Greetings, amazing SPN Family!
Well, can't sleep after THAT season finale, so I might as well publish, lol. Part two coming at you! Special thanks to Jenmm31!
Hang in there, family. We'll get through this :)
A/N- this is part 2 of a three part story. To catch up, please read previous chapter. In this story, Natalie is 19. Please see profile page for disclaimer.
Natalie pulled her Fireflight into the parking lot. She took a moment to appreciate her beloved car, seeing as it was so seldom she actually got to drive it. It had been Dean's gift to her for her sixteenth birthday three years ago, rebuilt by his own hands, and she had reveled in it. Briefly. Because he was bound and determined that she still ride in the backseat of Baby when they went on cases. It had annoyed the living piss out of her, but she had kowtowed to his insane need to over-protect her and hadn't fought him much on taking it. Now that she was older, however, he was relaxing- slightly- and letting her take it on cases with them.
She ran her hands appreciatively over the wheel. Her father had cobbled together the pieces and the parts of a '67 Chevelle and rebuilt her from the chassis up. It had taken him years to do under her nose, but when he presented her with it for her birthday, all that time and subterfuge immediately paid off when he saw her face. He had chosen the '67 because obviously the best cars were made in that year, and Bobby had a lot of Chevelle pieces around the scrap yard, owing to the fact that he himself had owned one for years. Dean had it painted a deep cherry red for a couple reasons. One- easier to spot her on the road. Two- red had always been one of Natalie's favorite colors. Three- it was a great excuse to not let her take it on cases, since it was so conspicuous.
She had named the car Fireflight, because of the color and the fact that it raced down the road like a scalded dog. Dean had been less than pleased with the name, but since it was her car he hadn't harped on the issue. He just teased her mercilessly on it. She didn't care. From a tough guy that named his own car Baby? He didn't have a leg to stand on in her opinion.
She killed the motor, dropped her keys into her new purse, and exited the car. She wasn't used to carrying a purse. It felt weird hanging off her shoulder. She couldn't deny that the scrubs were a nice change of pace, however. Soft and comfortable with plenty of breathing room. Hell, she might start hunting in these bad boys. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door to Maplestone.
Dr. Cohen was waiting by the reception desk for her. His face broke out into a huge grin when he saw her. Despite the fact that he was old enough to be her father, Natalie couldn't help thinking to herself how attractive this man was. Not to her personally, but there was no denying he was handsome, especially when he smiled.
He extended his hand towards her. "Nurse Rose, welcome to the family," he said enthusiastically.
That made Natalie chuckle. "Can't say as I've ever had that particular greeting at a job before," she said, shaking his hand warmly.
The doctor shrugged unapologetically. "I like to think of my team as a family. These kids come from so many different circumstances, that for some, this is the very first taste of home life. If we're all on the same team- as a family- then it helps them adjust and understand the cohesion and stability that is unfamiliar to them."
Natalie couldn't help but be impressed. "Wow," she said. "That sounds like an incredibly effective way to begin to help these kids."
The doctor smiled amiably. "I'm willing to do whatever it takes. Come on. Let's get the paper work done so you can meet the kids."
*SPN SPN SPN *
A grueling half hour later, Natalie was set up with her own ID badge with all her personal information on file for paychecks. She grimly thought to herself that if she was here long enough to actually get a paycheck, then she clearly wasn't doing her actual job. She already felt a bit bad, seeing as how she was going to be leaving these nice people in the lurch once again when they had found and finished the shtriga, but she shoved that to one side. The most important thing right now was to keep them from dying. She'd work on her replacement later.
Dr. Cohen reintroduced her to several people that she had met the day before, and several new people as well. He had deposited her in the home's small infirmary, showing her the desk space she could call her own, and then hustled off to one of his many therapy appointments. Natalie was wondering what on earth a person put on a desk to 'make it their own' as the doctor suggested, when the door opened.
A tall, older gentleman pushing a janitor's cart entered the room. He stopped in surprise when he saw Natalie sitting there. "Beg pardon, Miss," he said, immediately beginning to back the cart out of the room. Natalie rushed forward, holding out her hand.
"No, no, that's okay. You're not disturbing me at all," she said quickly. Sam and Dean had drilled it into her that she should not interfere with anyone's real job when she was undercover, seeing as how these people still had lives to live outside of the supernatural. "Please, come in. I literally just walked in here," she said with a smile. "You probably know my office better than I do."
The older man chuckled, seeing that the young woman had a sense of humor. "Well, you mop a place long enough, you get to know the ins and outs of everything." He extended a large, beefy hand to her. "Clay. Head Janitor here."
Natalie shook his hand. His grip was surprisingly soft for a man of his size. "Rose Hudson. I'm the new nurse here."
Clay nodded approvingly at her handshake. "Good, firm grip. You're gonna go far, girlie," he said with an avuncular wink.
Natalie chuckled, liking this man already. "My dad is adamant about a good handshake."
"Well, he taught you right then."
"So Clay, how long have you worked here at Maplestone?"
"Going on fourteen years, now."
"Wow. Good for you."
"Ah, nothing to it. Sweep floors, pick up trash, clean up after seventy rambunctious kids. All in a day's work." They chuckled comfortably, when the door opened again. A young woman, definitely older than Natalie but not by much, came in. Her blonde and highlighted hair was pulled back into a sloppy ponytail, her light blue scrubs looked like they had just come from the Laundromat, and her arms were full of files. Clay turned her. "Well, hey there, Miss Lily. How're you today?"
"Just fine, Clay, thanks," Nurse Lily said with a bit of impatience. She turned to Natalie, who was surprised at the nurse's terse remarks to the friendly greeting. Dr. Cohen had introduced them yesterday. Natalie didn't exactly get the feeling she'd be getting a friendly handshake from this woman.
"Well. Glad to have you on board, Rose," she said in a pleasant tone that didn't reach her eyes. "We've been needing another nurse for a long time now. It'll be nice to finally have some help around here."
Natalie nodded back, smiling and trying to ease the frisson of tension that this woman's presence had created. "I'm happy to be here. And whatever you all need- just let me know."
"Ha!" Clay suddenly said, causing both women to jump a bit and turn to look at him. "Rose and Lily!" He cackled for a minute before slapping his thigh. "You both named after flowers. I'm gonna start calling you the Flower Girls!" Natalie chuckled, both at the irony and the clear joy Clay was getting out of his little joke. Lily managed a thin smile.
"That's great, Clay," she said in a flat tone. He didn't seem deterred by her joy, and pushed his cart out of the room, still giggling to himself softly. Lily rolled her eyes when the door clicked shut. She immediately turned and dropped the stack of files onto Natalie's desk heavily. Natalie's eyes went wide at the stack of paperwork.
"So. Let's talk about the kids here," Lily said grimly.
*SPN SPN SPN*
Sam had hacked into Maplestone's email server, just waiting for the next maintenance ticket to be sent out so they could sneak their way into the building. As Dean predicted, with a bevy of children, it didn't take terribly long for something to break.
Around 1 p.m. on Natalie's first day, the boys suited up in dark blue coveralls and headed into the facility, stopping at the front reception desk for directions, then heading into the room with the broken water faucet, taking in every possible face they could on the way. Once they were in the safety of the room, Dean pulled the EMF out of his pocket.
"I'm gonna do a sweep- make sure we're on the right track with this thing," he muttered, low, as he turned the detector on. "You work on fixing the faucet."
Sam looked surprised and offended. "Why am I the one who's gotta do the actual maintenance here?" he complained.
Dean shrugged. "Because you're the one that knows all that DIY home crap, Sammy." In response to his brother's unchanged bitch face, Dean continued. "When we hit up a haunted car shop, then I'm up to bat. In the meantime, get cracking." Not wanting to give Sam any more room to complain, he swiftly exited into the hallway.
He decided to try the rec room first, which was living up to its name, if improperly spelled. The room looked like a bomb had hit it. Apparently, he was coming in as a fight was being broken up. It wasn't immediately obvious who had instigated the fight, but he was surprised to see a little girl with a busted lip. She couldn't have been more than seven, but the fierce look on her face made her look like she was thirty-five. All too well, Dean knew the signs of a child made old before her time. She had been separated from the other fighters by another worker and left to the side for the time being. Even her unruly brown curls that she kept pushing out of her face spoke of defiance and toughness.
It seemed like the older gentleman in the white coat with the graying thatch of hair was in charge. He was speaking to a group of boys who were all looking sullen and casting unfriendly glances towards the little girl. The little girl stuck her tongue out at them. Suddenly, a young boy with the same colored brown hair, probably around thirteen, put his hand gently on her shoulder. She looked up, and he grimly shook his head. With a pout, she stopped making faces.
Just then, Natalie walked into the room on the heels of another nurse. Dean's heart leapt for a moment as he realized that she had been completely successful in her integration, but she was clearly on a mission. She made a beeline for the little girl and the older boy next to her. Dean quietly snorted to himself. Of course that was who she went for first. Her own little doppelganger.
He watched as she reached out a gentle hand to the little girl, and did a quick visual examination of the boy. There was too much commotion in the room for him to hear what she was saying, but he saw the little girl look up at the boy, and he nodded. Natalie leaned over to the other nurse and spoke, and was dismissed with a wave of the hand. He watched her purse her lips and barely restrain from rolling her eyes at the other nurse's rudeness. He snickered under his breath, knowing how ticked she was at this moment, but then he saw the softness return to her face as she held her hand out to the little girl. The child took it somewhat shyly, and after looking behind her to make sure that the boy was following them too, trotted after Natalie like a puppy.
Only when they were about to leave the room did Natalie suddenly become aware that Dean was there. Their eyes met briefly, and he could see the relief on her face as she registered his presence. It was a flicker of pride and of joy that he felt, seeing that. Just a subtle reminder that she still needed him. He winked at her and she returned the grin, before taking the little girl and the boy off into another room. He shook his head. Hopefully, her infield training on first aid would be all that she needed for the next couple days.
Once the fight had been successfully broken up and all the culprits removed, Dean unobtrusively went over towards the area of the room where it had occurred. He pulled out the EMF meter, but it stayed perfectly flat- no readings whatsoever. Nodding to himself, he continued his search of the place.
*SPN SPN SPN*
"C'mon in here, let me take a look at that lip."
Natalie led the girl into the nurse's office. Once he saw where they were going, the boy that had been with them quickly darted ahead. Natalie panicked for a second that he was making a wild break for it, but he instead dashed to the door, holding it open for the two of them like a gentleman. Natalie smiled her thanks at the boy, but turned her full attention to the little girl.
"Alright, kiddo, what's your name?" she asked the child gently. The little girl refused to answer. She just set her jaw and stared at the floor. Natalie's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but she tried again. "You don't have to tell me your real name, if you don't want to," Natalie said in a casual, light tone. Intrigued by the proposal, the little girl's eyes flicked towards hers for a moment. "You could be- let's see- Princess Buttercup Sparkles. What do you think?" Despite the fierceness on her face, the little girl let out a small giggle. She quickly stifled it, but Natalie could see the hard edges beginning to soften.
"Okay, Princess Buttercup Sparkles. Can I take a look at that lip and see if I can help it to feel better?" Natalie asked, hoping that she had made enough headway for this to not turn into a fight. However, she was wrong. The little girl stubbornly pulled her hand out of Natalie's grasp, and folded her arms tightly across her chest. Before she could say anything, however, the boy stepped forward.
"Come on, Mia," he said quietly, before picking her up under her arms and holding her on his hip. "The nurse just wants to help, okay?" In response, Mia put her head down on the boy's shoulder, the fight going out of her. The boy looked at Natalie for direction.
Trying not to let the situation throw her, Natalie nodded her head towards one of the examining tables covered in crinkly paper. The boy dutifully carried the little girl over and gently set her down on the table. He couldn't quite keep from hissing in pain as he did it, no matter how hard he was trying to hide it. And Natalie picked right up on it.
"Thank you for your help," she said quietly to the boy. "What's your name?"
He looked her right in the eye. "I'm Riley. That's my little sister, Mia," he said, jutting his chin out at the child. Mia's eyes flicked up to Natalie upon hearing her name. Natalie smiled warmly at them both.
"My name is Rose," she said, feeling slightly guilty for lying, but knowing that she had to keep this subterfuge going. "I'm the new nurse around here."
"Yeah, I didn't think I'd seen you before," Riley said. Natalie couldn't help but notice that he had a way of dropping off the ends of his sentences, almost as if he suddenly decided mid-sentence that what he was saying wasn't important. "It's nice to have someone else here."
"Besides mean ol' Lily," Mia muttered. Natalie pinched her lips together, suppressing her smile. It was clear she and Mia shared the same opinion of the other nurse, but as the 'adult' here, she wasn't sure if it was kosher to laugh at something like that.
"Well, you don't have to worry about Lily being here, okay? It's just us. She's taking care of the other boys."
"They're mean jerks, too." Seeing her window of opportunity, Natalie took it. She pulled the small cart next to the bed closer and selected a long cotton swab.
"So tell me," she said neutrally, dipping the cotton swab into the bottle of rubbing alcohol. "How did Princess Buttercup Sparkles get caught up in that fight?" She reached the swab out gently towards Mia's swollen lip, and carefully began dabbing the cut, trying to clean away the blood.
"It was my fault," Riley piped up suddenly. "The boys were going after me."
"Why were they going after you, Riley?"
After a pause, the boy answered quietly. "They like to pick on me. Ever since we got here a month ago, they've made it a point to remind us all who's really in charge around here." Out of the corner of her eye, Natalie saw Riley shift uncomfortably, reaching across his body and holding onto his other arm as if to protect himself from some unknown force.
She could feel a small but powerful flame growing inside her as she spoke. "Oh? And who do they think is in charge?" she asked carefully, trying not to let the rage she was feeling seep through. She looked up to see how Mia was doing with the treatment. Despite the stoic face, she could see tears welling up in Mia's eyes. She immediately withdrew the cotton swab, feeling like an ass for hurting the little girl. "Hey- tell you what," Natalie said quickly. "You hang tight, okay? I'm going to go get you something." Mia nodded reluctantly. Natalie dashed over to the other end of the room, where a mini fridge stood, waiting. Lily had said that there were ice packs in there. She did a quick search, and to her delight, found a pink one in the shape of a flower. She was surprised. It didn't seem like the kind of thing Lily would have on hand, even for a child.
Natalie brought it back to Mia and held it out. "Here you go," she said. "How about we play Elsa with this before we keep cleaning your cut?" she asked innocently. Frozen had been one of her favorite movies as a child. She could only assume that every other young girl felt the same way about it. She wasn't wrong in this case.
Mia's eyes suddenly lit up with joy and anticipation. "Yeah, that's good. Elsa is cool," she said, her grumpy little voice betraying her excitement.
Thrilled with the reception to the idea, Natalie started singing softly. "Let it go, let it go, can't hold it back anymore…" She pretended to shoot a blast of ice from her hand, accompanied by the appropriate gesture and sound effect. "Let it go, let it go…" she trailed off, and Mia picked it up, exactly as she'd hoped.
"SLAM the door!" the little girl squealed excitedly, before pretending to shoot ice all over the room and giggling. For the first time since meeting her, Natalie noticed that Mia finally looked like she was seven instead of forty.
"Here- watch this," Natalie said. She raised her left hand up on the level of Mia's lip, made the ice blasting sound, and quickly brought the ice pack up to the child's lip with her right hand. Mia giggled and held the frozen flower to her cut. Satisfied that she would be content with that for a moment, Natalie turned to Riley. "Hey dude, let's take a look at that arm."
Riley looked at Natalie in surprise. "How did you know?" he asked, before his eyes darted away in shame. "I mean- I'm fine. You can just fix Mia."
"Nice try," Natalie smirked. "C'mere." She didn't pressure the boy, she simply waited. Finally, Riley gave in reluctantly. Natalie turned him gently to the side, beginning to slowly move his arm in the socket like Sam had taught her, checking for injuries.
"So- you were saying?" she said casually, as she rotated his arm at the elbow. "About how the other boys were trying to tell you that they were in charge?" She didn't make eye contact. She chose instead to focus on his arm, which gave Riley the opportunity to decide if he wanted to respond or not. Finally, after a brief pause, he spoke again.
"They- they just like to tell other people that they are the bosses around here," Riley mumbled, unable to look Natalie in the face as she gently flexed his wrist. "They're just so big and mean."
"So you tried to stop them?" Natalie asked gently, wanting to make sure the boy understood that if he had, there was no judgment or recrimination coming from her. But to her surprise, Mia piped up in his place.
"No, he doesn't," she said sullenly. "He just lets them hit him."
"Mia," Riley whispered urgently, as if he was embarrassed. But that didn't deter her. She bravely puffed out her chest and pointed to herself with her thumb.
"I was the one that hit them," she said, her eyes full of defiance, as if daring Natalie to punish her for sticking up for Riley. "Nobody messes with my big brother," she snarled with seven-year-old vehemence. Natalie's eyes darted to Riley's face. He was looking away, looking at the floor, looking anywhere but back at her. It was clear that he was ashamed of being so passive. Natalie's heart broke looking at both faces. These kids had already been dealt a shit hand, and now this.
"Well, I think that you both were brave," she said nonchalantly, getting up and crossing to the fridge for another ice pack. Out of her periphery, she saw the siblings exchange quick glances at each other. Pretending not to notice, she extracted a simple blue ice pack from the freezer, wrapping it in a towel as she strolled back towards her patients. "Mia, you were super brave to protect your brother like that, and Riley…" She turned her focus to the boy, but he scoffed and looked down, his face bright red. She did to him what Dean had done to her a thousand times. She gently put her hand under his chin and moved his head up so he had to look her in the eye. When he was looking, all she could see was the shame and sorrow deep in his gaze. It nearly rendered her speechless, but she pulled it together. "Riley, not many people would be willing to take on a whole mob of people just to prove that they can't be pushed around."
"But…but they did push me around," Riley mumbled. He didn't look away though. He was gazing into Natalie's eyes, desperately wanting to believe that what she was saying was true. She held the ice pack up to his sore shoulder with her one hand, while moving her other hand from his chin to his cheek.
"You stood your ground, kiddo," Natalie said softly. "Most people would have gone running for the hills. But not you. You showed them that they weren't the boss of you, even if they were able to get a few good shots in." She saw relief and a spark of hope in Riley's eyes, which made her smile. She turned and looked at Mia, who was hanging onto her every word. Natalie grinned widely. "That's why you two make such a good team. You're both brave and tough. That's a good combination, you know?"
Suddenly, Mia shoved herself off the examination table, ran the few steps over to Natalie, and threw her tiny arms around her neck. Overwhelmed by the rush of affection that she felt, Natalie squeezed the little girl's arm once, and then looked back her. "Let's get that lip clean, huh?" she asked, her throat thick with emotion.
*SPN SPN SPN*
Over the course of the next week, all three Winchesters kept a sharp eye out for the shtriga, but to their consternation and relief, there were no further attacks. Both Sam and Dean had covered every inch of the facility, and Natalie had kept tabs on everyone and everything that had entered or exited the place. The fact that they were all coming up short was great, in that no one else was getting hurt, and the kids who had been attacked weren't getting worse- but they weren't getting better either.
"It's like the damn thing knows we're on its tail," Natalie growled into the phone late one night at her desk. It was around ten p.m.- way past quitting time- but Natalie was burning the midnight oil. She was sure she was missing something, and it was frustrating as hell to know that. She had found herself wandering the halls after hours under the guise of checking on the kids, when really she felt she was on guard duty.
Truth be told, she did enjoy getting to know the kids. Especially Riley and Mia. Ever since she had gotten Mia's stamp of approval, she couldn't seem to shake the little girl. Mia followed her around like a puppy, except when she was supposed to be in class or Natalie was somewhere she couldn't follow. Not that she didn't try, though. Riley had started showing some of his true personality too. He had a quick and dry wit that had caused Natalie to burst out laughing more than once. His soft smile at bringing her joy was heart warming. So knowing that these two special kids were potentially in the line of fire just made her even more desperate to find the shtriga and kill it. Gripping her cell tightly, she continued her conversation with her father. "How can a shtriga just…stop?" she hissed, beyond frustrated.
"I don't know, kid," Dean sighed on the other end of the line. "I can't make heads or tails of it either. I think you're right- it knows we're here, so we're keeping it at bay. For the time being."
"Yeah, well, that's not good enough."
"I know. Well, look. It's getting late. You can't stay there forever…"
"Yes, I can."
"Let me rephrase. You're NOT staying there forever."
Small sigh. "Yes, sir."
"Good. You take off in about an hour, okay? Sam and I are right outside. You head back to the motel, get some shuteye, and then take back over for us in the morning. Kapeesh?"
"Kapeesh," she said quietly, before her eyes darted to the door. "Dad, someone's coming, call you later," she said in a rush, hearing the footsteps approach. She heard the line go dead, and quickly shoved her cell in the pocket of her dark green scrubs as the door handle to her office twisted and opened.
Dr. Cohen looked around the corner with an apologetic smile. He chuckled softly when he saw Natalie still sitting there, just as he suspected she might be. "I must say, Rose, you're certainly proving yourself to be dedicated to the job," he said warmly. "May I come in?"
Natalie nodded. She and Dr. Cohen had gotten close this past week. His clear dedication to these kids notwithstanding, he was a genius in his field. Natalie was always automatically drawn to people she felt she could learn from, and his bedside manner combined with his medical knowledge was off the charts. "What can I do for you, Dr. Cohen?" she asked, eager as always to help.
He chuckled again and shook his head as he gently lowered himself into the seat by her desk. "It's what you can do for yourself," he said, arching his eyebrow. She looked at him, confused. He smiled gently. "Rose, you're pushing too hard," he said in a kind voice. "You should have left for home three hours ago."
"I know that," she said, the blush stealing into her cheeks. "I just…I just want to be there in case the kids need me." For some reason, she couldn't look this man in the eye. The rush of emotions she had gotten when Mia hugged her for the first time had been coming and going like the tides this week, always taking her by surprise. "I just want them to know that I'm here if they need me."
"I think that's one of the most special things about you, Rose," Dr. Cohen remarked with a smile. "It's not often we find people who are so dedicated to these kids. You've made quite a few friends here- and adopted a little shadow, I hear." He broke into a rare grin.
Natalie chuckled. It was hard to miss Mia's constant attention, even for someone as busy as the doctor. "Mia's a very special little girl," she said, feeling the grin sneak across her own face. Something had been tugging at the back of her mind all this time, and she finally felt brave enough to ask the question in the presence of this kind man. "Doctor- how did Mia and Riley end up here?" she asked quietly.
The smile slipped off Dr. Cohen's face. He swallowed hard and ran a hand through his unruly salt and pepper hair. It was a rare moment when he let his composure slip, and it didn't go unnoticed by Natalie. He cleared his throat. "Their parents were killed. Murdered, actually," he said in a flat, detached voice.
"Murdered?" Natalie whispered, the shock clear in her voice. "What the hell happened?" she said, before she realized she was swearing in front of her boss. She immediately flushed bright red. "Sorry," she mumbled. "That just slipped out."
Dr. Cohen waved her apology away. "Don't worry about it. That was very close to what I said myself when I found out," he said with an attempt to lighten the mood, before diving into the sordid tale. "They were killed in their homes. Some madman broke in and ripped both parents' throats out." That immediately made Natalie sit up and take notice.
"Did the murderer…take anything?" she asked, trying to divert the conversation into one that a normal person might have instead of a hunter. She desperately wanted to ask about the state the parents were left in, but that might raise suspicions. However, most murders didn't end with throats being ripped out, unless there were monsters involved. "You know, rob the place? Was there any reason as to why the parents were targeted?" she pressed, her heart aching and furious at the same time for Riley and Mia.
Dr. Cohen shook his head sadly. "I didn't really ask for details. It's come up in therapy with the children, of course, but Mia just shuts down entirely. Riley has only recently starting talking about it, but even then, it doesn't take him long to go silent on the subject. The police say he was the one to find them. It's shaken that poor boy to his core." Shaking his head sadly, the doctor turned back to Natalie, with an attempt at a comforting smile. "But that's why we do what we do. We're here to help these kids. In any way that we can. Right?"
Natalie nodded back. "Right," she said quietly, her mind going a thousand miles a minute.
"You should really get home," the doctor urged gently. "You're not going to be at your best if you're exhausted from pushing all the time."
Natalie snorted a quiet laugh. "You sound like my dad," she commented with a smile. Dr. Cohen chuckled.
"Well, sounds like your dad is a smart man," he quipped back. "Head on home, okay?"
"Do you mind if I look in on the kids just one more time before I go?"
With a soft smile, he nodded. "Go ahead." He knew after hearing that information on Riley and Mia, she would be heading there anyway.
A few minutes later, Natalie was outside of the small room that the siblings shared. It wasn't typical for boys and girls to get to room together, even if they were related, but it had been an order of Dr. Cohen's, seeing as the two of them did better together than they did apart. After the jaw dropping revelations Natalie had heard tonight about what brought the children there, she didn't doubt it. As she got closer and closer to the room, she could hear some scuffling, and a whimper. Her heart suddenly stopped as it dawned on her that the shtriga could be attacking them. Without further ado, she burst into their room.
The first thing she noticed was Mia standing next to Riley's bed, shaking his arm urgently. When Natalie ran into the room, Mia's wide, scared eyes immediately burned into her, causing her heart to stop for an instant. Natalie's attention swung to Riley, who was writhing on the bed, crying out.
"He's having another nightmare," Mia said in an impossibly tiny voice. Allowing herself one breath of relief that they weren't being attacked, Natalie ran over towards the bed. Mia backed out of the way as Natalie sat down quickly next to Riley. She took him by the shoulders gently and shook him.
"Riley. Riley!" she whispered urgently, afraid to scare the child even more as he thrashed and cried in fright. After a moment, Riley's eyes flew open, his pupils dilated from the terror of sleep. His gaze darted around the room as if searching the shadows for the hidden dangers in them. "Hey, hey, it's just me, Riley, it's just me," Natalie said in a soothing tone. Riley's eyes locked onto hers. She could see the panic screaming in them, and her heart cracked even further. "It's okay, Riley, it's okay. You were just having a nightmare, okay?" She said, reaching out a hand to smooth the sweaty hair from his forehead. "You're completely safe. You're okay, buddy." Realizing that what Natalie was saying was indeed true, Riley began breathing hard, and Natalie feared he might hyperventilate.
"Come on, buddy, sit up, okay?" she instructed gently, pulling on Riley's arms. He began mechanically obeying her. Natalie looked over at the terrified seven year old who hadn't left her side. "Mia, go get him a glass of water, will you?" she said quickly. Eager to be of help and do something productive, Mia nodded hurriedly and ran into the adjoining bathroom. Natalie heard the scraping of the small step stool she knew they kept by the sink so Mia could reach the tap, and nodded once to herself, satisfied that Mia was obeying. She turned her attention back to Riley, continuing to help him sit up.
"There you go," she said, sitting the shaking boy up in his bed. Mia came running, sloshing half the glass of water onto the floor in her efforts to be speedy, but Natalie took it gratefully, ruffling the girl's hair, just like Sam and Dean used to do to her. Mia giggled, and Natalie turned her attention back to Riley. "Here, dude, drink this," she said gently, holding the glass up to his lips. His hands were ice cold as they clutched hers, curved around the glass. He took a strangled sip, and then relaxed a bit, taking another. Little by little, Natalie got all the water into him. He leaned back against the headboard, gasping, still trying to recover from his nightmare. Once he caught his breath, he immediately looked away, once again embarrassed by his actions.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you," he muttered, looking shame-faced at his hands. Of course. The kid was feeling bad that he had bothered Natalie. The amount of damage and pain this kid must be in really hit home when he said that. Natalie sighed, and put her hand under his chin again, making him look up.
"Riley," she began softly, trying to keep the heartache out of her voice. "It's okay. You just had a nightmare. I get them too."
The boy seemed startled by this admission. "Really? You do?" he asked, desperate to believe her.
Natalie nodded. "Uh-huh." Just then, Mia took advantage of the situation and began crawling into Natalie's lap. With a snicker, Natalie helped her up, sitting her down comfortably. Mia immediately leaned her head on Natalie's chest and began sucking her thumb. Seven was a little old for that kind of behavior, but with everything that Natalie now knew these kids had been through, she wasn't willing to take away anything that might provide a bit of comfort to the poor girl. She smoothed back Mia's hair and looked Riley in the eye. "I had nightmares when I was your age. And sometimes it helps to talk it out. Talking about nightmares has a way of making them less scary." She looked carefully at the boy to see how this was going over. He was thinking about it, so she tried again. "I'm here if you want to talk about it, okay?"
Riley's scared eyes swung to hers again. "You…you won't make fun of me for telling you," he said definitively. It was a statement- like he had finally realized that Natalie wasn't someone who was going to embarrass him.
"I wouldn't dream of it," she said gently, making sure to look him right in the eye while saying that. Riley nodded once, took a shaky breath, and began talking.
"It's the same old dream, over and over," he said quietly. "It's from…from the night my parents…." And suddenly Natalie knew that he was reliving his parents' murders in his nightmares. She gripped Mia a bit tighter, but didn't say anything, just nodded at Riley, encouraging him to continue. "It's…it's dark, and it's late at night. And I wake up, because I can hear a weird sound coming from my parents' room. We weren't allowed to go in there, but the sound was so…weird that I needed to know if they were okay. And then I open the door…and there's a guy, standing there. And he drops my dad on the ground, and then he looks at me…and he smiles. And his smile is dripping in blood."
Natalie had to remind herself to breath. "Riley, honey…is this what happened to your parents? Is this…did you find them like this?"
Riley nodded. "Yeah. I was so scared. I thought he was going to get Mia next, but he just turned and jumped out of the window and was gone."
"Riley, I'm so sorry," Natalie said, feeling worthless for not being able to offer anything more than that. He shrugged almost nonchalantly.
"It's just…"
"Just what?"
"Just…sometimes I wish that the man had killed me too."
All the blood drained from Natalie's face. Never in a million years had she expected that to come out of this sweet kid's mouth. "Sweetheart, why would you want that?" she managed to choke out. A flash of soul-deep sadness ran across his face, causing her heart to stop once more. She had never seen such pain before in one so young.
"Because I miss my mom and dad. So much," he said, dropping off the end of his sentence as he was wont to do. He had never told this to anyone, but he knew he could tell her. "Even if we had been killed, at least we could have been together."
Not knowing how to respond to that at all, but desperately needing to get off the subject, Natalie tried a different tactic. "Did you tell the police about him? The man who came into your parents' room?"
"Yeah, but they don't believe me."
"What do you mean, they don't believe you?"
"They asked what he looked like. He was tall with brown hair, and he was really pale. But the part they don't believe is that he had pointy teeth. Lots and lots of pointy teeth."
*SPN SPN SPN*
It took her at least forty minutes to calm both of the kids down and get them back into bed, and then asleep. She wanted to be sensitive to them, but at the same time, all the knowledge that she's just gotten from Riley was screaming at every hunter's instinct she had, and she had to get it out before it consumed her.
Finally, Mia closed her eyes. She was determined not to fall asleep until she knew that Riley was okay, and stubbornly wanted to sit up and watch to make sure he was really asleep. Natalie couldn't help but sympathize with Dean at this moment- Lord knows she had pulled that stunt herself with him a time or two. But Mia's heavy eyelids finally had gotten the better of her. Natalie tuckered her in gently, kissing her temple as the little girl's rhythmic breathing filled the room. Natalie closed the door as gently as her screaming nerves would allow, and raced down the hallway, back towards her office. Once she was sure she was out of earshot of the children's wing, she whipped around, making sure that no one else was close by and could hear her. She fought to steady her breathing and regain control of herself.
She ripped her phone out of her pocket and hit the first button, holding it up to her ear. "C'mon, c'mon," she said with uncharacteristic impatience as the line rung. Finally, Dean picked up.
"What's up, kid?"
"Dad, you're not going to believe this." In an instant, Natalie could hear the tone of Dean's voice change.
"Natalie, what's wrong?"
"You remember those kids I told you about? Mia and Riley?" Natalie did another quick visual sweep of the hallways before continuing. "Turns out their parents were killed by a vampire."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What the hell?! What are you talking about?"
"I know, this is crazy, I know. I was just talking to them-"
She didn't get to finish her sentence. She suddenly felt a hand close itself around her neck, lift her off the ground, and with insane inhuman speed, throw her into the supply closet. She crashed into the series of shelves holding paper towels and toilet paper, her phone flying out of her hand in the process. The last thing she registered was the click of the door locking as she was plunged into darkness.
