Note: Merry Christmas! I'm just kidding... mostly. I did write a Christmas chapter in May...

But @naghoster asked me to! And they're just so awesome, I couldn't say no. So I hope you like it, love <3

Anna is seven.

I Ain't Sayin' Merry Christmas to a Frog

In her school bus yellow overalls, Anna raced down the stairs, ignoring the way they groaned into the bottoms of her bare feet. "Uncle Bobbyyyy," she called as she ran. "They're baaack!"

The seven year old had an enormous grin on her face, her cheeks full of color and spattered in freckles. Her curly blonde hair flounced against her back as she ran. Finally, in a chaotic rhythm of steps and bounces, she stopped in front of the screen door just in time for it to swing open and reveal two tall men.

"My boys," she said and threw her arms open wide.

They both laughed at her, and Dean accepted her invitation to pick her up. He planted several quick kisses against her cheek, bending forward until the ends of her curly hair nearly touched the floor. Anna squealed and giggled, finally pressing her small palms against her brother's jaw to shove him away.

As soon as Dean set her down, though, she jumped at Sam, who just squeezed her tightly and gave her a big, wet kiss on the temple. "We missed you, Ladybug," he said with an affectionate smile.

"Halloween too?" Anna asked and pointed with both hands at the little stuffed frog. He was stuffed, as per usual, into the front pocket of her overalls.

"Of course Halloween too," Dean said with exaggerated enthusiasm. "Who wouldn't miss that frog?" He crouched to Anna's level and ruffled her hair, then pulled her in for one more hug and kiss. "What'd you do with Uncle Bobby while we were gone, Rugrat?"

Anna immediately spouted off a long list of activities including baking cookies, fixing cars, riding her bike around the salvage yard, and more.

"Alright, alright," Bobby finally spoke over her from behind. "Let's give the boys a little room to breathe, Anna." He gestured for Sam and Dean to come out of the entryway and into the living room. "You two want coffee, or beer?"

"Coffee," Sam and Dean said at the same time.

Anna giggled at them. She always thought it was so funny when that happened. "Christmas coffee!" She chirped suddenly. "Cause it's Christmas Eve!"

"No better kind," Sam agreed with her and set a gentle hand on her head as Anna bounced on her heels. "Did you have lunch already?"

"No, we was waitin' for you guys," Anna replied. "Bobby made a whole bunch of chili. He said it's your favorite!"

"Think there were some signals crossed there," Dean mumbled.

Anna giggled again and leaned away from Sam's hand to make sure Bobby was safely out of hearing distance. "That's mean," she then told Dean with a big smile on her face.

"Then why are you laughing," Dean asked and tickled her sides.

"I'm not," Anna squealed and tried to fend off his wriggling fingers against her ribs. She lost the battle and wound up on her back on the floor, laughing so hard that her face went red. Finally, Dean quit tickling and scooped her up to throw her over his shoulder. "Hey," Anna said indignantly, but her tone made it clear that she was loving the attention.

"Did you hear something, Sammy?" Dean asked, feigning ignorance. "I swear I heard something."

"I didn't hear anything," Sam played along with an innocent expression. "Here, turn around, maybe there's something behind you."

Dean turned around, and Anna reached for Sam with a grin on her face. "Sam!" She yelped, "Help me."

"Hey, there's a kid back here," Sam said and reached for Anna just long enough to tickle her armpits and make her giggle again.

Dean turned back around. "Where?" He asked. "Where's the kid?"

"She was just here," Sam said curiously. "I saw her."

"Hey, I'm right here," Anna exclaimed with great indignation. She pressed her hands against Dean's shoulder-blade and craned backwards, but her spine refused to bend enough that she could see Sam again.

Dean gasped. "Did you hear that?"

"I didn't hear anything."

Dean turned around.

"There she is!" Sam said.

Dean turned around again so fast it almost made Anna dizzy. She was too busy giggling to care. She loved this game. "Where?" Dean asked urgently.

"Hey, she's gone again," Sam teased.

Dean turned around again, and this time Sam grabbed Anna and hauled her off their brother's shoulder. "I caught her!" He cried and tickled her sides until Anna was red-faced again.

Everyone was smiling wide enough to make their cheeks hurt by the time Bobby stepped back into the room with two mugs of steaming coffee. Sam set Anna down on the floor and reached gratefully for his cup.

As the boys started to drink their coffee and talk with Bobby, Anna focused on the little frog in her pocket. He'd nearly fallen out in all the hassle. If he hadn't been stuffed so tightly into her small pocket, he likely would have wound up on the floor. "Sorry, Halloween," she said slyly. "I was gettin' tickled."

She skipped along behind the boys as they went to sit on the couch. She hopped backwards up onto the couch, making both boys hold their coffee cups carefully away from their bodies to avoid spilling hot liquid on themselves.

"Anna volunteered to help me make Christmas dinner, so you three gotta stay for the holiday now."

"That's too bad," Sam said sarcastically. "Gas station food is especially good on Christmas."

"Sammy," Anna drawled in exasperation. She pulled Halloween out of her pocket and shoved him toward Sam's face. "Halloween hates gas stations' food! Especially on Christmas!"

"He's kiddin', Munchkin, put the frog away." Dean put a hand over Anna's and guided the stuffed animal back to her lap. His hair was messy and spiked when he ran his hand through it and sighed. "Man, it is gonna be good to spend some time doin' nothing," he admitted and leaned back into the couch cushion, propping his feet up, ankles crossed, on the coffee table.

"'Cept for opening presents!" Anna reminded him.

"Oh, didn't you hear?" Dean asked with a falsely concerned look on his face. "We aren't doing presents this year. It was canceled."

"What?!" Anna shouted. Then she made a doubtful face. "You're lying."

"He's just tryin' to get your goat, Anna," Bobby told her from the armchair across from them.

Anna made a face. "What?! I don't have a goat." Everyone laughed at her, and Anna crossed her arms. "I don't!" She repeated adamantly.

"It's an expression," Sam told her. "It means he's just trying to get you worked up. He's teasing you."

"Ohhhh," Anna said. "Well, that's a dumb es'pression. It doesn't make sense."

"Most of em don't," Dean told her and rustled her hair. "Jeez, you need a bath, kid," he said and looked down at Anna's dirty hair. It was clear she'd been playing outside, because her curls were limp in some places from having gotten wet with snow and then drying again repeatedly.

"That's what I've been tellin' her since this morning. She insisted on waitin' til you got back so she wouldn't miss you when you pulled in." Bobby adjusted his cap on his head and nodded toward the stairs. "Any time now, kid," he told Anna.

"But they just got here," Anna complained and grabbed one arm on each of her brothers to pull them against her stomach and hug them.

"And they'll be here when you're done," Bobby said and gestured toward the stairs once again. "Let 'em drink their coffee a minute while you take a bath."

"Yeah, Rugrat, you're startin' to stink," Dean teased and pinched his nose. He waved his other hand in front of his face. "Ugh," he groaned and made a face. "You smell like rotten eggs."

Anna made a sour but amused face. "No, you smell like rotten eggs. And poop," she added. She liked to add that at the end of all her arguments lately. It was basically a guarantee that she would win any fight she said that in.

"Hey, take it back," Dean said in a nasally voice.

"Nuh-uh," Anna giggled.

He reached out to tickle her sides, and Anna squealed. She wouldn't fall victim to that one again. She leapt off the couch and ran for the stairs, clutching Halloween to her chest for dear life.

()()()

Anna tiptoed through the room, her bare toes half-numb on the cool wooden floor. She had to make a decision— which brother should she wake up? Normally she would choose Sam and be done with it. He woke up nicer than Dean did.

She looked down at Halloween, and he seemed to be thinking just what she was thinking- It was Christmas. She was so tempted to wake them both up and start the fun nice and early. Plus, she'd just been downstairs, and Bobby already had coffee started, he'd told her so. That meant she could probably get Dean out of bed with fewer consequences than usual.

Decision made, Anna stood beside Dean's bed and put her small hand on the side of his face. It was covered in scratchy stubble, a sure sign that he hadn't shaved in a couple days. "Dean," she whispered. "I'm not a monster," she assured him.

"Debatable," Dean growled back. "Wakin' a man up at-" he opened one eye to look at the alarm clock on the nightstand. "Five in the morning. Gotta be some kinda monster."

Anna bit her lip and leaned closer to whisper again. "Bobby made coffee." She sat on the side of the bed and leaned her elbow against her brother's hip, Halloween flopping limply against his stomach. She used the position as leverage to scoot higher up on the bed, and Dean released a pained noise.

"Go easy," he requested, rubbing his hip with one hand. "Alright, I'm up. I'm gonna take a leak. Be a sweetheart, and get me a cup of coffee, will you, Rugrat?"

Anna gleamed. "Okay! Will you wake Sammy up?"

"We're gonna let Sammy sleep a little longer," Dean told her and threw the covers off of himself. Before she even had her mouth all the way open, he cut off her argument. "He needs every minute of sleep he can get, Anna. Go downstairs."

Anna shrugged. Dean was up, and that would have to be enough. She scurried down the stairs, bare toes thumping softly against wood. "Uncle Bobby, I gotta bring Dean a cup of coffee."

"That ain't all too surprising," Bobby told her and pulled a mug out of the cupboard. "There ya go, Button," he said and carefully passed down a steaming cup of coffee. "You tell him there's bacon down here for him. That oughta put him in a good mood."

"Thanks, Uncle Bobby!" She bounded back toward the stairs and hissed, her little nose wrinkling, when coffee spilled over the sides of the cup and stung the skin on one of her hands.

"Don't be runnin' with that coffee," Bobby called after her, just a little too late.

"I won't," she called back anyway. "Don't tell him, Halloween," she told the frog, still dangling from her other hand. "You can't tattle on Christmas." She looked at his small eyes and said, "I know you wouldn't anyway, I'm just sayin!" She started up the stairs, now being very careful not to spill a drop of coffee.

When she got back to their room, Dean was standing there with his jeans on but no shirt. "Shh," he reminded her as she entered the room. He nodded to where Sam was still out like a light in his bed. "Thank you, Sweetheart," he told her and took the coffee from her.

"Merry Christmas," Anna stage whispered. She held up her stuffed frog. "From me and Halloween."

Dean smiled softly at her around the rim of his coffee cup. A tiny dribble of coffee fell over his bottom lip as he pulled his cup down again and said, "Merry Christmas, Anna."

Anna thrust her stuffed animal at him again.

"And Halloween," he added belatedly.

Anna smiled contentedly. That was all she needed. Dean set his coffee aside after one more careful sip. He grabbed one of his softer henleys off the end of the bed and slid his arms into the sleeves before pulling the shirt over his head.

"I don't have a Christmas outfit," Anna told her brother as he picked his coffee cup back up. "Does that mean I get to wear my pajamas?"

"If that's what you want," Dean agreed easily. "But you do have that fancy red dress Dad got you last year."

"I hate dresses," Anna said predictably. She grabbed Dean's hand and started to tug him toward the doorway. "Incept for when you can spin in 'em and make 'em twirl around you."

"Those are the best," Dean said absently as he stepped off the last step into the living room. "Do I smell bacon?"

"Yeah!" Anna exclaimed. She let go of her brother's hand and started to jump up and down aimlessly, Halloween bouncing in her hand. "Uncle Bobby said it'll make you happy."

"Uncle Bobby was right," Dean said eagerly and took a deep drink of coffee. He opened his mouth after and took a breath to try and clear the heat from his tongue and throat. That coffee was still steaming hot.

"Halloween likes bacon too," Anna informed her brother as they both walked into the kitchen. "He told me so."

"Is that right?"

"Uh-huh. He tried it 'cause you like it, and now it's his favorite."

"Frog's got taste," Dean said and set his coffee down on the table. In front of an already full breakfast plate complete with eggs, toast, and, of course, plenty of bacon. "Thanks, Bobby."

"Yeah, yeah," Bobby mumbled and went back to the stove.

Anna scuttled over and peered up at him. "Do you want help?" she offered. "I'm a good cook."

"You just save your energy for making dinner later, Button," Bobby requested. "I got breakfast covered."

"Okay," Anna shrugged and went back over to sit beside Dean. It was only a minute before a plate was set in front of her as well. "Thank you," she said politely and set Halloween on the table beside her plate. They had to share, because nobody ever gave Halloween his own plate. She pretended to feed him a piece of bacon, and Dean smiled surreptitiously at her, his mouth full of eggs and bacon.

It was half an hour later, when Anna and Dean were both finished eating, that Sam walked sleepily into the kitchen.

"Merry Christmas," everybody chorused to him, and Sam smiled lazily.

"Merry Christmas," he returned. "Bobby, Dean, Anna..." He leaned down to give his sister a peck on the cheek, then looked at the frog beside her plate. "Halloween."

Anna positively beamed. Nobody else had remembered her friend without being prompted. "See, Uncle Bobby," she said. "He counts."

"I ain't sayin' Merry Christmas to a frog," Bobby grouched and nodded at the plate he'd set out for Sam. He sat down and took his first bite of his own breakfast.

"But he said it to you," Anna argued. She made a pleading face at him, but Bobby just fixed her with an unimpressed look. "Fine," Anna said and sighed. Talk about stubborn. "Hey, when can we do presents?" she asked. "I gotta get your guys's from upstairs!" She didn't even wait for an answer to her question before she bolted away from the table, leaving Halloween where he was in her excitement.

She dashed up the stairs and heard multiple voices from the kitchen warning her to slow down. When she got back to the kitchen, she was breathless. "Can I give 'em to you now?" she asked. "Please, pretty please?"

"Alright, alright," Dean told her and laughed. "Slow your roll, alright? Sam and Bobby haven't eaten yet."

"Aw, it's alright, Dean," Bobby said with a half smile and waved Anna over. "She's been danglin' this in front of my face for days now. I'm dyin to find out what she made me."

Anna's mood brightened tenfold at Bobby's words. She pulled three sheets of paper from behind her back and handed them out to each man at the table. Bobby looked at the drawing on the front, then turned the page over and read his note aloud, "Dear Uncle Bobby, Thank you for letting me fix cars with you. You're very smart and funny. You're a..." He paused to try to decipher the seven-year-old handwriting in front of him. "... Good teacher. I love you. From Anna and... Halloween?" he asked in exasperation. "Dammit, alright," he said and looked from Anna's beaming little face to the stuffed animal she was holding to her chest once again. "Merry Christmas, ya little rodent," he told the frog.

Anna cheered happily and smiled so wide that her nose wrinkled with it. "He says thank you," she told Bobby almost shyly, squeezing Halloween more tightly against herself. Her little bare feet made dull noises against the floor when she bounded over to Dean. "You next!" she said, since Sam was eating his breakfast.

Dean was still smirking at Bobby, but when she spoke to him, he turned his attention to Anna. "Alright, alright." He looked at the drawing on his. It was only because he was so often shown his sister's art that Dean was able to decipher what everything was. The drawing depicted the Impala, three people sitting on her hood, and a blanket of stars and darkness above them. Anna had added a face on the moon and given him a hat for whatever reason. Dean thought it was just about the cutest thing he'd ever seen. "Wow," he said. "You're gettin' better every day, Rugrat. You're gettin' to be a regular Picasso."

Anna didn't know what that meant, but she could tell it was a compliment. "Thanks!" she said brightly and leaned against his leg as Dean turned the paper over.

"Dear Dean, Thanks for always watching movies with me and driving in the car a lot. I like when you sing to me at night. You're so awesome and nice to me. Love, Rugrat." Dean's eyes were damp, though he would never have admitted it, and his smile was completely out of his control. "Thank you, Anna," he said and hugged her to his side. He gave her a kiss on the head.

Sam was smiling too when Anna turned to him. "My turn?" he asked. "I'm dying with anticipation."

Anna didn't know that word either, but she again took it to mean he was excited. "Yeah!" she said and launched herself toward him. She leaned against his leg just like she'd done with Dean and watched him examine the picture on the front page. "Wow," he breathed. "You drew this yourself?"

Anna nodded, "All by myself."

"That's awesome, Ladybug. Look at that," he said and turned the paper for Dean and Bobby to see. He was giving Dean some kind of a look.

"Wow, is that Sam sleeping in the car?" Dean asked.

"Exactly!" Anna chirped sweetly. "See, I even made some drool."

"And a dream."

"Yeah, so you can dream about good stuff like rainbows," Anna said, pointing at the rainbow she'd drawn inside of a dream bubble in one corner of the page.

"Thanks, Anna," Sam said softly and gently smoothed his sister's hair off her face. He turned the page over with his free hand and started to read, the corners of his mouth already turning up. "Dear Sammy, I am so glad we got you from Sand-Fort." He grinned up at Dean and Bobby in turn, then looked back down at the paper. "I love when we go on walks together and you show me books at the lib'ary. You are really nice and cool– with two l's," Sam added with another hint of a smile as he glanced up at Dean.

"Extra cool," Dean murmured and turned his face into his coffee cup again.

"I love you. Sincelery, Anna."

"Sincelery?" Dean asked goofily, looking at Anna. "That's one bad vegetable."

"Deeaan," Anna groaned. "That's how you sign a letter. Uncle Bobby told me. Sinsealry and then your name."

Bobby looked sharply at Dean as if to tell him not to correct her. Anna looked up at Sam eagerly. "Do you like it?" she asked, pressing her palms into his leg so she could hop up and down in place.

"I sure do," Sam said in a super excited voice. "It's the most perfect gift anyone has ever given me."

"Wow," Anna said. "I'll never beat it."

"Never," Dean said from behind her and then scooped her up off the ground. "Come on, if you're gonna be cooking today, we're gonna put your hair up."

Anna made an irritated sound, as if getting her hair done was the absolute worst fate in the world.

"Come on, Rugrat. Pigtails or Braids?"

"Sam does it better," Anna whined.

Dean set her back down on the floor and feigned an insulted expression. He placed his hand against his chest as if he was just so hurt. "You wound me," he said. "I can braid a girl's hair just as well as the next guy."

"Not as good as Sammy," Anna teased, pointing one small finger at Dean's stomach. She wrinkled her nose in playful sternness.

Dean's eyes turned down, and he put on an exaggerated pout. "If that's how you really feel," he said and pretended to sniffle.

Anna leaned forward and kissed the tip of his nose. "You can do it!" she told him and giggled when his face lit up. "It's Christmas! I can't be mean to you on Christmas!"

Dean smiled softly at her and stood up again. "Tell you what, as soon as we're done with your hair, you can open your presents."

Anna's eyes widened and glittered. "Okay!" She raced out of the room to go find her hairbrush and some hair ties. There was nothing that could have put more of a zip in her step than the promise of presents.

()()()

"Phew," Anna said and wiped her forearm across her forehead, smearing flour and oil across her smooth skin. "I didn't know cooking is so much work," she admitted to Bobby as she watched him crinkled the outsides of the freshly made pie crust.

"Well, you know Dean. Wouldn't hardly be a holiday for him without any pie."

"Yeah," Anna agreed. "He should help make it next time."

"You tell him that," Bobby encouraged her. "Get down," he requested and nodded away from the stove. Once Anna was a safe distance away, he opened the oven and stuck the two pies they'd prepared inside. Wiping his hands on a nearby dish towel, Bobby sighed heavily. "That's it," he said. "Now we just wait for everything to finish cookin'. You're a good little helper, Button."

Anna grinned and leaned up, prompting Bobby to lean down. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "So are you," she told him.

Bobby gave her a playful glare. He wasn't any little helper. But Anna paid the look no mind and skipped ahead of him out of the room.

"You think they finished setting it up yet?" she asked.

"Yeah, and I think Hell's just about froze over too."

Anna stopped in the doorway to the living room. Bobby was right. The boys were far from done setting up the game of mousetrap they'd gotten for her.

"No, Dean, that doesn't go there," Sam said and tried to take a red piece away from his brother.

"Quit grabbin'," Dean snapped and continued trying to attach two pieces that definitely didn't go together. "I got it."

"If you would read the instructions," Sam argued, "I wouldn't have to take stuff from you."

"Instructions are the easy way out, Sammy."

"No, they're the right way to build something."

Dean opened his mouth to say something, then grabbed for a piece that Sam was holding. "Well, no wonder this isn't working. You have the piece I need."

"That's exactly what I was trying to tell you," Sam said indignantly.

"Shut up, Sam."

Anna backed slowly back into the kitchen. "I think we should wait in here," she whispered to Bobby.

"Alright," Bobby said. "You know, I actually got somethin' for you too. I just ain't had a chance to give it to you yet."

Anna looked curiously at him. "I thought you don't like to do presents."

"Well, I guess you're a little different," Bobby admitted and opened one of the high cupboards in the corner of the room. He knelt down in front of her and held out his hand to her. Anna looked at his palm and found a small charm there. "Now, this little thing is called a wishing stone. It ain't dark magic or nothin'. I looked into all that. It's safe. It gets its power from the hope of the person who uses it. I figure you got the best chance of anyone I know of makin' it work."

Anna was in awe. She slowly picked it up and ran her thumb over its grooves. It was shaped like a flower, but not one that she knew by name. "It's pretty," she said. "What can I use it for?"

"Anything you want to, Button. But I thought maybe you had an idea."

Anna nodded. The morning had been fantastic, but it was suddenly obvious everything that was missing from the holiday. Namely, the one person who she desperately wanted around. She was used to the disappointment of her father being gone for important occasions by now. But that didn't mean she didn't still want him there.

"I wish I could see Daddy," she said softly. "You think it can bring him home?"

"I don't know," Bobby said honestly. "But I think you might as well give her a try. Maybe he'll call at least."

Anna pressed her lips together tightly, wrinkled her nose in concentration, and thought again and again, I wish Daddy was here.

She opened her eyes after a minute and spun around with a hopeful look in her eyes. Then her shoulders fell. It hadn't worked. She looked up at Bobby and saw that he looked awfully sorry.

"It's okay, Uncle Bobby. It's still pretty." She jumped when there was a knock at the door behind them.

"Who the hell's comin' in through the back?" Bobby wondered aloud as he stood up and went for the door. He opened the door, and Anna screamed.

"Daddy!" She dashed forward, the charm clutched tightly in her palm, and threw her arms open.

John grabbed her off the floor with a low, affectionate laugh, and he held her against his shoulder. "Merry Christmas, Peanut," he said softly in her ear. "Sorry I'm late."

"Dad?" Dean said quietly from behind them.

"You came," Sam murmured in surprise.

"Yeah," John said, looking almost nervously between the two boys. "I got your voicemail, Dean. And I had to stop in and see my girl," he said, squeezing Anna more tightly against his shoulder.

Anna hugged him back with all her strength and kissed his cheek. "I wished you would come," she told him.

"Here I am," John said softly and pressed his lips to the side of her head, just above her ear. "I can't stay long. It isn't safe."

"It's okay," Anna forgave instantly. "Come on, Daddy, you gotta see what Sam and Dean got me." As soon as John set her down, Anna grabbed his hand and started pulling him toward the living room. She brushed past the boys but waited patiently when John let go of her hand to give them each a hug.

"Merry Christmas," Dean mumbled, still a little slow in his shock.

John put one hand on Dean's shoulder and one on Sam's. "Thanks for gettin' her something," he said. "I didn't exactly have the time."

"Yeah," Sam said shortly. He turned around and ushered Anna into the living room. "Come on, let's finish putting this together."

Anna felt like the whole world had just been put together. But she still nodded eagerly. "I bet you Daddy can do it really fast."

With a sudden burst of energy, she leapt off the floor and snatched Halloween up from the couch where she'd left him while she was cooking.

"Daddy, you forgot to say Merry Christmas to Halloween!"

La Fin