"You can't just break in, middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you."

"You're not hearing me, Sammy. Dad's missing. I need you to help me find him."

"You remember the poltergeist in Amherst? Or the Devil's Gates in Clifton? He was missing then, too. He's always missing, and he's always fine."

Dean stopped to turn around, causing Sam to stop as well. Their dad would take off for days, even weeks, but he was always back within a reasonable amount of time.

"I'm not going, Dean. I swore I was done hunting. For good. You want Abby some place safe while you go look for Dad, she can stay with me. But I'm not going."

Dean tried to play it off as not so bad. Truth was, he was getting scared. It had nothing to do with the monsters or demons, provided one didn't take any more members of his family. He was essentially raising another sibling. An accident-prone sibling who somehow found a way to fall out of a dining chair she wasn't even near and dislocated her shoulder when she was five.

"The way we grew up, after Mom was killed, and Dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her. But we still haven't found the damn thing. So we kill everything we can find. You think Mom would have wanted this for us? You think Abby's mom wanted this for her?"

"If you think I'm gonna let that kid anywhere near a gun even when she's old enough, I want you to shoot me."

"Come on. She's not that bad."

"Not that bad?!" Dean cried as he started walking toward the car again. "Sam! We're not talking I-walked-out-on-the-ice-in-my-gym-shoes-and-fell-on-my-ass here. People expect that! Dad bought her a nerf gun to start teaching her how to shoot. She aimed it at the target he set up for her and-"

"No," Sam said as if seeing where Dean was going with this.

"Yeah… She Christmas Storied herself! The damn thing wasn't even aimed in her direction and she clipped her own eye."

Sam exhaled. That was just one example Dean had on the tip of his tongue. One example of many that Sam had missed over the time he left for college. He just thought it was because she was young and uncoordinated. Not that she was physically inept.

"You don't believe me? Last year, Dad was close. We were on the demon's trail. One broke into our hotel room. Scared the crap out of her so she hid in the closet. Found her soaked in Holy Water that wasn't anywhere near her… Three months ago, she broke her wrist."

"Kids break things, Dean."

"Not like this. I was there, Sam. She was in her bed, asleep. No thrashing, sleep walking, nothing. Not even something we take care of. So, you tell me, College Boy. With everything I just said, how does a kid break her wrist in her sleep?"

Jessica studied the sleepy little girl. Aside from a few features she shared with the brothers, there wasn't much resemblance. The way she fought sleep was just like Sam.

She knelt down to the girl's level, brushing hair out of her face.

"DD?" Abby murmured.

"No… Your brothers are still outside. Would you like anything? Apple juice? Water? Another blanket?"

"But DD doesn't let me have juice after bedtime," Abby pouted. "Says it's like giving candy to a toddler."

Jessica gave a light smile. "Well. What DD doesn't know won't hurt him," she said as she went into the kitchen and came back out with a small cup of juice. "Now… am I gonna regret this?"

Abby gleefully shook her head and reached for the cup. Jessica thought the reaction was funny. She didn't laugh very loud, but she didn't hear the door open, or Sam walk through it.

The rim was to Abby's mouth when it was taken from her hand.

"Hey!" then she saw who took the cup from her. "That's mine!" her lips trembled. "Give it back, Kimo-Sammy!" She jumped up on her feet, trying to reach the cup that only got higher and higher. Abby climbed up Sam's body only to have him wrap his free arm around her. It was to stop her from hurting herself after the things Dean had told him outside.

Jess was laughing at the sight before her. If she had kids, this was what she wanted to see.

"You know Dad doesn't let you have juice after dinner, Abs. DD just enforces the rule."

"Why can't she have juice right now?"

"Are you kidding me," Sam laughed just before Abby put her foot in a strategic place to gain some height. He groaned in pain, his body nearly folding in half, exhaling in attempts to breathe through the pain. "Giving… her juice… after dinner…Ah!" he groaned again. "If she's not hurting herself, she's hurting others… It's like dealing to an addict."

"DD! Kimo-Sammy took my drink!"

"Yeah, I don't think Dean is going to be in your corner there, Squirt," Sam replied as he carried her and the cup into the kitchen where she could watch him dump the juice down the drain. Then he opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle. "You want something to drink at night, it's water… or nothing." Abby had her heart set on the juice. She would have taken the water since it was now her only option, but she'd taken too long to answer. "Nothing it is."

He carried her back out to the living room, repositioning her weight on his hip. He didn't trust that she wouldn't go back and try to get another glass.

"Sammy-"

"Abs," he interrupted, letting her know the puppy eye weren't going to work this time. Sam walked into the bedroom still holding his sister. He reaches into the top shelf of their closet, removing a duffle bag. He set her down on the bed, telling her to stay where he put her.

"Are you coming with us, Sammy?"

He started packing the bag. Just a few days' worth of clothes. There was a hidden hook shaped in the bag. He had pulled it out, giving it a quick once over like he'd done many times before, then put it back in the bag.

"Wait, you're taking off?" Jess asked, hoping he wasn't. "Is this about your dad? Is he all right?"

"Yeah. You know, just a little family drama," he said, going over to the dresser and turned on the lamp above it.

"Your brother said he was on some kind of hunting trip," she replied, sitting next to Abby while Sam rummaged through one of the drawers. He pulled out a few shirts that went right into the duffle.

Sam explained that his father was just deer hunting at a cabin, probably with a bottle or three of whiskey or something and they were just going to bring him back.

"What about the interview?"

Abby whipped her head up to look at Sam.

"I'll make the interview. This is only for a couple days."

"Just stop for a second. You sure you're okay?"

"DD says interviews are for suckers," Abby pouted, still upset about the juice incident.

Sam laughed. A little at Jessica's question, but mostly at his sister's comment. "I'm fine."

"It's just... the only family you talk about is sitting right here on our bed. And now you're taking off in the middle of the night to spend a weekend with them? And with Monday coming up, which is kind of a huge deal."

"Sammy? What's Monday?"

"Hey. Everything's going to be okay. I will be back in time, I promise," Sam said as he shouldered the duffle bag. He kissed her on the cheek before taking Abby's tiny hand in his giant one. If what he had told her about the cabin and the alcohol were true, he would have asked if she could babysit. But he knew his father. And John wouldn't have this any other way.

Abby was sound asleep, even through Dean's blasting music having been up as late as she was. Dean laughed as Sam recanted their sister's monkey act from the night before.

"Come on, Dude. There's no way Abs could have monkied her way up a tree like you."

"And she's never done that to you?!"

"No!"

"Really? She never used your… that as a stepping stool?" He couldn't bring himself to say certain terms in front of Abby. And it didn't matter that she was sleeping.

"I never gave her the chance… Okay, once. But she hurt herself in the process and never did it again."

"What'd she do?"

Abby lay on her side, facing the backrest. Her eyes fluttered open and she began to stir.