A/N:

Thank you so much to Kajensen07, goldacharmed and slcraig01 for the reviews! Here it comes!

Dean's suspicion snapped right back into place at the reminder that he wasn't alone in the forest. He drew his hands closer to his chest, feeling a surge of protective instinct rise up in him for the tiny trio standing within his grasp. "I still don't know why you're even-"

"Dean!" A little voice down on his hand cut him off and Dean stared down, wide-eyed. Sam was stubbornly staring back at him, his jaw set. Once he was certain he had his older brother's attention, Sam continued on. "That's Jacob. He's been here before. If something happened, he was probably out looking for us to warn us."

After he was finished, Sam turned his back on Dean. Despite the fact that the hunter was almost completely unknown, Sam wasn't afraid. He believed in his family- both sides.

"Jacob, this is Dean." Sam's voice was warm as he introduced his long lost older brother. There wasn't much of a resemblance between the two. Even Sam's clothing was completely different. Dean would blend into any standard bar scene with a drink in hand, while Sam could vanish into the forest canopy with his sprite-created clothing and his glider. "I told you I used to be the same size as a human. Well, Dean is the family I lost all those years ago."

Jacob nodded slowly, and then glanced back up at Dean. He had a feeling there were more explanations to come before he really got the hang of everything, but at least the important details were out there. Now, at least, he was pretty sure Jimmy Page couldn't actually bring charges against him for being there.

Despite all his questions, Jacob merely nodded and offered a smile. "Nice to meet you, for real, I guess," he said, glancing back down at the people on Dean's hands. Those huge fingers curled up protectively, not threateningly, so he wanted to give the man a chance. "Sorry about the misunderstanding... Sam's right. I was coming up here to warn them about what's going on and make sure Bobby hadn't ... y'know."

Rischa giggled breathily. Emotions spiked and roiled in the air around her. Jacob's protective drive was waning into mild confusion and bemusement and some relief, though he was still worried. Bowman was relieved as well, and curious just like she was. Sam ... Sam was like someone dying of thirst looking up and seeing rain clouds.

Dean had that feeling about him, too, but there was also shock and disbelief, with a thrumming undercurrent of determination that blended with a desire to protect. His emotions, while guarded, were as intense as the set in his brow and might well have overwhelmed her if she hadn't already begun her training.

"Don't worry, Jacob," she spoke up, knowing he would be the simplest to put at ease out of any of them. "When you walked up, we were all startled."

Jacob smiled faintly. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Dean nodded along with it, though he was still baffled by the strange turn of events. He was on a case, though, and he had to remember to focus on that.

That didn't mean the sight of Sam, standing right on his hand, didn't fill him with emotions he didn't even recognize anymore. It had been so long since he'd seen Sammy. A brief flash of a dark motel room and a laugh that haunted his footsteps lit his mind's eye, and it was all he could do to keep his hand steady. He wanted to reach out and touch Sam to make sure he was actually there, but both of his hands were occupied. Rischa watched him thoughtfully with those little golden eyes of hers, but Dean hardly noticed.

"Bobby's still out there," Dean warned them in an attempt to focus away from the emotions that threatened to drown him. "And if anyone else finds him, there's going to be trouble. That's not your friend that attacked you, Jacob. He's possessed by a demon, and I'm here to stop it before it hurts anyone else."

Jacob's brow pinched with worry and his tentative smile dropped away into a frown. Before meeting Sam and Bowman, he might not easily believe Dean's words. However, knowing that little sprites (and shrunken humans) could exist made it much easier to accept the existence of demons. It explained a lot about his friend's odd behavior the other night.

"Right, we gotta find him before he stumbles across the other sprites," he said with a nod.

"Well, if that's what's going on," Bowman finally piped up, getting over the initial shock of meeting Dean, the same Dean he'd heard so much about growing up. "Then I think it's time for Birdie here to go home. And as a patrolsprite I should be getting the news back about this other human ... demon ... thing."

He spread his wings and hopped into the air, taking flight away from Dean's hands with an ease born of years of rigorous daily practice. He glanced down to see Rischa giving her wings some practice flutters before spiraling up higher so he was eye level with Dean.

"Y'know, you're a little taller than Sam always said, I'm sure of it," he commented with a smirk.

It was almost impossible for Dean to pick a place to look first. He had a tiny girl on one hand, stretching out delicate wings. On the back of his other hand, Sam was taking advantage of the lull in conversation to check the parts of his glider. Bowman fluttered not far from his face, demanding attention.

"That was what… thirteen years ago?" Dean replied, casting his mind back. It was almost easy to fall into a casual banter with the leafy little sprite. "I was barely fourteen. Gotta give me time to finish growing. I'm sure Sam didn't stop growing when he was fourteen."

Sam laughed, and kicked off of Dean's hand with his glider. Dean almost flinched forward to catch it, but after only a second, the leaf glider was floating around him in a circle. "Bowman never forgave me for ending up as tall as he is! He always swore he'd be the tallest."

Bowman followed after Sam's glider in a mock chase, making one full circle around Dean's head before stopping to hover again. "That's right! I was so ready for it, too, and then he went and got so tall that I almost worried I wouldn't catch up to him," he groused.

Rischa giggled and finally took off from Dean's hand, the last to do so. Her flight was not as speedy and dexterous as Bowman's, but even so, she flew up to the same level in no time. "You're all very tall, anyway," she pointed out. Indeed, four inches was quite tall for a sprite, and both of her older brothers stood taller than even her parents.

With his hands freed, Dean let them fall, then squatted down to pick his duffel off the ground. Tossing it over a shoulder, he couldn't help the way his eyes flashed between the two sprites and his little brother constantly, going so far as to turn in place to keep Sam in sight as he continued his placid circles. The hunter was completely befuddled by the three tiny people that were almost hovering possessively around him, especially after his introduction to them had included a lot of trapping them in his hands.

"Who knows, maybe you'll get taller than both of them," Dean said wryly to the tiny girl, assuming she wasn't done growing. She seemed very young compared to Bowman.

His next glance included Jacob. "We need to get all of you to safety," Dean told them. He pointed at Jacob for emphasis. "Especially since it already attacked you once already. I can't risk this demon finding anyone else out here. It's too dangerous."

"I get what you're saying," Jacob began, looking almost sheepish underneath the defiant set in his shoulders. "But Bobby's my friend, and the sprites are, too. I can't just walk off and hope everything gets sorted out."

Bowman smirked at his human friend's determination, gladder now than ever that he and Sam had managed to get through to the kid months ago. He was a familiar face to many of the sprites by now. He'd been unable to resist making a few more visits after his first one, and many sprites had come to his clearing to see him and marvel at his size.

Bowman couldn't really imagine sending a potential ally away when there was a threat in the woods. He didn't want to argue with Jacob too much on the matter.

"At the very least, Rischa," he said, looking sternly at his young cousin. "You wandered off without telling Candara where you were going."

She grinned sheepishly. "I was looking for you and Sam," she admitted. "And I found Dean instead." There was the most subtle smugness in her tone as she said the last bit, and Bowman's eyebrows went up.

"I guess you did. We're still taking you home now," he countered.

Dean looked put-upon at the way his words had been just about ignored. All he wanted to do was get any other innocents out of the path of the demon. They'd been lucky so far. They might not be so lucky the next time.

"You're all going back home, and that's that," he declared, looking at the two sprites in view, then switching his gaze to Sam when the glider was back in sight. "I'm not out here to play games with beginners-"

Sam cut him off without hesitation. "Dean. I know you're a hunter, but we're not just some kids out exploring in the woods!" Excepting Rischa, of course, who'd be going back to her home either way. Sam wasn't about to point that out and weaken his own argument. "You don't know this forest like we do. Bowman's a patrolsprite, and I'm a knight. It's my job to make sure our home is safe. So you can go fight the demon if you want. We'll be coming with you, and I'd like to see you try and stop us."

Dean didn't look happy, but he didn't have a comeback. He didn't know his way around the forest, and it was probably obvious to everyone there. The only reason he'd come so far was following Bobby's trail, and that had tapered off before he'd happened across Rischa. "Fine," he reluctantly agreed. "Make sure you all remember, you might know the forest better, but I know what I'm doing with this case. I don't need anyone else getting hurt out here."

Jacob couldn't hold back a smile at the sight of Dean's flustered expression. The guy had hardly gotten his brother back, and here he was arguing stubbornly with the whole tiny family. Despite the danger in the woods, Bowman and Rischa seemed happy to finally meet him.

Bowman flew after Sam in another circle around Dean, surveying the tense human while he did so. "Don't worry, we know how to stay out of trouble ... mostly," he said with a grin.

"I think he's more worried about whether you will," Jacob pointed out, getting a brief glare from Bowman's bright green eyes. Jacob shrugged. "Just sayin.' "

"Everyone's got something they can do to help," Rischa said brightly. "But I guess I should go home first, if Mama's worried." She flew an inch or two closer to Dean and gave him a shy, apologetic smile. "I know you're not used to it, but Sam and Bowman and maybe other patrolsprites can help. If anyone sees ... the demon, it'll be them. Why don't you come with us to figure out a plan?"

"I guess I'll have to," Dean said, keeping still as she approached. "Otherwise they'll just come out here anyway, won't they?" He had to smirk at the face Sam pulled at him. It was so reminiscent of his little brother from so many years back he had to wonder why he'd ever doubted. Aside from the size, Sam still had that habit of keeping his hair long and it puffed up in the breeze.

"That's what I thought," Dean said dryly. "Always gotta do your own thing."

He was rendered speechless when Sam banked out of his placid circles and instead landed on his head. Dean froze right up, no idea how to react to a tiny person standing on him.

"Right," Sam called down. "Because you totally don't do the same." He inched forward, coming right up to the edge where Dean's hair spiked up to the same height as he stood, and peered over. "Do you really hunt on your own?" His voice was full of worry.

Dean wasn't really sure how to respond to it, so he settled for a half shrug to avoid knocking his little brother off. "Dad's gone. I don't really have anyone else to watch my back, so I deal."

Sam frowned. Not anymore.

No matter what happened in the future, his older brother wouldn't have to face it on his own.

A/N

Dean's first moment with his adopted family: Argues with everyone

Next: November 21st, 2018 at 9pm est

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