Disclaimer: The characters of Supernatural do not belong to me.

A/N: First, I am still working on Sittin' In a Tree. But I had another idea tonight, and a friend encouraged me to write it. Basically, I've done, over and over, Sam and even Dean as a parent. But something I've never done, and don't really remember reading ever before, is both the boys as stepparents. Having them step into the parental role for a kid that's already here who still struggles with losing a parent.

I'm planning on this being a 2 for 1 deal type of story. One chapter will feature Sam and his fairly new stepdaughter Ellie, while the next chapter will feature Dean and his fairly new stepdaughter Tally. With Sam, I figured the easiest way to introduce a stepdaughter would be if Amelia had a daughter already, Don never came back, and Sam didn't go back out on the road with Dean. With Dean, the story's a little different-Tally is the daughter of a female hunter friend of Sam and Dean's. When her father, who she lived with full-time, dies, she has to travel with them and isn't very happy about it. I've finished this first chapter and am working on the second one now.

While these two stories will be written together, they are intended to be separate AUs. Sam and Dean will probably appear in each other's chapters, but they will not be the same Sam and Dean as in the other story. Think about it like the (spoilers here for seasons 12, 13, and 14) real Bobby and parallel universe Bobby. The Bobby we all know and love from the first seven seasons is not the same Bobby as appears in season 12 through the present. But (at least with me, everyone has their own opinion and I totally respect that) we still love the second Bobby. So the Dean that appears in the chapters with Sam and Ellie will not be the same Dean as appears in the chapters with Tally, and the Sam that appears in the chapters with Dean and Tally is not the same one as in the chapters with Sam and Ellie. I hope that long winded, ridiculous explanation makes sense, but I wanted to be clear what I was doing.

As I said, I'm still working on Sittin' In a Tree. I may be biting off ten times more than I can chew, having two stories going at the same time, but I promise I'll do my best to update regularly. Enjoy!

Sam and Ellie: Switching Birthdays

If Sam could have one wish, it would be to not feel awkward around Ellie anymore.

He had been together with Amelia for over a year now. He'd been through one first day of school, one birthday, one Christmas, one Easter, and one fourth of July, and he still felt like an intruder in seven-year-old Ellie's life. She did nothing to make him feel that way; she was polite, would tell him good morning and good night, and would answer any questions he might ask her. But she never approached Sam for a conversation. It was her mother she would ask for advice, her mother she would go to when she was hurt, or needed attention, or just wanted a hug.

There had been a few moments in the past year when Ellie had surprised him. She'd never learned to ride a bike, and the first time she'd done it on her own, she'd jumped off the bike and straight into Sam's arms, leaping for joy. When she'd gotten bullied at her new school, she'd asked Sam to pick her up one day. When Sam showed up, Ellie, who barely came up to Sam's knee, had walked up to him, turned to her bullies and told them quite proudly,

"That's my Sammy. Now leave me alone or I'll tell him to come back."

Sam had been quite amused at the terrified looks on eight and nine-year-old bully's faces. But when he'd pressed Ellie for details, she shut down again, and Sam let the matter drop. The final surprise had come just a few days earlier, when Amelia had left for the night to go spend some time with friends. Ellie had woken up from a nightmare, crying and wanting her mommy. But when Sam reminded her that Amelia was gone, Ellie begged him to stay.

"Stay 'till I go back to sleep. Please."

"Of course I will, honey. Lay back down."

Since Ellie was upset, Sam had fought the smile he felt coming when she asked him to stay. Ellie and her father had, in Amelia's words, been "closer than the peanut butter and jelly on a sandwich" before he died. Sam had tried to convince her that he wasn't trying to take her father's place, but it appeared the message hadn't quite sunk in yet.

The situation had definitely not improved when Amelia announced she was pregnant. Through a freakish coincidence, Sam and Amelia's daughter Rachel had been born on Ellie's seventh birthday, meaning the two shared a birthday. It had taken a month after Rachel was born for Sam and Amelia to realize that they hadn't celebrated Ellie's birthday. Feeling the guilt eating away at them, Sam and Amelia had left Rachel with Amelia's father Jack for the weekend while they spent quality time with Ellie.

Sam was determined not to let that happen this year. While Amelia was setting up for Rachel's birthday party the next day, Sam approached Ellie. She was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, her teddy bear Moonpie next to her and a doll sitting in her lap. Ellie took her hairbrush and carefully brushed the doll's hair.

"Hey, kiddo. Can I join you?"

"Sure." Ellie said quietly, without looking up from her doll.

Sam awkwardly took a seat next to Ellie on the floor. "You excited about tomorrow?"

Ellie shrugged. "I guess."

"You guess? It's not every day you turn eight years old."

"Nobody's gonna care about it being my birthday when it's Rachel's first." Ellie said.

"Hey." Sam said, and Ellie turned to look at him. "I care."

Ellie gave Sam a small but genuine smile. "Thanks."

"Listen, sweetie. I know it's been a little bit rough with me here, okay? I know it all happened really, really fast. But like I said before, I just want to be your friend, okay?"

"Okay." Ellie said.

"Look, I had an idea." Sam said. "I want you to hear me out. Can you do that?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"What do you think about switching birthdays?" Sam asked.

"Switching birthdays?"

"Yeah. See, when you get to be a grownup, like me, you don't really care about your birthdays as much as you used to. So, I was thinking. It's not really fair that Rachel gets all the attention tomorrow when it's your birthday too. So why don't we pretend that tomorrow is my birthday and when my real birthday rolls around, we'll celebrate yours."

"Can we do that?" Ellie asked, intrigued by the idea.

"Sure we can. But it means that we won't have a cake or a party for you for a few more months."

"How long? When is your birthday?"

"May 2nd. You'll almost be out of school. But, if we do switch, then when we celebrate your birthday, we'll spend that whole day focused on you. Not splitting the attention between you and Rachel. What do you think?"

Ellie smiled. She remembered how it felt the year before, being overshadowed by her little sister's arrival and how much it hurt. She also remembered the weeks after, with her mommy and Sammy and everyone else focused almost solely on Rachel, to the point that no one even told her happy birthday. She'd felt unimportant and shoved to the side. But Sammy seemed to be trying hard to make her feel differently this year. As much as Ellie might have doubted it before, maybe Sammy meant it when he said he just wanted to be her friend.

"I like it. I like it a lot."

"Good. So do we have a deal?" Sam asked, extending his hand towards her.

"Deal." Ellie eagerly shook Sam's hand before she remembered something. "Wait."

"What?"

"Can we still go see Daddy?"

"Yes." Amelia had come in from the kitchen and was watching the two of them from the doorway. "Yes, we can still go see Daddy."

Ellie thought about something for a moment before turning back to Sam. "Will you come too?"

Sam thought he would cry. Ellie's visits to her father were something she wanted to keep to herself. Even when Amelia went with her, she would sit in the car while Ellie talked to her father alone. He'd been to Don's grave once, with Amelia on what would have been their wedding anniversary, and Ellie hadn't been with them.

"Sure, sweetie. If you want me to. I'll go."

"Okay, birthday girl. Time for your bath then bed." Amelia announced.

"Not my birthday, mommy. It's Sammy's."

"What?" Amelia asked. Sam quickly told her the idea, and Amelia smiled. "Well, that sound like a great idea!"

"I like it too." Ellie said. "Thanks, Sammy."

"You're welcome, honey. Go on and get your shower and I'll read to you tonight if you want."

"Okay."

Ellie headed down the hall to the bathroom. When she was out of earshot, Amelia turned to Sam excited. "That's a fantastic idea!"

"Thanks. I'm kind of proud of it myself."

"I'll make a deal with you. I'll get Ellie ready for bed if you get Rachel. After you read to Ellie, we spend some mommy and Daddy time together."

"I like that idea even better than mine." Sam grinned. "Alright, let's go."

Forty-five minutes later, Sam was tucking in an exhausted Ellie. She had forgotten Moonpie, so Sam 'rescued' him from the living room and brought him to her. Before going to his room, he took a long look at Ellie. Though he felt he still had some work to do in getting Ellie to completely trust him, he'd definitely started in the right direction.

"Good night, kiddo." Sam whispered, turning and leaving the room.