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Disclaimer: Supernatural is not mine.
4.
Hush-a-by baby
On the tree top,
When the wind blows
The cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks,
The cradle will fall...
It was a cool, clear night. Blue moonlight brushed fingers against the scenery of neighborhood outside. All was peaceful.
Then the streetlights began to flicker.
Four houses down, a busted up radio leapt to life to blast music that no one would hear.
Three houses down, a cat hissed at the window.
Two houses down, the porch light burst.
Next door was deadly calm.
Inside the Winchester household, young Dean began to cry.
John knew his wife was exhausted. She'd been up with a sick Sam every night for the past week, walking him up and down the hallway till all hours in the morning. So when the sobbing pulled them both back from the edge of sleep, John was the one who answered his son's plaintive cries.
"I'll go." He whispered softly to Mary's stirring form.
She smiled at him in gratitude and reached out to place a hand on his stubbly cheek.
"Thank you." She mouthed, drowsiness making her unsure if she had said it aloud.
Peripherally Mary heard her husband pad down the hall to Dean's room.
"Can't sleep?" He rumbled "Me either. C'mon sweetie, up we go."
The footsteps retreated downstairs and moments later the sound of a late night television program met Mary's ears. She finally drifted off to sleep.
At least, until the baby monitor woke her.
Down tumbles baby,
Cradle and all.
Another night, much later John would once again wake to Dean's cries.
"No no no no! Burning! No mommy! Ashes, ashes nonononono..."
John would pick up his oldest son and hold him close until the screaming stopped. The people in the hotel room adjacent to theirs were used to the racket by now; they no longer pounded on the walls to make the broken family be quiet.
"No no no no..."
Over and over again.
John would hug him and make soothing nonsense noises until the sobs dissolved into hiccups and John would sing.
"Hey Dean, don't make it bad."
Sammy slept on, oblivious to the drama.
"Take a sad song and make it better. Remember to let her into your heart, then you can start to make it better."
John's voice would almost always break at this point.
"Hey Dean, don't be afraid..."
Dean would close his eyes and sigh, the tension draining from him.
Then he would say the words that would always break John's heart over again.
"Mommy sings it better."
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A/N: One more chapter to go!