The detective groped blindly at a lock of some kind, and he focused on that. It was a combination lock, one he couldn’t simply pick open and would take far too long to figure out the code for.
“Dean,” he rumbled, eyes darting around the room. It was a wide space, nothing jumped out at him in the shapes he could make out, nothing important, anyway. “I need something to break this off.”
Dean scanned the room, all of his focus concentrated on the task. “Okay, there’s a box in the corner. It’s full of old tools, some wrenches, a pretty hefty hammer–” hefty being so big that Sam and Dean together would never budge it, “–and a drill that looks like it hasn’t been used since I lived in America. Turn right, about three steps. Watch out for the table, don’t want to go knocking that copy of Harry Potter onto the floor.”
“You’re improving,” Sherlock commented as he followed Dean’s directions. Whether it was the stress of the situation or the urgency, it certainly seemed like Dean was showing off at this point. Not that Sherlock was complaining.
“But humans are always going, going, going,” Oscar argued. To make his point, he gestured to the bathroom door and then swept his hand across to indicate the exit to the outdoors. That distance, to him, was a trek of several minutes. “Humans go like that so fast.”
He watched the screen as Sonic ran along a wall. Oscar at least knew enough to recognize that it wasn’t possible for anyone to do that, but it didn’t change his thoughts much. Compared to him, humans were fast indeed. “That’s why I gotta hide.”
An echo of thunder rolled around Sean, and he dove underneath the scraps of fabric that made up his ‘nest.’
Standing at only three inches in height, the young boy blinked out at the world from his protective cocoon, huge tears flowing from his eyes. This was wrong. Everything was wrong, and he was scared.
Summoned by the yelp he’d heard, Walt Watch limped around the doorway that lead to the room Sean was staying in. The older man held his side tenderly, and Sean remembered hearing that his entire home had caved in on him, knocking him just out of range of a fire that raged. Walt was as lucky as Sean to be alive.
But at least he was used to being small.
“Hey, there,” Walt said, sitting next to Sean’s protective fort. “How are you hanging in?”
Sean said nothing, just blinked blearily at the older man. Another rumble of thunder came, this time with the rhythmic sounds of footsteps accompanying it. That made him dive down, out of sight. He hated the reminder of how small they were.
Walt put a hand on the top of the piled-up fabric. Krissy and Bennett had given up the extra room for Sean, since he wasn’t used to sharing with anyone the way they were. They were staying in the same room as their mother, and Walt had the room next to Sean’s. The young boy reminded him so much of Sam all those years ago. Afraid and alone and lonely. Forced to confront realities that no child deserved.
“Look, they don’t know we’re here,” Walt said wisely. “They won’t hear us, they won’t bother us. Sam once told me that humans had a way of getting through thunderstorms if young children were afraid. He said to just think of it as God getting a shower, and the thunder as his footsteps. Those humans up there are the same. Just walking around, minding their own business.”
Sean peeked out at Walt. “B-but if they find us…” he said in a half-moan of fear.
Walt ruffled his hair. “They won’t,” he promised. “We’ve got a safe home here. Besides, if it wasn’t for humans, we wouldn’t have much to eat, now, would we?”
Sean blinked back at him, looking unconvinced.
“If you want, I can stick around for a bit,” Walt offered. “Staying in a strange place all alone can be scary.”
Sean rubbed his eyes. “I’d like that,” he said shyly. “It’s just all so… different…”
“Sam said the same thing when we first found him,” Walt nodded. Sean’s wide eyes encouraged him to continue. Though Sean had never met Sam, he’d heard all about his rescuer from Krissy and Bennett. “He was just about your age back then…”
Walt told stories about Sam’s first days cursed until Sean couldn’t hold his eyes open any longer, and the young boy drifted off to sleep.
With a startled exclamation, Krissy drew her hand away from the needle she was trying to work with. A droplet of blood glistened on her fingertip, wavering as her hand shook.
“Here, let me see,” Mallory’s soft voice came, and a careful hand wrapped around Krissy’s slim wrist.
Mallory had decided to take the day to show Krissy some of the ropes on her sewing techniques. The boys were all out of the house except for Krissy’s younger brother, Bennett, who stayed back at her place to watch over their ailing mother. Sam and Walt would come back with enough food for both families, with any luck, and they would help support each other as best they could. It was good for Krissy to get out from time to time like this. She needed to get some space to herself, and she was one of the most adept people when it came to tiny, intricate movements.
They’d begun with dethreading some of the fabric Sam had found for them. A combination of blues and greens, Mallory was thrilled to have some color to work with for once. Krissy had claimed the green, and was trying her best to mimic the sewing techniques of Mallory. She was getting there, and one day might be able to make clothing like the jeans and jackets Sam and Walt were so fond of. Human designs really were versatile, no matter than they made the Watch family stand out among people their own size. It wasn’t like they went to gatherings very often.
Mallory blotted the blood from Krissy’s hand. “It’ll get easier as you go,” she said with a gentle smile. She held out her hand. As small and slim as her fingers were, the fingertips were covered with calluses from long years of sewing. Mallory poked at her fingertip with a needle. “I can barely feel it now,” she said with a grin.
Krissy’s eyes were wide. At just over seventeen, she idolized the older woman. Mallory was one of the few staples in her life, which was why she’d claimed all the green fabric. It was Mallory’s favorite color. If Krissy could make something to thank her with, it would need to be green.
Once her finger stopped throbbing, Krissy resumed her careful actions. Her tongue stuck out of her mouth and she concentrated hard on the fabric, determined to make the green dress that she saw in her mind a reality.
While Dean was casually strolling across the floor of Jacob’s room, Sam dashed past him. Instead of pausing in the hand, he darted across it. Catching a hand in the thick fabric of Jacob’s shirt, Sam scaled up the thick, muscular arm. The threads formed handholds that his tiny fingers wound their way into by second nature. He could feel the muscles behind the fabric tense in Jacob’s surprise, but the human had learned not to flinch even when they caught him off guard.
In short order, Sam was perched up on Jacob’s shoulder, peering down at Dean with a completely innocent look. “What? You said just like every day!”
Dean gave a huff, stalking the last few inches onto Jacob’s hand. “That’s not what I meant and you know it!” he snipped, jabbing a finger in Sam’s direction.
Sam leaned over the speaker. “Hey, Bobby, how’s it going?” he called out, raising his voice so he could be sure that it made it over the line.
“ ‘Bout the same as the last time you boys came to visit. Rumsfeld’s been missin’ you, though. I caught him sleeping in the spare bedroom. I’m bettin’ this ain’t a courtesy call though. What kinda trouble you boys in now? ”
“It’s not like we’re always in trouble!” Dean protested loudly.
Oh, and with this prompt you’ve stumbled onto another ‘secret’ project of mine. It’s actually been in progress for a bit now, working on a storyline with Sam being discovered before Dean ever reached Trails West. Here’s a snippet from the story, arriving sometime after summer, 2016:
In. Out. What could go wrong?
Sam knew he was in trouble the moment the shadows above shifted.
A prickle went up his neck. Shit… Sam thought to himself. He pushed his legs to run even harder, desperate to get out of sight. Either he’d overestimated his ability at staying silent or he’d underestimated the human.
Whichever it was, he was in trouble.
A shadow fell over him. Gasping, the cracker tumbled out of his hands as he tried to get that last ounce of speed that would get him behind the nightstand and back to safety. Just a little more… Like Walt always said, a bit of food wasn’t worth any of their lives.
If only Sam had listened to his advice and hadn’t been so overconfident.
A huge hand snatched at him. It was too fast for Sam to even hope to dodge. He was fumbling at his jacket, trying desperately to yank out his knife even as a thumb and four massive fingers relentlessly closed around his body.
And then it was too late.
Sam’s arms were sealed to his side, his knife inexorably out of reach the moment the hand closed around him. Desperate struggles were muffled in the thick skin that surrounded his body. It was like none of his movements could make an effect.
The world dropped away beneath him, receding into the distance as Sam was yanked into the air. He let out a desperate gasp, unable to concentrate as his surroundings spiraled around him. The human was shifting him to an easier position to see.
As the light clicked on, Sam almost went blind at first. His eyes, so well-adjusted to the darkness in the walls, had difficulty focusing in the bright light of the room, especially when it was completely unexpected. Sam tried to flinch back, then twitched in the other direction when he saw a huge thumb brush over his shoulder. He shivered, realizing how helpless he was in this human’s hands.
Sam could see every ridge, every crevice in the hand curled around him. Nothing he did could loosen up his arms. His satchel was crushed into his side, and his scared hazel eyes stared up at the huge human, afraid of what would happen to him. Walt’s voice echoed in his head, reminding him how it was almost impossible to escape a human after being caught.
They’d never been able to rescue Bree…
Any theories on who caught Sam? Any ideas for what’s about to happen? Feel free to share!
Sam and his cracker commissioned from @mogadeer. Do not get between Sam and his cracker! Do not!
Brothers Apart 