This story got a lot of positive response! Sorry it's taken me a bit to get this up; I actually went through and made notes in a program so I've got half the story planned out, the characters mapped, and so on. Even a few ideas for a sequel…but I'm getting ahead of myself here!
The next day, Bobby Singer arrived at the cabin early in the morning. When Jim opened the front door for him, the man was still in his night clothes and it was only six a.m. Jim led Bobby to one of the guest rooms and let him put down his bag before the two friends quietly went into the kitchen for some coffee.
Jim's cabin had four bedrooms, which was just enough. There was a room for Jim since he lived there, one for John and Caleb to share with two twin beds, one for Bobby because it was a smaller room that could only fit one bed, and a room with two bunk beds for the Winchester boys to share. Mark and Andy were on the top beds while Dean and Sam were on bottom so Sam could have easy access to Dean in case of a bad dream.
"Any trouble getting here, Bobby?" Jim asked as he poured his old friend a cup of coffee. Bobby gratefully took the cup and shook his head.
"Nah, that's why I like to leave early, so I don't have to worry about trouble."
"Thought I heard old bones cracking." Caleb said somewhat quietly, stretching his arms as he went into the kitchen. "Good to see you Bobby."
Bobby pierced him with a half-hearted glare, "Making old jokes again, Caleb?"
"Me?" Caleb asked, acting insulted, "Bobby…that hurts."
The two older hunters rolled their eyes as Caleb joined them at the table, getting himself some coffee. Together, the three hunters joked and talked for another half hour before John was up. He had awoken when Caleb got up, but wanted to attempt sleep for just a little longer. John had already been woken by the sounds from the room next door. The walls in Jim's cabin were thin and John had the bed beside the wall where his sons slept. By the sounds of it, Sam had had a nightmare.
Nightmares for Sam weren't uncommon. They were more graphic, more realistic than the average nightmare. The first nightmare John remembered his youngest son having had made him age ten years. He'd heard Sam scream his head off and John feared the worst when he got up from the living room couch and ran into his sons' room. At the time John was renting a small one bedroom house and his sons were young enough where they had no problem sharing one big bed. But when John had reached the room, his three oldest boys were comforting the toddler. He'd gone into the room anyway; wanting to make sure it was just a bad dream.
So when John heard the sound of a yelp and then low talking, he knew Dean was already taking care of Sam. Dean was the only one who could calm Sam down while the four year old was in the middle of a nightmare. The two had always shared some sort of connection that no one understood. Dean knew Sam better than Sam knew himself. He could pick out the lies from the truths, could tell when Sam was upset. And they were still kids. When they were older…that bond would be so much stronger.
John greeted his fellow hunters and friends, joining them at the kitchen table.
"Sam have a nightmare?" Caleb asked, already knowing the answer.
The father nodded, "I'm guessing you heard him through the walls."
"Poor Squirt."
About an hour later, John went to go get his boys up. He walked down the hallway and to the boys' bedroom. Pushing open the door he rolled his eyes. His sons had always had strange sleeping habits. Mark kicked in his sleep and no matter how many times John would put the blankets back on the boy, he would just kick them off again. So John wasn't surprised to see Mark's pile of blankets on the floor. Andy talked in his sleep and occasionally sleep walked. The others would definitely have some blackmail on the kid in years to come. Dean's position depended on whether or not Sam was with him. If he was by himself, Dean would go to sleep in one position and wake up the next morning in the exact same place. But if Sam was with him, Dean's arm would find its way across his younger brother's body protectively. Sam slept curled into a ball unless he was in the middle of a nightmare.
"Boys." John said, hating to wake them up on their 'vacation' from hunting. Andy awoke instantly.
"Hm?" he said, a bit confused but quickly realized where he was.
"Come on guys, get up!" John ordered, going into the room. Each of the beds had blue blankets and one pillow, except in Sam and Dean's case where Sam had pulled his pillow onto his brother's bed. A small closet was placed in the back corner which held the boys' duffel bags and a box of toys Jim had collected over the years. John gently shook Mark, then Dean, and finally Sam.
"We're up." Dean said, closing his eyes again. Inwardly John sighed. If Dean was this hard to get up now, what was he going to be like as a teenager?
"We're up Dad." Mark said, yawning as he sat up.
Sam rubbed his eyes as he too pulled himself into a sitting position. Without hesitating he crawled over his brother and left the bed. Dean physically winced as his brother climbed over him, the four year old's weight on his stomach was all Dean needed to wake him up.
"Come on, Jim and Bobby made breakfast." John stated, hoping food would bribe them better.
"Uncle Bobby's here?" the youngest Winchester asked with another yawn. John nodded and Sam headed for the door.
"Put some pants on Sammy. Pastor Jim won't let you eat unless you're dressed." Dean reminded the younger boy. Sam made a frustrated sound and went to the closet. While John and Andy wore pajama pants and t-shirts, Mark, Dean, and Sammy slept in boxers and a t-shirt. The last time the boys had stayed at Jim Murphy's cabin, he told them pants and shirts were required at the table.
Once Sam had pants on, Mark and Dean retrieved pants from their own bags. Jim did allow pajama pants, so Andy was set in their pajamas. John left the room while two of his sons finished getting dressed and the other two followed him to the kitchen.
"Hi Uncle Bobby!" Sam greeted cheerfully when he saw the gruff hunter.
"Hey Sammy, how are ya'?" Bobby returned with a smile as Sam pulled himself up onto one of the many chairs.
"Good."
"Mornin' Andy."
"Morning." Andy told him, sitting between his brother and father. Soon the group was joined by Mark and Dean, who took seats beside Sam and Caleb.
Once breakfast was over, John and Jim did the dishes while the others went into the living room.
Caleb left to his room and returned with a pack of cards. "Anyone up for a game?"
"I am! I am!" Sam half-shouted energetically. Bobby laughed, wishing he had that kind of energy to waste.
"I'm in." Andy nodded. Dean, Mark, and Bobby all agreed and soon a game of 'Slap –Jack' was started.
"Ow!" Andy exclaimed when Mark's hand hit his.
"Sorry." Mark apologized with a grin, "Ya' know if you didn't stick your hand out there I wouldn't have hit it."
"I'd also be losing, too."
Not too long after the first couple of games, John and Jim joined them in the living room. The older men suggested playing poker, which had all four of the Winchester boys eager to learn how to play. So, the four grown men began showing the boys how to play poker.
Sam quickly lost interest in the game. The rules didn't make much sense and he couldn't understand what a good hand was. He left the game to the others and went to find something else to do.
His first stop was the toy box in the closet. There were Lego's, army men, and other random toys. None of these held Sam's attention for long, though. Then he saw a worn box of crayons. Sam grabbed the little box and ran into the living room before requesting a piece of paper from Pastor Jim.
Once the youngest Winchester had his paper and crayons, he went to the corner of the living room and spread out on the wood floor. Several minutes passed and Sam just couldn't figure out what he wanted to draw. There were a ton of options, but none of them appealed to him. There were dogs, tigers, trees, houses, and recently his brothers were helping him with the alphabet. He knew 'S', 'A', 'M', and 'Y'. But for some reason his 'M's ran together so they just looked like a bunch of mountains. The sound of laughter drew his attention to the card game.
I actually re-wrote the ending about three times. In the original ending Caleb was going to take the boys on a walk through the woods. But then I realized a four year old probably doesn't have much interest in poker. Then Sam played with the Lego's but then an idea with coloring came to my head.