(2) Bring Me Home (T. Stark)

Chapter Seventeen

Trinity looks up at Spencer as she picks her up, the little girl's eyes shining with adoration. Spencer smiles back, trying hard to keep her pain away from her daughter. Spencer kisses her head and breaths her in before pulling back and touching Trinity's nose.

"Happy birthday, Princess" Spencer tells her warmly.

"Daddy?" Trinity asks, Spencer shakes her head and touches Trinity's cheek.

"I'm sorry" Spencer whispers. "But he had to work, but he did really, really want to be here" Spencer assures her. Trinity stares at her, her eyes misting as she starts to cry. "No, sweetie, no, please don't cry" Spencer begs because she knows if Trinity cries about Tony not being here than Spencer will cry too. "I am here" Spencer assures her. Trinity fights against her hold, wanting her daddy now more than ever, but he's not here, and he promised, Trinity might be young, but she understands that. Sam leans in the doorway watching the two of them. Neither are doing each other any good right now. Trinity is crying which upsets Spencer, and Spencer being upset upsets Trinity further. Sam leans up and moves towards them.

"Give her here," Sam tells Spencer. "I got her, I got it" Spencer nods and hands Trinity over to him. Sam kisses Trinity's head holding her closer to him as she cries. "Go calm down," Sam tells Spencer. "It'll be okay, let her cry it out, she'll be fine" Spencer nods a little and takes a deep breath before leaving Trinity with Sam.

.............

Spencer slides down the wall, her hands over her mouth and nose as she cries. She wants to make it all better for Trinity but she can't. She doesn't know how to fix it for her. Tony should be here. He should be here for her birthday. He promised.

"Spence" Dean states as he walks towards her. She looks up at him, eyes wet and red. "Oh, Spence" he breaths pulling her up to her feet and then into a hug, his arms tight around her, letting her cry into his chest.

"Hey" he breathes. "It's okay" he assures her sadly. He knows today is going to be hard for her. Tony promised to be back in time for Trinity's birthday, and here it is, and here he isn't. And she knows it isn't his fault, they all do, but it doesn't soften the ache. She pulls back and looks up at him.

"Dean" she whispers. "I get this feeling that I want to make a deal" he frowns at her. "To find Tony..."

"No" he is quick to scold her, he knows that this is her grief talking, and they know where this goes. How it ends. And Tony would be more upset about that. "Firstly" he starts. "You can't sell your soul, because you don't own it, remember?" she brushes her hand over her cheek. "You gave it to Tony...." she looks down. "Secondly, Tony would not want you to do that, he wouldn't want you to do that" her lips quivers. "I know, oh, Spence, I know you miss him" she nods. "I know how much this hurts" she sobs a little. "But you have to believe that they'll find him, you have to hold onto that hope....even if you can't do it for you, you do it for Trinity, and you do it for Ryder and Serenity" she nods and looks up at him. "They need you to be strong" he adds cupping her cheeks. "And you are the strongest woman I know, you can do this....." he kisses her forehead. "Now, you are going to go downstairs, drink coffee, and smile as your daughter celebrates her birthday, because she is going to need all of us to get through this day" she nods and hugs him, pressing her head to his chest. He rubs her back and presses the side of his head to hers.

...........

Spencer sits curled in an armchair, a cup of coffee clutched between her fingers as she watches Pepper and Trinity together. Pepper, Rhodey and Happy didn't have to come all this way for today, but they did, and they did it for her and for Trinity and the twins. She takes a deep breath and glances at her side where the twins still sleep in their basket at her side. Happy glances across at Spencer, his eyes sad, he misses Tony but he knows what he feels is only a fraction of what she is feeling. And he likes Spencer. She's good for Tony. Kind. Caring. Funny. And he hates seeing her so upset about this all. Happy grabs his own coffee and approaches Spencer.

"You okay?" Happy asks her as he pulls a seat closer to join her. She gives him a look. "I know, stupid question" she gives him a sad smile. "You know, I think it's going to be okay" he assures her. "They'll find him and all of this upset will be for nothing" she sniffles a little and nods.

"Yeah, maybe" she breaths. "Maybe in a few months, this will all just be a nightmare" he touches her arm and nods.

"And you know that until we find him" Happy starts and then nods to Rhodey and Pepper. "We're all here for you"

"I know" she assures him. "And I am so grateful that Tony has people that love him"

"Not just him" Happy offers, Spencer smiles, more genuinely now. She is so grateful to all these people.

"Alright, we got party hats" Dean teases holding up a party hat as he and Sam walk into the room. "And we got cake and presents...." he winks at Trinity, who is still a little upset about Tony not being here but is coming around, knowing all these people here love her. She knows that. Pepper holds Trinity's hand and smiles at the brothers as they smile at the girl. Bobby stands behind them and smiles warmly, he loves seeing this side of the Winchesters. No hunting. No pain. No hurt. Just joy. And with Trinity, there is no hunting life. She is just a little girl loved by all these people. Rhodey pulls a video camera out of his pocket and readies it to record, he is making sure that Tony will not miss out on a single thing about this day. Tony will watch this one day even if Rhodey has to be the one to dive into hell to pull his ass out of the fire.