Judging from the amount of story alerts I got for this I took it to mean to continue. But, this will be the last chapter though. There may or may not be a somewhat sequel in the making, we'll see. Let me know your thoughts on the matter!

Once again, all mistakes are my own.

Hope you enjoy

The four of them fell into a routine in the following weeks. Sam would read the days away, sometimes he would head into town and do the shopping for the kitchen. Annabelle would spend her time with Dean, usually they would spend the time coloring or playing some of the board games they had found stashed away in a room upstairs. She would even join Dean out in the yard on the days he would work on one of the cars Bobby had around.

At night Annabelle and Dean would take over the kitchen to make dinner, afterwards Sam would clean up and then the four of them would sit in the living room and share stories of their funnier times on hunts with Annabelle. Then the whole day would start over again the next day. Sam thought it nice to have a routine, thought it was nice that they could relax for a bit without having to worry about anything. Dean though, was getting restless, complaining more often and not wanting to do the therapy for his knee until Sam pestered him into it.

It was three weeks until they heard from Annabelle's father, he spoke to Bobby and Bobby let them know he'd be there in a few days to pick her up. She still hadn't said a word to any of them, not even to Dean who spent the entire day talking to her. Sam didn't know what about, he knew better than to eavesdrop, no matter how much he wanted to.

It was the day before Annabelle's father came to get her when she came into their bedroom, hugging her teddy bear close. Sam had been awake, unable to fall asleep so he heard her quiet footsteps enter the room. Dean was sprawled on his stomach, one leg hanging off the edge of the bed, one hand under his pillow as usual. He didn't wake when Annabelle approached his bed and Sam almost let out a warning to her not to wake him up. Sam had learned the hard way when he'd been younger not to wake his older brother by touching him, a knife at the throat in a split second was hard to forget.

But he didn't have to worry, Annabelle simply stood there, staring, hanging onto her bear and one thumb stuck in her mouth as if she were much younger than her years. Sam wanted to say something to her, ask what she wanted, what she was scared of, but he didn't know how to ask, kids were not his strong point. It was Dean who knew what to do with them, what to say, how to offer them the comfort they needed.

He was about to open his mouth and ask what was wrong, but Dean startled awake, as if sensing the eyes on him. Sam saw his brothers eyes glance over at him, always making sure Sam was safe before himself before turning to Annabelle and asking, "You have another nightmare, kiddo?"

She had come in on nights before, claiming nightmares, Dean had simply walked her back to her room and come back several minutes later. But Annabelle shook her head and let out a sigh around her thumb.

"What's wrong then?" Annabelle looked down at her feet, in the darkness Sam could make out the misery on her face. Apparently Dean caught sight too and sat up and flipped on the light, all three blinking stupidly in the sudden brightness.

"Anna?" She finally looked up at Dean and then launched herself into his lap, earning a surprised grunt from Dean and raised eyebrows from Sam. Dean shot him a confused look and Sam merely shrugged, he knew he was already out of his league so he sat quietly and let his brother handle the situation. Dean threw him an annoyed look but shifted Annabelle until she was in more comfortable position and tried again, "What's wrong Annabelle?"

And with her face buried against his brothers neck she muttered the first words any of them had heard their entire stay, "I don't want you to go." Spoken with all the petulance of a six year old who wanted that one piece of candy but were being denied their request. The brothers exchanged looks, Sam shrugging and Dean sighing.

"Well, we kind of have to. A job to do and all. Plus you'll be going before we even leave here."

"Then I don't want to go either." More pout poured into that voice, slightly muffled by Dean's neck. Dean once again glanced at his brother, at a loss for what to say or do. Sam merely shrugged again, if Dean didn't know what to do with her he sure as hell wouldn't be able to tell him what to do.

"Don't you miss your Dad though? I'm sure he'll be real happy to see you."

"Don't care."

"Aw, don't say that Annie. You know your dad loves you and I'm sure he misses you a lot." Annabelle let out a frustrated sigh and repeated, "I want you to come with us." Dean sighed, he was at a complete loss at what to say to her to get her over this little hill. He almost fell into the John Winchester way of doing things by plonking her on the floor and telling her to suck it up. But he didn't, that would only cause tears and pain and that was something he wasn't really in the mood to accomplish.

"Um, well, hope about you just sleep on it and we'll talk in the morning okay?" Exhaustion could make you say weird shit, he could remember days when Sam had been younger, exhausted but to stubborn to do actually want to go to bed. Some of the things he had said then. Maybe Annabelle would be in a right state of mind in the morning after she slept.

"Can I sleep in here?" The twin sized beds that had been in the room since Sam and himself had been kids was barely big enough to hold him let alone another body. But he looked down into those damn puppy dog eyes and found himself sighing, "Fine." He pressed his back against the cold wall, holding up the blanket until Annabelle crawled in, curling up against his chest. Sam turned off the light and Dean settled the blanket back over them, hesitantly resting his arm over Annabelle, waiting for a complaint. None came, instead she snuggled closer and Dean resisted the urge to push her away, claiming not to be a sponge in which she could force absorption.

It wasn't any better in the morning. After breakfast when Bobby said her dad would be there in about an hour she had sat herself on the couch, crossed her arms and glared at her feet. She refused to be touched, refused to finish packing her things and refused to look at any of them. Dean hated when kids threw tantrums.

"Dude go talk to her." Dean pulled his head back around the corner he had been peering around, trying to get a read on her mood.

"You go talk to her." Sam scoffed and leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest.

"I'm not going to talk to her."

"Why not? It was your brilliant plan in the first place."

"I'm not the one she's attached herself to since day one." Dean grumbled under his breath and peeked around the corner again. He didn't know what to say to her. There was no way him and Sam could go with her and her dad. They had their own hunts to go on, their own missions to accomplish.

Sam gave him a little shove and whispered, "Go on."

"Dude-" Another shove and he was fully into the living room, Annabelle's wrath focused on him instead of her feet now.

"Um...morning." Her lower lip jutted out.

"Listen, Anna-"

"Don't talk to me." The amount of pout put into that voice would have given Sam a run for his money in his younger years. Dean let out a sigh, closed his eyes and counted to ten before moving to the couch and sitting beside her. He chose to ignore the fact that she inched away from him.

"I would love to go with you and your dad and all of us just hang out and have a grand time, and I don't know how to say this to you without hurting your feelings, but it's just not going to happen." A loud throat clearing from the other side of the wall he'd been shoved around. He gave it a glare, Sam could stuff it, he'd pushed him out here to talk so Dean was going to talk. He'd never claimed to be good at that.

"But, I can give you our phone numbers, so whenever you want you can call us and talk to us, since you're talking now. Maybe sometimes if we're in the same area or something we can drop by for a visit. And if you're ever here at Bobby's again we'll for sure come and visit you." Judging by the amount of stuff left behind Bobby was planning on her father to be dropping her off again sometime in the future.

Annabelle sniffled and whispered, "Really?"

"Really." He ignored the fact that she had scooted closer to him now.

"Just because you can't always hang around with us doesn't mean we have to stop being friends or anything." Dean Winchester, friends with a six year old.

He'd never hear the end of it. But the smile on Annabelle's face was completely worth it as she hopped off the couch and finished getting ready. He resisted the eye roll that threatened to overwhelm him and instead muttered, "Kids," under his breath.

As promised an hour later Annabelle was tucked against her dad in the doorway, paper with Sam and Dean's cell phone numbers clutched in her hand. She'd already hugged everyone goodbye and had promised to call Dean as soon as they were settled wherever they were going to end up.

Dean promised himself it was the dust causing his eyes to water as he watched the car drive away, Annabelle waving at him from the back seat. Bobby gave one look, rolled his eyes and muttered, "Idjit." Before turning and heading back inside. Sam looked over at him, did the same eye roll and said, "You're such a girl."

"What? It's the dust!"

"Whatever."

"It's the dust Sam! You know, allergies!" His response was the front door slamming shut behind him. He quickly wiped the moisture from his eyes and with a petulance he had picked up from Annabelle muttered, "Stupid...dust."

And that signifies the end.

Hope you enjoyed it!

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