Chapter 10

The Impala pulled up the house and Dean stopped, cutting the engine. He sat there a moment as he gathered his thoughts and rolled his shoulders while twisting his stiff neck from sleeping on the sofa this morning. Dean drew in several cleansing breaths as he tried to push the weariness aside and climbed from the car. He walked to the door and knocked twice, waiting for Mama Edeline to answer. After a few minutes, he heard the lock disengaging and the door opened.

"Good morning child, come in, come in," she greeted him stepping back to allow him to enter.

"Thanks," Dean mumbled stepping into the foyer and on into her living room to drop onto the couch with a sigh.

"I sense something is not right with you child, what is it?" Mama Edeline questioned as she settled into her recliner.

"It's not me, it was Sammy. Early this morning he had a…I'm not sure what to call it, episode I guess, and I had to pull him out of it. Missouri said she was sure another ability surfaced in him. She called it psych…Something."

"Interesting, and you were able to bring him back from this episode?"

"Yeah, is that important?"

"We will deal with that later, for now, let's focus on you. I know Missy will take care of your brother so don't fret over him."

"Can't help it, he's been my responsibility all my life. I can't just shut it off."

"I know child, and that is what makes the two of you unique and special. Tell me child, what are you capable of now that you have changed."

Dean leaned his head back onto the couch and tried to relax as he decided how to proceed. He wanted to be honest with her, and knew he had to be if this was going to work.

"Well, I can move things small distances with my mind, and I can summon fire," Dean offered. He snapped his finger and thumb and produced a flame that he let play across them for a moment before snuffing it out. "I thought Sammy could maybe do that too, but when I tried to give him the flame it burnt the tip of his finger. He dropped it and almost set his jeans on fire," Dean chuckled with the memory.

Mama Edeline frowned slightly for a moment as a small laugh started to build and finally escaped past her lips as she slapped her legs. She laughed heartily for a moment before letting it taper off.

"I think that would have been funny to see."

Dean laughed sheepishly as he looked down at the floor and back up at her. Now that he thought about it, it was kind of funny. At least Sammy didn't really get hurt.

"Where's your dog?" he asked looking to the empty pillow by her chair.

"He's enjoying some fresh air outside for a while. He'll let me know when he wants to come inside."

"Guess he's leaving some presents out there," Dean surmised. "Do you need me to move dog poop with my mind?"

"Never mind that now, I need to ask you more questions. Do you need to see the object you are moving?" she asked wanting to learn more about him.

"Don't know, haven't really tried that. I can move more than one thing at the same time."

"See the crystals on the bookcase there?" Mama Edeline pointed to a bookcase across the room.

"Yeah, do you want them?" he asked starting to get up.

"No, don't get up. Bring two over to us," she said. "With your mind."

Dean looked at the basket again and pulled on his powers to lift two different colored stones up into the air and to slowly move them to where they were hovering between them. He cocked his head as he made them turn slowly in the air.

"Move them behind you where you can't see them. See if you can still control them," she suggested.

Dean never took his eyes off the rocks as they stopped spinning and knitted his brow for a moment letting his eyes follow the stones as they started to move past him and out of his sight. He pictured the two crystals in his mind, never wavering as he floated them around his head, behind him, and to the other side to come back in front and stop. He moved the stones back to the basket and let them settle once again among the others.

"Very good child, that didn't seem to take much effort. Do you feel drained or weak?"

"No, it was easy," Dean shrugged. "With the fire it takes a little more effort to maintain it."

"Have you tried to make a bigger flame or small fireball so you can toss it?"

"No, not really thought about that. Do you mean using it as a weapon?"

"Yes, if you can control the flame, you can bend it to your will, and it might come in handy in the future. And don't be burning your brother again," she chuckled. "Do you have a wallet?"

"Yeah."

"May I have it?" she asked holding out her hand, waiting for Dean to give it to her. "Now I'm going to take it into the kitchen and leave it, I want to see if you can move it back in here." She got up once she had the wallet and went into the kitchen and laid it on the counter at the door out of Dean's sight. She made her way back into the other room and sat back down. "Alright Dean, let's see how far your powers will stretch, can you picture your wallet in your mind and make it to come to you?"

Dean drew in a deep breath as he settled back on the couch and closed his eyes as his brow wrinkled. He tried to see his wallet in his mind and pick it up. After a minute of hard concentration, Dean huffed out the breath he was holding and looked around not seeing his wallet. He grunted his disappointment.

"That's okay child. Don't give up, you've got to strengthen those muscles that you've never used before now. Give it another try and maybe don't try so hard. Just let it happen."

"Alright," Dean grumbled. He closed his eyes again and pictured his wallet. He thought about how it felt, the worn leather and the how it molded to his body. He reached out again trying to lock onto his wallet. Dean felt something connect in his mind and he tugged it toward him. After a moment, he heard something drop to the floor in the kitchen.

"Try again," Mama Edeline coached him.

Dean nodded and found it again, locking onto his wallet. Once he felt the connection, he pulled again and watched as his wallet hovered in the air in the doorway to the kitchen. He held out his hand and the wallet began to move to him coming to rest in his hand.

"I did it," Dean said proudly.

"Very good. I think that may be your limit for now, until you get stronger. Why don't you get us some lemonade? It's in the fridge. My neighbor brought it by early this morning."

"Okay, I'll be happy to," Dean replied, getting up and walking into the kitchen. He found the lemonade on the top shelf in the fridge and looked in several cabinets before finding glasses. After taking two down, Dean looked in the freezer and took out a tray of ice, popping some out and dropping the cubes into the glasses. He covered them with the liquid before putting the pitcher back in the fridge. Scratching and whining sounded at the backdoor and he walked over to let Elias in.

"Hey, remember me?" Dean asked as the dog looked up at him for a moment before trotting into the living room. He picked up the glasses and followed Elias into the other room. "I'll sit your glass here on the table."

"Thank you, child. You'll like this, tart and sweet at the same time."

Dean took his seat and sipped on the cold liquid, letting it coat his taste buds with the rich, tangy taste.

"It's good," he commented. He wondered what else they would do today, but his mind drifted to Sam and wondered if he was okay. He was finishing his lemonade when Mama Edeline got up and Elias followed.

"Shall we go outside?" she asked Dean who stood and let her go first into the kitchen. She felt with her cane and stopped at the sink to sit her glass in it. Dean did the same and rushed to open the door for her. "Thank you, child, it's always good to have manners."

Dean didn't say anything and stopped when she led them out into the yard and to a brick fire pit that sat on the patio. He looked at it with interest and waited for her to tell him what to do. He hoped he wasn't going to have to move it with his mind. From the looks of it, it was heavy.

"Now child, I want you to create a flame, see if you can enlarge it and see if you can toss it in the pit."

"Okay, I'll try," Dean replied. He snapped his finger and thumb to produce a flame. As it bounced between his fingers, he focused on making it bigger. He smiled as the flame grew taller and then shrunk back down. He bounced it from hand to hand as it grew again before throwing it at the pit. It dispersed before hitting the pit, sending sparks around the bricks. Dean quickly produced another flame using more power and saw that it was brighter and a deeper red. He threw it again and the ball of fire burst in the pit, dying out with no fuel to keep it going. "Nice," Dean said.

"Very good child. The more you practice, the better you will be able to control and use your powers. Why don't you toss a few more balls of fire until it seems easier and second nature to you? That will be it for today, you have done well for your first lesson. I can sense you are worried about your brother and you are not fully focused on this. You should go check on him and come back tomorrow at the same time."

"I will, thanks," Dean said. He pulled up another flame making it into a ball of fire and tossed it in the air several times before making it spin around in front of him. With a hard push, he threw the ball into the pit. The next one he formed was stronger than any of the others, maybe because he liked doing this and seeing the power grow more and more. He didn't notice Mama Edeline had walked back inside and Elias was sitting nearby observing everything he did. What he didn't know was Mama Edeline was using Elias to watch Dean practice. With her abilities she was able to see the world through the dog's eyes, since her eyes had grown dim.

spn

Sam started to move and stretch as be began to wake up. He opened his eyes and blinked several times to bring the back of the sofa into focus. He rolled his head and saw he was still in the living room and cocooned in a blanket. He lay there for a moment trying to figure out what happened earlier, but his mind didn't want to cooperate. There was something about their father's journal. There was an annoying ache in his head that didn't want to go away. He rubbed his temples hoping to relieve the pain.

"Good morning Sam," Missouri greeted him as she stepped into the living room with a cup of coffee. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Sam croaked out as he struggled with the blanket to get out of it. Once he was free, Sam sat up and accepted the offering of coffee. He held it between both of his hands and sipped it seeing she had added cream and sugar like he took it. "What happened to me?" he questioned.

"What do you remember dear?" she asked moving to sit down beside him, giving him space but wanting him to know she was there for him.

Sam stared into his coffee cup for a moment as he went over the earlier events in his head.

"I woke up, well, something woke me, I'm not sure what. I had a strange feeling I was missing something. I got up and took Dad's journal out of Dean's duffle and came down here. I started looking at it and realized his first sentence in the book was about you, 'I went to Missouri and learned the truth'. Dean and I thought it mean he went to the state, Missouri, but it was you he was talking about."

"Yes, he did come to see me after the fire. He was a distraught, grief stricken man who was looking for answers. You were a baby and Dean just a child that had been through so much for his tender age. He wouldn't put you down, even when your Daddy asked him to. I could see your strong bond even then and can tell it is still there."

"Dean and Dad never really talked much about that time. It's just too painful for them."

"I understand. So, what happened next?" she asked getting Sam back on topic.

"I took his Marine medal and was looking at it. Dad never really told us anything about the time he served or how he got it. I started wondering about it and was turning in over in my hand when suddenly…" Sam paused as he grimaced and shivered with the memories of what he had seen. "It was horrific and bloody…"

"It's okay Sam, if you don't feel like talking about it now, we can wait."

Sam nodded as tears leaked from his eyes and ran down his face. He shuddered for a moment and cleared his throat so he could speak.

"What happened to me?" he asked in a strained voice.

"I think an ability surfaced without you realizing it. When you touched your Daddy's medal, you saw into his past. It's called psychometry or psychoscopy, the ability to see the past by touching an object."

"Why did it happen now?"

"I don't know honey; this is new for me too. Maybe you wanting to know about your Daddy triggered something within you. It's only natural that you'd be curious."

"But what happened to me when I did it?" he whispered.

"I think you got trapped in the memory and couldn't pull yourself out. You were lost in that memory honey. Dean was able to find you and bring you back."

"I don't remember much about that, only I felt so cold and he was like a hot water bottle," Sam thought out loud.

"I don't know if I'd tell him that," Missouri chuckled as she laid a hand on his arm.

"Man, if Dean hadn't been here…" Sam trailed off when he realized he had no idea how to get out of a vision like that. How could he control abilities he knew nothing about? Would he have been trapped until Missouri figured a way to save him?

"But he was honey, it's okay to be scared. This is all new to you and we have no idea what you are capable of. We'll take it one step at a time and work on each one as they manifest. Don't worry, we won't do anything with this one unless Dean is here. I think he's your anchor for your powers."

"Yeah, I don't want to have that happen again," Sam sighed with relief. He was as concerned with the vision of their father as with the feeling of helplessness he had felt by not being able to break free of it. He shivered as he drew in on himself, squeezing his arms into his body while still holding the cup of coffee.

"Are you hungry? It won't take but a moment to fix something."

"It'd probably be a good idea," Sam sighed rubbing his stomach. He let Missouri help him up as his legs wobbled and he had to get his balance. Once he was steady, Sam followed Missouri into the kitchen and took a seat at the table.

"How about some oatmeal? Should be easy on your stomach."

"That's fine. I guess Dean went to see Mama Edeline?"

"Yes, with a little persuasion and a promise to call him if you needed him. Do you need him?"

"No, I'm okay," Sam replied. "I'll talk to him when he gets back."

"If you feel like it, we can do some training or if you want to skip a day that is fine. There is no hurry here and we can take it at your own pace."

"Alright, sounds good," Sam nodded. He wasn't sure if he was in the right mindset to continue training today. What he went through took a lot out of him and he wanted to talk to Dean about it to see if their Dad had told him any of what he saw in the vision. He wanted to understand how Dean helped him to better understand himself.

"I have some fruit in the fridge, would you like some for your oatmeal?" she asked as she stirred the mixture.

"I can get it…" Sam started pushing his chair back to get up.

"Nonsense honey, you stay sitting right there. I can get it when the oatmeal is done," Missouri insisted shooing him back to his seat.

Sam smiled at her and dropped back into the chair. He still felt out of sorts, like his mind wasn't quite in sync with his body. He drew in some slow even breaths and tried to stop his hands from trembling as he picked up his coffee cup. He had Dean, he had to believe what Missouri said, he was his anchor in all this. He was going to learn to control this new ability with her help. Missouri sat two bowls in front of him, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Eat up Sam, you need to keep your strength up and maybe you'll feel like a shower afterwards."

"That does sound good. Maybe it'll help clear my head."

"Your eyes do look strained and bleary. Let me get you something to take. No need suffering if you don't have to." She got up and stepped from the room to find some medicine for Sam.

Sam spooned fruit over his oatmeal and began to eat it as he waited for her to come back. A few minutes later, Missouri returned with some Tylenol for him. He thanked her and washed it down with a sip of coffee. Sam finished his breakfast while Missouri tidied up the kitchen. He excused himself and went upstairs to take a shower while Missouri went to her herb shed to get the orders ready that needed mailing out today.

spn

Sam was sitting on the deck, trying to relax, and read a book but he wasn't absorbing anything. He sat up when a distance noise on the wind caught his attention. He stood as the sound grew closer and would recognize it anywhere. The Impala was almost to the house and that meant Dean would be here shortly. He got up and went inside to wait on Dean wanting to talk to him.

"Hey bro, how are you doing?" Dean asked finding Sam in the kitchen fidgeting as he looked expectantly at him. "You wanna talk?" Dean surmised without Sam saying anything.

"Can we?" Sam asked.

"Let me grab some beers. Where's Missouri?" he asked going to the fridge.

"She went to mail some packages and was going to run a couple of errands," Sam replied. "There's some deli meat for sandwiches if you want to have lunch first."

"It can wait, c'mon, let's sit outside in the fresh air." Dean handed him a bottle of beer and headed for the backdoor. He felt Sam behind him and dropped down into a lounge chair as Sam did the same. They both sipped on their beers, neither saying anything for a few minutes until Dean broke the silence. "Talk to me, what did you see? What's going on?"

"I saw Dad," Sam whispered looking up at Dean for a moment before continuing. "It was when he was in the Marines. They were in a battle, a bad one. Soldiers were dying all around me and Dad was fighting and trying to help the wounded. It was horrific Dean. I saw guys getting blown to pieces, limbs missing, soldiers dying. I think it was worse than anything we've seen while hunting. Did Dad ever talk to you about this?"

"No, he didn't talk much about his time in at all. I do know he had nightmares about it like he did with Mom's death. He'd wake me up some nights yelling out, but what could I do? Hell, I was only five, I had my own trauma to work through. If it was like that, you know he had to have had PTSD."

Yeah, I agree. I guess he didn't want to think about all that and tried to put it behind him. Maybe that's why he trained us so hard and wanted us to be the best so we could protect ourselves."

"It had to have been awful to see that about Dad and all the death, but what happened? Why couldn't you pull yourself out of it?"

"I don't really know. Maybe I didn't realize what was happening, how I got there, how to get out. I froze as I watched all that play out in front of me. It was Dad and he almost died on that battlefield," Sam explained sipping more beer to wet his dry throat.

"I get it Sammy, I do."

"How did you do it Dean? I mean, how did you know what to do to get me out?" Sam questioned.

"To be honest Sammy, I don't know. It was pure instinct. I knew I had to find you and break the connection to get you out. It was trial and error. I forced my way into that huge mind of yours and started searching for you. When I found you…Man Sammy, you were out of it. It was like you were in a trance or just gone. It took me a few moments to get you to come back and then you woke up rattled and still out of it. Missouri and me bundled you up and we spent a few hours on the couch until I left for Mama Edeline."

"Okay, I remember some of that, but not a lot. I guess I really was pretty out of it," Sam nodded as he went over what he remembered of the morning. "Do you think you could do it again? If I got stuck again?"

"Whadda you mean again?" Dean asked leaning forward and looking closely at Sam.

"It's an ability Dean. I need to learn to control it or this could happen again. I've got to get a handle on it, so it doesn't randomly happen. For me to do this Missouri said you were my anchor and could pull me out if I needed it. I need to know you can do it again."

"You know I'll do whatever it takes Sammy. We're in this together and I get a feeling you're my anchor too. We're connected in more ways than one and I think you feel it too."

"Yeah, it's always been there but I think it's stronger now. Maybe because we both have changed."

"Okay, enough with the chick flick moment. Guess what?"

"What?" Sam asked seeing Dean excitement.

"I can throw fire balls. Wanna see?" he asked getting up and stepping from the deck to a small patio to the side where Missouri had a small fire pit.

"Just don't burn her house down or set me on fire again," Sam warned him as he stopped beside Dean. He watched as Dean formed fire in his hands and stared in awe as the flame got bigger and suddenly Dean threw it into the pit sending a shower of sparks out around it. Sam quickly stomped out a few smothering sparks.

"Woops," Dean said stomping out a spark. "Guess I better not do that again."

"That was cool Dean. You know being able to do that you won't have to have a flare gun or flame thrower anymore when we go up against a wendigos or rugarous or anything else that can be killed with fire."

"Yeah, I'm my own secret weapon?" Dean beamed with pride.

"Enough with patting yourself on the back, why don't we go get something to eat? I'm getting hungry and you can tell me what else you did with Mama Edeline today."

"Yeah, I am too. C'mon, you can make us lunch," Dean told him slapping him hard on the back as they headed back inside.

Sam grunted with the abuse and poked an elbow into Dean's side. They jostled each other and laughed as they both tried to get through the door at the same time.

A/N: Dean is learning more about his abilities and Sam finds out he has one he didn't know about. Thank you for taking this journey with me. Reviews would make my day. NC