Ellie: Chapter Seven
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em.
AN: Thanks for all the great reviews. As a reward, here's another chapter (Not to mention my apologies for not putting out Chapter 6 until yesterday.)
Sam and Jess were waiting in the hotel for Dean and Ellie. Both were wondering why Dean needed to go to the library and the hardware store. Just as Sam got up to look for them, Dean and Ellie appeared in the doorway.
"Hey Sammy can you come get this bag?"
Sam retrieved the bag and looked into and saw nothing but odds and ends. "Dean will you please tell me what's going on. We need to get rid of the hellhounds before they kill anyone else.
"Sammy relax, I have everything out of control. I have to give Elle a bath."
When he said this Ellie made a face.
"Don't even think about it Elle. Your taking a bath, you have ice cream all over your face. How did you get chocolate sauce in your hair?" Dean asked puzzled.
Ellie looked at her Daddy to gage his seriousness. When she determined he was very serious she sighed. "Daddy can Ellie have a bubble bath?"
"Sure Elle." Dean said carrying her to the bathroom.
Meanwhile Sam emptied the bag of stuff onto the table. After looking at it for a couple of minutes he looked at Jess puzzled. "I have no idea what this stuff is. Can you make anything out of it?"
Jess looked at the assorted items: two pairs of welding goggles, a few old nonfunctioning cameras, a hand full of wires, a pair of wire cutters, and some other odds and ends. "I have no idea. The camera don't work. Why would you need goggles? It looks like a bunch of junk." Through the door they heard Dean and Ellie.
"Ellie no splashing." Dean said.
"Daddy I'm a mermaid."
"Well princess mermaid please do not splash you're humble servant. I'd like to keep the protective layer of dirt I have." Dean replied.
Sam and Jess heard laughter as Ellie continued to splash around.
"He's really good with her." Jess said.
"He is. He's certainly had enough practice." Sam said quietly.
"Sam."
"Dean's been taking care of people as far back as I can remember." Sam said looking at Jess. "I remember Dean giving me baths, making me breakfast, cleaning any cuts I had as a kid. I don't remember my dad doing any of those things. My earliest memories are of Dean."
Jess looked at Sam. He rarely talked about his past. Before Jess could comment, Dean and Ellie came out of the bathroom. The front of Dean's flannel shirt was soaked and Ellie was dressed in her footage pajamas.
"Hey Elle." Jess said smiling.
"Hi Jess'ca."
"You all clean now?"
"Yes. Daddy said I hafta take a bath. I got all pruney." Ellie said smiling.
"Well would you like me to brush your hair?" Jess asked.
Ellie buried her face into Dean's shoulder.
"It's okay Ellie." Dean said quietly.
Jess looked at the two.
"Ace usually brushes her hair." Dean explained, stroking Ellie's damp hair.
Jess came over and gently patted Ellie back. "It's okay Ellie. I know I'm not your mommy but…"
"Ellie it's okay if you want Jess to brush your hair. Mommy will understand. She knows I have no idea what to do with girl hair." Dean said.
"Yes pease." She replied shyly.
Jess motioned for Ellie to come sit with her on the bed as she retrieved a brush for her bag. While Jess brushed Ellie's hair Dean grabbed a quick shower and then moved to the table where Sam had spread out all of his purchase. Sam looked at his brother as he went to his tool box and retrieved a couple of screwdrivers and a wire stripper.
"Dean what the hell are you doing with this junk."
"Dude just let me work." Dean said. Grabbing the cameras he began to take them apart.
Sam looked at Dean and sat across from his brother and watched. After a few minutes Dean looked up and gave him a dirty look.
"Don't you have anything better to do?"
"Uh, no." Sam said stubbornly. He wanted to know what Dean was doing. "We should be figuring out how to see the hellhounds. Not tinkering around with whatever harebrained scheme you got going on there."
Dean just arched an eyebrow at his brother and continued working. Sam may know how to get under Dean's skin, but he was out of practice, four years would do that to a guy. For Dean though ignoring his brother when he was annoying was a skill perfected long ago during long trips in the car.
Sam sighed is exasperation stood up and turned flopping down on the bed next to Ellie and Jess.
"I know what Daddy's doing." Ellie said smiling.
"You do huh Elle. Will you tell me?" Sammy asked smiling back at her. Dean looked up and gave Ellie a look. Ellie grinned in response.
"No." Ellie said shaking her head.
"Oh, come on Elle."
"No, Daddy said it was a secret. If Ellie tells you it won't be a secret."
"I'll give you a cookie."
"Cookie?" Ellie asked her eye widening.
"Yes. A…" Sam paused as he rummaged around his bag for a cookie. He pulled out of his bag a chocolate chip cookie. "I'll give you a chocolate chip cookie."
Ellie tilted her head in contemplation, looked at Sam, then Jess who smiled at her, and then at her Daddy. She slid off the bed and then went to a plastic bag tucked into her duffle.
"I gots cookies. Daddy bought them for me." Ellie said pulling a package of Keebler E.L.F. cookies. "Pease open Jess'ca." Sam gave his brother a dirty look.
Jess laughed at the situation. Dean had out maneuvered his brother. Dean definitely had a set of brains hidden behind that macho, he-man façade. "Are you allowed to have cookies?"
"Ellie didn't brush her teeth yet." Ellie said in explanation.
"Ellie, two cookies with milk." Dean said smiling.
Jess went to the refrigerator where a carton of milk sat on the shelf and poured some milk into a plastic cup. She looked around for a place to set down the cup. Dean anticipated her thoughts and shifted a few components to make room.
"Thanks Dean." Jess said.
"No prob." Dean said distractedly.
Jess pulled out a chair and Ellie scrambled up. Ellie sat with her two cookies and cup of milk and watch her father take things apart and put things together again. She dipped half a cookie in her milk and ate it enthusiastically.
"Daddy, you want cookie?"
Dean looked up from putting the lens from the camera into to goggles. "No thank you Princess. You eat your cookie."
"Jess'ca? Uncle Sammy?" Ellie asked.
Both Jess and Sam shook their heads.
"It's okay Ellie." Jess said.
"Ellie will you tell me what your Daddy is making, please?" Sam said, trying to use his patented puppy dog pout.
Ellie scrunched up her face and looked at Sam. "No." She said as she returned to her cookie.
Dean looked up at Sam and shook his head. "That won't work on her."
"Daddy I done wif my cookies but I still have milk." She said frowning at the white substance in front of her.
"If you get the cookie from Sammy you can have that one too." Dean said smirking.
Sammy smiled, he'd get his answer now. He was determined and Jess and Dean knew it. Dean however, knew how the outcome of this little battle would end. "Ellie I'll give you the cookie if you tell me what Dean's is making." He expected Ellie to cave instead he found Ellie at his knee, her green eyes wide, her bottom lip jutted out about a half inch.
"Uncle Sammy, can Ellie have the cookie pease?" She asked in her most adorable voice.
Sam tried to be strong but felt his resolve crumbling. When she thought Sam wasn't going to give her the cookie she pulled out the big guns. Her eyes started to water and she sniffled slightly. Sam looked her and if he wasn't mistaken a tear started to roll down her cheek. He caved. He handed her the cookie without even realizing it.
In half a second flat Ellie was all smiles; she broke the cookie in half and dipped on half in the remainder of her milk and put the other half on a napkin. Jess looked in utter amazement, Sam was notoriously stubborn. She once tried to get him to go to a party for her friend at posh club, but he flatly refused and nothing, not even withholding sex could get him to go. And he had just caved in to a two year old.
"Are you going to eat the rest of you cookies?" Jess asked.
"No that's daddy's half." Ellie said after she finished her milk.
"Thanks Elle." Dean said snatching the cookie and eating it in two bites. He smirked. "It's not so fun when the look's direct at you huh, Sammy?"
Sam just looked at Dean and Jess bewildered. What the hell had just happened? Once second he was hardening his resolve, determined to get an answer and next he was cookieless and answerless.
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