❛ CHAPTER SEVEN ━ KIDS WITH GUNS ❜
𖤐¸𓍢 ━━ ❪ ACT ONE OF SOULBOUND ❫ ˖ ୧ 。
◟ ✦ IF YOU WEREN'T BEING A MISTER PARANOID! ❞

"When is Sam coming back?" Olive asked.

She hugging Dean by the leg as he walked around the new garage. It had been a few weeks since the Djinn incident and Dean has been more paranoid than before. Even going the extra mile of having the family move.

"I told you." He grunting, his leg dragging behind him as he picked up a box from the moving truck. "Sam's doing his own thing."

"But why can't he do his own thing here?" She huffed.

Dean sighs. "Because his thing is different than our thing."

She scrunched her face. "What's our thing?"

"Being normal."

Olive let go of Dean's leg as they passed through the front lawn, laying flat on her stomach. She had odd ways of telling Dean how she felt.

Like when she was overwhelmed she'd hold her breath until her face got read, or like now, when she's frustrated she'll drop to ground, her way of telling Dean that she had more to say.

He turned around with a deep sigh. "What's wrong?"

"I just don't get it." She grumbled. "I prayed for Sam to come back, so that he can be with us and you can be happy. .but he's back now and you're still sad."

Dean places the box on the step. "Olly, I'm not sad."

Olive rolls on her back, looking up at Dean who stared down at her. "Yes, you are." She said softly. "And I know you only say you're okay so people don't worry, but I worry."

"It's not your job to worry." He says lightly, "And if Sam doesn't want to stay then he doesn't have to. He can take care of himself."

"I know." She replies softly. "It's just not fair because you make everyone else happy even when you're not."

Dean smiles, grabbing Olive's arms and helping her off the ground. "You make me happy," He reminds her, "Lisa and Ben make me happy too. I'm happy."

Olive's eyes narrowed as Dean picked up the box again and knuckled her head, watching in suspicion as he entered the house.

She could feel his unhappiness. It was overwhelming, feeling an adults feels when she could hardly handle her own.

The family that they built with Lisa and Ben had grown hostile since Sam came back. Olive had just started talking to him again after being annoyed with the fact they had to move across town.

She missed Karla, the thought alone making her touch the bracelet.

Lisa didn't complain when Dean suggested a move, but both Ben and Olive had a few words to say about it— and by that it was just the children grumbling under their breath as they helped move the boxes.

"What's up?" Lisa asked her son, who sat at the kitchen table with his chin in his palm and a frown on his face.

"Nothing." He sighed.

Lisa maintained her smile, "At least wait till you've checked the place out before you hate it." She says. "Open mind. That's all I ask."

"Yeah.. alright." He smiles.

"I can't believed we moved before I could sign up for the next play." Olive mumbles, chin on the table as she tried to stare at her nose.

"Maybe they do plays at your new school." Lisa smiles, trying to stay as optimistic as possible.

"Maybe." She huffs.

"C'mon, Livvy," Ben says, standing up. "We'll be back." He announced, walking towards his bike.

Dean quickly turns. "Whoa. Hey, where's the fire?"

Olive looks around, "There's a fire?"

"It's an expression, O." Dean smiles lightly.

"We're just gonna check out the block," Ben explains.

"I get to sit in the basket." Olive grinned. It seems that no one but Dean thought it was a bad idea.

Dean wanted to say something, he wanted to tell them it wasn't safe and that they should stay here where he can see them.

But any way he tried to phrase it made him sound like his father.

"And let your mom unpack the kitchen by herself?" Dean says lightly. "Come on, kids."

In unison, the surrogate siblings let out an annoyed huff. "We'll go for lunch later." Lisa smiles, "Scope out the neighborhood. Right?"

The question was aimed towards Dean, which sounded like more of a warning than a question. "Yeah. Yeah sounds like a plan."

"A boring plan." Olive huffs. Dean throws a clean towel at her face.

By the afternoon, Olive had made a blanket fort with boxes in the living room. She had been sitting there when the door bell rang, crawling out just in time to see Dean pay for two boxes of pizza at the front door.

She crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow, lips pinched together. It was the face Dean was met with when he closed the door.

From her, and from Lisa.

"What?" He says, fully knowing why they were upset, which made them even more frustrated.

"Thought we were going out." Lisa tilts her head.

"You were gonna teach me how to use chopsticks at the buffet." Olive chimes.

"Oh, yeah.." He chuckled nervously. "I forgot, sorry."

"Sure." Lisa said sarcastically, "I'll look for plates." She walks into the open kitchen, Ben following close behind.

"Don't give me that look," Dean grumbles.

Olive shrugs, "What look?"

"The little rabbit look. Nose scrunch, narrowed eyes," He lists, motioning to her small frame with his free hand. "It's adorably scary."

"Well, if you weren't being a mister paranoid━" She was cut off by the wave of his hand.

"Maybe you should try being a Miss. Zip it." He replied.

"Well, you. .uh." She choked on an insult, unable to come back with one on the spot. "You're smelly!"

"Good one." He deadpanned.

The family of four sat in a circle on the floor of Olive's blanket fort, which was oddly spacious.

Lisa leaned against Dean's side, the man grabbing another slice of meat lovers pizza from the box.

Ben sat against a few boxes, poking at the pepperony on his plate.

Olive laid on the floor like a starfish, opening her mouth whenver Dean flug a topping in her direction.

"Moving truck said they'll bring the couches first thing tomorrow morning." Lisa states.

Ben stands up, dusting off his hands.

"Where you off to?" Dean questions.

"I gotta pee," Ben stated distantly, walking down the hallway without another word.

Olive then stood up, "I'll clean it up!" She pips, raising her hand towards the plates, shakily, they began to levitate off the floor. "Watch out!"

One of the plates drops, but Dean reaches out to catch it. Lisa and Dean let out a relieved sigh as the child winced.

"I'm still working on it. . ."

"Why don't we just put the plates away regularly for now." Lisa grimaced with a forced smile, standing up and grabbing the plates from the ground.

Olive nodded. "Makes sense."

-

"What the hell?" Dean shouts.

In the garage, Ben is standing over the open trunk of the Impala. His face pales at the sight of Dean catching him with a rifle in his hands.

He quickly placed a box down, rushing forward to take the weapon away.

"Hey, hey. Give me that." Dean orders, throwing it back in the trunk. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I just wanted to see it," Ben explains, his tone holding frustration.

"Listen to me." Dean slams it closed. "Don't ever open this trunk, you understand me?"

Ben shifted nervously. "Okay. Sorry." He then narrows his eyes in confusion. "But I don't get it. You had your own rifle when you were my age."

Dean closed his eyes, gathering himself. "Ben. Mark my words. You will never, ever shoot a gun, ever. And neither will Olive."

"I know what's going on." Ben pressed. "You think something might be coming for us."

"There's nothing coming after us." Dean failed to reassure.

"Olive's a hunter and she's six."

Dean's face paled at the thought. "She is not a hunter."

Ben was clouded with possibilities of being like Dean, that he hadn't noticed Dean was failing to keep his anxiety down about those same possibilities ending horribly.

but Ben kept pressing the subject, "I can do what you do. You can teach me how to shoot—"

"Forget about the frickin gun!"

The boy falters. "Okay.." He mumbles before speeding out of the garage and backs up to the house.

Dean sighs. He wanted to protect Ben, keep him away from the life that he's failing to keep Olive from.

It didn't matter how many times he convinced himself that Olive was out, they both knew she's never walking away from the life because of the things she could do.

And as she got older she grew more curious━ he couldn't save Olive but he could definitely stop Ben.

When Lisa came into the garage a little later, Dean internally sighed.

She leans against the door, "What happened?" She asked lightly.

"Ben's been locked in his room for hours. Says you yelled at him." She didn't seem upset about it. "Olive's trying to cheer him up with floating paper airplanes. What did he do?"

Dean occupies himself, "Nothing."

"Ok.." She shifts back against the wall. "What did you do?"

"He got into my tools." He wasn't going to tell Lisa about the gun, she'd freak out. "I shouldn't have gotten mad."

"You wanna talk about this..?"

"About?"

"Yelling at Ben? Keeping us in the house?" She pushed.

"I'm trying to keep us safe." He firms.

Lisa raised an eyebrow, "Which is what you did when you and Olive fought monsters in our living room?"

Dean faltered. "That's not fair.."

He didn't know she would be there, he thought she'd be safe with Sam in the house but they surrounded them. Syd had died because of him.

It wasn't fair that she blamed him for something he couldn't control.

Lisa sighs, "You're right. I know. I'm not trying to argue but. ." She shifted. "You said that you and your brother killed whatever was after us. And then we moved just to be sure. So what is it, Dean? A monster? Or monsters in general?"

"I don't know." He admits, "Something might come."

"What?" She pressed.

Dean grows annoyed. "I can't predict what's gonna come after us!"

"Well, I need parameters! We have to live our lives here, Dean." She huffs. "At some point, I have to go to work. The kids have school."

"But if something happens on my watch. ." He trails.

"I know you're trying to protect us." She says slowly, "But you're kind of scaring me a little too." She admits.

Instantl, Dean feels guilty, watching as Lisa smiles sadly before leaving the garage.

Dean stays there for a lot longer than he wanted, unable to go back to the house without something meaningful to say.

He wasn't surprised when Olive strolled in an hour later, crawling into his lap, pushing hair out of her face to smile.

"You okay?" She asked.

He plasters a smile, "Course."

She snuggling into his chest as he leaned his back against the tarp of the Impala, "Liar, liar, pants on fire."

"Yeah. ." He mumbles.

She looked up at him. "Ben isn't mad at you no more. But Lisa is still upset about the Da-Jin." She explains.

He didn't have the heart to correct her.

Dean gives her a look. "What about you? You mad?"

She seems confused, "You didn't yell at me."

"About the play," He corrects, "About the move, about how things ended with Sam?"

Olive's frown dips, "Lisa says that things happen for a reason. You thought something scary was coming, you had a reason."

He huffs, wrapping his arms around her and resting his check against her head. "If I could spend the rest of my life right here, in this moment, I would."

Olive grins, closing her eyes and savoring the moment.

It's over when Dean's phone rings. Olive lifts her head, pressing her ear against the other side of the phone.

"Sam?"

Olive's eyes widened in excitement.

"Sam's there?" She tried to grab at the phone.

He pushes her forehead back. "Yeah, that's Olive. What's wrong?" There's a pause and then Dean sighs. "Dude."

Another pause, Dean quickly stands, grabbing Olive's hand as they made their way to the house. "I'm out. I'm staying out."

"I'm not! I'll help Mister!" She said extra loud for Sam to hear.

Dean narrowed his eyes at her before instantly scolding the phone. "No, you're not picking her up!" He sighs as Sam speaks. "What's so nuts you gotta threaten a damn drive-by?" His eyes widened before quickly mumbling a 'fine' before ending the call.

"What was it? What happened?" She begs.

He motioned to the house, "Go back up to the house. I need to go for a few days."

"To pack right?" She stammers, shocked that he'd suggest leaving her behind.

"No, I already put you through enough danger as it is," He states, rounding the truck, "I'll tell Lisa everything on the way."

Olive's face reddens, her arms throwing outward, "No!" She snaps, "You can't just go! I can help, I can come with you!"

Dean spins around. "The last thing I need is to worry about you and everything else at once! You're not a hunter, Olive. You're just a kid."

She falters. "I'm your kid," She reminds, "Don't leave me behind. You can't protect me if you're across town."

For a second, Olive's face was replaced with a younger version of Dean's.

The same panicked eyes, the same fearful stare of being left behind.

For a second, Dean is replaced by his father.

And that image alone made Dean want to slam his head into a wall with guilt. The fear of being like his father eating him up inside.

But truth was, he'd be his father for letting her go with him in the first place.

He sighs through his nose, "I'm sorry, Olive. It's dangerous, and I just can't. I want you to be safe."

Her eyes watering, "Okay."

He bites the inside of his cheek, watching her turn towards the house with slow feet.

Then, she stops, turning around and running up to him. Her little arms wrap around his waist, squeezing tight, "I love you, daddy."

Dean releases a breath he didn't know he was holding, relief making his shoulders sag, "I love you too, kid."

She pulled away too quickly for Dean. He wanted to hold her longer, stay in the picture frame for just a little longer before entering reality once again.

But she had slipped through his fingers quicker than she came.

-

Dean comes home two days after he leaves. He's more on edge than before, pacing outside in the yard while Lisa dried dishes inside.

He can see her from the window, and it made him feel guilty. As much as he hated it, the hunting life had dragged him back in.

And while Olive and Ben were on a bike ride around the neighborhood, Dean was about to ruin everything he had built in the last year.

"Hey." Lisa smiles when Dean finally emerges, putting away a glass cup.

"Hey. Where're the kids?" He looked around.

"Bike ride." She replied. Dean stiffens slightly, which doesn't go unnoticed. Lisa puts the rag down with a look. "What?"

Dean turns away from the window with a defeated sigh, "I..I don't know what to do here, Lis." He admits. "I mean, if I knew for sure what the safest thing was, then I'd do it."

He wanted to be home, with Lisa and the kids. He wanted to go back to pretending.

But even he knew it wouldn't last long, not when he had a job to do.

"Do I stay here and look after you guys...or get as far away as I possibly can." His eyes shifted to the table. "I don't know."

As Lisa listened. She couldn't help but feel a sense of dread wash over her.

She was a smart woman, who's had her heart broken a few good times. She knows the signs. And all signs were telling her that she loved Dean.

She wanted to make whatever they had work but she also knew that Dean didn't belong in her world.

He belonged out there.

Olive belonged out there.

People like them saved people like her, it never worked out any other way.

"And I get what I've been doing lately. You know, with the yelling and the acting like a.." He rubs his temple. "Like a prison guard. It's just— that's not me. You tell yourself you're not gonna be something, you know?" He frowns.

"You know, my dad was exactly like this, all the time and it scared the hell out of me." He says.

He didn't say it out loud, but what Dean feared the most with Olive, is that one day she'll wake up and look at him the way others did.

The way he thought his father was.

She'd look at him one day and see a monster, and be absolutely horrified.

"Dean." She rounds the corner. "Can I be honest?"

She looks at him but Dean can't seem to make eye contact.

"Maybe we're safer with you here. Maybe gone. I don't know. The one thing that I do know is that you're not a construction worker." She motions towards a picture of Olive on the fridge.

He smiles sadly at the memory, plucking it off the fridge to hold it.

"And that little girl isn't like others. You're a hunter, she's meant for something way more. And now you know your brothers out there, things are different. You don't wanna be here, Dean."

"Yes, I do." He says instantly.

She gave a sad smile. "Okay. Okay but you also wanna be there. I get it. You're white-knuckling it, living like this. Like what you are is some bad, awful thing. But you're not." She pauses.

The other shoe drops.

"But I'm not gonna have this discussion every time you leave. And I'm not gonna stay up worrying Olive is going to run off in the dead of night just to chase after you. It's just gonna keep happening." She shakes her head. "So... so I need you to go.."

Dean falters. "I can't just lose you and Ben. I can't just take away the first thing Olly finally has to a family."

"That's not what I'm saying."

"You're saying hit the road."

"If there's some rule that says this a has to be either or.." She smiles. "How about we break it?" Dean straights at this. "I and Ben will be here, I'll take Olive whenever you feel like it gets too dangerous or whenever I miss her." They both chuckled at this, Lisa grabs his hand. "And you come when you can. Just..come in one piece, okay?"

"You really think we can pull something like that off?" He asked.

Lisa grins. "It's worth a shot, right?"

Things had suddenly become more clear to Dean.

He might not know how long it would last, or when something will go wrong but there was no point in worrying about the 'what if's.

He still had Lisa and Ben, he still had Olive. He's got Sam back. What could possibly go wrong?

EDITED, 12/05/2022!
WORDS, 3255!