Disclaimer: I don't own anything besides the idea for this story.

When I finally finished with wrapping his legs and cleaning his body, the sun had come up. The boy lying in front of me didn't look like the boy I'd watched grow-up. He was almost unrecognizable under all of the bandages. I was concerned about the wounds on his back and his rib cage. His wrists and ankles were most tender from being bound. And the fever he sported was a bit alarming.

Which brought up the question of how the hell did he get away from them?

And to think that I was going to tear his ass apart when I first saw him on my porch. I should've known better than to think Dean would be so irresponsible. And I wondered why did I get so angry with him?

I was worried.

I have a soft spot in my heart for that kid. But I'd never vocalize it, even if the kid needed it sometimes. A lot of the time. The kid carried himself as if he had the entire world on his shoulders, and it was because his father dropped it on him. There was something special about Dean, but I didn't know what it was yet.

He was wrapped in enough bandages to look like a mummy. Although I wanted to do more to make him comfortable, at that point, there was nothing else. So, I decided to let the kid rest.

But as soon as I crossed the threshold, he started tossing in the bed as if he were fighting some invisible force. "No," he forced from his lips. "I don't know," he gasped for breath. He was having a fever dream.

All of the supplies that I had in my hands were dropped to the floor as I made my way back to his side. "Dean, it's just a dream," I said, running my fingers through his hair.

He tried his hardest to roll away from my touch, swallowing hard before he spoke. "Won't tell you."

"Dean, wake up!" I yelled, knowing that the longer he stayed in his dreams, the more harm he'd to do himself.

Tears fell from his closed eyes. "Not an angel," he whispered. "Can't tell… about network."

"Dean Winchester, you wake up now!"

His eyes shot open, frightened and confused. "No, you're a dream," Dean said, scared out of his wits.

He struggled to get away from me; unable to do so from all the pain he was in. I grabbed his forearms as gently as I could with his injuries, forcing him to look at me. "Dean, you're safe. I promise."

"They got you too. I didn't tell them anything, I promise," he said. "Just let me go." His breath caught in his throat. "I can't. Just let me die. Please."

"No way, Dean."

"Please, Bobby. Just make them stop," he pleaded with me.

Jesus Christ, what did they do to him? He never begged for anything. "They're not here, Dean. They can't hurt you."

"I can't…"

Did he really want to die? "Look at me, you gotta snap out now!" I yelled. I gave him a firm shake to try and emphasize the seriousness of my words. "You're not gonna die. I'm not gonna let you die. You're like a son to me."

In his eyes, it looked as if something switched on in his head and he finally recognized who I was and that I wasn't going anywhere. "Bobby?" he cried, tears blurring his vision. He blinked and the tears trailed down his cheeks. "You're real," he whispered.

"Of course I'm real, you idjit. Will you be all right if I let you go?" He nodded his head. "Good."

I let go of his arms and he took in a breath as if for the passed few minutes he hadn't been breathing at all. "Where? What?"

I walked out of the room, ignoring his questions, and returned with a glass of water in hand. After I got him sitting up, I tipped the glass to lips and let him drink. "You well enough for some pain killers?"

"I was wondering when you were going to spoil me," he joked, the vulnerable Dean from a minute ago, gone. He swallowed the pills without much difficulty. "My best friends," he smiled after he drank down a glass of water.

He closed his eyes and went back into a lying position. "Dean? What did you mean about the network?"

He peaked open his eyes to look at me. "What? When did I say that?"

"Fever dreams."

"The hunter network. The demons wanted to tap into it."

"And you wouldn't let them?"

"And give them the chance to hurt you, my dad, Caleb, Pastor Jim…Sammy." He paused to catch his breath. "He must be so worried. I have to…" his voice softened as he tried to sit up.

"No way, kid," I said, pushing him back down. "You're resting."

"Dad must be so pissed."

"I wouldn't doubt it. I'm pretty damn sure he's pissed."

"I should call him."

"No. Because he'll be here eventually. And I know that if he comes here sooner than you're able to handle him, you're going to be spending more time in that bed than you'd like."

"You wouldn't."

"Anything to keep you safe and get you well." Even if it meant protecting him from his own father. Speaking of his father, I needed to know. "Dean, why didn't you go to your father when you got out?"

"I couldn't find him, but I didn't look very hard. And I couldn't lead them to dad. I just couldn't risk it."

The kid needed to protect his family. He looked away as if I was supposed to be disappointed in the choice he made. "I understand, Dean. So, right now, you get to go to sleep."

"I've been sleeping all night. I'm not tired," he yawned. "Did you drug me?" he glared accusingly at me.

"Do you really think I'd do that to you, Dean?"

"You've done it before."

"You needed it before. And you might actually need it now."

"So, you did?"

"No, that's your body telling you that you need to recuperate. So, you're going to sleep and recuperate."

"Overbearing, bossy, little—"

"What did you say?" I interrupted his rant. He bit his lip to stay quiet. "That's what I thought."

He yawned once more before allowed his eyes to close. "Thanks, Bobby," he said.

I turned to leave the room once again. But before I could make it out the door, a question kept nagging me in the back of my mind. "Dean?" I asked, looking back at him and hoping he wasn't asleep yet.

"Yeah."

"What did you mean when you said 'not and angel.'"

"Oh," he said. His eyes popped open. He was doing he best to fight against the exhaustion. "The demons. They cut my back searching for wings thinking that I was an angel or something. And they were saying something about my heart. I don't really know for sure. I was too busy keeping myself from passing out. Funny though, right? Me an angel."

"Yeah, really funny. Now get some sleep."

I picked up the supplies in the doorway and walked out of his room not knowing if he went to sleep or not. But he knew better than to defy me in my own house. And even if he didn't fall asleep on his own will, his exhaustion and a little help from a sedative would do it for him.

So I lied to him. I'm allowed to do whatever I damn well please in my home.

I went to my study about one hundred percent sure that I wouldn't be able to go to sleep no matter how tired I was. I had a lot more questions than answers since he'd woken up. And that didn't help me at all. So I opened a book to search for some answers.

So, football players. That meant that this had to be where the boys were at school this week, or month. Or, maybe Dean happened to come across a bunch of guys playing football and they recognized him as a hunter? That detail was leading me nowhere. Maybe next detail.

The number of demons. There were seven of them. That meant they knew that Dean was there and were following him. But if that were the case, then why wasn't John able to sense it?

So many missing details.

And Dean as an angel? And what about his heart?

What the hell did all of it mean? And what did Dean have to do with any of this?

If my guess or assumption is right, then he's everything to do with it. This kid means more to this fight than anyone could possibly know.

I was so engrossed in my thoughts that didn't hear a car pull up to my house. And even worse, I didn't hear someone enter it. "Bobby?" someone said.

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of someone else in my house. I looked up from the book that I wasn't even reading to the person standing in front of me. I thanked God that it wasn't a demon. "Caleb?" I said once my heart stopped racing.

It wasn't a surprise that he was at my house. It was only a matter of time. He would drop everything he was doing if he found out that Dean was hurt. If he had gotten the same phone call from John that me and Jim got, then the urgency siren in his brain would be blaring until he knew Dean was safe. I was actually surprised he wasn't here sooner.

"I saw the Impala outside. Is John here?" he asked, anxious.

"No," I replied.

"Blaze?"

Blaze. A nickname that he gave the middle Winchester because as soon as Dean got into hunting, he would go into any situation, guns blazing. Dean did have the tendency to go in without a plan and with a shoot first ask questions later mentality. Blaze was a perfect nickname to give him. Granted, the nickname was always paired with the nickname, Brains, that Caleb gave to the youngest Winchester boy.

"Yeah. He's pretty beat up, Caleb."

"Let me see him," he requested.

I had half a mind to keep him away from Dean. I knew what it would do to Caleb to see one of his best friends injured. Actually, not just a friend, someone he considered family. The last thing that I needed was for my house to be torn to shreds, unless I was the one doing it.

But I knew how much worse it would have been if I tried to keep him away. "He's in his room."

I sat in my study waiting and attempting to read the book in front of me, but the words didn't seem to form correctly. I was too distracted, thinking about all the possible reactions that Caleb could be going through. Anger and retribution were pretty high on that list. I knew how close Caleb was to Dean and I didn't want to hear his reaction when he saw one of his family members severely injured, so I tried to find other ways of distracting my thoughts.

The door to Dean's room slammed closed and I knew that Caleb was pissed. Not only by that, but also because of the stomping that was coming toward my direction. "Who did that to him?" he demanded. "Bobby, tell me who did this to Dean so I can find him and kill that son of a bitch."

"You better get in line." I had claims on going after the demons. Dean came to me first and I had to fix him up, so if anyone were going to send the bastards back to hell, it would be me. Even John Winchester would have to take a backseat.

"So, who did this to him?"

I ran my hand down my face and beard wondering if I should tell him. "I don't know." And that was the truth. All that Dean told me was seven football players.

"What the hell do you mean you don't know? And where the hell is John?" he yelled.

I understood his anger. John should've been here helping his son through this. "I haven't heard from him since I got that phone call from him saying that Dean was missing."

"Me neither," he said, his demeanor a lot calmer than it was a few seconds ago. "He was pissed."

"He was scared. And for good reason. You saw Dean in there."

Caleb sat in one of my empty chairs, hunched over and rested his face in his hands. "I want to know who did this, Bobby."

"So do I, but he isn't telling me anything. He's too weak right now. We have to wait for him to wake up."

He leaned back on the chair and stared at the Key of Solomon on my ceiling. "It's weird you know. Hearing you calling Dean weak." As weird it was for him to hear it, it was weirder and harder for me to say it. "It's hard to believe that it's Blaze lying in that bed in there. Did you slip him anything?"

"Of course I did."

"Good. Have you called John?"

"What do you think?"

"He's going to be pissed when he finds Dean here."

"I'm not scared of John Winchester."

"You're in the minority here." Which was true. John Winchester had a reputation in the hunting community of being a total hardass, a vengeful badass, a complete jackass, and an overall pain in the ass. "So, did Blaze tell you anything?"

"He said that he was outnumbered." That is a fact I feel obligated to share.

"What exactly is outnumbered?"

"Seven to one. Whoever they were, they were possessed."

"How the hell did he get away from seven demons? And with all those injuries?"

"Honestly, the only thing that I can think of is that he's a Winchester." He laughed at my statement, but he knew how much validity that it held. "So, what took you so long? I thought that you would've been here as soon as you heard that Dean was missing."

"I was in the mountains. I didn't have reception the day that he called me, so when I called John back, Dean was missing for four days. I was torn between finishing my hunt and searching for him, but I'm pretty sure that Dean would've wanted me to finish my hunt. So I did. And as soon as I did, I booked it down here to get information." He stood up from the chair and paced in front of me. "Seven demons. That is one special kid in there," he said proudly.

"You have no idea."

"So, what do we do now?"

"We wait," I replied.

Caleb groaned and plopped back onto his chair. "I was hoping you weren't going to say that."

Hey everyone! Here is the second chapter of my story. Thanks so much to everyone for the reviews. You guys are amazing. I have a question for everyone… Does anyone know Caleb's last name? I might need it for a future story I'm writing. Thanks for reading. Please review. Lil-Rock