AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, my plans to keep writing and publishing went out the window! I've been sick (not with the coronavirus, thank goodness!), having fibromyalgia flares, and lots of anxiety, all of which make it hard to concentrate and write. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and also be gentle with myself when I'm not able to do much.

MariaKata, wandamarie, tamilyn313, FandomCaptive, fanclaire, AshtynnAlba, Stormysea-breaks, Myst1989, sjwmaw, sueturpen, EmilyAnnMcGarrettWinchester, NoilyPrat, Carlton1, LexieLou, xYZ, thank you all for taking the time to leave comments for me, I appreciate every one! LexieLou, I'm sorry I wasn't able to publish the chapter on your birthday, but I hope you had a good one! My family has had 2 birthdays during the quarantine and we made sure to have lots of yummy food to eat- hope you had some good cake!

I have a Tumblr account, justawaywardwinchestergirl. if you are on there and want to follow, I mostly reblog other people's posts. My page is public so all you have to do is enter the name into the search bar. And if you do follow me, don't forget to drop me a line and introduce yourself!

Hope you all enjoy the chapter- sorry if it seems short and like there's not a lot of action. I'm going to try and keep my writing momentum going and start working on the next chapter today!

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

I woke up in my own bed. I rolled over and stretched, and then I remembered what had happened last night. Had Daddy and Uncle Sam come home? I leapt out of bed and ran out of my room and down the hall. Daddy's room was empty, and so was Uncle Sam's. I hurried downstairs, calling for them. I could smell coffee. What if they were back, and they were still mad? Would they argue again? Would they hit each other? Would they be angry with me?

I walked to the door of the kitchen. Daddy was sitting at the table with a mug and a plate in front of him, holding a partially eaten piece of toast.

Grandpa John was sitting next to him with his hand around a mug. He noticed me first. "There she is! You hungry?"

I came into the kitchen slowly, looking at Daddy. His hair was disheveled and he looked tired. He set the toast down and scooted his chair back. "Charlie-" He held out his arms to me.

I approached him carefully. "Daddy, I'm sorry about yesterday-"

He shook his head. "No, kiddo, I'm the one who needs to apologize. C'mere." He put his arms around me, and I leaned into his chest. I wrapped my arms around his waist as he hugged me tightly. "I'm so sorry you were there for that yesterday, and that- I hit Sam in front of you. I shouldn't have said those things or done that. You didn't need to hear any of it."

I started crying. "But-but it was my fault-"

He pulled back and looked me in the eyes. "No, it wasn't. I shouldn't have jumped on Sam like that, I shouldn't have kept it going. It's my fault." He hugged me again.

"But I-I was bad-"

He released me. "I don't want you to keep blaming yourself for yesterday. We'll talk about your behavior later, all right?"

"Uhh-talk?" I swallowed uneasily. "Am I in trouble?"

He gave me a stern look. "Yes, you're in trouble for leaving Sam and for trying to read an object, but that's all. Understand?"

"Yes, Daddy."

He put his arms down. "I've got to go, I'm late to work."

"You're going to work today?"

He grimaced. "Yeah, since I took off last week for a couple of days, I've gotta pick up more hours."

I walked over to my chair and sat down as he stood up. He carried his plate and mug over to the sink.

Grandpa John looked at me. "What would you like for breakfast, darlin'? Some scrambled eggs and toast?"

"Um...okay. Yes please."

Grandpa John smiled as he stood up. "Comin' right up."

Daddy leaned down and dropped a kiss on the top of my head. "Be good today. Dad, you'll let me know if you hear anything?"

Grandpa John pulled a carton of eggs out of the fridge. "I will."

"Daddy!" I turned in my chair and held my arms up. He leaned down to hug me, and kissed my cheek. "Have a good day, I'll miss you." I told him.

"I'll miss you too, kiddo." He tweaked my nose, and then left the room. I heard the front door open and close.

"When is Uncle Sam coming back?" I asked.

Grandpa John was beating the eggs in a bowl. "Well…" He looked uncomfortable. "He's, uh- he's staying at Imani's for a couple of days, says he needs to think about things."

Tears came to my eyes. "Is it 'cause of me?"

Grandpa John set the bowl down and turned to me. "No, Charlie. He just needs a break from-from all this. There were times in the past that he'd go and stay with Pastor Jim or Bobby for a couple of days, when things got too-tense-between us. It doesn't have anything-it's not your fault."

The tears spilled over. "What if-what if he hates me?" I whispered. "'Cause I didn't listen an' it got-it got so bad with him and Daddy that Daddy hit him?"

Grandpa John came over to me and put his hand on top of mine. "No, he doesn't hate you. I promise you that, Charlie." He squeezed my hand. "It's just me and you, kiddo. Do you want to try and get back into gymnastics?"

"Umm...I guess."

He went back over to the stove. "I'll call your teacher and let her know, and we'll go to class tomorrow."

"What about my school work?"

He poured the egg mixture into a pan and then put two slices of bread in the toaster.. "I'll be working with you for now, so you're gonna have to show me the ropes."

"Oh." I had been hoping he'd say I didn't have to do any work while Uncle Sam was gone.

He chuckled. "Don't look so disappointed. You've got to keep up with your schooling, you know."

I sighed heavily. "Oh-kaay."

I helped Grandpa John wash the dishes after I finished eating, and then I showed him my touchpad and school books and the stuff I was working on.

"I'll be able to help you with most of it, but the math, I don't know, that 'new math' I don't really understand. I'll have to call Sam and ask him to explain things." Grandpa John said with a smile.

Sadness welled up in me then, and I lowered my head as tears filled my eyes.

"Charlie?" Grandpa John sounded concerned.

"I-I miss Uncle Sam!" I wailed, the tears spilling down my cheeks. "He wanted me to work real hard 'cause I was behind an' I didn't want to so I was kinda sassy to him before!"

"Ohh...come here, darlin'." He lifted me out of the chair and hugged me. "It's all right, I'm sure he knows you didn't mean anything by it."

"When is he coming home?" I sniffled. "Can you call him and ask?"

"Well...all right, I'll see what he's up to." He set me down, and pulled out his phone. He dialed a number and listened, then spoke. "Hey, Sam, it's Dad. I'm here with Charlie and we're looking at her schoolwork, she was wondering when you were coming home. Talk to you soon." He hung up, and looked at me. "Why don't you get started on some reading, and I'll text him too."

"Okay." I opened up my Language Arts folder and started to read. Grandpa John sent a text and then went into the kitchen.

He returned with his mug, sipping it as he leaned over to look at what I was doing. "What's that you're working on?"

"Um, Language Arts. I gotta read the story and then answer questions about it." I told him.

His phone rang. "It's Sam." He said. "Let me talk to him first." He answered the phone and walked back into the kitchen. I heard him talking quietly for a couple of minutes, then he came back into the room. "Do you want to talk to him?" He asked me.

I felt nervous. Would Uncle Sam scold me? "Um, okay."

He handed me the phone. "Hi, Uncle Sam." My voice cracked.

"Hey, Charlie, how are you?" He asked warmly.

I burst into tears. "I-I miss you an' I'm sorry I was bad before and you had a fight 'cause I wandered-"

"Shh, Charlie, no, don't blame yourself." He said. "The things I said- they've been a long time coming. I'm sorry you were there for it, though, we shouldn't have argued in front of you. It's not your fault, understand?" His voice became a little stern. "I don't want you to keep blaming yourself."

"Okay." I sniffled. "When are you coming home?"

"Well...I need to think about things, and make some plans for the future. And I think your dad and I still need to iron out some things. Maybe in a couple of days? We'll see. I'll keep in touch, all right?"

"Okay...Uncle Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Do I still have to do all my work?"

He chuckled. "Yes, you do. You know your way around everything that you can do most of it on your own. I'll email Dad with some information, and I don't want to hear about you slacking off or making excuses about why you can't do things, am I clear?"

I sighed. "Yes, Uncle Sam."

He chuckled again. "Okay, I'll let you get to work, then."

"I love you, Uncle Sam."

"I love you too, Charlie. Let me talk to your Grandpa."

I handed the phone to Grandpa John and he walked back into into the kitchen.

I wiped my face with my shirt and picked up the touchpad again. Grandpa John got his laptop and sat in the living room browsing on it while I worked.

I did two assignments for Language Arts and then he tested me on vocabulary words. Then I did two Social Studies assignments. When I finished that, he said it was time for lunch, so I helped him make grilled cheese sandwiches.

I was finishing my second sandwich when the doorbell rang.

Grandpa John went to answer it. "Charlie, it's for you." He called.

I went into the living room. Addi was standing in the doorway. "Hey, can you come out and play?" She asked shyly.

I looked at Grandpa John. "Can I?"

He smiled at me. "You worked hard for a few hours today, so go ahead."

I ran over to him and threw my arms around him. "Thanks, Grandpa John!"

He chuckled. "Be good. Come inside when your dad gets home."

"Lemme put my shoes on!" I told Addi, slipping my feet into my tennis shoes. "Bye!" I called over my shoulder as I ran out the door.

"What have you been doing recently?" Addi asked me as we walked up the sidewalk towards her house.

I thought quickly- there was no way I could tell her what I had really been doing over the past couple of days, she wouldn't believe that I helped a spirit cross over into the afterlife and talked to an angel. "Uh, just, y'know, normal stuff. I go to gymnastics sometimes."

"Oh, that's neat! Can you do those uneven bars?"

"No, I don't like them as much, I like the balance beam. The teacher said she's gonna teach me how to do a flip off of the end!"

"That would be cool." Addi said. "I wish I could do a cartwheel."

"I can do that!" I said, and I held my arms up and then did a cartwheel. "Want me to help you?"

"Okay, let's go onto the grass." I followed her over to her front lawn. I saw Aubrey and a couple of girls sitting on the curb, and there were some kids drawing on the street with sidewalk chalk.

"Show me how you do it." I said. Addi put her arms up and leaned forward, and then kindof fell over.

"WOO-HOOOO!" Three teen boys rode by on skateboards, waving their arms.

"No, you gotta turn sideways, and keep your arms and legs straight, like this." I did another cartwheel.

"That's not what I did?" She frowned.

"No, stand like this-" I took her hands and turned her, and then held her arms up. "Then you do this-" I lifted my leg up to show her.

"What are you doing?" Aubrey called to us.

Addi started to lean over again. "No, you can't go slow, then you'll fall." I explained. "You gotta swing your arms up fast, so that you go like this-" I tried to do another cartwheel and over-balanced, falling onto my side.

I heard some of the kids laughing. I stood up, brushing grass off of my knees. The girls at the curb had all turned and were watching us.

"Watch me." I told Addi, and I did a perfect cartwheel.

Addi lifted her arms up fast and then tried to do a cartwheel, and landed on her butt.

The kids started laughing harder.

"Look at this, it's the crazy one trying to teach the dumb one!" Aubrey jeered.

Addison turned towards her sister. "Shut up! I'm not dumb!" She shouted.

The boys on the skateboards had come over, and they were skating around in small circles in front of Aubrey and the other girls.

"Hey! You ran over my chalk!" One of the kids in the street yelled.

"Get outta the way, butthead." A blonde boy replied, making his skateboard stand up on one end for a moment.

"Hey, it's that girl from the ghost house!" One of the other boys said. "Ooohhh, it's so hot!" He said in a high-pitched voice.

"It's Crazy Charlie!" The blonde boy called. "Craaaazy Charlieeeee!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. They were making fun of me!

"Ooohhh, it's a ghost! Ooohhh!" The other boy said, laughing.

"Crazy Charlie, Crazy Charlie!" The blonde boy chanted, and a couple other kids started saying it with him.

My face got hot. "Stop it!" I said. "You're being mean!"

Aubrey and the girls with her were laughing and pointing at me. I looked at Addi, who looked as angry as I felt. She clenched her hands into fists. "Shut up!" She yelled. "Stop it, Aubrey!"

"I'm not doing anything!" Aubrey smirked.

"Stop it!" I yelled at the boys. I heard a familiar rumble and saw Daddy's car pull onto the street and watched as he parked at the curb. "My Daddy's home, I'm gonna go." I told Addi, and I started to run down the sidewalk. The kids were still calling out and laughing behind me.

I was breathing heavily when I walked into the house. I heard voices in the kitchen and ran in, intending to tell them what the kids had been saying to me.

Daddy was standing at the table, his back to me. "-were down all day so we couldn't get to any of the scheduled orders and had to guess at everyone who came in. We lost all the information about estimates that had been given and practically every single customer who brought their vehicle in for work bitched about the price differences. And the IT person wasn't responding to any calls. To top it off, the parts order didn't come in, and couldn't get some of the work done. Then the coffeemaker blew up, so we didn't get any coffee, and everyone was complaining about everything." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Hi, Daddy." I said. He sounded so stressed out that I didn't want to bother him with anything else, so I decided not to say anything about the neighborhood kids.

He turned. "Hey, kiddo." He held his arm out and I went over to him and hugged him. "I had a rough day today." He put his arms around me and squeezed me. "I hope yours was better."

"I guess." I said. "I talked to Uncle Sam."

I felt him stiffen, and he let me go. "Oh, did you?" His face looked angry.

I felt worried then-was I not supposed to talk to Uncle Sam? "I-I'm sorry-" I stepped back.

"He can call everyone but me, huh?" Daddy asked bitterly.

"I-I didn't-"

Grandpa John interrupted me. "It's all right, Charlie. Dean, let's talk about that later." He walked over to the cabinet and took out a tall bottle that had a black label with fancy writing on it. "Have a drink and relax, you're home now." He got a glass out and poured a little bit of amber liquid into the glass, and handed it to Daddy.

"Are-are you still mad?" I asked as Daddy took a long drink.

He leaned against the table, swirling the liquid in the glass and watching it. "Yeah, I'm still upset." He looked at me. "I'm upset with Sam, not you. Although-" He took another drink. "I haven't forgotten about what you did at the mall. You broke some rules, and we still need to do something about that."

"Uh-do something?" I shifted and put my hands behind my back.

He finished his drink and set the glass on the counter. "Yes, Charlie. You know that when you break the rules, you get punished. And you did something dangerous."

"Dean, why don't you let me handle it." Grandpa John said. "You're stressed out from everything, go take a shower."

Daddy sighed. "I think I will. Let's just order Chinese, huh?"

"All right, does everyone want their regular order?" Grandpa John asked.

"Kung Pao beef and egg rolls for me." Daddy said. "You gonna call it in?"

Grandpa John nodded, pulling out his phone. Daddy left the room.

"You want chicken with mixed vegetables?" Grandpa John looked at me.

"Yes please." I said.

He ordered the food, then put his phone back in his pocket and leaned against the counter. "You and I will have a talk later tonight."

"Um, a, a talk?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yes, a talk about what you did wrong."

"Just a talk? Or...a talk talk?" I felt my face get hot, not wanting to say it out loud.

He gave me a look. "I think you know what I mean."

My stomach did a flip. I didn't want to have a spanking looming over my head all evening! "L-later?" I asked nervously.

"Would you rather get it over with now?"

I twisted my hands together. "Um...I guess...yeah."

"Let's sit down." He gestured to the table and I pulled out a chair and sat.

He sat down next to me. "All right, Charlie. Why are you in trouble?"

I squirmed and looked down at my hands. "'Cause I walked away from Uncle Sam at the mall, and I tried to read that pipe."

"I want to talk about you trying to read the pipe first. Why did you decide to do a reading on something?"

"I dunno...I just...I saw the jewelry, there's old-fashioned jewelry that's made with dead people's hair, the guy said it was called mourning jewelry, and I thought that they might have spirits attached to them because there was hair from dead people in them. And then I wondered if my abilities had changed since I-since we helped Hazel cross over. 'Cause Missouri had said that maybe my abilities were getting stronger since I'm getting older. And I decided to see if I could read the pipe."

He nodded. "All right...I guess we should talk to someone about checking your abilities to see if they are getting stronger. Imani had mentioned that we might want to have someone work with you to train you some more. However, it was wrong of you to try and do that on your own without talking to Uncle Sam about it first. Can you tell me why?"

I thought for a moment. "Umm...because it wasn't safe?"

"And why wasn't it safe?"

I thought back to the previous times I'd read an object, and how it had sometimes made my head hurt. "Because of before...when I read things, sometimes it was too much for me, and it made my head hurt and stuff."

He nodded again. "It's important to understand your powers, and also to know your limitations. When you learn to shoot a gun, you first have to learn all the parts of the gun, how to take it apart and put it back together, and how it operates. You don't just pick up a gun and start shooting it, that's the way to injure yourself or someone else. And there are rules for safe gun use that you have to follow as well. It's that way with all of the weapons and tools that we use for hunting. Your abilities are a tool that can be used to help people, but you can't just use them any time you want."

"Yeah, Missouri said I shouldn't try to look in someone's head to see what my birthday presents are, and stuff like that."

He smiled. "She's right. And I think we do need to talk about getting you some more training, which will make the rules change, but for now- the rule is that you aren't supposed to try and read anything on purpose." He shifted, and his face became stern. "Now, let's talk about you wandering away from Sam. You know that staying with an adult and not going off by yourself is one of your rules, and yet you broke it. Why did you walk away from him?"

"Um, well, I-" I squirmed. "I just-he started talking to Imani on the phone and turned away from me and I got bored standing there."

"So, you didn't really think about what you were doing, you gave in to your impulses. You can't do things like that any more, Charlie, you're not a toddler who has no impulse control. When you wandered away, that was something dangerous, and the fact that you weren't near Sam and he didn't see you start reading the pipe and wasn't able to stop you makes that more dangerous. It could have gone very differently than it did. Remember how bad your headaches were when you were at Missouri's?"

I felt embarrassed now, and guilty. I nodded, looking at my feet.

"You know the rules, and that you're expected to follow them. You broke two rules that had to do with safety, and that's very serious. Safety and honesty were always the most important things for me, if the boys broke rules having to do with either of them, they got into big trouble. And that's why your Dad is so adamant about you being safe and not breaking the rules. Do you understand?"

I nodded again. He moved his chair back, away from the table, and then crooked his finger at me. "All right, come here."

I tried giving him puppy-dog eyes. "But-we talked and I understand it was wrong...do I have to?"

"No bargaining, Charlie." His voice was firm. "Let's get this over with."

My stomach twisted as I moved over and laid myself over his lap. I grabbed ahold of his leg as he put his hand on my lower back, and then his other hand fell on my bottom. I yelped and started crying as his hand fell over and over."I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I whimpered, kicking my feet. He spanked every inch of my bottom until it was stinging.

He paused for a moment. "You will not wander away when you are with someone in public." He lectured, and spanked me a couple of times. "You will follow the rules and do what you're told." He landed a few more harder swats, and I cried out. "You will be responsible with your abilities and be safe." Another, harder set of smacks fell on the lowest part of my bottom.

"Yes, I will, m'sorry!" I sobbed aloud.

"All right, it's done." He lifted me up and I curled into his chest, sliding my arms around him as I continued to cry. "I know you'll do the right thing, you're a good girl." He murmured, rubbing my back. "You'll follow the rules from now on, won't you?"

"Yes, Grandpa John." I sniffled. We sat for a few more minutes, me snuggled into his flannel, and him rubbing the back of my head.

Daddy came in, his hair damp. "Everything okay?"

"Yes, Charlie and I had a talk about the mall." Grandpa John told him.

"I see." Daddy got a beer out of the fridge and opened it. "What do you have to say for yourself, Charlie?"

"M'sorry I broke the rules, Daddy. I'll be more careful."

He nodded, taking a drink of his beer.

"We should talk about Charlie's abilities and finding someone who can help her work on them." Grandpa John smoothed my hair back from my face. "And that will make some of her rules change."

"We can ask Missouri if she'd work with Charlie again." Daddy leaned against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest.

Grandpa John nodded. "I'll call her in the morning." He patted my back. "Get up, and you can set the table, darlin'."

He got the dishes out of the cabinet for me and I placed them on the table. It felt different without Uncle Sam there. I realized he always made sure I ate vegetables and fruit and healthy stuff. After we ate, Daddy sat with me and we watched part of a Harry Potter movie we found on TV. When he put me to bed, I felt sad because I missed Uncle Sam not being there to say good night, but I didn't say anything. A couple of times during the evening, I had caught Daddy staring into the distance with an unhappy look on his face, and I didn't want to upset him. I hoped that he would feel better in the morning, and maybe then he and Uncle Sam could talk and work things out.