Note: Hey, my lovelies <3

Thank you, first of all, to everyone who was so kind last week. I appreciated every kind word, especially since I was having a terrible time and just felt really bad about the chapter I was posting. So thank you. You're all amazing.

This chapter kinda fits a ton of requests lol since pretty much everyone on pretty much every fanfic site has asked me for more fluff and more little anna. but it also fits a more specific request by @grayciehope. Thanks for being a sweetheart, and I hope this is what you're looking for!

Also dedicating this in part to @1ipod2 who is just one of the sweetest ppl on the planet and very patiently waits for fluffy chapters amidst all the angst I like to post 😉

Without further ado, Anna is four/five in this one.

I Don't Wanna Gank the Tooth Fairy, Daddy

Anna rolled over and over on the dirty motel carpet until her arm brushed against the nightstand. Then she sat up, her messy baby curls flying every which way.

"Don't roll around on the floor, Rugrat," Dean requested without looking up from his phone. He was pressing buttons, and Anna knew he was in the process of calling their dad.

She got on her hands and knees and crawled over to him. Technically she was still on the floor, but technically she'd also done what he'd asked. She sat back on her heels, grabbed the legs of her brother's chair with both hands, tilted her head back, and smiled up at him goofily.

Dean glanced down at her, shot her a little half smile, and ruffled her already-mussed hair. Then he suddenly sat up straighter and his expression grew somber. "Dad?"

Anna could hear the murmur of their father's voice through the phone, and she hopped to her feet. "Daddy!" she squealed in such a high pitch that the word was barely comprehensible. "C'I talk t'him, Dean? Please, pretty please, wif a cherry on da top?"

"Shh, Anna," Dean hushed, pressing a finger against his lips. "Sorry, Dad. I hear you."

Anna pouted and sat down on the floor again. She started to play with her fingers, making little shapes and linking them together. She pressed her palms against the carpet and started to trace patterns she remembered from the books Dean read to her. She missed their dad, but she couldn't ever get to talk to him when he called. He always wanted to talk to Dean instead of her. She wondered why she couldn't be smart and cool like Dean. If she was a hunter, maybe Daddy would like her more.

"Yes, sir. She's right here," Dean said, and Anna perked up, her frizzy curls flying again. Dean made a sound that was half sigh and half laugh. "I'll let her tell you about it, she's excited."

Anna started to bounce on her butt on the floor, smiling so wide it made her cheeks hurt. "Daddy wants ta talk ta me?" she asked in disbelief. She reached eagerly for the phone when Dean held it out to her. "Hi, Dada!" she chirped into the phone.

"Hi, Peanut," her dad's voice crooned gently. "I hear that tooth is about ready to come out."

"Uh-huh," Anna confirmed happily. "It's so so close. I c'move it wif jus' my tongue!"

She could hear the low rumble of her father's laughter before he spoke again, a smile in his voice. "That's awesome, Sweetheart. You let me know when it comes out, okay? I'll have a talk with the tooth fairy, make sure she gives you plenty of cash."

"Daddy," Anna giggled at her father's silliness. "Da toof-fairy's not real!" She looked up at Dean to see his reaction to their dad's ludicrous suggestion.

But Dean looked surprised, pausing with his mouth full of coffee and his cup halfway between his face and the table. Anna pursed her lips, her eyebrows pulling inward in concern. Had she said something wrong?

"What makes you say that?"

"Nobody c'get in our room at night 'amember? It's not safe." She put on her serious face, looking up at Dean to make sure she had his approval. He gave her a little nod, but he didn't look happy. She hoped she wasn't making him upset. "It's better anyways. If da toof-fairy's real dat will mean we gotta gank her. I don' wanna kill a fairy."

"No, Peanut, the tooth fairy is good. We don't kill good people."

"But... but you said monsters is bad," Anna said in a small voice. She was beginning to feel confused and disconcerted. This wasn't making any sense at all.

"Monsters are bad. But the tooth fairy isn't a monster," John pressed.

"But da toof fairy is not real, Daddy," Anna said very reasonably. It wasn't often that she had to be the one to explain something to her father. But as long as she had the opportunity, she was going to make sure he got it right before they stopped talking. "It's a made up story."

"You know what," Dad said, sounding exhausted. "You're right, Anna. I don't know what I was thinkin' before."

"It's okay, Daddy," Anna said consolingly. "I'm wrong about stuff a lot."

"Thanks, Peanut. Gimme back to your brother."

Anna couldn't help the way her whole crumpled like wet paper. "But-" Already? she almost complained into the phone. They'd barely been speaking for a minute, and already John didn't want to talk to her anymore. But last time she'd argued with him, it had only made him angry. She didn't want him to get angry. "Okay, Dada," she accepted sullenly and gave the phone to Dean. She smiled a little when he winked at her, but she didn't feel happy. Not at all.

Dean's smile faded as quickly as hers did, and Anna watched him make his listening face– eyebrows slightly furrowed, tongue between his lips, fingers tapping softly against his paper coffee cup. "Yes, sir," he said. "Found it just last night. I was writin' up the details for you when you called. I'll send it over as soon as your done."

Anna was already bored. But before she left her brother to go play with her toys on the other side of the room, she had a question she needed to communicate. "Ast him when's he gon' come back," she requested in a loud whisper, her small hands cupped on either side of her mouth. "Ast him if it's soon," she requested, then proceeded to wiggle her lose tooth with her tongue while she waited for a response.

Dean made a stern face at her, and the reaction made Anna feel small. She wasn't trying to be bad. She wanted to see her daddy again. It seemed like it had been forever and ever since he'd last been around, and he barely stayed for more than a couple days when he was at home. It sucked. It totally, super duper sucked.

"Yes, sir," Dean said again into the phone. "Oh, and Dad..." He looked almost bashful, but he glanced down at Anna and his resolve hardened. "How much longer you think? Couple days?" There was a pause, and a small smirk appeared on Dean's face. "How'd you know?" His smile disappeared. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, I understand. Sorry. It's just... Anna, you know, she... she misses you." Anna heard their Dad's voice droning for a moment, then Dean looked angry for the briefest second. But soon he looked normal again. "Yes, sir. Always do."

When her brother flipped the phone closed, Anna surged forward and put both her hands on his knee, bouncing up and down. "Is he comin' tomorrow?" she asked hopefully. "Or the next day?"

Dean scooped her up by the armpits and set her down so she was straddling his lap, facing him. She tilted her head back so she was looking right in his eyes. They looked sad, she realized quickly. That wasn't good. "Actually, Rugrat, Dad's got another case to go on after this one. I'm not really sure when he'll be comin' back."

Well, that was not good news. "But he said afore he went that he's gon' come for my birfday."

"He meant to, Honey. He just... Dad forgets stuff sometimes."

"But I'm about ta be five," Anna said emphatically. Her stomach was feeling odd, and her eyes were insisting that they needed to cry. "How can he forget?"

"He gets distracted," Dean explained patiently. "You know, it's easy, when you're out there fightin' evil. Your mind's caught up in what you're doing."

"But you didden forgetted," Anna reminded her brother. But she knew that didn't mean anything.

Dean was really different from their father, even if he sometimes talked the same way or even acted the same way as Dad when he was home. Dean didn't forget things that mattered to Anna, because Dean was almost always with Anna. She was a piece of his life. Not just a footnote. She wasn't in Dean's way like she was in Dad's. Or at least she hoped not.

"Is he mad at me? Cause of Sunday?" Anna asked softly. Dean had told her after John yelled at her that she would be forgiven now. But it was scary when their dad got angry, and Anna didn't understand why he wouldn't have told her he forgave her if it was true.

"We talked about that," Dean said gently. He tapped her chin with his knuckle playfully. "Dad didn't mean to yell, alright? He said he's sorry."

"Not ta me."

"He said it to me," Dean promised earnestly. "Hey, you didn't do anything wrong. You just wanted to talk to him. He was just stressed, that's all. He didn't mean to yell, but he still shouldn't have done it, okay?"

"I don't like when he yells," Anna confessed quietly. "It's scary."

"You don't ever have to be scared of Dad, Anna," Dean said seriously. "He will never ever hurt you. He wouldn't. I promise you. I know he can seem kinda harsh sometimes. But it's just the way he knows how to act. He's got a heart in there, and it's all for you, alright?"

"I miss Daddy," Anna whimpered, her chin suddenly wobbling. She tried to stop herself from crying, but that only made things worse. She felt tears spill hot and wet over her eyelids and stream down her face. "I want him ta come home."

"He will, Sweetheart," Dean told her emphatically. "He will. As soon as he can, okay?"

"But I'm gon' be five," Anna said, hoping Dean would understand. He always understood. If he didn't get it then there wasn't anybody in the world who could get it. And Anna wasn't ready to be all alone. She needed him to understand.

"I know," Dean said, and Anna nodded along with him, then planted her face in his chest and just cried. It wasn't fair.

"I want Daddy," she pleaded. "Make him come home, Dean, please," she sobbed. Her face felt wet and sticky, and she leaned back away from her brother, brushing sloppily at her face with the backs of her hands. She felt icky, her hair sticking to her skin, snot dripping onto her upper lip. But she couldn't stop her body from reacting to her sadness. Her eyes continued to water, and she sniffled.

"Hey, come on. Cheer up. He'll be home pretty soon."

Anna's mouth turned down without her consent. She felt like a big baby. But she just felt this massive ache in her stomach. She wanted her father. She wanted him so bad. She wanted him more than anything. How was she supposed to cheer up when she couldn't have the only thing she wanted. "Can I talk ta Daddy?" she begged. "Pease. I miss him."

"Anna," Dean said painfully. He was scrunching his face like something hurt, and Anna didn't want him to feel like that. But she felt the same way. So there wasn't anything she could do about it. "Dad's... Dad can't talk."

Anna felt the corners of her mouth stretch down even more, and she didn't bother trying to contain her sadness this time. "Pease, Dean," she pleaded. "I want Daddy."

"Munchkin, I can't..."

"I want Daddy!" Anna whined, then burst into a series of sobs and hiccups and sniffles.

She hated the aching feeling that was taking up root in her throat and her stomach and her eyes. She hated the sticky wetness on her cheeks, the heavy dampness of her eyelashes, and the drip of snot over her mouth. She wanted to stop crying.

But mostly she wanted her daddy. And she couldn't have him. Because he didn't want her back.

The very thought made her choke out a raspy sound that had Dean clutching her into his chest. "It's okay, Anna. It's okay. Don't cry, kiddo. Come on. Come on, it's okay."

"Daddy," Anna whimpered, twisting her fingers into the fabric of her brother's henley. Not only was she going to have to go the night without her father again. But she wouldn't see him tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that. She wouldn't see him on the day she turned five. Five. Dean said five meant she was a big kid and not a toddler anymore.

Her dad wasn't going to see her turn into a big kid.

()()()

"Wow, look at that," Dean said with enthusiasm. He pointed at a picture on the menu, and Anna leaned over to see what it was. A stack of pancakes as big as her whole body was there, covered in strawberries and whipped cream. "That looks like a breakfast fit for a birthday girl, huh?"

Anna pursed her lips and nodded, but she didn't smile. She didn't want pancakes for her birthday. She wanted her dad. Absently, she let her mouth hang slightly open and used her tongue to move her lose tooth back and forth.

"What do you want, Rugrat? Come on, you always get birthday pancakes. On your first birthday, I gave you birthday pancakes. Well, more like a-birthday-bite-of-pancake but whatever."

Anna had to smile at that. She really was a big kid now. She could eat way more than one bite of pancake. "I can eat dat whole fing now," she said and pointed at the giant stack of pancakes Dean had shown her before.

"Prove it," Dean challenged with a grin.

Anna looked at him with stubborn determination. "I'm gonna," she said decidedly.

"Alright, birthday girl. What do you think? You're five now. You wanna try your first cup of coffee?"

Anna laughed outright. "No!" she said goofily. "That's bisgusting!"

Dean laughed right back at her. "Coffee ain't 'bisgusting,' Anna, it's the breakfast of champions."

"No, pancakes is da breakfis' of champions," Anna asserted.

"When then I guess I better get some too," Dean said decidedly. He pulled over the little paper cup of broken and dulled crayons that had been left for them and handed it to Anna. "Here, draw a picture, we can put it with your other ones. Now that you're five, I bet you're an even better artist than when you were four."

"Yeah!" Anna exclaimed. She picked out a purple crayon and started to scribbling (mostly) inside the lines of the little frog design on their paper table cloth. When she was about halfway through, she paused to examine her work and then leaned over to tug on Dean's jacket sleeve.

He leaned over to see what she was doing. "A purple frog?!" Dean asked like it was the coolest thing he ever saw.

Anna smiled proudly. She was a better artist now that she was a big kid. "Yep," she said.

"That's pretty awesome," Dean encouraged. "But, you know, someone's gonna get jealous."

"No," Anna argued. "Halloween is a green and lellow frog."

"You're gonna have to learn how to say the word yellow at some point, Munchkin."

Anna let that comment go ignored. "Dis is a purple frog."

"Of course, what was I thinking?"

"Is Halloween still wif you?"

"I got him in my pocket. You want him?"

"Yeah, he c'tell me what color a'make da spots."

Dean pulled her frog out of his pocket, and Anna grinned big at the sight of her best friend. She set him down on the table beside her drawing and murmured with him until they agreed that she should make the frog's spots light blue. They would contrast perfectly.

While she was coloring, the waitress came and went, leaving coffee and orange juice. Finally she came back again with two giant stacks of pancakes. "Wow!" Anna gasped and set down her crayon. She snatched Halloween out of the way so her breakfast plate wouldn't decapitate him like a guillotine when the waitress set it down. "Dat's free pancakes," Anna said.

The waitress frowned for a second and then nodded at Dean as she set his food down too. "Three," she murmured. "Had a heart attack for a second. Thought I was gonna be stuck explaining capitalism to an innocent soul."

"You can explain it to me if you want," Dean said and smiled charmingly. Anna made a sound of confusion, and Dean looked down at her before looking back at the waitress and speaking again. "Innocent soul turns five today."

The waitress frowned a little. "Oh. Um... not to pry. I just... I have a five year old niece. She... just speaks a little more clearly-"

"She does too usually," Dean said a bit stand-offishly. "Going through somethin'."

"Oh, I'm sorry," the waitress said. "I shouldn't have said anything." She leaned over and waved at Anna. "Happy birthday, Hun'! Five is a big age, huh?"

Anna grinned, whipped cream covering her upper lip and the tip of her nose. She nodded excitedly and swallowed the strawberry she'd been chewing before answering. "I'm not a baby anymore!" she proclaimed.

The waitress smiled sweetly at her and pulled a few napkins from the pocket of her apron, passing them to Dean, who smiled at her.

Once the waitress was gone, the Winchesters dug into their breakfasts with equal fervor.

Maybe pancakes couldn't make up for the fact that John wasn't there, but Anna had to admit that she was really glad she had gotten them. She took another big bite, her cheeks bulging, then felt a strange twinge in the bottom of her mouth.

When she'd finished swallowing her food, she used her tongue to investigate along her bottom gums.

"No!" she wailed suddenly, terrified.

Beside her Dean was so startled that he choked a little on his food and had to take a sip of coffee to avoid respiratory failure.

"I swallowed it!" Anna cried.

There were eyes on them from every corner of the room, but Anna's eyes were fixed on her brother's, which were wide and worried. "What?! What the hell did you swallow?"

Anna's eyes were wide with horror, her face pale, her mouth small and downturned. In a tiny, shaky voice, she whispered, "My toof."

"Aw, Rugrat..."

()()()

"Are you sure?" Anna asked nervously, then continued poking at her gums with her pinky finger. "You don't just want me ta feel better?"

Dean ruffled her hair and used that same hand to pull her affectionately against his side as they walked toward the motel door. "I'm sure, Rugrat. You're not the first kid to ever swallow a tooth. I promise."

"How da you know?" Anna pressed. She trusted her brother. She really did. But she was scared. What if this was the end for her? What if that tooth cut her open or ate her from the inside out? What if it killed her?

"I know everything, remember?" Dean said with a cocky smile. "Come on. It's your birthday. Have some fun." He swung her lightly onto the landing in front of their motel room door, then started rummaging through his jacket pocket for the key.

Anna stomped her foot crossing her arms over her chest. "I can't have fun, Dean," she snapped. "Daddy didden come home an' I might be dyin' from a toof!"

"You're not dyin', Munchkin. You think I'd let you up and die?"

"C'I call Daddy?"

"Sure," Dean said and swung the door open. "We'll see if he answers."

Anna raced inside and tugged her puffy purple jacket off. She chewed on her lip while she waited for Dean to dial their Dad's number. She stuck her tongue into the place where her tooth used to be. She would miss wiggling it, but she would enjoy sticking her tooth in the gap. If she lived long enough to do either.

"Hi, Dad," Dean said, then paused. He winced a little. "I know. I'm sorry." Another short pause. "Birthday girl wants to speak with you," Dean said, putting the barest emphasis on the word birthday. He nodded. "I know," he said tersely, then, "Here she is," and passed the phone to Anna.

"Hi, Daddy," Anna said sullenly.

"Hey, happy birthday, Peanut." Her dad's voice sounded a little strange, but Anna had bigger concerns at the moment. "Sorry I couldn't make it for your birthday. We'll celebrate when I get home."

Anna looked down at her feet, still clad in her favorite rubber boots. She would miss those boots. "It's gon' be too late," she told her father gravely.

"I know it won't technically be your birthday, but who gives a damn about the date-"

"No, Daddy," Anna said and shook her head though he couldn't see her. She steeled herself for his reaction, took a deep breath, and said, "I'm gon' be dead."

There was a long pause in which Anna looked up to see Dean with his face in one of his hands, his shoulders shaking. She was concerned for a minute, then caught the tiny sliver of a smile peeking out from behind his hands.

"Come again?" John requested.

"I ate my toof."

An equally long pause took place.

"Come again?"

"In my pancakes." Anna looked up at Dean, half-expecting him to get over here and corroborate her story. "Happy birfday ta me," she added bitterly.

"Anna," John laughed blatantly through the phone. Anna didn't understand what on earth could be amusing about this. She was dying. How about a little support? "You're gonna be fine."

"How da you know?" Anna asked, just like she had when Dean told her the same thing. "What if it eats me?"

Dean made a strangled sound, and Anna looked up to see his face going red behind his hand. His eyes flicked toward hers, saw her looking, and he turned his back to her with another funny sound.

"It's not gonna eat you, Sweetheart. Your body's gonna digest it like food. I promise."

"Really?" Anna asked, a ginormous weight lifting from her chest. "Wow! Then we c'celebrate my birfday!"

"Soon as I get home," John promised. "I gotta go, Peanut. You tell Dean I'm sorry."

"How's come?" Anna asked.

"Just tell him."

Anna shrugged and murmured, "Okay. I love you, Daddy."

"You too, Anna. You be a good girl."

"Okay."

As soon she closed the phone, Anna's stomach began to twist in knots again. This time it wasn't out of fear that she would die, though. She just missed her dad again. "Dean, Daddy's sorry," she relayed quickly, then stormed over to her bed.

Dean misinterpreted her feelings as hurt he'd caused. "I'm sorry for laughin' at you," he said gently.

"I don't care," Anna brushed him off, her voice small. "I jus' wish Daddy can be here."

"I know," Dean said gently and brushed at her hair with his fingers. "But, hey, he'll be home in a few more days tops, and then you get to have your birthday all over again!"

"Yeah," Anna said sullenly. "But it's not the same."

Dean looked serious, but he smiled anyway. "Even better," he said like that was what she'd meant.

()()()

"Alright, Anklebiter."

Anna made a face. She knew that tone. "C'I stay up late on my birfday? I'm five now!" she reminded her brother eagerly.

"I'll get Halloween," Dean said. Which meant no, she could not stay up late

Anna made a pouty face and lay down on her bed, her boots still on. She felt like crying again. But usually if she cried at bedtime then it just made Dean say that she definitely needed to go to bed. So she let him give her Halloween and then pull the blankets up over her.

She curled up under the blanket in bed and tried not to feel sad. She was supposed to be happy on her birthday. She was five today. It was a good day! She'd spent the whole afternoon playing with Dean, and she'd had onion rings twice in one day. She'd lost her first tooth ever, and Dean had gotten her a new set of legos that was labeled for ages five and up.

This was a good day. She knew she should be happy.

But she couldn't feel happy. She wanted her daddy. There was a pit in her stomach all for him, and she just couldn't seem to get it to go away without him.

But Anna was crying silently into her pillow when Dean's voice singing Bridge Over Troubled Waters lulled her into sleep.

()()()

She came awake to the sound of her own whimpers and heavy, fast breathing. She was sniffling, and there was wet fabric under her her face. Her small fingers were cramping from the strength of their grip on her brother's shoulder, and Dean's voice was in her ear, soft and low.

"Little darling, it's been a long, cold, lonely winter. Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here."

It wasn't her usual song, but it was bright and gentle, and Anna felt instantly soothed despite the way her chest continued to heave. She could hear herself sniffling, but she honed in on the sound of Dean's singing.

"Here comes the sun. Here comes the sun, and I say, it's alright."

"Dean?" Anna whispered, still sniffling, but feeling a little calmer. She picked her head up off his shoulder, and continued to take quick breaths as she tilted her face until she could see her brother's eyes.

"I'm right here," Dean promised her, his voice strangely rough. "You awake now?"

Anna nodded slowly and clumsily. Then she remembered what it was that had caused her to wake up feeling so terrible. And her face crumpled again. Big, sloppy tears leaked out of her eyes and down her cheeks, swirling into the already wet mess of her cheeks and chin.

Dean held her on one arm and used the sleeve of his other one to wipe at her cheeks until they were mostly dry save for the fresh tears that were still coming. "Hey, it's alright. It's alright," he sang again. "Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces." With that, Dean tweaked her nose, and Anna managed a small, wet smile. "Bad dream?" Dean asked softly.

Anna nodded. She didn't even remember the details very well, but she remembered the feelings. The fear and the loneliness. "C'you sing ta me more?" she requested quietly.

Dean gave her the gentlest smile and stroked the back of her head until she laid it to rest on his shoulder again. "Here comes the sun," Dean sang. "Here comes the sun, and I say, it's alright."

Anna was still struggling to regulate her body, but the feel of Dean's arms around her, his hand on her head, and his voice in her ear... they helped. She grew calmer and calmer. She still felt that ache in her stomach, but she felt the peaceful tug of sleep as well.

"It seems like years since it's been here."

La Fin