Chapter 1-If the Shoe fits
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, just love 'em. Wish ta 'el I worked for Kripke.
All his life Dean had trained to be a hunter and he couldn't imagine doing anything else, but it was the training he'd had along the way, taking care of his brother that really put him on the path of his true calling.
People die, families get torn apart all the time.
When parents die and children are suddenly orphaned it's up to society to take them in, care for them, help them heal and in time become whole again. But there were special circumstances surrounding these kids. What they'd seen and the injuries they'd sustained when their parents had been ripped away; didn't fall into any category that the State Welfare System or Child Services could handle. Hell, if these kids told any of the grief counselors or child psychologists what they saw that killed their momma or daddies they'd spend the rest of their broken lives locked up in an asylum just for trying to tell the truth.
No healing there.
Bobby knew first hand the tough spot those kids were in. He had personally watched two boys grow up that had gone their whole lives dealing with the shit that this kind of trauma can do to you. If it hadn't been for the fact that as children they still had their Dad and him, there was no telling how much more screwed up Dean and Sam could have been.
And as the demon war began to escalate more and more children became stranded in a system that did not know how to handle their trauma did not even believe the cause of it existed.
So the Shoe, as it came to be known, started out as place to bring those kinds of kids, just temporarily, until something better could be figured out. It looked like any other old farmhouse in the western states. American Gothic style, sharp peaked tin roof , chalky white paint and a big welcoming front porch. No frills.
The lady that ran the place had been a counselor for child services for years and a children's rights advocate. At thirty-six, Emmaline Coulter had made quite a name for herself as a lioness in the courtroom and was tireless in her pursuit of justice against any that would raise their hand or abuse a child in her precinct. You didn't mess with Em.
It had been her career, no her crusade, until that night when a hunter showed up on her doorstep with a little boy. The child had been silent because of what he'd he witnessed and the desperate hunter had a proposition for her.
He told her the truth.
He told her about what was really going on behind the rash of horrific family slaughters that had sprung up around the country. Hunters and their children were being targeted by the demons that escaped from Hell and the children that survived the attacks had no place to turn that would believe them. No place where they could go to begin to heal. His passionate tale was horrible, unimaginable and completely outside the realm of anything Emmaline had ever encountered in her long career. But the most eloquent conveyer of the nightmare these kids were living with was the boy at his side who never said a word. Em kept glancing at him while the hunter spoke... the child just stood there and stared off into space. No one, thought Em as her throat clenched in grief for him, No one should ever become so shattered especially so young.
She gave her notice the next day.
Two weeks later the twin girls arrived and then a brother and sister. More and more came to her door, Bobby even had the sad duty to bring several children of friends of his there just in this past year. The place got crowded and an addition had to be built and then a second building to house the clinic and the hospital rehab center. That's when Emmaline began referring to it as "the Shoe" there didn't seem to any end in sight for new arrivals, "so many children" that she sometimes didn't know what one person could do. But she did it. She gave them safety, love and endless patience.
Everything was supplied by hunters : money to run it, health care personnel, medical equipment and it was all done under the radar of the authorities. Hunters are very resourceful like that, they have to be.
So when Em opened the door to see the familiar face of Bobby standing there but no little child at his side gripping his strong hand; her brow formed a crease that ran across its length. He never made just social calls and him being there empty-handed gave her the feeling he was going to tell her some really bad news. Perhaps another attack had happened and she was going to be inundated with a busload of little refugees from this unholy war.
"Come in Bobby," She said and stepped aside. Her old friend took the cap off his head and entered past her. They both headed to the back of the house to the big warm kitchen. The smells of breakfast, oatmeal, eggs, bacon and freshly baked bread still hung in the air.
"Up for breakfast?" She offered as the sounds of children's laughter drifted in from the yard outside.
Bobby sat down heavily in one of the chairs and said "Coffee'd be just fine".
As she got the heavy mugs down from the cupboard she stole glances at her friend and her straight strong brows knit together as she tried to read his careworn features.
Emmaline had big gray-blue eyes and they were casting a worried glance at him as he took the first sip. He still hadn't looked at her yet as he took his second and that meant that what he came to say was bad.
Finally he turned to face her, and for a moment she thought she saw a flicker of fear behind his eyes, "I got some Intel last night and it looks like a group of demons is heading for the Shoe." Bobby said in a flat controlled voice. "From all indications it seems like they want to make an example outta this place."
The pit of her stomach fell and grew cold and she felt the icy fingers of fear tickle up her spine. This was a safe house, it was a strong hold. Charms and wards had been placed all over the house and surrounding property to protect the children here. And then just as suddenly her fear turned to righteous anger. How dare they, those spawn from Hell, haven't they already done enough damage to these kids lives? Well, not on her watch, not in her home.
Bobby observed her face with interest as it went from crestfallen to fierce. That's the Em he knew.
With the same fire in her eyes that had made defense attorneys blanche she tilted her chin up and asked, "What do I have to do?"
Bobby smiled a little at that because he knew she would barricade the house and fight till her last breath before she let any harm come to the charges under her care.
"I've got a group of hunters coming in from around the country to stop them.."
She smirked back and with a raise of one eyebrow said "You'll head them off at the pass?"
Bobby gave her an impatient look and said, "We'll handle it, but I'll be sending over two of the best to make sure you and the kids are safe until we round up those sonsabitches and send 'em back to Hell."
"Anyone I know?, She asked.
"No, but I can't think of any two better suited to watch over this place. I'd trust them with my life Em."
Well that got her attention she'd never heard Bobby give out that kind of praise before.
She paused a moment noting the intense pride he showed as he said that. She asked "What are their names?"
"Sam and Dean Winchester" and he said their names like they meant something.
"They related?" she asked.
"Yeah, they're brothers."
Her voice softened as she asked with a quizzical look, "They related to you?"
Bobby's eyes became less hard and there was a trace of… something… about his face as he said, "No…not directly, no, but I watched them grow up."
"Really, how old are they?"
And then the look on Bobby's face changed to a kind of sadness as he explained, "Dean's thirty and Sam's twenty-six, and letting his voice drop even softer he added, "they have a lot more experience in this kind of work than you'd guess by their ages."
And suddenly she got it. They were only a few years younger than her and that meant they'd been dealing with what's out there, hunting,…. for most of their lives. "Oh," She said softly as the weight of understanding hit her.
As if on cue the rumbling sound of the Impala pulling up beside Bobby's truck interrupted the silence that had filled the kitchen. When Bobby heard the rough creaking sound of two car doors opening and solid slam of both doors being shut he said, "That'd be them" And he and Em went to answer the knocks on the front door.
Bobby swung the door open and Em got a chance to size up these champions he'd enlisted to keep her kids and her safe.
Bobby introduced the shorter of the two as Dean who nodded and said "Ma'me" and gave her a cocky radiant smile.
Ma'me? She thought, since when had she become Ma'me to anyone especially someone so close to her own age?
She pegged him as The Alpha Male as she looked at the man that stood in front of her. He was about six inches taller than her, his hair was sandy brown, close cropped in a military style hair cut, he had a muscular build and startling hazel green eyes set in a boyish almost pretty face. And bravado to spare. She'd seen younger versions of his type countless times before in child services; all tough and confident on the outside while hiding wounds so deep on the inside. She could only guess what he may have witnessed in his past and she got a jolt of pain inside her heart as she looked into those amazing yet closed off eyes that gazed back at her.
The taller one, Sam was introduced next and he gave her a shy dimpled grin as he extended his hand and said, "Pleased to meet you Ms. Coulter, Bobby's told us a lot about you and the work you do here."
The negotiator, she thought as she took his hand and was rewarded with a gentle but firm grasp in return. His eyes had softness to them and the way his shaggy brown hair framed his face when he dipped his head down to make better eye contact showed skill in putting people at ease. He's very good at keeping control of a situation.
Smiling Bobby, clapped both of the younger men on their shoulders, and said, "These two are like son's to me Em, so go easy on them," and then he gave a wink to them and added, "they're not used to being around civilized folk much but they clean up decent and know this business inside and out; so you'll be safe with them here."
"Hey?!" and "Bobby, nice intro man!" Were the joint, somewhat embarrassed replies the Winchesters shouted to his back as Bobby went down the steps, got into his truck and headed out to the assignment. Em stood on the porch and touched her lips with her fingers to hide the smirk that his parting shot caused.
Still smiling she turned back to the two men who where watching their friend leave and said, "He loves you very much… you're lucky to have him in your lives."
The brothers were still focused on the retreating truck as it disappeared down the long dirt road answered with respect in their voices, "We know."
After a moment she said, "Well, have you had breakfast, the kitchen is open and we're still serving"
At the same time Sam answered "Uh, don't go to any trouble." Dean enthusiastically overruled "Love some!" And she watched the younger one shoot his older brother –the look.
Her full smile warmed her voice as she said,"OK then, we don't stand on ceremony here, follow me and I'll let you help your selves."
As they followed her back to the kitchen they took in every detail of the house: the size of the windows, what kinds of latches, where they were in relationship to the door how many rooms off the hallway they were traveling down. Each brother made a mental note to fully scout the building for any areas of weak defense.
Along with the recon Dean was storing in his head he couldn't help but notice that there were plenty of photographs framed along the walls. Each one was of a child or group of children. They were candid shots of smiling faces and children at play. There were also a few of children caught deep in thought and ones of melancholy moments. Those touched him the most because he'd seen that same expression on his brother's face countless times as he watched Sam grow up. Then the realization hit him hard, " Jesus there's a whole house of 'em here all under this one roof! and for a moment he felt his heart pinch.
The kitchen they walked into was big and bright. It had all the appointments of any church hall anywhere in America, built to feed masses but not so institutional that you couldn't feel the warmth. In the center were long wooden tables flanked by benches and mismatched chairs. A smaller table was at the corner of the room with chairs proportionally smaller tucked beside it. And scattered between them were the high chairs. Dean counted five. Jesus.
A buffet area had been set up along one counter with big stainless steel warming pans holding still steaming helpings of: scrambled eggs, bacon, oatmeal and sausages. Emmaline reached up into the cabinets and grabbed down two big plates and passed them over to Dean and Sam motioning them to serve themselves. And she was amused to watch the transformation come over the older Winchester. He was suddenly like a kid in a candy store, eagerly lifting the metal lids off each server and expressing 'OOO's' and 'AHH's' and 'Sam you gotta try some of this!' All the while heaping a serving of each new find on his plate. The younger man was much more restrained in manner, took smaller portions and conscientiously replaced lids back on servers that his enthused brother had set aside or placed back on askew.
Both brothers opted to lean against the counter rather than sit stating that their legs needed to stretch after the long ride here. And ate their meal in appreciative silence.
Em moved over to the bread box and took out one of the loaves intending to carve a couple of thick slices off for them, and Dean suddenly broke the silence; his voice had an almost reverent quaver to it as he asked, "Is…that…FRESH baked bread?"
Emmaline's eyes went wide for a moment at hearing the sound of sheer wonder and want in the older brothers voice and was not prepared, when she looked up, to see both Sam's and Dean's 'puppy dog eyes' locked on to the loaf of cinnamon swirl bread and her hand poised to carve it. It was so hard for her not to smile or tear up at seeing her 'Heroes' grow weak from such a simple pleasure; so she settled for making a little cough and saying, "Yes, baked fresh this morning-want some?"
"YES!" and "Please!" Dean and Sam said in unison their voices blending like brothers' do.
After breakfast and some much needed coffee the brothers went out to the car to bring their gear in. Not far away a group of children were choosing up sides for a game of dodge ball. Dean noticed one boy standing apart from the rest. He was nine or ten years old. Brown longish hair and wore glasses. There was something about the way the boy watched the others that resonated familiar with him. He appeared to be very observant, taking in everything the other kids were doing and saying but he just stood to the side, hands jammed in his pockets with trace of a small frown on his face. None of the other kids even registered that he was there. When Dean brought in his first load of gear he paused at the foot of the stairs and asked Emmaline who the boy was.
She told him his name was James and he was the first to ever come here. He was all-alone in the world since the demon that attached his home killed both his parents and his little sister. She nodded at the boy and said, "He hasn't spoken a word, but he understands everything you say and he acts as the resident 'protector' of all the smaller children."
Dean raised an eyebrow and looked out to the yard. The boy was still standing by, like a silent guardian. "Huh" was the only comment Dean made as he turned and headed up the stairs to his room near the landing. But the look on the boy's face had brought up some old memories. As he unpacked those thoughts came back to him. Nights when he was so small and so afraid that all that held him together was to focus on little Sammy as he slept. How he remembered that every hitch in his baby brothers breathing every other loud snore would wake him up and how he'd lie there heart racing, eyes whisking around the room until he'd get his bearings; telling himself that it was just a new motel room, that Sammy was still sleeping, that there were no other noises for him to be panicked about. And how the sound of his little brothers soft, steady breathing was the only thing that let him relax enough again to finally go back to sleep. Those memories slipped back behind his mind as Dean closed the last drawer of the dresser he'd been filling with his clothes. As he stepped out of the room to get the rest of the gear he saw Sam as he was going out of his own room at the other end of the hall.
Most of their lives were spent in close quarters with each other, either traveling in the car for hours or sharing a room in a cheap motel so the luxury of personal space was rare and gave Dean an opportunity to tease his younger brother. He clapped Sam the shoulder as they both headed toward the stairs saying "Hey, You gonna be able to sleep tonight being so far away?" Sam rolled his eyes and snarked back, "you know what would help, if you could just let a few 'extra onions' rip in there before you turn in and then it will smell like your there all night." Dean buckled over laughing and almost lost his footing on the last stairs as Sam followed behind him smiling. Then Dean straightened up and with his so serious face said, "Well, if you really think it will help, I'll ask Ms. Coulter if we could have boiled onions and Broccoli with our supper tonight.." Sam scowled back at him, "Dude, don't even think about it.."
A sudden high-pitched scream and the sounds of a scuffle out side caused the banter to stop and had them both dash outside to see what the problem was. Dean sized up the situation as they ran. There was a fight all right. The biggest kid, the one that had been choosing up sides was sitting on top of 'silent Jim'(Dean had in this moment nicknamed the quiet watchful boy) and was pounding the shit outta him. It looked like Jim musta gotten at least one in because the older boys nose was bleeding.
"Stop it booger face! He didn't do nothing wrong." Screamed the girl standing close to the fight.
Dean was the first to arrive and without even thinking grabbed "booger face" and lifted him up and off Silent Jim and turned with the still swinging boy in his arms surprised to see MS. Coulter standing there. Without saying a word he passed him over to her and she clamped and iron like pinch onto the child's ear. Booger face yowled once and then stopped struggling. She glared fiercely at the boy and then to Dean giving him a quick 'I'll take over here nod' and marched the very repentant mewling bully back to the house. As they retreated Dean and Sam caught bits of her strident voice, "Ever hit someone smaller…catch you again you'll regret…knock some sense…"
Sam bent down and asked the sniffling little girl about what happened. Dean stood over Silent Jim who still lay on the ground, and reached his hand down to him. At first the boy just lay there, like he was making up his mind whether or not to trust this stranger looming over him. Then his hand shot up and he gripped Deans firmly and Dean pulled him up to stand on his feet.
The boy just stood there as Dean looked carefully into his face. He wasn't crying, he just stood there looking past Dean stoically. "Well, lets get you cleaned up a little so I can check the damage. OK?" Dean said. He got no reply, but he hadn't expected one. He took the child by the shoulder and steered him toward the Impala. Dean opened the driver's side door and reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a box sani-wipes they used for quick cleanup from fast food runs. Pulling out a few he handed them to Jim. "Here, wipe your face down so I can check it out." Dean said to him.
At first the silent boy just looked at the moist cloths in his hand, then he closed his eyes and slowly wiped the dirt and blood off the areas that hurt the most. Dean reached down and took the soiled cloths from him and passed him a new handful. As the boy cleaned Dean watched the way the little guys face pinched in pain as the alcohol wipe stung the spilt on his lip and the scratches where 'booger face" must have clawed him on the cheek and above is eye, but never did the child whimper or loose his control. That impressed the older Winchester.
"Ok" Dean said and he crouched down to eye level gently taking the boy by the chin and turning his head this way and that to eye the damage.
"Well, for the guy on the ground you did a good job protecting your self." Dean smiled in a knowing way at the boy. And Jimmy finally looked him in the eye. "Yessir," Dean added as he fished around in the medical kit. "Reminds me of the first fight I got into at school." Dean picked up a butterfly suture and began to ease it onto the child's lower lip. "There was this big moose of a kid, I guess he was the school bully, and he had a bad habit of taking other kids lunches," Dean reached into the medi kit and took out a tube of antibiotic ointment and began to apply it to the boys scratches. "Well, I was new to that school and he thought he'd break me in by trying to take my lunch too. Now, Sammy my brother, will tell you that one thing I enjoy is my food and I wasn't going to let this tub- o- lard take my only sustenance for the day from me so when he grabbed the bag I swung at him. The guy clocked me good. I went down like a sack of Idaho's finest. And he dropped right down on top of me and began poundin' the tar outta me. I was too surprised and too angry that he'd gotten the drop on me to shout or cry or anything! I just blocked all the punches that I could and when he was tired from all the swinging at me he went to get up and I came up faster. Got him right in the nose. Man, there was blood everywhere! 'Course that was about the time the teacher showed up and guess who got in trouble?"
James smiled and nodded once at Dean.
"You got it," Dean said as he straightened up and put the kit away. "The moose was bleeding and I wasn't so I had to sit in the corner in the back of the class." Then he gave a conspiratol wink at the boy and said, "I got to eat my lunch back there too, and it was the best tasting lunch I ever had."
James' smile broadened even more. Then Ms. Coulter was suddenly standing beside him brow wrinkled and peering at him with a worried look on her face. Emma gently took his chin and examined the butterfly bandage on his lip and the antibiotic glistened scratches. Turning to Dean she said, "Good choice using a butterfly, I don't think it'll need a stitch" And then she added, "Sam talked to Lizzie and found out that when Davie threw the ball at her she'd been turned away and it would have hit her real hard so James jumped in and blocked it and it went back and hit Davie in the nose. I guess he took it personally."
Dean looked at Silent Jim who was now standing looking straight ahead. Then Dean looked at Ms. Coulter and said, "Boys…" giving her a little shrug and that radiant smile .
She gave a little sigh and said to James, "You go in and go to your room for fifteen. I want both you and Davie to take time to cool off. Remember tonight's movie night and anymore fighting and you'll miss out."
James stoic look softened ever so slightly as he glanced up to meet Dean's eyes just before he turned and trudged back toward the house.
Emma watched him go and then she turned to the man beside her noting he was keeping a watchful eye on the boy himself. "That was good the way you handled James, I don't see him smile that often and you got the closest thing to a laugh out of him since he came here."
Dean turned to face her with his smirk back in place and said, "I spent a lot of time looking after my brother so I guess it's just second nature to me now, plus he reminds me of someone. Becoming suddenly serious Dean asked, " How long has he not talked?"
"Two years" Emma answered
Dean looked back at the boy as he entered the house and said, "he could come around and start again, he might surprise you."
And for a brief moment Emma saw the look of recognition on the older Winchesters face.
More to come…
Please review
