Chapter Text
“Alright, Sammy, let’s go home,” Dean said climbing into Baby.
Sam stood and stared at his, now much smaller, older brother. The hex bag had gone up in flames with the witch and Tina had decided she was going to get herself a fresh start. And Dean… Dean seemed okay with his new situation. The Mark of Cain was gone after all. Sam was the only one that wasn’t happy about the new situation.
“Come on, Sammy, we’re losing daylight here,” Dean called from the passenger side of the Impala.
Sam rolled his eyes and climbed in and started towards home.
Dean had been quiet for a whole five minutes, Sam noticed and glanced over, Dean was sound asleep leaning on the car window. Sam glanced at the clock on the dash, it was barely after 9, aside from a dinner break around 5 they had been driving nonstop since they had left the small town in Oregon. Sam was ready for a break, he pulled off the interstate at the next exit and found a nearby motel. Dean didn’t wake when he stopped the car and hadn’t budged when Sam opened the car door. He shook Dean awake and he eventually stumbled out asking if it was his turn to drive.
“No, it’s time for bed,” Sam lead Dean to their room. Dean rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock.
“Sammy, it’s still early.”
“Yeah, well I’m tired and you can’t exactly help with the driving.”
Dean scoffed, “I still know how to drive.”
“You look 14, Dean. You can’t drive, it’ll draw attention.”
“Fine,” Dean grumbled and collapsed onto the bed. He was out cold before Sam had finished using the bathroom.
Sam groaned when his cell phone on the end table rang, and rang, and rang.
“Dean, can you get that?” he grumbled trying to hide his head under the pillow to block out the sound, but the phone kept ringing. It took several moments before Sam was awake enough to grab his phone and answer with a sleepy, “Hello?”
“Is this Sam?”
“Who’s this?”
“Sorry to wake you, I’m Officer Higgens, I have your son Dean here with me.”
That made Sam sit up and hit the light switch by the bed, the bed next to him was empty.
“Damn it!” he swore, “where are you?.... Ok, I’ll be right there.”
Sam pulled on his clothes, opened the motel door, and swore again as he saw the Impala was gone. It was after midnight, Dean must have woken up and decided to visit the local bar, forgetting that a young teenager walking into a bar would certainly not work in his favor. Sam called a cab to take him to the location the officer had told him.
20 minutes later he finally made it.
“Officer Higgens?” Sam asked as he walked over to the very annoyed looking officer and held out a hand to shake, “I’m Sam, we spoke on the phone, Dean’s father,” Sam had to clear his throat to get the word father out.
“I’m sorry to have woken you.”
“Oh its no problem, what’s going on?” Sam asked as he glanced past the man at Dean who was in the back of the patrol car.
“Well, it seems Dean here, thought it would be fun to take your car for a little joy ride, then stopped here and tried to order a drink and flirt with the bartender.”
Sam raised his eyebrow and put on a face of mock surprise as if the idea of Dean going out in the middle of the night was quite a surprise to him.
“I’m so sorry for the trouble, I’m not sure what got into him tonight,” Sam tried to sound like an apologetic parent.
Officer Higgens nodded sympathetically, “I have two of my own, teenagers, damn idiots sometimes, I’ll let it slide this time but if I catch him again I’ll have to file a report.”
“Thank you, I’ll make sure he doesn’t do it again,” Sam promised as Officer Higgens opened the door to the car and pulled Dean out.
Sam looked down at Dean, he wasn’t exactly sure how to handle this, Officer Higgens clearly believed he was Dean’s father, he had to keep that up at least until he got Dean back to the motel, his brain quickly went back to their own father and how he had handled them when they go out of line.
Sam put his hands on his hips, “I think you have something to say to Officer Higgens.” Sam tried to look serious. Dean scoffed and the officer looked ready to toss Dean back into his car. Sam gave his classic bitchface.
“What?” Dean asked.
“Apologize for the trouble you’ve caused.”
Dean looked up in surprise, Sam was using a tone that came as close as he could to a Dad-voice without the years of practice. He was not about to be told what to do by his little brother, momentarily forgetting that Sam was indeed playing the part that Dean himself had cast him in.
“Look he’s the one that started the issues!” Dean had a knack for sounding like a petulant teen even when he wasn’t really trying. Sam glanced at Officer Higgens who looked less than impressed with Sam’s attempt at parenting. He pressed his lips together as he looked at Dean and thought of how best to handle the situation. Dean saw it as his chance to get into the car, Sam realized what he had to do. Before Dean had taken two steps Sam grabbed him by the upper arm and spun Dean around and laid a half dozen hard smacks to Dean’s backside which caused him to rise to his tiptoes and an attempt to get out of reach. Dean’s eyes watered, Sam’s hand was as hard as their dad’s had been. As soon as Sam stopped his hands flew back to over his bottom.
Sam bent down so he was eye level with Dean and put his hands on his shoulders, “Apologize,” he ordered.
Dean took a shuttering breath and looked up at Officer Higgens before dropping his eyes just a bit, “I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused you tonight.”
Officer Higgens looked appeased and gave a grunt of approval.
“Get in the car,” Sam ordered. Dean, now subdued, only nodded and climbed in shotgun.
“You got yourself a handful right there,” Officer Higgens commented.
“Fourteen going on forty,” Sam chuckled in agreement before climbing in Baby and starting her up.
Once the bar and the police car were out of sight Sam looked over at Dean who was staring out the window, a few tears escaped and he quickly wiped them away.
A few moments later Dean blurted out, “I can’t believe you hit me!”
“Spanked, Dean. I spanked you.”
Dean glared at Sam. “I’m 36!”
“Look I’m sorry, I wasn’t sure what else to do that officer looked like he was about to change his mind about letting you go with that attitude you were giving him, I just figured if he saw I was handling it he’d be satisfied. And it worked… What were you thinking?”
Dean shrugged but didn’t answer right away as he pouted while they drove.
“I just wanted a drive Baby for a bit and have a drink,” Dean eventually answered.
“Yeah well you look 14, Dean, you can’t do that. You can’t drive yet, you can’t drink yet, and you sure as hell can’t flirt with the bartenders.”
“She was at least 22, that’s totally legal!” Dean tried to defend himself.
“Not for her, it’s not,” Sam reminded him.
Dean crossed his arms, “I used to go out all the time when I was this age.”
Sam sighed, “Yeah and I remember Dad kicking your ass if he found out. Hell, I remember BOBBY kicking your ass the time you went out when we stayed with him…”
“How did you…”
“I didn’t sleep as soundly as you or Dad thought..”
Dean huffed indignantly. Sam pulled into the motel parking lot and he and Dean headed into their room. Dean fell asleep quickly. Sam watched him sleep for a long while as he thought about what to do. If Dean stayed this age he was going to have to act more like the parent, he groaned when he realized he’d probably have to register Dean for school to avoid suspicion. Dean wasn’t going to like that one bit.