Disclaimer: I don't own anything you might recognize from Supernatural.
A/N: Dean is about 12 years old and Sam is 8.
Sam had stopped crying, wiping angrily at his face. If Dean were here he would tease him saying he was a big cry baby. The car ride was surprisingly short, or maybe it just seemed that way because Sam had absolutely no idea where they were going. The black sedan pulled up on a wide driveway and the blonde woman stepped out of the car.
Sam didn't look outside but kept pulling on the strands of fabric that were coming apart on the knees of his jeans. There was a knock on the backseat window and Sam looked up. The woman was gesturing for him to come out and proceeded to open the door when Sam made no effort to come willingly.
"Come on now, these people are really nice, if you just give them a chance I'm sure you'll get along splendidly." She said and smiled stiffly.
Sam kept his head low as he exited the car and followed the woman across a newly cut lawn. The woman went up the three steps of the stairs leading to the front door and pressed the doorbell, causing an audible ding dong. She sneaked a glance over her shoulder to look at Sam, his bangs were covering his eyes from anyone who was taller than him, which wasn't that hard to be. She pursed her lips and gave him a disapproving look just as the door opened.
A middle aged woman, maybe in her late thirties greeted the blonde woman before kneeling down to meet Sam. Sam hadn't looked at her properly yet and kept his eyes fixed on the ground. He kept telling himself that his dad would come and pick him up any minute now, telling everybody what a huge mistake they had made.
"Hi, my name is Karen, what's yours?" He heard her say.
Sam lifted his gaze from the ground and dared to look at her through his bangs. The woman had kind eyes, vibrantly green that somehow reminded him of Dean. She had long brown hair that was slightly curled at the ends. Sam stroked his bangs away from his face so he could inspect his surroundings better. The house was huge, he realized, and white. He had to admit it looked pretty nice, at least a hundred times better than the crappy motels he and his family usually stayed at. Fixing his eyes on the woman once more he swallowed and said, "Sam."
The woman smiled. "Hello Sam, would you like to come inside? I've just made a new batch of chocolate chip cookies." She said and looked at him hopefully.
Sam waited a moment before he nodded his head yes.
"Great, come with me" She said and reached out a hand for Sam to take as if it was the most natural thing in the world. He hesitantly took her hand and went with her inside, followed by the blonde social worker who stayed quiet.
As they walked into the kitchen, the smell of melted chocolate reached his nose and his stomach grumbled loudly. The nice woman, Karen, stopped at the sound and looked at him with sympathetic eyes.
"You must be hungry, we are going to have dinner in a bit but you can snack on these in the meantime." She said and pointed to a plate on the kitchen island and gestured for him to sit down on one of the stools. Sam carefully took his first bite and wondered if there were more kids living here since he heard laughter from upstairs.
"You spoke to Nancy on the phone and she informed you of Sam's situation?" The social worker asked indifferently.
"Yes, we had a long talk, I…" She took a moment to look at the insensitive woman. "I think that Sam will like it here." she said, partly to the social worker but also to Sam, who she noticed was sitting very stiffly, clearly listening to their conversation and looking like he was ready to take off at any moment. Though he still seemed scared, she had dealt with kids a lot more scared in the past. Sam seemed to be a brave boy.
"Good, then my work here is done." The blonde woman said, zipping her bag open to take out a folder and handing it over to Karen. "I can find my way out, thank you." Was all she said before turning around to leave the room. Karen watched her go with a surprised look, "How rude, that woman sure loved her job" she thought and shook her head. She and her husband Robert had taken in quite a number of kids throughout the years, some for a couple of months while other arrangements were made and some to stay indefinitely. But she had never met such an unfit person for her job, it made her fume as she looked over at Sam, who hadn't relaxed one bit but instead looked ready to burst into tears. She sat down opposite to him and said as gently as she could,
"Sam, I know this must be very scary for you but, I promise you I will do my best to make you feel safe and at home here."
There was something in the sincerity of her eyes that Sam couldn't really place. It was familiar somehow, and he found himself taking a deep breath for the first time since he set foot in the house. Since she seemed to be expecting some sort of answer, he gave her a small jerky nod.
He started to nibble more at the ends of his cookie but as soon as the chocolaty taste filled his mouth he couldn't help but to gulf it down.
"When is the last time you ate?" Karen's voice startled him a bit and he looked back up. She had small worried wrinkles on her forehead, but not the kind you would get from age. Sam didn't answer her but instead looked down ashamed, he hadn't meant to seem greedy. All of a sudden Karen stood up and walked over to the seat next to him.
"You know, here, you can just come and tell me whenever you're hungry and I will fix you something to eat." She said.
Sam turned slightly to look at her. Even though her entire manner shone with calm protectiveness, she still had a playful glint in her eyes.
Sam suddenly thought about Dean, it was supposed to be his job to take care of Sam. But there was just something about Karen he couldn't put a finger on, it made him feel safe.
Sam nodded in response and was about to answer her previous question when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs, they were probably meant to not be heard but were kind of clumsy. Karen looked towards the stairs and said,
"Melanie, Sara, I can hear you just fine, you don't have to sneak around." She said.
She had told them to stay on the second floor so that Sam would have time to adjust and not be attacked with questions. But they were going to be introduced at one point or another so now was just as good of a time as any, Karen thought. Melanie and Sara both stepped into the kitchen and walked over to the island.
"Yay, cookies." Was all that Melanie said. While Sara just looked at Karen with an apologetic look and said, "Sorry Karen." But she also had a goofy grin on her face.
They both ignored Sam as they sat down and went to grab for the cookies. Karen just shook her head and said,
"This is Sam, Sam this is Sara and Melanie."
Sara grinned with a mouth full of cookies and said, "What's up."
Melanie reached out her hand and said, "Nice to meet you" Sara rolled her eyed at that and shoved in another cookie. Sam grabbed her hand and shook it curtly. She had her long light blonde hair in two braids, one on each side of her face and she was looking at Sam as if she was trying to size him up. Even though she only looked to be about a year older than him, her eyes were intelligent and bright.
"How old are you?" Melanie then said.
"I'm eight" Sam said.
Melanie looked like she was thinking before answering, "I'm nine, Sara is fourteen. You look younger than eight."
Sam felt his cheeks heat up a bit at the comment and Karen quickly said,
"Melanie." In a stern voice, Sam wasn't looking but he guessed she was fixing her with a look to match her voice.
"Karen, I need a ride, soccer practice starts in 20." Sara said as she put her wavy dark brown hair up in a ponytail.
"I'll show Sam his room." Melanie said as she grabbed Sam's hand and pulled him off his chair heading towards the stairs.
"Not so fast young lady." Karen said to Melanie and then turned to Sara, "Robert will be home any minute now, he'll take you."
"Okay." Sara answered with a shrug.
Karen turned to Sam and smiled, "Sam, would you like to see your room?"