AN: Here is the next chapter for you guys. We get to see a little inside Gracie's head, more protective/fatherly Dean, and Gracie meets Bobby. I've been proud of myself for being able to update as much as I have been. Hopefully, I can keep it up
Dean wakes up, staring at the ceiling above him in the dark motel room. He takes in his surroundings, wondering what woke him up, knowing it wasn't because of a hell-induced nightmare. He hears someone rustling under blankets and muttering. Out of reflex he looks over at Sam's bed, but doesn't see him. Dean sits up and looks over at the bathroom but the door is open and the light off. Dean hears muttering and looks over at the couch and sees Gracilynn sleepy restlessly. Dean glances back at Sam's bed one last time before he climbs out of bed and goes to his daughters' side.
"No…" Gracilynn mutters, "I'm sorry…I tried."
"Gracilynn," Dean says, frowning at hearing what his daughter is muttering, wondering what she's dreaming about, "Gracie, wake up."
Gracilynn's eyebrows furrow, but she doesn't wake up, turning her head, clearly upset over what she is dreaming.
"I didn't mean…"Gracilynn mutters again, drifting off.
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Gracilynn walks into her house, calling out for her mom. She doesn't hear anything so she searches the house. Walking up the stairs, she hears a scream. She rushes to her mom's bedroom and sees her lying on the floor, bloody, barely alive. Gracilynn runs to her side, putting pressure on her wounds, looking down at her mom's face.
"Mom!?" Gracilynn calls.
"Grace," Kayla whispers.
"Mom, everything's gonna to be okay. I'm gonna get you help," Gracilynn says, panicking.
"Grace," Kayla whispers, weakly pulling her daughter towards her, "You did this."
"No…" Gracilynn says, shaking her head.
"This is your fault. You should have saved me," Kayla accuses.
"Mom, I'm sorry…I tried," Gracilynn says, eyes watering.
"If you were never here, if I got rid of you like I should have, I'd still be alive," Kayla confesses.
"I didn't mean…Mom," Gracilynn says, crying now.
"You killed me Gracilynn," Kayla accuses again.
"No," Gracilynn whimpers shaking her head. She feels her body shake and a male voice calling her name. She looks around but doesn't see anyone. She looks back down at her mom and sees her take her last breath, the accusation on her lips and in her eyes. Everything begins to fade and she hears a male voice calling her name, louder this time.
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"Gracie, wake up," Dean shouts, trying helplessly to get his daughter awake, seeing a tear run down her face.
Suddenly, Gracilynn jolts awake, sitting straight up. Dean grabs her and looks at her to make sure she's okay. He notices she's not with him just yet so quietly calls her name. Gracilynn comes to after hearing her name and looks over at her father, seeing the concern evident in his face.
"You with me now?" Dean asks.
"Um…yeah. What's going on?" Gracilynn asks.
"You were having a nightmare," Dean says, "You wanna talk about it?"
"No, I'm fine," Gracilynn says, "You should go back to sleep."
"You sure?" Dean asks.
"Yeah," Gracilynn answers, then looks over to see if she woke up her Uncle too, but doesn't see him, "Where's Uncle Sam?"
"Not sure," Dean says, trying to hide his anger, then looks up and sees his brother quietly enter the room. When Sam enters, he looks up and sees Dean sitting on the couch, practically holding Gracilynn. Sam scrunches his eyebrows, simultaneously wondering what is going on and if they were up for a long time.
"Everything all right?" Sam asks, hoping Dean doesn't ask where he was.
"Yeah," Gracilynn answers, "We were just going back to sleep."
Dean looks at his daughter, and seeing she is lying down, eyes closed, drops the argument. Instead, he turns to his brother, narrowing his eyes, asking the question but already knowing the answer.
"Where were you?" Dean asks.
"I went to get a drink," Sam says, shooting a thumb over his shoulder. Dean raises his eyebrows.
"Yeah? Where is it?" Dean says accusatorily.
"They were sold out," Sam says, walking past Dean and heading straight to his bed.
"I'm sure they were," Dean mutters.
"She all right?" Sam asks, pretending he didn't hear Deans remark.
"No, but she isn't talking so nothing I can do right now," Dean says, climbing back into his own bed and lying down, back facing Sam. Sam lies down and sighs, already knowing Dean doesn't believe him for one moment.
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"So, where are we going?" Gracilynn asks.
"Bobby's. He's an old friend. Helped take care of us when we were younger," Dean explains, turning down a back road.
"Oh," Gracilynn says, sitting back in her seat, watching the scenery go by. Dean turns into a driveway and she looks out the front windshield, checking out the house in front of her. They pass under an archway saying "Singers Salvage" and Gracilynn looks around, seeing old cars and car parts lying around everywhere. Dean pulls the car up to the house and puts it in park. An older man with graying hair and a beard wearing a baseball cap walks out onto the porch. He watches as Dean and Sam exit the car and grab their bags from the trunk.
"Boys," Bobby says in greeting.
"Hey Bobby," they say in return. Dean looks into the back seat of the Impala and sees his daughter still sitting, watching the exchange. He knocks on the window and she looks up. Dean nods his head to tell her to get out. Gracilynn opens the door and climbs out of the car, taking her bag from her dad. She quietly follows him up the steps to the older man.
"Dean?" Bobby asks.
"Bobby this is Gracilynn. Gracie this is Bobby," Dean introduces.
"Hey," Gracilynn says, not knowing what else to say.
"Hi," Bobby says, then, arches his eyebrows at Dean, "Care to explain who she is?"
"She's my daughter," Dean says, waiting for the blow out. Bobby stares at him and then at Gracilynn, seeing the resemblance now that he's really looking at them. Bobby sighs.
"Well, you guys might as well come on in," Bobby says, leading the way back in to the house, the Winchesters following, hearing Bobby mutter something about 'stupid idjit Winchesters who can't keep it in their pants.' Sam smiles, Dean rolls his eyes, and Gracilynn smirks at hearing this.
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"So where's her mother?" Bobby asks making sure Gracilynn was in the shower before he started this conversation. Dean and Sam look at Bobby from across the table. Seeing Bobby isn't going let it lie Dean looks at Sam, who shrugs. Dean looks back at Bobby and sighs.
"We went to this small town and I ran into the two of them. I found out Gracilynn was mine. Also, found a job there. There was this ghost killing off women. He ended up killing her before we were able to gank him," Dean explains.
"So, naturally, you took her with you?" Bobby says.
"I couldn't leave her there Bobby. Her grandfather is a douchebag. And besides, she's my daughter. I couldn't leave her knowing she's alive now," Dean says, silently begging Bobby to understand. Bobby lets out a sigh of his own.
"Yeah, I know you couldn't," Bobby says. They hear footsteps on the stairs and the three men look up to see Gracilynn enter the kitchen.
"You guys done talking about me now? Is it safe for me to stay?" Gracilynn asks.
"Who says we were talking about you?" Bobby asks.
"Seriously? It's not every day a 30 year old comes to your house claiming a 14 year old is his daughter," Gracilynn says.
"Oh, right," Bobby says, "So, you boys…and girl hungry?"
"Starving," Dean and Gracilynn say at the same time.
"We haven't eaten in a while," Sam explains, "Thanks Bobby."
"Yeah, yeah," Bobby says, shrugging it off and going to scrounge up some food to cook for dinner.
"Bobby? Can I pull the Impala around? I have to change the oil," Dean says.
"You know you don't have to ask to do that," Bobby says, pulling sausages out of the freezer.
"Thanks Bobby," Dean says, getting up. Gracilynn perks up.
"Can I do it?" she asks. The men turn and look at her, confused.
"Do what?" Dean asks, "Cook dinner?"
"No," Gracilynn says, making a face, "Change the oil."
"You want to change the oil in my baby?" Dean asks, surprised at the question and nervous even thinking about it.
"Yeah, I change the oil in cars all the time," Gracilynn says.
"Really? Where?" Dean asks.
"At the garage we used to take our car. The guys taught me how. Among other things," Gracilynn explains, giving her father a pleading puppy dog look. Bobby smirks, along with Sam, at seeing it. Dean looks at her, warring inside his head, not wanting to let anyone touch the Impala besides him but having a very hard time saying no to the puppy dog look.
"Please, you can watch every move I make. You can even re-teach me if you want," Gracilynn begs, laying the puppy eyes on hard. Dean sighs in defeat.
"All right," Dean says. Gracilynn lets out a squeal and runs towards the door. Dean and Sam raise their eyebrows after her.
"That was a very girly squeal!" Dean yells after his daughter.
"Bite me!" She yells back as she exits the house. Dean's eyebrows rise higher. He hears laughing and looks back at Bobby.
"Good luck with that one," Bobby says, beginning to make dinner.
"Bite me Bobby," Dean returns playfully, turning and following his excited daughter outside.
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"So how'd she do?" Bobby asks when Dean and Gracilynn walk into the kitchen.
"She actually didn't do too bad," Dean replies, giving his daughter a smirk, who returns it with a playful glare.
"Maybe she takes after her daddy," Bobby says, looking at Dean out of the corner of his eye as he puts the food on the table.
"Yeah, maybe," Dean says smiling at Gracilynn, who smiles back.
"Where's Sam?" Dean asks.
"Right here," Sam answers walking into the kitchen, combing through his wet hair. Dean nods his head in acknowledgement and the four of them sit down at the table to eat their dinner.
"You boys staying long?" Bobby asks.
"No, we were on our way to a job, but I wanted you and Gracilynn to meet. You know, in case she has to call you, you aren't blind-sided," Dean says. Gracilynn looks up at this.
"Why would I need to call him?" she asks.
"Well, in case me or Sam can't," Dean says, giving Sam and Bobby a look.
"You mean in case something happens to you two. In case you die," Gracilynn calls him out.
"Well, yeah, I guess you could put it that way," Dean says hesitantly, watching Gracilynn carefully.
"You shouldn't have to though," says Bobby, "Nothing bad is gonna to happen to Dean or Sam."
"Sure," Gracilynn says none too believingly as she pokes at her food.
"Hey," Dean says, waiting for Gracilynn to look at him, "I'm not going anywhere. But if something does happen and we can't get to a phone, I need to know that you can call Bobby without having to convince him you're you."
Gracilynn looks at her dad, nodding her head seeing the truth in his eyes. Gracilynn takes a bite of her dinner and Dean watches her a few seconds more before he looks at his brother and Bobby, taking a bite of his food himself.
"Gracilynn," Bobby starts, "You said your fourteen?"
"Yeah," Gracilynn says through a full mouth, nodding her head.
"Really?" Dean asks, giving her a look. Gracilynn looks at him, chews up her food and swallows it.
"Sorry," she says, then, looks at Bobby, "Yeah."
"When's your birthday?" he asks. Dean and Sam look at her, Dean realizing he didn't know when his own daughters' birthday is. He mentally kicks himself for not asking himself.
"Uh…it's March thirteenth," she answers.
"That's soon. A couple of months," Bobby says, giving Dean a look.
"Yeah," Gracilynn replies, taking another bite of her food.
"What do you usually do for your birthday?" Bobby asks, giving Dean the same look. Dean finally realizes what he's doing; he's trying to get information to make this the smoothest transition possible for her. Dean looks at his brother who obviously caught on before he did.
"Well, we didn't really do too much. Just had family over. Although, this year, we were supposed to go to the ACDC concert in Pittsburg. But I guess that's not gonna happen," Gracilynn says, disappointed, "But its fine. Shit happens right?"
"Yeah," Bobby answers as Gracilynn forces a smile on her face. Bobby looks at the boys and sees they see it too and they don't look too thrilled about it.
"Well, I'm gonna go to bed," Gracilynn says, getting up from the table only to be halted by Dean clearing his throat. She turns around, grabs her dishes and puts them in the sink. She says goodnight to the men and heads up the stairs to her room. Dean watches her go and when he is sure she is in the room he turns to Bobby.
"See," he says, "She won't talk to me. She won't talk to Sam. She's keeping everything bottled up inside. How the hell are we supposed to help her if we don't know what going on with her?"
"Wow, I guess the apple really doesn't fall too far from the tree," Bobby says.
"Bobby, this isn't funny," Dean says.
"I know it's not you idjit. But, think about it. The only one who's having a hissy fit over this is you right now," Bobby says back.
"Yeah, and why the hell is that?" he says, looking from Bobby to Sam.
"Because, we are used to dealing with this. This is exactly what you do when you're hurting. You close yourself off and you don't let anyone know what's going on in that head of yours," Bobby answers.
"This isn't about me Bobby," Dean says, getting frustrated.
"Dean," Sam says.
"What Sam?" Dean snaps.
"What we're trying to say," Sam says, trying not to flinch at Deans retort, "Is maybe you should go about this as if it was you."
"And how the hell am I supposed to do that," Dean almost yells. There is a noise upstairs and the men freeze looking to the stairs. When they don't hear any other noises Bobby looks at Dean.
"Well, you're the only one who knows. How would you break through your walls?" Bobby says.
Dean looks at Bobby and then at his brother. He sighs, visibly relaxing, and leans back in his chair. He stairs off into space, thinking. Bobby and Sam look at each other, seeing this as their cue they gather up the dishes and go to their own rooms.
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Dean throws the last bag into the trunk of the Impala. He looks up to see Sam saying good-bye to Bobby and making his way to the Impala. Gracilynn walks by Bobby and he stops her.
"Hey, you take care of yourself okay?" Bobby says. Gracilynn smiles at him.
"Always do," she replies.
"And take care of those two idjits too," he counters.
"Yeah, they need it don't they?" Gracilynn says.
"Hey," Bobby says before Gracilynn can walk away, "Ya know, we might be men who hate, as your daddy calls them, chick-flick moments, but if you need to talk you can talk to us. You know that right?"
"Yeah, I know," Gracilynn replies, confused at the show of affection from the older hunter she just met. Gracilynn walks down the stairs towards the Impala, but turns around to face Bobby.
"Hey Bobby," she says, "Thanks."
"Anytime," Bobby says as he watches her climb into the back of the Impala and the Winchesters drive off. Bobby lets out a sigh and shakes his head.
"Damn you Winchesters and always being able to find a way to my heart," he mutters as he walks into his house, "Stupid idjits."
AN: Push that little button below and tell me what you think! Up and coming: The hunt, some hurt feelings, arguments, and a little Gracie/Uncle Sam moment for ya'll.