We're not calling it Babe 12/?
Chapter 12
"Could be coincidence." Dean said with his eyes fixed on the teddy bear and gun aimed between those shiny black unblinking eyes.
"Maybe." Sam agreed, gun trained at the giant teddy as well. It was never coincidence, not in their line of work.
For a second they just stood there, waiting for the teddy to move. Or to talk. To do anything. Which it didn't. Of course it didn't, it was a frigging teddy bear.
"Remember that other teddy bear?" Dean asked and inched a step closer. "The one from the wishing well?"
"That one didn't kill people." Sam reminded him. "He just liked to drink and smoke and complain a lot."
"I still have no clue on how to kill a stuffed animal." Dean admitted.
"I'm not sure if it's even alive." Sam rolled his shoulder to indicate for Dean to cover him and then tucked his gun in the back of his jeans. He didn't come back up empty handed, though. Demon killing knife in hand Sam stepped closer to the still unmoving plush animal until he was in striking distance. But so was the teddy. Dean kept his gun trained at the teddy's head, if it was vulnerable to bullets at all a head shot should do the trick.
Sam threw him one last glance over his shoulder, muttered "Here goes nothing." and poked the bear with the tip of the knife.
Nothing happened. Dean would feel better if that damn thing moved already.
Growing more confident Sam poked it harder, even tucked at its ear, and when still nothing happened he raised the knife to bury it in the teddy's head.
Before he could plunge it down into the teddy a high pitched squealing startled them. Dean almost shot out of reflex before he realized that the sound came from behind him. Startled he spun around but he only saw something running across the room out of the corner of his eye.
"Mac?" He recognized the familiar shape of the pig who completely ignored him and ran towards Sam. "What is he doing here?"
For a second they just stared at the little guy who ran past Sam and went straight for the teddy. Mac came to a skittered halt only inches from the bear, his snout almost buried in the thick fur. He sniffed and sneezed before he dismissed the teddy with an angry huff and turned to face Sam.
The teddy had failed to use the moment of distraction to attack them so Dean was fairly sure that the stuffed animal wasn't dangerous, at least at the moment, but he adjusted his grip on the gun just in case while he tried to figure out how Mac got here in the first place, they had locked the door, and what he was doing here.
The pig stood firmly between Sam and the bear.
"I think he thinks it is dangerous." Sam said and took a step back. Mac followed suit, head ducked deep while he tried to herd Sam even farther from the teddy.
The noises coming from the pig were almost a whine and his flanks were trembling but he didn't budge. It was clear that the little guy was frightened but at the same time it looked like he tried to protect them from the teddy.
"Okay, retreat." Dean decided and stepped backwards in the direction of the door. No way was he turning his back in the bear. Not if it terrified Mac like this.
The pig threw him an almost grateful glance but then his attention was on Sam again who now backed off as well.
Sam scooped up Mac and together they hurried to get out of the room.
Back in their own motel room Sam set Mac on the floor and the pig started to run circles around him, rubbing his head at Sam's shins.
"What was that?" Dean ran a hand down his face, the tension slowly melting away. His hand was trembling but that wasn't because of his nerves, he knew that. There was an itch in the back of his mind, the Mark, that told him he should go back and rip that thing apart. Burn it, shoot it, make it bleed. He ignored it.
"An evil teddy." Sam sat down at the table, one hand dangling and Mac didn't waste time to butt his head into his palm. Usually Mac didn't show that much affection towards Sam. If Dean didn't know better the pig was trying to get his scent all over him. Dean swallowed against the ping of jealousness in his chest. Over the last few days he'd gotten used to having Mac around whenever the Mark bothered him too much. He'd never admit it but the pig helped him to calm down.
"We need to get rid of that thing. And the one at Melissa's." Dean sat down as well. "And we need to find out where they came from."
How many were out there, that was the question. Just these two or was there a teddy bear invasion going on?
"These are sealed crime scenes, we have time to find out more about this before we try anything." Sam mused aloud and gave in to Mac's begging and picked the pig up without really noticing. "I'd say we have a look at the fair first, find out if others have won a giant bear as well." Find out if there were other possible victims out there. Neither of them said it out loud because they both knew that it would be almost impossible to find somebody in the crowd even if he was carrying a big teddy bear.
"Sounds like a plan." Dean agreed. "Because I've no idea how to get rid of them. I don't want a pissed off burning teddy on my ass."
Sam just hummed to that, too busy scratching Mac behind the ear. The pig had settled in his lap but not without squirming around for a moment, sticking his snout between the different layers of Sam's shirts and rubbing his whole body against Sam's stomach and chest.
Like a dog who had to turn around three times before laying down, Dean thought with amusement but couldn't shake off the feeling that this was about scent. That Mac was covering Sam in his scent.
Brian had said that the teddy smelled weird and both times it had been Sam who got close to the teddy. Sam had even touched it this time.
Dean felt like he was on to something here but he didn't know how to proceed.
"Okay, fair it is." Dean clapped his hands. "When was the last time we went to a fair?"
"Never." Sam said a little wistful but then his expression hardened. "Expect for that one time with the killer clown."
Dean remembered that one. He would never admit it, especially not to Sam, but that clown had been creepy.
"We should visit one." Dean nodded to himself. "When we're done here we'll find one without killer clowns or killer teddy bears or anything killer at all. Just fun rides and cotton candy until we puke."
"We should do that." Sam gave him a smile but they both knew they would never come around to actually do something like that. Something else would come up and they would put it off. Like always. Sometimes it felt like they were putting off their whole life. Like some day they would just live but that day never came.
Dean sighed and pushed those thoughts away. His eyes fell on Mac, happily dozing under Sam's skillful hand. Traitor. But it was quite possible that the pig had saved Sam from something very unpleasant like dismembering today so Dean could forgive him. This time.
"How did he even get over there?" He wondered. "I locked the door and the other one was closed."
Sam thought about that for a moment. "Yesterday he altered reality to play your favorite porn on the laptop. I doubt a closed door is a problem for him."
Sam had a point, Dean had to give him that.
"But that is a problem for us." He realized. He didn't want to bring Mac to the fair. There were too many people around, it would be too easy for Mac to get trampled down or to get lost in the crowd. And if there really was something dangerous going on there, Dean didn't want to get distracted by worrying about Mac.
Sam just gave him a curious look.
"If a locked door is no problem for him how can we make sure that he stays in the room or the car?" Dean explained patiently. His brother was a smart guy but sometimes he could be really slow.
"Oh." Sam finally made in realization. He looked down at Mac who had his eyes closed and would have purred if he was a cat.
In the end Dean decided to just talk to Mac. And to bribe him, that had worked before.
"Sam and I are going out for a bit." Dean told the pig and only felt a little bit stupid for that. He knew that Mac understood far more than anybody would give him credit for but when he looked at the button eyes and the twitching snout he couldn't believe that he was talking in earnest to a pig.
"We'll be back soon." He continued. "You stay here." He emphasized that part by patting the bed next to Mac. He had the faint hope that Mac would just sleep through this. "You stay here and wait for us. You do that and you get a whole can of dog food for dinner."
If there was any doubt if the pig understood him, it was gone when Mac made a happy sound and squirmed his way into Dean's side at the mention of dog food.
Mac was a sucker for biscuits and other treats but dog food was his weakness. And for something like this Dean figured he better got out the big guns.
"A whole can." Dean repeated and gave him one last pat on the head. "Just stay here and wait for us."
Mac jerked his head which almost counted as a nod and sat back on his haunches. Dean wouldn't be surprised to find him in the exact same position when they came back. At least he hoped so.
Before anybody could change his mind, the brothers left.
"Think this is going to work?" Sam asked with one last glance at the closed door.
"He has get used to stay lone for a while." Dean answered and stuffed his fists in this pockets. He didn't like leaving Mac like this but there was no other way. "Let's go."
It was late in the afternoon and most people were done with work for the day. Which meant they had time for some fun.
The brothers left the car at the motel, they wouldn't find a place to leave it closer to the fair anyway, and mingled with the crowd moving towards the fairground.
There was excitement in the air, kids laughing and people shouting. The music carried over to them along with the typical smell of popcorn, cotton candy and saw dust. Usually Dean would let himself enjoy the whole atmosphere but now he couldn't help but wonder how he would evacuate the place if necessary. He couldn't, he knew that, and it was highly unlikely that he would need to, he knew that too, but still.
A mean little voice in the back of his mind wondered what danger he was thinking of. Giant teddy bears or something darker?
Dean tucked the sleeve more firmly over the Mark, he had a job to do.
Chapter 13
Masterpost