Hello again my wonderful readers.
First I have a quick warning. Updates might be few and far between the rest of this month. Next week is my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. My sisters and I are planning everything so my time is pretty much totally wrapped around that. My niece will be coming in next week and she's bringing my new great nephew. Baby time! After her my nephew comes in then my Soul Sister so my house will be packed full. After that is of course Christmas. Then my Soul Sister's Birthday. *sigh* I'm tired just thinking about it. But fear not as I have always promised I will not abandon this story. It just might be awhile between updates.
Enough of that on with the story. Sam, of course, saved the day. But how? What happened to Maggie? Why was Ethan acting so different? All very good questions. I hope this chapter answers all of them and then some. (If not please let me know). I hope you enjoy and please if you have a moment leave me a quick review. Even if all you say is "Hi" I'll love it.
"Okay I still don't understand a few things." Kaden said scratching his head.
"Just a few." Logan said.
Kaden ignored his brother as he faced his aunt. "Could you please go over it just one more time?"
Hannah smiled cuddling her oldest son closer to her. "Maggie was a ghost. Rose's sister. Maggie died when they were young and started haunting the hotel. Rose's nanny, who practiced hoodoo, put up protections around the hotel to keep her away. She taught Rose what to do. But Rose didn't tell Susan Maggie. So when Rose got sick, and couldn't keep things up, Maggie returned."
Kaden nodded. "Okay I've got that. But what happened to Ethan?"
"Maggie didn't want to be alone." Ethan whispered. "She wanted Tyler and me to stay forever."
Hannah could tell her son was still very shook up from what had happened that morning. She over to Kathy who nodded.
"All right Dean, and spawns of Dean, time for bed. Move out." Kathy said snapping her fingers. "
"Spawns of Dean." Dean said putting his arm around Kathy.
"Yep." Kathy gently nudged her sons out the door, then her husband. Just before she shut the door she looked at Hannah and smiled. "We'll go by Sam time in the morning."
Hannah returned her sister's smile. "Sounds good to me."
Sam walked over and locked the door fixing the salt lines. They had left the hotel and were now staying at a nearby motel. It hadn't taken a lot of convincing to get Susan out of the house as well, unfortunately not before her mother passed away. According to the EMT it was another stroke, Sam wasn't so sure. As he walked back toward the couch, he glanced at the rollaway bed happy to see the twins sound asleep. At the couch Sam knelt before his wife and son. Reaching up he ran his fingers through Ethan's hair. The boy shifted slightly so he could look at his father.
"How are you feeling?"
"Breathings a little easier." Ethan whispered.
Sam saw the tears slowly escaping from the boy's eyes. Raising up slightly so his face was inches from his son's Sam whispered. "I saw what you did." Ethan sniffed but didn't say anything. "I am so proud of you."
"Why?"
Sam moved to sit beside Hannah pulling them both onto his lap and holding them tight. "I saw you save that girl. At first I didn't understand what was happening. To my eyes you were grabbing ahold of nothing. When you went over…" Sam didn't bother to fight back his own tears, the sight was still so fresh. "I couldn't open the door." Hannah kissed Sam's forehead, then laid her head on his shoulder. "The glass suddenly erupted and I…"
"You what?"
"He leapt over that railing like it wasn't even there." Hannah's voice was full of pride. "When I reached the railing I looked over to see two pieces of my heart surface."
Ethan took his father's hand in both of his. He ran one of his hand's gently over the bandage wrapped around it. "Is that when you hurt your yourself?"
"I've been meaning to ask about that." Hannah said sitting up adding her hand to her son's. "I thought you were just researching. Did a book put up a fight?"
Sam laughed. "No. I might have kind of hurt it in a fight."
"What kind of fight?" Hannah asked.
"An adult fight." Sam said standing still holding Hannah and Ethan. He placed Hannah on the bed then picked up Ethan and went back to the couch. After tucking the boy in Sam knelt beside him. "I truly am proud of you. You are truly a hunter."
"What's going to happen to Maggie?"
"I'm not sure." Sam answered honestly. "Rose had another stroke and passed away. Tyler isn't seeing Maggie anymore. Susan sold the hotel and it's going to be torn down."
"Maggie wasn't all bad. She just didn't want to be alone." Ethan snuggled in and closed his eyes. "I hope her and Rose made up. Maybe Rose is now with Maggie."
"Maybe." Sam kissed his son and started to stand. He stopped when Ethan grabbed his hand. "Is there something else bothering you?"
"I…I was bad." Ethan whispered glancing over toward the bed. Hannah pretended to be asleep. "I left the room after Mommy told me not to. I didn't stay and protect the twins. I said mean things to Logan and Kaden. I left without telling them where I was going." Tears streamed down the little boys face.
Wiping away the tears Sam gently asked. "Why did you do all those things?"
Ethan shrugged and hiccupped.
"This year has been pretty bad so far huh?" Ethan nodded. "Has it been a little hard to stay focused on things?" Another nod. Sam leaned closer so their faces were inches apart. "Maybe been a little more scared then usual?" Ethan sniffed and his head moved up and down slightly. "You know how I know all this?"
"You're Daddy." Ethan whispered.
Sam smiled and kissed his son's forehead. "That is only part of the reason, the rest is because I've been feeling the exact same way."
A look of pure shock came to Ethan's face. "You're never scared."
"Everyone is scared once or twice. Even me, even Uncle." Sam gently eased Ethan's head onto the pillow. Kissing his forehead again Sam whispered. "It's okay to be scared, just know that your family is always here and will always love you."
"Love you Daddy."
"Love you Baby."
Hannah watched as Sam did another walk around the room. Checking the door again. Checking the salt lines again. Checking on the twins. Checking on Ethan. He finally walked over and slid into bed beside her. She pulled him close to her, his head nuzzling in her neck, his arms wrapped around her. Hannah pulled his bandaged hand to her lips and kissed it.
"So I'm waiting." She'd seen the bandage when he ran into the hotel. She'd seen it when he'd carried Ethan out of the pool. The next time she saw it the wet bandage was gone replace by a fresh one.
Sam sighed nuzzling more into her neck. "Can't we talk in the morning?"
"Nope, because you will just think of some other reason to put it off." Hannah started to undo the bandage but Sam stopped her.
"Dean dropped me off at the library just like we'd planned. He went on to the storage unit to refill our ammo."
"So a book did put up a fight."
Sam sat up and slowly unwound the bandage from his wrist. The first thing Hannah saw was a huge bruise, the second was stitches. Sitting up she took his arm and studied it.
"Dean sewed it up." Sam explained. "They aren't as good as yours but they stopped the bleeding."
"What happened?"
"I finished at the library early. I called Dean. There had been a huge wreck and the road back into town was closed." Sam sighed tilting his head back against the wall. "I should have just went back into the library and waited, but I was hungry and bored. There was a bar just a block away. It was barely five so I thought it would be fine. I was so wrong."
Hannah waited for him to continue but he didn't. She got out of bed and went to her bag. Pulling out the first aid kit she returned to the bed. Kneeling beside Sam she gently took care of the injury. She noted that the stitches were clean and even, if not as close as she would have made them. The bruise looked bad but nothing was broken. Content that his hand wouldn't fall off anytime soon, Hannah wrapped a fresh bandage around the wrist. Once it was secured she snuggled up beside him still holding the injured hand in hers.
"So what happened?"
"After I ate, I called Dean again. There was no sign of the accident getting cleaned up. Again I should have returned to the library." Sam let out a soft laugh. "I guess I'm more like my father than I care to admit. Some guy challenged me to a game of pool. At first I declined. He pushed."
Hannah smiled. "And Winchester pride won out."
"I wiped the table twice. My opponent didn't like this very much. The bruise is from the pool stick he swung at my head. The cut is from the beer bottle he used next. I guess I wasn't really focused since I let him get two shots in."
"What happened to him?"
Sam smiled. "I only had one shot."
"So did you get injured because you're mind wasn't where it should have been?"
"I wasn't where I should have been. Again you and the kids were in danger."
Hannah sat up. "And why didn't you answer your phone?"
"Mine got damaged in the fight. It was in my hand when he hit me with the stick. Striking a cement floor didn't do much for it. When Dean suddenly couldn't get ahold of me he panicked. When he reached the bar and jumped out his phone must have fell out. We didn't notice until he backed over it."
"So how did you know something was wrong?"
"When we realized we both didn't have phones we decided to head straight for the hotel. We were close when the emergency phone rang." Sam let out a soft laugh. "We'd both complete forgotten about it. It was Kaden, he told us everything."
"Thank God for Kaden." Hannah cuddled into Sam again as he slid down into the bed. Once they were again wrapped tight together Sam glanced toward the couch.
"He's going to be okay you know that right?" Sam whispered.
"Of course he is." Hannah kissed her husband. "He's your son after all."
