Chapter 4

After a morning spent doing chores, chasing balls, exploring the outdoors and supervising the transformation of a two-year-old into the 'sand creature from beyond the back fence.' Michele decided coffee was in order, while the arcane process of exorcizing the sand monster with some not so holy bath water proceeded, supervised by big brother.

Leaning in the bathroom doorway sipping her coffee she watched the process indulgently. Apparently, exorcism of sand monsters required quite a bit of splashing, giggling and yelling. Ducking a particularly enthusiastic spray of water Michele decided to take a few bath photos to store away for later parental humiliation purposes... say a 21st birthday party.

Kids grew up too quick, photos pinned down the moment. "This too shall pass," the most comforting and heart rending words in the world.

Oh, yay there was a reply from SWrocksaltandsilver! First though, the troops needed drying, dressing, feeding and the smallest one needed a nap.

Mission accomplished, Michele watched two 15 year olds and an 8-year-old head out the door 'to the park.'

Michele knew going to the park was kid code for going to the dairy to waste our pocket money on sweets but ... well some days getting the 8-year-old bumblebee activist to go out of the house was a mission. An unsolicited outing was Never to be sneezed at, if sugar was what it took, sugar was what it took.

Wandering into her bedroom Michele flopped on the bed, clutching her phone.

Silence descended, broken by a patter of paws in the hallway, a jingle of a small collar bell and the impact of a small black cat on the bed beside her.

"Slinky Minx, the foolish SWrocksaltandsilver has fallen into my cunning trap" she informed her feline companion, stroking her black fur and feeling a bit like an evil mastermind "Soon, I shall add her to my collection," she intoned and grinned opening SWs message.

"Hi Michele, I'm Sam, sometimes Sammy. The only person that calls me Samantha is my brother, when he being an ass. I am not a Sam girl, as you put it, I'm not a Dean girl either, before you ask. The whole Sam and Dean girl thing, is sort of freaky if you ask me!

Your seagull story made me smile. Sometimes a normal dull life sounds really attractive, my brother and I are private investigators - too often we see the darker side of life.

You think Americans are paranoid Hu? Possibly you're right, there could just be more out to get us here. You still should be more careful online though, you give an awful lot about yourself away.

So, looking back at your authors notes, you live in New Zealand. You are married to a man that you describe as 'techno hubby.' You are the writer of the family. You're a stay at home mother, have four children, a son with autism, who has green eyes and prays, another one who's two years old and ?two? daughters, one of whom is in high school. You were a lab tech, possibly one that worked in a high security laboratory. You are an expert in particle physics, theology and cake decoration (interesting combination.) You spent a lot of time being sick while pregnant. You have some sort of religious leaning, probably Christian, from your comments about Christmas. Owned a motorbike jacket and a pet rock, so possibly a motorbike too. You get migraines, do you get them often? You also seem to be disturbed by hurt or hurting Winchesters. And now I know your real name and that you live within 30 minutes' drive of a beach. That's a lot of personal information... It seems greedy to want more. But if I ask you a question you're more likely to write back. So, here's my question and it's one you asked me "Why Supernatural fanfic?"

I'm looking forward to your answer.

Sam"

Michele looked at her phone uncertainly, that was a lot of information, she'd scattered throughout Thing of Beauty, suddenly she felt uncomfortable.

Who was hunting who, here? With Peaches, Cat and The social worker... there had never been that level of scrutiny or if there was, none of them had ever spelled it out quite so clearly. Maybe it was just Sam's job, there was a definite vibe of intelligent scrutiny about that PM which made her edgy.

Suddenly, she wondered if any of her other 'captive' fanfic people had been creeped out by her gentle prying and guessing games. Possibly turnabout was fair play. She still thought Sam was probably harmless and could make an interesting diversion.

"Hi Sam, sometimes Sammy! It's nice to meet you, without meeting you. I take it back, there were a few untruths in my authors notes for Thing of Beauty, I'm not an expert in particle physics, theology or cake decorating. I simply know enough to get by!

Why fan fiction? I started reading the Supernatural books as a distraction to stop myself obsessively researching autism after my son was diagnosed with it just over a year ago. I'm not a Sam or Dean girl either, but I've come to like and respect them.

Maybe it's the idea that I can be brave and get through my own hell (I can't even begin to explain how my sons sudden decent into autism broke me to pieces) if the Winchester boys can get through theirs. Stupid Hu?

Being a private investigator must be... hmmm ... your tone implies it can sometimes be rough. Do you like your job, maybe that's the wrong question... maybe I should ask if you're good at it instead. Your tone also implies your brother is both an ass and important to you, I've got an older brother who's a geologist (he works in oil exploration, it's not as huge an industry here, as in USA but we are a long way away from most places so it is viable) he doesn't live close and I miss him at times, but he's married with kids of his own ... growing up and away sucks a bit. I guess that could be part of the fascination people have with Supernatural, two brothers with that tight bond into adulthood. Maybe we all have that longing deep down, to still believe our older sibling hung the stars in the sky and will have our back against everything, even the unwieldy forces of the parents.

I speak as the younger sibling here. Heaven knows if the older sibling misses having an annoying kid brother or sister following them round all the time.

The psychology of Supernatural fanfic denizens fascinates me. Maybe it's just because I'm still unsure how I got trapped here... possibly I'm simply trying to find out where I went wrong *self-deprecating grin* I concede I have no one to blame but myself. My advice Sam, make a run for it before curiosity turns into something worse, don't linger, don't drink the water and if you value your sanity... don't write anything!

God bless

MC2"