FIC: Ride The Skies 6/?

[dollarformyname]

—PART SIX—

Dean is so far behind on freaking out, Sam's not even going to talk to him until he's done. He's just glad Dean's internalizing most of it and not exploding in a way that would startle the kids.

Sitting at the table in a kind of numb shock, a dark bruise spread across his temple like an ink blot, Dean's eyes are stuck wide, ranging back and forth between Ben and Alec as they continue to go about the business of exploring the tolerance levels of their new keepers. He's mumbling things like he expects someone to be listening but Sam's too busy lamenting the junk food binge to pay much attention.

He may have misjudged the boys' sugar intake just a bit.

“Sam, do it again!” Alec demands with a mile-wide grin as he bounces on his heels in joyous expectation. “He keeps making a face! It's hilarious!”

Sam can't help but return the smile as he hefts the eighty-five pound monkey on his back. He's getting a little dizzy and sore but he's having trouble denying them this innocent amusement, especially when the reward is laughter. He doesn't think he'll ever get enough of their happy sounds.

He pulls in a breath and proceeds to spin wildly around, and Ben's arms tighten around his neck, surprised giggles right on cue. Alec doubles over, guffawing and slapping his knee in a theatrical display of mirth, his face so red it looks painful.

Sam declared it a tie between the two and they both got their piggy-back rides, but Alec was mostly unimpressed with the whole thing until he got a good look at Ben's reactions. Ben seems to have warmed up to him considerably, kitten claws hooked into him for the duration, and Sam can't pry the kid off him to save his life. Not that he really wants to. The boy's having a blast.

The room blurs a little too much and Sam has to stop, swaying on his feet as his lurching equilibrium tries to right itself. He's hot and sweaty, stumbles over to the bed and collapses face-first. Ben squeals delightedly at the sudden descent and lets out a soft “Oomph!” upon landing.

“Do it again!” Alec repeats, still breathless as he climbs onto the mattress and plops onto his stomach, beaming face inches from Sam's.

Sam is still catching his own breath as Ben reluctantly rolls off of him and lands half-over Alec, and Alec's cheek gets all scrunched up into the mattress. He makes an indignant grunting sound and wriggles around to extract himself, rises to his knees and playfully nudges Ben's shoulder as Ben is granted more room to lay flat.

Ben's still wearing the ghost of a grin as he nudges back, and Alec says, “You gotta get up and do it again, Sam-dude. He's not making the face anymore.”

“I'd love to, Alec-dude, but unlike you, my energy has limits.” Sam angles onto his side and pokes Alec's gut. Alec's eyes go wide with surprise as he makes a strangled sound somewhere between outrage and laughter.

Ben's eyes glow with realization. “It's your turn to make faces,” he declares mischievously, shoots up and pins Alec to the bed, little fingers skittering all over and digging into sensitive spots, and Alec is reduced to a flailing, shrieking flurry, his contorting face indeed a source of much amusement.

Sam flips onto his back and grins so hard it hurts, watching the wrestling match as Alec gains the upper hand and tickles Ben into submission.

When they finally wear themselves out, splayed out next Sam with heaving little chests, Alec cants his head sideways and says, “You're an endless font of fun, Sam. I don't know if it's legal, but I won't tell anyone if you wanna keep it up,” like he's doing Sam some huge favor instead of the other way around.

Sam snorts and sits up, chest all swollen inside. He's felt like a bumbling idiot with these kids for the majority of his time with them, but then there are these moments where he does something so simple, and the boys give him this look or say something to make him feel like a rock star. It's fucking crazy, in a really awesome kind of way.

He looks over at Dean, who's torn between smiling at their antics and panicking some more, an indecisive statue in his seat. Sam's run out of distraction techniques, and now the boys are sitting up and looking at Dean, too, heads cocked in curiosity; although Ben is a little more wary of him than Alec seems to be. Dean is still an unknown, and they only have the facts Sam has so far given them to assess the older man. Nothing from Dean himself except unconsciousness and frozen fear.

And let's not forget the girly squealing.

Dean blanches at all the attention, but it's a fleeting lightning strike of terror before he schools his features into something softer, a little more reassuring as he's undoubtedly noticing Ben's discomfort.

“How ya doin' over there, man?” Sam breaks into the awkward silence that's fallen, smiles wide at his brother and subtly lays a hand over Ben's nape. “Not feeling light-headed, are you? Maybe you need to lay down again?”

Dean immediately scowls. Hard. “Cute, Sam. Real fuckin' cute.”

“Language,” Sam admonishes. It's not like Dean knows Sam was a little R-rated himself earlier, because he was busy indulging in his beauty sleep.

Alec suddenly bounds up off the bed and cautiously traverses the short distance to Dean. Sam watches his brother watch the kid with wary uncertainty as Alec edges right up to Dean's knees and leans forward to investigate his pores. Dean arches back a little, no idea what the hell the kid's looking for, and then Alec carefully pokes at his cheek.

Dean can only tolerate the baffling scrutiny for so long. “What're you doin', dude?” He pushes Alec's hand down, gently but deliberately.

Alec tilts his head as if to view him from a new angle. “Sam said you passed out because you're made of raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,” he informs him seriously, and Sam has to jam a fist against his mouth to keep from bursting when Dean's face is clouded over with his distinct lack of amusement. “You need to be handled with care.” Alec frowns in disapproval. “I don't understand why Manticore would want such fragile DNA.”

Dean's scowling for a whole new reason now, but he keeps his voice level when he says, “Sam is full of sh— crap. You shouldn't listen to him.”

Sam straightens. “Hey, don't go undermining my authority. That's just gonna leave you in charge of everything.”

Dean cocks a brow, clearly asking how having ultimate reign is a bad thing.

“Everything includes rules and discipline and being the bad guy.”

Dean's face falls at this clarification, and then his eyes scoot meaningfully over to the bags filled with clothes and other things Sam wasn't sure the boys needed but they might, it's better spoiled than neglected, and so what if he went a little overboard? Wal-Mart is insanely cheap and Sam can't help it if he fell victim to that aspect of its demonic appeal; it's not like he has the best history with these things. He can practically see Dean's thought processes dancing around his head, the permanence indicated in those bags, the fundamental change to their lives, the investment and level of care required, and somewhere beneath the fresh blossom of fear, Sam can also see the instant approval.

No matter how horrifying the prospect, Alec and Ben are theirs and no one else's. Their idea of a nourishing environment may be questionable, right along with their sanity, but there's no one else. No one good enough. Dean may not know how the boys will fit into their really fucked up routines yet, may not have the first clue about how to save the world from the shit-storm they stirred up, but the Dean that stows his confused dismay and simply saddles up to take it as it comes is exactly the Dean that Sam is thrilled to see.

And no way does Dean want to be the designated meanie.

“You should listen to Sam,” he back-pedals. “But you should also know that Sam needs his ass kicked on a regular basis for telling vicious lies to innocent little kids.”

Alec narrows his eyes on Dean, then turns to glare at Sam, crosses his arms. “This conflicting information leads me to believe neither of you can be fully trusted.”

Alec looks kind of pissed now, and Dean is visibly struggling not to laugh at him, but his indignant stance in his little pajamas is exceeding all manner of cute. Sam might take pity on his brother's uncertainty and let him know that Alec is more than likely fucking with him—Alec obviously understands the concept of kidding around—but Sam's still feeling a little vindictive, so he's just going to let Dean flounder for a way to explain it.

Ben twitches under Sam's palm, drawing his attention from the awkward staring that has his big brother fidgeting, and he pulls his hand away from the kid's sweaty neck as he looks over at him. All the exertion gave the three of them a nice, sheening layer of perspiration, but where Alec and Sam are still a little flushed, Ben is pale.

“You okay, buddy?” Sam's hand is settling over Ben's brow before he really registers what he's doing, and it's weird. Something he's observed parents do automatically when their kid shows the smallest sign of distress that never made much sense to him, especially when they did it for things that obviously weren't fever-related, like skinned knees or hurt feelings. He's starting to get that maybe it's just a gesture of comfort for both parties, and not always applied practically.

Ben's skin is a bit warm, but Castiel said they ran a little hotter than most people. The idea of that stirs his ever-present pit of panic again, because shit, how is he supposed to tell if the kid has a fever?

Ben shakes his hand off, looking offended and scared all at once. “I'm fine,” he's quick to assure, but the bare tremor in his voice negates the words. “I think I'm just kinda tired.”

Sam would be relieved at the simple problem complete with simple solution, except Ben's looking anywhere but directly at him, and his expression seems to tighten considerably when his eyes fall on Dean and Alec. Sam isn't really sure what that's about, but he figures the boy's had enough excitement for one night and really could use some rest. Sam could use some himself, actually.

“You steal pie from unsuspecting little brothers,” Alec is accusing in response to whatever explanation Dean concocted when Sam looks back at them, and Dean skids a sideways glare at his brother, unable to deny the unequivocal truth of the statement. “Why should I believe anything you say?”

Dean frowns, obviously not enjoying having his own attitude thrown back at him, while Sam is finding this to be a valuable source of entertainment as he rearranges himself so Ben can crawl under the covers.

“Look, kid. Until you understand the awesomeness that is pie, you don't get to judge me.”

Sam's smirk doesn't help his brother's mood when he interrupts their debate. “Alec knows you're a good guy, Dean, he's just messing with you.”

Dean affects the fully-grown version of that wounded betrayal as he stares at Alec, who finally cracks and lets out a honking snort. “You think you're funny, huh?” He's trying to go for disapproval but can't help the small grin.

Alec nods through his snickering, shoulders quaking as he slings an arm across his own stomach. “Sam says I'm a hoot and a holler.”

“Sam says,” Dean huffs, rolling his eyes. “I think we need a round of 'Dean says' just to even the scales.”

“I dunno.” Alec straightens and regains his composure, a wobbling quirk of his mouth accompanying the dubious tone. “Sam's chalked full of wisdom and merriment. That's pretty stiff competition.”

Sam raises his hands and shrugs when Dean cocks a brow at him. He's getting no small amount of glee from this, and it shows in his smug dimples. “He's just callin' it like he sees it, Sleeping Beauty.”

Dean's face hardens, a glint in his eye Sam knows all too well as he kicks a chair out from the table. It's on. “Siddown, kiddo. We got some stuff to talk about.”

Alec sits and props his elbows on the table, waiting to be dazzled, and Sam marvels at the boy for a minute. He's picking up on speech patterns and slang, postures and mannerisms at a dizzying rate, but Sam supposes that's part of the manufactured assassin package, learning how to acclimate quickly. The better to sneak up on targets and annihilate them.

Glowering at that train of thought, Sam pushes it down and turns to see Ben curled up in a tiny ball under the blanket, one hand buried in the pillow and his eyes squeezed tight like he's trying to force himself to sleep. He drops a hand on the kid's uneven and disheveled hair, thinking that he needs to get it cut, at least so it looks less like someone took a weed-whacker to it. Ben blinks up at him.

“You sure you're okay?” Sam asks. “'Cause if you're not, you should tell us so we can help.”

Ben furrows his brows in consideration, and that's a dead giveaway that there's something to tell, but then he shakes his head. “Just tired.”

Sam frowns, disappointed that he's not earned complete trust just yet, but he knows in the logical part of his mind that these things take time. He's going to keep a close eye on him just in case, though. “Mind sharing the bed with me or do you want Alec over here?”

Ben chews on his lip, listening to a babbling Alec who is plainly nowhere near tired, and shrugs. Sam shucks off his shoes, swings his legs up and works himself under the blanket. He experiences that chest swelling again when Ben wriggles his way against his side, fingers clutching at his shirt as he nudges his head up under Sam's arm.

Christ, these kids are going to kill all his manliness in one fell swoop, he thinks, what with how they're making him feel so damn sentimental every other second. Sam used to be that way, once upon a time, unapologetic for caring so much about everything. But those constant battles with the darkness, watching everyone he loves die, and summoning the End of Days had deadened most of those sensitive nerves.

Turns out they're not so dead, and he's not sure if it's going to be the end of everyone, or just the hope they need.

The low baritone of Dean's lecture on how to correctly gauge who is the most awesome follows Sam's troubled thoughts into the blissful dark of slumber.

-:-

PART 7

Comments

[charlie-jae.livejournal.com]

Awww, another cool installment. I love how Dean has to now play catch up. Alec the little smartass, lol. What's up with Ben? Is it what I think it is?

[pathsforme.livejournal.com]

*snorts* Poor Dean, he is so FAR behind. Now Dean clones are looking up to Sammy. I am wondering if it's the seizures that are effecting Ben.

[longbca.livejournal.com]

Cool...

-looks at your muse and pokes it- I want an update of Connor...hands a picture of Connor to the muse- he's soo pretty isnt he....-looks at the muse who is staring contendily at the picture and then I slowly back away-

Mission accomplished...Lol...