Chapter Text
Dean’s elbow-deep in some fancy foreign engine when his phone buzzes from his back pocket. He’s technically not supposed to keep it on him at work, but he hates the thought of not being reachable in case Sammy needs him. He wipes his hands on his jumpsuit before he realizes what he’s done and groans at the dark black streaks they leave behind (but seriously – who the hell makes their mechanics wear white?) before grabbing his phone. Hunter Elementary flashes at him from the screen. Crap.
Dean resists the urge to run a greasy hand down his face as he answers the call. “Hello?”
“Hi,” comes a cheery female voice on the other end of the line, “Mr. Winchester?”
“That’s me.”
“Mr. Winchester, my name’s Charlie Bradbury, and I’m the school nurse at here at Hun–”
“Is Sam okay?” Dean can’t help but interrupt.
“He’s fine,” Charlie assures him, “but it does seem that he’s come down with the flu. Is there any way you’d be able to come pick him up?”
Dean’s already making his way to the locker room. “I can be there in like 20-30 minutes,” he says. “Is he alright to stay with you until then?”
“Of course,” Charlie tells him. He can hear a muffled voice in the background before she speaks again. “Sam wants to talk to you, though. Is that alright?”
“Yeah, sure. Put him on.”
There’s some shuffling on the other end before Sam’s tiny voice comes across the line.
“Dean?” He sounds stuffy and teary and it breaks Dean’s heart. He knew his brother had felt a little clammy when he’d dropped him off this morning.
“Hey, Sammy,” Dean says, tucking the phone between his shoulder and ear as he shoves things into his duffle bag and steps out of his jumpsuit. “Ms. Bradbury said you’re not feeling good, huh?”
“Uh-uh,” Sam sniffles. “I wanna go home, Dean.”
“I know, buddy, I know. I’m gonna come get you right now, okay? But you’ve gotta be good for Ms. Bradbury until I get there. Can you do that for me?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s my boy,” Dean says. He finishes packing his bag and closes his locker, turning around to find none other than his boss, Dick Roman, standing in the doorway to the break room. Crap. “Sammy, I gotta go drive now. Tell Ms. Bradbury I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“’Kay. Bye, Dean.”
“I’ll see you soon,” Dean assures his brother before hanging up the phone and facing his boss. “Mr. Roman,” he greets.
“Dean-o!” Dick says, too-wide grin plastered on his face. “You wouldn’t be leaving work early, would you?”
Dean rubs a hand across the back of his neck. He knows this is not going to end well. “My brother’s sick,” he tries to explain. “I’ve just got to go pick him up. I can call a sitter and get him home as soon as possible, and then I’ll come right back. I’ll work late tonight, I swear, and–”
“Dean,” Dick holds up a hand to cut off his desperate babbling, “let me make one thing very clear. You are merely a mechanic, a dime-a-dozen employee. And right now, you’re not doing anything to benefit my business. So, should you choose to leave now, there will not be a position waiting here for you tomorrow.” Dick grins unsettlingly wider, waving a hand at Dean. “Your choice.”
Dean grits his teeth. He hates this man. Hates him and everything his pretentious company stands for. But he needs this job.
Still, Dean knows he made his choice the minute he picked up the phone.
“I’m leaving,” he growls, pushing past his (now former) boss and swinging his duffle over his shoulder. “Have a nice life, Dick,” he throws over his shoulder without looking back.
Dean gets to Hunter Elementary as fast as he can, rushing through the halls to find the nurse’s office. He hates that he can’t always be there right when Sammy needs him.
When he finally makes it to the room he’s looking for, he finds Sam fast asleep on the nurse’s couch, a tiny lump under layers of blankets. The nurse smiles up at him from her desk.
“You must be Mr. Winchester,” she says, standing to reach out a hand. “I’m Charlie.”
“Dean,” he introduces himself, shaking her hand before moving to sit beside Sam on the couch, brushing too long curls from his brother’s forehead. “How’s he doing?”
“About how you’d expect with the flu,” Charlie explains. “It’s a little more complicated with his asthma, but his inhaler seems to be helping, and I gave him some medicine that seemed to take the fever down a bit. At this point it’s just getting him home and stocking him up on fluids and rest.”
“Yeah, I can do that,” Dean tells her. “Thanks for taking care of him. Sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.”
“It seems like you’re doing a pretty great job, to me,” Charlie tells him with a smile. “Sam here was telling me all about his ‘awesome’ big brother Dean.”
“Yeah,” Dean says, scooping his little brother up from his pile of blankets and hefting him into his arms, “he’s a good kid.”
“You’re a good brother,” Charlie says. “Make sure you get some rest, too, Dean.”
“I’ll do my best.” Dean tells her before saying goodbye and carrying Sammy out to the car.
Sam’s awake by the time they get back to their apartment, blinking groggily up at Dean as he lifts him out of his car seat.
“Hey, buddy,” Dean says with a smile, “how you feeling?”
Sam just groans and tucks his face into Dean’s neck, his forehead burning up against his brother’s skin.
“Aw, I know it sucks, man. How about we get you in a hot bath and into your jammies, huh? And then we can watch TV all day?”
“Can we watch Star Wars?” Sam mumbles, and Dean grins.
“’Course we can, Sammy.”
An hour later, they’re both tucked into the couch with all the blankets Dean could find in the apartment. Sick as he is, Sam still excitedly jabbers on about his favorite characters, and Dean has one of those moments where he thinks that, as hard as it all is, he’s got to be doing something right.