A/N: Hey y'all! So I've finished this story, there's one more chapter after this one. But guess what? I've already written three chapters of the third installment in this Ellie series! I'll be linking it at the end of the next chapter, of course. : )

Sam woke up around noon the next day and stretched his arms above his head, realizing that he was completely untied. He slowly sat up and bent his waist side to side, working out the many kinks from laying in the same position for so long. He sighed loudly and stood up before walking towards the door to try and find Ellie.

He walked out into the war room, looking around for any hint of a person. It was almost eerily quiet as he walked up the steps into the library, then went down the hallway towards the kitchen. He decided he would get something to eat before looking any further and moved to the fridge.

He thought about the events that had occurred just in the last month. Aside from the hunting problems, with the werewolf hunt and the recent vampires, Sam also had to worry about Ellie's birthday in a few days and her interesting relationship with Garrett. Sam sighed as he shook the bag of cut lettuce into the bowl.

Garrett.

Sam liked the kid, he really did. It bothered him a little bit that he was over a year older than Ellie, and almost an entire head taller than her, but he really seemed to make her happy. Dean had been texting him pictures of Ellie and Garrett while he was out on the hunt, informing him of the events that were occurring. He wasn't too happy when he heard that Dean and Cass had caught them sleeping on the couch together, but he also wasn't too worried about Ellie doing anything in the realm of...sex...yet.

Dear God.

Sam shook his head as he thought of the next several years, his heart pounding in his chest as he thought about Ellie wanting to do things with boys. He knew that it would happen eventually, but Sam was secretly praying that she wouldn't become interested in those things until she was an adult.

With Dean as her uncle? Yeah right.

"I just don't understand why I can't wear my normal clothes for this, Dean."

"Because you can't play basketball in a trench coat, Cass."

The angel huffed as the two of them walked into the gym, watching as Ellie and Garrett stretched near the edge of the room.

"I just don't like the way these shorts make my...nether regions feel," Cass wiggled his hips a little to try and readjust inconspicuously.

"Dude, TMI," Dean rolled his eyes, "And that's why we told you to get boxer briefs when we went to buy you those damn shorts."

Cass grumbled and sighed as they walked up to Ellie and Garrett.

"Alright, how are we doing teams?" Dean clapped his hands together.

"I call dibs on Garrett," Ellie raised one hand excitedly, the other holding the basketball on her hip.

"What? Why?" Dean placed his hands on his hips, his face showing a hurt expression, "You and I are always on a team, Squirt."

"Because," she raised her eyebrows and turned towards Garrett, her hand sweeping up and down to show off his height, "Look at him!"

"Wow, Ellie. Assuming that just because I'm tall I'm good at basketball is stereotyping, and rude, and," Garrett paused, reaching out to snatch the ball off of her hip. He did a fancy dribble and jumped, sinking a perfect three pointer. He threw his arms out to the side and gave her a cocky grin, "Also completely accurate."

"Oh yeah, dibs on Garrett," Ellie laughed, walking over and high-fiving him.

"Fine, I guess I'm stuck with Cass," Dean moaned before jogging to grab the ball.

"I'm not that bad at basketball, Dean," Cass mumbled.

"Hey, no angel mojo this time," Ellie poked a finger at his chest.

"Oh," Cass groaned, "Fine."

Sam finished the massive salad he had made and was wandering around the bunker, trying to figure out where everyone had gone. He was on his way to the garage to see if the impala was missing when he heard yelling coming from the gym. He walked to the door and peeked in the small window, smiling when he saw all four of them running around. He watched from the hallway for a moment, chuckling when Dean passed Cass the ball and the angel missed it, causing Garrett to grab it and be able to score. The young man and Ellie ran towards each other, high-fiving and smiling before assuming defensive positions. Garrett was covering Dean as the older man walked backwards dribbling when Sam finally opened the door.

Ellie heard the creak of the door and snapped her head around, a wide smile appearing on her face when she realized where the sound was coming from.

"Dad," she called out, running towards him and launching into a massive hug. Sam grunted as she ran into him, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

"How are you feeling, Sam?" Cass asked as Sam and Ellie walked over to the court.

"I feel great," he chuckled, looking down at Ellie with an arm around her shoulders.

"You wanna play?" Dean smiled, "You can take Cass' spot."

"Rude, Dean," the angel responded.

"No, I'm fine," Sam held his hands up as Ellie walked over and grabbed the ball from Dean, earning her a quick glare from her uncle. "You guys keep playing, I'll keep score."

The game quickly resumed, and Ellie and Garrett were winning by quite a few points when they all heard someone's phone ringing. Dean held up his hands in a T position as he reached into his shorts pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

"Sammy, take over for me," Dean waved his hand as he walked to the edge of the room, pressing the screen to answer the call. Sam nodded and walked onto the court directly in front of Garrett. The younger man looked at the much larger adult, his eyes widening. Although he was only an inch or two shorter, Sam easily had close to a hundred pounds on Garrett.

"Can we forfeit?" Garrett turned and looked at Ellie.

"No," she whined, "He actually stinks at basketball, you'll be fine."

"Hey," Sam turned and glared at her.

"Oh stop," Ellie rolled her eyes with a smile, "You know you suck."

"Still," Sam grumbled, turning back to Garrett.

Dean put his phone up to his ear, "Hey Garth."

"Hey Dean, it's Garth."

Dean closed his eyes and turned his head up to the ceiling, "What's up?"

"Well I know that Luca got killed, thank goodness, so I figured y'all probably want me to come and get Garrett?"

Dean took a deep breath and turned back to the game. Ellie had just maneuvered around Cass and scored, and she ran up to Garrett and squealed with laughter when he wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up, spinning her in circles as Sam and Cass watched and chuckled.

"Hold on a sec, Garth," Dean lowered his phone, covering the bottom of it with his hand, "Hey Garrett."

Garrett immediately dropped Ellie, his eyes widening. "Yeah?"

"You uh...you wanna stick around until Ellie's birthday?"

"Um," Garrett paused, trying to determine if this was some sort of test, or trick, "Yeah, I'd like that."

"Sounds good," Dean nodded, then waved for them to continue the game as he put his phone back up to his ear, "Hey if it's alright, the kid wants to hang out here until Ellie's birthday."

"Oh, okay," Garth responded excitedly, "The kiddos are hitting it off, huh?"

"Yeah," Dean scoffed, "You could say that."

A few hours later, Dean and Cass were sitting in the kitchen nursing a few beers when Garrett popped his head in, turning to look around the room.

"Have either of you seen Sam?"

"Not recently," Dean shrugged, "I think he was gonna go take a shower."

"Why?" Cass asked, turning in his seat as Garrett slowly walked fully into the room, his hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"I just need to ask him for a favor," he mumbled.

"Is it something we could help you with?" Cass asked quietly.

Garrett looked up from the floor and shrugged, "I guess."

"Okay?" Dean shook his head sarcastically, holding a hand out, "What is it?"

"I just need, um," Garrett began, biting the insides of his cheeks as he slowly moved towards the table, "I need a ride to the store."

Dean raised an eyebrow and stared at the young man for a minute, watching as Garrett shifted his weight awkwardly between his feet, looking around the room nervously. Just as he was about to open his mouth to ask him to elaborate, Ellie walked in behind him.

"Hey guys," she spoke cheerfully, walking over to the fridge and pulling out a bottle of water.

Dean watched as Garrett became obviously more nervous, turning his head to flash her a quick smile before looking back to the floor. Suddenly the parts all clicked and Dean sighed, taking the last swing of his beer before standing up.

"Come on, kid," Dean walked by Garrett and gently pushed on his shoulder.

"What?" He turned and looked at him with his eyebrows raised. Ellie turned from the fridge, looking at her uncle over the bottle of water at her lips.

"Let's go," Dean sighed, grabbing the back of Garrett's shirt and yanking him towards the garage.

"What are you doing?" Ellie asked, rushing forward.

"Gar and I are going for a drive."

"What? Why?" She continued to follow them down the hallway, jogging to keep up with their long legs.

"Don't worry about it," Dean turned and held his hands up on her shoulders, stopping her from coming into the garage.

"It's okay, El," Garrett leaned around Dean's shoulder and gave her a quick smile. Her gaze flickered from Garrett to Dean, and she crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Fine," she muttered, slowly turning around and walking down the hallway, sneaking one last look back before the garage door closed.

Garrett sat in the front seat of the impala, his hands resting on his thighs as he intermittently looked at Dean out of the corner of his eye.

"Any idea of what you're getting her?"

Garrett froze, his heart rate increasing as he tensed, "Wha-what?"

Dean sighed dramatically, "I know you want to go to the store to get Ellie a birthday present."

"What...how..."

"I have eyes, kid," Dean scoffed, "That's how."

"Oh," Garrett bit his lips, turning to look out the window, "I uh, I'm not completely sure what I want to get her."

"Well we'll go to the mall in Salina then," Dean sighed, "I'm sure we'll be able to find something there."

"Okay," Garrett nodded.

"What are your ideas?"

"What?" he turned and looked at the hunter.

"You said you weren't completely sure, so you must have some ideas."

"It's nothing," Garrett shook his head, shifting in his seat, "It's stupid."

"Listen Garrett," Dean sighed, ignoring the young man's head whipping over at the use of his real name, "I know that we've had our, uh...disagreements."

"You mean when you threatened to cut off my junk?"

"It's in the past," Dean waved a hand, "Point is, you could give Ellie a rock for her birthday and she'd love it. So. Tell me."

"I was thinking," Garrett took a deep breath, tilting his head as he looked down at his hands, "Maybe a bracelet or something?"

Dean fought the smile that creeped up on his face, clearing his throat. He remembered what it was like to be fourteen, and to want to impress a girl. He knew exactly what was going through Garrett's mind.

"Sounds good," Dean replied quietly, looking at Garrett out of the corner of his eye while he allowed himself to smile.

Several hours later, Sam and Ellie were working on deciding what to have for dinner when Sam's phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and answered it when he realized his brother was calling.

"Hey Dean."

"Sammy, hey. Garrett and I got Chinese. We'll be home in five."

"Oh, okay," Sam scrunched his face up in confusion, then snapped his fingers to get Ellie's attention and shaking a flat palm against his neck to tell her to stop looking through the fridge.

"Can you distract Squirt though?"

"What?"

"We gotta sneak some stuff into my room."

"Oh," Sam said quietly, "Okay, just shoot me a text when you're pulling in."

Sam ended the call and turned around, jumping when he realized Ellie was standing directly him with her arms crossed.

"What's going on?"

"Hmm?" Sam raised his eyebrows, shaking his head, "Nothing."

"You're such a bad liar," she narrowed her eyes up at him.

"Hush," Sam poked her forehead, moving her back. "El, I want to tell you something."

"Okay?" She asked, raised an eyebrow.

"It's about Garrett."

"Dad," Ellie groaned, turning around and walking to the table and sitting down.

"Oh stop," he waved a hand at her, "I just...I should've told you this when he first got here, but I didn't want anything to worry about, and—"

"What are you talking about?" Ellie asked, her brow furrowed as she leaned forward onto her elbows on the table.

"Garrett doesn't have a girlfriend," Sam sighed.

"Oh," Ellie chuckled, looking down at her hands. "I already knew that."

"What? You did?" Sam said loudly, "How do you know that?"

"Um, he told me?" Ellie shrugged with a smile, "Like the second night he was here."

"Seriously?" Sam put his hands on his hips.

"Yes Dad," Ellie rolled her eyes and slid off of the chair, moving to stand in front of him. "I'm not even thirteen, did you think that I was going to be kissing him and crap as soon as I found out?"

"I," Sam paused, looking down at her with a scrunched up face, "I don't know. You're not a normal kid."

"Thanks?" she chuckled, shaking her head. "You don't have to worry about me and Garrett, Dad. We're just friends."

"Okay," Sam sighed, biting his lips as he felt a buzz in his pocket. He took out his phone and saw it was a text from Dean. "Hey, you want to go do some shooting?"

Ellie's eyes immediately brightened as she involuntarily bounced on the balls of her feet, holding back a squeak.

"Wait, I'm still grounded until next week," she narrowed her eyes at him again, "Is this a joke? Because if so, it's mean."

"No," Sam rolled his eyes, "I just know that with everything that's been going on, you've had a rough couple days."

"So," she drawled out, a small smile forming on her face, "I'm ungrounded?"

"Yes, Ellie," Sam sighed, "Your ungrounded."

"Thank you," she squealed, lunging forward and wrapping her arms around his waist for a quick squeeze before running out of the kitchen towards the range.

"Wait for me," Sam called after her, shaking his head with a chuckle, "I'm going to regret this."