Note: Hey, lovely people. Happy Saturday. I want to say a huge thank you to everybody who has read, voted, and commented on this story. It feels really amazing to know that people are following along and enjoying. Since last week, the story passed fifty and hit sixty votes. Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot, but this is my first story and it means the world to me hitting that milestone, so thank you.

Also, I don't guess that anybody reading this hasn't seen the third season of Supernatural. But just in case, I will put it out there that there are vague mentions of the main plot of that season, so consider this a mini Spoiler Alert.

In this chapter, Anna is nine years old.

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A fantastic wattpader just gave me an incredible gift... She drew pictures to go with some chapters. And I'm adding them because she said I could and because she did such a good job and they're too perfect not to share. Thank you SO MUCH @Musicpotterhead, you're a goddess.

Tap on the photo to see the whole thing, guys, they're all beautiful. And I'm putting this message at the beginning of each chapter that has an image, so you all take a second and look at them. And tell Musicpotterhead how amazing she is. Because she is. She's amazing.

Dog Days

"Are you sure we can do this?" Anna asked nervously even as she held Dean's hand and walked with him onto the sandy shore of the crowded beach. "Maybe Sam was right. There's a bunch of more important hunting stuff. Your deal-"

Dean swooped down and snatched his sister up with enough gusto to make her shriek and giggle with the unexpectedness of it. He lifted her up to sit on his shoulders and held onto her ankles as he continued toward the water's edge. "Today, the words 'your deal' are grounds for dunking. Got it?"

Anna wrinkled her nose at the idea of being dunked. This was the ocean, and she'd never gone swimming in the ocean before. She'd only ever been in local public swimming pools in a handful of small towns. But the ocean was ginormous, stretching farther than she could see. It was almost ominous in its size and its powerful crashing waves. "I won't say it," she promised, reaching down a pinky to make it official.

"Put the finger away, Rugrat. I believe you," Dean's voice dripped with affection in the way it only ever did when they were completely off-duty and his guard was as low as it got.

Looking out over the beach ahead of them while they neared the water, Anna couldn't get over how crowded the place was. Some people lay on beach towels, soaking up the sun, and others splashed in the water, swimming and playing. There were kids, grown-ups, babies, elderly people. "There's so many people," Anna whispered like it was a secret, and her hands, resting on her brother's head, tightened in his hair marginally as if seeking comfort.

"That's a good sign, Kiddo," Dean answered simply. "It means we picked the perfect day to go to the beach." He caught eyes with an attractive young woman as they passed her, and winked at the smile she gave him when she saw his sister on his shoulders. It was a wink that promised the kid on his shoulders didn't mean he was taken. The woman smiled a little and slid on the sunglasses she'd had dangling from one hand, laying back on her towel and soaking in the sun rather than giving Dean more attention. But that wasn't so disappointing today as it might have been any other time. He wasn't here to find love of any variety.

He was here to relax for a day, to give Anna a fun day in the midst of their increasingly stressful and crappy lives. If he could have dragged Sam out here too, he would have, but the kid was so adamantly against it that Dean had been forced to give in and let him research the day away.

A few yards from the water, Dean reached up once more to lift Anna off his shoulders and set her on the hot sand beneath them. She wrinkled her nose and danced a little at the warmth of it. "It's hot," she said obviously and gripped onto his hand again. Dean smiled at her energy as she tugged him a little faster toward the water. A cool breeze floated from the surface of the water and ghosted unreachably toward them. He pulled off his dark sunglasses and tucked them inside the bag hanging from his shoulder, the one with their towels and lunch in it.

"Hang on. We have to find a good spot for our stuff. Hey-" he tugged on her hand to direct her toward an open space between a young couple and their one or two year old boy, and a small group of teenagers who were sunbathing and talking casually. He barely managed to curb Anna's excitement long enough to lay their towels out and situate their bag beside them. He pulled off his shirt to prepare to go swimming and ignored the sudden whisperings from a couple of the teenagers beside them.

"Can we go now?" Anna asked impatiently.

Dean rolled his eyes good-naturedly and gave her a nudge toward the water. "Alright. Come on."

Anna grinned widely and pulled him alongside her. "We haven't been swimming in forever," she said emphatically.

"What are you talkin' about? We went swimming last year." They stopped at the edge of the ocean-- weren't those beautiful words-- and Anna stepped just to where the water would cover her feet when the tide came in. Dean smirked at her sudden timidness and let her be for a minute even as he stepped farther into the water so it was up to his mid-calf. He knew she was a little nervous as this was her first time seeing an ocean up close, and it was damn well different than the shitty little pools they were all used to. Once a couple minutes had passed and she still hadn't ventured any farther, Dean held a hand out to her. "Come on. The ocean don't bite, Rugrat."

Anna bit her lip and accepted his hand even as she replied, "I'm not scared of it."

Dean hummed a response and led her slowly a little farther until the water was up to her hips and his knees. He could feel her grip on his hand tightening ever so slightly the deeper the water got and when he stopped moving, it didn't relax. He didn't know what she was so worried about. She could swim as well as he could and when he was right there beside her, she was in no danger of being swept away.

A cool, bluish wave crashed a foot or so from them and splashed water onto the both of them. Anna's surprised laugh brought a bright smile to Dean's face and he crouched in the water so he'd be at her level-- and so he could feel the cool water better. He released her hand and instead wrapped an arm around her waist so he could point out a group of birds down shore from them. As soon as he let go of her hand, Anna scrambled to grab onto his shoulder. Rather than making fun of her like he always had with Sam when they were younger, Dean nodded toward the black guillemots on the beach and watched Anna's eyes light up with curiosity as she observed them.

"Do they only live at the ocean?" she asked. "I've never seen that kind of bird before."

Smart kid, Dean thought quietly, letting a proud smile quirk on his face. "Yep, they live on the coast of Maine," he explained. He dunked his arms under the water and reveled in the coolness of it. "We have got to do this more often," he commented and wished they were deep enough that the water would close over his shoulders. He wouldn't go that deep with Anna in tow, though. Timid as she may be at the moment, he knew it would only take her maybe half an hour to adjust and feel more comfortable in the water if he brought her farther out. With her recent independent streak soaring, he hated to think what could happen if she ignored an instruction to stay close and went deeper or farther than was safe.

He did, however, lift her up and start walking just a little deeper, so that the water was up to his own waist and her legs dangled in it. If she were standing now, the water would be over her head. But Anna was still too nervous to let go of him. "You want to swim?" Dean offered as a small wave crashed someplace behind him and a few people squealed happily. Anna shook her head and ducked it into the crook of Dean's neck. It was really too warm for cuddles, though, and Dean shrugged his shoulder until she lifted her head back up. "C'mon, the water feels great," he tempted and tried to ease her away from him. "It's just like swimming in motel pools, but it's cleaner."

"And saltier." Sam's voice startled both of them, and Anna's arm tensed around the back of Dean's neck. When both his siblings leveled him with quizzically surprised looks, Sam shrugged. "What can I say? I just kept thinking of you two out here in the nice cold water while I was back in the sweltering motel room with my head in a book."

"Knew you'd see reason. You know what I'm always tellin' ya, Sammy."

"What's that?" Sam asked with one eyebrow raised.

"That I'm always right." When Sam shot him an all out bitch face, Dean just grinned. "Ha!"

Sam couldn't help but smirk, and he reached out to take Anna from their brother, holding onto her hands so she could tread water. "Go deeper, man. I'll watch her," he offered kindly. Dean gave him a look as if to ask if he was sure, and Sam lifted their sister when she put a hand on his shoulder. "Consider it an apology for how hard-headed I was this morning. And anyway, with your deal and every-" The next thing Sam knew, he was coming up spluttering with wet, shaggy hair hanging over his eyes. "Dean-!"

Dean was laughing hysterically, but he shook his head at the accusation in Sam's tone. "Uh-uh, man. Nope. Wasn't me."

Sam looked in offended surprise at Anna, who was still in his arms, but now with the bottoms of her hair dripping wet from having gone partially underwater with him. "Dean said those words are grounds for dunking."

"What? What words?"

"Your deal," Anna answered simply, then shrieked when Dean grabbed and dunked her. She came up with a gasp and latched onto his arm. "Hey, no fair, I was just explaining!" she said angrily, then used her grip on Dean to jump up on him and attempt to dunk him too. She was too small, though, all gangly arms and legs, and her best efforts couldn't do more than make him stumble in the water. It was mildly gratifying watching Dean's arms windmill for a second as he lost his balance, but it would have been way better if she'd succeeded in dunking him as he had her. "Sammy," she called with just enough pleading in her voice that Sam couldn't have refused her anything she asked for.

In fact, Sam was more than happy to comply with this particular request. He placed both hands on the top of Dean's head and shoved him under. He just managed to get an arm around Anna's waist and keep her from going under the surface too. Dean popped up almost immediately. "Two against one," he said breathlessly as water dripped from his wet hair and cascaded in front of his face. "That is not fair."

"Whatever, man, you started it."

"I started it? She started it!"

"You told her your deal was grou-" Sam didn't even have time to finish his sentence before he was coming up from underwater again. "Dude!"

"Watch the munchkin, Sammy. I'm going swimming."

"Yeah, whatever," Sam conceded as he blinked the salty water from his now-burning eyes. He felt Anna's hand grab onto his and she moved to cling onto his shoulder again, but Sam stopped her. "You know how to swim, Anna," he reminded gently. "Just stay close to me, okay?"

Anna nodded, feeling a little more confident after their dunking session. She let go of his hand and treaded water skillfully. "I'm pretty sure Dean brought you a sandwich anyway."

Sam laughed, and a miniature wave rocked the water around them in an almost soothing rhythm. "More likely that he brought himself two sandwiches."

"But he'll give you one at least," Anna said with a shrug that said it made no difference. "I think he knew you would come 'ventually."

"Eventually," Sam emphasized and grabbed her arm when she started moving a little further from him than he was comfortable with while they were this far out in the water. "And is that right?"

"Yep. I know b'cause I knew too."

Sam rolled his eyes fondly at her. It was easy to say you knew it after the fact.

"Okay, I hoped," Anna amended shyly. Then she busted out a thousand watt grin and splashed water at her brother. "Let's play something!"

Sam reached out to wipe some water off her forehead that had been dripping toward her eye. "Play what?"

"I don't know. Maybe dunk tank."

The look on his face clearly said he didn't like that idea, but Sam still asked, "How does one play dunk tank without a dunk tank?"

"Easy. You ask questions, and the first person to get three wrong gets dunked."

Sam wrinkled his nose in a very Anna-like expression of distaste. "What are the questions about?"

"Not hunting 'cause then, you'll win. And not cartoons 'cause then, I'll win."

"Very fair deduction," Sam smiled at her and used one hand to smooth his wet hair back away from his face so it would stop dripping. "How about personal trivia?"

"Huh?"

Sam laughed at the perplexed expression on Anna's face and ruffled her wet hair once. "I mean questions about one another."

"Okay!" Anna agreed excitedly. "I'll go first. Um..." she thought for a minute, even running a hand through her tangled wet curls in a mimicry of Dean's usual thinking pose. "Never mind. You go first."

Sam swallowed his laughter so as not to make her feel bad and made a popping sound with his mouth as he thought for a second. "Alright, here goes. What year was I born?"

Anna tilted her head with a smug smile. "1983." When Sam couldn't hide his surprise at her fast and accurate answer, Anna splashed water at him playfully. "Your birthday just happened, and I did the math 'cause 24 is so old."

Sam wasn't sure whether he should be offended by her insult or pleasantly surprised that she knew how old he was and the year he was born. She's a smart kid, he surmised, unknowingly echoing Dean's earlier thinking. Anyway, 24 wasn't so old, and when he was nine, he probably would have said the same thing, so there wasn't really anything to be offended about. "You go," he suggested.

"Um, you were already big when I was born," she thought aloud, eliminating the possibility that she could just repeat his question. Sam would have begged to differ. When she was born, he was fifteen and still majorly overprotected by both father and older brother-- mostly older brother. Fifteen was not big, but it was old enough to remember in vivid detail the day he met his little sister, which meant her point stood. He didn't argue with her logic. "Ooh. I got one!" She got a serious look on her face. "What is my favorite book?" she asked and squinted at him as if she thought she needed to wear a poker face.

"Oh, you mean that Boxcar Children book you've read a hundred thousand times and made me read a hundred thousand more times?"

Anna blushed a little and nodded.

"Let's see, it's number 41. The Mystery of the Hidden Beach."

"Yeah. Sammy, my legs are tired. Can you hold me?"

To think, questions like that could still make his heart melt, even as painfully cold as he'd been thinking he'd become since finding out about what Dean had done for him. He scooped her up and wandered a little farther into the deeper water, the sun beating down on his bare back and shoulders almost unbearable. He'd forgotten to put on sunscreen and he doubted Dean had put any on their sister, so he made a mental note to get them back to shore once their game was finished.

"My turn?" he asked.

Anna nodded and let her head fall on his shoulder, the hot sun making her drowsy. Sam wondered indistinctly whether he would be capable of sharing these kinds of sweet and simple moments-- her head on his shoulder, her fingers twisting absentmindedly in the hair at the back of his neck just like when she was little-- once Dean had been dragged to hell. Grounds for dunking, he reminded himself silently. But he needn't have. Anna's voice was already pulling his attention back to the here and now.

"Do a hard one this time, okay?"

"How hard? Impossible?" Sam teased and tickled her belly with the arm not holding her up.

"No, that's mean, 'cause then I don't got a chance."

"Don't have a chance."

"Who cares?" Anna grumbled, and Sam very nearly reprimanded her for being disrespectful over something as simple as his correcting her grammar. But he stopped himself. They were having a rare normal and peaceful moment together and he had no desire to ruin that over such a small misstep. Anna actually surprised him, though, by saying, "Sorry. I'll be nice," without any prompting. "What's your question?" she then asked eagerly, head popping up off his shoulder again.

"Okay, here's question two. What was my favorite game when I was a kid?"

Anna wrinkled her nose. "I wasn't even born," she complained, but she still seemed to be wracking her brain for an answer. "I think Dean told me once," she admitted and pursed her lips in thought. It was actually adorable, and Sam smiled affectionately as he watched her think. "I can't remember. Mousetrap?"

Sam smirked. "That was Dean, Ladybug."

"What was yours, then?"

"I liked Hide and Go Seek," Sam told her as he watched a boat far off in the distance.

"Even when you got bigger like me?"

Sam almost smiled at hearing that question come out of the kid who was just under four feet tall at nine years old. "By the time I was your age, it had pretty much become an extreme sport. Used to take Dean hours to find me. It ticked him off."

"Yeah, 'cause he probably got scared you were gone. He always gets mad when he's scared."

The truth of that statement cut Sam a little deeper than it probably should have. Anna could read their older brother as well as he could. She relied on him as much as he did. And when Dean was gone, how could Sam expect to fill those shoes?

"Sam, you're thinking about it again. We're not s'posed to today."

Funny how she could read him the way Dean could, too. Everybody but Sam seemed to know how to get their place in this family right.

"I'll dunk you," Anna threatened when she caught the saddening look on his face.

Her menacing glare made Sam chortle. She couldn't dunk Dean earlier, and Sam was even bigger. Well, taller. Dean still had more muscle mass after the time Sam spent at college. "Alright, I'm sorry," he said in surrender. "It's your turn to ask a question."

"Okay. How about... What does Dean do that I hate the most?"

"Like a pet peeve?"

Anna shrugged as if to say I don't know what that means, but sure.

"He's bossy, but that's his job," Sam said thoughtfully, using the verbal process of elimination out loud. "Is it when he makes you eat healthy food while he's downing half the grease in the country?"

Anna snickered, "No. But that is stupid," she allowed, still smiling. Then she pouted while she revealed the answer. "I hate when he makes us watch Die Hard every time we do a movie night. It's not even that good."

The answer startled a laugh out of Sam. It shouldn't have been that surprising, though. Every time they sat down to have a movie marathon-- whether a few movies or a dozen of them-- Dean would insist on adding Die Hard onto the list, first and foremost. Anna was always very vocal about how stupid she though that was when they could be watching movies none of them had seen before. She usually fell asleep by the time they got to it anyway, her head resting on one of her brothers' lap and her feet on the other. But she still argued every single time Dean brought it up as an option and full-on groaned when he put it in the official stack of DVDs.

"Okay. We each have one strike," Anna told him. "You go."

"How tall am I?"

Anna looked positively affronted at being asked such a specific question. "I don't know. Tall!"

Sam laughed, "Six foot five inches."

"Same difference." Anna's expression grew pinched and serious as she thought of a new question. It had to be a good one, because she had more strikes than Sam at this point. "What's my favorite color?"

Sam thought for a second. He thought he must know the answer. How could he not? But he thought for over a minute and came up empty. "Wow, I really don't know your favorite color," he finally admitted defeat.

"That's cause I don't have a favorite color," Anna said smugly and grinned broadly at having outwitted her genius of an older brother.

"Trick questions are fair play now, huh?" Sam asked and tickled her once more. It made her shriek with laughter, drawing the attention of a few people nearby who simply smiled and went back to sharing joyful moments with their own families. "Alright alright. Um..."

They continued to go back and forth, answering most of the questions correctly until finally, Anna got a third one wrong. As soon as Sam started shaking his head, a devious grin in place, she started hunching in on herself with her eyes squeezed shut, preparing to be dunked under the surface of the water. When nothing happened, she looked up in surprise. She was still holding onto Sam's shoulder and he hadn't dunked her yet.

"Just do it," she requested when she saw the smile still on his face.

"Oh, come on. It's no fun if I do it while you're expecting it."

Anna scoffed indignantly at that response. "That's so m-" She didn't have time to finish speaking before she was plunged under the surface of the water and pulled swiftly back up, gasping and coughing. She shivered once as the air hit her skin and her heavy, wet hair flung around to hit her back and make it sting.

"Hey, I think you're getting sunburnt," Sam commented, reaching out to gently run a finger along her cheek, which was red enough to look as though she were blushing in embarrassment. "Did Dean put lotion on you?"

The fury that immediately appeared on her face persuaded Sam to rephrase his question.

"Did you put lotion on?" he tried again.

Anna shook her head. "You and Dean didn't put any on, so I don't have to either."

Sam internally sighed at what perfect role models they were. "Well, I'm gonna go put some on. And I don't know about you, but I could go for some lunch."

"Yeah, my feet are probably all wrinkly," Anna said seriously, startling a laugh out of her older brother. His dimples showed for a moment, and she smiled even though she didn't know why he thought that was so funny.

Sam called to their older brother and the three of them headed to the shore together. Anna marveled at how difficult it was to walk, and then argued vehemently with Dean when he told her it was because she was 'waterlogged.'

()()()

"Sheesh, Munchkin. How'd you get so burned, so fast?" Dean asked as he started rubbing sun lotion gently onto her back where her swimsuit didn't cover. It had taken much convincing on his and Sam's part to get her to accept the help since she was so determined these days that she could do everything herself. "I mean, seriously, we've only been here for, like, an hour."

"I don't know," Anna answered, supremely unconcerned as she ripped a corner off her PB&J sandwich to eat. The peanut butter was sticky and dry on her throat, and she reached toward the bag for a drink, but Dean put a hand on her shoulder to still her as he didn't realize what she was after. Sam tossed her a juice box, and anybody who met them never would have imagined he and his brother to be the type who carried juice boxes around, but that was what life with a little kid entailed. Anna suddenly hissed and arched her back away from Dean's ministrations with a louder than necessary exclamation of "Ow."

"Take it easy, Rugrat. It's just gonna get worse if you don't put lotion on now."

"I did everywhere else," she reminded her brother stubbornly.

"Well, your back got the worst of it, so sit still and let me finish."

Anna obediently stopped moving while she ate her sandwich, and Dean was done pretty quickly. "Are we gonna go back in the water?" she asked longingly, staring at the ocean where people were still gathered in groups of various sizes splashing each other, swimming, and laughing.

"Maybe later," Sam answered while Dean put the bottle of lotion back in their bag. "I was thinkin' we should walk the boardwalk."

Dean smirked. "Sure you don't have too many bad memories from last time, Sammy?" he asked with a shit-eating grin.

"Dean," Sam said warningly.

"What happened?" Anna asked eagerly. She abandoned the second half of her sandwich to keep sipping on her juice box and listen to the story.

"Sammy had himself a run in with a seagull," Dean explained mirthfully.

"Did it attack you?" Anna asked with genuine concern.

"Nope," Dean answered for him when Sam just blushed and picked deliberately at the sandwich Dean had, in fact, packed for him. "It crapped on him."

Sam shot him a dirty look. "Not just on me. In my hair." He bitterly and with unnecessary aggression ripped off a chunk of his sandwich to eat. But before putting it in his mouth, he finished the story so that Dean wouldn't do it for him. "Then it happened again and the second time, it was in my ice cream."

"It was actually kind of impressive," Dean laughed. "I mean, that damn bird had killer aim."

Both his siblings were laughing openly at him, and Sam wanted to be frustrated. He really did. But they didn't laugh like this... well, ever. And it was so nice to hear both of them so genuinely happy, even when it was at his own expense. He smiled softly for a second as he watched them, then focused back on his sandwich to play the part of insulted little brother for Dean. Maybe he did know how to fill his role in this family. At least for now. And if he could save Dean-- No. He would save Dean, and then filling his older brother's shoes wouldn't be a concern at all.

"Wait, did you say ice cream?" Anna suddenly asked as she and Dean's laughter subsided. "They have ice cream here?"

"No better market," Dean quipped. When Anna looked at him with eyes that clearly begged him to speak in terms she would understand, he smiled good-naturedly at her. "Yep, there's ice cream. And since you haven't caused nearly the trouble you usually do..." he trailed off and watched Anna wrinkled her nose indignantly, her hands on her hips as she huffed at him.

"You cause more trouble than me," she accused even as a smiled quirked at her lips.

"I do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Dean." Sam's chastisement put a quick stop to their ridiculous argument. "Ladybug, why don't you make a sand castle or something?"

Anna's eyes lit up at the idea and she started looking around for something to dig or build one with. Eventually, she just shrugged, climbed off the towel into the hot sand, and started using her hands to dig in the sand.

"You know what, Sammy?"

Sam turned to look at his brother and tossed the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth, patiently awaiting the successor of Dean's question.

"She wasn't even wrong. I do cause more trouble than she does."

Sam had to put a hand to his mouth so he wouldn't spit his sandwich in the dirt. A few feet in front of them, Anna looked back with a wide grin on her face, one that proclaimed a joyful I told you so.

()()()

It wasn't until a few hours later-- after a giant sand castle that all three of them contributed to and a subsequent half hour spent in the water trying to clean the sand off of themselves-- that the Winchesters strolled leisurely down the boardwalk.

Sam had their bag on one shoulder, and Anna was tucked under one of Dean's arms, leaning her head against his ribs as they walked. Being in the sun for hours with no hat had resulted in a dull headache that was growing ever so slightly with the passing minutes. But she didn't want the day to end. It had been so peaceful and unerringly pleasant. It had been blissful in a way that their lives just never got the chance to be.

"Ice cream vendor," Sam said lowly, and nodded toward an ice cream truck with a tremendous line. He passed the bag to Dean after pulling out somebody's wallet-- it never really mattered whose-- and nudged Anna's shoulder. "What kind you want, kiddo?"

Anna shrugged indifferently. Ice cream had sounded delightful earlier, but her stomach didn't feel so great now. Still, it was hot outside, and ice cream would be a refreshing treat, at least. "Chocolate?" she requested, hoping something simple would be easy to take in.

"Plain chocolate?" Sam repeated in surprise.

Anna hummed an affirmative, nodding with the side of her face still pressed against Dean's side. She looked distractedly at a group of teenagers on the boardwalk who were singing along loudly to music from a speaker, grinning from time to time as a particularly enjoyable part of the song passed.

"Hey, Space Cadet." Anna looked up at Dean to see he was gesturing toward a round picnic table close by that was being vacated by a family with two small children who were pushing and shoving one another as they started down the boardwalk. "Let's go sit," he offered, and Anna complied, letting Dean guide her in the direction of the newly empty table. "You okay, Rugrat? You tired or something?" he asked once they were seated side by side at the table.

"My head hurts a little," Anna admitted. "But I like it here."

"We'll head back soon," Dean promised anyway.

It was nearly 4:00, and they were supposed to call Bobby because he'd promised to find a case somewhere nearby for them today, if there was anything. He had agreed wholeheartedly when Dean mentioned it might be good for them to take the day off while they were so close to the ocean, but they still owed him that phone call tonight. Tomorrow, they would be back on the road in search of the next monster, providing Bobby's search for a case had been fruitful.

Dean put the thoughts away as they began to dilute his joy and make him feel rather melancholy. He looked down at his little sister and winced a little at her red cheeks. She really had burned more quickly than he'd anticipated, or he would have put lotion on her. He should have known better, though, and he kicked himself.

"You know, the sun can give you freckles," he said out of nowhere.

Anna tilted her head at him. "No, it can't," she said with an eye roll, obviously convinced that he was just pulling her leg.

"Seriously, it can."

"How?"

Dean looked away and squinted in the still bright light of the afternoon sun. He knew the answer, but it was more fun to let her think he was just joshing first. "Do I look like a freakin' scientist to you? I don't know how. But it can. How do you think I got all these?" he asked, indicating the light spattering of freckles under his eyes and on his nose.

"I already have 'em," Anna said. "And I haven't been in the sun that much."

"It had time to burn you. Who's to say it didn't have time to give you freckles?" His voice was getting more and more playful, and Anna started to actually laugh indignantly.

"It did not give me freckles," she argued. "I just have them 'cause you have them."

"That's not how genetics work," Dean corrected vaguely and smirked at Anna's naivety. "Go ahead and look. I bet I have some new ones, too."

She looked suspicious, but Anna got to her knees on the bench and studied his face nonetheless. "You look the same," she said seriously, sounding like she was done with his shit.

Dean smirked, leaned forward to break the foot between them, and kissed her on the forehead. "So do you," he promised with an amused smile.

Anna smiled back at him and kissed him on the cheek. Then she sat back on her feet, still facing him, and watched the ice cream line inch forward. Sam was close to the front now. "Can the sun really give you freckles?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah," Dean said. "But they don't last like normal freckles."

"They go away?"

"Yep. They get dark in the Summer and they fade in the Winter."

"How come?"

"Some chemical in your skin," Dean explained directly. "Your skin makes more of it when the sun's out, and that's how you get darker freckles."

"What's it called?"

Dean smirked, knowing she would never remember the name, that she would probably just ask him again the next time she thought of this conversation because she would want to know all over again. "Melanin," he answered anyway.

Anna looked thoughtfully at him, then seemed to decide something. She leaned up to give him a hug around the neck and spoke into his ear. "You're so smart, Dean."

His heart filled, but Dean just patted his sister on the back and smiled sadly at the sun dipping low in the sky. The things he was giving up... He hated to think like that. It made him feel broody and weak. But mostly it made him feel depressed. What would Anna do without him? She would have Sam, he'd been assuring himself time and time again over the past couple months since he made that deal. And Sam would have her. Dean was the one who was losing, right? His siblings would have each other. This was his sacrifice. But Sam had called him selfish, and Dean couldn't help but believe that he was just that. Selfish.

He was leaving this little girl, the one who believed the best about him and looked to him for answers about the smallest and the biggest problems. He was leaving his kid brother, the one whose ice cream he'd replaced with his own after that seagull pooped in Sam's when they were teenagers walking a boardwalk much like this one.

"Chocolate," Sam's voice suddenly interrupted. Anna pulled away from the hug to accept her ice cream. "And cherry vanilla. Dude, you never admit it, but it's your favorite. Don't even lie."

Dean couldn't even bring himself to glare at Sam after his mind had gone to such sorrowful places over the last minute or so. After all, Sammy was right. Dean was a sucker for cherry vanilla ice cream. Cherry vanilla ice cream and his younger siblings.

His jaw worked for a minute as he thought. When he looked up, Anna had already gotten chocolate on her face, Sam was trying to get her to use a napkin, and Dean couldn't keep from displaying an affectionate smile as he took notice.

They were struggling through the dog days of Summer, his deal hanging over their heads, and this moment still couldn't have been any more perfect.

La Fin