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The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

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A Wandering Boy

Chapter 4

Welcome to Sioux Falls

Sam put down his book and laughed at Dean's fluttering eyelashes. "An allowance! You want me to give you an allowance?"

"Bobby's going to get papers that say I have to call you Daddy." Dean said seriously. "I think I'm owed something for the embarrassment. Come on. A couple of bucks a week won't hurt you."

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm not going to bribe you to call me Daddy. I'm not even sure I want you to call me Daddy. I might pay you for chores. Things like packing salt cartridges or washing the Impala."

Bobby appeared in the kitchen doorway. "Or helping me in the yard or cleaning up the kitchen after meals."

"Whoa," Dean threw his hands up. "Can we just go back to me getting an allowance for pain and suffering?"

Sam looked up at the clock above Bobby's desk. "It's late. It's almost nine. You've had your shower. Just go to bed. I left you some PJs in the guest room. Bobby and I have to talk about things."

Dean did feel tired but he also wanted to know what these men were going to discuss. If he had to stay here, lost and confused and feeling vaguely like he was not even real, he wanted to know everything. Even though he was yawning, he objected. "I want to know what's going on. It's my life you people are playing with after all."

San lifted Dean on to his lap.

"Oh, no,". Dean objected and tried to wiggle lose. "I'm not sitting in your lap, Put me back down."

"Look kid," Sam said quietly firmly holding the boy's arms. "You're here now. That Angel was pretty definite. I'm supposed to protect you, hide you, and watch over you. Bobby and I have to make plans for your own good. If you promise to sit here and not cause trouble, we'll wait for you to put on your PJs and come back."

Dean nodded and Sam put him back on the floor. The little boy headed for Bobby's guest room and found the promised PJs lying on the bed. He stripped. The PJs were old and soft. They felt nice against his skin. He yawned again and thought he'd just put his head down on the comfy looking pillow for just a minute. He lay down and closed his eyes.

Sometime later the door clicked open and Sam stuck his head in the room. Dean was sprawled on the bed, out cold and wheezing softly. The young Hunter pulled up the afghan from the foot of the bed and covered the boy. He checked that the window was firmly locked, turned out the light, and left the room as quietly as he had entered.

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Bobby sat in his beat up old Lazy-Boy with a beer in his hand and the T.V. on low. "Where's the kid?" he asked when Sam reappeared in the room

Bobby passed a beer along and Sam sat down on the ancient couch with the cold bottle pressed against the side of his head. "Sound asleep. It looks like he fell into the bed."

Bobby sipped at his beer. "That happens at that age. I'm a little surprised through. I would have thought the poor kid had too much on his mind to go down fast like that."

The silence crawled around the room. "What are you going to do about him, Sam?" Bobby finally asked.

"I'm not completely sure right now." Sam answered. "I know intellectually I should simply hand him off to the authorities and let them deal but then I remember the Angel's, if it really was an Angel, warning. He was given to me to protect him from Demons and Angels. Ignoring the part about the Angels, how could I let a little kid like that end up a Demon's toy? "

"I hear you, boy. " Bobby said quietly, quickly checking to make sure that no kid was eavesdropping. "If they didn't kill him outright could you imagine what a possession could do to a child that young; let alone a full out trip to hell? We can't let that happen."

"I know, Bobby." Sam was still rolling the cold bottle on the side of his head. One of Sam's famous headaches was building up. He closed his eyes against the soft light in the room. "I think I'm going to have to keep him. "

There was a noise in the hall and both men tensed up but it was Carson, not Dean, who appeared.

"Hi, guys," he said. "I hope I'm not interrupting but I can't sleep. I keep thinking about seeing an Angel today. Between the Manitous and the Angel my world has become even stranger than before. My Dad would completely freak. Shit, he would be calling all of us liars."

"Take it easy, kid." Bobby counseled. "I'm out of beers here but why don't you go get three out of the fridge? I'm pretty sure Sam and I will need refills soon."

Carson headed for the kitchen and Bobby looked back at Sam. "Another headache, Sam? Maybe you should have those things checked out. Could be you've bounced your head off one too many tombstones. It seems to me like they've been getting worse lately."

"You may be right." Sam responded." I think they might be migraines and hopefully not permanent brain damage. I guess I should have it checked out. I'm beginning to see lights and shadows and sometimes even things like dreams in color when a headache gets really bad. At that point I'll generally pass out and when I wake up it's gone. "

"Damn kid, that's bad." Bobby said. "I didn't know you were passing out from them. Tomorrow I'll call Doc Addison's office. He can see you and the Pediatrician can see Dean and get his shots done. That contagious stuff is nothing to mess with. If we're going to go all the way and put him in school I don't want to fake the immunization card. He's likely to drag something home from school that'll kill us old guys."

Sam snickered. "What's the matter, Bobby? Afraid of the measles?"

Sam finally took a sip of his beer. "I got to say it sounds like you are expecting us to stay here with you. I don't want to put you out like that. We'll find a place of our own."

"Hell, boy," Bobby barked out. "I want you right here under my thumb. I got jobs for you to do. What're you going to do with the kid when you're on a hunt? Take him with you? "

"That's what my Dad did," Sam responded.

"And we all know how well that turned out, " Bobby grumbled. "Towards the end you couldn't even talk to the man. Where were you when John disappeared? You didn't even know he was gone for almost a month. Hell of a thing." Bobby swallowed down the rest of his bottle just as Carson appeared with three fresh ones from the kitchen.

"You know that I think about that a lot, Bobby." Sam said.

"It wasn't your fault Sam and don't put it on your shoulders. The man was a complete jackass." Bobby opened his new bottle. "He should never have gone on that hunt without backup. There's plenty of Hunters around he could have teamed up with. I could have found him someone even i f he had pissed off half the county at one time or another. That wolf should have never taken him down. Stupid bastard always thought he could never lose."

Sam stood up. "I got to go take some aspirin," he said. "I'll be right back."

Bobby turned his attention to Carson. "Did he have problems with the headaches during the hunt too?"

"No, not really," Carson answered. "He only had a couple and they seemed pretty mild.

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Sam stood in Bobby's bathroom, staring into the mirror. His headache was headed for a high and lights were flashing in his eyes. The surface of the mirror seemed to ripple and he knew this was going to be a bad one. It felt like a band was tightening around his head. Then the mirror cleared. He saw the kid, Dean, with the Angel standing behind him, wings out stretched in protection and a silver sword in the Angel's hand. It looked like they were walking on a volcano, the ground glowed red in flashes. The Angel was looking around as if expecting an attack and he was pushing Dean forward.

The pain peaked and Sam finally went down. He slid down the wall and settled on the cool tile floor. The vision of Dean and the Angel vanished and the pain in his head also decreased. In just a couple of minutes his head stopped throbbing and he was able to pull himself up from the floor. These visions were coming more and more often. Sometimes they were about things that had happened in the past. Sometimes they were about things that didn't happen until a day or two later. Some of them he had seen but, as far as he knew, the event had never happened or hadn't happened yet.

He looked back in the mirror, preparing to open the cabinet and find Bobby's aspirin. He was shocked to see blood trickling out of his nose.

Sam found and took a couple of aspirins and cleaned up his face. Now he was ready to go talk to Bobby again.

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Back in the living room Sam found Bobby and Carson deep in discussion about Ghost ships. Coming from the Great Lakes area Carson knew that Hunters had particular problems with ghost ships. There was really very little that could be done about them. Only if the ship's haunts became dangerous and manifested on shore could a Hunter try to deal with the problem

No one was going to go out in some rowboat and try to chase down a ship; no one with any sense. It happened and Bobby considered Hunters who chased phantom ships as complete idiots. When they went down with their delusions it was a kind of winnowing of the herd. Natural selection in action, Bobby called it.

Carson laughed and promised to keep his feet dry.

"Hey, Sam," Bobby acknowledged the man's return. "Feel any better?"

"Actually, a lot better, Bobby," Sam replied. "The headache peaked and stated to fade but I took the aspirin anyway. I don't want that coming back tonight."

"Well, good." Bobby went on. "We were talking about you and Dean moving in here with me."

"We were?" Sam was surprised. "I didn't know it was settled."

"Are you trying to tell me that you don't want to, Sam?" Bobby asked.

"No, no, not at all, Bobby," Sam replied. "It would be really great not only for me but also to provide some stability for Dean. It's just that I don't want to lean on your good nature or take advantage of you."

"Ha," Bobby exclaimed. "I don't have any good nature to lean on and you'll have to get up a lot earlier in the mornings to take advantage of me. I've been around a lot longer than you, boy. You may be young and fast but I'm old and sneaky and that'll beat you every time. If I don't want you here I'll let you know."

"That's really good of you Bobby." Sam replied. "If you're willing to put up with us I'm willing to try and make it work. If I'm taking on this kid I want to see to it that he has a better life than me; more stability, more opportunities and an option to stay away from the life. Things I never had. It means a lot to me."

Bobby drank a few more inches of his new beer. "Well, I'm certainly ready to have people in my house. I'm tired of talking to the dog. The damn animal never listens, anyway. The kid is fresh meat. He's never heard any of my stories."

"Are you sure you want to insulate him from the life?" Bobby went on. "Around us he's going to need protection. He needs to learn some basic skills. You should take care of that."

"I plan to take him out on the more mundane hunts; nothing seriously dangerous. Maybe some salt n' burns, the Spirit walks, purification rituals; you know the stuff," Sam replied.

"Yeah," Bobby nodded. "I'd also be pretty pleased to have you learn about my library. There's a lot of stuff there that needs passed along and I think you might be a good choice. If you can read law books you can read this stuff. It sounds like a pretty good idea to me."

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Early the next morning Sam woke Dean at almost eight AM by grabbing a bare foot and shaking.

Dean immediately rolled over and kicked out, almost catching Sam in the face.

"Nice reaction time, kid," Sam laughed. "Come on, get up. We have a big day ahead of us. We're going to turn you into a real boy today so haul your butt out of the bed and get dressed. Breakfast is on the table in fifteen minutes so if you want food, get dressed and get downstairs." With that Sam left the room.

Dean yawned and ran his hands through his hair. He considered going back to sleep just to mess with Sam but the smell of fresh coffee was in the air along with the added aroma of frying bacon. Even the joy of messing with Sam was outweighed by a craving for breakfast. Food could be his number one hobby. he thought.

Peeling himself out of the bed he got dressed and headed down stairs. He found the three men sitting around a table loaded with scrambled eggs, pancakes and bacon. Dean clambered up on a vacant chair and Sam passed him a loaded plate.

"You need to thank Bobby for feeding you." Sam told him. "You're on clean up duty this morning so I hope you're not allergic to dish soap."

Dean stopped with a fork full of eggs half way to his face and eyeballed Sam. "Gee, Daddy," he snarked. "You already leased me out as a slave? Should I kiss your ass for the favor?"

Bobby snorted in his coffee. "Yeah, Sam, you got a live one here. This should be fun to watch."

Sam snapped the newspaper he was reading up in his face and ignored the kid. "He'll learn, Bobby. Don't worry. What's on the agenda for the day?"

"Well, first we should go over to Doc Addison's office. We have appointments for someone to look at your head and for the Pediatrician to give smart mouth here his shots."

"What?" Dean squawked. "No baby doctor is getting near me with a needle."

Without even looking at him Sam said "Shut up Dean. What's after that, Bobby?"

"After that we pick up the new paperwork from Frank and head for the elementary school to get him registered for the fifth grade. " Bobby went on as if Dean's hadn't said anything at all.

"No way," Dean objected. "I'm not going to school."

Again Sam responded with "Shut up Dean."

Sam turned the page on his newspaper. "I suppose I'll have to get him something to wear to school. That box in the closet is only going to go so far."

"So we'll end the day at Walmart or Target." Bobby said and took another sip of his coffee.

"Oh, hell," Dean scoffed, climbed down from his chair and headed for the coffee pot.

"Lighten up on the coffee, kid," Sam said without looking away from the obituaries. "Make sure you go pee before we leave. I'm not escorting you to every bathroom in Sioux Falls."

"Thanks for the tip, Dad." Dean rolled his eyes.

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Sam sat in the darkened room while Dr. Addison's associate flashed a light in his eyes. He had his blood pressure measured; he had donated blood to the office vampire and peed in a cup. Now this Dr. Chang, who Sam thought was really young to be a full-fledged doctor, was checking the state of his eyeballs.

Sam had already had puffs of air shot in his eye, he had stared at a light green blinking light until his eyes watered and had read the eye chart all the way down to the last line. He couldn't imagine what else they would want to do to him.

Dr. Chang clicked off his light and sat down. "Do you associate the headaches with any kind of trigger, Mr. Winchester? Can you tell when one is coming?"

"I never know when one is going to show up. They come at any time of the day or night. I can be exercising or sitting down. I've woke up with them. I've had one while I was eating dinner. I can't really associate them with anything." Sam answered.

"I can't find anything wrong with a cursory examination." Dr. Chang mused. "We can wait for the tests to come back but since you're here I'd really like to do an X-Ray. You say you have had a number of blows to the head recently?"

Sam relaxed n the examination chair. "A few but I never had any problems afterward."

"Well, you're having problems now." Dr. Chang pointed out. "I would recommend an MRI to check for brain damage but you talk to your Uncle about what his insurance will cover. MRI's can be expensive."

Dr. Chang fussed with his equipment. "You just stay here and I'll send in the nurse to take you to X-Ray. We might as well find out how many times you've cracked your skull."

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Down the hall Dean was in the hands of his own doctor. Bobby had escorted the boy into the examination room to authorize treatment and answer the Doctor's potential questions.

Dr. Marshall, a nice looking middle aged woman, had a series of questions.

"So all records were lost in a fire?" she was looking at the file that the nurse had opened in the computer earlier.

"That's right," Bobby said. "He lost his family and all the records. When CPS brought him to his Daddy they said that not even the school had his records, which I thought was odd. I'd rather be safe than sorry so that's why we're here. Load him up, Doc.. We need the inoculations record to get him registered for school."

Dean glared at Bobby. Earlier Dr. Marshall's nurse had brought in a tray and now Dr. Marshall whipped off the paper covering displaying an intimidating number of needles and vials.

"Alright, Dean." the nice lady said. "Let's get started. First, drink this." She handed him a paper dup of pinkish liquid.

For the next half hour Dean drank things that tasted like crap, had to lie on his stomach while the Doctor pulled down his pants and stuck needles in his butt and generally felt like a lab experiment. Every time he objected Bobby echoed Sam and told him to shut up.

Finally the doctor was done. "Interesting birth mark," she said while entering it in her computer record. "Really looks like a map of Texas, doesn't it?"

Dean pulled his clothes together and slid off the table, thoroughly flustered.

Bobby and the doctor went through the aftercare instructions and the list of reactions to watch out for. Bobby took it all very seriously and Dean was just pissed. Finally they were released to reception to wait for Sam. Dean found out not to sit on hard plastic chairs and spent his time pacing.

When Sam finally appeared they all hiked down to the Impala and took off to Bobby's friend Frank's place to pick up some expensive but official looking paper. They then headed out to Discovery Elementary School, the school closest to Bobby's Salvage Yard,

They pulled into the parking lot of a blocky looking red brick building and hunted for the office. Inside were the expected wide corridors, lined with lockers. There was a low hum of voices. It looked like a slightly cleaner than expected school. Graffiti was evidently not allowed.

Their little group moved down the echoing hallways and found the office. Inside was a hive of activity. Children sat on chairs lined up against a wall evidently waiting for their doom. Personnel rushed about answering phones, making copies and clustering in low voiced groups. Sam, Dean and Bobby waited to be noticed. The kids lined up waiting for their summons eyed Dean like he was a piece of fresh meat.

Dean poked an elbow into Sam's thigh and pointed at a map on the wall. "Look," he grinned. "This place is in Minnehaha County. It's already a joke."

Sam looked down. "Not now, Dean. You can laugh later; maybe in class."

One of the school clerks finally gave them a break and when she found out that they wanted to register a new student, led them to a small conference room. Whipping out a folder with a ton of forms she passed around papers for everyone to fill out. After Bobby told the same long sad story he had told the doctor about a fire and lost records and deaths in the family she unbent enough to give up on a records request, accepting the story of Dean's emotional trauma and selective loss of memory, like the name of his last school.

Dean got with the program and every time Mrs. Varner got too close to asking a question he couldn't answer he would follow Bobby's lead and burst into tears and whimper about his mother burning.

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Registration complete and a schedule clutched in Sam's hand they finally made it back to the Impala.

Sam turned and stared at Dean in the back seat. "Quite the little con man, aren't you?

Dean gave his 'Daddy' a completely false grin. "Hey, it's what you wanted, right Jolly Green?"