The two boyfriends have only been sitting at the table for about ten minutes, when Cas has a thought. "How come there's only one picture of you outside your Kindgergarten?" He wonders aloud – remembering his own mother pestering him to get photos taken for events like this all the time.
Dean shrugs, his mouthful full of the salad Cas made for the, both. "I dunno, my Mom always hated me going. It was my Dad who took me – and the photos," he explains, and Castiel nods once.
2nd June, 1982.
7.52a.m.
"Dean, that's enough." John tries to grab his son by the wrist, as he zooms past him in the hallway.
Continuing to tear his way through the hallway, little Dean is suddenly overwhelmed by a sudden coughing fit – he could never run far without this unfortunate event catching up with him. The sound of John's running footsteps fill his ears, and then he's picked up and carried back into the living room.
"You have to take your medicine, and then we're going to Kindergarten." He says sternly, shaking the blue inhaler in his right hand.
Folding his arms and putting on his best cross face, John's son firmly yells back, "NO!"
"Do you need a timeout?" The serious look on his Dad's face makes Dean feel a little less likely to shout again. He shakes his head, and then reluctantly complies to taking his inhaler.
Mary left town for a business trip on Wednesday night – she was hesitant, because Dean was only just getting over a cold, and he's been up and down since the weekend... But, John convinced her he would be fine, so she ended up going. For the whole of the night Dean cried for his Mommy, and then Thursday he played up big time. So, today was going to be Kindergarten day... Whether he liked it, or not.
Continuing to pack his son's backpack for the day, John then heads off to the kitchen for some Tylenol – he didn't want the staff calling him up early to pick Dean up. Yes, he's one of those parents. "Dean, take your pacifier out of your mouth one sec," (yes, he caved in Wednesday night and got it out of the top drawer for him.)
Shaking his head, the little Winchester tries to make a run for it yet again. But, this time John was quicker. "You gotta take this, bud... It'll make you feel better, whilst you're playing with your friends!" He attempts to sound optimistic, and ignore the tears forming around his son's green orbs.
Finally, he drops the pacifier from his mouth, and takes the medicine from the syringe. Having already dressed him earlier, all John has to do now is persuade him to put his sneakers on. By choosing his 'Superman sneakers' – a.k.a his red Converse – this meant that now they just had to make it out to the car, with no tears... Hopefully.
John zips up Dean's navy blue hoodie, and then carries him out to the car – trying to dodge the little feet that are annoyingly kicking him with every step he tries to take. He buckles his grumpy son inside the car seat, and then they're off. It's only a ten minute drive – if Dean was in a better mood and they weren't so late out of the door, they'd usually walk. The car pulls up outside the small brick building, and looking in his rear view mirror at Dean, he sees that his eyes are screwed shut.
"I know you're awake," John chuckles, taking his seatbelt off. He walks around to Dean's side of the car, and carefully lifts him out.
They make their way inside the building, and John heads over towards the correct classroom door – there's four different age groups, and Dean is in the preschool age room, also known as 'The Sunflower Class.' Giving a firm knock onto the door, one of the four class teachers opens it, with an optimistic smile.
"Dean! We haven't seen you in a while," she beams, but he just buries his head into John's shoulder.
He steps inside, and then hands the woman Dean's backpack. "His inhaler is in there, and he had five mil of Tylenol this morning – just a cold, don't worry." He smiles, and then attempts at prying his rather strong son out of his arms.
Staying stuck to his Dad like glue, the smaller Winchester knows that soon the teacher will try and take him away. He doesn't really like Kindergarten – the kids annoy him, he misses his parents, and the teachers always tell him off. Sure enough, the feeling of his teacher's hands (carefully) pulling him away can soon be felt, and now it's John's turn to predict what happens next.
"I'll be back at half past three, okay, Dean? Love you, be good!" He kisses his son's head, and then manages to hand him to the worker, just before the waterworks come into full swing.
Just as he hurries out of the door and past a few parents, he can hear the sound of Dean's wails begin to fill the air. Hushing the upset child, the woman holding him sits down in a nearby chair. "Evie, would ya guess that he's had Tylenol... Again?" She beckons her colleague over, who subtly rolls her eyes.
"Pass him over, Cait – I'll try get him to have some breakfast," it was only 8.15a.m, and the Kindergarten serve breakfast for their kids until nine. Cait hands her friend the boy, who then takes him over to the breakfast table.
2nd June, 1982.
12.34p.m.
It's been a fairly tough day for the teachers in Sunflower Class – Dean point blank refused any breakfast, and then continued to cry himself into a close-call asthma attack by nine a.m. (Try working that out whilst you're welcoming in other children... In front of their parents.)
At the moment, Cait and Evie are next door in their sleep room – where they're trying to persuade Dean to lie down for nap time. He stares up at them, his pacifier in his mouth, and his eyes looking extremely sleepy... But, he will not lie down. Trying to avoid making him sad again, Cait tries to sing a lullaby. "No singing, it's nap time... Only Mommy can sing at nap time," he explains with a serious tone – and the adults try their best not to laugh.
"Sorry," Cait apologises as sincerely as possible, and then offers him a hug instead.
Dean shakes his head, looking over at the beds opposite him – the little girl with shoulder length brunette hair is smiling cheekily at him, and her blonde haired friend can be heard giggling beside her. They were the only ones to offer him a place in their game so far today.
He waves at them, and then quickly stops when Evie turns to see who's disturbing their attempts at getting all eight of the children to sleep. "Maddie, Emmy... Go to sleep!" Evie uses a more stern tone on the troublesome two. They keep on laughing, but hide their heads under their covers.
Climbing out of his bed, wanting to go and play instead. When Cait simply picks him up and tucks him back in again, he retaliates by sitting up, folding his arms... And, sticking out his tongue. "I don't want nap time!" He firmly states, trying to look mad but being interrupted by a sneeze.
She sighs quietly, and places her back hand to his forehead. "Evie, can you go ask someone to pass me the thermometer?" She calls out to the girl behind her – who's currently trying to rock the only other two children that are currently awake in the room, to sleep.
She gets up from the carpeted floor, and goes to retrieve it. "Right, it's time to sleep now. No more being silly," Cait lays the stubborn boy down in his bed, and ignores his cries and shouts of disagreement from behind his pacifier.
As usual, he starts to get himself worked up, and then being in the lying down position causes him to start coughing. Quickly lifting him up and patting his back, she hears the door opening. Evie passes her the thermometer, and tries to help calm the stressed out child in Cait's arms. "I'm gonna get his inhaler again," she informs, and then hurriedly carries Dean into the main classroom.
After getting another member of staff to witness the treatment, she checks his temperature – sure enough, it's rising a little. "Get the main office to give his Dad a courtesy call, I'm gonna try to calm him down in the timeout room," Cait informs their room leader, before leaving the room.
She quietly shushes him, and rubs his back. Opening the door to the 'timeout room', she takes a seat on a beanbag. The small proximity around them has a soft floor, and is basically filled with soft toys and seats. If a child gets too mad to be in the room, or if they're sick, then they usually come in here (with an adult) to calm themselves down.
Slowly – but surely – Dean's sobs start to calm down, and then he's able to put his pacifier back into his mouth again. "Hey, what was all that about.. Huh?" His teacher asks, whilst brushing some strands of hair out of his watery eyes.
"I w – want my Mommy," he sniffles, rubbing at his flushed face.
"She's at work, Honey," Cait cuddles him closer, but he wriggles away.
"I don't wanna nap!" He starts to wail again, but this time Cait decides to tell him that he doesn't have to take one if he doesn't want to.
She walks over to a nearby shelf that's nailed to the wall, and gets some tissues from the box. "That's better," she looks at Dean's now clean face, and then looks towards the door as a member of staff has entered to confirm that the courtesy call has been made.
Relocating to the pile of cushions in the corner, she sits Dean in the middle, and then places herself a few metres away. Leaving him alone to work out his little moment of anger and sadness, she watches him cuddle his teddy bear. His eyes slowly start to close, and then it's barely a minute until he's fast asleep. Finally.