Hey, so I worked really hard on this chapter and I am extremely proud of it! I hope there are not too many mistakes because I did not have the time to proofread it. Sorry in advanced. I was a little disappointed by the lack of reviews for the last chapter, though I do want to say thank you for those who took the time to review. I tried to reply to everyone, but for some reason was giving me a really hard time and wouldn't let me reply to some. Anyways, please review this chapter. Like I said, I've worked hard to make you guys happy!

Also, I use a negative connotation for a gay person in this chapter. I'm sorry if I offend anyone. It does not reflect my own opinion. I am all for gay rights! I also hate this word, but it fit in the chapter. So, I'm sorry if it is offensive, I really don't want to offend any of my readers because I love you guys and you keep me writing!

Chapter 6

Dean walked into the bar for the fifth time that week and like the other days, it was a little after eight at night. He could not force himself to go to an empty house and act as if everything was fine. Adam was constantly on his mind, and when he sat at home eating dinner and acting like everything was fine, the worry and fear brought him to tears.

He had to keep busy; so, he woke every morning with a pounding hangover. Thankfully, the constant pulsing pain took his mind off of Adam. He showered and washed the smell of stale beer of his body, dressed, ate, and went to work where he would throw all his energy into his cars. He did not leave every night until well after closing time. Then he went straight to the bar where he drank himself silly and slowly walked home and passed out in bed.

Dean rarely drank before Adam had been taken from him. Alcohol always reminded him of John who was drunk during many of the beatings Dean and his brothers experienced. Beer and alcohol made Adam nervous to the point of throwing up, and he would never knowingly put Adam through that pain. Sam had been drunk once during high school. It was at a party a few blocks down from their house, and when he finally stumbled through the door well after his curfew, Dean had been furious.

He had yelled and screamed, one of the only times he had ever raised his voice to his brother. Sam was so ashamed by the look of disappointment etched on Dean's face, and eventually the fear and hurt on Adam's when the boy had snuck into the living room to investigate the yelling, that Sam had broken into tears.

Dean could still remember the shuddering sobs that had shaken Sam's shoulders as he vomited the alcohol out of his system ten minutes later when the dizziness finally overwhelmed him. Sam thought Dean was going to leave him to fend for his own against the dreaded porcelain god, but Dean had stayed by him, rubbing his back until he was well enough to struggle to his bedroom and finally pass out.

Sam had awoken in his bed in a haze with a trash can next to his bed and a bottle of Tylenol. When he finally summoned the courage to face his brothers he knew he would not drink until he was mature enough to handle the consequences without terrifying both his brothers.

Dean thought of this story as he finished off another bottle. He would never have drunk if his brothers were at home. He would never want to take Sam's place, inebriated and throwing up in front of his brothers, but the house was empty. Dean was alone and drinking was the only thing powerful enough to make him forget.

* * *

Sam was sitting at a small café with his two project partners, Jessica and unfortunately Joshua. They were discussing their final project for Dr. Robinson's Freshmen Seminar class.

"Sammy!" Sam looked behind him and surprisingly saw his little brother running full speed toward him, closely followed by a glowering John.

"Adam?" Sam said in shock. He stood up just in time to catch his little brother in his arms. He felt Adam's arms wrap around his neck. Sam rubbed a hand on Adam's back as he saw Jessica and Joshua looking at him in wonder before an irate John stormed up to the group.

"Samuel," John said, "what the hell are you doing here?"

"I kind of go to school here, Dad." Sam spit out the last word as he glared at his father. He noticed slight movement from the corner of his eye as Jessica and Joshua looked at each other in shock.

"Don't take that tone of voice with me, boy," John taunted as he stepped closer to his two sons. "Now, let's go, Adam. I don't want you around this scum." John reached out to grab Adam, but Sam put the boy on the ground and stepped in front of him.

"Hey, he's my brother," Sam pointed to himself, "and I haven't seen him in a week, so you're going to let me talk to him for five minutes."

"You get two for being a smartass," John said before backing up a few paces.

Sam sat down on his chair and pulled Adam onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around the boy and lifted his chin to better see into his eyes. "How are you doing, kiddo? Dean and I miss you."

"I miss you too, Sammy." Adam leaned into his brother, and Sam's heart cramped at the broken expression on Adam's face. "I wanna come home."

"I know you do. Dean and I are working on bringing you home as soon as we can," he brushed Adam's cheek with his thumb. "Have you been alright? Have you been eating okay and everything?" When Sam had picked Adam up earlier he had been worried about how much lighter the kid felt.

"Is Dad treating you okay?" Sam asked, brushing Adam's hair out of his eyes. "He hasn't hit you or anything right? You know you can tell me, kiddo. He can't hurt you."

"No, I'm fine."

"Adam, let's go," John interrupted as he began walking toward his sons. Sam caught the glare he gave Adam, and he felt his brother unconsciously sink closer to him.

"No! What did you tell him?"

"Let's go!" John leaned down and roughly yanked on Adam's upper arm, forcefully pulling him off of Sam's lap. Before Sam could react, John dragged Adam to the car. Adam's eyes widened in terror and pain and he looked back to Sam.

Sam hurried forward and grabbed John's shirt, causing the man to stop. "Don't fucking touch him like that." Sam pried John's hand away from Adam's upper arm, glaring at the man as he felt Adam's arms wrap around him.

"You can't tell me what to do boy," John pulled his shirt away from Sam's grip. "Now get your hands off me or I'm calling the police."

"Stop," Sam said. He stepped back and with a fallen face wrapped his arms around his little brother. "Just let me say goodbye to him."

"I'll see you soon, okay?" he told his brother. "Just be safe. I love you, kiddo." Sam ran his hand up and down Adam's arm, comforting the boy who now had tears in his eyes.

"Love you too," Adam said as he wiped the tears from his eyes. Sam kissed Adam on the forehead before John cut in.

"Let's go," he walked to his truck parked a short distance from the café, not glancing behind him to see if his youngest son was following.

Sam leaned into Adam when he saw John's back was turned, "Don't forget," he said, "if he hits you get out of the house and call me."

"I know Sammy," Adam whispered.

"Okay, I'll see you later," Sam unwillingly nudged Adam in John's direction and watched as his brother jumped into the truck. A second later, it drove away, leaving Sam feeling empty and anxious about Adam's safety.

Sam sullenly sat back down at the table and glanced up at Joshua and Jessica. He had completely forgotten they were there, and even worse, they had witnessed the whole episode that had just taken place with his father. He closed his eyes and took a steadying breath as he realized he would now have to explain what had happened to Jessica and Joshua.

"Who was that?" Joshua asked.

Jess looked incredulously over at Joshua. Her eyebrows raised high in disbelief and she said, "Obviously it was his father you dumbass, and Sam doesn't have to talk about it unless he wants to." Sam shot a grateful smile in Jessica's direction.

"Yeah, but why was he molesting the midget?"

"Hey!" Sam shouted, "don't talk about my brother like that."

"Sorry," Joshua said. He sheepishly ducked down in his seat. "I get all nervous when people fight and then my mouth just runs."

"How do you get nervous around fighting? You were more than ready to beat the shit out of Sam in class the other day," Jess said, shocked at Joshua's confession.

"Hey, the dude came after me. I had to defend myself," Joshua said. "Besides, I'm all words and no action. I can admit that I'm a wimp. I put on the show that I'm all tough and shit, but I really hate confrontation. It's a defense mechanism."

"Who are you?" Jess asked. She shook her head in wonder.

"I have issues, I know, okay. Don't tell anyone though. People can't find out."

"Oh my god, we are not in high school anymore."

"Anyways," Josh said, changing the subject, "who was that, Sam?"

"Josh, shut up, he doesn't' have to talk," Jess scolded.

"No, it's okay, Jess." Sam was too emotionally exhausted to argue or to even be shocked at Josh's confession.

"That was my father and my little brother, Adam."

"Wait," Josh interrupted, "You mean the father that abused you?"

"Yeah, people usually only have one father," Sam cynically responded.

"I thought your little brother lived with your older brother?" Jess questioned.

"Yeah, he did," Sam said. His face fell as he thought about what happened. "My dad got custody of him last week."

"How?" Joshua asked.

"I dunno. The judge thought he deserved a second chance."

"That's crazy," Josh exclaimed. "I just met the man five minutes ago and I could tell he's a terrible person." Sam could only nod in agreement.

"I'm sorry, Sam," Jess cut in. "You must be so worried. Your brother seems like a really sweet kid though. You guys seemed close."

"Guys, I don't' think I can concentrate on this anymore. Can we finish some other day?"

"Yeah, that's fine. Bye, Sam," Jessica said as Sam got up and left without a backwards glance.

A small part of him registered how caring and supportive Jessica, and surprisingly, Joshua had been, but at the moment all he could think about was the angry glint he had seen flash through John's eyes and the terrified look on Adam's face as the truck pulled away.

* * *

"What was that?" John yelled as he and Adam walked into their house. Adam figured John would be angry about running into Sam on their way home. He had not said one word for the entire drive, and Adam remembered that a lack of words from John Winchester meant he was extremely angry.

"What do you mean? Adam innocently asked. He tried to act submissive so as not to anger John any more then he was already.

"You running to your damn brother! You better not have said anything to him," John threw his coat in the closet and stared at his son.

"I didn't, Dad," Adam truthfully replied. He wanted to leave, get away from his father for a while. On the ride home his stomach began clenching in pain and he knew it was his nerves screaming at him to go, to leave the pain and fear behind. He needed a minute to run to his room and take his medicine, then he could think about Sam and how happy he had been for two minutes.

"Yeah, well you better not have or you're gonna get your ass tanned, you hear me boy?" At that one comment Adam's stomach suddenly lurched. His heart began hammering in his chest and his eyes widened in alarm.

"Yes, sir."

"Now get on in the kitchen and clean up. I've got people coming over tonight and I want you out of the way unless we need you. Understand?" John ordered as he sat down in front of the television

"Yes, sir," he croaked. Adam hurried to the kitchen and quickly picked up a rag and got to work. He wanted the safety of his room as soon as possible. Even if it was dark and musty, he would rather be in there then around John.

* * *

"Adam, get your ass down here," Adam heard John's thundering voice ordering him into the kitchen. Adam nervously walked into the mint green room and stood in the peeling doorway. He had hoped and prayed he could avoid the kitchen for the entire night, but he figured he would be called in sooner or later.

He peered into the room and saw two burly men he did not recognize from his childhood sitting at the kitchen table with his father. There were stacks of assorted colored poker chips piled around the table alternating between the men and the five cards held in their hands. Adam gulped in fear as he observed how John-like the other men looked. They were big and dark and muscular and although they were smiling and laughing, had that insane glint in their eyes. The glint appeared in men who liked to see others in pain and were amused by suffering.

"Get us a round of beers," John once again ordered. Adam turned and tried to be brave. He took three bottles of beer from the fridge and popped off their caps with a trembling hand before taking the bottles to the table.

"Adam, these are my friends Thomas and Bill," John waved his hand of cards in the direction of the two men. Adam nodded his head in acknowledgement; he was unable to open his mouth and speak.

"That's a quiet one you got there," the one man said, smirking in Adam's direction.

"Yeah, probably from being around his pussy of a brother. I tried to beat the fag out of him, but he was a stubborn ass. Slippery little shit got away before I could finish the job." John's friends chuckled in response.

Adam did not know what came over him though. He hated the fact that John continued to tear Dean apart even when they had been free of him for four years. Dean was the best person he knew and the brotherly protection flew out of his mouth before he could shut the cage.

"Dean is not a fag, don't talk bout him like that," Adam said.

John and his friends stared at Adam in shock that such a small and skinny child would dare talk back to John. "What did you say to me?" John's chair threateningly scraped across the floor as he pushed it back and stood up.

"Nothing, I didn't say anything," Adam said. The strange form of adrenaline that made him speak up before had now frozen him to the ground in fear.

"You sassing me, boy?" John walked closer to Adam.

"No, sir." He was terrified. His breathing was speeding up with every second and the urge to flee was too overwhelming for him to act on it.

"I think you were."

"I think I heard him sassing you," one of the men added.

"Do you know what happens to little boys who sass and run their mouths to their elders?" Adam frightfully shook his head back and forth, his eyes to the floor. He knew his dad was angry and that he was going to get it. He was just too afraid to face the monster.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, boy." Adam reluctantly looked up and into the eyes of his nightmare. "What do you think happens?"

"I don't know, sir," Adam whispered.

"I know," the one man said.

"I know too," said the other man.

John walked over to the kitchen table and reached between the stacks of poker chips, beer bottles, and cards and picked up a cigar that was burning in the ashtray. He took a drag of the cigar and let out a breath of the sweet smoke as he moved back to his son. Adam anxiously watched as John held out his arm and held the burning end close to the skin. He made a sizzling noise before looking up to see a flash of recognition completely change his son's eyes before he suddenly turned and tried to run from the room, realizing what the action meant, but he did not get far when he felt forceful arms tighten around his torso and drag him back into the kitchen.

The arms turned Adam until he was looking into the face of his father. He struggled and kicked and flailed his arms, but John grabbed Adam's shirt and shoved him onto the kitchen table. Poker chips and cards went flying as his back collided onto the wood and he yelped in pain. He blindly reached until his hand hit the hard glass of a beer bottle and he without thinking he grasped it in his hand and swung, trying to hit John in the head.

"Grab his hands!" he heard his father yell.

Adam began hyperventilating when rough hands took his arms and roughly pushed them into the hard table, but Adam continued struggling as he remembered what Dean said about not giving up.

"Stop it!" Adam's head swung to the side in pain as the back of his father's hand raked against his cheek. He looked up at John in terror and realized he was trapped and stuck in the clutches of his father and his two menacing friends. "Pull him up," John ordered and Adam's shoulders stretched causing the boy to clench his eyes in pain as he slid up the table.

"When you break rules in this house you get punished," John growled as he unbuttoned Adam's pants and roughly pulled them down around the boy's ankles. Adam's senses suddenly went on high alert as he remembered what Dean had told him about the bad men who liked little boys, and he immediately thought his father was trying to hurt him that way. Adam tried kicking out, to stop the attack, but the position he was being held in did not allow him to gain much force. Unfortunately, even if he was able to reach his father, his short skinny legs would not do much damage.

"Stop struggling! I ain't no perve, boy. I just know it'll hurt more on the sensitive skin of the inner thigh," John mumbled through the cigar hanging from his mouth. The fire was crackling from the tip had become the threat now and Adam began sobbing in fear, knowing there was no escape for what would happen.

He remembered the night when Sam and he had ventured to the kitchen when they had heard John yelling at Dean after a fight. He remembered the fear in Dean's eyes and his brother's terrified sobbing as John had dragged him to the stove. Those tears and screams still haunted Adam to this day. He had rarely seen Dean cry back when they still lived with John, and when Adam had seen Dean sobbing that day, it scared him to death.

Adam knew what would happen when that cigar was pushed onto his skin. He knew it would smell like rotting corpse and would sizzle as it melted flesh and burnt the hair on his leg. He did not no what it would feel like, but he knew it would hurt. That much he knew for sure. He remembered Dean's screams, so he knew it would hurt, badly.

Adam was unable to prepare himself for the first wave of pain as he felt the cold, piercing sensation as John pressed the cigar on the uppermost part of his inner thigh. He heard the sizzling, smelled the burning, but the pain did not register until John pulled the cigar away. Adam sobbed as he heard his father ask, "How many times did he sass me?"

"I think it was three times."

"Yeah, I'd say it was three."

"That's what I thought." Adam looked through his blurry eyes and saw his father relighting his cigar.

"Daddy, no, please I'm sorry!" Adam whimpered. His sobs tore through his chest as he cried, and again, he was not prepared for the pain he felt when John pressed the cigar tip into his other thigh. This time he felt the pain and his whole body tensed as he screamed in pain.

"One more then?" Adam barely registered through his cries.

"Yeah," one of the men laughed.

"Shut him up this time will you. I don't want the neighbors hearing," John mumbled while lighting the cigar once more. The match crackled against the remnants of Adam's burnt hair and skin that layered the tip of the cigar. "I think it's time to change things up."

The top of Adam's underwear was slightly pulled down until it reached the top of his crotch area. "Daddy," Adam begged, "please don't."

"You stop your begging or you'll get another one, you hear me?" John didn't wait for a reply before he slammed the cigar on that particular sensitive region. Before Adam was able to scream in pain, a hard hand roughly clamped down on his mouth allowing no sound to escape. He felt rough scratchy nails dig into the sides of his mouth as he tried to scream, but the hand refused to give.

In seconds the hands left and Adam could freely move. He leaned to the side, tears falling from his eyes as he tried to stand up, but the pain from the burns rubbing together kept him on the table. "I hope you learned your lesson, boy," John said. He leaned in and stuck his face close to Adam's, "You breathe one word of this, I'll kill you," he threatened. "Just to make sure though," John trailed off as he wrenched Adam up and dragged him to the hall closet, "You're staying in here tonight." John threw him into a small closet and slammed the door. Adam vaguely heard the lock click and a chair dragged over and jammed under the door handle for safety.

Adam took deep breaths to calm down like Dean had taught him, but with every breath a sob broke through. He pulled his pants back up with shaking hands and whimpered in pain as the rough fabric scraped against the burns between his legs. He cried through the pain and curled his body inwards and leaned into a corner of the closet. He wanted to give up, for it all to end. He wanted Dean to come and take him away and hold him in his arms. That always made him feel safe, but he was alone and pressed against the rotting walls of a tiny, dark closet. He could hear the bottles clinking and cards shuffling in the kitchen as John and his friends continued their game of poker, acting as if none of them just shattered what little sense of security Adam had felt from his short time with Sam. But Dean had told him to be strong, so Adam put a hand over his exposed ear, pinched his eyes shut, and began softly humming "Hey Jude," the song Dean always hummed for Sam and him when things got particularly rough, and slowly Adam was able to drown out the world and succumb to sleep.

A/N: PLEASE READ! Here's the deal. I have a new idea for a story that will not leave me alone. So, I want to give everyone a brief summary and my thoughts on the story to see what people think. Now, I know I have two stories right now in the works, and I definitely want to continue with a third story for this story. I was never planning on starting another story because I want to focus on my own personal series I hope to write, but I have this idea and it's too much for me to pass up.

Here is a summary, a very brief summary might I add because I do not have a complete outline for the story as of now: When Sam goes to college, John leaves Dean on his own, much like the actual series, but Dean meets a woman and they get married and have a child. She gets pregnant five years later, but ends up getting attacked by a creature and is fatally injured. Before she dies, she has the child who is going to have some sort of mental illness because of the injuries he/she received in the womb. Dean becomes extremely depressed from the loss of his wife and is left to raise his two children in a life of hunting. Much like his own father, and much like his own father, he will raise them like soldiers, except he is meaner than John. There will be very very mild child abuse. I love Dean, and I've always thought that he'd be a great father, but I wanted to explore this situation. There will be child neglect, yelling, and what some people would consider "punishment" or what I think of as child abuse. Dean is not going to be a good father at first. He will put his eldest son through his own childhood: forcing him to grow up too quickly, making him take care of his brother, making him feel like he's never good enough, etc.

Sam will be in it too at some point and John will show up. It will stray from the series plot, but the YED and Sam's powers will still be in it. I want to focus on Dean's emotional state and his depression and how he treats his children, all of that fun stuff.

So, what do you think? I will have some polls up to decide on a few things in the story. Please take them and let me know what you think. I plan on at least releasing the first and maybe the second chapter to get some feedback as soon as I have them written and then I may put it on hiatus until "Shadows" is completed.

Two things to add: I don't like female Winchesters, minus Jess and Mary, so Dean's wife will barely be in the story, just enough so you get the gist of their relationship. Also, I plan on making the children both be boys. I know that may seem like my other stories, but I just can't see Dean having a daughter.

Well, if you guys have any questions or suggestions, please review or send me a message. I really do want to hear your feedback on this story. I want to know if it's going to be worth my time.