Settled

Crossover drabble in HDM 'verse. For those who've never read it, daemons are a physical manifestation of the individual's soul and will change shape until finally stopping on just one, normally when the person reaches adolescence.

…

When he was a kid, Dean's daemon was just like any other. Safi stuck mainly to normal shapes; beagles and sparrows and once a garter snake, because they were trying to scare Mom. (She hadn't reacted like the mom on TV, she'd laughed and told them to try harder next time, and Yaner -an amber coated timberwolf that their neighbors tended to mistake for a large Husky dog- had woofed his own amusement in tandem.)

Things changed a little after Sam came along. Safi spent most of her time as things that were small and soft, like a mouse or dwarf rabbit, so she could crawl up into Sammy's crib and nuzzle the baby and his own little daemon, Kirik, who had been a butterfly, then a chick, then a fawn, then a chameleon.

But when the fire happened, everything changed.

Dean remember his father handing off his baby brother to him, and Kirik to Safi, who had grown heavy and imposing, her fur a tawny gold, and while the size of the paws and skull compared to the thickness of her legs showed she was still not yet at full growth, she stood at the shoulder half a foot taller than Dean.

Teeth made for tearing and ripping gently caught up the tiny otter pup Kirik had curled into, and the quartet were out the doors and on the front lawn before Dean understood the strange feeling in his chest. Meanwhile, Dad and Caprin, his spotted leopard, had run back inside.

It wasn't for another month that Dad realized one of the outcomes of Mary's death: Dean's daemon was settled. At only 4-years-old, Safi would never change shape again, and thereafter would remain a lioness, devoted just as fiercely to protecting what she deemed her pride, as Dean was to taking care of what remained of his family. John secretly confided in Caprin that he feared what kind of father he was to have a child whose daemon had settled while so young. Sam and Kirik occasionally brought it up, once they were old enough to understand, as yet more proof their family was a mess.

Dean eventually leveled off at 6'1" tall, 175 lbs, and learned how to handle every weapon available, coupling them with fighting skills that would make a marine jealous. Safi grew to a full length of 5 feet 9 inches, weighing in at close to 400 pounds, and could hunt down a shapeshifter in near complete dark.

And the pair never once regretted their youthful settling. If Safi remaining as she was meant she could stand between their family and danger, neither of them would change it for the world.