Chapter One

Dean had always been short. Sam had seen a picture of Dean after he had been born. Veins stood out underneath the translucent, underdeveloped skin and a ventilator was connected to the tube that went down his tiny throat. His frail bones seemed to stick out, like a dying baby bird, or the hopeless runt of a too large litter. An oversized blue cap engulfed his mostly bald head and the not yet colored eyes were scrunched closed. Beneath the picture neat words hard been carefully written. Dean Winchester, 1-24-79, 1.06 pounds.

Mary and John had been nervous to try and have another baby, the reason they had waited four years before Sam. But Sam was born just past his due date, fat and healthy. The Winchesters had been overjoyed, and hoped that their new baby would grow up and be able to help Dean out with whatever trouble his still tiny size might bring on.

When Sam got older, he did research on the lasting effects of premature birth, and found that his brother was actually quite fortunate to even be alive, even with all the problems he had. Dean was unusually tiny and that coupled with the effects of Ritalin had him barely comparing to the height of his classmates, even the females as they got older.

John Winchester couldn't believe he was sending Dean, the tiny Dean who had barely weighed a pound at birth and was currently the same height as his one year old brother, off to kindergarten. In a case like Dean's, it wouldn't be unusual for him to not only be the same size as Sam, but as mentally competent him, or even less. But Dean had done well over the past year and proved that he could go to kindergarten. John had taken time out of his hunting schedule to speak with Dean's teacher, who agreed to take on the challenge that was John Winchester's oldest son.

Dean was reluctant to leave Sammy, but eager to meet other kids. John had used the excuse of being a hunter to keep Dean away from other kids, he didn't want Dean to know the cruelty that other kids could express. But Dean needed to go to school, so John arranged his hunting schedule so that he would be able to drive Dean to school.

When they got there, John felt his face heat up as several of the other parents stared at his tiny boy. One was bold enough to ask John if he knew that this was an elementary school, not a day care for the mentally challenged. John was so busy trying not to throttle the man, that he almost didn't notice when Dean started speaking.

"Mister," his little voice came. "I was born small, but I'm very lucky. I'm going to have problems all of my life, and I'm going to be small, and it would be real easy for me to just give up and not even try. But I didn't die when I was born. I'm five years old, I have a baby brother, and I'm going to kindergarten, just like any other kid."

John's chest puffed with pride at the maturity his boy had just displayed, and the rude man seemed flabbergasted as Dean went off to play.

"Why are you so little?" a boy asked Dean.

"Why are you so big?" Dean retorted. The boy smiled.

"I like you," he declared. "I'm Carl."

"I'm Dean," the smaller boy introduced himself. "Want to play trains?"

Carl smiled again at his new friend. "Sure!"

Dean's day was going alright until the teacher took declared it to be lunch time and the class lined up. Dean was the caboose so he took his spot at the end of line, but with his tiny legs he was soon lagging behind the other kids as they made their way across the school.

"Hey," one kid, who looked like he had flunked a few times to be in elementary school, said to his friends. "Look at the baby."

"I'm not a baby," Dean mumbled, tiny fingers clenching into a fist.

"Yeah you are," one of the friends declared. "You only come up to my knees."

"I'm not a baby," Dean said again, but this time angrier.

"What are you going to do about? Cry?"

At that moment, Dean would have liked to do that, but he wasn't about to let those kids know it. He realized his class was out of sight and hurried down the hall in the direction he had last seen them going. He let lose a yelp as two hands grabbed him under each arm, and lifted him off the ground.

"Put me down!" he commanded, terrified of this large child who was holding him so far off the ground.

"This kid doesn't weigh nothing," the one who had picked him up said. He let go with one hand, and let the terrified kindergartener dangle by one skinny arm.

"Put me down!" he said, tears running down his cheeks. "You're hurting me! Put me down!"

Finally, Dean had a bit of luck as the principal rounded the corner. "Put that little boy down," he commanded loudly, and the bullies obeyed quickly. Dean sat on the ground, sobbing with pain, but mostly just fear.

The large man gently picked up the freckle faced boy and gestured for the problematic students to follow him. He dropped Dean off in the nurse's office before taking the three older boys too his office. John was called and he nearly exploded once he heard what had happened.

He forced himself to calm down as he made his way out of the hotel room with Sammy on his hip and into the Impala, not wanting to express his rage on the public road. But when he saw the tear stained, sniffling face of his oldest son, the anger returned and he could barely speak as he handed Sammy off to Dean, who had to settle for just hold onto Sam's hand, as he was too small to actually hold him.

"I'm very sorry for what happened here today," the principal apologized. "The students are being expelled; this was their final chance at this school."

"I'm still not sure I want Dean at this school," John stated. "If the teacher pays as much attention to him as she did today, then anything could happen."

The principal nodded understandingly. "My son was born premature as well, and I worried about him all the time. He was picked on for his size, but he made friends who were bigger, and looked out for him. I understand if you want to transfer him to a different school, but I think it would be better for everyone if he stayed here so he won't have to deal with the anxiety of starting a new school twice within a week. If you wish, we could move him to a smaller class so the teacher could pay more attention to him."

John was hesitant to agree, but eventually he did. He took his boys home for the evening and the next day Dean was in a new classroom.