Mary had been out of sorts since leaving the hospital. She couldn't blame Ellie though, because the sweet girl was well and truly exhausted. Not that she could blame her, it had been a harrowing couple of days, but now that she sat there and watched Ellie sleep with the same bear that her Sammy had played with as a baby, Mary couldn't hold back the tears.

She remembered the night that Sammy had been taken, and the man Bobby was right, she had been told that she had imagined what she saw; the police had even gone so far as to say that she had made it up to allow her accomplice to get away. If it hadn't been for John's unwavering support as well as their friends Mike and his wife Katie, she would have given into her grief and the pressure of the people of town that she had something to do with it. Now though, all she could think about was what Bobby had said; some people thought that her little boy needed to be killed. That did not sit well with her; not well at all.

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John had left for more coffee, and the last thing that he needed was to see the man responsible for turning his family inside out; but there he was anyway, as if nothing was wrong, as if he hadn't just told them that someone wanted to kill their baby.

"What the hell do you want?" he growled, knowing that the only reason why he hadn't ripped the man apart was because that would lead him to jail and away from his family; away from his youngest son.

Bobby knew that he was lucky to be alive much less standing there, but he needed to get the message across; Johnny wasn't safe. "Look, I didn't come here to make trouble; I came here to warn you. These people are just a hair away from being sociopaths and feel that their one mission in life is to keep normal people like you safe from the real evils of the world. I've been trying to convince these people that nothing happened that night; that I was there in time to stop it, but some aren't listening."

Looking at the man in front of him, John fought the urge to strangle him; it was an impulse that was getting harder to control. "Fine, you delivered your message. Answer me this, why didn't you bring him back if you thought this 'demon' hadn't done anything to Sammy?"

Knowing that the inflection on the word demon meant that he was going to have a hard time convincing the stubborn ass, Bobby could only answer honestly. "He should have been brought back, I admit it. That's something I wish I had made sure of, but I didn't. I left him in what I thought were good hands, and the next I hear there's a hunter dead and your boy's in the hospital as a baby doe. I knew that I couldn't claim paternity, and coming to you at that time would have opened the door to way to many questions that didn't need to be asked."

The sound echoed in the cafeteria and gave John a small sense of satisfaction. Looking at Bobby, John rubbed his knuckles as he spoke. "You come near my family again, I'll kill you. You can tell your friends the same, anyone comes near my boys again, I won't hesitate."

Nodding, Bobby knew that he had definitely wore out his welcome. "Fine. One more thing though. I'm having Cade's truck and some of the boys' stuff delivered by a friend of mine. I'll let him know he's not welcome, so don't shoot him."

Watching the man walk off left John feeling uneasy, as if things weren't as settled as he hoped they were. Seeing that he had been gone too long, he walked over and after smoothing things with one of the security guards, bought the coffee and rushed back up to Johnny's room; hoping that nothing had gone wrong in the time he was gone.

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Dean had just finished talking to his mom and was promised that as soon as Ellie woke up and had something to eat that they both would be there, which was something he could tell Johnny considering he was starting to wake up. "Hey bro, you going to wake up or play possum some more?" he asked watching as Johnny's eyes shifted underneath his eyelids. Finally a slight blinking, and a pair of unfocused eyes searched, before locking onto his, then the remnants of the question he was dreading.

"E'y?"

'Damn,' Dean thought 'what the hell did they put you on bro?' Making sure to look at Johnny straight on, Dean answered, "Ellie's fine, she's home with mom taking a nap. As soon as she wakes up, they'll be here."

Confused, Johnny started to shake his head before yelling, "E'y!" Causing Dean to worry that his brother was about to hurt himself. Reaching over, he pushed the nurse call button and prayed that Marlee would get there soon.

John walked into what he could only compare to one of his nightmares. Johnny was screaming for what he could only assume was for Ellie, and trying as much as possible to move out of bed. Seeing that Dean was trying to calm his brother down, John rushed over to the other side of the bed to try and help when a voice behind him made him feel somewhat relieved.

"Don't tell me that the doctor still has this boy on the heavy stuff." Marlee stated, clearly expressing her disapproval. "Alright, I need some room here." She told John as she walked over and took Johnny's face in her hands. "Johnny, calm down! You're fine, your little girl is fine, and if you behave yourself I'll go toe to toe with the doc to get you off some of these drugs. Ok?"

Johnny was in a fog and Ellie wasn't there. He knew that Dean was and that meant that Ellie should be too. What if something happened and they hadn't told him? He had to see her, had to know she was safe. Safe from what? Just… safe, that's all that mattered. She was all that mattered! Seeing someone new made him even more confused, but she was promising something… less drugs… he was on drugs? No! He hadn't been on drugs since Ellie was born, he hadn't needed them… she was his hope – his life! An answer? This person needed an answer, but what? Anything… he'd do anything to get Ellie back… ANYTHING!

Seeing the silent agreement in Johnny's eyes, Marlee smiled then nodded. "Ok, I'll take care of my end, you just go back to sleep for a little while." She said gently, watching as his eyes started to drift close. Looking back to the other Winchester's she spoke firmly, "I wasn't joking, get Ellie up here! He's not going to take kindly to waking up again and her not being here!"

"She'll be here after she wakes up. Mom said she was exhausted and…"

"… and we don't have an extra bed right here next to her daddy? I don't care if you have to build a transporter and beam her here… just do it!"

Both John and Dean watched as Marlee marched out the door muttering about finding a jackass of a doctor before she turned the corner out of sight. "Uh son," John said stunned, "I think we need to call your Mom."

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Bobby really hated how things had gone down with the Winchester's, but it was water under the bridge now. If he was going to make sure that the boy known by him and others as Johnny Doe was safe from the more fanatical members of the hunting community, he was going to have to bring in some reinforcements. Picking up his phone, he dialed a number and waited for the call to connect.

"Damn Bobby, give me a break man, I'm already on my way. What else do you want?"

"How about you shut your trap and tell me how much longer until you get here?" the older hunter snapped back.

"I'm a couple hours out at the latest. Why, you got a hot date?"

"No smartass, but we do have a situation. Winchester's not listening and the kid isn't up to taking care of himself."

There was a pause on the other end, then finally, "Damn, that bad? I'll be there as soon as I can. Pick me up at their place."

After Bobby cut the call he couldn't help but wonder if he and Caleb would be enough to keep the others at bay long enough for the situation to calm down so that Johnny could live his life in whatever way he chose. That was the whole problem with some of the other hunters' theories; they thought that a person's destiny was set in stone instead of what the person made of it. Not much of a believer in fate himself, he was satisfied with letting people carve out their own futures and leave the rest of the debate to the philosopher's.

Knowing he had at least another hour, he pulled his truck over and settled in for a nap, hoping that the sound of a baby's terrified cry wouldn't wake him this time.

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Mary knew that she had to hurry as soon as she talked to Dean again, however trying to convince Ellie had been another story; until she mentioned Johnny, then everything changed. Ellie had stopped everything and with her wide blue eyes seemingly still staring off into space, she whispered in awe, "Johnny", then let Mary guide her into the car and to the hospital. She wouldn't have thought that she would have ever been thankful to walking into a hospital room, but today she was.

They hadn't made it in the door before she heard Johnny's yells for Ellie, which set off a chain reaction in the little girl that could have bordered on complete panic. Rushing Ellie into the room, it was Dean who had taken the initiative and while ignoring Ellie's screams at being picked up, rushed her over and laid her next to Johnny.

"See, she's fine Johnny… calm down, she's right here… right here…" Dean soothed, trying to break through whatever panic was in his brother's mind at the moment.

It took a few moments, but when Ellie placed her head on Johnny's chest and sighed his name, Johnny calmed down and looked down to see his little girl right there next to him. Sighing, he tried to get his arm to cooperate, but wasn't having much luck. It was Dean who helped him place his left arm around Ellie, and he was extremely grateful for the assistance. Lying there he tried to remember why he was there, but the only thing that was crossing his mind was the word drugs, sending a wave of confusion through him once again.

"I see you took my advice." Marlee said as she walked in the room and to Johnny's bedside. "Alright young man, I need you to pay attention. When you start to feel pain, you let me know immediately. Don't try and play brave, we can keep the pain under control only if you're honest with me and we don't waste time. Understand? Good!" Looking over at Ellie she smiled, "Well I can see why you were so insistent on having her here, she's a real doll. Now, the meds you're on are supposed to wear off in another couple of hours, but I figure you'll be ahead of the curve, so I'll be expecting a call from you in no later than an hour. If I don't, I know that you're too stubborn to know what's best for you and will let that jackass put you under again, got it?" she asked, then waited for some sign that Johnny understood. "Uh huh… well, I guess that means that it's up to you folks to let me know when he started to get uncomfortable. Don't let me down now."

Mary watched in awe as the small nurse had her men dumbstruck. 'Huh' she thought, wondering if the woman made housecalls.

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Dr. Davidson wasn't scared of much, he'd seen too much in his life to give into such a unpredictable emotion, but when Nurse Marlee got agitated, she got anyone within close proximity shaking in their shoes. So when she had marched up to him earlier in the day he had known that he was in trouble, and no matter how much he had tried to explain his reasoning, she had finally shut him up with: "you might have gone to some fancy school, but I've forgotten more medicine than you'll ever know!" What was scary was… she was right! She may not look old, but he knew for a fact that she had hit Medicare eligibility ten years ago, and she was still going strong. So when she said something, people listened and learned.

Now he was glad he had. He had walked into Johnny Doe's room expecting to see someone climbing the walls in agony with his family demanding that he do something. Instead what he saw was a young man talking calmly to a little girl by his side, with his family visiting around him. Hating to disturb the peaceful scene, but needing to check on his patient, he cleared his throat and walked in the rest of the way.

"Hey doc! Come on in, Johnny was just telling us that he was starting to feel his arm again so we were going to call in Marlee to help." Dean said, looking at the doctor warily.

Smiling, Dr. Davidson knew that he had inadvertently put that look on the Winchester's faces, and he wanted to assure them all his intentions. "I just wanted to check on Johnny's arm and make sure that he was responding to the new pain meds."

Mary rolled her eyes before responding, "In other words you weren't sure Marlee's idea would work, so you thought you'd see if she needed you to bale her out."

John smirked and looked at the doctor wondering what he'd say to that. Seeing that the other man had wisely kept his mouth shut, he looked at Dean and silently agreed with his oldest son. 'Go Mom!'

Johnny knew that the doctor had a job to do, and he wished it would hurry up. He had actually been having a nice visit with everyone and Ellie was actually having a pretty good day. Seeing that the doctor was hesitant to check his hand with Ellie watching, he whispered for her to close her eyes.

After checking the swelling, and asking Johnny some questions, Dr. Davidson nodded at what he saw. "Alright, you still have quite a lot of swelling, and I want to keep you for another day to ensure that your pain is manageable and that you don't develop a Staph infection before we send you home. This time I advise that you don't try to break up anymore fights until you have gotten out of Physical Therapy."

Shocked, Dean looked at the doctor, "That's it? You mean he could go home tomorrow? Shouldn't he stay longer? I mean, what if something happens?" He knew he sounded paranoid, but this was the second time that Johnny had gone in for surgery on the same hand; he was allowed to be paranoid.

"The type of medicine that he's getting through his IV, he can get in pill form, and as long as he follows directions he should be fine. Now I have to ask, is there any reason why you might be hesitant to taking these medicines at home?" Dr. Davidson asked more as a precaution, but didn't really expect a positive answer.

"Honestly? Yeah… uh," Johnny looked around and could see the concern on everyone's faces. "look, I've been clean since Ellie was born, but there was awhile that if it could be popped, huffed, smoked or even occasionally snorted, I was doing it." He waited for a response, any response, but it never came. Instead everyone looked at him in shock. "Uh, I barely take aspirin anymore, but you asked me to be honest, and I am."

Dr. Davidson stood there and looked at the little girl lying next to Johnny. "Then I guess we're all grateful that Ellie was born." He said quietly doing the math in his head and feeling saddened by what he came up with, "Do you feel that you'll have a problem with this, or are you just wanting to make sure that we know about the possibility?"

Sighing, Johnny shrugged, "I guess I just wanted to make sure you knew."

The room was still silent after the doctor left, no one knowing what to say about what had been revealed. Ellie had drifted off again, and Marlee had come and gone with medicine, leaving the four people still trying to sort out their thoughts.

Mary, John and Dean stood there mulling everything over in their minds. They knew that they hadn't been told everything about Johnny's life, and to be honest they weren't sure if something like that would actually come up in an investigation, but now they were faced with the blatant truth… Johnny had been through more than they thought; and it hurt.

Johnny knew that this was the deal breaker. Either the Winchester's still accepted him, or they cut their losses. He knew that it was one thing to accept someone back in the family after everything that they had already assumed, but it would be totally different to do so after finding out for certain. Already thinking ahead, he knew how much he had in the bank, and how much he was owed; he and Ellie would be fine money wise, but there might be some difficulty with everyday things. Taking the silence as a form of rejection, he was surprised when he heard Dean's voice.

"I guess that's just one more reason why we can love Ellie, huh?"