Mercy was almost literally bouncing in excitement, causing John to lose his grip ever so slightly. But she couldn't help herself; she was going to finally meet her little sibling. She knew they started off very small but would be running around with her in no time. That's what Daddy told her at least.
But she really wanted to help look after the little red wrinkly baby. Sure they looked gross and small, but she was the big sister now, she was almost five years older. She had to look after her no matter what.
"Hey baby, do you want to meet your little brother? His name is Dean, isn't he so cute?"
Mercy looked at her little brother with contemplating eyes. She had even tipped her head to the side like she wanted to see him in a different perspective. John and Mary shared a concerned glance. They had heard of older siblings getting jealous of new babies, but Mercy was such a sweet child, surely she would love Dean like she loved the rest of her family.
"But I wanted a little sister." The quiet comment had all the adults in the room to start laughing hysterically. Even the midwife who had helped Mary deliver Mercy all those years ago couldn't get rid of the giggles.
Said girl just sighed, she had a brother now. There was no choice in the matter, so she would just have to be the best big sister and help him become the best little brother.
The small baby started crying loudly at the noise that woke him up. Mercy looked genuinely surprised that such a small thing could be so loud.
"Do you want to hold him baby?" Mary asked when the laughing gradually died down. She gestured to John to place their daughter on her lap so she could help her support the new born.
"Yes mummy!"
John couldn't help but snap a quick picture of the three lights of his life. They all looked so happy, even Dean who had calmed down as the two females sang "Hey Jude" to him. John joined in knowing this was going to be a moment forever ingrained into his mind.
His family was happy, and so was he.
Mary was very worried when she woke up after a very good night's sleep. The fact that she heard John snoring behind her was proof enough that he also had a good night. She instantly shot up, waking her husband in the process.
"Mary, what's wrong?" John, now high alert, asked.
"Were you woken up at any point last night?" Mary was wide eyed in fear. She hoped to god nothing was wrong. John's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"No, I slept like a… baby." Realisation smoothed his features, only to have his expression turn to fear. The two ran straight for their little boy's room.
Now most people would show no fear to having a great sleep, they would be ecstatic even. Unless you were a parent to a six month old baby who should be crying for food and nappy change at all hours of the night.
It was just part of the job to have no sleep due to your baby. But when they stopped doing so you start to get worried. Mercy didn't stop until she was around two; they weren't expecting Dean to be any different.
They rushed towards the door to sigh in ease. Dean was happily babbling at his parents his smile wide and gummy, waving his hands to signal he wanted to be picked up. Their confusion grew when Mary realised that Dean was in a new nappy and had an empty bottle of baby formula clutched in his hands. His onesie wasn't fastened properly and a few buttons were in the wrong hole. It didn't take much guess work on who their mysterious little helper was.
"That girl, honestly, I almost had a heart attack there. She should know that she doesn't need to do this." John rubbed his head to try to wake himself up again after the panic attack. He hadn't been awake long enough for his mind to clear.
"Hey Dean, has your big sister been looking after you? I bet that was fun huh?" Mary cooed to her son as she lifted him from his cot. She fixed the small mistakes her daughter had made in redressing Dean.
"Mummy, is that you? Where's Dean?" The childish voice originated from behind Dean's cot. She had a rat's nest of a bed head and her nightie was scrunched and wrinkled. She had obviously only just woken up.
"What's the saying? Speak of the Devil and they shall appear?" John whispered to his wife only to gain a glare.
Mary turned back to Mercy, worry marring her features. She hugged Dean closer as to not let him fall.
"Baby, did you sleep next to Dean all night?"
The dark haired girl nodded her head enthusiastically. She ran up to her mum and pulled on the long white dress.
"Yup, because daddy said you got tired because Dean cries a lot at night. And you said sleep is very important, I wanted to help so you would sleep longer. I know how to clean Dean and make his food and dress him back up. I've seen you do it lots of times, and you said I have to be a good big sister!"
She smiled so brightly, so proud of herself for being the good big sister. The two parents didn't have it in them to crush the girl's accomplishment. John kneeled and picked up his daughter to be face to face with all of the family.
"You're the best big sister in the world. But looking after Dean in the middle of the night is our job. We love that you want to help, and you can do all you want during the day. But you're a growing girl, you need sleep too!"
Mercy was once again very confused. That didn't make any sense, Dean was growing too and he didn't sleep nearly as much as she did. During the night at least, he did nap a lot during the day.
"But what if I don't care if I don't grow? Can I look after Dean then?"
The eldest Winchester chuckled and kissed his daughter on her fore head. He had a feeling both he and Dean were going to have to fight off many boys in the future. He wasn't sure what they had done to deserve such a beautiful and kind hearted daughter.
"Well, if you don't grow then you won't be the big sister anymore. You'd be too small to keep the job. You don't want that now do you?"
The child's eyes went comically wide. She didn't want Dean to not have a big sister, it was her job and she had to take respor-respom-reston…. That thing her Daddy said you had to take when you do something.
"No! I'll sleep more. I have to be the Bestest big sister or Dean won't be a good boy!"
"That's my girl." The father and daughter hugged tightly, watched over by a contented mother and giggling baby.
"It wasn't me! It was Dean's fault!" Mercy cried out, tears streaming down her red and blotchy face. But she wasn't getting any sympathy from her parents. She was in trouble and needed to know the consequences of her actions.
"Dean is just a baby, how was he supposed to reach the paints from so far away? Mercy, he's only seven months old. So either you painted on the walls or you gave Dean the paint when we told you not to!"
Mercy felt so angry, she didn't do either of that! Dean grabbed the paint brush from her when she was helping him clean up. It wasn't her fault he started painting on the walls!
Why didn't they believe her? Why was it always her fault when Dean did something bad? Just because he was a baby it didn't mean he couldn't do bad things as well.
She spotted said baby laughing in his high chair behind their parents. She felt so upset, a burning feeling appeared in her chest and she felt like she needed to hit something. She didn't like feeling like this, and it was their fault!
But still didn't really mean to blurt out such mean things.
"I hate you Mummy! I hate you Daddy! And I hate Dean the most! You're all big meanies!" she ran to her room, not even stopping when her Daddy yelled very loudly to come back.
She didn't mean to say such bad things. She loved them very much and didn't hate them at all but they wouldn't listen to what she was saying.
She weakly climbed into bed, her previous strength gone with the uncomfortable fire in her tummy. She cried and cried until her head, eyes and throat hurt. She cried from the guilt of hurting her family, she cried from the shame she felt for yelling at poor baby Dean and she cried from the fear of her parents hating her from then on.
What she didn't know was that her little brother was also crying and wouldn't stop. Big fat baby tears poured from his face, his face growing redder with each wail. It drove the parents dotty from both being unable to understand what was going on and trying to think of a way to deal with their suddenly rebellious daughter.
They slowly did realise their mistake a few hours later when Dean grabbed the paint brush from Mary's hand as she was cleaning up.
If he managed that with an adult then a five year old had no chance.
It took a while for the both of them to gather the courage to confront their daughter and apologise for their mistake. It was a soppy affair, the two females crying their eyes out and John feeling uncomfortable as always. If Mercy did all she could to make them happy and gave them no reason to be irritated with her for months afterwards, no one commented.
There were different ways to grow up; Mercy just drew one of the shorter straws when it came to learning about misunderstandings.
"This is a picture of your mum and me before you were born." They were in the living room as John showed his little girl the picture of him and Mary kissing on the front of the Impala. It had been just after he proposed and had got one of Mary's friends to snap the shot.
It was the third most precious moment in his life. Of course the births of his children were tied in top place and the day Mary Campbell became Mary Winchester was in second place. Each moment was something precious and he would never trade them for anything.
Mercy on the other hand was confused but happy. She saw her parents kiss a lot. They loved each other so very much, and it just grew every day from what Mercy could see. So why did they need a picture from when they didn't love each other quite as much?
"John, I think Dean is trying to say his first word!" Mary all but screamed from the kitchen. Not wanting to miss the moment his little man started to speak, he grabbed Mercy from her spot on the couch and jogged in to see Dean scrunching his face in a cute baby version of concentration.
"Mu…Mu…" Mary couldn't help but smile with pride. Her second born was trying to say Mummy! It was slightly sad for the parents when Mercy's first word was neither Mummy nor Daddy. But now she was finally getting her wish!
Mercy on the other hand was staring at her little brother in anticipation. She had spent so long repeating the same word over and over again, making sure Dean heard it enough times, saying it when her parents weren't around so that it would be a great surprise for everyone.
Her plans were finally coming together. Her little Dean was becoming slightly bigger, but he would always be the baby sister that turned out to be a baby brother.
"Muumuu…..Merfy!" There was a stiff silence as all members of the Winchester family thought about what the small baby had said.
John was the first to start laughing, he really should have known. Mercy was always there and her name was probably said to Dean more times than his own. They had too much hope thinking Dean would be like most other babies that said Mummy or Daddy for their first words. Mercy was incredibly strange. Of course her brother was going to be.
Mercy on the other hand was shocked. She didn't think Dean would say her name. In fact she had been trying to get Dean to say Chester. Because her Mummy had said that her first word was, "Win!" It just made sense.
But her name was good.