I got to Bobby's and ran inside. He met me in the front room and I smiled and hugged him. It had been three months since I'd seen Bobby.
"Any more phone calls?" I asked.
"Nope. You?"
"None. It's weird. Usually they're pretty persistent. I wonder if Sam is getting them."
"No way of knowing. Look's like we're by ourselves on this one. But you need rest. You've been on the road all day."
"Fine. I'll fix us some breakfast in the morning. Goodnight Bobby."
The next morning I was cooking breakfast in the kitchen while Bobby tried to trace the number that had called us. So far all he'd come up with was a phone booth in Illinois. There was a knock on the door and I looked up and Bobby stood to get it. I turned and continued cooking the eggs.
"Surprise," I heard a voice say from the doorway. My eyes widened and I turned to see him standing on the porch. Dean looked from Bobby to me and smiled.
"I, I don't…" Bobby started and I dropped the pan I was holding.
"Yeah, me neither," Dean said walking past Bobby and towards me. "But here I am."
Dean didn't get far before Bobby lunged towards him with a silver knife. I grabbed my gun and aimed for the newcomer but he was wrestling with Bobby.
"Bobby! It's me!" he yelled.
"My ass!" Bobby called back. Dean grabbed a chair from the table and shoved it between him and Bobby and held a hand out towards me.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! Your name is Robert Steven Singer. You became a hunter after your wife got possessed, and.. you're about the closest thing I have to a father. Red, please, it's me."
"Dean?" My voice quivered and I lowered my gun. He relaxed and turned to me.
"It's me, Robin," he said gently walking towards me. I saw Bobby move out of the corner of my eye but Dean did too.
Dean grabbed Bobby and twisted the knife from his grasp.
"I am no a shapeshifter!" Dean said.
"Then you're a Revenant!" Bobby growled back.
"Alright. If I was either, could I do this with a silver knife?" Dean asked pulling his sleeve up and cutting across his arm. Blood ran down his arm and I looked over at Bobby wide eyed.
"Dean?"
"That's what I've been trying to tell you," Dean said stepping towards Bobby. Bobby grabbed Dean in a hug and I set my gun down leaning against the counter in shock.
"It's… it's good to see you, boy," Bobby said.
"Yeah, you too."
"But.. how did you bust out?"
"I don't know. I just," Dean turned to look back at me. "I just woke up in a pine box…" Dean turned back to Bobby and when he did Bobby splashed him with holy water. Dean paused stiff before spitting the water from his mouth and looking back at Bobby. "I'm not a demon either, you know."
"Sorry. Can't be too careful." Dean turned from Bobby back towards me.
He had barely taken a step towards me when I flew into his arms and held him tight. I shook and held my eyes shut to keep the tears back.
"Hey, it's okay, Red. I'm here." He held me to him and kissed the top of my head.
"Don't you ever do that again, Winchester," I said against his chest.
"I won't," he promised and a drop of water fell on my cheek and I realized he was still soaked in holy water.
"Let me get you a towel," I said pulling away. I fumbled for a towel in a drawer and handed him one. He grinned at me and winked and I nearly fell over.
"So, you just woke up?" Bobby said reminding me that he was still present.
"Yeah."
"But… that don't make a lick of sense." Bobby led us into the study.
"Yeah, you're preaching to the choir," Dean said wiping his face dry.
"Dean. Your chest was ribbons," Bobby continued. "Your insides were slop. And you've been buried four months. Even if you could slip out of hell and back into your meat suit-"
"I know, I should look like a Thriller video reject."
"What do you remember?"
"Not much. I remember I was a Hellhound's chew toy, and then… lights out. Then I come to six feet under, that was it." I sat down on the couch. "Sam's number's not working. He's, uh.. he's not…"
"Oh, he's alive. As far as I know."
"Good… wait, what do you mean, as far as you know?" Dean asked and looked between Bobby and me.
"We haven't talked to him in months," Bobby said.
"You're kidding, you just let him go off by himself?"
"He was dead set on it."
"Bobby, you should've been looking after him," Dean said and I felt the guilt rise up.
"We tried," I said taking some of the blame from Bobby.
"These last months haven't been exactly easy, you know," Bobby scolded. "For any of us. We had to bury you."
"Why did you bury me, anyway?"
"I wanted you salted and burned. Usual drill. But… Sam and Red wouldn't have it," Bobby said glancing at me.
"Well, I'm glad you won that one," Dean said to me.
"Sam said you'd need a body when he got you back home somehow," Bobby interrupted. "That's about all he said." I looked down.
"What do you mean?" Dean asked suspicious.
"He was quiet. Real quiet. And then he just took off. Wouldn't return our calls. We tried to find him, but he didn't want to be found."
"Oh, dammit, Sammy," Dean groaned bringing a hand to his forehead.
"What?"
"Oh, he got me home okay. But whatever he did, it was bad mojo."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"You should have seen the grave site. It was like a nuke went off. And then there was this… this force, this presence, I don't know, but it, it blew past me at a fill-up joint. And then this," Dean said pulling his jacket off and his sleeve up revealing a hand print burned into his upper arm. Bobby and I stood and I approached Dean looking over the print.
"What in the hell?" Bobby said.
"It was like a demon just yanked me out. Or rode me out."
"But why?"
"To hold up their end of the bargain."
"You think Sam made a deal?" Bobby asked and I looked down. How had Sam gotten them to trade?
"It's what I would have done," Dean answered. "I need to borrow the phone."
Dean called the phone company Sam used and got them to turn Sam's GPS on and then Dean got on the computer to track him.
"Sam's in Pontiac, Illinois," Dean said.
"Right near where you were planted," Bobby realized.
"Right where I popped up. Hell of a coincidence, don't you think?"
"I'll get the car ready." Bobby left the house and I stood from the couch.
"Robin, what is it?" Dean asked.
"What?"
"You've been quiet. And you seem uncomfortable."
"Dean, you've been dead for four months. Like Bobby said, these past few months haven't been easy." Dean stood and walked over to me.
"What'd you do? Stay here and help Bobby with hunts? Or, I mean, did you keep hunting?"
"I kept hunting," I started. "But I wasn't here. Actually I just got back here last night after you called me. I was in class."
"Class?" Dean raised an eyebrow.
"I moved to Alabama. Went to college down there. But I kept hunting too."
"You went to college? Sounds like life without me wasn't so bad."
"Dean, don't start," I snapped.
"What? You meet you a nice fraternity guy too?"
"I was miserable, Dean. I had one friend and she couldn't ever possibly fill the void you left. Or Sam. I had Bobby and that was it! So, if you want to be pissed that I wasn't crying over your grave everyday go ahead. But, I might as well have been."
"I'm sorry," Dean said softly. "You're right, I don't even know why it bothers me."
"We just need to find, Sam," I said and turned to leave but Dean stopped me.
"Hey, I just returned from a tour in Hell and I don't get a welcome home kiss?" he smirked. I gave him one back.
"We need to find Sam. Then we'll talk." I walked off going to pack my stuff and left Dean standing rejected downstairs.
We took Bobby's car to Illinois and I climbed in the backseat with Dean in front with Bobby. We had been driving for a few hours when my phone started ringing. I looked to see it was Hannah. I ignored it and she called back.
"You need to get that?" Dean asked frustrated by my ringing phone. I silenced it and ignored the call. Bobby was looking at me through the rearview.
"I'll deal with it later," I said.
Sam was in a dingy motel in Pontiac. We walked down the hallway to the room 207 and Dean knocked on the door. A brunette woman answered the door in a tank top and underwear. We all looked back confused.
"So where is it?" she asked.
"Where's what?" Dean asked.
"The pizza.. that takes a friggin army to deliver?"
"I think we got the wrong room."
"Hey, is…" a voice said and Sam stepped into our view. He stopped and looked straight at Dean with wide eyes. His eyes flicked between the three of us and he swallowed.
"Heya, Sammy," Dean said quietly. Sam didn't reply and his breathing increased.
Dean stepped into the room towards his brother. Suddenly, Sam pulled a knife out and lunged at his brother. Bobby and I raced forward to pull the two apart who were now grappling against the wall for control of the knife. Bobby pulled Sam back and I stood between them holding my hand out towards Sam.
"Who are you?" Sam yelled.
"Like you didn't do this?" Dean spat back.
"Do what?"
"It's him," Bobby spoke to Sam. "It's him. I've been through this already. It's really him."
Sam's eyes shot to me and I nodded. He slowly relaxed and looked up at Dean.
"What…"
"I know. I look fantastic, huh?" Dean said walking towards him.
Bobby let Sam go and Sam was on the verge of tears as he looked back at Dean. He stepped forward and pulled his brother into a tight embrace and I looked on with Bobby happy we were finally all together again. Sam pulled back and looked at Dean and nodded.
"So are you two like… together?" the unknown woman asked.
"What?" Sam said turning to her like he just remembered she was there. "No. No. He's my brother."
"Uh… got it. I … I guess. Look, I should probably go," she said gesturing to the door.
"Yeah. Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Sorry," Sam said.
She walked off to get dressed and collect her things and Sam started pulling on clothes since he was only wearing jeans and an under shirt having just gotten out of the shower.
I stood against the mini bar next to Dean while we waited. Bobby sat at the table near us. Sam led the woman to the door and let her out.
"So, call me," she said turning back to Sam.
"Yeah. Yeah, sure thing, Kathy."
"Kristy," she replied disappointed to Sam.
"Right," he said quickly. Sam shut the door and turned to us. He sat on the edge of the bed and started pulling his boots on.
"So tell me, what'd it cost?" Dean asked getting to business.
"The girl? I don't pay, Dean," Sam said with a smile. I narrowed my eyes wondering how messed up my best friend truly was now.
"That's not funny, Sam. To bring me back. What'd it cost? Was it your soul, or was it something worse?"
"You think I made a deal?"
"That's exactly what we think," Bobby interjected.
"Well, I didn't."
"Don't lie to me," Dean spoke.
"I'm not lying."
"So what now," Dean said pushing off the counter and stepping towards Sam. "I'm off the hook and you're on, is that it? You're some demon's bitch-boy? I didn't want to be saved like this."
"Look, Dean," Sam said standing. "I wish I had done it, all right?" Dean grabbed Sam by the front of his shirt.
"There's no other way that this could have gone down. Now tell the truth!"
"Dean!" I said stepping forward. Sam knocked Dean's arms away.
"I tried everything. That's the truth. I tried opening the Devil's Gate. Hell, I tried to bargain, Dean, but no demon would deal, all right?" Dean didn't look like he believed Sam for a second.
"He's telling the truth, Dean," I said. Dean looked over at me and then back to Sam ignoring me. "The crossroad demon's weren't making deals to bring you back." Dean paused and looked over at me. Bobby did too. Sam already knew so he didn't act surprised.
"You were rotting in Hell for months," Sam said bringing Dean's attention back to him. "For months, and I couldn't stop it. So I'm sorry it wasn't me, all right? Dean, I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Sammy," Dean said quieter. "You don't have to apologize, I believe you."
"Don't get me wrong," Bobby started. "I'm glad hat Sam's soul remains intact, but it does raise a sticky question."
"If he didn't pull me out, then what did?"
"So what were you doing around here if you weren't digging me out of my grave?" Dean asked after we'd all calmed and sat down for a beer.
"Well, once I figured out I couldn't save you, I started hunting down Lilith, trying to get some payback."
"All by yourself?" Bobby asked. "Who do you think you are, your old man?"
"Uh, yeah, I'm sorry, Bobby. I should have called. I was pretty messed up." Dean walked over next to Sam and picked up a pink bra.
"Oh yeah. I really feel your pain."
"Anyways, uh," Sam ignored his brother. "I was checking these demons out of Tennessee, and out of nowhere they took a hard left, booked up here."
"When?" Dean asked.
"Yesterday morning."
"When I busted out."
"You think these demons are here cause of you?" Bobby asked.
"But why?" Sam wondered.
"Well, I don't know. Some badass demon drags me out and now this? It's gotta be connected somehow."
"How you feelin', anyway?" Bobby asked and I looked to Dean for his answer.
"I'm a little hungry."
"No, I mean, do you feel like yourself? Anything strange or different?"
"Or demonic? Bobby, how many times do I have to prove I'm me?"
"Yeah. Well, listen. No demon's letting you loose out of the goodness of their hearts. They've gotta have something nasty planned."
"Well, I feel fine."
"Okay, look," Sam said. "We don't know what they're planning. We got a pile of questions and no shovel. We need help."
"I know a psychic," Bobby said. "A few hours from here. Something this big, maybe she's heard the other side talking."
"Hell yeah," Dean agreed. "Worth a shot."
"I'll be right back." Bobby left and we stood.
"Hey, wait," Sam said stopping his brother. "You probably want this back." Sam reached into his collar and pulled out the amulet Dean always wore around his neck. He handed it to Dean.
"Thanks," Dean spoke.
"Yeah, don't mention it." Dean slipped the necklace around his neck. "Hey Dean, what was it like?"
"What, Hell? I don't know, I, I must have blacked it out. I don't remember a damn thing," Dean answered his brother. I didn't believe a word of it though.
"Well, thank God for that," Sam said.
"Yeah."
We headed to the psychic Bobby knew about four hours away. Bobby took his car but I rode with the boys in the Impala. I slid into the backseat and sunk into it blissfully.
Dean was three times as gleeful as me about returning to the car. He sat in the front seat and stared at the dash like it was his one true love. I smiled at him happy to see the two reunited. Dean's eyes landed on the iPod jack on the dash and his face fell.
"What the hell is that?" he asked Samy.
"That's an iPod jack," Sam answered.
"You were supposed to take care of her, not douche her up."
"Dean, I thought it was my car."
Dean sneered and turned the key. When he did music from the iPod started to play and Dean paused staring at it horrified.
"Really?" he asked his brother. Sam shrugged and Dean ripped the iPod out and threw it in the back with me.
An hour into the drive I was laying across the backseat with Dean's jacket pulled over me. I was the happiest I'd been in months. I breathed in the smell of the leather seat and jacket and let out a content sigh.
"You okay back there, Robin?" Dean asked teasing.
"I'm great," I replied.
"There's still one thing that's bothering me," Dean said to Sam.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, the night that I bit it. Or…got bit. How'd you make it out? I though Lilith was going to kill you both."
"Sam scared her off," I said sitting up.
"What?"
"She tried to kill me," Sam explained. "She couldn't."
"What do you mean, she couldn't?"
"She fired this, like, burning light at me, and… didn't leave a scratch. Like I was immune or something."
"Immune?"
"Yeah. I don't know who was more surprised, her or me. She left pretty fast after that."
"Huh. What about Ruby, where is she?"
"Dead. For now."
"So you've been using your, uh, freaky ESP stuff?"
"No."
"You sure about that? Well, I mean, now that you've got… immunity, whatever the hell that is… just wondering what other kind of weirdo crap you've got going on."
"Nothing, Dean. Look, you didn't want me to go down that road, so I didn't go down that road. It was practically your dying wish."
"Yeah, well, let's keep it that way."
"Bobby!" the psychic, Pamela, said opening the door to her house. She lifted Bobby off the ground in a hug and me and the boys shared a look.
"You're a sight for sore eyes," Bobby told her.
"So, these the boys?" Pamela said looking to Sam and Dean. I looked between the boys and Pamela waiting to be acknowledged.
"Sam, Dean, Red," Bobby said going down the line but I still didn't get a glance. "This is Pamela Barnes, best damn psychic in the state."
"Hey," Dean said flirting.
"Hi," Sam said.
"Great to meet you," I droned.
"Mmm-mmm-mmm. Dean Winchester. Out of the fire and back in the frying pan, huh? Makes you a rare individual," she said looking Dean up and down. My eyebrows furrowed and I shared a look with Bobby.
"If you say so."
"Come on in," she said stepping aside to let us into her home. We entered the house and she shut the door behind us.
"So, you hear anything?" Bobby asked.
"Well, Ouija'd my way through a dozen spirits. No one seems to know who broke your boy out, or why."
"So what's next?"
"A seance, I think. See if we can see who did the deed."
"You're not gonna… summon the damn thing here."
"No. I just want to get a sneak peek at it. Like a crystal ball without the crystal."
Pamela let us into a room with a table in the middle and started setting things up. She threw a cloth over the table and Bobby started closing the curtains.
"Ariel, dear, will you get some candles from the kitchen?" Pamela asked and I almost didn't respond since she had used my middle name. I looked at her curiously. "They're in the first cabinet."
I nodded and turned towards the kitchen. I shared a look with Sam who shrugged and I walked out. I opened up the cabinet and pulled out a basket of candles. I returned to see Pamela walk by Sam and Dean seductively.
"You're invited too, grumpy," she said to Sam and winked at Dean. She walked towards me.
"You are not invited," Dean hissed pointing to his brother.
I handed over the basket of candles and she smiled at me.
"Don't worry, chick. I don't stand a chance with you around."
We sat around the table with the candles lit in the middle being the only light.
"Right. Take each other's hands," Pamela said. I took Sam's hand in my right and Dean's in my left. "And I need to touch something our mystery monster touched." I saw Pamela's hand move under the table and Dean jump.
"Whoa," Dean said. "Well, he didn't touch me there." My grip tightened on Dean's hand and his thumb rubbed across mine absently.
"My mistake," Pamela said smiling at me. Dean released my hand so he could shed his jacket and roll his sleeve up revealing the handprint on his arm. He took my hand back and Pamela laid her hand on top of the handprint.
"Okay," Pamela said and we closed our eyes. "I invoke, conjure and command you, appear unto me before this circle," Pamela repeated. I could hear the TV turn on and fill with static. "Castiel?" Pamela said suddenly. "No. Sorry, Castiel, I don't scare easy."
"Castiel?" Dean asked.
"It's name, It's whispering to me, warning me to turn back. I conjure and command you, show me your face," she repeated and the table started to shake and the static became louder. Dean's grip tightened on my hand and I opened my eyes too look at the shaking table. I looked up and saw Bobby and the boys looking around too while Pamela continued.
"Maybe we should stop," Bobby said.
"I almost got it," Pamela argued and continued. The flames on the candles in the middle of the table shot up and Pamela let out a scream. I looked across the table at her and saw her eyes burst into white flames. Blood ran down her face as she screamed in agony.
Her screaming stopped and her eyes darkened again. The flames on the candles died down and the shaking and static stopped. Pamela fell from her chair and Bobby caught her.
"Call 911!" he said to us. Sam rushed from the room to call an ambulance and Dean and I ran over to Pamela and Bobby. Her eyelids were heavily burned. She opened them and I gasped stepping back. Her eyes were gone.
"I can't see!" she sobbed. " I can't see. Oh god!"
Bobby and I were at the hospital with Pamela. She was stabilized and taken out of the ICU but was now blind. I called the boys and gave them an update. The boys were headed back to Poniac and Bobby and I left Pamela to meet them.
We walked down the hall of the motel and paused when we heard the crashing. We exchanged a glance before running towards Sam and Dean's room where the noise was coming from.
I slammed into the door knocking it open and saw that all the glass, windows, mirrors, and even the shot glasses had busted. A high pitched noise was ringing in the air. Dean lay on the ground in the broken glass covering his ears which were bleeding.
"Dean!" I yelled and ran in. Bobby and I hoisted him up and helped him out of the room. As soon as we were by the car and away from the ringing noise we stopped. "Dean?"
"What?" he asked loudly. I feared for a second he may be deaf. "I can't hear you over the ringing." I nodded and pulled a rag from the car and started wiping the blood away.
"Where's Sam?" Bobby asked loudly.
"I don't know," Dean replied.
"Well, let's go find him," Bobby said getting in the car. I climbed in the back and Dean took the rag from me to clean the remaining blood from his face. Bobby pulled out of the parking lot. "How you doing, kid?"
"Aside from the church bells ringing in my head, peachy," Dean replied in a normal tone which meant he could probably hear again. Dean pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Sam's number.
"What are you doing?…. In my car?…. Well, uh, Bobby and Red are back. We're going to grab a beer." Bobby and I both looked at Dean curious but Dean held up a finger. "Done catch you later." Dean hung up.
"Why the hell didn't you tell him?"
"Because he just tried to stop us."
"From what?"
"Summoning this thing."
"What?" I asked.
"It's time we faced it head-on."
"You can't be serious!" Bobby said.
"As a heart attack. It's high noon, baby."
"Well, we don't know what it is. It could be a demon, it could be anything."
"That's why we've got to be ready for anything," Dean said and pulled out Ruby's knife. "We've got the big-time magic knife, you've got an arsenal in the trunk…"
"This is a bad idea."
"Yeah, I couldn't agree more, but what other choice do we have?"
"We could choose life."
"Bobby, whatever this is, whatever if wants, it's after me. That much we know, right? I've got no place to hide. I can either get caught with my pants down again, or we can make our stand."
"Dean, we could use Sam on this."
"Nah, he's better off where he is."
Bobby drove us out to an empty old barn. He handed me a book and a can of spray paint and I started helping him paint the symbols onto the walls and floor. Dean was standing at a table setting up our weapons.
"That's a hell of an art project you've got going there," Dean said once we were finished. The images filled every space we could reach.
"Traps and talismans from every faith on the globe. How you doing?" Bobby asked and I threw my spray can to the side and joined them.
"Stakes, iron, silver, salt, knife. I mean, we're pretty much set to catch and kill anything I've ever heard of."
"Except we've never heard of this," I said.
"This is still a bad idea," Bobby agreed.
"Yeah, Bobby, I heard you the first ten times. What do you say we ring the dinner bell?"
Bobby walked off to another table with the proper ingredients for the summoning spell and started the ritual. I stood near Dean with my shotgun. Bobby finished and nothing happened. We stood around ready for something to show up.
"It may take a while," Bobby finally said. I sighed and jumped up on the table to take a seat. Dean joined me and Bobby sat on the one across from us. After a while Bobby started to whistle.
"You sure you did the ritual right?" Dean asked. Bobby stared back at him blankly. "Sorry. Touchy, touchy." Dean kicked his boot against mine and we all jerked when the roof rattled. I grabbed my shotgun and we all stood facing the door with our guns. "Wishful thinking, but maybe it's just the wind."
The lights above us busted and I flinched as the sparks rained down on us. The doors across from us broke open and a man in a trench coat calmly walked in. The lights continued to burst as he walked towards us and we held our guns up towards him. Dean fired a shot at him hitting him in the chest but he was unfazed and continued to advance towards us. Bobby and I each fired a shot but it did nothing to slow the creature.
We shared a look and Dean grabbed the knife as the man came to stand in front of us.
"Who are you?" Dean asked.
"I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition," the man said smoothly.
"Yeah. Thanks for that," Dean said and plunged Ruby's knife into the mans chest. He looked down calmly and pulled it out and dropped it to the floor. Bobby raised an iron bar ready to smash him in the head with it. But, the man reached up and caught it as Bobby swung it without looking. He turned and touched Bobby's forehead dropping him to the ground instantly.
"Bobby!" I yelled running towards him. The man grabbed me and I saw his fingers come towards my forehead and I was out.