Chapter 3:

I must have been really tired and hadn't even realized it, because when I woke up the next morning, it was already nine and we were stopped at a gas station refueling. I could see Sam sitting in the passenger seat with his door open, but Dean was no where to be seen. I rolled from my side onto my back, yawning silently.

My movement caught Sam's attention, and he turned to look at me.

"Good morning." He said, giving me a small smile. I rubbed my eyes with my hands, getting all the nasty eye boogers out, before sitting up and returning the smile. He had his arm draped over the back of the seat, so I rested my head on it, looking into his face.

"I had a dream that you left us again." I whispered, afraid that if I said it too loud, that he would disappear. Sam brought his free hand up to my face and used his thumb to gently stroke my cheek.

"I'm still here." he whispered back. Still here. That implied that soon, he would not be. He could have said, 'I'm not leaving you', but then that would imply he would actually stay, and we all knew that wasn't the case.

I turned my face away and leaned back, not saying anything. I didn't know what else to say.

"Hey!" I jumped, looking around to see Dean walking towards the car. Sam stuck his head out of the car. "You want breakfast?"

"No, thanks." Sam responded, before I could get to my door to open it and say anything. "How'd you pay for that stuff? You and Dad still running credit card scams?"

I glared at the back of Sam's head.

"It's not like we have a choice, Sam." I said to him angrily. "You used to use them too, remember?"

"Yeah. Hunting ain't exactly a pro ball career." Dean added, getting into the front seat. "Besides, all we do is apply. Not our fault they send us the card."

I climbed up into the front seat, positioning myself between Sam and Dean while Sam picked up Dean's tape collection. He shuffled through them, before turning to Dean and ripping on him about needing to update it.

I took the box away from him, holding it defensively in my lap.

"Well, house rules, Sammy." Dean said to Sam.

"You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve year old." Sam replied defensively, and I giggled. "It's Sam, okay?"

Dean turned the music up. "Sorry! I can't hear you. The musics too loud!"

He peeled out of the parking lot and down the road, singing loudly to the music. I was smiling from ear to ear. This is what it used to be like. This was how it was before Sam left. The three of us sitting in the front seat, Sam and Dean bickering as usual.

~ . ~

When we pulled into town, after Sam called around to see if anyone at the morgue or hospital matched Dad's description, Dean immediately headed towards the crime scene. I was told to lay down in the back so that I wouldn't be seen. I was used to this. I covered myself with my blanket and curled into a ball on the floor. If I happen to be in the car when Dean goes to do some questioning, and a cop happens to see me in the backseat, it leads to a bunch of unwanted questions.

I curled under the blanket, counting in my head. I got to two thousand and four hundred before the front doors opened and they both slid in again. I stayed under the blanket while Dean started the car and drove off, until he said I could come out.

"Can we go get breakfast now?" I asked, resting my arms over the back of the seat and resting my chin on them. "I'm hungry."

I also remembered what Dean said last night about letting me talk to Sam during breakfast. Though, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to say to him. It was weird, having him back, but knowing he was only going to be with us for a couple days. It felt like our relationship wasn't really there anymore, almost like having a friend, and then drifting apart for a while, then trying to be friends again. You're familiar with them, but they're just different.

"Yeah in a little bit. We just wanna walk around town real quick."

"Ughh." I groaned. "Dean, I'm starving!"

"Alright, we'll drop you off at the diner, and walk around real quick, then come back."

If that was the best deal I was going to get right now, I was taking it.

"Oh, alright. But you're coming back to eat with me, right?"

"Sure."

I rolled my eyes and leaned back, crossing my arms over my chest. Sure. Yeah, sure my great-aunt Fanny. They were going to blow me off, I just knew it.

"If you say sure, and you don't come back, then you're a liar."

"When have I ever lied to you?" Dean asked skeptically. I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it.

"Well, you've lied to other people!" I pointed out.

"But have I ever lied to you?"

"Well-"

"Well?"

"No." I huffed.

"Then what do you have to worry about"

"You've broken promises."

"Anna."

"Alright, alright." I surrendered. "I just don't want to eat alone."

"You won't be alone." Dean sighed, and I could tell he was getting tired of the conversation. Sam however, was smirking.

~. ~

Alone. I had been worried about eating breakfast alone, and it turned out, I was anything but alone. Dean and Sam came back with two goth-looking girls. Apparently, I was Dean's daughter, and the cousin of the kid that died on the bridge. I knew enough to play along with it, and put on my best sad, depressed, just-lost-a-family-member-that-i-never-met look.

"Well, it's just... I mean, with all these guys going missing, people talk." that one girl said.

"What do they talk about?" Dean and Sam asked at the same time.

"It's kind of this local legend. This one girl? She got murdered out on Centennial, like decades ago."

I groaned inwardly. Oh great. Here goes another legend. This wasn't going to lead us to out Dad, but I knew we would be staying until it was solved.

"Well, supposedly she's still out there. She hitchhikes, and whoever picks her up . . . Well, they disappear forever."

BAM. That was the hook, and my brothers took it with line and sinker. The two girls were thanked and dismissed, just in time for our food to arrive.

Dean dug into his food without any more words, and Sam into his. I sat there, twirling my fork between my fingers. I watched Sam eat, mentally probing him to say something. He didn't even seem to notice that I was staring at him though. I was ready for him to finally explain why he stopped calling. I was ready for him to explain how he could stop calling. He didn't say anything though. He just ate.

I stopped twirling my fork and placed it on the table with a flat hand and enough force to make it loud.

"Why did you stop calling?" I demanded. Sam looked up, surprised.

"What-"

"Don't what me, Sam! Why? I want to know, why?"

"I-"

"How could you? Did you just stop caring, or something? Did you ever wonder if we were even alive still?"

"Yes-"

"No! You can't stop calling and claim that you still care!" I snapped.

"Anna," Dean said, a slight warning in his voice. He put his hand on my shoulder and I shrugged it off angrily.

"Don't pretend you aren't wondering the same thing. I know what you think about this! You're just as mad as I am and-"

"Anna, slow down. How can Sam talk about it if you won't give him a chance to explain?"

"There's nothing to explain, Dean. You heard him! He stopped calling and he stopped caring. He's just a big fat, selfish, liar!" I slammed my hand down on the table as I stood up, running out of the cafe.

I thought seeing Sam again would be better. I thought having breakfast and being able to talk to him would fix things. But what was there to fix? Sam burned the bridge and there was no repairing it. The only thing to do would be to rebuild it, and what was the point of rebuilding it if he was just going to leave again?

"Anna!" Dean's voice yelled after me as I stalked angrily down the street and passed the Impala. I ignored him and ignored the tears that began trickling down my cheeks. I wouldn't let Sam see me cry. "Anna, stop!"

I could hear Dean's footsteps coming up fast on me, and then his hand on my shoulder, jerking me to a stop and being forced to face him. He was already bent down on one knee when I threw my arms around him and cried into his shoulder. He put a hand on the back of my head and one on my back, letting out a sigh. It wasn't an irritated sigh, but more of a empathetic sigh.

"Alright," he soothed, carding his fingers through my hair. "It's okay."

"What did we do to make him stop loving us?" I asked, my voice hitching as I looked over his shoulder. "Why can't we be good enough for him?"

"Sweetheart, I don't think Sam ever stopped loving us. He especially never stopped loving you."

"It sure don't seem that way."

"A lot of things aren't the way they seem."

"Well it certainly isn't fair."

Dean chuckled and pulled back, wiping my tears away with his thumbs.

"A lot of things aren't fair, kiddo."

"I'm so confused, Dean." I said, taking his wrists in my hands and holding them away from my face. "I-I don't know how to handle Sam right now. I'm so mad at him, but I'm so happy to see him too. The worst part is that I know he's going to go back to school on Monday."

"Well, don't you think we should just enjoy the time we have with him?"

I shrugged.

"And it's a little funny that he 'doesn't care' anymore, but came with us when we asked him to, don't you think?" he asked pointedly. "That doesn't seem like not caring to me."

"Yeah but if we called he probably wouldn't have." I countered. Dean was quite for a moment because he knew I was right.

"Alright, okay." he said, shaking his head and putting his hands on my shoulders. "I know you're upset with him-and you have every right to be-but we need to focus on finding Dad, okay? So just try and get along."

"You're making it sound like I'm the one that hates him." I huffed.

"No one hates anyone." he said firmly. "So stop saying that."

I looked down at the ground and bit my bottom lip. Dean stared at me for a moment, then pulled me in for another hug. I relaxed into him. At least I always had Dean, no matter what. He would never leave me.

"You ready to finish eating your breakfast? I'm sure it's getting nice and cold by now."

I nodded and Dean stood up, putting his hand on my back. We walked to the diner together without saying anything else. I was a little weary of going back in there and facing Sam, and if it weren't for Dean's hand on my back guiding me in the door, I would have hesitated outside and contemplated whether or not I really wanted to go back in.

Dean slid into the booth and I sat next to him, staring down at my plate as I immediately began to dig in. I could feel Dean and Sam exchanging looks next to me. I pretended I didn't notice and kept eating.

~ . ~

After breakfast, I sat in the car as Dean and Sam went around doing some research on what was going on. We went to the library and I sat in the young adult section reading some books while they looked on the database to see if they could find anything. I really got into the book I was reading, so when Dean came to find me saying they were ready to go, I asked if I could stay and finish the book.

"You want to stay here?" he asked, looking around. "There's only books here."

"I know." I smiled. "I like reading, you know that."

"Alright." he shrugged. "But you better not take one step outside of this building, got it?"

I nodded.

"Good. Keep your phone on you." he leaned down and kissed my head before turning around and meeting Sam at the door. I waved goodbye to them, and then returned back to my book and mostly my thoughts.

Authors Note:

Hey everyone. I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while! I've been pretty busy with school and such, and not feeling well. Sigh. Well, anyway, I'm back! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

GEW