What up, gorgeous SPN family?
I'm going to warn you, straight up. This one is pure fluff, lol. I needed something sweet and sappy after that last case story, sorry 'bout it :)
Special thanks to the wonderful and amazing Jenmm31. Go show her some love by checking out her amazing stories!
Thank you guys for being one of the things that helps me keep fighting. You all are amazing. Go out and keep being awesome.
A/N- in this story, Natalie is a little over a year old. Please see profile page for disclaimers.
The Impala pulled into a spot in the crowded parking lot of the restaurant. It was still relatively early morning- only about 8:30, but the place was packed.
"Hm. Looks like IHOP is hoppin'," Dean commented, looking over at Sam with his typical shit-eating grin. He was met with pursed lips and a side eye. Oh well. Sam never could really appreciate his humor, anyways. He turned around and looked at his one year old daughter, strapped into her car seat.
"What do you think, squirt? Want some pancakes?" he asked her. However, still being unable to form full sentences yet, Natalie just waved at him. "I'll take that for a yes," he said. He climbed out of the car and sprinted around to the other side to get her out.
As Sam was opening his door, he looked up at the familiar blue and white sign. "You do know that they serve other stuff- not just pancakes?" he said, trying to subtly hint his true motives in bringing that up to Dean. As usual, Dean ignored them completely.
"It's called the International House of Pancakes for a reason, Samuel. Pancakes are their specialty."
"Well, they also do eggs, fruit, oatmeal-"
"Don't worry. I plan on avoiding all that."
"Yeah, but Natalie shouldn't. You really should think about-"
"Sammy, don't say it."
"-getting her something healthy to eat."
Dean looked at the child in his arms, and started wrinkling his nose for her amusement. "He said it, Natalie. Uncle Sammy really needs to learn to listen." Giggling at her father's antics, Natalie parroted the word, as she was wont to do these days.
"Listen!" she squealed loudly, clapping her hands at her own accomplishment. Dean grinned at her then looked back at his brother.
"See? Out of the mouth of babes."
"All I'm saying is that you should think about her well being. Fruits and proteins like eggs are really good for this developmental stage."
Dean nodded. "You're right. Chocolate chip pancakes it is." Sam just sighed.
They walked into the crowded restaurant. Despite the fullness of the parking lot, Dean could see a couple empty booths. He quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Now that Natalie was walking and running, it was getting harder and harder to keep her still. If they told her to stay put, she would listen- quite well for a child of her age- but was just so full of energy and mischief that she couldn't contain herself for long. It would be much easier to keep her butt in a booth if there was food in front of her.
"How many please?" said the hostess at the stand, gathering menus while doing a quick size up of the two handsome men in front of her.
"Two plus a baby," Sam answered.
"Would you like a booster seat or a high chair?" she asked.
"Neither. She'll sit next to me," Dean said quickly. Both of them turned and looked at him like he was nuts.
"Dean, we really should get her a high chair," Sam said emphatically, suddenly picturing the already hyperactive toddler set loose in a restaurant known for its sugar coma-inducing menu. Dean waved his hand in dismissal.
"Naw, she'll stay put if I tell her to," he said, confidently. The hostess's raised eyebrows quickly smoothed back into a practiced smile.
"Okay, then. Right this way, gentlemen," she said, turning around and going to her left. Sam looked back at Dean once more as if to say you sure? But Dean just gave him a bitch face and kept walking. The truth was that last night while Sam was wrapping up loose ends on their case, he'd taken Natalie to a greasy spoon for dinner. He'd gotten her a high chair, like usual, but when Dean had gone to lift Natalie out of it after their meal, he discovered that she'd been sitting in something gray, sticky, and unidentifiable. He had given Natalie three baths last night, completely in a panic that she might have caught some weird truck stop disease, and vowed never to use a restaurant high chair again. No way was he going to admit his fear to his brother, though. He had a reputation to maintain.
The hostess sat them at a booth towards the back of the restaurant. Dean quickly plopped Natalie down on the seat next to him, between himself and the wall. She stood up quickly on the seat to get a better vantage point. As she visually explored her new surroundings, Sam slid into the other side.
"Dean, are you sure it's a good idea to let her sit on the seat? I mean, she can't even reach the table when she's sitting down," he said anxiously.
Dean pointed to his standing child. "Problem solved."
"She's gonna develop bad habits that way."
"Sam. We live out of a suitcase and eat in nothing but diners where the majority of the menu items are covered in gravy. Which particular bad habit you wanna tackle first?"
Sam rolled his eyes and opened his menu. He was pleased to see that there were quite a few healthier options now than when he was a kid. He was determined to order a side of fruit and make sure that Natalie got at least something healthy this meal. Dean was just searching for whatever came with the most bacon.
Meanwhile, Natalie was getting bored with her surroundings. She turned to Dean and squawked wordlessly to get his attention. However, being only one, she didn't fully realize her lung power and nearly burst his eardrum. He reared away from her, partial out of the decibel level, but mostly because she scared him with her sudden yell. Sam snorted a laugh.
Dean turned to her and put a finger on her lips. "Hey. No yelling," he said, looking the baby right in the eye. "Got it?" Natalie looked abashed for a moment, but then yelped again, much softer this time. "That's better," Dean said. "What do you want, squirt?" Sam watched the entire exchange, smiling gently. Dean was like the Baby Whisperer. Somehow, Natalie understood what he was saying, almost every time, and he understood her right back.
"Up!" she said, holding her arms out to Dean. He pulled her into his arms, but there wasn't that much room for her to go anywhere between his torso and the table. She grumbled in displeasure, but then started trying to climb him. After grabbing a handful of hair to pull herself to better heights, Dean quickly set her back down, groaning as she still had a pretty good grip on his scalp.
"Nope. Not climbing Mount Daddy right now," he said, rubbing the side of his head where she pulled. She whined for a moment.
"Daddy- up!" she said again, this time grabbing the shoulder of his leather jacket to try to hoist herself up. Dean turned and grabbed her tiny hands, looking her full in the face again.
"Natalie, I said no," he said sternly. Her little face crumpled into a pout. With a huff, she sat down hard on the seat. Dean looked down at her, and a small smile crossed his face. He knew she was mad, but dammit, it was so funny when she pouted like that.
Just then, their waitress came over. Sam placed an order for an egg white omelet with spinach and tomatoes, with a side of fruit. After pretending to gag, Dean placed his order for the Bacon Lover's omelet with a side of bacon. He ordered Natalie a chocolate chip pancake, knowing it would combine two of her favorite things.
After waving bye to the waitress as she left the table, Natalie's bad mood dissipated. She hopped back up on the seat, ready to explore again. She reached towards the pretty, shiny flatware, but almost in tandem, both Dean and Sam removed them from her reach. She pursed her lips, displeased, and reached for the salt shaker instead. Dean glanced sideways at her briefly as he and Sam continued to discuss the newest case they were heading for. He didn't see what harm she could do with a salt shaker, so he let it be.
At first, she was engrossed by the sound of the granules shaking, giggling delightedly every time she shook it. But then she discovered the joy of turning it sideways. Once she discovered that stuff came OUT when she did that, oh, it was on. She carefully tilted the bottle, trying to catch as many salt crystals as she could. She went slowly at first, but got the hang of it pretty quickly. It was only her squeal of delight from getting an entire handful that caused Sam to realize what she was doing, and reach across the table to take it from her.
She wanted to yell again, but she remembered that Daddy didn't like that. She sighed heavily and angrily, causing Sam to chuckle. "Man, she sounds like you when she does that," he commented to Dean with a grin.
"Ha, ha."
As Daddy and Uncle Sam continued talking, she bounced her legs a couple times. It felt good to not have to sit. She had to sit in the car all the time, strapped in so she couldn't move. She had to make the most of her freedom. She started bouncing harder. Dean was too used to her hyperactivity to let it bother him. She continued to bounce until one of her feet slipped a bit, causing her to plop down hard on her butt. Dean quickly turned to her then, concerned by her sudden fall.
"Hey kiddo- you okay?" he said, worried that she may have hit her head on the table. Her eyes were welling up with tears as the sudden movement scared her, but then she realized that both of her feet were swinging underneath the table. She ducked her head underneath to examine this more closely. "Guess that's a yes," Dean muttered to himself before returning to his conversation with Sam.
Underneath the table was an entirely different world. Natalie oh-so-carefully slid herself off the seat, flipping around so she slid down on her stomach. It was dark under here, but she could stand up. As she squealed again at her discovery, she watched Dean's long leg shoot across to the other end of the booth, accidentally kicking Sam.
"Ow!" Natalie heard from up above. "What'd you kick me for?"
"Oh, sorry Sammy. Trying to make a blockade for the kid."
"If you were really sorry, you wouldn't be smiling while you apologized."
Natalie ignored the rest of the conversation, exploring the world beneath the table. She did try to expand her territory by pushing on Dean's leg, but he wasn't yielding. So she simply went the other way. She trotted to the other end of the booth, and was delighted when she saw her uncle smiling down on her.
"Unca Sam!" she said, feeling as if she'd found the Ark of the Covenant. His grin widened.
"Well, hey there, cutie. Whatcha doing?" he asked. Instead of answering, Natalie turned back around and ran to the other side, poking her head out from under the table to make sure her father was still there. He looked down on her, sticking his tongue out and causing her to laugh.
"Can I help you?" Dean said. She just giggled and ducked under again, before tearing back to the other side, where Sam was waiting.
"Boo!" he said. That caused the child to shriek with joy, dropping back down under the table. This went on for a good couple minutes, eventually progressing to Natalie reaching one hand up and waving to whoever happened to be across the table from her at the time.
Finally, the waitress came back, delivering their breakfasts. Being very familiar with what it was like trying to eat with a baby around, both Dean and Sam tried to shovel in as much food as they could before she got bored with her game and decided to invade the topside of the table. Eventually, she smelled the chocolate in the pancake and came tearing back to Dean's side. She hoisted herself up onto the seat with much grunting and what Dean called "baby swearing". She would make these hilarious non-words noises when she was frustrated. Dean couldn't wait till she started swearing for real. It was going to be hysterical.
When she positioned herself back on the seat, she stood up to get a better view of her food. Dean reached over and started tearing it into small, manageable bites for her with his knife and fork.
"Uh, Dean, you may want to feed her, she'll-" Sam began hurriedly, but it was too late. Natalie grabbed a handful of the melty chocolate pancake and shoved it in her mouth, leaving sweet dark brown streaks on her hands and face. Oh well. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
Dean snatched a fork, speared another bite, and held it up to her. "Here, squirt. Uncle Sam wants you to eat like a civilized mortal." Natalie leaned forward obediently and ate the proffered bite, chewing happily. Dean loved the way her eyes lit up when she was eating something she liked. It warmed his leathery heart and made him feel just a bit more human. He continued to feed her bites with her licking the chocolate off her hands in between.
After she'd had enough to eat, she stood there patiently while Uncle Sam insisted that Daddy wipe her face off. She didn't like it, but they told her to stay put, so she did. When it was done, she immediately slipped back under the table- back to her hidden world. She ran over to Sam's side, sticking her head up just enough to catch Sam's eye, but he was too busy eating to play with her.
"Unca Sam!" she said loudly, thinking that he might not realize that she was there. Sam did indeed turn to her, but it wasn't with a playful, happy look.
"Natalie. Inside voice, please," he scolded quietly. She wrinkled her nose back at him, trying to look cute, but he just turned his attention back to his food. Now ticked that she wasn't getting her playmate's full and undivided attention, she pulled herself up onto the seat next to him. She tilted her head and examined the plate before him. It smelled funny, but Uncle Sam seemed to be enjoying it. Her baby hands reached towards the small bowl of fruit next to him. He quickly intercepted her before she could scatter it all over the table.
"Here," he said, spearing a piece of melon with his fork to give to her. But she clearly wanted to do it herself. The moment he let go of her hands, quick as lightning she reached into the bowl and plucked out a grape, popping it in her mouth. Sam's face immediately went into bitch mode, but Dean laughed.
"Well, you wanted her to eat fruit, Sammy. You got your wish," he chortled. At that moment, Natalie made a grab for another piece of fruit, but Sam caught her this time.
"No, Natalie. You don't grab like that. Here. Try this," he said, holding up the small piece of watermelon that he had forked earlier. After carefully sniffing it, Natalie bit it off the end of the fork. Her eyes lit up at the crunchy sweetness in her mouth. Sam grinned triumphantly at his brother.
"See? She likes fruit too," he said, feeling like a proud parent himself. He didn't notice Natalie slipping down under the table again. She didn't want to eat off the fork. She wanted to feed herself. She reached up from underneath the table.
Dean saw the small hand poking up again, and thought she was going to wave. Instead, she reached back towards the bowl of fruit, grunting in baby swears. He couldn't figure out what she was playing at until her hand suddenly connected with a piece of apple. She snatched it and the hand disappeared back underneath the table.
Dean could barely control his laughter. "That little brat totally just ninja'd the hell out of you, Sammy," he mocked. Suddenly, a little hand shot up from underneath his side and snatched a piece of bacon off his plate. "Hey!" he yelled. His laughing stopped, but Sam's began.
"All right, you little Bacon Bandit," Dean grumbled playfully, ducking his head underneath the table to try to catch her. She had darted back to Sam's side, but her eyes were sparkling at the little game she'd created. He made a funny face at her. "You know, you're lucky you're really damned cute. Otherwise, anyone who steals my bacon would get drawn and quartered," he said. She bent her legs and clapped her hands, almost daring Dean to try to come down there and get her. When he failed to do so, choosing to go back to eating, she reached up and snatched a tomato off Sam's plate, then went back for more bacon. However, before she could procure a piece, Dean suddenly seized her around the waist and carefully pulled her up from underneath the table. He stood her next to him on the seat.
"Now, if you're gonna start stealing food, you're gonna at least say the word first," he explained to the wide-eyed child. He pointed to a piece of bacon still on his plate. "Come on. Bacon. Say it. Bacon," he said to her. He watched as she realized what it was he was wanting her to do. She pointed to the bacon again, but this time, swung around to watch his lips. "Bacon," he said again, slowly and carefully.
"Bay…."
"-Con. Bacon."
"Bay…" she pointed imperiously towards the piece again. Dean repeated the word many more times, but eventually she was finally able to spit out the word.
"Bacon!"
"That's my girl!"
"Bacon, bacon, bacon!"
Sam chuckled. "You do realize that now that's all we're gonna hear for the next ten hours?"
Dean shrugged with a smile. "There are worse words. Imagine if she'd learned to say 'condom'."
"Dean!"
Dean turned his attention back to Natalie in order to turn out Sam's bitching. "That feat deserves a piece of…" he trailed off as he held up the bacon strip, wanting her to say it. Natalie pointed at it.
"Bacon!" she said proudly. Dean's grin nearly split his face in two. He tore off a piece that she could handle, and put it in her hands.
"There you go. You know, I think you're the first girl I've ever shared my bacon with," he said to his daughter who was happily munching away. He leaned over, right into her face. "That's a high honor, you know," he said with a saucy grin.
As if she understood him, she put her greasy and chocolaty hands on either side of his face and kissed his nose. "Tank you," she said sweetly. Dean's heart felt as melty as his face.
