Chapter 7 - Picking Up Strays


It was a long drive home, and the boys opted not to stop. They had gotten Audrey a happy meal and now she was fast asleep in the back seat.

"Dean," Sam asked anxiously, "what do you think is going on here?"

"I don't know Sammy. But it can't be good. I have to wonder how many more of these kids are out there."

"I know. And what do we do with them? They may all be in trouble, like this one is, so we have to find them."

"I have a theory about that. I think the kids we have will help us find the others."

"Yeah, that's possible," Sam said. "But then what?"

"I don't know, Sammy. All we can do is what we always do in cases like this. We take it one step at a time."

Sam nodded, and they drove in silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts. Dean turned up the radio when they hit a spot of good reception, but Sam turned it down again a little while later. "Dean?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you think of Polly?"

Dean turned to look curiously at Sam. "She's a good woman," he said. "Why?"

Sam turned down his lips. "Just wondering."

Dean turned to Sam again, this time giving him a more searching look. "You falling for her?" When Sam didn't answer right away, Dean turned serious. "You are, aren't you?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Well, you could do a hell of a lot worse," Dean remarked. "Hell, you have done a hell of a lot worse. At least she's not a monster."

"Shut up."

"No, seriously Sammy, I like her. She hasn't fallen apart during all this. She's been very helpful in fact. And she already knows what we do. AND," he said with emphasis, "you already have a kid with her."

"Yes," Sam agreed. "All of that is very true. And I really admire her."

"But do you love her?"

Sam took a while to answer. "I think I might Dean. I don't know how to tell. I loved Jessica, but that was so long ago, I can't remember how it was. And then I thought I loved Amelia, but I think maybe that was more need than love. She got me out of a dark place, and I was grateful for that. And I guess, scared to leave that comfort zone. But I did leave it, and I ask myself now, was that really love?"

"Okay, and now?" Dean asked.

"Well now, I don't need rescuing, but all I've thought of since we left was how much I miss her, how much I want to get back to her. But is that love?"

"Oh, like I'm the right one to answer that question! But I don't know Sammy, it seems like a step in that direction."

Again they fell silent for a while, and then Sam had another question. "So how would you feel about it if, you know…?"

"If you decided you're in love with her?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'd be happy for you Sammy, of course I would." He rubbed his face. "I said it before, at least one of us should have the chance to be happy."

They drove for another few hours in silence, only the rock music helping them to stay awake. Around six in the morning, Audrey woke up and yelled, "Stop!"

Sam turned around to her. "Stop what, Honey, did you have a bad dream?"

"No, stop! You need to stop!"

Dean saw a safe place to pull over on the side of the road and stopped the car. He turned off the engine and twisted around to see Audrey too. "What's up, kid?" he asked her nonchalantly. He could see she was agitated though, and he was hoping that by staying calm himself, she would also calm down a bit. "There's another one," she said.

Dean looked puzzled. "Another one what?"

"You mean another child like you and Samantha?" Sam asked.

She nodded. "Wait a minute," she said and her body went very still, her eyes open and staring.

"Well that's a little creepy," Dean said, under his breath.

"Dean, shhh."

They waited for about three minutes, and then Audrey became animated again. "His name is Jimmy, and he lives with his grandfather. He's twelve."

"How do you know he's like you?" Dean asked her.

"He said he felt me when I got near, and he called out to me. That's what woke me up."

"And then you went to talk to him?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. He says he knows we're special, and that something bad is trying to find him. His grandfather is very old and wants him to go to a home."

Sam and Dean looked at each other knowingly. "So he's close?" Dean asked. "Can you help us find him?"

"He's telling me how to get there."

"He's talking to you now?"

"Uh huh. He lives in the city we just went past. He says turn around and get off the highway at the exit we just passed."

"Okay, tell him we're coming." Dean pulled an illegal U-turn across the median strip and headed for the exit as requested. Jimmy gave them directions step by step, and they pulled up into Jimmy's driveway about 45 minutes later. Jimmy and his grandfather were both waiting outside. "This could be trouble," Dean muttered.

The boys got out of the car slowly, but Audrey jumped right out and ran to hug Jimmy. The grandfather was looking at them suspiciously. He looked to be about seventy, and was leaning on a walker. He was wearing blue jean overalls and a red plaid flannel shirt. Dean held out his hand. "Mr…?"

"Haines," the grandfather said, with a raspy voice. "Frederic Haines. Now what's all this about?"

"Mr. Haines," Sammy said, giving him his best puppy dog look. "If we could go inside and have a talk, we can explain what's going on. I'm sure you'd be more comfortable."

"Don't you worry none about my comfort," Mr. Haines told them. "You can tell me right out here, or be on your way."

"Grampa, they are here to help me," Jimmy said, trying to reassure him.

"Well that remains to be seen," he said. "Go ahead boys, tell me what this is all about."

Sam and Dean exchanged resigned glances, and then Sam asked the old man, "Mr. Haines, are you aware that your grandson has some special gifts?"

"If you mean that nonsense that he can talk to people who aren't here, then yes I'm aware what he says. Don't rightly hold to it none."

"Can I ask you what happened to Jimmy's parents?"

"Why is that any concern of yours?"

Dean looked up at the sky in annoyance.

Sam tried again. "Mr. Haines. I understand you don't know us from Adam. I understand you are trying to protect your grandson from what might possibly be a threat. But somehow, we have to break this impasse. Your grandson may well be in real danger, and not from us. But we can't know that for sure unless we have some important information about Jimmy and his parents, which is why we are asking certain questions. Once we have the answers we need, we will be able to give you the answers you need."

Mr. Haines looked at Sam for some long moments, and then he nodded, apparently being swayed by Sam's puppy dog charm. "My family's been cursed," he began. "Seems like crazy things been happening to us for years. Started with my wife, when my son Joe was just a wee babe. I lost his mother to a fire, barely got Little Joey out in time before the whole house blew."

"Tell us about the fire. How did it start?" Mr. Haines suddenly had tears in his eyes. "I loved her so much," he said. "But I can't rightly say what I saw, because it couldn't have been possible. I truly don't know how the fire started."

Sam reached out and touched the old man's arm. "What do you think you saw that night? What was the impossible thing?"

It took Mr. Haines a long time to find his voice enough to answer. "I swear, my Anna died pinned to the ceiling. But that can't be," he said almost pleading for reassurance that what he thought he saw was impossible.

"Mr. Haines," Sam said, his voice low and soothing. "Our mother died the same way, so yes, what you saw was real. It actually happened. And that's why your grandson is now in grave danger. May we now come inside and explain things to you?"

Mr. Haines nodded. "Come on, then," he said, turning to lead them into the house. The living room was cozy and clean, but threadbare. It looked like the furniture was the same as what had been there when his wife died. Old fashioned doilies covered the tabletops and the chair arms. Probably Mrs. Haines had crocheted them. Sam was feeling great compassion for this man, who had lost so much and didn't even understand why. The old man asked Jimmy to put on a pot of coffee and invited the boys to sit."

"There's one more thing we need to know," Sam said gently. "What happened to Jimmy's parents?"

"My son, Jimmy's dad," he began, "he was a good boy, a good husband, and he would have been a great father too, if'n he'd lived that long. But something bad happened to him, something I never did understand, no more than I understood how his mama died."

Sam looked sympathetic. "Tell us what happened," he said softly, as Jimmy returned with a pot of coffee and some cups on a tray.

"It was shortly after he turned 23," Mr. Haines said. "It started with nightmares, and then he began having visions in the daytime. Horrible visions of himself doing terrible things. He told me once he'd had a vision of himself…" here he swallowed visibly, and licked his lips. "He said he saw himself pick Jimmy up in his arms and that the boy burst into flames."

Sam and Dean exchanged a quick glance. "Go on," Sam encouraged gently.

"He brought the boy here, for his own protection. He was afraid he'd hurt him. He'd already seen himself kill a chicken, and the family dog, just by touching it, and then it came true. He was terrified. So I took in the boy and got my neighbor Mabel to come help me."

He paused again to regain his composure. "I ain't never told nobody that in my whole life. But three days later, there was a fire at my boy's house, and Joe and his wife Amy were both lost." Mr. Haines looked so wretched it was hard for Sam and Dean to bear it. He looked up at Sam, tears streaming down his face. "Did my boy do that?" he cried. "Did my boy kill hisself and his wife?"

Sam looked over at Dean, whose nod gave him the go ahead to tell the old man the truth. Sam figured that after all he'd been through, he deserved to know what really happened, painful as it was going to be.

"Mr. Haines, if you want to know the truth of what happened, I will tell you. But I must warn you that it's a horrible story, and I don't know if it will make you feel better or worse."

"Tell me," he said, his rigid posture in the old rocking chair he was sitting in indicating he was steeling himself up for something bad.

"I told you that our mother died the same way your wife did. It would have been exactly on your son's sixth month birthday."

The old man looked startled. "It was that," he said. "It was when he was six months old. My Anna had remarked about that just that morning."

"Mr. Haines, do you believe in the supernatural? Things like ghosts, demons, monsters?"

"I think I've tried not to. But God help me, that's all I can think of to explain everything that's happened to my family. Some dark force of some kind."

"That's exactly right," Sam agreed. "There was a dark force at work. It was a demon. His name was Azazel. He chose a lot of children on their six month's birthday and he visited them, and he dripped some of his blood into our mouths. Your son, myself, and a lot of others. He called them his psychic kids."

Mr. Haines was staring at him now in morbid fascination. Sam continued. "Sometime during our 23rd year, we all began manifesting psychic abilities. Each of us were different. Some weren't all that bad, others, like your son's, were deadly."

"What about you?"

"I had visions. I saw people die before they did. My visions were always centered around one of the other psychic kids. Mr. Haines, this was many years ago. There was a showdown, and my brother here killed the demon. By that time I thought I was the only psychic kid left. And since the demon was dead, I haven't had any more visions."

"So now, what does this have to do with my Jimmy?" he asked quietly.

"Recently we've discovered that some of the former psychic kids have left offspring, and apparently all these kids have psychic abilities too. Also, they seem to be able to tune into one another. That's how we found Jimmy. Audrey here is one as well, and also my own child."

Mr. Haines nodded for him to go on. "There is now another demon, a very powerful one, who has gotten wind of these children and their psychic gifts, and he wants them for his own purposes. We are trying to find them and put them under our protection."

"How? How can you protect them?"

Sam smiled. "Well this is going to be another thing that's hard to believe, but about seventy years ago or so, there was a group of men who called themselves the Men of Letters. They knew about demons and other monsters, and they had magical abilities. They built a large compound that's warded against every evil thing that's ever walked the Earth. This is where we live. This is where we'll take the kids. They will stay with us there until we can find a way to eliminate the threat entirely."

"You can guarantee this?"

"With our lives," Sam assured him. The old man considered everything for a few minutes. "Jimmy, go pack some things. Don't take everything you own, just a few things." Jimmy got up and went upstairs, inviting Audrey to come with him.

"I'll say thank you, though it's not enough. But you put me at peace, to finally understand everything that happened. I know there must be more to the story, but I don't think I need to hear it. I know enough now."

Now Dean got into the conversation. "You need to be aware that people might come around looking for Jimmy. They will probably be demons, but you won't be able to tell, unless they show their solid black eyes to you. If they come, just tell them Jimmy is with the Winchesters. Most likely they won't hurt you. They know very well who we are.

"You boys some kinda heroes?" The old man asked them plainly.

"No," Dean answered. "We're just a couple brothers trying to do the right thing in a bad world."

Mr. Haines nodded. "Yep, heroes," he said.

Jimmy and Audrey came downstairs with two suitcases and an overnight bag. He gave his grandfather a hug, and it was obvious the two loved each other dearly. The old man was crying. "Don't cry, Grampa," he said. "I'll be back before you know it."

They said goodbye to Mr. Haines, reassured him once again that Jimmy would be safe in their care, and left the tidy house with one more kid in tow.


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