||CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE // DADDY-DAUGHTER DATE||
An hour after Dakota ate, she wandered back down to the kitchen. The young Winchester tries to sneak past Bobby, but ends up running into the door when she kept her eyes trained on him for longer than she should've. He just sighs and shakes his head before helping her get some more food.
"Do we have pie? Please!" She begs, holding her hands under her chin with an exaggerated puppy-dog face, as Bobby takes her plate from her. He places it in the sink before turning to her with an astonished expression.
"Really? You just ate dinner and a sandwich, and now you want pie?" He scoffs, she just shrugs, not finding much wrong with it. "You're lucky your dad left some pie here."
"It's dad's pie! I can't eat that!" She gasps, stopping him from getting the dessert.
"Why not?" Bobby asks, raising an eyebrow to urge her to explain.
"It's the sacred rule, Bobby!" She points out, covering her mouth and looking around like Dean was about to pop out and yell at her. "Daddy and I never eat each other's pie! That's...that's a sin!"
Bobby rolls his eyes at his adopted granddaughter. A small grin curling at his lips as he shakes his head.
"You're something else, Kota."
Dakota grins in reply to Bobby. "I guess daddy and I could go get pie on our date." Dakota hums, nodding her head at her words, agreeing with herself.
"Damn right we will." Dean's voice floats in from the doorway of the kitchen.
"Daddy!" Dakota cheers, bolting from her chair and running into Dean's arms.
"Hey, kiddo." Dean greets before nodding to Bobby. "Bobby."
"Hey, Dean."
Dakota pulls away from Dean, giving him a completely shocked look.
"You'll never believe what Bobby said!" Dakota accuses, giving Bobby a cheeky look.
"I said nothing!" Bobby defends himself while giving Dakota a pointed look.
Dakota challenges Bobby, raising an eyebrow at him with a smirk. Bobby's almost shocked by how much she resembles Dean, making the same mischievous look he has. Bobby narrows his eyes at the young girl, not use to her trouble-maker side. It rarely came out.
"What did he say?"
"Nothing!"
"He tried to get me to go against the most sacred rule!"
Dean gasps in mock betrayal, his hand on his chest like he felt hurt by Bobby's suggestion. He gives his daughter a look with raised eyebrows, she looks at him with hooded eyes before they both nod.
"Banishment!" Dakota cries while pointing at Bobby, Dean nods along with her words, crossing his arms over his chest. Bobby sighs and rolls his eyes, leaving the two Winchesters in the kitchen laughing hysterically.
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The two made their way to a diner, Dakota's favorite from Sioux Falls, Dean takes her there whenever they had a case nearby or went to see Bobby. They both order cherry pie with whipped cream and a chocolate milkshake.
"We have a school trip coming up." Dakota informs, pulling the cherry off her milkshake and eating it.
"Really? I didn't know schools takes first graders on trips." Dean hums in reply, a bad feeling sinking in his chest about the trip. "Where is it?"
"The woods, they're taking us camping for a couple days, we're learning about different kind of leaves and stuff." She shrugs.
"Do...do you have to go? Is it required to learn about those leaves?" Dean asks nervously, shifting in his seat while looking over at her.
Maybe it's the fact that his daughter would be in the woods with just a teacher and a bunch of kids, or if it was his instincts telling him something bad was going to happen if she went. Dakota watches him for a few moments, her posture changing and making her appear older.
"Yeah? I'll be okay, I have Sammy's knife if it makes you feel better?" She replies, ending it more like a question than a statement.
"Sam's knife?" Dean questions, his brow furrowed in confusion.
Dakota pulls out the closed switchblade, glancing around before quickly sliding the knife across the table, it falls on Dean's lap before he can catch it. He picks up, turning it over in his hand finding a small SW carved into the handle, below Sam's initials are
a smaller and scratchier DMW carved.
"Dakota Mary Winchester." Dean mumbles, running the pad of his thumb over her initials. "Did you carve these?"
"Yeah, but only mine," Dakota nods, grabbing the knife from his outstretched hand and sliding it into her pocket. "I put my middle name so that we don't confuse our initials."
Dean smiles at her, dropping one of his eyelids in a wink. She gives him an almost sheepish smile in return, her cheeks heating up slightly in embarrassment. She wasn't sure why she felt embarrassed, maybe all the attention she received on the fact she used her middle initial.
The two spoke mindlessly for another hour, until the sun started to set. Dean paid for the bill and took Dakota out the park where they use to go when she was younger. Dean places sunglasses on as the setting sun flashes right in his eyes as they walk toward their spot on the hill.
She switches hands before pulling herself up so she can walk up his side, using her grip on his hand to steady herself. He holds onto her and keeps himself still, watching birds fly around and cars pass on the road. Nobody else was at the park, most parents didn't take their kids there when the sun begins to set. Dean wasn't like typical parents, he felt like he was a good dad, but he wanted to treat his daughter to a fun night, especially with all the pain she's recently gone through because of him.
"Is there a God?" Dakota randomly asks, Dean looks startled for a second. She pushes off his body and lands with her feet on the ground, swinging their interlocked hands.
"I don't know." He answers.
"Just tell me." She urges, sighing heavily at her dad.
"I would if I could. But I don't know. Neither does anybody else." He points out, shrugging slightly and brushing a piece of hair from her face.
"I think there is, I mean how would Castiel exist if there was no God?" Dakota argues, spinning herself under Dean's arm while holding their hands above her head.
"You could be right." Dean agrees, giving her a soft smile.
Dakota sighs, before sitting down in the grass, pulling Dean's hand so he's forced to follow suit.
"Let's sit." She demands, her expression soft and happy. She climbs into Dean's lap and leans her back against his chest, playing with his fingers in front of her.
"Okay."
They sit in silence for awhile, Dean's eyes closing as he relishes in the peace and quiet with his daughter. It was rare for him to just relax and be with daughter in a normal setting, not having to worry about a monster attacking her while on a hunt. He was still slight uneasy about the trip, making a mental note to ask Bobby to keep an eye on her class.
"I love you." Dakota hums.
"I love you, too, kiddo." Dean whispers, he wasn't typically one for telling his family how he felt about them often, he showed his love in different ways instead of just telling them. Dakota was different, he was softer, more open with her than anyone else.
"Do you remember?" Dakota questions softly, turning in his lap to face him, her hands holding his to her chest tightly.
"Remember what?"
"D-dying. Hell." She explains, looking away from his eyes.
Dean pauses, he doesn't like lying to Dakota, he only recently told Sam that he remembered his time in Hell.
"Do you remember being possessed?" He asks instead of answering, he's never heard Dakota explain her time with yellow-eyes.
Dakota hesitates as well, feeling conflicted.
"I don't want to talk about it." She mumbles, closing her eyes briefly.
"Baby, talk to me." He press almost pleadingly, he didn't like that she started keeping all of her feelings bottled up. "If...if you tell me about him...I'll, uh, I'll tell you a little about Hell." He compromises.
Dakota takes a shaky breath. She looks up at Dean's eyes, they soften even more and he gives her a reassuring smile. Dean presses a kiss to her forehead. She closes her eyes and taking another breath, releasing it slowly.
"I, uh, I was waiting for Samuel and there was this...noise coming from inside the walls. I-I tried yelling for you...but black smoke swarmed around me. I couldn't breath anymore, i-it was scary." She starts slowly, her eyes darting around in an almost panicked fashion.
"I bet." Dean's voice cracks, he grabs her hand to urge her to continue.
"I could see, but that was about it. I-I screamed for you, and nothing came out, daddy, I tried I swear. I could hear what he was thinking, he kept screaming in my head about grandma. I-I tried to pull him back when he was bullying you and Samuel, but he kept replaying my worst memories." She recounts. "It was like I was dreaming—asleep and having a nightmare."
"Worst memories?" Dean questions, he was almost terrified to find out what her worst memories were.
"There's two...he kept switching. He started with those mean people who kidnapped me and Sammy, when they kept us in those cages." Dean hums in acknowledgment, telling her he understands. "He focused more on...on..." Dakota gasps, tears spilling down her cheeks. Dean brings her into his chest, rubbing her back gently, waiting patiently for her to continue. "Your death. I-it kept replaying over and over again in my head."
"I'm so sorry, baby." Dean soothes softly.
"I felt him stab me, it hurt...so much.I screamed for help, for anybody. He made me kill Deanna, woke me up to watch as he used me kill her. The next thing I knew, I was pulling grandma away from grandpa, crying that yellow-eyes was coming. I tried warning them but I couldn't. I felt him kill grandpa and bully grandma into making a deal for John, but also for Sammy. I t-tried so hard to stop it, to save Sammy, but he wouldn't free me. I felt like I was drowning almost, I couldn't breathe unless he let me. Then all the pain came back and I heard you telling me it was okay. Then I felt warm and safe, like you were hugging me, but I knew you weren't. I felt strong and brave, like I was being protected and I could do anything."
Dean didn't know what to say to that, he didn't understand where the safe feeling came from. After Azazel left her, Cas appeared and healed her.
"Please don't tell Sammy." She begs, looking up at him with wide and teary green eyes. "He doesn't need to know, please, daddy."
"I won't, I promise." He assures her, placing his forehead against the top of her head. His heart physically hurt from hearing his daughter's story. He never wanted his daughter feel like that, no parent did.
Dean pauses before he starts to explain his time in Hell, talking about the torturing in minimal detail to not scare her, although it didn't help much. He told her that he thought about her everyday, trying to remain strong for her, but eventually the pain became too much for him to handle.
"It's okay, daddy." She places her hands on his cheeks and kisses his forehead gently like he would do for her when she was sad. "You're still the strongest and bravest hunter I know, even better than Sammy, but don't tell him that."
"I wont, baby." Dean chuckles, hugging her tightly.
After recounting each other's stories, they laid together on the grass. Dakota sprawled out sideways on Dean's stomach, so they made an X with their bodies. They told the other their favorite memories, playing eye-spy with the minimal light from the sun, and making up weird dances to entertain each other.
It was safe to say that-that was the best night that either Winchester has had in a long time.
It was long over-due.
Edited 6/5/19