Hey Hey Hey Gorgeous! How are you doing today?

SOOOOO sorry for the delay here- I tried all day Friday to post, but the website wouldn't work, and I've had a weekend like you won't believe, so I'm not going to bore you with details. Here's the last part of Natalie's birth.

Special thanks to ALL of you for sticking with me. From the bottom of my heart- know I love you. MAJOR thanks to Jenmm31. If you seriously haven't checked out her stories by now, you need to. They're amazing, just like she is.

A/N- in this story, Natalie is minutes old :) This is the third part of a 3 part story. If you haven't already, go back and read the last two chapters, otherwise this ain't gonna make a lick of sense. Please see profile page for disclaimer.

Dean stared wondrously into the tiny, red newborn's face. "She's smiling," he whispered.

"What did you say?" Jamie asked from the bed, turning her tired eyes towards him. Dean looked at her. Jamie was surprised to see him looking like a deer in the headlights- albeit a happy deer in the headlights.

"She's smiling- at me," he managed to choke out, then looked down at the baby again. She had snuggled to sleep against his chest, her tiny mouth slightly agape. He looked up at Jamie again. "I swear, just a second ago, I said her name, and she smiled at me." For some bizarre reason, tears sprung to his eyes. Dean clamped his lips closed and swallowed hard to keep them from falling, but he looked back into his daughter's sleeping face. Jamie just smiled gently.

"Sure she did," she said calmly. A sudden rush of anger surprised Dean. He spoke up defensively.

"She did! She just did." He turned away from Jamie, and examined his baby's face again. She was still perfectly asleep, and Dean felt a tidal wave of affection that took him completely off guard. What the hell? he thought to himself. It's like I just had a baby with all these crazy emotions going off. What the crap is happening to me? As he looked down into the newborn's face, he suddenly realized that he didn't really care. All that mattered now was this kid.

"Dean?" Jamie asked. He turned back to her, his little tantrum forgotten. She held out her hands, clearly wanting the baby back.

"Oh, yeah- yeah, sure," he said. The last thing he wanted to do was let this little one out of his arms, but Jamie had done all the hard work to get her here- it was only fair. He walked over to her and oh so carefully tried to hand the baby to her mother. Jamie's sure hands carefully cupped the tiny downy head and body, and she pulled Natalie back into her chest. Natalie fidgeted for a moment, getting used to her new sleeping arrangement, then was right back under. Jamie gave a small giggle.

"Wow- for a newborn, she sure is quiet," she commented. Dean grinned.

"See? Our kid's already the smartest kid in the world," he said proudly. Jamie looked up into his eyes. He was so busy staring at the baby, that he didn't see the single tear that slipped down her cheek as she watched him. She surreptitiously wiped it away under the guise of pushing her hair back out of her face.

"Dean- could you…..would you take a picture of me with Natalie?" Jamie asked quietly, willing herself to stay in control. Dean clumsily fished his phone out of his pocket.

"You got it, babe," he said, opening the camera app. That made Jamie's heart twist even more, but she bit down on her lip to keep the tears from pouring out. "Smile," he said, pointing the camera at mother and daughter. "You too, squirt," he said jokingly to the still asleep baby. He clicked the button, and gazed in awe at the photo- his first photo of his daughter. "Here, I'll text it to you," he said, concentrating on trying to do just that. "The first picture of Natalie," he murmured quietly to himself, the grin on his face going unchecked.

"You really like her name?" Jamie asked nervously. Dean looked back at her.

"Yeah- I really do. It fits her. I mean, I know that's kind of stupid to say- she's not even an hour old. But- I mean- look at her. She looks like a Natalie," Dean said, the smile not even close to leaving his face. "Is there a special meaning behind it? Like, is it your mom's name, or….?"

"No- I just like what it means. With Grace being her middle name, it means 'born of grace'," Jamie said, a sweet reverence in her voice. Dean slowly nodded his head. He didn't know what grace had to do with a one-night stand, but who was he to argue? He leaned forward and kissed Jamie on the forehead.

"It's beautiful, sweetheart," he said huskily. Just then, a nurse came over to the bed. Dean had practically forgotten that anyone else was in the room. She reached down and expertly plucked the sleeping newborn from Jamie's arms.

"Alright, honey, let's get you checked out and make sure you're okay," she said crisply, but not unkindly. She walked over to the clear plastic bassinet and placed Natalie down in it. Dean found himself wandering over towards it, when another nurse came and started wheeling her away.

"Hey, hey, hey! Where are you taking her?" Dean asked, just a little too loudly. The nurse smiled gently. She got this all the time from new fathers.

"She's going to the nursery, just for a bit. After we make sure Jamie's okay, we'll bring her back in again, alright?"

Dean wanted desperately to argue, or to follow her, but he knew that neither was an option. "Okay- just- be careful," he said bossily. The nurse smothered a smile.

"I will, sir. Congratulations- your baby is beautiful," the nurse said kindly. Dean's buttons nearly burst. He couldn't stop the wild smile from spreading across his face.

"Yeah, she is," he said cockily, before turning on his heel and striding back towards the bed. The nurse just barely managed to get into the hallway before she gave into a silent fit of laughter. Back in the room, the other nurse continued to check Jamie's vitals.

"Looks like you're in good shape, honey," she said. "Really good shape. We may even be able to let you go in a couple hours," she commented, a surprised, glazed over look on her face. Dean's head shot up.

"Today? Isn't that- like- way too soon? Are you sure she's okay?" he said in a rush. Jamie placed a gentle hand on his arm.

"Dean, I think they know," she said with a smile. Dean just pinched his lips together, making a bitch face that would have made Sam proud.

"Fine," he said. The nurse finished up and quietly exited the room to give the couple some privacy. Jamie took a deep breath.

"Why don't you run back to the motel and grab a clean shirt? Since it's going to be a couple hours, still?" she suggested. "I'm guessing you'll want to….stay with the baby tonight, right?" she asked almost anxiously.

"Hell yes, I want to stay with you two tonight. Especially if they're releasing you freaking today," he grumbled, still not sure about the whole thing. He leaned forward and kissed Jamie on the forehead again. "Sit tight, sweetheart, I'll be right back." He moved towards the door. Just as he was about to exit the room, he looked back at Jamie and was going to say something, but she had turned her head and was looking out the window. He left without another word.

*SPN SPN SPN*

As the Impala raced towards the crappy motel that Sam and Dean had been living in for the last three days, Dean forced himself to take deep breath after deep breath. But he couldn't stop smiling. He had a million things to worry about- a million things that could go wrong- but for the moment, he didn't care. He had held his newborn daughter in his arms- and the world was completely different. He had always had an almost parental feeling towards his brother- he had raised Sam just as much as John Winchester had- and this feeling was right up there, only intensified. She was actually flesh of his flesh- he MADE her. And she was so little, he felt a herculean strength surging through him to protect her. Once again, he took another deep breath as these intense, strong, overwhelming emotions flooded his being. He supposed it was all part of being a new father. He really leaned into it, feeling these new feelings in the privacy of his car.

"Natalie. Natalie Grace," he whispered to himself out loud. He loved the sound of that. He whispered it over and over to himself as the Impala raced down the road.

*SPN SPN SPN*

The time had come. The nurse had come in, giving Jamie the go-ahead. The doctors and the nurses alike were amazed at how…..normal Jamie was. Being able to leave the hospital the day of birth was nearly unheard of, but there was no reason to keep the healthy young woman. She had been up and about, walking perfectly normally. All her vitals were in check. There were plenty of other babies to be born, so they might as well let this one go home. They brought Natalie back in to the room; Jamie's eyes overflowed the moment she looked at her daughter. The nurse, too used to tears from new mothers, thought nothing of it.

"Where's the handsome father?" the nurse asked, a cheeky grin on her face.

Jamie was barely able to answer back, and her eyes never left the baby. "He's getting the car. I'm going to meet him out front. He'll…he'll come in and get Natalie," she said quietly.

"Okay, honey," the nurse said, a slightly vacant look in her eyes. She quickly exited the room, leaving the mother and the newborn alone. Jamie carefully stood up and walked over to the pile of baby paraphernalia that Dean had carted in. She pulled the car seat out, her eyes instantly overflowing again. Almost methodically, she walked to the bed, set the carrier down, and leaned into the bassinet to pick up Natalie. The movement caused the baby to awake, but she didn't fuss. She smacked her lips a couple times as Jamie pulled her in close. Jamie stood there, in the quiet room for a long while, just cradling her baby to her.

Finally, she laid Natalie down carefully in the car seat, strapped her in, and covered her with a soft, pink blanket. She leaned down, and with trembling lips, kissed the baby delicately on the forehead.

"I love you, Natalie Grace," she choked out. A tear fell from her eyes and landed on the baby's cheek. But Jamie couldn't bear to wipe it away. She knew that if she touched Natalie again, she wouldn't have the strength to do what she needed to do.

Suddenly, she stood upright, turned on her heel, and walked away, out the door. She didn't look back.

In the car seat, the just hours old infant waved her tiny arms. There was a feeling that she didn't like- she was alone. The ones she wanted to be in the room with her weren't there. And there was a wetness on her cheek that was completely foreign and unpleasant. The uncomfortable feeling of the tear combined with the realization of the loss of the ones she wanted to be in the room was too much for the newborn. She started to cry.

No one was there to hear her.

*SPN SPN SPN*

Twenty minutes later, Dean was bouncing his way down the hospital hallway. He was so eager to see his new baby girl again that he didn't care that he was practically walking on air. He was trying to think of how he was going to get Jamie to come hunting with them. Sam had been no help in that field- every time Dean had tried to discuss it with his brother, Sam made the argument again for leaving hunting, period. Maybe once he met his niece, he would get it. Dean hoped he would, anyways.

As he rounded the corner onto the maternity ward, he heard some baby screaming bloody murder. He instantly felt sorry for whoever the parent was, and then realized that it was very likely he was in for quite a few loud times himself. As he trotted closer to Jamie's room, the sound increased. He got more and more nervous as the cry got louder and louder. By the time he got to the room, he was almost running. He hooked his arm around the door and bolted into the room. Sure enough, it was his Natalie screaming. She was buckled into a car seat, sitting on the bed. He didn't see Jamie anywhere, but for the moment, that didn't concern him. He sprinted over to the carrier, and tore the blanket off his baby. His hunter eyes immediately began scanning her tiny form for anything unusual as he struggled to free her from this contraption. Carefully putting a hand behind her head to support her neck, he lifted Natalie into his arms and against his strong chest.

"Hey now, shh shh, it's okay," he murmured desperately, not knowing how to stop babies from crying. However, upon hearing the voice that she recognized, that made her feel safe, Natalie's cries started to dissipate. She grew calmer and calmer until she was silent, snuggling back into the safety of her daddy's strong arms. Dean took a moment, searching the baby's face for indicators that she was going to start screaming again. When he realized that ultimately he had no idea what to look for, he cuddled Natalie close in again, and began looking around the room. Jamie was probably in the bathroom or something.

He walked over towards the closed bathroom door and gently rapped on it. "Hey- Jamie?" he called out, trying to modulate his voice so he didn't scare the baby. He quickly looked down again. Now that she was in his arms, Natalie was once again perfectly calm. Dean pressed his ear to the door. When he didn't hear any sounds, he immediately started to panic. He pushed the door open- but no one was there. His eyes darted around the room wildly, as if he had somehow missed her while she was sitting out here in plain sight. The only thing left in the room was the car seat and diaper bag. With a growing sense of foreboding, he walked out into the hallway. He looked for somebody who could tell him what the hell was happening and where the hell Jamie was.

"Hey- uh, excuse me?" he asked a passing nurse. "Do you know what happened to the young woman who was in here? Jamie? Jamie Ahren?" The nurse looked confused for a moment, then walked over to the chart hanging outside of the room.

"Yes, sir. It looks like she was just discharged about twenty minutes ago," the nurse said matter of factly.

"Okay, seriously- how the hell did she get discharged so soon? She just gave birth this morning," Dean asked again. "Isn't that a little weird?"

The nurse shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you. The doctor signed her out." She held out the chart so that Dean could see. Sure enough, all the signatures were right there, every T crossed and every I dotted. Dean pinched his lips. Now wasn't the time to argue about that.

"Do you have any idea where she went?" Just then, the nurse that had been attending to them came around the corner, wearing a slightly dazed look on her face. Dean rushed towards the woman. "Hey- Nurse? Do you know where Jamie went?"

"Sure thing. She said she was going down to the lobby to wait for you. She said that you would be back up to get the baby," the nurse said, barely pausing to look at Dean. He gave a slight sigh of relief. He didn't like the fact that she had left Natalie all alone, but at least he knew where she was. He walked back into the room and again took in the fact that the only thing left in here was the car seat and the diaper bag. She really must have been feeling okay if she was able to carry her overnight bag back downstairs. He headed towards the car seat, but stopped. What if Natalie started crying again when he tried to put her in the car seat?

He held the baby a little ways away from himself. "Okay, kiddo," he said to her. "If I put you down, are you gonna be cool about it?" The baby blinked sleepily at the sound of his voice, but that was it. He didn't know what he really expected- she wasn't even a day old. He gingerly walked towards the carrier and carefully lowered her down. Okay. This was going okay so far. However, once he removed his hands, she started squirming and her face screwed up like she was about to cry. Dean panicked- the sound of her misery was already more than he could bear. Without really realizing what he was doing, he began to sing, desperately trying to soothe her.

She's got a smile that it seems to me, reminds me of childhood memories,

when everything was as fresh as a bright blue sky…

At the sound of his voice, Natalie's face slowly started to calm down, but she continued to squirm. Dean kept quietly singing.

Now and then, when I see her face, she takes me away to that special place,

and if I stare too long, I' ll probably break down and cry….

Lulled by the soporific sound of his voice, Natalie snuggled down into her carrier and instantly fell asleep. Dean, with the delicacy of a Navy Seal diffusing a bomb, lifted her tiny arms to get the car seat straps in the right place and buckled as he finished the verse.

Whoa, sweet child of mine, whoa, sweet love of mine…..

He was amazed. The baby was completely out, as if he had drugged her. He was going to have to remember this little trick. He grinned to himself. Maybe this Dad thing wasn't going to be so hard after all.

He picked up the carrier, and with a grimace, slung the bright green diaper bag with the monkey face on the front over his shoulder. "Why couldn't she have picked like a superhero or a lighting bolt or something?" Dean grumbled under his breath, looking at the fuzzy monkey face. He made his way out of the room.

However, when he got to the lobby, Jamie was no where in sight. He walked outside, looking around, but didn't see her. The foreboding sense he had felt earlier grew. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Jamie's number.

We're sorry. But the person you're trying to reach has a number that has been disconnected, or is no longer in service.

Dean instantly punched in another number.

"Sammy. Get here now. Something's wrong."

*SPN SPN SPN*

Later on that night, in the motel room, Dean paced the floor, Natalie still sleeping in his arms. Sam was passed out on his own bed, but Dean couldn't sleep. He couldn't wrap his mind around everything that had happened today.

Sam had booked it to the hospital after Dean called, meeting him back up in the room that had been Jamie's. It was where he first laid eyes on his niece. He had entered the room, determination on his face. They needed to find Jamie, and this was just another case. But when Sam saw the little bundle in the car seat, he stopped dead. For some reason, it hadn't connected with him that the baby Dean kept talking about was an actual real live person. There was a strange, almost clinical separation of facts for him. The baby was something to keep safe- to keep away from the disaster that could follow the Winchester Brothers. But seeing her, warm and breathing, Sam saw her in a whole new light.

He slowly walked over towards the carrier and stared down at the baby. "Is….is this her?" he asked in a whisper. Dean was too panicked about what may have happened to Jamie to be sarcastic in his response. Besides, he was still feeling the tidal wave of pride and adoration for the little rugrat.

"Yup, that's her. Natalie Grace," he said, walking over towards the carrier by his brother. Sam noted a tone of reverence and pride that he had never heard in Dean's voice before. He wanted to examine his brother's face to see if he could understand where the new emotion was coming from, but he wanted even more to examine the new face in the room. He looked down, and it connected with him that this was family. This baby wasn't a liability- she was blood. A sudden rush to protect and care for her filled Sam almost to the breaking point. Parts of his soul that were dry and hollow since being in the Cage were suddenly parched no longer. He felt a rift in his heart heal- something he hadn't felt for a very, very long time.

"She's….wow…" he said, a single tear slipping down his cheek.

"I know," Dean said quietly. They stared at the baby for another moment, then looked back at each other. At the same moment, they both remembered what was wrong. They did a thorough search of the room, looking for scorch marks, hints of sulfur, anything. Since Jamie had been targeted by demons when they first met her, it only seemed logical that they had taken her this time. But they found nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sam had run down to the lobby, asking any of the desk attendants if they had seen anything suspicious. After speaking to them, he slowly walked back into the room where Dean was still frantically combing the place. He knew his brother wasn't going to like what he heard.

"Dean?"

"Did anyone see anything? Did they see her?"

"…..Yeah. Yeah, they did."

"And?"

"And….she just walked out."

"What do you mean, she just walked out?"

"She walked out of the front door. Didn't turn around. Didn't come back."

"Sam, that's ludicrous. She wouldn't have."

"Except- that she did."

The boys loaded Natalie into the Impala and raced back to Jamie's house, Dean muttering to himself the whole way.

"She'll be there. She's got to be there."

"Dean, she didn't have a car. You drove her to the hospital."

"So she took a taxi! She's gonna be there!"

She wasn't. The boys did another search of the grounds, checking for means of forced entry, and means of supernatural entry. There was nothing. Dean refused to acknowledge what his brain was trying to say. He pushed it down deep into the part of his mind that he never unlocked- the part where he kept his darkest thoughts. He shoved Sam into the Impala and they burned rubber back to the motel. Sam, who was slowly coming to grips with what was happening, didn't want to mention that Jamie didn't know where they had been staying. Dean was clearly in denial- let him accept the conclusion in his own time.

When they threw open the door to their room, they got the surprise of their lives. The room was filled with everything a baby could possibly need. A bassinet, boxes of diapers, piles of clothing, cans of formula, both pre-mixed and the dried kind. The amount of things that were stuffed into the room was unbelievable. But Dean only had eyes for one item. There, on the table, a note quickly scribbled on the motel stationary.

I'm sorry. Jamie.

Dean stared at the note, frozen in time. The truth of what was happening crawled out of his dark, locked up box in his mind and stood in front of his eyes, unforgiving. He couldn't make it go away, no matter how hard he tried.

Jamie had abandoned Natalie. She had damned his daughter to growing up without a mother- just like he had had to.

He continued staring at the note, not wanting to move, not wanting it to be real. His brain couldn't function. He didn't understand. How…..why….what…..he couldn't wrap his head around it. The overwhelming emotions threatened to overtake him again, but this time, they were anger. Fear. Distrust. And a whole ocean of Rage.

These were emotions he knew. And he knew what to do with them.

He crumpled the note in his fist and threw it in the trash. He walked calmly over towards the carrier, which had been sitting safely in the middle of his bed. Without a word, he pulled his daughter out of the car seat, and hugged her close to his chest. He began to pace, walking her all around the room as she slept. He kept at it for hours, not saying anything, and only stopping when she was hungry or needed a diaper changed. Finally, Sam went to sleep, too exhausted from the emotions and drama of the day to stay awake any longer.

Dean kept pacing. Every step he took furthered his resolve. Every footfall bonded him closer to the child resting in his arms. Around midnight, she squirmed, and he stopped. He held her out a little ways from himself so he could see her. She had woken up a few times before this, being hungry or wet. Earlier, Sam, who had Googled "How to take care of Babies", had handed him bottles every time it happened, but this time, Natalie didn't seem to be hungry- just awake. She blinked sleepily at him, and smiled again. That smile was all Dean needed.

"Hey, kiddo," he whispered gently. He bounced her a couple times, but she seemed perfectly content. He needed to say everything to her. He wanted to give her the world, to assure her that her life was going to be amazing, but he only had one thought coming to mind.

"I'm gonna screw up so bad with you," he said, tears springing to his eyes. "I don't want to. I want to be perfect. I want to be the dad you deserve. I don't know how to do that- I don't have a freaking clue. But- if you live up to your middle name, and grant me a little grace, then by God I'm gonna try. I'm gonna give you everything I got. Because you deserve it, kid. You don't deserve a screw-up. I want…Natalie, I want to be your hero. Okay? I want to be the one you run to when you're scared. And it's okay to be scared. Hell, I'm scared out of my mind right now. But if I can help it, you're never gonna have to worry about that. You're never gonna be scared. Not as long as I'm around. I'll always protect you. I'll always be here for you. We're gonna go through a lot, you and me. And your Uncle Sam, too. He's really great- you're gonna love him. But kiddo, it's just us against the world. And the odds aren't in our favor. But I promise you- I'm gonna win. For you. Because- I love you. You hear me? I love you."

Natalie smiled and snuggled back to sleep. And for the first time in hours, Dean smiled too.