Heeeeeeeeeeey. What's up?

Okay, this is a case story, but not a typical one. This is setting up something for the future. All I'll say. Enjoy. Special thanks to Jenmm31 for being the awesomest.

A/N- this is part 1 of a 3 part story. In this story Natalie is seven and a half.

Natalie was working diligently on her math word problems when she suddenly stopped. Her head whipped around towards the tiny entranceway in the furnished apartment and her eyes widened in delight as the sound hit her ears. She'd know the roar of that engine anywhere!

"Uncle Sam! Dad's home!" she squealed delightedly, dropping her pencil, rocketing off her chair, and running over towards the door. She jumped up and down in front of it, knowing she wasn't allowed to unlock the door without permission. But she was so excited to see Dean after his day on the job that she was going to be as close as she could get when he finally came in.

Sam, who had been working on his laptop next to his niece at the small dining room table, just chuckled. "You can hear him all the way in the parking lot?" he asked as he pulled her math worksheet towards himself to check on her progress.

Natalie nodded and continued jumping. "I can hear Baby's engine!" she said, her voice punctuated every time she landed on the floor. They were on the second floor of the apartment complex, but the entrance was facing the parking lot. Sam had found this location advertised on a local flyer when they had pulled into town for their latest case, and he and Dean agreed that it would be nice to try to have more of a home-style setting for Natalie while they were on the road instead of their usual crappy motels.

To be honest, it hadn't made a difference to Natalie at all. She had been on the road with Sam and Dean for going on two years now and was entering her second grade home school education. She loved the constantly changing atmosphere and the new adventure every couple weeks, because all she really cared about was being with Dean and Sam. As long as that kept happening, she was perfectly happy in a furnished apartment or a run down motel- where ever they were. The apartment, however, did give her more room to explore and play, which she did enjoy. Also, there were a lot more things to jump on- more couches and beds and chairs, so that was a nice perk as well.

Natalie continued jumping, just waiting for Dean to open up the door, as Sam scanned her schoolwork. She was only three problems away from the end of the worksheet, so he let her be. He wasn't in the mood to try to pry her away from the door when Dean was about to walk through it. After Dean walked in and she'd settled back down, then he'd make her focus again. After two years as her teacher, he was learning to pick and choose his battles when it came to his niece.

Finally, Dean opened up the door, pizza in one hand, keys in the other. He was not entirely surprised to see his seven year old bouncing excitedly in the entryway, but it still made him smirk with pleasure and pride to be important enough to be greeted this way.

"Hi Dad! Hi Dad! Hi Dad!" Natalie squealed, bouncing excitedly.

"Hi Nat, hi Nat, hi Nat," Dean replied with a grin. "How was your day?"

"AWESOME!" she declared, stopping her jumping long enough to throw her hands up in the air like she was on a rollercoaster. Dean kicked off his dress shoes in the entranceway, but looked at her with a smile, indicating that she should continue telling him how her day was. "Uncle Sam taught me all about how to add numbers that are in the hundreds, and guess what? I can add numbers up to the THOUSANDS now! Isn't that cool?"

"Way cool," Dean said, feigning enthusiasm for his daughter's sake. He didn't really care about all that school crap, but she loved it, so he played along. He gently moved past her, making his way to the table to drop off the pizza box. She followed his every step, not wanting to miss a moment of finally having her dad home after a long day.

"Did you learn to subtract them too?" Dean asked, wanting to keep the conversation going. He liked it when Natalie gave him a recap of her day, even if it was childish and stupid and full of school stuff- he didn't care. He wanted to know what made his kid happy.

In response to his question, Natalie shook her head. "Nope. We're gonna do that tomorrow. Uncle Sam said I learned the adding too fast and we had to save something for later."

"Well, that's 'cause you're a freaking genius," Dean said, smiling proudly at his baby girl.

Natalie put both hands up, framing her face, and struck a ridiculous fancy pose "Genius!" she whispered dramatically, making both Sam and Dean laugh outright. Damn, they laughed a lot more with this kid around. Dean turned to his little brother, still gathering papers and books off the table.

"Well, was the genius good today?" he asked.

Sam nodded with a grin. "Good as gold."

"Yup! I'm gold- I'm so SHINY!" she said, suddenly launching into a song that Dean had never heard before. He stopped and stared at her for a moment as she began singing a song about being shiny and treasure and something about a wealthy woman's neck.

"What the hell is that?" Dean asked, thoroughly confused.

"It's a new song I learned today from Moana!"

"What's a Moana?"

"Disney movie! It was on TV today and Uncle Sam said we could watch it after lunch and we did and it was awesome and we should go to the beach and there was a big seashell and a stingray and I want a tattoo!"

Unable to follow the stream of thought pouring from the child's mouth, Dean turned to Sam for translation. "We both needed a break from schoolwork," Sam explained patiently as Natalie raced into the open area that functioned as a living room and began reenacting sailing on the ocean. "We watched a movie called Moana after lunch, and then she got right back into her schoolwork."

"Another Disney movie?" Dean said grumpily, over Natalie's very loud rendition of 'Away Away'. "If she starts singing another one of those Disney songs on repeat again, your ass is grass, buddy boy," he said, pointing at his brother. Neither one of them had fully recovered from the millions of times they had heard 'Let It Go' during Natalie's Frozen stage. Dean still forbade anyone to mention that movie within a ten-mile radius of his daughter.

Sam nodded. "Well for once, I agree with you on that," he said. He wasn't eager for another Disney soundtrack to get stuck in his head on repeat for months on end. He looked over as he gathered the last of the schoolbooks. "Natalie, get off the couch," he scolded gently. Natalie, who had just recently climbed up on the back of the couch, was acting like it was the giant canoe from the movie. Without missing a beat, she jumped onto the cushions and then to the floor, continuing her ear-splitting solo.

"Alright, alright," Dean said, breaking through the concert. "Come eat before the pizza gets cold."

Having heard the magic word- 'pizza'- Natalie instantly abandoned her game and rushed over to the table. She pulled herself into one of the dining room chairs, very pleased that it was getting easier to do that, as she was growing taller. Soon, she'd be as tall as Uncle Sam. "What kind of pizza did you get?" she asked, leaning on the table on her elbows.

"Frog guts, spider legs, and cat snot," Dean answered, completely straight faced. Natalie burst into giggles.

"That's GROSS!" she declared, but couldn't stop laughing.

"That's why you need to eat it now. The cat snot is still nice and gooey," Dean continued, tossing some paper plates in the center of the table. "Mm, delicious," he said in a very Hannibal Lecter voice.

"Dude, come on," Sam said, turning slightly green at Dean's disgusting description as he distributed the paper plates.

Pleased that he made his daughter laugh and made his brother sick, Dean dropped into his chair with a smile and opened the box. He extracted a slice and put it on Natalie's plate.

"Aw, yeah! Pepperoni! Score!" she said, before picking it up and tearing a huge bite off. Her mouth bulging, she was on the verge of asking how Dean's day had been, when she suddenly remembered that talking with her mouth full was a sure-fire way to get in trouble with Sam, so she chewed vigorously. She hadn't realized what a big bite she had taken until then. Desperately wanting to talk again, she tried to chew as fast as she could. However, Sam beat her to the punch.

"So- you think it's demons?" Sam asked, heading to the fridge for beer.

Dean snorted unhappily. "Well, if the mounds of sulfur I found at the crime scene were any indication, then yeah, I think it's demons."

"Crap," Sam muttered, pulling out two beers and a water. He made his way back to the table as Dean shoved the pizza box towards him. He handed his brother the cold bottle, put the water down next to his niece, and dropped into his own chair. Natalie managed to swallow enough to get a 'thank you' out, but she was still working on her bite. Sam ruffled her hair in acknowledgement, then twisted the cap off his own bottle.

"Yeah, crap," Dean said. "Not sure yet why this town's a target, but I have my guesses." He exchanged a knowing look with Sam. Castiel had been the one to call them in on this particular case. Something was causing severe angel activity in this town, and the angels, being the dicks that they usually were, weren't exactly being careful about making sure that humans were out of the line of fire before they started fighting. In an effort to keep the winged bastards from smiting the whole town on accident, Cas asked the boys to come lend a hand. Dean had discovered that it was demons making the angels act like this, but had no idea what was setting the entire melee off in the first place.

They hadn't told Natalie that Castiel was in town for a few reasons. One, Cas was too involved with whatever was happening to play with a seven year old right now, and even though Natalie would have understood, it still wouldn't have gone over well. And two, if Cas couldn't come to Natalie, Natalie would never have stopped pestering Sam and Dean to let her go into the field with them so she could be with him. That would have been a hard 'no' from both Winchesters AND the angel, but she wouldn't have stopped, so they were determined that she didn't find out that Cas was here to keep it all from being an issue in the first place.

The brothers had suspected demon activity, but having confirmation of it was something else. It put them in a whole different league of what they were going to have to deal with. "Sammy, I'm gonna need you on this," Dean said gruffly. It wasn't that he didn't want his brother on the case- far from it. Out of anyone in the world, Sam was always going to be Dean's first choice to have his back. However, the seven-year-old sitting next to him trying to masticate her way through a huge bite of pepperoni complicated the issue.

Sam nodded, keeping up with Dean's train of thought. "You think Jackie would be willing to watch Natalie?"

Finally having succeeded in chewing and swallowing the whole bite, Natalie piped up. "I don't need a babysitter," she said, looking back and forth between Sam and Dean, both of whom ignored her.

Dean nodded. "Yeah. She said she wanted to help. Doubt she meant babysitting, but hey, what are you gonna do," he tossed out, taking a swig of beer.

"Dad, I don't need a babysitter," Natalie insisted again, her voice just a little louder to get his attention this time.

"Shush," Dean commanded without looking at her. He pulled out his phone with his free hand and began scrolling. "I think I still have the number for the church- I can leave a message. She should be the first one to get it in the morning. We can try to figure out what's going on tomorrow night."

Not wanting to let this go, Natalie pulled herself up on the chair and sat on her knees to make herself taller and to get Dean's attention. "Dad, I can stay here alone, I really can! I don't need a babysitter."

With a sigh and an eye roll, Dean finally acknowledged his daughter. "You're too young to stay on your own, squirt. Jackie is a really nice lady from the church I went to today. She's the secretary, or something like that. You'll like her."

"But Dad, all the people you get to stay with me don't know anything!"

"Oh they don't, huh," he said flatly as he looked for the church number again.

"No! If something were to come at us, I know all about salt and how to use the guns and stuff. Most of them never even HEARD of what you and Uncle Sam are hunting. They can't do anything."

Dean leaned forward, looking his baby girl right in the eye. "And if you need to make a quick get away in a car? Or something happens and you get hurt badly- if you're jumping on the bed and break your leg or something?" he asked.

"I won't jump on the bed! I swear I'll be good!" she insisted, her green eyes wide and pleading.

Dean shook his head. "Sorry, kiddo. You're still too young."

"But Dad, I'm seven. And a HALF," she said, putting lots of emphasis on the word 'half'. "That is SO old. I can stay by myself alone."

"Not happening. End of discussion. Finish your dinner," Dean said before turning back to Sam to continue their game plan.

With a heavy sigh, Natalie plopped back down onto her butt and resumed eating, saying no more.

*SPN SPN SPN*

Later on the next night, Sam and Dean were on their way to rendezvous with Castiel. They had left a very grumpy Natalie with Jackie, the nice middle-aged church secretary, who was trying every which way to make the little girl happy and get on her good side.

"I mean, she even brought over stuff to make chocolate chip cookies," Dean said to Sam as they raced down the road in the Impala, away from the apartment complex. "Natalie will love her after a while. She's just being a brat right now because she wants to stay on her own."

Sam just chuckled. "Why do you think she's suddenly so gung-ho to be left alone? Why is she balking at a babysitter, now?"

Dean snorted and shook his head. "You know her. She hates anything that even remotely suggests that she's a baby." He shook his head again and said low, under his breath, "She's bound and determined to be a grown up by the age of ten."

"She's definitely an old soul, that's for sure," Sam said. "When do you think we should stop getting her babysitters?"

"Not until she's driving."

"Dean, I'm serious."

"So am I."

"Dude, you know that kid's stubborn as a mule. Pretty soon she's gonna start acting out against these babysitters, and we both know she can outwit most adults as it is."

"Then I'll just have to nip that in the bud."

"Why are you fighting against this?" Sam asked, honestly curious.

"Why are YOU so determined to leave my child alone and unsupervised?!" Dean spat suddenly, the hostility alarmingly clear in his voice.

Having reached an impasse, both boys fell silent for a while. The whine of passing motorists and the low level of Eagles music coming from the tape deck was the only thing either of them heard for the next three minutes. Finally, Sam broke the tension.

"Dean, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to suggest that we should take chances with Natalie's safety. That's the last thing I want." Dean knew that Sam truly meant it. He sighed heavily in response. Deep in his heart of hearts, he knew he had overreacted, but he still wasn't going to back down on it.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he growled in his Dean way. "She's just growing up too fast, Sammy. I mean, let's be honest. Dad left me alone with three-year-old you when I was her age, and that was probably not the wisest thing he ever did."

Sam rolled his eyes. "You think? But hey- I survived. And so did you." He looked over and could actually see Dean's blood pressure rising. "But I won't bug you again about it until you feel that Natalie's capable of being on her own. Okay?"

Dean just nodded in response. Up ahead, they saw the outline of Castiel, waiting for them on the street corner. "Looks like it's go time, Sammy."

*SPN SPN SPN*

The night proved to be relatively calm- as far as nights with the Winchesters go. The three of them did surveillance and brainstormed about what might be going on in this town. Castiel knew from talking with his brothers and sisters that the demons were looking for something in the town, but they just didn't know what.

"Something about an old prophecy is all anyone can figure out," Cas had said in his gravelly tone. "I am unsure whether that means a piece of literature that has been missing, or something else. I am inclined to think it's a scroll of some kind."

"And what makes you think that?" Sam asked.

"Because of its importance and the lengths these demons have been going to in order to find it. These attacks and possessions have a pattern to them- they've been carefully thought out. Effective."

"Who do you think is orchestrating them? Planning them all out?"

"No idea."

Still having no clear conclusion, Team Free Will decided to pack it in for the night. Castiel was reminded again why it wasn't a good idea for Natalie to see him right now, and he disappeared from the backseat of the Impala in an instant. Dean just shook his head and sped back towards the apartment complex, interested to see how Jackie's night with Natalie had gone.

*SPN SPN SPN*

The next day, Sam and Dean were both preparing to go out again. Castiel had gotten wind of another intended demon interference, and all three were going to see if they could trap one of them and figure out what the hell was going on here.

They had called Jackie again, much to Natalie's displeasure. Natalie was sitting on the edge of Dean's bed, her legs dangling over the side as she watched Dean pull on his flannel and begin to lace up his boots, pleading her case.

"But Daaaaaaaaad," she began for the umpteenth time. "Jackie isn't nice! I don't like her!"

Dean didn't look up from his boots as he answered. "You're trying to tell me that the lady who came and made you chocolate chip cookies and let you watch a movie wasn't nice?" he asked, the tone of seriously? clear in his voice.

Natalie nodded vigorously. "She did that, but she wasn't nice about it."

"Seems to me that chocolate chip cookies warm from the oven are pretty nice in and of themselves."

Natalie huffed dramatically. "She only did that to keep me out of the way. She was on her phone an awful lot."

"You would be too if I let you."

"I tried to hear what she was talking about on the phone, but she just shut herself in Uncle Sam's room."

Dean finally turned his attention to his daughter after hearing that particular confession. "Hey- what have I told you about eavesdropping on adult conversations?" he said firmly, looking her right in the eye. But she just waved her hands away, dismissing his scolding.

"This was different. She was in MY house, so that means it's not eavesdropping."

"Your logic is flawed there, kiddo. You give her privacy if she needs to talk on the phone, understood?"

"But she was talking all mean and stuff, and I thought that-"

"Doesn't matter. You don't eavesdrop on conversations, period. Got it?" Dean said again, very firmly.

She fidgeted and dropped her gaze. "Yes, sir," she mumbled at her feet. Finally hearing what he wanted to hear, Dean went back to relacing his boots. Natalie peeked up through her lashes, and, seeing that Dean's attention was reabsorbed in another task, launched right back into her anti-babysitter campaign.

"And then she made me go to bed!"

"Was it bed time?"

"…yes."

"Then she did a good job."

"But she was really mean about it."

"Meaning that she didn't let you talk her into staying up late or reading stories or watching TV."

"…yes."

Dean tucked his laces into the tops of his boots, and walked back over towards the bed, dropping down next to her. "Natalie, listen. Jackie did a good job. She wasn't being mean- she was getting the job done. And that's good."

"But…but…" Natalie said, her eyes getting wider as she realized she was losing her case.

"But what," Dean said, semi-patiently. Natalie fidgeted again before answering.

"But there's something weird about her, Dad," she insisted. "She's just not nice. And no one needs to talk on the phone for THAT long."

"How long was she on the phone?"

"For like half the movie."

That gave Dean pause. That was an awfully long time to lock yourself in a stranger's room, just to talk on the phone. "Well, I'll ask her about that when she gets here."

Throwing all caution to the wind, Natalie tried pleading. "Dad, PLEASE! I can stay by myself! I don't want her here!"

Dean pointed firmly in his daughter's face. "We have already talked about this, Natalie. You're getting a babysitter. I don't want to hear anymore back talk about it, so stop right now." Natalie's face fell, and Dean watched as she angrily kicked the side of the bed with her heels, but didn't talk back. He leaned in. His tone was still firm, but fair. "Listen. You don't have to like her or talk to her or nothing. You can just stay in your room, okay? Better yet- you can stay in here, in my room." Dean pointed to the wall mounted TV. "You can stay in here and watch whatever you want, and you can be right by this phone and call me if Jackie gets weird." Natalie looked back up at him, liking what she was hearing, for the most part. "But you will do what she tells you and go to bed when she tells you. Do we have a deal?"

Natalie tapped her lips a couple times, thinking about Dean's offer. Finally, she looked back at him and nodded. "Okay. I can really call you if Jackie is mean?"

"I said 'weird'," Dean corrected her. "Making you go to bed at bedtime is not being mean."

"Says you," Natalie pouted. Dean couldn't help but snort a laugh at that one, even though he knew he really shouldn't.

"Just be good. Kapeesh?" Dean said, leaning over and nudging her with his arm.

"Kapeesh," she said with a world-weary sigh. Dean just smiled and shook his head. The dramatics from this kid were enough to rival his dorky brother's.

*SPN SPN SPN*

Later, much later, the heist had gone as planned. Castiel finished tying the ropes on the demon's hands behind the back of the chair positioned in the center of the spray-painted devil's trap on the warehouse floor.

"Wow. Tie them just a bit tighter, and you won't have to buy me dinner first," the woman purred at Cas. He looked up at Sam for an explanation as to what that meant, but Sam just shook his head. Once again, Cas jerked the knots, making sure they were secure. "Ouch. Okay, that one hurt," the demon said, snarling, before catching Sam's eye. Not wanting to appear weak, she licked the corner of her mouth where Sam had punched her. "Ah. This meat suit's blood tastes good."

"Shut up," Sam commanded. "You'll be out of it before you know it- back in hell where you belong."

"Promises, promises. Although I have to say it's an honor to be worked over by the Winchesters. Makes you really feel at the top of the food chain, ya know?"

Suddenly, Dean walked into the light cast by the overhead soffits. He had had his back to all of them since the demon's capture, working quietly on a table over to the side. "Well, if top of the food chain means that you're about to get sliced up seven ways to Sunday, then yeah, I'd say you're right at the top," he said, in his low, no-nonsense voice. To all of their surprise, the demon laughed.

"Please. You won't even be able to touch me," she said in a superior tone.

"Oh no?" Dean asked, flicking his right wrist. The gleam of the demon blade flashed in the fluorescent light. "Wanna test that theory?"

"Bring it on, bitch," she said, looking him right in the eye and coyly tilting her head. Dean stepped into the circle, right up to her, pressing the point of the blade right against her cheekbone.

"Last chance to play nice," he growled. Even though he knew it was a demon in there, there was still a part of him that hated having to cut them up, because there was still a human in there too. However, the demon looked at him for a long moment, then suddenly spit in his face. Dean flinched, disgusted and pissed, then wiped off the spittle with his free arm. "Your funeral," he hissed, before delivering a quick swipe to the woman's cheek.

The demon reared back in surprise as the knife produced the gash in its cheek. An involuntary hiss of pain escaped from its mouth. "What the hell?" the demon muttered, confused, as Dean moved the knife to her forearm. One quick movement, and her arm was suddenly red with blood. She gritted her teeth against the scream that was trying to escape.

"You're…not supposed to be able to do that…" she hissed, trying to keep herself together. Whatever that blade was made out of hurt like holy hell.

"What do you mean, I'm not supposed to be able to do that? Do this?" Dean said in a casual voice, before landing a matching slash on the demon's other cheek. "This is a demon blade. Designed to take down pieces of garbage like you. Stings, don't it?"

The demon couldn't help it this time- she screamed as the blade found its mark. "You're not…that wasn't part of the deal…" she panted. Sam stepped quickly into the circle, right next to his brother.

"What deal?" he asked harshly. But the demon clamped her lips shut, looking up at the younger Winchester with hatred blazing in her black eyes. Sam quickly withdrew the flask of holy water from his pocket, stepped closer, and poured a thin stream onto the top of the demon's head. The skin began to sizzle and smoke, and the demon let out a yell that could have shattered the windows. "I said, what deal?" Sam thundered at her over her screams.

Gasping against the pain, the demon shook her head agonizingly, trying to remove any stray drops of the holy water that burned like acid. "The deal where I was immune to all this shit if I played my role," she muttered bitterly.

Castiel had been watching from behind the demon all this time. He looked up into the Winchesters' faces quickly before speaking. "What role? Who are you working with?" he said harshly, walking around to the demon's right side.

Despite the pain, the demon let out another mirthless laugh. "My skin's not worth telling you that, Wings," she said snidely. "No way."

"Then tell us about this deal."

"Why should I?"

Dean interrupted. "Other than the fact that I'm about to pour a bucket of holy water down your freaking throat? Other than that?"

Sam smiled that self-assured smile he always had when he knew they had someone right where they wanted them, and tagged onto what Dean had said. "Yeah. Because it seems like whoever you made the deal with isn't keeping up their end of the bargain. So why should you?"

The demon sat back sullenly. "You've got a point. But why should I help the Winchesters? What's in it for me?"

"One way ticket back to hell, no more torture," Sam responded firmly. "Of course, if you want to, we could torture the living fuck out of you first and then send you back. Your choice." He shrugged casually, moving back next to his brother.

"You know, the good cop/bad cop act is really great," the demon commented dryly. "You two should play vaudeville. I'm sure people would pay good money to watch you strip out of all of that flannel."

"Alright, I've had enough," Dean said, snatching the flask from Sam's hand and dousing the demon knife. He took two commanding steps towards the demon, fire in his eyes.

"Okay, okay! Hold your horses there, Tonto," the demon said, panicking. Dean stepped back, waiting to hear what it had to say. But instead of talking, the demon began to laugh. The sound was unnerving as it bounced off the metal walls and concrete floors of the warehouse.

"What's so funny?" Sam said hotly, getting just as fed up as Dean. The demon ceased her cackling, and looked him right in the eye.

"Even though they broke the deal, they still got what they wanted," she said in a velvety, seductive voice, her eyes flicking back and forth between the two men.

"What did they want?" Castiel asked again, his rough tone sharp and clear. The demon's bloody lips pulled up in a smile.

"You three. Out of the way. Distracted." She smiled proudly. "Gonna get a medal for this one. It was so simple to get you three yahoos out of the picture just long enough to get what we wanted."

Dean's skin turned to ice. She couldn't be talking about what he though she was talking about. "And what did you want?"

"To see if the rumors are true," she hissed, right at Dean. "Daddy."

Without missing another beat, Sam quickly spouted off the exorcism that he knew by heart. The demon threw her head back and expelled from the host body in a raging cloud of black smoke. Once it was gone, the woman slumped forward, unconscious.

Castiel, having understood what the demon meant, ran quickly up to the boys. "I'll take care of the woman. Go get Natalie," he said in a rush. Before either one of them could respond, Cas touched them on the foreheads.

They suddenly found themselves standing in front of the door to their apartment. The door was shut, but when Sam reached out and twisted the knob, it wasn't locked. A sudden crash on the first floor below made them both nearly jump out of their skins.

Dean turned to Sam, fear and panic laced in his eyes. Someone was running downstairs- and he didn't know where his daughter was. He made a split-second decision. "Sammy- find her. Find my baby girl." Dean turned and raced back down the stairs without waiting for a response.