I always love reading and writing about the boys' involvement with kids, especially when they're just average kids, so I wrote a one-shot about Dean. I hope you find it entertaining.

Rated: K+

Stick Figures and Rainbows

"Do you like my drawing?"

Even though Dean was fully aware of his surroundings, had been keeping his eyes peeled for any clue toward the case, and thought he'd been keeping an eye on all the kids, a five year old girl — Katie? Kathy? — managed to startle him enough to jump a little in his seat.

Dean barely managed to bite his tongue before letting out a swear. He kept the pasted smile on his face and looked at the drawing Katie/Kathy was holding about two inches in front of his face. He moved back, letting his eyes adjust. "Oh, awesome. I love dogs."

The smile on Katie/Kathy's face slipped into a frown and she pulled the drawing back, examining it before looking to Dean. "It's a bear," she told him. She proceeded to stomp back to her seat at a nearby table.

Dean cringed slightly, shifting himself on the way-too-small chair he was sitting on. He looked around at all the kids, his eyes going to each of them and then the teacher, Mrs. Donahugh. She was the one who had contacted him and Sam. Actually, she'd contacted Bobby, who had in turn contacted them. She explained that there was something going on with the children in the area, something out of the league of the doctors there, and asked for help.

Which was why Dean was on babysitting duty.

Dean had been hired as a teacher's aid. With his accomplished resume, having been a college graduate in educational studies and then a teacher's aid at a school in Washington (Dean had a hard time containing his laughter at that one), it wasn't hard to get him hired.

You're amazing with kids, Sam had told him. You relate to them, you entertain them, you give them respect when everyone else looks down on them. Remember Lucas? Michael? Ben? You connect with kids better than I do. I mean Hell, you basically raised me. And it would only be for a few days, a week at most. Probably less if we got the case done with fast.

Dean had eventually relented to Sam's nagging. Apparently, Sam couldn't be the one to go undercover because he had early signs of the flu. He didn't want to give the kids anything, he said. Dean thought that was a load of crap though. With all the germs kids are exposed to each day, it's a wonder they aren't always sick. Not to mention that he wasn't allowed to bring anything into the classroom more dangerous than a bag of salt. But he'd given in.

So Dean Winchester was babysitting.

And slowly going insane.

Mrs. Donahugh had been walking around the classroom and stopped next to Dean, putting a hand on his shoulder and leaning down to examine his picture. "Smiling stick figures and rainbows. I never took you for that kind of guy. Always struck me as a firearms guy," she said quietly, right by his ear so others wouldn't hear her.

"I figured I'd go with Haley Joel Osment on this one," Dean replied, just as quietly. "Nobody has meetings about rainbows."

The young woman smiled. "Right. Try asking them to tell you about their picture before commenting on what it looks like," she advised him. "Subtle, but it covers all the bases."

"Good to know," he said, glancing over to her as he finished another rainbow.

Mrs. Donahugh stood back up, removing her hand from his shoulder and continuing her walk around the classroom.

"Hey!" objected a girl across from Dean.

Dean glanced to her and the boy sitting next to her, realizing that he had just colored black crayon over her picture. The boy stuck his tongue out at her and continued his picture. The girl looked down to her picture, lower lip quivering.

"Dude, what'd you do that for?" Dean asked, eyes narrowing.

The boy looked up at Dean like he was an idiot. "Cause I wanted to."

Dean blinked at him and looked to the girl. "You just gonna take that?" he asked, motioning to the boy's picture.

The girl stared at him for a moment of incomprehension before she grabbed a pink crayon and colored all over the boy's picture of what Dean could assume was some sort of truck.

"Hey!" the boy exclaimed.

"What's going on?" Mrs. Donahugh asked, having walked up behind them.

"She colored on my picture!"

"Mr. Walker told me to!"

Dean met the eyes of the astonished teacher. "He started it," Dean told her, pointing to the girl's picture. "Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth."

"And the whole world goes blind and can't chew their food," she replied without missing a beat. She looked down to the two students. "Marie, Jason, apologize to each other."

There was a second of silence before each mumbled, "Sorry." The young woman glared at Dean admonishingly, pursing her lips, before she continued her rounds.

Fully annoyed at managing to be reprimanded by a teacher when he'd graduated grade school some years ago, Dean stuck his tongue out at her back before returning to his picture, which caused some of the other kids to giggle. Mrs. Donahugh turned around, but Dean was concentrating on the blue in his rainbow.

THE END