...spn...
Dean's dreams changed from nightmares to his childhood's greatest hits- or at least all the hits which included his little brother.
The time he taught Sammy to shoot and lay salt lines- The time he snuck a box of fireworks for them to set off in a forest- Their first prank war-
It was a relief from the usual string of terror, but they always left the former hunter's brain itching afterwards. Almost like he was forgetting something.
...spn...
"You need to make sure that this bit is screwed down tight, or it will shake loose while you're driving..."
Ben nodded eagerly as Dean explained the inner workings of the truck's engine.
"This piece too it-" the older man cut off, a black smudged hand going to his temple.
"Dean you ok?" Ben asked. The former hunter waved him off.
"I'm fine. Hey, can I trust you to wrap up here? I'm going to see if your mom needs any help with dinner."
Ben shrugged. "Ok."
Dean smiled and walked into the house. He passed the kitchen, where Lisa was busy standing over the stove, and collapsed in the living room.
Lights sparked across Dean's vision as he lay on the couch. He could hear Lisa rummage for her the spatula, but the sound was oddly muffled. He closed his eyes.
...spn...
"Hey Dean!" Sammy sat on a park bench, his too short legs kicking the air, a smile plastered on his face.
Dean looked at him. "You're not my brother, are you."
The boy scrunched his nose, distorting the mosaic of freckles. "No, you named me Little Sammy."
Carefully Dean sat down beside him. "What are you?"
"I'm not a jerk with wings!" came the emphatic reply.
Dean couldn't help it, he laughed.
"What?" the kid said earnestly, "I'm not I swear!"
"Don't swear," Dean smirked, "Not until you're older."
"I'm older than I was when you just said that."
"Old enough to drive."
"But I won't ever need a car!"
Dean's smile fell again. He stared into the childhood face of his brother, painfully aware of the stranger lurking beneath. "Why are you in my head?"
"You brought me here when I didn't have anywhere else to go. You said I could stay, and your head's specially made to fit angels inside too."
Dean tried not to ponder the implications of that. "And the headaches?"
Little Sammy winced. "Sorry. We wanted to learn how to fix the car too."
"We?"
"Me and the Band of Strays."
"There are more of you?"
Sammy frowned. "You said I could keep them."
Dean winced and scratched the side of his head. "Yeah, I guess I did didn't I. How many was that again?"
The boy's face split into a grin. "Want to meet them? They've been wanting to meet you for a really long time, but I didn't know if it was alright."
"Uh, sure."
Little Sammy leapt to his feet and hopped to the playground, pulling Dean with him by the hand.
Dean could see a purple jungle gym he remembered taking Sam to in elementary school, now buried under the bodies and limbs of laughing children, all of whom, Dean noticed, were younger than Little Sammy.
Sammy pointed to a dark haired group on the slide. "That's Ozzy, Geezer, and Tony. The girls with red hair are Jo and Page, and their brother's Jimmy. That's John, Paul, and George on the monkey bars."
A tug on Dean's coat prompted him to look down into a pair of amber green eyes hidden under a mop of sandy hair.
"Hi."
The eye's owner grinned, his tiny face sticky from the candy bar in his hands. "I'm Ringo."
Dean grinned back. "It's nice to meet you."
The child's smile, if anything, became even brighter. He ran off back to his brothers before Dean could say anything else. He shook his head.
"I knew heaven was messed up right now, but I didn't think they would be desperate enough to enlist me as a babysitter."
"What's that?"
Dean looked down. "What's what?"
"Heaven. What's heaven?" Sammy clarified.
"Uh, you don't know what heaven is? Haven't you been there before?"
Sammy shook his head. "I don't think so. Where is it?"
"Look," Dean felt suddenly out of his depth, "if you aren't from heaven, where did you all come from?"
Sammy shrugged. "Fluff Stuff."
Dean stared. "Excuse me?"
"Fluff Stuff. Ringo says it's the stuff our wings our made out of, and he knows even though he's the littlest 'cuz he saw a big angel get turned into Fluff Stuff and go flying all over the place when another big angel killed him."
"And you guys came from that?"
Sammy nodded. "Uh hu. It sticks to stuff and mixes together then when there's enough of it, one of us pops out. That's how I found Bonham."
"Oh." The light headedness was back. Dean felt his knees go weak, and he lowered himself to the ground before they gave out.
"Dean, you ok?" Sammy looked honestly terrified.
"I'm fine," Dean tried to reassure him, but the sunlight was already growing dark and the children's faces blurry.
"Dean?" Sammy called, small hands shaking his shoulder. "Dean?"
...spn...
"Dean?"
Dean opened his eyes. Ben's pale face invaded his vision.
"Hey kiddo."
"I've been trying to wake you up for a while, mom says dinner's ready. Are you alright?"
Dean ran a hand over his face. "Yeah, I'm fine. Tell you mom I'll be there in a minute."
...spn...
"You look older than the last time I saw you."
Sammy, who looked about thirteen now, blinked at him uncomprehendingly.
"Does time pass more quickly here or something," Dean continued waving around the space of his mind.
Sammy shrugged. "I dunno. You're not here most of the time, so we usually just play in the parks you remember."
"You kids are playing around in my memories?" Dean suddenly felt embarrassed. His mind was not a G rated place.
Sammy wrinkled his nose. "Just the ones from when you were a kid too. When I try to see some of the other ones, the door says I'm not tall enough to get inside."
Dean snorted at his subconscious' child safety locks.
"Yeah, well, I might show you when you're older."
"M'kay."
"So when you're not playing, what else do you do?"
"Well, I teach them what I learn from you."
Dean winced, he wan not an ideal role model for a pack of angels. "Oh like what?"
"Um, like 'Family comes first', and how to shoot and stuff."
"Anything else?" The former hunter felt dread pool in his gut.
"Well, John asked what heaven was yesterday, but I couldn't answer him. So what is heaven?"
Dean ran a hand over his face. "Go-" he glanced at he child next to him, "-sh. How do I explain this. Uh, Heaven is..."
...spn...
"...not all it's cracked up to be," Dean said to the circle of seated cherubs. They were sitting in the empty parking lot Dean once used to teach Sam to shoot.
The little red headed girl, Jo, stuck her hand into the air. "Why?"
"Well for one," Dean replied, "It's run by a bunch of d- big angels who are really mean. And second, all there is to do up there if you're human is relive your life's greatest hits."
"What do the angels do?" this time it was Paul, seated between his two brothers with Ringo in his lap.
Dean shrugged. "Plot how to start the apocalypse."
"What's-"
"That's the end of the world- earth."
The children looked furious.
"Why would they do that? Earth is awesome!" Ozzy shouted to the agreement of his siblings.
"Like I said, they're all mean. Well," Dean amended, "Cas was pretty cool, but only after he left heaven. Now.." He trailed off. "Anyway, so don't be like them."
The group nodded soberly. Dean rubbed his temple, the ever present ache morphing into a dull thud.
"Dean, you ok?" Sammy, who looked about sixteen now, asked.
Dean grimaced. "Yeah I'm fine, just a headache. Nothing to worry about."
"Oh, ok." Sammy still looked concerned.
"Right," Dean turned back to the angels, "Now who wants to learn how to operate a firearm?"
...spn...