I wrote this story as prompt challenge on LJ and I decided to add a bit and post it here too.
Prompts: Ruler, Insomnia, Dream, Bullying, Personal angel, Holds you tight, De-Aged, Treasure Hunting, and the 5 Ps (proper planning prevents poor performance).
Treasure hunting has never really been Dean's thing. He actually hated looking through old things to find some sort of diamond in the rough, but this time was different he had to find it or Sammy would die. He was going to keep digging through what Bobby called treasures and Dean called old crap, to find something to save Sammy's life.
To be honest he was ready to kick his little brother's ass for this or maybe Kae's ass for this, probably both. They both were equally to blame, but Sam was the one who was paying for it. Not in a painful manner yet, but soon enough the kid would fade into nonexistence.
Dean looked outside to check on Sammy and Kae once again. It was weird seeing the six year old de-aged Sammy pumping his legs back and forth on the swing trying to mimic nine year old Kae. Sammy wasn't as fast or high as Kae, but at least it was keeping the two of them busy for now.
Dean's phone rang for the tenth time in a row and like before Dean ignored it, knowing who the caller was and really not wanting to talk to the man about this or anything else. John Winchester would be pissed that Sammy had gone after the coven of witches on their own, but he would be even more pissed off that instead of watching his little brother and adopted sister, Dean had decided that he needed to go out with a hot little waitress, name Daisy Benson not bothering coming home because he was otherwise engaged for the night. To make matters worse he put his phone on vibrate and missed Sammy's phone calls that night.
"Your Daddy isn't a stupid man, Dean. He's gonna know something is wrong," Bobby said.
"I don't know what to tell him Bobby," Dean practically whined.
"How about the truth, ya idjit," Bobby said incredulously.
"The truth will lead to an ass kicking of epic proportions for all of us," Dean said.
"The ass kicking's coming if you want it or not. You're just delaying the inevitable and making it worse," Bobby warned.
"I guess," Dean said as his phone vibrated again alerting him to another voicemail. He had just deleted the last nine without listening to them. Maybe it was time to face the music.
"At least listen to the voicemail. I'll keep searching," Bobby said.
Dean sighed and walked into the kitchen to listen to the voicemail. He held the phone out as he listened to his father bellow,
"Dean, you better be praying to your personal angel right about now, but I doubt even he'll be able to save your ass at this point! I don't know what you are doing or who you are doing it with, but if I don't get a call back in the next five minute I swear on everything holy that you won't be able to sit for a month and the Impala will be gone for at least six. Got it? Good. Call me back right now!"
Dean took a deep breath and hit one on his speed dial.
"You better have one hell of a story Dean," John growled.
"Not one that you'll like," Dean admitted.
"What the hell's going on? Where are you? Where are Sammy and Kae?"
"Bobby's."
"I left you in Kentucky," John snarled.
"Sammy and Kae went after a coven of witches and Sammy's been de-aged. It happened slowly and of course they didn't tell me what happened, until it was obvious. I hauled ass to Bobby's to find a cure."
"How old is he?"
"Six or seven, but I'm not sure. Dad, I'm sorry," Dean said.
"Not as sorry as you're going to be when I get there and we get everything straightened out. Is Sammy still de-aging or has he hit a plateau?"
"Every day, he becomes about a year younger," Dean admitted.
"It's been going on for over a week and you didn't tell me?" John roared.
"I was hoping to fix it, Dad," Dean whined.
"That means we have about five days left. Damn it Dean. Let me talk to Bobby now," John said.
"Yes, sir," Dean walked into the other room and handed Bobby the phone.
He looked out the window and saw Sammy and Kae fighting about something again. The younger Sammy got the more they fought. Dean guessed it was because they were so alike. When he saw Kae was holding an army man just out of Sammy's reach and Sammy was trying like mad to get it, he decided to go out there before things got ugly.
"Kaelyn, what the fuck?" Dean asked, hating seeing his little brother cry. He grabbed the army man and handed it to the crying six year old.
"Nothing," Kae said.
"You said 'fuck', Daddy doesn't let you say that, Dean," Sammy said with big eyes.
Dean forgot how innocent Sammy was at that age, he didn't know anything about the supernatural and he thought the world revolved around his Dad and Dean.
"Sorry Sammy, don't tell Dad ok? Why don't you go back on the swing Bobby made," Dean said. Pointing to the homemade swings tied to one of Bobby's trees.
"Ok, Dean," Sammy said and stuck his tongue out at Kae.
"Kaelyn, come on," Dean said grabbing her arm. The minute they were out of the six year old's hearing, "What the fuck, Kaelyn?"
"He was being a brat, so I took the toy away," Kae pouted.
"Kaelyn, he's younger than you now and you can't be mean to him. He doesn't understand."
"Dean, less than a week ago Sammy swatted me for being a brat and Sammy was just being a brat, you said I can't swat him, so I just took away a toy for a second," Kae pouted again.
"Look, there's a difference between bullying and disciplining. You were bullying him by taking away the toy and holding it out of his reach. When you refused to do your homework because you wanted to watch TV, the swats Sammy gave you were discipline. What was Sammy doing?"
"He called me a poo poo face because I wouldn't push him on the swing," Kae groused.
She knew it was stupid, but she wasn't going to take that from a six year old even if that six year old was Sammy. Dean laughed for the first time in days. He forgot that Sammy loved to call people poo poo face when he was mad at them or didn't get his way. John let it go until Sammy decided to call his teacher a poo poo face. That night John washed Sammy's mouth out with soap and told him if the words poo poo face left his mouth again he would get a spanking. At six the threat of a spanking was more than enough to cure Sammy of his poo poo face phase.
"It's not funny, Dean."
"Sorry, just remembering the good old days with Sammy. I get it, when he said shit like that to me I got pissed too, but right now you're the oldest, so you need to take care of Sammy. Got it?"
"Alright, but he better not call me a poo poo face again or…"
"You'll do absolutely nothing, because the next time I come out her your little butt is going to pay."
"What about Sammy?"
"I'll worry about Sammy."
"Fine. Dean, when's Sammy going to be real Sammy again?"
"I don't know. Dad's coming, so we should figure it out soon."
"Dad's coming? Dean you promised, he's gonna kill us."
"Yeah, all of us," Dean said not bothering to feel bad at the panicked look on her face until tears started to spill over. He pulled her into a hug and added, "It'll be ok. I promise. Go play with Sammy and be good. Ok?"
"Ok," Kae said running back towards the makeshift swing set.
Sammy started to giggle wildly when she started pushing him and the sound made Dean smile as he walked back into the house.
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John walked into Bobby's house at one in the morning. At times it was a blessing to suffer from insomnia, but when he looked in on his boys he wished that it was a dream. Sammy wasn't the gangly teenager that he'd left two weeks ago, but a sleeping baby faced five year old. Dean on the other hand seemed to be suffering from his own guilt ridden insomnia.
"Dean, you really should get some sleep," John said when he noticed that his eldest was still awake.
"I'm so sorry, Dad," Dean said as he got out of bed and actually threw himself into his Dad's arms sobbing.
"Come on kiddo, it's not that bad," John said trying to calm the kid down. "Let's go downstairs and talk. I don't want to wake up Sammy and Kae."
John led the sobbing boy into the kitchen where Bobby was still sitting with a cup of coffee.
"Dean, calm down," John ordered as he held him tight.
"It's my fault. What if Sammy dies?" Dean said desperately trying to follow his father's order.
"Sammy isn't going to die," John said confidently.
"What happens if we don't find the counter curse before he becomes a baby?"
"We'll find it, Dean," John said. He had already made a ton of calls and if he had to he would make a deal. He would never let one of children die before him, because he couldn't live without them. Going to hell would be a lot easier. "Now, I need you on your game tomorrow so get your ass in bed and get some sleep."
"Yes, sir."
John watched his son walk up the stairs and glared at his friend.
"What the hell, Bobby? You should have called me the minute the kids showed up."
"John, I wanted to give the boy a chance to call you himself. I also knew you needed to get that shape shifter."
"Bobby…"
"Look, John we can argue all night about what I should've done or you can shut the hell up and help me find the counter curse."
John walked to the counter grabbed a cup of coffee and got to work. Six hours later a cherub faced five year old Sammy made his way into the kitchen. The minute he saw his father he screamed,
"DADDY!"
John held out his arms and held his little boy tight. John was cherishing this moment, Sammy was to a point in his life where he wasn't the holds you tight kind of kid anymore. Sam was more of the piss and moan variety.
"What do you want for breakfast, kiddo?" John asked.
"Lucky Charms," Sammy said smiling brightly. This was so surreal for John, he remembered these conversations like they were yesterday, yet he knew Sammy hadn't been five for over ten years.
John enjoyed his breakfast with his now youngest, before the other two showed their faces. Even knowing that John was going to kick her ass, Kae was happy to see her Dad. She was still at the age where she thought he could fix everything.
"Hi Dad," Kae said smiling and running into John's open arms.
"Daddy, Dean says Kae's my sister. I don't remember having a sister," Sammy said.
"Well you do," John said simply. He remembered quickly that five year old Sammy didn't know about the supernatural, so he wasn't about to explain it to him.
"She's bossy and a tattletale," Sam whined.
John chuckled, because only a week ago Kae was saying the same thing about Sammy.
"That's because you don't listen," Kae said making John, Bobby, and Dean snort, wasn't that the pot calling the kettle black. "What? It's true."
"Same could be said about you, kiddo," John said smiling, "Alright, you two go play outside. We have a lot of work to do in here."
Sam and Kae took off towards that swings laughing. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to let Sam stay five. He was a lot easier to deal with and had a lot less angst than his usual teenaged self.
It took three more days for them to find the counter curse. Sam was in diapers by that point. As John got him ready for bed and took the huge hug from his now two year old son. He was going to miss this. John said the counter curse as Sam drifted off to sleep.
"I'm going to fucking kill you!" Sam screamed as he chased Kaelyn into the kitchen. Kae was hiding behind Dean as John walked into the kitchen.
"It wasn't my fault," Kae tried.
"The hell it wasn't. You shouldn't have gone there in the first place. I was in fucking diapers! Diapers, because of you!"
"You were in diapers because of your stupid girlfriend and her coven bitches."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Dean demanded no longer being the shield between the fifteen year old and nine year old. Sam dove towards Kae and she duck out of his reach.
"Samuel, stop it right now!" John ordered. Sam stopped and glared at his father. He was pissed at everyone. They treated him like a little kid for over a week. They put him in diapers for Christ's sake! He was fifteen. "I want the whole story. Start to finish."
The four sat at the table, Bobby joining them after getting John and himself a cup of coffee.
"Morgan's a witch," Sam started.
Sam had been dating Morgan for about a month. She was beautiful cheerleader with long brown hair and hazel eyes. He was smitten from day one. At first everything was fine, but Kae noticed little things every time Morgan came to visit. She had this odd look about her and Kae felt that there was something supernatural going on, but every time she mentioned it to Dean or Sam they shut her down.
"Dean wouldn't listen to me. I understand why Sammy wouldn't because he wanted to well you know, and she had the sex thing going for her," Kae said rolling her eyes.
Bobby shook his head. The words sex thing coming out of a nine year olds mouth was just plain wrong.
"First you said she was a demon. Then you said she was a werewolf, what was I supposed to think? I thought you were being a brat," Dean said.
"Whatever Dean, I didn't know what a witch felt like at the time. I only knew something was up and I was right," Kae said triumphantly.
"Ok Sammy's girlfriend was a witch, but how did Samuel end up getting de-aged?" John asked angrily.
"Kae decided to spy on her. She waited until Dean was on his date because he grounded her the night before for…"
"God, Sammy you don't have to tell Dad everything," Kae complained.
"Yes he does, Kaelyn," John ground out.
"She wouldn't do her homework and poured holy water on Morgan, so Dean grounded her," Sam smirked. "I caught her sneaking out of the window and followed her. I figured I'd see what she was up to, so I could give you a full report."
"Meaning you wanted to see how much trouble you could get me in," Kae complained again.
"You're the one not following the five frigging P's," Sam taunted.
"You know what Sammy, fuck off. I was right and proper planning didn't prevent poor performance only because you got in the way. My plan was to get proof and nothing else, but you had to yell at me and interrupt their ritual," Kae said and turned her own smirk at Sammy before saying, "Sammy's hot little girlfriend's actually a sixty year old woman, who liked using spells to turn back the clock."
Dean looked at his brother in shock. He didn't know the half of this. All they said was that they fought some witches and the witches hit Sammy with a de-aging curse.
"So, how did Sammy get hit?" John asked.
"I was standing by the window watching what was going on inside and Sam grabbed my arm, pulled me away from the house, and started spanking me with a damn ruler. It really hurt, so I started yelling at him and the witches came out. They didn't realize that I was watching."
"Why didn't you leave?" John asked.
"We did, but I got worried about Morgan. I didn't know she was the witch. I thought they were doing stuff to her. We went home to wait for Dean, but Dean didn't come home. We waited and I called, finally I couldn't take it anymore. So, I decided to go check on Morgan by breaking into the witch's house."
"Without a plan and he said I don't follow the five P's," Kae said. "This time I followed Sammy, because I was worried about him."
"I broke in through the back door and made my way to what I thought would be Morgan's room. Instead there was an altar. I turned around and saw a younger version of the old lady. She had Morgan's eyes, that's when I knew she was a witch," Sam said looking down. "Kae came in right that and of course she couldn't keep her damn mouth shut and the witch tried to hit her with a spell, but I dove in front of her. Kae knocked the witch out and we took off."
"We ran all the way home and they didn't follow us. We looked for spells to protect us from the witches and warded the house against them."
"We decided to go to bed because I felt ok, but I wrote down the spell the minute I got home, just in case," Sam said trying to prove that he wasn't a complete idiot about the entire affair.
"Why didn't you tell Dean what happened in the morning?" John asked.
"I really didn't feel all that different, except that my clothes were a little big," Sam said.
John and Dean both grunted at the obvious. Both would have known immediately what the witch had done if Sam and Kae had been honest about the events from the night before.
"Sam and Kae head up to your rooms. I'll be there shortly," John said looking at his two youngest with grim determination.
The minute they were out of the room John glared at his eldest and asked.
"What time did I tell you to be home that night?"
"Midnight," Dean said not bothering to look up, but at midnight Daisy had him totally occupied and there was no way he was going to leave. After he was just too damn tired and fell asleep. He made it home before school and got the kids ready so that should have counted for something, not that he was going to say any of this to his father right now.
"Bobby, would you excuse us for a minute," John said.
Bobby didn't need to be told twice and grimaced as he watched his friend unbuckle his belt.
"Dean, if you would have been home by your curfew none of this would have happened. You wouldn't have let your brother go back over to the witch's house until you spoke to me and we would have handled the situation together."
"I know Dad," Dean conceded.
"The not answering the cell phone though really pisses me off. You have it for a reason, kiddo and I know at nineteen the last thing you want to be doing is watching out for your siblings, but that's your job."
"I'm really sorry about that," Dean said looking down.
"Let's get this over with," John said sitting back down and patting his thigh. "Jeans and boxers kiddo."
The minute Dean was across John's lap he made sure that the boy would think three maybe four times before doing this again.
"Dad…Please…" Dean started to beg when he realized that the man hadn't even picked up the belt yet.
"You're getting ten, one for every time you didn't pick up the phone."
Dean was a sobbing mess when his father was done with him. John pulled the boy into a hug, rubbing his back as he calmed. Dean knew his butt was glowing and that sitting down would be next to impossible for at least a week. It couldn't get any worse, except when it did,
"You're spanking Kae. She broke your grounding on your watch," John said.
"Dad, you can't be serious," Dean whined. He hated spanking Kae and he would have to sit to do it. Shit this night couldn't get any worse, except it did again with his Dad's next sentence.
"I'm absolutely serious, plus you're grounded for a month and the Impala is off limits for two with the exception of family business."
"Dad," Dean whined again.
"Next time do as you're told and answer your damn phone," John said walking towards the stairs. "Don't make Kae wait all night because you're pouting."
Dean glared at his father's retreating back.
"Told you to answer the damn phone, ya idjit," Bobby said patting the kid on the back. "You want my spoon?"
"Nope, old school hand to ass works well with Kae and I'm not making her feel this bad no matter how mad I am," Dean said walking up the stairs.
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John knocked once on his son's bedroom door and wasn't surprised to see Sammy sitting at the table working on homework. He was so engrossed in the work that he didn't even hear the slight tap or acknowledge that his father was in the room. The boy was probably frantic being almost a week behind. John also knew he really needed to talk to his son. Sammy really liked Morgan and he knew this had to hurt.
"Alright kiddo, let's get this over with," John said.
"Dad, I was trying to save my girlfriend, I didn't know that she was the witch. This isn't really my fault and I shouldn't get punished for it. In fact, I was already punished by being de-aged," Sam tried.
"Samuel, you went into a witch's house unprepared and without back up. Hell, you didn't even tell Kae where you were going. You could have been killed," John said.
"Dad, I was trying to save…"
"Sammy, we don't go into a situation no matter what without the proper safeguards and you know it. It puts not only yourself but everyone else in danger."
"Yes, sir," Sam conceded making his way to the bed that was when he noticed a strange object sitting next to his father. "Um Dad, why do you have a ruler sitting next to you?"
"The paddle and brush are at home and since you felt it was a good spanking implement, I thought I would try it out for myself."
"Dad, mine wasn't that thick," Sam tried. The thing was made of hard wood and was at least two inches thick, it looked absolutely evil.
"Well, I think Bobby's is a bit older and wasn't bought at the 99 Cent store," John said.
"Guess, that explains it," Sam grumbled unfastening his jeans and pulling them down. He didn't need to wait for his Dad to tell him, he know he wouldn't get to keep them on tonight.
John helped his son over his knee, pulled down his boxers, and started spanking hard. As soon as Sammy's butt was nice and red he picked up the ruler saying,
"You know better than to go on a hunt unprepared."
Sam was already sobbing but when the ruler made contact with his already inflamed butt his struggles and sobbing increased tenfold along with the pain in his ass. He couldn't believe how much that stupid twelve inch piece of wood hurt. It was worse than the brush but maybe not as bad as the paddle. Second stroke pushed that thought away, he would take the damn paddle over this monster of a thing any day. He had to make his Dad stop. There was no way he could take much more.
"Dad…Please…Stop…"
"Three more and we're done kiddo," John said tilting Sammy forward to attack the sensitive area between his thighs and butt.
"DAD…Please… Not…OW!" Sam tried as the twelve inch demon fell hard on his sit spots and the next two just upped the ante to a whole new level, Sam was convinced that his sitting days were over. When he finally realized that the spanking was over, Sam made a vow to destroy all rulers in his house because there was no way his Dad was ever going to have access to one for a spanking again if Sam had anything to say about it.
John held his sobbing son until he cried himself out.
"You realize that I have to go after Morgan," John said softly into his son's long hair.
"Yeah, but you aren't going to kill her are you?"
"No, just bind her powers a bit. Did…"
"No, nothing happened besides kissing Dad. I don't want to talk about it," Sam said trying not to be grossed out by the whole ordeal.
"Ok, Sammy. It's going to be ok," John said making his son cry again.
"I really liked her, Dad," Sam said crying out the loss of his first real girlfriend into his father's strong chest.
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Dean sighed as he walked into Kae's bedroom. He really didn't want to do this, but Dad was right it was his watch and his grounding that Kae had broken. He knocked on the door and walked in.
"Where's Dad?" Kae asked.
"My watch, my punishment, you know that," Dean said.
"Dean, I couldn't…"
"Save it. You broke your grounding, went after something that you knew was supernatural without backup, and you didn't know when to shut your mouth when you were dealing with a witch which caused Sammy to be hit by a spell. Do you realize that if Sammy hadn't taken the hit you would be dead? You're nine and it took us thirteen days to find the counter spell. Do the math kiddo, that's four days past your expiration date," Dean said.
"We wouldn't have gone there if you would have come home," Kae spat.
"Yeah and Dad just beat my ass for it. Now quit stalling and get over here," Dean said sitting on the bed with a hiss of pain. Damn his Dad laid into him good this time.
Kae walked over pouting the entire way. Dean pulled her over his lap and pulled down her pajamas. Thinking for a second, he decided to go bare this time. She really needed to start listening to him.
"NO! DEAN PLEASE," Kae yelled as he pulled down her panties.
"Kae, this is serious," Dean said and started spanking hard. Harder than the last time he spanked her because this time she could have died.
Kae started crying on the third swat, but Dean decided to tune her out and focus on the job at hand. Once her bottom was a bright red he stopped and quickly pulled up her underwear and pajamas. He couldn't bear to look at the damage he had caused. He also pulled her into a hug as she cried herself out.
"Sorry, Dean."
"I know kiddo, it's ok."
"What the hell is Dad spanking Sammy with?" Kae asked.
"A ruler, fair is fair after all."
Kae laughed because that damn ruler hurt.
