"And I thought our lives were weird"

Once they heard about the evils of Manticore, Sam and Dean were resolute to put a stop to it. Granted, they still weren't entirely comfortable with Alec, but they knew that a secret government facility creating superhuman weapons was a problem that needed fixing. Plus, Alec did have Dean's DNA so in a twisted way, that made him family, and Dean does anything to protect his family. Over the course of the day, a determined glint got locked in Dean's eye. One look told you that he wasn't giving up until Manticore was nothing but a bad dream. Alec felt an odd warm feeling seep into his being at the thought of having such an ally in this fight. While Dean might not be a transgenic, he was certainly more capable than any other ordinary Alec had ever met.

Bobby picked up on it too. "Well, boys, Jo, pack up. Looks like we're headin' to Seattle." He bellowed. Everyone paused for a moment in consideration before doing exactly what the senior hunter asked. They all bustled around doing miscellaneous tasks to get ready for the drive and packing up various weapons just in case. They were all more comfortable with a gun in their hands and an arsenal in the trunk. Besides, if it did come down to a fight at Manticore, they'd rather be prepared.

While everyone was preparing, apparently the fact that Alec was still tied to a chair went over-looked. The handsome transgenic sat quietly and worked at the ropes. No more than two minutes after he started, the ropes hung loosely around his waist. He rubbed his wrists and caught Dean staring at him with confusion marring his features.

"What?" Alec asked in the most innocent tone he could manage. Dean bit his lip and tilted his head a bit, clearly trying to figure something out.

He spoke slowly, "If you could have broken out of the ropes anytime, why'd you wait till now? Why'd you let us tie you up in the first place for that matter?"

Alec smiled. "I figured resisting would be a good way to get shot." He stated simply. "I've gotten shot plenty of times before and it's usually something I try to avoid."

"Huh, okay." Still in his slightly confused daze, Dean sighed dismissively and walked off to go help Bobby.

Dean and Alec walked into the library where Sam and Bobby were still packing up some supplies. The room was filled to the brim with the ancient texts and spell books covered in dust. The fire place on the back wall housed a slowly dying flame that shed a soft, flickering light into the dimly lit space.

"Bobby, did you get a hold of that contact of your up in Seattle yet?" Sam inquired curiously without bothering to look up from the book he had his nose buried in to acknowledge the other's entrance.

"Yeah, he confirmed that Manticore is located right outside the city. They had an old location up in Wyoming but it was shut down years ago. We can meet up with him when we get to Seattle. He wants to 'debrief us on some tactical details'." Bobby said while occupying himself with finding a certain book from somewhere in the piles and piles of books he had stacked up on every available flat surface in the room. "It seemed like this Manticore deal is kind of a pet project of his. Logan seemed pretty passionate about the whole thing."

"Wait, Logan? As in Logan Cale, Logan? Alec asked cautiously.

"That's the one." Bobby confirmed, flipping through a book as he answered.

"Why? You know him?" Sam piped up.

"You could say that." The transgenic voiced in a tone that suggested there was much more to the story.

The others in the room ignored the insinuation.

"Well, anyway, he also said that the familiars you boys have been trying to track down for God knows how long, their hideout is in Seattle too."

Sam and Dean both immediately looked at the older hunter to make sure he was serious. Dean got a smug smile on his face.

"you know me, I'm always up for a two for one deal." He said in a cocky tone.

Alec's eyes widened at the mention of the familiars and his heart beat just a little bit faster. Maybe with these guys, they could wipe them out too.

"You're after the familiars too?" He asked in disbelief. "It's a miracle we didn't cross paths sooner!" He huffed and made his way to see Jo out back.

Alec wandered out around the house and found the pretty blond hunter loading up her truck and double checking all the weaponry.

"So, what's going on between you and Dean?"

She looked up, surprised, "What do you mean?"

"Well, while I wasn't completely focused on the gun pointed at my chest, I noticed that you two barely made eye contact since they got here, and considering there is only five of us here, that's impressive -and takes effort. What's the deal?" Alec never learned the fine art of beating around the bush in 'Common Verbal Usage.'

She paused, blinked a few times, then once again busied herself with cleaning a sawed off shotgun. "Nothing's going on." She said, trying to sound like he hadn't just hit close to home.

"Well that clears things up. I'm going to go out on a limb here, since I have nothing better to do, and guess that you have a thing for him, and I mean, who could blame you. He really is ruggedly handsome." Alec continued with a wink, "But you think he doesn't think of you that way. Newsflash, you weren't the only one avoiding eye contact." Alec left the salvage yard with an confident swing in every step before she could reply. He meandered in and out and around the multitude of rusted out and beat up cars that littered the yard before finally meeting up with Sam, Dean, and Bobby as they exited the house without so much as a glance back in her direction.

"Alright, Sam, Dean, and Alec, you guys take the Impala. Jo, you take you're truck and I'll follow ya'll." Bobby instructed. He then climbed into one of his many vehicles and everyone else dispersed and got to their assigned car.

After ten minutes filled with nothing but awkward silences and the muffled sound of Dean's outdated rock music playing softly from the tape deck, Alec reached forward from his seat in the back and turned up the volume. Dean smiled, "I think you and I are gonna get along just fine." Alec laughed and they both started singing along with the song.

"Oh God, now there's two of them." Sam moaned and rested his head in his hands.

Conversation was easy between Alec and Dean. Apparently having the same DNA also meant having many of the same likes and dislikes. They also definitely had the same sense of humor.

"So you guys hunt the supernatural?" Alec asked. Jo and Bobby had filled him in on the basics of what hunters were but still, 'curiosity killed the cat,' as the saying goes and Alec did have some feline DNA. Sam glanced over at him with an eyebrow raised. It still seemed odd to him to have someone ask such a question so casually. It was even stranger to have it come from someone who looked just like Dean.

"Yep, Demons, ghosts, spirits, things that go bump in the night, all of it." Dean rattled off with practiced ease from the front seat.

Alec tried to keep a straight face and nod thoughtfully before giving up and laughing. "You totally planned that speech, didn't you?"

Dean sent him a light hearted glare but brushed off the jab. "So, you were a government experiment?"

"Yeah. Just a bunch of little test tube babies." Alec responded a little too quickly.

Dean jumped on it. "And like you haven't used that line before."

"Touché."

The drive was continued to be surprisingly comfortable. Dean was at ease around Alec and vice versa, even having just met, they seemed like old friends. Sam was just happy that the tension had dissolved early on in the very long drive.


A/N: Have I mentioned I love reviews? God bless.

-Kate