Chapter 3

It was late evening when Dean pulled onto the road for the salvage yard and smiled happily when he saw the lights up ahead of him. It was like a guiding beacon in the night that meant safety and home. He guided the Impala through the gates and up the driveway, stopping at the house. There were lights on inside and Bobby had left the porch light on for them.

"Hey Sammy, we're here," Dean said. He shook his brother's leg to wake him before getting out and going to the trunk to open it.

"I'm up," Sam grunted as he woke himself and looked around, not realizing he had fallen asleep. He got out and joined Dean at the back of the car to get his bags before they walked up the steps to the door. Bobby's two guard dogs came tearing around the house, howling happily as they pranced around Dean wanting his attention. They butted Sam and sniffed him almost making him fall until Dean clucked his tongue at them to behave. He scratched their ears and clicked his tongue warmly to them. Sam knocked loudly and waited for Bobby to answer the door.

"Boys, good to see you," Bobby greeted them as he opened the door wider for them to come in. "No, you go do your jobs," he told the dogs as they started to come inside. They yipped a couple of times and headed back around to the back of the house to guard.

"Hey Bobby," Dean said. He stepped into the house and on into the living room.

"Hi Bobby," Sam greeted him with a smile. He sat his bags at the stairs before following Dean into the living room.

"There's coffee in the kitchen. Have you had dinner?" he asked them. "I went by the butcher and picked up some meats for you Dean."

"Thanks Bobby," Dean replied heading for the fridge eager to have some raw meat.

"There's some deli meats in there Sam, if you want a sandwich."

"Okay." Sam waited for Dean to move so he could get the deli meats and cheese out. He sat the items on the counter and looked in the bread box to see what kind of bread Bobby had.

"Bobby, do you know of a hunter named Brad Justice?" Dean asked as he got a bowl to put a heart and a chunk of roast in.

"Justice?" Bobby mumbled as he took a seat at the table. "Doesn't ring a bell. Why? How do you know him?"

"A couple of the clan members came across him in the woods. He was injured and they took him to the guardhouse and called Mason who called Doc. He patched him up and we took him to a hospital a few hours away and left him," Dean explained.

"And he didn't question any of this?"

"He was unconscious, and the doc gave him a mild sedative to keep him under. He didn't wake up, so the guy never knew what was going on. I'm thinking he might be some greenhorn that didn't know what he was doing and got in over his head."

"If that was the case, he's lucky to be alive. Maybe he'll have second thoughts about continuing in that line of work."

"Let's hope so," Sam said. He put the food back in the fridge and joined them at the table with his sandwich.

"Oh, so good," Dean sighed as he cut a piece of heart and ate it.

Bobby and Sam were used to Dean's eating habits by now and didn't think anything about him eating raw meat. It wasn't any different from he eat a rare hamburger.

"You boys have any plans while you're here?" Bobby questioned.

"No, not really," Dean answered. "Figured we'd restock our supplies and just relax for a few days before looking for another hunt."

"Bobby, mind if I look through your books?" Sam asked. "I want to do a little research."

"Help yourself Sam. I got some new tomes in since your last visit. They might interest you."

"Great," Sam nodded perking up at that.

"No wonder you never got laid Sammy. You're too much of a geek."

"Screw you," Sam shot back at him. "A girl doesn't have to be ditsy to date them."

"Whatever bro," Dean shrugged. Since his change, Dean had only dated a couple of women from the clan and Sophie was the one he really liked. She was smart, funny, and adventurous. She loved doing spur of the moment things without any objections.

"I gotta say that hit the spot," Dean grunted as he wiped his mouth and pushed the bowl away. He sipped on some water to wash everything down and stretched his arms over his head as he rolled his shoulders. "I don't know about you Sammy, but I may call it an early night."

"Okay; I think I'll stay up a little while since I slept in the car."

"Suit yourself bro. I'll see you guys in the morning."

"Nite son," Bobby told him.

"Nite Dean, I'll be up in a bit," Sam replied.

Dean got up and took his bowl to the sink before heading through the living room and to the stairs. He grabbed their bags and took them upstairs to their bedroom. He sat Sam's bag on his bed before digging into his own bag for sleep clothes. The weather was getting cooler at night as fall was fast approaching, but the cold didn't bother him anymore now that he was a werewolf.

He mainly wore the sleep clothes out of habit. He headed into the bathroom to do his routine and change clothes. Once he was done, Dean headed back into the bedroom and turned down the covers of his bed to crawl between the sheets. With a long sigh, Dean settled into the mattress for a moment before turning to switch on the small lamp on the nightstand between the beds for Sam.

spn

"So, Sam, how have you and your brother been doing?" Bobby asked him once they were alone. "Has Dean had any problems?"

"No, not really. Dean has been doing surprisingly good with everything. We've been careful on hunts being sure no one was around to see when he wolfed out. I gotta say, hunts have been easier with his extra abilities. Although, taking out a vengeful spirit on our last hunt wasn't a walk in the park. Dean got injured pushing me out of the way and I had to dig slivers of wood from his arm and leg which wasn't pleasant since he had started healing and I had to cut the wounds back open."

"You're right, that doesn't sound like fun," Bobby surmised as he listened to Sam rattle on.

"I know, there were a couple of splinters pretty deep in his thigh. He wasn't a happy camper let me tell you. I had to fuss at him to stop wolfing out at me that I was only trying to doctor his injuries. I knew he would never hurt me or anything. You know how he was before, well, triple that now and you'll understand. Thank goodness if he's seriously injured, I can take him to the Community and the hospital there and let them take care of him."

"That is a good thing."

"You've got to get over there and see the place Bobby. I'm serious, you'll be surprised."

"I plan on doing that Sam. Just haven't had a chance when you guys were there."

"We'll have to coordinate a time before the bad weather sets in."

"You've not had any problems there, being the only human?"

"No, I haven't. Remember I told you about the job they gave me at the library? It feels good to have a job and get paid and not have to hustle all the time. I actually met a young woman that works in a used bookstore and I've been seeing her when we're there."

Bobby looked at Sam for a moment as he pursed his lips and thought that over. He still couldn't keep the doubts from filling his mind even though the boys had been going to the Community for over a year now with no problems.

"And they're okay with that? The other…Clan members?"

"Yes, Dean's seeing a girl that works at the diner we eat at a lot. We've doubled several times."

"Sam, you just be careful. Even if they have accepted you into the clan, there could still be issues."

"Yeah, I get it Bobby, but Dean has made it clear that no one messes with me and well, Mason has spread the word too. I've not had any problems from the other members."

"That's good and I know your brother will take care of you."

"Yeah, he can a little overprotective at times," Sam laughed remembering how he took care of him when he was injured by his kidnappers a while back. "You gotta love him anyway."

"That you do. Well, I'm heading to bed too. Got an early run to make in the morning. You boys make yourselves at home, just don't burn the place down."

"We won't Bobby, nite. I'll be heading up in a minute too."

Sam had finished his sandwich and was finishing his water as he let himself wind down. He felt a yawn coming on and knew he should head on to bed. After throwing away his trash, Sam turned out the lights as he went, leaving a small lamp on in the living room. He headed upstairs and slipped into the bedroom to find Dean had left a light on for him.

He got out some sleep clothes before sitting his duffle aside and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and get ready for bed. Once he was done, Sam headed back into the bedroom, dropping his clothes in a basket to be washed. He pulled the covers back and slipped into bed before turning off the light. He wiggled around for a moment to get comfortable and listened to the soft snoring coming from the other bed, letting it calm him and lull him to sleep. It always seemed the brothers slept better when they were near each other.

spn

The brothers slept in the next morning and Sam was the first to get up since nature was calling. He headed to the bathroom and when he was done, went back to the bedroom to change clothes. Sam looked over at his sleeping brother and watched as he twitched in his sleep and growled, almost like a dog when they were dreaming, but he would never tell his brother that. Oh no, he was sure Dean wouldn't take kindly to it, comparing him to a dog. Sam chuckled softly as he turned to leave.

"You know it's not polite to watch someone sleep," Dean grumbled as he rolled over to stare at his brother.

"Did I wake you?" Sam asked innocently.

"No, I was awake, just enjoying a little extra rest."

"I'll go see what we have for breakfast and see if we need anything from town."

"Definitely need more hearts and roasts," Dean grunted pushing himself from the bed. "I'm going to use Mia's recipe and marinate them."

"Alright, I'll start a list, see you downstairs." Sam headed out of the room and down the steps moving on to the kitchen. There was still coffee in the pot from where Bobby had made it earlier. He looked at the note on the table that Bobby had left stating he'd be back after lunch some time.

Sam found eggs in the fridge and quickly whipped up scrambled eggs, toast, and preserves. He would let Dean decide what meat he wanted, if any, when he came down. He divided the eggs between two plates and added the toast before sitting the plates at the table. He poured two mugs of coffee and was eating when Dean strolled into the room and took a seat.

"Have you started a list yet?" Dean asked as he started eating his eggs.

"Not on paper, why?" Sam asked looking up at him.

"I want to get the spices I need to marinate the hearts like Mia does. She gave me the recipe."

"Hold on, hold on," Sam complained as he got up and found a pad and pen. "Shoot, what do you need?"

"Basil, thyme, balsamic vinegar, cayenne pepper, rosemary, minced garlic, onions, and olive oil," Dean listed as Sam wrote quickly. "Does Bobby have any Worcestershire sauce?"

"Slow down, garlic and what?"

"Olive oil. Bobby might have some of those spices, but I better not use his stock in case he needs them." Dean sipped his coffee as he went over the recipe in his head. "Mia said I could substitute others spices to my taste."

"I'll check but might as well get fresh ingredients since we don't know how long any of this stuff has been here."

"Yeah, probably good idea. No need to mess up a good piece of meat."

"I was going to get some yogurts, fruit, and power bars," Sam added. "Are we going to be here, what, three or four days at least?"

"Yeah, we should spend a little time with Bobby since we've haven't been by in a while I know he misses us being here more often."

"True, I told him he needs to get by the Community when we're there so he can see for himself what it's like. I think it would ease his mind a little."

"Good idea. I'll double check with Mason to be sure it's still okay for him to come. I'm going to call the butcher before we head into town, so he'll have my meat order ready to be picked up."

"I'll be ready to leave in a few minutes." Sam got up and put his dishes in the sink. "I need to run upstairs for a moment."

"Alright, I'll meet you down here. Once we get the shopping done, I want to check my Baby over and see if Bobby needs any help on any cars."

"Yeah, I want to look at those new books he got and do a little research." Sam disappeared from the kitchen and headed up the stairs to use the bathroom and get his jacket.

Dean finished eating and put his dishes in the sink with Sam's. He leaned against the counter and went over the things he needed to do. They needed more holy water and oil and he needed to see if Bobby had any silver bullets he could spare. He planned on picking up a couple bags of rock salt while they were out this morning. He pulled himself from his thoughts when he heard Sam troop down the stairs.

"I'm ready," Sam called to him from the living room.

"Coming," Dean answered. "Let's get this done. Maybe we can pick something up for lunch while we're in town."

"I want to go by the used bookstore too."

"When do you not want to go there. You don't have a cutie on the side here do you?" he teased.

"What? Of course not!" Sam insisted as he followed a laughing Dean out the door. "Jerk."

"Bitch," Dean responded as they got into the Impala to head into town. It never got old teasing Sam any chance he got.

A/N: Slowed the pace down but it will pick up in the next couple of chapters. You've got a hunt coming your way. Hope you are enjoying the continuation of this story. Special thanks to a guest-Kathy for her reviews and kind words. Thanks for coming along with me. I do like reviews. NC