Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Eric Kripke and Warner Bros.

A/N - Welcome to the newest instalment in my Supernatural fanfiction adventure! Thank you to all those who have reviewed/favourited/read so far - I love and appreciate all your support. I hope you like this chapter just as much.

A Home For Wayward Sons

Chapter Two

Sam might get annoyed and frustrated at Dean sometimes – he was almost a teenager after all, he didn't need the same amount of supervision as Adam, though he and Dean very much disagreed on that point - but still, he knew how important his big brother was to them. Sam knew he took Dean for granted, had even wished for something more on the odd occasion when things in their life became just a bit too much, but it was difficult with the lives that they led, not to wish for more sometimes, even if he didn't expect it.

But it was never Dean's fault, never.

Dean did his best, and Sam knew that. He did a hell of a lot more than their father, that was for sure. Sam loved his dad, he did, but sometimes he didn't like him very much. What they did was important, and Sam couldn't and wouldn't minimise that, but sometimes he couldn't help but wish for the white picket fence life. School, friends, a home that didn't change every two weeks, from one rat infested motel room, to a cockroach infested one.

Even just enough food to last the week would make a nice change. Sam wasn't an idiot, and he wasn't a little kid that Dean could lie to successfully anymore, despite how in denial Dean was about that fact. Sam knew that Dean had left the motel hungry that morning, that he had sacrificed his own breakfast to feed his brothers, that he had probably been cutting his own portions for the last week to make sure the food lasted as long as possible. Sam had done the same thing after all, making sure Adam was going to be fully fed before eating himself. It was the one thing he and Dean always agreed on. Adam came first.

Sam also knew, without asking, that Dean would have been planning to go out after school to hustle for money, putting himself in danger of being beaten up just so that he could feed his brothers. He would never have called dad for help, that wasn't Dean's way, even though Sam wished sometimes that he would say something to John, just so that once and for all, they'd know whether the man actually cared about them. Dean wouldn't bother their dad though, not while he was on a hunt, and John Winchester was always on a hunt.

Sam hated the hunting life, despite the fact that it was pretty much all he had ever known. Sam wanted normality with a desperation that scared him sometimes. The motels, he could live with, even the moving he could get used to if he had to, but what he could never accept was the fact that their dad, and now Dean, were putting themselves in the firing line over and over again, fighting nightmares when most normal people would run away from them. It didn't even seem to matter what it was. If it was hurting someone, it needed killing. And they needed to be the ones to kill it.

For their dad, it was an obsession, more than a way of life. Nothing else mattered. Hunting came first, his kids a very distant second.

Sam was no coward, and he hated the thing that had killed his mother and taken away his childhood with a passion, and he even understood why his dad had to avenge that, but what Sam didn't understand, what he would never understand, was why the man dragged his sons along with him. Especially Adam, who was a sweet, sensitive kid who deserved so much better. They all deserved better.

Dean made it all okay though. Sam wasn't ashamed to admit that Dean was his best friend, and although they bickered like the brothers they were, and they called each other bitch and jerk as often as they called each other by their actual names, Sam knew he would've gone mad or run away long before now had it not been for Dean.

Dean at least had his priorities straight. Kids first, hunting second.

The trouble was, in Dean's head, Dean's need came a very distant third, if that.

Dean had raised them. He'd looked after them when they were younger, fed them, bathed them, read them stories before putting them to bed. Dean was their parent, a lot more than their actual dad was. And like any parent, Sam felt safe with Dean. Dean had always told him that it was his job to protect Sam and Adam, he'd promised, and Sam knew how important promises were to his brother.

So when the car came screeching round the corner, heading straight for them, Sam wasn't scared for himself or Adam. He was scared for Dean. Because he knew exactly what his older brother would do…

"Dean!"

Everything happened too fast. He felt Dean push them away. Then he heard thud of Dean's body hitting the hood of the car and that overrode everything else. It was like his senses were only focused on one thing – nothing else mattered. Not the pain of his own body hitting the sidewalk, nor the cry of Adam as they fell together in a tangle of limbs.

Dean. Dean was…he was hurt.

He had no idea how much time had passed before he could move again. For a second, everything sounded underwater, muffled, and then suddenly there was a blast of sound. Too much sound.

There was a yell, lots of people talking, although he couldn't make out what they were saying. He hoped one of them was calling an ambulance, because Dean…

Sam pulled his aching body up, but before going to Dean he immediately bent down to check Adam, since that's what Dean would expect him to do.

"Adam," Sam said. His voice sounded weird to his own ears. "Adam, are you hurt?"

Adam stared up at him, tears already pooling in his eyes, but he obviously understood the question because he nodded, even as he rubbed at his arm. Sam felt his heart beating out of his chest, but forced himself to calm down, to remember his training and keep his head on straight. Dean needed him. Dean…

"Are you okay if I leave you for a second, buddy?" Sam asked, torn between making sure Adam was okay and checking on Dean, who definitely wasn't okay.

Fear flickered through his younger brother's eyes. Adam though, bless him, nodded, and in a move that he had clearly got from watching Dean, squared his shoulders and said. "Dean. Go save Dean, Sammy."

Sam choked back a sob and sent a prayer out asking for the power to do just that. He was scared he was too late though. He was terrified.

Suck it up, Winchester. Get your ass in gear and check on your brother…

Sam stumbled to his feet and made his way over to Dean, his breath hitching as he saw the devastation. Dean was on the floor, flat on his back with his legs splayed in an unnatural position, blood already starting to pool under his head from a cut on his temple. His eyes were closed and he wasn't moving, which was weird because Dean was always moving. Sam could hear a ringing in his ears again, but all he cared about was Dean.

"Dean?" Sam choked out, dropping down to the floor beside his brother. "Dean…?"

Sam placed a hand on Dean's chest, felt it move, and nearly sobbed in relief. He was alive. Please god, let him be alive…

He knew first aid of course, but he wouldn't even know where to start with the damage that had been done to Dean's body, so he didn't even try. He sat there, hand on his brother's chest while keeping half an eye on Adam, praying to a god he wasn't sure he believed in to let Dean survive this.

He had no idea how much time had passed, no sense of it at all, but eventually he was jerked out of his growing shock by the sound of blaring sirens and the screeching of tyres.

"Son, the ambulance is here," a gentle voice said from his right. That was quick, Sam thought distractedly, his hand still on Dean's chest. They must be near the hospital, he realised, as the EMTs began to unload the ambulance and make their way quickly over to Dean. Still, Sam didn't move.

"Son," the voice said gently, "You need to let them help him…"

Sam shook his head, and was about to speak when he heard a yell from the sidewalk.

"Sam!" Adam cried suddenly.

Sam jerked around, his face turning to thunder when he saw a man holding back his little brother, who was fighting tooth and nail to get to him and Dean. A protective need flared up in in and Sam stood up and started to stagger forward, allowing the medics to take his place at Dean's broken body. It was too much, it was all too much. He shook his head and focused on Adam.

"Leave him alone!" he growled.

"Sam! Dean!" cried Adam, tears trickling down his cheeks.

"Adam," Sam said, striding over to the distraught kid and pulling him away from the stranger. He bent down to Adam's level and the little boy's arms immediately went around Sam's neck. Sam gripped him so hard he would have been afraid of hurting him had it not been for the fact that Adam was gripping him back just as tightly.

"Is Dean gonna be okay?" Adam asked fearfully, as he pulled away and looked towards the Ambulance, watching as the EMTs began to load Dean into the back. "Is Dean…is he…?"

Adam couldn't ask, and Sam sure as hell couldn't answer.

"Dean's tough, you know that," he told Adam shakily. "He'll be fine, you'll see."

Sam walked him and Adam over to the ambulance and squared up to the paramedic loading his brother into the back.

"We're coming with you," he told the man firmly, picking Adam up and pushing him up into the back, climbing in beside him without another word. Thankfully, the man didn't argue, perhaps knowing how futile it would be. Dean would never have left them alone, Sam thought with a determined face, Sam wasn't about to let his brother down…

"He'll be fine," Sam whispered to Adam, gripping the 5 year old's hand tightly as they watched the medic work on their brother. He just wished he could believe that.

"Please," he thought. "Please let him be fine."

Bobby Singer had had one hell of a weekend.

It had started with Vampires and ended with the ghost of a 6 year old girl who had been abused by her mother and wanted revenge. Bobby sighed and closed his eyes for a second, revelling in the silence of his empty home. He really was getting too old for this shit.

As well as the last minute hunts, he'd also spent hours on the phone pretending to be FBI, ATF and even the CIA on one occasion. How he'd ended up being a glorified secretary, he'd never know. It was 11am now, but he'd been up all night answering calls and doing research, and he desperately needed to crash. Hell, if the phone rang one more time before he could put his feet up, maybe even have a well-earned morning beer if he was feeling particularly adventurous, he was going to disconnect the line…

Of course, that was precisely when the phone rang again.

"Aw hell," Bobby cursed, looking achingly at his couch and rubbing tiredly at his face. If this was that damn fool Hodges, he was gonna kill the man himself…

Bobby lifted up the phone. "Yeah?"

"Er…Mr Singer?" A young voice. Prepubescent. Bobby frowned. Not many people had his direct line, certainly no kids. Odd.

"Who is this?"

"My name is Sam." The voice hesitated. "Sam Winchester."

The name rang a bell. "You John Winchester's boy?"

He'd known John for a few years now, though not on a consistent basis, only seeing him perhaps once a year if that, and even then, only in the context of a hunt. And he'd never met his boys since John had always guarded them fiercely from any other hunters, though he'd heard plenty about them since then. Especially the older one – Dean, if he had it right – who word had it was turning into a hell of a hunter in his own right…

"Yessir," Sam replied hesitantly. "Dad said we could call you if we got into trouble…?"

Bobby bit back a sigh. Trouble with the Winchesters could mean anything from losing a tooth to the end of the freaking world. Last time he'd spoken to John, they hadn't exactly ended on good terms, but he'd be damned if he tarred John's boys with the same brush as their daddy.

"What seems to be the trouble then, son?" Bobby asked said with a sigh, already feeling a headache building. Funny how Winchesters – young or old – could do that to him easier than anyone else. In fact he was half the way to coming up with an excuse why he was a little busy this morning, when to his horror, Bobby heard an unmistakable sob on the other end.

"I just…I didn't know what else to do," Sam said through tears, reminding him that despite the fact that Sam Winchester had grown up in the life and had probably seen things that would make a grown man piss his pants, he was still a twelve year old kid. "Dad's not answering his phone, and CPS are on their way, and Dean…Dean…"

"Calm down," Bobby said, fear pooling in his gut. He didn't know those boys obviously, but even he could tell something was wrong. "Where are your brothers, Sam? Where are Dean and Adam?"

"Adam's with me. He's asleep, he's fine, but Dean…we're at hospital and we don't know if he's gonna make it. They won't tell us anything…and I'm…I'm scared and I don't know what to do. Dad's not around so if CPS come, they might take us away, and I'm not leaving Dean…"

"Which hospital?" Bobby asked, already standing to go and get his coat, and mentally preparing himself for a long drive across the country since the boys could be anywhere.

He tried not to curse out loud when the boy told him they were at Sioux Falls General Hospital. What in the hell was John Winchester thinking? Bobby had lived in Sioux falls all his life, and everyone including John Winchester knew it, so it was no accident that the boys had been staying so close. Obviously Winchester had been expecting Bobby to be 'on call' in case the boys needed help, but dammit, it would've been nice if he'd told Bobby that, the inconsiderate bastard.

Still, despite his other faults, the man had that much right at least; Bobby would help if he needed to. And right now, it definitely sounded as if he needed to.

"Sam, you look after Adam, okay, just until I get there." Hopefully that would give the kid something to focus on apart from his own panic. "Anyone, including CPS asks, I'm your Uncle. I'm on my way."

It was beginning to look like his plans for a quiet week were about to be blown out of the water. Bobby looked longingly at the beer he had been seconds from cracking open, and switched on the coffee machine instead. He was going to need it.

A/N - So, how was it? Bobby has made his first appearance but as you can probably tell, it won't be the last! In fact, he's going to be pretty integral to the story, which I hope you like. I love Bobby, much more than I love John, and I don't think I'm going to be the only one! Please let me know what you think of this chapter, and where the story is heading. I'd love to hear your thoughts; they help more than I can say! Until next time though, thanks for reading!