likely_evil | House of the Rising Son

ooc: using the prompt picture after the rain

Sam stood at his office window, looking down at the city. There was something about it just after a storm had washed away from of the grime... the smog was parted for just a bit, and it looked beautiful. His city. His achievements all there for him to see with a small rainbow even if the sun hit the water molecules just the right way.

His city... but it wasn't. Not anymore. Today he was going to give the controls over to his son for the first time. Michael was in his mid-twenties, and it was time for him to start taking on these types of responsibilities. It was an empire and Michael was the prince. If the king ever fell, he would have to take up the mantle permanently...

Sam was worried, though. It wasn't that he didn't think his son could handle it - hell, look at half the things Sam had done in his own 25th year of life - but it was the protective father in him. He still looked at his son and remembered how tiny he had been in his arms when he was born. How Sam had nurtured and raised him over the years and now he couldn't deny that he had not done his job.

It was the fear in the unknown that clenched his heart and made this hard. Fear that doing this was putting his son in more danger than normal. Fear that with Sam gone, the Triad would attack. Michael didn't have the three hundred years of experience dealing with demons and there would be one thing Sam hadn't taught him yet that would be Michael's downfall.

Sam couldn't bear to lose his only son to that kind of mistake.

But Ruby was going to take him on this vacation no matter what, so it was time to do that. He had texted his son to come to his office, so it was now just a matter of waiting and getting up the nerve to see beyond the storm and hope that it was a rainbow that lay beyond, and not destruction.

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When Michael got the text message from his father, he frowned slightly. He hadn't been anticipating some kind of father-son talk -- he'd gotten better at seeing them coming over the years, but this one was pretty out of the blue. He'd also heard that Sam had come back somewhat injured on a hunt not too long ago. Which meant that Mom was pissed which meant this was probably a Mom-generated lecture.

Well, better to get it over with.

He headed upstairs and knocked on the door to Sam's office, sliding his hands into his pockets while he waited.

Sam's arm was still in a sling that he hid under his suit jacket. When Michael knocked, he turned from the window and went over to the door, opening it himself while hiding his shoulder behind the door.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to get up here. Come on in, son."

Michael made his way inside, plopping down on one of the chairs in front of Sam's desk before shrugging slightly. "What's up?"

Sam followed behind him, but instead of sitting behind the desk, he sat on the edge of it and watching Michael. "I'm sure you've heard by now about my little incident with the ghouls, right?"

"Uh-huh." This got his father an amused smirk. "Mom rip you a new one?"

"That and then lovingly stitched me back up." Sam chuckled, shrugging off his jacket and laying it across his lap. "And that's why I asked you to come see me."

Sam took a moment, then gave a one shoulder shrug. "You mother's forcing me to take a vacation."

"Really?" Michael raised an eyebrow. "You guys haven't had one of those since Disneyworld." And it was by sheer will alone that he managed to suppress the shudder.

"As she's pointed out to me. And that was purely for your benefit, even if it turned into this traumatic experience of yours." Sam does have the happy smiling picture of Michael with Goofy, but that was twenty years ago.

"But it's just going to be the two of us. I think you're a bit too old to take family vacations with your folks, am I right?"

Michael nodded. "Trust me. I don't think I'd want to be going on this vacation anyway. Talk about traumatic experiences."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Well, I may or may not end up putting you through another one."

He licked his lips, then looked at his son. "While I'm gone... you're in charge."

Michael's eyes widened slightly, and he leaned back in his seat, trying to take in the weight of that statement.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. I wouldn't trust this place in anyone else's hands. Do you think you're ready for something like this?"

Almost definitely not. He was still kind of processing things at the moment, and he really wasn't sure how to respond to that at first, but he couldn't not let his father take that vacation. He could see as well as his mother did that he needed it.

"Yeah, Dad. Of course."

Sam smirked a bit, knowing how his son's face tended to betray his emotions. But Sam knew that Michael was ready, even if it was going to be rocky for him.

He leaned over and squeezed his son's shoulder. "Good. I think you are, too."

Michael nodded slightly, taking that in quietly for a moment. "Good."

"Because, you know, if we came home to a city in flames, your mother won't be happy."

Sam kept the serious face, but he was gently teasing.

"Damn," Michael said, snapping his fingers slightly. "I just got a new box of matches too."

"Sorry to ruin your fun." Sam smiled, then waved his hand to the chair behind his desk. "Why don't you give the seat a try? I figure your mom is still trying to plan the vacation, so we have a few days to ease you into this spot."

Michael blinked slightly. "Seriously?"

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Do I look like I'm joking? I was planning on teaching you this one day, so let's get to it."

"Yeah, but -- that's the chair," Michael said with a smirk. "Teaching me to run the place doesn't necessarily come with a chair."

"It does when you have to sit and talk with people, which is what I tend to do in the mornings. Find out how cases are going. A lot of them are phone conferences."

He reached back and tapped the desk, bringing up the clear glass that was his computer screen and letting it boot up.

"Fun," Michael sighed, looking over the screen as it came up.

"After doing this for a few weeks, you'll see why I still hunt. Just to get away from the mundane stuff."

He touched the screen, opening his tracking program. There were links to journals, cell phones, other programs and the library all on one screen. He brought up the list of the current hunts and projects going on.

"This list will tell you who's out in the field. It's always good to call them around ten their time. They get their rest from the night before, and it's actually the least likely time anyone will be in a position that stopping to talk will get them in trouble. Everyone is under an agreement to check in every other day when in the field, so you just look for who didn't check in yesterday and call them first, then start the check ins for today. If you can't reach someone from yesterday's check in, then you can look and see if you can get a demon runner to go out that way and get their trail."

He pulled up another screen. "You know mom's contacts? You'll have to ask them - nicely - to help. There's a list of hunters here who have demonic contacts, so you can use those to help track them down. Some hunters, however, refuse to work with demons, so they will just make sure those hunters are alive but not contact them. If the demons can't find them, then you take the case down to the chapel and ask Castiel if he can check up on them. He'll give you a bit of a look and might mention that he's not there to be a babysitter, but just keep at him and he will help."

Sam looked at Michael. "Got it so far?"

Edited 2009-09-18 21:04 (UTC)

House of the Rising Son - for mad_muses

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