What's up, beautiful SPN Family! Here's part 3 of What Was Always Meant to Be!
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Happy Friday, my loves!
A/N- this is part 3 of a 3 part story, picking up almost immediately from where the last part ended. If you haven't already, please go back and read the last two chapters, otherwise this ain't gonna make a lick of sense. In this story, Natalie is 6. Please see Profile Page for disclaimers.
"Hey- is Bobby alright?" Dean asked as he walked into the living room, Natalie still clinging to him tightly. He continued rubbing circles on her back to keep her calm, even though she had stopped crying. Sam immediately went over to them, looking Natalie over for any signs of hurt or damage.
"Yeah, he's still knocked out, but Cas says he'll be fine," Sam answered quietly. Natalie's eyes slid from Bobby to Castiel, who was hovering over Bobby's unconscious form.
"Cas?" she said in a sniffly voice. The angel looked up into her watery green eyes. "Is Pops gonna be okay?" she asked, the fear in her voice obvious. Cas smiled reassuringly at her. He could tell she wanted to hear it for herself.
"He will wake up feeling better than he's felt in quite a while," Cas said gently. He waved his hand over Bobby, who instantly disappeared. Dean felt Natalie jump a bit in surprise.
"Where did you zap him?" Dean asked hesitantly. He knew Cas's gut instinct wasn't always on par with the rest of humanity. For all he knew, Cas had just zapped Bobby straight into the ER or something. He could only imagine the hoops he'd have to jump through on that one.
"He's upstairs, in his old bedroom," Castiel explained. Dean wanted to protest, that it was just going to be a pain in the ass trying to get him back downstairs tomorrow morning, but he was too exhausted to fight that battle right now. He just nodded his thanks at the angel, and turned back to his brother. Sam reached out to stroke Natalie's cheek.
"You okay, Bug?" he asked gently. She just nodded, keeping her head resting on Dean's shoulder and one arm firmly wrapped around his neck, but she reached up and took Sam's hand as it touched her cheek, and held on tight. Sam longed to pull her into his own arms, but she didn't want to let Dean go right now, which he completely understood. He kissed her little hand that was squeezing his, and then released it. She wound her arms back around Dean's neck. Her eyes scanned Sam's face, looking for any signs of damage.
"Did that mean guy hurt you, Uncle Sam?" Natalie asked.
"Cas took care of me," Sam said by way of explanation. Cas had already healed the cut on Sam's cheek, as well as the black eye and the dislocated fingers he had gotten from the one particularly nasty demon. Natalie nodded and looked at Cas.
"Can you please heal Daddy?" she asked the angel quietly. Cas looked at Dean for permission, who reluctantly gave it with a nod. He reached out two fingers, placed them on Dean's forehead, and in a second, his cut lip mended itself. His ribs were no longer throbbing with pain. Natalie sat up in Dean's arms and examined his face carefully with both of her hands. He smiled patiently, knowing she needed to see it for herself. When she was satisfied, she turned back to the angel.
"Thank you," she said quietly, and rested her head back on Dean's strong shoulder. Dean turned his head and gave her a kiss on her temple.
"Thanks, Cas," he said gruffly. Cas nodded back, then spoke.
"So what was it that Crowley was after?" he asked.
"He wanted Natalie," Dean said through gritted teeth. "He found out about her, and he decided that he was going to take her soul in exchange for us letting him run amok." His arms tightened around his daughter, as if to reassure her that that would never happen. Not on his watch.
Cas shook his head grimly. "Well, that is a mistake that he will not be making again. Even Crowley has more sense than to try it a second time."
"How can you be sure?" Sam asked, disbelieving. Castiel fixed Sam with a dangerous look.
"Because I won't let him try it a second time," he said, in a low, firm tone. Sam and Dean exchanged a quick glance as Castiel's eyes met Natalie's. She knew without him saying what he really meant. She felt a surge of affection and relief towards the angel.
"Thanks...uh...thanks, Cas," Dean said. Here was a soldier of heaven going to bat for his baby girl, and all he could stammer out was 'thanks'. But it was enough for the angel.
"You're welcome," he said. He walked closer towards Dean and Natalie. His eyes began scanning her tired, tear stained face. "You are very tired," he said to the child. "You will feel much better after a good night's sleep."
Natalie tightened her grip around Dean's neck. "No! I don't wanna-" she got out before Castiel touched her forehead, and Dean felt her tiny body go slack in his arms. He quickly put his left hand on her head to keep her pressed into him. He wasn't entirely sure he was comfortable with an angel making Natalie fall asleep, but Cas was right- she needed to sleep. Trying to get her down after everything that had just happened would have been next to impossible.
"She will feel much better in the morning," Cas reassured the worried father. Dean nodded his thanks again. "In fact," Cas continued, "You all could do with a good night's sleep."
Dean couldn't even get the protesting words out before Cas touched him, and the world went black.
*SPN SPN SPN*
The sun was shining in Dean's eyes when he opened them the next morning. He was surprised to find himself in his bed, and even more surprised to find his daughter curled up in his arms, still fast asleep. Cas must have put them here together, knowing that Natalie might wake up and still be scared. Dean couldn't remember ever sleeping longer than her, not once. He took a moment, smoothing back the tangled black hair from her forehead, just listening to her gentle breathing. The memory of last night was pressing on him. What would have happened if he and Sam hadn't been here? He was so proud for how she had handled herself- quite frankly, it was way beyond her years. He knew that she would still have run to the safe room downstairs, but she was so little- would she have been able to pull the door shut? And what about Bobby? What would have happened to him? Dean was still lost in these terrible thoughts, when Natalie began waking up. She was kicking the blankets off of her, just like she always did when she was getting up from a nap.
"Hey, Sleeping Beauty," he said gently. Natalie blinked the sleep out of her eyes and turned her head to find Dean smiling at her. She looked confused for a minute, but then gave him her thousand watt smile. She rubbed the back of her hand over her nose and sniffed. Dean noticed that her eyes were still a bit puffy from all her crying last night, but otherwise, she was okay. At least, she looked okay.
"Did you sleep well?" he asked gently. She nodded, still not quite awake yet. "Alright then," he said. "Wanna go get some breakfast?" He gently poked her in the nose. She gave a sleepy giggle, but at the mention of food, she popped right up. Dean laughed- she was SO his kid. "C'mon. Race you downstairs," he challenged. Natalie, now fully awake, sprang out of the bed like a jackrabbit, and tore out of the room. "Hey! No fair!" Dean called out, running to catch up to her. He managed to get right behind her as they reached the top of the stairs. As they were taking off down them, Dean reached out and picked her up.
"HEY! THAT'S CHEATING!" she yelled out, full voice. Dean just gave an evil laugh, and as he reached the bottom of the stairs, turned around and deposited her about three steps up. She squealed in outrage, and jumped down the last three steps, hitting the wooden floor hard with both feet.
"HEY! What did I tell you two idjits about running in the house?" Bobby roared from the kitchen. Dean turned to Natalie with a pretend scared face, and she slapped her hands over her mouth to keep from giggling out loud. They walked into the kitchen, expecting to get yelled at. But what they saw brought them both to a halt.
Bobby was making pancakes.
He was standing at the stove, making pancakes.
Dean's mouth dropped open. Natalie ran straight to him and threw her arms around his waist.
"Pops! You're not in your wheelchair!"
Bobby patted her head and turned to Dean with a smile. "Nope. I'm not."
"But how?" Natalie pressed.
"Cas must have done it last night. That's what he meant when he said you'd feel better than you've felt in a long time," Dean said, still astonished at the sight of Bobby standing again.
Bobby's incredibly rare smile widened. "And he was right. Now," he said, looking down at the six year old still clinging to his waist, "whenever I catch you running in this house, I can catch you and bust your butt."
Natalie's arms immediately dropped, and she gave Bobby a look that was clearly trying to hide a smile. "You'll still have to catch me first!" she declared with a giggle.
"Challenge accepted," Bobby said with a gruff grin.
*SPN SPN SPN*
That afternoon, Sam and Dean sat down in the living room. They knew they needed to have a serious talk, and they wanted it to be just the two of them. Natalie had been upstairs playing for quite a while. Sam had bribed her to stay up there with the promise of a new book. Dean had rolled his eyes at that one, knowing that if he had just told her to stay put, she would have. It didn't matter. He knew Sam would cave and get her a new book, regardless. Bobby was walking around the junk yard, not having been able to do that for quite some time, and giving the boys some privacy. They had the living room to themselves. They couldn't deny the seriousness of what had happened last night, and they began their circular argument that they had been having for a full year now.
"Dean, we can't pull her out of school," Sam was saying.
"Why not?"
"For the one hundredth time, she needs a normal school experience."
"And you call getting attacked by Crowley normal? Come on, Sam."
"Look, I'm not saying that we don't take more precautions-"
"Like what? What else can we possibly do that we haven't done already?"
"I don't know."
"Exactly."
"Look- don't get me wrong. I want her with us just as much as you do."
"No you don't."
"Excuse me?"
Dean stood up, and started pacing. After a moment of trying to collect his thoughts, he turned to Sam. "You don't. Because you're not me. You don't understand, Sammy. All I do is worry about her. All I think about is 'Is she okay?' I can't focus. Even when we're knee deep in monsters and all kinds of crazy shit, all I'm thinking about is her. I feel...I feel empty when she's not around. I know this is going to sound crazy, but Sammy...it hurts. It hurts knowing that she's out there, and I'm not with her. All the stuff I'm missing. Day in and day out. I can be here for all the important stuff, but I want to be here for the not-important stuff, you know? Like if she falls down and scrapes her knee, or if she gets one of those stupid ribbon things that she loves stuck in her hair. When she begs me to play with those green army men with her. Hell, do you know how much it killed me that Bobby taught her how to tie her shoes?"
Sam sighed, and hung his head. "Dean, I'm sorry. I know it's not the same for me as it is for you. But don't think I don't miss the hell out of her too. Don't think I don't lay awake at night, worrying about her. I was dreading this next hunt long before it ever even came up. I just don't know what to do here."
Dean threw up his hands in frustration. "Me neither." Just then, Natalie came down the stairs. She had changed her clothes and was now wearing the purple top and leggings that Dean had gotten her for graduation. He was surprised- she never wanted to dress up. She had a rather large object in her arms- well, large for a six year old. Upon further inspection, Dean realized it was a laptop.
"Bug, I thought I told you to stay upstairs," Sam scolded.
"I have something that is very important that I need to say," Natalie declared by way of an explanation as to why she had disobeyed. She set the laptop down on the coffee table and opened it.
"Hey," Dean said in a stern voice. "What have I told you about playing with my laptop, little girl?" Natalie turned to him, wide eyed and innocent.
"This isn't yours- it's Uncle Sam's."
"Oh. Well, that's okay then."
Sam immediately shot Dean his bitch face. "No, it's not!" he said crossly to his brother. He then turned his bitch face to his niece, standing up and pointing in her face. "Natalie, it is NOT okay."
She brushed him aside with a wave of her hand. "This will just take a second, and then I won't touch it anymore." Sam's mouth dropped open, and he looked to Dean for backup. He should have realized what a dumb move that was. Dean was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. He looked at Sam and shrugged.
"It'll only take a second," Dean said, repeating his daughter with a cocky grin. Sam threw up his hands and sat back on the sofa, arms crossed. Natalie looked up expectantly at Dean.
"Please sit down," she said politely. Dean was a bit taken aback at the request, but decided to play along with whatever game she was on about. He sat down next to Sam, who was still pouting. Natalie pushed a few buttons on the laptop, and turned to them both.
"I would like to make a presentation," she declared in what she clearly considered to be a grown up voice. The shock registered on both boys' faces. They gave each other a confused glance for a minute, and then Sam finally broke the silence.
"Um...okay. A...presentation?" he asked, not entirely sure what was happening. He turned his head slightly towards his brother and said out of the side of his mouth, "How does she even know what that word is?"
"Beats me," came the murmured reply.
Natalie twisted the laptop towards them, so the screen was facing them. They found themselves looking at a purple background with silver stars in the corners. In the middle of the screen, in a shining silver font, were the words "Why Natalie Winchester should be Homeschooled". Sam and Dean both leaned forward. Were they really seeing what their eyes told them they were seeing? Dean blinked a couple times. What the hell was going on? Natalie turned, completely unfazed by their shock.
"Why I, Natalie Winchester, should be homeschooled." She looked at the cover page, and pointed to the stars in the corners. "I added the stars because they were pretty, and the purple matches my outfit! See?" Sam turned his incredulous look to Dean, who looked just as lost as he was. Natalie pushed a button, and another page popped up, entitled "Best Hunter Ever". She promptly turned back to the stunned men sitting on the couch.
"Okay. I want to be a hunter when I grow up. I will be the most awesome hunter in the whole wide world. And hunters don't need regular school. They need to know hunting stuff. Besides, lots of our family has been hunters. Grandma and Grandpa were! And Pops is. And you guys. So I will be too. It's kind of like what our family does. Like it's our business! Have you ever thought of it like that?"
"Once or twice," came Dean's voice faintly.
"Good," Natalie said, continuing, satisfied that she had just dropped an unbeknownst truth bomb on them. She looked at her webpage to see if she had missed any of the notes on her first point. She saw one, and launched into that explanation. "Oh, and also- there are not enough hunters in the world. There's lots of bad things out there- monsters and vampires and skin walkers and stuff- and someone has to fight them. It won't be the douche bags, because they don't believe in demons and stuff, so we need more hunters in the world to protect all the people." Having made her point, she clicked to the next page. Sam was still too astounded by what was happening to scold her for using the word 'douche bag' instead of 'policemen'. He just stared at the computer, which had just popped up with a page marked "Crowlee". The intellectual side of Sam's brain made a tiny note to correct her spelling later. He then shook his head- THAT was what was bugging him?!
"The second thing is Crowley. Like Cas said- he won't be after me again. But he might send someone to get me." At that simple sentence, Dean's blood began to boil. Dammit- the kid had a point. "I did some research, and found out that the King of Hell can summon a lot of demons and stuff- it's all in Grandpa's journal." Dean's mouth dropped open in surprise- how long had she been studying that? She continued. "He's probably mad that I kicked him in his bathing suit area too. But if he tried to take me again, I'll kick him even harder. And now that Pops is healed, he doesn't need me here as much. He can take care of himself, or he could even come with us!" She looked excitedly from Dean to Sam, but they were both still frozen in disbelief as to what was happening at the moment to comment on the idea of Bobby coming with them. She sighed, disappointed that her brilliant brainstorm was going unheeded, but she didn't let that deter her. "I'm safer with the two of you. You can train me more, especially if I'm with you all the time, so the next time Crowley tries to come after me, we can just kill him instead."
She turned to the laptop and clicked the next page. "The third part of this presentation is that school is stupid." She turned the laptop back to them. The screen was blood red, with the words "School is stupid" flashing in annoying neon yellow. She had added a graphic of an ogre barfing on the letters. She grinned with glee when the ogre blew chunks all over the screen. "Cool, huh?" Dean leaned forward, examining her handiwork, still unable to speak. She clicked on the next page, which was still blood red, but had a bunch of bullet points in a sickly green. She had made stink lines coming off of the list. Sam was flabbergasted- he didn't even know how to do that. She began reading the list, one by one.
"School is a waste of time, mostly because I already know everything they wanted to teach me. Do you know that most of my kindergarten class couldn't even read when we started last September?" She shook her head, as if terribly scandalized by the fact. "Some of them still can't. I cannot be around stupid people like that. Second, I actually saw one of them eating paste. Like, actual, real glue. From the bottle." She gave Sam and Dean a withering look, as if to say, do you understand what I've had to put up with? "Third- the teacher kept telling me that I was going too fast- that the rest of the class couldn't keep up with me. It is not my fault that they are stupid. Fourth, I'm not sure she even knew what to try to teach outside of shapes, letters, and stop, drop, and roll. Please. I learned that when I was three. There are more points as to why school is stupid, but I will let you read them later." She clicked to the last page. Sam's mind was absolutely blown. He thought she'd just been upstairs, playing with her Elsa doll and the little green army men. He had no idea she was preparing an argument on her future education, and that it was actually pretty good.
"Uncle Sam, this is where I need your help," Natalie said. Dean did a slow burn to his brother, and gestured his hand towards the computer as if to say what is happening?! Natalie turned her earnest face towards Sam, who suddenly felt like he was being asked to take a test he hadn't prepared for. "I know there's a whole bunch of stuff on the internet about homeschooling and books and stuff, and I need you to find it, please. I didn't know what to put in the Google box. But I think that you can learn about homeschooling online, and since you're always working on your laptop, that can work, and you can do that. Okay?" Sam just nodded mutely.
"So that's it. I need to be with you, Dad, and with you, Uncle Sam. This is a way that we can do it. Thank you for listening. I will let you two discuss this. I will be playing in my room if you need me." And with that, Natalie turned on her heel, and pranced back up the stairs. The boys still sat, frozen in shock. The only sound for the longest time was the ticking of the clock on the desk. Both Winchester men were staring into space, still unbelieving of what had just happened. Finally, Sam spoke.
"Did...did we just get a power point presentation?"
"Yup."
The only sound for the longest time was the ticking of the clock on the desk.
"From a six year old."
"Yup."
The only sound for the longest time was the ticking of the clock on the desk.
"When did she learn to use power point?"
"No idea."
The only sound for the longest time was the ticking of the clock on the desk. Sam broke out of his frozen state, and leaned forward, pulling the laptop towards him.
"Well, even I have to admit- she did a good job," he said musingly, flipping through the pages. "How the hell did she do this? For that matter- I didn't even have power point ON this laptop this morning!"
"What can I say? She's a freaking genius," Dean said, in a low voice that was clearly thinking of something else. Sam looked at Dean. He could see the wheels turning in his brother's head. After a minute of Dean's silent thinking, Sam started going through the pages, making notes of where he needed to correct her spelling, and making a plan to work on that later with her. Abruptly, Dean turned to Sam. "What if she's right?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" Sam said, tearing his gaze away from the hurling ogre.
"I mean- what if she's right? What if this is the answer?" Dean stood up, and began excitedly pacing around the room. "Why can't we take her with us? We did it when she was younger, and we did it all this summer."
"Yeah, but Dean..."
"No, Sam, just hear me out. She hates school- and don't even try to deny it, you know I'm right. I mean for fuck's sake- look at the stupid computer thingy she just did. She had more reasons why she hated school than why she hated Crowley," he said, waving to the laptop. Sam just tilted his head- Dean had a point.
"Look," Dean said, sitting back down on the couch beside Sam, his eyes sparkling. "You can teach her all the school stuff. I can already tell you're looking at all the misspelled words on those pages." Sam blinked hard, twice at Dean's mind reading. "I'll work on hunting and lore with her. You and I could be a killer combo, man. Think about it. She's already the smartest kid on the planet-"
"I think you're a little biased-"
"-and this will just help her on her way to greatness. Come on Sam! We can do this! What do you say?"
Sam sat back. He was silent for so long that Dean started to get a little worried. How could Sam not see what a good idea this was? How could he deny the fact that this was the best thing for Natalie? Just as he was about to open his mouth and let his brother have it, Sam turned to him with a smile.
"I say we just became teachers." Dean grinned and gave Sam a hearty slap on the back.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" he roared delightedly. Sam just chuckled and turned his attention back to the laptop. He shook his head in wonder.
"Dude- we've seen a lot of crap. But I have to tell you- this ranks in the top five as the most amazing."
"Top Three."
*SPN SPN SPN*
The next morning, they were loading up the Impala. They had told Natalie and Bobby their decision yesterday at dinner. Natalie had been so excited and wound up that they couldn't get her to bed until well after midnight, and even then, it was just with the knowledge that if she was going to go with them, she needed to be in bed a decent hour so they could leave early. But they had found her sitting in the living room waiting for them with her duffle bag packed when they woke up the next morning. She clearly had no issues with her sleep schedule and was ready to hit the road. Bobby had expressed his concerns to the two of them over this plan, but after discussing it at full length with his boys, even he couldn't deny this was the best move. Dean was over the moon, and Sam was catching his infectious joy. Seeing how happy it had made all of them, Bobby was happily on board, too.
As Natalie took her place behind Sam in the Impala, she clicked her seat belt in place, and turned to Dean. "So where do we go now?" she asked, the excitement ringing in her voice.
He looked at her in the rear view mirror and smiled. "We've got some family business to take care of."
