This is my first story so please be gentle with criticism. I want to thank in advance Potzy375, my ever wonderful and loving friend, for helping me in correcting my mistakes because there were many. Enjoy.

Summary: Sam is developing his powers faster than the demons have anticipated. They decided Sam would suit their needs better if he was raised by them; however monkey wrenches love popping up in developing plans.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Supernatural.

Raised By The Unknown

Chapter 1: Differences

The rain was coming down harder than ever. Lightning lit up the dark Californian sky, illuminating everything in pale yellow. Thunder soon followed the lightning with a deafening boom. Dean pulled his brother closer. He knew his baby brother was having a hard time remaining silent. Little Sammy never did care for thunder, even though he loved the rain.

Dean let a small sigh escape his lips as Sammy woke from yet another nightmare. Sam normally had a nightmare now and then, but lately Dean noticed him having them more frequently. Usually Sammy just went back to sleep after calming down, but the storm outside keep him from doing so.

Sammy moved slightly and looked up at Dean. "Dee, when will dad be back home?" Sam whispered.

Dean sighed again, "Dad only left two days ago, Sammy. He said he would be gone for five. You do the math." Even though his tone was indifferent Dean laid his arm across Sam to comfort him.

Sam glanced up at the clock noticing that it was only one in the morning. He mumbled to himself, before responding, "Dad will be back in 53 hours if he comes home at five, then?" Sam snuggled closer to Dean, confident in his math abilities.

"Sure, Sammy." Dean answered not bothering to figure the hours himself. He knew Sam was probably right anyway.

Dean glanced down at his little brother's dark curls. He also knew Sammy was different than any three year old and it wasn't just because Sam knew about what really lurked in the dark. Sam liked books instead of television, which in Dean's mind was borderline crazy. Sam shied away from random people. At first Dean chalked it up to Sam just being shy, but it felt different somehow. He shied away from people with different backgrounds. One day it would be a businessman walking by or a lady sitting on a bench. The next day it would be an elderly person.

Sam also had terrible nightmares, nightmares that would make him silent for hours after waking up. He would comfort Sam by saying that dreams weren't real and that they couldn't hurt him, but once again he wasn't sure if Sam's dreams were normal. As Dean thought about Sam's dreams, he could remember Sammy telling him about one. Sam said that a monster was being mean to people inside 'its' house. Dean didn't think much about it until he found a newspaper clipping of people turning up dead in a house across town in their dad's room. Dean had glanced at the date and wondered how Sam could have had a nightmare about people dying in a house two days before the newspaper was even printed.

Sam shifted slightly under their covers. After a few moments he quietly asked, "Dee?"

"Yeah?" Dean responded breaking away from his thoughts about Sam.

"Can we go to the park tomorrow?"

"You know that Dad doesn't like us going out, Sammy."

"Please?" Sam turned his head so that Dean would feel the full force of his puppy dog eyes. He knew Dean couldn't resist him when he used them.

Dean tried to avoid looking into Sam's big hazel eyes. "What if it's still raining?"

"I don't mind the rain. I just don't like the thunder." Sam pulled on Dean's amulet to make him look down at him.

"Fine," Dean relented, "If you're good tomorrow."

"Thanks Dee."

"Yeah, Yeah. Try and get some sleep tonight, Sammy."

Sam replied with a smile plastered to his face, "Ok." He remained quiet the rest of the night, as his mind was preoccupied with thoughts of going to the park tomorrow.

Dean readjusted his pajamas and amulet. He began to remember how he got it. It was over a year ago. Their dad had wanted to stop at a mumbo jumbo shop to pick up some supernatural doohickey.

Dean carried Sammy in and set him on the floor. He was in charge of watching his brother but got distracted by the little bottles on the shelves. Some were full of multi-colored liquids; don't ask how you can have a multi-colored liquid, while others had herbs. Dean glanced down and noticing that Sam was gone he began to panic. He raced around the store desperately searching for his baby brother.

Bang!

Dean froze for a second before running towards the sound. As he turned down the next aisle he saw Sammy in a pile of necklaces. "Jeez, Sam, look what you did!"

Little Sammy looked up at Dean and smiled. He raised his arms up in a gesture that could only mean, 'pick me up'. Dean complied but set him down a foot away from his mess so he couldn't make it worse.

"Dean?" John walked towards his boys.

"Sorry, Dad. I let Sam out of my sight for a second."

John sighed rubbing his face. "Just make sure you clean this up. I'll be done in a few minutes."

"Ok," Dean replied, before glancing over at Sam who was watching their dad walk away. "You almost got me in trouble, Sammy," He said as he started to clean up the mess.

Sammy looked at him and giggled. Dean looked up and saw Sam holding one of the necklaces. With a frown he reached over to grab the necklace to put it back. However, as he did Sam refused to let go.

"Sammy, we don't need a stupid necklace. Give it to me," Dean said. Sam began to whimper. "Come on, Sam."

"They aren't stupid necklaces you know."

Dean jumped a little and spun around taking a defensive position between Sam and the new voice.

A little blond haired girl giggled. She was wearing faded blue jeans and a blue and white shirt with butterflies. "They are actually powerful protective amulets. Your baby brother probably wants to keep you safe."

"Who are you?" Dean questioned. He hadn't released his defensive stance.

"My name's Jo. My mommy and your daddy and the store person are talking about some stuff," Jo answered as she took a step closer. Dean took a step back. "You're funny," she giggled. She bent down, cleaned up Sam's mess, and without another word turned around and walked away.

Dean dropped his stance thinking, 'you can't be too careful around girls. They have cooties.' He turned and picked up Sam. Sam giggled again and gave Dean the amulet. "Thanks for watching out for me Sammy," Dean whispered sarcastically.

The next morning the sky was still stormy, but the thunder and lightning had stopped, much to Sam's relief. Now the soft pattering of the rain could be heard on the kitchen window. Today was a great Saturday morning in Sam's opinion. The light rain along with the chance of going to the park was helping Sam relax after having his recent nightmare.

As he recalled his nightmare Sam shuddered slightly. He remembered people with strange eyes towering over him. Like an abyss, their eyes were black and empty. The black-eyed people didn't stay long before they were replaced by a slightly more comforting group. Although hoods had covered their faces, Sam could tell the white and red robed people were good.

"Get over here and eat your cereal Sam," Dean called.

Pulled out of his thoughts Sam turned around and said, "In a minute." Sam turned back towards the window to watch the rain. The raindrops ran off the big green leaves on the maple tree in the front yard in a rhythmic pattern that was calming to Sam. He noticed that the puddles were never still as the raindrops fell causing them to ripple chaotically. Sam sighed, turned, and walked back to the table to finish his cheerios as the rain slowed from a steady fall to a light drizzle.

Dean glanced up at Sam and then out the window. "Looks like the rain will stop in the afternoon. We can go then." Sam looked up at Dean, his face instantly lit up. "You have to finish your cereal though," Dean added quickly.

Sam picked up his spoon and replied, "I know." He began eating his cheerios with renewed vigor. After finishing his cereal in record time, he placed his bowl in the sink and announced happily with a smile, "Done!"

"I can see that," Dean smiled in return and then thought, 'Boy, is my little brother goofy.'

"Sammy, you ready?" Dean called down the hallway before grabbing his old brown coat and shoving his arms in the sleeves.

"Hold on," Sam replied from the bedroom. He looked at their family photo. It had his dad, his mom, his brother, and his newborn self. A tree and their old house were in the background. Sam touched his mom's face, folded the picture, and shoved it in his pocket.

"Come on, Sammy." Dean watched him come out of their room with his coat. Sam handed his blue coat to Dean and he helped him put it on. Dean opened the door and looked back. Sam hadn't moved. Instead he stood in the middle of the living room looking pale and worried. "You ok, Sam?"

Sam looked down at his feet. "Yeah."

"Then let's go." When Sam didn't move he asked, "What are you worried about?"

"I don't know." Sam shrugged and shuffled his shoes. "I just have a bad feeling."

Dean kneeled down so that his face was level with Sam's. "If you don't want to go to the park that's fine, we can do something else."

"No, I want to go." Sam said and then walked around Dean and out the door.

The boys had four blocks to walk. Dean noticed that the sun had come out and was brightly shining. The birds had even begun to chirp. "Looks like it will be a nice day," Dean said trying to make conversation. Sam remained silent.

After the first block Sam spoke up. "Dee?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I hold your hand?"

"Umm…sure," Dean answered. Sam grabbed Dean's hand in a vice grip.

As the boys approached the park, Dean looked around and thought that there were a lot of people out today. He noticed a mother and her son in the park. The mom had golden blond hair that reminded him of his mom. He stared until Sam tugged on his sleeve. He looked down at Sam and said, "They seem nice enough. How about you play with that boy?" Sam said nothing, only looked at Dean.

He led Sam to the sand box where the blonde haired boy, who looked to be about four, was playing. The boy looked up and smiled. He said, "Want to play with me?"

Sam shied away from the boy and hid behind Dean not letting go of his hand. Dean stepped out of the way and said, "It's ok Sammy. You can play with him. I will be over on the bench by his mom." Dean forced Sam to let go and gave him a small nudge. Sam turned to look back at Dean and gave a slight nod.

Dean walked towards the bench. He passed the jumbo swing set and sat by the boy's mom. She was pretty but not as pretty as his mom.

"Well hello there," the woman said. "My name is Kassie. Is that your little brother?" She pointed to Sam.

"Yeah," Dean answered.

"So, what are your names?"

Dean was a little nervous about telling her. His dad told him never to give out their real names to strangers, but he thought that Kassie seemed nice enough. She brought her son to the park. "My name's Dean and that's Sammy."

"His name is Sammy? That's a very good name, special even." she smiled once more and looked out past Dean.

Dean turned around to see what she was looking at. When he saw nothing he turned back to talk to her but she was gone. Dean stood up and looked around. "Kassie?" He ran to where Sam was playing and froze. All Dean saw was a shovel sticking out of the sandbox. He started to panic. "Sam?" He spun around and scanned the entire area. "SAMMY!"

There was no reply; even the birds had stopped their joyful melodies. The park, once so warm and inviting had turned cold and lifeless. He tilted his head back to look at the sky. 'When had the storm clouds come back?' he wondered. Thunder rumbled and the sky opened to let the rain fall once more. The drops hid the fact that tears were forming in his eyes.

Mothers grabbed their children and ran for cover from the rain. Dean was alone in the park. He fell to his knees in the wet grass. Sammy…his baby brother…was gone…and he let it happen. "Sam…?"

So…good or bad? I plan on starting out with little Sammy in the first scene of the next chapter. Please review.