#formidablepassion

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Dean knew something was up. It had been a week since he’d crawled home in shame, broken and bleeding. His Alphas had barely left his side in all that time. Most of his wounds were healing nicely, though it would take forever for the broken bones to heal. It was everything else that worried him.

He knew this had damaged him in invisible ways, ways that would lurk beneath the surface and strike at the worst times. He could already feel it.

And it wasn’t like before. Before, it was Dean dealing with years of repression of his Omega side, of denying part of himself because of his father. That was hard enough.

Now he was flinching at sudden sounds in the safety of his own home, causing his mates to walk on eggshells around him. Waking his Alpha’s with his bad dreams – his nightmares – and causing them all to lose sleep.

And today his Alpha’s must have decided they’d had enough, because Dean had woken cold and alone in their giant bed, the emptiness glaring. Slowly, he got up and limped out of the room, anxiousness curling through him. He sniffed the air but the only scent of the twins was stale, old. The must have left within the last hour for their fresh scent to fade so much.

Instead, he smelled Charlie and Sam. All out in the living room and he quailed at the idea of seeing them. He hadn’t talked to anyone but the twins all week. Jimmy had called him out of work while Cas had made excuses for all his standing plans.

He had no idea what they’d been told, what they would expect to see if he stepped out into the living room and made his presence known. The scent shifted and he realized they were already aware of him. Gathering his courage, he limped out of the short hall and over to the kitchen, avoiding looking at anyone as he searched for something to drink.

“Dean, do you need anything?” Sam asked hesitantly from behind him. Dean slammed the glass down on the counter and bowed his head. Fuck. They knew, didn’t they? They all knew what a fucking delicate flower he was.

A small body collided with his and he stiffened, his cracked – but not actually broken, thank god for small favors – ribs jostling painfully. Charlies scent hit his nose. She was sad, but not pitying and…and was she…? He turned in her arms to find her crying, self-loathing that wasn’t his own hit him.

“What - ?” Dean couldn’t manage a more coherent thought than that. Then he saw that Sam was wearing his uniform. “What the fuck? What’s going on? Where are Jimmy and Cas?”

“I disavow any knowledge of where your mates have gone,” Sam said quickly. “But if I weren’t on duty, I might hazard a guess and that it’s Charlies’ fault.”

Dean’s head slid to the side his eyes and mouth working as he tried to figure that out. Before he could get any further, Charlie spoke again, “I’m sorry, Dean. I know, I know it’s not my fault but I still feel like it is. If we’d walked you to your car or, or something else I don’t even know, something that could have helped.”

He winced. “I don’t wanna talk about it, Red, got it?” she nodded into his chest. He glared out at his brother, “I don’t want to talk about it to anyone, okay?”

Sam looked uneasy. “As your brother, I’d love to make that promise. But as…” Sam waved his hands at his badge, “I can’t.”

Dean looked between them and shook his head. Charlie had finally let go and he walked over to the couch empty handed, the drink forgotten. Lowering himself gingerly, he looked back a them. “So, what the hell are you doing here?”

“Cas and Jimmy had an errand and they didn’t want to tell you what they were doing, in case you talked them out of it, but they didn’t want to leave you alone and think that they’d deserted you so, here we are!” Charlie beamed at him.

Dean looked from Charlie, to his brother who was now covering his ears with his hands, then back to Charlie. “Charlie, what have you done?”

“Me? I didn’t do anything. Just looked something up for the Novak’s like they asked.” She looked at him nervously.

Before Dean could demand a clarification, Sam’s phone rang and he answered it – thereby proving his hands over the ears trick didn’t actually work. Dean would have normally snorted at the ridiculousness of it all if he hadn’t been so anxious.

Sam turned away so he couldn’t be heard. After a few moments, he sighed and turned back around to look at Dean. “I’m sorry man, but I need you to come down to the station and prove witness for me.”

“What for?”

“So your mates don’t get charged with kidnapping, assault and battery.” Sam explained, sliding his phone back in his pocket.

“I’m sorry, what?” Dean’s voice was incredulous and high pitched with panic.

“It’s an old loop hole, Dean, and it works in yours – and their – favor. Sooner we get this over and done with, the sooner you can come back home and rest. I promise,” Sam said gently.

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Jimmy shifted anxiously beside his brother. They hadn’t been arrested and they weren’t in a holding cell but they weren’t exactly free to go either. They were currently sat alone in a room with one of those mirrors that everyone knew was a one-way window.

“Stop that,” Cas said flatly. Jimmy let out a breath and looked at the disheveled form of his brother. Cas was a wreck. Black eyes, split lips, possibly a broken nose. There was blood covering parts of his face, and his knuckles were beat to hell and back, scratched and bloodied. His clothes were mostly in tact but also covered in splatters of blood.

Jimmy knew he didn’t look much better. But tracking down Dean’s attackers and taking them down…it had been worth it.

By ancient law, Jimmy and Castiel had the right to kill each and every one of those men as long as they could prove they were in the right, that their mate had been hurt. And they had it.

In great deliberation, they’d decided not to.

Oh, how they’d wanted to. But Castiel had argued that it would be more satisfying to destroy their lives by making it known the type of men they were. But had agreed that they deserved to be beaten, to suffer even a fraction of the pain Dean was going through.

It was only fair.

And it had been so god damned worth it. Jimmy knew that he of all people shouldn’t take so much pleasure in anyone else’s pain, but watching them go down, hard and bloody, had been so satisfying in a way Jimmy had never experienced before.

By the light in Cas’s eyes, his twin felt the same satisfaction.

And that was after they’d made sure to mail a copy of the security camera footage to the families of each and every one of those Alphas. They’d debated the merits of doing that, too. Of the pain it would cause to show something as visceral as that to (likely) innocents.

But complete strangers couldn’t just stand there and tell those loving family members something they wouldn’t want to believe. It was amazing the kinds of behaviors some people would revert to when their families weren’t around. And their families could never think the worst of their husband/wife/mate or their son/daughter or whatever they were.

So Cas and Jimmy had compromised. They cut the footage before it got really bad. Just enough to show those families that Dean had been the one set upon unprovoked and that it had been 5 against one. Then one by one, they found each of those Alphas and took them down, giving them a fairer fight then Dean had had.

It was more than they deserved.

With Dean’s attackers in tow – Jimmy’s Continental had quite the space, especially that trunk – trussed up, unconscious and bleeding, the brothers had driven to the station and turned themselves in, explaining the situation and handing the cops both a full copy of the footage, and the keys to the car.

They’d given their report and then they’d been left alone.

They were gone longer than they’d anticipated.

Jimmy started biting his nails, only to spit violently because he’d forgotten his hands were splattered with someone else’s blood – their blood, tainted and disgusting. He shuddered and looked around the empty room again – table, 4 chairs and nothing else – hoping to find some paper towels and a sink or something.

“God, I gotta get this stink off me,” Jimmy muttered. “I can’t stand smelling them.”

“Agreed,” Cas sighed. Whatever else he was going to say broke off as the door swung open so hard it bounced off the wall. Dean stood there, looking better than he had a week ago, but obviously frantic and maybe a little angry.

“Dean –“ the Alpha’s said in unison.

Dean growled as he stalked over to them, the limp still noticeable, “What the hell were you two thinking?”

“We were thinking that we couldn’t let something like this stand, Dean. If it had been one of us, you know you would have done the same,” Castiel growled back.

“You could have been hurt – you are hurt!” Dean realized, actually taking stock in their appearance.

Castiel shook his head, “Nothing that won’t wash off, I promise.”

Dean snorted and traced a finger gently just outside the ring of black surrounding Cas’s eye. “Like hell it’ll all wash off.” But the Omega deflated and wrapped his arms around Castiel and breathed in deep, reassuring himself that Cas was here, that he was safe. Blindly he reached for Jimmy and turned his face to do the same.

“God, I just want this over. Let’s go home…” Dean whispered.

“I’m uh, not sure we’re allowed to just yet,” Jimmy said hesitantly.

“Oh, you’re not getting your car back anytime soon, but you’re free to go,” Sam noted from the door. “And as highly gratifying as it was for you, next time you feel the need to do something this drastic – come to me first, all right?”

“There won’t be a next time,” Castiel assured.

“Good,” Sam said with narrowed eyes. He watched as his brother didn’t let go of either Alpha, grounding himself, reassuring himself that they were okay. He saw the strength of the bond and knew the three of them would be okay. He stepped aside to let them by and they walked out of the interrogation room, pausing briefly for Dean to clap his own brother on the shoulder. “Thanks, Sam, for looking out for my family.”

“They’re my family too, Dean,” Sam huffed out and Dean nodded before moving on with his mates, meeting Charlie at the front of the station and hitching a ride in her small car back to his apartment, the three of them squished into the back, each of them surrounding Dean and none of them willing to let the others out of their sights.

As soon as they got back, they stripped and headed towards the bathroom. With care not to get anything wet that shouldn’t be, the three of them stood beneath the hot spray and helped clean each other off, washing away the blood. Dean watched as it swirled in the drain and disappeared and his heart felt a little lighter, knowing that his Alphas would do this for him.

Would risk everything for him, whether he felt he was worthy of their sacrifice or not. But they’d been right. If the tables had been reversed, he’d have done the same. He wouldn’t pity them, or blame them either. He’d understand.

If he could do that for them, then shouldn’t it stand to reason that he should do that for himself?

“What are you thinking, love?” Jimmy asked as the three of them toweled off with the biggest, fluffiest towels they had.

“How much I fucking love you two,” Dean said around a lump in his throat. The twins dropped their towels and crowded Dean, touching him gently, enfolding him into their arms lovingly. The scents were happy and Dean let it wash over him.

“Same,” Jimmy choked out. Castiel nodded against him, his fingers tightening briefly.

“C’mon,” Dean tugged after a few minutes. “I want a cuddle fest, some Doctor Sexy, and a pint of Chubby Hubby ice cream.”

They huffed a laugh against his neck and in his hair and they relaxed into each other further, none of them actually making a move to accomplish any of what he’d asked for, but just basking in the warmth of their love for each other, the scents so much more intoxicating and reassuring than mere words.

They had bad times and good times, worse times and better times – both ahead and behind - and Dean couldn’t believe he’d gotten so lucky to have them any more than they could believe they were lucky enough to have him.

And each of them would do anything to protect the other two.