Disclaimer: Still don't own the characters here
A/N: This is kind of a random authors note but I just wanted to let you know that from now on in the hospital scenes, Caleb will be referred as a brother and part of their cover.
The rest of the day, went by slowly for the odd ball group of hunters waiting for Dani to wake up. Dean was catching up with Bobby and Caleb, and Sam was talking to the Dean of Students at Stanford, trying to see if he could delay his final exams until the fall semester. Just as Sam, Caleb and Bobby were about to leave for the night Dani began to stir in her bed, and then an hour later she opened her eyes and smiled.
"D'n, S'mmy? What happened?" Dani sleepily managed to say, as she tried to sit up.
The young girl moved before any of the men in the room could stop her. As she tried to sit up she pulled at her broken ribs and the broken leg that was still up in traction. This resulted in her bumping it against the side of the traction machine causing a flare of white hot pain to travel throughout her body. Dani couldn't hold in her scream of pain and the tears that streamed down her face.
This sent her brothers and Bobby into action. Bobby ran out to get the nearest nurse where as Sammy, Dean and Caleb went to calm the crying girl in the bed. Sammy went to her left side and gripped her hand to let her know that he was there; Caleb was right next to Sammy rubbing her non injured shoulder. Dean got out of his bed and made his way to Dani's right side and started whispering reassurances into her ear, and rubbing the back of her neck just like their Dad always did when any of the kids were hurt or didn't feel good. Within a minute Bobby ran into the room closely followed by Kara and Dr. Spencer. The two medical personnel quickly went over to Dani's bedside, but first had to move first through the concerned family members surrounding the hospital bed.
"What happened?" Kara asked as Dr. Spencer shot some much needed morphine into the IV.
"She had just woken up and tried to sit up. She must've pulled her ribs, and her leg hit up against the side of the traction machine. We would have said something but like I said she had just woken up and we didn't have enough time to tell her not to move before she sat up." Sam answered as he watched his sister slowly begin to relax once the pain killer entered her system and began to work.
"Well she is a very lucky girl to have you guys, and lucky she didn't do any damage to her leg or ribs." Dr. Spencer told the group of anxious men, while Kara stood behind him talking to Dani.
"Now you young missy," Dr. Spencer said turning around to talk to Dani, "you need to make sure you listen to your brothers and Uncle, and stay still, they are only trying to help you out. Until your leg has a plaster cast on it anytime you move it you run the risk of severely reinjuring yourself, so don't move it." Dr. Spencer commanded.
Dani answered back with a sarcastic salute and an "I wouldn't dream of it." She had learned from Dean.
"Oh My God, I'm gonna have another Dean on my hands! I thought I would be able to get rid of him soon." Dr. Spencer said jokingly.
"I wouldn't count on it Doc, she learned from the best. You try living in a house with all males and see how you turn out." Dean replied very proud that his sister took after him in the attitude department, and not Sam because he could only handle one drama queen in the family.
"Well it looks like she should be fine for the night; I will be making my rounds and will check on both of you later." He replied and left the room.
"Well Dani it is nice to see you up. I can't wait to get to know you as well as I have your brothers this past week." Kara said to a now drowsy but awake Dani.
"Nice too meet you too Kara." With that Kara left. "Now would any of you nitwits like to explain why you didn't tell me not to move?" Dani said with her usual sarcastic wit.
"Well if you hadn't sat up right away we would have had enough time to tell you not to move." Sam replied.
It was after Sam answered her that Dani really looked at her youngest older brother and took in his different appearance. Sam still had his mop full of brown hair, but everything else about him had changed. Instead of the worn out clothes that use to adorn his body like they still did for Dean and Dani, he had nice, new clothes that weren't worn out, and Sam looked healthy like he ate all of his meals and never had to worry about going hungry like his sister and brother still had too.
"YOU! I'm not happy with you! How could you just up and leave us and never call us? I'm never talking to you again Sammy! I missed you so much and you never even called." Dani said and without a second glance turned over to face away from her brother who after Dani yelling at him had the world's saddest expression on his face. Caleb, Bobby and Dean were unsure of what to do with themselves during the awkward silence that filled the room, so Bobby and Caleb went to the nurses' station to see if they could all stay there the night since Dani had just woken up. That left a room full of emotional Winchesters.
After a moment more of silence Sam answered in no more than a whisper, "Dani I want you to know that I will never leave you again. Never." Then Sam too walked out the door leaving Dean and Dani alone.
"You know Dani, I understand why you're mad, hell, I am too! But you need to forgive him sooner or later; he was just doing something for himself." Dean stated sitting up in the bed he had called home for the past week.
Turning over slowly in her bed to face Dean she answered back "Forgive him? I don't know if I can do that, I don't have as big a heart as you do. Sure he was doing something for himself, but he has always done things for himself whenever he felt like it. Remember Flagstaff? But besides that to never call or send a postcard? Really? When he left he just threw us aside like we were garbage. I guess I can try to forgive him, but I don't know if I can ever trust him again."
"That's all I'm asking Dani, that's all I'm asking." Dean ended, so he could ponder what Dani had just said.
"Hey Dean."
"What?"
"What happened to the Impala? And you of course?"
"Well what to do you remember?"
"I remember giving you the cassette, and then I remember waking up in the upside down Impala and I couldn't breathe, and then I must have passed out again because I don't remember anything else until now."
"As it turns out the car that hit us was driven by a drunk driver and he died at the scene. After we were hit I don't remember much of anything either. Bobby picked up the Impala when he got here last week, he said that she was pretty far gone but nothing we couldn't fix. You were pretty bad when they got you to the hospital. On the way to the hospital you stopped breathing so they had to intubate you; you also needed emergency surgery to fix a lung that collapsed and some severe internal injuries that eventually needed a drainage tube, which was just taken out yesterday. Besides those injuries you had a concussion, broken ribs, dislocated shoulder and broken arm and your broken leg. Plus cuts and bruises everywhere." Dean finished.
"Dean thanks for the information, but I asked how you were." Dani said looking at her brother who still had a plaster cast on his arm and fading bruises littering his body.
"I'm fine Dani. I'm just fine now that you're awake." Dean replied, and before Dani had a chance to hassle Dean for more answers, the rest of the mixed family walked in. Caleb and Bobby toting extra chairs for them to use, Sam following close behind the two older men carrying some coffee for them all to share.
"Sam, I'm sorry about before I shouldn't have said what I did. So I'm sorry." Dani said, as soon as Sam was by the foot of her bed. When Sam heard Dani begin to talk he froze and listened. When he realized what she was saying he was shocked Once again I'm being apologized too for doing something to hurt the ones I love. I should be the one apologizing. Sam thought.
"Dani you aren't the one who should apologizing here. You and Dean didn't do anything wrong, I shouldn't have left you guys the way I did, it was totally inexcusable. I'm not expecting trust or forgiveness from any of you but I would like to say I'm sorry."
Everyone was shocked at this in all the years that the Winchesters had known Bobby and Caleb they never heard the middle Winchester apologize for something big. Sure he apologized for small, unimportant things, but definitely not for something big or something he believed in as much as going to Stanford. Then Dean remembered when Sam ran away to Flagstaff and the horrible ending for that story.
Flash Back
The Winchesters had just finished a long werewolf hunt in Phoenix that had taken them the better part of six months to take care of, always delayed due to unforeseen problems. But they had finally taken care of the problem, and Dean and John were at their rented apartment packing their meager belongings while the younger two Winchesters were still in school.
"Hey Dad so what are hunting in Maine?" 20 year old Dean asked his Dad who was packing the weapons carefully into the secret compartment in the Impala's trunk.
"Not sure yet, heard from Bobby that it might be a possible demon possession. Was gonna wait and see when we get up there to do some research and look around." John answered while he finished putting away the weapons and reaching for the duffels that were waiting by his feet that held all his families worldly possessions.
"Hey Dean, schools almost over why don't you go and pick up Dani, I'll go and get Sam. Meet back here in an hour?" John asked heading towards his truck and tossed his kids duffels in the bed of the truck and handed Dean Dani's travel bag that had things to keep the little 8 year old girl occupied while they traveled cross country.
"Sure thing Dad, what do you want me to tell the office?" Dean asked knowing that the office people were often picky were when it came to taking kids out of school and transferring school records, especially when it came to cross country transfers.
"Tell them I got a new job and were moving. Not really that complicated Dean." John added jokingly patting Dean on the shoulder and walking back towards the driver's side of his truck and hopped in closing the door and drove to Lincoln High School to pick up Sam.
"Yeah fine whatever you say Dad." Dean mumbled under his breath and started the Impala and drove to Washington Elementary which was only a few blocks from the apartment.
When Dean arrived at the school he was instantly swarmed by children running from the building towards their parents and cheering for the weekend. He waited by the front doors for his sister to walk out, when she didn't come he started to worry about her and walked to her classroom. When he arrived there he found little 8 year old Dani sitting in her third grade classroom emptying out her desk and filling her already huge back pack to the brim with all of her papers and accomplishments from her stay here.
"Hey kiddo what are you doing?" Dean asked going to kneel besides his sister.
"I'm cleaning my desk out Dean; we are leaving today aren't we?" Dani asked picking up her last crayon from the desk and put it into her back pack and zipped the full bag and attempted to hoist it onto her small shoulders.
"Yeah we are, but how did you know Dani?" Dean asked taking the bag off the small girl's hands and shouldering the plain blue bag while using his free hand to grab Dani's other hand as they walked towards the front office.
"Well if you didn't want me to know, then you and Dad should have made sure I was really sleeping last night before you started talking about our next move." She teased her brother.
"I don't know how you do it Dani, but you are one sneaky kid. Ok I'm just going to be a minute I need to go and talk to Mrs. Connors quick and have her transfer your records ok." He said. Even though Dani had only been training for hunting and aware of the supernatural for a year now, she was hands down the stealthiest in the family, she was quiet and never made any noise when moving around which the boys knew would come in handy when she started to hunt with the rest of the family. Dean's thoughts were interrupted when he got to the principal's door and knocked.
"Come in." A female voice said through the open door way.
"Hi Mrs. Connors, my name is Dean Wesson, Danielle Wesson's older brother." Dean introduced himself and walked over and shook hands with the principal then sat in one of the chairs on the other side of the desk.
"Well it is nice to meet you Dean, what may I ask is the cause for your visit today? Your sister is such a good student and so well behaved, I hope it isn't anything serious." The principal answered in a genuinely concerned voice.
"No, nothing serious at all, I just came to ask that her filed be transferred to Columbia Elementary in Maine; our father just got a new job at a garage there, so we are moving. Today was Dani's last day."
"Oh my, I will be sure the files are transferred right away. I will be so sad to see her leave though. Please give her my best. Thank you for talking to me." Dean nodded and walked back out into the waiting area in the main office and found that Dani had conned one of the secretaries' still working into giving her a sucker.
"Ready to go kiddo? " Dean asked picking up the heavy back pack and once again grabbing Dani's unoccupied hand and led her to the Impala which was one of the only cars remaining in the parking lot. "Dad and Sam will be waiting for us when we get back to the apartment we can do a once over to make sure we didn't forget anything then we are leaving." Dean informed his sister as they both got into the car and started driving back to the apartment in silence.
When they got there they saw that John's truck wasn't back yet and figured he was having trouble getting Sam to leave the school like they did every other time they moved. Which is why Dean now took car e of Dani because she didn't throw a fit every time they moved, she was just sad for a little while and then moved on.
"Dean where are Dad and Sammy?" The little girl asked as she moved to the front seat while they waited for the rest of the family to come back.
"You know Sammy, he is probably whining about leaving again or something." Dean said, although he was proud of his brother's accomplishments in school, he wished his brother wouldn't get so attached when they had to move because it was part of the job.
"Yeah probably." She answered and then they talked about the new improvements and fixes that the Impala would need when they arrived in Maine, until they saw their Dad pull into the parking lot of the apartment building sans Sam.
This got the siblings moving and out of the car in no time.
"Dad where is Sam? I thought you said you were picking him up?" Dean asked.
"I did and was back a half an hour ago, I thought since I had some spare time I would run to the store and grab something to eat for supper for us, so we can cover as much ground as we can tonight." John informed the puzzled duo.
"Daddy, where is Sammy?" Dani asked going over to give her Dad a hug, she was the only one who still hugged their father and was able to call him Daddy.
"He should be inside waiting for us, I told him to double check and make sure that nothing was left behind and that I would be back shortly." John said, he said hugging his daughter back.
"So how did you get him out of school so fast today? You know it's like pulling teeth getting him to leave anywhere he sets roots down for any amount of time." Dean asked curious as to how his Dad did it.
"Now that I think about it, he didn't even really fight about leaving. Sam even had all of his things packed up and ready to go when I got there." John said as he was thinking this through, slowly coming to a realization. "Danielle, where you eavesdropping again, you know that you aren't suppose to do that."
"Well then maybe you should talk quieter and make sure I'm sleeping next time." Dani said getting caught up in the moment and not realizing how sarcastic she sounded.
"Danielle Elena Winchester, you will not take that tone with me again! Now we are going inside, getting Sam and then we are leaving. When we get to our new place you young lady will be running double your laps and cleaning all the weapons to MY standards." John stated firmly as he led the way into their apartment only to find it empty with a note on the table.
Dear Dani and Dean.
I don't want to move any more so I'm leaving and I don't want any of you to find me. I know how to take care of myself and will do just fine. I have clothes, my gun and some money (sorry Dean I took some from your hustling money, I promise to pay you back one day). Don't worry about me, although I don't think any of you will.
Good bye
Sam
P.S Since I think they already know, thanks for giving me the heads up Dani, Love you lots Kiddo.
They all stood there in shocked silence until they noticed Dani crying softly leaning against Dean.
"Shh its gonna be alright baby girl, don't worry we will find Sammy." Dean said reassuring the girl, and for the first time in awhile he picked her up and held her, she was small for her age so it wasn't a big feat for the well muscled man.
"Don't coddle her Dean. If she wouldn't have been snooping around and told him, then this wouldn't have happened." John coldly accused his daughter who burst into even heavier sobs then before.
"Dad! How could you say something like that? She is just a kid and only human, she made a mistake and now she will know not to do it again." Dean scolded his father.
"I'm... sorry… sir." Dani managed to get out between sobs, the little girl was still shaking, while Dean continued to try and calm her down.
"Damn it Dean, we don't have time for this. I will start looking for your brother; you stay here with her and try calling him. Call Bobby and have him find someone else for the hunt, because now we sure as hell can't do it." John said then stormed out of the apartment and roared off in his beat up truck.
Dean went to set Dani down on the couch in the living room and went back into the kitchen area and called Bobby and explained the situation to him and told him that he needed to find a new person to take the case. Bobby said he would get right on it and would be happy to come down if they needed anything, that they should just give him a call, Dean told him he would let them know if they needed more help and hung up. Then he began trying to call Sam, when Dean called the boy's cell phone he was answered with a voice mail telling him to leave him a message, and that he would call back when he could.
"Damn it Sam!" Dean yelled as he punched the wall and slid down the wall to sit against it. Dani heard the thud of the wall and came to see what had happened, when she saw Dean, crying she sat down next to him and cuddled against his side and stayed like that for the rest of the night. John didn't come back until the early hours of the morning, and when he did he came back stumbling in the door and barely making it to the couch where he passed out, leaving the children to wonder how much searching John actually did.
Dean went to pick up Dani to take her to her room, he laid her down and was about to cover her with the blankets they were going to leave behind when she whispered "Dean, why do they hate me so much?"
That broke Dean's heart and made him so mad. Sure he loved his family, but how dare they make a little girl that looked up to them and adored them think that they hated her, they were her family too.
"Dani, don't you ever think that they hate you, they are just really confused right now. They don't know what they are doing, but they will figure it out soon and when they do they will be begging you for forgiveness, you just watch and see. I want you to remember that Mom will always love you and so will I." He said and kissed the now sleeping girl on the forehead and left the room, to go make more calls concerning Sam. He would have gone looking but didn't want to leave Dani anywhere near their father in the state he was in.
The remaining Winchester's searched all hours of the day for the next two weeks, causing little Dani to unintentionally fall through the crack, she wasn't talking or eating at all. Then Dean got a call from Caleb saying one of his clients had said that he saw Sam over in Flagstaff, and that he was in the area so he would go over and pick him up and bring him over to the apartment. Dean was elated with that news and quickly agreed to the plan and hung up.
"Dad! Caleb found Sam, and is bringing over here now." Dean excitedly informed his father then ran to find his sister.
Dean found Dani once again in here room, where she spent most of her time, she was still in her PJs in bed staring out into space.
"Dani, Caleb found Sam. He is coming home." Dean said hoping to get some type of reaction from the girl. All Dani could answer back with was a small nod and then she lay back down in her bed and went back to sleep. It was then that he realized that he had let his sister down and hadn't taken care of her at all these past couple of weeks and was more concerned about his brother for who abandoned them, when he had a sister who was being blamed for all of this happening right next to him.
"Dani, I'm sorry. I don't know how to make this up to you but please let me try." Dean went to go and hug his and when he did he realized how skinny she had gotten and nobody had even noticed, this concerned him more than Sam being gone. "Dani come on why don't we go down stairs and I will make you some pancakes and bacon? Come on and get something to eat." Dean tried to coax his little sister to come downstairs and she reluctantly agreed and headed downstairs to get her promised food. Dean was cooking breakfast and trying to start a conversation with Dani, while his Dad was cleaning the weapons on the other side of the table from Dani, when the door barged open followed by a angry Sam and an even angrier Caleb.
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO LOOK FOR ME! I didn't want to be found and I was doing just find all by myself." Sam yelled at the family who just stood in shock.
"Really, Sam, your family has been worried sick about you for the past couple of weeks and you can't even find anything nice to say? What an ungrateful, little ass you turned out to be. Get the pole out of your ass and realize what your family has sacrificed for you?" Caleb yelled at Sam before walking over towards Dani was slowly sliding off the kitchen chair trying to make an escape and scooping her up in his arms.
"How you doing kiddo?" He asked are but only received a small hug around the neck.
"Samuel Winchester, how could you leave like that? And steal money from Dean? I'm disappointed in you, what has gotten into you boy? You think we revolve around you and your school schedule? Well news for you, it don't! Dean never had a problem moving, neither has Danielle, so what makes you any different?" John yelled at Sam.
"Well I'm not a mindless solider like Dean and I'm not a dumb little eight year old like Dani, I can actually think for myself." Sam yelled back missing the hurt expressions cross his siblings face and tears come down Dani's face.
"I hate you all! Why didn't you just leave me alone, I was happy where I was." Sam said as he stormed into what was his old room and slammed the doors, causing everyone to jump except John who was making his way towards the fridge to grab a beer.
The next couple of hours were spent in silence with Dean finishing cooking the meal that nobody ate, Caleb trying to calm down a hysterical Dani, and John going on one his drinking binges. The rest of the day went on like this until finally Caleb spoke up.
"While guys, I'm sorry to run out on you like this but I have a meeting tomorrow in LA so I need to get going. I will catch you later. Call me if you need anything." He said giving Dani once last hug and Dean a handshake and walked out the door, completely ignoring a drunken John on the couch.
The next day came back to a resemble a somewhat normal day, Sam came down from his room and was moping around the down stairs living area and John was dealing with the mother of all hangovers and Dean and Dani were quiet as usual. They decided that they would head over to Bobby's until they figured out their next move, and had dealt with what had happened here.
They family left that morning with Sam and John riding in the truck together, since Dean didn't trust either one of them not to lash out at Dani yet. That left Dean driving with Dani sitting in the backseat staring out the window.
"So what do you want to do? We could play name that song, or you could tell me a story?" Dean suggested trying to break her out of her shell that she had built around herself, after this latest ordeal.
"I'm not really in the mood today Dean. I'm sorry." She said with such sincerity that one would have actually thought she did something wrong.
"It's ok bud, you just rest. I'll wake you up when we stop." Dean said then turned the radio on softly and drove in silence.
The Winchester's arrived at Singer's Salvage the next morning and unpacked their belongings and made their way into the house.
"Hey Bobby, how are you?" Dean asked going to give Bobby a hug and he was closely followed by a still too quiet Dani.
"Not too bad, now that you got your idigit brother and Dad here. Why don't you two go get some shut eye? I would like to have a world with your Dad and brother. " Bobby suggested and Dean decided that would probably be a good a idea since he had just driven for a day straight, he grabbed his and sister's bags and they went up stairs. Dean and Dani made their way upstairs where they first stopped at Dani's room (They all had their own bedrooms here, they could decorate it anyway they wanted and it was there's to do whatever they wanted with.) He put her bag at the foot of her bed and went to tuck her in.
"Good night buddy, I'll see you in a couple of hours." Dean said and pulled the blankets above the already sleeping girls head and left the room closing the door behind him. Dean picked up his bag and opened the door across the hallway and entered his room and quickly fell asleep.
It wasn't until nearly a month later and everything was pretty much back to normal, and Dani was eating and talking again. It was the last day of school and the family had decided to finish out the last couple of months out at Bobby's place. It was tradition that they all did some special to mark the beginning of summer and the last day of the school year, it was a tradition started by Mary and it was something none of the Winchester's wanted to break.
"Hey Dean, Dad could we have a bonfire tonight? You know as a celebration? We could cook hotdogs and make smores? Please it will be really fun and I promise not to get on a sugar high like the last time I had smores. Please?" Dani begged them "I mean really it isn't every day that your daughter finishes third grade is it?"
"Fine, but go ask Bobby, it is his house." Dad said trying to hide his smile because everyone else had already planned a bonfire tonight as a celebration for Dani finishing the school year out with all A's on her report card.
"Uncle Bobby can we have a bonfire tonight? Please." Dani asked the older man as she barged into his library where he was trying for hard to decipher some Latin.
"Sure, sure whatever. Now get over here and tell me what this says." Bobby asked the young girl who was more than happy to oblige.
"Thank you Uncle Bobby!" Then quickly translated the page for him and just as she was about to leave the room she added "You might want to pick up some new reading glasses Uncle Bobby!"
The bonfire went off without a hitch and everyone fully enjoyed themselves, even though Dani did indulge in one too many smores and was going crazy. One by one everyone else went inside and until it was just Dean and Dani sitting around the now glowing coals in the small fire pit.
"Thanks Dean, for this it was really fun." She said and then they were both immersed in silence once again, until finally Dani spoke up again.
"You know Dean, you lied. They never did apologize to me." Dani said as she got up to give her a hug and walked back inside, leaving Dean sitting there opened mouthed and shocked.
Flash back End
Dean came back from that memory and rejoined the current conversation, trying to forget that horrible time in his family's life.
"Well to change the subject from mushy chick flick territory, the fine Doctor said that we could stay the night, since little miss here just decided to wake up. He also wanted me to inform you guys that Dean will be released in the morning and Dani you will be getting a cast put on your leg after he gets a look at it to make sure the stitches are healed and ready to go." Bobby informed the group.
"Why do I have stitches in my leg when it was only broken, was it a compound fracture?" Dani asked clearly becoming nervous as to her condition.
"Um well not exactly. See when the car hit you your leg broke in such a way that the doctors had to put a steel plate in your leg to fix the bone and make sure that it didn't move around." Caleb answered.
"Will I still be able to hunt, or will it affect how I move?" Dani asked unable to stop the tears from escaping her eyes.
"You bet your little behind you will. I have one myself, got it after a rough Vamp hunt. With a little conditioning like you would get any other time broke something, you will be up and about like nothing ever happened." Bobby said reassuring the young girl that was like his daughter just like those boys were like his sons.
"Ok thanks Bobby." Dani said wiping the tears off her face.
"It's getting late we should let squirt here get some rest so she will be wide awake tomorrow." Dean said noticing Dani's gradually closing eyes.
"No I'm fine really. So Dean you get out in the morning that's great! When do I get to leave?" Dani asked jerking herself from the beckoning of sleep.
"We don't know when you get out, but you pushing yourself won't get you out any sooner so go to sleep." Dean commanded, knowing how his sister got when she was tired. She would argue to the death about going to bed or when she was a baby she would cry. She would usually continue until someone took her for a ride in the Impala. Seeing as riding in the Impala was out of the question now Dani would just need to listen to Dean.
"Fine, but I'm not happy about this." Dani state as her eyes close and she fell asleep.
"Thank God, I thought she would never fall asleep." Sam said, this being the first thing he said since his public apology he gained all the eyes in the room looking at him.
A/N: I'm so sorry about the extra long wait, for this chapter. I just got a distracted and truthfully I was a little discouraged from writing this because I only got one review last chapter and I don't get a lot of feedback, which is what I need. I don't know how to write the story if you don't tell me what you like to see in it. So PLEASE review or something. I promise not to have such a long delay next time, but I hope this extra long chapter makes up for the wait. Please review and keep on reading.