Bobby's day started off just like any other. He woke up in bed, the sun assaulting his face. He grumbled sitting up and threw his legs over the edge of his bed. He stared at the floor for a moment sorting out his thoughts. He pushed back the nightmares he had the night before and glanced at the clock on the nightstand. 9 AM. Perfect. His gaze carried over to a picture that sat next to the clock and he let out a sigh.
The picture was of him, Sam, Dean, and Christine. He hadn't seen his daughter in years. She went off on her own to carry out the family legacy as a hunter even if he didn't want her to. Chris' mother was another hunter that Bobby had hooked up with shortly after Karen's death. Next thing he knew Chris was being delivered to him by other hunters because her mother had been killed while on a hunt.
He wasn't really sure what to do with a baby, but he had kept her alive somehow over the years. She was his little helper. She would help out in the salvage yard, in the garage, or if a hunter called in inquiring on how to kill a creature or if they were stuck on figuring out what the creature was, she would pour over the books with him for hours until they figured out what it was.
Sam and Dean became her brothers over the years just like they became Bobby's sons. He knew that no matter what happened, that they would always protect her no matter what and they did.
Chris and Bobby didn't part on good terms. It was the first time in a very, very long time that they had argued. She wanted to go off on her own and he didn't want her to. He worried about her. He knew that she wasn't a little girl anymore and was more than capable of taking care of herself, but she was his little girl dammit. He stood from the bed and walked into the bathroom. He washed up a little before changing into his daily attire and headed downstairs for coffee.
Chris' birthday was in a couple days. Bobby always called her on her birthday, but she always let it ring to voicemail so he just left her a small message saying Happy Birthday. He wanted her to come back home. He missed her more than he would like to admit. He had many sleepless nights wondering if she was okay. Was she warm? Was she hungry? Did she have enough money? Was she hurt?
He poured himself a cup of coffee and sipped at the bitter contents as he reached for the tv remote and turned on the news. He watched it carefully looking for any type of signs of a job. When he would find one, he would wonder if it was Chris that was currently on the job. He had a few hunters out there that was keeping an eye out for her and would call him to let him know she was alright and where she was heading. Part of him wanted to grab his keys and head to her, but he knew as soon as she saw him, she would run.
He knew how his daughter was.
The phone for the US Marshals rang drawing Bobby's attention to the row of phones on his wall all labeled with different government agencies. He answered it already prepared to play the part he needed to get whoever it was whatever it was they needed.
Part of him wondered if Chris would ever call in order to get his help. He really wouldn't mind it at all. If she ever needed to "prove" that she was who she said she was. Or if she wasn't too sure what it was that she was hunting, he would be more than happy to look through all of his literature to help her. He missed her greatly and wondered if he would ever see her again.
He was so used to being able to scream out her name from anywhere in the house and she would suddenly be there almost like she would teleport to him. All it took was a simple request and she would be more than willing to do it.
After hanging up the phone he looked around at the clutter that was his place. Books were scattered all about lazily from all the research he had done. When Chris was around everything always stayed so tidy and organized. She would always fuss at him for leaving beer bottles all over the place and threatened to pour it all down the drain every time he left one out.
He smiled to himself softly remembering those moments. He had taken care of her all those years and then when she became old enough, she would take care of him. He realized too late how much he needed her around. She kept him sane. At least, kept him as sane as possible. Without her, he became an even bigger hermit. He found himself leaving his home less and less. It wasn't until he finished his last can of beans before he finally would go to the grocery store in order to stock up on food.
Any time Sam and Dean would come by he could see it in their eyes; the pity. He didn't want or need their pity. He wanted his daughter back. He needed to see her face. Needed to hear her voice. Needed to hear her laugh. He needed her.
Sam and Dean would always try to call her hoping that she would answer one of them, but she never did. Bobby knew it was because if she did, they would try to talk her into coming back to them. They always had a certain power of persuasion over her.
He smiled to himself one more time at a memory of Sam and Dean screaming for Bobby to come outside. Sam was screaming that she needed to get to the hospital. Dean was screaming that Chris was bleeding out. Bobby ran out from thinking the worst, but ended up laughing at them. Chris had a couple shards of glass in her hand and was barely bleeding. Upon asking them what had happened, he couldn't help but laugh again. Dean had challenged Chris saying that she couldn't break a car window with her fist and when she finally did, the glass had pierced her skin. In the end, she only needed a couple stitches to which Bobby did himself, but other than that, everything was fine.
They were always sure not to bring her up in conversation often except to ask if he had heard from her at all. He would give them the updates he always got from other hunters, but other than that, no, he didn't hear from her. Bobby had a special map that he had of the continental United States that always had marks on them of where other hunters had spotted her. Just like any hunter, though, her stops were sporadic. It was impossible to track her, but he tried to anyways.
He walked back into the kitchen to grab himself another cup of coffee and to start on some breakfast for himself. He decided on some scrambled eggs and toast a frown touching his features once more. Memories drew him back to the days to where breakfast would always be ready by the time he walked downstairs. He used to hate eating breakfast even when Karen was alive, but Chris always made sure he ate at least a little something.
"It's the most important meal of the day," he murmured to himself.
In the middle of mixing the eggs together, the phone marked FBI rang. He sighed walking back into the study to answer it. Upon talking to whoever the hell it was in wherever the hell they were, he confirmed another group of hunters quickly and hung up so he can get back to his breakfast before it burnt.
He sat down to eat and glanced over to where Chris always would sit whenever they would have their meals together. He smiled at the memory of the conversations that they had with each other each time they ate. It was the only time they were somewhat normal. A true family. There was nothing about work mentioned, from hunting or the garage or the salvage yard. They would talk about anything and everything but those things and it always seemed to relax him.
He stopped frowning yet again. He couldn't remember the last time he had a decent conversation with someone that didn't have to do with the creatures that went bump in the night. It was enough to drain the energy out of anyone. There was always so much negativity behind the conversations that it depressed him. Even when Sam and Dean came by it was just because they were close by enough to where they could stay with him in order to dig up whatever they needed on the current hunt they were on.
His head fell forward in annoyance when one of his phones rang again, but this time it was just his regular house phone. When he picked it up and said hello, he was glad it was just someone asking for a part for their car. He was sure that he had one out in the scrap yard somewhere, but he would have to go and look around. He took down the caller's information then hung up the phone.
After finishing his breakfast, he walked out into the morning air. Rumsfeld jumped up and barked joyfully at his owner. Bobby walked over to him and patted his head before releasing him from his lead. Rumsfeld immediately took off and ran a little before coming back to Bobby jumping and barking. Bobby chuckled at him. It amused him that he had this dog as a guard dog for his place. He was just a pushover once it came down to it even if he would not hesitate to rip the throat out of anyone who tried to break into his scrap yard.
They walked together to the gate that led into his place and he slid it open letting anyone know that he was open for business. Rumsfeld panted wagging his nub of a tail looking up at Bobby. Bobby patted his head one more time then they made their way into the scrap yard to search for the part the caller wanted. If any hunter called needed assistance, they would have to wait. He had to keep up some kind of normal life. Had to have some kind of income.
He found a car that would hopefully have the part and he popped the hood and looked through until he found it. He grinned upon seeing it then made his way back to his house to get his tow truck so he could haul the car into the garage to remove the part. He would have to drop the engine in order to get it out or he would just get it out in the scrap yard. Rumsfeld trotted along happily.
Bobby fed and watered him to keep him occupied while Bobby pulled the car into the garage. He grabbed the keys to the tow truck and walked out to his tow truck then sighed. He remembered when he taught Chris how to use the tow truck from mounting a car onto it, to backing it up into the garage properly. The first time she had, she had knocked down one of the walls on accident. Bobby had taken his hat off and threw it on the ground in anger and yelled at his daughter for what she did, but he didn't stay angry at all upon seeing the tears welling up in her eyes.
He drove out to the car and hooked it up to the tow truck when he heard Rumsfeld barking back at the house. It wasn't the type of bark saying that there was any kind of danger, it was the kind of bark that said he was excited and couldn't hold it back. He frowned wondering what was going on. Had another dog come onto the property and they made quick friends? Had Sam and Dean showed up? They hadn't called ahead the way they normally did so he pushed the thought out of his head. Maybe it was Rufus, but he doubted it. That man hadn't left his home in a long time.
He decided that he was going to haul the car back so he didn't have to worry about it later, so he went ahead and jumped back into the tow truck. He drove through the lane carefully then came back to his home and his heart skipped so many beats that he thought he was having a heart attack. He saw the car first. It was still in pristine condition just like he had expected. It was a red 1967 Shelby Mustang GT350. It was her birthday present when she had turned sixteen even if they had to build it up from the bottom. It had taken them three years.
A small distance in front of the car, there she was on her knees loving on Rumsfeld. She was laughing at the dog jumping around so happy that he couldn't contain himself. He would jump in her arms and lick her face before jumping back and hunkering down in a playful manner then would bark a few more times. Chris turned her head to look at the approaching tow truck and smiled.
She hadn't changed a bit. Her hair was still shoulder length and dark just like his and from the distance he could see the dark brown eyes of her mother. Her smile was enough to make the world a little brighter. She slowly rose from the sitting position and face him. Bobby turned off the tow truck and jumped out quickly and made a B line for his daughter. She made no move to approach him. Instead, tears welled up in her eyes.
"Hi, daddy," she said, but Bobby didn't greet her back. Instead, he closed the distance between them and wrapped her up in a bear hug. Her arms wrapped around him holding him just as tightly as he held her. He could feel her trembling in his arms unless that was him trembling. He couldn't tell. He heard her sniffle a little and he pulled away cradling her face in his hands. She closed her eyes letting a tear fall. Bobby wiped it away then put his forehead against hers letting his hat be pushed off his head. "I missed you." Her voice was cracking.
"I missed you, too, baby." They wrapped their arms around each other again. Bobby kissed her cheek a few times before pulling back away from her. "Are you okay? You're not hurt or anything are you?" Chris shook her head no.
"I just needed to see you. I wanted to apologize." Bobby smiled and kissed her cheek again.
"No, I'm sorry. I'm so glad to see you." She smiled at him as tears welled up again. Bobby wrapped her up one more time in his arms before he led her into the house. When she stepped through the threshold of the house and stopped a huge smile gracing her lips.
"I missed the smell of this place." Bobby grinned leading her into the living area. She smiled looking around. Bobby could feel the excitement radiating off her. "I'm ready to come home, daddy." Bobby smiled at her.
"Good."
