On to chapter two, of our story! Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, faved and followed so far! Every review helps us along immensely! Hope you continue to enjoy the story, and please let us know!

This chapter was written by: LadyWallace

Chapter Two

Dean woke early but just lay in bed, thinking. He listened to Sam's deep breaths in the next bed, one comfort at least, and the shallower ones to his other side that belonged to the little girl who he didn't think had slept at all. Melissa… Dean closed his eyes with a deep sigh. He remembered when he had first found out he had a sister. He had been twelve and for whatever reason, had decided to look through some of his dad's old stuff that he always kept in a cigar box in the back of the Impala. He had found a picture there of a little girl in his mother's arms and he knew she had to be her daughter, because she looked just like Mary. And on the back was the note: Melissa's 2nd birthday. John had found him looking through the stuff and was horribly angry about it for a long time, before one day, he just sat Dean and Sam both down and told them about their sister. And he had never mentioned her again. Dean knew how hard it had been for their father to tell the story that once, and so he had never brought it up afterward. Seeing the raw pain in his father's eyes with the unshed tears had been something he never wanted to see again.

And now this. Just when they find out that their sister had been living in Denver, the news comes right on the tail of her murder. Dean liked to think he was stoic, and yeah, he tried his best to be for Sammy, a habit he had kept since he was four years old, but on the inside, he was horrified, sad and confused. Not only had he just found out his older sister, who he had never hoped to meet, had been murdered, but that she had a daughter who didn't seem to have a father and had just witnessed her mother's death first hand. Dean had been her age when Mary was killed and he knew what that did to a kid. But he had had John and baby Sammy to look after. He'd had to grow up, and he hadn't actually seen his mother burn on the ceiling. And sure, he had looked after Sam as a kid by trial and error while John was busy hunting the thing that killed their mom, but Addy had been tossed in with two strangers at the worst possible time. How the hell were he and Sam going to be able to make anything right?

And on top of that, how were they going to look after her? Sure, they could take a few days, but they were going to have to figure out something more permanent for her eventually. They certainly couldn't bring a little girl on the road with them to hunt monsters. Sure, okay, their dad had done that, but he didn't have another choice. And Dean wasn't about to subject another kid to this life if he could help it. Maybe they could take her to Bobby's for a while? He just knew that he wasn't going to put Addy into a foster home or an orphanage. Nope, that wasn't going to fly with Dean.

He heard a whimper and finally sat up to look over at the corner where Addy had stayed the night. She was huddled in the blanket, her arms wrapped around her knees and her eyes wide and red from tears. He reached over and turned on the bedside lamp. Addy started in the sudden light and looked over at him fearfully. Dean smiled at her, hoping to put her at ease.

"Hey Addy, how are you this morning?" he asked her gently. She still had yet to say a word to him or Sam. She just sniffled at him again. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm thinking of getting something for breakfast. What do you like to eat? Eggs, bacon, pancakes?"

She still didn't say anything. "Donuts?" Dean tried.

"Okay then, just don't complain if there's nothing you like. You'll just have to learn to speak up next time." He looked over at Sam who was still sleeping, and got out of the bed, grabbing his clothes before heading to the bathroom to change. He grabbed his keys and smiled at Addy on his way out the door. "You keep the fort, kiddo. Tell your Uncle Sam I've gone for grub if he wakes up."

Dean took a deep breath of fresh air as he got out of the motel room and headed toward the Impala. He checked his phone to see if his dad had called back. He wasn't surprised to find nothing, but was still disappointed. It wasn't the first time he had felt deserted by his dad. But this was kind of important. He was going to try calling again, but decided against it. If his dad didn't want to talk to him, even about his long lost daughter and grandchild, then he wasn't going to push him.

Dean got take out from the diner in town and arrived back at the room with a selection of different things so Addy could pick what she wanted. He couldn't help a smile as he came in. Sam seemed to be taking a shower, because the water was running and he wasn't in bed, and Addy had finally moved from the corner and had curled up in the spot Dean had vacated in the bed, likely still warm. She still wasn't asleep, but didn't look as forlorn as she had sitting in the corner.

"Hey Addy, I brought some food," he told her, setting the boxes on the table. "Why don't you come see what you would like? I can turn some cartoons on for you."

While Dean had his back to her, flipping channels, Addy slid out of the bed and went over to the table. Dean left her there for a few minutes, afraid he would scare her off joining her right away, but finally turned to see her picking at a cinnamon roll. He smiled and sat down next to her, going straight for the bacon and eggs.

"How is that?" he asked. She didn't reply or look at him, but at least the kid was eating. She started slightly as Sam opened the bathroom door, but seemed to settle down when she was it was just Sam. The younger Winchester smiled as he saw her eating, and came to the table, still toweling his hair dry.

"Good morning, Addy," Sam told her, looking through the food Dean had brought and settled on another cinnamon roll. "You get coffee?" he asked his brother.

"Yep," Dean scooted a cup over to him and Sam drank gratefully. They ate for a while before he said, "Are we going to take Addy shopping today?"

"I think that's a good idea, how about it, Addy?" Dean turned to her. "You wanna go and pick a few things out? You could use some new clothes, I think, and you'll have to tell us what kind of snacks you like."

She still didn't reply, just picked apart her cinnamon roll, one layer at a time. Dean shared a glance with Sam and saw that his softhearted brother was suffering from watching the little girl, and she did make a bit of a pathetic picture with the too-big clothes, the unkempt hair, and the dark hollow eyes. Who knew how long it had been since she had slept properly? He didn't think she had slept last night and knew she would likely be suffering from nightmares after what she had gone through.

After they had finished breakfast, Dean tuned to Addy and pulled her suitcase up onto the bed. "We're about ready to go out, Addy. You wanna change into some of your own clothes?"

Addy still didn't say anything, so Dean picked out an outfit and set it on the bed. "Come on, princess, your pumpkin's gonna leave without you."

"Dean, come on," Sam said with a sigh. "You really need to have some lessons about how to deal with kids."

"Dude, I'm great with kids, I raised your sorry butt, didn't I? Who's the big brother here?" Dean shot back. He realized then that Addy had gotten up from the table and started to dress. Dean turned back to his brother with a triumphant look. "See? Perfectly capable."

Sam rolled his eyes but beckoned Dean closer so they could talk without Addy hearing. "Dean, what are we going to do with her? You know we can't keep her with us forever."

"I know, Sam," Dean said, somewhat angry, though not necessarily at his brother. "We'll figure that out eventually. Right now, let's do what we can for her. For Melissa," he added softly and Sam's hazel eyes softened before he ducked his head and nodded.

"Yeah, for Melissa."

When Addy finished dressing, Dean slid on his jacket as Sam pulled on his shoes.

"You ready, Addy?" Dean asked her as he opened the door and motioned for her to exit the room. She stood at the edge of the bed, looking down at her feet. Her hair was still unkempt but Dean didn't know what they could do about that at the moment. He was hardly versed in doing little girl's hair.

"Come on, Addy, we're just going to go to the store," Sam told her gently with a smile, holding out his hand to her. "You don't want to stay here alone, do you?"

That seemed to motivate her. She still didn't look at them and didn't take Sam's proffered hand, but she went out the door and followed them to the Impala. Sam opened the back door for her and after hesitating a moment she climbed in, looking tiny on the bench seat. Sam bent to help buckle her in, but she scooted to the other side of the car and did it herself. Dean watched in the rear-view mirror and swallowed hard. Poor kid.

He started the car as Sam got into the passenger's seat. Sam shut the door and glared at Dean as rock music blared form the stereos.

"Dude, seriously, you're going to scare Addy with that."

"Shut up, Sam, she might like it; how do you know?" Dean retorted but cast a glance back to the little girl, seeing her slumped against the door, her arms hugging herself, and decided the turn the music down. She looked cold and he realized that she didn't have a jacket. That was one thing they would need to buy her.

He shook his head as he pulled out of the motel parking lot and headed toward the nearest superstore they could find.

They parked and got out of the car and Dean went to open Addy's door. He reached a hand to help her out but she ignored it and slipped out by herself, still hugging her arms around herself.

"Stick close, Addy," he told her with a smile, taking up the rear as they marched into the store.

Once inside, Sam reached to take her hand, but she jerked away from him. He shared a look with Dean and his older brother just shook his head, grabbing a cart.

"You wanna ride in the cart, Addy?" he asked grinning, but Addy just looked down at her scuffed sneakers.

"Okay then," Dean continued and they went off into the store.

They went to the clothes department first and Dean tried not to break out into a cold sweat as he saw all the pink, ruffly girl's clothes. Having a little brother had certainly never prepared him for this.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," he muttered to his brother who was already smirking even if he was trying to hide it. He went over to Addy and crouched down in front of her.

"We're going to buy you some new clothes, Addy," Sam told her gently. "Why don't you take a look and tell us what you'd like?"

She looked at him for just a fraction of a second and nodded slightly once. That was a start, at least.

Dean was looking through some shirts and held one up for Addy to see. "How about this one? It's purple! You like purple?"

Addy didn't say anything, so Dean held up another one to see if she liked it any better.

"How about these jackets?" Sam coaxed. "They'll keep you warm."

He held up a pink fleece jacket but Addy still seemed to ignore them.

"Can I help you gentlemen?"

Sam and Dean both turned around to see the young, and quite pretty, store attendant who had come up behind them. She was giving them an odd look and Dean realized that they were still holding the little girls' clothes in front of them. They quickly lowered them.

"Oh, we're just buying clothes for our niece," Dean said, giving her his best charming smile as he placed the shirt back on the rack.

"And where is she?" the attendant asked skeptically.

Dean looked around and felt a jolt of fear when he didn't see Addy. "Addy? Hey, where'd you go, Addy?"

He and Sam hurried around the racks of clothing, probably creating a comic sight to anyone watching, but they were too worried to care. Dean stopped and breathed a sigh of relief as he finally saw Addy standing next to another display of shirts.

"Addy, don't run away, all right?" he said, crouching down beside her. She turned to look at him for a second before turning back to the shirts. Dean looked down. "Hey, you like these? Butterflies, huh?"

Addy nodded slightly and Dean picked out a few of the shirts that were her size. "Okay then, how about a jacket now? You like the one Uncle Sam found or do you want to go see what else there is?"

She followed him back to where they were and finally picked out a light purple jacket. The shop attendant was still there, but seemed to finally see Sam and Dean weren't up to no good.

"You need any help?" she asked finally, looking as if she were trying to hide a smile. "No offense, but you don't look really practiced at this."

Sam smiled at her. "We're kind of looking after her because of a…family emergency."

"My brother and I don't have much experience with little girls," Dean added, still trying to give her a flirty grin, even when Sam dug an elbow into his ribs.

"Well, just let me know if you need anything," she said with a smile, looking pointedly at Sam instead of Dean to the elder Winchester's chagrin.

"Dude," Dean muttered to his brother.

"Oh, get over it, Dean," Sam smirked before turning back to Addy.

They picked out several more outfits for her, figuring that would be enough until they figured out something more permanent for her and then went to do the rest of their shopping. They picked up several toiletries and a hair brush for Addy which she didn't seem to have with her. When they had finished that, they went on to the food.

On the way, they passed the toy department, and Sam stopped Dean with a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, we should let, Addy pick out a toy. She needs something to play with."

Dean nodded in consent and Sam went over to Addy who stuck close to the cart, even if she wouldn't hold his or Dean's hand. "Hey, Addy, do you want to pick out a toy? Let's go see what they have."

She nodded and followed Sam. Dean smiled at the fact that, even if she still wasn't talking, she was at least giving some communication. They looked for a few minutes until Addy found some soft dolls and picked one off the shelf; a blond doll with a blue dress.

"Do you like that one, Addy?" Dean asked her, bending over.

She nodded and Dean smiled. "Okay then. Time to go get the food."

When they got to the food aisles, Dean turned to Addy who was still holding the doll. "You just grab what you want, Addy. You can have anything you like."

They passed the cereal and Addy took a box of Lucky Charms, putting it into the cart. Several more things followed as they went along: peanut butter crackers, fruit snacks, and macaroni and cheese. Dean smiled, glad she was at least making decisions.

They finished their shopping and paid, carrying the bags out to the car. Addy was wearing her new jacket and seemed warmer now, so Dean didn't feel quite as bad. She was still holding her doll close to her and continued to do so as they made their way back to the motel.

Dean made her the mac 'n cheese for lunch and then turned on the TV for her while he beckoned Sam over to him on the other side of the room so they could talk in private.

"I think we should go to Denver," he told his younger brother. "We should bury Melissa and see if we can find what killed her."

"Do you think it's a good idea to take Addy back there?" Sam asked with a frown. "What if whatever it was is still after her?"

"What other option do we have?" Dean asked, exasperated. "It's all we can do right now. If things get bad, we'll bring her to Bobby, but for now, this is what we need to do."

Sam nodded. "Okay. I'll go pay for the room for another night and then we can leave early in the morning."

Dean confirmed and turned to look over at his niece, eating her lunch, and shook his head. Maybe it wasn't the best course of action until they knew more, but as he had said, they didn't really have another choice at the moment.

All he knew was that he was going to find the monster who killed his sister, supernatural or otherwise, and make sure he didn't hurt anyone else ever again.