Fic: Storytime

[summergen-mod.livejournal.com]

Title: Storytime
Author: krazykipper
Recipient: opheliahyde
Rating: 12 (US PG-13)
Warnings: This is a gen story, so it's not explicit het, but it does mention that both Dean and Sam are attached, though the partners never appear.
Author's Notes: Thanks to tigriswolf for the beta and Ameripick, and thanks to opheliahyde for the prompt, I hope you enjoy it!
Summary: Dean and Sam tell the kids an old hunting story.



Sam hadn’t thought this babysitting thing was going to go well but Sarah had told him that she needed a night off and was going out and that he would just have to cope. “Besides,” she’d added, “you used to hunt demons, what’s one night alone with the kids?”

There hadn’t really been a good response for that, but Sam wasn’t entirely sure how looking after his children for one night had turned into looking after his kids, Dean’s, and Dean himself, who Sam maintained was still a big kid and had been encouraging the children all evening, plying them with sugar and causing havoc. Sam had managed to wear off most of that energy, he hoped, by suggesting playing hoops outside for an hour or two.

Finally, all three children were fed, showered and undressed. Sam took this moment to collapse into a chair, and Mary took that as an immediate invitation to leap into his lap.

“Okay kids, time for bed.”

This suggestion was met with a chorus of complaints in the form of high-pitched whines. He was supposed to be a lawyer, diplomacy was supposed to be his strength. Now diplomacy dictated the need for a different tactic.

"Alright. If you're all in bed in less than five minutes, you get a bedtime story. Deal?"

There was a pause for a moment before all three children leapt up and ran for the door, leaving Sam to breathe a sigh of relief. They were good kids normally, just hyper. And the sugar hadn't helped. Sam glanced at Dean who had collapsed on the sofa.

"Dude, why did the girls decide to go out tonight again?"

"Don't look at me. You're the one that suggested Carmen join Sarah. What did you think was going to happen?"

"A night with a cold one in front of the TV? C'mon, we should probably go check on the little monsters." Dean pushed himself to his feet and made his way up the stairs in front of Sam, holding the banister to hide the limp that Sam knew was there, an injury that had been the final straw in their decision to stop hunting and settle down. Sam wondered if Dean still sometimes missed their old life; it was one of the things Dean rarely brought up.

When they got to the bedroom, all three kids were there, the two boys were sharing this room for the night, and both were in bed, waiting for the story. Mary would go to her own room after; Dean and Sam both perched on the end of it.

"Uncle Sammy," James, who'd managed to pick up his father's nickname for Sam asked, "Will you tell us a story about you and Dad killing monsters?"

None of the kids knew that these bedtime stories were real, and that Dean and Sam had fought big bad monsters in their time. It was one thing Sam had been adamant about – maybe when they were older, they’d be told the truth, but their kids were going to have the innocence that had been taken away from them the night the Azazel had first visited.

"That what you all want?"

Three enthusiastic nods and Mary climbed onto Sam's lap and settled in to listen. James sat back with a smug grin, and the little one, Jack, sat himself up straighter and the room went quiet (for once) except for Sam's voice.

"Once upon a time-"

Dean snorted, "Cliché much, Sammy?"

Sam just glared at him. "Who's telling this story? Like I was saying, once upon a time, Dean and I were hunting for a spirit in an old abandoned house in Michigan. It was abandoned because everyone who lived in it died or was scared off within days, and word traveled. So Dean and I went to check it out. We went into the house to see if we could test for ghost with this little machine that Dean had.”

“- an EMF meter, I made it myself,” Dean chipped in smugly.

“Yeah, out of a battered old cassette player. So we were in this house; and the EMF meter told us that that there were some ghost activity. That meant that we needed to find out who the ghost was. Who they’d been when they were alive, because all ghosts were people once.”

“Before they died and went psycho.”

“Sort of. Spirits are from people who for one reason or another couldn’t rest in peace. But what Dean and I didn’t know was that someone was in the house with us. Someone had decided to buy the old place and refused to believe that they could be hurt.”

“So your Uncle Dean, he did some incredible sweet-talking and got Sammy and me out of trouble. Important skill that kids, smooth-talking the ladies. I’ll teach you when you’re older.” He gestured towards the boys. “Just don’t tell your mother.”

“You scared of Mom? Isn’t that a bit silly?”

“Not silly, son, that’s just sensible. All men should be scared of your mom.”

Sam cleared his throat; they’d be up all night at this rate and Sam wanted them to at least try and sleep before the girls got home. They all quieted down and he continued, “So like all good hunters we did went to research into why.”

“Or, Sammy did the research because he was my sidekick geekboy. But they don’t want to hear about that. Skip forward to the bit where we’re actually fighting the ghost.”

“Okay, I did the research. We had to salt and burn the bones before the spirit did anything to hurt the new family. So we went to the graveyard. We dug up the coffin to burn the bones, but ghosts will lash out if you’re trying to hurt them. This spirit attacked us as we were pouring salt and gas on the bones.”

“And it knocked Sammy over. Uncle Dean, though, he jumped to the rescue.” Dean did a Superman pose and grinned. “He managed to grab the lighter and run to the grave even against the attack of the spirit. It was tough, kids, but to save lives, I had to keep going. Sparking the lighter and dropping it into the body, it caught fire and the ghost disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sammy and I had saved the day once again.”

It was so ludicrous and so far from the truth that Sam just had to laugh. As it always was with Dean’s stories, over the top and pantomimed, normally with added hand actions. But it was better than scaring the kids, and they were all smiling happily now.

He gave them a few minutes and then put on his best authoritative face. “Alright, we had a deal. Bed. Now.”

And they went without complaint. It was amazing. Tucking them all in, Dean and Sam headed back downstairs for a well-deserved rest until the girls came home.