Change of Heart

Supernatural and all characters within are not mine. No infringement intended

Courage of a Child

Sitting in one of the plastic chair's outside Mister Robert's office was boring. As he waited, Ben rubbed his left knuckle before reaching up to poke at his left cheek. The pain was more intense than it had been when Eric landed his fist there. It was the second time in his life that Ben had used his fists to try and solve a problem. On the left side of the door sat Eric, a boy two years older than him. Looking down at his jeans, Ben stuck his finger through the small hole just above his knee and smiled a little. Aside from his fist and cheek being sore, everything else was fine.

Eric on the other hand had Kleenex stuffed up his nostrils. In Ben's eyes Eric had gotten the bad end of the fight. Ben was still picking at the hole in his jeans, when a tall slender woman rounded the corner, wearing a tan skirt, and blue top that looked silky. She had her lips pursed as she stepped in front of Eric, giving him hell for fighting again. Idly, Ben wondered if his own mom would do the same to him. The last time he used his fists, they had a long talk about physical violence. She told him that if someone was picking on him to get an adult to help handle things. What she didn't get was how that sort of thing would cause more of a headache for him, especially since he was older now.

"But mom…" wined Eric

"Don't you but mom me. The next time you do this, we will send you to that academy your dad told you about! This behavior will stop!"

Seeing Eric getting chewed out was sort of funny. As Ben glanced over again he found the lady looking at him. It seemed like she wanted to chew him out too, but before anything happened, Ben's mom came around the corner. Her hair was pulled back, and she was still wearing her yoga stuff. She looked worried rather than mad.

"Oh Ben." Her cool hand touching his cheek hurt. Ben gasped leaning away from her touch. "What were you thinking? You know better than this." Her voice didn't hold any trace of anger, only worry and concern lacing her words. Just as he was ready to apologise, the door to the office opened, and Principle Roberts motioned all of them inside.

He and his mom sat to the left of the desk, while Eric and his mom sat to the right. Once Mister Roberts was seated, he folded his hands, resting them on his desk as he looked first at Eric and his mom, then over at them. "Would either of you young men like to explain what happened out in the hall?"

The room remained silent. "Well, Mister Sims saw you Benjamin, throwing the first punch."

That prompted Ben to look up at the man. "He was teasing me about not having a dad, and asked me if I was going to cry like a pussy. I got mad and took care of it," Ben said, not at all worried about telling it as it was.

"Benjamin, where are your manners?" His mom sounded angry, but Ben was tired. His face and knuckles throbbing. All he wanted to do was go home and try to sleep it off. "Apologize right now!"

"Sorry." Even though he said the words, Ben wasn't sorry, at least not for what he had done to Eric, and not really how he put things to the principle. Three weeks ago, Dean told him how it was about why he was leaving. If Dean could put it out there without the sugar coating, then so could Ben.

Eric gave his account, denying that he said anything. After he told his side of the story, Mister Roberts leaned back in his chair. "Eric, you have done this many times now. Based on your track record, you are just as guilty as Ben. Mrs. Jenkins, I'm sending him home with you for the day, to think about how he treats his peers. He can return tomorrow."

Now his principle was looking at him and his mom. "Benjamin, fighting is not permitted on school grounds, nor should it be any place else. Since you chose to throw the first punch, you will serve a three day suspension.

Having never been suspended, the eleven year old had no idea what that meant.

"What that means is you will be staying at home. I'll have your teachers email you your assignments while you are there. You will also write a five page paper on how our country became involved in WWII. You will end the paper with your opinion on whether or not we could have avoided going to war."

Beside Ben, his mom was writing on a yellow pad of paper. "But how am I going to do that and keep up with my Homework."

"That is something you will need to figure out. Now, Eric, your paper will be on the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Like Ben, you will write your conclusion with your thoughts on whether or not we could have found a different way to handle Japan. That will be due tomorrow along with your normal work load today."

He groaned and immediately. Mrs. Jenkins told him to shut his trap.

"Now boys, I want to talk to your mom's alone. Eric, you sit the left of my door, Ben take the right seat and don't say a word."

The ride to the yoga studio was quiet. Ben had his eyes on the road, trying his best to figure out how he was going to keep up with everything. His mind worked on calculating how many hours he spent on homework each night. Most of the time it was a good three and a half hours. Writing a paper and having to look up the information would likely take him working on that through dinner. It wasn't fair that Eric got off with a two page report.

Inside the studio, Ben followed his mom down the hallway. They stepped into her office. "Alright kiddo, you need to get going on your homework. When we get home, I'll help you set a schedule for doing the paper, so that you can have time to rest. You are grounded Benjamin, for five weeks. I'm moving your computer out of your room. As of now the only phone available to you will be the house phone.

Once the punishment was given, she knelt down in front of him. "I love you, and I realize that you are still having a tough time. If you want to talk to Dean, then you can use your cell for now."

Until she brought up Dean, Ben hadn't thought about him. "Should I tell him what happened?"

She reached out, touching his good cheek. "Only if you want too. Now, why don't we have some lunch?"

Ben nodded watching as his mom got two sandwiches out of the cooler along with two bottled waters, and sliced apples. As they ate, one of the other instructors came in asking his mom if there was someone who could teach her 4pm Zumba class. While he munched on an apple, Ben thought about what he would say to Dean. The last time he called was because he broke a vase, and had wanted Dean to tell his mom. Instead he was told that he had to take some responsibility, and to take it like a man. To anyone else that would sound harsh. Having lived with Dean for a year, Ben knew that was just his way of laying it out.

Once his mom was gone, Ben didn't hesitate to pull Dean's number up in his contacts, putting is finger on the number.

"Hey Ben."

"Hi Dean."

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"Well yeah, um I got in a fist fight with this guy who was making fun of me for not having a dad, and he kept saying I was going to cry like a pussy. He's always doing it, and I got really mad and I punched him. I think I broke his nose."

There was a brief pause and an audible sigh before Dean started in. "I thought we talked about what to do when some kid is yanking your chain." One of the first serious conversations he had with Dean was a result of sassing his mom, and refusing to turn off the TV. Before he knew what was going on, Dean pulled him up off the couch and gave him four hard swats, telling him never to treat his mom or anyone adult that way again. After that Dean had gotten down on his knees and held him until the crying stopped. Once that happened, Mom sent him up to his room, and later on Dean came in. They talked about respecting others. Dean also brought up the time he told him how to knee Ryan in the nads. He said it wasn't the way to solve a problem and suggested other ways that weren't wimping out by getting an adult.

"I was mad," Ben defended

"That doesn't matter Ben. You should have walked away. Look kiddo, I know that when they make fun of you for not having a dad, it's upsetting. But you know that I'm here for you, even if I'm not living in the same house as you and your mom."

"You need to come back Dean."

Another pause. "Ben, right now I have to help Sam. He's going through a hard time, and Bobby and I are trying to help him through that." After Dean got them from Bobby's, once he had helped Sam with a case, Ben had asked how if Sam had died, that he could be back. All he got was that it was something Sam should tell, but that Ben couldn't ask him to do that at this time.

"I want us to see one another."

"Ben, I'm sorry, but Sam's calling for me."

After they said their goodbyes, Ben sat down at his mom's desk, pulling his math book out of his backpack. At least he could work on that.

One of the many things Ben loved about his mom was that she helped him with his homework any time he asked. With his paper, she helped find information on World War II, what had started things off first in Europe, and then when the US got involved.

Getting to go back to school after the weekend was better than being at home. Matt, his mom's new boyfriend had been coming over more often, but hadn't popped the question. That was something Ben was dreading. Even though both his mom and Dean had assured him that Dean wasn't his dad, it didn't keep Ben from longing for that. The first time he'd met Dean at his eighth birthday, Ben wanted him to be his real dad.

"Hey Einstein, did you get that report back yet?" Mike sat down in the seat to his right. Ben's mind had been drifting as he picked at the stuff that the school called food.

"Yeah, I got an A."

Mike Driskel was a year and half older than Ben. He was also pretty tall. The first few days after the new school year began, Mike had started calling him Einstein, and it stuck.

"Cool, so have you seen Eric?"

"Yeah." They both laughed.

"What's the poop?" Tyler Adams took the seat on the left side of Ben's chair.

"Just talking about Eric's nose. Wonder when he's going to realize that teasing you is getting old," Mike pondered as he took a bite of a sandwich he'd brought from home.

"Probably not till hell ices over," Tyler answered, picking at his plate of nasty.

That answer brought Dean back into Ben's thoughts. Dean hunted Hell's most wanted. He'd given it up the year he was staying with them, but now he was back at it.

"Knock knock, you awake Ben?" asked Tyler.

"Yeah, just was thinking about something is all."

At the same time both boys asked "What"

"You guys remember mom's last boyfriend?"

Both of them grinned. "Hell yeah he was awesome Dude," the boys answered in unison. One weekend when his mom was away on business, Dean had taken them to a WWF Wrestling Match. It was one of the best days of Ben's life. "Sucks that he's gone now," Tyler muttered pushing his plate away.

"It totally sucks. Anyway, well sometimes we end up doing something like eating food at the same time and the same way. When I was a kid, I asked if he was my dad for real. Mom said he's not, but maybe she doesn't remember. The other thing is that the time he was with her, well I was born nine months later."

"Did she tell you that?" Tyler took another swiped a fry off of Mike's plate.

"No, I overheard one of the moms in my old neighborhood talking about the weekend they were together, and she gave the date and the year, and I came along nine months later."

Before either boy could ask him anything else, the bell rang, sending them hustling to their next classes. His next two classes, English and Art Appreciation were so boring. While the teachers talked about boring things, Ben thought about the conversation at lunch. There had to be a way to find out for sure. Maybe for some reason the hospital didn't get the right information to her, or maybe that test they did when he was a baby was mixed up with some other person.

It wasn't long after the experience with the Changelings that Ben's mom moved them far from Cicero Indiana. Ben remembered his mom's explanation about them getting a fresh start, where they could put that terrifying experience behind them. As Ben lay on his bed tossing his Nerf Football in the air, then catching it, he remembered how much he didn't want to move. The biggest reason all had to do with Katie. She had been one of the first of the kids in his neighborhood taken and then replaced by one of the Changelings.

The weekend after everyone was safe; the families whose kids were taken had a meeting, a neighborhood watch meeting that dealt with looking out for strange events. He and Katie were among the few children who were brought to the meeting at the Miller's home. Ben remembered hanging out with Danny, looking at some of his X-men comics. Katie had walked past them with Gabby. When Ben looked up at them, Katie was glancing at him. She turned away, but not before she blushed.

The football slipped from his hands, and Ben grabbed it before it could roll off the bed. After throwing it up in the air, and having a successful catch, he thought about how strange it was that they ended up being best friends. Before he really got to know her, Ben looked at her as one of the "hotties" that needed to get to know him. It didn't take long to realize that she was not the girly sort of girl that needed his attention. She was smart, and she was the first one to bring up what had happened to them.

Over the years, they had kept up through texting or talking on their phones. Realizing that he really needed to talk to someone who knew that monsters were real, Ben caught the football putting it down beside him before reaching over to his nightstand to retrieve his I-Phone. After he sent the call through, Ben closed his eyes willing her to pick.

"Hey Ben."

"Hey Katie, how goes?"

"Okay I guess. It's been raining all day, and I'm tired of being inside with School and home."

"It's doing that here too. Kind of feeling bummed out."

"Why, you're not grounded anymore."

That was a plus, but the times when he thought about life when Dean was around and the house they had lived in for the year before Sam came back, had him missing it all. "Yeah. I'm missing how things were before Dean left."

"I know, it kind of sucks. Did he ever answer you on what the deal was with his brother?"

"Nope, he says that's Sam's story to tell, and that I can't ask him. He also said Sam's having a rough time."

There was silence on the other end for just a few seconds. "How can someone die and then come back? I wonder if a witch did it."

"Nah, that's something that only a powerful being could do. It was maybe a demon or something like that." Times like these, when they talked about this, Ben wished he had answers. Knowing that there was no way to figure that out, Ben got to the point of his call. "I still think that he's my dad."

"I know, but your mom wouldn't lie to you like that. Do you think if he really is your dad that he would be able to come back with you two. I mean the thing with him hunting monsters and if Sam came back from the dead, then whatever did that is likely so evil that he knows that he can't come back to you guys."

"He said he wasn't worried about being followed. He said that just because he loves us doesn't mean that he should sit at our dinner table. I mean he's choosing all of that stuff over me and mom." It was so frustrating.

Katie sighed. "That wasn't nice to do. Well maybe you could see if he can help his brother with you guys. He was really bad off when he came to your guys because of Sam, and then he started getting better and better right?"

That was something Ben had already thought about. "I don't know. The other thing that's crappy is Matt. He's all into golfing, which Dean did, but then he also is into his racehorses and he plays Polo, and he always wears these stupid Polo shirts. It's like he doesn't get the whole thing of being grubby. Dean dressed up if he and mom were going out, but most of the time he wore jeans and a t-shirt and a button down over that."

Katie sympathized. "Is it weird for you that she's dating inter-racially now?"

"A little, I mean Jake and Charlie are African American and that doesn't bug me. So it's not so much that, it's just that Matt is so stuck up. He puts a napkin on his lap for every meal, even when we grill out sometimes. He also keeps telling me to stand up straight and not slouch. He's just not my dad, not like Dean. It's why I want to prove that he is my dad."

"Ben, what if it turns out that he's not?"

That wasn't a good thought. "I don't know Kate, it's all just so impossible. All I know is that I'm not going to let this go. My mom let him go; I'm not giving up on this."

The sun shining through his window stirred Ben from his sleep. He smiled as he sat up, stretching his arms over his head as he yawned. The stupid rain had finally stopped. As he headed out of his room, his mom rounded the corner. "Good morning." He was feeling happy for once and gave her a hug. "Mom, can Mike come over and hang out?" Saturday being a sunny day, meant they could go down to the woods and hike.

"Not today. Why don't we go downstairs?

Ben let her lead the way, following her to the kitchen. Sitting at one of the bar-stools was Katie. "When did you get here?" Ben nearly squealed.

"Just now. My mom called your mom because she has meetings and so I get to stay here for the weekend."

Having the sun shining on his face, and one of his best friends hanging out was what Ben needed. His mom told them not to go too far into the woods, and that they needed to be back by noon for lunch. Behind him, as they walked on a path already there, Katie was telling him about things going on with some of their mutual friends. "So there was this one guy that dared Ryan to go into the house where they kept us. Jack, told him about what happened to us, and Ryan doesn't believe of course."

Not long after they moved, construction on the houses resumed, and Ben knew from Katie that all the houses were up, but that the one they had been kept in had never sold. "Do you guys think it has to do with what went on with us?"

"I don't know for sure. The place is still being taken care of. So anyway everyone at school knows the rumors about it being haunted, and Ryan always acts like it's no big deal. He took the bet that he could spend one night there. What he didn't know was that Jack, Peter, and Randy went in earlier to make sure that Ryan heard sounds from the beyond." Her voice pitched higher as she tried to make it sound scary. Both of them laughed.

The stream in front of them had swelled due to the rain. Ben took the backpack off, got out a blanket and draped it over a large builder. Once they sat down, she told him what went on. By the end of her story they were laughing so hard that their tummies were hurting.

"I can't believe he pissed in his pants! That's so awesome."

"Yeah it was. He got what was coming to him for being such a Dick to all of us." They sat quietly for a while. "Ben, what other things are out there to hunt, and what was it really like with him being around, I mean at first and then after he started talking."

"I don't really know. When Dean first started living at our house he didn't really talk much. Sometimes I would go downstairs and stop because mom was hugging him because he was crying about Sam. It was kind of scary, because you know the last time, he was so strong and that Mother Changeling didn't even scare him. Mom left me with him for a weekend a few months later, and I just started talking to him about stuff I liked. I showed him my Game boy, the same one that Ryan took and got kneed in the nads for being an ass. We talked about that, and it was the first time he really laughed. After that he started to do more things to help mom out, and with me, he just moved into helping mom deal with me. He punished me anytime things got out of hand just like mom. But the best parts were when we worked on his truck. He knows every part in an engine. He taught me how to change the oil, and how to change a tire, but I still can't do that stuff by myself yet. When my scout troop went camping, Father Son thing, he came with us, and knew more about camping than my Den Leaders."

Something snapped behind them. Before Ben could turn around, he was being hauled backwards by Gary and Josh. They forcefully turned him around and a second later the pain he felt as his nose cracked by means of Eric's fist had Ben howling, and Katie yelling at them to stop. As much as he wanted to, Ben couldn't get free of the two gorilla's holding on to him.

All of the air got sucked out of his body as Eric delivered punch after punch to his ribs. All he could feel was pain as more punches landed against his stomach and sides. Suddenly he was on his back, the rain soaked earth getting him wet. The other boys were laughing, as they took off into the woods.

"Katie?' It hurt to breathe. When she didn't answer, Ben tried to roll onto his side but the pain in his sides felt like knives stabbing him.

"Ben! His mom was there instantly. "Oh baby, I'm here."

"Lisa?" That was Matt's voice. His mother's new boyfriend knelt on his other side. "Hey Ben, I'm going to get the bleeding under control, just try and hang in there." Suddenly something was being put up his nose. Ben tried to get away, but the slightest movement sent a world of pain from his ribs to his stomach.

"I need to feel to see if there are any broken bones." The slightest touch to his ribs on his right side had him sobbing. It all sucked. His mom was talking to Katie telling her to go to the house and call an ambulance. Knowing that his best bud was safe, was the only good thing he felt.

Whispers and the odd tingling feel everywhere, came to Ben's attention. It was dark and confusing, and Ben knew he just wanted to sleep. His stomach and really everything above that area felt tingly, and like something was sitting on top of him. The next sensation was coming from his left hand it felt like something was around it, but also that something was rubbing the top of his hand. Breathing felt different. There was something in his nose. Ben moved his right arm, and as he did it felt all tingly.

"Hey baby, can you open your eyes for me?" That voice was one he knew well. He felt so tired. "Sleepy."

"I know baby, I know." Why did she sound like she was going to cry. Again he felt like something was sitting on his chest and his stomach. "Move it off me."

"Baby, there is just a blanket on you, are you to hot?"

"Ss not blanket. Heavy mom, move it."

Someone else began to whisper before Ben felt like he was floating on a cloud.

AU: Hello, I'm very new to this verse, but am totally in love with the show. With this story, Ben will have some POV action, but these next chapters are going to be Dean and Lisa POV. Thank you for reading.