I woke up hearing a phone ringing. I heard a groaning sound next to me and opened my eyes.
I was curled up on the edge of Dean's bed, and he was in the process of sitting up on the other side.
"Yeah," he said in a hoarse voice. He chuckled humorlessly. "Yeah, rough night. I'm okay. What's up? Okay..." I felt the bed move as he stood up. "You did? That's great...did Bobby call you and tell you about—he did. Good. Well, let me talk to Sam, and then we can plan a time. He's not here, probably went to get breakfast. I'll call you back in a little while. Okay, yeah. Bye."
I heard the bathroom door close and sat up. Uncle Sam's bed was empty and I was alone in the room. I started to feel scared. In a couple minutes I heard the toilet flush and the sink running, and then the door opened and Dean came out. He saw me sitting up and walked over to the bed.
"Hey, sweetheart, how are you feeling?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. His eyes looked tired.
"I dunno." I mumbled. I didn't feel quite awake yet.
"Do you want to try to go back to sleep for a while?" he asked.
"Uh uh." I moved over on the bed so that I was next to him. "Don't leave."
He put his arm around me. "I'm not going anywhere right now." I leaned into his chest and he smoothed his hand over my hair.
"Your braids stayed in." he said. His phone beeped and he looked at the screen. "Sammy's on his way with breakfast, you hungry?"
"I dunno." I mumbled again, yawning.
"I think we should take it easy today," he told me. "You had a rough day yesterday."
I turned to him and put my arms around his middle, and he pulled me into his lap and hugged me.
"I miss my Mommy." I said. "I- I want her." I felt tears gathering in my eyes, and then sadness welled up in my chest. "I w-want my mommy, I want to—to be with h-her!" I burst out, and then I started to cry in loud, gulping sobs.
"Hey, whoa, whoa." Dean pulled back and looked down at me. "I know you miss her, but you can't—you can't be with her, I mean, you understand that, right?" His eyes moved back and forth, searching mine.
"Yes, but—but-if she hadn't left that tent she'd still be alive!"
He hugged me again. "No, you don't know that, Charlie. You can't say one way or the other what would have happened."
The door opened, and Uncle Sam came into the room. I heard paper rustling, and smelled coffee.
"What's going on? Is she okay?"
"She's sad," Dean said. He looked down at me. "You want to try and eat something?"
"Charlie, I got you pancakes. I discovered that the Pancake House does carry-out, and I got you chocolate chip pancakes." Uncle Sam told me.
I looked at him through my tears and tried to smile. "Th- thanks, Uncle S-sam." My chest hitched. I got up and Dean and I walked over to the table and the three of us sat down. Uncle Sam cut my pancakes up for me and then slid the container over in front of me. Then he slid a cup next to it.
I looked at him. "What's that?"
"I got a latte this morning, I need the extra caffeine. You can have some."
"Ooh!" I picked the cup up.
"Just a couple of sips!" he said.
Dean shook his head. "You two and your fancy coffee and your salad- am I living with a couple of hipsters?"
I set the cup down. "Thanks, Uncle Sam!" I smiled at him.
"I got a call from Bobby's people, they want to meet today. I have to call back and set up a time." Dean said.
"Can I go with you?" I asked hopefully.
Dean looked uncomfortable. "No, this is a grownup meeting about... your mom's estate."
"But I can wait in the lobby like before!"
He shook his head. "No, this is not the lawyers, it's...somewhere else." He looked at Uncle Sam.
"You'll stay here with me, Charlie," Uncle Sam said.
"But I don't want to stay with you! I want Daddy!" I looked at both of them. "I don't want him to leave!"
"Charlie, I have to go to this meeting. You're not going to be alone." Dean explained.
"It's all right," Uncle Sam said reassuringly.
"NO!" I got off of my chair and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door. As I was fumbling with the doorknob, it opened, and Dean pushed his way in. "You are not to lock the bathroom door ever again, you hear me?" he asked sternly, and I burst into tears.
"Dean!" I heard Uncle Sam admonish.
Dean picked me up and carried me back out to the room. He sat down at the table again and put me in his lap. "Sweetheart, it'll be okay," he said. "I shouldn't be gone long."
"What would you like to do today?" Uncle Sam asked.
"I don't know!" I grumped, wiping my eyes.
"I think we should all take things easy today." Dean said to Uncle Sam. "Because she was up so much last night."
"We all were," Uncle Sam chuckled, taking a drink of his latte.
I felt guilty then- I had kept them awake. "Sorry I kept waking you up." I muttered, ducking my head.
"No, it's okay." Dean rubbed my back. "We're not upset or anything. Are you going to eat any more?"
"Uh uh." I said.
"Get up, I need to make a phone call." Dean said. I got off of his lap and he took his phone out and then walked towards the door. I followed him, unsure of where he was going.
He turned to me. "No, Charlie, I need to have a private conversation. I'm just going to be out front for a couple of minutes." He opened the door and walked out, and I stood there for a moment, trying not to cry.
"Charlie, come here," Uncle Sam said. I turned and walked over to him.
"I'm here, you're not alone," he told me, putting his hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him, then I remembered. "You got me out of the bushes." I said. "You carried me to your car."
He smiled at me, "Yes, I did. Both Dean and I were there to help you, do you remember?"
I nodded, and leaned on his arm.
He moved it and put his arm around my shoulders. "Do you want to go out somewhere today? Or just stay here?"
I shrugged.
"Well, think about it." he said. He stood up and started to clean up the trash on the table.
Dean came back into the room.
"I'm going to meet with them in about 45 minutes," he told us. He got clothes out of his duffle, and went into the bathroom to change.
"Please can I go with you?" I asked him when he came out.
"No, Charlie, not this time." He sat on the edge of the bed to put his boots on.
I took his arm. "Please, Daddy!" I begged.
"Charlie. I said no. Now let go." he said with annoyance.
I let go of his arm and started to cry. He sighed and rubbed his face.
"Look, I know this is not the best time to leave you, but I've got to meet with these people. It's important. I won't be gone long at all, okay?" He turned to me and kissed my forehead, then stood up and wallked over to his dresser to get his keys. I got off of the bed and walked over to him, holding my arms up for a hug. He bent down and hugged me quickly.
"All right, I''ll see you." he said.
"Let's find something to watch," Uncle Sam said. I followed him over to the sofa, trying to stop crying, and sat next to him. He turned on the t.v., and found that one of the cooking shows that I like to watch was having a marathon.
"My Dad and Uncle Bobby may show up in a while." Uncle Sam said. "I'm going to go take a shower, all right?"
"Okay," I said. He got some clothes out of his duffle and went into the bathroom. A few minutes later, I heard a knock on the door. I figured it was probably John and Uncle Bobby, so I got up and walked over to open it.
I unlocked the door and opened it, and Aunt Michelle stood there.
"What- what are you doing here?" I asked. She leaned into the room, looking around. "Is your- father here?"
"Uh, no, he hadda go out-" I said.
She looked down at me, then she reached down and grabbed my wrist. "Come on." she said, dragging me out of the room.
"What- where are we going?" I asked her, feeling scared.
She walked us to her car, which was right in front of our room. She shoved me into the front seat and then got in quickly. The engine was already on, and she turned the wheel and the car squealed out of the parking lot fast.
"What are you doing?" I cried out. "Daddy didn't say that we were getting together today!" I turned back to watch out the window as the car sped away from the hotel.
"Oh, now it's 'Daddy'?" she asked in a hard voice.
I grabbed onto the door handle-it moved a little bit, but the door wouldn't open.
"Hey!" she shouted. "Stop that! You're not going anywhere!"
I looked at her, getting more scared. "Where are you taking me?"
"None of your business," she snapped.
"I don't want to be with you!" I whined.
"Well I want what's rightfully mine, and I'm going to get it!" she snarled. I turned towards the door again and put my hand on the handle.
She grabbed the back of my neck tightly and turned me towards her. She leaned down into my face. "Don't you touch that fucking door again or I'll throw you in the trunk!" she said in a low voice.
I started to cry. "Let me go!" Fear was twisting my stomach now. No one had ever talked to me like that or threatened me.
She let go of my neck and gave me a little shove. "Not until I get what I want," she said.
"No wonder Mommy didn't like you, you're mean!" I said.
I saw her hand coming at me, and it hit my face so hard that my head slammed into the window. I felt a sting in my cheek and put my hand up, gasping. When I took my hand away, there was blood on my fingers. I looked up at her, stunned.
She glanced at me and chuckled. "Oh, yeah, my ring tends to do that. Sorry."
I rubbed the side my head where it was now throbbing and tried not to cry.
"So 'Mommy' didn't like me, huh? What did she say about me? Huh?" She looked over at me as she drove. "Did she tell you how our parents always favored her in everything, that I got left out in the cold all the time, and they cut me out of the will and I didn't get a cent?"
"She said you were mean to her." I said quietly. "That you always wanted all the attention and that she had to take care of her mommy and daddy by herself when they got sick, that you walked away."
She slammed her hand on the steering wheel and I jumped. "That's such a bunch of lies! They shut me out! They refused everything I offered! And I was mean to her? Oh, that's just too funny!" She laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound.
"I- I want to be with my Daddy." I said timidly. "Please take me back."
"Hell no, kid," she said in a hard voice. "Not until I get some sort of agreement about the money. I want what should have been mine in the first place!"
"I can't do anything about that!" I protested. "I'm just a kid!"
"Yes, but your 'Daddy' can." she said. "He can talk to the judge and overturn everything."
"Please!" I exclaimed, starting to cry harder. "I just want to go back!"
"NO!" she shouted, and she slapped me again. "Shut UP, and stop CRYING!"
My cheek was throbbing and stinging now. I curled up in a little ball and tried to stop crying, afraid she would hit me again.
We pulled into the parking lot of another hotel, in front of a room where the door was open.
"What the fuck?" She said under her breath. She grabbed my wrist. "Come on!" she said. "And you, keep your damn mouth shut if you know what's good for you!"
She pulled me out of the car and stormed into the room. There was a man standing just inside the door, and two women wearing maid uniforms were going through the drawers and packing them into suitcases.
"What the hell is going on?" Aunt Michelle said in a loud voice.
The man turned. "I'm sorry, miss, your credit card has been rejected, and you have to leave. We couldn't get ahold of you, so I'm having the room packed up."
"What? That's impossible! My credit is exemplary!"
He shrugged. "I don't know, ma'am."
"You go call them and I want to talk to them!" she snapped. I noticed the man looking at me curiously. I looked down and realized that I was still wearing my nightgown, and that my feet were bare.
"Has she been staying here with you? I need to charge another person to the room if that's the case."
"No, she's just visiting." Aunt Michelle pulled me behind her, so that the man couldn't see me as well.
"You all need to leave." she said curtly.
"Ma'am, you'll need to be out of here in 30 minutes." he said.
"Fine, I will, just let me pack my things myself! Get out!" she shouted at the women. The man nodded at them and they scurried out, then after looking at us, the man left, closing the door behind him.
She walked over to the bed and pushed me. "Sit down and shut up." She let go of my arm and pulled out her cell phone, walking away from me. I stood there, unsure of what to do.
She started to dial her phone, and then there was a knock on the door.
She sighed and put her phone back in her pocket.
"Go to the bathroom and close the door," she said, walking towards the door. "Go!" she snapped over her shoulder.
She opened the door, and said, "Yes?"
"Michelle Tyler?" I heard a man say.
"Yes? What do you want?"
I peered around her. There were two policemen standing outside the door.
" I'm Officer Lewis, this is Officer Preston. We need for you to come to the station with us, we have some questions for you."
"About what?" she snapped.
"Your credit cards."
"Why do I need to come to the station? Why can't you ask me here?"
"Police procedure, ma'am." I could see Officer Lewis looking over her shoulder into the room. He saw me, and I saw him glance at the other officer.
"Ma'am, could we come in for a moment?"
She sighed, and stepped back. "Will we talk here then?"
"Uh, sure..." The policemen walked into the room and both of them looked at me.
"Who is this, ma'am?" Officer Lewis asked her.
"My niece, she's visiting." she told him. The officers glanced at each other, and it made me think of how Dean and Uncle Sam did their 'talking without speaking' thing.
Officer Lewis stepped towards me. "What's your name?"
"Uh-" I looked at Aunt Michelle, who had turned to me and was glaring at me.
"Why do you need to know that?" she snapped.
"Is that blood on your cheek?" He asked me. He looked at Officer Preston.
Officer Preston stepped towards Aunt Michelle. "Ma'am, step over here with me." He tried to get her to move over near the window, away from the door and me.
Officer Lewis bent down to look me in the eyes. "What's your name, sweetie?" he asked gently.
"Uh- Charl- Charlotte Winchester."
He straightened up. "How old are you?"
"Eight years old." I told him. He turned away from me and talked into the little radio on his shoulder. "Yes, I've got a caucasian female, juvenile, blonde hair, green eyes, about...46 inches tall... name of Charlotte Winchester." His radio crackled and then I heard talking, but I couldn't make out any words.
"Yes, in progress. Okay. Got it. 10-4."
He turned to Officer Preston and nodded.
Officer Preston took handcuffs off of his belt and said, "Ma'am, I'm placing you under arrest for the attemped kidnapping of a juvenile under the state code of 134-B."
"What? I didn't- I didn't kidnap her! This is ridiculous!" Aunt Michelle said. "She's visiting me!"
"Well, the call came in just as we pulled into the lot." Officer Lewis said. "She's just been reported as a missing person."
He looked at me. "I'm going to take you to the station, so that you can tell us what happened, and we'll get someone to look at your face. Come outside with me."
I followed him out. Officer Preston was walking Aunt Michelle to a car. A small crowd had gathered on the sidewalk.
"I just heard the Amber Alert!" said a woman. "Is that the kid?"
Officer Lewis led me to his car. He opened the back door and said, "Get in." He left the door open and walked around to his trunk, then he came back over to me. He wrapped a blanket around me and handed me a small brown teddy bear.
"We keep stuffed animals in our cars to give out to kids, to make them feel better," he said.
"Thank you." I said timidly.
He spoke into his shoulder radio again. "TF154 en route to the station. I have the juvenile with me."
We pulled into a police station, and Officer Lewis got out of the car quickly. I realized that there were no door handles on the inside of the car! He opened the door for me and I got out.
"Uh, hold on," he said. "I know there's broken glass in the parking lot." He bent down and picked me up, and carried me into the station. He set me down when we walked into the lobby.
We walked through a large room with lots of desks and phones and noise, down a hallway into a small room with a rickety metal table and a couple of chairs. There was a large mirror on one wall.
"Go ahead and have a seat." he said.
"Are you going to call my Daddy?" I asked.
"Yes, we are. We need to talk to you first and find out what happened, all right?"
He left the room, and then he and a female officer named Officer Novak came in with a pad of paper and a pencil.
They sat down across from me and looked at me.
"Why don't you start at the beginning? When did she take you?"
I started telling them what had happened, and then I had to explain about my Mom and what had happened to her, and why I was in a hotel, and about Dean. I sat in the chair and hugged the bear to me, shivering a little bit- it was cold in the room. Then after I told them everything and they wrote it all down, they asked me to tell it again and stopped me to ask questions almost every time I said something. I was tired of talking about it and saying the same things over and over. It felt like we had been in here for a long time. Then there was a knock on the door and it opened. A man in a suit poked his head in, looked around and saw us, and said, "Oh." He leaned out of the room. "In here," he called.
We heard voices coming down the hallway, and then the door swung open. Daddy and Uncle Sam and John stood behind another man in a suit.
"Daddy!" I said, getting up from the table. Dean walked around the table and grabbed me up in a hug. "Oh, baby girl, I was so scared," he said quietly, and I started to cry a little.
"What the hell is she doing in an interview room, like a suspect? She hasn't committed any crime!" John said angrily.
I saw the police man and woman glance at each other.
Uncle Sam came over and hugged me while Dean was holding me. "I'm so glad you're safe, Charlie." he said with relief.
John came over to us and acted like he was going to hug me, but then he saw my face. He took my face in his hands and examined my cheek.
"Why hasn't anyone treated this?" He let go of me and turned to the men standing in the doorway now. "This needs steri-strips at least, if not stitches! Has she even been examined yet? For God's sake, what kind of shitshow are you people running around here?" John put his hands on his hips and glowered at everyone.
"Dad," Sam said quietly.
"And did anyone offer her any food or drink? This is a little girl who's just been through a trauma, and you've got her in a cement room sitting on a cold metal chair!" John snapped.
Everyone straightened up, staring at the floor and shuffling their feet like they were little kids in trouble.
The man in the suit said, "I'm sorry, sir. I told my colleague to put a call in to the doctor on call. I'll go check on that."
"The, uh, family rooms were all being used. We had an incident earlier and there were several families here waiting to be interviewed. We had to bring her in here. I apologize." Officer Novak said.
"Well, someone had better get on the ball here!" John growled with a frown.
"Yes sir. Can I offer you anything to drink? Any of you? Coffee? Tea? Hot chocolate? Soda? Water?"
"Could I have a hot chocolate?" I asked.
"Of course. Anyone else?"
John asked for coffee, and Uncle Sam and Dean said no.
They left us standing in the room, and John paced a little bit, shaking his head with annoyance.
Officer Lewis came back into the room. "We have one of the family interview rooms open, if you'll come with me."
We followed him down the hall, into a room that was like the one I had been in when the police talked to me about my mother. There was a long sofa and some armchairs and a coffee table. On the table was a tray with steaming mugs, a couple bottles of water, and a plate of cookies.
Dean put me down on the floor and we walked over to the sofa. Officer Lewis handed me one of the mugs after I sat down.
"Thank you." I said. I looked at Dean. "Can I have a cookie?"
"Yes," Dean said, putting his hand on my back.
"Go ahead," Officer Lewis gestured to the tray. "Do any of you take milk or sugar?"
John picked up a mug and took a sip. "Not bad," he said.
"Yeah, we actually have one of those fancy coffee machines in our break room, I used it to make these for you." Officer Lewis smiled sheepishly. "I'll be right back."
He left the room and closed the door.
"Sweetheart, what happened?" Dean asked me, sitting down next to me.
"I came out of the bathroom and you were gone." Uncle Sam said.
"Someone knocked on the door and I thought it was John and Uncle Bobby," I told them. "So I opened it. But it was her! She looked into the room and then she just grabbed me and pulled me to her car! She kept talking about wanting what was hers. She said she would make Daddy get money for her." Tears filled my eyes as I remembered how scared I had been.
"Well, no more opening hotel doors for you." Dean said.
"I'm sorry!" I looked up at him. "Am I in trouble? Uncle Sam told me that they were coming over-"
"No, you're not in trouble." Dean soothed. "It's all right."
I wrapped my hands around the mug and shivered a little bit.
"Are you cold?" Dean put his hand on my arm. "Your skin is freezing!"
"My feet are cold." I said.
Dean unbuttoned his flannel shirt and helped me put it on.
John looked at his watch. "This is ridiculous," he said. "It's been a couple hours since they called us, and now we're waiting in here even longer." He walked over to the door and opened it, stepping out into the big room with all the desks. Officer Lewis came over to him and they spoke, and then Officer Lewis motioned to another man in a suit. The man came over and went into a room next to the room we were in, with big glass windows, and we could see John talking and gesturing.
Officer Lewis came into the room and closed the door. "I'm sorry there's been so many delays today." he said. "It's been really busy here. There's a doctor on the way."
"Good." Dean said.
Officer Lewis glanced out the window and then said, "I wouldn't want to be in there right now getting a dressing down from him. He military?"
Dean chuckled. "Yeah, Marines, how'd you guess?"
"He seems kinda intimidating." Officer Lewis said.
"Yeah, he can be. Imagine growing up with that." Uncle Sam chuckled too.
"Oh?" Officer Lewis looked at him and then Dean.
"Getting a John Winchester Verbal Beat Down is one thing. Getting a John Winchester Butt Roasting is a whole 'nother level!" Dean said.
"I can imagine." Officer Lewis said. "He looks like he could kick some serious as- I mean butt." He glanced at me.
"You have no idea. The man has a really hard right hand." Uncle Sam said, shaking his head.
"I hear that. My old man was the same way, except he was Army." Officer Lewis said.
John and the other man came into the room. The man in the suit looked at Officer Lewis.
"Is the doctor on the way?" he asked.
"Yes sir." Officer Lewis replied.
"Get this little girl some socks, would you? Her feet are cold."
"Yes sir." Officer Lewis said again. "Be right back." They both left the room.
John came over and looked at me. "Sweetheart, you shouldn't call me John, I'm your grandfather." he said kindly.
"Okay." I agreed. I saw Dean and Uncle Sam look at each other and grin.
"What?" John asked, looking back and forth at them.
"You've finally accepted it, old man." Dean said with a smile.
"Watch your mouth, boy." John growled, but it wasn't angry sounding. "I'm not that old, yet."
Officer Lewis came into the room holding a pair of black socks. John took them from him and sat down on the sofa next to me, and put them on my feet.
"Thanks... Grandpa John," I said. He looked at me for a moment and then ruffled my hair.
Another man carrying a black bag came into the room.
"I'm Dr. Anthony," he said. He shook hands with everyone and then sat down on the coffee table in front of me.
"What happened here?" he asked, taking my head in his hands.
"Uh, we were in the car, and my aunt, uh, hit me." I said, feeling a little embarrassed. They were all watching me. "She hit me so hard I fell over and hit my head on the window."
I heard Dean inhale sharply, and I looked at him. He looked angry, and he clenched his fists. Uncle Sam put his hand on Dean's shoulder.
The doctor felt around on my head until he found the bump. He asked me some more questions about if I felt dizzy, did I lose consciousness, did I hear ringing in my ears. He had me follow his finger with my eyes and then stand up and close my eyes and lift one foot off the floor and then the other.
"You can sit down now," he said. "Good news is, she doesn't have a concussion. Keep an eye on her, of course, if she starts complaining of headache or dizziness, take her to a doctor."
He started to look at the cut on my face. "You say this is from a ring?" he asked.
"Yeah, she said her ring does that." I told him.
I heard Dean mutter something under his breath.
"What do you think, stitches or steri-strips?" John leaned over, looking at my face.
"I think steri-strips for a couple of days should be fine. You a doctor?"
"Did some medic work in Vietnam," John said.
"Oh. Thank you for your service," the doctor said.
John nodded.
The doctor cleaned the cut on my face with some cold sting-y stuff and then put little bandages on it. "You have butterflies on your face," he told me with a smile. "These are also called butterfly bandages."
He looked up at Dean and Uncle Sam. "Keep it dry for a couple of days, have her rechecked in about 5. Call her doctor if there's any problems."
"All right, thank you." Dean said. The doctor stood up and shook his hand, then he left. In a couple of minutes, Officer Lewis came back into the room.
"We're almost done here. I just need for you to sigh some paperwork," he said to Dean. "If you'll come with me."
Dean started to leave the room, and I called, "Daddy!" feeling nervous.
Uncle Sam sat down next to me. "He'll be right back," he said. I leaned on Uncle Sam's arm.
In a few minutes, Dean was back, and he picked me up. "We can go now." he said. We walked to the car. John got into the driver's seat and Dean got in the back with me. He put his arm around me once we were buckled in.
"How are you feeling?" he asked me.
"I'm hungry." I said.
"Well, it's after lunch time, no wonder." Uncle Sam said. "You want to go out somewhere?"
"She's not exactly dressed for it." Dean said.
"Oh. Right. Well, one of us can go out and get something once we get back to the room." Uncle Sam said.
"Charlie, I know you've talked and talked about it, but I'd like to know what happened." Dean said. "When we get back, okay?"
"Okay," I said. I started to feel sleepy, and by the time I could feel the car stopping, I was almost all the way asleep. I tried to open my eyes and talk, but I was too tired. The stress of the day had worn me out, and I couldn't stay awake any longer.
I dreamed that I was at home with my mom, that it was before she got sick. The apartment was bright and cozy and Mom was smiling and happy, and she smelled the way she used the smell like flowers because of the shampoo she used. She didn't smell like that any more after she lost her hair. There wasn't much to the dream, just us doing things together like making popcorn and watching a t.v. show curled up on the couch. But I felt safe and warm and loved.
I could hear familiar music playing.
"This is actually a good show, Charlie's gotten me hooked on it." Uncle Sam said, and he chuckled. I realized he was watching the cooking show again.
I opened my eyes and sat up- I was in bed, in the hotel room, with MaryBear and the little brown bear from the police station tucked in next to me. I didn't want to even look at the brown bear, it made me think of Aunt Michelle and being in the police car and how scared I had been.
Dean walked towards me, smiling at me. "Hey, Charlie, how are you feeling?" he asked.
I picked up the bear and threw it out of my bed. "I don't want this!" I snapped. I looked up at him. "And I don't want you! I- I want my mom!" And then I burst into tears.