone was desperate. “They're sending people after Mary. That’s why Dean was fighting them.”
Taking a deep breath she used the wall for support to get back to her feet. The look in her eyes was the same one Sam had seen in Dean’s when his brother had been trying to decide whether to get his children to safety or to find his wife.
“Castiel will get you back to Bobby’s and make sure everyone’s safe.”
The angel’s determined eyes settled on Sam. “There’s no time for that.”
“Just do it.” While all he wanted was to see his brother safe, if they saved Dean in place of his children, they’d end up losing Dean anyway. After a long moment of staring into Castiel’s eyes, the angel gave an understanding nod. “I’ll find Dean,” Sam assured Lisa.
Before he could turn away she grabbed his arm. “They kept talking about a ritual and this book, but I don’t understand because they said they got it from Dean. I mean, what kind of book could he have? He doesn’t even read the newspaper.”
Sam knew there was no way Dean could read a newspaper without seeing cases. He also knew there was no way Dean had actually read that book. If anyone in the group could read it though they would have enough information to at least break open a devil’s gate. While he could hope that Dean and Bobby were wrong in thinking that the ritual could touch the cage, it didn’t matter. Whether or not it could, the people who had left Lisa to die beside them while they prayed for the end of the world wouldn’t hesitate in killing Dean to try.
His lips pressed into a grim line as Sam looked to Castiel. “Get back here fast.”
~~~
Ben sat at the kitchen table, his fingers idly tracing over the scratches in the wood. A much younger Dean's Swiss Army knife had put some of nicks into that table. Bobby tried not to think about it while he listened to the rickety chair squeak as Ben anxiously swung his legs. Somehow even Mary knew her parents were in trouble. Usually she was a big eater, but right now she stubbornly refused to down even one drop. Her tiny hands shoved the bottle away.
Suddenly the squeaking stopped. “Is Dad gonna be okay?”
If he wasn’t so knotted with worry, Bobby would have smiled. While the kid had been quick in taking to calling him Grandpa, he’d stubbornly resisted calling Dean by what he really was - Ben’s dad. Dean loved the kid, spent all his free time fussing over him and was willing to die for him. It didn’t have a damn thing to do with blood or a marriage certificate. Ben was family to the core.
But right now a smile was the furthest thing from Bobby’s lips. “Not once I get a hold of him,” Bobby growled. At Ben’s worried look Bobby took in a careful breath. “Your daddy’s gonna be just fine. He’s done stupider things and come out smelling like a rose.”
Ben’s face said the kid was thinking way too hard about something. “Uncle Sam says I should know how to shoot by now.” Ben warily glanced up from the table as he gauged Bobby’s reaction. “Why won’t Dad let me hunt?”
There was a can of worms that Bobby didn’t want to touch with a ten foot pole on a good day and today was damn far from a good day. All the same, the answer was so plain that there was no reason to avoid it. “’Cause he loves you.”
“But he was a hunter and he saved people all the time and he needs my help to protect Mom and Mary, but he won’t even let me shoot a gun and that’s not even hard...”
When the kid finally had to stop for air, Bobby cut in. “And you know it ain’t hard because...?”
A sheepish look crossed Ben’s face. The boy knew damn well that his dad didn’t want him messing with weapons and had never said a word of complaint about it before. Bobby knew it was no coincidence this was coming up after Sam’s talk with Ben. Sam never had known when to leave well enough alone.
“Ben, there’s a few things you need to know about your Uncle Sam.”
Bobby didn’t have time to come up with proper wording before there was a thud at the front door. It wasn’t a knock, but the sound of a body colliding with wood. When Bobby jumped to attention, Ben hopped off his chair. Quickly Bobby passed Mary into Ben’s arms. She squealed in protest, but Ben held her firmly despite her wiggling.
“You get to the panic room.” Ben’s mouth opened to argue, but clamped shut when Bobby again spoke, “Get your sister somewhere safe.”
As predictably as Dean, once the focus of the order shifted to protecting someone else, Ben was spurred into action. Bobby grabbed for the closest shotgun while Ben took off down the hall. Taking up position just out of sight of the front door, Bobby’s finger tensed on the trigger.
With a shattering crack the doorframe gave way. Bobby hesitated only long enough to verify that what walked through wasn’t Sam or Dean before he fired off the first shell. Anyone else deserved to get their asses shot just for busting his door.
Taking out the first two was like shooting ducks in a barrel, but there wasn’t just two. There was a damn swarm of them. Bobby scrambled for more shells and moved into sight to stop any of them from heading down the hall.
The shotgun was ripped from his grip before another shell could leave the barrel. Several men tackled him to the ground, knocking the air from his lungs. Two held him pinned to the floor while he struggled to catch his breath. Bobby’s eyes focused just in time to see the knife blade raised over him by a third man.
A gunshot sounded and the man fell limply on top of Bobby. The men holding him were startled long enough that Bobby could pull free from their grips and shove the body aside. When he looked up Bobby saw not Sam or Dean, but Ben standing with the Colt heavy in his hands. The boy was struggling to cock the stiff hammer back for another shot when Castiel appeared in the middle of the room.
“We sure could use that angelic assistance here!” Bobby shouted as he took a swing at the closest man.
After the man in front of Bobby fell he got his first clear view to see that it was Lisa, not either of the boys standing beside Castiel. While her shirt was stained with blood she physically looked no worse for the wear. Shock spread across Lisa’s face as she took in the scene.
“Mom!”
At Ben’s call Lisa ran to her son. Immediately she put herself between Ben and the closest threat. Ben tried to move past her to shoot the man rushing towards them, but Castiel intercepted. The man collapsed to the ground with a touch.
“Get to cover!” Bobby called out.
Lisa headed down the hall, pulling Ben along with her. After hearing the solid clang of the panic room’s door, Bobby focused back in on his own problems. He shot the shells he had loaded before switching to beating the men with the shotgun itself. When he looked over his shoulder to see what was taking that angel so damn long he saw Castiel standing within a small circle of fire.
Bobby smashed his elbow back into the face of the last man still standing. He wasn’t sure if the crack he heard was the man’s nose or Bobby’s own back trying to give out. His chest heaved as Bobby shook out his exhausted arms and shuffled back over to Castiel.
“I’m too damn old for this and don’t you be giving me that dirty look,” Bobby told the scowling angel. “I ain’t the one that opted for the fire in the middle of my living room.” When Castiel only stood still and continued glaring, Bobby looked back down to the short ring of flames. “Is that...?”
“Holy fire, yes. Apparently I have underestimated this group’s mystical prowess.”
“The news just keeps on getting better.” Bobby left Castiel just long enough to grab a bucket of water. At the oddly concerned look on Castiel’s face, Bobby’s gut tightened. “Where are the boys?”
With the fire out the, the angel was gone before an answer came.
~~~
It didn’t take long for Sam to find where Dean was being held. While part of the people in the church had fled, others held their ground. Sam headed straight for the door they were guarding. If they’d thought they stood a chance at hand to hand combat against him, they were wrong. In a flurry of motion Sam beat through the men that blocked his way and threw open the door.
The first thing he saw at the base of the stairs was the flickering circle of fire that surrounded two men. It took him a moment longer to see the third man on his knees and another second to realize that man shoving the dagger into his own bare chest was his brother.
Sam ran forward, opened his mouth to cry out to Dean, but was grabbed from behind by the time he reached the bottom of the steps. A horde of hands gripped him, holding him back and forcing him only to watch. He was too shocked by the sight to even breathe.
As Dean shoved the blade into himself a man in blood stained ceremonial attire stormed towards him. Unnoticing of the flames, the man strode through the ring of fire to rip the dagger from Dean’s chest. Dean’s head tilted back in a silent, agonized scream. The man’s hand latched onto and tightened around Dean’s throat.
“Betrayer!” the man spat in Dean’s face. “You will not corrupt what the Lord has set forth.”
“Touché, padre.”
Dean’s eyes were unfocused but seeped defiance as he coughed out the words. Fury raged over priest’s face, he pulled the dagger back to again drive it into Dean’s body. Before the priest could complete the strike, Sam broke free of the men that held him. He grabbed the priest’s reared back arm, jerking the man again through the flames and throwing him to the floor.
The priest’s alb was alight by the time Sam twisted the dagger from the man’s hands. Out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw the other two men leap from the circle and his brother slump forward. Sam was hit with another emotion he hadn’t felt for years. Pure rage.
A trace of confusion flashed over the priest’s face as he met Sam’s eyes. ”You were reared on the blood of Azazel and have housed the fallen. You have no dominion here.”
Every fiber of Sam’s being wanted to kill the man slowly, but he didn’t have the time to waste. Instead he simply drove the bloodied dagger into the man’s heart and shot a look to the others that hung by the door, daring any one of them to be next. No one answered the challenge.
Sam grabbed a large salad bowl from the closest buffet table, emptied the contents and filled it with water from the pool. While he ignored the flames consuming the priest, he splashed out the fire that burned around Dean. He skidded across the wet cement of the basement’s floor and dropped by Dean’s side.
“No...”
Dean’s entire body shivered uncontrollably. His skin was cold and wet. It was hard for Sam to touch him knowing that every contact could only bring more pain to the latticework of cuts over the bruises that covered his brother’s naked body. With a glance towards the priest, Sam hoped the man was still conscious enough to feel the flames.
Carefully he rolled Dean onto his side. When Dean coughed, dark blood spilled from his mouth. Quickly Sam shrugged out of his jacket and laid it gently over Dean’s shaking shoulders.
“Sam?” Dean parted his eyes, squinting against the overhead lights. His voice was a trembling whisper. “We gotta stop meeting like this.” Dean struggled to lift his head, his eyes scanning the room. “Where’s Lisa? Is she...”
“She’s fine, Dean.” Sam almost choked on the words as he tucked the jacket around his brother. His unsteady fingers unbuttoned his shirt, quickly pulling it off to press the rumpled fabric to the gushing wound on Dean’s chest. “Castiel took her back to Bobby’s.”
“Cas showed?” A ghost of a smile touched Dean’s blood coated lips. “Dick needs to work on his timing.”
Dean’s muscles continued to quake as his body began to slip into shock. Sam pulled him closer, cradling Dean against his bare chest to try to share his warmth. The moan that left Dean turned into another cough that left blood trickling down Dean's chin.
“Everyone’s gonna be fine and Castiel’s coming back so just hang in there,” Sam said.
“No problem.” Sam huddled over Dean to hear his softly spoken words. “Thanks for coming back, Sammy. I...”
While Dean didn’t have the energy to say it, he didn’t have to. Sam could see it in his brother’s exhausted eyes. “I know. Bobby told me everything. Me too, Dean. I’m not me without you.”
He had been so sure that he could live without Dean, but Dean had been right. There was a hell of a difference between surviving and living.
“You’ll be fine.” It had been a long time since Sam had felt panic, but Sam felt it now with the slackening of Dean’s muscles and the sight of the fight slipping from his brother’s eyes. “You were right. You’re stronger than me.”
Sam had thought so, had for a long time, and seeing Dean with his family had reinforced that. But he’d been wrong. Family gave Dean his strength, not weakened him. The only reason his brother was letting go now was because he thought everyone would be okay without him. He was wrong
“No, Dean. I’m not. And Ben...”
Before Sam could get out the words Dean’s head lolled limply against Sam’s chest. His breaths sounded wet, like the shallow inhales were pulling more blood than air into his lungs. A moment later the uneven breaths fell silent.
“Dean?”
Pain clutched Sam’s chest so hard that it felt as if his heart too had stopped. Since Sam had dived into the cage he hadn’t felt the sting of a single tear, not so much as a hitched breath. He never thought he’d feel enough to cry again, but the tears spilled over his cheeks as he gripped Dean’s body against him.
“Sam.”
At the calmly spoken tone, Sam slowly pulled his head up from where it was buried against Dean’s hair. He looked down to Dean who remained still in his arms before glancing up to see Castiel standing over him.
Sympathy spilled from the angel’s usually detached eyes. Castiel crouched across from him and held out his arms. They didn’t need to exchange words for Sam to know that Castiel wanted to take Dean from him. Sam shook his head and the angel gave a subtle nod before his hand reached out to touch Sam’s forehead.
In a flash the main floor of the church replaced the basement around them. People milled around the pews in confusion. Their panicked arguments slowly gave way to confused murmurs as everyone looked up to see Castiel standing over him and Dean in front of the altar. Sam too raised his uncertain eyes to the angel. The last place he wanted to be was in front of these people.
“Father Reed did not speak for heaven.”
As Castiel’s words addressed the assembled crowd, the angel leaned over Dean. When the angel’s fingers pressed against Dean’s head the gashes and bruises that had littered Dean’s skin vanished. By the time Sam recovered from his shock, Dean was again drawing air into his lungs.
Dean blindly fought Sam’s grip. While Sam's instinct was to tighten his hold on his brother, he realized that Dean was only aware that he was being pinned, not who was holding him. “Hey, Dean, it’s okay.”
“Sammy?" Dean's eyes fluttered open. "What the...”
His brother startled upright in Sam’s arms. When the jacket fell from Dean's shoulders, Sam repositioned it over Dean's lap. Dean was obviously disoriented and just looked confused by the action until his eyes fell on the parishioners gawking at them. With Dean again breathing beside him, Sam found it hard to care that they were there.
In disbelief, he ran his hand over the now unmarred skin of Dean’s back. His brother jerked at the touch and slapped his hand away. “Dude! I ain’t that happy to see you.”
With a shallow chuckle and a shake of his head, Sam glanced up to Castiel. Suddenly Lisa’s lack of injury registered. Apparently since Sam had taken his jump Castiel had gotten his angelic powers back and then some.
When he looked back to the crowd a boy with eyes nearly as blue as Mary’s stood at the bottom of the steps. The pale kid tilted his head as he looked at Dean, then to Castiel. “Is that an angel?”
“Yeah, he is,” Dean said. “But you can trust this one.”
It seemed to mean something to the boy. The nervous kid disappeared back into the crowd only to reappear a moment later with a folded pile of clothes that was obviously Dean’s. The boy crept up the steps and stopped just within arms reach of Dean before holding the clothes out to him.
The kid’s bottom lip trembled as Dean took the clothes. “I-I didn't know...”
“Hey, not your fault. The cookies were awesome.” Dean gave the kid a tired, but sincere smile. “Just don’t trust humans either, okay?”
The kid gave a little nod before dashing back down the steps. While Dean's eyes were locked on the kid, Sam couldn't take his eyes off his brother. Dean's movements were exhausted, but anxious as he slipped on his shirt and flannel.
Still sitting with Sam's jacket over his lap, Dean looked up to Castiel. “How about getting my undead, naked ass somewhere a little more private?”
Continue to Chapter 11