strangevisitor7: Sam and Dean (Winchesters)
strangevisitor7 ([personal profile] strangevisitor7) wrote2007-08-24 04:11 pm

Family Ties - HL/SPN Immortal!Dean 'verse

Title:Family Ties
Author: Strangevisitor7
Prompt: #29: Family for [profile] crossovers100 My table is here
Claim: Duncan MacLeod
Rated: PG
Fandom: HL and SPN: Immortal!Dean ‘verse
Characters: Sam and Dean Winchester, Ellen Harvelle,Bobby Singer, Duncan MacLeod and Joe Dawson
Disclaimer: The characters you know and love all belong to their respective creators.
Summary: Duncan and Joe insist that Immortals don’t have blood relations. Ellen and Bobby worry what that news will do to Dean’s mental health on top of becoming Immortal. Dean and Sam return with the test results.

Many thanks to [personal profile] idontlikegravy for the beta. She's really a great HL resource and we like to deny Richie's death together.

A/N: A note on HL canon, I am warning you that in my AU world, Richie did not die. If this bit of canon twisting bothers you, I am sorry. He is mentioned in this story and will play a big role in the next. Those who know me know I don’t like it when producers kill characters I like. Fan fiction is my way to resurrect them.

The rest of the Immortal!Dean Universe can be found here.


Family Ties



Ellen hung up the phone. "That was Sam," she announced to the men gathered in the living room. "He and Dean are going to stay in town until they get the test results. That way they can avoid any more ‘misunderstandings’"

Duncan felt the chill as he received her disapproving glare. "I am so sorry, Ellen. But how was I to know he’d never been told."

"I just don’t understand how you never told me about this part of your origin! You spent that year hunting with my family. I’d thought you’d told me everything about Immortals short of being able to sense them myself."

Joe interrupted Ellen’s rant., "Even the Watchers don’t know where Immortals come from. That’s one of the reasons we watch them; hoping to unravel that mystery. I don’t understand why this is such a big deal. Being adopted is not the end of the world."

Bobby snorted a laugh and the watcher just looked at him. "What am I missing?" Joe asked pointedly.

"You have to understand, family is everything to Dean. That boy is so afraid of being alone that he sold his soul to a demon last year to bring Sam back from the dead. Now, he’s Immortal and will be spending an eternity without his brother plus you tell him he may not even be related to Sam. You have basically torn away the foundation of his world in one shot."

Joe looked skeptically at Bobby. "What?! You can’t believe demons are real?"

"What kind of hunting did you think Duncan was doing? Didn’t your little Watcher group record that summer?" Anger laced Ellen’s every word. "I think Dean’s right. You Watchers can’t be everywhere and you can’t know everything."

"I think we do a pretty damn good job!" Joe countered his own anger flaring. "But, come on, demons, really? MacLeod is this who gave you those odd ball notions about demons."

"They’re real.," Bobby assured Joe. "Demons, ghosts, all of those legendary beings are based in reality,"

"Bobby, you can fill him in later." Ellen interrupted. "Right now, our concern is helping Dean. That boy has lost everyone and if he thinks he’s losing Sam again…," She paused trying to hold back tears.

"I know Ellen." Bobby spoke sympathetically. "That boy is dumb enough to think it will change his relationship with Sam."

Duncan came to stand by Ellen. He took her hand in his., "My job is to ensure that Dean makes a smooth transition." Smiling, he added, "Please trust me; I haven’t lost a student yet."

"That’s true," Joe confirmed. "I’ll be honest; I never thought Richie would last more than a few years. He was such a hot head just like Dean. Now, he’s practically Mr. Responsible and close to finishing up his second decade."

Duncan laughed. "Remember that stretch when he was burning through identities. I was worried we wouldn’t be able to find a place for him to start over."

"Yeah, Richie had a real knack for dying publicly." Joe smiled at the memory and shared Richie’s most spectacular ‘death’ on a motorcycle race track in France. Duncan had been furious at the young Immortal then but today he couldn’t resist helping to embellish the story as Ellen and Bobby seemed to be enjoying the tale. Duncan then shared a few more colorful anecdotes about Amanda. Amanda never failed to entertain and he was relieved to see Ellen was finally relaxing.

Duncan wondered if it might not be a good idea to call Richie and have him come to South Dakota. Richie was certainly closer in age to Dean than any other Immortal in his circle of friends. He’d mention it to Joe later.

"Now, if you don’t mind, please," insisted Joe, "explain this stuff about demons."

Bobby and Ellen took turns educating Joe about the world of the supernatural. Duncan noticed that they conspicuously avoided talking about the Winchester’s experiences. He understood that those were not their stories to tell.

"I never suspected. All the Immortals we watched and we never saw this other world."

"Don’t feel bad, Joe. People only see what they are looking for." Ellen explained.

"Imagine my surprise when I learned Vampires were real." Duncan smirked.

Joe recalled the incident, "Of course, Nicholas Ward. He covered up his murders by pretending to be a Vampire." Switching gears, he asked, "Mac why did you never share any of this? That year with Ellen’s family isn’t even in the chronicles."

Duncan sighed; he had wondered when this particular ‘sin of omission’ would surface. "Years ago, you thought I was crazy to insist that Ahriman was a demon. Without proof there was no point in trying to share the rest. Especially, since that year of my life was missing. Obviously, my former watcher decided that my activities that year were better left undocumented. I let it drop because I figured you’d always be a skeptic."

Joe understood. "I should have had more faith in your experience," he admitted quietly. It seemed that they had finally reached closure over the incident that had nearly killed Richie and almost destroyed Duncan.

As they continued to exchange anecdotes and information about both worlds, all the disagreements of the day, evaporated. The boys were expected back the next day and everyone agreed they should get some rest. Tomorrow was going to be difficult at best.

*****************************************

The next morning Joe found Duncan outside running through his morning kata. He waited until the Immortal was finished.

"Quite the revelation last night; ghosts, werewolves, demons. Do you think Immortals are just another kind of supernatural being?" Joe wondered.

"The watchers have no explanation for where we come from; who we are even after the years of research." His meditations hadn’t eased the unsettled feeling in his gut. Thirty years ago he’d accidentally been revealed to Ellen as an Immortal. As curious about him, as he was about the supernatural, he’d spent year hunting with her family. He’d hoped to gain an understanding of how Immortals fit into the grand scheme of things; he never did. Frustrated, he’d left them to wander again but he’d never lost touch with Ellen, hoping someday to pick up this idea again. It seemed the opportunity had presented itself to finish the investigation. Finishing his thought out loud, he said, "Yeah, Joe, I’m almost sure we are."

"I woke up with this crazy idea in my head." Joe paused. Duncan encouraged him to continue. "You mentioned that Ellen had been at loose ends since her business burned down last year."

"Yeah, she’s been living here with Bobby, trying to organize his library. God knows it needs it because the place is still a wreck. Why?"

"I believe that Ellen has all the qualifications to be a Watcher; specifically, Dean’s watcher. What do you think?"

Duncan thought about it. "Well, that would give her the right to use to the Watcher archives. Maybe with access to that and Bobby’s library, she might be able to find a connection between the supernatural and Immortals. Plus, Dean gets a stronger tie to someone he already trusts, who trusts me. Joe, that’s brilliant."

"So, I’m ‘brilliant’. Can I get you to put that in writing, MacLeod?" Laughing the two headed into the house to talk to Ellen.

********************

Ellen took one look at the conspiratorial glances being exchanged between Joe and Duncan and demanded, "Ok, what’s up?"

"Well," Joe started slowly, "You’re aware that every Immortal is assigned a watcher, who records their adventures. In the past, they never interfered in Immortal affairs and this relationship was unknown to the Immortal."

"Until Joe here, broke the rules." Duncan inserted.

"Unfair, MacLeod. I wasn’t the one who started-"

"Boys, focus!" Ellen grabbed their attention. "Where is this going?"

"Joe thinks you should be Dean’s watcher," Duncan blurted.

"Nice MacLeod, I had a whole recruitment speech planned."

"She was getting angry, Joe. I don’t like to make her angry."

"I wanted to win her over. Explain her duties-"

"I’ll do it."

"What?" They both looked at her.

"I said, it’s a great idea and I’ll do it. I’ll be Dean’s Watcher"

Bobby had wandered in for the tail end of the exchange, "What’s a Watcher do?"

"It means I’ll chronicle Dean’s experiences as an Immortal for the Watchers. But more importantly, I’m someone he knows like family and I can act as a stabilizing influence." She looked at Joe who confirmed that these had been his thoughts exactly.

"Wouldn’t Sam be a better choice?" Bobby wondered.

"Ellen already has a history with Immortals and with me. I need Dean to trust me if we are to have a successful teacher-student relationship. Ellen can help build that trust," Duncan explained. "If Dean and Sam keep hunting, Sam will be too involved to be any kind of impartial observer."

"Like Ellen could be.," Bobby snickered.

"Hey!" Ellen punched his shoulder playfully.

"Ow! Ok, I like it, too." And he did. Bobby was relieved to know that Duncan was truly concerned about Dean.

Duncan had to laugh at the power Ellen had to keep them all in line.

The conversation stopped suddenly as the sound of the Impala came through the open window. Its arrival dampened the good mood that they had been enjoying.

Ellen turned to face Duncan, "You ready because Dean’s not going to be happy and something tells me you are going to make a perfect target for his anger."

"Well then I guess it’s a good thing he can’t really hurt me," Duncan smirked as they headed outside to greet the boys.

*********************************

Sam looked at the four assembled on the porch and then at his brother.

"Let me handle this, Sammy. I need to do this my way."

"Dean, they were only trying to help."

Dean huffed his disagreement as he exited the car. He grabbed the folder containing the test results and walked to face Duncan and Joe.

"Dean, I’m sorr-," Joe began as Dean held up a hand silencing him and shoved the folder into his hands. He then retreated from the porch to stand by Sam.

Ellen came over to Dean. "I’m impressed, honey, you seem to be handling the news well." She tried to sound as supportive and even gave his shoulder a quick squeeze.

"You can stop, Ellen, its okay."

She looked up to see Dean was grinning like an idiot. "I don’t understand." His reaction was not what she expected.

Joe just kept shaking his head and Duncan yanked the file out of his grasp.

"You wanna pick your jaw up off the floor there, Watcher man," Dean smirked.

"This…It’s not possible," Duncan stammered as he passed the file to Bobby.

"Very possible, Ponytail. I told you, you didn’t know anything about me and my brother." The emphasis Dean placed on the last word was unmistakable.

Ellen had waited long enough. She stepped back onto the porch to grab the report from Bobby. She turned to look at the brothers. She’d never thought they’d looked much alike but at that moment, with identical ‘shit-eating-grins’ on their faces, she wondered how she had ever doubted it.

Joe and Duncan were still speechless. Dean was laughing now and truly reveling in their discomfort.

"You Winchesters," Bobby exclaimed. "You never play by the rules."

Ellen stepped past Bobby to embrace Dean. Hugging her back he whispered. "It’s about time we got one in the win column." She nodded and switched to hugging Sam.

Duncan watched as the four celebrated. He remembered that earlier feeling in the pit of his stomach. Somehow he’d known that the Winchester were different just as Bobby had observed. Finally, he gave voice to the concept that no one had actually spoken aloud. "They’re brothers. They’re really related. How is that possible, Joe?"

The watcher hadn’t taken his eyes of the brothers. His stared unblinkingly at them, almost as if he was hoping that the explanation for the anomalous test results would suddenly present its self. Joe dragged a hand across his face, groaning, "I don’t know, Mac. In the early days tracing the foundlings back to the original parents was impossible. After it became clear that every Immortal was an orphan, maybe we became complacent. Maybe we just assumed we wouldn’t find evidence of birth parents so we stopped looking. I can’t explain it. Your parents never knew where you came from, right?" This was a well known fact to Joe and yet he felt the need to confirm it.

"Joe, come on, you know I was a foundling with no way to track my birth parents. Hell, even Richie came out of foster care. The woman he remembered was actually his first foster mother."

Sam and Dean just listened as Joe and Duncan tried to make sense of this brave new world.

Sam broke into their conversation, "Did Richie ever track down his birth parents?"

Duncan stopped to look at Sam. "I told him he’d never find them; that no Immortal had ever known their birth parents. I honestly don’t know if he pursued it but I’m going to find out. Bobby, can I use your phone?"

At Bobby’s nod, Duncan headed into the house to make the call.

"You know I’ve got a few calls to make myself. Maybe some of the other Watchers have information I haven’t been privy too. I’ll see what I can find out," and he followed Mac into the house.

Dean was simply enjoying the chaos he’d created. Bumping shoulders with Sam and nodding toward their retreating backs, "Now, I think I’m ready to learn about being Immortal."
*********************************
Next Story Waiting on the World to Change

[identity profile] pen37.livejournal.com 2007-08-25 01:18 am (UTC)(link)
I can think of a few ways of Sam being immortal (lower case) without being Immortal (upper case).
1. special kid power. He's telekentetic, psychic, and he dosen't die.
2. He's already been dead. The demon brought him back. He offended the reaper, and now the reaper won't take him.
3. vampire.
4. Posession of the item of wonderous power grants it's bearer immortality.
5. He takes a part-time job as a repo-man with DEATH (in the terry pratchett sense). His day job comes with the side benefit of immortality. A nifty scythe, and a jacket with the words BORN TO RUNE on the back ;)

In short, if you want Sam to hang around, then get creative. No one ever said that Winchesters played by the rules. And no one ever said that the only immortals (lower case) were Immortals (upper case).

[identity profile] strangevisitor7.livejournal.com 2007-08-25 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks for the brainstorming. I figured I had a lot of stories to write before Dean had to live without Sam. But this helps me see outside the HL box of Immortality. I especially like number 4:vague and yet just SPN enough to work *hee*

I'm still working on getting Dean a sword and wondering if he will see sterility as a good thing.

[identity profile] pen37.livejournal.com 2007-08-25 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
I have always loved the HL crossovers. But it always seemed a bit too convenient to me that everyone ends up being Immortal. Life is never that neat. Which is why in the Chloe Sullivan&Methos friendship drabbles that I'm writing, Chloe's version of immortality is very different then Methos'.

Which is very convenent for her, because she gets a nifty friend who isn't going to up and die on him. And for him, because he gets a the same, with the side bonus of someone who isn't going to turn around and chop his head off just when he lets his guard down.

So for you: Time to send Sam and Dean off in search of the spear and magic helmet. ;)

[identity profile] strangevisitor7.livejournal.com 2007-08-25 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
So if Immortal!Dean meets up with immortal Chloe will they be a little like Amanda and Duncan. You know friends with benefits throughout the ages. It might be fun to write a series of drabbles of them running into each other falling into bed and moving on. *giggles*

[identity profile] pen37.livejournal.com 2007-08-25 03:46 am (UTC)(link)
Actually, that would be pretty close to accurate. (the Chleaner in me wants to rebel at that statemennt. Because that part of me wants to go omg chloe/dean otp 4evah!) But in all seriousness, I think friends with bennies would be the balance they would settle for.

Both Chloe and Dean are loyal to the point of crazy (Look at some of the situations that chloe got into for no other good reason than she was standing by her indestructable alien friend).

But they're both pragmatic too. So I could see them caring for each other quite a bit. But at the same time, knowing that an eternity togeather might not be the most pratical, not when both partners are hard-headed, and insist on their own way. Sooner or later, that would be a recipie for disaster. So instead they may choose to keep it casual.

So there may be years at a time when they're running around togeather. There may be other times when they're all
Dean: I'd love to hang around but . . .
Chloe: I know how it is. Places to go . . . People to kill.

Intersting thought.

[identity profile] strangevisitor7.livejournal.com 2007-08-25 11:35 am (UTC)(link)
I see this story. "When immortals meet:5 times Dean ran into Chloe." We totally need to write that. Gives new meaning to BFF :-)

[identity profile] pen37.livejournal.com 2007-08-25 01:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I like it! E-mail me and we'll brainstorm. (I think you have the addy. If not, let me know).
ext_15374: (Default)

[identity profile] idontlikegravy.livejournal.com 2007-08-25 06:10 pm (UTC)(link)
wondering if he will see sterility as a good thing.

Oh dear gods! He could basically sleep with anyone without fear of getting them pregnant or catching anything!

Of course there is the lack of family thing on the downside...

[identity profile] strangevisitor7.livejournal.com 2007-08-26 05:38 am (UTC)(link)
This will be addressed in the next story. Since the Winchesters broke the rules about family. Joe & Duncan would want Dean sterility checked too.

[identity profile] sierraphoenix.livejournal.com 2007-08-25 11:41 pm (UTC)(link)
LOL...I like [livejournal.com profile] pen37's way of thinking. We're all just determined to not see Sam die, lol.

Hey! I was just reminded of "Tuck Everlasting"! Have you ever seen that/read the book it was based on? Maybe Sam could drink from the fountain of youth. ;)

[identity profile] strangevisitor7.livejournal.com 2007-08-26 05:26 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, saw that movie. I hope everyone won't hate me if I keep Sam mortal. but i will examine what makes best sense for the sotry arc. Next - Dean get's a sword - Finally

[identity profile] sierraphoenix.livejournal.com 2007-08-26 05:47 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, saw that movie. I hope everyone won't hate me if I keep Sam mortal. but i will examine what makes best sense for the sotry arc. Next - Dean get's a sword - Finally

Well, I won't hate you. ;) To tell the truth, as much as the idea of Dean being without Sam deeply pains me (hate the idea of it) and even though I keep trying to talk you out of it, I know if I were in your shoes, I'd make Sam mortal. Making him Immortal just seems too convenient. Not to mention, deep down, I'm an angst-monger. And I think my muse is part angst!demon because anytime there's happiness she's all, "Oh, no no. Can't have that...must slap it down." (Except apparently when it comes to puppies).

Can't wait to find out what kind of sword Dean will have! :) This is making me want to re-watch HL. I've seen all the eps on TV, but I don't think I ever watched them all on DVD after I bought them. I should definitely do that sometime.

[identity profile] strangevisitor7.livejournal.com 2007-08-28 04:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Highlander has become my new thing. It's an old show but I think it holds up well. It makes for excellent crossover material.

I have to search for a sword that fits Dean. Nothing too guady.

As for angst - i don't think i write it well. i don't know but my "sad" stuff doen't seem to go over as well as the funny or adventure stuff. So you know what that means - it will be a long time before I ever attempt the Sammy death story.

[identity profile] acresofhope.livejournal.com 2008-01-30 08:12 am (UTC)(link)
2. He's already been dead. The demon brought him back. He offended the reaper, and now the reaper won't take him.

Yes, and he was dead a good long time. Doubt he could be Immortal (upper case). And then there's that nifty sensing thing.

I, personally, like the item of wondrous power idea. Gives them both a very small chance to die: Sam by losing the item in some way, and Dead by losing his head.

[identity profile] strangevisitor7.livejournal.com 2008-01-30 12:48 pm (UTC)(link)
It seems no one wants Sam to die. I am sympathetic. At least I won't have to write that story for a long time!

[identity profile] acresofhope.livejournal.com 2008-01-30 01:06 pm (UTC)(link)
I cried the first time Sam died, even though I was pretty sure he'd be brought back.

Okay, really pretty sure.

[identity profile] strangevisitor7.livejournal.com 2008-01-30 02:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah me too!