A/N: My first Supernatural fic. No real plot or point, just a cute scene between Sam and Dean when the boys are really young. Enjoy!

Thunderstorms

The door closed with a harsh snap and Dean immediately stepped forward to lock the dead bolt and slip the chain into place. He peered through the eye hole and watched his father walk away for as long as he could. The sound of the Impala rumbling to life met his ears and Dean didn't move away from the door until the car was out of sight and could no longer be heard. With a sigh the eleven year old finally stepped back from the door. He turned around and nearly jumped in surprise when his little brother was standing a mere two feet away from him.

"Jesus Sammy," Dean snapped. "Don't sneak up on people like that."

"You shouldn't cuss," Sam scolded.

"Jesus isn't a cuss."

Dean placed his hands on his brother's shoulders and turned him around, pushing him towards one of the beds in the hotel room. The room was slightly larger than what they were used to with two queen sized beds, a mini fridge, and a slightly larger than average TV. Dean shoved his brother onto the bed before flopping down himself and snatching up the remote.

"So what do you want to watch?" he asked, flicking through the channels. John was planning on being gone for at least a week so he had sprung and gotten them a room with cable.

"I don't want to watch TV."

Dean rolled his eyes. "So what? You wanna read?"

"I've already read all my books."

"So read them again."

"I did."

Dean barely managed to not growl in frustration. Most of the time Sammy was a pretty agreeable kid when their dad wasn't around but every now and then the seven year old got into a mood where nothing would satisfy him.

Dean turned to his brother. "What do you want to do?"

Sam shrugged.

It would seem that today was going to be one of those days. Mentally preparing himself, Dean sat up and crossed his legs. Time to play the most obnoxious guessing game in the world.

"Are you hungry?"

"No."

"Do you want to jump on the bed?"

"No."

"Do you want to take a nap?" That would be great.

"No."

Dean sighed and rested his head in his hand. "Well what do you want, Sammy?"

The little boy shrugged, playing with a thread on his worn out shirt.

"Well fine, then I'm going to watch TV. Let me know when you think of something."

Dean turned the TV back on and channel surfed until he found cartoons. Grinning, the young boy leaned back against the headboard and made himself comfortable. Soon he was engrossed by the antics of the cat and mouse chasing each other and forgot all about his brother's annoying behavior. When the show ended, Dean stretched and turned to Sammy, hoping the boy was entertaining himself so he could keep watching TV.

A quick sweep of the room revealed Sammy was standing at the window, his face pressed against the glass. Dean's eyes widened his horror. His heart sped up as adrenaline suddenly flooded his body. The young boy flew from his bed and charged to the window. He grabbed Sammy and jerked him away, making his brother cry out in surprise. Sammy stumbled and fell on his butt.

"What the hell are you doing?" Dean yelled. He turned and grabbed the curtains, pulling them closed harshly. "You know not to stand in front of the window! I've told you a thousand times! It's dangerous!"

Sam stared up at him with large, watery eyes. Dean instantly felt guilty. It wasn't Sam's fault he didn't understand the danger. Even with salt lining the room, something could still break in. A monster could climb through the window or shoot the small boy before anyone had a chance to blink. Sammy was too young to understand any of this but Dean did. John had told him of monsters and demons and all things that went bump in the night. He hadn't told Sammy though, wanting to preserve the boy's innocence for as long as possible.

"I'm sorry," Dean blurted out. "I shouldn't have shoved you." He reached down and pulled his brother to his feet. "But you know better."

"I was watching the lightening."

"Lightening?"

On cue, lightening flashed so brightly it could be seen even through the curtains. A minute later a low rumbling of thunder followed.

"Oh, I guess it's going to storm." Dean turned to Sammy, who still looked upset. He smiled at his brother. "How about I make dinner?"

"Can we have pasta?"

"Sure."

Sam smiled happily and Dean was relieved. It seemed his brother had gotten out his disagreeable mood fairly quick for once. Dean turned to the small two burner stove and dug out old pans from under the sink. He began boiling water while Sam went to sit on the bed. There was a flash of lightening and the sound of rain began to fill the room.

"Hey, find the flashlights," Dean ordered. "Just in case."

Sam nodded and disappeared under the bed to do as he was told. The boys watched TV in silence while the pasta cooked. Once it was done, Dean turned the TV off and they sat together at the table to eat. Thunder rumbled and Sammy stopped eating to stare at the curtains.

"Hey," Dean called. "Wanna know something cool?"

Sam nodded eagerly.

"If you want to know how far away a storm is, you wait until you see lightening. Then you count Mississippi's until you hear thunder. Once you do, you divide that number by three and that's how many miles away the storm is."

Sam frowned. "Is that true?"

"Of course! Would I lie to you?"

The little boy looked at his brother dubiously but as soon as he saw a flash of lightening, he began to count.

"One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi..." he made it all the way to thirteen before they heard thunder.

"Okay, so divide thirteen by three."

"Four point three."

Dean blinked and stared at his brother for a minute. He wasn't sure why he was so surprise by Sam's ability to do math in his head. The boy would sit around and study his math books for fun.

"Right, so the storm's just over four miles away."

"Huh." Sam smiled at him. "Cool."

They finished dinner in silence, listening to the pounding rain outside. Dean tossed their dishes into the sink and filled them with water to soak. Once that was done he ordered Sam to shower before taking one himself. When he came out, the storm had mostly stopped and Sam was sitting on the bed with the TV muted while he read a book. Dean noticed he was holding it very carefully because the spine was broke.

"When dad comes back I'll ask him if we can go shopping for some new books," Dean spoke. Sam looked up in surprise. "I wouldn't mind a few new comics as well."

The little boy grinned widely. "Thanks Dean."

Feeling warm at his brother's honest gratitude, Dean tried to act cool and shrugged. He flopped on the bed and buried his face into his pillow.

"You need to put your pajamas on if you're going to bed," Sam spoke from his bed.

Dean grunted at him and lifted a hand up, slapping around for the remote. He felt it shoved into his fingers and turned to grin at his brother.

"You care if I watch TV?"

Sam shook his head. "No, I can still read with the noise."

"Cool."

It wasn't long before both brothers were asleep, one clutching a remote and the other hugging a book to his chest.

*!*!*

Dean's eyes snapped open and his hand shoved under his pillow before he was fully awake. He clutched the small handgun tightly as his eyes scanned the dark room for any movement. The TV was speaking softly, its light flashing around the room and illuminating everything enough for Dean to determine that nothing was in the hotel with them. With a sigh, the boy sat up, wondering what had woken him.

Thunder suddenly boomed so loudly the windows shook. Dean jumped in surprise as lightening flashed quickly.

"Oh, it was the storm..."

Sighing, Dean flopped onto his back and turned the TV up. The thunder was so loud it made listening to it hard and Dean didn't want to turn it up any further or risk waking Sammy. The small motel shook from the wind while the windows rattled every time the thunder roared. Dean was actually impressed the power was still on. Rain was slapping the window, adding to the racket.

Try as he might, Dean couldn't fall back asleep. The storm was so loud every time he almost dozed off, some noise woke him up again. Annoyed, Dean crawled from bed to use the bathroom. The thunder covered the sound of him flushing the toilet and the boy briefly wondered if someone had pissed off a storm God of some kind. Dean flicked the light off and stepped back into the main room just as lightening flashed, revealing a figure standing directly in his path.

With a yell of shock, Dean jerked back, his hand going to his pants but he didn't have his gun with him. It was hidden under the pillow. However the weapon wasn't necessary as Dean squinted and saw the mysterious figure was just Sammy, standing in his too small pajamas and staring at him.

"Jesus Christ Sammy! What have I told you?"

"Don't swear."

"It's not a swear word!" Dean snapped. He sighed as his heart rate returned to normal. "What are you doing? Gotta piss?"

"The thunder woke me up," Sam admitted.

"Yeah, it's pretty noisy." Dean pushed his brother back towards the bed. "Just try and ignore it. Like you do when you're reading."

Sam stopped at the foot of his bed and turned to Dean, who was crawling back into his. He bit his lip before asking in a quiet voice, "Can I sleep with you?"

"Why?" Dean asked in surprise. He frowned, noticing Sam looking down at his feet, his cheeks slightly red. "Are you scared?"

Sam nodded the tiniest bit.

"Since when are you scared of thunderstorms? I mean, this one is pretty bad but still..."

Thunder crashed and Sam flinched. He looked at Dean with miserable eyes.

"Please?"

Dean could never say no to Sammy, especially when he looked at him with those big dopey puppy eyes. With a shrug, Dean threw back the blankets and Sam wasted no time scurrying into them. He squirmed until he was pressed against Dean's side, clutching his big brother's arm like a teddy bear.

Now that Sam was awake, Dean turned the TV up more so he could hear it. Sam snuggled closer and Dean absently played with his hair.

"So why you so scared, Sammy?"

The boy shrugged.

"You know you can tell me, right? Whatever's scaring you, I'll take care of it."

The lightening illuminated Sam's small smile and Dean felt proud that he had managed to get him to grin like that.

"The last time..." Sam's voice was soft as he spoke hesitantly. "The last time there was a storm, you and dad weren't here."

"Neither of us?" Dean asked, surprised. He could count on one hand the number of times they had left Sam alone.

Sam nodded. "You thought I was asleep and Dad took you to learn something. I don't know what."

Dean frowned as he thought. A few months back, John had taken Dean out to see a werewolf. The older man had already captured and killed it but he wanted to show Dean so that his son could learn the difference between people and the cursed beasts. They had only been gone for a few hours and it had been raining that night.

"Did you get scared then?"

"Yeah."

"Well don't worry," Dean stated confidently. "Storms are noisy but nothing to be scared of. And I'll always come back, Sammy. If I'm not here, it won't be long before I come back home. You'll never be alone for more than a few hours, I promise."

Sam nodded. "I know." He yawned and Dean smiled as his brother's eyes started to close.

"Don't be afraid, Sammy. I'm right here."

Sam fell asleep with a gentle smile on his face. With his brother tucked close to him, Dean was able to relax and close his eyes. He was asleep within minutes, no longer bothered by the raging storm around them.

A/N: And that's all she wrote. Like I said, no real point other than Dean being a good big brother and Sammy being cute. So if you liked, please review and let me know. Thank you!