Johnny hadn't made it too far back into the house before he was rushing upstairs to check on Mary and Ellie. Reaching the room he saw the devastation he caused and if it wasn't for Ellie, he'd be more than willing to die right there on the spot. "I'm so sorry Mary." He said quietly as he walked through the debris on the floor. "I am so very sorry."
Mary sat in the rocking chair with Ellie who hadn't woke during the confrontation outside, and watched her youngest son look around. "Johnny, it's alright. I'm not sure that I understand fully what happened, but I do know that as long as you and Ellie are ok, then we can deal with the rest. Besides, someone pointed out awhile back that we really need to redecorate this room." She said with a big smile hoping that Johnny would see it for what it was, love and acceptance.
Nodding, Johnny slowly made his way to the floor, the earlier events catching up to him. "Uh Mary, do you think you could keep an ear out for Ellie tonight?" he asked before his eyes closed and he fell back.
Dean and John just appeared at the bedroom doorway when Mary yelled for Johnny as he fell slowly back towards the floor. Once both men reached their youngest member, they automatically looked for any injuries and if possibly his arm was bleeding. It wasn't until Mary volunteered to call Marlee that they noticed that Johnny didn't seem to be in any distress, just sleeping. Sighing in relief, they both sat hard on the floor next to him wondering if they would always automatically assume the worst when it came to their Sammy.
"He must have worn himself out with his power display." Dean mused aloud while looking around the room. "Gotta hand it to him, he sure knows how to put on a show."
John looked over at Dean and shook his head. Out of all the things that he had been thinking, that hadn't been one of them. What had him concerned was how many other people knew that his son could do that, and did all of them want to kill him for it. Not wanting to dwell too much on it, he looked at Mary who had been silently watching him. He knew that look, and he also knew what it meant; if he had any doubts about their son, he'd better get over them – quick!
"Alright, let's make him as comfortable as possible here. There's no way I want to try and move him while his arm is still mending." John said, already standing and reaching for a blanket.
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Caleb looked over at Bobby and wondered, not for the first time, what secrets Bobby actually knew and if he'd ever share; then he realized that he really didn't want to know. Thinking about Johnny and what the kid had already been through, and then remembering what Craggen and Miller had wanted to do to him made his skin crawl; especially when there seemed to have been a sort of acceptance with Johnny, as if he knew that eventually that was what was going to happen and there was nothing he could do to change it.
"Quit thinking so loud Caleb, you're giving me a headache." Bobby groused as he continued to watch the road. He knew what the other man was thinking about, and he had to admit he'd had more than a few sleepless nights pondering the same things. It seemed as if any bright spot in Johnny's life had been ripped away, and not all of those times were due to something supernatural. In fact, if the truth were actually to be told, there were more times that a hunter had been involved than even he wanted to think about.
"You know the Winchester's are going to have questions, what are you going to tell them?" Caleb asked, trying to get a feel for the situation.
Bobby looked over at the younger hunter then back at the road. "The truth. There's no reason to lie about it, not now anyway. Johnny's found his family, and I can only pray that once they find out what type of a powerhouse the kid is, they won't treat him any different."
Nodding, Caleb had to agree. He had his own memories of Johnny, and they weren't necessary good ones. It had been right before the kid had gotten thrown into Albany's Juvenile Detention Center, and right before he had lost complete control; of course after what had happened, he didn't blame Johnny at all. No one should ever feel like a piece of meat or a freak show, and those people had wanted both. If he had known what was about to happen, Caleb would have taken the kid in for awhile. Instead, Johnny's supposed guardian had called the authorities and reported him as a runaway, effectively putting the kid behind bars. Of course the charges were dropped as soon as the full story came out, but by then Johnny had unwittingly let loose and drew unwanted attention back to him. Sighing, he looked back at Bobby. "So, how much longer?"
"We're almost there, so how about you keeping your trap shut while we're there? No need for them to know about Albany if they don't have to." Bobby said sternly, he still had nightmares about that night. Not that he blamed the kid, if someone had kept him in a cage only to be let out to do parlor tricks once in awhile, he'd get more than a little wound up too. It hadn't even been the complete and total devastation of the house that disturbed him; it was the look in Johnny's eyes afterwards, as if he couldn't be bothered with life anymore. Remembering that look still gave him chills and it wasn't the first time he felt guilty about it.
Seeing the house, both men looked at each other and braced themselves for what was to come.
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After having made sure the two youngest members of the family were as comfortable as possible, the other three had gone into the kitchen to wait for Bobby and Caleb. None were sure what would happen after the hunters arrived, but they hoped for some sense of closure so they could move on and at least attempt to piece Johnny back together. Sitting at the small table each holding their coffee cups, but none particularly interested in drinking it, they were almost relieved to hear Bobby's truck pull into the driveway.
Knocking on the kitchen door wasn't exactly what Bobby had in mind, but he wasn't going to take a chance at being shot just because the man who extended the invitation suddenly had a change of heart. After hearing John call for them to come in, both hunters tentatively opened the door as if they were expecting an ambush instead of a cold beer.
Mary knew that John had invited them, but she was still a little out of sorts with Bobby, and she didn't have a problem letting him know about it. "You know, you have a lot of nerve coming back here after everything you've done. If it was up to me, you'd have enough buckshot in you to set off metal detectors at airports. Unfortunately, my husband seems to think there's unfinished business, so sit down so we can get this over and done with."
John looked at Mary stunned. He'd seen her mad, and he'd seen her bring someone to their knees, but he never remembered her being rude to a guest in their home before. Of course they never had someone in their home who had kidnapped their son before either, so maybe she was allowed.
"Yes ma'am, I understand, and we won't stay long." Bobby said knowing that they were skating on really thin ice.
"What I want to know is how you two know my brother and if you knew he was in trouble, why didn't you try and help him?" Dean asked looking between both men with a slow burn starting to form with his temper.
Caleb had known that was going to come up, and he wasn't sure how to answer, but looking at Bobby he understood that maybe it would be up to him after all. "Look, not everyone in the hunter community is out to hurt Johnny, actually some think that he could lead a very normal life if others would leave him alone. The problem is the ones who don't feel that way, and the supernatural baddies out there that seem to be drawn to your brother like a magnet."
Dean scoffed at the hunter and wanted to punch the man in the face. 'No one calls my brother a freak.' He thought sourly, and was about to voice his opinion when Caleb continued.
"By the looks of him when he came out to the driveway I'd say he had one of his little… uh… episodes. Since the house is still standing, then it wasn't too bad, but I bet he's sleeping like the dead right now and that scared the hell out of all of you. Am I right?" Caleb asked already knowing the answer. Nodding he sighed, "I guess that means that you scared him just enough to bring it out, but not enough to lose total control. That's good, it also means that you weren't trying to hurt him."
"What the… listen, I let you in my home to thank you for getting rid of those two nuisances and possibly get some answers, but for you to suggest…"
"Mr. Winchester, I'm not suggesting anything, I'm grateful… that's all. Not everyone who finds out about Johnny's gifts are so understanding, some even try and use them for their own purpose." Caleb said solemnly. "It's how he ended up in Albany, New York, and it's probably something he will never tell you but you do need to know that the time he spent in juvie wasn't his doing, he was put in there as payback for retaliating against the people keeping him like a circus animal. Their house wasn't so lucky, and it almost killed him afterwards. We had just got him on his feet again when the cops come busting in and haul him off as a runaway, and tried to charge us with aiding and abetting to the delinquency of a minor. Needless to say it took a little while, but we were able to get all the charges dropped after the caseworker found out what was really going on… well, almost anyway."
John and Mary sat there stunned for a moment before they both asked, "How do you know about this?"
Bobby smirked before he answered. "Well, when hunters here about a boy who can move things with his mind, we have a tendency to pay attention. When Caleb and I found out it was Johnny, we knew we had to help. Of course by the time we got there the house was leveled and he was crawling out from under the debris, but he was alive."
"Does it hurt him each time?" Dean asked concerned about something horrible happening without him knowing about it.
"From what we can tell… yeah. Of course I'm not sure which hurts worse, the telekinesis, or the visions." Caleb answered honestly, but then noticed that he had let something slip. "Damn, I'm sorry; I thought you knew about the visions. What we know about them is basically, right now, he gets them while he's sleeping. Usually they'll be bad enough to send him screaming in the night, and yes, we've had experience. We've run into Johnny and Cade more than once. Cade's dad was a hunter and a friend of ours, so yeah, we knew those two."
Something started to niggle at the back of Mary's mind and finally she had to ask, "Do you think he saw Cade's death?"
Clearing his throat, Bobby nodded, "Yeah, we do, and if so then that's two people who witnessed Cade's death. If it's true then Johnny's list of admirers just grew, and that means that all of you are in danger."
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Finding out that there could be more people after their son was another blow that they hadn't been prepared for and they were wondering how to handle this new information. Dean however had quickly switched to big brother mode and walked over to his dad's gun cabinet and quickly picked out the Glock that had been sitting in the drawer since it had been bought. After tearing it down and making sure it was in working order, he quickly loaded it and put it in his waistband determined to keep his family as safe as possible.
Caleb watched the family assimilate the details that they had shared, and he was amazed that they hadn't ordered him and Bobby out of their home. Now though, they all were going to have to figure out a way to keep Johnny safe without looking like they were protecting him; not an easy task considering how self reliant the kid had been.
As everyone pondered the occurrences of the day, the sound of something on the stairs grabbed everyone's attention. Dean being the closest peaked around the corner before he smiled and relaxed. "Hey little princess, what are you doing up?" he asked Ellie wondering if something was wrong with Johnny. Quickly guiding her to his parents, he quietly rushed up the stairs and made his way to Johnny and Ellie's room. Sensing someone behind him he turned to see Caleb catching up to him with his own weapon drawn making Dean feel not so paranoid. They both looked into the room to see Johnny still on the floor with the blanket kicked off and sweat beading his forehead.
Caleb motioned for Dean to go check on Johnny while he checked the other rooms. Reaching his little brother, Dean put a hand on his chest to make sure that Johnny wasn't having trouble breathing. Assured that it was just a nightmare he was caught in, Dean sat and waiting to see if he would be needed. It was only a few moments before they were joined by Caleb who looked very concerned.
"Think we should wake him?" The hunter asked as he watched the young man mutter in his sleep.
Dean wished he knew. If Johnny was just having a normal nightmare it would be one thing, but if he was having a vision what would happen if he was yanked out of it too soon? He didn't want to hurt his brother, and he didn't want his brother to hurt; either way seemed to be a paradox to him and he wasn't sure how to address it. Finally, the decision was made for them with Johnny bolting upright screaming.
"ELLIE!"
Trying to calm Johnny, Dean put his hand on his shoulder slightly shaking it, "Hey bro, calm down. Ellie's downstairs with Mom and Dad, she's safe. It's alright, go back to…"
Johnny grabbed Dean's wrist and shook his head all the while fighting the exhaustion that was still holding on to his body. "No, no, she saw… they want her… purple bike… don't let her…"
Both Dean and Caleb helped Johnny lay back onto the pillows and re-covered him, wondering what that was about. Not one to ponder things too long, Caleb looked at Dean and asked, "So, what do you think that was?"
Dean had no idea what to think. It was one thing to say that Johnny had visions, but another to possibly see one in action; it didn't set well with him. Sighing, he shrugged his shoulders, "Doesn't matter. Nightmare or vision, he's not going to be out of my sight if I can help it."
Seeing that the other man was serious Caleb started to feel better about the situation. 'Maybe this time the kid actually caught a break.' He thought in amazement, hoping that he was correct, and for once in Johnny's life something went right.
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Mary had insisted the hunters stay the night which they grudgingly accepted only after John told them it would be the only way they would have access to his son again. After an early breakfast which had a small argument thrown in about whether Dean should withdraw from the Academy until everything was resolved, they all finally convinced that they could watch over Johnny and Ellie just fine without him being underfoot all the time.
Before leaving, Dean went to make sure his little brother as well as their little princess was still sleeping soundly before he smiled and picked up his gear before running out of the house complaining that he was already late.
Bobby and Caleb made quick work of subtly putting protection sigils to the outside of the house as well as made mental notes about the neighborhood. Caleb agreed to stay on guard duty while Bobby went to purchase more supplies, leaving him and the last two conscious Winchester's in the same room together… alone. 'Well, this could get interesting.' Caleb thought, wondering if maybe wresting with shapeshifters would be more preferable.
"How about more coffee Caleb?" Mary asked, hoping to keep the man out of her hair today so she could actually enjoy her time with Johnny and Ellie.
Accepting the coffee, Caleb suspected that he would be underfoot, but he had no way of knowing what dangers there were close by, and he wasn't going to take a chance; not with Dean determined to pop in every chance he got to make sure he was doing a good job of protecting his family.
Smirking at the supposed fearless hunter, John couldn't help but notice how fidgety Caleb had suddenly gotten, and he knew it had to do with Dean's threat before he left a little while ago.
'I'm going to make sure I pop in unannounced, and if even one little hair is out of place on any of my family's heads… I'll rip your heart out and feed it to you. Understand?'
Yes, his son sure did know how to make a point. Smiling, John walked up the stairs to check on Johnny and Ellie and what he saw when he reached the room surprised him. At first he thought Ellie had left and they hadn't seen her. However, when he looked closer, he saw Ellie on the floor curled up next to Johnny fast asleep. Not wanting to disturb either one, he quietly backed away hoping to let them both get the rest they both needed.
"Ellie should be awake by now." Mary said as she watched John walk back into the kitchen.
"Nah, let them both sleep. If what Bobby and Caleb said is true, they'll need all the sleep they can get." John said quietly, suddenly feeling weighted down.
That was what Mary was worried about. The way things sounded, any nutcase could be hunting her little boy down, and she didn't like it. Now though she could only trust that they all were on the same page and that no matter what, she wasn't losing her Sammy again.