Dean awoke suddenly to a loud knock at the door. He glanced at the clock; it was 0200. Who the hell would be banging on his door at 2 in the morning? The knock came again so Dean got up and slipped some sleep pants on over his boxers. He padded into the living room and swung the door open. On the other side he found a cop holding the arms of his son and his nephew.
"Mr. Winchester?"
"Yes, sir."
"I'm officer Rodgers. These your boys?"
Dean ran a hand over his face. "They're mine. What'd they do?"
"We found them with some older kids trying to break into the abandoned school on Lincoln. The other boys drove away leaving these two behind. Nobody's gonna be pressing any charges but they will receive a ticket for trespassing."
"Thank you for bringing them home." Dean said as the officer ushered the boys inside.
"No problem. You two stay out of trouble," Officer Rodgers said facing the boys. "I don't want to see you two again."
"Yes, sir." Johnny and Caden said. Dean cleared his throat audibly; the boys knew what Dean expected.
"Sorry for the trouble we caused, sir." Johnny added.
"Yes, sorry sir. Thank you for bringing us home." Caden said.
The officer tipped his hat and turned to head down the porch steps and back to his car. Dean closed the door and turned on the boys who were both staring at the carpet under their feet.
"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING?" Dean yelled.
Dad, I-" Johnny started, looking up at his father.
"Shut up! Getting brought home by a cop, are you out of your mind?"
"Well, we-" Johnny tried again.
"I said shut up!"
"Hey, what's going on?" A sleepy Sam asked walking into the living room.
"A cop just showed up on our doorstep with these two in tow after they tried breaking into a building!" Dean answered, still steaming.
Sam looked at his son. "Caden?"
"Sir?" Caden answered finally looking up from the carpet and into his father's eyes.
"Explain." It was an order.
"Dad, we weren't really trying to break into the school, it was just a dare."
"What were you even doing out at two in the morning?" Dean asked in a voice much calmer than the one he had a few moments ago.
"We- we met up with these older kids from school, they asked if we wanted to hang out at the park after dark." Johnny answered.
"And that's it? You just went? No second thought about breaking the rules or what could possibly be out there?" Dean asked feeling his temper rising again.
"Dad, nothing was out there."
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT MAY HAVE BEEN OUT THERE! THE SUPERNATURAL COULD BE ANYWHERE, YOU KNOW THAT!"
Johnny and Caden shrunk back at Dean's outburst.
"What the hell is with all the yelling?" John asked coming out of his own bedroom.
"Nothing dad. Sorry we woke you, go back to sleep." Dean answered.
"Okay! You know what? It's late and we all need to rest. You two," Sam said pointing to the boys. "Get to bed, now! And I don't want to hear a peep out of either of you. Clear?"
"Yes, sir." The boys said coyly and hurried to their bedroom.
"You all better not make a habit of waking me at 0230." John mumbled as he headed back into his room.
"Come on Dean, you need to calm down and we all need some sleep. Let's get to bed and deal with them in the morning."
"Yeah. Yeah, you're probably right." Dean said following Sam back in the direction of their bedrooms.
The next morning at 0630 Dean threw the boys door open.
"Morning boys! Up and at 'em. I expect you both up, showered, and in the kitchen in 30 minutes."
"Yes, sir." Johnny groaned sleepily.
The boys made it into the kitchen with only a few minutes to spare. Sam pointed at the table and Johnny and Caden sat down.
"Alright boys," Dean started standing in front of the boys with his arms crossed. "Start talking. Who are these kids you went out with last night?"
"Just some kids from school." Johnny said with a slight annoyance in his voice.
"You better not give me any attitude, Johnny, I am not in the mood!"
"They're some juniors I met from my English class." Caden chimed in trying to save his cousin from digging himself in deeper.
"You're not in 11th grade English." Sam said.
"No, I'm in 9th grade English, which a couple of the juniors had to repeat."
"Great, so not only are you hanging out with 16-year-olds, but you chose to hang out with the dumb ones?" Sam pressed.
"Hey, dad, that's not fair! Just because they're repeating some classes doesn't make them stupid."
"It doesn't make them smart! Neither does breaking into buildings with a couple of 13-year-olds!" Dean chimed in.
"I'm 14!" Johnny stated.
"Johnny, enough." Dean growled. Johnny pouted and crossed his arms.
"What the hell made you decide to sneak out just to pal around town with these kids?" Sam asked.
"I don't know, dad. We just wanted to fit in."
"You do fit in, with kids your OWN age! These kids obviously aren't your friends if they leave you behind to get busted by the cops!"
"They were just scared, dad. We all ran!" Caden hissed, rising from his seat.
"Sit down and watch your tone!" Sam snapped. Caden obeyed and sat back in his chair.
"Why did you run?" Dean asked.
"Cause we didn't want to get caught." Johnny replied, confused.
"Because you knew you were doing something wrong?" Dean pressed.
Johnny sighed. "Yes, sir."
"How'd you get out of the house?"
"What?"
"Come again, son?" Dean asked, not accepting 'what' as a response.
"What do you mean, sir?"
"How did you get from the inside of the house to the outside of the house?" Dean asked plainly, losing his patience.
"We went out the window." Johnny practically whispered.
"And not for this first time." Sam said. "It's becoming something of a habit with you two. Do we need to install an alarm on there to keep you two in line?"
"No, sir." Caden replied. "We don't need to be monitored."
"Well, your behavior tells us differently!"
Johnny rolled his eyes.
"Son, this is your last warning. Cut the attitude!" Dean demanded.
Johnny knew it was in his best interest to shut up, but sometimes his mouth had a mind of its own.
"Oh, come on dad! We were just hanging out with some friends! It's no big deal!" Johnny spat back loudly.
Dean was over to him in two steps. He grabbed his son up from his chair, threw him over his knee and landed a dozen blistering swats to his backside. When he was done, he planted Johnny back in his seat.
"You done giving me lip now, son?"
"Yes, sir." Johnny mumbled.
"Now let me just make sure I have this clear," Sam continued. "You snuck out, met up with some older kids you barely know, wandered around doing god knows what, broke into a building on a DARE, and then got brought home by a cop, is that about what happened?"
"Yes, sir." Caden replied.
"Anything else we need to know?" Dean asked.
The boys looked at each other, then answered, "No, sir."
"Great, well first of all you're not hanging out with those kids anymore. Second, I want you both outside, give me five miles around the pasture while we decide the rest of your punishment." Sam said.
"Yes, sir." The boys replied, trying their best not to groan about it as they knew that wouldn't go over well.
The boys put on their shoes and headed out the door.
"Alright, what do we do with them?" Dean asked his brother.
"Well, obviously they need to be grounded, but I think we need to keep them busy too, so they don't have the time or energy to even think of sneaking out of this house for a long time."
"Great, so all the chores we can think of. I like that." Dean smiled. "I think they deserve the belt for breaking in and getting brought home by the cops though."
"Yeah," Sam replied, "they probably do. But, maybe we give them a break this time. They seemed to understand how serious this was. How about we add lines to the chores."
"You're such a softy." Dean joked. "Okay, lines and chores it is. But we need to let them know this will not happen again.
When the boys finished their miles, they were exhausted. They wanted to just shower and collapse on their beds for a nap, but they knew their fathers would have other things in mind. They dragged their tired bodies into the shower and then back into the kitchen to find out what other punishments they had coming.
"You boys are lucky." Sam started. "Even though you seriously deserve it, we decided not to spank you for your punishment, because you both seem to understand what you did wrong here."
The boys looked visibly relieved at this news.
"Don't think this means were letting you off easy though." Dean chimed in. "We've got a long list of daily chores for you to complete over the next month while you're grounded."
Johnny looked visibly pained at this news. It was almost summer vacation and they were gonna spend the first few weeks on lockup.
"We want you up at 6 every morning to run 5 miles, you'll come back, work on your chores and end each night with 100 lines of "I will not sneak out, break in, or get brought home by the police." Dean told them.
Caden's wore a look of disgust.
"I told you you weren't getting off easy, son." Sam told him. "Obviously, you'll have less chores for your final three days of school but after that your days are booked solid for the next month."
"Jeez, do we even get to eat or is starving us another part of your torture plan?" Johnny blurted.
"Don't be so dramatic son, and you better watch your attitude too. You're on thin ice and I have no problem adding a whipping to your list of punishments if you need a reminder about respect." Dean sternly told his son. "Do you need a reminder?"
Johnny stared at his father for a minute contemplating whether or not he wanted to argue.
"No, sir." He finally said. He knew fighting with his dad now would only end up with his over his father's knee.
"Good. Now, Johnny I want you to get started with cleaning out the shed, take everything out, sweep and clean it out and then organize as you put everything back in." Johnny almost rolled his eyes, but he caught himself. He had definitely inherited his father's attitude.
"Caden," Sam said. "I want you to alphabetize the books in the study and then mow the grass outside. By the time you're done with those chores it'll be about lunch time. After lunch we'll let you know what else you need to do by the end of the day."
"Yes, sir." The boys said as they got up to get started on their tasks. They knew the next month was going to be rough.
The next two weeks went by fairly smoothly. The boys got their chores and lines done each day, and as Sam and Dean had hoped, they were too tired to even think about misbehaving or doing anything else for that matter. They both passed out in their beds at night and didn't make a move or a sound until they woke up to run in the morning. It wasn't until a week and a half before their punishment ended that they were tempted to break their restrictions.
The boys were outside washing the trucks when Caden's best friend Travis came up the drive.
"Hey guys! Guess what? My parents are letting me have that pool party for my birthday this weekend! They're gonna be gone for the night, and I have a friend who can get us a keg." He said with a twisted smile. "Can you come?"
"No." Johnny growled, "we're still grounded."
"Well, can you get out of it? Come on guys, it's my birthday!" Travis said with an encouraging smile.
"We're grounded dude, our dads would literally kill us!" Caden answered.
"Only if you get caught." Travis joked. C'mon, at least think about it. You've snuck out before, and I live two houses down so it's not like you'd have to go far."
Caden looked at Johnny who gave him a shrug. "We'll think about it."
That night after doing their lines the boys laid in bed and quietly discussed what they should do.
"We should do it. C'mon Caden! The last few weeks have been hell! We need a break."
"We only have a little over a week left, why push it? I don't want a whipping and you know that's what's coming if we get caught. Not to mention probably more grounding."
"Well, in a week and a half the party will be long over. We can sneak out without getting caught, we've done it before. Please Caden!"
Caden thought for a moment. "Fine! But I swear Johnny, we need to be careful, and quick, no more than an hour or two!"
Johnny flashed his cousin a huge smile. "You got it, cuz."