Summary: Dean walks the halls with family ghosts, and still isn't handling the situation well.
This chapter is Dean's POV. Ben's will be in the next chapter.
Tags: Parental Expectations
Dean slid the key into the lock and turned it easily. The metal door creaked open and Dean looked back at the others, half expecting to hear a fanfare of French horns and harps. He stepped inside with a shrug, pocketed the key, and turned the flashlight app on his phone on. He went down a metal staircase, used the key on the next door, and that door creaked open. He waved the flashlight around and found himself on a metal balcony. To his right was a fuse box and he quickly walked over to it, and opened the metal box. He stared at the two old fashioned circuit breakers, suddenly wishing he had heavy-duty rubber gloves, and with another glance over his shoulder as the others crowded onto the balcony, he flipped the switches.
Electricity started to hum throughout the structure, lights flipped on in various rooms, and after a brief rattle, they could feel air beginning to circulate. Dean stared down at the rooms before heading to the metal stairs.
"I think first order of business is to figure out what goes into making more Men of Letters - Lettered Society members," he said, placing his messenger bag onto a lit table that had a remarkably out of date world map built onto it. He continued walking through, up a few stone steps, and into a library/research area. He looked down at the nearest table and traced the S.W. carved into it with a shaking finger. The others quietly made their way downstairs to do some exploring of their own.
Gertie came back into the map table room, having gone in the opposite direction Dean and most of the others had gone. "Pops," she said, catching Garth's attention, "Cas and I'll head into town and do a grocery run, and we'll see if there's a tattoo parlor that can give us the pentacle in the sunburst." She looked at the others. "Does anyone else need the tattoo done?"
Dean held up his right arm, still engrossed with the initials and names carved into the table. Makoa slid the bottom of his shirt up to reveal the tattoo on his ribs. And as one, Garth, Jody, and Donna pulled down the collars of their own shirts to reveal they each had identically placed anti-possession tattoos right under their left clavicle.
"Of course," Gertie said with a smile as she and Cas headed back aboveground to run the errands.
Dean headed down a hallway, feeling the presence of his father, and uncle, and even Castiel and Jack pressing down on him from all sides. He stopped at a dorm room and opened the door. The bed was neatly made, there were books piled on various surfaces, files and papers on the desk. He stepped into the room and slid open a drawer rifling through the assorted papers, long dead cell phones, and photos. He picked up a photo of his dad and mom, both much younger, and so happy. He took it, closed the drawer and sat on the bed, trying to get a feel of what this room was telling him.
"Your father would be proud of what you're doing, Dean," Jody said from the doorway.
Dean pocketed the photo, stood and scowled. "No, Jody, actually he'd be very disappointed."
"Dean! Your father wasn't capable of being disappointed in you, and you know it," she argued. "That wasn't the type of man he was, and you've never done anything that would elicit disappointment!"
The younger man felt a tightening in his throat and a vise around his was getting tired of his father's old friends insisting he join the fight his father walked away from 30 years ago. They might have known the Sam Winchester who hunted with his brother, but they had no clue about the Sam Winchester who had to go on living without his brother.
"Jody, my dad did everything he could to keep me out of this life. I mean he prepared me to be able to handle myself if I came across something, but he never wanted me to actively seek it out. Soon after Uncle Dean died, before I was even a twinkle in my father's eye, he gave up hunting and everything associated with it, including this place, and he severely distanced himself from you, and Garth, and Donna, and Charlie. And I don't have to tell you that got even worse once Mom died," Dean said, looking sad and exhausted. "If he knew I was here -" Dean's voice tapered off, and he guided Jody out of the room, shutting the door behind him. "He'd hate this for me."
"Well, after you help us teach AfterJack hunters how to deal with demons and angels, you can go back to your old life," Jody rationalized, but her voice held a slight ring of disappointment.
Dean shook his head and smiled sadly, noticing the dorm room across the hall was open. He walked toward it, still in conversation with Jody. "First of all, do you think I'm safe in the mundane world with angels and demons Earthside again, given who I am? And second," he said, opening the door to the room further, "I don't think it'll be that easy. I believe we're in for a long fight."
He took in the guns on the walls, the books lined up behind the bed, empty beer bottles scattered throughout the room, abandoned files on the desk. Makoa had taken a sawed-off shotgun from the wall and was looking it over. The pressure that had been building in Dean since he entered his father's old room made him dizzy.
"Put that back, and get out of this room," he all but growled. "You've got over a dozen other dorm rooms to pick, you're not getting this one. If anyone does, it's Ben."
Makoa quietly replaced the gun on the wall and slipped out of the room. He was getting a very good idea what being here was costing Dean, and he let Dean's show of temper slide. For now. Jody wasn't as generous. She shoved him on his shoulder and propelled him out of the room.
"Dean, you need to get a better hold of yourself," she said with a spark of anger. "There's no need to behave like a menace."
"I'm going to help the others search for this ritual information," he said, heading down the hallway, back to the library. He didn't voice an apology or his agreement with Jody, but he knew she was right. He needed to get a hold of his emotions and his ghosts if he wanted to help or stay here for the next few days.
Dean slid his laptop out of its bag and booted up. He opened a few documents from his father's journal and carried the computer over to where Garth and Donna were standing together and talking. "According to Dad, there's a card in the filing system which will direct you to the appropriate folder that has instructions for the ritual. I'm gonna send Sam copies of my dad and granddad's journals. It'll be good to have extra copies out there."
The next two hours passed in a flurry of busy activity. The ritual instructions were tracked down and read over. Ingredients for the spell took a bit of hunting down because it took a good twenty minutes to figure out where the potions and spells ingredients were kept.
Gertie and Castiel returned from their town run, loaded with bags of groceries, a dozen cartons of take-out from the Chinese restaurant, and two bags of assorted used clothes. As Castiel put his parcels on the table, he showed his father the new tattoo on his forearm. Gertie put the containers of food on the table, and showed off her new ink, just below the left collarbone. "It was here or a tramp stamp," she said with a laugh.
Dean, Makoa, Jody, and Donna came over as well, attracted by the scent of food. Everyone grabbed a couple containers and opened them, poured a small portion onto a plate, and then traded containers with the people closest to them. Makoa pointed with a pair of chopsticks to the two bags of clothes. "What's that for?"
"Couple changes of clothes for you and Dean," Gertie said around an egg roll. She finished chewing and swallowed before continuing. "We're gonna be here for a coupla days, and you two kinda left your homes in a hurry."
Dean was digging around a container of shrimp fried rice and he looked up at Gertie, catching the conversation. "Hang on, I can't stay here indefinitely. I've got a job, and I don't think my friends would appreciate taking care of my dog for much more than a week."
"Well, we don't even know what we're dealin' with," Castiel said. "How 'bout you give us at least this week, and we'll see where we are come Thursday. I mean, maybe it ain't all that bad."
Dean put the container of food back on the table, his appetite suddenly gone. "I gotta make some phone calls and arrangements," he said, heading to his father's old room.
"What about you, Makoa?" Castiel asked.
Makoa slurped up the chicken lo mein he was shoveling into his mouth with chopsticks. "I'm good for the next month. Then I'll have to take it part-time. I have obligations to the Casper FD, and I don't want to screw that up. I already talked to Garth about it."
Garth nodded in confirmation. "Look, if we still need you and Dean past this week, y'all can take the Cessna up to Casper, get whatever gear you need - Dean can even get his dog - and then come on back down here. And I'm sure at some point, Ben'll need to come out here too."
The others nodded over their food, hurrying the meal a bit to get the ritual started to make them official Lettered Society members.
"I'm not handling things very well, am I?" Dean said. He was sitting on the bed in his father's old room, having just gotten off the phone with Rizzo. Makoa leaned on the doorframe and said nothing. Dean looked over at Makoa, looking exhausted and ashamed. "And I'm not making a very good first impression, am I?"
Makoa pushed off the frame and entered Dean's room. He snagged the office chair at the desk and sat. "You're dealing with a lot in a very short span of time. I have a feeling Ben isn't doing much better. But no, so far, so not so good."
Dean sucked air through his teeth, heaved off the bed, tucked his phone into a pocket and walked over to the seated Makoa, extending his right hand to the man. "Hi there, my name Dean Winchester. I'm an Aquarius. I like sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky men and women."
Makoa stared up at Dean for several seconds, not sure how to react.
"And I really do apologize," Dean added, looking sincere.
Makoa smiled, stood, and shook Dean's hand. "Makoa Thompson. Good to meet you. Apology accepted. But… the fuck do you know about beaches, haole? You've spent your whole life living in land-locked states."
The two men made their way back to the map table room and library where everyone else was, debating about whether or not lake beaches really count or not. The Hawaiian wasn't having any of it.
"I spoke with my friend, and he'll keep my dog for the week. And since he's also my business partner, I let him know I'm taking this week for vacation. But if whatever this is," Dean said to the others, waving his hands at the bookshelves, tables, and other assorted whatever, "takes more than this week, I'm going to have to find someone to take over my work for the short term."
"I'll contact the hunter network and see who is a graphic designer," Gertie said, pulling out her phone.
"I think we should get this Men of Letters ritual done," Garth said. Dean nodded in agreement, and everyone gathered around the table. Garth directed Castiel and Gertie in preparing the required bowl of assorted ingredients for the spell, and Dean looked over the incantation.
Twenty minutes later, everyone was ready. They stood in a circle, with Dean in the center, along with a pedestal that had the ritual bowl. He read the spell carefully, dropped a lit match into the bowl, which flared purple and sent up a large billowing cloud of smoke. Everyone started coughing and their eyes began watering, with Dean getting the worst of it since he was closest.
"Did it work?" he coughed, wiping his eyes with the back of a hand.
"Hell if I know," Makoa said and then sneezed violently.
"Let's give it a quick test," Donna chimed in. "Let's all leave, Dean'll shut everything down and lock up, and then one of us will try the door."
"Why don't you just do it, Donna?" Castiel asked.
"And have you all locked in here, with me on the outside with the key? I don't think so," Donna replied, and started chivvying everyone up the stairs. "Besides, I think we can all use some fresh air."
And so they ran the test, Dean tripped the circuit breakers off while everyone headed outside. He locked the doors, and once outside, he inhaled deeply of the fresh air. He handed the key to Jody, and all eyes were on her as she inserted the key into the first lock.
She glanced behind her to everyone watching. "If this thing electrocutes me, I'm gonna haunt you until you die, Garth, understood?"
"It hasn't done anything to anyone else who has tried, Jody," Garth said. "Key just won't turn. 'Sides, you'd get a hunter's funeral and won't be able to haunt me."
Jody raised an eyebrow, closed her eyes, held her breath, and turned the key. Which turned just as easily as it had for Dean. Jody let the air she'd been holding out with a whoosh, and opened her eyes. "A'right! Everybody back inside! Break time is over."