People Are Strange

Chapter Seven

Cynthia Myers looked at John Winchester like he was the scum of the earth. Hell, she was looking at him like he was worse than scum; he was the scum they scraped off scum to see what kind of scum they were really dealing with.

And in all honesty, he couldn't blame her.

Not that he believed he was scum, he knew he wasn't - but the limited information and misleading facts she had complied together on him and his sons painted the picture of a guy he certainly wouldn't mind beating the crap out of.

"And what about last March?" She went on with the innovatory of their multiple moves. "File says Sam and Dean were out of school for two weeks after you left your apartment in-" she looked again to her thick manila folder. "New Jersey."

"That was mostly during a break they had from school." John felt beads of sweat collecting on the back of his neck.

"In March?" She raised her eyebrows disbelievingly.

"Uh... St. Patrick's Day?" He tried with a charming smile.

"I'm glad you find this amusing." She said disapprovingly.

"Look, I don't remember." Which he honestly didn't. Why hadn't they been in school last March?

He knew if he had made a mistake, gotten weeks and months mixed up during hunts, and not registered them in a new school, that Dean wouldn't say anything. His eldest son, while exceptionally bright, didn't do structured learning environments too well. He knew though, that Sam would have informed him of his blunder. Sam liked school like Dean liked target practice and John was almost positive nothing could keep him away from education. Unless maybe Dean had pleaded with him not to say anything? Bribed him, perhaps?

"You don't remember?" Cynthia echoed.

Yeah, that made him sound like a real upstanding guy. "It was only two weeks." He said helpfully. "And we were staying with a friend of mine who taught them while I was away on business."

"You mean they were homed schooled?" She inquired.

John honestly thought that practice had deflated and died out somewhere in the sixties.

"For a while." He decided.

"And who was this friend of yours?" She was clearly thinking something along the lines of crack dealer or pimp.

"A priest." Take that, bitch.

"And he has a home schooling license?" Her tone was fake hopeful and compliant. Almost like she wanted to help the eldest Winchester.

"A license?" Seriously, a license? To teach a seven and eleven-year-old? Anyone who made it through middle school could successfully do that.

"Yes." She snapped. "Without a licensed teacher teaching your children, there's no way that information would be on their records. So for all I know you're making it up. You and your sons could have driven to Mexico to buy illegal narcotics, or been staying at a crack house, or sleeping in your car."

"That's a little far fetched, isn't it?" He blanched.

"You'd be amazed at what I see every day, Mr. Winchester." She looked almost sad, but mostly angry. "People like you who think they can get away with absolutely anything. You're controlling and dominant and your sons are paying the price. Those boys are innocent and you're corrupting them."

John was corrupting them?

Life was corrupting them. Watching their mother die, and knowing something evil was responsible for it corrupted them. Knowing a truth that no one else dare dreams is corrupting them. Being motherless is corrupting them.

John Winchester knew what corruption was, and he, more than anyone, was trying to give his kids the tools they would need to fight back against it. To keep them floating in a world that wanted nothing more than to see them sink.

"You don't know Jack-shit about my life, or about my sons." He snapped, anger finally consuming. "You think you can waltz in here with your folder and your holier than thou attitude and know what kind of father I am? Who my sons are?"

She reeled back in her chair, becoming rigid. "I seriously suggest you dial back your tone, sir, or I'll be forced-"

"John Winchester?" Dr. Hogan's purposely-loud interruption caught both their attentions immediately.

The ex-Marine looked in the man's eyes at once and saw something very close to trust there; certainly it was a level of understanding. He had an ally in this doctor.

"Is Dean alright?" He asked immediately, knowing this man was his son's primary doctor.

"Dean is just fine." He smiled widely, shooting an inconspicuous glance to Ms. Myers. "And so is Sam."

John was out of his seat so fast he felt a wave of vertigo, but scarcely paid it any mind. "Sammy?"

"I went to check on Dean and found Sam in bed with him." The doctor's smile was genuine.

"How is that possible?" John asked, dumbfounded. "Sam disappeared right after he got here, before me and Dean did, right? How would he know what room? And where was he? Did he say anything to you? Is he okay?"

"I didn't wake him." Dr. Hogan spoke gently. "I did a quick once over to make sure there were no wounds or signs of internal distress and, other than his initial diagnosis by Dr. Harold, he seemed fine. I was going to wake him to do a more thorough exam, but I do believe Dean growled at me in his sleep."

John felt shaky from relief, rubbing the back of his neck tenderly. "Yeah," he breathed, "That sounds like Dean."

"Well I'm glad Sam is alright." Cynthia spoke for the first time since the doctor appeared and John was absently surprised that she hadn't disappeared at the same time his built up tension, fear and anger did, at the news Sammy was alright. "However, that does nothing to change my suspicions of you."

"What-"

"John Winchester, I'm placing you under arrest for suspected child abuse." She motioned to a police officer that had been standing nearby since she'd started talking to him. The ex-Marine had had a sinking feeling that he'd been hovering there waiting for an invitation to arrest him. And hey, he'd been right.

The man was white, probably younger than John, but not by much, with a scruffy face and the overall look of a guy who had just strolled out of a back alley after beating someone to death with a tire iron.

He was built, too.

He was twisting John's arms behind his back a moment later as the eldest Winchester debated his options with lightening quick reasoning. Getting away from this man might be easy, but grabbing Sam and Dean and getting out of the hospital would be next to impossible, especially with all their security still out trolling.

Yet being taken to the police station was risky as well, and what if they stuck Sam and Dean in foster homes? Put him in jail? There was a very real possibility that he wouldn't see his sons again for a long while. That fear raced to his heart and overpowered the thought that he'd probably be able to get out of a holding cell easily and surly they'd keep Sam and Dean in the hospital at least a few nights for observation.

"Now hold on a second," Dr. Hogan stepped forward and tried to stop the proceedings. "Don't you think this is a little much? I mean-"

"Excuse me, doctor," Ms. Myers spoke firmly. "But you aren't a part of this."

Still the good man objected. "I know, but-" he took a step forward.

"Sir, do not come any closer." The deep-throated tone of the police officer as he twisted both John's wrists into a grip in one of his massive paws so he could hold up the other palm to fend off the doctor.

John took that opportunity to move quickly and twist his arm in a way that should have gotten him out of the hold, but the police officer seemed almost to be expecting that, and counter-attacked immediately, forcing his elbow hard into the center of John's back.

"You son of a bitch." He growled through the pain as he hunched over.

"You can't do that." Dr. Harold exclaimed, trying again to come to John's aid.

"Take another step and I'll have you arrested too." Cynthia Myers spoke in a high-pitched tone when she got upset.

"I need to see my kids." John exclaimed desperately.

The situation with these three adults was quickly building to a pretty dramatic climax, and they were all acting on impulses or instincts, none of them could tell you exactly how it all would have ended. As it is, they would never know.

A shrill, impossibly loud, fear-inducing alarm sounded throughout the hospital at that second, and for the briefest and most time stopping of moments, all movement ceased. Something had intervened and changed course of events in that hospital hallway.

John smiled.

Cal had been watching the proceedings taking place in the hospital hallway for a good fifteen minutes now, and was thoroughly invested in them.

Annie was at his side and tapping her foot impatiently. "What are we doing?" She snapped yet again.

"I told you," Cal explained in a hushed tone. "I wanna make sure Sam's alright."

"You saw him in his brother's room." Annie reminded. "He's fine. More than fine. He looked pretty damn happy to me." There was a touch of affection in her tone that Cal loved to hear.

"I know," he agreed, not turning from the scene playing out in the hallway, but reaching around and grabbing the redhead's hand and squeezing it in his own affectionately. "But that won't mean anything if they arrest his dad."

"And you're so sure that's his dad?" Annie argued - because that was her default setting.

"Unless you think there's another Mr. Winchester wandering around the hospital with two kids named Sam and Dean."

Annie used her free hand to slap his back lightly. "So, it's his dad." She waved that hand out, gesturing to large man and the rigid woman to whom he was speaking. "She's questioning him because she thinks he's abusing Sam. What if she's right?"

"She's not." Cal said distractedly.

"How do you know?" Her tone was pleading, and Cal finally turned around and faced her, placing both hands on her shoulders and making eye contact.

"We spent hours with the kid. Do you really think he seemed like he'd been abused?" Annie still looked doubtful, eyes downcast and darting behind Cal. "I mean, c'mon, after some initial hesitating - a good sign, by the way, means someone taught him to be cautious - he ended up trusting us. He didn't act scared or timid. Hell, that's the most confident little kid I ever met."

Annie's big green eyes met his and Cal knew he'd gotten through to her. "You know we came here to save the lab animals, right? Not Sam." But there was affection in her voice, a side of her that no one else got to see.

"Well, who says we can't do both?"

She smiled widely and their gazes remained locked, it came very close to becoming a moment between the two; until Annie's eyes happened to slant again behind him.

"Ah..." She sounded nervous and Cal turned at once. "Guess he's not as convincing as you."

In the hospital lobby Sam's father was in the process of being arrested by a bleary looking cop while the stuck-up woman stood back and supervised, a doctor was trying to step in and defend him, but didn't seem to be making much progress.

"Shit." Annie said calmly but with seriousness. "Now what?"

"Ah...crap." Cal looked around desperately as if the answer would pop out before him. Which it did. "There!" Annie followed his finger to the glass fire extinguisher case imbedded in the wall a few feet away.

Running to it, Annie read the label on the wall aloud. "Caution. Breaking glass will sound alarm."

Their eyes met for a fraction of a second, silently agreeing on their course of action. Then Cal was pulling off his long, black jacket, balling it up around his fist and slamming it through the glass.

"Whoa!" They shouted in unison almost at once.

"That's one hell of an alarm!" Annie shouted over the noise, pressing her palms over her ears. Cal quickly shook the glass out his jacket and was shrugging it back on as they ran back down the hallway.

They made it there just in time to see doctors pouring out of rooms, secretaries escaping from behind desks in confused flocks; and all the security guards started running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Sam's father used the situation to his advantage like Cal had hoped he would, getting away from the police officer with an impressive move and dashing in the direction of Dean's room.

The police officer, though, started running after him at once and Cal felt suddenly very stupid. Well, duh. Commotion or not the cop wasn't going to just let him bolt.

"Help!" Annie screeched next to him, and Cal ducked away instinctively, shooting her a bemused look. Until he saw that the police officer had paused in his pursuit.

"Help!" She cried again, gesturing to him, screwing her face up in a mask of distress. "There's a fire on the fourth floor. The outlet in my mom's room sparked and...and..."

Every official looking person headed immediately in her direction, then past her as she pointed toward the stairs. The cop, after a momentary pause and a longing glance in the direction Sam's dad - who was out of sight by now - had gone, led the heard. Security guards followed, all on walkie-talkies, speaking in numbered codes. Some doctors trailed behind as well. Others scattered into various rooms.

In an amazingly quick amount of time, they had manipulated the situation, and no one had even noticed that Annie hadn't followed behind them. "Wow." Cal half-shouted, alarm still going off in the back ground, "That was impressive."

Annie gave a fake bow. "Thank you." Her smile fell and her expression morphed into one slightly more serious. "We should get to Kenny and Dee-Dee before they get spooked and bolt."

"Yeah." Cal agreed, and right before they took off for good, Annie caught his arm and squeezed gently, smiling widely.

"Hey. You did good."

Cal grinned back. "Yeah." He repeated. "We did."

TBC...

A/N: This thing is lasting so much longer than I thought it would. See, I know what I wanna happen, and in my head, I can fit it all in one chapter, then I start typing, and it's like seven pages later and I'm only half-way there. Now, I'm pretty sure there's only one chapter left. Then possibly an epilogue depending on how that goes. But anyway, what'd you think of this one?