Chapter 50
Bobby heard the car parking in front of his house. Dean and Sam were already here, so it was Madeline.
He was barely out of the kitchen when he saw two black-haired children running towards him.
" Uncle Bobby! "
" Hey! How are my favorite ankle bitters? "
" Great! " Said Amanda.
" We saw a cow wearing a hat! " Exclaimed Robert.
" And mommy let us have milkshake for breakfast! " Continued Amanda.
They continued talking nonstop until Bobby interrupted them.
" Sam and Dean are in the yard, how about you go say hello to them? Rumsfield is there too. " The old hunter said, the kids running through the back door into the yard.
When he walked out to see Madeline and Tim just getting on the porch.
" Kind of slow today kid. Snails walk faster than you. " He said.
Madeline just walked over and hugged him, taking a deep breath, as if she was relieved.
" Hi Bobby. Is really good to see you. "
" Good to see you too, kid. " He said. " Sam and Dean are around back. "
She just walked around the house to find the two hunters.
Bobby turned to the man standing in front of him.
" Agent McGee. "
" Hello Mr Singer. Please there's no need for ' Agent.' "
" Call me Bobby. " Said the hunter. " Something happened? "
" Yeah, it did. " Said Tim, his eyes hard. " The stay there shook her hard. Some people said some things. "
" What sort of things? " Asked the hunter, signaling Tim to get inside the house after him.
"Let's just say that being confronted by an imbecile that worships that freak and doesn't believe in what happened to her was not a good thing. "
The older hunter cursed colorfully. Tim was impressed, he worked with marines and navy men and he still haven't heard such a diverse vocabulary until that moment. The hunter walked to his kitchen and came back with a holy water laced beer, handing it to Tim, who was looking around the room, at the hundreds of books around.
" You can read 'em if you want. Just leave 'em where you found them. " Said the hunter. The young federal agent stood and started looking over the titles of the books.
Dean was working on Baby's motor, Sam was sitting at the table near it, doing the maintenance on their several sawed-offs and Madeline was sitting on a bench, passing the tools to Dean as he needed them.
It was a peaceful moment, they were just enjoying their time together, no words necessary. Madeline was lost on her own mind, looking to the wrench on her hands, thinking of the words Andrea had said to her on the diner. ' Is that what people are thinking? That I'm a criminal and liar? ' She thought. At first, she wanted to cry and punch something. As time passed, she just got more and more angry. The more she thought about it the angrier she got. Her knuckles were white of the strength she was holding the wrench with. ' How DARE she? She has no idea what I've been through! Looking at me and practically saying I'm a whore just because I have kids! That I'm a murderer! That I lied about what Johnathan did to me, to my mother! '
" Madie! "
She snapped out of her thoughts, looking at Dean, who was waving his hands in front her eyes.
" Huh? "
" Finally! I must have called you a thousand times. " Said Dean. " If you're done strangling that wrench, can I have it? "
" Oh, sorry! " She said, giving the tool to him, that took it with a suspicious expression.
" Everything okay, Madie? Or you really hate wrenches? " Asked Sam.
" Is fine, just... " She sighed. " People being jerks. "
" What people? " Asked Dean, leaning in the hood and working on his beloved car.
" People in Alameda, some don't believe me. And one in particular thought it would be nice to corner me in a diner and accuse me of horrible things. In front of my kids and Tim, and twenty other people. Saying I'm a liar and a murderer. Practically acused me of being a type of whore. And now I just want to..." She finished making a movement like she was choking an invisible person in front of her, then pretended to be stabbing that same invisible person. Then she grabbed a screwdriver and stabbed the table with it.
Sam and Dean cursed under their breath. But Sam stood walked to impalas' trunk grabbed a handgun and started walking to the end of the property, calling Madeline to join him.
When she caught up to him, he was standing looking at her, offering her the gun. She took it.
" What I'm supposed to do with this? " She asked.
" Shoot that tree until you're calmer. " He said, pointing to a three at the very edge of the property.
" Shooting a tree is going to make me feel better? " She asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
" Just do it. " He said, giving her an extra cartridge.
She pocketed the cartridge and pointed the gun to the three. She pressed the trigger and felt the kick of the gun, the loud noise of the controlled explosion. She didn't hit the three, she didn't have the best of aims. She tried again, this time hitting closer to where she was aiming.
She heard someone running behind her, and she thought it might have been wise to warn Tim that there was no danger. But she didn't turn back, she saw that Sam walked away. So she shot again, and again. And again.
With each shot her heart accelerated because of the adrenaline, the loud noise and the kick making her hand jump back. She started picturing that her anger was that three, and she was shooting it dead, destroying it. She kept going, emptying the cartridge, then doing the same to the other. She looked at the trunk full of holes when she had run out of bullets. She took a deep breath and walked to where Sam was sitting, near Dean, working on the sawed-offs.
" You were right. " She said, putting the gun and cartridge on the table next to him. " I feel much better. "
" Let me know if you need more. "
Later that night, she was sitting on the floor, in front of the couch, a box in front of her. Tim sitting on a chair reading a book, completely lost in the story of the gods of a particular african tribe.
" What are you looking at? " Asked Dean sitting on the couch and looking inside the box.
" I'm going through one of my grandma's boxes. Seeing her stuff. " She said, taking a small porcelain statue from the box. A dancing figure.
" Anything interesting? " He asked.
" A lot of pictures. " She said, taking a photo album from inside the box, it wasn't as old as the other things. When she opened the first thing she saw was a ultrasonogram, followed by a picture of a baby wrapped in pink blankets in the arms of a teenage girl. It was her and her mom. The young mother lying on a hospital bed looking at the camera. Tim looked away from the book and looked at the pictures.
" That's your mom? " Asked Dean.
" Yeah that's her. "
She turned the page, the picture of a baby crying while lying in a small bath tub.
" Ha ha. Look at naked Madie! "
She smiled, looking at the next picture. Sometimes Dean commenting on something. Tim just took all the pictures in, not missing a single detail.
" And that one? " Asked Dean pointing to a picture of a little girl and an older woman in costume.
" Halloween. I was five. " She said, looking at the date. " Grandma used to tell me all kinds of stories and I wanted to go as the characters of one of them. "
" What are you dressed as? " Asked Sam, that was sitting near by, a book in his hands, looking over her shoulder.
" Van Helsing. Grandma is dressed as Dracula. " She said, looking at the little girl with a long coat and hat, and the older woman with Dracula makeup.
Dean laughed.
" I like her style. "
" Yeah. She was one of a kind. "
They kept looking at the pictures, Dean pointing out every embarrassing one. She looked at other albums, pictures of her mother, and of her grandmother's youth. She tried hard to not find creepy when Dean said that her grandmother used to be hot.
She only took a pause when her phone started to ring. She stood and walked away, answering the call.
" Hey Eric. "
When she got back Dean had a smirk on his face, Sam looked curious, Bobby was talking to someone on the phone and not really paying attention, and Tim looked annoyed. The kids were lost in their own world in the corner of the room, playing with their toys.
" Sooo, who's Eric? " Asked Dean.
" A guy. " She answered simply, sitting on the floor.
" A punk. " Said Tim.
" He's not a punk! He's never committed a crime in his life! Heck, I have more on my record than he does. " She retorted.
" Who is Eric? " Asked Sam.
" Just a guy I like to flirt with. " She said, looking at Sam, then glaring at Tim. " Apparently Tim has a problem with this. "
" I don't trust him! Doesn't matter what his file says. " Said Tim, defensive.
" His file? " Asked Madeline. " What did you do? "
" I may have looked over some information on him. " He said, looking back to his book.
" And what is 'some information ' for a guy that can hack into federal agency's systems without breaking a sweat? "
" I did a full background check. " He said, quickly adding. " But I wasn't the only one! Abby hacked his social media accounts. And Tony looked into him aswell! "
Madeline just sat her mouth open, staring at him.
" You really can hack into federal databases that easily? " Asked Sam.
" Really? That's what you got from that? " She asked, motioning to Tim.
" Hey, in our line of work is a very useful skill. " Said Dean, shrugging, taking a drink from his beer. " And he was right to check your boy toy's past. Would have done the same thing. By the way- "
" I test it, not a monster. " She said. " Nor demon. "
" Good. "
" Seriously, you guys are such hypocrites. " She said. " All of you. " She said looking at the three of them, one at a time.
" What? Why are we hypocrites? We just care for you and want to make sure that no psycho gets near you. " Said Sam.
" Oh really? Your's and Dean's love lives are made of one night stands with strangers, with only very few exceptions! So don't come with this 'making sure who you're messing with' thing. Especially Dean. " She said pointing at Dean. She then turned to Tim. " And you, don't have the greatest track record either mister! Or do I need to point out that you already dated a lot of really crazy chicks? "
" How do you- "
" Tony. I made sure to listen to the stories for when I needed blackmail material. " She said a smug smile.
" What exactly did he tell you? " Tim asked cautiously.
" Plenty ElfLord. " She said. " Even about one time where all your clothes were taken hostage by some crazy girl. "
Sam tried to mask a laugh with a fake cough, Dean didn't even bother. Bobby that had finished with his phone call just raised an eyebrow and looked at Tim.
" Dude, really? That happened? " Asked Dean.
" When did this become about me? " Tim, blushing. " We were talking about Eric, and your love life. "
" You didn't find anything wrong with his background check, if you did I would already have heard about it. " She said. " And I don't want to talk about it anymore. "
" Yeah, Agent Computer Wiz's love life seems so much more entertaining. " Said Dean.
They spent six days in Sioux Falls. Tim getting to know Emily and Alicia, the kids godmothers. Madeline showed him around town. But mostly she was at Bobby's. Sam and Dean stayed only another day, then they caught a case and were on the road again. Tim spent a lot of time in Bobby's library, reading several books.
When they finally arrived in DC, they had to tell a heartbroken Abby that they did not have the time to visit the Museum of Spiders. But they showed several pictures of the other 'Abby Approved' turist attractions they visited.
