Disclaimer: the characters and supernatural don't belong to me they belong to kripke and the cw
a/n: thank you all so much for reading this story and reviewing. Without you all this story wouldn't be possible
a/n: the lullaby Sam sings to Gracie is by a singer name jewel
BETA: the wonderful vonnie836
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The half hour ride to Leslie house was silent and tense for everyone, except Gracie, who was in the back seat with Sam, secured in a car seat that Melinda installed, before leaving the hospital, making happy noises, after finishing drinking her bottle and having a short nap
"Da-da!" She squealed pointing out the window, trying to get Sam to attention to some people walking their pets, oblivious to the tragedy that had befallen their family.
Sam, on the other hand wasn't paying attention to Gracie, instead he was looking out the window, his body, which usually was in constant motion, way too still. However, who could blame him? The life he created for himself had come crashing down in one single night.
A few minutes later, they all arrive at Leslie's house, Sam instantly unbuckled Gracie and picking her up, bolted into the house, locking himself and his daughter in one of the guest bedroom, while a worried Dean stayed behind to make some phone calls.
"Hey dad it's me, Dean, listen you need to pick up, it's really important. God dammit dad, the demon that killed mom, just killed Sam fiancee Jessica last night or this morning, whatever and Sam isn't taking it too well. Call back, when you get this message!" He demanded, hanging up the phone and going on to call several other people they knew and were close to.
OOOOOO
Meanwhile in the guest bedroom
Gracie was standing up in the crib crying and fussy, until Sam walked over and picked her up, gently speaking to her. "Hey Gracie you want daddy to sing you the lullaby mommy always sings to you, when you're upset?" He asked, not really expecting a response for her.
He repositioned her in his arms then quietly started to sing.
All through the night, I'll be watching over you
And all through the night, I'll be standing over you
And through bad dreams, I'll be right there baby
Telling you everything's going to be alright
When you cry, I'll be there baby
Telling you were never nothing less that beautiful
So don't you worry
I'm your angel standing by.
"That's a beautiful lullaby." Melinda was standing in the doorway.
"Sheesh Melinda, you scared the crap out of me!" Sam replied, walking over to the crib and placing a now sleeping Gracie into it.
"Sorry!" She said, looking at the clock which showed 10:45, realizing a lot had happened in a few short hours.
"How did you get in here? I'm sure I locked it." He wondered.
"I have a lock pick kit ever since I am became a hunter" The young woman retorted.
"Oh..." Was Sam's only response.
"Sam, I need to talk to you!" Melinda said, walking over to the bed and sitting down on it.
"What about?" He asked.
"Jessica told Leslie to hold on to this until Gracie is older, but she and I think its best, if we give it to her now." She told him, taking out a box and handing it over to Sam.
"What's inside?" Sam queried curiously.
"Its a locket Jessica and Leslie bought a while back." The young woman replied.
Sam opened the box and looked at the content, a gold locket engraved with a flower and a humming bird and his daughter name on the outside. Carefully picking it up, he opened it, unable to hold the tears back at what was engraved there.
Angels always watch and protect you, Gracie,
And so are mommy and daddy,
We will always be there for you!
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
On the other side was a picture of the three of them.
"Also, Leslie gave me this protection necklace for her; it will help protect her from anything that might wanna harm her." Melinda explained.
"T…thanks, M...Melinda." Sam was trying to keep his emotions in check
"Sam it's nothing, we would do anything to protect that little one and we won't let anything harm her." She assured him, pointing to the crib
"Yeah, I know!" The young father answered.
"Why don't you get some sleep? You look tired." Melinda suggested, looking at Sam, who looked like he was ready to pass out.
"I don't know, if I can, but I'll try" He said
Once Sam had taken his shoes off, he crawled in the bed, while Melinda left the room after checking on Gracie. Surprisingly sleep overtook him easily, but soon he was plagued by nightmares.
Standing in front of him was Jessica, asking him, "So how do I look?" Her hair curled and flowing down to her shoulders, she was dressed in a sleek black dress that reached the floor and trailed over behind her.
Speechless, he was in awe, as he looked at his fiancee
"You...look...amazing!" He finally said.
"Thank you!" She replied, kissing him tenderly on the lips. "Can you help?" she asked, holding up a diamond necklace. He took it from her hands and she turned around and held up her hair, while he hooked the clasp on to the chain. Turning back, she said "So you gonna tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"Why Sam? Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you protect me? Why did you leave me there to die?"
"I…I don't know, I don't know, I DON'T KNOW! Sam screamed.
The scene changed to the night of the fire. Sam bolted up in the bed, looking around to see where he was. Seeing the clock, which showed 1:30 PM, he got up and walked over to the crib to see, if Gracie was still asleep. Yet what he saw made him start to panic. The crib was empty. Immediately worried, he suddenly heard squealing and laughter out in the hall. Walking over to the door, he opened it, watching the scene enfolding before him with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.
"Gracie get back here and finish your bath!" a soaking wet Melinda ordered, running after a bare naked Gracie.
"Whoa, why is the little one running around the house without clothes on?" Dean asked, walking to where the chaos was going on.
"Gracie, baby, come here to daddy!" Sam coached, trying to get his daughter attention.
"Dada!" Gracie squealed happily, running over to Sam.
"Ok, baby, time for your bath!" Sam laughed. Picking her up and walking into the bathroom, he discovered the mess of water on the floor.
"Sam, I can give her a bath, why don't you go back to sleep?" Melinda said.
"It's okay, I can give her it to her." He replied, putting the squealing toddler back into the tub
"Ok, I'll leave you to it then." She said, walking out the bathroom.
"Ok, baby let me clean you up. I see you made Melinda run after you!" Sam smiled at his daughter, who was splashing water in the tub and laughing when Sam was hit with some of it.
"Oh you think this is funny then let's see, if you'll laugh at this!" Sam teased, splashing some water at Gracie, who squealed even more now.
Just then, Dean walked in. Seeing his brother playing around with his daughter, he hated to interrupt the father-daughter moment.
"Hey Sam, I called dad." He informed, getting Sam attention.
"Yeah what did he say?" The younger brother asked, grabbing Gracie out of the tub with a Winnie-The-Pooh towel.
"He didn't pick up, so I left a message." Dean replied.
"Well, that's obvious!" Sam retorted.
Dean was bothered by the way his brother said it, but decided not to say anything.
"I also called Bobby, but he said he couldn't make it. He pays his condolences though, he is on a hunt in Oklahoma, hunting a water spirit with Caleb, Bill Harvelle, Joshua and Paul Russel."
"Oh, it's ok." Sam replied, drying Gracie hair with the towel.
"And I called Ellen too, she said she can't make it either and that she is sorry for your loss and can't wait to meet Gracie. Right now she is swamped at the roadhouse and helping Jo take care of 2 year old Ian, who is not feeling too well.
"Wait, Jo has a kid? By who…?" Sam asked, remembering the last time he spoke to her, which was right before he left for Stanford.
"Yeah, he was born July 4th, 2003, the father is Paul." Dean answered.
"Oh yeah, I remember him. What about Pastor Jim?" Finally finished with drying off Gracie, he gave her a loving slap and said, "There, all done baby!" Watching her running up to Dean, she looked at him with her puppy dog eyes.
"He said he'll be here in two days. Hey what I do?" Dean wondered when Gracie looked away from him.
"Nothing, its her way of trying to figure out who you are." Sam explained.
"Oh!"
Sam picked his little girl up and walked over to him, holding her, as she pointed at her uncle.
"Gracie this is Dean. Can you say Dean?" he asked her.
"De…" she tried, still pointing at the older man, before clapping her hands and spreading her arms out
"Well its close to my name." Dean replied with a smile.
"I see, she wants you to hold her." Sam clarified Gracie's gesture.
"Are you sure she wants me to hold her?" Dean asked unsure.
"Yep!"
"Ok, come here Gracie." Dean took his niece from his brother.
"Hi, I'm your uncle and when you get older you will learn more about me. Hey, please don't pull on this" He protested, when the toddler started pulling on his amulet. Distressed by his scolding, she started crying and he hurried to give her back to Sam.
"I see it's going to take some time for her to get to know you." Sam stated, just then. Mrs. Moore appeared in the bathroom
"Awe, here is my granddaughter." Kate said.
"Hi Mrs. Moore" Sam greeted her.
"Oh Sam, good to see you, Peter and I want to talk to you in the living room."She advised him, handing Gracie off to Melinda, who also appeared in the bathroom.
"I think, we should all get out of the here, it's getting too crowded." Melinda suggested, walking with Gracie to the little playpen in the living room and putting her in it, while everyone else sat down on the couch.
"Ok, umm Sam the reason we need to talk to you is that we promised Jessica that Gracie can stay with you. It is alright with us, but we would love to be apart of her life." Kate wiped her eyes with a tissue as she explained.
"Sure, I wouldn't have it any other way." Sam replied, looking at his daughter playing with a Elmo toy.
"Peter and I went to pick out a stone for Jessica after we left the hospital." She went on, continuing to wipe her eyes, as more tears flowed from them.
"Oh…" Sam replied tonelessly.
"And the hospital gave us this…" Peter handed him Jessica's engagement ring, as his wife lost the last of her composure and started to sob.
"Its Jess ring, I gave her when I proposed to her." Sam looked at it, as he got up and left the room. Walking back to the bedroom, he sat on the bed and he started crying for all he'd lost and for what he'd still had left.
After a few minutes later Melinda walked into the room and sat down next to him, trying to console him.
"Sam, we will find this demon and make him pay for killing Jessica, but you need to pull yourself together. You have a daughter to think about, she needs you now more then ever." She said.
"How can I move on, when Jessica was my whole world?" He asked in despair, drying his eyes with a tissue she handed him.
"It will be hard at first, but you'll have to move on eventually, so you can give Gracie a good childhood without her mother. And you won't be alone; she will have many people around that love and care about her." She reminded him gently.
"Melinda, thanks for being here for us!" Sam said gratefully.
"Hey, that's what I'm here for, we are all crazy about that daughter of yours!" Melinda smiled.
A few minutes after helping Sam calm down, both left the room and went back to join the others. Gracie now was playing on the carpet with Kate and watching them made Sam realize, there was no way he ever wanted Gracie to know about or get involve in hunting.