Once Bitten Twice Shy.
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As sometimes happens, the threads of destiny come together to concentrate on a single moment in time, and one of the catalysts of such instances are a pair of brothers who go by the name of Winchester.
No ordinary boys, these two brothers have been at the centre of nothing less than an Apocalypse and so when they walked into a nondescript diner in a nondescript backwoods town of the USA, it would come as no surprise to anyone who knew a little of their history, that they would meet up with the unknown.
In this case an unknown man; unknown but very important for the lives of the two boys, for without his contribution Sam and Dean would never have been born.
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"Dean, we stopped two hours ago to eat. You shovelled a ton of food into that bottomless pit you call a stomach! How can you be hungry again so soon?"
"Oh, come on, Sam! I didn't eat all that much. I can feel my energy levels going down. You wouldn't want me to collapse while I'm driving my Baby now, would you?"
Sam sighed and rolled his eyes. "There's no danger of that Dean. What there is though, is that you're gonna have a heart attack before you're forty if you carry on like this!"
"No big, Sammy. It's not as if we don't know what's waiting for us on the other side. Forewarned is forearmed! Anyway the next fugly we meet could do the job before the cholesterol gets to me!"
"Dean…!"
"What Sam? It's the reality of our lives. Does my baby brother not want to left on his owny ownsome? You could always go back to school or become a hippie or something. The world would be your oyster!" Dean finished off theatrically arms spread wide as if to encompass it all.
"Dean...," Sam huffed back. "You know what? Just shut up! Instead of talking go and fill up that mouth of yours with burgers or whatever!"
"Aww, Sammy's pissed," Dean smirked.
"Yeah, I've got an idiot for a brother," Sam replied, his face scrunched up in distaste.
"Come on Sammy. I was only kidding. If anything happens to me I know what you really want to do; go and be a manager at Plucky's. You just love those clowns!"
"Dean…! You're lucky we're in a public place otherwise you'd be begging for mercy by this time," Sam bitched.
"Oh, right! You and what army, Sammy? There's nothing you could do to me that would make me beg."
"Oh no?"
"No!"
"I'm bigger than you and I know how tickly your feet are. You'd be begging for mercy in ten seconds," Sam declared, a threatening scowl on his face.
"No, I wouldn't!" Dean answered, his bravado faltering a little. "I don't have tickly feet!"
Sam flashed him a knowing little brother smile that said it all. Dean did have terribly tickly feet and he had pleaded for mercy before!
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The elder Winchester decided that retreat was the better part of valour in this case and he held up his hands in pacification.
"Why don't we just call an end to this little pissing contest Sammy? Let's just eat."
"Whatever you want, Dean," Sam smirked, satisfied that this round had gone to him!
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They sat down at a corner table, backs to the wall, the door easily visible. It was always better to be prepared. Dean remembered the diner where Sam had disappeared just before Cold Oak.
Eating places were no guarantee of safety. The Winchesters were trouble magnets wherever they went. That was the truth plain and simple.
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Dean was chomping happily on his burger, contemplating the slices of pie that were soon to follow, not in the least bothered by Sam's bitchface as he looked on in distaste at his elder brother's bad eating habits, when a young man burst in through the door,
As though prodded by some invisible finger, the two brothers glanced up simultaneously at the new-comer, then at each other for they both recognised the expression on his face; it was that of pure terror.
Dean cocked an eye-brow which Sam acknowledge with a tilt of his head. That guy was in trouble and whether the cause was supernatural or not, the Winchesters would give him a helping hand.
They continued to watch as the man pushed himself into a corner, keeping his eyes glued to the windows as if hiding from someone.
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"What do you think, Sam? Does this guy give off our kind of vibes or not?" Dean murmured.
Sam curved his lips in an upside down smile. "Maybe Dean. I feel there's something weird about him."
"Let's go then Robin!" Dean declared as he pushed the last piece of pie into his already bulging cheeks, giving Sam an unwanted view of the contents of his mouth.
"Dean close your mouth when you're chewing, man and I'm not Robin. He's the short guy!"
"Come on Sam," Dean urged. "While you're bitching the guy's skipping out."
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In fact, the stranger must have decided that the diner wasn't safe any more as he took a last look through the windows and dashed out into the street. again
By the time the boys got outside he could be seen running off down the street but it wasn't long before he found himself with a tall young man planted on either side of him.
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"You okay, Dude?" Dean asked in his most reassuring voice "Back at the diner it seemed as if all the devils in Hell were on your tail." The man studied first one then the other of his unrequested escorts and he decided that in spite of their friendly concern, these two were dangerous men.
He wasn't about to fall out of the frying pan and into the fire.
"No…Yes...!. I'm fine. You know I must just have had a little too much to drink last night, I'm a little muddled," he ventured.
"Yeah, man. I know how that feels," Dean answered truthfully.
"We can give you a hand to get home," the taller one said earnestly, his eyes honest and concerned.
"Thanks but…. "
The man's face took on a terrified expression as he glanced back over Dean's shoulder to a female figure that was steadily approaching. He turned on his tail and ran leaving the Winchesters looking on bewildered until everything became exceptionally clear. The woman's eyes turned momentarily black.
"Dean,... Demon!"
"Come on Sam. She must be after the guy. Let's go get him. We can deal with her later once we know why she wants him."
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Before long the man found himself pushed into the back seat of a black Impala with the taller of the two men holding on to him tighter than a vise.
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"What the Hell do you two want from me? Who are you? If this is a robbery, I haven't got a penny on me," he complained, trying to shake himself free of Sam's grasp.
"Listen we don't want to hurt you but you were being chased by something that we know a little bit about." Sam said trying to calm him down.
"You don't know anything about me and I'm not sure I know anything about myself any more either. A couple of hours ago I was on my way home from work and then I found myself here, whenever here is, with a friggin' black-eyed woman on my tail!" he replied, his voice hitching up in panic.
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"What do you mean; whenever here is?" Dean asked confused.
"Man," the stranger answered, his eyes misting up. "I feel like Alice down the rabbit hole. It's as if I'm out of time. As if I've been thrown into the future."
Sam and Dean exchanged exasperated glances. Time travel? It sucked!
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"What year do you think you were in?" Sam asked in a soothing voice. There was no point in spooking the guy even further.
"Nineteen fifty-one."
"We believe you," Sam said consolingly. "Can you tell us exactly what happened?"
"There's nothing much to tell. I was walking home and I felt a kind of pull as if I d been rocked by an earthquake or something, and then I saw this woman with black eyes staring at me as if I was some juicy delicacy, so I ran."
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"Well," Dean said." You were one lucky son of a bitch to get away, let me tell you."
"She just laughed as I ran, saying that she enjoyed the hunt better when the prey gave her a run for its money."
"Okay. That means she's going to come for you again, so we have to send her ass back to Hell."
"Back to Hell. Are you two insane?"
"Afraid not," Sam answered. "She's a demon and if you want her off your back, sending her back to Hell is the only choice."
"Well that or getting up real close and plunging a knife into her." Dean added smirking.
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The man lay back on the seat, the fight seemingly gone out of him.
"You got a name, Dude?" Dean asked.
"Sure, " he replied despondently. "The name's Henry, Henry Winchester."
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Dean foot on the brakes nearly sent the occupants of the back seat headlong into the front.
He turned to stare at the man and he saw Sam's face turning pale as he took in the implications of what had just been said.
Dean cleared his throat. "Henry Winchester? And you live where?"
"What difference does it make? But if you must know I'm from Lawrence, Kansas."
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Dean dragged his teeth over his lower lip as he glanced at Sam for moral support but Sam only turned his eyes heavenward, as taken aback as Dean.
John had never talked about his father except on rare occasions but they both knew that his name had been Henry and that he had lived in Lawrence.
Sam and Dean exchanged glances as they engaged in eye-conversation.
We better find a motel and lock the guy down.
Right Dean. We gotta work out just what the demon wants from him.
Dean nodded and put the Impala into drive.
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A couple of hours later he stopped at an out of the way motel and they bundled "Henry" inside.
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"Dean, What the hell!" Sam whispered nodding over at the man who had fallen asleep almost instantaneously as soon as he had sat down on one of the beds.
"Sam don't get me started! I've had enough of grandfathers to last me a life time. That douche-bag of a Samuel was more than plenty for me; now we end up with another one. God are we gonna have to meet them all back to friggin Adam and Eve!"
Sam sighed tiredly. He was as exasperated as Dean.
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XXX TBC XXX
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