Title: Identity Chapter 4 of ?
Rating: PG13 I suppose, for minor swearing
Characters: Dean, Sam, Young Dean, Young Sam, Pre-Series John, Pastor Jim
Notes: Thanks http://michelle2007. for the great beta job! Takes place after Kansas City Shuffle. No real episode warnings.
Disclaimers: I own nothing, I just like to play with what's not mine.
Summary: After the events of Kansas City Shuffle, Sam and Dean are on a hunt for a cult. Once again, Dean can't keep his hands to himself, only this time he ends up traveling back to the past and trading places with his 10 year old self. Now Sam has to deal with taking care of a 10 year old, while Dean has to convince his father he is who he says he is.
Identity
Chapter 4
After I got Little Dean some food, we headed back to the hotel. I let him have Dean's bed, first removing the sharp knife from under the pillow. Dean turned the TV on and flipped through till he found an old re-run of Star Trek. I opened the laptop to see if anyone had gotten back to me, but unfortunately no one had. I brought in some of the texts and papers I had gathered from the barn and began sifting through them. Feeling eyes watching me, I turned to find Dean not watching TV, but in fact staring intently at me.
"Need something?" I asked him. He shook his head and went back to watching Captain Kirk save the day. I shrugged and went back to the papers. Pretty soon I heard the bed creak, and he appeared at my side.
"So what are you looking at?" He asked as he sat in the chair next to me.
"Well, these are some of the papers that the cult Dean and I were chasing left behind. I'm pretty sure the statue he touched was something of theirs also, so I'm hoping to find reference to it somewhere in here."
"Can I look at those pictures of the statue?" He asked. Nodding I pulled out my cell phone, opened the photo gallery and handed it to him. I showed him what button to use to scroll through them. After a minute, he handed the phone back to me.
"Is there something I can do to help?" he once again looked over at what I was going through. I figured most of it would be over his head, but on the other hand, I'm sure he would be happy to help find a way to get back home. So I got up, and dug through our collection of random books until I found one that dealt with symbols. I opened the laptop and pulled up a picture that showed roughly the area Dean would've touched and handed him the book. Dean had a good head for symbols and things like that, so I figured his younger self would be no exception.
"Well, you can look through here, and see if you find any of these symbols listed. They look like Egyptian Hieroglyphs, so you might want to start there."
Dean nodded and opened the book. He took a pen and some paper to write on as well. I started going back over what I had been reading. It didn't seem like it had been that long, but when I looked at my watch it had been 3 hours. Little Dean was looking tired, but still working. I yawned and stretched my tired muscles.
"I don't know about you, but I think it's time to call it a night."
He looked up from the paper and nodded. "But we can get an early start again tomorrow. There are only a few that I haven't identified."
I looked at the paper and was surprised to see he had not only made notes about the meanings, but had drawn the symbol and put the meaning next to it. I smiled and motioned to the page.
"Good job on that. Now let's see if I can find something for you to sleep in." I went over to Dean's bag and dug through. I found a shirt that would work, since it was big on Dean to begin with, and some sweat pants. They would be way too big, but they had drawstrings so I thought it might work. He took them and disappeared into the bathroom. While he was gone, I changed into my own pair of sweat pants and a tee shirt before checking my email. It was still empty, so I shut the computer down and went through the process of checking the room to make sure it was secure. Once I was sure, I climbed into bed. Not long after, Dean came out. I'm proud of myself for managing not to laugh. I hid a smile as he re-checked all the locks and windows. He then climbed into bed.
"G'night Sammy." He said as he got settled.
I reached up and shut off the light. "Good night Dean."
I lay in bed, wondering what kind of trouble Dean was getting himself into this time. I woke up to the sound of sniffles. I frowned, trying to get my bearings. A quick glance at the clock told me it had only been about 3 hours since we had laid down. I glanced over at the other bed. Dean appeared to be curled up facing away from me. I debated whether I should say something or not. While I wasn't sure what Dean was like when he was 10, I knew what he was like now. And he probably hadn't changed that much in 18 years. I decided that I would let him be for the time being. I was sure it must be difficult for him, but I also knew he wouldn't want to talk about it. So I left it alone for now. I settled back on my side and once again wondered what Dean was up to. One thing was certain. When he got back he and I were going to have a long talk about nasty statues with strange symbols.
-----
I woke up to find sunlight shining in the room. I stretched and glanced over at the other bed. When I didn't see Dean, I sat up quickly looking around. He was sitting at the table with my cell phone and the book of symbols. I got up and walked over to see what he was up to. When I stood up, he glanced over at me before going back to work.
"I've identified all of the symbols except one."
I looked over the paper he had and was shocked to see the paper he had in front of him. He had identified all of the symbols in all of the pictures I had taken. There were over 100 symbols on the page. I frowned slightly.
"How long have you been awake?"
Dean shrugged and kept flipping through the book. There was one symbol he had drawn at the bottom of one of the pages, larger than the rest.
"I can't find this one. I've been through most of this book. Do you have any other ones? Maybe I can stop by the library later."
Sam smiled and nodded. "Yeah, we'll do that after breakfast. You did good work on that Dean."
Dean dropped his head, but not before I saw him blush. He muttered something before getting up and heading into the bathroom. He soon emerged changed back into the clothes he had been wearing when arrived. I took my turn in the bathroom and when I was done, I grabbed the laptop and the paper Dean had been working on and shoved them all in a bag.
"Ok first off breakfast, then library. You ok with eating at that diner we had dinner at?" Dean shrugged, then nodded. He headed for the door and I followed making sure the 'Do Not Disturb' sign was on the door.
Breakfast was relatively quiet. The waitress gave us a slightly puzzled look, seeing as how the last time she saw me, I had Dean with me. The 28 year old version who flirted with her for most of breakfast. And now I had the 10 year old version, who was depressed as hell and pushing his food around the plate instead of eating it. Of course I recognized it for what it was. Dean was upset about something, and therefore not hungry. I tried to see if I could draw out of him what was wrong. Aside from the whole traveling 18 years into the future...
"Dean, what's the matter? Not hungry? Food not taste good?"
He didn't look up, but took a bite of the toast. "No, it's fine. I'm fine."
I started to call bullshit before I realized that wasn't really a good thing to say to a 10 year old. I settled on, "Dean, you're lying. I can tell, because I've spent my life with you. Now what's wrong?"
He looked up this time, and despite his attitude, I could see the fear in his eyes.
"Nothing, ok? Just leave me alone. Let's go to the library so I can figure out that last symbol and go home."
I had a feeling that he was scared he'd never get back home, but chose not to push it. Instead I flagged the waitress down to get our ticket, then paid for the bill while Dean headed out to the car. Under normal circumstances, Dean would've paid using one of his fake credit cards or last nights pool money, while I waited in the car for him. It felt weird seeing a child sitting in the car waiting for me. The drive to the library was short. When we were inside, I gave Dean his papers and pulled out my laptop. He immediately headed to the card catalog (Yes, this library was so out of date it still had one of those) and began hunting for more books to go through. I pulled up my email and was happy to see new mail. The first email I opened was from the same guy who solved our problem before. This time, he wasn't much help. He suggested it may have just been a design, and that perhaps the key lay in the hieroglyphs. The next email was a little more helpful. It suggested two cultures to focus on, Chinese and Mongolian. I got up and headed over to where Dean was looking on the shelf.
"I got a message from a good source. He said to try Chinese or Mongolian."
Dean pulled a book off the shelf, presumably the one he was looking for. He grinned as he held it up. It was some sort of Mongolian history book. Looks like he was already ahead of us. I smiled back and went back to my computer. While he looked for the answer to the last symbol, I tried to put the hieroglyphs in some semblance of order.
-----
I had been looking through books for the last 2 hours. I let out a sigh as I stretched. So far, the only books dad had on symbols had turned up nothing. I ran a hand through my hair in frustration, then glared in the direction the snoring came from. Dad had come home about 1 in the morning, drunk as could be. I hadn't even thought about it, just got up, and went to help him as I had used to do. Upon seeing me, he had lunged, throwing a punch that I easily dodged. It took a while to get him to remember, but once he did, he kept asking over and over if we got the demon. I kept my mouth shut as I got him into bed. He fell asleep not long after his head hit the pillow. The last thing he said before he did was, "I know Dean that we kill it. We have to because it's the only option."
I rubbed at the sore spot on the back of my neck before getting up and wandering into the kitchen. There wasn't much in the way of breakfast stuff, so I settled on coffee. I could always go out and get something later on. As I was about to go sit back down and start in on the last book, the phone rang.
I debated answering it, but then heard from the direction of Dad's bedroom, "Dean answer the damned thing!"
I'm not sure if he meant for his 10 year old son, or me, but I answered it anyway. It was Pastor Jim.
"Dean? Well I think I got something for you. Are you at all familiar with I Ching?"
I thought for a moment. "Isn't that some kind of Chinese divination thing?" As I leaned against the counter sipping my coffee, dad came stumbling in. I braced myself for another round of "Let's forget the kid changed places" but he went for the coffee instead of me.
"Yeah basically. Well I think that the symbol matches something from that. The Well to be specific. It's stated as this, 'Now is the time to draw strength and inspiration from the past. Both from your own experiences and tribulations and that of your ancestors who have come before you. Learn from the past and build a better future.' I have a feeling that the combination of that, and something in the hieroglyphs is what caused this. Where was this statue located?"
"It was in a barn. Sam and I were on the trail of this cult. They were long gone but had actually left some stuff behind."
Jim was silent for a while. Dad had finished off his first cup of coffee and was going for cup number two.
"Well as far as the cult thing is concerned, I'm not sure what to tell you. That's really all I have right now. I'll keep digging though."
I thanked him and hung up. Dad looked at me questioningly and I gave him a rundown on what Jim had said. I sat down at the table again and stared at the symbol I had drawn. The cult itself had only been in existence for 3 years as far as Sam and I had found. Which meant it would be another 15 years before they would likely have created the statue. Assuming they had been the ones to create it and hadn't simply found it and used it. I couldn't remember the hieroglyphs that were on it so I had no way of knowing what they translated as. In other words, I had hit a dead end. My only hope was Sam figuring out what it all meant. Dad joined me at the table. He had his journal out and was flipping through it. As I watched him make a note in it, likely something from his last hunt it hit me. Sam had dad's journal. Anything thing he put in the journal would be there when Sam looked at it. I grinned as I picked up a pen.
"Dad, I need to borrow that." I pulled it over to me and flipped through till I found a blank page. Dad frowned as he watched me.
"Jim identified the symbol, I knew it was familiar, Sam now has your journal. If I add an entry, it will likely show up the next time Sam looks for it."
I quickly sketched out the symbol, wrote out what Jim had said, and then wrote Sam a note.
"Sammy, I hope like hell you get this. This is the meaning of the symbol on the statue that I touched. Pastor Jim figured it out. He said it might be a combination of that and something in the hieroglyphs. Hope this helps, Dean. PS I promise to never touch anything if you fix this!"
I passed the notebook back to dad and smiled.
"Sammy'll see that, and he'll have it all fixed in no time, just you wait."
I noticed dad had a weird look on his face and frowned. "What? It's a good plan, best one we've had so far."
He shook his head then looked down at the journal. "Why does Sam have my journal?"
Oh shit...what the hell have I done? Too late to change it, I had to come up with a convincing argument for him. Something that he would buy but wasn't the truth...
"I...You um...they have these things now, called Laptops and well, we got you upgraded to a laptop it's like a computer only its portable. Anyway Sam, well you know how he is, he likes to do things the old fashioned way, so you gave him your journal when we got you the laptop."
I mentally kicked myself while I held my breath to see if he'd believe me or not. He looked at me, and I could tell he didn't buy it, but he didn't push the issue, instead nodding and sipping at his coffee.
I let out the breath I had been holding before getting myself more coffee. I hoped Sammy would fix this soon because I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep this up for much longer. The more I was around Dad the more I wanted to tell him everything. I was staring at the opportunity to fix everything that had been wrong. Yet if I told him, it could screw up the whole world. Ok maybe that was an exaggeration but still, it would be bad. Dad sat watching me, but I avoided looking at him as I finished pouring my coffee.
"After you finish that, we should go for a run. Since all we can do is wait. Then maybe some sparring, so I can see how good you are as an adult."
He turned and walked away and I groaned. I wasn't out of shape, not by a long shot, but it had been a long time since I had just gone for a run. Not to mention the fact that I did not look forward to sparring with him. And I also only had what I was wearing. No spare clothes to change into that wouldn't be all hot and sweaty. As if reading my thoughts, Dad reappeared with a pair of sweatpants and a tee-shirt. He tossed them on the table and wandered off presumably to change himself. I sighed and finished my coffee, then grabbed the clothes and went into the bathroom to change. It was going to be a long day unless Sam came up with a solution.
When dad came back out, I was re-lacing my biker boots. He looked at them, but didn't say anything.
"How does a short 3 mile run sound?"
Too damned long? I nodded knowing it was useless to argue. Arguing would probably end up with a 5 mile run or worse. We set out for our run and as we passed the first block I knew I would have blisters before all was said and done.
Sammy, could you hurry this along please?