Dean stepped back into the waiting room after settling Baby safely in the visitors parking. Originally, he'd gone to a little shop across the street from the hospital to pick up some coffee for him and Sam, but instead he'd run into Roger. The guy gave Dean a ride his beautiful yellow Impala back to the park. Roger's car was pretty sweet, but nothing could compare to Dean's own black beauty, and he felt a lot more comfortable having the car and her contents closer at hand.

He'd only been gone half an hour or so, but he still felt a little anxious about leaving Sam alone at the hospital. Dean knew it was irrational, Sam wasn't hurt or in danger right now, but it didn't matter. Over the years he had spent far too many days sitting by his brother's hospital bed. That feeling of helplessness as Sam lay injured or worse dying, never really left him.

Sam was standing in the middle of the waiting room, talking quietly with a doctor. Abby was fast asleep on one of the chairs against the wall, Sam's jacket was draped over her, practically swallowing up the little girl. Dean walked up to his brother just as the doctor shook Sam's hand and left.

"Hey," he said quietly. Pointing with his chin at the door the doctor went through, "What did he say?," Dean asked.

"Melissa's blood sugar got too low, but she's going to be fine." Sam glanced over at the child still asleep under his coat. Dean followed his gaze. "The doctor said that they're just settling Melissa into a room then we can bring Abby in to see her mom." Sam started to head in the direction of the sleeping girl, but Dean held up a hand to stop him.

"Yeah, about that, Sam." Dean sighed, reluctant to sound like the bad guy. "What are we doing here? I mean, we played good samaritan sure, but this woman and her kid really aren't our problem." Dean was honestly curious about why Sam was so connected to this kid. Sam dragged a hand down his face, and cleared his throat.

"Look, Abby doesn't have anyone else right now and she's scared. The nurse called the woman who babysits for Melissa, but she's not picking up. Dean…" Sam pleaded, "I told them I'm Abby's uncle."

Dean sighed again.

"Why would you take that risk Sam?" Dean admired Sam's caring and kind nature, but he had only met the little girl about an hour ago.

"They were going to send her to CPS overnight. And...and I remember what that felt like when it happened to me, so I told them I was her uncle." Sam confessed, staring at his feet.

"What! When the hell did you ever end up with CPS as a kid?," Dean hissed, trying to keep his voice down as a woman glanced up from a magazine she was reading. He had spent his 18 years making damn sure that the authorities never had an opportunity to take Sam from him. It had been his biggest fear, and there was no way Dean would ever forget it if Sammy had been put into care, even for a night.

"Uh, it was while you were...it was during the two months you spent at Sonny's." Sam looked up at him, but then hung his head again. Dean was shocked.

"Why is this the first I'm hearing about this Sam!" It was bad enough that he'd left Sam alone for two months while he enjoyed being normal at Sonny's, but finding out that he'd almost lost his brother into the system...Dean could feel a familiar surge of guilt. That and anger at his father that John could let something like that happen. It didn't matter that it was a lifetime ago, he still felt slightly panicked thinking about the idea.

"Because what was the point in telling you? It was just one night. Pastor Jim got me out the next day. A few days later we came to get you and I was just so glad to get you back, that I didn't want to upset you," Sam explained. Dean had never truly realized just how much he was missed. Those two months were lonely and terrifying. He'd done his best as a child to forget all about that time.

Dean just shook his head. That was Sam, always worrying about everyone else's feelings. Dean rubbed a hand across the back of his neck and glanced over at Abby. The past was in the past, and how long could it really take to reunite the little girl with her mother.

"Fine, we'll talk about this some more later," Dean said, capitulating. "Is the nurse going to let us know when we can bring Abby to her Mom?" Sam nodded.

"Yeah. Now that you're back, I'm going to hit the head before the nurse comes. Can you keep an eye on her,?" Sam asked waving a hand in Abby's direction.

"Yeah, yeah, I got her Tiny-Bladder Boy!," Dean teased good naturedly, trying to show his brother that he had let go of his anger and frustration. As Sam made his way down a hallway to the bathroom, Dean went over to sit beside the little girl.

xxxxxx

Abby wasn't really sleeping. She just had her eyes closed and was being very still. Sometimes when there were too many people, too much noise, and far too many sparkles, she felt funny and scared, like it was hard to breathe. It was easier to pretend to be asleep. That way nobody talked to her and she could wait until she felt better.

Abby saw Dean come back. She had her eyes almost closed, so she could watch through her eyelashes. She had been looking at Sam's sparkles as he talked to the doctor. His sparkles stayed shiny so she knew Mommy was OK. Then his brother came back. Abby really looked at Dean's sparkles for the first time. Dean's sparkles were a lot like Sam's but different somehow. Maybe they were the same colours but darker. Like her crayons. Dean had magneta sparkles instead of pink ones and violet instead of purple. Sam had silver and gold sparkles, but Dean had other metal colours...like a shiny penny or the third place medal Miss Susan got.

It wasn't until Dean touched Sam's arm that Abby noticed. She almost opened her eyes then. Sam and Dean's sparkles combined into one big cloud all over them both. In all the people Abby had seen, that never happened - even when Mommy hugged Miss Susan, their sparkles stayed separate. Abby could see that Dean's sparkles made Sam's shine brighter and Sam's colours made Dean's twinkle more. It was amazing. These two men were strange, but Abby felt that there was something special about them. Abby watched as the brothers talked. They seemed a bit upset, so she stayed still. But then Sam went down the hall, and Dean came over to sit beside her. She was too curious to pretend to sleep anymore.

Sam's jacket smelled like him and was warm, but it was heavy. When she sat up, it started to slide and Dean reached out to help catch it. She looked at Dean. He had really pretty eyes - green like Casper's, and he smiled at her. His smile made him seem less scary.

"Hey Abby, we're gonna go see your Mom soon," he said as he put Sam's coat over the side of the chair. Abby held onto the back of the chair and stood up. Mommy told her that staring wasn't nice, but Dean was staring at her first, so she stuck her tongue out at him. And he did it back! Abby had to laugh, he was funny for a grown up. Maybe he was nice after all. Sam sure loved him more than anything. Unable to help herself, Abby reached out and touched his face. The little hairs on his cheek were soft. Then she pushed.

Pushing at Sam was easy. Pushing at Dean wasn't so easy. At first it felt like pushing a hard wall, but then something changed and it felt like pushing through the water at the pool. Dean's eyes got big and he stared at her. He didn't push back like Sam. Maybe he didn't know how. But Abby still knew some things because his brain seemed to leak into hers. It wasn't clear like with Sam, but she could still tell. She knew that Dean was a good person but that he was afraid he was actually a bad person. She knew he was worried about his brother, and the blonde lady and young man, who were someplace far away. She knew that he was very tired. But the biggest thing Abby knew was that Dean loves Sam more than anything else in the whole world. Abby thought that his love for Sam was like sunshine, making all his dark places brighter, and his bright places glow.

In an instant, Abby told him told him everything she had told Sam. About Mommy and Miss Susan, Casper and Walter and Dr. Pete and the puzzle he gave her. She even told him about the sparkles that he and Sam shared. She smiled at him because this way was so much simpler than trying to talk. It was nice that Dean could understand. After couple of minutes, he gently gripped her wrist and pulled her hand away from his cheek. He looked at her as if he was trying to figure her out, just like Dr. Pete.