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candygrammeTitle: "Oh brother, where the hell art thou?"
Rated: Gen, humor.
Characters: Sam, Dean, Bobby, Castiel
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
candygramme
Beta:laurathelurker
Word count: ~10,300
Summary: The brothers investigation of a disappearances at a spa has unfortunate side effects. If I had to guess, I'd say it was set somewhere in Season 4
Disclaimer: No profit was made off this. The characters belong the originators of Supernatural. Was all in pure fun.
Author's notes: So I was sitting whimpering because I've torn the meniscus in my left knee and ripped my ACL too and couldn't do much. I was angsting over the big bang that isn't really going very fast, when this took me by surprise. I don't often write Sam and Dean, because where they're at right now depresses me, but it all just flowed. Maybe it cleaned my pipes for me. Fingers crossed that big bang will now come just as easily.
There had been three odd disappearances in the small town of Pearl, Colorado, and Sam and Dean had traced them back to the clinic and spa they were currently surveying, prior to going in to investigate.
It was almost dark as the black '67 Impala pulled up outside the main building which looked far more like a pagan temple of some kind than a plastic surgeon's office. As they entered the tastefully lit shrine to beauty, Dean gazed around appreciatively. There were several curvy, toga clad young women visible, each one going about her business, which was presumably to help sagging women look young again and wrinkled men handsome.
Dean was dressed in what he thought of as his 'Mr. Big Shot' suit, and his tie felt as if it was strangling him. He reached up and pushed his finger between his neck and the collar, giving a little tug to give himself breathing room, while Sam, elegant in his own grey suit followed behind, smirking.
Turning back to Sam, Dean grinned. "Hey! You think they'll let you get one of their breast enlargement procedures?" Sam didn't dignify that with a response and merely sauntered past his brother into the foyer.
As they approached what appeared to be the reception, housed in a marble grotto carved with nymphs and satyrs, they discovered a pretty blonde with an ample bosom. Her face immediately brightened at the sight of them.
"Hello. Welcome to Elysian Fields. I'm Candy," she chirped, and jiggled beneath the soft chiffon of her tunic, much to Dean's fascinated gaze.
"I bet you are," Dean leant against the marble counter and smiled down at her. No matter what one did, the view of her impressive cleavage could not be avoided.
Clearing his throat, Sam stepped up behind him and flashed a badge. "We're from the Department of Health. We'd like to check over your facilities, please." He smiled at the girl, radiating his own, comforting charm. "Don't worry - it's just a routine inspection and then we can be on our way."
The girl blinked, "Really? But we don't have you scheduled." She started shuffling through stacks of paper, looking confused.
"It's a surprise inspection," Dean murmured, without raising his eyes to her face.
"Oh. Well I'd better go and get Mr. Harrison." She reached for the phone and pushed a few buttons, informing the person at the other end that there were people to see him.
A few moments passed before a tall man walked out from behind a partition that had been planted with an array of orchids. "Gentlemen, I'm Gordon Harrison, manager here. I can show you around." He smiled as he shook Dean's hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Dean. "I'm Inspector Hetfield, and my associate is Inspector Ulrich." Sam gave his toothiest smile as he reached out to offer his own hand in greeting. Turning to Harrison, he gestured at the spacious reception. "I'm sure everything's going to be in order, but you do understand that we have to do this."
"Of course, of course." Mr. Harrison nodded until Sam thought that his head was going to fall off. "I'll be delighted to show you everything we have. Please follow me."
Sam was just about to go after Mr. Harrison, when he realized that Dean was still leaning over the desk admiring Candy's impressive cleavage. "Dude," he hissed, elbowing his brother. "Less horndog, more health inspector."
Harrison had turned back, waiting for them, and, reluctantly, Dean tore himself away from the scenery. Together they followed the manager past the orchid wall and around a tinkling fountain into the depths of the clinic itself.
Dean smiled as they moved past a gym, where there were a number of extremely voluptuous girls participating in a step aerobics class that made their endowments bounce very pleasingly, and caught up with Sam, elbowing him as he came level with him. "Think they'll let us do some personal inspections later?"
They entered a long corridor lined with closed doors, and as they stopped at the first one, Harrison began to drone on about the importance of diet and exercise in order to remain young. Sam appeared to be taking it all in, but Dean was looking around for more ... unusual things.
As they moved on down the corridor they were shown the classrooms, the bedrooms for the guests and the kitchen where meals were put together. However, there was a set of double doors at the end of the corridor that it seemed Mr. Harrison was going to pass by without showing them "What's in there?" Dean asked, walking back towards it as Harrison attempted to shepherd them away.
"Um... that is just the pool," Harrison spoke quickly. "It's closed for cleaning."
Dean reached the doors and pushed one open to find himself met by steam, birds twittering and the rushing sound of a waterfall. The room was set into the rock behind it, appearing to be dug from the side of the hill against which the clinic nestled, and it looked more like a forest spring than a swimming pool. Water cascaded down the face of the rock at the rear of the room, and splashed into a pool that appeared to be totally natural.
As the door opened, the EMF meter in Sam's pocket began to chirp through the earbud he was wearing, and he moved closer to Dean, elbowing him in the ribs again. "Something's here," he hissed softly.
The two of them stepped inside the clearing - you couldn't call it a room precisely, because above them the darkening sky was visible through the trees that surrounded the spring. The moon was up and illuminated the little waterfall as it gurgled and chuckled while it dropped into the basin below. As Sam turned the EMF towards it, the squeal from it became louder. Turning to the manager with a smile, Sam said, "This is really nice. I think we need to test the water though. You can never be too careful. Meningitis is just one bug that lives in water."
Dean was taking his time searching around after Sam's warning, moved closer to the water's edge as he looked for any signs of supernatural activity.
"Test the water?" Harrison sounded nervous.
Dean looked back at him over his shoulder as he crouched down and pulled a test tube from his pocket to gather a sample of the water. He leaned down to fill his tube. "Yeah, you can never be too safe," he said.
He didn't see the movement beneath the rippling water until it was too late, but then something reached out and grabbed his tie, jerking him down with a splash.
"Holy..." Sam didn't finish the sentence, because Dean seemed to have completely disappeared. The surface seemed as calm as ever, but his brother had... gone. "Dean," he yelled, and then, tossing away his jacket and toeing off his shoes, he threw himself into the water after Dean. "Hang on; I'm coming."
Beneath the water, he could see his brother clearly. He appeared to be in the arms of a young woman, who was kissing him hard. Her hair floated out around her like a cloud, and she seemed slender. Oddly enough, her skin was blue. Reaching out, he grabbed her hair and began to tow the two of them to the side of the pool.
Dean surfaced with a gasp and began to cough as he splashed. He kicked out as he tried to exit the pool and managed to dislodge the creature that had been holding him. She swirled away, her hair leaving seaweed in Sam's hand. As Sam pulled his brother out of the water, she could be seen staring hard at Dean, still apparently wanting him.
Coughing and spluttering, water leaking out of him from everywhere, Dean lay on the tile, gasping like a beached whale. Mr. Harrison appeared to have disappeared from view. "What the hell was that?" he asked, looking at his brother.
"Hell if I know," replied Sam, arms around Dean as he tried to ascertain whether he'd been hurt. "Scared the shit out of me though. I thought I'd lost you." He sat up and studied Dean. "You okay?" he asked, worry in his eyes. "Guess we're going to have to come back here again once we're dry and do a little exploration."
In his hands, Sam still held a a hank of the hair he'd seized to pull his brother to shore, but when he examined it closely he found that it wasn't hair at all but some kind of plant. Lifting his eyes to Dean's, he made a face. "Dude, this is totally bizarre," he said.
Dean moved away from the edge of the pool, squinting at it in an attempt to spot the creature that had hauled him under so easily, then nodded. "We are so gonna get that bitch." He wiped at his mouth, "I think she slimed me." He frowned at his brother and shrugged as he got to his feet and grabbed Sam's arm. "C'mon, dude. Pretty sure we need to look up water sprites."
"I think you turned her on," smirked Sam. "It looked as if you were gonna get lucky to me." He shook his head. "I guess that explains the few disappearances we read about, but I wonder why she's here." He looked around for the manager, but he was still nowhere to be seen. "Let's go, man, we better go back and get ourselves dried off."
Dean, still dripping, turned to look back to the water, a pensive frown on his face. "Well at least she had all the right parts. Not like a mermaid. I've always wondered how you get it on with a mermaid?" He then paused and looked at Sam, lips pursed. "Dude, you look like a drowned rat, and I feel like one. Better get back to the room before the suit shrinks and cuts off my circulation."
As the two of them headed out, they couldn't help noticing that no one was around. Even Candy seemed to have gone somewhere, which seemed strange. Sam frowned as they shoved open the main doors and headed for the car dripping water as they went. Dean squirmed in his wet clothing, rather than shrinking the suit seemed to have stretched somewhat, which just went to show that you never could tell with thrift store suits. He didn't even feel as choked by the tie. Wincing at trailing water into his beloved Baby, he proceeded to drive them back to the motel.
*****
It was two o'clock in the morning, and Sam yawned. He'd been poring over his computer for what seemed like hours, trying to identify the creature that had attacked Dean - at least he thought it had been an attack, although it hadn't been too violent. So far he'd found nothing to help him.
Dean had gone to bed an hour before, and was now sleeping, or at least there were snoring sounds coming from the heap of bedclothes in the bed nearest the door, so that's what Sam assumed he was doing. Rising to his feet, he closed up his laptop and made for the bathroom, pausing to check on his brother.
A sudden panic flashed through him. Somehow, it didn't look like that heap of bedclothes was big enough to contain his brother.
"Dean?" Sam yelled, pulling back the blanket to look at him.
Dean blinked, "Hey!" His arm went up to cover his eyes as he started awake and squinted up at Sam. "I was sleeping."
He stopped talking, and then said, "Hello," very softly. His voice seemed a lot higher than usual. He gasped and glanced down at his hands, noticing that his ring and bracelet were both loose enough to fall off him. Jerking himself upright, he looked at each hand in turn and then, wide-eyed, at his brother. "Sammy?"
Horron his face, Sam stared down at his brother... his little brother. "Oh, my God," he whispered, his own eyes panicked as he studied Dean. "You look like you're about six years old. What the hell happened to you?"
Dean stumbled out of the bed and across to the mirror in the bathroom. He reached a trembling hand up to prod at his own face. He appeared to be no more than six years old. "Oh god, I have to go through puberty again? I don't want to go through puberty again!" His voice squeaked as he looked up at Sam. "SAMMY!" He felt tears prick at his eyes.
Sam's own appearance had apparently changed. When Dean really studied him, his brother seemed to be somewhere around sixteen again. "It's happened to me too. Dude, do you think I might suddenly begin to regress until I'm the same apparent age as you?" He'd never been one to bite his nails before this, but he was chewing on them now as their predicament hit him. "Jesus wept, dude. What happened? What are we gonna do?"
Dean blinked at Sam. "You're asking a six year old? Really?" the clear treble oozed sarcasm. "Well first thing in the morning you're gonna have to go get me some clothing!" He threw his underwear at Sam as he made his way back to the warmth of his bed. "And then I guess we have to call Bobby."
"Dude, again?" Sam shivered. He hadn't yet gotten over Bobby's reaction to the time that they'd managed to swap bodies. "He's gonna laugh so hard he'll have a stroke or something." He sat down on the edge of the bed. "I'm scared to go to sleep now, in case I suddenly get younger."
"Yes, again," Dean squeaked out. He cleared his throat as if it would help. It didn't. "I don't think he'll have a stroke. Might pee himself but not a stroke." He thought for a moment. "Well then you sleep, I'll stay awake. Not like I'm gonna manage any more sleep tonight anyway."
Their plight was not going to resolved unless they could find a counterspell for what had happened to them, because quite obviously they had been exposed to some kind of magic. Sam frowned, pondering his predicament. Finally, he nodded and got into bed. "I guess since I'm younger, and I haven't slept, it isn't something that happens only during sleep. Tomorrow we have to go find that manager dude and find out just what did this to us." He met Dean's eyes and grinned slyly. "I really didn't need rejuvenation, although you were getting a bit wrinkly..."
Dean gaped at Sam, "I was not." He hit his brother with his pillow and climbed out of bed again, heading for the bathroom. Closing the door behind him, he looked down at himself before climbing up onto the counter to look in the mirror and glare at his own reflection, remembering his childhood, such as there was of one. After a long moment he sank down to sit on the toilet, putting his head in his hands.
When he returned, Sam was still awake, leaning back against the headboard, evidently waiting for Dean. "Dude, I'm gonna have to enroll you in the little league, aren't I?" he said." He reached for his brother and slid an arm around Dean's shoulder, drawing him close. "Please don't get any younger, Dean. I... seriously, I'm scared."
Dean climbed up onto Sam's bed and settled back against him. "I bet Castiel will probably laugh his ass off if he sees us like this. Damn feathered freak! Still, maybe he can put us back the way we should be." He looked up at Sam. "Don't be scared, Sammy. I'm still here, and we'll figure this out. Bobby will know what to do."
"What if we have to go back to school - all that shit? Can you imagine?" Sam dropped a kiss onto the crown of Dean's tousled blond head. "They'll put us in foster homes if we get any younger, and we might not even be able to stay together." He could feel panic rising in himself, cold fear in the pit of his belly. "Okay. We call Bobby as soon as possible."
"Bobby's not gonna let that happen," Dean spoke like he was sure. "And we aren't gonna have to go to school. Though knowing what we know, we'd definitely be able to ace all the tests." He paused. "Except maybe French. I never could get the hang of French."
Laughing, Sam settled down against the pillows. "Well, we're gonna have to pray that Bobby can deal with a couple of ankle biters, because otherwise the state's gonna catch us, and then we'll be in trouble." He paused. "God, I hope that I don't get any younger. Maybe I'll pass for 18, and I can be your guardian."
"Let's just worry about right now and figure out how to get me back to my handsome self again. I can't go through all the growing up shit again. Dude, acne!" He shuddered.
Sam's lips twitched, but his face remained grave as he nodded. "Bobby will fix," he said, yawning. "We'll call him as soon as we can - first thing in the morning. He's gonna have to come here, dude, because you sure as hell ain't driving anywhere, are you? Your feet won't even reach the pedals."
Yawning, Sam closed his eyes, willing himself to sleep. Dean had snuggled down against Sam and it wasn't long before he was sleeping too.
*****
Morning arrived, overcast and promising rain. Dean yawned and stretched, looking around for his brother and noticing he'd gone out. He fervently hoped he'd be back soon with breakfast, not to mention clothing that would fit him. He wasn't going to be able to go anywhere the way he was. He swung his short legs over the edge of the bed and just sat there brooding. Bobby was gonna call them idjits again, that was for sure.
Sam returned just at that moment, shoving the door open with his foot as he held out his purchases for inspection. "Dude, there's a Salvation Army store on the next block. I got you some stuff to cover your nakedness."
"That's good. Did you get any food?" Dean's stomach rumbled as he was asking. Wordlessly, Sam handed him the breakfast combo from the burger joint next door to the motel.
"Okay, dude, here's clothes and food. I hope you don't mind orange juice? I'm not sure that six year olds are allowed coffee. It's supposed to be bad for them."
He sat himself down on the edge of the bed and pulled out his phone, quickly dialing Bobby and trying to avoid the devastated look his brother was handing him at the thought of juice rather than coffee.
Dean grabbed hold of the bag of clothing and began to dress himself, tearing the price tags off the jeans and long sleeved t-shirt and pulling them on as fast as he could. He said nothing about the Muppets that were on the shirt, realizing that Sam could've brought him home a My Little Pony shirt and Dean would have had to suck it up at least until he could find the thrift store for himself. Once he was dressed, he pulled the food bag to him and tore into it. "Not fair to deprive a man of his caffeine," He said between bites.
Sam flipped the phone over to speaker, and they could both hear Bobby yawning at the other end of the line as he picked up, "Yeah?" Bobby grunted.
Smirking at Dean, Sam heaved a sigh of relief as he heard Bobby's voice. "Bobby? Sam Winchester here. Me and Dean need your help, and it's kind of an emergency. We're in a bit of a tight spot here, and we're not sure how to fix it."
"What did ya do now, ya pair of idjits?" There was humor in the old hunter's voice as he spoke, but Sam knew that the man would offer them real assistance once he'd finished mocking them. Swiftly, he laid out the predicament they were in and then held his breath as he waited for Bobby to respond.
Dean looked over at Sam, biting his lower lip as he waited to see if Bobby would come and help them. He could hear laughter in the old hunter's voice, but that was a given. This was Bobby, after all.
"Aww I bet Dean is all cute with freckles." Inevitably, Bobby couldn't help mocking them. Dean peeled away from Sam's side and got up to wander aimlessly around the room. He froze as Bobby spoke again. "Sounds like you got some kind of elemental on your hands. A water one."
"How do we kill it, Bobby? Ask him how we kill it?" Dean prodded his brother to get his attention.
"Hey, I'm cute as well," smirked Sam, nudging his brother with his elbow. "Dean wants to know how you kill a water elemental."
"It's not gonna be that easy, Sam," was Bobby's reply. "Of course it would be possible to kill it, as long as you don't mind growing up all over again, but if you want to get back to where you were, you're going to have to persuade it to put you back there. I don't think there's any other way."
"Oh, c'mon," Dean whined. He sat down on the bed and looked glumly at Sam, knowing they were going to have to go back and try to get the best of the creature who had caused this predicament. Sweet talking monsters wasn't his strong suit. He groaned, pouted and then for want of anything better to do he went back to eating his breakfast.
"So you're coming?" Sam breathed a sigh of relief at Bobby's murmur of assent. "We'll wait for you. I think you could do with a little rejuvenation therapy. What do you think?"
"Sam Winchester, if you want my assistance, you'd better quit mouthing off, or I'll just go down to Florida after that black dog that's been running around and leave you to go through high school all over again!"
"HEY!" Dean grabbed the phone, "Bobby, please, get your butt over here. I can't stay six and go through all that shit again! Please?"
The only response Dean got before Bobby hung up was a cackle of derisive laughter, and as Sam put his phone away he was already calculating just how long it would take for the old hunter to come to their aid.
"He's gonna be at least five hours," Sam murmured. "What do you want to do while we wait? There's a kids' playground down the road, and I plan to be an awesome big brother. You wanna go play on the swing, dude?"
Dean looked at Sam as if he had suddenly become this creature with tentacles coming out of his head. "No!" He said sternly. "I don't want to go play on the playground. I want to get back to my normal self again!" He looked down at the now congealed eggs in the carton in his hand and stopped eating, pushing the remains at Sam. "I'm not hungry any more."
"Dude? You're not hungry?" Sam gasped, his jaw dropped as he studied what was temporarily his little brother. "You can't go back to normal right now. Neither of us can, and Bobby won't be here for five hours. For a start, we're going to have to wait 'til dark to break in there. You can't even jerk off, because you didn't hit puberty yet, so I guess you'd better decide how you're gonna pass the time 'til Bobby reaches us."
"I'M NOT PLAYING ON A FUCKING PLAYGROUND!" Dean snapped at Sam, then he got up, went to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.
Grinning to himself and shaking his head, Sam settled back to research what he could about water sprites and wait for his brother to come back out and face him. He did pause for a minute to call through the bathroom door, "Dude, the Teletubbies are on," but there was no reply, and after a moment he returned to his computer.
Dean loitered in the bathroom for a while. He didn't want to deal with this at all. He didn't want to be six again and go through his life all over again. He hated the idea of having to grow back up again. His childhood had sucked, and he was not anxious to repeat it. It was a long while before Dean finally emerged and went to climb up onto the bed, where he sat, glowering silently.
For a few moments, Sam appeared not to notice, but he finally pushed his computer aside and rose to go sit on the bed next to his brother. Sliding an arm round Dean's tiny shoulders he sat in silence for a moment. Finally, he turned his head to Dean, so small and fragile compared to the way he had been. "It's okay, dude. We can fix this. I promise."
Dean just stared straight ahead, not saying anything before he spoke, "And if we don't?" He didn't want to think about it, but with every moment that passed it seemed to become more and more of an inevitablity. "Did you find out anything about what kind of water sprite it could be?"
"We will." Sam was firm. "There's no way we won't." He squeezed Dean affectionately and hoped that he sounded convincing. "Not too much yet. They are usually scared of people, and stay out of their way. They occasionally fall for a human, and then they pine. I think that she wanted you, dude. They tend towards love at first sight, so that's probably what happened."
Dean looked at him, "Let's go back then and talk to her, like Bobby said." He was up on his knees on the bed in an instant, looking at Sam with his best impression of Antonio Banderas's version of Puss in Boots.
"Yeah, Okay." Sam nodded, unable to handle the emotional blackmail that Dean was serving up. "I think we need to do that too, but we can't do it while the spa is open for business. You know we need to wait til night time. Once the clinic is closed we can go in and see if she'll talk to you. If she wanted your body, I think she overshot the mark a little, don't you? It's not gonna be able to do her any good at all like that."
Dean gave a pout then dropped onto the bed, rolling onto his back making little, frustrated sounds. "That damn park sounds better and better." He kicked at Sam.
"Awww, come on, Dean," Sam's face was as pouty as if he were the six year old. "Don't be like that. I can't help if it's only morning. Why don't we just... go find some info on the spa? Maybe see if the local library has anything on it, or on water sprites. Or we could watch cartoons, if you want."
Dean rolled up and off the bed, determined to choose the most adult option just on principle. "Okay let's go the library." He grabbed his phone and wallet, then after a minute's thought he tossed Sam the keys to the Impala, although it quite obviously broke his heart to do so. "Don't you douche her up." He warned as he headed out.
"Dude, you can sit shotgun and make sure I don't decide to paint her pink or anything," said Sam, ruffling Dean's hair as he followed the little fellow. "You know, you were a really cute kid. Too bad you grew up ugly."
Dean stopped, turned and kicked Sam in the shin, "I'm cute even grown up, bitch," he growled as he moved over towards his car, "I'm sorry baby," he whispered, patting her roof as he climbed in. Fixing Sam with what he hoped was a compelling stare, he snapped, "Hurry up."
"Yes sir, massa boss," smirked Sam. "Listen, jerk, you're heading for a good hiding if you keep on hacking at my shins like that. It hurt." He grinned and shook his head. "We'll get everything sorted out tonight, don't worry. I think you should just enjoy your second childhood and chill!"
He put the car into gear and pointed it towards the library.
Dean glared at him for a while, daring him to so much as scratch his baby, but when Sam appeared to be ignoring him he sighed and turned back to study whatever was outside the window. Once they reached the library, Dean got out as fast as he could and hurried after his brother as they made their way into the building. He was really glad to find that they had hit a time when there were no good looking women inside. Making his way over to the shelves he looked up at them and wished he was back to his normal height. "I dunno, man, where do we start?"
"News archive, I think. Let's see if we can get any info on that spa - when it was built, who built it, and what was there before it was built. That'd be a good start. I'll go through what they have about water sprites." Sam approached the librarian's desk and booked one of the computers for his brother. She was a lady of indeterminate years, and she smiled down at Dean indulgently and offered him a candy.
Dean looked at the candy and couldn't resist saying, "You know I was taught not to take candy from strangers." He took the candy anyway and made for the computer. Taking his seat, he began the painstaking task of gathering together the intel about the Elysian Fields Clinic. He wasn't a geek like Sam, but he could do his fair share of research when motivated. He liked to think of himself as a practical man, but today he was motivated to do research as never before.
"I think I found what we're facing," murmured Sam, after a while. "I'm pretty sure it's an Undine." He began to copy files, beckoning to Dean to go see what he'd found. "They're immortal and live in springs and waterfalls. They fall in love with mortal men, and I think this one took a shine to you."
Dean walked over, reaching up and taking the copies to read through them. "You have got to be kidding! She wants me to marry her? Sammy, I don't do the M word." He made his way over to the printer and retrieved the materials that he had printed out earlier. "Look what I've found. The pool has been here since forever, so it seems. It says here that the Indians first discovered it and kept it a secret til the area was settled and it was finally discovered. That place was built over it in 1926, by a Cora Harrison, who owned a lot of the land hereabouts."
Sam nodded. "Seems to me we've heard the name Harrison somewhere before."
"Not only that. Dude, check out who was at the ground breaking." Proudly, Dean showed Sam a grainy picture of the ceremony from one of the local papers of that time. The man named Harrison was clearly visible in the shot.
"Huh?" Sam frowned as he studied the picture. "He told us he was the administrator. I think he may be a little more than that!" He leafed through the pages, studying the articles that Dean had found. "We need a list of the folks that put up the money to build the place. Maybe if we lean on them a little, one of them will tell us what to do to get the effects reversed."
Nodding, Dean moved back to the computer and resumed his typing. He frowned as a thought occurred to him and turned back to Sam, "I think we're just gonna have to go through all the papers from that era." He shifted in his chair, rolling his shoulders and flexing his fingers.
"Let's do it then," sighed Sam. "What dates are we looking at?" He turned to go and ask the librarian where the archives were held but paused for a moment, looking back at the little blond body currently housing his handsome older brother. "Normally I'd suggest that we go to city hall and look at the plans, but somehow I don't think they'd take us seriously when we're like this. Maybe when Bobby gets here we can get him to go in for us."
Dean's legs were dangling in the chair, and he was kicking his feet as he concentrated, eyes focused on the screen. He didn't look up as he replied. "I guess we start with the earlier ones from when the town was first settled? Late 1800's?" Dean was still kicking his feet, and he pulled out the sucker the librarian had given him, starting to roll it around in his mouth as he turned to look at his brother.
"Dude, you need to put on at least another 20 years before that'll look sexy," Sam said, raising his eyebrows. "Yeah. See what you can find. If there's any photos, check and see if any of folk in them look like the people we met at that place. If there's some kind of rejuvenation going on in there you can bet your last dime that the person behind it will be making full use of it."
Dean shrugged. "On it. You get on it too!" He smirked at Sam, thinking that even at his age it seemed like he could still boss his brother around.
Sighing, Sam got up and went to find the newspapers that were relevant to their search. He lugged his haul back to the desk where his brother was still typing as he sucked on his candy, and Dean felt his face suffuse with red as he quickly shut down the page displaying bustyasianbeauties.com. No words were spoken as Sam handed him half the stack of ancient newspapers.
"Okay, let's check it out and see what we can find." Dean cleared his throat and then opened up the first one, starting to go through it. He flipped the pages carefully, reading paper after paper. He was beginning to get bored, and was making the little noises that he knew would drive his brother insane, when something caught his eye. "Sam, check this out. this is from when the place first opened." He pushed the paper over to Sam. "And look at this girl, she looks a lot like the girl in the pool that was kissing me. Says here, it's Harrison's daughter!"
Getting up to stand behind Dean and read over his shoulder, Sam scanned the news item that his brother had found. "She's cute," he murmured, checking the girl out in her bonnet and high waisted dress. "Are you sure it's her?"
Dean looked back at Sam, "Don't cream your jeans puberty boy, or you'll end up like me, spirit willing but flesh weak. And yes I'm sure. I was in the liplock." Dean set his find aside and returned to his stack of papers. "See," he said a few minutes later. "Look! Here she is again. She's certainly a looker." He smiled. "But I'm not ready to settle down quite yet."
It certainly seemed to be the same person, and Sam trusted Dean's eye for the ladies. He gave a short laugh. "Well, if she wanted you to make a woman of her, she's kinda shot herself in the foot, hasn't she? You're not gonna be able to scratch any itches for her until you're at least 10 years older."
Dean frowned as a thought suddenly occurred to him. "You think she might be doing this on purpose? Trap me? Like, I'll take you back to your age if you marry me kind of crap?" He looked back at the picture. "Okay, so we know it's a family business at least. So I guess we need to go talk to her."
"We will for sure." Sam was still leafing through the newspapers in his binder. "As soon as Bobby gets here we'll sit down and plan things. Meanwhile, you wanna go find some lunch?" He checked his watch and nodded. "Only a couple of hours now, and Bobby'll be here. Where d'you wanna go? Mickey D's?"
"Yeah, let's go. I want a milkshake," Dean hopped from his chair and headed for the door as if shot from a gun. When he realized that Sam wasn't beside him he turned to look back at him. "C'mon, Sammy."
"Milkshake it is, dude," said Sam. "You got a preference for flavor?"
"I want chocolate," Dean watched Sam walk towards him, and as they turned to leave the library, running through his brain was the thought that if this went pear-shaped he didn't want to put his brother through what he'd experienced, raising a brother. He had to get back to normal.
~~~
It was beginning to get dark by the time that Bobby arrived, drawing up outside their room in his rusty old vehicle. Sam was relieved to see him, and it seemed as if Dean might be too. He'd been pacing for the past hour and a half.
"Good lord! Look at you, ya idjit!" The grin spread across Bobby's face as he studied the small, outraged person that was Dean Winchester. "You'd fit on my keychain!"
Dean was nearly bouncing when Bobby came in, til he opened his mouth. Then his jaw tightened, and he kicked him on the shin, "I can still hurt you. So?"
"Sonofabitch!" Bobby grabbed Dean by the collar and held him at arms' length, his feet dangling a couple of inches above the ground. "We gonna have to tie him up, Sam?" he asked as Dean's brother cracked up. "Because if he wants my help, he's gonna have to settle down and join the human race, even though it's not actually in his nature."
"Dean, come on!" Sam snickered.
"Bastard, put me down!" Dean finally stopped struggling and looked at Bobby, reflecting that he always came to bail them out when he really didn't have to. Why did he bend over backwards for him and his brother? As Dean felt his feet touch the ground he flung his arms around Bobby's legs and hugged him. Bobby was more of a father to them than John Winchester ever had been. "So?" He said, turning to go and climb on the bed.
"What have you got so far?" Bobby took a seat on one of the chairs that stood beside the table under the window.
"We found a bunch of information about the way the spa was built." Sam was busily passing Bobby the information that they'd uncovered. "Looks like we're going to have to go back in there later tonight and see if she'll help Dean back to his real age. If she was trying to seduce him, she kind of overshot the mark."
Dean didn't realize he was bouncing on the bed. The sugar he'd ingested earlier was kicking in. "So we going tonight?" He asked eagerly. "I want to get back to normal. You know - my usual cute legal self."
"Awww, I kinda like you like this." Bobby was snickering as he spoke. "Nice and easy to manage."
Grinning, Sam shut down his computer. "Yeah, Dean, we're gonna go for it. I don't think I could stand another day of you whining if we don't get you back to normal."
"Normal? That what you call it?" Bobby sobered up. "Okay, what do you think the best way forward is? You want to go now, or break in later?"
Dean looked at him. "You're the adult; you're supposed to make these decisions! If it was up to me we'd be on our way right now." He jumped off the bed and went to join them at the table. "Don't make me start being annoying."
"What do you mean, start?" Bobby nodded to the diminutive hunter. "Okay. If we go now, what are we going to be faced with?"
"They're open until nine, so we're going to run into the full clinic staff. There's a receptionist called Candy, and then this creepy manager guy that we saw. Didn't see any clients, but there was a couple of women in uniform that might have been beauticians or nurses or something."
"And you told them you were health inspectors?"
"Well duh," Dean smirked. "What were we supposed to do, tell them we were clients? I realize that Sammy here could use a face lift or something, but I sure don't... didn't." Dean shook his head and sighed. "Okay, let's go once they're closed. Sam here will get us in."
~x~
Full dark came at last. Sam drove the Impala over to the clinic, parking a little way up the street from it, and together they watched as the lights went out, one by one. Harrison was the last to leave, double locking the front door and then climbing into his Mercedes to pull away. They allowed him five minutes, and then Sam opened the door of the Impala. "I guess we're ready to go," he said.
Dean was out the car like a shot, already trotting across the parking lot as the other two collected themselves. "C'mon, Sammy, do that thing that you do so well." Dean bounced on the balls of his feet as his brother picked the lock, and before his brother had put his tools back into his pocket, he was inside, moving through the halls, looking for the corridor that led to the spring.
They found the right passageway at last and made their way up to the double doors that they remembered. Of course they were locked, and this time it was Dean that picked the lock.
The spring was just as they remembered. Water splashed and tinkled at the rear of the space, and the pool was dimly lit by several underwater light sources. Sam was about to turn on the light when Bobby grabbed his hand and stopped him. "Don't. You'll likely scare her."
As they watched, the surface of the pool rippled, and a head began to appear from beneath the water.
Dean had already entered. He'd been looking around, but when he heard Bobby's softly uttered words he turned and watched as the girl slowly pulled herself out of the water. He felt a flutter of nerves as he moved closer to the edge, but sat down a safe distance from the water and tried to convey confidence as he said. "Hey, remember me?"
The creature that had risen from the water appeared youthful, with wide eyes and pale, creamy skin. Her hair was a stunning shade of crimson, and streamed down over her shoulders to her waist. She paused, for a moment, looking as if she might turn and retreat back under the water at any minute. "Remember you?" she whispered.
Dean nodded, "Yeah, I fell into the water, and you helped me?" He wasn't going to say that she'd nearly killed him. He leaned in closer. "You kissed me, too."
"I would kiss no child," she murmured, swimming forward until she could hoist herself onto the tile that surrounded the pool. "You must think me vile."
"He wasn't a child when you kissed him," growled Sam. "Could you put him back, please? He was a man, and you turned him into a little kid."
"He's right, I was a man of thirty, handsome, full of charm and wit?" Dean offered, hopefully. "I just want to be put back the way I was, and then, if you want us to, we'll leave."
The nymph's eyes widened, the pupils impossibly large, and she laughed softly. "I do remember you," she said. "You came to join me." A smile slowly spread over her face. "And what will you give me if I restore you to your mature form? Will you rescue me from here?"
Dean blinked at her, his own eyes as wide as hers. He glanced back at Sam and Bobby. "Well, yeah, we'll get you out of here. If we can."
"Yeah, we will if you want to go," murmured Sam, suddenly shocked at the thought that she might have been kept prisoner here. "How long have you been here?"
"More to the point," murmured Bobby, who had been standing back, watching. "Where do you want to go, and what do you need to get there?"
Dean turned back to her. "How did you wind up trapped in here, and where do you want to be?" He reached out and touched her hair to get her to pay attention to him.
"I want to go back home," she whispered, stepping further away from the water and shaking her head so that her glossy hair sprayed them with droplets. "Take me back to my home?"
"Where is your home? Why haven't you gone before now?" asked Bobby. "What's to stop you walking away? There's nobody here to stop you."
"I cannot leave the room," she said, tears filling her eyes. "He... placed a spell at the threshold, and I cannot pass it."
Dean rose to his feet and put an arm around her as he looked around, cursing to himself when he could barely reach her waist. Sam was checking the the doorway, looking for any sigils or runes that might have been carved into the surrounds. He glanced around the walls and then up at the rock face where the waterfall cascaded down to fall into the pond beneath. "I guess the easiest would be if we create another exit for her?"
"It would be pretty much a giveaway that we've been here if we start to blow holes in the building, but what about up there?" Bobby was gazing upwards at the open sky. Dean nodded in agreement.
"Seems to me that if we climbed up on the rocks with a rope, we could cross the roof without too much trouble and get her out that way." He looked at the nymph, who was now out of the water, a pale figure in the semi-darkness. "You're really hot, but you can't go out like that, though."
"Yeah, you're going to need some clothes," murmured Sam. "No good trading one jail for another, and they'll arrest you if you go out like that."
Dean nodded, "Yeah, we need to get you some clothing I guess, although it would be a shame to cover that fine, fine packaging. I suppose she can wear some of mine in the car." Dean looked back at her, hopefully. "They don't fit me any more unless you could... you know, change me back."
"I'm sure we can find a nurse's uniform for her back in the main clinic." Bobby's calm voice brought them back to reality. "You boys work out the best way to climb up to the roof, and I'll go find her something to wear."
"Okay." Sam nodded at the nymph. "And as soon as you change Dean back to how he should be, We'll help you get out of here."
"Hold on. Don't you think you should go back to your normal age too, Sam?" Bobby gave the taller Winchester a grin as he made for the door. "You look like you're about to go through puberty again as well, and I don't think I can cope with the mood swings."
"Mood swings? He's always having mood swings," Dean grumbled. "He's Mister Mood Swing!" His little arms went up. "Moody moody moody." He smiled at the nymph and approached her. "Can you change us back, please? I'm desperate for a coffee, and they won't let me have any."
For the first time, the nymph smiled, her face lighting up as she looked down at the little boy making such demands on her. "Come," she whispered, gathering Dean up in her arms and turning to plunge back into the water. "I will count it a pleasure."
Bobby had gone to find clothing for the nymph, and Sam was left alone, gaping at the place where the black water still rippled. He was beginning to panic by the time bubbles began to erupt from the water, and the two of them surged back to the surface.
Dean found himself surrounded by water, the swirl of it around him caressed his skin as he held onto the girl. He had closed his eyes when he went under, and images of his younger days played before him, memories of a childhood too soon stolen flickered past his inner eyes. He was beginning to panic when he felt it, the soft kiss, and then he was set back onto the tile. He opened his eyes to find that he was taller. Smiling at the nymph he measured himself against her, nodding to see that he was now taller than she was. He stepped back and gave her a little bow. "Thank you, and how about my bro?"
Her laughter tinkled again, and she reached past Dean to beckon Sam to her. "To be free, I would restore even your father who is seeking clothing for me. Tell me, would he care to be young and handsome once more? I can reward him."
Dean shook his head, "I'll ask him, but you know, as much as he would like it in one way, I think he is happy how he is." He studied the tiles in the suspended ceiling, lips pursed as he pondered. Stacking a couple of the chairs from the small sitting area to one side of the pond, he climbed up, pushing the tiles up and away so he could see what was above them. He smiled, "Got a way out right here," he called
Sam had been watching his brother's naked climb up to the ceiling, so the nymph's attack took him by surprise. He yelled in surprise as she bore him backwards into the spring, and the splash as they hit the water was almost enough to wet Dean down, and did drench Bobby as he returned bearing the clothing that would cover the girl's nudity.
"Hey," he yelled, surveying the soggy bundle of clothes he was holding. "Knock it off!"
Dean jumped down from his perch atop the chairs and skidded over to the pool to rescue his brother, "SAMMY!" He was about to reach in, when his brother appeared. Dean grabbed his and pulled him out of the water. "Dude, you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good," said Sam, smiling at Dean's bare body. "And you're looking good too. I'm guessing that you've managed to avoid your second puberty. That's a good thing." He turned to Bobby. "Guess we'll need to find some stuff for Dean to wear as well," he said.
"I brought some, but they're a bit wet now you've done your Shamu impression." said Bobby, shaking his head. "Better get dressed, you guys. It's time to blow this popsicle stand."
"The lady wanted to know if you'd like her to rejuvenate you, Bobby." Dean sounded tentative. "I said we'd ask you." As he was speaking, the creature in question emerged from the pool once more and gave him a brilliant smile.
For a moment, it seemed as if Bobby was going to go for it. His face softened, and he turned to her. "Thank you, my dear, but I've come by this old body honestly, and I don't see any reason for prolonging the agony. I've lost too much for that, so I'll quit while I'm ahead. What's your name, honey?"
She reached to touch his face and smiled. "You of all, I respect," she murmured, and took the clothing that Bobby was holding, slipping the toga-like tunic over her head. "My name is Melusine, and it has long been forgotten. It will be nice to hear it again."
Dean looked down at himself and seemed to realize at last that he was naked. He moved Sam as if to hide himself from scrutiny and took the clothing Bobby had brought. It turned out to be scrubs which clung to his wet flesh like a second skin as he pulled them on. "We're barefoot," he said. "But I guess that'll have to do for now." He hopped back onto his pile of chairs and pulled himself into space above the ceiling.
"Okay, sweetheart, I'll help you up, you crawl over beyond the wall and you'll be outside of this room. Sammy will help you get down again while Bobby and I straighten up in here. Nobody will even realize we were ever here."
The other two nodded and stood watching as the nimble girl clambered up with Dean's assistance. Dean waited to make sure she could make her way safely beyond the barrier and then hopped back down to straighten up the ceiling tiles and set the chairs back where they had been.
Leaving the room with the pool behind, he and Bobby watched with approval as Sam held out his arms and caught her as she jumped down into his arms, setting her down beside him and turning to wait for his brother. "Dude, we need to get out of here now, before anyone catches us."
Nodding at his brother, Dean held out his hand for the keys to his beloved Baby and breathed a sigh of relief as he once again held them in his hand. "Okay, lets go. And I'm handsome me again!" He smacked Sam's ass then slid his arm around the little nymph. "Where you want to go, sweetheart?"
Sam pulled a face at his soaking wet clothes. "Can we go somewhere I can get changed into dry clothes?" he asked. "I may be back to my usual self, but even my shoes are squelching, and it's nasty."
Dean nodded, "I could use some dry clothing too, not to mention I miss my boots." As they made their way out to where the Impala was parked, it felt good for Dean to know he could once more be with his car and not have to worry about anyone else driving her. "Hey, Baby, missed me?" He asked as he opened the door and turned back to welcome everyone with a flourish.
Sam held the door open for the Melusine to climb in, and for a moment she stood, undecided, until Bobby put an arm around her shoulders. "It's like a carriage," he reassured her. "It may look a little strange if you haven't seen one before, but it'll get you away from here, so hop in."
Dimpling up at him, the nymph drew a deep breath and slid gracefully into the back seat, turning to watch as Bobby followed her in. Sam gave her an encouraging smile and took his place beside his brother. "Go, Dean," he said.
Dean needed no further encouragement, and soon they were on their way. He made a bee line to the motel, so that they could put on dry clothing. Dean really wanted to get back into his jeans and tee shirts. Scrubs were all very well in a pinch, but he still felt kind of naked, and thought that they would rip like tissue if he found himself in a fight.
Back at the motel, the boys swiftly got changed, and Sam hastily bundled their things into the laundry bag so they could take off. Bobby, happily cradling his shotgun, kept watch outside in case they had been spotted leaving the spa, but all seemed quiet.
Dean had just finished loading up the trunk and had summoned the others to come out. They were preparing to get into the car and make their escape, when the nymph gasped and pointed. Mr. Harrison appeared out of the gloom at the edge of the parking lot.
"I think you have something of mine," he murmured, his eyes flickering to black and back.
Dean had turned slowly when he heard the voice and was just in time to spot those eyes as they gave away the situation. He tipped his head in an irritated response. "Really. How shocking. You can't leave anything lying around these days. Gee, Sammy, think we should give her back?" He reached into his jacket to pull out his flask of holy water, reflecting that he should have known a demon was behind this. He hoped his delaying tactics were giving Sam and Bobby enough time to get their weapons ready.
Caught in the doorway, Sam thrust Melusine back into the room behind him and gestured to Bobby that there was trouble brewing. "Dude, could you maybe get her out on the other side of the building and take her away?"
Bobby nodded, about to grab the girl's hand and hustle her away, but she suddenly stepped forward, her head held high. "Let me pass. I am not helpless," she murmured. "Now I am outside of that place, I have my own power."
"That's a demon out there, sweetheart, so unless you've got a way to exorcise it, your powers mean nothing to that thing. How do you think he got hold of you the first time?" Dean glared at the demon. "And you aren't getting her again." As he spoke, he threw the holy water.
There was a sizzle, and the demon's face smoked and blistered, although it didn't waver as it stalked towards the tiny girl they were trying to save. She stood firm, her hand outstretched as if to cast some spell, but the much larger figure of Harrison didn't seem to be affected. Sam stepped between them, only to be cast aside by a force he couldn't seem to prevent. "Exorciso te..." he began, afraid that he would be too late.
Dean launched himself at Harrison, intending to hit him, but he too was cast aside like a rag doll and hit the car with a thud as he skidded across the pavement. At that moment a man in a crumpled suit, loose tie and trench coat that had seen better days appeared and as the demon approached the nymph he simply moved between them, reached up with two fingers and touched the demon's head. It screamed, and the body fell to the ground as familiar black smoke poured from it and down into the ground.
Castiel leveled a glance at Sam, who was picking himself up from the ground "You are very slow today," he said.
Dean smirked up at the angel from where he sat, still on the ground. "That was close." He shuddered as he looked at Mr Harrison's body. It was aging as he watched, shriveling into itself until it resembled nothing more than a collection of twisted sticks.
On his feet once more, Sam made his way across to where his brother had fallen, extending his hand to help him to his feet. "You okay, bro?" he asked. Turning to Castiel, he nodded gravely. "Thank you. That could've been unfortunate."
Dean pulled himself up and met Castiel's eyes, nodding his gratitude as he walked over to stand beside them. "My work here is done," said the angel, and Sam couldn't help the laugh that escaped him.
"You've been watching daytime soaps again, haven't you?"
Castiel inclined his head. "I find them most illuminating on matters of human behavior," he announced. "Eric Brady in particular demonstrates a most interesting attitude." Without further ado, the angel flickered out of existence once more, leaving the four who remained to gape at the space he'd once inhabited.
Dean looked as if he was about to say something, and then his eyes shifted to where Bobby and Melusine were still standing. He pulled away and went over to the nymph, "Let's get you where you want to go, sweetheart," he said, offering his arm to escort her over to where the car waited.
There was nothing more to say. Sam shook his head and replaced Ruby's knife into the sheath he wore. Finally, he turned to Bobby. "Guess we're gonna go find a place for the little one to live. You wanna come with?"
Grinning, Bobby shook his head. "Nah, thanks for the offer, but I'm heading on down to see Jo. She's got a homunculus of some kind that she needs help with. I'll talk to you soon."
Giving the older man a swift hug, Sam went over to the car. "Dude, Bobby's leaving. You wanna say goodbye?"
Dean had settled Melusine into the back seat once again and when Sam spoke he gave a start, shaking himself awake from the brief reverie he'd had. Melusine was beautiful, and he knew they could have had a life together, but he knew he would end bloody, and he wouldn't wish that on her. It was better this way. He went over to give Bobby a brief hug and a 'thanks for coming, man' and smiled a little as they watched the old hunter get into the rust bucket that was his preferred mode of transport and take off into the distance, leaving a cloud of diesel fumes in his wake. Finally he slipped into his own car and turned to let the others in. "Okay, sweetie, let's go and get you back home."
Rated: Gen, humor.
Characters: Sam, Dean, Bobby, Castiel
Author:
candygrammeBeta:
laurathelurkerWord count: ~10,300
Summary: The brothers investigation of a disappearances at a spa has unfortunate side effects. If I had to guess, I'd say it was set somewhere in Season 4
Disclaimer: No profit was made off this. The characters belong the originators of Supernatural. Was all in pure fun.
Author's notes: So I was sitting whimpering because I've torn the meniscus in my left knee and ripped my ACL too and couldn't do much. I was angsting over the big bang that isn't really going very fast, when this took me by surprise. I don't often write Sam and Dean, because where they're at right now depresses me, but it all just flowed. Maybe it cleaned my pipes for me. Fingers crossed that big bang will now come just as easily.
There had been three odd disappearances in the small town of Pearl, Colorado, and Sam and Dean had traced them back to the clinic and spa they were currently surveying, prior to going in to investigate.
It was almost dark as the black '67 Impala pulled up outside the main building which looked far more like a pagan temple of some kind than a plastic surgeon's office. As they entered the tastefully lit shrine to beauty, Dean gazed around appreciatively. There were several curvy, toga clad young women visible, each one going about her business, which was presumably to help sagging women look young again and wrinkled men handsome.
Dean was dressed in what he thought of as his 'Mr. Big Shot' suit, and his tie felt as if it was strangling him. He reached up and pushed his finger between his neck and the collar, giving a little tug to give himself breathing room, while Sam, elegant in his own grey suit followed behind, smirking.
Turning back to Sam, Dean grinned. "Hey! You think they'll let you get one of their breast enlargement procedures?" Sam didn't dignify that with a response and merely sauntered past his brother into the foyer.
As they approached what appeared to be the reception, housed in a marble grotto carved with nymphs and satyrs, they discovered a pretty blonde with an ample bosom. Her face immediately brightened at the sight of them.
"Hello. Welcome to Elysian Fields. I'm Candy," she chirped, and jiggled beneath the soft chiffon of her tunic, much to Dean's fascinated gaze.
"I bet you are," Dean leant against the marble counter and smiled down at her. No matter what one did, the view of her impressive cleavage could not be avoided.
Clearing his throat, Sam stepped up behind him and flashed a badge. "We're from the Department of Health. We'd like to check over your facilities, please." He smiled at the girl, radiating his own, comforting charm. "Don't worry - it's just a routine inspection and then we can be on our way."
The girl blinked, "Really? But we don't have you scheduled." She started shuffling through stacks of paper, looking confused.
"It's a surprise inspection," Dean murmured, without raising his eyes to her face.
"Oh. Well I'd better go and get Mr. Harrison." She reached for the phone and pushed a few buttons, informing the person at the other end that there were people to see him.
A few moments passed before a tall man walked out from behind a partition that had been planted with an array of orchids. "Gentlemen, I'm Gordon Harrison, manager here. I can show you around." He smiled as he shook Dean's hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Dean. "I'm Inspector Hetfield, and my associate is Inspector Ulrich." Sam gave his toothiest smile as he reached out to offer his own hand in greeting. Turning to Harrison, he gestured at the spacious reception. "I'm sure everything's going to be in order, but you do understand that we have to do this."
"Of course, of course." Mr. Harrison nodded until Sam thought that his head was going to fall off. "I'll be delighted to show you everything we have. Please follow me."
Sam was just about to go after Mr. Harrison, when he realized that Dean was still leaning over the desk admiring Candy's impressive cleavage. "Dude," he hissed, elbowing his brother. "Less horndog, more health inspector."
Harrison had turned back, waiting for them, and, reluctantly, Dean tore himself away from the scenery. Together they followed the manager past the orchid wall and around a tinkling fountain into the depths of the clinic itself.
Dean smiled as they moved past a gym, where there were a number of extremely voluptuous girls participating in a step aerobics class that made their endowments bounce very pleasingly, and caught up with Sam, elbowing him as he came level with him. "Think they'll let us do some personal inspections later?"
They entered a long corridor lined with closed doors, and as they stopped at the first one, Harrison began to drone on about the importance of diet and exercise in order to remain young. Sam appeared to be taking it all in, but Dean was looking around for more ... unusual things.
As they moved on down the corridor they were shown the classrooms, the bedrooms for the guests and the kitchen where meals were put together. However, there was a set of double doors at the end of the corridor that it seemed Mr. Harrison was going to pass by without showing them "What's in there?" Dean asked, walking back towards it as Harrison attempted to shepherd them away.
"Um... that is just the pool," Harrison spoke quickly. "It's closed for cleaning."
Dean reached the doors and pushed one open to find himself met by steam, birds twittering and the rushing sound of a waterfall. The room was set into the rock behind it, appearing to be dug from the side of the hill against which the clinic nestled, and it looked more like a forest spring than a swimming pool. Water cascaded down the face of the rock at the rear of the room, and splashed into a pool that appeared to be totally natural.
As the door opened, the EMF meter in Sam's pocket began to chirp through the earbud he was wearing, and he moved closer to Dean, elbowing him in the ribs again. "Something's here," he hissed softly.
The two of them stepped inside the clearing - you couldn't call it a room precisely, because above them the darkening sky was visible through the trees that surrounded the spring. The moon was up and illuminated the little waterfall as it gurgled and chuckled while it dropped into the basin below. As Sam turned the EMF towards it, the squeal from it became louder. Turning to the manager with a smile, Sam said, "This is really nice. I think we need to test the water though. You can never be too careful. Meningitis is just one bug that lives in water."
Dean was taking his time searching around after Sam's warning, moved closer to the water's edge as he looked for any signs of supernatural activity.
"Test the water?" Harrison sounded nervous.
Dean looked back at him over his shoulder as he crouched down and pulled a test tube from his pocket to gather a sample of the water. He leaned down to fill his tube. "Yeah, you can never be too safe," he said.
He didn't see the movement beneath the rippling water until it was too late, but then something reached out and grabbed his tie, jerking him down with a splash.
"Holy..." Sam didn't finish the sentence, because Dean seemed to have completely disappeared. The surface seemed as calm as ever, but his brother had... gone. "Dean," he yelled, and then, tossing away his jacket and toeing off his shoes, he threw himself into the water after Dean. "Hang on; I'm coming."
Beneath the water, he could see his brother clearly. He appeared to be in the arms of a young woman, who was kissing him hard. Her hair floated out around her like a cloud, and she seemed slender. Oddly enough, her skin was blue. Reaching out, he grabbed her hair and began to tow the two of them to the side of the pool.
Dean surfaced with a gasp and began to cough as he splashed. He kicked out as he tried to exit the pool and managed to dislodge the creature that had been holding him. She swirled away, her hair leaving seaweed in Sam's hand. As Sam pulled his brother out of the water, she could be seen staring hard at Dean, still apparently wanting him.
Coughing and spluttering, water leaking out of him from everywhere, Dean lay on the tile, gasping like a beached whale. Mr. Harrison appeared to have disappeared from view. "What the hell was that?" he asked, looking at his brother.
"Hell if I know," replied Sam, arms around Dean as he tried to ascertain whether he'd been hurt. "Scared the shit out of me though. I thought I'd lost you." He sat up and studied Dean. "You okay?" he asked, worry in his eyes. "Guess we're going to have to come back here again once we're dry and do a little exploration."
In his hands, Sam still held a a hank of the hair he'd seized to pull his brother to shore, but when he examined it closely he found that it wasn't hair at all but some kind of plant. Lifting his eyes to Dean's, he made a face. "Dude, this is totally bizarre," he said.
Dean moved away from the edge of the pool, squinting at it in an attempt to spot the creature that had hauled him under so easily, then nodded. "We are so gonna get that bitch." He wiped at his mouth, "I think she slimed me." He frowned at his brother and shrugged as he got to his feet and grabbed Sam's arm. "C'mon, dude. Pretty sure we need to look up water sprites."
"I think you turned her on," smirked Sam. "It looked as if you were gonna get lucky to me." He shook his head. "I guess that explains the few disappearances we read about, but I wonder why she's here." He looked around for the manager, but he was still nowhere to be seen. "Let's go, man, we better go back and get ourselves dried off."
Dean, still dripping, turned to look back to the water, a pensive frown on his face. "Well at least she had all the right parts. Not like a mermaid. I've always wondered how you get it on with a mermaid?" He then paused and looked at Sam, lips pursed. "Dude, you look like a drowned rat, and I feel like one. Better get back to the room before the suit shrinks and cuts off my circulation."
As the two of them headed out, they couldn't help noticing that no one was around. Even Candy seemed to have gone somewhere, which seemed strange. Sam frowned as they shoved open the main doors and headed for the car dripping water as they went. Dean squirmed in his wet clothing, rather than shrinking the suit seemed to have stretched somewhat, which just went to show that you never could tell with thrift store suits. He didn't even feel as choked by the tie. Wincing at trailing water into his beloved Baby, he proceeded to drive them back to the motel.
*****
It was two o'clock in the morning, and Sam yawned. He'd been poring over his computer for what seemed like hours, trying to identify the creature that had attacked Dean - at least he thought it had been an attack, although it hadn't been too violent. So far he'd found nothing to help him.
Dean had gone to bed an hour before, and was now sleeping, or at least there were snoring sounds coming from the heap of bedclothes in the bed nearest the door, so that's what Sam assumed he was doing. Rising to his feet, he closed up his laptop and made for the bathroom, pausing to check on his brother.
A sudden panic flashed through him. Somehow, it didn't look like that heap of bedclothes was big enough to contain his brother.
"Dean?" Sam yelled, pulling back the blanket to look at him.
Dean blinked, "Hey!" His arm went up to cover his eyes as he started awake and squinted up at Sam. "I was sleeping."
He stopped talking, and then said, "Hello," very softly. His voice seemed a lot higher than usual. He gasped and glanced down at his hands, noticing that his ring and bracelet were both loose enough to fall off him. Jerking himself upright, he looked at each hand in turn and then, wide-eyed, at his brother. "Sammy?"
Horron his face, Sam stared down at his brother... his little brother. "Oh, my God," he whispered, his own eyes panicked as he studied Dean. "You look like you're about six years old. What the hell happened to you?"
Dean stumbled out of the bed and across to the mirror in the bathroom. He reached a trembling hand up to prod at his own face. He appeared to be no more than six years old. "Oh god, I have to go through puberty again? I don't want to go through puberty again!" His voice squeaked as he looked up at Sam. "SAMMY!" He felt tears prick at his eyes.
Sam's own appearance had apparently changed. When Dean really studied him, his brother seemed to be somewhere around sixteen again. "It's happened to me too. Dude, do you think I might suddenly begin to regress until I'm the same apparent age as you?" He'd never been one to bite his nails before this, but he was chewing on them now as their predicament hit him. "Jesus wept, dude. What happened? What are we gonna do?"
Dean blinked at Sam. "You're asking a six year old? Really?" the clear treble oozed sarcasm. "Well first thing in the morning you're gonna have to go get me some clothing!" He threw his underwear at Sam as he made his way back to the warmth of his bed. "And then I guess we have to call Bobby."
"Dude, again?" Sam shivered. He hadn't yet gotten over Bobby's reaction to the time that they'd managed to swap bodies. "He's gonna laugh so hard he'll have a stroke or something." He sat down on the edge of the bed. "I'm scared to go to sleep now, in case I suddenly get younger."
"Yes, again," Dean squeaked out. He cleared his throat as if it would help. It didn't. "I don't think he'll have a stroke. Might pee himself but not a stroke." He thought for a moment. "Well then you sleep, I'll stay awake. Not like I'm gonna manage any more sleep tonight anyway."
Their plight was not going to resolved unless they could find a counterspell for what had happened to them, because quite obviously they had been exposed to some kind of magic. Sam frowned, pondering his predicament. Finally, he nodded and got into bed. "I guess since I'm younger, and I haven't slept, it isn't something that happens only during sleep. Tomorrow we have to go find that manager dude and find out just what did this to us." He met Dean's eyes and grinned slyly. "I really didn't need rejuvenation, although you were getting a bit wrinkly..."
Dean gaped at Sam, "I was not." He hit his brother with his pillow and climbed out of bed again, heading for the bathroom. Closing the door behind him, he looked down at himself before climbing up onto the counter to look in the mirror and glare at his own reflection, remembering his childhood, such as there was of one. After a long moment he sank down to sit on the toilet, putting his head in his hands.
When he returned, Sam was still awake, leaning back against the headboard, evidently waiting for Dean. "Dude, I'm gonna have to enroll you in the little league, aren't I?" he said." He reached for his brother and slid an arm around Dean's shoulder, drawing him close. "Please don't get any younger, Dean. I... seriously, I'm scared."
Dean climbed up onto Sam's bed and settled back against him. "I bet Castiel will probably laugh his ass off if he sees us like this. Damn feathered freak! Still, maybe he can put us back the way we should be." He looked up at Sam. "Don't be scared, Sammy. I'm still here, and we'll figure this out. Bobby will know what to do."
"What if we have to go back to school - all that shit? Can you imagine?" Sam dropped a kiss onto the crown of Dean's tousled blond head. "They'll put us in foster homes if we get any younger, and we might not even be able to stay together." He could feel panic rising in himself, cold fear in the pit of his belly. "Okay. We call Bobby as soon as possible."
"Bobby's not gonna let that happen," Dean spoke like he was sure. "And we aren't gonna have to go to school. Though knowing what we know, we'd definitely be able to ace all the tests." He paused. "Except maybe French. I never could get the hang of French."
Laughing, Sam settled down against the pillows. "Well, we're gonna have to pray that Bobby can deal with a couple of ankle biters, because otherwise the state's gonna catch us, and then we'll be in trouble." He paused. "God, I hope that I don't get any younger. Maybe I'll pass for 18, and I can be your guardian."
"Let's just worry about right now and figure out how to get me back to my handsome self again. I can't go through all the growing up shit again. Dude, acne!" He shuddered.
Sam's lips twitched, but his face remained grave as he nodded. "Bobby will fix," he said, yawning. "We'll call him as soon as we can - first thing in the morning. He's gonna have to come here, dude, because you sure as hell ain't driving anywhere, are you? Your feet won't even reach the pedals."
Yawning, Sam closed his eyes, willing himself to sleep. Dean had snuggled down against Sam and it wasn't long before he was sleeping too.
*****
Morning arrived, overcast and promising rain. Dean yawned and stretched, looking around for his brother and noticing he'd gone out. He fervently hoped he'd be back soon with breakfast, not to mention clothing that would fit him. He wasn't going to be able to go anywhere the way he was. He swung his short legs over the edge of the bed and just sat there brooding. Bobby was gonna call them idjits again, that was for sure.
Sam returned just at that moment, shoving the door open with his foot as he held out his purchases for inspection. "Dude, there's a Salvation Army store on the next block. I got you some stuff to cover your nakedness."
"That's good. Did you get any food?" Dean's stomach rumbled as he was asking. Wordlessly, Sam handed him the breakfast combo from the burger joint next door to the motel.
"Okay, dude, here's clothes and food. I hope you don't mind orange juice? I'm not sure that six year olds are allowed coffee. It's supposed to be bad for them."
He sat himself down on the edge of the bed and pulled out his phone, quickly dialing Bobby and trying to avoid the devastated look his brother was handing him at the thought of juice rather than coffee.
Dean grabbed hold of the bag of clothing and began to dress himself, tearing the price tags off the jeans and long sleeved t-shirt and pulling them on as fast as he could. He said nothing about the Muppets that were on the shirt, realizing that Sam could've brought him home a My Little Pony shirt and Dean would have had to suck it up at least until he could find the thrift store for himself. Once he was dressed, he pulled the food bag to him and tore into it. "Not fair to deprive a man of his caffeine," He said between bites.
Sam flipped the phone over to speaker, and they could both hear Bobby yawning at the other end of the line as he picked up, "Yeah?" Bobby grunted.
Smirking at Dean, Sam heaved a sigh of relief as he heard Bobby's voice. "Bobby? Sam Winchester here. Me and Dean need your help, and it's kind of an emergency. We're in a bit of a tight spot here, and we're not sure how to fix it."
"What did ya do now, ya pair of idjits?" There was humor in the old hunter's voice as he spoke, but Sam knew that the man would offer them real assistance once he'd finished mocking them. Swiftly, he laid out the predicament they were in and then held his breath as he waited for Bobby to respond.
Dean looked over at Sam, biting his lower lip as he waited to see if Bobby would come and help them. He could hear laughter in the old hunter's voice, but that was a given. This was Bobby, after all.
"Aww I bet Dean is all cute with freckles." Inevitably, Bobby couldn't help mocking them. Dean peeled away from Sam's side and got up to wander aimlessly around the room. He froze as Bobby spoke again. "Sounds like you got some kind of elemental on your hands. A water one."
"How do we kill it, Bobby? Ask him how we kill it?" Dean prodded his brother to get his attention.
"Hey, I'm cute as well," smirked Sam, nudging his brother with his elbow. "Dean wants to know how you kill a water elemental."
"It's not gonna be that easy, Sam," was Bobby's reply. "Of course it would be possible to kill it, as long as you don't mind growing up all over again, but if you want to get back to where you were, you're going to have to persuade it to put you back there. I don't think there's any other way."
"Oh, c'mon," Dean whined. He sat down on the bed and looked glumly at Sam, knowing they were going to have to go back and try to get the best of the creature who had caused this predicament. Sweet talking monsters wasn't his strong suit. He groaned, pouted and then for want of anything better to do he went back to eating his breakfast.
"So you're coming?" Sam breathed a sigh of relief at Bobby's murmur of assent. "We'll wait for you. I think you could do with a little rejuvenation therapy. What do you think?"
"Sam Winchester, if you want my assistance, you'd better quit mouthing off, or I'll just go down to Florida after that black dog that's been running around and leave you to go through high school all over again!"
"HEY!" Dean grabbed the phone, "Bobby, please, get your butt over here. I can't stay six and go through all that shit again! Please?"
The only response Dean got before Bobby hung up was a cackle of derisive laughter, and as Sam put his phone away he was already calculating just how long it would take for the old hunter to come to their aid.
"He's gonna be at least five hours," Sam murmured. "What do you want to do while we wait? There's a kids' playground down the road, and I plan to be an awesome big brother. You wanna go play on the swing, dude?"
Dean looked at Sam as if he had suddenly become this creature with tentacles coming out of his head. "No!" He said sternly. "I don't want to go play on the playground. I want to get back to my normal self again!" He looked down at the now congealed eggs in the carton in his hand and stopped eating, pushing the remains at Sam. "I'm not hungry any more."
"Dude? You're not hungry?" Sam gasped, his jaw dropped as he studied what was temporarily his little brother. "You can't go back to normal right now. Neither of us can, and Bobby won't be here for five hours. For a start, we're going to have to wait 'til dark to break in there. You can't even jerk off, because you didn't hit puberty yet, so I guess you'd better decide how you're gonna pass the time 'til Bobby reaches us."
"I'M NOT PLAYING ON A FUCKING PLAYGROUND!" Dean snapped at Sam, then he got up, went to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.
Grinning to himself and shaking his head, Sam settled back to research what he could about water sprites and wait for his brother to come back out and face him. He did pause for a minute to call through the bathroom door, "Dude, the Teletubbies are on," but there was no reply, and after a moment he returned to his computer.
Dean loitered in the bathroom for a while. He didn't want to deal with this at all. He didn't want to be six again and go through his life all over again. He hated the idea of having to grow back up again. His childhood had sucked, and he was not anxious to repeat it. It was a long while before Dean finally emerged and went to climb up onto the bed, where he sat, glowering silently.
For a few moments, Sam appeared not to notice, but he finally pushed his computer aside and rose to go sit on the bed next to his brother. Sliding an arm round Dean's tiny shoulders he sat in silence for a moment. Finally, he turned his head to Dean, so small and fragile compared to the way he had been. "It's okay, dude. We can fix this. I promise."
Dean just stared straight ahead, not saying anything before he spoke, "And if we don't?" He didn't want to think about it, but with every moment that passed it seemed to become more and more of an inevitablity. "Did you find out anything about what kind of water sprite it could be?"
"We will." Sam was firm. "There's no way we won't." He squeezed Dean affectionately and hoped that he sounded convincing. "Not too much yet. They are usually scared of people, and stay out of their way. They occasionally fall for a human, and then they pine. I think that she wanted you, dude. They tend towards love at first sight, so that's probably what happened."
Dean looked at him, "Let's go back then and talk to her, like Bobby said." He was up on his knees on the bed in an instant, looking at Sam with his best impression of Antonio Banderas's version of Puss in Boots.
"Yeah, Okay." Sam nodded, unable to handle the emotional blackmail that Dean was serving up. "I think we need to do that too, but we can't do it while the spa is open for business. You know we need to wait til night time. Once the clinic is closed we can go in and see if she'll talk to you. If she wanted your body, I think she overshot the mark a little, don't you? It's not gonna be able to do her any good at all like that."
Dean gave a pout then dropped onto the bed, rolling onto his back making little, frustrated sounds. "That damn park sounds better and better." He kicked at Sam.
"Awww, come on, Dean," Sam's face was as pouty as if he were the six year old. "Don't be like that. I can't help if it's only morning. Why don't we just... go find some info on the spa? Maybe see if the local library has anything on it, or on water sprites. Or we could watch cartoons, if you want."
Dean rolled up and off the bed, determined to choose the most adult option just on principle. "Okay let's go the library." He grabbed his phone and wallet, then after a minute's thought he tossed Sam the keys to the Impala, although it quite obviously broke his heart to do so. "Don't you douche her up." He warned as he headed out.
"Dude, you can sit shotgun and make sure I don't decide to paint her pink or anything," said Sam, ruffling Dean's hair as he followed the little fellow. "You know, you were a really cute kid. Too bad you grew up ugly."
Dean stopped, turned and kicked Sam in the shin, "I'm cute even grown up, bitch," he growled as he moved over towards his car, "I'm sorry baby," he whispered, patting her roof as he climbed in. Fixing Sam with what he hoped was a compelling stare, he snapped, "Hurry up."
"Yes sir, massa boss," smirked Sam. "Listen, jerk, you're heading for a good hiding if you keep on hacking at my shins like that. It hurt." He grinned and shook his head. "We'll get everything sorted out tonight, don't worry. I think you should just enjoy your second childhood and chill!"
He put the car into gear and pointed it towards the library.
Dean glared at him for a while, daring him to so much as scratch his baby, but when Sam appeared to be ignoring him he sighed and turned back to study whatever was outside the window. Once they reached the library, Dean got out as fast as he could and hurried after his brother as they made their way into the building. He was really glad to find that they had hit a time when there were no good looking women inside. Making his way over to the shelves he looked up at them and wished he was back to his normal height. "I dunno, man, where do we start?"
"News archive, I think. Let's see if we can get any info on that spa - when it was built, who built it, and what was there before it was built. That'd be a good start. I'll go through what they have about water sprites." Sam approached the librarian's desk and booked one of the computers for his brother. She was a lady of indeterminate years, and she smiled down at Dean indulgently and offered him a candy.
Dean looked at the candy and couldn't resist saying, "You know I was taught not to take candy from strangers." He took the candy anyway and made for the computer. Taking his seat, he began the painstaking task of gathering together the intel about the Elysian Fields Clinic. He wasn't a geek like Sam, but he could do his fair share of research when motivated. He liked to think of himself as a practical man, but today he was motivated to do research as never before.
"I think I found what we're facing," murmured Sam, after a while. "I'm pretty sure it's an Undine." He began to copy files, beckoning to Dean to go see what he'd found. "They're immortal and live in springs and waterfalls. They fall in love with mortal men, and I think this one took a shine to you."
Dean walked over, reaching up and taking the copies to read through them. "You have got to be kidding! She wants me to marry her? Sammy, I don't do the M word." He made his way over to the printer and retrieved the materials that he had printed out earlier. "Look what I've found. The pool has been here since forever, so it seems. It says here that the Indians first discovered it and kept it a secret til the area was settled and it was finally discovered. That place was built over it in 1926, by a Cora Harrison, who owned a lot of the land hereabouts."
Sam nodded. "Seems to me we've heard the name Harrison somewhere before."
"Not only that. Dude, check out who was at the ground breaking." Proudly, Dean showed Sam a grainy picture of the ceremony from one of the local papers of that time. The man named Harrison was clearly visible in the shot.
"Huh?" Sam frowned as he studied the picture. "He told us he was the administrator. I think he may be a little more than that!" He leafed through the pages, studying the articles that Dean had found. "We need a list of the folks that put up the money to build the place. Maybe if we lean on them a little, one of them will tell us what to do to get the effects reversed."
Nodding, Dean moved back to the computer and resumed his typing. He frowned as a thought occurred to him and turned back to Sam, "I think we're just gonna have to go through all the papers from that era." He shifted in his chair, rolling his shoulders and flexing his fingers.
"Let's do it then," sighed Sam. "What dates are we looking at?" He turned to go and ask the librarian where the archives were held but paused for a moment, looking back at the little blond body currently housing his handsome older brother. "Normally I'd suggest that we go to city hall and look at the plans, but somehow I don't think they'd take us seriously when we're like this. Maybe when Bobby gets here we can get him to go in for us."
Dean's legs were dangling in the chair, and he was kicking his feet as he concentrated, eyes focused on the screen. He didn't look up as he replied. "I guess we start with the earlier ones from when the town was first settled? Late 1800's?" Dean was still kicking his feet, and he pulled out the sucker the librarian had given him, starting to roll it around in his mouth as he turned to look at his brother.
"Dude, you need to put on at least another 20 years before that'll look sexy," Sam said, raising his eyebrows. "Yeah. See what you can find. If there's any photos, check and see if any of folk in them look like the people we met at that place. If there's some kind of rejuvenation going on in there you can bet your last dime that the person behind it will be making full use of it."
Dean shrugged. "On it. You get on it too!" He smirked at Sam, thinking that even at his age it seemed like he could still boss his brother around.
Sighing, Sam got up and went to find the newspapers that were relevant to their search. He lugged his haul back to the desk where his brother was still typing as he sucked on his candy, and Dean felt his face suffuse with red as he quickly shut down the page displaying bustyasianbeauties.com. No words were spoken as Sam handed him half the stack of ancient newspapers.
"Okay, let's check it out and see what we can find." Dean cleared his throat and then opened up the first one, starting to go through it. He flipped the pages carefully, reading paper after paper. He was beginning to get bored, and was making the little noises that he knew would drive his brother insane, when something caught his eye. "Sam, check this out. this is from when the place first opened." He pushed the paper over to Sam. "And look at this girl, she looks a lot like the girl in the pool that was kissing me. Says here, it's Harrison's daughter!"
Getting up to stand behind Dean and read over his shoulder, Sam scanned the news item that his brother had found. "She's cute," he murmured, checking the girl out in her bonnet and high waisted dress. "Are you sure it's her?"
Dean looked back at Sam, "Don't cream your jeans puberty boy, or you'll end up like me, spirit willing but flesh weak. And yes I'm sure. I was in the liplock." Dean set his find aside and returned to his stack of papers. "See," he said a few minutes later. "Look! Here she is again. She's certainly a looker." He smiled. "But I'm not ready to settle down quite yet."
It certainly seemed to be the same person, and Sam trusted Dean's eye for the ladies. He gave a short laugh. "Well, if she wanted you to make a woman of her, she's kinda shot herself in the foot, hasn't she? You're not gonna be able to scratch any itches for her until you're at least 10 years older."
Dean frowned as a thought suddenly occurred to him. "You think she might be doing this on purpose? Trap me? Like, I'll take you back to your age if you marry me kind of crap?" He looked back at the picture. "Okay, so we know it's a family business at least. So I guess we need to go talk to her."
"We will for sure." Sam was still leafing through the newspapers in his binder. "As soon as Bobby gets here we'll sit down and plan things. Meanwhile, you wanna go find some lunch?" He checked his watch and nodded. "Only a couple of hours now, and Bobby'll be here. Where d'you wanna go? Mickey D's?"
"Yeah, let's go. I want a milkshake," Dean hopped from his chair and headed for the door as if shot from a gun. When he realized that Sam wasn't beside him he turned to look back at him. "C'mon, Sammy."
"Milkshake it is, dude," said Sam. "You got a preference for flavor?"
"I want chocolate," Dean watched Sam walk towards him, and as they turned to leave the library, running through his brain was the thought that if this went pear-shaped he didn't want to put his brother through what he'd experienced, raising a brother. He had to get back to normal.
~~~
It was beginning to get dark by the time that Bobby arrived, drawing up outside their room in his rusty old vehicle. Sam was relieved to see him, and it seemed as if Dean might be too. He'd been pacing for the past hour and a half.
"Good lord! Look at you, ya idjit!" The grin spread across Bobby's face as he studied the small, outraged person that was Dean Winchester. "You'd fit on my keychain!"
Dean was nearly bouncing when Bobby came in, til he opened his mouth. Then his jaw tightened, and he kicked him on the shin, "I can still hurt you. So?"
"Sonofabitch!" Bobby grabbed Dean by the collar and held him at arms' length, his feet dangling a couple of inches above the ground. "We gonna have to tie him up, Sam?" he asked as Dean's brother cracked up. "Because if he wants my help, he's gonna have to settle down and join the human race, even though it's not actually in his nature."
"Dean, come on!" Sam snickered.
"Bastard, put me down!" Dean finally stopped struggling and looked at Bobby, reflecting that he always came to bail them out when he really didn't have to. Why did he bend over backwards for him and his brother? As Dean felt his feet touch the ground he flung his arms around Bobby's legs and hugged him. Bobby was more of a father to them than John Winchester ever had been. "So?" He said, turning to go and climb on the bed.
"What have you got so far?" Bobby took a seat on one of the chairs that stood beside the table under the window.
"We found a bunch of information about the way the spa was built." Sam was busily passing Bobby the information that they'd uncovered. "Looks like we're going to have to go back in there later tonight and see if she'll help Dean back to his real age. If she was trying to seduce him, she kind of overshot the mark."
Dean didn't realize he was bouncing on the bed. The sugar he'd ingested earlier was kicking in. "So we going tonight?" He asked eagerly. "I want to get back to normal. You know - my usual cute legal self."
"Awww, I kinda like you like this." Bobby was snickering as he spoke. "Nice and easy to manage."
Grinning, Sam shut down his computer. "Yeah, Dean, we're gonna go for it. I don't think I could stand another day of you whining if we don't get you back to normal."
"Normal? That what you call it?" Bobby sobered up. "Okay, what do you think the best way forward is? You want to go now, or break in later?"
Dean looked at him. "You're the adult; you're supposed to make these decisions! If it was up to me we'd be on our way right now." He jumped off the bed and went to join them at the table. "Don't make me start being annoying."
"What do you mean, start?" Bobby nodded to the diminutive hunter. "Okay. If we go now, what are we going to be faced with?"
"They're open until nine, so we're going to run into the full clinic staff. There's a receptionist called Candy, and then this creepy manager guy that we saw. Didn't see any clients, but there was a couple of women in uniform that might have been beauticians or nurses or something."
"And you told them you were health inspectors?"
"Well duh," Dean smirked. "What were we supposed to do, tell them we were clients? I realize that Sammy here could use a face lift or something, but I sure don't... didn't." Dean shook his head and sighed. "Okay, let's go once they're closed. Sam here will get us in."
~x~
Full dark came at last. Sam drove the Impala over to the clinic, parking a little way up the street from it, and together they watched as the lights went out, one by one. Harrison was the last to leave, double locking the front door and then climbing into his Mercedes to pull away. They allowed him five minutes, and then Sam opened the door of the Impala. "I guess we're ready to go," he said.
Dean was out the car like a shot, already trotting across the parking lot as the other two collected themselves. "C'mon, Sammy, do that thing that you do so well." Dean bounced on the balls of his feet as his brother picked the lock, and before his brother had put his tools back into his pocket, he was inside, moving through the halls, looking for the corridor that led to the spring.
They found the right passageway at last and made their way up to the double doors that they remembered. Of course they were locked, and this time it was Dean that picked the lock.
The spring was just as they remembered. Water splashed and tinkled at the rear of the space, and the pool was dimly lit by several underwater light sources. Sam was about to turn on the light when Bobby grabbed his hand and stopped him. "Don't. You'll likely scare her."
As they watched, the surface of the pool rippled, and a head began to appear from beneath the water.
Dean had already entered. He'd been looking around, but when he heard Bobby's softly uttered words he turned and watched as the girl slowly pulled herself out of the water. He felt a flutter of nerves as he moved closer to the edge, but sat down a safe distance from the water and tried to convey confidence as he said. "Hey, remember me?"
The creature that had risen from the water appeared youthful, with wide eyes and pale, creamy skin. Her hair was a stunning shade of crimson, and streamed down over her shoulders to her waist. She paused, for a moment, looking as if she might turn and retreat back under the water at any minute. "Remember you?" she whispered.
Dean nodded, "Yeah, I fell into the water, and you helped me?" He wasn't going to say that she'd nearly killed him. He leaned in closer. "You kissed me, too."
"I would kiss no child," she murmured, swimming forward until she could hoist herself onto the tile that surrounded the pool. "You must think me vile."
"He wasn't a child when you kissed him," growled Sam. "Could you put him back, please? He was a man, and you turned him into a little kid."
"He's right, I was a man of thirty, handsome, full of charm and wit?" Dean offered, hopefully. "I just want to be put back the way I was, and then, if you want us to, we'll leave."
The nymph's eyes widened, the pupils impossibly large, and she laughed softly. "I do remember you," she said. "You came to join me." A smile slowly spread over her face. "And what will you give me if I restore you to your mature form? Will you rescue me from here?"
Dean blinked at her, his own eyes as wide as hers. He glanced back at Sam and Bobby. "Well, yeah, we'll get you out of here. If we can."
"Yeah, we will if you want to go," murmured Sam, suddenly shocked at the thought that she might have been kept prisoner here. "How long have you been here?"
"More to the point," murmured Bobby, who had been standing back, watching. "Where do you want to go, and what do you need to get there?"
Dean turned back to her. "How did you wind up trapped in here, and where do you want to be?" He reached out and touched her hair to get her to pay attention to him.
"I want to go back home," she whispered, stepping further away from the water and shaking her head so that her glossy hair sprayed them with droplets. "Take me back to my home?"
"Where is your home? Why haven't you gone before now?" asked Bobby. "What's to stop you walking away? There's nobody here to stop you."
"I cannot leave the room," she said, tears filling her eyes. "He... placed a spell at the threshold, and I cannot pass it."
Dean rose to his feet and put an arm around her as he looked around, cursing to himself when he could barely reach her waist. Sam was checking the the doorway, looking for any sigils or runes that might have been carved into the surrounds. He glanced around the walls and then up at the rock face where the waterfall cascaded down to fall into the pond beneath. "I guess the easiest would be if we create another exit for her?"
"It would be pretty much a giveaway that we've been here if we start to blow holes in the building, but what about up there?" Bobby was gazing upwards at the open sky. Dean nodded in agreement.
"Seems to me that if we climbed up on the rocks with a rope, we could cross the roof without too much trouble and get her out that way." He looked at the nymph, who was now out of the water, a pale figure in the semi-darkness. "You're really hot, but you can't go out like that, though."
"Yeah, you're going to need some clothes," murmured Sam. "No good trading one jail for another, and they'll arrest you if you go out like that."
Dean nodded, "Yeah, we need to get you some clothing I guess, although it would be a shame to cover that fine, fine packaging. I suppose she can wear some of mine in the car." Dean looked back at her, hopefully. "They don't fit me any more unless you could... you know, change me back."
"I'm sure we can find a nurse's uniform for her back in the main clinic." Bobby's calm voice brought them back to reality. "You boys work out the best way to climb up to the roof, and I'll go find her something to wear."
"Okay." Sam nodded at the nymph. "And as soon as you change Dean back to how he should be, We'll help you get out of here."
"Hold on. Don't you think you should go back to your normal age too, Sam?" Bobby gave the taller Winchester a grin as he made for the door. "You look like you're about to go through puberty again as well, and I don't think I can cope with the mood swings."
"Mood swings? He's always having mood swings," Dean grumbled. "He's Mister Mood Swing!" His little arms went up. "Moody moody moody." He smiled at the nymph and approached her. "Can you change us back, please? I'm desperate for a coffee, and they won't let me have any."
For the first time, the nymph smiled, her face lighting up as she looked down at the little boy making such demands on her. "Come," she whispered, gathering Dean up in her arms and turning to plunge back into the water. "I will count it a pleasure."
Bobby had gone to find clothing for the nymph, and Sam was left alone, gaping at the place where the black water still rippled. He was beginning to panic by the time bubbles began to erupt from the water, and the two of them surged back to the surface.
Dean found himself surrounded by water, the swirl of it around him caressed his skin as he held onto the girl. He had closed his eyes when he went under, and images of his younger days played before him, memories of a childhood too soon stolen flickered past his inner eyes. He was beginning to panic when he felt it, the soft kiss, and then he was set back onto the tile. He opened his eyes to find that he was taller. Smiling at the nymph he measured himself against her, nodding to see that he was now taller than she was. He stepped back and gave her a little bow. "Thank you, and how about my bro?"
Her laughter tinkled again, and she reached past Dean to beckon Sam to her. "To be free, I would restore even your father who is seeking clothing for me. Tell me, would he care to be young and handsome once more? I can reward him."
Dean shook his head, "I'll ask him, but you know, as much as he would like it in one way, I think he is happy how he is." He studied the tiles in the suspended ceiling, lips pursed as he pondered. Stacking a couple of the chairs from the small sitting area to one side of the pond, he climbed up, pushing the tiles up and away so he could see what was above them. He smiled, "Got a way out right here," he called
Sam had been watching his brother's naked climb up to the ceiling, so the nymph's attack took him by surprise. He yelled in surprise as she bore him backwards into the spring, and the splash as they hit the water was almost enough to wet Dean down, and did drench Bobby as he returned bearing the clothing that would cover the girl's nudity.
"Hey," he yelled, surveying the soggy bundle of clothes he was holding. "Knock it off!"
Dean jumped down from his perch atop the chairs and skidded over to the pool to rescue his brother, "SAMMY!" He was about to reach in, when his brother appeared. Dean grabbed his and pulled him out of the water. "Dude, you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good," said Sam, smiling at Dean's bare body. "And you're looking good too. I'm guessing that you've managed to avoid your second puberty. That's a good thing." He turned to Bobby. "Guess we'll need to find some stuff for Dean to wear as well," he said.
"I brought some, but they're a bit wet now you've done your Shamu impression." said Bobby, shaking his head. "Better get dressed, you guys. It's time to blow this popsicle stand."
"The lady wanted to know if you'd like her to rejuvenate you, Bobby." Dean sounded tentative. "I said we'd ask you." As he was speaking, the creature in question emerged from the pool once more and gave him a brilliant smile.
For a moment, it seemed as if Bobby was going to go for it. His face softened, and he turned to her. "Thank you, my dear, but I've come by this old body honestly, and I don't see any reason for prolonging the agony. I've lost too much for that, so I'll quit while I'm ahead. What's your name, honey?"
She reached to touch his face and smiled. "You of all, I respect," she murmured, and took the clothing that Bobby was holding, slipping the toga-like tunic over her head. "My name is Melusine, and it has long been forgotten. It will be nice to hear it again."
Dean looked down at himself and seemed to realize at last that he was naked. He moved Sam as if to hide himself from scrutiny and took the clothing Bobby had brought. It turned out to be scrubs which clung to his wet flesh like a second skin as he pulled them on. "We're barefoot," he said. "But I guess that'll have to do for now." He hopped back onto his pile of chairs and pulled himself into space above the ceiling.
"Okay, sweetheart, I'll help you up, you crawl over beyond the wall and you'll be outside of this room. Sammy will help you get down again while Bobby and I straighten up in here. Nobody will even realize we were ever here."
The other two nodded and stood watching as the nimble girl clambered up with Dean's assistance. Dean waited to make sure she could make her way safely beyond the barrier and then hopped back down to straighten up the ceiling tiles and set the chairs back where they had been.
Leaving the room with the pool behind, he and Bobby watched with approval as Sam held out his arms and caught her as she jumped down into his arms, setting her down beside him and turning to wait for his brother. "Dude, we need to get out of here now, before anyone catches us."
Nodding at his brother, Dean held out his hand for the keys to his beloved Baby and breathed a sigh of relief as he once again held them in his hand. "Okay, lets go. And I'm handsome me again!" He smacked Sam's ass then slid his arm around the little nymph. "Where you want to go, sweetheart?"
Sam pulled a face at his soaking wet clothes. "Can we go somewhere I can get changed into dry clothes?" he asked. "I may be back to my usual self, but even my shoes are squelching, and it's nasty."
Dean nodded, "I could use some dry clothing too, not to mention I miss my boots." As they made their way out to where the Impala was parked, it felt good for Dean to know he could once more be with his car and not have to worry about anyone else driving her. "Hey, Baby, missed me?" He asked as he opened the door and turned back to welcome everyone with a flourish.
Sam held the door open for the Melusine to climb in, and for a moment she stood, undecided, until Bobby put an arm around her shoulders. "It's like a carriage," he reassured her. "It may look a little strange if you haven't seen one before, but it'll get you away from here, so hop in."
Dimpling up at him, the nymph drew a deep breath and slid gracefully into the back seat, turning to watch as Bobby followed her in. Sam gave her an encouraging smile and took his place beside his brother. "Go, Dean," he said.
Dean needed no further encouragement, and soon they were on their way. He made a bee line to the motel, so that they could put on dry clothing. Dean really wanted to get back into his jeans and tee shirts. Scrubs were all very well in a pinch, but he still felt kind of naked, and thought that they would rip like tissue if he found himself in a fight.
Back at the motel, the boys swiftly got changed, and Sam hastily bundled their things into the laundry bag so they could take off. Bobby, happily cradling his shotgun, kept watch outside in case they had been spotted leaving the spa, but all seemed quiet.
Dean had just finished loading up the trunk and had summoned the others to come out. They were preparing to get into the car and make their escape, when the nymph gasped and pointed. Mr. Harrison appeared out of the gloom at the edge of the parking lot.
"I think you have something of mine," he murmured, his eyes flickering to black and back.
Dean had turned slowly when he heard the voice and was just in time to spot those eyes as they gave away the situation. He tipped his head in an irritated response. "Really. How shocking. You can't leave anything lying around these days. Gee, Sammy, think we should give her back?" He reached into his jacket to pull out his flask of holy water, reflecting that he should have known a demon was behind this. He hoped his delaying tactics were giving Sam and Bobby enough time to get their weapons ready.
Caught in the doorway, Sam thrust Melusine back into the room behind him and gestured to Bobby that there was trouble brewing. "Dude, could you maybe get her out on the other side of the building and take her away?"
Bobby nodded, about to grab the girl's hand and hustle her away, but she suddenly stepped forward, her head held high. "Let me pass. I am not helpless," she murmured. "Now I am outside of that place, I have my own power."
"That's a demon out there, sweetheart, so unless you've got a way to exorcise it, your powers mean nothing to that thing. How do you think he got hold of you the first time?" Dean glared at the demon. "And you aren't getting her again." As he spoke, he threw the holy water.
There was a sizzle, and the demon's face smoked and blistered, although it didn't waver as it stalked towards the tiny girl they were trying to save. She stood firm, her hand outstretched as if to cast some spell, but the much larger figure of Harrison didn't seem to be affected. Sam stepped between them, only to be cast aside by a force he couldn't seem to prevent. "Exorciso te..." he began, afraid that he would be too late.
Dean launched himself at Harrison, intending to hit him, but he too was cast aside like a rag doll and hit the car with a thud as he skidded across the pavement. At that moment a man in a crumpled suit, loose tie and trench coat that had seen better days appeared and as the demon approached the nymph he simply moved between them, reached up with two fingers and touched the demon's head. It screamed, and the body fell to the ground as familiar black smoke poured from it and down into the ground.
Castiel leveled a glance at Sam, who was picking himself up from the ground "You are very slow today," he said.
Dean smirked up at the angel from where he sat, still on the ground. "That was close." He shuddered as he looked at Mr Harrison's body. It was aging as he watched, shriveling into itself until it resembled nothing more than a collection of twisted sticks.
On his feet once more, Sam made his way across to where his brother had fallen, extending his hand to help him to his feet. "You okay, bro?" he asked. Turning to Castiel, he nodded gravely. "Thank you. That could've been unfortunate."
Dean pulled himself up and met Castiel's eyes, nodding his gratitude as he walked over to stand beside them. "My work here is done," said the angel, and Sam couldn't help the laugh that escaped him.
"You've been watching daytime soaps again, haven't you?"
Castiel inclined his head. "I find them most illuminating on matters of human behavior," he announced. "Eric Brady in particular demonstrates a most interesting attitude." Without further ado, the angel flickered out of existence once more, leaving the four who remained to gape at the space he'd once inhabited.
Dean looked as if he was about to say something, and then his eyes shifted to where Bobby and Melusine were still standing. He pulled away and went over to the nymph, "Let's get you where you want to go, sweetheart," he said, offering his arm to escort her over to where the car waited.
There was nothing more to say. Sam shook his head and replaced Ruby's knife into the sheath he wore. Finally, he turned to Bobby. "Guess we're gonna go find a place for the little one to live. You wanna come with?"
Grinning, Bobby shook his head. "Nah, thanks for the offer, but I'm heading on down to see Jo. She's got a homunculus of some kind that she needs help with. I'll talk to you soon."
Giving the older man a swift hug, Sam went over to the car. "Dude, Bobby's leaving. You wanna say goodbye?"
Dean had settled Melusine into the back seat once again and when Sam spoke he gave a start, shaking himself awake from the brief reverie he'd had. Melusine was beautiful, and he knew they could have had a life together, but he knew he would end bloody, and he wouldn't wish that on her. It was better this way. He went over to give Bobby a brief hug and a 'thanks for coming, man' and smiled a little as they watched the old hunter get into the rust bucket that was his preferred mode of transport and take off into the distance, leaving a cloud of diesel fumes in his wake. Finally he slipped into his own car and turned to let the others in. "Okay, sweetie, let's go and get you back home."
