The Runt of the Litter

Socks & Lullabies

Note: Thank you to everyone who read, commented, and voted on the last chapter. I know it was ridiculously long, but it got a good response, so thank you!

As hard as it is to believe, I'm starting college this week, so I'm hoping to write some chapters ahead of time and be ready in case I don't have time to write much during orientation. As I said last week, though, I am hoping to keep up weekly updates throughout my time at college.

The last few chapters have been based when Anna was a teenager. So, in this chapter, Anna is four years old.

Socks & Lullabies

"How come you can't go?"

Dean dropped the flannel he was holding and turned around to look down at his baby sister. At four years old, she was tiny, only as tall as his knee. He had wrangled her curly blonde hair into pigtails that morning when John announced he would be there to get her by mid afternoon and wanted her to look presentable. The pigtails were now rather messy thanks to a very rambunctious little girl deciding to play 'Spies' while Dean started packing their duffels earlier in the day. Of course, Dean wound up roped into the game, and he was now worried that he wouldn't have their duffels packed by the time John arrived, which would indeed bode very badly for everyone concerned. As he looked into wide green eyes, Dean sighed and ran a hand through his spiky hair. He knew he wasn't going to be able to ignore her when she looked like that.

He crouched down and took her by the shoulders very carefully. "Because I have to go hunting, Munchkin."

"How come?"

"Because Dad found a hunt, and he told me to take care of it."

"How come?"

"I didn't ask."

"How come?"

Dean sighed heavily and stood back up, turning around to go back to his task of packing his duffel. Anna's was already ready. Dean could leave a few minutes after the other two did if he had to, but if Anna wasn't packed when their father arrived, there would likely be hell to pay. He finished packing and turned to his sister again. She was still pouting at him, and he wondered if she had moved an inch in the last five minutes while he finished packing.

"C'mere, Rugrat. I gotta fix your hair."

Anna wrinkled her nose at the request. "But I like it like this."

"Yeah, well, it's messy," Dean told her and sat on the edge of the bed. He reached out for her, and Anna walked over to stand in front of him so he could redo the braids. He made quick work of it as Anna babbled about how excited she was to see their dad and how she wished Dean could go with them, only he couldn't because he had to hunt. It was ridiculous, really, considering that Dean had been the one explaining such things not ten minutes ago.

All ready for when John arrived, the siblings were left to wait. Anna, of course, couldn't spend much time without something to do. She had Halloween still sitting on the floor a few feet away from the bed, and went to pick him up, then she scurried over to Dean again. "Now what's we gonna do?" she asked him as he lifted her to sit on his lap.

"What are we gonna do?"

"I dunno," Anna answered with a shrug.

"No, I was- Nevermind. Where are your shoes, Anna?"

"I dunno," Anna said and shrugged again, obviously ready to move on without resolving the issue. She tried to fit her stuffed frog in the pocket of her turquoise overalls, but he didn't fit, so she shoved him at her brother, who was trying his best to look for her red rubber boots while she sat on his lap. "C'you hold Halloween?"