Family is Where the Heart is

Chapter 34

To say the second visit to the hospital was a success would be a lie. The Winchesters headed straight for the old woman's room. Dean pulled his gun from behind him while Sarah pulled hers from her sweatshirt pocket. Yes, Dean had finally graduated his little girl from the easy-to-use shotgun to her own pistol. He felt she was ready for it.

Sam opened the door, carefully, letting the other two go in first before he followed inside, closing it behind him. He then took his own gun out from behind him and the three of them surrounded the old woman. Long story, short: The shtriga wasn't her.

When they returned to the motel after grabbing breakfast, with Sam and Sarah teasing Dean, they noticed the kid from the night before sitting outside. Sarah was instantly drawn to him and hurried over to the kid.

"What's wrong?" she asked him as her father and uncle walked up behind her.

The kid looked up at her, "My brother's sick."

Dean kneeled down to their levels. "The little guy?" he asked the kid.

He nodded, "Pneumonia. He's in the hospital. It's my fault."

Sarah shook her head. "Trust me, it isn't your fault."

"No, I should have made sure the window was latched. He wouldn't have gotten pneumonia if the window was latched."

"Listen to me," Dean told him. "Sarah, here, is right. I can promise you that it's not your fault. Okay?"

The kid looked at him, "It's my job to look after him."

The kid's mom came out from the office, carrying a teddy bear, pillow, blanket, and her purse. "Michael," she told the kid who stood up, following her to a dark blue SUV. "I want you to turn on the No Vacancy sign while I'm gone. I got Denise covering room service, so don't bother with any of the rooms."

"I'm going with you," he tried to protest.

"Not now, Michael," she said.

"But I gotta see Asher."

Dean walked over to the mother and son, followed by Sam and Sarah. "Hey, Michael. Hey, I know how you feel. I'm a big brother, too. But you gotta go easy on your mom, right now, okay?"

"Damn it," Michael's mother said when she dropped her purse as she shut the car door. Sam quickly went over and picked it up for her, handing it to the woman who thanked him.

Dean offered to drive her to the hospital and told Sam and Sarah that he wanted the shtriga dead for sure. After they left, Sam and Sarah headed to the library to find out what they could. Sam checked old newspapers as Sarah looked beside him.

After a while, Sam called Dean. "Hey. How's the kid?" he asked.

"He's not good," Dean replied. "Where you at?"

"At the library, trying to find out as much as we can about this shtriga."

"Yeah? What do you got?" he asked.

"Well, bad news," Sam began. "We, uh, started with, uh, with Fort Douglas around the time you said Dad was there."

"And?"

"Same deal. Before that, there was, uh, there was Ogdenville. Before that, North Haverbrook and Brockway. Every fifteen to twenty years it hits a new town." Sam shook his head. "Dean, this thing is just getting started in Fitchburg. And all these other places, it goes on for months, dozens of kids, before the shtriga finally moves on. Kids just languish in comas, and then they die."

"How far back this thing go?" asked Dean.

"Uh, I don't know," he admitted. "Earliest mention we could find is this place called Black River Falls, back in the 1890's. Huh. Talk about a horror show." Sam flipped through each article until he came to one with a picture of a bunch of doctors standing around a child's bed. Sarah who had been scanning each one, the whole time picked up someone familiar in the background.

"Uncle Sam," she pointed to the screen, "Doesn't that look like Dr. Heidecker?"

Sam got a look for himself. "Whoa, you're right, peanut."

"Sam?" Dean asked.

"We're looking at a photograph right now of a bunch of doctors standing around a kid's bed. One of the doctors is Heidecker."

"And?"

"And this picture was taken in 1893," he told him.

Sarah whistled like she heard her father do, or tempted to, at least. "The guy's really old," she said as Sam wiped his left arm on his shirt.

"That's gross, Sarah," he told her.

"What?" Dean asked again.

"Your kid just spit all over my arm, trying to whistle."

Dean cleared his throat, "So, are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure, Dean. I could feel it all over."

"No, man. I mean about Heidecker."

"Oh, yeah. Absolutely."

With that, Dean hung up and looked back at Dr. Heidecker, who was tending to Michael's brother.

The Winchesters met back up at their motel room. "Should have thought about this before," Sam was saying as he paced around the room. "Doctor's perfect disguise. You're trusted. You can control the whole thing."

"Actually, I never found any doctor trusting," Sarah pointed out from the bed where she was lying on her stomach. Her green army men were lined up in front of her. "They may act all nice at first but then suddenly they pull out this needle and poke you with it."

Dean stood up and threw off his jacket. "That son of a bitch."

"I'm surprised you didn't draw on him, right there," Sam told his brother.

"Yes, because that would have been a great idea, shooting a gun off in a pediatric ward where there's mostly kids," Sarah replied, sarcastically.

"Now who's being the smartass?" he asked her.

Sarah did not respond to that.

Dean came from the bathroom, dabbing his neck with a towel and tossed it away. "Besides, it wouldn't have done any good because the bastard's bulletproof unless it's chowin' down on something. And I wasn't packing either, which is probably a good thing because I probably would have burned a clip in him."

"You're getting wise in your old age, Dean," said Sam.

"You're damn right 'cause now I know how we're gonna get it."

Sam looked over at him. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"The shtriga works through siblings," Dean pointed out. "Right?"

"Right."

Sarah sat up onto her legs. "Dad, where are you going with this?" she asked, not liking where she thought this was headed.

Dean looked between them, "Well, last night…"

"It went after Asher," Sam finished.

"So I'm thinking, tonight, it's coming after Michael."

"Then we gotta get him outta here," he said.

"No, no. That'd blow the whole deal," Dean told him.

"What are ya, nuts?" Sarah couldn't believe what her father just said.

"You mean you want to use the kid as bait?" asked Sam.

Dean nodded.

"No, forget it, that's out of the question, Dean," he said.

"It's not out of the question. If this thing disappears, it could be years before we get another chance."

"What's with you, Dean?" Sam asked of his brother. "Michael's a kid just like Sarah is. I may have shut my mouth about Sarah hunting but I will not let you dangle Michael in front of that thing like a worm on a hook."

"Dad did not send me here to walk away," Dean shot back.

"Send you here? He didn't send you here. He sent us here."

Dean turned away, walking from him. "This isn't about you, Sam. All right? I'm the one who screwed up. It's my fault. There's no telling how many kids have gotten hurt because of me."

Sarah quickly got up from the bed as Sam asked, "What are you saying, Dean? How is it your fault?"

Dean stayed silent. Sarah hurried over to his side and looked up at him, taking his left hand in both of hers. "Dad, what's going on? You've been hiding something since we found that handprint. And don't say there's nothing wrong, 'cause I can see right through you."

"Dean, talk to us, man," Sam sighed from behind him. "Since when does Dad bail on a hunt? Since when does he let something get away?"

"Uh, what about the woman in white?" Sarah pointed out as Dean walked over to sit down on one of the beds.

Sam ignored his niece, more concerned about his older brother at that moment. "Tell us what's going on."

Dean didn't answer right away. "Fort Douglas, Wisconsin," he began. "It was, uh, the third night in this crap room, and I was climbin' the walls, man. I needed to get some air." Dean told them the night when John hunted the shtriga first and how it got away. As he told it, Sam had gone over to sit on the other bed. Sarah went over to her father and wrapped her arms around his neck to comfort him. "Dad just grabbed us and booked. Dropped us off at Pastor Jim's about three hours away. By the time he got back to Fort Douglas, the shtriga disappeared. It was…It was just gone. It never resurfaced until now. Heh," he forced a small laugh. "You know, Dad never spoke about it again. I didn't ask. But he, uh…" Dean paused. "He looked at me different, you know? Which was worse. Not that I blame him. He gave me an order and I didn't listen. I almost got you killed, Sam." He looked at Sarah, who was standing in front of him, listening. "That's why I'm so hard on you, baby girl. Why I tell you not to leave the motel without one of us. Why I want you with me."

"You were just a kid," Sam told him.

Dean continued to look at his daughter. "Don't, Sam," he shook his head. "Don't. Dad knew this was unfinished business for me. He sent me here to finish it."

Sam looked at the floor then back at his brother. "But usin' Michael…"

"I'll do it!" Sarah blurted from nowhere.

Sam and Dean looked at her.

"We'll send Michael somewhere else and I'll hide in his bed."

Dean shook his head. "No, Sarah. I won't have any of that."

"No, Dad. It's bad enough I know what's out there but at least with me taking his place, he won't have to. I'm a kid, too. It will gladly feed on me as it would him."

"Once you pull a gun out, it will run, Sarah," he told her.

"Then you and Uncle Sam come running in and shoot at it. I trust you can do that, Dad. Just don't let Michael do it."

"It's too risky, peanut," said Sam. "Maybe one of us can hide under the covers."

"No, it has to be close enough to feed," said Dean. Even though it pained him to say it, he agreed to let Sarah take Michael's place.

Sarah hurried over to the motel office to talk to Michael. "Michael, my family and I know of a way to save Asher," she told him.

"How?" he asked, coming around the front desk towards her.

"I can't tell you that but we need to use your room. Do you have anywhere you can go for the night?"

"My friend, Josh lives just down the street," he shrugged.

"Perfect. So, can we use your room? I promise we won't take or touch nothing…besides your bed."

"Um, sure if it'll help my little brother."

So, Michael packed an overnight bag and got on his bike, headed to his friend's house, letting Denise know. Sam hooked up a surveillance camera from his laptop as Dean sat up the actual camera in the boys' room.

"You sure you want to do this, Sarah?" he asked, adjusting the camera angle.

Sarah pushed back the comforter on Michael's bed and sat down on the edge. She let out a deep breath. "I'm sure, Dad. Anything to keep Michael safe and end this thing once and for all."

Dean walked over and sat next to his daughter. "I just want to tell you how proud I am of you for doing this especially when every ounce of my body is telling me not to let you."

Sarah looked up at her father from her lap. "Can I just ask one thing before we start this?" she asked.

"Yeah, anything," he said.

"Does this mean Grandpa hates you?"

Dean glanced up at the camera, knowing Sam was probably listening. He looked back at Sarah and shook his head. "No, your grandfather still loves me. He was just very disappointed. Like I was, when you didn't follow an order once or twice. But that doesn't mean I would love you any less and the same goes for your grandfather. I know he still cares."

"So, this isn't to redeem yourself with him?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, just to finish what was started."

Sarah stood up onto her knees and hugged his neck again and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Dean returned them both before she got underneath the comforter, lying down.

"Now, when we come bursting through the door, you drop under the bed and do not come out until one of us says so. Understand?"

She nodded at him.

Dean gave her one more kiss before he made his way next door to sit with his brother, his eyes glued to the screen. His mind kept screaming out not to let this happen. He wanted to run back in there and grab Sarah out of there. What if he couldn't get there in time? What if the shtriga got Sarah before he could shoot it? Why he agreed to this, he wasn't sure. Dean just wanted to hurry up and get it over with.

Sarah hid under the covers, waiting in the dark room. She looked around the room at the boys' many toys. There was a monster truck above her on the headboard that looked really cool to her. Occasionally, she had to take deep breaths as her heart thumped in anticipation. She wanted it to come already and get it over with.

"What time is it?" Dean asked Sam, his eyes still glued to the computer screen.

Sam checked his watch, "Three. You sure these iron rounds are gonna work?"

"Consecrated iron rounds," he corrected him. "And yeah, it's what Dad used last time."

"Hey, Dean," said Sam. "I'm sorry."

Dean looked back and forth between the screen and Sam. "For what?" he asked, confused.

He sighed, "You know. I've really given you a lot of crap for always following Dad's orders. And about Sarah, too. But I know why you do it."

Dean moaned, "Oh God. Kill me now."

Sam smiled at his brother.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared at the window. The window then opened slowly as the brothers got their guns out and cocked.

Sarah sunk deeper into the bed as a robed figure floated inside the room and over to the bed she was lying on. She gripped the comforter in her hands as she held her breath. It moved closer and closer until it hovered above her. The shtriga didn't even flinch when it realized it wasn't Michael. It just continued on with its goal as it opened its mouth.

The whole time, Dean had to hold back until the right moment to go running in there. If they didn't wait long enough, the shtriga would flee and he would mess it up once again. No, he had to wait just a bit longer. His heart felt like it would leap out of his chest as it beat in anxiety and fear.

Sam wasn't doing so well, either. Every ounce of him wanted to run in and stop it, too. He bit his lower lip as the shtriga moved closer and closer to his niece. His only niece. His little peanut. Sam felt just as much responsible for Sarah as Dean was.

"Now?" Sam asked Dean.

Dean wanted to say yes but instead said no. Both brothers fought the hardest battle they ever fought of jumping up and running in there. They were literally on the edge of their seats as the anticipation grew stronger.

Once Sarah saw a bright light emit from the shtriga's mouth and start to feed, she heard the door burst open and her father telling her to get down. She obeyed, quickly rolling off the bed and underneath as Sam and Dean started shooting. Sarah looked back to see the shtriga lying on the floor on the other side.

"You okay, baby girl?" Dean asked, his gun still raised.

"Yeah, Dad," she replied.

"Just sit tight," he told her and walked around the bed to get a look for himself. The shtriga was just lying there on its back. Dean exchanged looks with Sam and was about to lower his gun when it suddenly shot towards him and knocked Dean back.

Sarah fought the urge to run over to her father when she saw him get thrown into the wall. She had to stay put and follow orders though.

Next, the shtriga went after Sam, knocking his gun out of his hands and thrown him into the opposite wall, landing on the other bed. The shtriga then held Sam down by his neck as Sam tried to reach for his gun. Sarah watched as her uncle struggled to reach it. When she saw it open its mouth, Sarah instantly reacted and quickly moved towards Sam's gun, picking it up and aimed at the shtriga. Both her and Dean had shot at once, both killing it in the head.

"You okay, little brother?" Dean asked Sam.

Sam gave him two thumbs up as he tried to catch his breath. He rolled off the bed, onto the floor, in front of where his niece was still sitting, on her legs. She put the gun down and moved a little closer to hug him before they stood up and joined Dean over by where the shtriga's now dead body was. Its mouth was wide open as children's essences were releasing from it.

Dean shot it a few more times as they continued to stare at it.

"Sorry I disobeyed another order, Dad," Sarah looked up at her father.

Dean was still catching his breath. "I'll let it slide…this one time…since you did it for Sam…but don't make it a habit."

Sarah nodded and then looked back at the monster, glad it was over.

As they packed up the Impala the next morning, Michael's mother walked up to them from her car.

"Hey, Joanna," Dean hurried over, meeting her halfway. "How's Asher doing?"

"Have you seen Michael?" she asked.

At that moment, Michael and Sarah came out of the office. Michael ran over, excited to see his mother.

"Hey," his mother hugged him.

"How's Ash?" he asked her.

"I got some good news. Your brother's gonna be just fine."

Really?"

She nodded, "Yeah. Really. No one can explain it. It's a… It's a miracle." His mother looked over at Dean and Sam. "They're gonna keep him overnight, for observation, but after that, he's coming home."

Michael smiled over at Sarah, who was standing behind him with her hands in her sweatshirt pockets.

She smiled in return.

Dean smiled, too. "That's great."

"How are all the other kids doing?" asked Sam.

"Good," said Joanna. "Real good. A bunch of them should be checking out in a few days. Dr. Travis says the ward's gonna be like a ghost town."

"Dr. Travis?" Sam questioned. "What about Dr. Heidecker?"

"Oh, he wasn't in today. Musta been sick or something."

"Yeah," said Dean. "Yeah, must have."

"So, did anything happen when I was gone?" Joanna asked her son.

"No, everything was calm enough so I went over to Josh's house to spend the night. I didn't like being alone," he lied to her.

"Really, because it looks like you made friends here." She smiled over at Sarah.

"I had stuff to do, last night," Sarah shrugged.

"Okay." Joanna turned back to Michael and said they were going to head back to the hospital to see Asher. Excited, he turned around, waving to Sarah as he ran over to his mother's car. His mother followed after him.

Dean started walking back to the Impala. He smiled down at his daughter. "Did you get his number? Are you two dating now?"

Sarah quickly looked up at her father. "Ew, no! We're just friends, Dad."

He shrugged, "Could have fooled me with all that cheesy smiling you were doing."

She punched her father, playfully in the leg for that as he laughed.

"You know, Sarah," Sam spoke up.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"Because of you, that kid still has some innocence in him."

"Yeah, I know. Michael actually saw it but he believed he was dreaming so I told him he was," Sarah explained.

Dean bent over to hug her head to him, kissing the top of it. "That's my girl," he told her and both he and Sam got into the front seat of the Impala.

Sarah stole one last look as the SUV turned out of the parking lot before she got into the backseat and fell asleep on the spot even before Dean was out of it himself.