Dean walked in and the first thing he said was for Sam to take his pants off - he was dragging mud all over the floor. Sam started undoing his jeans and murmured for Oscar to take his jackets off.
"What?"
"Take your jackets off, Oz," Sam repeated patiently, slipping out of his jeans.
"Why're you taking your pants off?"
"They're wet," Sam answered, "Dean?"
Dean was pacing slowly in thought. At the sound of his name he blinked out of his thoughts and, ignoring his brother's call, moved over to Oscar.
"Hey Oscar?"
Oscar stopped working with his jackets and looked into Dean's eyes.
"Yeah?"
"Do you have anyone we can call? Anyone else to come pick you up instead of your Aunt?"
Oscar started shaking his head when Dean had asked his first question. Sam's spirits fell.
"I don't know," Oscar answered.
"Nobody? No other adult? A family friend maybe?"
"Um..." Oscar screwed his face up into deep concentration. He instantly brightened after a second. "Jenny!"
"Who's-" Dean glanced at Sam who'd just tapped Dean's shoulder to shake his head at him, "What? Who's Jenny?"
"Jenny's my friend," Oscar said at the same time Sam murmured to Dean.
"Jenny's his aide at school," Sam supplied.
"Well. Okay. Can we call her? Oscar do you know her phone number?"
"No I don't know," Oscar replied.
"Okay uh... well how 'bout her last name?" Dean asked, grasping at straws. Maybe she was listed.
"Jenny's awesome," Oscar informed happily, having missed Dean's question. Instead of repeating himself he looked to his brother who shrugged.
"No I don't know her last name."
Dean deflated and let go of his line of questioning.
"Okay," he murmured.
"Sorry," Sam added, genuinely apologetic. "But y'know Dean she's just his aide and it's a Friday night. Even if we did get a hold of her I doubt she'd be willing to get involved, you know?" Sam tried to rationalize for Dean's sake. Dean made a face.
"Well we'll never know," he replied. His words were bitter but he said them wearily before moving into the kitchen. Sam sighed, sad for his brother. This day just wouldn't end.
"Oz can you get the jackets off?"
Oscar turned and, at the reminder, resumed working them off.
"Yeah I can."
"Good... cool..." Sam replied distractedly, grabbing a pair of jeans for himself from his duffel on his bed. Before putting them on he walked into the kitchen where Dean had the phone lodged between his head and shoulder, curious.
"What're you doing?" Sam whispered, unsure whether Dean was on the line. Dean had a finger on a number listed on the fridge and had begun to dial when he glanced at Sam and gave him a double take.
"Sam, go watch the kid - what're you doing?" Dean waved him off, annoyed. Sam made a face. "And put your pants on," Dean added in a whisper, finishing the number and quirking a small smile. Sam rolled his eyes and made to go back to help Oscar with his jackets when whoever Dean was calling picked up. Sam quieted to listen to his brother, confusion still written all over his face.
"Yeah, hi. My name's John Walsh," Dean began, then spotted Sam's expression and used his hand to indicate the numbers five and zero. Sam blanched but Dean ignored it, "and my sons just came into the house with a schoolmate of theirs' whose, uh, aunt, I think... didn't come to pick him up after school today."
Dean listened, covering the phone's receiver, and whispered to Sam.
"What's Oscar's last name?"
"Gideon," Sam replied. Dean nodded.
"Well we're staying at the Windy Side Inn at the moment. I'm on a short-term assignment at work - three months or less - so I figured I'd save some money just staying at a hotel," Dean closed his eyes as he spoke, leaning his forehead against the fridge, hoping to God the officer he was talking to didn't know how much of a stretch it was to call this place a 'hotel.'
"Mm hm. Yeah. His full name's Oscar Gideon, fifth grade. Goes to Logan Junior High with my youngest son, Sam. School got closed before they could talk to the school's administration to phone the aunt."
Dean turned to lean his back against the fridge, exhausted. His voice still held a level of casual authority though; Sam knew he was passing perfectly well as a parent. Sam glanced around wearing a worried expression that quickly shifted to vague amusement when he spotted Oscar standing between the two beds struggling with getting his jackets off. He was making enough progress; Sam felt all right to stay where he was to continue openly eavesdropping on his brother.
Dean was nodding his head at the receiver when Sam looked back.
"Yeah, yeah, it's no problem. He can stay with us until you contact her," Dean hesitated, looking at Sam, his tone going soft, "but, uh, I just want to put it out there that Oscar's got special needs, yeah... Down Syndrome," he added. "We can take care of him for awhile until you contact his guardian but it's probably in everyone's best interest to put a priority on this, you know?"
"Sam..." Oscar called. Sam startled and turned, finding the boy behind him.
"What's up Oz?" Sam whispered, starting to pull off the last hanging remnant of the kid's own jacket and throwing it on the bed.
"I'm cold," Oscar groaned miserably. Sam nodded, whispered, "okay," and moved over to grab the threadbare comforter from the closest bed - Dean's. Sam continued listening to his brother as he wrapped the blanket around the small boy.
"Yeah, yeah exactly," he said levelly, smiling kindly, eyes unfocused. One look at Dean and relief rushed through Sam at his brother's tone and bearing. Things were going to be okay.
Well.
As long as Oscar would stop shivering soon.
Sam pulled the kid closer and started rubbing his shoulders and back with the blanket.
"Th-thanks," Oscar murmured.
"Of course. The number's five-five-five, eight-two-six, four-zero-two-nine," Dean read off the fridge, "but hey, listen, if you get a hold of anyone tonight, I'll be on a night shift so my eldest son, Dean's, going to be answering, all right?"
Dean listened, squinting his eyes.
"Two months and he'll be eighteen. I assure you he's very responsible... No, he's not here right now. He went out to grab dinner for the kids tonight," Dean cringed, knowing this was getting vaguely dangerous. He sighed.
"Yeah. Yeah. Sounds good. Thank you. All right. Who am I speaking to again?" Dean listened. "Officer Kendra Collins, all right. Well thank you so much for your help. All right. You too. Bye."
Dean hung up and immediately started dialing another number. He glanced over as it started ringing on the other end and shot his brother and Oscar a confused expression.
"What's with the blanket?" He whispered.
"He's cold," Sam answered, shrugging, as he continued trying to warm Oscar up. Dean nodded, not thinking anything of it, and waited with a dull expression, still watching his two charges. The call picked up and Dean jumped back to his normal, more animated demeanor.
"Candy hey-" Dean stopped, sounding like he'd just gotten interrupted. Sam raised an eyebrow, wondering if Dean was really calling one of his hook-ups right now.
"Candy, look I'm sorry but I'm not coming to work tonight," Dean said, his speech somewhat faster than normal in order to get it all out before getting cut off again. Sam nodded to himself, realizing he should've known Dean was calling Candace, his boss at the bar. He smirked when, after Dean had finished his sentence, his older brother cringed and pulled the phone away from his ear. Garbled shouts and threats issued forth from the phone and into the kitchen.
"Whoa," Oscar said, his eyes on the receiver Dean was holding.
"I know," Dean agreed lowly, comedic sincerity in his wide eyes looking directly into Oscar's. Oscar giggled and Dean checked to see if he could bring the phone back to his head without blowing out an eardrum.
"Candy, do what you need to but I'm not coming in. I'll call you tomorrow," Dean said evenly if not just as rapidly as before. With that he hung up and stared at the phone anxiously for a few seconds before relaxing. He rubbed a hand down his face and sighed.
"Ya gonna call dad?" Sam asked openly. Dean's brows furrowed in serious thought.
"Yeah... not yet though," he glanced at the clock indicating five o'clock.
"Okay," Sam said, his voice small but approving. Dean sighed and walked towards them.
"C'mon," he murmured as he made his way into the main area of the motel and sat down on the side of his bed. Sam and Oscar followed, Oscar keeping close and sitting right next to Sam on the bed across from Dean.
Dean looked stricken, his face hollowed out, bags under his eyes.
"Dean you should sleep," Sam said. Dean raised an eyebrow and shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips.
"Unfortunately what I should do and what I can't do are the same things, Sammy," Dean muttered and turned to the kid under Sam's arm, "Oscar."
"Yeah?"
"What's your aunt's name?" Dean asked, vaguely realizing that detail could've been asked before he'd called the cops to help them. Still, Officer Collins had seemed confident they'd be able to find his guardian after he'd given Oscar's full name.
"Karen," he replied immediately.
"Cool. Does your Aunt Karen normally do this?"
"Do what?"
Dean sought his mind for the simplest way to describe their situation.
"Does Aunt Karen usually forget to pick you up from school?" Sam saved. Oscar looked up at Sam and shook his head.
"No, never. She never forgets."
Sam looked to his brother wearing a conflicted expression. Dean returned it.
"I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing," Dean murmured bluntly, saying what both of them had been thinking.
"What do you mean?" Oscar asked. "Is she okay?"
"We don't know, bud," Dean answered honestly, "but we told the police and they're looking for her right now."
For the first time since Dean had met him a genuinely worried expression crossed Oscar's face.
"What if something happened?" He asked, his distress clear.
"We'll know soon if something happened, Oscar, but it doesn't help to worry about it right now, okay bud?" Dean replied, trying to allay the kid's fears. Dean was just thinking about how distractions work better than admonishments against worrying when Sam spoke up, apparently telepathic.
"Oz," Sam corrected, giving a small smile. Oscar looked up at Sam, recognizing his name.
"What?"
"No, I'm telling Dean your nickname," Sam explained, then looked at Dean, "he likes Oz."
"S'cool," Dean replied glibly, nodding, slightly zoned out. He was still tired as hell. Luckily Oscar ran with it.
"Yeah! Like the wizzer!"
Dean blinked as Sam huffed a laugh.
"Wizard," he supplied.
"Yeah. S'what I said," Oscar said. Dean shook his head, grinning.
"He should watch it with that word," Dean chuckled good-naturedly. Sam rolled his eyes, smiling, then looked quizzically at Dean.
"How'd you guys even meet anyway?"
Dean leaned back a bit while Sam remained sitting up straight, his arm around Oz who was still huddled next to him with the blanket wrapped around. Dean could tell the kid had, thank god, lost his shakes. Now he seemed to be leaning against Sam for the hell of it. Dean figured Oz must just be an affectionate kid. Worked well for Sammy, Dean figured, given Sam's own predilection for all that crap.
Also though Dean had to admit the kid was genuinely cute. Light, thin brown hair cut short with bangs, a brilliant smile that spotlighted a couple missing teeth, and well, while Dean knew this was a trait of the syndrome, Oscar's small, slightly stout physique made him look like a sturdy little bear-hugger. The thought made Dean smile slightly before answering his brother.
"Kid just walked up to me at the bleachers."
Sam's eyes widened, gave a furtive glance to Oscar, then looked back at his brother.
"He just came up to you? Jenny wasn't there?"
Dean shook his head, frowning.
"Nope. Just walked up to me," Dean shrugged. "Told me it was cold out."
"It was. It was cold out," Oscar chimed in. Sam turned to look down at the kid.
"Oz what made you go up to Dean?"
Oz returned Sam's gaze with innocent eyes.
"I don't know."
Sam looked back to his brother, eyebrow raised, and Dean immediately caught on and started chuckling.
"Yeah... So, Oz," Dean began, grinning.
"What?"
"You ever see someone that looks like me and you're alone, don't come up to them," Dean laughed. Oscar looked confused.
"But you looked sad," Oscar said.
"Even if they look sad," Dean replied immediately, smiling, and thoroughly unwilling to look at Sam's concerned expression over Oscar's observation.
"Why?" Oscar pressed.
"I'm a bad influence," Dean shared. Oscar looked up at Sam for confirmation. Sam's solicitous expression shifted when he realized Oz had turned to him.
"It's true," Sam said jokingly, "Dean's terrible."
Oscar mimicked Sam's smile, getting the gist that their advice wasn't entirely important if they were goofing around about it.
"If he's so bad why are you with him?" Oscar asked Sam excitedly, happy to banter.
Dean quietly started chuckling at the question the same time Sam jerked his head back slightly, surprised.
"He's... Dean's my brother, Oz," Sam said quickly, still surprised Oscar hadn't picked up on that. A second later he realized it was maybe a greater thought jump than Oz was used to making since the kid's eyes widened with delight.
"No!" He shouted, then looked at Dean in disbelief. Dean was almost lying on the bed completely now, his general air of authority gone and in its place the playful, mischievous side of Sam's big brother.
"Yes!" Dean said in hushed excitement. Oz caught on and he smiled.
"Nooo!"
"Yeahhhh!" Dean matched Oscar, eventually letting it fall into his own smoker's cackle as Oz turned back to Sam, then to Dean, then back to Sam.
"You're brothers?!"
"Yup," Sam drew the word out dryly, making it sound like a regrettable relation.
"Shut up," Dean chuckled softly. Oz ignored it as he looked back to Dean.
"You're bigger," he observed. Dean lazily pushed a pillow up against the headboard and gave up being fully upright. He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded.
"Yup," he sighed, closing his eyes for just a second.
"You're the big brother!" Oz announced and Dean smiled.
"Yeah Dean's my older brother, Oz," Sam confirmed and subtly corrected. 'Older' was what Sam called Dean; 'big,' he'd realized awhile ago, sounded too childish.
Oz looked up at Sam, missing all that.
"So... so you're a little brother?"
Sam held back another correction even when he saw Dean smirking out of the corner of his eye.
"Ah," Sam sighed, "unfortunately, yes," Sam finished, again dryly.
"Sammy's the baby of the family," Dean said, grinning, his eyes still closed.
"Dean-"
"Who's Sammy?"
"No-"
"I call Sam Sammy, Oz," Dean replied.
"Dean-!" Sam whined.
"Cool! Sammy!" Oz giggled and Sam made a face at his brother, who'd opened an eye to watch and was now smiling like an idiot. "Sammy, what do you call Dean?"
"Jerk," Sam replied, not missing a beat, and Oz peeled into laughter as Dean's expression shifted to disapproval.
"Sammy and Jerk," Oz laughed and despite the substance, both Sam and Dean kind of appreciated the joviality Oz was bringing to the table.
"We could do stand-up," Dean idly joked to Sam as Oz composed himself. Sam gave his brother a begrudging smile.
Dean sighed and looked at his watch.
"Okay you guys hungry? I was thinking-"
Dean was interrupted by a couple loud bangs on the door that put both brothers on instant alert. They waited, quiet, and Sam shushed Oscar.
"Hello? It's the police-"
Dean jolted up out of bed and walked to the door. Before opening it he scanned the room to make sure everything looked okay. Sam was already pulling the blanket off Oscar so the kid didn't look weird.
"-just following up on a call. Anyone in there?" A few more relaxed knocks on the door.
"Yeah sorry dude," Dean called out, affecting a slightly higher pitch and taking cues from his earlier mental note to use colloquial slangs to contrast against his voice when he'd called as his father. He waited a couple seconds, visibly prepped himself to lie convincingly about their back story, and opened the door.
Dean was about to speak but stopped, mouth agape, to stare in shock at the officer at his door.
"Dean?"
Dean tried to swallow but his mouth was dry with mounting anxiety.
"Jack?"
Writer's Note 1: Cliffhanger! lol. Just to be helpful - if you're drawing a blank on Jack reread the beginning of Ch 1.
Writer's Note 2: Got a few questions about ages last chapter - within the story I've mentioned Oscar's in fifth grade (so yes exactly around ten years old :) and Dean's a couple months away from turning eighteen (although since it's October in this story it's more like three months but whatever). Sam's thirteen.
As for Oscar & his general school curriculum, I conceived of a schedule where some of his classes were inclusion-oriented while others were special-needs-only classes. More and more school systems in this day & age are going the all-inclusion route (which I'm all for) but back in the 90's it was pretty normal - even maybe somewhat progressive - to have kids with special needs attend many classes with same-aged, typical peers. So it was during one of these classes that Sam came in with his 8th grade class, met Oscar & became his designated Reading Buddy. Mostly he got to have fun reading to Oz a couple times a week. :)
Writer's Note 3: Thank you so much for reading (and the # of reviews last chapter blew me away - thank you so much, guys, really!)!
