Part 8

Liz learned a lot about John in the following months. This had been the longest he had stayed in one place since his wife had died. He loved his boys dearly. He loved his car, loved his tunes and playing Bad Company was John's way of saying he was in the mood for sex. His motto in that arena tended to be anything worth doing is worth doing right. He could grill like any Middle American man but was otherwise useless in the kitchen… and that included the toaster… all 3… plus the one he bought Jim to replace the original he destroyed.

Dean had only once commented on the fact that his father never slept in his own bed anymore. Once he had figured it out, the first week was spent with Dean's eyes peering around the corner. Liz had initially chastised him for peeping until she had seen the circles under his eyes. Then she had made John sit down with him to get to the root of it. Dean had been afraid John would go missing in the night and never return. That led to the night that Liz woke up to find herself on the edge of the bed with two children between herself and John, who was lying in bed, watching them all sleep.

That had led to the awkward conversation the following night on the porch. Liz with her toes tucked beneath John's thigh. The boys running around screaming in the yard with snowballs. John had studied his boys so hard that Liz had to ask him what was making him so serious. John had shrugged. "Just… wondering about… us… what would happen to the boys in a bigger family."

"I don't know." She had shrugged. "Moving around the way you do, I don't see how it's feasible… if you were settled and Dean is able to make more friends… he might welcome a bigger family, if only to relieve him of Sammy for awhile." She grinned. "Dean is such a wonderful big brother. He watches out for Sammy so carefully."

"You think about having kids?"

"Sometimes. I wish I had more to share with a family. I have no history but what I'm making now. I'd want to remember something to pass on."

"But you think about it?"

"I guess I do." She nodded at him. "I do have things I want for myself." She sighed and shifted so that she could lean against him and see the boys. "I dream about being married in a little house with a fence… with a couple of babies. I wonder what it's like to have a life growing inside me. To have a little girl to look at me the way Dean looks at you." She smiled a bit and leaned her head back against his shoulder. "Or even a boy to drive me nuts like his big brothers."

When he didn't respond with a laugh or even a chuckle or a snort, she peered back to look at him. He was staring out into the yard at nothing, his left hand in motion, spinning his ring around his finger. He stopped talking and Liz didn't know how to get him started again.

During Dean's bath, she took up residence at the bathroom mirror to work on her eyebrows. John watched her from the shadow of the hallway. Dean built bubble mountains, eyes fixed on her. He asked so many questions about why did she 'torture' her face like that. Liz only laughed and answered each question sincerely. Then he turned really serious. "How come girls have boobs?"

Liz choked on her air and then sat to face him. "What did your dad tell you about the birds and the bees?"

"Girls have innies and boys have outies. When they put the two together, they make a baby." John was suddenly appalled about the way he had handled that one but what else do you tell a four year old about the difference between boys and girls. Dean certainly didn't seem traumatized by the knowledge.

Liz let out a breath of relief. "Boobs come into play after the baby is born. They fill with milk so that the baby can eat."

"How?"

"Um, well. You see these things you got right here." She pointed to his chest and his little nipples. He gave her a skeptical look. "Everyone's got them. Boy and girls. You're a boy. Your chest is flat. Girls get boobs where those are. The milk comes out of those."

"Ew." His lip curled in disgust. "Why don't they just use bottles?"

"Well, long time ago, before there were bottles…"

"What? Ew… so, if there were no bottles, everyone did that?" John signed heavily and wondered how many years he'd get where boobs disgusted his son. Just then Dean looked up, always tuned in to where his dad was. "Did you hear this mess? Did you know this?"

"Yeah, I heard." John nodded.

"Uh." Liz peeked her head around the door. "Just how long have you been hiding out there? I've been dying in here."

"Just wanted to see how you'd do." John stepped into the small bathroom, taking Liz up in his arms. "You did okay. A-."

"A-, huh. Where did I slip up?"

"You identified more equipment than he already knew about." He brushed a kiss against her mouth. "You gotta keep 'em ignorant or else they want to know why for everything."

"Sometimes he doesn't answer my questions." Dean offered, staring up at them from behind his diminishing wall of bubbles. "He won't tell me why anyone would want put their outie next to anyone's innie." Liz buried her face in John's chest to smother her giggles. "Aw, c'mon, someone's got to tell me." Dean smashed his bubble mountain down into the water. "And don't tell me I'm too little to know. I'm almost 7."

"Hey, cool it." John chided him, holding Liz tight against him. "Some things you just got to wait until you're older to know."

"That sucks."

"You ready to get out?" Liz turned in John's arms to face him.

"You promised." Dean pointed at her.

"I keep my promises. You'll learn that about me." She picked up the towel from the rack and held it out, closing her eyes. She listened to the splashing as Dean got out and ran into the towel, closed her arms around him, wrapping him up in the towel. When she opened her eyes, John had just tilted his head at her. "Dean says I've seen too many Winchester wees for one lifetime and I'm never going to get a peek at his."

"You and Sammy have no shame." Dean tilted his head up to look at his father. "Showing a girl your junk all the time."

John snorted back a laugh. "Go get dressed."

"He's right you know. You're always waving your junk at me and wanting to play innies and outies and touching my boobs." She teased him after Dean had run off to get his clothes on.

"Oh, it's not all me, sweetheart." John backed her into the hallway. "Flashing said boobs at me and grabbing for my junk and shoving my hand against your innie."

"I never flashed you."

"You denied that one?" He laughed at the deep red in her face.

"How about you do story time tonight and then…" She kissed him softly. "I'll think of something… special we can do together."

"Boys! Bed time!" John nudged her to their room.

The day that John told Jim they were moving out, Jim pulled Liz aside and thanked her profusely for saving John's soul. When she asked why, he had told her to ask John about the moving date. He had put her off for a week while they worked and packed. Then one morning, he had poked his head into her room while she was doing her hair and mumbled around his toothbrush that it was time to load up.

--

Jim and Liz played a cruel trick on John the day of the move. They helped him move out and into the small rent house. When they were done, Liz climbed into the truck with Jim to leave. John had frowned, eyebrows drawn together as he approached with his trail of children, hand on the truck. "Where are you going, Liz?"

"Back to the house, I'm exhausted." She rubbed at her neck.

"I thought you said Liz was gonna live with us in the new house, Dad." Dean's pout was hilarious but he was quite serious despite all the obstacles he'd put in place through the evolution of the relationship.

John picked him up so Liz could see his face. "You gonna walk out on this face?"

Dean hooked his arms onto the door, allowing John to pick up Sammy, who held out a handful of grass to her, giving a toothy grin. "Yiz."

"C'mon. The boys can't go a night without you."

Jim snickered but managed a straight face. "Ever think of actually asking the lady to move in with your family, John… instead of just expecting her to?"

John bowed his head for a moment, finally getting it and lifting his eyes but not his head to his girl. "I didn't ask you, did I?"

"No, but the order to load up was romantic only in you were brushing your teeth at the time." Liz dropped a kiss on Dean's face and squeezed John's arm. "But you know… I couldn't go a night without my bedtime story."

TBC