A/n: Next chapter... That's... That's really it... I just felt that I needed to have an author's note. .
-Sugar-
After a trip to Wal*Mart and another to a small Diner, where Sam learned that small children are a great way to attract the attention of pretty waitresses and old ladies, the little girl is once again sleeping. This time she is in the back of the Impala, dressed in a pair of jeans and Dean's shirt. She seems to have taken a liking to it and Dean thinks that it is cute so he doesn't make her take it off. The little girl has her arms wrapped around a stuffed cow that looks to be about as big as she is and one Winchester is grinning like a fool while the other stares out a window, practicing his brand new bitch face.
It isn't that Sam doesn't want to help the girl. He just thinks that she would be safer somewhere else… away from them and all the demons and angels chasing trying to chase them down so that they can bring to the world to a smoldering, zombie infested end.
"I still just don't see how you think that us keeping her with us is a good idea," Sam says for what Dean is sure the hundredth time in the past hour.
"I never said it was a good idea, Sam. But she needs someone and Cas wants us to take care of her. And I never rejected your idea to take her to Bobby's… I just didn't say we were going to leave her here alone. Besides, can you think of a place that is safer than Bobby's?" Dean asks, smiling again.
"That isn't the point! We don't know how to take care of a little girl! We don't even know her name or anything about her! She won't talk!" Sam said, his voice rising until Dean reached over and popped the back of his head.
"Shhh! She is asleep, keep your voice down! We can take care of her just fine and she'll talk when she's ready. She just got dumped into the laps of two strangers, who even knows what happened to her parents! It's normal that she might not want to talk. She will when she's ready!"
Dean firmly defends his decision to keep the little girl, leaving no room for debate. Sam growls quietly in his seat and crosses his arms over his chest before he goes back to glaring out the window.
It is a very long and quite ride to Souix Falls.
-Son of a Preacher Man-
When they finally arrive at Bobby's Sam is the one sleeping and the girl is awake. She's crawled up into the front seat, sitting between the brothers. Dean is still smiling and the girl is wondering how he can keep it up for so long. Feeling her gaze on his face the man looks down at her when he parks the car. It's late, sun having gone down long ago. The arm that he has draped over the little girl's shoulders squeezes her and she smiles, giggling quietly.
"Ah! You're a daddy's girl, aren't you?" Dean asks, giving the girl another squeeze before he opens his door to get out. "Wake up your mother while I get our stuff out of the back," Dean says teasingly.
The little girl just giggles more and looks up at Sam who is leaning heavily on the door. Gently the girl undoes his seat belt, then leans over him and opens the car door. Sam falls out and hits the ground with a thump and a yelp. He's on his feet in an instant, though, looking around, startled and confused. The laughter from inside the car catches his attention, though and he leans down and peers in on a giggling girl and his chortling brother.
"You little brat!" Sam says, grabbing the girl's ankle and pulling her out of the car. Of course he can't really hurt the kid so he settles on scooping her up and tickling her, making her squeal until she wriggles out of his arms and runs up the steps and onto Bobby's porch.
"I love that kid," Dean says, chuckling as he gives Sam his duffle, holding his own and a smaller pink one in his other hand. "I'll have to ask her to wake you up more often."
Sam grumbled something about brats and boys who never grow up but he couldn't help but smile some.
The lights in the house are already on by now and when the door behind the little girl opens up to reveal a somewhat annoyed Bobby she lets out a small squeak. The sound startles the older man and he looks down at her in astonishment. Then he looks up to Sam and Dean and groans.
"Damn it, Dean!"
The eldest brother pauses on the stairs, looking taken aback for a moment. This gets Sam laughing loudly.
"What did I do?" Dean asks, sounding confused and hurt by the accusations.
"Well it looks like you knocked some girl up and the girl tracked ya down then left ya with a kid!" Bobby growls, making Sam laugh even harder and Dean pout. "Just get in here ya idjits…"
The man stalked back into his house, followed by Sam who was followed by Dean who paused to pick up the girl, resting her on his hip. The man followed both Bobby and Sam into the kitchen and sat down, moving the girl to his lap and dropping both the bags he was holding onto the ground so he could wrap his arms around his new, tiny friend.
"I didn't knock anyone up and even if I did they haven't found me yet. Cas brought her to us and asked us to keep her safe," Dean says smiling as the girl leans back on him and rests her head against his shoulder.
Sam shook his head and went to the fridge, getting himself a beer.
"Ooo! Get me one!" Dean says, shifting the girl onto his chair and getting up to retrieve his own beer from his brother's hand. He pops the cap off on the kitchen counter then leans into the fridge himself and starts poking around.
Bobby looks down at the girl who is staring up at him. Sam watches the little staring contest from across the kitchen. Surprisingly, to Sam, Bobby is the one who looks away first, turning to dean who is investigating a package of hotdogs. Eventually the young man shrugs and pulls a couple out of the pack and then tosses them in the microwave.
"So what's her name?" Bobby asks, watching as Dean went back to the fridge to poke around some more.
"Dunno. She hasn't said a word since we came to be in possession of her," Dean says, getting out the mustard and ketchup. "Come show me what you want on your hotdogs," he says to the girl who slides off the chair and then goes to the fridge.
Along with the mustard and ketchup she reaches in and grabs an onion and what appears to be a bowl of cold chilly. Dean laughs and reaches out to ruffle up her hair.
"My kinda girl! If I was twenty years younger I'd marry you," he says making the girl giggle.
"I don't think that two eight year olds can run off and get married, Dean…" Sam points out. The older sibling sniffs and kicks the fridge door shut.
"You're just mad because she likes me more," Dean replies, taking the hotdogs out of the microwave when the timer goes off.
While Dean goes about fixing up a hotdog or two for the little lady Bobby shakes his head, wondering how the two boys always managed to end up in the strangest of messes. But he can't help but smile as the girl presses herself close to Dean's side, her arm wrapping around his leg and head resting on his hip. Sam watches his brother smile and pet the girl's head.
"You know she should be in bed by now," Sam says, when Dean hands the girl her hotdog, keeping the other one for himself, apparently.
"She'll get to bed but she hasn't eaten since lunch," The man says, pouting a little bit and taking a bite of his hotdog then quickly chomping the rest of it down. It is a wonder that he hasn't choked to death considering how he eats.
"And what's your excuse?" Sam asks, perking a brow. Dean just snorts.
"I don't need an excuse. I just like hotdogs…" he replies after he swallows his food and before he takes a drink of beer.
The little girl takes a bit longer to finish eating but when she does Dean scoops her up and grabs her bag off the floor where she dropped it. She wraps her arms around Dean's neck and holds on as the man heads up the stairs.
"Alright, now we're going to get you ready for bed, yeah? Maybe you'll feel like talking tomorrow," he said softly, resting her head on his when she dropped her own on his shoulder. Both Sam and Bobby watch the two silently.
"I don't know what Dean is thinking… We don't know anything about taking care of little kids how can we keep her?" Sam asks Bobby when Dean is out of earshot.
The older man snorts and shakes his head at Sam, head tilting to the side as he studies him for a moment. He stands up and walks past Sam, patting the young man on the shoulder as he moves to get his own beer. The man gets it open and takes a sip before he answers the younger Winchester.
"You're underestimating your brother, Sam. He took care of you, or did you forget that?" he asks, watching Sam duck his head a bit and look away. "Don't worry so much. Dean can take care of a kid. I doubt that angel friend of yours would give her to ya if she didn't think you two could keep her safe."
Sam sighs and glances back toward the stairs, hoping that Bobby is right.
-Hey Jude-
Upstairs Dean gets the girl to brush her teeth and lets her put on her pajamas (They are Batman ones because Dean doesn't care if they are really boy's pajamas. Batman is awesome and the girl seemed to like them too so why not?). Once she's all ready for bed he takes her to the bedroom that he and Sam would normally try to share and picks her up, plopping her down on the bed that is surprisingly free of dust, considering the rest of the house.
The cow from the car is pulled from her duffle and she took it eagerly, allowing Dean to tuck her into the bed. For a little bit he just sat there, smiling at her and she smiled back.
"You know if you need me or Sam we'll be down stairs…" he finally says, leaning forward to kiss the girl on the forehead. "Goodnight," he softly murmurs, getting up to leave.
He stops when a small hand grabs his, though. "I'm Tabris," a tiny voice says and Dean turns his head to look at the girl, a bit surprised that she has decided to speak. "Goodnight, Dean," she says, letting him go and then curling up in a ball under the blankets, her arms wrapped tightly around her cow.
"Goodnight, Tabris," Dean whispers, smiling brightly.
He checks to make sure the windows are salted and the door is left open a crack when he leaves the room, heading back down stairs with that same silly smile plastered on his face. The young man moves back into the kitchen and hops up on the counter, picking up his beer and taking another pull from the bottle.
"Her name is Tabris."
"Huh?" Sam asks, watching his brother in slight confusion.
"She told me her name is Tabris," Dean repeats, his face screwing up a little bit. "It's kinda weird. I would've named her Lucy…" The man quickly finishes his beer then hops off the counter and smiles. "Well… I'm going to sleep. Tabby is in the bed upstairs so… I call the couch!" Dean says, darting into the living room, though he is quickly followed by Sam.
"Hey! No fair! Why do you always get the couch?" Sam complains, not wanting to sleep in the armchair.
While the boys are wrestling to see who gets the couch Bobby frowns, staring into space as he tries to place where he's heard that little girl's name before.
-Marigold-
A/n: Songs used for line breaks are as follows: Sugar, by The Wooden Birds. Son of a Preacher Man, by Janis Joplin. Hey Jude, by The Beatles. Marigold, by Nirvana.