The Guard Changed at Dawn

Chapter 3

"Dean? Can you hear me?"

Dean climbed off the bed and stood. "Yeah, Jody, I'm here."

"How soon can you get to Bobby's?"

"Bobby's…" Dean swallowed hard. He hadn't been to Bobby's since the funeral of the old hunter. It was too hard to be there where he and Sam had spent so many wonderful times both before and after their father died.

"Dean?"

"Yeah, sorry. What's up?"

"There's a situation that needs the services and expertise of the Guardian."

From anyone else Dean might have laughed. But this was Jody. "Are you all right? Jackson? The others?"

"Everyone's fine. But something's come up. It's complicated."

"Have anything to do with owls?"

Silence answered his question, and it was his turn to say, "Jody?"

"Yes, I'm here. I'm not sure whether there are literal owls involved, but it may be a factor."

What's up, Caleb mouthed.

Hunt, Dean mouthed back. To Jody, he said, "I think we're already researching the hunt you're calling about. Can you give us a couple days to get there?"

"Sounds good. Who's us?"

"Everyone," Dean replied.

"We'll be ready."

When he hung up, Dean started for the door when Caleb barred his way.

"You need to sleep," Caleb said. "You've only been down a half hour.

"Seriously?" Dean said, stunned. It felt like so much longer. Slowly he sat back on the bed.

"JT and I are going out to get some lunch, something that'll keep until you wake up. I'll call Josh and Ryker, get them on their way here. Max can come back with Sam and Jimmy."

Dean shook his head. "I don't want Sam and Jimmy coming just yet. They're doing the college MBA thing. We can get started and fill them in later."

Caleb nodded slowly. "Okay, fine, just Max. But you're saying all the big words Sam will demand to hear when they find out we've been doing the research thing without them. You," he pointed a finger in Dean's direction, "get some sleep."

Awareness of light slowly woke Dean, and he rolled lazily onto his back. He could tell it was late afternoon by the tone of light streaming in through his bedroom window. Yawning, he lay there and focused on the house. He could hear Juliet talking in the kitchen. Since he couldn't hear the person she was talking to, that ruled out Caleb or Max. Which meant either JT, Joshua or Ryker were with her.

Yawning again, he pushed himself up and sat on the edge of the bed, attempting to shove his feet into his boots without bending over.

"Need some help there, old man?"

Dean smiled. "Cheeky as ever," he said to Max, who stood in the doorway smirking.

Max's blond hair was tied back in a ponytail. Unlike Caleb, who had cut his hair when he started Tri Corp, Max seemed to have no problem with keeping his hair long. Of course, it wasn't ultra long; just long enough to capture in a short tail. Dean supposed owning and running a restaurant gave him more latitude for casualness.

The young man walked in and dropped into one of the two bedroom chairs. "Aunt Julie sent me up to see if you were awake. She's almost got dinner ready." Max looked so much like Joshua did at his age, Dean sometimes ended up calling him Josh, much to the younger man's amusement.

"Yeah," Dean said, finally bending over to pull on and tie his shoes. "Tell her I'm on my way."

Max nodded and rose, but he didn't leave. In an eerie echo of Caleb, he asked softly, "You okay? With JT's dream?"

If Max knew about the dream, then JT had filled him in when he got here, just as he would have told Caleb and Sam. Smiling, Dean said, "Yeah, I'm good."

Max studied him a moment longer, then nodded. "Then with all due respect, Mr. Guardian, Sir; get the lead out. I'm starving!" With a laugh, he disappeared out the door.

Dean shook his head and followed.

In the kitchen, Joshua, Ryker and JT were sitting around the table talking over the research they'd been doing. Caleb interjected a comment now and then while helping load the table and pulling a cold, sweating pitcher of sweat tea from the fridge. Max took some platters and set them on the table. It looked like Juliet had added a large platter of lasagna to the warmed up meat loaf from yesterday. She'd grilled some garlic bread and tossed together a big bowl of green salad.

Seeing Dean in the doorway, she smiled. "Dinner's on."

Dean gave her a chaste kiss before sitting down. "Looks good."

Caleb poured everyone tea while Ryker rose to fill his glass with tap water. He had never taken to Pastor Jim's sweat tea.

While Ryker wasn't as tall as his father, Joshua's friend and former body guard Adam, his height was still impressive at six-foot-four. He didn't look like his father either, and Dean supposed he took after his mother, though he'd never met her. A chiseled jaw, straight nose and wide, full mouth combined with a soldier's build made him a handsome man. His eyes held a steely reserve and a steadiness that had been enhanced by his time in the army.

While he may not have had his father's looks, he had his father's demeanor. He could silence the unwary with a glance, and he didn't take any crap. Dean liked that about him. He was also devoted to JT, Max and Jimmy.

"How is the research going?" Dean asked.

Joshua shrugged. "Owls is rather vague." Hair now completely white, the current Advisor was digging into a large portion of salad.

Joshua's face and build had slimmed in the years before he'd turned seventy. After several years of working with his Triad, his expertise wasn't needed out in the field as much, so the older man usually worked from his home or a hotel room nearby during a hunt. Despite his company's protestations, Joshua had semi-retired from his public relations firm when he'd turned sixty-eight, though he still represented Sawyer's Restaurant, as well as Caleb's art and JT's photography.

"We found some news on…"

"That's enough," Juliet interrupted. "You all know the rule about hunting talk at the table."

There was a chorus of sorrys and pardon-mes from around the table.

When the boys were young, neither Dean nor any other member of the Triad had talked "shop" at the dinner table. Conversation had revolved around the boys' school, grades, friends and extracurricular activities. Eventually there were conversations about college, first for Ben, then JT and Jimmy. But there'd never been talk about hunting. Later, as the proposed Triad had embraced their futures and started hunting more, Juliet imposed a no-hunting-talk rule at the dinner table.

"Sorry, Juliet," Joshua said charmingly. "I forgot myself."

Juliet smiled. "How's Carolyn?"

"She's spending the weekend with her mother." Carolyn's father had passed five years before. She, like Joshua, was an only child, so she'd taken to spending two weekends a month with her mother.

"Her mother doing well?"

"She keeps busy with friends, her many charities and her grandchildren."

"Grandmother's been taking Jocelyn to the museums and art galleries in New York," Max said before taking a huge bite of garlic bread. "She's loves it," he mumbled.

"Maxim," Joshua admonished.

Max chewed quickly and swallowed. "Sorry."

JT struggled not to laugh as he bent low over his lasagna.

Max jabbed his best friend with his elbow. When JT retaliated, Juliet gave them both a raised brow.

Dean added his piece by giving the pair a steady gaze and both returned to eating with single-minded focus.

Caleb glanced at Ryker, who was ignoring his friends in favor of a healthy slab of meat loaf. "Mary's been on some of those trips," he said. "I think she loves it more than Josie."

Joshua nodded. "She's been having a great time. I think she decided to do a school project on the Neue Galerie." His daughter Jocelyn had been named after his grandmother. She was just as spirited, and was best friends with Sam's daughter, Mary.

"Neue Galerie," Dean frowned. "That the museum by the park?"

"Ancient Park and Central Park are both near the Neue," said Caleb.

Museums, art and other New York attractions dominated the conversation as dinner was consumed and dessert was served.

Soon Caleb put his fork down and said, "That was amazing, Juliet."

"The Dinner Bell has never let us down."

The Dinner Bell was Dean's favorite place to get anything with a flaky crust. The master baker, Marlene, had loved that he was enamored with her baking, and over the years a true friendship had developed. She would create new pastries to tempt him, and he loved teasing her about how much she still had to learn about the art of the perfect pie. When Marlene passed away, Dean had been heartbroken. He hadn't gone back to The Dinner Bell until Maggie, Marlene's daughter, had delivered an apple pie to the garage on his birthday. Dean had taken one bite and smiled. Marlene's exemplary baking lived on in her daughter.

Dean rose and he and JT washed off the plates and stacked the dishwasher.

Juliet refreshed Joshua's coffee as she, Caleb, Joshua, Max and Ryker sat around the table after dinner. "You boys planning on spending the night?"

Max shook his head. "I think we're all going to Uncle Caleb's, right?" he looked to his father.

Joshua nodded. "Caleb asked us to stay, and there's plenty of room. After we go over today's work, I think we'll head over and get some rest."

"Then I'll let you boys get to it," Juliet said as she rose and put her coffee cup in the sink. "I've got a mare soon to foal and a Labrador ready to pup. Think I'll check in on my patients." She smiled and walked out of the kitchen.

"Let's go over what we've got so far," Caleb said. When they were all situated around the large table, he nodded toward JT. "Want to sum up, Johnny?"

"We don't have a whole lot, so this will be quick." The young man picked up a stack of papers and shuffled them into order. "We know that owls have represented several different things over time. Since we're in America, we focused our research here. In Native American culture, owls were bad omens. In many tribes the owl symbolizes the supernatural and the circles around the eyes are believed to be made up of the fingernails of ghosts."

Ryker took up the narrative. "Owls are seen as messengers of murder or sudden death. Death is a recurring theme with several Native American tribes."

"And it looks like this case may be tied to Native Americans," Joshua said. Looking at Dean, he continued, "You said that Jody called this afternoon. You think her hunt ties in with this one?"

"Maybe," Dean said carefully.

"Why did you get that impression?" Ryker asked.

"A gut feeling, mainly," Dean shrugged. "I asked her about owls, and she said they may be a factor."

"There's been a slight uptick in owl sightings in the Pacific Northwest recently," Max interjected. "I'm looking into whether that's an annual or bi-annual thing."

"Any suspicious deaths?" Caleb asked.

JT shook his head. "Nothing we've found so far. I'm taking a look at missing persons too. So far the only one I've found is a missing thirteen year old girl from outside of Sun Valley, Idaho. But this isn't the first time she's run away, so I don't know that this one incident has anything to do with this case."

Joshua looked around. "We don't have much of anything except JT's dream that there's an evil coming, and the owl on the table."

Dean looked around the table. "The dream is the key. Jim has never steered us wrong and he said an evil is coming. That means the signs are there. We just need to find them."

"Then we will," Caleb said. "We need to bring in Sam and Jimmy."

Dean nodded. "We will, but not tomorrow. We'll gather as much information as we can while Sam and Jimmy do the college thing. I told Jody we'd be a couple days. After tomorrow, we'll brief Sam and Jimmy on our progress and Sam can take over the direction of the research."

Joshua stood. "Then I think we'll head over to Caleb's. It's been a long day."

Dean stood. "Yeah." He nodded in Caleb's direction. "We had a long weekend too. Let's get some rest and start fresh in the morning."

"You making breakfast?" JT asked Max with a hopeful smile.

"You saying there's something wrong with my cooking?" Dean demanded.

"No! Just taking advantage of a friend while he's around."

Max rolled his eyes and gave his friend a shove. "Fine. I'll make breakfast."

"And bring your famous coffee," Joshua said as he walked out the door.

"Everyone's a critic," Dean grumped. "You'd think he starved growing up."

Ryker stepped around the table to follow the others. Pausing in front of Dean, he said drolly, "It is fabulous coffee."

"Yeah, yeah," Dean muttered as he gave the younger man a good hearted shove through the door. "It's all about the coffee."

"With you?" Caleb interjected, "there's never been a truer statement. You started drinking coffee behind Johnny's back when you were seven."

Dean grinned. "How else was I supposed to take care of Sammy, the house, fix meals, do research and go to school without a little caffeine?"

Caleb just smiled and didn't add that a seven year old should never have had to do all that Dean had as a kid. That was a path well worn with sorrow and regrets. No retread needed. "We'll see you at around nine."

"Nine? Getting soft in your old age?" Dean teased.

"Nope. Just realistically calculating shower time."

Long after everyone had gone home and JT was in bed, Dean sat in the Tomb idly looking over the research done that day and thinking about his dream encounter with Pastor Jim and the other Guardians. Though the experience had been on the astral plane, as Sam would have said, he felt different inside. He felt healed for maybe the first time since hell, since even before hell. There'd been so much trauma throughout his life, he couldn't really comprehend what he was feeling right now. There was a lightness inside that was difficult for him to fathom; he'd never truly experience it before.

"Dean?"

He looked up to see Juliet standing in the doorway. "Hey."

"Why aren't you in…" she broke off. Moving closer, she stood in front of Dean and stared down into his eyes. "What happened?"

Rising, Dean said, "Nothing. What's wrong?"

Juliet didn't answer immediately; she merely stared into his eyes until tears filled her own.

"Jules!" Dean exclaimed. "What's wrong!? Are you all right?"

Juliet laughed as tears spilled onto her cheeks. "I'm fine, you idiot. It's you. You're all right."

Frowning in confusion, Dean said, "Yeah, I know I'm all right."

Juliet laughed again as she shook her head. "Idiot," she said again.

Dean suddenly realized Juliet, who knew him better than anyone except Caleb and Sam, had seen the truth in his eyes. Smiling, he motioned for her to sit.

"I told you how I used to see Pastor Jim in dreams, right?" At Juliet's nod, he continued, "I stopped having dreams a long time ago, after … hell." He swallowed hard, and Juliet gripped his hand with one of her own.

Years ago when he and Juliet had begun dating, Dean hadn't talked about the Brotherhood or hunting. Experience had told him that women who found out about the Brotherhood left, and he hadn't wanted to chase away this remarkable woman. Though he'd somewhat humorously told Juliet that he was The Guardian of an ultra secret organization of men sworn to protect the innocent against all forms of evil when he met her, she hadn't truly found out about the Brotherhood until she'd come to the farm early to meet up with him, and he returned from a hunt with an injured Caleb. That fateful night she'd been confronted with the reality; she thought they were all insane. She'd left that day, and Dean truly believed he'd never see her again. He'd been surprised and grateful when she returned several months later. Right then and there he'd sat her down and told her the whole truth of Pastor Jim, the Brotherhood and its origins, and that evil really existed. He'd also come clean about being in hell. He knew there were fissures in his personality that came out during times of stress; fractures to his psyche caused by hell. If he and Juliet were to stand a chance at a life, she needed to know everything.

Giving her a wan smile, he continued. "I thought … I thought, after what I'd done down there, that Pastor Jim didn't think I was worthy enough to come to me anymore."

Juliet listened and struggled to bury her emotions. Dean just didn't see it, didn't see how self-sacrificing, selfless and noble he was. He was the best man she'd ever known, that she'd ever dreamed could exist, and that was enhanced even more by his general obtuseness regarding his own worth. And man, did she love him more than her own life.

"When JT said he had a dream about Pastor Jim today…" Dean broke off, his face flushing in shame. Drawing a deep breath, readying to confess to Juliet, he continued, "I was angry and jealous. I didn't begrudge JT the dream, never that. But after all the years of working so hard to make up for what I'd done, I thought Jim went to JT because I wasn't good enough."

"Oh, Dean," Juliet murmured.

"I know, pathetic, huh?"

Juliet shook her head. She took his face in her hands. "Never, never that. Short-sighted, maybe, but never that."

A small smile cracked Dean's mouth. "So after Caleb got here, I went to bed and … I saw Jim." He looked at her, awe on his face, and told her about everything that had happened in the dream. "They saw past all the failures and focused on the victories."

He sounded so stunned, that Juliet felt her heart break again. Pulling in a deep breath, she said gently, "Do you think you can still learn from Pastor Jim?"

"Of course," Dean said.

"Then maybe, you can learn this from him too."

Dean frowned. "Learn what?"

"To look past any failures," which she knew were few and far between, "and focus on your triumphs."

Dean slowly smiled. "Yeah, maybe," he said.

Juliet stood and pulled on Dean's hand till he was standing too. "Come on. I think this revelation deserves a celebration," and she tugged him toward the door.

"What kind of celebration do you have in mind?" Dean asked, his brows bobbing playfully.

"The kind that means we're sleeping downstairs, since JT is in bed upstairs."

The long creases at Dean's eyes deepened as he grinned. "I love that kind of celebration."

Juliet gave him a saucy smile. "I know you do."