Title: Cabbage Patch Kid

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Gen

Spoilers: Up to the end of season 1

Disclaimer: Own nothing, not being paid

Word count: 374

A/N: for starrylizard. Unbetaed

Summary: Sam stumbles across a baby in a cabbage patch and realises the myths are true.

When Sam was eight, Dean gave him a Cabbage Patch Doll named Mona. It had red hair, tanned skin, and an ownership label on its butt. Sam hadn't gone looking for that - for some reason Dean had felt the need to show him. The only use the doll had was hitting his hysterically laughing brother repeatedly around the head with its own solid one. One lucky hit had even given Dean a black eye, before their dad had intervened and put the doll aside to be dropped off at good will.

Sam can't help but lift the baby lying in the middle of the cabbage patch up off the ground and turn it gently to see whether it has someone's name printed on its butt. He's not quite sure whether to be relieved or not when her - it's definitely a her - butt proves to be blemish free. In some ways he was hoping it wouldn't, so he'd know who she belongs too. He's definitely not keeping her. He shrugs out of his jacket and wraps her up in it. Somehow she's still warm, even though she's been lying out on the ground in the cold. She doesn't move an inch, just sleeps peacefully as he marvels at the fact that his hands are big enough to completely hold her.

Sam hears Dean come up behind him and the sudden intake of breath as he sees what Sam is holding.

"Holy..."

"Yeah," Sam agrees as he turns around to show Dean the baby girl. "Who knew, huh?"

Dean is looking at the baby like he's never seen one before. "Sam, you didn't come from the cabbage patch. Believe me, you didn't."

Sam shrugs as the baby's eyes open for a second, then close. "Well, this one did."

The furrow in Dean's brow is the same as the one he got when he was still struggling to accept that vampires were real. He reaches out with one large finger and strokes the baby gently on the face like he's testing to see whether she's real. Then Dean looks up at Sam, a smirk hiding at the corners of his mouth.

Sam launches a pre-emptive strike. "We're not naming her Mona, you dick."