AN: Yeah, I am posting it fast. It's a short fic and I wrote it a while back but I couldn't get ff to upload for the longest time. Thanks to all y'all who are reading and to those of you who left reviews. I appreciate it.
Part 3
Dean escaped his brother's watchful eye and hobbled over to the desk. "Excuse me, I need some help."
"What with?" The woman asked; she was youngish. He couldn't tell how old but he could charm her well enough, he figured.
"My cousin passed away recently and I just found out that he had a kid. I don't know exactly how old or the name." He faked a sigh. "It's been a trying year. I do know that it would have been within the last five and this was the town he was in at the time. I'd like to break the news in person."
"I'll see what I can do to help." She nodded sadly. "Would his name be on the birth certificate?"
"Yeah." He pulled an even longer face and winced noticeably. "Mind if I sit?"
"Oh my gosh. I'm sorry I didn't notice." She rushed around the desk and pulled a seat next to hers. "Come sit over here so you can see."
"You're so kind."
"So, what's this cousin's name?"
--
Dean waved off his brother and sank onto the park bench with his lunch. He had Sam making a run to the next town over to get an interview. He had gotten what he needed out of the clerk, plus some gossip as she'd had a younger sister go to school with the mother in question. Sitting on the bench, he waited. He had a book and Sam's laptop to keep himself busy but he was anxious and a little nauseous. He ignored his food until it went cold. His ass was falling asleep. Then he spotted her. She looked exactly the way the clerk said she would. A girl. He had a daughter.
God, he was barely holding it together. Dropping his head into his hands, he focused on taking deep breaths. He thought he was going to black out at any second. He felt something moving nearby. That calmed him down more than anything. He had a knife in his boot, barely concealed by the snap-on track pants that Sam had gotten him to preserve his precious jeans. It was broad daylight but Evil struck any time.
"What happened to your leg, mister?" Came the voice of a little girl.
He lifted his head and had to take a deep breath before he spoke. "Had an accident." She was so close. He hadn't even heard her walk up. She was so small. "Where's… your mom and dad?"
"My mommy went to work." She pointed to the insurance office across the street.
"So… who's watching you?"
"My nana." She pointed to a woman doing a crossword on a bench across the playground.
"You know." He swallowed thickly against the lump in his throat. "You're not supposed to talk to strangers. I'm a stranger."
"You look sad." She frowned at him, breaking his heart. He couldn't let her wear that chastised face for a moment more.
"I knew it. You're hitting on me. I get it. I'm a handsome guy. You think I'm cute, don't you?" He watched her smile shyly, which turned into a smirk barely containing a giggle. "I get it. You're speechless. I get that a lot."
She rocked on her feet for a minute before a devilish expression crossed her face and an eyebrow shot up to form a wicked peak on her little face. "How come nobody signed your cast? My friend Ruby broke her arm and she had one that was purple. I got to put my name on it."
"You want to? You'd be the first." Dean plucked a marker from his shirt pocket. She grabbed it and yanked the lid off.
"What's your name?" She held her tongue between her teeth and she picked a spot under his knee to work on.
"Dean."
"I'm Alice. Now we're not strangers." She knelt and focused really hard on her artwork. Dean watched her and tried not to ruin anything. He wanted to touch her hair, the same as his. He wanted to give her a hug to see if it was the bush next to him that smelled pretty or the little girl. Suddenly, he didn't care if his ass was falling asleep or that he was starving or that he needed sleep. She looked up at him. "Are you a daddy?"
"Well, yeah. I guess I am." He nodded and tried not to blurt out that he was her daddy.
"Where's your baby?"
"With her mommy."
"Good. My mommy says every baby just needs a good mommy." She tilted her head and kept drawing. "I don't have a daddy."
"No?"
"Huh-uh. My mommy says he was a devil. I don't believe her."
"Why not?"
"Cause I'm too cute."
Dean nearly burst a gut. So maybe he sounded the same way to other people. "You are. You're beautiful. You look like an angel."
"That's what my papa says." She fiddled with the cap of the marker for a bit. "Do you think my other nana and papa think I'm pretty too?"
"Your other?" He shook his head, furrowing his brow.
"My daddy's mommy and daddy?"
Dean felt his eyes well up with tears. Neither one had a chance to see or even know about the only grandchild. "I'm sure they do. How could they think otherwise?"
"Your sandwich has ants in it."
"Eh. I wasn't hungry." Then his stomach betrayed him and growled.
"Your tummy sounds like a monster."
"Nah. Just hungrier than I thought." He glanced across the park to find that 'Nana' still hadn't looked up from her paper. "Hey, Alice?"
"Yeah?" She looked up at him, leaning on his leg. Even though it hurt a little, he couldn't help but smile.
"I have M&Ms in my bag. If you get them for me, you can have some."
"Why doesn't your mommy take care of you? My mommy takes care of me when I'm sick." She huffed, exasperated with the lack of care her new best friend was getting. She tugged the bag open to peer inside.
"My mom… she died when I was little."
"Who took care of you?"
"My dad. He did a good job, I think. You know… for a daddy."
"Uh." She scoffed and fished the bag of M&Ms out of the knapsack. "Where is he?"
"Well, he died, too. It's just me and my brother. My brother had to work. He's younger than me and I told him I could take care of myself."
"He's supposed to take care of you." She griped at him.
"He's mad at me too. He tries and I don't let him. I'm the big brother. I take care of him, even when my leg is broken."
"You take care of him all the time?"
"All the time. Ever since we were little." Dean poured her a handful of candy and popped a handful into his own mouth. "That's what big brothers do."
"Can a big sister take care of a little brother?"
"Absolutely. Being oldest, that's a big job."
"Mommy wants to marry Christopher and have more babies but I don't want her to have more babies. I'm her baby."
"Well, you know. Little kids kind of cramp your style but you're gonna love the baby when it comes. So, this Christopher guy. Is he good enough for your mommy?" She shrugged. "Do you like him?"
"I guess, but I'm not gonna call him Daddy. No way."
"Is he nice to you?"
"Yeah. He buys me dolls and dresses." She sighed heavily with all the weary thoughts of a four-year-old going on 13. "He says we'll be a family after the wedding."
"Good. It's important to have a family."
"How did you get so smart?"
"It must be because I'm old."
"How old are you?"
"27."
"Wow… you are old."
"Seven times as old as you."
"You're too old to marry me, huh."
That made him laugh. "Yeah, I'd say so. I don't think your mommy could possibly let you marry an old guy… she might even make you wait until you're 30 to get married." He looked down at her seriously. "If you were my daughter. I'd lock you up until you were 50. You're too pretty for just anybody to marry. You want to find a guy that will take care of you and treat you like gold."
"What's that mean?"
"Don't fall for the boys that hit you and pull your hair. Get the boy that sits in the corner with a book. He's a good guy. He'll treat you right."
"Boys are gross."
"Good. Keep thinking that."
"Dean?"
"Yeah?"
"How come I never seen you before?" She looked up at him and a cloud must have been blown free from the sun because she had his eyes. Green and sparkling.
"I work on the road." She tilted her head at him, clearly confused. "I go to a lot of different places. I help people. I don't get to stay in one place for very long."
"You never been here before?"
"Once. A long time ago." He poured her more M&Ms when she held her hand out.
"How do you help people?"
Okay, he hadn't ever planned on having an actual conversation with the girl and now she wanted to know what exactly he did. "Okay, um… you know the boogeyman?"
"Everyone says it's not real."
"You ever seen the boogeyman?"
"No." She climbed over his leg to sit on the bench, his marker clenched in her hand. "But he's real. I know he is. How could everybody know about something that wasn't real?"
"Okay, let's say the boogeyman is real. He bothers somebody. Then somebody asks for help. I come and I help. I make the boogeyman go away." He squinted down at her. "Do you believe me?"
"How do you make him go away?"
"With secret weapons."
"Like what?"
"Salt. Draw a line of salt around you and you'll be protected. I have a gun, a special gun I use. But you don't touch guns. Okay?" She nodded, listening closely. "I… use my prayers, in Latin, and that scares them away, too." She looked like she didn't understand but he wasn't going to push it. "You ever see the boogeyman, you tell your Mom, okay?"
"Can she call you to scare it away?"
"There aren't any boogeymen around here. I already took care of them."
"Are you a superhero? Like Superman?"
"Ah… I'm just a guy but I got some really cool toys… like Batman."
"I don't like Batman. He's weird." She shook her head, tea-blonde waves tumbling everywhere. "I like Superman."
"Well. Superman's a cool guy but the dude is an alien. You know who's a real superhero?"
"Who?"
"John Bonham."
"Who's that?"
"Led Zeppelin, little girl." He watched as she decided she was going to climb over the back of the bench. "He was a drumming fool. A rock god. Remember one phrase. Zeppelin rules."
She wrinkled up her nose at him. "I like the Cheetah Girls."
He collapsed in defeat. "You're breaking my heart. The Cheetah Girls? Seriously?"
"And Hilary Duff."
"Oh, say it isn't so."
"You're funny." She popped up next to his head. "Come here. I wanna tell you a secret."
Leaning on the back of the bench, Dean bent his head down for her to cup her hands around his ear. Her whispered words tickled his ear in puffs of excited air. Then she was crawling underneath the bench and appeared out from under his leg. She handed him the marker but stayed on the ground tracking the army of ants that were carrying his sandwich away, crumb by crumb. "You know… Mommy says candy isn't real food. You should eat real food."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes. You have to eat green stuff."
He held out his hand. "Green M&Ms."
"No, silly."
"I know. I'll make my brother feed me when he comes back." He offered her a smile when she climbed out from under the bench. "I promise I'll let him take care of me."
"Good." She wiped her dirty hands on her jeans. She eyed his shoe and wrinkled her nose. "Boots don't go with those."
"And why not?"
"They don't."
"These are the only shoes I have."
"Tell your brother to buy you some other ones."
"I'll do that."
She did a hoppy dance to the end of the bench then bent her head directly over his toes, the ends of her hair tickling. She grabbed his big toe and wiggled it a little too hard. "You have big feet."
"It's a curse." He held in a laugh when she tried to lift her foot to match to his, proving to him that his foot was indeed much bigger than hers. He watched her give up and start her hoppy dance again. He grabbed his bag and started rifling through it. There were a million reasons why he shouldn't do it. Hell, he would probably insist on these reasons if it were someone else. Still, he pulled out his phone and took a video of her twirly-hoppy dance. When she spun around and grinned at him, he snapped off a shot of her and saved both to his phone. He bit his lip to keep the stinging in his eyes from turning into tears. His gaze flicked to 'Nana', who seemed to be sleeping on the job. If he hadn't been sure that Alice would be taken right home, he would have yelled at the woman.
"I'm four. I'm going to school when I turn five."
"When's your birthday?"
"January 25." She explained, proudly.
"That's funny. My birthday is the day before that." He offered her his hand for a high-five. She was so full of energy, he was getting tired just watching her. To be four and be secure in the world again. The irony wasn't lost on him that he had been four years old the last time he'd felt secure in this world. Maybe the world was trying to tell him something but he couldn't afford to stop and listen.
"You have freckles like me." She announced, suddenly in his face and peering into his bag. "Your clothes smell."
"Good or bad?"
"Not good."
"Yeah. I'll make Sam wash my clothes later."
"Who's Sam?"
"My baby brother."
"Oh." She climbed onto his cast and watched as he rearranged things in his bag. He pulled out an almost empty bag of jerky. "Ew."
"Fine. More for me." Dean scooped a stringy mess out of the bag and into his mouth. He leaned on the back of the bench and just stared at her sitting on his leg. She took his hand and looked it over, it dwarfed hers. "Do you come here to play a lot?"
"Uh-huh. Cause Mommy works. Nana watches me and then we all go eat dinner at Christopher's. Then Papa picks us up." She reached into the bag and pulled at something shiny. "What's this?"
"That…" Dean cleared his throat. He'd been debating the whole while. It was in his bag and he wanted to give it to her but he knew it would end up in a trash can or forgotten in a jewelry box because no one was ever going to know he had been there. "Is a necklace like mine." He fished the charm out to show her. "It's to keep me safe."
"Who gave it to you?" She fingered his charm and then the second.
"My dad. It took me a long time to find another one like it. I was gonna give it to my brother for his birthday." Dean took the leather thong and tied it around her neck. "But it'll look prettier on you."
"Thanks." She grinned up at him. Dean couldn't help but snap off another picture on his phone. When he closed the phone, he noted the time. It was getting late. He felt his mouth tremble as he pulled the remainder of his gifts out of the bag and replaced the jerky and M&Ms. He got his cane ready but he couldn't make himself tell her that he had to leave. She still sat on his leg, fiddling with the charm.
"I've got something for your Mommy." He took the marker to the outside of the envelope. He scribbled his cell number on it. "You tell her that Dean Winchester said it was yours when you grow up."
"Winchester?" She squinted her eyes at him, trying out the new word.
"Yeah. That's me."
She took the envelope from him and stared at it. "Is that so we can call you if the boogeyman comes back?"
"Yeah." He nodded and had to mash his teeth together to keep from saying too much, to keep from blurting out things he shouldn't. To keep from hugging the crap out of the little girl. "My brother will be here soon. I think you should go sit with your Nana, now."
"But I want to stay here with you. You're funny."
"Do me a favor. Remember that about me."
"You're sad again. I just made you happy and now you're sad again."
"Every time I remember your face, I will be happy." He forced a smile onto his face. "I promise that I'll never forget to remember you."
"You really promise?"
"Yeah. I always keep my promises."
"Okay." She groaned and jumped down to the ground.
"Alice!" The shout was near-panicked.
"I'm right here." Alice called back, rolling her eyes. She knew exactly where she'd been all afternoon. "My Nana is silly."
The worried woman stopped a few feet away. "Alice, I told you not to wander where I couldn't see you."
"I could see you. We both could, huh, Dean."
"Yeah." Dean nodded.
"Alice!" She griped. "You drew all over that man's leg."
"He said I could." Alice protested.
"It's fine. She kept me company." Dean did his best not to seem creepy or out of the ordinary. "I've been stuck on this bench for hours."
"Tell your brother to take care of you better." Alice instructed with a huff.
"I will. I'll yell at him. I promise." Dean winked at her and started a bit when she threw herself at him for a hug. He let a breath out when he hugged her back and set her on her feet again. "Now, stop making your grandma worry about you. Remember what we talked about. No talking to strangers, no matter how cute."
"Okay." She rolled her eyes and trudged over to her nana. "Bye, Dean."
"Bye Alice. Be good."
"Come on." 'Nana' steered her grandchild in the direction she came. "I'm sorry if she bothered you. She doesn't normally do this."
"My brother attracts kids. They all love him." A voice spoke from behind Dean. Sammy. Damn it. "You should be asking if Dean was bothering her. He asks too many questions. Why is the sky blue? Why is the earth round?"
"Shut it, Sammy." Dean shot his brother a warning look. "Let's go. I need a drink." He shoved himself to his feet and immediately shifted his weight to the cane." As he was hobbling to the car, he could still hear Alice talking to her Nana.
"And see, he was nice. He gave me this. And he gave me this to give to Mommy."
"Cute kid." Sam commented as he tossed the knapsack in the front seat and helped Dean get situated in the backseat. "Did you fall in love?"
"She asked me to marry her." Dean shrugged and felt for his phone in his pocket. "She helped kill the time and it's not like I could run away from her."
"Dude, there are cutesy cats and flowers on your knee."
"I'm aware."
Sam laughed all the way to the driver's side. He slid into the seat and started the car. "This almost makes up for the crap run you sent me on. The dude said that he talked to some kid and his father about it years ago. Said whatever did the killings is long gone. Not even a whisper of a rumor since then. Why are we here, Dean?"
"So, I forgot. We travel too damn much for me to remember everything, Sammy."
"Dude, you're in a pissy mood."
"I need a drink. I just spent the whole afternoon with a four-year-old girl."
"Okay. Fine. We'll get a drink. You need to snap up those pants so the bikers don't get jealous of your artwork."
TBC
