home is a fire
chapter two
Three months later
X
"Well, we all knew angels were dicks, the news is that they are also stupid, then" is all Dean has to say on the matter of Revenge of the Angels, Part 2.
Angels had fallen, Cas had no grace anymore, Charlie had to hide with them in the bunker, Kevin was getting along a little too well with Garth, but other than that, things were going smoothly, until they heard from the angel grapevine – really, just a little spying on their part – that the angels meant to get revenge against the Winchesters by going after their blood family.
Which was, well, laughable, if it wasn't so sad. They had no one left. Who were they going to go after? Their tombs? Their bones?
Sam and Charlie, however, thought that it was better to be safe than sorry, and started looking through every single database they could hack into, seeing if there were any Winchesters in the world that the angels could go after.
A cousin, maybe some uncle or aunt who had escaped demons and angels and time travel and all that jazz.
What Dean was really, really not expecting was to find a son.
X
"This can't be right" Dean says, shaking his head, staring at the screen of Charlie's iPad. Cas is silent by his side, not exactly judgmental, but not helping him either. Sam is staring at him with his mouth almost hanging open, Charlie looks apologetic, and Kevin just looks freaked out, "This… this can't be right."
His eyes are wide and disbelieving, and suddenly he just turns away from the screen, from all of them really, and runs his hands over his hair, looking panicked.
"It's… it's right here, Dean. I mean, the kid could actually not be yours, but it's your name on the birth certificate. It's all changed over for the girl's husband afterwards, but it's here. I don't think anyone would have been able to actually find this, but… angels, you know? They probably will" Charlie's voice is reasonable, but there's a trace of panic in there too.
This is not what they were expecting to find.
"Is there…" Sam starts, and then stops, breathing deeply before going on, "Is there any chance this is true? That you actually had a kid?"
Dean stares at him, shaking his head with incredulity, not denial, because he knows that, yeah, there is.
He was all kinds of stupid when he was a teenager.
He goes back to Charlie's iPad, staring at the name on the screen.
Sarah Bashmakov, seventeen, gave birth to a Sviatopolk Winchester, which then was changed to Stilinski when the adoption papers came through.
Sarah Bashmakov.
Dean closes his eyes, his friends all waiting, and he's never felt like a jerk as much as he does now, because he's trying to remember a girl he met seventeen years ago, had sex with, impregnated and then left.
Sarah Bashmakov.
The hint of a smile, golden eyes and pale skin. Long fingers, a bad history with an older boyfriend she wanted to get back at.
Oh my God.
"I can't believe this" he whispers, and Sam is actually staring at him in a panic. Because even though they had seen the document, it wasn't real until now.
He has a son.
And the angels are coming for him.
"We have to find him" he says, his voice calm and even, even though he's freaking out right now.
"On it" Charlie says, and goes back to her tablet and her computer, fingers flying over the keyboard.
It's less than three hours after that that he, Sam and Charlie are leaving for a small town called Beacon Hills, in California.
He just hopes they'll get there before the angels do.
X
"You sure this is it?"
"Dean, it's not going to be any easier no matter how long you stall for time. Just go and knock on the door" Sam's voice is impatient, but it's clear he's just as scared by this as Dean is – Dean is a father, which means Sam is an uncle.
Dean is also freaking out, because he doesn't know what to expect.
There's a Toyota parked in front of the house. On the driveway, there's an old blue Jeep. The house seems well lived in but in good condition, a typical small town suburban place, but Dean has seen scarier things live in better neighborhoods, so he won't actually judge until he's met the… kid.
His son.
The kid with the name he can't really pronounce.
He takes a fortifying breath and gets out of the car, Cas, Charlie and Sam following just a step behind him.
He rings the doorbell and waits.
They hear laughter and something crashing. A smooth voice saying something that gets a sarcastic haha as answer, and then the door is open.
The kid is tall. A bit shorter than Dean, but not by much.
"Can I help you?" he asks, his tone curious and strangely cautious – the same tone of voice Dean and Sam used to open doors with when they themselves were kids.
Wary and not wanting to seem like it.
"I'm looking for… Ahm… Sviat… Sviatopo…"
"GOD!" the kid exclaims, and shakes his hands in front of Dean, his whole body screaming a denial, "Don't you dare say that name. Stiles, okay? Stiles Stilinski, that's me, by the way, yes, you have the right person, just don't try and pronounce that."
"So, you're him?" Dean asks, but he doesn't have to.
It's been seventeen, almost eighteen years, but he remembers those eyes, the mouth, the pale skin.
Holy shit, this is his kid.
His kid.
"Yeah, I am. What do you want?"
Dean had many, many hours in the Impala to think about what he could say right at this moment. He even gave it great thought, and yet he didn't really know what to say.
That's his defense for what actually comes out of his mouth.
"I'm your father."
The kid stares at him, his mouth hanging open. He looks as if he's going to pass out, and Dean is reaching out a hand to steady him when someone else is suddenly behind his… Stiles, behind Stiles, an arm around his waist.
"Stiles?" the man says, careful, but he's eyeing the three people at the door with open distrust now.
The newcomer is the same height as Stiles, but he's much, much broader. He's also… different. There's something about him that doesn't quite sit right with Dean, and he doesn't like the man on the spot.
Especially the way he's holding his son right now.
"Please tell me you're larping as Darth Vader and forgot your costume. I mean, Jesus Christ, please tell me that's it."
Dean doesn't know what to answer to that, even though he can hear Charlie actually give a small squeal behind him.
"We need to talk to you, Stiles. Is your mom here?" Sam ends up asking, and Dean thanks all that is good on this earth that his brother is there with him.
The kid snorts suddenly, shaking his head, seeming to grow angry all of a sudden. He steps away from the man and turns around to look at him, and not the newcomers.
"Are they serious? Please tell me they are joking right now. I mean."
The man stares at the kid and shakes his head.
"They aren't joking."
And what the hell is that supposed to mean? Is the man a psychic or something?
Stiles turns to them again.
"What do you want with my mom?"
"Look, can we come in? We really need to talk about this, for real, and we need to do it soon. Can you please call her, so we can all sit down and talk?" Dean ends up saying, and the kid looks at him briefly, as if he can't believe his nerve, and then he takes in a deep breath.
"We'll call the Sheriff, and when he gets here, you can come in. Not before that" tall, dark and broody says, and then he slams the door on their faces.
"They're calling the Sheriff?!" Dean asks, a bit alarmed, because, well, he and the law aren't exactly friends.
"That's his dad" Charlie chimes in, "Sarah is married to the Sheriff."
Well, aren't they screwed?
X
"Derek…" Stiles says, and the man hugs him, because he doesn't know what else to do.
That man out there hadn't been lying – he's actually Stiles' father, or he believes it so much that he can say it as truth.
"We have to call your dad right now" he says, and Stiles takes a step back.
"Was he…"
Derek shakes his head.
"He wasn't lying. And there's something… desperate about them, Stiles. We have to get your dad here."
Stiles nods, and considers if they should call the rest of the pack.
The day he told Derek and Cora about everything, Derek told him Cora filled the others in that same night.
Derek offers to call the Sheriff, and his boyfriend goes into his dad's office to make the call. Probably to warn the Sheriff before he gets here that there's a man claiming he's Stiles' dad at their door.
How is this even real life, seriously?
He's back in less than five minutes, and Stiles is taking deep, calming breaths.
He won't freak out.
"Hey" he calls, and Stiles opens his eyes, "It'll be okay."
Stiles nods, and hugs Derek to him.
He hopes so.
X
The cruiser parks behind the Jeep on the driveway, and they see an older man getting out of it – grey hair, bright blue eyes, Sheriff uniform. He eyes the four of them as if they're the enemy, and in a way, Dean gets it – they don't make the best first impression.
The man walks up to them, his hands just so that his gun is clear into view, and he frowns.
"My son's boyfriend just called me, telling me that some man showed up at my house, and told my son he was his father. Can you explain to me how is that funny? Because I don't get the joke."
Dean really, really wants to take a step back and hide.
He slept with this guy's wife. Okay, it was seventeen years ago, and they are happily married and everything, but, man, this sucks.
"We wouldn't make light of such a grave situation" Castiel starts, and Dean feels the urge to take the lead, because if they leave this up to Cas' communication skills things will get really ugly really fast.
"Look, it's not a joke, and m… your son's life might be in danger. Can you please just get Sarah here and then we can talk?" Dean asks in an urgent vice, ignoring with all his might the fact that that man is his son's boyfriend.
He won't go there.
He just… won't.
The Sheriff stares at him for a long moment.
"You're the guy who got Sarah pregnant when she was seventeen? The guy who left town before she even knew, who she could never find, even to tell? The guy who knew she was in love with someone else, and yet slept with her, with no remorse? You're that guy?"
Dean swallows dry and holds his head high.
"Yes, sir."
"And now you're here telling me that my son's life might be in danger because of you?"
"It's more complicated than that" Sam answers before Dean can, and the Sheriff barely glances at him before going towards them, and opening the door.
He gets right in front of Dean before stepping in, they are even in height, and Dean swallows dry again.
"I never thought I would say this, but I'm glad Sarah passed away before she had to look at you again" he hisses fiercely, and then steps in, making a gesture for them to follow.
The four of them trade a look and go inside.
The house is simple, but it speaks of family. Pictures on the walls, messes everywhere, which is to be expected of a teenage boy.
Said teenage boy is sitting at the table in the dining room where the Sheriff ends up leading them. He gestures for them to sit, and then goes to his son, putting a hand on his shoulder and sitting by his left side – his right is already taken by the man who is in a relationship with the kid.
Seriously, that's just…
He won't even go there.
"You said Stiles' life might be at risk, so I would start talking realty fast if I were you" the man says, and the Sheriff nods, as if he approves. Dean and Sam look at each other, because they said that outside, whispering to the Sheriff. How does the man even know that?
"Nope" Stiles says, "That's not how this is going to go down. I have manners. I wasn't raised by wolves" he smirks as he says that, and the Sheriff looks as if he's trying to hide a smile, his boyfriend snorts and everyone else is just confused, "I'm Stiles. This" he says pointedly, looking straight at Dean, "is my dad, John Stilinski, and this is my boyfriend, Derek Hale."
"I'm Castiel" Cas answers in a grave voice, and Stiles raises an eyebrow at him.
"I'm Charlie" the only girl says, raising her hand in greeting.
"I'm Sam and this is Dean. Winchester" Sam says, adding the surname to see if they get a reaction.
And boy, do they.
Stiles actually snorts at that, and shakes his head.
"Are you seriously trying to get into this sort of game? Are you freaking kidding me?"
"What…" Sam starts, but the kid doesn't let him finish.
"Look, I've read every single one of those books at least twice. You can't come in here and pretend to be fictional characters and expect me to believe you" he pauses and eyes the four of them with pure contempt, "Plus, you're no way near as hot as Dean Winchester should have been. I mean, sure, you're hot, but Dean Winchester levels? No way."
"Oh God, please do not go there" Dean says, hitting his head against the table, because his own son is calling him hot, and no. That's just all kinds of wrong.
"Now, you can either really say what you want to say, or you can go, because I have better things to do with my time than listen to this stupid… whatever is it" the kid says back, and Dean looks at him – the man, Derek, has an arm around his shoulders, casual, as if it's no big deal. The Sheriff is staring at them suspiciously, clearly not knowing what to do with what Stiles has said, but reevaluating his position in letting them in in the first place.
"Ok, so you're familiar with the books, which makes this all easier" Sam is saying before Dean can recover, and thank god he is here, "Those books were all true. There's more to life than… this" he is saying, gesturing to the whole room, and Dean looks down, because this part is never easy to a newcomer, this whole monster are real kind of thing, "There are things out there that can really hurt you, Stiles, and we can prove it to you, I swear we can, but we're almost out of time, and you have to, at the very least, listen to us. Monsters are real, and we are here because we want to keep you safe" Sam finishes and Dean finally raises his eyes to stare at his son.
Who is… smirking.
"First of all, this whole monster thing has to go. That is unfair terminology, because you never know what can be a monster and what can be a perfectly reasonable being who's just having a bad day. It's all very easy and fun for you to name everything that's not human as a monster, but, seriously, calling them that is bullying."
"Stiles, this is serious…" Sam starts, and the kid raises an eyebrow at him.
"And you think I'm kidding? If there's one thing that annoyed me to hell in those books is their holier than thou attitude towards the creatures! Man, some of them were awful, and I get it, but come on."
"I believe we are getting out of track here" the Sheriff intervenes, when it's clear that Sam doesn't know how to answer to that, and Dean hasn't yet recovered from the shock that his son thinks his fictional self is hot, "You said Stiles' life was in danger, and I'd like to know why."
The four hunters (or almost that, in Charlie's and Cas' cases) look at each other, and Sam keeps talking, because he's good with words in a way none of the others is.
"We are hunters. As Stiles knows, if he's read the books, we hunt the supernatural – monsters and ghosts and demons."
He gets this far before Stiles is snorting.
"And if the books are any true, that guy in the trench coat is an angel, and they also stopped the Apocalypse from happening" his tone is disbelieving, but Dean is frowning anyway.
"The books only came out until, like, two years before any of that happened" he says.
"And the internet is the place where you can find anything if you know where to look" the kid answers, grinning sardonically at him.
Sam sighs and goes on as if he's heard nothing of the exchange.
"Anyway, Stile is right, we did stop those things from happening, but, of course, we pissed a lot of people out in the process. Including angels. A few months back… well, something very bad happened, and the angels fell. They are here, on Earth, and they want nothing more than hurt us and make us pay. A few days ago, we got some information that their plan is to hunt our family, to get us where it hurts the most, but we have no family left. It's just the two of us. Until Charlie did a complete search, and we found Stiles' original birth certificate, before the adoption papers came through, I guess" he lets that settle for a moment, before continuing, "So this is it – the angels are after Stiles, and we came here to make sure he's safe."
The other three men in the room are quiet for a moment.
"Any chance that is all an elaborate lie?" the Sheriff asks, and Derek is the one who shakes his head, before the Winchesters can answer.
"No. They're not… lying."
Stiles looks at Dean, shakes his head firmly, and then turns to Derek.
"You should call the pack so we can have a game plan, I guess. I'll call Allison and tell her to get her dad here too, because I want some confirmation that those guys really are who they say they are, and Mr. Argent will probably know. It'll be fine" the kid says, already getting up.
The Sheriff nods at the two of them, and they leave the room, leaving a very confused four people behind.
"So… you do believe us?" Sam asks the Sheriff, and Dean can see the man is actually getting red from anger.
"I always knew you were trouble, even back then, when I had no idea anything had happened between you and Sarah. But I never thought you would be the actual cause for my son's life to be in danger again" he tells Dean in a cold voice, "You can come back tonight, and then we'll talk. But right now, you are leaving."
The man gets up and opens the door, looking at them pointedly, until they go.
When they are back in the car, they stay in silence for a long minute.
"So… did they actually believe us? What the hell was that all about, I mean, I was expecting them to put up more of a fight to the, you know, acceptance of there being angels and demons and creatures" Charlie says from the backseat.
"Me too" Dean answers, staring at the house before turning on the car, "Me too."
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