A little one shot about what Dean was doing the morning Leah and Sam found out they were going to have a baby. Enjoy!
As I left the house and climbed into the driver's seat of my Impala, I couldn't help but smile a little. I was glad that Sammy had Leah. She was a great girl and they had a good relationship. I hadn't seen Sam smile or laugh this much in...well...probably since he was born. Even if I couldn't explain the whole thing, I've experienced much stranger things in my life. Who was I to say such a thing couldn't happen? Besides, I thought to myself, I had a pretty little waitress to visit. I cranked the car and looked through my music selection. I decided on some Blue Oyster Cult, popped the tape into the tape deck (Sam could never convince me to change to CDs, and now he was trying to get me to get an iPod...whatever) and backed out onto the road that would lead me to Forks.
The diner was small but busy this morning, the residents of Forks stopping in for coffee and breakfast on their way to whatever it was they did during the day. Mostly guys, a few couples here and there, and sometimes a small kid running around. Kids, man. I love kids. I would never tell Sam, but it was true. There was one time, a time when I ran into an old flame who happened to have a little boy and I was scared that he was mine. I had just gotten used to the idea of being a dad when she told me not to worry because I wasn't his father. He was so much like me it was scary, though. Awesome kid. Enough about that.
I walked into the diner and heard the familiar ding of the bell above the door. I saw Lauren pouring coffee for one of her customers, she looked up, realized it was me, and she smiled. I smiled back and gave a little wave. After she'd made sure everything was in order she walked over to seat me. she was cute. More than cute, she was damn near beautiful. Even in her waitress outfit, her hair up in a messy bun, she still managed to outshine everyone else in the room. We'd went out a couple times in the few months we'd been here, nothing serious, usually just dinner and a movie. She was funny and made me laugh. Like, really laugh. Not just the polite "I want to get in your pants" laugh.
"Hey you." I said as she came walking up.
"Hey yourself, stranger." She winked at me and grabbed a menu from the hostess area, then motioned for me to follow her. "You are here to eat, right?"
"Of course. And maybe to say hi." I sat at the small table she'd chosen for me.
"Well, you can see I'm a little busy at the moment, but I'll get my break as soon as this crowd thins a little."
"Of course. Just bring me a big stack of blueberry pancakes, and some coffee." I handed her back the menu and winked.
"You come in too much if you already know what you want without the menu." She smiled and walked toward the kitchen.
I looked around and realized I was starting to recognize faces, starting to put names to them. This could be dangerous. Sam and I had already come up with some back stories in case someone started asking questions. We came here under the guise of game wardens from Seattle. Of course, Sam didn't come to Forks very often, but I did. Usually only for Lauren, since there wasn't much else in this podunk town, but we'd worked with the chief of police of this town, and it's not like my car-or I-blended into this place. The story was that we were brothers, Sam had fallen for Leah, and I fell for small town life. Not freaking likely, but that was the story anyway. Leah knew the truth, as did her pack, but they were good at keeping secrets.
Lauren had brought my food and refiled my coffee twice before she finally got a chance to take a break. She sat down with bottle of water and a huge piece of cherry pie.
"A woman after my own heart."
"What? You like pie?" She smiled and took a bite of the amazing looking desert.
"Who doesn't like pie?"
"Crazy people." There was a little smudge of cherry juice on her chin. I reached across the table and wiped it off, licking my finger afterward.
"Good pie...."
We made plans for later that night. We were going to go to Port Angeles to a bar she knew, play some pool, have a good time. That's why I liked her. She reminded me a little of my friend Jo. Not afraid to drink, play, and run with the boys. She was tough. A small part of my mind noted she'd make a good hunter, but I brushed it away. I couldn't lose someone the way my dad had lost my mom. It had been too much for him.
I left the diner confused, even a little scared. I'd fallen in love before. It was easy if you let it happen. The trick was not letting it happen. Closing yourself off. Being around Sam and Leah had given me some strange hope that it could happen and we could almost be a normal family. In the smart half of my brain I knew demons, ghosts, and other nasty things would never stop attacking our world. The romantic half wondered why it always fell to us to take care of it. There were other hunters in the world. Why couldn't we have a little slice of normal? Again I shook my head, it couldn't happen. Sam and I being here this long was dangerous. We should be out saving people, hunting things. It was in our blood. Our mother and father had been hunters. Our grandparents had been hunters. We were hunters. It's what we did.
I pulled into our driveway prepared to tell Sam that I wouldn't be staying much longer. I'd let Lauren know tonight that I'd gotten called away and would be gone by the end of the week. I'd come back to visit, of course. And unless it got bad I couldn't ask Sam to leave Leah, but I needed to be out hunting. I got out of the car and went inside. As soon as I opened the door I heard Sam call my name.
"What?"
"How do you feel about being and uncle?" Sam came walking into the kitchen with the biggest, dumbest grin I'd ever seen on his face.
I stopped right where I was, "Are you messing with me right now?"
"No, not at all Dean. Leah's pregnant!" He might as well have been jumping up and down for all the excitement running through his body. I didn't know what to say. I was happy and scared all at the same time. This was going to make leaving difficult. A million thoughts ran through my head in a matter of seconds. And then, lord help me, I squealed. Squealed like a little girl.
"You're gonna be a dad! I'm gonna be an uncle? I'm gonna be an uncle!" I ran over to him and we did, literally, start jumping up and down. Then I heard someone clearing their throat and looked up to see that Leah was standing in the doorway between their bedroom and the kitchen. Sam and I both stopped jumping, turned away from each other, looked at the floor-the walls-anything to hide our embarrassment.
"It's cool, I didn't see that." Leah laughed and Sam hurried over to hug her. I kept my ground though, I wasn't going to go hug her. Not. Going. To. Hug. Her. Not....
"Oh hell." I said as I ran to her and gave her a big hug. "Congratulations guys. I'm..really happy for you both."
"Thanks, Dean." Leah laughed, "You can let me go now."
"Oh. Sorry." I let go of her and took a step back, smoothed my shirt down, cleared my throat. Tried to regain some sort of dignity and calm. "So, are you guys going to get married or....I mean, you know, not that you have to go that route, just curious as to your plans."
Sam and Leah looked at each other, both wide eyed with surprise, like they hadn't even thought of whether they should get married or not.
"I um... well...." Leah started.
"I guess, I mean...." Sam stumbled.
"Look. No pressure. You guys have what, nine months to figure it out?"
"Thanks, Dean." Sam gave me that "why did you have to ask" look.
"What?"
"So, um.... how was breakfast?" Leah asked, changing the subject, much to my brother's relief.
"Fantastic."
