maychorian | Interlude

Interlude: Stand Your Ground

"Hey, isn't that your big brother?" Eric asked, pointing.

Sammy glanced toward the edge of the playground, expecting to see Dean hanging around, looking cool with his hands in his pockets and a small scowl on his face, watching the elementary kids with narrowed eyes. This was one of the towns where Dean and Sammy's grades weren't in the same school building, but Dean usually came by to walk him home. Sammy didn't mind waiting for him—it gave him time to play around with his friends or just decompress after a long day of school, whether running around like a crazy boy or lying on his back watching the sky.

It wasn't Dean, though. It was Jimmy, tall and slim in his long-sleeved shirt, his face all angles and blue eyes. He peered across the playground with a tiny frown that managed to be more disapproving than Dean's most ferocious scowl. Sammy followed his gaze and saw Dylan, that older neighborhood kid who came around sometimes, selling a dime bag to a kid Sammy didn't know.

"Hey, Jimmy!" Sammy called, waving at him with both arms from where he sat in the chilly April dirt.

Jimmy turned at the noise, gave him a tilt of the head in acknowledgment. He didn't smile, though, and Jimmy almost always had a smile for his littlest brother. He must be in one of his weird moods again.

As if to prove that, Jimmy immediately turned his unnerving blue stare to Eric, watching him frankly and without blinking. Eric shrank slowly down beside Sammy, hunching his shoulders, small round face drawn in dismay. "What is he doing?"

Sammy shrugged. "He's just...lookin'. Jimmy looks sometimes." He patted Eric's shoulder and used it to push himself to his feet. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay? I'll ask my dad or Jimmy about coming over to your house sometime."

"Hello, Sammy," Jimmy said when he approached, finally taking his eyes away from Eric. "Did you have a good day at school?"

"Totally kickass," Sammy said, just to test him. Jimmy didn't immediately say, "Don't say ass." Yep, definitely in one of his moods.

Jimmy just nodded solemnly, still staring off into the playground. "You know that drugs aren't good for you, don't you?"

Sammy rolled his eyes, holding his backpack by one strap and letting it bump against his leg. "Yes, I know."

"Not just when you're small. All the time. Not just marijuana. All of them." He looked down at Sammy for a second, still not blinking, then looked back to Drug-Dealin' Dylan. "They're bad."

"I know."

Jimmy stared for another second at Eric, then finally nodded and turned to start the walk home. Sammy forgot to move for a second, then hurried to catch up. Jimmy slowed his pace to wait for him, and they walked on together.

Sammy turned around as he walked to wave good-bye to Eric, who still looked kind of freaked out, then turned back, skipping a few steps at his big brother's side. "Where's Dean? Is he busy or something?"

"Your father is home early from his hunting trip. He picked Dean up from school to practice firearm shooting."

Sammy frowned, bumping his backpack harder against his leg."I wish Dad would take me to go shoot targets. I'm gonna be eight in nineteen days! That has to be old enough, right?"

"No, not really."

Sam huffed and scraped his shoe on the sidewalk. "Well, can I go over to Eric's house tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Jimmy cast a glance behind him, but the school had already vanished around a corner. "That's short notice. Is he the boy who was sitting next to you when I arrived?"

"Yeah, that's him."

"I think you should invite him over to our place instead."

"Really?" Sammy beamed up at him. They almost never had strangers at their place. Not unless they had to, like if it was a teacher visiting or something. Even when they were living in an apartment, like now, instead of an icky motel. "Will Dad be okay with that?"

"I'm fairly certain, yes. You know I have the trust of...Dad."

Sammy bumped into Jimmy's side, still grinning. "You're awesome, Jimmy. Even if you do talk weird sometimes."

"Thank you, little brother. You're quite awesome, yourself."

~*~

Two days later, Dean walked Sammy and Eric home to the Winchester apartment, chattering amiably about the fun afternoon they were going to have. They had a TV and a Nintendo here, did Eric like Mario? Jimmy said he was going to make brownies... Dean hoped he wouldn't burn them this time. You kids'll have a good time, but just remember not to make too much noise when Dad gets home from work. The job he has right now makes him really cranky sometimes.

Sammy knew that their apartment wasn't in a very nice part of town, but the school wasn't either, and Eric said his place was near the school, so Eric probably didn't live in a better neighborhood. And his parents had let him come here, so it must be okay. And still... Still, the closer they got to home, the slower Eric walked. He wrapped his hands around the straps of his backpack, tugging them across his chest, and his feet scuffed on the carpet after they left the elevator. Dean has stopped talking, watching Eric with a strange look in his eye. Sammy didn't understand it, and it really bothered him. It was like Eric, his very own friend, was some kind of weird bug, and Dean didn't like him.

Jimmy opened the door to the apartment while they were still about ten steps away, and then he just stood there in the doorway, watching them come. It was so weird, both of his big brothers watching Eric with that intent, focused look in their eyes, and Sammy looked between them, from one to the other, trying to understand. Eric hunched his shoulders up and quit walking just before the door, looking up at the older boys with big pleading eyes. Sammy didn't get it at all. It was really freaking him out now. What was going on?

Sammy was just about to stamp his foot and demand an explanation when Jimmy moved over to make room, still staring at Eric, but now making a little welcoming wave with his hand. "Come inside, Eric. Sammy's told me all about you."

Dean sniffed the air, leaning toward the apartment door. "Dude, do I smell brownies? Did you actually manage not to burn them?" As he leaned, his hand fell on Eric's shoulder, pushing him forward.

Jimmy nodded. "Of course I didn't burn the brownies. I know how much you love them. Come in, Eric. Have a brownie."

This time Sammy really did stamp his feet. "For Pete's sake, you guys, why are you being so creepy?"

It was too late, though. Eric had already been lured in through the doorway, and all hell broke loose.

Sammy really didn't understand what happened next. Dean pulled him inside and shut the door, tugging Sammy with him to stand against a wall, out of the way. Something weird was going on with Eric, something really weird, his eyes were all black and he snarled and tried to run at Jimmy, his fingernails like claws, his voice much too deep and strange to really be his.... Jimmy just stood there while Eric rushed at him, waiting, and it was like Eric hit an invisible wall in the air. He bounced back, curly brown hair flying, and he looked up at the ceiling for a second before turning back to Jimmy. He growled like an animal now and it was so weird and scary and Sammy was so confused and his breath wasn't working right and what was going on, what was going on? There were marks on the ceiling and pieces of white light coming out of Jimmy's eyes and his voice was deep and sonorous and as powerful as Dad's and Sammy didn't understand it at all.

"I knew I felt your foul taint," Jimmy said, glaring at little Eric with such force that a lightbulb next to the door burst, just popped in a fizzle of sparks and a wisp of smoke. "Come out of him immediately."

Eric howled. He sounded like the creepy werewolf in that movie that Dean wasn't supposed to let Sammy see. And Eric ran at Jimmy again and hit the wall again and Sammy couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe, his throat and chest hurt and he was so terrified he was crying without breath and it felt like the top of his head was going to fly right off.

"Oh, crap," Dean's voice murmured in his ear. He had wrapped his arm around Sammy's chest, holding him near the wall. Now he spun them, putting their backs to the room, and pulled Sammy down into his lap. "Sammy, Sammy, breathe. C'mon, dude, you gotta relax. It's okay, Castiel will take care of everything. Eric is okay, he's going to be okay. You gotta breathe, Sammy."

Sammy heard Jimmy's voice behind him, above Eric's weird, disturbing howls. Jimmy was speaking in a language Sammy didn't know, but it reminded him of Pastor Jim. The words were swift and powerful, spat out like rapid-fire bullets, and Eric sounded like that was exactly what they were, bullets pounding into him, tearing him apart. Sammy sobbed for breath and sagged against Dean's arm, trying to listen to Dean's voice instead. Dean kept talking, sounding strong and sure, like he knew exactly what was going on and it really was gonna be okay, somehow, someway.

At last Jimmy's voice rose to a crescendo, all but yelling the last words of his strange speech, and a rush of wind and darkness flooded the room. Sammy hunched over in Dean's arms, squeezing his eyes shut, and Dean pulled him close. Then it was over, but the stillness didn't seem real. Sammy sat there, gripping Dean's shirt tight in both fists, listening to the three of them pant for air.

"It's over," Jimmy said gruffly, after a few minutes of tight-strung silence.

Sammy felt Dean shift, looking over his shoulder back at their big brother. He gripped Dean even tighter and still refused to open his eyes.

"Eric?" Dean asked.

"Alive. Unconscious, though. I believe he will recover, eventually."

Dean sighed, muscles loosening everywhere except for where he still held Sammy. "That's good. And you, Castiel? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I did not use my power for this exorcism, except by accident. Your father will be displeased about the bulbs, I think."

Dean laughed shakily, clutching Sammy tight against him. "He won't care, man. He won't care one tiny bit."

As soon as he was feeling a little better, Sammy was going to demand answers about all of this. Right now, though, he just held Dean's shirt and tried not to cry.

~*~

They were going to take Eric home later, when he woke up and was feeling better. And after Daddy had a chance to check out his house and his parents, make sure that they weren't possessed by demons, too. Right now Eric was sleeping in Sam and Dean's bed, limp but uninjured.

The three Winchester boys sat on the sofa, Sammy between Jimmy and Dean. The older boys had just finished explaining...a lot. Sammy rubbed his forehead, still aching from how much crying he'd done earlier, and tried to understand.

"So... Dad hunts ghosts?"

Dean nodded. "Other stuff, too." His voice was rich with pride. "Someday I'll help him. Jimmy already does."

"I'm sorry you found out this way," Jimmy said. "But I sensed the demon inside that little boy and I had to try to save him if I could. This was the most expedient way to make that happen. Dean helped me plan it."

Sammy looked up at Jimmy, blinking slowly. "And you're an angel?"

"I am Castiel, angel of the Lord," he said.

"Angels are real?"

"Yes." Castiel met Sammy's gaze. "But Jimmy is real, too. We share the same body."

Sammy slapped his knee. "I knew it! I always knew there was something weird about you!" He grinned suddenly, wide and vindicated. "You're an angel! That explains everything."

Dean's blink was all but audible. "It...does?"

"Well, it explains a lot." Sammy leaned back between his brothers, snuggling down between them. He was still pretty freaked out by what had happened earlier, by the knowledge that there had been a demon inside his friend, possibly for the entire time he'd known him. But he was safe here, Jimmy and Castiel on his left, Dean on his right. Everything really was going to be okay.

"You gotta tell me everything now," he said. And they sighed in unison.

It was pretty freaking hilarious, actually.

"No, I mean it," Sammy said. "I'll keep bugging you until you tell me. I swear I will do it. Just get it over with now."

Heavy silence for a moment, then Castiel shifted slightly, tucking him in closer. And he began. "I will tell you as much as you can bear to hear. Some it is not meant for such young ears. But yes, I am an angel, and in 2008, I was sent to save your brother from a bad situation...."

It was the weirdest, freakiest, coolest bedtime story ever. And also the best, because it was a hundred percent true. And they were all the heroes.

End of Interlude