CHAPTER 23

Sam was taking out the food from the styrofoam containers when he heard the sound of Adam laughing. He looked up and saw Dean coming out from his room carrying a laughing Adam on his shoulders. The kid was laughing so hard that tears were flowing down his cheeks while his face was turning red by the minute. Sam smiled at the sight in front of him. Not only Adam but Dean was also looking completely relaxed , his face showed no sign of anger. So for now everything was good in the Winchester family.

Dean plopped Adam down on a chair. And he himself took a seat.

"Alright , man. Lets dig in. I am starving." Dean said helping himself with some fried rice and some orange chicken. Everyone followed suit and the dinner went without any incident.

After the dinner was done. Adam stood up and started gathering everyone's plates. Sam also stood up to help the kid.

"Here, let me help you." Sam said gathering his and DJ's plates.

"Nope, thank you Sam. But I can do it. Remember second part of my punishment was to clean the kitchen and wash the dishes." Adam said giving a small smile to Sam and taking the plates from him and making his way to the kitchen.

Dean noted with pride that Adam was following through his punishment. And this time without showing any attitude. Dean noticed Sam also looking at Adam and his brother had a similar expression of pride as him. Adam is a kid and he knew that there would be a number of times in the future when he would have to punish Adam and Adam would hate him for that but they would get through it together. He was sure of that because they were family and thats what families do. They fight , they yell , they annoy the hell out of eachother but in the end they stick together and no matter what happens ,they are the ones who always got your back.

"Unca Dean , Daddy..." DJ called to his uncle and father.

"What is it buddy ?" Dean asked. Sam also looked at his son in question.

When he had his father's and uncle's full attention, he asked in his little voice with his face complete serious.

Dean had to smile at seeing such a serious expression on a little face. But he quickly smothered his grin when DJ looked at him raising his eyebrows looking exactly like a serious Sam just a mini one.

"I am serious , Unca Dean." DJ said whining when he saw his uncle smiling.

"Sorry." Dean said and Sam chuckled but he was quickly cut off with a single glare from Dean. Only one person could get Dean to say 'sorry' so easily and that was his son. It only takes DJ looking at Dean with a wide eyed expression complete with sticking his lower lip out and Dean would do anything.

"How many numbers do you both love me ?" DJ asked.

"I can't even count how much I love you because I love you sooo much." Sam said smiling and leaning forward to drop a kiss on his son's cheek.

"I am gonna agree with your father here, buddy." Dean said smiling and then reached out to ruffle his nephew's hair affectionately. The kid could ask weird questions but this was a cute one. Dean didn't use to have 'cute' word in his vocabulary until he met DJ and now everything the kid does looks 'cute' to him. He shook his head fondly at the little kid.

"Aw , I love you both 20." DJ said smiling and jumping from his chair to give a quick hug to his father and uncle. And then he ran to the living room to do some coloring.

Sam and Dean looked at eachother for a moment until Dean said,

"Atleast it was in double digits."

"Yeah, otherwise it would have been more worse. We should take what we can get. For a toddler 20 is a pretty big deal." Sam said laughing nervously.

"Yeah." Dean said and let out a little chuckle.

"You both do know that he knows counting till forty right ?. Just saying." Adam said laughing loudly while continuing to wash the dishes.

Neither Dean nor Sam said anything to that. But the expressions on their faces were priceless that Adam would have taken a quick picture of them if his hands weren't covered in dish soap but he did laugh until Dean threatened to make him wash the dishes tomorrow too. Man , he loves DJ. Thought Adam.

Later in the evening, they were all settled on the couch with a bowl of icecream in everyone's hands. Well except DJ. Sam was the one feeding his son because everyone knew that DJ cannot eat icecream without ruining not only his clothes but of others too.

"Tomorrow is a Saturday." Sam began but Dean interrupted.

"Really ? I didn't know that. Thank you for informing, Sammy." Dean said giving a sweet smile to Sam. Teasing Sam was and will be his favourite pastime. The bitchface that Sam threw him was so worth it.

Adam snorted but covered it with a cough when Sam looked at him.

"Shut up, Dean. So as I was saying that since tomorrow is a Saturday. Why don't we go on sort of a picnic ? Like go to the park nearby for a few hours." Sam said looking at Dean and raising his eyebrows in question. It would be good to get out together as a family.

"We can do that. I can make some picnic food. We can carry a picnic basket with the picnic mat and make a day out of it. There's a park nearby. It has a lake too. It could be fun. " Dean said and nodded his head. It would do all of us some good to get out and enjoy together as a family. He also thought the same thing as Sam.

"Adam ?" Sam said. He didn't need to ask his son. Because as soon as the word 'park' was out of his mouth. DJ was jumping up and down in joy.

"Okay. This way I could play with my ball outside." Adam replied smirking. The whole mess that he was in earlier was because he was playing with his ball inside. And this time not only Dean but Sam too rolled his eyes.

DWSWDWSWDWSWDWSWDWSWDWSWDWSWDWSW

"Alright, everyone has everything ? Make sure you don't forget anything because I will not turn to come back if you do." Dean said picking up the picnic basket and patting his pockets to make sure he has the house keys with him. They all had woken up a little early today. Dean was busy in making some picnic food for the picnic basket as he had promised the night before. While Sam was busy finding the picnic mat and basket from the storeroom and making sure to get DJ and Adam ready on time.

Adam wasn't an early riser. He was even worse than Dean when it comes to waking up early in the morning. So Sam had to spent more time in waking Adam than he had spent with readying DJ. Since last night, his son was bouncing with excitement to go to the park so today he was up before everyone in the house.

When everyone nodded their heads in confirmation that they had everything. The Winchesters boys made their way to the impala. Once everyone was settled, Dean gunned the engine and drove off towards the park. It was the Winchesters' first picnic as a family and they were all damn excited.

When they reached the park , it was crowded. It was to be expected since it was a weekend. And the weather today was also just perfect for an outing. First , the Winchesters looked around to find a spot to lay their mat. They found one which was near the lake. Sam laid down the mat and everyone took a seat.

"Daddy, look at the lake." DJ said pointing his finger. The kid was bouncing with excitement.

"Yeah, I see buddy." Sam replied smiling and looking around. There were people of every age group enjoying their time with their family. There were some elderly couple sitting on the benches by the lake. A group of children playing while some young people were jogging. While others were just laying down on their mats enjoying the weather. It was nice and relaxing.

"It is nice to be out of the house for a change." Dean said looking around and stretching his arms above his head. A few years back , he couldn't even think that a day like this could come in his life where he would go for a picnic at a park with his little brothers and nephew and behave like a normal family. But here he was. Well a few years back , he was the hunter Dean Winchester who had only one purpose in his life and that was to kill monsters and now he was a family man, a mechanic who lives for his family.

"I wanna go to see the lake." DJ said standing and looking ready to bolt towards the lake at any moment.

"Calm down a bit , young man. You are not allowed to go near the lake without me , your uncle or Adam. Understand ?" Sam said sternly to his son.

"Yes sir. Now please will you take me ?" DJ said tugging at Sam's arm and pointing towards the lake.

"You go ahead with DJ , Sam. Me and Adam , we're are gonna play some catch." Dean said standing.

Sam nodded and took DJ's hand in his and made his way towards the lake. While Adam and Dean found a spot near their picnic mat and began playing catch.

Adam was enjoying a lot. As bad of a day , he was having yesterday. Today was turning out to be an awesome day. He was enjoying playing catch with Dean. He used to play this with his dad , well, whenever the man had time to visit him. He used to be jealous to see his friends or other children spending day with their families and playing with their fathers. But it doesn't matter now , he had his older brothers with him. He misses his mom and he doesn't think he would ever stop missing her but he doesn't miss his dad as much. For one , he hadn't spent that much time with the man and the other reason was that he was beginning to consider Dean as a father figure in his life. Dean punishes him for his mistakes but then he comforts him too. Thats what fathers do , right. Instead of a father figure , Sam is more of an older brother to him but he considers Dean as his father figure.

"Alright, Adam. I am gonna throw this one a little more faster than the previous ones. Ya ready ?" Dean asked getting in position to throw the ball. It was fun to play catch with Adam and more than that it was to see the kid happy. And not only Adam but his whole family was enjoying. He could see Sam taking a walk with DJ around the lake. DJ was waving his little arms animatedly and telling Sam something. While Sam was laughing. His whole family was safe , happy and relaxed. He couldn't ask for more.

"Yeah. I am ready , Dean." Adam said. And when he was successfully able to catch the ball. He jumped a little and said with the best cocky smile he could muster,

"See, told ya. I am awesome."

"Yeah yeah. Stop gloating and throw the ball." Dean replied rolling his eyes and chuckling.

When DJ finally had his fill of seeing the lake. Sam made his way back to their picnic mat with DJ in his arms. A wave of nostalgia came over Sam when he saw his two brothers playing catch. He remembered Dean and him playing catch when they were kids. He smiled reminiscing the memories. He laid DJ on the mat and took a seat himself. He saw an elderly couple sitting beside him on their mats. He smiled at them and they returned his smile.

"You boys want some cookies ?" The lady asked. The couple was in their sixties. They had a kind smile.

"Daddy, pweese." Before Sam had a chance to say anything. DJ said pointing towards the cookies in the woman's hands.

"Its not nice to point at others, kiddo." Sam said gently to his son and then he looked at the elderly couple.

"Try some, son. My wife here makes some tasty cookies." The man said draping his arm over his wife in a loving gesture.

"Thank you, sir." Sam said taking some cookies and handing one to DJ who began munching on it happily.

"What do you say , DJ ?" Sam prodded his son gently.

"Thank you, ma'am." DJ replied in a serious tone which caused everyone to laugh.

"You're welcome , sweetie. I am Hayley and this is my husband , Hoyt." The woman said introducing herself and her husband.

"My name is Sam and this little guy is my son, Dean James. We call him DJ." Sam also introduced himself and his son.

"You wanna see magic ?" DJ said to the couple. Sam looked at his son in confusion because he had no clue about what magic DJ was talking about.

"We would love to." The man, Hoyt replied. DJ stood up and took a few steps till he was standing in front of Hoyt and Hayley. He then stick his index finger towards them.

Hayley and Hoyt looked at Sam and smiled. Sam had no clue at all what this was all about. So he smiled a little nervously.

"You need to pull it." DJ said to the couple. Hoyt pulled DJ's finger and then DJ farted. A pretty loud fart for a toddler. And Sam's face lost all the colour.

"See that. Its magic. My unca Dean told me that." DJ said giggling and then he ran towards his uncle. Sam wanted to run too and maybe hide. If that wasn't the most embarrassed moment in his life , he didn't know what was.

Sam was mortified. He turned a deep shade of red since he was beyond embarrassed. He could feel his cheeks flaming. He stared hard at the ground willing for it to just open up and swallow him. His son just farted at an elderly couple and then ran giggling. He couldn't believe this. God ! Please make me invisible just for a moment. Is it too much to ask ? He would kill Dean. He took a deep breath and then looked at the couple.

"Kids these days." Sam said smiling sheepishly. He didn't know what more to say .

"They are something else." Hayley replied. She and her husband both gave Sam a nervous smile. And after sometime , she and Hoyt left but not before handing Sam some more cookies.

Dean, DJ and Adam made their way back towards Sam.

" Hey , Sam. Lets eat something. Hey, where these cookies came from ?" Dean asked sitting and taking a bite of the butter cookies.

"These came from the elderly couple at whom DJ farted, not long ago." Sam said with his bitch face firmly in place. He was still pretty embarrassed.

Dean snorted. He looked at Sam and raised his eyebrows in question. But instead of Sam , DJ replied.

"I showed them magic unca Dean. I stick my finger and when they pulled it. I farted loudly. Just like you showed me." DJ said giggling.

Dean laughed and so did Adam. They were both laughing hysterically. It was pretty funny actually if it was not your son farting and then running away giggling. Sam would have laughed too if he wasn't the father of the said son here.

"Aww man. Why the heck I always miss these moments ?" Dean asked still laughing.

"It wasn't funny , Dean. I was mortified with embarrassment. Sometimes , I think that you and DJ are of same age , you know." Sam said shaking his head at his brother.

"Comeon Sammy. Every kid should know these pranks. If I being the awesome uncle that I am don't teach him these things , then who would teach the kid. I can't expect from you to teach these important things to him." Dean said ruffling DJ's hair. Man, did he regret missing that scene ? Heck yeah.

Sam didn't even bother to reply and instead he turned his attention towards his son,

"Hey kiddo. Next time , you want to show someone magic or absolutely anything that your uncle taught you. You first show that to me , okay ?" Sam said throwing a glare at Dean that could even scare the monsters but his brother wasn't affected in the least.

"Okay , daddy." DJ replied.

All the Winchester boys enjoyed a nice time at the park. They ate together. They all played catch together. And they also did boating at the lake. It was late afternoon when they made their way back. Everyone was exhausted but they had a great time. Dean and Sam decided to plan this type of outing atleast twice a month.

DWSWDWSWDWSWDWSWDWSWDWSWDWSWDWSW

I hope you like it. Please let me know if you do. Review please.

Do check my other story 'Adopted Sons'. And drop a review there as well.