Chapter 3
The Impala drove slowly down the main street of Sioux Falls as Sam looked for a place to park. He was going to hit all the thrift stores he could find to get secondhand clothes for young Dean. He figured since the weather was warm, he could get by with shorts, T-shirts, pajamas, light jacket, sneakers, and a couple pairs of light weight sweatpants. Sam wasn't going to overdo it since he hoped that Dean wouldn't be in this predicament for too long.
The thrift stores were located several blocks from each other, and he parked in between them so he wouldn't have to move the car. Sam got out and started walking down the street toward the first store, his mind on his brother. He dodged people hurrying down the sidewalk trying to get to their destinations.
The first thrift store was on a side street right off of main street called Second Chances. Sam stepped through the door and a bell chimed inside alerting the owner of customers. He automatically ducked without thinking about it.
"Hello, welcome," a middle-aged woman greeted him as she stepped from a curtained off area. "Can I help you find something?"
"Hi, yeah, ummm…I'm looking for clothes for a five-year-old boy," Sam answered her hoping she could help. He felt lost right now as he learned how to deal with his big little brother.
"Sure, I have some clothes on this side of the room and I just got some new clothes in. Why don't you go look through what I have out, and I'll see what I have in back?"
"Thanks," Sam nodded making his way around tables and racks to a section for boys. He picked up a T-shirt and looked at it, imaging Dean's small body, trying to decide if it would fit. He closed his eyes for a minute and pictured his size now. Sam looked through the other shirts that looked the right size and picked a few out. He found shorts that were marked down that looked the right size and easy for Dean to get up and down and added them to his growing stack.
"Here we are," the owner announced stepping back out with children's clothes in her arms. She placed them on a table by Sam. "Would you like to look through these and see if there's anything you can use?"
"That'd be great, and I need a pair of sneakers, but I don't know the size. I do have this," Sam told her taking out the drawing he had made of Dean's feet.
"Okay," she said eyeing Sam for a moment. "Let me see what I have."
Sam found a jacket, sweats, pajamas, and several more T-shirts. He noticed baskets with socks and underwear in them and picked through them finding what he thought would be the right size.
"I think either of these sneakers should fit," the owner told Sam holding out two pairs of sneakers. "You can always bring back what doesn't fit and exchange them."
"Wow, thanks, that would be great," Sam thanked her. He passed by a table with toys, stuffed animals, books, and building blocks when a stuffed dog caught his attention. It had the cutest look on his face, and he couldn't resist getting it for Dean. He also got some matchbox cars, frisbee, and books for Dean.
"Is there anything else you need?" the owner questioned.
"I think this will do it for now," Sam huffed looking over his purchases. At least Dean would have some clothes to wear that fit him. He waited as she rang up his purchases and paid. Since he found everything in this store, he didn't need to go to the others and headed to the grocery store next to get food. He was already compiling a list in his head of what to get, trying to remember what he ate at that age. It brought back memories of how Dean took care of him and made sure he was fed even if he had to do without. He sacrificed so much for him, and Sam didn't think he ever thanked him, but that was going to change when he got him back. He was not going to take Dean for granted ever again.
spn
"I'm back," Sam announced when he walked into the house with bags in both hands. He sat them by the stairs and looked around for Bobby and Dean. He didn't see them in living room and stepped far enough into the living room to see they weren't in the office.
"In here," Bobby called to Sam from the kitchen.
Sam strolled into the kitchen to find Dean sitting at the table on an old looking pillow eating crackers and drinking milk. Bobby was standing at the sink sipping on a cup of coffee as he watched Dean eat.
"Did you find everything you needed?" Bobby asked Sam. "Boy was hungry, so I gave him a snack until you got back with the food."
"I think so. You okay Dean?" Sam stopped at the table and asked him, lovingly rubbing a hand across the top of his head.
"Yes," Dean whispered pulling his head back from Sam's touch. It wasn't that he didn't like it, but he was still confused and uncertain about things.
"I'm going to get the other bags from the car; I'll be right back." Sam headed back to the car for the other bags and brought them into the kitchen to begin putting the food away. "When I'm done here, why don't we head upstairs, and you can get a bath and put on some clothes that I hope fit?" He looked to Dean to see he was watching him with a wary look on his face as he finished his last cracker. "I got you some juice boxes, lunch buckets, spaghetti Os, puddings, fruit cups, and chocolate syrup to make chocolate milk."
"Pie?" Dean asked quietly.
"Ummm…no, I didn't get any pie, but I will next time I go into town," Sam told him glancing at Bobby.
"Looks like some things didn't change," Bobby commented with a soft chuckle.
"Yeah, it seems that way," Sam laughed lightly. He continued to put away his purchases and gathered the empty bags to put in the laundry room. "Alright, you ready for that bath little bro?"
"You wanna go look for that stool before heading upstairs?" Bobby questioned him. "I think it's on a shelf down there."
"Good idea," Sam nodded. He went down the stairs to the basement to search for the stool. It took him fifteen minutes of rummaging on the shelves before he found the small wooden stool. After wiping it off and being sure it was sturdy, Sam head back upstairs with his find. "Okay, here we go. Now, are you ready Dean?"
Dean sat up taller to look at Sam as he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. He slipped from the chair and waited for Sam to come to him and offer him his hand. He hesitated for a moment before taking it and letting Sam led them to the stairs where he picked up all the bags but two before starting up the stairs. Dean let his gaze roam over everything as they climbed the stairs. He was led into a bedroom with two twin beds and waited while Sam dumped the clothes out to a bed to go through them. He picked up the shampoo, toothbrush, and paste to take with him.
"Here we go," Sam told Dean picking up the clothes and guiding Dean across the hall to the bathroom. "I'll start the water and get it ready and put this stool here so you can use the commode and wash your hands by yourself." He sat on the commode and turned the water on to heat and sat the stool to the side out of the way. He flipped the level to keep the water in the tub and sat back to look at Dean more closely now that he could think and breath. He saw how serious his expression was and how haunted his eyes seemed. Sam was sure this was all so confusing to Dean, he wondered what he could be thinking about and how he was trying to cope with it.
"Alright," Sam stated, standing up. "I'll let you get in the tub and help you wash your hair, and you can do the rest." He moved to the side and turned his back so Dean could slip off the large T-shirt, slip into the tub, and sit down with his back to Sam. "Good, I got some tearless shampoo so it shouldn't burn your eyes. Here, put this over your eyes and hold your head back."
Dean did as Sam asked and waited as he poured water over his head, wetting his hair. Sam squirted a little shampoo onto the wet hair and began to wash it, massaging his scalp. He rinsed the suds out and used the washcloth to wipe the excess water off Dean's face.
"There we go, here's the soap, can you wash yourself?"
"Yes," Dean answered taking the soap and dropping it in the water. He chased it around until he could pick it up and started washing himself.
Sam pulled the shower curtain to give him some privacy before sitting back down on the commode to wait for him to finish. He got a towel from under the sink to dry Dean and wondered how long it took for a kid to take a bath. He didn't want to rush him but didn't think Dean would be interested in playing in the water.
"You about done?" Sam asked Dean when he thought he had enough time to finish bathing.
"Think so," Dean mumbled just loud enough for Sam to hear.
"Okay, let's let this water out and get you dried off," Sam said. He threw the leveler to drain the water and draped the towel around Dean's shoulders pulling up enough to towel dry his hair. Once Dean was out of the tub, Sam briskly rubbed the towel over his body removing the water beading up on his skin. "Here's some clothes for you to put on and I'll wait for you in the bedroom." Sam left Dean to dress and went into the bedroom. He moved some clothes around in Dean's dresser so he could put the new clothes in there out of the way. "I got a couple pair of sneakers and I hope a pair fits," Sam told Dean when he stepped back into the bedroom. "Looks like the clothes fit okay. Here's some socks and you can pick which shoes you like."
Dean took the socks and sat down on the floor to slip them on and looked at the sneakers before picking a pair. He put them on and fastened the Velcro straps before standing up to look down at his feet.
"How do they feel?" Sam questioned kneeling to feel for Dean's toes and to check they weren't too loose.
"Okay," Dean replied looking down at the sneakers as he moved his feet around inside the shoes.
"Good. I got you something to sleep with," Sam offered picking the stuffed dog up from the bed. "I said I'd get you a surprise." He handed it to Dean who took it and looked at it, examining it before stepping to the bed and putting it on a pillow. "I found some toys and books at the thrift store that you can play with, and I picked up a coloring book and crayons too."
Dean didn't say anything as he followed Sam back downstairs and to the living room. Sam picked up the bags by the stairs and showed Dean the toys, putting them in the floor for him to play with. He watched Dean sit in the floor and pick up each one to look at it before sitting it back down. He looked at each book and then the coloring book like he was trying to decide if he wanted to play with any of them. Dean stretched out on his stomach and started rolling the cars around on the floor making soft car noises. Sam slipped his cell from his pocket and took a few pictures of Dean as he played. He seemed content and Sam left him there to go into the office to talk to Bobby. Sam dropped into a chair and looked to Bobby who was going through some books spread out on his desk.
"How ya holding up son?" Bobby asked him. "And where's your brother?"
"I'm just trying to keep up," Sam sighed deeply, slumping in the chair. "He's entertaining himself in the living room floor with some toys I bought at the thrift store." He rubbed his face with his hand and wiped his eyes. He couldn't hide anything from Bobby and saw the knowing look on his face as he studied Sam.
"Alright Sam, think hard, did anything strange happen to you two from when I talked to you and when this happened to Dean? No matter how small it is."
Sam frowned as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and started going over everything in his head. He retraced their footsteps, picturing it in his mind. He brought up the storage unit and went over what they did in there.
"The only thing I can think of is Dean fell in the storage unit, dodging one of Dad's traps, but I didn't see what he hit. He cut his hand on some broken glass, but it wasn't bad. He said he was okay, and I didn't think anything about it."
"Well, that might be ground zero Sam. Dean could have encounter something in that storage unit that did that to him. You said your Dad had a lot of supernatural items in there. Did John have curse boxes by chance?"
"Yeah, I'm sure I saw some and there were some other weird crap too. I think we need to rent a truck and go clean the place out. Maybe we can find what caused this and see how to reverse it," Sam told Bobby.
"That sounds about right…" Bobby replied stopping when his phone rang. "Singer Salvage…Yeah…Okay…Where are you…Stay put, I'll head out now." Bobby hung up the phone and looked at Sam. "That was a hunter friend of mine. He needs some help on a case so I'm going to need to head out."
"Sure, we'll be okay. I mean, I can handle Dean until you get back and then we can plan on cleaning out the unit."
"I know you'll take care of your brother Sam. You two just hang out here and get to know your younger brother."
"Yeah, I think I'd like that. Maybe I can give him some happy memories and let him be a kid for a little while. He never got that back then."
"I'm going to pack and head out. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but I'll get back as soon as I can." Bobby got up and headed to his room to get ready to leave.
"Be careful Bobby," Sam told him getting up too. "It looked like a storm is heading this way and it looks like a bad one."
"Yeah, heard it on the radio. Supposed to hit in a few hours. At least I'm heading in the opposite direction."
Sam stopped in the living room and saw Dean was coloring but looked up as they came out of the office. "Uncle Bobby is going on a trip for a few days and we're going to stay here while he's gone," Sam explained to Dean.
Dean watched Bobby disappear down the hall and looked back at Sam as he continued to talk.
"I'll fix us a late lunch after Bobby leaves. Is there something you might like?"
Dean looked back down at the picture he was coloring and shrugged his shoulders at the question. He listened and watched everything going on around him, trying not to miss anything. Food was the least of his worries right now, he was just trying to take each moment as they came hoping his foggy brain would clear up. Sometimes it felt like his head was full of cotton and something was stopping him from seeing things. Dean hummed a tune softly trying to comfort himself as Sam stopped at the kitchen door and looked back because he knew that song. It was what Dean would hum or sing to him when he was small. Dean had told him it was what their Mom used to sing to them for a lullaby, 'Hey Jude' by the Beatles.
'I wish I knew what was going through your mind,' Sam thought to himself as he looked at Dean. He didn't know if Dean could tell him anything or not and didn't want to make him withdrawal and completely shut down. He was going to take it nice and slow and one day at a time, hoping they could find the answers in their Dad's storage unit to reverse what happened to Dean.
A/N: Sam wants to give Dean some good memories and get to know him at that age. Thanks for coming on this ride with me. I do like reviews/comments. NC