AUTHOR'S NOTE: Tamilyn313, wandamarie, MariaKata, EmilyAnnMcGarrett-Winchester, Tumblr-Tidbits, fanclaire, chilena354, and LexieLou, thank you for leaving reviews! I'd love to hear from more of you!

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

"Charlie," Daddy said. I felt someone patting my back and rolled over. Daddy was standing above me, wearing his work coveralls. "I have to go back to work today. I wanted to give you a hug before I left."

I sat up. "Do you hafta go?"

"Yeah, I do. My boss has been more than understanding, letting me have time off, but I don't want to piss him off by taking more than I need." He smoothed his hand over my hair. "How's the head?"

"Doesn't hurt." I climbed out of bed. "Can you make me breakfast?"

"I gotta leave, but Sam will make you something when he comes back from his morning run. Let's go see if he's back yet."

We walked downstairs together. Grandpa John was laying on the sofa on his back, his arm sprawled over his face.

Daddy looked surprised. "What's he doing sleeping out here?"

Just then the front door opened and Uncle Sam came in, wearing his running gear. He had dark sweat rings around the collar and armpits of his shirt. He saw us looking at Grandpa John and smirked. "When I came downstairs earlier, he was just getting in."

Daddy raised his eyebrows. "Oh really?"

"Guess Pamela was serious about going out for a drink with him." Uncle Sam grinned.

Grandpa John startled awake, sitting up. "What-"

"Have fun last night?" Daddy asked teasingly.

Grandpa John scrubbed his hand over his face. "Uh, yeah." He coughed.

"Where did you and Pamela go?"

Grandpa John looked at Daddy and then at Uncle Sam. "All right, all right, you can wipe the smirks off. We went to shoot some pool and talk."

"Oh, is that what they're calling it these days?" Daddy chuckled.

"Knock it off, Dean." Grandpa John rumbled.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing, Charlie. We're teasing Dad because he and Pamela went out for drinks last night." Uncle Sam said.

"You did?" I asked Grandpa John. "Was it a date?"

His face got a little red and he wouldn't look at me. "Uh, no, not really...just, uh, talking." He cleared his throat.

"I've got to go to work." Daddy said. "Behave yourselves." He leaned down to hug me.

I threw my arms around him. "I'll miss you!"

"I'll be home before you know it." He kissed my cheek and let me go.

"I'm gonna go shower, and I can make breakfast, if you want to go back to sleep, Dad." Sam said.

"No, I can get started. Might take a nap later." Grandpa John stood up and stretched, yawning again.

Daddy left, and Grandpa John beckoned me. "C'mon, darlin', you can help me."

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

Circle the adjectives in this paragraph: "The cold weather made Jane wear her thick coat and knitted gloves. She went for a long walk and saw a frozen lake. There were large geese by the shore. Jane took a hot shower at home. She ate a large plate of spaghetti with spicy meatballs for dinner. She wore a soft nightgown to bed."

Uncle Sam came into the room. "How's it going, Charlie?"

I rubbed my eyes. "This is dumb!"

"What's dumb?"

I picked up the tablet. "It says circle the adjectives, but I can't- I can't remember!" Tears gathered in my eyes. "An' I can't- thinking is making my head hurt!" I whined. Suddenly it was like I was wearing a helmet that was too small for my head- my whole head hurt. I put my head in my hands and fought the tears.

I felt Uncle Sam's hand on my shoulder. "You have a headache?"

"Yeah." I muttered.

"Did it just come on?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"What does it feel like?"

I looked up at him. There seemed to be little sparks of light floating in the air. "It feels like- pain is all over, like my head is being squeezed-" I pointed to my forehead, "and now there's little sparkly things in the air."

He frowned. "Little sparkly things?"

"Yeah, like little sparks of light."

"Oh. Hmm... I want you to come into the living room and lay down on the sofa. I'll get you some medicine."

I stood up, which made my head start pounding, and stumbled out of the room. Uncle Sam put his arm around my shoulders and walked me over to the sofa. I laid down and closed my eyes. In a couple of minutes he was back with a small plastic cup of pink liquid and a glass of water. I propped myself up on my elbow, wincing, and drank the medicine and a couple swallows of water.

"How are you feeling now?"

"Head is pounding." I mumbled, laying back and closing my eyes.

"I'll come back and check on you in a little bit." I heard his footsteps leaving the room.

My head hurting was all I could think of at first, but I guess I fell asleep despite the pain, because I woke up when the front door opened. I could hear talking, and sat up.

"-if she's up for talking to you." Daddy was saying. He saw me and said. "Oh, Charlie, there you are!" He frowned and came over quickly, putting his palm on my forehead. "You okay?"

There was a dull ache behind my eyes. "Had a bad headache before." I muttered, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"I can come back later." Said another voice.

I opened my eyes- Mr. Jim was standing in the doorway.

Uncle Sam had come into the room, holding his laptop. "Hey, Jim, how's it going?"

"Hey, Sam." Mr. Jim nodded at him. "I stopped by to see if Charlie would be up for talking about what happened-I mean, the boys that were harassing her and Addi before the accident."

Daddy smoothed my hair back from my face. "How's your head now?"

"Still hurts."

"Are you still seeing sparks?" Uncle Sam asked.

I looked over at him. "No."

"What's this? Sparks?" Daddy asked with concern.

Uncle Sam sighed. "Yeah, it was a really bad headache, it came on suddenly. She's been asleep on the sofa most of the day."

"I have?" I frowned- it didn't feel like I had been asleep for that long!

He glanced at his watch. "Yeah, you laid down at about 9:30 and slept through lunch. I thought I should let you sleep."

"We're having a meeting with the sheriff tonight, I wasn't sure if you could bring Charlie over." Mr. Jim said.

"Well...let's see how she's feeling after dinner. If she's feeling better, we'll come." Daddy patted my head. "Gotta make sure this kid doesn't overdo it."

I gave Daddy puppy-dog eyes. "I wanna see Addi, pleeease can we go?"

The men chuckled. "We'll see, kiddo." Daddy said.

"I'm sure Addi would like to see you." Mr. Jim said to me. "She can't do too much activity right now either, so she's pretty bored even though we got her some new computer games."

"Charlie's supposed to limit her electronic usage as well as her activity level, so that's been-" Daddy grimaced.

"Oh geez, sorry to hear that." Mr. Jim said. "All right, call me later and let me know how Charlie's feeling."

"Will do." Daddy said.

Uncle Sam let Mr. Jim out and closed the door after him.

Daddy looked at me. "Charlie, how long were those boys bothering you?"

I looked down at my hands in my lap. "Uh, the day before, they were skating around and bein' mean to everyone."

"What were they doing?"

"Uh, they were bein' loud and stuff…" I felt my face get hot. I felt embarrassed admitting what they had been calling me.

Daddy came over and sat down next to me. "What else?"

I glanced up at him to see if he was mad, his voice sounded like it did when he was starting to get annoyed. "Uh, I was tryin' to show Addi how to do a cartwheel and they were making fun of her when she fell over and stuff."

"Why do I get the feeling there's something you're not telling me?" Daddy asked sternly.

"Charlie, you won't be in trouble. We just want to know what happened." Uncle Sam said in an even tone.

I squirmed. "They were saying-they talked about the ghost house, saying "I'm so hot" an' they-" now I felt the prickle of tears in my eyes- "they were callin' me Crazy Charlie." The shame that I had felt then, the shame that I had felt whenever I'd get in trouble for using my powers when I was little, welled up in me.

"Son of a-" Daddy slammed his hand on the arm of the sofa. "Why didn't you tell me this when it happened?"

My face got hotter. "Well, I-I was going to, but- it was- it was right after you and-" I glanced at him and then Uncle Sam- "Uncle Sam had left, and you'd had a bad day at work an' everyone was grumpy and I didn't want to bother anyone!" The tears spilled over and I lowered my head and started to cry.

"Oh Jesus." I heard Daddy mutter, and then I felt his arms around me. "I'm sorry, kiddo."

My head started to throb as I cried. "M'sorry, I know I shoulda told you, but I didn't- I didn't want-" my chest hitched.

He gathered me up and put me on his lap, and I leaned on his chest. "No, I handled that whole situation badly, and it's my fault, Charlie, and I'm sorry."

"You can talk to any of us, Charlie, remember that." Uncle Sam said.

I looked up at him through my tears. "I didn't- want to bother you, either, I didn't know- I thought you were mad-at me-too-" I sobbed harder, and Daddy hugged me tightly.

"No, I wasn't mad at you, Charlie." Uncle Sam sounded regretful.

I heard footsteps and then Grandpa John said. "Everything okay?"

"Jim came over to talk to her about- the accident and the boys bothering her." Uncle Sam reported. "She got upset talking about it."

"Let's make some dinner and see if that helps. She hasn't eaten anything since breakfast." Grandpa John said.

"Sounds good." Daddy walked towards the stairs. "I'm gonna go change."

"I'm, uh...I'm going to get ready to go over to Imani's." Uncle Sam told us. "It's been a couple of days and I want to check on her."

"Are you gonna stay there?" I frowned.

"Yes, Charlie, at least overnight."

I sighed. "Okaaay. When are you coming back?"

"I don't know, I want to see how she's been doing." Uncle Sam closed his laptop. "I'll let you know later."

~ ~ spn ~ ~

Dinner was quiet with just me, Grandpa John, and Daddy. I picked at my food- I wasn't really that hungry and my head was still hurting some.

"Everything okay, kiddo?" Daddy asked. "How's your head?"

I played with my fork. "Still have a headache. It's not real bad, though."

"Seeing sparks or anything?"

I shook my head.

"How do you feel about going over to Addi's to talk?"

I straightened up and looked at him. "I wanna go, I wanna see Addi!"

Daddy chuckled. "All right, we can go. But the minute you start feeling worse, you tell me, understand?"

"Yeah."

He glanced at his watch. "I'll call Jim in about a half an hour." Just then, his phone rang. He glanced at the display. "It's Bobby." He reported. "Yeah, Bobby, what's up?"

Uncle Bobby's voice was loud enough that we could all hear him. "Hey, Dean, I think I got somethin' you should check out."

Daddy pushed his plate away. "Like a case, or what? I'm still not doing that-"

"Well, this is kinda in your neck 'o the woods, so I thought you might be interested. Seems that there's a local hospital that's come under fire. The patients leave and then end up getting sicker when they get home."

"How is that a case? Sometimes people get worse before they get better, don't they?" Daddy asked.

"Yeah, but there's a pattern. And I thought you should know, because the hospital is the one that Charlie was in."

My mouth dropped open in surprise. What did that mean? Was I in danger? Was I going to get worse?

Daddy glanced at me, and then stood up and left the room.

Grandpa John stood up too. "If you're done, Charlie, clear your plate." He followed Daddy out of the room.

Did that mean that there was a hunt at the hospital? Could I help in any way? I had to learn more! I stood up and quietly walked out of the kitchen. I could hear voices at the end of the hallway- they had gone into Grandpa John's room. I crept carefully down the hall and stood right outside the open door, listening.

"-go over everything you have. We can start interviews this weekend." Daddy was saying. "All right, sounds good. Yeah, bye." I heard a beep as his phone disconnected.

"I just got the e-mail document from him." Grandpa John said. "I'll look over it tonight."

"Great." I heard footsteps, and before I realized what was happening, Daddy was standing in the doorway. "Charlie? What do you need?" He slid his cellphone into the front pocket of his jeans.

"I, uh, I-" I tried to think of something, a good reason for me to be standing there, but I couldn't come up with anything.

He lowered his head, frowning at me, and crossed his arms over his chest. "You wouldn't happen to be lingering out here so that you could overhear what we were talking about, now would you?"

I felt my face get hot. "Um, well-" I dropped my eyes, no longer able to look at him.

"That's what I thought. Do you remember when we had a discussion about you eavesdropping?"

My mouth went dry and I tried to swallow. "Yes, Daddy." I said quietly.

"Look at me, young lady."

I slowly raised my head and looked him in the eyes. His face was serious and he was still frowning.

"If I catch you eavesdropping, I will turn you over my knee, concussion or no, you understand?"

I nodded. "Yes, Daddy." My voice was a whisper now.

"You're not going to be involved in any hunt, at all. And you need to be really careful right now, kiddo. I don't want you doing anything that could make you overexert your brain, that means playing computer games or trying to read an object or do anything with your abilities. We don't know what might happen, with the concussion and all. So you need to be extra careful."

I hadn't even thought about that, but he was right. "Okay, Daddy, I'll be careful." I agreed.

He turned me to face the hallway. "Now go get ready so we can leave." As I started to walk away from him, he swatted my butt. I yelped and gave a little jump.

The three of us cleared up the dinner dishes quickly and then Daddy called Mr. Jim.

While I was putting my shoes on, Daddy said, "You're sure your head feels okay now?"

"Yeah, mostly."

He raised his eyebrows, and I protested, "It only hurts a tiny little bit!"

He sighed. "All right, I'm going to keep asking you. And Charlie, no electronics whatsoever. If Addi asks if you want to see her new game, the answer is no. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Daddy."

As soon as we went outside, the sunlight felt like a spike in my eyes. I squinted my eyes closed and covered my face with my hands.

"Let me grab the sunglasses, they're in the kitchen." Daddy said, going back inside.

Once the sunglasses were in place, my eyes felt better. I walked between Grandpa John and Daddy, holding both their hands.

"This is nice." Grandpa John looked down at me. "We should go on more walks like this."

"Okay!" I skipped a couple of steps, but Daddy put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Walk."

There was a car that said "Sioux Falls Sheriff" parked at the curb outside of Addi's house.

Everyone was in the living room when we went in- Addi's parents, a sheriff, and Addi and Aubrey.

Addi was lounging on the sofa, her broken arm propped up by a pillow. There was a plastic tray across her lap that had a drink holder in the side. The tray held a bowl of pretzels, an open package of M & Ms, a video game controller, a coloring book, and a set of markers. The TV was on and a video game was blaring. Aubrey was sitting on the arm at the other end of the sofa.

Addi sat forward. "Charlie! Hi!" She waved at me with her good arm.

"Hi, Addi!" I hurried over and sat down on the edge of the sofa next to her. All the grownups were introducing each other.

"How come you're wearing sunglasses?" Addi asked.

"Oh, uh, my head- the sunlight hurts my eyes, 'cause of the concussion." I waved at my face. I slid the sunglasses off- the room seemed very bright, there were so many people in the room that their auras all seemed to blend together like a messy rainbow. I looked over at the TV and the movement on the screen made me feel dizzy, so I put the sunglasses back on.

Daddy came over to me and put his hand on my back. "This is my daughter, Charlotte. We call her Charlie. Charlie, this is Sheriff Baldwin." He looked down at me. "You want to take those off?"

"Uh, no, the room's too bright." I said quickly. I didn't want Daddy to insist that we had to go right back home when we had just gotten here!

"All right. Let me know if it gets worse." Daddy said.

Miss Darlene appeared with a tray that held a bottle of lemonade and a bunch of glasses, and a bowl of potato chips. She set it down on the coffee table. "Let me go get the other snacks." She left and then returned shortly with a container of dip and a plate of cheese slices and crackers. She began to pour the lemonade out. Daddy walked over and accepted a glass from her. There were a couple of dining chairs set out and the grownups sat down and chatted.

Aubrey looked over at me. "Hi, Charlie." She said shyly.

"Hi." I said, eyeing her carefully- I wasn't sure I wanted to talk to her at all.

"Uh, I, uh, I wanted-I wanted to say-" she squirmed, her face getting red. "M'sorry about all the mean stuff I did before and all."

"Thanks." I said.

"I was-I used to be jealous of Addi an', an' I was just bein' mean 'cause of that. But I-I don't feel that way now." Aubrey looked over at Addi. "You want me to get you some chips 'n dip?"

"Yes please." Addi said.

Aubrey got up and walked over to the table where the food was.

Addi leaned forward and said quietly, "She was really upset when I was in the hospital! Mommy said she felt real bad about me gettin' hurt, an' she's been really really nice to me ever since!"

"That's good." I said.

Aubrey came over. "You done with the pretzels?" She picked up the bowl and put the plate in its place. "Charlie, you want something?" She looked over at me.

"No thanks, I just had dinner."

"Okay." Aubrey turned to take the bowl into the kitchen.

Addi leaned forward again, grinning. "Mommy said it's like having a whole new girl!"

"Wow!"

"So, Charlotte-Charlie." Sheriff Baldwin spoke up suddenly. "Would you like to tell us about your experiences?"

The room became quiet as everyone focused on me.

"Choose your fighters and let's get ready to rumbuuuuulll!" a voice from the TV said.

Mr. Jim picked up the remote. "Let's turn this off."

"But Dad, I'll lose my progress!" Addi whined.

"All right, I'll mute it for now. We don't need to hear that while we're talking." He pressed a button and the TV went silent.

"Charlotte?" The Sheriff prompted.

"Uh, well- Addi asked if I wanted to play with her, she had her skates on an' asked if I could get my bike, so I did. The boys were out again, on the street, a couple of 'em had their skateboards and a couple had bikes-"

"This was on the day of the accident?" Sheriff Baldwin perched on the arm of the recliner nearby.

"Uh, yeah. Yes." I glanced at Daddy, who was watching me.

"I understand that these boys had been bothering you before that-the day before, is that correct?"

I looked down at my hands. "Um, yeah. They were teasing us 'cause I was tryin' to show Addi how to do a cartwheel and she, um, she wasn't- she couldn't-" saying she couldn't do a cartwheel in front of everyone was harder than I thought.

"I couldn't do a cartwheel 'cause I suck at them!" Addi piped up, and Aubrey let out a strangled sound.

Miss Darlene frowned at Addi. "Watch your language, young lady!"

"Aw Mom...sucks isn't a cuss!" Addi frowned back at her.

"It's rude to say in polite company." Mr. Jim crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at her. He looked just like Daddy. "Do you need to lose your computer privileges?"

Now Addi crossed her arms and huffed. "No!"

"Settle down." Mr. Jim said sternly. He nodded at me. "Go ahead, Charlie."

"Well, um, they were riding around and calling out to us and stuff." I felt the shame starting again.

Sheriff Baldwin shifted, putting his hands on his thighs. "What were they saying?"

I squirmed. Did I really have to go through this again? "They were making ghost sounds and stuff...and calling me 'Crazy Charlie'." I bit my lip- I didn't want to start crying in front of everyone!

The sheriff nodded. "The ghost sounds were in reference to the incident at the Stillson house, am I correct?"

"Yeah." I tried to push the shame down so that it wasn't bothering me as much.

"You were pretty upset by that, as I understand."

I frowned a little. How much did he know? "Uh-huh."

Daddy let out a small huffed laugh and muttered, "That's an understatement."

"And these boys, who you felt had targeted you at the Stillson house, were teasing you about it and calling you names."

"Uh-huh."

"Who was there on the street with you and Addison?"

I thought back. "Uh I-I don't know the names of the kids in the neighborhood that well. The blonde boy, the one who grabbed me at the house, he was there."

"Which boys were riding skateboards?"

"I don't know all their names!" I exclaimed, frustration getting the better of me.

"Easy, Charlie." Daddy said. "No rush. Think about it for a moment."

I tried to remember. But now, it seemed like that day was all hazy, and the accident-it was like it was completely gone! I could remember putting the skates on, and being pulled behind my bike, but that was it! What was wrong with me?

"Describe the accident for me." Sheriff Baldwin said.

"I-I can't remember!" I sat forward, clenching my fists. "It-it's not in my head anymore! Last thing I can remember is bein' behind my bike and Addi pulling me!" Tears of frustration filled my eyes. "What's wrong with me? Where'd my memory go?"

Grandpa John came over to me. "Remember when Dr. Washington talked to us, before you came home? He said that your memory might be impaired, which means that you could lose memories from around the time of the accident, or current memories. They may come back." He said assuringly.

The sheriff looked around at everyone. "Well, Addison has already talked about her role in the accident, and she admitted that she didn't have good control over the bike. And Charlotte can't even place any of the boys there, so what I'm wondering is...maybe the boys weren't as involved as we've been told?" He gave Addi and me a look. "Could it be that perhaps Charlotte was trying to...get revenge on the boys who pulled the prank, and get them in trouble? Because really, boys skating around in the street doesn't equate to bullying."

"It was more than just skating around in the street!" Aubrey leapt up, her face angry.

Miss Darlene stood up, her face a mirror of Aubrey's. "I'm sorry, Sheriff, but are you saying-are you really suggesting that it's a case of "boys will be boys"? Because I'm sorry, it was so much more than that!" She gestured to Addi. "My daughter has a broken arm, and her friend was knocked out cold in a hospital bed for a couple of days with a bad concussion! So I think it's a lot more than that!"

"I'm just saying, would this hold up in court? When one of the girls admits that her bike-riding skills are sub-par and the other one has fodder for a grudge against these boys and can't even remember the actual incident?"

"Whose side are you on, Sheriff?" Daddy snapped. "Aren't you supposed to be just gathering the facts right now?"

Sheriff Baldwin stood up. "The facts that I've gathered thus far don't seem to add up to anything that requires police attention." He said stiffly.

"How can you say that? When we originally reported it we were told there was a case!" Mr. Jim snapped, his face getting red.

"You weren't there, I was, an' I saw everything! I told the other sheriff it was Matt Stillson that cut in front of Addi!" Aubrey yelled.

"Rein in the attitude, Aubrey." Mr. Jim snapped at her.

"But Dad, he's- he's being a dickwad!" Aubrey stomped her foot.

"Aubrey! That is enough!" Miss Darlene bit out.

"I think that we should continue this at another time." Grandpa John stepped forward. "Tensions are running high, and I'd like to talk to someone else and get some different eyes on this."

"You can bet I'm calling Sheriff Mills." Mr. Jim said.

All the loud talking was making my head start to throb, but suddenly I jumped up. "Me 'n Addi were the ones who got hurt, why're you actin' like we're in trouble?" Then I gasped as a sharp pain lanced through my head.

Sheriff Baldwin leapt over and grabbed my shoulder. "Steady there-"

Grandpa John pulled me close to him, putting his hand on my head. "You okay?"

The Sheriff stepped back as Daddy hurried over. "Headache's worse?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Well, I think we're done here." Daddy said.

"All right. C'mere, darlin'." Grandpa John swung me up onto his hip, and I buried my face in his shoulder.

I heard footsteps as we walked across the room. "Sorry about this, Dean, John." Mr. Jim's voice was apologetic. "I'll be in touch after I talk to Sheriff Jody."

"Bye, Charlie! Hope you feel better!" Addi called.

I waved over Grandpa John's shoulder as we left the house.

"What does the pain feel like?" He asked me as we walked.

"My head-it was like, going, bump, bump, like in time with my heartbeat, the pain I mean, and then it was like- like a sharp stick went through my brain from the top of my head."

He put his hand on the back of my head. "You close your eyes and rest your head on my shoulder."

Daddy started grumbling. "Man, that Sheriff, I don't know what the fu-"

"Dean." Grandpa John cut him off. "Let's talk about this later."

"Why was he actin' like that?" I asked.

Grandpa John put his hand on my back. "I don't know, darlin'. I've never seen him before, so maybe he's new."

"Oh, and you're well acquainted with all the employees of the Sioux Falls Sheriff's Department? Is there something you're not telling me, Dad?" Daddy asked.

"No, Dean, but I've been over there a couple of times to talk to Jody or help out Bobby with something, and I notice things. His uniform was a little different. Could be he's on loan from a different jurisdiction."

"Well, he needs to go back to wherever he came from." Daddy muttered.

Grandpa John took me into the kitchen when we got home. He set me down and got out the ibuprofen. "We're going to have to get more of this soon." He shook it and poured some into a cup.

Daddy's phone rang. "It's Sam." He told us. "Sam? Everything okay? Oh! Oh, okay. She's right here." He held out the phone to me. "He wants to say good night to you."

I took the phone. "Hi, Uncle Sam!"

"Hey, Charlie. How's your head?"

"Uh, it hurts worse."

"Why, what happened?" He sounded concerned.

"We went over to Addi's house to talk to a sheriff about the accident and he was mean! He said that it was just me tryin' to get those boys in trouble!" I said hotly.

"What? That's ridiculous!"

"Yeah, everyone was mad! And Aubrey called him a dic- I mean, a bad word." I looked over at Daddy, and he raised his eyebrows at me. "Uh, sorry." I said quickly.

"Did anyone get you some medicine?" Uncle Sam asked.

"Yeah, Grandpa John did."

"Good. Well, you try to get a good night's sleep, all right?" I heard rustling, and then Imani's voice called, "Have a good night, Charlie!"

"Imani!" I said. "How is she?"

"She's tired. Still getting sick a lot, so she's trying to get a leave of absence from work, but she's got to fill out a lot of paperwork."

"What's a leaf of absence?"

Uncle Sam chuckled. "A leave of absence. It's like a short vacation from work, some places allow you a leave for things like a long term illness or whatever."

"Oh. Well, I hope she gets it!"

"Me too. I'll be back sometime tomorrow, she's got some stuff that needs to be done around her apartment and I want to pick up some groceries for her. You try and do your schoolwork but don't push it."

"Okay, Uncle Sam. Good night, I love you."

"Love you too, honey. Let me talk to your dad."

I handed the phone to Daddy. "Hey, Sam." He said into the phone, and then to me, he said, "Go get ready for bed and I'll be up in a while to tuck you in."

I put my pajamas on and brushed my teeth and got under the covers to wait for Daddy. But he didn't come to say good night, and eventually I fell asleep.

~ ~ spn ~ ~

Pain. Everything was pain. I rolled over in bed and my head throbbed. I opened my eyes, and even the dim light of the nightlight hurt, so I squinched my eyes partly closed. It must be the middle of the night, because the windows were dark and everything was quiet.

"Daddy," I called out, but my voice was hoarse. I had to get someone, I had to get help!

I tried to sit up, and I cried out as my head twinged painfully. It felt like my skull was being crushed. I held my head with my hands, taking gulps of air and trying not to sob. Every time I moved, my head hurt. But I had to get up and get Daddy. I stood up and took a step-and immediately fell down. My legs felt weak and wobbly. "Daddy," I called out again. "Help me!" My voice rasped out.

I pushed myself up onto my hands and knees and tried to crawl forward. The pain pulsed with every movement. I reached the doorway of my room and collapsed, breathing heavily. "Dad-" I called out weakly. Then I got an idea. I grabbed the door and hit it. It started to swing away but I grabbed at it, and started to hit it with my other hand. Finally I heard footsteps, and then Daddy's voice. "Charlie, what's going on?"

"M'head-hurts-so bad-" I started to cry, and then I moaned, because that made my head hurt even more.

"All right, shh, I'm here, I gotcha." He squatted down and picked me up. I cried out as he stood. "Let's get you downstairs so I can get you some medicine." He carried me down the stairs and gently laid me on the sofa.

He made me drink a whole glass of water after he gave me medicine, and then he sat down and let me put my head in his lap. He had an ice pack wrapped in a dishtowel, and he laid it on my head. "Let me know if this helps, a website said that ice helps some people with migraines." He patted my shoulder. "Turn on your side and I'll rub your neck and scalp, see if that helps too."

I rolled over, and he began to rub my neck. I didn't exactly sleep, but the massage and the ice did make the pain go away a little. I must have slept, because then I was waking up to the sound of a cell phone ringing.

Daddy and I were laying on the sofa. I was smushed into his side with his arms around me and my head on his chest. "Oh, shit," He muttered sleepily, patting his shirt pocket and then his jeans. "Sit up, baby." I sat up, wincing, because the movement made my head hurt.

Daddy dug his phone out of his jeans pocket. "Hello? Hey, Steve, how's it going? Yeah, sorry, running a little behind here this morning-oh, well, my daughter had a bad headache in the middle of the night and I was taking care of her-" He sat forward. "Yeah, I know-"

Grandpa John came into the room, scratching his head. He walked over to me and cupped my cheek, smiling at me.

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't set an alarm on my phone because I wasn't intending to fall asleep on the sofa at 3 AM- it won't happen ag-Steve, come on, man, it was one time." Daddy stood up and began to pace. "I know I've been out a lot lately, but I can't help it that my kid-" He stood with his back to us, and lowered his head, listening. "Yes, I know…" He sighed. " I understand. I'm sorry too." He said flatly. He hung up the phone and sighed again, heavily. Then he turned to us, running a hand over his face. "I've just been fired."