Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or the name "The Y."
A/N: I thought about this story today while I was volunteering. It's a pre-hunting days. You'll see. And this is a One-Shot.
Trista played with her hair as she waited for her section of the Y to open up. The other girls were putting out the crayons and papers for the little children to color on while Trista manned the desk. Parents sign their kids in, Trista writes down everything. Her boss opened up the doors as the parents came in to drop off their children so they could go and work out. Trista smiled at all of the regulars who came in every morning. She watched the clock, wondering if the Winchesters were going to come in today. It had been a week since Mary had been killed. Sammy was just a baby; the girls were all excited to see the new Winchester. Dean was just a cute handful that made the entire girls laugh. But for a week now, John didn't come in and either did Dean. Gently, Trista sat back as she knew that she was about to be giving a sign-in break to play with the children. All of the classes had started and no one new would come in for an hour. Just as Trista stood up, she heard the door open slowly.
Standing in the frame was John Winchester. Trista couldn't believe it. In one arm, he held Dean whose head was buried in his chest. In the other hand John carried a baby basket which held what Trista believed that Sam was in. She stood shocked as the rest of the girls stood in silence as well. John looked like he was going to leave when Trista took a step closer to him.
"John," she whispered. John looked at the nineteen year old. He really respected the girl; she was putting herself through college and she just adored Dean. John took a step towards the brunette carefully. He felt Dean shift in his arms. His son still wasn't talking like he used too. Trista walked forward as all of the rest of the girls followed suit. John held up his hand to stop them. Trista kept walking towards the boys. She held out her arms to take Dean but John shook his head no. He watched her try and hides her hurt feelings but John didn't have time for this. His meeting with Missouri was soon. He walked up to the table and put Sammy's basket next to the sign in sheet. Trista walked back and sat down.
"I'll be back soon," John stated as Trista wrote down all of the things, she knew it all by heart. John put Dean on the ground next to the table. Dean didn't even look at Trista.
"John," Trista started and stopped. She didn't know what to ask, what to say.
"Make sure they keep out of trouble but I would appreciate if you personally kept an eye on both of them," John said. Trista nodded her head. "Dean, you watch over Sammy for me okay?" Trista waited for Dean to say anything, to even acknowledge John but not a peep came from the young boy. John nodded to Trista and walked away from the boys. The other girls started to whisper at once to each other. A couple of the girls even walked up to see Sammy and Dean but Trista knew what she was to do. She picked up both boys and walked into the baby room. There were three other babies sleeping in the room as Trista picked up Sam and put him in a crib. Dean with his messy dirty blond hair sat right down in front of his crib. Trista walked out and grabbed some crayons and paper for him. Usually Dean liked puzzles but Trista just grabbed the first thing she saw.
"Trista, is Dean talking?"
"Trista, what does Sammy look like?"
"Later ladies, later," Trista said as she tried to ignore the on slaughter of questions. She felt so horrible for Dean that she didn't want to leave him alone for another single heart beat. Slowly, Trista crossed her legs and sat next to Dean. She put out the crayons and paper in front of him as she kept some for herself. She started to draw her family as Dean finally picked up the crayons and paper and drew for himself.
"So Dean, how old are you now?" Trista asked him. She asked him that question every time he came to the Y. This was the first time he didn't answer her. Trista gathered her thoughts to see if she could ask something that he had to answer. Instantly she thought of something.
"Dean, what do you think of Sammy?" she asked. He looked right at her when she said it.
"Why did you call him Sammy?" he asked, almost whispering. Trista was shocked that he even answered him.
"It's a nickname for Sam. Just like how we all call you Dean the Duke," she answered back. Dean fell into silence again.
It was like that the entire week that John brought the boys in. John would be cryptic about where he was going and he would ask that Trista watch over his sons. And every time she agreed she would cry on the inside because Dean's silence broke her heart. She noticed that it was wearing on John too.
One day John came in and pulled Trista aside.
"This is going to be the last day that I bring the boys in for a while. I just wanted you to know that," John said after he checked in the boys and left. Trista stood shocked at the announcement as Dean motioned that he wanted to be picked up. She picked up Dean and Sam and carried them into the back room. In there she had already set up all of the puzzles that Dean would want to put together. She smiled as the young boy scrambled for the puzzles as she pulled Sammy out onto her lap. Just as time was nearing for John to come, Trista heard a sniffle. She put Sammy back into his basket and crawled towards Dean.
As Trista finally got Dean to look at her, he started sobbing. It was so painful to hear that Trista knew instantly that the girls were at the half door looking in. Trista sat there for a moment before scooping Dean into her arms. She held him close as he kept crying and crying. Trista didn't know what to do for the first time. She knew that Dean wasn't crying about the puzzle. The sound of the cry was the sound of lost and every one on the floor knew it.
"Dean, its okay to cry, just let it all out babe," Trista kept whispering over and over and over again. She rubbed his back and squeezed him tight as he kept wailing. Trista felt her eyes well up with tears. She stood with Dean in her arms to rock him. As soon as she stood, Sam started to cry as well. And with his baby cry, Dean stopped immediately. Trista stood frozen until Dean wiggled out of her grasp to go to his brother. Dean kissed his brother on the forehead and touched his cheek. Sam slowly stopped crying. Trista stood with her hands over her mouth as Dean looked up to her with glistening cheeks. Trista wiped away her tears as she crouched down by Dean.
"You love your baby brother?" Trista asked. Dean nodded his head.
"I'm always going to protect him," the four year old replied. "He's got me and I got him forever." Trista smiled as she pushed some of Dean's hair out of his face.
"That's very brave of you," she stated. Dean gave Trista the first and last smile that she would ever see from the little boy. From that smile, Trista realized that their audience now included John. He walked into the room and scooped up his son. Dean smiled at his father as he hugged him.
"Dean, say good bye to Trista," John said as he tipped down and grabbed Sam's basket. Dean waved Trista over who instantly was at Dean's side. He reached over and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Bye Tristie!" Dean whispered. A whole batch of new tears sprung on Trista's face. Dean used to call her that all of the time before Mary died.
"Bye Dean the Duke," she said as all three walked out of her life.
Three Years later.
Trista walked into the Y to pick up her sister. Trista was now a teacher and her little sister Sophie was now working at the Trista's old job. Mass chaos was ensuing as she gently sat on the table. Trista's old boss walked up as Sophie ran up to her sister with her hands behind her back.
"Trista, you will never believed what happened today," her little sister squealed.
"What Sophie?" Trista asked as she waved to a little boy who walked past.
"Today, we had so many kids and not enough eyes. Well, anyways, these two boys wanted to play with puzzles but no one had the time to get them down. So what did they do? They started to tip over all of the chairs at the tables to get our attention. We didn't realize it until the older of the two wouldn't let anyone use a chair until he got a puzzle," Sophie said cutting off her story when Trista's eyes got big.
"Dean! Dean and Sammy Winchester were here today?" Trista said as she looked at the sign in sheet. Dean always knocked over chairs to get to the puzzles. He was the only kid who used his head to get what he wanted. Lo and behold, John's name was on the sheet of paper. She turned and looked at her old boss and Sophie. "They disappeared after that day here. The day that Dean made everyone cry; they're back?" Sophie shook her head no and handed Trista an envelope.
"He asked to give you this. He thought that I was you by the way," Sophie said with a smile. Sophie watched as her sister fought with herself to open the envelope. She remembered how upset her sister was after the Winchesters disappeared and now for them to return without saying hi.
With tears in her eyes, Trista opened the letter up that was in the envelope. A picture slid out of the three Winchesters sitting on top of the Black Impala. Trista smiled at how dark Dean's hair was and how old Sam looked at only three years old. Two different letters where in the envelope too. The letter from John was very formal and thanking Trista for everything she did for the boys and he was sorry that he missed her.
The other letter though, had a very different handwriting. It was from Dean.
"It says Dear Tristie. I miss you lots. You were always nice to me. I hope to see you soon, Dean the Duke. There is a line of X's and O's on here too," Trista said with tears on her face. She smiled. "Did John leave an address?" Her boss shook her head no as she left to go and break up a fight.
"Are you ready to go Sophie?" Trista said as they left the Y.
"Dean, you with me man?" Sam asked his older brother who was dazing off in the passenger seat. Dean shook his head and looked at his younger brother.
"Yeah, I was just remembering something. Do you remember tipping over chairs at the daycares we used to go too?" Dean asked. Sam thought for a moment and started laughing.
"That was so much fun. What made you think of that?" Sam asked as he looked at his older brother. Dean had picked up the newspaper that was lying in his lap.
"It's a long story," Dean said as he looked down to the paper. On the front cover was an article with a picture of a local teacher from Kansas who was being recognized for be an outstanding teacher. His eyes lingeredfor a moment on her name: Trista.
"We have a long drive," Sam said as he pried. Dean sighed and began to talk.
"Okay, so before you were born I used to go to this daycare at the Y. There was a girl there named Trista or Tristie as I used to call her….."