Chapter 3

Dean was leaning against the counter at the coffee pot waiting for it to finish making when he heard a noise behind him. He tilted his head to the doorway to see Jack walking in sock footed in sweats and a tee shirt. He was rubbing his eyes and yawning and it made Dean stiffen because he looked just like a regular kid waking up from a night's sleep. Even his hair was tousled and sticking out in all directions like a mouse played in it last night. To look at him, no one would believe he was Lucifer's son and someone with unknown powers.

Jack had woken and made his way to the bathroom first and then headed for the main living area. He was hungry and knew that was where the food would be. He thought maybe Sam would be up and hadn't bothered to check his room first. He was rubbing the sleep from his eyes when he spotted Dean standing in the kitchen watching him, a neutral expression on his face. Jack glanced around but didn't see Sam and wasn't sure what to do. He stopped walking and stared at him wide eyed trying to decide if he should go back to his room.

"Sam's not up yet," Dean told him when he looked around the room knowing who he was looking for.

"I didn't know, I can leave," Jack started taking a step backwards knowing how Dean felt about him.

"Might as well stay, he should be up shortly," Dean shrugged getting a sense Jack was not comfortable with him. He didn't blame him, he did try to kill him when he first saw him. He figured that would make anyone leery. "You hungry?" Dean asked turning to pour a cup of coffee.

"I think I am. I'm not really sure how that feels since this is my first experience with it. But my stomach feels empty," Jack told him stepping closer, but still keeping his distance. "Can I have some of that?"

Dean looked to what he was pointing at before answering. "No, you're too young for coffee."

"So how old do you need to be?" Jack queried.

"Old enough," Dean huffed, not going to debate it with him. He was definitely not in the mood for that. "How 'bout pancakes?" He watched Jack's expression change as he seemed to be thinking way to hard on the question. "It's a simple yes or no answer."

"Yes, I think I would like to try them. I know my Mom seemed to like them. I think she liked syrup on them."

Dean paused for a moment thinking over what he had just said. "You know what your Mom knew?"

"Yes, as I grew in her I could hear here thoughts and I have most of her memories, thought some of them are confusing to me. I don't really understand them," he said moving closer and sitting at the bar on the edge of the seat like he wanted to be able to run if needed. "She would talk to me and sing to me before I was born. There were things out there that wanted to hurt, well they wanted me, but she did everything she could to keep me safe. She loved me very much."

His actions didn't get by Dean as he read the body language of the kid. He pulled out milk, eggs and juice from the fridge and sat them on the counter. He looked in the fruit bowl and pulled a banana out.

"Here, start with this," Dean told him dropping it down in front of him. "I'll get the pancake batter going."

Jack looked at the banana for a moment before picking it up to examine it and sniffed it as Dean glanced sideways at him and frowned. He grabbed the stem and pulled down peeling a section of skin from it and did that again until he had the meat of the fruit exposed. He sniffed again before taking a small bite and chewing it. A small smile spread across his face as the sweetness coated his taste buds and he took another larger bite.

Dean busied himself with making up the batter while the griddle heated up. He looked up as Jack finished the banana and looked at the skin for a moment before looking for a trash can to throw it away. To look at the kid you would never think he was probably the most powerful being in the world and the spawn of the devil. Dean sat two plates by the griddle and proceeded to pour batter onto its hot surface and watched them bubble up. He waited until the steam started to come off them and the bubbles popped before turning them over and letting them brown on the other side. He scooped two up and put on a plate before turning and sitting it in front of the kid.

"Here," he said placing a fork and the syrup beside him.

Jack picked up the bottle of syrup looking at it before popping the top up and dumping it over the pancakes.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Dean cried out grabbing the bottle before he emptied all of it onto his plate. "Have a little pancakes with your syrup why don't you."

"Is this too much?" Jack asked innocently, giving Dean a good imitation of Sam's puppy dog look.

"Slightly kid," Dean said wiping the sticky bottle with a damp cloth. He watched Jack cut into the soaked pancakes and start eating, his eyes bright with the enjoyment of trying something new.

"I know you don't like me because of what happened to your Mom," Jack said suddenly. "And to Castiel."

Dean looked up at him not sure what to say. He did blame him for the loss of their Mom and Cas, but he didn't think he could discuss it with him. Not yet, the pain was still too raw and fresh in him. He glanced toward the door willing his brother to arrive to stop this awkward conversation.

"I never got to see my Mom before she died and I understand the feelings now. Sam helped me with that. I'm sure it's painful for you too. My Mom wanted Castiel to be my father and I did too. I could feel him when he was with my Mom. He cared about her and about me too and now he's gone. I miss him and want him to come back." Jack rattled on in between bites.

spn

Sam rolled over as he worked on slowly waking up. He drew in some deep breaths and wiped a hand over his face trying to decide whether to get up or go back to sleep. As the events of the previous days suddenly bombarded him, Sam sat straight up in bed and looked around. He fought his way out of the covers and hurried out the door and down to Jack's room to find it empty and panic began to set in. He went to the bathroom but found it empty and headed down the hall to the main area. Sam hurried up the steps to the kitchen and stopped short when he saw Jack sitting at the bar eating and Dean on the other side cooking.

Dean heard the commotion and looked toward the stairs to see Sam standing there in sock feet, sweats and a tee shirt, the imprint of his blanket still on his face and his hair sticking out in ways he had never seen before. It was like a replay of Jack earlier and he couldn't help but stare at him with a look of disbelief.

"Sam, Dean made pancakes for breakfast," Jack said happily holding up a fork with a bite of pancake on it and syrup dripping from it. "They're good."

"Did you two drink the same spiked Kool aide or something?" Dean asked.

"What? I don't..." Sam started, shaking his head and frowning, totally confused by what he just said.

"You need to try them," Jack continued not understanding the exchange between Sam and Dean.

"You want some pancakes?" Dean asked dropping his train of thought.

"Umm...I guess...Sure..." Sam stammered walking closer to see Jack enjoying his pancakes and noticing Jack's plate had way too much syrup on it. He watched Dean turn back to the griddle and turn it on to make more pancakes.

"Do you have these every day? I think that would be nice," Jack rattled on. "Can you have syrup on other things?"

"Sammy doesn't do syrup. He prefers diced fruit," Dean announced causing Sam to give him a bitch face.

"Can I have another one?" Jack asked holding his plate out, but tipped it slightly allowing the sticky syrup to drip off.

"Jack!" Sam said quickly trying to right the plate before the mess got bigger.

"Sorry, sorry..." Jack said pitifully as Sam took the plate from him.

"Sure kid," Dean told him smirking at the disgusting look on Sam's face as he tried to wipe his sticky hands on a napkin, only to have bits of it stick to them. "Problem there Sammy?" he snickered.

"Bite me jerk," Sam mumbled under his breath as he pried the pieces of napkin from his fingers.

"You can cut your own fruit up bitch," Dean responded because he had heard Sam.

Jack looked between the two brothers not sure what was happening. He didn't think they were angry with each other but the words said otherwise.

"Eat up kid," Dean said placing a clean plate with two pancakes in front of Jack.

Sam tipped Jack's first plate and let the excess syrup pour on top of the hot pancakes so not to waste it.

"Thank you Sam," Jack said giving him a brief smile.

"Okay Sammy, here you go." Dean sat a plate with hot pancakes in front of Sam along with a cup of coffee doctored the way he liked.

spn

"Jack, why don't you go take a shower and put on some clean clothes?" Sam suggested once they had finished breakfast. He wanted to talk to Dean alone and thought that would get Jack out of the way without having to explain things to him. "There's shampoo in the bathroom and towels under the sink."

"Alright," Jack said getting up and turning to leave. He paused and looked back at Dean, "Thank you for breakfast. I liked it very much," he told him before heading down the hall.

Dean arched his eyebrows at the kid's politeness and looked at Sam. He didn't think Jack had been around Sam long enough to have picked up that trait.

"Guess he takes after his mother," Sam shrugged. He got up and started cleaning the kitchen trying to get himself prepared to talk to Dean. He knew this wasn't going to be easy, but he hoped he could convince Dean to see his way of thinking.

Dean picked up his plate and took it to the sink and started water to wash the dishes. He could feel Sam's presence moving around him and knew a talk was coming. He knew his brother well and was sure when Sam thought he was prepared, they would talk. He started washing the dishes while Sam wiped down the counter of the sticky mess Jack had made and put away the breakfast items not needed now. They worked in silence until the place was clean and ready for the next meal to be prepared. Sam had made another pot of coffee and poured two cups. He took them to the table in the library and sat down waiting for Dean to follow.

"We need to talk about Jack," he finally said once Dean took a seat and got comfortable.

"You know how I feel about him; what's to talk about?" Dean asked, being blunt.

"You saw him Dean. He's not evil, he's a kid that lost his mother and was born into a world he doesn't know. I don't think he even knows what being bad means. We can't just find a way to kill him, hell, we don't even know if he can be killed."

"And? What? You want to be a dad to him? And how will that work out if he goes psycho and hurts or kills someone?" Dean said.

"We teach him. Show him what's right and wrong," Sam tried to explain.

"We?" Dean questioned arching an eyebrow at his brother.

"Me, I'll teach him. I'll help him learn how to control his powers. Nothing says he'll go bad, he's half human and we just have to hope that part is stronger. He's like a child wanting to learn and be taught."

"He's your responsibility. But understand if he goes ballistic we have to stop him. Whatever it takes," Dean told him in a serious no nonsense tone.

"Agreed," Sam replied quietly not wanting to think about that. "There's something else to think about too. If Jack could cause a rift before he was born, he may be able to create another and we can go find Mom and bring her back."

Dean looked at him as his brow knitted together in thought. Sam did have a point about that. If one could be created, then maybe another could and the only one capable of that was Jack.

"It would be a lot easier if Cas were here," Dean commented absently.

Neither knew that Jack had finished his shower and was coming down the hall but stopped at the library entrance when he heard Castiel's name. He listened intently as the brothers talked.

"Yeah, I know. He'd be able to better deal with Jack and teach him," Sam agreed.

"I mean how are we supposed to help him with his powers or can tell him about angel crap..." Dean argued as his voice trailed off when he pictured Castiel in his mind and the angel blade being driven through his body taking his life away.

"We'll have to manage someway. We owe it to Cas to help him. I read Kelly's will, she appointed Cas guardian for Jack. She wanted him to raise and take care of him. I don't think anyone knew he was going to be this size in mere days from the diapers we found there. I know Cas cared for Kelly and Jack to keep them hidden for all that time. He did protect them from those that wanted to harm them, even us."

"Yeah, his heart was in the right place even though his tactics weren't. I don't guess there's any coming back this time. I don't think Chuck's going to bring him back like he did before no matter that we need him more now than ever with all the crap we are dealing with."

"Yeah, don't see it either," Sam replied, his tone filled with sadness.

Jack took their words to heart and walked slowly back to his bedroom and sat down on his bed. He pulled his mother's laptop from under the pillow and turned it on, waiting for the desktop to load. He clicked on the folder labeled Jack and opened up the video that had Castiel in it. He watched it again and froze it as Castiel spoke wanting to see him alive in his mind and not dead on the funereal pyre. Tears came to his eyes that blurred his vision and he wiped his face as his emotions got the best of him.

A/N: Thank you for reading my story and hope you are enjoying it. Everyone is missing Castiel and could use his help right now. Thank you to any guests who left reviews. I do like to know your thoughts. NC