Note: Hey babes <3 

Thanks so much for all your lovely comments and for voting. Y'all are truly amazing.

This chapter is a bit short, but I think you'll enjoy it. It was requested by a few different people who wanted to see Anna get her first period.

The pace is a bit odd compared to what I would usually go for, but that's just how it came out.

And after the chapter I posted yesterday, I think you could all use something more humorous. Anyway, I hope you like it!

Anna is thirteen.

Happy Halloween, But Not the Good Kind

"Happy Halloween," Anna said to herself in abject shock and horror. There was plenty of blood for the holiday celebration. But it was all in her underwear, and she was sitting on a dirty toilet in a public bathroom, so... celebration was kind of the wrong word.

She grabbed at the cheap two-ply toilet paper roll next to her and spun it until she had a big enough wad to hopefully absorb the blood coming out of her... her... her lady parts. Anna shivered. This was really, truly disgusting. She'd known it was going to happen eventually. Sam and Dean had told her the basics, and she'd done some research on her own so that she would know what to do when it happened. But she still felt lost.

But she needed to get some hygiene products, and in order to do that, she had to tell the boys what had just happened.

Anna pulled her pants up, washed her hands, and walked out of the bathroom with determination.

She walked up to Dean, who was standing at the gas pump. But the second he looked at her and said, "What's up, Rugrat?" Anna lost all her nerve.

"Nothing," she said quickly. "Nothing. Where's Sam?"

"He went inside for some coffee. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Anna said again. She started to back away from her brother with an awkward look on her face and was startled when he suddenly darted forward and grabbed her arm. But she understood when a car sped by behind her, driving too fast for a gas station parking lot.

"Watch where you're going, Anna. You're gonna get yourself hurt."

Mission totally and completely failed, Anna agreed sullenly and then went inside to find Sam.

"Hey," she muttered when she found him. "How's it goin'?"

"Oh, you know, about the same as it was five minutes ago when we were sitting in the car together."

Anna wished she could have said the same thing. Unfortunately, her life had changed forever in the last five minutes. She didn't tell him that, though. She just watched him put cream in his coffee. "Sam, before you check out... I kinda need something," she finally admitted when he picked up his coffee and looked toward the register.

"What's that?" Sam inquired and paused. "I thought you still had road snacks."

"I'm not... I'm not talking about gummy bears. I'm talking about something... personal." She wrinkled her nose in discomfort and bounced on the balls of her feet a couple times.

"Anna, you're being really cryptic, and we're kind of on a schedule here. So please just tell me what you need," Sam requested patiently.

Anna squirmed just a little bit more. "I started my period," she finally blurted.

Sam's eyes widened. A lot.

"Sorry," Anna squeaked. She hadn't meant to make him feel... whatever he was feeling that was making him look so... like that.

"No!" Sam said. "No!"

Anna didn't know if he was telling her not to apologize, or if he was in denial about what she'd told him. She just frowned in confusion and said slowly, "Yes?"

"I mean... yeah, no, of course, but..."

"Sam, I just need pads," Anna requested. "Like... you know, girl products. I learned how to use them online," she said quietly, self-conscious even though they were two of about four people in the entire mini-mart.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course, Ladybug. Just... um. I gotta talk to Dean first."

"What?" Anna asked, and it was her turn to be horrified. "No! Why do you have to tell Dean? He's so innocent, Sam..."

Sam looked like he wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cry. Not cry cry, but, like, cry out of desperation.

"Sammy, don't tell him," Anna begged.

"He has the cash," Sam said by way of explanation. "Watch my coffee."

Anna watched Sam go anxiously. She bounced on her feet some more and repeatedly twisted the little silver ring on her right middle finger. "Happy Halloween," she murmured to herself again. A little paper pumpkin decoration that had been taped to the coffee counter seemed to wink at her, and it made Anna mad.

Chancing a glance out the window, Anna couldn't help it when she made a small distressed sound. Dean was hunched over, both his hands planted against the Impala, his head nearly between his knees. Clearly, he hadn't taken the news well.

"Crap," she muttered. If he was so concerned about it, he might even want to talk to her about it. And she remembered the first time they'd had a conversation like that. It had been... weird. At best.

To her surprise, though, Sam gave Dean a pat on the back, said something to him, and they both stood upright again. Dean handed Sam a bill from his wallet, and Sam headed back inside.

Anna prepared herself for anything. But Sam just walked over to her. "Alright, come on, Anna," he said with determination and grit. "We're gonna find you some pads."

()()()

Pads were not comfortable. They were better than the tampon Anna had tried at first. But they were not comfortable. There was no way to lay down without feeling not only the pad but also the movement of her blood. Talk about gross.

She'd already ruined a pair of pants and a pair of underwear when she'd first started her period. Now she was risking another pair if she dared to lay down. Being a woman totally sucked.

"You okay?" Dean asked for the third time in as many minutes.

Anna tilted her head against the window in annoyance. "Yeah," she said angrily. "Still am, believe it or not."

"Oh no," Dean said, sounding genuinely scared. "Sam, it's starting."

"What?" Sam asked like Dean was being ridiculous and he was just plain done with it.

"The PMS."

"Dean, PMS stands for Premenstrual syndrome. It would have come on before my period started if that was what this was. And anyway, not everybody even gets it. Don't blame my emotions on my period. It's sexist."

Dean went quiet. "Sorry," he said after a minute.

"It's fine," Anna told him. She was too tired to be angry. Anyway, her stomach was starting to really hurt. Not like she was used to, but in a new way. It was like there was a sumo wrestler hugging her tighter and tighter around the waist, squeezing her until her insides were forced to condense themselves into a smaller space. "Do we have Tylenol?"

"Are you okay?"

"Dean!"

"Sorry," Dean apologized again.

He was so clearly anxious that it was starting to rub off on Anna. She already felt like crap, and she knew she was getting irritable. But if Dean would just shut up, that would be pretty nice. She could use some peace and quiet.

Sam passed back the bottle of Tylenol and his coffee, since Anna didn't have a drink on her.

Anna took the meds and noticed as she was passing them back up that Dean was sneaking glances at her in the rearview. "Dean, I swear to God, if you don't stop staring at me, I'm gonna burn all your cassette tapes."

Dean raised one hand in surrender and kept the other on the steering wheel. "I'm sorry, okay? I wanna help you. Just tell me there's something I can do to make you feel better."

"How about stop staring at me?" Anna snapped.

"Anna," Sam chastised gently.

He sounded disappointed at her attitude, and she knew why. Dean was being somewhat vulnerable, admitting that he was worried about her, and she'd thrown it back in his face.

"What?" she said anyway. "I'm miserable. I hate this whole thing. I don't wanna be a girl."

Dean sighed and dared to look at her in the rearview again. "Sweetheart, the first time is always the hardest."

"You're speaking from experience here, huh, Dean?" Sam quipped.

Anna sighed miserably.

"It's gonna get so much easier, Rugrat. I promise. But, hey, you got Tylenol so, you'll start to feel a little better soon. And I'll tell you what, we can stop at the next motel we find, and you can get a shower. Some chick told me once that showering is a life saver when you're on your p-period."

The gesture was really nice, and Anna suddenly felt like a jerk for how she'd been acting for the last couple hours. "Okay," she said softly. "Thanks, Dean."

"No problem," Dean said. He finally stopped staring at her at least.

()()()

"Anna!" Dean hollered, sounding utterly terrified.

Anna raced to the bathroom doorway in her pjs and asked, "What?" urgently. "Oh," she said then, mortified.

Her face went bright red, and she looked up at Dean's face which was likely an even darker shade of red than her own. She'd never seen him blush before. If she hadn't been so embarrassed, it might have been funny.

But as it were she just shoved him backwards out of the bathroom. Dean was stiff and couldn't seem to manage to even blink, so it was hard work. She closed the door as soon as he was out of the way.

Anna set about picking up and throwing away her dirty pad.

()()()

"I'm hungry," Anna said.

"You- you? You're the one asking for food?" Sam asked. "Honey, we can absolutely go get food. What do you want?"

"Ice cream," Anna said excitedly. "No! Pickles. Actually... I think chocolate. Or chocolate ice cream."

"Anna."

"Chocolate ice cream," Anna said decidedly. "And onion rings. I love onion rings."

"Alright," Sam laughed. "Let's go find you some onion rings and chocolate ice cream."

Anna grinned and launched herself off her bed. Maybe this whole period thing didn't have to be so bad all the time.

()()()

After five days, it ended. Finally. Anna was so relieved when she was actually sure it was over, that she tossed her pad, took a shower, and came out radiating positivity.

"I'm free, and I'm a woman!"

La Fin