A/N: So I used my phone to finish typing the first chapter. As a result, the word 'you' was autocorrected to 'toy'. I thought I had fixed this but apparently not :(. This is why I don't type on phones too much.

I've gotten a couple of questions about this story privately. Here's the general answers:

-I'm planning on this being a longish story, maybe 15-20 chapters or so.

-What happened to Bobby and Sam and what happened to Ronnie will be revealed in pieces along the way.

-There are reasons that Ronnie is as angry as she is. As always, I won't be graphic with my descriptions, but assume that there's abuse in her background.

-Dean and his family will appear at some point.

-John is somewhat softer in this story than he's normally portrayed, but I honestly believe that's how he would've turned out if he lived longer. A lot of people tend to mellow out a little as they get older. Don't get me wrong, he and Ronnie will still clash, but nothing over the top.

That's all I got so far. Hope everyone's doing well and staying safe!

Eight Years Earlier

"Mommy!"

Lily had barely closed the door before Ronnie was in her arms. She gave the excited kindergartener a hug. The night had been long and frustrating, but now it was over and she could focus on what really mattered.

"Mommy, guess what?"

"What, baby?"

Lily walked into the kitchen to prepare herself some breakfast. Her mother's judgmental eyes wandered to her, but Lily ignored them. Ronnie revealed her news to her mother as if she was telling her she won the lottery.

"I don't have to go to school today!"

Surprised, Lily looked up from her plate of cold bacon and eggs. "What?"

"The school called." Lily's mother Dolores explained. "One of the water pipes at her school broke and the hallway's are flooded. She'll be out today and probably tomorrow."

"Isn't that cool, Mommy? I get to spend all day with you!"

Lily tried to hide the frustrated look on her face. As much as she looked forward to seeing Ronnie, she desperately needed some sleep. She'd worked all night, and she was about to collapse.

"Mommy? You okay?" Ronnie asked. She was scared. She'd thought Lily would be as happy to spend the day with her as she was. "You want to see me today, right?"

Lily smiled tiredly. "Yes, baby. Of course I do. But can you do Mommy one favor?"

"What?"

"Mommy is really, really tired. Can you stay with grandma for two more hours and let me get a little sleep?"

"Then you promise we'll spend the day together?"

"Cross my heart."

"Okay, Mommy. I'll do it."

"Good girl." Lily said, kissing Ronnie's cheek. "Why don't you go upstairs and get dressed?"

"I will. Love you, Mommy."

"Love you too, baby girl."

As Ronnie ran upstairs, Lily reluctantly turned to her mother. She could feel the judgmental eyes baring down on her again, even though her mother was standing at the sink and washing dishes. Lily finished her plate and handed it to her mother, deciding to get the fight out of the way.

"Go on and say it."

"It doesn't do any good, so why would I?"

"That's unusually good of you, Mom. Thank you." Lily said. "I'm going to get some sleep."

"It's tiring, huh? Doing your so called job…"

"ENOUGH, MOM!" Lily suddenly shouted from the kitchen doorway. She had been heading upstairs and her tolerance of her mother's attitude had reached its end. She turned on her heel and faced her mother to let out what she really wanted to say. "Stop it, okay. Just stop it. I know you hate what I do, but I cannot possibly convey to you how little I care."

"Then maybe I'll just stop watching your daughter for free…"

"I took you in after you gambled away every penny you had and got evicted from not one, not two, but three different places. You gambled away the money that Dad and grandma left me for college. I have not charged you one cent for rent. You are living in my house, which I bought and paid for with the job you so detest, and all I expect is for you to keep my daughter while I work. Now, if being a warm body while Ronnie sleeps and feeding her breakfast in the morning is too much for you, then I'll work one more night a week and pay for a babysitter, and you can go back to trying to figure things out on your own. Now Mom, I love you. I truly, truly, do. But I have had it up to here with the disrespect. Stop it or leave. I mean it."

"Fine." Dolores turned the water off and grabbed her bag off the kitchen table. "Guess I'll leave."

Lily thought about trying to stop her mother but decided against it. Dolores would be back later that night when she didn't have anywhere to sleep. Lily walked to the stairs, expecting to go up and straight to bed, but instead found Ronnie sitting on the top step and crying.

"You're supposed to be in your room."

Ronnie sniffed and wiped her face. "Sorry."

Lily sighed and walked up to sit next to Ronnie. "What're the waterworks for?"

"I hate it when you and Grandma fight. It's scary."

"I know, baby. I'm so sorry." Lily said. She kissed Ronnie and pulled her into her lap. They sat that way for a few minutes, until Lily broke the silence with the question that worried her the most. "Is Grandma nice to you when I'm not here?"

"Yeah."

"Really? She's never mean to you?"

"No."

"You promise you'd tell me if she was?"

"I promise. Will grandma come back?"

"She'll be back tonight." Lily promised.

"Okay. What do I do while you sleep, though?" Ronnie asked.

"I have an idea. Why don't we lay on my bed and we'll start a movie?"

Ronnie smiled. "Okay."

"Just don't get upset if I fall asleep, okay? It doesn't mean I don't want to see you, it just means I'm really tired. Okay?"

"Okay, Mommy."

"Maybe, just maybe," Lily said, moving her fingers up and down Ronnie's waist, making her giggle, "I'll get lucky and someone here will take a nap with me, huh? What do you think?"

"Not me!" Ronnie squealed in delight, trying to sneak away from her mother.

Once Ronnie calmed down, Lily smiled and stared at her for a moment. "I love you, Squirrel. You know that?"

Ronnie smiled right back. "Love you too, Moose."

Ronnie carefully made her way to the kitchen. Her stomach was rumbling. She wondered why she was so stubborn sometimes. John seemed nice enough, if somewhat…stiff. She couldn't find a better word to describe him. She supposed he was trying to intimidate her, but that was nearly impossible to do now.

The fridge was nearly silent opening for her, and for that she was grateful. She'd lived in houses before where the fridge had given her away. She looked around and found a couple of Granny Smith apples, which were her favorite. She took them out and went to the drawers to find a knife.

As usual, not only was she hungry, but the memories were swirling around in her head. The good ones were somehow worse than the bad ones. The bad ones were just a fact of life now. She'd gone through them, lived through them, and gotten past them. But the good memories did her no favors. They only served to remind her of what she was missing now. She just about had her first apple sliced when she nearly jumped out of her seat. The kitchen light had been turned on.

"It's two o'clock in the morning."

Ronnie fought back the urge to plead for mercy. The urge got easier to suppress the older she got. She didn't look up, but she put down the knife and put one of the apple slices in her mouth. She focused on the tart taste of the apple, trying to keep her mind off the pit growing in her stomach.

"I know you hear me talking to you."

"Yeah." Ronnie answered snidely.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Ronnie asked, putting another apple slice in her mouth. "I didn't hear a question."

John exhaled hard. "Why are you up this late?"

"Technically it's early." Ronnie said.

"It's way too early to beat around the bush. Answer me." John growled.

Ronnie shook her head. She hated when foster parents beat around the bush like this. She'd broken a rule. She wished he'd stop torturing her.

"Look, just get it over with, okay?"

"Get what over with?"

"You told me to get in bed and I didn't. I got up and stole food from you. Just do what you're gonna do to me already so I can go back to bed."

John was at a total loss. Sure, he was a little annoyed at being woken up in the middle of the night, but did Ronnie really think he'd punish her over having an apple late at night? What exactly had happened to this kid to make her this tense?

"Ronnie, what exactly do you think I'll do to you?"

Ronnie looked up from the table, where she'd fixed her eyes, into John's face. She'd expected him to be angry, but he wasn't. He looked upset. Who is this guy?, Ronnie thought to herself.

"I don't know. You're not mad?"

John sighed and took a seat at the table. He ran his hand through his hair, trying to figure out how to deal with this. Did he even really need to deal with this? Should he just tell her good night and head back to bed, reminding her only not to stay up too late and to turn the lights off before she went to bed?

"Ronnie. Listen to me. If you're hungry here, even if it's the middle of the night, you can eat. If you're thirsty, you can drink some water or milk. You don't have to be hungry here, and you don't have to sneak around to get food. Okay?"

Ronnie still didn't know if she should trust this guy, but she didn't have much of a choice right now. She nodded and ate another apple slice.

"I just wanted to know why you were up so late. Is it because you didn't eat dinner?" John asked.

Ronnie shrugged.

"Okay. Now that that's out of the way, I'm going to ask you a question. And I want you to be completely honest with me. Can you do that?"

"I can try."

"Have you had to steal food before?"

Ronnie frowned. There was no way she was sharing that part of her past with this guy that she just met. "No."

"Ronnie…"

"I said no. If you're not gonna believe my answers don't ask the question." Ronnie snapped.

"Why are you so angry with me?" John asked. "You and I have only known each other a few hours. Why won't you give me a chance?"

"Giving people chances generally doesn't work out well for me."

Sam, buddy, please help me out here, John found himself thinking. He'd often wondered when Sam was alive why they couldn't talk about things and hash them out. Sam had exhibited, in the last couple of years of his life, the ability to connect with people when John couldn't do it himself. It had helped them finish hunts and save lives, and John only wished that he'd thought to tell Sam that before he died.

"Ronnie. I won't hurt you. Is there anything I can do or say to convince you of that?"

Ronnie took another apple slice and carefully thought over her answer. So far, John seemed to be a decent guy. Not very many men would be foster parents. It seemed like all the ones that were weren't good guys. They were creeps. But John looked to be just as scared of her as she was of him. And, just like her, John wouldn't admit it. She decided she had nothing to lose.

"You already did."

"Already did?" John asked.

"Convince me." Ronnie said. "By not freaking out about me getting up and eating. Thanks."

John nodded. "You're welcome. Will you answer my question?"

"Which one?"

"Have you had to steal food before? Is that why you thought you had to do it now?"

"Look." Ronnie said, and it was a fight to stop herself from snapping at him again. "I don't want to get into a long conversation with you about my past. That's a long, ugly story and I just don't want to get into it. I'm only going to be here for two weeks. Let's treat it like a long vacation and we'll get along just fine. Capische?"

John sighed inwardly. Ronnie seemed to be sincere when she told him he'd gotten her to trust him. He had to take what he could get. "I want you back in bed in a half hour. If you're not done eating, you can take it to your bed with you. Okay?"

"Okay. Thanks."

"I'm gonna go back to bed. Unless you want me to stay up with you."

"I'm thirteen. Not three." Ronnie said.

John fought a smile. Her response that time was less angry, bitter, railing against the world scared kid and more regular teenage sarcasm. Regular teenage sarcasm he could handle.

"Alright. If you're sure. Good night, Ronnie."

"Night."

John stood and started back towards his bedroom. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he was thinking. He hadn't been asleep anyway. There were nights where thoughts of Sam would come and invade his head, making sleep impossible until the early hours of the morning, when the sun would be coming back up anyway. He'd hoped that Ronnie would take his offer and ask him to stay. It would, he hoped at least, keep the guilt away for a few minutes.

"Hey, John?"

John stopped just short of the doorway to the kitchen. "Yeah?"

"I mean, you could stay if you want." Ronnie said. "If you're hungry."

John didn't fight the smile this time. "Sure, kiddo. Hand me the other apple."