Summary: Pre-AU Timestamp: Sam struggles to help Liam get some sleep, and, when tested, Sam finds he doesn't appreciate unsolicited parenting advice. At all.

AUGUST 3rd, 2008

PONTIAC, ILLINOIS

"Liam?"

Nothing.

Sam sighed softly. "Liam… buddy, it's been almost two days. You've got to try and sleep."

Liam was shaking his head before Sam could finish, a small whine rising in his throat. "Sam, please don't make me…"

Sam looked down at the amulet in his hand and took a deep breath. "I won't make you, Liam, but I would like you to try. And…" He looked at his hand again, a sharp pain cutting into his sternum. "I got something that might help."

Liam slowly sat up on the motel bed, hesitantly curious. "You did?"

Sam wet his lips and knelt at the foot of the bed, giving Liam a weak smile. "I did." He held out the amulet. "This necklace is magic."

Liam stared with wide, fascinated eyes, scooting across the paisley bedspread until his legs were dangling over the edge. "Like the thing you killed in my room."

Sam was surprised—he had almost forgotten Liam knew about the supernatural—but he quickly recovered and offered a sideways sort of nod. "Kind of. That thing was a monster, and this…" he indicated the necklace by moving his hand, "…is a soul. So, it's a bit different."

"Ooh." Liam looked at the necklace in awe and reverence. "Whose soul is it?"

Sam smiled, trying to keep the sadness from his voice. "He was a legendary protector. He would do anything to protect the people he loved… but one day, he went too far. He left his family behind in order to keep them safe… and they, uh…" Sam sniffed, blinking rapidly to clear away the tears. "They didn't want to be safe, they just wanted him back. So… they did everything they could think of to bring him home again… and in the end, while they couldn't bring all of him back, they managed to get his soul in this necklace. That way, they could take him with them wherever they went… and over time, it got passed down from person to person, to whoever needed to be protected." Sam smiled. "I had it because I fight monsters, but… I think you need it more than me."

Liam looked at the amulet for a few moments, and then he looked up at Sam with wide, questioning eyes. "You mean for the nightmares? You think it'll help?"

Sam smiled and nodded. "I do."

Liam cautiously reached out and took the necklace from Sam, turning it over in his hands and then lowering it over his head. He held the charm in his hand and looked up at Sam. "What if it doesn't work?"

Sam inhaled slowly, keeping his outward expression neutral, but he couldn't deny he was wondering the same thing. If Liam wore the necklace and still had nightmares, Sam would need another plan, because Liam couldn't survive on such a skewed sleep schedule.

"Well, we won't know until we try, will we?" Sam reached out and tousled Liam's hair. "And if you have a bad dream, I'll be right here with you. It still might be a little scary, but you won't be alone. Okay? I promise."

Liam wet his lips and grabbed onto the necklace with his other hand, nodding hesitantly. "Okay… we can try." He toppled over and half rolled, half crawled to the other side of the bed. "Are you going to bed right now?"

Sam nodded with a small smile. "Right now."

Liam sank down into the sheets and pulled the comforter up to his chin. "Can we… snuggle?"

Sam blinked halfway through crawling under the covers. "Uh… sure."

That surprised Sam, given Liam's history, but he knew not all sexual abuse victims had aversions to touch. Some of them went to the opposite end of the spectrum and sought out inappropriate levels of physical contact. Liam seemed to be hovering somewhere in the middle which, while not impossible, was unusual.

But Sam didn't want to discourage healthy physical contact, so he settled down under the covers and motioned for Liam to come closer. "Come on. I'd love to snuggle."

Liam grinned and moved in closer, curling into Sam's side and placing his head on Sam's chest.

Sam planted a quick kiss to Liam's forehead and reached out, turning off Liam's bedside light before leaning the other way and flicking off his own. "Goodnight, buddy."

"Night, Sam."

AUGUST 17th, 2008

HENNEPIN, ILLINOIS

Sam put one hand on his hip and ran the other through his hair, letting out a soft sigh. He dropped his hand to the side of the shopping cart and arched a brow at a screaming, thrashing Liam, unimpressed.

"You do know this isn't going to make me get the soda, right?"

Liam only continued to kick the cart, arms flailing as he threw a full-blown temper tantrum right there on the floor of the shoe aisle in Walmart.

Sam heaved another sigh and leaned on the cart, pulling his phone from his pocket and checking the time. "You've been doing this for… four minutes. You know this really isn't appropriate."

Liam kicked the cart again. "I want it!"

"This is not the way to get it," Sam said simply.

"Do you mind?"

Sam glanced up from Liam and met the beady eyes of a middle-aged woman in jeans and a t-shirt praising coffee. "Not at all. Do you need something from this aisle?"

"You're just going to let him throw a fit on the floor?" the woman sneered, tossing a handful of light brown hair over her shoulder.

"Well, there's no law against it, so I don't really see how that's any of your business." Sam folded his arms over his chest, tapping the back of his phone testily. Lady, I am not in the mood.

"He's creating a disturbance," the woman snapped back, her entirely-too-heavily-shadowed eyes brimming with a sense of superiority that really got under Sam's skin.

"It's Walmart," Sam said dryly. "Not the White House."

She scoffed and folded her arms over her chest, bangles clinking against each other with every huffy movement. "That's not the point."

"No, the point is, stop shoving your nose where it doesn't belong." Sam was vaguely aware that Liam was getting significantly quieter the longer the altercation went on. "Have a nice day."

"Well, I never! I'm getting a manager," the woman snapped, going back to the cart she had left in the aisle.

"You do that," Sam said coolly, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

She only gave him a look of disdain. "You should be ashamed. My children never would have behaved so atrociously."

"Oh, so your children were held to a standard of perfection that probably damaged their psyche? Good to know." Sam gave her a sardonic smirk and spread his hands slightly. "I mean, it's not like adults can't manage to be on their best behavior all the time, so it's perfectly reasonable for you to expect that from your kids."

She opened her mouth to speak, but Sam cut her off.

"No, you shut up and listen. You don't know anything about my kid. You don't even know his name." Sam gestured in Liam's general direction. "For all you know, he lost his mom this week, or his best friend just moved away, or he's been having terrible nightmares and hasn't slept in three days." Sam took a step toward the woman, very much enjoying the foot and a half he had on her, and jabbed his finger into the center of his own chest. "That's why it's my job to raise him, not yours. Because I know him, not you. Because he's my kid, not yours." Sam dropped his hand to his hip. "Go brag to somebody else about your well-trained puppies who undoubtedly know that you'll only love them as long as they behave. But I'm going to stay here with my well-loved child who knows that, right or wrong, we're going to work it out together, and I'm never going to let the opinion of a self-righteous bystander or the notion of embarrassment take priority over his thoughts and feelings." Sam pointed over her shoulder. "Get out of my face. Now."

Sam was probably a little too satisfied by the way her mouth opened and closed like a fish as she struggled for words before stomping off, shouting about how she was going through on her threat to get the manager, like that meant something to Sam.

Sam rolled his eyes and turned back to see where Liam was on the tantrum front.

Liam was sitting on the floor, staring up at Sam with watery eyes rubbed raw, shoulders jerking with the occasional sniff and sob. "Sam?"

Sam crouched down. "Yeah? What's up, bud?"

"Why'd you do that?" Liam dragged his arm over his eyes. "I was—I was being bad."

Sam offered a small, sympathetic smile. "Liam, you're having a rough week. It isn't okay to have a fit on the floor over soda, but I know you, and I know you wouldn't have done it normally. I know you're overwhelmed and upset." He reached out and gently carded his hand through Liam's hair, sliding his hand down to cup Liam's cheek. "Even when you're making mistakes, I'm still on your team. It's like I said, we'll figure it out together. This behavior isn't okay, but it's not your job to fix it on your own or hurt yourself trying. It's your job to work with me to figure out a way to make yourself feel better without doing things you shouldn't."

Liam's lip wobbled, and he reached his hands out with a quiet whine.

Sam smiled and pulled Liam into his arms, standing up and holding his little boy tight. "I love you, Liam."

Liam put his head on Sam's shoulder and wrapped his arms around Sam's frame, sniffing quietly. "I'm sorry, Sam…"

"I know you are, buddy." Sam rubbed his back and pat it a few times. "We're almost done shopping. Think you can hang on long enough for us to finish getting groceries and get back to the motel?"

Liam nodded, wrapping his legs around Sam's waist. "Can I stay? On you, I mean. Piggy-back ride?"

Sam chuckled softly and nodded his head. "You gonna crawl around?"

Liam nodded again, a little more enthusiastic than before, and the second Sam's arm was down, Liam was crawling over Sam like a spider-monkey.

"You good?" Sam asked, reaching back to support Liam from below.

Liam rested his head on Sam's shoulder again and nodded, still sniffing occasionally to clear his sinuses. "Yeah. M'good."

"Alright. This should only take fifteen more minutes. Can we do it?"

"Yeah." Liam paused, and then he nodded again. "Yeah, we can."

"Alright. Here we go."

Liam squeezed Sam tightly, and Sam grabbed the shopping cart with a smile.

Sam started to push the cart down the aisle, going past the shoes and into housewares, all the while pondering what he might say if he wound up fighting the manager, too. He also spent some time thinking about how instinctively defensive he was, and how natural it felt to calm Liam down and ease him into a state of comfort.

Liam had barely been with Sam three weeks, and yet, Sam was finding it harder and harder to remember what life was like without him.

"Sam?" Liam whispered, leaning in close.

"Yeah?" Sam asked, tilting his head so Liam could have his ear.

"I love you, too."

Sam smiled.