Thank you SarahWeasleyWinchester and C1B12 for the feedback. I hope you like this next part...oh and Rufus makes an appearance.
Thank you again,
Val
Chapter 8
John and Bobby watched the children for a few seconds before they headed downstairs. "He was already in the house Dean said... hiding in the basement." John told the older hunter as they stood over the body.
"Bastard," Bobby hissed. "Rufus can take him out into the he woods. He can do the salt and burn…doesn't deserve a hunter pyre but I'll be damn if he's coming back as a vengeful spirit."
"I'll go down and do a sweep...don't want to take a chance we end up with a cursed object somewhere down the line either."
Bobby went out onto the back porch and pulled the tarp off the wood pile. Soon him and John had the body tied up in the tarp and laid him in the back of Bobby's pickup truck. Then both men got to work on scrubbing the floor and walls.
Bobby looked over the kitchen when they were done and other than a broken chair and the bullet hole in the wall everything looked like it had before the shooting just cleaner.
John looked at his friend. "Do you have something we can hang over the hole?"
"Yeah, I'll be right back." Bobby said as he left the room and came back a few minutes later with a framed object. "Karen's aunt sewed this sampler," the older hunter explained he hammered a nail above the hole and then hung the cross-stitched alphabet sampler.
"Do you think you can salvage this chair?" John asked as he picked up the pieces from the floor and put them on the table.
"I've fixed that chair a few times already, probable why it broke so easy. We can pull in one of the chairs from the dining room." He said as he eyed the chair and saw blood splatter on the wood. "Put it in the truck Johnny, Rufus should burn it too with the rags we used to clean everything."
John nodded his head as he grabbed the pieces of the chair and brought it out to the truck. When he came back in, he heard Bobby talking to somebody in the front of the house. He did another walk through of the kitchen to make sure they got all the blood before heading towards the voices.
"John," Rufus said as he saw the other hunter come into the room.
"Thank you for this Rufus."
"Sounds like the bastard got what he deserved." The other hunter said.
"Everything is piled in the truck. You sure you don't mind handling this for us?" Bobby asked his old partner.
"Think you two need to stay with the youngens for now, especially you John. That boy of yours will have a lot to cope with. The little fella took a life tonight and Hell even a hunter's kid isn't prepared for what he had to do." Rufus told him as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to John.
John read the paper. 'Tom - 307-833-5923' "Tom?"
"Hunter friend out of Wyoming. He was a kid shrink before he started hunting. Might want to keep his number handy if any of those little ones need help." He explained.
John snorted as he handed the paper back to Rufus. "I can take care of my boys. They're fine. Dean's been preparing for hunting since he was four. He even said it earlier, that Roy was a monster and he isn't gonna have a problem coping with killing a monster."
"Just keep it in case." Rufus insisted as he handed the paper to Bobby when John wouldn't take it. He had a sad feeling the youngen was gonna need Tom sooner rather than later.
SPNSPNSPNSPN
Dean held the gun with shaking hands as he pointed it towards Roy. "I'll shoot!"
He watched as the man took the knife and dragged it across Jo's neck.
"NOOOO!" Dean screamed as he sat up in bed. His breath coming in short gasps as Jo and Sammy woke up to his cries. Jo turned and saw the horror in the older boy's eyes and quickly wrapped her arms around him while Sammy climb over and hugged his brother from behind.
And that was how John, Bobby and Rufus found the children when they came running into the room. They were a tangle of arms and legs, holding on to each other for dear life. John went to the bed and said softly, "Dean."
The child looked up at his father and whispered, "Daddy." That was all John needed to hear as he reached down and extracted his oldest from Jo and Sammy, lifting him into his arms. "Come on Buddy,' he said as he straightened up. He looked down at the other children. "Sammy, you and Jo go back to sleep," he told them as he rubbed Dean's back to trying to sooth him.
"De?" Sammy said as he looked at his brother and father.
"I got your brother, don't worry. Come on, you and Jo need your sleep." he told them as Bobby joined them.
"You two, back under the covers." Bobby said as John stepped back so that the older hunter could tuck the two children back into bed.
John let Bobby finish tucking the two back in as he carried Dean out of the room and downstairs. Sitting down on the couch he tried to calm his boy down from the nightmare he had. Rufus stood in the doorway watching them.
"How about I make him a cup of coco," the other hunter offered. He remembered his daughter always liked a cup of coco after having a bad dream.
"Thanks Rufus," John said has he rubbed Dean's back as he hiccupped as his crying began to slow down. He turned his attention back to his son. "How you are doing Ace?"
Dean sniffled as he let go of his father's neck and pulled back slightly. "I'm sorry I woke Jo and Sammy up."
"Don't worry about that." John said as he wiped his son's tears away. "You know Dean it's okay to have bad dreams, nothing to be ashamed of."
The child nodded his head as he wiped his nose on the sleeve of his tee shirt. "Roy was cutting Jo's throat."
"He didn't really hurt her Dean. He was just trying to scare you Buddy. You've seen Jo, she's fine." He reassured the child as he leaned his head on John's shoulder.
"I know Dad," Dean agreed in a small voice.
The two Winchesters looked up when Rufus came back into the room carrying a tray with four mugs on it. "Hot coco Dean," he said as he held a mug out towards him.
"Thank you, sir." The child said.
John smiled as he accepted his mug. "Dean this is Rufus, he's an old friend of Uncle Bobby."
Dean looked up at the other hunter and gave him a shy smile.
"How's the coco?" Rufus asked as he sat in one of the chairs with his own mug. He looked up as Bobby came into the room and he held the last mug up for his old hunting partner.
Dean took a sip of the of the coco and gave a genuine smile. "It's good, taste funny."
Rufus grinned at the child. "Secret ingredient but if you promise not to repeat it to anyone else, I'll tell you."
"I promise," Dean told the man who leaned forward and whispered in his ear.
John took a sip from his mug and raised his eyebrows; it really was good coco. It did taste different and he knew exactly what it was, but he decided to go along with Rufus. He bounced Dean slightly on his knee, "so what is the secret ingredient, Kiddo?"
Dean looked up at his father. "Dad, I can't tell you. I promised to keep the secret."
John narrowed his eyes at his son and then turned his attention to the other hunter. "You know it's not appropriate to teach my son to keep secrets from me."
Dean smiled as Rufus winked at him and took a sip of his coco. John relaxed slightly as Dean settled back drinking his coco. Dean yawned as he finished his drink and John took the mug from his son's hands. "You think you're ready to go back upstairs?"
"Will you stay in the room?" He asked tentatively.
John shot a look at Bobby and Rufus who both nodded their heads. "We have everything covered Johnny." Bobby told him.
John stood Dean up and ruffled his son's hair. "Go hit the head and I'll meet you upstairs." He told his son who smiled and headed upstairs. He turned and looked at Rufus. "I'm guessing he's not going to have any problem sleeping after a shot of schnapps in his coco."
"Don't worry, I told him it was peppermint extract. More like two shots in his mug too, figured the kid needs to sleep."
"Thanks again Rufus," John said as he stood up and slapped the other hunter on the back.
"Might not be thanking me in the morning." The older hunter laughed when John groaned at the thought his twelve-year-old son would probably wake up with a hangover.
TBC