Mary wasn't sure what happened, and that frustrated her more than anything. Dean had gone to the Academy early, John and Johnny rode to the shop together after Johnny made sure that Ellie was fine and explained how he'd be back after work. That left the two girls to have a fun day together, and they were for awhile, but now Ellie was sitting on the floor keening as if her heart was breaking and Mary had no idea why or even what to do about it. Looking at the clock she knew that she should expect another call from Johnny in about half an hour, but she wasn't sure they could wait that long. Picking up the phone, she called the garage and after talking to Mike for a moment, asked for Johnny.
It took only a moment for a frantic sounding voice to come across the line, and she felt awful for putting him through the worry.
"Mary? What's wrong? Is Ellie ok?"
"I'm not sure, we were doing so well, and then… well, you can hear her, any idea what's going on?"
There was a pause for a moment before Johnny asked to talk to Ellie and after a little maneuvering, Mary held the receiver to Ellie's ear. After a few moments, Ellie stopped fussing and listened, and then all was quiet. After another moment, Mary realized she heard Johnny calling out to her.
"Sorry about that Johnny. I had no idea what to do."
Johnny's tired voice came across the line, making her feel worse for disturbing him.
"It's alright, she's just getting tired I guess. If you find Ariel and put in the movie, she'll probably fall asleep."
After promising to find the movie for Ellie, Mary hung up and looked at the little girl. "It looks like my son has this princess thing down better than I do. How about we go upstairs and find Ariel?" Mary asked, and was pleasantly surprised to see Ellie follow her upstairs. 'Yes, I'm definitely out of practice.'
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Johnny hung up the phone and turned around only to find himself the center of attention. It wasn't until Mike started laughing about being the only garage in town with a floor show that Johnny realized what he'd done, but he couldn't bring himself to care; Ellie needed reassurance, and he gave it to her.
John had been settling up with a customer when Johnny had started to sing into the telephone, and it wasn't until the older woman smiled and commented on how her granddaughter loved The Little Mermaid that he had put things together. Smiling, he had to admit, that having Ellie around was going to make things a lot more interesting, but definitely worth it. "So, how's Ellie?" he asked, as he watched Johnny get started on a brake job.
"She'll be ok until we get home I think. Things are still a little raw for her at the moment." Johnny said while trying to figure out how the guy who drove the car into the shop had been able to stop. "You know, I appreciate the room, but she and I are going to have to find our own place pretty soon."
Not expecting the turn in conversation, John stood there for a moment and watched as Johnny pried the pads off the rotors with a couple of well rounded curses. "You know, you both can stay with us as long as you need. Mary likes having someone to fuss over, and I have to admit, Ellie keeps Mary out of my hair."
Laughing, Johnny couldn't help but think how alike John and Dean are. Shaking his head, he glanced over, "I tell you what, you can use Ellie to keep Mary occupied, and you help me find a decent place for us to live."
Feeling as if he'd been hit in the solar plexus, John could only stare at Johnny for a moment. It was the only time that the kid had actually come close to asking for their help, and he wasn't going to make light of it. Nodding, he agreed, "Alright, you have yourself a deal, but only if you agree to stay with us until we can get you two moved in."
Not sure if he'd been outmaneuvered or not, Johnny reluctantly shook John's hand in agreement. Now if he could just find a decent apartment, he'd feel a lot better about this arrangement.
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Dean was happy to be home. It wasn't that his day had been particularly bad, but it hadn't been the greatest either. Most of the problem had been him, he could admit it, his head wasn't in it and it showed. Sighing, he couldn't wait to see what his Mom was planning for dinner, but more than that he couldn't wait to see a certain little girl. Opening the door, he was surprised to see Ellie lying on the couch clutching one of her dolls, watching a movie without his Mom around.
"Mom! Hey, where you hiding?" he called out, but was disturbed that he didn't get a response. Walking over to Ellie, he sat next to her for a moment and saw that she was actually staring at a blue screen on the television. Concerned, Dean picked Ellie up to make sure she was alright, finding himself even more worried when she didn't start to fuss. "Alright kiddo, let's go find Mom, then we'll see about finding some cookies!"
Not seeing anything out of the ordinary in the dining room, Dean continued his line of conversation into the kitchen only stopping when he saw his Mom lying on the floor. Setting Ellie quickly down into one of the chairs, he went to find out what had happened. Looking around, he noticed the small step ladder that she normally uses to get up to the top shelves, it was on its side, and she was unconscious. "Well, that's not good. MOM! Come on, you're scaring a certain little princess in the room, and by the way, you're not doing me any good either."
It took less than a minute to bring Mary around, but when she opened her eyes her concern was apparent. "ELLIE! Oh my God, Dean, where's Ellie!"
Moving to the side, Dean let his mom see the little girl who was sitting quietly where Dean had left her. "Mom, what happened? Never mind, let's get you checked out. Can you stand? We'll take my car, and I'll call Dad on the way."
Mary stood, but held Dean still. "Dean, stop. I'm not going to the hospital, I'm fine. I just fell off the step ladder."
"Just fell off the step ladder, and you're fine… do you have any idea how ridiculous those two things together sound? Come on, we're going…"
"No Dean, we're not! It's the first day I'm taking care of Ellie, and I already had to call Johnny once. How do you think he's going to take finding out that the person he's trusting Ellie to can't even take care of herself much less his little girl?"
"How do you think he's going to take finding out that something happened but no one let him know about it? You fell, you got hurt. Johnny needs to know if for no other reason than Ellie could start acting strange later and he won't know how to help."
Not sure what to do, Mary sat down and watched as Ellie turned her light blue eyes to her. "How's this, if she starts acting upset, I'll let Johnny know. I have a slight headache, but otherwise I'm fine, so don't use that as an excuse." She told Dean, daring him to make a big deal out of it.
Dean looked between Ellie and his Mom and wondered how he got himself into these messes. He knew that if Johnny found out that they hid something from him, then he'd walk out the door promises be damned. On the other hand, if Johnny found out what happened while he was gone, he'd have every right to do that anyway. Not exactly sure which way to go, he continued to watch Ellie who seemed, at the moment, fascinated with his Mom. "Alright, but if he finds out and gets mad, don't go crying to me about it, it was my idea to take you to the ER." He told her, wishing she would change her mind, but seeing that she wasn't he changed the subject, "So, where'd you hide the cookies?"
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John had just finished locking the garage doors when Johnny walked up to him and asked, "I have a few errands to run, do you think that you and Mary could watch Ellie a little longer?"
Seeing that it was taking a lot to ask, John offered to take him around so it wouldn't take so long. Reluctantly Johnny agreed, only after insisting that he pay for the gas, and promised not to take too long. When John pulled up to the first store, he had to look at Johnny for confirmation.
Nodding, Johnny got out of the Impala and walked into the little boutique nestled in the middle of a strip mall. Not sure what to think, John sat there and watched as Johnny talked to a clerk who seemed more than willing to get anything that he wanted. Fifteen minutes later, Johnny walked out of the store with several pink bags holding several brightly wrapped packages. Sliding into the passenger seat, Johnny sighed, "I think we'd better get back, Ellie's probably giving Mary fits right about now."
Looking at the bags in the backseat, John was curious, but didn't say anything instead he backed out of his parking space and drove them back home, hoping that someone could fill him in on what was going on. They were a block away from the house before Johnny said quietly, "Tomorrow's Ellie's birthday, and I wanted to surprise her in the morning instead of taking her shopping."
"Her birthday is the Fourth of July?" John asked, not sure why he should be surprised considering everything, but now he had to wonder what to do with this piece of information.
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Mary was making breakfast for her family while also whipping up a batch of cupcakes for a certain little birthday girl. After finding out about Ellie's special day, she and John decided that they were going to make sure that she had the best day possible; the only problem they saw was Johnny. He hadn't forgotten the agreement they had that they wouldn't try and include him during their picnic, and even went so far as reminding them that they had family time planned. Of course they had tried to convince him that he and Ellie were part of the family too, but he wouldn't listen, insisting that if Ellie was having a good day, then they'd go to the zoo after the little princess opened her presents.
Sighing, she couldn't understand why he was being so stubborn about everything, and then she realized what she was thinking and laughed at herself. If Johnny was being stubborn about anything, then it had to do with genetics; she'd noticed that the Winchester men were the most stubborn lot from the first day she met John. Knowing that John had run to the garage to check a tripped alarm, and that Dean had gone on a run, she was excited about surprising Johnny and Ellie with the small party they had cooked up. Now all they had to do was wait for them to get up and start their day.
"Hey Mom, how's the baking coming?" Dean asked as he walked in the back door looking around the kitchen for some goodies.
Smiling, Mary reached over and pulled a cupcake off the cooling rack, giving it to her oldest son as if he was still six and trying to sneak snacks after school. She was going to ask how it was when John walked in and looked upset, but before she had a chance to find out what was wrong, he rushed past and ran up the stairs leaving her and Dean to wonder what was going on. It wasn't until John came running back down the stairs that they knew something was wrong.
"They're gone! Damn it, they're gone!" John said as he pulled the phone book out of the drawer and pulled the phone closer. "Mike! Yeah, look I already checked it out… no, nothing's missing but the files have been tossed… I don't know Mike, but I need to know if you've heard from Johnny…no, I don't know why… I've already talked to them and since nothing's missing there isn't much they can do…yeah, alright, thanks."
Dean looked at his Dad and didn't like what he was hearing. "Dad? What's going on?"
Looking at his family, John broke the news, "Someone broke into the garage and riffled through the personnel files, and now both Johnny and Ellie are gone."