Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or any character from the show, Supernatural. They belong to Kripke and crew. I'm also not getting any financial benefits, by posting this story. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Bobby was in his living room and recognized the sound of a familiar car engine coming to a stop in front of his house. In the past, the sound of that engine would cause him to have mixed emotions. Feelings of anger, frustration, disapproval, and understanding would compete with feelings of hope, sorrow, anticipation, joy, compassion, and sympathy. And while that car and its occupants remained at Bobby's house, all those emotions would be felt and would remain for a time, even after the car and its occupants had left.

Bobby waited until he heard a knock at his door, before opening the door and welcoming in one Dean Winchester.

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As a veteran hunter, Bobby Singer had seen some wild things in his day. He had witnessed things that words failed to describe and that went beyond the imagination of an ordinary person. Bobby had been hardened by things he had seen and things he had done. Very few people could even begin to understand the types of decisions and actions that Bobby had had to make. It was because of his experiences, that Bobby had chosen to live a rather solitude life. He couldn't afford to let any one get close to him, both for his safety as well as their own. He stayed in touch with a small number of people and went so far as to limit how often he even contacted them. He had become accustomed to trusting no one but himself and strived to acquire as much knowledge as possible, in order to reduce how often he had to turn to others for assistance. The chiseled hunter had earned a reputation for himself, which had secured him the respect of other hunters and even some admiration. Bobby was seen as an experienced and fair hunter. He was known as being a person, who knew how to cut to the chase and be quick to determine what was amiss. But, he was also known for not taking any crap from any one. And if you wrongly crossed his path and proved to be incompetent and inept, then Bobby had no qualms about walking away and never looking back.

And yet, some how, Bobby found himself making an exception, when it came to the Winchesters. John Winchester was a man… no, a father, who had chosen to get involved with hunting the supernatural. On more than one occasion, Bobby had snorted in disgust at decisions that John had made and the actions John had chosen to take during a hunt. And normally, John's behavior would have justified Bobby walking away from the man and discouraging John from ever contacting him again. Except, there were two pairs of young eyes who looked up to Bobby and had some how wormed their way into Bobby's heart.

Bobby had once been married and had had plans for children of his own. But, the supernatural world had stepped in and stolen Bobby's plans for the future. He had resigned himself to never falling in love again and to the thought that children would never be a part in his life. Even though Bobby had helped many children who had fallen victim to the supernatural; he had always been good at keeping them at arm's length. While he would be concerned for their safety and well-being, he never got too emotionally invested in them and remained focused on doing his job.

And yet, despite the walls that Bobby had put up to protect himself and to keep his emotions from impacting his decisions, the young Winchester boys had found some way to get into his heart. Bobby was never able to figure out why he felt the way he did about the young men. He just knew that he felt protective of them and had a strong emotional desire to be there for them. Of course, he would never admit how he emotionally felt about them and was able to find more rational facts to support his decision about the brothers. But late at night, when Bobby was alone and truly honest with himself, he found himself admitting how strongly he felt for the boys and that his concern was more heart felt than it was rational.

The boys' father easily caused Bobby's anger, frustration, and disapproval to rise. The experienced hunter understood John's desire to hunt down the thing that had stolen his wife from him. Bobby knew what it was like to lose a wife and could have easily supported a grieving husband's desire for revenge. But, there were two young lives that were affected by John's unyielding ambition of getting revenge. And that is why Bobby disapproved of John's behavior. The grief-stricken man dragged his children around the country and forced them to cope with things that no person, neither young nor old, should ever have to deal with. A young Dean had stepped up and worked to protect his younger brother from knowing the truth about their father and what their father really did. Bobby had seen how a young man had had far more responsibilities and burdens placed on his shoulders than any child should ever have to bear. Bobby's disapproval had turned to pure anger, on more than one occasion, with regards to what John expected from his eldest child and how John treated his children. More than once, Bobby had had a discussion with John about this very topic, although the discussion usually led to shouting and came close to the throwing of fists.

But, Bobby worked hard to never let his anger drive John and the boys too far away. To a certain extent, Bobby could have cared less about what happened to John and could easily have felt impartial about whether John lived or died. However, Bobby knew that the lives of two young children hinged on John remaining alive. And Bobby knew that in order to ensure that he could keep tabs on the children, that he needed John to trust him and to ensure that John remained comfortable with entrusting Bobby with his children.

And so it was that Bobby anticipated the arrival of the Winchester brothers. He looked forward to seeing how much they had grown and how they were doing in school. When the boys were young, Bobby had held hope that the boys would find some way to free themselves of the hunting world and hoped that the boys would prove that it was possible to live a normal life, after having been touched by the supernatural. However, hope had turned to sorrow; as Bobby watched the boys learn about hunting and take an active role in hunting the supernatural. When the boys were young, Bobby had felt joy, as he watched the boys playing and being kids. Bobby had even felt some joy, when he heard that Sam had gone off to college, although that joy had been tinged with sorrow, since Bobby knew that it must have caused Dean some pain to see his brother leave.

Even when the young Winchester boys played at Bobby's place, the childless hunter took pleasure in hearing them laugh and enjoyed their company. That wasn't to say that the boys always stayed out of trouble and that Bobby never had to worry about what kind of mischief the boys were getting into. Rather, the boys helped to bring a little bit of normalcy into Bobby's life. For a short time, the hunter would be able to forget about the supernatural as he watched the brothers play together. However, Bobby would feel sorrow and sympathy as he would watch the boys and their father leave his place, since Bobby knew that their departure meant that John was moving on to another hunt and that once again the boys would find themselves in another strange town. Bobby felt sorry that the boys' lives involved never being able to call some place home and that the boys never knew what it was like to attend one school for an entire year. Their lives were spent going from place to place with their father and training to hunt the supernatural.

And so it was that whenever the Winchesters showed up at his door, Bobby would always open it and welcome them in. Bobby would show the boys compassion by taking the time to listen to what the boys had to say and by letting them know that they could always turn to him for anything. Bobby didn't consider himself to be a softy and would have easily re-educated any one who called him such a thing. But when it came to the young boys, Bobby was a little less gruff, a little more patient, a little less strict, and a little more caring.