#kid!sammy

They reached the office and Cas knocked on the door excitedly. “Yes?” she said. “Just open the door,” she said. Castiel opened the door and looked inside. “Hey Jody,” he said. “We want to decorate our room!” Jody looked at them and bit her lip. “Oh, boys, I'm sorry. There isn't much left,” she said sadly, sighed and stood up. She got a box out of the highest shelf and put it down for the two boys to see. There really wasn't much left. Two tiny angel figures and a bit of tinsel were left in the box. Dean looked over at Cas who had a hand in his hair twisting it a little. "It's not so bad, Cas," he said. "We can maybe put the angels on the window bench, right?" Cas shrugged. "Sure..." he mumbled. "We can do that."

They walked back quietly and when they got to their room Cas just went to lay down in his bed instead of helping Dean make the set up on the window bench. Not that it was a lot of effort. It really wasn't. Dean looked at the tiny angels and the tinsel around them and sighed. Not much effort at all. He looked back at Cas. "I'm going to play now, okay?" There was only a sniff from the bed. Dean took it as a yes and went outside.

He didn't walk to the group room though. He walked directly in the other direction.

Dean knocked on the door. "Yeah?" "Sonny?" he said softly. "Dean? What is it?" Dean looked at his feet. "Can you open the crafting room for me, please?" "You know you're not supposed to go in there at this time of day, Dean," Sonny said gruffly. "Yeah, but I have to! It's important," Dean said. Sonny raised an eyebrow. Dean hadn't been very open towards the caregivers so far, hadn't shown many emotions but now... he really seemed to have an important matter. "Why is it so important?" he asked him. "I can't open it for you if I don't know what you need it for." "Well..." Dean said and sighed deeply. And then he explained it to him.

The next day.

Castiel had been in a foul mood the whole day. It wasn't just the decoration but the decoration had a huge part in it. It was the third Christmas he was spending here and the third Christmas he didn't have any decoration. Well, they had the two angels but they looked rather sad. And now? Now Charlie was annoying him with her homework and Sam tried to play something with him and Dean - who would normally play with Sam - was nowhere to be seen.  

"Just leave me alone! I have my own stuff to do!" he shouted and looked at them angrily before he left the group room. "No! Wait!" Charlie shouted. "I still don't get number three! Cas... please..." "Yes!" Sam shouted. "You can't go," he said running up to him and taking his shirt. "Dean said so!" "Sammy!" Charlie shouted from behind. Sam made huge eyes and put his hands over his mouth. "Oops..." "What? Dean said what?" Castiel asked squinting. "Nothing, he's just a kid, don’t listen to him," Charlie said at the same time Sam said: "Can't tell you..." Castiel turned around at that and ran down the hallway back to their room, Charlie and Sam racing after them.

The caregivers, on the other hand, were really worried about him. “He needs therapy,” Jody said. “He's not talking. Not a word all day long! We have to do something about this.” Donna sighed deeply and stared at the table. “I know Jody but we have to think about money in this situation too. Do you think the insurance or the state will pay for his therapy just because he gets a little shy sometimes?” Sonny said softly. “He doesn't just 'get a little shy’ sometimes. He isn't talking!” “I know Jody. Believe me, I know,” he said and sighed. “But you know how they are. When they see that Dean is adapting well. Doesn't show unusual aggression and gets good grades they'll just say that he doesn't need therapy.” “That's just bullshit!” Jody said loudly and shook her head. “We have a child suffering here. A sweet, clever, strong, little boy who didn't deserve the stuff he's been put through!” “Jody, we know,” Donna said now. “Maybe we should ask Rowena if she can pay for it. She said she liked Sam so maybe she'll do something for his brother too…” Jody sighed and shrugged. "I don't know if she'll pay for that. She just gave us money for the advent calendars." "We can ask her at least," Donna said and shrugged.

It knocked on the office door and they all turned around. A man stood there, he was holding an old baseball cap in his hands and looked into the office. "Sorry, I'm just here for visitation day?" he asked, biting his lip. "Of course," Jody said getting the documents. "Who are you visiting?" "Sam and Dean Winchester...?" the man said and Jody stopped. Donna put a hand on her back and smiled. "That's nice. The two of them have been here for three months and nobody visited them yet," she said sharply. "Yes... I just found out what happened, sorry," he said and cleared his throat. "Their father is here too by the way. He's just looking for a present for them." "How nice," Jody said ironically. Donna just smiled again and nodded. "I'll bring you to the visitation room. I'll send the boys in soon. What did you say was your name was again?" "Bobby Singers. And their Daddy 's John Winchester."

Dean looked at his lego fortress displeased he really didn't like it a bit. Sammy seemed to like it a lot but he was just a tiny kid. He liked basically everything Dean made. "Sam? Dean?" Jody asked entering the room. They looked up. She smiled softly. "There's someone here for you," she said. "Really?" Sam asked and looked over at Dean who had jumped up. Maybe it was their Dad? Maybe he came to take them back home, finally? Jody took them to the visitation room.

The man who was sitting on one of the tiny chairs was not their Dad. "Uncle Bobby!" Sammy squealed and ran towards him. Bobby took the little boy on his arms and smiled. "Hey, kiddo," he said and pressed Sam against his chest. "I missed you, uncle Bobby, missed you so much..." he mumbled against his neck. "Missed you too," Bobby smiled and put the boy down looking over at Dean. "Hey, Bobby," he said quietly and looked at his feet. "What's the matter with you, Dean? You too old to hug me already?" Bobby asked him. Dean shook his head smiling and ran up to Bobby to hug him too. "Your Daddy's coming too," Bobby whispered into his ear. Dean smiled. They would finally get out of this place. Finally.

"Now why don't you tell me how things are going for you?" Bobby said and smiled down at the two of them. And before Dean could even think about opening his mouth Sammy already started to talk about everything. About his preschool, about the toys, the cookies, Santa's letterbox, the advent calendars simply everything that had happened in the last three months. Bobby listened and nodded from time to time. Dean was just thinking about Dad. He would come. And then they would be on the road again. Dean would probably miss Castiel though. And Charlie. Thinking about him made him feel sad. But... but he couldn't have stayed here anyway. He needed to be with Dad.

Suddenly he felt a rough hand on his shoulder and looked up. "Dad!" he said and jumped up. "Hey, Dean," his father said and ruffled his hair. "Hey, Daddy," Sam said and waved at him and smiled at him. Dad smiled and set down next to him kissing his cheek. "Sammy, hello..." "Actually I got something for you two," he said and smiled and pulled two long candy canes out of his backpack. "For us?" Sam asked and looked at Dad. "Yes," he said and smiled. "Thank-you, Daddy!"  Sam smiled and grabbed the candy cane. "Thanks, Dad," Dean said and took his. He wanted to go soon and now that Dad was there they surely would be on their way soon?

They didn't go right away. Sam chattered away about everything again, being his usual bubbly self until he actually fell asleep on Dad's lap. "And what's going on with you, Dean, huh?" Dad asked over Sammy's head. "You doing good in school, I heard?" "Kinda..." Dean mumbled. "I had help." "That's good, Dean. What about friends? You got friends here?" John asked. "Some, I guess," Dean said. "Doesn't matter anyway. We're leaving this place, right?"

There was a pause and Bobby looked over at John. "Dean..." "You're taking us back? Right? That's why you're here?" he grabbed onto the candy cane, flinching when he heard it break. "Right??" "No, we're not, Dean," John said and looked at him. "You and Sammy will stay here." "No! No, we need to be on the road... we have to..." Dean said stumbling over his words. "Dean, listen. I thought about it. I won't get you back if I don't do this the legal way. They're watching us and... and I think this... maybe this is better. For now at least. If you think something's bad you can always call me... plus I have a lead on the demon, the one that killed mom." Dean shook his head. "No. Dad! I want to help... I want to hunt with you! Why don't you..." he stopped feeling tears in his eyes. "You don't care about us," he said and his mouth felt bitter. "You don't care. You want to hunt and you're leaving us here so you can hunt..." he looked over at Bobby. The man sighed and looked away. "Dean, that's not true..." Dean shook his head. "It is, Dad. You always cared more about the demon than about us..." He jumped up and ran out of the visitor room.

Castiel liked the tree too. He stood in front of it with big eyes looking up and down and walking around it. “It's so pretty, Dean…” “I know, I know.” “Did you see how pretty it is?” “Yup. I did. It's pretty,” Dean said and smiled a little. Cas was adorable sometimes. “It's so pretty…” Castiel kept mumbling. “So very pretty…” Dean chuckled and put an arm around him looking at the tree. It really was pretty.

“When I was little…  After we decorated the tree Mom used to put Rock'n'Roll Records on and we would dance until our sides would burn and we were out of breath. Then we'd eat pie,” Dean said and blinked a tear away. Castiel looked up. Dean rarely talked about his mother. He didn't talk about his family in general but Cas had asked him once about his mother and Dean had just answered: “She's dead…” and then he hadn't said anything for a long time. So Castiel had never brought it up again.   He looked at Dean now and saw how misty-eyed he was. He smiled and kissed his cheek softly. “That sounds like a lot of fun Dean.” “It was… it really was…” Dean mumbled.

In the night Cas woke up from sniffing next to him. He looked over and saw Dean curled up on the bed his face in the pillow. He smiled softly and touched his shoulder. “Are you alright Dean?” Dean shook his head still pressing his face into the pillow. “I miss my mom, Cas…” “I know…” Cas sighed and rubbed his back. “I'm sorry Dean.” Dean sniffed and nodded. “It's not your fault.” Cas hugged him and handed him the bee over. “Come on Dean,” he said and kissed his cheek. “No more tears,” he softly pushed his hair back. Castiel wasn't sure where he had that from but he thought it was the right way to comfort someone. Dean sniffed and sighed. After a while, he fell asleep in Cas’ arms. Cas was awake for a long time still holding Dean in his arms and thinking.

The next morning Dean didn't really eat his breakfast and Sam looked at him confused. “Are you okay, Dean?” he asked. As an answer, he just shrugged. Sam leaned over to Garth and whispered. “He's in his mom-mood. He gets really weird when he thinks about our mom, you know?” Garth looked at Dean and nodded understandingly.

Castiel was nowhere to be found. He hadn't gone to breakfast with them and that only made Dean's mood worse. Where was his friend? Charlie had noticed Cas’ absence too. “Did you and Cas fight?” she asked Dean. Dean shook his head and looked down. Charlie looked at him and sighed softly. “Okay… whatever.”

“Please, Sonny!” Castiel said. “It would be great for Dean and so much fun for everyone else.” Sonny looked at the boy. “Oh, I don't know, Cas…” Sonny said. “I'm not sure if it's against the rules or not…” “Please, Sonny. It would be so much fun…” Sonny sighed. “Alright. I'll talk with Jody about it. But I can't promise anything.” Cas smiled and hugged Sonny. “Thank you!” “No problem.”

In the evening Dean was staring out of the window of their room. “Do you wanna go play Uno?” Cas asked. Dean shook his head. “Dean, come, please. We can play a little Uno!” Dean shook his head again. “Please? For me?”Cas asked him softly. Dean turned around and sighed. Then he stood up and Cas smiled. “Thanks, Dean,” he took his hand.

They were waiting for Sonny and Donna with the sleds in the hall. Everyone in the hall was wearing their winter clothes. Everyone but Cas. "You gotta get ready too, Cas. We'll go soon!" Sam told him while Cas helped him with his scarf. "I'm not going Sam," he explained to the younger boy. "Why not?" Sam asked him confused. "I just don't feel like it, today..." he said glancing over at Dean who looked like he was falling asleep over tying his shoes. "Can you watch out for your brother for me? I think he's not feeling so well today..." He and Dean hadn't talked since they had fought this morning and Castiel didn't know how he should tell Dean that he only worried about him because he cared so much. Sam nodded dutifully. "I will. Don't worry." "Thank you," Cas said and smiled.

  Sonny and Donna took them up on a hill behind the home to have their sledding races. Dean was pulling the sled behind him and even that seemed to be too hard for him right now. He had to concentrate so he wouldn't stumble which led to him not really listening to whatever Sam was telling him right now. "Dean? Dean...?" "Hm?" "I just told you that last year one of the kids got into a big accident! Cause his sled crashed into a tree and the firefighters had to get him out. Garth told me about it!" "Garth isn't even here for a year..." Dean mumbled. "Yeah, but he heard from someone else, obviously," Sam said and rolled his eyes a little. Dean sighed and shook his head. Because none of the other kids ever made up stories. But he was too tired to fight with Sam right now. Far too tired. "Okay..." he said and concentrated on walking up to the top of the hill. Even with the cold weather, there was sweat glistening on his forehead.

Sam was just babbling on about this story Garth had told him and everything else he had heard about sledding. Dean stopped listening. Just concentrated on the seemingly endless white of the snow and kept on walking and walking and walking.

When the group stopped Dean almost ran into Charlie. "Hey!" she said and grabbed him by the arm. "Hm?" Dean said and blinked at her. "Oh... sorry, Charlie." "It's okay, Dean," she said and looked at him. "Are you okay though? You look really pale." "Yeah, I'm fine," he said and forced a smile on his face. Charlie frowned a little and bit her lip. After Sonny and Donna had given them a speech about safety rules they could go ahead and start.   Dean had promised Sam that he could sit in his lap while they were racing Charlie and Garth who would be sitting in her lap. They got into position. Sammy in the front with Dean's arms tucked tightly around him.

"Ready, Sammy?" he asked his little brother and Sam nodded happily. He looked over at Charlie and Garth. "Let's go!" Charlie said and with that, they drove down the hill.  

Dean felt the icy cold wind in his face and held stronger onto Sammy's warm little body, trying hard to keep the sled under his control, steering it so he and Sam would both reach the end safely. And he did pretty well until he started coughing again.

"Dean?" Sam asked. "Dean... we're not going down the right way... DEAN!" There was a stone in front of them and since Dean had lost the control over the sled for a bit they were driving right over it which threw the whole sled out of balance and made them fall into the snow.

"Dean?" Sam's voice was small and shaky. Like he was about to cry. "S... Sammy?" "Yes," his little brother said and looked at him taking his hand. "Charlie's gonna get Sonny, Dee," he mumbled and looked down at him. "O-okay," Dean mumbled. "Are you alright?" "Uh-huh..." "That's good," Dean mumbled sitting up and blinking. Then they heard Sonny coming.

It turned out that they both had been really lucky. Sam really was fine despite the shock and Dean had a nasty flu and a few bruises but no serious injuries.

Still, Dean had to stay in the infirmary and that was not only annoying, it also meant he wouldn't be able to see Cas again today and he still had to apologize to him for not listening and fighting.

He sighed, leaning against the big pillow in his back and looked around. The infirmary wasn't very big just a few white beds in a room that was slightly bigger than the rooms of the kids but it smelled like a hospital and Dean really hated that smell.

Dean and Cas decided to play UNO again. "What do you think Sammy is doing in the kitchen?" Dean asked Cas. "Oh, the little kids are probably building the gingerbread houses again," Castiel said nonchalantly.   Dean looked at him. "How do you know?" "We did that in my first year here... back then I was still one of the little ones." Dean frowned. "How long have you been here?" he asked him. "Since I was six," Castiel said. "But before I was in a foster family..." he looked down at his lap. "And it wasn't so good there, right?" Dean asked. Cas shook his head and looked at the ground. "They weren't good people," he said and shrugged. "They didn't like me..." Dean put a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. "But now you're here. And it's never gonna happen to you again." Castiel nodded. "Yes. Never." Dean smiled and looked at him. "Let's not play anymore. I wanna check out what kinda house the little dork is building." "Alright..." Castiel said and stood up taking Dean's hand.

They peeked into the kitchen watched the little kids in front of their tiny gingerbread houses decorating them with frosting. Dean saw Sammy standing in front of one together with Garth. Sam was busy decorating the roof with sprinkles. He pointed at him and both he and Cas smiled as they watched the younger boys so invested in their work. Then they went back to leave the two of them to it.

He stood up and left the infirmary walking towards their room, biting his lip while he walked. He was worried about Dean. The grown-ups had told him that he was going to be alright. It was just the flu and he needed to rest for now but Cas was still worried. Dean and Sammy had had an accident with the sled because he had been so sick. The grown-ups had said that they had been lucky and Cas knew that meant that they could have gotten really hurt. If Castiel had told the grown-ups about Dean being sick they would have never had an accident. Dean would have had to stay in bed and he wouldn't have been with the other kids for the sledding race and he wouldn't have fallen from his sled. Castiel sighed and walked towards the dining hall. It was nearly dinner time and they would have spaghetti today. They always had to cut spaghetti for Sam and since Dean was sick he would have to be the one to do it.

The next day Dean was woken up by something tickling his nose. He looked down at the mop of brown hair that belonged to his brother. Sam had wrapped his little arms around Dean and his head was buried in his chest. "S-Sammy?" he asked softly. "Hey, Dean," Sam said and looked up at him. "How are you?" "I'm..." Dean wanted to say fine again but he thought about his talk with Cas yesterday and sighed. "I'm a little tired and my throat still hurts a lot but I don't feel as bad as yesterday..." Sam nodded and smiled. "You slept for soooo long, Dean!" Sam said and looked at him. "It's hours after breakfast and Cas is already off to school. I already got my advent calendar chocolate and everything. I brought yours too, look!" he showed him the tiny piece of chocolate. Dean took it and ate it happily. "Thanks, Sammy." Sam smiled and sighed softly and put his head back on Dean's chest. Dean smiled too and started to pat his head.

Jody entered the infirmary and when she found Sam in Dean's bed, cuddling Dean close she sighed but with a bit of a smile on her face. She couldn't say that she was surprised. They had tried to keep Sam out of the infirmary for the most part of the morning and apparently, it really hadn't worked. "Sam..." she said now, trying to sound disappointed. The little boy looked up and gave her a mischievous grin. "Sorry, Jody." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and sighed softly as she looked at Dean. "How are you feeling, Dean?" "Better..." the boy mumbled and rubbed his eyes. She walked towards him with the thermometer and took his temperature quickly. "You still have a bit of a fever and you still need to rest throughout the day and you will stay here for the rest of the week," she told him and smiled softly. "Are you hungry?" Dean shrugged. "Sure..." he said. "Good. I will bring you some hot soup," she told him. "Thanks, Jody," Dean said politely and looked back at his hands. "Do you want Sam to stay here?" Dean nodded fast and Jody sighed. She should have known that it was impossible to separate the two brothers. "Alright. But Sam has to leave when it's lunchtime..." Dean nodded. "Okay," he said and put an arm around Sam who was nodding too.

Jody brought the soup and Dean was eating it when Cas opened the door to the infirmary and looked inside. Sam was still sitting on the bed and cuddling a little with Dean by leaning against his arm but he jumped from the bed when he saw him. "Hey, Cas! Dean still has a fever and Jody wants him to not go to school for the whole week and he has to stay here for the day," he informed him. "Hello, Sam," Castiel said and smiled down at the younger boy. "That's good. Thanks for telling me." Dean smiled at his Sam's behavior and looked at Cas. "Hey, Cas..." "Hello, Dean," Cas said as he walked over to him taking a chair so he could sit next to the bed. "Are you feeling better?" "A little yes," he said and smiled "That's very good..." Cas said and took his hand. Sam climbed back on the bed so he could cuddle with him some more.

After a while, Jody came in again with a tray and told them that it was lunchtime. Sam bit his lip and jumped up giving Dean a wet kiss on his cheek. "See you later, Dee," he said and smiled before he ran outside. Castiel didn't get up though. "I'm not hungry," he told Jody and held onto Dean's hand. "Castiel. Don't tell me that. You have to eat and so has Dean," she said holding up the tray. "Can't I eat here too? Please, Jody?" Cas said and bit his lip looking up at her. "Yes, please, Jody," Dean said now too. "I don't want to be alone..." Jody sighed and looked at the two boys in the bed. "Alright, you two," she said and the boys looked at each other happily. "Yes! Awesome, thank you, Jody," Dean said and coughed a little and Cas jumped from the bed to hug her. She smiled softly. "But... but I want Dean to stay in bed. No playing around you two, understood?" "Yes, Jody," both boys said.

They ate their lunch in bed and when they were both done Dean leaned against Cas' shoulder yawning a little. "You can sleep if you want to," Cas told him softly and Dean nodded yawning again as he closed his eyes. They curled up on the bed and Dean fell asleep easily with Castiel stroking his hair. 

When Dean woke up again it was dark outside Cas was still there reading a book to Sam and Charlie, who was sitting on a chair next to the bed. "Hey, Dean," she said and waved at him softly. "Hey, Charlie..." he mumbled and rubbed his nose. Castiel looked up from the book and smiled at Dean. "Did you sleep well?" Dean nodded. "Hmh..." he yawned and leaned against Cas' shoulder. Castiel smiled and patted his hair. "You're still pretty warm..." he mumbled and sighed as his hand stroked his cheek. "But Jody said you'll be okay soon and that you can sleep in our room tomorrow." "That's great," Dean mumbled and cuddled against him some more. Sam smiled and put his arms around him too and he felt Charlie sitting down on the bed next to him.