Dee the Elephant
"Hey love, I'm almost home." Sam called just a few miles out of town.
"Oh good. Can you please pick up Jess? This meeting isn't ending anytime soon."
"Sure. Is she at your mother's?" he asked. Mrs. Nowak was their usual babysitter for when Sam was away on hunts. Although she never knew what Sam was doing while he was gone.
"No, she had plans. I took her over to Lucy's."
Sam groaned. Lucy Hackett was a nice enough woman, a member of Rachel's church who often volunteered to watch Jess. However her son Jayden…, well Sam would not be surprised if the kid busted into flames at the touch of holy water. He was a few years older then Jess and did not have many friends, which was most likely why his mother was so keen on having Jess around. He was a nasty little thing. If the worst he did was scream in your ear and kick your shins then you got off easy. And it did not help that Lucy rarely ever did much to stop him. "Better go rescue her then."
"I'm sorry Sam I didn't know where else to go. She's only been there for an hour so nothing too bad could have happened."
"I hope so. I'll see you back at the house.
Sam rang the Hackett's doorbell and was greeted by Lucy with forced uneasy smile. "Sam! Sam the Handyman. How nice to see you. I didn't know you were back in town."
"Just got in. I'm here to pick up Jessica."
"Of course, she's upstairs. It's just…" she trailed off.
He winced.
"We just had a little bit of an incident. No one's hurt, it just well…"
Sam pushed past her and ran up the stairs. He found Jess curled up in the master bedroom, sobbing uncontrollably. Sam immediately scooped her up and held her tight. "Sweetheart, what happened?"
"Dee," she wept holding up a torn up hunk of grey fabric. "Jayden hurt him."
Dee was her favorite toy; a stuffed elephant his brother had gotten for her. Dee went everywhere with her and was her bedtime companion. Now he was reduced to rags with most of his stuffing pulled out.
"It's alright." He gently rocked her and wiped away her tears. "We'll make it better. It will be okay."
"I'm really, really sorry," Lucy said at the doorway. "I only looked away for a minute. Here," she handed over a couple twenties. "Here's some money for a nice new toy."
"I don't wanna new toy! I want Dee!"
Sam quieted her down and took the money. "I appreciate it," he said with all the politeness he could muster and left before he hurt someone.
Jess was still crying when they got home clutching tight Dee afraid to let him go again. Sam sat her down on the couch, and tried to calm her down. "It's alright princess," he whispered rubbing her back. She rested her head on his side as her crying began to settle.
"Jayden is a meanie," she grumbled.
"I know. That was a very bad thing to do." He kissed the top of her head. "Do you want to hear about the trouble me and Uncle Dean got into?"
"Okay."
By the time Sam finished the story, Jess stopped crying and Rachel returned home. "How is everyone?" she asked hanging up her jacket.
"Not great," Sam answered. "We had a bad day."
She sat down on the other side of Jess. "What happened?"
"Jayden broke Dee," Jess showed her.
"Oh no!" Rachel gasped. "Honey I'm so sorry. Are you alright?"
Jess nodded then pointed at Sam. "And Daddy got chased up a tree."
"You what?"
"It was a hunting thing. Don't worry about it."
Rachel nodded and returned her attention back to Jess. "Can I see Dee?"
Jess hesitated but handed him over. "Can you fix him?"
"I don't know…," she said unsurely inspecting the damage. She looked to Sam who was just as lost as she was. "Maybe," she added giving her daughter a little hope. "Tell you what, since it's almost bedtime, you can leave Dee here with us and we'll see what we can do, and you can pick whichever story you want to hear."
Jess thought about it for a moment. "Can Daddy read to me?"
"Of course," Sam said.
"And you'll take good care of Dee?"
"The best care," her mother nodded.
Jess nodded and let her father get her ready for bed. After she was tucked in and snoring, Sam returned to his wife staring hopelessly at the elephant.
"Do you know anything about sewing?" she asked.
"A little," he said sitting down beside her.
"Do you think it's worth trying to fix? He's in pretty bad shape."
"Lucy gave me money for a replacement, but I'm pretty sure she'll notice. Plus I can't recall where Dean got it."
"I feel terrible. I should have known better then to leave her there."
"It's not your fault."
"It sure feels like it."
"Hey," Sam turned her head to face him. "If we're blaming anyone, blame me for not being here."
"You're so cute when you're all protective." She kissed him.
They sat there in silence pondering their options until Sam spoke up. "Where's the nearest craft store?"
"Jess, sweetie, it's time to wake up." Rachel gently shook her daughter awake the next morning. "How are you feeling honey?"
"Okay," she yawned.
"Your dad has a surprise for you in the living room."
That perked her up. "Really?"
"Yeah, he worked all night on it."
Jess scrambled out of bed and ran to her father standing at the hall holding something behind his back. "What is it?"
He smiled and pulled out – "DEE!" Jess squealed. "You're all better!"
Sam had stitched him back together. Since his only experience with needle work was patching Dean and himself up the stitches were a bit crude and obvious. The elephant was a little lopsided now but the way Jess looked at it, he might as well been brand new. Jess couldn't contain her smile and hugged Dee tight. The stitches held strong against her firm grip. Sam had also wrapped a bandage around his head and one of his limbs making it look like he was fresh from the doctor's. She kissed the wrappings and gave him another hug.
She looked up at Sam glowing with joy. "You fixed him!" She turned to her mother to show her. "Look Mommy, he fixed him!"
"I know. He did a good job didn't he?"
She turned back to Sam and gestured for him to pick her up. He lifted her and Dee high and she giggled the whole way up. She wrapped her arms his neck and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "Thank you daddy."
"No problem princess." He smiled back, returning the kiss.