AN: I was writing this and realized how much I absolutely LOATH first chapters, so I hope this turns out at least somewhat descent.
Renne might be a little OOC, but keep in mind she's young and just left Charlie.

Don't own

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"I really appreciate this Renee."

"John, you know it's no problem," Renee chastised, sending her brother a look that stopped whatever else he was going to say. Sure, she didn't know how she was going to make this month's rent, but family was the untimate exception.

She looked over to her nephews who had already made themselves at home. Sam was currently sprawled on the couch, glued to the TV open mouthed while Dean was holding her daughter with great care, doing something to make her giggle nonstop.

"Bella already adores Dean." Renee pointed out. It had been so long since she had last seen the boys, and they gotten so much bigger. It was only a matter of years before Bella would be their size.

"How are you holding up?" John asked bluntly before his baby sister could dance around the question again. He had tried the subtle approach to be courteous, but it just wasn't his style. Besides, the woman had managed to redirect the conversation every damn time.

Last he had seen Renee, she was at her wedding all smiles and full of joy-a drastic difference from today. Now, there were dark circles around her eyes and worry lines etched on her forehead that hadn't been there before. She looked tired. Not just the kind that came from the lack of sleep of having a baby, but one that soaked into her entire being.

Renee glared at John. She wished he couldn't read her like a book, but growing up so close together made that rather difficult.

"You know she's six months old today," she said, avoiding John's eyes and shuffling her feet. Two months since she left her husband. Two months since she was forced to find a way to stand on her own two feet for the first time in her life. Two months since she first realized she had no idea how to raise a baby by herself. "How do you do it?" she asked finally.

"Do what?" John sighed and set down his coffee. He had been worried about her since he first got that phone call with a desperate sister plus one all alone on the other end. As soon as he heard her, he turned the car around, destination Washington, to kick his brother-in-law's ass, cop or no cop. Then she informed him it was she who left Charlie, not the other way around.

"Raise your kids after…Mary." Renee answered, running a shaky hand through her hair, "You were on the road mourning with two boys. I chose to leave and still I have no idea what I'm doing."

"I'm not exactly the model parent." John grunted incredulously. If someone was asking him for parenting advice, surely hell had frozen over. That would have certainly made his job easier as a hunter. It was then that he realized what had been nagging him. He couldn't put his finger on it before, but Renee still hadn't even cracked a smile aside from when she greeting him at the front door. "Just…do your best." He shrugged and then gazed lovingly at his sons. "I have no idea how Sam and Dean turned out so well."

"Me neither," his younger sibling teased. John chuckled and the laughter spread to Renee. There was his sister, not the distressed newly single mom he'd seen so far.

"Enough of me," she sniffed and wiped away the beginning of tears that had leaked out, "I'm more worried about you and the boys…and this life your living."

"Not this again, Renee," John groaned, feeling a very repetitive argument coming on. Rene held her hands up in defense and shook her head.

"Fine," she relented before they could get into it infront of the kids, "but when another what-do-ya-call-its has you strung up by your heels in Podunk, Texas, I'll be there only to say I told you so."

"I'll hold you to that. I better get going," he said and Renee nodded, getting up to show him the front door.

"Boys, I'm leaving!" John called. Sam immediately tore himself from the program that previously had him engrossed to the point of drooling. He jumped up and launched himself at his father. John laughed and ruffled Sam's hair. Moments like this reminded him why he was fighting.

Dean came over considerably slower than his enthusiastic brother, still cradling baby Bella in his arms. "You know what to do," John nodded to his eldest.

"Shot first, ask questions later." Dean answered with a smile.

"I'll be back in a month. Two tops." John said and peeled six year old Sam off him. "See ya, big guy."

With one last crushing hug from Renee and a promise to make it back in one piece, John was gone. He had a new lead on demon activity he needed to jump on before the trail went cold. His boys were in good hands.

--

Renee laid Bella gently in her crib and crossed the room to her own bed. She collapsed fully clothed onto it, too exhausted to change or even care. She had once thought Bella was a handful, but her nephews had now redefined the word.

Of course, she had fallen in love with the boys, but that didn't them any less…exuberant and endlessly so. When Sam wasn't a TV zombie he was bouncing around, forever talking. He was a truly sweet, genuine boy who didn't give her a break. Renee had made a mistake of giving him sugar, but had learned her lesson rather quickly. The kid was like the energizing bunny. The there was Dean.

What to say about Dean. A lot of the time he stuck to the background, watching protectively over Sam and making sure Bella was ok. It was sweet. He was so much like his father is was laughable. She nearly had a heart attack when she saw a gun hanging out of the back of his jeans while wrestling with Sam.

He calmly took her aside and explained he knew how to use it in a way that was far too mature than his age. She had finally got over it a little while later, but was dead set on having a long talk with her dear brother when he returned from whatever hunt he was on. Really! Teaching a ten year old how to use a gun!

Renee rolled over and faced the ceiling, suddenly wondering for the thousandth time if she was right leaving Charlie. She had to admit she loved him deeply, but she was young. Her worst fear was settling down and getting trapped.

She and Charlie had a whirl wind romance. They were just out of high school, wide eyed, and fell so quickly into each other. Sure, they had been happy for a while, but it just didn't work. The impossibly small town, the gossiping, petty neighbors talking about the same things. She was living the same day over and over and over again. She was suffocating. They only thing Renee didn't regret (besides causing Charlie pain) was Bella, who had become her life when she first saw her wrinkly face in the Fork's hospital. True love at first sight.

Renee turned her head lazily to watch her little girl sleep as she did often at night.

Gasping, she shot up onto her feet. "Who are you? Get away from her!" she cried at the cloaked, hunched figure leaning into her daughter crib. In a quick jerk, the figure turned its head to look at her. Renee couldn't see his face, only two glowing, yellow eyes.

She gasped again, this time in recognition. She was still in school when Mary died and when John told her it wasn't a normal fire that killed his beloved wife. Ever since then, they kept contact and her brother kept her updated on all of his on goings. Renee was sure he edited most of what she heard, and he left sufficient chucks out, but he always said he wanted someone to know if anything were to happen to him. This couldn't be the same yellow eyes he was obsessed with, could it?

The figure lifted its head slightly so the dim light of the moon shone on his (she was pretty sure it was in fact a he) face. It wasn't much, but enough to so Renee could see his smirk.

"What do you want?" Renee whispered. He just kept smirking.

Renee took a quick glance at Bella. She seemed fine, still fast asleep cuddled with her lion stuffed animal Charlie had picked out, but Renee's maternal instinct wanted her as far away from the intruder as possible. Neither said anything, as if waiting for the other to make the first move. Renee grew anxious, itching to reach out and just hold Bella.

She inhaled deeply, meeting the man's lumonous eyes in a animalistic challenge of a mother protecting her young from a preditor. Then she propelled herself towards the crib. For a moment, she thought it worked, but her hand barely grazed the pink wooden gate before she was flung across the room and pinned to the wall.

Only, there wasn't anything visible holding her there. Confusion flooded out everything else as she squirmed against nothing. Then, she was sliding up the wall and she started screaming. "BELLA! BELLA!" she worked in between frantic screeches. No, this couldn't be happening! Not like this. Not like Mary, for she had no doubt who the man was now. She had to get down and save her daughter!

She heard a distant "AUNT RENEE!" before she was flat against the ceiling and all she knew was a burning heat.

Renee was already dead by the time Dean ran to rescue his cousin from the inferno. Fighter fighters were all over the apartment building within ten minutes and the three children were trying to find a hotel on foot. By the next morning, John had dropped everything and was driving back to his boys, completely numbed by what he was told.

The next week, John called Charlie Swan about Bella only to find there had been a terrible fire at his house a few nights before.

So that left John with another child to protect and to raise. He was gonna destroy that yellow eyed son of a bitch even if it killed him.

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AN: Reviews are loved and much appreciated. Really, I love hearing what y'all have to say and it puts a smile on my face.
... :D -like that one