AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to Happygoddess2003 for allowing me to bounce ideas off of you for this chapter and the previous one- you've been a big help!

"Charlie, wake up." I felt a hand rubbing my back. I rolled onto my side and opened my eyes. Dean was leaning over the bed.

"You need to get up and get dressed, we're going out today."

I put my arms up and stretched. "What are we doing?"

"We're going to go over to the other site, and Sam is going to do some research at the local library, and you're going to go with him."

I sat up. "But I want to go with you!"

"I'm going to be with Bobby, and we'll be talking to police and doing things like that, so you can't go with me."

"Pleeease? I can sit in the lobby and wait for you! I sat in the lobby and waited for Mom at her appointments all the time."

Dean shook his head. "No, Charlie. You going with Sam is the better option."

"No fair!" I folded my arms and pouted.

He reached out and tapped my nose. "That face isn't going to work on me, kiddo." he chuckled. "Get up and get dressed. Sam's on his way back with breakfast."

I sighed and got out of bed. I dug around in my suitcase and got out a pair of jean shorts and a t-shirt that had a picture of a dragon on it.

Uncle Sam came in with a bag and drinks, and I went over to the table and sat down. He passed me a breakfast sandwich and a carton of orange juice.

"Can I have some of your coffee?" I asked Dean.

"Nope." Dean said.

"Don't even ask." Uncle Sam said as I looked at him hopefully, "You shouldn't be drinking coffee."

"Aww, I like coffee!" I whined.

"You probably like the kind of coffee that has all the sugar and flavoring, don't you? That's not real coffee." Dean scoffed.

"Yeah, caramel mocha is the best!" I told him.

He rolled his eyes. "The best is just a cup of black coffee."

"Yuck!" I wrinkled my nose.

Uncle Sam looked at my shirt. "No Hello Kitty today?"

"Dragons are cool too!" I said.

After I ate, I got my brush so that Uncle Sam could brush the knots out of my hair. It was kinda becoming a routine in the morning with him.

Dean got dressed in his suit and went with Uncle Bobby, and Sam drove us in the Impala.

The library that we went to was a huge old building with a couple floors and rooms with display cases of historical artifacts and stuff like that. Besides library books they had things like floor plans for local buildings and other documents.

I had brought my 3DS in my Hello Kitty purse and my drawing supplies.

"Can I go look at the kid's books?" I asked Uncle Sam.

"No, I want you to stay here with me." he said, sitting down in front of a computer.

"But Mom would let me go to the kid's section by myself at our library!" I protested.

He turned to me. "Charlie, this is a huge library, that neither of us has been to before. I said no."

"But it's just over there-" I pointed.

"Don't argue with me, young lady. Would you like to sit in time out while we're here?" He looked at me, raising his eyebrows.

"No!" I said sourly.

He leaned towards me. "Watch. The attitude." he said firmly.

I sighed and opened my purse, pulling out my 3DS. I started playing a game.

"Turn the volume down, please." Uncle Sam glanced at me.

I sighed and turned the volume down, then played for a while. I got annoyed with the game because I couldn't get to the next level, so I turned it off.

I looked over at Uncle Sam, he was writing something in a little notebook.

"Uncle Sam, can I go sit at a table and draw?" I asked him.

He looked up at the computer screen, frowning, and then looked down at the notebook and continued writing.

"Uncle Sam?" I repeated.

"Yeah, hold on..." he finished writing and then looked at me. "What?"

"Can I go sit at one of those tables and draw?" I turned and pointed at a group of tables that were a few feet away from the computer desks.

"Okay, sure." he said.

I got up and walked over to one of the tables and sat down, looking over at him.

He nodded at me, and I started to get out my sketch pad and pencils.

I looked through my sketch pad and worked on a drawing I had started a while ago, of a fairy, but then I couldn't get the wings right, so I turned to a blank page. I decided to try and draw an animal. I usually looked at a picture and tried to draw based on that. There were shelves across the way, with lots of big books of photographs. I glanced over at Uncle Sam, his head was down and he was writing again. I walked over to the shelves and bent down, finding a big book with photographs of animals that lived on the African Savannah. That would be cool to try and draw some of them, I thought, pulling the book off of the shelf.

I stood up and turned to go back to the table, and I bumped into Uncle Sam, who was right behind me.

"What are you doing?" I looked up at him. He didn't look happy.

"What are you doing?" he asked pointedly. "I didn't tell you you could get up and wander around."

"I didn't wander!" I protested. "I went right over here, it's just across from the table!"

"I looked over to check on you and you weren't there. You should have come and asked me."

"I have to ask you if I can do every little thing?" I said bitterly. "Do I have to ask if I can breathe?"

Uncle Sam leaned down. "That's enough." he said. "I've already talked to you once about attitude. If I have to talk to you again, you're going to get a consequence."

"It's not fair!" I said loudly.

A couple people looked up at us, and someone whispered, "SHH!"

"Go sit down." Uncle Sam told me.

"I was going to!" I exclaimed hotly.

"All right, that's it." Uncle Sam reached down and took my wrist. "You're in time out."

"But- but that's for little kids!" I protested loudly.

"No, it's not." he looked at me. "Stop complaining and come with me." He led me over to the table where my stuff was. He took the book out of my hands and put it on the table with my stuff, then he picked up the chair I had been sitting in and carried it over and put it next to the computer he was sitting at. He looked at me and pointed. "Sit." he said.

"Do I have to?" I whined.

"Yes." he said firmly. "Eight minutes."

I sat down, feeling embarrassed. I glanced over at a man sitting in a chair across from us, who was looking at me. Did he know I was in time out? Tears came to my eyes. I bent my head so that Uncle Sam wouldn't see them. This was stupid!

After a couple minutes, I wiped my eyes with my hands and sat up, swinging my feet. I looked around at everything to try and make the time pass.

Uncle Sam's watch chimed, and he pressed a button on it. He looked over at me.

"You can get up now. Go back over to the table and sit down. If you want to get up and get another book, come tell me first, please."

"Okay." I slid off the chair and stood up. "When can I go to the kid's section?"

"That depends on you. You behave yourself and I'll take you there later. If not, then you're going to be sitting here next to me for the rest of the day."

I sighed. "O-kay." I walked back over to the table and pulled the book over, looking through it to find something to draw. I settled on trying to draw an elephant, and worked on it for a while.

"That's really good." Uncle Sam said, leaning over my shoulder. "It's time to go get lunch, we're going to meet your Dad."

"Where are we going to eat?" I looked up at him.

"There's a diner a couple of blocks from here."

I put my drawing pad and pencils back in my bag and put it on my shoulder, then I grabbed my purse. I took Uncle Sam's hand as we walked out to the car.

When we got to the diner, Dean and Uncle Bobby were already in a booth. I ran over to it.

"Dean!" I said happily, climbing into the seat.

"Whoa, let me put my drink down." he said as I tried to hug him. He put his glass on the table and then hugged me.

I sat down next to him and he handed me a menu. "How was your morning?" he asked me, leaning over.

"Can I go with you?" I asked. "Uncle Sam's being mean." I said quietly.

"Oh?" Dean looked up at Uncle Sam, who was sitting across from me.

Uncle Sam was concentrating on the menu, but when he felt Dean's eyes on him, he looked up.

"What?" he said.

"Uncle Sam is being mean?" Dean asked.

Uncle Sam frowned. "No... why do you say that?"

Dean looked down at me. "Charlie? Want to explain what you meant?"

I shrank down in my seat, feeling my face get hot with embarrassment. "He put me in time out!" I exclaimed.

"And why did I put you in time out?" Uncle Sam asked me pointedly.

"Uh- 'cause I got up from the table and he couldn't see me." I looked up at Dean. "Its not fair! Why do I have to ask about every little thing!"

"It's not just that, you were giving me major attitude too." Uncle Sam said.

"Oh really?" Dean asked, raising his eyebrow as he looked at me.

I shrank down further. At this rate I was going to end up under the table.

"Charlie, sit up and look at me." Dean said firmly.

I slowly sat up and then looked up at his face. "We just had another talk about your behavior last night, didn't we?"

"Yeah." I said sourly.

"Excuse me?" Dean said sternly.

"What?" I snapped.

"How are you supposed to answer me?"

I sighed. "Yes, Dean." I rolled my eyes.

He took my chin in his hand and made me look at him. "You want to try that again, with about 95 percent less attitude?" His voice was even more stern.

"Yes, Dean." I said again.

He let go of me, but still held my eyes with his. "I think that Uncle Sam did the right thing, especially if you were acting this way with him. And you need to remember that you can't just do what you want, and that means you can't wander around a public place on your own."

"I wasn't wandering around!" I said loudly, getting angry. "I just went across the room a little ways to look at books!"

"But I looked up and I couldn't see you." U ncle Sam said. "And I told you to stay at that table."

"No you didn't, you just said sit down!"

He gave me a look. "Really? You're going to argue semantics?"

"What does that mean?" I snapped.

"You're going to argue about the words that I used? Me telling you to sit down means that I'm also telling you to stay there."

"No it doesn't." I said stubbornly.

"Fine." Dean said. "Then we'll start telling you every little thing you can and can't do. Is that what you want?"

"Noooo!" I folded my arms. "This is SO not fair!"

"Little girl, you need to realize that you can't just do what you want anymore." Dean's face softened. "You're not on your own any more, there are people who care about you and are concerned about your safety. That's why we make these rules."

I glared up at him. "My mom cared about me!"

"Yes, but she was too sick to take care of you properly. And that's what we're doing, taking care of you the right way."

"No, you just want to give me lots and lots of rules and make it so that I can't do anything fun!" I leaned over and pushed at him, and then turned to get up out of the booth. Tears had come to my eyes.

I felt Dean's hand on my arm. "You're not going anywhere," he said in a hard voice.

"Let go!" I turned back to him. "You're mean! You and Uncle Sam are just mean! My mom did care about me, you don't! I wish I was back with her!" And then I burst into tears. I felt embarrassed again, and covered my face with my hands.

I felt hands on my arms, pulling me, and I knew Dean was pulling me to sit in his lap.

"I wasn't saying that your mom didn't care about you." he said quietly."I know she loved you a lot. But she was too sick to take care of you, for quite a while. That's why she called me, so that you would have someone to take care of you the right way when she was gone."

"It's not faaaaairr!" I wailed." Why did she have to-have to-" I couldn't say the words. I buried my head in Dean's chest and bawled. He hugged me tightly and let me cry.

"Well, this has been interesting." I heard Uncle Bobby say. "It's certainly different than when y'all were kids."

"Well, it's a different situation." Uncle Sam said.

"Y'all ready to order?" I heard a woman ask.

"No, we need a couple more minutes." Uncle Sam said.

Dean shifted in the booth and I felt him wiping my face with a napkin.

"Come on, sweetheart." he said. "Are you hungry? Let's look at the menu."

"I don't care." I said hoarsely.

"You need to eat something."

"Do you want a grilled cheese sandwich?" I heard Uncle Sam ask. "They have that on the menu."

"Okay." I said.

"You want grilled cheese with tomato soup?" Dean asked, looking down at me.

"Uh-huh." I put my arms around him, not wanting to get up just yet.

The waitress came back and they ordered, and Dean told her what I wanted. I sat on his lap with my eyes closed, with my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

When the food came, I sat next to him and ate quietly, looking down at my plate. I felt embarrassed for crying again.

Dean's phone rang as we were finishing up. "Hey, Dad." he said. "Oh, you are? Great. We're at the Ramada Inn, off of route 110. You know where- oh, okay. Room 208. Bobby's a few doors down from us. Yes, sir. Talk to you then." He hung up and look at Uncle Sam.

"Dad should be here by this evening. He'll call when he gets closer."

"Okay." Uncle Sam said. "We ready to get back to work?"

We got out of the booth, and I took Dean's hand as we walked to the front door.

He leaned down to hug me and said, "Behave yourself."

"I will." I said. Uncle Sam opened the back door of the Impala for me.

"We'll see you back at the hotel." Dean said.

We drove back to the library, and I brought in my drawing bag and my purse again. I walked next to Uncle Sam, and he surprised me by walking over to the kid's area first.

"I thought you might have a better time if we got you some books to look at while I'm working." he told me. "I should have done that in the first place."

He walked behind me as I looked through the shelves. I grabbed a couple of collections of fairy tales and then turned to him. "I'm good." I said.

He led me back over to the table I had been sitting at before. He picked up one of the books when I put them on the table. "You like to read fairy tales?"

"Yeah." I said. "And myths and legends, too. They're cool."

He ruffled my hair. "I'm going to be right over there, If you need to get something, come let me know."

"Okay, Uncle Sam." I sat down and started reading.

It didn't seem like I was reading for a long time, but then I was almost at the end of the book, and Uncle Sam was standing in front of me, saying, "I'm done here, you ready to go?"

We walked back to the kids' section and I put the books back on the shelf, and then we drove to the hotel. Dean and Uncle Bobby were in our room.

"Can I go play on the playground?" I asked, hanging on to Dean's arm. "Pleeease? I've been sitting in a library all day!"

"Well, we need to talk about what we found." Dean said.

"Let her go, I'll bring my laptop outside and we can talk off to the side." Uncle Sam said.

"All right." Dean agreed.

"Yay!" I said. I ran to the door and opened it, and then ran outside.

"Hey!" Dean followed me and pulled me back towards him, swatting my butt. "You're not supposed to leave the room without an adult!" he scolded, frowning at me.

"I thought you were right behind me!" I whined.

"Well, next time, you'd better check, and not just run ahead. Got it?"

"Yes, Dean." I sighed. He took my hand and we crossed the parking lot to the playground.

Dean and Uncle Bobby stood at the bench and Uncle Sam sat on the bench with his laptop in his lap. They talked for a long time, and then Dean got a phone call. He walked over to me when he was finished talking.

"We're going to go get some dinner, and meet up with my dad." he told me. "You hungry?"

I slowed the swing down. "I guess." I said. I was hungry, but the thought of meeting Dean's dad made me feel nervous and not hungry.

Uncle Sam put his laptop back in the hotel room, and then we got into the car and drove to a restaurant. The waitress put us in a booth, with Uncle Sam facing the door, opposite me and Dean. They chatted while we waited for the waitress to bring our drinks.

"Here he is." Uncle Sam said, and he slid out of the booth and stood up as a man came walking over. He was about as tall as Dean, but broader, with dark hair and eyes. Dean got up too and both he and Uncle Sam hugged the man and patted each other's backs like men do.

Then Dean turned to me and said, "Dad, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Charlotte." He beckoned me to him and I slid over and got out of the booth and stood next to him. "Charlie, this is your grandfather, John Winchester. "

When Dean said 'grandfather', his father chuckled, but it was an uncomfortable sound, and he wasn't smiling.

I held my hand out and said, "Nice to meet you.", because I knew that's what you say when you meet new people. He took my hand and shook it.

When our hands touched I felt a flash of that sense of 'knowing' that I used to get. I looked up at him and I knew that he had a deep sadness inside of him because of something bad that had happened. I blinked and let go of his hand, and it was gone. He was looking down at me, and I saw a slight frown cross his face.

"Nice to meet you too." he said, still looking at me. "It's...Charlotte, you said?" he asked Dean. His voice was deep too, but in a different way than Dean's.

"Yeah, but she goes by Charlie." Dean told him. We all sat back down in the booth.

John raised his eyebrows. "Charlie?"

"I like it better." I said. "The kids at school called me Charlotte Spider after the teacher read Charlotte's Web."

"I see."

The waitress brought our drinks and handed out menus. I opened mine and started looking at it. Dean leaned over to me and put his arm along the back of the booth.

"What looks good, kiddo?" he asked me. "What are you in the mood for?"

"I don't know." I said. "I know what you're getting though!" I looked up at him and smiled. "Cheeseburger with fries, right?"

He smiled back at me. "You already know me so well." he said.

"Can I get the spaghetti with meatballs?" I asked.

"Sure," he said. "Does that come with a vegetable?"

"A salad." I pointed to the menu.

"Good." he looked over at Uncle Sam. "Gotta make sure you get some vegetables or Uncle Sam will be all over me."

"I don't want your kid to follow in your footsteps of eating crappy food." Uncle Sam retorted. "Your cholesterol's probably through the roof."

"So what's the news with the second attack?" John asked, looking at Uncle Sam and then Dean.

"We're still working on it." Dean said slowly.

"Were there any survivors?"

"Uh, no, not of this attack." Dean looked down at the table.

"And you've interviewed the other surviving witnesses, more than once? Made sure their accounts didn't change? Gotten as many details as possible?"

"Well, Dad, there was only one..." Dean said.

John frowned. "What, Dean? I'm not understanding this head motion-" He looked over at me.

"Charlie's the only one." Dean said hesitantly.

"The only one what? Spit it out, Dean!" John sounded annoyed.

Dean sighed. "I already explained it to you. Charlie was there when it happened- she's the only witness. We don't talk about it because it upsets her."

"Wait, your - you mean it was her that was there when this thing attacked the camp?" John sounded shocked. "And it was her mother who- oh, Jesus! I misunderstood what you told me."

I tried to hold in the tears, because I didn't want to cry in front of this man who seemed like he was in a bad mood, but I couldn't help it. I put my head down and put my hand up to my eyes as the tears started.

"Charlie-" I heard Dean say. "Charlie, come here." I felt his hands on my arms, pulling me out of the booth, and he picked me up and carried me to the back of the diner, to the hallway where the bathrooms were. I put my arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Charlie." Dean said, rubbing my back. "I thought he knew what happened, and I didn't think he was going to talk about it here."

"He doesn't like me." I sobbed.

"What makes you say that?" Dean asked.

"I can just tell."

"I don't think that's true. If he seems a little bit grumpy, that's kinda the way he is sometimes. Don't take it personally, okay?"

"Okay, Dean." I said. He wiped my cheeks with his thumb. "You want to go wash your face?" he asked me, setting me down.

"Okay." I said. I went into the women's bathroom and splashed water on my face and blew my nose.

I held Dean's hand as we walked back out to the booth. As I started to get into the booth, John reached out and put his hand on top of my hand on the table.

"Charlotte- Charlie, I'm sorry." he said sincerely. He looked sheepish. "I shouldn't have said anything in front of you, I didn't realize...I'm sorry, kiddo." He sounded like Dean when he called me kiddo.

I glanced up at him. " 'S okay." I mumbled. He gave my hand a little squeeze and let go. I slid over into the booth and looked at Uncle Sam. He had an angry look on his face, but when he saw me looking at him, he smiled at me. He turned my paper placemat over and said, "Want to play tic-tac-toe?"

"Sure." I said, picking up a crayon. He drew the board and said, "Do you want to be X or O?"

"I'll be X." I said. "You go first."

I glanced up, and John was watching me and Uncle Sam.

The waitress came over just then, and we ordered our food, then Uncle Sam and I continued playing.

"I visited with Jim for a few days, he sends his regards." John said. "Said he'd like to talk to you, Dean. You should give him a call."

"Yes sir." Dean said.

"We worked on a couple of cases together." John said. "Got some new information I'll share with you later."

The waitress brought salads and set them in front of me and Uncle Sam.

"Charlie knows that the cool kids eat salad." Uncle Sam said, grinning at me.

Dean made a scoffing noise.

"It's good to see she's eating that." John said. "I always had to fight you to get you to eat your vegetables, Dean."

"What can I say, I've always been a carnivore." Dean said.

I sat quietly while they chatted about people that they knew. While we ate, I looked up every so often and a couple times John was watching at me. It made me feel a little uneasy, so I just kept my head down and looked at the table.

When I finished, I took out my 3DS. I was stuck on this one level of a game, and I hadn't been able to get past it the last couple of times I had played. It was making me frustrated.

"Dammit to all hell." I muttered as the character I was playing died again.

"What did you say?" Dean turned to me.

I looked up. All three of them were staring at me. Uncle Sam's eyebrows were raised.

"Uh-" I said, blushing. Mom said that under her breath a lot, and I had kinda picked up on it without realizing it. She never seemed to notice when I said stuff like that either.

"I better not hear you using language like that ever again, you hear me?" Dean said sternly.

"I—uh, okay. I mean yes, Dad." I stumbled over my words.

John chuckled after a long moment of silence.

"Dean, I think that's the first time I've ever heard you sound so...so parental!" He grinned at Dean, and I noticed he had dimples like Uncle Sam, but his were bigger.

"Yeah, well, I'm learning." Dean said.

"Are we ready to go?" Uncle Sam asked.

When we got back to the hotel room, Dean asked, "Are you okay, Charlie? You were quiet during dinner."

"He doesn't like me." I said. "He kept looking at me."

"He's a little disconcerted." Uncle Sam said.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"He's freaked out by the idea of being a grandfather and he doesn't know how to deal with a little girl." Dean explained.

Sam laughed. "That's pretty much it. He'll come around."

I put my Hello Kitty nightshirt on and brushed my teeth, then I went and got MaryBear out from under my covers. I felt like holding her for some reason. I sat with Uncle Sam on the sofa and he read some more of the Harry Potter book to me.

There was a knock on the hotel room door, and Dean let Uncle Bobby and John into the room. They went over to the table and sat down and started talking together.

Uncle Sam finished reading the chapter to me, and we got up and walked over to my bed. I got under the covers, and I heard Dean say, "Hold that thought, Dad, I'll be right back."

Uncle Sam leaned down and gave me a hug and a kiss, and then Dean sat down on the bed.

"I got a call from the lawyer today, we have to go back tomorrow." he said.

"We do?"

"Yes, they want you there too. Something about a fund for the kids."

"Okay." I said. "I won't run in the hallway when we go."

He smiled at me. "I know you'll behave yourself." He hugged me, and kissed my forehead, and I laid down, putting MaryBear next to me.

"Good night, Dad." I said quietly. I still felt shy about calling him Dad sometimes.

"Good night, kiddo." Dean pulled the covers up, and then got up and went back to the table.