Disclaimer: Supernatural and all its characters belong to Kripke and the CW. I own nothing.
Previously on Supernatural- Grabbing a cup of coffee Bobby sat down at the table and peered into the other room. Hopefully a certain little somebody would be ready for a good meal when he woke up.
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John awoke to a wonderful aroma wafting into the room from the kitchen. Sitting up straighter he glanced at the clock on the far wall shocked to find that he had slept the afternoon away. Looking down at his boys and seeing their angelic faces John sighed. He really hated to wake them when they were sleeping so peacefully but he knew if he didn't he wouldn't be able to get them back to sleep tonight. John picked up the blanket and tossed it to the floor before gently shaking Dean's shoulder. "Dean, time to wake up sport." He called smiling as his oldest son immediately blinked awake.
"What's wrong, dad?" Dean worriedly asked eyes going to his sleeping brother. "Is something wrong with Sammy?"
"Easy Dean, nothing's wrong" John assured his son, "I just woke you up cause it's time for supper."
"Oh" Dean replied. He slid off his dad's lap and stretched.
Now that Dean was up and moving John turned his attention to Sammy. "Sammy" he called shaking the little boy's shoulder, "Sammy, it's time to wake up. Come on buddy, wake up."
Sammy's eyes slowly opened and focused on John. "Daddy?" Sammy whispered rubbing his eyes with his fists and yawning.
"Did you have a good nap, kiddo?" John asked. Seeing his son nod John smiled. "You feeling better now, Sammy?"
"Uh huh" Sammy mumbled rubbing his tummy as it growled. "Can we eat now daddy? Me and Spot's hungry."
"Sure thing, champ" John replied. Picking Sam up he threw him into the air a few times making the little boy giggle before setting him down beside Dean. "You two go get washed up and then we can eat."
"Okay dad. Come on Sammy." Dean said. Taking his little brother by the hand he led the way down the hall to the bathroom.
Chuckling John watched his boys disappear down the hall before he walked into the kitchen. Grabbing a mug from the counter he poured himself a cup of coffee before sitting down at the table with Bobby. "Hash brown casserole?" he questioned with a smirk.
"What? I figured it couldn't hurt." Bobby defended scowling at John as he fed Aaron another spoonful. "How's Sammy?"
"He seems to be alright. Maybe whatever it was is over." John replied hopefully. Hearing the patter of little feet he turned to see Sammy walk into the kitchen behind Dean and climb into his chair by himself. "Okay maybe I spoke too soon." John thought as he stared at his youngest who was sitting calmly at the table. Shaking his head he reached over and took Sammy's plate filling it with casserole before spooning some out for Dean and himself. Digging into his food he watched his youngest out of the corner of his eye. His mouth dropped open as his messy little eater sat eating like he was at a formal dinner with the President. He had never seen his son eat that neatly and carefully. And to top it off Sammy wasn't talking a mile a minute and bouncing around in his seat like usual. It was obvious to John that something was still very wrong with Sammy but he couldn't for the life of him think what it might be. Vowing to get to the bottom of things John turned back to his plate.
A few hours later
"The end" John whispered. Closing the book he slowly stood and tucked Dean and Sammy in bed. Leaning down he kissed both sleeping boys' foreheads brushing Sammy's bangs out of his eyes as he did. Taking a seat on his own bed John thought over the evening's events attempting to figure out what was going on with his youngest son. It was almost like his rambunctious little boy had been replaced by a changeling, one that was a neat freak. After finishing his supper, Sammy had cleaned his mouth and hands himself and then walked into the living room where he sat quietly coloring. He hadn't turned on the television even though his favorite cartoon was on and there was no bounding around the room playing with Dean. And then there was bath time. His usually energetic son had sat calmly in the tub while John bathed him; no splashing or tub toys or tantrums about washing his hair.
He did pick up on one clue however. John noticed that throughout the whole evening Sammy had made a point of staying far away from Bobby and Aaron. It was almost like he was afraid of them. Mulling all this over in his head John slowly put the pieces together making the problem clear. "Crap, I should have thought of that before I left them." John thought with a wince. If his guess was right, it would be an easy fix. But first he had to find out if he was right, which meant that he had to get Sammy to talk to him. Working through different scenarios John finally hit on one that he thought might give him the answers he needed without hurting Sammy. With that thought in mind John lay down on his bed and closed his eyes. He was gonna need all the sleep he could get.
The next morning
After another extremely neat and silent meal, John headed into the living room to put his plan into action. Taking a seat on the couch he picked up Dean's book bag. "Dean, did you finish all your work?" he called.
"No sir, not yet" Dean replied walking over to his dad and taking the offered bag. "I'll work on it now dad."
"Good man" John praised patting his son on the back.
"Hey Sammy, you wanna finish your homework, too?" Dean asked as his little brother sat down on the floor beside him.
"Sammy has homework?" John inquired glancing at his oldest.
"Yes sir" Dean replied taking the beginner's pencils and tablet out of his bag and handed them to his brother. "Here Sammy, show dad what you've been doing."
"Let daddy see" John instructed seeing Sammy's reluctance to bring the tablet over to him. He scooped his youngest up and settled him in his lap before taking the writing tablet that Sam halfheartedly gave him. Opening the tablet he grinned down at the scribbled letters that kind of resembled Sammy's name if you squinted at it just right. "Sammy, you wrote your name all by yourself! I'm so proud of you!" John praised wrapping his youngest in a hug. "Can you do it again for daddy, Sammy? Show daddy how you write your name."
Sammy's dimpled smile practically lit up the room. Taking the tablet from his father he carefully set it on the coffee table and picked up a pencil. Concentrating on his pencil and paper Sammy slowly wrote each letter of his name as neatly as he could. "Daddy, look! I stay on the lines!" Sammy proudly hollered holding the tablet up for John to see.
"Great job, kiddo!" John stated ruffling his son's hair. "Go show Bobby what you wrote."
Sammy glanced warily over at Bobby as he walked into the room with Aaron in his arms. Smile falling he set his tablet back down on the table and quietly plopped down beside his big brother once more.
"Bingo" John thought looking at his youngest. "Now comes the hard part." Hoping he wasn't making a big mistake John schooled his features and stood up. "Well Bobby, now that everything's alright again I need to get back to my job. Shouldn't be gone more than a couple of days at most." John announced as he headed for the front door. One step later he had to grab onto a nearby shelf to keep from falling when Sammy barreled into his legs and latched on.
"NO daddy! No leave!" Sammy shouted as he tightened his grip on his father's legs. "No leave me here! Me go with you!"
After gently extricating himself from Sam's hold, John knelt down in front of his little boy. "What's wrong, Sammy? Why don't you want to stay with Uncle Bobby?" he questioned as he scooped up his son. "You love coming here."
"Not no more" Sammy cried burying his head on John's shoulder.
John sat back down on the couch settling Sammy on his lap. Determined to get to the bottom of things he pulled Sam back a little so he could see the little boy's face. "Sammy, tell daddy why you don't want to stay." He instructed. "You love Uncle Bobby and he loves you."
"Nuh uh" Sammy sobbed. "Uncle Bobby don't love me no more. He's got Aaron now. He don't want me."
The room was filled with stunned silence for a few moments after Sam's confession. Dean was the first to find his voice. "Sammy what in the world would make you say something like that?" Dean asked.
"Why do you think he doesn't love you anymore, buddy?" John softly inquired though he already knew the answer.
"Cause he don't play with me or read to me or nothing. And he yells at me all the time" Sammy explained, "and, and he sp-spanked me when I tried to get Spot and, and then he didn't r-rock me or say sorry or nothing."
"HE DID WHAT?!" Dean hollered jumping up and advancing on Bobby.
"Freeze!" John ordered grabbing the back of Dean's shirt. "Give Bobby a chance to explain." Glancing over at his pale-faced friend he called, "Bobby! Something you wanna say?"
Standing Bobby placed Aaron on a blanket on the floor and shakily made his way over and sitting on the coffee table. "I don't hate you, Sammy. I love you champ." he said. He reached out to ruffle Sam's hair but stopped when Sammy flinched away from him. "Sammy, I am so sorry I hurt you. I guess I was so busy trying to take care of Aaron that I forgot about watching out for you. Think you could give your Uncle another chance? Please? I'll do better this time. Come on kiddo. I'll do anything."
"Anything?" Dean asked grinning mischievously at his uncle.
"Yea, anything Dean" Bobby agreed wondering what Dean had in mind.
"Sammy come here a minute" Dean called. Taking his brother's hand he led him over to the other side of the room. The brothers spent the next few minutes whispering back and forth to each other before walking back to the couch with matching grins.
"Uncle Bobby you been a bad bad boy" Sammy scolded shaking a finger at the hunter. "You gots to be punished. Go to your room for a time out."
"Okay Sammy" Bobby agreed scowling at John as he tried and failed to contain his laughter. "How long do I have to stay there?"
Sammy scratched his head for a moment. "Uhhh, daddy makes me stay for four minutes cause I'm four. So, ummm, you get one hundred and forty minutes."
"You asked for that old man" John chuckled holding his stomach and wiping the tears from his eyes.
"Guess I did" Bobby replied as he turned and headed for his bedroom. "Watch the kids for me, Johnny."
A little while later
Sammy stepped into Bobby's room and walked over to the bed where his uncle was sitting. "Say you're sorry and you can come out."
"I'm sorry Sammy. Uncle Bobby didn't mean to hurt you like that. I love you." Bobby apologized. Kneeling in front of the little boy he opened his arms. "Can I get a hug?"
Sammy threw his arms around Bobby's neck. "You be good to Sammy now. Right?" he said.
"You bet kiddo" Bobby replied with a smile. Picking Sammy up he carefully placed him on his shoulders. "Let's go see what your daddy and Dean are up to." Bobby walked out of the room making sure to duck down at the doorway so Sam wouldn't bump his head. Stepping into the living room he found Dean playing with Aaron while John looked on from the couch. Gripping Sammy under the arms Bobby lifted him off his shoulders and swung him around in a circle before setting the little boy on the floor. He sat down on the couch beside John as Sammy raced over to join Dean.
"You two okay now?" John asked as he watched the boys play.
"Think so" Bobby replied. "Sorry about all the trouble Johnny. I guess you were right. Three kids were just too much for me."
"Happens to the best of us" John assured glancing over at his friend. "I did the same thing after Sammy was born. See Mary had a hard time with the delivery and she was on bed rest for a week after which left me to take care of her and both boys. I was so busy trying to make sure Sammy was taken care of that I kinda of forgot to make time for Dean."
"Really? What happened?" Bobby inquired.
"Dean did the exact opposite of Sammy. Instead of getting quiet and withdrawn he got angry. He threw things, pitched tantrums anything to get my attention." John recounted. "Probably would have gotten out of hand if Mary hadn't stepped in. She really let me have it. Then she took over; showed me how to handle two little boys at one time and make both of them feel loved."
"Think you could pass along some of those tips?" Bobby asked.
"Just sit back and watch the master" John proudly stated before walking over to the boys and joining in their game.
Bobby spent the next several hours watching as John easily played with all three boys at once, making up games that they all could play together. When they started playing a version of hide and seek, Bobby couldn't sit on the sidelines any longer. Jumping up he raced over pulling Sammy into his lap. "I'm on Sammy's team" he called out while tickling his team mate. "You guys go hide and we'll come find ya!" Covering his eyes with his hand Bobby helped Sammy count to twenty.
"Ready or not here I come!" Sammy shouted. He jumped on Bobby's back and the two went off in search of the others.
The rest of the afternoon went by quickly with the men and the boys playing and having a good time together. Even supper turned out to be a family affair with everyone pitching in to help get the food cooked and the table ready. Things were definitely back on track at Uncle Bobby's house.
AN- What do you think: leave it there or does it need an epilogue?