Little Boy Lost
By: Montez
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: Again, the Brotherhood belongs to Ridley, thanks for sharing. And the Winchesters belong to Eric Kirpke, as well, thanks for sharing. I will be making references to a few stories regarding Caleb's past (most notably 'Stranded, by William Scott), I hope the authors don't mind. If your writing is referenced that means it left a great impression on me that I wanted to use to elaborate in my story.
Caleb's birthday was four days away, he would be sixteen and though he had known how to drive for years, Mac would finally let him get his drivers license. The teenager, along with John and Bobby had been working on the old Blue Jeep that the older hunters had gotten him and since Mac and Caleb had arrived for the Christmas holidays at Jim's farm, they had finally gotten what his father had dubbed, 'the death trap' running.
Christmas had been two days ago and they had spent it in Kentucky, Caleb getting to visit with his mentor as well as his best friend Dean, also know as Deuce, and Dean's little brother Sammy. Caleb loved coming to the farm, though the first time he had visited he hated it. Caleb had always been in the city, at least since he was six, when he had gone to live with his grandmother in New Orleans after his parents Murder-Suicide. Then when she died of a heart attack he was shipped to New York to live with his grandmother's life long friend, Bird. It was with her that he started his life of rebellion and running away that caught the attention of the courts and child protective services.
By the time he was twelve he was well known in the foster care system for his inability to remain with any of the families he had been placed with, culminating with his last foster family reenacting the Murder-Suicide that had taken his parents and Caleb having his first visions. In his distress and panic from what he couldn't understand he had attempted to take his own life in the lobby of a police station which got him shipped to psychiatric hospital drugged to the point of being comatose. It was there that Dr. Mackland Ames and Pastor Jim Murphy had found the boy, with the realization of his powerful psychic abilities as well as Mac's immediate need to protect the boy, Caleb became Mac's foster son, then within months his adoptive son and they hadn't looked back since.
Yes, Caleb had at first tried everything he had ever learned to get the man who claimed to care for him to kick him out like all the others who pretended to care, but Caleb quickly found the Mac was different and that the harder the preteen pushed the more Mac wanted to care for him, protect him. So after a few months of rebelling Caleb came to realize that Mac did want what was best for him, that he did love him and that Caleb had finally found a family that wanted him, as much as he wanted a family. Shortly after the official adoption was when Caleb met John Winchester and his two small children. Dean was a near mute except when interacting with his baby brother Sammy and Jim had called Mac to come to the farm to help with the child who had been traumatized by the death of his mother in a fire of supernatural origin. At first Caleb avoided the strange child, but soon started to see himself in the frightened kid and slowly started to befriend him. Within days Caleb was the only person Dean would talk to, but it was a start toward the small child's recover and from that time on, despite the eight year age difference, Dean and Caleb were best friends, brothers.
However now, was one of those few times that Caleb was becoming frustrated with being at the farm, his father, a practicing neurosurgeon had received a call the day after Christmas of an emergency back in New York, so instead of having to pack Caleb up too, Mac decided to fly back to the city, take care of the emergency and be back in time for Caleb's birthday on the 31st. But what was getting on the teens nerves was the fact that instead of being allowed some down time he had been put in charge of watching over a rambunctious four year old Sammy and nearly eight year old Dean, who found great pleasure in sneaking around and bombarding Caleb with snowballs every chance he got.
December had been colder than normal and an unexpected snowfall had turned the farm into a winter wonderland that the smaller children loved. Granted Jim's place was one of the only placed the Dean actually got to act like a kid and not the soldier his father was training him to be, it still bugged Caleb that he was in charge of keeping an eye on them. Dean and Sam had been fascinated with the fact that Jim's pond seemed to be frozen over, but had been warned by Jim and John both that it wasn't frozen enough to go out on and the smaller children were told to stay off of it. Caleb honestly couldn't see the appeal of the pond in the best of weather; he had a deep rooted dislike of any bodies of water, bad memories of his parent's death as they had lived on the beach when he was a child.
Caleb had just stepped into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee to keep himself warm as he was again relegated to watch the boys outside, when John looked up from the papers spread on the table, "Junior, I need you to tell the boys to come in for a while, Jim said dinner would be ready soon and they need to warm up."
Caleb set his mug down harder than needed, John gave a glaring look, "Why do I have to do it, they don't listen to me anyway and in case you haven't noticed I'm freakin cold too."
John had been use to Caleb's mouth and didn't rise to the bait the teen was throwing down, only refocusing on the papers as he spoke again, "Just get them inside then you can do what you want for a while."
Stomping toward the door Caleb grumbled, "do what I want, right. Like I can keep the little monsters out of my room so I can have some peace." John just grinned at Caleb as the younger boy slammed out the back door.
Jim entered the room at the slamming, "You shouldn't expect him to have watch the boys the whole time he's here, he is on winter break, maybe you should give him one." the pastor took the discarded mug, filling it with coffee he sat at the table next to John.
"I will Jim, but he's also got to learn responsibility and other than you and Mac, he's the only one I trust to keep the boys safe." Jim wanted John to explain that importance to the teen. John was sparse with praise, and even more guarded with his trust and for the teen to already have the complete trust of John Winchester to care for his children, it was really something that Jim wished he would tell the younger boy.
Caleb descended the stairs, purposely stomping as he went, the smaller boys were close to the barn and Caleb didn't relish the thought of having to chase the little heathens down. "Deuce! Sammy! Your dad says time to go in!"
Sammy's little head popped out from behind the fort the boys had constructed near the tree beside the frozen pond. Caleb slowed as he started to prepare himself for the on slot of snowballs the older of the two boys was undoubtedly getting ready for him. Hastily making a few of his own snowballs, Caleb quickly ran behind the tree and nailed Dean, who was obviously caught off guard. "Hey Damien, that wasn't fair, you're not suppose to flank me, I was only prepared for a head on assault." It saddened Caleb some that the small child was already talking strategies like a seasoned warrior.
"Nobody said war is fair, now you and Sammy need to head in, your dad said suppers almost ready." Caleb made a grab for the youngest Winchester, knowing given half a chance he would be the one to run, however the unexpected snowball from the smaller boy stunned the teen.
Sammy smiled taking a couple of quick steps backward, "Got ya!"
Dean roared with laughter as his little brother got the drop on Caleb who growled out, "You little rat, wait till I get a hold of you!"
"Run Sammy!" Dean shouted as Sammy turned to run, Caleb close behind. Dean tried to help his brother's escape by tripping the older boy.
"Damn it Deuce, he doesn't need any help!" Caleb made a grab for the older boy who quickly followed the smaller one. Finally getting to his feet Caleb looked up to see the two boys take off across the frozen pond. "Deuce, you've been told not to go out there! Now turn your ass around and get back here!" Caleb stopped at the edge of the pond watching as the boys slipped their way toward the middle.
It was Sammy's small voice that threw out the challenge, "NAH! NAH! You can't catch us!"
Caleb's voice taking on a hint of anger, "Sammy it's not safe, Deuce get him back on the bank!"
Dean slide into his brother knocking them both down in a fit of giggles, ignoring the heat in Caleb's voice. "You gotta come get us Damien, or are you too scared?"
Looking at the ice, Caleb mumbled, "told you the brats don't listen to me." cautiously Caleb tested the ice, seeing it would take his weight he slowly started making his way toward the boys, who were now trying to make their way to the opposite bank. "When I get you two!" the teen shouted out as he slipped his way across.
Suddenly a loud crack was heard and all three boys stopped. Caleb looked down and saw the starting point of the long fracture under his left boot. His eye's rose to met Dean's, "Deuce, get Sammy off the ice NOW!" the teen watched as Dean scrambled to get his little brother up the bank that they had now reached. Caleb glanced over his shoulder and realized he was nearly in the middle of the pond. Taking a slow step backward the older boy froze at the sound of another crack. Fear gripped him as he looked up to make sure the boys had made it to the bank, that was the only consolation as he took in the terrified eye's of his best friend, in that moment Caleb knew what was going to happen as the ice gave way and he dropped into the freezing water.
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Nearly 700 miles away in New York, Dr. Mackland Ames was walking out of surgery with another surgeon, when he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
A/N: what do ya think, should I continue?
