Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural.

School Days, Rule Days

Part 1

Sammy cowered nervously at Dean's side, his fingers twisted in the hem of his brother's soft gray t-shirt as Dean spoke with the school's attendance secretary. Sammy allowed his gaze to sweep around the school office with its pale blue walls and darker blue counter. Tiger paw prints edged the room just below the ceiling painted in blue and goldish-yellow. It was almost time to start kindergarten – "big boy school" as Uncle Bobby called it. Sammy didn't think he was going to like it. Starting school meant being away from Dean, and Sammy absolutely despised being away from his big brother for any length of time.

He leaned against Dean's hip and sighed heavily. Sammy wished that Dean could sit in his classroom with him. He tuned into the grown-up conversation when Dean began thanking the secretary. Maybe it was almost time to go home. He slid his hand into his brother's hand when Dean reached for him.

"Come on, Sammy. We have some shopping to do," Dean smiled, swinging their hands between them playfully as they exited the school's front door.

"Shopping?" Sammy asked. Dean didn't like to shop at all, and now he was actually smiling about it. "What do we hafta buy?" he asked, skipping happily now that they were outside of the school building.

Dean buckled Sammy into his booster seat in the back of the Impala and then ruffled the kid's hair. "School supplies," he replied.

Sammy picked at a loose thread on the cuff of his shorts. "What are school supplies, Dean?" he asked curiously.

Dean closed Sammy's door and then climbed into the driver's seat. He started the car and the familiar rumble of the engine filled the air. "Things like crayons and glue and backpacks."

Sammy's eyes lit up. "I like crayons and backpacks!"

Dean grinned and glanced in the rearview mirror at his brother. "I know you do, buddy. The lady at the school gave me a list of what you'll need."

Sam wiggled impatiently in his booster seat. "What else will I need for school?" He wasn't excited about going to school, but buying lots of new things would be fun.

"Um, let's see," Dean thought out loud. "We'll have to get you some scissors and maybe some folders."

"Can I get green ones?" Sammy asked eagerly. "Green is my favorite color."

"We'll have to see if they have green," Dean told him.

Sammy stuck his two favorite fingers in his mouth and sucked on them quietly as he pondered the idea of going to school and wearing a new backpack with all of his supplies in it.

"Take your fingers out of your mouth, Sammy. Kindergarteners don't suck on their fingers." Dean frowned into the mirror at his little brother.

Sammy scowled and wiped his damp fingers on his t-shirt. He flopped his head back against the seat and sighed. "Are we almost there, Dean?"

Dean turned into the parking lot of the superstore. "Just let me find a park and we will start our shopping."

Sammy cheered and bounced eagerly in his booster seat until Dean opened his door and took him firmly by the hand. "This is a busy parking lot," he told the little boy. "You have to stay with me."

Sammy nodded and bounced along happily beside his brother. Dean found a cart just inside the door and followed the signs to the back of the store where the school supplies were located.

The older Winchester stopped and stared at the throngs of people shopping for school supplies. The aisles were crowded with moms and children tossing packages of paper and stacks of folders into their carts. Dean's heart pinched when he thought of Sammy's mom. He glanced down to see a sad look descend on his little brother's face. Dean bit back a sigh. He had been saving up money to buy Sammy's school supplies, but things were going to be tight. He longed to be able to spoil Sammy and buy him the best of everything even though he knew that no amount of money in the world could make up for missing your mom.

Instead, he reached down and hoisted his little brother up onto his hip. "Let's go see if we can find some green scissors, Sammy."

The little boy's fingers nervously played in the short hair on the back of Dean's neck as the Winchester brothers maneuvered through the crowd. Finally, Dean found the scissors and dug through stack with determination.

"Are there green ones, Dean?" Sammy asked anxiously.

"Sure are, kiddo," his big brother replied as he tossed the package containing the green scissors into the cart. Dean looked around. "Do you see any crayons, Sammy?"

The little boy craned his neck. "Over there," he pointed.

Dean wove through moms and children to get to the bin full of crayons. "Your list says you need two packs, one for school and one for homework to keep at home." Dean held his little brother over the bin. "Pick out two, Sammy."

Sammy gingerly picked out two boxes and placed them gently in the cart. "I don't want the points broken," he told his brother solemnly. "They don't color as good when the points break."

Dean nodded distractedly, wincing as a little kid rammed a shopping cart into the back of his foot.

"I'm so sorry," the frazzled mother apologized as she admonished her son to watch where he was going.

Dean allowed Sammy to pick out his glue sticks and his pencils. They found two green folders and two green notebooks, which made the little boy deliriously happy.

"Now for a backpack," Dean informed his little brother.

Sammy squirmed to get down and Dean allowed him to slide to the floor. "You have to hold onto the cart," his big brother ordered him. "It's too crowded in here to wander around."

Sammy sighed, but did as he was told.

A voice to Dean's right startled him, and he chided himself for not paying more attention to his surroundings.

"Your son is adorable," a young woman gushed.

Dean's eyes widened at the sight of honey blonde hair that hung past trim shoulders and long, shapely legs that seemed to go on forever.

"Dean's my brother," Sammy announced from beside the cart. "My daddy died."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the woman crooned as she reached out to ruffle Sammy's hair. "It was so kind of your brother to take you shopping for school supplies. He must help your mom a lot."

Sammy shook his head. "My momma died, too. Dean takes care of me."

"Oh," the woman replied, startled. "Well, I'm sure he takes good care of you." She smiled at the older Winchester. "Hello, Dean. My name is Kristin."

Dean cleared his throat. "It's nice to meet you, Kristin." Sammy began to squirm anxiously at his side, but Dean put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "So, are you shopping for school supplies?" Dean inwardly winced. If that was the best line he could come up with, he was terribly out of practice.

Kristin nodded. "For my nieces."

"Dean," Sammy whined, "can we go find my backpack now?"

"Just a minute, Sammy," Dean told him, turning his most charming smile toward the leggy blonde in front of him.

Sammy sighed and leaned his chin on the edge of the cart, watching as a mom helped a little boy try on a backpack. The woman knelt down before the boy and adjusted the straps. Then she kissed the little boy's cheek and tied his straggling shoelace before letting him wear his backpack as they walked away.

Sammy's heart twisted inside of him. He missed his momma. Reaching out, he tugged on the hem of Dean's t-shirt, but his brother was still talking to the pretty lady. Turning his attention back to the book bags, Sammy watched as a man brought out a big stack of bags and began hanging them on hooks.

There in the front was the most amazing backpack of all. It was brown with green dinosaurs all over the front of it. Sammy squirmed happily. That was the one he wanted. "Dean!" he called out exuberantly, tugging on his brother's arm.

"Just a minute, Sammy," Dean told him absently, his attention absorbed by Kristin.

Sammy huffed and decided he could dart across the aisle, grab the backpack, and be back before Dean realized he was gone. He took a deep breath and scurried between people and carts across the aisle to the backpacks. Standing on his tippy toes, he reached for the dinosaur backpack, but couldn't get it down.

"Here, let me help you," a kind woman told him. She lifted the backpack down and handed it to him.

"Thank you," Sammy told her shyly as he peered up through his slightly too long bangs. Hugging the backpack to himself, he turned to go back to his brother but the aisle was crowded. Sammy had to move along with the flow of people or get run over by shopping carts. By the time he managed to get out of the crowd, he looked around and could no longer see his brother.

Panic welled up in his chest. "Dean!" he called out anxiously. "Dean!" He ran up one aisle and down another, but he couldn't find his big brother. He didn't see school supplies anymore; when he turned around in the middle of the main aisle, he had no idea which direction to turn.

A store employee in a red shirt and tan pants approached him. She was an older woman with graying hair and a kind smile. "Are you lost, sweetie?" she asked.

Sammy gulped and tried to decide what to do. He wasn't supposed to talk to strangers, but this lady worked here in the store. She had a white name tag pinned to her shirt. "I can't find my Dean," he choked out, hugging the dinosaur backpack against his chest.

"And who is Dean, honey?" she asked as she pulled a walkie talkie from the waistband of her pants.

"My big brother. We were buying my supplies for school and now I can't find him." Sammy sniffled. "Can you help me find him?"

"Certainly," she replied with a smile.

Dean was just about to ask for Kristin's phone number when he glanced down to check for Sammy. His brother had been quiet for some time, and that was unusual. His heart thundered in his chest, when he didn't see his kid. "Sammy?" he called out, turning around in a complete circle and searching for his brother's head of brown hair. The rising kindergartener was nowhere to be seen. "I've gotta find my brother," Dean tossed at the blonde across from him and left both her and his cart without another word.

Horrible scenarios raced through his mind. What if Sammy had been kidnapped again all because Dean wasn't paying attention? He felt sick to his stomach. "Sammy!" he called as he reached the main aisle and looked up and down each of the side aisles. "Sammy!"

"Sir!" a store clerk stepped away from the counter in the electronics department. "Are you Dean?"

"Where's my brother?" Dean asked in a panic. "Is he okay?"

"One of my coworkers has him up at guest services," the young man smiled.

"Thank you," Dean told him and jogged toward the front of the store with his heart still pounding in his chest.

"Dean!" Sammy tugged away from the store employee holding his hand as soon as he spotted his big brother. The dinosaur backpack dropped to the floor as Sammy threw himself forward into Dean's waiting arms.

"Sammy, are you all right?" Dean asked as he brushed the boy's bangs back from his tear-streaked face.

"Yes," Sammy nearly sobbed. "I'm sorry, Dean; I only wanted the backpack."

"You can't wander away like that, dude," Dean chided firmly. "You scared me to death."

Sammy gulped and wiped at the tears on his flushed cheeks. "But I was bored, and you were talking, and all the other kids were with their moms. I miss Momma." More tears poured down his cheeks.

"Ah, Sammy," Dean sighed as he settled the boy against his shoulder and then bent to pick up the backpack. "Thank you for taking care of him," he told the store employee.

"No problem, sir. Glad to help." The woman patted Sammy's back gently and then moved to stand behind the guest services counter.

"Let's go get our cart and pay for our things so we can go home, buddy," Dean told his brother quietly. "We'll talk about this more later and do our clothes shopping later."

"Am I in trouble?" Sammy asked through his tears.

Dean's heart ached for the little boy in his arms. He knew starting school was going to be rough on his little brother, and today was only the beginning. It had been hard on Sammy to watch the other boys and girls with their moms while he didn't have his mother or his father. "You have to stay with me in a store, Sammy," Dean admonished his brother without really answering the question.

The little boy didn't answer. He wrapped his arms tightly around Dean's neck and was asleep before they reclaimed their cart.

Dean dropped the backpack into their cart and sighed as he hugged the little boy in his arms closely to him. How in the world was he going to survive when his little brother started school? He was going to worry himself sick each and every day until his little brother was safely at home each afternoon.

To be continued…