'Do you guys live far from here?' Ella stifled a yawn as the three of them left the diner and stepped into the carpark. It was late, she had jetlag and the only sleep she had managed to grab on the flight over had been punctured by nightmares.

The meal at the diner had been fun. Despite the occasional awkwardness, Ella had been amazed at how relaxed she had felt. To be honest, she couldn't remember the last time she had laughed this much. Every now and then the realisation would hit her this is my dad and uncle I'm talking to. It was hard to believe. Having had a mother who was years younger than the rest of her friends parents, she was used to hanging out with people their age. And she had to admit they were cool guys.

'Nah, we'll probably find a motel somewhere.' Dean answered, unlocking the Impala.

'Oh, right.' Ella clambered into the backseat, chucking a leather jacket onto the car floor. She looked at what it had been covering. 'Um, why do you keep a five kilo bag of salt in the backseat?' She raised her eyebrows.

'Sam…loves his sodium.' Dean managed at last. His brother threw him a questioning look.

'Uh, yeah, I do.' Sam agreed unconvincingly, giving Dean his best We'll talk about this later look. Dean studiously ignored him.

'Ok…' Ella yawned again.

Two hours later Sam was shaking her awake while Dean booked two adjoining rooms in a motel.

'I thought, you probably wouldn't want to be kept awake all night by your Uncle Sam snoring.' Dean explained as he unlocked her room while she tried not to fall asleep on her feet.

'Thanks.' She grinned drowsily.

But as soon as she set her suitcase down on the bed, she suddenly wasn't tired anymore. The room was nice. Not 5 star by any means. But there was a TV, ensuite and no harsh fluorescent light or peeling paint and the doona on the bed was mercifully devoid of any suss looking stains or disgusting flower patterns.

She suspected that, for her sake, they'd been driving until they'd found a decent enough motel. At one point she had been dozing when she had realised the car had stopped. Without opening her eyes she had heard Sam get out of the car before returning ten minutes later announcing that the rooms smelt like dead mice.

'Dude, you don't even know what dead mice smell like.' Dean had replied, as the engine spluttered to life.

'Like you.' Sam had responded.

Then she had fallen asleep again.

Now, sticky and dirty, she was desperate for a shower. Twenty minutes later, she emerged from the bathroom feeling 100 better. She flopped on the bed, the adjoining door was open slightly and she could hear Dean and Sam talking…arguing as she soon figured out.

'Sam, her mom died a fortnight ago, she just spent twenty fours on a plane so she could meet her father for the first time, I don't think she's ready for the whole "the truth is out there" speech just yet.'

'I realise that Dean, but what are we going to do? We've been on the road for the past six years. You booked us into this room as Frank and Eduardo Ramirez for God's sake. She's 16, she needs stability, an education, legitimate health insurance!…Have you even thought about this?'

'Of course I have, Sam, damnit, what do you think I've been thinking about for the past week? How to solve global warming?' Dean replied angrily. 'I never thought I'd be Dan the Family Man, ok? Forgive me if I'm a bit new to this whole thing.'

There was silence for a few minutes.

'It's school vacation at the moment anyway, so that gives us at least six weeks to figure things out.' Sam had dropped the lecturing tone now. 'We can just figure it out as we go along…'

'Yeah.'

Seconds later the door swung open and Ella jumped guiltily, hastily seizing the magazine she had bought at the airport and pretending to truly care about whether or not Britney Speaks was wearing underwear.

'Hey,' Dean greeted. 'I thought you'd be asleep by now. You were practically unconscious before.'

'Yeah, I might go to bed actually.' She agreed. 'Just gotta turn off the light.'

'Wait, I've got it.' Dean said hastily. His finger hovered on the switch as he stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, watching her as though he couldn't quite believe she was there. 'Anyway, um, good night.' He said at last, recovering from his reverie with a shake of his head.

She smiled. 'Night.'

He closed the door quietly behind him. And she slept.

She was staring, transfixed at the ceiling as her mother's blood fell all around her, staining the crisp white bed as the wind wailed and the curtains billowed, looking almost ghostly.

'Why, Ella?' Laura whispered, her eyes wide with horror. 'Why?'

And as the flames seemed to swallow her mother whole,, the dark figure that had been by the window advanced toward her. 'I have plans for you, my child.' It rasped. Its eyes flashed a terrible orange and it reached out its hand toward her…

Ella woke perspiring, with tears in her eyes and all the sheets and the doona kicked violently to the ground. Her heart beat wildly as she surreptitiously checked the ceiling and struggled to remember where she was. The red letters of the digital alarm clock on the bedside table said 3:17. She had been asleep for barely two hours.

Forty-five minutes later Dean opened her door to find her lying in bed watching infomercials with all the lights blazing.

'You a big fan of George Foreman, huh?' He asked, sitting down on the chair next to a completely random and pointless desk.

'Oh no, but I'm passionate about Pro-active.' She replied.

He laughed.

'I'm sorry if I woke you.' She apologised.

Dean waved his hand dismissively. 'It's ok…but are you?' Her eyes looked distinctly blood shot. And he thought he know what the problem was before she answered. He had seen the same behaviour from Sam in the weeks and months after Jessica's death.

'I had a nightmare that's all, then I couldn't get back to sleep. Damn time zones.'

'Do you…want to talk about it?' Dean was glad his brother was asleep in the other room and unable to witness the pure chick-flickness of the situation.

Ella shook her head mutely. 'I'll be fine.'

'Ok…is it all right if I stay here for awhile?' He asked at last, knowing that she'd definitely be too freaked out to go back to sleep. Hell, if those nightmares had freaked out a 22-year-old college boy, he could only imagine how she must have been feeling. 'Only Sam's snoring and…' He trailed off and she smiled. 'Of course.'

She flipped through the channels. Monster-in-Law was on the movie channel.

'Is it just me or does nobody take Jennifer Lopez as a working class girl seriously?' Ella wondered as the movie showed J.Lo as a dog walker, a receptionist, a caterer, a yoga instructor, a little league coach and an artist in her spare time.

'Trust me, it's not just you.'

They watched the rest of the film in companionable silence.

'Well, that was two hours of my life I'll never get back.' Dean realised as the credits rolled. He looked over and saw that Ella was fast asleep. She looked so small and innocent that he had to smile. Not smirk. Smile. He stood up quietly and backed out of the room. It suddenly occurred to him that maybe having a daughter wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.


I hope that was ok. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed! I figure, why stop now when you've got such a good thing going:-) So, you know what to do...