Hey hey SPN Fam! I'm back! Sorry it took so long- I wanted to post this earlier but it has been a CRAZY couple weeks. Good news is the writer's block is over (for now, fingers crossed) and I have more new stuff in the works. I also have a new job, so I'm trying to juggle that schedule and writing time...thank you all for your patience. For those interested- I have started writing on the new series when Nat is 21. It's gonna be a LONG time before it comes out, but it's in the works :)

For the ever-persistent and absolutely lovely and supportive Bella Winchester- here's your fluff, darling! And it's a tooth rotter, ha ha. Special thanks to Jenmm31 for notes on this story!

In this story, Natalie is five. Please see profile page for disclaimers.

The rain pounded against Bobby's front room windows, but Natalie didn't even flinch. The child had gotten past her fear of thunderstorms by learning to be brave, just like her daddy taught her, and now, she loved the rain. Usually. Today was different. Her nose was pressed as flat as it could go against the glass as she stared at the heavy drops. She sighed heavily- not because anything was really wrong, but she liked the way the glass around her mouth fogged up when she did that. It was neat.

"You're cleanin' those windows after you're done bein' dramatic," came the wry voice of her adopted grandfather from across the room. Natalie rolled her eyes before turning around to look at him. She didn't dare roll them while facing the men in the room. That would only bring down hellfire on her.

Once the eye roll was complete, she spun around on one heel, her arms flopping as she went. "When's the rain gonna stop?" she asked sullenly. "I wanna go play!"

"You can play just fine in here, kid," Dean said, absentmindedly swirling the beer in his half empty bottle as he paged through the thick volume on witchcraft, looking for the spell he needed.

"No, I meant outside. I wanna play outside."

"You gone blind? It's frickin' monsooning. You ain't going out in that."

"How's come?"

It was Sam's turn to sigh. "Natalie, that's not proper grammar," he said kindly, turning his attention from his own dusty tome of spells to the five-year-old.

"It's not?"

"No."

"How's come?" Cue the snort of laughter from Dean.

"You should say 'why not' instead of 'how's come'," Sam explained patiently, ignoring Dean's laugh. "'How's come' doesn't make sense in the context you're using."

"Oh. Okay."

"Thank you."

"So why not I can't go out in the rain?"

Dean didn't even try to hold his laughter in on that one. "You brought that on yourself, Sammy," he chuckled, before taking another swig. "And yeah! Why not she can't go out?" he asked smarmily. Sam's growing bitch face just made Dean grin wider.

"You really want her running outside in the rain, getting all wet and dirty and probably sick?"

"Well, there you go, squirt," Dean said, shrugging at his daughter. "No playing in the rain because Uncle Sam is a big buzz kill."

"Hey, if YOU wanna take her out and deal with everything that's gonna come with it, knock yourself out," Sam retorted calmly, turning his attention back to the book. Natalie whipped around, looking at Dean expectantly.

"Sorry, kiddo," Dean said good-naturedly. "Can't get wet. I'll melt." Natalie giggled and charged him, throwing herself against his knees in true kid fashion.

"No you won't melt! That's the wicked witch, not you!" she said, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"How do you know I ain't the wicked witch?" he teased her back, wiggling his fingers menacingly towards her. She giggled and dodged him in that way that let him know she wanted him to keep teasing her.

"Cause you can't find the right spell now and if you were a witch you'd know it already!"

"Ah, got me there. Wanna help me look for the right spell?"

"YES!"

Dean pulled Natalie onto his lap and proceeded to thumb through the book. Natalie concentrated very hard on the words- as if she could actually understand any of it anyways- and stayed very still and quiet while the boys and Bobby worked. A rare moment of peace and quiet in the old hunter's house was enjoyed by the adults.

After about twenty minutes, Natalie's head suddenly shot up. She nearly clocked Dean in the nose. It was only through sheer dumb luck that he'd managed to turn away just enough to avoid the head-butt. Before he could ask what was wrong, she rocketed off his lap, tearing over to the window.

"LOOK!" she screeched at the top of her lungs. All three men winced as their eardrums busted.

"What have I told you about hollerin' in the house?" Bobby scolded loudly.

Natalie turned back around at the accusation. "YOU just hollered at me," she commented nonchalantly, tilting her head and failing to see his reasons for fussing at her. "Why can't I holler?"

"'Cause it's my house and I said so, that's why."

"But how's come…I mean, why not?"

"Hey," Dean cut her off. "Bobby said don't do it. End of discussion." He raised one eyebrow at the child, who squirmed a bit at the rebuke. "Now what was it you sonic boomed about?"

Her inquisitive nature taking over as always, Natalie tilted her head. "What's sonic boom mean?" she asked curiously.

"Means you made a loud noise," Dean answered back in his gruff tone, reminding himself for the umpteenth time to have patience with the never-ending stream of questions. "What did you want, Natalie?"

"Oh! I almost forgot! Lookit, the rain stopped!" she said excitedly, quickly spinning to the window and jabbing her finger repeatedly at the glass, as if they didn't know that rain could be observed through the window. She spun back in the same instant, looking excited. "Can we go outside now?"

"Bug, it's going to be all muddy and wet out there. You don't want to go play in the mud, do you?" Sam asked in his 'mom' tone.

Natalie looked at him like he had two heads. "Um…YES I do," she said, as if confused how anyone could think that she wouldn't want that.

"You could catch a cold from going outside when it's still wet."

"No I won't!"

"And how do you know?"

"Because I'm a WINCHESTER, Unca Sam, and Winchesters don't get sick! Right, daddy?" Natalie asked impishly, tearing back over to Dean and clambering up into his lap.

"Right."

"See?"

"Bug, just because your dad says something doesn't make it true." Father and daughter looked insulted in tandem. Sam made a face at Dean. "Well, it doesn't."

Dean pulled Natalie back into his chest and looked down to see her face. "You know what, squirt?" he said loudly, a twinkle in his eye. Natalie's face broke out in her million-watt grin. She knew when Daddy was up to something just to mess with Uncle Sam. "I think that we're going to go prove Uncle Sam wrong, right now."

"YES!" Natalie screeched, throwing herself off Dean's lap and thrusting her arms in the air in triumph.

"What did I JUST tell you about yellin'?" Bobby roared at her. Natalie immediately dropped her hands but not her level of excitement.

"I'm sorry, Pops, I forgot not to yell because I get to go outsiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide!" she said, taking off towards the front door. Bobby shook his head, exhausted from five-year-old energy.

"Just tie her to a stake out there, put a bowl of water down, and be done with it," he grumbled at Dean. Dean chuckled back, jogging over to the bouncing firecracker at the door.

"Come on, kiddo," Dean said, reaching for the doorknob. He looked over quickly to see if Sam was really going to be a killjoy about this, but Sam was just shaking his head, a resigned smile on his lips. HA! Finally.

Dean opened the door and Natalie took off like a rocket, screaming with unbridled five-year-old freedom. Dean laughed and took off after her. Feeling the need to have at least one responsible adult outside, Sam followed them onto the porch.

It took exactly seven seconds for Natalie to find the massive mud puddle towards the left exit of the junkyard. Sam had just caught sight of her when she deliberately belly flopped right into it. As she sat up, absolutely drenched in brown, dirty water, she wiped her eyes and laughed harder than they'd ever seen her laugh before. Dean doubled in half, slapping his leg with mirth. He loved anything that made his daughter so happy, damn the consequences. He watched gleefully from the porch as she continued to splash and play.

"Well, there goes that pair of shoes," Sam said in a good-natured tone as he sidled up next to his brother.

"What are you talking about, Sam? We've gotten mud on our shoes a million times. Always comes off," Dean dismissed him with a grin.

"Yeah, dude, our boots that we don't fully submerge. Kid sneakers aren't quite up that."

"Oh," Dean said, sobering up for a moment. Sam felt bad. He really didn't want to be the buzz kill that Dean was always insisting he was.

"Don't worry about it," Sam said lightly. "She's probably going to outgrow those ones soon anyways."

Dean chuckled, shaking his head. "She's getting too freakin' tall already," he commented. Bobby rolled up next to them on the porch.

"You know I ain't letting her in the house dripping all that mud everywhere, right?" he commented dryly to the boys, giving them his own version of The Eye.

"Yeah, Bobby, don't worry, I'll spray her with the garden hose once she's done running all this out," Dean said, his grin getting wider and wider as Natalie played happily. This was awesome. Natalie was happy. And it looked like a shit-ton of fun too. He was the grown up and all, he was way more mature than… but she was just having so much fun…

"You know, mud's supposed to be really good for you," Dean commented off-handedly to his brother and surrogate father.

"What?" Sam said, confused by Dean's statement. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Just saying. Don't people pay good money for it in spas and junk? Like women take mud baths and it's supposed to knock ten years off their faces. I don't know how the hell it would do something like that, but it can't be all bad, see?" Dean asked lightly, rocking back and forth on his feet. "I mean…you know…mud's good for you. Really good for you- right?"

"Boy, how many beers you had today?" Bobby asked grumpily. But Sam knew exactly what Dean was actually saying.

"Just take off your boots, okay?" Sam said with a grin. Dean's smile nearly cracked his face in two as he immediately plopped down on the steps to the porch, whipped off his boots, emptied his pockets into said boots, and took off for the mud puddle. He ninja rolled in, being too big to cannonball. Natalie's scream of utter joy could probably be heard across state lines.

It was Sam's turn to laugh out loud as he watched his older brother turn into a five year old himself, splashing and laughing with his daughter who was almost catatonic with joy at her beloved daddy being so silly. Even though he knew Dean would more than likely find a way to stick him with the laundry from this little adventure, Sam loved these moments when Dean was happy and carefree. He didn't have enough of them in his life. So if that meant dealing with a lot of mud, so be it.

Bobby's low chuckle caught his attention, making Sam's smile even wider. "They're crazy, aren't they?" Sam said with affection, watching Natalie splash Dean and Dean splash her right back.

"They sure as hell are, but that wasn't what I was laughing at," Bobby said. Sam looked down at him quizzically. "I got a little bet going with myself," the old man said smugly.

"What bet?"

"How long it's gonna take you to jump your skinny ass in that puddle with them."

"Sorry to tell you, but that's one bet you're gonna lose."

"Boy, I've know you and your brother since you two were younger than Little Bit. You always followed Dean into whatever crazy shenanigans he concocted in that twisted brain of his. And you loved every damn minute of it."

"I didn't love it when I broke my arm playing superheroes, or when he left me alone with all those clowns at that creepy kid's party place."

"All I'm saying is that as much as you've got on your shoulders, it wouldn't kill you to let loose once in a while and follow him into some crazy shenanigans that don't involve killin'."

"Bobby…"

"Aw, c'mon Sam. You heard your brother. It's good for you."

Sam was torn. Someone had to be responsible, someone had to be the grown up, someone had to…

"Just take off your boots, alright?"

Screw it.

Sam kicked his boots off and headed towards the puddle. He laughed just as joyously as Natalie did when she wrapped her arms around his now-muddy legs, thrilled that he had joined them. All three of them were having the time of their lives, just splashing around in a mud puddle.

Bobby chuckled and wheeled himself over to the garden hose, checking to make sure that it was in working order. He grinned evilly to himself as he coiled the spray nozzle in his lap and waited for the three idjits to be done. Who said those three were going to be the only ones to have some fun today?