"You can't just drop her off here, John." Bobby Singer hissed pouring himself another glass of Black Lab whiskey.
"The hell I can't!" John retorted twisting the cap off another beer. "You think that little girl belongs on the road?"
"You think that she belongs here with an old grouchy alcoholic?" Bobby snapped back. He turned toward the sound of her laughter ringing from the outside. She was playing with the boys, Dean was yelling out instructions while the other two played happily among the cars.
"I think she belongs with someone who's a better father then me," John paused sucking down the cold brew. "I'm trying to do what's right by my boys, but I can't ruin her. Something's special about her and I know you will do a better job at raising her then me."
Bobby sighed swirling the amber liquid in his glass. He had once had a wife who wanted kids, and he had wanted them as well. Years had gone by since those happy days, and now was his chance to leave behind something in this life besides empty bottles and broken dreams. John always knew Bobby was going to agree but he wasn't too sure how the girl or his boys were going to take the news.
"Boys," John shouted which was greeted with hurried feet and heavy breathing. Dean was first to reach him. His spine rim rod straight and hard look in his young eyes, Sammy trotted in next the playful smile on his lips and last Ella skipped in her white smile lighting up the whole room.
"I'm not a boy," She giggled sitting in the chair that had been occupied by Bobby. Dean eyed her wondering how she could just disobey rules like it was no skin off her back. John just smiled letting a small laugh flow from the normally reserved mouth.
"Good to know," He started looking towards Bobby. "Ella, when the boys and I hit the road again, you're going to stay here with Bobby. I know that this isn't what you wanted, but I can't let you grow up on the road."
Sam almost let air hiss through his teeth. He was going to say something about letting his older brother and him growing up on the road but Dean gave him a look out of the corner of his eye. The warning let Sam know it wasn't a good time to be starting a fight.
Ella's smiled slowly faded she flicked her eyes between John and Bobby as if she couldn't make up her mind. Her eyes slowly landed on Bobby, the wide blue orbs trying to examine his whole being. She wasn't sure how to feel about staying her with someone who smelled like gasoline, alcohol and old books. She wanted to be in the car with the two boys and John. It had been a little over a week since the death of her mother and step father, but it felt like she had never belonged with them. This is what felt like home.
"Will I ever see you again?" She asked her little hands touching his large rough ones. She looked between Sam and Dean each having their identical eyes glued to hers.
"Yes, of course. We can head this way once a year, and when the boys get old enough we can stay longer." John reassured the little angel in front of him. She smiled knowing full well that she was where she belonged.
/*/**/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**/
(Almost ten years later)
"Dad, seriously can we talk about this?" Dean almost begged in the front seat of the Impala. He was nearly nineteen years old and ready to become a full time hunter with his father. Now the only thing standing in his way was two months before graduation.
"No, my decision is final. You need to finish high school. You mother would have wanted that much from you." John silenced him looking in the dusty rear view mirror. It was that time of year when they would go spend three days in Sioux Falls with Bobby and Ella, just like he promised. Sam was more than excited to be spending actual time in school while Dean was more than pissed.
They pulled up in the dusty drive way. Cars littered the entrance some never moving in the last ten years. Bobby was sitting on the porch a new cell phone in his hands. The huge grey contraption was bigger than his head, but John knew that Bobby was banking on those things to take off. He said that it would revolutionize the hunting business. The boys piled out, lugging their duffel bags up the stairs and into the house. Ella was nowhere to be seen.
"She's in the back!" They heard Bobby call. Sam ran ahead of Dean almost busting with excitement. He and Ella had a special relationship, both were extremely smart when it came to academics, liked to read and do research for their fathers. They also shared a bond that could only come with being so close in age.
Dean also had a special kind of relationship with her. They had always had the same taste in music, along with cars and guns. Dean had been the one to teach her how to properly clean and shoot her first automatic weapon. Even though she wasn't allowed to go on hunts Dean let her come with him once and never had he seen her more alive. He also had been the one to teach her how to throw a proper punch, which would later come to bite him in the ass.
"Ella!" Sammy called hearing a loud rock riff playing in the open garage. Two small black Chuck Taylor converse shoes were sticking out from under a 1987 Chevy Corvette. The little red car was only made for South Dakota summers and springs and that was when Bobby let her drive it. Otherwise she was stuck with his old pickup truck.
The girl crawled from under the car a huge smile on her slightly different face. Dean stopped dead in his tracks. The last time he had seen this 'little girl' she had still looked like the slightly annoying sort of sister he had grown fond of. Now she was woman. Her narrow body had gotten curves in all the right places and she wasn't a stick anymore. She had some weight on her bones. Her large eyes now fit perfectly on her rounded face and her neck now seemed to stretch longer than ever before. She was truly beautiful.
Sam got the first hug lifting her slightly off the ground and spinning her in circle. Sam had hit his mid puberty point. He was taller than her small five foot four frame but still a head shorter then Deans full six foot height. She hugged Sam back wiggling out of his hug and pulling down her skinny black tank top. She made a bee line for Dean and he welcomed him into his arms. She smelled like gasoline, sweat and flowers. Her long black hair brushed his hands as he gripped on to her. She pulled away too soon.
"So, John said you were giving him a rough time about staying here." She smirked. Dean couldn't keep his eyes off her.
"Just Dean," Sam shrugged sitting on the car.
"Oh really, what's the deal boy? Don't think I can't have any fun?" She leaned against the car looking between Sam and Dean.
"I know that you're too young to have that belly button ring." Dean snapped back without meaning too. She immediately pulled down her tank top further looking around just in case Bobby was right around the corner.
"Seriously," She hissed. "What the hell Dean!"
"You're only fifteen!"
"I'm sixteen! You seem to forget I'm a few months older than Sammy."
"Still not old enough for that shit," He said harshly crossing his arms over his chest.
"That took five seconds," Sammy smirked his eyes darting between the two. Ella sighed rolling her eyes at Dean and putting away most of the tools she had gotten out earlier. She motioned for Sam to follow her as they left the still cross Dean.
He watched her walk away a sexy little swish in the way she did it. He tried to shake that dangerous thought from his head. Ella was still a girl and he was a man now. He needed to stay away from her. Bobby didn't want her to have the life that Dean was going to lead. He kept her from going on hunts now as it were. Dean wasn't going to fall for Ella; well he was going to try.
He walked in the door just as his father was giving Sam the eye and making some big speech on keeping his head down and his ass out of trouble. Dad was going to leave him here to pretend to be normal while he ran off on some big bad case. In all reality it wasn't fair. Dean was never going to be smart like Sam, he was never going to college, and he would never even think about trading this life for another. John Winchester strode over to his eldest son, his mouth in a very thin line.
"Take care of Sammy. Make sure Ella and him don't get into any trouble. Got it boy?"
"Yes sir." Dean responded through almost clenched teeth. His back rim rod straight and heels snapped together.
John eyed him once over before patting him on the back. He gave Ella one last hug as was back in the Impala before twenty minutes had passed. Bobby looked at his house that was now full of three teenagers. He didn't expect it to last for more than a week.
"Alright, I have rules boys. You know most of them. Curfew is at midnight for Ella and Sam. Dean you can stay out till two on weekends. Go to school, head down, clean up, you all know that drill." Bobby said gruffly.
"Daddy," Ella slightly whined her bottom lip slipping out from her mouth the large eyes watering slightly. "Why can't we stay out as late as Dean?"
"Because you're not an adult young lady," He snapped back at her his gruff features in a thin line. She crossed her arms the huge blue eyes wide with anger.
"Fine," she huffed sweeping past him pounding her way up the stairs. Sam looked after her like he wanted to follow, but stayed in his place once they all felt the slam of her door that shook the whole house.
"Girls," Bobby huffed under his breath. "Well we ain't waiting for her to get cooking, let's get dinner on the table boys."
That first night Ella did not come down from her room until the wee hours of the early morning. Her growling stomach not allowing her to sleep. Dean was asleep on the coach he hadn't made it upstairs after his third night cap with Bobby. The boy wasn't used to drinking the stronger stuff; he had only been into the beer. John had always refused to serve him the whiskey. Ella sneaked at look at him; his normally emotional filled face was peaceful. He was always hiding something in the smooth smile or the grim anger. She liked how he looked now, child-like almost human. He stirred in his sleep; her name flittered through his lips. She blushed instantly. Ella has always had a crush on Dean Winchester from the moment they had met she knew that one day she was going to fall in love with him.
She slithered near him the smell of gasoline, dirt and wool filling her up like air. He stirred in his sleep a name pausing on his lips. She stilled, she didn't want to be found like this, but just like in the movies she stole one kiss. He stirred again, but his lips just formed into a small smile as he drifted further off into dream land.
*/*/**/*/*/*/****************************
Dean awoke a crick in his already sore neck. Bobby was fussing around in the kitchen talking quickly with who he guessed was Emma due to the tone Bobby was using. Dean stretched making his way off the coach he had passed out on last night. He knew that the bed that Bobby called his never really felt right underneath him.
"Are you done pouting, princess?" Bobby asked frying eggs in the biggest skillet Dean had ever seen. Sam was sitting at the rickety old table two book bags on the floor next to him. Dean gave Sam a smirk which he returned.
"I wasn't 'pouting'," she snapped back hopping on the counter next to the fridge sipping on a glass of orange juice. She was wearing destroyed jeans, a black My Bloody Valentine t shirt and her favorite pair of black converse. "Sorry Daddy."
Bobby smiled his famous crinkled smile trying not to let her see it. He stared at the skillet watching the eyes turn brown before she handed him the plates stacked by her knee. Dean always loved their relationship and was slightly jealous of it. Bobby was a great father who knew when to hold to his rules, but also knew when to be the biggest pushover on the planet. Anyone would be under those eyes. Ella would always get what she wanted, even if she had to spend on night going hungry.
They ate breakfast together that first morning, Bobby complaining about all the work he had going on that day, Sammy asking questions about the new school he was going into, while Ella and Dean kept their eyes separate. She was keeping a secret and he was as well. He couldn't tell if the kiss they had shared was a reality or a dream. It had felt so real, yet he felt very distant from it. She on the other hand was trying to hide the reality of the kiss from herself and him. Finally Sammy gave up on asking questions and Bobby continued to grumble, but the three teenagers all knew that something else was going on here.
"Easy on the truck boy, the girl will knows how to run it if you manage to fudge it up." Bobby snipped one last time before the kids piled in the car. Ella gave him one last fleeting kiss on his check. She had pulled on an old over sized black leather jacket that she had probably studded out herself. Dean slid into the driver seat, Ella squeezed in the middle, and Sammy closed the door to the passenger side. The ride into town was silent, but as soon as the busy streets of mid morning Sioux Falls Dean looked lost. Ella directed him most of way until they pulled up into the parking lot of Washington High School, the biggest of the four high schools. Sioux Falls is the biggest city in South Dakota, and yes it still was a place where you knew everyone but when your student population was as large as a small town you needed to keep them up.
"Alright, boys stick with me and we might actually make it back from this place in one piece." Ella smirked both hands deep in her jacket pockets. She twisted on her heel not looking to see if the boys followed. The sea of students milling through the halls was a lot more then the boys were used to. Mostly there school experience had dealt with small schools, but this was a place that no teacher cared if you were new. The just cared if you showed up. Some of the teachers noticed the Winchesters, but only for their strange behavior.
At lunch the boys found a lone table at the back of the cafeteria, Sammy looked shell shocked each new class had made him feel so stupid and the other kids stared worse the different schools he had ever been in. Dean had almost been in three different fights today because of his 'smart lip' as some of the boys had called it. He picked at his food scanning the room for Ella. She came skipping up suddenly which immediately made them both smile.
"Heard you almost socked Brian James in the mouth between fourth period," she asked one fork digging into her mashed potatoes mixed with whatever else was on that plate. "Whatever happened to keeping your head down?"
"Hey, I accidently brushed against the asshole walking down the hallway. That happens all the god damned time."
"I know. He's like that with everyone." A sudden wolf whistle pierced across the café heads turned towards the sound except for Ella. Dean looked for the origin of the sound only to be greeted with his new enemy strutting past all the tables. He was tall about an inch or two shorter then Dean, blonde hair, sky blue eyes and tan skin. He also played into his stereotype more by sporting a letterman jacket and a white crew neck. Beside him were his two partners in crime, a taller black kid with closely cropped hair and a shorter white kid who made crude jokes. Dean couldn't remember their names, but he knew the black kid had held him back from Brian.
"So, this is where the two new geeks have decided to die. You can't sit here." Brain sneered looking between Sam and Dean. "This is where I sit."
"No it isn't," Ella snapped back turning in her chair to face him. "You sit over there by the other kids who are too good for everyone else."
"As I recall," Brian huffed leaning into her face. "You were sitting there last week with us, and if I can remember just right you were also all over me."
Dean jumped from his chair gripping something from inside his coat, but forgetting that he had left his weapons in the car. Brain leered at Dean sizing him up once more.
"You keep getting in my way, Winchester."
"You keep making me."
"Dean, remember what Dad said." Sam protested looking between the two taller boys. He stood too his Carhart fall slightly off his shoulder.
"Knock it off, now." Ella stood between the two older boys on hand on each of their chests. Brain's face was in a tight frown looking down at the smaller girl. "Brain, just walk away."
"I'm not done here." He hissed walking backwards from the three hunters, his little posse not far behind him. "We aren't done, Ell."
Ella sat back down immediately feeling the stares on not only her two companions but of the rest of the student body. She let the memories of last week blur in front of her, the taste of the vodka on Brains breath and the feel of his hands on her skin. They had fit together so nicely, yet she only felt the lust of the influence of the bourbon stolen from her father's supply. Guilt was all that was left now and she wasn't about to take anymore from the Winchesters.
"What did he mean about you being all over him?" Dean steamed a certain glint of fury behind his green eyes.
"None of your freaking business." She barked picking up her tray and storming away.
She went to her class almost a half an hour early, silently cursing herself because this was the only class (study hall) that she had made it so to have with the Winchesters. They both stumbled in a minute before the bell and not a word was spoken for the rest of the day.