It Only Takes a Second
Chapter 10
Disclaimer: See chapter 1

It was still dark outside when Caleb awoke; slowly blinking his eyes, the last day seemed fuzzy. He remembered leaving New York with his father and landing in Louisville, then the pain of the vision. A vision that raised every internal alarm the teen had, he remembered needing to get to Sammy, "Sammy" the boy whispered as he abruptly sat up, throwing off the quilt that covered him, before he could form the thought he was across the room to the door that separated his room from Dean and Sammy's.

Mac and John looked toward the doorway as they hear the muffled steps, Caleb held onto the door jam as the momentum of getting up too fast, accompanied with the pounding headache and complete exhaustion his body was feeling, almost sent him to his knees. Mac was quickly at his son's side, "Caleb?"

"Sammy? Is he okay? Did I find him in time?" Mac could feel the fear radiating from his son as the boy tried to push past his father's grip to reach the toddler, cocooned in blankets.

Taking a couple steps toward the bed, it was Dean's fearful eye's that finally caused Caleb's knees to fold under him, John's quick reflexes kept the older boy from hitting the hardwood as Mac grabbed for his son's other arm, "On the other bed." Mac ordered as he and John maneuvered Caleb to the second bed in the room, easing the boy into a sitting position. "Caleb? Look at me, are you all right?"

Mac finally had to take Caleb's face in his hands to break the boys gaze from Sammy, "Caleb?"

Tear-filled eyes met the Doctor's grey ones as Caleb whispered, "He's not okay is he?"

Knelling in front of his Son Mac spoke quietly, "Nothings broken and so far he hasn't shown any signs of internal injuries, but he hasn't regained consciousness yet."

Closing his eye's tightly Caleb replayed everything that had happened the day before, from the vision, to him making the connection to the toddler, then finding the heartbreakingly still form of the small child in the underbrush and finally following his connection back to Dean. The teen began to wonder if he had done something wrong, maybe he shouldn't have moved Sammy, maybe he should have called for help before heading into the woods alone to find the child. "It's my fault," Caleb whispered, "I wasn't thinking, I just needed to find him…" Caleb looked at his father, then John who had sat back down on the bed next to his children, "You were looking in the wrong area, he had gotten further than you thought, I didn't have time…I wouldn't have been able to explain where he was, I had to get him, I'm sorry."

John stood and crossed the couple feet to the bed that the teen was sitting on, laying his hand on Mac's shoulder; John motioned for the boys father to move. Reluctantly Mac conceded, but remained close, he recalled how John's fear had turned to anger toward his Son the night before and in Caleb's condition Mac was not about to let John tear into him. It was a quiet, calm voice that came from Sammy's father that surprised Mac. "You don't have anything to be sorry for Caleb." John reached up, putting his hand on the teen's shoulder. John looked at the scared gaze of the boy before him and saw the child underneath the teen he had been training. The former Marine was someone who could easily forget just how young the children around him were when he was training them, teaching them. He had done it with Dean, sometimes forgetting his eldest was only six when the boy seemed so much older at times. And watching the array of emotions crossing the fourteen-year olds face in front of him, for a moment John saw how scared the situation made Caleb. "You found my son; you found him and brought him back to me…" John felt his eye's fill as the 'what if's' from the night before played in his mind. "You didn't do anything wrong, do you understand me?" the hunter gave the boy a gentle shake to emphasize the point he was trying to make. "You saved my son, I'll never forget that."

After a moment, waiting to see if Caleb would accept what he just said, John stood, returning to his spot next to his children. Dean's moss-green eye's having taken in the whole conversation as John reached across and ran his hand over the older boys head, "Go back to sleep Dean, Sammy's gonna be fine." Never wanting to doubt his dad, Dean looked at his best friend as Mac had taken a seat next to Caleb, then looking back at his little brother beside him, Dean finally closed his eye's, allowing sleep to claim him again.

"Caleb, you should lay down and rest." Mac motioned for his Son to scoot back on the bed, without fighting his father the teen moved back and propped himself against the headboard. The Doctor, knowing that was probably the best he was going to get, patted his son's leg then stepped back toward John. "Can I speak to you a minute?"

John stood and followed Mac into the hallway. The Scholar turned and looked at the Knight, "Thank you for that."

The weary father ran his hand over his face as he glanced at the room then back to the man that was feeling more like a brother everyday. "I meant it…I believe he is the reason Sammy was found before it was too late." John could tell that Mac had not expected the calm, rational comments from him. "Mac, about earlier with Jim, he never told me anything after asking me to start working with Caleb. At first I thought it was to keep the boys close, because of the connection he made with Dean, but as time went by and I realized what I was showing him were some of the same things Daniel taught me, I started to put two and two together."

Mac raised his hand slightly, trying to interrupt, "John…"

"Mac, I wasn't lying when I said Caleb was a natural. I've been around soldiers who couldn't pick things up as fast as your teenage son can. Look, I know you aren't happy with this, but this is the life we all have found ourselves in and we have to find ways to survive in it. I know you aren't out in the field as much and you're afraid of your son being out there without you to protect him, but just as I'm doing with Dean and will do with Sammy when he's older, I will teach Caleb everything I know, make sure he understands the importance of what we are doing and as long as he is with me and I am able, I will do my damnedest to protect your son just as I would my own boys." John watched as his words were taken in by his friend.

"John, he's not a soldier, he's a boy…" This time John tried to interrupt, but Mac stopped him, "I want him to finish school, I want him to have a life away from this. I know this is your life now, but I want my Son to experience life without this hanging over him." Mac blew out a deep-breath, "He is not to know about what Jim said, I don't want him thinking that this is all his life is going to be about. He can train with you, learn from you and I do trust you to keep my son safe, but know that I am going to insure he has some sense of balance in his life apart from this. Then, when the time comes for him to know his place within the Brotherhood he will be able to make the decision whether he wants to accept it or not, he will not be pressured to do something he doesn't want to do."

"And what if this is what he wants to do?" John asked.

A nervous chuckle escaped Mac as he ran his hand over his mustache, "I guess I'll have to learn to live with it, but until then, he is not to know about it, understood?" John gave his friend a slight nod in understanding. "I'm going downstairs to get some coffee, do you want some?"

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Caleb could hear the muffled talking coming from the hallway, but couldn't hear what was being said and with the pounding headache he had he wasn't able to use his abilities, though he doubted he would be able to get past John's and his father's blocks he always encountered. The teen sat, staring at the children in the bed next to his and wondered when the extreme protectiveness that he felt toward the boys kicked in. When the vision struck every fiber of Caleb's being knew he needed to get to the farm, to get to Sammy. Upon being ordered to remain by the picnic table once the men returned to the woods to search had nearly driven the teen to a breaking point. Only once Dean suggested trying to connect with Sammy did the older boy start really beating himself up at not having tried the connection that he remembered he had with not only Dean but Sammy. Once the connection came he knew he had to be the one to find the missing toddler, no one else would find him in time, but was he in time? The fear in Dean's and John's eyes, the worry on his father's face had the teen questioning whether he had been able to change the outcome of the vision or just prolong the inevitable.

Moving to the edge of the bed, Caleb watched the unconscious toddler and made a decision, maybe it wasn't the right one, but it was one he had to try. Mac had been helping him to enter other peoples minds, to search for information, the young psychic had done it numerous times with is father, even trying when the older man was asleep. After Mac would wake up with headaches did he figure out what his son was trying and told him that he was only to do that with his father's supervision since he was going deeper into another's subconscious than he did when he only read other's thoughts. But again the older boy was filled with the need to bring Sammy out of this; he needed to take away the fear in Dean's eyes, so the teen slowly made his way the few feet between the beds, taking a seat next to Sammy's still form.