"Dean, look what I did!" Sam held up his colouring book and proudly displayed a cartoonish cat scribbled with blue, red and green crayon.
Dean smiled at the four-year old, "That's really great, Sammy."
Sam beamed and climbed up onto the couch to sit beside his brother. John had managed to scrape enough money together to rent a small apartment instead of leaving his boys in a motel room as was the usual routine while he went hunting.
"I'm gonna give it to Daddy when he comes home," Sam snuggled up to his brother and Dean put an arm around his small shoulders.
"Dean?" Sam's voice was muffled from Dean's shirt.
"Yeah, Sammy?"
"Daddy's comin' home tonight, right?"
Dean sighed, "He said he'd try."
"Can I stay up until he gets home?" The little boy asked.
"You can stay up for one more hour, okay? After that you really have to go to sleep. It's already way past your bedtime," Dean compromised with his younger sibling.
"But if you get to stay up I want to stay up too!" Sam whined, his face scrunched in a pout.
"When you're my age, then you can stay up later," Dean promised Sam.
The little boy crossed his arms over his blue pajama shirt, "I'll never be as old as you."
Dean just smirked.
W
"Okay, kiddo, time for bed," Dean told his brother an hour later.
Sam peered at his big brother sleepily, his green eyes half closed and half-hidden beneath dark brown bangs.
"Just let me stay up for Daddy," Sam begged but Dean shook his head.
"It's already nine o'clock," he scolded, "You should have been asleep two hours ago."
"I'm not sleepy," Sam sat up higher on the couch, eyes now wide as saucers.
Dean couldn't say no to his little brother, "Fine. You can stay up until Dad gets home but after that you go right to bed."
Sam smiled sweetly at his big brother, "I promise."
Dean hoped that their Dad would get home soon.
"Can we listen to music, Dean?" Sam asked suddenly.
"But I'm watching TV," Dean argued and turned his attention back to ThunderCats.
"But, but," Sam stammered, "If we listen to the radio maybe Daddy will hear it and come home faster!"
Sighing, Dean clicked the remote OFF button and the television went black. Maybe he'd find a good rock station, the kind of music their Dad always listened to. Slipping off the couch, Dean walked across to the small kitchen and turned on the radio that sat on the dinner table.
"A long time ago, when the Earth was green/ There were more kinds of animals than you've ever seen…"
Dean groaned a little and made to turn the dial on the radio when the padding of feet alerted him to Sam standing in the kitchen doorway.
"No Dean! Keep this song!" Sammy cried and skidded across the linoleum in sock-and-feet.
"It's lame, Sam," Dean argued, "Besides, Dad's not gonna come home if we play a song like this."
Sam glowered, "Yes he will! I know he will! He'll hear it and come back!"
Dean gave his brother a cock-eyed grin and turned the dial slightly.
"No! Dean!" Sam cried out and scrambled across the kitchen. He grabbed his brother's shirt in his small fists, tugging on the fabric.
"Lay off me Sammy," Dean grumbled, "It's just some stupid song."
"But Daddy won't come home!" Sam argued, now using his tiny hands to smack at his brother. Dean didn't know why Sam was getting so upset over some random song on the radio.
"There were green alligators and long-necked geese/ Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees…"
"Don't change the song! Please Dean!" Sam begged and Dean pushed him away. Sam slipped on the floor and fell, landing heavily on his bottom.
Dean turned to the radio, eyebrows knitted together as he listened to the static, searching for a good rock station.
Dean lost his balance as his brother wrapped his arms around his legs, "Stop being mean!"
"Get off me Sam!" Dean cried and tipped over, striking his chin on the kitchen floor.
Sam stood and stretched toward the radio on the table, small hands reaching toward the radio.
"…The loveliest of all was the unicorn…"
Dean stood and shoved his brother away, rubbing his bruised chin with the other, "Stop being such a brat, Sammy."
Dean turned the station, a Scorpions song blaring from the speakers.
"Change it back!" Sam cried and scrambled up, reaching for the radio.
"Why don't you make me?" Dean challenged playfully.
Sam suddenly grinned and leaped at his older brother. Both boys went down in a heap- Dean rolled and hit the table leg, causing the dial on the old radio to jerk- squirming and squeaking.
"…Them unicorns were hiding, playing silly games/ Kicking and splashing while the rain was falling/ Oh, them silly unicorns…"
Sam sat on his brother's chest, hands tickling him.
Dean couldn't help but laugh, Sam knew exactly where he was the most ticklish.
"St-stop S-Sammy!" Dean pleaded between gales of laughter.
"Not until you promise to keep the song," Sam said mischievously.
Dean writhed, trying to push his brother away.
"Say it Dean! Say you'll keep the song!" Sam demanded as tears of laughter squeezed from his older brother's eyes.
"Uncle! Uncle! Okay, I w-won't change th-the station!" Dean gasped and finally Sam released him.
Breathlessly, Dean turned over onto his side and smiled up at his brother, "Now it's your turn, Sammy!"
The four-year-old squealed with delight and scampered out of the kitchen before Dean could even get up.
"C'mere Sammy!" Dean called and ran into the living room to find his brother hiding behind the couch.
Sam giggled happily when he let Dean catch up to him, wiggling as his older brother tickled him.
Neither boy noticed when the front door to the apartment opened or the figure that stood watching them, a smile on his weary face.
"Sam," John's voice broke through the sounds of his sons' laughter, "Dean."
"Dad!" Dean jumped up and ran to his father, Sam following after him.
John bent down and picked up his youngest boy, running his hands through Sam's wavy dark brown locks.
Sam smiled smugly down at his brother, "Told you Daddy would hear."
Dean couldn't help but grin at his little brother.
John looked between his sons, confused.
"What are you talking about, Sammy?" he asked.
Dean shrugged and Sam giggled, "The song, Daddy. You heard it and came home!"
John blinked for a moment and then chuckled along two boys. No matter how hard his work was, his mission to find the monster that had killed his Mary, John could always return to his boys and they'd never fail to make him feel better.
"Now young man, it's way past your bedtime," John set Sammy down on the floor, his youngest son's face turning chagrined.
"That's what I've been trying to tell Sammy all evening," Dean complained.
John smiled, "It's time you should go to sleep as well, Dean."
"What!" Dean exclaimed and grumbled, noticing his brother sticking his tongue out at him.
"Daddy?" Sam tugged on his father's pant leg.
"Yeah, Sammy?" John peered down at his little boy.
"Do you believe in unicorns?" the child asked seriously.
"Unicorns?" John's eyebrow raised and looked at Dean confusedly as his oldest boy snorted laughter.
"What's your brother been telling you?" John asked as he scooped up Sam and carried him into the bedroom, Dean following behind them.
If only unicorns did exist, John thought. As long as Sam can have faith like that for a little while longer I think everything will turn out all right.
1. This was written from a prompt given to me by AlxM. Hope you like it!
2. Edited by BerserkerHellHoud- thanks a bunch, Sis!
3. This is my first Weechester so I'd love to hear how I did!