Chapter Nine
9.)Chapter Nine
“No you do it like this.” Dean thrusts his fist in the air so Caroline can see. With her small stature and short arms, Caroline doesn’t reach nearly as far as Dean does but she learns quickly. By the look Sam is giving him, Dean isn’t sure that’s a bad thing. He pretends not to notice, though, instead taking in the thumb Caroline still sticks out.
“Look, Carrie,” he says, “You can’t go like that. You have to tuck your thumb in - like this.” He shows her his thumb-tucked fist and throws it at an invisible opponent for what has to be the tenth time. Trailing behind them, Sam snorts at the new nick name. Caroline doesn’t understand the implications of the name but thanks to his big-brother education plan, Dean knows Sam does.
“Dean,” Sam calls his name in protest and Dean rolls his eyes. They’ve walked for about ten minutes and by all means should be back at the house by now, but Dean took them through a short cut in the forest. Probably the number one mistake most kids would make but Dean’s pretty sure he can fight off anything that comes at them. Besides, he’s pretty sure nobody is home so who says its safer?
“Come on, Sammy.” Dean urges, “You’re not afraid are you?”
Sam rolls his eyes. “This place is creepy,” he says, “and anyway, we’re going to get Caroline in trouble.”
“Oh yeah,” Dean teases, “I forgot you were playing night-in-shining-armor. You remember the part where she’s five dude?” Caroline blushes as she peers between the two of the them and Dean shoots her a grin. “Besides,” he says with a wink Caroline’s way and a laugh at Sam, “there is nothing wrong with a girl who can fight.”
“Yeah,” Sam agrees sarcastically, “until she gets into it with someone bigger and stronger than her.”
Dean scoffs, “We do just fine, don’t we? Besides - look at Liz. I bet she knows how to fight.”
“That’s different,” Sam sniffs, “She’s a cop.”
Dean snorts. “You gotta make up your mind, Sammy. Older or younger - you can’t have both. Not that I blame you but dude, next time your all up in my business, I am holding this against you.”
Sam sighs. “I’m not a pervert, Dean.” He whines. “That award goes to you.”
Dean shrugs. “I’m not the one messing around with five year olds.”
Sam rolls his eyes. “Shut up, Dean.” He mutters.
“I don’t mind.” Caroline chimes in from the side. Dean grins. “You hear that, Sammy? She’s going to wait for you all chick-flick like.“ His grin broadens as he continues the teasing, “It’s the chick flick of your life.”
Sam doesn’t roll his eyes at him again, he’s preoccupied with something just beyond him. Dean frowns at the sudden change. “I’m joking, dude.” He assures Sam, “You don’t have to take everything so seriously.”
“No,” Sam says, “Do you hear that?”
Dean pauses but he doesn‘t hear a thing. He feels it, though. A rustle of the trees. The sound of wind. It isn’t natural though. He can smell a hint of cologne and something else. Something he can’t quite put his finger on. Below his feet, the browned, fallen leaves are disturbed from their resting place on the forest floor. He pulls Caroline closer to him, pushing her behind him. He can hear her swallow as she tries to figure out what’s going on. He doesn’t care that they’re probably scaring her for nothing. At least, that’s what he tells himself.
A sound erupts from the cluster of trees. Dean bends down to pull up his jeans and reaches into the insides of his socks to pull out a knife.
“Sam?” Caroline’s voice is a squeak.
“It’s fine,” Sam says, “Dean’ll take care of it.”
Dean rolls his eyes. Great, he thinks just what I need. Another little sister. Outwardly, he concentrates on the surroundings. Something blurs past them and Dean grips the knife tighter. Sam and Caroline press closer to him. Sam is smart, though. He places Caroline between them and then their backs are touching.
“It’s probably just some idiot playing a joke on us.” Dean says loudly, in case that happens to be the case. He wouldn’t put it past that idiot Logan Fells. And if it was him? He doubted Jenna was around to save him from a well deserved black eye. She might not even try if she was there.
“I don’t think idiots move that fast.” Sam points out softly. He’s wielding his own weapon now; a knife similar to Dean’s.
“Shut up, Sammy.” Dean mutters.
“I want to go home.” Caroline says, on the verge of tears.
“C’mon Carrie.” Dean says in an attempt at reassurance, “Don’t be a cry-baby.”
“Dean.” Sam’s voice is one of exasperation and Dean grunts. He loosens his stance as the forest stills again.
“I think it’s cool now.” He says, “Come on, lets get out of here.” He moves forward but doesn’t relinquish his weapon. Not even when they find their way out of the forest and back into the main streets.
Liz is waiting for them when they get back. Her arms are crossed as she leans against the frame of the kitchen’s screen door. Like she knows they had taken a short cut. Dean doesn’t know how she managed to get the call from the school, drive home, and wait in the span of twenty five minutes. Well, aside from the obvious fact that small towns have nothing to hinder busy parents. Even if they are the busy-cop types.
The air is chilly. Dean suspects that it’s more a mental thing than the mild chills of winter. His hands are stuffed in his pockets, along with the knife he’d donned just a few minutes earlier. He doesn’t duck his head the way Caroline and Sam are. He isn’t afraid of Liz. That feeling in the pit of his stomach? It has more to do with the relief of being away from the odd smell in the forest than guilt.
“Living room,” Liz says calmly. “Now.” Her anger isn’t shouted the way dads is. Her body is set the way dad’s is just before he’s about to start shouting at somebody. Dean can spot the coiled stance a mile away and he instinctively hunches away from the offending aura.
They sulk into the room in a single filed line. Liz follows them, her breathing labored and controlled. Dean finds himself stiff as he fails to fall carelessly into the couch. It billows in protest of his weight and settles as Sam takes the other end. Caroline wedges herself between them. She hiccups and Dean wants to roll his eyes at the scene she makes with her red-rimmed eyes and ducked head.
“Do you want to tell me why you’re home so early or do I have to fill in the blanks myself?”
This is her cop voice. Dean heard it in the way she talked to Roger and in the way she had talked to his father. Dean suspects that it keeps her from being anything worse than an angry mother. He isn’t sure exactly what is worse than an angry mother, but the fact that she is showing restraint now, proves that it could be much, much worse.
When nobody says anything, Liz lets out a long, exaggerated breath. “Fine.” She breathes the word, like it’s a chore. Dean isn’t sure what to say but he’s pretty sure he doesn’t actually care. It wasn’t like they did anything wrong. “I got a call from the principal at work today.” She says, “She told me there were some issues between Samuel and another student. I don’t know what kind of - stuff your father teaches you boys but in my house we do not condone fighting. Especially not the kind that gets you suspended from school.”
A couple beats pass. Dean is fully aware that he should be saying something right now, but he isn’t sure what she wants them to say. He sure as hell wasn’t sorry. Sorry his brother got caught, maybe, but not that he was defending Liz’s daughter.
“It’s Sam.” Sam says softly after the silence freezes.
“Excuse me?” Liz chews the words between her teeth.
“It’s not Samuel,” Sam explains. “It’s Sam.” He squirms beside Caroline, but he doesn’t shrink under the glare. Pride surges through Dean, breaking through the cold in his blood.
“I don’t care.” Liz snaps, “Why in the -” she cuts herself off with a deep breath. “You’re a good kid, Sam.” She says not unkindly. “I know you had a reason but there is no reason you should be getting in fights. Especially at your age. Explain this to me.”
Dean is starting to wonder if he’s just here for show. Everything seems to be on Sam. He doesn’t like it, the way Liz is talking to them - to Sam - like she’s their mother or something.
“It’s not his fault.” Caroline says between sniffs and shallow breaths.
Dean rolls his eyes. Sick and tired of the dramatics, he gives a dramatic sigh and pitches in. “Some kid called Caroline a bitch,.” He said, “Sam was just playing big-brother.”
Liz blinks at them. “Actually,” Sam corrects helpfully, “He told her you were a bitch and Caroline was too. I didn’t hit him until he hit me first because I called him a stupid bully.”
It was Dean’s turn to blink at Sam. He hadn’t heard this version and, looking at the way his brother straightened in an act of what Dean suspected was supposed to be bravery, he could tell this was the real version. Why Sam hadn’t told him this in the first place escaped Dean, and he didn’t like what it implied.
Liz heaves a sigh. “Is this true, Caroline?” She asks gently. Finally seeming to gather herself together, Caroline nods.
Liz lifts her hands to her temples. As if relieving whatever was bothering her, she lets her hands fall to the side. “If someone is calling names, the best thing to do is walk away.” She says wisely and Dean does roll his eyes at the oh-so-helpful advice. Like they hadn’t heard that a million times.
“Lets make a deal, okay? If something like this happens again, I want you to ignore him and tell me when you get home, okay?” She looks at all three of them and Dean gives a dismissive shrug.
“I wasn’t even there,” He tells her, “I just picked them up.”
Liz gives him a strained smile. “Of course you did.” She says and the pity has returned to her voice. Dean scowls at it. “Thank you,” she adds and Dean isn’t sure what to call the sound in her voice.
“No problem.” He mutters, not sure what else to say. “Can we go now?”
“Only if you promise not to take any more long short-cuts.” She tells him, “You could have been here ten minutes ago.”
“Sure.” Dean agrees, thinking of the blur in the forest, “No problem.”
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