Happy Friday, Beautiful SPN Family! Here's your next installment of the Natalie series. This is a sort-of case story, in that it's in three parts. You'll see what I mean after you read.

Thank you thank you thank you to all of you who take the time to read, review, favorite, all those wonderful things. Apologies if I've not responded to your review- I truly try to get to each and everyone of them. To all my guests who review- I adore you as well. Thank you all for taking your time to encourage and support me with your comments- you all are manna from Heaven. I'm also always taking requests- it will get me a while to get to them, but if they're true to Natalie's character, I'll totally write you a story.

Credit for this story goes to Jenmm31- she's the one who helped me construct and sew this one together- I only had bits and pieces of it, and she helped me put it together. Go show her some love and do yourself a favor- read her amazing stories. One Day at a Time, Growing Up, Winchester Style, and everything else (especially her Emily stories) She's a talented, brilliant writer and on a personal note, one of the truest friends I've ever had. Thanks Sammy, for everything.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend- and please, read, review, and enjoy!

A/N- in this story, Natalie is 6. This is part one of a three part story. Please see profile page for disclaimers.

It was a quiet August evening in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It was just turning to dusk- the stars had begun to awaken; their lights flickering on and off like a light bulb. There was a gentle breeze, not even enough to stir the grass. Out in the middle of nowhere, it was easy to get lost in the dark. There were no city lights nearby, just the pale light from the nearby house casting shadows into the yard. If you looked hard enough, you could see the energetic six year old running around in the backyard of the old house. She was dodging in between the piles of junk and the old clunker cars that had been left here to die. She didn't care that she was playing amongst rusting metal and old leather interior. She was just having fun, playing the most enthusiastic game of Hide-And-Go-Seek-Tag that was ever played. Or possibly the only game of it ever played, seeing as how she and her chaser had made the game up.

Sam looked out the kitchen window into the car graveyard. He could just make out Dean creeping around the rusting body of an old '62 Mustang, looking for Natalie's latest hiding spot. The trouble was, she couldn't stop giggling long enough to keep her location secret. Then Dean would sneak up on her, jump out, and she would take off running until she found another hiding spot, and started laughing again. On the rare occasion that Dean actually caught the little speed demon, he would take his turn hiding in somewhere so obvious that she would find him in minutes. Sam shook his head with a smile- they had been at it for hours, barely even stopping for dinner. Sam had gone into the backyard and told them multiple times that the grub was up, but they had both resoundly ignored him. Bobby had finally shouted them both inside, but the second Natalie's plate was clean, she had jumped off her chair, smacked Dean on the arm with a loud "You're IT!" and took off running again. Dean had gotten the biggest grin on his face, shoved his chair away from the table, and taken off after her. This was a good hour ago, by the clock, and neither of them seemed remotely close to winding down now.

Sam grabbed a beer from the fridge, and went to sit in the living room with Bobby. Bobby was on the phone, talking quietly to someone, so Sam sat, lost in his own thoughts. It was nearing the end of summer, and it had been a great one. Natalie had been on summer break, having completed her first year in kindergarten, so they had taken her with them all summer as they traveled the country on their family business. Sam had been very concerned as to how a six year old would fare in the hunting lifestyle- the constant travel, sleeping in motels, the late nights- but it had been for naught. Natalie had taken to it like a fish to water. She was determined to be a hunter when she grew up, so she had been very careful to observe and learn as much as she could while she was with them. Sam marveled at her- he remembered being six, and all he wanted was for his big brother to play with him. Well, Natalie certainly loved playtime. But unlike a typical six year old, she seemed to know when playtime was over, and Daddy and Uncle Sam had to get down to business. She would even try to help by doing research, but Sam suspected that ruse was really to get at their phones to play on them.

She and Dean had also been working together on simple things, like how to avoid an attacker, or how to clean a gun. A bizarre thing for a six year old to learn, but not for a Winchester. She was soaking up the knowledge like a sponge, and demanding more. Dean had actually started teaching her to shoot. Sam had freaked out over that when Dean first suggested it, but Dean reminded him that he had been five when John started teaching him to shoot. She was actually pretty good with a handgun, but she was still pretty little for the shotgun. That didn't stop her from trying, though. She was a stubborn girl, bound and determined to be just like her Daddy. She would insist on practicing with the shotgun, under Dean's watchful eye, till she felt she had it down. Sam had been the other half of her supernatural teacher, working with her on the lore of the family business. He was finding it difficult to explain things to her. He felt that some of the subjects were too grim or gory for a child, but it didn't seem to phase her one bit. Not that she didn't get scared of it- she just seemed to steel herself and push through. Classic Dean manifesting itself in her.

Other than the occasional mini tantrum, she had been the best behaved kid in the world all summer. Her tantrums only really came when she was being put to bed. She still roundly despised bedtime, and to their surprise, could function quite well on between four to six hours of sleep, which, unfortunately, came in handy more often than not. But they were determined to make her get more if they could. Sam's eyes wandered to the clock now, thinking about trying to get Natalie in bed at a decent hour tonight. It always took her a while to wind down, no matter what had been going on that day. Sam was hoping that Dean's game would wear her out and they could have a tantrum free evening.

Bobby finished his phone call, hung up, and put the cell down on the desk. "Well, it looks like you boys have another case," he said gruffly. Sam sighed- this was the one they had been dreading. He didn't even know what the situation was, but that didn't matter. Natalie was scheduled to start first grade in a week, and this was going to be the first case they had gone on without her since the beginning of summer. As crazy as it sounded, he was going to miss having the little brat running around. He was going to seriously miss her. Sam took a swig of beer, trying to banish the gloomy thought. Dean and Natalie had both been so much happier now that they were together full time. Dean wasn't as snippy and moody, and Natalie was an out and out ray of sunshine. Both boys knew that she had to continue her education, but Sam was beginning to wonder if it wasn't doing more harm than good, keeping father and daughter apart.

The door burst open, scattering Sam's thoughts. "'Scuse me," Dean announced in a loud voice, walking into the kitchen. He could hear Natalie's incessant giggling. Sam's head swiveled to look at them, and when he saw his niece, he laughed out loud. Dean was holding her, upside down, while she was in hysterics. He had one arm firmly wrapped around her waist, so she was in no danger of falling. Her little legs were slung over his shoulder, and the two black braids in her hair were hitting Dean in the hip. She was pounding her fists on the arm that was holding her, trying to get Dean to let her go. Dean paid no attention to that whatsoever.

"I found this weird thing running around in the scrap yard," Dean said, peering with mock disdain at the giggling child hanging over his arm. "Does she belong to any of you?"

Bobby didn't miss a beat before answering. "Never seen her before in my life." Sam could hear the grin in the old man's voice, despite how he tried to hide it. Dean walked over to Sam, who was still seated on the couch.

"What about you? You ever seen anything like this before?" Dean said, leaning over so Natalie's upside down grin was right in front of Sam's. Sam played along, putting on a thoughtful face. He reached up and grabbed Natalie's head in his hands. He turned it from side to side, playing oblivious to her giggling. He turned her head and blew in her ear, which caused her to shriek loudly amidst the giggles. He put his thumb on the tip of her nose, and appeared to be looking into it, which caused an explosion of laughter from his niece. He finally withdrew his hands.

"Nope, sorry. It looks like one I used to have, but this one has way too many boogers."

"I do not!"

"Yeah, you're right. Way too many boogers," Dean agreed.

"I do not have boogers, Uncle Sam!"

"I don't know who this 'Uncle Sam' is. My name is Joe."

"No it's not!" came the retort, punctuated by giggles.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to drop this off at the pound then," Dean said, making his way to the front door. "A shame. It's kind of cute. But what are you gonna do?"

"No! Don't take me to the pound! I'm your daughter! Daughters don't go to the pound!" Natalie squealed. Dean pretended to stop in his tracks, then looked down at her giggling face. She waved at him from her upside down position.

"Oh, THAT'S where I know you from," Dean said, lowering her down to the ground carefully. Once her back hit the floor, however, she wriggled out of his arms and jumped up. She swayed a moment from the sudden reversal of blood flow, and she nearly fell over. Dean reached out quickly to grab her, but she was still giggling, apparently, no harm done.

"Whoa! Head rush!" she said, imitating her favorite snowman from a certain Disney movie. Dean had absolutely forbidden anyone from saying the word "Frozen" around her, seeing as that would set off a full length recap, acted out scenes, and a series of carefully choreographed dances from said movie. Once he saw that she was okay, he went right back to teasing her.

"Well, you shouldn't have been upside down, then," he said, in a mock scolding voice. She put her hands on her hips and gave him her best bitch face. Damn Sam for teaching her that, he thought to himself.

"You put me upside down!" she said, wagging her finger at him. He had to grin- he had no idea where she had picked up the finger wagging- probably from Sam- but it was so damn cute every time she did it.

"Well, I'm not sorry. So there," Dean said in a haughty voice. Natalie ignored his theatrics and ran over to Sam.

"He acts all tough and stuff," she said in her superior six year old way to her uncle. "I totally owned him like a boss out there."

Sam laughed out loud again at her, picking her up and setting her on his lap. "Well done, Bug," he complimented. "But I have to say, it's a bit of an unfair advantage. You're much faster, and he's an old man."

"Hey- watch it," Dean said, pointing his finger at Sam. "I can still kick your ass."

"Well, if you yokels are done playing Masters of the Universe, I got a new case for you," Bobby interrupted irritably. Sam smiled patiently at him. They all knew that Bobby hated being out of commission. Ever since Lucifer had snapped his neck, he had been confined back to the wheelchair- Castiel hadn't fully been able to heal him. He had dealt with it better the second time around, but there was no disguising the longing in his eyes when the boys went out on a new case. He had loved having Natalie with him this last year- she breathed a new life into the dusty old house, making him forget every so often that he was an old man. But when a case came up, Sam could still see the yearning in his eyes to be back in action. He saw it there now.

"Looks like it's a skin walker in St. Louis."

"Isn't that a musical or something?" Dean said, perfectly straight faced. He got the double eye roll from both Sam and Bobby on that one. He grinned, very pleased with himself.

"Something's been going around a local frat house, killing off the students. The last victim survived, and he kept naming one of the frat boys as his assailant."

"So why don't the police arrest that guy? Maybe it actually WAS him," Sam said matter of factlly.

"Well, that's the thing. The kid the victim accused was, believe it or not, in police custody at the time for some stupid incident involving a rival school and a goat." Bobby shuddered, remembering the details that he wished he hadn't heard. "Anyways, it looks like you got-"

"A skin walker. Yeah," Sam agreed. His eyes sought his brother's. It had finally dawned on Dean what this case meant- that they were about to leave Natalie with Bobby again. Dean's head ducked down, and he ran both hands over his hair. When his head popped back up, he looked at the child sitting on Sam's lap. His jaw began working overtime.

"Hey Natalie. Come here," he said, his voice dropping even lower than normal, and sounding strained. Sam gave her a gentle nudge, and she went willingly to Dean. She stood at his feet, looking up at him with her wide green eyes. That made it even worse- this hole that was slowly growing in his chest- but as his time with her was drawing to a close, he just needed her physically near him. He reached down and picked her up, setting her on his hip. She was still searching his face for why she had been called over. Her little brow furrowed when she realized that she couldn't figure it out, so she simply laid her head down on Dean's shoulder. Her little face was still damp with perspiration from running around for the last few hours. Dean felt the calm and the solidity coming off of her, as real as the air he was breathing. She made him calm. She made him feel solid. She made him want to keep fighting, to keep ridding the world of evil, to leave her the best planet that he could. And here they were again- about to toss away those feelings of safety and comfort.

Dean knew what Sam would have said if he had been able to read his mind. They got back to Natalie as often as they could, and were definitely there for every holiday and special occasion. Which was great, but if Dean was being honest with Sam, or even himself, it was in the everyday he needed her most. They talked on the phone at least once a day- Dean had even mastered Face Time, a skill that surprised them all- but it just wasn't enough. Dean was terrified about what could happen to her when he wasn't there. Arguably, one of the safest places on Earth for her was with Bobby. They knew that Bobby would die before he would let anything happen to Natalie, but that was the rub- what if something attacked and Bobby wasn't able to save her? Dean was constantly torn between wanting her to have a normal school experience and the sheer terror of not knowing if she was consistently safe.

He moved towards the couch. Sam scooted over to give him room. They had to break it to the kid, and it wasn't going to be pretty. Last year, when they told her she was starting kindergarten, she was excited- for exactly one day. She came home, proclaimed that school was stupid and that all the kids in the class were dumb as a bag of hair. She had then informed them that she wasn't going back. And the scandal known as Schoolgate had begun. When Dean told her that she had to go back, she had stared with unbelieving eyes at him, and then repeated exactly what she had said before, clearly thinking that Dean hadn't heard what she said, and that there was no way that he would make her go through that again once he understood. Dean, who had completely understood the first time, told her it didn't matter if the kids were dumb- she had to go back anyways. The tantrum that followed had been one for the ages. They had never seen her lose control like that before. The kicking, the screaming, and the tears went on for at least a half hour. Dean had finally sat back, his lips pinched together in anger, and let her scream herself out. When he had finally been able to get a word in edgewise, he used his "I'm not taking any more of your shit" voice, which finally started bringing her down off of her emotional roller coaster. She hadn't been listening to a thing he had said, until he started yelling at her for throwing so much attitude around. When he said the word "bad", indicating that that was exactly what she was being, she had instantly stopped the tantrum. She just sat in a heap on the floor, still giving off the occasional hiccup or shuddering sob, but she was quiet. The rest of that week had been torture all the way around. Every school day ended in tears, which was extremely unusual for her, seeing as how she hated to cry. She and Dean even had a huge blow out on Wednesday of that week, and both of them were eager to forget it that it had ever happened. It was hard on all of them, knowing they had to be strict and force her to do something she hated.

It wasn't until the last day of the week, Friday, that they got some reprieve. Apparently, this school was very forward thinking, and on Fridays, they let the little kids have Computer Time. Natalie had always been obsessed with computers and phones, and she took that class and ran with it. She and Dean had had a very long talk about being a "tough cookie" and braving whatever you had to do to get the job done. She had silently listened to him, not looking at him the entire time he spoke. When he had finished presenting his case, she had simply said, "Yes, sir," quietly. She had only acted up one more time with Bobby after that, but that had been it. She had bucked up and done her time for the year, quickly soaring to the top of her class and staying there, but hating ever second of it.

However, the moment school had ended, she changed back into the Natalie they all knew and loved. She was so happy to be out on the road with her dad and uncle, she was well behaved, and she was clearly learning. Like all good things, however, this summer had to come to an end. Dean's mind recoiled in horror, realizing that he still had twelve more years of this to go through.

"Hey Dad?" Natalie piped up suddenly, breaking into his thoughts. "So for a skin walker- you use silver, right? Do we have enough silver bullets, or are we gonna pick some more up on the way?" she asked seriously.

"Natalie...look. You're...this one, it's...kid, you can't come on this one," Dean finally spat out in a rush.

Natalie's eyes widened. She blinked at him, uncomprehending. "But why?" she said innocently.

"You're starting school next week, and you need to be here for that. We don't know how long hunting this thing will take."

Natalie shook her head and smiled. "Dad! I'm done with school. Remember?"

"No, you're not, squirt."

"Yes I am! We had graduation and everything!"

"Right- you had your graduation from kindergarten. You still got a long way to go before it's all said and done."

Natalie's eyes couldn't have been wider. Sam had been anxiously looking from his brother to his niece, watching this whole conversation play out. He saw a trace of fear creep into her eyes. "But...but you said it was only a year. I only had to do school for a year."

Dean shook his head, despising every second of this. "No- I said that you only had to do kindergarten for a year. There's more school after kindergarten."

Natalie swallowed hard. Sam could see the questions building up in her, and she was purposefully clamping her lips down, not wanting to ask. Finally, the question that she was scared to voice burst forth. "How much more school is there?" she asked, very slowly and deliberately.

"Twelve more years," Dean said, hating himself more than he ever had in that moment.

Natalie's jaw hit the floor. Apparently, she hadn't understood that kindergarten wasn't the end of her education. Sam wondered what kind of an education she was getting if she didn't understand that. He remembered that she had been in a "kindergarten only" school, and the pieces suddenly snapped together. She hadn't seen any other older kids, and they didn't know anybody older than her that was still in school, so the thought had never crossed her mind. He looked at her now to see how this new information was going over.

Natalie was still staring at Dean, her mouth wide open. Suddenly, she snapped it shut, and pushed herself off his lap. "Nope," she said, turning around and standing in front of him.

Dean raised one eyebrow. "Nope?" he repeated.

"Yeah. Nope."

"It's not really your call, kid."

"I don't need school. I don't want to go back."

"The law says you have to be in school, Bug," Sam said gently, trying to be delicate so as to avoid another meltdown. Amazingly, she seemed cool as a cucumber this time around. Just determined to get her way.

"So? You guys do stuff that's against the law all the time. This will just be one more thing."

Both Sam and Dean were stunned at that one, and didn't know how to respond. Luckily, Bobby came to their rescue.

"Look, Little Bit," he said. "Your daddy and your uncle do things that the law should take care of, but they can't. You going to school is a different matter entirely. You need schooling," Bobby said gruffly.

"No I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I DON'T!"

"Natalie," Dean said as a warning. She knew better than to raise her voice to one of them. She withered a bit at Dean's tone, and modified her own.

"I don't need school. I can learn stuff on my own," she said, much more calmly, but still determined to make her case. "Look," she said seriously. "What if I-"

Her words were interrupted by a knock. She cut off suddenly, and all four faces swung towards the door. It was getting on in the evening, around eight o' clock. They didn't know anyone around here and they certainly weren't expecting company. Dean turned towards Natalie, snapped his fingers, and jerked his thumb towards Bobby. She obeyed instantly, knowing the gesture meant get over to Bobby and out of sight. She hunkered down underneath Bobby's desk, which he was right next to, where she was hidden from the rest of the room. Both Dean and Sam stood up. Sam walked quickly and silently over to the door, picking up his .45 on the way. Dean moved slightly to the right, so as to have better visibility on whoever was at the door. Sam held the barrel of the .45 up to the back of the door with his left hand, then slowly opened the door with his right.

When he saw who was standing there, his skin instantly iced over. He didn't think he would see this person ever again in this lifetime. His eyes dilated, and he felt himself mentally steel up for whatever was about to come. The short man in the impeccably tailored, very expensive looking suit was just standing there, grinning his close lipped smug grin. Everything about him radiated arrogance, from his perfectly trimmed goatee to his shiny shoes.

"Hello, Moose," Crowley said. "It's been too long."

At hearing the horribly familiar voice, both Dean and Bobby became as tense as Sam. Natalie didn't know what to think- she didn't know who this guy was, or why all of the sudden her entire family was on high alert. She slunk down further, trying to get a better look at the man from underneath the desk.

Crowley stood simply, his head cocked to the side as Sam tried to gather his wits. "Well?" he said suddenly. "Aren't you going to invite me in?" Sam didn't move a muscle. He had no intention of letting him past the front door at all. The suddenness of Crowley's appearance sat on Sam like a ton of bricks. Everything with Lucifer, going through demon blood withdrawal, being separated from Dean- all of that crap from six years ago came rushing back like a freight train. But this time, Sam was different. He was stronger. He was able to take this. He had a reason to fight- he had his family to protect. Sam tilted his head back.

"What do you want, Crowley?" he said, his voice low and dangerous.

Crowley heaved a sigh, then flicked his fingers carelessly. Sam went flying away from the door, and crashed into the wall. "I want to come in," Crowley said. Dean immediately pulled his .45 from the waistband of his jeans, and trained it on the King of Hell. However, Crowley didn't seem to care less.

"Now, is that any way to treat an old friend? Put that away," he said, gesturing to Dean's gun as if he was scolding a child. "There's no need for violence." Dean made a scoffing noise, and looked behind Crowley. A grunt of pain from Sam reached his ears, and he turned his head to see Sam picking himself up off the floor. "Oh. Well, you should have let me in. It was rude not to."

"Crowley, you have exactly five seconds to get your ass out of this house before I plaster it all over the wall behind you," Dean threatened.

"Still as trigger happy as always, Dean" He cocked his head coyingly to the side. "I've always fancied that about you."

"Four seconds."

"Alright, calm down, you twitchy puppy." Crowley's eyes gazed around the room, and they landed on Bobby. He looked confused for a moment.

"I thought I healed you. What? Didn't it take?" he said mockingly.

"This was Lucifer's handiwork," Bobby answered back gruffly. He hated the sight of this man- more than anything, it reminded him of how helpless he felt all over again. He tried not to focus on that right now. When Crowley appeared, he wanted something. He always wanted something.

"Why are you here, Crowley?" Sam asked, the venom dripping from his voice. Crowley turned his snake like eyes on Sam.

"Can't an old friend drop in to say hi?"

"No," replied Sam.

"And you're not a friend," added Dean.

"Ah, Moose and Squirrel, reunited and it feels so good. Tell me- how long was it before you two hugged out the fact that you-" he pointed to Dean. "-left him-" he pointed at Sam. "-to die in Lucifer's cage? Hmmm?"

Natalie wasn't sure what to make of that. Sam and Dean had never told her about the cage- never told her about Lucifer possessing Sam. They had agreed that they would when she was ready, but she was so far from ready that they hadn't even alluded to it to see how she would do. What they hadn't realized was that it didn't matter- she, in her thirst to know all things supernatural, had read a great deal of Bobby's literature all around the house. She knew about Lucifer's Cage, but she hadn't known Uncle Sam had been in it. Her brain spun out for a second as it tried to process that knowledge. But when she realized she wasn't focusing on the danger right in front of her, like Dean had always said to do, she clamped down on that as hard as she could. She was surprised to find that her mind obeyed her. She didn't move, but scanned the room for the nearest exits, just like she had been taught to.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" Crowley said to the boys, mockingly, when they didn't answer. "Shame, really. I would have liked to have heard all of the family drama. Oh well. I hear there's a new family drama. Why don't you tell me all about that?" he said, leaning forward, his voice taunting.

Natalie knew immediately that this man was talking about her, but she wasn't sure why. She saw all three men in her family tense up at his words. She knew she had to remain quiet, hidden, beyond all shadow of a doubt.

"You see, word travels. I thought that there was only one other member of your family, one other member that you boys would be willing to die for. And now- lucky me- I find there's another." None of them moved a muscle.

Crowley turned to face Dean. "Well?" he said. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your little bundle of joy? Or are we going to have to do this the hard way?"

At that threat, Dean immediately saw red. He charged towards Crowley, but with a flick of the Hell King's wrist, Dean was slammed and pinned to the wall. "And for good measure," Crowley growled, pointing at Sam, who was immediately thrown up against the opposite wall. Both boys struggled in vain- they couldn't move at all. Crowley smirked in pleasure at their obvious pain. Then his eyes traveled to Bobby, who had a shot gun trained on him. He rolled his eyes almost lazily, and flicked his fingers, like there was something on the end of them that he was trying to remove. Bobby went flying backwards into the hard floor, and was knocked unconscious. Crowley's eyes slowly scanned the room, looking for any clue, any indication as to where they may have hidden the child. His beady, hateful eyes locked on the desk. With another flick of his wrist, the desk went flying across the room, skidding to a stop at Bobby's unmoving feet. Crowley's eyes lit up when he saw what was underneath.

"Hello, poppet," he said.

To Be Continued...