AUTHOR'S NOTE: My apologies if this chapter doesn't seem up to par. I'm currently dealing with severe back pain and taking medication to help with it, but that makes me tired and cranky and not always in a good frame of mind to write. Charlie is, of course, very insistent, so I have been writing, but I'm hoping what I've written is just as good as the rest of it.

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

Uncle Bobby was still out looking for Grandpa John, so it was just me and Uncle Sam. We sat on the sofa together and watched a movie called The Hobbit.

"Uncle Sam," I asked, "If you got married, would you still hunt with Daddy?"

"Umm...I don't know," he replied. "It would depend on the circumstances."

"Well what if she had kids already and she didn't want you to, would you? What if she didn't want you to have anything to do with your old life?"

Uncle Sam turned towards me on the sofa. "Where is this coming from, hmm?" he asked. "No one is getting married any time soon. Not me, not your Dad. And if we did, we'd make sure that they were okay with every aspect of our lives, including you. You wouldn't get pushed out or left behind, okay?" He leaned down and looked me in the eyes. "Are you worried about that?"

I felt myself blushing and looked down at my hands, but he caught my chin, lifting my face so that I had to look at him.

"Look at me, honey," he said gently. "Your Dad isn't going to stop taking care of you, and neither am I, okay? I promise."

I felt my chin wobbling as my eyes filled up with tears, and then I started to cry. He gathered me into his arms and pulled me onto his lap and held me tightly while I cried.

"I keep forgetting how much you've been through recently," he said quietly, almost to himself.

He held me on his lap while we watched the rest of the movie, and then I woke up later to him tucking me into bed.

"Is Daddy home yet?" I mumbled sleepily.

"Not yet," he told me. " Don't worry, go back to sleep."

I rolled over and closed my eyes.

In the morning, everyone was at the table except for Grandpa John.

"He decided to go off on his own an' hunt this thing, the idjit," Uncle Bobby said. "You know how stubborn he is, gotta do it his way."

"Dammit," Daddy said. "I'd go after him if I could."

I looked at him. "Go ahead." I said. "Go do your hunting and leave me here, it doesn't matter!" Suddenly I burst into tears and ran out of the room, into the library, where I threw myself down on the sofa and covered my head with my arms.

I heard footsteps come in and then someone sat next to me.

"Hey," Daddy said, "Uncle Sam told me that you're feeling pretty insecure."

I turned my head, sniffling, and looked at him. "What's that mean?"

"You're worried that we're going to get rid of you or something. Which isn't going to happen, by the way. You're my daughter-"

I sat up quickly. "But you can't do your hunting like you used to and you can't do anything like you are used to doing because I'm here! I'm just in the way!" I exclaimed.

He sighed, putting his elbows on his knees. "You're not in the way. Yes, it's different, having you here, but there would be an adjustment no matter what, if I had a 9 to 5 job and a regular life, or not. We're all going to have to figure out how to be a family, and we're all going to do it together. No one is getting left behind or sent away or anything. All right?"

He reached out and brushed my hair off of my face. "Come and eat some breakfast, and then we're going to go buy some plants for that little patch you dug up yesterday. You need to decide what you want to plant in there. Okay?"

I looked at him. "We are? Do I have to buy seeds or can I buy already grown plants?"

"Whatever you want," Daddy said. "Uncle Bobby's going to take us to a place that sells all kinds of plants and seeds."

We went back to the kitchen and Uncle Sam made me some oatmeal. I helped Daddy wash the dishes, and then I went to my room to get dressed. All of a sudden, I felt tired, and dizzy, so I sat down on my bed for a minute.

"Charlie!" I heard Daddy calling up the stairs. "Charlie, are you coming?"

I tried to answer him, but I was so sleepy. I realized I was laying down. Daddy came into the room and walked over to me.

"What are you doing, kiddo?" he asked. "Did Uncle Sam let you stay up really late or something?"

"No...just feel sleepy..." I mumbled. He leaned over and put his hand on my forehead.

"Oh geez, you're burning up," he said. He put his hand on my cheek, and then the back of my neck. "You feeling okay?"

"Uh-uh," I said, trying to sit up. I got dizzy again. He pulled the covers down, and helped me get into bed, and tucked me in.

"Be right back," he told me. "Sam!" I heard him call, "Sammy, do we have a thermometer in the med kit?"

It seemed like hours later that he was back. "Charlie, open your mouth for me," Daddy said. "Hold this under your tongue. Can you do that?" He put a digital thermometer in my mouth, which I wasn't used to. Mommy had used one that went in my ear.

"It's under your tongue, right?" Uncle Sam looked at me, concern on his face. "Look at how flushed she is, Dean," he said.

The thermometer beeped and Daddy took it out of my mouth, holding it up to his face. His eyes widened. "102- geez, that's not good." He looked at Uncle Sam. "You got the ibuprofen?"

"Yeah," Uncle Sam walked over to the dresser, and then he brought over a small cup of pink liquid. "Can you sit up?" he asked me.

I propped myself up on my elbow, and took the cup, swallowing the medicine quickly. It tasted like bubble gum. Then I felt cold, and started to shiver. I laid down again and pulled the covers around me. "I'm cold," I whined.

"I'll go get another blanket," Uncle Sam left the room.

"How are you feeling besides cold, anything hurt? How is your throat?" Daddy asked.

"No, nothing hurts," I said. "Just tired."

Uncle Sam brought a quilt in and laid it on top of me, tucking it around me.

"Get some rest, okay?" he said.

"Call if you need anything," Daddy said, and they both left the room. I drifted back to sleep.

I unzipped the tent, and walked around it, and started to walk towards the bushes, so I could hide.

"Little girl!" someone said, and I turned. Uncle Sam stood there looking at me, and he beckoned to me. Just the, a huge wolf-creature came barrelling out of the woods and jumped on him, knocking him down onto the ground. I could hear snarling and tearing sounds, and see bits of blood and flesh flying up in the air- and then Daddy was there, leaning down, and then he looked at me. "This is all your fault!" he said, and then the wolf-creature sprang up and jumped on him, and he yelled out, and I started to scream too-

"Charlie! Wake up!" someone said. I felt hands on my shoulders.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I wailed, "It's all my fault!" I opened my eyes. Daddy was sitting on the bed, looking down at me.

"That must have been some dream, huh?" he asked, and I started to cry harder. He picked me up and held me, and I grabbed on to him, grateful that I had been dreaming.

"Shh," he murmured. "It was just a dream, you're safe. It's okay, it was just a dream."

He pulled back and looked at me. "You want to come downstairs?" he asked.

"Yeah," I mumbled. "Don't leave me."

He carried me down to the library, where they were all working. Uncle Sam was at his laptop and Uncle Bobby was in front of his computer. Daddy sat down on the sofa with me in his lap. He arranged the blanket he'd brought with me, tucking it around me, and put his arm around me. Then his phone rang.

"Oh, hi, Lori. Yeah, I've got to cancel," he said regretfully, "My daughter is sick. She's running a pretty high fever right now, and I need to be here. Yeah, I'll call you when she's better, and we can get together then. All right, see you." He hung up and slid the phone back in his pocket.

"Is that the lady from the playground?" I asked him.

"Yeah, we were supposed to go out tonight, but I'm not going to go. I want to be here and make sure you're okay," he told me.

"You can go," I said, but he shushed me. "Nope, not while my baby girl's sick. The only place I'm going is to the doctor if you need it." He kissed my forehead.

"Raquel called me," Uncle Sam said, "apparently there was a bug going around the playground, her kid has whatever this is, and a couple of other kids that were there are getting sick too."

"Did she say what it is?" Daddy asked.

Uncle Sam shook his head. "Probably just some random virus, high fever, body aches, fatigue, the usual."

"It was a bug?" I asked. "I didn't see any bugs."

"No, he means a bug like an illness." Daddy told me. "You're not the only kid that's sick right now, a bunch of the kids that were playing together got it."

I started to fall asleep in his lap, and then I felt him shifting me onto the sofa.

I had to hurry, I was going to be late. I ran through crowds of people walking on sidewalks, dodging moms with strollers and little old ladies walking their dogs, until I got to the church. I tried to pull on the doors, but they were locked, so I banged on them as I heard music starting up on the inside. The door swung outward, knocking me backwards, and then there was a preacher-guy in robes frowning at me.

"You're late," he said. "You're too late, you can't be included!"

I pushed past him and hurried into the church, running up the long center aisle that just seemed to get longer and longer.

"Wait!" I called to the crowd of people at the other end. "Wait for me!"

As I got closer, they turned. Uncle Sam and a group was on one side, and Daddy and another group was on the other side. They each had a woman in a big fluffy bride's dress with them, and each of them was carrying a little kid or a baby.

"There's no room for you," Uncle Sam said to me.

"No room," Daddy shook his head. "You don't belong."

They turned their backs to me, and looked at the people surrounding them. "Let's go," they said.

"Wait, " I called out. "Wait, please! I'm sorry I was late! I didn't mean it, please let me join!" I started to cry, trying to follow them as they all walked out a side door.

The preacher-guy grabbed my arm. "No, you can't go," he told me with a frown. Then his voice changed, and he said, "Wake up, Charlie. Wake up, I want to check you."

I opened my eyes, and I was laying on the sofa in the library. Daddy was leaning down over me, and I looked up at him and said, "Will there be room for me?"

He looked confused. "What?"

"When you get married!" and then I burst into tears. "I dreamed that you got married but I was late...and there was lots of kids there that were yours now...and you said I didn't belong."

"Sweetheart, no-one's getting married any time soon," he said. "You're really hot, open your mouth for me," and he slipped the thermometer in my mouth. I tried to hold it there, but it was hard to keep it under my tongue.

I sniffled as I laid there, and he stroked my hair back from my face. When it beeped, he took it out and looked at it, and he got a worried frown on his face. He showed it to Uncle Sam, who stood up and left the room.

"Let's go upstairs, Charlie," he said. "Your fever's gotten higher."

He poured me a dose of medicine, and I drank it, and then he carried me up to me room.

Uncle Sam was waiting there with some towels and washcloths.

"We need to get your fever down," Daddy said, and they both started to wipe me down with damp washcloths, which made me feel cold.

"No!" I exclaimed, trying to push them away. "I don't like this! You're makin' me cold, stop it!" I started to shiver as Uncle Sam laid a cool cloth across the back of my neck.

"Stoooopp!" I whined, pulling it off and throwing it on the floor.

"Hey," Daddy said, "Don't do that. Youre fever is high, and I don't want it to get any higher," he told me. He put another cloth on my forehead. I tried to jerk my head away from him. "No!" I shouted. "Get off!"

"Charlie, stop," Uncle Sam said firmly. "If you don't let us do this, we'll have to put you in the tub, and you'll like that even less."

I started to cry again. "You're mean!" I whimpered, as they wiped my arms and legs down.

Uncle Sam held a glass of water up to my mouth. "Drink some water, you haven't had anything to drink in a few hours."

"I don't want any," I whined.

"Drink some. Half the glass, okay?"

"Nooooo!" I whined again, and I knocked it away. Some of it splashed on Daddy's shirt, and he looked annoyed.

"Charlie. Stop fussing and drink the water. Now!" he ordered sternly.

I looked at him, and he raised his eyebrows. "You keep this up, you're gonna have a hot bottom compared to the rest of you after I'm done."

I gulped, and took the glass from Uncle Sam, and drank the rest of what was in it.

I started to shiver. "I'm cooooold," I whined.

"All right, get under the covers," Daddy said.

"I'm going to the store and get some acetomenophin, you can piggyback it with ibuprofen when the fever is really high," he said. "I'll be back in a little bit."

Daddy sat on the edge of the bed and tucked the covers around me again.

"Stay here," I begged him. "Don't leave me, I keep having weird dreams."

Daddy held my hand and stroked my hair back from my face with the other hand.

Then someone was shaking my shoulder and waking me up. Everything was hurting at that point. I whimpered as someone turned me over.

"Uncle Sam got an ear thermometer," Daddy said, and he put something in my ear. I heard it beep, and he took it out. "Damn," he muttered. "Charlie, you need to take more medicine, sit up for me," he said. "Come on." He put his arm around my shoulders and helped me to sit up.

"Owww," I whined. "My arms and legs hurt."

"It's part of the illness," Uncle Sam said, handing me another little cup, this liquid was red. I started to drink it, and choked. "Eww! This is yucky!" I complained.

"I still want you to take it," Daddy told me. "Your fever is very high, and this will help it come down."

I tried to hand him the cup, which was half full. "Nooooo," I whined.

"Charlie, drink the rest of it," Daddy said in a deeper voice. He looked worried.

"I've got some ice water here, you can drink some of that after you take the medicine," Uncle Sam said kindly.

"Don't want ice water," I said sulkily. I tried to lay back down, and Daddy stopped me.

"Charlotte Anne. You will take this medicine now, or you can take it in three minutes with a sore butt."

"Dean-" Uncle Sam said.

Daddy turned to look at him. "What, Sam? She needs to take it, I'm not putting up with this. And if that means I have to swat her ass in order to get her to take it, then I will. I'm serious about this, I don't want to end up at the hospital."

"What?" I looked at him and then Uncle Sam anxiously. "I don't wanna go to the hospital!"

"Then take the medicine. Your fever needs to come down, and the medicine will help." Daddy told me.

I took the cup and gulped the liquid down, grimacing at the nasty taste. Uncle Sam handed me the glass of water and I drank some, even though I don't really like water.

"Can I have some juice?" I asked.

"Sure," Uncle Sam said, " I'll bring you some." he left the room.

I scooted back down under the covers, and Daddy covered me up again.

It seemed like every time I fell asleep, I had bad dreams, or weird dreams. I dreamed that I was in school, being chased through the halls by the wolf-creature. I dreamed that I was at the campsite, and Aunt Michelle was there, but then Daddy shot her with a gun. I dreamed that Mommy didn't leave the tent, and the creature tore through the tent walls and ate both of us.

Each time, I woke up from the dream, crying loudly. Daddy or Uncle Sam came hurrying in to the room, and held me and comforted me until I fell back to sleep. Uncle Sam told me that sometimes when a person is sick, they have lots of weird dreams because of the high fever.

Then I had a dream that terrified me...I could see Grandpa John, and he was in a dark room with cement walls, and he was fighting with a man who had yellow eyes. He threw water at the man, and it burned the man's skin, and he yelled, but then he started to laugh. His voice made the hair on my arms stand up. "You'll never get hold of me, Winchester," he said, and he put his hand up and Grandpa John flew across the room, and then his body started to slide up the wall, and he made a horrible choking noise. I was screaming and trying to get his attention, but neither of them could hear me.

I woke up in the sofa in the library. "Where's Grandpa John?" I screamed. "Where is he, is he safe? There's a bad man with yellow eyes who wants to hurt him!"

Daddy, Uncle Sam, and Uncle Bobby all stared at me.

"Tell us everything about the dream," Daddy said in an urgent voice. "Every detail!"

I gulped, and took deep breaths, trying to calm down, and then I told them what I could remember. They kept asking me things that I didn't know about, where was the room, what did the man with yellow eyes look like, what was his name, what else was in the room, things I couldn't answer.

"I don't know, I don't know!" I shook my head, and winced, because it made my neck and head hurt.

"Anything else you can think of?" Uncle Sam asked, looking at me closely.

"No! I'm- I'm tired!" I whined.

"I'm gonna see if he's been by the Roadhouse, see if Ash can track him down," Uncle Bobby picked up his cell phone and walked out of the room.

"All right," Daddy said soothingly. "You did good, Charlie." He put the thermometer in my ear again. When it beeped and he looked at it, he shook his head. "It's still high. Is it time to give her more medicine?" he asked.

Uncle Sam looked at his watch. "Not yet. A couple more hours, she can have more ibuprofen."

"Should we wipe her down again?" Daddy asked.

"Nooooo!" I whined. "I don't like that!"

"All right, Charlie," Daddy said. "I'll check you in a little while, if it's still high, we're going to have to. Lay down and rest some more."

I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep any more, because that dream had scared me so much, but I fell asleep quickly, even though I felt hot and uncomfortable.

I started to see things, images that didn't make sense...Uncle Sam wearing a white suit, standing in a garden, but at the same time it wasn't him...Daddy chained up and hanging from something, calling out for Uncle Sam...Uncle Sam in a little dark room, tied to a bed and yelling...Daddy walking down a hallway, wearing a red shirt, holding a weird looking knife, and his eyes were gone...Uncle Bobby sitting in a wheelchair...Grandpa John being dragged across a shadowy floor, with cuts on his face...I could feel that the tears were pouring down my face, but I wasn't making any noise...

Then I saw Mommy, and she was beckoning me to come to her. She said, "Bring me back so you don't have to be part of this, you don't belong here. Bring me back and I'll take care of you forever. Bring me back, and you won't have to worry about what they do any more. They can go on with their lives and you can go on with me. We'll be together forever, and it won't matter if they get married or have other kids. Bring me back, Lottie, you know you want to."

I woke up shivering. The sheets felt wet, but I was sweating a lot. All my muscles and joints were hurting. Daddy was sitting, propped up at the head of my bed, asleep. I grabbed his arm and shook it. "Daddy, I'm cold," I whimpered.

"Hmm, Charlie?" he opened his eyes and looked at me. He put his hand on my forehead, and then sat up quickly, and checked my temperature.

"Oh, God, baby," he said, getting up. "I'll be right back." He left the room, calling, "Sam? Sam! Wake up, I need your help!"

Then he was back in the room, and Uncle Bobby followed him in.

"The sheets are soaked with sweat," Daddy said. He went over to the dresser and took out some clothes, then he picked me up and carried me out of the room.

"What're you doin'?" I mumbled, and then I realized he was taking me into the bathroom. Uncle Sam was kneeling by the tub. Daddy put me down on the floor, and he and Uncle Sam took my pajamas off of me, and then before I could say anything, Daddy lifted me up and put me in the water, which was barely warm!

Uncle Sam pushed me so I was sitting down, and I screamed and burst into tears.

"Noooo! It's coooooold!" I wailed, trying to fight against him. Daddy leaned over and began to wipe me down with a wet washcloth.

"Daddy, stooooop!" I whined, trying to push him away. Uncle Sam held on to my arms.

"Honey, your fever is too high, we need to bring it down," he said. "Sit still."

"Nooooo!" I whined again. I kicked my feet, but splashing in the water only made me feel colder.

"Almost done," Daddy said, squeezing the washcloth over my back. He poured water over my arms and legs, chest and back one more time, as I sat shivering. He lifted me out of the tub, and Uncle Sam wrapped me in a towel and started to dry me off. I was shaking so hard my teeth were chattering.

"Why did you do that?" I wailed. "You're mean!"

Daddy put the thermometer in my ear again and checked it, sighing heavily. "it's down." he said with relief.

"Oh good," Uncle Sam said. He picked up the clothing that Daddy had brought into the bathroom, and dressed me in clean pajamas.

Daddy handed me a cup of medicine, and I looked at him. "Is this the yucky stuff?" I asked.

"No, it's not, but even if it was, you'd still be taking it," he told me sternly.

I swallowed it down, and he gave me a cup of water too, and I drank it without complaint.

Daddy picked me up and carried me back to the bedroom, and put me back in bed. Uncle Bobby had changed the sheets and put another quilt on the bed too.

"Did you have any more bad dreams?" Daddy asked as he tucked me into bed.

"Yeah," I mumbled. "Lots of weird stuff...Uncle Sam wearing a white suit...you had hooks in your shoulders and were screaming...there was a big hole in the ground that opened up..."

"The weirdest thing out of all of that is Sam in a white suit, that would be a nightmare," Daddy joked.

"It was him, but it wasn't him," I said.

"It was just fever dreams," Daddy said soothingly, "It's all right." He leaned down and kissed my forehead. "It's just dreams, and you're safe with us."

I didn't want to go back to sleep, I was too scared of having more bad dreams, but I could feel that my body was just too tired to stay awake.

I woke up hearing loud voices talking. I thought I heard Grandpa John's deep voice in the mix, so I got out of bed and started to walk downstairs. I started to feel cold, and I got dizzy, so I walked slowly and held the railing.

"-was shadow demons," Grandpa John was saying. "Those bastards are looking for the Colt too. I've got to find out where Elkins is holed up these days, and see if he still has it."

I walked into the kitchen, and Daddy, Uncle Sam, and Uncle Bobby were all standing with their backs to me, facing Grandpa John. Grandpa John saw me, and smiled. "Well, there she is!" he said.

They all turned and looked at me.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Daddy asked, and I walked over to them. As I got closer, I could see that Grandpa John had a couple of bruises on his face, and then I saw that he had cuts on his face, exactly the way it looked in my dream. I stared up at him, feeling scared.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong? You look like you've just seen a ghost!" he said.

"I had a dream- you have cuts on your face just like I saw in the dream! Does that mean- are all my dreams going to come true?" I looked at Daddy, and Uncle Sam. "If it does, then both of you will get married and you will leave me out!" I burst into tears, and turned to run out of the room.