Fiction- MiM05- Moments Of Weird

Title: Memory In Motion

Chapter Title: Moments Of Weird

Author: Restive Nature

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to BtVS. They belong to Whedon & Mutant Enemy. I also do not own the rights to Supernatural. They belong to Eric Kripke and The CW. Some dialogue was used from Supernatural Episode 1.18 “Something Wicked” written by Daniel Knauf. All recognizable dialogue in this episode belongs to the writer and show. It's use is not intended as infringement as is only as the rest of the story, meant for private enjoyment.

Rating: PG-15

Genre: Crossover

Type: Humor, Angst

Pairing: DaddyDean/ WeeWillow

Summary: Through a magical mix-up, Willow ends up in the Impala, disoriented, terrified, facing the barrel of a gun and somehow... only six years old.

Spoilers/ Time line: Post series for Buffy and late season one of Supernatural.

Feedback: Always welcome!

Distribution: Ask first please.

A/N: This is a challenge response to pezgirl's The Little Demon Hunting Challenge at the Twisting the Hellmouth site. Please refer to chapter one for challenge details.

Memory in Motion

Chapter Five

Moments Of Weird

Their meal passed slowly, as Willow was determined to chew every bite thoroughly. Dean, usually the impatient one, seemed to be with Willow on this. He was sure that there was a way through this all, but wasn't ready to take a step forward. Sam on the other hand, wanted to get these things figured out. The sooner the better. Because all they were getting, or at least how he felt, was more questions, instead of answers.

At last, Willow declared that she was full, after eating the majority of her meal. Dean ordered her a piece of cake and some pie for himself, to go and they finally left the restaurant. It was after they had climbed back into the Impala, that Dean brought up something that hadn't even entered Sam's mind.

“We should probably stop, get supplies,” his brother intoned, his eyes darting back to glance at the little redheaded girl that was studiously buckling herself in.

“Right, yeah,” Sam agreed instantly, figuring that Dean probably didn't want to talk about these things in front of the little girl. Which was fine by him, because there were times that he wished he could have gone through his childhood, hell, his whole life without ever knowing this stuff.

It almost completely flabbergasted him though when Dean, instead of a ready mart or grocery store, pulled into the parking lot of a Target. “Okay Willow, c'mon,” he announced as he turned off the ignition.

“Dean?” Sam's voice may have inferred a question, but there was a warning note as well, that only a brother could recognize.

“Gotta grab a few things,” he replied. “If we're gonna head to Bobby's with her, she'll need some stuff. Pj's and a change of clothes. That sort of shi- stuff.”

“Oh, right,” Sam frowned. With a sigh, deciding that he wasn't needed, Sam leaned over to reach for his laptop. He was pretty sure that he had some charge left on it and wanted to look over the research that he had manged to do so far. He didn't think he'd be lucky to be in the middle of a WiFi sight. He knew that Dean had already told him how to kill the thing they were hunting, but as his brother had also mentioned, sometimes things went wrong. It'd be good to have a back up plan. So the more information they had, the better.

Sam was up to his eyeballs in reading when he heard the back door open. He glanced up, blinking owlishly to see his brother and Willow had returned. He glanced at his watch, surprised at the amount of time that had passed without him really realizing it. The girl clambered in and then eagerly accepted the bags that his elder brother passed to her. He waited for Dean to shut the door and return to his position in the driver's seat before he teased, “geez Dean, how much did you buy her?”

“Enough,” Dean grunted, reaching for the ignition. “You find anything useful?”

“Just more stuff on the you know what, things we already knew,” Sam concurred. He glanced back at the several bulging bags that Willow was already digging through. To his startlement, the girl pulled out a novel and started reading. “Anna Karenina?” he questioned once he had deciphered the title.

“It was on sale,” Dean gruffly defended himself. “Kid's smart. She'll be fine.”

“Okay, but what about the rest?” Sam asked worriedly. They weren't going to be able to return kids clothes, even if they had the inclination to return, to this town, or even the chain store. And someone must have been wondering why Dean would have to buy his kid a whole new wardrobe.

“I had a grow spurt,” Willow offered helpfully. Dean grinned and waggled his eyebrows as Sam quickly considered that. He shook his head, helpless in the little girl's artless demeanor.

“Okay, let's get back to the motel and get this shi-stuff figured out,” Dean censored himself again and Sam was almost wondering if it were worth the hassle to keep the kid around for a little longer than was right. He knew really, that it wasn't, but the change in his brother was astounding.

“So, uh, we know it was the doc,” Sam offered quietly, glancing at Willow, but she didn't seem to be paying attention to them. “Which obviously, is the perfect disguise. He's perfectly position to control the whole thing.” He glanced at his brother and added, “I'm surprised you didn't draw on him right there.”

“Yeah, well...” Dean shrugged in frustration, “first of all, I'm not gonna open fire in a pediatrics ward.”

“Good call,” Sam agreed, tilting his head consideringly.

“Second, it wouldn't have done any good,” Dean added. “'cause the thing's bulletproof unless he's chowing down on something. And third, I wasn't packing. Which was probably a good thing, 'cause I probably would've burned a clip on him off of principle alone.”

“Daddy pulled a gun from under his seat at me,” Willow reminded him helpfully.

“I said I was sorry about that, sweetie,” Dean grinned tightly up into the rear view mirror at her. “Just had to be sure you weren't a nasty bad thing.”

“i know,” Willow nodded. But then after a moment, asked wondering, “so who is?”

“What's that?” Dean grunted.

“Who is the nasty bad thing?” she wanted to know. “What's his name? The doctor. Maybe my Mommy knows him.”

“He's not that kind of doctor kiddo,” Dean explained while Sam listened quietly. “He's only pretending. Like us. But he's not pretending to keep other people from getting upset, or hurt. He's pretending so that he can hurt other people without getting caught.”

“So you and Uncle Sammy have to stop him?” Willow questioned. Dean nodded and Sam could almost see the lump in his throat. There was something about this case and about Willow that was affecting his brother much more than it usually would. And it tugged at Sam's mind, that he should know why, without having to ask his brother, what it was all about. “How?” she breathed out.

“By making a plan once we're back at the motel,” Dean pronounced. Sam smirked as Willow, realizing that she was being dismissed from the conversation, went back to her book.

“You're getting wise in your old age, Dean,” he teased.

“Damn straight,” his brother whispered, not sounding pleased or annoyed, but something altogether different than Sam was used to. “'Cause I know just how we're gonna get it.”

MiM~MiM~MiM

"Okay Dean," Sam grunted as he carried in Willow's bags that had been purchased right before they'd gone back to the motel. Dean had given the little girl the honor of carrying their desserts and had grabbed Sam's laptop for him. So it was left to Sam to grab the rest. There was one that was fairly light and when he had glanced in it, he saw that his brother had also purchased the girl a back pack, which would be perfect to put the assorted new purchases in for ease of transport. He used his foot to push the door shut behind him. "We"re here, so now can we figure out this plan?"

"Yeah, sure," Dean nodded as he took the bags from his brother and laid them on the bed next to where Willow was sitting. "Why don't you go through these and take the tags off? Then you can put them away." he suggested the instructions, rather than just barking them out as their father would have.

"Yes sir," Willow nodded and turned on her perch to begin doing precisely that. Dean motioned his brother to the other side of the admittedly small room.

"So?" Sam promoted as Dean watched to make sure that the girl was engaged in what she was doing.

"Okay," Dean grunted. "You know how this thing is going after kids?" he reminded his brother in a soft voice.

"Yeah."

"And it goes after siblings?" Dean prompted. "And last night, it went after Asher," he noted, reminding his brother, as if he needed it, of the boy of the motel owner's that had fallen ill. It had been he that Dean had been visiting in the hospital, on the ground as it were, to see what the hell was going on. If this case that was hitting even closer to home, was connected to the shtriga or not. "So tonight, it'll be going after…"

"Michael?" Sam realized. "Well then, we've gotta get him out of here," the panic in his voice was recognizable and understandable.

"No, no, no," Dean protested. "That would blow the whole deal."

"What?" Sam winced at his brother's shifted attitude.

"Yeah," Dean nodded. Realization dawned in Sam as he read the apprehension and fear in his brother's eyes.

"You wanna use the kid as bait," he verbalized softly what he had realized.

Dean gave a jerky little head motion as if to ask what was wrong with the idea. He couldn't agree with his brother that it was a horrible idea, even if he did think that they could have done better. But he needed to get this done.

"No Dean!" Sam argued. "I'm not gonna let you dangle that kid like bait for-!"

"Then what do you propose we do?" Dean exploded, gesturing to the side. "Use her? That'll take too long. She's not in the shtriga's sights. And if this thing gets away? It might be years before we get another chance! Dad didn't send me here to-!"

"Dad sent you?" Sam repeated. "Dad didn't send you, he sent us Dean."

"This isn't about you Sam," Dean snorted as he turned to pace away, momentarily forgetting the little girl that was sitting, staring at the brother's wide eyed. "I'm the one that screwed up. I'm the one that needs to fix this!"

"A shtriga?" Willow's quiet voice suddenly exploded, her head twisting back and forth as she stared between the brothers. Glancing at one another, they realized their mistake in letting emotion take them over as they had gotten too loud. "You're fighting a shtriga?" she repeated once she had both of their attention. "Is that why you have the guns?"

Raising one eyebrow at his brother, Sam turned to approach the little girl. Leaning over slightly as she looked up at him, Sam asked, "Willow, what do you know about shtrigas?"

"They're bad," Willow shuddered. She was quiet for a moment as Dean slowly shook his head. Fighting with Sam and introducing a new argument in the midst of that was just not going to accomplish anything. "They're a form of witch, very old," the girl replied at last, sounding like she was reciting something from memory. "They disguise themselves as human, but feed off the vitae, the life force of the young. The only time that they're vulnerable is when they're feeding. People in the old days believed that the only way to kill them was by shooting them with consecrated iron rounds. But there's something…" she trailed off as she looked down at her hands, Shocked, Sam fell back onto the other bed across from the girl and glanced at his brother, who was just as shocked. She looked up then, her eyes wide. "Whoa. That was weird."

"What was weird honey?" Dean asked carefully.

"You said streega, shred," she tried to correct herself. "And all of a sudden… it was weird," she repeated. The brothers exchanged glances and as one, both repeated the word that was forefront on their minds.

"Cristos!" they intoned in unison.

"Yahweh," she responded instantly, though she didn't show the amusement and humor that she had before. "What does that mean?"

"It's…" Sam faltered, at a loss to explain it to the child. Dean however, approached and knelt to take her hand.

"Honey," he began gently, "when we say that word, it's a magic word that can show us if the bad things around us are making you sick."

"A magic sickness?" the girl asked and Dean grinned widely and nodded.

"Exactly," he beamed.

"But a bad one," Sam felt compelled to add. "When we say it Willow, it's only because we want to make sure that you aren't susceptible to…" here he faltered, looking once more to his older brother to explain things.

"Possession," the little girl whispered with another shudder. Dean reached forward to touch her arm.

"Willow, what do you know about this stuff?" he wondered aloud. "You seem like a normal kid and then bam!" The girl shrugged helplessly.

"It was, it was," she struggled to explain. "I don't remember," she added suddenly and Sam wanted to groan and roll his eyes. "I don't remember and then suddenly the words are there. I don't know how or where they come from. Do you… do you think I'm bad?" There were tears forming in her eyes that both brothers hastened to quell.

"Not necessarily you Willow," Sam assured her as Dean stroked at her hair. "But maybe there was someone in your life that… I mean, it could be one of your teachers," he listed.

"Or maybe your babysitter," Dean interjected as he poked gently at the end of her nose, "though I'm pretty sure that if she magicked you away, it was by accident. Don't worry little girl, as soon as we take care of this shtriga, then we're gonna find you a way home. I promise."

"Okay," Willow nodded. "But…" she paused and Dean moved up to sit beside her on the bed.

"But what?" Dean asked mock angrily. "You don't believe me? Sweetheart, this is what Sammy and I do with our lives. We save pretty little girls and defenseless boys and even teenagers and adults whenever and wherever we can."

"I believe you," Willow assured him promptly. "It's just…" she paused again and when Dean bit his tongue and tried to patiently wait for her questions, she swallowed heavily and then seemed to gather the courage to ask. "Why do you hate it so much? Why does it scare you so much?"

Dean grimaced as Sam's gaze turned to him as well. Scooping the child up, feeling somehow like she was a shield against his brother's disappointment that was sure to be coming his way at any moment after he explained, Dean began relating the tale, keeping it as simple as possible for Willow's benefit.

"When we were little, Sam and me," he began, "our Dad had the same job that we do. But he didn't want to put us in danger, so he would leave us behind with friends or in a safe place." The girl nodded in all seriousness, staying quiet as he worked his way through the hard memories that this case brought. "Well, there was one hunt, not too far from where we are right now. Sammy was about your age and I wasn't much older. Our Dad told us to stay in the motel room and all sorts of other instructions. The most important one was to keep an eye on Sammy. And he was right. There was a shtriga there and it went after Sammy." There were identical soft gasps from brother and girl as Dean swallowed heavily. "Now, I know I'm a pretty awesome big brother, but even I made mistakes when I was little. My dad told me not to leave the room, and I did," he admitted with a lump in his throat. "I got so bored, sitting in that room all day, watching cartoons with Sammy and eating the same old stuff. So when Sammy was asleep, I left the room. I went over to the arcade, just to have some fun and relax. When I got back…"

"The monster witch was there?" Willow asked, but it was obvious that she was correct.

"Yeah, Dean whispered. The old feelings of pain, inadequacy, of disappointing himself, more importantly his family, his dad, welling up in him again. "Yeah," he said a little more strongly now. "And my dad had let me a gun. Just in case of an emergency. But I didn't… I had a chance and I didn't take it."

"But how did Sammy be okay then?" Willow asked with obvious confusion tingeing her voice.

"My dad showed up," Dean smiled sadly. "Right in the nick of time. He came in and shot at the thing, but he didn't have the consecrated iron rounds, or enough of them, I'm not sure. That thing flew out the window. It disappeared."

"Did your daddy hunt it?" the girl asked next.

"Well, first he made sure that Sammy was okay and then he grabbed us up and took us to a very good friend to take care of us," Dean explained "But when he came back, he couldn't find the shtriga at all."

"Wow" Willow breathed in and then looked over at Sam. "So, if he had a friend, why didn't you go there first?" she wondered. Sam couldn't answer, his eyes on his brother. No wonder Dean was feeling this so strongly, he realized. He, Sam had been in danger, Dean had felt that he'd shirked his responsibilities, endangering him, disappointing their father and if it was the same shtriga, was probably feeling responsible for all of the victims it had found after that time.

"I couldn't say honey," he finally answered, as he realized that the girl was waiting for a reply. "I… we haven't talked to our dad for a while." He paused for a moment, swallowing the rest of his pain before turning his face upwards. "So now you see why we have to do something?" Dean questioned of his brother.

"Yeah, Dean," Sam agreed, "but asking Michael…"

"His brother was hurt?" Willow piped up again, though her voice was meek. There were nods from both men. "But… but Asher is his brother. Even if brothers an' sisters don't get along, they still love each other. Right? Michael, he'll help right?"

"I think," Sam finally allowed, "that we should go find out."

Chapter 06- Getting It Done Right