Chapter Three
After dinner, the rest of the night was spent calmly, with Clara coloring in the coloring books she had received, and Alex watched TV quietly. While they were cleaning up, Dean explained to Castiel about what Alex had told him, quietly though as to not bother the two kids.
"I didn't realize this was going to be this way as far as the case Dean. I'm sorry." Castiel looked guilty, and Dean was confused.
"Why are you sorry?"
"After we last spoke…I didn't think you'd come, let alone ask for my assistance." Dean bit his lip. He didn't want to think about the fight, or the hurtful things he had said to the former angel. He didn't want to remember the look on his face, even though that look had been haunting him since that day.
"It was a case Cas, of course I was gonna come." He muttered, before walking away and towards the bed. He sat next to Alex, and watched TV, avoiding the look he got from Castiel. It wasn't till it was about 11 that Dean noticed that Clara was nodding off in the corner where she was coloring.
"Alright, I think it's time for bed." Dean got up and stretched. Alex looked up to him, and nodded, before going over to Clara. Clara whined about going to bed, but not for the reason Dean thought
"I'm scared…"
"What are you scared of? You've got a former angel and a hunter in the room!" Dean tried to be reassuring, but the little girl whined a bit more.
"I'm scared of the dark…" Dean blinked, and remembered when Sammy was the same way when they were younger. He looked to Castiel, who grabbed the night stand that was in between the beds. Dean caught on and pushed the beds together, so the two queen beds became one "giant bed of awesome!" which made the kids feel better. They dozed off; Clara snuggled up to Cas and Alex holding onto Dean's shirt. Dean smiled, and looked over to Castiel, who looked exhausted.
"Long day?" He asked quietly. Castiel blinked a bit and looked over to Dean, and nodded.
"This, with the kids, is a new feeling to me. It's quite exhausting." Dean chuckled a bit.
"How so?" He asked.
"Well...I have felt many things during my time as a human. But...this is new. This feeling of….protecting these kids...warmth...it's different than what I feel towards you." Castiel said with no problem, but with the widening of Dean's eyes, he flushed and looked down...
"What kind of warmth Cas?" Dean asked, watching his best friend squirm a bit, but not too much thanks to Clara.
"I…It's hard to explain." Cas bites his lip, worried he may say something messed up.
"Is it the same warmth you feel with Sammy? Or with….Nora?" He had to wrack his brain for the ex-angel's manager.
"No...yours is….one of a kind. Just like with the kids. Both are separate...yet close." Dean reached out and touched Castiel's cheek, and the now mortal man nuzzled against it softly, looking scared. "Don't be upset with me…" Dean withdrew his hand, and sighed, trying to think as far as he felt.
"I'm not upset Cas…" Dean wasn't sure how he felt. It ached when Castiel wasn't there, and don't even get him started when he thought he was dead thanks to the Leviathan. "We'll figure this out Cas. Just know that, I don't hate you, and I'm not upset ok? I just….it's a lot to wrap my head around." Dean whispered, and chuckled as relief washed over Castiel's face. He nodded, and shifted so he was closer to Dean. Just before Dean fell asleep, he smiled at the sight next to him. Castiel was practically cradling Clara, and had his head nuzzled into Dean's shoulder, and Alex was spooned next to Dean's other side, clutching at his shirt. Dean pulled both the now mortal angel and the boy he started caring for closer.
It was 3 AM when Dean felt the little body next to him shake. He was use to waking up thanks to Sammy's nightmares, so he understood what was happening. He pulled himself away from Castiel carefully, trying not to wake him up but managed to get a yawn and bleary eyes from him. He motioned to Alex and gently shook him. Alex whimpered and kept tossing and turning.
"Alex...come on buddy wake up. It's just a dream." Dean comforted him, finally getting him awake. Alex looked around, terrified, before his eyes landed on Dean and Castiel. Tears started to fall as he wrapped his arms around Dean's neck, sobbing softly. Dean hugged him close, rubbing his back and whispered soothing words to the boy. Castiel shifted Clara a bit on his lap, before reaching up and brushing Alex's blonde hair out of his blue eyes. Alex looked to him; actually reached for him to slightly, before pulling back almost afraid to ask for more. Castiel pulled Dean and Alex closer, and Alex snuggled in between them, sniffling a bit as he started to calm down. Clara groaned and woke up a bit, looking to her brother.
"Alex? Bad dream?" Clara asked drowsily. Alex nodded, reaching out to brush Clara's hair out of her eyes.
"Yeah...sorry I woke you." He spoke softly, but smiled as Clara uncurled herself from Castiel and curled up with her big brother. A few shuffled movements later, Dean and Castiel were finally comfortable, with Alex in between them, and Clara curled up with him.
"It's ok, we're safe now Alex." She whispered, before falling back to sleep
"You ok?" Alex sniffled a bit, and didn't mind when Castiel brushed some of his tears away.
"Yeah...just...nightmares…" Dean nodded, and was glad Castiel was there to help comfort the boy
"You wanna talk about it?" Alex looked reluctant at the question, but slowly nodded.
"When...those women...took us, and they found out that we were special...They kept forcing us to use our powers. Clara…I wouldn't let them hurt her...I did most of their…'tests' "Alex spat the word out, face scrunching up in hate. "They….I…." Tears started to form in his blue eyes, and he looked up to the two men that were taking care of him and his sister. "I killed...those kids. They made...if I didn't….Clara…" was all he could get out as he started to sob all over again. Dean pulled him close again, rubbing his back.
"It's ok. It's ok Alex. I know…I have a younger brother myself. Sammy...and I…" He looked to Cas as he said this. "I would do anything to protect him. I have...done some pretty bad things to make sure he was safe..." He looked back down to the calming boy in his arms.
"R-Really?" Dean smiled and nodded.
"Really." Alex seemed to take comfort in that.
"So...I'm not a monster?" Alex asked quietly.
"No. You did what you had to, to protect family. And that's understandable." Dean leaned down and kissed Alex's head. "Now sleep. We'll be here when you wake ok?" Castiel nodded in agreement, and copied Dean, which seemed to make Alex feel better. He nodded, and yawned as he curled closer to the two older men. He was out in no time. "Thanks Cas."
"For?"
"I...I'm not really sure. For being here? For not making me do this on my own?" Dean looked over to him. "For caring?" Castiel smiled, and gently touched Dean's cheek.
"It's what I do Dean. Now. Get some sleep. We'll be here when you wake ok?" Dean chuckled softly when his own words were used against him. He snuggled closer to Castiel and the little ones and fell asleep.
The next morning Dean groaned as he heard someone knocking at the door. He untangled himself from the kids and Cas, and looked to see who it was before carefully opening the door.
"Sammy? Why-"
"Because after looking into those deaths I became concerned." Sam walked in, still in his "FBI" suit "I just came back from the morgue. I wanted to see the bodies myself. Did the kids have any strange markings on them?" Sam asked, before looking to the two and Castiel. Said ex-angel was just waking up and hearing Sam's voice, and yawned.
"Good morning Sam." He smiled a bit, before thinking back to when they cleaned the kids up. "I didn't see any strange markings…" Dean thought, and went over to the bed. Alex was up, but Clara was having a hard time waking up. Alex eyed Sam wearily, and helped Clara get up out of bed.
"Alex, remember when I said I had a younger sibling? This is Sam, my little brother." Sam smiled at the two. Alex relaxed and smiled a bit. Clara waved, still trying to wake up.
"I'm gonna take her to the bathroom to get dressed." Alex said, leading Clara to the bathroom and closing the door.
"So what's this about Sammy?" Dean asked as he watched the bathroom door.
"Apparently there's been kids' deaths and accidents going on since the Fall, and not just here. Everywhere. Normal accidents and such, the only odd thing is that some have had markings on them. It looked like Enochian, but I couldn't figure out what it meant." He looked to Cas hoping he could help.
"Let me see." Castiel suddenly got serious. Sam pulled out his laptop, and pulled up the pictures he took and found. He looked at them, and looked very, very confused. "It...It means Sin. Why would children be labeled with the markings for Sin?" Castiel looked up to the brothers, worried.
"I don't know Cas...but something tells me those two are mixed in this…" Dean looked to the bathroom again as Clara came rushing out, wanting Castiel to pick her up. Alex closed the bathroom door behind him, and walked over. "Hey Alex, can I talk to you for a bit?" Dean smiled, watching as Castiel picked up the little girl, and watching as she wanted to draw, but sit on her new favorite friends lap.
"Sure." Alex followed him outside, where he leaned on the hood of the Impala.
"Before you were taken….did anything strange happen to you?" Alex thought about it, before looking up to him.
"Remember when I said my dad wasn't around? He...He kinda ran off after him and my mom had a fight. She...didn't like how he kept taking me and Clara to a doctor."
"What kind of doctor?"
"He kept doing blood work and body exams." Alex visibly shudders. "I hated it. Dad kept making me promise not to tell Mom, but it wasn't till he started giving us these weird needles that Clara and I told."
"How were they weird?" Dean crossed his arms, concerned.
"The stuff in them...glowed. Made me feel sick. That's when Clara said Dad wasn't Dad...and I started noticing if I got angry...things happened." Alex shrugged. Dean stared at him, slightly terrified as he pulled this all together in his head. Someone was experimenting with kids.
"Is...is something wrong?"
"I dunno yet. Let's get back inside, and we'll talk to Cas and Sammy about this ok?" Alex nodded and was lead inside, where he told Castiel what the glowing stuff looked like, along with what he could remember of the doctor. Castiel frowned, rather confused himself.
"I'm not sure what that could be….I'll call Kevin to do some research at the Bunker-" Sam was cut off by Clara tugging at his pant leg.
"I'm hungry…"
"I am too. Let's get something to eat and we'll continue brainstorming when we get back ok?" Sam said, smiling at Clara, who smiled and nodded. Sam changed into some more comfortable clothing, and they decided it would be ok to take the kids to a diner down the street.