Angels Among Us

By

Valtira

Sam finds a sad little girl sitting on a park bench. Her brother went missing under strange circumstances. The young hunter is driven to help her find her brother. What he finds is more than he bargained for. This story contains some bad language, angst, pain, misery and adventure.

Disclaimer: The usual – don't own them – don't make any money from using and abusing them. Just in it for fun!

I have a great new Beta, who's doing her best to keep me on the straight and narrow and fixing all my boo boo's. JackFan2, this one's for you.

Reviews keep me motivated. I hope you will take the time to let me know how you feel about the story! No Flames please!

AAU 1A Walk in the Park

Sam pushed the key into the lock of the motel room door, casting a casual glance to his left and right. It was in that moment, someone caught his eye and he did a small double take. Brow furrowed, he gazed at the scene across the street. By all appearances it was normal, nothing out of the ordinary, but there was just something about it that gave him pause.

She sat alone on a bench beneath the tall oak, her fingers twirling the stem of a daisy as she stared across the little park. She couldn't have been more than ten or eleven years old, and she looked so sad he thought, like she'd lost her best friend. It was the second day in the row he'd seen her sitting there.

The more he observed, he realized that no one stopped to talk to her, in truth several people deliberately made a wide berth around the bench so they wouldn't have to talk to her. That made him mad. Sighing he knew he wasn't going to stop thinking about her until he knew her story.

Resolved to his task, Sam stepped into the room and dropped the sack of groceries he'd been carrying on the table. Closing the door behind him he headed across the street into the park. He moved slowly so as not to startle her. Crossing the worn gravel path, he sat down on the opposite end of the bench and adopted a casual appearance. She didn't look up, didn't acknowledge his presence, but he could hear her mumbling beneath her breath.

He cleared his throat before speaking hoping to catch her attention. "Hi, I'm Sam, Sam Winchester" he introduced himself.

She looked up wide-eyed as if she hadn't seen him sit down. Her head swiveled right then left in surprise before settling on him. "Hi," she whispered in return.

"I'm sorry, I didn't meant to interrupt, but I saw you sitting here and you looked so sad," Sam blurted out.

A reluctant smile twitched at her lips. "Sam," she asked hesitantly?

"Yeah, Sam," he returned. Paused, then asked, "You ok?"

She sighed and stared out across the green patch of grass into the trees and shrugged without answering. Even from the side, Sam could see that her eyes held the weight of the world in their silvery depths.

Knowing he was going to sound like a stalker with the next couple of questions, he expelled a nervous puff of air and trudged on. "Is your mom or dad around anywhere?"

Sad eyes swung to his face. "I'm Angela McKenzie, my mom is over there," she whispered pointing to a tall woman pinning a flyer to a tree.

He sighed, knowing a flyer usually meant trouble. A loved one lost or a favorite pet had gone missing and he hoped for this girls' sake, it was the later.

His hopes were quickly squashed.

"My brother went away," she continued. "My mom says it's because of me." The last was blurted out, so raw and full of pain that Sam blinked in surprise.

"What," he asked in confusion, "Why would she say that?"

"She said I never kept my feet on the ground, always had my head in the clouds dreaming about things that weren't real. Charlie only wanted to help, it was all for fun, but now he's gone."

"Gone where," Sam asked quickly?

Angela dropped her head to stare at her hands that were clasped together in her lap. "Mom doesn't know. She thinks he ran away, but I think maybe someone stole him," she murmured softly. "I hear mom crying every night. She only says those things because she's sad."

"How old is your brother," Sam prompted?

"Seventeen, almost eighteen," she said proudly.

"Why do you think someone stole him? Did something bad happen?" he asked cautiously.

The little head nodded and he saw a tear roll down her cheek. "I got hurt and mom blamed Charlie. She said he was irresponsible."

"I'm sorry," the young hunter whispered. "I'm sure Charlie never meant to hurt you."

Her eyes sparked angrily as she answered. "Charlie would never hurt me," she cried fiercely.

Sam knew her anger wasn't directed at him and pushed on, needing more information. Her comment about always having her head in the clouds gave him the opening he needed. "What kind of things do you dream about?"

A tiny smile tilted the corner of her lips; her silvery eyes took on a far away look as she spoke. "I liked to dream about all kinds of stuff, especially Unicorns, Dragons and fairies. I saw a fairy once, but no one would believe me except Charlie. He took me out in the back yard and we lay in the grass for hours watching the fairies dancing in the moonlight. They were so beautiful," she breathed. "A little pink one came over and danced in Charlie's hand. She had long pink hair with tiny ribbons and roses in it. She was so beautiful. Mom said they were only fireflies, but she's wrong," the little girl replied vehemently!

Seconds later the smile returned, "The fairy tied Charlie's shoelaces in a knot. We laughed until our sides ached. When he tried to stand up his feet got tangled and he fell over instead."

The young hunter knew just how mischievous fairies could be. "I know a couple of pixies, a blue one and a yellow one," Sam told her. "Their names are Periwinkle and Buttercup."

Her eyes danced merrily, "Pixies," she screamed laughing. "I've never seen a pixie what are they like?"

"Well," Sam shook his head but smiled at the knowledge, "they aren't very different from Fairies, but they love to cause trouble."

He heard her giggle. The lilting sound soothed his tired body. "Will you tell me what happened the day you got hurt," he prompted gently?

It was a minute before she spoke again and he saw another teardrop slip down her cheek. She didn't brush it away but caught it and held it in her hand. The tear glistened and sparkled in the sunshine until the wind gently dried it away.

"Charlie was reading me this book about Leprechauns. It talked about shamrocks and a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I love rainbows – don't you?" she asked.

"Yes, I do," Sam acknowledged.

"It rained real hard the next day but the sun was out. Charlie called it a sun shower. There was a beautiful double rainbow. We took mom's car out to the big meadow in the park."

Sam knew the park she talked about was the Rocky Mountain National Park; the entrance was about a mile from where they sat. It stood as the gateway to Rockies.

"It was so beautiful that day. Charlie grabbed my hand and we ran across the field toward the end of the rainbow. It was so much fun. Charlie kept throwing me up in the air so I could catch the rainbow but it kept moving away. They were trying to trick us so we had to be sneaky. He said the Leprechauns didn't want us to find their pot of gold. "

"Did you catch the rainbow," Sam asked delightfully? He knew fairy folk existed, had seen them on more than one occasion. He'd never seen a Leprechaun but they did exist, of that he was certain.

She smiled and shook her head, "Charlie tripped and fell. He had grass stains on his knees and dirt all over his shirt and a big sunflower sticking out of his hair. We laughed so hard, it was so much fun."

"When Charlie turned around and sat up we saw the rainbow at his feet. It was so beautiful," she sighed wistfully. "There was a little wooden barrel and the rainbow was right there. I ran my hand through it and it came out all sparkly."

Her smile dimmed and her brows wrinkled in concentration. "Something happened after that it's hard to remember exactly," she whispered quietly.

"So you found the Leprechaun's pot of gold," he teased.

"Not gold; when Charlie tripped, he broke the wooden barrel and some red stuff came out. Charlie said it was wine," she grimaced. "He made me taste it, I didn't like it."

"Wine," he mussed silently what the heck did wine have to do with Leprechauns and Rainbows?

"What happened after that," Sam prompted.

Charlie took the barrel back to the car, it was empty, but it was pretty. Charlie said it was really old and it had some kind of writing on it. He couldn't read it. I don't remember what happened after that and now Charlie is gone."

"Was there an accident," Sam asked?

Angela bit at her lower lip in concentration trying to remember what happened. As if to confirm with out really knowing why, she whispered, "Mom has a new car now."

"Was Charlie hurt in the accident?"

Angela shrugged, "I don't know. Charlie went away after that; Mom said he never came home. He just ran away – that he couldn't face what he had done. The police came to the house, they told Mom they thought he was dragged from the car. That maybe someone kidnapped him. Mom said she didn't believe them."

He watched the little face and saw the hurt sadness in her eyes. Sam didn't believe for a second the boy had run away. He loved his little sister he wouldn't have left her alone in a wrecked car. Something else was going on here. Glancing across the street Sam saw his brother drive up. They were between hunts at the moment. Dean wouldn't object too strenuously – he hoped!

Angela studied him carefully. A light sparkled in her eyes as she looked at him, "Will you help find Charlie," she asked hopefully?

He groaned silently, he was going to look into it, but he didn't want to commit just yet. "I can't make any promises Angela, but I'll see what I can do."

"Whoopee," she shouted. "You'll find him, I know you will," she whispered.

"Angela…" he started only to see her fly to her feet. "I have to talk to my brother first, ok?"

Spying a figure across the road standing next to a black car Angela pointed toward the hotel asking, "Is that your brother?"

Sam's head came up a wry smile on his lips as he watched his brother open the door to their motel room. "Yeah that's my brother, Dean."

A beaming smile on her lips, Angela turned her face up to look at Sam, "He looks nice."

A rumbling chuckle filled the young hunter's chest before he answered, "Yeah, Dean's a real sweetheart."

Angela stood and faced him, a joyful smile lighting her face. "Bye Sam, I have to go now," she whispered. "Thank you!" And with that, she was gone. Through the trees, her floating stride carried her quickly across the grass to her mother's side.

Sam watched as the girl's mother glanced down, but she didn't say anything, or take the child's hand. Annoyed at her lack of compassion, Sam felt the urge to shake the woman silly for the way she was treating her daughter. With a mother like that, maybe Charlie did run away.

"No," he told himself thoughtfully. Charlie would never have abandoned his sister, not unless he was hurt – or like the cops had speculated – kidnapped.

Once again, he looked at the woman striding slowly down the sidewalk, Angela at her side. Her head was bent, her shuffling feet, her whole body was a picture of deep despair and depression. Maybe her words were a façade to protect the love and fear she held inside.

Sam knew all about walled up emotions. His brother was a master at hiding them. He loved his reckless, sarcastic, cynical, asshole of a brother. The words he spoke then were filled with something even he had a hard time naming. "He's your brother. Charlie would give his life for you," he whispered brokenly. He spoke Charlie's name, but Angela's brother wasn't the intended target.

Angela turned then and waved. She had been waiting, waiting for a long time, but they were finally here and she was glad. They would find Charlie, she knew they would. She bit her lip, her smile dimming as she turned away. They were strong, they would survive whatever trouble came their way; she had faith in them.

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Chapter 1 down and no nasty cliffie and I didn't kill anyone. What a concept. Please R & R for me, you don't have to of course, but I love hearing from you. Thanks