Dean's stern stare met the timid gaze on Sam's face, the young boy curled up on the chair in the principal's office with his head tucked into his shoulders to make himself seem as small as possible. The principal looked up from her computer as he entered, pushing away from the screen and giving him a small smile in greeting as she rested her hands on the desk.

"Mr. Winchester, I presume?" The principal said, her eyes following his movement as he took the seat next to Sam.

"Dean is fine," Dean responded, looking back to his brother and his frown deepening when he saw the red mark of a bruise forming on his arm just under his sleeve, "You called me about Sam getting into a fight?"

"It...was less of a fight and more of a beating," The principal stated, and her eyes grew soft with disappointment as she looked at Sam, who looked away with a small sniff, "He wouldn't tell anyone what happened, and the other boy wasn't exactly cooperative."

"What punishment does he get for this?" Dean asked casually, turning his gaze away from Sam and ignoring the sharp twist in his brother's head from his words out of the corner of his eyes.

"Suspension at best. Being expelled is more likely," The principal replied, her brows furrowing when Dean placed his hand on top of Sam's head, ruffling it.

"You hear that, Sammy? You wouldn't be able to go to school anymore because you couldn't control your temper. Is that what you want?" Dean asked, leaning a bit closer when he heard Sam sniffs grow stronger.

"No," Sam mumbled, and Dean swore he saw the boy wipe his eyes as he hid his face when Dean looked over.

"Then are you going to tell us why you hurt your classmate?"

"He said that I didn't have a Momma because she didn't love me," Sam sniffed out, tears welling out of his eyes as his nose in frustration. He struggled vainly to wipe the evidence of his tears away, but he let out a hiccup mixed with a sob.

"He...what?" Dean asked, his voice gaining a hard edge as rage flared up in his chest. Sam flinched away, but Dean just looked at the shocked face of the principal, his hands clenching into fists the moment he pulled them away from Sam.

"I was not aware of this," The principal murmured, her skin paling just a little at the look in Dean's eyes, "I will contact the other boy's parents to let them know and-"

"Whatever punishment Sam gets, the kid gets it too," Dean growled, feeling Sam's small hand grab onto his, which he squeezed just the slightest bit in comfort, "If I remember correctly, the school has a zero bullying toleration, right?"

The principal's eyes shifted down, fiddling with the papers on her desk, "We do have rules against bullying. He will be suspended for a few days, and I guarantee that Sam won't be expelled, even though this can be his only warning," She responded awkwardly, not meeting Dean's eyes.

"He'll be back in a week," Dean replied, picking his brother up and giving him a comforting squeeze as he carried him out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The drive was quiet except for the occasional sniff from Sam in the back seat, the radio even off as Dean struggled to calm down. His hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles white from the stretch of his skin, and when he finally looked in the rearview mirror, he watched as Sam traced little patterns in his seat, tears welling in his eyes at random moments.

"You know it wasn't true, right? Mom loved you so much...so much, Sammy," Dean assured, his voice growing thick with grief as he looked back at the road. He hadn't talked about his mother's death in detail with anyone before, not even Castiel, but Sam was watching him with such a distraught look, and he never wanted ever to see that look again.

"She did?" Sam asked, and although there was hope, it was mostly filled with grief, and Dean's heart broke with every second that passed of Sam believing that terrible lie.

"She was thinking of you to the very end, Sammy. I remember being so jealous because of how much she loved you," Dean replied with a slight chuckle, though the feeling in his heart was nothing to laugh at, "Didn't know that I would end up loving you just as much when I held you the first time. You're the best thing that happened to all of us, Sammy; the best damn thing."

Sam was silent for several seconds, though the sniffles were growing fewer and fewer as time went by, "Love you, Dean," Sam replied quietly, wiping his tears and smiling at Dean through the mirror.

Dean smiled back, shifting the gear and forcing the sad thoughts out of his head and focusing on happier ones, "Besides, Castiel is better than any mom you could ever have, right?" He asked.

"Yeah."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You look like you are planning a murder," Castiel stated the moment he stepped into the living room, sitting beside Dean and arching an eyebrow at him, "Did something happen?"

"Sam got into a fight at school," Dean stated, glancing back at the door to the kitchen, where Sam was eating his snack, "Some kid told him that Mom left because she didn't love him."

Castiel paused, his eyes widening before he looked towards Sam's position at the kitchen table, "Is he going to be okay?" He asked softly, his hands twitching as if he needed to comfort the young boy.

"I tried to cheer him up. Don't know how successful I was. He hasn't said anything since we've got home," Dean sighed, leaning his head onto the back of the couch, shifting just a little when he felt a comforting kiss on the side of his neck.

"Cas?"

Dean opened his eyes, looking at Sam standing in the doorway with his fingers playing with his lips in a nervous tick. Castiel was looking at him, and Dean could feel his comforting smile from here.

"Hello, Sam. I heard you had a rough day," Castiel stated, letting the boy hug him, "Are you okay?"

Sam nodded against Castiel's chest, his fingers tightening on Castiel's shirt, "Dean made the sad go away," He sniffed, pulling away from the hug and wiping his eyes again, erasing what tears were still managing to escape.

"He did? He is good at that, isn't he?" Castiel asked, glancing at Dean with a reassuring smile on his face. Dean managed to smile back, his hand moving on its own to rest on Castiel's knee.

"He said I don't need a momma because you're better than any momma there is," Sam said, and he sounded so firm in that belief that Dean couldn't stop the small twitch of his lips at the sudden pause from Castiel.

When the older man looked at him with an arched eyebrow, Dean shrugged, pressing a light kiss onto Castiel's nose in response. Castiel just shook his head at Dean before pulling Sam up in between them and turning on the TV for all of them to watch.

Dean couldn't imagine a better ending to a shitty day.