Bobby Singer never wasted any time with pleasantries. As soon as he yanked open the back door with a beer in his hand he didn't hesitate to snort and say, "You smell like an art project."
Holding her wound together with one hand, the brunette woman slid past him and into the warm kitchen where soup was heating up on the stove. "It's nice to see you too Uncle Bobby." she threw over her shoulder.
He pulled a out a chair from under the kitchen table before disappearing into the next room, momentarily glancing back at his neice as he rounded the corner. It had been years since Avery had swung around to visit her Uncle. There was always that one job that she just had to finish.
Bobby reappeared with a first aid kit just as Avery sunk into the chair from exhaustion due to blood loss. Without a word the bristled, old hunter threaded a needle deep in thought. When he finally found his words he pulled up a seat beside her. "What was the monster of the week?"
The young woman briefly looked at him as she rolled her sleeve up over the gash on her forearm which she had filled in with super glue. "A kitsune." After a long silence Ava began again, recognizing the strained silence. "Uncle Bobby, I am so sorry about what I said last time I was here. I overreacted."
Bobby gently tugged on the thread to make sure it was holding her wound tightly before shifting his gaze to her side which was soaked in blood. "I'll tell you one thing girl, you sure enjoy getting your ass whooped."
A minute smile pulled at the corners of Avery's lips as she patted her side. "This isn't so bad. The hospital patched me up the best they could."
With a heavy sigh, Bobby stood up to his feet absently throwing the thread back into the small box and changed the subject. "I had a feeling that you'd be coming back so I kept your room just the way it was when you left."
She leaned forward to kiss his stubble cheek before slowly climbing the staircase, her heavy eyelids threatening to close even as she stumbled toward her bedroom. Not bothering to even change out of her filthy clothes, Avery collapsed into the cool bedsheets, yelping when the stitches on her side stretched on impact.
"Aunt Karen," she sleepily muttered into the darkness. "if you could see me now."
***SUPERNATURAL***
The sound of the creaking foorboards reached Avery's ear the next morning. She could feel the sunlight land on her face but the stiffness of her body drowned out all hopes of a pleasant wake up call.
"Is she dead?" A man's voice suddenly broke through the silence. "She looks dead to me. "
"Dude," Another voice apprehended over the creaking of the floorboards as the first speaker shifted closer to her bedside. "don't poke her with that."
"I'm just checking. Calm down."
"Dean, she's hurt and probably still tired. Let's just leave her alone. You can talk to her later."
"She's awake though."
Even with her eyes shut, Avery could picture the self-satisfied smirk that brightened Dean Winchester's face. She remembered all the nights they spent together with him flashing that smile at least once every time because he had either proven her wrong or felt comfortable enough to do so.
"Whatever, man, she looks knocked out to me." Sam threw his hands up in defeat and left the room.
Avery squinted her eyes as she opened them to see Dean standing beside her with a softer smile on his face. It didn't take her long to remind herself just how much she had missed him. He looked the same but there was something in his eyes that proved him to be far from the man she used to know.
"You look horrible." he remarked.
"Ah, Dean Winchester, I forgot you were the charming one. "
He stretched out beside her, his hands tucked behind his head and his ankles crossed comfortably though his eyes were glued on her the entire time. The smile had long disappeared from his face and he ran his gaze up and down her body.
"Stop looking at me like that." She snapped, suddenly feeling uncomfortable under his intense gaze. She recognized the look in his eyes. That gleam that was far from evil but nowhere near innocent either. "I'm fine, Dean."
"You disappear for two years and come back bloodied, expecting me to believe you when you say you're fine?"
She sighed, leaning in to nibble on his ear playfully. "Why do you always have to be serious? That's my job, remember?"
Dean stuck to his guns, needing answers in order to continue with the normalcy of being with her again. "What made you come back? "
"I wanted to see you." She straightened her back in order to meet his line of sight, searching his face for any emotional response. "Since I never got to say goodbye last time."
"You could have called, Ava."
"Would you really have come, Dean?" She liked to think he would, all those times she sat staring at her phone in her empty motel room. She liked to think that it would only take one word from her for him to come running, to make sure she was safe or just to be with her like old times. But Avery Winters had always been a hopeless romantic and Dean Winchester was always making promises that he couldn't live up to.
"Yes," Dean resolutely said, raising his eyebrows like it was no question. "I would have."
Instead of lashing back and contradicting him, Avery smiled in reply and slowly rolled to her feet wincing in pain when her wounds started to pulsate. She hadn't come back to fuel fires. She had come back to mend the broken line between her and her Uncle because she was heartbroken and angry two years ago. She didn't remember why and it took two years to come to terms with the guilt for blaming Bobby for her aunt's death.
***SUPERNATURAL***
"Look who's up," Dean called out as he followed Avery down the stairs and into the kitchen.
Bobby threw a washcloth over his shoulder as he stood at the stove and, without looking back at her, asked, "How're you feeling, pudding?"
"The shower helped." Avery replied evenly, throwing a shy smile at Dean who ran his fingers through the water droplets clinging to the tips of hair.
"How're those stitches holding up?" He turn to the table where the three hunters sat and studied each of them in his own silence, watching his niece's ardent focus on the oldest Winchester. "Hey, Romeo and Juliet, you wanna shut up for a second and answer my question while I'm still alive maybe?"
With a small laugh Avery obliged, rapping her fingertips on the tabletop while speaking. "The stitches are fine, Uncle Bobby. I'll be right as rain with a little more sleep."
"Well, you'll have plenty of time for sleep since the boys are heading out."
Avery threw the oldest Winchester an incredulous look, her jaw hanging open slightly. He hadn't said a word about being on a hunt. Bad memories from two years ago flooded back into her mind within seconds.
"Where's Dean?" Avery glanced around the corner with a childish smile on her face, smoothing out the dress she had bought just for his company. As fast as the smile spread on her face, it disappeared. "He left, didn't he?"
Bobby Singer lowered his head, lighting the twenty six candles poised on the cake with his own match and motioning to his niece to sit down beside him. He didn't have the heart to tell her that Dean had run out and wouldn't be coming back anytime soon. Avery slumped in her chair, not caring if the dress wrinkled because she knew exactly what he was thinking.
Smiling as optimistically as he could though his heart ached for her sake, Bobby said, "On the bright side, those two vacuums won't eat all of the cake."
She loudly backed her chair from the table and stood, fighting back years of disappointment and anguish that picked that moment to catch up with her. "I should have known better then to possibly think that he'd make any sacrifice for me. The job is always more important to you hunters."
"Pudding," Bobby softly tried to calm her down as tears streamed down her face. "it'll be okay. I'm here with you."
"How's that going to help me, Uncle Bobby? Aunt Karen died because of you and you're telling me that you'll be here with me? You're just like Dean. ..gone the moment a job comes up. But then again that's what we hunters do, right?"
Without anymore words that could possibly be said to further destroy the old hunter, Avery stormed out the door and didn't look back.
Now Avery grimaced half in embarrassment of her past actions and half in anger. Bobby anticipated the look on her face an quickly cut in with,
"The boys are hunting demons. It wouldn't be safe for you to go with them anyway."
"I wasn't interested anyway." Avery forced a smile, directing her words at Dean. "No time to belly ache when my guts are on the verge of spilling out." One hand on her wounded side and the other bracing her weight the on the table, she got to her feet and slowly shuffled toward the stairs, swallowing her pride. "Stay safe, boys, " she remembered to throw over her shoulder, realizing that she wouldn't let herself shatter into broken pieces again.