A moment later the noose around Bobby neck loosen allowing him to gain sweet air.

"Boy, I wasn't…" snapped Bobby trying to explain that he had also been trying to protect the young brat but Dean cut him off. Dean spoke with his head lower and gaze averted, shoulders slumped but Bobby was detailed orientated enough to notice he had moved between the older man and pursuit of Sam. But it was Dean's words that stopped Bobby cold.

"Where is your spare belt sir? I'll get it but can I leave my t-shirt on please? It's rather thin anyway?"

Bobby was at a loss for words. He blinked back the burn in his eyes. He had known that John hadn't been the best father. He was a hunter taking his boys into dangerous environments Bobby didn't agree with that but he could excuse it. The world was a dangerous place. His own child hadn't known of the danger that lurked in the dark and he had wound up just as dead. The neglect was harder to forgive; the way Sam clothes barely reach his wrist and ankles and how Dean was too skinny for a growing boy. But abuse? No wonder Dean had attacked him when he had reached for Sam. He couldn't believe John was capable of doing such a thing to his own son.

"Take off your shirt," voice deep with emotion. He knew the boy would take it the wrong way but he needed to see the extent of the damage. Dean shallowed hard shrugging out of his tee kneeling in front of Bobby. There wasn't an ounce of fat to hide the well-developed muscles but jagged scars marred nearly every inch of skin. A clear bite mark from some kind of animal arose half hidden over his hip and onto his abs. A stab mark and a perfect round hole marred his left pec but those were the unfortunately normal marks of a hunter in his prime. It was Dean's back that told of the horrors of the lack of a childhood. Long thin slices cut across this back that could only come from a belting. Someone had burned a hand print onto his shoulder and on the oppose shoulder blade someone had carved a rune into his flesh. But the icing on the cake was the two huge scars nearly an inch wide in thick white tissue that ran down the edges of Dean shoulder blades near the middle of his back.

Dean flinched as Bobby cool hand meant the bare flesh of his shoulder. Bobby had numbly covered the handprint with his own hand as he knelt in front of Dean so that they would both be at eye level. Making the same promise that the angel had.

"Son, I would never hurt you and I will never let anyone else hurt you again," promised Bobby pulling Dean into a hug arms over his shoulders one hand rubbing comfortingly on the back of Dean's neck. The tension eased out of Dean and was replaced with silenced sobs and quiet tears escaped their green pools.

"Don't tell Sammy," begged Dean.

"You're going to be ok son, shh, it's going to be ok."

Bobby was right Sam hadn't gone fair. Actually, he had never left the house despite slamming the front door to make it look like he had. He was having his own little panic attack hiding in the dark closet with the door closed. Ear pressed up against the wood listening carefully for any sounds that Dean was in trouble. The war between obeying Dean orders and protecting his brother made the blood pound so hard in his ears he doubted he would actually be able to hear anything. Running his hands through his hair in distress Sam frowned he felt two nubs of smooth lumps between the brown locks. They were no thicker around then Sam thumb less than a quarter inch tall. They weren't painful just weird and if he hadn't been so freak out about what had just happened he would have rushed to a the bathroom mirror to examine them. Twenty minutes later he had finally collected the courage to venture out of the closet. Tring to wipe the tear tracks off his cheeks he reached up to grasp the door knob to creep out of the dark. However he never got the chance. The door swung outward and someone grabbed Sam forearm firmly and pulling him to his feet and into the light.

"Heya Sammy, I think I might have overreacted." Dean smiled his eyes a little shiny and shirt a little rumpled but no obvious injuries.

"Jerk," Sam said in relief.

Two weeks later, two of the best weeks of the boys lives, Dean woke in his little cot to a hand over his mouth. The hand was calloused and rough held tight against Dean's lips.

"Relax boy, you been here long enough. It's making you soft," the gravelly voice made Dean's wings curl in closer to his back as if that would protect them. Dean stopped struggling when he recognized the voice but he was as tense as a bow string. John Winchester released his grip on his oldest' s mouth when he knew he wouldn't yell. "It time to go. Grab your bag."

Dean didn't respond right away which caused John to raise a questioning brow and to study his son. In the months since he had seen him his oldest had grown both in height and muscle mass. John was no fool he knew there was a difference between a man who started training in the prime of his life to be in great shape and a scrappy fighter and he also knew they could never hope to gain the skills of the children trained from a young age to be the deadliest predators on the planet. His children were what hunted the things in the dark. Then there was Dean who wasn't even a human. John was no fool he knew in a straight fight he would lose now. Dean was no child. Unfortunately for Dean, John didn't fight fair. He knew Dean ultimate weakness. It wasn't even a battle. Gaze down Dean spoke.

"I like it here. Bobby's nice."

John fisted the front of Dean pajama shirt forcing them face to face.

"Listen boy you're a supernatural freak. Not a child. Do you really believe a man like Bobby wants to spend his hard-earned cash on some monster? He would toss you out the minute he realized what you are. Bobby been in this game longer than even I and he knows how to put down the inhuman." John smiled as he watched the small spark of defiance fade in his son eyes. "Besides there is a dark cloud hunting you. It has visited the last four towns you were in and scorched your name into the town squares. Everyone who as witnessed the evil had their eyes burned out of their scull. Do you want that to happen to Bobby?"

"No," answered Dean.

"No what?" growled John with a vicious shake that made Dean head snap around uncomfortably.

"No sir," Dean whispered.

John let go and stood walking toward the door and a life Dean he could not escape. Yet Dean still hadn't moved. So John used his failsafe.

"Sam's already in the car. I'm leaving in five minutes."

Dean was immediately on his feet and obeying John. It was much easier to get Dean in the car than it had been to get Sam in the car. John thought as he climbed into the impala rubbing at the red angry bite mark Sam had given him.

"JOHN WINCHESTER! You !%$&!" Bobby came running out of his house to ward the impala. "you let those boys go right now!" He cocked his shotgun as he dashed toward the car but John had stepped on the gas and the Impala fishtailed around and out of the Junkyard to fast for Bobby to follow.

"If I seen you again John, I am going to shoot you!" bellowed Bobby giving the promise as a parting gift to the monster.