Wow! Welcome to chapter 7. How did you feel about the last chapter?
Thank you to kelly. , MercedesRayne, bitterreaper, Red K 5, and of course a super special thank you to ArtistKurai! As per usual, I don't own Supernatural, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester or any other Supernatural characters that happen to pop up (although, I do have Jensen Ackles on my Christmas list). I do, however, own Carter. Happy reading!
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RECAP
Dean wiped his face quickly, not realizing he had let tears fall from his eyes. He smiled at Carter, eyes still wet, before tucking his middle and ring finger down to his palm,
and sticking his thumb, index and pinky straight. He then touched each of his thumbs to the tips of the fingers and touched his hands together. I love you more.
**SPN**
I love you. Carter motioned.
Dad looked down at him, emotions flashing across his face too fast for Carter to read. He seemed to look past Carter for a moment and tears welled up in his eyes and
spilled over.
Why are you crying? Carter looked at his dad, worried.
Dad wiped the tears away quickly, as if he was surprised to find them there. He smiled a small, warm, smile. I love you more.
Carter was surprised, but it filled his heart with a happiness he hadn't felt since the black eyed demon had killed his dad. He got up onto his knees on the bed, and
leaned forward to give Dad a hug. Dad wrapped his arms
around him tight for a moment, then pulled him away and laid Carter back down in the bed.
So why wouldn't you let us celebrate your birthday? Five is a pretty big step.
Carter took his middle finger and brushed it against his chest in an upward motion. He then took his hand, palm out and touched it to his mouth twice, his scrunched
up.
Didn't feel the best? Dad asked.
Carter nodded. He'd come close enough.
Well, how about tomorrow?
Carter looked at Dad, confused.
If you feel better tomorrow, how about we celebrate?
Carter nodded, a smile breaking out on his face.
Anything special you want to do?
Carter shrugged. He made two 'A' hands and placed them thumb up, knuckles together near his heart, then moved them together outward and across his body. He
pointed at Dad and made a sweeping motion to indicate
the other people in the house. He made two 'F' hands, touched the thumbs together and rotated his hands in a circle to touch the pinkys together. With all family.
Dad looked like he was pondering that. Okay. Well, I think I might have an idea.
Dean reached forward and ruffled Carter's hair a little. Get some sleep now, okay?
Carter nodded, and rolled over on his side. He watched as Dad got up from the bed and went to the door. As he put his hand on the light switch, Carter raised his. I love
you. Dad made the motion with his hand too. I love you.
Dad flipped the switch and closed the door. Carter fell asleep almost immediately.
**SPN**
Dean turned off the light and closed the door to the room. He took a deep, shuddering breath, and exhaled slowly. He went into the bathroom across the hall and turned
the faucet on, rubbing the cold water on his face. His
emotions were fierce, but conflicted. Neither answer to this problem was a black and white right and wrong answer. Dean stared at his reflection. Everything was so
muddled and grey.
He'd made his choice already, Dean realized.
He had made that choice when he picked Carter up off the floor of the library and silently vowed never to let something like that happen again. He'd made the choice
again just now, signing I love you to Carter, but he hadn't lied. Dean had always had the same full-to-bursting feeling with Sam, pride and protective instincts running
on full power. He hadn't lied to Carter.
Dean had made his choice.
He composed himself and dried his face with a towel before making his way back to the study.
"It was a nasty vetala" John said. "Loner."
"You're lucky," Bobby said.
"So I've been told."
Dean came into the room and collapsed back to his seat on the couch.
"Asleep?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. Finally," Dean said.
"You're making a huge mistake," John Winchester said, bluntly.
Dean, Sam and Bobby all looked at John. There was silence for a solid minute.
"Excuse me?" Dean said.
Sam and Bobby were surprised; they had never heard Dean take a tone like that with his father.
"Dean, this is a big mistake. You can't—"
Dean jumped to his feet turned toward John. The argument got increasingly louder.
"No! You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do, Dad! Not now! Not with this!"
It was John's turn to get up.
"You don't understand! Raising a kid on the road, it's not easy! And with him being—" John yelled. Dean stepped forward, so he and John were practically nose-to-nose.
"Like you would even know!" Dean cut his father off.
Silence fell.
"Run that by me again, Son. I don't think I heard you right," John's voice was barely above a whisper.
"You didn't raise us, Dad. I did. I did!" Dean wasn't yelling, but his voice was still loud. "You weren't there! I was! You don't get to make this decision. It's my decision to
make and I—"
"I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did, Dean!" John's voice was somewhere between pleading and snarling.
"Oh, no I won't, because I'll actually be there for him!"
John grabbed the front of Dean's shirt. Bobby and Sam snapped out of their stunned silence and got between the two men, pulling and pushing them away from one
another. Sam and Bobby had never seen Dean and John fight. Dean had always been the peacekeeper, breaking the fights between Sam and John.
John and Dean were staring at each other, Bobby and Sam between them. Both faces showed anger and hurt.
"Dean, Carter can't hear. It's going to be so dangerous—"
"Well, he's my son," Dean spat. "I'm not going to leave him."
Dean said this with such finality, that even John closed his mouth.
"Now, why don't you sit down and tell us about this brother of yours, hm?" Dean said. "Oh, and another thing. We're all going to celebrate Carter's birthday tomorrow
because that's what he wants."
"What does he want to do?" Sam asked.
"He doesn't really know, but I have an idea," Dean said.
Dean went to the kitchen and got another chair. Everyone sat back down, Bobby passing around full glasses of whiskey before taking his seat behind the desk again.
Dean looked back to John.
"Well, we're waiting," Dean prodded, annoyance still at the edge of his voice.
John sighed, his shoulders drooping.
"Yes, I have—had—a twin brother. He was born deaf while I wasn't. Mom and Dad learned and taught us sign language; I helped teach Paul how to talk, even though he
was deaf. Our Aunt Helen was the one who gave Paul the coin when we turned ten. Paul was fifteen minutes older than I was. She'd had a twin, but she died when they
were four or so in a swimming accident. We grew up; I moved to Lawrence to be a mechanic and met Mary. Paul moved to Montgomery Alabama and met Loretta
Malcom. Paul and I used to write letters to keep in contact. He came to visit once, right after you were born, Dean, but of course you wouldn't remember. We lost
contact after what happened to you boys' mother," John sighed. "Five years ago, I got a letter while I was up in Minnesota. It was from Paul. I'll never know how he
found out where I was, but it said that he'd finally married Loretta in 1985. She'd been an only child, so they'd decided to use her last name instead of Winchester. The
letter said they'd had a baby boy, but that they lost a baby girl and Loretta died of blood loss during the birth. Paul named him Carter and he was deaf too. I never wrote
him back. I feel terrible about that now, but I had to hightail it out of the town and I lost the envelope with Paul's address," John switched subjects. "The coin is a
blessing and a curse. It makes the twins who own the coin want desperately to help people, but oftentimes one of the twins will die early on in life, after receiving the
coin. I'm guessing that's why Carter can hold the coin, since he is technically a twin. I've been researching the coin when I've had time since I found out about the
supernatural and magic. I never believed the legend Aunt Helen told us because neither of us died and it seemed ridiculous. I've been guessing that there's a demon
that has followed the coin since its creation, and based on what Sam filled me in on, I'm right. I'm also guessing that's why one of the twins usually dies, though I
don't think Carter's sister had anything to do with the coin. My other guess is that the King of Hell is building an army with the deceased twins, to do what, I don't know,
but I think the army is ready and that's why Crowley wants the coin."
In unison, the four men downed their whiskey.
"So, we have to destroy the coin," Sam said.
"Can we melt it?" Dean asked.
"Paul and I tried to, once, when we were teenagers. Just for laughs. We made a bonfire in the backyard. Paul tossed the coin in and it disappeared. We were stunned.
When Paul shoved his hands in his pockets a little later,
there it was," John replied.
"So how do we destroy it?" Sam asked.
"Toss it in a damn lake," Bobby said. "Won't destroy it, but it'll keep it from goin' into the wrong hands."
"Bobby," Dean stated.
"What?"
"You're awesome."
"Yeah, well, that happens. It's damn late and if we're celebrating Carter's birthday tomorrow, I think we should get some sleep," Bobby replied. "This leads us to our next
issue. I don't have enough beds for this family
anymore, so someone's sleeping on the couch."
"I will," John said.
**SPN**
Carter woke up, feeling a lot better than he had the previous day. He didn't feel as frustrated, lost and alone. Dad wasn't in the other bed, so Carter got up and went
downstairs. It seemed that Bobby wasn't up yet, and Dad wasn't in the house. Carter wandered into the study and saw John stretched out across the couch, asleep.
Carter thought it weird that two people could look just the same. Same hair, same scruffy short beard, they even slept in the same position, arms crossed across their
chest. He was standing right next to John now, looking right at his face. Even though John was asleep, his lips were twisted into a small frown. Moments passed and
suddenly John's eyes snapped open and he jolted on the couch. This sent Carter back-pedaling in surprise. John was breathing heavily, staring at Carter. His face was
angry.
Don't do that! He scolded. He then signed it quickly and said it again. John moved into a sitting position and put his head in his hands. Carter approached him, with a
little trepidation, and stood at John's knee. Carter reached forward tentatively, hesitating just for a moment before rubbing his fingers across John's scruffy cheek, just to
see if it even felt the same. It had. John flinched away like he wasn't expecting that and Carter pulled his hand away quickly, hoping he hadn't made the man even more
angry. Carter tapped John's knee and waited for him to look up. Carter put a fist to his chest and moved it in a counter-clockwise motion. Sorry.
John looked into Carter's eyes, the eyes were much harder than the soft eyes of his real dad had been, but the color was the same. If John would smile, the skin would
crinkle upward and his eyes would shine just as his real dad's had done, but John just stared back at him with those hard eyes. It's O-K. He signed.
John stood up and brushed past Carter, heading to the kitchen. Carter got up on the couch and looked between the curtains. A big black truck was sitting outside, but
the black car Dad drove was gone. This worried Carter, what if Sam and Dad had left him here with Bobby and John? Fear gripped him and he jumped off the couch,
panicked.
John came back into the room and looked down at Carter's scared face.
Hey, what's up? John asked, glancing out the window.
Carter just shook his head, panic making his breathing erratic and gasping.
He was being picked up and fought it. Fear propelled him and he twisted and turned as much as he could until John nearly lost his grip. Suddenly he was sitting on the
couch and John had pinned his arms to his side and was kneeling in front of him. Carter looked at John's face, but another figure caught his eye. Sam was standing in
the doorway to the hall, with jeans and no shirt, hair wet.
Hey, bud. What's wrong? Sam was looking at him and John curiously.
Carter wriggled out of John's grip and ran over to Sam, wrapping his arms around one of Sam's legs, clinging. Relief flooded through him and he smiled, standing back
up, but still leaning his body against Sam's leg.
**SPN**
John picked the boy up off the floor and he began fighting, twisting and turning his body until John nearly dropped him. John got him to the couch and sat him down,
pinning his arms to his sides. Carter looked up into his eyes, before looking beyond his head.
"Hey, bud. What's wrong?" John heard Sam ask from behind him. Carter wiggled out of John's grip and John turned and saw Sam in the doorway. Carter attached
himself to Sam's leg and visibly relaxed.
"What's up?" Sam asked John.
"I—I think he just had a panic attack," John said, unsure.
"What happened?" Sam questioned. Carter was still leaning heavily into Sam's leg, though wasn't clinging as he had been.
"I woke up to him staring at me and it startled me, which startled him. He apologized, I said it was 'OK' and I went in the kitchen. I heard a thump, like he jumped off
the couch, came back in the room and he was frozen, looked like he'd seen a ghost," John relayed the events of the morning.
"Where's Dean?" Sam asked, wondering if his brother would really sleep past ten-thirty.
"Dunno. Car's gone," John replied. He went back to the kitchen and Sam followed, ushering Carter along too.
John started the coffee brewing and Sam coaxed Carter into eating a piece of toast with butter. Carter was just finishing his toast and milk when Bobby and Dean came
into the house. Carter threw himself from the table and into Dean's arms.
"Woah, kiddo! What's up?" Dean swung Carter up into his arms and gave him a hug.
"He had a panic attack this morning," John said, from behind the newspaper.
"He did? Why?" Dean asked, putting Carter back down on the floor.
The newspaper shrugged. Dean furrowed his brow for a moment.
"Well, c'mon everyone. Let's go celebrate Carter's birthday. I got the car all packed up," Dean said.
…..
An hour and a half later, they had pulled into an empty field, secluded from the road by a band of trees. No one would have ever known the field was there, unless
someone knew the field was there. They'd ended up driving two cars, instead of everyone trying to squeeze into the Impala.
Dean and Sam unloaded the trunk of the Impala. A large blanket that they spread out on the grass; a huge cooler packed with ice, food, beer and juice boxes; a soccer
ball that Dean tossed to Carter; and a colorful kite that Dean laid near the blanket. When Sam reached for the last blanket covered item in the car, Dean stopped him
and closed the trunk. Bobby and John had been reluctant companions on this outing, they would have much preferred to stay at Bobby's house, research the coin and
think up ways to protect the family from Crowley. They were sitting on the blanket, beers in hand, Bobby's journal open between them. Dean and Sam began walking
from the car toward the blanket, carrying the cooler between them.
"Wouldn't have killed them to carry the whole cooler, instead of just stopping for a beer," Sam muttered.
Dean chuckled in response.
Carter made his way over to John and Bobby, soccer ball in his arms, stopping just short of the blanket. He set the ball down and waved at John to get his attention.
John looked up at him and he beckoned John toward him, and pointed at the soccer ball. John shook his head. He pointed his index fingers out and moved them forward
toward the field, then made two 'Y' hands and shook them parallel of each other. Go play! Carter crouched down to the grass where he was, watching John and Bobby
and Sam reached the blanket and dropped the cooler at the edge.
Carter waved at John again. He pointed both index fingers at John, and brought them to point at himself. Carter made two 'Y' hands and shook them as John had, made
two fists and put them together near his chest and moved them outward across his chest. He pointed at himself and placed a flat palm over his heart, moving it in a
clockwise motion. Come play with me, please?
Dean and Sam watched, still standing next to the cooler, interested to see their father's response. John stared at the young red-haired boy in front of him with his lip
pushed out and his chocolaty eyes pleading. John finally sighed. O-K! He signed, exasperatedly, and got up. Carter bounced up and took off with the ball, playing 'Keep
Away from John.' John played along for a little while, pretending to let Carter get by him with the ball, and fake-stumbling after him.
They had a late lunch and sat around talking, Carter and John signing, practicing with Dean and Sam. The group lounged, drank, and played the afternoon and evening
away, even getting Bobby to join in a game of soccer. Bobby, Sam and Carter vs. Dean and John. They had dinner just as the sun was setting, and when they had
finished, the night sky was clear with a thousand stars shining. Carter was actually sitting in John's lap, and they were both staring at the sky. Dean got up and walked
back to the car; he came back carrying the blanket covered cardboard box.
"Hey, Sammy. C'mere and help me," Dean said.
"It's Sam," He grumbled, getting up and heading over to where Dean was.
The other three watched the two brothers. They walked out into the field, away from the blanket, carrying the box. Each then grabbed a long, stick-like object.
"I can't believe you, Dean," Sam said, laughing. "Got your lighter?"
Dean pulled it from his pocket and flipped it open.
"Fire 'em up!" Sam exclaimed.
Dean lit the ends and he and Sam held the roman candles up above their heads as they whistled and popped.
Bobby, John and Carter, still huddled in John's lap, watching the multi-colored show that silhouetted Dean and Sam's figures.
"Dean, this is great," Sam laughed, leaning down to grab another firework.
"Just like when we were kids, right Sammy?" Dean said back, arranging the fireworks for a grand finale. Sam laughed, taking Dean's lighter from his outstretched hand.
"Fire in the hole!" Sam yelled, lighting the first firework.
He and Sam retreated quickly to the blanket. They all sat together and watched the fireworks explode in showers of multi-colored lights. After the last one died away,
Sam and Dean began to clean and pack everything away. John carried Carter, Sam carried the now empty cooler, and Dean and Bobby carried the rest back to the cars.
The excitement and ruckus of the day had Carter nodding off on John's shoulder, one hand rubbing the scruff of his beard absentmindedly. They loaded everything in the
car, John laying Carter across the backseat, leather jacket draped across his body, and they headed back to Bobby's.