Notes: This one took quite a bit to write, and I worked a lot on it. Had issues with writing Dean this time around, some flow problems, a bit of the dialogue was also a pain. But I hope it all worked out. My apologies if it isn't up to par with what anyone reading has come to expect from this story.
And it needs saying. The last [ - ] break in this chapter was written in my original draft way back in the day (2010) and needed just a little tweaking to get it to stay in line with some of the newer ideas that happened when coming back to write this. It was going to be the start of the next chapter, but it seemed to fit better as an ending to this one. It also made this a lengthy chapter.
As always, you can hop on over to ao3 for the version with swearing, if that's how you prefer to read it. But using some less adult language on here in only a few spots, read on. Hope you enjoy it!
Grabbing most of what they had taken to go through and left out last night, Dean headed for the secret room behind a wall in the library.
Once he put back the books they had removed, his intent was to have a look for the angel blade and then close the room back up behind the panel in the wall between the bookcases. The room was still a hiding spot Manda used, and he wanted to make sure no one would ever know him and Sam had been in there except maybe for her the next time she was in it. He was purposely now stacking the books and photo albums back in different spots for that reason.
As he tucked a few photos albums on a shelf, a picture of her parents proudly holding their brand new baby girl between them fell out.
Dean picked it up to put it back in an album, and couldn't help but notice despite being hunters they looked completely happy and normal, like family life was still completely doable even when they spent their lives hunting down evil and supernatural beings. But as he looked at that photo, part of him wondered if her parents would have done things differently had they known at the time what would happen to their little girl and their family one day. Which then only made him question if he would have ever met Manda had they done anything differently, like if they would have even had her, or not sent her on that solo hunt at seventeen, or had at least told her about the psychic's warning to her grandfather. But if she hadn't lost everyone the way she had when she had, maybe she never would have been on that path that brought her to him.
It felt selfish of him to even think it now, but deep down he was thankful they had done everything the way they had. He might never have gotten to know her, never would have felt the love she had for him, never would have made it through a few rough times without her and that love otherwise. The times they spent together and all that had gone one between them was something he wouldn't trade for anything now. She felt that way about him in return, he knew that much because Manda had admitted it herself. How there were no regrets in meeting each other and what they had, just everything it had cost them both to get there. So it wasn't all that selfish now that he thought about it.
Sam wandered in with the Eliot's journal then, catching Dean just standing there. He looked over his brother's shoulder to see the photo in his hand. "Thinking again about wanting the whole family thing?" he asked.
What if I am? You're the one who wanted a normal life once, and you got to have one for awhile. So why do you always gotta ride my ass about wanting my own family, to be normal? I know I'll never get that, Sammy, he thought, not wanting to say it out loud. It just wasn't worth the aggravation. "No," Dean lied with a grunt. He'd just seen an entirely different picture in his hand for the blink of an eye before Sam had pulled him out of his thoughts - himself, Manda, and a baby. He took one more look at the Chambers family of three, and shoved the picture back in an album, trying to put his dream from earlier out of his mind as it rose to the forefront again. "What do you want?"
"You, uh, left Eliot's journal in the kitchen." Sam met his brother's look as Dean turned around to face him. The older Winchester had a look on him that said he'd definitely been thinking about something, and then that look disappeared. "Thought maybe we should put it back with everything else."
Dean took it from Sam and walked back over to the table it had been on the night before. He dropped it and then went where most of the weapons were. "That all?"
"No. Do you think it'd be okay with Manda if I took a little of some of the herbs and oils? Some of what her family kept here is hard to find. Some of this stuff I've never seen before. Might be useful to have some of it on hand."
"God, you're such a geek." Dean chortled, looking at his brother like he was ridiculous for asking just to give him a hard time now. "Take a bit of whatever. Just not enough to make her think we… actually, just you, cleaned out her stockpile. You know my name won't be the one on her crap list if that's the case."
Sam guffawed lightly at the remark as he watched Dean turn his back to start going through boxes and weapon cases for the angel blade. "Maybe not. But you still make her crap list sometimes, Dean," he said seriously, yet smirking a little. "On-off boyfriend, soul mate, love of her life, or whatever the hell you are to her these days, she never actually takes your crap. That's part of why I've always liked her."
Dean kept his back turned and kept searching, but the look on his face said the younger Winchester was right. Manda never really did take his crap, well, he knew sometimes she did, but not for very long before calling him on it. It usually annoyed him at the time, but it was something he also liked her for. "Awesome. Thanks for letting me know she has your seal of approval, Sammy. But all of the above is still nothing we're talking about. So just take what you want, help me look for this blade, and let's hit the road."
Heading for a shelving rack that held bottles and jars filled with herbs and oils hunters sometimes needed, Sam just shook his head. He knew Dean was just doing what he typically did – hiding what felt about it. "Fine. We won't talk about it. But look, I know I always give you hell about it, but I'm just trying to say… it's okay to want more, Dean. If that's something you want once you find her, and if we're all still alive, save the world."
"I know it's okay, Sam," Dean uttered with a harshness in his voice. He was quiet for a minute, just going through more weapons and still finding anything but the angel blade. The frustration he felt was high as he tried to determine what on earth a man he'd never known and had never met had actually done with the thing. "But like you said, we don't even know where Manda is. And if her being gone has anything at all to do with the winged team, I don't know that she's getting out of whatever they want her for any more than we are. At least we know why they want us."
Sam stopped pouring some oil out of a bottle into a smaller one and looked over at Dean. He'd heard that tiny bit of doubt in his voice, which was unusual. "Fair enough. We don't actually know why she's missing, though. Maybe it's because of something else altogether. But weren't you just telling me you'll find her soon enough?"
Dean stopped looking for a moment and looked back at Sam. He hoped his brother was right, that it was something else. "Yeah… I will," he replied a little casually. "Kind of got our hands full with stopping an Apocalypse, though. So that might take a little longer than you think."
"Or maybe she'll surface before you can find her. Then two of you can do that weird foreplay thing you always do and then tease each other over who's the better hunter." Sam raised a brow as an awkward grin formed on his face as he teased Dean. He never understood that thing between them, but it was what they did, and sometimes they so perfectly matched each other's moves it made them nauseatingly cute together in his opinion.
Chuckling, Dean went back to digging through a box. "It's not weird, Sammy. It's not foreplay either, well, maybe a little bit… but it's just us having some fun." He grinned at his brother for a second and then ducked down to search the bottom of the shelf. "And hey, we all know who the better hunter is – me."
"Uh-huh," Sam replied, his tone sounding like he didn't quite agree with any of what his brother had said. "No luck on the blade?"
"No…" Dean sighed deeply. He stood up and looked around the room, trying to get a feel for anywhere Eliot might have kept it in here, but it also occurred to him that Manda's dad might have found it and hid it somewhere she wouldn't have known about to keep her in the dark about everything.
Sam noticed Dean looking around the room with a concentrated look now and went back to taking small amounts of whatever herbs or oils he wanted.
Dean's phone rang a few minutes later, breaking the silence. He took a quick glance at who was calling before answering, and then walked out of the secret room's doorway to the library. "You got news for me, Bobby?"
Bobby didn't bother giving him grief for how he'd answered the phone. "You and Sam still at Manda's?"
"Yeah. Why?" Dean curiously asked.
"Wanted to know if you found anything. Did you?"
"She was here at some point. Probably just before or after we saw her at your house, or right around the time she Houdini-ed. Which was about three weeks ago. Talked to that lawyer or whatever he is in charge of her trust last night." Dean's tone was somewhat sour. That phone call still didn't sit right with him.
Bobby let out something between a scoff and a laugh. "That Andersen character? Let me guess how that went… Spence knew who you were, gave you a run around, and tried to warn you off looking for her?
"That's the douche. I'm her one listed emergency contact or something like that so he talked to me," Dean replied, his tone a little cocky before he clued in. "Hold up, how'd you…" he trailed off as he started to chuckle. Bobby had obviously gotten that result himself. He wished he'd heard that call. "Oh, so you also got scolded for asking about her."
Bobby's silence was to let Dean know he was rolling his eyes as he boasted. "I didn't get scolded," he defensively replied, not wanting to admit it had felt exactly like that to him as well. "You did because you don't have any charm, ya idjit. But yeah… we talked about a few things this morning. Seems Spence knew Danny and Margaret as well as I did. Safe to say he won't give Manda up if he knows something. And, Dean, he knows something. I wasn't born yesterday."
"Didn't think so. Not with that seasoned mug of yours," Dean teased the older hunter, holding in his laughter as he ignored Bobby's unimpressed muttered retort. "Look, he wouldn't tell me much, Bobby. He's supposed to call me before anyone else if she turns up dead, and he didn't say a lot on that either. Just that he doesn't think she is because he's heard nothing from anywhere. All I really got outta him was that just before Manda disappeared she hit up her trust for some cash, racked up a motel charge and a hospital bill. Couldn't say where, what, or why either. Wouldn't is more like it."
Sighing, the older hunter didn't want to admit he'd only gotten half of that information. Her lawyer hadn't been too forthcoming with him on that part, not even after being able to confirm Bobby had been a contact for Manda's parents and was still on a list for her as well. While part of him was a little peeved in now knowing he didn't rank higher on that list for how long he'd known her and her family, Dean was the man she loved. It made sense that's who she wanted to know anything first. "Of course not. Both Eliot and Danny didn't take kindly to incompetence, so one of them wouldn't have hired or left just any fool in charge."
"Yeah… got that impression from Eliot's journal." Dean exhaled a little too sharply then, rubbed the furrow in his brow. "He's the one who decorated the house with the angel-gylphics. If that was your next question."
"Son of a bitch," Bobby harshly cursed, wondering how that was even possible. "I couldn't make heads or tails on much from your rib x-rays. Can't copy it for that reason either. So how the hell did he get his hands on Enochian? And why in the world did he need to ward his house?"
"Get comfy. It's a hell of a story…" He fell silent for a moment, and then launched into telling the older hunter about what had been in Eliot's journal. When he was done, he was met with a long silence on the other end. "Bobby? You still there?"
"That crazy old bastard," Bobby muttered. "He did all that and kept his goddamn trap shut about it. Would've been nice of him to at least tip me off back then that those winged bastards were real. But why the hell didn't one of them tell that girl she might be in deep with angels one day? Think that's what that cryptic message she got was about when you kids were here? Sounds a little like her path was always set, Dean."
Dean paced a little as he stayed quiet. Bobby was bringing up the one thing he kept trying to forget. If her path had always been set then it had something to do with his. Castiel had basically confirmed that, so had Chuck. But he still didn't want to talk about it with Bobby. "You knew them. Why wouldn't they have told her?"
Bobby didn't answer. He wanted to hear what Dean thought about the rest of what he'd said.
Sam came out of the hidden room and watched as Dean stood there in the library with his back turned, holding his phone at one ear and rubbing a hand over his face with the other.
"Dean?" Bobby asked, after too much silence.
"What? Who the hell knows if that's what it was about. But if her path was always set then she's royally boned. Same as me. Guess that's why she's my soul mate." Dean's tone was a little hard and bitter. Turning around then, he saw Sam looking at him questioningly so he made a face that told his brother not to say a word. He knew he'd just overheard that outburst.
"Oh, now you wanna admit that. Took you long enough," the older hunter sarcastically retorted.
Sam shook his head and then rolled his eyes at Dean before heading out of the library with whatever stuff he had wanted to take.
Dean groaned, annoyed. "How did Eliot die, Bobby?" he asked wanting to know what had to her granddad now.
"Soul mate never shared that with you, huh? Not surprised…" Bobby let out a sigh. "He died the way most of us do. On the job. Took Manda with him one weekend while her parents were on another case, went after a shifter causing chaos a state over. Eliot didn't come back to the hotel on the second night. Shifter must've got the jump on him that night, 'coz Manda found his body the next day following his last leads. Didn't wait for her parents to show up either. Just called them to let them know and then tracked the bastard. She went after it alone, stabbed that son of a bitch in the heart with silver while it was wearing her granddad's face before another a friend and his son who were closer than her parents were at the time got there to help her out."
"Damn…" Dean drew in a sharp breath. Manda had never mentioned it, and he knew that would have been hard to handle at sixteen on her own, but she'd done it. It only reinforced what he already suspected – that her granddad had succeeded not only in making her a better hunter, but also in making sure she could do whatever it took. And that was part of why Dean loved her as much as he did. It was also a part of why they understood each other so much. "No, she never told me how it happened. Those friggin' shifters. I hate those sons of bitches. Always think it's cute to wear someone else's face."
"It ain't. But I told you before, Dean, that girl of yours has been through more than you know about, but still about as much as you and Sam."
"Yeah… hmm, guess so."
Bobby heard something sad in Dean's voice. "Miss her, don't you, idjit?"
Offering silence as an answer, Dean knew he could say he did, but he didn't. "Sounds like you do."
Knowing the truth from that silence as well as the deflection, the older hunter smirked on his end of the phone. He missed that girl and the pain in the ass she was, too. "She'll turn up, son. In the meantime, we keep looking for her. Okay?"
"Uh-huh, that's the plan. Thanks, Bobby." Dean ended the call. He stood there, shoved down how much he did miss Manda, but felt a little reassured in knowing he wasn't the only one missed her. Then he went over and stuck his hand inside the doorway of the secret room and clicked out the light.
Sam came back just as Dean shut the door to the hidden room and was about to grab the panel to put it back in place between the bookcases on the wall.
Dean nodded at the other end of it as he went to grab one side. "Sammy, a little help? Let's make sure we put this back the way we found it. You push that side in, I'll do the other."
Coming up next to his brother, the younger Winchester grabbed the other side of the panel. They lifted it together to cover the door. "We could hide out here for awhile, you know? Angels can't find it… or us."
Dean chuckled as they both pushed their sides of the wall panel into its spot. "You want to stay? Call this home?" He lifted a brow in question as he looked at his brother.
Sam shrugged, and then checked to make sure his side was sitting flush. "No. But it's an option. Might buy us some time."
"We can't outrun them, Sam. Sooner or later those angels will find us, and if they don't we'll have to find them to stop them from ending the world."
Looking at the older Winchester, Sam's expression said he knew that was true. "You good?"
"I'm great," Dean lied with a small grin, checking his side of the panel again. It was in and sitting the way it had been before they'd taken it off the wall – the room behind it and everything it held hidden again. He turned and started walking out of the library. "Ready to hit the road?"
Knowing that was far from the truth, Sam let it slide. "Yeah. Are you?"
"Yep. Just gotta grab my bag and then we can roll," he answered, walking to where he'd left it by the stairs.
Dean took a look around as Sam walked out the front door. He thought about the dream about settling down here in a life with Manda again. He let out a bittersweet sigh, grabbed his bag off the floor, and then locked the door as he left.
[ - ]
Days and weeks blended as time went by, and as Sam and Dean worked a string of jobs during that time.
There were nights Dean couldn't sleep. There were women he slept with other nights who just couldn't fill the void left by the one he would have rather been sleeping with instead. There were days when he picked up his cell phone wanting to talk to Manda only to remember he couldn't actually call her. There were times he wore her dad's ring, hoping it would somehow bring her back. And more often than not, during the handful of hours he finally managed to sleep some days or nights, there were the dreams he had about her and a life they wouldn't have that only left him with a bunch of longing and heartache he just kept stuffing down because he didn't know what else to do with it.
Before he knew it two more months had gone by and there was still no word from her. Worse, there was absolutely no trace of Manda to be found anywhere and everywhere he looked.
It wasn't like he had stopped looking either, because Dean didn't know how to completely give up on her. But about a week after they'd left her place, he started to keep that search for her to himself, using moments alone or when Sam was sound asleep to keep looking. In the meantime, around his brother he acted like he was totally fine with her reappearing on her own whenever that would be, shoving down every single shred of doubt she wasn't okay, every ounce of worry he didn't want get the best of him, and every bit of guilt that she was probably only missing because of her connection to him.
Still, once a week he called Bobby to ask if he'd heard anything, and once a week Bobby told him he hadn't and then asked the same question in return. Both hunters were using all their knowledge and resources to try to find her. Both also kept putting in more calls to her lawyer only to be told he hadn't heard anything either.
Neither was entirely sure she was still alive at this point. The fact that Manda hadn't surfaced yet, still hadn't reached out to anyone who knew and cared about her, hadn't even left one small trail behind that only either of them would be able to follow, was only becoming more worrying the longer she remained gone.
It was looking more and more grim to both of them, and while Bobby tried to tell him he had to prepare himself for it, Dean just didn't want to hear it. He needed to believe she was still out there somewhere, still alive, still okay, and maybe not completely screwed because of him.
Still, he was just about running out of hope on finding her. And while he had to admit she was probably better than he was at hiding, he just missed the living hell out of her as time went on. More and more it felt like he'd lost her, but why or how failed him. The hole she was now leaving behind hurt more than he had ever thought it would it, and he didn't know what to do with it at all.
And then on a day when Dean least expected it, had given up nearly all hope of it happening, and was over four months since he'd last seen or heard from her, Manda surfaced somewhere he should have expected when he would have picked that place himself. Actually, he had once.
[ - ]
During a mid-morning hour that was still early by all accounts, Bobby awoke to a loud knock on his front door.
He raised his weary head from beside the old tome he'd been reading at his desk all night. All night had turned into almost dawn the last that he remembered, so a few hours ago his eyes must have shut while he read, or the empty bourbon bottle he spotted near his arm had finally done its job.
He rubbed a hand over his face to wake himself up a little more as another loud knock hit the front door.
"Yeah, yeah, heard it the first time, genius," he muttered in irritation, wheeling his way to the door, not sure who would be on the other side. It was close to nine in the morning, and he wasn't expecting anyone just yet.
Once Bobby opened the door, he quickly masked his surprise with an unreadable expression as he looked up to see the face of Manda Chambers looking back at him. The last time he'd seen her was now over four months ago. She'd basically been missing since. "About time you showed your sorry…" he trailed off as his gaze dropped to give a good once over from head to toe to make sure she was all in one piece. He wasn't able to conceal his shock this time. Balls! How much more is that boy supposed to take? Damn it, Dean! Damn it, Manda!
"Hey, Bobby," her voice broke just a tad, and then Manda offered a weak smile that might as well have come with a breakdown as a follow-up.
Bobby stared at the female hunter's noticeable new figure. He gulped hard, unable to believe what he was seeing, but he was seeing it right. The sudden disappearance coupled with no trace to be found made absolute sense now. She'd always been thin so the small bump of her stomach peeking out from the undone short jacket she wore over a fitted top was a dead giveaway– the girl was pregnant. Judging by how much she was showing and how long she'd been gone, he figured he knew the when and who, but still had to ask.
"Dean's?" he gruffly questioned as wheeled backwards to let her in.
Manda nodded, unable to say it as she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
He eyed her curiously, knowing he wasn't about to help anything. She had to know what kind of mess she was in. "That boy's stupidity rub off on you too or what?"
Shrugging, Manda couldn't seem to find her voice. Bobby's eyes were piercing hers, and the disappointment was obvious. He had just looked at her like she knew her father would have had he been still been alive, and it hurt. But his point had been made – pregnant at a time like this, and with Dean Winchester's kid, no less. Had she lost her mind?
Bobby could tell just by looking at her that Manda knew she was in over her head. He was sure he knew the answer to his next question. "Take it you haven't told him yet… but anyone else know?"
She shook her head and then looked away. No one knew, least of all Dean. Telling him wasn't going to be a picnic and she still wasn't looking forward to it. For almost the last three months she'd wanted to tell him, had even broken down at least a hundred times and nearly called him, but she just hadn't been able to drop the bomb that he was going to be a dad on him yet.
"Friggin' apocalypse going on and you wanna play mommy during it?" Bobby was shaking his head, trying to wrap his mind around it.
"Bo-Bobby," she choked out as her throat closed with the threat of tears.
"You're as good as dead carrying that cargo, Manda," he told her, point blank with complete honesty. That's how he saw it. He knew Dean would too.
It was the truth, one she knew, but hearing it from the older hunter caused her to wince like he'd smacked her in the face. "You think I don't know that?" Manda snapped a bit defensively. "But it's still my kid," she uttered. Her tone a little more calm, but still resolute. "Family," she said, fighting off tears as the words brought forth an overwhelming amount of emotion out in her. "My family."
Nodding a little, Bobby didn't want to watch her cry, and as his eyes met hers again, he watched her fight a surge of hormones that were running wild. It couldn't have been easy, but she won, and the strength and stubbornness it must have taken her were good to see because she was going to need an unlimited supply of both for the trouble this would bring her. "All right," he muttered, rubbing his hand over his beard thinking of how much she sounded like Dean to him then. "Long as you know the score."
Manda nodded with a knowing look, and then watched as Bobby wheeled off, signalling her to follow. "Let me guess, holy water for me despite my tattoo, and a beer for you?"
Bobby smirked, but didn't turn to look at her as he stopped to grab a new bottle off the counter before making his way to the desk in his library. "No, I'll be having the hard stuff for both of us. But you're welcome to drink all the holy water you can handle, or at least until I'm satisfied you're not possessed or something. Showing up knocked up on my doorstep like a teenager and scared to go home."
She let out a wry chuckle. "Adult or not, Dad would've kicked my ass for this, huh?"
"Nah. Just Dean's. And I'm damn near thinking I should too. Know that boy's an idjit, but come on… he wasn't that dumb, was he?" Bobby turned to look at her now with a bit of a comical look somewhere between curious and disbelief. Goddamn it, Dean, just couldn't help yourself…
"No," she paused, seeing his look, knowing he wondered about her then. "And I'm not either. Dean's, well... you know how he is, and lord knows I would've given him a run for his money those first few years of being alone out on the road. So we always use protection. But you're not such a dinosaur that you don't know it's not exactly foolproof, Bobby. We just ended up being that small lucky percentage two types failed one night."
Grimacing because she had just said too much that he really didn't want to know about, the older hunter shook his head with a sarcastic scoff. "Lucky… if that's what you wanna call it."
She watched as Bobby poured a healthy amount of holy water into a glass for her. "Got the feeling it's no coincidence… ain't luck either."
Handing her the glass, he nodded. "Too much going on to think otherwise."
"As fate might have it," Manda tipped the glass, looked into it, and then took a long sip without a thought.
Watching for a reaction, and relieved to see none, Bobby shook his head at her when she went to drink more. The hunter in him was satisfied. "You got in the family way at the worst time possible."
"By one of the two worst men it could be right now."
She meant Sam or Dean, the hosts for Lucifer and Michael. Neither was a good choice at this point. Regardless of how much he loved those boys he knew it was just the honest truth. "There's an episode of Jerry."
Manda chortled softly and just shook her head sorrowfully. "Even Springer wouldn't touch this one, Bobby. But it might be a trash rag's top headline for the mess it is."
Laughing a tad but nodding with a smirk that said it was true, Bobby searched her face. "You doing okay otherwise, Manda?" The fatherly side of him asked out of concern now.
It was a quick nod. She wouldn't complain. Physically she was fine, her emotions were everywhere thanks to the hormones, and as for everything else, well, that was why she had dropped completely off the grid, was running instead of staying in one spot for the last three months. She was doing what she had to. Still, there were the angels in her dreams that brought restless nights, and the things she knew she was going to have to do soon enough to protect her baby and stay alive, but Bobby didn't need to know any of that just yet.
He didn't believe her at all, but if she wasn't about to offer more, he couldn't drag it out of her. She would hold it in until it ate at her enough to say something which was just something else she shared in common with Dean. "Okay… if that's the story you're sticking with. 'Til you wanna talk about that or how this might be that bridge to cross you didn't want any of us worrying about, how about telling me what you've been doing, what you're going to do, and just how I'm supposed to help you out with it. That's why you're here, isn't it? You didn't surface for nothing."
Manda could only nod then. Bobby Singer was never one to pull punches and would remind her of the grave reality right away, even though she didn't need reminding. It was a reality she'd known deep down all along. But when she started telling the older hunter everything about what had happened, something in him had given up the hard look on his face for one of sadness.
It took two hours since his numerous phone lines kept interrupting, but listening to the female hunter explain what had gone on since he'd last seen her, what she'd been through, where she'd been, and what she wanted to do next, Bobby mulled it over for a little in silence. There was one thing she hadn't brought up that didn't sit right with him. One thing he wasn't sure she was going to do either. "Dean needs to know about the bun in the oven, Manda."
"He does, but it'll crush him, Bobby. So how am I supposed to tell him?" she asked, her face pained with the thought. "He's not gonna like it, and it's the last thing he's gonna need, never mind want right now."
Oh, damn right he won't like it much, girl. But that boy loves you, and maybe he won't want it right now, but if he makes it out of this storm on the right side… you'll see different, Bobby mentally chided her with the truth she had to know. But there was something else he knew had to be said. "Man still deserves to know he's going to be a father even if we're all dying before our fight's over."
"I know." She nodded, closing her eyes briefly with a wounded look. The words about dying felt like a smack in the face. But he was right, Dean still deserved to know before that happened to one of them.
Bobby just studied her for a moment, his face expressionless now. He knew that hiding like Manda had been meant she was just doing what she needed to in order to keep herself safe. There might have been a pregnancy glow to her, but it wasn't the first thing to be noticed – the female hunter was clearly burning herself out. The dark circles under her eyes said she didn't get much sleep. The way she seemed tuned into every noise said she was on guard all the time, waiting for something to attack, and she now held herself in a way that would protect her child if something did. And the look in her eyes had taken on the rough edge of someone on the run. It wasn't any way to live, especially not for someone who was pregnant.
Bobby felt for her. It was clear she'd cut herself off from everything and everyone, thinking that might be the key to her wellbeing. If it was, he'd never have guessed it because she looked more haunted now than he'd ever seen her, maybe even more so than when he'd seen her about a week after she'd lost her parents years ago.
Still, he wondered if maybe she'd come here because of some other reason she wasn't saying just yet, if she'd needed to tell someone and chosen him because he knew about her and Dean, or if she really just didn't know how to tell Dean and was looking for help since Bobby considered the Winchester boys to be like his own. Whatever it was, he just knew that if he told her right now that the boys were already on their way here as they had been before she'd even shown up, she'd bolt. Facing Dean wasn't going to be easy on her. The timing couldn't have been worse, and even if it wasn't, that boy probably wouldn't be ready for it or anywhere near expecting this revelation when he showed up.
But Bobby knew Dean still loved the female hunter who was sitting in his library now. So he kept his mouth shut for now. Like it or not, Manda Chambers was having the older Winchester's kid, and while he had given her flak for it, if there was ever a woman fit for the job – he couldn't think of a better one. "You staying today?"
"If that's alright?" She looked at him curiously even though she was sure Bobby wouldn't say no right now.
He nodded. "Go on, settle in upstairs. Use my bed if you want since I can't get up there myself. You'll be safe here, so try to at least sleep for a few hours for your sake and that baby's. And don't give me any lip about how you don't need to, you pain in the ass. You look like hell." He wheeled away to the kitchen then not giving her a chance to reply, and was already trying to prepare himself for what was bound to be fireworks soon enough.
Notes: Did that work out?
So Dean had to have a little bit of a moment on someone again. A little bit of one with Sam, a little more of another with Bobby. Having Sam catch Dean lost in thought about things seemed right, and then so did him prying a little into what Dean was thinking about. It also seemed fitting for Dean to show a second of doubt about being able to find Manda. Then there was his small outburst on the phone with Bobby that had to happen. A little crack to let some of his suffering out. Hope that's in character.
Now, as for Manda... she's surfaced again. Did you expect her to pop up at Bobby's? And so far she hasn't come out with why she's reappeared, or what she's actually been doing. Not talking about the dreams she's been having either, or whatever it is she might have to do next.
Bobby had to give her a hard time here. Tough love with her at first and then softening up a tad on her once it's clear she knows exactly what kind of trouble she's in and how it still didn't deter her.
Next chapter we will see Dean and Manda face-to-face again. He's bound to get a shock and learn a few things, while she's in for a surprise encounter. It will be coming as soon as possible for some writing that has yet to happen and a part that I cannot scrap and still want to use that needs a little reworking for all the newer stuff (soul mates, pyschic warnings, etc...) that was never part of the original putline/written parts. Hope you're excited for that all to go down next chapter.
Thanks for reading! Feedback alwats welcome, readers. It's always nice to hear your thoughts. If anyone is reading here...