Never before had Sam felt such an exhausting amount of guilt and fear cascade through his body at one time. Slumping down on the sofa, he curled his legs up close to his chest and tried to breathe through the realization that was rapidly settling into his body. During his 'interview' with the lady from CPS, he tried his best to stick to the script Caleb and his big brother had given him, but it had all slid from Sam's mouth like honey under the intense gaze she was scrutinizing him with. Instead of confidently asserting that Caleb was a wonderful, kind, gentle guardian, he made it seem like he was anything but. Worse still, was the look Dean had given him when he came out. A look of hurt, of shock, and of resignation that another fire had been dumped on their family.
Muffling the sobs that came from his small body, he tried to imagine Dawn being able to somehow make it go away like he had been promised. He knew little about her, but what he did know was that she was a very intelligent and capable lawyer who had gotten Caleb out of many tight scraps before. Letting that sink into his mind, he thought about the possibility of the case being taken any further. From what he knew, CPS only took kids who were in bad homes, who were being abused. While Sam knew next to nothing about how the case workers gathered their facts, he knew that he was the furthest thing from being abused. Why couldn't the woman see that? Why couldn't she walk into their home and see that Caleb was a gentle man who adored him and his brother? The kind of person who let Sam have a cookie before dinner, and who was always open for a snuggle when he was scared.
If he and Dean were put with another family, the demon would use that opening to launch another attack. Only this time, Sam wondered if he would take it a step further and execute his long-talked about plan of using him for his demon army. Moving uncomfortably on the sofa when he thought of that, he took a deep breath and reminded himself that it was just in his head. The demon had not paid him any mind visits in months, and Sam intended to keep it that way. Plus, even if he and Dean were made to leave Caleb's care, there was still Bobby, and there was also the Harvelle family that lived in Nebraska. Those thoughts, while soothing, did little to help when his mind cruelly reminded him that the CPS lady was gunning for the boys to be given to the state. From there, they would be placed in foster care, and then what? He and Dean would face separation, and Sam knew he could not stand it if Dean was not there with him.
"Hey, Sammy," Dean said, breaking his brother from his thoughts.
"I know you're mad at me."
The mental image of Dean's face once again flashed through Sam's mind. He tried his best not to dwell on it, and instead teasingly draped his legs over Dean's lap.
"I'm not mad," Dean said, shaking his head in disagreement. "I'm just tired."
"You're tired?"
"I'm tired of this crap coming down on us. I wish people would leave us alone, leave Caleb alone. We don't need it."
"I'm sorry I froze when she started asking me those questions."
"It's not your fault. She wasn't going to stop asking until she got what she wanted."
"I tried, Dean. I really did."
He could still remember the way his heart pounded as though it was being played on a set of drums.
"I know you did, and it's okay. It wouldn't have made a difference regardless."
"What could she do?" Even though Sam knew the answer, he still hoped he was wrong.
"A lot," Dean answered truthfully, as he raised his hand to wipe some moisture from his eyes. "She could-"
"She could what?" Sam asked, struggling to understand what his big brother was trying to tell him, and failing to come up with the answer on his own. In his nine years of life on the planet, he had never known someone to make up claims about someone that wasn't true.
It confused him, and he struggled to understand what this woman wanted, and why Dean and his family were being put on the spot about something that was so clearly not true.
"She could take us, Sam. If a judge agrees with what she is saying, we could be taken."
"Why?" Sam asked incredulously, his eyebrows all but disappearing under his bangs.
"Because if a judge thinks that we're being...we're being abused, then he could take us and put us somewhere else."
Just the thought of being taken from Caleb, was horrendous to Dean. It didn't make sense to him, and he didn't understand why these instances had to keep happening to his family. Wasn't there another family that CPS could go after? Maybe one that had real issues that needed sorting out?
"Is that going to happen?"
"I don't know, Sam," Dean said, shaking his head, as he bit down on his bottom lip to at least attempt to stop the influx of tears that kept coming despite his best efforts to keep them at bay. "I hope not. But according to Dawn, they want to charge him with two counts of child abuse."
"But they can't believe that Caleb would-"
"They believe what they think they see," Dean said, "and what they don't know, is how wonderful he is, and how much he loves us."
"He went to jail for us," Sam said, recalling the truth about Caleb's strange absence for three months, and then learning the truth after the demon attempted to kidnap him.
"Yeah," Dean said, shaking his head. "He loves us more than anything, even apparently, his own freedom, and that's what they can't see, or won't see."
"I'm scared."
"Don't be," Dean said, throwing an arm around his brother and pulling him close. "We'll figure it out, alright?"
"Pinkie swear?"
"Double pinkie swear."
