So here's the first of several little scenes that came to me while I was writing Battle Cry. They are all relatively short and not meant to be read in any particular order. Enjoy!

"Attention, please. If there is anyone who knows sign language, could you please report to gate 13A? Anyone who knows sign language please report to 13A. Thank you."

Sam glanced around himself. No one even seemed to acknowledge the announcement. He frowned. 13A was where he was sitting. There were about thirty people there. Surely he wasn't the only one who signed in the entire lot. He wouldn't be much help. It wasn't like he could play interpreter really. He'd have to write everything down. Anyone who knew ASL could probably do the same.

In fact, Sam wondered why it was even an issue. It wasn't like one precluded the other.

Still, he was aware that he seemed to be the only person in the immediate vicinity who could be of any help. He stood, pulled the small flip pad from his jeans pocket, and flipped to the opening page.

Hello,

My name is Sam Winchester. I am mute. I can hear just fine, I just can't speak. I am, however fluent in ASL.

He wrinkled his nose in distaste. It helped to have something pre-written to save time, but it was awkward and clunky and just a little childish. It made his sound like a lost five year. The wording had been Dean's and Sam still wrote it in the front of every notepad. Even if it sounded silly, he liked having a little piece of Dean with him. That little slice of proof that big brother cared.

Regardless of how it sounded, Sam decided it would do. It was just about perfect, in fact. He gathered his backpack and made his way to the desk near the boarding entrance. The stewardess standing there had her back turned to him, talking to someone else standing near a closed door. Sam wrapped on the desk to get her attention.

The woman spun to face him. "May I help you, sir?"

Sam smiled at her and slid the open notepad across the desk toward her so she could read it. He eyes widened a little as she read. She glanced back up at him.

"You sign?"

Sam gave a tight nod.

She visibly sagged. "Thank God."

Sam wrinkled his brow in confusion.

"If you'd come with me?" The woman said. She moved out from behind the desk. Sam collected his pad and followed her. "We've tried everything but we can't get her to calm down. She's hysteric."

Sam flipped to a clean page and wrote, What happened? Who's hysteric? He tapped the woman's shoulder and showed her the page. She barely paused.

"There's a little girl," she said. "She's maybe ten. She's deaf and she broke down near the gate. We've tried everything we could think of, but she won't calm down and won't tell us what's wrong."

Sam mimed writing at the woman, but she shook her head. "She wouldn't. We tried already. We can't find our normal interpreter anywhere either."

Sam nodded. He followed the woman, her name badge said Janice, through a door into a small, grey room. There were a couple of chairs pushed up against the walls. At the back wall, a small girl sat on one of the chairs with her knees drawn up to her chest, feet on the seat cushion. Her head was down and he could hear her sniffling. Two men stood on either side of her giving each other significant looks. Another woman and kneeled down in front of her and rested a hand on her knee. Yet another was watching from beside the door.

Sam shuddered. The room was too small to hold so many people. It felt claustrophobic to him, even though he wasn't really bothered by close spaces or lots of people. To a distraught ten year old, it must have been overwhelming.

Sam's lips thinned.

Janice looked back at him. "Anything you could do would be a help."

Sam nodded. He jotted a quick note and handed it to her. Can you clear some of these people? I think it's probably not helping to have so many in such a small room.

Janice glanced around and nodded. She cleared her throat.

"This is Sam Winchester," She said, drawing all the adults' attention to them. "He's here to talk to her. If everyone could just step out for a moment. I'll stay here, but we really won't all fit."

The girl with her hand resting on the child's knee looked up at him, eyes wide and desperate. The others all filed out as she rose. She laid a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you. We're all at a loss."

Sam gave her a small smile and a nod of his head before she left.

Once the door clicked shut, Sam made his way forward haltingly. He had no real experience with children. It wasn't really anything he'd had a reason to deal with in the past. He tried to think what Dean might say or do in this situation.

Sam took a deep breath and got on his knees in front of the girl. He gave two quick taps on her knee, next to her hand to get her attention.

It took her a moment, but she did lift her head to peer at him through her curly blond hair.

Sam tried to smile at her. She pulled in a bit from him.

'Hey,' Sam signed. She bit her lip, her eyes going wide. She didn't respond but she didn't go back to hiding either, so he tried again. 'My name's S-A-M. What's yours?'

She stared at him for another minute, then in small halting letters she signed. 'M-A-R-L-E-N-E'

'Hi, MARLENE. Nice to meet you.'

Marlene didn't respond.

'J-A-N-I-C-E,' he spelled, pointing to the woman now hovering near the door. 'She told me you were having a hard time. What's wrong?'

It took another minute, but Marlene finally answered him. 'I think I got lost and missed my flight. I'm stuck and I don't know what to do.'

Sam nodded. 'That's not good at all.' He smiled at her. 'But I bet we can figure out where you're supposed to be. Are you flying all by yourself?'

She nodded.

'Wow! That's really cool. I would never have been allowed to do that.'

She perked up. 'Really?'

Sam nodded. 'Yeah, I have a really protective older brother. He never let me go anywhere.' He rolled his eyes.

She frowned. 'I'm supposed to be meeting my new brother.'

Sam's eyebrows shot up. 'You've got a new brother?'

She nodded.

'Was he just born?'

She shook her head. 'No, he's fourteen. He lives with my new parents.'

'New parents?'

She nodded and stared at the floor. 'They are thinking about adopting me. I have to be good so they'll take me. Mrs. Hunter says if I'm not good they might send me back. And now I've gone and messed everything up.'

Sam laid a gentle hand on her knee. He could see her tearing up again. 'It's okay. It's not your fault. Airports are really confusing. I bet even your new parents get lost in them sometimes.'

Her eyes rose to meet his. 'Really?'

'Sure,' he signed with an easy grin. 'I know I do.'

'You do? But you're all grown up.'

'That doesn't mean I don't get lost sometimes. But you know what I do?'

She shook her head. 'I stop and think what would my brother do. Then I do the exact opposite, because he's silly and has a bad sense of direction.'

That did it. She giggled just a bit.

'Now, I bet we can get you where you need to go. Do you still have your ticket?'

She pulled out a boarding pass in its paper folder and showed it to him. He glanced at it, but he had no idea what flight that was. 'Good. Can Janice come over and take a look? She's way better at finding planes than me."

Marlene glanced at Janice and nodded. Sam smiled. He beckoned the woman over. She watched over her shoulder as he scratched out the rough details on a blank sheet.

This is Marlene. She's worried she missed her flight. She's flying alone and got a little lost. Can you take a look at her flight information?

Janice smiled and held out her hand for the boarding pass.

'It's okay,' Sam told Marlene. 'She's just going to take a look so she can help.'

Marlene offered the pass and Janice looked over the information. While she did, Sam thought of something else. 'Is there anyone we can call? Do you have a phone number for your new parents or for Mrs. Hunter?'

Marlene made a little surprised face and nodded. She dove into the Hello Kitty backpack sitting on the seat next to her. She rummaged for a moment and produced a sheet of paper that she handed to Sam.

The paper had a short list of contact.

Sam smiled. 'Thanks!'

"Sir, this flight left half an hour ago."

Sam nodded. He looked Marlene over, then said, 'I'm going to see if we can't sort this out. I'll be right over there, okay?'

Marlene nodded. 'Okay.'

Sam rose and nodded towards the door. He and Janice stopped right inside the doorway. He hated how slow this was, but he had to write another note. She was traveling to meet her new adoptive parents. I'm not sure who put her on a plane by herself that young, but she did have some contacts on her. I'd check with the two Whitney's on the list first. I get the idea this Mrs. Hunter won't be much help.

"Oh, you're a lifesaver! Thank you."

Sam nodded.

I'm going to stay here with her until we get this sorted out.

Janice nodded. "That would be wonderful of you. I'm going to send Ally in. We have to supervise her since she's so young, but you've done the impossible. We've been with her for almost an hour and couldn't get her to calm down."

Sam nodded. Janice left and Sam went to sit next to Marlene as Ally came in. Ally it turns out was the other young woman who had been kneeling with Marlene when Sam came in. She nodded at him, but hung close to the door.

Marlene was looking at him as he sat. 'Janice is going to go make a couple of calls. We'll have you on your way in no time.'

'Thank you.'

Sam nodded.

She studied him for a long moment. Finally she asked, 'You're not deaf?'

'No. I had an accident a long time ago and lost my voice. I sign instead now.'

Her eyes widened. 'You lost your voice? What happened?'

'I caught a bug while I was hiking with my family once.' Sam shrugged. 'That was a long time ago though.'

She nodded. 'I lost my hearing because I got really sick. I don't remember much about it.'

'That must have been hard.'

She shrugged. 'I'm fine now. There was a nice lady at the hospital, Clara, who taught me to sign. Who taught you?'

Sam smiled thinking of the book dropped into his lap when he was fifteen by a gruff man. 'My Uncle Bobby. He helped me a lot.'

Janice reappeared in the door and beckoned towards Sam.

'Hold that thought,' he signed to Marlene.

He crossed the room to Janice. "I spoke to both the Whitmans and to this Mrs. Hunter. We've switched her over to the next flight. It won't leave for a couple of hours, but she'll make it home."

Sam smiled and nodded. When will her flight leave?

"6:30 tonight."

He turned and went back to Marlene. 'Good news. We got ahold of everyone and you're all set. It's just going to be a little later than they thought. You're going to leave at 6:30. Janice is going to make sure you get on and there will be someone on the other side to make sure you get off and find your new family okay.'

Marlene grinned and nodded. Then she turned shy. She looked up at him. 'Will you stay with me till then?'

Sam paused. He thought of Jess sitting up in their apartment and the welcome home cookies that would be waiting for him. It was their tradition. His flight was scheduled to leave at 4:49pm. There wouldn't be another until the next morning.

But then he looked at Marlene sitting in front of him. She was so small and had seemed so scared. He might not be a hunter anymore, but that didn't mean he had given up helping people. He sat down next to her again.

'Of course.'

He pulled out his cell phone and sent Jessica a quick text to let her know. Got to take care of something here. Not going to make it home tonight. Catching the first flight out tomorrow morning.

That evening, as he settled into an awkward position to sleep in the airport waiting chairs, he was oddly comforted that he had spent the night in worse motels. In fact, this was probably more comfortable than some beds he'd slept in. Before he drifted off to sleep he checked his phone.

Jess had text him back, Okay. Everything all right?

He smiled and sent a quick response. Its fine, just had something to take care of. I'll tell you about it when I get in.

He paused, glancing over his other recent messages. Most were from Jess, but one of the more recent ones was from Bobby. He had needed help with a translation and reached out to Sam. He smiled and, before he could reconsider, sent another text.

Thanks, was all he said.

A minute later he got a response.

Idjit.

Sam chuckled and fell asleep listening to the shuffle of nighttime passengers.