Days without the boys were rare for Bobby. But today, he had them out running in the woods, trying to figure out his booby traps and how to avoid them. So, today he was going to put his feet up and relax and enjoy the day. No work. No Winchesters. No hunting. Just watching the television and relaxing.
He sought his recliner and had the newspaper in his hand and was just leaning back and propping his feet up on the ottoman when there was a knock on his door. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply, it never stopped. Ever since those Winchesters had come to live with him, he never got a moments peace.
Standing on his porch were two weary looking mothers. Anna and Sarah had done well by not coming and checking on the boys as often as they would have liked, and they each refrained from calling their boys every single day, instead they let the boys call them on their own terms. So, when he saw the two women standing there looking at him worriedly he couldn't find an ounce of surprise in his whole body.
"Anna, Sarah. What a surprise."
"I hope it is okay that we came Bobby." Anna said. "We really miss our children and wanted to come visit them." She tried to look around Bobby. "Are they here?" she asked.
"Come on in." Bobby said and opened the door wide for the two women. "The boys are out training. They will be back by supper time. Dean is very insistent that supper always be in the equation somehow." Anna laughed and the laugh held relief like it usually held joy.
"That is my Dean." Bobby looked at the two women skeptically. The silence in the room was oppressive and the two women glanced at each other from time to time trying to figure out what to say to the man that, for so many years, they had spoken to without any hesitation or worry. Bobby Singer had been their go to guy for everything supernatural, and he helped them take care of their boys, but now that he was their soul provider they both felt out of place and unwanted in their son's new lives.
"The boys have been complaining about my cooking." He admitted. "I think that they could use some decent food in their stomachs. They will be home by dusk if you want to stay and fix dinner." Bobby offered. Both women relaxed immediately.
"That would be perfect. I could make Sam his favorite. Grilled chicken and rice." Sarah said.
"I'll make Dean lasagna." Bobby grinned inwardly at their sudden ease. Mothers went straight for the kitchen and assessed the cupboards and when they decided that there wasn't the right things for the meals they wished to prepare for their sons they waved a quick good bye and went in search of a grocery store.
Taking a nap hadn't exactly been in the plan when the women left, but apparently it had worked its way there, and when he woke he was surprised to find that Anna and Sarah had been shopping, come back, and were preparing meals as they quietly spoke in the kitchen.
Listening to them, he found himself a little worried about their reunions with their children. Sam and Dean had done a lot of growing up in the month and a half they had been under Bobby's tutelage.
Bobby didn't have a great deal of time to worry about the reunions because he heard Sam and Dean loudly talking and laughing. When it came to hunting the boys, as Bobby was so fondly beginning to call them, could be so quiet that you didn't hear them until they were right on your shoulder, right at your ear with a gun pointed to your head, but when they weren't hunting, when they were just being boys, they were loud and raucous and completely unable to surprise anyone with their presence. The door flew open and the talking became clear and louder.
"I still so cannot believe that you went to a private school dude."
"I did. Tie, blazer the whole nine yards."
"I bet you looked like such a dwebe." Dean laughed. Both boys stopped, went ramrod straight, and Bobby was positive he saw Dean's hand go to the small of his back where he kept the gun that Bobby gave him a couple of weeks after they had arrived.
"Dean!"
"Sam!" Female voices yelled. Pots were abandoned, and the two mothers rushed out of the kitchen to greet their sons. When Dean saw his mother, his body relaxed, his hand moved away from the gun and he smiled. Bobby was amazed at how well the boy had taken to his training, ALL of his training. Dangerous one minute, innocent the next. Dean was a natural at the people part of the job, while Sam was a natural at the research and lore end of the deal. Together the two of them were going to be a formidable pair.
Sam and Dean threw their arms around their diminutive mothers and squeezed them tight. Anna pulled out of her son's hug and took him all in. He was much tanner than he had been when she last saw him, wasn't wearing his glasses, he needed a shave, and he was much more muscular than he had been when she left him. Sarah looked at Anna after she too pulled away from her son, and both mothers knew right then that they had lost their babies, that they had lost the boys that they raised, hunters had taken their places.
"Is that lasagna I smell?" Dean asked and moved away from his mother and towards the kitchen.
"Yes it is." Anna said with a smile. Dean opened the oven door and went for a fork. He was hit over the head with a pot holder and he jumped.
"Mom! Why'd you do that?"
"You were not raised in a barn. You do not just open the oven door and eat out of the pan. Get up stairs and clean up. You are not coming to dinner that filthy. What did you do all day? Waller in the mud?" she asked indicating his shirt and hair.
"If Bobby thought for a second that there might be a mud spirit that we would have to waller in the mud to banish, yeah, we would be rolling around in the mud."
"Go. Now. Wash up. Change those clothes. You are a disgrace." She said playfully. Dean smiled and rolled his eyes.
"Come on Sammy, our mother's are banishing us until we are clean."
"No. Your mom banished you. I'm okay." He said with a smirk. Sarah reached and hit her son with the spatula that was in her hand. "Owww! Mom!" he said rubbing the spot on his arm.
"Go. Just because I didn't say it doesn't mean that you shouldn't follow the same directions. You are filthy. Go. Shave while you are up there. You are a ragamuffin. I did not raise you to look like you were a homeless man. Go!" Sam, thoroughly chastised turned to his brother who was smirking and hit him hard on the chest.
"Shut up." Sam said and moved past him and headed up the stairs. Laughter and sounds of punching came to the ears of the adults as the boys moved upstairs and out of sight.
Playfulness that had inhabited both women just moments ago vanished and they each turned a worried set of eyes to Bobby.
"Are they really okay?"
"They are fine Anna.'
"Why does Dean carry a gun in his jeans?"
"Protection."
"Protection from what?"
"Whatever may come this way and harm him or his brother."
"Sam looks….different." Sarah said twisting the spatula in her hands.
"He's grown." Bobby said. "That boy grew another two inches. He had to go out and buy new jeans. Loves to mock Dean. Dean is definitely the shorter of the two now." Bobby laughed.
"They look alike." Anna said softly.
"That they do."
"Dean's hair is too short."
"He wanted it shaved to almost nothing. But Sam convinced him that he would look like an idiot."
"He has never…even when he was younger…he never wanted hair that short. We argued once about him having long hair….I just never…when the boys at school shaved their heads for team spirit, Dean never did. But…"
"He's growing up Anna."
"He's changing into someone I don't know." She said right as the boys started bounding down the stairs, much cleaner, in different clothes and Sam definitely shaved. Sarah caught something out of the corner of her eye when Sam was buttoning his shirt up.
"What is that?" she asked calmly and in three long strides met her son.
"What's what?" he asked confused. She pulled his shirt back and found a tattoo.
"What the hell did you do to yourself Sam?!"
"It's for protection." He said quickly. "Protection from demonic possession." Sarah looked back at Anna and Dean pulled his shirt down a little as well.
"We both got them. Bobby told us about how to prevent it, and we thought it was best to just get them tattooed on. That way no demon could take them away from us and make us their bitch." Dean said and let go of his shirt. Both women starred at them stunned. With every new revelation the boys became less and less like the children they had raised.
"Mom. It's no big deal." Sam said with worry etched across his features. He didn't understand why his mother was taking this so badly. It wasn't as if they got something tattooed all over their chests. Just a simple pentagram on the chest to prevent demons from making them do something they would regret later. When his mother didn't seem to want to move or say anything else, Sam forced a smile and said, "Mom that chicken sure smells good. Can I have some now?" Sarah blinked and that seemed to set the whole group back in motion. Anna turned from her son and both women continued the motions of cooking, however, there wasn't any smiling, laughing and talking. They were simply getting food ready for the men.
The table was silent for a while as all ate their shares of the smorgasbord that was laid out before them.
"Have you registered for classes yet?" Sarah asked Sam. Sam put his fork down, took his napkin out of his lap and wiped his mouth and shook his head.
"No. I'm not going to."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not going to school this year. I don't know when I'm going to go back." Sarah put her fork down and looked at Anna briefly and then starred at Sam open mouthed.
"I thought that this was just for the summer."
"I told you and Dean, that I would think about it."
"I've argued with him about it Mrs. Tomlenn. He doesn't want to go back. He won't listen to reason either."
"Why do you keep acting like I'm a little kid who doesn't know what he's doing?"
"Because Sam you are passing up a Stanford education for one that has no practical application outside of the supernatural world."
"It is my life."
"I know that."
"Then I can do what I want."
"But it is a decision that could cost you later."
"I can go back to college any time I want. It isn't like there is an age limit."
"But Sam."
"Dean. We've talked about this. It is my decision and I've decided that I am not going back to school right now."
"Sam…."
"Don't give me that speech about being young and not knowing what I'm doing. If I'm old enough to watch your back then I'm old enough to make my own decisions."
"Fine, Sam. I just…"
"I know. You don't agree with me, and from the look of it my mother agrees with you, but I really don't care. It is my decision. I want to hunt and figure out this prophecy that we are stuck in. I just have a feeling that this is more important than any class that I will ever sit through in my life. Respect that I know what I'm doing."
"Okay Sam. You're right. I do respect that you know what you want. I just want…"
"I know you want the best for me. But I think this is the best for me right now." Dean nodded and took another bite of the lasagna. Anna and Sarah sat there wide eyed. "The answer is no mom, I'm not going to school this year, and I don't know when if ever I'll go back." He said with an air of finality and shoveled another forkful of food into his mouth. Bobby looked at the mothers and then to the sons, both who had their heads looking at their food and pushing it around on their plates.
"So, how about them Dodgers?" Bobby tried.
