Dean was relaxing on the couch watching TV a few days later when Leah walked in.
Plopping down next to him, he put his arm around her as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"What you watching?" she asked.
"Nothing, mostly flipping channels," said Dean, clicking the remote.
"Sam's back."
"Good to know," he said.
He spent another half hour flipping before giving up, "Alright, let's go see Sam," he said, standing up.
Walking into their house, they find them in the kitchen with Emily cooking and baking yet again.
"You should really hire someone to help you, Emily. You're going to work yourself to death," said Leah, lending a hand.
"Thanks, I'll be fine though," said Emily.
"No, you won't, think of the baby," said Leah with heartfelt concern.
"The baby will be fine," said Emily, brushing off her concern while glaring at Sam, who wisely kept his mouth shut after their previous fight over similar topics.
"Sam, a word," said Dean.
"Sure, this way," said Sam, leading him to a room to talk in private.
"I wasn't pleased to find the new wolves mostly ignored by you guys when I returned, but I'll hold judgment until after you give your report," said Dean.
Looking sheepish, Sam sighed, "It wasn't my intention to ignore them, it just sort of happened, got caught up in the raids and didn't want any distractions, so training was minimal if at all, I understand my mistake," he said remorsefully.
"Hm, and the raids?" Dean inquired.
"They were going well at first, we went out and began our sweep taking out every vamp we found with relative ease given our numbers and how vamps usually roam in twos and threes, but then came the last raid we just came back from, we ran into a couple of gifted," said Sam, pausing to gather his thoughts.
"The first gifted wasn't an issue, didn't even affect us. It was the other one that caused us problems. At first, we almost had it as well since its gift also seemed to not work on us, but then it started to use its power to move things other than us, and that's when things went to shit," said Sam, recalling the events.
"We found them at a riverbed and attacked, taking out the first one as they tried to use their gifts. That's when the other one lifted everything in a 10-meter radius, boulders, rocks, and fallen trees, and attacked us with it all. We did our best to fend off the threats while trying to eliminate the vamp, but it wasn't easy.
Paul was targeted first, nearly torn apart by the numerous small rocks and boulders striking him at high speed.
An oversized wave swept Embry away when he got too close.
Jared and I were nearly drowned as hands made of rock dragged us into the river by our hind legs. I'll admit I freaked out a little, which didn't help.
Quil was the next one to nearly get the vamp when a stream of rocks was sent down his open throat, taking him out.
Trees were used to batter the young ones as they did their best to close ground on him.
Only after a brutal battle did Brady finally manage to get lucky and sink his jaws into him and end things," said Sam, halting his movements after realizing he was pacing back and forth.
Sitting down, Sam lets out a heavy sigh, "I don't know how we're going to keep doing this if there are any more like that out there. We can barely defeat one. What if there are dozens, and they all gather together to fight us... What will we do Dean? I think we only won because he had to concentrate on so many things at once, and we basically only came out on top because he tired himself out.
Hell, we thought Quil was dead, he wasn't healing, and we weren't sure he even could with all those rocks inside. It was only thanks to Jared thinking with a clear head, telling us that we had to cut him open and clean the rocks out, that we were able to bring him back.
So, feeling stupid and angry with myself, I told them all to wait there while I went to the nearest town and found a knife. I almost didn't even bother to hide my wolf form, I was so mad. I'm sure the news somewhere is reporting on a naked man breaking and entering," said Sam woefully.
Dean couldn't remember ever seeing Sam this down and out before. It was times like these when he wished he were better at speaking and coming up with speeches to increase morale, like in the movies he watched.
Instead, he told him the cold, hard truth, "There are more out there, and they are in groups. I also just got through killing another evasion gifted in Seattle. So, what we need to do is train, and train some more, until we can successfully face them all without fear or hesitation, for we are the last line of defense against this endless plague."
"Right... You're right," said Sam, rubbing his face, "We have to do this, for our tribe, for the world," he said, finding new motivation.
Leaving Sam to think things through, Dean took Leah to find Seth.
Turned out he was getting grilled by his mother at home.
Charlie answered the door, "Dean, Leah, come on in, I suppose you can hear that even without the special hearing," he joked.
"Hey," said Dean casually.
"Hi Charlie, I think even the neighbors can hear her," said Leah, giving a forced grin.
"She isn't happy with his running around fighting vamps for days on end," Charlie explained.
"Still can't wrap her mind around the increased endurance we possess, I guess," said Dean.
"Something like that," said Charlie, "Well, come on in, I doubt she's going to stop anytime soon."
"Moooom, I'm a guardian wolf now, it's what I do," Seth explained for the umptieth time.
"Don't you talk back to me! You're still underage and living under my roof!" Sue said fiercely.
"Dean, Leah, help me make mom understand," Seth groaned.
"Hi Mrs..." Dean coughed at the instant glare from Sue, who was in no mood for any more shit. "Sorry, hi mom, everything alright here?" he asked politely.
"We need to talk, parents of the younger members of your pack have started noticing what has been happening, and the council has decided to hold a meeting and give them the news, you're all expected to attend," said Sue, her voice still dangerously high.
"Okay, we'll be there," said Dean.
"I'm not done," said Sue heatedly, "You two, I expected you two to be there for him, protecting him, but here I find Leah and hear you're off in Seattle while he's running around with Sam, and while I trust him as much as anyone, I expected more from you two," said Sue, her voice tinged with disappointment.
Dean and Leah both lowered their heads, feeling awful, "Sorry."
"I don't want your sorrys. I want to know my children are safe and being looked after," said Sue firmly.
"I was with the entire pack minus Leah and Dean, I was perfectly fine, and nearly an adult," said Seth, throwing his arms up in exasperation.
"What did I say about talking back? Go to your room Seth, and I swear if I hear any of those gaming noises, I'll come in there and smash them all," said Sue angrily.
"Uh, actually, I'd like to talk to Seth if you don't mind," said Dean hesitantly.
"You have 5 minutes, then I want you out," said Sue.
That hurt Dean as he followed Seth to his room. At least she still wanted him to call her mom, he told himself.
"Was hoping to get your version of how things went with the gifted," said Dean, closing the door.
"So, Sam told you about the telekinetic," said Seth, "Yeah, that was a tough one, took us a while to heal after that, especially Quil."