Hey Beautiful SPN Family! Happy Friday and Happy Fourth of July!

This story takes place when Natalie's a little older. I wanted to spend some time on the Natalie/Sam relationship, and this is the result. I hope you enjoy it! A huge thank you to all of you who read and review. I appreciate you so much. If you want to request anything, I'm always happy to write what you want! I have a very slow turn around time- but I promise, if you've asked for something that's in character for Natalie, I will write it.

Special shout out to my girl, Jenmm31! Go show her great stories some love, and get prepared for a boatload of amazing feels with all her characters! Thanks, Sammy!

Stay safe out there this weekend people! Love you all!

A/N- in this story, Natalie is 15. Please see profile page for disclaimer.

"Don't wait up!" Dean yelled over his shoulder as he was about to walk into the garage at the bunker.

"Where are you going?" Natalie piped up behind him. He hadn't seen her there, tucked into one of the chairs at the war room table. She had been partially obscured by the large stack of books that she had been obsessively digging through in the last couple days. Ever since they had discovered the bunker, or the "Bat Cave", as Dean liked to call it, both Natalie and Sam had been poring over the literature they found here. Sam's ability to read and understand most everything he found had served them well- and their school lessons had definitely taken a major upturn. Even though she still hated working on Latin, having all these new and interesting tools had peaked her interest. She would subtly push away all the material written in Latin, and focus instead on the Enochian and Aramaic stuff. Castiel had been right- everything was funnier in Enochian.

Natalie wound the scroll that she had been reading back up and left it on the table as she looked at Dean. She eyed his wardrobe choice- his jeans, albeit his nice ones, and a blue button down shirt. "Hmm...no plaid, on-point bed head- you must have a hot date," she teased. He pursed his lips at her, but couldn't hide the sparkle in his eyes.

"What? You're not going to throw a fit because I'm going out?" he teased back. Natalie's smile twisted off to the side, as per usual.

"Nope. I'm just glad you actually managed to pick up a girl NOT in front of me for once."

Dean looked around, and, finding a small wad of paper as the closest thing to him, chucked it at her. She deftly dodged it and giggled. "Brat," he threw affectionately at her. She gave his a close lipped wide smile in response. He just shook his head, chuckling to himself. Damn Sam for teaching her sarcasm, he thought. It DEFINITELY hadn't come from him. Not at all.

"Where are you going?" she asked, picking up the paper ball he has just thrown at her, and tossing it back and forth in her hands.

"We're gonna meet for drinks at that bar that Sam and I were at last night, and go from there," Dean said, fishing the Impala keys out of his pocket. Natalie just shook her head slightly- if her father had seen it, he would have grilled her on what her head shake meant, and she didn't really feel like getting into it with him at the moment. But to her, her head shake was too obvious. Of course Dean would start the night off with alcohol. He couldn't meet someone at a bookstore or even, God forbid, online. Natalie had no doubt that he had met whatever lucky lady he was going out with tonight in that bar last night. She wished that just once he'd find someone elsewhere. But she shook it off. If it made her dad happy, she'd deal.

"Well have fun!" she said, trying to be casual. She liked when Dean went out- he was almost always in a good mood when he came back- but there was always a pinprick of a sense of loss when he did. But, like a true Winchester, she kept that particular feeling clamped down, tight.

"Oh, I intend to," Dean said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Aw, Dad! Come on!" she said, pinching her eyes shut tight, shaking her head to dislodge the mental image he'd just given her. Dean just laughed sadistically, and walked out the door. Natalie's pursed lips twisted into her sideways smile, then she looked down at the tightly wound scroll on the table. She pushed it away, no longer interested. Sure this stuff was cool, and she couldn't wait to explore the rooms of the bunker that she had yet to find, but for some reason, she just wasn't feeling it tonight. She didn't know if it was because of Dean, or just a growing sense of...boredom, you could call it. There was so much to learn and know, and yet, she just needed to set it aside for a moment. She really didn't want to try to translate another scroll tonight, and she sure as hell didn't want to work on Latin. Maybe it was a "flip through Netflix" kind of night. She wondered if Sam was up for that- he was the only one who had actually gotten around to installing a TV and DVD player in his room as of yet.

Just then, as if in response to her thoughts, Sam came around the corner. Natalie was surprised- he was wearing a suit. She cocked her head to one side, looking at him. Normally, he only wore a suit when they were on the case. And at the moment, things had been quiet in Supernatural Land. They had been taking a much deserved break from the craziness, and were perfectly comfortable exploring this new hideaway. Natalie thought of Bobby, still in South Dakota at his house- the other place they called home. She wondered if she could possibly persuade Bobby to come out to Kansas and check out their new Bat Cave- she knew he'd love it here.

Sam stepped towards her, interrupting her thoughts. "Hey Bug," he said, smiling at her.

"Well! Don't you look all spiffy!" she complimented him.

He looked to the side and laughed. "Well, thank you very much."

"Are you going out tonight too?" she asked, a twinge of sadness in her voice at the idea of being the only one left in the bunker tonight.

"I am."

"Nice!" she said, clamping down on that feeling again. "Who's the lucky lady?" she asked, looking back at the stack of books, hoping her eyes didn't give her away.

Sam just chuckled to himself. Of course he knew that she wasn't entirely happy that he was going out- he always knew when she was lying. But that feeling in her was about to change. "You are," he said simply.

Natalie's eyes swung around to meet his. He was just standing there, smiling at her.

"I'm sorry- what?"

"You are. I'm taking you out."

"Well, gee, I'm flattered, but we're in Kansas, not Kentucky."

Sam snorted. "Not like that you little brat." Natalie grinned cheekily to herself- she had managed to get both of them to call her "brat" in less than five minutes. That had to be a new record. Her focus returned to Sam. "I figured- you're getting older, you're probably going to start dating soon..."

"Not if Dad has anything to say about it."

"...And I figured it's about time that someone showed you how you should be treated on a date." Natalie just stared at him for a long moment.

"Are you serious?" she said, her eyes widening. Sam's smile widened.

"Yup. Go on. Go get dressed."

"Like...for real? For real?"

He laughed. "Yes! Go on!" He watched as she slowly pulled herself up from the table, and began walking towards the bedrooms. She paused for a moment in the doorway, and turned to look at him once more, just for confirmation. He rolled his eyes with a smile.

"YES! I'm serious! Get a move on!" he said, laughing at her reticence. He watched as she took one more moment to process the thought, then a slow smile crept onto her face, despite her usual blocking-of-all-smiles thing.

"Cool," she whispered once, grinning. She turned and took off down the hallways towards her room.

*SPN SPN SPN*

About a half hour later, Natalie emerged from her room. She still wasn't entirely sure what to make of this whole idea, but it sounded like fun. Besides, she was curious to know what Uncle Sam wanted to teach her. She had chosen a knee length black skirt and a red button down blouse. She had to admit- even though she usually hated dressing up, it did make a nice change that she was dressing up because she wanted to for once, not because she had to. She had also chosen her tallest black heels. She was used to hanging out with a giant who was over a foot taller than her, but she could do without the weird looks of strangers when they saw them together. She had carefully brushed her hair back, but added no clips or anything- she didn't really care for that kind of thing.

When she walked into the war room, Sam looked up from his phone, then stood up. "You look very nice," he complimented. She just blushed and looked away, which made him chuckle again.

"Come on, we've got a reservation at Meditterano," he said, beginning to walk towards the garage.

"That's that really nice Italian place downtown, isn't it?" Natalie asked, following him.

"That's the one," he confirmed. She had no idea why they were walking towards the garage- Dean had taken the Impala. She was surprised to see a rental car in the bunker garage.

"You rented a car for this?" she asked, wonder in her voice.

"Didn't figure you wanted to walk in those heels," he said in a teasing tone. She giggled- wow, he had actually rented a car for her so she didn't have to walk. She felt...special.

"Not to mention, I wanted to try to give you a ride in something other than an Impala for once. Have you ever actually been inside another car before?"

"Does a cop car count?"

"Har har," he said, walking around to her side. Natalie's eyes widened as he walked towards her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, confused.

"A gentleman should open a door for a lady," he explained, reaching over and pulling the handle. He gestured into the open car with his hand, and she, still a bit confused, slid in. Sam had done that for her on numerous occasions when they were getting into the Impala, but she never realized that was a thing. She had always thought it was just to get her in the car faster. She watched as Sam made his way to the driver's side. When he had opened his own door, and slipped into the driver's seat, she spoke up again.

"Okay, so a guy should open a door for a girl. Does that mean that I'm just supposed to stand around, waiting for him to come open stuff, when I'm perfectly capable of doing it on my own?"

Sam couldn't help but laugh- this was exactly why he had wanted to take her out and teach her this stuff. "It's a sign of respect. Back in the olden days, men opened doors for women. Today, it's not as common, but it's still a very nice gesture. A true gentleman will open doors for a lady."

Natalie was quiet for a moment, trying to process what he said. A lady? She was a lady? Since when?

They drove to the restaurant, just chatting like normal. Sam was impressed that at the age of fifteen, Natalie could have a very competent intellectual discussion with words that would make most kids her age scratch their heads in wonder. She had always been smart- always at least a grade ahead of herself when it came to studies, but he was proud to see it spilling over into her real life as well. He grinned, proud of his niece.

They pulled up to the restaurant. As Natalie was unbuckling her belt, she thought of something. She stopped, and turned to Sam. "Okay, so door protocol here," she said, a look of concentration on her face. Sam smothered his grin, watching her try to puzzle this one out. "So- it seems really stupid to just sit here and wait for him to come around and open a door when I'm right freaking here."

"If the guy uses a valet, wait for him to open your door. He has to get out and give the keys to the valet anyways. But if it's just a parking lot, go ahead and get out. But watch his body language. You'll be able to tell if he's heading for your door or not." With that, Natalie pushed her door open herself and climbed out. Sam just chuckled.

Together, they walked towards the double door under the lovely cream and gold awning. This place was very nice- very high class. Just enough to make Natalie feel very uncomfortable. Dean never picked out places like this to eat, and she wasn't entirely sure how she should be acting. Sam could feel her reticence, and leaned down to whisper to her. "Don't worry," he said soothingly. "I'll teach you everything you need to know."

"And you won't make me look like a ginormous dork?"

"Scout's honor." As if to seal the deal, Sam stepped forward, and held the door open for her with a smile. Natalie grinned her sideways grin in response, and walked through cautiously. The atmosphere inside the place was just as elegant as the exterior. There was soft violin music playing. The warm golden glow from the overhead crystal chandeliers and the tea lights on each table were intoxicating. The whole place seemed hushed with elegance. Natalie felt her insides shrink nervously, but Sam stepped right next to her, and she found her courage again. He gave their name at the hosting station, and they were promptly ushered to a table, Sam gesturing with his hand to let Natalie go first, following the maître'd.

When they got to the table, the maître'd held a chair out. Natalie's eyes quickly sought Sam's, asking what to do with a hint of panic. He just smiled and nodded, and she cautiously sat down in the chair the man was holding out. He perfectly tucked her in towards the table. Even though it still felt incredibly weird, she was beginning to feel very special. "Miss," the maître'd said politely to her. She gave him what she desperately hoped was a gracious and proper nod in response. When the maître'd walked away from her, she looked at Sam again, questioning. His reassuring wink told her she'd done it perfectly.

"Wow," she whispered, feeling a need to be quiet, especially in this atmosphere. "I had no idea places could be this...intense."

Sam just gently laughed again. For all of her intelligence, they really hadn't shown her a lot of the rest of the world. This was his first step towards making that right. "Tell me about it," he said. She giggled, glad that he was feeling the same stuffy-uptightness that she was. "When you really get into the depths of a relationship, you can totally have a watch crappy TV on the couch night, but this is how relationships usually start. Getting all the awkward stuffiness out of the way, while pretending to be incredibly pretentious."

"That seems counterproductive," she commented wryly. "Why go to a place that makes you act like you're some big cheese first when you're getting to know each other?"

Sam shrugged. "No idea. But I've always thought that if you can get through a pretentious date first and still want to spend time together, there's a good chance that you'll be going on a second date."

Natalie smiled, and reached out for the crystal goblet of water sitting at her place and took a sip. It was then that her eyes saw the sea of forks, knives, and spoons at her place. She almost choked on her water, but recovered gracefully.

Sam grinned again. "You okay?" he asked.

She gestured to the silver paraphernalia. "How the...how in the world am I supposed to know which fork to use when?"

"First off, good job curtailing your swearing."

"Thank you."

"Second off- and this is going to sound crazy- but start from the outside and work your way in."

"Seriously? You're giving me the same advice that rich lady gave Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic?"

"Well, she was right."

The waiter came over about that time, and they placed their orders. They fell into easy conversation, thanks to Sam. He was a master at keeping a smooth dialogue flowing, asking about Natalie, how things were really going, what she had found in the bunker, where she was in translating the Men of Letters findings. That, in turn, gave her the subconscious clues as to how to keep the conversation going from her end. She, in turn, then asked him all about what was going on in his world. She was surprised at how much she didn't know. It wasn't exactly easy to keep secrets when you lived with two other guys, barely getting five seconds apart ever, but Sam had been working on his own research, which he was only too happy to tell Natalie about.

As they talked about all the things they were discovering by living in the bunker, Natalie suddenly broke out of their dialogue. "Okay, I gotta ask," she said, her smile twisting to the side as she covered her amusement. "How did you learn all this stuff? All this 'holding open doors' and 'which silverware to use' and stuff?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I know you didn't learn it from Dad."

That made Sam laugh out loud. "Well, you're certainly right there. When I was at Stanford, Jess taught me a lot of social niceties."

"Jess? Wasn't she your girlfriend that…..your girlfriend you were with when Dad came to get you?"

Sam gave a soft smile upon hearing her unspoken words. "It's okay, Nat. Yeah, that was her."

"She must have been pretty cool."

"She was," Sam said with a soft smile. He didn't say anything more, and Natalie didn't ask him. It seemed like a private thought, and she didn't want to intrude. Not to mention, all that touchy feely crap still was awkward to her. She was Dean's daughter, after all.

When their food came, Natalie found herself subtly watching Sam's use of the cutlery, and imitating him. He was amused and proud, watching her figure it all out in her own way. The conversation continued to flow effortlessly.

After they were finished, the waiter brought over the check. Sam immediately went for it, but looked his niece in the eye. "Okay- here's another lesson for you. He should pay for the first date. Sometimes it's nice for the girl to pay, but the guy should do the first date, unless you've already agreed to go Dutch."

"What's going Dutch?" Natalie asked.

"When you pay for yourself. There's nothing wrong with that option, either. But again, just like with the doors, it's considered chivalrous for the gentleman to pay for the lady."

"So I'm kind of feeling like I'm supposed to be a helpless, weak damsel here. And I'm not that. Not at all."

"No, you most certainly are not. That's exactly why you need to know these things. They're not supposed to make you feel helpless- these are just signs of respect. And any guy you go out with had better respect you- or he's gonna have Dean and I to deal with." Natalie smiled a rare, real smile at that. Sam settled the check quickly, and they stood up, made their way out of the restaurant, and walked towards the parking lot. However, just as they were about to cross the alley to get to the car, Sam took Natalie's elbow.

"Hey- let's take a walk around the block. There's something else I want to show you." She obligingly fell into step beside him. When they reached the street, Sam maneuvered her to the outside of the sidewalk, while he was walking on the side closest to the road. He looked down at her.

"Now this one isn't well known, but still- another sign of respect. A gentlemen walks on the curb that is closest to the road."

"Why?"

"Because if a car is going to jump the curb and hit a pedestrian, the man should take the hit, not the woman."

"Are you serious?"

"Yup," Sam said, grinning again. Natalie shook her head.

"Wow. That is...wow." They continued walking around the block, just chatting again, feeling more free to laugh out loud since they were no longer in the stuffy restaurant. When they reached the car, Sam held Natalie's door for her, which she accepted with a pompous "Thank you sir." Sam just laughed at her.

The drive back to the bunker was filled with their animated chatter. Natalie couldn't help but think about how cool this night had been. Sam made her feel special. He made her feel like she was going to be worth something to someone special someday. And he was going to be right beside her, helping her navigate these waters. She knew Dean would have done it too, but truth be told- she preferred a restaurant to a bar any day. Not to mention the fact that Dean's first suggestion for any date she went on would be 'make sure your gun is loaded'. She found herself gazing sideways at Sam, smothering a smile, but grateful for everything he had done for her this night.

When they got inside, Natalie turned to Sam. "Hey," she said. "Wanna watch some Netflix?"

He smiled. "Sure, Bug. Go change."

About five minutes later, she reappeared in his bedroom in her tank and sweats combo. She jumped on his bed, all properness shoved to the side. He tossed her the remote, and she began flicking through the options. Before she could settle on one, she suddenly turned and threw her arms around his neck. He was surprised at her sudden affection, but returned the hug. When she pulled away, he asked.

"What was that for?"

"For treating me like a lady. That was awesome. Thanks."

"Anytime, Bug."