Come Together Chapter 35, a Supernatural + Dark Angel Crossover fanfic

Sorry for the long wait, but I finally got this chapter done! I went back and finished the first hunt with Mary back in season 12, so hope you guys like it!

Chapter 35

2016

"One snack each, that's it," he said as they walked into the gas station. "I'm not buying half the store just because you two are obsessed with junk food." Alec and Ben ignored him as they walked away from him and started looking for whatever snack they should get.

"Where do you think they got that?" Sam teased.

"I gotta watch Alec…make sure he doesn't steal anything," he muttered to his brother.

"Hey, you sure this hunt is a good idea?" Sam asked. "I mean…this will be Mom's first hunt, the boys just woke up from some Sleeping Beauty thing from the Brits, Mom and the boys aren't getting along…"

"It's not like I can bench Mom," he said. "And benching the boys? Leaving them at the Bunker alone?"

"Right," Sam muttered. "Last time they ate out the entire kitchen and played video games the entire time we were gone."

"Plus, Alec's feeling insecure about Mom rejecting him and Ben won't let Alec go on a hunt without him, so here we are," he said. "Going on an awkward hunt…"

"Alec just stuffed six candy bars in his pocket," Sam said.

"Dammit…I thought I stopped his shoplifting habits…" he grumbled.

"I'll go fill up the tank," Sam said. "You take care of your delinquent sons."

"Shut up…" he muttered. He walked over to Alec and gave him a stern look, and his son rolled his eyes and put the candy back where it belonged. "One thing, Alec. That's it."

"I'm starving," Alec said. "All we had was bacon…"

He sighed, but looked over at Ben and said, "Go get a few hotdogs and pizza. I don't wanna stop again for a while, so grab what you two need. But no candy." Ben nodded and quickly walked back to the hot food section. "What did I tell you about stealing?" he asked once Ben was out of sight.

"Only do it when you're desperate," Alec muttered.

"Or not at all," he said.

"You said only one thing, so I was desperate to get more than just one thing because I'm hungry," Alec said.

"And if you would've told me how hungry you were, then you wouldn't have to steal anything," he said.

"Fine…you win," Alec grumbled.

He hated it when Alec looked sad, and he knew he could make it better with just one candy bar…plus, he had scared his boys and they could have been tortured while he wasn't there. "Alright, one candy bar," he said. Alec gave him a huge smile, which of course made him smile in return.

He bought the boys their food, and then walked back to the Impala with them. The two of them sat in the back with Sam, who tried to pick at their food. He watched as Alec tried to move out of the way, and then laughed when Sam still got some of his food. Ben offered Sam some of his fries, and Sam gratefully took some. Alec leaned against Sam once he started driving again and just looked out the window as he ate. He knew the boys would be clingy since they had thought he had died and they knew Sam had been tortured, which was another reason he couldn't leave them at the bunker for this hunt. The boys wouldn't deal with being left behind, which meant they had to come with them, no matter how awkward this hunt was going to be.

He glanced over at Mom but saw that she was smiling just a little bit, having seen Sam messing around with the boys. Maybe this would turn out ok.

"You're not gonna make us wait in the car again, are you?" he asked, or more like complained. He hated being forced to wait in the car, but he knew it had been weird enough for there to be three FBI agents to walk into the morgue and start asking questions, so two teenagers weren't going to help. But if Dad thought he was going to get away with making them wait in the car for the whole hunt, he had another thing coming. He knew Uncle Sam could watch Dad's back, but he didn't trust Mary to do it.

Dad didn't answer, which made him mad. Ben knew he was mad though and said, "We agreed to stay in the car for the morgue only because it was going to be too hard to explain five people wanting to look at a body. But you know we won't stay in the car while you search a haunted house. We didn't do it when we were ten and we won't do it now."

"Plus, we would be the best ones to go in because our core temperatures are a lot higher than yours," he said. "It will take a lot longer for us to die of frostbite than you."

"If you think that argument is helping your case, you better think again kiddo," Dad said.

"I'm not sitting in the car," he stated.

"And if he goes in, I'm going in," Ben said.

"Dean, choose your battles," Uncle Sam said with a chuckle. He motioned for Ben to open the door, and then said, "We're lucky they stayed in the car for the morgue."

"Fine," Dad grumbled.

He smiled and followed his brother and Uncle up to the abandoned house. It was definitely creepy looking, and he wasn't sure how a ghost could give someone hypothermia and freeze their heart, but at least he got to go inside. Dad quickly caught up and handed him and Ben their shotguns but refused to let either of them get very far away from him.

"You two decide who you want to go with," Dad said. "You're not sticking together on this hunt."

"And suddenly we're babies again," he muttered. Ben looked over at him with a smirk, but then walked inside with Uncle Sam.

"Hey, you're the one that wanted to come inside," Dad said. Dad turned to look at Mary, who was using an EMF meter. "You sure you got the swing of that thing?" Dad asked.

"For the third time, yes," Mary said. "Dean, it's analog. I'm good."

"Right," Dad said.

Dad gently grabbed his arm and led him down the hall. He grumbled under his breath, but really, he was just glad that Dad was even still alive. He stayed close to his Dad even though he didn't think this hunt was going to be all that dangerous. It had to be a ghost, so they just had to figure out who it was, and then find the bones.

He almost wished Dad would have made him and Ben stay home, even though that would have really pissed him off. But being around Mary was awkward, and he knew Dad was freaking out about him and Ben possibly getting hurt. Dad had been ready to die, but he was pretty sure Dad had told Uncle Sam that they were supposed to stop hunting when he was gone. Dad didn't want them to get hurt, especially when he wasn't around to try to stop it. He knew Dad finding them and Uncle Sam missing when he'd gotten back had terrified him. So, staying home would have reassured Dad that they were going to be ok, and he wouldn't have to deal with Mary hating him and Ben. He'd thought she might remember him from his little trip to the past when he was nine, but she didn't. Or if she did, she must have disliked him back then too.

"Mom, we got something over here," Dad said, making him jump. He needed to focus. If he got hurt on this hunt, then Dad really would bench him. He looked around to try to figure out what Dad had found, but he didn't see anything. The EMF meter must have gone off.

Uncle Sam and Ben ran over to them, but he looked over to where he'd last seen Mary, but she wasn't where she had been before. A door suddenly slammed shut and it felt like it dropped 20 degrees.

"Sam?" Mary asked from inside the room where the door had slammed shut.

"Mom?" Dad asked, running over to the door.

"Dean?" Mary called out.

Dad tried the door, but it wouldn't budge. Uncle Sam tried it too, but he rolled his eyes since shockingly, the door still didn't open. "Boys," Dad said, nodding for him and Ben to try the door.

"Mom, get back," Uncle Sam said.

He and Ben moved at the same time and kicked at the door. The door shattered at the force of their kick, and then Dad ran in before they could. He just barely saw a ghost kid before Dad swung his crowbar at it, making it disappear. Uncle Sam went over to Mary and looked at her arm, where there was a red handprint, like the report of the body.

"Mom, you're hurt," Uncle Sam said.

Dad walked over and looked at Mom's arm, but from where he was standing, it really did just look like a handprint. Dad must have decided she was fine since he didn't say anything about it. "Let's go," Dad said, looking at him and his brother.

"I'm starving," he said before Dad could tell them that they were off this hunt. Dad got weird when it was ghost kids they were hunting, even though they were teenagers now and could hunt by themselves if Dad wasn't so overprotective.

"Alright, we'll grab some food before we find a motel," Dad said.

"Scoot," he said, pushing at his brother to get him to move over. They were supposed to be sharing, but Alec was already taking up over half of the bed. His brother was horrible at sharing. He held out some of the French fries that he'd taken from the diner as an incentive to share the bed.

"Did you steal these?" Alec asked, sounding more hopeful than he should.

"No, I had Dad buy us some more before we left," he said. Alec grabbed a handful and moved, so he could sit down next to him. Mary was watching them, but he couldn't tell what she was thinking. She was hard to read. He knew she was uncomfortable, but he couldn't tell how she really felt about him and his brother. Alec was convinced that she hated them, but he wasn't sure.

He understood a little bit of how Mary was feeling. After Purgatory, he hadn't known how to act around Alec or Uncle Sam. He'd had a lot of problems adjusting to life again, and that was just a year out of the real world. Mary had missed way more time, so it was going to take her a while to figure things out. He just hoped Alec would give her a chance if she gave them one. He wasn't going to tell his brother any of this though, since he didn't want Alec to be mad at him. He hated it when his brother was mad at him.

Mary walked over to the other bed and slowly sat down. He held out the box of French fries and asked, "Want some?"

"You two just ate," she said, amused.

"We have really high metabolisms," he said. "We're almost always hungry."

Mary took a couple French fries and smiled a little, "Thanks."

He nodded and passed the box back to Alec. His brother scowled at him for a few seconds before he finally grabbed some fries and stuffed them into his mouth. He got a couple comic books from his bag and passed Alec one while he opened the other. Uncle Sam would want them to work on their homework, but he was almost done with his made-up assignment, and Alec wasn't going to do it, so they might as well read something, even if it was a comic book.

He'd read this one before, and Alec had read his over a hundred times, but they didn't always stop near a comic book store, and they didn't have a lot of money, so they only had so many. And he hadn't brought very many with him. Most of their stash was back at the bunker. Unfortunately, at least half of them were stolen, but he didn't know which half, and he didn't know where they came from, so he couldn't do anything about it now.

Alec loved how much it bothered him when he stole stuff, which is probably why he never stopped stealing, even after Dad told him to stop. He knew Alec liked the rush, and he liked getting what he wanted, but he knew his brother was afraid of Uncle Sam yelling at him again. But even that fear wouldn't stop him.

"Hey, what happened to homework?" Uncle Sam asked, hitting his foot as he walked by.

"I'm almost done with it anyway," he muttered.

"Yeah, it's too easy," Alec said with a smile.

"I don't know why you bother anymore, Sammy," Dad said. "You know Ben's gonna have a perfect paper, and Alec's not gonna do it."

"I still think we should try school one more time," Uncle Sam said. "They could do their senior year. They have a chance to get into college if they want to."

"I'm not going to college," Alec said at the same time that he said, "We don't need to finish school to go to college."

His brother looked over at him, "You want to go to college?"

"No, I'm just pointing out that we could get in right now if we wanted to," he said. "We're probably smarter than the professors anyway, so it'd be a waste of time."

"If you want to go to college, then you can," Uncle Sam tried.

"Sam, drop it," Dad said when he didn't answer. Dad knew he wasn't going anywhere. He wouldn't mind going to school, but he would never leave his family. He smiled a little when Alec laid on his stomach, making sure he was pressed against his leg since his brother knew him. He hated thinking about losing his family, and he wasn't going to leave them if he could help it. "The boys can do whatever they want, but I thought we agreed that we wouldn't push it," Dad said.

"I'm not pushing it," Uncle Sam argued. "I'm just saying it's still an option if they wanted to go."

"I don't want to go," he said quietly.

"Why go when you could just teach us," Alec said to Uncle Sam with a big smile.

"It's not just college," Uncle Sam said. "You could have friends…girlfriends…you could play sports as long as you didn't overdo it. You don't have to just hunt."

He looked over at his brother and smiled when Alec glanced back at him. They shrugged at the same time and said, "Nah."

Dad chuckled while Uncle Sam just shook his head, but at least he seemed to have dropped it for now. He laid on his stomach next to Alec, settling in since Dad and Uncle Sam were probably going to start researching. They usually helped when they went to the library to research, but there was only one laptop and one journal, so there wasn't a lot that he and Alec could really do unless they went out by themselves. Dad wasn't going to let that happen this time, so he didn't even bring it up. Alec knew Dad wouldn't let them out of his sight for a while, so he didn't bring it up either.

Uncle Sam got his laptop out while Dad started digging through his bag, probably looking for John's journal. Dad had the whole thing practically memorized, but he still looked through it when they were on a hunt. He'd thought about starting his own journal, but he wasn't sure what he would put in it. He'd thought about asking Uncle Sam or Dad about it, but then decided he didn't want to bring it up. He really liked John's journal, so he would just keep reading it over and over again.

"Ok, ready to head out?" Mary asked Dad and Uncle Sam. "Go knock on some doors?"

Alec instantly perked up at the idea of going around and knocking on doors. He was probably thinking about the one time they'd gotten to go trick-or-treating when they were little. Dad had even talked Uncle Sam into going with them since he'd gotten them costumes and everything. For some reason Uncle Sam didn't like Halloween, but he and Alec loved it.

They'd only gone once since he'd been in Purgatory the next year, and then he hadn't felt like it after that. And Alec had claimed he was too old for that kind of thing, even though he probably still wanted to go. He wished sometimes they could go back and just be kids for a while, but wishing for it didn't do anything, so he should just be happy he had one memory of it.

He got in his bag again and got out one of the few pictures he always kept with him. Alec kept most of his pictures in their room, but he liked keeping a couple of them with him. The picture was creased since he looked at it all the time, but he couldn't help it. It was his favorite picture since Grandpa Bobby had taken it a few weeks before he'd died, and Dad and Uncle Sam had even dressed up with them since Alec had begged and begged for them to do it too. It had been great to dress up at the Ghostbusters, especially since that was the first movie he and Alec had really watched together.

"Who ya gonna call," Alec sang softly after glancing over at his picture. His brother kept singing the ghostbusters song, which made Dad look up, but he didn't say anything. He probably thought Alec was probably going to have a seizure since Ghostbusters was their seizure movie, but this picture always got Alec singing, which always made him happier, even though Alec wasn't very good at singing.

"Ghostbusters," he said with a small smile.

"I found those the other day," Alec said, pointing at their proton packs that Dad had made for them.

"Where?" he asked. He'd thought they'd been lost a long time ago.

"In a room in the bunker," Alec said. "Right Dad?"

Dad ran his hand through his hair and nodded, "Um, yeah…I might've saved those…"

"Really?" Uncle Sam asked. "I didn't know that."

"I put 'em in storage," Dad said. "I got 'em after we moved into the bunker…"

"I'll show you where they are when we get back," Alec whispered.

He nodded, smiling since his Dad had wanted to save those. They shouldn't mean as much as they do since it was just spray-painted cardboard, but it was a nice memory. They'd had a really fun night running around some random neighborhood as a family before the leviathans ruined everything.

Mary cleared her throat uncomfortably, "So…time to talk to the neighbors, hit up the Hall of Records…work the case? We still do that, right?" He'd forgotten that she'd asked if they should start knocking on doors since he'd been remembering their time trick-or-treating.

"Sometimes," Dad said. "But the, uh, the internet has made a lot of that legwork…obsolete."

Uncle Sam already had his laptop open, looking up whatever he could for the hunt. "I mean, I'm already in the St. Paul Police Department database," Uncle Sam said to Mary.

"Anything?" Dad asked.

"Yeah, a lot," Uncle Sam muttered as he scanned the screen. "I got police reports filed from 2004…uh, '91, '89, '85, '78. All deaths. All kids. Looks like it started with this girl here. Elizabeth Moriarty."

Mary looked at Uncle Sam in shock, "You got all that from…that..."

"Yeah," Uncle Sam said. Mary looked really uncomfortable now. He was pretty sure she didn't even know what Uncle Sam was using to look up this stuff. He felt bad that she was so overwhelmed, but she could just ask them stuff if she really wanted to know how to use it. "Mom, don't worry about it," Uncle Sam said, seeing that she was overwhelmed with all of this. "We'll teach you how to do this."

Mary didn't look so sure, but she didn't ask Uncle Sam to teach her anything. He and Alec stayed on their bed while Dad and Uncle Sam looked things up for a while.

"Mylings?" Dad asked, flipping a page in John's journal.

"Yeah, from Scandinavian lore," Uncle Sam said, nodding in thought as he typed on the laptop. Uncle Sam must have found an article about Mylings because read, "Uh, children's spirits, vengeful ones. 'Their cries to help lure adults to their death.'"

That sounded pretty close from what he could tell. "Anything about frozen hearts?" Mary asked.

"Uh, no, not yet," Uncle Sam said. "But this is just from old, incomplete folk accounts. We all know the lore isn't always 100%."

Alec grumbled under his breath since Uncle Sam was using his teacher voice. He barely nudged his brother since he didn't want to get in trouble just after getting Dad back.

"Hmm…maybe, but…all I know is, that little boy who grabbed me, I…he didn't wanna hurt me. He was scared," Mary said.

"Yeah, um…it must've felt that way, but, Mom, the victims were all lured to their death by a baby's cry," Uncle Sam explained. "Uh, the spirit marked Natalia right before she was killed, the same way the spirit marked you. I mean, if we hadn't gotten there in time…"

"Well, look," Dad said before Mary could say anything. He knew Uncle Sam was worried about losing Mary after just getting her back, but Mary didn't look like she wanted to hear what Uncle Sam was saying. "We know all the kids' names, right? We know that they're all buried locally, so I say we salt and burn 'em. That's the safe bet."

"Agreed," Uncle Sam said with a nod.

"We get to go too, right?" Alec asked.

"Yeah, you can come too," Dad said.

Dad and Uncle Sam got up and started getting ready to go, so he grabbed Alec's comic book and put it away. Mary wasn't moving, but he didn't say anything. He didn't want to be left behind, so he wasn't going to hesitate or ask too many questions. He was going to stay with his family no matter what. He wasn't really willing to let Dad get too far away from them after he'd tried to sacrifice himself to save the world. He was still a little mad at him for that.

He hadn't wanted the world to end, but he'd wanted his Dad to stay with them more. He didn't want to live in a world without his Dad.

Alec nudged him suddenly and held out his jacket. His brother gave him a small smile and held out the last few fries for him to take. Alec was trying to make him feel better, so he took the fries and smiled slightly.

"Mom?" Dad asked. He looked over and saw that Mary was sitting on the bed, holding her head in her hands like her head was hurting. "Hey, you ok?" Dad asked, walking over to Mary. Uncle Sam was right behind him, which was nice when it was him or Alec, but he thought maybe they were going to overwhelm her again.

"Mom?" Uncle Sam asked.

"Yeah, fine," Mary said. "I'm fine. I'm fine." She stood up to prove that she was ok, but he knew Dad and Uncle Sam wouldn't be convinced. "I'm fine," Mary said again.

"May…maybe, uh, you should stay here," Uncle Sam slowly suggested.

Mary made a face, but Dad was already getting his phone out of his pocket to give to her. "Here. Call if you need us," Dad said.

Mary took the phone, but he was guessing she didn't know how to use that either. "Ok," Mary said with a small nod.

"Back soon," Uncle Sam said.

He quickly tied his boots while Alec grabbed their bag and followed their Dad and Uncle out of the room, leaving Mary behind. Alec seemed to relax again once they were in the car, away from Mary. It bothered his brother more than it bothered him when people treated them differently. It did feel more personal now that it was Dad and Uncle Sam's Mom that was giving them weird looks instead of just angels or kids they didn't know the few times they went to school.

Alec always started fights when they tried to go to school since he didn't like it when kids picked on them. The kids were usually picking on him, not Alec, but his brother refused to let anyone give him crap. He really didn't care, but he liked it when Alec stood up for him, and he always had his back when he started a fight. He didn't like getting in trouble, but he'd do anything for his family.

"You boys ok?" Dad asked, glancing back at them as he drove to the cemetery.

"Yeah," he and Alec said at the same time.

Dad didn't look like he believed them, but he didn't ask them anything else. "You sure they should help out with this one?" Uncle Sam whispered to Dad. Their parents never learned; they would always be able to hear them if they were in the car. Whispering wasn't going to work with their hearing.

"Uncle Sam, we're not gonna be traumatized digging up a bunch of dead kids," Alec muttered as he looked out the window. "This isn't the first time we've dug up kids."

"You shouldn't be digging up graves," Uncle Sam mumbled.

"Sam, don't," Dad said with a sigh. Uncle Sam never could drop things once he really got going.

"I just think maybe they should give school one more chance," Uncle Sam said.

"You want them to decide what they want to do," Dad said. "If they want to go to school, then they'll tell us."

"Can you stop talking about us like we're not here," Alec grumbled. "We still find that very annoying."

"And we don't want to go to school," he added.

"Sorry boys," Dad said, glancing back at them again. Uncle Sam didn't say anything, which meant the argument still wasn't over. Uncle Sam liked to bring up school every few months just in case they had changed their minds. He knew Alec wasn't going to change his mind, and he didn't really see the point anymore. He knew they were smarter than most adults, so why keep arguing about it?

Dad pulled into the cemetery and showed him and Alec where they could start digging. Dad and Uncle Sam dug up a couple graves a little ways away from them, and he could hear them talking about Mary, but he didn't want to hear their argument, so he focused on shoveling dirt.

Alec looked over at Dad and Uncle Sam before he whispered, "If you wanted to try school again, I'd go with you."

"We're smarter than all of them, it's boring, and we just get into a lot of fights," he muttered. "There's no reason to go back."

"We could try college," Alec suggested. "You could get into space stuff or something else that genius people like to do, and I'll party. It would drive Uncle Sam nuts."

"Alec, I like hunting," he said.

"You just like hunting because I don't want to do anything else," Alec said.

He shook his head, "I know we're unhealthily codependent, but if I really wanted to go to college then I'd go, and I'd just drag you with me. I like hunting because we get to hunt down monsters."

"And save people," Alec added.

"Exactly," he said. He and Alec dug some more in silence. It was oddly comforting to be digging up a grave with his brother again. It seemed like it had been a long time since they'd just gone on a normal hunt. He was curious about what Alec would want to do if they ever stopped hunting. Almost losing Dad again had nearly made that a reality. They could go off on their own and hunt by themselves again, but he wasn't sure he wanted to do that again. "If Dad had died…what d'you think we would've done?" he asked.

"You mean if the British dicks hadn't shown up too, right?" Alec asked, still shoveling.

"Right," he said. He glanced over at Dad and Uncle Sam, who were still digging and seemed to still be talking about Mary.

"I don't know," Alec said with a shrug. "Dad didn't want us looking for anything to bring him back, and I'd feel bad ditching Uncle Sam again…But I don't know if I could do normal."

"What about if Dad and Uncle Sam wanted to stop hunting?" he asked.

Alec stopped digging and looked over at him. "Are you sure you don't wanna try school again? You're askin' a lot of questions about callin' it quits."

"I'm just curious," he said. "We almost lost Dad…again. I don't wanna lose my whole family to this…"

"Well, you're not gonna lose me," Alec said with a cocky smile.

"You can't say that," he argued. "You don't know what's gonna happen. Something could get us on any hunt…even a simple ghost hunt." He sighed and went back to digging up the grave. "I was just curious…that's all."

Alec got out of the grave that he'd already finished digging, and then walked over to him and jumped down next to him. "You dig too slow when you think like this," Alec said, bumping against him.

"Dad and Uncle Sam are still digging," he muttered.

Alec took a deep breath, and then let it back out in a huff. "Look, if Dad had died and the Brits hadn't invaded…I don't know what we'd do. You know I hate school, and I don't think I'd like a normal job, but I don't know if I'd wanna keep hunting either." He nodded, and then motioned for Alec to get out of the grave, so he could get the coffin open. His brother sat on the edge, and then said, "We'd figure it out together, right?"

He looked up in surprise, "Of course. Remember, I said we're unhealthily codependent."

"I think we inherited it from our parents," Alec said with a smirk.

"I think so too," he said. Alec gave him a hand up out of the grave, and then they got to work burning the bones.

They poured salt and lighter fluid over the bones, and then they both lit a matchbook and thew the flames into the separate graves. The bones caught fire, and he knew they should help Dad and Uncle Sam dig, but he just stood there with Alec, watching the fire.

"If you wanna stop hunting, just tell me," Alec said, looking over at him. "Uncle Sam's been sayin' this for years, but we can do whatever we want."

He smiled and nodded, "Thanks Alec."

"Anything for you, brother," Alec said with a smile.

"Dad, Mary's not in the room anymore," Ben said, running back over to him. He was still grabbing some gear since the boys had run inside before he could stop them. Ben usually hung around to help him bring things in, but his son must still be mad at him. Ben wasn't a big talker, but he still knew when he was mad at him. He'd have to talk to both of his boys again, and try to reassure them that he wasn't going anywhere.

He followed Ben back into the room, but Mom really was gone.

"Weapons bag is missing," Sam said, looking around the room with Alec. He was really glad he didn't leave the boys at the motel now. He hated that Mom had disappeared, but he wouldn't be able to handle it if his boys disappeared right now.

"You think she went back to the house?" he asked his brother.

Sam got his phone out and dialed Mom's number. He hoped she knew how to use it. He hadn't actually asked her if she knew or not. "Mom, where are you?" Sam asked. At least she had answered.

Sam quickly put the phone on speaker, so he could hear. "I'm at the Chamberlin house, on a hunch," Mom said.

"Yeah, we salted and burned all the remains," he said.

"Yeah. Didn't work," Mom stated.

"Ok, get out of the house and wait for us," he said. He couldn't lose his Mom after just getting her back.

"What? Hello?" Mom asked on the other end.

"Mom?"

"Hello?"

"Mom?"

The phone disconnected suddenly, which probably meant that she wasn't leaving the house. "C'mon, let's go," he said.

The boys ran back out to the car before he could stop them again. He shared a look with Sam, but he didn't want to get into this again with his brother. He didn't really want the boys on this hunt anymore, but he knew enough to know not to bench them this time.

He drove back to the house as fast as he could, terrified that they were going to be too late.

"Alec!" he yelled as soon as he was parked. His son ran into the house before he could stop him though, with Ben hot on his heels. He and Sam ran into the house, and he found Mom just in time to see a ghost guy touch her, and then she collapsed. He ran forward to try to help her up again. "Mom. Hey. Come on."

He grunted in pain when Mom hit him hard enough to throw him off his feet, and into the wall.

"Dean?" Sam yelled. Sam looked between him and Mom, and then said, "She's possessed." Sam reached for a chain, but Mom threw out her hand and he went flying into a shelf on the wall.

Mom ran at him and shoved him against the wall again, choking him. He shivered as he felt something freezing his chest. "My house," Mom said. "My children. Forever."

"Mom? You can fight this," he forced out.

Mom seemed to be fighting for control for a minute. Sam started forward to help him, but he shook his head no. "The basement," Mom said, looking over at Sam. "Go!" His brother took off. He hoped he could find this ghost's bones, otherwise, he was screwed.

The boys both suddenly ran at Mom once Sam was gone, but she easily threw them away from her. She cocked her head to the side, focusing on Ben. His son was barely conscious, having hit his head on one of the shelves. "A little older…but he should be one of mine," Mom said. She released him and started over to Ben.

Alec ran at Mom again, desperate to protect his brother. Mom hit him hard though, and then crouched next to him. Alec gasped in pain as Mom touched his chest.

"Mom, let him go," he said evenly, picking up a shotgun. "Don't make me do this."

Mom looked over at him and laughed. He was just about to shoot when the shotgun went flying out of his hands. Alec was nearly unconscious now, but he didn't have many moves left and Ben was still out in the corner. He could hear something from what must be the basement. He hoped Sam was having better luck than he was.

Mom moved away from Alec though and slowly stood up. She started for the door, which gave him the opening that he needed. He ran to where Sam had dropped the chain when Mom was far enough away from his boys. He wrapped Mom up in the chain, making her scream. He hated this, but he couldn't let this ghost get away with his Mom, and he could let Mom hurt his boys.

He and Mom were thrown backwards as the ghost was forced out of his Mom. He kept his Mom steady as they watched the ghost man get surrounded by ghost children before he disappeared. He breathed out in relief when Sam ran back into the room. The ghost kids slowly disappeared one at a time after the ghost man was gone until it was just them again.

Sam came over and helped Mom up, so he could go to his boys. Alec was already conscious again, but his son quickly moved over to where Ben was. He slowly crouched next to Alec, and then carefully checked Ben's head.

"Is he ok?" Alec asked worriedly.

"Give him a minute," he said. "You ok?"

"Yeah…" Alec muttered. A shiver went through his son, but he just reached over and gently rubbed his shoulder.

"Dad?" Ben suddenly whispered.

"Hey buddy," he breathed out in relief. He carefully helped Ben up, and then wrapped him up in a tight hug. "How bad does your head hurt?"

"I'm ok," Ben said.

"I'll check you over once we get home, ok?" he said.

Ben nodded, but then Alec was there, checking his brother over. "You sure you're ok?" Alec asked.

"I'm fine," Ben said again. His son frowned and grabbed Alec's hand, which was on his arm. "Are you ok? You're cold."

"I already feel a little warmer," Alec said.

"Dad, he feels cold," Ben said, ignoring Alec.

"How 'bout we make up some hot chocolate and just hang out once we get home," he suggested. "We'll take some blankets into the rec room and rest for a while to make sure you're both ok."

Both boys nodded, but neither of them moved very far away from the other. He should've just had them stay at the bunker, but it was too late now. At least they were both ok. And Mom was ok too, so that's what mattered.

"Alec," Ben sighed.

"Your head hurts, so you need ice," he said happily.

"But you're still cold," Ben said. "You shouldn't be getting me ice."

"I'm not cold anymore. I'm fine," he said. He was a little cold, but he was ok. It was nothing like the ice that had seemed to freeze his heart when Mary had touched him. That had gone away as soon as the ghost had disappeared, but he still felt a chill every once in a while, and he definitely wasn't as warm as he usually was, which was why Ben was still freaking out. But his brother had hit his head hard and had been unconscious for a lot longer than he would have liked.

Ben had squinted as soon as they had gotten home, which meant the lights were too bright and his head was hurting more than he was letting on. He'd instantly brought his brother to their room and turned out the lights, hoping the Christmas lights wouldn't hurt him. Thankfully, Ben was still on his bed once he'd gotten back with the ice, but he was still trying to turn this back around on him.

"Just put this on your head," he said when Ben didn't say anything.

"Alec…"

"I'm just gonna go take a hot shower, then I'll be nice and toasty for our movie marathon," he cut off.

Ben stood up, and he rolled his eyes since his brother wasn't going to leave him alone. Ben went with him to the large bathroom and sat on the sink counter, holding the ice pack to his head. "Mary still won't really look at us," Ben said as he started the shower, turning the water as hot as it would go. The ride home had been awkwardly quiet. He thought maybe she was sorry for attacking them when the ghost possessed her, but she hadn't said anything to them. "I thought maybe going on a hunt all together would help, like it did with us, but I don't think it helped this time."

He smiled a little, thinking about hunting dragons with his family. Dad hadn't wanted him to hunt, and he didn't really, but he'd gone with Dad and Ben to get the sword from the stone. That lady had been so pissed when Dad broke her stupid sword. He hadn't really wanted to talk to Ben at the time, but they had both started laughing when Dad made a silly face after breaking the sword.

He got into the steaming hot shower, feeling a little better as the hot water ran over him. "She's not how I remembered," he said.

"What?" Ben asked. "What are you talking about?"

"I met Mary before," he said. "But we went back in time when I met her."

"You better start talking or else I'm flushing the toilet, so the water turns cold," Ben warned.

"That's just mean," he complained.

"Just tell me about when you met Mary before," Ben said.

"It was a long time ago," he said. "Some angel was going back in time to kill John and Mary, so Uncle Sam was never born and couldn't be Lucifer's vessel. Cas sent us back to stop her. Mary was pretty nice, but she didn't want to see Dad for some reason. Dad wouldn't tell me why, but from what I could figure out, he went back before, and Mary's Mom and Dad died the last time he was there. But John was actually a lot of fun. Dad and Uncle Sam didn't talk about him or Mary much to me, but John played games with me pretty much the whole time."

"You got to meet both of them?" Ben asked, sounding a little jealous.

"Yeah, but it doesn't seem like Mary remembers me," he said. "Those dicks probably wiped her memory or something." He was glad his brother couldn't see him right now. The way Uncle Sam had looked at Mary had made him really want a Mom. He didn't have a Mom, but he had an awesome Dad and Uncle. At least he'd never be disappointed by his Mom showing up and not wanting to be around him. He didn't think he'd be able to handle that.

"I wish I could meet John," Ben said.

Ben loved John's journal, and he probably had the whole thing memorized with the amount of times that he'd read it. He wished his brother could have met John too, even though the John he met had never heard of hunting before. He kind of wished he could meet John again, but after he'd started hunting. And he really wished Ben could meet John, so he could ask him whatever he wanted. Why couldn't Amara give John back to Dean instead of Mary. Mary just didn't like them, even though she'd been fine with him when she'd met him before.

"Dad would probably tell you about him if you asked," he said. He reluctantly turned off the shower again and grabbed his towel. He felt a lot better now, so the shower had been a good idea.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Ben said. "Feel better?"

"I'm warmer now," he said. "But I'm still gonna put on some layers."

"You've got a handprint on your chest," Ben pointed out. "Better not let Dad see that, unless you want more questions."

"Shit," he muttered, looking down at his chest. "You think it'll go away?"

"Probably," Ben said with a shrug. "Does it hurt?"

"No. I didn't even notice it," he said.

"Should probably be ok, but we should keep an eye on it," Ben said.

He nodded, and then led the way back to their room. Ben was moving slower than before, so he knew it was time to find a spot to stay for a while. He got dressed as fast as he could, and then they walked back to the main room to try to find Dad. He wanted to hang out with Dad and Ben.

"Well, you gonna take a shower? Take a nap?" Dad asked someone, probably Mary. "You really went through it today."

"No, I'm ok," Mary said.

He and Ben hung back since they didn't want to make things awkward. "And, um…listen," Dad said. "Apologies if, uh, me and Sam hijacked or sidelined you in any way. I mean, this was your case, you know? And…well, you kicked ass. Again."

"I kicked ass?" Mary asked. "You saved me."

"Yeah, but you were right," Dad said. He knew they shouldn't eavesdrop since Uncle Sam had told them it was rude, but it would be really bad if they walked in right now, but he didn't want to go back to his room and wait for Dad to find them. Maybe this talk wouldn't take very long. "You know, those kids were innocent. I mean, hell, we didn't even know what Moriarty's deal was."

"I do," Mary said. "When he possessed me, I saw…I felt it. All of it. When Hugo lost his child, he went mad. Buried himself alive in his basement and walled himself in and starved to death."

"Damn," Dad muttered.

"But when new families moved in, families with children, he coveted those children," Mary said. "So, he took them. Killed them. And somehow that bound their spirits to his. That's where he got his power. He was so…greedy. Twisted."

"Mom, it's ok," Dad said. "Alright? You're home now."

It was quiet for a moment, and then Mary said, "No." He could hear footsteps, and then Ben pulled him back into the shadows so Uncle Sam wouldn't see them as he walked by. "I'm not," Mary continued. "I miss John. I miss my boys."

"We're right here, Mom," Uncle Sam said, sounding sad.

"I know. In my head," Mary said. "But I'm still mourning them as I knew them. My baby Sam. My little boy Dean. Just feels like yesterday, we were together in heaven, and now…I'm here, and John is gone, and they're gone. And you have your own kids, and every moment I spend with you, reminds me every moment I lost with them." He started to move since Dad and Uncle Sam weren't saying anything, which meant they were upset. He didn't like that Mary was upsetting his parents. But Ben still had his hand on his chest, keeping him against the wall. "And I thought hunting, working, would clear my head," Mary said when Dad and Uncle Sam still wouldn't say anything.

"Mom…what are you trying to say?" Uncle Sam finally asked.

"I have to go," Mary said. "I'm sorry. I'm so…so sorry."

Ben couldn't stop him now. Mary was leaving, which was going to make Dad and Uncle Sam sad, and he didn't want that. "Seriously?" he asked angrily. "You're not even trying!"

"Alec, wait," Ben hissed, running to catch up with him. But his brother stopped when he saw Mary pick up John's journal. That was Ben's journal; she had no right to take that.

"I just need a little time," Mary said, looking between Dad and Uncle Sam, ignoring him.

"This is so stupid," he muttered.

Mary barely looked at him and Ben before she walked over to Uncle Sam and gave him a hug. "I love you," Mary said, but it sounded hollow. She started to walk to Dad to give him a hug, but Dad took a step back and refused to look at her. "I love you both," Mary said before she started up the stairs.

He wanted to yell and scream at her, but Ben held him back again, silently telling him to let it go. Uncle Sam jumped when Mary closed the door, but Dad just stood there. "I guess the hunt didn't help," he said to Ben.

"Dad?" Ben asked softly.

Dad cleared his throat, and then forced a smile, "Hey boys, you two feelin' better?"

"Yeah," he said.

"I'm kinda dizzy and Alec's still cold even after a hot shower," Ben said. He glared at his brother, but it did help get Dad out of his mood, a little bit at least.

"Well, I promised you guys some hot chocolate and movies," Dad said. "You still wanna do that?"

He and Ben both nodded, so Dad went with them to the rec room, while Uncle Sam made hot chocolate. They sat on either side of Dad, and he felt warmer as soon as Dad wrapped his arm around him and kissed the top of his head. He knew Dad and Uncle Sam were upset about Mary leaving, but he felt better with just his family again.

Present

He practically fell down the ladder, clutching his chest to try to catch his breath. He hadn't even done anything except go upstairs to see what was going on, but the dust had gotten to him. Gabriel had healed most of his bones, but he still hadn't let him heal him completely.

He started coughing and nearly fell over from the exertion. He just needed to go inside and get a drink, and then he could go back upstairs. Except, he wasn't catching his breath. His vision was starting to go black, so he knew he didn't have much time left before he passed out.

He got into the bunker and started down the stairs when he passed out.

He woke up still on the stairs, and now in even more pain. And everyone was upstairs that he knew of, so unless he got himself up, he was going to be stuck here for a while. He did a mental check and figured that his ribs were worse, his head hurt now, and his knee really hurt. He must have twisted it. His whole body ached, and he still couldn't really breathe right, but it could be worse.

He just laid there awkwardly for a while, trying to gather his strength to move, but it wasn't working. He startled awake when the door to the bunker opened, and then someone started down the stairs.

"Alec?"

He managed to turn just a little to see Tinga coming towards him. He forced a small smile, "Hey…took a bad step…"

Tinga ran the rest of the way down to him, and then carefully got in front of him. "Need me to get your Dad?" she asked softly.

"No…no, I just need help up," he said.

"Let's try sitting up first," Tinga said. She eased him into a sitting position, and then quickly sat next to him so he could lean against her. She rubbed his back and helped him stretch out his knee, and then just sat there with him.

She started humming after a few minutes, which made him smile slightly. "Fleetwood Mac?" he asked.

"Don't tease," she said.

"No, I like that one," he said.

"Thunder only happens when it's raining

Players only love you when they're playing

Say women, they will come and they will go

When the rain washes you clean, you'll know"

He relaxed as she sang to him. She had a beautiful voice, which was one of the main reasons why being in her group for making dinner was so fun. He liked to sing badly on purpose to get Tinga and Vada laughing, which would eventually lead to them all dancing around the kitchen. Who knew making dinner could be so fun? "I miss making dinner," he admitted.

"We miss you," Tinga said. "Ben's fun, but he doesn't sing or dance while we cook."

"I should already be back, but I'm too tired by then…" he said.

"Alec, we know you didn't tell Gabriel that you're still hurt," she said. "We've been…we've been covering for you and checking on you to make sure you're ok. That's why I followed you down here."

"Did Ben put you up to this?" he asked.

"Who else," Tinga teased.

"The dust got to be too much," he said. "I couldn't breathe, so I came down here to get a drink, but I passed out on the stairs."

Tinga slowly stood up, and then helped him up. He frowned in confusion, so she said, "I'm guessing you might still want a drink, and maybe a snack?"

He smiled and nodded, thankful that it was Tinga who had found him. They had an easy friendship, and she didn't make a big deal about his injuries or try to baby him. They slowly walked to the kitchen, and even though he was limping pretty badly, she didn't try to force him to accept her help, she just kept pace with him.

He walked over to the table and sat down while Tinga turned on the radio and got him a glass of water. "What kind of snack?" he asked.

"Pizza rolls?" Tinga asked.

"Mmmm perfect," he said. He rested his leg on one of the free chairs, and then caught the bag of ice that Tinga tossed to him. "My Dad's gonna come looking for me," he muttered.

"Ben might be able to talk him down," Tinga said. "He'll tell him that I went to check on you."

"I'm shocked that Ben's not just gonna tell on me," he muttered, wincing slightly when he stretched his knee too far. He put the bag of ice in place and tried to ignore how much he hated ice. "Biggest worry wart on the planet…"

"With good reason," Tinga said with a smile.

He shrugged, "What can I say, I'm a trouble magnet."

"Or you go looking for trouble," Tinga said.

"Sometimes," he admitted with a smirk.

"Ben's not going to tell," Tinga said as she walked over to sit next to him. "We took a vote…sorta. Ben knew before us, but once we brought it up to him that we knew you were still hurt, he's the one that convinced us to relax." He frowned in confusion, so she continued, "He said that you would heal in your own time, and that we needed to back off. Zack argued the most. He thought you should let Gabriel heal you the rest of the way and just get it over with. He and Seth started fighting. You know how guys are."

"You guys really care about that?" he asked. He liked Ben's unit, and he was friends with everyone, but he hadn't expected to be the topic of conversation, let alone a fight. He wasn't worth all that.

"You mean you," she corrected. "And yeah, Alec, we care about you. You're our brother now too. Sorry if you didn't want more siblings 'casue we're not going away. And don't be mad at Zack for wanting you to let Gabriel heal you the rest of the way. He just doesn't like seeing you hurt. But Seth's the better fighter, and Ben knows you the best, so he lost. Plus, it's still your decision, and Ben said that you would do whatever you wanted either way, but if we didn't argue with you about it, then he said we could try to look out for you and help you however you'd let us."

"I should just let Gabriel heal me the rest of the way, I'm just being a baby," he muttered. He was making them worry for no reason. He should've just gotten this over with and then he'd already be done with healing. And now everyone was worried about him and fighting about it…

Tinga put her hand on his and gave him a gentle squeeze, "You're not being a baby. Max told us what it was like when Gabriel healed her leg…And that was just one bone and some cuts. You were hurt way worse than that, and Gabriel had to heal you slowly. We don't blame you for refusing his help. You're just going to have to deal with us watching out for you for a while."

"As long as you don't tell my Dad, then I'm cool with it," he said. Dad would be pissed if he found out that he hadn't let Gabriel heal him completely.

She smiled a little, "We won't tell, but I'd be pretty shocked if he didn't already know."

He just nodded since she was probably right.

He smiled a little when he saw Liam cuddled up against Alec, both of them fast asleep. He knew his brother was still hurting, he'd argued with his brothers and sisters for a long time to try to convince them to just leave Alec alone, but he was still worried. Alec was good at pretending to be fine, but he knew his brother.

"Quit staring at me," Alec grumbled, his eyes still closed.

He rolled his eyes but slowly got up. "Want anything?"

"Chocolate milk," Alec mumbled.

"I think Dad brought donuts. Want any?" he asked.

"Yeah, bring some for Liam too," Alec said.

He went to the kitchen and found Dad setting it all up. "Hey buddy," Dad said when he walked in. "Tryin' to get a jump on the best ones?"

"Yeah, I wanna make sure Alec gets his favorite," he said.

"How is Alec…" Dad asked, trying to sound casual.

"Good," he replied. He wasn't going to tell on his brother. He was watching out for him, and so was everyone else, so he wasn't going to tell.

Dad was quiet for a long time, but then finally asked, "You'll tell me if he starts getting worse, right?" He nodded; of course Dad knew Alec was still hurt. They shouldn't even try to keep secrets anymore. "I won't push it. I know he's not going to let Gabriel try again. I just wanna make sure he's ok."

"He's ok," he said. "His ribs still hurt and his chest. He gets dizzy sometimes, but he's getting better."

"Maybe you two could hang out today," Dad said. "He keeps disappearing when we work upstairs. I don't want him to be alone for a few weeks still."

He chuckled, "Weeks is a long time for Alec."

"I know," Dad muttered.

"I think Alec's wanting to hide in our room today anyway," he said. "He didn't really want to get up, even when I mentioned donuts." Dad looked up in concern, so he quickly reassured, "I don't think it's the seizures. He's just being lazy. And he wants some space."

"Lazy is more like Alec," Dad said.

"We'll hang out inside today," he said. "I'm guessing Seth's gonna go into withdraw soon anyway if we don't play some video games."

Dad chuckled, and then messed up his hair. "Alright, just tell me if he needs anything and I'll get it." He hesitated since he wanted to try something, but he was afraid to bring it up. He didn't want Alec to be mad at him, but he had an idea. "What is it, buddy?" Dad asked, knowing he wanted something.

"I had an idea, but it's a bad one…" he said.

"An idea about what?" Dad asked.

"About Manticore and Alec's seizures," he said.

Dad looked surprised, "Really? What is it?"

"Well, the angels killed everyone, which means they either went to heaven, hell, or they stayed here as a ghost," he said as fast as he could. "My guess would be hell."

Dad thought about it for a second before he slowly nodded, "You want to talk to Crowley."

"I don't want to tell him that Alec's hurt or anything, but he's the king, so he could get us some scientists…" he said. "But I'm afraid to talk to him by myself. I was going to talk to him by myself when you and Uncle Sam were in that other universe, but I chickened out and drug Alec into it. I don't wanna drag Alec into it this time, but…I'm really scared that the seizures are going to come back. He barely survived last time, and since he's still hurt…it's just a matter of time."

"I'm not a fan of talking to Crowley, but I think you're right," Dad said. "Let's give him a call in a bit when Alec's busy doin' something."

"I can see if Max or Kavi can keep Alec busy for a while," he said.

Dad walked over to him and wrapped him in a hug. "We'll get him back. This is a really good lead. Good thinking."

He rested against his Dad, feeling like a weight was lifted since they had an idea of where to start. This still could be a bad idea, but it was better than nothing. He just wished he could tell Alec. But he knew his brother would want to be there when they talked to Crowley, and he wasn't ok with that. Not with Alec still hurt. He and Dad could talk to Crowley and see if he would be willing to help.

"I'm gonna take Alec some donuts before he gets suspicious," he said after a moment.

"Find me later, and we'll talk to Crowley," Dad said.

"You won't talk to him without me, will you?" he asked.

"No, this is your idea," Dad said. "I'll back you up and let you take the lead unless you want me to take over."

"Thanks Dad," he said with a smile.

Dad looked sad for a minute, but then smiled a little, "You boys are growin' up too fast." Dad took a deep breath before he reached out and ruffled his hair. "Go find your brother. We'll call Crowley later."

He grabbed some donuts for him, Alec, and Liam to split and grabbed a chocolate milk for his brother before he ran back to his room. He felt better having an idea that might actually save his brother. He hated asking Crowley to help, but if it meant Alec could be done with the seizures forever, then he would ask anyone. He wanted his brother to be ok. He never wanted to lose Alec.

"Hey," Max said as she walked into the rec room.

"Hey," he replied without looking away from the screen. He and Seth were racing, and he really didn't want to lose. He hated losing, and even though Seth was really good at video games, he had played this game for years.

"No, no, no, no, no," Seth muttered, standing up slightly to try to go faster. He breathed out in relief when he crossed the finish line just a hair before Seth. "Damn," Seth said with a smile. "One of these days I'm gonna beat you at this game."

"We'll see," he said as Max sat next to him on the sofa. His ribs were starting to hurt again, and he was starting to think it was time for another nap soon, but he thought maybe he could play one more game.

He was surprised to see Kavi walk in a moment later though, which was weird. Usually he only had one babysitter at a time, and since Max had come in, then Seth was probably going to go do something else. But Kavi was here now, which either meant that their schedules had gotten mixed up for babysitter duties, or something was going on that his family didn't want him to know about.

He really wanted to know what was going on, but he decided to play along. He'd find out soon enough anyway, and he knew he was too hurt to help with anything right now. But if he was healed the rest of the way, then he could know what was going on right now. He sighed to himself, and then asked Kavi, "Do you know where Gabriel is?"

"What? Why do you want to know where Gabriel is?" Kavi asked, sharing a look with Max and Seth.

"Obviously something is going on. I have way too many babysitters at once, so that means Ben wants me to stay out of something. So, where's Gabriel?" he asked. "He could heal me the rest of the way, and then I don't have to be treated with kid gloves anymore."

The three of them were all quiet, so he stood up and started out of the room. "Alec, wait," Kavi said, running after him. He stopped when Kavi ran in front of him, letting him say whatever he wanted before he went looking for Gabriel again. It would be easier to just have Kavi tell him where Gabe was. "Are you sure you wanna do this? They wanted you to hang out here for a reason."

"Any idea what that reason is?" he asked.

"They didn't tell us," Kavi said honestly. "They just said that you wouldn't like it, and that we should keep you busy for a while."

He rolled his eyes, his brother never learned. If he wanted him to stay out of something, he needed to be way less suspicious about it. "Do you know where Gabe is or not?" he asked.

"He's upstairs," Kavi said. He started walking again, and Kavi followed him. "Are you sure? Alec…I know you're healed more than you were, but they'll tell you after they do whatever it is they're doing. You sure you want Gabe healing you again?"

"I don't care about having babysitters, and since I'm not allowed to hunt right now, I know I'm not gonna be part of anything big or exciting, but I don't like secrets," he muttered. "All they had to do was tell me what was going on, and I'd be fine with sitting in the rec room all day."

He walked outside and headed for the ladders. He was mostly back anyway, so this shouldn't be too bad, but he still hesitated. "You still don't have to do this," Kavi said. "We could go back inside and wait for them to get back. They'll tell you once they come back, and I know Ben didn't want to keep this from you, but whatever it is…He wants to protect you. That's all."

He climbed the ladder without hesitating anymore. He knew what Ben was doing, he didn't know why, but he didn't like it. Kavi held the ladder steady for him, and then followed him up once he was inside. He looked around for a minute before he spotted Gabriel with Krit and Zack, putting in another support beam.

He walked right up to Gabriel and said, "Heal me."

"Whoa there, cowboy," Gabriel said. "Pump the brakes. Your Dad's not here, so I'm not doing anything."

At least Ben had backup, but that meant Dad was keeping secrets from him too. "Fine. I'll just go find Rowena, have her do a quick spell for me, and I'll find them without being at full strength. Your choice."

Gabriel sighed, "You just love putting me in awkward situations…"

"Alec," Zack said as he slowly stood up. "What's going on?"

"Oh nothing. Just my overprotective lying twin brother is keeping secrets from me, which he knows I hate, so I'm gonna find out what they're doing. I'd rather be completely healed when I go find out what this bad idea of his is…I already have a guess, so I'd really like to be healed if I'm right," he said.

"Maybe we should go find Sam," Zack said. "He could tell you what's going on."

"Um…actually, Sam went with them," Gabriel said.

"Then we should get Donna," Zack said.

"You have five seconds to heal me, or else I'm finding Rowena," he warned. Gabriel quickly put two fingers on his forehead, and then white-hot pain went through him. He clenched his jaw as tightly as he could as the rest of his bones moved into place and completely mended. He gasped once Gabriel pulled away from him, and his legs immediately gave out. Kavi managed to catch him, and then gently lowered him the rest of the way down.

"Alec, can you hear me?" Kavi asked.

"Yeah…I'm good," he breathed. He really did feel better. His chest didn't hurt anymore, and he felt like he could actually breathe again. He just needed a minute to try to forget the pain of getting instantly healed like that.

"Maybe we should call your Dad…" Krit said, walking over to stand next to Zack.

He pushed Kavi's hands off of him, and then forced himself to get up. "Where's Rowena?" he asked. His voice was still rough from the pain, but he'd get back to normal soon. "Unless someone knows where they went, tell me where Rowena is," he growled.

He started to blur when everyone continued to stay silent, but he was suddenly tugged back with an arm around his waist. He glared at Zack when he realized he was the one who had grabbed him, and then he shoved him to get him to let go. Zack grabbed his arm and flung him down to the ground, so he rolled to bring Zack down with him.

He jumped up, but he was immediately tackled by Krit. He was getting really tired of this. He struggled to get out from under Krit, but then he was blocked by Kavi.

He was just about to blur again when someone touched his forehead. "No…" he whispered, but it was too late.

"Sorry kid," Gabriel said right before he was knocked out.

He could hear people talking outside his room. He was in bed now, so someone carried him down the ladder and brought him back inside after Gabriel knocked him out. He turned slightly but stopped when he realized that someone was in his room.

"It's just me," Ben said. He turned back over and ignored his brother. "Alec, I'm sorry…Are you ok? Kavi said that Gabriel healed you the rest of the way, and then knocked you out." He still refused to answer him or even acknowledge that he was in the same room as him. "Zack and Krit want to talk to you. They wanna apologize for whatever happened."

"Just go away," he mumbled since Ben wasn't getting it.

"Alec-"

"You left me here completely in the dark," he snapped, turning to glare at his brother. "You went and called Crowley! I don't want to talk to you or Dad or Uncle Sam. Or anyone! Go. Away."

"Alec," Ben said with a sigh.

He stood up and stormed out of the room. Kavi, Zack, and Krit were all outside, but he just walked past all of them. He needed somewhere that he could hide for a while, but Ben knew all of his hiding spots. There were too many people in this stupid underground bunker. He wanted out.

He took off running, and he didn't stop. He ran outside, and then turned off of the road to run through the field. He knew this was a bad idea and he was going to be in trouble when he got back, but he was pissed off, so he knew he would do something he regretted if he stuck around. He needed some time by himself, and his family shouldn't mind since they wanted him to stay out of it anyway.

He climbed a tree that was near a creek and just hid in the branches. He hadn't even realized it was raining until he finally just stopped for a few minutes. He was soaked, and he hated being wet, but he hated being kept in the dark more. He wasn't allowed to do anything anymore.

His phone started ringing in his pocket, but he ignored it. He didn't want to talk to anyone. They knew how much he hated secrets, but his family still wouldn't tell him things. He didn't care that they wanted to talk to Crowley about something. He wasn't going to have a panic attack or something just from hearing Crowley's name.

He got a little more comfortable in the tree and decided to just wait out the storm. He was already going to be in trouble for taking off, so he might as well put off getting his ass chewed out for as long as possible. Besides, this tree wasn't so bad. There were just a few drips because of the leaves over him, and he liked being up where he could see anyone who might have followed him.

He missed his upstairs hideout. It was still under construction, and he wasn't really allowed to go up there without supervision until it was done. He was really tired of the constant supervision. Everyone just needed to relax a little. The seizures hadn't killed him yet, so there was no reason to panic. He was fine. He hadn't even gotten the seizures because of the upstairs collapsing on top of him, so he didn't need babysitters all the time, and he could handle finding out that his family wanted to talk to Crowley for some reason.

He sighed when he heard someone yelling his name. They were already out looking for him. He slowly climbed down from the tree and headed back to the bunker. He found Zack and Seth first, both part of the search party for him. Ben must have seriously freaked out.

"What the hell?" Zack asked angrily when he spotted him. "We've been out here looking for you."

"I'm not a baby. I'm an X5 just like all of you," he snapped.

"Alec, we're just worried about you," Seth said.

"Why? I got healed just like everyone wanted," he grumbled. "I won't need babysitters anymore, so you'll have to find something else to do." He walked past both of them and tried to ignore the way they followed him. His phone started vibrating a few seconds later, which meant either Zack or Seth told his brother that they found him. He just let his phone keep ringing. Ben could get over it.

He walked back to the bunker with his two bodyguards, but he didn't make it all the way inside. An angry blur plowed into him before he was all the way to the door. He grunted at the impact, and his breath left him when he hit the ground. "You can't run off like that!" Ben yelled, holding him down. "What if you'd had a seizure?! We couldn't find you, you idiot!"

"Get off me!" he yelled back, pushing at Ben's shoulder.

"You're pissed off for no reason," Ben snapped as he slowly stood up.

"Really? When was the last time I went behind your back to do something and hid it from you?" he challenged.

"I called Crowley for you," Ben said. His brother had calmed down again since his anger rarely lasted long. He stayed on the ground, afraid that he would hit his brother if he got up right now. "I didn't want to get your hopes up, so I didn't tell you. I didn't want you to be disappointed if he couldn't do anything."

"I don't want his help," he said.

"Too bad," Ben said, grabbing his arm to haul him up. He tried to pull away, but Ben was ready for him. And now Seth and Zack were standing right behind him on either side to keep him from running away again.

Ben forced him inside, practically pushing him down the stairs. Dad and Uncle Sam were there waiting for him, and they both looked seriously pissed off. Zack and Seth thankfully left once he was sitting at the map table. He didn't want them to hear his Dad chew him out for his little stunt.

He started getting a little nervous when no one said anything. He didn't like the silence. He knew he was in trouble, so he wanted to get this over with already. But they just kept glaring at him. He curled up as much as he could on the wooden chair, wrapping his arms around his knees. He really wanted to run away again, but now he was too afraid to run.

"Alec, you can't do that," Dad finally said. "You can't take off like that again, you understand me?"

"Yes sir," he whispered.

"Obviously you're grounded," Dad continued, sounding a little less mad, which was good, but he was still mad at him, and he didn't like that. He didn't point out that he was technically already grounded since he wasn't allowed to do anything, but he didn't want to make things worse.

"We don't want to take away time with your friends, but that's all we have left," Uncle Sam said. "You'll do your chores, and you'll cooperate with the Manticore scientists and do what they say."

He pulled his knees closer to his chest and tried to stop the shiver that went up his spine. It felt like a bucket of ice water had just been dumped on him. How did they find the scientists? Was this happening right now? He felt like he was going to be sick.

"I didn't get that far," Ben said to Dad and Uncle Sam.

"Alec, Crowley is going to hell right now to get some of the scientists," Dad said, his voice a lot softer now. "We'll watch them the whole time. They're going to help you."

He hid against his legs, afraid that he was going to start doing something stupid like cry or something. But he didn't want to do this. He didn't want to have seizures, but he didn't want anything to do with Manticore. He didn't want to be poked and prodded for hours on end and tested until he felt like dying would just be better. He didn't want to have seizures again, but he felt like this was worse. They definitely should have told him sooner that they were going to do this. He needed more time to think about it before he could just be ok with this.

"Alec?" Ben asked softly. He must have known he wasn't dealing with this. "Alec, it's not going to be like Manticore," Ben said when he remained silent. "I won't let them treat you like they did when we were kids."

"If there was another way, we wouldn't do this," Dad said.

"Can I go to my room," he whispered.

Dad sighed, but then nodded, "I'll bring you something to eat in a while."

He got up and went to his room, changing into dry clothes before he laid down. He should probably get some sleep before the scientists got there, but he couldn't. At least everyone left him alone. Dad tried to bring him some food, but he knew he wouldn't be able to keep it down, so he didn't eat any. He knew Ben came into the room at some point, but thankfully, his brother didn't try to talk to him.

He didn't want to talk to anyone, and he definitely didn't want to be around Manticore scientists, even if they were going to help.

He hated it when he had to punish his kids. He knew keeping things from Alec was never a good idea, but Alec had to know that running off couldn't happen. His son could have had seizures, and they never would have found him. If Alec didn't want to be found, then he wouldn't be.

But his son was terrified. As soon as Sam said that Alec had to cooperate with the scientist from Manticore, he knew he'd messed up. Alec looked like he was about to have a heart attack right there, and he hadn't come out of his room since. He didn't know how he could make this better, but he hated it when Alec was like this.

"Has he said anything?" he asked when Ben walked into the kitchen the next morning.

"No, he's just been pretending to sleep," Ben said.

"Dammit…" he breathed. "Ok…I'll go try to talk to him. Maybe ungrounding him will help."

"I don't think he really wants to do anything anyway," Ben said as he sat down across from him. "I shouldn't have kept this from him…Maybe we should call Crowley again and tell him to forget it."

"Ben, we need help. Alec can't go through the seizures anymore, so we need to have them help us," he said. "I hate the thought of having those bastards in here anywhere close to you two, but I can't lose you or Alec." Ben just nodded, so he quickly got up and gently pulled Ben to his feet. He hugged Ben as tightly as he could, realizing he didn't hug his boys often enough anymore. Ben nearly collapsed against him, hugging him back like his life depended on it. "It's gonna be ok," he whispered. "We're gonna get Alec's seizures taken care of, then we're gonna find Mom, Jody, Jack, and Cas, and then we're gonna take the biggest vacation there ever was."

"Good," Ben said.

He pulled Ben back just a little and kissed his forehead before he brushed his hair back. "We're gonna figure everything out," he said. "I know we will. We'll just have to get Alec on board."

"I'll just be happy when Alec's ok again," Ben said.

"Me too," he agreed. He left Ben in the kitchen and walked to the room that his boys shared. The Christmas lights were still on, but Alec was alone in his room, laying on his bed, his back to the door. He walked over and sat next to Alec on his bed. "Hey kiddo," he said, rubbing Alec's back. Alec didn't move or acknowledge him at all. "You wanna go for a drive? We could get some ice cream like we did when you were little."

"No thanks," Alec whispered.

"How 'bout we play some video games or something?" he suggested.

"I'm grounded," Alec mumbled.

"Well, I'm ungrounding you," he said, hoping that would get Alec to at least turn to face him, but his little boy didn't move. "C'mon, we can do whatever you want."

"I want to sleep," Alec said.

That backfired. "Want a beer?' he asked. Sam would throw the biggest fit ever if he gave Alec a beer, but if it got Alec to get up and do something, then he'd deal with Sam's bitch fit. Alec finally looked at him in surprise, which definitely got his hopes up, but then he turned again and didn't say anything. "Alright, well, you're not allowed to stay in here all day, so pick something."

"I want to go to the ocean," Alec said.

"Done. Pack a bag," he said, standing up. He'd go find Ben and have him back a bag too, and then see if Sam wanted to stay with the kids or go with them.

"Are you serious?" Alec asked, sitting up to face him.

"I said you could pick anything. You said ocean," he said. "We'll have to drive to get to the ocean, so pack a bag. I'll go get your brother." Alec just blinked a few times, so he asked, "Do you want to change your answer?"

"No," Alec quickly replied. "I wanna go to the ocean."

"Want everyone to go with us, or just me, you, your brother, and Uncle?" he asked. He'd find a way to get everyone there if that's what Alec wanted, but he knew his son. Alec wanted it to just be them.

"Can it just be us?" Alec asked. He smiled since he still knew his kid.

"Sure can," he said. He ruffled Alec's hair and kissed his forehead. "Pack a bag," he said again before he left the room.

"You know this might backfire…" Sam muttered 12 hours later when they were hanging out on the beach together as a family. Ben and Alec were swimming while he and Sam stayed on the beach. He wasn't really a fan of going places like this, but he would do anything for his boys, and they had always like the beach. "Alec might figure out this was a good way to get whatever he wants…"

"I don't care if he uses it every week," he said. "Those two deserve whatever they want. And what's comin'…He's scared Sam. I think he's more afraid of those Manticore scientist than the actual seizures."

"You know what they did to them. And Alec had it worse than Ben after Ben left," Sam said. "I think the only thing Alec's more afraid of than Manticore, is Crowley. And now we're trusting Crowley to help him. I know I agreed with it, but I can see why Alec's upset."

"If there's another way to help him, I'm all for it," he muttered. "I don't want those bastards anywhere near them. Or the other kids."

"Maybe we should try the doctor again before we do this," Sam said.

"Sam, we need to get this figured out. Ben's gonna start having them just from stressing about Alec having them," he said. "And if they find something, then it can help all the kids."

"Yeah…I just don't like them being close to the boys," Sam muttered.

"Me either," he agreed.

The boys swam for a long time, until they were both practically starving. Sam and Ben went to the boardwalk to get some food, while Alec stayed with him on the beach. Alec pulled his t-shirt on as he sat down on their ratty blanket. They sat together, watching the sun go down in silence.

"I'm sorry for running off," Alec whispered.

He wrapped his arm around Alec's shoulders and pulled him against his side. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you," he said, kissing the top of Alec's head. "If those bastards even look at you funny, I'll kill them just so Crowley can bring them back and I'll kill 'em again."

Alec chuckled, "Does that mean I can shoot them too?"

"Leave the shooting up to me, ok kiddo," he said with a smile. "Although, I think I'll have to confiscate Ben's gun…He might shoot 'em as soon as Crowley brings them up."

"Good," Alec said.

"Same with all your friends," he said, making Alec smile. "Had more than one angry transgenic to deal with before we left since I grounded you. I didn't think Kavi knew how to argue."

"Kavi?" Alec asked, surprised.

He chuckled, "Yeah, kid was pissed. He and Tinga made a pretty strong case for your freedom."

"Now I feel bad for not letting them come with us," Alec said with a small smile.

"We'll take another vacation after this is all over," he said. "We'll go anywhere you want."

"I like it here," Alec said.

"Then we'll come back here," he said. "I know this is gonna suck, but I can't lose you, kiddo."

"Dad…if this doesn't work…you'll have to let me go," Alec said. "I don't wanna die, but I don't want you or Ben or Uncle Sam doing something stupid to bring me back. I've had a good life. If it's my time to go, then you gotta let me go."

"You know that's never gonna happen," he said. "We're gonna find a cure for the seizures, we'll get the rest of our family back, and then we're retiring. You and Ben and all those other kids are going to get to be kids. And we're gonna enjoy life. You don't get to check out on me, you hear me?" Alec just nodded, so he knew he wasn't saying the right thing. He just hated the thought of losing either of his boys. "If something does happen to you, I'm gonna do anything I can to bring you back, but I won't let Ben trade his soul for you."

"Don't let Ben do anything stupid if I die," Alec corrected.

"Nothing stupid," he promised. "I'll have constant babysitters around until I find a way to bring you back."

Alec chuckled, "Good. Nothing stupid."

"But that means you gotta do everything you can to stay with us," he said.

Alec nodded and leaned against him some more. "Can you be there the whole time?"

"I'm not going anywhere," he said.

No more pouting. Dad took him to the beach to make him feel better, so he wasn't going to pout about something that he wasn't going to be able to stop. He pretended to be ok as soon as they got home, laughing with his friends and hanging out, but he was terrified. Dad said Crowley was going to bring the scientist today, and that was the only thing he could think about.

"Alec, it's no fun to beat you if you're not paying attention," Seth said, making him jump.

"Sorry…maybe Ben should play the next round," he said. His brother wouldn't leave his side, and normally that would be annoying, but he was so freaked out, he might have a mental breakdown if Ben went somewhere else right now. Dad and Uncle Sam were hovering too, and they were both making him eat a lot, but that just made him feel like he was going to throw up. He couldn't eat or sleep; all he could do was worry about what was going to happen.

"We could watch a movie," Max suggested. He just shrugged since he wasn't going to be able to pay attention during a movie. But if everyone else wanted to watch a movie, then maybe he could take a nap or something.

"Just pick whatever," Ben said when he didn't answer.

He ended up sleeping on the sofa with Ben sitting protectively next to him. He didn't even know what movie everyone else picked. He didn't sleep for very long since Dad walked in about halfway through the movie, but he didn't get up.

"How long's he been asleep?" Dad asked Ben.

"Since the movie started," Ben replied.

"Alright…come find me once it's over," Dad said.

"Dad…"

"Just let him sleep," Dad said when Ben trailed off, refusing to ask if it was time or not. His brother probably knew he was sort of awake and didn't want to mess it up.

"Guess you've got until the end of the movie," Ben said once Dad left the room.

"They're here already?" he mumbled.

"Yeah, but Dad probably wants you to sleep some more. They've probably gotta set stuff up anyway," Ben said.

"Make sure Liam isn't around for any of this," he said. "He shouldn't be around them, and I don't know how bad…this is gonna get."

"Alright," Ben said as he nodded in understanding.

He tried to sleep some more, but now he really couldn't. He finally just stood up and started over to the infirmary. He was guessing that would be where they set up since it was his least favorite part of the bunker and everything about this sucked. Ben followed him, but thankfully everyone else stayed back.

Dad was already waiting for them in the infirmary, along with four scientists from Manticore. His stomach turned when he recognized two of them. Ben put his hand on his back when he stopped, but his brother was glaring at the four scientists. He wondered if Ben recognized any of them.

"Hey kiddo, they're just getting set up," Dad said.

"Do you know what the plan is?" Ben asked.

"From what they've told me so far, they're going to get some samples first," Dad said. "But I'm not gonna let them do anything until they spell it out completely for me."

"Where's Uncle Sam?" he whispered.

"He's on his way," Dad said. "He's grabbin' some stuff for you."

He watched the head guy. He was the one he really recognized. He had graying hair with cold, dark eyes. He felt sick just looking at him. He could practically feel the scalpel against his skin as they took out his appendix. They took out everyone's appendix at the age of six to test how they responded to surgery and to get them used to pain. That guy had been the head surgeon for him more than once.

"Do you know that one?" Ben whispered to him. He nodded and took a small step closer to his Dad when the guy looked at him. "Tell Crowley that one has to go," Ben said to Dad.

"He couldn't find very many that were still intact," Dad said. "We'll watch him. I'm not gonna let him do something to you."

"He already did something to him, Dad," Ben stressed.

"I'm ok," he whispered.

"No, you're not," Ben argued. "You don't watch people like that unless you have a problem with them."

"Ben, what if that guy is the one that can figure this out?" Dad asked. "He said…he said he knew Alec. Was his doctor more than once or something."

"He took out my appendix and fixed my leg once…I think I was assigned to him," he said.

"He might be our best shot," Dad said.

"If he does anything I don't like, I'll shoot him," Ben stated.

"Hey, we already had this talk. You two aren't shooting anyone," Dad said.

"I'll break his neck if he hurts my brother," Ben growled.

"Dude, pull it back," he said, smiling just a little. "Dad's not gonna let them hurt me. I'm just overreacting. It's fine."

"You say the word, they're dead," Ben whispered to him.

"Thanks Ben," he said.

"Anything for you, brother," Ben said.

More soon...