Part 6

Dean talked until he lost his voice. Then they rode in silence for the remainder of the day. They stayed overnight at some dive in Ohio. Alice started talking instead of sleeping. Dean could see the fear in her eyes. Sleeping meant dreaming. She was tough but he knew the events in that house would be with her forever. Sleepless nights were just the beginning.

Dinner at an old fashioned drive-in. That's how he found out about the boy she'd been dating, who wasn't the boy she'd followed to college. She was majoring in Social Sciences. She spoke French and German. She loved dogs and hated cats. He had blinked at her when she said that. "What?"

"You hate cats? Since when?"

"Since always."

"Reach back there, under the seat." He jerked his head toward the backseat and waited silently until she had pulled out the piece of plaster. He watched her out of the corner of his eye. She traced her own four-year-old handwriting and the clumsy strokes that had made a kitten and some flowers.

"I don't remember liking cats." The flick of her eyes said what she didn't ask. 'You kept this?'

He answered with a shrug. "Yeah well. Sometimes people change, I guess."

Then they had finally fallen asleep. Dean hadn't bothered to wake up early, so it was banging on the door that woke him up. He waved off the clerk and flipped him off once his back was turned. Then it was the two of them on the road again with dead silence. It was a relatively short drive that had them pulling into the driveway just as the sun was setting over the Winchester home. Dean killed the engine and waited. It was barely a minute before Sam came out onto the front porch. He stood on the edge, holding up the roof with one hand and just waited.

"Wow. He's tall."

"Yeah."

"You're sure he's your baby brother?"

Dean breathed out a laugh. "He's not expecting you. So… be ready for some slack-jawed rambling. He's a talker."

"Not like you." She snorted.

"Normally, I don't talk at all. This was a special favor to you. Sammy… well, he'll still leave me in the dust. You'll see. He's going to ask you all sorts of questions and want to talk about the finer points of something that's gonna put me to sleep."

That's when Sam's facial expression changed and he dropped his hand from the overhang. He rushed to the car and ripped open the driver's side door and let out a breath. "Dammit, Dean! I thought you were hurt! What are you doing just sitting out here?"

"I was having a Kodak moment with my daughter, which you ruined cause you're a giant freak like always." Dean tsked his brother, which made Alice snicker. Just like Dean predicted, Sam's jaw dropped. Dean reached up and clicked it shut. "Marta cooking?"

"Um… yeah, we were just finishing dinner… Marta will heat something up for you two…" Sam crossed his arms and fixed his eyes on his brother's. "What? Dean?"

"Long story. I'm hungry." Dean shoved him away so he could climb out of the car.

--



Dean ate in silence while Sarah and Sam stared at Alice across the table. The little ones had gotten bored very quickly and gone to play. As it turned out, as much as Alice had wanted to talk to Dean, she didn't want to tell Sam and Sarah what had happened back in College Station. Dean just let his gaze flick between his suddenly silent daughter and his abnormally silent brother. Marta bustled in and out with tea and rolls. She kissed Dean's head in passing and smoothed Alice's hair. Then Marta got nosy. "Who is the girl? I hope not one of your girls, you filthy pig."

Dean snorted. He cleared his throat. "Alice van lányom, Marta."

"A lány van gyönyörű. Csinál ő úgy néz ki mint anyja?" Marta cupped Alice's face between her hands and looked to Dean.

"Ő úgy néz ki mint anyám. tehát Azt hiszem ő fog utánam." Dean shrugged and realized that Sarah had not only been teaching Marta English but had been learning Hungarian as well. Sarah's eyes grew round and she nudged her husband.

"What are you guys saying about me?" Alice finally spoke up.

"I was just explaining to Marta who you are…" Then Dean met Sarah's eyes. "And how much you look like your grandmother."

Sam didn't say anything but his mouth became a tight line and his eyes started to water. After a few strained moments, Sam excused himself from the table and disappeared out the back door. Dean hung his head but didn't move to go after him. Sarah reached over the table to take their empty plates. "I'll just give him a minute and then drag him back in here."

"So he really was just a baby when she died, huh." Alice whispered.

"He only knows her from pictures we used to have." Dean folded his hands on the table. "I have vague impressions of her at best but when you smile… you… make me feel like I'm four again."

"Come, come. I get you clean clothes and shower and a bed." Marta pulled Alice up by her hands. Dean started to follow but Marta shoved him back into his chair. He sat, alone, and listened while Marta made a fuss over the girl. "I know your father for many years."

"How many?" Alice's voice sounded so small that it created an ache in Dean's chest.

"Ten, I think. I come to work for Mrs. Sarah when she get engaged to Mr. Sam. We plan wedding and then I meet the Misters Winchester. I never know Mr. Dean have a daughter." Dean grinned at Marta's storytelling. "Mr. Dean always lonely, always hunting for woman to make him forget and still, always lonely. I think he found him a woman."

"He's got a girlfriend?"

"Mr. Dean never have one girlfriend. Always this girlfriend in Chicago and this girlfriend in New York and this girlfriend in Los Angeles. I think Mr. Dean have two girlfriend in every state." Marta took a deep breath and started talking again. "Mr. Dean is big flirt."

"What language do you speak?"

"I am from Hungary. Mr. Dean know old Hungary tongue. We talk away from nosy ears."

"Wow. You said he found a woman."

"You. You make him smile. I know him all these years, he never smile that way. Even better I find him a wife." There was a long pause. "I never know Mr. Dean have a daughter. Where is your mother?"

"Back home."

"She love Mr. Dean?"

"No."

"Do you?"

"He's my father. I have a place inside me where he's always lived. I've only known his name for a little while."

"Mr. Dean is a good man. I can tell he loves you. He will take care of you."

"I'm only here for a visit. I have to go home. My mom and my stepdad will be upset. I have to finish school."

"Where is the boyfriend?"

"We were fighting. He won't even know I'm gone."

"Somehow, I do not think so."

Dean made himself stop listening. He didn't deserve to know about the drama with Alice's boyfriend. He let himself out the backdoor to find Sam and Sarah sitting in the dark. "Okay. Let me have it."

"Dean, is she okay?" Sam cleared his throat suddenly.

"She's okay. She had a scare and I happened to be passing through. She even helped out a little."

"You let her help on a hunt?"

"She…" Dean wet his lips. "She just lost some of her friends to a mean nasty spirit with a few of his victims raging. She's entitled to let go of some of that… by digging a grave or two."

"She wouldn't leave when you told her to?"

"We were kind of beyond words by that point, you know… she's…" Dean shrugged and leaned up against the side of the house.

"She seems like a nice girl." Sarah cut in.

"Hard to believe she's half me, huh."

"No." Sam shook his head. "It's not." He sniffed. "So, she looks like Mom, huh." Dean shrugged. "Well, she's a very pretty girl and I hope she got her mother's brains."

"Hemenene." Dean sneered at his brother. "She uh… she's supposed to thank you for playing my money the right way. She said that it ended up being more than enough money for college."

"She know how you got the start up money?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"I'm not lying to her, Sam. After what she's been through… I had to tell her everything."

"So, she knows… everything. The whole black hole of weirdness that is our family tree." Sam's eyes went wide.

"Yeah. Spent most of the drive giving her the short version… which as it turns out is pretty frickin' long." He lifted his eyes and his eyebrows to the sky. "I'm just… I don't know what to do with her. She argued and argued her way into the car and into coming here with me and I don't know what to do with her anymore."

"Dean…" Sarah reached out to touch him.

"I just… she makes me tell her all this stuff while we're awake but I don't sleep cause I'm watching her and then I have to stop doing that cause I feel like maybe it's a little creepy but… she's going home eventually and I…"

"We know." Sam nodded and pulled Sarah back to his side.

"I needed…"

"Neutral ground?"

"Yeah."

"We'll do some interference." Sam promised. "Come on. I want to talk to her."

"I don't know man. Marta's not done with her yet."

"Then, it's my cue." Sarah straightened and led the way back into the house.

--

Dean was laying in his bed, his sheets swallowing him in softness. He tried to sleep and he guessed that maybe he dozed for a while but it didn't take much noise to wake him up. When he opened his eyes, Alice was standing beside his bed with tears in her eyes. Sitting up, he let her bury her face in his shoulder and weep out the last few days. It seemed like forever until she stopped crying but finally she did. "Dean, I'm so sorry. I'm not normally a person who cries a lot but… I just… I woke up and I was alone and I thought about…"

"Yeah, I know. Sucks to lose your friends that way."

"God, you must think that I'm such a baby."

"No, I've seen much more weeping over much less. Trust me. I don't think you're handling this badly." Dean stroked hair and leaned back against the headboard. "The first time Sammy went on a hunt… he said he was fine and then he woke up in the middle of the night, bawling his eyes out… so, I've had a little experience with this."

"How old was he?"

"14 but he had known about this stuff for a few years so… you're at a disadvantage." He stared at her profile for the longest time. "If it didn't bother you, I'd be worried." He let out a long slow breath. "Really, really worried."

"Does it bother you?"

"No… and that scares me."

"What does scare you?"

"All the things I never did."

--

Sam had wide guilty eyes when he walked into the kitchen where Dean was sipping his first cup of the morning. "Dude, I don't know how to say this without you freaking out but… Alice is gone."

"No, she's not."

"Dude, I just checked in on her and she's not there."

"She's in my room." Dean lifted his head when he heard how that sounded and made a face. "Nightmare last night. She's asleep in my room."

"So, you're getting along at least." Sam hopped up on the counter and poured himself a cup. "You get any sleep?"

"Some."

"Dude, you've been saying that for 15 years. You need to sleep more."

"Okay. Dude, enough with the Marta routine."

"Dean, you're 44 years old. You're still hunting."

"Dad was 56."

"I know and don't you think he should have stopped before then?"

"Morning." Alice called in, breaking up what looked like it was a very old and very violent argument. "Got another cup?"

"We do and you might want to watch your tongue. Dean made it." Sam poured her a cup with a small wink. "He likes his spoon to stand up. Cream and sugar on the table."

"Why would I ruin a perfectly fine cup of caffeine?" Alice shook her head at him and took a deep swallow.

Sam tilted his head and ran the sentence through his head again and then looked at Dean. Dean only shrugged. "You're still the lightweight in the family, Sammy. Even Alice can hold her liquor."

Alice grinned and glanced between them. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Two beers and he sings karaoke." Dean made a face at his brother.

"I do not!" Sam exploded. "I wish you'd quit telling people that."

"It's true, sweetie." Sarah tsked at him when she entered the kitchen with Maddy on her hip and Sammy Too trailing behind. "We're off to the park. Marta is out shopping. I trust that the three of you will not get into trouble without us."

When they had disappeared out the front door, Dean snorted. "She so wears the pants in this house."

"Well, it is her house." Sam defended himself, weakly.

"You're married. You're supposed to say 'our' house." He drained his cup and held it out for Sam to pour him another. After a moment of silence. "So what, your only contribution was a couple of squirts a few years back?"

"You're disgusting."

Alice just grinned, highly amused at the banter between the two. She still found it hard to believe that they were her family. Dean was not at all like Christopher who was a 'do as I say not as I do' sort of father. Christopher still believed that women should be secretaries and teachers. Dean was full of laughter and stories about loose women and bar brawls. Sam was quieter and seemed to have a good time ribbing Dean about his life choices.

Somehow the three of them managed to polish off the coffee, shower, dress and get out of the house for lunch. Looking at them, no one would ever guess that they were middle aged. They horsed around like much younger men. Their tongues had no restraint in lashing each other in front of her and she found that highly amusing. Then Dean took Sam's pee break as an opportunity to tell a funny story.

"Now, granted, Sam had been all busted up about Jess… she's the girl he was seeing at Stanford."

"The one that died?"

"Right. Nice girl, bad luck… anyway. It'd been almost a year and we get this hunt up here in New York. The room is god awful and we end up at this fancy schmancy estate auction. Sammy's tossing out college words and gets this girl to blush, kind of puts her in her place. I'm pissed off cause I hate snobs but the girl was hot… and hot for Sam, weird as that sounds." Dean paused for her giggle. "I had to dial her number, hit call and shove the phone in his face just to get him to talk to her again."

"That's cruel. What if he wasn't ready?"

"He was ready. He didn't want to be ready but he was ready. They flirted hardcore the entire hunt. Girls don't ignore me. If they hit on one of us, it's usually me. So it was fairly obvious that this girl wanted my baby brother and I was determined that it was going to happen."

"How thoughtful."

"Well, we finished up the hunt and I saved the day. It wasn't me she kissed as a thank you."

"Well, what happened?"

"He didn't talk to her for two years."

"What?"

"But he married her ten years ago."

"Sarah!?" Alice exclaimed. "Really? So they've known each other a long time."

"Well, technically but he was still a big chicken and I had to force him to look her up, twice. Your uncle is a big weenie."

Alice looked up when Sam rejoined them and burst out laughing. Sam's eyes flicked to Dean. "What did you tell her?"

"Just about the time you almost missed out on the love of your life because you're a gigantic scaredy cat."

"Ha, ha." Sam scoffed. "Did you tell her about the time you reunited with the love of your life and… Never mind."

Alice had watched the both of them stiffen and regard each other warily. Dean grabbed his glass and stood up, leaving them to go to the bar. Sam sat there shaking his head at himself. Alice cleared her throat. "Are you talking about Cassie?" Sam's head tilted sharply at her. "He wrote about her in some of the letters he sent me. He got over her eventually."

"Really." Sam stared at her. "He actually told you about her?"

"Yeah… and a few other people he was involved with but…" She took a letter out of her pocket and slipped it across the table. "I just got it."

Sam frowned as he unfolded the letter and read it over. It had been a few months since he'd hunted with his brother and there had been things to happen to Dean in between. Sam ran his fingers over the words that Alice was talking about and folded the letter back up to hand back. She tucked it back into her jacket. "I'm jealous."

"Of?"

"You. He talks to you. I always told him that it wasn't healthy to keep all that inside and he finally started talking… to you." Sam shook his head. "He's never going to tell me about that little girl and he damn sure won't tell me about his lady friend. I might let it slip to Sarah though."

"Think Sarah will track her down?"

"I know she will." Sam grinned. "This person may be what Dean needs to settle down."

"Uncle Sam?" Alice picked at her place mat. "Everyone is really concerned with Dean settling down. Isn't a good thing that he does what he does? Hunts?"

"Yeah, sure but… Dean doesn't have a home. When he takes a break, he comes here and that's fine but there's nothing for him here. He doesn't have a wife and kids to check in on and to keep him from being too reckless. He's used to me and my whining at him. It's just what we're… he needs something else." Sam reached over and took her hand. "I'm really glad that you hound him the way you do. I'm really glad that he found you and that you made him bring you up here. You're good for him. He's pissy right now but he's smiled more these past few days than he has in the last few years put together."

"You're my only uncle… but I think that if I had other uncles, you'd still be my favorite."

"That's good to hear."

--

Sam watched Dean show Alice around the square that had had his older brother fascinated since Sam and Sarah had settled down. Arm around her shoulders, Dean pointed out something that was far off. She squinted and laughed. As they walked ahead of him, Alice grasped Dean's arm in both of hers, her steps quicker to keep up with Dean's longer ones.

Then they had passed by the college and Alice had gone silent. In the side view, Sam could see the tears building in her eyes for the friends she had lost. She hastily wiped them away and followed them out to a bluff. Dean opened the trunk of the car to show off his babies. The sawed-off, the Colt, the cross-bow, the Winchester rifle… that Dean took a long look at and then handed it to Alice. "It was my dad's. He gave to me. I'm giving it to you."

"Dean, she doesn't know how to shoot a gun." Sam scoffed.

"Excuse you." Alice took the gun and lifted it, aiming at the ground while she checked the sighting on it. "My stepdad taught me to shoot a rifle." She checked the chamber and blinked at it. "What I don't know how to do is to clean it… Christopher taught Toby but not me."

"Well, that, Dean can teach you with his eyes closed." Sam nodded to himself, thoroughly chastised by a girl half his age. "I suck at it."

"I know you do, that's why I kept all the guns." Dean shook his head at his brother. "Dad first rule of gun care was 'take care of your guns and they'll take care of you.' There was rarely a time when a gun jammed on me."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." Dean took the gun and turned it around so that Alice could see the plate on its outside. "John Winchester. That's your grandpa. If all the good you get from my end is looking like your grandma and shooting like your grandpa, consider it all genes well received."

"Okay." Alice nodded, took the gun in her arms and then reached up to give him a hug. "Thank you."

TBC