Dean had dragged himself out of bed early in the morning on the twenty-fifth of November when Castiel had gotten up to go Black Friday shopping with Sam. He didn't understand why the two of them thought they needed to go out at five in the goddamn morning to shop, the stuff would still be there tomorrow, and the next day, and why the hell hadn't they gotten this stuff months ago in the first place like he suggested. Just because things were dirt cheap today, they thought it was a necessity to go out. Cheapskates.
So, here he was, up at the asscrack of dawn and still not completely over his post Thanksgiving dinner high, making breakfast for himself and his daughter, whom Castiel specifically told him to keep a close eye on, who was going to be in for a shock. See, Castiel was the morning person out of the two of them. Castiel was the one that was always up before sunrise, who took care of Mary in the mornings and got her breakfast and entertained her until a reasonable hour when Dean himself woke up.
After going domestic, Dean had taken to sleeping in. He figured after thirty odd years of saving the world from monsters and all things that went bump in the night that he had more then earned the right to sleep in (and when you had an angel of the lord for a husband, nightmares weren't exactly too much of a problem).
He heard Mary coming down the stairs, jumping over the bottom one, and break into a full on sprint once she reached the threshold of the kitchen. Then her tiny body was pressed against his, arms wrapped tightly around his legs, and he could actually feel her smiling.
"Hey, sweetheart," Dean greeted, turning his head and smiling back at her. "Pancakes okay for breakfast?"
Mary's bright blue eyes grew wide and she backed away from her father, surprised and shocked to see Dean rather than Castiel. "Where's Papa?" She asked, slightly fearful.
"Papa went out to go shopping with Uncle Sam this morning, so I'm up taking his place for breakfast." He explained, turning back to his food. "Now, are pancakes okay for breakfast?"
The little girl nodded and went ahead to take her seat at their table in the dining room, letting out a small squeal at the sight of one of her coloring books and a pack of crayons already laid out for her to color in while she waited. That was something Castiel never let her do. "How long is Papa gonna be gone?"
"They're probably not going to be home until after dinner, baby. Uncle Gabe is going to be coming over for lunch, though. So he might play princesses with you if you ask him." Dean chuckled at the thought. Every time Sam and Gabriel came over, Mary had more often than not talked the archangel into playing dress up, putting on makeup, and even on some special occasions, letting her mess with his hair.
Sam had said his boyfriend would make an excellent father. Dean, as much as he hated to admit it, had to agree.
"Okay!" He heard Mary squeal excitedly, and then go back to coloring.
Ten minutes later, he was setting a plate of sugary, syrup-coated pancakes in front of his daughter and another (along with a cup of extremely strong coffee) in front of his own seat."What d'you wanna today?"
She looked up from her book and grinned at Dean, and he could already tell she was way more hyper than any four-year-old had any right to be this early in the morning. "Play outside!"
Dean chuckled and took a long sip of his coffee, "Honey, you've gotta wait for awhile for that. It's too early, and it's too cold to go out there right now. How 'bout we watch cartoons?" With any luck, Dean might be able to slip off to sleep for a little bit.
"Papa don't let me watch cartoons this early," Mary explained, her voice losing its earlier enthusiasm. "We have quiet time while Papa says his prayers."
Dean took a bite of his pancakes and fell silent for a moment, thinking his husband was insane for, number one, getting the poor kid up this early in the first place, and then denying her cartoons (a.k.a., the best invention ever created for entertaining children). "Well, it's just you an' me today, kiddo, and we're watchin' cartoons."
After breakfast, the two of them made their way out into the living room and sat down to watch cartoons. It ended up being Loony Toons, which, if Castiel knew Mary was watching, would have a heart attack ("They're too violent!" he'd said once).
Mary was quickly entranced with the show, occasionally giggling at Bugs Bunny (and Dean had to admit, he did, too), and ended up using Dean's side as a pillow.
It kept the both of them entertained for over two hours, and when it became a more reasonable hour to be up, Dean sent the young girl upstairs to go get dressed so they could go outside.
Mary was back in five minutes, shoes on the wrong feet (complete with no socks), shirt inside out, and jacket hanging off of one shoulder. "Ready!" She grinned.
Dean sighed and got to his feet, giving a small shake of his head, and pointed to the stairs. "No you're not," he chuckled, following his daughter back up and helping her get dressed the right way. "Go down stairs and I'll be down in a minute," He told her, and Mary jumped off the end of her bed and sprinted back down to the back door.
Dean smiled to himself and went to get dressed.
Staying outside didn't last too long, seeing as it was one of the coldest days of the year and it was starting to snow, and they ended up back in, sitting at the table and coloring together. "Daddy, can we listen to my song?" Mary asked hopefully.
Without one word, Dean got to his feet and went off in search of his CD.
Soon, The Immigrant Song was blasting through the speakers in the living room and Mary jumped to her feet and started singing along (loudly and slightly off-key), and Dean couldn't have been prouder of her. If there was one thing he thought he'd done right with her, it was getting his daughter into Led Zeppelin at an early age.
"We come from the lan' of the ice an' snow, from the midnigh' sun where the hot springs flow!" Mary shouted from the dining room. Dean poked his head in and saw the little girl dancing around the room, banging her head and just having a complete ball. He laughed louder than he had in a long time.
Gabriel, as it turned out, ended up meeting Sam and Castiel for lunch at the mall to get some of his own shopping done, but promised to stop by later when the others got back. Dean thought it was just an excuse to get out of getting made-over by a child.
Mary was just as upset as Dean thought she would be, and, not wanting his daughter to sulk about it all day, offered himself up as her replacement model.
Two and a half hours later, he had pink clips in his hair, blue eye shadow all over his eyelids, peach lipstick on his lips, and the reddest nail polish he'd ever seen coating his nails (and most of his fingers). Mary insisted on taking pictures of him afterwards to show Castiel, and Dean, reluctantly, let her.
As the day progressed, the two of them ended up having more fun than they, or more so Dean, could remember having in a long time.
By seven, Mary was passed out on the couch while watching more cartoons, and Dean took that time to call Castiel and see how things were going.
"Have you two had a good day?" His husband asked.
"Yeah, yeah, actually we have. She's been great, Cas. No problems at all."
"I'm pleased to hear that, Dean." He could pretty much picture Castiel smiling on the other end, "We should be leaving soon, Sam and Gabriel have dragged me into almost every store in town and they are beginning to grow tired." Dean thought he sounded relieved.
"What about you, babe? You had a good day with those two idiots?"
Castiel sighed, "It was entertaining at first, seeing all of the humans scrambling around and trying to find things, but then a child was knocked down in the middle of it and received a broken arm for the negligence of the adults. He was taken to the hospital shortly afterwards. After that incident, things became less enjoyable." He paused for a moment and said something to somebody (Sam, Dean thought), and turned his attention back to Dean. "We will be returning soon, Sam says."
"Alright, keep yourselves safe," Dean told him before hanging up and going back out to watch TV.
Mary stirred on the couch and blinked her eyes open, looking up at Dean. "Daddy, is Papa home yet?" She asked sleepily.
"Nah, but he will be soon. You wanna go back to sleep for a bit before dinner?"
She nodded and crawled up into Dean's lap, her head against his chest, and closed her eyes again. "I love you, Daddy," she yawned, slipping back into sleep shortly afterwards.
Dean smiled down at his daughter and brushed a strand of hair back behind her ear so he could see her face, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Love you, too, baby."