It was getting way too late, and Dean felt much too old to have still been doing this.
And yet there he was: sitting deep underground in the belly of the Bunker and doing research. Dean Winchester had spent countless years doing pretty much the same thing, and it was crazy to him how easy it was to fall back into the familiar routine. If he closed his eyes, he could all too easily imagine he was back in some dingy motel room with Sam and Rayne, preparing for one of their hunts.
Sera had left the previous morning to take care of a fairly tame haunted house case in a nearby state, so it was just he and Sam scouring for information. Sam didn't feel comfortable leaving quite yet after everything that happened with June, and Dean was glad for his help. It was nearing one in the morning, however, and the two Winchester men were having a hard time staying focused. The events of the last few days had taken a toll on them, and they were exhausted in more ways than one. June had miraculously survived her first brush with the supernatural, but the problem remained of how to keep her from having any more of those brushes. None of them knew why Tom came for June in the first place, and they didn't know whether he would come back for her.
But before they could figure that part out, they had to make sure that if he ever found her again, he wouldn't be able to hurt her.
The task was starting to feel impossible, and suddenly, having a permanent guardian angel as well as all of Cas's spells of protection didn't seem like enough to Dean. He still felt that his daughter was too vulnerable...to exposed. And that was precisely why he would do as much research as it would take to find something that would keep her safe from Tom or any other monster that was stupid enough to mess with their family.
"There must be some kind of sigil or ritual...anything!" Dean said. He had his fists balled up to hold up his head as he stared down at the ancient book under his nose. There were stacks of the supernatural-themed texts around the room, and so far, each one had proved to be as useless as the last.
"That's what I'm trying to tell you, Dean," Sam said as he looked up from his laptop that contained the virtual archive of even more ancient books. "There's nothing. At least nothing like what we need. Most of these sigils and rituals are pretty hardcore. And if I'm not mistaken, that's precisely the type of weird that you want to keep June away from."
Dean's response was a growl of frustration. "This is bullshit! He's just a demon – nothing we haven't seen before. I won't lie down and accept that there's absolutely nothing out there that we can use to protect her from him."
"Look," Sam said as he exhaled from his nostrils. "We can keep her in this bunker for the rest of her life and there would still be a chance that he would find her. There's nothing out there – no spell, no nothing – that would give us an absolute guarantee that she would be safe."
"Well, I don't know...keeping her in the Bunker might not be such a bad id–"
"Dean! Are you even listening to yourself? We're not locking your daughter up in an underground metal tin can! Besides, that doesn't exactly fit in with your 'normal life' plan, now does it?"
Dean slammed the book he was reading shut and tossed it aside. It skidded across the surface of the table and landed on the floor in a heap of pages. He rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding his brother's eyes. He didn't want to admit that training June to protect herself might be their best option. Not yet.
"With everything that she's been through," Sam said in a quiet voice, "I don't think she can have the normal life that you and Ray wanted for her anyways, Dean. Not any more. Our only chance now might be ensuring that nothing like what happened the other day happens again. And I can't think of any other way of doing that."
Shooting upwards, Dean kicked back his chair and began to pace the floor of the bunker's library. The hot frustration was eating away at his nerves just as thoroughly as the fear for his daughter was chewing away at his heart. He wasn't sure if he could put aside his anger in order to do what needed to be done, but he was bitterly starting to realize that perhaps there was no other way.
"You don't have to like the guy, Dean, but you have to admit that he's the only one who can train her like she needs to be trained."
Having the strongest urge to punch a wall, Dean opted instead for something less destructive. He grabbed his car keys off the table and headed in the direction of the door. He was too exhausted to engage in that particular conversation for the time being. "I need sleep," he barked gruffly back at Sam. "We'll continue doing research tomorrow."
~~~
She should have been scared, being in the arms of a complete stranger in the middle of a barren field while drugged up, but June was mesmerized by the intense brown eyes watching her. They whispered of mischief, and secrets, and stolen kisses. Without her say so, her hand reached up and she traced the guy's bottom lip. It slowly curved upwards beneath her touch.
"If I didn't know any better, Tiny," he said, "I'd think you were trying to seduce me."
Maybe if she knew who he was, she would have been, June thought lazily. "Who are you?"
His lips pulled down. "Ah, yes, what a pity that you can't remember me. Especially since I can't seem to stop thinking about you."
"Was I supposed to remember you?"
"Considering how we met, probably not." He flashed her a grin and a wink. "But you can't blame a guy for hoping." He glanced over his shoulder at something then before looking back down at her. "Now let's get you out of here."
June thought that either she blacked out or the guy was a supernatural being because following her next blink, they were in front of her house. She had the sensation of just having stepped of a carousel, and she pushed on the guy's chest until he set her down. The second her feet touched the ground, June's legs gave out and she sat down hard in a tangle of limbs. The grass writhed and twirled beneath her hands, and she ran her fingers across it, entranced by the strange sensation.
The sound of the front door opening drew her gaze upwards, and she watched as Daniel stepped out onto the porch. His eyes first zeroed in on her and then lifted to look at the guy beside her. With a few long strides, he was standing in front of them. "Rick?" he asked as he knelt down before her. "What are you doing here?"
"June," she corrected, incorrectly assuming that he was speaking to her. "And I'm just chillin'."
Daniel's eyes narrowed, and he looked up at the guy. "What's wrong with her?"
"Not entirely sure, but I think she's high."
"High..." Daniel stared back down on her. "She's on drugs?"
The guy shrugged as he stuffed his hands into his jean pockets. "Like I said, not entirely sure. I found her in an abandoned field nearby. She was being stalked by a hungry coyote. Now, things may have changed since I last looked at her file, but if I'm not mistaken, you're supposed to be her GA, no?"
"I'm her guardian angel, correct," Daniel said, picking up on the short form of the title that was sometimes thrown around in Heaven.
"So was this some kind of test, or something?" he asked. "I mean, I'm no expert on the profession or anything, but I would think a hungry coyote would be something that warranted the intervention of her GA, no?"
Daniel placed his hand on the base of the girl's throat, and by the looks of it, June was too delirious to care much. "So, there's nothing wrong with the signal," he murmured, almost as if to himself. "Her heartbeat remained calm for the majority of the night...or rather, it didn't signify that she was in danger of any sort. I'm guessing whatever drug she's ingested had slowed down her heartbeat."
"And I'm guessing joining the 'groovy party bus' isn't typical behavior for her?"
"That would be a no," Daniel replied.
"Seems like there's a flaw in your system then, my friend."
"She just found out about the system to begin with," Daniel explained. "She got upset. I was trying to give her some privacy. I was just about to check up on her when I heard you two show up here."
"Looks like it's a good thing we did."
The angel straightened and looked at Rick. Daniel stood several inches taller than him, but the young Border patrol officer had a confidence about him that seemed to make up for that. "What are you doing here, Rick? Keeping her safe isn't your job."
"It's not every day that Heaven orders someone to be brought back from the dead." Rick smiled then as he looked down at June with a glint in his eye that Daniel couldn't quite place. "She had me intrigued."
"You should have no interaction with her beyond what you had at the Border," Daniel said calmly, even though on the inside, he was feeling quite the opposite for some reason. "You know the rules."
"Yeah, well, it seems that in this case, my intrigue worked out to the benefit of us all, wouldn't you agree?" Rick asked, turning his dark eyes on the man before him. "She doesn't remember who I am, and I'm sure she'll forget tonight just as quickly once she comes down from her high, so you have nothing to worry about."
"Thank you for getting her here," Daniel said sincerely, realizing he was acting irrationally, "but you should leave before her dad gets home. He'll be angry enough as it is; he doesn't need to know that one of Heaven's workers is intrigued by his daughter." When it looked like the younger man was about to argue, Daniel added, "Trust me. It's for your own good."
Rick cast one more glance down at June before saying, "You don't have to listen to me, but it might do her some good if you helped her remember what happened at The Border. And you never know...I could be of considerable use to you guys when it comes to protecting her."
Before Daniel could question him further, Rick disappeared. The angel looked down at his young ward, frowning. He wasn't lying when he said that Dean would be angry, and all he could hope for was that the eldest Winchester would see some reason after this incident. When Castiel called him in earlier that evening and asked him to keep an eye on June while the brothers went to the Bunker to do some research, he mentioned to Daniel the conversation that he had with Dean and Sam right before Daniel arrived. Despite everyone's better judgement, including his own most likely, Dean didn't want to admit that June needed to be trained. But even with being her guardian angel and hearing her heartbeat in his head, Daniel could not guarantee that he would always be there in time to protect her.
June Winchester needed to learn how to protect herself.
When June was picked up off the ground, she had the odd impression that she was flying rather than simply being carried by Daniel, and she let her head fall back as she closed her eyes, smiling. "Is this how angels feel all the time?" she asked dreamily.
Ignoring her, Daniel let his power flow through her to assess her current state. He felt the drugs in her system right away – the way they were dulling her senses and numbing her nerve endings. He'd never come into contact with something like that before and was worried that attempting to remove the drug from her system would cause more harm than good. Despite the fact that angels made healing a person appear really easy, it was actually quite an intricate procedure that involved a lot of careful attention and precision. Daniel didn't sense any immediate danger or negative long-lasting effects to her health and was therefore unconvinced that healing her was necessary in this particular case.
Once inside the house, Daniel brought June into the living room and set her down on her feet. June swayed a little and then sank down on the ground to lean against the side of the couch. Not seeing any other option, Daniel sat down beside her. "What happened?" he asked her, not really hoping to get a coherent answer, but needing to hear her voice for some reason.
"Kyle Hong is an asshole."
Daniel frowned in confusion. "The captain of the football team?"
Even being an angel, Daniel knew that Kyle Hong was considered quite popular by the entirety of the Smith Center High student body. He also knew that he and his friends were notorious for getting in trouble. Although he was aware of her whereabouts that evening, Daniel would have never guessed that June was spending it with the likes of Kyle. And he found the information quite off-putting.
June looked over at him then. Her eyes were unfocused, her brown hair hung in disheveled strands around her flushed face, and yet she still looked rather lovely, he thought. "Jenny and Amber were right," she said, scrutinizing him.
"About?"
"You're hot."
Daniel laughed at the unexpected statement. "I beg your pardon?"
"I mean, I never saw it before," she went on, as if she hadn't heard him. "But you definitely have that old Hollywood look about you. Very James Dean. Or maybe young Alain Delon." Her eyes lost focus again momentarily, and she brought her hand up to her head. "Whoa."
He reached out to steady her. "Are you okay?"
June's eyes lifted to his again. "If you weren't my guardian angel...I don't know...maybe I–"
The girl never had the chance to finish her sentence because the sound of the front door opening distracted her and she turned towards it. Daniel got up and went to meet Dean and try to explain to him what happened before he could see his daughter in such a compromising state. Dean looked tired. More than tired. There were dark circles under his eyes and the slight crinkles at the corners of his eyes were more prominent than ever. Daniel had rather he been in a better mood but then realized that Dean Winchester would not take kindly to the news the angel was about to deliver to him no matter his mood.
"Were you and Sam able to find anything?"
Dean looked up, surprised to see him. "I thought Cas was watching over June tonight?"
"He had to leave to take care of something."
"Oh." Dean ran his hand through his hair, sighing. "No, we didn't find anything yet. But we will."
"For what it's worth, I think letting her get trained is a good idea."
"Yeah, you and the rest of the world, it seems," Dean grumbled.
He sidestepped Daniel and headed in the direction of the kitchen, pausing only when he passed the entrance to the living room. He took two steps back and turned to observe the sight before him for a few silent moments. June was lying on her back on the floor by that point with her legs hanging over the side arm of the couch.
"Dooo we...ummm...have brownies? Or burgers? Or s–" Sensing the eyes on her, she turned around to look at the two of them. "Oh. Woooow. Dad. Where did you come from?"
She made the mistake of giggling, and that's when Dean was certain that something was wrong. June never giggled.
"Daniel," Dean said slowly, his voice deadly calm. "Why is my daughter wearing that skirt? And more importantly, why does she sound like Matthew MacConaughey in practically every movie he's ever been in?"
The angel took in the girl's ragged appearance and could understand how it looked particularly bad in Dean's eyes. "It appears your daughter is slightly inebriated."
Dean whirled on him. "Are you sayin' my kid's stoned?!"
"It was only one little pill," June said, somehow coherent enough to have understood that they were talking about her. "I didn't mean to. It's not Daniel's fault."
Pointing a finger at the angel, Dean said, "You, get out of here before I do something I regret, and you," he said, whirling to point at his daughter, "go get changed and then bring me that skirt so I can burn it."
Only one of his commands was followed, and an instant later, Dean found himself alone with a drugged up June. "Are you mad at me?" she asked him in a tiny voice.
Dean ran a hand down his weary face. He did not have the energy to deal with this on top of everything else that was on already his plate. "Ask me again tomorrow morning."
"I really didn't mean to. I said no. But then Kyle put the pill in his mouth when he leaned in to kiss me, and I didn't have a chance to spit it out, and I–"
"What was that?"
June glanced up at her dad and her eyes widened in realization after a slight delay. "Oops."
"Oops?"
"I wasn't planning on telling you that part."
Dean felt like there was a block of ice being shoved down his throat. He felt like everything was falling apart...like he was losing his daughter all over again. She was his little girl. His Junebug. She wasn't supposed to be out in the middle of the night, kissing random guys and getting doped up. His ears were ringing as his nails dug into his palms.
"Daddy?" June whispered.
And just like that, it was like someone put a pin to his frustration and irritation, and it went out of him in one giant rush. She sat up and he knelt down before her on his hunches. After brushing away a strand of hair out of her eyes, he let his hand rest on the side of her face, forcing her to look up at him. "What is it, Bug?"
"I feel really weird. I don't think I like this."
He chuckled. "Yeah, that will go away eventually. You just need a good night's rest."
"That was dumb of me."
Sighing deeply, Dean rotated and sat down on the floor next to her. "It was," he admitted. "But you've had a rough few days. I know you'll make better decisions when you're back to your old self."
Her vulnerable green eyes glanced up at him. "What if I'm never back to my old self? What if I'm always as scared and angry as I am now? Tom found me once. He can find me again."
Dean's heart constricted painfully. "I won't let that happen, June."
"Please, Daddy," she whispered, not saying anything beyond that because every desperate plea she had fit into that one simple phrase.
June hadn't called him that since she was a little girl. Dean wondered if it was because of whatever drug was in her or if it was because she was trying to get him to give in. It didn't really matter what it was, however, because Dean couldn't deny that she was terrified. And he wasn't helping that. His kid was hurting, and it was in his power to do something about it. He knew what he had to do then.
He had to swallow his pride, put aside their differences, and call John Winchester.
"We'll get you trained, Junebug," he told her. "We'll get you trained to defend yourself, and no one will ever hurt you again."
To anyone else, that might have sounded like a hopeful exaggeration. But Dean wasn't leaving his daughter's safety in the fickle hands of hope. When he told her that no one would ever hurt her again it was because he believed that with every fiber of his being. It was because in Dean's mind, if any monster out there was brave enough to try, they'd have to get through him first.
"Thanks, Dad." June leaned against him, yawning. "I love you."
Those three little words had never been easy for Dean to say. He didn't use them flippantly like many people did. To him, they were a contract...as binding as a blood oath. He only ever used them when he truly meant them, and even then not often since it was never easy for him to be that vulnerable. Dean Winchester loved rarely and fiercely. His actions were what showed that he cared...not what he considered to be nothing more than flowery, empty words.
But when it came to his daughter. When it came to June. Those words came to him as easy as the breath in his lungs. "I love you, too, Bug."
She yawned again, her eyes drifting shut. "I'm too tired to move."
He swiftly maneuvered her till she was positioned sideways on his lap and then pressed her head to his chest. "I've got you. Go to sleep."
She emitted a soft sigh and then nestled closer to her dad. The area behind Dean's ribs warmed, and he felt the bitter sting of tears at the back of his throat. Just the other day he was wondering if perhaps he was no longer the guy that June would want to always go to with her problems, but it looked like she still needed him just as much as he needed her. He leaned down and pressed a firm kiss to the crown of her head.
"I've got you."
______
A/N: a bit of a shorter one for you today, but these might be easier for me post than the longer ones. They're faster to edit and faster to write up - which means more chapters posted quicker!!
Also, I'm a sucker for fluffy father/daughter moments, but let me know if there's something specific you would like to see :)