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“That’s not Father.” The young boy hiding behind, presumably, his mother’s legs was only stating the obvious. Sam had no idea who he appeared to be, but it wasn’t himself. He was not in his own body, his own clothes, his own house, for all he knew his own city or country. This wasn’t his family. He hoped whoever’s body he was currently in was at least somewhat prepared for this the way a hunter would be; waking up in a civilian’s life was jarring, but a civilian waking up in Sam’s life was… potentially lethal, if he pissed off Dean enough.
Sam held out his hands, kneeling to make himself less scary to the little boy. “No. I am not your father. My name is Sam, and I don’t know what’s happened to your father, but I promise you that I’ll do everything I can to get him back where he belongs.” He looked up at the woman. “Can I borrow your phone to call my brother before he does something stupid when he works out that I’m not me?”
“Of… of course,” she said faintly, pulling her cell phone out of the pocket of her jeans. “Jack, come on, why don’t we give Sam some privacy?”
Jack looked up at her, eyes huge. “Can he come join us when he’s done with the call? He’s not Father, but he feels safe. Like Father does.”
“All right, then. Sam, when you’re done talking to your brother, we’ll be through there. If Jack says you’re safe, then I believe him.” She smiled and held out a hand. “Kelly Kline, and this is my son, Jack. ‘Father’ is Emmanuel Allen, and if you could find out how he’s doing, I’m sure Jack would appreciate whatever news your brother is willing to share.” She led Jack through the door she’d indicated earlier, and Sam dialed Dean’s number.
Dean picked up. “You had better be who I think you are, because if you’re not, then you’re part of my problem. You do not want to be part of my problem.”
“Dean, it’s me. It’s the one person who actually knows your real phone number instead of one of the burners you have for social media and dating sites and witness interviews, well enough to have it memorized even without his phone instead of relying on speed dial or contacts.” Sam heard Dean’s sigh of relief and grinned. “Let me guess, your problem is a guy named Emmanuel Allen who’s wearing my body.”
“No, my problem’s a guy named Castiel Novak wearing your body. Who the hell is Emmanuel?”
Sam closed his eyes, leaning Emmanuel’s head back against the wall. “Emmanuel Allen is the guy whose body I’m wearing. I guess Emmanuel’s wearing Castiel’s body? Or… I don’t even want to think about an or.”
There was a low rumbling voice on the other end of the phone, loud enough for Sam to hear but not enough to make out anything he was saying. “Or Castiel Novak is Emmanuel Allen’s real name, which he gave me because he recognized whose body he was in and thought it best to use instead of the civilian alias he’s been living under since taking in a complicated orphan,” Dean relayed. “Least this is simple enough. We get the two of you together and pop you back into the right bodies. He says his son can do it, even.” There was another low rumble, which Dean passed along as, “He says we’re about two hours away, and it won’t freak out Kelly too much. See you in an hour and a half.”
Sam laughed softly as he hung up, as he heard the rumbling voice protesting. When he got to the room where Kelly and Jack were, Kelly was holding Jack’s hands on needles and showing him how to do something with them. Jack had his tongue poked out in concentration, so Sam just watched until Kelly looked away and noticed him. “Oh! Sorry, I didn’t see you there! What’s the word?”
“Emmanuel and Dean are about two hours away, he thinks, but the way my brother drives it’ll probably be an hour and a half. Emmanuel thinks Jack can fix this, so they’re coming here. If that’s a problem, I can call them back and let you argue with them, but…”
Kelly shook her head. “If Emmanuel thinks Jack can do it, then I trust his judgment. He would never put Jack in a situation he didn’t think he could handle. While you’re waiting, feel free to grab a book, or if you’re at all into knitting, there’s plenty of yarn and needles. I’m teaching Jack.”
“I can teach you!” Jack said, finally looking up from the row he had just completed. “Well, I can teach you to cast on, and to knit. Purling is harder and I’m still working on getting comfortable.”
Sam smiled. “I used to knit when I was a kid. It gave me something to do on long car trips, and while my dad and brother both thought it was weird, it meant we always had blankets around.” He’d leave out the stories of breaking into hobby stores to steal supplies. A lot of his stuff had actually been donated by older knitters who were charmed by the young boy who was so eager to learn from them, but there had been theft involved. With Kelly’s permission, he found a ball of yarn and chose the appropriate needles. He wouldn’t have time to do much, especially if he had to relearn a lot since he didn’t have the muscles that had the memories, but it might be nice to get back into knitting anyway.
Jack watched Sam’s clumsy fumbling with the needles with curiosity, but didn’t say anything about it. Instead, he started talking about kindergarten, telling Sam all about his friends and his teacher and the things he was learning there. By the time the doorbell rang, Sam was sorry that he was probably never going to see this kid again. He was so cute.
Kelly rolled her eyes. “Leave it to Emmanuel to ring the doorbell at his own home. It’s not because the door is locked, because I unlocked it when I went to the bathroom, he’s just… polite.” She put down her own knitting and headed for the door, returning with Dean and Sam’s body with Emmanuel.
Jack dropped his work and ran to Emmanuel. “Father!”
Emmanuel knelt to hug his son. “Hello, Jack. As you can see, Sam and I are in the wrong bodies. Can you fix this?”
“I can, but do I have to? If I fix it, then Sam goes off with his brother, and we never see him again.” His lip trembled at the thought, and Sam looked away, trying not to let it show how touched he was.
“Kelly, I don’t know if Sam told you his last name, but he’s Sam Winchester, and this is his brother, Dean. I’ve told you many stories about the Winchesters. Would you be comfortable allowing them to come visit, knowing what they are?”
Kelly’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline, but she nodded. “Sam’s been wonderful with Jack while we waited, and Jack says he feels safe. Jack, what about Dean? Does he feel safe?”
Jack pulled away from his father and walked over to Dean, looking up at him intently. “Not like Father or Sam, but yes.”
Emmanuel looked to Sam and Dean. “You two are welcome here any time you’re in the area or wish to come. Even if you’re not in the area, if you call, I can bring you here. I… can fly, so quickly that you might call it teleportation.”
“Huh.” Dean rolled his eyes. “So can I have my brother back to his normal shaggy oversized body now, kid?”
Jack started to glow golden, and then Sam was back in his body and Dean had a gun out. “Dean. Put the gun away. Don’t make Jack wrong about you and have our invitation to visit rescinded.”
“This kid is…”
“The son of Lucifer, a Nephil, and quite capable of killing you before you pull the trigger if he detects that you will,” Emmanuel interrupted. “Fortunately, he’s also a very good kid who idolizes Superman, Luke Skywalker, and Xena. He has taken Spider-Man’s uncle’s words to heart as much as Peter Parker did. He’s no more something for you to hunt than Sam is.”
“Thought you were his father,” Dean said, although he at least lowered the gun.
Sam cleared his throat. “Dean, stepfathers exist. For a kid as young as Jack, especially if the biological father was never around or horrible – which, Lucifer, I’m kind of assuming here – stepfathers can end up being a more real dad than the blood parent.”
“Exactly,” Jack said. “I never knew Lucifer, but Mom says that Castiel is my real father, and that’s good enough for me.” He stepped toward Sam, looking up. “That’s the difference. You feel like a father, Sam. Father, Mom, do you agree?”
“Jack, it’s not that easy,” Kelly said, face crimson. “He does feel like he could be, but for us humans, we don’t just… feel… the bonds that easily.”
“He could be like me, where he doesn’t form romantic or sexual relationships, too,” Emmanuel added. “If you aren’t, Sam, and you think Kelly could be a potential partner for you, then allow me to clarify that Kelly and I are very close friends and coparenting Jack, but we are not involved in an exclusive relationship. You would not be intruding on anything if you wished to pursue something of that nature with her.”
Sam ducked his head so that his hair covered his face as Dean started cackling. “Come on, Sammy, you gotta take the opportunity. You’re not gonna get her killed, not if her kid’s as dangerous as Cas says and I don’t care if they’re technically human anyone threatening Kelly deserves whatever the kid does to them. Hot girl who’s into you and not helpless monster bait, cute kid who already likes you, even a big nerd to talk lore and history with as part of the family. Don’t make me ashamed to be your big brother.”
Sam wanted to protest, but… Dean had a good point. “Kelly, I apologize for my brother’s indelicate way of putting it, but I can’t really say he’s wrong. I do want to give things a try, if you’d be willing. I should warn you…”
“The Winchesters are an inseparable package, and Dean will always come first in your life. Jack and Castiel are first in mine, no matter what happens between us, so we’re well matched that way,” Kelly said. “Castiel, will you look after Jack while Sam takes me out to dinner tonight? Unless you two have a hunt, of course.”
“No hunt. We just wrapped up the last one and were planning a few days off. Original plan was head to Chicago for a Def Leppard concert, but for this? I’m totally willing to scrap those plans.” He punched Sam’s shoulder. “Go get ‘er, tiger.”