Castiel, Salvatore and a squirrely little man named Festus, stood around the ruined marriage bed, all eyes on at Castiels dead lookalike.
Festus shook his head in disbelief for the umpteenth time, "I just don't get it…how does he look like you but the guy isn't your twin brother or somethin'?
The teacher had avoided answering the first two times the guy asked, but this time he blurted out, "It's a shape shifter, a monster that can take the form of any human he wishes."
Thinking the man would lose his mind and run out screaming, Fetus surprised Cas by not saying a word, instead he got right to work, wrapping the body up in the bloody bedding.
"So you're ok with that?"
"I've dealt with a lot of monsters in my life, human ones. A body is a body and it's all meat to me. I gotta ask, why is he naked and in your bed?"
Salvatore growled, "You ask too many damn questions." Festus clammed up, not wanting to incur the wrath of a man the size of a mountain.
After they loaded the corpse into the hearse to transport to Festus' family crematorium, Sal went back to help Cas haul out the ruined mattresses.
Salvatore found Castiel still staring at the blood soaked mattress with a frown on his handsome face. The hitman slung an arm around the smaller mans shoulders, snapping Cas from his dark thoughts.
"Kid, I advise we drag out this mattress and box spring immediately and burn it. Then you and the little lady should go out and buy brand new mattresses and bedding. It'll get rid of the bad juju."
Castiel blinked his eyes a few times before answering, "If Dean heard you call him a "little lady" he'd blow his stack."
"Sorry, I call Terry that sometimes as a term of endearment."
"What do I owe you for doing this, Sal?"
Salvatore tapped a finger against his chin as he gave the question a few seconds' of thought, "Bello's Bistro opens this spring and I could use a maitre d'. Have you ever done something like that? I need a fill in a couple nights a week, I'd still pay you and you still get a cut of the tips. Do that through the summer season and I'll call us square."
The older man had kept Castiel's pride intact by the offer. Sal knew the young family didn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of, as the saying goes. Castiel grabbed Salvatore's big hand and shook it.
"Agreed."
Sal gave the teacher a hearty slap on the back, almost launching Cas off his feet, "Great! I need some Alpha eye candy in that place, after all, I can't be there 24/7."
Dean watched as the body was loaded into the hearse and the mattresses burned from his vantage point at the nursery window. For once he was glad to let others do the heavy lifting. Just the thought of touching the shifters body or the bloody bedding gave him dry heaves. Grace saved him from dark thoughts by demanding to be fed in her own little way. Dean had memorized what every sound, expression and movement from his daughter meant. She was as much an anchor for Dean as Castiel and Sam. He told himself how lucky he was and tried to push aside last night.
…..
Castiel found Dean in Graces room; he was sitting on the window seat holding their baby. The Omega didn't look at his Alpha, instead kept his eyes focused out the window. The sunshine cast light across the field snow, causing it to sparkle. Besides the spot where the last bits of mattress smoldered, the rest of the area looked pure and clean, a stark contrast to the way Dean felt about himself at the moment.
Castiel approached the unresponsive teen and using his pointer finger, turned his wife's pensive face toward him but Dean kept his eyes averted.
"Dean, look at me."
When the Omega failed to respond, Castiel took their sleeping daughter from his wife's arms and put the baby girl in her crib. He took Dean by the hand and led him over to the overstuffed rocker recliner, sat down and pulled the pliable Omega onto his lap.
Dean had already surpassed Cas' height by an inch but that didn't matter. Dean curled up on his Alphas lap like a cat and buried his face against the crook of Cas' neck.
Dean's voice came soft and muffled by the fabric of his Alphas shirt, "I should have known."
"There was no way to know. I would have been fooled if it had looked like you. Remember, it had my clothing and my scent."
The couple stayed that way for the better part of an hour, both quiet. Cas knew Dean wasn't one to over analyze or talk about feelings but the comfort and closeness acted as a balm to the fresh wounds.
Cas' legs went numb after awhile but like a good husband, he kept his arms around his big, beautiful baby and suffered in silence.
Finally, Dean crawled off Castiel's lap and padded barefoot to their bathroom, shut the door and locked it then proceeded to take a long, hot shower to cleanse his body of the shifter.
…
That evening, Castiel served Dean grilled cheese and tomato soup in front of the fire, and then while Dean ate, Castiel massaged his Omega's feet, causing Dean to both blush and groan. Cas held up a bottle of metallic midnight blue nail polish and gave his love a smile, "I'll make your feet all pretty."
As he worked on the toes, Castiel would place a kiss somewhere on Dean's ticklish feet. Once done, Cas gently blew on Dean's tootsies until dry.
The foot worship was something new and it got the Omega wet and hard for Castiel, not that it took much to get Dean worked up. The simple act of Castiel breathing was enough to get him in mood. His excitement brought up conflicting emotions since just the night before, Dean gotten off with the imposter.
Cas didn't give Dean time to feel too guilty, he pulled the Omega down to the braided rug in front of the fire then buried his face between Dean's legs where he sniffed, nipped, licked and kissed his way to his lover's swollen clit. After placing a kiss atop the sensitive treasure, the Alpha rumbled, "You are in of a good tongue lashing." That alone was enough to push Dean over the edge where he let loose a torrent of slick all over Castiel's face.
They didn't shower afterward, instead both basked in the smells of their comingled semen and sweat and the Omega's slick. Castiel had a glass of wine and allowed Dean a beer as they discussed mattresses. It was all in order to move them past the shifter and take something abnormal and smoother it in wonderful things like sex and love right down to the mundane, mattresses.
…..
Scotty peered though a crack in the living room curtains after hearing a loud vehicle pull into their driveway. When Bobby and Viola exited the old, red pickup truck, Scotty yelled, "Honey, there's a hobo and a woman who looks as if she just escaped from an old timey fortune teller machine, outside."
Both Sam and Spencer came to check it out since they both considered themselves Scotty's honey. As soon as Sam laid eyes on Bobby, he opened the front door and grabbed a surprised Bobby before the guy got a chance to ring the doorbell.
Sam barely knew him but Bobby had made a great impression on Sam and he thought of the Hunter as a sort of hero and extended family.
Bobby pried the oversized thirteen year old off and then held the boy at arm's length to give Sam the once over, "Who the hell put Miracle Grow in your milk?"
Sam laughed, flashing his dimples. Viola was immediately entranced by Sam; she sensed the boy had a gift. The psychic would delve into that later, right now the orb was calling to her. Viola walked straight past Spencer and right to the basement door where she proceeded down the stairs.
Bobby dropped the duffle he had in one hand on the hallway table, opened it up and pulled out an iron box covered in symbols, "It's for the orb. That's why we're here, Viola is a psychic and she had a vision of Sam and Dean and the orb. The thing is dangerous. I'm here to lock it up and take it back to my safe room."
Spencer was furious, "Goddamn, is this from some junk of John Winchesters that got dragged into my home?" Before Bobby could answer, Spencer growled, "Well you can just go through it all and take everything that could put my family in danger. I've had it with him; he was a complete bastard when he was alive and even dead he manages to fuck with my family."
Bobby agreed to sort through John's belongings and remove anything he deemed dangerous.
…
Dean made it to the Novak home in record time after getting word Bobby Singer and a psychic were at the house looking for a mysterious orb. Dean marched inside and walked right past Scotty and Spence and straight to the basement where he found Sam, Bobby and a woman he later learned was Viola. They were busy moving storage containers and exercise equipment away from the mirrored wall on the far side of the room.
The orb had been trapped between the mirror and the treadmill since the day Dean found out his own father had sold him off to an Omega broker as if he simply property. He had thrown the first thing he grabbed across the room which happened to be the orb.
Dean went to grab the orb as soon as it came into view but Viola stopped him. "Let me." She took a black suede bag filled with herbs and charms, from her coat pocket and gingerly put the cracked ball of obsidian inside. The orb glowed briefly along the brake then went dark again. She tightened the top then secured it with a series of intricate knots along the long chords in order to bind the object.
"Bobby, open the box."
The Hunter held open the iron box and as soon as the orb was safely contained inside he secured the box with an iron padlock.
Viola explained to everyone, this particular orb was actually a witch ball.
Dean asked her why it wasn't traditional blown glass but rather a solid piece of volcanic glass. The psychic explained that throughout history, witch balls, used to attract and contain evil in order to protect a home the people who dwell within, though best known as made of colorful blown glass, they were also made of wood, grass, twigs, stones, and even hair and wax.
"It must have contained several centuries' worth of darkness. I suggest you do a sweep of your property to rid yourselves of anything still lingering outside that were attracted to this particular powerful witch ball." Viola checked her watch, "I suggest we start at dawn, stumbling around in the dark, hunting for monsters and spirits seems a very bad idea. Then I will personally do a protection spell around the perimeter."
Viola also agreed to come out to the farm and do her hocus pocus, as Dean called it, just in case.
Bobby seconded that. They took shifts patrolling the doors and windows. Sam and Dean kept Bobby, company during his watch. They wanted to know everything about the seasoned Hunter and asked questions rapid fire and Bobby did his best to answer. Finally the exhausted man held up his hands, "Enough, you boys ever get tired of talking?"
The brothers looked at one another and shrugged at the same time.
"I have an offer, if you're both so hell bent on learning about the job, how about this summer you come stay with me for a week? You can paw through my library and I can give you some pointers." The Hunter looked from one fresh faced boy to the other and then sighed, "I hope you don't want to follow in your parent's footsteps, Mary didn't have a choice and John was a fool to go looking for trouble. You both have a way out to live fresh lives with people who love you."
Dean's features clouded, "Maybe we don't have a choice, maybe trouble comes looking for us and when it does I want to be prepared."
Sam nodded in agreement, "I don't want to be a Hunter but it's good to hone our skills just in case we need them. I like "normal" and I want to go to college but I don't want to be a sitting duck either."
Bobby couldn't argue with that, they were Campbell-Winchesters and the sad fact was, in their short lives trouble had already found them. The Hunter changed the subject to lighter things, encouraging the brothers to tell him all about their lives.
It opened a floodgate of stories about Castiel, Grace, Adam and even Alex. Dean told Bobby all about the cabin and the lake and how his decent grades which the teen seemed especially proud of.
Sam told Bobby all about the responsibilities of being a big brother to Alex and Adam, and an uncle to Grace. He even told the grizzled Hunter about Alfie and hinted they had got to second base last month but didn't elaborate and Bobby was grateful for that. Sam talked about his dreams and goals in life while Dean listened with rapt attention because he was truly interested in what his little brother had to say.
By the end of their time together, the brothers and Bobby had bonded. There was something about the Hunter the boys trusted and they weren't afraid to talk to him, unlike their own father.
TBC
A/N- The next chapter will jump ahead to prom, graduation and…well you'll just have to wait.