I howled as I read this. I actually physically wailed out loud. It broke me, the place where Dean was, that broke me. I've worked with kids with autism, and lots of Dean's behaviors here are characteristic of autistic kids, and you can just see how he ended up with that diagnosis. Oh, god, Dean.


And John, my heart was breaking for him too. Being blamed for that second fire, and Sammy losing his second mom. And Missouri telling him he can't see his kids.

I have to go and cry in a corner now. This didn't happen. It didn't.
Fantastic writing.