"Hey, I'm going to run to the store real quick before we leave. Need anything?" Sam asked, picking up the keys off the table and Dean watched him in confusion.

"Store? For what?"

"...We're low on salt."

"We are?"

"Yes, now do you want anything or not?"

"No, just… hurry up will ya?" Dean responded quietly.

Sam nodded and walked out the door, leaving Dean and Milly alone in the motel room. They had just arrived in Alliance, Nebraska after driving from Bobby's and this was the first time he'd ever been alone with her.

He had absolutely no idea what to do.

Dean watched as she looked around the room, her purple backpack still over her shoulders. She picked up the tv remote off the bedside table and furrowed her eyebrows at it. Dean continued to watch in amusement while she turned it around in her hands, unsure what it was for. Bobby had a tv but never used the remote, and eventually, it disappeared, never to be seen again. Or it was underneath something the hunter hadn't moved in seven years.

"Hey kid,"

She whipped around to face him and he nodded to the remote she was holding.

"Press the red button."

She looked down at the keypad and pressed the little red circle at the top. When the tv screen suddenly turned on, Milly jumped in surprise and looked at Dean with wide eyes.

"Woah!"

He turned to the screen to see Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island playing and hid his smirk.

That was a good one.

The nine-year-old sat down on the floor and watched the screen in awe, trying to make sense of the talking dog and his friends.

Barely an hour later, Sam returned holding two plastic bags and noticed Milly watching tv while Dean changed in the bathroom.

He peered at the screen and chuckled, causing Milly to look up at him.

"Scooby-Doo? Good choice."

"I like it. He catches monsters like you and Dean."

Sam smiled and nodded, just as Dean left the bathroom, wearing his FBI suit.

"Yo, suit up we gotta get to the morgue before they close."

"Yeah."

Dean caught the new container of salt Sam tossed at him before walking out to the car. Sam watched the door shut behind his brother before placing the second plastic bag on the floor beside Milly.

"Hey, I'm not sure how long we'll be gone but I got you some stuff to do in case you get bored."

The girl looked at the bag and beamed up at him.

"Thanks!"

"You're welcome, now you remember how to use a phone if you need to call us?"

"Uh-huh."

The moment Sam closed the bathroom door to change, Milly opened the bag and pulled out a stuffed elephant, two coloring books, a box of crayons, and a word search book. She didn't know what they were for, but she smiled to herself nevertheless.

When Sam and Dean returned an eternity later, they explained to her how bizarre things were occurring all over town. A guy's face got stuck in an unnatural expression, a harmless joy buzzer went rogue and cooked someone, and another ate pop rocks and coke causing their stomach to explode. Milly had no idea what to make of it.

Sam and Dean had a hunch it was a trickster of some kind and mapped out the incidents, all of which occurred within a 5-mile radius of one house.

"Can I come?" Milly asked quietly, looking up at Sam as he packed up a duffel.

He glanced towards the open door where he saw Dean grabbing things from the trunk.

There was no way Dean would agree and for a good reason, but Sam was beginning to feel guilty. The kid had been by herself for nearly a day and a half. He looked back down at the girl and sighed.

"Alright, but you'll need to stay in the car okay? We don't know what we're walking into."

A bright smile widened on her face and she nodded enthusiastically.

"Dean isn't gonna like it though, so I'm gonna need your help with convincing him."

"My help?"

"Sam, no. It's not happening-"

"She's been cooped up in the room for hours."

"That's not a good enough reason," Dean replied, making the mistake of glancing down at the girl.

Milly looked up at Dean with big sad puppy dog eyes just like Sam had just taught her and held it until he broke.

"Fine." He grumbled before turning to Sam.

"You are an asshole for teaching her that."

Sam just laughed to himself and opened the door for Milly who gleefully climbed into the back seat.

They arrived at a house that was in the middle of nowhere and Milly watched as Sam and Dean walked up to the front door while she stayed in the car as she agreed. There was something very strange about the place and it unnerved the girl. She couldn't quite figure out what it was, but it was almost as if there was someone beside her. Milly looked around at the surrounding area and saw no one else. Her eyes wandered up to the window on the second level of the house and she noticed a boy around her age peer out from behind the curtain. Seconds later he disappeared behind the curtains and the strange feeling was gone. She continued to wait rather impatiently, trying her best to stay in the car and not run in after them.

"It's the boy, isn't it?" Milly asked when Sam and Dean returned, and they immediately looked back at her in bewilderment.

"I saw him from the window and got this strange feeling."

"What kind of feeling?" Sam questioned.

"I don't know…Sorta like there was someone else around when there wasn't."

Milly didn't miss the way Sam and Dean looked apprehensively at each other and suddenly wished she hadn't said anything at all.

"His name is Jesse. All the crazy things happening around here are happening because he believes they're true." Sam explained as they drove away from the house.

"Woah…"

After arriving back at the motel, Sam immediately left again to find out more about what Jesse was. Dean took his jacket off and draped it over the back of a chair while Milly unzipped her hoodie.

"Dean?"

"Hm."

"Maybe I could talk to him. You know, kid to kid?"

"Why don't you leave this to the ones who know what they're doing alright? You're not a hunter, you're a kid."

"I know, but maybe he's not trying to hurt anyone. If I could talk to him, we could figure out-"

"No," he stated.

"But-"

"But nothing. You might just make everything worse."

Milly nodded, a pit forming in her stomach. Dean watched as she walked over to the table and sat down. The hurt expression on her face made him feel like a total jerk. He hadn't meant to snap at her like that, he just had no idea how to talk to her. Dean sighed and pulled out a chair to sit beside her.

"Look kid, I'm sorry. I appreciate you trying to help out, but Sam and I got it covered."

"Okay," Milly replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

When Sam returned, Dean was sitting on one of the beds reading a book and Milly was at the table coloring.

"So, dug up what I could on Jesse Turner. It's not much. Uh, B student, won last year's Pinewood Derby. But get this. Jesse was adopted. His birth records are sealed."

"So you unsealed them, and?" Dean asked.

"There's no father listed, but Jesse's biological mom is named Julia Wright. She lives in Elk Creek, on the other side of the state."

Dean closed his book and threw it on the bed, so Milly got up to get her jacket and shoes.

"Hang on kid, I think you should stay here. We'll be back before you know it," he told her, before walking out the door, not even giving her a chance to respond.

Sam didn't know what to say, so all he could do was muster up a reassuring smile before following Dean out the door.

Milly stood quietly by the table for a few seconds after they left, just listening to the impala's engine turn on and then grow fainter as they drove away.

A few minutes after Sam and Dean had left, Milly locked the door and sat back down at the table, drumming her fingers on the surface. She just sat there and stared at her hands in the silent room. Milly looked out the window and squinted slightly at the sun reflecting off the cars in the parking lot. She noticed a girl outside that seemed around her age. Her physical age at least. She had darker skin, long curly hair that hung below her shoulders, and a smile on her face. The only word that came to Milly's mind was radiant. She watched as the girl's mom and dad joined her and they both happily took one of her hands before crossing the street. Right then, Milly felt something she never had before and wasn't sure what it was. All she knew was that it hurt. Her stomach ached like it was sinking further and further down and her throat felt all tight.

Milly wondered what it would be like to be radiant like that girl. She wondered if it was even possible. She wrapped her arms around her aching stomach and squeezed, trying to make the pain go away. She just wanted it to stop.

She wanted to walk out the door and follow them.

But the one thing Milly wanted less than being alone was being a burden. That's all she felt like she was. A burden on Sam and Dean, a burden on Bobby. Maybe if she left, she could find her mother. If Athena was even still alive. Milly got to her feet and walked over to her backpack, unzipped the front pocket, and pulled out the letter Athena wrote to Dean. The girl had read it over and over again since that day, and she still didn't understand it.

Maybe she was a burden on Athena, that's why she left.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she held the letter in her small hands.

"The fate of the world depends on it."

A single tear drop fell on the page, and she used the bottom of her shirt to remove it.

Hours and hours had gone by and the nine-year-old was growing restless as the sun began to set. She turned on the radio, similar to the one Bobby owned, careful not to make it too loud as that would draw attention and she closed the curtains.

"Waterloo

Couldn't escape if I wanted to

Waterloo

Knowing my fate is to be with you

Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Waterloo

Finally facing my Waterloo"

Milly listened to the song in contentment, swaying her head back and forth. It made her want to move. She began dancing around the room, enjoying the upbeat rhythm of the song. All of her previous concerns seemed to fade away as she skipped around the room. A smile formed on her face as she spun around again and again. Suddenly her back hit a thin shelf and she turned around just in time to see the yellow lamp tip over. The girl reached for it knowing it was pointless and closed her eyes, bracing for the crash.

But there was no crash.

She opened her eyes, and the lamp was not in her hands, it was floating in the air above the floor.