Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Eric Kripke. I only own my character Mary-Elisabeth "Emmy" Winchester.

Emmy: ten months
Sam: 13 y/o
Dean: 17 y/o

Doing your homework in the bathroom while babysitting your little sister isn't practical, but Sam was getting used to it. It was either that or leave Emmy alone in bath – a mistake he won't be making twice. Last time he left her alone in the tub, she thought it would be fun to drink her bottle of shampoo. He swore her breath smelt like strawberries for days.

Sam kept a watchful eye on his baby sister as he scribbled down some notes on his math book, trying to solve the surface area of a pool. Lately, him and his brother couldn't risk leaving her alone for two seconds. She was at that phase where she would put anything in her mouth. It was her way of exploring everything around her, it didn't help that she was teething and crawling either.

"Emmy, don't put that in your mouth," Sam warned softly when he caught her eying the bubbles in her tiny fists. Emmy looked up at him through her long, wet eyelashes at hearing his voice and dropped her chubby hands back into the water. It was as if she knew exactly what he was saying by the look he was giving her.

Sam had tried to stop putting bubbles into the water but that only resulted in her crying her little heart out. Dean had said it was only phase and that she would grow out of it … eventually. The truth was that neither brothers had the heart to stop the habit because it reminded them of the mother they lost. Just the smell of the strawberry bubbles was enough to bring them back to their own childhood when their mother still ran baths for them.

"Emmy, no." Sam gave his sister a look when she once again took a handful of bubbles in her hand. He watched her closely as she slowly lifted her hand up to her mouth. Sam knew she was testing him, trying to see how far she could go. "Emmy, don't." But his baby sister ignored him and put her fingers in her mouth. She instantly pulled a face at the soapy taste and weird texture. "Told you so," Sam couldn't help but chuckle as she scrunched up her adorable face.

He put his book and pencil on the toilet lid and kneeled next to the tub. He grabbed a nearby towel and started wiping away the soap from her mouth. "There you go, you little munchkin." He made her giggle as he rubbed his nose against her tiny button nose. She cupped his face with her little hands and let out a happy high pitched nose. "Aw, now you're making me all wet," Sam laughed. He saw her big blue eyes move to his hair and he instantly grabbed her hands to pull her away from him. "Oh no, not my hair," he shook his head. His baby sister was obsessed with his long bangs, she would put it in her mouth (of course), play with it or her favorite, pull at the strands.

Sam noticed how her cute little face fell in disappointment and he could already see the tears forming in her eyes. He had to think quick and stop her from crying. He looked around and noticed some toys in the water. Grabbing the closest thing, which was a little duck, he gave it to her.

"Look, Emmy. It's a duck!" His sister's eyes instantly moved to the yellow object. Sam pinched the duck's stomach, creating sounds. "Oh look at that. The duck talks." Sam let out a breath in relief once he managed to distract Emmy who gave him a cute grin. He took her chubby fist and wrapped it around the duck. He helped her pressing her fingers against the center to produce the sounds. "Just push right there." Emmy pushed her brother's hands away and lifted the duck close to her face, inspecting it with curious eyes. She then opened her mouth and started biting on the rubber tail.

Sam rolled his eyes with a chuckle. "Or you can just put it in your mouth, too."

"Honey, I'm home!" Dean shouted as he slammed the door.

"In here!" Sam yelled.

The door to the bathroom opened and Dean appeared at the doorframe. Once Emmy noticed her brother's presence she instantly started pounding her hands and feet against the water in excitement. Sam quickly leaned back to avoid his t-shirt getting wet.

Dean chuckled. "Somebody's happy to see me," he said as he walked closer to her. "Hi, cutie pie."

Emmy started lifting up her chubby arms, cajoling her big brother to pick her up. Dean grabbed her hands and pulled her up so that she was standing on both feet. "You done with her?" he asked his brother.

"Yeah, she's all washed up," Sam answered his brother as he gave him a towel. "I just let her play a little longer cause she didn't want to get out. But I guess she changed her mind."

"That's because she likes me more." Dean grinned as he wrapped the towel around his baby sister and lifted her up in his arms. "Tell him I'm your favorite, Emmy."

Emmy let out a high pitched squeal as she clapped her hands together.

"That's right, you love me more." Dean peppered her chubby cheeks with kisses.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Since when do you talk baby-language? What if she said she loved me more?"

Dean took one of Emmy's hands and put it on top of Sam's head. Her eyes lit up in excitement and she instantly started pulling on his hair.

"Ouch," Sam scowled, pulling her hands away.

"That answers your question?" Dean smirked.

"Jerk."

"Bitch," Dean retorted, ruffling his brother's hair as he walked out of the bathroom.

Sam made sure to unplug the tub before he grabbed his homework. He found Dean on one of the motel beds where he was drying off their baby sister. She was contently chewing on one of her little toes, making soft baby noises that made no sense.

"So how did the GED test go?" Sam asked his brother as he plopped on the other bed.

"Good. I think," Dean answered distractedly as he reached for a diaper while trying to keep Emmy still with a hand on her stomach.

"Let's hope so," Sam said.

Dean looked up briefly at his brother who was too busy watching the television. He didn't fail to notice how Sam sounded unenthusiastic and disinterested. It wasn't a secret that Sam was against Dean taking the GED test. He wanted his brother to at least finish his high school and get a proper diploma.

Dean sighed, his attention on dressing his squirming baby sister. "We've talked about this, Sammy. You know school's never been my thing. The only thing it does is test my patience and ability to hold my pee."

Sam snorted, unamused. "You think you're the only one who hates school? Newsflash, every living soul hates going to school, Dean."

"You like going to school," Dean pointed out with a smirk.

"Correction, I like learning new stuff," Sam countered smartly as he turned his attention back to the screen. "Wish Dad would just homeschool us, I could probably teach myself better than all these Misters and Misses Know-It-All."

Dean chuckled. "Yeah, I don't doubt that." He lifted up his baby sister and sat down on the bed with his back against the headboard. He put Emmy between his spread legs, letting her grab onto his shoulders so she could stand. "Well aren't you a big girl, huh. Yes you are," he smiled as she grinned, showing off her bottom teeth.

"I still don't understand why you just don't finish high school," Sam wondered causing Dean to roll his eyes which in turn made Emmy giggle. "I mean it's only one year, why stop now?"

"Sam, please," Dean huffed, "We've been through this already. It's not like I ever planned to go to college and become a big shot or something. That's your future not mine."

Sam slightly shook his head in disbelief. "You're not stupid Dean. You may not always have brought home the best report cards but that doesn't mean you should give up. You need the education, Dean. It doesn't even matter if you pass or not, you just need to know these stuff."

Emmy decided it would be fun to climb on her brother and used his ears to get higher. Dean winced a little and tried to pry her hands off of him. "Why would I even want to know how to measure a pool's area surface, Sam?"

"It's basic, Dean. You might not need it now, or ever but when you do, you'll be glad you've gone through it at school," Sam tried to explain.

When Dean finally managed to release Emmy's hands from his face, he gave her sippy cup with water. "The only thing I need to know is how to use every weapon to kill those evil sons of bitches."

Sam frowned in disbelief. "You plan on hunting for the rest of your life? You do know that the pay is kinda crappy."

Dean used his sleeve to wipe off some water from Emmy's chin. "It's the only thing I'm actually good at, Sam. And there will always be some monster needing to be killed and people needing to be saved."

"I can't believe you sometimes," Sam sounded angry, almost disgusted even. "You're turning into Dad, you know that?"

Dean's jaw clenched and he had to keep his own anger in check so he wouldn't scare his baby sister who was still oblivious of what was going on. "Don't bring him into this, Sam. He has nothing to do with it."

"Like hell he doesn't have anything to do with this!" Sam sat up straighter on his bed. "He's the cause of you dropping out of school in the first place. What kinda father doesn't encourage his own son to stay at school. He'd rather you helping him out with killing a stupid witch!"

"He had no choice, Sam!" Dean argued back. "What else did you want him to do? Move to another state, buy a new apartment so we could play house and pretend everything's sunshine and rainbows? Well, here's a newsflash for you, Sammy, things will never be normal!"

"We could at least try, Dean! If not for us, do it for Emmy."

Emmy looked up from playing with Dean's amulet when she heard her name. She looked between her brothers with big, questioning eyes. Dean noticed this and tried to distract her with her sippy cup.

"You don't think Dad's already trying enough?" Dean's jaw clenched.

"You mean like now?" Sam shot back. "He's off to god knows where, doing god knows what, killing god knows who. While he should've been here, give Emmy her bath, offering me help with my homework and ask you how the test went."

"It's not his fault, Sam," Dean muttered through gritted teeth. "It's not like he wants to be away from us. He just has no other choice," Dean repeated.

Sam instantly recognized the loyalty Dean had for their Dad. It was something he never really understood, how Dean could keep defending their father after all the mistakes he had made and keeps making. Sometimes he thinks that the reason Dean was so forgiving and considerate with their Dad is because he wanted to, needed to. Maybe it was his brother's way of coping with a deceased parent. Dean tried hard holding onto the one parent he had left, trying to be the best son in John's eyes so that their father would be so proud he could make up for the other parent who wasn't with them anymore.

"It's not how Mom would've wanted it to-"

"Well, Mom's not here," Dean snapped, maybe a little too harsh.

Emmy went quiet as she stared at her brothers. She might still be too young to understand what was really going on but she was smart enough to sense something was wrong. Her little bottom lip started trembling and her blue orbs started watering. Dean looked down at her and he felt like his heart would break into million pieces. Emmy's eyes reminded him so much of his mother, it hurt to look at her sometimes – especially when she cries. It was as if Mary was crying and nothing was worse than seeing your own mother cry.

"Did she get her bottle yet?" Dean asked as he stood up from his bed with Emmy in his arms. He briefly squeezed her to him, needing the contact to calm himself down.

Sam realized that the change of subject was an end to their discussion. He sighed, but didn't voice his thoughts. "No, not yet," he replied instead.

"Can you hold her for a minute?" Dean kissed his baby sister before he placed her on Sam's bed.

Emmy's eyes lit up as she crawled on top of her brother's chest, anything to reach that mop of hair. "Aw, seriously?" Sam winced when she tugged at his hair.

"You should consider cutting your hair, Sammy. A couple of inches longer and people are gonna start calling you Samantha," Dean teased from the kitchenette where he was preparing Emmy's bottle.

"Ha ha, so funny," Sam deadpanned with a roll of his eyes. "Ouch, Emmy!"

Emmy giggled when her brother glared at her playfully. Sam lay her down on her back and started ticking her tummy, causing his sister to shriek with laughter. He buried his head into her chubby little neck and blew raspberries. Emmy screamed in amusement as she threw her little legs up.

"Don't suffocate her Sam! I'm kinda attached to her," Dean called out when he noticed his baby sister laughing her head off to the point no sound was coming out of her mouth.

Sam pulled away, letting her catch a breath. He wiggled his fingers above her head and chuckled when Emmy already started laughing despite the fact he didn't touch her yet. But that didn't last long because he lowered his hands and tickled her sides, eliciting a happy squeal from his baby sister.

Dean put the bottle in the microwave and waited for the minute the be over. He watched as his siblings squirmed in bed, their laughter echoing against the four walls of the motel room. Looking at his brother and sister brought him back to the old times. Sometimes he would only focus on Sam making his homework or Emmy sleeping next to him and he'd be brought back to the way things used to be. It killed him inside that he would never get back what he had lost, but thinking of his siblings made him realize that he hadn't lost everything. And as he focused on their laughter, Dean thought that maybe – just maybe – things could get better.

A/N: Awwww, I had so much fun writing this! This chapter didn't really turn out the way I wanted it but I'm kinda happy with the result. In the next chapter Emmy will probably be older. Someone asked me to do the one where she got lost in Bobby's graveyard, so maybe I'll do this one :)

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