AUTHOR'S NOTE: My back is doing somewhat better, thanks for the well wishes. Thank you to all of you who responded with your thoughts about whether Aly should tell the Winchester men about her first kiss! When I'm writing, I look at things from the OC's POV as well as how the Winchesters would see it, and I also take my own feelings as a parent into consideration. So I enjoy hearing what others think, and it helps me get my thoughts in order. Beta'd by Edge_of_Clairvoyance.

Fasten your seatbelts, y'all, we're in for a bumpy chapter!

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

Dean was looking at me as I climbed into the front seat. "Well, you look a lot happier than I thought you'd look after getting a week's worth of schoolwork!"

"Well, I, um…" I wasn't sure if I should tell him about the kiss. One the one hand, I was trying to be honest and not hide things, on the other hand, I wasn't sure how any of my family would take it. I took a deep breath and decided to just go for it. "I was, um, Marc kissed me!" I blurted happily.

Dean had pulled away from the curb and was driving through the parking lot, but at that, he quickly pulled over into a parking space. He put the car in park and turned to me, putting his arm up on the back of the seat. "He did what now?"

I looked down at my lap, nerves making my stomach flip. "You know, that guy you said you think likes me." I glanced up at him.

He nodded. "Yeah, I know who you're talking about. You said he kissed you?" His voice was almost that deep hunter's growl.

I turned more toward Dean and looked him in the eyes. "Please don't be mad! He said he was happy to see me and that everyone missed me, and he's really sweet and I like him…" I realized just then that I did like him, and I pounded on the seat next to me. "He likes me and I like him!"

"Hey, go easy on my baby!" Dean exclaimed. "I...I don't know what to think."

"You don't have to think anything, just be happy for me."

"I don't know, Aly…" He said uneasily. "I mean, you're my little sister-"

I held my hand up, palm out. "No, I'm your younger sister, I'm not little anymore." He opened his mouth and then closed it, so I continued. "How old were you when you started dating, huh? You were younger than me, so…" I shrugged.

His face reddened. "Okay, touche. The thing is, I know what boys your age want, and it's only one thing...and I just, I don't want you to get hurt."

"But Dean, you don't know what's going to happen. And you can't keep insisting that I stay home all the time and not get to do things that other kids my age do just because you're scared I'm going to get hurt or whatever."

He blew out a breath. "Yeah, you're right."

"And, Dad said I'm not supposed to hide things and sneak around and all, and this is me not hiding it. Would you rather I not have told you?"

He sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. "No, you're right again, it's just...I don't know...I'm gonna have to get used to this." He studied me for a moment. "You really do have feelings for this guy?"

I nodded, a smile coming to my face.

"Well, I guess…This day was gonna come whether we're ready for it or not." He muttered. "I just-I want you to be careful." He said seriously.

"I will be. Do you think-I don't know what to say, about Dad, if he's gonna-should I not tell him?"

"No, Aly, I think you should. I mean, you're right, you're supposed to be not hiding things, it's just, I don't think any of us thought that this was going to be the kind of thing you're doing. And we're just gonna have to get used to the fact that you're-growing up." He reached out and squeezed my shoulder. "I'm happy for you, kiddo."

I felt a pang in my stomach. "But what if he gets mad at me? I don't want there to be another- big deal, you know?"

He looked sympathetic. "Yeah, I know. Well, I'll be there to back you up, and I'm sure Sam will too." He gave me a smile, pulled out of the space and started to drive.

The closer he got to home, the more my stomach twisted up.

Dad and Sam were sitting on opposite ends of the sofa when we came in, with books open and spread out around them. They both looked up as we walked into the house.

"How did your first day back go, Aly?" Sam asked. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm a little tired, it was fine." I dropped my backpack onto the floor next to the armchair. "I have a ton of makeup work to do. And, I, um, have something to tell you."

Dad set the paper down he was holding. "Yes?"

I looked down at the floor and took a breath, then looked back at him. "There's this guy at school, he's in the choir and he's in my friend group, he likes me and he asked me out but I told him I was grounded and he...well, he kissed me." I felt a smile on my face even though I couldn't help it.

Dad stood up, frowning. "A boy just randomly kissed you in school?"

I leaned on the back of the armchair. "Yeah."

Dad put his hands on his hips. "Where were the teachers? Do they just- allow this sort of thing now?"

"It's not that uncommon, Dad, there was always a couple swapping spit in the hallways between classes when I was in high school." Dean said easily.

I glared at Dean. "Dean! We weren't swapping spit, that's gross! He just-it was a quick kiss."

Dad shook his head. "You're not in school to be kissing boys and all that, Alyson. In my day, the teachers would have put a stop to it right away."

"I know, Dad, and Ms. Brown did interrupt us. I, um, I wanted to ask, when am I off of grounding? Because Marc asked me if I wanted to go out to the movies with him, and I wanted to know if I could-?" I asked hopefully.

"No, Alyson, I don't want you dating. You're too young."

"But Dad!" I protested. "You always say that! You just said last night that I'm getting older, when am I going to be allowed to do- anything?"

He huffed. "I don't know, but not now. You're not going out on dates right now and that's final."

"You know, Aly gets into trouble a lot for being impulsive, but you're just like her, Dad." Sam spoke up.

"Excuse me?" Dad drew back, offended.

"You don't like something she does and you automatically make a rule against it like that," Sam snapped his fingers. "Aly wears makeup? You don't like that, nope, she's not allowed. A lot of girls are wearing makeup by the time they're her age, it's not a big deal. Same with this- a lot of kids are dating at her age, but you don't want to allow it. Both Dean and I had been on dates by the time we were 14."

"And I told you, Dad! I got kissed today by a boy that I like and who likes me, and I could have hidden it and not told any of you, but I told you because I'm not supposed to be keeping secrets or sneaking around, and then you go and act like this- argh!" My frustration boiled over and I turned and started to stomp out of the room.

"Alyson, stop." Dad's voice was deep. "Don't just walk away." He sighed heavily. "You're right, both of you are right. Just-let me think about this whole- dating- thing, all right?"

I turned back to him. "Does that mean you're thinking about letting me go on a date?"

"I-I don't know yet, but- it's not off the table."

"Can I-can I start wearing makeup? Just a little bit?" I clasped my hands together.

He sighed again. "I-I can allow that."

"You should probably start with eyeliner and blush and a light lipstick." Sam said. "Your skin tone is pretty even, you don't need foundation yet."

All three of us looked at him in surprise.

"And how do you know so much about makeup, Sammy?" Dean asked with amusement.

"What, this girl I dated in college showed me all the stuff she used and explained everything." Sam said reasonably.

"You're really going to let me wear makeup?" I asked Dad excitedly.

"Well-yes-but don't go wild with it."

I squealed and jumped up and down, clapping my hands. "Can one of you take me to the store to get some? Soon?"

"All right, settle down." Dean raised his hands. "You've got some training to do and a bunch of homework."

"Training? What training?" I frowned.

"You're supposed to be practicing darts a couple times a week and you've also got the gun diagram to memorize." Dad reminded me.

"Aww, but I'm not in the mood to practice darts today." I complained.

"Well, that's the thing with training, you gotta do it even when you're not in the mood." Dean said. "That's what training is, practicing over and over so you build muscle memory and skill."

"But I have all my school work!"

"Fine, you can practice darts tomorrow." Dad sat back down.

Sam stood up and came over to me. "I know it's Aly's night to cook, but since she has a lot of homework maybe we can just order in? And it can also be to commemorate her first kiss? A little bit?" He smiled at me and pulled me in for a hug. "It's a little weird because I'll always think of you as my little sister, but I am happy for you."

"Thanks, Sammy." I said happily.

We ate Chinese food and I spent the evening plowing through my homework. I managed to get most of the Social Studies assignments finished before Dad poked his head into my room and told me it was late and I should go to sleep.

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

Jenny came rushing up to me as soon as I walked into school. Her eyes were red and puffy. "Oh my gosh, where were you, I was texting you all last night!"

"Oh! I never got my phone." I said. While I had been sick at Uncle Bobby's there had been no need for me to use my cell phone, and I had actually forgotten to ask about having it at school! "What's wrong?"

"It's Marc!" Tears filled her eyes. "Last night after he got home from practice, he was taking the trash cans out to the curb and he just-he collapsed! His mom called an ambulance and everything, he's in the hospital!"

"What?!" Tears came to my eyes as well. "What's wrong with him? Is he okay?"

"My mom talked to his mom this morning, he's awake and talking and all, he's just really weak. They took a bunch of blood last night and are waiting for test results. They don't know what it could be!" Jenny wiped her face with her sleeve.

"That's terrible!" I sniffled. "They really don't know anything?"

"I think his mom said the preliminary blood tests that came back showed, like, his blood cells were off, but it just means that he's, like, sick, you know?"

The bell rang above us, and we hurried to get to class. Jenny told the choir what she knew, and the class was somber while we rehearsed. It felt heavy without Marc there making jokes like he usually did.

As soon as I got into the car, I turned to Dean. "Marc is sick!" I exclaimed. "Jenny said he collapsed when he got home last night and he's in the hospital!"

Dean looked shocked. "Oh man, that's tough, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Do you think Dad will let me have my cell phone? Jenny said she'd text me as soon as she finds anything out."

Dean pulled away from the curb. "How does she know what's going on with him?"

"Jenny and Marc are, like, best friends and their families have known each other forever, their moms knew each other when they were kids. Jenny said she was texting me all last night when she found out!"

"Well, we can ask Dad, I think he'll let you have it."

Dad was in his room when we got home. "Dad, I know you haven't said when I'm off of grounding, but may I please have my cell phone back? My-friend Marc is sick, Jenny told me that he collapsed last night and he's in the hospital. And she said she'd text me the minute she found out anything."

"How does she know?" Dad frowned.

"Jenny and Marc are friends, she said she was texting me all last night. Please, I want to know what's happening to him!"

"All right, you can have the cell phone back." He walked over to his duffle and rooted around in it, pulling my phone out. He came over and handed it to me. "Do they know why he collapsed?"

"No, Jenny said they did tests and stuff but so far they just showed that his blood cells were off or something. This morning her mom talked to his mom and said he's awake and talking, he's just weak."

"Well, keep us in the loop." Dad smiled at me.

"I will. Thanks, Dad!" I hugged him, and then went to my room to do my homework.

We were in the middle of eating dinner when my cell phone rang- it was Jenny.

"Hi, Jenny, what's up?" I answered.

"Hi, Aly, I just wanted to let you know what's going on!" She sounded breathless. "Marc's dad called, Marc has Mono!"

"Mono?"

"Yeah, you know, Mononucleosis? It's this virus, it's not deadly, it just makes you tired and feel run down a lot."

"I've heard of it. Do they know how he got it?"

"No, they don't. The doctor said that he thinks Marc got it a while ago and it's been in his system, and getting strep throat made it, like, re-activate? Marc said he got the flu last year, and he was sick for a couple weeks, but the Doctor says that could've been Mono. And it can hang out in your body for a long time and then other illnesses can make it come back."

"That's awful! Is there medicine he can take for it?"

"No, it's not something that can be cured with antibiotics or anything. He just has to rest."

"Does he have to stay in the hospital?"

"Yeah, for now-he has an enlarged spleen, and that can be part of Mono, so they have to monitor that."

I sighed. "That really sucks! How long will he be there?"

"Um, the doc said once his spleen is better, and his blood work looks good, he can go home, but he'll be out of school for like a month."

"A month?"

"Yeah, apparently a person can have Mono for a long time! And he'll have to be careful when he comes back because he can get sick again if he overdoes it." I heard talking in the background, and she said, "Okay, Mom. Listen, I gotta go."

"Okay, thanks for letting me know! See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you!"

I hung up and put the phone down. They were all watching me. "I guess you heard most of that? Marc has Mono."

"Well, that sucks." Dean shook his head. "Sorry to hear that, kiddo."

"Do they know where he got it? I know that strep was going around your school, but if Mono is going around, that can be a lot worse." Sam said.

"Um, Marc had the flu last year and the doctor said that that was probably when he actually got Mono, and it's been in his system since then and getting strep throat, like, reactivated it?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, Mono is one of those viruses that can hang out in the body for a long time." He raised his eyebrows. "Uh, I, uh, hate to bring this up, Aly, but, uh, just how- when you, uh-" His face reddened. "Mono is known as 'the kissing disease', because it gets spread by saliva. When you, uh, kissed Marc, how…"

I understood what he was getting at. "Oh no! What if I get it?"

"Well, that depends on how you kissed him, that's what I'm trying to ask."

I felt my face get hot and knew I was probably blushing like Dean. "We didn't-um, there was no, um, saliva. We just, you know, our lips touched, like a peck, and then we stopped." I was unable to keep looking at them and stared at my plate.

"So most likely you won't get it." Sam said. "I wonder if it can be transmitted through droplets, like if he coughed? Or if he had dried saliva on his lips?"

"It can't be transmitted by airborne droplets unless he were to cough directly into someone's mouth. It's only spread by saliva or contact with other, uh, bodily fluids." Dean's face reddened even more.

"And how do you know all this?" Dad cocked his eyebrow at Dean.

"When I was in ninth grade there was a guy in my bio class who had just come back to school after having been out for 3 months with Mono. He did a big report on himself and also on Mono, got an A+. The teacher said it was so well done that he presented the report about Mono to the whole school so that everyone could learn about it." Dean said.

"Keep an eye on how you feel, Aly, and if you start to feel sick, you let one of us know, and we'll take you to get tested." Dad said. He covered my hand with his and squeezed it. "I'm sorry to hear about your friend."

"Thanks, Dad." It didn't hit me until I was in my room hunched over my math homework that Marc being sick meant that we weren't going to be able to go to the movies, or do anything together. If he had to stay home from school for a month he probably wouldn't be allowed to go anywhere. I wondered if he'd be able to have visitors. Maybe I could convince my dad to let me visit with him after he came home from the hospital. At least I'd be able to see him. I'd have to ask Jenny in the morning.

There was a huge banner across the front hallway when I walked into school the next morning, it said, "Help Our Friend Marc!" I walked up to the table underneath the banner where there was a small crowd of people listening to a couple of guys behind the table.

"-gonna be home for at least a month after he gets outta the hospital." A blonde guy said. "We want to make a book with get well messages, so take a piece of paper and write something and bring it back." A couple of girls picked up some brightly colored pieces of paper that were strewn across the table, and then walked away.

I stepped up to the table. "Do they know when he's going to be allowed to go home?"

The blonde guy-I recognized him as one of the school jocks- shook his head. "He's got elevated white blood cells right now 'cause his spleen is enlarged, it's normal with Mono, but they don't know how long it's gonna last. You're, uh, your name is Aly, right?"

I nodded.

He picked up a sheet of light blue paper. "We're putting together a book of messages and stuff, so if you want to write him a letter or draw something, we'll put it in."

"Thanks." I took the paper as the bell rang.

During lunch, I drew a music staff across the top and bottom of the paper and added the notes of one of the pieces that the choir liked to sing. I wrote, "Dear Marc, I hope you get better soon-choir isn't the same without you! I hope we'll get to see the end of the movie someday and find out what happens to the hero and his love interest! Feel better!" I drew a heart and then signed my name.

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

"I got most of my make-up work done, so I can start memorizing the gun diagram." I said at dinner Friday night. "And Marc's white cell count is better, so the doctor is hoping that he'll only have to stay at the hospital for another couple of days!"

"That's great, Aly." Sam said. "We can work on some more sparring this weekend if you want."

Dean had been uncharacteristically quiet when he had picked me up from school earlier. Now he glanced at me, and then said casually, "So I was at Paulsen's Bar last night playing pool and I ended up in a game with some locals."

"Win any money?" Dad asked.

"I wasn't playing for money, these were college kids, they never have any cash. Anyway, one of them starts talking about how his sister had had a sleepover last month, and the girls got out a Ouija board and started messing around with it, and he was laughing because his sister's been freaked out ever since, she still sleeps with a night light and actually went out and bought a rosary." He scoffed.

I swallowed nervously and put my fork down.

"Is it something we need to check out?" Dad asked, taking a swallow of beer.

"No, I don't think so." Dean said. "His sister's name is Kaylee McIntire." He was watching me intently.

Sam glanced at me. "Isn't that the girl whose house you went to?"

"Is there something you want to tell us, Aly?" Dean asked me slowly.

Dad looked at me, realization dawning on his face. "Was this the sleepover you went to with your friend Jenny?"

Kaylee lived on the same street as Jenny and they had grown up together, although Kaylee went to a different school. Kaylee didn't have a lot of friends and Jenny had asked me to go to her slumber party even though I had never met Kaylee before.

"Uh—yeah." I looked down at my plate.

"Dammit, Alyson!" Dad exclaimed. "You know that Ouija boards are not toys!"

"I told them that, Dad, but they wouldn't listen!" I said nervously.

"Well then you should have called me to come pick you up!" Dad's voice got louder.

"Dad-"

"And you didn't think to tell me about it when you got home? Do you realize how dangerous that was?"

"It wasn't a big deal!" I protested.

Dad glared at me. "So what happened that scared this girl so badly?"

"Okay, so um, Lauren had brought a bunch of nail polish to the sleepover, because her mom works at a salon, and we were all painting each other's nails-" I started.

"Skip to the relevant part," Dean moved his finger in a circle.

"It will be relevant in a minute, just hold your horses!" I glared at Dean. "While we were doing that, someone brought up an urban legend about a house in the area that's supposedly haunted. Then they started talking about scary movies, and a couple girls wanted to watch one. I didn't want to and I tried to convince them not to. Then Kaylee said she had something better than a scary movie." I swallowed. Thinking back now to how things had gone, I was realizing that I was probably going to be in trouble.

Dad folded his arms on the table, watching me intently.

"She brought out this Ouija board and said she had found it in the attic and it was really old. I told them we shouldn't play with it and that it was dangerous, but a couple of them laughed at me." I bit my lip, remembering how it had hurt my feelings. Lauren had actually called me a child. "One of the other girls, who is religious, said that she didn't want to do it either because her mom said that Ouija boards are evil and that if her mom found out she'd have to do penance. She actually sat on the sofa while we were doing it."

Sam raised his eyebrows. "So someone else chose not to be involved, but you did, even though you know how potentially dangerous it can be? I'm surprised at you, Aly."

I couldn't explain to him how it felt to be included by the girls, since I had spent much of my life feeling excluded and left behind by my family since they were hunters and I wasn't good enough to join them. "M' sorry." I mumbled, looking down as shame welled up.

"Peer pressure can be a helluva thing," Dean said. "So then what happened?"

"We waited until midnight and Kaylee went and got some candles and lit them. We sat in a circle on the floor and one of the girls made a big show about asking if any spirits wanted to communicate."

"Oh, my God!" Dean rolled his eyes.

"She likes to watch those ghost hunting shows, so she knew what to say. We put our hands on the planchette and it didn't move for a couple minutes. Then it started moving really slow. It spelled out 'I am here'. A couple of us got freaked out and pulled away, but Lauren convinced us to put our hands back on it. So we did. Then Haley asked if there was someone in the room they wanted to talk to, and-" I swallowed nervously as my throat went dry. "It spelled out A-L-I." I thought back to how freaked out it had made me at first.

Dad and my brothers looked surprised.

"What th-why the hell didn't you tell us about this?" Dean snapped.

"Because, Dean, it felt fake! I swear, they were pushing the planchette around, just to bug me, because I hadn't wanted to do it. Lauren said I was too immature to handle it. I got freaked out again and got up from the circle and wouldn't sit back down again." I glanced at Dad. His brows were down and his jaw was set.

"Th-then Haley asked what the ghost's name was, and it spelled A-Z-A, and then Mariah turned the lights on and startled everyone, and she was crying because she has a grandfather whose name was Asa. She's the religious one and she said that it was evil and that it was the devil pretending to be her grandfather. That made them stop." I looked at them, and they were all looking at each other with shocked looks on their faces. "But it felt-weird after that."

"What do you mean, weird?" Sam asked.

"Like, I don't know, I had this uneasy feeling. Jenny and Haley blew out the candles and Mariah got out her rosary and started praying out loud and she kept it up for a while until Lauren told her to shut up, that ghosts didn't care about stuff like that-"

Dad stood up suddenly, his chair scraping across the floor. His face was red with anger as he pointed at me. "I cannot believe this." He said in a hard voice. "I have told you many times that divination tools are not to be fooled with, and you play around with one and then lie about it!"

"I didn't lie!" I objected.

"It was a lie of omission!" Dad shouted. "What have we been talking about these past couple of weeks, you not sneaking around, not lying, and come to find out you still were! When is this going to stop?"

"Dad, I'm sor-"

"Save it." He snapped, leaving the room. In a moment he was back holding something- his silver flask. He uncapped it and held it out to me. "Drink."

The flask was cool and heavy in my hands. "What-what is it?"

"Drink it." He insisted.

I took a sip- it was water that had a flat, metallic taste to it. He said, "Christo," as I swallowed.

"What does that mean?"

"Recite the Exorcism Prayer." Dad took the flask back and screwed the cap back on.

All three of them watched me as I recited the prayer from memory. When I finished, I asked, "What's going on?"

Dad set the flask on the table, but he didn't sit down. "What's going on, Alyson, is that you may have inadvertently drawn attention to yourself and to this family. Using a Ouija board without proper protection is basically like raising a beacon for spirits or demons to come in and mess with you, so I wanted to check you out and make sure you weren't under any demonic influence."

"Demonic influence?" I squeaked.

"Anything else happen? Electrical equipment acting up, funky smells-" Dean raised his eyebrows.

"Well, the lights all started flickering, but Kaylee said that there's a tree branch that leans on the power line near their house and they have brown-outs a lot. And the clock on the VCR started to act funny but she said it's old."

All three of them did the 'talking without words' thing, and then Dad said, "I've only told you a little bit about demons, because when you were younger you got scared when you learned about them. But now, you need to know. What you did- messing around with a Ouija board- was unsafe for you and your friends. You all opened yourselves up to inviting a spirit into your life, or a demon- and we can't know what, if anything, was trying to come through. And yes, sometimes a demon or spirit will use a divination tool to hitch a ride on an unsuspecting person. That's how some possessions start."

My mouth went dry. "Possession?"

Dad nodded. "That's why I checked you out- you're clear. However, what you told me is concerning, because-" he sighed. "The thing that killed your mother was a demon, Alyson, a powerful demon called Azazael. And that may have been him trying to speak to you."

I felt goosebumps just then. "Oh my gosh, that's so scary!" Tears came to my eyes. "I'm so sorry!"

Dad grabbed the back of his chair. "If you had told me right after it happened, we could have checked things out and tried to ascertain if it was actually Azazael, or another demon or a spirit. But it's too late to do that now, and we'll just have to take more precautions than we already are. That is why I have told you in the past to stay away from divination tools. And why you're not supposed to keep things like this from me. And why you're in trouble for it!" Dad growled the last part, glaring at me again.

"But Dad, I-I didn't-"

He waved his hand. "I don't want to hear any more excuses, Alyson. Go to your room. I'll be in to deal with you shortly."

I stood up, looking at my brothers, but they still had identical looks of shock on their faces. I hurried to my room and paced the floor nervously. Dad was pissed- I don't think I'd seen him this upset in a long time. And he was that pissed at me. My ass was grass. Why the hell had I not come clean when it all happened? Because I hadn't wanted a lecture about the same old stuff, "We hunt the things in the shadows and you know how dangerous it is, blah blah blah." I hadn't taken any of it seriously. And now I was in big trouble because of it. What if the demon had been tracking me since the slumber party, what if the Ouija board really had attracted it here?

I broke down in tears and sat down on my bed to cry. After a few minutes, I calmed down and tried to do some homework, but I could barely concentrate.

Finally there was a rap on my door.

"Come in," I called nervously, standing up.

Dad strode into the room, closing the door hard behind him, and came over to me.

"I-I"m sorry, Dad." I said meekly.

"I don't want to hear it." His voice was hard. "I am tired of this, you hiding things and not being truthful, and it stops now." He folded his arms. "You have lied and put yourself-and his family-in serious danger. Is there anything else you've lied about recently? Any other little lies of omission? Do you have a tarot deck in your backpack that you've been sneaking around? Did you cheat on a test recently?"

Should I tell him about skipping class? That was a lie of omission, and it was something I wasn't supposed to do, and it would get me in trouble, but I was already in a lot of trouble already. "No, I didn't cheat, I don't have anything like that!" I took a deep breath. "Um, well, I-on the day that Marc kissed me, he, um, we had gone- he asked if I wanted to cut class, and we went to this one stairwell and just were talking and stuff, and that's when he kissed me."

Dad pinched the bridge of his nose briefly. "You cut class. To go talk to a boy and then kiss him." He closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. When he opened them, his eyes were dark with anger. "And you didn't stop to think about what could have happened if you'd gotten caught?" His voice deepened.

"Well, we did. Ms. Brown caught us, the choir teacher. She told us not to do it again and wrote us hall passes, so we didn't get in trouble." I folded my hands together. "I-I won't do it again, Dad, I swear."

"You're damn right you won't." He unbuckled his belt. My stomach twisted at the sound of the leather sliding against denim as he pulled it out of the loops.

"Please, Dad, I'm really really sorry, please-"

"NO." He waved his hand. "You will face the consequences of your bad decisions without all the whining and pleading." He tossed the belt onto the bed and then sat down. "Let's get this over with."

I took a step back, wringing my hands. "Dad, please, can't we talk about-I mean, I'm really sorry, and I'll never do-"

"Enough. Get over here." Dad beckoned to me.

Tears came to my eyes as I moved over to stand next to his right thigh. I took a deep breath and lowered myself down, but he stopped me to pop the button on my jeans. He took my arm and guided me the rest of the way over, and then pulled my jeans and panties down to my knees once I was situated across his lap.

I whimpered as he pushed the hem of my shirt up-starting on the bare was going to suck! He put his arm across my lower back, and then the first swat fell. I burst into tears, grabbing the blanket under my torso so that I didn't try to reach back. His hand descended over and over, warming every inch of skin up on my behind. When he reached the under curve he started again at the top, the spanks continuing to fall at a steady pace. I couldn't help it, I started to squirm as the pain built, and I sobbed, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

He concentrated on the under curve, landing swat after blistering swat on that area where butt turns into thigh, and I tried to push up with my feet, but that only served to make my butt a better target. I sobbed aloud as the spanking continued, my butt starting to feel like it was on fire. He stopped to adjust me over his lap, moving his right leg so that my rear was a little higher up, and then he leaned across me. I heard the buckle clank as he picked up his belt.

"Please, Daddy, I'm sorry!" I panicked, trying to squirm off of his lap. He moved his leg over top of mine and wrapped his arm around my torso. "The next time you think about lying, about keeping something from me, about doing something dangerous, I want you to think about this. You think about my belt, and how you're going to end up here again."

"Yessir," I sniffled miserably.

My Dad had won a medal for sharpshooting in the military and was known for his excellent aim, and it didn't stop here. He landed every single stroke from the belt on the lower part of my bottom and where I sit, each blow right below the previous one, layering the stinging pain. I twisted the blanket in my hands and struggled against him each time the belt fell. I was a sobbing mess when he finally put the belt down. My jeans had been kicked off, so he pulled up my panties and helped me up onto his knee. He put his arms around me and held me, and I cried into his flannel chest. "All right, it's done." He murmured, rubbing my back.

After I had calmed, he lifted my chin so that I was looking at him. His intense dark eyes met mine. "From now on, if you lie to me, you'll get three nights of bedtime spankings with the hairbrush, Alyson. And if you do something dangerous, it'll be the belt. And if you pull a stunt like this where you've lied and done something dangerous, it'll be the hairbrush and the belt. I'm done messing around, young lady, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Daddy." I sobbed. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

He sighed. "You can have a few minutes to calm down and clean yourself up, but then you need to pack. We're leaving tonight."

"What do you mean? Do you have a hunt?" I wiped my face with my sleeve.

"No, I mean we're leaving here. I've been tracking signs of demonic activity in the area for a while, and the event at the slumber party tells me that there's been more happening than I realized. We're not safe here, so we're going to go stay at Bobby's until I can get a handle on things."

I stood up. "We're not gonna come back? What about choir? What about-what about my friend Jenny? And Marc?"

He picked up his belt and stood, threading it through the loops. "I'm sorry, Alyson, but we're not going to come back. That's how it has to be right now."

"That-that's not fair!" I started to cry again. "Can't I call Jenny and say good-bye, at least?"

He shook his head. "No, you can't. We have to leave right away, if we're being tracked we don't want to put out the alert that we're aware of them."

"I-I can't-this sucks!" I shouted, clenching my fists. "This isn't fair!"

"I know, sweetheart. But this is the hunting life. Take a few minutes and get yourself together." He left the room.

I threw myself down on the bed, sobbing. We were going to have to leave my friends, my school, my choir, the first boy who liked me! It wasn't fair, nothing was fair! I hated this life!

I don't know how long I laid there, but eventually there was a knock on my door. I didn't say anything, but the door opened anyway and Sam came in. "I'm here to help you pack. Dad said you were pretty upset."

I sat up, wincing at the pain in my bottom. "Yeah, because it sucks!"

"I know, Alybug, it does suck. There were times where we had to pick up and move suddenly and I was really upset, too. It's just-something that happens in this life sometimes." He walked over to the closet and got out my duffle. "C'mon, we've got to get moving. Dad wants to leave ASAP." He set the duffle on my dresser.

"I don't care." I threw myself down and crossed my arms. "I'm not packing. I'm not gonna go."

Sam turned to me, his eyes pleading. "I know you're upset, but you've got to do this. Look, it's not just because Dad wants you to have a crappy life. This is about our safety, Aly. Once we get to Bobby's and figure out what's been going on, I might be able to convince Dad to let you call your friends, you can check up on Marc. Okay?" He smiled.

"Okay." I stood up and came over to him. "Thanks, Sammy."

I had thought that Dean was going to scold me when we got on the road, but he was silent as we drove. After we'd been on the road for a while, he put In Through the Out Door in the tape deck.

I sat in the back, curled up and miserable. My rear end was sore and my heart was broken. A boy liked me, I had had my first kiss, and he had asked me out, and it was all over now. I stared out the window, not paying attention to anything.

Dean glanced over at Sam. "I need some caffeine, and I want to top up the tank. Anyone else need anything?"

"I need to use the bathroom." I said.

He pulled into a Gas-n-Sip and stopped at a pump."You fill 'er up, Sammy, I'll take Aly in to go the restroom. Want anything?" Dean asked, handing the keys to Sam.

"No, I'm good." Sam got out of the car.

Dean walked back to the bathrooms with me. "I'll wait right here for you." He told me.

I went in and did my business, wincing as my sore butt met the hard toilet seat.

When I came out, Dean put his arm around my shoulders. "You want a drink?"

We walked over to the wall where the cold drinks were kept. He grabbed a couple bottles of Coke out of the refrigerated case. "For the road."

"I'm in the mood for an iced tea." I said, and I took the kind I liked, sweetened with lemon, in a glass bottle.

We walked up one of the aisles full of junk food and Dean said, "Let me buy you a chocolate bar. What kind do you want?" We stopped and turned to the shelves, perusing the candy.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two people appear at the end of the aisle.

"Fancy meeting you here." Said a voice. We both turned.

Two men stood there- a short blonde man wearing a faded denim jacket and a taller, thinner man with brown hair, wearing a dark jacket.

"Not sure who you're talkin' to." Dean said easily. "I've never seen either of you before in my life, so if you'll excuse us-"

"We're your biggest fans, Dean Winchester." The blonde man smirked.

I got goosebumps all over my body just then- both men had odd looking smiles on their faces.

"Well, that's great, but I'm sorta on a timetable here, gotta get back on the road, so you guys need to beat it." Dean's voice had become that deep hunter's growl.

"Oh, I don't think so." Said the taller man. They both blinked, and their eyes had turned completely black!

I gasped as Dean stepped in front of me, pushing me back. "Stay behind me," He muttered, then he said loudly, "Get the fuck away from us, my brother's right outside."

They walked toward us. "Well, that doesn't matter. We've got an illusion going that makes it look like nothing is happening in here." The taller man said.

Dean reached behind him and pulled out a gun, firing it at the man. The sound of it going off was so loud it made my ears ring.

The taller man jerked as the bullet entered his chest, but he didn't stop walking. They both laughed and said, "That's not going to bother either of us."

The taller man raised his hand and flicked his wrist.

Dean flew backwards down the aisle and crashed into the glass door, the gun falling out of his hand and skittering across the floor. His body slowly moved up against the wall until his feet were dangling off the floor. "Aly-" He choked out. "Aly, run."

"Dean!" I cried out. The men were still walking slowly, so I ran toward Dean, but then I dodged to the right and ran up the next aisle. I had reached the end when suddenly the blonde man was right in front of me. "Boo." He said with a grin.

I was near the front of the store, through the glass doors I could see Sam leaning on the Impala, facing away.

I lifted the bottle of iced tea and threw it as hard as I could at the front door. The glass bottle hit the glass door, the bottle breaking with a loud crash. A huge crack appeared in the glass. Outside, I saw Sam turn around, his eyes widening as he looked into the store.

Hands grabbed my arms from behind and I screamed. I fought, trying to remember what my brothers had taught me about sparring, but my mind was blank.

"Get-your fucking- hands-off her!" I heard Dean choke out from behind me.

Sam was pulling on the doors of the store but they didn't open. I saw him banging on the glass, a panicked look on his face.

I felt myself being dragged backward, and then my vision went black.