Chapter 8:

Caleb was glad it was finally Christmas break, the last 4 months had gone by ridiculously slow and he couldn't wait to get back to the farm so he could see Dean. He had talked to the kid a few times on the phone but it wasn't the same as being there with him, and then there was Sam, he would be two in May, and he was growing like a weed. The only thing Caleb wasn't excited for was the cold rural Kentucky winter, he lived in New York City, sure it got cold but at least the streets got plowed so there was never really much snow on the ground. There was always a ton of snow at the farm; he didn't know how Jim did it. Caleb and Mackland landed at 1:30 and were at the farm by the 3:00. Caleb was grabbing the bags out of the trunk, when he looked into the kitchen window and saw Dean. Dean smiled brightly and waved at his friend, and Caleb waved back, the kid looked well. Caleb made his way up the steps and dropped his stuff in the kitchen as Dean hopped down off the chair he was using to look out the window and ran over to give Caleb a hug.

"Hey kiddo." Caleb said.

"Hi Caleb." Dean said quietly. Mackland walked in behind them and wiped the snow from his coat.

"Hello Dean, how have you been?"

"Hi, Mac. I'm good." Dean was half hidden behind Caleb's legs, but Mackland said nothing about it, any day Dean talked was a good day, no matter how shy he was. Sam came running into the room at full speed and jumped and Caleb who caught him with one arm.

"Laleb!" Sam yelled. Dean winced at the loudness of his brother's voice.

"Indoor voice Sammy." Dean whispered.

"Hey Runt, how have you been?"

"Sam good." In four months Sam's vocabulary had gotten better, yet he still couldn't pronounce Caleb's name.

"Sammy?" John called from the other room. "Come back here, it is time for your nap. Sam crossed his arms across his chest and pouted.

"NO!" John walked into the kitchen grumbling.

"Hey Caleb, Mac, good to see you."

"John, I didn't know if you would be here." Mackland said with some sarcasm to his voice, John was never around, he left his kids with Jim for the most part. John gave Mac a cold look but said nothing.

"Sam? It's time to go sleep."

"NO SLEEP!" Sam screamed. Dean pulled on his Dad's shirt.

"He won't sleep Daddy, not with Caleb here now, he is excited to see him, I will put him to bed later."

"Fine Dean, but if he starts to get cranky he is your responsibility." In Dean's childhood logic he looked up at his Dad with a confused look on his face.

"He is always my responsibility Daddy. " John snorted and went out the door towards the barn so he could fix whatever was wrong with the Impala. Mac sighed and bent down so he was Dean's height.

"Samuel isn't your responsibility Dean."

"Yes he is, he's my brother." Dean gave Mac a stubborn scowl and Mackland let the matter drop, the kid didn't understand that the things he did for Sam were the things John should be doing and at this point there was no changing that.

"I have to drop my stuff in my bedroom, wanna come up?"

"Sure, can you hold Sammy?"

"As long as you carry this bag for me." Caleb handed Dean the lighter of the two bags and picked up Sam and the other one. Dean still had to drag the bag up the stairs, but he did it with out complaint. Caleb put Sam down on the floor of his bedroom and tossed his bags on the bed. Dean went into his bedroom and came back with some paper and crayons, to keep Sam distracted. He scribbled on the paper making some kind of picture that only made sense to the mind of a toddler, and Dean took a seat next to Caleb's bags.

"How's school going Deuce?"

"Its going okay, I don't really like it that much."

"Why not?"

"I just don't like being away from Sammy, and my teacher is always trying to get me to talk and I don't want to."

"You never talk at school?"

"I barely like talking here, why would I talk to my teacher and a bunch of weirdo kids?" Caleb snorted,

"What makes them so weird? Their just kids like you." Dean's face had that haunted look on it.

"They are nothing like me." Dean whispered. Caleb sighed and sat down beside him.

"What do you mean?" Dean looked up at Caleb.

"The monsters in their closets aren't real… they can't hurt them."

"Dean… nothing is gonna hurt you… I won't let anything hurt you."

"I know, but I don't want to be around kids who don't understand that the monsters are real. I don't feel safe there."

"Do you go to your quiet place there a lot?" Dean shook his head.

"Never. I can't, it isn't safe." Caleb was sorry that Dean didn't feel safe at school, but at the same time Caleb felt better that he was spending less time in his quiet place.

"You know Deuce, I think that is the worst part about being apart of our lives, sitting in a room full of people and knowing they the world they live in is a lie. Most of them will probably never know the truth about the monsters in the dark. But you know something? After all the terrible things that have happened in our lives, something really amazing came out of it."

"What's so amazing about all this? Your parents are gone, my mom is gone, and my baby brother has no idea what he is missing. What's so great about all of this?" Caleb smiled down at the kid.

"We got each other out of this Deuce, I'd say that's pretty great. Look, we have lost so much, and I know that we can never replace what we lost, but I would say we got pretty lucky with the family we have know. Don't you think?" Dean smiled to himself as he looked at Sam sitting on the floor, at how happy the kid was, most of that happiness was thanks to people like Jim and Mackland who treated him like a son.

"Yeah Caleb, we are pretty lucky."

"Kids at school are never going to understand, but at the end of the day, you got all of us, okay?"

"Okay Caleb." Sammy walked over and pulled himself up on the bed.

"Laleb." Sam said, and handed the piece of paper in his hands over to Caleb. Caleb looked at the scribbles on the paper.

"Uhhhh… Thanks Sammy, did you draw this for me?" Sam nodded his head and smiled widely. "It's uhhh…. Great. I'm gonna put it up here on the wall." Dean laughed as Caleb put the picture on the wall above his desk. It seemed to make Sam happy though and that was all that mattered.

"How's it going up here boys?" John said leaning in the doorway with Mackland.

"Good. I was helping Caleb unpack, and Sammy drew him a picture." Dean pointing to the picture above the desk and Mackland smiled.

"That is quite a piece of art Samuel." Mackland said. John leaned down and picked Sam up in his arms.

"Good job Sammy." Sam looked at John and smiled.

"Daddy." Sam said. Everyone turned towards Sam and John and John looked utterly shocked. That was the first time Sam had called his father by anything.

"That's good Sammy, that is Daddy." Dean said. "Did I talk this much when I was Sammy's age?" John laughed.

"No you didn't buddy, Sam talks more then any baby I have ever known." Dean smiled.

"That's because he's smart."

"Yeah he is."

"Someday we are gonna be hoping for him to stop talking so much." Mackland said.

"Yeah, you won't be able to get either of shut up." Dean smiled and walked out of the room.

"Did he just say we won't be able to get him to shut up?" John asked.

"Yeah I think we did." Mackland said. Caleb smiled and looked at the two older men.

"I think we got Dean back guys, for good this time."