(Ignore the woman in the picture)
Chapter One, Trick or Treating with Daddy
~ Three years later (31st October 2005) ~
Dean smiled as he parked the impala in front of Claudette and Charles's house, he couldn't wait to see his precious baby girl again and go trick or treating with her. That Voodoo thing had taken too long for his liking, and he'd also gotten a weird voicemail from his Dad, but he'll deal with that later. First, he wants his baby girl. Opening the door he smiled when he saw Amélie bouncing on the top step with Claudette and Charles on either side of her.
"Daddy!" Amélie shouted, running down the steps the moment Dean got out of the car.
"Hey baby. Did you miss me?" Dean asked, crouching down with his arms open wide, as she ran into them holding on to him tightly.
"Yes Daddy." Amélie whispered, making Dean's heart clench. It's only been two days as it was the other side of New Orleans but god did he miss her too.
"I missed you too, baby. I love you." Dean said, standing up and placing her on his hip.
"I wuv you too Daddy." Amélie whispered, resting her head on his shoulder. "Coco missed you." She said, putting the cat in his face.
"I missed you too Coco." Dean said, laughing when he felt her nod against his shoulder and made the cat do the same.
"Were you good for Nana and Grandpa?" Dean asked sternly, walking towards the house.
"Uh huh." Amélie stated. Dean looked towards Simone's parents with an eyebrow raised in a silent question.
"Good as gold." Claudette confirmed. "Do you want to have dinner before you take this little munchkin trick or treating?"
"That would be great, thank you. That person won't bother the Coven now." Dean said, following them into the house.
"Thanks for that Dean. I'm sorry you had to deal with that, it's just a shame Fredrick's brother had to do that. I suppose jealousy makes a person do crazy, stupid things." Charles stated, grabbing a beer out of the fridge for him and Dean, a juice for Amélie and an iced tea for his lovely wife.
"I suppose it does." Dean agreed, accepting the beer from Charles. "Cheers. Baby, why don't you go do some colouring before we have dinner." Dean suggested, crouching down to place Amélie on her feet.
"Otay Daddy." Amélie said, as she skipped over to the kids table where her colouring was all set up.
"What's wrong?" Claudette asked, hearing Dean let out a weary sigh as she started on meatballs and spaghetti for dinner.
"My Dad is missing and he left me this..." Dean said, playing the voicemail on speaker so his would-be parents-in-law could hear.
"There's EVP on that." Charles stated, once the message finished.
"I heard it too." Dean agreed.
"I think I've got a gold wave in my office, one moment." He said, taking Dean's phone and heading to his office down the hall.
"I know you're going to go find your father and probably get your brother to help you. I don't blame you Dean, if my father was in trouble I'd do the same; as would Charles. And I know if I or Charles had been in trouble you and Simone would have looked for us." Claudette said, smiling sadly.
"I don't know what to do. I don't want Amélie to grow up how I did and I won't let it happen... but I don't know what to do about my Dad after all he's done... I don't know how to feel." Dean sighed wearily, running a hand down his face.
"He's your father, no matter what he's done I know that will nag in your mind if you didn't at least try. You value family more highly than I've ever seen in a person. And we would never take her away from you, Dean. We know how much you love her and it was my daughter's dying wish. I know you'll do right by them both." Claudette assured, resting a comforting hand over the top of Dean's.
"Thank you." Dean said gratefully, his voice tight. He missed Simone so much but he had a part of her in their daughter. Looking over his shoulder at her, Dean couldn't help but smile at the look of concentration on her cute little face, her tongue just poking out at the corner of her lips. "I'll get her to call you both every day and we'll be back for the holidays and birthdays."
"Good." Charles said, walking back into the kitchen with Dean's phone and a recorder. "Make sure you look after that precious little girl, Dean, she's all I have left of my beautiful daughter." Charles said sternly, a hard look in his eyes before he softened once Dean promised and stated the obvious that he was never going to break the promise he'd made to Simone, if he could help it. "I'll keep the house ready for you, don't worry and you're always welcome here. If you need help, call."
"We'll also make you a ton of amulets and protection sachets to add to the ones Simone made, and the ones we've already made you." Claudette stated, setting the timer for dinner after adding the meatballs to the pasta and sauce and setting it to simmer.
"If you need to leave her in the hotel room if there's an emergency and she's not in nursery they'll protect her. Just set them at each point around her, like each setting on a compass and in front of the door and on the window sills behind the salt line, if the salt lines break then they'll stop anything getting into the room and near Amélie."
"Thank you, you've done so much for me." Dean said gratefully, his green eyes bright.
"You're family, son." Charles said, smiling at him. "Listen to this." He said, playing the recording.
"'I can never go home.'" A woman's eerie voice came through the speaker before it broke up once again.
"What does that mean?" Claudette asked.
"Dad was hunting this ghost in Jericho. Men have been disappearing along the same stretch of road for the last twenty years." Dean explained with a frown.
"Daddy! I made you a picwtue." Amélie cried, running over to them waving the picture around.
"You did?" Dean asked in exaggerated awe, picking Amélie up and placing her on his lap so he could hug her and see the picture.
"Yes!" Amélie cried, clapping her hands excitedly. "I drewed you a fower."
"And it's a beautiful flower, baby." Dean said proudly, kissing the top of her head as he looked at the large red flower. "It's going on the fridge the moment we get home." Dean told her, causing a wide, beaming smile to appear on her face. "Right, let's go wash up as Nana is going to dish up dinner." Dean said, carefully placing the picture to the side, climbing off the bar stool as he went to the downstairs bathroom with his daughter in his arms.
***
After they had all finished dinner and Dean had cleaned Amélie up, the two Winchester's headed home to get ready for trick or treating, Dean promising they'd stop by before they left to say goodbye.
"Baby, once we've been trick or treating we're going to go on a little trip." Dean told her as he changed her into her child's version of catwoman.
"Where?" Amélie asked curiously, her magic reacting to her excitement as her waves danced around her head as if caught in a breeze and her eyes lighting up a bright indigo. Smiling Dean kissed his daughter's forehead tenderly, he loved her more than anything in the world.
"We're going to go see Uncle Sammy and find Grandpa John."
"Who dat?" Amélie asked, confused, her head tilted to the side.
"Uncle Sammy is my little brother and Grandpa John is my Daddy." Dean explained, it saddened him that his daughter doesn't know her uncle and grandpa because they choose not to be in her life.
"Daddy sad?" Amélie asked with a frown, resting a hand on his cheek.
"No baby. I'm okay, my sweet girl." Dean said, smiling at her. "There we go, all done my little cat."
"Cat girl! Cat girl! Meow." Amélie cried, curling her hand up and waving it at Dean as if it was a paw. Dean couldn't help but laugh at her proclamation, but he had to admit she wasn't exactly catwoman at the moment. And if he had his way she'd never ever, ever dress in a catwoman costume when she got older.
"Amie, go play in your room while Daddy gets dressed as Batman and I'll come get you." Dean told her softly but sternly, so she knew he was serious.
"Otay Daddy." Amélie smiled, picking up Coco and left the bathroom for her bedroom playing with her oven set while she waited.
Twenty minutes later Dean was finally able to get the ridiculous costume on. He didn't realise how hard a Batman costume was to put on by yourself but it was all worth it when he walked into his daughter's bedroom crying in a deep voice, "I'm Batman!" She squealed happily and started laughing and babbling so rapidly it was a little hard for him to understand her, not that Dean minded. Her laughter was his favourite sound.
"C'mere baby and we'll take a picture and send it to Grandpa Bobby and Auntie Cassie." Dean said, crouching down so she could stand in front of him and took a picture of the pair of them and saved it as his screensaver. "Grab your pumpkin bag and let's go." Dean told her, holding out his hand for his daughter to take. Making sure he had his phone and his front door key, Dean took her on their third trick or treating around the neighbourhood.
An hour later Amélie's bag was nearly overflowing so Dean decided to head back home which was a good idea as he felt Amélie starting to lag as it was coming up to seven o'clock in the evening. Once they reached home Dean told Amélie to go play while he packed their bags and changed back out of his costume. Once the weapons bag, his duffle bag full of clothes, another duffle bag for Amélie's clothes, and her rucksack of things to keep her entertained on the ride (which she helped with) which included her Lego, colouring books and crayons, iPad to watch her Disney films, books and some school work, some toys and some snacks. Dean placed them by the door and ran her bath as it was starting to get late.
"C'mon my little witchy Princess, it's bath time." Dean said, leaning on the door frame.
"Yay!" Amélie cried, jumping to her feet and clapping her hands. Laughing Dean picked her up and set her on his hip as he carried her into the bathroom.
As he stripped her out of costume and gently took the braids out of her hair, Dean made a mental note to pack the potty too as she was training to use the toilet along with some training nappies, extra knickers and some bath toys. He wanted her to be happy and comfortable while they searched for his elusive father. He was determined to keep the promise he'd made to Simone and to himself.
"Close your eyes, baby, I've got to wash your hair." Dean said, causing Amélie to whine in protest. "I know, I know. But I promise I won't get soap in your eyes." Dean placated. "There we go wasn't so bad was it?" He asked, once he'd finished washing out the shampoo and conditioner.
"I had fun Daddy." Amélie beamed at him, ignoring the question about the hair washing.
"Me too baby." Dean smiled, as he helped her wash. "What?" He asked, when he spotted the identical mischievous look to the one he saw in the mirror when he would prank Sam.
The next thing he knew he was sporting a bubble beard and his daughter was laughing like a maniac as she clapped her hands.
"Ohhh. It's like that, is it?" Dean asked, before he gave her a bubble beard too, their laughter spreading all throughout their apartment as they played around together. "Okay let's get you dressed." Dean said, standing from his crouched position, groaning a little as the feeling went back into his lower legs. "Don't get up until I get your towel, I don't want you nearly falling again." He said sternly, giving her a pointed look as he waited for her to reply. "Good girl." He praised, kissing her forehead. Quickly he grabbed her towel off the heated towel rack and turned back to face his little miracle. "Give me your hand baby." He said, holding out one hand and holding the towel in the other. Once she was carefully on her feet Dean quickly wrapped the towel around her, placing the hood on and lifting her out of the bath and on to the mat besides him.
In one fell swoop Dean scooped all the bath toys out of the water, dropping them into the sink under the running water to rinse them off and pulled the plug out letting the water drain away.
"Let's brush your teeth, baby, then go get you some warm pyjamas, huh?" Dean asked, grabbing the Princess toothbrush and the milk teeth toothpaste out of the pot on the shelf by the sink.
"Pwincess ones!" Amélie exclaimed, jumping up and down.
"Careful." Dean scolded gently, he did not fancy a trip to A & E tonight with his daughter or at all really.
"I sowwy Daddy." Amélie apologised sadly.
"Baby, I'm not angry I just don't want you to hurt yourself and have to go to the Hospital that's all. How about we make sure your teeth are all clean and go find some nice warm Princess pyjamas that Grandpa Bobby got you."
"Yeah." She cheered, before opening her mouth as wide as it could go, making Dean laugh. Once she was all dried and dressed in Princess pyjamas that had a fleece over top, matching slippers, had her grey rabbit coat on that her Auntie Cassie had gotten her, and her hair dried and brushed. Dean let her play a bit more while he sent a text to Charles letting them know she'd had her bath so they knew to come over, then put the wash bags in the correct bags, added the extra nappies, underwear, toys and potty, and double checked and then triple checked everything while they waited.
He tidied up the bathroom: washing away the soap and drying off some of the bath toys, putting the towels into the laundry basket that was surprisingly empty when he was sure it had been nearly full, when there was a knock at the door.
"Daddy!" Amélie shouted.
"I've got it baby." Dean shouted back, hurrying towards the door before she could open it. He peered through the peephole, his hand hovering around his gun only to spot Claudette and Charles, the former holding their now clean washing.
"Charles. Claudette." Dean greeted, as he opened the door allowing them entrance. They had anti possession amulets around their necks and he knew they weren't shapeshifters as he'd set up a silver door knocker and a light just above the door that would show if they were when he looked through the peephole. "You didn't have to do that but thank you." He said gratefully, taking the now clean clothes, wash mitts and towels and putting them in the right bags.
"I wanted to help. You know we'll always help you Dean. Do you have any other clothes that need washing? You don't want to come back to the apartment smelling to high heaven due to dirty clothes." Claudette asked, helping him put the folded clothes away.
"Just the costumes, towels and wash mitts in the bathroom." Dean replied. "But you don't -"
"Nonsense you're family Dean. Even without my little sweetpea you were... were engaged to Simone and you don't just stop being family. Here are the protection amulets and sachets. You need anything else call Dean and we'll get it to you as quick as we can or send someone from the Coven." Charles said sternly, handing over a medium sized bag that Dean put away in the weapons bag.
"Thank you." Dean said gratefully once again, his green eyes darkening with tears he refused to shed.
"It's no problem." He said, pulling him into a manly hug. "Now where is my sweet pea?"
"She's in her room. I let her play for a bit longer to wear her out. It's gonna be a long drive." Dean said somewhat wearily. He really wished he could shoot his father or even had the ability to hex him sometimes.
"Hello!!" Charles drawled out, "my little Princess. Shall we make a magical fort?"
"Grandpa!" Amélie shouted excitedly, despite only seeing him a few hours ago making Claudette and Dean laugh.
"Come on, I'll help you check over everything and load it in the car while they play. Sometimes you'd think he was still a three year old." Claudette tutted, rolling her eyes but she had a smile fighting its way onto her face.
"I heard that!" Charles shouted back to them.
"You were supposed to, dear!" Claudette returned, not batting an eyelid.
"Nana is being mean to poor Granda." Charles moaned.
"Dwont wowy Granda I Wuv you." Amélie said brokenly, but her speech was coming along well and they were so proud of her and how kind she was.
"Thank you Princess." Charles said happily.
Half an hour later after tearful goodbyes on all their parts; Amélie was strapped into her car seat in the Impala after Dean had promised her they'd see them again soon and she could call them every day they were finally off on their way to Palo Alto to collect Sammy. Claudette and Charles waved goodbye to them until they could no longer see the lights of the Impala.
(I don't want any flames if you don't like just don't read simple as that. But if you do like then please vote and comment.)