Setting: Just after 'Family Remains.'
Disclaimer: Buckets of angst ahead, so beware!!! Protective/Angsty!Sammy, Depressed/Angsty!Dean. This is an AU. Both Ellen and Ash escaped the fire at the Roadhouse.
Additional Disclaimer: The boys, Bobby, Ash, Ellen, and the the Nightside and its inhabitants, including John Taylor, are not mine. I own the idea for this story and though I WISH I was making a profit for my writing, unfortunately I am not at the moment...although if Kripke calls, I'm totally there!!! Kripke and company own all rights to Supernatural and Simon R. Green owns all rights to the Nightside and its inhabitants. Everybody else but me has rights to all my favorite toys, damn them…
Warning: If you haven't read any of Simon R. Green's Nightside series, aka the John Taylor chronicles, then some of this might not be as clear for you. It will still be an enjoyable story, but I do HIGHLY recommend reading the series as it will clarify this story for you and well, it's just a TOTALLY AWESOME series to begin with!!!
Call On the Nightside
Prologue
"You can't tell him…you take a shot at me, whatever you gotta do, but please don't tell him…"he said as his broken, trembling voice gave out.
Bobby stared heartbrokenly at the boy, clutching his chin, wishing for all the world to simultaneously throttle some sense into him and grab him tight and try to get him to feel how important and worthwhile he was. He wouldn't get the chance, though. A noise hit them both, a rattle of the chain-length fence nearby to them. They both dropped into full hunter mode, putting on hold their conversation for a later date. The sound of a thud then footsteps heading in their direction made them crouch and without the need to speak, they silently agreed to double team whatever was coming their way. A shadow preceded the approaching figure and then they pounced…
"Ellen!?!...Oh God…Ellen…" Dean murmured as he pulled her close, thankful she'd made it out alive as Bobby looked on, double-checking to see if she'd been followed, his breath coming out in ragged pants due to the adrenaline flooding his system.
"We better shag ass inside…who the hell knows what else or who else could be out here…" Bobby said, dragging them both back toward the house
……………………………………….+Inside+…………………………………………………
"Ellen, what happened? How'd you get out?" Dean asked, concern and suspicion vying for the lead in his voice.
"I wasn't supposed to…I was supposed to be in there with everybody else…but we ran outta pretzels…of all things…it was just dumb luck…anyway, that's when Ash called, panic in his voice, told me to look in the safe…that's when the call cut out…By the time I got back, the flames were sky high. Everybody was dead…I couldn't have been gone more then 15 minutes."
"I'm sorry Ellen." Sam said quietly.
"Lotta good people died in there…and I got ta live, lucky me…
…………………………………………+Later+…………………………………………………
"Something ain't right…" Bobby said as he approached the door to his house. He cocked and raised the shotgun that had been hanging in a loose grip at his side. There was a dim light shining from his study. He knew damn well he had turned the lights off when they left.
The brothers Winchester looked at each other and then back at Ellen then pulled their guns from where they were tucked under the backs of the of their shirts and removed the safety, keeping the guns pointed down until they had something to level them at. Their father had told them over and over again "Don't point a gun at something you ain't aiming to kill…" and that was a lesson they had almost learned the hard way, so they heeded the advice to this day. Bobby turned the old brass knob slowly, a low groan sounded out as he shoved the door open. He nodded to the boys and they crept stealthily inside and took up position against the wall on either side. Ellen slipped in and took over Dean's position as Dean moved further in and then Bobby crept in and made for the wall outside the opening off his den. Bobby looked at every one, silently communicating he was going in. They nodded their readiness and he swiftly swung around the corner and peered inside.
"What in the hell?..." Bobby whispered, frowning. Their was a figure curled up on the couch, back to the door. Bobby would recognize the almost painfully thin man anywhere…but it couldn't be…he was supposed to be dead…
"Ash?..."he said in disbelief.
Ash jerked awake, sitting bolt upright and turning to face the older hunter that was leveling a shotgun at him.
As soon as the boys and Ellen heard Bobby utter the name Ash, they surged forward in disbelief, crowding around behind him in the doorway.
"Hey dudes…what's with the hardware?" Ash said, his hands raised in front of him in the universal placating/I-mean-you-no-harm position.
Ellen pushed her way through the men in the doorway and bolted to the couch, grabbing the boy up in a fierce hug.
"Oh…Ash, hun…I thought you were dead, sweetie…"she whispered. Ash hugged her back just as fiercely.
"Yeah, I thought I was a goner, too…when the call dropped out, I knew some big-bad was comin' so I bolted through the bar, hollerin' for everybody to run, but I was too late…I bolted into the cellar, crawled out the window, and ran for my life. Not even a minute later, I heard the boom of the explosion and saw the flames shoot up in the sky, but I didn't dare stop or stick around…I hitched my way here after I couldn't get Bobby on the phone when I tried calling him from a pay phone. No one was around so I let myself in and waited…Sorry about that Bobby…" Ash said, a sheepish, lopsided grin wavering on his lips.
Bobby didn't lower the gun right yet. He shifted the rifle to one hand and pulled a flask of Holy water out of his inner pocket.
"Here, Ellen…you know the drill…" he said as he tossed the flask to Ellen.
"Bobby, is this really necessary?..." she started to say, but then decided that you could never be too careful.
"Ash, honey, I need you to take a swig of this for me…" she said as she handed the flask to Ash.
Ash rolled his eyes then slammed the bottle back, taking a hearty chug. He frowned, handing the silver flask back.
"Damn, I thought you were givin' me a shot a whiskey…speaking of booze, you got any beer, Bobby? I didn't see any in the fridge…" Ash said with a cocky smirk.
Dean and Sam snorted, chuckling warmly as they finally tucked their guns away. They strode forward to meet the mildly crazy but brilliant young man. Dean held out his hand to shake Ash's but was caught off guard when Ash tugged him into a tight hug. Dean was speechless for a moment then his discomfort manifested in a pale red tinge on his cheeks.
"Dude! I was afraid whatever hit Ellen's had got you dudes too." Ash said.
"Uh,…hey man…no…uh, we dodged the bullet, I guess…" Dean stuttered out.
Ash finally let go and backed away. Dean coughed slightly and backed up another step as well. Sam grinned at Dean's discomfort, knowing his brother had never really been comfortable with physical affection. He stepped forward and shook Ash's hands, not even fazed when Ash's pulled him in for a hug as well. He slapped Ash's back heartily before pulling away.
Bobby had finally relinquished his rifle, standing it up inside the door frame. Hey dragged the young man into a bear hug, muttering his apologies when Ash wheezed at his tight hold.
"Dammit boy, gonna give an old man a heartattack…friggin' sneakin' in here! I thought you were dead, boy…Dean found that watch of yours on one of the bodies…"Bobby said.
"Oh…Jo won that off me a while back…then she lost it to Henry Biggler, another hunter that used to come 'round. She won the night, but he had won that round, so… I never got a chance to win it back from her…" Ash said sheepishly.
Ellen smacked him upside the back of his head. "Dammit boy, didn't I tell you not to bet against her…she could con the pants off a priest…"she said, shaking her head in exasperation.
Dean snorted, started to laugh but turned it into a rather conspicuous cough at the last moment and refused to look Ellen in the eye when she whirled toward him glaring at him. Sam and Bobby burst out laughing at them, knowing fullwell Dean was a little afraid of Ellen.
It felt good to forget what had gone down not even a few short hours before. After a while, though, the sobering weight of the situation they now faced brought them back to the business at hand. They all sat down, except Bobby, who went to grab a beer for everyone from his back up fridge in the basement. They stayed up long into the night, trying to work out their next move.
Over the next year, the boys consulted with Ash and Ellen often, looking for anything they could find to break Dean's deal and for advice on how to to deal with the war they now found themselves tied up in. Unfortunately, they couldn't find a way to break Dean's deal. Dean died and went to Hell. Sam disappeared and not even Bobby could get a hold of him. They found out from Bobby about Dean's miraculous resurrection few days after he and Dean had met up with Sam again. Ellen had just finished rebuilding and reopening the Harvelle Roadhouse a few months earlier and she'd invited all of them out to see her at their earliest opportunity. With Sam and Dean running around after the seals, they stopped by when they could, but not as often as Ellen would have preferred. Bobby called her up when they needed the help of other hunters or if they thought Ash could spin a miracle on a hunt they needed help on. Ellen worried about the Winchester boys. She could see how strained their relationship was becoming and she hoped and prayed that they could snap back and recapture the strong bond they both relied on to keep going in this life. Unfortunately, true to the patented Winchester luck, things only got worse…In fact, she knew that it was going to be a cold day in Hell before the boys ever caught a break…
TBC….
+_+_+Except from future chapters (coming soon)+_+_+…
"...Dean, I think Sammy boy has gone runnin' to the Nightside..." Ash said, his voice grave.
"What's the Nightside? Is that like...a bar or something?" Dean said, confused.
Ash's eyed widened in shock. "You've never heard of the Nightside?!? Where the hell have you been?!? You've never studied any other supernatural hotspots from around the world?"
"Uh...no, Sam was always the bookish type so, I figured...well he was...is...a walking encyclopedia of the weird so I just kinda let that be his thing...I was always more of the action type of guy..." Dean's rambling broke off. Ash could tell Dean was a little uncomfortable...he probably thought that since Sam was so smart that he'd never be that smart and so why bother trying to keep up...Ash shook his head sadly. He'd been on Sam's side of that situation with people he had thought of as friends back in school. In fact, he had excelled so much that he'd put too much distance between him and his friends and well, they'd stopped talking after that because they wasn't really anything left in common between them anymore...That had been one of the reasons he'd left school: the loneliness of it all. What good was it being supersmart if you had no one to talk to?...No friends, no family, nothing. It'd also been the reason he'd started drinkin': to dull the pain. Ash shook his head vigorously, trying to shake off the memories and made himself focus back on Dean.
"Dean, man...this is bad news...the Nightside is not for the faint of heart...it's like nothing you've ever seen. In the Nightside, you can find your greatest ecstasy or salvation or your worst nightmare or your own personal Hell...It is the most fucked up place I know. Sam going there...he's looking for something, and whether or not he finds it, he's gonna be in a world of trouble there...we gotta get you there. Now. You need to get him the hell out of there before it's too late..."
A/N: Howdy!! So, yeah, the angst is coming!!! Hope you are all liking it thus far!!!
As always, please, please, PLEASE Read & Review!!!
Also, I have updated the links to my Supernatural line of jewelry I have for sale on eBay, including replicas of the Mary Winchester Hunter's Protection bracelet (as seen in the episode 'In the Beginning') and the Dean Winchester Skull bracelet (worn from season 2 to present). The links are now current so if you wish to see them, they are handily located on my Profile!!!!
I can also get ahold of replicas of the Dean Winchester Protection Amulet, if anybody is interested.
Thank you everybody for reading my work!! *hugs*