Both Winchesters shrug and agree to work on that problem in the morning once they’ve gotten enough sleep. Cas joins Dean in bed, a sight Sam still isn’t entirely used to. Ever since the shit with Michael, Cas and Dean had just kind of… been together. Dean hadn’t told and Sam hadn’t asked, but his brother was happier than Sam had seen in a long time and Cas was sticking around, so Sam really didn’t have any complaints.
Morning came way too early, but Sam was used to it at this point. He walked down the street to the nearest café, grabbing a few different things for breakfast and coffees for each of them. Dean and Cas are both dressed and ready by the time he returns, so Sam drops the food and coffees on the table and takes the opportunity to shower.
An hour later, they’re all in their Fed suits, piling into the Impala and heading to interview a few of the victims. Their attempts are… unsuccessful, to say the least. Not only are they in a child’s body, it appears that their minds were reverted to their childhood state. Most of the victims are now somewhere between five and eight, so they don’t get a whole hell of a lot from them.
They grab a quick lunch before heading to the police station, which turns out to be another dead end. They’re more baffled than the Winchesters are, and they’ve got no evidence to go on. One of the officers pulls them aside on their way out of the building and swears it’s the work of the devil. The three of them glance at each other and Sam catches the corner of Cas’s mouth quirking upwards, almost as if to say yeah, like Lucifer would give a shit about this even if he was alive.
Since they don’t have to go to the morgue, they grab a quick dinner at a burger joint in town. It’s crowded and noisy, so their theories about the case blend in with the chatter easily.
“Maybe it’s a curse?” Dean suggests, shoving a few fries in his mouth as he glances between his brother and Castiel.
The former shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair. “No, I don’t think so. I think Cas’s suggestion that it’s a witch might be right.”
“What’s the motive, though? The witch you encountered that was taking years from people was keeping himself alive. No matter what age you were after you met him, though, you retained your mental state, so it can’t be magic of that sort.”
“Maybe it’s just a witch that likes fucking with people.” Dean says, shrugging and finishing off his dinner. Sam and Cas exchange a weary glance.
“Let’s hope for our sake that it’s not. A witch that likes fucking with people is the last thing we need.” Sam says, paying the bill and following his brother to the car.
The ride back to the motel is nearly silent, aside from the quiet music coming from the radio.
Cas is the first to speak, just as Dean pulls into a parking spot. “Do we have occupations for the victims?”
Sam raises an eyebrow as he shakes his head. “No, but I can get it. Why?”
Cas hums and follows them into the room. “Just a hunch. Can you get me their occupations and then I’ll explain?”
Sam glances over at his brother, who simply shrugs and motions toward the laptop. Instead of questioning them, Sam drops into a chair and pulls the laptop toward him. It takes him a few minutes to get a list of the victims and their occupations but, once he does, he passes the laptop to Cas. The angel settles at the table and reads them over quietly before nodding once, seemingly to himself.
“Care to explain?” Dean questions, tugging his tie off and tossing it in the direction of his duffle.
“I think whoever it is may be stealing knowledge.” Sam and Dean both raise their eyebrows at Cas, but he doesn’t seem to notice as he continues. “All of the victims were in fairly knowledgeable jobs. A doctor, a psychiatrist, a few professors and teachers, and an astronomer.”
Dean raises an eyebrow, sitting in the only empty chair at the table. “Can they do that? Take someone’s knowledge?”
Castiel shrugs, pushing the laptop back toward the Winchesters. “I don’t see why not, if they have the proper spell for it.
Sam sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Great, so we’re looking for a witch that’s stealing knowledge from people. How’re we supposed to beat that, exactly?”
Dean hums, shrugging. “Witch-killing bullet usually does the trick.”
✤
Of course it doesn’t go according to plan. Nothing ever does for them.
They find the witch pretty easily, all things considered. A guy in town had recently had a few breakthroughs in various fields despite having no previous knowledge of those subjects. They also find evidence of him visiting each of the victims before they were de-aged, so as soon as night settles over the town, they pile into the Impala with their guns and spare witch-killing bullets. They park a block from the guy’s house, using the darkness of the night conceal their entry.
It’s a simple place, given the recent success the guy’s had. No flashy car out front, no weird collectibles in the house. There’s a creak from their right just as Dean and Cas enter the threshold of the living room and before either can manage to get their guns up, there’s a blindingly bright flash of light. Sam ducks behind the wall, covering his eyes quickly and trying to regain his senses so he can get a shot off. He stops dead in his tracks when he opens his eyes again, though. Instead of Dean and Castiel standing next to him, there’s two toddlers in their place. They’re unmistakably Dean and Cas; they’ve got the same features and Sam vaguely remembers seeing pictures of Dean around this age.
He thinks about trying to fire a shot, but if this witch is stealing knowledge, he’s got all of Dean’s hunting knowledge and knows what their plan is. So instead, he picks up both toddlers and hightails it back to the Impala.
“Well that didn’t go well.” Sam startles as Cas speaks. The voice isn’t the same; this one’s much higher-pitched and way more gentle than Cas’s normal tone. “Wait, you… how can you still talk like that?” He manages to get out, setting both toddlers in the back and climbing behind the wheel.
“I’m clearly immune to the spell.” He can hear the snark in the angel’s voice, but he doesn’t comment on it as Cas continues. “My knowledge is contained within my grace. The witch only gained Jimmy’s knowledge which is… mostly selling advertisements.”
“Ah.” Sam says intelligently. If he’s being honest, he’s more than a little startled by this turn of events. He glances at his brother and Cas in the rearview mirror. Dean still hasn’t said a word and his gaze is currently glued to his hands. All of a sudden, it dawns on Sam. “Hey, uh, Cas? How old would you say you guys are?”
Cas glances at Dean quickly before answering. “Around four. Maybe shortly before five? I’m not entirely sure. Why?”
Sam clears his throat quietly, pulling into the motel parking lot. “If that witch took all his knowledge… he’d only remember what had happened up until whatever age he is, right?” Castiel nods along but doesn’t elaborate, so Sam presses on. “Which means Dean’s right around the age that Mom died…” He lets the sentence trail off, but Cas doesn’t seem to see where he’s going with this.
He’s not entirely surprised Castiel doesn’t know. It was a dark time in Dean’s life, one Sam can’t even hope to remember. He knows a bit from reading John’s journal, but John’s view of things was… distorted, to say the least, so he’s not sure how accurate it is. Nonetheless, both Castiel and Dean follow him into their motel room, the latter staying silent. Sam sighs and turns his gaze to Castiel. “After Mom died, Dean didn’t talk for about a year. According to Dad’s journal, anyway. He just… stopped communicating. Not that he needed to with me, since I was a baby, but he didn’t say a word for a little more than a year.”
Castiel frowns and the gesture looks so out of place on such a young face. “Oh. That… explains why he hasn’t been talking. He also won’t remember me.” The angel turns to Dean, sitting next to him on their bed. “Dean? My name’s Castiel. You can call me Cas if you want to.”
Dean nods, but his eyes stay glued to the floor and he doesn’t say a word.
Sam sighs and runs a hand through his own hair. “The witch has all of Dean’s hunting knowledge now, which means he knows all of our plays. We’re gonna have to find a new way to deal with him.”
Castiel nods in agreement, stifling a yawn and sighing. “Dean and I will have to sleep, unfortunately. My grace is occupied at the moment, so I’m at the whims of this vessel. I’m sure Dean’s tired as well.” Sam and Cas both turn to look at Dean, who nods slightly. Cas hums his approval and pushes himself onto his feet. “Come on, Dean, let’s go get ready for bed. We can figure everything out in the morning.”
Dean doesn’t say anything, but he does follow Cas to the bathroom and get ready for bed, so Sam’s counting it as a win.
✤
The next morning is a flurry of movement. Sam gets breakfast for the three of them and settles in at the table. Dean eats, thankfully, and Cas helps him get ready while Sam looks for a way to take down the witch.
“Um, Sam? I hate to be a bother but… Dean and I don’t have any other clothes. And we’re going to need car seats if you’re planning on not getting arrested.”
Sam blinks at his screen for a moment before turning to Castiel. “I… right, yeah. Didn’t even think about that. Um… let’s go now. I think there’s a Target nearby, we can get both for pretty cheap.” Castiel nods and motions for Dean to follow him.
Sam stays where he is, allowing himself a moment to just watch his brother. He’s never seen Dean from this angle. Dean’s always been the stronger older brother. It’s… strange and utterly disconcerting to see him like this. Quietly and mostly to himself, he says, “We’ll get you back to yourself, Dean. I promise.”
Dean doesn’t acknowledge him, but Sam hadn’t really expected him to.
The ride to Target is silent. Castiel doesn’t have anything to say and Sam’s not going to push his brother to talk if he doesn’t want to, so silence remains. He parks as close to the entrance as he can, ushering both kids inside and grabbing a cart. The car seats are the closest, so they get those first. He picks up the least expensive, most functional ones, since they’ll hopefully only need them for the duration of this case. Not that they’re paying for them anyway, since new credit cards had just come for them a few days ago.
With the car seats picked out, they move on to the kids clothing section. Sam gets a few looks from people, but for the most part they’re left alone. He lets both of them pick out clothes for themselves. Dean picks out an overabundance of blue shirts, which… okay. Cas has an armful of clothes that match in no way whatsoever, but Sam just shakes his head and lets the two continue. Much to his surprise, though, Dean walks over to Cas and ducks his head as he holds out the shirts to Castiel. The angel turns to glance at Sam, the confusion on his face painfully evident. That’s when Sam finally realizes: all the shirts are nearly the same color as Castiel’s eyes. Sam shrugs and Castiel accepts the shirts with a murmured “Thank you, Dean.”
Dean picks out some clothes for himself and, once everything’s been tried on and loaded into the cart, they head back to the front of the store to check out. Sam winces at the final bill, but he won’t be paying for it anyway. He swipes the card, breathing a sigh of relief when it goes through without a problem. He takes the receipt from the cashier and heads back out to the car.
He loads the clothes into the trunk before turning to stare at the car seats. He’s never actually had to put a car seat in, so he sends a silent prayer to Chuck, hoping instructions are included.
He doesn’t realize, but sometime in the midst of him installing the car seats, Dean wanders off to a grassy patch of the parking lot and plops down on the ground, carefully picking all the flowers within his reach. By the time Sam turns around to load them into the car, Dean’s approaching him and Castiel with the stems of the flowers clutched in his small hand. Castiel watches him with wide eyes, taking the flowers gently when Dean offers them, though the Winchester’s eyes are pointedly glued on the ground.
“Thank you, Dean.” Dean nods, and Sam can see a slight flush on his brother’s cheeks. It brings a grin to his lips, despite the current situation.
“I think he’s got a little-kid crush on you, Cas.” A blush colors the angel’s cheeks and Sam finds his grin widening. He gets both of them settled into the car seats, looking for a place for lunch on his phone. They have a quick lunch at a local restaurant before heading back to the motel. As they’re walking into the room, Dean taps Cas on the shoulder gently.
“What’s wrong?” Cas asks as he turns to look at Dean. Dean holds his small fist out toward Cas, so Castiel holds his hand out, palm up. Dean opens his hand and drops a necklace into Cas’s.
Sam steps forward to take a closer look, eyes widening when he sees a sapphire. “Dean, did you take that from the store?”
Dean shakes his head but doesn’t elaborate further.
“Is… is there something you want me to do with this, Dean?” Castiel asks gently, glancing down at the necklace.
Dean’s lips move a few times before he looks up to meet Cas’s gaze. “’S a pretty color, like your eyes. Want you t’have it.”
Castiel and Sam glances at each other with wide eyes. Dean flushes and looks down at his feet, clasping his hands together in front of him.
Castiel rests his free hand on Dean’s, his voice gentle. “Thank you, Dean. It’s lovely.”
“Where’d you get it, Dean?” Sam asks, turning to sit on the bed.
Dean chews his lip a moment before answering. “The house we were in las’ night. Was on the floor.”
Castiel furrows his eyebrows and is turning to Sam before Sam even has a chance to speak. “This is an instrument of his magic, Sam. Perhaps, if we can find the right spell, we can undo what he’s done and return everyone to their rightful selves.”
Sam raises his eyebrows, glancing at the necklace. “Great. Point me in the direction, what kind of spell am I looking for?”
Castiel hums in thought, brushing a thumb over the sapphire. “The spell he recited was Celtic, so some sort of undo spell in the Celtic language. Perhaps Rowena could be of service? I’ve heard her perform several Celtic spells.”
Sam nods and pulls out his phone, dialing Rowena’s number as he moves to the small table in the room.
She picks up on the second ring. “Samuel. Nice to hear from you outside of apocalypse times. What can I do for ya?”
He runs a hand through his hair, chuckling softly. “Hey. So, uh, slight problem.”
He can picture Rowena rolling her eyes as she speaks. “There always is with you three. Merry band of misfits, I swear. What can I help you boys with?”
Sam chuckles and rubs a hand over the back of his neck. “So we’re working a case in Laverne, Ohio. Turns out it was a witch who was de-aging people so he could take their knowledge.”
Rowena sighs. “Let me take a guess: Castiel and Dean got hit with the spell and you need me to come undo it.”
Sam chuckles nervously. “I, uh… could you?”
“Of course, Samuel. Charlie and I are only a few hours away, we’ll be there soon.”
He hears the click on the other end that signals Rowena hanging up, so he sets his phone on the table. “Alright, so Rowena’s on her way. How do we get the other people turned back? They’re in the custody of CPS, it’s not gonna be easy to get to them.”
“We may not need to.” Castiel says, sitting on the bed next to Dean. “We may only need a sample of their DNA, like some hair or something left over in their houses. Ask Rowena, we can collect it while she’s driving.”
Sam snorts. “We? No offense man, but I don’t think you two are gonna be much help. You can barely reach the doorknob.”
Castiel rolls his eyes. “I’m more than capable of opening a door, Sam, and I’m sure Dean is. We-” Castiel stops himself and turns to look at Dean, frowning. “Perhaps you’re right. I’d forgotten that Dean’s lost all of his hunting knowledge.”
Dean huffs, squirming in his seat. “Why d’you talk ‘bout me like ‘m not here?”
“Apologies, Dean. It’s just… there’s a lot you don’t remember right now.”
Dean stays quiet, but he shifts closer to Castiel. Sam sends Rowena a quick text asking what she needs, bringing up the victim’s addresses just in case.
Sure enough, all they need is a sample of DNA. He knows he shouldn’t, but he leaves Dean and Cas in the motel room as he goes to collect it. It’s dark enough that he can get into the houses unseen. It takes him less than an hour to get a sample from all the victims.
Rowena and Charlie are there by the time he gets back. He shoulders the door open, smiling gratefully at them. “I brought dinner.”
Charlie grins. “Mm, real food. I’ll never get enough of it.” She grabs one of the Styrofoam containers, dropping onto the bed with Dean and Cas. “I can’t believe you let your brother and best friend get turned into little kids.”
Sam scoffs. “I didn’t let them, they were ahead of me!”
Rowena simply rolls her eyes, holding out a hand. “I presume you’ve got samples from the other victims?”
Sam nods and motions to the various bags on the table. “One from each, yeah. Do you know how to fix it?”
Rowena looks mildly insulted, snatching the bags off the table. “I’m a centuries old witch, Sam, reversing a simple de-aging spell is easy. I could do it in my sleep.” She motions for Charlie to help her, grabbing a book, the necklace, and a few spell ingredients. Everything gets set on the ground in an orderly pile before she walks over to Dean and Cas and plucks a few hairs from their heads. Cas winces but Dean full-on flinches away from her, which is concerning to say the least. He seems to relax once Cas’s hand finds it’s way onto Dean’s knee, though. It’s remarkable how much Dean relaxes with just a simple touch from Cas.
Rowena’s done with the spell a few minutes later. It’s silent for a moment, and Dean and Cas are still in the bodies of five-year-olds. Sam turns to ask her what the hell went wrong when the blindingly-bright light from the witch’s house fills the tiny motel room. He and Charlie both cover their eyes while Rowena sits there unfazed. When Sam opens his eyes again, Dean and Cas are sitting on the bed as their normal, age-appropriate selves.
Sam breathes a sigh of relief and pulls both Rowena and Charlie into a hug. “Thank you guys so much, I was at my wit’s end.”
Rowena brushes off the thanks, chuckling. “Can you boys handle this witch on your own or do I need to take care of that too?”
Sam flushes, glancing at Dean and Cas, who simply shrug. “I-I… you’re welcome to stay if you want to. We know where he lives, and he won’t be expecting us.”
Rowena raises an eyebrow. “I’m certain he felt the reversal of his magic. If he isn’t already, he’ll be on his way here. Sooner, rather than later.”
The sound of the door’s lock clicking open has them all turning to face the door. Dean and Cas both dive for their guns as Sam pulls his from his waistband, training it on the door. Charlie pulls a gun from her waistband as well, copying Sam and aiming it at the door.
It all happens in an adrenaline-fueled blur. The four of them pull the trigger before the witch can even get a word out.
Rowena doesn’t even flinch, just crosses her arms. “Well that certainly wasn’t the smartest. We’re in a motel, not the woods.”
The four of them glance at each other, eyes wide. Clearly, none of them had thought of that. Rowena sighs and rolls her eyes, collecting her things. “Idiots. Get the body and let’s get the hell out of here, I’ll wipe you from the security tapes.”
Sam smiles sheepishly at her, helping Dean and Cas load the witch’s body into the Impala’s trunk. Dean grumbles about the bloodstains, but for the most part goes along with it.
They’re gone in five minutes. Charlie and Rowena go their separate way not long after leaving the motel. They boys pull off when they get to a particularly woody area, finding a clear spot and digging a pit before doubling back for the body. They’ve got it salted and burned in a few minutes, Dean and Cas both rubbing at their eyes as the flames blaze in front of them.
The walk back to the car is silent, save for the chirping of a few crickets and a wolf howling in the distance. They agree to clean the trunk once they’re back at the bunker and Sam offers to drive home so Dean and Cas can rest. He can’t resist, though, as they’re climbing in the car. “So, Dean, you think Cas’s eyes are a pretty color?”
Dean’s face grows bright red and he fixes his brother with a glare over the hood of the car. “You shut your mouth and get in the damn car.”
Sam laughs, grinning to himself as he slides behind the wheel. Dean and Cas both climb in the back and the ride is silent for a few moments before Dean speaks again.
“Look, you can’t tell me his eyes aren’t pretty. Especially when they do the whole glowing thing when we’re-”
Sam knows exactly where this is going, so he switches the radio on and turns it up, drowning his brother out. His brother and Castiel are both snickering in the back seat and, despite nearly being scarred for life, Sam’s got a content smile on his face as well. Their laughter is contagious, though, and soon Sam’s snickering right along with them.
The three of them haven’t laughed like this since they brought everyone through the rift, nearly a year ago now. Sam can’t help but enjoy the moment, even though it was borne of his brother very nearly letting Sam in on some things about their relationship he’s very content not knowing.
All in all, the case wasn’t too bad. And, despite seeing Dean so vulnerable, it was actually pretty entertaining. Not to mention the fact that he’s got plenty of blackmail material for future use.
A glance in the rearview mirror shows that Dean and Cas are both sound asleep just as they cross the border into Kansas. Castiel is curled into Dean’s side, with Dean’s arm loosely slung around the angel’s shoulders. It’s such a soft sight, and certainly not something Sam had ever expected to see from his uber-macho, ladies-man older brother. It’s cute, he thinks to himself. He’s happy for them. They’re good for each other.
That doesn’t mean he’s ever letting Dean live this down.
