Note: Hey, lovelies 💜I hope your week wasn't complete dog-crap, and if it was, here's a fluffy chapter to make you feel better.

I'm sorry, I know it's not Saturday anymore for some of you. But it's been a wild day and a bad week, and I'm counting us all lucky I finished this today at all. Hopefully next week's will be up earlier

Thanks a million for all the super amazing comments this week. Y'all are the absolute sweetest, and you never fail to make me smile 

This week's chapter is for garlicbreath1945, who is so amazingly kind and wanted to see Sam and Anna when she was little. Hope you like it. It's short, sweet, and quirky (three words which also perfectly describe a toddler Anna).

So, in this chapter, Anna is two, Sam is seventeen, and Dean is twenty-one.

Ladybug

"Sorry Dad didn't stick around," Sam told his little sister. Her hand was in his as they walked down the mostly empty sidewalk. "I thought he would for you at least. I mean, I know his track record isn't very good as far as birthdays are concerned, but... you've always been different." He looked down when Anna let out a happy sound and raised her arm to point at something up ahead. "You don't care, huh?" Sam grinned, following her finger to see what she was looking at. A brightly colored ice cream shop was set up just down the street.

Anna let out another happy squeal, this one loud enough to attract some attention, and Sam reached down and picked her up. "I don't know why I'm so mad," he told his sister. "Especially when you don't even know what day it is." He gave her a soft smile and poked her stomach, making her giggle and push his hand away with both of her smaller ones. "And it's nothing new for him."

"Ooh!" Anna exclaimed, pointing ahead of them again.

"Yeah, that's a cool building, isn't it? What color is that?" he prompted, more out of habit than anything.

Anna frowned thoughtfully, pursed her lips, and tapped her fingers against her chin. It was a mimicry of the thinking pose their dad and older brother made a lot. John would stroke the stubble on his chin, and Dean would just rest his chin in his hand, occasionally tapping his lips with his fingers. "Geeee," she cooed, waving her hand at the building rather than pointing again.

"Noooo," Sam said goofily. "What color is that? That's not green."

"Ba," Anna corrected, jumping a couple times. She tugged on Sam's hand, energetic and pleased with herself.

"Yeah, blue," Sam agreed.

"Ba ba ba ba," Anna repeated as they continued down the sidewalk.

"Yeah, blue," Sam repeated absently. He watched the ice cream shop get closer and thought how wrong it was that John wasn't there. Maybe Anna didn't get it now, but someday she would. And he didn't want her to grow up learning to get used to having an absent father. Like he and Dean had.

Anna crouched down on the sidewalk suddenly, and Sam felt the tug of her hand in his and looked down. Her nose was wrinkled in disgust and she reached out one little finger to poke at something. Sam quickly realized what it was, and he moved more quickly than he ever had on any hunt in pulling her away from it.

"Anna, that's yucky," he scolded while she pouted and whined at him for not letting her touch the object of her curiosity. "Ew," he said, shaking his head, trying to communicate to her that it wasn't something she wanted to touch.

Instead of receiving the message, Anna laughed exaggeratedly at the face he was making before immediately going back to trying to reach the dog poop on the sidewalk.

Sam picked her up off the ground, and she started whining louder, trying to squirm her way out of his arms. He'd been in charge of Anna enough times by now that he was good at holding onto her even when she desperately wanted down, so he just hurried forward a little ways on the sidewalk and set her down when the scat was a safe distance behind them.

When he set her down, Anna pouted full force at him. Dean would have laughed at the face she was making, but Sam felt only one part amused and the other part guilty. If being a teenager under their Dad's rules had taught him anything it was that assuming other people's emotions weren't real just because their priorities didn't line up with yours... was a dick move. Yeah, it was a nasty dog turd on the sidewalk, but to Anna it might have been an adventure, something fascinating... the thought was enough to make him smirk in amusement, but he still felt a little guilty.

"Sorry," he told her. "But I really think you'll thank me someday."

The thought of telling that story to a teenage or adult version of his sister someday made him smile wider, more genuinely. But that day seemed so far away that the smile faded quickly. By then, would he even be close with his sister? He hoped so.

He reached down to take Anna's hand again, and she instead took both his hands in both of hers, so he was walking behind her and she was holding onto his pointer fingers. Sam hated walking like this with her almost as much as he hated carrying her when she was flailing so she could be let down. He was over six feet tall now, and bending down like he had to in order to hold her hands while they walked hurt his back worse with every inch taller he grew. He used to love it, back when she was less than a year old and just learning to walk, and she had to hang onto their fingers to get around on her feet. But it was more painful than exciting these days.

Anna cooed and babbled, pointing at everything she saw that was bright in color or peaked her interest for another reason. As they passed the ice cream store, it became more and more clear that she thought it looked like the coolest place ever and wasn't going to walk by it without a fight. She started out staring longingly at it, then started pointing and ooh-ing and ah-ing at it, trying to show Sam how awesome it looked. Before long, she was tugging at his hand, whining, trying to get to the pretty blue building with the striped awning.

"Anna, we have to meet Dean," Sam insisted. "Maybe we'll come back later and get ice cream. You'd really like that, huh?" Bargaining didn't work, though, as she was too young to understand what he was even telling her. Anna continued whining and trying to tug her hand out of his. "It is your birthday. So if you really want to go, I don't think Dean'll be any better at saying no to you than I am."

Anna squealed discontentedly at him when he scooped her off the ground, but Sam had no other choice. They were already taking too long walking to the diner where Dean had said to meet him, and they'd left a few minutes later than Sam had wanted, so they were officially about ten minutes late. Too much longer and his phone would start ringing and not stop til they reached the diner.

"Saaaaaa," Anna whined, hitting her palms against his shoulder. "Noooooo!" As they passed the little shop, she twisted around, flailing her arms, trying to escape. "No," she chanted again. "No, no, no, no." Her chanting became screaming, and soon she was outright sobbing. The sound made Sam feel guilty just the way it always did, and he started bouncing her, trying to get her to calm down.

"We'll go back after lunch," he promised, rubbing her back. "You wanna see Dean, don't you?"

Anna sniffled, still pouting, and looked at him with watery green eyes. "De?" she repeated, distrusting but hopeful.

Sam snorted. "Yeah, that's the magic word, huh?"

Anna notoriously loved their brother. She always wanted Dean. Always. Sam would be lying if he said it didn't sting just a little bit. Some days, he would watch her for nearly the whole day, and she would be practically clinging to him, and then Dean would come home and bam. Just like that, she would switch sides. And it wasn't that she didn't still love Sam and want to see him, but once Dean was in the room, he was her go-to guy. If she fell, he picked her up, and if she found a book, she wanted him to read it to her.

"We are. We're gonna go see Dean," he said encouragingly.

Anna sniffled once, but her pout started to disappear, though her eyes were still wet. "De?"

"Yeah. Dean. And I bet he'll let you come back and get ice cream, and then you'll love him even more." He didn't mean the words to sound bitter, but they did, just a little. "He's gonna be mad we're late, I guess," he said absentmindedly. He bounced Anna a few more times even though she wasn't crying anymore. "Better than Dad. Dad would be on my ass already, but he would be mad on principle, not 'cause he really cared." He stopped talking for a second and realized Anna was actually looking at him, maybe listening in whatever capacity a newly-turned-two-year-old could listen. "I guess I shouldn't tell you that. Dean hates when I complain about Dad to you. But you don't really know what I'm saying yet. And if we're being honest, you'll probably hate dad on your own by the time you're nine or ten."

Sam sighed as the diner came into view. "But I really shouldn't tell you that," he said again. They turned a corner and the diner's big windows were right beside them. Sam found their brother sitting by the one on right at the corner-- he always chose seats at the back of the restaurant, they'd been trained to. "Look, Anna," he said, smiling more for her than because he felt happy. "Who's that?"

"De!" Anna cried happily. She reached for the window, but Sam held her back from actually putting her hands on it. "De!" she squealed again, this time actually catching Dean's attention. He turned to the window, saw his siblings, and Sam watched relief cross Dean's face before he grinned at their sister and waved.

Sam then had to work hard to hang onto the toddler as she started whining again, reaching for the window where she'd seen Dean as Sam walked to the actual entrance to the diner. It was always a blast entering a public place with a screaming kid in your arms. Sam tried to ignore the looks he got as he walked toward the booth Dean was in with their sister wailing at him.

The second she saw Dean again, she flopped over the side of Sam's arm toward him, and Dean had to grab her and plop her in his lap, facing him. She instantly leaned up and gave him a kiss-- though her version included leaving her mouth open and planting her face against his cheek, so her kisses were sloppy and wet. Dean laughed at her, but said, "Aw. Thanks, Munchkin," and gave her a peck on the forehead in return. Anna leaned back and looked happily at him, then stood up on his legs, leaned forward again and wrapped her arms around his neck, just clinging. Dean wrapped his arms around her back.

Sam watched from the other side of the booth and just smiled at them. Dean played the part of Mr Cool Guy well, but Sam had been on the receiving end of Anna's hugs and kisses before and he knew damn well how they could melt the heart of a frickin' SEAL. Hell, he'd joked before that they should start taking her on hunts-- She could smile at the monsters, and just like that the toughest vamps and shifters would apologize and never kill again.

"What took so long?" Dean asked, voice measured.

Sam felt himself grow defensive, but he was careful not to start a fight. This wasn't their dad. It was Dean, and when he asked things it was because he was being Dean, not because he was being a hardass. "I was walking five blocks with a toddler, Dean. What do you think took so long?" At the side eye he got, Sam adjusted his demeanour and propped a menu up in front of himself. "The birthday girl got pissed at me 'cause I wouldn't let her play with dog shit."

Dean wrinkled his nose and poked Anna's side, making her giggle. "That's nasty, Rugrat." He looked at Sam again. "You know you shouldn't swear in front of the baby."

Sam rolled his eyes. How many times had he heard that line of total crap? Dean swore in front of Anna all the time, and Sam was getting sick of being told he couldn't curse like Dean could when he was practically an adult.

They ate fast-- well, as fast as one could with a toddler present. Anna already napped, so she was bouncing with energy, but she was also in good spirits. She did a lot of passing from lap to lap, but she also ate when they told her to.

As they left the diner, she was walking between the two of them, holding both their hands, making noises at the people and things she passed that interested her. As expected, Anna perked right up as the ice cream place came into view again.

"She wanted to go earlier too," Sam said. "We can, right? I mean, it's her birthday."

"Is it even open?" It was late in the year for ice cream. Summer had been over for over a month now.

"I think so. The sign says it is."

Dean shrugged. "Why not," he agreed. He swung Anna up to sit on his hip and they walked up to the little window. The worker looked like she was Sam's age, maybe a little older, and she had her strawberry blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail.

"Hi," she greeted exuberantly as they stopped and scanned the signs for ice cream flavors. "Let me know when you're ready, okay?"

It was mid-October, or there probably would have been a line. Sam counted them lucky. Two-year-olds and lines didn't mix. But Anna was already cooing happily at the building. Sam figured they probably could have just stood there and let her admire the blue and pink colors of the walls and she would be content without ever having a bite of ice cream.

"Know what you want?" Dean asked him.

Sam shrugged. "I don't really want anything," he said.

Dean gave him a look. "You don't stop at an ice cream place and not get ice cream, Sammy. It's like a law or something." Sam rolled his eyes and felt a hand thump the back of his head. He glared over at Dean. "Quit rolling your eyes at me. I'm not Dad. Now pick an ice cream flavor."

"Just get me whatever you get."

Dean was the one to roll his eyes that time, and Sam thumped him on the shoulder for it. He'd just said not to do that.

Anna looked at Sam, then Dean, and gave Dean a thump on the shoulder like Sam had. It was much lighter, of course, but Dean still leaned over and thwacked the back of Sam's head again. "Don't teach her that." Anna leaned sideways toward Sam, but Dean caught her little hand when she swung it uncoordinatedly toward Sam's head.

"And I'm a bad role model," Sam grumbled.

"Here," Dean said, passing Anna to Sam. "Entertain her, and I'll get the ice cream."

Seemed like an easy enough gig, so Sam accepted their sister and set her on the ground, taking her hand instead. Anna raced toward a little set of long rectangular flower pots that were set up along the side of the building. Many of the flowers were either dead or dying, but it didn't seem to bother Anna. What little color there was left had attracted her attention, and she pointed at the dying blossoms. "Fow!" she told Sam. She'd learned that word over the summer and was very proud of herself for remembering it.

"That is a flower. Remember what we do when we see flowers?" Sam asked her.

Anna's face brightened. She leaned over the flower, her face still several inches away, and breathed in. "Ahhh," she said.

Sam tried not to laugh but couldn't help it, "Does that smell good?" he asked. "Probably not as good as the ones in Danville did, huh?"

"Ahhh," Anna breathed again, 'smelling' flower after flower, oblivious to the fact that there wasn't a living plant left in the flower pots.

Sam just smiled softly, watching her live life with more excitement than any of the rest of their family did these days. He heard Dean's voice and turned to look back toward the window where Dean had started ordering. Then he heard a sound from his sister and looked back over. Her mouth was forming a little 'o' shape of surprise, and he followed her eyes to see a little spot of red on the dying leaf of a wilted flower.

"What'd you find?" he asked, taking a couple steps closer and crouching down again. As soon as he could actually see what it was, Sam's expression softened. "That's a ladybug," he said. Anna watched with wide eyes as he let the little black and red insect crawl onto his finger from the leaf. "Wanna say hi?" he offered, holding it a little closer to his sister.

Anna took a little step back, clearly feeling wary about this stranger of a bug.

"I bet it's a really friendly little bug," Sam assured her. "Say hi." When Anna didn't say anything, he demonstrated, giving the bug a little wave with his free hand, he said, "Hi, Ladybug."

Anna looked up at him, frowning in confusion. She waved back and gave him her version of the word 'hi' which sounded more like eye than hi.

It caught Sam by surprise, and he laughed. "No, not you. The bug, silly. You're not a ladybug."

Still looking confused, Anna waved at him again, repeating, "Hi."

"You want to be a ladybug?" Sam asked, beyond amused. He was grinning at her, and Anna had started smiling back even though she couldn't have known what Sam found funny. "You can be my ladybug," he told her, his smile softening.

As if on queue, the bug that had started it all made a buzzing sound and flew off Sam's hand to land on Anna's forehead. She gave an open-mouthed grin and wrinkled her nose when she felt it land on her and squealed.

"It's meant to be, Ladybug," Sam said, brushing the bug off her forehead and giving it a parting glance as it flew away. The nickname felt a little awkward coming out of his mouth, but he figured if it stuck, it would feel normal before long. It had to be right for her since she'd chosen it herself.

La Fin