Yeah, this is where it skips a few years...and it doesn't really explain Bobby explaining things...lol if that makes sense. Anywho, please let me know what you think! Thanks! Please review!

Onward!


Bobby Plus Three

Nightmares for Real

Ages: Dean 12, Adam 10, Sam 8.

Dean yawned, tired, as he sat in Bobby's car. It was early-Sam and Adam were still asleep back at Bobby's house but Bobby had asked Dean to go to the store with him so they could get some groceries. Dean had agreed to go and here they were, driving down the road at seven in the morning.

Seven.

In the morning.

Bobby was crazy, Dean decided. Who in their right mind got up that early on a Saturday? On Fall Break, no less? Only Bobby, Dean figured. He held back a yawn as Bobby continued driving, leaving Dean to his thoughts of remembered sleep. He had been comfortable and in bed not even an hour ago and now he was up, awake, and cold. Damn it. He huddled in the car and breathed a sigh of relief when they pulled off the street and into a parking lot.

"Finally," he mumbled as he opened his door. Bobby sent him a look and Dean gave him a grin before the two of them left the car and entered the store in front of them. Dean followed quietly behind Bobby, yawning as he tried to stop shivering. It was freezing outside, especially this early in the morning. Snow had already taken over the ground and really, Dean could do without all this cold weather. He could do without cold and warm weather, really-just a mild temperature would be nice.

Enough thinking about the damn weather, Dean thought to himself with a heavy scowl. He wound up pushing the cart as he trailed behind Bobby, who randomly threw things into the cart haphazardly. Dean wasn't completely sure the guy knew what he was doing or throwing into the cart-who would willingly pick spinach? But he said nothing of it simply because he was too cold. He should have brought a thicker jacket-as Bobby had suggested. But he hadn't wanted to, had been too tired to walk back upstairs and change jackets, and that would have meant risking the chance that he would wake either Adam or Sam, and he simply couldn't do that. Adam probably wouldn't mind but Sam was damn cranky when he was woken before the crack of noon, and Dean could certainly understand that.

Oh, if only he could be at home sleeping in like them! But no, he was stuck at the store with Bobby, who was currently eying the Skim Milk. Who in their right mind bought that? Dean had to save his family from this tragedy.

"No skim," he announced, pushing the cart forward so he could stand next to Bobby and swat the milk from the guy's calloused hands. "We need regular milk…from cows. Like normal people, Bobby." He cocked a brow at the elder guy and Bobby rolled his eyes.

"I was just checking, sheesh," Bobby grumbled as he grabbed some of the 2% milk and put it in the cart before moving forward again.

Dean rolled his eyes and suddenly knew why he had agreed to come-so he could make sure Bobby didn't get anything overly disgusting. Sometimes Bobby liked to try new things, which usually meant that Dean and Adam were his experiments. He made them eat whatever he got. Adam usually didn't mind-unless it was some kind of healthy food. The kid would eat anything. Dean, on the other hand, liked food-a lot, really. It was excellent. But there were some things he simply would not try and he had to make sure Bobby knew where to draw the line. He'd like to live to reach his next birthday, thanks.

Sighing, he glanced around and frowned when he saw someone with overly dark eyes…they almost looked black but that wasn't right. Dean blinked and suddenly the guy's eyes were a dull brown, not dark black, and he figured he must have simply been mistaken. Shrugging to himself, he hurried to catch up with Bobby. The guy could move fast when he wanted to, Dean remembered with yet another sigh.

"Keep up," Bobby grumbled from an aisle ahead of him. Dean darted down the aisle, pushing the cart, and scowled.

"Well, if you didn't have freakishly long legs," he grumbled to himself as he moved forward and stopped next to Bobby. "Are we almost done?" There was a chill crawling through him and he thought it might have had something to do with that guy he'd seen-the guy whose eyes he'd thought had been black for a brief moment. He wasn't sure, though. Maybe he was just still cold.

"Almost. Be patient, boy," Bobby said with a scowl as he threw a few more items into the cart. Dean glanced at them and grinned. Macaroni-awesome. Everyone would be happy with that-it was one of Sam's favorite meals and Dean liked it as well. Adam, of course, was a bottomless pit and would scarf it down without cheese if it was necessary. Mentally shaking his head at the thought, Dean glanced again at Bobby.

Bobby was halfway down the aisle. Scrambling to catch up with him, Dean surged forward, and then felt as though someone were watching him. Spinning around, his hands momentarily leaving the cart, he looked to see that no one was there. Frowning, he figured he was just imagining things, and he shrugged and started following after Bobby again, grabbing hold of the cart once more.

Bobby grabbed a box of Lucky Charms and Dean smiled. Perfect-Lucky Charms. It was Sam's favorite breakfast and midnight snack, and he was the only one that ate any of them. Adam and Dean usually never got into his stash of Lucky Charms. It was suicide because an angry Sam meant bitch face number 3, and that meant and unhappy Bobby, which meant the whole house was going to hear about it.

And that was never fun.

Finally, Bobby headed toward the checkout line and Dean happily followed him. The items were rung up and Bobby handed over a wad of cash and then the two of them gathered up their bags and started outside and toward the car.

Dean had just helped putting the last of the groceries in the back of the car when something firm slammed into him and knocked him through the air so harshly that the breath was knocked from his lungs before he even hit the ground. Someone was growling as they pinned him there, throwing a punch to land it in his face. Wincing, he tried to kick the person off of him as he regained the air in his lungs and focused his vision.

It was the guy from in the store-and his eyes were black. Why? It had to be a trick of the light…or lack-thereof in the early morning light. Before he could really think, the guy was already aiming to hit him again, and he clenched his eyes tightly closed and turned his head to the side, hoping to somehow soften the blow, but the hit never really came. Instead, the weight was lifted off of him and he heard Bobby growl ferociously. Opening his eyes, he saw that Bobby had kicked the guy off of him and was now going after him, chasing him down into a dark alley even though Dean wasn't sure why.

"Bobby," he coughed as he jumped to his feet and hurried after him, wanting to help. What was Bobby thinking? This guy was clearly dangerous-they needed to call the police, right? Some crazy guy with black eyes. Somehow, Dean didn't like the sound of that. At all. He couldn't let Bobby chase him by himself, could he? He raced after Bobby and the guy and found them in an abandoned alleyway. Squinting to see through the misty fog of the early morning, Dean saw Bobby stab the guy with the knife he always kept with him, no matter what. Stunned, Dean watched as the guy grimaced and just pulled the knife from his chest as though nothing had happened.

What the hell? Dean thought, stopping a few feet away to stare. Bobby growled and started saying something in some language Dean didn't know, and suddenly the guy was bent over, crying out as though in pain. Then he threw his head back and opened his mouth wide, a dark black mist escaping him. Bobby picked up his bloodied knife from the ground and turned to find Dean staring at him, eyes wide.

"Dean…" Bobby started, eyes wide as well as he watched him. Dean narrowed his eyes at him and then glanced at the bloody knife, which was slick with the sticky substance. "It's not what you think," Bobby was quick to say.

"Oh, I know that," Dean said lowly. "You want to tell me what the hell is going on? What the hell was that? Bobby?" His gaze traveled past him and toward the limp, motionless form on the ground. Blank, dull brown eyes were staring into a dark void that Dean would never see, no matter how hard he tried. Swallowing, Dean looked back at Bobby as he took a step back. "You killed him," he accused slowly. "You killed him."

Sure, the guy had decked Dean in the face, but did that really warrant his death? What was Bobby thinking? Dean never would have guessed Bobby to be a killer, not in a million years, and so it was so shocking to be standing here, seeing the evidence for himself.

Now he watched as Bobby approached him, bloody knife in hand and dark look in his eyes. Dean swallowed and stepped back again. "Bobby?" he whispered quietly, wondering if this was even really Bobby. Bobby wouldn't kill anyone, would he? Right? And what had that dark smoke been? Dean turned as though to run, vowing not to become Bobby's next victim, if Bobby really was a cold-blooded killer. But wouldn't he have known?

"Dean, don't," Bobby called out to him breathlessly. "Don't run. Please. I can explain."

"Explain what?" Dean asked, turning to keep his eyes on Bobby and the knife. "How you just killed a man in a dark alley?"

Bobby winced as though wounded by Dean's words. Dean narrowed his green eyes into dark slits. "I'm not a killer, Dean."

"Oh really? Then what do you call it? Permanently displacing a soul? Stabbing a guy for the hell of it? What?" Dean growled, a million thoughts flickering through his mind. He had to get out of here, a part of him snarled through him. But he had to stay because this was Bobby, another part of him argued, and he was so torn that he remained frozen in place.

"It's not like that," Bobby argued weakly, looking conflicted.

"Then what's it like, huh?" Dean demanded, feeling the urge to run. He felt his legs get ready, all the blood rushing to them to give him an edge and a chance to escape if that was truly going to be necessary.

This is Bobby, a part of him said. He wouldn't hurt me. He's not a killer.

He just killed a man! another part growled angrily. And you saw him! You're a witness to his murder!

Dean swallowed thickly.

"Just let me explain, Dean, there's much you don't understand," Bobby told him quietly, his eyes wide and pleading.

Dean hesitated momentarily. "Why should I?" he asked. "You just killed someone!"

"Because…Dean, please. Don't run. I can explain."

Dean, against his better judgment, finally nodded his head. "Okay…fine. Get explaining." He crossed his arms and tried to be prepared for anything and everything.

And so Bobby proceeded to tell him…everything. Dean listened dubiously as Bobby went on about demons and what the black smoke really meant, and that the guy hadn't really been himself. It didn't change the fact that Bobby had stabbed the guy but apparently Bobby had said he hadn't had a choice. He'd had to slow the guy down enough that he could do the exorcism and Dean guessed he could understand that…except for the fact that he didn't really believe any of this.

Demons weren't real, right? It was just make believe, a myth, a legend…nothing real. Demons were just things in nightmares and weren't real, or so he believed, and Bobby was apparently telling him he was completely wrong.

As Bobby kept talking, though, Dean started to understand and see it how Bobby saw it. He couldn't ignore the evidence of the black smoke and the black eyes, though-he had seen them with his own eyes and he had to believe it. No one could have just pure black eyes, after all, and no one just randomly coughed up smoke at the sound of Latin. It wasn't natural…but maybe it was demonic.

Still uncertain, Dean followed Bobby back to the car and the two of them drove away from the store in silence, leaving the body in the alley to be found by the officer Bobby had called on his way out of the alleyway just moments before.

All the way back to the house, Dean kept thinking over and over what Bobby had told him, wondering whether or not to really believe him or if Bobby was just insane. Age would do that to people, right? But there was something about Bobby…he had never lied to Dean before, not that he knew of anyway, and his gaze and words seemed so sincere, so genuine…Dean wanted to believe him. He really did.

He just wasn't so sure he could.

Because if demons were real…what else was?


Good, bad? Let me know! Thanks for reading, and please review!

~Muffy the Dough Slayer~