A/N: My apologies for the brief hiatus! I'm back into the swing of things now! This chapter and more to come soon! Thanks for reading!

Chapter 5

Forever the Family Business

It was a very sunny day. Spring was in full swing; grass growing, leaves budding, robins flitting hither and thither. Early daffodils had already been grown and picked from a local florist to adorn the solemn affair Sam and Dean took part in, arriving at 10:59am. Most everyone in the church had been seated with the exception of a few foyer dawdlers. The siblings slipped into the backmost pew almost entirely unnoticed, feeling as though they had come in costume to the event in their FBI suits – the only suits they owned.

In spite of their discomfort, they sat respectfully through the service. Many people around them were grieving deeply – friends, family and others who had held close ties to the couple. The youth and sudden lateness of the deceased sent a lot of those who had known them spiraling into depression. The brothers had seen it before.

During the prayer and ensuing moment of silence, the two tried very hard not to think of any angels they knew for fear of one of them actually showing up.

Through the whole ritual, Dean tried to keep his focus on the departed and the pastor performing the service, but he couldn't help allowing his eye to wander. He was looking for Alex. A glimpse of blonde hair through the crowd of heads between himself and the front of the church. Even the sound of a youthful sniff or the back of her elder brother's noggin, who would surely be sitting next to her, would have been enough for him to locate her. Despite his hypersensitivity in the matter that overpowered his attempts to remain inconspicuous, he could not spot her anywhere in the vast building.

At the reception that afternoon, Sam and Dean interspersed themselves between the mourners. Although their senses were on high alert for Alex in an attempt to avoid her line of sight, they aimed to remain calm, cordial and normal amongst the crowd. It proved difficult. It was also difficult to ask questions about the Hurstwine's deaths and the status of their children without seeming cold and indelicate, especially since they were used to making such inquiries under the guise of steely federal agents. Finding the right person to talk to was also a trick; Sam once ended up holding a middle-aged woman for several minutes as she sobbed into his chest. She had evidently been one of Pam's closest friends.

At last, however, Dean found the right person – a second cousin to Doug.

"How do you know Doug and Pam?" he asked.

"Family friend," Dean regurgitated the pre-established explanation. "We weren't terribly close, but still…."

"It's certainly a shock for all of us," replied the cousin.

"Yeah…," Dean looked downcast, then shook his head. "You know, I worry about their kids, what's going to happen to them."

"Certainly," agreed the cousin.

"You wouldn't happen to know what's going on there, would you?" Dean asked.

"As far as I've heard," the man shrugged, "Doug's sister Laura will take Matt. She was godmother to him. I'm not sure where the daughter will go."

"What, Laura can't take both of them?"

"No – she's already got four kids of her own and a rough job. She'll barely be able to afford taking Matt in; she just can't take Alex," the cousin looked regretful.

"So, where's she going to go?" Dean's heart was beginning to pound. Don't say it.

"Well, with Laura being Doug's only next of kin and Pam's family being most likely unable to pass a home visit by Social Services–,"

Don't you say it.

"–Alex will probably go into foster care, since she's adopted."

Dammit.

"How unfortunate," Dean's voice had grown rough. He was working hard to keep his anger contained. He excused himself quickly; "Well, I need some water. I'm sorry for your loss."

He then proceeded to weave his way through the people, tables and chairs, initially heading for the drinks, altering his course once he spied his younger brother blotting tears our of his suit breast with a cocktail napkin. Sam noticed him approaching.

"Hey," he greeted his brother.

"Hey," Dean replied grimly. "Just talked to a second cousin of Doug's."

"And?"

"And Alex is probably going into foster care."

Sam looked away with a huff. He threw away his napkin with a frustrated flick.

"Is Matt going into foster care, too?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Godmother."

"And Alex can't go with?"

"Apparently not."

The brothers were fuming. Sam's knuckles were white where he gripped the adjacent table.

"We have got to be cursed," growled Sam.

"So friggin' cursed."

"Not even a legitimate curse, either – it's like we've had Bad Luck sicced on us. We can't undo it, we can't get away from it."

"I seriously think we should get snipped after this. The bloodline ends here. No more of this crap."

Sam was quite surprised. It took him a moment to regain his bearings, "I never… I never thought about it, but at the same time, I also thought I'd never hear you say that."

"Yeah, well, here we are," grumbled Dean. "Yet another thing we never thought we'd encounter…. Dammit, Sam, what are we gonna do?"

Sam looked very weary as he worked to answer his brother's question, "Well, we could do nothing. Stick to the plan of staying out of her life."

"And she goes into foster care."

"And she goes into foster care. Or we take her back… and she lives with us, probably ends up hunting with us."

"So the question is, which is worse; hunting or foster care?"

"Foster care," Sam didn't even hesitate.

Dean shot him a look of surprise at this decisiveness. "Really?"

"Hey, there's a lot of ugly crap that goes on in our lives, but at least she'd have us; family, people who care about her. In foster care… she might not… and a lot of ugly crap could go on in her life anyway."

Dean was silent for a moment, "But there's a chance it might not."

"Pretty meager chance."

The elder shuffled his feet, "It can't be that bad."

"Kids get really screwed up in foster care. We were worried about Alex feeling abandoned when we were leaving her in a good situation with what we thought was a permanent home. In foster care, she could end up bouncing around from one broken, abusive household to another. At least with us, she'd always have people who really cared about her. Who'd climb in and out of hell for her; literally."

Dean looked resigned for a long moment. But the more he thought on his brother's words, the more sense they made. For an instant, he looked back on all the times he'd hunted alone and then imagined his life consisting only of that. Then he knew he was lucky to have had Sam with him all that time, in spite of the vicious trials they'd faced. At least they had faced them together.

"Okay. Let's get her."