Hello you beautiful SPN family! Thank you all for the reviews, favorites, and follows- you make me do a happy dance whenever I see them!

So I'm trying something new here- if you've read my other Natalie story (insert shameless plug here) called "Sweet Child Of Mine", then you know I write cases that the Winchesters deal with in three parts. This is the first part of a new case entitled "The Candy Man". I hope you enjoy!

All the high fives and hugs in the world to Jenmm31. A fabulous friend, great collaborator, and muse! Thank you girl! Go show her fabulous stories some love- Dean and Sam have a sister named Kate, and she ROCKS, y'all. You can find her in my favorites. I promise you, it's worth it- her stories are wonderful.

Here we go! Please read, review, and enjoy!

PART 1

A/N- In this story, Natalie is 12

"Let's go- we're burning daylight!" Dean hollered into the open door of the motel room. Natalie quickly crammed the last of her school books into her duffle bag, and gently placed her old stuffed toy dog on top.

"Don't worry," she whispered to the golden retriever puppy. "I'll let you out as soon as I can." She quickly looked behind her to make sure no one had heard her. She was twelve, and would have been a bit embarrassed to be caught talking to her favorite childhood plaything, but she couldn't explain it- she always felt a bit guilty stuffing Tufty into a bag. She zipped it close, and slung it over her shoulder. She scanned the room quickly for any missed items. She caught a glimpse of something silver peeking out from under her dad's pillow. She rolled her eyes, and went to retrieve it. Sure enough, it was his .45. She stashed it in the small of her back quickly. Even in an empty parking lot, it still wasn't a good idea to walk out of a motel room holding a loaded gun. She made her way towards the Impala, carefully shutting the motel room door. Sam had gone to the front desk to check them out, while Dean was standing at the trunk of the car, double checking their hidden arsenal. When he was satisfied, he closed the bottom portion of the trunk. Natalie handed him her duffle bag.

"About time," he grumbled. "What took you so long?" Natalie gave him her best bitch face. Damn Sam for teaching her that one, Dean thought. Natalie surreptiously pulled Dean's .45 out from behind her back, and offered it to him with raised eyebrows.

"Oh," he said. He took the gun from her, examined it for a minute, then turned and gave her his lopsided grin. "Thanks squirt." She couldn't help but giggle at his devil-may-care attitude over a loaded gun. She reached down to pick up the other duffle bags, but Dean waved her away. She just stepped back and looked towards the front office.

"What is taking him so long?" Natalie wondered out loud. Dean chuckled as he lifted their luggage into the trunk.

"I'm guessing he rented some movies while we were out the other night, and he's settling up." Natalie was confused. Usually they all watched movies together; Uncle Sam hadn't mentioned watching any without them.

"What kind of..." she started to say. Dean just gave her a knowing look. She caught his gist. "Oh...gross!" Natalie said, disgusted. Dean just gave an evil laugh. Just then, Sam walked out of the front door. As he was making his way towards the car, he saw his niece staring at him, a bitter look on her face. When he reached the car, he looked at her, wondering why he was getting the evil eye. What had he done? They had barely said five words to each other this morning- just going through the usual ritual of packing up and shipping out.

"What?" he asked her, innocently. She just made a disgusted noise, and climbed into the backseat of the Impala. Sam stood there, confused. He turned to Dean, who, for some reason, had his lopsided grin on.

"What was that all about?" he asked, wondering.

Dean just gave a theatrical shrug.

"The manager was just yakking my ear off- I couldn't get away," Sam explained. "Is Natalie ticked because it took so long?"

"Yeah, I'm sure it's something like that," Dean said, unable to keep the devilish twinkle from his eyes. He flung the last of their bags into the trunk, closed it, and began walking towards the driver's side. The evil grin on Dean's face finally registered in Sam's mind.

"Wait...what? Hang on. What did you tell her?" Sam said, immediately growing suspicious.

"Let's go!" Dean announced cheerfully, and slid behind the wheel.

"Dean," Sam started to say, with a warning in his voice, but just then Dean slammed the car door shut, cutting him off. Sam just huffed, and got into the passengers' side. Dean was already pawing through the old cardboard box holding his impressive collection of Hair Metal cassette tapes.

"Let's see," he was saying. "What sounds good for today? Ha!" he said, looking up at Sam. "See what I did there? SOUNDS good?" He snorted. "I'm hilarious." He resumed digging, heading towards the bottom of the box, looking for some tapes he hadn't played in a while.

"How about the radio?" Natalie piped up from the back seat. Dean just gave her a don't be ridiculous look, and resumed digging.

"Come on, Dad! There is so much good music out there that didn't come from the Mesozoic Era," she said.

Sam smiled, once again impressed at her vocabulary. He turned to his brother and put on his best nursery rhyme voice. "That means the Dinosaur Age," he said patronizingly. Dean didn't even bother to look up.

"Shuddup," he said to his brother as he continued to paw through the box. He found an old Boston tape, and popped it into the player. Natalie groaned out loud.

"C'mon!" he said. "We haven't listened to this one in forever!"

"Dad, we've listened to them all so much, I can sing every single song on every tape. Backwards."

"And your life is more enriched because of it. You're welcome." He turned the key in the ignition, and the Impala roared to life, as did the sound system. He grinned- Carry On My Wayward Son was now pouring out of the speakers. Man, he loved this song.

Before Dean could take off, Natalie scooted forward, flopping her arms down over the front seat. "I'm not saying these songs aren't awesome- I mean, come on. They're classics."

"Damn straight."

"But how about a station that plays both classic rock and contemporary rock?" she cajoled.

Dean turned in his seat and stared at her. "You're acting like this is your first day. You know how this works." He faced forward again, ready to pull out of the parking lot.

Not to be deterred, she pressed on. "Come on! There are some great bands out there! Pretty Reckless...Breaking Benjamin...Five Finger Death Punch..."

"Five Finger what now?"

"I'm just saying it wouldn't kill you to freshen up your collection."

He took his hands off the wheel, and slapped them down on his thighs. "Alright. Clearly we have to go over this again." He turned around to face his daughter. "House Rules," he commanded.

Natalie rolled her eyes, annoyed at having to once again recite this mantra. "Driver picks the music, Shotgun shuts his cakehole."

"Good girl," he said, turning back around, placing his hands on the steering wheel.

An annoyingly superior look crossed her face. "But I'm not shotgun," she replied, smirking. She sat back and crossed her arms, as if she just fired the cannon to end the war.

Without missing a beat, Dean continued. "House Rule Number Two. Driver picks the music, BACKSEAT shuts HER cakehole." He looked at her in his rearview mirror. "Say it," he said in a growling, joking manner, keeping eye contact with her through the mirror.

She gave an overdramatic sigh, and begrudgingly repeated after him, her eyes boring a hole in the mirror. "Driver picks the music, backseat shuts her cakehole." Dean nodded his approval, his snarky grin growing wider. She huffed and looked out the window, trying to keep her own grin in check, but failing miserably.

"You suck."

"I love you too, kitten."

Dean sped out of the parking lot. He was on his game, managing to nail them both within the first half hour of the day. Today was going to be a good one.

*SPN SPN SPN*

Later on that evening, they pulled into a motel in the town of their new case, just a couple of blocks away from the downtown area. Unlike most of the motels they were forced to stay at, however, this one actually looked half way decent. All the lights were actually working on the 'Welcome' sign; there was no peeling paint on the exterior walls. Hell, there wasn't even a hooker in the parking lot. Upon pulling into a space towards the front office, the three Winchesters all got out of the car and looked around.

"Huh. A motel that doesn't suck," Dean commented, looking around him. "Kinda like the eighth wonder of the world, isn't it?"

"I didn't even know places like this actually existed," Natalie said, awestruck.

"Say what you will- I'm going to take this as a good omen," Sam said optimistically. Natalie and Dean caught the other's eyes, and rolled them in tandem. Sam could be such a dork sometimes. They made their way towards the front office. The glass door had no cracks in it, and Natalie could clearly read all the words printed there. She couldn't remember the last time that had actually happened. She had often amused herself while her dad or uncle checked them in, using what was left of the wording on the peeling and old motel office doors, and making new sentences or filling in the missing letters to make hilarious new phrases. Seeing that one of her favorite forms of entertainment wasn't going to pan out here, she walked up to the front desk, where Dean and Sam were talking to the older gentleman behind the counter.

"Welcome to Heaven's Rock, Georgia! What brings you fellas to our neck of the woods?"

"Little family weekend trip," Dean said without missing a beat. The desk clerk nodded, and looked down at Natalie. She was a good foot shorter than Dean, so she was used to the long take from people when they looked from him to her.

"Of course! And hello to you too, princess!" he said, sounding exactly like Santa. Natalie gave him a huge smile and blushed- she was used to the slow look commenting on her height- she wasn't used to being called "princess". The older man winked at her.

"That's a wonderful smile your little girl has there," he said to Dean. Sam nudged Natalie gently.

"Thank you," she said, blushing even deeper. Dean quietly snorted to himself- it wasn't often Natalie was actually tongue-tied.

"Well, I'm sure that you all will find Heaven's Rock to your liking!" the clerk continued cheerfully, looking at Sam.

"Yeah, we saw this place on the map, and figured, Heaven's Rock- that's got to be good, right?" Sam said, starting his usual flattery-to-get-information-out-of-people bit. The older man nodded his head enthusiastically.

"Heaven's Rock- it's the closest thing you'll get to Heaven on Earth!" he recited, obviously pleased with his town's tag line. Just then, an absolutely lovely woman stepped out from around the corner.

"I don't know about that," Dean muttered with a grin under his breath. "Hi," he said loudly to her. She looked up from the stack of paper work she was holding. When she caught the gorgeous green eyes of the man who had just spoken, she gave him a warm smile. The older gentleman suddenly spoke.

"Oh, where are my manners? Fellas- and little lady of course-" he said, winking at Natalie again. "This is my daughter, Belle." The woman stepped forward, and shifted her eyes away from Dean to take in Sam and Natalie too.

"Beautiful name for a beautiful lady," Dean mentioned, his come-hither smile going full blast. Natalie's eyes shifted from the lady to her dad's face. She inwardly sighed. She knew exactly what that look was. He had often tried to curb himself out of decency towards his daughter, but he was only human after all. Natalie just rolled her weight back on her heels, and watched him work.

"Hey, you watch yourself now, mister!" said the old man, laughing, and shaking a finger at Dean. Dean threw up his hands in a mock I surrender gesture, and made a frightened face, which seemed to please the clerk, who was still chuckling. "I'll let Belle check you folks in. Enjoy your time here! Be sure to check out our new down town stores. There's a candy store that just opened up; their chocolates are to die for!"

"A terrible price to pay, but we'll be sure to check it out," Sam said with a joking smile. The clerk pointed a finger at Sam in a that was clever! gesture, and nodded warmly at them all. He made his way towards the back room. Belle stepped to the front counter in place of her father.

"Now- we have a wide variety of rooms- what would you gentlemen prefer?" she asked. Dean thought her voice sounded just like those chocolates her father had just mentioned.

"One room, two beds please," he answered, trying to make it sound as seductive as possible. Natalie's eyes narrowed. She really didn't like it when Dean tried to pick up girls right in front of her. She wanted to nip this in the bud, but she wasn't sure how she was going to pull that one off without getting her ass handed to her. Belle's smile widened at Dean's words, and she checked the computer.

"You're in luck! My favorite room in the place is open. Let's get you checked in." Sam handed her his fake ID and credit card. She took it and began typing away, making small talk as she did so.

"My dad is right- Heaven's Rock really is a sweet little forgotten spot. I think you folks will really enjoy it here. We are a very family friendly town," she said, with a caring look at Natalie.

Natalie knew her opening when she heard it; she jumped right on that. "That is so great to hear," she said in her best little girl voice. "It's so hard finding towns that accept my two Daddies and our alternative lifestyle." She gave Belle the widest, most innocent smile she could pull off. Out of her periphery, and to her delight, she saw her father roll his bottom jaw around on its hinges, as if swallowing the next pick up line he was going to try. She turned to him, and gave him the sweetest, most adoring look, with a hint of "I just owned you like a boss". Dean gave a forced laugh, and dropped his hand heavily on her shoulder.

"Yeah- it's uh...just nice to know we're in a...safe place for...our little girl," he said, forcing the words out to confirm what Natalie had just said. It was a Winchester Law- whenever someone started a lie to a stranger; you said whatever it took to continue that lie. It was more convincing that way, rather than three people trying to get their own version of the story out. He was stuck in a trap made by his own rules, and was not exactly thrilled over it. He pulled Natalie in front of him, pinching her shoulder slightly.

"Hey- why don't you find yourself some more trouble to go get into, eh?" he said, subtly emphasizing the word "more". He reached back and gave her, what looked to anyone else, like an affection pat on the bottom as she passed.

Natalie pressed her lips together and made a low sound in her throat as the stinging smack landed. She looked over her shoulder and gave him as much of an annoyed look as she dared. He had totally swatted her that hard on purpose. Dean was just looking back at her with a smirk, as if to say, Tit for Tat, kiddo.

"Aww, that is so sweet!" Belle gushed. She looked back and forth from Sam to Dean. "How long have you two been married?" she asked. They both stammered for a moment, trying to come up with the next thing to say. Natalie smirked. Worth it, she thought, walking away, rubbing her stinging backside.

*SPN SPN SPN*

They had dropped off their stuff in the room. They were, once again, impressed by the lack of debris and stains that usually littered these kinds of places. The fold out couch actually folded out- something that thrilled Natalie to no end. She had always slept on the couches in whatever room they ended up in. Except for a few times when she was little, during thunderstorms or after a bad dream, she didn't sleep in motel beds- she didn't like them. They felt too weird to her. But fold out couches- now that was heaven. She plopped down on hers now with a contented sigh, and unzipped her bag. She pulled her stuffed dog out of it, and placed him gently next to the arm of the sofa. She was too old (in her mind) to sleep cuddling him anymore, but she still liked him near. When she looked back at her open bag, she saw her Greek literature book towards the top. She quickly zipped the duffle back up, hoping against hope that her uncle would forget about the homework he had assigned her for tonight. She stood up from her bed.

"Hey Dad," she said. Dean looked up from unpacking his own bag. "If you give me the salt I'll get going on the windows." Dean reached into the side pocket of his other duffle- the one loaded with all kinds of weapons- and retrieved the cylinder of salt. Barely looking at her, he tossed it in the air. She caught it with perfect precision. Dean smiled to himself- they were getting better and better at that. Natalie started making careful salt lines on all of the windows. Sam was still outside, rummaging through the trunk, so she didn't do the doors just yet. She popped the top of the salt container, closing it. She looked up at her dad.

"Done," she said, smiling satisfactorily.

"Good girl," he said, reaching out his hand. She tossed the salt container back to him, flipping it through the air. Dean also caught it single handedly. They looked at each other, identical grins on their faces.

"Score!" they said at the same time. Natalie walked over and high fived him. Her Dad was so cool. Just then, Sam walked through the door with the last of the bags. He looked around the room.

"Wow," he said. "Even the rooms are nice here." And he was right. The walls were actually painted instead of covered with peeling wallpaper, and they were the nicest shade of royal blue, with a soft silver detailing on the crown molding and base boards. There was a lovely picture of a vacationing family hung on the wall, the frame painted in a shade to match the room's silver detailing. Sam studied the picture for a moment. The family in the picture looked like they were having the time of their lives, enjoying a picnic on a sunny day and laughing. The two older kids were listening to a shared IPod, while the parents were laughing at the adorable antics of the youngest. Sam looked at the picture curiously. Not your typical motel art, but he couldn't deny that it made a nice change from the usual ugly flower bouquets and fruit baskets that normally adorned the walls of places like this. He turned back around to his brother and niece.

"Belle told me about a great locally owned diner down the road- said we should check it out," he commented.

"Sweet," Dean said, his stomach rumbling. "Come on, kids, wheels up." He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. If this was what the room and people were like in Heaven's Rock, he couldn't wait to try the food.

*SPN SPN SPN*

A half hour later, they were seated at a quaint little restaurant. Belle had been right- this place was great. Even though it was only about seven o clock at night, the restaurant was pretty empty, save for a couple seated on the other side of the room, and a family that was paying and heading out. But that definitely wasn't a commentary on the food.

"Oh my god," Dean moaned, stuffing another bite of his burger into his mouth. "This burger is so good, I want to ask it on a second date." He shoved a couple of French fries in without bothering to finish swallowing his previous bite. Natalie didn't comment- she was too busy digging into her grilled shrimp salad. Even Sam was speechless- the lasagna was killer, and he was seriously contemplating licking the plate clean when he was done.

Natalie finally came up for air, and sighed contentedly. "Totally made the right call on this place. I mean, come on- it's called the "Mom-And-Pop Stop". That's adorable." She looked around the room, approvingly. "You know, other than the mysterious disappearance that just happened here, I'd say this place is pretty darn near perfect."

Sam looked around quickly, but no one appeared to have heard her. The young couple on the other side of the diner were clearly too wrapped up in sharing their milkshake to pay attention to what his niece had just said. He looked back at Natalie, a stern look crossing his face.

"You need to be more careful about saying stuff like that so loudly," he scolded.

"He's right, you know," Dean said, his mouth still full.

Natalie heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry," she apologized, looking down. "I'll be more careful." Sam nodded his approval, then went back to his plate. Dean picked up his beer and took a long swig. When he was done, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Okay, let's review this case," he said. "Quietly," he added, with a pointed look at his daughter. She squirmed a bit, and shoved another forkful of salad in her mouth. Sam cleared his throat, and took a sip of water before beginning, making sure to keep his voice down.

"A couple of months ago, in upstate Georgia, guy goes missing from his bed late one night. No blood, no signs of foul play, just gone."

"And his wife said that she didn't hear anything. She was woken up by a flash of light, and that's when she discovered that he was hasta la vista," Natalie piped up, making sure her tone was lower as well.

Dean nodded at both, encouraging them to keep going, while he kept stuffing his face. Sam continued.

"Now here in Heaven's Rock, two nights ago, same thing happens. This time, a teenage boy disappears. Same deal- no signs of a struggle or anything. The neighbors saw a flash of light, according to the article we read, and that was it."

Dean nodded, thinking. "What do you think it is?" he asked them both.

Sam shrugged. "I'm not sure. I was thinking angels at first-"

"Because of the light," Dean interrupted.

"-but that isn't really their style," Sam said, finishing his sentence. "I mean, they don't exactly kidnap people out of their beds when they need help from a human."

Dean nodded, then looked at Natalie. "Any word from Cas?"

She shook her head. "Not a peep. He's not answering a summon, or his cell phone for that matter. Why does he even keep that thing? He never freaking answers it," she complained. Both brothers shrugged- it was best not to look too deeply into why Castiel did anything.

"What was the other thing about the kid? Something about the house he was in?" Dean asked, playing dumb, trying to see if Natalie remembered an important detail that they had caught in the article.

"The boy was home alone- his parents are allegedly on some second honeymoon cruise, and left him here," she said, without missing a beat. Dean smiled. He looked at Sam.

"Did you get the address?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. I figured we could check the place out tomorrow night. Let's check around town in the morning, see if we can dig anything up?" he suggested, scraping the last of the sauce from his plate with his fork.

"Sounds good to me. What do you think, squirt?" he said, looking at his daughter. She smiled and shrugged. She was always up for anything. She reached over to her dad's plate to steal a fry. He gently slapped her hand away.

"Yeah, I don't think so," he said, grabbing another handful of fries and stuffing them in his mouth. She looked at him, incredulous.

"Come on, it's just one fry."

"If you wanted fries, you should have gotten them, instead of that rabbit food crap."

She rolled her eyes. If Dean had his way, she would be eating nothing but Bacon Cheeseburgers and Apple Pie. "I didn't want a whole plate of them, I just want one." She reached over again, and Dean yanked the plate out of her reach.

"No! Mine!" he said, in his growling playful way. He pointed a finger in her face, warning her to stay away, and she fell back against her seat, giggling. "That's what I thought," he said. Just then, the diner door opened, causing the bell over it to ring. Natalie turned to look. Her eyes grew wide.

"Wow," she breathed. "That woman is beautiful." Dean immediately swiveled to look. Natalie quickly reached over and grabbed a handful of fries, and popped them into her mouth before her dad could catch on. When Dean saw that the person who walked through the door was actually a rather large, balding, middle aged man, Sam's ensuing snicker alerted him to the ruse. He turned back around to catch his daughter, chewing triumphantly.

"Seriously?" he said.

"Do you want me to put 'em back?" she said, opening her mouth to show him the half chewed stolen fries. Sam laughed openly at the look on Dean's face.

"Now, little missy, it's not polite to talk with your mouth full," teased the waitress as she waddling over to them. The waitress, whose name was Matilda, looked like she was straight out of a Betty Crocker cookbook, complete with iron grey curls, a gently wrinkled face, and big squishy shoes. Natalie grinned, and swallowed.

"Yes, ma'am," she said, her grin still a mile wide.

"See?" Dean said, pointing to the lady.

"And you should really learn to share, young man," the waitress continued, pursing her lips in amusement and looking at Dean, who was now squirming. She turned to Sam with a motherly look.

"You should really teach these two some manners," she said, a twinkle in her eyes. Sam chuckled.

"Believe me, I'm trying," he said. The lady looked at Natalie again, who shrugged and giggled in the cutest way.

"Sweetheart, you have a beautiful smile," she commented. Natalie blushed and ducked her head again.

"Thank you," she mumbled, unable to keep the smile off her face, but charmingly embarrassed by the compliment. The woman appeared to be tickled pink by them.

"Oh, I like you all- you're good people," she said, honey in her voice. "You remind me of my own sons. Except I don't have a granddaughter- not just yet." She reached into the pocket of her apron, and pulled out a well worn photograph of a little boy with dark hair and beautiful blue eyes. She showed it off proudly.

"That's my grandson, Aiden. He's just about five years old, and he's got enough energy to light up this whole town!" she said, chuckling.

"Yeah, I remember those days," Dean said with a grin. She patted him on the shoulder, and pocketed the photo.

"Now what would you all like for dessert?" she asked. "Cook just made an apple pie that will set your heart a flutter!"

Dean stared at her like she was an angel. "Matilda- you just said the magic words," he said, his own charm factor turning on. The waitress nodded, and walked away.

"Homemade apple pie- kid, it doesn't get any better than this," he said, reaching over and ruffling Natalie's hair.

"You said it. And when we get back to the motel, I just want to watch TV until my eyes fall out," she said.

Sam gave her a pointed look. "After you finish your homework, of course," he said, his eyebrows raised. Natalie opened up her mouth to argue.

"Don't even try it," Dean said, before taking another swig of his beer. He hadn't even turned to look at her- he didn't have to. Natalie just crossed her arms and sat back. At least she still had apple pie to look forward to.

*SPN SPN SPN*

Later that night, just past eleven, after the Winchesters and the rest of the charming little town were all sleeping, a stray tom cat walked along the quiet streets of the suburbs of Heaven's Rock. The night was so quiet that you could almost hear the cat's paws on the pavement. The cat looked around, searching for prey in the darkness. All the houses on the street were still; barely a light in the window here or there. The cat squinted its eyes against the blackness, searching for food.

It began padding its way towards the house at the end of the cul de sac, thinking it had seen some movement by one of the perfectly manicured bushes out front. As it was making its way towards the house, a sudden flash of blinding light from a house behind it startled it into whipping around, its tail puffed up to twice its normal size. It stayed perfectly frozen, on alert, as the flash of light dissipated and the street was once again covered in darkness. It watched warily as a light flipped on in the house that had suddenly lit up. The cat scrambled for cover in the darkness when it heard the screams.