Hello, everyone! Once again, thanks for any and all reviews, favorites, etc. It really means a lot to me! So, are you guys ready to find out where Luna's from?
Audrey
It seems like only yesterday
I didn't have a clue
I stood alone not knowing where to turn...
Until the day you came along
I used to just get lost...
You've got me understanding...
You've really helped me see
I'm finally understanding
It means so much to me
-Understanding, Bob Seger
"I know where I've seen Luna before."
"W- where?" Sam held the phone closer to his ear to make sure he heard right.
"The maid. At the motel. When she came in with towels and tripped over you."
Sam stopped at the light as a man and his children crossed the street. "I don't remember that."
"When Audrey fell?"
"Oh." That must've happened before he'd woken up. "Well, I'm turning into the lot now. I stopped and got food. Biggerson's- your favorite."
Dean hung up and set the phone down. He'd never tell Sam this, but when he got all of Audrey's necessities that first trip out he grabbed himself a parenting book. What was he supposed to do? He knew Sam needed his help and he was not good with kids.
Chapter 3: Your Six-Month Old
By now, your baby has begun rolling around and trying to sit up on his own. He most likely has been babbling, blowing raspberries, and using means other than crying to grasp your attention. As he grows, he will begin "talking," and might even utter his first word any day now.
He will begin exploring more and testing things by putting them in his mouth, and this would be a good time to start baby-proofing the house- putting choking hazards in high places and child-locks on door knobs.
Dean looked at Audrey, who was staring back at him with big, chocolate brown eyes. He smiled and she giggled back, but didn't make a single babbling "word." Dean frowned. The text from that book kept ringing in his ears. What if Audrey never talked? If she was traumatized enough where she never talked?
Sam had scared them all when he was four. One of Dad's hunts had gotten personal when a werewolf decided to follow him home to his eight and four year olds.
Sammy had been forced to watch when the werewolf pounced straight for him and John shot it in the head. Dean cleaned the blood off of his crying little brother and the toddler didn't trust his father for a while.
Sam hadn't spoken for a month afterwards. John thought he'd been scarred for life, but Dean had finally convinced him to speak. By the time he figured out what John's true profession was years later, he'd forgotten all about the incident.
Dean could only hope the same was true with Audrey. He hoped she'd speak on time, and walk on time, and not end up like him and Sammy. As much as he loved hunting, he didn't want to put that life on his brother's baby. Never.
He heard shuffling outside. Dean tensed and reached for his gun instinctively, but it was just Sam coming in with his hands full with bags of food stamped "Biggerson's," his laptop case slung over his shoulder.
He threw the rolled paper bag at Dean and set down his stuff on the bed. "Hi, honey!" He stooped down and picked up Audrey. "How's my favorite daughter?"
Dean couldn't help but smile as Sam knelt down next to her and picked up one of her toy cars. The father played it cool but Dean could tell, because Dean could always tell: Sam was trying to be the father John Winchester never was.
..ooOOoo..
The scratching of pens and pencils was the only noise in the quiet classroom that morning. This was hands down the most important test Sam would take all semester. He'd been studying for weeks on end for Professor Roman's class. She was a cranky old woman, always wearing her hair in a tight bun and a scowl on her face.
They were twenty minutes into the two hour test when Sam's phone began to ring. As always, the Mario theme song announced that he'd gotten a text (If Dean were here he would've worn out that fact with endless jokes about Sam being a nerd). Professor Roman looked up accusingly, as did all the other students.
Sam looked sheepishly at the "No Electronics" sign taped to the board as Roman began walking towards him. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. He has to keep it on. Jess was expecting.
"Hand it over, Mr. Winchester." She held out one wrinkled old hand for the cell and Sam reluctantly reached out to hand it over when he saw the screen.
One New Message:
From Jessica
He pulled his hand back. "Mr. Winchester! No electronics allowed!"
"Yes, but-"
"No buts Winchester, this is an exam."
"You see, my wife-"
"Samuel Winchester!"
"If you'd just let me check my-"
"Your wife can wait, Winchester."
Sam stood up, infuriated. Roman stepped back as the young man towered over her five feet three inches. "My wife is pregnant!" He unlocked his phone right there in front of the awestruck classroom and checked the message. Just what he thought. "And in labor. If you'll excuse me?"
Professor Roman was speechless as she stepped aside to let Sam pass.
..ooOOoo..
"So," Sam began, slapping his notes onto the bed. "According to multiple sources you kill an Ala with a silver knife dipped in holy water. Apparently it's, like, a cousin of the demon. But I'd like to do a little more research on how they pick their targets. We need to know where Luna'll be going next- if she is the Ala- so we can catch her in the act."
Sam picked up Audrey, cradling her close. She reached her hand up drowsily and the father held his own out gently towards her. Dean nearly melted as she closed her small hand around his finger. That baby girl had him wrapped around her finger. Literally.
Dean's stomach growled and he pulled his burger hungrily out of the bag only to give it a look of disgust and disappointment. "Sammy?"
"Yeah?"
"It's cold." Dean held it up to his brother and a piece of cheese flopped onto the stained bedspread.
"Oh." They both stared at it half-heartedly, but neither made a move to pick it up. "Sorry. There was traffic."
The older hunter shrugged and took a bite of the cheese-less burger, swallowing painstakingly. "That's it. We're eating out."
..ooOOoo..
"Table for two?" The waiter asked when they entered Benny's Grub N' Stuff.
"Three," Sam corrected, and the man pointed to a table in the back as he brought around a highchair. "Thanks," Sam set Audrey in the chair and picked up the menu...
Finally, three minutes later, Dean walked in, muttered something to a blonde waitress, and searched his brother out, smirking as the waitress and her friend began giggling.
"Did you order?" He settled down in the booth opposite Sam. "Just an appetizer." Sam informed, and handed Dean a menu before taking out his laptop. "Cesar salad."
Dean rolled his eyes as Sam typed in his password. "Dude, you're not reallydoing research now?" He groaned at his brother's ultimate nerdiness as he glanced at the menu.
"No. Dean. Check this out." He turned the screen to face Dean. "All these pictures are from the scenes of the crimes." Dean pulled the screen closer. He could barely make out Luna's own blurred face in the window of the lawyer's office, behind a tree in the tornado aftermath, and amidst a throng of people as a young man is carried out of his home. "We weren't there for that one." Sam explains. "But apparently the man died of cancer- two days after a perfect check up at the doctors."
Sam stopped talking as their waiter came over. "Are you ready to order?" Brian, as the waiter's nametag said, shared the specials as he placed the salad on the table.
"Double bacon cheeseburger..." Dean began, but stopped when Audrey knocked over his silverware in a mad grab for the new food to play with. Dean picked them up and set them back on the table as the girl reached again for the knife. "No, can't have that." Sam admonished, pulling the sharp object out of her grasp. Dean mouthed an apology to Brian.
Sam saw it coming right beforehand, like waves pulling in before a tsunami. Audrey's face scrunched up red as a tomato and she opened her mouth in a gaping bellow of pure agony at losing her toy.
"Audrey!" Sam whispered. "Shhhhh..." Brian looked disgusted at both parent and child before muttering an "I'll... come back later..."
"Stopher." Dean hissed, glancing around. "People are looking at us like we're child abusers or something!" But Audrey cried on, banging her fists against the table. Her face was beat red as she screamed.
"What d'you want me to do, Dean?" Sam returned. "Give her the knife back?" Audrey wouldn't shut up, having transformed from a cry to an all out fit of rage.
"I'll take her outside. Maybe it'll calm her down." Sam picked the red-faced girl up and hurried past the horrified onlookers. The door jingles and from his seat, Dean could catch a glimpse of his brother trying to bounce Audrey back to happiness.
The customers around Dean were still muttering and shaking their heads disapprovingly when the barely distinct crying outside turned to high pitch shrieks and wails. Dean cussed under his breath and dialed Sam's number, not wanting to have to walk out in front of everyone.
"Sammy, we can hear her from inside." Dean started the minute Sam picked up. "I don't blame you at all, dude, but we've got to do something."
Sam shifted Audrey to his other side as she continued to scream. "I know," He called over the baby. "Look, I'll take her to the motel and you come over when your done."
Dean sighed. "Deal. Want the car?"
"No way she's sitting still an entire ride. We'll walk." Sam hung up and began in the general direction of their room, and Dean was relieved as the sound of the bawling child slowly drifted away.
When Brian finally gathered the courage to come try taking orders again, he seemed surprised to find only one of the three ready. "Are... they..."
"Nope just me." Brian nodded, and Dean re-ordered his burger and a side of cheese fries. After a minute or two of drumming his hands on the table in utter boredom, he grabbed Sam's laptop and turned it towards him.
Wouldn't hurt to try researching, he told himself. Shrugging, Dean typed in Ala and clicked on the first link, scrolling slowly through the well cited, knowledgable information.
"Oh my god..." Dean mumbled, almost dropping his drink. He read the information again to make sure he'd heard right:
One of the Ala's trademark strengths is the ability to harm individual's whose DNA has been collected. She can then attack him or her discreetly from far away, usually with weather, disease, or other natural causes of death.
Memories flashed through Dean's head. Walking out of the bathroom to see Luna standing over his brother, falling onto him awkwardly before running out.
Sam explaining how helpful Luna and Dolores were when Dean was unconscious in the tornado by holding Audrey for him.
Luna. Sitting beside Audrey in the backseat, right before the car crash.
Luna.Who undoubtedly had the ability and necessities to hurt his brother or his niece whenever she felt it was necessary. Whenever she felt in danger. Like the other day when Sam shot at her with his gun.
Dean was dialing Sam's number before he was even out of the booth.
Sam didn't answer. By the seventh ring Dean's heart was beating rapidly.
He shakily dialed the number again and this time his brother answered. "Dean?" Sam answered finally.
"Sam! Are you guys okay?" Dean flew into his car and turned the key.
"Of course. We're playing on the floor together. Wait. Why wouldn't-" Sam cut off suddenly and he heard the phone drop to the ground, close enough for Dean to hear Sam's heavy breathing on the other end.
"Sam? Sam!" Dean shouted into the phone, when he heard someone else handling Sam's cell on the other end of the line.
It began with sniffling, and proceeded to soft crying. "Audrey?" Dean said.
And he needn't worry any longer about Audrey's lack of speech, because she spoke right then; Dean heard it. He could practically see her shaking Sam through the phone.
"Dada!" She whimpered. "Da..."
Dean sped up as he heard a set of footsteps. The last thing he caught before the call was abruptly ended was Audrey's voice- calling for her father.
Dun. Dun... I hope you liked the chapter! If you did, feel free to review! Even constructive criticism- it's really helpful. See you guys next week and I hope you liked the mid-season finale the other night!