Sam jolted awake as the thunder grew to a booming crescendo. He had to swallow a whimper as lightning, nearly inseparable from the noise, lit the room in shattered pieces. "I am seven years old now," he whispered to himself. "I am seven years old and thunder is not scary any more." Another crash from above seemed to almost shake the little motel room with its volume. Tears filled Sam's eyes and he rolled over in his bed. He clutched James, his stuffed dog, a little tighter. When the thunder quieted a bit, he squeezed his eyes closed; he didn't want to see the lightning.
Suddenly, a waft of cold air brushed his back and he twisted around to see Dean lifting the heavy throw blanket and climbing underneath. "What are you doing?" Sam asked, trying his best not to sound scared, or like he was crying.
"What's it look like," his brother asked irritably. "I'm sleeping over here tonight."
"Why?"
"You got a problem with it?"
"No!" Sam said a little too quickly. "I mean, nuh-uh."
"That's what I thought," said Dean. He rolled a bit and tried to fluff up the pillow he had brought over from his own bed. "G'night Sam," he mumbled.
"G'nigh-" another roll of thunder cut off Sam's reply. Dean felt his brother's whole body tense up at the noise. He rested his forehead against Sam's back and listened to him breathe for a minute.
"Hey, it's okay Sammy. It's just some-"
"I know its just thunder," said Sam abruptly.
"It's okay," Dean continued. "if you don't like it, I mean. Everyone has stuff they don't like. But you're not bein' a sissy about it. That's cool." After a moment of listening to the pit-pat of the rain, Sam spoke.
"I don't like it," he admitted. "It can't hurt me and its stupid but I don't like it."
"S'okay Sammy." Dean smiled a little. He had half expected his independant little brother to kick him back to his own bed and suffer the storm by himself, but he was glad Sam had decided to accept his comfort. "You don't like to hear it, right?" Dean asked gently. "Want to hear a song instead?"
"No. I don't need a lullaby. That's dumb."
"Lullaby's are awesome!" Dean said, annoyed. "This song is awesome too!"
"Is it Led Zepplin?"
"Nope. Listen." Thunder cracked above them again, and Dean hurried to cover the noise. He began.
Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Just take a sad song and make it better.
Lightning flashed. The thunder had been a few seconds previously, so Dean noted with relief that the storm must be moving on. He could feel Sam relaxing next to him, so Dean kept singing. He kept singing long after Sam fell asleep and Dean began changing all the words "Jude" with "Sam". When his voice was hoarse and his eyelids sticky, he too fell asleep to the gentle drizzle of the rain and the muted hues of a sunrise.
A/N:
Hey, so I was looking at the first chapter of this oneshot series, and decided that I preferred this one. The other one might come back after I fix it up a bit; I haven't decided yet. Anyway, this one is very short, but it was fun to write. More to come hopefully!
~Mariah