Shifter

Dee laid out what was left of her present from Uncle Bobby on the little motel table. There was still most of the last white Tshirt, half a spool of black thread, a sewing needle, a pair of halfway decent scissors - the handles stained with some kind of black goop, but the blades were good enough, a chalk pencil - sharpened too quickly with a pen knife, and a couple of straight pins stuck in a fold of plaid cloth leftover from the Uncle Bobby doll's shirt. She'd made Sam a bunch of these little monsters in the past few months. He would pull them out and play with them after dad left, then make sure they were put away before he got home. Dee was glad. Making them was relaxing. Not that she was worried or anything. No way. Not her. She hoped dad would bring her back to Uncle Bobby's soon. He'd promised to show her how to make clothes, instead of just drawing them on. Plus, she would be out of supplies after tonight.

Dad had checked in a couple of hours ago, and she didn't expect him back until after she and Sammy had gone to bed. She looked over at her brother for a moment, killing ghosts and vampires with the tiny Sam and Uncle Bobby. She smiled, and started to sketch a human-like figure on the cloth. "Dee, I'm hungry. What's for dinner?"

She put the pencil down and sighed dramatically. "Why don't you get up and make something?" But it was all a bunch of crap and they both knew it. Still, she slammed the chair into the table and huffed and puffed her way to the little hot plate they kept in the room. Digging into the small duffel bag of food, she pulled out the first two cans her hand hit. "Chicken noodle soup or tomato?" She asked.

"Do we have mac and cheese?"

Dee dug through the duffel with a loud sigh. She pulled out the box. "Fine. But this time I get some. You eat like a moose!" Sam smiled and went back to his game. Dee found a cleanish pan and filled it with hot water, sitting it on the hot plate. She ripped open the box and listened to her brother play. "Die, vampire scum!" He made hissing noises as he poured fake salt over the little doll. "Aaahhh!"

"You don't kill vampires with salt," she called over her shoulder, stirring the noodles so they didn't overcook. She'd only had to eat that mess once. "You have to cut off their heads."

"Oh yeah!" She smiled as he reimagined the death, then went on to other battles. She added the milk and cheese powder and continued to stir until it was ready, calling what little hunting advice she had over her shoulder to her brother as she worked. She turned off the hotplate so Sam wouldn't get burned, and grabbed the pan to dish out their dinner.

She almost dropped the spoon when the door opened and her father walked in, limping a little, and grimacing. "Sam, move out of the way. Let dad through." She put down the dinner and ran to help him with his gun so he could sit. "Are you hungry dad? I made Sam some mac and cheese. There's enough for you, too."

"Sounds good." John Winchester sat on the edge of one of the motel beds, getting the blanket full of dirt and something darker that Dee had decided a long time ago it was better not to wonder about. She kept trying to catch her brother's gaze, willing him to put his toys away, but Sam just climbed up next to his father, still holding the small Sam Winchester toy.

"You okay, dad?" asked Sam.

Dee slipped away and started to dish out dinner for the guys in her life. "Nothing I couldn't take care of. What do you have there, son?" Dee cringed as Sam handed the toy over to their father and started talking animatedly about the adventures he'd created for it.

"Dinners ready!" she called desperately after she had poured two glasses of milk. "Sam, put your stuff away."

"You heard your sister," said John, heading over to the table. "Clean up then come sit and have dinner. It's late." He caught Dee with an annoyed stare. "I expect you'd be going to bed soon." She hung her head and quickly turned to find something else, anything else, to do. She had to dig for a while, but found another box of macaroni buried at the bottom of the duffel. It was pretty squished, and some of the noodles were probably broken, but that would be okay for seconds, and whatever she was going to eat.

Fifteen minutes later, Dee sat at the little table alone, all her sewing supplies put away, watching her father tuck her little brother into bed. She slowly spooned the chilling noodles into her mouth, and allowed herself a second to try to remember when he and mom used to tuck her into bed too. "Go to sleep," she heard, "Don't give your sister any trouble while I'm gone."

"You're leaving again?" Sam asked.

"Yes. Dee?"

She stood up quickly. "Yeah dad?"

"I'm going out. Take care of Sammy." And without even waiting for an answer he left.

She walked over to the bed and kissed her brother on the forehead. "Get some sleep, Sammy." Sam mumbled something she couldn't understand and she crossed the room to turn out the light.

Dee finished her dinner in the dark, then laid down next to her brother and tried to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. It must have worked, because the alarm woke her up at 7:30. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and stopped the alarm before it woke Sammy. She liked to have a few minutes to herself before starting his day. A glance at her father's bed told her it hadn't been slept in last night. She stood and stretched, then started her morning exercises, just like dad. Push ups, sit ups, jogging. Except as soon as she did her first sit up, she noticed something out of place. There was a bag on the little kitchenette table. Dad had stopped home. She paused for a minute, super tempted to check it out, but finished her sit ups instead. It had waited this long. But just in case it was important, she skipped the jog this morning.

She opened the bag and looked inside. Cloth dye from the grocery store, white t shirts, her own pin cushion. She closed the bag. She opened it again. New scissors, a pack of new sewing needles, a white and a black spool of thread. She hugged the bag to her chest. This would have cost a lot. Huh. She smiled to herself and put it away for later. "Rise and shine, Sammy," she said, and if her eyes were a little glassy it was because it was still early, right? "Breakfast."