[Fic] John'Verse - Story Twenty-Four - A Winchester Family Vacation
Title: A Winchester Family Vacation
Author: Stolen Childe
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters don’t belong to me. They belong to Kripke and Co.
Rating: PG
Content/Warnings: minor violence, language, fluff, domestic, kid!fic, future!fic, a bit of a case!fic, minor slash
Pairing/Characters: Dean/Castiel, Sam Child OCs - John T., Mary J., Jasper Winchester
Word Count: 9600
Summary: It’s the annual Winchester camping trip but things don’t go exactly as planned.
Author’s Notes: Well it’s been awhile since I updated the John’Verse, but here is Story Twenty-Four. This started as a light fluffy, domestic piece and sort of got away from me. Please enjoy! Feedback is loved and cherished.
John’s Age: 19
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A Winchester Family Vacation
“You cannot be serious,” Mary popped her bubble gum and looked up at her father with flat green eyes. Her blond curls were pulled back in a ponytail and her way too big sunglasses were perched on her nose.
“Yaaaayyyy!!!” Jasper cried out as he zoomed passed her, arms held to his sides like an airplane, he was grinning and giggling and basically vibrating with excitement.
“Come on ‘Ree,” Sam cajoled, grinning at his daughter, “it’ll be fun.”
“No, it’ll be hell,” Mary retorted.
“Hey, watch your language,” Sam chastised.
“John swears like all the time,” Mary rolled her eyes. “And way worse than that.”
“John’s nineteen… and raised by heathens,” Sam frowned.
“Hey!” Dean shouted from where he stood by the truck. “Half by a heathen!”
“Oh please, Cas has a worse mouth on him than you do!” Sam called back.
“Cas is like almost the king of Heaven, he’s allowed!” Dean called in return. “Which means you can’t call him a heathen or he’ll smite you.”
“No he won’t! If he did there’d be no one here to take his side!”
“I’m fairly certain Jasper would take my side, but I’m not quite sure the influence a nine year old boy possesses,” Cas came out of the house then, carrying a duffle in each hand dressed casually in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt… and Good Lord were those-
“Good God Cas!? Are you wearing Birkenstocks?!” Dean exclaimed, coming over and looking mortified down at Castiel’s skinny exposed toes.
“I’m an angel, I’m allowed,” Castiel flashed a brief rare grin, his eyes twinkling as he tossed the duffle bags at Dean without warning. Dean huffed out a breath as he caught them.
“Jesus, what did you pack? Solid gold chainmail?” Dean griped, slinging the bags up and over the side of the truck.
“No, I left that in Heaven with my trumpet and harp.”
“And thank God for that,” John grinned, he had a knapsack slung over his shoulder and he dropped it in the truck bed next to his parents’ duffles.
“Dad! Pop! Uncle Sam! Let’s go!” Jasper called out, hanging half his little body out the driver’s side window and waving down his parents and uncle.
“I’m not going,” Mary said. She flipped open her cellphone and began rapidly texting. “Camping is like way lame and just plan gross… And I swear that trailer thing you have? I’m sure it’s riddled with disease and I’ll die if I sleep in it.”
“Mary, you used to love going camping…. And this isn’t a negotiation… and I told you to leave your phone in your room,” Sam glared down at his daughter.
The girl looked up and quirked a brow, deliberately looking back down at her phone and turning her back on her father.
Dean snickered.
“Shut up,” Sam glared at his brother.
“Hey, my kids are excited to go,” Dean couldn’t help the self-satisfied grin.
“Yes,” Castiel said edgily, peering at the rapidly vibrating truck, “and I fear if we don’t get on the road soon Jasper will save us the trip and transport the truck to the campsite.”
“Mary, give me your phone,” Sam held out a hand.
“Dude, not happening,” Mary snorted.
“Mary Jessica,” Sam leaned forward and hissed, “give me your phone right now or so help me God…”
“Jeeze, Samuel, take a pill, will you?” Mary rolled her eyes and tossed her phone at her father, walking in an exaggerated slump over to the truck and climbing in like they were about to drive her to her death.
“That’s Dad to you, Young Lady!” Sam shouted out to her.
“Oh Man, I pity you, so much,” Dean said all sympathy.
“God, if she’s like this now and she’s only twelve…” Sam shuddered holding the phone out to John. “Zap that to her room?”
John snapped his fingers and it disappeared off Sam’s hand.
“Who’s coming with me?” Sam asked.
“Jass is already in the truck so the three of us will take the Impala,” Dean said swinging the keys around his index finger and contemplating for a moment before he handed them over to John.
“Nice,” John grinned, snatching the keys.
“Shotgun,” Castiel said perfectly casual, moving to the passenger side of the Impala.
“Cas! You bastard!” Dean whined. “I never should have taught you that.”
“Well you did,” John grinned all teeth. It was Castiel’s grin at its best and Dean couldn’t help but grin back, he shouldered his son out of the way and climbed into the back seat of the Impala.
Dean groaned and winced a little as he hunched in the confined space, “I am way too old for this.”
John snorted, “Please, you and Uncle Sam have be doused in angel juice for like twenty how many years? The last time you actually aged significantly was when?”
“Dean, I have several millennia on you so I would seriously reconsider before complaining about age,” Castiel stated in his archangel voice.
“Yeah, yeah, celestial being, older than dirt… blah, blah, blah,” Dean waved it off just to be a smartass. “Try being a fifty-four year old human, then tell me about age.”
John started the engine of the Impala and just listened to her purr for a moment before easing her out of the driveway.
So began the Winchester Family Vacation.
xx
At the first rest stop, Sam looked as if he were ready to snap; even his hair was frazzled and vibrating with tension. Dean slapped his brother manfully on the back as they walked towards the diner next to the gas station.
“Take her, please,” Sam begged. “I’ll take John and Jasper and listen to whatever crap they’re into these days if you just take her.”
“I think they’re calling it Retro Punk,” Dean made a face. “I don’t even think they know what retro means.”
Sam chuckled and then quirked a brow, “Where’s your angel?”
Dean looked around for a moment then pointed, “With your daughter.” Dean then looked around for his own children and through the diner window he caught sight of John leaning on the counter and clearly flirting with the jail-bait looking waitress on the other side who giggled and twirled a strand of her hair.
Dean rolled his eyes, “Excuse me, I have to cock-block my nineteen year old son before he earns himself to a sexual harassment suit.”
Sam shook his head, “I take it back, you can keep John.”
“Gee thanks,” Dean muttered, pushing through the doors.
Castiel and Mary joined Sam a moment later. The girl looked clearly chagrined and the archangel looked smug.
Mary came up to Sam and hugged him tight around the waist, tilting her chin up against his stomach to look at him, “I’m sorry Daddy.”
Sam blinked, looking over at Cas and mouthed a quick, ‘What did you do?’ Castiel just shook his head and wandered into the diner. Sam picked Mary up and settled her on his hip, she was getting older now but he was tall and strong enough that he could still do this and would take advantage of her being his little girl for as long as she allowed.
“Thank you Baby Girl. Ready to eat now?”
Mary nodded. Sam gave her a quick hug and set her own her feet.
xx
Dean was sitting with his head close to Castiel’s and chuckling softly when Sam found them at the booth. When Sam settled into the booth with Mary right behind him, Dean flashed Sam a grin. Sam would ask about that later.
“Where’re the boys?” Sam asked.
“John took Jass to the bathroom,” Dean shrugged.
“That waitress’s virtue still intact?” Sam asked.
Dean laughed again, “For today. John gave me a look that was all Heavenly Wrath when I not so subtly cut in.”
“Good thing you’ve grown immune then. I’d hate for you to spend our holiday a pile of ashes,” Castiel drawled.
“Kid’s got nothing on you. He thinks he’s badass, but he still has some years ahead of him,” Dean grinned.
John and Jasper returned then, the younger boy skipping merrily ahead of the older boy. John was wearing a look of fond exasperation as he dutifully watched his brother. Jasper scrambled into the booth when he arrived climbing over Dean and settling between the green-eyed man and the angel.
“Oof,” Dean managed. “Watch it Kiddo. Almost too big for that.”
“You could have just asked Dad to move, Squirt,” John said.
Jasper stuck his tongue out and was about to retort when their waitress came over. She was probably around Dean’s age maybe a few years older, and her nametag declared her to be ‘Suze.’
“Dad, huh? What were you sixteen when you started?” she grinned kindly and Dean didn’t take offence.
“You flatter me,” Dean said.
“What can I get you gentlemen and you, Young Miss?” Suze asked with pencil poised over her pad.
“Coffee,” the three adults and John answered simultaneously.
“Papa! I want chocolate milk,” Jasper declared, tugging on Castiel’s sleeve.
“You had chocolate milk with breakfast,” Castiel said.
“But-”
“Jasper, listen to your father,” Dean said sternly. He turned to Suze with a smile, “He’ll have white milk.”
“No fun, Dad,” Jasper pouted.
“My job isn’t to make your life fun,” Dean returned.
Suze had a twinkle in her eyes as she watched the three then turned to Sam with an equally friendly smile, “Fatherly wisdom for your beautiful girl?”
Sam grinned, “Nah, she’s pretty good with picking. What’ll it be, Mare-bear?”
Mary bit her lip, then smiled shyly, “Iced tea?” Suze waited for Sam’s go-ahead before writing it down.
Sam nodded, “Ice tea it is.”
“I miss my kids being this young,” Suze smiled wistfully. “I’ll be back with your drinks to take your food order. Kid’s menu is on the back.”
“Thanks,” Dean grinned.
“Dude, get the chicken fingers,” John nudged Jasper from across the table.
“Nuh uh, you’ll just steal them all if I do, then I won’t have anything to eat,” Jasper shook his head.
“Ah man, I’ll share my club sandwich?” John cajoled.
“It has tomatoes,” Jasper made a face of pure contempt. “Can I get grilled cheese?”
Dean flipped over to the back of his menu, “What’s it have with it?”
“Fries,” Castiel was already there, “though it also can be ordered with a vegetable plate.”
“If you get the fries, you have to get the fruit for your dessert, deal?”
“I wanted pie,” Jasper pouted.
“Fruit for dessert, or veggies for a side, Kiddo. Gotta have one,” Dean said.
“But-”
“Jasper, listen to your father,” Castiel’s turn to chastise this time.
John snickered.
“Shut up, John!”
“Hey!” all three adults chimed in on that one.
“Fine, I’ll get veggies cuz I want pie,” Jasper said firmly.
“Pie is awesome. I totally support your choice,” Dean grinned.
“I’ll order the chicken fingers for you John if I get half your club sandwich and you don’t touch my sweet potato fries,” Mary bargained.
“Cool. See Jass? Mary’s cool,” John poked his brother.
“John!” Jasper whined.
“John,” Castiel frowned.
“Damn Kid, you keep reaching across the table like that, I’m gonna make you eat in the car,” Dean scolded.
John rolled his eyes and Dean reached up to ruffle his older son’s hair in punishment.
“Man! Not the hair! Not cool, Dad,” John smoothed down his chestnut waves and scowled over at his father.
“Are we all set?” Suze came back over.
Sam chuckled, “Yes, forgive the zoo.”
“I’ve had worse. I have four boys,” Suze smiled and waved it off. “What’ll it be?”
“I’ll get the Cobb salad and my daughter will have the chicken fingers with sweet potato fries,” Sam said, handing over the menu.
Suze took it with a smile, “Dipping sauce?”
“Ah…” Sam drifted, Mary shrugged.
“Honey mustard,” John hissed, then shot an innocent smile in response to Suze’s eyebrow quirk.
“Honey… mustard,” Sam replied.
Suze chuckled and wrote it down, “Next?”
“We’ll both have the bacon cheese burger and fries. The munchkin between us will have grilled cheese with the veggie plate,” Dean responded.
“Veggie plate? Most parents have to pull teeth to get that ordered.”
“We made a deal,” Castiel replied solemnly.
Suze chuckled, “Sure thing then. And for you Cutie Pie? Or are you just gonna stick with the chicken fingers?”
John blushed, “Club sandwich please… With fries.” He handed Suze his menu without meeting her eye.
xx
The rest of lunch happily went without incident and Dean was more than relieved to slide back in the Impala, this time firmly ensconced in the driver’s seat. John had grumbled as he slouched in the back, he knew better than to fight Castiel for the passenger side. Dean was glad at least one of them was still scary, considering Dean lost his ability the minute John hit six foot two and a half inches and could bench press a Buick without breaking a sweat.
Dean still thought it a little unfair that along with the wings, and the super-strength and assorted crazy angel powers, John also gained an inch on him. It looked like Jasper wouldn’t get much taller than Castiel though so Dean allowed that to make him happy. At least he’d still have one little boy.
“Should’ve gone in the truck with Uncle Sam,” John grumbled for the eleventh time as he shifted in the back seat.
“Suck it up Squirt, I made the trip without complaining and you’re way younger than me so you can deal with it,” Dean said, smirking in the rear view mirror.
“Dad! It says that the third largest ball of twine is along the way to the campsite, can we go, can we go, please can we go?” Jasper bounced in the back seat, map and guide book splayed before him.
Dean grimaced, “Sorry Kiddo, you know how many times I’ve seen the third, second and first largest balls of twine?”
Jasper pouted, “Its way cooler than my life that you and Uncle Sam got to travel across the country for like ever fighting monsters. Why don’t we do that, huh Papa?”
“Jasper,” Castiel tone was gentle but warning. Blue met blue in the rear-view mirror but Jasper wouldn’t relent.
“Don’t you miss fighting monsters Dad? And you Papa, you spent like six million years battling demons, don’t you miss that? Why can’t John and I travel across the country in the Impala and fight monsters? I bet we’d be real good at it. Wouldn’t we John?”
“Jass, come on buddy,” John said quietly. “Just leave it all right?”
“You got to go all over until you were five, it’s not fair,” Jasper pouted.
“It’s not all flash and glamour, Monkey,” Dean said his tone even and eyes hard though he was fighting both. “Believe me, I would have killed to have your life. Sammy too.”
“That’s not what the books said,” Jasper muttered.
“Books?” Dean blinked shooting a glance over to Castiel who just shook his head not understanding either.
“Yeah, when you guys ditched me and Mary at Grampa Bobby’s a few weeks ago, I found this box of books. Real old novels called Supernatural by this Edlund guy. Said you wanted to fight monsters and demons and all that and you wouldn’t know how to be if you couldn’t anymore.”
Dean scowled, “You shouldn’t have read those books Jasper.”
“They’re just books,” Jasper rolled his eyes. “Not my fault they were about you and Uncle Sam. Though I kept waiting to read about Papa and he never came… They ended real weird, with you going to Hell… And that’s just stupid, you’ve never been to Hell and you would never make a deal with a demon.”
Without warning Dean slammed the breaks on and skidded onto the shoulder. He unbuckled and stormed free from the confines of the Impala slamming the door hard enough behind him to make his family wince and the car shudder.
“Ah… What did I say?” the nine-year-old frowned.
“Jesus, Jass,” John muttered, slumping against the door and looking away from his brother.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Castiel said firmly as he got out of the car.
Jasper shrunk into his seat and swallowed. “What did I say?” the boy asked meekly.
“Dean.”
“Not right now, Castiel.”
Castiel winced and nodded and took a few steps back, heading over to the Impala and sitting on the hood, watching the glimpse of water in the distance. John slid out of the car and came over to sit next to his father.
“Ah… guess we should have told Jasper,” John remarked.
“Dean just called me Castiel.”
“Shit,” John muttered. “Not your fault though.”
“I told him not to tell Jasper.”
“Oh… Why?”
Castiel snorted bitterly, “I wanted to protect him.”
“Which one?” John asked.
Castiel gave his son a level look, “Both.”
“Yeah.”
It turned out Jasper was a fast little thing because just as John and Castiel both noticed that he had climbed out of the car against express orders he was right behind Dean and launching himself in a hug at his father’s back. Castiel was on his feet instantly and John wasn’t far behind but neither of them were really worried that Dean would hurt Jasper, he’d never hurt Jasper, but he may yell an awful lot and that was never fun.
Dean however, despite a brief tensing of his shoulders turned and picked Jasper up to rest on his hip, pressing a kiss to the boy’s temple and wandered a little ways down the shoulder, near the guardrail at the side of the gorge.
“Oh,” John blinked.
“We are forever underestimating them both,” Castiel added.
“I’m incredibly tempted to listen in right now,” John admitted, biting his lip. Castiel put a placating hand on John’s arm and minutely shook his head. John sighed, nodded and settled back on the hood of the Impala. Castiel after a moment sat next to him.
A few minutes after probably what would be seen as creepy staring, John and Castiel turned to one another as Dean and Jasper came back. Dean tossed Jasper straight up in the air but rather than allowing himself to fall back to Earth Jasper appeared behind Dean and startled his father with a playful tackle at his back. Dean laughed and bent down so Jasper could clamour up for a piggy-back ride and the two came back to the car.
“Getting too big for all that, Kiddo,” Dean said, as he settled Jasper on his feet next to John and Castiel.
“Think I’ll be as tall as Uncle Sam when I’m older?” Jasper asked excitedly.
“Hope not! I need one of my kids to stay shorter than me!” Dean grinned.
“I’m gonna be as tall as Uncle Sam,” Jasper said defiantly, though he was grinning.
“Get in the car, Brat,” Dean ruffled his hair. “All of you. Uncle Sam’s gonna tease me for a week about beating me there if we don’t hurry up.”
“Dean…”
Dean leaned forward and dropped a loud sloppy kiss on Castiel’s lips, “I’m sorry.”
“Me too,” Castiel replied.
John and Jasper made gagging sounds as they playfully stumbled to the car. John picked his brother up at the last moment and gently tossed him inside the Impala. Jasper squealed happily then jumped on John when the older boy slid inside.
“All right, cut it out you two hooligans,” Dean said. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Dad you really gonna keep your promise?” Jasper asked, as Dean eased back on to the highway.
Dean nodded, “Always keep them with you, Jass. Not gonna change that now.”
“Cool!” Jasper grinned.
Castiel shared a suspicious glace with John before asking, “What promise?”
Dean and Jasper shared a grin in the mirror and didn’t respond.
xx
The pie-induced sugar high must have hit Jasper full force because the moment they checked into the camp grounds and unlocked their camper Jasper was running around the site as if he had demons on his tail.
John was kneeling next to the fire pit and attempting to get it lit without resorting to angelic assistance. He was failing miserably and threw Dean’s lighter half way across the grass.
“Why can’t I-”
“No, old fashioned way,” Dean interrupted.
“Technically…” John began but he was cut off with a sharp sound from Dean. John pouted. Mary rolled her eyes, picked up Dean’s tossed lighter and began setting up the sticks and kindling.
“You suck on a thousand levels,” Mary teased blandly as after only one attempt she had the fire ready and happily popping.
Sam grinned at his brother and Dean glared back. Sam mimed himself scoring a point and Dean getting a big goose egg before the overgrown Winchester settling back in his chair and hugged Mary to his side. Mary beamed.
“Well whatever, my kid can fly,” Dean retorted.
“Hey!” Sam laughed. “Don’t be a jerk.”
“I was just outdone by a twelve year old. Eff my life,” John slumped back on the grass.
Mary proceeded to celebrate her victory by dancing around the campsite with Jasper.
“I am the champion!” Mary sang.
“Okay, she’s cool. Queen rocks…” Dean said.
“On occasion,” John, Sam and Castiel chimed in before Dean could complete the thought.
“All of you are just intimidated by how awesome I am,” Dean huffed. “Who’s coming fishing?”
Jasper raced over to his dad and grinned, “Me!”
“Excellent, excellent. The rest of you?” Dean asked.
Mary wrinkled up her nose, “Ew.”
“I concur with that assessment,” Sam added gravely.
“Pop and I were gonna head into town and get some groceries,” John said.
“Tomorrow maybe,” Castiel said.
“Well, your loss. Come on Jasper. We’re the cool ones anyway,” Dean held out a hand that Jasper grabbed willingly and the two went to the hatch of the camper to pull out their fishing gear. It took a few minutes to pull Jasper’s line out of the back. Dean congratulated himself for the fact he had thought to buy bait at the check-in office. Father and son headed down to the lake with rods over their shoulders. Sam could only smile at how utterly idyllic the image was.
Castiel refused to let John drive the Impala without Dean there, so a pouting nineteen-year- old climbed into the passenger seat. Sam waved as they pulled back down the lane to the main road.
xx
When Dean and Jasper came back Castiel already had foil-wrapped potatoes nestled in the coals of the fire pit and burgers and chicken cooking on the small camping grill. Sam was sitting in his chair with Mary snug next to him. He was reading her Harry Potter for what had to be the one hundredth time, even though she was well beyond old enough to read it for herself. It was tradition when they went camping. Dean still remembered fondly the one year Mary was old enough to say, “Uncle Cas? Is Hogwarts real?” Castiel had looked very serious and solemn when he admitted his lack of knowledge on the subject and finally conceded to check for Mary just to be sure. Castiel was gone for a handful of minutes before he returned with the sad news that he could not find any evidence of the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Mary, young and idealistic hadn’t been swayed. “It’s prob’ly hidden real well so even angels can’t find it.” Castiel had generously replied, “I’m certain you are correct.” Still to this day, Dean wasn’t sure if Castiel had really flown to Scotland for Mary’s request. He probably had.
“Smells good Cas!” Dean said by way of greeting.
“As much as I would love to take the credit for your olfactory gratification, John is our culinary master this evening,” Castiel replied, lips quirking.
“Yikes!” Dean grinned. “I call first dibs on angel mojo after he poisons us all.”
John rolled his eyes, “Gee thanks. It’s grilling, it’s not rocket science.”
“Rocket science isn’t as complicated as you’d think,” Sam said absently. The rest of the family gaped at him for a moment. Met with the fish faces of those around him, Sam cleared his throat and returned to his reading.
Castiel frowned as he came closer to Jasper who was crouching by the bonfire and poking at the coals with a stick. Castiel knelt and titled Jasper’s face into the light, “Dean, he got sunburnt.”
Dean grimaced, “Sorry Cas… Water, sun… Oops? He did have sunscreen and a hat on but well… sometimes it can’t be helped.”
“Dean,” Castiel’s tone was low and threatening.
Dean backed away slowly, hands held up placating, “I swear, I put sunscreen on him… but there’s a possibility he tripped and fell into the lake and it wasn’t the waterproof stuff.”
“Dean.”
“Yes, Cas?” Dean asked meekly.
“Run.”
Dean did. Castiel waited twenty seconds before chasing after him.
“I don’t see how Dad throwing me into the water, means I tripped and fell,” Jasper remarked idly.
John snorted in amusement and brushed a hand over his brother’s face. The burn cleared up instantly, Jasper wrinkled his nose and sneezed.
“Tickled,” Jasper pouted. “How long do you think they’ll be?”
John smirked, “Depends on whether or not that was all just some big ploy to get laid.”
“Gross!” Jasper shouted.
“Ew,” Mary made a face.
“John!” Sam chastised though his eyes were glittering with amusement.
“Whatever, let’s eat,” John grinned.
xx
Dean and Castiel had returned nearly an hour later, both solemn and looking remarkably rumpled. After they ate and everyone was settled around the bonfire with marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers at the ready for S’mores, Jasper insisted on telling a ghost story.
“Not so long ago, in a town not very far away there was a young minister’s daughter who was out on a date with her boyfriend. The girl and the boyfriend were sitting in the boy’s car watching the stars when a sudden creak split the quiet of the night. Curious as to what would have made such a scary noise the boy climbed out of the car and went to find out. The girl stayed inside, too afraid to follow.
“Suddenly she heard the awful sound again! The screeching of metal on metal then all was very suddenly quiet. Just as she thought the threat had passed she heard a thump and screamed into the night. Needing to find out, the girl climbed out of the car and that when she saw the most awful sight: the side of the jeep was torn to pieces and a strange symbol was etched into the green paint and on top of the car, the boy hung. Dead! As the girl fled in terror she passed a sign that read ‘Nine Mile Road.’”
As Jasper continued his story, Sam and Dean shared a significant look and fought their snickers as they were regaled with the story of one of their own adventures. Mary seemed to be enjoying it so they let it slide.
“God that was years ago,” Sam shook his head. They had just finished tucking Mary and Jasper in bed in the trailer. Dean, Castiel and Sam joined John back around the bonfire.
“Oh but she was hot. You remember her Sammy? Maybe you should go look her up, see if she’s still as innocent as she once was,” Dean waggled his eyebrows.
“Dean, that was… Jesus that was twenty-eight years ago,” Sam shook his head. “She’s probably married with kids by now. Actually I would bet a thousand bucks she’s married with kids by now and wouldn’t even remember me. I honestly forget her name.”
Dean frowned, “Yeah, me too.”
“The early days of what you guys did was kind of cool. I never talked about it obviously but when we played heroes when I was a kid in school I always pretended to be one of you guys,” John grinned. “Did you tell Jasper everything?”
Dean’s grin faltered, “Nah… just some of it.”
Castiel handed them all a beer and settled down next to Dean, “I am sorry.”
“Hey, it’s no big deal,” Dean shrugged. “I overreacted.”
Sam leaned back in his chair and took a sip from his bottle looking up at the stars, “Remember when we went camping because we had to?”
“Oh yeah,” Dean said. “I loved it but you always hated it. You would lock yourself in your tent all night with your homework and not speak to Dad the entire time.”
“Funny, if you asked twelve-year-old me if I’d ever do this by choice I would’ve said not in a million years, now that I’m older though I like it. It’s nice out here.”
“I always appreciated being out in nature, even before I had such contact with humanity,” Castiel mused. “I feel the closet to my Father when I am among this element of His Creation.”
“Hey, you guys ever think this would be your life?” John asked, sipping his beer and turning curious eyes to his parents.
“Kinda gay, sorta married to an angel, with a mortgage and two kids?” Dean grinned, “No way in hell.”
“My life is eternal and until recent events rarely changing. I did not think on the future because my future would be as my past and in fact were often interchangeable if I chose them to be,” Castiel answered. “So no.”
Sam got quiet and gazed into the low flames dancing and popping before his softly answered, “Yeah. A lot of it, I guess. I figured I’d marry Jess and she’d be a teacher and I would be a lawyer. Summer vacations we’d take to various places, with our 2.5 kids and our Golden Retriever. Jess liked camping...
“Though being a single dad who still lived with his brother and his brother’s sort of husband and his two nephews? Nope. Never in a million years.”
Dean leaned across the small gap separating him from Sam and squeezed his brother’s knee. Sam shot Dean a small shaky smile before they all turned back to the flame and slowly sipped their beer.
xx
John and Sam came into the trailer about an hour ago and climbed up on their respective sleeping spots. Mary was fast asleep on the bunk across form Jasper and John and Sam were both snoring softly in the quiet of the trailer. Crickets chirped delicately outside and a light strand of silvery moonlight snuck in through the slat-blinds providing enough light to see by but not enough light to disturb.
John and Sam coming into the trailer had not been what woke Jasper up. The moonlight had not been what woke him up and Mary’s soft rustling on the bunk across from Jasper had not been what woke him up. Jasper wasn’t actually all that sure what had woken him up but he just knew he was awake now and felt a weird crawling over his skin.
Outside earlier that night he thought maybe, perhaps he had seen something in the trees but he wasn’t about to admit to it in front of his parents, brother, uncle or cousin. He wasn’t a baby and wasn’t about to let a shadow in the treetops frighten him. It was probably just a trick of the light anyway.
But just to be sure… Jasper bit his lip and carefully climbed down of his bed, flicking his gaze to John who was sacked out on the bunk underneath him. When John didn’t stir Jasper tiptoed barefoot across the cool vinyl of the camper floor and paused at the door to stare at Uncle Sam for almost a full minute before judging that Sam was going to stay asleep too.
Jasper eased open the trailer door and stepped out onto the textured metal steps. They creaked, high and whiny into the night and Jasper stilled instantly when he heard the noise. He waited two heartbeats… four, staring intently at his parents’ tent a few feet away, before moving again across the grass scratchy, damp and cool underneath his bare feet. Jasper picked up the flashlight from off the cooler by the door and walked quietly to the edge of the campsite, lighting up the treetops and peering into the shadowy branches.
He shone it this way and that for several long minutes and found nothing. About to give up and chalk his feeling up to childish fantasy Jasper shrugged and clicked off the light ready to head back inside. Just as the light went out, movement flashed in Jasper’s peripheral. He pivoted quickly, flicked the light back on and shone it right into a craggy lined face. A mossy twisted grin flashing darkly in the night.
Jasper screamed.
Jasper was huddled against Castiel’s chest in the tent before Dean even had the zipper halfway down, gun in hand knife between his teeth. Dean turned and met Castiel’s gaze. The angel looked back at Dean, blank and just as confused.
“Jasper, what happened?” Dean asked, kneeling in front of the trembling boy and placing a gentle hand on his back.
“There’s a monster in the trees!” Jasper stuttered out, blue eyes wide and frightened in the dim light of the tent.
Dean looked grimly at Castiel who nodded his head in a ‘you go’ gesture. Dean nodded back, gently pried the flashlight free from Jasper’s quivering hands. The green eyed man turned back, finished unzipping the tent and crept out, well-armed, into the darkness.
Sam and John met him on the grass between the tent and the trailer, Sam searching the area flashlight and gun in hand. John held his angel blade firm in his fist.
“What happened?” John asked.
“Jasper saw something in the trees.”
“Dean are you sure…?” Sam drifted.
“Do you want to risk not checking it out?” Dean asked sharply.
Sam conceded that point easily. There were two things this could be, the overactive imagination of a precocious nine-year-old boy or a Winchester problem. Sam wasn’t sure how to place the odds if he were a betting man and by Dean’s tight lipped expression he wasn’t at all certain either. Sam walked further into the woods.
“Dad…” John spoke up after several minutes of dutiful searching. “Pop didn’t sense anything weird when we rolled in and neither did I. Jasper told that ghost story and he’s been reading a lot about you guys… Maybe that combined with what happened in the car earlier today, do you think maybe he just wants something to be there?”
“He was freaked out John, you should have seen his face,” Dean retorted, turning out his light with a sigh.
“He’s nine,” John replied. “Just because he’s half-angel doesn’t mean he can’t get freaked out like any other nine-year-old boy camping in the woods after a ghost story. Remember after I saw Happy Feet for the first time I thought a giant mutant penguin was going to break into the house, transform me into a fish and eat me?”
Dean snorted, “Yeah. I had to bribe a zoo keeper to let you go see the penguins on off-hours so you wouldn’t be afraid anymore. Penguins are awesome, Dude.”
“Not when they dance,” John gritted out and grimaced. Dean had to hold back his snicker.
“Got nothing,” Sam came jogging back and shook his head.
Dean shrugged, “All right then. If the three of us didn’t find anything, Jass is probably just overtired. I’ll have Cas do one more check before we turn in. You guys head back to bed.”
Sam nodded, “Have to check on Mary.” He disappeared back into the trailer.
John turned back after a soft goodnight but was interrupted by Dean.
“Hey Johnny, if you have a penguin nightmare and get scared you can come crawl in with your Pop and me,” Dean grinned.
“Bite me, Old Man,” John glowered, flipping Dean off before disappearing into the trailer and closing the door behind him with an over-loud bang.
“Touchy, touchy,” Dean muttered into the night before turning back to the tent.
Needless to say, Castiel final sweep turned up nothing as well. Dean tucked Jasper in next to them. The boy lay awake for several long minutes after his scare, nestled in between Dean and Castiel, while the night sounds murmured softly outside the thin lining of the tent.
xx
The next morning, Jasper remained morose and moody; lack of sleep and his unsolicited fright getting the best of him. He was still just a boy after all.
John, Mary, Castiel and Sam had all tried valiantly to get the boy back to his bubbly, excitable shelf but Jasper remained quietly tucked in his hoodie and shorts poking listlessly at the lightly smoldering coals, gradually rekindling the fire.
Dean flipped an egg and sighed shook his head. He wondered what could have gotten into Jasper. He wasn’t normally this affected by things. He was a ridiculously happy child and even the jolt he had when he was seven years old and the angels came in to terrorize their little family had done little to affect his usually carefree attitude. Maybe it was just an off day.
Dean watched carefully as John tried one more time to insight Jasper into action but the smaller boy merely shrugged the older off and slumped over to where Dean stood at the griddle.
“Hey, Dude, awfully quiet today. Pop snore too much last night?” Dean tried.
“Dad, Papa doesn’t breathe when he sleeps, he can’t snore,” Jasper rolled his eyes but it wasn’t the usual fond exasperation.
“Right,” Dean said quietly, frowning. “Hey Jass, Buddy, you don’t have to worry about what happened last night okay? It’s cool, none of us blame you.”
Jasper’s pout deepened, “You guys all think I’m making it up.”
“No!” Dean was quick to say. “That not it at all Jass. You were probably just half asleep and in an unfamiliar place. The mind does stuff sometimes Jasper, we can’t control that. Especially when we live like we do, you know?”
“My mind wasn’t tricking me!” Jasper shouted, popping to his feet and clenching his small hands at his sides. “I saw something. It was there.”
Dean checked breakfast and turned down the heat, coming around the griddle to crouch in front of Jasper. Dean gently clasped warm hands over his son’s slender arms.
“Jass… I know you think you saw something and that’s okay. Really it is. You’re a kid, it happens, but Pop, Uncle Sam, John and I… We all checked Monkey, there wasn’t anythi-”
“You guys all think I’m just some dumb kid! But I’m not! I’m not, I’m not. I’m an angel! Just like Johnny and Papa and I saw something!” Jasper wrenched out of Dean’s gentle hold and spun on his heel, taking off into the woods at the back of their camp.
“Jasper!” Dean shouted after him. Worriedly Castiel came over to Dean and looked to be waffling between chasing Jasper down and letting him cool off. If it was in Castiel’s character to do so he’d probably be wringing his hands. As it was he already carried that slight wide-eyed baby deer look that Dean had only ever seen on a few occasions. One amusing and some he rather forget about entirely.
“Ah… should I?” John ventured gesturing absently to the woods.
“We’re safe here,” Dean sighed.
“Yes, it’s probably best if you let him collect himself,” Castiel agreed though it looked like he wanted to rip each tree out by the roots until he got to Jasper.
xx
Later that night, Jasper was left alone with Mary. His parents, Uncle Sam and John had gone off to some party that was adults only or something weird like that. Jasper figured it was adults only because there was a lot of beer and smoking. Jasper thought it was pretty rude for the people throwing the party to invite people with kids to it, but he hadn’t said anything. Pop and Dad were only going to make an appearance anyway. They wanted Uncle Sam to go because at the beginning of the summer Uncle Sam had met this lady who he kind of liked. She was supposed to be at the party so Dad and Pop went along for “moral support” or whatever. It wasn’t Jasper’s problem he was kind of glad to be alone with Mary.
Jasper was determined to investigate the forest. He wasn’t just some dumb kid. He had powers and he saw things too. He was sure, almost 100% sure, that there was something in the forest behind their trailer. It didn’t matter that Pop and John had said there was nothing there. Jasper knew there was. He also knew that he would never have gotten away with sneaking into the woods at night if Pop and John were around so just Mary was perfect; especially because Mary didn’t pay a lot of attention sometimes, like now.
Jasper’s cousin had been forbidden to bring her phone but she had somehow snuck her iPod in her backpack, along with some glamour magazines with way too pretty young girls and boys on the cover. Jasper scowled at the goofy teen idol that was making moody faces at the camera on the cover of one magazine he caught sight of, before he tiptoed around Mary, even if she couldn’t see or hear him. Her iPod was up really loud and she was lying on Uncle Sam’s bed on her stomach with her back to the door. Jasper grinned and grabbed his flashlight, hoping down from the trailer stairs and panting into the night.
He hadn’t really done much, but his stomach was all fluttery and his heart was beating kind of fast. The woods were a little bit scary but Jasper was the son of and hunter and an angel for goodness sake. It was basically in his blood to go after bad stuff and kick their butts. If Dad and Uncle Sam could do it when they were Jasper’s age, Jasper could do it no problem. He was more than just human after all.
Jasper tightened his grip on his flashlight and flicked it on and off a few times, checking the batteries. He stuck his tongue out and focused really hard on a spot on the ground, flexing his wings in the cool night air. He was still kind of clumsy with him, but he was learning real fast. If he had to get away quick he could no problem… He was sure… Pretty sure… Practically all sure.
Jasper nodded to himself, stood tall and fixed his shoulders before taking a deep breath and heading towards the treeline. He had been in the wood earlier that day, but he hadn’t gone too far in and he hadn’t seen anything. He wasn’t put off though; scary things came out at night after all, not during the day.
Jasper kind of wished he had a weapon of some sort, Dad had been teaching him how to shoot a gun a little and Uncle Gabe had shown him how to fight with a blade, but Jasper only wanted to look. Research. Just like Uncle Sam and Dad did when they had a monster to find. Jasper couldn’t really go to the library or the archives by himself, but you could research just by looking right? Wasn’t that like first-hand research or something?
Jasper was deep enough in that he couldn’t see the patio light of the camper anymore and he shivered a little. He was just cold though, he wasn’t scared, babies got scared and Jasper wasn’t a baby. Wasn’t at all. Uncle Gabe even called Jasper ‘Big Guy,’ and Uncle Gabe was an angel so he would know. The doctor told Dad that Jasper wouldn’t get much taller than Pop but Jasper figured Uncle Gabe knew better than some silly human doctor. Uncle Sam called Jasper squirt, but Uncle Sam called basically all kids squirt so the blue-eyed boy didn’t let that bother him.
Jasper heard a rustling in the trees and froze dead on the spot. He turned his big eyes up at the branch nearest to him but saw nothing perched there and staring down at him. He shined his light up into the other branches and frowned when he still saw nothing. Jasper shifted a little on his feet, switched his flashlight to his other hand before switching it back to his right and waited. He didn’t hear anything else. The boy was about to take one more step into the trees when suddenly something grabbed him roughly by the neck. Jasper screamed.
xx
John took a swallow of beer, he was sitting next to Dad and Pop. Dad was turned around talking to a guy at the table behind them and Pop was watching curiously as Uncle Sam flirted with Dina at the temporary bar set up across the small patch of grass at the campsite’s communal area. A few people around John’s age were playing in the pool a few metres away, John briefly considered joining them but Dad had noticed a few too many scantily clad collage seniors in the pool and had squashed that idea the moment John had voiced it.
Regardless, the party was pretty good. Dad and Pop were letting him have a beer and none of the other adults were questioning it. John had a higher tolerance than most people anyway so one beer wouldn’t even register on his underage scale. He was legal in Canada, so that was all right. John lifted the drink once again, the lip of the bottle just at his lip when in the next second the brown bottle crashed to the ground, bouncing and toppling spilling frothy contents to the grass. In the same second Pop was on his feet his eyes turned towards their trailer.
“Cas?” Dean turned back. “What’s up?”
“Jasper,” John replied in his father’s stead. Castiel was already halfway across the grass, running at full speed. John knew his father was probably fighting every instinct he had to take wing. John could relate.
“What?!” Dean barked.
“Jasper’s in trouble.” John was tugging at Dean’s arm and pulling him across the crowd being met with confused glances as they went.
“Dean! Man! What’s up?” their host asked.
“My son’s in trouble,” Dean replied shortly. “Sorry Steve, gotta go.”
“Dean? John?” Sam jogged over. “Where’d Cas rush off to in such-”
“Jasper.”
Sam didn’t need any further explanation. He called a quick apology to Dina before taking off after Dean and John.
xx
Their campsite was a short run across the park and Castiel already had Mary out of the trailer and demanding what had happened to Jasper. Mary looked mildly panicked and very near tears.
“I don’t know!” Mary all but wailed. “I’m so sorry Uncle Cas. I was just listening to some music and he must’ve snuck out… I didn’t think he’d…” Mary trailed off with a big sniffle and Castiel pulled her into a hug, stroking her blonde curls as he looked into the woods. Sam came up beside them and Castiel transferred daughter over to father.
“Dean,” Castiel whispered, stricken. “I’m afraid I was mistaken… After a second assessment… I fear we’re dealing with a forest spirit… They tend to be minor trickster deities, but sometimes they do get… overzealous.”
Dean took a firm hold of Castiel’s shoulder, peering into the angel’s eyes, “Can we kill it?”
“Yes, yes. Of course. Fire will do it. Most forest spirits are vulnerable to fire,” Castiel nodded.
“Pop, how’d this thing fly under our radar?” John asked. Dean was already at the Impala’s trunk pulling out supplies.
“Pagan gods and similar minor deities at times have the ability to mask themselves from angels. They are technically outside of our realm and can therefore… fly under our radar. Many have lost the ability over time as people have lost their faith in the Pagan beings, this one apparently has not,” Castiel explained grimly.
“Will we be able to find it?” John asked hopefully.
“Seconded,” Dean remarked.
“What I am sensing currently is the residual use of magic, however, I can locate Jasper regardless of what spells or charms have been placed upon him. I could locate Jasper in the very depths of Hell - Father forbid - if there were ever a cause to do so,” Castiel said firmly.
“Handy,” Dean said flatly. “Let’s go then. Sam?”
“Mary and I will hold down the fort. I think the addition of me in your little hunting party would kind of be superfluous anyway,” Sam responded. “Good luck.”
xx
Jasper had completely changed his mind about five minutes into his little adventure: in no way did he want to be a hunter like Dad and Uncle Sam. He shivered in the dampness of the cave, as the odd little man with the strangely green face grinned mossy teeth at him. His teeth were pale beige and Jasper was reminded off a pair of wooden dentures he saw at a museum once with Pop and John. Jasper shivered, he hated those dentures, they freaked him right out. Seeing something similar live and in person was not at all better.
“What do you want?” Jasper tried to sound big and brave, he was part angel after all, he wasn’t sure how big and brave he actually sounded but he was trying so that was the important part.
“To play,” the strange little man’s voice was gravelly and creaky, like Dad’s had been that one time he got strep throat or Pop’s was when Jasper woke him up in the middle of the night a few weeks ago… but even more than that with a underlying rustle of leaves and a brisk early spring breeze.
“I’m not supposed to play with strangers,” Jasper said, fighting the quiver in his voice.
The man giggled, “I don’t want to play with you.” Then in a rustle of leaves and a creaking of branches the man disappeared from Jasper’s cave.
xx
Dean leapt back as he saw a tree twist and bend and strike out with long spikey branches just barely jumping free in time to spare himself a sudden amputation. Castiel reached over and steadied the green eyes man, meeting his gaze and firmly grabbing his chin.
“Dean, don’t believe what you see,” Castiel said low, firm and certain. “The creature likes to play tricks. He is only feeding you illusions.”
Dean nodded and tightened his jaw, “Right.”
“Are we close Pop?” John asked hopefully, shifting his stance and restlessly playing with the lighter in his hand. Dean watched the yellow-orange flame spark and burn before being dampened with a click and then the entire dance start over again.
Castiel reached out an absent hand and stilled John’s twitching fingers. “Don’t play with fire, John,” Castiel remarked dryly.
John snorted in wry amusement and tucked the lighter away.
“You all right, Kiddo?” Dean asked, coming over and nudging his son’s arm with his shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah… I’m cool. Just not really used to this stuff,” John shot shifty eyes around the menacing looking trees and relaxed only after Castiel brushed his back with a gentle hand.
“You can return to the campsite if you wish, John. We won’t think any less of you,” Castiel said softly.
“No, no way. I’m gonna help my little brother. I totally took on an angel with you two years ago, Pop, one little tree spirit is nothing compared to that, right?” John pulled on the reserves of cockiness he had inherited from Dean and set his shoulders.
“It’s coming,” Castiel said suddenly, shifting in front of John. Dean turned and slipped behind the boy, effectively sandwiching their eldest son between them while watching each other’s backs.
“Three little angels… all dressed in in white…” a craggy old voice whistled out between the trees.
John tensed and shuffled closer to Dean who shifted his grip on his homemade flame thrower and narrowed green eyes into the rapidly shifting shadows.
“One little devil… all dressed in red,” the voice whistled again, devolving quickly into a croaky giggle.
Dean, John and Castiel all spun shifting their gaze to the opposite side of trees and waiting for the creature to show itself.
“Enough games, where’s my son?” Castiel demanded. “Show yourself, Pagan.”
“Funny things, angels… Always demanding and commanding and rep-ree-manding… Never more than that, hey? Hey?” The voice jumped from corner to corner branch to branch and Dean felt tension begin to settle heavy and thick on his shoulders.
“All the silly humans making shouty prayers and long sad calls… Hoping and wishing and wanting but never more than demanding and commanding and rep-ree-manding. We helped, my brothers and me… We helped.”
“Great, so you’re just another asshole with a chip on his shoulder over getting shunted out by something bigger and badder than you. Get over it and give me my fucking son!” Dean shouted into the trees.
Another craggy giggle split the all-too-quiet air, “So funny the little thing I have in my trap… Such pretty purely wings and diamond in the eye, come into my house, said the spider to the fly.”
“You hurt him so help me-”
“God?!” snide and sharp and chuckling. “What god? Gone, gone, gone… Now your little angel is all by himself… God once, hmm? Big scary once but then he… Ah ha! Shunted out by something bigger and badder! Now funny little things he has hanging on… Part of two worlds but belonging to neither! Little boy lost, never to be found either.”
Without warning the cloud rolled in overhead and lightning flashed in the sky, Dean watched wide-eyed as Castiel clenched a fist tight at his side and glared menacingly into the woods.
“You’re wrong,” Castiel gritted out. “Weather you return him to me or not it is of no consequence. I will find him and then I will tear this forest up by the roots, burn every inch of every quarter of your woods, and then where would you be?”
“Talk! All talk!” the voice squeaked out.
“No,” Castiel replied and flicked his gaze to the left. A bolt of lightning flashed, blinding bright, the loudness of the thunder made Dean flinch unconsciously away before there was a crackle and hiss and the woods began to burn.
Dean and John jumped away as the odd little man appeared before them, the older Winchester leaping in front of his son and sparking the gas of his flamethrower. The spirit yowled and began beating at his branch like limbs, wide jaundiced eyes staring in shock at the hunter.
Dean watched levelly as the forest spirit burned and Castiel nodded grimly before turning to John, “Go put out the fire, John. Dean and I will find your brother.”
Dazedly, John nodded and ran off towards the slowly growing blaze.
Castiel reached out and pressed his fingers to Dean’s forehead, Dean only had time to slam his eyes shut before gravity lurched around him and he stumbled forward into a damp cave. The sound of little boy whimpering caught his ear the moment the fog of angel flight had cleared. Castiel’s back was already disappearing around the corner, his sandals soundless on the wet dirt and stone floor of the cave. Dean took after him and let out a heavy sigh of relief when they found Jasper, dirty but uninjured. Castiel had him in his arms, rocking the child slowly as the boy clung to the archangel’s neck.
Dean finally relaxed and went up to both blue eyed angels, wrapping them tight in a hug and pressing kisses to Jasper’s damp curls.
“You okay, Monkey?” Dean asked softly.
Jasper nodded, “Uh huh… I’m …kay… I don’t think I wa… wanna hunt monsters anymore, Daddy.”
Dean chuckled, “Trust me, Jass, that’s fine by me.”
xx
Jasper had bounced back remarkably well and was already laughing and playing with John again. It was the next afternoon and the Winchesters had all taken a trip down to the lake. Mary was sunning herself - after Sam demanded she put on about half a bottle of sunscreen - on the beach in front of them. Sam was dozing away under the umbrella to their left and Dean and Cas sat in lounge chairs side by side, the angel flipping through book while Dean had a car magazine open on his lap and was keeping a careful eye on Jasper and John playing in the surf.
“Where do you think the little bastard learned all those children’s rhymes?” Dean asked the question that had been bothering them ever since their encounter with the spirit the night previous.
Castiel quirked a brow, “Hmm… Girl scouts I suspect. I’m fairly certain those wood are frequented by camping troops, that’s what the brochure for the campsite said anyway. “
Dean snorted, “Serious? He learned them from a bunch of yappy little girls?”
“Best theory I’ve got,” Castiel shrugged, the gesture smooth and easy as if he’d been doing it his entire life.
Dean looked over with a small amount of pride at how adapted the angel had become to human life and still remained gorgeous as ever. Looking at them from an outside perspective Dean imagined that people wouldn’t see anything other than a happy normal family on holiday. When in reality they were one archangel, two adorable hybrids, one sweet little girl, an ex-demon-blood junky and a former angel condom.
Dean had to concede that his life sure was weird, but it was also pretty damn awesome… Annoying little forest spirits aside.
End
Return to Master Post
Author: Stolen Childe
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters don’t belong to me. They belong to Kripke and Co.
Rating: PG
Content/Warnings: minor violence, language, fluff, domestic, kid!fic, future!fic, a bit of a case!fic, minor slash
Pairing/Characters: Dean/Castiel, Sam Child OCs - John T., Mary J., Jasper Winchester
Word Count: 9600
Summary: It’s the annual Winchester camping trip but things don’t go exactly as planned.
Author’s Notes: Well it’s been awhile since I updated the John’Verse, but here is Story Twenty-Four. This started as a light fluffy, domestic piece and sort of got away from me. Please enjoy! Feedback is loved and cherished.
John’s Age: 19
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A Winchester Family Vacation
“You cannot be serious,” Mary popped her bubble gum and looked up at her father with flat green eyes. Her blond curls were pulled back in a ponytail and her way too big sunglasses were perched on her nose.
“Yaaaayyyy!!!” Jasper cried out as he zoomed passed her, arms held to his sides like an airplane, he was grinning and giggling and basically vibrating with excitement.
“Come on ‘Ree,” Sam cajoled, grinning at his daughter, “it’ll be fun.”
“No, it’ll be hell,” Mary retorted.
“Hey, watch your language,” Sam chastised.
“John swears like all the time,” Mary rolled her eyes. “And way worse than that.”
“John’s nineteen… and raised by heathens,” Sam frowned.
“Hey!” Dean shouted from where he stood by the truck. “Half by a heathen!”
“Oh please, Cas has a worse mouth on him than you do!” Sam called back.
“Cas is like almost the king of Heaven, he’s allowed!” Dean called in return. “Which means you can’t call him a heathen or he’ll smite you.”
“No he won’t! If he did there’d be no one here to take his side!”
“I’m fairly certain Jasper would take my side, but I’m not quite sure the influence a nine year old boy possesses,” Cas came out of the house then, carrying a duffle in each hand dressed casually in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt… and Good Lord were those-
“Good God Cas!? Are you wearing Birkenstocks?!” Dean exclaimed, coming over and looking mortified down at Castiel’s skinny exposed toes.
“I’m an angel, I’m allowed,” Castiel flashed a brief rare grin, his eyes twinkling as he tossed the duffle bags at Dean without warning. Dean huffed out a breath as he caught them.
“Jesus, what did you pack? Solid gold chainmail?” Dean griped, slinging the bags up and over the side of the truck.
“No, I left that in Heaven with my trumpet and harp.”
“And thank God for that,” John grinned, he had a knapsack slung over his shoulder and he dropped it in the truck bed next to his parents’ duffles.
“Dad! Pop! Uncle Sam! Let’s go!” Jasper called out, hanging half his little body out the driver’s side window and waving down his parents and uncle.
“I’m not going,” Mary said. She flipped open her cellphone and began rapidly texting. “Camping is like way lame and just plan gross… And I swear that trailer thing you have? I’m sure it’s riddled with disease and I’ll die if I sleep in it.”
“Mary, you used to love going camping…. And this isn’t a negotiation… and I told you to leave your phone in your room,” Sam glared down at his daughter.
The girl looked up and quirked a brow, deliberately looking back down at her phone and turning her back on her father.
Dean snickered.
“Shut up,” Sam glared at his brother.
“Hey, my kids are excited to go,” Dean couldn’t help the self-satisfied grin.
“Yes,” Castiel said edgily, peering at the rapidly vibrating truck, “and I fear if we don’t get on the road soon Jasper will save us the trip and transport the truck to the campsite.”
“Mary, give me your phone,” Sam held out a hand.
“Dude, not happening,” Mary snorted.
“Mary Jessica,” Sam leaned forward and hissed, “give me your phone right now or so help me God…”
“Jeeze, Samuel, take a pill, will you?” Mary rolled her eyes and tossed her phone at her father, walking in an exaggerated slump over to the truck and climbing in like they were about to drive her to her death.
“That’s Dad to you, Young Lady!” Sam shouted out to her.
“Oh Man, I pity you, so much,” Dean said all sympathy.
“God, if she’s like this now and she’s only twelve…” Sam shuddered holding the phone out to John. “Zap that to her room?”
John snapped his fingers and it disappeared off Sam’s hand.
“Who’s coming with me?” Sam asked.
“Jass is already in the truck so the three of us will take the Impala,” Dean said swinging the keys around his index finger and contemplating for a moment before he handed them over to John.
“Nice,” John grinned, snatching the keys.
“Shotgun,” Castiel said perfectly casual, moving to the passenger side of the Impala.
“Cas! You bastard!” Dean whined. “I never should have taught you that.”
“Well you did,” John grinned all teeth. It was Castiel’s grin at its best and Dean couldn’t help but grin back, he shouldered his son out of the way and climbed into the back seat of the Impala.
Dean groaned and winced a little as he hunched in the confined space, “I am way too old for this.”
John snorted, “Please, you and Uncle Sam have be doused in angel juice for like twenty how many years? The last time you actually aged significantly was when?”
“Dean, I have several millennia on you so I would seriously reconsider before complaining about age,” Castiel stated in his archangel voice.
“Yeah, yeah, celestial being, older than dirt… blah, blah, blah,” Dean waved it off just to be a smartass. “Try being a fifty-four year old human, then tell me about age.”
John started the engine of the Impala and just listened to her purr for a moment before easing her out of the driveway.
So began the Winchester Family Vacation.
xx
At the first rest stop, Sam looked as if he were ready to snap; even his hair was frazzled and vibrating with tension. Dean slapped his brother manfully on the back as they walked towards the diner next to the gas station.
“Take her, please,” Sam begged. “I’ll take John and Jasper and listen to whatever crap they’re into these days if you just take her.”
“I think they’re calling it Retro Punk,” Dean made a face. “I don’t even think they know what retro means.”
Sam chuckled and then quirked a brow, “Where’s your angel?”
Dean looked around for a moment then pointed, “With your daughter.” Dean then looked around for his own children and through the diner window he caught sight of John leaning on the counter and clearly flirting with the jail-bait looking waitress on the other side who giggled and twirled a strand of her hair.
Dean rolled his eyes, “Excuse me, I have to cock-block my nineteen year old son before he earns himself to a sexual harassment suit.”
Sam shook his head, “I take it back, you can keep John.”
“Gee thanks,” Dean muttered, pushing through the doors.
Castiel and Mary joined Sam a moment later. The girl looked clearly chagrined and the archangel looked smug.
Mary came up to Sam and hugged him tight around the waist, tilting her chin up against his stomach to look at him, “I’m sorry Daddy.”
Sam blinked, looking over at Cas and mouthed a quick, ‘What did you do?’ Castiel just shook his head and wandered into the diner. Sam picked Mary up and settled her on his hip, she was getting older now but he was tall and strong enough that he could still do this and would take advantage of her being his little girl for as long as she allowed.
“Thank you Baby Girl. Ready to eat now?”
Mary nodded. Sam gave her a quick hug and set her own her feet.
xx
Dean was sitting with his head close to Castiel’s and chuckling softly when Sam found them at the booth. When Sam settled into the booth with Mary right behind him, Dean flashed Sam a grin. Sam would ask about that later.
“Where’re the boys?” Sam asked.
“John took Jass to the bathroom,” Dean shrugged.
“That waitress’s virtue still intact?” Sam asked.
Dean laughed again, “For today. John gave me a look that was all Heavenly Wrath when I not so subtly cut in.”
“Good thing you’ve grown immune then. I’d hate for you to spend our holiday a pile of ashes,” Castiel drawled.
“Kid’s got nothing on you. He thinks he’s badass, but he still has some years ahead of him,” Dean grinned.
John and Jasper returned then, the younger boy skipping merrily ahead of the older boy. John was wearing a look of fond exasperation as he dutifully watched his brother. Jasper scrambled into the booth when he arrived climbing over Dean and settling between the green-eyed man and the angel.
“Oof,” Dean managed. “Watch it Kiddo. Almost too big for that.”
“You could have just asked Dad to move, Squirt,” John said.
Jasper stuck his tongue out and was about to retort when their waitress came over. She was probably around Dean’s age maybe a few years older, and her nametag declared her to be ‘Suze.’
“Dad, huh? What were you sixteen when you started?” she grinned kindly and Dean didn’t take offence.
“You flatter me,” Dean said.
“What can I get you gentlemen and you, Young Miss?” Suze asked with pencil poised over her pad.
“Coffee,” the three adults and John answered simultaneously.
“Papa! I want chocolate milk,” Jasper declared, tugging on Castiel’s sleeve.
“You had chocolate milk with breakfast,” Castiel said.
“But-”
“Jasper, listen to your father,” Dean said sternly. He turned to Suze with a smile, “He’ll have white milk.”
“No fun, Dad,” Jasper pouted.
“My job isn’t to make your life fun,” Dean returned.
Suze had a twinkle in her eyes as she watched the three then turned to Sam with an equally friendly smile, “Fatherly wisdom for your beautiful girl?”
Sam grinned, “Nah, she’s pretty good with picking. What’ll it be, Mare-bear?”
Mary bit her lip, then smiled shyly, “Iced tea?” Suze waited for Sam’s go-ahead before writing it down.
Sam nodded, “Ice tea it is.”
“I miss my kids being this young,” Suze smiled wistfully. “I’ll be back with your drinks to take your food order. Kid’s menu is on the back.”
“Thanks,” Dean grinned.
“Dude, get the chicken fingers,” John nudged Jasper from across the table.
“Nuh uh, you’ll just steal them all if I do, then I won’t have anything to eat,” Jasper shook his head.
“Ah man, I’ll share my club sandwich?” John cajoled.
“It has tomatoes,” Jasper made a face of pure contempt. “Can I get grilled cheese?”
Dean flipped over to the back of his menu, “What’s it have with it?”
“Fries,” Castiel was already there, “though it also can be ordered with a vegetable plate.”
“If you get the fries, you have to get the fruit for your dessert, deal?”
“I wanted pie,” Jasper pouted.
“Fruit for dessert, or veggies for a side, Kiddo. Gotta have one,” Dean said.
“But-”
“Jasper, listen to your father,” Castiel’s turn to chastise this time.
John snickered.
“Shut up, John!”
“Hey!” all three adults chimed in on that one.
“Fine, I’ll get veggies cuz I want pie,” Jasper said firmly.
“Pie is awesome. I totally support your choice,” Dean grinned.
“I’ll order the chicken fingers for you John if I get half your club sandwich and you don’t touch my sweet potato fries,” Mary bargained.
“Cool. See Jass? Mary’s cool,” John poked his brother.
“John!” Jasper whined.
“John,” Castiel frowned.
“Damn Kid, you keep reaching across the table like that, I’m gonna make you eat in the car,” Dean scolded.
John rolled his eyes and Dean reached up to ruffle his older son’s hair in punishment.
“Man! Not the hair! Not cool, Dad,” John smoothed down his chestnut waves and scowled over at his father.
“Are we all set?” Suze came back over.
Sam chuckled, “Yes, forgive the zoo.”
“I’ve had worse. I have four boys,” Suze smiled and waved it off. “What’ll it be?”
“I’ll get the Cobb salad and my daughter will have the chicken fingers with sweet potato fries,” Sam said, handing over the menu.
Suze took it with a smile, “Dipping sauce?”
“Ah…” Sam drifted, Mary shrugged.
“Honey mustard,” John hissed, then shot an innocent smile in response to Suze’s eyebrow quirk.
“Honey… mustard,” Sam replied.
Suze chuckled and wrote it down, “Next?”
“We’ll both have the bacon cheese burger and fries. The munchkin between us will have grilled cheese with the veggie plate,” Dean responded.
“Veggie plate? Most parents have to pull teeth to get that ordered.”
“We made a deal,” Castiel replied solemnly.
Suze chuckled, “Sure thing then. And for you Cutie Pie? Or are you just gonna stick with the chicken fingers?”
John blushed, “Club sandwich please… With fries.” He handed Suze his menu without meeting her eye.
xx
The rest of lunch happily went without incident and Dean was more than relieved to slide back in the Impala, this time firmly ensconced in the driver’s seat. John had grumbled as he slouched in the back, he knew better than to fight Castiel for the passenger side. Dean was glad at least one of them was still scary, considering Dean lost his ability the minute John hit six foot two and a half inches and could bench press a Buick without breaking a sweat.
Dean still thought it a little unfair that along with the wings, and the super-strength and assorted crazy angel powers, John also gained an inch on him. It looked like Jasper wouldn’t get much taller than Castiel though so Dean allowed that to make him happy. At least he’d still have one little boy.
“Should’ve gone in the truck with Uncle Sam,” John grumbled for the eleventh time as he shifted in the back seat.
“Suck it up Squirt, I made the trip without complaining and you’re way younger than me so you can deal with it,” Dean said, smirking in the rear view mirror.
“Dad! It says that the third largest ball of twine is along the way to the campsite, can we go, can we go, please can we go?” Jasper bounced in the back seat, map and guide book splayed before him.
Dean grimaced, “Sorry Kiddo, you know how many times I’ve seen the third, second and first largest balls of twine?”
Jasper pouted, “Its way cooler than my life that you and Uncle Sam got to travel across the country for like ever fighting monsters. Why don’t we do that, huh Papa?”
“Jasper,” Castiel tone was gentle but warning. Blue met blue in the rear-view mirror but Jasper wouldn’t relent.
“Don’t you miss fighting monsters Dad? And you Papa, you spent like six million years battling demons, don’t you miss that? Why can’t John and I travel across the country in the Impala and fight monsters? I bet we’d be real good at it. Wouldn’t we John?”
“Jass, come on buddy,” John said quietly. “Just leave it all right?”
“You got to go all over until you were five, it’s not fair,” Jasper pouted.
“It’s not all flash and glamour, Monkey,” Dean said his tone even and eyes hard though he was fighting both. “Believe me, I would have killed to have your life. Sammy too.”
“That’s not what the books said,” Jasper muttered.
“Books?” Dean blinked shooting a glance over to Castiel who just shook his head not understanding either.
“Yeah, when you guys ditched me and Mary at Grampa Bobby’s a few weeks ago, I found this box of books. Real old novels called Supernatural by this Edlund guy. Said you wanted to fight monsters and demons and all that and you wouldn’t know how to be if you couldn’t anymore.”
Dean scowled, “You shouldn’t have read those books Jasper.”
“They’re just books,” Jasper rolled his eyes. “Not my fault they were about you and Uncle Sam. Though I kept waiting to read about Papa and he never came… They ended real weird, with you going to Hell… And that’s just stupid, you’ve never been to Hell and you would never make a deal with a demon.”
Without warning Dean slammed the breaks on and skidded onto the shoulder. He unbuckled and stormed free from the confines of the Impala slamming the door hard enough behind him to make his family wince and the car shudder.
“Ah… What did I say?” the nine-year-old frowned.
“Jesus, Jass,” John muttered, slumping against the door and looking away from his brother.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Castiel said firmly as he got out of the car.
Jasper shrunk into his seat and swallowed. “What did I say?” the boy asked meekly.
“Dean.”
“Not right now, Castiel.”
Castiel winced and nodded and took a few steps back, heading over to the Impala and sitting on the hood, watching the glimpse of water in the distance. John slid out of the car and came over to sit next to his father.
“Ah… guess we should have told Jasper,” John remarked.
“Dean just called me Castiel.”
“Shit,” John muttered. “Not your fault though.”
“I told him not to tell Jasper.”
“Oh… Why?”
Castiel snorted bitterly, “I wanted to protect him.”
“Which one?” John asked.
Castiel gave his son a level look, “Both.”
“Yeah.”
It turned out Jasper was a fast little thing because just as John and Castiel both noticed that he had climbed out of the car against express orders he was right behind Dean and launching himself in a hug at his father’s back. Castiel was on his feet instantly and John wasn’t far behind but neither of them were really worried that Dean would hurt Jasper, he’d never hurt Jasper, but he may yell an awful lot and that was never fun.
Dean however, despite a brief tensing of his shoulders turned and picked Jasper up to rest on his hip, pressing a kiss to the boy’s temple and wandered a little ways down the shoulder, near the guardrail at the side of the gorge.
“Oh,” John blinked.
“We are forever underestimating them both,” Castiel added.
“I’m incredibly tempted to listen in right now,” John admitted, biting his lip. Castiel put a placating hand on John’s arm and minutely shook his head. John sighed, nodded and settled back on the hood of the Impala. Castiel after a moment sat next to him.
A few minutes after probably what would be seen as creepy staring, John and Castiel turned to one another as Dean and Jasper came back. Dean tossed Jasper straight up in the air but rather than allowing himself to fall back to Earth Jasper appeared behind Dean and startled his father with a playful tackle at his back. Dean laughed and bent down so Jasper could clamour up for a piggy-back ride and the two came back to the car.
“Getting too big for all that, Kiddo,” Dean said, as he settled Jasper on his feet next to John and Castiel.
“Think I’ll be as tall as Uncle Sam when I’m older?” Jasper asked excitedly.
“Hope not! I need one of my kids to stay shorter than me!” Dean grinned.
“I’m gonna be as tall as Uncle Sam,” Jasper said defiantly, though he was grinning.
“Get in the car, Brat,” Dean ruffled his hair. “All of you. Uncle Sam’s gonna tease me for a week about beating me there if we don’t hurry up.”
“Dean…”
Dean leaned forward and dropped a loud sloppy kiss on Castiel’s lips, “I’m sorry.”
“Me too,” Castiel replied.
John and Jasper made gagging sounds as they playfully stumbled to the car. John picked his brother up at the last moment and gently tossed him inside the Impala. Jasper squealed happily then jumped on John when the older boy slid inside.
“All right, cut it out you two hooligans,” Dean said. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Dad you really gonna keep your promise?” Jasper asked, as Dean eased back on to the highway.
Dean nodded, “Always keep them with you, Jass. Not gonna change that now.”
“Cool!” Jasper grinned.
Castiel shared a suspicious glace with John before asking, “What promise?”
Dean and Jasper shared a grin in the mirror and didn’t respond.
xx
The pie-induced sugar high must have hit Jasper full force because the moment they checked into the camp grounds and unlocked their camper Jasper was running around the site as if he had demons on his tail.
John was kneeling next to the fire pit and attempting to get it lit without resorting to angelic assistance. He was failing miserably and threw Dean’s lighter half way across the grass.
“Why can’t I-”
“No, old fashioned way,” Dean interrupted.
“Technically…” John began but he was cut off with a sharp sound from Dean. John pouted. Mary rolled her eyes, picked up Dean’s tossed lighter and began setting up the sticks and kindling.
“You suck on a thousand levels,” Mary teased blandly as after only one attempt she had the fire ready and happily popping.
Sam grinned at his brother and Dean glared back. Sam mimed himself scoring a point and Dean getting a big goose egg before the overgrown Winchester settling back in his chair and hugged Mary to his side. Mary beamed.
“Well whatever, my kid can fly,” Dean retorted.
“Hey!” Sam laughed. “Don’t be a jerk.”
“I was just outdone by a twelve year old. Eff my life,” John slumped back on the grass.
Mary proceeded to celebrate her victory by dancing around the campsite with Jasper.
“I am the champion!” Mary sang.
“Okay, she’s cool. Queen rocks…” Dean said.
“On occasion,” John, Sam and Castiel chimed in before Dean could complete the thought.
“All of you are just intimidated by how awesome I am,” Dean huffed. “Who’s coming fishing?”
Jasper raced over to his dad and grinned, “Me!”
“Excellent, excellent. The rest of you?” Dean asked.
Mary wrinkled up her nose, “Ew.”
“I concur with that assessment,” Sam added gravely.
“Pop and I were gonna head into town and get some groceries,” John said.
“Tomorrow maybe,” Castiel said.
“Well, your loss. Come on Jasper. We’re the cool ones anyway,” Dean held out a hand that Jasper grabbed willingly and the two went to the hatch of the camper to pull out their fishing gear. It took a few minutes to pull Jasper’s line out of the back. Dean congratulated himself for the fact he had thought to buy bait at the check-in office. Father and son headed down to the lake with rods over their shoulders. Sam could only smile at how utterly idyllic the image was.
Castiel refused to let John drive the Impala without Dean there, so a pouting nineteen-year- old climbed into the passenger seat. Sam waved as they pulled back down the lane to the main road.
xx
When Dean and Jasper came back Castiel already had foil-wrapped potatoes nestled in the coals of the fire pit and burgers and chicken cooking on the small camping grill. Sam was sitting in his chair with Mary snug next to him. He was reading her Harry Potter for what had to be the one hundredth time, even though she was well beyond old enough to read it for herself. It was tradition when they went camping. Dean still remembered fondly the one year Mary was old enough to say, “Uncle Cas? Is Hogwarts real?” Castiel had looked very serious and solemn when he admitted his lack of knowledge on the subject and finally conceded to check for Mary just to be sure. Castiel was gone for a handful of minutes before he returned with the sad news that he could not find any evidence of the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Mary, young and idealistic hadn’t been swayed. “It’s prob’ly hidden real well so even angels can’t find it.” Castiel had generously replied, “I’m certain you are correct.” Still to this day, Dean wasn’t sure if Castiel had really flown to Scotland for Mary’s request. He probably had.
“Smells good Cas!” Dean said by way of greeting.
“As much as I would love to take the credit for your olfactory gratification, John is our culinary master this evening,” Castiel replied, lips quirking.
“Yikes!” Dean grinned. “I call first dibs on angel mojo after he poisons us all.”
John rolled his eyes, “Gee thanks. It’s grilling, it’s not rocket science.”
“Rocket science isn’t as complicated as you’d think,” Sam said absently. The rest of the family gaped at him for a moment. Met with the fish faces of those around him, Sam cleared his throat and returned to his reading.
Castiel frowned as he came closer to Jasper who was crouching by the bonfire and poking at the coals with a stick. Castiel knelt and titled Jasper’s face into the light, “Dean, he got sunburnt.”
Dean grimaced, “Sorry Cas… Water, sun… Oops? He did have sunscreen and a hat on but well… sometimes it can’t be helped.”
“Dean,” Castiel’s tone was low and threatening.
Dean backed away slowly, hands held up placating, “I swear, I put sunscreen on him… but there’s a possibility he tripped and fell into the lake and it wasn’t the waterproof stuff.”
“Dean.”
“Yes, Cas?” Dean asked meekly.
“Run.”
Dean did. Castiel waited twenty seconds before chasing after him.
“I don’t see how Dad throwing me into the water, means I tripped and fell,” Jasper remarked idly.
John snorted in amusement and brushed a hand over his brother’s face. The burn cleared up instantly, Jasper wrinkled his nose and sneezed.
“Tickled,” Jasper pouted. “How long do you think they’ll be?”
John smirked, “Depends on whether or not that was all just some big ploy to get laid.”
“Gross!” Jasper shouted.
“Ew,” Mary made a face.
“John!” Sam chastised though his eyes were glittering with amusement.
“Whatever, let’s eat,” John grinned.
xx
Dean and Castiel had returned nearly an hour later, both solemn and looking remarkably rumpled. After they ate and everyone was settled around the bonfire with marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers at the ready for S’mores, Jasper insisted on telling a ghost story.
“Not so long ago, in a town not very far away there was a young minister’s daughter who was out on a date with her boyfriend. The girl and the boyfriend were sitting in the boy’s car watching the stars when a sudden creak split the quiet of the night. Curious as to what would have made such a scary noise the boy climbed out of the car and went to find out. The girl stayed inside, too afraid to follow.
“Suddenly she heard the awful sound again! The screeching of metal on metal then all was very suddenly quiet. Just as she thought the threat had passed she heard a thump and screamed into the night. Needing to find out, the girl climbed out of the car and that when she saw the most awful sight: the side of the jeep was torn to pieces and a strange symbol was etched into the green paint and on top of the car, the boy hung. Dead! As the girl fled in terror she passed a sign that read ‘Nine Mile Road.’”
As Jasper continued his story, Sam and Dean shared a significant look and fought their snickers as they were regaled with the story of one of their own adventures. Mary seemed to be enjoying it so they let it slide.
“God that was years ago,” Sam shook his head. They had just finished tucking Mary and Jasper in bed in the trailer. Dean, Castiel and Sam joined John back around the bonfire.
“Oh but she was hot. You remember her Sammy? Maybe you should go look her up, see if she’s still as innocent as she once was,” Dean waggled his eyebrows.
“Dean, that was… Jesus that was twenty-eight years ago,” Sam shook his head. “She’s probably married with kids by now. Actually I would bet a thousand bucks she’s married with kids by now and wouldn’t even remember me. I honestly forget her name.”
Dean frowned, “Yeah, me too.”
“The early days of what you guys did was kind of cool. I never talked about it obviously but when we played heroes when I was a kid in school I always pretended to be one of you guys,” John grinned. “Did you tell Jasper everything?”
Dean’s grin faltered, “Nah… just some of it.”
Castiel handed them all a beer and settled down next to Dean, “I am sorry.”
“Hey, it’s no big deal,” Dean shrugged. “I overreacted.”
Sam leaned back in his chair and took a sip from his bottle looking up at the stars, “Remember when we went camping because we had to?”
“Oh yeah,” Dean said. “I loved it but you always hated it. You would lock yourself in your tent all night with your homework and not speak to Dad the entire time.”
“Funny, if you asked twelve-year-old me if I’d ever do this by choice I would’ve said not in a million years, now that I’m older though I like it. It’s nice out here.”
“I always appreciated being out in nature, even before I had such contact with humanity,” Castiel mused. “I feel the closet to my Father when I am among this element of His Creation.”
“Hey, you guys ever think this would be your life?” John asked, sipping his beer and turning curious eyes to his parents.
“Kinda gay, sorta married to an angel, with a mortgage and two kids?” Dean grinned, “No way in hell.”
“My life is eternal and until recent events rarely changing. I did not think on the future because my future would be as my past and in fact were often interchangeable if I chose them to be,” Castiel answered. “So no.”
Sam got quiet and gazed into the low flames dancing and popping before his softly answered, “Yeah. A lot of it, I guess. I figured I’d marry Jess and she’d be a teacher and I would be a lawyer. Summer vacations we’d take to various places, with our 2.5 kids and our Golden Retriever. Jess liked camping...
“Though being a single dad who still lived with his brother and his brother’s sort of husband and his two nephews? Nope. Never in a million years.”
Dean leaned across the small gap separating him from Sam and squeezed his brother’s knee. Sam shot Dean a small shaky smile before they all turned back to the flame and slowly sipped their beer.
xx
John and Sam came into the trailer about an hour ago and climbed up on their respective sleeping spots. Mary was fast asleep on the bunk across form Jasper and John and Sam were both snoring softly in the quiet of the trailer. Crickets chirped delicately outside and a light strand of silvery moonlight snuck in through the slat-blinds providing enough light to see by but not enough light to disturb.
John and Sam coming into the trailer had not been what woke Jasper up. The moonlight had not been what woke him up and Mary’s soft rustling on the bunk across from Jasper had not been what woke him up. Jasper wasn’t actually all that sure what had woken him up but he just knew he was awake now and felt a weird crawling over his skin.
Outside earlier that night he thought maybe, perhaps he had seen something in the trees but he wasn’t about to admit to it in front of his parents, brother, uncle or cousin. He wasn’t a baby and wasn’t about to let a shadow in the treetops frighten him. It was probably just a trick of the light anyway.
But just to be sure… Jasper bit his lip and carefully climbed down of his bed, flicking his gaze to John who was sacked out on the bunk underneath him. When John didn’t stir Jasper tiptoed barefoot across the cool vinyl of the camper floor and paused at the door to stare at Uncle Sam for almost a full minute before judging that Sam was going to stay asleep too.
Jasper eased open the trailer door and stepped out onto the textured metal steps. They creaked, high and whiny into the night and Jasper stilled instantly when he heard the noise. He waited two heartbeats… four, staring intently at his parents’ tent a few feet away, before moving again across the grass scratchy, damp and cool underneath his bare feet. Jasper picked up the flashlight from off the cooler by the door and walked quietly to the edge of the campsite, lighting up the treetops and peering into the shadowy branches.
He shone it this way and that for several long minutes and found nothing. About to give up and chalk his feeling up to childish fantasy Jasper shrugged and clicked off the light ready to head back inside. Just as the light went out, movement flashed in Jasper’s peripheral. He pivoted quickly, flicked the light back on and shone it right into a craggy lined face. A mossy twisted grin flashing darkly in the night.
Jasper screamed.
Jasper was huddled against Castiel’s chest in the tent before Dean even had the zipper halfway down, gun in hand knife between his teeth. Dean turned and met Castiel’s gaze. The angel looked back at Dean, blank and just as confused.
“Jasper, what happened?” Dean asked, kneeling in front of the trembling boy and placing a gentle hand on his back.
“There’s a monster in the trees!” Jasper stuttered out, blue eyes wide and frightened in the dim light of the tent.
Dean looked grimly at Castiel who nodded his head in a ‘you go’ gesture. Dean nodded back, gently pried the flashlight free from Jasper’s quivering hands. The green eyed man turned back, finished unzipping the tent and crept out, well-armed, into the darkness.
Sam and John met him on the grass between the tent and the trailer, Sam searching the area flashlight and gun in hand. John held his angel blade firm in his fist.
“What happened?” John asked.
“Jasper saw something in the trees.”
“Dean are you sure…?” Sam drifted.
“Do you want to risk not checking it out?” Dean asked sharply.
Sam conceded that point easily. There were two things this could be, the overactive imagination of a precocious nine-year-old boy or a Winchester problem. Sam wasn’t sure how to place the odds if he were a betting man and by Dean’s tight lipped expression he wasn’t at all certain either. Sam walked further into the woods.
“Dad…” John spoke up after several minutes of dutiful searching. “Pop didn’t sense anything weird when we rolled in and neither did I. Jasper told that ghost story and he’s been reading a lot about you guys… Maybe that combined with what happened in the car earlier today, do you think maybe he just wants something to be there?”
“He was freaked out John, you should have seen his face,” Dean retorted, turning out his light with a sigh.
“He’s nine,” John replied. “Just because he’s half-angel doesn’t mean he can’t get freaked out like any other nine-year-old boy camping in the woods after a ghost story. Remember after I saw Happy Feet for the first time I thought a giant mutant penguin was going to break into the house, transform me into a fish and eat me?”
Dean snorted, “Yeah. I had to bribe a zoo keeper to let you go see the penguins on off-hours so you wouldn’t be afraid anymore. Penguins are awesome, Dude.”
“Not when they dance,” John gritted out and grimaced. Dean had to hold back his snicker.
“Got nothing,” Sam came jogging back and shook his head.
Dean shrugged, “All right then. If the three of us didn’t find anything, Jass is probably just overtired. I’ll have Cas do one more check before we turn in. You guys head back to bed.”
Sam nodded, “Have to check on Mary.” He disappeared back into the trailer.
John turned back after a soft goodnight but was interrupted by Dean.
“Hey Johnny, if you have a penguin nightmare and get scared you can come crawl in with your Pop and me,” Dean grinned.
“Bite me, Old Man,” John glowered, flipping Dean off before disappearing into the trailer and closing the door behind him with an over-loud bang.
“Touchy, touchy,” Dean muttered into the night before turning back to the tent.
Needless to say, Castiel final sweep turned up nothing as well. Dean tucked Jasper in next to them. The boy lay awake for several long minutes after his scare, nestled in between Dean and Castiel, while the night sounds murmured softly outside the thin lining of the tent.
xx
The next morning, Jasper remained morose and moody; lack of sleep and his unsolicited fright getting the best of him. He was still just a boy after all.
John, Mary, Castiel and Sam had all tried valiantly to get the boy back to his bubbly, excitable shelf but Jasper remained quietly tucked in his hoodie and shorts poking listlessly at the lightly smoldering coals, gradually rekindling the fire.
Dean flipped an egg and sighed shook his head. He wondered what could have gotten into Jasper. He wasn’t normally this affected by things. He was a ridiculously happy child and even the jolt he had when he was seven years old and the angels came in to terrorize their little family had done little to affect his usually carefree attitude. Maybe it was just an off day.
Dean watched carefully as John tried one more time to insight Jasper into action but the smaller boy merely shrugged the older off and slumped over to where Dean stood at the griddle.
“Hey, Dude, awfully quiet today. Pop snore too much last night?” Dean tried.
“Dad, Papa doesn’t breathe when he sleeps, he can’t snore,” Jasper rolled his eyes but it wasn’t the usual fond exasperation.
“Right,” Dean said quietly, frowning. “Hey Jass, Buddy, you don’t have to worry about what happened last night okay? It’s cool, none of us blame you.”
Jasper’s pout deepened, “You guys all think I’m making it up.”
“No!” Dean was quick to say. “That not it at all Jass. You were probably just half asleep and in an unfamiliar place. The mind does stuff sometimes Jasper, we can’t control that. Especially when we live like we do, you know?”
“My mind wasn’t tricking me!” Jasper shouted, popping to his feet and clenching his small hands at his sides. “I saw something. It was there.”
Dean checked breakfast and turned down the heat, coming around the griddle to crouch in front of Jasper. Dean gently clasped warm hands over his son’s slender arms.
“Jass… I know you think you saw something and that’s okay. Really it is. You’re a kid, it happens, but Pop, Uncle Sam, John and I… We all checked Monkey, there wasn’t anythi-”
“You guys all think I’m just some dumb kid! But I’m not! I’m not, I’m not. I’m an angel! Just like Johnny and Papa and I saw something!” Jasper wrenched out of Dean’s gentle hold and spun on his heel, taking off into the woods at the back of their camp.
“Jasper!” Dean shouted after him. Worriedly Castiel came over to Dean and looked to be waffling between chasing Jasper down and letting him cool off. If it was in Castiel’s character to do so he’d probably be wringing his hands. As it was he already carried that slight wide-eyed baby deer look that Dean had only ever seen on a few occasions. One amusing and some he rather forget about entirely.
“Ah… should I?” John ventured gesturing absently to the woods.
“We’re safe here,” Dean sighed.
“Yes, it’s probably best if you let him collect himself,” Castiel agreed though it looked like he wanted to rip each tree out by the roots until he got to Jasper.
xx
Later that night, Jasper was left alone with Mary. His parents, Uncle Sam and John had gone off to some party that was adults only or something weird like that. Jasper figured it was adults only because there was a lot of beer and smoking. Jasper thought it was pretty rude for the people throwing the party to invite people with kids to it, but he hadn’t said anything. Pop and Dad were only going to make an appearance anyway. They wanted Uncle Sam to go because at the beginning of the summer Uncle Sam had met this lady who he kind of liked. She was supposed to be at the party so Dad and Pop went along for “moral support” or whatever. It wasn’t Jasper’s problem he was kind of glad to be alone with Mary.
Jasper was determined to investigate the forest. He wasn’t just some dumb kid. He had powers and he saw things too. He was sure, almost 100% sure, that there was something in the forest behind their trailer. It didn’t matter that Pop and John had said there was nothing there. Jasper knew there was. He also knew that he would never have gotten away with sneaking into the woods at night if Pop and John were around so just Mary was perfect; especially because Mary didn’t pay a lot of attention sometimes, like now.
Jasper’s cousin had been forbidden to bring her phone but she had somehow snuck her iPod in her backpack, along with some glamour magazines with way too pretty young girls and boys on the cover. Jasper scowled at the goofy teen idol that was making moody faces at the camera on the cover of one magazine he caught sight of, before he tiptoed around Mary, even if she couldn’t see or hear him. Her iPod was up really loud and she was lying on Uncle Sam’s bed on her stomach with her back to the door. Jasper grinned and grabbed his flashlight, hoping down from the trailer stairs and panting into the night.
He hadn’t really done much, but his stomach was all fluttery and his heart was beating kind of fast. The woods were a little bit scary but Jasper was the son of and hunter and an angel for goodness sake. It was basically in his blood to go after bad stuff and kick their butts. If Dad and Uncle Sam could do it when they were Jasper’s age, Jasper could do it no problem. He was more than just human after all.
Jasper tightened his grip on his flashlight and flicked it on and off a few times, checking the batteries. He stuck his tongue out and focused really hard on a spot on the ground, flexing his wings in the cool night air. He was still kind of clumsy with him, but he was learning real fast. If he had to get away quick he could no problem… He was sure… Pretty sure… Practically all sure.
Jasper nodded to himself, stood tall and fixed his shoulders before taking a deep breath and heading towards the treeline. He had been in the wood earlier that day, but he hadn’t gone too far in and he hadn’t seen anything. He wasn’t put off though; scary things came out at night after all, not during the day.
Jasper kind of wished he had a weapon of some sort, Dad had been teaching him how to shoot a gun a little and Uncle Gabe had shown him how to fight with a blade, but Jasper only wanted to look. Research. Just like Uncle Sam and Dad did when they had a monster to find. Jasper couldn’t really go to the library or the archives by himself, but you could research just by looking right? Wasn’t that like first-hand research or something?
Jasper was deep enough in that he couldn’t see the patio light of the camper anymore and he shivered a little. He was just cold though, he wasn’t scared, babies got scared and Jasper wasn’t a baby. Wasn’t at all. Uncle Gabe even called Jasper ‘Big Guy,’ and Uncle Gabe was an angel so he would know. The doctor told Dad that Jasper wouldn’t get much taller than Pop but Jasper figured Uncle Gabe knew better than some silly human doctor. Uncle Sam called Jasper squirt, but Uncle Sam called basically all kids squirt so the blue-eyed boy didn’t let that bother him.
Jasper heard a rustling in the trees and froze dead on the spot. He turned his big eyes up at the branch nearest to him but saw nothing perched there and staring down at him. He shined his light up into the other branches and frowned when he still saw nothing. Jasper shifted a little on his feet, switched his flashlight to his other hand before switching it back to his right and waited. He didn’t hear anything else. The boy was about to take one more step into the trees when suddenly something grabbed him roughly by the neck. Jasper screamed.
xx
John took a swallow of beer, he was sitting next to Dad and Pop. Dad was turned around talking to a guy at the table behind them and Pop was watching curiously as Uncle Sam flirted with Dina at the temporary bar set up across the small patch of grass at the campsite’s communal area. A few people around John’s age were playing in the pool a few metres away, John briefly considered joining them but Dad had noticed a few too many scantily clad collage seniors in the pool and had squashed that idea the moment John had voiced it.
Regardless, the party was pretty good. Dad and Pop were letting him have a beer and none of the other adults were questioning it. John had a higher tolerance than most people anyway so one beer wouldn’t even register on his underage scale. He was legal in Canada, so that was all right. John lifted the drink once again, the lip of the bottle just at his lip when in the next second the brown bottle crashed to the ground, bouncing and toppling spilling frothy contents to the grass. In the same second Pop was on his feet his eyes turned towards their trailer.
“Cas?” Dean turned back. “What’s up?”
“Jasper,” John replied in his father’s stead. Castiel was already halfway across the grass, running at full speed. John knew his father was probably fighting every instinct he had to take wing. John could relate.
“What?!” Dean barked.
“Jasper’s in trouble.” John was tugging at Dean’s arm and pulling him across the crowd being met with confused glances as they went.
“Dean! Man! What’s up?” their host asked.
“My son’s in trouble,” Dean replied shortly. “Sorry Steve, gotta go.”
“Dean? John?” Sam jogged over. “Where’d Cas rush off to in such-”
“Jasper.”
Sam didn’t need any further explanation. He called a quick apology to Dina before taking off after Dean and John.
xx
Their campsite was a short run across the park and Castiel already had Mary out of the trailer and demanding what had happened to Jasper. Mary looked mildly panicked and very near tears.
“I don’t know!” Mary all but wailed. “I’m so sorry Uncle Cas. I was just listening to some music and he must’ve snuck out… I didn’t think he’d…” Mary trailed off with a big sniffle and Castiel pulled her into a hug, stroking her blonde curls as he looked into the woods. Sam came up beside them and Castiel transferred daughter over to father.
“Dean,” Castiel whispered, stricken. “I’m afraid I was mistaken… After a second assessment… I fear we’re dealing with a forest spirit… They tend to be minor trickster deities, but sometimes they do get… overzealous.”
Dean took a firm hold of Castiel’s shoulder, peering into the angel’s eyes, “Can we kill it?”
“Yes, yes. Of course. Fire will do it. Most forest spirits are vulnerable to fire,” Castiel nodded.
“Pop, how’d this thing fly under our radar?” John asked. Dean was already at the Impala’s trunk pulling out supplies.
“Pagan gods and similar minor deities at times have the ability to mask themselves from angels. They are technically outside of our realm and can therefore… fly under our radar. Many have lost the ability over time as people have lost their faith in the Pagan beings, this one apparently has not,” Castiel explained grimly.
“Will we be able to find it?” John asked hopefully.
“Seconded,” Dean remarked.
“What I am sensing currently is the residual use of magic, however, I can locate Jasper regardless of what spells or charms have been placed upon him. I could locate Jasper in the very depths of Hell - Father forbid - if there were ever a cause to do so,” Castiel said firmly.
“Handy,” Dean said flatly. “Let’s go then. Sam?”
“Mary and I will hold down the fort. I think the addition of me in your little hunting party would kind of be superfluous anyway,” Sam responded. “Good luck.”
xx
Jasper had completely changed his mind about five minutes into his little adventure: in no way did he want to be a hunter like Dad and Uncle Sam. He shivered in the dampness of the cave, as the odd little man with the strangely green face grinned mossy teeth at him. His teeth were pale beige and Jasper was reminded off a pair of wooden dentures he saw at a museum once with Pop and John. Jasper shivered, he hated those dentures, they freaked him right out. Seeing something similar live and in person was not at all better.
“What do you want?” Jasper tried to sound big and brave, he was part angel after all, he wasn’t sure how big and brave he actually sounded but he was trying so that was the important part.
“To play,” the strange little man’s voice was gravelly and creaky, like Dad’s had been that one time he got strep throat or Pop’s was when Jasper woke him up in the middle of the night a few weeks ago… but even more than that with a underlying rustle of leaves and a brisk early spring breeze.
“I’m not supposed to play with strangers,” Jasper said, fighting the quiver in his voice.
The man giggled, “I don’t want to play with you.” Then in a rustle of leaves and a creaking of branches the man disappeared from Jasper’s cave.
xx
Dean leapt back as he saw a tree twist and bend and strike out with long spikey branches just barely jumping free in time to spare himself a sudden amputation. Castiel reached over and steadied the green eyes man, meeting his gaze and firmly grabbing his chin.
“Dean, don’t believe what you see,” Castiel said low, firm and certain. “The creature likes to play tricks. He is only feeding you illusions.”
Dean nodded and tightened his jaw, “Right.”
“Are we close Pop?” John asked hopefully, shifting his stance and restlessly playing with the lighter in his hand. Dean watched the yellow-orange flame spark and burn before being dampened with a click and then the entire dance start over again.
Castiel reached out an absent hand and stilled John’s twitching fingers. “Don’t play with fire, John,” Castiel remarked dryly.
John snorted in wry amusement and tucked the lighter away.
“You all right, Kiddo?” Dean asked, coming over and nudging his son’s arm with his shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah… I’m cool. Just not really used to this stuff,” John shot shifty eyes around the menacing looking trees and relaxed only after Castiel brushed his back with a gentle hand.
“You can return to the campsite if you wish, John. We won’t think any less of you,” Castiel said softly.
“No, no way. I’m gonna help my little brother. I totally took on an angel with you two years ago, Pop, one little tree spirit is nothing compared to that, right?” John pulled on the reserves of cockiness he had inherited from Dean and set his shoulders.
“It’s coming,” Castiel said suddenly, shifting in front of John. Dean turned and slipped behind the boy, effectively sandwiching their eldest son between them while watching each other’s backs.
“Three little angels… all dressed in in white…” a craggy old voice whistled out between the trees.
John tensed and shuffled closer to Dean who shifted his grip on his homemade flame thrower and narrowed green eyes into the rapidly shifting shadows.
“One little devil… all dressed in red,” the voice whistled again, devolving quickly into a croaky giggle.
Dean, John and Castiel all spun shifting their gaze to the opposite side of trees and waiting for the creature to show itself.
“Enough games, where’s my son?” Castiel demanded. “Show yourself, Pagan.”
“Funny things, angels… Always demanding and commanding and rep-ree-manding… Never more than that, hey? Hey?” The voice jumped from corner to corner branch to branch and Dean felt tension begin to settle heavy and thick on his shoulders.
“All the silly humans making shouty prayers and long sad calls… Hoping and wishing and wanting but never more than demanding and commanding and rep-ree-manding. We helped, my brothers and me… We helped.”
“Great, so you’re just another asshole with a chip on his shoulder over getting shunted out by something bigger and badder than you. Get over it and give me my fucking son!” Dean shouted into the trees.
Another craggy giggle split the all-too-quiet air, “So funny the little thing I have in my trap… Such pretty purely wings and diamond in the eye, come into my house, said the spider to the fly.”
“You hurt him so help me-”
“God?!” snide and sharp and chuckling. “What god? Gone, gone, gone… Now your little angel is all by himself… God once, hmm? Big scary once but then he… Ah ha! Shunted out by something bigger and badder! Now funny little things he has hanging on… Part of two worlds but belonging to neither! Little boy lost, never to be found either.”
Without warning the cloud rolled in overhead and lightning flashed in the sky, Dean watched wide-eyed as Castiel clenched a fist tight at his side and glared menacingly into the woods.
“You’re wrong,” Castiel gritted out. “Weather you return him to me or not it is of no consequence. I will find him and then I will tear this forest up by the roots, burn every inch of every quarter of your woods, and then where would you be?”
“Talk! All talk!” the voice squeaked out.
“No,” Castiel replied and flicked his gaze to the left. A bolt of lightning flashed, blinding bright, the loudness of the thunder made Dean flinch unconsciously away before there was a crackle and hiss and the woods began to burn.
Dean and John jumped away as the odd little man appeared before them, the older Winchester leaping in front of his son and sparking the gas of his flamethrower. The spirit yowled and began beating at his branch like limbs, wide jaundiced eyes staring in shock at the hunter.
Dean watched levelly as the forest spirit burned and Castiel nodded grimly before turning to John, “Go put out the fire, John. Dean and I will find your brother.”
Dazedly, John nodded and ran off towards the slowly growing blaze.
Castiel reached out and pressed his fingers to Dean’s forehead, Dean only had time to slam his eyes shut before gravity lurched around him and he stumbled forward into a damp cave. The sound of little boy whimpering caught his ear the moment the fog of angel flight had cleared. Castiel’s back was already disappearing around the corner, his sandals soundless on the wet dirt and stone floor of the cave. Dean took after him and let out a heavy sigh of relief when they found Jasper, dirty but uninjured. Castiel had him in his arms, rocking the child slowly as the boy clung to the archangel’s neck.
Dean finally relaxed and went up to both blue eyed angels, wrapping them tight in a hug and pressing kisses to Jasper’s damp curls.
“You okay, Monkey?” Dean asked softly.
Jasper nodded, “Uh huh… I’m …kay… I don’t think I wa… wanna hunt monsters anymore, Daddy.”
Dean chuckled, “Trust me, Jass, that’s fine by me.”
xx
Jasper had bounced back remarkably well and was already laughing and playing with John again. It was the next afternoon and the Winchesters had all taken a trip down to the lake. Mary was sunning herself - after Sam demanded she put on about half a bottle of sunscreen - on the beach in front of them. Sam was dozing away under the umbrella to their left and Dean and Cas sat in lounge chairs side by side, the angel flipping through book while Dean had a car magazine open on his lap and was keeping a careful eye on Jasper and John playing in the surf.
“Where do you think the little bastard learned all those children’s rhymes?” Dean asked the question that had been bothering them ever since their encounter with the spirit the night previous.
Castiel quirked a brow, “Hmm… Girl scouts I suspect. I’m fairly certain those wood are frequented by camping troops, that’s what the brochure for the campsite said anyway. “
Dean snorted, “Serious? He learned them from a bunch of yappy little girls?”
“Best theory I’ve got,” Castiel shrugged, the gesture smooth and easy as if he’d been doing it his entire life.
Dean looked over with a small amount of pride at how adapted the angel had become to human life and still remained gorgeous as ever. Looking at them from an outside perspective Dean imagined that people wouldn’t see anything other than a happy normal family on holiday. When in reality they were one archangel, two adorable hybrids, one sweet little girl, an ex-demon-blood junky and a former angel condom.
Dean had to concede that his life sure was weird, but it was also pretty damn awesome… Annoying little forest spirits aside.
End
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