AUTHOR'S NOTE: I haven't had as much time to write as usual, at the beginning of the year we adopted a kitten, and then a short time later, a puppy. I forgot how puppies are basically toddlers and you have to watch them all the time. Then, a few weeks ago, the puppy jumped off of the porch and broke her leg! She needed surgery, so for the first week after that I was giving her round the clock pain meds, and I was so tired that I didn't write at all. Plus we have to keep her leashed all the time and under constant supervision to prevent her from running and jumping while her leg heals. The bandages should come off in a couple of weeks so hopefully I'll have more time to write soon!
MariaKata, AshtynnAlba, sjwmaw, Ponygirlrunner25, Noily Prat, Elliesamdeangirl, EmilyAnnMcGarrettWinchester, spades4891, fencinglady5, Myst1989, wandamarie, tamilyn313, Jessiwazhere, Lexie Lou, sodasgirl1, Hummina, Auphepet, Stacy, Guests, and fanclaire, Thank you and Merci beaucoup for the reviews and comments! I love getting reviews in other languages, it's so fun!
This chapter and most likely the next one will be from Dean's POV again. I'm still amazed that we're 100 chapters in- thanks for sticking with me through the whole thing, I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing!
Thanks to edge_of_clairvoyance and crzedpanda for beta-ing!
~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~
I've looked into the eyes of a Wendigo and I've had a werewolf breathing in my face and I've wrestled with ghosts, but nothing prepared me for my kid flipping out. She hadn't enjoyed her previous hospital experiences, and had had some trouble with needles, but she had never acted like this. As soon as the nurse brought in the tray with the needle and thread and a syringe, Charlie freaked. Screaming, crying, bolted off of the bed towards the door, and then kicked and screamed like a banshee as soon as Sam caught her. A couple of nurses had to come in to hold her down, they said that we weren't allowed to in case one of us got hurt. They told me to stand by her head and talk to her, try and get her calm. It wasn't working, so finally the doc pulled me aside and asked how I'd feel about them sedating her. I told him that she'd been sedated before, so they went with that, rather than strap her down to a table, which he said would be even more traumatic.
The doc reported that it was a good thing we'd brought her in, as there were tiny rust flakes in Charlie's wound, and the skin had torn unevenly. He cleaned it out before suturing it up, and then one nurse gave her a tetanus vaccination while another one was bandaging her arm.
Then we had to wait for the sedation to wear off. We were actually in a room, not a curtained off-alcove, so Sam turned on the t.v. that was in the corner of the room. He found an old re-run of 'Dr. Sexy, MD' for us to watch.
I sat on the bed next to Charlie and kept an eye on her. I wanted to talk about what had happened, about how to address Charlie's experience with her, but I was too damn worn out, and by the looks on Sam's and my dad's faces, I knew they were too.
Dad's phone rang and he stepped out into the hallway. A short while later, he returned carrying a tray of coffee cups and a plastic bag. "Got some caffeine and doughnuts for us while we're waiting."
He reached into the bag and handed me a plain glazed doughnut. I took a bite- it was a little stale, but still good. "Thanks, Dad."
He took a sip of his coffee. "That was Sheriff Mills on the phone, she said something came up and she won't be able to make it over to talk to Charlie. I told her that was okay, since Charlie's most likely down for the count tonight. She'll be in touch tomorrow and get a statement then."
"Sounds good, since we don't know how Charlie's going to be feeling when she wakes up."
Several minutes later, Charlie stretched her arms and legs, and rolled her head back and forth. Her eyelids fluttered open.
"Hey, babygirl," I said as she blinked up at me.
"Daddy?" Her voice was husky with sleep. Her eyes filled with tears that began sliding down her cheeks.
"What's wrong, are you in pain?" I asked with concern.
"I—I dunno," she said, frowning. She swiped at her face with her hand and noticed the bandage on her arm.
"How do you feel?" I asked.
"M' skin's pulling," she mumbled, touching the bandage.
"Leave it alone, kiddo." I took her hand.
She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "M' tired, can we go home now?"
"I think they need to check you out first, and then we can go," Sam stood up. "I'll let them know she's awake."
By the time the nurse entered the room, Charlie had fallen into a light doze. I patted her cheek. "Hey, Charlie, wake up. The nurse needs to look you over."
She sat up suddenly, blinking rapidly. "Daddy?" She asked, squinting at me. "Are they done yet?"
I chuckled. "Do you remember what happened?"
She frowned and scratched her head.
The nurse pressed a button and the blood pressure cuff on Charlie's arm inflated. "Last time for this, sweetie, and then I'll remove it."
She removed the pulse-ox gadget off of Charlie's finger and looked at the digital display, then wrote something on a clipboard.
"M' tiiiired," Charlie whined.
"I know, baby, they're almost done here." I assured her.
She whimpered as the nurse undid the blood pressure cuff, and then cried out when her hair got caught in the velcro. The nurse took her pulse and listened to her heart with a stethoscope.
Charlie crawled into my lap, yawning.
"One more thing, I'm going to need you to tell me your full name and how old you are, sweetie." The nurse said.
Charlie frowned up at her. "I'm gonna need you to leave me 'lone," she muttered, turning her face into my chest.
I bit the inside of my cheek so I wouldn't laugh and heard Sam make a strangled noise that he turned into a cough. I touched her shoulder. "C'mon, kiddo, answer the nurse, please."
"I wanna sleeeeep," she whined.
"They need to finish checking you over, make sure you're okay, and then you can sleep as long as you want. C'mon now-"
She groaned, and I gave her a little shake.
She leaned her head back and glared up at us both. "M'name's Charlotte Anne Winchester an' I just turned nine...any other questions?"
The nurse smiled. "No, that's good. Thank you, sweetie."
"M' not your sweetie." She muttered again, burrowing into my flannel and closing her eyes.
"Well, I guess I won't offer her juice or applesauce." The nurse chuckled. "She just wants to rest, which is fine. You can give her some food when you get home, something that's easy on the stomach. Keep an eye on her tonight, all right?"
"Will do. Thank you." I smiled at her as she handed me the discharge paperwork to sign. Once that was done, I handed my copy to Sam and stood up, shifting Charlie in my arms.
She slept all the way home, not even stirring when we went through a drive-through to grab dinner.
As we turned onto the road that went to the development where we lived, I leaned forward. "Hey, Dad, do you know where the burned house is?"
He glanced back at me. "The sheriff said it's a couple blocks over-"
Sam spoke up. "It's on Beechfield Avenue, it's across from the street that the park is on, you know? I pass by it when I'm driving to go see Imani."
Dad nodded. "I think I know which street you mean."
"Let's take a drive, I just want to see it." I said. "Drive by it real slow."
"All right," Dad agreed.
In a few minutes, he turned down the street, and slowed the car to a crawl.
The house came into view- it was set further back from the road than the other houses on the street. There was one outer wall still standing, but a lot of everything else was gone, except for the inner structure of the support beams. If it hadn't been for all the black scorch marks all over everything, it would have looked like the house was in the beginning stages of being built. In some places there were partial walls, and there was a lot of torn, burnt insulation hanging down from the beams. There was a large pile of debris and garbage piled up towards the back of the property, and tall tree next to the house that was black on one side.
"How could she get stuck in a room, when there aren't even walls?" Sam asked quietly, looking back at me.
"I dunno, we've got a lot to ask her about tomorrow." I said. The drive to our house was silent. I was wondering what we were going to find out in the morning.
Charlie briefly woke up when I carried her inside. I set her down on the sofa. "You hungry? Want something to eat, or some juice?"
"Uhh-" Charlie looked around groggily, and then leaned over onto the arm of the sofa and closed her eyes.
Sam chuckled. "I guess that's a no. We should probably just put her to bed."
I leaned down to pick her up. "She can bunk with me tonight."
I carried Charlie into my room, changed her into one of my t-shirts, and tucked her into my bed. Then I went downstairs to grab my fast food bag and a beer, and snagged the paper Dad had been reading earlier and brought it back to my room. Charlie slept soundly as I ate my lukewarm burger and fries and read through the newspaper. When I was finished I got ready for bed and then sat watching her for a while before I fell asleep.
I woke up hearing whimpering. The bed next to me was empty, and I rolled over and sat up.
Charlie was across the room, standing at the door. "It's...so...hot…" She said fretfully.
I jumped out of bed and hurried across the room to her, immediately concerned. Was she having a nightmare, or reliving what she'd seen at the house? "Charlie? Hey, kiddo, wake-"
"My babies, I need to get my babies!" She cried out in a panicked voice. She grabbed the doorknob and screamed, pulling away from it like it had burned her.
She stared down at her hand, and then began to slap at the door with her other hand, calling, "Sharon! Mallory! Jeff! Where are you?"
"Charlie!" I said louder, putting my hand on her shoulder. I shook her slightly and pulled her away from the door. I wasn't sure if I should try to wake her, or let her ride this out.
I heard knocking, and Sam said, "Charlie?" on the other side of the door.
She grabbed the doorknob again and twisted it, screaming, and tried to yank the door open. Her screams got louder, and I panicked.
I grabbed her and pulled her away from the door. "Charlie, wake up!" I yelled, shaking her again.
She blinked up at me, and then her eyes rolled back into her head, and it was like a marionette whose strings had been cut- she went limp and collapsed.
"Charlie? Oh geez, Charlie!" I squatted down and turned her over, pulling her upright and patting her cheek.
The door opened and Sam was right there, taking her wrist and checking her pulse. He looked at me. "Pulse is steady, that's good."
"Charlie!" I felt helpless, uncertain as to what could be causing this.
"The nurse told me that Charlie could have bad dreams or restless sleep tonight, so maybe that's what this is." Sam said.
"She was standing at the door, Sam, and she was talking like she was there at the fire. She said something about needing to get her babies and said a couple of names. I think she was remembering what she saw."
He sat back on his heels. "Yeah, I wondered if that might happen. We never got a chance to ask her about it before."
Charlie stirred, and her eyelids fluttered. She looked up at me. "Daddy? Wha's goin' on?" Her voice was groggy.
"You had a bad dream, baby." I told her, shifting her so that she was sitting up.
"M' thirsty an' I gotta pee."
"I'll get you some ice water." Sam stood up, and then started to walk downstairs.
"Can you stand?" I got up and helped her into a standing position. She swayed slightly, and I kept ahold of her arm. "How's your head?"
"A lil' dizzy." she mumbled.
"Okay, I'll walk you to the bathroom." I put my arm around her shoulders and led her down the hall into the bathroom. "You got it from here?"
She scrubbed a hand over her face. "Uh-huh."
I stepped out and closed the door. Sam came down the hall, holding a glass. "She say anything?"
I shook my head. We waited a couple of minutes, and then I tapped on the door. "Charlie? You done in there?"
There was no reply, no sound at all. I looked at Sam and pushed open the door.
Charlie was asleep on the toilet, her hands folded in her lap and her head lowered. I lifted her up and held her upright while I pulled her panties up, and then carried her back to the bedroom.
Sam set the glass on the nightstand. "In case she wakes up again."
"Thanks."
"Let me know if you need anything else." He said, and then left the room.
I sat down against the headboard and looked down at Charlie. It was still kindof odd having a kid who was psychic. In my world, psychics were either not to be trusted, or they were outliers. Not quite monsters and not quite civilians. The ones who were real were few and far between, and they were treated with suspicion even if they helped hunters out. Missouri Mosely was the only one I knew of who got respect, but I think that's because of the force of her personality. I wondered what would happen with Charlie's abilities in the future, if they would increase or decrease as she got older. I fell asleep thinking about Charlie growing up.
Someone touching my arm jerked me out of sleep. I raised my head and squinted-it was just getting light outside.
"Daddy, hurts." Charlie whimpered.
I sat up. "What hurts, kiddo?"
She put her hand up to her head. "Gotta headache. An' my- my whole body hurts too."
I ran my hand over her hair and was startled to feel how hot she was. I placed my palm on her forehead- she was running a fever.
"Let me go get the thermometer." I told her. I grabbed it out of the bathroom and stuck it in her ear. It registered 100 degrees.
"You've got a fever, let me go get some ibuprofen, okay?"
"Don't go." She begged, rolling onto her side and reaching for me. "Ow!"
"What is it?"
She started to cry. "M-my arm!" She wailed, sitting up.
I pulled the sleeve of her shirt up. The area where she'd gotten the injection yesterday was red.
"That's where you got a shot." I told her. "The nurse said it could be painful for a couple of days."
She frowned. "I don't like it!"
"I know. It'll go away in a day or so. Let me get you some medicine-"
"Nooo," she whined, "Don't leave meee-"
"All right, all right. Let's go downstairs, and I'll set you up on the sofa."
She raised her arms. "Carry me, Daddy, everything hurts."
She looked so pitiful that I just had to pick her up. She winced as I lifted her out of bed.
I set her on the sofa and went into the kitchen to get the medicine.
Sam was already up, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He noticed me taking the bottle of liquid ibuprofen out of the cabinet. "What's up?"
"Charlie's running a fever, and she said everything hurts, and her arm too, where she got the shot." I poured myself a cup of coffee and took a swig.
"I looked over that paper that the nurse gave us about the tetanus shot, it said that it can cause fever and joint pain. If it gets worse we should call the doctor." Sam said.
I got a glass of water and the medicine, and took it out to the living room. Charlie was laying listlessly on the couch.
I gave her the medicine. "I'll go get you a pillow and blankets, I'll be right back."
"Can you get my Hello Kitty too?" She asked shyly. She had taken to carrying around the plush Hello Kitty she had gotten for her birthday.
"Sure thing."
While I was in her room, I also grabbed the stuffed cat I'd bought her when we'd had to take Stella to the hospital and MaryBear, and a couple of her books.
Sam was in the living room when I came back in. He looked at me. "It looks like Charlie's taking a sick day from school."
"I'll make sure to call the teacher and let them know." I joked, handing her the stuffed animals. I set her pillow behind her back and spread the fleece blanket over her.
Sam went back into the kitchen. "Dean, you want some eggs too?" He called.
"Sure," I replied, leaning over to tuck the blankets around Charlie. "I'm going to stay home from work today, so I can keep an eye on you." I told her.
She smiled up at me. "Thanks, Daddy," she said gratefully.
My boss was understanding as soon as I told him that I'd had to take my kid to the ER the previous night. He told me to call if there were any problems and let him know if I needed anything.
By the time I'd gotten dressed and come back downstairs, Dad was up as well.
I checked on Charlie again- the medicine must have kicked in, because she was looking a little more bright eyed than before.
"You feelin' up to sitting at the table, or you want to eat here?" I asked.
"I can eat in the kitchen." She slowly pushed the blankets back and stood up. She brought Hello Kitty with her and set it on her lap.
Dad was buttering a stack of toast, and he set some on each plate. He touched the top of her head. "How are you feeling, little one?" He asked tenderly.
She looked up at him. "M'okay, just a little ouchy now."
"You let us know if you start feeling worse." He told her.
Sam had made oatmeal for Charlie and himself. Once he set the eggs out, he sat down as well. I served myself some eggs and dug in. Dad topped up our coffee mugs and sat down.
I looked over at Charlie. "So, kiddo, can we talk about yesterday?"
She dropped her eyes to her plate and I saw a shadow pass over her face. "Umm...okay," she said hesitantly.
I remembered how I'd felt when I'd done something wrong and gotten caught, and how my dad's terse bark of "Report" would get my stomach all twisted in knots.
I made my voice calm. "Can you tell us what happened?" I glanced at Sam, who was trying to look like he wasn't watching her.
She played with the sleeve of the dress that her plush cat was wearing. "I saw Addi an' the other kids outside and she said they were goin' to the park, so I came inside and asked Uncle Sam if I could go too. He said I could, for a little while. After we were there, a bunch of other kids came to the park too. It was mostly bigger boys, and they were running around and jumping off the playground stuff. Two of 'em were tryin' to get the swings all tangled up." She glanced up at me. "Aubrey was hangin' out with them, and they all dared each other to jump off the top of the monkey bars. There were some little kids there, but their mom made them leave when one of the boys almost jumped on a little boy who was under the monkey bars."
So these kids were hoodlums who were misusing the equipment and scaring off other kids. They sounded like a great bunch.
"Then-" Charlie shifted, and looked uncomfortable, "one of 'em said we should all play freeze tag, so we played that for a couple minutes. Then…" her face colored, and she dropped her head lower. She squirmed in her chair for a moment, then looked up at me. "I was bad, Daddy, I'm sorry," she whispered. "I did something I wasn't s'posed to do."
I glanced at Sam and Dad. "What did you do?" I kept my voice even.
"Well...one of the boys, Timmy I think, said let's go for a walk. I said I wasn't allowed to go anywhere else. One of the other boys said there was a yard that had a nest of baby bunnies in the back of it. Addi really wanted to see 'em, and she begged me to go." She glanced up at me. "I didn't cross any streets, though. It was one street over, an' we walked on the sidewalks."
She darted a look over at Sam and Dad, and then raised her head and looked at me, her face miserable. "M' sorry." Her voice broke. "I know m' in trouble."
In view of everything else that had happened I felt inclined to just let it go, I didn't want her hurting any more than she already was. But she was right, she wasn't supposed to go anywhere else, and she disobeyed that rule. And what's more, she had 'fessed up to it instead of me having to confront her or drag it out of her.
I straightened. "All right. You did break a rule, kiddo, so you're grounded to the house for the rest of the week." Plus, I didn't really want her playing outside until we'd had a chance to talk to the boys that had taken Charlie into the burned house. As far as I was concerned, that was an easy out for me.
Charlie looked relieved. "'Kay, Daddy. I mean, yes sir."
I felt bad for her in that moment, she was trying so hard to follow all the rules we'd given her. I smiled at her. "You're not bad, sweetheart. Thank you for being honest with us, and telling us what you did wrong. That was brave of you."
She beamed at me, obviously basking in the praise.
Sam cleared his throat. "So what happened next?"
"We all went around to the back of the house, and Addi asked where the baby bunnies were. Aubrey said that they were over near the pile of junk from the house-" Fear rippled across her face. "And then a bunch of the boys grabbed me and started pulling me towards the back door." She frowned. "They were makin' all this noise, one of them was saying something about a ghost in the house, and I tried to pull away from them, but they were holding on tight. And then..." She stopped talking, and her eyes became unfocused.
"Uh- then..." She became still and stared into the distance.
I glanced over at Sam and Dad, they were both watching her intently. I waited for several seconds, and Charlie didn't move. "Charlie?" I asked quietly, touching her arm.
She jerked when I touched her, and began blinking rapidly. "Uh—uhh...I can't-" She frowned. "I can't remember, it's all fuzzy now." She scratched her head, looking confused. "Did we- did I have to get a shot?"
I glanced over at Sam again, unsure of what to say. I didn't know if talking about it would upset her again.
"Yes, we had to take you to the hospital because of your arm. Do you remember that?" Sam asked smoothly.
Charlie's face relaxed. "Oh. Oh, yeah!" Then she frowned again. "I don't- I can't really remember much, it's like it's all broken up into little pieces. Why-?"
"The nurse told me that when a person gets sedated like you did, it can mess with their memories." Sam told her. "I think that's what's happening here. It's okay, things may come back to you later."
"Okay." She picked up a piece of toast and began to eat it.
"Do you remember anything else that happened?" I asked, making my voice sound casual.
"Umm...I was scared, one of the boys was makin' a ghost sound, y'know, like 'ooohhh'. An' I remember Addi helping me get up." She frowned again, taking another bite of toast. "Yeah, I fell an' scraped my hands." She looked at her palm. "An' some kids were laughing. And then- we heard a car coming, and there was some yelling, an' they ran away." She finished the toast and picked up her fork, scooping up some eggs and eating them.
"What happened next?" I asked, trying to tamp down the anger I felt at those boys.
She closed her eyes for a moment, frowning. "Umm...I can't remember." She opened her eyes and looked at me. "Sorry, Daddy."
I put my hand on her arm again. "That's okay. If you remember more during the day, tell one of us, all right?"
She nodded, continuing to eat.
My phone rang, and I fished it out of my pocket. The display said 'Sioux Falls Sheriff's Office.' I answered it. "Dean Winchester."
A woman's voice spoke. "Mr. Winchester, this is Sheriff Mills, I wanted to know if I could come by today and talk to your daughter?"
I glanced over at Charlie, who was concentrating on her plate. "Sure, we're here."
Sheriff Mills sounded surprised. "You kept her home from school? Is she okay?"
"Oh- we, uh, we homeschool her." I explained. "She's not feeling well though, she got a tetanus booster and she's having a slight reaction."
"I see. Is she well enough to speak with me?" She asked cautiously.
"Yeah, she's okay, she's running a slight fever and is achy, you know?"
She chuckled. "Nothing a little ibuprofen and TLC won't fix, I know the drill. Well, I'm in the area, so I'll be by in, say...about 20 minutes. Will that work for ya?"
"Yes, that'll give us time to finish breakfast." I told her. We said our good-byes and I disconnected the call. Everyone was looking at me expectantly, so I filled them in. "Sheriff Mills is on her way to talk to you, Charlie."
"I'll start a fresh pot of coffee," Dad got up from the table and picked up his plate. He walked over to the counter and began to busy himself with the coffee maker.
Charlie looked uncomfortable.
"What is it, Charlie?" I asked.
She played with Hello Kitty's bow. "Well...I'm scared I'm gonna be in trouble. 'Cause she's like, the police."
"No, Charlie, you won't be. And she told you yesterday, you weren't in trouble with her, remember?"
She looked at me. "She did?"
I nodded. "She did, before we left for the hospital."
Charlie's face relaxed. "Okay." She sat back. "I'm done."
"All right, you can go lay down on the sofa again, I'll be in in a minute." I told her.
She got out of her chair and left the room.
"What are we going to tell the sheriff?" I asked Dad in a low voice. "Does she know about hunting?"
Dad nodded. "Yes, she does, and she and Bobby have helped each other out before."
"That's good to know. If we end up needing more info about the woman who died in the house, do you think she'd let us look at the case files?"
Dad looked at me. "Why would we need information about that?"
I told him about Charlie's dream earlier. "I think she might have seen something, about the woman and possibly her death, but she can't remember it right now, because of the sedation."
"I don't know if it's in Jody's jurisdiction, but it won't hurt to ask." Dad said. "She can probably point us in the right direction."
"Oh, we're on a first-name basis with the sheriff now, Dad?" I teased.
His cheeks reddened. "That's what Bobby calls her, I just picked it up, I guess."
"Daddyyyy, come sit with meeee," Charlie called.
I grabbed my mug. "Okay, kiddo." I replied.
She had the blanket wrapped around her body, and I sat down next to her. "What are we watching?" I asked.
"There's a new cooking contest, it's for baking." She explained. "The bakers have to make a regular dessert, like a cake or cookies, then a dessert that they like and they're good at, and then something with a weird ingredient."
"These shows always have that, you notice that? The contestants always have to add something like sardines or exotic fruit. How often is that going to happen in real life?"
"It makes it more interesting, Daddy!" She smiled at me.
I was glad that she seemed relaxed and happy right then. Her cheeks were a little pink, and she still felt warm.
The doorbell rang, and I got up to answer it. I let Sheriff Mills in, and Dad and Sam came in and we all said our hellos. Sam offered her coffee, which she accepted.
A few minutes later we were all in the living room with mugs of coffee and the sheriff had her notepad out. "So, first things first, I found your bracelet, I believe."
Charlie sat forward. "It's got Hello Kitty on it? And some pink and purple crystal beads?" Her voice was eager.
Sheriff Mills nodded, digging into her pocket. She brought out a small plastic evidence bag. "There were a couple of the charms on the ground, I guess they fell off."
Charlie opened the bag and dumped it out into her palm. "The heart charm fell off, and one of the big pink beads. But-" she looked up at me, anguish on her face. "The—the pie charm! It's not there!" Tears filled her eyes and began to spill down her cheeks. "Where is it?"
"I'm sorry, kiddo, that's all I found." Sheriff Mills said regretfully.
"Can we go back and look? Maybe I can find it!" Charlie said.
Sheriff Jody shook her head. "I'm sorry, hon, I can't allow you to go back there, it's too dangerous. I can do another sweep of the area and let you know-"
"But I want it!" Charlie snapped.
"Charlie!" I admonished, frowning at her. "Don't speak to the sheriff that way! She found your bracelet and brought it to you, what do you say?"
"M' s-sorry," She sniffled and wiped her face with the edge of her blanket. "Th-thank you for looking and f-finding my bracelet an' b-bringing it to me." She looked down at the bracelet. "The beads're a little dirty."
"Yeah, it's pretty dusty and dirty all over the property." Sheriff Mills agreed. "So, kiddo, why don't you tell me what happened?"
Charlie looked nervous, and began to haltingly recount everything that had happened yesterday. The sheriff would stop and ask questions occasionally. I explained that Charlie's memory was spotty due to her having to be sedated at the hospital, and then I took over the story and told her what had happened at the ER. Charlie's face relaxed as my talking brought back some more of her memories. We showed the sheriff the finger-shaped bruises on Charlie's arm. By then, my anger at those boys had come back-what the hell had they been thinking? I really wanted to give them a piece of my mind.
Sheriff Mills flipped the notebook closed. "Thank you for sharing everything, Charlie. You're a brave little girl." She smiled at her, then turned a serious look on me. "Now, I need to know if you want to press charges against these boys. I think that you could make something stick, there's more than one witness who can corroborate Charlie's statement, and we've got the medical report to back up her claims of injury- the sutures and the finger marks on her arm."
We had told the ER doc about the finger marks on Charlie's arm that Dad had noticed, and he had taken photographs of them, as did Sam with his phone.
I looked over at Dad. "Well, uh, we didn't—we hadn't really thought about it-" The last thing I wanted was for any of us to be involved with law enforcement or court, and we had always avoided that like the plague when I was growing up. I knew Dad felt the same way.
Dad looked uncomfortable. "No offense, but you know that our kind of people...don't deal well with the system."
Sam spoke up. "Charlie's been through a lot in her life already, her mother passed away a short while ago, and she's only been with us for a few months. I think putting her through all the stress of going to court wouldn't be a good idea."
Sheriff Mills nodded. "I totally understand, and it's your call. For my part, I'm going to go over tonight and have a talk with them- they're at 210 Larchmont Court, it's behind Beechfield. Single mom trying to raise 5 boys, she has her hands full." She gave me a meaningful look. "Well, the option is still on the table. You can call me if Charlie remembers anything else, or if something else comes up, or you decide you want to proceed with the charges." She stood up. "Good luck, kiddo."
We stood up as well, and we all shook hands.
I walked Sheriff Mills to the door. She continued, "Like I said, a few of us in the department are well-acquainted with these kids, and they need to know that we're aware of everything that they've been doing." She gave me another meaningful look. "I'm guessing you want to have a discussion of your own with them, just make sure you keep it legal. I don't need to end up having a talk with you folks."
"Thank you," I said, and she nodded. Yeah, a 'discussion' was what I wanted to have with the boys...
I let her out, then I came back and sat next to Charlie, thinking back to my run-ins with the cops, and the subsequent 'discussions' that Dad's belt had had with my ass. The memory alone made me shift uncomfortably in my seat.
Sam held his hand out. "Let me have the bracelet, Charlie, and I'll put everything back and clean it for you. We can go get another pie charm when you're feeling better, if you want."
She perked up. "Okay, Uncle Sam. Thanks!" She handed him the bracelet, and he left the room. Dad went back to his room as well.
She turned the t.v. back on and we found another cooking show to watch. "This is making me want something to eat." I told her. "How about we order a pizza for lunch?"
She grinned at me. "Okay!"
Sam brought the bracelet back in. "I put everything back on and made sure all the rings were closed."
He fastened the bracelet around Charlie's wrist. She held her arm up, turning it and looking at the beads.
"The Hello Kitty head had a black mark on it, but I got it off." Sam said.
She frowned. "The big pink bead is still dirty."
"What do you mean? I cleaned everything." Sam leaned over and took Charlie's hand. He moved the bracelet. "It looks fine to me."
"No, it- it still looks dirty."
I took her wrist. "Let me see." I moved the bead with my fingertip, watching the facets sparkle in the light. "It doesn't look dirty to me either."
Charlie frowned again, and pulled her wrist away. "I dunno."
We continued watching t.v. together for a while. I looked down at her and she had fallen asleep. Her cheeks had become flushed again, which meant that her fever was probably up, but I let her sleep. She needed the rest. I got up to visit the bathroom and then went to the kitchen to grab a bottle of beer out of the fridge.
When I came back, Charlie was at the front door. She moaned. "So...hot..."
I set my beer down and hurried over to her. "Charlie-"
"My babies, I need to get my babies!" She exclaimed, and then she reached out to grab the doorknob. She pulled her hand away as soon as it touched the doorknob, just as she had last night, and screamed.
I put my hand on her shoulder and shook her. "Charlie, wake up!"
Her whole body started violently, and then she went limp. I caught her as she fell and carried her over to the sofa. Her eyelids were fluttering, and as I leaned down to lay her down, she grabbed onto me. "D-daddy?"
Sam and Dad had both come into the room and were standing there watching.
"You awake, kiddo?" I asked.
She burst into tears, and I lifted her again and sat down on the sofa with her in my lap. I always felt so bad for her when she cried after she had seen something, and helpless, because I didn't know what I could do, if anything, to actually help her. I just wanted her to feel better.
After she had cried for a few minutes, she began to speak."Sh-she- the old l-lady, sh-she was s-stuck in her room, an' she couldn't g-get out, sh-she was s-scared! B-but—she w-was all con-confused! Sh-she was w-worried about h-her babies, b-but they w-were grown-ups too! I d-don't g-get it!" She wailed.
"Do you remember anything else?" Sam asked.
She shook her head. "Just- it was all a jumble, I—I dunno."
I stroked her hair back from her face. "That's all right. More may come back to you later. How are you feeling?"
She wiped her face with her hand. "Tired."
"You should try and rest." I told her. Hopefully she'd fall asleep and not wake up in a nightmare again.
"Sit with me." She begged. "Stay here."
"I'm not going anywhere." I assured her. "Close your eyes and try to sleep."
She nodded, her eyelids already drooping, and leaned on my chest. I reached over and grabbed the remote so I could find something to watch while she slept.
"I'm going to go do some research." Sam said.
"Me too," Dad chimed in.
They left the room, leaving me to cradle Charlie in my lap as she slept.
~ ~ spn ~ ~
Next chapter- The Winchester men have a talk with the boys who put Charlie in the abandoned house...