Chasing Cars

Frankie watched the two for a few brief moments with a smile on her face before heading back into the kitchen to finish up dinner. The water had started boiling, so she put the pasta in before she started frying up the chicken cutlets. She could still hear Aaliyah's giggles coming from the bathroom. She was glad that she and Sam had obviously hit it off pretty much instantaneously. She could tell that Sam was going to be an amazing father, he already was so good with Aaliyah. He'd fallen into the parent role pretty easily, and Frankie was glad that their daughter was going to have both of her parents in her life.

@ sam winchester.
Sam played with Aaliyah for a couple more minutes before he stood up and grabbed her a towel, "Alright, Squirt, let's get you all dried off and in your pjs. Mommy should have dinner ready soon and you'll get your pascetti." He said with a smile as he reached over and drained the water, watching as she stood up and held her arms out for the towel. He dried her off quickly before he got her into her pajamas and worked on drying her mop of curls, "You got a lot of hair for a little girl." He teased with a smile. Sam smiled even wider when Aaliyah let out a giggle and looked up at him, "You got a lot of hair for a grown up." She replied. Sam let out a chuckle and nodded at her words, "I won't fight you on that one, Squirt." He replied before picking her up and carrying her out to the kitchen where Frankie was making dinner.

@ sam winchester.
Sam played with Aaliyah for a couple more minutes before he stood up and grabbed her a towel, "Alright, Squirt, let's get you all dried off and in your pjs. Mommy should have dinner ready soon and you'll get your pascetti." He said with a smile as he reached over and drained the water, watching as she stood up and held her arms out for the towel. He dried her off quickly before he got her into her pajamas and worked on drying her mop of curls, "You got a lot of hair for a little girl." He teased with a smile. Sam smiled even wider when Aaliyah let out a giggle and looked up at him, "You got a lot of hair for a grown up." She replied. Sam let out a chuckle and nodded at her words, "I won't fight you on that one, Squirt." He replied before picking her up and carrying her out to the kitchen where Frankie was making dinner.

Frankie, despite being busy with dinner, couldn't keep the smile off of her face as she heard the very distinct sound of laughter coming from the bathroom. Hearing that made her all the more certain that letting Sam be a part of Aaliyah's life was a good idea. She deserved to know her father, and it was so clear to Frankie already that Sam was great with her. She had just finished setting everything out onto the table when Sam walked in with Aaliyah in his arms. "Perfect timing." She said with a smile. "Pascetti!!" Aaliyah exclaimed, causing Frankie to laugh. "That's right, munchkin."

@ sam winchester.
Sam smiled at Frankie's words before Aaliyah got excited over spaghetti, "It smells great in here." He said honestly with a grin as he set Aaliyah down in her booster chair. He smiled at the fact that she was now able to see over the table and eat her food properly, "Where do you want me to sit?" He asked curiously as he looked over at Frankie, "I know some people have certain spots when they eat and I don't want to intrude on yours."

Frankie smiled. "Well, I hope it'll taste as good as it smells." She said with a slight laugh. She always thought she was a decent cook, though she didn't get to cook as often as she would like being a single mom and all. She and Aaliyah had food from the diner quite frequently, but she did try to cook whenever she could. "Sit wherever you want, no need to worry about intruding in any way, shape or form." She assured him as she started putting some pasta with sauce on her daughter's plate. She put a cutlet on there as well and started cutting it up into small pieces. "Seriously, Sam, just sit down." She laughed.

@ sam winchester.
Sam nodded at her words before he sat down on the other side of Aaliyah. He watched at how excited Aaliyah was getting of the spaghetti before he put some pasta on his own plate as well as one of the chicken cutlets and he started to dig in, "Wow. This is amazing." He stated as he looked over at Frankie. It had been a while since he had a home-cooked meal. Sam and Dean didn't really get them that much with always being on the road. So, now that he had one, he was planning on enjoying it as much as he could.

"If it was up to her this would be dinner every single night." Frankie said with a slight laugh as she finished cutting up some chicken for Aaliyah and set it down in front of her along with some spaghetti. She loved spaghetti and chicken cutlets, though Frankie was sure that was fairly obvious based on her daughter's obvious excitement over the meal. She looked to Sam when he commented on the food and smiled. "It's nothing special, easy enough for me to make after a long shift, but thank you." She said, punctuating her words with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

@ sam winchester.
Sam smiled, "I can tell it's her favorite." He replied and watched as Aaliyah started to dig into her food with a smile on her face. Sam nodded in response to her thanks. He continued to eat his food, taking sips of his drink every now and then, "So how long have you been working at the diner?" He asked after he made sure he didn't have any food left in his mouth. He took a drink from his water as he ate another fork full of spaghetti as he waited for Frankie to answer.

"About six years now." Frankie said before popping a forkful of spaghetti into her mouth. "I moved here after I finished college. My parents and I never really saw eye to eye, well, ever, and I wanted to put as much distance between us as I could." If he was going to be in Aaliyah's life, he should probably know how the family situation was. "I never went back and I only really see them two or three times a year now."

@ sam winchester.
Sam nodded at her words as he at some more of his spaghetti, "I understand you on the parents and seeing eye to eye." He replied. He and his father had never seen eye to eye, especially when Sam wanted to leave the life and go to college. Sam knew the reason why his dad had such a hard time with it, "My dad and I constantly butted heads while I was growing up." He added before he twisted his spaghetti around his fork and stuck the fork in his mouth.

Frankie nodded. "I was never the picture-perfect daughter that my parents wanted me to be. That was my sister. They always tried to fit me in that mold, still do to this day sometimes." She said, rolling her eyes slightly. There was a reason why she only saw her parents once or twice a year. It was really only for Alliyah's benefit. Frankie wanted her daughter to know her grandparents whether Frankie saw eye to eye with them or not.

@ sam winchester.
Sam nodded in understanding, "I completely understand." He said as he finished his dinner and took a drink of his drink before he looked over at Aaliyah, who was completely enjoying her spaghetti, "Your dinner good, Munchkin?" He questioned with a smile. It was pretty obvious that Aaliyah liked spaghetti as apparent by how quiet she was as she ate her food with a huge smile on her face the entire time.

Frankie decided not to say anything else about her parents after that. She didn't like talking about them very much, but she'd figured that Sam should at least know somewhat what her family situation was like if he was going to be in Aaliyah's life seeing as her family situation also applied to their daughter for fairly obvious reasons. She followed his gaze over to Aaliyah and laughed when her daughter nodded enthusiastically in response to her father's question. "She loves her spaghetti."

@ sam winchester.
Sam smiled at Frankie's words and nodded, "I can see that." He replied with a laugh before he finished his drink and looked at Frankie, "So what was her first word? Tell me about everything I missed." He asked. He felt awful because he missed so much for Aaliyah's life and he knew that he didn't want to miss anything else. He couldn't miss anything else. He would be the absolute worst dad if he did miss something else in Aaliyah's life.

Things began with a somewhat awkward start the next morning. After arguing with Sam over who was going to sleep on the couch, Frankie's bright idea was for both of them to sleep on the floor. She had gathered a bunch of blankets and pillows and they had both fallen asleep on the floor the night before. However, that morning Frankie had woken up to a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist, and awkward mumbles and muttered apologies occurred before being interrupted by the person who connected the two to each other. Aaliyah was excited to see her father that morning, and Frankie might have taken advantage of this by suggesting he help her get dressed while she got ready for her mid-morning shift at the diner. Maybe she was avoiding him after the awkward events of that morning, and maybe avoiding him was a bit childish, but she still didn't quite know how to act around Sam.

---

Dean woke up in a slight state of confusion the next morning. He wasn't hungover, that just never really happened to him anymore, but it did take a couple of seconds for the memories from the night before to come back to him. Roxanne. She had been at the bar last night. He had confronted her before storming off to the Impala and heading straight for the nearest liquor store. Very little had happened after that, and he realized quickly that Sam hadn't returned to the motel the night before. Grabbing his phone off the bedside table, he ran a hand over his face and sighed as he listened to the voicemail his little brother must have left him at some point the night before. He was staying at Frankie's and he'd explain everything in the morning apparently.

@ sam winchester.
Roxanne groaned as she opened her eyes slowly. She could feel a pounding in her head as she looked around slightly. She had no idea where she was and what happened. The last thing that Roxanne remembered was that her and Cole had gone on a hike in the woods that was about a half hour drive from her apartment. They had been on their way back to the car when she had gotten separated from Cole, telling him she was going to stay back really quick and that she would meet him at the car. Next thing she knew everything was black and she was in a strange place that she didn't know. Roxanne could to feel her heartbeat increasing, and she knew that she was going to have a panic attack. Roxanne had always been able to tell when she was about to have a panic attack, despite never being able to stop them from happening. For some reason she had this voice in the back of her mind, though, calming her down. A rough voice but also soothing and sweet. She couldn't put her finger on it and she didn't understand why she couldn't remember it.

---

Sam ran his hand through his hair as he walked into Aaliyah's room to help her get dressed, thankful for the suggestion from Frankie so he could escape the awkwardness that had been lingering in the room. Sam couldn't remember having slept that well in a long time. When he woke, he was surprised to find that Frankie was perfectly tucked under his arms, "Alright, Squirt, whatcha in the mood to wear today?" He questioned as Aaliyah started pulling all of her clothes out of her drawers. He laughed lightly before he took the outfit she handed to him and looked over it, "Well I think you picked out a very nice outfit, Squirt." Sam said before grinning at the pleased expression that appeared on Aaliyah's face. He quickly got her dressed and then worked on doing her hair the way that she wanted, which was quite difficult for Sam to accomplish, "Alright I think you're ready to go show mommy your outfit." Sam stated with a grin as he looked down at his daughter. He followed her out to the kitchen as she excited started yelling to Frankie about her outfit.

Frankie patted her face dry with a towel, having just washed her face, and paused to stare at herself in the mirror. "You don't still have a thing for him, Sommer's." She told herself. "Yes, he's Aaliyah's father, but he broke your heart once. You aren't going to risk it happening again." Who the hell am I kidding? She sighed, shaking her head as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and walked out of the bathroom, making her way to the kitchen to cook up a quick breakfast for Aaliyah and put on a pot of coffee for herself and Sam. She wasn't the opener today, and didn't need to be there until 9, so they had time for breakfast that morning. She had just started scrambling up some eggs when she heard her daughter running down the hallway, shouting about her outfit. Smiling, she turned to look and see for herself. "Wow, kiddo! Did you pick that out all by yourself?"

---

Dean was still trying to wrap his head around the events of last night. The last thing he had wanted was to run into Roxanne, but maybe he was asking for it going to the same bar that he knew she used to like to hang around. Maybe he had hoped, despite the years that had past, that she would still be there. Regardless, he'd still been caught completely off guard when he did see her, and he was still pretty damn pissed about everything too. He knew he should probably have given her time to really talk though. Maybe he'd try to find her place and talk to her after he met up with Sam at the diner.

@ sam winchester.
Roxanne slowed her breathing down and gave herself a moment to adjust to the black around the area she was at. It sounded like she was underground or something close to it, like a cave. She was strapped to a chain-link fence and could see that there was someone else there. She squinted her eyes more and saw that it was another girl and that she was unconscious. Her heart started racing again. Calm down, Roxy. It's going to be okay. A voice went off in her head, this time louder than before. It finally clicked to her that it was Dean's voice. She closed her eyes and remembered when Dean calmed her down from a panic attack she had in front of him. "Roxy, you gotta calm down. I'm right here, and I'm not gonna let anything happen to you ever. Sweetheart, slow your breathing. Everything will be fine you just gotta slow your breathing." Dean said calmly as he took her hand in his, his other one rubbing her back slowly. Eventually her breathing slowed and her heart rate returned to normal, "See I told you that I wasn't going to let anything happen to you." Roxanne opened her eyes slowly and felt a lot better than she did before. She was still scared, but she wasn't on the verge of a panic attack anymore. Somehow without being there, Dean had calmed her down.

---

Sam grinned as he walked out with Aaliyah to greet Frankie, "She did. As soon as I walked in the room, she handed me this outfit. Then she explained to me exactly how to do her hair." He said with a smile as he looked down at his daughter. He felt so different now that he actually had a daughter. He just wished he would have been able to be there for her throughout the beginning of her life, he felt awful for that, "It smells great in here. Whatcha cookin'?" He asked curiously as he peeked over her shoulder to see her making some eggs as well as bacon. He made his way to where he saw two cups and a sippy cup sitting on the counter, "I'll get the drinks. Aaliyah what would you like to drink with your breakfast?" He asked as he opened up the fridge. He heard her yell juice from the living room where she was coloring until breakfast was ready. He quickly poured some juice into the sippy cup and walked it over to his little girl, handing her the cup happily. He returned to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee and then another for Frankie, "What do you put in your coffee, Frankie?" He asked curiously.

Frankie smiled at Sam's words, looking back down at Aaliyah. "You look great, baby." She said. "Daddy did a good job with your hair." She added before continuing to make breakfast. Sam was proving time and time again that her decision to let him be a part of their daughter's life yesterday was a good one. He was already so good with her, not that she was at all surprised. She'd known after they had talked yesterday that he would be. He was an amazing person, and was already an amazing father. "Just some eggs and bacon, nothing special." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. "You must not eat home-cooked meals often." She added, recalling how much he had praised her about dinner the night before. "A little bit of milk and two sugars."

---

Dean did a lot of thinking while he took a shower and got dressed that morning. He had decided that he would try to find Roxanne after he met up with his brother at the diner. Sam seemed eager to officially introduce him to his niece and Frankie. Huh, niece. That was still something he was going to have to get used to. He was honestly pretty excited to meet her. She was a cute kid from what he'd seen of her yesterday, and Frankie seemed like a good person despite the ice queen act she'd been giving his brother. It was totally called for though. He knew that soulless Sam had been a total dick.