NBTS: 11

As we pulled into the end of the long driveway, we noticed the silhouette of a large dark van who announced Bobby's arrival. Not being able to get his wheel chair up the 5 steps to the house, Bobby sat on the top stair awaiting our return, while the chair rested at the bottom.

Sam jumped out of the GTO and quickly scooped up the chair and escorted Bobby into the house. Dean parked my car and then made his way to the passenger side of the truck to help me with the now sleeping man into the garage at the back of the yard.

"There's a bedroom in the back," I said to Dean as we opened the door and struggled with the dead weight of Bill's 6 foot body.

"Oh, really? Sounds like as good a place as any for him to sober up."

The bedroom was quite small, just large enough to house a very comfortable twin bed. It was situated at the back of the garage next to a bathroom that consisted of nothing more than a toilet and a sink.

After we got Bill comfortable and ensured that he was still sleeping, Dean and I made our way to the main house and I said, "My Poppy, Syd's dad, had a friend build the bedroom for me after I fell asleep watching him work in there on day when I was 10. He hated the thought of me sleeping on the ground while he worked."

"That was nice of him," Dean said with a warm smile.

"Yeah…Poppy loved visiting and taking care of me when mom and Syd went on hunts. My GTO was originally his and he started restoring it the day after I told him it was 'my favoritest car ever' when I was 9. When we were here together, we were inseparable. He would bend over backwards for me." We were now sitting on the bottom stair at the back of the house. I nodded towards the pool and deck area and continued saying, "Hence all of that over there. If I asked for it, he made sure it was mine, even when I insisted that I didn't really need it."

"He must have really loved you."

I smiled softly, remembering the first person who truly felt like a father figure to me. "He really did. He never said it, but I think he was trying to compensate for Sydney not wanting me."

"Don't say that, Lay. I'm sure your dad loved you," Dean said, grabbing my hands to comfort me.

I squeezed his hands and shook my head, smiling at the impending explanation. "No, no he didn't Dean. And I'm not saying that for pity or because I used to be so angry with him, it's just a fact. After meeting my mom he fell head over heels in love with her and the job. He felt like she completed him and the job was his life's purpose." I laughed softly. "Do you remember how obsessed my mom was with Australia?"

Dean chuckled and nodded. The first time he and John stayed at the house, Dean tripped over and nearly broke my mom's didgeridoo. He had absolutely no idea what it was and it took him three days to suck up his pride and ask me about it. The poor guy was even coerced into eating more than his share of vegemite sandwiches, something I was never able to do myself. Our den used to be a shrine to the country, filled with souvenirs of all trips that my parents had taken before I was born.

"Poppy used to joke that his son was so in love with my mom that he would have even let her name me 'Brisbane' like she had wanted to. Luckily, my grandparents stepped in and saved me from that one."

We both shared a soft laugh. Then I held Dean's hands and looked him the eye and continued to explain, "I don't hate him, Dean. I've come to terms with the fact that I was an unwelcome addition to his life. It's one of the many things that Sister Mary Catherine helped me work through. I know my mom and the rest of my extended family loved me and I absolutely adore them. That's all I need."

Dean sat staring at me in disbelief for a moment before he said, "I don't know how you can say that you don't hate him for it. I mean…to not be in love with your only child…that's just messed up."

I hugged him then held his face with my right hand, stroking his cheek with my thumb. The look of hurt and bewilderment in his eyes caused my heart to break slightly. I knew that Dean had had his issues with John and Sam, but he loved them unconditionally and vice versa. No matter what argument they had, they somehow always had and would find a way to reconcile. I had no doubt that he would never have been able to make it this far in life if he ever thought that his family didn't truly love him.

"I know, it's completely messed up Dean, but it is what it is. I forgave him a long time ago and am at peace with it. I used to beg to God that one day he would come to his senses, but it never happened. I just figured God had his reasons for making Sydney the way he was. I felt so much love from everyone else in my life that I just refused to dwell on that part of my life."

"I still don't know how you do it," he said and shook his head.

I lowered my hand to hold both of his again and looked deep into his green eyes and simply said, "I knew that there was a master plan and just kept moving towards the next challenge that I would eventually come across. This job can really help a girl keep her mind off any subject she doesn't want to dwell on, you know?"

"I hear that," he said with a chuckle.

As we pulled each other into a hug, we heard the door open behind us.

"Hey guys, sorry to interrupt, but Bobby thinks he found something," Sam said from the door.

Dean and I got up, stretched a bit and made our way up the stairs. Inside, Sam sat at the breakfast nook, coffee in hand. Bobby looked exactly as I remember him; wearing his standard flannel shirt, trimmed bear and trucker cap. The only glaring difference was his lifeless legs resting in a fairly used wheelchair. Bobby had told me about the demon attack that had left him paralyzed, but all of our conversations had been on the phone. For one reason or another our paths hadn't crossed, I kept missing him by a day or two every time I tried to visit him. Those two things kept the reality of his condition from completely sinking in and finally seeing him like that took my breath away for a moment.

"Bobby?"

"Hey Koala Bear, long time no see."

I ran over to hug him, kindly saying, "Well some of us don't stay in one place long enough to be seen. I've tried to visit at the house but you were always off on a hunt or something."

"Ditto Beautiful."

Bobby had tried to visit? I should have known! But he never said anything!

After sitting next to me, Dean got us back on track by asking, "Bobby, Sam said that you may have found something about the ritual?"

"Yeah, I did Dean," Bobby said as he flipped the pages of an ancient looking book. "It says here, from what I could translate so far, that to test the viability of the vessel, they need to take him to his place of birth. I'm figuring that means the actual building since we're already in his hometown."

All three men turned their attention to men and Bobby asked, "Addy, do you remember which hospital Toby was born at?"

"I didn't have him in a hospital," I said slowly. "The convent wasn't large enough to have a private hospital. I gave birth to him in my room at the visitor's dormitory."

"Hmmm… interesting…" Bobby mulled over the information while studying the book in his lap. "So that would mean that he was born on consecrated land then?" He asked no one in particular because he seemed to direct it to the book he was reading.

"I suppose so. Does that make a difference?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh…" Bobby looked up and focused his attention on me again. "Actually, yes, yes it does. That'll make it easier for Lucifer. Normally he would have had to perform a separate ceremony to purify the site of Toby's birth before he could continue. Since the land is already considered hallowed, he'll be able to skip that step."

"Shit," I said under my breath. I hated the fact that my place of refuge during that difficult time in my life was making it easier for the devil to complete his dirty deed.

"But at least now we know where everything is going to happen," Sam said encouragingly.

"Right. So we've got the where. How about the when Bobby? Any idea how long we have?" Dean asked trying to keep us focused on going forward with our research.

"No sorry. It took me all day just to decipher the where," Bobby apologized. "I'll (he yawned) keep working on it."

I looked over at the clock on the stove. Everything had happened so fast during the past day that I hadn't noticed it was already 2 am. I examined everyone in the room. All three of them looked absolutely exhausted, their eye lids were drooping and their mouths yawned periodically.

"We'll ALL keep working on it," I said. "But our being sleep deprived won't help. You've had a long drive Bobby and we've had an exhausting day. Why don't we grab some shut eye and start this up again early in the morning?"

Before the other two could protest, Bobby nodded and agreed, saying, "You're right, Koala Bear. Come on guys, you heard the lady. First we rest, and then we'll figure the rest out tomorrow."

Sam nodded and got up from the table. He squeezed Bobby's shoulder, pat Dean on the back and gave me a hug before saying "Good night" and heading upstairs.

I went into the den and made up the fold out couch bed for Bobby and closed the door to allow him to get settled.

Dean then took my hand and led me upstairs to our rooms. Once we reached our separate doors, without a word I lightly tugged him into my room. Before we crawled under the covers, we both removed our jeans, but were too tired to deal with finding pajamas. I softly kissed Dean's lips then turned on my side with my back facing him. At that moment, suddenly, all of the day's events and revelations hit me and I was overwhelmed with emotion. From where I was laying on the bed and cried soundlessly.

Dean pulled me into his chest, wrapped an arm around me and kissed my hair before saying, "Try to get some sleep, Lay."

I sunk deeper into his embrace, matching his bent position perfectly. I then interlaced my left hand with his right hand so that his arm was wrapped even tighter around me and whispered, "I'll try…" But before I could finish saying anything else, I heard Dean's soft snore in my hair, so I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep.

After what felt like just an hour or two, I woke up to Dean's attempt to get out of bed without disturbing me and I turned to look at him.

"Oh, hey. Sorry. I was going to let you sleep a bit longer," he said as he crawled over the bed to kiss my head.

I yawned and stretched before saying, "It's okay. I'm ready to get to work."

"Okay. See you downstairs in five?"

I nodded and before I was out of bed, he had already pulled his jeans on and had started to make his way to the kitchen. I rolled out of bed and pulled my hair into a ponytail. Then I grabbed the same pair of jeans that I wore the previous day and pulled them on. I then found a bra tank that I normally reserved wearing for my sporadic jogs and topped it with an oversized black kangaroo sweatshirt. I knew that the day ahead would be a difficult one, so all I really wanted to do was to crawl back into bed and pretend that the world outside the four walls of my bedroom didn't exist.

Come on, Addy. He needs you. Just do the job.

To my surprise, when I got down stairs, there was a full house. Sam and Dean were seated beside each other on one side of the table, Bobby was at the head and Uncle Bill sat opposite the brothers. It looked like Bill had used the shower in the main floor bathroom to clean himself up. All of them were enjoying a hearty breakfast consisting of hash browns, eggs and bacon, which was lovingly prepared by Auntie Maureen.

When I walked into the room, Maureen ran from her post at the stove to give me a huge hug, saying, "Good morning Adelaide. How are you feeling today?"

"I'm doing okay Auntie Mo," I said, concern creeping into my voice. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm still kind of shaky, but I have faith in you and the boys… I just want to do whatever I can to help." She said and then quickly returned to her cooking.

I turned my attention to the males at the table. Bill had already gotten up from his seat to pull me into a hug while he quietly said, "I'm so sorry for last night Adelaide. Thank you for taking care of me. I promise I won't let that happen again."

I patted him on the back and said, "It's okay Bill. We all have moments of weakness." I pushed out of his embrace so that I could look into his eyes and continued in a lighthearted tone. "Just next time, call your sponsor or I'll kick your butt myself."

He allowed himself to laugh softly. Then he nodded and said, "Next time I think I need a drink, I will definitely do just that. I'll do anything to save myself from one of your butt kickings."

I then found a place at the table across from Dean, while Bill returned to the spot he had occupied when I first entered the room. Before I had completely settled at my spot, a plate with an omelet and apple slices and a cup of coffee with cream was placed in front of me. I looked up at my Aunt Maureen in completely gob smacked and could only smile as a thank you as I marveled at her amazing poise this morning.

"We've decided to make your house our base camp, Koala Bear," Bobby said. "We figure this place has more safety precautions than most anywhere that we could work out of."

I nodded, knowing this was true. When Poppy was putting the finishing touches on the house, he made sure that Devil's Traps were strategically places throughout the house and that salt was used in the paint. I even remember my mom telling me once that he had a priest, a rabbi and a shaman bless the house on different occasions.

While I started to cut into my omelet with my fork I asked, "Have we made any headway with when the ritual will happen?"

"Not quite yet," Sam said. "We figured that the three of us could do some recon out at the convent to see if we can get a handle on how many demons we're dealing with and where they're keeping Toby. And while we do that, they will work on the translations."

"Sounds good," I said, slightly impressed at the delegation of responsibilities that happened before I could get up this morning.

"I think I found a book in your library that might help us with the translations," Bobby said with a hopeful tone. "Soon we should have more answers than questions."

"That's good to hear," I said, distracted by watching Maureen as she started to prepare yet another batch of scrambled eggs. She had already prepared enough food for a small army and didn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

In a hushed tone, I asked, "Has she eaten today?"

They all shrugged.

"She was cleaning in the kitchen when I got up and then she started cooking as soon as I got into the room," Sam said.

I then got up, empty plate in hand and walked over to our chef. After putting my plate by the sink, I gently paused Maureen's unceasing motion by lightly grasping her hands that were in mid-stir.

"Maureen, have you eaten today?" She looked up at me after I spoke to her. Her face looked 10 years older and tired with blood-shot eyes, "Auntie Mo…did you sleep last night?"

"Oh Adelaide, I'm fine darling," she said, trying to dismiss my concern. "Please don't worry. I just wanted to make sure you all are taken care of."

"And you've more than done that. Please, you need to eat something to keep your strength up. Here, let me clean up."

To my amazement Maureen didn't argue with me and relinquished the bowl quite easily. Bill had already put together a plate of food for her and guided her to my now vacant seat. As I turned to start loading the dishwasher, I was once again awestruck by what I saw. Dean had already retrieved all of the empty plates from the table and was loading them into the dishwasher. I must have been staring with a look of confusion contorting my face because Dean said with a mildly hurt tone, "Hey! Don't look so surprised! I'm here to help too."

I just smiled and kissed his cheek, saying, "And I appreciate everything you're doing."

Then I turned my attention to the whole group. "Since we're heading out to the convent, I'm think I'll fix myself up a bit better. I don't think the nuns would take too lightly to me showing up with this." I finished by pointing to my purple eye.

Before I could leave the room, Bobby called out, "Which reminds me. Did you idjits figure out what your cover will be out there?"

"Umm…not really," Sam tried to field the question. "The FBI would have jurisdiction, right?"

"No need Sam," I said. "That place was like a third home to me. We can simply go there under the guise of me returning home with my boyfriend and his family to show them where I grew up."

After I finished, I swallowed hard, hoping Dean wouldn't feel too uncomfortable with my labeling him with the dreaded "B" word.

Instead, Dean pulled me into a fairly passionate kiss, apparently forgetting we weren't alone in the room, and whispered coyly, "Bringing home the boyfriend, huh?"

I brushed my nose across his cheek and nose, kissed him lightly on the lips and replied, "Seems like something a 'normal' girl would do. Since they don't know about this side of me…"

"Ok, so we've got that covered then," Bobby said loudly.

Dean and I separated quickly and focused our eyes on the ground, embarrassed that we had gotten so carried away in front of our friends and family.

"Ummm…yeah…I'm gonna go get changed and all that…" I said as I quickly left the room.

After seeing our little display, everyone at the table shared a chuckle.

Sam then looked down at the clothes that he had been wearing for the last 36 hours. They were covered with spots of blood and dirt. "Uh, Dean? We might not have to wear a suit and tie, but WE might want to look a bit more presentable too."

"You might have a point there Sammy. Excuse us while we get cleaned up too," Dean said and they both made their way upstairs.

I had settled on a pair of black cords and a light weight teal v-neck sweater to wear as "Adelaide Jones, normal everyday girl". I was sitting in front of my vanity, working at covering up the bruising on my face, when I heard a knock on my door.

Without turning around, I said, "Come in!"

The door opened and when I saw the figure behind me come into my room through the reflection of the mirror, I dropped my make-up brush in shock. I turned to get a better look at Dean, who was wearing what looked like a brand new pair of dark denim jeans, a baby blue dress shirt and a navy blue blazer. Sam stepped in behind him, looking very collegiate in a matching pair of dark denim jeans and a white collared shirt, topped with a blue, green and grey argyle sweater vest.

"Wow! You boys sure do clean up good," I said finally.

"You know…you could give a guy a complex with all of your shocked expressions there," Dean said with a wink.

"Sorry. But you have to admit, this isn't exactly the norm for you."

"Well, yeah," Sam said, "But we wanted to look the part. Especially since these are your friends we're visiting."

I put the finishing touches of a smoky eye look with eye shadow on both lids, and then retied my hair into a bun, saying, "And I appreciate it."

"So are you ready to head out, Lay?" Dean was starting to look uncomfortable as he and Sam started to leave my room.

"Boots and jacket and then I'm good to go." I sat on the bed to pull on my black ankle boots when something hanging from my lap on my dresser caught my eye.

I walked over to and it and picked it up gingerly, almost as if it would crumble from my touch. I carefully removed the chain from the hooked metal. I smiled as I examined the white gold Celtic cross that had hung around my mother's neck since before I could remember. I stared at it lovingly, the memories of my mother came flooding back to my consciousness and overwhelmed me.

"Lay? Are you okay?" Dean asked softly from the door as he stepped back into my room.

I turned to him, still somewhat unable to speak, just staring at the pendant. I held it out to show him, trying desperately to find the words to explain to him.

"What do you have there?" He took the pendant in his hands. "Isn't this Victoria's?"

"Yeah…it's my mum's," I said with a broad smile. "Could you put it on me?"

I turned around and he took a step forward while he undid the clasp. He wrapped the chain around my neck and as we both stood in front of the vanity mirror, Dean pulled me into his chest. As he hugged me we both stared at each other in the mirror.

"It looks perfect on you," he said.

"Thanks. I can't believe I didn't know she had left it for me." I turned around to look him in the eyes and placed a soft his on his lips. "Okay, 'Boyfriend', I think I'm ready now."

Dean chuckled and passed me the grey trench coat I had laid out on my bed, saying, "Okay, 'Girlfriend', let's do this then."