Sorry this took me so long! After the first chapter I wasn't sure where I was taking this AU, so I was a little stumped. I'll warn you now: updates are going to be sporadic at best. Nonexistent at worst.

Disclaimer: NOTHING IS MINE. Except Rose. She's mine.

*pjo*spn*

Sam heard the singing before he got through the door of his apartment.

"-itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout-"

Carefully, so Rose wouldn't notice him, Sam slipped into the living room to watch the spectacle that had quickly become the norm when he returned from work. Jess and Rose, sitting in the middle of the living room floor, singing and signing nursery rhymes.

After the spider went up the spout again, Sam grinned. "You know, I can't figure out if you're dating me for me, or if you're dating me so that you can use Rose as your guinea pig."

"Dada!" Rose screeched, leaping to her feet and bounding over to him, blonde curls bouncing. She stood in front of Sam, arms upraised in the universal gesture. "Up, Dada!" She demanded imperiously.

Sam scooped the toddler into his arms, and she gave him a wet, open mouthed kiss before she turned back to Jess. "Ess sing, Dada." She said, grey eyes bright. Then Rose twisted in his arms and hugged Sam tightly around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder.

"Oh, I'm definitely dating you for Rose. You're just a bonus." Jess said, standing and stretching her arms over her head before giving Sam a kiss on the cheek.

Tall, blonde, and beautiful, Sam still couldn't believe that Jessica Moore had agreed to date him, eighteen month old daughter and all. The fact that they now lived together and Jess was trying to get Rose to call her 'Mama' was almost mind blowing. The fact that Jessica was studying to be a child psychologist and Rose gave her a chance to put her new skills to use probably helped, too.

The talk about Rose's real mother had been awkward. Jess had asked, and Sam had skirted the issue like it was a minefield ready to blow. It's not like he could tell Jess that they were raising a demigod child of Athena without getting into his own past. A past that was better left there until Rose needed to know about it. But Jess would need to know soon enough. It was a conversation that Sam was not looking forward to.

Now, though, it was time for dinner. Friday night was pizza night, and Sam would bring home a large pepperoni pizza from the pizzeria next to the bookshop where he worked. It gave them a chance to unwind after a week and an excuse to not have to corral Rose into her highchair. Rose liked pizza nights for the same reason, and took great delight smearing tomato sauce on the old, beat up coffee table her plate was on.

Sam raised an eyebrow at Jess. "Let me guess. She was finger painting today."

Jess sneak attacked Rose's tomato and cheese smeared face with a napkin, earing herself a reproachful glare. "Is it that obvious?"

Stanford University offered daycare services as part of their student program, and luckily for Sam, his scholarship covered that, too. Apparently, the aspiring preschool teachers who ran the daycare took great delight in teaching the children in their care to smear paint on paper, which, of course, could easily be substituted for with tomato sauce. Lucky them.

"Very." Sam agreed, deadpan, as Rose very deliberately gathered another handful of tomato sauce and, with a look at Jess, proceeded to smear the glob over her face and in her hair.

Sam grinned into his Pepsi when Jess sighed. "I don't know why I try."

Smirking, Sam offered Rose a chicken wing smeared with honey barbeque sauce. "Someone's getting a bath tonight," Sam said, sing-song, to his daughter.

"No bath!" Rose declared, and threw her pizza crust on the floor. Sam laughed.

*pjo*spn*

Sam was running the towel through his hair as he listened to Jess and Rose debate their choice of pajamas. Somehow, even though it was Rose who was supposed to be bathed, Sam still emerged from the bathroom sopping wet. He was going to just take his shirt off before the bath next time, he decided, stripping the offending garment off and hanging it over the curtain rod to dry.

Rose came bounding out of her bedroom in her pink Minnie Mouse pajamas and grabbed Sam's hand, leading him into her room and over to the bed, pushing on his knees in an attempt to get him to sit.

"Read to me, Dada!" Rose commanded, climbing up on the bed next to him and into Sam's lap.

" 'In the great green room there was a telephone, and a red balloon, and a picture of the cow jumping over the moon…' "

By the time Jess finished reading Guess How Much I Love You, Rose was slumped against Sam's chest, hands fisted in his white t-shirt, breathing deep and even. " 'I love you all the way to the moon, and back.'"

"She's out." Sam whispered, shifting and laying Rose down in her bed, tucking her stuffed snowy owl in under her arm and covering her with a pink and blue blanket that Jess's mother had given them.

*pjo*spn*

"We need a dog." Jess declared, settling next to Sam in their bed and flicking on the baby monitor.

Sam looked up at her warily from the book he'd been reading. "Why?"

"I was thinking a Great Dane." Jess continued, ignoring Sam's question. "Or a Saint Bernard."

"You want to bring Beethoven home?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jess grinned. "Mom and Dad had to deal with three of us. Mom swears she wouldn't have been able to keep up with all the food we left lying around if we didn't have Caesar."

"We managed okay without a dog." Sam said, ignoring the fact that they didn't have the food to waste, growing up as he and Dean had.

And yet, this was his chance to finally get a dog, something he had begged his father for years about.

Jess smiled a little sheepishly and offered Sam a flyer with the words: Adopt Your New Best Friend emblazoned across the top. Pictures of dogs and cats were scattered across it, along with the information about the animal shelter's information. The date of the adoption was the next day.

Sam sighed. "I vote for the Great Dane."

Jess squealed excitedly and hugged him.

*pjo*spn*

Feel free to berate me for not updating sooner. And, for the love of Athena, prompts/ideas would be awesome!

Thanks,

-CommChatter

P.S.

If anyone can identify the book that the line Sam read is from, that person/persons can give me a chapter prompt, and I'll do my best to deliver. Parents and people with much younger siblings probably have an unfair advantage. Just saying.