AN: I'd like to thank the two people who commented on my story. Thank you for the compliments. I hope to finish this story by next Summer and I intend for a sequel as well.

Question: What do you think happened to Sam? Where is he? What's he doing? Anything you say could influence the way my story goes.

Disclaimer: I sadly don't own Supernatural. If I did, Charlie, Bobby, and many others wouldn't have died.

The door opened (was that an ominous creak from the door?).

Bobby stood in front of him, hand on the door. Dean stood in front of him, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. He smiled cautiously, trying to reduce his surrogate father's suspicion. Sadly, this only made him more uncertain.

Dean was aware that he looked rather haggard and he still had dirt all over him, but he hoped that would help assuage the older man's fears.

"Surprise." The snarky words came out of his mouth before he realized they did. Almost immediately, he wanted to slap himself.

"I, I don't..." Bobby stuttered in shock and apprehension.

"Yeah, me neither," Dean told him, figuring it was just easier to rehash the words he'd used before. "But here I am."

Dean heard rather than saw the knife Bobby was hiding behind his back. And for some reason, he could smell that it was a silver knife, in particular (Another point to theory C). This time around Dean let Bobby back up in the hallway without getting to close.

Dean knew where the demon traps were, but he made it a point not to look at them as he stepped into one. Almost as if expecting to be stopped, Dean paused before taking a step out of the trap. Thankfully, Bobby didn't notice his hesitation.

Instead the old man was lunging forward, slashing his knife at Dean.

Dean heard the blade swish down at his head. He leaned his body back.

The knife missed his nose by an inch. Bobby's face scrunched up in confusion but he swung his knife at Dean again.

Dean leaned back again.

Bobby was more frustrated now than confused. He tried to slash at Dean's middle this time, with the same results.

This pattern repeated itself around the living room of Bobby's house. Bobby would stab at Dean. Then, Dean would dodge the knife but wouldn't retaliate, even when Bobby left wide openings.

Finally having enough, Dean stood with a chair between him and Bobby.

"Bobby. It's me." He told the older man calmly.

"My ass!" The man was just as gruff as he had been all those years ago. Dean wanted to roll his eyes.

Dean sighed deeply before entering into his spiel. "Your name is Robert Steven Singer. You became a hunter after your wife got possessed, and you're about the closest thing I have to a father, Bobby."

Bobby lowered the knife (like last time), and stepped forward slowly (like last time). He placed a hand gently on Dean's shoulder as if trying to feel evidence of him being a shape shifter beneath his hand.

Not finding anything, he slashed again at Dean.

This time (that is to say, 'this time he slashed at me') Dean doesn't dodge. He was testing his heeling protection or whatever (Charlie should probably come up with a name for that, too) as well as testing his restraint. During the entire fight, Dean had been warring with instinct and protecting Bobby. For some reason, the older man was now resonating as 'pack.' Maybe the powers had something to do with wolves?

The knife slashed across Dean's chest, leaving only a light cut. The wound wouldn't need anything more than a band aid, and even that was debatable.

Bobby stared at the new wound on Dean's chest with incredulity. Dean held his hands up in a placating manner.

"I'm not a shape shifter, Bobby. Or a Revenant." Dean assured. The older man was obviously quite shaken.

"Dean?" Bobby asked as if talking to a ghost (which is probably as good a reaction as I'm gonna get).

"Yeah. Hey Bobby." Dean talked to him as if the man hadn't just lunged at him with a knife.

Bobby broke out of his tentative spell, and grabbed Dean in for a tight hug. Dean returned the hug with as much enthusiasm as he could. As they hug, Dean considers his options.

Should he risk it? Bobby had spent so much time in Heaven and Hell that it might just damage him. Or it could just not work.

On the other hand, what if it did work? What if Bobby came back? If he didn't try, then he ran the risk of having him back, but if he did, and it didn't work, he ran the risk of looking silly.

Alright then.

Dean brought his hand to the back of Bobby's head, being careful of the trucker cap. He clutched the man there lightly and watched with apprehension as the same phenomena from before repeated itself.

As the man collapsed in his arms, Dean released a shaky breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Whoa..." Charlie's voice from the window startled Dean into turning around and almost dropping the older man.

"Charlie, I told you to stay there until I called you over." He reprimanded.

"But it was quiet for a long time and I was getting worried." She noticed his look. "Ha! You think your superpowers are the be all end all? No. All superpowers/heroes have at least one weakness. Bobby could have accidentally found it and killed you!"

Dean pause at her reasoning. He finally shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Get in here and help me get him onto the couch."

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It took Charlie and Dean a little over 10 minutes to maneuver Bobby onto the couch. Even with Dean's apparent super strength, carrying a limp, bulky human being was tough. Charlie was mainly making sure none of Bobby's limbs were laid under him and making sure that Dean didn't get too frustrated (it was like trying to solve a puzzle. I hate puzzle, they're freakin' annoying).

Finally, after they were both sure the older man wasn't about to fall off, their job was done. Dean sighed and fell into one of the kitchen chairs with Charlie not far behind him.

"How long did it take me to wake up?" She asked after several minutes of rather long and boring silence.

"I don't know. About a half hour, maybe? Why?" She groaned into her hands.

"This is boring and my computer's in the car." At his raised eyebrow she defended, "What? I want to scan the books onto my hard drive." Dean looked around at the towering bookshelves with old tomes spilling out.

"That's going to be a long project, don't ya think?" She shrugged and smiled.

"Yeah, but my monster lore and stuff isn't as good as yours, so I might as well brush up for future hunts and stuff." He sighed at her insistence.

"Well, why don't you go get it?" She gave him a look.

"I can't leave you here on your lonesome. You're just as bored as I am!"

"Alright! You go get your laptop and I'll go find something to do. Just go!" He lowered his voice nearly a whisper. "Your jitteriness is freakin' annoying."

As Charlie nearly bolted for her Hugo, Dean foundered around for a moment for something to do.

The TV was in the corner, wires pouring out of the back and tools scattered around the floor. Bobby was clearly in the process of repairing it or whatever it was Bobby did.

Dean knew that Bobby had a perfectly fine TV in the basement but he would try to fix the hell out of this one first. Dean also knew that Bobby wouldn't be able to fix this particular TV, without taking the other one apart.

An idea came to him as he studied the blank face of the welding mask. A particular Walkman/EMF detector cam to mind.
A slow smile built on Dean's face as a plan formed.

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Bobby woke to the sound of quiet clicks and a slight rustle. He opened his eyes to see the familiar fading ceiling he'd lived in the majority of his life.

It was also the ceiling of the house that he'd almost been burned alive in almost a year ago. By those Leviathan bastards.

The ambient noise of the clicking and rustling suddenly stopped.

"Bobby?" A familiar Winchester's voice spoke up. Bobby tilted his head to face the room.

"You, idjits." Bobby groaned as he sat up. "What did you do now?"

Dean sat in front of him on the floor, surrounded by tools and TV parts. He had something in his hands that resembled a radio that had been skinned. Next to him, sitting on a kitchen chair, was a red haired young woman. The woman had one of his books open on the table and a small scanner in her hand.

"What're you doin' to my books?!" He sat up quickly and attempted to get off the couch. Instead, he saw stars as he got lightheaded.

"Whoa, hey, Bobby." Dean tried to pacify the older man. "She's not hurting your books. She's just scanning them. It puts them onto her computer or something."

"It's an handheld HD scanner." Charlie clarified with an eye roll at Dean. "I scan a page and it enters it into an SD card. I have two cards; I scan a book onto one card and while that one downloads onto my computer, I scan another book. No damage to you property." She gave him a friendly and innocent smile.

Their defense helped placate Bobby somewhat but the mechanic was still rather wary.

"Boy," he said irritably, " The last thing I remember is getting shot an' givin' you boys the coordinates for Dick Roman's factory."

Dean froze in front of him but Bobby ignored that for the more pressing issue.

"What did you two idjits do now? Did one of ya make another deal with a demon?" He glared suspiciously at Dean. "You better not've."

"Uh, no, Bobby." Dean assured rather shakily. "No one made a deal - is that really the last thing you remember?"

"'Course. And stop tryin' to change the subject." Bobby reprimanded with a glare. "Where's Sam? An' who's the girl?"

"Um, Charlie," the red head spoke up. "Charlie Bradbury. I'm a big fan." She put her computer and scanner down and reached her hand out to him.

Bobby stared at it dubiously for a moment before taking it in his own hand firmly and shaking it.

"What d'ya mean a big fan, kid? You a hunter?" The girl began answering with a large smile.

"Yep, I -"

"More like apprentice hunter." Dean interrupted with a wry grin at the girl. Bobby glanced surreptitiously between the two, suspicions forming. Those were put away, though, when Dean turned to him with a serious look on his face. "You missed a lot Bobby."

"What d'ya mean?" Dean took a deep breath

"It's been about four years since you died."

"...What?" Dean let out a short, humorless laugh.

"As for Sam, well, why don't you get comfortable, Bobby? This is where it gets complicated."

Have a good day.

Kai