Hey everyone! So here's the next chapter. I've gone and got a beta, the wonderful geek. so I want to say a massive thank you to her for proof reading this and correcting my mistakes which I pretty sure were numerous.

As always I own nothing.

Enjoy :)

Chapter Twenty Six

Not So Happily Ever After

It took us two hours to reach Bobby's and the tension the whole way there rose perceptively to the point where it was almost painful to just be laid in Deans arms.

Sam was getting more and more miserable, Dad was getting angrier if his driving was anything to go by, I was getting more wired and Dean just looked sadder with every new injury he tried to take care of.

"Hey sweetheart, look at me will ya?" Dean asked with a frown after he'd been studying my puncture mark from the needle again.

"Yeah, sure, of course. What's up?" I asked, feeling like I was itchy from the inside, my pain had subsided and all I wanted to do was move, I was fed up of lying still, I'd been still for too long. Only Deans strong hands kept me still.

"Oh, B." Dean sighed at me.

"What's wrong D? Please don't be sad, I'm fine, it's stopped hurting as much. I'm good." I smiled wanting to lift my hands and stroke his face but his hands were restraints that I felt I didn't need anymore.

"I know you're not hurting sweetheart. You're high." Dean said to me.

"No, I'm not. I haven't been high since..." I glanced at my father, maybe admitting that I'd been high with the brothers wouldn't make any of this any easier. "I haven't ever been high. Say no to drugs and all of that." I just couldn't stop talking, everything seemed to speed up, my actions, my talking. Everything around me was in slow motion.

Dean frowned. "B, believe me, you're high."

"No, I'm not. Eve said she'd given me caffeine to keep me awake, that must be what it is." I argued confidently, surely I'd know if I was high. When I'd taken drugs before I'd just gotten really happy and a bit sleepy. The last thing I felt right now was sleepy.

"Well I think she's slipped some coke in there as well sweetheart, you're flying." Dean told me.

My heart sped up and I started to worry. Coke? Cocaine was bad, really bad. People had died from it, hadn't they?

"Hey, come on sweetheart, you'll be fine. I promise. Just need you to relax a bit and keep talking, drink as well. Don't worry I'll look out for ya." Dean's calm and soothing deep voice helped to relax me. He was right, I'd be fine. Dean wouldn't let me be hurt, he'd take care of me. And honestly, there aren't many people I'd trust to look after me when I'd been poisoned by an over dose of drugs, but Dean had a lot of experience in this area. Sam had as well, so I was in the right place with the right people.

"She's been drugged?" My dad growled out as he pulled into the scrap yard where Bobby lived.

"She'll be fine Charlie. We'll look after her." Sam soothed with the voice that always put victims that we dealt with at ease. But Charlie wasn't a victim, and he wouldn't ever be one if he could help it. I knew that much about my father.

"You two will take care of her? Is that right?" Dad muttered but didn't say anything else as he drove the twisting driveway that led to Bobby's large house.

As we pulled up outside of the house, the porch door opened with a slam and Bobby came out from the house, his face sombre and worried.

Sam got out and opened the back door for Dean and me. Charlie just sat watching the commotion, his eyes never once trying to find me. I tried to ignore the sting that caused.

"Bella?!" Bobby called as Dean carefully lifted me out of the car in his arms once again. "Shit! Dean get her inside now! Sam call nine, one, one. Why didn't you fools take her to the hospital? She not beaten up enough for you!?" Bobby shouted furiously. "How you doing girl? How bad does it hurt?" His tone softened as he spoke to me.

"It's not too bad thanks Bobby. I'm holding up okay, it's not their fault they didn't take me to the hospital, Dad didn't want me to go. How are you, you okay? Thanks for sending me help. I'd have been worse if ya didn't." I rushed out, glad to see the old man.

"She's higher than a Ozzy fan at his concert! What did you give her boy?!" Bobby growled at Dean as he carried me gently up the stairs to the main house.

"Nothing, Eve gave her a little something to make sure she was awake through everything." Dean said, his own voice matching Bobby's tone, his body tensing under mine. He was furious, and he'd been trying to stop it from showing, but here in this house that was his home he let it all go.

"Dammit!" Bobby groaned. "Here get her on the couch son." Dean blinked at Bobby's choice of word before nodding and placing me carefully on the old, sagging but comfy sofa. He was careful but still it caused all my injuries to make their presence known even through the drugs coursing through my system. I let out a scream, unable to stop myself, but everything hurt. Every part of me was in agony.

"Sam! Have you called a damn ambulance yet boy?" Bobby shouted at Sam, his voice loud over my whimpering. My screams had subsided.

Sam didn't have a chance to answer though, my dad answered for him. "I've got a friend on the way, she'll take care of Bella. You take her to a hospital, they'll find her quicker than you could find her again." Charlie said, his voice low, his shoulders tensed and a nerve in his jaw was working over time. Dad was beyond pissed, I just didn't know why and with whom.

"Charlie?" Bobby asked, looking relieved but also a bit wary.

"Bobby." Dad nodded once at the older hunter, his face still a mask of displeasure though. I couldn't figure out why. Bobby and my Dad were friends, right? Or close anyway.

"Bobby can you get me the first aid kit, B's lost enough blood. I wanna get some of those worse cuts stitched." Dean said, kneeling on the floor next to me and eyeing the cuts on my face which I could still feel bleeding. I hoped he didn't get to take my shirt off, because the damage there would hurt Dean even further. I could feel blood on my chest flowing even thicker and faster than on my face, and that had cause Dean enough pain.

"No. Wait for the nurse to get here." My dad said, his arms crossed as he watched Dean and me from the doorway.

"How long's she gonna be dude, cause Bella really can't lose anymore blood." Dean didn't even look at Charlie, just moved hair off of my face and gently stroked my head where there were no injuries.

"She'll be a couple of hours yet. But I really don't think you should be doing any first aid on my daughter." Dad's voice could have frozen hell over itself, it was that cold.

I loved and respected my dad as much as I could given recent events, but I wasn't going to stand for him speaking to any of the men like that. They'd done nothing but look out for me and take care of me, well most of the time anyway. I opened my mouth to defend Dean but he got there first. "Who d'ya think's been fixing her up while you've been away Charlie? And my stitching's just fine, I'm even thinking of taking up embroidery." Dean tried to joke.

"Not on my face you aren't. I don't wanna look like a patch work quilt gone wrong thanks. It's bad enough I'm gonna look like Frankenstein's monster." I teased, smiling at Dean even though it hurt.

"I don't care who's been doing what. But now I'm here and I don't want Bella being touched by anyone who's not qualified." Dad insisted.

"Then let us take her to a damn hospital! That's what we wanted to do anyway! I'll make sure nothing gets her, I won't leave her side." Dean snapped back, his head whipping away from me to face Charlie.

"Like hell you won't! She's my daughter and I'll say what's best for her!" Dad was starting to raise his voice now, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.

"So you're wanting to play the doting father now? Where the hell have you been for the last seven months Charlie? Nowhere! So whose been taking care of your daughter? Sam, Bobby and me! That's who! And I'll be damned if I stop now just cause you tell me too. Bobby where the hell is that first aid kit!" Deans voice rose in reply to my fathers and his breathing was harder. His anger was at an all time high now. It was strange having this conversation for what felt like the second time, after shifter Charlie, but now I've got my real dad's actions and responses, instead of some impostor's.

"I didn't ask you to did I?! John and I had a deal! He was suppose to protect her from all this if I couldn't! He was to make sure she stayed safe and had some money, that was it! How the hell was I to know that your daddy wasn't gonna be around, and that you two morons would actually take her with you!?

Yeah, I haven't been there, I've been a shit father! And I did it to hunt down the bitch who was hunting my baby down. I got fucking stuck being tortured in some dive with her and couldn't get to my daughter. The one I thought was at home safe and sound!

You might have been looking after her, but she's still my responsibility! She's still my kid! And she will be taken care of like I want her to! I'm not having another one of her loser boyfriends thinking he knows what's best for her! I do! Got that? And you have no fucking right telling me that I don't. No fucking right taking her!" Charlie was basically screaming now. But Dean wasn't to be out done.

Dean stood up and moved so that he was still stood next to me. "I had no fucking right?! You've got to be kidding me! What you wanted us to leave Bella there, all alone? With the vampire boyfriend who tried to rape her? Or the demons that attacked her?

And then when we tried to find you, you wanted us to just leave her clueless, unprotected? Hell no! We did what we did for the best Charlie. And you should see that. Hell, if nothing was going on between B and me you would think I'd done the best I fucking could in the circumstances! Put your prejudice aside for a minute and see that!" Deans voice hadn't risen in response. His voice was even, under control, but I knew him and I could hear just how much loathing he had for Charlie under the surface.

"Stop it!" I called out as dad opened his mouth once more. "You're both talking about me like I'm not even here!"

"Bella..." My dad started saying but I cut over him.

"No listen to me for a minute please! Sam, Dean and Bobby have been looking out for me for months now. They all tried talking me out of being a hunter but I wouldn't take no for an answer. So they did what I asked them to do, what I wanted them to do. None of this is their fault, none of it. If you have to blame someone then blame me, but right now let's just leave it 'kay?" I took a deep breath before facing Dean. "If I need stitching then stitch me. But do not mess up my pretty face." I smirked.

"First aid kit's in the desk drawer Dean." Bobby muttered with a frown etched into his face. "Charlie, we need to sort you out as well, let's go in the kitchen. I've got another kit in there and some drinks too." Charlie glared at Bobby before looking at me and sighing, he nodded to Bobby and followed him into the kitchen.

~0~

Charlie's P.O.V.

I sat down in Bobby's kitchen. It was small and messy, but it was still clean and functional. As well as that I could see some homely touches, and some bits that just screamed that they'd been done by Bella.

"Here, drink that before I start playing surgeon, I don't want you passing out on me do I?" Bobby put a beer down on the tiny table in front of me from the fridge. I sighed but opened it and savoured the feel of the liquor travelling down my dry throat and warming my stomach.

"You wanna talk about it?" Bobby asked me as he sat opposite me with his own beer. The years hadn't been kind to Bobby; he'd put on some pounds since I'd last seen him, his muscle slowly turning to fat and he had more lines than a man his age had any right having.

I sighed again, no, I really didn't want to talk about it. What was there to talk about? The fact that these men had turned my little girl into a hunter? That she'd changed so much in seven months that I barely recognised her? Or that I was angry and upset to find that I was losing her, if I hadn't lost her already.

"They really have been looking out for her Charlie, not that she needs it much. You raised one hell of a girl there." Bobby told me what I already knew.

I nodded. "You should've seen the way she kept her head back there, she just kept on saying no, didn't matter what they threw at her." I said, the pride I felt obvious in my voice.

"Wouldn't have expected anything else. She's a tough nut." Bobby agreed with a soft smile. It was plain to see that he cared for Bells almost as much as I did. But that still didn't make it okay.

"She is, she's always been. But she's also still just a kid Bobby and she isn't cut out for this." I protested, this wasn't her life, and it shouldn't ever be her life. Bells was made for other things, for better things than the pain and heartache that this life always led to. She was already tougher than I could take, hardened from just months of this. Any longer and she wouldn't be the sweet, kind, even tempered Bella that I'd raised. She'd be a world wary hunter, and although I was relieved that she could take care of herself I didn't want that for her. Hell what parent would? Even John hadn't wanted that for his kids, he'd just had no other choice, that's why he'd made the deal with me, or part of the reason why anyway.

"She ain't a kid anymore Charlie, you saw that today. She's a twenty year old woman now. And as for ain't cut out for this life? She could rival you now, old man. She's a natural and she enjoys it. Before you lay down the law, talk to her. I'm not trying to tell you how to parent. I mean hell, how would I know? But I don't wanna see you two mad at each other, you're family. And family should stick together.

But Charlie you should also know, she's family to those boys now, and to me. We ain't gonna see her go without a fight of our own. Just think on it." Bobby finished his speech and downed his beer before fetching another first aid kit from under the sink. Silence surrounding us, obviously to let me think about what had just been said.

~0~

B.P.O.V.

"Sam hold her." Dean ordered his little brother, after he'd fetched the first aid kit and finished threading the needle with a thick black thread.

"I can hold still while you sew me back up D, I've done it before." I told the beautiful hunter with an eye roll.

"Sweetheart, I can't give you anything to make this any easier, you've got more crap in your system than the drummer from Metallica. And if you move then you'll mess up my handy work." Dean told me with an attempt at a smirk, but I could see that he really didn't want to do this without any anaesthetic.

"Hey, I managed to go through all of this without anything. I'll be fine." I smiled at my hunter, feeling releaved as my heart, although still beating fast, had slowed down from it's original manic tempo.

"Still, I'd feel better if you were restrained." Dean frowned at Sam who hadn't moved from Bobby's desk, he was still refusing to look or talk to either of us.

"Kinky." I replied to Dean, smiling as I watched his face go thoughtful for a second.

"When you're better sweetheart." Dean whispered to me with hope in his eyes.

"The sooner the better D, that's the only reason Eve still wants me." I said, thinking that there were defiantly worse ways to get an evil, soul sucking bitch off your case.

"Huh?" Dean asked me with a frown as he came and knelt by my side. Sam finally got off the desk and came to kneel by me as well. Still refusing to look at either of us though, his hands must have been really damn interesting.

"She can't use me if I'm not still 'pure'." I explained to Dean while raising my eyebrows so he got what I meant.

"Son of a bitch, if I'd have know that..." Dean muttered looking frustrated and a bit angry, as well as the smallest bit lustful.

"Well you do now." I smirked at him.

"When your better baby girl." Dean smiled at me, his eyes soft and making my stomach pool with warmth. He really had to be the sexiest man on the planet. But something was hidden behind his eyes, some emotion or thought that he didn't want me to see. That was Dean, always holding something back, never putting it all out there, even with me. He was honest, and he'd talk to me, open up partly to me, but he'd never give it all up. He always held something back for himself.

"So how did it go?" I asked as Dean nudged Sam. Sam sat up and gently placed his hands on uninjured parts of me so that I couldn't move and Dean started stitching me, slowly and carefully, his face full of concentration, which I was very glad of.

"How did what go sweetheart?" Dean asked, burning pain travelling down my face and making me wince. This was a hell of a lot worse when you weren't drunk.

"Lucifer." I stated, one word that made both Winchesters flinch. "That bad?"

"We were too late." Dean muttered, his face closing down on me and becoming a hard mask that he hadn't used with me since we'd been reunited.

"It was my fault. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Sam said, his voice sincere and broken.

"Save it Sam." Dean replied, defeat and betrayal clear on his face. "Not the time." Sam just nodded and went back to staring at his hands. He looked heartbroken and sick with himself.

I knew that feeling and I knew that look, it sucked. It felt like nothing was ever gonna be right again, like you were the biggest burden in the world and that you were the biggest screw up. The only difference was Sam had a point. The guy had just released Lucifer on the world. Like we didn't have enough to be worried about, now we were gonna have to face the devil himself.

"So, Lucifer. That's a new one." I said trying my hardest to keep still as I spoke but the stitches were really starting to sting now.

"I think we need to take care of Eve first. Painfully." Dean muttered his face dark and his eyes burning with fury.

"Only problem with that one is, we don't know how and she's got the whole supernatural army thing going for her." I replied, flinching as Dean started stitching up my cheek this time.

"Hold still sweetheart, I'm almost finished." Dean muttered before addressing my issue with hunting down Eve and killing her. "We will find a way. I promise you. And it will be slow and painful and we'll drag it out."

"As long as I get to watch." I replied angrily, a lot of the problems I'd faced over the past few months had been down to that bitch. And being tortured was just the icing on the cake. I wanted to watch her suffer, a side of me that I hadn't thought I'd possessed.

"Ring side seats." Dean promised before placing a gentle kiss on my burning face. "All done sweetheart." As soon as the words were out of his mouth Sam stood up and left the room.

I exchanged a long look with Dean before speaking again. "How you both holding up?" I asked gently, reaching out my left hand and stroking his beautiful but tired face.

"Honestly? I don't know. I'm trying, I am. But how do I forgive him, how do I forget? He really fucked up this time B." Deans voice was low and full of pain for his little brother.

"You just got to remember D, Sammy was doing what he thought was best. He thought he was saving the world. You and me, we might have done the same thing in his situation." I told Dean while looking into his amazing eyes, my hand still resting on his cheek.

"Yeah? How was leaving you to die the right thing? My brother, Sam, he would never do that. He wouldn't do that to some stranger, let alone you. That wasn't him, they weren't his actions. He did that because of that demon bitch, and he still didn't see that listening to her was wrong! He fucked up B. I don't know how to get past that." Dean was hurt, I could see that. And I wanted nothing more than to take the pain away, but I couldn't, there was nothing I could do except carry on talking.

"You have to get past it D. He's your brother. And yeah, okay, right now I'm not exactly on his cheering squad, but I know I'll forgive him, I'll get past it. And if I can, then so can you." I said stroking his face.

"I'm not exactly on my own cheering squad either. I messed up, and I'm sorry. And I'll carry on proving that to you, to both of you. Here thought you might want a drink." Sam spoke up, stepping further into the room, making Dean and me both whip round and face him. He'd brought back three beers, he'd been trying to look out for us again. Sam placed them on the floor next to Dean before walking away again, his eyes full of unshed tears. At the door he stopped and faced us once more.

"I'm sorry Bells, if I could take it back... If I could do it differently... But I can't." And with that, he carried on walking out of the room.