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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 20
Growing Up Winchester
From Chapter 19
The Angel turned back. "I am not alone, however. The other one who suffered that loss is you. Because I took your brother away you grew up in solitude. The evil that your brother kept away from you in the other timeline crushed you here. Alone, unprotected, you still survived. I see in you those experiences that made Dean into The Righteous Man. How could I not want to be near all that is left of him?"
Sam sat silently and considered what the Angel had said. Finally he opened his door and got out. Sam moved to the front of the Impala and waited for Castiel to follow.
Once inside and seated Sam finally spoke, "I believe I understand now and I hope that I can give you back even a small portion of what you have sacrificed. Your world, your friends, brothers and lover all destroyed in a single action. And if angels really never die you faced the likelihood that this pain will go on forever, like a wound that never heals. Even then you still made the sacrifice."
"From now on I will give you such comfort as I am able. Our small family hardly replaces the one you have lost but it is all I can offer you."
The two friends sat quietly and looked at the future.
Chapter 20
"What exactly is this, Sam?" Castiel asked turning a laminated Identity card over in his hands and staring at his picture encased under the plastic.
The two men were standing in front of a South Dakota Department of Motor Vehicles Building in Sioux Falls.
"It's called a Learner's Permit, Cas." Sam answered with a little smile.
Castiel furled his brow and cocked his head to the side. "A Permit to learn what, Sam? And why did you have to pay these people for it?" The Angel looked back up at the façade of the D.M.V. building. "Why is the name Castiel Winchester printed on this card? Angels have only one name."
Sam laughed and put a hand on Castiel's arm. "It's a permit to learn how to drive a car. The first and last name thing is needed for paperwork. Everybody has at least two names unless you are the artist formerly known as Prince. In that case you get a symbol although I bet he had to come up with a birth certificate for his license."
"But I have a driver's license, Sam. And I know how to drive. You know this." Castiel pulled out a wallet and showed Sam his driver's license.
"Put that away, Cas." Sam said. "Not here, not now. That's the License that Bobby had made for you. I think that if the cops run that number they won't find any records although I wouldn't put it past Bobby to have covered that too. Getting a license from the State is just safer, that's all."
"They asked you for that other piece of Identity paper also," Castiel went on. "What's a Social Security number?'
"Tell you what, Cas," Sam replied. "Let's not talk about your Identity Papers here on the side walk. I don't know how they would deport you or where they would deport you to but let's just avoid talking about the subject out in public. It would be fun to watch the Immigration people trying to figure this out but it's just better to avoid them altogether."
"Very well." Cas said and tucked the new card into his wallet then put the wallet away. "Where else did you want to go today?"
"Bobby wants us to go by Auto Zone on 41st Street and pick him up some parts he ordered." Sam started back to the DMV parking lot. "Come on, you can drive."
Castiel shook his head and followed Sam to the car. "You know, there's no paperwork in Heaven. At least there wasn't the last time I was there."
Sam snorted and opened Castiel's door for him. "That's one reason they call it heaven."
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Dean's day in school had gone relatively well. He'd pulled an "A" from Mr. Martinez in English class for his essay on Robert Frost's "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" and had finished first in his sprint heats in Phys Ed. Now he was headed for the lunch room where he was to meet his friend Kerman.
Stopping by his locker he threw his books inside. Half of them promptly leaped back out again and hit the floor because he treated his locker pretty much like any other ten year old. It was a teetering tower of barely balanced books and other supplies. As he knelt on the floor to pick up the mess someone kneed him in the back and he fell forward into the locker door. He yelped "What the hell" and spun around on his heels to find Al Michaels and his pack of groupies smirking at him.
Michaels opened his mouth but before he could say anything Dean barked. "Michaels, if the next thing that comes out of your mouth starts 'My Dad says.." you can just shut it. I've heard it before."
Michaels grimaced. "I don't care. My Dad says you shouldn't be allowed in school with decent people's kids." Michaels stopped to breathe and Dean cut in.
"Look, you can't keep this up in school. You're going to get both of us suspended."
Dean stood up holding his rescued books. "You have to stop doing this Al. You're ten years old. Nest year you're going into Junior High. You and your pack are going to look like a bunch of idiots."
There was some growling from Al's pack of friends. From the corner of his eye Dean could see Kerman coming down the hall looking for him. "You need any help, Winchester?" Kerman said as he closed in.
Dean looked at Al again. "Come on Al, let's go to the lunch room. I'll buy you a coke. Let's talk about this."
"I'm not going anywhere with you, you freak." Al replied.
"You can do it Al. You aren't scared of me, are you? Come on and get the free cokes." Dean walked down the hall with Kerman, heading for the lunch room without a glance behind. Michaels would follow or not. Dean was getting bored with the entire situation.
In line Dean picked up a couple of cokes and a slice of pizza. When he turned around he saw Al Michaels and a couple of the other boys sitting at the table closest to the door. Counting heads Dean went back and bought a couple more sodas. He figured he'd hit up someone at home for tomorrow's lunch money. If he pulled this off they would owe him.
Kerman was standing behind him in line and Dean jerked his head in the direction of Al's table. "They're going to kick your ass." Kerman muttered.
Dean smiled at his friend. "Come on Kerman. I don't want to bother my Dads about this crap again. "
Kerman and Dean sat down at Al's table and Dean passed out the cokes. The other side of the table grabbed the sodas like they had won something. "Drink 'em while you got 'em" Dean smiled. ""The Healthy Lunches Program is headed our way."
At the mystified look on the other kids' faces Dean figured they didn't get to scan the newspaper at breakfast every day. Once again the Hunter's life style separated Dean from the herd.
"What do you want to talk about, freak?" Al said as he slammed down his soda.
"First of all," Dean said "Slam that soda again and it's going to be all over the walls. Secondly, why the hell do you start this crap every day? Doesn't your Dad have anything else to talk about but Winchesters?"
"Shut your mouth about my Dad." Al muttered back
"Hey you're the one who keeps bringing him up." Dean replied.
"You gonna tell the Principal or your freak family about this?" Al sneered.
"I'm trying not to. I will if I have to but I really don't want to bring them into it. If my Dads have to tell the Principal or Sheriff Jody about this crap it's going to be bad." Dan picked up his pizza slice and pruned the olives off. Dean sincerely hoped that Michaels was smart enough to figure out that bringing the Sheriff into their little standoff might not be the best thing for his Dad, Jody being Dad's boss and all.
Al Michaels sat and sipped at his soda. He was only ten years old and this was difficult for him. He worshipped his Dad but Dad's remarks were getting Al into a lot of trouble. Yes, he liked to push the elementary school kids around but the Winchester kid refused to be pushed. To the little bully this was a complex and difficult problem. Normally he would ask his Dad what to do but that door seemed to be shut.
Finally Al gave up the unequal struggle. "Fine," he grumbled. "Just stay out of my way." He slammed the now empty soda down one more time and stood up, knocking his chair over. "Let's go."
Al and his friends swaggered out of the lunch room. Kerman looked over at Dean. "You handled that pretty good. Where did you learn to do that?"
Dean huffed back. "Yeah, I broke his head and didn't even have to touch it."
Kerman shook his head. "I'd say you ninja'd his head. Somebody teach you that?"
Dean raised his soda in salute to his vanquished enemy. "I learned from an Angel."
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After solving the Al Michaels problem at lunch time Dean felt pretty good the rest of the day. He was still just a little irritated at this going to school thing that Sam insisted on. The actual going was not as bad as the part about the good grades. It was like a two part curse. Dean not only had to go to school he had to be good at it if Sam was ever going to let him go hunting with him and Castiel.
It wasn't until the girly Visual and Preforming Arts class in the afaternoon that the next problem in Dean Winchester's improbable life came into existence. Dean thanked a possible God that they weren't doing Theatre or Dance this semester. Those horrors he expected later on in his school career. This semester they were fooling around with sculpture and Dean was good with his hands.
He was learning metal work, something he had a feeling for, especially the little blow torch he got to play with. The teacher, Mr. Random, had found Dean etching Latin phrases on to little metal labels and had sent him on to bigger and better things. Dean often wondered if Mr. Random had the phrases translated. There was one pretty little tag with flowing cursive lettering which Dean knew translated as "Kiss my ass." For some reason Mr. Random liked that one best and kept it for himself. Dean would occasionally wonder if Mr. Random was a little smarter than he appeared.
Dean was pretty sure there weren't a lot of ten year olds running around school who knew Latin swear words. Bobby had taught him some to keep him working on learning the language. Dean scanned texts looking for the good parts so Bobby's technique was valid. Nothing engages the attention of a ten year old like dirty words.
Dean's latest problem was ten years old, had long frizzy red hair tied up in a bunch and pale skin. Her name as Megan Keller and she decided that Dean belonged to her. He had been dismayed to learn that girls grew faster than boys at his age so she had a couple of inches on him which she used to enforce the idea that he was some kind of a pet. She had freckles the color of her hair splashed over her nose and a mouth full of braces. Dean thought she had more grill work than the Impala and she scared the heck out of him.
Later in life she would probably turn into a raving beauty just to spite him but currently he spent the class hour with her breathing on the back of his neck and talking, talking, talking. She talked about him and his family, and how nice looking they all were. When she ran out of things to say about his family she talked about her family. Then she talked about the kids in school, one at a time and in depth. Dean felt like his ears were going to fall off.
He periodically would make a noise indicating that he was paying attention and was interested. If he waited too long between noises and he got a finger poked into his ribs. Making puppy dog eyes at Mr. Random sometimes got her sent back to her own work space but the break was never long enough. Dean thought that she came back like a rash, unwelcome and way too fast.
Dean knew that the other kids in the class considered them a couple. That was because Megan said they were; loudly and to anyone she could corral. The other girls were jealous because Dean was so pretty and they didn't have boyfriends yet. The boys like to make ignorant and childish remarks on the level of "Dean and Megan sittin' in a tree…." Dean thought of the bell that rang at the end of art class as a release from hell. Megan always wanted him to walk her to her next class and had a grip like iron.
Dean had been taught that it wasn't nice to hit girls. He wondered if the rule was still valid if she was bigger than him. Some of the time he managed to escape but Megan had a pretty good batting average and he end up walking her to her math class a lot. Slowly strolling through the halls with Megan's proprietary hand on his arm while the other kids giggled and whispered was getting to be part of his daily routine. He had decided that this was another problem he was going to deal with by himself. No way was he ever going to tell Sam or Castiel or even Bobby about his red-headed girlfriend.
Because of Megan he would have to rush to get to his Biology class on time. Dean speed walking through the halls made his friend Jerry laugh every time he saw Winchester hustling along. By the end of the day Kerman and Jerry would be ready, well supplied with ammunition to entertain them on the way to the bus.
This particular day they wouldn't have time to torture Dean on the walk since Sam and Castiel were in Sioux Falls and were picking Dean up after school. Sam had promised that Jerry, Kerman and Mike could get a ride to the bus and so all four boys were in the pickup lane waiting for their ride right after school. Dean looked down the row of idling cars and saw the Impala just as it made the turn into the driveway when the very worst thing ever happened. He saw Megan walking beside the car talking to Castiel. He groaned and Jerry and Kerman were on him like flies on a cow patty.
Megan kept pace with the car right up to where Dean was waiting and stood there while the boys piled into the back seat. Dean was last. When he moved to get in she made a swooping movement towards his face like she was going to kiss him good bye. He yelped and dived for his seat, shutting the door in her face.
Castiel turned and looked at Dean. "Dean, don't you want to say good bye to Megan?" the Angel asked. "We'll wait for you." Dean glared at his supposed Guardian Angel. Even though there was no expression on the Angel's face Dean was sure the Angel was laughing inside. When he heard a definite snort out of Sam it seemed to be confirmation.
Dean sat back and crossed his arms. "No, I don't. Just drive."