"Alec, just use the wheelchair," Sam said with a sigh.

"No. I don't need it," Alec growled out defiantly as he stepped into his jeans. He swayed just a little and Sam's hand instantly steadied him. He couldn't quite bring himself to shrug off Sam's help since he knew he was being difficult about the whole wheelchair thing. He sat back down once his jeans were on and waited a second so he could catch his breath.

Alec looked to the door to make sure Dean hadn't seen what was going on. If Dean thought he needed more time in the hospital then they'd never leave. Right now Dean was just squaring things away with the doctor before they left. Bobby and Harper were both waiting outside of the room for them which just left him and Sam, who had refused to leave him.

They all thought he was trying to go too fast, that he was trying to do too much too soon. But he needed to move and get out of there as soon as he could. He should be healing faster than this anyway, he was a transgenic and if he'd been at Manticore he would have already been back in training. The only reason he could think of that was slowing down his recovery was Dean's blood.

Manticore had experimented on all of its creations just to see what would happen. Sometimes nothing would happen, but almost all of them had a bad reaction to ordinary blood. There were just too many weird things in their DNA to accept it. Some transgenics had died when they'd been tested, but the others had just wished they were dead. Luckily, Dean's blood was close enough to his own that he wasn't out of his mind with pain, but he did think it was slowing down his recovery.

Sam held out his t-shirt and it snapped Alec back to the present. He had to shake his head no to Sam; putting on the shirt would require too much movement and he wasn't too proud to admit that.

"You know, I don't think anyone would notice if I just walked out of here without a shirt…" Alec tried with a small smile.

Sam rolled his eyes, "Alec, I think people would notice. Besides, blue's not really a good color on you," Sam said with a pointed look at the bruises still covering his skin.

Alec snorted and looked at Sam with disbelief that slowly turned into a smile, "Whatever, you know even half dead I look great."

Sam chuckled but then frowned in thought and started digging through the duffle again. He turned back to Alec after a moment holding a flannel shirt with a question on his face. Alec nodded and took the shirt from Sam.

He shrugged into the shirt and then buttoned the middle buttons to cover the bandages. He looked down at his shoes and braced himself to move. It was going to hurt like Hell to put the shoes on, but he wasn't going to stop now. He looked up in surprise when Sam reached out and grabbed his shoes. He didn't even say anything as he held out the shoe for him to put his foot in. Alec was embarrassed that Sam was putting his shoes on, but he was relieved too. He didn't notice that Sam had finished until he looked up to see Sam looking at him in concern.

"What?" Alec asked slowly in confusion.

"You sure you're alright?" Sam asked quietly.

Alec couldn't help his automatic answer, "I'm always alright…"

Sam frowned and looked away, but he didn't say anything as he slowly stood up. Alec feared he could see through his answer so he lightly hit Sam on the chest and said, "C'mon, help me up."

Sam tried to keep the surprise off his face, but he couldn't stop the small smile that appeared. He helped him to his feet, but he let him go and let him stand on his own once he was steady. Alec wasn't expecting Sam to let him go, but he couldn't blame him. He'd nearly killed both Sam and Dean and he didn't know why they were even still near him, let alone worried about him. He was still waiting for them to leave him, but if they didn't then he would just wait until he was at full strength again and go.

"Alec, please, the wheelchair will help," Sam pleaded, misinterpreting his hesitation.

Alec shot Sam a cocky smile, "Sam, I'm fine. This is probably the most downtime I've had after an injury…" Sam still didn't look convinced so Alec dropped his act for just a second to let Sam see how badly he just wanted out of here. Sam's mouth dropped open in surprise at suddenly seeing exactly what Alec was feeling, but he just nodded once in understanding. "Just don't go far…" Alec suddenly said with a small smile. "Not really in the mood for a face to face with the floor…"

That got Sam to chuckle and he gently grabbed Alec's arm and started to lead him out of the room, "C'mon, let's get out of here."

Dean parked off the road on the side of the beach. Against his better judgement, he'd checked Alec out of the hospital and they headed for the coast. They had to go back to the cabin to get Bobby's car and the drive had been a lot more comfortable once it was just him, Sam, and Alec in the car. Harper had decided to ride with Bobby so Alec could lay in the backseat.

Bobby and Harper pulled up next to them and parked. Dean had been surprised when they had both put their foot down and said they were going with them to the beach. But then again, they could all use a vacation and it'd been forever since any of them had been to the ocean.

Sam started to turn to wake Alec up, but Dean put a hand on his arm to stop him. "I'll get him up…You can go ahead."

Sam's eyebrows drew together and he looked back at Alec to make sure he was actually asleep. Dean looked back too, but he knew what he would see. Alec had been asleep for most of the trip after he'd gotten the backseat to himself again. Alec was lying on his back, his knees were bent up since he was too tall to lie across the entire backseat and his arms were crossed over his chest. The Doc had made them take a pillow and a blanket with them and Dean had been surprised when Alec had actually used them.

"Dean…" Sam looked back at him, but he hesitated for just a moment. "I think something's wrong…he's not really acting like himself…"

"Sam-" Dean tried to start but Sam cut him off.

"He's acting like he's fine, but he won't tell me what's wrong. There's something off, I just don't know how to fix it."

"Sam-" Dean tried again, but Sam wasn't done yet.

"His smile's off. It's not his real smile," Sam said adamantly.

"I know Sam," Dean replied quietly and Sam's mouth dropped open in surprise and Dean chuckled. "Don't look so surprised. He's a lot like me ya know." Sam's mouth turned up in a small smile but Dean sobered after a second. "I'm gonna talk to him, see what's going on."

Sam looked him over and Dean couldn't quite explain what the look on his face was. If he had to guess, he'd say his little brother looked proud of him. Before he could say anything though, Sam opened the door and pushed himself out of the car.

Dean reached back, like he'd already done a hundred times on this trip, and touched Alec's shoulder. He'd been doing that randomly while he drove just to make sure that Alec was ok. He couldn't shake the feeling that Alec was just going to check out on them, so he'd reach back to just reassure himself.

"Alright kiddo, time to wake up," Dean said as he withdrew his hand from the back. He didn't know if Alec would wake up still sleepy or if he'd wake up swinging, it was just best to be careful.

Alec didn't immediately wake up so Dean spoke a little louder, "Alec. Wake up. Time to go to the beach."

Alec's face went from peacefully smooth to scowling in a matter of seconds. He opened his eyes slowly, but then sat up so suddenly that Dean's eyes widened in surprise. Alec scrambled back until his back was against the door, but then he wrapped his arms around his middle and leaned forward so he could rest his forehead on his knees.

Dean reached back again now that he knew he wouldn't get his arm ripped off and lightly messed up Alec's hair so he knew he wasn't alone and then rested his arm against the back of the front seat.

"Where are we?" Alec muttered with his voice tinged with sleep and with pain.

"We're close to Eureka, California…we're at the ocean," Dean replied with a small smile.

Alec turned his head enough so he could look at Dean. "Really? We're at the ocean?" His voice held some hope in it and Dean was sad to realize that the kid had never been to the ocean before. It wasn't just him making a joke about vacations, but he really did want to see this.

Dean nodded and Alec started to move to get out. Dean quickly opened his door and went around so he could help Alec if he needed it. Alec actually accepted his help and Dean led him to the front of the car. He sat on the hood of the car and Dean sat next to him. What little color Alec had gained from sleeping had left and he was looking a little unsteady even just sitting.

Dean looked Alec over, but Alec wasn't paying any attention. He was staring out in the distance, just looking at the ocean with wonder.

"Wow," Alec whispered with a smile and Dean was glad to see it was his real smile.

They sat in silence for a while, just looking at the water and watching the waves crash into the shore. It was peaceful to just sit and watch. They didn't have anything to worry about, they just got to sit there and be brothers for once.

Dean was the first one to break the silence. He cleared his throat and asked, "You alright?"

"I'm always alright," Alec said with a forced smirk in place.

"Don't give me that crap," Dean said and he couldn't keep all of the anger out of his voice. Alec was keeping something from both him and Sam and he wasn't going to have it.

Alec sighed and then gave him some of the truth, "My side still hurts, I'm tired, and I get dizzy when I stand up too fast, but I really am alright."

It was Dean's turn to sigh; Alec was keeping something from him and he was going to work it out of him. "Alec…Sam and I both know something's going on with you."

Alec looked away and refused to look back at him. Dean lightly bumped into Alec's shoulder and said, "C'mon, talk to me. What's going on?"

Alec looked back at him and for just a second Dean saw Alec's mask slip. He saw the pain he was in but he also saw that he was scared. Alec locked his emotions away again, but it was enough for Dean to figure out what could be going on.

"Alec, it's not your fault," Dean said softly. Alec looked back at him with surprise. "It's not your fault that the demon possessed you and what you did was incredible. Most people can't fight off possession for as long as you did."

"I tried to kill you and Sam," Alec finally said in a small voice.

Dean put his arm around Alec's shoulders, "But you didn't. You fought him off and risked your own life doing it."

Alec still refused to look at him, but he didn't shrug off Dean's arm. Dean suddenly thought of something and got up to go to the trunk. He could feel Alec's eyes following as he reached the trunk, grabbed something, and walked back.

"This whole thing could have been avoided if I hadn't been a complete idiot," Dean said as he held up a small pendant on a string and held it out for Alec. He slowly grabbed it and pulled it over his head, but he held it between his fingers to examine it.

"What is it?" Alec asked curiously.

"It'll keep the demons out," Dean said simply. "Me and Sam both have tattoos and you can get one too if you want…I should have thought something like this could happen sooner. I'm sorry Alec."

Alec was quiet and his head was down until he asked, "Have you ever been possessed?"

Dean took a deep breath and then said, "No, I haven't been possessed, but Sam has."

"He has?"

"Yeah, it wasn't that long ago either. The demon tried to kill off as many hunters it could find. He shot me and then went after Bobby, but it wasn't his fault." Dean wasn't going to stop this conversation until he convinced Alec that this wasn't his fault.

Alec didn't say anything and Dean's worry was spiking. If he didn't convince Alec that this wasn't his fault then he was going to take off. They wouldn't be able to stop him either. Most of the time Alec was extremely laid back; he liked watching TV and he acted like nothing fazed him. They'd seen him in action though, and it was almost scary how good he was at the job. Dean knew that they'd only seen a portion of what Alec could do, but if he wanted to disappear, he would. They wouldn't even know he'd left and there would be no way to find him.

Dean couldn't take the silence any longer, "Alec, I don't want you to go." Alec started to protest, but Dean cut him off, "Shit happens. It's not your fault and Sam and I are fine. If you sneak out and leave, I can't stop you, but I won't stop looking for you, you got it?"

Alec's eyes widened in surprise and Dean waited until he finally nodded in understanding. "Are you sure?"

Dean ruffled Alec's hair again, "Of course I am! All families have their issues, ours are just a little bit stranger…But we don't take off at the first sign of trouble and we don't freak out at a little demon possession."

Alec finally broke into a small smile, "Yeah, alright…"

"Good," Dean lightly bumped against Alec, "Now can we roll credits on this chick flick?"

Alec actually laughed and it made Dean smile to finally hear it. Dean stood up and turned to look at Alec. "Yeah, I think we're good on the chick flick," Alec replied with a smile.

Dean nodded his head toward the others and Alec nodded his ok. Dean grabbed the blanket and pillow from the back and when he turned back, Alec was starting to move. He was slow getting up, but Dean paced him as they made their way to where Sam, Harper, and Bobby had set up a little area.

"How's the cripple doin'?" Bobby asked with smile at their arrival.

"That's rich comin' from you old man. What, you forget your walker in the car?" Alec shot back as he carefully lowered himself to the ground and sat in the sand. He sat in between Sam and Bobby, which Dean thought was good since he probably wouldn't stay awake for very long.

"Kid, if you hadn't been on death's door two days ago…" Bobby shook his head and let the threat hang in the air.

"I'm not scared of you," Alec challenged with a smirk.

Bobby laughed, "Oh, I know that!"

"Don't worry Bobby, it's nearly impossible to scare him to do anything," Sam said with a smile.

"And even if you do threaten him with something you'll probably end up with pink socks," Dean threw in.

"Hey, you never asked if I knew how to do the laundry," Alec defended, but his voice was starting to sound sleepy, his words starting to slur together.

Dean sat down in between Sam and Harper and handed Sam the pillow and blanket. He saw Alec's eyes slip closed and then he forced them back open.

"I thought you knew how to do everything?" Bobby teased.

Alec smiled and leaned against Sam, his eyes slipping closed again, "I never said I didn't know how…I just said you never asked…"

Dean shook his head in amusement and he looked over at Harper with a smile on his face. She scooted closer to him so he could put his arm around her and she could lean against him. He kissed the top of her head and then rested his cheek near her temple.

This was exactly where he wanted to be. He was with his family and they were all safe and he was going to make sure they stayed that way.

The End!

Hope y'all liked the story cause I really enjoyed writing it! Thank you all so much for the reviews/follows/favorites they really mean a lot to me!

Max might make an appearance in the next story...that is, if you guys want another one ;)