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It would be Emma’s first birthday with them since they adopted her last year and Dean wanted to make it special. He was, however, becoming exceedingly frustrated with the sticky tape and his lack of wrapping skills. Dean reckoned Emma herself could do a better job than he was doing.
“Need a hand there, cher?” Dean turned and frowned at his husband, who was leaning against the door jamb trying his best (and failing) to hide the smirk on his face.
“I’m fine.” Dean replied shortly, turning back to his sticky taped fingers and going again for another length of tape to complete the next gift. He was barely halfway through. Dean grumbled to himself. He just wanted this to be the best but he couldn’t even wrap a present – god help him when it came to Christmas.
Hands touched his shoulders and Dean sighed. “I can’t even wrap her fucking presents…” He murmured. Benny ran his hands down Dean’s arms gently and pulled him away from the slight disaster.
“It’s alright, I’ll finish up.” Benny pressed a kiss to the back of Dean’s head and then to his ear as he sat him on the bed out of the way. Turning back to the presents on the floor, Benny crossed his legs and began sorting out the havoc Dean had already caused in such a short space of time. Deftly, Benny wrapped the presents with a practiced ease until he had a pile of presents all neatly wrapped.
“You gotta teach me how to do that,” Dean sighed. After stacking the presents to one side, Benny stood and crowded Dean where he was sat, resting his arms over his shoulders and letting his chin rest atop Dean’s head.
“Ain’t nothin’ special. She’s only gonna rip ‘em open tomorrow morning.” Benny chuckled. Dean stood up into his arms and gave him a tight hug.
“You’re only seven once, Benny, I just feel like…” Dean trailed off and pulled away from his husband.
“Like you’re not up to it? Dean, c’mon—Emma’s been with us nearly eight months now, we’ve done good. You’ve done good, y’hear? Now… c’mere—” Benny grinned and encouraged Dean into a kiss, it was warm and soothed his worried mind a little.
“If we go too far, we’re not gonna be able to pick Emma up from her friend’s house.” Dean teased, biting Benn’s bottom lip gently before quirking a brow. “Plus, we’ve got an entire weekend to ourselves when she goes to Sam’s this weekend.”
“We’ve got Sam babysitting because we’ve got a conference up in Illinois to go to.”
“Exactly… hotel room all to ourselves.” Dean chuckled and extricated himself from Benny’s embrace.
He looked back momentarily with a smirk, taking in Benny’s reddened lip and happy face.
*
Dean left the house, pressing a quick kiss to Benny’s lips beforehand. Emma’s friend didn’t live far so Benny would start cooking while he was out. He started up the engine of the Impala and made his way down the roads, turning up the music and singing along. He was glad that Emma seemed to find a liking to some of the more mellow tunes Dean played.
After the first rocky month or so while everything settled down and her social worker paid a few visits, Emma thankfully made friends easily at her new school. She was already an intelligent girl and seemed to carry on that way according to her teachers at a parents-teacher conference they attended.
Thinking about the time before Emma, when it was just he and Benny makes him a little sad. In the eight months Emma’s been with them permanently, she’s changed their lives forever and for the better.
Dean can see the bubbly six-year-old in the front window of her friend’s house when he arrives, waving madly. The front door is open before he can even step out the car.
“Hey, daddy!” She greeted, Dean bent down and pulled her into a tight hug, he was about to say something when Emma carried on. “Me and Claire had the best time. Her mom has all this crafts stuff and we got to paint and I made a potato man with googly eyes and she’s got a whole park in her back yard and, and, and,” She barely takes a breath making Dean smile warmly at her and take her hand. “And Claire fell off the swing and hurt her knee but she’s okay. Her mommy said she was super tough and I told her she was very brave when her mom help me put a band aid on her.” Emma grinned, tugging excitedly at Dean’s hand.
“sounds like you had an amazing time, huh?” Dean said and turned quickly to Emma’s mom to thank her and say goodbye.
Strapping Emma into her booster seat, Dean waved off Claire’s mom before climbing into the driver’s seat. He took a deep breath, ready for more excited storytelling from his daughter.
“Yeah! Her mom said I could take home the stuff we did next time as it’s still drying. Then I can show you and daddy what I made!”
“I can’t wait to see it, Em,”
“What’s for dinner?” Emma asked. Dean chuckled to himself – aside from the fact she was adopted, Benny often teased him about he and Emma being alike in terms of food.
“I dunno, daddy’s making something for when we get home. I just know it’s gonna be one of your favourites because you know, it’s someone’s special day tomorrow.” Dean glanced round to smile at Emma and she grinned and jigged in her seat.
“I’m gonna be seven!” She shouted a little too enthusiastically, holding up seven fingers which Dean could see in the rear-view mirror.
“I thought it was my birthday?” Dean teased and watched as Emma shook her head vigorously.
“Nope! Mine!”
“Ohh! Alright then, now I remember,” They both laughed.
Reaching home, Dean let the impala rumble on the driveway for a few moments before cutting the engine and letting Emma out of the car too. She waited patiently by the front door and Dean unlocked it, the smell of Benny’s homemade pizza hanging in the air.
“Daddy, we’re home!” Emma called into the house, dumping her back by the staircase and kicking off her shoes. Dean tidied up after her, setting her shoes on the rack in the cupboard along with her bag on the shelf.
“Hey, sweetpea. Did you have a good time at Claire’s house?”
“Yep! Can I tell you all about it?” She asked, hopeful.
“Sure you can, go wash your hands and I’ll plate up the food.” Emma smiled and ran into the washroom.
Dean turned to Benny, walking towards him and pressing a kiss to his lips quickly. “Little lady talked my ear off in the car, I think she’s a little excited about tomorrow.” Dean explained, eyes crinkling at the corners.
“Wouldn’t you be too?” Benny smiled, slicing the pizza and putting a few slices on everyone’s plate.
Emma came back, sitting in her chair at the table as Benny placed her plate in front of her. “Give it a minute, Emma, it’s going to be hot.”
Dean and Benny sat down and let Emma recount her day, eating as they all chattered.
“Sounds like you had a really wonderful time.” Benny said finally.
“Do I get to have a before birthday ice cream?” Emma wondered, her eyes wide. Dean couldn’t even resist that look on his own grown brother, let alone his daughter and he gave in easily. Standing up, chair scraping on the hardwood floor, Dean dug around in the freezer for their strawberry ice cream.
He made up three bowls and pressed a kiss to Emma’s hair before sitting down.
Emma’s bedtime came around before they knew it and they ushered her upstairs to get ready.
“Daaaad!” Emma called from the top of the stairs.
“Emmaaaa!” Dean mimicked back.
“Can I read to you tonight? Only a few pages, promise!” Dean didn’t say anything, but jogged up the steps and picked Emma up, making her squeal, and taking her to her room.
“What book are you reading at the moment?” Dean asked. Emma picked up the book from her nightstand, brightly coloured and cheerful. “Alright then, just a few pages as you have a busy day tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay,”
Emma read to Dean, barely stumbling over her words. Dean was proud of her, she’d mostly taught herself to read and was excelling at it. Dean snuggled down next to her and listened to her. She liked to do the voices of the characters as Benny would do if he read to her.
“Goodnight, Emma. I love you.”
*
Benny was blowing up several balloons in the lounge when Dean got back downstairs. He was flushed in the face from the effort and Dean could see the pile of presents in the corner of the room. Tying off his currently balloon, Benny waved the packet at Dean, asking him to give him a hand.
“I might not be able to wrap presents, but I can sure blow up a balloon,”
“Ain’t the only thing you can blow,” Benny smirked into the mouth hole of the balloon, eyeing Dean who started to laugh, letting go of the balloon and panicking when it deflated loudly. “Shh! Emma’s gonna wake up with all your racket!”
“Man, I love you,” Dean chuckled, retrieving the balloon.
“You too, Dean.”