Chapter 2

Even while she slept, it was obvious that something was plaguing Eri greatly. Dean watched as her head moved rapidly from side to side, as her face screwed up in agony and her hands clenched into fists so tightly that her knuckles turned an alarming shade of white. She groaned and whimpered. Finally, it became too much for the hunter and he stood up to go to her, but the scraping of his chair along the hardwood floor made her wake with a start.

"Dean?" she rasped, sitting up and looking around, eyes wide and scared.

"Yeah," he said, "it's me. You okay, kiddo?"

She shook her head, chewing on her lower lip. "No, not really. Nightmares again." She noted the concern on his face and hurriedly added, "No biggie though. It happens a lot, I'm used to it by now."

Dean sat beside her on the lumpy, uncomfortable bed, pulling the duvet taut of Eri's legs as he did so, and causing the mattress to dip under his weight. "You sure? I've been there, Eri. The lack of sleep, the nightmares, the constant worrying. I know that it can take a real toll on you. If you ever need anyone to vent to if you're pissed off or scared or whatever, I'll gladly listen."

"Thanks, Dean," she murmured, flashing the briefest of smiles at him before she cleared her throat and cast her eyes around the room, a frown appearing on her face as she did so. "Where's Sam?"

"He's showering," he answered. "Once he's done, you can get cleaned up and then we'll meet Donna and then go grab a bite to eat. When was the last time you ate a cheeseburger?"

She grinned and replied with, "Years ago. But I'm really looking forward to trying one again. Needless to say, they don't tend to give mental patients the best meals. Meatloaf and mashed potato gets a little boring after a while, believe it or not."

"Oh, I believe you, all right." They heard the shower switch off and Dean stood up. "Trust me, you won't be disappointed with your reunion with real, good food."

"I know I won't," Eri told him, pushing back the duvet and clambering out of the bed. "This is going to be good, I can tell."

Eri sat on the sofa, sandwiched in between Sam and Dean as they spoke to their old babysitter and her family. She was silent pretty much the whole time, until Donna turned to Dean and asked, "So, is this your daughter?"

He cast an incredulous look at her as Sam snorted with laughter. "No! No, no, no!" he cried quickly. "Not mine, definitely not."

"Cliff notes version is that Sam and Dean have taken me under their wing as a favour to a friend of ours," Eri explained. "That's all there is to it, I assure you."

"Gosh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause any offence," Donna told her, a stricken look on her face.

She laughed. "Don't worry about it. You didn't cause any offence. I can kinda see where you got the idea from, honestly. I mean, you haven't seen him in years and we both have blonde hair and he kinda likes to meet women a lot, so ..." As Dean glowered at her, she let her voice trail off and looked down at her feet.

Sam looked at Donna's daughter. "Katie, our dad happened to be an expert at getting rid of ghosts," he said, "and now so are we."

"That's why I called them, sweetie. They can help us," Donna added.

Eri and Dean looked up as Donna's husband entered, carrying a stack of suitcases. "Sounds like you guys have got yourself a poltergeist," Dean informed the family.

Eri's jaw dropped. "Those actually exist?" she asked, eyes widened in surprise. Sam nodded and she shook her head slowly in disbelief.

"It started a month or two after we moved in," Donna's husband said, setting the bags down by the door.

"At first it was just bumps and knocks and scratches on the walls and then it started breaking things."

"And then it attacked Katie?" Sam asked.

Donna's husband nodded. "That was two nights ago."

"Can you show them, honey?" Donna inquired softly, looking at her daughter with gentle eyes. Eri felt a lump rise in her throat. She couldn't remember the last time her mother looked at her like that and she felt a pang of jealousy.

Katie slowly pushed the blanket off her lap and stood up. She gave a small sigh before pulling up her t-shirt, exposing the scratches on her stomach. Eri felt a little sick and from the worried look Dean gave her, she guessed that it probably showed.

"'Murdered child'," Sam read aloud, brow furrowing slightly.

Dean leaned forward in his seat, looking Katie in the eye. "Katie," he began, "everything's gonna be fine, I promise. Why don't you guys take yourselves a little vacation and we'll take care of it."

Donna smiles and nodded. "Thank you."

"Were you all right back there?" Sam asked, as they sat in the diner, waiting for Dean to order the food and return to the table. "You looked a little pale when Katie showed off those marks."

She shrugged. "It's weird, you know. I never thought a ghost could do that. I feel so sorry for her. It must have been terrifying to go through it," she said.

He reached over and patted her hand gently. "Don't worry about it. We're gonna find out who's haunting them, find the remains, and then it's just a simple salt and burn. Nothing too awful for your first case, right?"

"Right," she agreed hesitantly. Her voice shook a little bit and she looked at him with a kind of fear in her eyes that made him realise she needed him to reassure her. "And you guys will be right there the whole time, and I don't have anything to worry about?"

"Nothing at all," he promised her.

The moment was interrupted as Dean sat down and handed Sam his HealthQuake Salad Shake, and gave a large quarter pounder with cheese to Eri. She looked down at it in amazement, her mouth watering slightly as she took in the sight of the burger and fries, and within seconds, she had torn a huge chunk out of it, a blissful look coming over her. Dean grinned as the girl's eyes glazed over a little.

"This is freaking amazing," she breathed after she had swallowed the mouthful. "I've never been so happy to see a burger in all my life."

Sam shook his head in disgust. "God, you're as bad as Dean," he muttered.

She scowled at him. "Actually, I just appreciate great food, and this is incredible," she replied.

Dean snickered at her response and Sam just sighed as he squeezed salad dressing onto his salad and proceeded to start shaking it with one hand as he navigated around on his laptop with the other. He looked up as he felt Dean's eyes on him.

"Oh, you shake it up, baby," Dean said. Sam said nothing, just cleared his throat in annoyance. "You know, poltergeist aside, Donna looked pretty good, don't you think?"

"Dude, don't tell me you've still got the hots for our babysitter."

Dean at least had the decency to look shocked, earning a chuckle from Eri and a look that told him she saw straight through his lie. "I'm just saying that, you know, she's doing good. With her husband and her kid, and this whole Amityville thing. I mean, they're hanging tough … You ever think that you'd want something like that? Wife, rugrats, the whole nine?"

Sam shrugged. "No. Not really my thing anymore."

"Anymore?" Eri repeated. "So, at one time, it would've been your thing?"

He looked her in the eye. "Bobby didn't tell you? About me and Jess?" She shook her head. "Oh. I had a girlfriend, a few years ago, and she was killed. It's how I got back into hunting."

"Jesus. Sam, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

He held up his hand. "Hey, it's fine, you didn't know. It's been, like, four years. I've adjusted."

There was an awkward silence, until Dean asked, "So, what have you got?"

"Uh, well, that house of theirs, it's old. Really old, hundreds of years, and I found a legend. It's unconfirmed, but supposedly in the 1720's, it was own by a guy named Isaiah Pickett. Legend has it that he hung a woman in his backyard for witchcraft." He turned to laptop to face Dean and Eri, revealing an old article: 'Maggie Briggs: Witch?' "A woman named Maggie Briggs."

Dean nodded. "Okay, so an angry ghost witch."

"If it's true. Still doesn't explain what murdered child means."

"No. Or where the bitch is buried."

Sam stared at the screen, his face screwed up in concentration. "I mean, it's a long way back but maybe I could find something in the town records."

"It's worth a shot," Dean agreed.

Eri looked up and frowned as she noticed a kid behind the counter watching the group, smirking. She muttered to Dean, "I think we have an admirer." He followed her gaze and frowned. Her next words made him snort with laughter. "I'm pretty sure he's checking Sam out."

Sam glared at her and she shut up immediately, turning back to her food without another word on the subject.

Dean shut his phone and turned to Eri. "Sam's on his way back, he can't find anything on Maggie Briggs. You having any luck?"

She shook her head. "Nada. You know, you guys need to invest in a faster computer because this is driving me crazy. How do you even cope with this most of the time?" she asked. "Hey, maybe we should call Bobby. He has connections, he might be able to find something."

He sat across from her and reached over, pushing the laptop lid down. "Is this your subtle way of telling me you want to call Bobby because you miss him?"

"... Maybe ..."

"Hey, go ahead, kiddo." He handed over his phone. "Knock yourself out."

She frowned and looked from him to the phone and back again. "Are you sure about that?" she asked. "You're really gonna let me borrow your phone? Aren't you worried I might break it?"

"Should I be? Because if I should, just tell me and I'll take it back right now," he said.

She held it to her chest defensively. "No," she replied quickly. "It's fine, I'll be careful." She stared at it in confusion and muttered, "As soon as I can figure out how to use it. Dude, times have changed in the last three years." She looked up pleadingly. "Help me."

He took the phone and manoeuvred his way to the phone book, locating Bobby's number and pressing the call button, before handing it back over. "Enjoy."

A smile spread across her face as she heard Bobby's gruff old voice on the other end, and Dean let out a soft chuckle as he stood up to grab a beer. He watched her from the kitchenette as she chatted away happily, smiling and laughing and asking questions. Finally, she hung up the phone and placed it on the table. "Bobby's going to look into it and get back to us on it. Thanks for letting me use your phone."

"No problem," he replied. "Anytime you wanna borrow it, just ask. Once you've figured out how to use it on your own, I'll get you one. You'll need it."

"You don't have to do that for me. I mean, I know they cost a lot of money, and -"

He cut her off. "Hey. Don't worry about it. We know a guy who gets us old phones for a cheap price. They're kind of a must-have in this business, especially if you're in a bind on a hunt and you need to reach another hunter for help."

She surprised him as she jumped up from her seat and threw her arms around his middle, hugging him tightly. "Thank you," she mumbled into his shirt.

He slowly began to hug her back, feeling himself relax in her arms. Hey, maybe having her around would actually end up doing him some good.

So, there's chapter 2. I'll try to get chapter 3 done and uploaded tomorrow, but I have work, so I can't guarantee anything. I'm really liking this story so far, and I hope you guys are too. I'd like to thank Hardfaced Queen of Misadventure, Marlowee1856, Embersplash and casleepy for taking the time to review/favourite/follow the story :)

Beth xxx