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Chapter 3: The Kidz are AiirightDean walked into the diner just as Sam was hanging up the phone with someone and slapped his laptop shut. "So what was that about?" Dean asked motioning towards the computer and phone. "Nothing," Sam said, "just looking up stuff for a possible case." Dean knew Sam was lying but decided against calling him out on it.
"Well forget about that 'cause I've just found the perfect case for us." When Sam peaked up with interest Dean continued, "it's in Cicero, Indiana some guy gets attacked by his saw, fell right on it. Sounds like our kind of thing right?" Sam raised an eyebrow, "or he could've just fallen on his power saw Dean. Not every death is paranormal related." Dean groaned in frustration, "yeah but it says in the report that the saw was turned off. Doesn't that seem a little suspicious to you?" "Yeah I guess," Sam hedged. Dean scoffed, "you guess, come on man."
Sam shook his head, "it's just…Indiana man, seriously. Kinda out of the way, don't you think? What's so important that you feel the need to go all the way over there…now? Can't some other hunter handle it?" Dean paused, considering, and then finally admitted. "OK you're right, the reason why I want to go to Cicero has jack to do with the power saw. I was hoping to hook up with a girl named Lisa well we're there." Sam made a noise of exasperation, "so let me get this straight. You want to drive all the way to Cicero just to hook up with a random chick?" Dean made a noise of indignation, "She was a yoga teacher. It was the bendiest weekend of my life. Come on, have a heart, huh? It's my dying wish!" "Yeah well how many dying wishes are you gonna get?" "As many as I can squeeze out. Come on…smile Sam. God knows, I'm gonna be smiling after 24 hours with Gumby Girl. Gumby Girl…does that make me Pokey?"
So after much coaxing Dean was able to convince Sam to let them go check out Cicero. And after dropping Sam off at the Cicero Pines motel Dean drove over to the most cookie-cutter suburbia he'd ever seen. It was oddly disturbing and reminded Dean of those creepy horror flicks were the nicey nice neighborhood was hiding untold horrors but quickly shook it off. This was going to be awesome, he'd see Lisa again, have one rockin' night together, and just chill. That Manticore scare must have screwed with his head 'cause he was seeing danger everywhere.
After the Manticore scare Dean had been driving them none stop across the country. He didn't stop for anything but food and gas. He didn't let up even when Sam asked him to and he didn't explain. He kept this up for a few weeks trying to lose Manticore's trail and imagining Lydecker waiting at every pit stop. Then he saw the death in the paper and thought of Lisa. He missed her and wanted to see her again. That's when Dean decided it; he only had a year left on this Godforsaken planet. And he'd be damned, no pun intended, if he spent it running away from ghosts from the past and transgenics. That's what had him sitting in front of Lisa's house, getting out of the car, and walking up to her front door.
He knocked on the door and waited patiently for an answer. "Hello, you must be here for-oh!" A tall, black haired woman said when she opened the door. "Dean! I wasn't expecting you…" Dean smiled wearily, "Hey Lisa I was just in the neighborhood and I'd figure on stopping by and saying hello. But if you're busy I'll come back later…" "No!" Lisa said quickly, "I just didn't expect you, like I said. Come in, come in we're just celebrating my son's eighth birthday." Dean froze at the threshold, nearly chocking on his surprise. "Son?" He inquired as innocently as possible.
"Mm hmm," Lisa said, "come on, everyone's in back." And thus Dean followed Lisa to a backyard full of little kids excitement. "So what's your son's name?" Dean asked, "Ben" was Lisa's reply. Dean did a double take. "Ben! Did you just say your son's name is Ben?" Lisa gave Dean a strange look, "yes why? What's wrong with his name?" Dean shook his head, "nothing, nothing. Ben's a good name, it's a great name!" He nodded his head with conviction. "Ooookkkaaayy" Lisa drawled, giving Dean a weirded out look, "I'm going to go check in on a friend now," and walked away.
At first Dean hung back in the background, taking note of the racecar cake and other details. Then he flinched when he finally saw Ben. The kid looked so much like him; he was practically the spiting image of Dean. Dean paid a great deal of attention to the way he ate his sandwich and the excitement he got when seeing his new AC/DC CD. Shit, I'm I losing it? Dean wondered. 'Cause either someone made a miniature version of me or…. Dean cut his thoughts abruptly before he let his mind wonder to the impossible.
Finally plagued by his own intrigue he went over to talk to Ben. Dean leaned back against the tree next to Ben and tried to appear cool and collected, instead of freaking out like he was doing mentally. "So, it's your birthday." Dean started off, figuring it was a harmless enough topic. Ben shrugged, "guilty." Dean continued, "It's a cool party." Ben looked up at him with little kid excitement gleaming in his eyes. "Dude," Ben exclaimed, "it's so freakin' sweet. And this moon bounce-epic!" Dean smirked, pleased with Ben's response. "Yeah, it's pretty awesome." He admitted. "You know who else thinks they're awesome?" Ben continued, "Chicks. It's like Hot Chick City out there."
Ben runs off to play with all the kids calling out for him to join in their fun and games. Dean watched him flirt with the "chicks" and joke around with the boys and for a nostalgic moment he couldn't help but think about how much Ben reminded him of himself. Dean straightened up as the idea that had been forming in his mind took root, he pressed his lips together, couldn't be…could it? Dean quick did some calculations in his head and went to go talk to Lisa, wondering if he should dare to hope.
Dean wondered up to Lisa just as a woman was walking away from her. When they brushed past each other Dean tried to give her a friendly smile but she just stared past him with a worried glaze in her eyes. Dean blinked in shock, shook off the odd feeling she gave him, and turned to address Lisa. He wanted to ask her about Ben and his potential parentage, but he didn't feel comfortable coming out and directly asking, so he concocted a way to ask her without actually asking.
"So he's eight huh?" Lisa nodded, "yep, just turned it today." Dean nodded, "they grow up so fast don't they?" Lisa laughed, "not too fast I hope." He paused before continuing, "It was a little over eight years ago that we met right? A little over eight years since you and me…" Lisa turned to gawk at Dean and asked, "You're not trying to ask me if he's yours?" Dean responded quick, trying to play it off cool. "No, nah, of course not." Dean scoffed, then added timorously, "He's not is he?" Lisa turned away saying, "What? No. 'Course not."
They stood there in mutual silence for a few minutes watching an odd interaction between the woman who'd been talking with Lisa and presumably her daughter. "Poor Katie" Lisa said thoughtfully. "She just lost her dad in a saw accident. Poor thing must be devastated." Dean nodded, "yeah I read about that in the paper. It's just dreadful how accidents like that happen." Lisa turned to him, "yeah but it's not just him. There have been four other deaths that haven't even made the paper. All by accidents but they have the oddest circumstances I just can't make sense of it." Dean pressed his lips together and said, "I'll look into it, I might be able to figure this out for you." And when she asked him to elaborate he told her not to worry about it and that he had to go.
When he got into the Impala he called Sam. "Dude there is a case here," he told him without preamble. "There have been four other accidents that haven't made the paper, all mysterious circumstances. Lisa's really worried about it, I think we should check it out." Sam's response surprised him, "yeah I know" he said, "I've been looking into it." Dean laughed, "of course you have. It's good to see you're on the ball with this one Sam, especially since you didn't think there was a case here in the first place." Sam sighed through his noise "well I was wrong alright? Look I've been doing some research and I think I know what we're dealing with. Come back to the motel and I'll show you what I've got." Dean agreed and hung up, then he put the car in drive, and made his way over to the motel.
Along the way Dean caught sight of Ben sitting in a park looking all sad and dejected. Concerned Dean got out of the car to see what was wrong. "Hey Ben" Dean called when he was within hearing distance. Ben looked up and for a second looked happy to see him, but than seemed to remember whatever he was sad about and drooped his head. "What's wrong?" Dean inquired, trying not to sound like he was prying. "Oh it's nothing" Ben replied, all forlorn, "just some stupid bully took my video game and won't give it back." Dean pursed his lips in concern and anger, (anger at the bully, not Ben.) "You want me to go over…?"
Ben looked up in alarm, "No!" he cried, "Don't go over there! Only bitches send a grown-up."
"You're not wrong."
"And I'm not a bitch."
Dean nods in agreement and knelt down in front of Ben. "OK, here's what you're going to do. This will get your video game back and keep that bully off your back." Ben looked up in interest, "how am I going to do that?" he asked doubtfully. Dean smiled knowingly, "you're going to go over there and you're going to kick that asshole where the sun don't shine. Think you can do that Ben?"
Ben grinned as the idea took root in his mind. "Yeah, I think I can do that." Ben got up pleasantly and walked over to where the bully was standing there bragging to his friends about the game he'd stolen. Ben reached up and tapped the bigger kid on the shoulder. "What the…oh it's you" the kid said in disdain when he'd gotten an eye full of Ben. "Why don't you get out of here, freak. I'm not going to give you your…OW!" The kid cried, crumbling to the ground when Ben kicked him in the family jewels. He bent down, retrieved the game and turned to face the bully's friends. "You want a piece of this?" He inquired; the boys shook their heads and ran away, the bully limping after them.
Lisa came out shortly after that wondering what all the commotion was about. When she saw the limping kids and Ben standing there with his game she cried. "What just happened? Ben what did you do?" Ben stammered a reply but Dean quickly swooped into the rescue. "It's my fault Lisa" she turned to stare at Dean, "those kids had stolen Ben's video game and I suggested kicking them to get the game back and he did, get it back I mean." Lisa opened her mouth to make a retort when Ben through his arms around Dean, "thanks Dean. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't shown up." Dean stared at him abashed and bewildered, it's not to often that he heard a thank you. He patted Ben on the head mumbled a "you're welcome" and watched them head back inside the house. Just when Dean was starting to feel the warm-and-fuzzies something caught the corner of his eye. He turned to watch two creepy kids staring him down, giving him the chills.
"Whattcha got?" Dean asked when he walked into the motel room. Sam looked up from his computer, and motioned Dean to have a seat. "I think we're dealing with a Changeling." Dean raised an eyebrow, "a what?" "A changeling" Sam repeated. "From what I can gather their switched out with the real children, kill the father's and move right into the family. That's when they start feeding on the moms. I visited one of the wives of the accident victims and found a mark on the back of her neck." "A bite mark?" Dean wants to know. "Maybe" Sam said, "Probably, I also found a red spot outside the window, I think its blood. Also the little girl was giving me this really creepy glare, you know, the typical 'go away' glare that says we're mooching on some freaks hunting activities."
Dean shook his head, dread creeping into his bones. "No, we're the hunters…they're just poachers. So any kid is a target of this?" When Sam confirmed his suspicions he rose to his feet insisting, "we need to go check on Ben. He could be in danger." Sam agreed so Dean tore through the distance between the motel and Lisa's house, going at speeds so high Sam was white-knuckle clutching the seats with that "we're going to die" look on his face. Dean sped up.
Dean was out of the car before it even hit a full stop, leaving Sam to throw the breaks. He ran the way up to Lisa's door, having to remember to move at a human speed, even in his panic he was conscious of the fact that he couldn't let Sam see him moving so fast he was a blur. He knocked rapidly on the door hoping desperately that they weren't out. Finally Lisa opened the door and sighed in exasperation when she saw Dean. "Dean look I don't mean to be rude but…" Dean shook his head, "don't worry Lisa I'll be out in a moment, I just want to make sure you and Ben are OK." That peaked her interest "why, why wouldn't we be OK?"
Before Dean could respond Ben's voice called, "Mommy who is it? What's going on?" Dean almost sighed in relief when he heard Ben's voice. But his relief was short lived when he saw "Ben". The kid had a glassy eyed look, which quickly turned into a glare when he saw Dean. "Ben" walked forward and clung to Lisa's skirts murmuring. "Mommy who is this, why is he here?" Dean sucked in a breath of horror and opened his mouth but Lisa beat him to it. "It's just Dean sweetheart, it's OK." The thing shaped like Ben hid himself mostly behind Lisa's robes and said in a soft, subdued tone of voice. "Make him go away Mommy." Dean cringed and started to speak again but once again was interrupted. "It's alright Ben, Dean was just leaving weren't you Dean?" Lisa added with a warning tone in her voice.
Dean wanted to say "hell no I'm not leaving you with that thing." But he knew there was no way to make Lisa understand. So he just nodded and walked off the front step. He walked a little distance away from the house and when the door closed he turned around to investigate the house. He spotted the same red spot that Sam had underneath the windowsill but upon further investigation found that it was not blood, but red sand. When he showed this to Sam he added, "Didn't we see a house somewhere that had a lot of red sand in front of it?" Sam raised an eyebrow, "you think the kids are there?" Dean shrugged, "it's as good as any guess. What are those Changelings weakness?" Sam smiled, "fire" Dean laughed, "Great I'm in the mood to torch some suckers, let's go."
After making a makeshift flamethrower they went over to the vacant house that had a pile of red sand in the front. "Alright" Dean said, "I'll go down in the basement and free all the kids you stay up and take care of my back." Sam nodded in agreement and they both went their separate ways, Dean to go save Ben and the others, Sam to take care of security. So Dean tapped into his super Manticore hearing and headed down the stairs into the creepy basement. Immediately he could hear the sounds of scared children and a slight metal scraping, what was that?
Ignoring his overwhelming rage that was blooming in his chest Dean continued his way down the stairs until he finally came into the basement. And the sight that met his eyes filled him with indescribable fury. Down in that dang prison was Ben and all the other children and…one adult locked up in cages. "Dean!" Ben shouted when he caught sight of him. Dean put his finger to his lips and made his way over to Ben's cage. "It's OK Ben" Dean whispered, "I'm going to get all of you out of here, but you've got to trust me. Can you do that Ben?" When Ben nodded his consent Dean sighed in relief. "OK I'm going to break down the cage so I suggest you lean back." Ben did and Dean broke the lock and swung the door open. "Now come on Ben I've got you."
Just then he could hear the scuffles of a fight upstairs but refused to pay much attention to it. Sam could handle himself just fine and he needed to get these guys out of here. Both Ben and Dean throw the locks on all the other cages and he led them out an open widow. "Now don't be scared," he told them. "It's not a far drop, you can do this. Just take my hand." So one by one Dean pushed the children and one adult out of the window and into safety.
Just when the last kid was safe Sam came down the steps informing him that there was a Mother Changeling. Dean groaned in frustration just as the bitch attacked. The three of them wrestled around for a bit when finally Dean used his Manticore reflexes to pin the Changeling to the floor so Sam can torch the bitch.
When the Impala pulled into Lisa's driveway Ben leaped out of the car before it had finished stopping. He ran for all he was worth into his worried mother's waiting arms. Dean went inside and explained to her about the Changelings and told her that's why he never mentioned his job before. "I hunt all this" Dean explained, "Monsters, spirits, things you wouldn't imagine are real. I didn't want you to get involved, I'm so sorry Lisa." She smiled sadly and said, "It's not your fault Dean. You didn't make those horrible things, and I'm just glad you saved my Ben."
When Dean asked one more time, this time directly if he was the father she replied, "no sorry I had a blood test done to see and it came back negative. I'm sorry Dean." Dean swallowed uncomfortably, wondering why he had dared to hope. It's not like he could pick up a father rule in his life even if was, he'd probably make a terrible parent. Can transgenics even have children? It would just be his luck if Manticore made him sterile. Ha, just another thing those animals took away from him: his friends, his childhood, his brother and now his ability to reproduce. Dean would not put it past those bastards.
Dean looked back at Lisa and said, "I would be honored to have been Ben's father…honored. He's a great kid and he was raised by a wonderful loving mother, I'd be honored to be a part of that." Just as he started to turn away Lisa called him back and Dean turned around just in time for Lisa to give him a kiss. He gasped, and than moaned in equal parts longing and despair over what he couldn't have. He loved Lisa, he truly did, but he also knew he had to stay away from her in order to protect her. Trouble always followed where Dean went and he wouldn't put Lisa and Ben through that if he could help it. When he made a move to leave Lisa called out to him, inviting him to stay. Dean shook his head, "no…sorry Lisa I'd love to, really you have know idea how much. But this life…it's not for me." Then with a regretful sigh, he reluctantly walked out the door.