All Dogs Go To Heaven

"Well, I gotta tell you, Lucky, you got us stumped." Sam told the man we had tied up with silver chains and ropes embedded with said metal in the middle of our motel room. "I mean, why shack up with a family? Is it a kinky thing?" Sam sat forward, elbows on his knees. "Do you like to play with your food?" No reply. "Roll over, Lucky. Speak."

"Go to hell." Lucky said.

"Already been, didn't agree with me." He stood, moving to the dresser. "So look, how about I take this silver knife and I start carving some dog until you behave."

I sighed, staying perched on Dean's lap as he sat on the foot of the bed. "This is very unsettling." I mumbled as he gave my hip a gentle squeeze before sliding his up and down my side.

"You do what you gotta do." Lucky told Sam.

"Hang on, Sam." Dean spoke up. "Listen, you don't have to tell me why you're with the family, I get it."

"Oh, you do, do you?" Lucky asked.

"You killed every threat that came near them." Dean stated. "You care about them, in your own whack-a-doodle kind of way. It's obvious. What I wanna know is, who was that guy you were kibitzing with? He a skinwalker too?"

Lucky was quiet for a few minutes. "Look, I can't say anything."

"But if you don't, then you're gonna put the girl and the little boy in danger." Dean pointed out. "And sooner or later, all this crap is gonna come for them. Now, look, we don't give a rat's ass about you." He began to stand, making me move from his lap. "We wanna help them. That's our angle, that's it."

Lucky looked between the three of us for a moment before caving. "Yeah, that guy, he's a--Whatever it is I am. He's not the only one."

"How many are there?" I asked.

"About 30. We were all--We were kind of recruited." Lucky told us. 

"Recruited?" Sam repeated.

"Yeah. Me, I was living on the streets. They found me, they told me one small bite, I'd be strong, I'd be fast."

"Sniffing people's butts, that's a real step up." Dean remarked, crossing the room.

"Well, it was for me."

Dean leaned against the table by the window. "Where is this little Scooby gang of yours?"

"They're everywhere." Lucky stated. "We're out there finding families, and once they take us in, we lay low."

"Lay low? What the hell does that mean?"

"Well, we're waiting for the word."

"What word?"

"Once we're settled, we get the signal and we all turn on our families." Lucky admitted. "We change them, all in one night. Thirty becomes one-fifty."

"God, you're a sleeper cell." Dean muttered. 

"Yeah, well, that's one way to say it."

"So you're waiting on for word form who?" Sam asked. "Who organized you?"

"There's a pack leader." Lucky stated. 

"Your Alpha?"

"What's an Alpha?"

"The first skinwalker, the strongest." 

"Well, he's plenty strong, but no, I don't think so." Lucky shook his head. "I'm pretty sure there's guys like him in other towns. We're not the only pack out there."

"Fantastic." Dean remarked, crossing the room back to me. "Then you can help us stop him."

"Oh, no. I can't. No."

"Yes, you can."

"No, you guys don't get it." Lucky said. "No one can. These guys who turned me, they're ruthless."

Sam whistled, waving Wyatt's baseball back and forth before tossing it across the room. Lucky just stared at him.

"Sam, not helping." Dean said.

I scoffed a laugh. 

"Fetch this, dick." Lucky glared at Sam, who looked taken aback by the reply.

"Listen to me." Dean said. "What are you gonna do to that family, really? You gonna put your jaws around that little boy's throat? Clamp down? Listen to him cry for his mom? Because I'm gonna guess that these are the only people who in your pathetic life, have ever showed you any kindness. So it's either that or you can help us stop it."

_____

"Dean?" I asked softly as we stood at the trunk of the car.

"Yeah, baby?"

"I could really use a hug right about now." I whispered.

Dean turned to me, opening his arms with a small smile. I stepped into him, cheek pressed to his chest and my arms around his torso. He wrapped his arms around me, lips brushing my hair. "What's wrong, angel?"

"It hurts." I whispered.

"What?"

"Everything, all the time. I'm so tired."

"I'm so sorry."

"How are we supposed to stay hidden from something that can smell us a hundred yards off?" Sam asked, joining us.

"We don't." Dean answered, rubbing my back before reaching out with one had to open a long case where a rifle sat inside, a scope sitting above it on the padded inside of the case.

"The pack leader? We're taking him down?" Sam asked. 

"Yeah." Dean said. "You got a better idea?"

"No, I--" Sam scoffed. "Crowley's not gonna be too happy about that."

"Who gives a rat's ass?" Dean shrugged. "We let that thing live one second and it sends out a psychic dog whistle and--" He made an explosion noise.

"On the other had, it could lead us to an Alpha." Sam pointed out.

"But at what expense?" I asked, stepping out of Dean's arms.

"But Crowley would give me my soul back." 

"Are you kidding?" Dean asked. "One hundred and fifty people turned into monsters, is that what you want?"

"No. Of course not. I--" Sam began. "I'm just asking."

"You know what? That's it."

"What?"

"You say you're just folks, huh?" Dean asked. "That you like baseball and apple pie or whatever. Truth is, I don't know what you are, because you're not Sam."

"Dean, come on." Sam complained.

"I mean, it's your gigantor body and maybe your brain, but it's not you. So just stop pretending. It'd do us both a favor."

_____

We sat on a rooftop, watching the warehouse below where Lucky was supposed to be meeting the superiors we were planning on shooting. We sat behind a large ventilation system. Dean had the gun propped up on it, gazing into the scope. 

"He looks nervous, right?" Sam asked as he and I loaded silver bullets into our handguns.

"Wouldn't you be?" Dean replied.

"I'd double cross us." Sam stated. "He's gotta realize that's his best bet if he wants to keep breathing."

"No, he'll go through with it."

"You mean because he loves that family?"

"Yeah."

"It's sweet when you think about it." I stated.

"I'd double-cross us." Sam repeated. 

"Thanks, Dexter. That's reassuring." 

"I was just making conversation." 

A black SUV approached, making me grab the binoculars and lift them to my eyes to watch. A few men got out as the garage door behind Lucky opened. Three more men exited. 

"The big guy, the driver. That's the guy Lucky met in the park." Sam stated. 

Another man got out of the SUV. 

"And there's el jefe." Dean stated.

"Take him out." Sam said.

"It's not clean." Dean stated, still watching through the scope as the driver's body blocked the pack leaders. "We got one shot at this literally."

They all stopped in a circle before Lucky, still blocking the shot. Then one of the men pulled Mandy and her son from the SUV.

"Take the shot." Sam said.

"I'm trying." Dean bit out. "She's in the way."

"Take it anyway."

Dean kept watch. "Come on, come on, come on." He mumbled, then they disappeared inside the warehouse. 

"So plan b?" Sam suggested.

"We've got one?" 

"Maybe we should start thinking our plans through a little more, have a backup." I said. 

_____

We waited inside the warehouse, watching as they told Lucky to turn Mandy and her son or they would do it themselves. 

Dean was up on the catwalk, rifle tucked between the links in the fencing on the wall. Sam was across the room from me, both of us hidden. Sam took the first shot, taking out the leader. 

Another skinwalker went down curtesy of Dean. I pulled the trigger, another body dropped. 

Everyone scattered then. Sam followed them on direction. I went the other. 

I made my way through the warehouse as quiet as possible. A growl from behind me made me stop. I turned to find a dog standing there.

"Great, now I have to shoot a dog." I mumbled, finger on the trigger. 

The dog lunged, jaws open to clamp down on me. I shot. 

_____

"I'll never look at a dog the same." Dean said as we walked toward a picnic table in the park, eyes on Evie as she carried Lady ahead of us. "I told you not to bring that mutt home."

"Oh, leave her be." I slapped his arm as Eli held onto my finger to walk.

"Makes you wonder though, huh?" Dean said as we sat down by the lake.

"What?" Sam asked, setting the bags of fast food between us.

"How many packs are out there." Dean shrugged, setting Rory beside him. "What if they're all just waiting for the signal, you know?"

"Can we go play?" Evie asked.

"Go ahead. Stay close." I told her.

Her and Wyatt ran off. 

"So I was thinking, you were right." Sam admitted.

"About?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, about what?" Millie added as I sat Eli down beside me. He smiled up at me.

"I'm not your brother, I'm not Sam." 

"Okay." Dean said.

"That's it?" I asked. 

"All that blah, blah, blah about being the old me?" Sam asked. "Crap. Like the kids, Saige, Millie? I've been acting like I care about them. I remember caring about them once. But I don't anymore. I couldn't care less."

"That's harsh." I said.

"Very." Millie agreed.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Dean asked. 

"You wanted the real me, this is it. I don't care about them." Sam insisted. "I don't even really care about you, except that I need your help. And you're clearly not gonna stick around for much longer unless I give it to you straight, so...I've done a lot worse than you know. I've killed innocent people in the line of duty but I'm pretty sure it's not something the old me could have done. And maybe I should feel guilty, but I don't."

"Sam, get to the punch line." 

"Look, I don't know if how I am is better or worse." Sam sighed. "It's different. You get the job done and nothing really hurts. It's not the worst thing. But I've been thinking. I was that other Sam for a long time and it was...it was kind of harder. But there are also things about it I remember that..." He glanced over at Millie, then at Dean. "Let's just say, I think I should probably go back to being him."

"That's very interesting. It's a step." Dean nodded his head. 

"So?"

"We do what we gotta do...and we get my brother back."

"I'm thinking we should probably have a plan b as well." I tried to joke.