Dean watched as his father left- again.
This was the third time that John had left Dean alone with Sammy for a few days while he went off hunting.
Dean knew that his dad could track the monsters better when he was alone, and this way Dean and Sam weren't in as much danger. But even though Dean pretended not to mind, he didn't want his dad to leave.
A few days wasn't so bad. That was what John reasoned, and Dean didn't want to disagree. But he still didn't really know how to look after his brother properly.
The last time John left, Sam had spilled his apple juice all over his only pair of jeans just before he was about to leave for school, and then he started to cry. Dean felt so helpless. He tried to calm Sammy down, but he didn't know how to clean the jeans and anyway, there was no time. Sam had to go through the three days with dirty jeans, until John came back and cleaned them in the sink. Dean never told his father the full story of what had happened.
Dean knew that John thought he was capable of managing by himself for a few days, so he tried not to let his dad down. But the truth was, he could barely cook the food John left them, even though it was normally just pasta.
And he still wasn't very good at getting Sammy dressed, brushing his teeth, or giving him a bath.
Besides, he had to stand on a chair to reach the top bolt on the door. He just wasn't able.
Dean resisted the urge to cry as he heard the Impala leaving outside the motel. He was a big boy now, eight years old. Big boys don't cry.
Dean turned to his little brother, who was curled up on the couch, after falling asleep while watching TV.
With a sigh, Dean turned off the television and got ready for bed. He then pulled his duvet off his bed and curled up next to his brother, making sure Sammy got enough of the blanket.
"Night night Sammy," Dean whispered into the darkness. He then placed his head on his brother's shoulder and slowly slipped into sleep.
The next morning Dean woke when his little brother stirred awake underneath him.
"Morning Dee," Sammy mumbled, blinking his eyes awake. They then opened wide with realisation.
"Is daddy gone again?" He started to cry.
Dean jumped up and looked at his little brother. "'Course not Sammy. He just left to get some milk."
His brother continued to cry. "No he didn't, he left us again."
Dean looked at his bawling little brother and started to panic. He had no idea how to calm him down.
"Please Sammy, just stop crying. I promise you can have Coco Pops for breakfast, your favourite." Sam continued to sob hysterically.
"And I'll buy you sweets from that shop we saw last night on the way home from school!" Dean added desperately.
Sam stopped crying and looked at his brother.
"You promise?" He sniffed.
"I promise."
"Ok." Sam got up off the couch and looked at his brother expectantly. Dean gave a sigh of relief and went to make cereal for both of them, making sure Sammy got the bowl with the most Coco Pops.
The rest of the morning passed with no more instances, and Dean was able to bribe his brother to hurry up and get ready with the promise of sweets. The only problem was that Dean didn't have any money.
He pondered all through breakfast how he was going to get it. With a sinking heart he realised that he'd have to steal the money. But how?
Dean thought about it further as he walked Sammy to Pre K, nodding at his brother's four-year-old chatter but not actually paying attention.
At lunch that day Dean got lucky- he had a packed lunch, but one of the kids that was paying left her purse on the table when she went to the bathroom. Dean made sure no one was looking before he pulled it under the table and checked inside quickly.
He would have felt too guilty to take anything if there had only been a few dollars. But there was plenty of money- her parents must have given her enough for a week or two of dinners so they didn't have to keep paying her every morning. Dean knew that by the amount of money in the purse that the girl's parents wouldn't even miss the money. Even so, he felt guilty as he took five dollar bills from the purse and with a quick glance around placed it back on the table. He consoled himself with the thought of how happy Sammy would be when he saw all the cola bottles.
"DEAN!" Sam lept off the swing and ran towards his brother, hugging him tightly.
"I missed you," he mumbled into Dean's chest.
"I missed you too Sammy. How was school?"
"Miss Cassidy taught us a new song." Sam grinned brightly. "You want me to sing it for you?"
"Maybe later. You want those sweets now?"
"YA!" Sam ran ahead, grabbing his brother's hand and pulling him along. "Hurry up Dean! I want sweets!"
Dean laughed at his little brother, but couldn't help being hit by the fact that Sam had been in that playground for hours all by himself. He must have been near tears.
Dean knew they'd have to be quick in the shop, or else he wouldn't have enough time to do research in the library like dad wanted him to. It closed at five, he'd checked, and it was already quarter past three.
"C'mere Sammy, give me your school bag." The two boys chattered happily until they reached the small shop.
It wasn't a sweet shop, just a regular shop, but it did have a pick-a-mix, with bonbons of all flavours, jelly babies, cola bottles, cherry sweets, strawberry sweets, and liquorice sticks.
Sammy looked at the stand with wide eyes- there was only a dozen different kinds of sweets, but the four-year-old had never gotten anything like this from his father. Dean couldn't even remember the last time John had gotten them ice cream, or a bar of chocolate. Never probably. Not since the fire.
Dean still had nightmares about it sometimes. He remembered how happy and peaceful he'd been that evening, saying goodnight to Sammy and then mom had tucked him into bed and sang Hey Jude, just like she did every single night. And Dean had snuggled into bed and drifted off to sleep, peaceful and happy.
But then mom had screamed, which woke Dean up. And then dad's footsteps had pounded up the stairs, and then dad was yelling and Sammy was crying and there was a strange smell so Dean went to investigate and suddenly there was fire everywhere and he was clutching Sammy tightly. And then they were outside and Dean didn't know where mom was.
Dean shook off the memory. He had nightmares about it enough nights, even four years later. He didn't need to think about it now.
"'Cmon Sammy," Dean told his little brother, handing him a plastic bag, "Fill this with whatever you want."
Sam had soon filled the bag ridiculously full with a huge amount of sweets. Dean couldn't blame the kid, Sammy was in heaven. Even so, the plastic bag was filled to the brim with sweets. Dean had a lot of money, but he didn't know how much Sam's huge bag would cost.
"That'll be five dollars, twenty-three cents."
Dean looked at the cashier in alarm. "I'm sorry ma'am, but I only have five dollars."
The woman looked down at the small boy. He was so young, her heart melted. Surely he should have a parent with him? "That's alright, five dollars will do."
They thanked her and left, Dean breathing a sigh of relief. He'd expected it to be two or three dollars maybe, not five.
Sam reached to take the first sweet from the bag, beaming ear to ear as he rifled through it and picked a cola bottle.
Dean grinned to himself. He might have stolen to get these, and stealing wasn't exactly something he agreed with, but looking at Sam now it was worth it.
A/N: I've changed the two dollars Dean stole to five dollars, and added six hundred extra words that was originally going to be Chapter Two. If you've already read the chapter without the changes then it's probably a good idea to re-read. I'm a little stuck on ideas for Chapter Two at the moment, but hopefully I'll post it pretty soon. Thanks for reading!