Coming Home Ch. 4

Disclaimer: See chapter one

Previously: Guiding Joey out from the table after a lot of encouragement that everything really would be okay, David waited for John and Mary to lead them to their room, he had a baby brother to calm and take care of.

Following the Winchesters up the stairs, David kept an armed firmly wrapped around his baby brother's shoulders. The kid was still trembling after the spilt tea incident and all he wanted was for the two of them to be left alone so that he could calm his sibling enough that Joey could hopefully manage to take a small nap. He knew how much these kinds of incidents weighed heavily on his sibling and that meant Joey would be dealing with night terrors throughout the night tonight.

Arriving at the top of the stairs, Mary led the small group down the short hallway and to the room on the left. "This is your room Joey," she announced as she opened the door and the stepped aside to allow the boys to enter.

Walking past the adults, David couldn't help the slight shiver that encompassed him, waiting to see if John's hand would reach out and grab either him or his brother by the hair of the head and snatch them back. Breathing a sigh of relief as they passed by unhindered, he gave the room a good once over. The first thing he noticed was that the bed was kind of small for the two of them, but he and Sam could make do sleeping on it. They had slept on worse. Grimacing a little at the posters of airplanes and trains on the walls, he wished the walls had been adorned with rock bands and stuff like that instead. But hey, hopefully Joey would like it.

Startling a little when a still sniffling Joey walked away from his side, he watched as his little brother strolled over to the small toy chest in the room and he hoped the kid wasn't disappointed to open the lid of the toy chest and find it empty.

"C-Cool," Joey whispered reverently upon opening the toy box as he reached in and pulled out a stuffed dog and hugged it to his chest before pulling out a big box of Legos. "De, will you help me b-build something?"

"Sure I will, Little Dude," David answered, surprised that Joey had reverted to using the nickname he had used to call him so long ago until Norman (because he refused to refer to the man as Dad anymore) informed Joey he wasn't some damn sniveling baby and to quit talking like one, lest he bust his ass.

Sucking in a stuttered breath upon hearing the whispered "De," Mary's hand immediately flew up to cover her mouth in astonishment and she immediately turned her head towards John, her heart feeling as though it was beating a thousand times per minute.

"That's what Sammy used to call Dean," Mary muttered softly enough so that the boys wouldn't hear.

"I-I remember," John voiced with a bewildered tone, feeling as if he took a hard blow to the solar plexus. Sammy's first word hadn't been "Mama" or "Dada"; it had been "De."

"Something wrong?" David asked warily upon glancing over to see the married couple standing there with pale faces and staring at him and his brother.

"No-No, there's nothing wrong. Everything is perfect as a matter of fact," Mary answered with a huge smile after having pulled herself together. "Would you like to see your room now De-uh-David?'

"Wh-what?" David stammered out upon hearing the question. He had never even once considered the possibility that he wouldn't be sharing a room with his brother.

"Don't you want to go see your room now," Mary repeated as she motioned for David to stand up and follow them.

"No, please, don't make De leave," Joey stammered as he reached out and wrapped his arms firmly around his big brother's neck in fear. "Please let him stay with me. I'll be good, I promise. I won't spill no more tea."

"I hate to tell you lady, but I ain't leaving him no matter what you and John say," David enunciated with venom in his voice upon hearing his sibling's plea, while rubbing a hand up and down his brother's back as he did so. They could do whatever they wanted to him, but come hell or high water, he and his brother was staying in the same room.

"Oh honey, you don't have to. I just thought you boys would like your own rooms. If you want to stay together, that's okay," Mary immediately articulated as tears sprung to her eyes. "We'll go shopping later and get a bigger bed for the two of you to sleep on."

"We don't need a new bed. That one over there is just fine. Actually it's a lot better than some of the things we've slept in before so you can just keep your money and don't worry about us," David stated as a matter of fact.

"Still, I'd like to make sure that you two have enough room to stretch out if you need to when sleeping," Mary informed her eldest, because that is who he had to be.

"Whatever. Can the two of you just leave us alone now?" David asked as Joey leaned against him in near exhaustion.

"Of course, just holler if you need anything," John agreed, knowing that the boys were probably overwhelmed and just needed some time to take everything in.

~~Supernatural~~

"De, I'm really sorry I messed things up on our first day here. Daddy was right, I'm nothing but a no good loser," Joey sadly voiced as he lay on the bed, close to his big brother's side after John and Mary exited the room and left the two of them alone together.

"Don't you say that Kiddo, Norman was wrong," David stated as he reached out to push away the chestnut colored bangs that had fallen into his brother's eyes. "And don't call him Daddy. He doesn't deserve the title."

"But look what I did. Now the Winchesters will probably get tired of us and we'll have to leave another home," Joey retorted, his bottom lip quivering as he tried to hold back the tears.

"I think you're wrong there Little Man. They seem to really like us for some reason. But if they would get tired of us, we could just go back to the group home with Mrs. Whitworth. That wouldn't be so bad, would it?" David asked as he brushed away a lone tear that started to traverse down his brother's cheek

"I guess not," Joey voiced with a sigh as he snuggled further into his brother's side.

"Hey Joey, do you remember what name I used to call you a long time ago when you were around three years old?" David asked, trying to focus his sibling's attention elsewhere as he wrapped an arm around his brother, providing the comfort that the little one was seeking.

"No," Joey said as he turned his head up to glance at his sibling. "What did you used to call me?"

"Sammy."

"Why'd you call me that?" Joey inquired inquisitively. It wasn't anything like what he was expecting.

"It's been so long ago that I really can't remember. I think maybe it was a nickname I gave you or something," David answered as he thought back to that time to retrieve the memory, but found himself unable to do so.

"Why did you stop? I think I kind of like it."

"Well, I had to because that bastard Norman heard me calling you Sammy one day and he washed my mouth out with soap for like ten minutes. Then when he was finished, he told me if I ever called you Sammy again that he would beat us both with a belt until we couldn't sit down properly for months," David answered with a faraway look on his face. "I couldn't chance him doing that to us, especially to you, so I stopped."

"Why did he hate us so much, De?"

"I guess because we got in the way of his dreams of making it big someday," David replied as he thought how much Norman grumbled when he was drunk about making millions in Vegas if it hadn't be for having to raise the two stupid brats that his wife had wanted so badly.

"De' do you think that John and Mary r-really like us?" Joey asked with a yawn as his eyes started to droop.

"Sure they do. What's not to like?" David replied confidently, though inside, he was very unsure of whether or not his words were true. "Now how about you quit all this talking and get some rest."

"M'not sleepy," Joey retorted as he struggled to stay awake just a little bit longer.

"Sure you're not, Munchkin," David snickered as his sibling's eyes closed and a soft snore escaped his mouth just a few moments later. "Sleep well Kiddo, I'll be here to watch over you and protect you until you wake up."

~~Meanwhile in the kitchen downstairs~~

"John, what are we going to do? I know that David and Joey are Dean and Sammy. But how are we going to prove it?" Mary asked nervously as she bustled around the kitchen trying to get things cleaned up from the earlier spill. "I mean, should we tell them and get a DNA test done or something?"

"I honestly don't know, Mar. I mean, the boys are still very skittish around us and if we suddenly start claiming that they are really ours, we might scare them off or something. And what if by some chance this is all a fluke. I don't want to raise those boys' hopes, only to dash them if it turns out …"

"Don't even say it John. They're ours. I know they are," Mary expressed strongly as she took out the damp mop to mop up the stickiness that was left on the floor by the spilt tea.

"I sure hope you're right Baby," John surmised, since there was very little evidence to prove his wife correct…her mother's intuition and the fact that Joey had called David by the same nickname Sammy had given his big brother at the tender age of two.

"There's gotta be something we can do," Mary bemoaned as she finished the mopping and then put the mop away. "I just have to know that my intuition is right, that these boys really are my babies, our babies."

"I guess maybe we could try to get a sample of their hair and get it tested," John theorized as he tugged a hand through his own dark hair. "Or maybe after they brush their teeth later tonight, we could put their toothbrushes in a Ziploc bag for testing?"

"Yeah, either one of those ideas should work," Mary agreed as her heart began to swell with happiness. They would soon know for sure beyond the shadow of a doubt, what she knew to be true in her heart; their boys were finally home where they belonged.

TBC