The Lucky Charms had run out days ago. Dean didn't know how much longer he and Sam could survive as he watched the meager stack of money dwindle down to nothing. He knew that Dad hadn't called for almost a week, and he's supposed to call Bobby when that happens. But last time they had been to Bobby's, Dean had screwed up a paint job on one of the cars in the lot by mixing up paint thinner and lacquer (In his defense, they were in the same containers). That didn't matter to the disgruntled old man. He hadn't let Dean touch a car the whole rest of the time there. This was quite unfortunate, as Dean loved cars…especially the Impala.
Since Bobby was out of the question, Dean knew he would have to take matters into his own hands. Although he was good at pool, he didn't have enough skill to hustle. Anyways, he knew his fake ID to get into bars was crummy and wouldn't get him very far. Maybe he could play card games with people at his school, scrape away all of their earnings, and tap into their parent's money. Unfortunately, the last time he did that, several angry parents had called his school at the time and demanded their money back from that "greasy looking little swindler." That left only one thing (since begging was totally unacceptable). He would have to steal the food.
Although he thought his plan was flawless, in hindsight Dean realized he made a lot of rookie mistakes. He nervously paced around the store, garnering attention with his inability to sit still and to the fact that he wasn't even browsing through the items. It was obvious when he grabbed the bread and the peanut butter that the storeowner was waiting for him to do just such a thing. The owner grabbed him by the arm with all intentions of dragging him to the police station himself. However, he hadn't counted on Dean getting away from him by elbowing him in the stomach. Dean ran out of the store with his contraband and collided with a burly muscle builder at the same moment as the storekeeper shouted "Catch that boy!" He attempted to bolt, but was dragged to a halt by a hand like a steel vice. He cursed in frustration and threw the peanut butter at the man's face, before catching it again. This gave him enough of a distraction to disappear from sight and run as far from the store as he could.
As he ran, he looked at his wrists and winced at the markings he saw there. The werewolf last week had left his arms sorely bruised when it yanked him away from Sammy and threw him (into a pile of leaves, thankfully). Today's escapade in the store certainly hadn't helped matters. His arms were a colorful landscape of blues, yellows, purples, and greens. He lowered his sleeves and slowed to a walk as he approached the middle school. It was Sammy's lunch period and Dean wanted to surprise him with a peanut butter sandwich. His own school could wait 'til tomorrow.
When he reached the entrance of the school, grinning at the thought of Sammy's joy, he looked up in apprehension when he was approached by two policemen. Although he tried to run away again, they teamed up on him and one grabbed him while the other put the handcuffs on. He still got a good kick at one of the policeman's eyes, and enjoyed watching it water with pain as he was shoved into the back of the cruiser.
Fortunately, the police station wasn't very far, so the tangible anger that was directed toward him by the officer with the injured eye hadn't fully grown. He was shoved into a chair in front of a desk and frowned at by a severe looking man with a bad case of baldness. The man cleared his throat a couple of times and considered Dean with a practiced air of disappointment. "You stole from a store and resisted arrest. You will have to put some time in, unless you have someone you can call to post bail." Dean paled at the thought of interrupting Dad in the middle of a hunt to tell him he was arrested as he slowly dialed his number and waited for him to pick up.
"YOU DID WHAT?" John thundered at him, in the middle of splattering the remains of a Civil War soldier with salt and lighter fluid." Dean nervously reiterated himself as he said "I've been arrested for stealing." John got furiously silent as he demanded to speak to the police. Dean watched in apprehension as the police chief spoke to his father, nodding and frowning as John directed him on what to do with his son. He hung up the phone and looked at Dean with new eyes as he gave the verdict. "He told me to let you go to jail." Dean slumped in his seat and grimaced to hide his fear at those words. He tried desperately to hold in his tears as the words sunk in. His dad was abandoning him because of his stupidity.
He looked up suddenly as the police officer cleared his throat again. "Fortunately for you, there is a man just outside of town who tries to avoid putting kids in jail. He owns a farm and boy's home for juvenile delinquents like yourself. Let's go see if he needs another hand." He gestured for Dean to get up and the weight that had settled on his shoulders became a little lighter. The old police officer brought him to the front of the police station and told one of the younger men to take Dean to some place called "Sonny's farm." Unfortunately for Dean, he could see the beginnings of a bruise forming around the man's eye and knew that the ride would anything but calm.
As he and the police man drove up to a big farmhouse complete with fields and a barn, he couldn't help but snicker as he saw the officer put on sunglasses to cover up the shiner. "Is something funny?" the officer demanded of him. Dean shook his head with a grin, but became serious as the officer grabbed him by the hair and told him to shut up. He was pulled out of the car and dragged up the porch steps and into the unfamiliar house by the policeman.
Dean sat on the couch and looked at his surroundings. A buff looking man with a handlebar mustache and long hair that would make Sam jealous talked to the officer about the situation. He sat quietly, keeping his hope of escape in his mind until the policeman took off his sunglasses and he couldn't help but snicker when the other man asked about it. The police man immediately started arguing with him about the encounter until the other man, Sonny, took the matter into his own hands. He watched with relief as the officer left the room, but waved mockingly to keep up his appearance of toughness.
It was going to be a long next couple of months. He knew Dad would take care of Sammy, but Dean couldn't help but worry about the kid. If Dean himself had gotten caught with food, how would the little floppy haired boy survive? His job is to watch out for the kid, and to do that, he would need to make a plan. He'd seen The Great Escape enough times to know the basics of a good escape. Dean pondered these things as he talked to Sonny, asking questions and acting innocent so he could make his move and get back to Sammy.
