I turned away from the door. "I, uh, gotta go, uh, I need to use the rest room," I told Castiel. He followed me down the hallway.

In the bathroom, I turned to close the door- he was standing right there behind me! "What're you doing?" I yelped in surprise.

"Your father charged me with watching you, so that is what I am doing," Castiel said.

"Well, uh, you're not s'posed to watch me every single second!"

He tilted his head slightly. "Your uncle told me I am not to leave you alone."

"But—but I won't be alone, I just—look, I gotta go pee! And people, y'know, they like to go pee in private!" I clamped my legs together, because I really had to go.

"That is right, humans prefer privacy for many things, bodily functions being one of the primary instances," Castiel said, almost to himself, "Forgive me, I am still learning about humans-"

"Just go, before I pee myself!" I pushed at him, and he walked into the hallway.

When I was finished, and had washed my hands, I opened the door. Castiel was standing right there in the doorway.

"Uh, can you not-"

He looked confused. "You had privacy while urinating, was that not good enough?"

I blushed, not wanting to think about if he had heard me peeing. "Never mind. I'm hungry."

I started to walk back up the hallway to the kitchen. "Can you cook?" I turned to look at him.

"I cannot." he glanced around, seeming to take everything in.

"Are you hungry?" I asked him.

"I do not get hungry, or need to eat."

I frowned. "But—your body—doesn't it get hungry?"

"Not while I am inhabiting this vessel, no."

I sighed. "Daddy didn't even make me breakfast before he left!"

I walked over to the stove. The cabin didn't have a microwave or a coffee-maker, because they used a lot of electricity. Instead Grandpa John made coffee on the stove every morning in an old-fashioned looking metal coffeepot that he said was called a 'percolator'. He said that's how they used to make coffee when he was a kid, and it was the best coffee ever. The coffeepot was still on the stove, and I lifted it carefully. There was still liquid in it!

I started to climb up on the counter to look for a mug, and my foot slipped. Castiel was right there, grabbing me around the waist so I didn't fall. "What are you trying to do, Charlotte Anne Winchester?" he asked.

"I need a mug," I told him, "Can you look for one?"

He set me on the floor and began to open the cabinets, taking out dishes.

"No, that's a plate—that's a bowl—oh, there, that one!" I took the mug from him and then poured the rest of the coffee into it. I knew there was a bowl of sugar on the counter, because Uncle Sam put a little bit of sugar and milk in his coffee. Daddy always teased him about it, because he and Grandpa John drank their coffee black.

I stirred the sugar in and got the milk out of the refrigerator. I tasted the coffee and had to add more sugar- it was strong!

After I drank some coffee I went into the pantry. Uncle Sam had bought a box of Lucky Charms "as a treat" he said, and he had told me I could have one small bowl with breakfast as long as I ate it with eggs and toast or something else that was healthy. I grabbed the bag of potato chips from yesterday too.

Castiel watched me pour my second bowl of Lucky Charms. "Are you sure you don't want any?" I asked him, "The marshmallows are yummy!"

"No thank you," he said, "I was not aware that potato chips were a breakfast food."

"Well, uh, they're actually not," I squirmed, thinking of how Uncle Sam would be upset with me for eating them for breakfast. "I just have them as a treat sometimes, y'know. To make me feel better when I'm, um, sad. It's okay."

"I see. Humans use many things to make themselves feel better when they are experiencing unpleasant emotions—food, cigarettes, sex-"

"Ewww, gross!" I covered my ears with my hands, "Don't talk about that stuff!"

"Why not?" he tilted his head again, frowning with confusion.

"Cause it's gross, y'know, kids don't want to hear about that! Grownups don't talk about sex stuff around kids!"

"I am having difficulty remembering everything I am not supposed to talk about with humans. And it is an even bigger list with children."

"Sorry," I finished my coffee, "Hey, wanna see my bunk bed?"

"Certainly, Charlotte Anne Winchester."

I turned to look at him as we walked down the hall. "You don't have to call me by my full name, ya know."

"But—that is your name."

"Yeah, but- I only get called that when I'm in trouble!"

"So...you associate your full name with being in trouble?"

"Yeah, and people don't normally call other people their first and last names. Just their first name. And my name is Charlie."

"Your name is Charlotte Anne."

I huffed as Castiel followed me over to my bed, and then I climbed up the ladder to the top bunk. "Look, isn't it cool!" I said.

I got an idea. "Hey, Castiel, are you strong?"

He nodded, "I am, and this vessel does not limit my strength either."

"If I jumped from up here, could you catch me?"

"Yes, I could. Why would you want to-"

I stood up. "'Cause it's fun! Catch me!" I jumped off of the bed, and he held out his arms and caught me. When he set me down I ran up the ladder again.

"Catch!" I called, standing up to jump, and he caught me again.

"It's almost like flying!" I said as I jumped again.

"I can assure you that jumping off of a bed is nothing like flying," He caught me and set me down.

"Hey, could you take me flying? I mean, you hold me and spread your wings and fly me around?"

He glanced up, and looked around the room. "There is not enough room in this house for me to spread my wings, and you are not supposed to go outside, Charlotte Anne."

I pouted for a moment. "What should we do now?"

"What is customary during- babysitting?"

"Uh, I dunno, watch t.v. or a movie, but...there's no t.v. here. Or we could play a game. Uncle Sam said there were some games in the hall closet."

We walked out to the living room and opened up the closet. It was more like the pantry, an actual room with shelves along two walls. It was packed with coats and clothes, there were different kinds of boots and hats and fishing rods, skis, and other outdoor equipment. On a top shelf were a pile of flat boxes.

"There, grab them," I told Castiel. He reached up and took the boxes down.

There was Monopoly and Parcheesi and a game called Mastermind, and a deck of cards.

I set up the Monopoly board and tried to explain how to play the game to Castiel, but I couldn't remember all the rules or exactly how to play.

"It's more fun with lots of people," I told him, "Let's play Mastermind instead." It was a guessing game, where one person set up a sequence of colored pegs, hidden behind a shield, and the other person had to guess the sequence. I had played it before with a nurse at the medical center where Mommy had gotten her treatments.

After we played a couple of times, I got frustrated, because Castiel guessed the order of pegs every single time I did it, on the first try!

"Are you cheating?" I asked him.

"Am I not supposed to look in your mind for the answers?"

I sighed angrily. "No, you're not! You're just supposed to guess!"

"I am sorry, I did not know that that was the objective of the game. Angels do not guess."

I got an idea. "You try," I said, turning the board around, "You put the pegs in a order that you pick, and I'll guess."

I wanted to see if I could look into his mind, the way I had looked into Daddy's. Maybe he could help me practice blocking too!

I turned away while he was setting things up, hearing the pegs clatter as he picked them up.

"I am ready," he said.

I turned back to him, and put the first set of pegs out to guess.

"Incorrect," he said.

I reached over and put my hand on his, and I looked into his mind the way I had done with Daddy.

I felt a strong buzzing in my brain, and it was like feeling the static that you hear on a radio.

Castiel took my hand and picked it up off of his hand. "Charlotte Anne, you must not do that. You could harm yourself trying to look inside my head."

I blushed. "Sorry," I muttered, "don't, uh, don't tell my Daddy, okay?"

"Why should I not tell your father?"

"He, uh, 'cause I'm not s'posed to do that."

"If you are not supposed to do that, then why did you?"

I blushed harder. "'Cause I wanted to see if I could do that with you. I did it with my Daddy one time."

"You should not use your abilities to look in other's minds."

"I—I know. I won't do it again, I swear, okay? Just don't tell my Daddy."

"Are you asking me to lie, Charlotte Anne?" he looked straight at me.

I squirmed. "No! No, just don't...don't say anything, okay, then you won't be talking about it and you won't have to tell him."

"Hmm..." he tilted his head.

"Let's play cards instead," I moved the Mastermind game onto the sofa. The Monopoly board was still set up and I pushed all the pieces out of the way, and tried to shuffle the cards. "Have you ever played Go Fish?" I asked him.

"I have never played any card games," he told me.

I spilled the cards and he helped me pick them up. Then I dealt the cards out and spread the rest in a circle. I explained the rules of the game, and we began to play.

"I do not understand how the cards are supposed to represent fish, they look nothing like fish," he said.

"Well, they're not. I mean, I guess they are. It's—it's just a matching game, y'know? It's fun!" I said, "Do you have any queens?"

"I am uncertain if I do, is this a queen?" he turned his hand around to show me his cards.

"You're not s'posed to show me your cards!" I said with exasperation.

"I do not understand why so many games involve hiding something from your opponent," he said.

"Well...'cause it's- that's just how it is. And it's fun to make people guess."

"Angels do not guess," he said again.

"Yeah, you said that already," I rolled my eyes, "You're not much fun!"

My stomach growled just then. "I'm hungry, it must be time for lunch," I stood up and went over to the kitchen. We still had plenty of turkey left, so I could make myself a sandwich. I saw most of a pumpkin pie on the top shelf of the refrigerator and pulled it out instead.

"Pumpkin pie, yum!" I said. I tried to cut a slice out of it, but I couldn't do it, so I took a fork and just ate some of the pie right out of the pie pan.

"Do you want some?" I asked Castiel. He had walked over to the table where I was standing and was watching me.

"I do not," he said.

"Hey, can you get me anything I wanted?" I looked up at him.

"It is a possibility. What do you want?"

"Can you get me ice cream? A hot fudge sundae? Made with French Vanilla ice cream?" I asked hopefully.

"I think...I think I can do that," he turned, "Come with me."

He took my arm, and then all of a sudden, we were standing in the middle of a store! I felt embarrassed, because I realized I was still in my pajamas, I had forgotten to get dressed.

It was a candy shop, there were big glass cases of different types of chocolates and pastries. There was a set of refrigerated cases along the side. There was what looked like a menu on the wall behind the counter. At the top of of the menu it said, "La Maison du Chocolat". I couldn't read anything because it looked like a different language.

"I made a mistake," Castiel muttered, "French Vanilla refers to the way the ice cream is made, not the country it originates from."

"Uh, I don't get it," I said.

He turned from the counter, holding a big dish of ice cream in his hands. "Here you go." We walked over to a table and sat down.

"Castiel, Daddy said we weren't s'posed to go outside, 'member?" I asked hesitantly.

"We are not outside, we are in the shop," he told me matter-of-factly.

I watched a man step up to the counter, he wore a striped sweater and a scarf and had a funny little beard on the bottom of his chin.

"Un cafe, s'il vous plait," he said, and handed some money over the counter. He walked over and sat at the table next to us, taking a newspaper out from under his armpit and unfolding it. He sipped his drink and looked at the paper.

"Can I have some 'see-voo-play'?" I asked, and giggled. His voice had sounded funny when he said those weird words!

He didn't look at me or even act like he noticed us. I realized that no one in the shop had looked at us or responded to us.

"Um, Castiel, are we—are we invisible or something?" I whispered, leaning towards him.

"We are moving at a faster frequency than the human eye can detect, they cannot see us," he told me, looking around.

"We're what?" I sat up and stared at him.

He began to repeat what he said, and I interrupted, "I heard you, I just don't get—I mean, how- why—how are you doing that?"

"Do you want me to explain the physics behind it? It will take a while-"

"No, I just-" I sighed, "Can you tell me in a easy way?"

"I sped up our molecules so that they could travel through space quicker and easier, it is a way to travel long distances in a short amount of time, and it is a way to avoid demons and other supernatural entities. Most of them travel at lower frequencies. They will be unaware of us while we are in this state."

"Is it—is it safe for me? Like, it's not going to make me turn into a monster or anything, or twist my DNA later so that I become a mutant?"

He shook his head. "There may be some residual after effects, but they will be temporary. It does not affect or alter your DNA or any part of your body."

I ate some more of my ice cream and turned to look out the window, watching people walk by. In the distance, there was a huge tall tower made of dark metal beams, all lit up. It looked familiar, but I couldn't think of where I'd seen it before.

I sat back finally and put my hand on my tummy. "I can't eat another bite, I'm stuffed."

Suddenly Castiel put his hand up to his head. It looked like he was listening to something.

"What?" I asked.

"I am getting an alert, your father—there is danger."

I sat up. "What do you mean, danger? Is he in danger? Can we go to where he is and help him?"

"No, you cannot go, or do anything to help, this is not a matter for humans. I must-" he looked around, and then directly at me. "I must put you to sleep, so that I can go and help your family."

"I wanna go with you, I don't want to go to bed!" I protested, "Wait, you said—put me to sleep? What d'you mean? I don't want you to put me to sleep!"

"You cannot go with me, Charlotte Anne. If I put you to sleep, you will sleep for a long while and be safe. I will go to where the Winchesters are and help them."

"Will they be okay?"

"I cannot say. But the quicker I get there, the better."

I sighed. "Okaaay. Put me to sleep then."

He reached out to touch me, with two fingers extended, and everything went dark.

Everything was gray. The ceiling was gray, the walls were gray, the door was dark gray metal. The walls and floor looked like cement. There were symbols painted on the walls and ceiling, and there were lights in the ceiling covered by metal grates. It was dim in the room, and damp. I shivered and sat up. I was laying on a dirty, dingy mattress that was on the side of the room, near the wall furthest away from the door.

I got up and ran over to the door and grabbed the handle, pulling on it. It stayed shut. There was a small window towards the top, covered by a metal grate. I jumped up a couple of times but the window was too high up for me to be able to see out of. I banged on the door and yanked on the handle as hard as I could. It was solid and heavy and didn't budge an inch.

"Daddy!" I called, "Daddy, I'm awake! Daddy where are you? I'm awake now, come get me!" I started to get scared. Where even was I? I kicked the door and banged on it some more. "HELP!" I shouted, "HELP ME! I'M LOCKED IN!" Suddenly panic overtook me, and I began to pound and kick at the door, screaming for help, somebody, anybody, come and get me, help me, save me. Where was my Daddy? Where was Uncle Sam? Where was Grandpa John? Where was Castiel?

I came back to myself, all huddled on the floor up against the door. My face was drenched with tears and my throat felt raw from screaming. I was shaking and my heart and head were pounding. My toes hurt and my hands hurt from all the hitting and kicking I had done.

I had to get ahold of myself. I had to try and figure out what to do. If I could find a way to get out of here. I looked around- there was a low table and a chair in the corner. I walked over to look-they were metal and bolted to the floor. There was a plastic mug on the table. I was so thirsty- I picked it up, looking to see if there was water in it.

A wave of dizziness washed over me as I saw hands holding the cup, a short dark-haired man's hands, with white bandages on the wrists, lifting the cup up to take a drink. I could feel the man's thoughts, confusion and anger and fear, and then I saw him looking in a mirror—he was standing in a bathroom, holding a straight razor, and his eyes changed from blue to bottomless shiny black and then to blue, and he whispered, "Gotta cut the demon out", and he raised the razor to his chest and sliced-

All I saw was blood cascading as I screamed and threw the cup away from me, as hard as I could. The man had had something inside him, something inside his head, something bad, something that made him think bad thoughts and want to do bad things. I felt pressure in my head, and pain behind my eyes. Was the bad thing what made his eyes black? I moaned as I felt the bad feelings swirling around in my head, and put my hands up to the sides of my head.

More images filled my mind. I saw the man holding a knife, and he shoved it into a blonde man's chest, and the blonde man looked shocked as blood began to pour down the front of his shirt. He gasped and grabbed ahold of the handle of the knife, but he couldn't remove it. Then I saw the man on top of a woman laying on her back, and she was crying, and he put his hands around her neck and squeezed- A wave of dizziness overcame me and then all of a sudden I was waking up on the floor next to the table. I must have fainted. Underneath my nose, and my lips and chin all felt wet- I wiped my face with my hand, and it came away bloody. My nose was bleeding! I began to cry, and started to stand up. I was still dizzy, and fell back down. I crawled on my hands and knees over to the mattress, and laid down on it, willing the stabbing pain in my head to stop.

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm putting this at the end of the chapter because I didn't want to spoil any of the action. I made up the "science-y sounding" explanations about how Charlie and Castiel were traveling. La Maison du Chocolat is a real store in France that sells candy and ice cream.