West Coast

Hoagie

Jack settled into the house so well it was almost as though he'd been there the whole time. He cooked and read with Dean, and painted with Cas. They did catch him watching them sleep a few times, but when they sat him down to ask him what he was doing, they found that he'd been too scared to wake them up when he'd had a bad dream.

Cas held him tightly, lifting him onto his lap. 'You don't ever need to be scared of us,' he said quietly, wiping the tears from Jack's face. 'If you need us you can always wake us up.'

Jack buried his head in Cas's shoulder.

'I get bad dreams too sometimes,' Dean told him, rubbing his back. 'I know it's scary, but we want to help you. A hug from Cas always makes me feel better.'

Cas smiled at him.

'Do - do you promise you won't be mad at me?' Jack sobbed.

'We promise,' Cas said, giving Dean a worried look. 'What do you dream about, Jack?'

Jack sniffed. 'I dream about my mommy,' he said, his voice still muffled by Cas's shoulder. 'I never saw her, but I know it's her in my dreams, and she's mad at me.'

'Why would she be mad at you?' Cas asked gently.

Jack shook his head, his tiny fists bunched up in Cas's shirt.

'You can tell us,' Dean encouraged.

Jack hesitated, then it all came spilling out in a barely comprehensible sentence. 'A boy at school says I hurt my mommy when I was in her tummy and that's why she died so she's mad at me in my dreams,' he wailed, breaking into a fresh wave of horrible sobbing.

Cas gasped, 'Oh, Jack,' he murmured, catching Dean's eye.

'Jack, that's not true at all,' Dean said to him.

'It isn't?' Jack said, turning in Cas's lap to look at Dean. His face was wet and red.

'No, no, of course it isn't. It's not your fault at all. You didn't do anything wrong, I promise.' Dean took one of his tiny hands in his. 'Your mom loved you very much. She made sure you had somewhere to go, even if she couldn't come with you.'

'How do you know?'

'The social workers told us,' said Cas.

Dean smiled at Jack. 'I lost my mom too, you know.'

'You did?'

'Yeah. It was hard, but I know she loved me, just like I know your mom loved you.'

'What about you, Cas? What's your mommy like?'

Cas sighed. Those memories were still lost to him. 'I don't know,' he said. 'Do you remember what I told you about our accident?'

'How you hurt your brain and you forgot lots of stuff?'

'Exactly.'

'It made you forget your mom? That's sad.'

Cas grimaced. 'Listen to me, Jack. What that boy said was a very mean thing to say. I want you to promise you'll tell us if he does it again.'

'I promise.'

Dean looked at both Cas and Jack's expressions. 'Who wants ice cream?' he announced loudly.

Jack brightened up immediately. 'Me!' he shouted, jumping up and running to put his shoes on.

'Are you okay?' Dean whispered to Cas at his troubled expression.

Cas nodded and smiled. 'Yes, I'm all right. We should get him a therapist.'

'You don't say,' Dean grinned. 'Come on, we better get that ice cream before he drives the car there himself.'