Chapter 9

Jo had to step back and step onto a crate in order to fit all the Winchester faces in her little screen. "Okay, boys. Say Cheeseburger."

"Cheesebooger!" Danny shouted, creating much more natural smiles for his father and uncle.

"Wonderful." Jo hopped down and waved the Polaroid around. "I'm gonna make copies on Ash's scanner."

"We have got to work on that lisp, dude." Dean scooped Danny off the hood of the car and set him on his feet.

Sam followed Dean and Danny into the bar. Danny ran straight for a table where his coloring books and crayons waited. Dean went straight for a beer behind the bar. In a fit of immaturity, Sam grabbed Dean from behind, trapping his head under his arm and giving him the mother of all noogies.

"You're so gonna get it." Dean ground out as he tried to get out from under his brother's grip.

"How you going to do that, shorty?" Sam was just about to take Dean to the floor when he felt a pain in his foot. He turned to find little hands shoving at his leg and stomping on his foot. "Danny?"

"Stop! No!" Danny cried out, then bit his uncle's leg. "Mine!"

"Augh!" Sam leapt away but Danny kept coming at him, fists flying.

Dean watched for a minute as his ginormous brother was accosted by a tiny tot… and retreating. Sam tripped over his own feet trying to get away from Two Feet of Fury. "Danny, cool it, tiger."

The tot spun and raced into Dean's arms. "Mine!"

"Yeah." Dean hugged him. "I'm yours. You tell that big freak of an uncle to keep his hands off." He studied the frown on his son's face. "Hey, I'm okay. He's just really big. A big softy… Like a Teddy Bear… filled with marshmallows." That got a giggle.

"Well, a shorty like you finally got a bodyguard." Sam tried to recover himself but he'd decided to keep his distance from Mighty Mouse's twin brother.

"What the hell happened in here?" Ellen gaped at overturned table and scattered chairs and Dean kneeling on the floor.

--

Ash sniffed as he drained his glass. "So this babe walks into the Piggly Wiggly, you know and she's hot… tight pants, tight shirt and big boobs and…"

"Ash, do we really have to listen to this?" Liz complained as she tipped her bottle back.

"Anyway, this babe has got this tattoo, right on her armpit and when she lifted her arm…"

"Oh ew." Jo screeched and held her hands up. "No more. Please."

"Wuss." Ash challenged as he plucked a new-to-him beer from the bucket next to him.

"Ash!" Sam called over. "I will buy you a pitcher of beer, come kick my brother's ass at darts. Please."

"Excuse me, ladies. Duty calls." Ash tossed his hair over his shoulder and reached out for the darts. "Let me show you what this man is made of."

"You win and I'll pay for a second pitcher." Dean snorted.

Liz crossed to watch, sitting on a table top. She watched them match shot for shot for two rounds before Ellen and Danny returned from town with a Happy Meal and a new pair of shoes. She had almost stepped down to grab her son when Dean swooped him up, examined the new shoes, made a silly comment about being the speediest kid in the world, had himself a French fry fed to him before settling him on the table next to Liz.

Ellen caught her eye as she sat with her own beer. "Have to share him now, huh."

"Yeah. I guess." She nodded and helped Danny unpack his meal. Watched him clap when Dean crowed out another victory.

"That boy is smitten."

"Yeah." Liz nodded again. For a second she felt him slipping away from her and then he turned his smile on her. That little mouth full of little teeth, cheeks smeared with ketchup.

"Ash!" Ellen called out. "Go tie down the trash bins. Storm coming in."

"Jus-sec." Ash tossed his last dart and beat his chest. "You owe me another pitcher of beer."

"Dean. Go help him." Ellen ordered.

Dean blinked at her. Glanced at Sam, then followed Ash out the backdoor. Sam took a seat at the table next to Ellen, near to where Danny still sat finishing his dinner. When Sam attempted to smile and illicit some kind of cute response from Danny, the boy slapped his hand on Sam's face, pushing him away.

"Danny, no." Liz patted his hand down. "Say you're sorry."

"I don't think he likes me very much." Sam admitted.

"He doesn't have a lot of male role models." Liz lifted Danny onto her lap, where he began rubbing his eyes and pouting. "He's also very sleepy."

"It's okay… I forgive you." Sam held out his hand for Danny to shake. The boy swatted it away and buried his face in his mother's shirt. "Geez, I wonder what I did."

"He's just cranky." Liz hefted him into her arms and waved goodnight to everyone. "It's bed time."

Dean walked in and noticed his audience was missing a few members. He scooped his beer up and nodded to Ellen. "I owe Ash about three pitchers of beer."

"I could just apply a couple of those to his tab. Should knock it down to size." Ellen nodded. "Storm's coming, make sure your windows are up."

Jo collected their empties and turned to go. "Slow night tonight. You boys clean up after yourselves if you stay up."

Sam looked to his big brother, who was suddenly quiet and brooding. He smirked and turned away not soon enough. Dean beaned him with a pretzel. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything." Sam winced at the smarting on the back of his head.

"You emote, you giant emo freak." Dean muttered and emptied his beer.

Dean tossed his bottles in the bucket and helped Sam dump the dregs and load the dishwasher. He heard Liz telling Danny a story as he walked past their room to the bathroom. When he came back through, their light was off. He paused, thought about knocking but went on to his room for a fitful night of sleep.

--

Dean woke up with a foot in his back. He had been fairly certain that he'd gone to bed alone which could only mean… Danny. There he was, sleeping soundly, sprawled across the other half of the bed.

"He got up before 3 am. I panicked when I realized that he was gone." Liz's voice floated over from a chair near the door. "I guess he adores you or something."

"He gets mad if Sammy plays around too rough with me." Dean rolled over so he could stroke Danny's hair from his face. "He tells Sammy that I'm his."

"That's pretty funny." She gave him a half-smile.

"Yeah. Pretty funny."

"I'm gonna get breakfast started. Let him sleep. The storm had him pretty freaked last night."

"Gotcha." Dean laid his head back down on his pillow, and just lay watching the boy sleep. He never even heard Liz leave the room. The rain hit the roof in steady waves. Dean just lay staring at him. When the boy finally woke, it was to chatter sluggishly in a language that Dean hadn't yet learned to decipher. Danny flopped over and scooted close to Dean. He struggled to pull something out of his pocket. Dean helped him out and found his amulet hanging by its cord with pocket lint all over it. Carefully he cleaned it up. Danny shifted onto his knees and tried to hang it over Dean's head. "You giving it back already?"

"Safe."

"I gave it to you. It's yours." Dean picked it up and held it out. Danny wrapped his tiny fingers around it but didn't move to take it back. "You scared of the rain?"

"Boom." Danny made a face.

"Thunder scares you." Dean nodded. "That's why you came in here?"

Danny flopped back onto the pillows. "Big boy bed."

"Think your mom still wants you in the crib, bud." Dean flopped onto his back, readjusting his amulet so that it strangle him so much. After a moment, Danny readjusted his posture. Dean kicked his legs free of the sheets and crossed his legs. Danny did the same. He tucked his hands behind his head, elbows out. Danny followed suit. Sammy burst out laughing from where he'd been lurking in the hallway.

"So, you're on duty already?"

"Dude, I was on duty before I woke up." Dean sat up and Danny copied. "He ditched his crib for my bed in the middle of the night."

"And you had no clue?"

"Didn't even feel him until I woke up with a food in my back which is better than when it used to be your big head."

"Liz says breakfast is ready."

"Come on, champ." Dean yanked on some jeans from the floor before Danny climbed onto his back for the ride. He held Danny's arms down to keep them from choking him on the short walk to the kitchen. Liz was just doling out breakfast onto several plates when they walked in. Her face lit up when she saw her son.

"Mommy!" He called out.

"You're finally awake, you Houdini." Liz set the pan down in the sink and had to pull his little arms off of Dean so she could greet him with morning kisses. "Don't you scare Mommy like that." She tried to get him settled in his high chair but he refused. "Danny, come on." Then the little hands began reaching past her to Dean. Dean watched her shoulders go back defensively. Dean stepped in and took Danny in his arms but then sat him the high chair. "Thanks, Dean." They both knew then that it was going to be a long day.

--

Dean held out his hand for Max to shake. Max seemed hesitant but took it and introduced himself properly. Max hung a bit. He didn't know what to do with himself if he wasn't trying to woo the new girl. "Liz is a great girl." He finally commented to Dean.

"Yeah." Dean took a deep breath. "She is."

There were several moments of awkward silence. Then Dean cleared his throat. "How long have you been seeing her?"

"We weren't dating." Max shook his head and sipped his beer. "She's opted out of whatever it is that we were doing."

"Oh." Dean nodded to himself, wondering what that meant exactly.

"You moving to Nebraska?"

Dean had been thinking a lot about that but hadn't been talking to Sam about it yet. "Thinking about it… want to be close to Danny."

"He's a good kid. Shy but good."

"Yeah." Dean felt some emotion bubbling up in his chest. Pride.

"Why'd you leave her?" Max didn't seem to mean any malice by his question and Dean took it to be a query of general confusion.

"Thought she'd be better off without me." There it was. The truth. He'd told himself it was for her but it was for him. His father had waited a week too long to inform him and that was the truth. Selfishness disguised as mercy." I didn't know she was pregnant or that Pastor Jim died a year ago. I didn't know."

Max took pity on him. "Well, as willing as I am to be her man… she doesn't love me… or want me if she doesn't love me… so… Good luck to you."

Dean sat frozen as Max laid down money for his drinks and made his way out into the night. When he found Liz, she was laughing with a couple of regulars.

TBC