We're not calling it Babe 2/?

[emebalia]

Chapter 2

This is stupid, Dean thought.

"This is stupid." Sam gave him a look over his shoulder but didn't slow down. He was taking the lead, carrying their supply bag.

Dean chose to not answer. He just wrapped his arm closer around the lump under his shirt.


"I think he settled down." Dean said quietly. At first he had tried to carry the little guy in his arms but the piglet had constantly wiggled to get closer to Dean, shivering and whining, until Dean had buttoned up his shirt around him, creating a nice little hiding spot for the little pig.
"You're warm and smell like his mother." Sam observed but his voice didn't give away his thoughts on this subject. He didn't have to. They both knew how stupid this was but in the end neither of them had been able to kill the helpless little piglet. It was injured for Christ's sake. And these little noises it had made … Dean couldn't stand it. He couldn't.

So here he was with the piglet under his shirt, following his brother's lead out of the woods. By now he was limping as well, right hind leg, figures, they already had something in common, but he grit his teeth and tried to keep up with Sam.

Dean sighed in relief when they reached the Impala.

Sam didn't bitch around when Dean tossed him the keys but he did throw him a concerned glance when he started the engine.

"Where to?" He asked and eased the car on the road. "Back to the motel or to a vet clinic?"

Dean considered the question, not showing the relief he felt over the fact that Sam was as concerned about the piglet as he was.

"Let's have a closer look at him at the motel first." He finally answered. He didn't need to say that he wasn't sure if they could pass it as a normal piglet to a vet. It looked like a young boar at first sight but Dean wasn't an expert on pigs, who knew what a trained eye would spot. On the other hand, people had come up with crazy breeds of a lot of species.

Sam nodded and they drove in silence for a few minutes.

"How's he doing?" Sam finally asked with a side glance at the lump under Dean's shirt now settled in his lap. Dean had both arms protectively around the small body, forming a nest so that he wouldn't get tossed around by the movement of the car. Not that Sam was driving faster than a grandma.

"Sleeping." Dean answered. The piglet was still completely hidden under the fabric of his shirt but it hadn't moved in a while. However, Dean felt the warmth against him and the soft movement of the breathing.

Back at the motel Dean was glad that his little passenger hadn't stirred so far and he carried him into his motel room without somebody seeing him. Sam followed them, first aid kit in hand.

"Grab me a towel, will you?" Dean sat down on his bed and started unbuttoning his shirt. Carefully he peeled the fabric from the small body wedged against his stomach.

The piglet now did stir and made little painful noises when Dean set it on the towel Sam had laid out on the bed.

"Shh, little fellow." Dean made and gently stroke the piglet's head. "I just need to have a look. It's okay, I won't hurt you." He was dimly aware of Sam watching him from where he'd retreated to the bathroom but at the moment he didn't care what Sam might think about him cooing over the little pig.

"Here, we need to wash off the blood and dirt." Sam set a bowl with water on the nightstand and handed Dean a wet washcloth. With Sam near by the piglet shied away, pressing himself against Dean.

"Thanks." Dean took the washcloth and without needing to be told Sam stepped back, giving Dean and the piglet some room.

The gash on the side was superficial and didn't look like it needed stitches. If that had been the case they would be on their way to the next vet, Dean didn't even want to think about pushing a needle through the skin while Sam held the crying pig down.

"Doesn't look too bad." He informed his brother and pretended to not hear Sam's sigh of relief. "Okay, this might hurt a little bit, little fellow."

Firm but carefully he wrapped his hand around the injured hint leg and tried to move it. He wasn't an expert in pig anatomy but he knew how dislocated joints or broken bones felt. The pig protested with a whine but was too weak to break Dean's hold.

"It's bruised and swollen but I don't think it's something serious." Dean let go of the leg and switched to calming strokes on the pig's head and flank. The piglet was panting now but calmed down after a moment.

"I'll get some ice." Sam offered and was out of the room a second later.

"What are we going to do with you?" Dean asked the pig, patting its head while it tried to dig its snout into his palm.

They couldn't keep him, Dean knew that. He was small and cute now but he would be a giant boar some day. And they couldn't lock him up in the bunker while they were out, doing their job.

"Can't you just pretend you're a dog or something?" Dean muttered but never stopped scratching and patting the tiny head. The pig's eyes dropped and he was almost asleep now but there were still the small hurt noises coming from him which wrenched Dean's heart every single time.

"Here, try this." Sam was back with a towel filled with ice cubes. It covered half of the piglet.

At first he made an irritated sound but then he seemed to feel the soothing effect of the ice and settled back into the nest of towel, shirt and Dean. Seconds later he was fast asleep.

Dean sat there for another ten minutes, holding the makeshift ice bag in place, before he dropped it to the ground and then he just sat there, watching the little guy sleep.

"We could keep it until its big enough to make it on its own." Sam suggested from his place on his bed, eyes fixed on what he could make out of the pig from there.

"He wouldn't know how to survive on his own." Dean dismissed the idea. "Without his mother to show him ..." He shook his head. This was stupid. They had no idea how to prepare a pig to live on his own in the woods. He wouldn't find food. He would be used to humans and probably get shot as soon as he came close to humans again.

Dean didn't say that out loud but he didn't need to, he could see the same thoughts on Sam's face.

"Let's wait till tomorrow." Sam suggested and Dean nodded to that.

"Okay, your turn." Sam announced and rubbed his hands.

"What?" Dean blinked at him.

"Don't think I didn't notice that you're limping." Sam said, fist aid kit already in hand.

"It's nothing." Dean hurried to assure him, hand protectively on the injured spot too close to his groin to let Sam just have a look. "Just a bruise or a pulled muscle, nothing serious." Sam eyed him sceptically, not believing one word he was saying. "Nothing a hot shower can't fix." He added and making his point he dislodged himself from the piglet and after a moment to make sure it was still sleeping he escaped to the bathroom.

For a moment Dean stood at the sink, bracing himself on the rim. While he'd been concerned about the little pig he had been able to dismiss his own injury but now, thanks to Sam, it was back in all its throbbing glory.

Dean swallowed thickly, he was sure that it hadn't hit home but he needed to look to be really sure. It hadn't felt like he got kicked in the balls but by now the pain was everywhere, sending hot lances of pain through his groin and up his spine.

"Please, no busted nut." Dean prayed to nobody specific and carefully started to peel off his jeans. Twisted testicle was another thing he didn't want to think about right now.

His inner thigh was one big bruise, almost black and roughly the shape of a football. Where the tusks had hit the skin was broken but it hadn't even bled that much. But little Dean was okay and that was all Dean actually cared about at the moment.

The hot shower loosened his muscles but sparked the throbbing in his leg.

Only in his underwear and a t-shirt Dean limped back the the main room.

"Uh." Sam winced in sympathy. "I'll get you some ice for that." And with that he was out of the door.

Glad that Sam wasn't around to see more of his misery, Dean made his way over to his bed where Sam had left the first aid kit with the painkillers and the ointment for bruises on top. There was a bottle of water on the nightstand as well. In moments like this Dean knew why he loved that kid so much.

By the time Sam came back with the ice Dean had disinfected the part with the broken skin and had smeared the ointment on the rest of this upper leg. He put some soft sweatpants on and then settled back with a sigh while the cold of the ice was seeping through his pants.

Neither of them wanted to go out for dinner, Dean didn't want to walk ever again and there was still the piglet sleeping on his bed, so they ordered pizza.

By the time the pizza arrived Dean had drifted off to almost sleep, he hadn't even noticed that Sam had disappeared to the bathroom for his own shower, and he startled awake when the pizza boy knocked at their door.

His flailing woke the pig as well who made little noises again. But this time it didn't sound that painful and lost anymore. It sounded rather hungry.

"Sam, what do pigs eat?" Dean asked, his own stomach grumbling at the smell of the pizza.

"They are omnivore." Sam answered promptly, of course he would now a random fact like that. "But I'm not sure if he's old enough for solid food."

In the end Dean gave him some of the more sodden part from the middle of the pizza and left the crust for himself which seemed to work just fine.

After they'd eaten and the little guy, by now Dean had confirmed that it was indeed a he, had finished a bowl of water, the brothers made themselves comfortable on the beds and Sam was zapping through the channels. The pig had wedged itself against Dean's side again and Dean stroke his head absently.

When it was time to turn in the pig was fast asleep and Dean scooped him up with his nest of Dean's shirts and placed him on the floor next to his bed. The piglet didn't even blink to that and they settled in for the night.

However, Dean couldn't sleep. His brother's breathing had long evened out but Dean lay there, tired and exhausted, but he couldn't find his way to sleep. Since he got the Mark he hadn't slept well and more often than not he woke up from nightmares but now he couldn't even find a position where he didn't feel his injured leg. He had taken something for the pain so it didn't really hurt, he just couldn't find a position to sleep comfortably.

When he finally was at the brink of unconsciousness, some rustling next to him pulled him back. And there was that whining sound again.

"Hey, I'm here." Dean reached out to the piglet and immediately felt his snout against his palm. But the whining didn't stop. If anything it became more urgent and the pushing against his hand more desperate.

"Shh, you'll wake Sammy." Dean whispered but the pig didn't calm down. Now he felt little feet on his hand as well and he was pretty sure that he pig tried to climb up his arm.

"Oh for ..." Dean sighed and picked him up. "Here. Happy now?" The pig indeed made a happy noise and wiggled his way under the covers. Settled against Dean's stomach with Dean's arm wrapped over him, he calmed down and a moment later he was asleep again.

"If you pee on me ..." Dean muttered but tightened his hold around the small body against him. A minute later he was asleep as well and he slept through till morning without dreaming.

Chapter 3
Masterpost