hasperkynipples | In which Dean attempts a father-daughter conversation

[Cowritten with

failuretotrust. And sorry for the crazy posting -- catching up with things I need posted.]

Maddie headed home after having coffee with Anna and slid her fingers through her hair. She was kinda hoping she'd be able to slip in the door and go up to her room. One because of the hair and two...she just hadn't been up for talking to her parents in the past couple days. With avoiding Jimmy even more and the letter she'd written to Ben sitting in the drawer by her bed...she just need alone time.

She pushed the front door open and glanced around, biting her lip, then tiptoed for the stairs.

"Freeze," Dean said, looking up from the newspaper he was reading, and folding it back into his lap. He raised an eyebrow slightly at the new color of his daughter's hair, then just shook it off, gesturing for her to come closer. "We gotta talk."

"I...have homework," she said.

"Won't take long," Dean said, before patting the seat on the couch next to him.

She sighed, rolled her eyes, and moved over to sit beside him. "What?"

"Somethin' going on with you lately?" Dean asked, turning to face her more as he watched her face.

"What do you mean? Or...wait...aside from the Jerry Springer family drama?" Yes, she was being a smart ass. She was a teenager...and, well...a Winchester.

"Only if that's not what it is," Dean said, giving her a look. "Are you having a problem with the whole Ben thing?"

"No, Dad," she sighed. "Me and Ben haven't even met really."

"So -- what's the problem? You've been acting a little weird lately."

"Nothing," she shrugged and looked down at her hands. "School's just...been kicking my ass."

"And?" Dean asked, giving her a look.

"And…got that...letter from Ben."

Dean paused for a moment, before nodding. "Anything you wanna talk about?"

"About the letter? No. It said some things…I've been thinking about it," she said quietly.

"Well -- there's something else going on, sweetheart. I know you -- I can tell. So talk to me about it -- maybe I can help."

"Well I wasn't going to say anything, but...you know I've been sleeping around a lot lately. Just...throwing myself at anyone...and now I've missed my period and am probably pregnant." She smirked up at him.

Dean gave his daughter a look. "You tryin' to give me a heart attack, kid? Cuz that's what you're working on."

She rolled her eyes. "It was a joke. Look…it's nothing. A friend and I aren't talking right now...that's all." She gave another shrug and looked down at her fingers tapping together.

"What happened?" Dean asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"I don't want to talk about it, Dad," she argued. Her arms crossed her chest and she leaned back on the couch. "You wouldn't want to hear it anyway."

"Why wouldn't I want to hear it?"

"Because. You'd just shut off and get all overprotective instead of actually hearing me. And...I'm dealing with it myself."

Dean paused, thinking this over for a moment before rolling his eyes slightly. "This is about a boy, isn't it?"

She frowned and gave him a look. "See?! You're impossible."

"All I asked was if it was about a boy!" Dean said, giving her a look. "What did I do?"

"You rolled your eyes. Like…if it is about a boy, it's stupid."

"I didn't mean it was stupid -- I meant it as though I should have figured."

"Well...it doesn't matter. I told him I don't like him like that."

"Do you?"

She shrugged and looked away, saying nothing.

"Maddie -- "

"Maybe," she shrugged. "Funny thing is...he wanted to actually sit down with you and Mom and get permission to take me on a date."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "He did?" She nodded. He paused for a minute. "Is this the nineteen year-old?"

She looked over quickly. "How do you know about that?"

"Your mother and I do communicate on occasion."

"Yea...well I told her he was just a friend tutoring me…"

"There's what you tell her, and what she sees, Maddie." He sighed slightly, before running a hand over his face. "He's too old for you."

"Already knew you were going to say that."

"Well, it's true. I'm sure he's a nice kid, but three years is a big gap when you're sixteen."

"Right. Can I go to my room now?" She sighed and crossed her arms again. She didn't want to sit and listen to everything she had already heard him say in her head.

Dean looked at her for a moment, before sighing slightly and running a hand over his face. "Yeah, fine, go."

She got to her feet and went up to her room, slamming the door shut. Then she turned on one of the CD's Dean didn't like and turned it on loud. Dean rolled his eyes slightly as he heard the music, before leaning back against the couch and closing his eyes, trying to tune it out.

Beth came home a moment later, briefcase and grocery bags in her arms. She went right to the kitchen to dump it all, calling out to Dean as she went. "Hey baby."

"Hey," Dean sighed, opening his eyes enough to look for where her voice was coming from. He didn't quite feel like getting up yet, so he was just going to say where he was.

She put the groceries away and kicked her heels off in the hallway, then went over to find him. She gave him a little pout and curled up beside him on the couch. Her hands rested to his shoulder and she kissed him lightly. "Long day?"

"I tried talking to our daughter," Dean replied, turning to look at her. "It was -- painful."

She raised a brow. "How painful?" And no, she still knew nothing of the new hair.

"Well -- the boy is apparently still in the picture. Not in a dating way, but -- he's still there, and apparently they're not talking, and it's all my fault. As is most things."

"Ahh...the boy. I knew he was still around. Even though she wouldn't say. Don't worry, I think we can share the blame on this one. She'll get over it."

"Yeah, well -- I also don't think she's doing so well with the whole Ben thing."

Beth chewed her lip and glanced at him. "What makes you say that? Aside from...the eye rolling and her claims that she's "fine!"?"

"It's just -- a feeling in my gut," Dean said slowly. "She got a letter from him -- that she won't talk to me about -- and she just won't talk about it. Like it doesn't even matter."

A smirk came to her lips and she tilted her head to him. "No idea who that sounds like."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Dean muttered. "Just hoped that since she was a girl, she'd over come the Winchester instinct to not talk."

"Well...I think she and Anna have been talking. So...maybe that's something. At least she's talking to someone about it all. And I'm sure if Anna was overly concerned she'd come to us. At least I hope so."

"Yeah, I guess so," Dean said with a sigh. "I just -- wish we could skip the teenage years. Maybe just go back and time and keep her seven forever. Would that work?"

"Nope. Like it or not she's a teenager. You have to admit though, as far as teenagers go...we got a pretty cool one." She curled up against him and closed her eyes.

"Yeah, we did," Dean sighed, sliding an arm around her shoulders and holding her close. She slid her hand up to his cheek and tilted her head up to kiss him gently. He kissed her back, moving an arm around to squeeze her shoulders slightly as he did.

She pulled back and relaxed against him with a sigh. "The Ben thing will take time. How do we deal with the Boy thing?"

"He's too old for her, Beth."

"Never said he wasn't, but obviously it's still an issue. We have to do something."

"Have you met the kid?"

"Once. He came over to help Maddie with her math homework. They stayed in the living room and I stayed in the kitchen."

"And -- what'd you think?"

"Aside from the fact that he was nearly a grown man? He...seemed okay. Acted like a little gentleman...it might have been an act, but it seemed honest enough." She shrugged.

Dean sighed slightly, before shaking his head. "I still don't like it. Why does a nineteen year-old want to date a sixteen year-old?"

"No clue. Would you have wanted a sixteen year old girl at nineteen? Because I can see the allure from the girl's aspect."

Dean smirked slightly. "Not really. College girls were always easier. Then again, I always went for older women, so my opinion might not count."

She laughed. "I don't know...mmm, I'm not ready for my baby to date in the first place. Much less date an older guy who might expect...things."

"Exactly. If he pushes her into something she's not ready for, I'll kill him."

"Did she say why they aren't speaking?"

"Because she told him she just wanted to be friends. Which she doesn't, even I can tell that, and I don't want to see it."

"See what?" she asked.

"She likes the kid. As in -- " He made a gesture with his hand, because he really didn't want to say it.

"As in want to kiss him and hold his hand?" Beth smirked slightly at Dean's reaction.

"Yeah. That."

"Okay, so she likes him but told him she doesn't and now they aren't speaking. Do I have that right?"

"Yup. Pretty much."

"Okay, so maybe they'll keep not talking and we'll win."

"But she'll be miserable."

"She's sixteen. This is her first big crush. She'll get over it. Maybe...if we let her go on a date with someone her own age," Beth suggested.

"I'm not fond of that idea. Sixteen year-old boys are worse."

"So you would rather she date the nineteen year old?" Beth raised a brow again, starting to be amused by him.

"I'd rather she not date at all. Until she's thirty."

She gave him a look. "Dean."

"It's true! I told her when she was seven she couldn't have a boyfriend until she was forty. I think that rule should still hold."

"Good luck enforcing that. If anything it'll just make her rebel more."

Dean sulked slightly, before shaking her head. "I don't think she's ready to date."

Beth sighed and thought it over. "We have to budge slightly, Dean. Act like we're reasonable. Maybe allow group dates or...she can invite a boy here. Where we can watch like hawks."

Dean was still sulking. "I don't like it."

"Okay, so instead of telling me the ideas you don't like, how about giving me one you do?" She rolled her eyes.

Dean paused for a moment, before shaking his head slightly. "I don't know." She sighed and shrugged. Dean just groaned. "See? Too complicated. Why couldn't she just have stayed seven?"

"Because that's not how it works," she sighed and patted his knee.

"Well, the way it works sucks."

"What do you want me to do about it?" She really was out of answers for him.

"Talk to her, I guess. Come up with a compromise, I guess -- whatever you can agree on is fine with me."

"You sure?" She asked, looking him over.

"Yeah. I can't guarantee I'll be happy with it, but I won't get in the way."

"Okay," she nodded. "We'll figure it out then. But...I'd like to know when I get a date again."

Dean looked up at her, before smirking. "I did the whole romantic weekend thing."

She gasped. "That was weeks ago!"

"I've been very busy. I was working on something else."

She pouted. "Something better than...working on me?" She moved closer, teasing softly.

"No, I meant something else in the sense that I was coming up with something else to work on for you."

"Oh? Wow, you are such a good little husband."

"You did train me well."

"Mmm. And I love you for putting up with it all."

"I can put up with a lot."

"Obviously. If you haven't run out on us so far."

"I don't run out on the people I love."

She smiled and curled up against him quietly. He slid his arm tighter around her, just settling in close.

In which Dean attempts a father-daughter conversation

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