Timeline- The end of the first summer with the Winchester family, Adam is 12 going on 13 years old.

"Fuck!" Dean said pacing between the two motel room beds, roughly running a hand through his hair.

"Dean..." Adam questioned gently, hoping that Dean's rage wouldn't turn on him.

"Fuck!" he said again sharply and then stopped pacing abruptly.

"Fuck." he said, this time in resignation, rubbing a hand behind his neck. "Get him out of here Sammy,"

"Dean… Are you...?"

"Just go Sam! Now" Dean shouted.

Sam quickly grabbed Adam by the upper arm and rushed him out of the motel room and down the stairs, turning the corner just as the sound of their father's truck could be heard making the turn into the parking lot.

"What's going…" Adam began to ask, trying to pull himself from Sam's strong hold.

"Shh!" Sam shushed, dragging him away from the front parking lot and around the back of the building before letting go of Adam's arm with a shove.

"What the hell Sam?" Adam asked, rubbing his arm trying to take away the soreness left by his brother's strong fingers.

"Jesus Adam." Sam said, not looking at him and walking off down the street, leaving his confused little brother behind.

"What's going on!?" Adam questioned, nearly shouting and running to catch up with Sam.

Sam froze and spun back around on Adam "Dean's about to take the fall for you kid!" he barked.

"What?" Adam said in shock as Sam rolled his eyes and angrily stalked off, leaving Adam once more.

"Wait! What?" Adam yelled again, racing to keep up with his long legged older brother, "What are you talking about?"

Sam wouldn't stop walking and wouldn't look at him, only shoved his hands deeper into his coat pockets in anger.

"Sam!" Adam said, roughly grabbing his brother's arm, which Sam furiously ripped from his grip. "Stop!" Adam shouted, desperate for an explanation.

"What are you talking about?" he questioned again, trailing behind his brother.

"Dean's back there taking the blame for your stupid mistake!" Sam snarled, trying to ignore Adam's confused looks "He's gonna try to talk Dad down and if he can't he's gonna take the beating that ought to be coming to you."

Adam stopped still in disbelief, "Wha…" Adam started, the words dying on his tongue.

Dean taking a beating for him? No way. That was impossible. Dean hated him, or if he didn't hate Adam at the very least didn't like him very much. Adam had been with the Winchesters for nearly a year now and he could count on one hand the number of times that Dean had used his name, preferring to call him "kid" or "dumbass" or some various version of. There was no way that Dean would take the blame for Adam's slip-up during today's hunt. Sure, dad was pissed, but he seemed to always be on edge and Adam had only seen him get angry enough to take his belt to the boys a few times and never to Dean.

"No way." Adam said aloud, shaking his head and following Sam blindly, not caring where his brother was leading him, but truthfully a little relieved that it was in the opposite direction of the motel and his angry father.

"No way," Adam repeated again, making sure that Sam heard him, "Dean wouldn't do that. He hates me."

Sam stopped suddenly and faced his brother, "Oh my god, you are a dumbass." He said flatly, his voice full of spite.

"Great. You too," Adam said, glaring at his brother before turning away.

Sam reached out and seized Adam's arm and shook him, hard enough to rattle his head and force Adam use all his strength to push away.

"You're a selfish little prick! You know that?" Sam yelled at him.

"I am not!" Adam shouted back, wishing he could come up something better in retaliation.

"Dean's back there getting his ass beat so you don't have to! And you're bitching that he hates you!"

"He does Sam! He's an asshole!" Adam growled back. "Besides! Dad wouldn't beat Dean! He's 21!"

"Please," Sam said shaking his head "If Dad thought he deserved it, he'd beat Dean if he was 41."

"Are you kidding Sam?" Adam asked, becoming seriously concerned that Dean might be in trouble. "Sam, really?"

"Yeah Adam!" Sam yelled, "Why do you think he rushed us out of there? Dad's pissed and someone is gonna feel it,"

Adam was stunned into silence, following automatically after Sam, trotting to keep with his older brother's angry strides.

"So…" Adam started quietly, "Dean's gonna tell Dad the he messed up the bullets?

"Yeah." Sam said simply.

Adam shook his head in disbelief. "Why would he do that?"

"Cause you're our little brother Adam. We're supposed to protect you," Sam said not looking at him.

"But Dean… he hates…" Adam starts.

"Don't say it!" Sam snapped. "He doesn't hate you. He's pissed at Dad because of you."

"Because of me?" Adam questioned, confused.

"Because Dad hid you from us. Because Dad had another woman in his life that wasn't our mom. Because you had a better life then we did. Because of what Dad let happen to your mom."

Adam felt his jaw slide open in surprise.

"Are you seriously just realizing this?" Sam asked, looking at his stunned little brother, "Dean's jealous you got to have a childhood. It makes him crazy that Dad took you for ice cream and out to baseball games. We never had that. You had the life that we wanted when we were kids. Dean might make fun of the apple pie life, but he'd kill to have it."

"But he's been such a jerk," Adam said quietly.

"Only because he can't come out and say that shit to Dad." Sam explained, shaking his head, "Even if he wanted to Dean would never call Dad out on all his bullshit. He's too busy trying to make the man proud."

"Oh," Adam said, feeling small.

Suddenly the reality of what could be happening back at the motel sank in and Adam stopped short.

"Sam! We have to go back!" Adam yelled, ready to turn on his heels and run back to the seedy motel Dad had them in. "I can't let him do this!"

Sam reached out and gently put a hand around Adam's upper arm to hold him back.

"No Adam." he said, "We can't go back. If we do and you tell Dad what really happened, we are all gonna get beat. And then Dean sacrificed himself for nothing."

Adam's face fell and he felt the familiar feeling of misery building in his chest.

"Please Sam, I can't let Dean do this. Maybe if I could just explain to Dad that it was an accident. I really didn't mean to," Adam tried.

Sam just shook his head.

It really was an accident. Adam didn't even know there were witch killing bullets in the trunk of the Impala. He'd been in such a rush retrieve the silver bullets his Dad called for that he didn't think to look where he grabbed them from. It wasn't until in the middle of the hunt, trying to shoot down a pack of Vetala that Dean realized what were loaded in his and their Dad's guns weren't the silver bullets they needed to put down the creatures, but bullets made from brass and charmed to kill witches.

Dean had called out to Dad, screaming to him to grab his silver knife. Luckily Sam had loaded his gun and Adam's with the correct bullets and Sam had quickly realized the situation, tossing Dean his own gun before tackling a shaking Adam and grabbing his weapon to fire on the impending pack.

It had been a close call for sure, but they were all ok and the pack had been taken down. Adam was thankful it had turned out well, but had never really doubted it would. He had total faith in his father and brothers. Not to mention that he'd been taught to always have more than one weapon on his person always. So, he knew that each of the Winchesters had a silver blade on them in addition to their gun. He figured the fact that he had loaded the wrong bullets into the guns could probably be forgiven since he was still new to hunting and honestly didn't know the difference between the ammo.

He knew his Dad was mad. That fact was abundantly clear from the man's vibrant red face and snarled lips as he screamed at the boys to clear the scene. They had all heard the distant sounds of sirens quickly growing closer. They knew it was local PD responding to the shots fired calls from worried neighbors.

The brothers hadn't said a word and immediately followed their father's order, grabbing their weapons and fleeing. Adam listened to Dean scream at him during the brief ride back the sketchy motel, dragging him out of the car by his collar when they arrived. Adam had shrugged him off though, used to Dean's gruff attitude and irritation.

It wasn't until Sam's admission a few moments ago Adam realized the severity of the situation. Adam liked to think he wasn't a stupid kid, but he was realizing that he truly messed up. He could have gotten his family killed just because he wasn't paying attention. Even if it was an honest mistake, it was still a mistake- and Dad had often reminded him, there was no room for mistakes in hunting.

Adam felt lower than low. He felt like he deserved the punishment that his Dad would have offered him. Maybe it would absolve some of his guilt.

"Sam," Adam tried again, "Dean can't do this. I messed up, I should take the belt,"

Again, Sam shook his head, "No Adam. Trust me. You don't want this one. Dad is as furious as I've ever seen him. Dean'll be lucky if he can talk to him at all before Dad starts in on him."

Adam felt tears fill his eyes at Sam's words. "He didn't have to take it for me," he whispered.

"Kid," Sam said, looping an arm around Adam's shoulders "Dean's your big brother. So am I. We're never gonna let you get hurt if we can help it,"

"This sucks Sam." Adam said, holding in a sniffle.

"I know man." Sam said, pulling Adam in for a half hug, "Hopefully when we get back Dad will have calmed down and all this will be over."

Adam followed his big brother on a long, winding walk that took them across and back around the small town they had moved into for the week. It was several hours and very dark by the time they returned to the motel.

Adam was quick to search the parking lot for the Winchester cars, but only spotted Dean's Impala sitting in the lonely parking lot.

"Looks like Dad already went to drink away the hunt," Sam mumbled as they walked past the car and up to the motel room door.

Sam was quiet when he opened the door and Adam found himself holding his breath unsure and afraid of what he might see on the other side. Violent scenes of his oldest brother in various states of bruised and bloodied flashed through his mind and he found he had to force himself to follow Sam into the room.

What he saw when he entered was not a violent scene; it was quite the opposite. Dean was asleep in one of the motel room beds, lying on his stomach his arms tucked up beneath a pillow under his head, blankets covering him haphazardly with one leg sticking out making his dark blue boxer shorts partially visible.

"We should go to bed too," Sam whispered, "Its late."

Adam nodded in response, but couldn't take his eyes off Dean. He was intently studying his older brother, noticing the bright red welts and dark purple bruises that covered Dean from mid-thigh to up under his shorts.

Sam noticed Adam staring and gave him a little shove toward the motel bathroom, encouraging him to get on with getting ready for bed. Adam didn't need any more prompting, not wanting to make any more trouble for the day and, as silently as he could, grabbed his duffle and headed to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

As he passed Sam on the way out of bathroom, he gave a questioning nod, silently asking his brother which bed he wanted to sleep in. Sam nodded over to the other open motel bed, like Adam knew he would. If given a choice (and a roll out cot) each brother would sleep separately, but as it was sometimes they had to share with each other or their father. Anytime Dad was gone, even at the bar pulling his all-nighters, Sam and Dean would each claim a bed and then argue, wrestle or just plain fight to decide who had to share with Adam. It was not his favorite time of the day, but right now Adam didn't really mind that he'd be sharing with Dean.

Adam soundlessly moved across the room and slid under the blankets next to Dean. He did his best to settle in gently, hoping not to disturb his brother.

"Mmmmph," Dean mumbled into the pillow when Adam rolled over to face him.

"Dean?" Adam whispered, wondering if Dean was awake.

"Mmmmph?" came a muffled reply.

"I just…. I'm sorry," Adam whispered at the back of his brother's head, "…and thank you."

"Ugh. Shut up," mumbled Dean, shifting slightly to reach out and throw an arm across Adam's back like he sometimes did when Adam had nightmares.

Adam smiled in the dark and promised himself that he'd find a way to make it up to Dean, even if it meant not being so bothered by being called "kid" all the damn time.

A/N- Thank you to all the reviewers for the ideas that helped this one come together! I'm always looking for new ideas if you guys have any to share. And thank you to Luna for her beta reading awesome-ness!