Chapter Four
After Samuel healed from the bronchitis, things got a bit easier especially since Dean started to trust the others with his brother but they still didn't let each other out of their sights. John found that out when he tried to take Samuel to the bathroom to clean up while Dean was asleep. When the bedroom door closed, Dean woke up and, not finding his baby brother next to him, had a panic attack that left the room in shambles. Samuel wasn't much better, having left his marks on John from the struggle he put up when the man took him away from Dean. When John told Jim what happened, the pastor wondered if it was so much a brother thing as an angel thing. After all, the boys had been kidnapped from their family.
Because Jim felt that it was unhealthy for the boys to be stuck in one room, he enlisted Bobby and Rufus' help to baby and toddler proof his home. Then he convinced Mary to let the boys play in the living room. Everyone was happy at first to find out the baby could crawl until he started to find things that were put away for his and his brother's safety. The first time Jim almost had a heart attack was when he went to the study for a book and found the children on top of his bookcase, playing with the weapons that were put there seemingly out of the reach of the children. John had to help him get the kids down since they decided to play a game of keep away from Jim, crawling away whenever he got close to them. It didn't help that Bobby and Rufus ended up on the floor rolling in laughter.
Rufus was the next to grow grey hairs when he found them in his room, the baby sucking on one of his guns. Carefully, as to not startle the child, he crept in and got the gun away from Samuel. It wasn't easy to wrestle away as he had thought it would be, especially when Dean started to attack him. John again came to the rescue and, after fifteen minutes of fighting, the baby finally gave the gun up in favor for his favorite toy.
All of the Hunters began to pray for help after having to clean up torn books, flour everywhere, water flowing from taps left open, weapons still found even after being locked away, and other messes the children got into. Mary had read that children were naturally curious but that didn't really explain why these kids were so into everything but Jim had the idea that it was because the human things were so different than the ones in Heaven. Good theory but it really didn't help.
Talking to the children and even putting them in time-out didn't help since neither child seemed to understand that they were doing something wrong so after cleaning the house for what seemed like the hundredth time one day, Jim suggested letting the children play in the nursery at the Church. Mary tiredly agreed and took them to the small room that had so many toys to play with. She sat down in a chair and watched the little ones play until she fell asleep. She woke up with a start and looked around to find that the boys had disappeared. Panicking, she left the room to get John only to find the boys in the Church proper, sitting under one of the windows and looking at a Bible that had been left by one of the Parishioners. It almost looked as if the boys were reading it but when Mary saw that it was written in Latin, she knew that it wasn't possible. She went to get a Dr. Seuss book to substitute it for the Bible but the boys put up a fight.
"Okay, okay, I give," she laughed. Then she really watched them and realized that they were reading it. Not just the older child but the baby too and that just freaked her out a bit. The longer she watched, the more a crazy notion came into her head. Finally, she acted on it and asked, "Potest hanc legistis?" (can you read this?)
The older child looked up in surprise and said to her surprise, "Sic." (yes)
That was the first time either child had made a noise in anyone's presence. Mary decided to ask a few more questions, hoping her Latin would hold up, "Utrumque vestrum?" (both of you?)
"Sic" (yes)
Mary was surprised but then decided to ask a couple of questions that had been bothering all of the Hunters, "Qui tulit te a familia?" (who took you from your family)
The baby was the one to answer in a soft but clear voice, "Malus frater, daemon." (bad brother, demon)
She didn't know what to think but she pressed on for more answers, "Quomodo fratres excipiat?" (how can we get hold of your brothers)
Dean said with an air of confidence, "Rogare Pater." (ask Father)
Then Samuel said, "Gratias ago vos." (thank you)
Mary was confused, "Cur?" (why)
Dean answered, "Nos adiuvat." (for helping us)
Mary asked one more question. One that had been plaguing everyone since Jim brought up the possibility, "Estis vos angeli?" (are you angels)
Dean answered again, "Fratirbus nostris vocare nos pulli." (Our brothers call us fledglings) He grinned then yawned. Mary stood up and, picking Samuel up, brought the boys back to the Rectory for a nap.
After the boys were put down for their naps, Mary went to find John and Jim. Rufus and Bobby had to leave for another hunt then Bobby was going to go back to his place for a while. When she found them, they were out in the garage working on the Impala, giving her an oil change. "The boys speak Latin," Mary said breathlessly.
"What, who?" John asked.
"The boys. They speak Latin," Mary repeated. "We were in the Church at the time and I found them reading a Bible that was written in Latin. I don't know why I did it but I asked them in Latin if they could read it and Dean said yes. He said it in Latin, John. And Samuel, oh God, Samuel can also read and speak Latin. He's only a year old! How can that be?"
"I don't know. Maybe they age differently than we do," Jim said thoughtfully.
"That reminds me. Jim, you were right in thinking they are Angels. I asked them and they said that their brothers would call them fledglings," Mary was excited about her finding. "They thanked us, John. Thanked us for helping them." John carefully hugged his beautiful wife since he had oil on his hands.
Jim was still worried about who had taken the boys and he asked Mary, "Did they say anything about who took them from their brothers?"
Mary stepped away from John and frowned, "Yeah, Samuel said that a bad brother and a demon did it."
"Mar, how do we get in touch with their brothers?" John asked quietly. It broke his heart to think they would have to give the boys up but they needed to be with their family.
Mary looked up at John with tears in her eyes, "Dean said to ask their Father."
It had been eight months since the boys disappeared. Gabriel, Michael, Castiel and Balthazar knew the boys weren't in Heaven as they had looked everywhere, even in the Garden. Finally, the four came to the conclusion that their brothers were either on Earth or in Hell. They had found signs that Dean and Samuel had been taken against their will since no fledgling could voluntarily leave Heaven. It was Father's idea of a safety gate on the stairs. That meant that one of their siblings had to do the deed. Michael told Gabriel and Castiel to start searching the Earth for their much younger brothers while he and Balthazar looked for the traitor.
Gabriel and Castiel decided to split the Earth into two with Gabriel taking the Northern Hemisphere and Castiel the South. Because Castiel had spent little time on Earth, Gabriel gave him the names of some contacts among the demigods then he went to renew some old friendships in order to get help looking for the fledglings. Most of the demigods were quick to help, they remembered when Castiel had been a fledgling who had found his way to Earth. Fledglings have no realization of how powerful they really are and besides, nobody held Atlantis against the young Angel even though he still felt guilty about it. Castiel's little adventure was the reason that Father put up the safety gate.
Fledglings were very curious and because of that curiosity, very destructive. They would get into everything if they didn't have an older brother or sister with them at all times and whatever had caught their fancy at the time would be taken apart to see how it worked. Hence the destruction of Atlantis by Castiel. Hells, Michael was responsible for the Khyber Belt while Gabriel had taken Saturn apart. Balthazar caused Venus to have its poisonous atmosphere to name a few incidents. There were even a few black holes that were attributed to Angelic fledglings.
It was also because of Castiel that the demigods knew not to ask the Angels why they couldn't just feel where their brothers were. Metatron had explained to them that a fledgling's Grace was diffused, not as solid as when he was an adult. Their minds also was scattered like any other child born. That made them impossible to feel or find like they would an adult Angel. If a fledgling was lost, the search had to be physically done.
After a month on Earth, Gabriel heard from Quetzalcoatl that a demon had been killed by a nest of vampires. Said demon was rumored to have had two children locked in a small room and the vampires had taken the kids with them after they killed the demon. Gabriel thanked the Q-man (as he called him) and went to find Castiel who was in Australia at the time. The Angels located the vampire nest easily only to find it destroyed with the Alpha and her mate the only survivors. The Alpha told the Angels that she had felt bad for the children and took them for her own but Hunters had found them while destroying the nest. She and her mate followed the Hunters to make sure they were being good to the children, otherwise, she said, they would have killed the humans and retaken the children. When asked if the vampires knew where the children were, they told the Angels that the last time they saw the boys was in Blue Earth, Minnesota. Gabriel contacted Michael and Balthazar to tell them they had a lead on their brothers. Then he and Castiel went to Blue Earth.
When John went out to the garage one morning, he found the boys next to a dismantled car. Not the Impala, thank God but still… He remembered that Mary told them the boys understood Latin and, dredging up his knowledge of conversational Latin he asked them why they took the car apart. Dean looked up at the furious man and said they wanted to see how it worked. He said it so innocently that John was stopped in mid-rant and started to laugh. Then he said, "Don't operor ut iterum, vos could have gotten…vulnero" (don't do that, you could have gotten hurt) butchering the language. The boys looked at each other in puzzlement then started to laugh. They figured out what the man was trying to say but it came out so badly that it was funny.
After his laughter died down, Dean asked, "Cur?" (why)
John tried again, "Quoniam it's periculosus. (because it's dangerous)
The boys were still giggling when Jim came out and saw the mess. John explained why the boys were laughing and Jim looked at them seriously and said, "Sed hoc modo irridere inhumanus. (it's impolite to laugh at this man now) Ipse est sollicitus est salute vestra. (he is concerned about your safety) Placere deprecarentur ad eum (please apologize to him)."
John was astounded when the boys looked at the ground as if they were ashamed, "Dolemus," (we are sorry) the boys said together.
"Jim, would you translate for me?" John asked not wanting to trust his scant Latin. Jim nodded then John looked at the boys and said, "It's fine. Just don't do it again." (Est bysso. Tantum non aluid apponet.) Both boys nodded in agreement then John picked up Samuel and led his brother into the Rectory to be cleaned.
When the boys and John left, Jim let out the laughter that had been building in him since he walked into the garage. He couldn't believe what those two had done and he wondered how their guardians ever put up with them. Finally he was able to calm down and catch his breath. Looking up, he prayed, "Give us patience and strength to endure these two very precious children." Then he went in to help clean the boys. He just hoped they hadn't gotten any grease on their wings otherwise they would have to get some Dawn and a couple of old brushes to get it out. He also needed to call Bobby to help them put the car back together.
Jim Murphy's prayer was heard and Michael, along with Balthazar went to meet their brothers on the way to Blue Earth. They now had proof of where the fledglings were and they all hoped that the damage wasn't too great.
When Jim called and explained about the car, Bobby also had to laugh then he decided to help the three Hunters out by getting some toys for the children. He stopped at the mall in Sioux Falls and bought Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, and a couple of Erector Sets. He also bought them a couple of used small appliances that they could take apart. Because Jim said they could read but didn't know English, he also got them some books and flashcards to teach them the language.
It took him about six hours to get to Blue Earth and when he got there, he went to the garage immediately. He looked at the dismantled car in wonder but it wasn't quite the surprise to him as it had been to the others. After he had gotten back to Sioux Falls, he did some research into Angelic fledglings. Not much was written about them but there was one story that made him think. It talked about a fledgling that was found in Atlantis. This fledgling was curious about the way things worked so he started to take things apart. Atlantis, the story said, was highly advanced and one of the things that it had was a power plant…a nuclear power plant. When the fledgling found it, he was highly intrigued and started to take it apart. But he hadn't realized there had been safeties put in place to keep it from blowing up and he started on those. His brothers and sisters barely had time to get the people away from Atlantis before it blew up, never to be rebuilt again. There were even theories about the gas giants, Mars, Venus, even the rings of Saturn and the Khyber Belt being the results of curious fledglings.
Taking his packages out of the truck, he went in the Rectory calling, "Hi, I'm here!" as he did. Jim came down to meet him, looking exhausted. "What did those dickenses do now?" Bobby asked with a twinkle in his eye.
"I had to keep them from taking the stove, refrigerator, and washer apart. I swear they are worse than gremlins!" Jim grumbled. "I thought I was patient but those two…"
"Hopefully, I brought some stuff that will keep them busy for at least a few minutes," Bobby said. Then he went on to explain what his research had found. Jim turned pale with the thought of the children trying to satisfy their curiosity and tearing the town apart. "Naw, don't worry about it, Jimmy. You just have to be patient and find second hand things for them to work on. What really is surprising is at their age they could take a car apart without hurting themselves."
Jim was the one who now looked smug. "I think that Angels must age differently than us. If you heard the baby speak perfect Latin, you would have sworn you were talking to an adult. I just wish they knew English. Poor John is having problems trying to communicate with them because his conversational Latin is sketchy. You should have heard the kids laughing at his attempt. I ended up being the bad guy about the whole thing."
"I'm way ahead of you," Bobby said gleefully. "I got some flashcards and books to help teach them English. I do wonder why they can speak Latin and not English."
"It may have something to do with the development of Angels. Latin is a very old language after all. I have a feeling those two can speak Ancient Aramaic, Sanskrit, even the first language ever spoken but the modern ones are still out of their league," Jim hypothesized.
"Could be. Since we're out of our league here anything can be possible. We knew that when you told us there were Angels in your house," Bobby jumped when he heard something crash upstairs but Jim just winced. "Let's get these things to the boys before your house comes down around our ears." Jim nodded in agreement.
When they entered the Winchesters' room, they found that it had been a dresser that made all the noise. The boys had become curious about the way it had been put together and, before John or Mary could stop them, they had decided to look behind it and the best way to do it for them was to tip it over. Jim just rolled his eyes and went to help John right the dresser as Bobby made his way over to a crying Mary. Seeing that she was at the end of her rope, he turned to the boys and gave them one of the small appliances that he had gotten for them. It was a microwave and, when he plugged it in, the boys were enthralled enough to focus totally on it.
When the boys were busy, Bobby told Mary, "I got them another appliance to take apart. I also got them some toys that they have to put together and a couple of aids to teach them English."
Mary smiled waterly and said, "Thanks Bobby. I really can't tell you how much I appreciate all your help."
Bobby patted her shoulder and said, "No problem, kid. Just trying to help."
"Will you be staying for a while?" John asked hopefully. Bobby couldn't help but crack a smile at the Great John Winchester being brought to his knees by a couple of toddlers.
"Sure, besides I'm going to help you put Jim's car back together," Bobby said easily. Both Winchesters and Jim gave a great sigh of relief.
