The Runt of the Litter

Remember to Let Her into Your Heart

Note: Thank you for 80 votes! I'm so grateful to everyone for reading, commenting, and voting. It means so much to have the support. I originally wrote this as an extra scene to the pilot episode (which I actually did write out, once upon a time) and thought that it deserved a place here. I bring this up because there is a brief mention of how long Sam has been away (at Stanford), and I didn't want anybody to be confused. The title is a lyric from Hey, Jude by the Beatles, and in this chapter, Anna is seven years old.

Remember to Let Her Into Your Heart

"Is Daddy gonna be in Jericho, Dean?"

"I hope so, kid."

I hope so was a bad answer, Anna thought decidedly. I hope so wasn't even I think so, wasn't even probably, and here she'd been, daring to hope for a yes. She sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly. They'd driven all day yesterday to get to Palo Alto, and the stress of having their father missing had been enough to make Anna restless through the whole trip. "Can I sit up front?" she asked, staring pleadingly at Dean's forehead in the rearview mirror. Someday she was gonna be tall enough to see his face. But for now, she was pretty sure that he could at least see hers.

Dean's mouth twisted for a second, but Anna pouted a little more, staring into the mirror with big, dewy eyes, and he sighed in defeat. "Alright. But watch the seats," he ordered.

Anna gave him a thousand watt grin and scrambled over the seatback into the front. She landed between her brothers gracefully, listening to Sam tell their brother how dangerous it was to let her do that while he was driving. Blah blah blah.

Patiently, both Anna and Dean waited for him to finish scolding. Then Anna grabbed his arm and tugged a little to get his attention. "Wanna play something?" she asked brightly.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You- you wanna play a game with me?"

Anna gave him a dull, sardonic look that said, No, I wanna play with Dean but I'm asking you.

"Okay," Sam smiled a little. "What do you have in mind?"

"I don't know. We can't play Tag or Hide And Seek or nothing good."

Dean smirked at that, but Sam took the opportunity to correct her speech, saying, "Anything good, Anna."

"Uh-huh. What's a good car game, Dean?"

Up to bat, Dean ruffled his sister's hair and dragged her into a loose headlock against his side. "Wrestling."

"No, he's even bigger than you. I can never win."

"You play wrestling in the car? While you're driving?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Relax, Sammy. She's two feet tall. It takes one hand to pin her." He let Anna go and put both hands on the steering wheel as they sped down the highway. "Hustle Sammy at I Spy, Munchkin."

Anna gasped excitedly. "Yeah! Let's play I Spy!" she practically squealed. "You go first, Sammy!"

"It's Sam," he muttered with a subtle cringe at the idea of playing I Spy with his little sister. "Okay. I Spy it is. Who goes first?"

"You," Anna said with a suddenly serious nod of her head. She made to climb into Sam's lap, but Dean immediately halted that with a hand on her arm.

"Butt on the seat," he reminded sternly, recalling a tumble she'd taken shortly before her birthday earlier this month.

Anna pouted a little but did as she was told and stayed sitting.

"Alright," Sam said and looked around for a second before nodding and turning back to Anna. "Okay. I spy something black."