Well good morning, beautiful! How are you today?
My apologies for taking so long to publish. Things have been NUTS, but I'm back! I've had a lot of requests for Natalie milestones, so the next couple are going to be just that. Keep those requests coming!
A special thank you to Jenmm31 who not only kept me sane through this entire last two months, but also helped me out in a super cool way- be on the look out for that soon! And thank you to all of you for sticking with me- it means more to me than I can tell you. You all are my heart.
Please read, review and enjoy!
A/N- in this story, Natalie is 8. Please see profile page for disclaimer.
"Well, that was interesting," Sam said, dropping heavily into the Impala's passenger seat. He rubbed his hands on the front of his coat, still feeling like they were covered in human goo. They had spent their morning at the morgue, doing research on their new case. Sam had been the one to put on the gloves and pick up the scalpel, as usual. He had scrubbed his hands and arms four times at least after performing the pseudo-autopsy, but couldn't shake the phantom feeling of the blood and other various fluids associated with the human form. He looked at his brother with an annoyed expression as Dean pulled on his seat belt. "How come whenever we go to the morgue, I'm the one who always ends up cutting into the corpse?"
"Because you went to medical school," Dean answered as he put the car in reverse and pulled out of the parking lot.
"Dean, I was going to law school."
"Same thing."
Sam just shook his head. The case they were currently working on was still up in the air when it came to the perpetrator. The victim's body had been found near the edge of the woods, with very obvious slash marks on his neck and chest. At first, the boys thought it was a hellhound, but after examining the body closely at the morgue today, Sam was beginning to think that they were dealing some kind of werewolf-type creature. He was anxious to get back to the motel and start researching their findings with Natalie. As if he was reading Sam's thoughts, Dean looked over at him.
"Hey," he said. "You think Natalie's finished her homework yet?" he asked anxiously. Dean loved watching Natalie's face light up when she was given supernatural research to do. His kid was so damn smart; she totally got off on being a part of their research team. He grinned with pride, thinking of all the cases that she had identified so far, and she was only eight. She was forever hinting that she could do more with her own laptop and cell phone, but Dean wasn't quite ready to have her reach that level of maturity yet. She was doing fine on his phone and laptop under his watchful eye. Nevertheless, he was excited to turn their findings over to her and let her go to town.
To answer Dean's question, Sam said, "Probably. I wanted her to read up on the Lesser Key of Solomon. She's been having some trouble with her Latin lately. She needs the extra practice."
"Ah, she'll get it," Dean said dismissively. Natalie had conquered everything she had put her mind to. Falling behind in Latin didn't concern him too much right now- she'd be fine. However, Sam was getting used to Dean's lacksidaisical attitude about certain aspects of Natalie's education, and it drove him crazy. Dean was so completely convinced that Natalie would just "get" any and every concept that they threw at her, that he would often brush aside Sam's concerns and suggestions.
Sam, however, was taking a much more practical approach to his niece. She was always so eager to learn- to a point. If she didn't like a subject, or if something else that interested her more grabbed her attention, her focus would immediately shift in that direction, and she would "forget" whatever the original subject was in favor of the new and (in her mind) more interesting one. Sam could usually bring her back around to the original issue, but dealing with a stubborn eight year old Winchester was not among his favorite things.
"Dean, I need you to back me up on this," Sam said, a tone of force in his voice.
"Back you up on what?"
"If she hasn't finished her Latin, I don't want you dangling this research in her face. You know her- she'll completely push her homework to the side and jump all over this. You can't let her keep doing that."
Dean just rolled his eyes. "Sam, she's the smartest kid in the world. She knows almost every exorcism by heart at this stage in the game." He looked sideways at Sam, challenging him. "Tell me I'm wrong."
Sam had to acquiest. "You're NOT wrong, but-"
"Then quit harpin' on it. She's fine."
About ten minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of their motel. Dean saw the curtains to their room part slightly. He furrowed his brow as Natalie opened the motel room door and stepped outside. Unusual behavior for her. He thought to himself that she was probably just having cabin fever. If he'd had to stay in a room, cooped up with nothing but Sam's Latin homework assignments, he'd be climbing the walls too. She shut the door behind her, and looked at them expectantly.
Dean chuckled under his breath as he unbuckled and exited the car. "Couldn't wait to see me, huh?" He sniffed coolly and shrugged his shoulders. "I know. You're not the first," he said cockily. Natalie giggled in response.
"How was the morgue?" she asked. Dean's brow furrowed again. There was a tone of excitement in her voice- not that that was unusual, but she sounded a bit more- something- than normal. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"Ah, you know. Cold, weird lighting, smelled like formaldehyde. The usual," he said, his eyes on his daughter. Sam walked up beside him, and they both made to go towards the door, but Natalie was still standing in their way, her hand on the knob behind her back.
"Did you find anything cool?" she asked quickly. Dean noticed the tone of her voice rise just a bit. It almost sounded like panic, but that couldn't be right. She was just probably over excited.
"Cool?" Sam asked, one eyebrow raised at the choice of adjectives. Natalie rolled her eyes, looking exactly like Dean. She waved a hand dismissively.
"You know what I mean," she said. "Did you find anything on the case?" Her eyes danced excitedly back and forth between the two older Winchesters. Dean immediately got caught up in her excitement, forgetting everything that he and Sam had talked about in the car. He reached in his pocket and withdrew the small evidence bag that he and Sam collected at the morgue.
"Sure did," he said, holding it out for her. His heart leapt when her eyes lit up, just like he knew they would. She reached out and snatched the bag from him, turning it this way and that in front of her, looking at the object. "Sam pulled that out of the guy's chest cavity. It looks like some kind of claw. At least, that's what I think it is. What do you think?" Dean asked.
Sam sighed, frustrated that Dean was, yet again, ignoring his advice. "Natalie," Sam began in his own firm tone. He looked at her to see if it made any impact. She appeared not to have heard him- she only had eyes for the claw-like object. Sam gritted his teeth. "Did you finish reading through the passages I gave to you?" Even though she wasn't looking at him, her feet shuffled a bit back and forth.
"Um...mm-hmmm," she said, avoiding eye contact. Sam pinched his lips together. Ever since she had started to talk, he had an uncanny ability to tell when she was lying to him. Probably because she was so bad at it. But it wasn't just the shuffling feet or lack of eye contact that tipped him off. It was almost like he felt a rush in his blood when she lied. He couldn't explain it, so he just chalked it up to the fact that he was generally more observant than the masses, and could tell more easily. And he had no problem calling her out on it. However, Dean beat him to the punch, but not in the way he would have liked him to.
"What do you think it is?" he asked his daughter again, caught up in watching her. He pointed to the bag in her hand.
"I think you're right- it really does look like a claw," she murmured, holding the object up to the light as to better examine it. "You say it was in the guy's chest?"
"Do you two even hear me when I talk?" Sam asked loudly.
"What?" Dean asked blankly, turning his gaze towards his brother. When Sam just shook his head, Dean looked back at Natalie. "Come on. Let's hit the books; see if we can identify this thing." He expected her to squeal with delight and bolt through the motel room door. But instead, her face turned white. She quickly looked up at him, and her hand automatically shot back towards the doorknob, gripping it tight. She pressed her back to the door, blocking either of them from the knob.
"No! We should...do something else!" she said in a hurry. Both Sam and Dean's eyebrows shot up at that statement. It wasn't like her to turn down research, especially to get out of doing homework that she hated. They exchanged a surprised glance. She quickly looked back and forth between them, knowing that she needed to offer some explanation for her strange behavior. "I'm...food!" she finally spat out.
"You're food?" Sam asked, confused as all hell. Natalie's eyes widened. She shook her head quickly.
"I mean, I'm hungry. I'm food- ha! Why did I say that? I'm not food. That was weird. Let's go eat!" she said in a rush. Sam looked at his niece like she had grown two heads.
"Natalie, why are you acting like this?" he asked. Dean, however, had caught on quicker than Sam for once. He folded his arms, and got a very stern look on his face. Sam watched his niece wither a bit at getting The Eye from her father.
"What did you do?" Dean said, his voice dropping about two octaves. It was his typical interrogation voice, which was enough to make anyone wither. Natalie fidgeted for a minute, her back still firmly planted against the door.
"Nothing!" she said, her own voice rising as she tried to play innocent. Now it was Sam's turn to fold him arms.
"Yeah. I don't need my superpower to tell that you're lying to us," Sam said casually. He watched as her eyes darted back and forth between them again, before finally owning up. Her eyes dropped to the pavement outside their door.
"Okay, something. I- sort of- did… something. But it was an accident!" she said, her head jerking back up as she pleaded the last statement.
"Are you hurt?" Dean pressed, not dropping his arms or The Eye. Natalie shook her head.
"No."
"Did you damage something in the motel room?" Sam asked.
"No."
"Did you hurt someone else?"
"No! Well- not...I mean, technically, NO, but..." she stammered. That was all Dean needed to hear.
"Move," he commanded, jerking his head to the right, indicating that she should vacate her post from in front of the door. She wriggled and fidgeted, but didn't move.
"Okay, you have to promise you won't get mad," she begged, looking right at Dean. His expression didn't change one iota.
"Nope. Move. Now."
"But it was an accident!"
Dean's blood pressure was just about to blow his head clean off his neck. He snapped his fingers and jerked his thumb away from the door. Natalie's eyes got wider with terror. When Dean stopped speaking, she knew she had a matter of nanoseconds to obey or she was dead meat. She dropped her eyes again and stepped away from the door.
"It was an accident," she mumbled desperately as Dean stepped forward and grabbed the door knob. He quickly twisted it and shoved the door open, expecting to find the room in shambles, or on fire, or something of the like. What he wasn't expecting was to see a pudgy thirty-something year old man in a blue polo shirt, cargo shorts, and a rather unfortunate haircut standing in the center of the room. The man looked like a lost tourist. Dean immediately drew his .45 and pointed it right at the man, not giving a damn that he looked like a PTA Dad.
"Hey! Who the hell are you?" he shouted. All kinds of scenarios ran through his head as to why his eight year old daughter was trapped in a motel room with a man in his mid thirties, and every single scene made him see red. His finger was itching to pull the trigger, but by the grace of God alone he abstained. Sam drew his own firearm at the same time Dean did, but looked quickly around the room. He noticed a most unusual thing. He tapped Dean on the arm with the back of his hand.
"Dude, look," he whispered, pointing to the man's feet. Dean didn't want to take his eyes of the scumbag that had been in the room with his daughter, but followed Sam's orders and looked at the man's feet. The first thing he noticed was the man was wearing tall black socks with brown leather sandals. Then he noticed that he was standing- on a notebook. Dean's eyes went wide in surprise, and then flicked back up to the man's face. For having two handguns pointed directly at his chest, the man seemed terribly unconcerned. Dean's gaze narrowed at the man.
"Go ahead. Shoot. Much good it'll do you," the man said jovially. Sam's jaw dropped- who the hell was this? That's when he noticed the large circle of salt on the floor around the man as well. Sam looked back at the man.
"I think the question here is- WHAT the hell are you?" he said, his own voice ringing with stress and anger at the idea of this- whatever it was- in the same room as his niece. The man smiled like they were old chums. It was creepy and just a little funny.
"What? The little princess didn't tell you?" he said in a sing-songy voice.
"Stop calling me that!" Natalie suddenly shrieked from the doorway. Dean's hand automatically shot back towards her, as if to keep her behind him. The man chuckled, a low, goofy sound. He leaned around to get a better look at Natalie.
"Um- no. It's fun watching your face get all red every time I call you 'princess'," he said tauntingly with his gap toothed grin still in place. Dean heard Natalie growl behind his back, which raised his hackles even further.
"Well, I'm about to watch YOUR entire body get all red when I blow you to kingdom come for being in the same room as my daughter," Dean spat back at the man. Seemingly unfazed by the threat, the man rolled his eyes dramatically and chuckled a belly laugh.
"Weren't you listening?" he said, pointing to the gun in Dean's hand, then smiling like he was pointing at a kitten. "Bullets. No good."
"It'll still make me feel better to load you full of them," Dean growled at the man. Suddenly, the man's eyes turned black as obsidian.
"Knock yourself out, pretty boy," he said. Dean and Sam both stood up straight. Sam turned to Natalie, an expression of disbelief on his face.
"You trapped a DEMON in the motel room?" he said, his eyes almost jumping out of his head. Natalie's eyes flicked up to him for a second. Then she took a deep breath and nodded.
"YES," she said breathlessly. "That's exactly what I did. I trapped him," she said. As Sam turned away, she muttered under her breath, "Technically."
"What?" said Sam, turning back to look at her.
"What?" she responded, her eyes wide with innocence. Dean, however, had another question that just couldn't wait. He looked up and down at the demon.
"Alright, I gotta ask," Dean said. "Don't demons usually go for a…slicker model to pop into?"
"What?" the demon said, turning his head and looking like a confused puppy. Dean gestured to the pot belly and the old man footwear. "Oh. Well. Short notice, you know," the demon said dismissively of his D-list meat suit. He didn't appear to be upset by the young, pudgy, Santa-Claus-on-vacation look. Dean shrugged and turned back to Natalie.
"So you trapped a demon, huh?" he said, the corner of his lips pulling up with pride. Natalie's wide eyes took him in as she just nodded in the affirmative.
"Aww, come on, Princess! Tell him the whole story!" the demon said, his eyes flicking back to their human brown color. Natalie gritted her teeth. Dean's own eyes shifted then- the touch of The Eye was back. She gulped.
"What's the whole story?" Dean asked, his eyes narrowing a bit. She launched into her explanation.
"Well, I had practiced drawing devil's traps in that notebook," she said, pointing at the demon's feet. "When he came at me, I threw the notebook in his path. He stepped on it and got stuck, then I poured a ring of salt around him, just in case."
"Well, that was quick thinking, Bug," Sam said over his shoulder, not wanting to take his eyes off the demon. Dean, however, wasn't buying it. Something still didn't add up. Before he could question it, the demon huffed and looked offended.
"Pretty easy to trap something if you're the one who summoned it," the demon said sulkily. Both Sam and Dean did a slow burn back to the child standing behind them, twisting her foot into the carpet nervously. A good ten seconds of silence followed. Then suddenly-
"YOU SUMMONED A DEMON IN THE MOTEL ROOM?" Dean roared, causing Natalie to flinch again.
"I said it was an accident!" she shrieked back in a high-pitched voice.
"No- an accident is spilling hot chocolate on the carpet, not summoning a freaking DEMON!" Dean he scolded, but before he could yell again, Sam broke in.
"How do you ACCIDENTALLY summon a demon, Natalie?!" he asked, his own voice rising. Natalie cowered even further. If Sam was yelling too, she knew she was really in for it. But instead of apologizing again, her Winchester temper got the best of her.
"It was YOUR fault!" she said hotly to Sam. Sam stepped back at her accusation in disbelief. Dean spoke the words they were both thinking.
"You wanna explain yourself, little girl?" he growled, furious at the disrespectful tone that was coming out of his kid's mouth. That got Natalie's brain back on track- she knew exactly how her father felt about showing either one of them disrespect. She gulped again, and modified her attitude before he tore her limb from limb.
"Well, I was doing my homework like you told me to, " she said, directing her words at Sam. "I was reading the Lesser Key of Solomon, and I got to the part where it talks about summoning demons with rites and incantations," she explained rapidly, running out of breath before she could finish the sentence. But before she could speak, the demon broke in.
"Hey- uh, before you all sort out the family drama here, someone wanna let me go?" he said, bouncing on his heels. All three Winchesters ignored him. He huffed like a two-year-old. "Well, that's just garden-variety rude," the demon said haughtily. Natalie rolled her eyes and continued her explanation.
"All the stupid incantations are in Latin," she said, a grumble in her voice. Dean's eyebrow raised at her choice of words. She caught the glance, and looked back down at the carpet abashedly. "Latin is hard for me to read, so I- kinda did what Uncle Sam suggested I do when I don't understand something," she said, her voice growing fainter towards the end of her explanation.
Sam's head tilted back, and his eyes closed. He knew exactly what she meant by that. "You read it out loud," he groaned, finishing her sentence. Natalie just nodded, then scuffed her toe into the carpet.
"I said it was an accident," she mumbled again, not looking up.
"Natalie! What have I told you about reading Latin out loud when you're by yourself?" Sam scolded.
"That's a conversation you all have had before?" the demon piped up in his goofy voice. "That's weird. You know that, right?" Again, all three Winchesters ignored him.
"That I'm not supposed to," Natalie mumbled, then looked up right at Sam. She knew Dean would make her look him in the eye eventually, so she wanted to go ahead and get it out of the way. "I guess I just forgot."
"You FORGOT?!" Dean roared again. Natalie's foot violently twisted into the carpet again.
"I got frustrated because I couldn't understand it by reading it, and I just...forgot," she finished miserably, knowing the excuse wasn't going to hold up. "I didn't realize that I was speaking it out loud- I was just kind of mumbling it, but I guess it was enough," she said, looking Dean right in the eye."I'm sorry, you guys," she said, looking back and forth between the two of them. Now that the story was out, Dean saw the slightly funny side of it. He shook his head, trying to keep the smile off his face and the serious tone in his voice.
"Yeah, yeah, okay. I get it. It WAS an accident," he said, a touch of his growl still present. "I know you didn't mean to summon the demon on purpose-"
"I'm right here. Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" the demon shouted from his trap. Dean turned his death glare on the demon.
"Shut up," he commanded, before turning back to his daughter. He opened his mouth, but the demon spoke again.
"Kyle."
Dean whipped his head back towards the demon. "Excuse me?" he barked.
"Shut up, Kyle. My name is Kyle," the demon said in a superior tone of voice. "If you're going to tell me to shut up, at least you can use my name."
"You're a demon- named Kyle?" Sam said, the words sounding ridiculous to his ears even as they came out of his mouth. Kyle the Demon shrugged.
"That's the name of this meat-suit, anyways," he said offhandedly. "We can't all have names like Alastair and Samhain, now can we? Which reminds me," he continued smugly. "Meg sends her regards."
"Who's Meg?" Natalie piped up, her curiosity getting the better of her, even at a time like this.
"Later," Sam muttered at her. Natalie pinched her lips at getting dismissed, but wisely chose to not pursue the issue.
"Fine. Then shut up, Kyle," Dean spat sarcastically at him.
"THANK you. Now was that so hard?" Kyle said patronizingly. Dean pinched his eyes closed, took a deep breath, and turned back to Natalie.
"Okay, kid. You summoned a demon- by accident," he said, cutting her off before she could interrupt him with the statement again. However, the demon piped up again.
"Most kids just make macaroni art and shoe box dioramas and stuff. Not spit out spells to summon Hell's angels," he said, tilting his head to the side as if trying to understand it all.
"Shut up, Kyle," Dean barked at him again. Kyle threw up his hands in mock surrender.
"Ooo, touchy," the demon teased. Dean whipped his head around towards Sam.
"Let me shoot him. Just once," he begged his brother.
"Dean, no. There's still a person in there," Sam said, trying to calm his brother down before his fuse got any shorter.
"Just in the foot. Or the knee."
"If he doesn't stop interrupting you, then yes, you can shoot him."
"Do I get a say in this?"
"Shut up, Kyle!"
Dean turned back to Natalie. He knew she felt bad, even though it really had been an accident. He pinched his lips at her and tilted his head, like he was thinking. He eyed her up and down once, causing her to freeze on the spot. He quickly nodded his head, once, seeming to decide something. He walked over towards the small kitchen area of the room, and pulled a large cooking pot out of the cupboard-normally the kind that one would boil potatoes in. Sam was taken aback. He had no idea what his brother was doing with kitchen supplies.
"Uh- Dean? Whatcha doing?" he said, on alert. Dean didn't answer. He walked over to the duffle bag next to his bed. Natalie looked up at Sam, her eyes begging him to tell her what her father was up to. Sam just shrugged helplessly- he didn't have a clue. Dean withdrew a flask of holy water from the duffle, and upended its contents into the pot. The water gurgled and splashed as it began to fill the pot.
"Hey, hey, hey now- there's no need for holy water," Kyle said, his own voice laced with panic now. "It was the princess summoned me, I didn't choose to come here-"
"Stop CALLING me that!" Natalie roared at him, stomping her foot. Kyle kept speaking like she hadn't interrupted.
"I'll leave you all alone right now. I'll get out of your hair. I got no beef with you Winchesters- I know what you do to demons," Kyle said, eyeing the pan with terror. Natalie, however, momentarily placed her annoyance aside at hearing the demon's statement.
"You've heard of us?' she asked the demon, intrigued. It was Kyle's turn to look at her in disbelief.
"Are you kidding? The Winchester Brothers are freaking famous in Heaven and Hell. Even you've got a fan club for nailing Crowley in the nuts, princess. If you all weren't trying to kill me with a pan of holy water, I'd be kind of fanboying out right now," Kyle said in admiration. "We should do a selfie!" he said excitedly.
"Pan ain't for you," Dean threw back at the demon, twisting the cap back onto the now empty flask. Sam, Natalie, and Kyle's eyebrows all shot up in surprise at Dean's proclamation. If the pan of holy water wasn't for the demon, then what in the world was Dean doing? Dean carried the water filled pan towards a surprised Natalie. "Take off your shoes and socks," he ordered.
"This is a weird time to be doing a foot-washing ceremony," the demon said informally. Dean turned to him, an evil grin on his face.
"Oh, this ain't no foot washing ceremony, either," he said, as Natalie hastened to obey her father, stripping off her sneakers and socks, still having no idea what he was doing. When she was barefooted, Dean placed the pan in front of her. "Get in," he said casually, pointing to the pan. Natalie looked at him in disbelief.
"Dad, I'm not possessed," she said as she nonetheless carefully stepped into the pan of water. Dean reached out and took her by the hand so she didn't fall.
"I know you're not. But I'm not taking any chances letting you do this," he said, watching to make sure both her feet were submersed in the water.
"Letting me do what?" she asked cautiously. Dean shrugged.
"You summoned him, it's only fair that you should get rid of him," Dean explained. Natalie's mouth hit the floor.
"You mean I get to exorcise him?!" she said excitedly. "Really? I get to do that?" Dean couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm.
"Yup."
"But- what's with the holy water?" she asked, perplexed.
"Like I said- not taking any chances. You're standing in that pan until this bastard's gone for good, you hear me?" he said, making sure Natalie understood him fully. She nodded vigorously. "Alright. I know you know the exorcism. You good to go?"
"Yup!" she said, her eyes sparkling with excitement at this turn of events.
"No time like the present, then," he said. He turned to look at Sam, expecting a fight over letting Natalie do the exorcism. Sam had a look on his face that clearly was torn at the idea, but upon seeing the determination in Dean's face, he nodded his head in agreement. Dean bobbed his eyebrows once at Sam as a thank you for not fighting him on this.
"Hang on, hang on. You're gonna let the princess do an exorcism?" Kyle said, his voice rising with hysteria. Natalie just growled at the word "princess" again. Dean grinned at his tough little girl, then fixed his steely gaze on the demon.
"Shouldn't have called her 'princess', Kyle. Now she's gonna make you heave split-pea soup. So- have fun with that," he said flippantly. The demon's eyes darted back and forth between the brothers, disbelieving the situation.
"I'm getting driven out by an eight year old?! What is this, Baby's First Exorcism?!" he whimpered. Dean looked at Sam with an astonished grin.
"Baby's First Exorcism. Huh. How 'bout that, Sammy?" he said. He turned towards Natalie, and pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Smile!" he said to her, a tone of joking in his voice. She obliged, and Dean snapped the picture. He turned back to Sam, a cheeky grin on his face. "Bobby's gonna want to see this," he said, gesturing his phone at Sam before sliding it back into his pocket. He stepped in between the demon trapped on the notebook and his daughter still standing in the puddle of holy water. "Sam, get on the other side of him," he ordered, all business once again. Sam quickly stepped behind the demon, knowing what Dean meant. After they exorcised the demon, the human being would collapse, unconscious. Sam would need to catch him so he didn't hurt himself. Once Sam was in place, Kyle whipped his head around desperately, looking at Sam, then Dean, then Natalie.
"You guys are one seriously dysfunctional family," he said, the alarm clear on his pudgy face. Dean grinned.
"We put the fun in dysfunctional. And the F.U. in fun," he said, before turning over his shoulder. "Alright kiddo, take it away."
Natalie took a deep breath. "Deus, et pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi," she began tentatively. At the words "Deus" and "Jesu Christi", Kyle visibly flinched. Dean nodded savagely.
"That's it, squirt. Keep going," he ordered. Natalie rattled off the rest of the exorcism perfectly. At the last line, Kyle's head was thrown back, and a projectile cloud of black smoke erupted from his mouth. Dean and Sam both instantly became rigid, watching the demon swirl around their heads before dispersing with a violent cracking noise like thunder. As expected, the now demon-less form of Kyle slumped backwards. Sam reached out and easily caught the man underneath the arms. Dean ran forward to grab the man's legs. Together, the brothers heaved him onto the nearest bed.
"Should I go get him some water?" Natalie asked anxiously, trying to stand on her toes in the water to see better. Dean pointed at her forcefully.
"Don't move. Not yet," he ordered.
"Yes, sir," she said obediently, sinking back down onto her feet. Sam checked the man's pulse and breathing. Both were normal, so he began gently slapping him in the face, trying to get him to come back to consciousness. Eventually, the man slowly blinked his eyes a few times, then gasped as he fully came to.
"Is it gone? Is the demon gone?" he said in a ragged voice.
"You're cleared of all STDs," Dean said confidently. Both Sam and the man looked at Dean with a what-the-hell type of look. Dean blinked back innocently. "Spiritually Transmitted Demons. What? Was that not clear?" The poor man slumped back onto the bed in confusion, as Sam gave Dean his familiar bitch face. Dean, however, grinned like the Cheshire Cat. "Come on. That was funny and we all know it." Sam rolled his eyes and went to get a glass of water as Dean helped the man to sit up.
"So- is Kyle your real name?" Sam asked kindly, handing the man the plastic cup. The man nodded, then drank with obvious thirst. Sam's eyes quickly flicked to Dean's, and he gave him the slightest nod. Dean knew that Sam had slipped some holy water into the man's cup, and that now they were truly free and clear of demons. As Sam helped Kyle get his bearings back, Dean snatched a towel and walked over towards Natalie, still standing in her puddle. He helped her climb out of the pan, and handed her the towel to dry her feet. Kyle's eyebrows raised- apparently, he didn't remember Natalie stepping into the water, but didn't comment.
"Come on," Sam said, pulling the worn out man to his feet. "I'll give you a ride home."
"I'll come with you!" Natalie said quickly, making a move towards Sam. She had barely made it half a step before Dean's hand snatched the back of her collar and drug her back towards him.
"Oh, no you don't," he hissed at her. Natalie's face went pale at hearing her father's words. Sam quickly ushered Kyle out the door. They heard the Impala zoom off. Natalie swallowed hard, then turned to face her father, who had folded his arms and was giving her The Eye again.
"Sorry?" she said, hoping that he would be sympathetic to her pleaded question. Dean shook his head. He knew it had been an accident, but that didn't mean that it didn't come with consequences.
"No TV for the rest of the week. Or until the next Apocalypse. Whatever comes first," Dean said authoritatively. But with a twinkle in his eye, he added, "And at the rate this family's going, who knows what'll come first."
