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Home Economics

Sam took a deep breath and straightened his best fitting shirt one last time, then knocked on the door.

"Come in," a voice was heard.

The older lady looked up with a slight frown on her face from the papers she was grading. "I'm sorry, I don't think you're one of my students. Can I help you?" She smiled encouragingly at him.

Sam twisted his hands behind his back. "Um, yes, my brother Dean's in your class."

"Ah, yes," the teacher said, the smile disappearing, "He wasn't in class today. You've come to pick up his last assignment then? I must say, he didn't do particularly well.

Sam winced slightly, knowing full well that Dean hadn't even tried on his last assignment. He told Sam that Home Eco was a waste of time anyway as the sewing instructor wouldn't let him practice his medical stitches and the cooking instructor only taught them to cook food with extravagantly long lists of expensive ingredients. The last assignment, the one that was the majority of his grade, was the one were he had to look after the baby doll for a week. As soon as he had got it home the first day Dean had carefully pulled apart the back of it and taken out the noise box. He then left it in the motel room for the week, not knowing if it was 'crying' or not, only putting it back together the morning he had to hand it in.

Sam forced a smile onto his face. Dean was at home, on the bed watching TV and the clock with his left leg wrapped top to bottom and with seventeen stitches through his calf and six through his thigh. Waiting impatiently for Sam to come home so he could bitch about being bored. If Sam was too late, he'd be up and out looking for him despite the pain and blood loss from the weekend's hunt.

"Yes ma'am, it's about the last assignment I'm here. I know Dean needed to pass it to pass the subject and to be able to graduate this year." The teacher's frown deepened.

"I'm very sorry young man, but Dean hasn't done enough to make it through, not even to be able to take a supplementary exam."

"I know ma'am, it's just-" The teacher cut him off. "This last assignment was the major part of the subject. It was to show that students had the necessary skills and abilities to support and care for a child for a week with little outside help. Your brother didn't stop the child from crying even once during the assignment. The computer read shows this."

Sam frowned back at her. "Dean doesn't need a fake baby to prove he can look after a child."

The teacher looked disbelieving and opened her mouth to tell Sam he should take the assignment and go, there was nothing she could do for his brother, but Sam interrupted her.

"Look, my mother died when I was six months old and Dean was four. We have no other family so my dad had to take what work he could, which ended up being selling things all over the country. And he took me and Dean with him. Dad …" He took a deep breath and closed his eyes briefly, "Mom's death hit dad hard, so Dean used to help by keeping me entertained. He'd tell Dad when I was hungry or needed changing or it was time for me to go to the doctor. And that hasn't changed as I grew up. Dean is the one who gets me up in time for school, he makes my lunch, helps me with my homework, takes me shopping. I love my Dad but Dean is the one who brought me up. And to know you're failing him because he didn't waste his time this week turning a key in a fake baby, it's just stupid!"

He stopped, his breathing a little ragged. The teacher was staring at him in shock. He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated because he'd practiced this at lunchtime and he'd been much better at it in then, talking to himself in the mirror.

"I'm sorry to have wasted your time. I just wanted you to know that Dean is so much more than anyone seems to give him credit for. Um, if you just give me the assignment I'll take it home to him." He dragged up an expression that had some semblance to a smile and held his hand out. The teacher was still staring at him.

She abruptly looked down then pulled out a grading book and a red pen. Making some marks in the book, she then pulled Dean's assignment towards her and crossed out the failing grade. Passing it to Sam, she looked back up at him. "Tell Dean not to skip any more classes and he has to get at least a 70 on the supplementary exam." It was then Sam's turn to stare at her. She made shooing motions at him. "Go on now, get home before your brother starts to worry.

Sam smiled at her again, the first genuine smile since he entered the room and backed out of the room.

"Thank you," he yelled back through the door as he took off towards the exit and towards Dean, the smile on his face transforming into a brilliant grin. Dean was going to graduate, no matter what anyone said.