Hello everyone! So sorry if you're getting a second update of the same story- I accidentally posted without checking it yesterday, my bad! Anyways, welcome back! Thank you for all the favorites, follows, and reviews. I love each and every one of them! Please feel free to leave me a review with things you'd be interested in reading about with Natalie!
A huge massive thank you and shout out to my girl, Jenmm31. As I've said before, she's my own personal Castiel. You can't have her :) Seriously though, she's a brilliantly talented writer who has been helping me to get my own silly ideas out here. If you want an amazing sisfic, go check out her stories- they're on my favorites page. They are so worth it!
In this story, Natalie is 5 years old. If you feel so inclined, read and review, but most importantly, ENJOY!
The spring winds blew a chill through the trees, stirring up the remaining leaves that recently had been buried underneath the snow. Despite the fact that snow had been on the ground only a few weeks ago, the park certainly had a plethora of visitors. It was March, and it was obvious that Mother Nature hadn't forgotten the recent cold of the winter. Sam pulled the edges of his tan jacket in closer. His eyes searched the grounds for his niece again, making sure she was keeping her coat on. She wasn't too hard to spot- he just had to look for the kid that looked like a Pink Tasmanian Devil.
Sam watched as Natalie tore around the playground, looking like she was hopping up on methamphetamines, racing around in her cute little pink jacket. He had to laugh- man, this kid had way too much energy. She was wearing poor Bobby out, now that she was staying mostly with him. He and Dean had pulled in to South Dakota on Friday morning, and they surprised her by picking her up from her kindergarten class. When she saw them, she had screeched like a banshee and almost knocked another kid over in her rush to get to them, jumping right into Dean's arms, and then barely waiting a moment before catapulting herself into Sam's. Sam found himself snickering at the memory of the surprised teachers' faces when they saw her do that. For a five year old, she was incredibly agile. She had talked non-stop from that moment until Dean had put her to bed, wanting to fill them in on every miniscule detail that they had missed over the last two weeks. By the time she was finally down and asleep, all of their ears were ringing from the excited babble. They had resoundly agreed to try to let her burn off some of her energy the next day. Sam volunteered to take her to the local park while Dean and Bobby restocked their ammo and cleaned the arsenal. Besides, Dean wanted to pick up a new shot gun, and taking a five year old to a gun store wasn't exactly smiled upon.
Sam watched as Natalie climbed up the slide- backwards. He smiled- such a "Dean" thing for her to do. Playing by nobody's rules but her own. When she got to the top, she turned around to see if her uncle was watching. When she caught his eye, she threw out her chest proudly.
"Didja see me run up the slide, Unca Sam?" she yelled, way louder than she needed to. He smiled at her and nodded. "I owned that like a BOSS, " she announced. He literally laughed out loud at that one, and wondered to himself where she had picked up that particular catch phrase. She had this uncanny habit of picking up things that people said around her, and using the references in the strangest ways. It was just one of the more adorable aspects of her larger than life personality. She nodded to herself, satisfied, and turned away, climbing deep into the tunnels of the plastic jungle gym. Sam stretched his arm along the back of the bench. This was nice- just being a real person, having a day off, watching his niece playing. He wished that there could be more of this, but he and Dean both knew there was no way that could ever happen.
They had wrestled with this decision all year. Natalie had started kindergarten last fall, and they were determined that she would not have to move around, constantly changing schools like they had to when they were growing up. They had finally come to the conclusion to let her stay with Bobby while she got an education. Bobby loved her like she was his own actual granddaughter- even going so far as to let her call him "Pops". None of them really knew where she picked that name up- she had just started calling him that one day. When asked about it, she shrugged and said, "He's not really Grandpa, so he's Pops." They hadn't been willing to argue with that logic, so she continued calling him by the affectionate name. However, any time Dean or Sam tried calling Bobby that, they got a smack on the back of the head from Pops himself. Oh well.
They had tried to stay as close to home as they could, but every week, someone called with a case, or an "unexplainable" tragedy happened in the news, and the boys were back on the road. It was tearing Dean up to be away from his daughter, but the compulsion and drive to rid the world of evil wasn't something you could just set aside lightly. They made damn sure they were there for every holiday, and as many weekends as they could manage, but it wasn't easy. After an initially rocky start to the school year, Natalie was settling in to her class. She still came home every day declaring that school was stupid, but at least she wasn't kicking and screaming like she had her first week. That had been rough. Her teacher said she was now doing fine, but she seemed bored and uninterested by the whole "school" thing. She was much more interested in running around and learning about the "Real Life Stuff" as she called it- all the cases and lore that Dean and Sam worked on.
They had never lied to her about what they did. She knew they fought evil creatures, and she knew they were working to help make the world a safer, better place. They obviously kept most of the details about the actual cases to themselves, but she was young enough to not push for specifics, not just yet. Sam knew both he and Dean were dreading the day when that changed. His eyes scanned the jungle gym again, looking for her. He found her, but was surprised when he did. She had climbed down off the jungle gym, clearly drawn by something else. She was standing stock still, staring off into the distance. He followed her entranced gaze to a young woman on the other side of the park, who was playing catch with a golden retriever. His head turned back to Natalie, who was still staring like she was seeing the sun for the first time. Her little mouth was agape as she watched the woman throw a red Frisbee, and the dog tearing across the field to catch it in its mouth. Natalie slowly turned her gaze to Sam, as if to say, Are you seeing this? When she saw that he was once again looking at her, she raised up one hand and pointed at the dog.
"Unca Sam, lookit!" she said breathlessly, and her eyes slid back to the goldie. The woman was laughing, scratching the dog behind the ears, and the dog was jumping up and down, thrilled with the play time. Before Sam knew it, Natalie took off, running towards them.
"Whoa, whoa! Natalie, stop!" he yelled after her, but it was too late. He jumped up and began jogging after her. Damn, she's fast for such a little girl, he thought to himself. He actually had to start running to try to get to her before she reached the dog, but there was no way he was going to make it. By the time he caught up to her, she had her hands deep in the fur coat of the beautiful dog, with the woman, standing next to them, petting the dog's head.
"Natalie!" he scolded as he came up next to them. "You know better than to run away from me like that!" Natalie didn't pay him the slightest bit of attention- she was completely absorbed in her new found friend. Sam's gaze went to the young woman who obviously owned the dog.
"I'm so sorry, I hope she's not bothering you," he apologized.
"No, not at all!" the woman said, laughing. Just then, Sam noticed how very attractive the young woman was. Probably around 5'10", with her long blonde hair pulled back into a low ponytail. "I'm Corinne," she said, holding out her beautifully french-manicured hand.
"Sam," he said, taking her hand and shaking it.
"Is this cute little girl yours?" she asked.
Sam smiled. "No, she's my niece. This is Natalie." He squatted down next to the child. "Say hi," he instructed softly.
Natalie looked up from the dog, and flashed Corinne her huge smile. "Hi!" she squeaked excitedly. "I really like your puppy!"
"I can tell," Corinne said, giggling. "His name is Harvey."
"Harvey," Natalie repeated, twisting the name around in her mouth, deciding if she liked it or not. She decided that she did, and she looked back up at Corinne. "I like that name!" she declared.
Corinne laughed at the little girl's openness. "Well, thank you! I like your name too!" Natalie giggled once, and went back to playing with Harvey, who was clearly thrilled to be playing with someone his size. Corinne looked at Sam.
"It's awfully nice that you brought your niece out to the park, Sam," she said. He smiled.
"Well, it was either let her run around the park and try to burn off some of her hyperactivity, or let her destroy the house," he joked. Corinne laughed again, and he felt just a little bit taller. "She's a great kid, but I have no idea where all that energy comes from."
"I'm a school teacher- believe me, I understand hyper kids," she commented wryly. Now it was his turn to laugh. They watched Natalie play with the beautiful golden retriever, the little girl giggling and shrieking as the dog in turn played back with her, jumping away and barking happily, then running back and licking her face. Sam turned to Corinne again.
"How long have you had Harvey?" he asked, in what he hoped was a smooth, nonchalant way.
"About two years now. After my boyfriend and I broke up, one of my school teacher friends suggested that I get a dog to help fill the void. And it's worked wonders. Harvey got me through it, and I'm definitely ready to get back out there. You know, join the dating world again," she said, batting her eyelashes. Sam choked a bit, but tried to cover it with a hasty remark.
"Uh, yeah...yeah, that's um...that's a really good thing." Corinne arched her eyebrow and suppressed a smile. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she retrieved it.
"Oh, shoot, I have to leave- I have a thing I have to go to tonight," she said, looking like she actually did in fact regret having to leave. She tilted her head coyly at Sam. "Maybe I'll see you tomorrow? I'll be sure to bring Harvey."
Sam sent up a quick and silent prayer that his flustered tongue would actually respond intelligently. "Um...yeah...that'd be...great. I mean, like great, like...It'd be great to see you again. Here. At the park." So much for that prayer.
She smiled, charmed by his awkwardness. She turned to Natalie. "Hey, sweetie- thanks for playing with Harvey. He really liked you, I can tell."
Natalie's eyes went wide. "Really? He really really did?" she asked, as if she couldn't believe it. Corinne nodded importantly.
"Sure did. Maybe you could bring your uncle back to the park tomorrow and you could play with Harvey again." Natalie's mouth dropped open, and she squealed with delight. She wrapped her arms around Sam's leg.
"Can we Unca Sam? Can we can we can we?" she begged. He chuckled at her persistence.
"We'll see, Bug," he said, then looked back up at Corinne.
Corinne laughed. "What did you call her?"
Sam blushed and smiled. "Bug. It's just a nickname I've been calling her for years."
"That is adorable," she said, and Sam's insides melted. "It was so nice to meet you Sam. I really hope to see you tomorrow," she said, giving him the eye. He nodded vigorously.
"Yeah, because it...yeah, um...tomorrow..." he finished lamely. Corinne just smiled and jogged away with Harvey. He watched her go, oblivious to the little person who had detattched herself from his leg and was now bouncing around in excitement. Real smooth, Winchester. Real smooth, he thought to himself. When Corinne was no longer in sight, his attention shifted back to the hyper five year old jumping up and down at his feet. He suddenly remembered that he had to take care of the little chase scene she had put him through.
"Natalie," he said in a stern voice. She immediately stopped jumping upon hearing his tone. She looked solemnly into his face. "You do not go running off like you did when you saw the puppy. That's not safe. You know better than to do that," he chastised her.
Natalie bit her lower lip, and she mumbled, "I'm sorry, Unca Sam. I won't run off again."
"Good," he said, ruffling her hair. He reached down and took her hand. "I think it's about time we went home, don't you?" He gave her hand a gentle tug, and began to walk back to the car with her in tow. Sam noticed the breeze was picking up, and it was getting colder. Yes, definitely time to get back inside.
"Unca Sam?" Natalie said suddenly.
"What's up?"
"I want a puppy."
Oh God.
Sam stopped in his tracks. He must have really been out of it while talking to Corinne. He hadn't noticed how attached Natalie had gotten to Harvey, so quickly. This was bad. Normally, when a little kid said they wanted something that it wasn't a good idea for them to have, usually you could just distract them for a little while, and they would forget all about it. Not so with this kid. When she decided she wanted something, she was bound and determined to get it, come hell or high water. She had more will power than most of the grown men Sam knew. Not only was she a Winchester, she was Dean Winchester's daughter. That automatically put her into a whole new category of stubborn. They all remembered, all too well, when she had decided to start dressing herself at the age of three. Every single morning for a solid month had begun with a tornado of children's clothing, everything from pink socks to tiny Metallica shirts flying through the air. And she flat out refused help any help, even when she got her head stuck in one of the legs of her pants (Sam still for the life of him couldn't figure out how that one happened). Between that and School Gate (as they now called her first week of kindergarten), they had learned that she was a stubborn, determined little girl. Sam knew he had one chance to nip this "puppy thing" in the bud, and he begged himself not to mess it up.
He started walking again, holding tight to her hand. "Well, sweetheart, I'm sorry, but I don't think that's going to be able to happen."
"Why not?" she asked innocently.
"Well, for one thing, puppies require a lot of care and maintenance."
"What's maintenance?"
"It means you have to feed them, play with them, and walk them all the time."
"I could do that!"
"No, remember, you've got school. You can't stay home and take care of a puppy when you're in school."
"Maybe Pops can help."
Sam shook his head. "No, Bobby is getting too old to have to take care of a dog." He looked quickly down at her. "But don't tell him I said that."
"I still think I could do it."
"Natalie, a puppy just isn't a good idea, sweetie."
"Yes it is. I want one, please," she said, turning her biggest smile on him. Sam sighed. He stopped walking, knelt down once again to look Natalie in the eye, and pulled her right in front of him.
"Listen sweetheart. You can't get a puppy. I'm sorry, but the answer is no." She furrowed her brow for a moment, appearing to think deeply. Sam stared into her face, trying to figure out what she was thinking- whether or not she was going to listen to him, or start plotting to get her way. She finally unwrinkled her forehead, and looked him back in the eye.
"Okay," she said, finally. He stood up, took her hand again, relieved that she had actually capitulated. They were almost to the car, when she piped up again.
"Then I'll just ask Daddy."
Dammit.
When they pulled up to the house, Sam had barely put the car in park when Natalie scrambled out of the backseat. Her eyes immediately began scanning the property, but she didn't see the Impala, which meant her daddy wasn't home yet. She sighed, but then realized that maybe Bobby would help her on her goal of puppy ownership. She sprinted into the house. Sam watched her tear up the front porch. He had also noticed that Dean wasn't back yet, and he breathed a sigh of relief. His brother was going to be none-too-pleased about Natalie's new obsession. This gave him a chance to think, to try to formulate a plan to get this idea out of her head before Dean got home.
By the time Sam had gotten through the front door, Natalie had shed her coat on the living room floor, found Bobby, crawled into his lap, and was talking a mile a minute about their adventures in the park. Sam picked up the tiny pink coat with his bitch face firmly planted on- geez, she was forgetting all of her manners being here. He walked into the kitchen where Bobby had parked his wheelchair, and overheard Natalie telling him about their experience. She was currently describing her epic climb up the slide.
"...and then there was this really nice lady, and her name was Corinne, and she had a really pretty puppy, and its name was Harvey, and I want one, please." She sat up in Bobby's lap, looking into his face expectantly. The sudden halt of her words startled the older gentleman. He did a double take, and tried to latch onto the last thing she said- it was really hard to keep up with her sometimes.
"There was... a puppy?" he asked, confused. Natalie rolled her eyes in scornful five year old fashion.
"Yes, Pops, I just said that! It was the prettiest puppy in the whole wide world! The lady who had the puppy let me pet him and play with him. And we even played fetch and it was the most fun ever! And I would really like a puppy, now, please."
Bobby's eyes swung to Sam standing in the doorway. Sam just heaved a big sigh. He didn't even need to look at the old man to know that he was getting the evil eye from him. Bobby's attention turned back to Natalie.
"Well, hate to break it to you kiddo, but there won't be any puppies anytime soon around here," he said, in his gruff yet trying to be gentle way. Natalie nodded knowingly.
"Yeah, that's what Unca Sam said. So I'm going to ask Daddy instead."
"And what makes you think your daddy is going to say yes when both your uncle and I have said no?"
"Because I want the puppy for a friend. I don't have any."
This time, Sam definitely caught the evil glare radiating from Bobby. Bobby had been taking care of Natalie since September, and he knew damn well how stubborn she was, how delicate this situation could truly become, and how badly Sam had screwed up. Sam cleared his throat, and walked over to them, plucking Natalie from Bobby's lap. "Hey Bug, I think it's nap time," he announced. Natalie wrinkled her nose. She didn't like nap time, but she also knew better than to fight him on it. She wrapped her arms around Sam's neck, and plunked her chin into his shoulder resignedly. He smiled at her gesture, and looked at Bobby. "I'll be right back," he said.
Bobby's glare hadn't shifted one iota. "You better be," he threatened. Sam's insides quaked for a split second, then he turned around, taking Natalie up the stairs. After a few short moments of trying to get her to lay down while she told him all about her name options for her new puppy, and how her new puppy was going to be so pretty, and all the tricks she was going to teach her new puppy, Sam finally got her quiet and still, and he exited the room quickly. He made his way back to the kitchen, where Bobby was sitting, still glaring.
"Yeah, I know," Sam said before Bobby could start in on him, He felt himself deflating under the wilting glare, trying to stem the stream of swear words that he knew the old man was about to send his way.
"How the hell did she get this notion in her brain?" Bobby hissed. "Were you just too busy looking at the pretty girl on the other end of the damn dog to notice how attached she was getting?" he scolded. Sam shoved his hands in his pocket and looked away, basically confirming what Bobby had just said. Bobby shook his head in annoyance. "Idjit," he growled.
"Look, I'm sorry," Sam said. Bobby's eyes narrowed.
"It ain't me you got to be apologizing to, boy. You've now got a little girl upstairs who's going to be heartbroken when it finally sinks in that she's not getting a dog, and your brother is going to be pissed as hell at you for breaking that little heart."
Sam nodded miserably. "I know," he said. "I tried explaining it to her, I told her every time on the way home that it wasn't going to happen, but you know her..."
Bobby nodded ruefully and finished Sam's thought. "Once she gets an idea in her brain, God help whoever stands in her way." He exhaled in a huff. "Well, you're gonna have to explain to Dean all about this, you know that."
"Yeah, don't remind me," Sam said, turning to look out of the window. "Where is Dean, anyway?"
"Picking up a new sawed-off a couple towns over. He should be back in an hour or so." Sam nodded again, but stayed silent. What the hell was he going to tell his brother?
Later that afternoon, Dean was driving down the highway, the windows rolled down, singing along to his favorite AC/DC cassette tape. He had a new sawed-off in his trunk, and all evening to spend with his kid- he was pretty damn happy about life in general right now. He glanced at his watch. He figured Sam had gotten Natalie down for a nap- well, he hoped that Sam had gotten Natalie down for a nap- and she should be waking up pretty soon. He stepped on the gas pedal, urging his Baby to go faster. He had really missed seeing Natalie, and it had only been their need for new supplies that had kept him from taking her to the park today. But that was okay- tonight was going to be his night. He'd pick her up, they'd go get her favorite dinner (grilled cheese and onion rings), and he planned on watching a movie with her. They had never really gotten to do that together, and he had the perfect movie in mind. Both Bobby and Sam disagreed with him- they thought she far was too young for Star Wars, but he knew his kid- she was going to love it. He pulled up to the old house, and got out of the car. He walked inside to find a somber Sam and Bobby waiting for him in the living room.
"Hello, boys," he greeted, not picking up on the melancholy right away. He grinned at both of them. When they didn't grin back, he stopped in his tracks.
"What's wrong? Where's Natalie?" he asked, his eyes immediately scanning for danger. Sam shook his head.
"She's upstairs, napping."
"You got her down for a nap? Nice job, Sammy," Dean said, his eyes landing on Sam, and walking further into the room. He plopped down on the couch, and waited for his brother to continue. Sam crossed his arms over his chest, and looked uncomfortable. Dean's eyes were amused as he watched both Sam and Bobby shift nervously.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt your girl talk?" he teased. Sam rolled his eyes, and Dean grinned again at having successfully annoyed his brother.
"Sam got himself into a little situation today," Bobby said. Dean's focus shifted to Bobby.
"Oh really? What kind of situation?" he asked. Bobby glared at Sam, which surprised Dean- it was usually himself on the receiving end of that look. Sam shifted uncomfortably again.
"Well...we have a bit of a problem. Natalie has an idea now...that she wants a puppy," Sam stammered. Dean waited, but that seemed to be all Sam was going to say. He cleared his throat.
"Okay. So a five year old said that she wants a puppy. You're right- we should probably alert the media."
Sam rolled his eyes again, then focused back on Dean. "No, you don't get it- she's already obsessed with the idea."
"Yeah, no, I totally see the problem. We should probably…I don't know…put a Twit out on that."
Sam stopped short. "A what?" he asked, perplexed.
Dean halted in his insults, and tried to look like he knew what he had just tried to reference. "You know….that thing that everyone does on their phones. Where they spill all of the crap that's going on in their lives and then insult each other?"
Sam narrowed his eyes in confusion, trying to figure out what the hell Dean was talking about. "Wait…do you mean Twitter?"
"Yeah."
"Dean, they're called Tweets, not Twits."
"You're a Twit."
Bobby reached over and smacked the back of Dean's head. "Listen to what your brother is trying to tell you, ya idjit." Dean mouthed the word "Ow", and rubbed the back of his head, looking annoyed. Sam tried again.
"You know how she gets when she's decided that she wants something. And she wants this- bad."
Dean's eyes widened as Sam's words sunk in. He held up his hand. "Hang on. I've only been gone like 3 hours, and already, she's got a new obsession over getting a puppy? And it's gotten that bad, that quickly?" Both Sam and Bobby nodded. Dean exhaled loudly. "Well, shit."
"Exactly," Sam said, glad that Dean was finally taking this seriously. Dean fixed his brother with a stare.
"What happened?" he demanded. Sam opened his mouth, but Bobby interrupted him.
"Sammy decided to take more interest in the opposite sex this afternoon than pay attention to his niece," he growled. Sam shot Bobby a look, annoyed that he had just been thrown directly under the bus. Dean's eyes narrowed further.
"Really? A chick? Seriously dude?" he asked derogatorily. Sam threw up his hands.
"I'm sorry, alright?!"
Dean shook his head. "Great time to decide to grow a pair there, kiddo."
"Natalie saw this lady playing with her dog at the park, and she apparently fell in love. I was just talking to Corinne- the woman-" Sam said for clarification. "Natalie was right there the entire time, playing with the dog. it was only like five minutes. I didn't think she was going to walk away wanting one," he said, trying to defend himself.
Dean thought for a moment, then grunted, "Was the chick at least hot?" Sam hemmed and hawed, but eventually answered up.
"Yeah, she was."
"Well, I honestly can't blame you there," Dean said, knowing he would have probably done the exact same thing had the situation been reversed. He glanced up the stairs towards where his daughter was sleeping. "Did you try to talk her out of it?"
Sam and Bobby both nodded. "We both did," Bobby said. "She's a stubborn little goat. Wonder where she gets that from." Dean glared sideways at the old man, but he knew he was right. "She also said that she needed a puppy as a friend, because she didn't have any."
Dean heaved a sigh, and ran a hand over his head. "She's going to be all kinds of broken up over this one," he said bitterly. Sam stepped in closer.
"I know, and I'm really sorry, man. I just don't know what to do here."
Dean shook his head. "I know. This is going to suck. But she's a tough cookie- she'll be okay." Suddenly, Bobby cleared his throat uncomfortably, and looked away. Both Winchesters looked at him. Bobby looked like he was rolling something over in his mind, unsure of whether to tell them or not. He finally looked up at the both of them.
"Well, I don't rightly know about that," he stated, hesitantly.
"What do you mean?" Dean pressed, his blood pressure starting to rise. The fact that Bobby may know something about Natalie that Dean didn't did not sit well with him. Bobby shifted around uncomfortably again before answering.
"Look, I didn't want to tell you this, but...well, that kid's not as tough as she pretends to be. She bucks up real good for school because she knows she has to, but I know for a fact that she hates it- hates every damn second of it. And every time you two leave on another case, well...that's when the waterworks start."
Dean's lips parted as he inhaled sharply. "She cries when we leave?"
Bobby gave a half hearted shrug. "Sort of. She never wants me to see her cry- she has this real thing against crying, she just doesn't like to do it." Dean and Sam both nodded- they knew that one. "But she immediately races up to her room as soon as you've pulled out of the driveway, and she doesn't come down for about an hour or so. And when she does come down, her face is all red and swollen. She can't hide that, no matter how hard she tries."
Sam and Dean exchanged a look. They had no idea that she was getting so upset every time they left.
"I didn't want to tell you because I knew that it would only make things worse," Bobby said apologetically.
Dean shook his head. "No, I'd rather know. I mean, I get why you didn't tell me. It just...sucks." Dean dropped his head into his hands. His daughter's heart was breaking, breaking all the time, and it was all his fault. Dean chewed on his tongue for a second, before looking up at Sam.
"Dude. I can't keep doing this," he said, his voice breaking. Sam bowed his head- he knew how Dean felt. He also knew that Dean felt it much more strongly than he did.
"I know," he said in a low voice. "But I don't see what other choice we've got. She needs her best chance, and that's..."
"Staying here, yeah, I know that. You don't have to tell me again," Dean interrupted bitterly. He rubbed both hands on the back of his head. Even though Sam was right, he knew that he wasn't going to stand for this much longer. He just couldn't be away from his baby girl- he just couldn't. But that was a problem he couldn't solve today. As for the problem that was right in front of him...a sudden blessed brainwave hit him.
Dean suddenly stood up. "I have an idea." He looked at Bobby and Sam. "I don't know what we're going to do about this whole school thing, but I think I know what to do about this dog business. I'm going to go grab us some dinner- let Natalie sleep until I get back, okay?" He grabbed his keys and raced out the front door.
About half an hour later, he walked quietly upstairs, and deposited the small bag outside of her door. He opened it just a crack, and saw her kicking her blankets off- a sign that she was waking up. Perfect timing, he thought to himself.
"Hey Sleeping Beauty," he called out softly. Her eyes popped open upon hearing his voice, and she turned her head sleepily towards the door. When she saw him standing there, she gave him her biggest smile.
"Hi Daddy," she said, yawning.
"Can I come in?" he asked. She nodded vigorously, and started rubbing the sleep from her eyes. He bounded into the room and jumped on top of her bed, bouncing her up as the force of his weight hit the box springs. She shrieking and laughed, now fully awake thanks to his cannon ball dive onto her bed. She clambered out of her blankets and sat up with her legs tucked underneath her.
"Did Unca Sam tell you about the puppy, Daddy?" she asked, with no preamble whatsoever. Dean closed his eyes and smiled for a moment. He really hoped this persistence would pay off later in life for her.
"He did. And we need to talk about that, kiddo." Natalie waved him off with one tiny hand.
"I know that he said that I couldn't have one..."
"And he's right."
"But I think that I could."
Dean sat up and scooted closer to her. "Listen, squirt," he said, making sure she was giving him her full attention. Her wide green eyes looked directly at him, like she was seeing his soul. That didn't make this any easier. "The thing with puppies is- they're for other people."
Natalie's face wrinkled in confusion. "For other people? What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, other people who live differently than we do. You know, the boring life," he said, poking her in the stomach. She giggled- it tickled when he did that.
"We have a life where we can't always have the same things as the boring people. But you know what?" he said, leaning into her like he was sharing a secret.
"What?" she said with five year old wonder.
"That means that we get to have other stuff that the boring people don't get. We get to go all over the country, and we get to help people, and we get pie. Lots and lots of pie." She giggled again, knowing how much he loved his pie. "And- we get to be tough. Sometimes, not having the things that the boring people have makes us strong. We get to be so strong- stronger than anyone else in the world. We get to be tough cookies. And you, kiddo, are one tough cookie." She beamed at his praise.
"But, I'm really sorry, that means we don't get puppies." Her little face fell.
"Oh," she said, quietly. Her eyes dropped onto the comforter of the bed, and she began chewing her lower lip, which Dean knew meant she was trying not to cry. He hurried on.
"We do, however, get super cool TOY puppies though." She lifted her head back up, looking inquisitively at him. He stood up, walked back to the door, and retrieved the plastic bag he had left outside earlier. He brought it over to the bed, sat down, and carefully opened it. He then pulled out a stuffed golden retriever puppy dog. Natalie's mouth dropped open- she had never seen anything like that before in her life. She just sat there, staring at it with her mouth hanging open.
Dean was watching her face, not sure if this was flying or not. "Well?" he asked. "Do you like it?" She reached out towards it, but then quickly withdrew her hands. She looked Dean full in the face. He had never seen her green eyes so wide before.
"It's mine? All mine?" she whispered, like she couldn't believe it.
"Uh- huh," he said, proudly. Her attention shift back to the toy. She reached out slowly, like if she moved too fast, the puppy would disappear. She finally was brave enough to stretch her right hand out and stroke the silky head. She gasped, withdrew her hand, and looked up at Dean once again.
"It's really really soft!" she said, her little voice squeaking in delight.
"Yeah it is!"
"And it's so pretty!" She finally reached both hands out and cupped the puppy's face, staring into its eyes. Dean chuckled at her halting movements- of all the moments to be quiet and reserved, he sure as hell didn't think this was going to be that moment for her.
"Hey- I'm pretty sure this puppy needs a hug," he said gently. She gave a sudden squeal, grabbed the toy, and pulled it into her chest, hugging it tightly.
"Whoa there tiger, don't squeeze all the stuffing out!" Dean joked. Natalie gave a delighted laugh, then asked another question.
"What's its name?"
"You get to decide."
"All by myself?"
"Yup."
"Hmmm," she said, thinking. "Is it a boy puppy or a girl puppy?"
"You get to pick that too."
"Wow," she said, her five year old mind blown.
"If it's a girl, you could name it Samantha. After your uncle Sam. Because, you know, he's a girl," Dean said matter-of-factly. Natalie giggled again.
"Daddy!" she said, scolding him. Dean just shrugged and smiled. He watched his daughter think for another moment.
"It's a boy puppy, and his name is Tufty," she declared.
"That's a cool name, squirt. Where did you come up with that?" Dean asked.
She shrugged. "He's a tough cookie, just like me. And he's my new friend. So his name is Tufty!" Dean grinned, and reached out and ruffled her hair. She responded by launching herself into his arms, and planting a sloppy kiss on his cheek. "Thank you Daddy. I love him!"
"You're welcome, baby girl. Now how about you two tough cookies come downstairs? Food is here."
"Okay!" Natalie said, bounding off the bed, with Tufty tightly in her grip. She beamed at her new puppy, and gave it another hug. Dean was thrilled to his core.
"Guess what I got for dinner," he said, going down the stairs, watching carefully that she didn't fall, seeing as her hands and eyes were now overtaken by the dog.
"Grilled cheese and onion rings!"
"And the lady wins!"
"Score!" she said, sounding just like a miniature version of him.
"And guess what else? You and I are going to watch a movie together tonight."
"What movie?"
"It's called Star Wars. A New Hope, to be exact."
"What's Star Wars about?"
"It's only one of the greatest movies of all time. Super cool space battles, robots, light sabers."
"What's a light saber?"
"A sword that you can fight with, only it's made out of light."
"That. Sounds. AWESOME!"
"And it is."
"Are Unca Sam and Pops going to watch too?"
Dean shrugged. "Bobby might, but I don't know about your Uncle Sam. He's probably not tough enough to handle it." They reached the bottom of the stairs, and Natalie ran into the kitchen where Bobby and Sam were waiting to see how Dean's idea had gone over.
"Lookit the new puppy that Daddy got for me!" she said, holding out the stuffed toy for inspection. Sam's eyes sought Dean's, and when Dean gave him the nod that everything was okay, Sam heaved a sigh of relief.
"That's real nice, there, kid," Bobby said in his gruff manner, and gave her a rare smile. Sam nodded at her, agreeing.
"See? I told you that all I had to do was ask Daddy," she said smugly. Before any grown up in the room could jump on that little comment, she continued.
"And we're gonna watch a movie tonight too! But Unca Sam, Daddy said you're not tough enough to handle it."
Sam looked annoyed. "Oh, yeah? And why is that?" he asked Natalie, but his eyes glared at Dean.
"'Cause you're a girl." Sam's face switched to full on bitch mode. Dean just smiled proudly and pointed at Natalie.
"Now that's my kid."
