Disclaimer- Supernatural and all its characters belong to the CW and Kripke.
Previously on Supernatural- "I don't know, Johnny," Bobby replied. "But whatever it is, we'll handle it together. Besides, what else could she possibly do?"
Pulling up to the school a couple of hours later, John wished Bobby had kept his mouth shut. A worried looking Dean was standing in front of the building with Mr. Bonner and Mrs. Bridges both beside him. "Shit! What now?" he thought. After getting Bobby's assurance that he would keep Sammy in the car, John climbed out and walked toward Dean wondering what the kid had done now.
Observing John's expression, Mr. Bonner hurried over to meet him. "Dean's not in trouble, Mr. Winchester. We had a visitor this afternoon and that's gotten him a little upset. I wanted to explain what happened so you could be prepared."
"Let me guess," John interrupted, "Mrs. Toler from CPS came by to have a chat."
Surprised, Mr. Bonner shook his head. "So she's already been to see you. Usually we're her first stop."
"Yeah, she came by the motel earlier." John told him. "I told her about all the trouble yesterday and that she needed to talk to you and Lt. Bryant if she wanted to know why Mrs. Horton really called them. Didn't expect her to question Dean, though. Is he alright?" John questioned while eyeing his oldest son.
"He's okay, just shook up. I stayed in the room with him while she questioned him. She tried to put him at ease and made it as easy on him as she could. He's lucky he got her and not some of the old battle axes that work there. I filled her in on all of yesterday's events. I also told her that Mrs. Horton probably called CPS out of anger over her suspension."
She's been suspended?" John asked. "For how long?"
"Mrs. Horton is suspended until the board has finished its investigation into yesterday's fiasco. She could be reinstated or fired depending on the board's findings." Mr. Bonner explained. "By the way, have you thought about what we discussed last night?"
"I'll give putting Sam with a different teacher a try but I have one condition." John began. "I want to stay in the room with him for awhile to see how it goes for myself. I can't handle another day like Monday."
"I know what you mean" Mr. Bonner replied. "I never want to go through that again, either. Hopefully that was our first and last experience with a run away. And you're welcome to come and sit in the room. We encourage parents to be an active part in their child's learning. Just hope you're ready to deal with nineteen rambunctious five year olds."
John grimaced thinking about nineteen Sammy's in one room together. "I rather take on a pack of werewolves" he thought. "Well, it'll be interesting to say the least." He told the principal shaking his hand. "Come on, Dean. Time to go." He called.
Dean raced over to his dad, hugging him before running on to the impala and his little brother. Dean's mouth ran a mile a minute all the way home. He told them all about his day and how Mrs. Bridges was the best teacher ever. "And she said that we're going to have car races on Friday for our science lesson. We can make our own cars, but she has some for the kids who don't want to make one. Can I make a car for the race, dad? Please, can I?" Dean pleaded.
"Me, too! Me, too! Please, daddy!" Sammy joined in.
"Sure, dudes" John answered. "We'll pick up something at that hobby store before supper. But you have to get your homework done first, Dean. Deal?"
"Yes, sir!" Dean shouted. "You hear that, Sammy! We get to make race cars tonight!"
The rest of the ride was filled with the boys' excited talk about the cars and the race Friday. Once at the motel, Dean immediately sat down and started in on his homework. He zoomed through it until he got to the math. Remembering Bobby's last attempt to "help", Dean called his dad over instead. He finally finished half an hour later and played with Sammy until their dad told them to go get washed up for supper. Both boys were washed and ready to go in no time. Piling back into the impala, they headed for the hobby store.
The hobby store was amazing! Dean and Sammy had never seen so many cool things in one place. There were cars, rockets, and even action figures lining the shelves. Dean carefully examined every car kit in the store twice before choosing the muscle car kit and some black paint. Sammy got a grand prix kit with blue paint. John took the kits and paints and paid quickly before the boys could change their minds. He then herded both boys into the car and drove to a small nearby diner.
After warning the boys that they had to behave and eat all their food if they wanted to make the cars, the family made their way inside. They were quickly seated, and their orders were taken minutes later. While waiting for their food, John and Bobby noticed that the talk of the diner seemed to be about Mrs. Horton. Apparently, there were a lot of people who had ill feelings towards her. The general consensus was that it was about time something was done with her. She had evidently been mistreating children for years. John and Bobby overheard several patrons say it was a shame that the board waited until a child was lost before they decided to take action. They chuckled at some of the inventive ways people had to deal with her. Luckily the boys were so involved in their conversation about their cars that they didn't notice what was being said around them.
Finishing their supper, which was on the house after one of the waitresses recognized Sammy as Mrs. Horton's latest victim, the small family headed back to the motel. Minutes later, the guys had split into two teams. John and Dean commandeered the table to build Dean's muscle car while Bobby and Sammy sat on one of the beds putting the grand prix together. Once both sides were done, John sent the boys to take their baths to give the paint time to dry. Bobby brought an old board out of his truck and set it against the table to use as the race track. By the time Dean and Sammy had both had a bath and gotten into their pajamas the cars were dry and ready for a test run. All four boys spent the rest of the evening racing and making little adjustments to the cars to make them run faster.
As John watched his boys sleeping later, he hoped he was doing the right thing by taking Sammy back to school. After watching them for several minutes, John lay down in his own bed and went to sleep dreading the day to come.
