Ben Braeden

"Ben, he's not asking for you to do anything you're not comfortable with."

"Yeah, I get that." He looked at the picture in his hand that Dean had left. His father - all these years later and suddenly Dean was back and his mother was telling him that she knew - wanted to see him. And he had a little cousin. "Just... not something I was expecting."

"Dean will be fine with whatever you choose. But I'd really like you to think about at least talking to him. I'm sure you've got questions."

"I do." He rubbed the back of his neck. "What about you, Mom? You want him around again?"

Lisa smiled just a bit. "It was nice seeing him again, Ben. I'd like to see more of him. But if you're not comfortable..."

"Mom, I'm not eight anymore. You don't need to worry about my feelings when you're seeing a guy." He smirked up at his mother. "I just don't want to hear about what you two are doing when I'm not here."

"Like I'd tell you that anyway." Lisa smoothed the first red spike of her son's hair so she could kiss his forehead. "Do me a favor, though?"

"What's that?"

"If you decide to take a road trip out to Iowa like I know you're planning, please at least tone down the look so the press doesn't follow you."

Ben smirked a bit and shook his head. "Yes, Mom."

***

The flight from LA to Des Moines wasn't bad, and he rented a car the next morning to drive the rest of the way to the house where Dean had told his mother that he lived. It probably wasn't the smartest plan he had, but he did want a chance to look at this family before he went to talk to them.

He watched his cousin and his uncle go off to school, and saw that his father's car stayed parked in the driveway. Figuring that it meant Dean wasn't going off to any job, Ben pulled the car up next to it in the driveway and made his way to the front door, knocking before he looked at his reflection in the window.

He actually looked normal for once, and sober too. It was the best he could manage, so he hoped it would be noticed he was trying to act the part. If only for his mom's sake.

It wasn't something Ben did often. Hell, after his mother died and then everything that happened with him and Dean after that, walking into a church was the last thing Ben ever thought he would do again.

But the campus chapel had just let out from Sunday Mass and Ben needed a new supply of holy water, so he snuck in and quickly filled the three flasks he had, putting them in various pockets before he picked up a daily church newsletter and noticed the date.

January 24th.

He felt his fingers crumble the newsletter as he remembered what today was. Dean's birthday. His father's birthday.

Even a year later, Ben was still having a hard time with the change. He had his good days, and they outnumbered the bad, but this day came out of nowhere and sucker-punched him in the heart, and he just sat down in the last pew, putting his hands over his eyes.

Today was supposed to be about sitting around the house, teasing his father about his old age while sharing a beer, a burger and some pie before driving back like a madman to make his class the next morning. Instead here he was, alone while everyone was living their own lives and his father was now an archangel in heaven playing bodyguard to his brother.

"Is there something bothering you, son?"

Ben looked up to see the chapel priest standing over him. He quickly wiped his tears away and started to get up. "No, just got lost in my thoughts."

The priest nodded. "Just remember, in times when we feel that the world is crashing down on you, God will be there to help you through it."

He just nodded, being good and not saying his own opinions about God and how his world had crashed because of Her. He started to walk out, then stopped as he saw the candles that were lit for prayers.

Pulling out a dollar from his pocket for a donation, he made it, then lit a candle.

"Happy Birthday, Dad," he said softly, then turned to leave before any heavenly body got any ideas about appearing around him.

ooc: takes place in where_youfindme. Ben is age 4.

"You can cry, ain't no shame in it."
Will Smith

Ben had been excited all day for his first ever t-ball game. Daddy was sitting in the stands, watching him with a big smile on his face. They had been playing catch for weeks so Ben could be ready for this day. He was so ready to kick some butt!

He wanted to be a pitcher, but Mr. Robinson said that in T-Ball there wasn't a pitcher, and he would have to wait until he was in Little League. So instead he had second base.

Duncan was not really a nice kid on the team and Ben didn't like to play with him. But Daddy had said he needed to be nice and play with Duncan even if he was a poopy head. When it was Duncan's turn to bat, Ben was ready to catch the ball and get him out.

However, as Duncan hit the ball and started to run, he didn't drop the bat. Ben got the ball and was going to tag him out when Duncan swung the bat and the plastic bat went across Ben's face. People were yelling and Ben couldn't see because his face was hurting, but he knew the second that his Daddy's arms were around him and he curled up against his chest.

It was only when Daddy showed up did Ben start to cry too. He wasn't going to let anyone else see him cry because only babies cried. But Daddy didn't mind when Ben cried.

"I don't wanna... play nice anymore Daddy..." he sobbed, and swore that next time he got up to bat, he was gonna hit Duncan right back.

“You don't need to worry about me. In a fight I just kind of stand in the back and just yell stuff.”
| Friday Night Lights

Before I left for college, we joked about going on one last hunt. A big father and sons bonding thing. However, as we tracked down the ghoul in the back alleys of sector 2, it became fairly obvious that I wasn't meant for this life.

I mean, Ruby kinda called it once before. When I had to train while Sam was in the coma, she told me I didn't have what it would take. Sure, I'm a Winchester. I've got the same spirit and stubbornness that Dean, Alec and Sam have. I've got gifts that while they are fixed, I use less and less and in a way, not really sorry that I haven't kept up my training.

However, I had something that none of them really had. Well, Dad did, but only for a few years. A mother. Alec jokes that I'm the stablest one in the family because of it. I grew up normal, in a loving family far from wars and hate and demons... well, except that one time with the changeling and all.

I guess that makes me different than them. I'm not able to stomach a lot of the things that go on during a hunt, even if I try to fake it. And Dean never really wanted me to get into this job, so I have a feeling my telling him I wanted to leave and go to college was a wish granted in his book.

It would also explain why I'm left to stand on a fire escape while Alec and Dean slug it out with the ghoul down below. I helped them with the tracking and singling the woman out in the crowd. Now I just sit back and watch the fight.

Well, not just watch it.

"Oh come on, Alec! You're letting a chick kick your ass! Where are those ninja skills - ouch. Dad, you alright? Dude, now that's gonna leave a mark. Girl ain't gonna be going on any dinner dates soon now."

Hey, I'm still part Winchester. What I lack in fighting skills, I make up in my smart mouth. I'm sure that still makes Dad proud.


Words: 359

Ben sat in the corner of a jail cell in the main police precinct, waiting for a booking. He was resting his head on the cold bench that served as a bed, the coldness bringing down the heat in his body.

Drug possession was the reason he was there. Along with resisting arrest and attacking a police officer. The last of which also accounted for the bruises and cut on his face, joining the ones that were already fading from Jeff's attack on him over a week ago.

He was coming off another high, shaking and needing more. It was two days ago that he had snuck away from Sam Winchester's apartment, taking his few things and just disappearing into the streets of Manhattan. All he had wanted was to find a way home. But at the Greyhound station, a woman with blonde hair and a gentle smile wrapped her arm around his shoulder and led him away.

The last 48 hours were a haze after that, until the cops invaded the warehouse he had been in. The blonde had been wrapped around his waist, white power coating both their bodies... and now he was here having a bad withdrawal and just wanting to go home.

His cell phone had been confiscated, and the police had gone through the contacts. They came across [Dean - Dad] first in the list before [Mom] and so that was the phone number that was dialed so someone could come speak for the man who was, in the opinion, not competent enough to speak for himself.

I don't believe in perfection. I don't think there is such a thing. But the energy of wanting things to be great is a perfectionist energy. >> Reese Witherspoon


Ben watches Dean work on the Impala, watching intently... handing a tool over when needed from the box that served as a seat.

He's not learning how to fix the antique car that Dean loves more than anything in the world. Ben learned how to fix them back in high school.

What the son is watching is how his father moves. The way that he attacks the engine. How his arm moves with the socket wrench. The order in which Dean checks the fluids. Oil first, then steering, tranny, coolant, and washer.

Ben listens to the songs that Dean hums to himself while working, the radio not on because there was too much noise in the city to drain it out. But he hummed, Metallica mostly. Twisting his arm in time to the music that one they could hear.

After the Impala was finished, Dean would wash her down, making the black paint that was nearly 60 years old now shine like the car was brand new on the showroom floor. He would stand back, smile, then grab the car cover and carefully tuck the Impala in for a long nap.

They would switch then, Ben now working on Layla, giving his girl a much needed oil change. Forgetting about Dean for awhile, Ben's world was the beautiful Camero. It was only as he checked the fluids that he stopped a moment and realized the order he had checked them in.

Oil, steering, tranny, coolant, and washer.

Stopping for a moment, Ben put his hands on the sides of the hood, shaking his head as he laughed to himself. Sometimes, little things like that reaffirmed what the mirror told them.

"What's up?" Dean asked, walking over while sipping a beer, handing one to Ben.

"Nothing." Closing the hood, Ben walked over to a bucket and grabbed a sponge. Bath time.

Muse: Ben Braeden
Supernatural

[from wayward_sons21 verse. Dean is prettywhnbroken and used with permission.]

Snow days were the best days ever, in Ben's eight year old opinion. Well, that next to Christmas and his Birthday. And maybe Halloween. But still! No school, and getting to go sledding at the big hill at the end of the community. SCORE!

Plus, he gets to sleep in, which is good for him, and Lisa Braeden. It means that Lisa can take her time getting up in the morning, not rushing to make breakfast and lunch. And it means she can actually sit in the living room with a cup of tea and watch the morning talk shows.

As commercials come up, Lisa did what any person will do and flipped through the stations. She happened to pass by CNN as shots of a police building in Colorado come up. Curiosity kept her watching.

"As information continue to come in from local, we're learning more and more about the victims of yesterday's accident at the Monument police station..."

There was excited footsteps above her head as Ben jumped out of bed. He'd be wanting breakfast in a moment. Pancakes, like always.

"... identified casualties include FBI Deputy Director Steven Groves, FBI Agent Calvin Reidy, Monument local Nancy Fitzgerald, and Sheriff Melvin Dodd..."

Lisa stood up, holding out the clicker to turn the TV off. But then she stopped as an image came onto the screen. Two mugs shots, side by side.

Dean.

"... the FBI has released confirmation that the two captured felons that were also killed in the blast were Samuel and Dean Winchester, brothers from Lawrence, Kansas who were wanted in connection to a series of crimes including..."

"Mom?"

Lisa spun around and saw Ben standing behind the couch, his eyes staring at the TV. She quickly turned it off and made her way to him.

"Ben, sweetie..."

"Mom, what happened to Dean and Sam?" Brown eyes looked up at her, confused and hurting. Lisa knew her son. He was too intelligent for his age, and he knew exactly what he had heard. But he was also eight, and wanted her to tell him that it wasn't true.

Lisa couldn't lie to her son. "There was an accident, Ben."

"NO!" His scream made Lisa wince, and he ran at her, punching her stomach. "No, it's not true!"

Lisa fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around her son who stopped hitting her and started to cry into her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Ben." She held him close, closing her eyes and feeling her own tears well up. "I'm sorry..."

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. >> Abraham Lincoln


Dear Mr. Jimmy Page,

Hello! My name is Benjamin Issac Braeden, and I am eight years old. My friend Dean showed me a website that said you were going on tour with Led Zepplin in September.

Led Zepplin is one of the best bands out there, ever. My mom gave me a box of tapes last year and I listen to them all the time. Candy Store Rock is my favorite song. And I even got the Mothership album for my birthday back in October!

When you are choosing where you are going to play on your tour, can you please, please PLEASE come to Cicero, Indiana! It would be so cool to meet you in person! You can even stay at our place instead of a hotel! There's a spare bedroom, a couch, and I'll sleep in my mom's room so someone can have my bed too! And I can even make you scrambled eggs for breakfast!

Plus, I bet my friend Dean and his brother Sam would come too. Dean is a BIG fan, and he would really be happy to hear you sing live too. I haven't seen Dean in awhile, so it would be nice to go to your concert together.

And if you come on my birthday, we can have a big party with hot chicks and a moon bounce!

Please let me know if you can come to Indiana. It would just be so epic!

Thank you,

Ben


Muse: Ben Braeden
Supernatural


ooc: this idea sprang from this thread.