falling like the stars, sam winchester [ 3 ]

001. one year

"Peas nasty." Carly gags.

"Well, he likes them, so be nice." Miranda tells her.

Carly pretends to throw up. Miranda rolls her eyes at the toddler, turning her attention back to her son.

"There we go." Miranda smiles when Wyatt swallows the peas. She continues to feed him some more, giving him his milk in between some bites.

"Where daddy?" Carly asks making Miranda freeze.

"I-- honey, I... I've told you... daddy isn't... he's not here anymore." Miranda says.

"He leave?" Carly pouts.

"Yeah. Yeah, in a way." Miranda says. "C'mere." She lifts Carly onto her lap, stroking the girl's hair. "See, there was this big fight and-- and daddy saved us by doing something so he's not with us anymore."

"I want daddy." She whines.

"I know, baby. I want him, too. We'll, uh... but he's always with us. In here." Miranda gently taps her daughter's heart.

"See him again?" Carly asks, a hopeful but sad look in her eyes. Miranda quietly sighs, knowing even when they die, Sam's still stuck in Hell so -- hopefully -- the three of them won't see him again.

"I don't know, baby." Miranda says. "But I know he loved you and your brother very, very much, and he was so sorry he wouldn't be here anymore."

"I miss daddy." Carly pouts.

"I know, baby girl. I do, too." Miranda hugs her, kissing her on the head. "Why don't you go play and watch some TV, hmm?"

"Otay." Carly gets off her lap.

Miranda sighs and turns back to her son. She flinches when Wyatt spits the peas out, all the mush landing on Miranda's face and shirt.

Carly breaks out laughing and Wyatt giggles as well.

+++

"Thanks for coming to her birthday." Miranda tells Bobby.

"Well, who wouldn't wanna miss the little girl turning 3?" Bobby remarks. "She not got any friends?"

"No. She's too shy, she shuts everybody out." Miranda says. "The one kid she did talk to ended up pulling her skirt down during recess so she punched him and now doesn't talk to anyone."

"They both get in trouble?" Bobby asks.

"Yep. Her more than him, which is bullshit." Miranda scoffs. "Little brat embarrasses her in front of the whole fucking daycare and yet she pays the bigger price for defending herself."

"Bullshit." Bobby grumbles.

"Yeah." Miranda mumbles, taking a bite of cake.

"And she still goes to the same daycare?"

"Yeah. All the other ones have waitlists and shit. I mean, nobody really bullies her anything. She doesn't completely hate it. She likes the women who run it. Just hates other kids."

"Don't blame her." Bobby scoffs.

+++

"Mommy, he won't stop!" Carly yells as her brother cries.

"I know. I know, I'm-- he's just having a tough day." Miranda says, bouncing her son.

"Tell him to stop." She whines.

"Doesn't work like that, sweetheart." Miranda tells her. "Go watch a movie on my laptop. Use the headphones."

Carly grumbles under her breath, stomping off to the bedroom.

"Ugh, fucking threenagers. Kill me now." Miranda mumbles to herself. "I know, baby, I know." She coos to Wyatt as he continues to wail. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I don't know what's bugging you. I fed you, changed your diaper, cuddled, nothing's working. I'm sorry."

"Okay. Okay, we're gonna try a story, all right? Your sister's favorite story." Miranda says, still rocking him. "Once upon a time... there was this young woman and she was somewhere new with her friends. She and her friends were walking around when this handsome giant spilled his drink all over her shirt."

"She was mad. Like, super duper mad. The drink soaked her shirt and it was hot and made her feel so icky. And later that day, they ran into each other again and she spilled some popcorn on him. Of course, popcorn just bounces right off and falls to the floor, so it wasn't really a fair trade. So they became Popcorn Girl and Coffee Boy."

Miranda continues the story a bit before realizing her son is asleep. She smiles a bit, pressing a gentle kiss to his head.

+++

Miranda gently sets Wyatt in the middle of her bed.

"You get to sleep in here tonight, buddy." She whispers. "Yeah. Just as a safety precaution. Nothing's gonna get you." She tells the boy who turned six months old today. She knows Sam's worry around the six month old mark. Miranda did the same thing when Carly turned six months old, the girl sleeping in her bed and the woman staying up all night.

"Mommy?" She hears a groggy voice, turning to see Carly.

"Hey, baby. What are you doing awake?" She asks, walking over to the three year old and picking her up. Carly rests her head on her mom's shoulder.

"Can't sleep." She whines. "Stay wif you."

"Of course." Miranda says, kissing her cheek. "I'm always up for a sleepover."

Miranda tucks Carly into bed and turns a Disney movie on before getting into bed on Wyatt's free side. She reaches over and strokes Carly's hair, the girl slowly falling asleep in the comfort of her mom's presence.

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Just a warning to avoid some confusion, I'm gonna go along with the time jumps that are in the series -- which I didn't really do in my other books. I'm doing it so that the kids can get to be a bit older by time the series ends.

So, for example, in this series, John comes back in 2021, not 2019