It had been just over a week since Jess had died, and Dean said they would be leaving Stanford soon. Dean had been helping Sam pack up what was left of his and Jess' dorm and unsuccessfully trying to find what killed Jess while Abby went to the elementary school nearby. Abby had never gone to the same school for more than a month, but every time she moved to a new one Dean altered her school records so it looked like she had only gone to one school her whole life. He said this was because otherwise, the cops would make them stay in one place so Abby could get a consistent environment. Abby thought that was bullshit.

Sam and Abby had just gotten back from the funeral so Sam was still in his suit and Abby was still in the black dress Dean had gotten for her the night before. For the past eight days, Sam had been so rushed to get everything done that Abby wondered if he was even taking time to sleep or eat. But now there was nothing else to do. Jess' parents had taken all of her un-burnt stuff two days before and everything else had been donated or sold, so now the dorm was almost empty and Sam had nothing left to pack.

When Abby had gotten out of Baby, going to head into the dorm after Sam, Dean had stopped her. "Hey, Abs, uh can you, y'know, talk to him?" he had said, looking over at Sam's back, retreating into the dorm building.

"About what?"

"I dunno. Just don't let him dwell on it," Abby knew he was talking about how Jess was dead, and Sam thought it was his fault because if it wasn't for him then she never would have been caught up in anything supernatural, and Sam made the stupid to decision to never tell her anything about anything.

"He'll be fine. He doesn't need help," Abby knew that only little kids needed help because that's what Dad always said when she got scared, or on the rare occasion when she went to him crying about something.

"Abs, don't be mean," Dean told Abby. He didn't say anything else, just drove away as she rolled her eyes.

Abby headed into the building, up the stairs, and into what was formerly Sam and Jess' room. Sam was sitting on a couch, one of the last pieces of furniture left, with his head in his hands. Abby went over and sat down next to him, trying to be as quiet as possible.

"She seemed nice," Abby's small voice sounded deafening in the quiet room as she tried very, very hard to not be mean.

"Yeah." there was a long pause before Sam added, "I think she really woulda liked you" Abby, who had been looking at the sunset through the window across the room from them, glanced over at Sam. He was looking at her with a strange look on his face that Abby didn't know what to make of. He looked sad, but there was something else Abby couldn't quite identify.

"I think I woulda liked her too," this lie made Sam smile, and though it was a sad smile, it was a smile nonetheless so Abby counted it as a win. From the stories people had told at Jess' funeral, Abby thought she seemed superficial and decided that dating Jess showed how different Sam was from before he left for Stanford. Jess couldn't even protect herself, and "if you can't protect yourself, there's only so much other people can do for ya," is what Dad had told Abby, and she thought it sounded true. Abby knew that it was Sam's fault and Jess' fault that she was dead, but Dean had said not to be mean so she decided not to bring it up.

~

From the way Dean kept glancing at Sam as he drove, Abby could tell he was worried. Whenever Dean got worried, he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and bit the inside of his lip. Abby knew Dean was worried because Sam hadn't really said anything after they left Stanford, just quietly got in the car.

And every time Sam fell asleep he had a nightmare. Dean always got worried and quiet when Abby had nightmares, so she wasn't surprised that he was worried about Sam. She just thought it was stupid. In her opinion, and Dad's, Dean cared too much about his younger siblings. Sam definitely needed to get over himself Abby thought.

Dean was set on the fact that the demon that killed their Mom showing up and killing Jess was connected to their Dad's disappearance. That's why they had left Stanford and were now looking for Dad. Dean had faith that Dad would know what to do, he always did.

~

Sam was mad at Dean. Abby had figured it would only be a matter of time. She didn't remember much from before Sam left, but she did remember him and Dean arguing. A lot. 

Now Sam was annoyed that Dean wanted to go talk to some girl, Haley, about her missing brother instead of just going out to the woods to find Dad. While Dean did have a habit of getting distracted on cases, Abby was pretty sure he was in the right this time. Sam was being reckless, they didn't know what they were getting into. She wasn't about to admit it though, she didn't think a 9-year-old's opinion was going to change their minds.

But Dean had won the argument without her help, so now Abby was lying down in the back of Baby while Sam and Dean talked to Haley. When the brothers got back in the car, Dean briefly explained what they had learned to Abby. Something was probably, but not definitely, up with Haley's brother and she was going out to Black Water Ridge tomorrow.

Dean found a diner, one of the ones that was basically a bar and would not have been labeled family-friendly on any map so Abby was now drinking a chocolate milkshake while she half listened to Sam tell Dean an, in her opinion, overly complicated and extensive history of this missing cases of this place.

Dean made Abby leave her half-finished milkshake at the diner because Sam and Dean wanted to talk to some old guy who might have survived the creature out in Black County Ridge, and there was "no way in hell" that they were leaving Abby at the diner on her own, according to Dean.

Abby fell asleep while Sam and Dean were inside the old guy's house, having not slept well when they were at Stanford. She knew it wasn't normal, but she always slept best laying in the backseat of Baby.

Abby slowly drifted back to the present when she heard Sam and Dean doing something in the trunk, talking to each other

"Her brother's missing, Sam. She's not just gonna sit this out. No, we go with her, we protect her, and we keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend."

"So finding Dad's not enough?" Abby could hear the anger in Sam's voice as she presumed he slammed the trunk closed from the sound. "Now we gotta babysit too? I mean, it's bad enough that Abby has to come, but you want us to have to look out for some girl we don't even know?" Abby frowned in the darkness at that comment. Abby tried to be helpful, and she knew lots of important stuff like how to shoot a rifle, what most monsters were and how to kill them, how to do stitches, and all sorts of other things. But she guessed that wasn't enough to make Sam feel like she was pulling her weight.

~

Sam and Dean hadn't stopped being mad at each other. It was making Abby's stomach hurt, along with Sam's comment last night. Abby had decided she was mad at Sam too, but not the obvious kind of mad she was before, but the quiet mad where she let it grow inside her until it exploded out. Sam didn't want her to go with them to Black Water Ridge because he thought she wasn't good enough to be a hunter. In Abby's opinion, if anyone wasn't going to go it should be Sam. After all, he was the one who was being reckless and stupid all because he was sad he had gotten his stupid girlfriend killed.

Despite Sam's opposition to Abby coming with, she was still getting out of the car at Black Water Ridge behind her brothers, because there was nowhere else for her to go. Besides, Dean had told Sam that he'd "rather have her with us, where we can protect her, than in some hotel room where she's alone."

"Apparently this is all the park service could muster up," Haley said when she saw Sam and Dean. Abby snorted a little at this comment.

The man Haley had been talking to turned around and frowned at Sam and Dean before seeing Abby walking slightly behind them. "What, it's bring your daughter to work day?" He asked, and Abby knew that was his way of saying "What the fuck is that kid doing here?"

"Yeah well, not a ton of daycares out here." Dean lied, and Abby almost scoffed at the implication she would ever go to a daycare. "Besides, she's uh a Junior Ranger, kind of like a Ranger-in-training." Abby tried to look like a ranger by standing up straighter and puffing out her chest, but it didn't really work because she was barely four feet tall and wearing a purple sweatshirt over a pink long-sleeve shirt.

"You're rangers?" The bring-your-daughter-to-work guy said.

"Yep,"

"And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans," Haley said, looking at Dean skeptically.

"Well, sweetheart, I don't do shorts," Dean said, smirking.

As Dean walked past Haley and the guy, which Abby realized was probably the guide Dean mentioned she was bringing, the maybe-guide said "Oh you think this is funny? It's dangerous backcountry out there. Her brother might be hurt."

"No shit," Abby said, rolling her eyes. What, did this guy think they were stupid?

Dean glanced back at Abby with a look Abby knew meant "I know your right but now is not the time." Abby got that look a lot.

"Believe me, I know how dangerous it can be," said Dean "We just want to help them find their brother. That's all."

~

Abby's legs were really starting to get tired. She felt like they had been walking through the woods forever. When they started walking, she had been after Dean but she had fallen behind so now she was walking just in front of Sam and after Ben, Haley's younger brother.

"You need a break? I can give you a piggyback ride," Sam said quietly, having noticed Abby's slowed pace and slightly pained expression.

"I'm not a baby Sam, I can walk by myself," Abby scoffed.

"I can ask Roy to slow down," Sam said, just trying to help.

"I'm fine Sam, geez," Abby said, rolling her eyes. Their conversation was interrupted by something happening up ahead. Abby couldn't see over the guy in front of her, Haley's younger brother she'd figured out.

"So who the hell are you?" Abby could hear Haley saying as she walked closer to her and Dean. As Abby and Sam passed Dean where Haley had pulled him to the side of the path, Dean nodded to Sam which Abby figured meant "Keep going, I've got this," So, Sam put a hand on Abby's back to gently guide her around Dean and Haley.

Dean and Haley had rejoined the group by the time they got to a clearing and stopped. They were near where the campsite was supposed to be, and Abby could tell something was off but she couldn't put her finger on it. It made her feel uneasy and stand a bit closer to Sam than she would have otherwise.

"You hearing that?" Dean asked as he walked up to Sam and Abby.

"Yeah. Not even crickets." Sam said. That was it. There were no sounds, no birds, no squirrels, just dead silence and the sound of their breathing.

"I'm gonna go take a look around," the Winchesters turned at Roy's comment.

"You shouldn't go off by yourself," Sam said.

"That's sweet," Roy chuckled, "Don't worry about me."

Wow, Abby thought, he's an even bigger dumbass than I thought.

The rest of the group kept exploring together until they heard Roy yelling "Haley, over here!" from the distance. As the group rushed to the sound of his voice, Abby began to fall behind because her legs were really, really tired. Sam slowed down and grabbed her hand before continuing on at a slower pace than before. Abby was still mad at him but was a little glad he didn't leave her behind because the thought of being alone in the woods scared her more than she would ever admit.

When the two got to the camp a few seconds after everyone else did, Sam didn't let go of Abby's hand like she expected him to but tightened his grasp at the sight before them. The tents were destroyed and there was blood on a few of them.

"Looks like a grizzly," Roy said. He really doesn't have a clue, Abby thought to herself as she caught her breath. She was very glad they had finally found the camp because that meant a break from walking.

Haley started to call out her brother's name and Sam rushed over to get her to be quiet, letting go of Abby's hand. Abby sat down on the ground, too tired to care about her jeans getting mud on them. Dean saw something and walked a bit away from the group before calling out Sam's name. Abby watched them talk, too far away to hear them, and wanted to know what they were saying but the thought of getting up and walking all the way over there felt impossible. When Sam and Dean came back, Dean went to go comfort Haley who was now crying, which Abby thought was stupid.

Sam sat on his haunches next to Abby and opened a water bottle before handing it to her. "Thanks," she mumbled, happy to finally have some water. Sam smiled and half-patted half-rubbed the back of her head. He was about to say something when a man's voice yelling for help broke through the trees. The group ran, as fast as they could towards the voice but for Abby that still wasn't very fast. Sam stayed behind and grabbed her hand again, leading her at the fastest pace she could go on her tired 9-year-old legs. But then, suddenly the voice stopped.

"It seemed like it was coming from somewhere around here, didn't it?" Haley said.

"Everybody back to camp," Sam said, still holding onto Abby's hand tightly when they got back to the destroyed camp.

"Our packs!" Haley cried out at the absence of the packs the group had left on the ground just moments before.

"So much for my GPS and my satellite phone," Roy mumbled.

"What the hell is going on?"

"It's smart, it wants to cut us off so we can't call for help," Sam said. He loosened his grip on Abby's hand as he glanced around, seeing there wasn't any immediate danger, so Abby pulled her hand out of his grasp. He glanced down at her for a second with a look she couldn't quite identify.

"You mean someone- some nut job out there just stole all our gear." Abby was really starting to hate Roy. Sam walked over to Dean, muttering something Abby couldn't hear before the two walked off together.

When Sam and Dean came back, Abby was sitting on a log near the campsite, resting her head on her hand and absentmindedly drawing in the dirt with a stick.

"All right, listen up. It's time to go," Sam said, "Things have gotten more complicated."

"What?" Haley and Abby said in unison.

"Kid, don't worry. Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it." It was like Roy wanted to get himself killed.

"That's not what I'm worried about. If you shoot this thing, you're just gonna make it mad. We have to leave now."

"One, you're talkin' nonsense. Two, you're in no position to give anybody orders."

"We never should've let you come out here in the first place. Alright?" Abby could tell from how fast Sam was talking that he was pissed Roy wouldn't listen. "I'm trying to protect you."

"You protect me? I was hunting these woods when your Mommy was still kissing you goodnight." Roy got right up in Sam's face and Abby shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Sam's "mommy", looking down at her shoes.

"Yeah? It's a damn-near-perfect hunter. It's smarter than you. And it's gonna hunt you down and eat you alive unless we get your stupid, sorry ass out of here."

Roy laughed hollowly and said, "You know you're crazy, right?"

"Yeah? You ever hunt-" Sam got cut off by Dean stepping between the two men, gently pushing Sam away from Roy.

"Stop," he said in a low voice.

"Stop it. Everybody just stop. Look, Tommy might still be alive. And I'm not leaving here without him." Haley said, and Abby could tell she meant it.

"It's getting late. This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We'll never beat it- not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves."

~

Roy was missing. Abby thought it was for the better, but she wasn't about to say that because she knew Dean would be upset with her for it. She also really, really wanted to ask Dean what he and Sam had been talking about by the campfire before Roy got taken. She was so lost in thinking about what she wanted to ask Dean, that she didn't notice the claw marks on the trees.

The group had been trying to track the Wendigo for a while now, and the trail had been pretty obvious. Abby was jolted out of her thoughts by a loud growling which prompted Dean to pull Abby over closer to him and Sam. Then everything was quiet for a moment before what sounded like... dripping? No that couldn't be right.

Then Haley screamed, horrified, and Abby realized that the dripping had been blood from Roy's body which had just almost fallen on top of Haley. As Sam helped a horrified Haley up, Abby stood, frozen, looking at the dead body. He was bloody and his neck was tilted wrong. No matter how many times she saw dead bodies, that feeling in her stomach never went away.

Then they were running again, running from the wendigo. But this time, it was Dean who was holding Abby's hand. Out of the corner of her eye, Abby saw Sam slow down to help Ben who tripped, but Dean didn't slow so neither did she. Dean stopped suddenly, jerking Abby behind him as Haley screamed at the creature before them. It was horrifying, its face once human but no longer, and its proportions all completely wrong. Abby didn't think she'd forget the feeling of it grabbing her arm as she screamed or as she was pulled through the forest for a long time.

~

Sam's heart was beating out of his chest as he walked through the abandoned mining tunnel. Thanks to Dean's trail of M&M's, they had been able to follow the path of the wendigo. Instead of thinking about how to kill the wendigo and the danger he was in by being in the dark tunnel with the only backup being Ben, Haley's brother, all Sam could think about was how scared Abby must be. At least Dean's with her, he thought to himself.

Those hopes disappeared, however, when after watching the Wendigo leave and falling through a hole in the floor, Sam found Dean and Haley hanging by their wrists, hurt but alive. Abby wasn't with them.

"Dean." Sam said, holding onto Dean's jacket, "Dean, where's Abby?" he asked, desperate.

"I... don't know. She was with us, then she wasn't." Dean said, grunting and clearly a bit out of it. Sam cut the rope holding Dean's wrist up, supporting him until he was able to have Dean sit next to Haley.

"It wouldn't kill her, she didn't piss it off," Dean said, trying to comfort not only Sam but himself. He failed at both.

Tommy was alive, which comforted Sam and Dean somewhat. And, Dean found flare guns which would allow the brothers to kill the wendigo. The group searched the tunnels, with Sam and Dean in front and Haley and Ben supporting Tommy behind them. The group stopped when they heard growls in the distance.

"We'll never outrun it," Haley said.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Dean said, looking at Sam.

"Yeah, I think so."

"All right. Listen to me." Dean said, turning to look at Haley and Ben. "Stay with Sam. He's gonna get you out of here. I'm gonna go find Abby, and maybe kill this bastard."

"How are you gonna do that?" Haley said.

Dean didn't respond but yelled "It's chow time, you freaky bastard." as he walked away. "Yeah, that's right! Bring it on Baby! I taste good!" Sam really wished Abby was there, so she could roll her eyes at Dean's ridiculous comments. Sam wanted more than anything to go with Dean and help him find Abby. But he knew that someone had to get Haley, Ben, and Tommy out of there. Besides, if anyone was going to save Abby it would be Dean.

~

Sam was leading the group down a tunnel when he heard something. It sounded like... someone sniffling? Like someone was trying very hard not to cry, and failing.

"Abby?" Sam said, moving faster now.

"Sammy?" A bit of the weight on Sam's chest was lifted at the voice of his sister's voice, coming from a tunnel off to the side.

"Stay here," Sam said quietly to Haley and her brothers before slowly making his way down the hallway. When he reached the end, he turned to the left and saw his baby sister.

He rushed over to where she was sitting, her side to him, and dropped down on his knees next to her.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked his hands on either side of Abby's tear-streaked face.

"My foot's stuck," Abby said in a quiet voice. Sam's heart dropped when he looked to the right and saw a large metal pole crushing his baby sister's right foot so it was turned to the left.

"You're gonna be okay," Sam said, and Abby bit her lip as she nodded, breathing shakily. He grunted with effort as he picked up the pole and Abby scooted backwards as quickly as possible. In the dark, Sam couldn't get a good look at her foot but when she tried to stand she quietly cried out in pain, so he knew it wasn't good.

"Here, I can carry you," Sam said.

"I can walk it off, I'll be fine."

"No, you won't. Trying to 'walk it off' will just injure you more. Besides, it'd slow us down." Sam pleaded.

"Okay," Abby said, and Sam scooped her up in her arms. As he carried her out of the room Abby wrapped her arms around her neck so she could hide her tear-stained face from Haley and her brothers.

"She okay?" she heard Haley whisper-ask Sam.

"She will be."

The group of five continued down the tunnel until they heard close by.

'We gotta go, c'mon." Sam said, picking up his pace, mirrored by Haley and Ben.

Abby looked up from where her head had been buried in Sam's shoulder and she could see the wendigo approaching quickly. She hid her eyes again and held onto her big brother as hard as she could as they ran.

The group reached a dead end and Sam put Abby down before roughly shoving her behind him. "Get behind me," he said, covering her with his own body and standing in front of the other trio of siblings.

Abby was breathing hard when the wendigo came around the corner. She felt like her heart was about to burst out of her chest and she could hardly feel the formerly excruciating pain in her foot.

The wendigo moved closer before leaning back and roaring. Abby tried to make herself as small as possible, holding onto the back of Sam's jacket as she shut her eyes.

"Hey!" Abby heard someone yell before the wendigo wailed, and wailed, and wailed. She slowly opened her eyes and peeked her head out around Sam. Abby saw a burning oil of what she assumed was formerly Wendigo and Dean, covered in a lot of grime and blood, but here.

"Not bad, huh?"

~

Sam sat next to Abby as the EMT wrapped up her foot.

"She really should go to a hospital," the EMT repeated. From the siblings' lack of response, he accepted defeat. "It's not a break but is a pretty serious sprain, so keep pressure off it for at least one and half weeks. Of course, more would be better, but that's the absolute minimum." He patted Abby on the back and she hopped down the from back of the ambulance she had been sitting on, balancing on her left foot.

Sam stood up next to her and led Abby to Baby, past Dean talking to Haley and Ben lying to the cops. "Get some rest Abs," Sam said and Abby crawled into the car. She laid down on her pillow and felt Sam put her blanket over her. She wanted to be mad about the babying, But Abby was really, really tired. It had been a long few days. By the time Sam and Dean got into the car, Abby was deep asleep.

~

Abby slowly half-woke up, not wanting to leave her dream. As she half-opened her eyes she saw the sun just beginning to rise out Baby's windows. From where her head was on the driver's side, Abby could see Sam reading a book while Dean drove. The song playing on the radio was comforting and Dean quietly hummed along with it. At that moment, all was well.

"Before you cross the street

Take my hand

Life is what happens to you

While you're busy making other plans

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

Beautiful boy

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

Beautiful boy"

~

A/N sorry for the slow updates! AP classes are not for the weak, y'all.

I promise more consistent updates (probably).