Trauma or the Spell - August 10th
Twisted Shorts August Fic-a-Day Challenge - Day 10
Title: Trauma or the Spell
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/Supernatural
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Supernatural people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Willow meets Dean’s father as Sam frets about the past and the future.
Notes: Part 5 of “A Redhead in the Impala” - Links Page
Seasons: Post-Series/Late-Season 1
Word Count: 2480
Willow swung her legs cheerfully as she finished off her mashed potatoes. She had learned not to listen to Sam and Dean when they talked while researching for cases. They didn’t tend to censor themselves and had gotten mildly annoyed with her pointing out bad words.
They had barely finished dinner when they knew where they were going, Manning, Colorado. Willow opened Oz and started reading as soon as they pulled out of the diner.
Since the cabin was isolated, they didn’t stop to drop Willow off. Dean pointed out that she would likely just pop back up in the backseat if they did that. At least this way she wasn’t a surprise.
She was asleep before they reached the cabin. They grabbed their guns and flashlights and quietly exited the car. They looked around the cabin for a minute, able to tell that Elkins was a Hunter after a cursory examination. Then they hit on what they needed: three letters, six digits - the location and combo of a post office box, just like their father used.
They broke into the post office with Willow still asleep in the backseat. They found a letter for J.W.
“John Winchester?” Sam guessed as they sat in the Impala looking at their find.
“I don’t know,” Dean admitted. “Should we open it?”
There was a knock at the window that startled them, except Willow who continued to sleep.
“Dad?” Dean said, surprised to see his father’s grinning face.
John opened the door to climb into the backseat.
“No!” Sam hissed.
John looked at him in disbelief.
Dean shined a light, showing John that he was about to crush a child’s legs.
John frowned and looked a Dean in askance. Then, he lifted her feet and slid himself in, closing the door carefully.
“Dad, what are you doing here?” Sam said. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. I read the news about Daniel Elkins, I got here as fast as I could. I saw you two out at his place.”
“Why didn’t you come in, Dad?” Sam asked softly.
“You know why. Because I had to make sure you weren’t followed…by anyone or anything.” He looked at Willow’s sleeping form. “You covered your tracks pretty well.”
“We did learn from the best,” Dean said proudly.
“Wait, you came all the way out here for the Elkins guy?” Sam demanded, his volume raised.
“Yeah. He was…he was a good man. Taught me a hell of a lot about Hunting.”
“You never mentioned him to us.”
“We had a…we had kind of a falling out. I hadn’t seen him in years.” He held his hand out to Sam. “Let me see the letter.” He opened it and started reading under Dean’s flashlight. “That son of a bitch!”
His exclamation jolted Willow awake. She stared at him and started taking fast shallow breaths as fear coursed through her.
Dean leaned over the back of the seat and put a hand on her knee. “It’s okay, Willow.”
She looked at Dean but slowly moved herself away from John. Taking up as little room as possible far from him.
“Willow,” Sam said, to get her attention. “This is our father, John. Dad, this is Willow.”
John’s gaze went to Dean. “You didn’t,” he stated with such authority that it was a command that he admit this was not a stupid mistake from his youth.
“Missouri vetted her, sir,” Dean said. “She is an innocent but tied to us by magic. We’re stuck with her.”
John glared at him. “That doesn’t sound any better.”
“It’s complicated, sir,” Dean told him. “We take her with us because we have to.”
Willow pulled her knees up to her face and closed her eyes against them. She wished for something to go over her ears. She knew Sam and Dean had to take her, Missouri had been kind in her explanation. But it was never great to hear that someone felt they were stuck with you.
And Dean’s daddy just sounded mean.
“Dean,” Sam said, his head tilted to Willow.
Dean took a deep breath and addressed John. “What does the letter say?”
“When you searched Elkins’ place, did you see a gun?” John asked. “An antique, a Colt revolver, did you see it?”
“There was an old gun case, but it was empty.”
“They have it.”
“You mean whatever killed Elkins?”
John opened the car door. “We gotta pick up the trail.”
“Wait. You want us to come with you?” Sam asked in surprise.
“If Elkins was telling the truth, we gotta find this gun.”
“The gun - why?”
“Because it’s important, that’s why.”
“Dad, we don’t even know what these are yet.”
“They were what Daniel Elkins killed best: Vampires.”
88888888
John gazed at where Willow slept next to Dean. His sons had given him the best explanation they could once she had gone back to sleep.
He had called Missouri as soon as they were all asleep. And she had told him, in her annoying, knowing way: ‘That girl is going to be the best thing that ever happened to those boys. Just as a girl once was for you.’
She had meant Mary, Sam and Dean’s mother. The only woman he had ever loved. A love that had turned to revenge for her death, a death that overshadowed everything, even their sons.
He had pointed out to Missouri that the girl was five, not old enough to be either of the boys’ love. She had sighed in disappointment. ‘That’s the lesson you never learned, John. One that these boys still can with her help. There is enough room in the heart to love people even after loss.’
He’d hung up the phone in anger. At himself, at her, at them.
He had spent the night in an uneasy doze. At first light, he had been awake, listening to the police scanner.
John jumped up, grabbing his jacket. “Sam, Dean, let’s go.”
“Mm-hmm,” Dean responded immediately, though he did not wake all at once.
“I picked up a police call,” John told them.
“What happened?” Sam asked as he threw his feet over the side of the bed.
“A couple called 9-1-1, found a body in the street. Cops got there, everyone was missing. It’s the vampires.”
“Bait trap,” Willow muttered, in her sleep.
They all stopped and looked at her.
“Witch in her other life,” Sam said with a look at Dean. “Maybe she dealt with vampires?”
Dean shrugged.
John started out the door. “Let’s go.”
Dean shook Willow awake.
She blinked up at him. “Wha?”
“Us and Dad are going to check something out. Give us three days.”
“Then call Bobby,” she finished for him.
“Yes. Your food is in your bag. There is an ice machine around the corner and a vending machine with it.”
“Okay.”
“Anything goes wrong, call me and then Sam. Then Bobby.” He set a phone on the bedside table for her. “Be ready to go at a moment’s notice.”
She nodded.
A horn honked twice. Dean stood and grabbed his phone and gun.
“Be safe,” Willow said softly.
Sam and Dean exchanged looks before leaving the room.
88888888
Sam drove the Impala, following John’s truck. Dean was in the passenger seat. They were arguing about John.
Sam couldn’t help continuing what would have put an end to the argument. “It’s just the way he treats us, like we’re children.”
“Oh God,” Dean swore.
“He barks orders at us, Dean. He expects us to follow ‘em without question. He keeps us on some crap need-to-know deal.” Sam threw his brother a look. “You don’t even talk to Willow that way, because you know how much it sucks.”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“Of course it’s not. But if Dad told you right now to leave Willow and just keep going? If she didn’t pop up in a hundred miles or two hundred? Would you just do as you’re told? Fall in line?”
“If that’s what it takes,” Dean replied, unconvincingly.
Sam shook his head. “Willow’s forgetting her appearance here.”
“What?”
“I tried to talk to her about the day she appeared in the Impala, but she doesn’t remember. It could be trauma or the spell, but she’s rewriting her history to deal with it.”
“So?”
Sam sighed. “Willow really thinks you’re her father, she doesn’t remember coming up with the story with Missouri.”
“What? How long?”
“Since we went to New York.”
“Ten days?!”
“Everything was going fine. I didn’t think it needed to be mentioned.”
“But now is a good time?”
“Do you remember the first time Dad was gone on a Hunt for more than a day? When you were really young?”
Dean nodded. “Yes.”
“So do I. I had you. As far as Willow is concerned, you just did the same thing, without her understanding any of what we do.”
“And what the hell am I supposed to do about that?”
“I don’t know. But it changes things.”
“Why?”
Sam glared at him. “Because as far as she is concerned, you’re the only parent she has left. And this screwed up little family is hers.” He clenched his jaw, keeping a stray observation to himself.
88888888
Sam called Willow’s cell phone.
She picked up on the third ring.
“Hey, Willow.”
“Uncle Sammy,” she said, excited for a moment before apprehension crept in. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. I just wanted to make sure you knew we were okay.”
“Two more days,” she said.
“Yes.” He grinned. “Two more days. We’re mostly just circling the area. Did you have any problem with the food?”
“No.”
“Good. We’ll check in again tomorrow,” he told her.
“Okay.”
“And Willow, you know we’ll be back with you as soon as we can, right?”
“I know.”
“I’ve got to go.”
“Okay. Love you.” She hung-up the phone.
Sam looked at his cell phone in surprise. But it supported his current hypothesis, Willow had substituted her missing history, for them. Her little five-year-old’s psyche was protecting itself, using them to do it. Maybe it would be easier if he could disengage from Willow and be distant like John had been. But when he had started a relationship with Jessica two years ago, she had called him out on that stuff, slowly healing some of the damage done by his own father’s repeated abandonment and militant expectations of his children.
88888888
Willow was surprised when just before dinner Sam and John reappeared. They looked relieved to find her calmly sitting on the bed, attempting to translate the Pippi Longstockings book she had gotten from French to English, unsuccessfully.
Sam had checked her over and then set to pacing the room.
“We’re putting her in danger,” he said.
“She travels with you, they’d have found her first, following the old trail of your scent. Coming back here was the only option,” John told him.
It was a few more minutes as Sam paced. John looked at him and then at Willow, who had gone back to her book.
“Sammy,” John said to get him to stop.
“Yeah?” Sam asked.
“I don’t think I ever told you this…but the day you were born, you know what I did?”
“No.”
“I put a hundred bucks into a savings account for you. I did the same thing for your brother.” He looked down at his hands and then back up at Sam. “It was a college fund. And every month, I’d put in another hundred dollars, until… Anyway, my point is, Sam, this is never the life that I wanted for you.”
Sam sat on the edge of the bed. Watching his father. “Then why did you get so mad when I left?”
“You gotta understand something. After your mother passed, all I saw was evil. Everywhere. And all I cared about was keeping you boys alive. I wanted you…prepared. Ready. Except somewhere along the line I…uh…I stopped being your father and I became your drill sergeant. So when you said that you wanted to go away to school, all I could think about - my only thought was, that you were gonna be alone. Vulnerable, Sammy, it just…it never occurred to me what you wanted. I just couldn’t accept that you and me… We’re just different.”
Sam huffed out a laugh.
“What?” John asked.
“We’re not different. Not anymore,” Sam told him. “With what happened to Mom and Jess… Well, we probably have a lot more in common than just about anyone.”
“I guess you’re right.” John gestured to Willow. “What are you going to do about her?”
“The same thing you did with us, just different.”
“You sure she’s not yours? She seems a little…bookworm-ish.”
Sam chuckled. “No. That’s all her.”
“And she doesn’t remember about who she was before?”
“No. In fact, her brain is protecting her in some way, she’s forgotten the fact that her and Missouri conspired to make Dean her dad on paper.”
John’s eyebrows rose.
“As far as she’s concerned…Dean’s her dad, her mom is dead, and I’m Uncle Sammy.”
“You’re having an easier time of it than your brother?”
“In Dean’s defense, he already raised one kid who disappointed him.”
John swallowed and his face pinched at the uncomfortable truth of it. He stood up and moved to the other bed, sitting at Willow’s feet. “Sammy says you’re pretty smart.”
Willow looked up at him in surprise. Her gaze going uneasily to Sam before returning to John. She shrugged.
John reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver charm bracelet. “This used to belong to Dean and Sam’s mom.”
“It did?” Willow and Sam asked.
John grinned. “I found it in the Impala’s glove compartment before I gave the car to Dean. I hadn’t even realized what it was. Not until later.”
“Where did she get it?”
“Her father. He collected them for her on his travels.” He held it out to show her.
“The Star of David,” Willow said, pointing to one of the symbols. “A cross. A pencil-gram.” She looked at them. “I don’t know this one,” she pointed to the Eye of Ra. “Or this one.” She pointed to one similar the Star of David. “This is Anya.”
“Ankh,” he corrected, touching a finger to the old Egyptian symbol.
“Right,” she said. “It’s neat, Grandpa. Thank you for showing me.”
Sam wasn’t sure who was more surprised by her words, him or John.
John chuckled around his tears. “I don’t think it’ll fit your wrist, but we’ll make sure they figure something out, okay?” He placed the charm bracelet in her hand. “You’ve got to promise, you’ll pass it on to any sisters or girl cousins. Any girls in the family should wear…Grandma Mary’s bracelet.”
Willow nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Dean entered at that moment as Willow pocketed her new possession and John stood to clear his emotions from his face.
“Whew,” Dean said. “Man, some heavy security for a bunch of stiffs.”
“Get it?” John asked.
“Yeah.”
Title: Trauma or the Spell
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/Supernatural
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Supernatural people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Willow meets Dean’s father as Sam frets about the past and the future.
Notes: Part 5 of “A Redhead in the Impala” - Links Page
Seasons: Post-Series/Late-Season 1
Word Count: 2480
Willow swung her legs cheerfully as she finished off her mashed potatoes. She had learned not to listen to Sam and Dean when they talked while researching for cases. They didn’t tend to censor themselves and had gotten mildly annoyed with her pointing out bad words.
They had barely finished dinner when they knew where they were going, Manning, Colorado. Willow opened Oz and started reading as soon as they pulled out of the diner.
Since the cabin was isolated, they didn’t stop to drop Willow off. Dean pointed out that she would likely just pop back up in the backseat if they did that. At least this way she wasn’t a surprise.
She was asleep before they reached the cabin. They grabbed their guns and flashlights and quietly exited the car. They looked around the cabin for a minute, able to tell that Elkins was a Hunter after a cursory examination. Then they hit on what they needed: three letters, six digits - the location and combo of a post office box, just like their father used.
They broke into the post office with Willow still asleep in the backseat. They found a letter for J.W.
“John Winchester?” Sam guessed as they sat in the Impala looking at their find.
“I don’t know,” Dean admitted. “Should we open it?”
There was a knock at the window that startled them, except Willow who continued to sleep.
“Dad?” Dean said, surprised to see his father’s grinning face.
John opened the door to climb into the backseat.
“No!” Sam hissed.
John looked at him in disbelief.
Dean shined a light, showing John that he was about to crush a child’s legs.
John frowned and looked a Dean in askance. Then, he lifted her feet and slid himself in, closing the door carefully.
“Dad, what are you doing here?” Sam said. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. I read the news about Daniel Elkins, I got here as fast as I could. I saw you two out at his place.”
“Why didn’t you come in, Dad?” Sam asked softly.
“You know why. Because I had to make sure you weren’t followed…by anyone or anything.” He looked at Willow’s sleeping form. “You covered your tracks pretty well.”
“We did learn from the best,” Dean said proudly.
“Wait, you came all the way out here for the Elkins guy?” Sam demanded, his volume raised.
“Yeah. He was…he was a good man. Taught me a hell of a lot about Hunting.”
“You never mentioned him to us.”
“We had a…we had kind of a falling out. I hadn’t seen him in years.” He held his hand out to Sam. “Let me see the letter.” He opened it and started reading under Dean’s flashlight. “That son of a bitch!”
His exclamation jolted Willow awake. She stared at him and started taking fast shallow breaths as fear coursed through her.
Dean leaned over the back of the seat and put a hand on her knee. “It’s okay, Willow.”
She looked at Dean but slowly moved herself away from John. Taking up as little room as possible far from him.
“Willow,” Sam said, to get her attention. “This is our father, John. Dad, this is Willow.”
John’s gaze went to Dean. “You didn’t,” he stated with such authority that it was a command that he admit this was not a stupid mistake from his youth.
“Missouri vetted her, sir,” Dean said. “She is an innocent but tied to us by magic. We’re stuck with her.”
John glared at him. “That doesn’t sound any better.”
“It’s complicated, sir,” Dean told him. “We take her with us because we have to.”
Willow pulled her knees up to her face and closed her eyes against them. She wished for something to go over her ears. She knew Sam and Dean had to take her, Missouri had been kind in her explanation. But it was never great to hear that someone felt they were stuck with you.
And Dean’s daddy just sounded mean.
“Dean,” Sam said, his head tilted to Willow.
Dean took a deep breath and addressed John. “What does the letter say?”
“When you searched Elkins’ place, did you see a gun?” John asked. “An antique, a Colt revolver, did you see it?”
“There was an old gun case, but it was empty.”
“They have it.”
“You mean whatever killed Elkins?”
John opened the car door. “We gotta pick up the trail.”
“Wait. You want us to come with you?” Sam asked in surprise.
“If Elkins was telling the truth, we gotta find this gun.”
“The gun - why?”
“Because it’s important, that’s why.”
“Dad, we don’t even know what these are yet.”
“They were what Daniel Elkins killed best: Vampires.”
88888888
John gazed at where Willow slept next to Dean. His sons had given him the best explanation they could once she had gone back to sleep.
He had called Missouri as soon as they were all asleep. And she had told him, in her annoying, knowing way: ‘That girl is going to be the best thing that ever happened to those boys. Just as a girl once was for you.’
She had meant Mary, Sam and Dean’s mother. The only woman he had ever loved. A love that had turned to revenge for her death, a death that overshadowed everything, even their sons.
He had pointed out to Missouri that the girl was five, not old enough to be either of the boys’ love. She had sighed in disappointment. ‘That’s the lesson you never learned, John. One that these boys still can with her help. There is enough room in the heart to love people even after loss.’
He’d hung up the phone in anger. At himself, at her, at them.
He had spent the night in an uneasy doze. At first light, he had been awake, listening to the police scanner.
John jumped up, grabbing his jacket. “Sam, Dean, let’s go.”
“Mm-hmm,” Dean responded immediately, though he did not wake all at once.
“I picked up a police call,” John told them.
“What happened?” Sam asked as he threw his feet over the side of the bed.
“A couple called 9-1-1, found a body in the street. Cops got there, everyone was missing. It’s the vampires.”
“Bait trap,” Willow muttered, in her sleep.
They all stopped and looked at her.
“Witch in her other life,” Sam said with a look at Dean. “Maybe she dealt with vampires?”
Dean shrugged.
John started out the door. “Let’s go.”
Dean shook Willow awake.
She blinked up at him. “Wha?”
“Us and Dad are going to check something out. Give us three days.”
“Then call Bobby,” she finished for him.
“Yes. Your food is in your bag. There is an ice machine around the corner and a vending machine with it.”
“Okay.”
“Anything goes wrong, call me and then Sam. Then Bobby.” He set a phone on the bedside table for her. “Be ready to go at a moment’s notice.”
She nodded.
A horn honked twice. Dean stood and grabbed his phone and gun.
“Be safe,” Willow said softly.
Sam and Dean exchanged looks before leaving the room.
88888888
Sam drove the Impala, following John’s truck. Dean was in the passenger seat. They were arguing about John.
Sam couldn’t help continuing what would have put an end to the argument. “It’s just the way he treats us, like we’re children.”
“Oh God,” Dean swore.
“He barks orders at us, Dean. He expects us to follow ‘em without question. He keeps us on some crap need-to-know deal.” Sam threw his brother a look. “You don’t even talk to Willow that way, because you know how much it sucks.”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“Of course it’s not. But if Dad told you right now to leave Willow and just keep going? If she didn’t pop up in a hundred miles or two hundred? Would you just do as you’re told? Fall in line?”
“If that’s what it takes,” Dean replied, unconvincingly.
Sam shook his head. “Willow’s forgetting her appearance here.”
“What?”
“I tried to talk to her about the day she appeared in the Impala, but she doesn’t remember. It could be trauma or the spell, but she’s rewriting her history to deal with it.”
“So?”
Sam sighed. “Willow really thinks you’re her father, she doesn’t remember coming up with the story with Missouri.”
“What? How long?”
“Since we went to New York.”
“Ten days?!”
“Everything was going fine. I didn’t think it needed to be mentioned.”
“But now is a good time?”
“Do you remember the first time Dad was gone on a Hunt for more than a day? When you were really young?”
Dean nodded. “Yes.”
“So do I. I had you. As far as Willow is concerned, you just did the same thing, without her understanding any of what we do.”
“And what the hell am I supposed to do about that?”
“I don’t know. But it changes things.”
“Why?”
Sam glared at him. “Because as far as she is concerned, you’re the only parent she has left. And this screwed up little family is hers.” He clenched his jaw, keeping a stray observation to himself.
88888888
Sam called Willow’s cell phone.
She picked up on the third ring.
“Hey, Willow.”
“Uncle Sammy,” she said, excited for a moment before apprehension crept in. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. I just wanted to make sure you knew we were okay.”
“Two more days,” she said.
“Yes.” He grinned. “Two more days. We’re mostly just circling the area. Did you have any problem with the food?”
“No.”
“Good. We’ll check in again tomorrow,” he told her.
“Okay.”
“And Willow, you know we’ll be back with you as soon as we can, right?”
“I know.”
“I’ve got to go.”
“Okay. Love you.” She hung-up the phone.
Sam looked at his cell phone in surprise. But it supported his current hypothesis, Willow had substituted her missing history, for them. Her little five-year-old’s psyche was protecting itself, using them to do it. Maybe it would be easier if he could disengage from Willow and be distant like John had been. But when he had started a relationship with Jessica two years ago, she had called him out on that stuff, slowly healing some of the damage done by his own father’s repeated abandonment and militant expectations of his children.
88888888
Willow was surprised when just before dinner Sam and John reappeared. They looked relieved to find her calmly sitting on the bed, attempting to translate the Pippi Longstockings book she had gotten from French to English, unsuccessfully.
Sam had checked her over and then set to pacing the room.
“We’re putting her in danger,” he said.
“She travels with you, they’d have found her first, following the old trail of your scent. Coming back here was the only option,” John told him.
It was a few more minutes as Sam paced. John looked at him and then at Willow, who had gone back to her book.
“Sammy,” John said to get him to stop.
“Yeah?” Sam asked.
“I don’t think I ever told you this…but the day you were born, you know what I did?”
“No.”
“I put a hundred bucks into a savings account for you. I did the same thing for your brother.” He looked down at his hands and then back up at Sam. “It was a college fund. And every month, I’d put in another hundred dollars, until… Anyway, my point is, Sam, this is never the life that I wanted for you.”
Sam sat on the edge of the bed. Watching his father. “Then why did you get so mad when I left?”
“You gotta understand something. After your mother passed, all I saw was evil. Everywhere. And all I cared about was keeping you boys alive. I wanted you…prepared. Ready. Except somewhere along the line I…uh…I stopped being your father and I became your drill sergeant. So when you said that you wanted to go away to school, all I could think about - my only thought was, that you were gonna be alone. Vulnerable, Sammy, it just…it never occurred to me what you wanted. I just couldn’t accept that you and me… We’re just different.”
Sam huffed out a laugh.
“What?” John asked.
“We’re not different. Not anymore,” Sam told him. “With what happened to Mom and Jess… Well, we probably have a lot more in common than just about anyone.”
“I guess you’re right.” John gestured to Willow. “What are you going to do about her?”
“The same thing you did with us, just different.”
“You sure she’s not yours? She seems a little…bookworm-ish.”
Sam chuckled. “No. That’s all her.”
“And she doesn’t remember about who she was before?”
“No. In fact, her brain is protecting her in some way, she’s forgotten the fact that her and Missouri conspired to make Dean her dad on paper.”
John’s eyebrows rose.
“As far as she’s concerned…Dean’s her dad, her mom is dead, and I’m Uncle Sammy.”
“You’re having an easier time of it than your brother?”
“In Dean’s defense, he already raised one kid who disappointed him.”
John swallowed and his face pinched at the uncomfortable truth of it. He stood up and moved to the other bed, sitting at Willow’s feet. “Sammy says you’re pretty smart.”
Willow looked up at him in surprise. Her gaze going uneasily to Sam before returning to John. She shrugged.
John reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver charm bracelet. “This used to belong to Dean and Sam’s mom.”
“It did?” Willow and Sam asked.
John grinned. “I found it in the Impala’s glove compartment before I gave the car to Dean. I hadn’t even realized what it was. Not until later.”
“Where did she get it?”
“Her father. He collected them for her on his travels.” He held it out to show her.
“The Star of David,” Willow said, pointing to one of the symbols. “A cross. A pencil-gram.” She looked at them. “I don’t know this one,” she pointed to the Eye of Ra. “Or this one.” She pointed to one similar the Star of David. “This is Anya.”
“Ankh,” he corrected, touching a finger to the old Egyptian symbol.
“Right,” she said. “It’s neat, Grandpa. Thank you for showing me.”
Sam wasn’t sure who was more surprised by her words, him or John.
John chuckled around his tears. “I don’t think it’ll fit your wrist, but we’ll make sure they figure something out, okay?” He placed the charm bracelet in her hand. “You’ve got to promise, you’ll pass it on to any sisters or girl cousins. Any girls in the family should wear…Grandma Mary’s bracelet.”
Willow nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Dean entered at that moment as Willow pocketed her new possession and John stood to clear his emotions from his face.
“Whew,” Dean said. “Man, some heavy security for a bunch of stiffs.”
“Get it?” John asked.
“Yeah.”