Chapter 3

"Niko, what's a dad?"

Niko had been drying the plates he and Cal had used for dinner, but at the question he froze for a moment and then dropped the rag in the sink and turned to look at his brother. "What?"

"What's a dad?" Cal repeated, his eyes wide and innocent as he studied Niko over the Fig Newton he was munching on for dessert. "I heard Mikey say today at recess that his dad was taking him to a baseball game. He said his dad is the coolest ever and they're going to have so much fun together, and then everyone else started saying their dad was the coolest ever. But you're the coolest ever, and you take me places, so does that mean a dad's like a brother?"

Niko swallowed hard and abandoned the dishes to go and crouch down in front of Cal. "No, Cal. A dad isn't supposed to be like a brother at all."

Cal cocked his head to the side a little and said in a puzzled voice, "But Mikey's dad does the same things you do, and you're my brother."

Niko sighed. "I know, but I don't do what a brother is supposed to do."

The implication that Niko was doing something wrong made Cal's eyes go wide. "Well, what is a brother supposed to do?"

Niko paused, then stood up to pull a chair over next to Cal's and dropped into it."A big brother, like what I am, I supposed to play with you—"

"You do play with me, all the time."

"Yes, but I'm also supposed to complain about playing with you to all my friends, and want to get away from you all the time, and yell at you for coming into my room. I'm supposed to be bothered by you and tell you to leave me alone."

"Oh. You're right. You don't do any of that, but that's okay, 'cause I don't think I'd like that."

"Me either, kiddo."

"What's a dad supposed to do, then?"

"A dad is supposed to take care of you. He's supposed to make you breakfast and lunch and dinner, and take you to the park and the movies, and make you feel better when you're sad." Niko knew—he'd seen it on TV back when the cable still worked.

"But you do all that."

"I know."

"So you're like my dad."

Niko felt a small smile on his lips. "Yes, in a manner of speaking. But most families aren't like us."

"We're doing it wrong?" Cal asked, sounding suddenly worried.

Niko actually laughed at that—he couldn't help it—and reached out to ruffle Cal's hair. "No, Cal, you and me, at least, are doing it exactly right."

"I'm confused now."

"I know. It's confusing."

"But if everyone has a dad, then where's ours?"

Niko decided right then that the time had come to dodge the question and lighten the moment, and he did so by chuckling, ruffling Cal's hair again, and murmuring, "I should've known you were going to ask me all these questions one day. But that's one question I can't answer."

Because I don't know where my dad is, and I don't ever want you to know where yours is either.

"Now, all this talk of playing has made me want to go to the park. Why don't you go get your jacket so we can have some time there before it gets dark?"

Cal grinned happily, all talk of dads forgotten in the wake of the glorious prospect of going out. "Okay!" he said excitedly, and dashed off in a whirlwind of little arms and legs.

Niko didn't allow his smile to falter until Cal was gone, but once he was alone, it vanished completely and he sighed inwardly as he turned back to finish drying the dishes.

All he could think was how very sad it was that a five-year-old boy had never heard the word "dad."

XXX

"Excuse me?"

"They smell like you. I mean, not like you've been around them and their scent has rubbed off on you. More like…like how we smell like Sophia."

He said it with a sudden sense of discovery, and Niko raised one eyebrow. "You can detect such things?"

"I don't know," Cal replied. "I've never been able to before. Like I can't tell that Mrs. King is George's mother by smelling her. Or I didn't used to be able to. Maybe it sprang up overnight. Or maybe it was triggered when we met them. Or maybe it's just unique with you. I don't know."

"How long have you realized this?"

"About five minutes—since I gave Sam back his gun—but something about them had been bugging me since we met them, and I'm pretty sure that's what it was."

"So…you think that my father…"

"Is John Winchester. Maybe. I don't know, it's possible, right?"

"I suppose," Niko said slowly. "We always assumed he was Rom, but he doesn't have to be. Perhaps one of Sophia's clients resulted in an accidental pregnancy."

"You're taking this awfully well," Cal said carefully. "What are you thinking right now?"

"I'm wondering why you thought this would change my mind about those two," Niko said instantly.

Cal's mouth dropped open. "Nik, they could be your brothers."

"I already have a brother. I don't need any more."

Cal smiled slightly. "That's sweet, but don't you even want to find out for sure?"

"There's no way to find out for sure, unless we get a blood test, and I don't see them being any more willing to do that than I am. Besides, what would it change?"

"Everything. You could have a family, Nik!"

"I told you, I already do. I have you, Cal, and I don't need anyone else. Besides, they are not my family, no matter what their DNA says. They are hunters, and as hunters, they are a threat to my family. I have no desire to forge any kind of relationship with them."

"But—"

Niko knew, from the hesitancy with which Cal spoke the word and the look in his eyes, where the sentence was going, and cut him off instantly. "No, Cal. Thank you for giving me the option, but no."

Because he knew what Cal had been about to say, and he didn't want to hear it.

Cal looked like he still wanted to pursue the matter, but to Niko's relief he dropped it. "Fine, then let's talk about the demon that's trying to kill you."

"What of it?"

"Well, what're we gonna do about it?"

"We'll do what we do best: we'll kill it."

Cal grimaced. "Yeah, great. So you know how to find it?"

"Of course not. However, we have one advantage. We know it will be coming after me, and that it is looking to do so tonight. Therefore we will go home, where we are safer and have the home court advantage—"

"Did you just make a sports reference?"

"—And I will teach you how to fight a demon. Then we will simply be vigilant, as I told Sam and Dean we would."

Cal sighed. "You're a stubborn bastard, you know that?"

"Yes," Niko replied simply. "I know."

That had been yesterday.

Today, Niko felt like he didn't know anything at all.

XXX

I'm not going to be here forever.

Those had been the words that had gone unsaid in their conversation the night before, and they were stuck in Niko's head.

I'm not going to be here forever.

He wished now that he'd let Cal say it. If he'd let Cal say it then he could have argued. He could have fought his brother on it. He could have said You will never leave me so often and with such conviction that he would have made it true.

I'm not going to be here forever.

He could have falsified those words through sheer willpower if he'd only acknowledged them. But he hadn't. He'd ignored them.

He'd ignored them, and now Cal was gone.

TBC

Author's Note: I know it's short, but look at how fast it came out! (Although I'm warning you now, don't expect that to ever happen again.)