Chapter 9

The Children Are Our Future

"but Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.'" Matthew 19:14

"Dude, I don't even know where to start," Danielle stated, shaking her head in exasperation. The huge lore book rested on the table in front of her, and the most she could get out of it was – yet another – story of how the devil had fallen from grace. They'd been looking for weeks for ways to stop the devil, but they'd come up with zilch.

"Keep our heads down, I guess," Dean stated from where he was sprawled out across the bed, ancient pictures spread out in front of him. He glanced up to where Sam was closing the window curtains, spreading salt on the windowsill. They weren't usually this cautious, but Danielle had heard their case might have a ghost, and she wasn't taking any chances. "Hex bags?"

"Underneath the beds and in our bags," Sam stated. He dropped down into the seat across from Danielle, turning the book halfway towards him. He scanned his hazel eyes across the dusty pages for just a second before sighing, rubbing his face.

The three of them were quiet before Sam stood up, grabbing his coat. He headed for the door, and Dean's head snapped up, regarding his brother with a wary, on guard expression. "Where are you going?" he demanded.

Sam paused, and Danielle knew he was holding back an exasperated sigh. "To get some food."

Dean stared at his brother's back for a second longer before deciding it was okay, laying back on the bed.

"Get extra fries," Danielle said, and Sam nodded, leaving them alone in the room. Danielle shot the older Winchester a patronizing look.

"What?" he demanded.

"I hope you're not planning to be like that the whole time."

"Like what?" he asked, scowling.

"On him. Breathing down his neck. You need to give him some space."

Dean looked at her like he couldn't believe what he was hearing, swinging his legs around the bed and facing her. "Space? Dan, the last time I gave him space, he chose a demon over me and then popped Satan from his hole. I think it's okay if I breathe down his neck."

He rose to his feet, clearly agitated as he stalked over to the kitchen. He pulled out a bottle of whiskey, taking a shot of the liquid.

"Dean," she started, rising to her feet. He looked up, feeling his stomach drop. He knew that tone. That was the 'I'm-worried-and-I'm-about-to-shrink-you' tone. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he answered, looking back down at his bottle but feeling her sympathetic gaze. "Nothing, I swear!"

"You haven't been the same since Zachariah showed up in the hotel room! You won't even tell me what happened!"

"He sent me to the future, okay?" Dean admitted, setting the bottle down with a little more force than necessary. It hadn't even been a day, and she was already hounding him, demanding to know everything. She opened her mouth to ask what happened, eyes wide in surprise, but he cut her off. "It was just a bunch of crap that really doesn't matter."

"It obviously does," she protested, crossing her arms across her chest.

Dean met her gaze. She was the total opposite of her future self; the other side of the coin. Her eyes were warm and pinched at the corners in concern, her hair falling down just past her ribs in a mess of frizzy waves with side-bangs that always got in her way. She wore a simple long-sleeve shirt with jeans and her flip-flops, even though it was January.

He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let her turn into that person.

"It's not a big deal. Really," he promised, his tone softer as he stopped being defensive. He came over, sitting on the opposite bed from her. She sat down as well, staring at him. "It just … shook me up a little bit."

"You sure?" she questioned, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

He nodded, shooting her a small smile. "Positive."

She nodded, pressing her lips together. She glanced back at him, the grin she'd been holding back finally bursting through. "What was it like? Were there flying cars? T.V.'s you can turn on with your mind?"

Dean chuckled, shaking his head. "You kidding me? Did you forget about the apocalypse, Dan? There were zombies everywhere."

Her eyes popped open, and her jaw dropped. "No way? Like the Walking Dead?"

"Do I even want to know what that is?" Dean asked. She rolled her eyes, smiling at the rhetorical question. "Well, Lucifer was using Sam as a meatsuit, Cas was as human as you and me, and I was pretty much a jerk with issues."

"Oh, so like you are now?" she teased, her eyes twinkling. "Kidding. What about me? I was already dead, wasn't I?"

Dean furrowed his brow at her light-heartedness. "Dan, you realize this is the future, right? This stuff is gonna happen."

She shrugged. "Maybe. The future can always change."

Dean nodded. "Says Delphi. Well, you were a vampire."

"What?" she exclaimed, shocked. "No way!"

"Yeah. And you were a bitch."

She threw her head back and laughed, clapping her hands. "Oh, my gosh, that is perfect. I bet I wore leather, too."

Dean glanced at her, and she snorted. "I can't believe it. That's hilarious."

"You die."

Danielle's smile faded, and she looked back at Dean, her expression hesitant. "Really? How?"

"You took on this whole group of zombies by yourself so that me and Cas and other … me could get away."

Danielle stared at him, eyebrows furrowed, almost as if she didn't know what to think about that. "I thought you said I was mean?"

"Mean, not heartless," Dean said, starting to regret telling her about her future. She seemed morose, now, and he inwardly kicked himself. He'd thought she'd be fine with it; after all, she seemed pretty confident that the future could change.

"Well," she finally said with a sigh. She clapped her hands on her thighs, pushing her bangs back from her face. "I guess we'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen. The vampire thing is pretty smart, though."

"No," Dean instantly growled, pointing a finger at her. "Don't even think about it, not for a second."

She held up her hands, grinning. "Okay, okay. Just saying."

"Don't," he warned. He was quiet for a second before looking back at her, his eyes twinkling. A smirk curled up on her lips, and she regarded him with nervousness.

"What is it?" she asked, worried that her future self had done something really stupid.

"You and Cas…" He trailed off, smirking at her.

"Oh gosh," she said, eyes wide and guilty like she'd been caught. "What about us?"

"You were banging each other."

She clapped her hands over her ears, letting out a loud, "Oh, my gosh, Dean!"

He barked a laugh, standing up and ruffling her hair. "What, you been thinking about it? He is a handsome devil." He winked at her, and she grabbed a pillow, hitting him in the stomach with it.

"Dean Winchester, stop it right now!"

"Look at that blush," he teased. Her whole face was bright red, gleaming like Rudolph's nose. "Someone's got a crush!"

"I do not!" she defended, falling onto her stomach and burying her face in the pillow. "I hate you!"

"You love me," he argued. "You said it to me right before you died."

She gasped, sitting up and hitting him repeatedly with another pillow. "That's just wrong. That was an emotional period in both of our lives, and you're just joking about it!"

Dean laughed, walking away from the range of her weapon and grabbing his bottle of whiskey. It felt good to be able to laugh the worries away, and not to have to force his laughter. Danielle totally disregarded the future, and he knew it wasn't as real to her – she wasn't there – but it felt good for him to let her peace roll onto him, even if he was still anxious about it all.

But, as soon as he turned away, he felt his smile fade, pinched away by nervousness. His stomach churned, and he couldn't help but recall what his future self had said. Cas and Danielle…?

Cas didn't even hardly have emotions, and Danielle would just find it wrong to fall in love with angel, right?

Three Days Later

"A ghost?" Danielle asked, and both brothers could see her skin go pale. Her eyes widened, and she looked terrified.

"Dan…?" Dean started, sharing a look with his brother.

She started to shake her head slowly, glancing up at the boys who were standing in front of her. "I don't do ghosts; nuh-uh."

Sam snorted, raising his eyebrows. "So you'll go up against angels or demons, but when it comes to ghosts?"

"They're dead people!" Danielle whispered.

Dean gave a mock gasp, mirroring her earnest expression. "S-So are angels and demons!"

Danielle rolled her eyes, crossing her legs on the bed. "I've seen the Exorcist; I ain't aboutta get nowhere near a ghost."

Sam barked a laugh, whether at her accent or the content of her sentence, they didn't know. Dean just shook his head in disappointment, letting out a heavy sigh. "Danielle, that was a demonic possession."

She frowned, her eyebrows furrowing. "Oh… Well, still. I don't do, nor will I ever, do ghosts."

"Dan, no one's asking you to do a ghost," Dean said, spreading his arms out. Danielle and Sam both rolled their eyes, the former letting out a snide giggle. "Just hunt one."

Danielle, still laughing, shook her head. "No, no. I'm not a hunter; I'm just a girl trying to stop the end of times."

"Fine," Dean stated, turning away and adding in a mumble: "Bore." He glanced over his shoulder, smirking at Danielle's offended expression. He grabbed his keys, shouldering into his jacket. "I'm gonna head out, get some food."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked, eyebrows cocked. Dean turned around, slow, fixing his brother with a dubious expression. Sam sighed. "I'm just saying… Michael's out there."

Dean jabbed a finger at his chest, reminding them of the Enochian sigils carved on their ribs. "I'll be fine," he stated before striding out of the room.

Sam shared a look with Danielle before tossing her a jacket. She caught it, staring down at it for a moment in surprise. "What are you…"

"I gotta show you a few things," Sam said, crouching down and pulling his duffel bag out from underneath the bed. He unzipped it, setting a crossbow, bow-and-arrow, and a quiver on the quilt. "Guns don't really work against most things."

Danielle's eyes gleamed with excitement. Since she was a kid, she adored old-timey fairytale books. In old-timey fairytale books, there were no guns. There were bow-and-arrows. Indians had them, Robin Hood had them. And that was enough for Danielle to become enchanted with the weapons. "But if we fill the bullets with salt or other-"

"Have you ever filled a bullet with salt?" Sam asked, eyebrows raised. Danielle shook her head, and Sam gave a single nod. "That's right. Because they're a major pain in the ass to do."

"Watch it," Danielle warned as the hunter handed her the crossbow. She couldn't stop the small, excited grin as she reached out and took the weapon. She held it gingerly, like it was a piece of glass and if she so much as looked at it too hard it would shatter. She ran her fingers over the dark brown wood, her smile flickering wider.

"What?" Sam questioned, smiling just a little at Danielle's enthralled look.

"Nothing," she returned. She was grinning, now, as she looked up at Sam. "Let's go."

Fours Days Later

"So, no ghosts?" Danielle clarified, sitting in the backseat.

"Well, we aren't for sure yet, but probably not," Sam answered truthfully.

"Seriously, Dan, ghosts aren't even that bad. I mean, compared to angels, they're freakin' candy land," Dean added from the driver's seat.

"Not even," she scoffed. She mused for a few seconds, chewing on her bottom lip before finally nodding. "Alright, I'm in. Let's go."

The trio climbed out of the car, strolling casually into the morgue. They simply had to flash their badges, and they were practically treated like gods, despite how suspicious it looked for there to be three officers. The coroner pulled the body out on the tray, flipping off the blanket and showing the damage.

Danielle furrowed her brow, leaning closer to try and see better. Her skull had been ripped open. If this hadn't been real life, and the smell of corpses so rank, she would've thought it was actually kind of cool. What was even crazier is the fact that the coroner had deemed that she had done it to herself, using her own nails.

"How're you doing; you good?" Sam questioned as they headed back towards the car. He and Dean both had expected for her to have some kind of meltdown – be it vomiting or crying or fainting – prior to her running out of the room. Surprisingly, she'd just seemed intrigued.

"I'm fine," Danielle answered, bouncing up and down on her feet before clambering into the back seat of the Impala. "Oh, did y'all think the body would freak me out? I mean, it's sad and all, but I watch the Walking Dead. Nothing is too gory for me anymore. Nothing."

The boys just shared an amused smile. The girl was terrified of hospitals, ghosts, bugs, and pretty much every supernatural creature on the earth, but she was totally fine with dead bodies.

"I went to med school, guys!" she exclaimed from the backseat, not missing their disbelieving glances. "I had to cut open dead people. Trust me; not a big deal."

Danielle was surprisingly doing well on the case. The boys both knew Dean was totally hopeless when it came to sympathizing with victim's families, and Sam wasn't much better. But throw Danielle in the same room as a grieving family, and, soon enough, she'd have them wrapped around her finger. There was no end to the list of things she was horrible at (running with coffee cups being one of them), but she was good at empathizing.

And she was even better with kids. The kid that the brain girl was babysitting had been lurking around the stairs, a guilty look on his face. Danielle had him smiling in minutes and quickly coaxed the truth out of the boy.

Things started getting really weird when they got another case at the hospital; an old man had used a joy buzzer on a friend and accidentally electrocuted the man.

And that was how they ended up here.

"Dean, I don't think that's a good idea," Danielle claimed for the hundredth time, eyebrows pinched up in concern.

"I'll be fine!" he assured confidently, snapping on the thick rubber gloves. He stared at the buzzer through goggles before adding a hesitant, "I think." Nevertheless, he slid the buzzer on his finger and, after flipping down the mask on his goggles, pressed it against the ham.

Danielle's jaw dropped as the ham popped and sizzled, cooking itself in seconds.

"What the hell?" Sam wondered aloud as Dean pulled away the buzzer, setting it down on the table next to him.

"Holy crap. That is so freakin' handy. Can we keep it?" Danielle pleaded, reaching into the ham and pulling out a chunk. She tossed it down her throat, a huge smile crossing her face.

"So, what are we looking at- cursed objects?" Sam offered.

"Seems as good a guess as any," Dean answered, slapping away Danielle's greedy hand and grabbing some of the ham for him.

"Well, they all come from the same store," Danielle stated. "It's right down the road, too."

"Okay, then let's go," Sam said, shrugging into his coat. Halfway out the door, he glanced over his shoulder, seeing that the two were still pigging out on the pig. "Are you two coming?" he demanded.

"You two go; I'll stay here. Watch the … buzzer," Danielle offered, shooting the two a wide smirk.

"If I come back and it's all gone, I'll be pissed," Dean warned before licking his fingers and following his brother out the door.

"I'm surprised you could drag yourself from that ham long enough to actually do something," Sam smart-alecked.

Danielle looked away from the door, slapping his shoulder. "Watch it," she warned.

"Yeah, you were pigging out," Dean added coyly at her other side.

She snickered, shaking her head. "Shut up; I'm trying to concentrate." Her tongue protruded from the corner of her lips as she stuck her bobby pins into the keyhole, attempting to pick the lock. Key word: attempting.

Out of nowhere, the door swung open, and Danielle threw a triumphant fist into the air.

"Ye- Oh … Hi …?"

Sam and Dean's attention went immediately to the door, where a little boy was standing in the doorway. He had an eyebrow cocked and was staring up at Danielle.

"I was just … practicing, you know…" she tried to cover up before a huge grin suddenly split across her face, followed by a giggle. "I'm Sarah. This is Robert and Murphy," she introduced, pointing to Sam and Dean respectively. "We're FBI."

The boy looked unconvinced. "Does the FBI not know how to knock?"

Dean held up a hand between his mouth and Danielle, whispering: "She's new."

Danielle shrugged, not arguing as the kid demanded to see their badges.

"Just don't make fun of my picture," Danielle playfully warned before handing him her brand new badge.

He squinted at them, ignoring her joke before handing them their badges back. He took a step back, allowing them into his house.

"Where are your parents?" Danielle questioned, glancing around the dilapidated home in confusion. It wasn't that it was a total wreck; it was just clearly starting to show its age.

"Work," he replied simply, strolling into his kitchen and pulling a pot off the stove.

"What's that?" Sam asked.

"Soup. You know, you eat it?" the kid returned.

Danielle's eyebrows rose. "Well, someone's sassy," she teased, hand on her hip.

He shrugged, setting the pot on the table and spooning the soup into his mouth. "What kind of FBI agent says 'sassy'?" he questioned.

Danielle frowned; this kid wasn't even cracking a smile at her jokes. Nevertheless, she plowed fearlessly on. "The cool ones, duh." He rolled his eyes, though she thought he saw his lips twitch up. "What's your name, hon?"

"Jessie," he answered.

"Jessie, is this what you think the Tooth Fairy looks like?" Dean suddenly spoke up, entering the room. Danielle hadn't even noticed that he'd left. She furrowed her brow at the sketch; a forty-year-old men in a tutu?

Jessie nodded. "My dad told me he looked like that."

"Hm. What do you think about itching powder?"

"It can make you scratch your brains out!" he exclaimed, eyes wide in childish innocence.

Danielle took a seat at the table across from him. "And joy buzzers?"

Jessie shook his head, brown hair flopping across his forehead. "Don't play with those! They'll electrocute you!"

The trio shared a glance before Dean assured, "You know, that's not true. Pop rocks and soda doesn't send you to the hospital, itching powder doesn't kill you, and joy buzzers don't electrocute you. They're kind of lame; all they do is give you this shock that you can hardly feel."

"Really?" Jessie asked, confused.

"Yep. See!" Dean pulled out the buzzer, pressing it against Sam's chest. Danielle's jaw dropped, and Sam jumped before turning a murderous glare on his brother, still alive.

"Let me try!" Danielle exclaimed – for the kid's sake – jumping out of her chair and holding out her arm. Dean hit the buzzer against her elbow, and she suddenly started jerking, spasms running through her body. Panic floored Dean for a second, before Danielle stopped, a huge grin on her face.

"Gotcha!" she teased, pointing at the kid, who looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Finally, Jessie grinned, laughing at Danielle's antics.

Dean glanced at Sam, almost having had a heart attack himself, but Sam was still glaring at him for the buzzer thing.

They went through a routine set of questions, but nothing else really seemed amiss with the kid. He seemed to be nice, and he enjoyed joking with Danielle.

"Alright, kiddo, catch ya later," Danielle stated, throwing up a peace sign.

Jessie smiled, shaking his head before shutting the door on the three.

Dean suddenly slapped her arm, making her jump and rub her arm. "Ow, Dean!" she whined, even though it hadn't hurt … that bad.

"You gave me a friggin' heart attack!"

"What, with the buzzer thing?" she asked, her grin popping back up. "I think it was pretty decent payback for risking Sam's life."

"Thank you," Sam stated, shooting daggers at his brother.

"Friggin' ganging up on me," Dean mumbled under his breath, stalking back to the Impala. Danielle and Sam shared a grin before following him.

So, the usual dose of Dan/Dean/Sam cuteness in this chapter. What do y'all think of Dean and Danielle talking about the future!verse? I, for one, am kind of surprised at Dean for actually telling her.. I'm also surprised that she took it so well! Of course, it kind of adds to her naivety ... Thanks for the reviews and faves and follows!

NotCrazyJustWeird97: AW, me too.. Everytime I go back and read it, I end up crying. SO so so sad): And I dunno if I would use the word "good" but... *wink wink*

: Thank you so much! (: (and maybe someday you'll find out how she becomes a vamp (; )

comrade dean winchester: First off. Your username? DYING LOL. Thanks for your reviews; season 8 really gives you a good ole kick in the feels huh? And LOL the mustard scene... *wipes away laughing tears* Never gets old!