Chapter 2.
Dean spent a lot of time at Bobby's Salvage Yard after that night, it was the one place John knew they would be safe if he needed to go on a particularly dangerous hunt.
Bobby was the one that baked the cake for Sam's first birthday, it was burnt but he put the frosting so thick you could barely taste it. Sam giggled as he slammed his hands into the cake and licked the frosting off his fingers, John wasn't there to see it but Bobby made sure to take lots of pictures for him.
Shortly after that birthday John and Bobby got into a screaming match over the amount of time he was gone hunting and how often he was away from Dean and his brother, telling him that the boys needed him more than he needed to be chasing demons and getting himself killed.
They didn't see Bobby for a long time after that and Dean quickly became Sam's main care-taker.
John would check them into a motel before a big hunt and leave the boys locked in the room with Sam's diaper bag and as many cans of soup and spaghetti-o's as he could find.
"I have to go Dean, I'll be back as quickly as I can, now do you remember the rules?" He asked, testing his memory.
"Stay in the room, keep the door locked, look after Sammy and if you're not back in a week, use the cellphone and call Bobby" Dean repeated the rules that John had been pounding into his head for the last three years.
"Good, I want you to take this too. You're big enough now to use it" He told him, handing him a large blade in a leather sheath.
"Keep it away from your brother, do you remember what I showed you?" John asked.
Dean gripped the handle firmly and carefully pulled the heavy blade from it's sheath and showed him the few basic moves that John had been teaching him over the last few days.
"Excellent, good job Dean" John grinned, fighting was the one thing Dean did well that he knew made his father proud.
"Thanks" Dean replied, his smile mirroring his fathers.
John quickly kissed Sam on the head and ruffled Dean's hair before leaving the motel to hunt whatever monster was in the area.
Dean found the controller and turned on the small TV at the foot of the bed, that was really all there was to do when his dad went hunting.
Sam would be awake soon, Dean had been working on the finishing touches of his potty training but it was difficult when they were constantly traveling and after many accidents he decided he wasn't ready to sleep in his big boy pants yet.
Dean leaned against the overly large pillows while he watched Elmer Fudd chase Bugs bunny around the cartoon forest, yet again.
"Dean" Sammy muttered.
"Go back to sleep Sam, it's too early" Dean groaned.
"Kay" Sam mumbled softly before putting his head back down.
Once he was sure that Sam had fallen back to sleep, Dean slid off the bed and poured himself a large bowl of marshmallow filled cereal and quickly ate it.
Once Sam was awake, Dean knew he would be faced with a barrage of questions about their dad. Sam was too young to understand the truth yet, so Dean would have to come up with yet another lie to explain why dad wasn't there.
The cartoons droned on as Dean found himself nodding off, taking advantage of his newly found tiredness, he slid down the pillows and closed his eyes determined to get a small amount of sleep.
"Dean" Sam chirped, standing next to his bed.
"H-hey Sammy" Dean mumbled back, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.
"Where's dad?" He asked, his wide brown eyes filled with curiosity.
Dean never knew how to answer that question but at least Sam was still gullible, he would eagerly believe whatever he told him.
"He.. um.. he went out for a while" Dean mumbled.
"Sloppy answer" He scolded himself.
"Kay" Sam shrugged and crawled on the end of bed with his bear, settling down to watch morning cartoons.
Dean admired the blissful innocence of his little brother, some days he wished he didn't know the truth either.
It was hard sitting in motel room after motel room, staring at the clock and waiting for their father to come back, painfully aware that he might not walk back through the door and knowing the procedure if that was the case.
"Dean" Sam chirped from the end of the bed.
"Yeah, Sammy?" Dean replied, still half asleep.
"Can we eat?" He asked, his eyes never leaving the tv.
"Sure, I'll make us something" Dean groaned, sliding off the bed and heading for the tiny kitchenette.
Opening the cupboards, Dean quickly realized that John hadn't gone shopping before he left and they all they had was a half box of cereal, three cans of spaghetti-o's and little bit of milk to last them the week.
"Well that's just great" Dean thought as he stared into the bare cupboards.
After a moment Dean grabbed a bowl and filled it half up with cereal and poured a small amount of milk over it.
"Here you go Sammy" Dean called out as he walked back to the other side of the room and handed him the bowl.
"Thanks Dean" Sammy grinned, his eyes bright and happy.
"I'm going to brush my teeth" Dean told him, ruffling his hair on the way to the bathroom.
Dean left the door cracked open as he brushed his teeth, making sure he could see Sam in the mirror.
"Don't take your eyes off him" John's voice echoed in his head.
"How long is dad going to be gone this time" He wondered while he ran a warm cloth over his face.
As the cloth went over his eyes there was a loud thump, somewhere behind him.
"Sam!" Dean called out as he turned on his heel to check on him.
Sammy's sobs where all the response he needed to know something had happened.
"What happened Sammy? Are you okay?" Dean questioned as he ran to his side.
"I fell" He sniffed, tears pouring from his wide brown eyes.
"Are you hurt Sammy?" Dean asked, starting to panic slightly.
Sam shifted to examine his now scraped knee, another sob rippling through his trembling lips.
"Shh, it's okay Sammy it's only a scratch" Dean assured him, giving him a hug.
"It hurts" Sammy sniffed, poking at the still damp blood.
"Hang on, I'll fix it for you" Dean told him before quickly grabbing his back-pack and pulling out a band-aid.
"Now, this is a special bandage Sammy, when I put this on your knee it's going to suck all the pain out okay?" Dean explained, pulling the waxed strips off the back.
"Kay" Sammy mumbled.
"Ready?" Dean asked, holding the bandage just above his knee.
"Yes" Sam nodded, watching his brother.
Dean very carefully placed the band-aid over the small scrape, pressing it into place and smoothing it out for him.
"There you go, how do you feel now?" He asked, smiling at his little brother.
"All better!" Sammy giggled, his eyes wide with awe.
"See? I told you it was special" Dean grinned.
Dean had been responsible for his little brother since the day their mom died, taking care of him, watching him grow, teaching him to walk and talk and even potty training was all on him.
Three years of crying, late night feedings and diaper changes so far but he was grateful that Sammy was getting easier to deal with as he got older, he slept through the night now and rarely ever cried unless he hurt himself.
The days crawled by that week, it was July so the room was almost unbearably hot during the day and the air-conditioner broke down after the second day making it nearly impossible to stay put like John ordered.
"I'm hungry" Sam whined.
"I know Sam, I'm cooking right now" Dean assured him.
Dean himself hadn't eaten in nearly two days at this point, it was the only way to keep Sammy fed and he knew that was more important right now. Sam was out of clean clothes, used his last diaper two days ago and was getting crankier by the second and Dean knew if their dad wasn't back in a few hours he would have no choice but to call Bobby.
"Here Sam, come eat" He called, setting a bowl of spaghetti-o's on the small table.
"I want cereal!" Sam complained, staring at his food.
"We don't have any left, Sammy" Dean growled, in no mood for complaints at the moment.
"Just eat what you have in front of you" Dean barked, cutting off whatever Sam was gearing up to say.
Sam pouted at the food for a long moment before finally breaking down and eating it.
Dean left Sam at the table and went to check on the clothes he had hanging over the shower rod drying, out of sheer desperation he washed some of Sammy's clothes with the hotel soap and was hoping for the best.
"Not dry yet" he thought, annoyed at the slow pace they were drying considering how hot the room was.
Walking back to the table he found Sam, covered in tomato sauce and licking his bowl like a puppy.
"What are you doing Sam! You're filthy again" Dean growled, desperately trying not to lose his temper.
Sam just shrugged and continued licking until the bowl was completely clean.
"Come on, you need a bath man" Dean instructed, pointing to the tub.
"March" He demanded as Sam scowled at him.
Dean ran lukewarm water in the tub while Sam stripped off his now, tomato sauce stained clothes.
"Okay, lets make this quick" Dean groaned, lifting Sammy into the water.
Sammy sat perfectly still, arms crossed and scowling throughout the entire bath while Dean carefully washed him down from head to toe, carefully removing all the tomato sauce from his skin and hair.
"Clean?" Sammy asked, anxious to get out of the water.
"Yeah, looks that way" Dean agreed and helped him out before pulling the plug.
Dean took the last of the clean towels, dried Sam off and then fashioned them into a makeshift diaper so he could put him to bed.
"Come on Sammy, bedtime" Dean yawned, guiding his little brother to bed.
"I don't wanna" Sam whimpered.
"Trust me, you need to go to bed" He growled, growing impatient with his little brothers whining.
After another hour of whining and pleading to stay up, just a little longer, Sam finally passed out.
Dean waited a few minutes, to make sure he was really out before pawing through his backpack for the emergency cell phone. It was time to call Bobby.
Walking into the bathroom and mostly closing the door in an attempt to stay quiet, Dean flipped open the small silver phone and punched in Bobby's number.
Ring, Ring, Ring.
"Hello?" A gruff, sleepy sounding voice answered.
"Hey Bobby, it's Dean" He started.
"Dean? What's wrong son" Bobby asked, suddenly sounding more alert.
"I don't know, Dad went out on a Hunt last week and he's not back yet" Dean explained, feeling a little panicked.
"Where are you?" Bobby asked, his voice filled with concern.
"Appleton, in a motel just off the highway" Dean told him.
"Appleton? What the hell is John doing there? that's about eight hours from here, I'll be there in seven. Hold on kid" Bobby barked before quickly hanging up.
Dean snapped the phone shut and dropped it back into his bag before climbing onto the bed and turning on the tv.
Normally he would be packing right now but there's no food to pack, all Sams clothes were drying right now and he only had one outfit, which he was currently wearing.
Dean anxiously watched various cartoons and infomercials as the hours ticked by, desperately hoping their dad would come through the door any second.
Dean woke with a start, unaware that he had fallen asleep in the first place when the door flew open with a bang.
"Dad?" Dean mumbled, still half asleep and trying to make sense of what was happening.
"Dean, go back to sleep" He growled, clearly not in the mood to talk.
Dean was too tired to argue and slipped back into a deep sleep, completely forgetting that he had called Bobby hours earlier to come pick him and Sammy up.
Waking up a few hours later Dean found his father pouring through his journal, seemingly looking for something.
"Dad, what are you doing?" He asked, still a little groggy.
"Nothing you need to worry about, research" He replied, his eyes never leaving the page.
"Dad..Where were you?" Dean asked, feeling brave.
"What do you mean? I was hunting, you know that" John growled, annoyance heavy in his voice.
Before Dean could continue questioning, there was a knock at the door.
"Bobby!" Dean thought, suddenly remembering he called him the night before.
"Dean! Sammy are you alright in there?" He asked in a hushed voice, still knocking on the door.
John quickly pulled the door open and stepped outside.
"What are you doing here?" John asked, still a little stunned.
"What am I doing here? You've been gone for a week John! That's what I'm doing here!" Bobby replied, his voice rough and gravelly.
"Did Dean call you?" He demanded, unphased by his hostile tone.
"He called me last night, scared half to death because his father hadn't been home in a week!" Bobby sneered.
"Damn it, I told him I would be back" John groaned.
Dean couldn't stand it anymore, flinging the door open he stepped outside with Bobby and his father.
"It's been a week dad! I haven't eaten in two, no pardon me three damn days and Sammy has wet through every piece of clothing he owns!" Dean snapped, anger over throwing any bit of control he might have had.
"WHAT?!" Bobby boomed, his eyes wide and filled with a sudden rage.
"What are you talking about kid, I left you plenty of food!" John snapped back.
"No, you didn't! That was at the last motel! You didn't even go shopping before you left this time!" Dean screeched.
John's eyes went soft as the reality of the situation set in.
"Look around you Dad, Sammy is wearing a towel right now! That's how desperate I got" Dean growled, throwing the door open and gesturing to his sleeping brother.
"That's it John, if you can't find the time to take care of your damn kids you sure as hell don't deserve them" Bobby growled, anger and worry melding together.
"Let me take them home with me, they'll be safe with me. I promise you that" Bobby pleaded, his voice suddenly gentle and soft.
"N-No.. I'm sorry this happened and I swear to you I won't let it happen again but I can't let you take them" John cried, shaking his head.
"Okay John but if this happens again.. I won't ask before I take them, they deserve so much better than this" Bobby replied, defeated.
"I know" John mumbled before turning and walking back into the hotel.
"Dean, if it gets anywhere close to this bad again you call me and I'll come get you and Sammy" Bobby assured him, looking him right in the eyes.
"Thanks Bobby" Dean sniffed.
"Come here kid" Bobby said, pulling him into a hug.
"I'm only a phone call away, remember that" Bobby reminded him, hugging him tightly for a moment.
Dean stood very still as Bobby climbed back into his truck and drove away.
"Goodbye Bobby" He thought, suddenly exhausted before making his way back into the room.
John was waiting on the end of Dean's bed, tears in his eyes when he walked back in.
"I'm so sorry, Dean" He cried.
"It's okay dad, it's going to be okay" He reassured him, placing his hand on his trembling shoulder.