Bad Boys Part 1
Lebanon, Kansas
Sam wandered into the library, carrying Grace in one of his arms. Grace held a rattle in one of her tiny hands, shaking it slightly.
"Dean? Angie?" Sam called out as he looked around. "Kevin?"
When he got no response, Sam headed towards one of the bookshelves, and pulled a book off the shelf—The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
"You up for a bit of reading?" Sam asked his daughter as he sat down on one of the chairs.
Just as he opened the book, Sam heard a cell phone buzzing. He huffed, slightly annoyed as he set the book down. Sam got up and picked up the phone.
"Hello?" he answered, adjusting Grace in his arm.
Dean and Angela walked into the library, curious as to who Sam was talking to.
"I'm sorry," Sam frowned. "There's no, uh, there's no Dee-dawg, uh…"
"I got it, I got it." Dean grabbed the phone. "Sonny, hey. So, what's up? Okay." He pursed his lips. "Alright. Yeah, just sit tight. I'll be there as soon as I can. Yeah."
Dean hung up the phone, and Sam looked at his brother with his brows furrowed.
"So, what was that all about, 'Dee-dawg'?" he questioned, causing Angela to chuckle softly.
"You remember when we were kids that spring in upstate New York?" Dean asked. "Dad was on a rugaru hunt. We, uh—we crashed at the, uh… the bungalow colony with the ping-pong table?"
"Yeah." Sam nodded. "Uh, y-you disappeared. Dad came back. You were gone. He shipped me off to Bobby's for a couple months and went and… found you. You were lost on a hunt or something."
"That's what we told you." Dean nodded. "Right."
"I'm sorry?" Sam raised his brows. "That's what you told me?"
"Truth is, uh…" Dean started. "I lost the food money that Dad left for us in a card game. I knew you'd get hungry, so… I tried taking the five-finger discount at the local market and got busted. I wasn't on a hunt. They sent me to a boys' home."
"A boys' home, like a… reform school?" Angela asked.
"Yeah, more or less." Dean shrugged. "It was a farm, and the guy who ran it—Sonny—he, uh, you know, he looked after me."
"Wait," Sam's brows furrowed. "Does Sonny know what we do?"
"Yeah. He's good people." Dean assured. "I gave him the number to the Bat Phone, and sounds like he's got something in our wheelhouse." He explained. "So… Hey—you gonna be cool to do this, or are you too tired? I mean, Angie and I can handle this."
"Uh, no. Yeah, I'm just, uh… I'll be fine." Sam assured.
"And everybody's okay with… heading out to the Catskills?" Dean asked, trying to reach Ezekiel.
Sam looked bemused. "Angie and I are everybody."
"Yeah. Right." Dean nodded. "Alright. Grab your stuff, and we'll head out."
"Hey, Dean… I mean, why didn't you just tell me you went to a boys' home?" Sam asked curiously.
"I don't know." He shrugged. "Uh, it was Dad's idea. And then it just—you know, the story became the story. I was 16."
~/~\~
Hurleyville, New York
The Impala pulled up in front of a sign that read 'SONNY'S HOME FOR BOYS.'
"You were here for two months and Dad couldn't find you?" Sam asked as he took Grace out of her car seat.
"Oh, no. He found me. He found me quick." Dean replied. "But he left me here 'cause I lost our money."
Sam frowned as he adjusted Grace in his arms. "You were 16. You made a mistake."
"Yeah. I made the mistake." Dean stressed. "Look, I know how you think. None of this was Dad's fault."
Dean, Sam, and Angela walked to the front door and knocked. Angela adjusted the diaper bag on her shoulder as a middle-aged woman answered the door. She folded her arms and eyed the three hunters.
"Hi." Dean greeted.
"What can I do for you three?" Ruth questioned.
"I'm Dean. This is my brother, Sam, my sister-in-law, Angela, and my niece, Grace." Dean introduced. "We're old friends of Sonny's."
Ruth looked between Sam and Dean. "Prison buddies?"
Dean swallowed, taken aback. "No. Uh… you mind telling him that we're here?"
"I'll go get him," Ruth said after a pause. "I just mopped this floor, so you take off those roach stompers."
The three hunters toed their shoes off. Sam shot Dean a look.
"Sonny's an ex-con, huh?" he muttered.
"What, and we're such angels?" Dean scoffed. "Trust me, he's more than made up for it."
Sam, Dean, and Angela walked into the house. Dean looked at the couch in the living room, pursing his lips.
~/~\~
Deputy Billy stood with his hands on his hips. A 16-year-old Dean sat on the couch, handcuffed. Sonny stood across from Dean, arms folded across his chest.
"Steven Hewlett caught him red0handed stealing up at his store." Deputy Billy explained.
"So, what'd he take?" Sonny questioned.
"Get this—peanut butter and bread."
Sonny looked at Dean, almost as if he was assessing him. "Okay. And how about family?"
"Well, his old man called." Deputy Billy sighed. "Once he found out what happened, he said to let him rot in jail. Judge is off on a fishing trip. Boy's too young to leave in County. So, we thought it best he stay here till arraignment."
"I don't see why not, man." Sonny shrugged.
Deputy Billy took off his sunglasses, revealing a bruise under his eye. "Appreciate it, Sonny."
"Where'd you get the shiner?" Sonny's brows furrowed.
Dean just laughed, causing Deputy Billy to glare at him.
"You think that's funny?"
"I think you're slow." Dean sassed.
"You sucker punched me!" Deputy Billy snapped.
"You wish!" Dean retorted.
"Come on, now!" Sonny snapped, grabbing their attention. "Billy, I got this, buddy. It's alright."
Deputy Billy huffed as he left. Dean waved goodbye sarcastically.
"You shouldn't do that, kid." Sonny reprimanded.
"Yeah? Why? Because he's a cop?" Dean raised his brows.
"Because when you make him mad, he leaves with the key." Sonny retorted.
Dean's face visibly fell as he looked down at the cuffs. Sonny watched with a small smile on his face, then leaned down to pick up a paperclip from the coffee table.
"Eh, don't sweat it." Sonny shrugged.
Sitting in front of Dean, Sonny jimmied the cuffs open with the paperclip. Sonny frowned when he noticed that Dean's forearms were bruised and red.
"Deputy do that?" he asked, earning a head shake from Dean. "What, your old man?" he frowned, earning another head shake. "Well, then, how'd you get it?"
"Werewolf." Dean shrugged.
Sonny stared at Dean for a moment. "Okay."
"So, how do you know I won't just run away?" Dean asked.
"Because you're hungry."
"No, I'm not." Dean retorted.
Sonny raised his brows. "Well, then, why'd you steal bread and peanut butter?"
Dean shrugged. "So, what is this place, anyway?"
"It's for boys like you," Sonny replied. "You work the land. Teaches you some discipline and responsibility. Keep you out of trouble."
Dean laughed. "That's lame."
"Beats jail. Come on. I'll fix you something to eat."
~/~\~
Dean smiled slightly at the memory. A much older-looking Sonny walked into the room, grinning at Dean.
"Dee-dawg!" he exclaimed.
"Sonny!" Dean smiled. "Good to see you."
"Hey, you too, brother." Sonny hugged Dean. "Oh, and this must be Sam."
"Good to meet you." Sam nodded.
"Back at you, brother," Sonny replied, turning to Angela.
"I'm Angela, Sam's wife." She introduced. "And this is our daughter, Gracie." She gestured to her daughter, who was playing with Sam's hair.
"Pleasure to meet you." Sonny gave her a friendly smile.
"So, the farm looks, uh, nice," Dean noted.
"Oh, please, man." Sonny shook his head. "It's barely standing. Only got a handful of kids working around here now."
Dean's brows furrowed. "Why's that?"
Sonny sighed heavily. "Because these days, the system would rather incarcerate a boy than redeem him."
Ruth was wiping down a table nearby, staring at the group.
"Hey, Sonny," Sam muttered. "Uh, you—you mind if we talk alone?"
Sonny turned to Ruth. "Hey, Ruth, would you, uh, please go check on the boys, make sure their morning chores are getting done?"
"Alright," Dean sighed once Ruth left. "So, what's happening?"
"Well, you remember Jack, don't you?"
"Yeah." Dean nodded. "The, uh, tough, old leatherneck."
"Mm-hmm." Sonny hummed. "Well, somehow, that ancient, rusty, broken-down tractor just roared to life and ran him over the other night."
"Maybe—maybe it just, uh, slipped out of park or something," Angela suggested.
"Couldn't have." Sonny shook his head. "You know, I never—I never believed any of this mumbo-jumbo stuff you guys are into, but… something ain't right."
"What do you mean?" Angela asked curiously.
"Well, just… things started happening—you know, lights flickering on and off, strange scratching sounds coming from inside the walls, windows, and doors slamming."
"Alright." Dean sighed. "You think you can round up the boys while we take a look around?"
"Well, that shouldn't be a problem. Most are home on break—well, except those with no home worth going to."
"Mm." Dean hummed as Sonny left. "Alright," he looked at Sam and Angela. "Why don't you guys take the house? I'll check out the barn."
"Yeah." Sam nodded.
~/~\~
Sam and Angela walked into an empty bedroom. Angela was carrying Grace as they walked.
"Look," Sam muttered, grabbing Angela's attention.
On one of the bedposts, there were some occult symbols carved into them. Sam pulled off several of the taped name labels to reveal one that said, 'DEAN W.' Suddenly, they heard a sound from the adjoining room.
"Stay behind me," Sam instructed as he took out a knife.
The couple walked towards the room, noticing that Ruth was on her knees, praying. She rose suddenly, alarmed.
"Hey. I am so sorry." Sam apologized. "We… we thought we saw something in, uh—
"Like a ghost?" Ruth interrupted. "Sonny told me you were old friends, but… I know why you're really here. That's why I was praying for us."
"Praying for what?" Angela questioned.
Ruth smiled slightly. "For the ghost that haunts this farm to leave."
~/~\~
Dean opened and closed the barn door and whipped out his old EMF detector. "Alright, Casper… Where're you at?"
After a few moments, he pocketed the EMF reader. He frowned when he heard a noise, more specifically, a child's voice. He followed the noise and opened another door to a dim room.
"Hello?" Dean called out. "Anybody here?"
He whirled around to another sound. There was a scrawny little kid wearing glasses.
"Hey, kid," Dean frowned. "What are you doing in here by yourself?"
"Fighting monsters." The boy smiled.
"What kind of monsters?" Dean raised his brows.
"All sorts, with Bruce the monster smasher." The boy held up his action figure.
"Hm." Dean nodded. "Is that a cape? Little impractical for smashing monsters, huh? You know, you could choke—
"I clobber evil!" the action figure said after the boy pressed a button.
Dean chuckled slightly. "I bet you do. I'm Dean." He held out his hand.
Timmy." The boy replied, shaking Dean's hand weakly.
Dean's brows furrowed. "Let's try that again. If you're gonna be a man, you got to learn how to shake like one, okay? So, give me your best Kung Fu grip." He instructed as they shook hands again. "Now look me straight in the eye. Let me know that you mean business. Shake as hard as you can. That's it. You shake like that, you'll be alright." Dean smiled. "Hey, Timmy, did you know Jack who worked here?"
"Mm-hmm." Timmy nodded.
"What can you tell me about him?"
"He yelled a lot," Timmy replied. "He was yelling when he had his accident."
"How do you know that?" Dean asked gently.
"'Cause me and the other boys were playing here when it happened," Timmy explained.
"Did you see anything?" Dean asked, earning a head shake. "Is there anything else about that night that you can remember, anything at all?"
"It suddenly… got really cold." Timmy recalled. "Can I go? I have to finish my chores before Miss Ruth gets mad."
"That Ruth—she runs a tight ship, huh?" Dean muttered. "Yeah, you better roll."
~/~\~
"I grew up in this town," Ruth started. "I used to come up here as a little girl. The Wasserlaufs, Howard and Doreen—they used to own this farm back then. My co-worker, Jack, may he rest in peace, he worked here as a farmhand. Howard was a nice man, but… Well, he'd get into that corn liquor, and… one night he got it into his thick skull that Jack and his wife, Doreen, were rolling around in the hay." She explained. "It wasn't true, but—but Howard's paranoia got the better of him. He tried to kill them both. Jack got away, but Doreen…"
"He killed her?" Angela asked.
"With a meat cleaver," Ruth replied grimly. "Got life in jail. Which for Howard ended a year ago. He always swore he'd get his revenge on poor old Jack, and… looks like he finally got it."
"Is Howard buried here in town?" Sam questioned.
~/~\~
Sam and Dean were digging up the grave while Angela stood nearby, bottle-feeding Grace.
"So… Dad didn't want you to tell me." Sam commented. "How come? Was this place really so bad?"
"I don't really remember," Dean admitted. "I mean, look, nobody bad touched me. Nobody burned me with their smokes, or beat me with a metal hanger. I call that a win."
Sam laughed a little. Dean hit something hard with his shovel.
"Hey."
The brothers opened up the coffin to reveal a corpse. They poured salt over the body.
"Alright," Dean sighed. "Let's barbecue old MacDonald here, get the hell out of Dodge."
~/~\~
The Impala sped down the old country road, the sun shining brightly.
~/~\~
Dean, Sam, and Angela were sitting at a table in the little restaurant. Grace sat in a high chair next to Angela. Dean, with a sly smile on his face, watched the waitress, who stood at the counter, laughing with some other customers.
"That's okay." She laughed.
"Dean, you know we're fine just grabbing a burger-to-go somewhere, right?" Sam asked, breaking Dean from his thoughts.
"What, and miss out on the best banana pancakes you ever had?" Dean scoffed as he looked down at the menu.
~/~\~
Dean and Sonny sat at the table in the restaurant.
"Thanks," Dean commented.
"No prob," Sonny replied. "I do this for all the boys after they've been here for a month."
"I meant for getting the charges against me dropped." Dean corrected.
"Well, being hungry's not a crime." Sonny shrugged. "It's the stealing that it. But I feel if you only do that once, you don't deserve a record. And seeing as how we can't find your pops anywhere, you can stay here as long as you want, Dean. You're doing good in school. You're making friends. You made the wrestling team. I'm proud of you." He explained, pausing for a moment. "Let me ask you something, and I want you to be straight with me. Are you into the whole heavy-metal, devil-worshipping stuff?"
"What?" Dean asked incredulously. "No."
"Hey, I'm not—I'm not judging," Sonny assured. "It's just I found a few occult-looking symbols carved into your bedpost."
Dean sighed. "It's a very long story."
"That story have anything to do with why you put the salt in front of your bunk door every night before bed?"
"Well, it's a family thing, so I can't really talk about it." Dean muttered.
"Same family that left you here?" Sonny raised a brow. "What," he laughed. "Are you—what are you, in the mob or something?"
"More like something," Dean replied vaguely.
Sonny pursed his lips. "I was part of this gang, right? They were my family. I lived, breathed, I would have even died for them. "You know where it got me? 15 years in a correctional facility. And for what?" he shrugged. "Being loyal? To who? I should have been loyal to myself. Because you get one shot at this game, Dean, and when you look in the mirror, you want the guy looking back at you to be his own man."
Dean nodded silently. A waitress, Robin, walked over to their table.
"Hey, guys." Robin smiled.
"Hey, Robin." Sonny greeted the girl. "How are you?"
"I'm good. How are you?"
"Good." Sonny nodded. "Meet my new ranch foreman here, Dean."
~/~\~
"Hi. Welcome to Cus's." Robin greeted, pulling Dean from his thoughts. "What can I get y'all?"
"Bet you never thought you'd see me here, huh?" Dean smiled insinuatingly.
Robin looked at Dean with a blankly friendly expression. "Uh, look, I'm a little bit slammed right now. Do you want to hear the specials?"
"Robin… Dean Winchester." He reminded.
"Um…"
"I used to live up at Sonny's," he added.
"Oh, oh." Robin nodded. "Uh, look, sorry. There's just—there's just so many boys that pass through there, it's—it's hard to remember every—every name and face."
"Yeah. Uh, no. Sorry." Dean apologized. "I just—I remember you coming up there with your mom. She'd give guitar lessons. It's, uh—it was a long time ago."
"Yeah. Mom—she loved helping out the boys." Robin smiled fondly. "I guess that's why I kept giving lessons after she passed."
"Hey, Robin?" Another woman called.
"Um, would you excuse me?" Robin said awkwardly. "I'll be right back."
"Dude…?" Sam started.
"Let's go." Dean got up quickly.
~/~\~
"Wh—what was that?" Angela asked as they walked towards the Impala.
"Nothing," Dean grumbled.
Sam adjusted Grace in his arms. "Nothing? Well, obviously it was something. Who was that waitress?"
"I said it was nothing, alright? Drop it." Dean snapped as his phone started ringing. "Sonny." He greeted. "What?!"
~/~\~
Dean, Sam, Angela, and Sonny stood near a police car. Sam held Grace, who was sucking on a teething ring.
"I tried to get in to save her, but the damn door wouldn't open," Sonny recalled.
"Locked?" Angela asked.
"There's no locks on the farm."
Dean sighed heavily. "That means our little field trip to the cemetery was a bust. Sonny, is there anything else weird you can remember?"
"What, 'cause we're not chest-deep in weird already?" Sonny scoffed.
"I know, I know. I mean anything—really." Dean replied.
"There was one thing," Sonny muttered. "Ruth always had her rosary beads with her, but now I can't find them anywhere."
"Alright," Sam nodded. "Um, let's start with the vics, okay? I mean, both lived in the house. They both, uh, worked closely with the boys."
"Alright, why don't I go have a chat with the rug rats, see what's up?" Dean suggested.
"Yeah." Angela nodded. "Sonny, you got any employee records on the victims?"
"In my office. Let's do it."
~/~\~
Dean walked around the house, following the sound of voices.
"Come on, watcha gonna do about it? You gonna cry?" One kid laughed.
"Timmy, you're such a little weirdo." The second kid added.
Dean immediately grabbed the first kid, and then the second kid. "Hey, hey, hey! Hey! What are you doing?"
"Nothing." One kid replied.
"Timmy, what's going on?" Dean demanded.
Timmy remained silent while one of the boys huffed in annoyance.
"Alright, you two," Dean faced the two older boys. "Where were you this morning when Ruth had her accident?"
"Unless you're a cop, we don't need to tell you anything."
"Oh, okay. Well…" Dean pulled out his FBI badge. "How about that?" he shoved the badge in their faces.
"We weren't even here this morning. Sonny sent us into town to get some chicken feed—we swear."
"What about Ruth?" Dean questioned. "What can you tell me about her?"
"Uh, we used to call her the warden. She was a real Bible-thumping hard-ass."
"Obviously," Dean muttered. "What else? Anything different or weird you can think of?"
"You mean besides Timmy?" both kids laughed.
"Hey!" Dean snapped. "Either of you touch him ever again, I'm gonna go all Guantanamo on you. Understand me? You get the hell out of here. Go on! Get!"
The two boys immediately scurried off. Dean turned back to face Timmy, who stepped forward to pick up his action figure.
"Hey. You and Bruce okay?" Dean asked gently.
"Yeah." Timmy nodded.
"Listen to me," Dean started. "Guys like that—they're cowards, okay? All you got to do is stand up to them one time and they'll stop, I promise."
Timmy looked down at the ground. "Okay."
~/~\~
Sam, Angela, and Sonny walked briskly through the house. Sam stopped, noticing something.
"Hey, Sonny, wait." He murmured. "Um… W-what is all this?"
"It's our hall of fame," Sonny replied. "We had some pretty great athletes come through here, including your brother. He was Sullivan county 135-pound wrestling champion."
Sam exhaled softly, staring at the certificate.
A/N: Hey, guys, sorry there was no new chapter yesterday. I'm pretty under the weather. Also, I won't be posting tomorrow or Tuesday b/c it's Christmas. However, I will post a chapter of Fallen and Snapshots on Wednesday. Love you guys, and have a happy holiday! Xoxo
~Emily