Hello Readers! This is a series of one-shots that happen between the end of Of Angels and Demons and the Epilogue. They are stand-alone one-shots. As per usual, I don't own Supernatural, Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester or any other Supernatural characters that happen to pop up. I do, however, own Carter. Happy Reading!

Chapter Title: Into the Woods

Carter was six years old today, and in four days it would be the anniversary of John Winchester's death. Carter was sitting in a tree, in the middle of a woodsy area in

Vermont. He sat on the branch, near the trunk of the tree and listened closely to the world around him. Dad's voice boomed in his ears,

"It's not your fault, we just have to carry on, now. That's all there is to do."

Carter was really supposed to be doing a pretend sneak attack on both Sam and Dad, but the tree had been a perfect climb and the day was fairly nice still. He marveled

at the colors. Being it was August, the leaves were beginning to change from green to orange. Carter grabbed the pistol from the waistband of his jeans and set it in his

lap so he could lean against the trunk of the tree. The gun was heavy in his lap and his hand looked tiny wrapped around the grip. He cocked the gun in case he needed

it, and let it rest in his hands. He sighed, content, and settled back listening to the sounds of the forest.

Sometime later, a sound brought him to full attention. The snap of a twig, crystal clear. His eyes snapped to the ground in the direction of the sound. He'd be invisible to

the creature that happened upon his tree. He listened as the ground crunched and snapped beneath feet for about five minutes. It definitely wasn't an animal.

"He should have come straight through here!" He heard his dad hiss.

"Dean, I don't see any sign of him," Sam's voice came through, slightly worried.

Moments later, they came into Carter's view. They had their guns drawn, and were creeping through the woods slowly, checking the ground and trees for signs that

Carter had been there. Carter raised the gun and sighted the trunk of a tree two feet above his Dad's head. He fired, and quickly fired another shot into a tree three feet

to the left of Sam. He dropped from the tree, rolling so he wouldn't hurt his knees.

"Christ!" Dad exclaimed, putting the safety on his gun and shoving it into his pants. He lunged forward and pulled Carter into a hug.

"You'd both be dead," Carter claimed, returning the hug. "I heard you way off!"

"We've been searching for you for three hours! We walked into the woods five hours ago! We thought you'd been eaten," Sam said, partially joking.

"Was a nice climbin' tree!" Carter said, and nodded toward the tree. " 'Sides, I did a better job letting you come to me."

Dad ruffled his hair and walked past, heading back in the direction of the Impala. Sam and Carter fell into step behind him. About twenty minutes later, a sound made

Carter stop in his tracks and cock his head to the side. Sam and Dean kept walking until they noticed Carter rooted to the ground.

"What—" Sam started.

Carter shushed him, listening intently to the forest to his right side. There it was again, a slow crunch of leaves. Like someone stepping down slowly, trying to make as

little noise as possible. Dean and Sam were staring at Carter, following his lead. His hearing was better than theirs and he could hear many things they couldn't. A sneak

attack on Carter never worked.

Then, all three heard an unmistakable sound. The cock of a gun. They were all moving. Carter hit the nearest tree and scaled it. He couldn't see where Dad or Sam had

gone. He pulled himself onto a branch, hooked one arm over the branch above and looked wildly around for the owner of the gun. He could see Dad behind another tree,

glancing around it at different intervals. He scanned and listened for Sam, but neither saw nor heard anything indicating where Sam had hidden. A figure finally caught

his eye, and it was sneaking toward Dad.

He raised his gun, cocked, and sighted the shadowy figure one-handed. His hand was shaking terribly and he couldn't steady himself. Carter just took the shot as best he

could, and was surprised when he heard someone yell out in pain. The shadowy figure had gone down and was cursing up a storm.

"Please don't shoot!" Another person was running toward Dad from the same direction the other figure had come.

Dad came out from behind the tree, gun in hand to confront the second person running through the trees. The figure stopped and threw his hands in the air. Pain-filled

screaming could still be heard from the figure Carter had shot. Deciding it was safe, Carter climbed back down the tree and shot off towards Dad. He could hear him

conversing with the figures in his deep authoritative voice, but didn't pay close attention to what was said. Carter slowed and moved silently as he got close, heart

beginning to calm down. Dad came into view, as did the man laying on the ground, and the man with his hands in the air. He was slightly behind Dad, so Carter stepped

forward then reached out and tugged the hem of Dad's army green jacket. Dad started, but relaxed slightly as he saw Carter next to him.

"Where's Sammy, Bud?" Dad asked, his voice less gruff than when he spoke to anyone else.

Carter shrugged.

"Get the hell out of here. If we see you again, it'll be more than a leg shot," Dad ground out to the men, voice harsh and dangerous.

Dad safetied his gun, shoved it into the waist of his jeans and did the same with Carter's gun. He threw one last glare at the two men, who were trying to scramble

away, before picking Carter up into a hug.

"Let's go get Sammy and get out of these woods, whaddaya say?" Dad asked.

Carter nodded and wrapped an arm around Dad's neck, looking around for Sam. Dad walked them through the woods for about ten minutes before Sam stumbled from

behind a tree, having tripped over a root. When they reached the edge of the woods, Dad set Carter down and he ran to the shiny black car waiting for them near the

road. "You did good, Kiddo," Dad said, ruffling Carter's hair. "Little more excitement than we expected, huh?"

"Yeah," Carter responded.

"Did you find out what they wanted?" Sam asked.

"Thought they were going to mug us," Dad smirked. "They picked the wrong family for that. What say you to some ice cream for your birthday, Carter?"

"Dad, can we get pie instead?" Carter asked hopefully.

"Of course we can," Dad said, smiling and opening the back door so Carter could climb in.