38. Adam

My mind was sent reeling. He's our brother. As in, another Winchester? But that doesn't make any sense. I'd only known of the two brothers. There was never any mention of a third.

"Wait a minute," Bobby broke the silence. "Your brother? Adam?"

"I'm sorry, but since when was there a third Winchester?" I said, keeping my eyes on the body.

"Cas, what the hell?" Dean demanded, completely oblivious to my question.

"Angels," Cas told us.

"Angels? Why?" Sam jumped in.

"I know one thing for sure. We need to hide him, now."

Cas touched Adam's chest, branding him like he had branded the brothers and I. I tilted my head as Adam woke up. He looked a bit younger than his brothers—that was a hard concept to understand still. He looked like he had some innocence still left in him, but I could be totally wrong about that. Sam caught my questioning gaze.

"Where am I?" Adam spoke, turning my attention to him.

"It's okay," Sam assured him. "Just relax, you're safe."

"Who the hell are you?"

"You're going to find this a little...a lot crazy," Dean told him, "but we're actually your brothers."

"It's the truth," Sam added. "John Winchester was our father, too. See, I'm Sam—"

"Yeah, and I'm sure that's Dean," Adam finished. "I know who you are."

"How?" The question came out of me. Adam looked at me suspiciously. "My introduction can come later."

"They warned me about you."

"Who did?"

"The angels. Now where the hell is Zachariah?"

That son of a bitch again? I remembered the douchebag fairly clearly. He'd nearly gotten me killed and thought it had been fun to let my lungs fill up with my own blood.

"Why don't you just tell us everything?" Dean suggested. "Start from the beginning."

"Well, I was dead and in Heaven. 'Cept it—it uh, kinda looked like my prom, and I was making out with this girl, her name was Kristin McGee—"

"Yeah, that sounds like Heaven. Did you get to third base?"

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Just keep going. Ignore him." I threw a pointed look at Dean. I couldn't believe he had the guts to even say something that hinted towards sex after what happened to me. Must've been a slip of the tongue. Happens.

"Well, these...these angels, they popped out of nowhere, and they tell me that I—I'm chosen."

"For what?"

"To save the world."

"How you gonna do that?" Dean asked.

"Oh, me and some archangel are going to kill the Devil."

"What archangel?"

"Michael. I'm his uh, sword or vessel or something, I don't know."

"But that's not possible," I stated slowly. "That's insane, actually. Dean's the only vessel that Michael has available."

"Not necessarily," Cas finally spoke.

I looked at him skeptically. "How do you mean?"

"Maybe they're moving on from Dean."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"He is John Winchester's bloodline, Sam's brother. It's not perfect, but it's possible."

"Well you gotta be kidding me," Dean complained.

"Why would they do this?" Sam cut back in.

"Maybe they're desperate," Cas thought aloud. "Maybe they wrongly assumed Dean would be brave enough to withstand them."

"Alright, you know what?" Dean retorted. "Blow me, Cas."

"Look, no way," Sam insisted. "After everything that's happened? All that crap about destiny? Suddenly the angels have a Plan B? Does that smell right to anybody?"

"You know this has been a really moving family reunion," Adam said, "but uh, I got a thing, so—" He tried to escape.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, no," Sam said rapidly. "Sit down. Just listen, okay? Please."

Adam complied and sat back down on the cot. I shifted my weight, folding my arms again.

"It's unbelievable," Adam whispered.

"Now, Adam...the angels are lying to you," Sam said firmly. "They're full of crap."

"Yeah, I don't think so."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really. Why not?"

"Um, 'cause they're angels."

I blew out a low whistle. "Are you both absolutely positive he's your blood brother? I think he lost all his brains when he got out of Heaven."

"They tell you they were gonna roast half the planet?" Sam asked Adam.

"They said the fight might get pretty hairy, but it is the Devil, right?" Adam said. "So we got to stop him."

"Yeah, but there's another way."

"Great. What is it?"

"We're working on 'the power of love,'" Dean said sarcastically.

"How's that going?"

"Mmm. Not good."

"Look, Adam," Sam said. "You don't know me from a hole in the wall, I know. But I'm begging you. Please, just trust me. Give me some time."

"Give me one good reason."

"Because we're blood."

Adam scowled. "You've got no right to say that to me."

"You're still John's boy," Bobby interjected. I'd almost forgotten he was in the study, and I could say the same about Cas.

"No, John Winchester was some guy who took me to a baseball game once a year. I don't have a dad. So we may be blood, but we are not family. My mom is my family. And if I do my job, I get to see her again. So no offense, but she's the one I give a rat's ass about, not you."

"Fair enough," said Sam. "But if you have one good memory of Dad, just one, then you'll give us a little more time. Please."

I shook my head. Does Adam really believe that Zachariah will give him his mother back? The boy is delusional. He knows nothing about what's going on here. He doesn't understand the bigger picture. He doesn't understand that Zachariah is a bad bastard. He's a naïve kid. It was pretty bad when I called Adam a "kid." It made me feel like I'd aged.

With all that I'd seen and gone through for the past few months, I should have felt ancient on the inside.

* * *

It was a silent, unanimous agreement: Adam was on lockdown at Bobby's place. He had eyes on him at all times. He wasn't a very friendly kid. He'd tried to slip out through the front door, but Sam and I had caught him red-handed before he could get any further. I'd let Sam talk to him afterwards, as I felt it wasn't my place to intrude on the brotherly heart-to-heart, if you could even call it that.

Not long after that conversation, Bobby and I were put back on the roster for watch duty while Sam, Dean, and supposedly Cas went down in the panic room to talk in private. I wanted to be part of that discussion, but I didn't want to leave Bobby all by himself on watchman duty.

While Bobby went about his house, I kept close tabs on the third Winchester brother. I could maybe see some similarities between the three brothers. I wouldn't know for sure, as I had never met John Winchester. Judging by what Adam had said about him, he didn't seem like a very committed, loving father.

"You a long lost sister they just found?" Adam was lying on the cot, staring up at the ceiling. I'd made some space on the desk to plop my butt on. I swung my legs lightly, passing the time.

"No, I'm not. I'm a friend of Sam's." I looked at him thoughtfully. "Like you, I got roped into this whole angels-demons-Devil deal." I played with my hands.

"So you're just as trapped as I am."

"More than you, actually." I bit my lip, hoping Adam didn't question me further. I looked out the window near the cot he was lying in. "Be thankful for that."

"How can I be?"

"I'm trying to make the air lighter." I shrugged. "Sorry if I'm awful at it."

When the boring silence came over us again, Adam knocked out on the cot. I still kept watch over him in case he was playing opossum. I didn't want to be made a fool out of by this kid, no matter what age he was.

I turned my head towards where the basement was. Just what could they be discussing down there that required a long time?

I hopped off the desk to stretch my legs when Sam came back. Cas was nowhere in sight, and neither was Dean. I could see something was bothering Sam. I went to him, grabbing his hands.

"What's up?" I asked thoughtfully, looking up at him softly.

"Just some family issues," he mumbled, not meeting my eyes.

"Speaking of family, care to explain him?" I gestured towards Adam's body on the cot.

"We found him on a case a while back. Turned out it wasn't really him, but a ghoul."

"A ghoul, huh?" I wrinkled my nose. "Sounds gross."

"If that disgusts you, I'll save you the details on what their diet is."

"Please do." I looked over at the third Winchester, leaning against Sam slightly. "He's in this just as much as the rest of us. Another unwanted piece in the game."

"That's the bad thing about being around us so much, Kota. You know that by now."

I nodded. "You think this will be over anytime soon?"

"I'm hoping so. Why?"

"Just thinking."

"Sounds more than 'just thinking.' Seriously, Kota. Is something wrong?"

"I don't think this is the time to get personal, Sam. Maybe some other time, you know, when we don't have to worry about anything."

He scoffed. "Good luck with that." He leaned down to kiss the top of my head.

"How's he doing?" Bobby wheeled himself in, taking note of Adam sleeping.

"He hasn't escaped," I noted. "He's not much of a talker either. But I didn't expect him to be."

"How you doing?" Bobby's eyes were on Sam.

Sam nodded slightly, a way of saying that he was okay. I could see right through the lie, as I was sure Bobby could. But neither of us said a word.

I practically jumped out of my skin as I heard a scream come out from the basement. 

**Don't expect a lot from Adam and Kota. Just saying.**