A Moment of Connection

Mary looks up at the sound of John's voice out in the hall.

Now that the God, I hate you and you're never touching me again! has been replaced by the endorphin rush contentment of new baby and a sunshine sweet layer of the good drugs, she can enjoy the warmth that rises like the tide from her toes to flush throughout her body.

Your daddy's here, she murmurs to Sammy's soft peach fuzzed head. Sammy is unimpressed, steadily fastened onto her nipple and she rubs a thumb lightly from behind one tiny shell like ear to the soft hollow where his skull meets his neck. She'd forgotten how tiny they are at this point, how completely soft.

Dean! she hears John say in the whisper shout that apparently all military men, and John's friends in particular, think passes for sotto voce.

Cover me, Dad! she hears Dean hiss back and suddenly she's hard pressed to fight off giggles. Oh, these are good drugs.

She knows what they're doing.

Sure enough, Dean comes slinking around the door jamb, crouched down commando style at knee height while John's voice suddenly lifts in volume, Excuse me…Janie, was it? Yeah, you know my wife just had a baby…yeah, a son… Oh, he's already a scrapper…

She supposes she should be grateful Dean didn't come slithering in on his belly.

Mom!

Shut the door, Dean. Mary struggles up in the bed, a deep seated ache from the incision throbbing even through the narcotics. Dean had been an easy, fast birth, showing all John's impatience in his quest to get into the world. Sammy…had not been.

Dean closes the door and then climbs the bed like a monkey, dusty and all elbows and knees. Careful, careful! she says, cradling Sammy more securely in the one arm while she holds the other out to Dean. You've got to be careful with the new baby, Dean. She winces as Dean flings his arms around her. And your mom too, for awhile.

When are you coming home? Are you okay? I miss you. Dad had to tuck me in last night and he doesn't do it right. Dean looks from her to Sammy and his eyebrows furrow. Is that the baby? He looks funny.

Mary laughs. You looked just like that, once upon a time.

Dean shakes his head. Nuh uh. You told me I was the most beautiful baby ever.

Mary's lips twitch as she pulls him a little closer into her side. So you were. But yes, this is Sammy. He's your little brother and he's going to need you.

Dean settles back against Mary's shoulder and reaches one hand hesitantly to touch Sammy's acorn sized fist. Sammy twitches and inhales loudly then goes right back to what he was doing. Like you need me?

It's the hormones, it has to be, because Mary feels herself tearing up and getting all sniffly. Yeah, Dean. Just like that. Because that's what families do. They need each other and they take care of each other. She brushes her lips over his forehead and his hair tickles her.

John pokes his head through the door, smiling that easy low down smile that got her here in the first place and even exhausted, sore and kinda high, she feels heat kindle through her, along with a love so strong it feels like her skin's too small to contain it. Hey, kiddo, he says to Dean. We gotta beat it. The nurses are onto us.

Dean hugs her crushingly hard and presses a damp kiss somewhere in the region of her ear. Bye, Mom! Are you coming home tonight?

Mary blinks away something that is most certainly not tears. No, not tonight, she says. Sammy seems to have given up his assault on the nipple and is semi comatose, blinking at her sleepily with eyes just like John's. She moves him to her shoulder and rubs his back firmly, looking back to where John's hovering. You'll have to put up with your dad for at least one more night.

Dean makes a face but he climbs down and goes back to John's side, hand creeping into John's larger one. Mary beckons John over. Just like last time he's hesitant and awkward, like she's made of glass. It's funny and it's cute and she tugs him down closer. Thank you, she says simply and smiles up into his eyes. I love you.

Under the tan, he gets a little pink, and that makes her want to giggle too. Love you too, he murmurs with a growling heat that makes her toes curl.

Dad, Dean says, disgusted and tugging at John's hand. C'mon.

John's smile widens but he allows himself to be pulled. Alright, you ready, Dean?

Dean nods, crouching down in his sneak mode again.

Now what's the plan?

You do a dive…diversion with the nurses, I stay low, make a break for the elevator, we're outta here and if I'm good I get a McDonald's sundae. Dean pauses. Frowns. Can I get fries too?

John looks at Mary, Mary looks back, biting her lip so hard she's afraid it'll bleed. Sure, John answers finally, with one last kissing look. Maybe a whole Happy Meal. He cracks the door and Dean hits a sprinter's stance. Go!

Dean darts out the door like a shot from an arrow and Mary is finally free to laugh. One last grin from John and then he's gone too, moving smooth and starting up a new line of patter to cover Dean's escape. Sometimes she worries about Dean's bloodthirsty streak, soaking up John and Mike and Mac's stories like the little sponge he is but times like this, when he and John are playing soldiers she's just so overwhelmed by…by them, her family that she doesn't even know what to do with herself.

I can't wait to get home, she tells Sammy. We've got it all ready for you, with a room of your very own. Aren't you just the luckiest baby ever?

Sammy burps.

Dean is instantly enthralled. He trails after her everywhere, trying to help her feed Sammy and change his diapers. He spends hours playing quietly in the nursery and keeps asking when Sammy will be big enough to play with him.

Dean even sleeps in Sammy's crib sometimes, curled protectively around him. Mary thinks about asking the pediatrician if that's normal but she decides that he's still a Campbell in his blood and God knows that nothing about her family has ever resembled normal.

She's a Winchester now, though, and she's not like her family.