Overview: It all comes down to one mother's undying love for her child, and how far she'll go to protect him from anything and everything...

Disclaimer: Everything owned by Eric Kripke and the CW


Chapter 1 – Welcome to my world

Nina May watched the shadows crawl along the motel room walls, smiling faintly as the car lights that zoomed by created pretty patterns on the plaster.

During the day everything mattered; every heartbeat hurt, every step taken was a miracle, and every smile was rare. She had to force herself to move, to eat, to care; she had to glance behind her back and around corners and over obstacles that didn't even exist yet; fear was a constant companion.

But here, now, everything was still, and Nina was at peace.

Michael stirred beside her, and she stroked his tanned cheeks with her thumb, quietly humming his favourite lullaby. She laid her head upon her pillow and watched him sleep, her heart warming as his lips sucked on an imaginary milk bottle.

He had no idea what was out there in the dark, he had no idea that they were running with no idea what they were running from or where they would end up. He had no idea that they were low on every necessity known to man, or that his mother was so close to the edge she was practically falling.

All he knew was that in her arms he was safe, and the only time he ever cried was when she let go.

"I will never let you go." She whispered, before slipping into a dreamless black, her child's tiny fingers absently clutching onto her own.


Nina roared with pain, sweat dripping down her face.

"Come on Nina, you can do it! Just one more push!"

Nina squeezed Freddie's hand tightly, and if she was hurting him he didn't show it. The nurses were praising her and pressuring her, "push dammit push!"

She felt like knocking their heads together and screaming at them to freakin push!

"She's crowning!"

With one final burst of effort Nina pushed with all her might.

She's always claimed that she could hear Michael wailing, even though she'd lost consciousness before seeing his face.


She woke up just before Michael, as she did every morning, as if somehow she could feel him dipping out of dreamland and felt the need to beat him to it.

She yawned sleepily but stayed as she was, content to just watch the slow rise and fall of his chest. His eyelids twitched slightly, before blinking open groggily to reveal two glistening hazel eyes.

He'd inherited Freddie's eyes instead of Nina's bright blue ones, and she didn't know sometimes whether to laugh or to cry when she saw them.

"Welcome to my world, Mikey."

She always whispered that to him each time he woke up, just as her mum had done with her. Michael's eyes lit up at the sound of her voice, before closing again, overcome by fatigue. Nina stroked his dark curls and decided to let him sleep a little while longer, she needed a shower anyway, and it had been a long journey up from South Dakota.

She placed extra pillows around the bed, just in case Michael decided to roll off, before sliding beneath the lukewarm assault of water. She closed her eyes and let the droplets fall down upon her bruised skin, washing away all the grime and dirt and baggage she'd picked up over the last few weeks.

Faces flew in front of her eyes as she travelled through her memories. The crinkles around her mother's eyes when she smiled, the twinkle in Freddie's eyes when he'd come home from work and sweep her off her feet...all the way up to the motel receptionist's disapproving frown.

Who rocks up to a motel at just gone four in the morning with a small child on her hip and loose change in her pocket anyway?

Nina turned off the water.


The child resting in Freddie's arms was breathtakingly beautiful, the perfect little bundle of soft curls, and the brightest eyes Nina had ever seen.

She accepted him with open arms, feeling a shiver of pleasure as her baby nuzzled against her breast.

"So what are you going to call my Grandchild?" Her mother beamed proudly.

Nina laughed. "Like you don't already know!"

"Ok you got me...here's a little something for him I made myself." From her pocket she presented a tiny bracelet sewn from an array of bright coloured thread, with little white and blue beads that each had a single letter painted on with silver.

"It's wonderful Cassie!" Freddie's eyes lit up as Nina's mother gently tied it around Michael's wrist.

"My sister Mary taught me how to make these, I believe she called them traveller's beads, or something like that...there you go! And you can adjust it in size so that when he's older it'll still fit him."

Nina gazed up at all that was left of her family, and smiled through her tears. "I love you guys...so, so much."

Freddie bent down and kissed her on her forehead. "I love you too, sweetheart."


Michael leant back against her as he sat lazily sucking on his bottle, gazing up at the small TV screen and occasionally rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

His grandmother's gift was still loosely wrapped around his wrist, and the colours seemed just as bright as the day Nina had first seen them. She kissed the top of his head and closed her eyes, trying to compose herself, trying to find a reason to struggle on.

Michael...Michael was her reason. She had to save him, if it was the last thing she did.

She knew where she had to go now, but with no car it would be a long walk, and being a stranger in this small town meant there was no one she knew or trusted to watch over the only person she had left.

But maybe...

She lifted Michael off her lap – which he wasn't very happy about – and placed him crossed legged on the floor, surrounded by a few measly toys that he'd outgrown months ago. She made a mental note to buy some more the next time she had money.

She pulled the dusty yellow pages from the back of some cupboard, and began to pour through it eagerly, scanning every page twice just in case she missed him.

There he was – obviously not the people her mother had told her to find, but she'd heard he was their only link to outsiders.

She just hoped he believed her, or at least stayed on the line long enough to hear her out.


"Hello?"

"Nina!" Her mother's voice sounded urgent, desperate even.

"Mom what is it? What's wrong?"

"Baby I love you."

"Mom you're scaring me, what's wrong?"

"There's something I should have told you a long time ago, and I am so, so sorry!"

Nina held her breathe.

"We thought we'd destroyed Him! We thought we'd stopped Him but He's coming –

"What? Mom what are you talking about? Who's coming?"

"There are things out there Nina, evil lurks behind every corner, but I couldn't raise you to fight them – I wouldn't allow myself to burden you, but now -

"You're not making sense –!

"Take my grandson and Freddie and run, Nina! Before He comes –

"Who is HE, mom!?" Nina was screaming now, and Michael was crying somewhere upstairs but Nina couldn't move.

"The thing that killed your grandmother and your grandfather and your father and your aunt and who John and I thought we'd killed! But He's coming for you, Nina, for your husband, for your, child for you!"

"Mom that's impossible! Who would want to –

"Not who, but what! The only way to protect yourself is to find family - there is family on my side who are still alive – for now. Two boys; I forget their names, Mary's boys. Find the Winchester's! They can hunt this thing!"

"Mom listen to me –

"No Nina, you listen to me! Run dammit, run as far and as fast as you can! I love –

Nina dropped the phone, but even from the floor she could still hear the blood chilling screams, and sounds of tearing flesh.


"Hello?" The man on the other side of the line drawled.

Nina bit her lip and crossed her fingers. "Umm hello, is this Bobby Singer?"

"Whatever you're selling, I don't want it."

"Wait! Please, I'm not selling anything." Nina waited anxiously.

"Well then what do you want?" Bobby's tone was sharp, but curious.

"Do you know of a woman named Mary Winchester?"

A sharp intake of breath. "That woman died years ago."

"I know that...so does that mean you know of her sons?"

"I know of them...who is this? And what do you want with the Winchesters?"

Nina took a deep breath. "I'm their cousin...and I need their help."


Thoughts? Queries? Feel free to review, I don't bite :)