A/N: I got a review on the last chapter that I should have put a content warning on it about the car accident. I apologize to anyone I may have unintentionally upset; I have written several chapters over almost 100 stories containing car accidents and their aftermaths, and I've never thought to include a content warning for that. So, I'm including it now. Leslie's injuries in the accident are described here, as are Kayla's. Mary is uninjured. This chapter and at least the next two will also contain some heavy angst. Be warned.

"She…she died?"

"Yes. I'm sorry." Darrell explained. "Please, come sit down and I'll tell you what I can."

Sam took a seat and stared down at the floor, the magnitude of what had happened that night beginning to dawn on him.

"First off, Mr. Winchester, I'm Dr. Casey."

"Call me Sam." Sam said without looking up from the floor.

"Alright, then, I'm Darrell." the doctor said. "Come on, sit down. I'll tell you what I can."

Sam took a chair, his knees threatening to buckle. "What happened?"

"From what we could piece together from the police, the car was hit between the driver's side front door and passenger door. It appears that when the car hit, Leslie was shoved hard forward. She probably fell unconscious at that point as well. When she arrived at the hospital, she had extensive injuries. She had several broken ribs, a fractured neck, a collapsed lung, a severely broken nose. We took her into the OR with a team of doctors to try and work on her as much as possible at once. She held on for a few minutes after she was brought to the OR, but…"

"She just couldn't anymore." Sam guessed.

"It appears so." Dr. Casey said. "I really am sorry, Mr. Winchester."

"Thank you."

"I don't know if this is any comfort, but we have a nurse on our staff who's known for talking to patients during surgery. She believes that they know what's going on, even though they're asleep. Your mother-in-law hung on until nurse Jenkins told her that your girls were safe. That they were being taken care of, and that you were on your way." Dr. Casey said. "I've never put much stock in nurse Jenkins' belief, but it's amazing that she lived as long as she did. She did not leave this world until she knew for sure those girls were safe."

Sam smiled sadly. "That does give me comfort. Thank you."

"I'll be here a few more hours if you have any questions."

Dr. Casey left, and Dr. Cole was still waiting. "Would you like me to go with you? Help you tell your wife and your girls?"

"Umm, yes, please. I need to make a phone call first, though."

"Of course." Dr. Cole said. "I'll go back to Kayla's room and check on her."

"Does she have any injuries?"

"Like I said, she wouldn't tell us anything. She seems to just be sore. One of the nurses touched her shoulder and she flinched. She doesn't appear to have any broken bones, but I'd like to keep her overnight and give her an X-Ray just to be sure."

"What about Mary?" Sam asked.

"She told us, in no uncertain terms, that she wasn't hurt and we were to take care of her sister." Dr. Cole said.

Sam chuckled. "That sounds like her."

Dr. Cole smiled. "But I'd like to examine her again in the morning, too."

"I understand. If Jess asks, just tell her that I'm calling my father, please. I do want you to be there, but I want to tell her myself."

"Sure. Like I said, take your time."

When Dr. Cole was gone, Sam pulled out his cell and checked the time. 1:30AM. Bobby was likely either awake doing research or fast asleep. He thought about calling John, but he couldn't face that. He felt bad sticking Bobby with that horrible responsibility, but Sam was starting to realize that he was in way over his head.

"This better damn well be good." Bobby answered the phone crankily.

"Bobby. It's Sam."

"Sam? What's going on?" Bobby asked.

"Bobby, I, um, I need you and Dad here."

"What is it, Sam? What happened?" Bobby asked again. "Are the girls alright?"

"Leslie, um, Leslie was taking them for the night. She got in a bad car accident."

"What is it, Sam? Tell me."

Sam choked back a sob. "She's gone, Bobby. Leslie's dead."

A few seconds of stunned silence followed before Bobby asked, "What do you need, Sam?"

"I'm sorry, Bobby, I just…"

"Don't apologize. Just tell me what you need." Bobby said. "I'm there, boy, you know that. Just tell me."

"I need you to tell Dad. I just can't tell Dad and Jess and Kayla…"

"I got it, Sam. What else?" Bobby said.

"I just need help, Bobby. I need help taking care of Kayla and Mary and helping Jess through this…"

"You got it. Sam, how are the girls? You said they were with Leslie?"

"Um, Mary's okay. Kayla was the one who called 911 and got the ambulance there. She tried hard to save Leslie and she couldn't." Sam said.

"Poor kid." Bobby said sympathetically.

"She hasn't said anything since she got to the hospital."

"Shock." Bobby said.

"Yeah. Bobby, please, I need you…"

"Listen to me, Sam. It's 1:30. Your dad and I will be there by 3:30 at the latest. I'll call Dean and get him to come too. You go back to Jess and the girls and call me if you need me. Okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, Bobby." Sam said.

"You ain't gotta thank me for this, boy. We'll be there soon."

Sam hung up, relieved that he would have backup soon. The reality of the situation was sinking in further and further. Sam had never known his own mother. Leslie was the closest thing he'd ever had. And she was gone. Leslie had been the only parent he'd had during the years that he and John hadn't talked. She'd made sure he stayed fed, clothed, and felt loved during one of the toughest times of Sam's life. But right now he couldn't dwell on that. He had a wife and two kids to take care of.

Sam walked back down to Kayla's room, where Jess was laying a sleeping Mary down on the bed next to Kayla.

"Can I put her to bed with you?"

Kayla said nothing, just held an arm out and allowed Jess to lay Mary down. She wrapped an arm around Mary's waist, and Mary instinctively put a thumb in her mouth. Apparently Dr. Cole had already told Jess about keeping them overnight, because Jess wrapped a blanket over the two of them.

"I'm going to find Daddy."

"I'm right here." Sam said. He walked in and tucked the two girls as well. He looked at Kayla for a few seconds, tucked her hair behind her ear, and smiled. "I'm glad you're okay." Again Kayla didn't respond, and Sam reminded her, "Mommy and I will be in the hallway. Call us or come get us if you need us, okay?"

Kayla's only response was to squeeze Mary a little tighter.

"Get some sleep." Sam said, leaning in to kiss Kayla's cheek. "I love you, bug." Kayla closed her eyes and Sam turned towards Jess. "Come on. I need to talk to you outside."

The next two hours were some of the longest of Sam's life. Jess took her mother's death as well as Sam could expect. He knew it was mostly adrenaline, but Jess simply cried a little then went back into the hospital room and slept next to Kayla and Mary. Sam called Bobby and asked him to go to his house and sleep there rather than coming straight to the hospital. He promised to call when everyone was coming home, and pulled up a chair to sleep next to the bed.

Sam was woken three hours later when Dr. Cole walked in. He was surprised to see Kayla sitting up, her mother and sister asleep on either side of her. Dr. Cole appeared to have walked in simply to check on Kayla; he picked up her chart and made some notations in it before he realized Kayla was watching him.

"Hi. Are you feeling okay?" When Kayla said nothing, he turned towards Sam. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's okay." Sam turned towards Kayla and said, "Kay? You alright?"

Dr. Cole smiled. "I think she's just having trouble sleeping. You know, the X-Ray machine's probably free now. Since neither of you is sleeping, why don't we go down and get Kayla checked out? Then we can just check Mary over when she wakes up, and you guys can go on home."

"Works for me." Sam said. "Kay? You okay with that?"

For the first time all night, Kayla responded to something asked of her. She nodded, then looked to Mary and Jess and frowned.

"We won't wake them up." Sam said. "I'll leave mommy a note so she doesn't worry."

Kayla nodded again, then lifted her arms toward Sam. Sam picked her up and set her down on the floor, and Kayla grabbed his hand. Dr. Cole handed Sam a notepad he kept in his pocket and a pen, and Sam quickly scribbled a note to Jess. Kayla and I couldn't sleep. We went to Radiology to get Kayla checked out. Be back soon. Kayla held Sam's hand the entire way to the radiology department. Her X-ray was clear. She had strained a muscle in her shoulder and had a few bruises, but otherwise seemed to be okay. Sam checked the clock again. 7:15am.

"You hungry, kiddo?" Sam asked. "You want to get some breakfast?"

Kayla shook her head. No.

"Okay. Wanna go back to mommy?"

Yes.

"Okay. Let's go."

Kayla was officially given the all clear. Dr. Cole advised Sam to keep Kayla from any strenuous activity for a few days, and suggested he bring her back to talk to a child psychologist if she didn't start talking soon. Sam walked Kayla back towards the room and found Jess and Mary on the bed playing.

"Hey." Jess said. "How's our girl?"

"Strained shoulder and some bruises. She has to take it easy for a few days and she should be okay."

"We can handle that." Jess smiled. "You guys ready to go home?"

"Doesn't Mary…"

"Another doctor came in and looked at her a few minutes ago." Jess said. "She's fine."

"Okay. Sounds good. Let's head out."

Kayla suddenly snatched her hand away from Sam's and scrambled away from him. She crouched in the chair Sam had slept in, shaking her head and trembling.

"Kay. Honey, what's wrong?" Sam asked. "What is it?"

"Kayla?" Jess jumped up from the bed and walked over. "Are you okay?" Again, no response except Kayla's head shaking back and forth. "Are you scared to go home?"

Kayla stopped shaking and nodded.

"Listen, honey. Mommy will be in the back with you the whole time, okay? I won't let anything happen to you."

Kayla shook her head. No.

"Kay, we have to go home." Sam said. "We can't stay here. Mommy will ride with you. You can keep your eyes closed the whole time if you want."

Kayla stood up from the chair and walked over to the personal belongings bag that had been brought into the room while everyone was asleep. She pulled out the dress she'd been wearing the night before and ran her fingers through it, before holding it up to her parents. The dress was ripped slightly at the bottom, and had a few bloodstains on it.

"Oh, honey, we can fix the dress." Jess said.

Kayla frowned deeper and turned to Sam.

"Jess, she's not asking about the dress." Sam said. "Right?"

Kayla nodded.

"Oh." Jess said simply.

"Honey, I'm sorry. Grandma didn't make it. She died last night."

Kayla gripped the dress with an iron fist and ripped it in two in a sudden rage. No, no, no, no, no, no, she shook her head repeatedly. Kayla threw the two pieces to the floor and tried to run out of the room, only to be caught by Sam. The adrenaline left her, but Kayla fought against Sam weakly.

"Kay, stop. I'm sorry, honey, but running won't help."

Kayla, who was held tightly against her father's chest, tried to push away from him again.

"I'm so sorry, baby."

Kayla pushed again, and all the fight drained out of her.

"We need to go home, honey. Come on, let's go."

The only indication Sam had that Kayla was crying at first was her breathing changing. The cries steadily increased, and Sam found himself sitting back in the chair holding and rocking Kayla until she fell asleep. Jess was crying too, and Sam tried to comfort her, but Jess just shook her head and pointed at Kayla. Help her first. Sam felt terrible for the thought that crossed his mind as he carried Kayla to the car and buckled her into the backseat.

At least we can get her home now.