jhoomwrites:

coda for 13.1

For better or worse, the
bunker’s in shit shape. Repairs take up a lot of their time, and while it’s
hard work, Dean’s thankful for the distraction. If he works himself hard, he’s
so damn tired when he crawls into bed that he doesn’t think or dream or cry.

The worst part is that
damn kid starts following Dean around like a lost puppy. For a while, he seemed
to like Sam more, which was just fine with Dean. Dean doesn’t like the kid for
obvious reasons (“He’s Lucifer’s kid,” he tells himself. “Enough said.” “Sure,”
he answers back. “Has nothing to do with him being the reason Cas got
killed.”), and it creeps him out when he feels the kid watching him.

“Keep him on a shorter
leash,” Dean tells Sam one night. “I don’t want him around me.”

“Yeah right.” Sam snorts.
“I’ll just tell the all powerful nephilim what to do.”

“He ain’t all powerful.”
There’s one very important thing he can’t do, so he’s basically useless.
Can’t even control his powers.

“Well, he’s more
powerful than me. And he’s not even doing anything. Just give the kid a
break.”

Since Sam refuses to
help, Dean goes back to ignoring Jack. The kid’ll take a hint eventually,
right?

Wrong. A week more of
having a silent shadow trailing him throughout the bunker has Dean grinding his
teeth and wanting to punch a few more walls.

“What?” Dean snaps one
day. He’d been tuning the Impala just for something to do, and the normally
soothing task has him completely on edge because can’t Jack just leave him
the fuck alone!? “What do you want? Why you keep following me around?”

Jack doesn’t even look
taken aback by the outburst. “I want to learn more about humanity.”

“What? TV, the internet,
and Sam not good enough resources for that? Why you bugging me?”

Jack tilts his head to
the side and Dean wants to go over and physically straighten it. How dare
this kid be like him.

After a moment of
consideration, Jack answers. “I know my father—”

“Cas isn’t your father.”

“… I know my father
was fond of humanity, and of you and Sam in particular. If Castiel trusted you
both, I thought you would be good models for how to behave. Maybe you’d give me
insights on how to be the type of person Castiel and my mother would have
wanted me to be.”

Dean wipes grease off
his hands and doesn’t meet Jack’s eye. “Yeah, well, stick with Sam. I ain’t
exactly a role model.”

“That’s not true.”

The flashback is short
but vivid, and Dean feels short of breath. It’s like the world’s closing in on
him, and he gropes for the Impala just so he can keep his balance.

“Sam says that you and
Castiel were close,” Jack continues on, as if Dean’s not having a nervous
breakdown in the middle of the garage. “Closer than he and Castiel were. I
thought that would make you a better choice to learn about humanity. Surely
Castiel saw something in you that was worth seeing.”

“I-I’m not— he didn’t—”
His knees give out and he lets himself fall to the ground. Jack lays a hand on
his left shoulder and Dean shudders. Like father like son, he supposes.

“You are, and he did.”
As if Jack at all knows what Dean meant to say. Dean sure as fuck
doesn’t know, so it’s absurd to think this month old creature possibly could.

They stay there like
that, with Dean trying to catch his breath and wishing he could cut out his
heart, it’d hurt less. Jack stays at his side, kneeling beside him and keeping
a steady hand on his shoulder. When his head clears, Dean can’t help but laugh
at how fucked up his life is. He’s losing his shit because the love of his
life—an angel, for fuck’s sake—is dead, and that same angel’s adopted
son—the spawn of the literal devil—is trying to comfort him.

What a world.

“Alright, enough of
that.” He shrugs off Jack’s hand and pushes himself to his feet. “I’m telling
you, kid, I’m not special. And I don’t appreciate the silent brooding as you
watch me do stuff. It’s creepy.”

Cas used to be creepy,
too.

“I’m sorry.” Jack looks
more frustrated than apologetic. “I’ll go—”

“Whoa whoa, I didn’t say
that.” He hands a tool to Jack and ushers him over to the Impala. “If you’re
gonna stick around, you gotta make yourself useful.”

“I don’t know anything
about cars.”

“You think I did either
when I started? No. You gotta learn. You said you wanted to learn how to
be a better human, why not start with learning how to be human, period. We can
add in the morals and stuff along the way. Got it?”

The corner of his mouth
perks up a little. “I got it.”

“Alright, so this here
is the battery…”

Dean doesn’t want to be playing
babysitter or uncle or dad to this kid, but Jack has a point. This right here,
the two of them bonding over the Impala’s hood? This is what Cas would’ve
wanted. And if Dean can’t save Cas this time, well, at least he can do his best
to follow his wishes.