ATTENTION: THIS IS THE NEW REVISED VERSION

Chapter 1:

"Hey, don't forget the extra onions this time, huh?" Dean said to Sam as he handed him a small wad of cash. We had pulled up in front of a small diner where Dean was sending Sam in to get us some food. I was sitting in the back of the Impala with my arms crossed under strict orders not to speak until we reached the next motel. Apparently, Dean didn't appreciate being spoken back to.

"Dude, we're the ones who are gonna have to ride in the car with your extra onions." Sam replied, causing me to let out a snort of laughter, followed by a warning look from Dean. The amused look on my face immediately turned back into a scowl and I kicked the back of Sam's seat in defiance.

"Kick that seat one more time." Dean warned, then called after Sam as he slid out of the car, "See if they have any pie!"

When Sam closed the door behind him, Dean turned around in his seat to give me "the look". I avoided looking at him until I felt like his gaze was going to burn holes in the top of my head. Finally, I snapped my head up to look at him.

"What?" I probably could have had a little less attitude in my tone, or even kept my mouth shut.

"Really? Do you wanna do this now, because I have no problem doing this now."

I closed my mouth and folded my arms once again, averting my eyes. No, I didn't want to do this now. Nor did I want to do it later, either.

"No, Dean, I don't." As I said this, the radio started to make a lot of static noise. Dean looked away from me to mess with it, but it turned off completely. I glanced over the radio at the diner and realized that the people that I saw in there when we first pulled up, were gone. So was Sam.

"Dean!" I said pointing to the diner. He looked up at the sudden tone difference in my voice and when he saw the diner, yelled Sam's name and opened the car door. I moved to open my door too, but Dean said over his shoulder, "Stay here!"

I watched him run to the door of the café, pulling his gun out. I was tempted to ignore his instructions and follow him in there, but I knew the penalty and I was already in enough trouble as it was for talking back to him. So I stayed, but I moved to the front seat so I could have a better view.

I watched Dean pace cautiously across the room, gun pointing forward. He disappeared from sight when he went into the back. I waited, hardly breathing. I could hear him yelling Sam's name from behind the diner. Then, he was running from the back of the diner out the front door.

"Sam!" he yelled over and over when he was outside, searching around. "Sammy!"

I opened the door, stepping out so I was right next to the car, but out of it all the same.

"He didn't come back out, Dean!" I yelled to him. His head whipped around and he pointed at me furiously.

"Anna, get back in the car!"

I listened without hesitation. He looked really shaken up. I left the door open until he came back over to the car, wrenching the door open on his side and sliding in.

"Dean what happened?" I asked, completely forgetting the rule about not talking. "Where is he, what took him?"

"Demons, I think." He said, slamming the car into gear and backing up way faster than normal. The car whipped around so that it was facing the road and we were squealing tires as we took off down the road. "Everyone in there was dead. Throats slit. There was sulfur on the back door."

"Demons? But, Dean, if the demons took Sam-"

"We're going to get him back." Dean stated firmly, his tone indicating that it was the end of that discussion. "Buckle up."

I clenched my teeth together at the frustration of being shut down. If I were Sam, Dean would be talking through all the possibilities of what would happen. If I was Sam, he'd be strategizing how they were going to find him. But I wasn't Sam. I was me, and I was just along for the ride. And I hated that.

"What are we going to do?" I pressed, not buckling. "How are we going to find him?"

"First of all, I told you to buckle up. Second, there is no 'we', there is 'me'. You're not getting involved in this at all, so you can sit there and let me think about what I am going to do, and how I am going to find Sam before you cross the line that you're pushing. Understand?"

"So you're not going to tell me anything?" I demanded angrily. "He's my brother too, Dean, and I'm worried! You can't keep me in the dark! It's not right!" I was so sick of being told to sit back and keep quiet. I was almost thirteen years old. It had been almost a year since Dad died. I had seen more than anyone my age would ever see in an entire lifetime. I knew things people older than me didn't even know. "I'm not a baby, and just because I'm a girl doesn't mean you have to treat me like-"

The car came to a fast stop on the side of the road and Dean was out of the car and stalking around the front before I could even finish my sentence. Knowing what was coming, I tried to scramble to the other side of the car, but my door opened and he was dragging me out of the seat with ease.

"Wait, Dean!" I gasped, but my plea fell on deaf ears as he slammed my door shut then bent me right over the hood of the car. I screeched as his hand fell sharply over my jeans. Over and over it fell until I was sobbing into the hood, the fight gone right out of me.

"Are you done?" he asked when he was finished. I wanted to ask him the same thing, but instead, I replied with a meek 'Yes sir'. He opened my door and firmly guided me back into the passenger seat. I winced as I sat down. He didn't spank me for very long, but he did start a pretty good fire in my backside. I wiped at my eyes, embarrassed and contrite.

"Buckle up." Dean said once he got back in his eat. I immediately followed his order and clicked the buckle into place. He slid his phone out of his pocket, dialed a number, than put it up to his ear. "Bobby, its Dean. We have a problem. Sam just disappeared from a diner. Everyone was killed, throats slit, and there was sulfur at the back door. Anna and I are on our way to your place. If you could meet us halfway somewhere it would be a lot quicker. Call me when you get this."

When he hung up the phone, he didn't say anything to me. I sat there in silence for what felt like an eternity before he said, "Go to sleep, Anna. We're going to be driving for quite a while."

"I'm not tired." I said, trying to keep my voice as low as possible as to lower the chances that he would consider it backtalk.

"It's almost midnight. It's past your bedtime anyway."

I bit my bottom lip.

"Can I stay up here?" I asked, turning my head to fully look at him.

"Yes." He answered, then turned to look at me. His gaze softened a little bit, and he reached his arm out to me. I scooted over eagerly and leaned into him. "We're going to get him back, Anna. I'm not going to let anything bad happen to either of you."

I knew that. I knew it was Dean's life mission to protect us, but sometimes things happened, and it felt like no matter what he did, he couldn't keep us safe forever.

~ . ~

I must have fallen asleep, because when I woke up, I was leaning against the passenger door, a pillow tucked between the window and my head. Dean and Bobby were standing at the hood of the car, looking at a piece of paper that was spread out. It was bright out now, and we were parked alongside of a deserted highway.

I sat up and stretched. Dean looked up from the map and his eyes swept over me. He held a hand up and motion with his finger for me to go to him. Gladly, I tossed the pillow in the backseat and got out of the car. I walked sleepily over to his side, lacing my arm around his and leaning into it.

"What is this?" I asked, looking down at some kind of map.

"It's a map of all the demonic signs that have been going on recently." Bobby answered before Dean could say anything. "And there's nothing. Nothing at all."

"What does that mean?" I asked, looking up at Dean. He looked down at me and with a grim look said,

"Nothing good." He dragged a hand over his face. He looked tired. Really tired, and older. Ever since Dad died, he's had so much burden on his shoulders. Thinking about that made me feel extremely guilty for the way that I acted the night before. I gripped onto his arm tighter and rested my head against him. "How are we even going to know where to start? What are we going to do, close our eyes and point?"

Bobby gave a sigh with a shrug as he continued to study the map. They were both silent for a moment, the perfect time for my stomach to grumble loudly. Since we ended up leaving the diner because of what happened to Sam, I hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday. Both Dean and Bobby turned their heads to look at me and I flushed.

"Would it be a bad time to ask for some breakfast?"

"No. We don't have any leads right now anyway. We might as well—" he stopped short when his phone rang. In a rush, he pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen, then flipped it open and put it to his ear. "Ash, what do you got?"

Ash? Dean must have called him while I was sleeping. Ash was a weird, super smart, drunk-most-of-the-time guy that worked at the roadhouse with Ellen and Jo, two hunters that we had met a few days after Dad had passed away. Ellen used to know him, and her daughter Jo came along for a hunt one time. Though, her mom wasn't happy about it and she lied to get there. I was almost felt bitter to her because she could get away with that kind of stuff. Dean would have me over his knee quicker than I could say "boo" and have me locked in his car or a motel so fast it would make my head spin.

"Oh, come on, man! You've gotta give us something. We're looking at a three thousand-mile haystack here." Dean slapped his hand on the hood frustrated. "Well, what . . . come on, I don't have time for this!" his jaw clenched as he listened. I glanced over at Bobby who raised an eyebrow.

If Ash couldn't find something, then it was really unlikely that there was anything to find at all. Dean closed his phone and sighed, aggravated.

"Well, looks like we're going to the Roadhouse." He said. I perked up a little bit. I enjoyed Ellen. "Bobby, want to ride with us?"

"Sure, let me just drop off my car somewhere."

We parted way into our respective cars. I took advantage of an empty shotgun seat for the next few minutes before I would have to be sent back to the backseat.

"Do you think Sam knows we're trying to find him?" I asked after a couple minutes of silence.

"Of course he does." Dean replied gruffly. "Why wouldn't we look for him?"

I shrugged, feeling stupid for asking the question in the first place. Bobby pulled his car into a wal-mart parking lot and parked it near the back, where people wouldn't really notice it for a few days. After he got into our car, Dean went through Dunkin Donuts so I could get some breakfast. He even let me get an iced-coffee. That was my new favorite drink. He didn't let me have it often though. He said the caffeine made me too crazy and then I had to pee a lot.

When I was done eating, I crumpled up my garbage and put it back in the brown paper bag. I reached for my phone, getting ready to play tetris, but Dean stopped me by saying, "Get your school work out." I blanched, gaping at him in the mirror.

"Dean, its Saturday!" I protested. Saturday and Sunday were the only two days that I didn't have to do school work. Sam figured that it would be best for me to doing my school work during normal school hours to keep me on a good schedule. Every day from Monday to Friday I had to start school work at nine in the morning, and couldn't stop until three.

Sometimes, if hunts got in the way, I had a little leeway, but I was expected to spend six hours a day doing homework. I did get four fifteen minute breaks though throughout the day for stretching and resting my brain. I also had thirty minutes for lunch.

"I know its Saturday. But we have a long drive ahead of us and you're not going to spend the day playing on your phone. Especially after the way you behaved last night."

Bobby turned to eyeball me.

"You givin' your brothers trouble, little girl?"

"No." I defended, my tone a little harsher than I mean it to.

"You know that's impossible." Dean said to Bobby, though I could swear there was a small smirk on his face. But only briefly, before he looked back at me in the mirror. "Anna. Let's go. Get your books out and start working."

"No!" I whined. "I won't go on my phone all day!"

"This isn't debatable." Dean told me, hitting the breaks hard as a car pulled out in front of him. "Jackass." He muttered under his breath. I crossed my arms and leaned back into the seat.

"Normal kids don't go to school on Saturdays! They get to go outside and play, or read books, or play video games, or-"

"Anna, I really don't want to do this right now." Dean said. "Can you please just do this without arguing? I know you're behind on your lessons and you need to catch up."

"I can catch up on Monday!" I insisted, a definite whine in my voice. Why couldn't I sit in the car and do nothing? I didn't see anything wrong with that. "I spend all my time doing school work! I don't ever get to do anything I want to do!"

"You get to do whatever you want from three to nine at night, so don't even start with that bull, and unless you want to do homework tomorrow too, I'd suggest you shut your mouth and take out your work before I pull this car over."

I gave an irritated huff and Dean flashed me a warning look in the mirror.

"One." He said and I glared at him. "Two." I held his gaze for a moment and he watched me, gauging my reaction to see whether or not he was going to have to count to three. I didn't really want to get my ass tanned in front of Bobby, so that was what made me lean over to get my books out of my bag.

"That's the only warning you're getting today. I want your best behavior for the rest of the trip. The next time I have to talk to you, it won't be with words. Understand?"

"Yes, Dean." I grumped. This was going to be one long car ride.

~ . ~

As the day went on, the numbers on the page of my notebook seemed to get blurrier and blurrier. It was so hard to focus and my head was starting to ache. Lately, homework in the car had been giving me headaches. Not because I didn't want to do it, but for some reason, having to read and write didn't set well while being in a moving vehicle. Though, I knew if I brought it up to Dean he would just tell me to suck it up and deal with it.

We hit a particularly rough patch of road and the number I had been writing got all messed up. I growled when I realized that my pencil tip also broke, as I watched the tip roll down the paper and off the side.

"Really?" I demanded angrily under my breath. That was the only pencil I had with me, and my sharper had been MIA for the past week. There was no way I could do math with a pen, because I would have so many crossed off problems that there would only be one right problem per page. I chucked my pencil on the floor and threw my head back against the headrest.

"What's going on back there?" Dean asked, though not angrily.

"My fricken pencil tip broke and I don't have another one!" I replied.

"Whoa, watch your mouth, it's just a pencil." He scolded.

"It's not just a pencil, it was my last pencil!" I reiterated angrily. "Now I can't do my fricken math homework like you fricken wanted me too all because of that fricken bump in the road!"

When I was done, my fists were clenched and I was seething, leaning forward in my seat. I hadn't even realized that Dean had pulled the car over and was now turned around looking at me with a completely calm look on his face.

"And my head hurts!" I added, figuring while I was already on a role I should go with it. "This damn homework's been giving me headaches for the past week whenever I have to read or write in the car, so now not only do I have to do sucky homework, but I get to do it with a stupid fricking head ache!" I paused, my chest heaving with the sudden spike of adrenaline running through me. "This sucks!" I finished with a yell.

Dean stared at me, completely silent as I seethed. Why did everything have to be so awful lately? Everything with Sam and his demon powers, the yellow eyed demon, and some weird war starting. No one had time for me anymore. It was all about Sam, or saving someone else, or finding the colt because they let it get taken from them again. Everything I had been doing with them for the past year was about everyone but me.

"The only time you ever pay attention to me anymore is when you're telling me to do homework, or you're yelling at me for doing something completely normal for a girl my age. I never get to do anything I want, like go to the movies, or shop for a new shirt because the same ten shirts I own get boring after a while, or even get a haircut, you make Sam do it because we don't have 'time' to get it done professionally." They were both staring at me now. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, wishing I hadn't said that part.

"I understand you're a little upset that you don't get to do the things you want, but that's life." Dean said after a moment. "The more you waste our time by having little temper tantrums like this, the less likely we'll be able to find Sam in time. So if you can just see past your own wants for a little bit and focus on what you need to do so we can find Sam, that would be wonderful."

I gaped at him, stung by his words. Bobby even turned his head to look at him with a raised eyebrow. When I didn't respond, he continued.

"So are you done acting like you're five years old? Can I get back to looking for our brother?"

I closed my mouth, not trusting any words to come out that wouldn't lead to tears or more, angry yelling. He took my silence as a yes, and turned around, pulling back onto the road and continuing. Bobby glanced at me before turning back around in his seat.

I closed my math book and slid it off my lap onto the floor, inching my way towards the window and sliding down so that I was out of Dean's rear view mirror view. Tears leaked into my eyes as I moved and my mouth seemed to be pulled back by some strong invisible force that I couldn't fight. As I tried to fight the sobs that were pushing their way up my throat, my face just seemed to crumple and I hid it behind my hands.

Dean had never said anything so hurtful to me before. He used to have more patience with me too. Before, he requested things of me, rather than immediately ordered me to do it. Now, everything was an order, and there was no patience in anything he did.

"Dean," Bobby said, his voice low. "That was a bit harsh, don't ya think?"

"Harsh?" Dean said, not bothering to keep his voice down. "Our brother has been kidnapped by demons, and she's causing a riot because her pencil broke! Priorities, Bobby. She needs to get hers straight."

"Priorities?" Bobby said, outrage in his voice. Now neither of them were bothering to keep their voices down. "You don't let her join in on hunts. You don't let her know anything that's going on. All you let her do is school work. So if you ask me, not being able to do her homework because her pencil broke is a pretty damn good reason for her to be upset! That is her priority put there by you!"

"Sam is a bigger priority than her homework, Bobby!"

"Well ya don't need to be an id-"

"Stop!" I yelled, lifting my face from my hands, tears streaming down. "Stop fighting! I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm such a burden to you and I slow you down. I'm sorry I don't have my priorities straight all the time. I'm sorry, okay! Just stop fighting, I can't take it!"

They were both silent, then Bobby turned around to look me in the eye.

"You are not a burden. Don't you ever let him make you feel that way, because you aren't, you understand me?"

"You're not a burden, Anna." Dean sighed.

"No, just stop, both of you." I pleaded. "Leave me alone. I won't bother you anymore."

I laid down so that was face was buried in my pillow. This was the worst car ride ever.

~ . ~

"What the hell?" Dean's voice made me sit up instantly from where I had been laying in the back of the Impala. For the past hour, everyone had been completely silent. That was probably a good thing though. I was too upset to talk, Dean was too stressed, and Bobby was just being stuck in the middle of it all.

"Oh, my God." Bobby breathed.

I looked out the window to see a smoldering building before us.

"What the-" I looked around, realizing that I had been to this place before. I knew where we were. Before me, where the building lay in a smoking heap, was what used to be the Roadhouse, where Jo, Ellen, and Ash lived. My hand flew up to cover my mouth as Dean put the car in park. "Dean-"

"Shh. Stay in the car." he said, his voice empty as he opened his door and got out. Bobby followed, the two of them walking up the first charred board on the ground. They looked around, but I was pretty sure we were the only ones here. I watched as they walked onto the pile, moving boards and looking into the debris. Were they looking for someone? Ellen, Jo, or Ash?

Tears began to fill my eyes at the thought of the three of them being trapped inside during the fire. They were good people, they didn't deserve to die like that. Ellen was a hard-ass, but she had a lot of love, and she helped me a lot after Dad passed away. We'd been talking every so often, so I had gotten pretty close to her.

I leaned back, covering my face with my hands, my heart feeling like someone had reached into my chest and gripped it tight. My lungs felt like they couldn't get enough oxygen into them no matter how much I breathed in. I couldn't lose Ellen too. Everyone I cared about was being taken from me. I was starting to fear that soon, I wouldn't have anyone left. Not Sam, not Bobby-I couldn't even think about losing Dean. If I lost Dean, I don't know who I could ever go on.

The door next to me opened and I jumped, looking up to see Dean. He had his mouth open like he was going to say something, but closed it when he saw me. I had tears streaming down my cheeks, and I was sure my face was red from trying not to cry, but ultimately failing anyway. As if knowing exactly what I needed, Dean reached his hand out and pulled me from the car into his arms.

"She's dead, isn't she!" I wailed, burying my face into his jacket.

"We don't know that for sure." he replied, running a hand through my hair. Having him hold me made me cry even harder. I was so upset from what he had said earlier, but it didn't matter anymore. All I wanted was for him to hold me.

"She would have called us if she wasn't! She would have warned us or something! Ellen's gone, and we don't know where Sam is. I can't keep losing people, Dean. I can't."

"Anna, we don't know for sure if Ellen or Jo were even here when this happened, and we're not going to lose Sam. We're going to-" Dean gasped suddenly, releasing me from his embrace and clutching his head. I jumped reflexively and scooted over to Bobby's side.

"What was that?" Bobby demanded, putting a protective arm around my shoulder.

"I don't know." Dean answered. "A headache?"

"You get headaches like that a lot?"

"No. Must be the stress." he shook his head, a small chuckle coming from him. I stepped forward tentatively as he said "I could have sworn I saw something."

"What do you mean? Like a vision? Like what Sam gets?" Bobby asked as I glued myself to Dean's side once again, wiping my nose with the tip of my sleeve.

"What? No!" Dean sounded offended and I smiled. Dean had no tolerance for anyone being anything other than completely normal.

"I'm just saying." Bobby suggested.

"Come on, I'm not some psychic." A moment later though, Dean nearly took me down to the ground as he slumped against the car, groaning in pain as he held his head.

"Dean!" I shrieked, falling to my knees and scooting away, but it didn't seem like he heard me. I jumped to my feet looking at Bobby nervously. He reached forward, supporting Dean by his shoulders. I danced from one foot to the other, watching with wide eyes. His face was so contorted with pain that I found myself scrunching up my own face as I watched.

"Dean, Dean are you with me?"

"Yeah. I think so. I saw Sam. I saw him Bobby."

~ . ~

It was dark outside and getting late, but we kept driving to where Dean had envisioned Sam. We were all tense and barely spoke. There wasn't much talk in the car lately, so I was used to it. But there was something different about this silence. It felt wrong. There was too much fear, sadness, and anxiety hanging in air. Every breath felt like I was sucking in ice.

"Dean?"

"Yeah, sweetheart?" his little term of endearment for me made me feel better, especially since it seemed like he had forgotten all about being mad at me earlier, but the tone of his voice was strained, and I could tell he was still very tense.

"How much further until we get there?"

"Not too much longer-" he trailed off as we drove up to a wooded area and he looked over at Bobby who sighed.

"Well, looks like the rest of the way is on foot."

I moved to unbuckled my seat belt, but Dean turned around and gave me a look.

"Aw, Dean." I whined.

"Anna, whatever took Sam, whatever is going on . . . I don't want you to be a part of it. It's too dangerous. Stay in the car, keep your phone on. We'll call you. If worst comes to worst and you don't hear from us in a few hours . . ." he trailed off.

"Who am I supposed to call, Dean?" there was a hint of malice to my tone. "You, Sam, Bobby, you're all going to be there. Ellen is dead. Dad is dead. Who am I supposed to call, Dean?"

"No one. You won't have to call anyone." he said firmly. "We'll be back."

With that, he and Bobby got out of the car and went around to the trunk to get weapons. As they started off, I jumped out of the car, a sudden need to wrap my arms around him bursting through me.

"Dean!" I yelled. He turned around just in time for me to run right into him, wrapping my arms tighter around him than I ever did in my life. "Please be safe, Dean. Find Sam and come back to me."

His arms wrapped around me and he pressed his lips to the top of my head.

"Everything will be fine, Anna." he assured me, taking a step back so that he could look at me from arms length. He tipped his head down so that he could catch my gaze. "I promise."

"I love you." I whispered, holding back tears.

"I love you more." he replied. "No go get back in the car. Lay down and rest."

I nodded, turning slowly and walking back to the car.

~ . ~

I woke up to the sound of the car door closing. I jumped upright, rubbing my eyes.

"Dean?"

"Sorry honey, it's me." Bobby's voice replied from beside me. Suddenly, I realized that I was no longer in the backseat of the Impala, but sitting in the front seat of Bobby's car, and we were in front of his house, the sun peeking over the horizon.

"How did I . . . Where's Dean . . . Is Sam-"

"Everything is fine." Bobby said, but there was something in his eyes that made his statement false.

"Bobby . . ."

"Come on, why don't we go inside and get some breakfast. I'm starving."

"Bobby where's Dean? Where's Sam?"

"They're fine." he motioned for me to get out of the car. I did, keeping my eyes on him the entire time. He was keeping something from me.

"What happened? Why aren't they here?"

"They just had to wrap up a few things. They'll uh . . . they'll be here in a few days."

He turned and walked into the house. I followed after him, my heart beating faster.

"What aren't you telling me? Something bad happened, I can feel it. What happened, Bobby?" My voice has risen to a shout by the end, and Bobby turned around, pointing a finger threateningly at me.

"Look here, little girl. I just spend the whole night doing things a man my age shouldn't have to do! I'm tired! I'm hungry! I'm also the adult here, and whatever I chose to tell you or not tell you is my business and my decision, not yours, do you understand me?"

My mouth opened in surprise and I took a small step back.

"Now unless you can accept the information I just told you and have breakfast with me, then I suggest you go upstairs to your room."

We stared at each other for a few seconds before I took off to my room. My hands were shaking as I pulled my cellphone out of my pocket and dialed Dean's number. His phone went straight through to voicemail though, so I tried calling Sam's number. The same thing happened. I growled, frustrated, and dialed Dean's number again.

"Dean, call me back asap. I want to know what is going on. You promised you would come back to me. Please don't do this to me, don't leave me in the dark. I need to know you're safe. Bobby isn't going to tell me anything. Please, Dean. Please call me."

I hung up the phone, sinking onto my bed. This was going to be a rough day.