Daddy'll Hold You All Night-Inspired by Eminem's Mockingbird

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"Uncle Sam?" Natalie tugged at his sleeve shyly. Sam crouched down to her level, brushing a stray strand of hair back behind her ear.

"What's the matter, baby?" He brought the five year old into his arms just as tears dripped out of her eyes and landed on his sleeves. Natalie wrapped her small, yet strong, arms around his neck tightly and cried into his shoulder blade.

"I miss daddy." she sobbed.

"I know, baby, I know." He rubbed soothing circles on her back, trying to avoid the whiskers of her stuffed lion which she clutched in the crook of her arm.

"When is he coming back? I miss daddy."

"He'll be back real soon, sweetheart." Sam pulled back to wipe a fat teardrop from her face with his thumb. "I promise. You just gotta stiffen that upper lip." He hoisted her up, stuffed animal and all, and her legs wrapped around his waist as if she was afraid that he might let her go. "You want something to eat, Nat?"

She nodded meltingly, her chin resting on the curve of his shoulder.

Bobby was sprawled out on the couch in the living room, totally passed out and snoring loudly. Adam was still up on his laptop, his fingers poised at ready over the keyboard. His face crumbled when he saw Natalie's puffy red eyes.

"Nat, you want to go to Adam?" Sam cooed. His niece nodded and Adam stood up from the table for the exchange, holding out his long arms to the small child.

"Unc - Uncle Sammy, can I have Lucky Charms?"

Sam walked behind his half-brother to smile reassuringly into her sad face, the colorful box of cereal already in his hands.

He watched painfully while Nat slurped on the spoonful of cereal, milk dribbling down her chin and landing against the ruffles on her pink shirt. She reminded him of himself when he was younger. Then again, Natalie was as lucky as the marshmallow charms she ate-she didn't have the weight of the world on her five-year old shoulders. Instead she had five men who would die for her in a heartbeat-Cas included. She noisily finished the bowl and looked up at Sam and Adam with a toothy grin.

The low grumble of the Impala's engine muttered outside. Sam glanced at Natalie, hoping she hadn't heard before motioning to Adam with his head to keep their niece occupied while he talked to Dean.

Dean was halfway up to the porch with a duffel thrown over his shoulder when Sam stopped him with a frown.

"What?" He asked, starting to walk past his younger brother.

"You know, you're really starting to become like dad." Sam shoved him back a few steps, continuing in the same firm tone when Dean rolled his eyes. "She needs you, Dean. Natalie needs her father. She doesn't need Uncle Sam or Adam or Bobby or Cas. She needs you!"

"Don't tell me how to raise my kid, Sam." Dean furrowed his eyebrows in anger but quickly changed his expression when the back door flung open and Natalie jumped into his waiting embrace. "Did you miss me, baby?" He smiled and kissed her forehead when she nodded.

"Daddy, Uncle Adam read me a long book."

"Did he, sweetheart?" Dean glanced over at Adam who leaned against the back door. Natalie put both her hands on her father's face, turning his gaze back to her.

"It was about," she tripped over her words, half her concentration focused on the amulet around his neck. "It - It was about a little hobbit..but he wasn't a baby - he was old. Older than you, daddy. And - and he said 'good morning' a whole lot and he - he goes on a trip with these funny dwarves. And one of the dwarves -Thorin, right, Uncle Adam?" Adam nodded with a shadow of a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth when she continued. "Well, he was really serious...kinda like Uncle Cas."

Dean put his forehead against hers.

"You know daddy loves you more than anything, right?"

Natalie nodded, but she wasn't finished her story yet. "But, daddy, he fainted! Mr. Bilbo fainted," She squealed and squirmed in laughter. "He fainted and you know what Gandalf said?"

"What did Gandalf say, precious?" Dean asked, his eyes shining happily.

"Haven't gotten there yet," Adam mumbled under his breath, referring to Dean quoting Gollum's often said line: My preciousssssss.

"Gandalf is a magic wizard and he said the funniest thing. He said Mr. Bilbo was an 'ex-ite-able little fellow.'" She sang, throwing her arms out to the side, and mimicking the English accent Adam had used to read the lines to her.

"Tell your dad how you couldn't stop laughing," Adam poked her rib gently when Dean came up the steps.

"Daddy, I couldn't stop laughing. Uncle Adam and Uncle Sam did funny voices and they acted it out and Uncle Sam was jumping on the couch and hit his head on the ceiling." Nat burst out into another fit of uncontrollable laughter, forgetting that minutes ago she was crying for her father.

The Winchester's filed back into the kitchen. Once Natalie kissed Adam goodnight, she chatted away about her day, perched on Dean's knee as he sipped on a beer and eagerly listened to her childish stories. Sam stood over the sink, washing Nat's empty cereal bowl, brooding, but watching intently at Natalie and Dean interact. An amused smile spread over his older brother's face when his daughter mentioned something memorable.

"...and then Uncle Bobby fell asleep on the couch." Nat took a deep breath and yawned.

"Looks like someone's tired," Dean observed, putting his bottle down on the table.

"I'm not tired, daddy. Honest."

Dean set her down on her own feet. "Go brush your teeth, baby."

"Can I sleep with you?"

"Only if you brush your teeth." He warned.

Natalie rushed up the stairs, her shoes clomping loudly against the wood. Her stuffed animal, Rodger as she fondly dubbed him, still under her arm.

"So, you got a job?" Dean asked, his voice now gruff when he turned back to see Sam drying his hands on a dish cloth.

Sam shrugged, exhaling sharply in exhaustion. "It's been a quiet few days as far as I know."

"Look, Sam," Dean raked a hand across his face, clearly worn out from his long drive. "I know I don't give Natalie enough attention - but I love her."

"I love her too, Dean. We all do. But sometimes Nat doesn't need us telling her that we care as much as she needs you to say the same thing."

Natalie came down the stairs even more loudly then she did going up. She motioned Dean down to look into her face while she stuck her finger in her mouth and rubbed her teeth, creating a squeaking sound.

"Good job, Nat!" Dean said proudly. "Say goodnight to Sam."

Natalie ran to plant a kiss on Sam's cheek after he had lifted her high enough to reach his face. "I'll see you and Sir Rodger in the morning, possum."

"I don't want to be a possum, Uncle Sam." She opposed with a small giggle. "I want to be a hobbit."

"Then you're a hobbit, then." Sam planted her firmly on the ground, kissing the top of her head before she ran into Dean's arms.

"And you can be Mr. Bilbo, daddy. And Uncle Sam be Gandalf and Uncle Cas can be Mr. Thorin - because he never laughs - and Uncle Bobby...well, Uncle Bobby's still asleep."

"And you should be too." Dean stood, lifting her off the ground enough so she was standing on his booted feet. He held her wrists while they awkwardly took one step at a time up to get up the stairs, laughing and being entirely happy.

Choices for the next chapter:

1. While going on a walk with her dad, Nat finds a present she wants to take to Uncle Cas

2. Nat wants to give Uncle Sammy a makeover

3. Nat is stuck in a boooring motel room with Dean and pretends to be a famous movie monster

Your choice :) If you have other ideas that you'd like to see PM me or leave your welcome suggestion in the review box!