Work Text:
Title: If I Could, I Would Try to Shield Your Innocence from Time (Close to Normal 'verse)
Category: AU, General, Hurt/Comfort
Characters: John, Dean and Sam
Rating: PG
Summary: Sam’s looking out for his brother, John’s looking out for both of his sons, and Dean’s looking out for the Impala.
Word Count: 3793
Disclaimer: I still don’t own them.
Sam’s sitting on the couch only half watching a rerun of some old comedy show from the 70’s. Sam’s mainly watching the clock, so he can make sure he’s outside before Dean’s bus drops him off at the end of the road. He’s actually surprised his dad had started letting them ride the bus now that Dean’s going to middle school, and Sam’s still in elementary school.
Sam still thinks his dad is too overprotective. His Dad always walks them to the bus stop in the morning and is waiting for Sam every afternoon, and even though Sam is the one that waits for Dean, he’s sure that his dad watches them from the window in his office. It’s just the way his dad is and Sam’s decided it’s better not to call his dad on it since he’d like to live long enough to actually get to see his teen years. Sam isn’t really afraid of his dad, but he knows that he doesn’t want to get on his dad’s bad side. It’s not as if his dad has ever abused him, and he’s only spanked Sam a few times, which while he didn’t like it, he does have to admit that he probably deserved it. But Sam just knows that his dad isn’t somebody you want to cross, he figures it’s kind of like how he knows Dean is different from most kids.
It’s not something he remembers figuring out, it’s just something he remembers always knowing. It’s never been a big deal to him in much the same way that not having a mother doesn’t really bother him. The only time not having a mother ever bothers him is around Mother’s Day when his school always insists on making a big deal of it, which always makes him feel kind of lousy. While all the other kids decorate cards and cakes for their mothers, Sam’s always left sitting off on his own doing whatever random art project the teacher can come up with at the last minute. It’s the only time that Sam hates school, and it makes him wish that Mother’s Day and Father’s Day could switch places since school is always out for the summer before Father’s Day comes around. He can’t help but wonder if Dean ever has to deal with these things around Mother’s Day, but he’s not even sure if Dean remembers their mom. His Dad talks about her sometimes, but to Sam she seems more like somebody you read about in a book, even when he looks at the few pictures that his Dad has of her and them, she doesn’t seem real. Sam feels like he should have an emotional attachment to her, but he doesn’t.
Sam’s jolted from his daydreaming by the sound of the bus coming down the street, and he’s forced to take off running to make sure he’s at the bus stop before Dean gets off the bus. The bus driver is allowed to let Dean off without somebody there to meet him, and if Dean’s not allowed to get off the bus then Sam knows his Dad won’t trust him with anything for a very long time, not to mention what it will do to Dean. Thankfully, Sam reaches the bus stop just as the bus is pulling up, so he’s spared the potential disaster.
Sam calls his brother’s name as Dean reaches the top step on the bus, and he sees Dean’s face light up. This is the reason Sam likes being the one to wait at the bus stop, he never gets tired of seeing Dean get so excited just by Sam’s presence. A part of him knows that Dean would react the same way if their dad was standing here instead of him, but seeing Dean’s reaction to him always makes his day seem a little better and in that moment it feels like him and Dean really connect.
They walk back home and stop to take off their shoes in the entryway. Sam just kicks his shoes off, but he waits for Dean to take off his socks too and then line his shoes up until he decides that they are perfect, before they head to the kitchen to get a snack. Sam could have gotten one when he got home from school, but he likes to wait for Dean.
Dean gets out a couple of plates and starts putting Oreos on each of them, while Sam gets some cups and pours milk into both of them. As Sam’s pouring, he notices they’re nearly out of milk. He needs to remember to tell their dad when he finishes his snack. They sit at the table to eat their snack before starting on their homework.
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Dean and Sam are finishing up their snack when John walks into the kitchen.
"Hey Dean, how was school?" John asks as he comes over to the table and puts his hand on Dean’s shoulder, sometimes Dean answers him, and sometimes he doesn’t, but Dean’s therapist told him it was a good way to try an engage Dean in conversation, so John always makes the attempt.
Today must have been a good day because Dean answers him with several broken sentences that John only catches part of, but he knows from experience that asking Dean to repeat it will only cause him to become frustrated, which could easily turn into a meltdown. Therefore, John and Sam have learned to use the words that they catch to figure out the important things. Speech is one of the things Dean has struggled with most, so John’s happy that Dean’s talking at all.
It sounds like what put Dean in such a good mood today was that his class got to spend some time outside, which is a rare treat due to the fact that it’s difficult for the teachers to be able to properly supervise the entire class when they go outside. It usually only happens when one of the parents volunteers to come in and help supervise the children.
He’s hoping Dean’s good mood will play in John’s favor since he didn’t get a chance to go to the grocery store before he had to get home to meet Sam at the bus stop. They don’t have anything for supper, so John’s going to have to take the boys with him to the store. He really tries to make sure that he goes shopping while the boys are in school since Dean tends to react badly to all the stimuli that comes from going to stores. However, John was doing good just to finish the jobs he had and make it home before Sam today, so he’s just going to have to hope for the best. Now John just has to break the news to Sam who has started speaking up anytime he thinks John is making Dean do something he doesn’t like. And while John’s glad that Sam’s so protective of Dean, Sam tends to forget that Dean needs to be exposed to places he doesn’t like and do things that he doesn’t always want to do; if John didn’t make Dean do these things then they wouldn’t be doing Dean any favors.
"Boys, when you finish your snack we need to go to the grocery store," John says.
"Dad, you know how much going to the store bothers Dean. Couldn’t you just let us stay here while you go to the store," Sam asks.
"We’ve been through this before, until you’re a teenager we’re not even going to talk about this," John answers. He trusts Sam, but Dean is a handful at times, not to mention that this conversation always leads to memories of what happened to Mary. He knows that the chances of something like that happening again are slim, but he can’t bring himself to leave his sons unattended in case it did happen again.
Sam huffs at him, but John doesn’t want an argument with Sam to cause Dean undue stress and result in a meltdown before they can even get out the door, so John ignores the huff and just sits down at the table to wait for the boys to finish their snack.
When the boys finish, Sam and John quickly put their shoes on, but have to wait for Dean to get his socks and shoes just right before they can leave. John remembers when Dean was still a toddler and he was constantly pulling off any clothes Mary dressed him in, eventually Mary and John discovered that Dean was very sensitive to the feel of anything against his skin. Once they realized that, they started thinking about how comfortable Dean’s clothes were rather than how cute they were, which was hard for Mary.
Once Sam was born, Mary made up for not being able to dress Dean in what she wanted by buying Sam every cute outfit they could afford, and it had a lasting effect on Sam. Even now, when John takes his sons shopping for new clothes Sam thinks he needs all the latest fashions. Of course, this is one of the things John and him fight about most; even if John wanted to, he just doesn’t have enough money to buy Sam all of those things. In a way, it’s even more difficult to shop for Dean though. He won’t wear jeans and there just aren’t many choices of other pants for boys. John usually stocks up on shorts, sweatpants, and athletic pants for Dean, but John can’t just buy any kind even with those because some of the bands of elastic on them can irritate Dean too.
Having comfortable clothes may keep Dean from pulling off all his clothes, but he still refuses to wear socks and shoes most of the time, and the entire family has gotten in the habit of taking off their shoes when they come home. On most days, Dean knows he has to wear his shoes when he’s outside the house, but if he’s having a really bad day, he refuses to put them on even then, and John is forced to put them on Dean himself. John has to be careful in how he handles it though. If he’s not careful, it will cause Dean to have a complete meltdown, which means they aren’t going anywhere until John can get Dean calmed back down.
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John finally gets his sons in the car and is able to head to the store. As soon as they get to the store, Sam is already asking if he and Dean can go look at the toys and pick out cereal while John gets the other things that they need. John lets them since it will mean that he can move quicker getting what they need, and he won’t have to wait around while his sons try to choose what cereal they want.
It’s taking longer than John was hoping because he has to get enough food to make it through the weekend. He won’t get a chance to come back until Monday when the boys are back in school. John loves his sons but sometimes he wishes that even the little things like going to the store weren’t such a big hassle, just as he thinks that, he hears what he knows from experience is Sam’s "you’re a complete moron" voice coming from the cereal aisle. John knows from experience that Sam wouldn’t be using that voice around Dean without a very good reason because Sam won’t take the chance of upsetting Dean, so John leaves the cart where it is and runs toward the cereal aisle.
When John gets to the aisle it takes him a minute to process what he’s seeing, Dean is sitting in middle of the aisle rocking while holding his hands over his ears. Sam is standing with his hands fisted at his sides in front of a man, and John can tell that the guy is responsible for the scene that he’s walked into. John’s torn between going to comfort Dean and going to handle the situation between Sam and the man. He finally decides to send Sam to start calming Dean down since that will take care of both problems.
"Sam, go stay with Dean," John says as he puts his hand on Sam’s shoulder to turn him in Dean’s direction.
"But Dad it’s his fault. Dean was just looking at the cereal boxes, and this guy shoved him out of his way. He said that people like Dean shouldn’t be allowed out unsupervised," Sam says.
"I’ve got this taken care of, so go help Dean."
Sam glares at the man one last time before going over to where Dean was sitting.
"You’re not going to let your kid talk to me like that are you," the man asks.
Before John has a chance to grab the man and show him that nobody messes with his sons, somebody else steps between them.
It takes a second for John to recognize the person as Ron, the store manager, who John has known since high school.
"John, I’ll take care of this, why don’t you go take care of your boys," Ron says.
John really wants to teach the guy a lesson that he won’t forget, but he knows that won’t be in his sons’ best interest, so he allows Ron to take over and heads over to where his sons sit on the floor.
By that time, Sam has gotten Dean calmed down enough that he is only slightly rocking; John is still sometimes amazed at the bond his sons have.
John crouches down in front of Dean, while Ron escorts the man that had started this whole mess out of the store and gets the other customers to go back to their shopping.
"Come on, buddy let’s get your cereal and go home," John says calmly as he holds his hand out to Dean.
Dean continues to rock for a few more minutes before finally allowing John to haul him up off the floor. John leads him over to the Lucky Charms knowing that no matter how long Dean takes to look at all the options, he always picks the same one in the end.
"Sam, grab what you want and let’s go," John said as he turns his attention to Sam.
Sam grabs something that John thinks looks more like something an eighty year old would buy to go with their prunes, but John knows when to pick his battles and this isn’t the time, so he keeps quiet about it. John leads the boys over to where he had left the cart and quickly grabs some milk. He knows that he hasn’t gotten everything he had planned to, but at this point, he is more concerned about getting Dean home without anything else happening than taking the time to finish shopping. They now have cereal, milk, stuff for sandwiches, and a few other basics if nothing else, and he can stop at a drive-thru for burgers and fries for supper tonight on the way home.
John pays for the groceries and then loads everything into the trunk of the car while Sam and Dean climb into the backseat of the car.
As he climbs behind the wheel, John glances in the rearview mirror. Dean is already working on one of his puzzle books that John keeps in the car for him and Sam is reading one of his comics. John doesn’t bother asking them if they want McDonald’s, it’s a rare treat that he knows they won’t turn down. Dean is really getting too old for a Happy Meal, but with Sam still getting one, Dean doesn’t understand why he can’t get one, too. It’s just one more thing that John doesn’t push since he knows before much longer Sam will decide that he’s too old to get a kid’s meals anyway. John’s sure that once Sam stops getting a kid’s meal, Dean won’t want them anymore either, besides Dean hasn’t started asking for more food than he gets with the kid’s meal.
When John pulls into the McDonald’s parking lot he hears a whispered Awesome from the backseat, and realizes Sam isn’t as engrossed in his comic book as much as John thinks. John knows Sam would like to play on the playground, but that just isn’t going to happen today. John figures if the weather holds up tomorrow than he can take the boys to the park for a while in the evening when most people will have headed home. John places the order and gets the food before finally getting to head home.
John gets the groceries out of the trunk while Sam and Dean carry their supper into the house. He’s trying to figure out if he can get it all in one trip when Sam comes running back out to help. He hands one of the bags to Sam, and they both head inside.
John puts away the groceries while Dean and Sam wash their hands. He quickly finishes and after washing his hands, joins them at the table. Dean seems a little more antsy than usual, but they finish supper without any problems. After supper, John lets the boys go watch TV while he goes to his office to finish the little bit of paperwork he didn’t get to earlier, so he can spend the whole weekend with his sons.
It’s nearly the boys’ bedtime before John finishes, but he sits down with his sons and finishes watching a movie with them. He tells them goodnight and sends them to bed, while he stays up and watches TV for a while. Both of them are old enough now that they don’t need him to stand over them to make sure they actually get ready for bed. Dean does well with the set routine and with Sam getting ready for bed at the same time Sam will make sure that Dean doesn’t forget anything.
When the nightly news goes off, John heads to bed himself. He stops at Dean’s room first and after fixing the covers that Dean has kicked off the bed, John heads to Sam’s room. When he opens the door, he can tell that Sam is faking being asleep and John’s tempted to let Sam get away with it, but if Sam isn’t asleep, it’s usually because something was on his mind and John knows Sam won’t sleep until he figures it out, so John decides to find out what is bothering him.
"I know you’re awake, Sammy, so you might as well tell me what’s wrong," John says as he walks over to sit down on Sam’s bed.
"Why do some people, like that guy at the store, treat Dean so bad? Dean didn’t do anything to him," Sam says as he turns over to face John.
"I don’t know what to tell you other than to say some people are just mean and will pick on anybody that they think is different than them."
"Well, why didn’t you do something to that guy for the way he treated Dean?"
"Because it wouldn’t have helped Dean for me fight him, and I knew Ron would handle that guy. Sometimes that’s the best thing we can do for Dean. Dean doesn’t care if we fight the people that mistreat him, but he does care whether we’re there for him when he needs us."
"I would have felt better if you had hit him though," Sam mumbles.
John smiles, "I would have, too, but it wouldn’t have helped either you or Dean for me to go to jail for assault. Now go to sleep, Sammy."
Sam scrunches down in bed and John pulls the covers up before brushing Sam’s bangs out of his face and telling him goodnight. John thinks that it was really time to get his sons’ hair cut again whether they like it or not.
John wakes up the next morning to the feeling of being watched and sure enough when he opens his eyes, he sees Dean sitting on the floor beside his bed shifting his focus between his Erector set and John. When John looks at his alarm clock, he sees that it was only about 7am, and he can’t hold back the groan even after years of having Dean wake him up early. John knows it’s important for Dean to stick to a routine even on the weekends, but it still doesn’t make it any easier to get up.
"Good morning," John says as he climbs out of bed.
"Morning, Dad," Dean answers while gathering up his Erector set.
John knows Dean’s in a hurry to go outside and work on the Impala, but he can’t function without getting at least one cup of coffee. John heads to the bathroom to get ready while Dean goes to put his toys in his room. When John’s done, he heads to the kitchen and sees Dean sitting at the table waiting for him. On the table in front of Dean is a half-eaten bowl of cereal. John doesn’t want to think about how early Dean must have gotten up, if he had already fixed himself breakfast before going to John’s room.
John just fixes himself a cup of coffee for now and figures he’ll cook something for breakfast after Dean and him work on the car. Sam’s still asleep and John learned fairly quickly that Sam has no interest in working on cars, so John just lets him sleep now. Working on the Impala has become a time for him to bond with Dean, and it’s one of the few times when John feels as if him and Dean really connect. Even though it’s Sam’s choice not to work on the car, John still tries to allow Sam to pick something he wants to do at least once a month, so they can spend some time together. It’s not true one-on-one time though, since Dean has to come too, and John has to split his attention from Sam to Dean, so he can make sure that Dean doesn’t wander off, especially since Sam likes to choose places such as museums or the library, but Sam still enjoys it.
As John drinks his coffee and watches Dean sitting at the table anxiously waiting for John to be finished so they can work on the car, John thinks maybe this summer he should let Dean and Sam help out at the garage instead of having both of them hang out in his office while he works. Dean will like helping work on the cars and John’s sure Sam will like helping deal with the customers.