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Chapter Text

Dean and John have been hunting this vampire coven for three weeks when the Parkers go missing. Dean doesn’t understand why John freaks out at first, but they find the body of the husband drained off all blood and despite that the coven usually only goes after ESU students, it’s clear it was the coven that did this.

They’re too late to save the wife, but not too late to save the nephew. They feed off the poor older woman, she doesn’t have much time left. The little boy has been blood let of most of his blood. He’s like a vampire bug zapper, his blood is irresistible to vamps, but poison. The coven already lost three of it’s members to biting the kid. He’s only eight or nine.

Dean hates Vamps.

He’s not old enough to be a mutant, at least from what Dean knows about mutants, John too. He’s something else. He’s human enough, though. At least Peter’s alive.

“Please, keep him safe,” are the last words of May Parker, holding onto John’s jacket like maybe, he might be able to drag her back to life.

The wails of grief from the little boy as the last member of his family slips away after so much violence makes Dean dizzy. John looks away, too. Best to let the kid have his moment alone, right?

When they hear sirens, John reminds Dean they should probably leave. Not all cops believe in vampires right off the bad, and those are definitely not SHIELD. Not that they’re exactly in perfect standing with SHIELD, either, though.

“Hey, kid,” Dean kneels next to the crying kid, still clutching the dead woman. “If you ever need help, you call me, got it? We’ll be here fast as we can to protect you. That’s what we do.”

The kid is still shellshocked, but he takes the card. John and Dean disappear before the cops get there, but not so fast that Dean misses the cops trying to cheer little Peter up with a candy and the promise that he can press the siren button on the ambulance.

“He’ll be okay,” John grunts as he drives off.

“I know…” Dean cuts himself off before he finishes the sentence. He reminds me of Sammy.

Peter has a feeling the cops wont like the men that saved him, so he gives the cops a vague enough description of his rescuers that they chalk it up to Blade and call it a day. Peter is put into foster care. Unfortunately, his foster father is none other than Skip Westcott. Peter has no one. He barely even has friends at school. So when it becomes unbearable, he calls Dean. He’s the last person in the world who promised to protect him.

Chapter Text

Chapter One

Dean doesn’t expect to get a call on this cell. He changes numbers and burners frequently. He’s only got two he keeps around, one with the number that Sammy had before he left and one for the kid from last year. He saved the kid from vamps, but none of the kid’s family. It hadn’t sat right with him that Peter had no one, so he kept the phone, because he intended to keep that promise.

“Mr. Winchester?”

“Who is… wait… Peter?” Dean asks. It’s been a year since he’d seen the kid, he’s grateful he kept the phone, but worried that it was needed so soon. “What’s going on, more vampires find you?” At least Dad isn’t here to berate Dean on letting himself get distracted from their mission.

“N… no, no vampires,” Peter said. “I just… I want to know if… if you’ll stop regular humans from hurting me too. You said I could call you. I don’t… I don’t really have anyone else after Aunt May… I…”

“You’re in foster care?”

There’s silence, and then Peter says meekly, “Yeah. My foster dad… Skip, he… he…” Peter can’t finish the sentence.

“Is he hitting you?”

“No, he… he’s nice,” Peter corrects, his voice still shaking. “He doesn’t hit me or call me names and he feeds me as much as I want and he even helps me with my homework and he buys me action figures and stuff. It’s… it’s supposed to be nice but…”

“Peter, tell me what’s bothering you. Do you think he’s some kind of monster? You can trust your instincts, alright, I can look into it…”

“No, he’s human,” Peter said. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t bother you. You’re probably busy doing something important like saving people’s lives who’re actually in danger and I’m being silly and it’s really not that bad it just makes me uncomfortable, that’s all. I…”

“Kid, considering the circumstances that I gave you my number… something is wrong. Tell me, even if it feels silly, alright?” Dean can’t help but hear Sammy’s voice behind Peter’s stammering.

It’s like a dam breaks, and suddenly Peter’s talking without taking a breath, “Sometimes Skip comes into my room and he says he wants to play a bedtime game with me, but… I know it’s wrong and I should stop him but it makes me so scared and then I feel so awful and dirty after and I want to take a shower but he took the bathroom door off and the shower doesn’t have a curtain and he watches me in the shower and it makes me feel even worse.” Peter stops talking, and then Dean hears a broken sob. “It started as… as a one-time thing and then it happened again and now it’s happening multiple times a day. I don’t want him inside me anymore but he doesn’t listen when I ask him to stop and I… I should be strong enough to protect myself but I can’t make him get off me… please, I don’t know what else to do.”

“Hey, hey, kid, it’s okay.”

“I’m sorry, you probably don’t want to hear all that, it’s gross…”

“Yeah, it’s…” Dean’s voice catches in his throat. He already had a suspicion, when Peter said that this ‘Skip’ guy was ‘nice’, but he was still shaken up. He feels like he’s going to throw up. “It’s not your fault, kiddo. I promise. Is there another adult you can talk to? A teacher, one of your friend’s parents?”

“Skip told the social worker that I was too traumatized after the vampires to do well in a school setting so he’s homeschooling me. I’ve never had any friends so… no parents, no teachers. I already told the social worker and she scolded me because she said that Skip was a nice foster dad and that I should hear what some of the other foster parents are doing to their kids. She said I should be grateful it was just this and that Skip was being gentle. She… she said it was either Skip or… or mutant lock up because I’m a freak. I… I don’t want to get experimented on anymore but this… I can’t do this either.”

Dean was going to need to dig two graves then, “What’s your address.”

Peter hesitates and then quietly, he lists his address and apartment number, “It’s on the top floor.”

“Great, pack a bag, I need to make some calls.”

“Won’t Skip… oh, no,” Peter’s voice catches.

“What is it?”

“He’s back from the bodega,” Peter whispered. “He doesn’t know I have this phone, I’m not supposed to…”

Dean hears a voice call out, faint over the phone speaker, “Hey, Einstein, I got your favorite sandwich!”

“No, no, please,” Peter’s voice caught, developing into sobs and hiccups. “I… please hurry, I don’t… please.”

“Peter, I’ll be there soon, I promise. I won’t let him hurt you anymore. You’re gonna be safe, just hold on a little longer!”

The line goes dead and Dean curses. He’s already speeding down the highway, haphazardly dialing Bobby.

“Dean?”

“Yeah, hey, Bobby, no time to explain. Can you… disappear a kid from foster care?”

“Excuse me?”

“Peter Benjamin Parker. Ten years old. Mutant or something, but… not human, not entirely. I need him out of the system, ASAP.”

“That doesn’t sound easy, but I have a contact or two in SHIELD that might help. You want him in SHEILD custody…”

“No, no governments. Just us. If he was a mutant, Dad and I would ‘a brought him to Xavier last year. Jesus, we should ’a brought him anyway, mutant or not. Dammit. God, Bobby, I just need to know he’s with good people and I… I don’t know who I can trust with him right now.”

“What’s going on?”

“I gave him my number for emergencies,” Dean said. “Not… not all monsters aren’t human.”

Bobby gets the hint, “Dammit. I’ll make some calls. Do you want me to take him?”

“I… I’ll take him,” Dean said. “He’s gotta trust me, doesn’t he? I’m the person he called for help. I doubt he’s going to trust anyone new for a while and… I’m a little busy right now. I was going to head to California, it’s time sensitive, I think.”

“You sure the kind of instability you grew up with is right for a kid that’s this vulnerable. A not-quite-mutant, not-quite-human kid, at that?”

“I don’t know,” Dean said. “It’s the best I can think of.”

“Well, soon as yer done with whatever it is you’re doing, you can move up here. Give that kid stability. He’s going to need all he can get.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m going in with the fake shield ID you gave me last year.”

“It’s not fake.”

“What?”

“Figured I aughta tell ya,” Bobby laughed. “Now’s as good a time as any. Those SHIELD badges you and your daddy got ain’t fake.”

“Shit, do I get paid?”

“It’s complicated. Just know… if he really ain’t human, as long as I make the right calls, you removing the kid from his current guardian is technically legal.”

“Awesome,” Dean said.

“Technically,” Bobby repeats. “How far out are you?”

“Three, maybe four hours. Wish it was less. That’s a lot a time for him to get hurt.”

“That’ll be enough time for me. Call me when you have him.”

“Will do.”

Dean pulls up to an old brownstone apartment building in Queens. It looks normal. It is normal. He feels sick. He knows he probably shouldn’t, but he grabs the pistol from the glovebox and shoves it in his jeans, hidden by the back of his jacket. He also grabs the SHIELD badge.

He ran up the stairs four at a time, Peter lived on the top floor and it was a six story building. He slammed his fist on the door and got no response. Shit.

“SHIELD! Open up!”

“Shit!” He hears a muffled curse and then something else he can’t quite identify. “I…”

The man that opens the door is average height, bleach blond, and young. Maybe only a few years older than Dean. He might have been handsome, if Dean didn’t know what he was.

“Don’t you need a warrant?” He’s still struggling to button his pants, and he still has a bulge. Dean sees red.

“Not if I suspect a crime is happening,” Dean pulls the gun.

Skip turns pale for a moment, and then looks deeper into the apartment, “I wasn’t doing anything.”

“Open the door or I open on you,” Dean snarls.

“Whoa! Man! I… technically… he’s not human, so it doesn’t count!”

Dean kneecaps him. Skip screams in agony and collapses to the floor, clutching the gunshot wound. Dean misses the artery, which he supposes is good. He wanted to put a bullet in his brain, but he’s already on so many watchlists, he’d rather not kill a human and see just how much SHIELD will actually turn a blind eye.

“HOLY SHIT!” Skip screams, collapsing to the floor.

“You’ll live,” Dean kicked the door in.

Skip screams some more when the door swings open and slams into his leg.

“Where’s Peter?”

Skip can’t answer, only scream. Dean shoves past him and takes stock of the apartment. It’s one of the older buildings, railroad layout, one room after the other. The bathroom really doesn’t have a door. Dean finds Peter in the last room, sobbing under the blanket in the full-size bed in what’s supposed to be Skip’s room, but Peter’s room doesn’t look lived in. The twin bed didn’t have any sheets or pillows on it.

“Hey, hey,” Dean kneels down at the edge of the bed. He wants to reach out and brush the sweat-soaked hair away from Peter’s eyes, but he doesn’t think Peter would appreciate being touched right now. “I’m here.”

“You came,” Peter manages through the sobbing. “I… I heard a gunshot.”

“Yeah, I… got a little excited,” Dean admits. “I’m sure someone already called 911, so we gotta book it, okay?”

“Is he dead?”

“Nah, didn’t want that much heat. He’s not gonna be chasing after us, though, that’s for sure.”

Dean feels immense satisfaction when he hears Skip groan in pain some more.

“I’m not… I’m not decent under the covers.”

Dean nods, “Did you pack a bag?”

“It’s under my old bed.”

The world ‘old’ in this context makes Dean’s heart clench, “I’ll go grab it. Do you have cloths in here or should I bring you some from your bag?”

“I hid them under the pillow, it’s okay,” Peter sniffles.

Dean nods and leaves, “You come back into the kitchen when you’re ready, I’ll be waiting, okay?”

“Okay.”

Peter wipes the tears from his face and Dean can feel Peter’s eyes boring into the back of his head as he leaves to grab Peter’s bag. He looks around the room a little more carefully, now that he knows Peter is alive, even if he’s definitely not okay. There’s science posters, action figures of old superheroes from WWII and He-Man, stuffed toys, a bunch of science books, and a picture of Peter and Skip at Coney Island from last year. Peter looks haggard in the picture, he was still recovering from the bloodletting that the vamps put him through and likely wrestling with the grief of losing his parents or… his aunt and uncle? Dean’s pretty sure that he’d already been an orphan before the vamps found him. Poor kid’s been through hell. He looks even worse now that he does in the picture. That must have been before Skip started abusing him. There’s no toys in the bag that Peter packed. Only toiletries, a few changes of clothes, pajamas, and some books.

“I’m ready,” Peter practically snuck up on him.

“You don’t want any of this stuff?” Dean asks.

“No, the books I packed are from Aunt May and Uncle Ben,” Peter said. “Everything else is… I don’t want it.”

Dean nods, “Fair enough.”

Peter squares his shoulders like he’s not barely ten years old. Dean can watch him push down whatever awful feelings he must be feeling and he looks up at Dean like there isn’t a monster of a man rolling around in pain in the room over.

“So, you still got the cool car?”

“Oh, you bet I do.”

“Can I have shotgun?”

“If you can beat me down the stairs,” Dean teases. He looks like he needs to be treated like a normal kid, so Dean decides to momentarily pretend the kid is just Sam but smaller.

Peter smiles a forced smile and bolts for the door. Dean follows, hesitating when he passes Skip, and, for fun, kicks the man in the nuts on his way out. It feels incredible.

Peter is already standing by the passenger seat, jiggling the handle of the passenger door impatiently, “Let me in!” He jokes.

“Alright, princess, just let me get your bag in the back first,” Dean laughs, ruffling Peter’s hair before he can realize this isn’t Sam, he shouldn’t touch Peter.

But Peter doesn’t flinch. Peter gives him a toothy smile and laughs.

Chapter Text

Chapter Two

Peter doesn’t talk much once they’re in the car. It was probably exhausting keeping that forced façade up for the minutes he did. Dean doesn’t blame him. He never went through anything this horrific, but he certainly didn’t feel like an innocent kid by the time he was ten. They listen to Dean’s cassette tapes without talking.

Peter breaks the silence, “Are we gonna talk about what happened today?”

“Do you want to?” Dean asks.

“Not really.”

“Then we’re not gonna talk about it.”

“Good.”

Dean’s relieved that’s all they said about the matter. He really, really doesn’t want to talk about this shit. It’s a whole new can of worms that he’s not familiar with. He’s heard about it, of course he has. When he was at Sonny’s, there were boys that had been through this. Honestly, he’d be more than happy to take Peter to Sonny’s, but you need a special license to foster mutants and non-human but still sentient humanoids and last he checked, Sonny doesn’t have it. Maybe he can talk Sonny into getting it.

“Where are we going?”

“California,” Dean said. “I need to talk to my brother about something and he’s not answering his phone so I’m gonna make him talk.”

“Cool.” Peter nodded. “I wish I had a little brother. I used to ask Aunt May and Uncle Ben for one but… they always said there wasn’t anything they could do about it.”

“Little brothers are pretty great,” Dean said. He should probably say something along the lines of ‘would you settle for an older brother, I’m not half bad. Aside that Sammy’s ignoring me right now’, but that felt too mushy, so he didn’t.

“I’ve never left the city before. Not since…” Peter inhales sharply. Dean and John had rescued Peter north of NYC. They barely had to step foot in the City to find the vamp hole they’d found him in. “Not before then and not after, either.”

Dean nods.

“W… where’s Mr. Winchester? Your dad.”

“No clue,” Dean said. “That’s what we’re going to see Sam about.”

“Okay,” Peter said. “Am I allowed to call you Dean?”

“Prefer it,” Dean said.

Peter nods, “Do I have to tell you about my powers?”

“All I know is that your blood is toxic to vamps,” Dean said. “Unless you eat people ‘n wear their skin as a jacket or somethin’, I’m not concerned about it.”

“Well, I don’t eat people,” Peter said. “And… human jackets sound disgusting.” Dean probably shouldn’t have said that to a little kid. Whoops.

“You tell me if you want. It’s your business.”

“Cool,” Peter nods. “Did you just kidnap me?”

“Nope,” Dean pops the p. “I got SHIELD clearance. Guess I’m technically your new legal guardian. You cool with that?”

“I’m cool with that.”

“I promise I’m not going to hurt you in any way, got it? My job is to protect you and I take that extremely seriously.”

“I believe you.”

“Just like that?”

Peter nods, “I… I have a danger sense.” Peter admits. “I’d know if you were gonna hurt me and… and I’ve also got super strength. I’m not gonna let that happen to me again. I don’t… I don’t know why I let him touch me. But it won’t happen again. I won’t let it.”

“Good,” Dean nodded. “Makes my job easier knowing you can protect yourself when I’m not looking directly at you.”

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t doing such a good job,” Peter mumbled.

“You ever hear about fight or flight?”

Peter nods.

“Well, there’s two more, Sam told me about it a few years ago. Fawn and freeze. I don’t really know what baby deer got to do with it, but freeze, I’ve seen loads of people freeze when logically, they should run or shoot.”

Peter shrugged, “Usually I move out of the way of danger.”

“Sure, if a vamp comes flying at you, I bet that danger sense thing tells you to move. But he wasn’t throwing a punch that you could dodge or anything. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t doing something horrible and scary, just means that you couldn’t figure out what you were supposed to dodge, so you froze. That’s all I’m trying to say. Ducking under a punch is one thing. What he was doing…” Dean shook his head. “You did nothing wrong, Pete, lets just… leave it at that.”

“We weren’t going to talk about it,” Peter mumbled. “Sorry.”

“Yeah, guess we didn’t go with that plan, did we?” Dean sighed. “I just need you to know you did nothing wrong and you’re not… broken or anything.”

 “So… you work for SHIELD?”

“I have no idea,” Dean admits. “Dad was the one who handled all that. The badge is legit, that’s all I know.”

“Are we gonna sleep in the car tonight?”

Dean shakes his head, “There’s motels all over the place, once it starts getting dark, we’ll get dinner at the first diner we see, then find a motel with two vacant rooms.”

“Two?”

“I figured you’d like to sleep alone in a room that locks tonight.”

“Oh,” Peter said, frowning. “Yeah, that sounds awesome. Thank you.”

Peter loved the diner. He asks for the whole cherry pie when the nice waitress asked if they wanted dessert, but he settled for two slices. Dean figured he deserved it. Peter spent the whole dinner rambling about some science paper he read yesterday. Sam was gonna love this kid. Everything the kid was saying went right over Dean’s head. He could probably get plopped in a college class and understand more than the professor. Dean feels a quick wave of nausea when he realizes why Skip called Peter ‘Einstein’.

He couldn’t wrap his head around anyone looking at this smiling little boy who was shoving his face with pie while rattling off fifty-some-odd digits of pi just for fun, and then do what Skip did. He couldn’t imagine it about any kid, really, but this kid? He was so… innocent and smart and Dean could only fathom wanting to protect him from harm, like he did with Sammy.

When they get to a motel, Dean is relieved that they’re able to get connected rooms. He calls Bobby the moment that Peter’s settled in his room. Peter practically shoves Dean out, he’s so excited about finally having a door on the bathroom again. He promises he won’t use up all the hot water, but Dean can tell Peter takes that as a challenge.

Once he’s in his own room, he dials Bobby, “Hey.”

“You got him?”

“Yeah, I got him. We’re in Pennsylvania already. I’m headed to Palo Alto to see Sammy.”

“Good,” Bobby grunts. “I called Coulson, my SHIELD contact. He pulled all the necessary strings. You are officially Peter’s legal guardian. Not even foster, since bringing him across state lines would ’a been illegal and put you on a list you really don’t want to be on.”

“And the bastard?”

“SHIELD’s disappeared him,” Bobby grunts, sounding pleased. “Turns out the kid… he’s a SHIELD brat.”

“Really?”

“You might remember Richard and Mary Parker. You would ’a been the kid’s age, though, so maybe not. They worked with SHIELD. Your daddy helped them with a case in Idaho. Demon. Nasty stuff. He might not have told you about that one, back then.”

“No, I… don’t remember that,” Dean admitted. “He didn’t start talking about the actual hunts until I was a few years older.”

“Honestly, I’m glad we know who his parents are,” Bobby grunted. “Kid that’s like a Venus fly trap for vamps is more likely to be something that eats people than a mutant. Mutants and monsters don’t usually overlap like that.”

“Dad tested him with silver and iron and a few other wards when we found him. We’re sure he’s human. At the very least, he’s not a creepy crawly. I could do the tests again, but I doubt much has changed with him since then. Other than…”

“I know,” Bobby agreed, leaving the heavy feeling in the air alone. “SHIELD is happy we’re looking out for the kid. He fell through the cracks, from the looks of it.”

“That’s unusual for a kid with powers whose parents were agents.”

“SHIELD is unaware he’s got powers,” Bobby said. “I beat around the bush with it when talking to Coulson, but he didn’t let on and I know him. He would ‘a, if he new. We gotta way of communicating around classified information. I’m suspicious a’ that, not gonna lie. There might be something there, but that’s not the priority. How’s he doing?”

“Fine,” Dean said. “Good. He’s got his own room.”

“Good to know you’re not as big of an idjit as I think you are,” Bobby laughs.

“Thanks, Bobby,” Dean chuckles.

“He’s not ten, by the way. He’s nine. Had his birthday a few weeks ago. Coulson faxed me his file.”

“He looks older,” Dean’s voice is quiet. “He acts older.”

“Of course he does, ya idjit.” Bobby snaps. Then he sighs deeply, “He’s too young for this shit, Dean.”

“I know,” Dean said. “I’m not going to do any hunting until I make it to Palo Alto and I can leave him with Sam or something. Not that… Sam’s 22, it won’t be like Dad leaving me in charge of Sammy when I was eight, so I doubt he’ll bitch about it. Besides, the kid’s a complete nerd, Bobby. And I bet he’s a super genius, too. Sammy’s gonna love spending time with him.”

“He’s either doing fine or he’s really good at hiding it.”

“It’s the second one, Dean,” Bobby said. “It’s the second one for all of us.”

“Not me, I’m great,” Dean said.

“Sure, ya idjit. Keep me updated.”

“I will.”

“You better.”

“I will!”

“I will not have you taking after your daddy, got it?”

“What’s wrong with that? What does that even mean? Dad’s the best dad I could ’a…”

“Shut up,” Bobby sighs. “Just keep me updated.”

“Promise,” Dean said.

He leaves the key to the joint door with Peter and then pretty much passes out to the sound of trashy TV. He’s woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of Peter screaming in the other room. He’s up on his feet and knocking on the shared door in an instant.

“Peter! Kid, you alive?”

“Yes,” Peter’s voice is shaking again, like it had been over the phone, when he wasn’t sure that Dean would really come and save him. “Nightmare. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Dean says through the door. “I just need to know you’re not being kidnapped or something.”

“I’m okay. Sorry for waking you up.”

“Water under the bridge kid. Just… try and get back to sleep, okay? If you can’t… you can sleep in the car tomorrow if you’re tired, alright?”

“Thank you,” Peter said. “I’m going to sleep now.”

“Good, see you in the morning?”

“Okay.”

They don’t talk about Peter’s nightmare in the morning. They go back to the diner again for breakfast. Peter wanted more pie. Dean wanted more, too, so there was no argument. Despite them only really knowing each other for less than twenty-four hours, when the waitress, same one as yesterday, makes a comment on Peter looking just like his dad and how cute that was, neither of them see the point in spending energy correct her. They’re never gonna see her again. And, bonus, it softens her up for Dean to flirt with her. Peter makes a face, but he laughs when Dean teases him about it. It’s a nice laugh; the kind Dean always tried to get out of Sam after Sam had a nightmare.

The road trip keeps on in the same rhythm. They spend eight to ten hours in the car a day, stopping for meals and to stretch their legs. Dean doesn’t talk much; he doesn’t have much to say. Peter alternates between blabbing about science, watching the country change through the window, and sleeping with his face pressed against the glass. Peter wakes up screaming pretty much every night. Only the first night didn’t seem to be about the vamps, since the next three nights, he wakes up screaming for his aunt or his uncle. Dean listened to him cry himself back to sleep through the shared door of various motel rooms.

He doesn’t know why it hurts so much to know that no matter how hard he tries, he’ll never be able to replace what Peter has lost. He was supposed to save people, but he’d been too late to save Peter before the worst happened. This is what probably happened to everyone they saved just in the nick of time. It’s what happened to him and Sammy after that thing got Mom. It shouldn’t make him feel bad, that’s only logical. Dad would scold him for being stupid, probably.

He can’t imagine what Sam would say if Dean told him, mostly because he doesn’t like thinking about how sappy Sam can get.

They drive through Tahoe and Dean wonders what he thinks he’s doing with a kid that’s this traumatized. Peter’s only nine. He’s only nine and his parents were murdered when he was six, the same age Dean was when his mom died, and he watched his aunt and uncle get murdered by vamps just two years later. No brothers or sisters, no grandparents, no cousins, no living aunts or uncles, he was only nine years old, everyone he loved is dead, and he’d already been through a hell Dean didn’t even want to imagine.

He wasn’t cut out for this.

He needed Dad back. At the very least, he needed Sam back. He couldn’t do this alone.

But he’s only had Peter for a little less than a week and he already can’t stand the idea of him being out of his sight. Even if he could convince Sonny to get the proper qualifications to take the kid in, and he knows that won’t be hard, he doesn’t want to. He’d have to leave Peter behind.

That night, Dean knows he made the right decision making a B-Line for Sammy. Dad left him a voicemail. He missed the call because Peter said he wanted to go on a hike to get a better look at the lake.

“Is that bad?” Peter asked.

“Excuse me, this is a work-related voice mail, not for nosy like kids,” Dean ruffled Peter’s hair.

“Well, it sounded bad,” Peter said. “That was your dad?”

“Yeah,” Dean said. “Get in the car, I need to be in Palo Alto ASAP.”

“Can I see the ocean?” Peter asked. “I wanna dunk on it because the Atlantic is better.”

Dean laughed, “Sure, kid maybe tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Three

Dean left Peter in the motel. He didn’t want to, but by the time they got to Palo Alto, it was nearly ten.

“You know how to use this?” Dean handed Peter a big hunting knife.

“What!?” Peter inhaled sharply.

“This is a cheap motel in not the best neighborhood, kid, you need to keep yourself safe.”

“Uncle Ben used to say that carrying a weapon just added a weapon to an already bad situation,” Peter said.

“Your Uncle Ben used to say a lot of stuff.”

“Yeah, ‘cause he’s the best,” Peter said quietly.

“Well, it’s not like I can give a nine-year-old a gun and just leave you alone,” Dean sighed. “But I don’t like the idea of leaving you unarmed.”

“I don’t need it,” Peter added. “I’m really strong, remember? I got two guns, right here!” Peter flexed.

Dean laughed, “Yeah?”

“You don’t believe me,” Peter said.

“Those are noodle arms, kid. Take the knife.”

Peter walked over to where the Impala was parked, knelt down, and lifted the car up by the hitch in the back.

“Whoa! Whoa!” Dean shouted in alarm. “Easy on Baby!”

Peter gently places the car back down, “Gonna say I’m not strong enough to protect myself now?”

“Holy shit,” Dean said. “How’d you learn how to do that?”

Peter shrugged, “I’m a freak, remember?”

“You’re not a freak,” Dean sighed. “My job… you gotta learn how to tell the difference.”

“Can… can I be a hero like Captain America?”

Dean laughed, “Sure kid, but you gotta grow up, first.”

“I already feel too grown up,” Peter sighed.

“I know,” Dean said. “But you don’t have to worry about that when you’re with me. I protect kids, remember? And you’re my kid now, so you’re top of that list.”

Peter nodded.

“If you won’t take this one, how about…” Dean fished in his pocket and pulled out his key ring, meticulously removing the swiss army knife his dad gave him for his tenth birthday. “This has a knife, but it’s also a tool. Is this more acceptable to you?”

Peter took it gingerly, holding it in his hands and insepcitng it, “Uncle Ben… used to have one exactly like this one. He said he never went anywhere without it.”

“Well, this one’s yours now.”

“What about you?”

“I got the big knife, still,” Dean ruffled his hair.

“But what if you need a screwdriver or scissors or…”

“I’ll be okay,” Dean said. “Okay, I’m going to go… do some business with my brother. You stay here, tonight, alright?”

Peter nodded, “Please… come back when you’re done?”

“I’ll be back in a few days, tops, promise. You’ll be asleep the whole time and the motel even has breakfast, so you won’t need to leave for food, alright?”

Peter nodded.

“Do not leave without me, you have my number.”

“Okay.”

Sam had a girlfriend. A really hot girlfriend. A really hot girlfriend who could probably babysit. That was responsible, wasn’t it? Having an adult look after a kid instead of leaving him alone in a motel room. Dean’s got this. He already knew better than to give the kid a gun, right? He was nailing this. Look how Sammy turned out, with his college degree and his hot girlfriend. Dean was a pro at raising nerds.

“Babysit?” Sam sputtered.

“You didn’t tell me you have a nephew,” Hot Babe… Jessica. Her name is Jessica. Dean’s responsible for a kid again, he can’t make the same mistakes he used to make as a teenager, when it was him and Sammy and Dad was on a hunt.

“Yeah, his name’s Peter. Real quiet kid, you’ll hardly notice he’s there.”

“How old is Peter? He can’t be more than one…”

“He’s nine,” Dean said.

Sam raised an eyebrow and said, “I don’t remember you having a girlfriend at sixteen.”

“What? Yes, I did,” Dean said. “Guy like me, it’s not hard to get a girlfriend.” He smiled at Jessica and she rolled her eyes. Sam looked ready to punch him. Nice. “But no, he’s not… he didn’t have anyone else and he needed to get out of a bad situation so I took him in.”

“With your… lifestyle?” Sam hissed under his breath.

“I did alright with you,” Dean said.

“Oh, yeah, and you’ve got a great example with how Dad raised us.”

“Dad did his best,” Dean snapped.

“Dean, you’re practically homeless, you live out of your car. Did you kidnap him?”

“No, I didn’t kidnap him. I went through some… expedited legal channels. This isn’t a kidnapping! Besides, it’s not homeless if he’s got a roof over his head!”

“Look, Dean…”

“I get it, Sammy. Leaving him alone in a motel so I get some work done, living out of the trunk of the Impala, it’s not the world’s greatest childhood, I get that technically it means he doesn’t have a house, but we turned out alright. And look, I’m making an effort, okay? Dad needs us to remind him to wrap up that hunting trip of his…”

“This isn’t about…”

“One day, maybe two, and we’ll be out of your hair once we find Dad, okay?”

Sam sighed.

“I’ll babysit,” Jessica said. “It’ll be great. You know I want to teach high school history.”

Sam pinched his nose in frustration.

“It’s great practice for kid wrangling,” Dean grinned.

“I want to get to know your family, Sam,” Jessica said, squeezing Sam’s hand.

“I don’t even know this Peter kid,” Sam sighed in exasperation.

Peter was apprehensive. Dean said he’d get to be alone for a few days, which honestly sounded like heaven. He pretty much cleared the vending machine with the wad of ones and fives that Dean left him with and found a Star Trek marathon on the TV and was ready for a one-man party. He’d even picked out the pizza place he was gonna call when he started getting bored of chips and hostess desserts.

“She’s cool?”

“Totally,” Dean said. “Sammy wouldn’t date someone who’s uncool.”

Peter was still skeptical. Skip was nice, too, until he wasn’t. Peter knew he could trust Dean. At least, he convinced himself that a guy like Skip wouldn’t risk his life saving old ladies and little kids from vampires and werewolves and whatever else was out there, eating people. Jessica being nice didn’t mean she wasn’t secretly…

Peter took a deep breath. He could lift a van and every inch he grew, every pound he put on, he could lift another twenty pounds. If Jessica wasn’t cool, Peter wouldn’t let her get close to him like Skip had.

“And you can call me if something happens and we’ll drop everything and come get you, just like last time, okay?”

Peter nodded, taking a deep breath, and finally, “Okay.”

Jessica was cool. She smiled a lot, real smiles. Not at all like Skip’s fake smiles that make Peter’s hair stand on end. She didn’t touch him at all, not even a hand on the shoulder or a pat on the back or ruffling his hair. Just the handshake when Dean passed him off to her.

Sam gave Peter a weary look. Peter had a feeling he could tell that he was different, wrong. If he was like Dean and Mr. Winchester, that made sense. Peter was sure that Dean would explain everything to Sam. Or maybe he wouldn’t. Dean didn’t talk a lot. Well, he talked, but he was really good at talking without saying anything.

Peter already felt on edge without Dean around. It really hadn’t taken him long to get used to his protective presence.

“So, you have any favorite shows you like to watch?” Jessica asked.

Peter shrugged, “I used to watch the Sci-Fi channel with my Uncle Ben. He was murdered.”

“I’m sorry, Peter, that must have been really hard.”

“I watched. Then they killed my aunt, but slower.”

“Incredibly hard,” Jessica corrected.

“Yeah, I guess. It was a year ago. I’m over it.”

“Oh, of course,” Jessica nodded, but she was frowning. “A year is more than enough time, isn’t it?”

Peter shrugged, “Must be, because I’m fine now.”

“Well, we should do something.”

“Can… we go to the ocean?”

“You want to make a day trip out of it?”

“How far is the ocean?”

“Well, we could go to Santa Cruz and hang out at the boardwalk where it’s loud and crowded and there’s a much of annoying kids all over the place.”

“Oh, I can’t stand kids.”

“Me, neither,” Jessica teased, clearly joking. “So instead, we can drive down 84, then up the coast to this little town called Half Moon Bay. It’s got the best beaches, hardly crowded at all.”

“That sounds good.”

“And on the way back, we can get some Round Table Pizza. It’s the best pizza you’ve ever had.”

“Lady, I’m from Queens,” Peter said. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

Jessica laughed.

The beach was really nice. Jessica talked a lot. Peter didn’t feel like talking. She told him about Sam, about college, about her family and her sister who lived in Seattle and was miserable. She grew up here, in Half Moon Bay. It was 65 and partially cloudy and the ocean was beautiful. It wasn’t anything like where Peter grew up, but it was peaceful. Jessica told him that it was this weather, all year round. Peter doubted it.

“What about seasons?”

“Well, if you want winter, you drive north, if you want summer you drive south or east,” she said.

Peter raised an eyebrow at her.

“I’m serious!”

“That’s not how seasons work.”

“Welcome to California, Peter,” Jessica teased.

They spent almost the whole day on the beach, but Jessica took him to a caboose in a parking lot and got him a really amazing burger and a cup of clam chowder. Then they went to the harbor and got ice cream from a window and looked at the fish and the crabs. Peter was exhausted when they got back. Jessica turned on the Discovery Channel and ordered a pizza.

“They don’t deliver, so you’ll be okay by yourself for half an hour, right, Peter?”

Peter shrugged, watching the commercials.

Jessica got back with a pizza and ingredients for cookies, “I thought we could bake some cookies for when Sam and Dean get back.”

“Pizza and chocolate chips?” Peter snorted.

“Well, we’re not supposed to eat the batter,” she laughed.

“Lady, you’ve been making cookies wrong.”

“Well, little man, why don’t you show me how it’s done, then?”

Peter really liked Jessica. She made Peter feel normal, like he could be normal, despite everything he’d been through. Halfway through the pizza and while they were scooping the dough into balls, Peter realized that he was actually happy. For the first time since losing Aunt May and Uncle Ben, he was really happy. It only took a day for her to help him.

“I know why Sam likes you,” Peter says.

“Oh?”

“You’re like… if sunshine was a person.”

“Aw, thank you, Peter. I like you a lot too. Hey, maybe someday you can call me Aunt Jessica.”

Peter smiled, “Sam would be an idiot otherwise.”

Sam and Dean pulled up to the apartment the next night. Peter and Jessica went to Blockbuster that morning and picked out the goofiest-looking monster movies they could find and had a marathon of as many as they could fit in one day. They got nearly one of everything at a Chinese restaurant for food for the whole day. It was awesome.

Then Sam and Dean came up.

“Whoa, you had a party without us?”

“Not our fault you had to do boring work stuff,” Peter laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, alright, you goober,” Dean laughed. “How was he?”

“He’s an angel,” Jessica told him.

“No, you,” Peter laughed. He actually hugged Jessica. He didn’t know why. He hadn’t hugged anyone since Aunt May and Uncle Ben. And Dean didn’t seem like the type for hugging. Dean told him he didn’t like ‘chick flick’ stuff, but promised not to yell if Peter cried.

“Look, Dean, I know you want to get to Colorado as fast as you can, but maybe stay the night?” Sam said. “Please?”

“Dad needs…”

“Please?” Peter asked and Dean frowned.

“We made cookies,” Jessica said.

So far Peter had asked him for two things. First, to save him, which Dean did without hesitation, and the second was for a pie at any place they went that served it, which Dean also did without hesitation. Both things were things Dean always did without hesitation, but maybe there was something else to it, because this wasn’t something he usually did, and yet he found himself unable to resist the puppy eyes of both Sam and Peter.

“Fine, but we’re headed out in the morning,” Dean sighed.

“I’m going to get in my PJs,” Jessica said.

Peter was about to start drilling Sam on when he was gonna put a ring on it. He had a whole quip planned to where he was gonna threaten Sam that if he didn’t, Peter would, which was hilarious because obviously he wouldn’t, he was nine, but the moment the door of the bedroom closed behind Jessica, Peter’s Spider-Sense went insane.

“Jessica!” Peter sprung up and over the couch, leaping to the door in a single bound, slamming the door off its hinges.

He heard Sam and Dean shouting in surprise and running after him, but Peter was moving entirely on instinct. Jessica screamed, there was a man standing in the dark corner of the room, he lifted his hand up, towards Jessica, and she flew to the ceiling. Peter didn’t hesitate, jumping up after her, wrapping his arms around her, and pulling. She was stuck, a little, but that was no match for Peter’s strength, even with how young he is still. Dean burst over the now askew door, hanging only from the bottom hinge, gun drawn, and fired on the figure in the corner, hitting him several times, but the figure only jerked, then stepped into the light.

“Brady!?” Sam gasped.

Jessica was bleeding, Peter realized. He put pressure on it.

“Shit, man, where’d this goddamn kid come from!?” The figure, Brady, snapped. “He wasn’t part of the plan, man.”

“What are you!?” Dean shouted.

“Shut up, I’m thinking,” Brady snapped. “Hey, kid, what are you.”

“Don’t talk to him,” Dean snarled, guttural and threatening.

Brady looked directly at Peter, and Peter looked back, wide-eyed.

“Oh, shit, you’re that spider-brat Mephisto’s scared of. Damn. Okay… that… complicates things.”

Peter felt nauseous.

“I told you to shut up,” Dean snapped.

How did he know about the spider? No one knew about the spider, not even Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Not the vampires that kidnapped him. Not even the social worker or Skip or Dean, who all knew he had powers. They didn’t know what the powers were. Well, Dean knew the most, but super strength and danger sense could be anything. Who would jump to radioactive spider from that? Oh, right, he stuck to the ceiling. He probably shouldn’t have done that. But, what else was he supposed to do? He had to save Jessica.

“Sam?” Jessica coughed. She didn’t cough blood but she didn’t look well. She was getting pale. That was bad.

Peter was going to be sick. Why do all the best and most kind and happiest people around him drop dead? No, don’t think like that, she’s okay. She’ll be okay.

“Hey, hey,” Sam knelt by them. “It’s okay, Jess, I’m here. You’re gonna be okay.”

“My boss put a hit on this dumb bitch,” Brady snapped. “I’m gonna be in deep shit if this doesn’t work.”

Dean shot him again. No effect.

“It didn’t work the first five times, bucko,” Brady snapped. “What makes you think it’ll work this time? Are you dense, or is that the only problem-solving skill you have?”

“I may not be able to kill you right now, but I sure as hell can fill you full of holes, asshole,” Dean snarled. “And don’t worry, finding ways to put down things like you is my whole thing.”

“I’m not leaving until she’s dead.”

“Oh, yes, you are,” Dean snarled.

“Alight, fine, have it your way, Winchester. But you can’t keep an eye on her forever, and I know where she lives.”

Brady turned around and jumped out the window. Dean rushed after him, but cursed when he reached the window, “He’s gone.”

“She needs a hospital,” Sam grabbed Jessica and lifted her up, running for the door.

They rushed down the stairs and to the car. Peter sat in the back with Jessica, keeping pressure on the wound while Dean sped to the hospital and Sam gave him directions, since he knew the town. Peter felt blood rushing in his ears. Jessica was talking, they had to keep her talking, he’s pretty sure, but he felt too sick to pay attention to what she was saying. Just keep pressure on the wound but not so much you make it worse, he kept telling himself.

Chapter Text

Chapter Four

The doctors and nurses rushed Jessica off for triage. Sam tried to follow, but the nurse said family only. Boyfriend didn’t count, apparently. She promised to tell them when they could come back and Sam looked practically green. They also looked over Peter, but it was just Jessica’s blood all over him. They helped him clean up and gave him a change of clothes from the lost and found. Peter felt so small. He hated feeling like this. He couldn’t wait to be bigger, maybe then this feeling would go away.

“She’ll be okay, right?” Sam looked to Dean, his eyes wide and his whole body shaking.

“That’s exactly how Mom died… only without the fire,” Dean said.

“Shit,” Sam swallowed. “But Jessica isn’t dead.”

“Whatever Brady was, he’ll come back for her.”

“Then… then we hunt him down, eliminate the threat.”

Dean nodded.

“I didn’t want this,” Sam’s voice broke. “I got out.”

“Sorry,” Dean said. “I know. I just… sorry.”

“And… Peter, what was that about spiders?”

Peter took a step back, “I don’t…”

“Who’s Mephisto?”

“I don’t know!” Peter said. “I don’t know anything! I…”

“It’s okay, we’re not mad at you,” Dean said. “You saved Jessica, right? Why would we be mad?”

Sam took a deep breath, “Thank you.”

Peter nodded, “I can’t let… anyone else get hurt…”

“Can you tell us about the spider thing, Pete?”

Peter shrugged, “Not here.”

Dean nodded, “When Jessica is better and we’re on the road.”

“I’m not leaving Jessica.”

“You can’t leave her here,” Dean said. “She will… just have to come with us to Colorado.”

“I never said I was going to Colorado with you.”

“Wait, why are we going to Colorado?” Peter asked.

“It’s where Dad went.”

“I thought… you said Jericho?”

“He left Jericho.”

“Okay,” Peter said. “When we’re in the car. I’ll tell you everything.”

It turns out that Jessica’s injury was superficial. Well, it went all the way through the skin and through some muscles and required a lot of stitches, but there wasn’t any real surgery and she didn’t need to be in the hospital overnight. She looked shellshocked when they released her back to Sam, patched up and confused.

“Jessica, I’m so, so sorry,” Sam held her. He actually started crying. “Oh, God, I’m so sorry.”

“Sam,” She grabbed him and started crying. “I want to go home.”

“Yeah,” Sam nodded, holding her close. “Yeah.”

“That’s a good idea, you’ll both need to pack a bag, get your toothbrush and stuff,” Dean said.

“What?”

“We’ll explain, when we get home, okay?”

“Monsters are real?” Jessica said.

Sam nodded.

“And you hunt them?”

“I don’t. But my dad and brother do. Dad trained me but… I’d rather be here, with you only… it’s not safe anymore.”

“The thing that killed our mom, we think that’s what attacked you,” Dean clarified.

Jessica was hyperventilating, “So, Peter…”

“I got attacked by vampires,” Peter offered. “They killed my aunt and uncle, who were taking care of me after my parents died. I just left the vampire thing out because it’s fifty/fifty whether people bully me for making stuff up or not and I didn’t know how cool you were yet so…”

“And that’s when Dean took you in? You’ve been doing this for a whole year? What about school?”

“Uh… Dean saved me last week from… a second, not monster related… thing.”

“His old foster dad was a monster,” Dean said. “But not the kind we hunt. We’ll leave it at that.”

“Oh,” Jessica nodded. “I could… I knew something was up, but… yeah.”

“And… I… I’m basically a mutant, so we don’t have to talk more about…”

“No, yes we do,” Sam said. “What did Brady mean by spider?”

“Brady killed your mom!?” Jessica gasped.

“I don’t know, maybe?” Sam said.

“No, no,” Dean said. “Peter, what do you mean by basically a mutant. Kid, either you got the X-Gene or you don’t.”

“I… it’s… like Captain America,” Peter admitted. “I think it was supposed to be a super soldier serum.”

“How did you end up with super soldier serum? Kid, you’re nine and you were already like this a year ago when the vamps got you.”

“I was at Oscorp since that’s where my mom and dad worked and when I was there one of the experimental spiders bit me,” Peter said. “It was an accident, it wasn’t supposed to be out, but it escaped.”

Dean ran a hand down his face, “Dammit. At least… that’s better than unethical child soldier experiments.”

“Super soldier experiments usually end up really horribly,” Sam said. “Either the patient dies or they go insane. There have been only three successful trials I know of, and I’m not supposed to know about two of them. How’d you survive?”

“I thought I wasn’t going to,” Peter admitted. “I got really, really sick and then really, really better and now… I can lift twenty-five times my body weight, like a spider, and I can jump really well because I think it was a jumping spider that bit me. But… they can lift 170 times their own body weight when fully grown so I think the multiplier might also get higher as I get bigger. Oh, and I have really good vision, but my hearing is mostly normal and also I can sense danger like… supernaturally. It feels like a buzzing and then I move without thinking pretty much. And… and I’m sticky.”

“Sticky?”

Peter nodded, “I’m sticky.” He got off the couch where he’d been sitting and jumped, sticking to a beam on the ceiling. The plaster didn’t look like it would hold his weight.

“Sticky,” Dean nodded.

“Usually things that get changed from a bite…” Sam said.

“Oh, and my blood is like a bug zapper for vampires,” Peter said. “Irresistible, but makes them explode.”

“That one I can confirm,” Dean said. “Dad and I saw it in action last year. He’s more like an X-Man and less like a vamp or a werewolf.”

“That’s why I said mutant,” Peter said. “But if I had the X-Gene, the powers wouldn’t have come in yet. I definitely haven’t hit puberty yet. I think there’s more stuff, but I dunno. I got bit two years ago but then Mom and Dad died and then we got attacked by vampires and then I was dealing with… yeah. I haven’t really… it’s been a lot.”

“Peter, you cannot tell anyone else where your powers came from,” Sam said.

“Why? I mean, I know that, but why?” Peter looked worried.

“I just told you that most super soldier trials end up wildly unsuccessful,” Sam said. “And Captain America can only bench a single ton. If your theory about strength alone is correct, if you’re, let’s say, 160lbs when fully grown and you keep in shape, you could be lifting over fourteen tons. And that’s not even your only power. There’s very little most governments won’t do for something that powerful. Super soldier serums have only worked three times, and all three times, it’s only been to peak human condition or a little big above that, not… fourteen times that.”

“Oh…” Peter swallowed nervously.

“How much was the foster system aware of?”

“Just the sticky and the night vision,” Peter mumbled. “And the vampire thing. I didn’t… I… the other kids in the first foster place I was in before my more permanents placement… if they showed that they had any… not freaky or useless powers, they’d disappear. So I kept the strength and danger thing to myself. It was hard to keep the low light vision to myself since it came with that reflective eye things that cats and stuff have.”

“Good, keep it that way,” Sam said. “I don’t want anything to happen to you, Peter.”

“Thank you,” Peter mumbled.

“I was… before the attack, I was going to try and convince you to stay here with me and Jess,” Sam said. “Traveling with Dean, the way I grew up, that’s not a life for a kid. I could get a job, pay for a two-bedroom apartment but…”

“It’s probably for the best he’s with me,” Dean said. “I would have agreed with you, but you got a really good point. I’m under the radar.”

“You were gonna leave me?”

“Only if you agreed, kid, don’t worry.”

“None of us will ever force you to do something you don’t want to do, Peter,” Sam reassured him. “The biggest priorities we have right now are keeping you and Jessica safe.”

They fell into an uncomfortable silence after that, until Jessica broke it.

“So, now what?” Jessica asked. “We… we have a life here; my parents are here. I can’t just… you have that interview on Monday, Sam! You’ll miss it.”

“Your life is more important,” Sam said. “I… I hate this, Jess, I really do but…” he shook his head.

“We have to find Dad, he’ll know what to do,” Dean grunted. “About you and about Peter.”

“There’s always next year,” Sam said. “Law school isn’t going anywhere. The important thing is that we’re alive.”

Jessica nodded, “I… this is all so much.”

They spend that night in the living room of Sam and Jessica’s apartment. None of them slept, but they pretended to. Well, Jessica and Peter do. And Sam does after Dean throws a fit. But Dean stands watch over them all night, his arms crossed, glancing at every little noise and creak of the building. The next day, Sam and Jessica liquidate what they can. They drop their car off at a used dealership while Dean goes to get the Impala repaired after whatever it is they did to it during their job the last few days. By lunch, the Impala is looking spotless somehow, and they’re on the road headed for the mountains. Jessica hasn’t spoken at all; Sam hardly lets go of her hand. And Peter feels just as shellshocked.

“We’re all alive,” Sam keeps reminding them. “We can… once everyone is safe again. It’ll happen. Sooner than you think. I know it.”

No one makes an attempt to correct him, no one wants to.

Peter’s unsure what he got himself into, but whoever this Mephisto is, he has a feeling that being with the Winchesters might be the safest place for someone like him. He’s a freak, but they still defend him. They’ve seen his most vile power, the one his caseworker told him he’d be shipped off for, and they only defended his personhood in response.

And Mr. Winchester, Peter remembers him. He was gruff, like Dean, but he exuded this feeling of safety. Aunt May could even tell; she’d looked right at him as she died and asked him to promise to look out for her boy. He’d promised, and Peter could tell that was enough for Aunt May not to worry for him as the last of her life left her body.

Surely, once they found Mr. Winchester, he’d be able to make sure they were all safe and then nothing would ever hurt Jessica or Sam ever again. Maybe… Peter really liked Dean. He reminded him of his parents, at least what he remembered of his parents. Happy, despite everything, a little goofy, but ready to give everything he had to protect people who needed him. But he wouldn’t mind it; if Dean left him with Sam and Jessica so that Dean could keep saving people and Peter could have a normal life.

They made it to Colorado in a few days. Jessica didn’t talk at all the first day, but by the second day, she was acting like everything was normal, trying to entertain Peter. Then Dean and Sam tried ditching them at a hotel to head to Blackwater Ridge under the guise of ‘We don’t know what we’re walking into, could be dangerous.’

“I can lift your whole car over my head, dangerous my ass,” Peter snapped.

“Hey, watch your language,” Dean said

“FUCK!” Peter shouted. “You’re not my dad.”

“No, but I am in charge of your safety and…”

“So you’re just going to leave me, after all this ‘I have to keep you close to keep you safe?’” Jessica snapped at Sam.

“Dad was probably hunting something! We don’t know if he got it or not, it could hurt you.”

“I’m a grown woman, Sam, I can watch my own back, you know.”

“That’s not what this…”

“Everyone stop!” Dean snapped. “Peter’s too young to be dragged around on hunts, regardless of how many tons you can bench press. I don’t want you seeing this kind of shit, got it?”

“No,” Peter said.

“What, so just because I’m a woman, I’m getting relegated to being ‘home’? Big strong men, have to protect the women and children, right?”

“We… save men, too,” Sam stammered.

“This isn’t a man/woman thing,” Dean snapped. “It’s a hunter/not a hunter thing. This is our family business, we know what we’re doing.”

“Sam is my family,” Jessica snapped right back, not stepping down.

“And I’m legally your kid, so…” Peter added.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt,” Sam pleaded.

His pleas were met only with glares.

“Fine,” Dean relented. “This is Dad, we’re talking about. He’s probably already wrapped up whatever hunt he’s one. We’ll say it’s safe to go in after him, everyone happy?”

“Yes,” Peter and Jessica said at the same time.

Chapter Text

Chapter Five

It was like being on an actual road trip at first. They stopped at the Lost Creek National Forest Visitor Center. They looked around at the cool 3D map they had of the forest, the taxidermy, the little blurbs about the wildlife. Sam and Dean talked to the ranger about something, but Peter and Jessica were too busy learning about the old silver and gold mines to pay much attention.

Sam and Dean were lying out of their teeth the whole time. It made Peter a little nervous, how good they were at it. But Dean had told him to pay attention, since this was part of the job. Sam scolded him, saying something about letting Peter decide whether he wanted this life or not. Peter wasn’t sure he’d have a choice, but he’d know for sure once they figured out what Mephisto was and why he didn’t like spiders.

Peter overheard a little of the conversation, when it turned to the ranger asking about him.

“Oh, yeah, older sister’s kid,” Dean said. “Scrappy little guy, his school’s on break so I thought I’d take him out. He loves bugs and I told Haley we’d try to find something out about her brother, you know. Two birds one stone.”

Back at the car, after Dean fenagled getting the backcountry permit so they could look up whoever Haley was later.

“Dean, come on, really?” Sam sighed.

“You can have a hot babe, but I can’t?”

“Dean!”

“What?”

“You know what.” Sam grumbled.

“What’s your problem?” Jessica said.

“I don’t have a problem,” Dean said.

“Sure, Commander Riker, no problems here,” Peter said, getting in the back of the car.

“What’s that?” Dean said.

Jessica laughed, “Nice one.”

“What does that mean?”

Sam shook his head, clearly amused.

“And I’m not scrappy! And I don’t like bugs,” Peter said, crossing his arms and pouting. “Bugs ‘r gross.”

“Why are we leaving?” Sam snapped. “You said it yourself, Dad probably already dealt with everything here, why are we investigating?”

“Well, we don’t want to be unprepared…”

“It’s because the ranger called her a firecracker, isn’t it?”

“No, we don’t want to be unpre…”

“Just drive,” Sam sighed.

Sam and Dean questioned Haley without Jess or Peter. Peter got hungry and started complaining so they dropped them off downtown. They got sandwiches at the café and Peter complained that they weren’t as good as Delmar’s. That made Jessica laugh, even though Peter was being very serious. Sandwiches were very important! Sandwich crafting was a sacred art passed down from deli guy to newer, younger deli guy.

They walk around thrift stores after that, and Jessica tried on a bunch of clothes in one to make Peter laugh. Half of the stock in that store had been donated from some rich old lady, judging by the eighty-year-old clothes and silly-looking dowager hats, or whatever they were called.

Sam and Dean picked them up back at the café about two hours later.

“So, how was Ms. Haley?” Jessica asked.

“Her brother has a satellite phone and was constantly sending pictures and videos over email,” Sam said. “The family lost their parents and the siblings are serious about keeping each other updated ever since. Plus, he’s an experienced hiker. It doesn’t make sense for him to suddenly stop sending emails unless something’s wrong.”

“You think… something got him?” Jessica asked, covering Peter’s ears.

“Jess, I got abducted by vampires last year, you don’t have to protect me from monsters, I know they’re real,” Peter whined, pushing her off.

“We’re headed out tomorrow with Haley and a guide to look for him or… whatever got him,” Sam said.

“Can I come?” Peter asked. “I’m really good at noticing stuff and I’ve never been on a nature hike before!”

“I don’t know, kid, it’s dangerous and…”

“I can pick your car up and lift it over my head,” Peter reminded him. “And I have a danger sense, so whatever is out there, it won’t be able to sneak up on us.”

“I’ll think about it,” Dean relented. “In the meantime, why doesn’t Sammy show you the more nerdy side of what we do?”

“Dean,” Sam grumbled.

“He’s got a fancy computer,” Dean said.

“It’s just a laptop,” Sam sighed. “I got it for college.”

“I’ll go ask and see if they have Wi-Fi,” Jessica said.

She returned with a little note with a Wi-Fi password and a bag full of treats and the promise of three coffees and a hot cocoa. They’d already bought their sandwiches, but they’d long since left and come back to meet back up with Sam and Dean and it was poor form to use the bathroom without buying something, so it was probably the same with the Wi-Fi.

“Okay,” Sam said, pulling his laptop out. “So since this took place in the woods, what we’re looking for are wild animal attacks, the more unusual the better. Wild animals are generally scared of humans, even bears and mountain lions. Attacks are extremely rare. Fatal ones, even more so. Most people don’t know about what’s out there, so they’ll often attribute these attacks to wild animals, especially if the victim dies and can’t correct anyone or give any descriptions.”

Sam showed them how to get to the public library website to look for articles, and also said that sometimes newspapers that were modernizing would post old articles as a digital archive to pad their website and make older articles easier for researchers to find. Sam forgot to explain the next few steps, as he got sucked into the research.

“Sam, what’ve you found?”

“It’s like clockwork,” Sam mumbled. “Every twenty-three years, there’s a massive uptick in grizzly attacks.”

“How many times in a row?” Peter asked.

“This is the third time,” Sam said. “But like I said, one grizzly attack in twenty-three years can be normal, but these are unusual. A grizzly attack rarely takes down more than one person, these are entire campsites and even cabins that are being wiped out. Grizzlies don’t do that.”

“What else we got?” Dean asked.

“Haley sent me the last video she got from her brother,” Sam said. “Let’s take a look at that.”

They watched through it normally at first, then again but paying more attention to little details, then they scrubbed through it frame by frame.

“There!” Peter said. “That shadow, it can’t be a tree, it’s only there for three frames. That means it’s moving…” Peter paused to do some math. It was a satellite phone camera, not the fancy video camera Uncle Ben had, so it was likely only 24fps and not 60 fps. Three frames would be 1/12^th of a second, so it was likely moving… “about 50 miles an hour.”

“How accurate is that?” Sam blinked, looking at Peter.

“Well, it’s actually 49.09 repeating miles per hour,” Peter admitted. “Assuming the sleeping bag is about six feet long and the camera is 24 frames per second, that’s six feet in 1/12^th of a second, or 72 feet per seconds and there’s 5280 feet in mile and 3600 seconds in an hour…”

“Okay, we get it,” Dean said. “This isn’t class, you don’t need to show your work.”

“You’re a regular little Einstein, aren’t you?” Jessica laughed, ruffling Peter’s hair.

Peter suddenly couldn’t breathe. He flinched away from her with a startled sob, wrapping his arms around himself and pulling his legs up to protect the rest of his lower body. He wasn’t in Colorado anymore, he was sitting at the dining table, doing advanced geometry homework from a textbook he bought at a thrift store, and Skip was sitting next to him, watching him with awe and a terrifying grin on his face. Skip’s hand was on his thigh, too high up, making his head spin, “You’re a regular little Einstein, aren’t you?” Skip whispered in his ear. His breath was too hot and Peter just wanted to run but he couldn’t move.

Peter blinked the tears away and he was suddenly sitting in the Impala. Sam was sitting next to him, which he hadn’t done before. Jessica was sitting in the front and Dean was driving. Jessica was wiping tears from her face and Sam was leaning as far away from Peter as he could, giving Peter as much breathing room as possible.

Dean looked at Peter through the rearview mirror and asked, “You with us again, Pete?”

“What happened?” Peter asked, confused. “How did… what?”

“You had a panic attack,” Sam said. “Do you know what triggered it.”

“I told you what I think happened, we can leave it at that, don’t make the kid talk about it anymore,” Dean snapped.

“It’s healthy to talk about it,” Sam snapped right back.

“I’m sure you think that…”

“Just because you refuse to talk about anything doesn’t mean he has to…”

“It’s fine!” Peter shouted. “Please don’t argue. W… where are we going?”

“We’re going to drop you off at the motel,” Dean said. “Give you some space to calm down by yourself.”

“Okay,” Peter agreed.

Jessica went with Dean and Sam to question the only survivor of the bizarre grizzly attacks. She still looked so upset and she refused to touch Peter. He got why, he supposed, but it still made him feel horrible. Like he was tainted and probably contagious.

He sat in the shower with all the curtains closed and all the doors locked and all the lights off, until the scalding water turned ice cold. Then he curled up in the bed with Animal Planet on the TV until it got dark and the three adults came back with ice cream and pizza, like nothing was wrong. Like Peter wasn’t broken.

They didn’t tell him what they found out about the thing they were supposed to hunt, which annoyed Peter. He wasn’t a little kid! At least, not a real one. Not anymore. They didn’t have to baby him.

“Dean?” Peter asked, once Sam and Jessica returned to their room and Dean was moving towards their shared but locked door to his room. “Can I come tomorrow?”

Dean sighed, “You sure?”

“Yeah,” Peter nodded. “I want to… save someone else for a change.”

“We don’t know exactly what it is yet, all we know for sure is that it’s corporeal.”

“Then I can punch it with my super strength!” Peter offered.

“Didn’t you say it can move fifty miles an hour?”

“I… I bet I could move that fast, too,” Peter admitted. “Super strength kinda… comes with super speed because the stronger you are the stronger you can push off the ground. A… and my spider-sense lets me react super-fast! Even faster than I can think sometimes.”

“Spider-Sense?” Dean snorted.

“That’s… um… that’s what I call my danger sense, because… you know… I got bit by a spider. I’m like… a Spider-Man now.”

“Sure, maybe in ten years you can be a spider man. Right now, you’re a spider baby.”

“It’s Spider-Man,” Peter mumbled. “There’s a hyphen.”

“Sure there is,” Dean teased.

“Come on, Dean, let him have fun,” Sam smacked Dean’s head. “Spider-Man sounds really cool, Peter.”

“Thank,” Peter sighed. He knew Sam was just being nice, but it felt kinda patronizing. “Can I come with you tomorrow?”

“I’m sure someone, somewhere would complain about child endangerment but… you can lift the Impala over your head so… sure, kid. You can watch our backs, how’s that?”

“Thank you.”

“Get some sleep, kiddo, big day tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Six

Jessica insists that if they’re going to go out into the backwoods to look for a missing person, they’d need the proper gear. She dragged them to an outdoor sports store to buy sunscreen, sneakers, and water bottles. Dean absolutely refused to put on sneakers and when Jessica tried to convince Sam to buy cargo shorts, Dean teased both of them relentlessly, so Peter put the shorts he was looking at back.

“Look, it’s great you two know how to handle your jobs,” Jessica said. “You take it very seriously, for good reason. But you have to respect the outdoors just as much. It can be just as deadly as the things you’re hunting and you’re not going to save anyone if you get lost in the woods or dehydrated and it won’t be easy if you’re covered in sunburns.”

“Dean, at least put on sunscreen,” Sam said.

“I’m fine,” Dean grumbled. “And jeans are fine.”

“Those aren’t hiking boots.”

“Boots are boots,” Dean insisted.

Peter had a Mets cap, so he wore that, but none of the rest of them already had anything with a visor.

“I’m not blocking my field of vision,” Dean said. “This thing could be dropping out of trees, you don’t know.”

Once both Jessica and Sam were satisfied with their preparedness for the outdoors, they allowed them to pile back into the car and find their way to the trailhead to meet with Haley and the guide she hired.

But first, Dean took a detour to a gun range.

“Okay, we got half an hour,” Dean said. “I didn’t think we’d spend this long shopping.”

“Dean,” Sam warned.

“What!? We did!” Dean said. “How long can it take to pick out a water bottle?”

“You gotta get something that works,” Sam said.

“Boys!” Jessica scolded. “I assume you want me to know how to fire a gun before we go out and confront a man eating ‘bear’.”

“Yeah,” Dean said. “Peter, you want in on this?”

Peter shook his head.

“Fair enough,” Dean said. “But if you’re sticking around, it’s gonna have to happen eventually.”

Peter didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to think about Dean potentially leaving him in an orphanage or something. All the old traditional orphanages were closed, being replaced by the foster network and boys’ and girls’ homes, but with the rise in mutant children being born, mutant orphanages were a thing now.

Peter had a friend who got moved into one from the foster network, early on, before he was placed with Skip. They kept in touch and were still going to the same school, but then one day he disappeared. Peter wanted to look for him, but he quickly started having his own problems that he could barely handle. Maybe… if he really could trust Dean and Sam, they’d help him find Bobby Drake, the only real friend he’s ever really had.

Sam and Dean really only have time to go over gun safety with them. Dean insists that even though Peter declined learning how to aim and fire today, he still needed to know gun safety since he was going to be around guns a lot if Dean was taking care of him.

Finally, they were on their way to the trailhead for real. Peter was zoned out, watching the pines pass by the window and trying not to think about Skip again. It was weirdly hard.

“Dean, why did you bring Peter on this?” Sam hisses in the front seat. “We don’t know what this thing is yet, just that it’s out there and it eats people.”

“He can look out for himself,” Dean whispered back, like they weren’t in a muscle car and Peter could hear them. “And I’ll be there.”

“You didn’t go on your first hunt until you were sixteen. I didn’t go on my first hunt until I was fifteen. He’s nine. I don’t care if he has powers, he’s not old enough to be here.”

“He’s also too young to be left at home alone,” Dean snapped. “I get it, this isn’t ideal but… I’ll watch him, okay? You watch Jess, I watch Peter.”

Peter was the only one who noticed how Jessica scoffed at that. Peter agreed with her. Them saying that he shouldn’t be here was fine. Peter got it. He was nine, that was true. A regular nine-year-old had no business being here, and Sam really wanted Peter to have a regular life, just like he wanted for himself and Jessica. But this was the best thing for Peter. Jessica, on the other hand, was just as old as Sam. She wasn’t a little kid like Peter. If she wanted to be here, neither of them had any say in it.

“You can’t just say ‘everything’s fine’ and not…”

“Drop it, Sam,” Dean snapped. “This is what’s happening. He promised not to be an idiot and… he’s not a stranger to this. At least this time we’re prepared.”

“We’re barely…”

“We’re here,” Dean interrupted Sam. “Look, even Haley brought her kid brother. This is fine.”

“He’s like, fifteen, and they don’t know what’s out there!”

Dean shot him a look.

“I’m dropping it, fine,” Sam said. “But this isn’t over.” Sam got out of the car before Dean even shut the engine off. Dean, Peter, and Jessica followed.

“You guys got room for four more?”

“What the hell is this,” the guide starts up immediately, looking at Peter. “I don’t think the teenager should be here, and you’re bringing a baby?”

“I can handle myself,” Peter bristles. “Better ‘n you can, probably,” he adds to himself.

“More eyes, more likely that we’ll find something, right?” Dean says, immediately turning the swagger on to woo Haley. He’s incorrigible. Like he’s compensating for something, Peter thinks.

“Who’re these guys, anyway,” The guide asks.

“Well, these two,” Haley gestures to Sam and Dean, “Are all the Parks Servies can spare for the search. I don’t know about the other two.”

“I’m Jess, I’m Sam’s girlfriend,” she points to Sam.

“I thought he was Samual?” Haley says.

“I… uh… prefer to go by Dean when I’m with Sam. Middle name, less confusing,” Dean explained.

“And you’re really wearing that on a backwoods hike?”

“Yes,” Dean said.

“Biker boots and jeans?”

“Well, sweetheart, I don’t do shorts,” Dean grins cheekily.

“You think this is funny?” The guide snaps. “Her brother could be hurt.”

“Then we’d better hurry and find him,” Dean says, patting the man on the shoulder and walks into the woods. “I know how dangerous this is, we’re just a group of concerned people who want to help.”

Peter knew this was serious, that this may feel a little bit like a vacation, but it wasn’t. He had been excited to go on a real hike in the real woods instead of setting up a tent in the living room with Uncle Ben or going on a walk through the botanical gardens in Brooklyn with Aunt May. This was nothing compared to the perfectly manicured Central Park. There were bugs, the sun was hot, and the ground was uneven.

Peter wasn’t winded, he knew he had really good stamina now, after the spider bite, but this still kinda sucked.

“I think I’m a city slicker,” Peter admitted to Jessica.

Jessica laughed, “What makes you think that?”

“I keep getting rocks in my shoes,” Peter complains.

He’s about to complain about something else when Peter feels his senses tingle and he lunches past Sam to grab Dean and pull him back.

“Whoa!” Dean yelps. “Watch it kid.”

“Sorry,” Peter lets go immediately.

“Good eye,” the guide, Roy, Peter thinks, picks up a stick and triggers a bear trap that Dean nearly stepped on. “Looks like bringing the kid was a good idea, after all.”

“Thanks,” Dean pats Peter on the shoulder.

Peter’s just glad his Spider-Sense extends to people near him. He’d been worried it wouldn’t and he’d be a burden. But maybe he can be useful. Maybe if he keeps being this useful, Dean won’t abandon him because he’s scared of guns.

Haley confronts Dean a few minutes after that.

“You’re not rangers,” Haley said. “You’re barely prepared for a long hike; you have a duffle bag. Who are you?”

Dean takes a deep breath and says, “Sam and I are brothers,” Dean admits. “Our dad might be out here, we don’t know. I figured… we’d help you look for your brother, since we’re in the same boat.”

“Why didn’t you say that from the beginning? Why lie about being rangers?”

“Well, I’m telling you now, aren’t I? Besides this is the most honest I’ve ever been with a woman… ever. So… we okay?”

“I don’t know,” Haley says. “Who’s Peter? He’s not your brother, too?”

 “I’m taking care of him.”

“What, did you kidnap him?”

“Dean saved me,” Peter interrupts.

“There, see,” Dean says.

“He’s basically my dad now, legally and stuff. Better than the last place I was and… we’re helping, aren’t we?” Peter says. “I just want to help.”

“Okay,” Haley nods. “Okay, fine.”

They’re stopped in a clearing when the guide says he’s going to go look around. Both Sam and Dean protest, saying he shouldn’t split from the group, but the guide has been unimpressed by them so far and disregards their warning. Peter thinks it’s stupid, since the guide’s the one who’s been complaining that Sam and Dean don’t understand the danger they’re in, but he’s the one who goes off on his own.

They spread out a little bit to scout around, since they’ve reached the coordinates for where Haley’s brother and his friends set up camp.

It’s Roy, the guide, who finds it.

They rush to where he’s calling out and Peter feels his stomach drop.

The campsite is in ruins. The tents and tarps are torn, covered in blood. And the provisions they brough are scattered all over the place. The food is torn open, but so are all the other bags. It doesn’t look like whatever did this ate any of the food, though it does look scavenged. Not to the degree that Peter thinks a bear would, though. Aren’t they famous for eating a whole bunch for winter? Why would it leave anything behind like this?

“Looks like a grizzly,” Roy says.

“Then why is there still jerky on the ground?” Peter asks.

“Damn, kid, you shouldn’t have to see this,” Roy sighs.

“I’ve seen worse.”

Haley starts calling for her brother, but Sam stops her.

“Something could still be out there.”

Dean points out a trail, “the bodies were dragged out of the campsite. But it stops, over there.” He points to where the disturbed needs and dirt stops.

Peter’s the one who looks up and points out the broken branch directly above where the drag marks stop. He’s momentarily disgusted with himself, since the reason he found it was because he thought to himself, ‘I’d get bored dragging them across the ground, I’d move into the trees, it’s faster.’ What if… he doesn’t have the X-Gene. What if it’s only a matter of time before the next thing that Sam and Dean are hunting it a mutated freak that was bitten by a spider instead of a vampire or a werewolf?

Peter shakes the thought from his head and follows behind as they track broken branches through the woods.

Until a man starts screaming, somewhere in the woods. and they’re running towards the sound.

They don’t find anything.

“Sounded like it was coming from here, didn’t it?” Haley says.

“That wasn’t your brother?”

Haley shakes her head, “I didn’t recognize the voice.”

“We need to get back to camp,” Sam says. It’s where they left the gear, since they weren’t sure the trail that Peter found would actually lead them anywhere, and the farther they tracked it, the sparser it got. Like whatever was up in the trees had been picking up speed.

Back at camp, all their stuff is gone. Even the stuff left behind by the attack is gone.

“I don’t think this is a cougar,” Haley says. “I thought was, when it dragged the bodies into the trees but…”

“Cougars leave deer up there,” Roy says. “It’s not a cougar. And a grizzly can’t get up a tree.”

“Or steal a GPS,” Haley’s little brother says.

“Something did this, something smart,” Sam said.

“You mean someone,” Roy says. “You think this is a serial killer? Some kind of… feral human, or something?”

“Or something,” Dean says.

Sam pulls Dean away from the group and Peter feels frustrated. They said that they’d include Jessica and Peter in hunting, but they kept excluding them. Again, Peter gets why they’d try to shield him, even if it’s futile at this point. The worst has happened, committed by both monsters and humans. Peter’s beyond coddling like he is the age that he is. But Jessica is the same age as Sam! They should at least be including her, right!?

“We need to go,” Sam says as they come back to the group.

“No offense, but I’ve got this. We have a man to find,” Roy says. “I have a rifle, whatever this is…”

“If you shoot it, you’ll only make it mad,” Sam says.

They know what it is, Peter realizes. They know what it is and they’re keeping it to themselves. That’s bullshit. They all have a right to know! There’s mutants, right? And at least half of people believe in vampires. Whatever this is, it can’t be that fantastical, can it?

“We need to leave, now,” Sam says.

“You’re talking nonsense,” Roy snaps. “I have no reason to listen to you.”

“I’m trying to protect you,” Sam insists. “We never should have let you out here in the first place.”

“Yeah!? I’ve been hunting in these woods since your mommy was kissing you goodnight, what right do you have to order me around like this?”

Peter suddenly feels like he’s in a horror movie and that Roy is acting like the first person who gets eaten by the werewolf.

“This is a better hunter than you, it’s smarter than you, it’s faster than you, and it wants to eat you. We need to get away from its range and come back more prepared, before something bad happens.”

“I’m not going until I’ve found my missing person,” Roy snarls.

“You ever hunt a wen…”

Dean stops Sam, “Watch it, just cool down.”

“Tommy might still be alive,” Haley says. “I’m not leaving until I have my family back. Or at least I know what happened.”

Dean nods, taking a deep breath, “This thing is good hunter during the day, but it’s unbelievable during the night. We’ll never beat it, not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves.”