Defeating Heaven

Chapter Two

Zoe wished she had gone to bed earlier than she had last night. When Lee and Rose jumped on top of her, bouncing the bed and screaming about wanting pancakes, she had to remind herself that her kids were adorable and young so that meant that they got out of control on occasion. She tried to pretend that she wasn't awake and that she wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, but one of the kids hit her in the face with a pillow and that was the last straw.

Shooting up in bed, Zoe tackled both her kids and pinned them to the mattress, tickling the toddlers to the mattress. "You two have unleashed a beast," she growled playfully. The kids squealed and screamed underneath her and she continued to tickle them until she wrapped her arms around them and pulled them to her, kissing their faces repeatedly. 

"Cooties," Lee screamed, pushing Zoe's face away with his pudgy, five year old hands. "Cooties, mom!"

Zoe laughed and flopped back into her pillows.

"Mommy?" Rose spoke up.

"Yeah, honey?" Zoe stroked her daughters red curls and frowned. She already knew what her two year old was going to ask. Her and Dean had agreed when they'd first been married that Dean was still allowed to go on the occasional hunt. The only requirements were that he was there for all of the important things like anniversaries and birthdays and prom and stuff. He had left early that morning (his leaving had been part of the reason that she'd been up so late) and had promised to be home as soon as possible since it was their seven year anniversary. Zoe had let him go because it was his brother that called and Zoe knew that he couldn't refuse Sam.

"Where daddy?"

Zoe smiled down at Rose and quickly kissed her nose. "He's out at work but he'll be home tonight."

"Late?" Lee asked, tugging on Zoe's pajama sleeve.

"I dunno, baby. But let's go eat some breakfast huh?"

Her kids scrambled out of the bed before she could sit up and they screamed happily as they dashed down the hall to the kitchen. Zoe could hear them chanting "Pancakes!"as they crawled up onto the bar stools. Zoe pulled herself out of bed, forcing herself to wake completely up, and tugged on a pair of pants to make her kids breakfast.

Lee had already started getting out ingredients that he knew was needed for Zoe to make pancakes. He had managed to lift a container of flour up onto a stool and was now struggling to grab some eggs from the fridge. Zoe noticed just in time that he was about to drop an egg on the linoleum floor below. Zoe's hand shot out and caught the egg inches from the ground.

"Oops," Lee squeaked from where he was standing in the fridge. "Sowwy, Mommy."

Zoe grinned and set the egg on the counter before peeling her son from the shelf he was clinging to and setting him on the floor. "Don't worry about it kiddo. Do you wanna help your sister get a bib on?" Lee nodded and hurried over to help Rose who was struggling to clip her bib behind her neck.

As Zoe started mixing up the ingredients, she sighed. Her children were her angels. Lee was an exact replica of Dean, except that his hair was blond instead of brown. Rose had somehow managed to be a curly, red head despite neither of her parents having curly hair and neither of them being ginger. They were little pieces of Dean that stuck around even when Dean was gone. And that's not to say that she didn't love her kids for them, because she really loved the little buggers.

"Mommy," Rose interrupted her thoughts, "we having pancakes?"

Zoe nodded. "Yeah, we are baby."

"Is Daddy gon' have pancakes?"

"I dunno if he's going to eat pancakes for breakfast, sweety."

Rose frowned as if this deeply troubled her. "Daddy love pancakes." She said this thoughtfully, as if she was questioning whether or not Dean really did like pancakes.

"Hey, how about we do some painting today?" Zoe asked to turn the conversation topic away from their father.

Both children cheered and happily bounced in their seats as they waited for their breakfast to be placed before them. After syrup managed to find it's way into their hair and onto their clothes and all over their hands, Zoe took a wet rag to the squirming kids and then told Lee to go get dressed in his paint clothes.

Her kids had started painting with her when Lee was three. Zoe had needed a break from all the mothering that she was doing with a three year old and a baby so she'd brought them back into her studio, Lee splattering paint onto paper and Rose sitting in a bouncy seat. It had become a habit after that, taking her kids in to finger paint and things while she worked. She'd even bought them their own paint, paint brushes, and paper to do said finger painting. Soon she realized that her kids tended to make messes that involved wiping their hands on their clothes so she'd stopped letting them wear whatever they wanted and limited it to their 'paint clothes.'

Zoe's studio was just the shed out in the backyard. She had wanted the garage but Dean refused to leave his car outside to be ruined by the weather. Her studio (or shed) wasn't huge but it was big enough for her to keep all her supplies and have room to move around with Lee and Rose inside. She had her own easel and she had also gotten Lee and Rose their own easels. There was a window in the side of the shed that looked out towards the house and the floor was an easily cleanable cement. Zoe loved it.

Lee and Rose seated themselves in front of their child size easels and got to making a mess as quickly as they could. Zoe took her time however, working to finish a painting that she had started about a month ago, after Rose's second birthday.

It was supposed to be a family portrait but, so far she only had outlines done. She felt that she could never quite capture Dean's intent stare or Lee's goofy expression well enough that it looked real. She stared at the canvas for a moment longer before deciding that she wouldn't be able to finish it. At least not yet. So she took it off her easel and tucked it in the back of her studio.

Her phone dinged in her pocket and she pulled it out to see that Dean had texted her.

Morning. Just wanted to let you know I got here safe. Tell the kids I'll see them tonight. Love you.

Zoe smiled. Of course he got there safe. She wouldn't expect anything different. She responded.

I love you too. Be safe and tell Sam I said hi.

Tucking her phone back in her pocket, she turned around to see the glowing blue eyes of a monster.