Daddy's Little Hunter (SPN Season 1)

Nightmare [6]

"Max. No," Ms. Miller pleaded as the gun was in midair pointed towards her.

Dean stepped in front of Ms. Miller and Natalia and the gun turned to point at him.

"Stay back." Max warned "It's not about you,"

"You're going to kill her you gotta go through me first," Dean said.

"Ok,"

The door burst open and Sam came in.

"Daddy!" Natalia cried out.

"No don't! Don't!" Sam pleaded "Please. Please. Max. Max. We can help you. Alright. But this, what you're doing. It's not the solution. It's not gonna fix anything,"

Max was shaking, sweaty, and in tears. He stared at Sam, anguished.

Suddenly Max relaxed a little, his face cleared.

"You're right," Max realized.

Sam smiled at him, but Max turned away from him as the gun swung to point at Max.

Dean realizing what was about to happen shielded Natalia's view with his body.

Max shot himself in the head.

"No!!" Sam screamed.

***

Ms. Miller was sitting on the couch in the downstair's lounge of her house "Max attacked me. He threatened me with a gun,"

The Cop taking Ms. Miller's statement indicated towards Dean and Sam holding Natalia. "And these three?"

"They're...family friends." Ms. Miller lied "I called them soon as Max arrived, I was scared. They tried to stop him. They fought for the gun,"

"Where did Max get the gun?"

Natalia glanced over at Dean.

Ms. Miller began to cry and looked at the ceiling "I don't know. He showed up with it and..." she broke down in tears.

"It's all right Ms. Miller," The Cop reasoned.

"I've lost everyone," Ms. Miller sobbed

The Cop glanced over at Sam, Dean, and Natalia "We'll give you a call if we have any further questions,"

"Thanks, officer." Dean said, patting Sam's arm "Come on,"

Sam and Dean walked down the pat.

"If I'd just said something else. Gotten through to him somehow,"

"Ah, don't do that," Dean chastised.

"Do what?"

"Torture yourself. It wouldn't have mattered what you said, Max was too far gone,"

"When I think about how he looked at me man. I shoulda done something,"

"Come on man, you risked your life. I mean yeah, maybe if we had gotten there 20 years earlier,"

Sam placed Natalia in her car seat before looking over at Dean "Well I'll tell you one thing. We're lucky we had Dad,"

Dean laughed "Well I never thought I'd hear you say that,"

"Well, it coulda gone a whole other way after Mom. A little more tequila and a little less demon hunting and we woulda had Max's childhood. All things considered, we turned out ok. Thanks to him,"

Dean turned back to look at Max's house. "All things considered,"

Sam and Dean entered the Impala before Sam spoke up again.

"Dean I've been thinking," sam said

"Well that's never a good thing, is it Nat?" Dean teased causing the two-year-old to giggle.

"I'm serious. I been thinking, thinking, this demon, whatever it is. Why would it kill Mom, and Jessica, and Max's mother, you know? What does it want?"

"I have no idea,"

"Well, you think, maybe, it was after us? After Max and me?" Sam gulped as he glanced back at Natalia.

The two-year-old looking out the window as the scenery passed by.

"After Tali..."

Dean looked between the two-year-old and Sam "Why would you think that?"

"I mean, either telekinesis or premonitions, we all had abilities, you know? Maybe he was, he was after us for some reason,"

"Sam. If it had wanted you and Nat, it would've just taken you. Ok? This is not your fault, it's not about you,"

"Then what is it about?"

"It's about that damn thing that did this to our family. The thing that we're gonna find, the thing that we're gonna kill. And that's all,"

"Actually there's uh...there's something else too,"

"Ah jeez, what?!"

"When Max left me in that closet, with that big cabinet against the door...I moved it,"

"Huh. You got a little more upper body strength than I gave you credit for,"

"No man, I moved it. Like, Max,"

Dean's demeanor changed briefly "Oh."

There was a silence within the impala, minus Natalia tapping her legs against her car seat as if she was following some silent tune that only she could hear.

"Right," Dean said silently.

"Yeah," Sam scoffed.

Dean picked up a leftover spoon from one of their stops at a gas station "Bend this,"

"I can't just turn it on and off Dean," Sam exclaimed in frustration.

"Well, how'd you do it?"

"I don't know, I can't control it. I just...I heard Tali scream and it just came out of me, like a, like a punch. You know like...a freak adrenaline thing,"

Dean shook his head "That wasn't just a freak adrenaline thing Sammy..." he looked back at Natalia, who had finally fallen asleep after the day's events "That's called being a dad,"