Summary: Dean's trying to give the whole "Apple Pie life" thing a go. Get up and go to work, stay out of trouble, come home and spend time with his family. Getting sick isn't part of the plan and, right now, Dean really wants to curl up in a corner and die in peace. Problem is, Lisa won't let him.

Disclaimer: They still don't belong to me. Who do I speak to about that?

Inspiration: "When the Good Lord was creating mothers, he was into his sixth day of overtime when the angel appeared and said: 'You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.' And God said, 'Have you read the specs on this order? She has to be completely washable, but not plastic. Have 180 moveable parts ... all replaceable. Run on black coffee and leftovers. Have a lap that disappears when she stands up. A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair. And six pairs of hands.'" Erma Bombeck

A/N: I've fiddled with this a lot to make it flow better. The starting chapters were much shorter than the later ones and I felt that made the story a bit choppy. I've also corrected the few mistakes that I found. I don't have a Beta so any and all mistakes are my own.

I love the dynamic between Dean and Lisa so this is mostly between them, although Ben does make an appearance later on. Someone mentioned that they couldn't imagine Dean "being that affected by the pain considering he's broken bones, gotten stitches, and been shot multiple times without going to the hospital." They also said, "He's never reacted much more than grimacing and cursing either."

The way I imagine it, without giving too much away, is that he's just lost Sam, and he's desperately missing him, when he gets sick for the first time since turning up on Lisa's doorstep unannounced. He doesn't want to put her out any more than he already has so he tries to deal with it by himself, like he would have done when he was hunting. Lisa doesn't think that anything is really wrong until he faints and, feeling guilty, she takes it upon herself to look after him. The "being affected by pain" thing, I'm going to chalk that up to what happens when Dean faints. You'll have to read the story if you want to find out what it is. *grins*

That aside, we all known how much Dean loves Lisa and that Dean's really a big softy underneath that macho, hard-as-nails exterior so what better time to exploit it than when he's sick and hurting, and desperately missing his brother? I hope this helps explain why I've written Dean in the way I have. I've also upgraded the rating to T due to Dean's language.

Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated and always welcomed.

Mornings in the Braeden-Winchester household follow a strict schedule. Dean rises first at 0545 so he can be at the construction site by 0730. Lisa joins him downstairs by 0630 so she can do a load of washing, make Ben's lunch for school and have breakfast ready for when Ben finally drags himself out of bed. There's noise as Ben chatters about what he'll be doing at school and could Dean please help him practice batting for baseball again after school because he really wants to thrash the team they're playing at the weekend. Dean will grin and tell him "sure, bud," as he puts his empty coffee cup in the sink and goes to ruffle Ben's hair. He'll kiss Lisa on the cheek and grab his work boots from the utility room, tossing a "see you later," over his shoulder.

Lisa goes over Ben's homework list to make sure that, one, he's actually done it, and two, it's in his school bag, before heading upstairs to get ready for work. She drops Ben at school on her way to work at the Health Centre and usually has to call him back to the car to retrieve the book bag or gym kit that he's left in his haste to join his friends.