Archive of Our Own ^beta

“One! Two! Um… ummm..” Sammy pauses, crinkling his nose in frustration. 

From somewhere in the house, Dee yells, “Thwee ‘n fouw!”

“Oh! Tanks Dee!” Sammy takes a breath, then starts again. “One! Two! Tee! Fo! Um…” 

“Five n’ six!” Dee yells again.

“Tanks!” Sammy smiles to himself. He knows he’s a little too small to play hide and seek, especially when Sammy is the seeker. It’s so much counting, and finding Dee is always super hard, but Dee is so patient with him. Dee is the bestest big brother ever. “One! Two! T… Tee! Um… Fi! Sis!”

Dean giggles to himself from where he’s hiding behind his daddy’s big recliner. Sammy skipped four, but that’s okay. He’s super proud of his baby brother for even counting as well as he did. 

“Weady nots, I come!” Sammy yells. 

Knowing his baby brother gets frustrated easily, Dean chose a spot that can be seen from most of the room. He is a great hider - his daddy says so - but Dean loves the happy look on his Sammy’s face when he finds Dean. It’s worth losing the game. 

Only a minute or two later, Sammy is pointing at him and hopping up and down. “Fown’ you! Fown’ you!”

“Aww you found me!” Dean says in fake exasperation. “Good job Sammy.”

Sammy puffs up, smiling so hard his chubby cheeks push up against his bright eyes. 

“Oskay, my tuwn,” Dean announces. He starts to walk away but pauses. WIth a quick look at his baby brother, Dean tells him, “‘Membew, my daddy say we onwy hide on dis fwoow. No staiws. Oskay?”

Sammy nods enthusiastically. He knows this. He’s not allowed in the basement or upstairs unless someone carried him there. Last month he tried breaking that rule. It ended in a big owwie on his bum and forehead, and Sammy will never ever do it again. 

He knows Dee got really scared when he fell too, so he thinks that’s why Dee looks scared now. To make his big brother feel better, Sammy gives him a big hug. He squeezes him extra tight. “Sammy be good, Dee.”

“Oskay. Go hide Sammy.”

Nodding again, Sammy runs off. He stumbles at the doorway - Sammy is super clumsy - but he hurries back to his feet and yells, “I ok!” before running again. 

There are so many options to hide! He wants to go somewhere really really hard for Dee to find, because he wants to impress Dee. This is the first time they’ve played hide and seek without Sammy’s daddy or Uncle Cas helping Sammy. Sammy wants to prove he’s a big boy just like Dee! He can hear Dee counting from far away as he wanders further into the house. He’s a little wobbly still, especially without his shoes on to help grip the slippery floors at Uncle Cas’s, but Sammy only falls twice on his way to the laundry room. The door to the supply closet that they aren’t allowed to go in was left cracked open. 

Perfect! Dee would never think to look there! 

Sammy gets on his hands and knees, feeling too tired from all this walking, and crawls into the room. He struggles to close the door, going up on his knees and fumbling with the knob a few times. Finally it clicks shut. Sammy sits back on his bum and grins. 

But then the closet suddenly feels very super small. And dark dark dark. Sammy shifts and bumps into something. He yelps in surprise, turning to look at what it is. He can’t see! 

Sammy doesn’t want to be here anymore! He wants out! He doesn’t care if he loses the game! 

Getting up on his knees again, Sammy tries to open the door. Except it won’t. At all. Sammy grabs the knob hard and begins to shake it. He has trouble sometimes with door knobs, so he tries to stay calm. After a few more tries, though, Sammy is sliding back to his bum in shock. 

He’s locked in! He’s stuck! 

Uh oh. 

Sammy curls in on himself, little heart racing. What’s gonna happen to him? Dee will never find him here. Sammy is so small and such a good hider! He wanted to impress Dee by being a big boy… but Sammy doesn’t want to be a big boy anymore. Not at all! Sammy is a baby! And he’s scared! Super scared!

Starting to cry, Sammy grabs at the knob and desperately tries to get it to open the door. With each failure, his sobs grow louder and more panicked. Eventually, he can’t stay up on his knees any longer, falling to the floor instead. He lays on his side and hugs his knees to his quaking chest. His belly starts to hurt lots and he pees his diaper. The material gets all squishy and he can feel his bum getting itchy against it. Sammy starts to cry harder, fully wailing. He needs a change now! 

Slipping a thumb into his mouth, Sammy sucks at it furiously. It’s not good enough. He wants his paci! He wants a nice warm milk bottle! He wants to be drinking his bottle in his daddy arms while being rocked! He wants his daddy! 

Sammy wants his daddy! Right now! 

Oh no! What if he never ever gets out? What if Sammy is stuck in here forever and ever? What if he never sees his daddy ever again? Or Dee? 

“Daddy?” Sammy whimpers. “Dee?”

He sobs harder, the sounds muffled by his thumb and tiny fist. Sammy is stuck forever and ever. There’s nothing he can do. He’s so so scared and lonely and sad and scared. 

He wants his daddy right now now now. 

Dean walks into the laundry room, eyebrows pulled down in confusion as he follows the sound of cries. His little heart races. “Sammy? Sammy?”

“Dee!?” he hears from behind the closet door they aren’t supposed to go into. 

“I hewe Sammy. I hewe!” Dean grabs the door knob and turns it. Except it doesn’t turn. The door is locked like it usually is. How did Sammy get in there? Dean’s daddy always locks the closet. He says there’s dangerous cleaning stuff in there that the boys can’t play with. “It won’ open.”

Sammy starts to wail frantically. 

“Is oskay, Sammy! I - I be back. Is oskay!”

“No go, Dee! No go!” Sammy sobs, tiny fists pounding at the door. “No go! No go!”

“Oskay, Sammy. Oskay. I stay.” Dean turns to face the door of the laundry room. “Daddy!” he screams. “Daddy hewp! Daddy hewp!”

Castiel sprints into the laundry room, his gut twisted and his heart pounding. “What’s wrong, baby? What’s wrong?”

“Sammy stuck!” Dean informs him, acting very brave even though he’s scared that Sammy will be trapped forever. His daddy is going to fix this. Daddy fixes everything. 

Frowning, Castiel pulls out his keys and puts the correct one in the cleaning supply closet. He’ll yell at the boys later for being naughty and using this closet when they know it’s off limits. For now, emotions are running too high. The priority is getting Sammy out. 

Sammy hears something against the door knob. His stomach drops and he sucks harder on his thumb. It’s starting to get sore but he doesn’t care. He needs to comfort himself right now. 

Then the closet is flooded with light and Sammy looks up to see his big brother standing above him. “Dee!”

“Sammy! I hewe. You safe now.”

“Dee! Dee!” Sammy makes grabby hands, smiling when his big brother gets down on the ground and pulls Sammy into his lap for nice cuddles. He rubs his damp face against Dee’s neck and sniffles. Sammy should have never doubted Dee. Of course Dee saved him! Dee is the best big brother ever! 

With his daddy’s help, Dean gets Sammy into the living room. They lay Sammy out on the rug and slip a blanket beneath his bum. Dean loves being a big helper, so he toddles over to the diaper bag Sammy came with, pulling out a diaper and wipes. He brings them to his daddy and watches as his daddy makes Sammy all clean and better. 

Next, Dean sits on the leather rocking chair. His daddy brings him his baby brother to hold, which he knows is Dean’s favorite thing. He loves to cuddle his Sammy. Dean cradles Sammy to his chest, slipping an elbow beneath the back of Sammy’s neck so his head is supported. This is how his daddy taught him to hold Sammy when Sammy first came here. 

Daddy hands Dean a warm bottle of milk, Sammy’s favorite blue blanket, and Sammy’s stuffed elephant. “Do you want to feed your baby brother, Dean? I think it’ll help him calm down.”

Dean nods, puffing up with pride. He loves taking care of his Sammy. 

Still upset, Sammy is focused on listening to his big brother’s heartbeat through his soft shirt. With each passing second, he finds his own heart calming. It only gets better when his fuzzy blue blanky is wrapped around him. His stuffie is pressed between Dee’s belly and Sammy’s side, all cuddled up and safe just like Sammy is. Dee tugs at the thumb Sammy has tucked between his lips. Sammy whines, fighting him, but immediately settles when he feels a rubbery nipple pressing to his mouth. 

Opening his mouth into a tiny ‘O’, Sammy accepts the bottle and begins to suckle at it. The milk is sweet and warm. It pools in the corners of his mouth and drips a little down one chubby cheek, but Sammy is far too happy to care right now. 

As Sammy finishes his bottle, his red rimmed eyes blink for the final time before falling closed. Dean smiles down at his baby brother, then up at his daddy. 

“I’m proud of you, buddy,” his daddy says softly before giving him a kiss on the forehead. “You saved your Sammy like a superhero today, and made him feel all better.”

“I a supewhewo?” Dean asks in a small squeak. 

“You are to Sammy.”

Dean looks down at his baby brother with wide eyes. Then he leans down and kisses Sammy’s forehead just like Dean’s daddy always kisses him. 

“No wowwy, Sammy. I keeps you safe fowevew.”