Authors Notes: This chapter took longer to get done, and it turned out much longer, but I didn't want to rush anything with this story. (For those of you who have been reading my other stories I'm still working on them, they are just taking longer as well.) My husband and I are in the process of finding a new place to live so it may take longer to update, but know that I haven't given up on any of my stories.

I would like to thank Rayne91, nichole23, Mary Izzy Dakota, melrose5553, DeanWinchesterJuvr91, Lady OD and MoonlitePrincez314 for you awesome feedback and for adding this story to your favorite lists. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and please let me know who you see Nikki with… Sam or Dean. It's far too early for the final decision, but as the writer, I can play around…. Wink wink.

Family Is Just a Word

Chapter FOUR: First Impression.

Chapter Rating: PG-13

Silence, something that she hadn't heard in a long while, woke Nikki from her sleep. Living on the streets she had gotten used to the noise and sounds of the open, the lack of sound was setting her on edge. Forcing herself up from the soft bed, she couldn't help but note that the rays of light where shining through the window. For the first time in the last month she felt like she had gotten a good amount of rest.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes to get a better look around the small room, she saw that John was nowhere to be seen. Just as she was about to get out of bed and look around in search of him, the door opened and in he walked.

She only watched as he walked in and shut the door with his foot, his hands full of what looked to be clean laundry.

Getting up and making her way over to him, she took some of the clothing from him to set it down on the table, picking up a shirt and began to fold it. She didn't want to ask him if he needed help or not, she didn't want to give him the option of telling her 'no'.

John knew better then to tell her that he didn't need her to fold his clean clothing, but it would save on time, allowing him to take a morning shower before they had to leave. Without telling her his plans he walked into the bathroom, clean clothes in hand, and shut the door.

The sound of the water told her what he was doing, and she couldn't help the small smile that graced her lips. Picking up another article of clothing she stopped herself from folding it. There in her hands was her shirt, clean and fresh.

Joy washed over her as she dug in the pile more to find her pants and other pieces of clothing. A small blush heated up her face as she pulled out her worn black bra, but she couldn't bring herself to be angry with him for picking it up. He had gone out of his way to make sure she had something clean for the day; there was no part of her that could find a fault in him for that thoughtful act.

Knowing that she didn't have long before he got out, she recalled that he took rather fast showers, she pulled off the top that he had let her use and quickly went about getting changed into her clothing. Right as she was done, she heard the water turn off.

'Perfect timing.' She thought to herself as she began to finish folding his clothing. Locating his large worn duffel, she went ahead and began to load all his freshly clean and folded clothing into the old army issued bag.

John, walking back out of the shower and back into the room, saw that Nikki was already dressed and it seemed like she was humming. Something that John's ears haven't heard in a very long time. He had to stop himself from thinking of how Mary would hum to Dean to get him to sleep, and how she used the same trick on Sam.

Pushing aside the memories of better days, he walked over to inspect her packing skills. He had to admit that she had managed to get all his clothing in and there was still room, just like he did it. He couldn't stand it to be overstuffed; it was one of his pet-peeves.

Walking over to the small table that he had used as his desk while he was working the case, he pulled a note book out and ripped out a piece of paper, putting it into his pocket.

Looking over the room one more time, to make sure that he grabbed everything, he looked at Nikki. "You ready? We have one stop before we head to a friend's place." He informed her.

With a bashful smile she only nodded to him. It wasn't like she had a whole lot to her name anyway.

Again, John helped her up into his truck making sure that she didn't have too much trouble, and then walked around to the driver's side, throwing his bag in the back of his truck on the way.

It only took him a short drive till he pulled off the main road pulling into a Wal-Mart parking lot. Pulling out the patter that he had stuffed into his pocket from earlier he handed it over to Nikki. "Think you can handle getting the things on this list?" He asked her.

Taking the list from him and opening it, she couldn't stop the tears that clouded over her eyes. It was a list of everything that she needed, new clothing, underwear, and toiletries. Not trusting her voice to answer him she gave him a smile and nodded.

"Good. You got an hour." He said as he opened the door and walked around to open hers. He had to go in to restock on a few things and pick up the right type of bag for her, but he trusted her to be ok on her own. He didn't want to pry and over look everything that she was going to pick out.

Walking inside and getting her a shopping cart, he told her that he would meet her at the checkout in one hour.

List in hand she made her way over to the clothing section and began to pull a few things that caught her eye. She tried to stay within the sale area and only got what was on the list. Once she cart was half full of the clothing that matched the list she made her way to the isle that held all the soaps and hair care products.

'Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, razors… I still need a new tooth brush, tooth paste, deodorant, and a hair brush.' Nikki told herself. Looking down to her watch, one thing that she was able to keep with her, she saw that she was making good on time.

Throwing the last item in her cart she headed to the checkout, she was fifteen minutes early and knew that John would be waiting for her. Just as she thought, he was standing off to the side, waiting for her. He stood up straight when he saw her heading his way.

He had gathered his own cart and had a few items inside. "You're early. Sure you got everything?" He asked. He was surprised that she hadn't taken the full time he allotted to her.

"Yeah I'm sure." She said back. Together they walked to the checkout line and he began to place things on the counter. As the cashier rang everything up, he couldn't help but note that everything she had gotten was on sale.

That told John a lot about her, and her character. Along with what he learned the night before, she seemed to care for others, why else become a nurse? The way that she had taken care of him and patched his face up, told him that she took care in what she did, not wanting to rush anything.

Picking things that were all on sale, told him that she didn't care about name brand and only got what she needed, she was a down to earth girl, something that was hard to find in the world today.

After paying the amount due, he grabbed the cart loaded up with bags and pushed it to the truck. Unlocking the door, he told her to go ahead and get in while he put everything away, and she did just that.

"Thank you Mr. John." Nikki finally said to him as he behind the wheel.

He only responded with a grunt.

John only made one more stop to get something to eat before they took back to the main highway. Nikki declined any offer of food, holding up her crackers and ale. She didn't want to risk anything coming up while they were driving.

"Where are we going, if you don't mind me asking." Nikki asked after an hour on the road.

"A friends. I talked to him last night and he said that you could stay with him as long as you'd like." He told her, keeping his eyes on the road before him.

"Oh." She said, he noted the sadness in her voice.

"He's a good man." She reassured her. "Besides, it wouldn't be very safe for you to travel with me." He told her in all honesty.

Looking down to her hands she nodded her understanding. She had to admit that she didn't know much about what he did, but from what she saw and could remember from the alley, she knew he was right.

"What is it that you do?" She asked, keeping her voice down. "You said those things were vampires?"

John knew that it was only a matter of time before she asked him about what had happened, and knew hopped that she remembered their little agreement about not asking a lot of questions.

"Yeah, those things where vampires, I hunt them down and make sure that they stop hurting people."

"There are others like you?" She inquired.

"Yeah there are a few." He told her, surprised that she wasn't asking more about the vampires and what else was other there.

"That's good..." She said with a smile. "..that there are those out there doing what you do. I'm sure the world would be a much worse off if no one was willing to deal with them."

Having nothing to say to that John just kept driving. He noted that Nikki seemed to be happy with what she learned so far.

It was late in the afternoon by the time they stopped for lunch and to stretch out their legs. Pulling into a small road side dinner, John got out, but before he could make it to her side of the door to help her out, she hopped down and shut the door, making sure she locked it.

With a smile she walked up next to him and together they walked into the restraint. Finding a corner booth he sat down on the side that he could keep an eye on the door, Nikki seating across from him. It didn't take long for a middle aged waitress to make her way over to them.

"Good afternoon. My name it Ronda, and I'll be taking care of you. Can I get you anything to drink?" She asked smiling as she looked in between them.

"Ice Tea." John said to her, watching her write it down.

"I'll have water please." Nikki told her.

"Sure thing sweetheart, I'll have that right out for you." She told them and turned away from them to gather their drinks.

"Think you can try and hold down some real food?" John asked Nikki.

"I can try."

"Good, you need to work on eating as much as you can, that little one needs all it can get." He said, his fatherly side creeping out of him.

She couldn't help but smile at how he was becoming protective of her, which brought up a question that she couldn't help herself from asking. "Do you have any children Mr. John?"

Looking up from his menu, he looked at her, thinking about what she just asked. Leaning back into the booth, he pulled out his wallet and took out a old worn picture.

Reaching out to take the photo for him, she couldn't help but smile at the two young boys in the picture. "They're so cute." She said to him. She could clearly see him in the older of the two; they had the same green eyes. The younger one looked to be under a year old, and was in the arms of the older boy. He had a rather large grin on his face and she could tell that he was happy to be holding his little brother.

"Yeah they were." He said with a hint of sadness.

Nikki looked up to him, thinking the worse and handed back the picture. "I'm sorry, what happened to them?" She couldn't stop herself from asking.

With a small smile, John put the picture away. "They grew up. Dean is twenty seven now and Sam is twenty three."

"Wow, I bet they look just like their dad." She said as the waitress came back with their drinks. She couldn't help herself from thinking of a younger looking John; he must have been a real looker back in his day. The fact that he had two sons made her hope that they took after their father. If the older one had his eyes, she was sure he had turned into a real ladies man. She didn't have a good idea of what Sam would look like, only seeing a bundled up child. But he was sure to be just as good looking, maybe he took after their mother.

"Are we ready to order or do you need a little more time?" Ronda asked, again with a smile.

"I'll have the double cheese burger; can you add bacon to that?" John asked. When Ronda nodded with a smile he continued. " …and a side of fries."

"Sure thing, and what does your daughter want?" She asked looking to Nikki.

Nikki was about ready to correct her, but saw the look on Johns face and thought to just go with it. It would be kind of hard to explain why an older man would be with a younger girl. Even though Nikki was eighteen, she still looked younger than her real age.

"Um, I'll just have the BLT. Can I get a side of fresh fruit?" She asked pointing out one of the extras on the list of sides.

"Sure thing, I'm going to go give this to the cook and it should be out in the next ten minutes." Again she smiled then walked away.

They both sat there just looking out the window for a few minutes, Nikki wanted to know more about his sons, but knew not to ask too much. He had already done so much for her; she didn't want to push his kindness.

Sensing that she wanted to know more about his life, John didn't see the harm in tell her. "Dean grew up a lot faster than he should have had too. There was a fire that killed my wife, Mary, and Dean pulled Sammy out of it and took him to safety. After that day he wouldn't take his eyes off him, he even slept in the same bed as him until they both became too big for the twin size bed." He said with a laugh. He could still remember waking up to a loud thud as Dean hit the floor. Sam had pushed him off the bed in his sleep and took over the whole thing before his oldest son could get back into it to claim his spot.

"That's so sweet, that he looks after him. Do they know about what you do?" She asked leaning over the table.

Nodding to her he found the right words to answer her. "Yeah, they grew up knowing the truth. We hunted as a family for a while, than Sam got accept into Stanford. We had a bit of a fight, but I was so proud of him." He said with a true smile. "Dean didn't take it so well, but they've gotten over it now."

"Wow Stanford, he must be really smart." She said. "So they are hunting together again? What happened to Stanford?"

Looking down at the table John didn't know if he should get into what was behind his wife's murder and the death of Jessica.

"The thing that started the fire and killed Mary went after Sam's girlfriend, Jessica. He wasn't able to save her, so he left the school."

It hurt to hear what he was telling her, but it made it all click. "That's why you don't want me to tag along, because that thing is still out there." Nikki said more to herself then to the man seating in front of her.

"Among others. There are more than just vampires and things that start fires running around out there. Hunters always have to be ready for danger around each corner. I wouldn't be able to watch out for you and keep you safe and do my job."

"I understand." She said. Her respect for the man was growing with everything that she learned from and about him.

Their food arrived only a few minutes later and Nikki tried as best she could to eat as much as her stomach would let her. However she was only able to make it though half her BLT before she had to call it quits. Picking up a grape from the fruit side she popped it into her mouth and began to chew it.

Ronda came back and brought their check, which John took and paid. Nikki asked for a to-go box, hopping that she would get hungry again and finish eating what she had left. She couldn't deny that it tasted good, she just wasn't used to being able to eat regularly anymore. Living on the streets for a month had done some damage and she could only thank God that John had walked down that alley when he did.

Back on the road again, they drove on in silence. As much as she wanted to know more about who she was going to be staying with, she trusted John enough to not just leave her anywhere. She could tell that they had driven though a few different states already and could only hope that they arrived soon. She wasn't used to all this driving, and her lower back was starting to hurt.

As the sun was setting, they pulled off the main road and drove a little ways down a dirt drive until they stopped at a salvage yard. The amount of run down and beat up cars where a small shock to her, but she figured that it went along with being a place to dump off old cars and fix up others.

It was hard to tell, but she could see an older model back car parked off to the side, so she knew that this friend of John's was home.

Seeing his 67' Impala parked on the side, he knew that his two boys where inside the house. 'Damn it Bobby.' He thought to himself. He knew that he must have called them as soon as he hung up with him last night. He knew that his boys had been looking for him for a while, and he should have known that Bobby would have called them up and snitched on him.

"Looks like you'll get to meet Sam and Dean. That's their car." John said. He couldn't hold back the tone of his voice, the one people get when they know the shit was about it hit a fan… one word from his days in the Marine Carps come to mind… FUBAR… Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition. And if Dean and Sam where still upset at him for going AWAL, the he knew that he was in for it.

Stopping the truck next to his former car, he thought about telling Nikki to stay in the cab of the truck until he could deal with his two boys, but that option was taken away from him when he saw Bobby's screen door open and Dean rush out, Sam close behind him.

Looking up at seeing two men make their way over to the driver's side of the truck, Nikki couldn't fully process what was happening. The slightly shorter of the two made his way over to John's side, between a run and jog; he covered the ground between them in no time.

"Dad!" He shouted at him. Nikki wasn't sure which one he was, but she was sure of one thing, these where defiantly not little boys anymore. The one that was hanging back a little was much taller, towering over his brother and father. She looked back to the house to see another man, around John's age come out. The look on his face told her that didn't know what to fully expect to come out of the three men.

"What the hell is going on dad?" Dean asked, standing his ground. He had gotten a call last night from Bobby telling them that his father was going to be dropping something off at his house, but didn't know when. He and Sam had switched of driving the whole way, only stopping for food, gas and to relieve themselves. "We've been trying to find your ass, following your messages all over the states. We've called you more than once and you couldn't even pick up the damn phone to let us know that you're alright?" He yelled. His anger was coming out faster than he could ring it back in and remember who he was talking it.

"Dean, you knew what I was doing. It wasn't safe." John said, his rough fatherly tone coming out. Nikki, still in the truck, could see the tough love act that he was putting up.

Bringing his hands up as if in defeat, Dean turned around and saw Nikki for the first time. "Who the hell is that?" He yelled pointing to Nikki, when she saw his angry eyes; she looked down to her hands. "You don't have enough time to let you own sons know that you're alive, but you have time to pick up strays? Bring work home with you dad? I thought that you said that it wasn't safe to get mixed up in a case." He stated, not taking note that John had moved in closer to him. "Or is she more of the pleasure then the business?"

Before he had time to regret what he had just said, his father hooked him with a solid right. Dean went down, but caught himself before he was lying on the ground. Jumping up to his feet, he rushed at his father. All the anger, hurt and pain of him leaving him was boiling to the surface and this was the only way he knew to deal with it right now.

Seeing what was happening, Nikki, jumped out of the cab and ran around to try and stop the two men from fighting. She had heard everything that he had yelled, and as much as it hurt her, she wasn't about to let John deal with this all on his own. It was all a huge misunderstanding, and she was going to fix it.

"Stop!" She yelled, but was stopped by two large arms wrapping around her.

Sam, had seen the young girl get out of the truck and make her way to try and stop the fight, but he knew that she would only end up getting hurt, and thought that it would be better to stop her. "Whoa! Let them work it out. Trust me you don't want to get in the middle of that." He told her.

"You have to stop them, your dad is already hurt and in bad shape." She informed him. She was trying to ignore the feeling of having a man holding her from behind, and pushed the fears away. He was much taller then she thought up close, and she could tell that he was a lot stronger then he looked, he was putting forth no effort to hold her back.

Letting her go, making sure that she was steady on her feet, he moved so that he could look at her. He was shocked when he learned that they had a chance at seeing their father again, but when they had heard the truck pull up, Dean and he had not thought that he would have a young girl with him. His father had a lot to feel them in on.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked her. He wasn't happy about his father not keeping in contact with them, but he didn't hate the man.

"You dad has a busted cheek, and broken cheek bone, I had to stitch him up last night. He also had a few bruised ribs, he wouldn't let me look at them, but I'm sure they are broken as well. He took out five vampires and saved my life. Please you have to stop them." She was on the border of begging the older man. She could see the worry build on his face as she told him of what condition his father was in.

"Alright, you stay here." He said pointing to the ground. Turning back around he looked to see both his brother and father on the ground, punching and kicking. He could tell that his father was winning, even if Dean was on top.

"Dean, Stop it. That's enough." Sam said, trying to pull his older brother off their dad. Dean, in full fight mode, elbowed Sam in the cheek to push him away. Seeing that talking wasn't going to do the trick, Sam used his size and hefted Dean up and away from John. "I said that enough Dean!" He yelled, his own anger coming out.

Nikki could only watch as Sam pulled the angry Dean off John and pushed him away. Once she saw that it was clear, she ran over to John's side to help him up.

"Get off me Sam!" Dean yelled to his younger brother.

"Not until you calm down. Did you even see that dad was already hurt?" He questioned him. "Yeah that's what I thought." Sam said when he saw the lost look on his face.

"You should be more upset and angry then I am! You should have wanted to punch him right along with him Sam!" He yelled, clearly still very upset.

Sam kept his ground and held Dean at arms light away from their fallen father. Looking back over his shoulder he saw that Nikki was bending down about ready to put something over his reopened cheek when he felt Dean move around him.

Unable to move fast enough, He could only shout out. "Dean STOP!"

His cry for his brother to knock off and cool down was drowned out by a very loud and very close shot gun going off.

Everyone stopped and looked over to See Bobby, shotgun in hand, glaring at them. "Dean, I know you weren't about to push a pregnant girl out of the way to get to your father, and Sam you should know better than to let your eyes off him when he's in a mood." Bobby yelled to them, glaring at Dean.

The gunshot still ringing in their ears, and seeing Bobby still holding the shotgun they knew to stop and really think about their next move. However the only thing that they both heard him say was 'pregnant girl.'

As if sharing the same thought, they both looked back to the young girl tending to their father.

"Dad, what the hell is going on?" Dean asked, his anger was still very much there, but instead of seeing red, it was a white hot anger. What was his father doing with a young pregnant girl?

Authors Notes: Ok so there you go… sorry it took so long. I hope that you all enjoyed the chapter!