Dean knew that he had to leave his brother in order to get Ellie home and settled, but that didn't make him feel any less like he was abandoning him. He knew that Sammy had agreed with arrangement wholeheartedly as soon as he saw the relief in the kid's eyes, it just didn't set well that he couldn't be in two places at once; that would have taken care of everything, but thrown the world of its axis at the same time. He thought about that for a moment before laughing at that notion, in his opinion the world could only become better with two of him.
Hearing something fall on the floor, he turned to see that Ellie had thrown her cup across the table and onto the floor below. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself for what was about to happen. He really wished that Sammy was there with him at the moment, he was always able to steer Ellie back to the mood that she was in, while it seemed like a battle of wills with him. "Ellie, you know that was wrong, now help me clean it up and we can finish dinner." He said calmly waiting for her either to get off the chair, or throw a hissy fit, when neither happened he wondered what was so different today. "Ellie?"
The sound of the doorbell echoing through the house startled both of them and Dean wondered when he suddenly got so jumpy. Looking at the little girl in front of him, he could tell that she was hanging on by a thread and that didn't make him any happier with whoever was at the door.
"Come on Ellie; let's get you ready for bed, whoever they are can wait." Dean said as he helped her off the chair and guided her through the house pointedly ignoring the doorbell. "You know little princess, some people are so rude." Although Ellie didn't say anything, he could tell she agreed wholeheartedly.
After laying out three nightgowns, Ellie picked the Jasmine which made Dean smile suspecting that she had done it to make him happy since it was the last movie they had sat down and watched together by themselves. "Alright, Princess Jasmine it is. Now the tough question, to brush or not to brush." It took Ellie a moment before she crawled into bed with her pigtails still intact. "Ok, we're going to be a rebel tonight, cool."
It didn't take Ellie more than a few minutes to fall asleep, showing Dean what he already knew; their little princess had a tough day. Sighing, he was glad that whoever it was had finally left, they had been getting on his last nerve. Pulling a beer out of the fridge he looked at the mess that was drying on the floor and knew that he needed to get it cleaned up before his mom came over tomorrow or there would be hell to pay. Apparently she had no problems telling them when they forgot to take the trash out or vacuum in the hallway, even though if he was honest, it was usually him who forgot; who knew that Sammy was such a domestic?
Hearing his cell phone, he quickly answered it hoping that it wasn't the hospital. Seeing that is was Caleb, he let out a long relieved breath and answered. Having only a short and curt conversation, he quickly cut the call and grabbed a rag out of the drawer and wiped up the mess before grabbing two more beers and unlocking the side door.
Caleb was the first one who walked in and he didn't look to be in a friendly mood, but it was Bobby that took Dean by surprise. The older man looked as if he could chew through nails and ask for dessert. Handing them the beers, Dean was surprised when they both drank theirs quickly before tossing the bottles in the trash.
"Dean, we have to talk, and we need you to be honest; no matter how much it hurts. We can't protect Johnny and Ellie if you hold out on us." Bobby said tightly as if every word was being forced out of his mouth. "Have you talked to anyone about Johnny, maybe about what's been going on or…"
"Wait… what? You came over and start asking me questions that I have no idea where they're coming from. Can one of you start from the beginning so maybe I can catch up?"
Caleb looked at Bobby then nodded, "Ok, here's the deal. We know that this Jason character was following Johnny for a couple of weeks, he was at the garage asking questions and he was in your dad's office and got a good look at the nice little family photo of you, Johnny and Ellie at the park. Now we need to know if you've talked to anyone about Johnny!"
Stunned, he couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You think that I did this? You think that I went around blabbing to anyone and everyone about my little brother?" Dean asked before he sat down suddenly. "Damn, you're right, I did. I've told my friends in the department about how proud I am of him, you know. I mean come on, most people wouldn't take on everything that he has, and it's awesome; of course I'm going to brag. But let me tell you something; the guy that came to the door isn't anyone that I've ever seen before."
Bobby knew what Dean was saying, he did what every normal person in world would do and now it's biting them all in the ass. "Ok, so now we just figure out who said what then we can…"
Dean was already on the phone calling his friends that he knew he had said the most to. It wasn't until one of them mentioned that he had told one of the other guys about what Sammy had been through and that's why Dean was determined to stay close to his little brother from now on, that they felt they had a solid lead. Leaving Dean with Caleb and Ellie, Bobby took off to try and track down the guy in question in hopes of finding out exactly what Jason knew and possibly what his next move would be.
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Mary had fallen asleep in the chair by Sam's bed over half an hour ago giving John a glimpse into the past. Smiling he looked at his son who still wasn't able to vocalize, but had a knack of getting is point across anyway.
"You know, your mother would fall asleep while she fed you at night." He said quietly, "seriously, she'd tell me that she'd get up with you and about an hour later I'd find her asleep in the rocking chair still snuggled up with you in her arms and the bottle lying on your chest. You didn't seem to mind though; you would just lay there and look at her as if she was the most amazing thing in the world."
Seeing that his son wanted to say something, he pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. What he got back was one word that had him kicking himself. "Sammy, you have nothing to feel sorry about; you didn't do anything wrong. I guess I was hoping that I could ease you into this, but that's not how you are so I'm just going to have to jump in. I know that you've been worried about tuition and books, but I want you to know that your mom and I got you covered."
Sam had no idea what was happening, one minute they were talking about a memory from when he was a baby and now they were heading straight into a conversation about school tuition. Confused, he motioned that he didn't understand and was still puzzled by the response he got.
"I know, it doesn't make sense, but it will. Sammy, the day you were born I took some money and opened a savings account for you; I did the same the day your brother was born. Every month we put money in those accounts, even after you were taken. Sammy, what I'm trying to say is that you have the money to go to school, I just hope you'll let us do this one thing for you." John watched as his youngest shook his head before he wrote on the page and gave it back. Smiling, John nodded, "Alright, not for you then, for Ellie. We'll send you to school and you help all those kids out there who have been given up on, deal?"
Joshua stood outside the room and smiled as he watched the two Winchester men shake on the agreement. He knew that he was supposed to be impartial, but it was so damn hard with this family. Sighing, he allowed himself a moment before he turned around and prepared his report, it was already overdue.