Hey SPN fam! How are you?

First off- WOW. The response to the latest case story blew me away. Seems you all have issues with cliffhangers...hmmmm...I'll have to remember that...and write more...hee hee hee. Seriously though, you all are incredible. I hope you know that.
Second- I'm back to working thirteen to fourteen hour days and then am about to have a massive work change. It's for the better, but it's still going to be huge. That having been said, I typically have 4-5 stories in my vault when I publish. Right now, I've got 2 half-written stories and a case story that's only in my head. It's going to be a while before I can publish again. HEAR ME- I AM NOT ABANDONING THIS STORY. And if I can, I will absolutely write. I just don't know how long that's going to take, so please be patient with me. I need to catch up.

Feel free to keep messaging me, I love talking to y'all. I try to respond to everything. Bella, you're still signed on as a guest, love, you actually need to create a full account (it's totally free, you just need to create one). I wanna reply to you so badly honey! Everyone, please keep giving me your requests. Tamilyn13 has been really patient with a great idea that she gave me a LONG time ago, and it's just now coming to the surface (it's one of the half written stories I've got at the moment), so I love hearing from y'all and seeing what sparks it creates in my tired brain.

Special thanks on this one to Jenmm31 who not only beta'd, but she helped me brainstorm ideas for what Natalie gets up to in this one. Sammy, hang in there, you're amazing.

Keep it in the road. Love you all.

*In this story, Natalie is 5 and in kindergarten. Please see profile page for disclaimers.

The phone buzzed in Dean's hand right as he was about to slip it into his black pants. The boys were suited up, heading to the police station this afternoon to gather evidence on their recent case, and were just about to walk out the door. Dean looked down at his phone, which was making a weird noise, and uttered a surprised grunt.

"Everything okay?" Sam asked, shrugging his own suit jacket on. Dean just continued staring at his phone, total confusion on his face. "Dean?" Sam said a bit louder when Dean didn't respond.

"Sam, Bobby's looking at me."

"…What?"

"It looks like Bobby's calling me, but…but his picture is looking at me. And it's live. Like it's a live picture." Dean held his phone out to Sam like a child asking for an explanation. Sam just rolled his eyes.

"He's Face Timing you, Dean. Answer it."

"What the hell is Face Time?"

Heaving an annoyed sigh at his technologically challenged brother, Sam snatched the buzzing phone out of Dean's hand and slid the button across before it timed out. He held out the phone so the camera could capture both his and Dean's expressions.

"Hey Bobby," Sam said. "What's up?" He looked at Dean's reflection in the picture, and pressed his eyes closed at Dean's incredulous expression.

"Sam?" Bobby asked, confused himself. "Why are you answering Dean's phone?"

"Because he's an idiot who doesn't know what Face Time is."

"Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack."

"Hey, I'm right here, I can hear you both!" Dean said hotly, snatching the phone out of Sam's hand and shoving him out of the way. "Bobby, where the hell did you learn this Face Time thing? And how did you get it on my phone?"

Bobby closed his eyes in exasperation. "Dean, I ain't got time to explain how phones work right now," he snarled. "We got a bigger problem."

"Is Natalie okay?" Dean immediately thundered into the phone, his blood turning to ice. "Bobby, where is she? What happened?"

"Calm down, she's fine. Well, she ain't fine, but physically she's alive. For now."

"Bobby, I swear to God if you don't tell me what's going on right now I'm gonna lose my shit."

"Calm down, boy, you're gonna give yourself a coronary. Seems that the little she-devil was trying to push her luck at school today."

"Push her luck? What does that mean?" Dean asked, still trying to come to terms with the fact that he was speaking with Bobby face to face over the phone, let alone puzzle out what had happened with his daughter.

"I'm gonna put her on the phone so she can tell you herself while looking you in the eye. THAT'S why I used Face Time, ya idjit."

"Oh," Dean said, his brow wrinkling as he tried to make sense of the words coming out of Bobby's mouth. Hm. So Natalie had been bad enough at school that Bobby was making her tell him something face to face. Huh boy. This was gonna be interesting.

Bobby turned his face away from the phone. "NATALIE!" he hollered. "C'mere." Dead silence followed for ten seconds. Dean watched as Bobby's face flushed with anger. "I know you heard me, young lady, I said get in here, NOW!" Finally, Dean heard the reluctant thump of little feet angrily plodding into the room, but he couldn't see Natalie's face on the screen. He watched though, as Bobby's eyes locked onto her. "Get over here and tell your daddy what you did today."

"What do you mean, tell him?" she said hotly. Dean's heart ached at hearing that familiar little voice, even if she was being a disrespectful little brat.

"What part didn't come out in English, girl? I called your daddy, now you're gonna tell him about the little stunts you pulled in class."

"You CALLED Daddy?!" came the horrified shriek off camera.

"Oh, don't you go acting like you're so surprised. You know damn well I told you that if your teacher had to call me again this week, I was gonna call him and make you tell him about your little escapades yourself. And do yourself a favor and lose the attitude before you do."

"Wait, wait, hang on," Dean interrupted. Bobby's eyes shifted back to the screen. "Call you again? How many times has Nicole had to call you this week, Bobby?"

Bobby's face hardened at the familiarity regarding Natalie's teacher. He'd been none too pleased to find out that his boy had hooked up with his granddaughter's teacher a couple weeks back, but what was done was done. "Today was the third call this week, Dean," he snarled into the phone. "Guess the teacher's a little…shall we say…embarrassed to call you directly right now."

Dean shifted uncomfortably for a moment, then refocused on the screen. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," he snarled back. "Message received. Put the kid on the phone so I can deal with this." Dean got a little dizzy as the picture shifted and tilted when Bobby held the phone out towards his daughter. And then he finally saw her on the screen- little, sweet, and twisting her foot into the ground like she did when she knew she was guilty as hell.

And what's more, Natalie saw him. He watched as she registered the fact that she was now essentially face to face with her father, and that he was not pleased. She gulped and didn't move. "Natalie, get over here and take this phone right now. I ain't gonna tell you again," Bobby scolded. Dean watched as Natalie's eyes darted to her grandfather's face, full of accusations. Dean heard Bobby snort at her derisive look off camera. "Oh, quit actin' like a martyr. I told you exactly what was gonna happen if you didn't straighten up, so now you face the consequences. Get your scrawny butt over here. Don't make me tell you again, child."

Natalie bit her lip and walked towards Bobby as slowly as she dared, deliberately not making eye contact with Dean on the screen. She got just close enough to snatch the phone from Bobby's hand and dart away just in case he couldn't suppress the urge to give her a little swat. That told Dean all he needed to know- she knew damn well that she had misbehaved and was in big trouble.

Natalie gulped and finally made eye contact with Dean. "Hi, Daddy," she said in a tremulous little voice.

"Hi, Baby Girl," Dean responded, a slight edge to his voice despite the face that his face was softening into a smile upon actually talking to her. "It's nice to see your face."

Natalie's relieved grin nearly split her cheeks. "You too! Are you coming home soon?" she asked eagerly, all nerves about her present situation forgotten at the idea that him might be coming back.

Dean shook his head. "We've just barely started on this case, kiddo. Gonna be a while yet. But we'll come home as soon as we're done. Deal?"

Natalie's shoulders slumped a bit. "Okay," she said quietly. "I know you gotta get the monsters. It's okay."

That stung Dean a little more than he would have liked to admit. The kid knew that what they were doing was life-saving and important, but that didn't stop her from missing him. And dammit, he missed her too- missed her so much it hurt. If he wasn't careful, he would just spend the entire time talking to Natalie about anything and everything in the world and not dealing with her misbehavior. He steeled himself and went for it.

"So. Sounds like you had quite the day at school, huh?" Natalie shrugged in response, her eyes darting around the room. "Uh uh," Dean said firmly. "You look me in the eye when I'm talking to you." Usually, it took Natalie a couple seconds to obey that order, but seeing as there was a modicum of safety with not being in the same room physically as her father, she immediately locked eyes with him.

That was interesting, Dean thought to himself. Maybe she was feeling a little more rebellious since he wasn't actually there, and that maybe she wouldn't get in as much trouble as normal since this was over the phone. That would also explain her attitude with Bobby. Well, none of that was going to fly. He was going to have to learn how to discipline over this...Face Time thing.

"That's more like it. Now tell me what happened."

Tiny sigh. "Well, I…I didn't like what Miss Benson was….I mean, it was really boring- wait, no, I didn't mean boring," she hurried to correct herself, knowing that she'd get an earful from Sam if he heard her insulting her schoolwork. "I mean…it was…the…" she trailed off pitifully.

"Natalie."

She fidgeted again, kicked the ground once, and gave up. "I didn't exactly do what Miss Benson told me to today," she mumbled carefully.

"You disobeyed her?"

"Not…well…kinda?"

"What did you do?"

"I mean I wasn't BAD…" Bobby's snort of derision came through the speaker loud and clear. Natalie shot him a look, forgetting that Dean could see her face clearly.

"Hey! Don't you give him that look. You know better than to be disrespectful of Bobby," Dean said in a firm tone. "That's the third time I've seen you give him attitude in the last five minutes, and it stops NOW, little girl." Natalie immediately changed her expression, biting her lip.

"'M'sorry."

"Apologize to Bobby."

"Sorry, Pops."

"Now tell me what happened at school."

"So the rest of the class was supposed to be working on matching shapes on a dumb worksheet. And it took me like five seconds and then I was done and everyone else was still on the first shape."

Dean closed his eyes wearily. Dammit all to hell. When Natalie got bored, she got destructive. "So what did you do with your suddenly-discovered free time?" Dean asked ironically.

"Um…."

"Um?"

"Well…."

"Natalie Grace, tell me right now."

"I fed the class fish an Oreo."

"You…did what?"

"I saved an extra Oreo from lunch and I gave it to the fish."

"Kid, you know that Nic- Miss Benson has told you NOT to feed the fish except when she's helping you, and then only the real fish food. Class rules that I know you know. Why the hell did you do that?"

"Because he DESERVED an Oreo, Daddy! He has to swim around all day with all these stupid kids knocking on his glass tank, which I NEVER do and everyone else does and no one ever stops THEM, and I thought an Oreo would help him feel better!"

Dean rubbed his tired eyes. "Natalie…"

"But that's not all I did," came the tiny reply. Dean's head jerked back up and he fixed his daughter with The Eye.

"Tell me the rest. Now."

"I switched all the paint jar lids on the craft paint."

"What was the purpose of that?"

"Well, everyone is supposed to be working on matching colors too. I thought this could be a real life practice training."

"Is that all?"

"No."

"What the hell, kid?!"

"But you'll like this one!"

"I seriously doubt it."

"So this one jerk that sits at my table was picking on the one not-dumb kid in my class, so I taught her how to call him a swear word."

"Really? Which one?"

"Asshole."

"Well, good for you for sticking up for your friend."

"See? I told you you'd like that one! Miss Benson didn't, but I knew you would!"

Bobby's voice off screen interrupted her. "So now tell him about the rest of the stuff he ain't gonna like."

"There's MORE?!" Dean roared. Natalie's eyes darted back and forth between Dean's on the screen and Bobby's, who was apparently right behind the phone, from the direction she was looking.

"I mean…I just had so much time…" Natalie mumbled again, not happy that she was being called back to the carpet.

"Just get it over with and tell me, Natalie."

"I put the bully's shoes in the toilet. And tried to flush them. And then when Miss Benson asked me about it, I pretended that I didn't speak English and I only spoke in Latin for the rest of the day. And that's it."

Dean closed his eyes and sighed heavily. In his entire life, in all his years of prep and training to fight mythical creatures, nothing, nothing, NOTHING prepared him for being the father to a five year old. What the actual hell was he supposed to do now?

Pinching his lips together, he forced his eyes back open. "Natalie, why did you do all that?" he asked, in that quiet yet dangerous tone. "And don't give me the you-had-free-time answer."

Natalie fidgeted again as she squirmed, trying to keep her eyes on him when all she wanted to do was look away. "Um…'cause…I don't really know, Daddy."

"You don't know."

"No, I don't know. I just…I felt bad for the fish, and then the paint was right there and I just…I just kinda wanted to and no one was looking…I didn't mean to do all of that but I…just did."

"Did you know that Bobby was gonna call me if you got in trouble at school again?"

"Yeah."

"No 'yeah'."

"Yes, sir."

"Did you do this so you could talk more to me?"

Natalie's eyebrows came together as she considered this possibility. After a moment of her thinking seriously, she looked back at him, sorrow filling her eyes. "Did you only wanna talk to me today because I got in trouble?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"No!" Dean said in a rush, feeling suddenly and horribly guilty that she had misunderstood. "No, kid, I would have still called you tonight and every night, just like we do. Okay? Nothing's ever gonna change that."

"So are you still gonna call again tonight when I'm not in trouble?"

Dean's heart cracked in two. He didn't know what to do here. He didn't know which way to step. If he said no, he'd leave her with the memory of only being scolded and in trouble today. If he said yes, it might encourage her to misbehave more to talk to him more. He hated this. He absolutely hated this. He wanted to be there in the same room with her, holding her, hugging her, talking to her face to face, not just through a damn screen.

"Yes. I will call again tonight," he said firmly, not wanting her to think that her behavior was going to stop him from their nightly calls. "But we're talking right now, and you ARE in trouble, so we're dealing with this right now so we can have a good talk tonight. Kapeesh?"

Natalie's little shoulders slumped again, but there was less worry in her eyes. "Yes, sir," she said glumly.

"Natalie Grace, we have been over this before. You know that you are to be on your best behavior in school, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"And why is that?"

"Because school is important and I have to do it," Natalie recited in a humdrum voice, clearly reciting the lecture she'd gotten a hundred times from Sam.

"Look. I know you hate school. We've talked about how much you hate it. I haven't forgotten how much you hate it." Both father and daughter squirmed in tandem this time, remembering their epic blowout in the middle of the week of Schoolgate. "But you remember what you and I talked about after you had your first computer class?"

"We talked about me being good and brave and being a tough cookie."

"That's right. So what does being good and brave and a tough cookie at school mean?"

"It means…" Natalie paused, then looked back at Dean determinedly. "It means that sometimes stuff sucks but you gotta keep grinding and follow the rules and be a good person. Just like in hunting. Right?"

Dean smiled. "That's my girl. So. You think you can be a tough cookie and make it through the rest of this school year by following the class rules? Stop all these extra curricular activities and do what you're supposed to?"

"Yeah. I can do that."

"Good. But you also know that your behavior today don't fly. So you're going to bed an hour early for the next three days."

"THREE DAYS?!"

"Don't you use that tone with me, little girl. You wanna make it four?"

"NO! No, no! No, sir! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Sorry."

"That's better. You know damn well what you did, and you should consider yourself lucky that you're only getting three days after the crap you pulled AND disrespecting Bobby," Dean scolded. Natalie hung her head and kicked at the floor, causing Dean's heartstrings to pull again. "But when I call again tonight, we won't talk about any of this, okay? Clean slate. No red in your ledger. We can talk about whatever you want. Okay?"

Natalie looked up again with a small smile. "Okay," she said shyly. "I'm sorry I was bad, Daddy. I forgot to be a tough cookie."

"You weren't bad, kid. You made some bad choices. There's a difference. You hear me?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now I love you, no matter what you do, and nothing's gonna change that. You got me?"

"Yeah! I love you too!"

"I know you do, squirt. We'll talk tonight. Okay?"

"Okay, Daddy."

"Now. How do I finish this…Face Call thing?"

"It's Face Time, Daddy. I'll do it. Call me tonight!" she squealed, then punched a button on her end, and the line went dead.

Dean twisted his lips together in frustration that even the five year old understood technology better than he did, but that wasn't the biggest thing bothering him. He stood up, quietly slipped his phone into his pocket, and looked his little brother square in the eye. Sam had been silently observing the entire thing, not wanting to infringe on the moment. He raised his eyebrows, indicating that he was listening.

"I hate this, Sam," Dean said softly, before turning on his heel and heading for the door. Sam sighed and followed him into the parking lot as they headed towards the one monster that they could kill today.