"Ok class," Ms. Allen, a very slender and tall woman with dark brown hair pulled back into a tight bun spoke to her first grade students, "since this Sunday is Mother's Day, today and tomorrow we will be doing our arts and craft making gifts for all our mommies." She clasped her hands together saying this and smiles brightly with enthusiasm. Her eyes scanned the small crowd and landed a bit longer on the little boy in the front of the room, he was new and had only started school here about a week ago, and there was rumor he'd be leaving soon. He looked a little confused and sad instead of excited like the rest of the kids. He looked up after a moment and raised his little hand when the other kids had stopped cheering.

"Yes, Sam?" Ms. Allen called him.

"But I don't have a mommy," He spoke. Ms. Allen's face fell a little. In her five years as a teacher she'd never run into a student that didn't have one of their parents in the picture. She knew it wasn't out of the realm of possibility but it took her off guard. Sam was very confused about what to do for mother's day if he didn't have a mom, and was a little jealous the other kids all had moms. It wasn't fair. Ms. Allen was so at a loss of what to say that the silence along with the other kid's pitting gazes on him made him start to feel really sad and he couldn't stop the tears in time.

"Oh, sweetie," Ms. Allen soothed seeing the little boy start to cry. Suddenly she remembered that the boy had been dropped off at his class room by his older sister, her class room happened to be just on the other end of the hallway, "hold on a minute." She couldn't leave the kids unattended so she hit the call office button for the intercom. After only a second the intercom clicked.

"Yes?" The older woman who was in charge of the front desk answered from the speaker on the ceiling.

"Yes, could you call Mrs. Holland's class and have Miss. Winchester come down here? Her little brother needs her for a minute."

"Sure," The woman responded with a slightly gentle tone, which Sam thought was surprising as she'd seemed so grumpy when him and his sister were signing up to go to this school. Sam wiped the tears from his cheeks as Ms. Allen tried to pry the other children's eyes off poor little Sam.

"Ok, well the rest of you guys start getting into your groups and grab your colors." All the kids silently pulled their colored pencils, crayons, and markers out of their bags and headed to the back of the room where the four round tables for arts and craft time were set up with a stack of paper in the center and little cups that held scissors, rulers, and glue sticks along with a few bottles of glitter. Sam pulled out his stuff but stayed at his desk. Just before Ms. Allen was about to start talking about what the kids were to do there was a knock at the class room door the pulled everyone's attention. The handle turned and the door cracked open enough for a girl to stick her head into the class room.

She had vibrant emerald green eyes that looked worried and fierce at the same time. She hair was to her elbows and curled just a little at the ends, she wore a plain black shirt with a purple, white, and black plaid shirt open over it. Her jeans were a tiny bit lose on her but not enough for her to have to constantly pull them up and her shoes were blue and white tennis shoes that looked like they were about to fall apart on her.

"Hey Sammy," She greeted, totally ignoring the other kids and Ms. Allen. Sam looked up.

"Hey sissy," He responded and walked over to her. The girl stepped fully into the room but kept her foot by the door frame to keep it from shutting all the way. Once Sam was close enough she reached her arms out and little Sam accepted his sister's hug. He just barely reached her shoulders.

"What's wrong?" She asked pulling him back by his shoulders to look at his face. Ms. Allen was next to them before either of them heard her heels clacking closer. She ushered them out into the hallway gently and kept her foot in the door like the girl had done a minute ago to keep an ear out for the rest of the class still in the classroom.

"He's upset because our arts and craft today and tomorrow is Mother's Day themed," Ms. Allen told the little girl, her worry turned into sadness and she turned her bright green eyes back to her brother. Ms. Allen knew that look, she'd seen it on her friend in high school after they lost their father in a car accident and someone mentioned their father not knowing he was dead.

"Oh, Sammy," She soothed, in an identical tone to Ms. Allen's tone when Sam told her he didn't have a mother. The girl hugged him again as he let a few more tears fall, he wiped them off with his sleeve before returning the hug. "It's ok, don't cry."

Ms. Allen's heart broke a little seeing the two siblings, knowing that they'd lost their mother and almost held her curious tongue. Almost.

"What happened?" She wanted to take the question back the moment she started to ask it. The girl looked up to her a little.

"She died in a fire when Sam was a baby," She answered calmly, even though it was clear it upset her too. Ms. Allen was impressed that the fifth grader could be so mature and calm for her brother. She knew if she was in the same situation right now she'd be baling her eyes out with her hypothetical brother (as she was an only child herself). The girl rested her chin on top of Sam's head and ran her hand gently through his hair. He was still shaking a little making it clear he was still crying even though neither of them could hear him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Ms. Allen whispered and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, "What's your name again?"

"Deanna." She leaned back and made Sam lift his head to look at her again, "Sammy, if it makes you feel better you can make something for me or Daddy instead." Sam whipped his tears on his sleeve again and almost immediately stopped crying.

"Ok," He said, still sounding a little stuffy. He sniffled as his sister fixed his hair that had gotten a little ruffled up in the front where his head was buried in his sister's shoulder.

Deanna smiled at him and he smiled back and took a step back from her.

"I'll make something for you, ok?" He asked.

"Ok," She whispered her reply through a bright smile. She straightened his jacket out a little then kissed the top of his head before he hugged her and went back into the classroom with new found excitement.

"Thanks for calling me down instead of calling Dad," Deanna spoke up to Ms. Allen, "He doesn't like to talk about Mom so he probably just would've told Sammy to 'buck up, and stop crying.'" Ms. Allen nodded and smiled a sad smile at the young girl.

"Sometimes men are like that, not many of them like to talk about feelings at all," Ms. Allen replied.

"Yeah, well, our Dad likes to pretend he doesn't have emotions at all," Deanna shrugged.

"Well, I'm happy Sam has you."
"Yeah," Deanna smiled a little, "Let me know if he gets upset again, ok?"

"Of course, sweetie," Ms. Allen smiles and nodded, Deanna smiled too then turned about her heel and walked back to her own class. Ms. Allen found herself a little envious of the maturity of the fifth-grader, but she was happy that the two siblings were so close.

"Ok," Ms. Allen stepped back into the room, glad to see that Sam now had a bright smile and was waiting eagerly at his table with his group, "We are making cards for our moms, and your sister," Ms. Allen added that last bit just for Sam, who smiled a little brighter for it.

She went on to explain that they grab the colored paper they want and fold it hamburger style, not hotdog style, and write 'Happy Mother's Day!" on the front and draw or write whatever they want on the inside. She explained that they can use the funny scissors she had that made weird patterns when they cut instead of straight lines to make boarders or glue on designs. She ended up having to tell the class that she'd have to help with the glitter after Damien and Elizabeth got into a glitter fight and got two whole bottles of pink and green glitter all over themselves and their group's table.

"That looks amazing, Sam," Ms. Allen smiled as she spotted his paper, Sam glanced up at her and with a bright smile.

"Can you help me with the glitter?" He asked.

"Of course, what colors?"

"Pink for these ones, and yellow for the corner ones," He explained pointing to the flowers over the page.

It was Sunday, and Deanna was glad she could let Sam sleep in again because they didn't have school today. She'd already gotten up and got dressed in her jeans a purple tee-shirt with a flower sown onto the front of it. She sat on her and Sam's bed and watched her dad quietly pack up a couple of things. He zipped up the bag and huffed a little before looking up to her.

"Ok, princess," He said and stepped closer to her, she hopped of the bed and skipped over to him to wrap her arms around his waist. John bent down a little and gave her a short hug in return before patting her back and she stepped back to look up to him, her arms now clasped together behind her back.

"Watch over Sammy, there's a gun hidden under your bed, don't let anyone in, and call you if anything happens," She rattled off, she'd been given those instructions since she was eight, and she had just turned ten this year. John nodded and smiled just a tiny bit.

"Yep," He patted her head a little, knowing that she'd be upset if he messed up her braid (that he spent 20 minutes and two redo's getting right for her). He turned and grabbed his bag before he gave a short wave goodbye to her and opening the door.

"I should be back by morning, if not by the time you two get beck from school tomorrow, ok?"

"Ok, daddy," She smiled a little but kept her obedient stance. John nodded again and with that he was gone. Deanna glanced back at her sleeping brother before going over to the little kitchenette to make herself a bowl of cereal. Just when she finished her bowl and put it in the sink she heard Sam sit up. He rubbed his eyes a little then looked around before spotting her.

"Morning, Sammy," She smiled, "Want some cereal?" Sam nodded. He climbed out of bed and padded over to sit at the little table.

"Here you go," She put the bowl and spoon, milk and cereal in front of him, "Do you want to do it this time?"

"Sure," He poured his cereal and then very carefully poured some milk into the bowl too.

Once Sam had started eating, Deanna busied herself with her homework. She didn't really have to study like the rest of the kids in her class, she never really needed to study ever, it was like she immediately understood and just did the work because she was board and she might as well. She'd been proud of herself on Friday since she got to help some of the other kids who were having trouble. Her teacher even gave her extra credit because she was able to do multiplication in traditional and lattice method, which no one seems to know what lattice method multiplication is but it's easier to do that traditional so it helped the kids that were struggling.

Deanna was broken from her trance when Sam slid a piece of paper between her and her worksheet she'd been staring at. She blinked a little before registering what it was.

It was a white piece of paper with red words saying "Happy Mother's Day Sissy!" across the front, little purple flowers with glitter pink centers replaced the dots for the 'I' in sissy and the point in the exclamation mark. Four more flowers that were orange with yellow glittery centers were on the corners. She carefully picked it up and opened the card up. The inside had the same corner flowers on them as the outside, on the left page was a drawing of Sam and Deanna holding hands and smiling in front of the Impala (a rather good drawing for a six-year-old too), the right page read "I love you sissy! –Sammy" written in blue. Deanna smiled and looked up to her little brother standing next to their bed.

"I love you too, Sammy," She said, he smiled and hugged her, "I love it, thank you." Deanna held onto him a little tighter and tried to hold her breath so she wouldn't start crying.

"Damien and Elizabeth almost ruined it 'cause they spilled glitter all over the table, but I didn't have glue on it yet so none of that glitter stuck," Sam rambled, Deanna smiled.

"Well, it looks beautiful," Deanna said and leaned back to look her brother in the eyes again. Sam smiled.