❝ You think you're tough, don't you? ❞
❝ I think I'm a badass. ❞
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in which Dean Winchester is the father of a female version of his teenage self
[ STORY DISCONTINUED; REWRITTEN VERSION COMING SOON ]
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Lawrence, Kansas
2005
4 days after Jessica Moore died
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Dean bounced his daughter gently on his knee as he and Sam waited for the doctor to come into the examination room. The nurse had swabbed her throat and taken her temperature, which had rose to a temp of 101.4 since the last time Dean had taken it, and now they were running some tests to see just what was invading the little girl's immune system.
"How you doing, baby girl?" Dean asked, brushing Natalie's hair away from her clammy forehead.
Natalie sniffled, rubbing under her nose and ducking her forehead into the crook of her father's neck. She shrugged pathetically, looking down at her pink sneakers. "I feel icky."
Dean tilted his head sympathetically and kissed his daughter's forehead, cradling her head gently against him as he rocked her gently side to side. "I know, baby. I'm sorry."
Sam couldn't help the way his heart swelled as he watched his brother and his niece. Dean was a little rough around the edges, let's be real, but this little girl seemed to soften the ridges of his personality. He assumed that was what parenting was like. When one little human who still had so much to learn about the world could take someone's personality, no matter how rough, and smooth it out. Make it better. Apparently that wasn't the case with their father, though.
"Natalie Winchester?" A voice asked from the door, and a woman in a white doctor's coat carrying a clip board entered the room.
Natalie lifted a small hand from her lap so she could wave at the woman, not lifting her head from her father's shoulder. "Hello."
The doctor smiled gently at the little girl. "Hi there. My name's Dr. Steiger. How're you feeling, Natalie?"
The little blonde girl shrugged. "Icky."
Dr. Steiger tipped her head and smiled sympathetically. "Yes, well, strep throat can make you feel that way." she said, meeting Dean's gaze.
Dean's eyebrows shot up. "Strep throat?"
Dr. Steiger nodded. "Unfortunately. She has all the symptoms and the tests came back positive."
Natalie whimpered and Dean hushed her softly, kissing her forehead as Sam spoke up.
"She was complaining about her stomach earlier too. Does that connect to it, or...?"
"Well, normally, no. But it could very well be part of it, or maybe just something she ate earlier in the week. We didn't find anything in the digestive area, so it's obviously nothing major. I wouldn't worry about it." Dr. Steiger shrugged.
