Eleven - "A Whiter Shade"

Michaela knew that this was Sam in a rage. She'd seen it before when he'd practically torn a man apart for hurting her. She hadn't been hurt bad, not bad enough for anyone to deserve what he'd gotten, but Sam had gone berzerk. She didn't really want to remember what he'd done...

And now she was frightened he was going to do it again, but strangely happy he loved his niece enough to want to. At least it meant he had someone... Chaela hadn't ever really been completely his. And not because she hadn't wanted to be, but because he'd never let her in all the way. And she got the feeling he still harbored bitter spots in his heart, things even love and death couldn't erase.

Some of those parts of himself he'd hidden away behind that name--John Sullivan. A piece of his own father--(even though, she'd never known John Winchester, only knew what his son had told her about him)--and the name of a stranger, which was what he was, in a way.

So she didn't know what to expect when they got back to the hospital, back up to the room. They didn't find anything--the nurses said that Anna had gotten out of bed and reopened her stitches. The demon was nowhere to be found. Anna was being taken care of by a competent doctor...

Sam was fuming underneath that floppy hair of his.

Michaela reached out tentatively to rub his arm. "It's gonna be okay, love."

He offered her a tight smile. "If... If..." he said, a moment later, after staring at the strangers coming and going in the waiting room, "Dean would kill me."

"Your brother's dead, John," she said, quietly, and transferred her hand to his broad back. "But it doesn't matter--she's a strong one. She'll pull through."

His shoulders drooped even further, and he hung his head. She felt him shaking and moved closer to give him a half-hug. 'Oh, love... just let me in,' she begged him, silently, but he remained aloof, stiff against her touch.

Finally, the shaking lessened, and she drew away a little. "I'm sorry," he said to her, like he needed to apologize for his tears.

She frowned. "No need..." She dropped her hand to her lap and found the other side of the chair to lean on.

"Chaela... I--"

The doctor came and asked, "Phillips?" Apparently the name Sam had on whatever card he'd used this time.

"Yeah," he said, gruffly, and the doctor replied, "Your niece is going to be fine... But I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to meet with me in my office."

"What for?" Chaela wondered, using her sweetest, most innocent tone. Sam glanced at her, sharply, but she didn't even shrug at him.

"We need to have a private talk about Anna Winchester's condition on being admitted. Especially since she's been a missing person for a little over three years now."

Crap. "Sure," Sam said, oh, so casually, and stood to his feet. He glanced behind him at Chaela and gave her the look. She didn't respond to it, seeing as the doctor had her face in view. But Sam knew she'd understand, so he went ahead.

When the doctor's back was to him, Sam knocked the guy sprawling and made a run for it.

Chaela grinned, as the doctor spluttered, scrambled to his feet, and called for security. She headed for Intensive Care. If she'd gathered correctly, and she was pretty sure she had, Sam wanted her to get Anna and ditch the place. And really, she was okay with it because, honestly, she had nothing better to do and nothing she'd rather be doing than helping Sam break the law in all the right ways.

Anna felt bleary and sick, but Michaela kept asking her if she knew of any place that her uncle would know of too that they could go and hide out at.

"Unchle Bobbeeez," she slurred, and Michaela giggled.

"You okay, hon?" she wondered, and checked Anna's seat-belt again. They were in the Impala, she could tell, and she knew that Dean wouldn't be too happy about a stranger driving his car.

"Ish why I dressheed like a boy," she told no one in particular, already moving on from the earlier worry.

Chaela giggled again. "Come on, sweety, where's your Uncle Bobby's?"

Anna managed to give the specifics, although, through the ADD and the apparent intoxication, she'd probably never figure out how.

Sam almost didn't get past the police.

His niece seemed to have a bit of a reputation, although she'd managed to keep it on the clean side. But he wasn't sure "missing person" was any better than "wanted criminal."

Because when the cops heard about Anna's condition when she'd been brought into the hospital, they were immediately going to think "kidnap victim," and go after Sam.

But after some finely honed escape tactics, all thanks to his big, dumb brother, Sam managed to get past the cops and in the clear. And then he realized he had a new problem--finding where Chaela had decided to go.

He would've called her, but he didn't have his cell anymore, thanks to having to leave town in a hurry. He figured Chaela had probably gone back for the Impala though. He'd told her enough stories about Dean and his car for her to care about that.

That made him think about where Dean would've gone, all the secret codes and method's of finding each other they'd had. So his next thought was whether Anna had learned all that too, which made him think maybe Chaela wouldn't confuse him by going somewhere she'd go...

She'd probably try to find some place that he'd have gone, and if Anna was lucid, she'd probably have thought to ask her. So he asked himself, 'Where would Anna go?'

Bobby's, he realized, because if he was right, the man had practically helped raised her. Even if she wasn't all too lucid, it would be instinctual for her. So chances were, that's where Chaela was headed.

'Well,' he thought, wryly, 'I'll find out when I get there.'

Chaela helped the girl up the steps to her Uncle Bobby's porch and then sort of leaned her against her own body as she checked to see if the door was unlocked. It was... creepily.

"Hey, kid...?" She propped Anna up a little more, dang the girl was heavier than she looked, and questioned, "Should I be worried about a rigged shotgun?"

"Noo... uh-uh," Anna replied, blearily. She looked wasted and sick, and she was barely holding up her own weight. "I left it li'e this... all emp'y and stuff..."

"Okay, hon," Michaela answered, and pushed the door open the rest of the way. She tried to turn on the light, but it wouldn't go on. No electricity. Double creepy.

"Okay, let's get you to this couch over here... there ya go, just lay there... I'm gonna see if I can find an old-fashioned lamp, or something." She looked around, and eventually found an kerosene oil lamp and a box of matches to light the wick, too.

She set them on the coffee table after pushing some occult tomes out of the way. "Your Uncle Bobby's kind of a freak, huh?" She wondered, assimilating the fact that he wasn't really Anna's birth uncle and that he was probably a hunter that Dean Winchester had known well.

"Yep... weirdo," Anna said, and offered a faint giggle before drifting completely off to sleep.

Sighing, Michaela rose and headed out again, making sure to lock the door behind her. She could pick the lock when she got back--she just needed Anna to be safe while she went shopping for some necessities. Sam would kill her if she didn't take care of his brother's kid right.

And Anna had a fever and looked paler than death.