Pre-series wee!chesters.

Sammy clings to Dean's hand, half-hiding behind his brother. There's a strange lady looking at him, peering down at him through thick glasses, gray hair piled high atop her head and thin lips pursed over her teeth.

"Okay, Sammy," Dean says. "Time for me to go."

Sammy grips tighter when Dean tries to pull away, looking up at him with a stricken expression. "You're leaving me?"

Dean sighs, "You have to go to class. And I have to go to class. I'll be down the hall," Dean points to a door labeled 4th Grade: Mrs. Ebert, "And I'll see you at recess."

Sammy glances up at the old lady and back at Dean. "Can't I go with you?"

"I thought you wanted to go to school." Dean says, exasperated.

Well, yes. But Sammy hadn't really thought that hard about it. School was where Dean was, where he wouldn't have to sit in the back of the Impala and wait for Dad to come back from the stranger's house or the sheriff's office. He didn't really think about there being strangers, or that Dean wouldn't be with him.

"I do."

"Then go! I'm gonna be late, Sam." Dean's starting to sound annoyed and Sammy winces. Dean only calls him Sam when he's angry.

"I'm sorry." Sam whispered, dropping his chin to his chest. Dean sighs again and tugs him into a hug.

"I know it's scary, Sammy, but I won't be far. Just yell if you need me, okay?"

Sammy almost raised his thumb to his mouth, before he remembers that Dean says he's getting to be a big boy now and big boys don't suck their thumbs. Dean ruffles his hair.

"It's gonna be okay. Trust me?"

Sammy loves Dean; he knows that Dean wouldn't ever get him hurt. And he's a big boy; he wants to make Dean proud. So, he nods.

"Okay."

Dean gives him a bright smile before he sets off down the hall. Sammy watches carefully until Dean disappears into the classroom, just so he knows where Dean'll be. The lady is watching him when he turns back to her and Sammy gulps.

She holds the door open a little wider and Sammy creeps around her and into the room.

Inside, there're bright colors and numbers on the wall and about twenty other kids. Sammy's never been around other kids, just Dean, and he watches them nervously.

"Okay, class." The woman says and everyone in the room goes very still. "Find a seat and we'll start the day."

Sammy scrambles for a seat and ends up between a girl with blue eyes and dark red hair, and a black haired boy with mud colored eyes.

"My name is Mrs. Smith and I'll be your teacher for the year. We'll be learning our numbers and our alphabet and how to spell our names."

Sammy frowns at that. Sammy already knows his numbers, and how to spell his name. Sammy can read and write and he knows all of the spelling words Dean taught him last year. With sudden horror, Sammy realizes they put him in the babyclass.

"But, for today, I'm going to give you some paper and set out crayons. I want you to draw a picture of your family and when everyone is finished, they can come up and show their picture and tell us about themselves."

With his tongue stuck between his teeth, Sammy carefully draws Dad and then Dean holding Sammy's hand. There's a lot of blank space, so Sammy adds the Impala and Uncle Bobby and Pastor Jim and Caleb and then Uncle Bobby's dogs. He puts everyone's name above their stick figure and sits back in satisfaction.

"Okay, class, who wants to go first?"

A boy named Alex talks about his mom and dad and two older sisters and their pet cat. And then a girl named Sarah talks about her mom and dad and baby sister. And then the girl next to Sam walks to the front and holds the picture in front of her proudly.

"My name is Jenna. This is my mommy," she points to a triangle of pink and yellow lines. "Her name is Elizabeth but everyone calls her Lizzie. And this is my other mommy," Sammy's eyes go wide as she points to a square of purple and a rectangle of green. "Her name is Tammy."

And that's, that's just not fair! Why does Jenna get two mommies and Sam get none? It's not fair!

"Sam?" Mrs. Smith laid her wrinkled hand on his shoulder, "Would you like to go next."

Sammy drags his feet all the way to the front of the room. He looks at his picture, which doesn't look as cool as he'd first thought. It still looks empty without a mom.

"Um. My name's Sam. This is me. And this is my Dad and my brother Dean. And this is our car. We move around a lot. This is my Uncle Bobby and his dogs. He lives really far away. And this is Pastor Jim and Caleb." Sammy looks up helplessly, "I didn't draw my mom, but she died. Dean says she lives in heaven with the angels now."

Mrs. Smith looks sad and pitying and Sammy frowns as he sits back down. Dean says that pity is worthless and stupid because it's not going to make mom come back.

When recess comes, Sammy sits down on the stairs and frowns. Two seconds barely pass before Dean smacks him on the back of the head and sits down next to him. "What's up, midget?"

"Jenna in my class has two moms." Sammy looks up at Dean, "How come she gets two and we don't have any?"

Dean looks away and Sammy feels bad for making him sad. Talking about moms always makes Dean sad.

"We have a mom, Sam. She died, but she's still our mom."

"But I don't rememberher." Sam complains.

Dean falls back onto his elbows and looks up at the sky. "Her hair was yellow, like the sun. She used to sing the Beatles to us before bed and watch Bugs Bunny with me after t-ball. She never cared if I couldn't hit the ball and cheered louder than any of the other moms. She gave the best hugs and made shapes in the clouds."

"Did she love me?" Sammy can't help but ask.

Dean puts an arm around Sammy's neck and pulls him into a hug. "She loved us more than anything."