A/N: You know how parents aren't supposed to have a favorite kid? Yeah, well, I never bought that, so I don't feel guilty at all for admitting this chapter's a favorite. Nope.

Don't Judge a Book
Chapter Ten

Dean thought for sure Cecilia would give up after a minute or two, but she didn't. She stayed in the room, and he could feel her watching him closely. She didn't say anything else, though, just sat there. He'd never been around anyone he couldn't fool before. It made him feel weird inside. He didn't like it one bit. He moved just a little, not enough for her to see, and put his arm across Sammy even though it made his brother wiggle in his sleep almost right away. Rick and AJ were gone, but somehow that didn't matter. He could have fooled them, at least.

Cecilia started humming softly, a song he kind of recognized but didn't know the name of. It sounded like something he heard every year at Christmastime. For some reason, his throat hurt and he could barely swallow. Sammy's elbow hit him in the stomach, not hard, but Dean let out a small gasp. The humming stopped for a second, then started again even more quietly. Dean's head started to feel fuzzy, and he was warm under the blankets. He didn't want to sleep, he didn't …

Couldn't …

Sammy pushed both hands against Dean's chest, two little shoves, and then he scooted under Dean's arm and down the sofa before Dean could stop him. Dean felt too sleepy to move, his brain still slow with … oh no. He opened his eyes and saw the room was bright, sunlight coming through windows. Oh no. Morning. He sat up. He smelled something sweet and bacon too, but all he could think about was how he had fallen asleep.

"Sammy, come back," Dean said, reaching for his brother's feet. He caught one and tugged it. "Get back here."

Sam giggled, probably thought they were playing a game. Dean wasn't playing. He'd failed so much since last night, he could not and would not let Sam too far away for him to keep a hand on at all times. He didn't know how, but if there was a chance to get away he was gonna have to grab Sam and just do it. Sammy turned around and tried to tackle Dean, smacking his forehead into Dean's chin. It hurt a little, but it sure didn't stop Sam from being all spaghetti-arms with him. He lost his balance, flopped onto his back. Sam was on him like that.

"I win," Sammy said, pressing his hands on Dean's shoulders and one of his feet in a bad place. "I win, Dean!"

Dean flipped Sam off, mostly to get rid of the foot before it really started hurting, careful to dump his brother on the side of the sofa instead of near the sharp edges of a small table. It only seemed to tell Sammy the wrestling match wasn't over; he squeaked and got up and started making all kinds of silly noises and faces. Dean couldn't help it. He started laughing, because Sammy always looked so funny when he got serious about tussling. Goofball. He put the palm of his hand across Sam's forehead and half his eyes, pushed gently. Sam's arms flapped. His belly poked all fat and round through his T-shirt pajamas.

"It's tickle time," Dean said, making his voice sound big like Dad's. "You can't stop the tickle monster!"

"No," Sammy wailed, but he didn't sound really scared or mad. "No, Dean, no ticka monsta."

Dean poked and scrunched his fingers into Sam's ribs and tummy and feet, until Sam was giggling so hard he stopped trying to wrestle him. It always worked. Tickling always made Sam forget he wanted to win something he never would, and it stopped a tantrum because it always started out fun but Sammy hated not being able to win something he never would. Playing kinda made Dean forget stuff for a while too, the bad stuff.

But it always came back. Just as he was going in for a second round of tickles, Dean saw Cecilia standing at the doorway wearing a dress and a ruffly apron. She was smiling. Instead of tickling, he pulled Sammy up till he was sitting and put an arm around his shoulder. Sammy figured out the game was over right away; he got real quiet. Dean could see his brother looking up at him, waiting to see what he did. The only problem was Dean didn't know what to do. He shouldn't have let himself play with Sam like that. It was dumb of him. He'd done too many dumb things. That had to stop.

"Good morning, boys," Cecilia said. "You ready for some breakfast? I made waffles."

Dean decided he was going to tell her he wasn't hungry and wasn't going to eat one single bite, but then his stomach made a huge growly noise. Traitor. Well, he still wasn't going to let her trick him with waffles. He knew Hansel and Gretel. She'd known he wasn't sleeping and had beaten him at that, but she had seemed to believe he was sweet and nice. And Sammy was sweet and nice, so if they stayed that way then maybe she would slip up. If he couldn't get away from a little old lady, Dad would be so mad.

"We need our clothes first," he said. "And Sammy needs to get changed."

"Of course." Cecilia smiled bigger. "I know you had a bag with you last night. Now, where do you suppose it is?"

"By door," Sammy said, always ready to help. He pointed. "See?"

"Yes, there it is," Cecilia said. She took a step toward it. "Thank you, sweetheart."

"Welcome."

"We didn't get to meet last night. My name's Cecilia. And you're Sammy."

"Ce…"

Cecilia laughed and moved closer to the door. "How about you call me Cece? Sometimes my friends call me that."

Dean didn't want Sam to call her anything because she wasn't their friend, and he didn't want her to go through their stuff again. He untangled his legs from the blanket and slid off the couch, then helped Sammy down. The teddy bear had ended up on the floor. He picked it up.

"Ma'am," he said, trying to sound normal, not mad and scared. "Can you show me where the bathroom is?"

Cecilia looked down at them, somehow looking sad even though she was still smiling. Dean didn't want to see that look on her face, because he thought it meant she agreed with Rick and AJ, that he and Sammy needed someone other than Dad to take care of them. He had to remember that even though she seemed okay, she was still one of the people monsters.

"Of course," Cecilia said. She took another step toward Dean and Sammy's bag. "You boys want to get out of your pajamas before you eat. That's very polite."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Please, Dean. Call me Cecilia."

Dean really didn't think so.

He tugged Sam along after him, going around Cecilia to get to the bag. He had to move slow even though he wanted to run, because Sammy was wobbly sometimes. A lot. One of his Batman comic books was right on top, and he thought it was weird because he had been reading it last night at the motel when he was supposed to be sleeping instead. It shouldn't have been in the bag at all. He shoved the bear inside. He pulled the straps, trying to close the bag so she couldn't see in. He knew it didn't make sense because she'd already been through it last night. All of his important things were in there, the only things he always had no matter where they went. It was stupid, but he didn't want her to see that in the daytime, when she could really see. He also didn't want her to see his underwear, which was even stupider.

"It's right this way." Cecilia didn't try for the bag again. She walked a few steps out of the living room, then waited for them to follow. "Well, come on, you don't want your waffles to get cold."

The waffles could turn to rocks for all Dean cared. That was what his brain thought, but his stomach growled again, so loud Cecilia had to have heard it. It didn't matter. He'd still think of a reason to not eat them. Except then Sammy's stomach growled, and there was no way Dean could ask his baby brother to not eat waffles when they were right there. Sammy was still quiet. Dean looked to make sure he was all right, and found Sam watching him with big eyes, like maybe he knew something was weird, but wasn't sure what. Cecilia seemed so nice, after all, a baby like Sam couldn't know the truth for himself any more than he'd figured wrong that AJ was safe enough to sleep around last night.

"Here you are," Cecilia said, opening the door to a room that seemed to glow pink because of all the sunshine coming through the window. "Do you need any help with your brother?"

"No, ma'am," Dean said. "I've taken care of him since he was a really little."

"I a big boy," Sammy said. Lately he always had to try to put his own clothes on. "I do it."

"Okay, Sammy, I know."

For some reason, that sad look in Cecilia's face got even sadder and Dean hated it so much it was hard to stay nice on the outside. He took Sammy's hand and steered him into the bathroom, then shoved the duffel bag in the room after him. He shut the door as Cecilia seemed like she might be following them in. He leaned on it and hoped she would stay out. He heard footsteps going away. He relaxed a little bit. He locked the door anyway. He wanted five minutes alone, so he could think better.

The first thing he noticed about the room besides how pink it was were some pearly fish decorations on the wall across from the sink. They matched the pink paint, and there were pink bubbles coming out of their mouths. The whole room smelled like soap, girly pink soap. The curtains had as many ruffles as Cecilia's apron. Dean eyed the toilet and realized how bad he had to go. He did what he had to do, staring up and out the window. Duh, the window. It wasn't too high and he was sure if he stood on the toilet he could reach the lock. His heart started to beat fast. This was his chance to fix things. He put on his clothes, and then noticed his shoes weren't there. He frowned. That wasn't good, but it would have to be okay. He'd have to make it work.

Dean knew the really tough part was going to be getting Sam to do what he wanted without becoming all riled up. There wasn't time for Sammy to get his arms tangled up in his T-shirt or freak out when he couldn't find the hole for his head. He got Sam out of his diaper and into undies, no problem, with his little brother holding onto his shoulders for balance.

"You stink sometimes, Sammy," he said when the pee smell hit him. "You know that?"

Sam giggled.

Dean rolled his eyes and pulled out from the bag the first Sammy-sized shirt he could find. It had Grover on it, Sammy's favorite. Good, he wouldn't get any whining about that. He scrunched it up so there was less cloth for his brother to get messed up in.

"I do it."

"We don't have time today." Dean smiled. "We don't have time because we're going to play another game."

"Game?" Sam said, almost a whisper.

"Yep. We're going to play hide and seek with that lady, so we have to be quiet and quick or she's going to find us right away," Dean said. He lifted a finger to his lips. "Shhh."

"Shh." Sam copied Dean, but ended up with his finger mostly in his nose. "We win."

Dean sure hoped so. Sammy didn't fight about putting his own pants on, or about anything. The kid loved playing games, even though most of the time they weren't games at all. Dean didn't want Sam to know that for a long time. A long, long time. He wished it could be forever. He knew it couldn't be, but today wasn't going to be the day. He shushed Sam again, shut the toilet seat (it had a pink cover) and climbed on it. The lock stuck a little, but Dean got it and then the window open. He poked his head out and stared down. He didn't like it. It was an easy drop for him, but not for Sammy. He'd feel better if there were a bunch of pillows down there. Oh, the bag.

"Okay, Sammy," Dean said. He lowered the duffel bag so it was below the window. "We're out of here."

"Hide," Sam said, clapping his hands.

"Yep. Now, when l set you down there I need you to get away from the window so I don't land on you, okay? Then we'll find a real good hiding spot."

Sam nodded.

Dean was not convinced Sammy had any clue. Sammy was smart, but after all he was just a baby. So it was going to have to be up to him to make sure he didn't accidentally kick his brother in the head or something. It wasn't easy lifting Sammy up while balancing on the toilet seat. Dean took his time. He wanted to get away real bad, but not if it meant hurting Sam. He stood there for a while, Sam heavy in his arms, not sure anymore how smart this was. He remembered climbing into that stupid ice bin last night instead of going where he was supposed to right away. The window was high enough it might be scary for Sammy.

But it was too late. The bag was out there already. Dean was not going to make another mistake.

"Here goes," he said.

And it wasn't that bad. Once Dean got Sammy up on the sill, he stretched as far as he could, held his brother by the arms and then let go. He closed his eyes for a second. No scream of pain or anything happened, so he opened his eyes again and peered down.

Sam stood on the ground, arms out with his fingers waggling like he was going to catch Dean.

Dean smiled. If babies could be dorks, then sometimes Sammy was one. He hoisted himself up and jumped out the window. When his feet hit the ground, it was the first time in what felt like a very long time that he'd done something right. They were out, now they needed to get to the safe place.

"Hide now," Sam said.

"Yeah, we're going to hide now."

He took hold of Sam's hand with one of his own, and picked up their bag with the other. Cecilia had a lot of bushes around her house, so that was lucky. He wasn't sure if they'd walk by the kitchen, where she was probably waiting for them. They could duck behind the bushes, if so. Dean's stomach growled again. He ignored it. He'd find a store or something. No one noticed kids. He could steal breakfast just this one time.

The further they got from the bathroom window, the better Dean felt. He was sure all they had to do was get to the sidewalk, away from the house, and they would be fine. He thought he could remember which way to go. He paid attention last night. He tugged Sammy along, rounding the corner of the front of the house.

"Going somewhere?" Cecilia said. She was standing right there, with her arms crossed. "It's been a great number of years since Rick and AJ were your ages, but I do remember all the tricks."

"Oh shit," Dean said.

Cecilia was mean and horrible and a tiny little part of him actually kinda thought she was also awesome, but he would never say that out loud. Ever.

"That language. I should wash your mouth out with soap." Cecilia uncrossed her arms. She reached for Sammy. "Come here, honey."

Dean couldn't kick or punch a woman. He wanted to. Instead, he watched Sammy go right to her. He was glad when his brother didn't look all that happy, at least, not the way he'd been last night when he'd gone to AJ. Mostly, Sammy looked mad that he and Dean hadn't won the game. And he also looked as hungry as Dean felt.

"How about I feed you waffles with maple syrup instead?"

"Lucky Carms," said Sam.