Disclaimer: I own nothing except the idea behind this story.

I looked around my house, checking where every one of my weapons were positioned. I knew that I had to protect Dean from anyone and anything that could harm him in his fragile state. Not that I'd actually shoot John, even though there were times I'd like to. "Should I get my shotgun?" Caleb joked, trying to make light of the conversation.

"Sure," I replied. "Just make sure you let him talk before you blow him away, will you?"

Then we heard the truck door slam. I heard my front door get pounded on but didn't move from my position. Moving would've been a waste of time because he barged into my house a second later. "Bobby!" he yelled.

"Hey there, John," I replied, not fazed by his rage.

"Bobby, where is he?" he continued his rampage.

"Who?" I asked, even though I knew who he was talking about.

"I saw the Impala outside. Where is my son hiding?"

"Hiding?" Caleb asked. I silently berated Caleb for wanting to pick a fight with John after only being in my house for a minute. "Why the hell would your son be hiding from you?"

"Is he in his room?" Before I could even answer him, he barreled into Dean's room. I wasn't surprised when Dean didn't move from his position on the bed. He never was a light sleeper, so the sedative was doing its job. But John wanted answers and would do anything to get them, so I was concerned. "Dean, wake up."

"John, let him sleep."

"No," he said adamantly. "Dean, get up. That's an order."

Those three words were like Dean's personal alarm clock. He could be in a coma and if he heard those words, he'd wake up from it. His eyes slowly opened and he struggled to turn his head to the sound of his father's voice. "Dad?" he whispered.

Damn. And just when I had gotten him back to sleep. "Get up, we need to get a move on."

"John, leave him alone," I replied.

"Why?" he asked.

"Are you blind?" I asked. "Look at your son. Look at him, John."

"I am looking at him."

"Dean? Can you move?" I asked.

"I can try," he whispered.

"Show him the battle wounds, Blaze," Caleb replied.

Dean pushed the sheets off of him with much effort. He waited a few seconds to catch his breath before he attempted to sit up. It took a lot of restraint for me to not help him, but we needed to prove a point. John gasped at the sight of his son. "Dean, what the hell happened to you?" he asked. He was angry, and his anger seemed like it was being projected toward Dean. But we all knew better.

"John," I said.

"Dean," he pressed.

"Dean, don't answer him. He doesn't know, John," I answered. "He was jumped by some demons. They outnumbered him and kept him for a week torturing him for who knows what kind of information."

"Dean, is this true?"

He kept his eyes on the ground, unable to meet the gaze of any of us. "Yes, sir."

"Dean, lie down. Go back to sleep," I said.

"But dad said—"

"I don't care," I interrupted. "My house, my rules. Go back to sleep."

I walked to the bed and helped him lie back down. John walked out of the room followed by Caleb. I made sure that Dean was still asleep then followed after them. I saw John standing in the middle of my study and it took everything in me not to punch the eldest Winchester in his face for his stupidity.

Lucky for me, Caleb was never one to show restraint when he was angry. And nothing could stop him when he was angry and it was about Dean. "You stupid son of a bitch," he yelled as he punched John where I had just thought about punching him.

And so it began. "What the hell is your problem, Caleb?" John asked, rubbing his cheek that smarted.

"Your son is a friggin' mummy in there and you don't even care!" Caleb yelled.

"Of course I care. I just didn't know," John replied.

"Of course you didn't know. I should beat your ass for your stupidity."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Don't friggin' tempt me, Winchester."

Caleb stepped toward John ready to take this fight further than just a verbal bout. I took that as a sign to step in between them. Dean wouldn't have wanted his family getting into a fight about him. "Cut it out," I said. "None of this is helping Dean." And I thought that would've gotten to them.

"Tell that to the father of the year," the younger hunter hissed. I guess not.

"Caleb, back off," I answered in the same tone.

"Pompous son of a bitch," he said walking away under his breath. We really liked talking that way to each other in our circle of hunters.

"What did you say?" John said, stepping around me toward Caleb.

"You heard me," Caleb answered. He turned around to face him. "You're lucky that I care for Blaze more than I despise you right now because you'd be staring at the ceiling. But he needs his father. Be his father."

"Don't you think I'm trying?" John asked. His arrogance and his resolve done fighting.

"What the hell took you so long to get your ass here?" Caleb replied in the same resigned tone.

"I was planning a mass exorcism. And it wasn't like I knew that my son was here injured. I didn't get a phone call." He sent a glare in my direction.

"A mass exorcism?" I asked, ignoring the accusing tone. We could always argue about me not informing John about his son later.

"Apparently, there are half a dozen demons possessing members of the football team at the school Dean is attending."

"Did you get them?" Caleb asked, his voice full of concentration.

"No. I've just been scouting the place trying to figure out a way to do it. I came up here to see if you had any ideas. I was thinking that those demons knew a way for me to find Dean. But since I know where Dean is, I can just go straight for the exorcism."

"I'm coming with you," Caleb said.

"Me too," I replied.

"What?" he asked, completely confused. "Why?"

I contemplated telling John about what Dean told us. The connections made sense. They had to be the same demons. "Those demons are the ones that did this to your son," I said.

"Those seven demons hurt Blaze."

"What!" John yelled. It was as if someone turned on the fire in his eyes, because John's eyes were down right scary. Even I knew when not to get in the path of this wrath. This was without a doubt one of those moments.

If anyone had doubts that John Winchester cared for his sons, the anger and vengeance in his voice dispelled all of it. He never always showed how much he cared for his boys, Dean especially, but if any of his boys were in danger, he'd do anything in his power to get them out of it.

"John," Caleb said. He tried to calm the angered Winchester, but he knew that it was futile.

"I have to go."

John turned to walk out the door, but Caleb grabbed his arm to stop him. "Not without us," Caleb replied.

"What are you talking about? You need to stay here and watch my son."

"Exactly, John, your son. Not ours. You stay here and you let us go after the demons."

"No!" he yelled. "Those bastards hurt my son. Nobody gets away with hurting my son."

"Well, he came to me. I want a shot at those demons," I said. "I promised him."

"Well, I'm not babysitting him," Caleb said. "I'm coming to help you."

"We're not leaving him by himself," John replied.

"I can call Jim. He can bring Sammy over," I suggested.

"It might take him awhile," John replied. "Jim was on a hunt."

"So, what do we do?" Caleb asked. "Because I know that all of us want a shot at who did this to Blaze."

We stood in silence contemplating our options. Minutes passed. The tension in the room was unbearable. "We leave him," John said so softly that it sounded like it hurt.

I could tell that John was torn. Hell, I was torn too, and we weren't even talking about my kid. "John, we can wait," I replied.

"No," John answered adamantly. "Dean would want these demons exorcised."

"Okay, that is the hunter talking, now what about the father?"

"The father wants to protect his son."

So, John was ready to defend his son the only way that he knew how. By turning off his emotions, getting the job done, then making sure that his son was back to one hundred percent. "So, we've come to a decision?"

"Yeah."

"You're telling your son what is going on."

"I will."

"We can leave tomorrow or in a few days, just whenever you're ready."

"No, we'll leave tomorrow. I just—"

I knew what John wanted to say. He didn't want to be alone with Dean just yet, because if he were then one of those chick flick moments would occur. And neither Dean or John could handle that with the state that either of them were in. "It's okay, John. I have to check his bandages anyway."

"Thanks, Bobby," John replied.

"I'm still pissed off that you didn't realize you're son was injured until you almost made him walk out of my house. But I understand because you were scared."

"Bobby."

"No, John. You don't have to be such an ass in this house. I'm not going to judge you for caring about your son. And you can't hide that you were terrified when you didn't know where he was."

"We should go check on Dean," John said.

The famous Winchester mask had fallen back into place. I should've known that he would rather change the subject then show what he's feeling. He spun on his heel and headed back toward his son's room. I made eye contact with Caleb and after about two minutes, we both followed John to Dean's room.

When I walked into the room, I saw one of the most beautiful things in my life, besides my late wife. John sat on his son's bed, running his hand through Dean's hair. The last time I saw this happen was when Dean was five years old. It always brought him comfort and would always bring him comfort. That's how I knew what to do to get Dean to fall deeper asleep.

"John," I said, not wanting to break the moment between father and son.

"It's okay, Bobby," John replied. "It's just…" his voice trailed off. A single tear rolled down his cheek. He wouldn't wipe it because that would mean relinquishing contact with his son. "Seven demons, Bobby. He should be dead."

"I know," he replied.

"He's still a kid."

"Hardly," Caleb laughed. "Your kid hasn't been a kid since he was like six years old." When he started shooting bottles with a shotgun in my backyard.

John's eyes didn't leave his son. He was completely occupied with Dean. As much as I wanted to validate that statement, I knew it wasn't what John needed right now. He needed to know that his son was going to be okay, and that the people who did this to him were going to pay. "John, I need to check on his wrappings and then we can head out in the morning."

John sniffed and ran his hand through Dean's hair once more like he was never going to feel this close to his son again. "Yeah," he whispered.

He broke the contact between him and his son, but it looked like it caused him physical pain to do so. He took that chance to wipe the tears from his face. He stood from the bed and watched me as I started to work. I pulled the covers off of the young Winchester and sighed when I saw him shivering. His body was trying to break the fever. I put my hand to his forehead and felt heat radiating off of it. "Help me lift him up, John," I instructed.

John was more than willing to oblige. He sat back down on the bed and when we made eye contact, we lifted the unconscious boy. John let Dean's head rest on his shoulder as I cut off the bandages wrapped around his ribs. I winced as I had to peel the last layer off of the cuts on his back. I cleaned his wound and saw that there was pink around the edges. I huffed and Caleb and John caught it. "What?" they asked.

"They're a bit infected," I said.

Caleb walked around and bit his lip in disgust. "Jesus Christ, Bobby," he said.

I grabbed some ointments to reapply them to his back. As soon as it touched the first wound, a groan escaped the young hunter's lips. "Dean?" John whispered.

"Bobby?" his son replied.

"No, it's dad."

Dean lifted his head from his father's shoulder. "Dad?" John nodded. I backed off as I saw Dean lean back into his father's shoulder. Then I saw his arms wrap around John's torso to hug him. "Dad," Dean repeated. His Winchester mask had fallen. And John wrapped his arms around his son.

Okay, so finals are over and I'm back home. Thanks to everyone for wishing me good luck, I really think that I helped. Here is the next chapter. Sorry for keeping you guys waiting. I hope that this chapter turned out all right. Thanks for reading. Please review. Lil-Rock