Disclaimer: Don't own supernatural, apologies to everyone who thought I was Krypke.

September 30, 2001

Dean sat on the ratty old floral sofa in the small apartment that he and Adam were renting, slowly turning his cell phone over in his hands. Adam's birthday had been yesterday, September twenty-ninth and Dean had been the only one around to celebrate it with him. The kid didn't seem to mind, of course, he'd actually seemed to have a blast at the arcade and also later at 'Shrek' which Dean had taken him to see, but Dean was still seriously pissed off that their dad hadn't felt the need to come around and be there for the first birthday Adam spent with them.

Adam had left for school about an hour ago and Dean knew he should be researching nearby hunts that he could get done on weekends, but this was nagging at him too badly. Dad should have been there.

With a sigh, Dean opened the phone and scrolled through his contacts and paused when he passed Sam's name.

He hadn't had any contact with Sam since he'd left in May. Dean knew the kid could look after himself but he suddenly had the strong urge to make sure he was okay. Should he call? What would he tell him? Should he tell him anything? He would have started classes by now, was that going okay?

Dean bit his lip and after a moment's contemplation, he hit send and brought the phone to his ear before he could stop himself. He was getting ready to hang up after 4 rings when his brother's voice finally answered and Dean let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

"Hullo?"

Dean paused in answering, not quite remembering what he'd planned on doing when Sam picked up, then mentally kicking himself when he realized he hadn't made a plan.

"…Hello?"

"Uh, hey, Sammy."

"…Dean?" Came the somewhat stunned voice of his brother.

"Yeah, I was just… you know, making sure you were… alright or whatever," Dean said, cringing at himself.

"Oh… well yeah, I'm fine…" Sam answered sounding confused, "that's all?"

Dean got the feeling Sam was looking for an apology or maybe wanted to know if dad wanted to take back what he'd said all those months ago. Dean knew it shouldn't, but that made him kind of mad. Sam was the one who walked out on them after all.

Dean snorted, "Yeah, Sam, I guess it is." Going to snap the phone closed, intent on ending the awkward and short-worded conversation.

"Dean, wait! Is like… everything okay over there too? Dad's alright? You're not dying in a ditch somewhere, too proud to say so?" Sam added jokingly, trying to ease some tension. Dean wasn't amused.

He could just imagine the ways he could answer that, Oh yeah, Sam, everything's A-OK! As it turns out we have a little brother whose mother just got killed by a bunch of ghouls so he's on the road with us now and I'm kinda pissed off at dad right now 'cause he just missed the kid's eleventh birthday yesterday, but it's all good. And you know, it doesn't really matter anyways 'cause to be totally honest with you, I have no idea where dad actually IS at the moment; could be dead for all I know, so you can't really blame him for missing a birthday if that's the case… But you know how it is.

Dean clenched his jaw in frustration at the crappy position he was in and his limited options.

"Dean, you're not actually dying in a ditch, are you?" Sam suddenly asked, worriedly.

"No, Sam, I'm not dying in a ditch. I've got it under control." Dean tried, rolling his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, the worried edge to his voice not easing in the slightest.

"Nothing, see you around, kid." And Dean flipped the phone closed before Sam could get another word in.

Sighing, Dean took a minute to collect himself, hoping he hadn't made his brother suspicious enough to call back and opened the phone again and speed dialed his dad.

The number went straight to voicemail.

"Hey, dad, I was just checking in and…" Dean paused; screw this, "It was Adam's birthday yesterday. You said you'd be there."

……………………………………………

Dean leaned against the newly turned eleven-year-old's door frame that night, watching him draw up some of the protection symbols Dean had taught him earlier that day in the sketch book he'd gotten yesterday as a present.

"You all done with your homework then?"

Adam looked up at his voice, grinning sheepishly and shrugged at Dean's raised eyebrows.

"Mostly, just have one math worksheet left."

"Homework, right now, you have to go to bed soon."

Adam gave a big, exaggerated sigh and flopped backwards on his bed. Dean snorted at the exaggeration before walking forward and grabbing the kid around the waist and hoisting him over his shoulder, making Adam squeal in surprise and laugh.

"Alright, where's this dreaded math you speak of?"

Still laughing and trying to wriggle free, Adam managed to direct him to the kitchen.

Dropping Adam into a second hand dinning chair, Dean retrieved his backpack from where it had been abandoned by the door.

Dean was surprised that sitting there and helping his kid brother through some simple math was the happiest he'd been all day. At least he knew what to expect from this member of his family, he could count on this kid not to hurt him like the others had, by abandoning him when he gave them everything. At least for now; maybe not forever, but at least for now he could count on that.

A/N: Okay, so a pretty short chapter; I'm mostly just trying to build Dean and Adam's relationship here and start bringing Sam into the story a bit. Sorry to everybody who wants Sam to come in and be prominent in the story right away but that won't happen for another few chapters. Just building up anticipation and such :P

Tell me what you think and review!