Strung Up

Ashley was woken up by the small cries coming down the hall and reluctantly swung her legs out from under the sheets to go attend to the nose. As the cries grew louder the closer she got to the room, she heard sniffles also coming from the room that were too old to go along with the cries. She walked into the room and turned on the light to see Justin with his knees to his chest and tears running down his already stained cheeks and into his red Incredibles blanket. "Justin?" she yawned as she picked Tara up and made her way over to Justin.

"Finally you're up" Justin sniffled as he put his head down on Ashley's side that was not already taken by Tara.

"What's wrong bud?" she asked above Tara's cries, which were starting to get smaller and resemble whimpers more than anything else.

"I uh, I had another one" he whimpered as Ashley started to run a hand through his blond hair.

"What was it about?" Ashley was putting Tara down on the bed in front of her so she could scoop Justin into her lap. Once the boy was situated, Ashley rested her back against the bed's headboard and settled in for another worrisome story.

"Dean and Ben getting tossed around by nothing. They got really hurt too. Both of them hit a tombstone really hard and they didn't move for a bit. Then one of them did and pulled the other one into the car, but by then it was really dark and I couldn't see very well."

The more Justin told her about his dream, the more anxious she got. "Where did they end up?" Ashley asked carefully so as not to frighten the boy any further.

"The one that was moving was able to get back to the motel, I-I think. I couldn't see as well anymore."

Ashley nodded as she made a mental note to call Dean as soon as she got a chance to herself, but right now she had two unhappy children to take care of and very soon the third bigger child would wake up. "Well, I'm sure they are fine, bud. Why don't you go make some cereal? I'm going to feed Tara then talk to Sam."


Dean finally opened his eyes to the harsh sunlight coming through the open blinds. He was sprawled out on the bed closest to the door and could feel his head pounding against his soft pillow. Dean's whole body groaned as he tried to roll over into a sitting position, but he needed to check on Ben's head. He had not waken up since leaving the cemetary to his knowledge, and that worried him. The room spun as Dean opened his eyes to the musty motel and the soft, yet bright light filling the room too early."Ben, hey" Dean grimaced "get your ass up!"

Ben groaned as the loud noise assaulted his ears and carefully rolled over to face the direction his voice was coming. "What happened?" He whispered against the pounding head he also was sporting, but his ears were also ringing a little as well.

"I-I don't know" Dean stuttered. "Last I remember was us going to the graveyard and digging."

"I know I torched the bones and she kept coming, but that is when everything goes dark" Ben recounted as he took his muddy shirt off, exposing his toned pectorals and flabby stomach.

"Dude" Dean cringed as he saw his son's stomach "you need to stop sneaking beers after I go to bed and do some damn sit-ups! Wait until Ash sees that, you'll wish you went to boot camp instead."

"You're one to talk" Ben spat "you drink like a fish and eat like a pig! I bet your gut is bigger than mine!"

"Like Hell it is" Dean chuckled as he dug his vibrating phone out of his jean's pocket. "Yeah?"

Dean? Thank god! Are you okay? Ashley quickly said through the phone loud enough for Ben to hear from his bed.

"I think, why? How'd you know something happened?" he answered while shooting Ben a pained glance from the loud noise pressed against his ear.

Justin. How's Ben? Ashley sighed with relief.

"Peachy" he shouted from his bed with a chuckle. He was laughing at Dean, who was still struggling to find the volume button and turn it down as low as possible.


"The hell happened to you guys?" Ashley asked as she began to load up another box of junk for Sam to throw out. Bobby really was a pat rat, but up until now they were happy he had access to all this information and stuff.

We burned the bitch's bones, but she just kept coming at us Dean explained.

"So, you let her beat you both to a pulp?" Ashley laughed as she waved off a questioning look from Sam as he picked up the box in front of her.

I wouldn't say let, but guess that's what happened Dean defended himself.

"Go look for a diary" Ashley suggested as she quickly began to fill up another box of weird figurines Bobby had in drawers of his kitchen.

Uh, why? Dean and Ben asked at the same time.

"She's a teenage girl who strung herself up, right?"

Yeah, over some dude who didn't want her Dean answered as if he had the reason why the diary wouldn't be necessary.

"Check for lipstick kisses on the pages where he's mentioned" Ashley smiled into the phone.

This from experience, Killer? Dean asked, getting all protective and about ready to go back the last town Ashley had a love interest in to beat the crap out of that guy, hopefully in front of his wife and kids this time.

"Nope, I'm just a girl, too" she replied before hanging up the phone.

"So they are okay?" Justin asked meekly while Ashley was cleaning Bobby's large array of "decorations" on the kitchen table. Ashley was no longer worried about Justin being anywhere near guns because she and Sam and pounded it into his head to always be afraid of what they could do and not to touch unless one of his guardians or Ben was with him.

"Yeah Tiger. They are just a little sore" Ashley answered as she snapped the shotgun's barrel up and closed, unintentionally causing Justin to jump int he chair he was sitting in. She quickly shot him an apologetic glance as she picked up a Winchester Model 12 Bobby used to have hanging right over the stove.

"What did Grandpa Bobby do again?" he asked, skeptical it honestly was the scrap business with the amount of weapons he had hidden around the house. Justin had followed Ashley around with a box to empty the ammunition into while she collected copious amounts of handguns, revolvers, shotguns, and rifles from every open space in Bobby's house- even spaces Justin didn't know where there.

"Um, what me and your Dad's do" she answered quickly and vaguely as a way to get out of this conversation.

"And that is?"

Ashley stopped field stripping the rifle she had moved on to and stared down at her grease covered hands. She knew this day was coming with what Justin began to see, but she hoped to milk out a couple more years instead of telling him monsters are real at age 6. Ashley also hoped she wasn't the one to tell Justin, but she always had this feeling it would be her.

"Mom?" Justin asked again.

"Uh" she hesitated "Sammy! Can you come a sec?" she hollered from the kitchen.

"Yeah?" Sam answered as he bounced in, holding Tara with one arm and feeding her with the other hand. Ashley would never get used to the sigh of Sam holding a baby, let alone feeding one. She always grew a smile when she saw her brothers holding Tara, and even now with the stress of this question on her shoulders, she allowed a few seconds to appreciate the sight in front of her.

"Justin is asking about what we do again" she finally answered once she was feeling all warm and fuzzy again.

The statement stunned Sam into silence and bewilderment, but he quickly recovered and sat down at the table to start explain the demons and the angels. He never let go of Tara, but he did put down her bottle and position her expertly over his shoulder to burp her while he continued to explain how many monsters there were in the world and which legends were fake. Ashley had gone back to cleaning the guns in front of her, but her face was lit up by the way Sam cleaned every story up and explained it in a way a 6 year old would easily understand. Perhaps Sam should have gone back to school instead of helping us look for Dad. But perhaps he should have been a teacher over a lawyer Ashley thought to herself as she moved on to a Smith and Wesson single action .32 revolver that was stowed, strangely, in the bathroom.

"Wait, so you guys fight evil?" Justin asked once Sam had finished explaining everything to him.

"Yeah bud, that's why we always come home hurt" Sam answered carefully. "But we almost always win. Should see the other guys when you think we look bad."

"A-and monsters are real?"

"Yes baby, very real" Ashley said from behind Justin. "You should have seen how Grandpa told us" Ashley chuckled, earning an annoyed glare from Sam, which was quickly replaced by a half smile and a nod.

"Are Ben and Papa out hunting now?"

"Uh, yeah. They are trying to get rid of a ghost, but they got a little tossed around last night, like you saw" Sam replied as he scrubbed his free hand across his scruffy chin. Tara had resulted to sleeping in Sam's right arm once she was burped and had snuggled in close to his side while he explained everything to Ben. She was easily soothed by the sound of Sam and Dean's voices, so whenever she was fussy Ashley would always hand her off to one of them. It made both Sam and Ashley happy right now to know that some good had come out of telling Ben the family business, but that happiness quickly faded when Justin jumped up from the table in celebration that he would be a hero some day.

"I got the coolest family ever! When do I start? I want to be just like you guys!" he cheered as he started looking more closely at the guns Ashley was handling.

"Not soon" both Sam and Ashley scolded together.

AN: What is everyone thinking now? Should Justin have been kept in the dark longer? Trying to incorporate the kids in more since I have gotten a couple requests, if you want to see more of something or less of another, let me know!