The fifteenth and last season of Supernatural is about to start…

I've been a lot slower writing this fanfic than I expected, because you know, life happens. But I don't want anyone in future chapters thinking how un-original I am, merely copying the show's plot points, whatever they might be. So, AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER, I'm going to write some spoilers backwards. It's up to you, readers, if you want to read them or not.

08/10/2019


Chapter 33

In the morning, after breakfast, Dean took the kids outside for a basic lesson on how to find more easily a monster lair under a snowfall, inviting Julia along. Related to the snow, also Castiel decided to help by grabbing a shovel and a big broom, in order to remove the squishy substance from the outdoors path and stairs... all this while parading around still in his new bees pajamas, slippers and trenchcoat.

"Cas, I don't think that was a sensible attire to do chores in the cold," Sam mentioned in the library, sipping from a mug of hot cocoa, after the angel returned the tools to the storage room. "Now you're damp."

"It is not a bother to me," Castiel answered with a content smile, tapping in a particle of his grace and being instantly dry and warm again. "But I did not want to change clothes yet. I found Dean's shyness during breakfast highly entertaining, when everyone complimented my new garb."

"It really suits you," the younger hunter admitted, feeling a grin spread on his own face too. "I'm only grateful that the tease wasn't too much for him to bear and didn't undress you himself right there and then."

This joking comment caused an actual idea to pop up in Castiel's mind.

"Oh, about that... Sam, there is something I would like to offer you," he spoke, setting back to his usual stern demeanour. "But as much as I have learned about human behaviour, I am not able to present you the current subject without some level of very likely discomfort for you."

Sam looked at his friend, his curiosity piqued.

"Alright, thanks for the warning," he nodded, readying himself for whatever the angel could say. "What is it?"

"You are aware that for some time the profound bond between me and Dean has... taken another route," Castiel paused, waiting for the human to acknowledge this fact. "And until now you have remained a loyal friend and brother, supporting us, for which I cannot express enough my gratitude."

"It's nothing, Cas, really. I'm actually as happy as you two are, finally seeing you both trying to get something good for yourselves. That was long overdue, let me tell you."

"Well then. Yesterday, after I exchanged gifts with Dean, we... hum..." Castiel frowned, making an effort to find mild words but that would still convey the meaning of what he intended to say. "Let's say that our relationship advanced another step. And it was an important step, Sam, of that I am convinced. But at first Dean restrained himself from expressing vocally the outcome of my actions on him, worried about the possibility of being overheard. Therefore, I set an Enochian spell in the walls of his room, soundproofing it. Not a single sound will escape the bedroom now, unless it is an emergency. And since it is to my understanding that you and Jessica engage in similar intimate activities, I thought that you might be interested in benefitting from the same spell too."

A minute of silence followed Castiel's little speech, Sam no doubt cringing internally at the mental image of whatever his brother and his friend might have been doing. Not that he minded, or that he expected them to be celibate after years of stacking up UST; he simply didn't want to know. All the more reason why Sam appreciated the angel's attempt to soften the blow.

"That's, uh... that's nice of you, Cas, thanks. And in fact, since you mention it... ahem, the answer is yes. It'd be welcome, that spell."

"Very well," Castiel nodded, standing up. "I will set it immediately, then."

When the blue-eyed warrior disappeared in the hallway, Sam inhaled deeply, messing a hand through his short hair and trying to figure out if the last conversation had actually happened.

"It is done, Sam," Castiel returned after a moment, still in his pajamas and trenchcoat, and walked upstairs. "You can put it to use whenever you want. I will go now to join the others. Dean made it sound like a hunter lesson, but from Jack's description, it seems more likely they are playing hide-and-seek in the snow."

Sam chuckled at this, hearing the heavy metal door opening and closing. There were times when his big brother behaved like a child as much as any of the teenagers, lessons be damned. It was clear that he wanted them to have some fun, anunnaki channels or not. But now, with Castiel gone... he was alone in the bunker. With Jess.

Springing to action, Sam walked to the kitchen and found his soulmate glaring at the oven, arms crossed.

"Puppy, I'm sure we need to exorcise this oven," she huffed, annoyed. "Either it's possessed, or has somehow become sentient and hates me."

"What's the matter, precious?" Sam humoured her, hugging her from behind. "Is it being mean to you?"

"It is. Again. Not only it almost burned the checker cookies I baked for Emma like Dean asked me, but now it refuses to cook the turkey. At this pace, Christmas dinner will be New Year's!"

"I promise you, the moment we sell the second car in the garage, we'll give this kitchen a full update. We had to keep the money from the first for food, but Kevin is finding us awesome bids on the internet, so the second won't be long." He kissed the top of her head and lowered his voice. "However, right now I have something interesting to tell you."

Bowing his head, Sam whispered something seductively in her ear.

"Really?" Jessica smirked playfully, turning around in his arms and placing her hands on his chest.

"Yes, really. So, if you've got an hour to spare, perhaps I could pay that pressure point in your lower back the attention it deserves?"

"This overgrown chicken won't be ready in another three more hours at least. I might be convinced to take a break, specially if you wear your new polkadot stockings for me, puppy."

Sam froze for a second.

"What new stockings?"

"Oops, looks like it won't be a surprise anymore," Jessica laughed mischievously, grabbing handfuls of his buttocks. "I bought a crimson matching pair for us, thigh garter and all. What do you say, handsome? Are you up to play?"

"Oh yes, precious," Sam groaned, kissing her passionately and lifting her to place her legs around his waist, heading to their bedroom. "I'm definitely up to play."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

After Christmas dinner was over and everyone was comfortably snuggling in their beds, one young Adam Milligan suddenly woke up in the middle of the night, covered in sweat and his heart beating like crazy. He held his forehead with a hand, feeling a sudden wave of vertigo wash over him, but it ended before he could even start to figure out what had happened. Did he have a too vivid nightmare or something? He didn't remember.

In the scarce light that came in through the grid on the door from the hallway, Adam looked around from his makeshift bed on the floor. He listened to Kevin's peaceful breathing, his sleep undisturbed. As much as he could tell everything was normal, but the nagging feeling at the back of his mind that something was wrong didn't leave him.

Deciding to get up and walk around a little to calm down, the third Winchester son quietly left the room. For a moment he entertained the idea of going to the Batcave and watch TV, but he wasn't really in the mood to pay attention to whatever crap they were airing at damn o'clock. So, a mug of hot milk would do. It always helped him to sleep when his mum prepared it.

But a few minutes later, when Adam was crossing the war room and heading back to room 12, he casually glanced at the map table... and was shocked. His warm beverage slipped from his hand, glass shattering on the floor.

"Crap," he cursed, wide eyes not leaving the purple dot that showed up in the map. "Of course it couldn't wait only a day more, dammit. Now what?"

As little as he knew about the hunter life, one thing that the boy had learned was that time was of the essence. Tough luck that his brothers were sleeping.

"Okay, Adam. Sooner or later you would be doing this too. Maybe," he spoke to himself, clearing his throat and closing his eyes. "Ahem, calling to... praying now to the angel Castiel. Cas, can you hear me? This is Adam here, in the war room. If you're not currently busy doing who knows what with Dean, can you come for a moment, please? My celestial key has decided to nest, and I don't know if wake up my brothers now or wait until morning."

A couple of minutes later, while Adam occupied himself cleaning the milk and the broken glass, not only the seraph appeared but also his two brothers, his future half-sister-in-law and even his semi-nephew nephilim on the side. Yes, some families bore weird relatives titles, like your head could explode if you dug deep enough.

"I certainly didn't intend to wake up half of the bunker," Adam greeted them apologetically.

"After one of these bugs decided to stop and laze around?" Dean grunted, suffocating a yawn and pulling out a chair. "Yeah, no way in Hell we stay in bed any longer."

"This is a matter of import, Adam. I could not in good conscience keep this information from your brothers."

"I was already awake," Jack shrugged, sitting down with them.

"I always wake up when I lose my snuggle machine," Jessica admitted, crossing her arms over the table and leaning down her head, sleepily closing her eyes again.

"Let's see what we have here," Sam mumbled, rubbing the sleep off his eyes and turning on his laptop. "Coordinates are in Arizona state... there we go, Crestfallen Pines. A horse-ranch region. Pretty peaceful, no gruesome unnatural crimes. In fact, no weird activity at all... oh."

"Oh what, Sammy?" Dean asked, head leaning on his elbow.

"The Principality key may be nesting only for a few hours now, but it seems that its effects already began three or four days ago. Only that the affected ones are horses, not people. Apparently the stallions have become increasingly restless and aggressive, even breaking down their stables in order to... breed, even if the mares won't be in heat until spring."

"Are you kidding me?" Dean complained angrily. "We got a case about horses raping mares?"

"It's not a laughing matter, Dean," Sam bitchfaced him. "The man in this article lost half an arm after the horse that he had been training since it was born bit him. I'm not a vet, but I know that a well-cared-for animal doesn't attack its caretaker unless something has agitated it. And it's not an isolated case, there are several. Those stallions are being treated with tranquilizers."

"Ok, whatever, as if all the weird shit doesn't happen to us," he dismissed it, standing up. "Gonna pack my duffel. You do the same and we take on the road in an hour."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Around seven in the morning, the Winchester group was still halfway to Crestfallen Pines. Stopping in a road dinner to get some decent breakfast, Dean was horrified to see that there was no pie in the menu.

"What kind of shitty place doesn't serve pie? Of any kind, but some pie?"

"It's because we specialize in kinds of bread, good sir, not pastries," an incredibly beautiful waitress answered behind him, a grimace on her face. "The most similar thing you'll find here is jelly roll."

Both of his younger brothers snickered, finding it funny watching Dean make a fool of himself.

"Hey, that's the appeal of travelling around, right sweetheart?" Dean attempted to redeem himself, putting on his most charming smile. "To discover all the delicious things that the world has to offer."

A stunned gasp escaped Sam's throat, flabbergasted at the other hunter's cheekiness in front of his supposed angel lover. Dean ignored him, but it surely took the waitress' attention. The four guests were very handsome: the tall one, the loudmouth one, the weird one and even the boy, despite being a bit on the young side for her, was eyecandy too.

"Are you a band?" she asked, curious, thinking that maybe the one in the accountant getup was their manager or something.

"No, not at all. The bitch is my younger brother, the brat is my youngest brother, and this dork next to me is my... my best friend."

"Yes, exactly. This jerk here is our older, ancient, almost decrepit brother," Adam confirmed, smiling wickedly.

The waitress arched an eyebrow, somehow picking up the strange vibes between them, and wisely opted not to make any more questions, leaving them a few more minutes to choose their breakfast.

"Dude, what the hell you're doing?" Sam hissed at Dean when they were alone.

"Who, me? What I did?"

"You were flirting with her!"

"Yeeeah, so? That's what I always do."

"Right in front of Cas?!" Sam insisted, offended for their friend.

He watched with great satisfaction as the grin slipped from Dean's face, being replace by a healthy dose of embarrassment and swallowing an ounce of shame. Castiel however wasn't in the same frequency as Sam.

"What about me?" he inquired, looking up from his menu.

"Dean was flirting with that woman. You're supposed to be his boyfriend or something, aren't you?" Adam sided with Sam. "Why didn't you stop him?"

"Oh, that. I am not bothered by it," Castiel admitted, leaving everyone speechless. "Flirting is part of Dean's personality, like is obsessing over his car or stuffing himself with pie. And either way, even if he flirts with someone, I trust him not to actually carry out whatever indecent propositions he might tempt others with."

The older hunter felt like an invisible hand was squeezing his heart roughly, overwhelmed by the seraph's faith in him. Castiel was right, of course; Dean would never betray him like that, not now when they were finally building something. But the fact that he understood him, knew him so well that Dean didn't even have to explain himself was almost numbing.

Appeased by this thought sown in his mind, Dean contentedly focused back in ordering their breakfast, not realizing the somber hue that had covered his companion's eyes.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

After getting a couple of rooms in a motel, the four males went around to take a first look of the town. Crestfallen Pines was an arid, dusty place, where not a single pine was in sight.

"Makes you wonder why they didn't call the town Crestfallen Cypress at least," Sam commented on it, since cypresses there were.

"Is there any reason why the flora in the vicinity would be crestfallen to begin with?" Castiel pondered, slightly distressed.

"Ok, you two philosophers, stop right there and focus on the case," Dean stopped in the middle of the street. "There are a bunch of horse ranches around, so we better split up and start asking questions. Adam and I will visit the ranches, in case we get a whiff of the anunnaki key. You two walk around and see if there's any crazy gossip among the townsfolk. Meeting for dinner at 20h."

Apparently ranchers didn't get breaks on holidays. Dean and Adam visited six during the afternoon and they were still bustling with activity despite being the day after the 25th.

"Howdy, partner!" a bulky man whit a rope in his hands and wearing a wool vest greeted them. "Ya lookin' for sumthin'?"

"Yeah, thanks," Dean answered, plastering a smile on his face and walking towards the wooden fence. "My pipsqueak brother here is becoming too comfy in his city college life, you know, so I dragged him with me to get a taste of the wild side. What better than a cowboy, I told myself? I'm looking forward to at least get him on a horse."

Adam faked not to be very enthusiastic about the idea of spending his holidays smelling stables. His brother even elbowed him in the stomach, as if reminding a misbehaving child of his manners.

"Hello," the boy grumbled a greeting, hands in his pockets.

"Got ya, man. Tykes these days are all glued to one screen or another," the bulky man agreed, shaking his head. "But sorry to tell ya, this ain't good time to try a morsel of wild. Horses goin' mad lately."

"Mad?" Dean frowned, feigning both curiosity and disappointment. "What do you mean?"

"Dunno why, but this week they're all insane for a bit of fun, if ya catch my drift," and what would usually be a lewd joke, actually made the man sigh. "Very aggressif, hafta shot them with tranquilizers. One of ma buddies got a mare hospitalized 'cause a stallion bit her so much while mountin' her that she was bleeding rivers. Risk of infection and all. Can't even think how her poor hindquarters survived the ride."

"Whoa, that's... uh, weird. But stallions are usually hot-blooded anyway, right? Certainly I don't want to put my brother in danger with one of those beasts, but what about geldings?"

"Not much betta, pal. The stallions, they know whatta do and retain the balls to do so, but geldings don't. Means they're not gettin' any relief, but still suffer thru this whatever fever. I tell ya, the whines are heartbreakin'."

"Damn, that's a bummer," Dean lamented sincerely, feeling sorry for the animals. "I always liked horses. Wanted to be a cowboy myself when I was little. And no idea what's happening to them? The vet said nothing?"

"Nuthin' at all. It's like they're just losin' their minds for the breedin'. But I tell ya, right now nobody in good will should let ya near one of them. Keep that in mind if you visit other ranches, buddy."

"Ok, we will. Thanks, man."

The two Winchesters said goodbye and returned to the Impala.

"What about here?" Dean asked, taking the road. "Nothing yet?"

"Nothing, but Claire didn't either," Adam shook his head. "I think Patty was able to feel the connection to her key only because she's a psychic."

"Yeah, perhaps. Well, we still have time to visit some more ranches."

But in the end, it was useless. In none of the places they got a single clue about what was happening to the horses, all the ranchers saying pretty much the same. Three more after, the time was up for dinner and they returned to the motel.

"My poor Baby got a bath of dust and snow, but we found nothing," Dean complained, leaning in a chair with a slice of pizza in his hand. "Only that horses seems to be suffering a hard case of blue balls, at least those who still have them. What about you?"

"People in town know nothing," Sam answered. "They have heard about it, but they're not ranchers. Buuut..."

"But what?"

"Since this is quite the horse town, I expected to see a lot of things related to them, besides the ranches. You know, the usual: rodeos, county fairs, maybe some statue of a local legend or memorabilia about famous riders? Perhaps a tiny museum/souvenir shop, but there's nothing. Except this."

And opening his phone, he showed his brothers a picture of a small statuette of a half-horse man.

"What's that?" Adam narrowed his eyes. "A centaur?"

"Exactly," Castiel confirmed. "A piece forged in bronze, and the only thing in this town even remotely related to horses. We saw it adorning the attention desk in the sheriff's office. Not very valuable, to my evaluation."

"So it's a cursed item case? Dude, I hate those annoying fuckers," the older hunter groaned. "You never know what's gonna take to switch on the curse."

"Wait, are you saying that this thing might be the nesting Principality key?" the Milligan asked, receiving affirmative nods. "Way to go unnoticed. That statuette looks like the kind of crap people put in yard sales."

"But sheriff's office will be closed by now," Sam pointed out, looking at the clock on the ugly wall. "That means we're sneaking in."

"Cool!" Adam grinned, swallowing his pizza. "Finally some action."

"You're not coming," Dean stopped him firmly. "Even if we're cautious, if somehow the Police gets wind of us, we're already done for. But you still have a clean slate, and it's gonna remain that way. Understood?"

"What?" the boy retorted angrily. "But that's not fair! Claire and Pat participated in their cases."

"Because those girls are more in deep in this life than you."

"That's bullshit, Dean! I was devoured alive by a ghoul. I was resurrected twice without anyone asking for my opinion. And now you're telling me that I'm too green about the supernatural to go sneaking in a office and steal some bronze? That's stupid, and you're neither my mother to tell me what I can or can't do!"

A heavy silence fell in the room, both brothers immersed in a glaring battle.

"I'm only trying to protect you, Adam. There's a reason why Dad didn't want to raise you this way."

"Then I'd say that comes a bit too late," he replied, curtly. "You can't force me to sit here and wait like a good pet. And you told me before that it was up to me to decide what I wanted to be, so you can't go back on your word now. Dean, please," his tone became pleading. "You're a great brother and I want you to stay as it. You don't have to try and be a father too."

Dean gritted his teeth and looked away, considering the chances. Eventually though, he yielded.

"Ok. Ok, you bratty dolt, you can come with us. But I'm warning you, big boy," he pointed a finger to Adam's face. "You get as much as a scratch, and I'm going to spank you until you can't sit, got it?"

Adam grinned, and impulsively hugged his awesome big brother. Sam and Castiel sighed in relief, crisis avoided. Really, there was no possible case without a bit of good ol' Winchester drama.


Thanks for reading and reviewing!

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