Deuce and Damien
Chapter 5
Disclaimer: See chapter one
Caleb slowly opened his eyes. The last he remembered was finding an unconscious Dean in the blizzard that had engulfed Bobby's salvage yard. They had gotten into the barely standing tool shed at the end of a row of cars, he remembered wrapping the small child in his jacket and pulling an oil covered blanket up around them, finally as the cold seemed to steal the last of his energy, Caleb remembered his eye's slipping shut.
Looking around the room he was in, he slowly sat up on the soft couch, feeling warm after having been so cold for so long. The room was unfamiliar, he knew it wasn't one of the rooms in Bobby's house since he had explored the place shortly after he and Mac had arrived. There was a recliner in the corner with a small table next to it; the couch was a floral print but wasn't overly bright. There was a coffee table with baby and car magazines covering it, a half drunk cup of coffee near the recliner. The faint glow from a hallway light let the teen know it was dark outside as the rest of the room was bathed in shadows from said light.
"Hello?" Caleb called out as he slowly made his way toward the hall, glancing up the staircase. "Is anybody here? Hello?" The silence was unnerving, but he didn't feel afraid. A noise from upstairs had him turning quickly as he saw a small shadow dart across the wall. Taking the stairs two at a time he called out again, "Hey, wait…" slowing as he reached the top he hesitantly started making his way down the hall, toward the only room with a light on, the door slightly ajar. Nearly to the door he heard what sounded like a soft lullaby being sung. Not sure how the person in the room would react to a strange teenager in their house he cautiously pushed the door open and froze.
It was a nursery, the quiet song coming from a blond-haired woman rocking a small baby in her arms; Caleb felt his heart skip a beat as he recognized the woman from a picture he had glimpsed in the cover of John Winchester's journal, the woman, the older man had told him was Mary, his wife. Blinking, shaking his head slightly, trying to figure out why he was apparently dreaming of John's dead wife, Caleb noticed a tiny boy sitting in front of the rocking chair, rocking along with the chair. "Dean?"
Movement in the corner of his eye cause Caleb to turn as he saw a slightly bigger Dean sitting against the wall near the door, his legs drawn up close as he rested his head on his arms over top of his knees. Slowly making his way toward the older version Caleb leaned against the wall and slid down, coming to rest near the five-year old. "Is this where you go?" The teen whispered, recalling the many times they would find Dean sitting around Pastor Jim's place just like this, staring at something only he could see. No one was every able to get the smaller child to react until he decided to rejoin the world around him.
"This is what I want to remember." The tiny child whispered.
Suddenly Dean raised his hands to his face, covering it as the scene changed before them. "I don't want to see this one anymore." he whimpered.
Caleb jumped as flames filled the room, John's prone form on the floor next to the crib holding a screaming baby as John yelled. The teen looked up to see flames coming from the woman's body pinned to the ceiling, a whispered 'mommy', drew his attention to the doorway as a four-year old Dean was staring at the ceiling. The smaller boy backed up slightly as John stood grabbing Sammy from the bed, the older man never seeming to realize his older child had witnessed his mother's death. "Daddy doesn't know what I saw, please don't tell, I don't want to get in trouble or make him sad again." Caleb looked down at tear-filled eyes as the scene changed again to the one of Mary rocking Sammy while Dean looked on.
"Oh, God kiddo, John doesn't know you saw that?" Caleb's own fear of watching his parents die filled him; he knew exactly how Dean felt.
Dean shook his head, tears still falling down his small cheeks; silent sob's raking his tiny frame. Caleb reached over and pulled the five-year old close to him, "It's alright Deuce, I've got you, you don't have to remember if you don't want to, but that doesn't mean it will just go away. Trust me I know."
"No you don't." Dean pulled back, anger flashing in his green-eye's, "You didn't see, I couldn't help her; Daddy said it was my job to help take care of mommy and Sammy and I couldn't."
Caleb reached over and took a hold of the child's shoulders. "I do know, I say my mom and dad die, trust me I know how you feel." With the confession Caleb soon found his arms filled with a shaking five-year old, who had a death-grip around his neck as the child buried his face against the teens shoulder. Wrapping his arms around the child he pulled him into his lap. "I'll take care of you Deuce, I promise." The soft sound of the lullaby echoed through the room as Dean clung to the older boy.
Oxoxoxoxo
It had been a couple of hours since the men had returned to the house with Dean and Caleb, both boys suffering from hypothermia. Over those hours Jim had followed Mac's directions and periodically taken each boys temperature as their father's held them, Dean's had only increased a degree to 86, while Caleb's had increased to 89, but neither boy showed any sign of consciousness.
John would find himself humming a lullaby he had heard Mary sing to the boys when they were babies. He would recall times when he'd return home from work and Mary would be putting Sammy down for bed, but before, she would rock him to sleep singing the song, Dean always sitting cross-legged in front of her, rocking along with the movement of the chair. He would sometimes stand at the door for several minutes before his oldest would notice him as Mary's voice seemed to in trance the child.
John jumped slightly as he felt the child in his arms move, "Dean?" John whispered as he prayed that he would see his son's green-eye's open, but instead the small boy started shaking. "Mac!" The panicked voice of his friend pulled Mac from his worries for his own son.
"Jim, help me with Caleb." Mac moved to lay his son over, still cocooned in blankets, once Jim helped situate Caleb, Mac made his way to John.
Grabbing the stethoscope Mac placed it to Dean's chest as the small child let out a whimper, his breathing increasing. "What's wrong?" John felt useless as his son continued to shake in his arms.
"His body is trying to warm itself, the shivering is actually good, but we don't want the shivering to become to violent or it could effect his heart." Mac wasn't going to candy-coat the perilous condition the boys were in. He knew there was a chance of a cardiac episode with either boy and just hope it wouldn't happen.
"Mac?" Jim's quiet voice pulled the Doctor's attention from the fear-filled eye's of his friend back to Caleb.
Caleb had started shaking as well, not as much as Dean, but enough for the same fear he saw in John's eyes to fill his own heart. Mac looked between the boys knowing there wasn't anything else he could do for them, but hope they would make it through the night and that morning would find search and rescue making their way to them.
Oxoxoxoxo
Having closed his eye's only a moment while trying to comfort the hurting boy in his arms; Caleb opened them to find himself and Dean sitting under the tree next to Jim's pond on his farm. Warm sun was dancing through the leaves, casting shadows on them as the reflection of the water danced on the leaves overhead. "Deuce?" Caleb whispered as Dean looked up from his place in the teen's lap.
"I like it here, I feel safe." The five-year old said as he stood, running the back of his hand over his face. Turning the smaller boy looked at Caleb with a puzzled look, "Why are you calling me Deuce?"
For a moment pain flared in Caleb's chest, the pain of losing a sibling he never got to meet. But then the voice of his mother filtered through his mind again, telling him that his brother would come from another. "A deuce is a wild card when you play cards, it can change into anything you need it to be. It's special, unique. My dad gave me one a few night's before…" Sadness filled the teen's voice a moment as he cleared the emotions clogging his throat. Standing he knelt in front of Dean, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Let's just say it's important to me."
"Okay." The five-year olds demeanor seemed to change almost immediately. He had gone for the scared child clinging to him in the nursery to a child almost pulsing with energy. "Can we go out in the boat?" Dean's excited eyes pleaded. Caleb's heart froze, he hated water, had every since his parents death. He found himself feeling he would do anything for the small boy before him, but this was one thing he didn't think he could do.
"How 'bout we go see the horses instead? I'm not big on water." He hoped he didn't have to explain why he didn't like water as watched Dean looking longingly toward the small johnboat.
With a big smile on his face Dean looked up at Caleb, "Okay." He quickly grabbed the teens arm and started dragging him toward the barn. Dean ran ahead and climbed up on the fence of the corral, both of Jim's horses were running around as if they were putting on a show just for the young child clapping for them. Caleb came to stand next to Dean, close enough if the boy slipped, but far enough for the smaller boy to feel he was doing something on his own. After a few minutes of watching the horses, one of them came to the fence for Dean to pet, as Caleb reached over to stroke the animals neck Dean asked a question that nearly took Caleb's breath, "Are you evil?"