Fighting Through It All [Dean Winchester fanfic] #Wattys2015

Chapter Twenty Four

I look down at the giggling baby, the one that I watched grow up big and strong to be 6 years old. She is just as I remember her; she's got the same chubby cheeks, chunky legs, and bright smile that masks her father's identically. Her eyes are the same hazel brown as her mother, warm and filled with light. The baby barely cries, barely makes a peep except to laugh and gurgle.

Myra Hope takes my finger, holding it tightly as she smiles up at me, releasing a little laugh. A small smile breaks out on my face as I remember Emmaline when she was a baby. She would wake up right good, she'd never cry during the night. She was as good as gold. But I didn't ever actually have a baby.

I lay Myra Hope down in her crib, pulling her blanket up to her chin. She smiles at me, grabbing her teething toy beside her and begins gnawing on it, little giggles coming from her every once in a while.
"She's precious," I say, turning around to Lily and Mark. Lily stands in Mark's arms, both of them smiling at me playing with their daughter, their little pride and joy. "She's such a good baby."
Lily laughs and smiles, coming over and tickling Myra Hope's belly, making the baby squirm and squeal. "The other moms in my group always get mad at me, because when all their babies start crying, little Myra Hope just smiles and gurgles at me," She says, a light in her eyes that is different than the light I've seen in them before. It's a
light filled with pride and happiness, as she stares down at her baby girl, who smiles right back up at her.

I stay and visit for around 2 hours more, just talking about baby stuff and things going on in the town. Lily has went on maternity leave, obviously, while her co-worker takes over for a year or so. Mark has become the conversation topic at the garage; apparently him having a baby is quite the thing. I laugh when he tells me that that's all the guys ask about, is how Myra Hope is doing and how big she's getting based off of pictures they demand he shows them. I laugh harder when he says, "They're some of the toughest looking men I've seen in my life, and they awe when they see pictures of my daughter."

When I finally leave, I stop at the grocery store on my home, picking things up for the bunker. Not even one day that I'm back from the dead, and I'm already picking things up for the boys. This morning, I tidied up Dean's room. I picked up dirty clothes, many liquor bottles, and even mopped up a couple piles of bile. When it was all cleaned up though, both of us were relieved. I pick up a bottle of Febreeze for the lingering scent, which makes me gag every time I walk in. I told Dean if he ever goes off the deep end again, to do it in a motel room so I don't have to deal with it.

I drive past the Bunker, heading straight to Elena's. I called her this morning while cleaning, and she was both angered and relieved to hear my voice. Angry, because she thought I'd just went away for nine months, and relieved because she was hearing my voice for the first time in nine months. I lied and told her that things got bad on the island, and that I just couldn't leave with how many monsters there were there. She understood that, and even though I felt bad for lying to her, I was glad she was no longer angry at me.

Upon pulling up in her driveway, I wave to a man walking back. He waves, but doesn't show a trace of a smile, just sending a lingering stare my way. I shudder, getting a weird vibe off of him, but I just make sure I have my handgun on me before I go inside. I just let myself in, calling out to Elena while I take off my jacket. She comes sprinting in from the other room, squealing and smiling like a 10 year old seeing One Direction walking in their door. I laugh as she throws herself at me, wrapping my arms around her body as she blabbers on about how much she missed me, on how she's started kayaking, and she finished pre-law. I feel bad that I wasn't there for her graduation, but I was a little tied up when it happened.

We go into the kitchen, Elena making me a coffee and continue to sputter our about everything she's done in my time gone. She tells me about her and Daniel's new house plans, since they're only renting this place and since she's done pre-law, she wants to get into something a little more permanent. We discuss the styles of housing that we both like, and I groan about how mine and the brother's place is seriously outdated, yet elegant at the same time. Either way, if we ever scrounged up the money, I'd redo the kitchen and maybe even the bathrooms.