Holy bajeezus, it's been months! O.o I'm so sorry for the terribly long delay. Like I said on Golden Eyes, I don't really have much of an excuse except that time, and life, got away from me. I had most of this chapter done for, like...freaking ever, but I didn't want it to be so short even though it kinda had a good stopping point, so today I finally managed to finish the chapter XD It's still pretty short, only 2,000 words, but whatever. At least it's an update! :D

I want to thank all of you so much for reading and reviewing this story! You guys are epically awesome! And you keep this story going ;) Thanks so much!

Onward!

Chapter Twenty-Five: Bobby's

Bobby's first instinct, upon noticing the lack of Dean's heartbeat, was to throw a glare at Mick. "What did you do to him?" he snarled, careful not to let either of them out of his sight. How did he know this was the real Dean? What had Mick done? Mick was a twisted psycho with a sick sense of humor if this was supposed to be funny.

Now, Bobby was no doctor, but he knew that when someone was crushing someone to them in a tight embrace, they should have felt something. They should have felt the thud-thud which was always supposed to be present.

Except, Bobby hadn't. Not with Dean.

"Do you think this is funny?" Bobby growled, glaring at both of them. "What are you?"

"Bobby, it's me," Dean said, looking hurt. Ah, crap. Bobby didn't like seeing that expression on his face. If this was even Dean. "I know I'm…different now, but it's still me."

"What are you?" Bobby asked, then glared again at Mick. "What the hell did you do to him?"

Mick looked away. "It was an accident," he murmured before glancing at Dean.

If it was Dean.

'Dean' nodded. "Yeah, an accident." He stepped forward and Bobby stepped back, reaching for the silver knife he kept near the door in case of emergencies. "Bobby - I promise, it's - I'm me. I just…there was a reason I disappeared." He rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck. "Something…happened."

"No shit something happened," Bobby snapped. "What happened?" He rounded on Mick again. "What did you do?"

Bobby's first thought was 'demon'. Except he had protections in place - devil's traps painted under the welcome rug - and both Mick and Dean had made it past them.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to douse them in holy water.

"If you are Dean," Bobby said slowly, "then you know what I have to do."

'Dean' nodded quickly. "Of course. You need to test me." He paused. "I just…never mind."

Bobby narrowed his eyes at him. "If you are Dean, then you know where the holy water is."

"I do."

"Get it," Bobby challenged.

'Dean' nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. This would be interesting. Bobby only let the Winchesters know where he kept his stash of holy water.

Mick shifted his feet nervously. "He is still Dean," he told him. "He is."

Bobby glared at him once more. "I don't want to hear from you. There had better be a way to fix whatever you did."

Mick shook his head sadly. "There's not," he said quietly. "I wish there was - for both of us. But there's not."

"Just what did you do?"

Mick went quiet. "I think…that's for Dean to tell you. If he wants."

"If he wants?"

Mick shrugged and nodded.

Bobby glared at the PI…if that was even what he really was. Honestly, trust wasn't stretching very far these days, and Bobby was reeling back in what he'd already thrown out. Dean had no heart beat. A demon. No, not a demon. Hmm…Maybe a demon. A tricky one. Some demons could mask themselves pretty damn well. Maybe they'd learned to overcome devil's traps and everything.

Where was 'Dean' with that holy water?

As if on cue, 'Dean' emerged from the other room and held up a container. It looked ordinary from the outside - a water canteen, or a canteen of whisky perhaps - but Bobby knew better. He knew what his holy water was in.

And here it was.

'Dean' had found it.

It wasn't like Bobby was going to trust that, though. He'd been a hunter too damn long to slip up now. Even if he did want it to be Dean.

"Drink it," Bobby instructed because 'Dean' was just standing there as if he were waiting for directions.

Mick looked between the two of the. His brow creased in confusion. "Drink what?" he asked, frowning before he settled his gaze back on 'Dean'. 'Dean' simply rolled his eyes, unscrewed the top, and swallowed down a decent-sized gulp.

Bobby waited. 'Dean' made a face but, of course, it wasn't like holy water actually tasted great, so…yeah. He could see him making that face.

But he wasn't choking, or coughing, or…hell, anything. He just sighed and looked at Bobby again.

With Dean's eyes.

But Dean had a heartbeat because Dean was human.

And this…certainly wasn't.

But it looked like him, and damn it, Bobby wanted it to be him. Real bad.

"I'm not a demon," 'Dean' told him quietly.

"You're not Dean."

"I am. I'm just not…quite…human." A pause. "Anymore."

Mick was starting to look uneasy. Bobby tossed him another glare before he looked back at 'Dean'.

"Not human," he said slowly. "Not Dean."

'Dean' sighed heavily, looked at him with those familiar green eyes, and pleaded, "Bobby, please - it's me. I'm me. I'm not a demon, I'm - I'm just me. Dean. I'm Dean. Dad and Sammy know. They know." A pause. "Well…sorta."

" 'Sorta'?" Bobby scoffed. "John knows his son isn't-"

"Sir," Mick cut in quietly, and Bobby narrowed his eyes at him. "This is Dean. He's the same, just not…quite human. He's still the same."

"I am," Dean was quick to agree. "I still have a romantic tryst with my precious Impala, I still have an obsession with cars in general, I still stand by my statement of cheeseburgers being the food of the gods…I'm still me."

Bobby didn't want to admit it but he felt his mind beginning to dwindle. His resolve began to crumble. He wanted to believe this person. He wanted to believe they were Dean. He wanted to believe Dean was back, wasn't missing anymore, was actually here at his house, looking at him with those stupid green eyes…

But it was hard.

Because, as far as he could recall, Dean had a damn heartbeat.

He glared. "If you're Dean, then you will have no problem telling me the date."

'Dean' blinked. "The date?"

Bobby narrowed his eyes again. "The date."

It wasn't that hard. It was a date they'd all remembered - him, John, Sammy and Dean - in case something came along claiming to be them. They'd known the 'date'.

Green eyes went flat. "February 2nd. I was five. I'd just turned five."

Bobby felt a weight lift from his chest. "Dean?" he asked, still uncertain but he'd gotten the date right. And he'd passed the test. He sounded like Dean - looked like Dean. Talked like Dean.

If it looks like a duck…

"It's me," Dean said with a small smile. "It's me."

"What are you?"

"I'm, uh…well…it's kind of a long story."

"Boy, there's no such thing as a short story," Bobby told him, and Dean chuckled. It felt good to hear. When Dean moved forward this time, Bobby let him and didn't step back.

"I guess there's not." Dean glanced at Mick. "Um…go get Alex. I'll let you know when I'm ready."

Bobby wanted to ask what he was talking about, who Alex was and how he'd let Mick know, but he kept his mouth shut as the PI nodded and left the two of them alone.

Dean faced Bobby and spread his hands out wide. "I have nothing to hide from you, Bobby. What do you want to know?"

"A vampire?"

The skepticism in Bobby's voice was reassuring. Dean smiled and nodded, happy to have the elephant uncovered, so to speak. He knew he could tell Bobby. Sure, Bobby had been unsure at first, but that was to be expected seeing as how he was a hunter. He'd noticed Dean lacked a heartbeat and had reacted as any hunter would.

And better than a lot of them would have, too. Dean was sure that if it had been his father who had noticed, he would have been dead before he'd have a chance to explain. Dean wasn't sure why his father hadn't noticed his lack of a heartbeat, or why Sammy hadn't, but he didn't want to question his good luck on that part. Sure, now Sammy knew he was a vampire, but he wasn't sure how his brother would have reacted under different circumstances.

"Yep, that's it," Dean assured the older hunter. Mick was sitting on the other side of the room, if not a little awkwardly. Alex was seated at his side on Bobby's couch. Dean was currently sitting on a wooden chair he'd pulled in from the kitchen while Bobby sat in his armchair. "Though I'm far from Dracula."

Bobby sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. "And Mick did this?"

Dean didn't have to look at his sire to know his posture had stiffened further. He felt the touch of guilt swarm through his mind before Mick managed to seal off their bond. "Not deliberately. It was an accident." He shrugged.

"Uh huh." Bobby still seemed skeptical. At least he wasn't saying his suspicions out loud. It had been bad enough trying to defend Mick to his brother and father - he didn't want to have to do the same to Bobby as well.

Why couldn't people just believe him when he said Mick wasn't to blame? And how Mick wasn't a bad person just because he wasn't human?

Of course, hunters weren't really know to be big on 'believing'.

"And does…John know? Sam?" Bobby asked.

Dean hesitated then shook his head. Might as well tell him the truth. "I didn't tell them, no. Sammy knows, though. He, um…found out." Better to not go into details on the how just yet. "And Dad doesn't know."

Bobby seemed somewhat surprised.

"What?" Dean shrugged. "He's not as perceptive as you." He grinned.

Bobby shook his head. "Winchesters. Idjits, the lot of ya."

"Aw, I missed you too."

The older hunter scrubbed hand across his face. It looked like he hadn't shaved in a while. Bobby had never been exactly 'clean-shaven', but still…

"What's with the kid?"

Dean paused. "Not entirely sure. That's, um…where it gets kinda complicated."

And wasn't that the truth?

"That's where it gets complicated?" Bobby barked out a laugh. "Alright, boy. Lay it on me."

Dean grinned. That was why he loved talking to Bobby. There was nothing too 'out there' for him. "Well, what do you think about angels?"

He didn't have to have a bond with Bobby to notice the veil slide down over the older hunter's face, a lockdown of emotions. "Angels?" Bobby repeated slowly, eyes scanning over Dean's face like he thought he'd heard him wrong.

Yeah - angels." Dean laughed. "Well, turns out, they're real. I guess we can tell Sammy he was right about his whole 'better things' spiel."

Bobby hesitated and Dean knew there was a question he was dying to ask, but the old hunter just kept quiet and let Dean talk.

Hmm. Interesting. Dean wasn't entirely used to having people let him talk. Of course, it had been happening a lot more lately…hmm. Things to think about.

"So, this kid like…I don't know. Showed up in my room? I mean, I had protections down, you know? But there he was, plain as day, a little, erm…" He shot a quick glance at Alex, but the kid didn't seem upset, so he continued. "A little ghost in my room. Talking to me. Except that shouldn't have been possible with all the salt and protections. So the next day I did some researching and found something, well…odd."

"Odd?" Bobby echoed.

Dean nodded. "Mm, odd. Apparently there was a kid in the hospital, matching the description of the kid in my room, and he was asking for me by name."

"Name?"

"Yeah. Dean. But he'd never met me before in his life."

"So, then, how?"

"That's where the angels come in," Dean explained. "They apparently wanted us to find Alex, so they sent him to us - to me - via the ghost teleportation thingy I still don't quite understand. And they had him ask for me so when I showed up at the hospital, I was free to take him with me." He shrugged because, hell, he was still confused about that too. Confused about a lot of things really.

"But why would they want him to ask for you?"

"Dunno. Something about keeping him safe or something?"

"Safe?"

"Er, um…yeah. That's the other part."

"There's more?" Bobby sighed and scrubbed a hand across his grizzled face. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

Dean grinned. "There's always more."

"Alright - tell me. I'm an old man, I can take it."

The grin widened. "I'm sort of also being hunted by demons…"

Sooo there's the short chapter, but hey, at least it's an update :D I will try to update soon, but life is kinda...well, 'blech' right now, but I will try. Thanks for reading and please review!

~Muffy the Dough Slayer~