A little over an hour later, Dean, Sam and their little cousin arrived at the motel. Sydney was still fast asleep, curled up in the back of the Impala. Dean had been really careful as he drove, being sure not to make any unnecessary sharp brakes and turns that would wake his baby cousin up. And ever so often, during the ride back, Sam would look back at the sleeping form, just to make sure she looked comfortable.
Neither brother really knew what went on in that orphanage or whatever happened to Jason, wherever he was. And although they really needed answers in order to figure this whole thing out, they didn't want to wake Sydney up just yet to find out about it. From the way she was immediately knocked out the moment Dean cradled her in his arms and laid her in the Impala, she either hadn't slept well in a good long while or she must've been up all night—way past curfew for a little kid to still be up. And not knowing what went on or how much or how bad the things Sydney had seen was—it was killing the brothers. But they cared about Syd way too much to disturb her just then.
After Dean got out of the car, he went to grab Sydney. Both brothers were careful not to slam the doors closed too loud. Dean slowly unhooked Syd's seatbelt and gently picked her up while Sam went around the car to give Dean a hand and close the back door. Then the three headed inside.
Sam turned on the lights before closing the door while Dean carefully laid his little cousin on one of the beds. He pulled the sheets up to her neck and tucked her in before sitting down on the bed next to hers. He gently brushed some stray hair away from her eyes and tucked it behind her ear. He just sat there, staring at her for a moment as her rubbed her cheek, cursing at himself for not being a good enough cousin to Sydney by protecting her from all this.
"You alright?" Sam asked with concern, feeling the same way as Dean.
"She could've been one of those kids, Sam," Dean answered without looking up. "She…" his voice trailed off, filled with guilt.
"But she's not, Dean." Sam interrupted, approaching Dean. The last thing he needed right now was for Dean to blame himself again, just like the last time they dealt with a shtriga. "She's here with us, right now, sound asleep; snoring loudly, but safe." Both brothers smiled at the snoring child.
Yeah, you're right. Dean thought, a sense of comfort returning to him again. But that comfort quickly disappeared within the moment Sydney began to squirm in her sleep. As she fidgeted, Dean instantly, as if by reflex, knelt right beside her and began soothingly stroking her back. She continued to wriggle; the shifting of her head from left to right for a few moments indicated to both brothers that she was probably having a nightmare. It didn't really surprise them though. Considering all she must've seen just a few hours earlier, the boys didn't expect for her to completely forget about it all of a sudden. But they did look on with concern.
"Shh, it's okay, Syd. You're okay. It's just a dream," Dean soothingly told her. He continued to give her comforting words as she began to cry. But after some more soothing stroking and quiet but gentle shushing from Dean, Sydney fell asleep once again, a stray tear escaping from her eyes, which Dean gently wiped away. But though she was asleep again, her whimpers were more than enough to cause Dean and Sam to worry once again. But it wasn't her whimpering alone that brought fear into the brothers' minds. They knew it was normal for her to act the way she was after what had happened. But what did scare them was when she muttered Jason's name several times. It scared them because as much as they wanted to believe that Jason was okay and that they would find him, deep down they had no idea where he really was or if he was hurt or even alive for that matter. All they knew was that he wasn't anywhere in the orphanage. And when the asked Sydney where he was, her not answering indicated to them that possibly something bad had happened to him. And not knowing what really happened in there before they arrived there scared the crap out of them. And if it scared them this much, they couldn't imagine how scared Syd must've been.
Sam and Dean just look at each other, their eyes filled with concern and fear about their cousin. They had to work fast. They needed to believe that Jason was still alive out there somewhere and they needed to find him. They just hoped that maybe they were just jumping the gun here thinking he was hurt when he was safe under some foster family's care. But without knowing for sure, they had to assume the worst and work fast to figure the whole thing out. But they also knew that they couldn't really do anything just then, not with Sydney with them. So they decided to grab some shuteye before figuring out what to do next.
A few hours later, Sam awoke to find Sydney still asleep on the bed with Dean, his arms protectively wrapped around her. He couldn't help but smile at the way Dean acted when it came to taking care of his family, especially those younger than him. He had expected Dean to sleep on the other bed or on the couch and let Sydney have the bed all to herself, but instead, Dean was the one who offered to sleep on Sydney's bed. Though Dean was a tough-guy on the outside, Sam knew that his brother would risk all in order to protect his loved ones, including him, and he was grateful for it.
Sam quietly got up and decided to get some breakfast. When he returned, he found Dean getting off the bed, being careful not to wake Sydney. Sam laid the food on the coffee table and handed Dean a cup of coffee, which he groggily but gladly accepted.
"Thanks," Dean said half-asleep. "What'd you get?"
"I found a Mickey D's nearby so I got the Deluxe Platter."
"Awesome," Dean said with a grin, now wide-awake at the mention of some delicious breakfast. "I'm starving."
"But you gotta save some for Sydney," Sam added knowing full well that if he didn't say anything, Dean would more than likely eat it all.
"I know," Dean said giving Sam a look as he opened up the bag. Jeez, it's not like I can finish the whole thing anyway. Well… "There's four in here."
"I know. Just in case you 'accidentally' start eating Sydney's."
"Whatever," Dean muttered back and the two began eating.
"So, you figure out what we're gonna do yet?" Sam asked after getting a few bites in.
"Well, obviously we gotta figure out where Jason is. Hopefully, he was one of the kids adopted recently. That way, we'll know he's okay. But if he is off with some foster family, I don't understand how the heck they can separate them like that? Jason's her older brother. They're supposed to stay together."
"Well, there isn't exactly a law stating orphaned siblings have to stay together."
"I know, but still."
"Hey, I was thinking about something earlier. Now that I think about it, I don't think we're hunting a shtriga after all."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, for one, the patterns. They've been pretty screwed up since the first couple of kids. Basically, the only solid comparison we have between this creature and a shtriga is that it's choosing kids and it feeds off of them. Other than that, everything is completely random."
"Not to mention that this thing also kills people, too."
"Right. And last time I checked, I don't think shtriga's are susceptible to salt. Shtriga's are 'invulnerable to all weapons devised by God and men' remember? I think that would include salt."
"But this one was." Dean concluded, putting all the information together.
Sam nodded.
"But another thing that's bugging me is the salt."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I don't know about you, but unless Sydney's been taking hunting lessons, I don't think she was the one who lined up her door with salt."
"Then who did?"
"That lady we found? I mean she did look pretty torn up like she was putting up a fight trying to protect the kids from the creature."
"But if that's the case, how come Sydney's door was the only one lined up with salt?"
Sam shrugged. "I don't know, man. This whole case is bugging me."
They both paused and continued eating for a moment. After a little while, Sam spoke up again.
"Okay. So first, we find Jason. But what about Syd? We can't take her with us, Dean. I mean, you said so yourself, she's seen too much already."
"I know. So I was thinking maybe we can find a place for her to stay for a while. You know, somewhere safe. I'm not too sure I want her in another orphanage just yet, so maybe we can give Ellen a call. See if she can look out for her for a little bit or something."
"Ellen?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"Ellen lives in a roadhouse, Dean, surrounded by other hunters with guns—things that a little girl like her shouldn't even be around."
"There's no one else, Sam. Who else can watch after the kid? And Bobby's not an option. I love the guy, but him and kids? Yeah right." Dean scoffed, shaking his head.
"How about Missouri?"
Dean stopped chewing. "Missouri?" he repeated with food in his mouth, recalling the past experiences with her and her liking Sam more over him. "You're joking right?"
"She's our safest bet, man. You know she'll keep her safe."
Although Dean wasn't all for it, he had to admit, he knew that Missouri would take care of Sydney. And although he didn't like his last run-in with her, considering the oppositions she seemed to throw at him, he knew that Sydney would be safe with her. So he finally agreed.
"Alright."
A little while later, Sydney began to stir awake. Sam was the first to come to her side as Dean looked on.
"Good morning, kiddo," he said to her with a smile. For a moment, there wasn't any kind of response from Sydney. She just stared at the brothers looking confused. "You alright?" Sam's smile faded and was replaced with a look of concern.
"Sammy?" she softly said, still lying in bed as she rubbed her eyes.
"Yeah, it's Sammy. Remember? Me and Dean came and got you last night."
She paused as she went over the events of the night before, remembering all that happened. She finally remembered. She smiled before embracing him. "Morning," she said.
Sam picked her up off the bed and went towards the table. "I got you some breakfast. You hungry?"
She nodded, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"Here you go," Sam said sitting her on his lap. Dean got out her breakfast and put it in front of her.
"That's a lot!" she exclaimed surprised.
"But you can finish it, right?" Dean said, smiling.
"Yes," she laughed, accepting the challenge.
"Good, or else I'm gonna eat it all."
The three of them smiled.
"Go ahead and eat." She looked back and forth between the brothers. "What's wrong?"
She whispered in Sam's ear. Sam looked surprised at what she was telling him.
"Oh, um…ok. Sure." He smiled at her.
"Did you?"
"No…but you can for yours."
"Okay," she said.
Dean looked at Sam questioningly wondering what the two were talking about. But he figured it out as soon as he saw Sydney fold her hands together, bow her head and closed her eyes. She began to pray over her food. As she prayed, Dean and Sam just looked at each other in total surprise at the action of their little cousin.
"Amen," she concluded.
"Amen," the boys repeated simultaneously.
Sydney smiled and began to eat as the brothers continued to watch her. Dean couldn't help but smile at his little cousin. Sure he was surprised and didn't expect her to pray for her food, but at the same time, he felt proud in a way, that though his cousin was so young, she thought of saying grace before she ate. Not that he felt the same way over his food, but still, he couldn't help but smile and neither could Sam.
As she ate, the boys tried to get her to talk about what happened, hoping that they would find more clues about what went on in there.
"What were you doing the closet?" Sam asked.
"Hiding. Well, I was sleeping but Miss Rachel said we were gonna play hide and seek so she told me to hide in the closet. I was a little confused but I stayed in there anyway. Then, later, I heard her running and yelling. She opened the door and put Sarah in there and told me that Sarah wanted to play too, but she was sleeping. I tried waking her up but she wouldn't." She paused, her head down. "Then, Miss Rachel was spilling sugar on the floor and said that it would stop seek from finding me. Then she closed the door. But she didn't come back." She shrugged again. "But you and Dean found me." She smiled.
"What about Jason? Do you know where he is?" her smile faded. She looked down again.
"Sydney, what is it? What happened to your brother?"
"I don't know…" she answered, biting her lip. "He said good night to me the other day but I didn't see him anymore. I don't know where he went." She didn't look back up. She just keep eating her food.
"It's okay, Sydney. We're here. We'll find Jason."
She looked up. "I know," she smiled. "Jason always said that if something happened to us, you would find us."
"Yes, we will." Sam smiled as she kept on eating.
Once she was done eating, the brothers told her to get cleaned up and take a shower and they would explain what they would be doing that day. She headed to the bathroom with the new clothes to change into that Sam had just bought for her in her hand. Sam also gave her a toothbrush and she headed for the bathroom.
"Can you take a shower by yourself?" Dean asked a bit awkward. He was hoping she did, otherwise, he knew that both he and Sam would help her out but would have a hard time doing so. She was family but still, they've never actually looked out after kids before.
She turned around and stared at Dean for a second. "I'm not a baby anymore, Deanie," she whined. "I'm a big girl, now," she said turning around again.
"Oh. Ok. Sorry." Dean said diffidently as she closed the door.
Sam laughed. "Yeah, Deanie, she's a big girl now."
"Shutup. And only she gets to call me that, Sammy."
"It's Sam."
"Whatever, and you're lucky she does know how to shower herself. Because you would've been the one helping her."
"Ok. Whatever, Deanie."
Dean grabbed a pillow and threw it at Sam who just laughed even harder. While they waited for Sydney, Sam gave Missouri a call and told her what was going on. She agreed to look after Sydney for as long as they needed. Once Sydney finished, they explained to her what was going on.
"Where are we going, again?" she asked Sam as he sat her on his lap.
"Well, you are going to stay with one of you daddy's friend, Missouri."
"The state?"
Dean chuckled. "No, not the state. You know your states already?"
"Yup. All fifty of them." She said proudly.
"How about the capitals?" Sam asked.
She looked down, embarrassed. "No…we haven't learned that yet."
"You learned all that in the orphanage?"
"No, Mommy and Daddy taught me and Jason. But we learned the rest there. My teacher said I'm a fast learner."
"Yeah? I think so, too." Sam smiled.
"So Missouri knew my Daddy?"
"Yes. She knows ours too. You'll be staying with her for a while."
"Are you coming with me?" her eyes seemed to be filled with fear.
Dean and Sam looked a little guilty as they shook their head. "But we'll be back for you as soon as we can."
"Why can't I come with you? You guys don't like me anymore?" her voice broke as she was nearly in tears.
"Of course, we like you, Syd. We love you. You're our little cousin. But we need to find your brother too and make sure he's okay."
"You'll find Jason?" hey eyes widened.
"Yes, we will. And as soon as we do, we'll come get you. But we don't you to go missing like Jason so we need to leave you with Missouri. Okay?"
She nodded. "Is she nice?"
"Yes, she's a nice lady." Sam said. "She'll take care of you while we're gone."
"But you'll be back for me, right?" she asked Dean, wanting to be sure.
"Yes, me and Sam and Jason will be back for you."
"Promise?"
"Sydney," Dean said as he took her off of Sam's lap and put her in his, "Have we ever lied to you—ever broken a promise to you?" Sydney made a face as she thought real hard about Dean's question. She then shook her head. "Well, then we're not gonna start now either, okay?"
Sydney nodded. "Okay," she said with a smile before startling Dean with a forceful embrace. Dean returned the embrace.
"We'll find your brother. We promise."
Sydney smiled, knowing that she could always trust her two older cousins.
"Okay, kiddo. We gotta go."
"Okay." Dean set her down and they grabbed their stuff. Then they headed towards Missouri's house.