Back at the hotel, you run Destiny a warm bubble bath and then sit on the end of the bed. Dean sits down beside you and takes your hand in his.
"What's going through that pretty head?"
"Just my screw up. And what to do with Destiny. I shouldn't have, but I..."
"I heard what you told her. We'd look after her...you know we can't. I had the same thoughts last night, but we can't. She's better off with Garth and Bess."
"Why not? We want a child, she's not our blood and she's a werewolf. The demons won't want her, so we can keep her safe. Raise her as human as possible. Feed her animal meat and train her to be kind. She wants to be kind."
"She can be. With Garth. I know you want to be a mother, Y/N. And I hope that one day you can be. But it's not gonna be like this. She's not the one. Her kind killed your family."
"I got my revenge for that. And since when have our ancestors' actions defined who we are? I'm not my parents and neither are you."
"You might not be. But look at me, how am I not?"
"You're not John, Dean."
"If something happened to you, I know I would be. In a second I would turn into him."
"You're not. I know you don't believe it. But you would move on. You would get your revenge and then you would move on to the next case. You always do. You're not your father. Regardless, I made a promise and I intend to keep it."
"Alright, fine. But we're taking a drive to see Garth first. We do what's best for her, alright?"
You nod and stand up. You knock on the ensuite door before opening it to check on the little girl. You help her out of the bath, wrapping a towel around her to get her dry and warm.
"Who's Garth?" She asks quietly. When you struggle to answer she looks away and apologises, "Sorry. I shouldn't have listened to you talk."
You kneel down to her height. "No, it's okay. We should have known about your good hearing. Garth is a friend. He's a werewolf too. He and his wife are very nice people. We just think it would be a good idea for you to meet them and see how you feel. The next move after that is yours okay? If you feel comfortable with their pack and want to stay you can. If not, you can come home with us. I promised to keep you safe, and I meant it."
"But Dean..."
"I know. He's a little rough around the edges. But I promise he won't hurt you or leave you anywhere you don't want to be. I know you're scared of him, he's scared of your kind and angry about your dad taking me. And I'm sorry about your dad. Dean is too, had he known about you he may have acted differently. But I promise he won't hurt you."
She hugs you tight. "I wanna stay with you."
You wrap your arms around her. "You can. Right now though, let me see if I've got anything you can wear tonight and then I'll send Dean out to get you some new clothes in the morning, okay?"
She nods and you pull away to go look through your bag for a shirt. Back in the main room, you watch as Dean sets up a pillow and blanket on the couch. You hand Destiny one of your shirts and then go over and wrap your arms around Dean's waist from behind.
"See. You are paternal."
"This is for me. You share the bed with her, she'll be more comfortable that way. What's best for the child, right?"
You nod against his back. "Right. Speaking of...would you be able to go out and find something for all of us for dinner? And possibly some clothes for her?"
You feel him stiffen a little and then he turns around and pecks your lips. "Sure. I'll be back soon." You nod and watch as he gathers his wallet, phone and keys and heads towards the door. As he opens the door he stops briefly, turns back around and says, "I love you."
You smile and say, "I love you too."
Once he's gone Destiny steps out of the bathroom. Your shirt hangs on her like an extremely oversized dress or a sheet. You give her an apologetic look and pull down the sheets on one side of the bed, encouraging her to climb in as you take a seat on the opposite side. She snuggles up close so you wrap an arm around her shoulders and turn on the TV. You search for a child-friendly program; you end up settling on Scooby Doo, but after watching for a few minutes you start to wonder if a talking dog is really the best idea. You watch her but she's not really paying attention. Her eyes drift closed, so you help her lay down as you brush your hand through her soft hair, comforting her so she knows she's not alone. Eventually, you feel your eyes getting heavy again as you struggle to pay attention to the Scooby Gang.
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You wake up to the feeling of someone kissing your forehead. "Hey, Baby," you mumble half-asleep.
"Shhh. Go back to sleep."
You rub your eyes. "No, it's okay. I'm starving."
"Alright then." Dean stands up, brings over a burger for you and places a glass of water on the bedside table. "I would offer you a beer, but I'm not convinced those roofies have fully worn off yet."
"Not the first time I've had to swear off alcohol," you reply. He gives you a small, tight smile and returns to the small dining table to eat his own burger.
"You wanna wake her up? She's so tiny and malnourished. Who knows when the last time she ate was."
With your non-burger-grease-covered hand, you pat the little girl's hair again and then give her shoulder a light but firm squeeze. Once she stirs you give her time to wake up and adjust to her surroundings. Once she seems mostly awake Dean brings over a cardboard takeaway container and places it on the bed in her lap. "I know you're probably used to the flavour of human hearts. But uh, we don't want you eating us so..."
"Dean!" You scold.
"Sorry. The point is, that's a lamb's heart, just try to eat it. It was the only type of heart the butcher had."
She nods and opens up the box. She looks down at the heart and then up at you. She watches as you eat. When you notice her looking at your food you offer her a taste.
"Do you want a taste?"
"Is that human food?"
You nod. "Yeah, one of many. It's a burger. You haven't been around many people have you?"
She shakes her head.
You hand her your burger and she takes a small bite. You and Dean both watch her reaction eagerly. She scrunches her nose up as she forces herself to swallow.
"That's ok, we know it's not what you're used to. As long as you're with us you're welcome to try any human foods, but your body is only really made to eat meat, so we'll do our best to get you what you need too." She continues to look at the heart apprehensively, so you reassure her, "You can eat it, it's okay. It's not from a human. It's from the butcher – a meat shop – so Dean didn't have to kill anything for it."
"But someone did..." she says sullenly.
You give her a soft look and say, "Unfortunately, yes. That's how you get meat. But I like to tell myself it's less wasteful and more humane this way. It's also the circle of life. You need to eat too." Then you lean close to her ear and whisper, "And you're not the only one that needs meat. Dean over there likes to call himself the 'meatman'."
"The meatman?" she repeats confused.
Dean shoots you an incredulous glare. "Really, Y/N?"
You smirk back and then return to your burger, hoping Destiny will follow your example and eat as well. She watches you for a few seconds and then sheepishly takes a small bite of the lamb's heart. Blood oozes out of the heart and over her little hands. Dean quickly hands you and her a few napkins from the takeout bag to keep the mess from getting all over the sheets. As she devours the messy organ you can see the appreciation on her face and she starts to look just the slightest bit less pale and ghostly.
Once she's finished eating she uses the napkins to clean off her hands just as she'd watched you do. "Thank you," she quietly says while looking directly at Dean.
Her manners catch him off guard, so he just gives her a small, barely-there smile. Feeling uncomfortable from his lack of reply she looks away and focuses on the napkin in her hands instead.
Noticing the tension you reach over and place your hand on her forearm. "You're welcome, Sweetie. Why don't you go and clean your hands properly in the bathroom? And I don't know if your dad ever taught you about brushing your teeth or if normal werewolves even do that, but with the new diet, it might be beneficial. There's a spare toothbrush on the sink in there that you can use with our toothpaste; it's the pink one."
She passes you the empty takeout container with the dirty napkin and scampers into the bathroom. Dean gets up and tidies away all of the rubbish before sitting next to you again.
"I've seen all your little looks. I know I'm screwing up. I'm just not...this is difficult for me."
"Forget who her dad was for a second. Just see her for the child she is."
"Even then...I'm just not good with-"
"Lord help me if you're going to try and tell me you're not good with kids. Who raised Sam, Dean?"
"That's not-"
"Who raised Sam? He always tells me it wasn't John. So, who?"
"I was a kid too. I was just doing what I was told. I was just looking after my little brother. This is different."
"I know it is. But there's also been the kids on cases, and she was comfortable enough this morning when I woke up. So, you're doing good. You're a natural with kids. Just be natural. Be yourself."
He nods and kisses you softly, but he pulls away when he hears a gasp.
"Don't hurt her! Don't bite her!" Destiny shouts.
Dean quickly pulls back. "I wasn't. I would never."
"He wasn't hurting me. I promise. Dean loves me. Come here," you say, opening your arms for her to snuggle up close again. She quickly complies and you tuck her in under the blankets.
Dean pats your leg. "Alright then. If I can't kiss my wife then I'm gonna go clean up. You two get some rest."
You watch as Dean disappears into the ensuite. After he closes the door you hear him grumble and Destiny snuggles closer. You can't help but think that you should've helped her with the toothpaste. You silently thank Dean for cleaning up whatever mess she made and then lie down with Destiny. Letting her warmth and the cartoons on TV lull you back to sleep.
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