A/N: Hey all! Long time no see.

Sorry it's been so long. There's been a resurgence of COVID and flu in my area, leading to me having to work some unbelievable hours. I am still planning to finish this story, but it will probably take longer than normal. There will probably be two to three more chapters.

Nick had always been suspicious of strangers. As happy as he was to see Maggie, he immediately took notice of the two strangers she walked in with. He knew they were feds right away but were trying to give off the impression that they weren't feds. The two of them looked to be a few years apart, but the way they stood next to each other suggested to Nick they were close. They weren't just partners, Nick wondered if they were best friends or maybe brothers.

But all that took a backseat when he realized that it really was Maggie there. She was no longer the thin, sweet, and fearful kid that haunted his dreams from time to time. She was a confident, strong, fully adult woman who was now…an FBI agent? Nick realized he had no idea, and for that he felt a strong and painful twinge of guilt. A flashback came to him that both hurt and comforted him.

"Dude, come on. You're doing great."

Teddy sighed and took the bottle out of the refrigerator. Ten-month-old Maggie happily bounced herself in her swing, cooing to herself as she watched her feet bounce up and down. When she heard the refrigerator door shut, Maggie gave her father a toothy grin and reached her slightly chubby arms up. Nick laughed.

"You hungry, kiddo?"

"Mil."

Just before Teddy handed her the bottle, Maggie gave her father her customary 'thank you' gesture. She put the palm of her hand to her lips and made a popping noise. In the chaos of Teddy's separation from his wife during the preceding weeks, it had taken time for the two of them to realize that Maggie was blowing her father kisses when she did that. Nick watched his friend's face. The second Maggie had her bottle in her hands, Teddy relaxed. Any worries he'd had just a few minutes earlier of not being a good dad to Maggie seemed to melt away when Maggie contentedly laid her head on her father's shoulder.

"See? Told you."

Teddy smiled. "Yeah. Thanks, dude."

"Look. I know you're worried. But I'm here. Your mom's here. We got you." Nick checked the clock. "I gotta go or I'll be late for work. Bye, Mags. Uncle loves you."

Maggie briefly took her bottle from her mouth and blew her uncle a kiss too, before returning to her snack and resting her head on Teddy's shoulder again.

"You okay, Nick?"

Nick shook his head. "Yeah. I'm just…surprised."

Maggie smiled. "Yeah. I'm kind of surprised I'm here myself."

"Who're your friends?"

"Oh." Maggie had nearly forgotten that Sam and Dean were even there. "These are my partners. This is…"

"Agent Tyler." Dean stepped in, offering Nick his hand to shake. "This here's agent Perry."

"Perry and Tyler? Like Aerosmith?"

"Exactly." Maggie said.

"And they're your…partners? You're an FBI agent?"

"Yep."

"So what are you doing here?" Nick asked. "Are you even allowed to work a case that involves someone you know?"

"We're here in sort of an unofficial capacity."

"I asked them to help me." Maggie said. "Not just with what happened to you."

"You mean…" Realization dawned on Nick and he frowned. "Baby girl, it's been years."

"I know. But a fresh set of eyes can't hurt. Now come on. Tell me what happened."

It took some convincing, but Nick recounted his story to Maggie. Maggie listened, doing her best to appear indifferent, but it didn't work. The idea that, after decades, someone had heard her father's voice hurt her. Though her memories of him were somewhat strong, Maggie had longed to hear her father's voice for so long that it made her jealous.

"You probably think I'm crazy, don't you, kiddo?"

"No. I don't." Maggie said. "But we are gonna find out what happened. Okay?"

"What happened is that I'm an old man who's losing his mind and reliving his worst memories." Nick said. "Come on, kiddo, seriously. Just sit here with me for a while and talk, okay? Please? I want to know what's been going on with you."

"I will, Nick. I promise. But not now. I need to do this."

A few more minutes of chit chat passed, and Maggie left the room. Sam and Dean followed, both having a suspicion that they didn't want to share with Maggie. Luckily for them, they didn't have to. Maggie left the hall Nick's room was in and took a seat. She held her head in her hands for a moment, then took a deep sigh and confirmed that she was thinking the same thing as Sam and Dean.

"He's hiding something."

"Like what?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. It could just be that he thinks it was my dad's ghost that attacked him and he doesn't want to seem crazy. If that's it, I'm fine with that. But I think it's something to do with my dad's case."

"What do you want to do?" Dean asked. "Start working the ghost angle or start looking at the murder?"

Maggie sighed again. "What do you guys think?"

"I think we need to do both. But whether you're up for either of those is up to you." Dean said.

"Yeah. Look, Maggie, nobody'll be upset if you decide to let me and Dean handle this."

"No. I want to be here, Sam. I need to be. I just…It's like, I don't know for sure if I want to know, you know? What happened to my dad and all those other people that night, it's just been sitting in the back of my mind my whole life. It's this big black spot that I want to get rid of, but don't know if I should."

"Look," Dean took his seat next to Maggie, glancing at Sam for the briefest of moments to confirm that Sam agreed, "whatever you decide to do, Sam and I are here for you. You've got the reigns here. Tell us what you want to do. If you want to go grab something to eat or get a room first and think about it, that's cool with us."

"That's a good idea." Sam said. "Whatever happens, you won't do yourself any good if you pass out from exhaustion or hunger."

Maggie smiled. "You guys remind me of my dad. He wouldn't let me go out to play or go to school or anything unless I'd had something to eat."

Getting adjoining rooms and a late lunch won out. Maggie was hungrier than she thought, and the food lifted her spirits. She felt more prepared to take on whatever it was going on, no matter what the consequences might be.

Later, she would just wish she had been prepared for how bad those consequences would be.

The game plan was set as they left the diner. Dean called their psychic friend, Missouri, who agreed to come and join them as soon as she could. She would join them when they went through the campus of the college, hopefully helping Maggie unblock her memories so they could figure out if her father or one or more of the other victims was haunting the building. Sam helped Maggie at the police station obtain the records pertaining to the case. At Maggie's request, he read through each page of the files before she did, hoping it would help prepare her for what she was about to read. Sam withheld the crime scene photos from her, but Maggie read every word of text.

Most of what she read she already knew. The store had closed a couple of minutes late that night. Her father had been helping the last few shoppers get what they need, before locking the door and reviewing with the cleaning crew what he needed them to do. Nick had driven by to check on everyone, and everything seemed fine at first. Thirty minutes later, he had been called back to the store, where he found everyone dead.

Everyone except for her.

She vaguely remembered Nick picking her up and taking her out of the store that night. Her first clear memory was sitting in the front seat of Nick's car, shaking and her clothes still stained with blood, as he said something on his police radio before turning to her. He'd asked her again if she was hurt, but Maggie had just responded with one word. A word that, until that night as she read through the police reports, she couldn't remember.

"Monster."

Sam, who'd been reading through some newspaper clippings of the murder, looked up in surprise. They'd been sitting in silence for close to a half hour at that point.

"What?"

"Monster." Maggie repeated. When Sam just looked at her, confused, Maggie explained, "When Nick took me out of the store that night, I wouldn't talk. But I said something to him in the car. I couldn't remember until just now what it was."

"Monster? That's what you said?"

"Yeah. I think so."

"You think something supernatural happened that night?" Sam asked. "A demon or something like that?"

"I don't think so. I don't know why, but I think it was a regular human on human murder. I can't prove it yet, but…"

"Hey, I trust you." Sam said. "So do you think it's just your dad hanging around at the college?"

"Did you find anything about any other sightings since then?"

Sam shook his head. "No."

"I wouldn't doubt it if there were, but for now, I think it's just my dad. Missouri should be able to pick that up."

Another paper from the thick case file caught Maggie's attention. She'd been pacing herself, trying to take in the information without letting it overwhelm her. She picked it up to read as Dean walked back in. He started to give Sam and Maggie a report on what he'd found, until he noticed the look on Maggie's face. She slammed the document down on the desk and uncharacteristically cursed.

"That son of a bitch."

"Who?" Dean asked. "What'd you find?"

Maggie slid the paper over to Sam, who read it over while Maggie explained. "The night my dad died? Every department bordering Beaufort and every county sheriff around here offered to set up roadblocks. Within fifteen minutes of getting the call, Nick could've had every cop in this part of Wyoming looking for the bastard."

"That sounds great."

"It would've been. If Nick hadn't turned them away."

"What?"

Dean read over the report, starting to feel disgusted for Maggie. As usual, he didn't know what to say. He'd gladly go and punch Nick's face in for Maggie if she asked him to, but his phone beeping gave him a different idea.

"That's Missouri. She got here while I was checking out the college."

"She did? That was quick. We just called her a few hours ago." Sam said.

"She was working a case with Jody. Jody went home and Missouri made her way here." Dean turned to Maggie. "You want to go confront Nick? Or hear what me and Missouri found at the college?"

Maggie, not trusting herself at the moment, shook her head. "Let's go talk to Missouri. Sam, will you pick up the case files?"

Five minutes later, everyone was back in the Impala. Sam and Dean sat in the front, Missouri and Maggie in the back. Everyone in the car, particularly Missouri, could feel the anger radiating from Maggie. Missouri took Maggie's hand, instantly calming Maggie but far from taking away her rage entirely.

"I'm so sorry about your daddy, baby."

Maggie smiled sadly. "Thank you."

"I tried while Dean and I were there, but I couldn't get you anymore answers. I think you're gonna have to go with us."

Maggie nodded. "I expected that. It's okay."

"There's something else you need to know. Your daddy's ghost is there, baby. That we can deal with. But there's another spirit there too."

"Is it one of the other victims?" Sam guessed.

"No. It's not that simple." Missouri answered.

"Who is it?" Maggie asked. "If it's not them, who is it?"

Missouri sighed. She patted Maggie's hand and patted her face gently. "It's you, baby."