Good Morning Beautiful SPN family! How are you today?
This story is a request from SamA18. This is one of the first requests she made, and I asked her to hang on till Christmas for me to publish it, and she very patiently did. So here it is!
A million thank yous to all of you for the reads, reviews, follows and favorites. I appreciate it more than I can say. Special thanks to Jenmm31 for reading, proofing, and being awesome.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Happy Holidays to you all! Love you!
A/N- In this story, Natalie is 5. Please see Profile Page for Disclaimer
Natalie had just swallowed the last bite of her favorite lunch- grilled cheese- when Dean looked at her from across the table in Bobby's kitchen. "Good girl," he said, praising the fact that she finished all her meal. It wasn't an unusual occurrence. Natalie had definitely inherited her father's appetite. But she still soaked up the praise like a sponge, always wanting to make her Daddy happy.
Now that she was on Christmas break from her school, Dean had declared that they weren't taking any official cases at all until after the holidays. He wanted to make sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that he and Sam were with Natalie for all holidays- especially Christmas. He was bound and determined not to turn into John Winchester in this case- always putting work before family. Besides, he missed his kid. Being away from her was much harder than he had anticipated, so he jumped at the chance as often as he could. But evil never stopped to rest, so times like this had been scarce this past year. Natalie had been missing Dean just as much as he missed her, so any praise that she got from him was its own Christmas.
She grinned and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Dean chuckled. If Sam had seen that, he'd have gone ballistic. But Sam currently wasn't at the table. He was on a mission of his own. Possibly one of the most complicated missions the brothers had ever been on. And now it was Dean's turn to play his part.
Dean stood up, walked around to Natalie's chair, and picked her straight up in his arms, setting her down on his hip. There was no way he was going to give her the chance to run, and given what he was about to propose, that was a distinct possibility. "Okay, squirt," he said once he was sure he had a firm grip on her. "Nap time."
Just as he knew she would, his five year old's face crumpled into a mix of disgust and horror. "But I don't need a nap!" she protested, immediately starting to squirm to break his hold on her. Dean just kept a tight grip, giving her literally no wiggle room. Natalie hated naps and sleeping, but it was a necessary evil. He carried the fidgeting child towards the stairs up to her room at Bobby's house. He looked at her and spoke gently as he continued to get closer and closer to her bed. He had to make this as fast as possible, and with a child who despised naps, it wasn't going to be easy.
"You do too need a nap."
"No, I don't! Naps are dumb. Naps are for babies. And I'm NOT a baby!"
"Well, you're right, there. You're not a baby. But you are being a cranky butt," he said deliberately. And once again, just like he knew she would, her face pinched together like she had just sucked on a lemon. She hated it when Sam or Dean called her a "cranky butt".
"I am not!"
"Yes, you are."
"I am NOT being a cranky butt!"
Dean freed up one hand just long enough to poke her in the arm. "So what do you call how you're behaving right now? I'd say that's being a cranky butt." Natalie just folded her arms tightly and didn't say anything, other than to make a dissatisfied little growling noise. Dean kept speaking while regaining a tight hold on her, slowly making his way up the stairs. "And cranky butts need naps." Natalie huffed in frustration, knowing Dean had just outwitted her.
"NOT a cranky butt….." she mumbled under her breath, clearly trying not to give Dean any more fodder. Dean's smile twisted off to the side in an attempt to keep from outright laughing in her face, which would just make her more mad anyways. They reached her open door, and she slumped against Dean with a whimper, knowing she had lost the battle. He walked over to her bed and laid her down right onto her back, reaching immediately for her blanket. She pinched her face tighter and pounded the mattress with her fists in displeasure. Dean looked her right in the eye as he drew the blanket over her thumping fists.
"Listen. You stay down and go to sleep, you hear me?"
"But I'm not tired!"
"You'll get tired tonight if you don't take a nap now- you know you will." There. That shut her up. She made her stink face again, but didn't protest. Dean pressed his advantage. "And if you take a nap now, that means you get to stay up and play tonight." Her eyes flicked up to him, intrigued by the proposal. Dean took a calming breath- time to drop the big one. "Who knows. We may even get Cas to come by tonight."
Her eyes lit up like the Christmas tree downstairs. "Really?" she squealed excitedly. Dean nodded vigorously.
"You betcha. How long has it been since Cas came to play?"
"Sooooooo long."
"Bet you wish he was here right now, huh?"
Natalie's eyes got wide, and suddenly darted around the room. When the angel didn't appear, her face fell. "I do wish he was here now," she mumbled, disappointed. Dean reached out and smoothed her hair back.
"He probably knows that it's nap time, and doesn't want to keep you up so you all can play tonight." Natalie thought about that for a moment, then nodded her head in agreement.
"Yeah, that's probably it," she said, trying to sound like a wise old sage. Dean chuckled again, leaned down, and kissed her forehead. He looked her right in her beautiful green eyes.
"You know the drill. Stay in bed, go to sleep, and no getting up until you wake up. Kapeesh?" he reminded her, one eyebrow raised.
"Kapeesh," she said, then yawned so big her jaws looked like they were going to dislocate. Dean tucked the blanket in a bit tighter around her before standing up.
"Okay, then. Sleep well, kiddo."
"'Kay," she mumbled, half asleep already. Dean smiled and shook his head as he slowly walked out and closed the door. No matter how much she fought it, she almost always went right to sleep after finally being wrestled into bed. He waited silently by her door for a few moments, then quickly tiptoed to the edge of the stairs. Had it worked? Did they pull it off?
In answer to his questions, Sam appeared at the base of the stairs and gave him a thumbs up. Dean took two seconds to fist pump, before Sam waved his arms frantically, reminding him he had to be quiet. Dean shot his own bitch face back at Sam, as if to say duh, I know. He then tiptoed back to Natalie's door, where he removed the piece of paper that had been surreptitiously taped to the back of the door earlier. He grinned down at the angel sigil drawn on it. He still couldn't believe it had worked- he had to go see with his own eyes.
He slid down the stairs as quickly and as quietly as he could. Sure enough, Sam was standing there- and so was Castiel. Dean chuckled proudly under his breath.
"You owe me twenty bucks," he said cheekily to Sam.
Sam just rolled his eyes in response. "It's not over yet."
"Give it up, Sammy, I won. The plan worked."
"We're not even out the door yet, Dean."
"I don't understand," Cas said, interrupting their banter.
"Big shock there," Dean replied.
Choosing to ignore that, Cas spoke up again anxiously. "Where's Natalie? She wanted me, I could feel it. But she's warded somewhere. Is she in trouble?"
Dean held up his hands like he was pumping the brakes. "Whoa, whoa, slow down there. She's fine."
"Then where is she?"
"She's up in her room, asleep."
"Her room isn't warded against me."
"Not typically."
Long pause. "I still don't understand."
Sam put a comforting hand on the angel's shoulder as Dean hurriedly laced up his boots. "Look, Cas, we needed to get you here, but we needed Natalie NOT to know you were here. Not yet, anyways."
"Why?"
Dean looked up with a snort of laughter. "Why? Because it's Christmas, Cas, that's why."
Cas shook his head in utter confusion. He had a hard enough time understanding humans on a day to day basis. Why did the Winchesters double talk and not get to the point sooner? Were they messing with him again? Sam saw the frustration on the angel's face and jumped in to help.
"Look, Cas. We've got to try to go Christmas shopping for Natalie, but the kid-"
"-The kid's a freaking ninja when it comes to presents and crap," Dean interrupted. "We can't take her to the store with us, obviously."
"And we can't take turns going, because she's already figured out that that means one of us is shopping," Sam finished.
"So why not leave her alone?" Cas asked seriously. Both brothers turned to look at the angel like he was the crazy one.
"Dude- you know what kind of havoc she can wreak when she's being watched. Imagine what she'd do if we left her alone in a house where she thinks there are presents," Dean said impatiently. Cas's eyes got wide as the truth of the statement hit him. Sam added his own two cents.
"So if she wakes up before we're back, we're hoping that the excitement in seeing you will distract her from tearing the house apart," he said, wanting to make sure that Cas truly understood the magnitude of what they were up against. Now that she was old enough to understand holidays, Natalie had started celebrating them with the same zeal as Dean with pie. She had been going bonkers ever since Sam and Dean came home, practically exploding with Christmas excitement every moment of every day.
"Oh. I understand now," Cas said, nodding in agreement. Dean stood up and shrugged into his jacket.
"She just went down for a nap. We've got- hopefully- an hour and a half until she gets up." He turned to Sam. "Bobby already loaded into the car?"
Sam nodded. "Ready to rock and roll."
"Good," Dean said, pleased that Sam was able to carry out his end of the covert mission. He looked at Cas. "Just make sure that if she wakes up, you don't tell her we're Christmas shopping, alright?"
Cas nodded quickly, seeing the seriousness behind the situation. "I understand. I am babysitting again."
Dean pointed to him. "On the nose," he said. Well, close enough, he thought. He and Sam zipped out of the house and raced to the Impala, knowing theirs was a time-sensitive task. Cas watched impassively from the window as the Impala screeched out of the dirt driveway towards town.
He looked around himself at the living room. Having Natalie around was certainly making a difference in Bobby's decor. There were random crayons scattered all over the living room floor, along with pictures of devil's traps and something that looked like ponies- or possibly a hamburger. Cas picked up one of Natalie's pieces of art, turning it over and around, trying to decipher the picture. He really needed to speak to her about her lack of artistic skill. He waved his hand over the mess, and the crayons suddenly appeared in neat rows in the box that had been abandoned under the sofa. He picked up the now full box and placed it on the coffee table. He had stepped on a crayon once before and found it immensely dissatisfying. He was not anxious to repeat the experience.
He sat down on the sofa, but immediately jumped back up. What on earth had he sat on? Upon further inspection, he picked up what appeared to be a small, green, plastic man. He turned it this way and that, examining it, before he realized that these were those green army men that Natalie was so fond of playing with. This little fellow that had accidentally stabbed him in the hindquarters appeared to be holding a long rifle. Cas snapped his fingers, and the rifle disappeared from the army man's hands. Cas carefully probed the rest of the couch for little army men, which proved to be a good idea. Natalie had been playing that her army men, or the "Hulks", as she called the little green toys, were undercover. Unfortunately, she had forgotten they were there. Cas picked the rest of them out of the couch and deposited them next to the crayons on the table. He carefully attempted to sit down on the couch again, and was relieved when nothing poked him. He put his hands on his lap, contented to wait until Sam, Dean, and Bobby returned.
About half an hour later, however, Cas heard stirring from upstairs. His brow wrinkled in confusion. Dean had been very clear that Natalie would probably be asleep for at least an hour and a half. However, this time, Dean was wrong. He heard Natalie's door knob twist and a small yawn, then heard her socked feet prancing down the stairs. He stood up and turned towards the stairs as she jumped the last three steps to the main floor. For two seconds, he watched as her face registered shock at the sight of the angel in the trench coat. Her eyes suddenly lit up, and Cas got a glimpse of her thousand watt smile before she screamed "CAS!" and launched herself at him. Even though it was her typical greeting, it still took him by surprise. She threw herself into his stomach and wrapped her arms around his waist, squeezing him as tight as she could.
"Why do you always insist on greeting me this way?" he asked, more out of curiosity than annoyance. She looked up at him and grinned that grin that he found so captivating.
"Because I loooooooooooooooove you," she said in a sweet voice.
"Oh. Very well, then," he said, as if that explained her need to hurl her body at his every time she saw him.
"I'm really glad you're here! I wanted you to come earlier, but Daddy said that you knew I was supposed to be asleep and didn't want to bother me," she said, after releasing the angel from her bear hug. Her head tilted to the side, observing his response.
Knowing that Dean wanted to keep the truth from her, Cas's eyes darted around the room. "Yes, that's correct," he said, wildly avoiding eye contact. He quickly attempted to change the subject before she could inquire further. "Why didn't you sleep longer?" he asked bluntly.
She shrugged. "I'm not tired," she said. Cas knew she was telling the truth. For being only 5, she really didn't seem to require as much sleep as an average child. But she was also a Winchester. That seemed to put her in a whole different category when it came to basic human needs. She looked side to side, as if she just realized that there were no other adults around. "Where's everybody else?" she asked innocently.
Cas panicked. He knew that it was important to Dean that Natalie not know that they were Christmas shopping for her- but he had never been good at lying, especially on the spot. "They are…..they're fixing the car."
She looked out the window. "Baby's not out there."
"They are getting hair cuts."
"Have you met my uncle?"
"They are…."
"Cas- are they Christmas shopping?!"
Pause.
"No."
"Yes, they are!" Natalie squealed excitedly. She began jumping up and down, clapping her hands. Cas tried to speak, but no words would come out. He supposed this was what humans referred to as "getting tongue tied". Natalie darted to his side, grabbed his hand, and began yanking him towards the stairs. "C'mon!" she squealed in a decibel level that was only ever meant for dogs.
"Where are we going?" Cas wondered.
"We're gonna go hunting!"
"I was under the impression that you weren't allowed on the field until you were older."
Natalie sighed and hung her head, looking exactly like Dean. "Hunting for Christmas presents, I mean." At that declaration, Cas dug his feet in. The five year old wasn't able to pull him, no matter how hard she tried.
"Natalie," he said in his gruff, stern voice. She instantly stopped tugging, surprised at the tone. She looked at him innocently. "You are not supposed to look for presents. Or tear up the house. Those were my instructions," he said, abandoning all pretense. He knew she would see right through it anyways.
Natalie put on her best little-girl face. "I won't tear up the house! Honest!" She looked around the room, trying to find something to prove that she wouldn't do exactly what Cas feared she would. Her eyes landed on the box of crayons on the coffee table. She reared back in surprise.
"I didn't put those up," she said, half to herself. Cas, however, thought she was speaking to him.
"You're correct. I did."
She swung around to look at him. "Why did you do that?"
"Because the last time I stepped on one of your crayons, I got a bit of burnt sienna on the bottom of my shoe. It made colored marks every time I walked. I did not care for that."
"So you picked all my crayons up?" she asked incredulously, grabbing the box from the table and peering into it to make sure he had gotten them all.
"I didn't actually pick them up. I simply put them back in the box." At that, Natalie's face registered confusion. He held out his hand. "Like this," he said, gesturing that he wanted her to hand him the box. She did without reluctance. He upturned the box and dumped the crayons back all over the floor. But before she could squeak out so much as a "Hey!", Cas waved his hands again. Instantly, the crayons appeared in the box again, perfectly lined up just as before. He handed the box back to the dumbfounded child. "See?" he said.
Natalie barely heard him. Upon seeing the demonstration, her brain began to spin out with glorious possibilities. She said in a hushed tone, "You can do stuff like that with your angel power?" When Cas nodded, he was surprised to see a wild, manic gleam in her large eyes. Suddenly, she tossed the crayons onto the couch, turned on her heel, and darted back up the stairs. "C'mon Cas! We got work to do!" she squealed at the top of her little lungs.
More out of curiosity than anything else, Cas followed her. She had already raced into Dean's room, and was dragging an old chair he had by the wall nearer to his closet. "What are you doing?" he asked, watching the child throw open the closet door and drag the chair inside. She turned to him with a grin.
"I'm looking for Christmas presents!"
"You're not supposed to be doing that. I told you this already."
"Then I'm checking the top shelf of Daddy's closet for dust."
"Alright."
He walked over as she started to haul herself up on the chair to get a better viewpoint. He immediately reached out and put her back down on the floor. She squawked in outrage. "I do know that you are not allowed to climb on chairs like that without permission," he said, the touch of sterness back in his voice. She huffed and stamped her foot.
"Then how am I supposed to see the top shelf?" In response, Cas pointed two fingers at her, and she lifted into the air, exactly how he used to do with her when she was a baby and wanted to go "up". She giggled. "You're right," she said, dangling midair. "This is so much better." She attempted to swim through the air to try to move her closer to the closet. Cas saw what she was after, and obliged by moving her closer to the shelf. The second her hands were within reach of the shelf, she started grabbing and throwing things behind her, desperately looking for gifts.
"Natalie," Cas said this time in a worried tone. He knew she wasn't supposed to tear the house apart, but if he attempted to put the tossed items back right now, he would risk dropping her.
"It's okay, Cas," she said in a soothing tone while continuing to tear Dean's closet apart. When she didn't find anything, she let out a huff of displeasure. "Can you put me down please?" Castiel immediately obliged. She floated gracefully to the floor. She hurriedly gathered the items that she had carelessly tossed behind her. She held her now full hands out to Cas. "Will you please put these back up there?"
"You should not have thrown them down in the first place," Cas commented dryly.
"How else was I supposed to see if…there was dust up there?"
Pause.
"I see your point." At that, Natalie held her hands out to Cas again, silently asking him to put all the items back. With a simple wave, he did. Natalie stared at her now empty hands.
"That is SO cool," she whispered in wonder. Without further comment, she tore out of Dean's room and into Sam's. They repeated the same process through Sam's and eventually Bobby's room. When she came up empty handed, she started to get frustrated.
"I KNOW there's gotta be presents here somewhere," she said, grumbling.
"You don't know that," Cas commented, hoping to distract her. She turned and put her hands on her hips.
"So are you saying that they're out shopping for Christmas presents then, since there are no presents in the house?" she asked matter of factly, as if she was interrogating him at a court hearing. Cas's eyes got wide at her question and reasoning. This was one of Dean's instructions- that she not know their shopping activities. He tried to adopt a casual air, but ended up looking constipated.
"I'm not saying that."
"Then it's possible that there are Christmas presents here somewhere."
"You're not supposed to be tearing up the house."
"I'm not! The walls and stuff are all still standing, aren't they?"
Well, she had a point.
After a thorough search of the shelves in the den and the living room, Natalie finally admitted defeat. She threw herself down onto the couch dramatically. "WHY are they making this so hard?!" she whined aloud. Cas, not knowing the answer, kept silent. She turned her head and caught sight of the pile of army men on the coffee table. She popped back up and slid off the couch onto her knees next to the table, picking up her "hulks" and examining them.
"I forgot I left these in the couch," she said, giggling.
"I thought as much," Castiel said grimly, still remembering the little fellow who had pierced him. Natalie absentmindedly walked one of her toy soldiers along the edge of the coffee table, while putting her head in her hand.
"Cas, if you were my dad, where would you hide Christmas presents?" she asked. Before he could answer, she whipped around and looked at him, still standing by the couch. "Did your dad ever get you Christmas presents?"
Knowing that she didn't really understand exactly what she was asking him, Castiel chose his next words carefully. "My Father- is very busy around Christmas time. But then again, most angels are, too."
"Oh," she said. "I'll make sure you get a Christmas present this year, okay?" she said with an anxious look on her face. She loved Cas- and she wanted him to feel the holiday spirit like she was. She started prancing her little green soldier along the couch cushions. "Huh. I thought this one had a rifle in his hands," she murmured, looking at her toy. Suddenly, a brilliant thought occurred to her. She stood up, pulled one of the couch cushions off the sofa, and flipped it around until she found the zipper keeping in all the padding. She unzipped it. In one horrible moment, Cas realized what she was about to do.
"Natalie- stop!" Castle said in a panicked voice, but it was too late. The five year old thrust both arms into the fluff and started pulling out chunks of white, cottony fibers. In a matter of moments, the cushion was empty. White fluff covered the little girl and the floor around her. She peered into the depths, and with a disgruntled sigh, tossed it to the side.
"Natalie, what on earth are you doing now?" Cas asked, exasperated at her behavior. She shrugged nonchalantly. A chunk of white fluff fell off her shoulder.
"I thought they might have hidden presents in the cushions, like I hid my Hulks," she explained patiently, before reaching for another cushion. Cas threw up his hands. There was clearly no reasoning with her at this point. so she might as well get it all out of her system. She made short work of the other two cushions. Before the angel knew it, the whole room looked like a blizzard had just hit. Once she got over the disappointment of not finding any presents, Natalie finally got a good look at the havoc surrounding her. She giggled.
"It looks like it's snowing! In the house!" she said with a delighted laugh. Despite the mess, Cas found himself wanting to smile at her joy. But his feelings quickly turned to confusion when the child laid down in the middle of the white fluff and began spreading her arms and legs apart.
"What are you attempting to do?" Cas asked, perplexed.
"I'm making snow YOUS!" she shrieked back, before bursting into infectious giggles. "See?" She began flapping her arms again, trying to demonstrate the proper way to make a snow angel. "It makes a snow angel when you do this!" She picked herself up off the floor, and turned around to survey her work. Tiny bits of cotton fiber stuck to her hair and shirt. She sighed, seeing that the fluff wasn't behaving quite the same way that snow did. "It makes sense in the snow," she said, shrugging.
At that moment, the front door opened, and Dean walked in. Upon seeing the white, fluffy living room, he stopped so fast that Sam ran into the back of him. His eyes grew wide and he struggled for words as Sam tried to collect himself.
"Ouch! Dean! Why'd you….." Sam said, trailing off as he got a look at the disaster area. "Oh. That's why," he said quietly, taking in the little girl and the angel, both covered in cotton fluff.
"What. The Hell. HAPPENED?" Dean roared, still not moving. "Natalie, what did you do?!"
Completely oblivious to the fact that she was in a lot of trouble, she threw her arms wide and giggled. "I made snow angels!" she said proudly. Bobby chose that unfortunate moment to try to wheel through the door. However, as Sam was still standing in the middle of it, it was proving to be difficult.
"You gonna stand there all day, princess? Move!" Bobby commanded, causing Sam to jump and scoot to the side. When the old man got an eyeful of the winter wonderland his adopted granddaughter had made, his jaw hit the floor. "Natalie Grace!" he barked out. That caused her to realize that maybe everything wasn't quite kosher.
"What?" she asked innocently. Dean's eyes got wider, and he silently gestured to the blizzard of couch padding all around him. "Oh. That. It's okay!" she explained quickly. She turned to the angel. "Cas, can you put it back again please?"
"Of course," he said. With a wave of his hand, the room was instantly clean, and the couch cushions were back in their place, looking no worse for their wear.
"Thank you!" she said, grinning. She looked back at Dean. "See? It's okay!"
"Oh- it is a lot of things, but OKAY is not one of them," Dean growled, walking over towards the angel and the little girl. "Cas, what the hell, man?! I told you not to let her tear apart the house!"
"I didn't tear apart the house!" Natalie piped up, frustrated that the brilliance of her plan was going unnoticed. Dean turned and pointed a warning finger in her face.
"You hush. I'll deal with you in a minute," he said in a menacing tone. She clamped her lips shut, suddenly KNOWING that everything was not kosher. She took a little step closer to Cas for support. Dean's focus shifted back to the angel. "What happened?"
Cas looked blankly at Dean. "Well, she took the stuffing out of the couch, Dean."
"I KNOW that. Why?"
"She was looking for Christmas presents."
"Cas!" Natalie hissed. Cas suddenly shifted uncomfortably.
"I mean- she was…dusting."
"Dusting," Dean repeated flatly, not believing what he was hearing.
"Yes."
"Dusting the inside of the couch cushions."
"Yes."
"Really? Is that the best you could come up with?"
"On this short notice, yes."
Dean just rolled his eyes. His gaze shifted back to his daughter, who was twisting her foot on the floor. "How many times have I told you not to go hunting for Christmas presents, little girl?"
Natalie fidgeted guiltily. "Well….what else am I supposed to do?" she asked, looking up at Dean with a pleading look in her eye. "I HAVE to find them!"
"No, you HAVE to do what I tell you to. You know better than to go hunting for presents, and I sure as hell know that you know better than to tear apart couch cushions."
She pointed half heartedly towards them. "But they're okay now," she said, hoping that would earn her some brownie points.
"And since when do you think it's okay for Cas to clean up your messes? He's not a personal servant. He doesn't just do your bidding whenever you want him too."
"But that's what you did to him earlier."
That brought Dean up short. He turned incredulously to the angel. "Did you just flat out tell her everything?" he asked in exasperation.
Cas shook his head, glad that he was able to at least have accomplished one task that Dean had asked him to do. "No. She figured it out on her own."
"Of course she did," Dean muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. Sam saw the frustration, and tried to jump in to help.
"Bug, you know that Santa's watching, right?"
"Huh?"
"You know. Santa. He's seeing if you're being naughty or nice. And if you're naughty, then he's not going to bring you anything for Christmas," Sam patiently explained, hoping that this would help Natalie see the error of her ways. However, the five year old just wrinkled her brow in confusion.
"No, he's not," she said.
Sam's eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"
"He's not watching."
"And how do you know that?"
"Because Daddy told me that you killed him."
Sam's jaw hit the ground. He slowly turned to Dean, but continued to speak to his niece. "He said what now?" Dean shifted awkwardly and looked away from his brother's disbelieving eyes.
Natalie shrugged nonchalantly. "Remember? Santa and Mrs. Claus had you trapped in their house, and made you say Fudge when you wanted to swear, and you had to stab them because they pulled one of your fingernails off?"
Sam fully turned to Dean, who was still actively trying to avoid eye contact. "You told her about that?!" he yelled.
Dean threw up his hands. "She wanted a Christmas bed time story! What was I supposed to tell her?"
Sam spluttered in disbelief for a moment. "Rudolph?!" he suggested loudly. Dean's facial expression suggested that the thought had never occurred to him. He finally shook his head and held out his hands.
"We're getting off topic," he said, attempting to dismiss his poor bed time story choice. He pointed in his daughter's face again. "Listen, Natalie. You do not use Cas to get your way, or to clean up your messes, or to do things you're not supposed to do. You got me?"
She hung her head. "Yes, sir," she mumbled. She looked up at the angel. "I'm sorry, Cas," she said humbly, feeling guilty. He patted the top of her head.
"It's quite alright. I enjoyed parts of today," he said, looking into the face that he found so captivating and familiar. She grinned at him, but it was short lived.
"Hey!" Dean barked at them, making them both jump. They both adopted a posture of contrition at hearing Dean's tone. "This doesn't happen again. Are we clear?"
"Yes, sir."
"Yes, Dean."
"Good. Natalie, go to your room. You're staying there until dinner, and you better think about what you did while you're up there, you hear me?" Dean commanded, pointing in the direction of the stairs. Natalie sighed. She turned on her heel and started walking towards the stairs. To Dean's surprise, Cas followed her.
"Cas, where do you think you're going?" Dean asked as Natalie started to climb the stairs. Cas stopped at the base, looking at Dean, confused.
"Seeing as how I had a large part in the happenings of today, I assumed that you meant for me to go to her room and think about what I've done as well," he answered plainly.
"Yeah! Cas can come too!" Natalie piped up excitedly.
"March!" Dean roared at her, pointing firmly upstairs again. She didn't need to be told twice. She scurried up the stairs as fast as she could. "Cas, you're not a five year old. You don't need to…" Dean couldn't believe he had to say this. "….go to your room," he finished. Despite his earlier annoyance with his brother, Sam couldn't help but chuckle. Dean rolled his eyes angrily. "Just….next time you watch her, could you just please keep her from creating massive destruction again? Please?"
"I shall do my best, but I will make no promises." At that, Sam sauntered up next to his brother, and stretched out his hand.
"You owe ME twenty bucks," he said, grinning. Dean scowled, dug into his pocket, and slapped a crumpled twenty into Sam's palm before stalking off to the kitchen. No wonder people drank more at the holidays.
