Disclaimer: Supernatural and all its characters belong to Kripke and the CW. I own nothing.
Thank you to everyone who is reading this story. And a special thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to leave a review.
Previously on Supernatural- Feeling safe for the first time in days Sammy looked up into the man's smiling face and shyly said, "Daddy?"
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Bobby's grip around Sammy tightened as his heart swelled with joy at hearing one of the boys he loved so dearly calling him daddy. He stood holding the little boy enjoying the mistaken title for a moment before gently saying, "I'm not your daddy, kiddo. I'm Uncle Bobby, remember?"
Sammy sadly shook his head. "But, but then where's my daddy? Why isn't he here?" Sammy inquired jumping as one of the truck doors slammed shut. Glancing over he saw a man in a black suit walking toward them. He gasped recognizing the man from his dreams immediately. He pointed to the approaching figure with his good arm. "It's the angel!" he breathed out.
A chuckle broke through Bobby's lips before he could stop it. "Jim? An angel? Not by a long shot, sport. That's just Pastor Jim. He's another one of your uncles."
"Hello, Sammy, thanks for the compliment." Pastor Jim greeted as he walked up to the two and ruffled the youngest Winchester's hair. "But what made you think I was an angel?"
"My dreams" Sammy simply stated. He went on to explain to the curious men. "There was a church in them. It had a huge stained glass window with you and another angel painted on it. You had wings and a halo and everything."
"Another guy? What did he look like, Sammy?" Bobby questioned as he started back to the truck with Sam securely held in his arms.
"Ummm, he was tall and he looked like he was a lot younger than you. He had black hair and bright blue eyes." Sammy described cocking his head to stare at his uncles when they both burst out laughing.
"Caleb! An angel! That's a good one! Wait till I tell Joshua!" Bobby got out between chuckles.
Noticing Sammy's confused expression Jim quickly began to explain. "Sorry Sammy, it's just that Caleb is…"
"SAMMY!" a voice hollered from across the street.
Glancing up in surprise Sammy saw a young boy barreling towards them. Leaning into the safety of his uncle he scrutinized the teenager cautiously. Nothing about the boy was the least bit familiar until he saw the stranger's jade green eyes. Relaxing his tense posture Sammy smiled down at the boy. "Hi" he greeted.
"Sammy!" Dean exclaimed reaching up to his little brother. Wrapping his arms around his little brother he carefully took him from Bobby's arms and gently hugged him. "I missed you, man." He admitted ducking to prevent getting a face full of cast. "Hey, careful, squirt."
"Sorry" Sammy apologized readjusting his grip on the older boy.
"Not a problem, little brother" Dean assured him as he followed Bobby across the yellow lines marking the middle of the road. "Just try to be…"
"JOEY! JOEY, where are you?" Mrs. Pool's terrified voice bellowed from the opposite side of the road. Rounding the bend of the dirt drive she scowled at the group trying to take her baby from her once more. "Oh no you don't! Come back here with my son!" she yelled before sprinting into the road.
Dean, Sammy, and the two men all stopped and turned at the sound of Mrs. Pool's voice. Determined not to let the insane woman get her hands on Sammy again Bobby and Jim immediately put themselves in front of the boys as Dean tightened his grip on Sammy and slowly started to back away. All four were shocked by what happened next.
Eyes locked on her son Mrs. Pool dashed into the street to reclaim what was rightfully hers. Not paying attention to her surroundings she had no chance to evade the Chevy that careened around the corner. It slammed into her tossing her into the windshield and over the car. She cart wheeled onto the road and lay motionless as a police cruiser screeched to a stop just inches from her head.
Dean stood stock still as the woman that had caused so much trouble for his family was violently rammed by the car. His mouth dropped open as her body was tossed over the car and then rolled a little ways down the road before coming to a stop. Staring at the body lying in the road Dean became conscious of shaking. Blinking he forced himself to look away from the horrible scene. Seeing his little brother's terrified wide eyes glued to the still body kicked started Dean's protective streak. Grasping Sammy's chin he gently turned the little boy's head away from the carnage and settled it on his shoulder. "Its okay, Sammy. Everything's alright now, little brother." Dean whispered as he slowly rubbed a hand up and down Sam's back.
"Jim, take the boys back to the truck." Bobby instructed. "I'll handle this." He glanced both ways and then stomped over to the policeman's side thinking over what information to tell the man.
"Come on Dean. Let's get Sammy away from this mess." Jim softly urged. He placed a hand on Dean's free shoulder and steered the boys towards the truck. Hearing the truck door squeak open he glanced up to see John struggling to get out. Rolling his eyes he quickly called out, "Stay there John! We'll come to you!"
"Not a chance" John muttered as he pulled himself out of the truck and reached for his crutches. He quickly set them under his arms and began the difficult journey to his boys. Luckily he ended up only having to take a few steps before Jim and the boys walked up to him. Smiling at his baby boy John reached out a shaky hand to brush a stray hair out of his son's face. "Hey Sammy. You okay, sport?" he asked.
Sammy shrunk back from the new stranger recognizing the deep gravelly voice from his nightmares. Not wanting to be anywhere near the voice he squirmed and wiggled until Dean put him down. The second his feet met the road Sammy took off across the road screaming for the one person he knew would protect him. "Uncle Bobby! Uncle Bobby!" he hollered.
Hearing Sammy's frightened yells Bobby turned and dashed towards the littlest Winchester. He dropped to one knee on the center line of the highway and held out his arms bracing as Sammy barreled into him. He gently picked the child up frowning as Sammy's pleas of "don't let him get me" reached his ears. Alarmed by the whispered words and the intense shaking Bobby slowly began rocking back and forth like he'd seen John do time after time with a much younger Sammy. Shaking his head in warning to the others Bobby walked over to the policeman who was standing at the side of the road while keeping up a steady stream of assurances. After several tense minutes Sammy finally began to calm down eventually falling asleep in his uncle's embrace. Smiling down at the sleeping youngster Bobby conversed with the policeman for a couple more minutes before walking back to the truck and climbing in the front passenger seat. "Somebody wanna tell me what happened?" he gruffly whispered once the other men were in the truck.
"No clue" Dean softly replied. "One second he was fine and the next he's struggling to get out of my arms and running to you."
Seeing the look of doubt cross Bobby's face Jim quickly added his two cents. "Dean's telling the truth, Bobby. There was no reason for Sammy to react like that. No one did anything. John had just said…Wait a minute! That's it! Sammy wasn't reacting to something one of us did; he was reacting to John's voice."
"My voice? Why the hell would that freak him out?" John growled wincing when he saw Sammy flinch in his sleep.
"Maybe because all you do lately is yell at the poor kid." Bobby angrily whispered. "Ever since Sammy found out about what's really out there, you've treated him like a soldier at boot camp."
"That's not true." Dean protested. "Dad doesn't do that. He's always patient with us and tells us we did a good job."
"Yeah, right" Bobby muttered. "And I'm the Easter bunny. Like my fluffy tail?"
"Enough gentlemen" Pastor Jim warned. "Save it for later. Right now let's concentrate on taking care of Sammy."
"Sorry Jim, you're right." Bobby apologized. "I think the first thing we need to do is get Sammy checked out to make sure he's healing alright. There's a clinic about ten more miles down the road on the left. The cop said to ask for a Dr. Sanders."
"What about the cop? Should we be expecting problems?" John asked setting aside his anger for the moment.
"Nah, I don't think so." Bobby said. "I told him about Mrs. Pool taking Sammy from the hospital. Said that we got a call from her and we had traced it to this area. Besides, he's probably got other things to worry about; like Mrs. Pool's death."
Seeing his brother begin to stir Dean scooted onto the edge of his seat and leaned against the back of the front bench effectively blocking their dad from Sam's view. "Hey kiddo" he greeted when Sammy opened his eyes. "Feeling better?"
"Yeah" Sammy yawned glancing around. "Where are we going?"
"Well, we're gonna go to the clinic and get you checked out by a doctor and then we're headed to the closest hotel." Bobby informed him. "I think we all could use some rest."
Sammy gulped at the mention of a dreaded doctor. "Do I hafta go? I feel okay."
"Sorry sport" Bobby replied. "We need to make sure you're alright."
Nodding his head in understanding Sammy glanced between Bobby and Dean. "Will you guys stay with me?" he whispered.
"You couldn't get rid of me if you tried little brother." Dean assured Sammy.
"That goes for me too champ" Bobby agreed with a smile. Wanting to get Sammy's mind off the impending doctor's visit he quickly changed the subject. "Sammy, you said you had dreams about us, right? You said Jim and Caleb were angels." Ignoring Dean's snort he continued, "What about Dean here? Was he in the dreams, too?"
"Yes sir" Sammy replied. "He looks just like he did in my dreams."
"Was there ever any doubt" Dean boasted laughing at Sammy's famous eye roll. "Hey, what about Bobby? Was he an angel, too? No wait, I bet he was a giant casserole."
"Nope, he was a great big teddy bear." Sammy proudly informed them. "He was even wearing that cap."
Snickering at the blush that crept over Bobby's face Dean gently pressed for more. "What else was in your dream, Sammy?"
"Ummm, well there was another man." Sammy hesitantly offered. "He umm, he was dressed like Santa Claus and he kept coming to a junkyard bringing me stuffed animals and saying he was sorry about the clown thing."
All four men burst out laughing at the image of their friend Joshua in a Santa Claus suit. A few moments later Bobby wiped his eyes and said, "That would be Uncle Josh, Sammy. He's always bringing you a stuffed animal of some kind."
"Anything else stand out, Sammy?" Pastor Jim asked as he turned into the parking lot of the small clinic.
"Yeah, there's one more thing." Sammy replied. "There's a black house. It has wheels and it roars."
Silence filled the truck as the stunned men attempted to deal with Sammy's heartfelt statement.
Shaking his head in sadness Pastor Jim pulled into a parking spot and cut the engine. Shoving all negative thoughts to the side he smiled and cheerfully announced, "We're here."
Bobby climbed out of the truck and turned to help Sammy out. Seeing the little boy reaching for him Bobby smiled and picked up his nephew carefully. Walking beside Dean they followed Pastor Jim into the entrance of the clinic and up to the desk. After asking for Dr. Sanders the group made their way to the chairs lined up against the wall and took a seat. Within minutes a nurse opened the door across from them and called Sammy's name. Picking up Sammy once more Bobby stood and walked up to the nurse with Dean right behind him. They were ushered through the door and out of sight.
Pastor Jim sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair shooting worried glances at John as he filled out the required paperwork. He waited until his friend was finished with his task and the papers were taken before venturing, "Are you alright, John?"
Hundreds of sarcastic remarks were on the tip of John's tongue but he swallowed them down. Scrubbing a weary hand across his face he sighed. "No" he honestly answered. "Sammy remembers everybody but me. And to make it worse he's afraid of me for some reason. My own baby boy is terrified of me."
Pastor Jim placed a comforting hand on John's shoulder. "Hang in there Johnny. Sammy's just a little confused right now. He'll come around. We just have to take it slow and give him all the love and support we can."
"How can I do that when he won't let me get near him?" John growled.
"Give him time, John." Jim instructed. "Try being the daddy you were when the boys were younger. When he sees you acting like that instead of the drill sergeant you've been lately, he'll let you in his circle. You just have to be patient with him."
"I'll try, Jim. But I'm not sure I can be that man anymore." John confessed. "I'm not sure I know how."
"You'll find a way." Jim assured his friend. "You always do. Now I don't know about you, but I could sure use a cup of coffee." Standing he headed for the nurse's desk. "Be right back." He called over his shoulder.
John leaned back in his chair and stretched out his aching leg. Closing his eyes he let the memories flood his mind searching for the daddy he once was.
A couple of hours and several cups of coffee later the small family walked out of the clinic's doors with a sleeping Sammy held securely in Bobby's arms. They climbed into the truck and pulled out of the parking lot heading for the middle of town. Glancing from side to side the group searched for a decent hotel to stay in for a few days. Finally spotting a Holiday Inn Jim quickly turned into the parking lot and turned off the engine. The worn out group climbed out of the truck once last time and disappeared inside the hotel.
