Hush Little Baby Pt 3
Frowning Dean raised a hand, mouth opening and closing s few times, before he climbed in slamming the door. The big engine whined as the elder Winchester pushed the car up to speed quickly and then merged into traffic smoothly leaving the dead demon behind.
Jimmy crossed his arms over his chest and huffed out a breath. Clearing his throat Dean offered the other man a tentative grin, but gave up at the cold glare he got in return. Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel the elder Winchester finally gave up and turned the music up louder humming mindlessly.
The Impala made a shuddering hitch then whined a little as Dean cranked up the speed turning onto the freeway ramp. After a few more minutes of nerve racking silence he finally caved, “Look Jimmy…I’m sorry.”
“You’re gonna have to do a hell of a lot better than some smarmy grin and a half-assed apology.”
Dean grunted, “Hey, it’s not half-assed…it’s a full ass apology…”
“Dean!” Jimmy growled and for a few heart wrenching moments Dean could hear the angel in those dark whiskey soak syllables. Shaking himself he cast a quick glance at the smaller man sitting beside him. Jimmy was looking out the window but when he felt the weight of the other man’s gaze fall o n him he turned around.
“So how did you find me?”
Dean shrugged, “When I woke up the morning you left…”Jimmy snorted but Dean carried on gamely, “I went to the bus station to check the routes to Pontiac. I figured you’d go home.”
Sighing Jimmy nodded, “Yeah, I figured that I’d just drop in unannounced on my parents, shove my belly in their faces and yell ‘Surprise!’”
“Bet that would ‘a gone over real good.”
“You don’t know my mother. Oh she would have taken me back but I’d have heard all about my ‘fallen ways’ for the rest of my natural days. Anyway, I guess I should thank you for the ride. I didn’t want to be there by that dead guy when the cops showed up.”
“I didn’t know you could kill somebody. I mean if I had known you could handle yourself like that I wouldn’t have been so worried about you.”
Suddenly a tiny smile flickered over Jimmy mouth, “You were worried about me?”
Dean flushed coughing a little, “Well, kinda…I mean you are sorta important.”
Jimmy flinched, “As an angelic vessel you mean.”
“As my friend…I mean. And you know…” Dean raised a hand making a vague gesture at the other man’s midsection. Jimmy looked down at his still flat belly, suddenly embarrassed about the tiny spark of life tucked neatly, and still invisibly, inside him.
“Oh,” Jimmy sighed.
Dean coughed nervously before turning off the freeway and the car then pulling into the flow of traffic. Turning slightly he glance at Jimmy out of the corner of his eyes, “So can we go somewhere maybe talk a little bit. I feel like I don’t know you at all and you’re havin’ my kid.”
“You know me,” Jimmy said shortly frowning then he took a deep breath. “I mean what you thought was Castiel was really me. Angels are non-corporeal beings Dean. They are energy in its purest form, divine will. They don’t interact with humans and they don‘t have emotions. Any emotions you sense from Cas came from me. He filtered everything he did through me.”
“But you acted like you didn’t know. That me and Cas.”
“It’s complicated. It was Castiel’s consciousness but my emotions. I was pushed back a lot especially when things got dangerous or ugly, but I always picked up on Castiel’s frame of mind. But he did control our body. His mind was always at the forefront, but it was my human emotions that bled out.”
Looking away Jimmy fidgeted nervously fingers tapping at the door handle. Dean leaned over slightly hand coming to rest on the other man’s arm, “You don’t have to hang around if you don’t want. I’ll take you home or to your parent’s house.”
“I don’t think I’d be welcome there. I haven’t felt at home there for a very long time. No I’d like to get to know you better; maybe we can work something out. This is your baby too.”
Smiling Dean flushed, “I’d like that.”
Dean pulled the car into the parking lot of a nearby diner, “Look I’m beat. I’ve been driving almost twenty-four-seven trying to catch the damned bus. Can we get a bite to eat and check into a hotel? I’ll get you a separate room if you like, but considering a demon tried to get you I think it’s safer if we stay together.”
Jimmy nodded, “I think it’d be better if we shared a room. I’ll eat if you want to go get food first.”
The motel was a little higher class than Dean would have put up for if he had been on his own, but with a pregnant partner or whatever the hell Jimmy was now Dean felt he needed to get a safer, cleaner place.
Dean pulled the Impala into the parking lot cutting the engine. They sat in silence for a few minutes not looking at each other then Jimmy laughed nervously.
I feel like I’m on a first date. Which is weird since I’m pregnant already.”
“Hey,” Dean smirked, “That’s probably a great time saver. Come on you look ready to drop. It’s a couple of hours until dinner, unless you want to go now.”
“No,” Jimmy sighed. “Let’s get cleaned up. I’ve been on the bus all day. I could really use a good shower, and maybe a nap.”
Shrugging Dean hurried around the car opening the door before the other man could move. Jimmy bore the extra attention patiently, waiting at the door to the motel office so that Dean could open it as well.
The desk to the motel office was a Formica counter bearing an ancient computer. There was too vases of fake flowers on either side of the monitor and a bored looking teenage girl sitting in a decrepit leather office chair cruising the internet on her IPhone. She glanced up at the two men, giving Dean and then Jimmy both appraising looks. Dean felt his cheeks go warm, but the other man didn’t seemed put out in the least.
Clearing his throat Dean shoved a credit card across the desk, “We need a room with two doubles.”
Snapping her gum the girl sighed cocking an eyebrow at the hunter she sniffed “Only got one room left and it’s a queen size.”
Dean turned an apologetic look on the other man but Jimmy shrugged, “We’ll make do.”
She smiled sarcastically, “Yeah I bet you will.”
But she ran the card through the reader and shoved a receipt at Dean. Quickly the girl fetched two plastic door cards from a pegboard behind the counter and pushed those across the Formica surface as well, “Room fifty-three around the corner on the back side of the building, lower right corner.”
They drove around the motel to the rear of the lower level and dragged their bags inside. The room was marginally better than Dean had hoped. The carpets appeared to be clean and stain free and the bedclothes were reasonably new. But, just as the girl at the desk at said, there was only the single queen-sized bed in the center of the far wall beneath some god-awful post-modern painting. Dean grit his teeth settling down in one of the two chairs beside a fake-wood table fronting the room’s single window.
Jimmy sighed looking at the other man but Dean was still staring at the center of the bed with a frown marring his features. Finally, Jimmy stooped down fishing through his bag for clean clothes, “I think I’ll get a quick shower.”
“Sure,” Dean mumbled not turning around. He waited until the bathroom door was firmly closed before pulling his cell phone from his pocket. Quickly he flicked it open staring at the silent screen. There was no message just as there had been no messages for the past two months. He started to punch in a number then sighed and closed the phone. Right now Dean had something more pressing to take care of. That baby wasn’t going to stay in Jimmy’s belly forever. He was going to have a kid, and Jimmy still reeked of angel. That put a big old target squarely on his back, and Dean was certainly not okay with that.
The water cut off and Dean jerked around. In a billowing cloud of steam Jimmy stepped out of the bathroom, still glisten wet and dressed in nothing but a towel. Dean flushed quickly looking away but Jimmy merely chuckled, “Why so shy? I was under the impression you’d already seen it all.”
Coughing Dean shrugged, “Well, yeah but you’re still entitled to your privacy.”
Striking a pose Jimmy thrust out a hip letting the towel gape open around his leg. Now Dean snickered, and the other man pouted, “Ouch talk about a way to kill my self-esteem. Here I am trying to be sexy and you’re laughing at me.”
“You don’t have to try to be sexy.” Dean stammered. Jimmy cocked an eyebrow at him, head titled quizzically. Dean looked away. Then suddenly Jimmy was right there at his side and the hunter flinched, “Dean are you okay? Did I do something wrong?”
Shaking his head Dean put a hand on Jimmy’s arm. “No it’s just that…hey come on. Get dressed already; my belly thinks my throat’s been cut. I’m starving.”
Sighing Jimmy rose trudging to his duffel and pulling out clean clothes. He followed Dean to the door and then out to the car. The hunter quickly hurried around the side of the Impala to open the door when Jimmy held up a hand. He took Dean by the arm, “I can do it myself. I’m pregnant not crippled. I’m not helpless Dean. You don’t have to watch my every move.”
“Sorry,” Dean said shooting the other man a quick grin. Jimmy felt a shiver crawl down the length of his spine. A warm flush colored his cheeks. He quickly settled into the passenger seat wondering just what it was about the other man that sent his pulse hammering in his veins. He smiled ruefully, he really had it bad. And that scared him. Dean could crush him now, in a way no one else had ever had the ability. But Jimmy could tell that he had some power over the hunter too. He could see the longing in Dean’s eyes. Maybe the timing hadn’t been right, or maybe they hadn’t gotten off to the best start, but Jimmy was beginning to believe that they just might have a chance to make this thing, whatever it was, work. When he and Dean finally got to know each other a little better.
There was a diner down the street from the motel. It was one of those little Mom and Pop local places, not one of the big chain restaurants, and from the crowd gathered at the front door it seemed to be the go to place for dinner in this little out of the town.
The Impala glided smoothly into a parking spot in the rear corner of the lot. Dean frowned a little glancing around them. His father had always raised him to be wary of parking in dark gloomy corners and his instincts were ragged already, but the hunter gave in casting a glance over at his companion. Jimmy seemed oblivious to anything around then, and Dean prayed silently that it was because he was being overly cautious.
Jimmy flung open the car door and tumbled out turning to shoot the other man a coy grin when two large forms cut themselves loose from the shadows. Dean kicked the door open, hunter’s sense screaming at him. And as the two figures descended on him and Jimmy he thought, “Well hell, not so over cautious as it turns out.”
As the larger of the two demons rounded the front end of the car Dean shouted, “Jimmy, get out. Run to the diner now!”
“I can help you,” Jimmy said quickly but Dean whirled barely dodging a ham-sized fist from his attacker.
“No! I’m not gonna take that chance. I mean it get your ass in that diner and look for some salt.”
“He won’t get that far,” the other demon said with a snicker. “He’s gonna get us nice fat promotion.”
Jimmy backed away as the demon heading for him cut across the sidewalk. Turning the human made a mad dash for the diner knowing that he was too late, and the demon was going to run him down.
Suddenly the sound of squealing tires caught Jimmy’s attention and he jerked to a halt torn between the white Mustang barreling down on him and the demon hot on his tail.
The car bumped up over the curb and squeaked to halt shuddering violent as a tall, shaggy figure burst out of the driver’s door.
Dean scowled but relief flooded through Jimmy as he recognized the tall man from his earlier rescue. “It’s okay,” Jimmy tossed over his shoulder and Dean glared raising a hand to block a blow to the face. “He’s a hunter, from earlier.”
The tall figure swooped down grabbing the demon facing the smaller man as Dean turned away to deal with his own problem. From behind him the elder Winchester brother could hear the soft tones of chanted Latin and something inside him clinched. Taking a deep breath he tugged the knife he habitually carried in the waistband of his jeans lunching at the laughing face in front of him.
As the knife bit into flesh and the demon shudder pain racking his body the demon reared back, chuckling Dean lunged again seating the knife to the hilt in the demon’s throat, “Not so funny now is it laughing boy?” Dean snarled.
With his opponent permanently sidelined Dean whirled hurrying to Jimmy’s side. The smaller man crowded in close letting Dean throw an arm across his shoulders as the final syllables of the exorcism rolled off the other hunter’s tongue.
The demon shuddered, writhing then the vessel tilted his head back and the demon itself roiled out of its victim’s mouth. Before the black cloud could dissipate the hunter reached out a hand flashing a small glass jar and the demon curled into itself then poured into the glass container. The man staggered crumbling onto the sidewalk in a heap. Carefully the taller man knelt down then glanced up at Dean and the elder hunter froze.
“Sammy?”
The taller man smiled, “Hey, Dean…uh...” turning to the vessel Sam raised proffering a hand, “Sorry I don’t know your name. I mean since I’m pretty sure you’re not Castiel.”
Jimmy stepped forward shaking the hand warmly, “I’m James Novak. But you can call me Jimmy, everybody does.”
Dean stooped down looking his younger brother in the face, “What the hell Sam. How’d you end up here?”
Sam looked sheepish and then he sighed, “After we bounced Lucifer back into the box, and after the angels all pulled up stakes and went home I realized that I could see them…the vessels.” Turning slightly the younger Winchester made a sweeping gesture at Jimmy, “Dude you’ve got no idea how much you shine.”
Dean grinned, “What are hittin’ on my main squeeze, Sammy? I didn’t know you swung that way.”
“Jeeze, Dean” Sam huffed, “Jealous much?” Finally Sam settled down on the sidewalk checking the pulse of the incapacitated man beside him. Glancing up at Dean he shrugged, “We need to call 911 and move along. We got one guy out cold and one stone cold dead. Can we move this to a new location?”
Glancing up and down the quiet street Dean nodded, surprised that no one had noticed then so far. Taking Jimmy’s arm he used the other hand to haul his brother to his feet, and the three ducked down the alley and headed across the parking lot to the diner that has been their original destination.
As they stepped inside Dean motioned for Sam and Jimmy to take a seat and quickly hustled to the men’s room to wash the traces of drying blood off his hand and arm. The two other were perusing menus with rapt fascination when Dean gently pushed Jimmy over and settled onto the faded leather bench beside him. He looked up as the blue and red lights of a passing police cruiser painted the window at the front of the diner. Several customers rose from their seats watching as the car drove by, but Dean hunched into his bench pulling the menu up.
Rubbing his chin Dean punched his younger brother just to gather Sam’s wandering attention, “So Sammy what’s with the…brush?”
“Oh, I’ve been hanging out on my own so I never really paid that much attention.”
Snickering Dean nodded, “Well, it makes you look even more like a Sasquatch than before.”
Sam rolled his eyes, “Like I said once the whole apocalypse thing was over and done, and the angels took off I realized that I could see the vessels they had been inhabiting. I started having visions of these people; I think they came from Cas. Anyway I knew that demons were gonna be after all the vessels to collect any Intel they could, even if the people themselves might not even remember what happened. I’ve been driving around the country keeping track on all the vessels I could and killing any demons that showed up to hurt them. I ran into Jimmy here at a bus station.”
Dean flushed crimson and Sam cocked his head, “What was he doing alone at bus station anyway, Dean?”
“Hey, you know me, Sammy. I suffer from foot in mouth disease.” Dean smiled at the man seated beside him and Jimmy blushed from the collar of his shirt to roots of his hair. Taking his hand Dean shrugged, “We’re working on it.”
Fiddling with a paper napkin on the table Dean looked at his brother out of the corner of his eyes, Sam smiled, “Gee, no offense Jimmy, but since when have been one to ‘work on it’, Dean?”
Taking a deep breath Dean grinned, “Since I found out that I got a kid on the way.”
Sam’s eyes widened, “It’s been like a month, maybe less since I left.” Then he pauses mouth gaping, “That means that you and Castiel? He’s an angel, Dean! I’m surprised you didn’t get hit by lightening.”
Flailing a hand in the air Sam made a vague gesture at the smaller man sitting beside his brother, “That means…I mean …dude you…that was…”
Seeing where he was headed Jimmy leaped in to Dean’s defense. “I was the one who wanted it. I convince Castiel to sleep with Dean.”
The elder Winchester’s hollow eyed glare softened and he smiled at Jimmy, and then turned back to his brother, “So it’s all cool, okay, Sammy?”
He could hear the plea for what it was and Sam smiled, “Hey, yeah, Dean. So a baby huh, that’s so cool, dude. I’m happy for you Dean, and Jimmy too.”
Dean smiled, leaning back into the seat he pulled Jimmy close beside him, laying a hand across the back of the bench. The warm heat of Jimmy’s body eased Dean and he closed his eyes, “Hey…Cas, are you up there? Dude, thanks and I really mean that.”
A faint rumbling laugh stirred in the back of Dean’s brain and he blinked hard, “You’re welcome.” The voice whispered.
Looking at his brother, shaggy hair and homeless serial killer beard an all, and then over at the smiling blue eyed man sitting close beside him, Dean sighed. “It’s about time, “he thought, “About damn time. But Dean Winchester finally caught himself a break.”
The End
Jimmy crossed his arms over his chest and huffed out a breath. Clearing his throat Dean offered the other man a tentative grin, but gave up at the cold glare he got in return. Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel the elder Winchester finally gave up and turned the music up louder humming mindlessly.
The Impala made a shuddering hitch then whined a little as Dean cranked up the speed turning onto the freeway ramp. After a few more minutes of nerve racking silence he finally caved, “Look Jimmy…I’m sorry.”
“You’re gonna have to do a hell of a lot better than some smarmy grin and a half-assed apology.”
Dean grunted, “Hey, it’s not half-assed…it’s a full ass apology…”
“Dean!” Jimmy growled and for a few heart wrenching moments Dean could hear the angel in those dark whiskey soak syllables. Shaking himself he cast a quick glance at the smaller man sitting beside him. Jimmy was looking out the window but when he felt the weight of the other man’s gaze fall o n him he turned around.
“So how did you find me?”
Dean shrugged, “When I woke up the morning you left…”Jimmy snorted but Dean carried on gamely, “I went to the bus station to check the routes to Pontiac. I figured you’d go home.”
Sighing Jimmy nodded, “Yeah, I figured that I’d just drop in unannounced on my parents, shove my belly in their faces and yell ‘Surprise!’”
“Bet that would ‘a gone over real good.”
“You don’t know my mother. Oh she would have taken me back but I’d have heard all about my ‘fallen ways’ for the rest of my natural days. Anyway, I guess I should thank you for the ride. I didn’t want to be there by that dead guy when the cops showed up.”
“I didn’t know you could kill somebody. I mean if I had known you could handle yourself like that I wouldn’t have been so worried about you.”
Suddenly a tiny smile flickered over Jimmy mouth, “You were worried about me?”
Dean flushed coughing a little, “Well, kinda…I mean you are sorta important.”
Jimmy flinched, “As an angelic vessel you mean.”
“As my friend…I mean. And you know…” Dean raised a hand making a vague gesture at the other man’s midsection. Jimmy looked down at his still flat belly, suddenly embarrassed about the tiny spark of life tucked neatly, and still invisibly, inside him.
“Oh,” Jimmy sighed.
Dean coughed nervously before turning off the freeway and the car then pulling into the flow of traffic. Turning slightly he glance at Jimmy out of the corner of his eyes, “So can we go somewhere maybe talk a little bit. I feel like I don’t know you at all and you’re havin’ my kid.”
“You know me,” Jimmy said shortly frowning then he took a deep breath. “I mean what you thought was Castiel was really me. Angels are non-corporeal beings Dean. They are energy in its purest form, divine will. They don’t interact with humans and they don‘t have emotions. Any emotions you sense from Cas came from me. He filtered everything he did through me.”
“But you acted like you didn’t know. That me and Cas.”
“It’s complicated. It was Castiel’s consciousness but my emotions. I was pushed back a lot especially when things got dangerous or ugly, but I always picked up on Castiel’s frame of mind. But he did control our body. His mind was always at the forefront, but it was my human emotions that bled out.”
Looking away Jimmy fidgeted nervously fingers tapping at the door handle. Dean leaned over slightly hand coming to rest on the other man’s arm, “You don’t have to hang around if you don’t want. I’ll take you home or to your parent’s house.”
“I don’t think I’d be welcome there. I haven’t felt at home there for a very long time. No I’d like to get to know you better; maybe we can work something out. This is your baby too.”
Smiling Dean flushed, “I’d like that.”
Dean pulled the car into the parking lot of a nearby diner, “Look I’m beat. I’ve been driving almost twenty-four-seven trying to catch the damned bus. Can we get a bite to eat and check into a hotel? I’ll get you a separate room if you like, but considering a demon tried to get you I think it’s safer if we stay together.”
Jimmy nodded, “I think it’d be better if we shared a room. I’ll eat if you want to go get food first.”
The motel was a little higher class than Dean would have put up for if he had been on his own, but with a pregnant partner or whatever the hell Jimmy was now Dean felt he needed to get a safer, cleaner place.
Dean pulled the Impala into the parking lot cutting the engine. They sat in silence for a few minutes not looking at each other then Jimmy laughed nervously.
I feel like I’m on a first date. Which is weird since I’m pregnant already.”
“Hey,” Dean smirked, “That’s probably a great time saver. Come on you look ready to drop. It’s a couple of hours until dinner, unless you want to go now.”
“No,” Jimmy sighed. “Let’s get cleaned up. I’ve been on the bus all day. I could really use a good shower, and maybe a nap.”
Shrugging Dean hurried around the car opening the door before the other man could move. Jimmy bore the extra attention patiently, waiting at the door to the motel office so that Dean could open it as well.
The desk to the motel office was a Formica counter bearing an ancient computer. There was too vases of fake flowers on either side of the monitor and a bored looking teenage girl sitting in a decrepit leather office chair cruising the internet on her IPhone. She glanced up at the two men, giving Dean and then Jimmy both appraising looks. Dean felt his cheeks go warm, but the other man didn’t seemed put out in the least.
Clearing his throat Dean shoved a credit card across the desk, “We need a room with two doubles.”
Snapping her gum the girl sighed cocking an eyebrow at the hunter she sniffed “Only got one room left and it’s a queen size.”
Dean turned an apologetic look on the other man but Jimmy shrugged, “We’ll make do.”
She smiled sarcastically, “Yeah I bet you will.”
But she ran the card through the reader and shoved a receipt at Dean. Quickly the girl fetched two plastic door cards from a pegboard behind the counter and pushed those across the Formica surface as well, “Room fifty-three around the corner on the back side of the building, lower right corner.”
They drove around the motel to the rear of the lower level and dragged their bags inside. The room was marginally better than Dean had hoped. The carpets appeared to be clean and stain free and the bedclothes were reasonably new. But, just as the girl at the desk at said, there was only the single queen-sized bed in the center of the far wall beneath some god-awful post-modern painting. Dean grit his teeth settling down in one of the two chairs beside a fake-wood table fronting the room’s single window.
Jimmy sighed looking at the other man but Dean was still staring at the center of the bed with a frown marring his features. Finally, Jimmy stooped down fishing through his bag for clean clothes, “I think I’ll get a quick shower.”
“Sure,” Dean mumbled not turning around. He waited until the bathroom door was firmly closed before pulling his cell phone from his pocket. Quickly he flicked it open staring at the silent screen. There was no message just as there had been no messages for the past two months. He started to punch in a number then sighed and closed the phone. Right now Dean had something more pressing to take care of. That baby wasn’t going to stay in Jimmy’s belly forever. He was going to have a kid, and Jimmy still reeked of angel. That put a big old target squarely on his back, and Dean was certainly not okay with that.
The water cut off and Dean jerked around. In a billowing cloud of steam Jimmy stepped out of the bathroom, still glisten wet and dressed in nothing but a towel. Dean flushed quickly looking away but Jimmy merely chuckled, “Why so shy? I was under the impression you’d already seen it all.”
Coughing Dean shrugged, “Well, yeah but you’re still entitled to your privacy.”
Striking a pose Jimmy thrust out a hip letting the towel gape open around his leg. Now Dean snickered, and the other man pouted, “Ouch talk about a way to kill my self-esteem. Here I am trying to be sexy and you’re laughing at me.”
“You don’t have to try to be sexy.” Dean stammered. Jimmy cocked an eyebrow at him, head titled quizzically. Dean looked away. Then suddenly Jimmy was right there at his side and the hunter flinched, “Dean are you okay? Did I do something wrong?”
Shaking his head Dean put a hand on Jimmy’s arm. “No it’s just that…hey come on. Get dressed already; my belly thinks my throat’s been cut. I’m starving.”
Sighing Jimmy rose trudging to his duffel and pulling out clean clothes. He followed Dean to the door and then out to the car. The hunter quickly hurried around the side of the Impala to open the door when Jimmy held up a hand. He took Dean by the arm, “I can do it myself. I’m pregnant not crippled. I’m not helpless Dean. You don’t have to watch my every move.”
“Sorry,” Dean said shooting the other man a quick grin. Jimmy felt a shiver crawl down the length of his spine. A warm flush colored his cheeks. He quickly settled into the passenger seat wondering just what it was about the other man that sent his pulse hammering in his veins. He smiled ruefully, he really had it bad. And that scared him. Dean could crush him now, in a way no one else had ever had the ability. But Jimmy could tell that he had some power over the hunter too. He could see the longing in Dean’s eyes. Maybe the timing hadn’t been right, or maybe they hadn’t gotten off to the best start, but Jimmy was beginning to believe that they just might have a chance to make this thing, whatever it was, work. When he and Dean finally got to know each other a little better.
There was a diner down the street from the motel. It was one of those little Mom and Pop local places, not one of the big chain restaurants, and from the crowd gathered at the front door it seemed to be the go to place for dinner in this little out of the town.
The Impala glided smoothly into a parking spot in the rear corner of the lot. Dean frowned a little glancing around them. His father had always raised him to be wary of parking in dark gloomy corners and his instincts were ragged already, but the hunter gave in casting a glance over at his companion. Jimmy seemed oblivious to anything around then, and Dean prayed silently that it was because he was being overly cautious.
Jimmy flung open the car door and tumbled out turning to shoot the other man a coy grin when two large forms cut themselves loose from the shadows. Dean kicked the door open, hunter’s sense screaming at him. And as the two figures descended on him and Jimmy he thought, “Well hell, not so over cautious as it turns out.”
As the larger of the two demons rounded the front end of the car Dean shouted, “Jimmy, get out. Run to the diner now!”
“I can help you,” Jimmy said quickly but Dean whirled barely dodging a ham-sized fist from his attacker.
“No! I’m not gonna take that chance. I mean it get your ass in that diner and look for some salt.”
“He won’t get that far,” the other demon said with a snicker. “He’s gonna get us nice fat promotion.”
Jimmy backed away as the demon heading for him cut across the sidewalk. Turning the human made a mad dash for the diner knowing that he was too late, and the demon was going to run him down.
Suddenly the sound of squealing tires caught Jimmy’s attention and he jerked to a halt torn between the white Mustang barreling down on him and the demon hot on his tail.
The car bumped up over the curb and squeaked to halt shuddering violent as a tall, shaggy figure burst out of the driver’s door.
Dean scowled but relief flooded through Jimmy as he recognized the tall man from his earlier rescue. “It’s okay,” Jimmy tossed over his shoulder and Dean glared raising a hand to block a blow to the face. “He’s a hunter, from earlier.”
The tall figure swooped down grabbing the demon facing the smaller man as Dean turned away to deal with his own problem. From behind him the elder Winchester brother could hear the soft tones of chanted Latin and something inside him clinched. Taking a deep breath he tugged the knife he habitually carried in the waistband of his jeans lunching at the laughing face in front of him.
As the knife bit into flesh and the demon shudder pain racking his body the demon reared back, chuckling Dean lunged again seating the knife to the hilt in the demon’s throat, “Not so funny now is it laughing boy?” Dean snarled.
With his opponent permanently sidelined Dean whirled hurrying to Jimmy’s side. The smaller man crowded in close letting Dean throw an arm across his shoulders as the final syllables of the exorcism rolled off the other hunter’s tongue.
The demon shuddered, writhing then the vessel tilted his head back and the demon itself roiled out of its victim’s mouth. Before the black cloud could dissipate the hunter reached out a hand flashing a small glass jar and the demon curled into itself then poured into the glass container. The man staggered crumbling onto the sidewalk in a heap. Carefully the taller man knelt down then glanced up at Dean and the elder hunter froze.
“Sammy?”
The taller man smiled, “Hey, Dean…uh...” turning to the vessel Sam raised proffering a hand, “Sorry I don’t know your name. I mean since I’m pretty sure you’re not Castiel.”
Jimmy stepped forward shaking the hand warmly, “I’m James Novak. But you can call me Jimmy, everybody does.”
Dean stooped down looking his younger brother in the face, “What the hell Sam. How’d you end up here?”
Sam looked sheepish and then he sighed, “After we bounced Lucifer back into the box, and after the angels all pulled up stakes and went home I realized that I could see them…the vessels.” Turning slightly the younger Winchester made a sweeping gesture at Jimmy, “Dude you’ve got no idea how much you shine.”
Dean grinned, “What are hittin’ on my main squeeze, Sammy? I didn’t know you swung that way.”
“Jeeze, Dean” Sam huffed, “Jealous much?” Finally Sam settled down on the sidewalk checking the pulse of the incapacitated man beside him. Glancing up at Dean he shrugged, “We need to call 911 and move along. We got one guy out cold and one stone cold dead. Can we move this to a new location?”
Glancing up and down the quiet street Dean nodded, surprised that no one had noticed then so far. Taking Jimmy’s arm he used the other hand to haul his brother to his feet, and the three ducked down the alley and headed across the parking lot to the diner that has been their original destination.
As they stepped inside Dean motioned for Sam and Jimmy to take a seat and quickly hustled to the men’s room to wash the traces of drying blood off his hand and arm. The two other were perusing menus with rapt fascination when Dean gently pushed Jimmy over and settled onto the faded leather bench beside him. He looked up as the blue and red lights of a passing police cruiser painted the window at the front of the diner. Several customers rose from their seats watching as the car drove by, but Dean hunched into his bench pulling the menu up.
Rubbing his chin Dean punched his younger brother just to gather Sam’s wandering attention, “So Sammy what’s with the…brush?”
“Oh, I’ve been hanging out on my own so I never really paid that much attention.”
Snickering Dean nodded, “Well, it makes you look even more like a Sasquatch than before.”
Sam rolled his eyes, “Like I said once the whole apocalypse thing was over and done, and the angels took off I realized that I could see the vessels they had been inhabiting. I started having visions of these people; I think they came from Cas. Anyway I knew that demons were gonna be after all the vessels to collect any Intel they could, even if the people themselves might not even remember what happened. I’ve been driving around the country keeping track on all the vessels I could and killing any demons that showed up to hurt them. I ran into Jimmy here at a bus station.”
Dean flushed crimson and Sam cocked his head, “What was he doing alone at bus station anyway, Dean?”
“Hey, you know me, Sammy. I suffer from foot in mouth disease.” Dean smiled at the man seated beside him and Jimmy blushed from the collar of his shirt to roots of his hair. Taking his hand Dean shrugged, “We’re working on it.”
Fiddling with a paper napkin on the table Dean looked at his brother out of the corner of his eyes, Sam smiled, “Gee, no offense Jimmy, but since when have been one to ‘work on it’, Dean?”
Taking a deep breath Dean grinned, “Since I found out that I got a kid on the way.”
Sam’s eyes widened, “It’s been like a month, maybe less since I left.” Then he pauses mouth gaping, “That means that you and Castiel? He’s an angel, Dean! I’m surprised you didn’t get hit by lightening.”
Flailing a hand in the air Sam made a vague gesture at the smaller man sitting beside his brother, “That means…I mean …dude you…that was…”
Seeing where he was headed Jimmy leaped in to Dean’s defense. “I was the one who wanted it. I convince Castiel to sleep with Dean.”
The elder Winchester’s hollow eyed glare softened and he smiled at Jimmy, and then turned back to his brother, “So it’s all cool, okay, Sammy?”
He could hear the plea for what it was and Sam smiled, “Hey, yeah, Dean. So a baby huh, that’s so cool, dude. I’m happy for you Dean, and Jimmy too.”
Dean smiled, leaning back into the seat he pulled Jimmy close beside him, laying a hand across the back of the bench. The warm heat of Jimmy’s body eased Dean and he closed his eyes, “Hey…Cas, are you up there? Dude, thanks and I really mean that.”
A faint rumbling laugh stirred in the back of Dean’s brain and he blinked hard, “You’re welcome.” The voice whispered.
Looking at his brother, shaggy hair and homeless serial killer beard an all, and then over at the smiling blue eyed man sitting close beside him, Dean sighed. “It’s about time, “he thought, “About damn time. But Dean Winchester finally caught himself a break.”
The End