While the attorney's were still arguing about the validity of a Will that named a minor, emancipated or not, as sole custodian of an autistic child, Johnny helped Ellie into a chair so she could see outside while she ate some breakfast. He thought that she had done pretty well considering all the fussing that had been going on around her, but then again what did he know. According to people who hadn't even cared that she existed before today, he was unfit and they were going to take her away to somewhere that he'd never get to see her or talk to her. Not even listening to the attorneys anymore, Johnny reached over and grabbed the outfit on the nightstand that a nurse probably left for her and started coaxing her into getting dressed. It took twice as long as it normally does, and a couple of screaming fits later, but she was out of the hospital gown and into a set of sweats that left much to be desired but fit none the less. Afterwards, all Ellie wanted to do was lie in Johnny's arms and not move.
Judge Myers had been watching everything that had been going on in the room and he had a few more questions. "Johnny, did your friend Cade say why he thought his daughter was autistic?"
Confused at the question he answered honestly. "Several doctors had diagnosed her with a form of it. Actually they each diagnosed her with a different form of it. It was scary at first, one day she could tell us she wanted juice in her cup and the next day it was like a switch had been turned off. She doesn't like to be held except by only a few people, when she says anything its one word, even the therapists that have worked with her are puzzled; but then again from what I understand every case is different. She likes to hum but not listen to music unless it's from a movie, and only if she has a doll to play with while she's watching." He started to smirk a little and explained, "Actually we thought she liked any doll, but we found out that she likes certain dolls with certain movies. We found that out the hard way."
Mary smiled at the thought of the two young men learning the differences between dolls and how they most likely figured it out; through trial and error. She saw the judge contemplate something while the two attorneys were still arguing in the background, and she could only hope that the man in front of her could see how much Johnny and Ellie are good for each other.
"Alright everyone, we've taken enough of these good people's time for the moment. I now have a date with a checker's whiz, and believe me when I say she reminds me of it every week."
"But your honor…"
"Not now Jeffrey, I'll have my decision ready by two this afternoon, here in this very room, so there should be no excuses for being late. Is that understood?" Judge Myers said, looking at both attorneys as if he couldn't stand the sight of them either.
Finally having most of the chaos gone from the room, Johnny felt Ellie relax before she drifted to sleep again. Looking around the room he locked eyes with Dean. "Why did you lie? I'm not waiting on an apartment in your building and I haven't been staying at your parents' house."
Dean smiled widely, "Hey, I never said how long you stayed, and as far as you were waiting for an apartment, sure you were everyone is right now because of the renovations being done at the moment. So see… no harm no foul."
John groaned at his son's reasoning but didn't comment further, hoping instead that what Dean had done had actually helped and not hindered the case at hand. Looking at his watch, he noticed that they still had several hours to kill and wondered just how many 'princess movies' they were going to have to watch today.
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Toby Norris took the opportunity to make an overdue call, and it wasn't going as well as he had hoped.
"Look, if you didn't order the hit, and I didn't order the hit, then mind telling me who did?"
"Oddly enough we think that he hustled the wrong people and they waited until the house was quiet to try and collect."
"Wait, you're telling me that Cade was murdered for a couple of hundred dollars after whoever it was followed him what… four hours out of Flagstaff just to teach him a lesson?"
"That's what we're hearing. Look Toby, you have to understand, if it had been supernatural in nature we most likely would have spotted it in plenty of time, but this… man this was just people being crazy, and there were no warning signs for that."
"Damnit! You know this isn't how it was supposed to go down. He was supposed to find out for us if and or when Johnny started going crazy. Now we can only hope that we can keep an eye on him until…"
"Toby, there's been more talk about making sure there isn't a when and completely ignoring the 'if'. The others have been trying to remind those involved that we don't go around murdering humans, but their argument is that we don't know if Johnny is still human or not."
"This is becoming a bigger mess than any of us ever dreamed of. Have you found Singer yet?"
"No, not yet. He's been keeping a real low profile lately, and I can't really blame him. He's saying the demons are lying, that the bastard didn't get a chance to do anything to the kid, but there are others who want to believe that he's the one lying to keep his reputation in tact and that they haven't spent this many years hating an innocent kid."
"So, tell me, what am I supposed to do? If this kid is some all powerful psychic, do we let some of the zealots take him down and save us all the trouble of fighting for our lives later, or do we hope that this kid is what he seems which is a total screw up that probably won't reach his thirtieth birthday if he doesn't turn his life around?"
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Dean couldn't figure out how Johnny kept everything straight. Apparently after the suitcases were delivered, the search had been on to find a certain little dress with the matching shoes, and did Johnny say socks? At first he thought that the kid had been joking, but it didn't take them very long to find out that if you wanted those little white shoes to go on those little feet, they had to be in the purple sparkly socks which somehow matched the Barbie princess dress that Ellie was wearing, and Dean didn't even want to think about how all that co-ordination came about. Instead he stood back and watched as Johnny had taken every suitcase and emptied them out onto the chairs, nightstand, and rocking chair, only to start matching everything together and putting them into the cases 'the right way' until he found not only the purple socks in question but also two ribbons that weren't purple or sparkly but somehow fit into her criteria for a matching accessory.
By the time that Johnny had changed Ellie, finished repacking everything, fed her lunch, and redid her hair twice, both Dean, John and Mary had to wonder what Johnny was on and if they could have some. They hadn't seen him so energized in… well, ever! Of course Dean was trying to hold back the comment about Johnny being around all those girly things making him happy, but it was really only the fact that John's foot stomped on his that he managed to keep his mouth shut.
As time continued to creep slowly, they noticed a change in Ellie. Instead of a complacent child who was willing to be guided to where she needed to be, she became more agitated to the point that her body would become rigid and she would not allow anyone to touch her. They watched as nurses rushed in to check on her, but Johnny waved them away saying that today was getting too much for her, and then took up position on the floor by her side as she ran her hands across the smooth linoleum tiles as if the past few minutes had never occurred.
Smiling, Johnny looked up, "Looks like she found something new."
Mary had been concerned about how Ellie was taking everything and as she looked over at John, she could tell that John was getting more worried by the minute.
"Hey Mom, why don't you and Dad go stretch your legs a little. Oh! Maybe go find some pie!" Dean said, doing his best to usher them out of the room without making them too suspicious.
"Dean, we're fine where we are. Now what's gotten into you?" John asked, watching Johnny and Ellie play some game on the floor known only to them.
"Dad, really, can't a guy just want the best for his parents?" he asked giving them his brightest most innocent look.
Mary looked between Dean and the other two of her family who were currently content on the floor. "Alright, I don't know what you have up your sleeve young man, but we'll give you a little time to yourselves. Come on John, apparently we need to find pie."
Waving at his parents as they walked down the hall, Dean watched them until they finally turned the corner before he rushed back into the room. "Ok, how much of this stuff does she really need?" he asked, hoping for an easy response, instead only getting a blank look. "Seriously dude, we can't take all of it. Now is there any possible way she can get by with one bag for now?"
Looking up at Dean, Johnny continued to watch as the other man started opening and closing suitcases until finally something clicked. Looking at Johnny, Dean stood back a moment, "You already have a plan."
"I can't get you involved; you and your parents have done more than enough. Everything will work out like it's supposed to." Johnny said quietly, waiting for another outburst, but not expecting how it came out.
"Alright, pick her up and let's go. I'll grab her bag and we're out of here. We'll call Mom and Dad later and explain everything, they'll understand."
Johnny sat there and watched as Dean started to pace, alternating between which bag to take before he finally sat them all down and watched the two on the floor. "Dean, whatever happens...it's for the best. Sit down; everyone should be back in about half an hour, then we can make whatever decisions that need to be made."
He couldn't believe what he heard, there was no way that after everything, Johnny was going to let everything be settled by some senile old man posing as a judge in the middle of a hospital; was there? If so, they were so screwed.
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John and Mary had just walked in and sat down when the attorney Toby walked in looking a little more frazzled than he had before, but before he had a chance to say anything, the other attorney Jeffrey something or another walked in looking very smug down to every detail of his Sunday casual dress suit, making the Winchester's like him even less.
As they sat there waiting for Judge Myers to come into the room, everyone got exceptionally quiet. The only sound that could be heard was the blowing of the air conditioning unit, and Ellie's humming. As two o'clock edged closer, the more it seemed to take it's time until they heard a little girl's voice in the hallway.
"Grandpa, you let me win! Can we see the little girl now?"
Judge Myers walked in holding onto his granddaughter's hand, "Hello everyone, this is my granddaughter Julie, and she wanted to meet Ellie if that's alright with you?"
Johnny looked puzzled for a moment before he looked at Julie, "Uh, she's doing pretty well right now, but we had a few difficult moments earlier, so if she doesn't seem interested don't take it personally ok?"
Julie smiled and nodded, "That's ok, everyone here has bad days sometimes." As she sat down, Johnny watched Ellie's reaction, but when nothing disturbing came about he relaxed and waited. "Hi Ellie, my name's Julie." As Ellie continued to play on the floor, Julie watched her for a moment then looked at Johnny. "Why does she do that?"
"She sees things differently, so when she finds something she likes, she takes longer with it than others." Johnny said patiently. He always had more patience with children asking about Ellie's differences than adults; children were still learning, while adults made assumptions.
"Oh, what if she could see everything like we do?" she asked while imitating Ellie's movements before she smiled. "Hey, I never noticed how the floor feels…cool!'
Johnny laughed, "Then I guess we would have missed out on something cool wouldn't we?"
A nurse walked in to let Julie know that it was time for her to get ready. Before she left, she gave her grandpa a hug and a kiss then looked back at Ellie. "It was nice to meet you Ellie, thanks for showing me!"
After the room got quiet again, Judge Myers sat in a chair and shook his head, "Son, I initially thought that you were in way over your head. Now though, I see that maybe it is we who don't have a clue about what this little girl really needs. I took the liberty of talking to the nurses about how she was before you were here, and how she is now. I've called the Sheriff and he explained a few things more to me that I have to admit were more than a little disturbing, but then again, sometimes you can chalk it up to boys being boys. The one common denominator is Ellie. No matter where you were, it apparently is a well known fact that you stayed in contact with Ellie and her father and even sent them money on a monthly basis, and I don't even want to contemplate how you pulled that off. I have watched you with her, heard you with her, heard reports of how you are with her as well as around her. If more people in the world took care of their own children that well, then there wouldn't be the need for Child Protective Services." Pausing, he looked at John and Mary before looking at both attorneys. "Mr. Johnny Doe has been declared an adult, and I can see no reason why the Will of Cade Hart should not be fulfilled in its entirety. Make sure all the paperwork is filed first thing in the morning and all copies sent to these fine folks here. Mr. Doe, I have seen seasoned therapists lose their cool when faced with a child in full blown temper, but from what I understand, you haven't… it might be something for you to consider."
Not fully understanding what had just happened, Johnny looked at Toby and asked, "Uh, is that it? I mean…can I take her now… you know, like forever?"
Toby laughed a moment, "Yes Johnny, you are now and forever Ellie's legal guardian. I'll forward all the paperwork to you as soon as I get it all filed and returned. Oh, and Johnny, Judge Myers does not dole out advice haphazardly, you might seriously consider what he said."
John, Mary and Dean smiled brightly at Johnny making him wonder what he had missed.