Chapter Text
It was Friday evening and Dean’s turn to pick up Meg from practice. He parked in the first space he found and walked up to almost deserted building. Everyone was waiting for their parents in the front entrance while the coach supervised them to make sure they all went home with the right person. Dean wasn’t surprised to find his youngest in the middle of a shouting match with another kid.
“It’s not my fault you don’t know how to use a bat!” Meg yelled at the other kid.
“It is when you can’t pitch worth shit!” the boy yelled back.
“Ben Braeden, I do not tolerate that kind of language!” The coach stepped in, “Now, both of you stop fighting or I’ll bench you both.”
“You can’t do that,” Ben said, “I’m new here.”
“I can and will if you don’t stop,” the coach warned before noticing Dean by the door,” Thank God, Meg your father is here.”
Meg stuck her tongue out at Ben before turning and smiling toward her dad. She heaved her stuff over to her dad who took it from her.
“Good practice?” Dean asked.
“Almost, if it wasn’t for the new boy,” Meg answered darkly glaring at Ben. Dean chuckled a little.
“Come on, we’re going to meet the others at Pizza Hut,” Dean said.
“Yes!” Meg squealed excitedly throwing a fist in the air.
Dean smiled at his daughter and held the door for her, then followed her outside. They were halfway to the car when Dean heard someone calling his name. He looked up and found Lisa Braeden, an old friend, walking toward him.
“Lisa?” Dean asked giving her a friendly smile, “It’s been forever.”
“Yeah it has,” Lisa said looking Dean over, she smiled back at him but in a why Meg didn’t like, “You look good.”
“Thanks…what are you doing here?” Dean asked.
“I’m picking up my son,” Lisa answered, “You?”
“Same,” Dean said while pointing to Meg.
“Oh, she’s pretty,” Lisa said glaring darkly at Meg,” Still with Stan?”
“Sam,” Dean corrected, “He’s name is Sam and yes I am.”
“Oh,” Lisa said, “Maybe our kids can play some time, we just moved back and he doesn’t have many friends.”
Dean looked down at Meg, thinking about how Meg hated playdates more than anything in the world. He glanced at Lisa and gave her a forced smile,” We’ll see.”
“Well, I better go get my son,” Lisa said for walking away, “Bye.”
“Bye,” Dean said waving at her for a second. He looked down at Meg, “Pizza?”
“Pizza,” Meg agreed.
They got into the impala and headed for Pizza hut.
“Dad?” Meg asked.
“What?” Dean asked keeping his eyes on the road.
“Who was that lady?” Meg asked.
“An old friend of mine,” Dean answered.
“Just a friend?” Meg questioned.
“We dated a little, nothing serious,” Dean said.
“I don’t like her,” Meg commented.
Dean chuckled a little,” You are definitely your papa’s daughter, he’d tell me the same thing.”
“Why doesn’t Papa like her?” Meg asked.
“He believed she was a bad influence on me…he wasn’t wrong,” Dean answered.
“You’re not going to make me play with her son, are you? Meg asked.
“No baby, I’d never make you do anything you didn’t want to do,” Dean answered.
“Good,” Meg said getting comfortable in her spot.
They were the last ones to arrive, everyone else were sitting at a table waiting for them and drinking soda. Meg ran ahead of Dean.
“Grandpa!” She yelled before throwing herself into John Winchester’s arms.
“Hey Kiddo,” John greeted, “Strike anyone out.”
“Only the new kid,” Meg answered. John nodded in approval while she slipped out of his arms to hug her other grandpa, Bobby Singer. Afterwards she hugged her step grandma, Ellen before taking a seat between her aunt Jo and uncle Adam.
“Was wondering when you’d get here,” Jo said to her before sticking her hand out for Meg to slap. Meg did so happily.
Dean got to the table and bent over to kiss Sam’s head before taking the seat next to him.
Emma, who was sitting across from Jo, sat up and looked to her fathers, “Dad?”
“Hey sweetie, how’s college going?” Dean asked.
“It’s good…I was wondering if…”
“Emma, can’t this wait until after dinner?” Sam asked.
Dean looked between his eldest daughter and husband before asking,” What’s going on?”
“Emma wants to take road trip with Jo this summer,” Sam said.
“Oh,” Dean said before looking at Emma, “Uhmm…do you have money to take a road trip?”
“Yeah,” Emma answered.
“Okay, I guess you can,” Dean said, “You can do whatever you want, you’re old enough to decide what you want to do but we would like to see during the summer.”
Emma nodded and Meg looked at Dean,” I wanna go.”
“You’re too young,” Dean said.
Meg glared at Dean before turning to Sam,” Dad ran into an old girlfriend today.”
“Really?” Sam asked her before turning to his husband with humor, “Who did you run into?”
“Lisa,” Dean answered.
“How is she doing?” Sam asked.
“Seemed to be okay,” Dean answered with a shrug,” Has a kid.”
“It isn’t yours, right son?” John asked.
“Dad!” Dean hissed before glancing down at his three children.
“It’s just a yes or no answer,” John said.
“No, dad,” Dean answered, “The kid isn’t mine.”
“How can you be so sure?” Bobby asked, “Didn’t you stay with her while you and my son had those problems?”
“What?” Meg asked.
“Let’s order pizza,” Sam said waving the waiter over to avoid the conversation from going any further.
After supper, Emma drove her brother and sister back home in the family van. Castiel sat in the passenger seat while Meg sat in the back. They didn’t say anything until Meg couldn’t take the silence anymore.
“What did grandpa Singer mean?”
“Nothing, don’t worry about it,” Castiel answered.
“It wasn’t nothing, tell me the truth,” Meg growled.
“9 years ago, our parents were having some martial problems,” Emma told her.
“I’m 9,” Meg said.
“Right, they worked through their problems and got back together,” Castiel said, “End of story.”
Meanwhile, Sam and Dean drove home in the impala. Sam laid his head on Dean’s shoulder while Dean drove.
“How could my own father ask me something like that…in front of my own kids?” Dean asked annoyed.
“I don’t know Dean, my dad wasn’t any better,” Sam answered.
“Yeah, he knew we didn’t want Meg to know,” Dean said, “Now, she’s probably getting the whole story out of Emma and Cas.”
“Maybe it isn’t a terrible thing for her to know what happened before she was born,” Sam said.
“She’d hate me,” Dean suggested.
“Cas and Emma were there and they don’t hate you,” Sam reminded closing his eyes.
“True,” Dean said, “The kid isn’t mine.”
“What?” Sam asked sleepily.
“Lisa’s kid,” Dean said, “He isn’t mine, I haven’t slept with her since I met you.”
“Hmmm,” Sam sighed and snuggled closer to Dean.
A week later, Dean picked Meg up from practice. They got in the impala and before Dean could do anything else Meg blurted out,” Am I really your daughter?”
Dean stared at a Meg in shock,” What?!”
“Oh god, I’m not…I can see it written on your face,” Meg said, “My real dad is some drug dealer or some weirdo with yellow eyes, isn’t he?”
“What?” Dean asked again before shaking his head,” No baby, you got it wrong. Meg, I am your biological father.”
“But you and Papa weren’t together 9 years ago and I’m 9.”
“Sweetie, your Papa was already pregnant with you when we separated for a while,” Dean said, “We didn’t know it just yet and we were only separated for a little less than 3 months.”
“Okay,” Meg said before asking, “Why didn’t you guys tell me before?”
“We didn’t want you to the wrong idea or feel that you made us get back together,” Dean said.
“Did I make you get back together?” Meg asked.
“No Meg, we weren’t forced back together because he was pregnant with you,” Dean answered, “We got back together because we love each other and want to be together.”
“So why did you guys separate in the first place?” Meg asked.
“It’s a long story,” Dean said.
“I want to know,” Meg commented.
Before Dean could say anything else, they were interrupted by Lisa knocking on the driver’s side window.
Dean rolled the window down,” Can I help you, Lisa?”
“I need to talk to you,” Lisa said glancing over at Meg.
Dean turned to Meg, “Stay here, I’ll be right outside.”
Dean got out of the car,” What’s up Lisa?”
“I believe you know my son, Ben,” Lisa said pointing to her son standing awkwardly a little way behind her.
“Yeah, did Meg do something to him?” Dean asked.
“No,” Lisa said, “It’s just, he’s getting to that age where he wants to know who his father is.”
“That’s good,” Dean said a bit confused on why she was talking to him about it, “Every boy should know their father.”
“I’m glad you think so because you’re his father,” Lisa announced.
“I’m sorry,” Dean said before asking, “What?”
“You’re Ben’s father,” Lisa said.
“No, I’m not,” Dean told her.
Lisa glared at him before handing him the papers she had in her hands,” I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this but you leave me no choice.”
“What is this?” Dean asked before looking over the papers,” You’re suing me?”
“Court ordered DNA test,” Lisa said, “Next Wednesday, see you there.”
Dean glared at Lisa as she turned and left. Ben stared at Dean in wonder for a moment before following his mother. Dean turned and realized he had left his window rolled down, Meg heard everything. It was a quiet ride home.
“Isn’t there something you can do?” Dean asked his husband as they talked about Lisa and the DNA test.
“Sorry Dean but there’s nothing I can do,” Sam said, “You could counter-sue her for slander but it would still be in your best interest to take the test.”
“Why?! He’s not my son!” Dean replied.
“Are you sure?” Sam asked.
“Of course, I’m sure Sammy!” Dean growled, “I haven’t touched her since I met you!”
“Dean, I’m not trying to accuse you of anything,” Sam responded,” I’m just trying to think rationally.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dean asked.
“Nothing,” Sam answered,” Think about it, you were a very heavy drinker 9 years ago and we were separated so…”
“So nothing!” Dean yelled, “I didn’t sleep with her.”
“But what if you got drunk enough to sleep with her and forget about it,” Sam asked.
“I didn’t,” Dean insisted.
“But what if you did.”
“Not possible,” Dean breathed.
Sam grabbed Dean’s hand,” Dean, you are a great father…just take the test. If Ben is yours than we’ll welcome him into the family with open arms. We could turn the guest bedroom into a room for him.”
“He’s not my son through.”
“Then take the test so Ben doesn’t keep wondering whether you are really his father or not,” Sam said, “He deserves the right to know.”
Dean nodded and gave Sam a small kiss before walking away. He walked into the living room where Emma sat pretending to watch tv. She looked up when he walked in and gave him a small forced smile. Dean patted her head tenderly before leaning over to kiss her soft hair. He made his way to Castiel’s room and silently opened the door to hear Cas softly snoring. What teenage boy goes to sleep before 10 on a Friday…his did. He slowly closed Cas’s door and peered into Meg’s bedroom across the way. He was a little surprised to see Meg was still up.
Dean walked into her room,” Hey sweetie, what are you doing still up?”
Meg glared at him, “I don’t want to play baseball anymore.”
Dean was taken aback, this was the last thing he’d ever hear his youngest child say. Meg lived for baseball. Everything in her room was baseball themed.
“Why not?” Dean asked
“I’ll be humiliated once everyone knows Ben is my brother,” Meg answered.
“He’s not your brother,” Dean reassured her.
“I hate Ben,” Meg said before adding, “And I hate his mother more.”
Dean sighed before sitting on her bed,” Any other time I’d tell you not to say hate but I kind of agree with you…just not the hating Ben part.”
Dean looked around her room,” It’s been a long time since I told you a bedtime story.”
“I’m too old for a bedtime story dad,” Meg huffed.
“Does that mean you don’t want to know what happened before you were born than?” Dean asked.
Meg stared at him in silence before saying, “Tell me.”
Dean nodded and began to tell her what he’d hope she’d never know.