I was laying down, and I felt something shift under me as I moved my head. I opened my eyes and it was like the light stabbed into my eyes, so I closed them with a whimper. I was laying on my bed, and my head was in Daddy's lap.
"Charlie?" he asked quietly, "You back with us?"
"My head hurts," I whispered.
"Sam," I heard Daddy call, and I whimpered again, because the noise made my head throb.
I heard footsteps, and Uncle Sam's voice. "-let you know, it looks like she's awake now. All right, bye." I heard a beep, and Uncle Sam sighed. "She said that Charlie may not be ready to process that much information and that's why she gets a headache, her- whatever sense it is that gets the impressions- isn't mature yet, if that makes sense?"
"Well what do we do about it?" Daddy asked.
"Don't know yet, she said she's going to talk to some people. Charlie, can you take some medicine?" Uncle Sam asked me.
"Sit up a little," I felt Daddy helping me sit up, and I moaned slightly, because it made me dizzy.
I squinted my eyes open and Uncle Sam handed me a small cup of pink liquid. I drank it down and then he handed me a cup of water. I swallowed some and handed it back to him.
"Daddy what was that gun?" I asked, "I saw a cowboy shooting lots of things, there was a man sucking blood out of a woman's neck and he shot him, and then a big wolf-creature came after him in the woods and he shot it-" I felt a wave of dizziness come over me and then I was seeing more images, "The cowboy shot a woman who had big pieces of skin falling off from every where, and then he shot a thing that looked like a monster with gray skin and a circle mouth with lots of sharp teeth, and it exploded, and then there was a man with black eyes and he shot the man and his face changed-" I shuddered, and my head throbbed painfully, and I started to cry, and then I cried out, because crying made my head hurt worse.
"Shh, Charlie, let it go," Daddy said.
"I—I can't, it's in my head!" I wailed, "Why is there all that scary stuff out there? Are those things what you hunt?"
"Try to relax, Charlie," Uncle Sam said gently, "We'll talk about it later. You need to rest right now."
"Shh," Daddy rubbed my forehead, and then he started to card his hand through my hair. "Does this help at all?"
"My head still hurts, but I like what you're doing, it feels good," I murmured. He kept running his hands through my hair, and it relaxed me enough that I was able to go back to sleep.
My dreams were jumbled images- Big Luke laying on the table, and then he changed into my Mommy, and it was her laying there dead, except that she looked how she had looked when she had first started to lose her hair. Then I saw the vampire again, and I could see the bullet whizz through the air and go into its forehead. Then I was at the campsite with Mommy, and I followed her out of the tent, and a giant wolf-creature came running out of the woods and jumped at us, but a cowboy stepped in front of us and shot it. It fell down with a yelp, and the man turned to us- it was Daddy, not the cowboy that I had seen when I held the gun. Then I saw the woman with her skin falling off, but she turned into Aunt Michelle, and she grabbed my arms-
I woke up screaming.
"Charlie, wake up!" Daddy said urgently, "Wake up!" he gave me a litle shake. I opened my eyes and looked up at him, bursting into tears. He put his arms around me and hugged me to his chest.
"Bad dream?" I heard Grandpa John's voice.
"I think so," Daddy said. He stroked the back of my head. "Charlie, were you having a nightmare?"
"Lots-the vampire—Big Luke was on the table but he turned into Mommy, and then—then-we were at the campsite and the wolf-creature came out of the woods and someone shot it and it was you, Daddy, and then Aunt Michelle was there and her skin was coming off and she was grabbing me-" I shuddered, and started to cry harder.
"All right, shh," Daddy soothed, rubbing my back.
"That's some dream," I heard Uncle Sam say, "Charlie, how's your head?"
"Still hurts," I whimpered.
"I want you to take some more medicine," Uncle Sam said, "I'll get you some water."
I turned my head and looked up. Grandpa John was standing by the bed looking at me with concern on his face. He reached down and cupped my cheek with his hand for a moment.
Uncle Sam put a glass of water on the bedside table and then picked up a bottle of medicine, shaking it and pouring out a dose. He handed me the tiny plastic cup of medicine and I drank it, then took the water he handed me. I was very thirsty, and I drank it all down.
"You think you can go back to sleep?" Daddy asked me.
"Yeah," I mumbled. He laid down in the bed and I curled up next to him. He put his arm around me and I nestled into his side. I felt him rubbing my back as I fell back to sleep.
I woke up in the early afternoon. Daddy was sitting on the sofa, watching t.v. with the volume low. I sat up, and he got up and walked over to the bed.
"How are you feeling, sweetheart?" he asked.
"My head only hurts a little," I said, "I feel- hollow inside."
"Are you hungry? I've got a couple of breakfast sandwiches left."
I shook my head. "Daddy, I'm sorry I touched that gun, I know I'm not s'posed to, but I couldn't help it-"
"I know," he said, "I could tell."
"How?"
"You got this—faraway look in your eyes, you got the same way when you were holding the scissors, and then you just started to talk, and the words were coming out of your mouth really fast. It all happened very quickly," he smoothed my hair back from my face, "If you don't want to eat, get dressed, so we can go to Missouri's, all right?"
"Yes, Daddy," I said, feeling relieved that I wasn't in trouble. I got off of the bed and got some clothes out of my duffle, and got dressed. Daddy texted someone, and in a couple of minutes there was a knock on the door. Uncle Sam and Grandpa John came into the room.
"How are you feeling?" Uncle Sam asked me.
"I have a little headache, and I feel shaky." I said.
He gave me another dose of medicine, and then we got into the car and drove to Missouri's house.
She let us in and stepped back as we all walked in. "Did you bring it?" she asked.
Uncle Sam patted his laptop bag. "It's in here," he said.
We walked into the living room and I sat down on the sofa. Everyone else kept standing.
"Well I don't even need to see it, I can feel its power from here," Missouri said, "John Winchester, how could you bring an object with that much power in it around your grand-daughter who you know has psychic abilities? You yourself told me she ain't got much control over a lot of it, and we both have seen it first hand over the past couple of days, what you want to make things harder on her for?"
"I—I wasn't thinking of it that way-" Grandpa John said hesitantly.
"Of course you weren't, you stubborn man," she shook her head, "All a' y'all got to really look at this, you've got a child in your family with abilities that would make her a target if she weren't related," she held up her hand, "Don't even bother denying it, Dean, you know it's true. Now all a' you got to really think on this child and what her abilites mean, and really deal with the fact that she's like this. It ain't going away, and things are just gonna get stronger the older she gets and the more control she gains over it. I'm not here to make her stifle anything or turn her into a 'normal kid' or make her change."
"I never said any of those-" Daddy started.
"No, but you were thinkin' along those lines, and don't you deny it, boy!" Missouri snapped, "You better learn to accept it, Dean Winchester, because there'll be people in the future who don't take kindly to her abilities, and you're going to have to defend her! And you know how some hunters are when they can smell weakness on another! You say you want to protect her from anything bad happening, you got to get right with this, so that you can protect her from those who aren't going to understand her."
"All right," Daddy sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, "All right, you're right, I was hoping...that you'd be able to show Charlie how to control everything and it wouldn't be...such a big deal any more. I just don't... I don't know how—I'm a hunter, I hunt things down, and that's all I do, I don't have any of these extra senses or whatever, so I have no idea how to deal!"
Missouri walked up to him and put her hands on his cheeks. "You accept her for what she is, completely, and accept what she can do, and that's it. Let go of this idea of 'normal', you know there ain't no normal in your line of work and there never has been," she chuckled and put her hands down.
"But I want things to be different for her, than they were for me," Daddy said.
"Honey, they already are, you got your brother and your father and a whole mess of others helpin' you out with things, and you know that if anything ever happened there'd be people she could go to. There's that saying, "It takes a village", you already got a village for Charlie. Her life isn't going to be your life, and it isn't going to be normal either. Hell, normal is just a setting on the dryer anyway, right?"
She turned and looked at me, "Now, we need to talk about what happened, and I want to hear what you saw," she came over and sat down next to me. Daddy sat on the other side of me and Grandpa John and Uncle Sam sat across from us.
I told Missouri what had happened, and everything that I had seen. She shook her head and pressed her lips together. "Oh, child, that's such a lot for you to handle," she murmured.
"It happened the same way as when she was holding those scissors, one minute she was standing there and then she had picked up the gun, and her eyes had that- a farway look in them, and she was talking really fast," Daddy said, "I pulled the gun out of her hands and that snapped her out of it."
"And then she got dizzy and swooned," Uncle Sam said, "She got a bad headache right away, and passed out."
"I think it's too much information for her young mind to process, and that's why the headache happens," Missouri said, "I think as she gets older, she won't get headaches like that."
"Missouri, when she woke up later, she told us more things she had seen. But she wasn't touching the gun, how could she be getting more from it?" Daddy asked.
"Well, the Colt is a legendary object, it's imbued with a lot of power, not just from it's use, but from when and how it was made, you know that. So you got this weapon with immense power, that's been used for decades killin' supernaturals, and all'a that energy is stored up in it. And with Charlie being sensitive like she is, it's like pouring water from a pitcher into a glass. The energy and information just kept coming into her, even though she didn't tell you everything at first, only what she could handle at the time," Missouri put her hand on mine, "I'm quite surprised you're feeling well enough to come here today."
"I couldn't get the images out of my head, and I had bad dreams at night," I told her, "It was awful."
I looked at Daddy. "If that's what you hunt, then I don't want to have anything to do with it," tears filled my eyes.
Daddy put his arm around my shoulders. "I'm glad to hear you say that, Charlie, but I wish that you hadn't seen what you did."
"Well, this is a learning process," Missouri said briskly, "For all of us. This has shown us how sensitive Charlie is, and shown y'all that you need to take it seriously."
"How can we—prevent-this from happening again?" Daddy asked.
"Well, the obvious answer is to keep her away from old objects for now. And she and I can keep working on her blocking, but I think we need to change what she's visualizing. You feel like doing some work, honey?"
"O-okay," I agreed.
"There's a fresh pot of coffee on in the kitchen, and I made some coffecake yesterday, you all go get yourself some," she said, and Daddy stood up. Grandpa John and Uncle Sam followed him into the kitchen.
Missouri and I did some deep breathing, and then I practiced seeing the flower in my mind and blocking her out.
"Now, instead of a wall, I want you to imagine that you're putting gloves on," she told me, "Whatever you want them to look like, but you imagine that they're strong enough that nothing will get through them."
I closed my eyes and imagined myself holding my hands out, and putting thick heavy gloves on my hands. "Okay," I opened my eyes.
"All right, keep that in your mind, and take my Grand-Mere's shawl," she said.
I closed my eyes again, and tried to imagine the gloves, and felt the soft shawl in my hands. Then I felt a sharp pain in my head and I cried out and opened my eyes.
"What is it, child?" Missouri's forehead was creased in worried lines.
"My head—hurts-" I put my hands up to my head and leaned forward. I saw little sparkly stars in my vision again.
I turned my head and looked at her. "Missouri I'm seeing little stars, like white sparks!" I cried out.
She sighed and shook her head. "I think you're not ready," she said, almost to herself, "That gun did a number on you."
Daddy came into the room. "What's up?" he asked.
"You need to take this child back to your room," Missouri stood up, "She's not ready to work yet, her mind is still raw from before. I want her to rest quietly today, she can watch a little bit of t.v., but only light shows, nothing too intense or serious. Electronics can keep the headache goin', so no computer, and like I said limit her t.v. watchin'. She needs to rest, one or two naps, and a little bit of reading if she's of a mind to. Makes sure she drinks enough water and eats well. Call me in the morning, she may need to rest tomorrow too."
"What do you think happened?" Uncle Sam asked, "Why is this happening?"
"Well, it's like when you're moving furniture and you lift something that's too heavy. You might not feel it at the time, but the next day when you wake up, you know you did too much 'cause your muscles are in pain. Charlie's abilities are overworked and she needs to rest for a good while to let them heal up. Does that make sense?" she looked at Daddy and Uncle Sam.
"Yeah, it does," Daddy said, "You heard her, Charlie, you need to rest, and take naps."
I sighed. "Okaaay," I muttered, "Naps make me feel like a baby."
"You need to rest and heal, honey. I hear that you gave your father grief about it and I'mma give him my wooden spoon to use on your backside, you hear?"
I looked up at her and gulped, "Yes, Missouri."
Daddy chuckled, "Don't worry, I've got that covered, I won't need your spoon."
"I'm sure that you do, I'm just makin' sure that she knows how serious this is."
Grandpa John came over to Missouri and took her hands. "Thank you so much for taking the time to work with Charlie," he said, and his voice was husky, "It really means a lot."
"Well, thank you, John," Missouri smiled at him, "I'm so glad that I can help her. She's an exceptional little girl."
Grandpa John hugged her and kissed her cheek.
"Come on, Charlie," Daddy said, holding his hand out.
I stood up, and hugged Missouri. "Thank you," I said.
She hugged me and patted my back. "You rest up, and get yourself better."
She walked us to the door, and we went out to the car.
As Daddy started the car, I asked, "Can we go to a park? I want to swing."
"Uh, that's not resting," Uncle Sam glanced back at me.
"Do I have to rest the whole time?" I grumped.
"Missouri's orders," Daddy said, "Hey, Sam, maybe I should go back to her house and get that wooden spoon, what do you think?"
"Nooo!" I protested, shrinking back against the seat.
"You need to do everything that she said, and I'm going to make sure of that, otherwise she might use the spoon on me for not enforcing what she told us!" Daddy joked.
My head was still hurting when we got back to the room, so Uncle Sam gave me another dose of medicine.
"I want you to lay down and rest now, Charlie," Daddy said.
"Okay, Daddy," I agreed.
He tucked me into bed, and leaned down to kiss my forehead. "I'm going to go next door to Uncle Sam's room, so come get me if you need something."
This motel didn't have connecting rooms like the other one, so we had to leave this room and walk to the room next to us, that Uncle Sam and Grandpa John were staying in.
I closed my eyes and tried to rest, but I couldn't. I kept thinking about things, and getting flashes of what I had seen yesterday. After a while, I got up to go pee, and then I got my 3Ds out. I laid in bed on my tummy, playing a game.
I heard the door open, and then Daddy said, "What are you still doing up?"
He came walking over to the bed and saw what I was doing. "Charlie!" he said with annoyance. He yanked the covers down off of me and smacked my butt twice.
"Oww!" I turned to the side and reached back to cover my butt, "I can't sleeeeep," I whined, "I kept seeing things from yesterday!"
"That's no excuse!" Daddy snapped, "You're supposed to be resting, which means laying down with your eyes closed, even if you're not asleep. It does not mean playing your 3DS, that could make your headache worse!"
He reached for my 3DS and I pulled away from him, leaning backwards. "Noooo!" I whined again, "I'll turn it off!"
"Little girl-" Daddy gritted out. He pulled the game out of my grasp and put it on the bedside table, then turned back to me. He took my shoulder and pushed me back onto my tummy, and swatted me again. "You'd better do what you're told, Charlotte Anne, or you're going to end up over my knee. You need to rest."
I huffed. "Okaaay-OW!" I exclaimed as he spanked my bottom again.
"Watch- the—attitude," Daddy said sternly. He pulled the covers up, and then picked up the 3DS. "I guess I need to stay in here and keep an eye on you for now."
I sighed and turned my head, closing my eyes. I heard Daddy walking away, and a moment later I heard the t.v. turn on.
~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~
I put the container of chicken and mixed vegetables on the coffeetable. "I'm done," I said.
"And so is the t.v.," Uncle Sam picked up the remote and turned it off.
"Hey!" I protested, "I wanted to watch the next one and find out who wins the finale!" We had watched an episode of my favorite cooking contest.
"No, Missouri said a little bit of t.v., and I think one show is enough," Uncle Sam said, "We don't want to overdo it with electronics, they can prolong a headache."
"But-"
"Throw your trash away, and then bath and bed," Daddy told me.
"Nooooo!" I whined.
I leaned over and tried to take the remote from Uncle Sam. He pulled it away from me. "Charlie, stop that," he said sternly.
"Charlie, what did I just tell you to do?" Daddy frowned at me, crossing his arms on his chest.
"I don't wanna go to bed early," I said sulkily.
"Well, you need to rest," Daddy turned and walked towards the bathroom, "I'm going to start the water."
I huffed and crossed my arms. I was not going to get up, I was not going to take a bath, and I was not going to go to bed early!
Daddy stepped out of the bathroom. "Charlie," he said, "get over here, now."
"No!" I said loudly, leaning forward and clenching my fists.
"You have 'til the count of three," Daddy said, "One-"
"Charlie," Uncle Sam said warningly. I glared at him.
Daddy put his hands on his hips. "Two—little girl, you really do not want me to get to three. I have the paddle in my duffle."
I got up and stomped over to the bathroom. "Fine, I'll take a stupid bath! But I'm not gonna go to bed early!" I snapped, pushing past Daddy into the bathroom.
"All right, I am done," Daddy said angrily, "And so are you," he walked into the bathroom after me and took my arm, pulling me over to him. He pulled my pants and panties down and then took my arm again, turning me and smacking my bare bottom a couple of times. It happened so fast I didn't have time to react until I felt the sting on my butt.
"OWWW!" I yelled, tears coming to my eyes.
Daddy let me go and folded his arms again, frowning at me. "Get your clothes off and get in the tub. This is your last chance before I get out the paddle."
Even though I felt mad at him, my tummy twisted nervously. "Daddy-"
"What did I just say!" Daddy yelled, and I jumped.
Grandpa John came to the door of the bathroom. "What's going on in here?" He looked from Daddy to me.
"She's decided to have a huge attitude and be argumentative, and I'm not having it any more!" Daddy raked his hand through his hair.
"I brought back some beer, go have one and relax, I'll take over here," Grandpa John said in a calming tone.
"The paddle's in my duffle if you need it," Daddy left the room.
"We're not going to need it, are we, little girl?" Grandpa John's voice was deep and stern, and he raised his eyebrows at me.
I gulped. I didn't want Grandpa John to spank me ever again, and I certainly didn't want him to use the paddle!
"N-no, Grandpa John," I said quickly.
"Clothes off and in the tub," he crossed over to the tub and turned the water off. "Do you need help washing your hair?"
I stepped out of my pants and underpants, and then pulled my shirt off. "No, I can do it myself," I said. I climbed into the tub and sat down, and he leaned down and handed me a washcloth.
"I'll go get your nightgown," he said, and left the bathroom. He came back with the fancy Hello Kitty nightgown that Daddy had given me when I got out of the hospital. I felt bad for how I had been acting, and it made me feel sad. "Why's Daddy bein' so strict and acting so grumpy?" I asked.
Grandpa John set my clothes on the counter. "He's worried about you. We all are. Your headaches are concerning, and we want you to get better. But you need to take care of yourself too, and you can do that by doing what you're told."
I bowed my head, and tears filled my eyes and began to drip into the water. I looked up at him after a minute. "I don't know why I'm bein' so naughty!" I wailed, "I just feel like a baby having to take naps and go to bed early!"
"You don't like being told what to do like this," Grandpa John said, "but it's a way of taking care of you, and it's one you're not used to. You were left on your own so much and you became independent, so now when someone tells you what to do, you deal with it by saying you feel like a baby and getting angry."
I frowned at him. "I don't get it."
He chuckled. "You don't have to get it, just know that when we tell you what to do we're taking care of you, and let it happen."
I lowered my head again. Daddy was just trying to take care of me, and I was acting horrible to him. I started to cry again. "I want Daddy," I said quietly, watching the tears drip into the bath water.
"Dean!" Grandpa John called, "Your daughter wants you!"
Daddy appeared in the doorway, holding a bottle of beer. "Yeah?"
I looked up at him. "I'm sorry!" I wailed, "I'm sorry I was so horrible and bad!"
He came over and knelt down next to the tub, leaning in and hugging me. I threw my arms around him and hugged him back.
"You're not bad, sweetheart," he murmured. He squeezed and and then let me go.
"I got you all wet," I said as he sat back on his heels. "Sorry."
"That's all right," he smiled at me.
He stood up, and I picked up the bar of soap and started to lather the washcloth. Daddy and Grandpa John left the bathroom, and I washed myself quickly.
Daddy came back to the door when I let the water out of the tub. He took the towel from me and started to rub my hair dry. When it was mostly dry he stopped, and handed me the brush. I went into the room and took it over to Uncle Sam.
"Sorry I was so mouthy before," I muttered, handing him the brush.
"Thank you for apologizing," Uncle Sam said, brushing the tangles out of my hair, "How is your head?"
"Uh- it does hurt a little," I said, ducking my head guiltily. It had started to hurt while I was watching the show.
I put the brush back in the bathroom when he was finished, and brushed my teeth. Uncle Sam followed me and gave me a dose of medicine.
I hugged and kissed him and Grandpa John good night, then got into my bed.
Daddy tucked me in and leaned down to hug me. "I hope you're feeling one hundred percent tomorrow," he said.
"Me too," I yawned. I was feeling tired now. "Good night, Daddy, love you."
"Good night, baby, love you too." he leaned down to kiss my cheek.