The Angels Next Door

Author's Note: A note about this AU…there are some drastic changes to canon. For one thing, I kept Mary Winchester alive, because it just worked better… the Winchester hunter-origin story is still the same, Mary caught a demon in Sam's nursery but in my AU she temporarily excorcises him and the family flees Lawrence and start hunting again as a family to protect Sam. Why I kept her alive will make more sense later in the fic…or not…whatever happens happens. Also, in my AU Adam is Mary's son as well as John's, it just made more sense with the way I have things set up.

There is a bunch of other stuff that is different, but I have to assume you read that in the description or will read about it later in this first chapter, so yeah…please enjoy this interesting little AU!

Bunker, Kansas

Population: 191,114 humans, 2 fallen angels, 4 almost-angels, and 5 Winchesters

Welcome to our city, please try to survive the experience.

The Novaks moving into 66 Nevaeh Drive was easily the most interesting thing that had happened all summer long. According to one young twelve-year-old by the name of Sam Winchester, that summer could be summed up in one sentence: "Yesterday was Tuesday, but today is Tuesday too." The rest of the Winchester family, not to mention all the other residents of Nevaeh Drive would have to agree with that statement. This summer was one of those lazy, slow summers that just sort of trickle by without anything important happening or being accomplished, leaving those who had experience such a season vaguely disappointed and disgruntled when fall begins to tint the leaves on the trees. As if such a glorious season as summer was obligated to bestow at least one important or at least mildly interesting event upon those who bothered to stick around long enough to endure the season in all its glory.

Unfortunately for all the thrill-seekers, rebellious teens and bored housewives of Nevaeh Drive, and, indeed the rest of Bunker (a town so small that boredom spread like a disease and news of real importance was so scarce that the newspaper was forced to use half of its volume for letters to the editor and another fourth for advertisements just to justify the printing of daily editions) this summer was shaping up to be a particularly molasses-like one. It was already mid-July and the most interesting thing to happen was Garth Fitzgerald IV accidentally running over Bobby Singer's dog… again. (It is important at this point to note that that was not the most interesting event to happen to Bobby Singer over the course of that summer. The most exciting thing to happen to Bobby had a bit more to do with werewolves and a bit less to do with Garth's terrible driving. However, as far as the town of Bunker, Kansas knew, werewolves looked like male models and spent all their time pining after pasty girls in tiny towns in Washington, and therefore were not a concern in the more 'civilized' state of Kansas.)

Needless to say, Bunker's residents were itching for some new gossip. Or at least some new faces to gossip about. This was where the Novaks came in.

The Novaks would have been the most interesting thing to happen all summer anyway, just by virtue of being new and different in the middle of a gossip-drought. They could have been as boring as toast and still caused a bit of a stir. However, the Novaks would not dream of being as boring as toast any more than 16-year-old Dean Winchester would dream of going a day without pie. No, the Novaks were bound and determined to be interesting before they even set foot in Bunker, Kansas. It was their destiny and they were quite willing to step up to the plate and fulfill it. After all, prophecy-fulfillment was something of a family tradition.

They appeared one Tuesday in July (at least everyone seemed to think it was a Tuesday, but after all, yesterday could have been Tuesday as well and no one would have bothered to notice). The Novaks did not 'move in'. They appeared. One day 66 Nevaeh Drive was empty, an older pseudo-Victorian house that had been for sale ever since the original resident decided (mistakenly) that the Winchester family next door were obviously either religious freaks or devil-worshippers or both. Unable to cope with the bizarre symbols the Winchesters painted throughout their house (honestly, if the neighbor hadn't been nosily spying on them through the window, this never would have happened) or the rumble of John Winchester's massive truck pulling in and out of the driveway at all hours of the morning and night, the neighbor listed her house as 'for sale'. Dean Winchester getting a driver's permit and exclusive access to the classic Impala and its powerful stereo system pushed the neighbor over the edge. She found a rental across town and attempted to sell her home from afar.

Needless to say, this seriously crippled her efforts to get rid of the house and all it represented. It had been nearly a year and the other residents of Nevaeh Drive were taking bets on how long the house would just sit there when the Novaks appeared. One day the 'FOR SALE' sign was proudly stuck in the turf of the somewhat-wilted-with-neglect front lawn and the house stood; a dusty ode to emptiness. The next there were two cars parked in the driveway and the sign lay uprooted from its solitary post, forlorn and abandoned in a front yard now being busily watered by a sprinkler. No one ever saw a moving truck. But they did see people and that was enough for the locals to begin to talk. And talk they did.

"They seem nice enough," Mary Winchester observed, peering out the window as she stood at the kitchen sink, washing strawberries for pie.

"Damn suspicious, though," John grouched from the breakfast nook, "Just showing up in the middle of the night."

"John," Mary reminded him gently, "We showed up in the middle of the night."

"How'd they move in, anyway? One day it's empty the next they're just there? Damn suspicious," John appeared to be determined to be grumpy about it.

"We didn't have a moving van either."

"We had duffle bags!" John looked indignant, as if he couldn't believe Mary was disparaging the honor of the noble duffle bag.

Mary sighed and shook her head, "Maybe they're like us."

"Hunters?" he snorted, "I doubt it, have you seen their cars? Wouldn't last five minutes on a hunt."

Mary sighed, "No, just… different."

"They can be as different as they want so long as they aren't eating people."

"That's the spirit, John. Open-minded and accepting," Mary said with serene irony.

John peered at his wife over the edge of his newspaper, sure that she was poking fun at him, but not quite sure how to bring it up. She tossed him a wicked grin over her shoulder and that settled it. He set the paper aside and walked up behind her to put his arms around her waist and settle his chin on her shoulder, watching the not-so-empty house next door just as attentively as his wife was.

"This should be interesting," she observed.

He grunted in agreement; then changed the subject, "So when will the pie be done?"

Meanwhile, the Winchester children were being a bit more proactive in their pursuit of information on their new, mysterious neighbors. They stood outside in their own driveway, observing 66 Nevaeh Drive with varying levels of intensity and interest. "I bet they're ghouls," Adam, nine years old and possessed of a somewhat morbid imagination, guessed, hands and arms covered in chalk as he doodled on the pavement.

"They're not ghouls, Adam," Dean, sixteen years old and very much in charge, told him, not bothering to look up from washing the Impala in front of him. He had a way of making the scant words sound much less like a reassurance and much more like and order.

"You don't know that," Adam reminded him.

"We'd know if they were ghouls, Adam," twelve-year-old Sam's voice was much gentler and more reasonable-sounding than the elder Winchester boy, as he looked up from his thick paperback book. However, gentleness lent itself to uncertainty and like all small children; Adam picked up on that right away.

"Mom and Dad said that ghouls are real and that they look like normal people. They could be ghouls, Sam!"

"They're not ghouls!" Dean barked.

"Prove it!" Adam demanded.

Dean threw his arms in the air and proceeded to ignore his little brother. He knew it was a mistake to attempt to explain hunting to him so young. All it had really done was give the youngest Winchester an over-active imagination and get him in trouble for drawing 'disturbing and disquieting' pictures in art class.

"Dean." There were only two creatures on the face of planet earth that could make his name sound like that. One was Sammy and the other was the little guy standing with his arms folded in front of him in a sloppily approximation of Dean's current posture.

"Prove they're not ghouls," Adam demanded.

"How is Dean supposed to prove they're not ghouls?" Sam asked, reluctantly looking up from his book yet again.

"Ring the doorbell."

"And how is that supposed to prove anything?" Dean demanded.

"You'll talk to them and if you come home un-eaten they're not ghouls!" Adam sounded very proud of his reasoning.

"That is the stupidest-ass plan I've ever heard," Dean was not one to mince words.

"Dean! You're supposed to be the responsible one!" Sam chastised, grabbing a sudsy sponge and throwing it at his brother's head.

"What?"

"Watch your language!"

Dean furrowed his brow and peered down at Adam, "You don't mind, do you?"

"Nope!" Adam smiled up at him, "You always say your plans are stupid-ass plans so I think that means mine's pretty good."

Dean could sense Sam face-palming somewhere behind him.

"Okay, that's not really how it works, but we'll let it slide," Dean hedged, "I'm still not ringing the doorbell."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to."

"Oh." Adam was disappointed. 'I don't want to' was older-brother law. It meant that Dean really wasn't going to do it and couldn't be talked into it. It was very disappointing.

"But you know what you could do?"

"What, Dean?" Adam was back to being puppy-dog excited. Sam suppressed a snicker.

"You and Sammy could play spy, do some research-gathering, just like a real hunt."

Sam's "Wait, why am I a part of this-?" was drowned out by Adam's excited exclamation.

"Yes! Awesome! Come on, Sam! It'sstakeout time!"

Sam grumbled under his breath and let his little brother drag him off on their fictional adventure, trying to ignore the sound of Dean laughing somewhere behind him.

After several hours of observation, many of which Dean ended up getting roped into participating in, much to his dismay and Sam's satisfaction, they had determined several facts about the Novak family. One was that they were remarkably difficult to observe. The only times the Winchester kids caught sight of their new neighbors was when one person was alone. This one-by-one system was frustrating for all three of them as it prolonged the time they had to hide without getting caught and mean they only ever saw a member of the family in isolation. Another fact the Winchesters managed to gather was that there were two adults about the same age as John and Mary living in the house as well as three or four children. The reason for the confusion on number of children was the result of an argument between Dean and Sammy (an argument that, theoretically, would never had happened had they been able to see more than one family member at a time).

"They are so identical twins."

"Dean, that's ridiculous. How many identical twins do you know?"

"Two, right now: Trenchcoat and T-Shirt."

"You've nick-named them? Dean, they're the same person! He just keeps taking off the trenchcoat and putting it back on again while out of the room."

"Why the hell would anyone do that?!"

"Dean, language."

"Sam, stop being a girl."

"Dean, seriously, why would anyone wear a trenchcoat in the middle of July, anyway? He probably keeps taking it on and off cuz it's more comfortable without it."

Dean was clearly not buying it.

"Fine, I bet you ten bucks it's the same guy," Sam challenged.

"You're on! They are so identical twins!" Dean grinned, sure of his victory. Sam rolled his eyes at him.

Beyond that one sticking point, they got a good look at most of the family, even if it was normally only one family member at a time. The mother and father seemed normal enough, her with reddish-gold hair and bright blue eyes, him with darker, close-cropped hair and muddy brown eyes. Both were of a slim but lean build, the mother a tiny woman who was dwarfed by her average-sized spouse. They oldest son looked about a year older than Dean but had inherited his mother's diminutive height. His hair, golden brown and a bit too long, flopped everywhere as he bounced from task to task, constantly sucking on a lollipop or devouring some other piece of candy. His energy, doubtlessly amplified by the massive amounts of sugar he was consuming, appeared to border on manic. The youngest child was a girl of around Adam's age with pale blue eyes and deep red hair. She followed her older brother around, mostly appearing to be some sort of lackey to the higher power that was 'big brother.' Finally there was the mystery child (of children, if Dean was right about there actually being identical twins involved). Slim and lean, but taller than the eldest, this kid (or kids) appeared to be around fifteen or sixteen, with perpetually messy dark hair and (in the case of one 'twin') an ever-present trenchcoat.

"Well they seem sort of normal," Adam finally admitted, relieved that they hadn't shown any overt signs of ghoulish behavior.

"Told you so," Dean ruffled both his kid brothers' hair, one with each hand. "Come on, let's go see if Mom's done with the pie."

Meanwhile, little to the Winchesters' knowledge, another set of siblings were talking about them.

"They seem sort of normal." Jimmy Novak (the twin without the trenchcoat, Dean was right about that), said hopefully, watching the three neighbor boys race each other to the house.

"I know." Gabriel whined, tossing a handful of Skittles into his mouth, "This whole place is so boring."

"I like boring!" Jimmy said indignantly, "You would too, if you were psychic. Boring equals no depraved inner thoughts."

"Oh, you poor human child, you really need to watch more horror movies," his older brother tsked at him.

"I do not understand the point of horror movies. They are not horrifying. They are either stupid, full of stupid people, or displaying anatomically incorrect amounts of blood and internal organs at inopportune times." Castiel, the trench-coat-wearing twin furrowed his brow at his brothers.

Gabriel sighed, looking up at the heavens in a blatant plea for salvation from his houseful of uncultured siblings.

"They've stopped snooping!" Anna announced from her perch looking out the window, snapping the blinds closed.

"Thank God!" Gabriel sighed, "I can finally let my wings out, all that warding that was hella uncomfortable." And without further ado, the oldest Novak yanked off the silver watch around his wrist decorated with Enochian symbols and unfurled six golden-feathered wings.

Castiel took removed his own watch and snapped his two inky black wings out of concealment, shaking out the feathers with a small sigh.

Anna and Jimmy shook their heads at their winged siblings, sending little thoughts and impressions of the two mind-to-mind. Suddenly, Anna sat up straight and stared at Jimmy, her frosty blue eyes wide, "Do you think anyone here knows about Mama and Daddy? Are the bad angels going to come for us again?"

"No, kiddo," Jimmy reassured her, tugging her into a one-armed hug, "The bad angels aren't going to come for us again."

"This town probably hasn't even thought of anything supernatural, much less fallen angels. No one's going to think Mom or Dad is a fallen angel."

"But they are and that bad angel said it was obvious."

"Only to ass-butt bad angels," Castiel reassured her with a grave look unsuited to his teenaged face.

"Okay," Anna snuggled her head into Jimmy's side. "I just want to be safe. I don't want us to be hunted anymore."

"We won't be," Jimmy stroked her hair. "You'll see. We'll be safe here."

Author's Note: So what did you think? I'm happy with this chapter and have a bunch of plans for this story, so look out! I'll be updating at some point! (That's a little joke cuz I don't always update super-consistently…heh, heh…) BUT, reviews do help me update more regularly…hint, hint.

Also, a brief note on the street name, the name 'Nevaeh' is 'Heaven' spelled backwards. The house's number is, of course, a reference to the 66 seals from season 4.

Please review! See ya next chapter!