A/N: Warning mild language and mention of child abuse.
Chapter 14
Everyone fell into a routine, with Castiel and Alfie accompanying the boys to school, Dean making reservations for their vacation, Sam and Bobby researching and Esmee getting caught up on work. Dean was still keeping everyone in the dark about what he had planned for a vacation. No amount of coaxing would make him tell them anything.
"You 'bout done?" Sam asked, walking into a garage bay at Bobby's.
"Yeah, just need to check the belts and oil level once she's down off the jack." Dean called from beneath the Impala.
"I told Esmee we would stop at the store on the way back."
Sam looked around when a cell phone started ringing over on the work bench.
"Want to get that?"
"Sure." Sam said ambling over to answer the phone. "Hello."
"May I speak with Dean Winchester." a male voice asks.
"Hold on. Hey someone wants to talk to you." Sam said tossing him his cell.
"Hello." Dean said wiping his hands while cradling his cell between his shoulder and neck.
"Mr. Winchester, this is Mr. Patterson, principle of Sioux Falls Elementary."
"Has something happened to Chance?" Dean questioned quickly.
"I need you to come down to my office. It concerns your brother and another student."
"My brother?" Dean said slowly turning to look at Sam who arched his eyebrows with a puzzled expression.
"Yes, he accosted another student."
"I'm on my way." he ended closing the phone.
"What was that about?"
"I haven't got the vaguest clue. The principle said my brother accosted another student?"
"Um, I'm coming too, you think it was Castiel?"
"Why would he attack another student?"
"That's what I'm going to find out." he answered letting the car off the jack and moving the tools so he could get the car out of the bay.
Dean and Sam climbed into the Impala and headed for the elementary school unsure what they were going to find.
SPNSPNSPNSPN
The hallways were empty as Dean and Sam made their way down the hall toward the office. They walked in to see Castiel and Chance sitting in chairs outside the principal's office and on the other side sat another student. Dean walked slowly toward the pair looking at each one. He noticed Chance had the hint of a bruise starting on his cheek and glared at the other kid.
"What's going on here?" he questioned the two.
"Mr. Winchester, if you'll join me in my office." Mr. Patterson requested when he saw Dean standing there.
"Right," he replied. "Watch them." he mumbled to his brother in passing.
"Now, first off, your brother was on school property without checking in at the office. That's a major rule violation."
"What happened to my son?" Dean got to the point.
"It seems Chance was trying to defend a smaller student from another one and a fight started. The other Mr. Winchester grabbed the other student, shaking him and threatened to hurt him."
"My brother?"
"Yes. Fighting is not allowed and both parties will be suspended."
"So my son was protecting a kid from a bully and he is going to be punished?"
"School policy, no acceptations."
"Did my son hit the other kid?"
"Well, no."
"So this actually wasn't a fight, it was one student attacking two other students, am I correct?"
"Technically, yes, but he was involved."
"You don't want my wife coming down here and getting involved in this matter." Dean threatened, standing up to tower over the principal.
"I guess we could let the rest of today count as Chance's suspension and he can come back tomorrow." he finally gave in not sure he wanted to meet someone more threatening than this man.
"Where's the principle?" an angry male voice boomed from the front office.
The principal got up and opened the door to a slightly overweight, middle aged man, who was towering over the other kid sitting by the door.
"Mr. Wells, if you will step inside my office."
"Was it you who attacked my son?" he demanded getting in Dean's face.
"I'd advise you to back off dirt bag." Dean bristled.
"Gentleman, please, if you'll please have a seat we can discuss this calmly."
Sam looked from Chance to Castiel as he leaned closer to the door to hear. Castiel had tried to explain what happened on the play ground and wasn't sure what all the commotion was about. Seemed Tim, the other student, was picking on one of the smaller kids and Chance had stepped in only to be punched by Tim. Castiel had grabbed Tim by the jacket collar, holding him in the air and telling him he needed to respect others or suffer the consequences.
A few minutes later, Mr. Wells stormed out of the office and grabbed his son by the arm and jerked him to his feet and out the door. Dean walked out right behind him eyeing the angry man closely.
"Let's go."
"Dean, did I do something wrong?" Castiel asked getting up.
"We'll talk about this at home; now let's get out of here."
SPNSPNSPNSPN
Dean led the others out of the school and to the parking lot. He was heading for the Impala, when he saw Mr. Wells a car over yelling at his son.
"I had to leave work because of this bull shit. That's two hours of pay I'm losing all because of you." he yelled smacking the boy into a late model truck.
"I'm sorry." Tim whimpered holding his hurt arm to his chest trying to stay on his feet.
"Hey!" Dean yelled madly at the man walking faster toward them. "Why don't you pick on someone who can defend themselves asshole?"
"Mind your god damn business, I'll discipline my kid how I see fit."
"What you're doin' ain't discipline, you bastard." Dean growled shoving him hard against the truck cap bouncing his head off it.
"Tim you ok?" Chance asked him trying to look at his arm.
"Leave me alone." he scoffed trying to hold back the tears.
"I'm only trying to help."
"Well you can't, your Dad will only make it worse." he mumbled in fright knowing what his Dad would do once they got home.
Castiel stepped close enough to touch his arm relieving the pain. Tim looked up at him surprised that his arm didn't hurt anymore. A small spark of hope flickered in his eyes until he cowered under his father's voice.
"Dean, stop before someone calls the cops." Sam warned him pulling him back.
"Get in the truck boy; don't make me tell you again." Mr. Wells huffed at his son while staring daggers at Dean. "You stay the hell away from me and my family if you know what's good for you."
"My Dad's cell." Chance whispered shoving a scrap of paper into Tim's hand before stepping back with Castiel.
They all watched the truck pull out of the parking space and speed out of the lot and down the street. The truck almost side swiped a car pulling onto the main road.
"Ass wipe." Dean sneered under his breath. "Get in the car guys, let's go home."
SPNSPNSPNSPN
The car was filled with silence as Dean headed home. Sam glanced in the back at Chance and Castiel being sure they were ok. He pulled into the driveway and parked beside Esmee's van. They got out and headed inside.
"Champ, can we talk?" Dean asked Chance once they got inside.
"Sure Dad." he replied sitting his pack on the couch.
"Come on, let's grab a drink and go outside."
"Cha!" Tyler called running down the hall. "Can we play?"
"Hey Ty. In a minute, I need to talk to Daddy first." Chance told him, heading outside.
"Hey hon." Esmee smiled kissing Dean. She looked at his face and over at Sam before asking. "What's wrong?" She looked between the two waiting for an answer.
"We'll talk later." he mumbled to her fishing a juice box and water out of the fridge. He grabbed a couple of granola bars from the counter and headed outside to find Chance.
SPNSPNSPNSPN
"Did I do something wrong?" Castiel asked Sam. "That Mr. Patterson said I shouldn't be at the school unless I signed in at the office."
"It's ok Cas; we'll talk to Dean after he's talked to Chance." Sam assured him.
"Tyler, where's Alfie?"
"Playin' wifh Mary." he answered looking around and feeling the tension in the room. "Cha ok?"
"Yes sweetie, he's ok." Esmee assured him giving him a hug. "Why don't you go play with Alfie and Mary?"
"'K Momma."
Once he was out of ear shot she turned to Sam and Castiel, "Want to tell me what's going on?"
"Seems Cas and Chance ended up in the principle's office for fighting."
"Sam I did not fight anyone, I only stopped that other student from hitting Chance again." Castiel tried to explain. "I was protecting him. Was I not suppose to protect him?"
"Yes, not exactly, the schools have certain rules for the student's safety."
"You will have to explain these things to me. I'm not understanding this at all."
SPNSPNSPNSPN
Dean spotted Chance sitting at the top of the slide and walked toward him. Chance looked up at Dean and slid down the slide meeting him at the bottom.
"Come on Champ, let's sit over there." Dean motioned to the picnic table sitting at the side of the yard under a huge popular tree.
Chance got up and followed him to the table and plopped down accepting the juice and granola bar from him.
"Wanna tell me what happened?" Dean spoke softly.
"Tim was picking on one of the smaller kids, making him cry. He's been doing it more lately. I told him to stop and stepped in front of Matt, Tim told me to move or I could take his place. I wouldn't move and he tried to push me out of the way, but I did like you taught me and blocked him making him stumble. That made him madder and he hit me then, I didn't fight back. That's when Cas stopped him and the principle showed up."
Dean listened intently to Chance tell the story not interrupting, letting him explain. He knew Chance had enough training that he could of taken Tim out with no problem. He wanted the boys to be able to defend themselves and to know about the monsters, but he was going to do everything he could to keep them from becoming hunters. He wanted them to have a childhood and to not grow up too quickly, like Sam and him had to. He wanted Chance to have a choice of doing whatever he wanted in life, to have as much of a normal life as possible.
"First, you did nothing wrong here. What you did was brave and very mature, especially to not hit him back when you could of taken him down. I'm proud of you for the decisions you made."
"Daddy, I think Tim's Dad is mean to him and hurts him. I saw marks on his arm one time and a bad bruise on his stomach when his shirt slid up one time during recess."
"I think you may be right son. That's probably why he's picking on the small kids; he's trying to release his anger out on others with bullying." Dean agreed with him. "How you handled that situation today shows me you're growing into a fine young man. You could have decked him, but you showed restraint and empathy. It's a shame that some humans are worse than the monsters we hunt. You saw what others didn't about Tim; I just hope Jody can help."
"I gave Tim your cell if he needed help."
"Alright, I'll keep an eye out. Why don't you go play with your brother for a bit and make sure you get your homework done?"
"Done it." he smiled proudly.
"Good, I guess Hammy is rubbing off on you with all his smartness. You still helping him do research?"
"I am, and Dad, you're smart too, look how much you know and can do that most can't." Chance said heading back inside. "You're way smarter than most people."
Dean sat at the table watching the wind toss some loose leaves around mulling over what Chance had said. He never really thought of himself as smart and was surprised that Chance saw him like that. He looked up when Sam and Castiel joined him at the table sitting across from him.
"Everything go ok?" Sam asked eyeing his brother.
"Yeah, it amazes me how those kids can surprise me." Dean said shaking his head. "Man, I love them so much."
"Think we should call Jody and have her check in on the kid?"
"Wouldn't hurt, how someone could treat their kid like that, wonder what he's doing to the mom, if there is a mom?"
"Do I need to sign in at the office tomorrow?" Castiel asked.
"No, just stay out of sight."
"The principle was not very happy with me. Chance said I was visiting and didn't know the rules. I am suppose to be your brother."
"Yeah I got that, he does seem pretty tough, but he has to look out for the kids. Just don't be seen ok?"
"I will do my best. I did not like going to the principal's office."
"Esmee is fixing tacos tonight, she wants you to help when you're done out here." Sam snickered at Castiel's remark. "No one likes going to the principal's office Cas."
"Did you have to go there when you were in school?"
"Naw, he was the geek boy, couldn't keep his nose out of the books."
"Did you have to go there Dean?"
"Ok then, not going to bring those memories back, I'm going to help with dinner." Dean said heading back inside ignoring Cas's question.
A/N: Thank you for all the following, favors and reviews. I do enjoy hearing from you. Please review.
NC