Disclaimer: As much as it pains me, I still do not own Supernatural. It belongings to Eric Kripke

To an AWESOME beta; AlElizabeth! Thank you so much! :)

Tag: "Trail and Error"

Dean: I'm need you safe. That's what I need

Sam: When am I...when are we ever safe.

Dean: ...You stay here, I'm going out there. If land shark comes knocking, you call me. If you try and follow me, I'm going to put a bullet in your damn leg."

A/N: I always thought when Dean threatened to shoot Sam in the leg, they were pretty strong emotions to portray out. So here I am doing a three-shot on why I think Dean was so adamant in Sam staying in the house in "Trial and Error." I hope you enjoy.

Don't Follow Part: ONE

As long as Dean could remember, telling Sam to stay behind never worked. It didn't matter if he coaxed, bribed, or threatened. If Sam had it set in his mind to follow Dean, he was going to. For as long as Sam could walk he was always one step behind Dean. To Sam his place was always with Dean. He never liked to see Dean by himself. Sometimes, Dean didn't mind having his brother behind him. Sometimes it was annoying. And most of the time Dean didn't complain when he was there. He could always know that Sam was with him. Even when he wasn't supposed to be. On so many occasions there were times where Sam followed Dean when he shouldn't have.

1986

Dean and Sam were in a rundown motel. John was on a hunt. He'd been gone for a few days. Food was running out. On this particular morning, Dean got up early to go to the corner store to buy some cereal for Sam's breakfast.

"D'n," Sam said sleepily. "Where you going?"

"Go back to sleep, Sammy," Dean said putting on his jacket.

Sam, getting off the bed, walked over to Dean.

"D'n, come with," Sam said.

"No, Sammy," Dean said moving Sam back to the bed. "I want you to stay here. I'll be back in a little bit."

He grabbed the emergency money and headed out the door. Sam sat on the bed and started crying. He didn't like being alone. After a little while, Sam got it in his head that he had to go with his brother. Sam got up and walked over to the door. He was happy that he could reach the door knob. He opened the door and walked out of the motel room. No jacket. No shoes. Still in his pajamas and socks. He got all the way to the end of the parking lot when someone approached him.

"Hey kid," a man said. "Where do you think you're going? Come here."

Sam looked up at the stranger and backed up. Dean was walking around the corner headed back to the motel when he spotted Sam. He walked towards him, but when he saw that he wasn't along Dean dropped the bag of groceries and ran over to Sam.

"Sammy!"

Sam turned and saw Dean running towards him. With his short legs he ran to Dean. Dean scooped him up in his arms.

"What are you doing out here, Sammy?" Dean was talking softly to Sam but eyeballing the man that was talking to Sam with a glare that would scare anyone. The man turned and walked away from Sam and Dean.

"I thought I told you to stay in the room," Dean said lowering Sam to the ground. Now really looking at him, he saw that Sam didn't even have shoes or a coat on. "Come on." Dean grabbed his hand and walked over to the dropped groceries. He took his coat off and wrapped it around his baby brother and picked up the bags. With all the bags in one hand and a baby brother in the other, they walked back to the motel room. Dean saw that their room door was still opened. Dean let go of Sam and put the groceries on the ground.

"Sammy, I want you to stay behind me," Dean said. "Okay?"

" 'kay.," Sam said.

Dean started to walk into the room. He felt a small tug on his shirttail. He looked back and saw that Sam had a hold of his shirt. Dean could feel Sam shaking. He didn't know if it was from the cool morning or he was scared. Dean put his hand behind him and wrapped his hand around Sam's wrist. Dean didn't see anything different or wrong in the room, so he figured that Sam had just left the room when he saw him outside. Dean went back out and grabbed the groceries from the ground and put the bags on the table. Then put Sam on the bed to check him out. He didn't like that some strange man was talking to his brother when he turned the corner.

"Sammy," Dean said. "Why did you leave this room?"

"Wanted to come with," Sam said. "You left."

"I was coming back, Sam."

"You left," Sam said, this time with tears in his eyes. Sam didn't like it when Dean was away.

"Okay, okay. But next time, Sammy, when I say stay you have to stay. Understand?"

Sam nodded his head with tears in his eyes.

"D'n mad at me?" Sam cried.

"No, Sammy. I'm not mad. But when I say don't follow, that means stay put."

"But, I want to come,"

"Sammy, what did I say?"

"Don't follow."

"Okay, now let's get you out of those wet socks and warm you up, so you can eat. You hungry?"

Sam nodded.

Dean took off Sam's wet socks. He went in the bathroom to get a towel and to the duffel bag and got out some warmer, dryer socks. He dried Sam's feet and put on the socks. He went to the kitchenette and made Sam's cereal. Sam sat down at the table and ate. Dean shook his head watching his brother eat his breakfast. He learned something that day; if he ever had to go to the store, he would have to wait until Sam was truly asleep or he would just have to take Sam with him. Especially, since now Sam seemed to be tall enough to reach the lock on the door. Dean ruffled Sam's hair while he ate, and then went to make himself a bowl of cereal. He sat with Sam and they ate breakfast together. Sam smiling at Dean while eating.

THE END

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first part of this story. I have already written the whole story, but I am only posting one at a time. I will most likely post the second part tomorrow. (if all goes well)

Please make me the happiest woman in the world and leave a review. I would love to know what you thought about it.

Hugs and Kisses to you all

Mandancie