The Wellspring
Chapter Seven - Just a Couple of Days
Sam's got twenty bucks that says steam's about to come out of Bobby's ears. Twenty bucks. It's unfortunate that he'll never get to double that money, because the man's reaching up and collaring Dean and dragging him out of the living room and into the kitchen, leaving Sam and his two little charges on the couch.
"Sam?" Ben's blinking tiredly up at him. Kid might've actually been sleeping.
"Yeah?"
"Where's that man taking Dean?"
"Kitchen."
"Why?"
"T'yell at him."
Ben's head falls back down into Sam's lap. Sam guesses that Dean perpetuates the kind of guy that just gets yelled at a lot, because neither Ben, nor Alec seem too surprised by the idea.
"Alec, aren't you tired?"
"Nope."
"Huh." Sam scratches his head, stifles a yawn. "Well, I'm beat. M'gonna go get some blankets and stuff, okay?"
"Sure."
"Look after your brother."
"Why?"
"I don't need to be looked after," Ben mumbles, lifting his heavy head from Sam's thighs. Kid's hair's all mussed and Sam feels a surge of fondness rush through his blood.
"Sorry. Just, habit...or tiredness...or something." Sam gets up while he has the chance, leaves the two of them there to roll their eyes.
The blankets are pretty old and thin, but there's a lot of them, stacked high in the upstairs closet and Sam just takes a pile - there's probably like six, but the boys are small and - good fucking lord, when did he turn into this? He tucks them under his arm, plucks four flat pillows out of the bottom of the closet and tries to balance them all on his way back downstairs. The stack in his arms is so high, he can't see over it - it's like a freakin' bad cartoon using primitive comedic elements - but he makes it down the stairs before the pillows and blankets spill out of his arms and onto the floor.
"Shit," he mutters.
There's a giggle from the couch and Sam looks up to see Ben staring at him with bright eyes.
"I didn't just say that," Sam tells him.
"Did, too."
"Did n-" Sam stops himself, because what in the goddamn hell is he doing? He's not going to argue with some diminutive version of Dean. Well, not tonight, anyway. He bends over to pick up his spilled procurements, eyes Ben through his long bangs. "Where's Alec?"
"Right there."
Sam must be lazy as hell, because he only needed to look a few feet to his left to see Alec, who is standing silently next to the kitchen door, his ear pressed to the wood. Kid's got his mouth open and twisted into a joyous smirk and part of Sam just wants to laugh, because this is Dean. This is Dean twenty years ago listening at the door to hunters cursing like sailors.
"Alec?"
Alec puts his index to his lips in an attempt to hush Sam.
"Alec, eavesdropping isn't nice."
"M'just making sure that man's not hurting Dean."
"Yeah, and you look like you're having a grand old time doing that, too. Bobby's not going to hurt Dean, Alec."
"Are you sure? 'Cause he really looked like he wanted to...and he keeps telling Dean he's gonna take him out back to the woodshed and-ah!"
The door swings open. Alec squeaks and backs up, then smirks at the sweet sweet picture of irritation painted all over Dean's face. And then it's like Dean is Dad (it's always like Dean's Dad these days) when fingers are snapped and an index is pointed to the couch. Alec leaps up onto the old cushions obediently, grins and swings his legs.
Ben pokes his insufferable twin in the shoulder. "What happens in the woodshed?" the boy asks curiously.
"Well, you know I'm not exactly sure, but it sounded like-"
"Pie," Dean cuts him off. "The woodshed is where Bobby takes well-behaved little boys and gives them pie. You know who doesn't get pie, Alec?"
"Why aren't you asking Ben?"
"'Cause I'm asking you. Now answer. Who doesn't get pie?"
"You don't. Because you weren't well-behaved. Bobby said-"
"Bobby says that eavesdroppers will get to know firsthand what goes on in the woodshed if they don't learn when to shut their little traps."
Sam chuckles when Alec's mouth snaps closed. Kid sounds like a baby crocodile, and his eyes are wide and bright as he takes in the sight of the grizzled older hunter with his trucker cap and crossed limbs.
"What happens in the woodshed?" Ben, again. And this time, his voice is quiet and timid and he won't look at anyone but Alec. Alec shifts closer to him on the couch, and Sam sees that their arms just barely touch.
Dean looks anxious. Sam remembers asking that same question twenty years ago. His big brother's answer is the same now as it was then. "Nothin' that you have to worry about, Benny. Bobby, don't threaten the kids."
Bobby snorts, holds up two surrendering hands. "I barely have any strength left in my tongue after I get done threatenin' the two of you, as much as you ask for it. I'll leave the little ones up to you."
Alec huffs. "You're little."
"Alec."
The boy fidgets a little at the dual reprimand, but Bobby's chuckling into his hand, considering the kid with a lighthearted gaze.
"This one's jus' like you, Dean."
"He's m'clone." Dean's brimming with pride. And Alec's beaming, for chrissakes. Sam kind of wants to vomit all over himself and die. "I'd hope he's just like me."
"I'm Dean's clone, too," Ben mumbles, and he's not even looking at Alec anymore, just looking at his own hands. Sam has to resist the urge to scoop the child into a hug, squeeze the hurt away from that little voice.
Dean isn't Sam, though, and he plucks Ben off the couch, hands gripping the boy under his arms, swings him around a couple of times until Ben laughs from either confusion or delight. Sam watches his brother fall back onto the couch with the boy still in his arms, watches the elder Winchester ruffle the blonde hair with a gruff hand.
"Y'sure are."
Sam's big brother is an awesome big brother.
Dean yawns. "M'beat. Those blankets, Sammy? And pillows? Bobby, m'thinkin' you can fill us in tomorrow. I'll even let you take me out to the woodshed if you decide you're still pissed..."
Bobby smacks Dean upside the head, tells them all to get their asses in bed before heading upstairs. Bed consists of the couch, of course, which Sam and Dean make up for Alec and Ben. A single blanket on the floor isn't much in the way of back support, but they've had worse.
Inevitably, Alec says, "M'not tired."
Inevitably, Sam and Dean reply, "Tough." Well, Sam says "tough," anyway. Dean actually says "tough shit." Tomatoes, tomahtoes.
As tired as he is, Sam struggles to fall asleep. The couch creaks every time the boys fidget, which is a lot. And Dean's snoring softly within minutes. Sam listens to his brother's breathing, sucks in a breath and holds onto it until Dean lets out his own. He's found, over the years, that he relaxes the most when they're in sync. Tonight is no different. He hears Ben mumble something to Alec. Or maybe that's Alec mumbling to Ben.
Sam rolls over onto his stomach, nestles his head into his pillow. It's less than an hour before Dean's hand reaches out to rest on his little brother's back. It's less than an hour before Sam finally falls into slumber.
The sun's shining through the window onto Alec's eyelids, which open once he's sensing heat and seeing red. There's no sense in pretending come morning. He blinks to get used to the light, blinks more when he can't fathom the empty space on the other side of the couch.
"Ben?"
He whispers the name, because Sam and Dean are still sleeping and the last thing he wants to do is wake them.
Why the fuck didn't you wake us?
Scratch that. Sam would want Alec to wake them. Alec doesn't like Sam's scary voice so he's willing to endure any morning grumpiness in its place. Alec rolls off the couch, onto his feet, and looks at the two mounds on the floor with the tiniest twinge of apprehension.
That's when he notices there's not two mounds on the floor, but two and a half.
There's a smaller mound between the two big ones.
Ben had wedged himself between Sam and Dean sometime last night, while Alec had been thinking and not paying attention.
That little thie-...sneak.
"Hey," Alec says, and they stir a little. The blanket moves down with the shifting.
Dean's arm is settled comfortably around Ben's waist.
"Hey!"
All three of them jump like scared rabbits. Three disheveled heads turn to blink at Alec.
"What's wrong, kiddo?" Dean croaks.
"Did you have a bad dream?" Sam wants to know.
"The sun's too bright," Ben complains, before diving back into Dean's pillow and tossing a blanket back over his head.
"It's morning," Alec explains. "I woke you up because it's morning."
Dean licks his lips, clears his throat. "Alec...uh, we're at Bobby's, dude."
Alec nods. "Yeah, got that. It's morning." Dean shakes his head. Alec raises an eyebrow. "It's...not morning?"
"We're at Bobby's," Dean repeats. "It's not morning until Bobby says its morning."
Dean falls back onto his pillow.
Sam rubs at his eyes, asks again, "Did you have a bad dream?"
Alec didn't have a bad dream. Alec can't have bad dreams because Alec doesn't sleep, and he would so totally tell the Winchesters this if it didn't mean the end of this charade it seemed he now had to share. With Ben.
He narrows his eyes at the smaller lump under the blankets. Because that space? Between Sam and Dean? That's Alec's space. Always has been. Because four days is forever, and Alec is going to stick to this limited way of thinking for as long as he lives.
"I didn't have a bad dream," he mumbles.
Sam yawns, says, "Good. Why don't you go lay down again?" before falling back onto his own pillow.
Alec considers kicking Sam's foot. Seriously, his own foot is itching to do it. He'll do it hard, too, and probably get yelled at, but that would be okay. Because if they're too busy yelling at Alec, then they're not going to be paying attention to Ben, are they?
"Alec?"
It's Alec's turn to jump like a scared rabbit. Bobby's standing in the doorway, considering him with wise eyes.
"How do you know I'm not Ben?"
"Ben doesn't have any pants."
It's true. Ben doesn't have any pants. He'd worn one of Sam's T-shirts yesterday, is still wearing one of Sam's T-shirts today.
"Maybe I gave Ben my pants."
Bobby smirks at the saucy tone, moves easily towards the boy. "Maybe you did, 'cept you're still wearin' 'em." Alec does his best to not flinch away when the man's coarse hand cups the back of his neck. "Easy there, boy. You'll get used to me. Half-raised the two idgets who're gonna be raisin' you." Bobby smiles. Alec relaxes, peers into the man's warm eyes. Bobby asks, "Breakfast?"
Yeah, this guy's on the level. He has to be. He knows that food is the key to Alec's heart.
After breakfast, while Sam and Dean are hogging the bathrooms to shower, Bobby pulls a battered cardboard box out of the attic. It's full of old clothes - Sam and Dean's old clothes, and some of them actually fit the two little boys perfectly.
"Thought that might work out," Bobby grunts as Ben eagerly pulls on a pair of ratty jeans and Alec shrugs into a blue T-shirt.
An hour later, Ben and Alec are shooting jars from a fence post. They hit every single one because they're awesome like that.
"Genetically engineered killing machines," Alec reminds the three men, because they have these flabbergasted looks on their faces and really, they should know better. "Of course we know our way around a gun."
Alec's shoving a sandwich in his mouth when Dean and Sam tell them they're going to be staying with Bobby a couple of days, while Dean and Sam are on a hunt. Alec swallows his bite, because its delicious. Ben, however, spits his out into a napkin.
"You're leaving us?"
That's Ben. Alec isn't so grossly theatrical.
"You're abandoning us?"
"Alec, of course we're not abandoning you," Sam soothes. "It's just a couple of days."
Alec watches Dean swallow a huge bite of sandwich. "Hunt's too dangerous for newbies. Bobby'll teach you a thing or two while we're gone."
Alec watches his newfound parents or brothers or whatever-the-fuck pack up that afternoon. Beside him, Ben trembles.
"We'll be back in two days," Sam keeps saying. "You'll have fun here. Dean and I always liked being at Bobby's when we were kids."
"What if Manticore finds us?" Ben's voice is shaky. "We're an easy target if we're staying in one place."
Dean handles that one, assuring Ben that Bobby knows all about it, knows what to look out for, that Bobby's gonna protect them. It's going to be okay, Dean keeps saying, and Sam keeps telling them they'll all be together again in just two days.
They're on the front porch an hour later.
"Mind Bobby." Dean's all stern and shit, but then he smirks and holds out his arms for Alec and then for Ben. Alec lets go pretty quick. He can't help it. He's feeling sulky as all hell. Ben, however, clings.
"Don't go."
Alec really just wants Ben to let the fuck go of Dean. He thinks about saying that, but turns to Sam instead.
"This gonna be a regular thing?"
Sam shakes his head fervently, says that leaving them behind is going to be a rare deal. Then Alec's high up in the air because Sam's a freaking giant who likes to cuddle.
And then they're gone.
Ben won't talk, and Bobby's trying his best to cheer the other boy up without being too much of a woman about it.
"They'll be back, Ben. It's just a couple of days."
Alec watches the older man pat Ben's shoulder, listens to more soothing prattle. Alec isn't so much as spared a glance and he can't help but feel like he's being thieved for a third time.