Dean’s Babysitting Adventures by brassband777 part 1/2
Title: Dean’s Babysitting Adventures by brassband777 (prompt/request by capricorn86)
Characters: Dean, Sam, Will (7), Emily (5), Alice (3)
Scenario: daddy!Dean/daddy!Sam, discipline fic (parental spanking)
Implement: hand
Summary: Sam goes to an informal Stanford reunion, leaving his children with his brother. Dean has to look after them overnight - he has his hands full with three little kids underfoot.
Warnings: contains spanking.
Part 2 here: http://capricorn86.livejournal.com/34005.html
Sam Winchester glanced over his shoulder at the two small girls in the back seat. Both were really excited that they were going to stay with Uncle Dean and they were talking animatedly non-stop. He turned back to the road, unaware that he was white-knuckling the steering wheel. Sam felt completely on edge and those were definitely butterflies fluttering around in his stomach!
“I wish Dawn would be there too, Daddy” said five-year-old Emily, leaning as far forward as the seatbelt would allow so that she could talk to her father.
“Sit back, Emily. If I have to brake suddenly you could get hurt.” Although Emily and Alice would miss their oldest cousin, Sam had no doubt that Dean would find it a blessing to only have three little kids running around instead of four.
“Where Dawnie?” enquired three-year-old Alice, squirming with excitement in her carseat.
“Your Uncle Dean said she’s having a sleepover at a friend’s house,” explained Sam.
“Well, we’re having a sleepover too,” giggled Emily, bouncing slightly on her booster seat. She had sat back obediently when her dad had told her to. “It’s gonna be so much fun, Alice!”
Sam shook his head. His daughters were so excited - Dean was definitely going to have his hands full!
It wasn’t that the girl’s hadn’t ever stayed over before, but it had been over a year since they had last stayed at his brother’s overnight. Alice didn’t even remember it as she had been so young the last time.
Ever since Laura’s death, Sam had been reluctant to let them out of his sight for long periods. Sure, Dean had looked after them for a couple of hours here and there, but that was all. His older brother had gently been pushing him, encouraging him to get back to living, but Sam had found coping without Laura completely overwhelming and it gave him new respect for his father and also for Dean, who was also left raising two young children alone.
Sam had been invited to an informal Stanford reunion, a gathering which would be made up of just his closest friends. At first, he had been really excited about the prospect, looking forward to seeing everyone again, until he’d realised that he would have to leave his girls overnight. His friends were planning on having an evening meal in a fancy restaurant, followed by a late movie and then sightseeing the following morning which would mean booking into the hotel overnight. Sam knew that Dean would be more than willing to look after Emily and Alice, but he couldn’t face leaving them. Looking back, he’d wasted so much precious time with Laura and he didn’t want to waste a single second with his girls in case they were suddenly ripped from him too. Sam knew this wasn’t a healthy outlook, but he couldn’t help it.
Sam had planned to politely decline the invitation, but had made the mistake of telling Dean about it and Sam still couldn’t figure out how his big brother had coerced him into accepting.
As recently as this morning, he’d still had second thoughts and had rung Dean to tell him he’d changed his mind. Dean had listened to his explanation for about a minute before cutting him off, telling him to stop whining, that he was going and then he’d hung up! Dean’s tough love approach had worked however as here was Sam, delivering his children as had been arranged and both their bags as well as his own were safely packed in the trunk.
Sam pulled up outside Dean’s house and turned off the engine. His brother had obviously been waiting for his arrival as he opened the door and came out onto the porch. Sam nodded to Emily to let her know she could now undo her seatbelt and moved to lift his toddler out of the car seat.
The five-year-old flung open the car door and dashed straight for her uncle, her long, dark brown hair streaming out behind her.
“Uncle Dean!”
Dean grinned and caught hold of the little girl under her armpits and proceeded to swing her in a big circle, causing the child to break out in a fit of giggles.
“Why, hello there, Pumpkin.”
Dean glanced up, seeing his brother walking down the path, carrying a squirming Alice in his arms. The toddler wanted to get down and run to her uncle just like her big sister had.
He picked up Emily and tossed her into the air, easily catching her. The little girl shrieked with delight. Seeing the anxious look on Sam’s face, Dean smirked, knowing how worried his little brother got whenever he played rough, and tossed the five-year-old again. This time after catching her he set her gently on the ground.
Dean nodded to his brother. “Let the little one down.”
Sam complied and put the toddler on the ground. Alice ran straight to Dean as fast as her little chubby legs would carry her. “Unca Dean! We’s here.”
“So I see,” chuckled Dean, scooping the toddler up and then proceeding to ‘fly’ her around the front garden, complete with aeroplane noises.
Sam just shook his head. He’d given up asking his brother not to be so rough with his children, as Dean never listened anyway. “If she throws up on you, I’ll laugh.”
“You’re just jealous ‘cause I’m such a super airplane,” replied Dean, slowing to a stop.
“More please, Unca Dean!” begged the giggling three-year-old.
Dean obliged and set off around the garden once more.
Sam huffed. “Says the person who’s petrified of flying.”
“Oh, Sammy, I’m wounded. That was below the belt.” Dean didn’t look wounded in the slightest, in fact he was smirking.
“It’s Sam,” responded Sam automatically.
“Of course, Sammy. Whatever you say,” grinned Dean.
Suddenly a small floppy-haired boy appeared in the doorway.
“Are they here yet, Daddy?”
Will stopped, a bright smile lighting up his face upon seeing Sam and his cousins. The seven-year-old ran to his uncle and hugged him tightly.
“Hey, kiddo,” greeted Sam, returning the hug and then tousling Will’s dark chocolate locks as the boy pulled away.
“Want cookie, Unca Dean,” said Alice as they made their way into the house. The toddler knew that her uncle was much more generous where cookies were concerned than her father was.
“Oh you do, do you?” laughed Dean, glancing at his watch. “Well it’s early enough that it won’t spoil your next meal. Is that okay, Sam?”
Sam nodded. He had no doubts whatsoever that his youngest had inherited her sweet tooth from his older brother.
While the three children enjoyed their milk and cookies in the kitchen, Sam returned to the car and carried the girls’ bags upstairs. He put Alice’s in Dawn’s bedroom and Emily’s in Will’s. It made sense for Alice to have a room to herself as she would be going to bed earlier than the other two, with her bedtime being at half past seven. Not to mention the fact that Will and Emily were extremely close with there only being a two-year age gap between them and they would want to spend as much time together as possible.
“Got everything, Sammy?” asked Dean as his brother entered the sitting room.
“Yeah, but I was thinkin’ maybe it’s better if I don’t go…”
Dean cut him off. “Better for who? You wanna tell your two little darlings they can’t have their sleepover with their fabulous Uncle Dean after all?”
Sam chuckled, knowing his daughters definitely wouldn’t be impressed if he did that as they had been looking forward to this so much. “No, but I was thinkin’ maybe I could stay here tonight with them?”
“Nuh-uh, Sammy. My house, my rules. You’re welcome to sleep here any night except tonight.”
“You’re kicking me out?” asked Sam in disbelief.
“You betcha!”
Sam sat down on the sofa and put his head I his hands. “I’m not sure I can do this, Dean. I don’t wanna leave them.”
Sam felt the sofa dip as his brother sat down next to him.
“You can do this, Sam. In fact, you need to. The girls will be fine, trust me.”
“I know. It’s not them, it’s me. Without Laura I…” Sam had to stop as tears threatened. It had been the anniversary of her death just three weeks ago. He fought valiantly for control, knowing that his girls could appear at any second. He felt Dean’s hand gently cup the back of his neck and he soaked up the comfort, drawing strength from his big brother.
“Sorry for being a girl,” he muttered when he’d finally regained his composure.
“Well you are a girl, but not for this. The way you’re feeling is normal, but you gotta fight it.”
“How did you do it, Dean?” asked Sam seriously, “You didn’t go to pieces like I have.”
“It wasn’t the same for me when Melissa died, Sam. I mean sure, I cared about her, she was the mother of my children, but I wasn’t in love with her anymore. So I guess that made it easier. I’m sorry I don’t have any easy answers, but I do know that Laura would want you to go to this reunion.”
Sam nodded, knowing that Dean was right.
At that moment three exuberant children bounced into the room, putting an end to their conversation.
Sam took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and stood up. He picked up his toddler first.
“Daddy’s going now, Baby Girl. I’ll see you tomorrow. You be good for Uncle Dean. I love you.”
Alice placed a sloppy kiss on Sam’s cheek. “Bye bye, Daddy.” The toddler really had no concept of time and she was always happy to be left with her uncle.
Sam picked up Emily next. “Bye, Sweetheart. Behave yourself. I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon. I love you.”
When he went to set the child down, he was surprised that Emily resisted and clung to him.
“I don’t want you to go, Daddy,” she whispered. Daddy would be away overnight and when Mommy had gone somewhere at night-time, she’d never come back!
“Give her to me,” said Dean, disentangling the clinging five-year-old from his brother and taking her into his own arms, “I’ve got this.”
“But…” Sam’s expression was troubled.
“No, ‘buts’, you go. She’ll be fine, trust me.”
And as Sam trusted his big brother with his life, he did as instructed with a final wave.
Dean sat down with Emily in his lap and cuddled her against his chest.
“You promise Daddy will come back?” she asked, her green eyes wide and frightened.
“Yes, I promise, Pumpkin.”
“Okay,” accepted the little girl, fiddling unconsciously with a button on his shirt.
Dean tried the distraction technique next. “Do you wanna go see Will’s room? It’s been redecorated since the last time you came.” He had finally given in to his son’s obsession with dinosaurs.
“Yeah, I’ve got the coolest wallpaper!” enthused Will.
Dean was pleased when Emily nodded and slid off his knee, her eyes losing their fear and sparkling with interest instead.
The three children quickly scampered off upstairs with Will leading the way.
Dean sat back and heaved a sigh of relief - Sam had actually gone. There had been numerous times when he had been convinced that his little brother was going to put his foot down and back out.
Supernatural ~ Supernatural ~ Supernatural ~ Supernatural
Alice wrinkled her little nose, looking at the dinosaur-covered wallpaper.
“Monsters!” she declared.
Emily giggled. “There’s no such things as monster’s, silly, they’re dinosaurs.”
“What’s dinosaurs?” asked the toddler, reaching out to touch the image of a stegosaurus.
“They’re….they’re….” Emily stopped, not really sure herself what they were.
“They’re animals that lived a long long time ago,” explained Will proudly, “I’ve read all about them. There aren’t any now ‘cause they’re all extinct.”
“What’s eggs stinked? They smelly?” asked the toddler, now stroking the image of a triceratops on the wall.
“Huh?” Will was confused, not understanding what the toddler meant at all. “Extinct means they all died.”
“Like Mommy,” muttered the three-year-old, busy poking the image of a pterodactyl. Alice had only just turned two when Laura had tragically died in a hit and run and as a result she had no personal memories of her mother.
Hearing her mother’s death mentioned, Emily burst into tears. Will had no idea what was the matter with his cousin. She was just standing there, so she couldn’t have hurt herself. Maybe she was feeling ill? The boy wanted to comfort her so he wrapped his skinny arms around her and hugged her tight which was what Dawn often did to him whenever he cried. At the same time he called for the one person he was confident could help.
“Daddy!” Daddy would make Emily better.
“What’s the matter, Will? Do……” Dean trailed off as he entered his son’s bedroom, taking in the scene before him, “What happened?”
Will shrugged, while still keeping his arms wrapped around his sobbing cousin.
“I dunno. We were talkin’ about dinosaurs and she just started cryin’.”
Dean crouched down and gently took the distraught five-year-old into his own arms. “What’s the matter, Sweetheart?”
Alice had noticed that her sister was upset and was now anxiously patting her arm.
“Emmy no cry.”
Dean was concerned. Emily was a tough cookie and certainly didn’t cry for no reason at all.
“Tell me what’s wrong, Pumpkin,” he coaxed.
The five-year-old was crying so hard that she couldn’t catch her breath, but the one word that the child did manage to get out spoke volumes to Dean. “M-m-m-mommy!”
Dean immediately stood up with his niece in his arms. Emily was clinging to him.
He addressed his son first, “Will, I need to talk to Emily, will you play with Alice for a little while?”
Will nodded. “Yes, Daddy.”
Dean then tried to soothe the worried toddler, “Emily’s okay, Alice. She just needs cheering up. So I want you to play with Will for a little while, okay?”
“’Kay, Unca Dean.” Alice watched worriedly as her uncle carried her sister from the room, but was quickly distracted when Will asked her to help him build his wooden train track.
Supernatural ~ Supernatural ~ Supernatural ~ Supernatural
Dean carried Emily to his own bedroom and sat down on his bed, holding the child tightly to his chest and rocking her. The little girl was nearly hysterical and Dean concentrated on calming her down He used one hand to alternately stroke through her long silky hair and to rub gentle, soothing circles on her back, all the while murmuring comforting words to her. “Shhhh, it’s okay, Emily. Everything’s going to be fine. You’re alright. Don’t worry, Sweetheart.….”
Dean had comforting distraught children down to a fine art, but then he had begun practising at the tender age of four when he had suddenly found himself in the role of surrogate parent to Sammy.
Eventually, Dean was rewarded when the five-year-old’s loud, distressed crying subsided and was replaced with quiet sniffles and hiccoughing breaths. He knew that it would have done the little girl good to have gotten all of the pent-up emotions out. Dean could really identify both with Emily and his son, Will - they too had only been four when they had lost their mothers, just as he had been. As a result, Dean never underestimated the impact that this loss would have on their young lives. Melissa’s death had overwhelmed his eldest as well, but Dawn had been slightly older and had understood more at the time.
Supernatural ~ Supernatural ~ Supernatural ~ Supernatural
Later that afternoon, the children were all sprawled on the sitting room carpet colouring. Dean was busy preparing supper, but kept popping his head in to check on them. Dawn and Will had quite a number of colouring books between them, so they were spoilt for choice. Will was presently colouring in a picture of the Bat Mobile, Emily was colouring in a picture of Little Red Riding Hood and Alice was colouring in a picture of a mermaid. The toddler’s colouring was very messy as she couldn’t yet stay in the lines, but the little girl nevertheless adored the activity - she loved copying her big sister.
Emily finished her picture and picked up a different colouring book. Flicking through it, she found a beautiful picture of a fairy sitting on a flower. She set the book down, intending to colour that next.
Alice glanced over at her sister and her bonny brown eyes lit up when she saw the picture she had found. She stood up and toddled to Emily’s side.
“Fairy mine,” said the toddler, reaching for the book, her mermaid picture immediately forgotten.
Emily shook her head. “No, Alice. I’m going to colour it in. I found it.”
“Fairy mine!” pouted the toddler, now trying to snatch the book from her sister’s hand.
Will had stopped colouring and was watching his cousins with interest.
Alice had managed to grab hold of the corner of the book. “Mine!”
“No, let go!” Emily wasn’t naturally patient and she was now growing angry.
“BAD EMMY!” shouted the toddler realising she wasn’t strong enough to take the book off her sister. Alice drew back her little foot and kicked her sister’s knee, which was in a perfect position as Emily was sitting cross-legged on the floor.
“OWWW!”
Dean, hearing the toddler’s angry shout and Emily’s cry of pain, ran from the kitchen arriving in time to see his eldest niece’s retaliation for the kick.
Emily pushed Alice, hard, causing the three-year-old to topple over backwards. Dean was relieved to see that the child was obviously unhurt as Alice immediately scrambled to her feet and prepared to launch herself on her older sister, with an angry scream.
Dean easily intercepted the toddler and scooped her up, before she reached her intended target.
“We do not push, Emily! You could have really hurt Alice then. What if she’d fallen the other way and banged her head on the coffee table?”
Emily hadn’t thought of that. “I’m really sorry, Uncle Dean. I don’t wanna hurt, Alice, but she kicked me!”
“Did you kick Emily, Alice?” Dean asked the squirming, disgruntled toddler in his arms, knowing full-well that the child had done something to hurt her older sister.
“No,” came the pouted response.
“Why did she kick you?” Dean turned back to Emily, knowing he was more likely to get the true story from the five-year-old.
“Because I found a picture of a fairy and she wanted it, but I wouldn’t give it to her.”
Dean nodded and set the toddler down on the floor, deciding to deal with the toddler last as he knew she would cry.
“I want you to stand up, Emily.”
The five-year-old reluctantly got to her feet, guessing what was going to happen next. Pushing her younger sister definitely wasn’t allowed!
Dean turned the small girl sideways and quickly administered three sharp, stinging smacks. His hand had no trouble covering her entire bottom with each one. He didn’t swat hard enough to make her cry, he just wanted to reinforce that physically fighting with your sister wasn’t acceptable.
He then turned to the toddler who was now watching wide-eyed.
“And we don’t kick, Alice!”
“Noooo spank!” she wailed as Dean turned her sideways.
He quickly applied two mild swats to her bottom and as expected, she burst into tears. Alice always cried, even if only given a single swat.
Dean scooped the toddler up to comfort her, holding her tightly in one arm and reaching out to give Emily a quick one-armed hug with the other.
Supernatural ~ Supernatural ~ Supernatural ~ Supernatural
After supper, while Dean was washing up, the three children moved into the sitting room. After playing for a while with some toy cars, Will and Emily tipped out the large tub of Lego and began building, describing what they were making as they went along. Alice played with the Lego for a few minutes before growing bored as her tiny fingers struggled to fit the bricks together properly and to pull them apart. Quickly growing frustrated, the toddler huffed and threw her handful of bricks onto the floor in temper.
“You mustn’t throw things, Alice. It’s naughty,” instructed Emily.
“I no naughty, you naughty,” pouted the three-year-old.
Emily rolled her eyes - a move that would immediately have reminded Sam of Dean if he’d been there to see it. “Do you want me to help you build, Alice?”
The toddler tilted her head to one side considering. “’Kay.”
Half an hour later, the children had tired of playing with the Lego.
“Can we watch a DVD please, Daddy?” asked Will.
Dean nodded, thinking that was a good activity to keep them out of mischief until bedtime. “Yeah, you can. Just tidy the toys away first and then you can decide what to watch.”
Both Sam and Dean, having had so little themselves growing up, strived to instil respect for property into their children and insisted that they looked after their toys. As a result, the three children quickly and obediently returned all of the toys back into the toy box.
Dean then opened the cabinet next to the TV. “Okay guys, what do you wanna watch?”
Ten minutes later, a frazzled Dean took the decision into his own hands and decided for them, before the bickering could escalate into a proper brawl - Will wanted to watch ‘Cars’, Emily wanted to watch ‘Beauty and the Beast’, while Alice wanted to watch ‘The Little Mermaid’ and none of them were prepared to compromise.
“Okay, we’re watching this one.” Dean’s tone brooked no argument as he selected ‘Aladdin’ and popped the disc into the DVD player.
Being only three, Alice had a really short attention span. She quickly grew bored of the film and slid off the sofa, returning to the toy box in the corner of the room. The toddler happily began to play with Dawn’s dolls’ house.
Supernatural ~ Supernatural ~ Supernatural ~ Supernatural
“Okay, Alice, it’s bedtime,” said Dean, getting up of the sofa and moving towards the toddler.
The little girl shook her head, making her blond, shoulder-length waves dance.
“No, I play more,” she replied solemnly.
Dean raised his eyebrows at the response although he wasn’t surprised at the child’s resistance. He knew what a battle it was for Sammy to get his youngest into bed every night.
“Nuh-uh, Alice. It’s bedtime now. You can play more tomorrow.”
Seeing her uncle reaching for her, the toddler scrambled to her feet and ran from the room.
Will watched his disappearing little cousin in amazement - disobeying his daddy definitely wasn’t a sensible idea!
Emily just shook her head, used to her little sister’s bedtime antics. “Silly, Alice,” she said, turning back to the movie.
Dean found the toddler hiding under the kitchen table. Without preamble, he stooped down and wrapped his arm around the girl’s waist before pulling her out.
“Bedtime, Alice,” he reiterated once more, standing up with the child in his arms.
“Noooooo! Don’t wanna!” complained Alice, going completely limp, making it awkward for her uncle to carry her.
Once in Dawn’s bedroom, Dean set the child down gently on her feet.
“Now be a good girl, Alice.”
“But I not tired,” tried the toddler.
“Doesn’t matter, you’re still going to bed,” said Dean firmly.
Alice however had other ideas and bolted for the doorway. Dean, still having a hunter’s reflexes, sidestepped quickly, effectively blocking off the child’s escape route.
The toddler pushed angrily against her uncle’s legs, trying to get passed.
Dean looked down at his little niece’s blond head, amused that the child thought she could push him out of the way. He knew that although Sam wouldn’t let Alice get her own way, her dad was however more patient than Dean and would invariably give the little girl more chances before disciplining her.
Dean forced himself to sound stern. “Stop that, Alice! Now behave yourself. You’re going to bed little girl.”
Alice didn’t want to go to bed and she didn’t like getting told off!
“Nooooo!” wailed the three-year-old flinging herself onto the bedroom floor kicking and screaming.
Dean wasted no time in picking the flailing toddler up, tucking her against his side and applying three stinging smacks to her bottom, stopping the tantrum instantly.
Alice burst into tears after the first swat. Dean hadn’t swatted her hard but to the sensitive toddler, getting spanked at all, even a single swat, was the end of the world.
Dean lifted the now distraught three-year-old to his chest, cuddling her.
“You’re okay, Poppet,” he murmured, rocking the child gently.
Alice wrapped her arms around Dean’s neck, holding on tightly.
“Sorry, Unca Dean,” she sniffled.
“It’s okay, Alice,” Dean soothed, seating himself on the bed and cradling the crying toddler gently on his lap, “Let’s get you ready for bed, huh?”
Alice nodded, snuggling against her uncle’s chest and reaching back with one small hand to rub her stinging buttocks.
Dean reached for the bag containing his niece’s clothes and pulled out her pink Tinkerbell pyjamas and a pull-up. Alice was completely toilet-trained during the day, but still had accidents at night. He also took out of the bag a stuffed white unicorn, knowing that the toddler wouldn’t sleep without it.
Keeping the toddler on his lap, Dean undressed her and got her ready for bed, murmuring reassurances to her as he did so. He wiped away the last of her tears as he pulled back the bedclothes and lay her down. Alice reached out wordlessly for the stuffed unicorn and Dean handed it to her before leaning down and kissing the child’s flushed cheek. He then pulled the covers back up and tucked them snuggly round her.
“Love you, Beautiful.”
Alice’s eyelids were already beginning to droop. “I love you, Unca Dean,” she yawned.
Dean stood up and retrieved a book off Dawn’s bookshelf: ‘Going on a Bear Hunt’ by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury - it was a story that both of his own children had loved when they were toddlers.
“Ready for your story, Poppet?”
Dean was rewarded with the sweetest smile.
Sammy had always wanted a bedtime story when he was little and whenever John had been away on a hunt, it had fallen to Dean to read to his younger brother. Once his own children had been born, he had been keen to carry on the tradition.
Dean began to read, gently stroking his hand through Alice’s soft, loose curls. “We’re going on a bear hunt. We’re going to catch a big one. What a beautiful day. We’re not scared. Uh-uh! Grass! Long wavy grass. We can’t go over it. We can’t go under it. Oh no! We’ve got to go through it…..”
Before he was even halfway through the story, the toddler was fast asleep. After switching on Dawn’s bedside lamp in case the child should awaken in the night, Dean quietly replaced the book on the shelf and tiptoed from the room.
“Is Alice okay?” asked Emily as soon as her uncle returned to the sitting room.
Dean smiled at Emily’s question, understanding completely what it’s like to be the protective older sibling. “Alice is fine, Sweetheart. She’s fast asleep. Now what have I missed?”
Dean seated himself on the sofa, one child snuggled at each side of him. Will and Emily quickly filled him in on what had had happened in his absence.
Supernatural ~ Supernatural ~ Supernatural ~ Supernatural
Dean glanced at his watch. It was nearly 8 o clock - Emily’s bedtime. Will didn’t usually have to be in bed until half past eight, but Dean figured it would be easier to put them both to bed at the same time.
“Okay, you two, time for bed.”
Will’s mouth dropped open. “But it’s not half past yet.”
“For tonight you can go to bed the same time as Emily. It won’t do you any harm.”
“But that’s not fair,” spluttered the seven-year-old indignantly.
“It’s only half an hour’s difference, Will,” sighed Dean impatiently.
Will didn’t care if it was only five minute’s difference - it wasn’t fair! The boy also had a tendency to show off in front of his cousin.
“No! I’m not going and you can’t make me!”
Dean’s reaction was instantaneous.
“You don’t tell me ‘no’ William Winchester!”
With one smooth move, Dean turned his young son sideways to gain easy access to his rear. He then brought his hand down sharply. Will yelped and instinctively tried to pull away, but Dean easily held the small boy in place and applied another three sharp, stinging slaps.
Dean hadn’t swatted his son hard enough to make him cry, nevertheless, the child’s blue eyes were swimming with unshed tears when he released him. Dean’s youngest was really sensitive, just like Sam’s youngest and took everything to heart.
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” he sniffled.
Dean pulled the small boy into a quick hug. “It’s okay, Will. It’s in the past. But if you’re not happy about something, then you talk to me about it, you don’t shout at me or refuse to do what I tell you. Okay?”
Will nodded and Dean dropped a kiss onto the top of his tousled dark brown hair.
“Good boy.” He released Will from his embrace and continued, “Okay, you two go and get ready for bed and I’ll be up in a minute to tuck you in.”
Emily reached out and took hold of her cousin’s hand, wanting to comfort him. Will gratefully took it and followed her from the room.
Dean couldn’t prevent the chuckle as he heard what his niece was saying as she led his son up the stairs.
“Uncle Dean wasn’t fair making you go to bed early when you hadn’t been naughty. Not surprised you were mad, I would’ve been. Are you okay? You want me to rub it?”
Dean couldn’t make out Will’s mumbled response to Emily’s question and wondered if his niece was now rubbing his son’s bottom better.
Ten minutes later, Dean entered Will’s bedroom.
Both children were dressed in their pyjamas - Emily wearing Disney Princess ones and Will wearing his beloved dinosaur ones - and sitting up in bed.
“What story do you want?” asked Dean, seating himself on the edge.
“You can choose,” offered Emily, looking at Will, wanting to cheer her cousin up.
“You sure?” asked Will and when his cousin nodded, he bit his lip thinking. “Errr….can I have The Cat in the Hat Comes Back please?”
Dean grinned. It had been Sam that had introduced Will to Dr Seuss books and the kid now loved them. Sam’s own particular favourite had always been Green Eggs and Ham due to the character ‘Sam-I-am’. Dean was suddenly assaulted with a memory of a giggling, tiny Sammy as he snuggled on their dad’s lap while that particular story was read to him.
“The Cat in the Hat Comes Back it is then.”
Dean glanced down at his son. Will looked forlorn, his usually sparkling blue eyes were deep pools of sorrow. Dean sighed, knowing the child was still troubled over the chastisement. Sure, the kid had been disrespectful, but he’d been sufficiently disciplined and Dean hated seeing his kids upset.
Wanting to remove that expression from his little boy’s face, Dean reached out with a mischievous grin and tickled the child. Will squealed with laughter and tried to get away.
“Nooooo, Daddy!” he giggled.
Dean paid no heed, continuing to tickle, enjoying hearing his youngest laugh. “Why don’t you help me tickle Will, Emily?”
“Okay, Uncle Dean,” agreed the five-year-old, commencing her own tickle attack and giggling herself as Will’s writhing nearly caused him to fall off the bed. Dean easily caught the child and lay him back down gently next to his cousin. He was pleased to see that the still-chuckling seven-year-old’s eyes were now glittering like sapphires and the corners of his lips were quirked upwards in a smile.
“Okay you two, story-time now.”
Dean stood up and retrieved the requested story from Will’s bookshelf. He then sat back down and began to read, “This was no time for play. This was no time for fun. This was no time for games. There was work to be done….”
Unlike toddler Alice, both children remained awake until the end of the story. He leaned over and kissed them both on the cheek.
“Good night and sweet dreams.”
“Night, Daddy.”
“Night, Uncle Dean.”
Dean then switched on Will’s nightlight and stood up, preparing to leave the room. When he reached the doorway he looked back - they both looked like little angels lying there, but Dean wasn’t fooled for a second.
“Oh, and I’m sure you two little troublemakers are going to be good and go to sleep like you’re supposed to, but just in case you had other plans, let me tell you that if I have to come in here, two little bottoms will get smacked. Understand?”
Two little heads nodded solemnly at him and Dean chuckled as he left the room.
Part 2 here: http://capricorn86.livejournal.com/34005.html