There was no joking around in the Impala. Annabelle had pulled no practical jokes. There was no back and forth bickering between Dean and Sam. Dean gripped the steering wheel as he drove, while Sam would go from looking out the window to looking to the back seat, giving Annabelle sympathy looks. Which made her just roll her eyes.

Annabelle was trying not to pay attention to the aching, burning pain in her back. She had started moving her fingernail back and forth in short bursts in the same spot. Causing an aching pain in itself, somewhat taking the edge off of the pain in her shoulder blades. Annabelle had just remembered that she had put some pain killers in her front jean pocket. She palmed them and held her hand in her jacket pocket, waiting for a time that neither of her brothers were paying attention. She didn't want to give either of them more of a reason that she shouldn't be on the road yet.

As the three Winchesters had gotten out of the Impala, Dean walking a few feet away from the younger two, Annabelle felt her phone vibrate in the front pocket of her jeans. As she flipped open her phone, she was walking even slower, falling a few feet behind Sam who had his hands in his pockets.

From: Sam

Don't worry. He jis mad tht y got 1 ovr on him.

Annabelle laughed to herself a little at the misspelling in the message, even though Sam is getting better at "blind texting".

When Annabelle had looked up, she saw that Dean and Sam were almost towards a beautiful young brunette woman that she now knew as Andrea. She knew what game she should play to explain why she was with two federal wildlife officers. That was why when she was in the car, she had parted her hair down the middle, braiding her strawberry blonde hair on both sides. She was also thankful that she didn't have makeup on. She could always pass for being younger without makeup.

Annabelle ran up to her brothers, walking behind the both of them, as they walked up to Andrea. Annabelle rolled her eyes slightly when she saw how Andrea tried not to beam a smile at Dean. Another girl caught in his trap. Annabelle thought to herself.

Sam walked up to Andrea first. "I'm here with my son." Annabelle read from her lips, Andrea then sat down. To Annabelle's amazement, Dean walked over to where Lucas was sitting in the playground. "Tell you're friend that this whole Jerry McGuire thing isn't going to work with me." Annabelle moved from behind Sam to see his reaction. He looked at Dean with worry and awe. "I don't think that's what this is." Annabelle looked where her oldest brother was at, watching him interact with the little boy. There was something off about Dean, today. He was a lot more moody.

Annabelle jerked when she felt a tap on her side, it was Sam. He pointed at Andrea, she probably had asked who she was. "Oh." she mouthed, reaching her hand out to shake Andrea's. "I'm Annabelle." she explained. Annabelle had been talking a lot more than usual and she didn't like it. So she looked up at Sam, hoping he'd explain the rest of the bit. "This is Dean's younger sister. He's her guardian and she doesn't exactly have the best track record of being left home by herself."

As Andrea and Sam started talking amongst themselves, Annabelle wandered over to a nearby tree and sat down, her back slightly resting on it. She grabbed the painkillers she had been holding and popped them in her mouth quickly, almost forcing them down her throat.

It was by this time that Annabelle was actually paying attention to her oldest brother, how he was interacting with the kid. She didn't like how Dean was acting. Well, he was doing great with the boy, but there was something off about Dean. He looked…almost numb as he talked. But she could see the sadness.

Now, the few people that actually knew Annabelle knew that she hated reading lips when she knew people were having a private conversation. The only way she would do so is if it pertains to a case or general concern for a person. But, even though she knew Dean was hurting, even though everything in her wanted to know what he was talking about that made him so sad, Annabelle couldn't bring herself to look at Dean's lips. It made her feel dirty. She knew better than anyone else that sometimes a person just needs to keep a secret, so who was she to take that from Dean.

So Annabelle just continued to watch Dean interact with Lucas. Playing with army men and coloring. It was actually quite cute. It honestly had been a long time since Annabelle had seen her brother act like that.

Annabelle hadn't noticed anything for the next few minutes, with her head back and gently relaxing back on the tree trunk, letting the painkillers take effect. It was only when she had felt a kick on the bottom of her shoe that she opened her eyes. Annabelle had smiled warmly when she saw Dean smiling down at her with slight sadness in his eyes, offering his hand to help her up. When she grabbed his hand, Dean pulled her up with such force, which she had countered by jumping, that Annabelle was up in the air for a few seconds then in Dean's arms.

The oldest and youngest Winchesters were slightly giggling still as they walked over to Sam and Andrea. The woman was trying her hardest not to beam at Dean again, and Annabelle couldn't help but roll her eyes. "You seem very close to your sister." Annabelle read from Andrea's lips, "Never thought a guy like you would take that responsibility." Annabelle looked over to Dean, who was now blushing, when she noticed Lucas walking up to him with a piece of paper in his hand.

When Dean felt a tug on the other side of his jacket, he saw Lucas standing next to him with his eyes down. Dean almost instantly turned and squatted down to be eye level with the young boy. "Hey man, what's going on?" Annabelle looked at Lucas with kind eyes, giving him a small wave. All the little boy did was hand Dean a picture he drew before he walked away.

Annabelle paid little attention to her brothers and Andrea. She was more interested in this little boy. So she silently, and easily, slipped away from the others and went to the other side of the big tree she was sitting by before so the others couldn't see her. Annabelle began to study Lucas as he continued to draw. There was something off about him. Not the PTSD. Dean was right, of course this boy would have problems, he watched his father drown. But, it was something else. Something in his demeanor, his body language. It was like…she couldn't explain it, but, Lucas just seemed trapped. Like something was confining him in his own mind.

They needed to fix this. To save this little boy. And they weren't going to leave until he was ok.

~~~~~~~~~~~~Silence~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the three Winchesters got back to the motel, Annabelle was about to pass out. Even though she hadn't taken many painkillers, they still kicked her ass. As her brothers, Dean had walked in before and Sam behind her, Annabelle walked over to the bed that farthest from the door. As she walked, she stripped off her jacket and took off her belt. Annabelle grabbed the duffle bag that was beside the bed, pulling out the basketball shorts of Dean's that she still had and a bagging, red Stanford t-shirt she stole from Sam years ago along with her bag of toiletries and headed for the bathroom to take a shower.

After the bathroom door closed, Sam had sat of the bottom corner of the bed farthest from the hotel door, staring at the television. "Has, uh," Sam hesitated as he looked behind him at Dean, who was lounging down on the other bed, changing the channels on the tv. Dean looked towards Sam and paused, "What?" he asked, annoyed. "Has Annabelle seemed different?" "Well, yeah." Dean answered with a scoffed, as if it was obvious.

Sam moved so he could face Dean better. He was getting a little excited, like he usually does when someone agrees with him. "How so? I mean, what has seemed different to you?" Sam stumbled over his words a bit, he wasn't really prepared for Dean to agree with him. Dean eyed Sam for a second then placed the remote control beside him, "For one," he began to answer, "She's picking solely on me, again." Sam rolled his eyes and looked down, clenching his jaw. "Which she hasn't done since you've been around again." Dean said with a laugh, sitting up a little more. "Not what I meant, Dean." Sam said slowly, giving Dean a bitch face.

Dean gave Sam a smirk and rubbed his eyes, "Then what did you mean, Sammy?" he asked as though he was exhausted. Sam was standing now, his annoyance a little higher by being called by his old nickname, "It's Sam." he said sternly. "Fine." Dean spat, "What did you mean, SAM?" Sam had just rolled his eyes again, ignoring Dean. Sometimes Dean could piss him off faster than Annabelle could even wish to.

Sam forced himself to calm back down, he wanted to have a real conversation. He was generally worried about his little sister. "She hasn't been…well, Annabelle. Not since the accident." Sam said as he started to pace. "Whoa, whoa, wait." Dean started to raise his voice. Fully sitting up, now. "What accident?" Sam looked at his older brother confused. "You mean back when she got attacked and nearly KILLED by that Wendigo?" Sam stayed silent. He knew he should have taken baby steps with this. Dean has always been overprotective with anything that had to deal with Annabelle, even more than he was with Sam.

Dean was standing by the bed at this point. How dare Sam try to down grade what happened. As if Annabelle was just another victim or hunter. As if…as if it was just one of them. Annabelle was never a hunter, was never supposed to be one. She didn't sign up for any of this, or even born into it. They're dad just threw her in and hoped she could swim. Sam slowly walked towards Dean, with his hands up, telling him to calm down. Which Dean didn't take too kindly. "So, just calm down? Relax?" Dean shrugged. "Well, sounds simple enough. I mean, that's what I WAS doing until you tried to tell me that there was something suspicious about Bells." Sam sighed, "Just forget I said anything." Sam mumbled. "No, Sam," Dean said, a little angered, but in a normal toned voice, "You wanna talk about how Annabelle's been different? Fine."

Dean had sat down on the side of his bed, a few feet away from where Sam was now sitting. "Annabelle was nearly killed by a horrible, terrifying really, monster. Who's intention was to kill her, painfully. Oh, and let's not forget that this was when she was in searing pain and disoriented from an infected that she got by being attacked by it the day before." "Dean." Sam whined, but Dean ignored him. "All I'm saying is," Dean started, a lot more calm, "if you went through that, along with the pain and personal embarrassment of the aftermath, you would seem a little different as well."

Sam nodded slightly, he understood where Dean was coming from, but something still bugged him. Why did Annabelle react so strongly when he asked about her other family? What was she hiding? And he's noticed her spacing out, or freezing up, ever since Dean got him in Stanford. "What, Sam?" Sam snapped out of it and looked over at Dean, "Hmm?" "You're, well, you're brooding. What is it?" Sam decided to just lay it all out for once. "Her family." he mumbled then cleared his throat. "Her other family. Why she froze up when I mentioned it." "Come on, dude." Dean grumbled as he got up, walking over to the mini fridge to get a beer. "Dean, you can't deny that she is keeping SOMEthing from us. Which is something she has never done." "But, if you're right and she was hurt at home," Dean took a sip of his beer, "then she would have kept something from us, lied to us, really, for about 15 years." Dean said in his smartass tone.

"Whatever." Sam said, annoyed, knowing he's not being unreasonable about this. Dean walked back over to the bed. "Sam, look." Dean said in his most reasonable tone, "Anything Annabelle was going through, anything that has ever bothered her or hurt her, she's told one of us if not both. She's never closed herself up." Sam shrugged, knowing that that was true. "If she doesn't tell one of us right away, she will when she's ready." Dean turned to lay back down on his bed, "Like you would, right?" Sam laughed once in agreement. "But, Dean." Sam started to say as he looked at his big brother again, "What if something was too much for her to tell us? To talk about it at all?" Dean swallowed once, trying not to think about it, "Then that's her business. OUR business is to be there if she can talk about it. And to hurt and/or maim and kill anyone her threatens or hurts her." And that was that. Sam knew better to continue on. In all honesty, he wasn't sure if he was actually prepared to keep going down the rabbit hole that could be his sister's life.

A/N: I am so sorry for the late chapter. there has been a lot of stuff going on and I just haven't had any luck writing lol. i was wanting to make this chapter a bit longer but i figured you all deserved something now. i promise i'll try my hardest to get the next chapter out by next week. also, i'm sorry if this chapter is lacking, didn't really read through it, like i said i wanted to present something to all you guys. Love you!