Raising Winchesters

Chapter 26

Dean woke up to the sound of the door opening. The single light in the small room worked to cast more shadows in the small room than it did to illuminate it, but he could make out the outline of someone. Or something, maybe. Pulling himself up into a sitting position, Dean pulled his legs into his chest and wrapped his arms around them. His body was shaking, both from fear and from being cold, and Dean desperately tried to calm himself down.

He watched as the shadow moved further into the room and he could just barely make out that it seemed to be holding something. When the shape started to make its way further into the room, Dean jumped to his feet. His eyes rarely moved from the shape, but he did throw a quick glance over to the door, trying to figure out if there was any chance of escaping. Unfortunately, he saw the shape of someone or something else just outside of the door.

As his eyes moved back to the form in front of him, Dean was surprised to see that it was a woman. He was also surprised to see that she was holding out a tray of food. When he didn't reach out to take it, she bent down and placed the tray onto the floor.

"I know you're probably hungry. You should try to eat, Dean."

"I wanna go home," Dean immediately answered. He tried to control his emotions, but he could hear the waver in his voice.

The woman moved a few steps backwards and leaned against the wall to Dean's left. "I think you know that's not going to happen."

"Why? What do you want?"

"I think you know what I want, Dean. I think you know why you're here."

"I d-don't."

"Don't you? You've already forgotten what happened at the cabin? The fact that you killed an innocent creature?"

Dean suddenly felt like he was going to throw up. "I had to," he said as he tried to take in some deep breaths. "I had to protect my…." He stopped himself from continuing.

"Protect who? Your brother? Your Sammy?"

Dean didn't answer, not wanting to even bring the idea of his little brother to the woman's attention.

"I know all about Sammy, Dean. How you'd do anything to protect him, right? And how your dad expects you to do anything to protect him."

"You don't know anything about that."

"Yes, I do, because I know your dad. I know the kind of man John Winchester is, Dean. But, don't worry…. I'm going to make sure he doesn't hurt you anymore."

Dean had no idea what the woman was talking about. "My dad doesn't hurt me."

The woman clucked her tongue strangely as she looked down at him and Dean couldn't help but squirm under her gaze. "Your dad is a bad man, Dean. Surely you know that."

"He's not! My dad…. He's a hero. And he'd never hurt me."

"But he does. How many times does he leave you alone in some dirty motel room to take care of your brother, Dean? How often do you have to sleep in the back of a car because he's hell-bent on getting to some hunt halfway across the country? How many times have you gone to bed hungry, Dean? Or scared? How many times has your father put someone else's safety and well-being in front of his own family's?"

Dean didn't know how to answer the woman. There was a part of him that knew those things weren't normal. That dads shouldn't allow those things to happen. He knew that he was too young to be left alone with Sam and that it wasn't okay to go to bed hungry like they sometimes did. But, he also knew that those things happened because his dad was doing something really, really important. He was saving people and hunting things. Monsters. Like the woman standing before him and the creatures that had gathered outside of Bobby's house.

Dean also knew that his dad would save him. That he would find him and take him back to Sammy. He knew. He just needed to be ready for that to happen.

John Winchester felt like his heart was about to leap out of his throat. Every second he spent without knowing where his son was drove him closer and closer to the edge of a massive cliff. He felt like he was just one step away from falling, from completely losing the sanity he'd barely had a hold on to begin with.

This obviously wasn't the first time one of his boys had been in danger and he hated himself for that. Every time he'd found his boys in a situation like that, he would tell himself that it wouldn't ever happen again. He would tell himself that nothing was more important than the safety of his sons.

It never lasted, though. He would try to give his boys a normal childhood, but the minute any type of hunt came up, all of his best intentions were shoved aside. He knew it wasn't right. He knew.

And now Dean was gone. Dean was in danger. Dean was scared. And John hated himself again. He hated how much of a failure he was as a father. Dean deserved so much better than the crappy life he'd been handed.

John was thankful that Bobby was with him. He truly felt like he might not be able to hold it together for too much longer, so having Bobby by his side gave him at least a modicum of peace and hope. He knew that the older hunter loved his boys like they were his own and he appreciated that. Bobby would find Dean or die trying. And he was one of the best hunters John had ever known.

The trip to the abandoned dockyard had been made mostly in silence. Occasionally, Bobby would throw out some tidbit of information, regurgitating some fact that they'd already gone over at least ten times. They had very little to go on, but John had faith in the fact that both he and Bobby were good at what they did. They were good at adapting and improvising. Even though they weren't completely sure of what they were facing, John would put his money on the hunting team of Winchester/Singer at any time. Especially when the stakes were so high.

By the time they arrived at the abandoned boatyard, it had already been almost two hours since Dean had been taken. The boatyard was bigger than John had anticipated and it appeared to be completely deserted. The only thing that made John think they were in the right place was the fact that they saw a rather large lemur skulking around the yard. As far as he knew, lemurs weren't indigenous to North America.

"Do you see that?' Bobby pointed at the lemur that still hadn't noticed them.

"Yeah. Unless lemurs have relocated, I'd say we're in the right place. Let's go." John reached down to open the door, but Bobby held out a hand to stop him.

"Wait, John. Take a breath. We can't go off half-cocked. We have to do this right."

Every fiber of John's being wanted to storm through the boatyard looking for his son. Every single fiber. But he knew that Bobby was right. They needed to take a minute, evaluate the situation, and form at least a semblance of a plan. The boatyard was rather large and there were only two of them. They couldn't afford to make any mistakes.

"What do you think?" he finally asked.

Bobby took a few minutes to study the boatyard before answering. There were several small outbuildings on the east side of the yard and one large warehouse on the west side. The rest of the yard was filled with several abandoned boats in various stages of disrepair. Both John and Bobby realized that there were way too many places to search in a timely, yet thorough manner. Luckily, as they continued to survey the yard, they noticed a few more creatures lurking around one of the larger boats. Both figured that that was probably the best place to start, at least.

Not really knowing exactly how to kill whatever they were facing, they decided to just load up with as many options as they could… silver bullets, consecrated iron rounds, witch killing bullets, salt rounds, silver knives, iron stakes. They had a little bit of everything, but still felt woefully unprepared.

Dean wished the woman would just leave him alone, but unfortunately she stayed and continued to talk to him about his dad. He had no idea what her deal was, though. Why did she hate his dad so much? And what did that have to do with whatever happened at the cabin?

The nausea he'd been feeling earlier came back in full force. He figured it was probably because he needed to eat something, but he wasn't about to eat the food she'd brought in. He knew there was a good chance she'd poisoned or drugged it.

"There's nothing wrong with the food, Dean," she suddenly said, as if she had read his mind. "I promise. You need to eat."

Dean continued to ignore the food, even though his stomach was now growling loudly. He did reach down and grab the bottle of water, though, happy to see that it was still sealed. After taking several small gulps of water, he looked back at the lady. "Why am I here?"

"I think you know the answer to that question. I'm counting on the fact that John will come looking for you. He and I need to have a little talk, to say the least."

"Why do you hate my dad so much?"

"I don't think that's something I want to get into with a child, Dean. Suffice it to say that he did something to me and my family that I'll never forgive him for. So now I'm doing something to his family."

Dean's face paled at her words, wondering exactly what she meant by that.

"Don't worry, Dean. As long as he does what I say, you'll be fine. I won't hurt you unless your father forces my hand. I promise."

Dean didn't find any comfort in her words. And he hated to admit it, but there was a part of him that didn't trust his dad not to force her hand. Dean couldn't stop the tears that filled his eyes and spilled over onto his cheeks. He was cold, tired, hungry, and scared, and he just wanted to go back to Sammy. That's all he ever wanted.

Author's note: Whew! The holidays are finally over and things are hopefully getting back to normal. I'm really sorry for the long wait and for the shorter chapter. I really wanted to get something out to you all, even if it is a little shorter than normal.

I'm hoping to be able to get back to my usual update schedule now that everything is finally getting back to normal. Please be patient, though….

And thanks so much for reading and reviewing. I'll be replying to reviews soon, but I wanted to say a quick thanks to those who guest reviewers, too. I can't reply to your reviews on , so I want you to know that I appreciate you.

Thanks, again, y'all. And here's to an amazing new year. So much lies ahead of us and I hope we all can face it head on with a smile on our faces. Take care.