A/N: Thanks for reading, everyone! Sorry for the delay, but here is chapter 3.

Later that night, Dean went back to the motel room in almost as much of a haze as he left that morning. It was funny, he actually felt happy for the first time in a long while. Being with Sheila and Valerie just felt… Right. The man even had a smile on his face when he was unloading his gun at the tiny table in the room. Dean didn't seem to notice anything around him, but Sam forgot all about the research he was doing and stared.

"Wow. Did you have a good day or something?" Whatever made Dean smile made Sam grin from ear to ear. Dean looked up at his younger brother and leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head in a relaxed fashion. It seemed to Sam that his brother recounted every minute of the day that he spent with mother and daughter. The circumstances with Sheila were horrible, but this was good for Dean. It was too bad that he hadn't known about his daughter sooner, things might have been different. Hell, Dean's entire tragic life might have been different.

"Hey, check this out," Sam started once he got up the nerve "I found this thing, it's a possible case about five hours away in Minneapolis. Men going missing off the highway, sounds like a Woman in White kind of deal. Anyway, I thought that maybe I would go check it out while you get settled here. You know, it'll be good for you and Valerie to spend some time together before…"

A pained expression crossed Dean's face at the mention of the impending tragedy, but otherwise he showed no emotion. The truth was, Sammy couldn't have suggested anything more perfect.

"Awesome. Little brother finally wants to fly solo, huh? Keep me on speed dial if you run into something that's too much for you to handle." He joked about it, but they both knew this was the best plan, just like they both knew that Sam was more than capable of handling cases on his own.

In the morning, Dean dropped his brother off at the car rental place just after 7. From there, he picked up some doughnuts and drove to Sheila's again. It didn't surprise him this time when Valerie was the one to answer the door. He held up the bag of donuts with a smile,

"Brought breakfast." After stepping inside, he quickly made himself at home on the couch in the living room. Valerie picked up a nearby brush and ran it through her hair a few times before throwing it into a ponytail. She eyed the donuts warily.

"Mom never lets me eat that kind of stuff, you know. The chinese last night was a stretch, but this?" She let out a short laugh "I mean, there's nothing 'green' about it at all."

"Oh I don't know," Dean smirked as he rifled through the bag and pulled out a donut "This one has green sprinkles." He winked conspiratorially at her. Valerie gave in to temptation and took the pastry. She took a big bite of the gooey, chocolate covered delicacy and rolled her eyes in ecstasy.

"Mom's going to kill you," she mumbled through a mouthful, then swallowed. "I'll have to take the rest of it with me or I'll be late." She put down the donut on the table and grabbed her shoes from under the bench by the front door. Dean looked confused.

"Where could you possibly be going so early in the morning?" His tone was a little suspicious, and the girl stared at him like he had two heads.

"Uh, school. It's Monday." Duh. He'd almost forgotten about that aspect of growing up. "Yeah, mom won't let me skip the semester. It sucks that she has to be by herself all day when I could be taking care of her. Instead, I have to waste my time hearing about stuff I already know. It's not fair." Valerie grabbed her backpack and stuffed a few necessary items into it while Dean thought of the best approach to the situation. It took him a minute because this whole thing was new to him. Sam would've known the right thing to say.

"I know it sucks, but your mom's right. School is really important. Hey, if it makes you feel any better, you know that I'm here now. I'll do whatever it takes. You just focus on your work, and I'll take care of everything here." He stood up and put his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "I'm not going anywhere, kid."

Dean wanted to hug her, to tell her everything was going to be all right, but she pulled away from him. She had grabbed her bag and was out the door before he could even tell her to have a good day. Valerie may put on a tough face, but she respected her father for that comment.

SPNSPNSPNSPNSPN

For the next few days, the routine was mostly the same. Dean drove to Sheila's early enough each morning to pick up breakfast and see Valerie off to school. He would spend the day with Sheila when she wasn't sleeping, had quality time with Valerie in the afternoon and spent evenings with the two of them together. Sheila was no longer well enough to want to cook, and her daughter didn't yet know her way around the kitchen, so Dean mostly ordered take out of some kind or another for dinner. It was all turning into a pretty good system.

Father and daughter were slowly starting to figure each other out. Dean passed the time by recounting his adventures with Sam, only slightly embellished. Valerie talked of nothing but her mom. It really broke Dean's heart, though he would probably claim it was made of stone. Sheila was her whole world. The poor girl should be coming apart at the seams, but she acted like everything was fine. Dean knew from his own experience that it was a defense mechanism.

SPNSPNSPNSPNSPN

The days were flying by much too fast, and it was Saturday already. At least Valerie got to spend all weekend with her mom, who was getting sicker every day. It was really starting to show. Sheila slept a lot of the time now, and was in almost constant pain even through medication.

Dean and Valerie sat at the dining room table, he was teaching her how to play poker. He probably wouldn't have done so if Sheila hadn't been taking a nap. There was a sharp knock on the door and Valerie bounced up to answer it. Dean glanced at her hand and saw that she only had a pair of four's. The kid had a great poker face.

Valerie pulled open the door and looked up (and up, and up) at the man standing there. He didn't have to tell her who he was. Freakishly tall with long hair? Must be her father's brother. She motioned to Dean's direction and let the man in without a word.

Relief flooded through Dean when he saw his little brother. He'd been secretly anxious about Sam all week and hadn't even gotten a phone call. Not that Sam needed to check in or anything, but it sure would've helped his brother relax a little. More than once in his life Dean had wished he could just keep the geek on a leash, it'd be much safer that way.

The two men shared a silent conversation. Sam just nodded to say that everything went smoothly, and Dean knew that his brother wouldn't have come back if the job wasn't finished. Sam turned to Valerie, who had seated herself back at the table.

"Hey, I'm Dean's brother Sam. I'm really happy to meet you." He had his full charm turned on, even if he didn't know it himself. Valerie gave him a funny look.

"There's no way I'm calling you Uncle Sam, no matter how patriotic that red and blue plaid is." Dean snorted with laughter, which encouraged Valerie to continue teasing "You know, I could give you a haircut myself since you apparently don't have the time or own a pair of scissors." She said all this with a totally straight face, which made Dean laugh even harder. Sam just smiled and blushed, he knew that she was only kidding.

The three spent most of the rest of the afternoon in their own personal poker tournament. It was a happy time for all of them.

SPNSPNSPNSPNSPN

The next day, Sam found another nearby case and drove to investigate while Dean spent his time with Sheila and Valerie. He knew that's what was important right now, as much as he wanted to be out hunting again. This time, Dean just packed up the motel room and moved into Sheila's spare bedroom.

During these days, Dean spent much of the daytime at the sick woman's bedside. She told him about how the arrangements should be done once she was gone, the contents of her Will, and about how her family was likely to react to him. As hard as it might be for him to hear, she had to warn him about certain family members.

"Dean, I have to tell you something important." Her voice was raspy "Valerie can never go to live with my parents. Not ever. Not even for one night. Promise me." She sounded so adamant. Dean didn't question or hesitate. He didn't even blink.

"I swear to you that will never happen." He knew it had to be something extreme if she was saying something like this, and he fully intended on keeping this promise.

A couple more weeks passed with Dean sticking around and Sam making himself scarce with new cases. There were a few days when Sheila seemed overtaken with a new life. She was up and about more, in less pain, and even spending some time teaching Valerie how to cook. They were precious days, but over much too quickly.

Sheila got much worse. Dean agreed, after Valerie begged him, that it was best for her to skip a few days of school. There was now a nurse with Sheila throughout the day, so skipping school was mostly for the girl to be able to spend as much time with her mom as possible. She was too grief stricken to focus anyway. Dean knew it wouldn't be long now.

Early in the morning not too long after, Dean heard a piercing scream from the nearby master bedroom. Even as he ran in to check on his daughter's safety, he knew what had happened. Sheila had died. Valerie was on her knees on the bedroom floor. He took the sobbing girl into his strong arms and just held her. She cried and cried, and just when it seemed she had cried herself out, a new wave of tears would come. She was like this for what seemed like hours, but Dean didn't mind. It was better for her to get it out.

When finally she was focused enough to stand on her own, Dean allowed her to sit on the bed and spend some last minutes with her mother. He vaguely hoped that Sheila had a kind reaper to lead her soul away. A couple of men from the funeral home had come to take her body, and Dean waited as long as he could before he pulled Valerie away so they could do their job.

Being pulled away from her mother seemed to awaken Valerie, and she fought as hard as she could. She was too upset to form words, but she could still throw punches. It didn't matter, her father was much too strong for her. He half dragged, half carried her into another room so she wouldn't have to watch the men put Sheila in a body bag. Dean understood what the girl was going through, and didn't blame her for lashing out. He wished that he could have sheltered her from all this, and he wished that she could have had more time, decades more, with her mother.

It wasn't until late that night, when Valerie had finally cried herself to sleep when Dean made the phone call to his brother. Luckily enough, Sam had already gotten back and wasn't too far away. All day, he'd had to keep his own emotions bottled up for his daughter's sake; but they all came flooding out when Sam walked through the front door. They hugged fiercely for a few long minutes. After sitting down on the couch Sam asked his brother if he wanted to talk about it. The grieving man tried to say what had happened but he couldn't get most of the words out. After all day of holding it in, all Dean could do was cry. He wasn't crying for himself, or even for Sheila; he was crying for his brokenhearted daughter, and for all that she'd endured that day.