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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 30

Old and New Friends

From Chapter 29

Castiel took his time, carefully preparing his young lover. He knew that Sam's sexual history was broken at best; quick, rude couplings with strangers, meaningless releases of tension along the roadways and after hunts in a drunken groping. Sam never had experienced what the Angel was doing to him. The young man was worshipped. Castiel smiled in the dark, a fleeting thought came to him that this particular worship was a long way from praising God.

It took some time but finally Castiel got Sam to relax enough for the Angel to enter him. They rocked together carefully as the Angel took the Hunter's virginity.

Chapter 30

To Sam the next morning was a significant new beginning. To Castiel this Earthly world took on tones of Glory. The Angel looked over his young lover, ran his fingers through Sam's long hair and smiled. Sam smiled broadly in return and murmured "Good morning, Castiel."

Dean saw the day as a return to the mundane and Bobby was not looking forward at all to explaining to Pastor Gentry that the man's church was now not the only place of Worship along the communal road.

Dean awoke yawning and stretching from his raised fists to his curled toes. He pulled his comforter up to his chin and burrowed back into the warmth of his bed. He lay there fully confident that someone would be along to disturb him fully in time for school. He was lying on his side and looking out the window at the wooded hills behind Bobby's house. It was late fall and soon it would be Thanksgiving. He wondered what, if anything, Sam and Bobby would do for the holidays.

Thanksgiving lead his thinking naturally to Christmas. Beyond that was his 12th birthday on January 24th. The Holiday season touched him with a wispy feeling of sadness. He suspected that his prior holidays were most likely better off forgotten.

The sky was heavy with grey clouds and sunrise was making a watery effort to push its way along. He suspected that some kind of weather was moving into South Dakota and that the almost warm days of fall were over. Winter hovered on the horizon.

There was the sound of booted feet in the hallway and Dean fully expected someone to come along shortly and drag him out of his warm cocoon. The longer the door stayed shut the more surprised he became and the closer he pulled his comforter, building up a fortress of warmth.

There was conversation and muted laughter outside the door but not loud enough for him to make out individual words. He knew it was Sam and Castiel heading downstairs. After they clattered down the stairs there was the sound of another pair of boots approaching. Shortly, as he had expected, the door swung open and Bobby stuck his head in.

"Hit the floor, kid; times a-wasting. If you don't want to start your day running after the city bus I suggest you get your ass in gear. Sam and Castiel will take you in today if you're quick. I got stuff to do." Bobby shut the door when he saw Dean sit up and slide his feet onto the floor.

Sam and Castiel were already down stairs whipping together some breakfast for the group. Castiel was watching with interest as Sam coagulated some eggs over a flame and changed their form from liquid to solid; another item for the card catalogue in the Angel's head. He wondered if this transmutation in substance created that elusive 'taste' that Sam went on about. He then noticed that Sam was stirring into the slowly cooking mass some other substances; sodium nitrate and Piper nigrum, the ground dried fruit of a flowering vine of the family Piperaceae. Sam had called it black pepper.

Earlier Sam had asked him to obtain a package of bacon from the refrigerator and Castiel had been interested to see Sam take the slices of pork belly fat, lay them in a large skillet and apply heat. The angel understood that this process was going to change the fat slices to something called 'bacon'. Now he was thinking that cooking for humans certainly involved a lot of chemical interactions. Once again it seems to have something to do with that ever mysterious 'taste'.

Castiel's contemplation of the mysteries of gastronomy was interrupted by Bobby Singer's arrival.

"Good morning, guys." Bobby greeted them. "Sleep well?"

Sam looked up from the stove. "Rude, Bobby." was all he said.

Bobby considered what he had just carelessly said. "Yeah, I guess so, Sam. Sorry."

Sam turned to Castiel. "The food's going to be ready shortly. Would you mind popping the bread into the toaster and making us all toast? It's a very simple process. Let the toaster warm and brown the bread then you take the butter from the refrigerator and spread some on one side of each piece."

Castiel responded to his lover. "That sounds simple. Is it considered cooking'?"

Sm smiled broadly. "Hardly. It's considered making toast. Baby steps, Cas; baby steps. You'll get to the cooking part soon enough."

By the time Dean bounced down the stairs everyone was seated around the table and the food was portioned out.

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Every one took off for their assigned jobs. Bobby went to see the Pastor and settle him down. They certainly didn't want any prayers reaching Heaven about the Pagans living down the road.

Sam and Castiel took Dean to school and then headed out to the grocery store to replenish Bobby's poor pantry.

Dean checked in with the school office to tell them he was back, presented his Dad's written note and then tore off down the hall to look for either Kerman or Jerry to show off his tattoo. Yes Castiel and Sam had both asked him to keep it down but he was eleven years old and he had a tattoo. He also had friends for the first time in his life, he thought, and he wanted to share the thrill. He knew that Kerman and Jerry were going to envy him. They already envied him for living in Bobby's cool salvage yard.

As he should have known, he didn't find either boy until he ran into Kerman in gym class. While he was showing Kerman his tattoo other kids gathered around. The little knot of boys attracted the teacher, Mr. Bernstein's attention. He easily snagged one of the boys as the kid separated from the group and he found out that Dean Winchester's tattoo was creating the excitement.

The teacher approached the group and the kids scattered. Only Kerman stayed behind with his friend. "Excuse me, Kerman." Mr. Bernstein said in a kindly voice. "Could you let me talk to Dean for a minute please? Thanks."

Kerman moved off and Mr. Bernstein sat down on the bleachers. "Tell me, Dean" he said quietly. "I thought you've been out sick for the past couple of days. What's with this tattoo? Can I see it?"

Dean looked down. "I'm sorry. I was supposed to keep it to myself." Dean replied.

"Why is that? You were showing it to the other boys easily enough. Why are you supposed to keep it quiet?"

"Because it's a church thing." Dean answered. "My Dad said to keep it in the family. Outsiders don't know anything about the Open Door. I just wanted to show Kerman my tattoo."

"Oh. Well if it's a religious thing maybe someone here should know about it. What do you think? Should we tell Principal Angelus?"

Den shied at the suggestion. "Can't we just keep it between us? I mean, you weren't supposed to see it at all and I wasn't supposed to show anyone. My Dad and Uncle Castiel might get mad at me if they find out."

Mr. Bernstein knew that this was the type of situation he wasn't supposed to handle by himself. "Well, since you showed the kids maybe you wouldn't mind showing me. Then I can just take care of the Principal for you. No trouble."

Dean pulled his T-shirt neckline to the side and Mr. Bernstein got an eyeful of a pentacle in a burning circle. He felt a little uncomfortable but decided to just discuss it with Principal Angelus. After all, people's religious beliefs were not the business of the school.

Mr. Bernstein sent Dean out to join the kids practicing free throws. He found his TA, Brad Freeman and turned the class over to him. With a murmured "I'll be back in about a half hour." Bernstein took off for the Principal's office. Once in with Principal Angelus he drew Dean's tattoo as well as he could remember. It was actually a fairly simple thing once you broke it down in to its component parts.

Gabriel picked up the scrap of paper. "I've never seen anything like it before. Maybe it's some really obscure sect." He put the paper down and picked up the phone. "Mrs. Jeloke? It's Gab riel. Could you come to my office? I need your help with something."

In a few minutes a pleasant looking middle-aged woman appeared. Mr. Jeloke was the school guidance counselor and Gabriel's first go-to for the inner workings of both children's and parent's minds.

She picked up Ray Bernstein's drawing and stared at it for a while. "Well, that's a pentacle in the center so it is likely a Christian sect. I have no idea what the burning circle is supposed to represent. Did the little boy give you any other information?"

"The only other thing he said was that he was not supposed to show the tattoo to other people because they didn't know about some Open Door. He also said that his Dad and Uncle were likely to be mad at him for showing it." Ray shrugged. "Sorry, that's all there is."

Gabriel Angelus ran his fingers through his hair. "What do you think? Should we have someone look into this?"

"I'm not sure, Gabriel," Mrs. Jeloke replied. "If it is religious we could be opening a can of worms. On the other hand, it's not good to tattoo a little kid like that. It's your call, Gabriel. What do you want to do?"

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Sam was standing in the middle of the Produce Department when his headache started to sneak up on him. He almost didn't recognize what was happening. He had not had a real headache since back in August when Dean first came to him. The throbbing was mounting up and there was an initial flash of white light behind his eyelids. He knew this was going to build into a bad one. He rubbed his fingers over his closed eyes.

Castiel came over with the shopping cart. At least they were almost done. "Sam, what's wrong?" The Angel put out his hand and touched the side of Sam's head.

"I'm getting one of my headaches," Sam replied in a low voice. The noise in the store was beginning to get to him. He felt that if they made an announcement over the loudspeaker he would lose it.

"You aren't just getting a headache, Sam." Castiel said. "You are getting a vision. You need to get out of here. Go sit in the car and I'll take care of this stuff and come out as soon as possible. Can you get to the car by yourself?"

"I'm pretty sure I can, Cas. How are you going to check out with the groceries? How are you going to pay for them?"

Castiel pushed at Sam to start him on his way. "Don't' worry about it, Sam. You just get to the car. Are there dark glasses out there? You should put them on and try to relax. I'll be there as quickly as I can."

Sam continued to dither, confused by the pain as much as his concern for Castiel. "But how can you handle it?"

"Sam, just go." Castiel said again. "If you don't leave right this minute I'll abandon the cart and walk you out of here. I have money. Don't worry about anything. Just get some place comfortable before the vision hits." Castiel watched the Hunter leave.

Sam was right by the exit so he stumbled outside. Luckily the car was parked in front and it was a pretty cool fall day. He opened the passenger side and slid into the Impala. It was like coming home again. He immediately felt better as he relaxed and fished around in the glove box looking for the dark glasses he knew were in there. Once his eyes were covered he leaned his head back on the seat and gave himself over to the developing vision.

The pain continued to build up to the point where he wanted to scream. Just as it got to where he was ready to hurl from the pressure everything went sideways and he was somewhere else. He recognized Bobby's driveway. He saw the Oak Tree on the other side of the road and then he saw a man coming toward him.

As he strained inside the vison it became clear to him that he knew this person. This man striding forward was someone he had once known and forgotten; a fragment from a different life. Just as the vision began to fade away he realized the man was a guy named Danny Tower that he had known at Sanford. The man had been part of Sam's study group and had tried to make friends with Sam.

At the time Sam had been making up his mind that he was leaving school and he pretty much snubbed the guy's advances. Now here the man was again; inside Sam's vision, standing at the entrance to Bobby's house.

The vision faded and Sam's headache began to go away, leaving behind a definite tenderness above his eyes. He could hear Castiel opening the rear door and the groceries going on to the back seat. Castiel opened the driver's door and got into the car. The Angel turned to Sam and put one hand on the man's shoulder and with the other cupped Sam's face. With cool fingers he soothed the tenderness from above Sam's eyes.

"The vision is over, right?' Castiel asked. "You should sleep now. Don't worry about anything. I'll get us home. "