This is set in my Manda ‘Verse. In case you haven’t read my other stuff: Manda’s parents were killed on a hunt. She lives with the Winchesters, and is kinda Dean’s girlfriend.

It’s mostly John’s thoughts while driving to another hunt. It switches from his thoughts to what’s going on in the present.

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Manda had her earphones firmly inserted her ears before John even got the Impala started. John sighed, rubbing his forehead. Manda ignoring him meant Dean would be pissed, and Sam’s been denying his existence for a couple weeks now.

The last hunt had gone badly, with John barely escaping with both legs attached. Everybody else was fine, except for a few bruises. He had promised all of them a vacation. Especially Manda, she really deserved one. It was different for her, being the only girl in their circle.

However, Bobby had called with a new hunt. A poltergeist, a simple job. John had taken it. A hunt would be a good distraction for the teens.

Manda had taken to propping her feet on the top of the front seat. Normally, that wouldn’t be irritating. This time, however, she was tapping them against John’s shoulder. He knew she was only doing it to annoy. If she couldn’t have all-out revenge, she would make your life aggravating enough to rip your hair out.

She had done it to Dean on several occasions. John smiled internally, good times. Like the time she took all Dean’s tapes and replaced them with ABBA. Or the time she had teamed up with Dean to put Nair in Sammy’s shampoo. Dean had taken the blame for that one, but Sam knew it was Manda’s brainchild.

Manda was smart, and she knew it. She wasn’t book smart like Sam was, but she could rig the microwave to explode on a timer. She was like Dean in that respect.

Give Dean a set of numbers and he could find a pattern. Give him a laptop and he’ll hack the school database and change all their grades.

Give Manda some Kool-Aid and she’ll rig the school’s sprinklers to turn into grape Kool-Aid during cheerleading practice. Give her a set of obscure symptoms, and she’ll figure out what’s causing them.

They were a matched set. Sam was often the odd man out.

Sam would research endlessly to find an answer that those two could figure out by simply messing with something.

Sam, though, was the center of their research hub. Manda and Dean would find out what’s happening, and Sam would find someway to kill it, or exorcise it. He was constantly reading. He had a thirst for learning like nothing John’s ever seen. He was never satisfied, he always wanted better, wanted to know why.

John just didn’t know how to deal with him anymore. So he left Sam to Dean, who seemed to understand him better.

By now, Manda was fast asleep, the lull of the engine and the beat of her music finally doing her in. She’d usually lean on whoever happens to be closest. It was usually Dean, but today it was Sam.

Dean was out like a light, his head resting against the window. If he didn’t move soon, he’d have a hell of a crick in the morning. Sam was still reading whatever book he was reading now.

God, all he wanted was the best for them, for them to be safe.

Keegan and Megaen had trusted him with their pride and joy. He’ll be damned if he let anything happen to her, if she was anything less than happy.

And his boys, so like their mother, so like him. Sometimes he wondered where Sam got his stubbornness, until he realized that Mary had called him a stubborn ass more than once.

John wondered what his Mary would say to him now, after all he’s done. Raising the children like soldiers. He smiled again, memories of the past flitting through his brain.

A groan from Dean brought him back to the present. Dean sat back against the seat, massaging his neck.

“Hey, Deano. Your neck hurt?”

He nodded, not fully conscious yet. He would be as soon as he injected caffeine straight into his veins. How Sam hadn’t gotten this caffeine addiction too, John had no idea.

Give Manda a coke, and she’s good to go. That girl drinks like a camel. If she’s got something drinkable in front of her, she’s gonna be drinking it.

John glanced in the rearview mirror. Manda was awake, scribbling in a raggedy spiral notebook. Sam had long since fallen asleep. He had read all through the night long drive, using Dean’s flashlight.

Manda had started whistling along with the music from her Ipod. Unlike Dean, who listened to classic rock, and only classic rock, Manda listened to everything. She could be listening to Garth Brooks one minute only to switch to some rap song only to switch to hard rock next. She was a paradox, a mass of contradictions. Dean was the only one who seemed to understand.

John just figured she did it just to annoy him. Why go along with it when you can amuse yourself by changing your opinions every few seconds?

Manda had grown bored with her notebook, choosing instead to lean over the front seat and talk with Dean.

“What color do Smurfs turn if you choke them?”

Dean twisted in his seat to look at her, considering his answer. “Purple?”

John couldn’t believe it, is this what they talked about? “Wait, what?”

Both teens looked at him. “What?”

“You do realize Smurfs are fictional creatures, right?”

Dean hid a smirk, while Manda’s cocked an eyebrow. “No, Johnny, really? I had no idea.”

“Don’t call me Johnny.” He was smiling, though. An empty threat.

Manda grinned, swinging her legs over the seat to sit in between them. “Ok, Johnny.”

“So, Uncle John. I’ve decided to forgive you. This time.” Manda only called him Uncle John when she meant business.

“Okay. I promise, we will take a vacation.”

Dean looked at him, hope in his eyes. “After this next hunt, maybe?”

“Ok, after this hunt.”

Manda grinned leaning her head against Dean’s shoulder. “Ok. Sounds like a plan.”

There were a few minutes of silence. Peace reigned in the Impala for the first time in a while.

“I’m hungry.”

“Me, too.”

“Can we stop and get something to eat, Johnny?”

He grinned, he knew it wouldn’t last long. “Sounds like a plan. What are you hungry for?”

John let the arguments about food roll over him, letting himself enjoy this moment with his family.

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I happen to like Fatherly!John. So that’s what I wrote.

I realize I should be writing the next chapter of A Girl in the House, but this kept bouncing around my brain.

Alas, I do not own Supernatural. But maybe for Christmas…..

Reviews are Dearly Loved!!