Disclaimer: We do not own Supernatural, although I wouldn't mind commandeering Sam for a bit.
*This chapter was written by AnastaziaDanielle.
Chapter 3 - "I Wonder as I Wander"
Josh dressed in his best pair of jeans and put on a hoodie over a faded short sleeve shirt. The jeans were too short and the t-shirt too tight, but he didn't dare complain to his mom. Josh knew there wasn't money for new clothes; there wasn't even money for a Santa gift for Jamie. His gut twisted at the thought, but perhaps with the money from Dean Winchester's car he could purchase a small gift for his brother.
"Can I go with you to Mr. Singer's, Joshie?" Jamie asked as he struggled into a hand-me-down pair of jeans that used to be his big brother's.
"I'll be working, bud," Josh informed him, tussling the boy's hair.
Jamie pushed his hand away impatiently. "I can help you," he promised. "Please? I don't want to be here by myself. It makes me sad when I see Mommy sad, and she's been crying today."
Josh looked down at his brother and frowned. "When was Mom crying?"
"When I got up and went downstairs for breakfast," the younger boy explained. "She tried to wipe her face, but I saw her cheeks were wet."
Josh sighed and his chest felt tighten. It always felt tight these days. A knot of anxiety seemed to sit in the pit of his stomach. He wished his dad was still alive; then everything would be all right. He felt a tug on his sleeve and looked down.
"Please, Josh, I'll be good. I promise," the smaller boy pleaded.
Josh sighed; his brother's puppy dog eyes worked every time. "If Mom says it's okay, then you can come."
"Yes!" Jamie squealed, pumping a fist in victory.
Josh felt a weak smile cross his face.
Down the road, Dean Winchester finished off his coffee and then rose to shrug into his coat. Sam carried his empty mug to the sink and reached for his coat as well.
"What are you doing?" Dean asked his brother.
"Going outside with you," Sam informed him. "Don't want you to bite Josh's head off if he accidentally scratches your car."
Dean shook his head. "I will be laying down the rules before he ever touches her."
Bobby glanced out of the back window. "Here come the boys."
"Boys?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Kid brought his little brother with him. Those two are attached at the hip," Bobby explained. "Reminds me of another set of brothers I once knew." He glanced from Sam to Dean and watched a small smile curve the younger Winchester's lips while Dean merely zipped his coat up and opened the back door.
Bobby pushed in front of him. "Come on in, boys. Sure is cold out there this morning. Why don't you warm up with some hot chocolate before you get to work?"
"Bobby-," Dean began.
Sam poked his brother in the ribs and Dean pressed his lips together to bite back the rest of his words.
"Do ya gots marshmallows, Mr. Singer?" the youngest Stevenson brother piped up hopefully.
"Sure do, Jamie," Bobby answered. "Keep 'em just for when you visit."
"Come on, Josh." The little boy tugged on the sleeve of his brother's coat to get Josh to follow him inside to Bobby's kitchen table.
Instead, Josh pulled his arm away and glanced at Dean. "I have a debt to work off, buddy. Maybe I can have hot chocolate later. I'm ready to get started." Josh squared his shoulders and tried his best to look grown.
Under Sam's warning glare, Dean finally caved. This kid had lost his dad; he was hurting. Unzipping his coat and shrugging out of it, Dean sighed. "It's cold out there. Might as well warm up with hot chocolate before we tackle the car."
"Yes!" Jamie exclaimed as he pumped his fist. He climbed into his favorite chair at Bobby's table and looked at Sam. "I met him yesterday," he pointed at Dean, "but not you. What's your name?"
Sam grinned. "I'm Sam; Dean's my big brother."
Jamie's mouth dropped open to form an O and his brown eyes widened. "Wow, you're the bigger than your big brother!" he exclaimed. "Maybe I'll be bigger than Joshie someday."
"In your dreams," his older brother answered as he ruffled the kid's hair.
Jamie batted his brother's hand away and turned back to Sam, fixing the younger Winchester with his expressive brown eyes. "How'd ya get to be so tall, Sam?" he asked eagerly.
A smirk tugged at the corner of Sam's mouth. "Because I ate my vegetables and Dean didn't."
"Sam!" Dean growled as he kicked his brother under the table.
"Ow!" the younger Winchester protested.
"Boys! Don't make me separate you," Bobby fussed as he began bringing mugs of hot chocolate to the kitchen table.
Jamie laughed and clapped a hand over his mouth. "You guys are silly," he giggled.
Bobby joined the group at the table, and Jamie kept them entertained as he poked at the marshmallows in his hot chocolate and asked Bobby questions about anything that popped into his mind.
Josh finished off his hot chocolate and scooted his chair back from the table. He put his empty mug in Bobby's sink and bundled himself up. "Okay, Mr. Winchester, I'm ready. What do you want me to do first?"
Dean carried his own mug to the sink before tugging his coat back on. "First, we need to get the snow off of my baby. Poor girl must be miserable with that cold white stuff all over her."
Jamie frowned. "I thought Josh was cleaning your car. Did you leave a baby out in the snow?" The little boy's eyes grew huge. "That's bad if you did. It's too cold for a baby."
Sam laughed and reached out to tickle the little boy in the chair next to his. "My brother loves his car; he calls her his baby."
"Can I help clean the snow off of your baby?" Jamie asked Dean hopefully. "I'm a good helper; Josh says so."
Dean pretended to consider the request for a moment. "I think we could use your help," he told the kid, "if you have some gloves to wear."
Jamie dug into his coat pockets and produced a set of red gloves. "Ta da!"
"Looks like you've got a helper, Dean," Sam grinned.
"Now, you lot get out of my kitchen and let me have some peace. You, too, Sam," Bobby fussed.
Dean herded both boys out of the back door and was followed by Sam. The older Winchester showed the boys the best way to get the snow off of the Impala without scratching her paint.
Josh got started on the hood right away, but Jamie jumped up and down before he began to whine. "I can't reach!"
Sam lifted the boy up and held him securely so that he could reach the snow on the roof of the Impala. "How about now?" he asked playfully.
Jamie giggled and began to gleefully scoop the snow off of the top of the black car.
They worked in silence for a bit until Sam whispered something in Jamie's ear. The boy scooped up a ball of snow and took careful aim from Sam's arms, the tip of his tongue poking out of his mouth as he concentrated. He let the snowball fly and it hit Dean square in the back.
Dean whirled around and narrowed his eyes at his brother who gave him an innocent "who me?" look.
Jamie giggled. "I got you!" he sang out loudly.
"Jamie, we're supposed to be working," Josh scolded as he brushed snow off of the Impala's bumper.
"Sam told me to do it," the little boy defended with a glance at the tall instigator.
Dean, not to be outdone by his younger brother, scooped up a ball of snow and let it fly right at Sam's stomach.
The tall Winchester dodged out of the way with a laugh. "You'll have to do better than that," he smirked as he placed Jamie on the ground.
"Oh, it's war now," Dean glowered as he grabbed more snowy ammunition.
The snowballs were flying fast and furious. Jamie huddled behind a rusted car with Sam as they fired snowballs at Dean. Josh kept to himself, watching the battle from a distance with a sour look on his face.
"Josh, come help me and Sam!" the little boy called, but his brother ignored him.
Dean moved in to attack Sam with a barrage of snowballs when his feet slid out from under him and he went down.
"Get him!" Sam hollered.
Laughing gleefully, Jamie scampered forward through the snow and threw himself on top of Dean. The oldest Winchester tried to tickle the small boy through his coat, but only succeeded in covering both of them with snow.
"I give up," Dean moaned as the cold seeped through his pants. "Let me up, tiger."
Jamie got up as gracefully as one could from a snow drift while Josh stalked forward. "No one calls him that; only my dad called him that," the older boy yelled, his cheeks red with cold and anger. He gripped his little brother's gloved hand. "Come on; let's finish up so we can get home and check on Mom."
The Winchester brothers shared a silent look and then returned to the job of clearing the snow from the Impala. The happy, care-free mood of the morning had vanished.
Once the Impala was snow-free, Dean handed Josh a bag and the boy cleaned the trash out from beneath the car's seats while Dean wiped down his baby's seats with a clean cloth.
"I'm cold," Jamie shivered, his teeth shivering.
Sam lifted the boy into his arms and frowned. "Your gloves are soaked and so are your jeans. We need to get you warmed up." He turned to Dean and Josh. "I'm going to take Jamie inside."
"Is he okay?" Josh asked, raising his head from inside car so fast that he banged it on the door frame.
Sam winced as he watched the kid rub the back of his head. "Yeah, but his clothes are wet. He needs to get warmed up."
Josh relaxed. "Okay, I'll be there in a minute, Jamie. I'm almost done here."
"All right, Joshie," the younger boy yawned as he rested his head sleepily on Sam's shoulder.
Josh felt a prickle of jealousy stir deep in his belly. Since their dad died, he was the only one his little brother had gone to for comfort, yet Jamie had taken to Sam right away. He actually really seemed to like both Winchesters. Josh heaved a sigh and tried to push the uncomfortable thoughts away.
"Is your head okay?" Dean asked suddenly and Josh nearly bashed it on the doorframe a second time.
"Yeah, it's fine," he answered abruptly before digging for trash under the Impala's front seats.
Dean gave the steering wheel a final swipe with his rag. "Your brother's a cute kid."
"Yup," Josh answered shortly as he leaned back and surveyed the now clean car.
"Bet he misses your dad," Dean continued.
"He's got me," Josh informed the oldest Winchester with narrowed eyes. "I won't let him down."
Dean nodded. "He's lucky to have you."
Josh handed the bag of trash to Dean. "I need to go check on my brother." He hurried away from the car and stomped up Bobby's steps to the back porch.
When he entered Bobby's house, he could hear voices coming from the living room. He stood in the doorway and found Bobby wrapping a blanket around Jamie and settling him in the chair closest to the fire. Sam was placing the worn shoes in front of the fireplace to dry out. Jamie's toes poked through holes in both of his socks, and Josh knew there were holes in the knees of his jeans. He sighed, wishing he could buy his little brother all new clothes and everything the kid wanted for Christmas.
"Hey, buddy," he greeted as he walked into the living room after leaving his boots by the kitchen door. "Are you warming up?"
"Yup!" the boy sang out happily. "Come sit with me," he pleaded.
"I will in a minute," Josh promised him. "I need to go hang up my coat. I just wanted to check on you first." The older boy retreated back to the kitchen where he shrugged out of his winter coat and hung it on one of the pegs by the door. He laid his gloves and hat out to dry shivered when Dean and Sam blew through the backdoor with a gust of wind and snow.
"Starting to come down again out there," Sam chattered as he divested himself of his coat and boots.
"Coffee, I need coffee," Dean groaned as he hung up his coat, kicked off his boots and hurried toward the pot Bobby kept simmering on the stove.
In the living room, Bobby smiled down at Jamie. "Are you warming up, kiddo?"
The boy nodded his head so that his floppy bangs covered his eyes. He brushed them back impatiently, but then he frowned. "Mr. Singer, I don't got a Christmas present for Mommy or Josh. What am I gonna do?"
Bobby bit back a sigh and sat down on the couch. "You could always make them a picture."
"But I do that all the time," he frowned.
"Well, maybe you could make it a Christmas picture. You don't do that all the time," Bobby suggested.
Jamie twisted the blanket in his fingers and frowned as he thought.
Raised voices came from the kitchen and Bobby stood. "I'll be right back. I need to make sure those boys don't burn my house down."
Jamie stared into the fire and wished he had the money to buy some Christmas presents. He knew Josh was working to keep the money he had stolen from the Impala so he would have some money to go shopping with this afternoon. Jamie chewed on his lower lip as a plan began to form in his mind. What if his friend at the drug store let him help out so he could earn some money? Mr. Owens was always nice to him and he'd been a good friend of his dad's. Surely Mr. Owens would let him work for a day to earn some money for Christmas presents.
Jamie got up and shoved his feet into his still-wet shoes. He pulled on his coat and wet gloves and peeked into the kitchen. Bobby was fussing at the Winchester brothers about something that was spilled in the floor. Josh stood by the back door watching the scene unfold in baffled silence.
Jamie grinned. He tiptoed back into the living room and out the front door just as a gust of wind whirled around the old house. The snow was coming down pretty heavily again, but he knew the way to the store. He was sure he could walk there in no time at all.
To Be Continued…
Authors' Note: Thanks for reading! Please take the time to review.