Yes - a new chapter! Lil' Sammy only has a couple more chapters to go, after that this story will be my primary focus. Honest. Big thanks to everyone sticking with this story and to Brigid Tanner for her proofing and catching my stupid mistakes. Thanks all!!

Chapter 13

Sam stared out the passenger window, wondering about this doctor. The man had explained basically what Dean experienced during a panic attack, ranging from mild to the one severe enough to land him a spot in the ER. Then the doctor made suggestions on how Sam could help reduce Dean's stress levels. It was the suggestions that Sam questioned. It was pretty obvious the man had no idea what Dean was all about after talking to his brother for only an hour.

"Sam?" Sam's head spun around at the worry in Dean's voice. Then he saw Dean's face. His brother's brows were drawn, forehead scrunched in a hundred worry lines, lips thin and pressed.

"What's wrong?" he asked, automatically reaching out a hand to rest on Rae's knee. He felt her trembling under his hand. Using his other hand, Sam fished out his cell. That doctor had some explaining to do. As he searched for the doctor's number in his call list, Dean pulled off the road into a parking lot. Sometimes all the time they spent together really did pay off, like now when they could practically read each other's minds.

The phone rang twice before the receptionist picked up. "This is Sam Cooper. I need to speak with Doctor Schuller."

"I'm sorry, Mister Cooper, but the doctor is in with another patient at the moment. Can I have him return your call?"

Sam felt intense anger well up. "No, you can't!" he snapped. "You can get him on the phone, right now!"

He felt a strong hand grasping his phone. Sam released it into Dean's grip.

"This is Dean Cooper," he heard his brother spit out, "you tell that quack he can either get on the phone right now and explain what he said to my kid, or I'll be back there in about five minutes kicking in his door!" When he heard Dean actually growl, Sam felt a satisfied smile cross his face. "Not long."

"She's getting him?" Sam asked, feeling the question was unnecessary.

Dean just shot him a glare which clearly meant 'duh, Einstein!' "Yes? ... I wouldn't be calling if there wasn't a problem! Rae is completely freaked out. I swear, if she got any closer to me, we'd be wearing the same clothes. … What? … Oh, great. Fine. Whatever."

Dean thrust the phone back. "Don't freaking believe this," he mumbled.

"What is it, Dean?"

Dean backed out of the parking space. "We're getting a house call."

Sam's eyebrows shot up. "From Doctor Schuller?"

"Nope. His partner, Doctor Smith." Dean pulled onto the road, then wrapped an arm around Rae again.

"And why is he paying us a house call?" Sam asked.

"She. Because she's been to our house before," Dean said, turning toward the apartment.

Sam sat silent for a few moments, processing that. "How's that?"

Dean shot him a strong look. "She's Kevin's mom."

Sam ran his free hand over his face. "And his dad's a judge. We definitely need to rethink the warning."

Dean barked out a laugh. "You think?"

Rae was still shaking when they reached the apartment. She clung to Dean for the walk from the car to the couch. They sank down on it together. Sam was unsure what he should do. He stood staring at them on the couch, feeling like an immense third wheel.

"You got beer and jerky earlier?" Dean asked, jerking his head toward the kitchen.

"Uh, yeah," Sam headed for the kitchen, grateful for the assignment. When he came back with two beers and a bag of jerky, Dean and Rae had moved over enough for him to sit down. Dean looked pointedly at the empty space as he reached for a beer. "So, how long?" Sam asked as he sat next to them.

Dean shrugged as he motioned with his unopened beer. Sam popped the cap off before doing the same to his own beer.

"You know," Sam mused, "this might not look too good. Drinking beer while waiting for a house call from a psychologist."

Dean chuckled. "Too damn bad." He jostled Rae. "Want some jerky?"

She shook her head, clinging tight to Dean. Sam sighed, that third wheel feeling pretty intense now. "Why don't you ask her what he said?" Sam suggested.

Dean shot him a puzzled look. "Why don't you?"

Sam glanced over. "I'm not the one she's hanging on to like a lifeline."

Dean grinned. "Wanna bet?" He pointed.

Sam looked down. Rae had one hand wound tight in his shirt. When did that happen? "Rae, something you want to tell us?"

Rae shook her head, burying her face in Dean's chest. Sam grabbed the remote, flipping through the stations until he landed on Die Hard. He stopped, content with a little mindless violence until the doctor showed up. Dean laughed at some of Bruce Willis' antics, as though it were the first time he ever saw this movie. A knock on the door interrupted it.

Sam had to slip his outer shirt off to answer the door because Rae refused to let go. When he led Kevin's mother in, who he barely recognized as the same woman who came tearing out of the house in tears the day they brought Kevin home from the movie theater, Rae was holding his shirt like a security blanket.

"We'd like to know what has her so freaked out," Sam told her, pointing out Rae. "You might have guessed, this is not normal. Doctor, uh," Sam realized he did not know her last name. Well, that was some lack of parenting skills, wasn't it? Not even knowing the last names of Rae's friends.

"Smith," she said with a smile. "Susan Smith." She perched on the side of their coffee table after pushing Dean's box out of the way. "Rae, Kevin tells me you're the reason your group got A's on your history assignment."

"Really?" Dean asked, eyes dancing between Susan and Rae.

"How's that? Rae, I thought you kinda froze up during the presentation?" Sam asked, trying to nudge his niece to get her attention. This silent clinging was more than a little unnerving.

Rae shrugged, but it was the most response they had from her since leaving the doctor's office.

"I understand the whole newscast idea was hers," Susan replied. "Very creative."

"Really?" Sam was surprised. "I thought that was a great idea."

Rae mumbled something. Dean lifted her face up. "Try that again," he said gently, "now that we can hear you."

"The commercials were Uncle Sam's idea," she said, lowering her face back to Dean's chest.

Dean shot Susan a quick smile and nod, telling her to keep going. Susan smiled back. "I understand your history teacher wants to videotape it?"

Sam noticed the same surprise cross Dean's face that he felt. "How's that?" Sam demanded. "Rae, you didn't tell us that! That's wonderful."

"Yeah," Dean tried to shift her up to look at them, without much success, "we're real proud of you."

Rae did lift her face then. "But you won't be!" Tears streamed down her face.

"Hey, hey," Dean rubbed her shoulders, "what's that supposed to mean?" He leaned over her, shooting Sam a worried glance. Sam had no idea and could only offer a confused head shake in response.

"Rae," Susan leaned forward, resting a hand on Rae's knee, "I can see Doctor Schuller said something to upset you. I'm sure he did not mean to. Can you tell me what he said?"

Rae lifted her tear-stained face, looked right at Susan Smith. "He said my dad wouldn't care any more."

Sam could feel Dean bristle at that. "Uh, Rae? Were those the exact words Doctor Schuller used? Can you tell us exactly what he said?" Sam squeezed her other knee.

Rae looked at Dean before taking a deep breath. "He said…said that…" she paused, biting her lip, "that Dad wouldn't worry any more!" Her face smashed back into Dean's chest.

Dean immediately relaxed, exchanging a relieved look with Sam. "Uh, honey?" Sam bit back the laugh aching to escape. "I don't think he meant it that way."

She spun back to glare at him. "But that's what parents who love you do! They worry! If he makes Dad not worry any more…" her voice trailed off into a series of loud sobs as she clutched at Dean.

Sam raised his eyebrows at Susan, hoping she had a miracle fix for this.

"I see," Susan replied, biting her lip. "Rae, I promise, that was not the kind of worry Doctor Schuller meant. He meant that your dad would not worry enough to be sent to the hospital again." She practically had to shout to be heard over Rae's crying.

"Want me back there again?" Dean asked, the sound of his voice immediately silencing Rae's sobbing. "Because I don't."

She shook her head, moving away just enough to look him in the eye. Dean glared at her. "Do you really think anything could make me stop worrying about you?"

"Or keeping pictures of you?" Sam demanded, pointing out Dean's formerly secret box. "Come on, Rae. We're family."

"Rae," Susan leaned in, trying to catch Rae's eye, "it sounds to me like you have a very loving and supportive family here. Nothing Doctor Schuller or I could do would ever change that. And we wouldn't want to."

Rae took a few deep breaths, wiping her face with her hands. "Guess I look like an idiot, huh?" She tried to chuckle, but it sounded forced and artificial.

Dean kissed her on the top of her head. "Great kid," he muttered.

On impulse, Sam reached over to wipe away a stray tear Rae missed. "Yeah," he agreed, "great kid."

Rae turned wide, wet eyes on him. "Yeah?"

"Yes," he said with a nod. "And I think you've been slacking off enough in our classes, young lady." He shook a finger at her. "Tomorrow, after school, it's just you and me."

Rae leaned on Dean, nodding. A small smile flitted across her face. "Good." Dean's arm was still draped over her shoulders. Rae grabbed it with both hands. "Dad? Do I have to sleep by myself tonight?"

Dean let out a sigh. "You remember the deal, kiddo."

"Deal?" Susan asked. "What deal?"

Dean's eyes narrowed, an indication of his brother deciding whether or not this woman deserved to know such an intimate detail of their lives. "Rae has to try to sleep by herself. If she can't, or if she has a nightmare, she can come get me."

"Just you?" Susan asked. "Not her uncle?"

"What?" Dean asked, his question blending with the same word coming out of Sam's mouth.

"Well, it's just that it's pretty obvious that you two are raising Rae together. Do you split duties? Dean has nighttime and Sam has daytime, like these extra classes you mentioned?" Susan's face appeared open and curious, no judgment there.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Dean snapped.

"You know, you may have a point there," Sam leaned back, studying Kevin's mother. "You're pretty sharp."

She smiled at him. "Thank you."

He felt the back of Dean's hand on his arm. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"That's exactly what we've been doing, Dean," Sam turned to face his brother. "We split duties. You have mornings, I have afternoons. You make her feel safe, I worry about education." Sam scratched the back of his head. "And we both worry about keeping her safe and that other thing."

"What other thing?" Susan asked.

"Boys," they answered together.

Sam felt Rae's eyes before looking at her. She stared up at them in amazement. "What about boys?"

"Nothing." This speaking in unison thing was starting to creep Sam out. He tried to ignore it.

The Susan's lips twitched. "The teen years are often as difficult for the parents as for the child. That is perfectly normal."

"I'm just an uncle." Sam did not know what spurred him to say it out loud. It was like his mouth was spouting out at random.

Susan cocked her head to the side as she regarded him. "I suspect you're selling yourself short."

"He is," Dean said. "Sam's the mom."

Sam did not need to look over to see the smirk on Dean's face, he could hear it in his brother's voice. Sam shut his eyes and shook his head.

"Hey, don't you need to start getting ready for your date? You know how long it takes for you to do your hair."

Sam nearly bit Dean's head off for that one, but Doctor Schuller's words seared through his mind. 'Whatever you can do to take stress off of Dean, until we get his anxiety under control.' "I didn't say I was going, Dean."

"Why not?" Dean demanded. "Dude, you don't have that many dates. This one actually called you. It's either that, or next weekend I'm going to have to hit the bars and find a gal for you."

Sam thought 'you wouldn't!' But he knew better. Dean would. No doubt. Then again, maybe by going out on a few dates, Dean would worry less about him. That thought had not occurred to him before. "Fine. I'll go." He checked his watch. "But it's only four thirty. I'm not meeting Sarah until seven."

"I should go. Kevin worries when I come home late." Susan stood, smiling.

"Thanks for coming," Dean said, not bothering to stand. "Think you can sit in on our next appointment?"

She flashed him a broad smile. "I'd love to."