A/N: I received a PM asking about this particular one-shot. (Posted originally back in 2009) I have been sitting on it because it's not one of my favorite pieces of writing. But since it's been missed, I'm reposting it now. I hope you enjoy! Thanks!

In this fic Laney is 14, Dean is 24, Sam is 20

Hang In There

"So are you going to thank me now Winchester?"

Sam smiled. "Yeah yeah, you were right."

"I told you, three days of vegetating beachside, no phones, no email, no classes, and no studying. Paradise."

Sam's Stanford roommate Brady, had convinced him to take a road trip up the Pacific Coast Highway with a bunch of guys from the dorm. They'd camped on the beach and done nothing but barbeque, drink beers, and play volleyball.

"It was a nice break after mid-terms, but it's back to the grind now," said Sam, as he unpacked his duffle bag. It was weird unpacking and knowing that he would be staying put. Nothing like life on the road with his family, when you never unpacked and always had to be ready to go at a moment's notice. It was nice.

"Yeah, but at least you've got your batteries recharged."

"True."

"You going down to the Quad? They're having some kind of spirit week thing," said Brady.

"Nah, I'm going to catch up on my email, see what's been going on in the world while we were gone."

"Aw, I'm sure you didn't miss anything."

"Probably not," said Sam, "But I'm beat anyway," he added with a yawn.

"Alright Winchester. Catch you later."

"Okay."

Sam booted up his laptop and waited for it to spring to life. He picked up the picture of himself and his siblings from their trip to Disneyland almost two years earlier and smiled. He missed them so much sometimes that it was almost physically painful. Sometimes on a good weekend, like the one he'd just had with all his friends and a new girl named Jess that he had a crush on, he was able to go a whole 24 hours without thinking about them or worrying about what monsters or danger that might be facing. Not that it made it hurt any less.

Sam put the picture down and opened his inbox to find several email messages from his little sister, Laney.

His delighted smile immediately turned to a deep frown when he saw the subject line of the first email. Help!

Sam clicked to open the message, his heart thumping wildly in his chest.

Sammy,

I don't know what to do, we've got trouble here and we're pretty much cut off from the world. I've got very limited battery power left on my laptop and no working phone. We're at Joshua's mountain cabin in Riverton.

I don't have time to explain. Please get here as fast as you can. I can't reach Dad.

Laney

The email was dated three days earlier. The day he'd left on his road trip. His breathing became shallow and his palms started sweating.

Sam clicked the second message.

Sammy,

It's been two days, where are you? I hope you are on your way. I think it's safe to use my laptop, but I've got maybe two hours of battery life.

Long story short, we were hunting a group of Ruelig Satanists. You remember the story about the organ harvesters? They got the drop on us, someone must have tipped them off we were coming. They ambushed us as we got to the cabin. We made it inside and we were putting up the wards when Dean got hit by one of their darts. He's okay, but he's out and if my research is correct he's going to be down until we get these guys or they get us. We've got no electricity, barely any water and no food. The wards are holding, they don't bother us until dark.

Maybe I should make a run for it to the Impala for supplies? If I can get one of our phones I can call for help.

Laney

"Oh God," moaned Sam. He knew all about the Ruelig Satanists. They were a group of Satan worshippers that believed the way to immortality and greater synergy with the dark arts was to eat the organs of their victims, while they were still alive. If Dean was hit with one of their darts it meant he was in a deep state of hibernation. He'd be okay as long as they didn't get to him first. The hibernation was only broken when the spell was. There was only one way to break the spell and render them powerless – and it took two people to do it.

Sam quickly dialed a friend of his. "Hey, I need to borrow your car."

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"Hey Dean, help is on the way, I'm sure of it," Laney whispered softly. She hoped that was true. She'd emailed Sam twice and so far had gotten no response. She was doing her best to conserve the battery life on her laptop, glad at least that she had managed to bring it in during the attack and that she had her adapter that allowed her to get internet service using cell signals. Still, it would have been better if she had her phone, which unlike her laptop, was not attached to her at all times. Not that she could call 911. She couldn't risk putting civilians in danger. Dean would frown upon it. Dad would tear her a new one. Maybe she could get a hold of Uncle Bobby.

Where was Sam anyway? It never took him more than a day to answer her emails. She hoped he was okay.

She shook her head, she couldn't think about that right now. She had to think about how she was going to get herself and Dean out of their current mess. Dean would've figured a way out already. But she wasn't a hunter. Not really. She knew the job and the risks, but never in practice. Dean always kept her tucked behind her laptop and books, safely out of the way. Until now. The look on his face when the dart hit him and he knew what was about to happen – well she wouldn't be able to shake that expression anytime soon. He looked absolutely terrified. And not for himself.

She carded her fingers through his dark blonde hair. He looked so young and carefree, the lines of worry and a hard life eased from his face in his sleep. She was glad that at least he was peacefully out of it. If he'd been sick or in pain, she didn't think she'd have been able to handle it.

Laney's stomach grumbled loudly. "Yeah, yeah, I know," she muttered. It was going on day three without anything to eat other than a handful of chocolates and a couple of sticks of beef jerky that she'd found in Dean's jacket pocket. She'd been sipping the one bottle of water that happened to be in the cabin, very sparingly. She knew she could do without food for a long time. Water on the other hand, was a different story and she was beginning to feel weak from the dehydration. And to top it off, it was getting dark outside. And that's when the Ruelig's liked to play games with her. They knew they couldn't get in the house, so they seemed to think they could torment her out of it. She had no candles, no flashlight, no running water, and no electricity and in the total darkness they tormented her. When it got unbearable she had curled up next to her brother and sobbed herself to sleep.

She absentmindedly scratched at the cut on her stomach; yelping when it unexpectedly burned with pain. During the attack she'd fallen on the stairs and scraped her stomach on the edge. Afraid to use the tiny bit of water she had, she'd been unable to clean it well.

She lifted up the edge of her shirt to take a look. It was red and inflamed. Great, if the Ruelig's didn't get her first, infection surely would.

"Sammy, please hurry," she whispered.

She reached for her spiral bound journal and began to write. It was the only thing that was keeping her sane.

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Sam was on the road in record time. With luck and good weather he'd make it shortly after dawn. He'd called every hunter he had on his contact list but they were all more than a day's drive away. No one was going to get there faster than him. He'd called Bobby and got all the info on the ritual he needed to perform to break the Ruelig's spell. Once the spell was broken, Dean would wake up and the spell would in turn, reverse, effectively disabling the perpetrators.

The ritual took two people. His sister would have to recite one chant while he did the other.

Sam reached for his phone to check his email. He'd written his sister that he was on the way and to hang tight. But he had no way of knowing if she could even access her messages anymore.

He had no way of knowing if his sibling were even still alive. The thought of getting to the cabin to find his brother and sister gone was almost more than he could bear. He fought back the tears.

Focus. Focus.

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Laney was grateful when the first light of the early morning dawn peeked around the edges of the curtains. It had been an especially long night. Sometime after midnight she'd began shaking with chills. She knew she must have a fever. Her wound was definitely infected as it burned with pain. She was horribly thirsty, more so than she'd already been, and she'd had to fight the desire to down the rest of the bottle of water in one fell swoop.

She did her usual rounds of the cabin, making sure the wards were still up and holding. She checked on Dean, who was still by all appearances, sound asleep. Apparently whatever state he was in, he wasn't prone to dehydration or starvation. It was like some type of a stasis. Something Laney would have been fascinated with and studied with her usual vigor, if she wasn't so terrified and feeling so sick.

She reached for her laptop. She had a few minutes of battery power left at last check. She quickly checked her inbox and heaved a great sigh of relief, mingled with a sob of joy.

Laney,

I'm so sorry baby. I was out of town. I'm on the way. Hang tight. I should be there by morning. I have all we need for the ritual, but it will take the two of us. I need to know how many there are and where they are if you can tell. This is going to happen very fast. Be prepared. You know the chant. Be ready.

I love you. Hang in there.

Sam

Laney's computer beeped a warning that she only had two minutes of battery life. Her head dipped forward in exhaustion and illness. She needed water and she needed a phone. If Sam couldn't get inside the cabin, they had to at least be in contact with each other for the ritual to work.

She quickly composed a message.

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The alert notifying Sam that he had an email was so startling in the silence of the drive that he nearly drove the car off the road. He was less than an hour away and pushing 100 miles per hour.

He pulled open his phone with one hand and opened the message.

Sammy,

Battery is about dead. Five bad guys. Tree line to the west of the cabin beyond the open field, probably a half a football field. Weapons; fire, darts, rocks I think. I have to make a run to the car, no choice. Need water, need phone. Hurry.

Laney

Sam frowned at the message, it was short and not the usual detail his sister usually gave when it came to anything. And making a run to the car? Was she crazy?

"No, no, no Laney, don't do it," choked out Sam. But there was nothing he could do; nothing but wait for his sister to call him and hope that she made it in one piece.

He pushed the car to go faster.

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"Okay, Dean," said Laney, sitting next to her brother on the bed she had dragged him to three days earlier. "I'm going to do something that you are going to hate and you are going to chew my ass out for. But I have to do it. I'm out of options," she said, breathing heavily. Her fever was going up, her body shutting down, she could feel it. She was only 14, but she wasn't stupid. She'd studied field medicine as a hobby one summer, even taken an EMT course at a community college when they'd stopped long enough in a town. Her brother never let her practice on him even though he had plenty of hunting related injuries. It was his job to take care of her and not the other way around. That's what he was always reminding her. But here they were.

She patted her brother on the head and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You stay put," she said, giggling at her own joke in feverish delirium.

She grabbed her brother's pearl handled gun – the only weapon he'd managed to get in the cabin – and cocked it. Luckily, even though her brother never let her get her hands dirty, so to speak, he'd made sure she was a damn good shot. She could shoot better than most.

Laney fought off a wave of dizziness as she got to her feet. She could tell that she wasn't exactly walking a straight line. Dehydration and the infection were making her feel sort of detached, like she watching things happen outside of herself. Distantly she wondered if this was what it was like to be drunk.

She made a mental note to ask Dean about it when he woke up.

Laney peeked out the window and couldn't see any signs of life anywhere. But she knew they were out there. She hoped that maybe since they'd spent the whole night tormenting her, by throwing rocks and erecting flaming effigies out in the yard, they were tired. The Impala was only about ten feet away from the front door. She felt like she could reach out and touch it. But if they fired one of their magic darts at her, it was lights out. They didn't need to be near her to get her.

Laney felt a spasm rock her stomach and before she could even think she doubled over and puked all over the front door. There wasn't much in her stomach, so it was mostly dry heaves. No, no. Just got to hang in there. Sammy will be here any minute. Dean needs me. I can't let him down.

When Laney's stomach settled, she took several deep breaths to steady herself.

"Let's do this," she whispered.

Laney swung the door open; gun pointed out towards the tree line and made a mad and stumbling dash to the Impala. Lucky for her, the door wasn't locked. She hadn't even thought about that possibility. She grabbed the duffel from the front seat where Dean had abandoned it and turned around.

She was just reaching the front step when she heard the sound of a dart whoosh by her head. She ducked and began blindly firing backwards quickly. She made it inside just as another dart embedded itself in the wood of the front door. She slammed it shut; making sure the ward was in place and collapsed backward on the floor.

She whooped in delight or delirium – she wasn't sure which – and rolled over, hissing as her stomach made contact with the floor. The wound hurt like Hell, but it was at the bottom of the list of her priorities. Dean was number 1.

She opened the duffel bag and found Dean's phone, battery still charged.

"Yes!" she exclaimed.

She dug through the bag looking for any food or drinks. Dean was a snacker, if there ever was one. The man had food stashed everywhere. Of course, because she'd been having such a good week, all she found was half eaten bag of Cheetos and a warm soda.

She'd skip the Cheetos, but the soda would help. It would be dehydrating in the long run, but the sugar would bring her blood sugar up, even if temporarily, it should be enough to keep her conscious until Sam arrived.

She slowly sipped the soda, hoping it would stay down.

Almost as an afterthought she realized she should be calling her brother.

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Sam's eyes widened when he saw Dean come up on his caller ID.

"Laney?"

"Hey Sammy."

"Are you okay?"

"Been better."

Sam frowned at the weariness in her voice and was she breathing heavy? Her speech was breathless and stilted too.

"What's wrong?"

"Thirsty. Are you almost here?"

"Ten minutes away."

"Thank God. Where were you anyway?"

"Laney, you've got to focus now. You remember the chant?"

"Of course, I'm a genius remember."

"You have to say it exactly the way it was written. We have to start it at the same time. You recite the light and I'll do the dark."

"K."

"Why did you get the phone? I was on the way. You shouldn't have risked it Laney."

"Didn't want you to try and make it into the cabin. Safer if we do it on phone."

"Safer for who?" asked Sam

"For you silly. Love you."

"I love you too."

"Miss you."

"Baby, I miss you too. You've got to focus."

"I know," said Laney, with a very audible sigh. "Uh, okay, okay. If I remember correctly, you have to be within a certain distance to the bad guys. You still have to drive up near the cabin."

"I know."

"They have darts. They're quick."

"I know. I'm almost there. Keep your eyes open. I'm in a maroon Toyota."

"Oh no Sammy, a Toyota? Dean's going to be pissed," she giggled.

Sam ran a tired hand across his face. His sister was losing it.

"I'm a minute away. The second I get in the driveway, you start the chant. Don't worry about me. Don't stop. Just keep reciting it until you get to the end."

"K, Sammy. Maybe you should – "

The phone cut off.

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Laney's eyes went wide. Now was not the time for dropped calls. What service provider did Dean have anyway? It might be time to change. She giggled again.

"Going nuts Winchester," she sang out loud.

AC/DC's Hells Bells began blaring. Laney was about to tell Dean to turn down the radio, when she realized it was his phone and Dean was still dead to the world.

"Sammy?"

"Jesus Christ Laney. You gave me a heart attack."

"Dropped call. Let's hope that doesn't happen during the ritual." She giggled again, which was followed by a violent chill and her stomach turning. "I don't feel so good Sammy."

"I know baby, I know. It's almost over. I'm around the corner. I'm going to count to five and then I'm going to haul ass into the driveway."

"You said ass," giggled Laney.

"Delaney Winchester!" shouted Sam

Laney immediately came to attention. He sounded exactly like Dad.

"Yes sir," she responded automatically.

"Focus. I'm going to count to five."

Laney took a deep breath. "Okay, okay. I'm ready. Go ahead."

"Okay. One. Two. Three. Four. Five," said Sam.

The next thing Laney saw was a maroon car careening down the embankment over the hill into the driveway. When Sam passed the tree line he yelled into the phone.

"Now!"

Laney began reciting the Latin chant, flawlessly, directly from memory. She recalled without much effort, the words rang clear and true. She could hear Sam on the other line reciting his chant. She was shaking with the effort of remaining focused and upright.

She looked out the window and could see the darts being shot at the car. Laney decided to take a chance and without breaking her chant, she opened the front door and began firing over the car and towards the tree line until she was out of ammo.

They came to the part in the chant where it interlaced, the words becoming the same, they spoke faster until they reached the crescendo. Laney fell to her knees on the last few words, barely holding it together, when suddenly there was a bright flash of light, a popping sound, a whoosh of air through the trees. The darts stopped coming.

Laney smiled wanly, opening the front door wide. Distantly she heard the moan of her oldest brother waking up, but at the moment she only had eyes for the big brother she hadn't seen in well over a year.

"Sammy," she whispered. "It's good to see you."

Sam ran up the stairs to his sister, just as her eyes rolled back in her head and darkness overtook her.

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"Three days! Three whole freaking days!" shouted Dean.

"Dean, take it easy," said Sam.

"Don't tell me to take it easy," he retorted, angrily.

Sam sighed. Yeah, he'd been just as upset at the whole ordeal and it was just hitting him now how bad it was. He'd found a spiral bound journal among his sister's belongings and in it, was a minute by minute replay of the last three days. No, 14 year old should ever have to go through something like that. Hell, no one of any age should have to go through anything like that. It had been her own little personal nightmare. Yet, she'd managed to stay focused, stay smart, and save her and her brother's asses. That was no small feat.

But Dean, well he was seething with anger. He'd woken up from what had felt like the best sleep he'd ever had in his life to find his sister in a heap, being held by the brother who was supposed to be away at college. What a friggin' wake up call.

He was supposed to be the one to take care of his sister, not the other way around. It never should have gotten to that point. He should have done better recon or gotten better intel. This couldn't happen again.

Dean paced the small hospital waiting room.

Sam regretted giving Dean the journal to read, not that he could have stopped him. It would at least spare his sister having to recount the last few days for them.

"This isn't the way it should've gone down," said Dean, rubbing his hands in his hair.

"No it's not," said Sam.

At Dean's look, Sam started. "I don't mean you did anything wrong. I'm talking about me. Two and half days she was trying to get a hold of me and I was busy hanging out with my friends."

"It's not your fault Sam."

"Yeah, well it's not yours either."

A nurse approached the brothers. "You can come in now. She's all settled."

Dean and Sam both entered Laney's room.

"She's going to be out for awhile. Exhaustion, dehydration, infection, all took their toll. We've got her on IV fluids and antibiotics. She'll be up and around in a day or two. Fever's already down."

"Thanks," said Sam.

The nurse nodded and left the brothers with their sister.

Sam bent down and kissed his sister on her forehead before taking a seat.

Dean walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. He grasped her hand. "Hey kiddo," he whispered. "I'm here now. What did you think you were doing being all heroic? That's supposed to be my gig," he added with a laugh. Laney sighed and curled into her brother's hip. Even unconscious she knew where her lifeline was.

Sam felt a pang of envy shoot through him at the way Laney responded to Dean. He didn't know why. It shouldn't surprise him. They'd always been extra close. Dean had raised her since birth and he knew that with himself off at college and their Dad mostly hunting solo these days, the two of them were as close as two could get.

He missed it. A lot. And at the same time he didn't. He didn't miss the nail biting terror of the hunting life, the never knowing if they would make it alive from day to day; the agony of worrying about losing one of his siblings – or both. Being away at college didn't change the risks his brother and sister faced, but it did make it seem very far away. Out of sight, out of mind, as the old adage went. It was easy to pretend they were safe when he didn't have to see what they were up against day after day.

"You okay?" asked Dean, as he watched emotions play out on his brother's face.

Sam looked up. "Huh? Uh – yeah. I'm good."

Dean's eyes narrowed suspiciously. His brother may have been at school for a long time now, but he could still read him like a book.

Sam stood up from his chair. "Uh – I think I'm going to hit the road. It's the first day of the new semester and I'm already late," said Sam.

"You're not going to wait until she wakes up?" asked Dean.

Sam shook his head. "Doc says she'll be fine. Call me when she's awake."

"You don't have to leave Sam. I'm sure school can wait another day."

"No, really, I've got to get my friend's car back to him and really, I can't miss class."

Dean looked away from his brother and back to his baby sister. "Okay, well if you've gotta' go, then you've gotta' go."

"Dean," began Sam.

"Don't Sam, it's okay. I understand. Hey, we're only a few hours from Palo Alto. How about we come see you when she's up and around?"

Sam smiled. "Yeah, that sounds good," he said, even though he knew somehow that another lead on a hunt that couldn't be passed up, would probably get in the way.

"Okay then, we'll see you later."

Sam nodded. He walked over to his sister and gave her another kiss. He held on to her hand a moment before he let go and leaned down to her ear. "Love you," he whispered.

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Laney woke up 24 hours later feeling more alive and aware than she had in days.

"Hey shrimp, are we back in business?"

Laney smiled widely. "Dean," she said, all the love she felt in that one word. She reached out and hugged him tightly.

"I guess I should be thanking you for saving my ass."

"Well I had help," she said, looking around. She frowned. "Where's Sammy? He's okay right?"

"He's fine, kiddo. He had to head back to school. New semester I guess."

Laney nodded. "Oh."

"You know how Sammy is about those things," Dean said lightly.

"Yeah," she said, looking crestfallen.

Aw, hell. He should have tied Sam to a chair and made him stay.

"He wanted you to call as soon as you were awake."

"We'll call him later," said Laney. "I don't want to bother him."

"You're not a bother," said Dean.

"If I could have gotten anyone else to help I would have. I tried. I know this isn't what he wanted," said Laney.

"What?"

"To be dragged back into this."

"I wasn't dragged back into anything," said a familiar voice.

Laney and Dean both looked up, identical startled expressions on their faces.

Sam stood in the doorway smiling.

"What are you doing here?" asked Dean.

Sam scoffed. "I came to see my sister," he answered, as if Dean had asked the stupidest question in the world.

Laney reached out for her brother and he held her tightly. "You didn't drag me back into anything," said Sam. "We're family and that never changes. If you need me, I'm always going to be there."

Laney nodded and rested her head on her brother's chest.

Dean smiled and hoped his brother really meant it.

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The goodbyes never got any easier. This had been the second time they'd seen Sam since he'd gone off to college almost two years earlier. During his summer break they'd stopped by on their way down from working a case in Oregon. Sam had been working a job, his first real job in the real world, and hadn't been able to spend much time with them. The visit had been short but sweet.

This time Laney gave him a great big hug and a good natured ribbing about answering emails in a timely fashion. She'd gone back to the shelter of the Impala before the waterworks could start. There were a lot of promises about spending a couple of weeks together that spring break or making time in the summer to take a road trip to the Grand Canyon, but underneath it all, the siblings could feel the truth. Life was changing. Sam was in his element at school and Laney and Dean were on a path that was taking them as far away from that life as it could.

Dean hugged his brother goodbye teased him about riding to the rescue in a Toyota and laughed to himself when he thought about the itching powder he'd laced Sam's laundry with.

When Laney and Dean drove away this time, Sam didn't wait for them to disappear around the corner. He simply turned around and headed back to his dorm.

Life was changing.