Chapter 24

Alec was still hugging the stuffed dragon tightly to his chest when we walked into the diner. At our booth, Dean let the boy sit first by the window and slid in next to him, while I sat across from the both of them. I remembered my brother taking this same defensive seating arrangement when I was a small child, positioning himself between me and any potential threat.

"I'm gonna assume that the sonsofbitches who couldn't be bothered to name you also didn't feed you anything decent. Probably gave you all some kinda gruel that was nutritious but tasted like ass, right?" Dean asked as he passed over a menu.

"Yeah, pretty much," Alec muttered as he started examining it.

"Well, diners are an awesome place to start exploring real food—they're everywhere, they're open early and late, they're cheap, and they have a selection of different types of stuff," Dean explained. "Lemme know if something looks interesting. But if you ain't sure, I'll start by ordering you the basics."

A matronly waitress bustled up and, after taking in our matching wedding rings and Dean's and Alec's obvious resemblance, beamed at us warmly. "Good afternoon, dears! What can I get you to drink?"

"Me and the munchkin will have Cokes please, darling," my husband replied with an equally wide smile.

"Unsweetened ice tea for me please," I added.

The moment she walked away, Alec scowled. "Munchkin?"

I grinned at him. "As the youngest and most vertically challenged member of the family, you better get used to that. And 'squirt,' 'midget,' 'shrimp,' and whatever other ridiculous nicknames he can come up with. I had to put up with that for years."

Dean stuck his tongue out at me. "Eldest's prerogative, dude. Anyway, I'm gonna order the appetizer sampler so you can try a few varieties of fried goodness. And if there ain't anything you'd prefer more, you can't go wrong with a bacon cheeseburger and fries. Whaddya think, kiddo?"

"Is that what you're getting?"

"Yep! Oh, and make sure you save room for dessert. The best thing about diners is the pie," Dean said seriously.

Our waitress returned with our drinks and took our orders: chicken Caesar wrap and fruit salad for me, bacon double cheeseburger with extra onions and fries for Dean, bacon cheeseburger with fries for Alec, and an appetizer sampler for the table. She also left a coloring book and box of crayons behind.

Alec eyed those in confusion. "Are these for me? What am I supposed to do?"

"Some places offer stuff like this so the kids don't get bored while they're waiting. Notice how all the pictures are just outlines? You can fill them in with whatever colors you want, using the crayons there," I told him.

"Try your Coke first though, dude. If you don't like it, we can get something else," Dean said.

Alec took a cautious sip from his straw, and his eyes almost bugged out. "This is . . . this is awesome!"

Dean grinned happily. "You ain't seen nothing yet, kid!"

Alec turned his attention back to the book and studied the pages. He then selected a crayon and began coloring in a house carefully, his tongue caught between his teeth in concentration. Dean and I exchanged amused glances at his intensity.

"Okay, it's 'bout a fifteen-hour drive to get home. If we push straight on through, we should get there by around dawn tomorrow. Or we can stop at another hotel around halfway and arrive home in the early afternoon. Whaddya think, Sammy?" Dean asked after slurping down half of his own Coke.

"We should push through until we're safe at home. The longer we stop anywhere, the more chance Manticore has to catch up if they manage to find our trail. I know it's a minute chance with all the wards on us and the Impala, but it's better not to take the risk," I replied firmly.

"Works for me." Dean looked down at the boy. "Relax, Alec. It don't hafta be perfect—this is just for fun. So scribble outside the lines or color that dog purple if you wanna, okay?"

Before Alec could respond, his attention was distracted by the arrival of the appetizers. "What's all this stuff?"

"We got a good mix here, kiddo. These are chicken fingers, which you can dip either in the honey mustard or the barbeque sauce. Then there are the mozzarella sticks, potato skins, and onion rings. We also got some fried zucchini, but only weirdos like Sam eat those."

"Hey, don't prejudice him before he tries them, jerk!" I retorted indignantly. "Not everyone believes the only good vegetables are burger and pizza toppings!"

"You're barking up the wrong tree here, bitch. You're always going on about how feline I am, and cats are obligate carnivores. Some vegetables don't suck, but you can keep your nasty zucchinis!" Dean said smugly as the boy spat out a piece with an exaggeratedly disgusted expression.

Alec happily ate one of everything else and came back for seconds of the chicken fingers and mozzarella sticks. He intently watched as Dean noisily licked his fingers clean and then mimicked his actions almost exactly. I knew I'd have to put my foot down soon, because I did not need to deal with my brother's obnoxious eating habits in stereo.

Noticing that his glass was almost empty, I asked, "Do you want another Coke, Alec?"

"I would, but I . . . I think I need a glass of milk instead," he said with a slightly wrinkled brow.

"Need? Is something wrong?"

He hesitated for a moment. "It's something Manticore did. They built a tryptophan deficiency into all the X5's as a control mechanism. If we don't get their daily supplement, we go into seizures and eventually die. Some of us develop the shakes even with the supplements, which is why they took Max downstairs with Ben and me."

"Bastards! Lemme see if I can do something 'bout that." Dean laid a hand on the boy's shoulder and focused for several minutes. "Damn, I ain't used to going in that deep! I'm gonna need more time to find what they fucked up, but I should be able to fix it eventually. In the meantime, we'll see 'bout getting you some supplements from the nearest pharmacy."

Alec gave him an awed look. "You can do that—fix what's wrong with me?"

"You'll be able to yourself someday, squirt. Technically any shapeshifter can, but most of 'em don't train their abilities enough. See, we got total control over our bodies when we shift, but you gotta practice to learn how to do the detailed shit. Most shifters ain't aware of the full extent of what they're capable of, and so they only use the basic stuff on an instinctual level."

"How come? If I knew I could do awesome stuff like this, I'd want to learn all about it!" the kid exclaimed.

"'Cause they don't know," Dean answered. "Most shapeshifters grow up in human families—they're the result of a shifter impersonating the husband to impregnate the wife and then skipping town. So they grow up not knowing what's going on, and with their human family freaking out 'bout them being different. That's often what starts the poor sonsofbitches on the crazy train.

"I got lucky 'cause Dad—technically Sammy's dad—knew exactly what I was, and he helped me learn how to really use my shifting ability. He also helped me build up a tolerance to silver, which is our one big weakness. We can heal almost anything that ain't instantly fatal, except for head or heart shots with silver. And contact with the stuff makes our skin burn, which is how hunters can tell what we are. We're gonna hafta figure out what to do 'bout that for you. Dad's method was effective, but I ain't putting another kid through it!"

Our waitress showed up with our meals at that moment, which effectively ended any serious conversation. Alec once again first watched and then imitated Dean in spreading ketchup and mustard on his patty, slicing up his pickle and adding it to his toppings, and pushing his coleslaw towards me. He sniffed the burger before taking a large bite, and then he closed his eyes and made a virtually identical blissful noise as the older man. Dean showed him how to dip his fries in ketchup and eat them, which elicited another ecstatic sound from the boy. I just sighed tolerantly.

By the time the waitress returned, Dean's plate was almost empty, but Alec's still held a third of his burger and half his fries. She gave him a concerned look. "What's the matter, honey? You didn't like them?"

"Oh no, ma'am, everything was awesome! But my dad told me to save room for the most important part of the meal—pie." He blinked guilelessly up at her.

"Aren't you sweet!" she cooed. "I'll wrap these up so you can have them later then. As far as pie goes, we've got the best apple pie in the county. We also have cherry and lemon meringue."

"We'll have two slices of the apple, sweetheart. Oh, and can you get my boy a chocolate milkshake too? His mom was very strict and didn't let him have sweets, so I'm treating him." Dean put an arm around the kid's shoulders.

I rolled my eyes as she visibly melted under the assault of two sets of wide green eyes and charming smiles. Once she walked away, I announced, "You two are terrible!"

"You mean we're fucking awesome! We ain't gonna hafta pay for pie ever again!" my husband crowed.

"You do know that we're no longer living hand-to-mouth, right? You don't have to cadge for food, even pie, anymore," I tried to point out.

"It's the principle of the thing, Sam," he said loftily. "If people can't resist how adorable our son is, who am I to stop them?"

Soon our waitress came back with not only the two slices of pie and milkshake but also a bowl with a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream. Dean thanked her effusively after shooting me a triumphant glance.

"Okay, kiddo, we're starting with the apple pie today 'cause apple is the best pie ever," he instructed. "Cut off a big mouthful of the pie, add a little ice cream, and then down the hatch!"

Alec popped the forkful into his mouth, and his eyes grew to almost anime proportions. He swallowed and breathed reverently, "Oh my God! This is . . . this is . . ."

"I know, right? Don't forget to try your milkshake too!"

I smiled indulgently as the little boy in front of me experienced his first foodgasm. He scraped his plate and the bowl of ice cream clean and slurped down all of the milkshake, then leaned back against the seat with his hands over his full stomach. While Dean beamed at him and finished his own piece of pie, I waved over the waitress to get the check. I pointedly didn't reveal that the bill included neither pie nor ice cream, as I didn't want to deal with the gloating.

Once we were outside, Dean stopped Alec in front of the Impala with a hand on his shoulder. "Before we hit the road again, I wanna properly introduce you to a very important member of the family. This is Baby, and she's been a part of the Winchesters for almost forty years. She's a nineteen sixty-seven Chevy Impala, and she's the most awesome car out there ever. She first belonged to Dad, and he taught me how to take care of her, then gave her to me after I turned sixteen. For most of Sam's and my lives, she's been the closest thing we've ever had to a home, and now she's yours too. As long as you treat her right, she'll always take care of you."

We stopped at the Walmart first to get a bottle of tryptophan supplements, as well as a couple of books and a Nintendo 3DS to keep Alec occupied during the long ride (which didn't stop him from pelting us with lots of questions). Once we were on the highway, I called Frank back to give him the rest of the information he needed and tell him to expedite the essential documentation. Other than a few brief stops for gas and food, we drove through the rest of the day and well into the night, periodically switching out who was behind the wheel.

The sun was just cresting the horizon when we pulled into our driveway and parked in the garage next to my GTO. I grabbed our bags out of the trunk while Dean shook Alec awake and gathered up his things from the backseat. The boy was still yawning as he followed us to the side door.

We could hear excited barking as Dean unlocked the door, and Hannibal burst through as soon as it opened. As the puppy attempted to knock my brother down and slobber all over his face, I noticed Alec drop into a defensive stance, his teeth drawn back in a snarl. I realized that his only experience with dogs probably had been with fierce attack dogs used by the Manticore guards, so he now viewed our exuberant pup, who weighed twice as much as he did, as a threat.

I caught hold of his arms before he could lunge forward. "Hey, it's okay, Alec. He's not attacking Dean—he's just happy to see us. Hannibal is our pet, and the only danger he poses is if he drowns you in dog drool. Hannibal, c'mere boy!"

Hannibal bounded over and crashed into my knees. I crouched in front of him and rubbed his head and ears vigorously. I then took Alec's hand and guided it to the top of his head, while commanding the dog, "Stay!"

Alec cautiously stroked the puppy's head, and Hannibal wriggled joyfully and licked him from chin to forehead. "Hey, that tickles! Is he always this friendly?"

"Oh yeah, he's an enormous lovebug. Which is why he's here with us instead of down with the rest of his litter. We'll tell you the whole story later. For now, let's head inside," I said.

In the kitchen, Dean scooped up Astrid and placed her in Alec's arms, where she promptly began to purr. "And this is the other four-legged member of the family. Alec, meet Astrid. I think she likes you already!"

"She's so fluffy!" He watched as she rolled onto her back, then slowly stroked the soft fur on her belly.

"So welcome to your new home, kiddo." Dean put his hand on the boy's shoulder and began showing him around. "This is obviously the kitchen. During the week, I usually make breakfast around six before I go to work, lunch will be packed to take with you when you come with me or Sam, and dinner's generally ready by the time Sam gets home at six-thirty. You can grab a snack whenever you want, as long as it ain't right before mealtime or bedtime.

"There's the TV here in the family room and one upstairs in the game room that you can use. You just gotta make sure to finish your schoolwork and chores first. This leads to our bedroom. If the door's closed, knock first in case we're . . . uh, busy or something. Otherwise, you're welcome in there. Just don't go through our stuff without asking!

"Sammy, can you take him upstairs and show him his room?" my husband then asked. "'Cause he looks ready to fall asleep on his feet. We can show him the rest later. I gotta feed the critters, and then I'll drag our stuff to our room."

I nodded and led the child upstairs, then pointed to our left. "This is the game room. We'll show you how to play on the video game consoles, air hockey and pool table, and other games some other time. Come over here."

I opened the door on the right, and he followed me into the bedroom. It was simply furnished with a full bed, two nightstands, a dresser, and a solid navy blue rug on the hardwood floor. The bottom half of three of the walls was decorated in Morris-style wallpaper—a stylized leaf border directly above the baseboards, then a floral fill creating a faux wainscoting, topped by a woodland frieze—and the top half was painted a pale blue. The back wall was filled with a wide closet, several built-in cabinets, and the door to the en-suite bathroom. A large window on the side wall let in the morning light.

"This wasn't designed to be a kid's bedroom—it originally was our second guest room. But we thought it would be better for you since it's a little bigger and has its own bathroom," I said as Alec looked around. "We're going to order a desk and a bookcase or two for you. And we can get whatever else you want."

"I—I've never had my own room before. Each unit shared a room in the barracks, and we just had cots and footlockers." He touched the frieze. "I like this, with the deer and the bunnies."

I smiled as I set his bookbag on the dresser. "I'm glad, Alec. You get some rest now—there's a set of pajamas in here. We'll show you the rest of the house and yard later today. Tomorrow we'll go shopping together to get you more clothes and toys and stuff."

"Thanks, Papa—and Dad, too. For finding me and bringing me here and—and everything else."

"We're just glad to have you, kid." I ruffled his hair and headed downstairs.

When I got to the family room, I pulled my phone out and called Bobby. "Hey Bobby, how are you doing? Sorry to disturb you so early, but . . . we've got some pretty big news."

There was the sound of a beverage being swallowed, presumably coffee. "Don't worry 'bout it, son. I'm fine, other than getting sick of that idjit Fred Murtagh calling all the time. Phone's been ringing at least once a week—is this real, does this exist, you gotta check out this weird story, and on and on. Dude's taking this 'The truth is out there' thing a bit too seriously, if you ask me! Just be glad he ain't pestering you—though that might be 'cause I implied you'd turn him into a toad if he bothered you."

I snickered. "Don't encourage him! Have any of his stories panned out?"

I heard another swallow. "One did, actually—a kind of Polish vampire critter called a latawiec down near Tempe. I passed the info onto Annie Hawkins, and she's gonna rustle up a couple more able bodies to check it out. So what's up with you two?"

"Well . . . um, we have a kid now."

"Come again?"

I explained, "I started having these dreams over a week ago, like right before Jess died. They showed us waiting at night on the side of some remote road until we heard sounds of a chase approaching through the neighboring woods. After some scrying and research, I figured out the stretch of road was outside Gilette, Wyoming. We left for there a couple days ago because the dreams were becoming increasingly more urgent.

"After waiting at the right spot for a couple hours, a little boy burst out of the woods with what sounded like armed men on snowmobiles after him. We caught him as he ran in front of the Impala and immediately knew he was why we were there. Bobby, this kid looks exactly like Dean did at age eight, down to the last freckle."

"Are we thinking another shapeshifter?"

"Yes, but not in the way you think," I said. "We got the kid out of there before his pursuers could see us, and we talked after we put a safe distance between them and us. According to Alec, there's a military facility hidden in those woods, and he's part of a secret program to breed super soldiers. They take the DNA from promising individuals, add in animal genes for improved physical abilities, and then pump out clones like Imperial stormtroopers. Most of the kids in this project are created from a mix of genetic donors, but a small number are exact copies of a particular person. So they somehow got Dean's DNA and cloned him to create Alec."

"Sam, this sounds crazy even by our standards! You sure this kid ain't pulling your leg . . . or starting to lose his marbles?" Bobby asked skeptically.

"We didn't believe his story at first either, but too many things started to add up. He was dosed with a drug to suppress his shapeshifting ability, and yet he's a perfect replica of my brother. His body is super-tuned—like when Dean amps up his abilities, except that's Alec's normal setting—and had way more scars than even we did at that age. He even had a fucking barcode on the back of his neck, and Dean said the tattoo was somehow encoded into his DNA! To top it all off, the commanding officer at Manticore, Lydecker, turns out to be an old friend of Dad's, so we assume that's how these fuckers got Dean's genetic material."

"Damn! So how did this kid get out?"

"These assholes were apparently running some kind of experiment with Alec and Ben, another of Dean's clones who wasn't given the shifting suppressor. Ben eventually became too unstable since we presume he didn't know how to control his ability, so they took both boys away to perform tests on them. They also took a girl from Ben's unit—the bastards had built in a dietary deficiency to keep the kids dependent on a supplement they provided, like in Jurassic Park, but some of them developed seizures even with the supplements. These children were expected to be perfect, and any who were 'flawed' got locked up or killed," I said.

"Anyway, Ben's and Max's unit got out of their barracks and released the three of them, and then they all made a run for it. Lydecker shot one of the girls, but about twenty kids made it out of the building, though we don't know how many escaped from the property. As much as we wanted to help more of them, we had to get the hell out with Alec before the military goons found us. After that, there was no question about keeping the boy."

"Of course not! So where are you now?"

"We're back home," I replied. "We didn't go to Sioux Falls because if Manticore suspected we took Alec, they'd come to your place first. Whereas we don't think they're aware of our new identities here. They probably don't know we're involved, but it's better to play it safe for a while."

"Alright then. I'll call Jody and see how soon she can get offa work. We'll make sure we ain't followed on our way to your place. Is there anything you want us to bring?"

"More materials for scrying and locator spells would be great, Bobby. We need to find the other escaped children, but Dean and I don't have the time right now to pick up the components. Our first priority is getting Alec what he needs. These poor kids never had anything, man—real food, regular clothes, toys, none of it. The douchebags didn't even give them names, just alphanumeric designations. Ben's unit picked names for themselves, and Max gave Alec his."

"These Manticore guys sound like real sonsofbitches. But don't worry, Sam—we'll make sure these kids are taken care of," Bobby said reassuringly. "Expect us in the next day or two."

After he hung up, I went into our bedroom. Dean was in bed, so I quietly went into the bathroom to wash and undress. I noticed as I hung up my clothes in the closet that our bags were unpacked and put away. I then equally silently returned to the bedroom.

Nevertheless, my husband rolled over to watch me as I got into bed. You talk to Bobby?

I put an arm around him. Yeah, I filled him in on what's going on. He and Jody are coming here to meet Alec.

That's awesome. I want Alec to have all the things we missed out on as kids, Sammy, and that includes as much family as possible. Even if it ain't the traditional kind, he replied fiercely as he settled against my shoulder.

No arguments here! Although . . . this brings up an issue we haven't discussed yet. Are we . . . are we going to stop hunting now?

He sighed. I dunno. It's what I said a year ago when we talked 'bout kids, but neither of us expected to have one so soon or so sudden. Things are already different than when we were growing up. We got a home and jobs and roots here, and we ain't hunting as much as before.

And Alec isn't exactly a normal kid either, I added. I suspect he's better trained than we were at even several years older, at least when it comes to combat skills. He's going to need more than playing catch and soccer to keep him challenged physically. A certain amount of hunter training might be good for him.

Maybe, but he ain't actually hunting! He's gonna learn that he's a kid, not a killing machine, Dean declared. But as far as the two of us, I guess we'll play it by ear for now. We'll hafta be even more selective 'bout what cases we take versus what we pass on to someone else.

He then wound a hand through my hair and kissed me. Have I told you lately how much I love you, darling? I mean, I know you ain't so into kids, or at least not 'bout having one so soon. But you were immediately onboard with adding Alec to the family. I didn't hafta say a thing.

I pulled him closer and kissed him back. It wasn't even a question, Dee. No matter how he came to be, he's your kid, and that makes him mine too. This might be sudden, but we'll make it work like we always do.