Chapter Thirty Two

A/N: I'm back, updating just like I said; thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, it's good to know that some people are still reading even after my looong absence.

On another note, I am currently without the internet which means I'm posting this while at work – on my phone. I'm also checking my emails while I'm at it lol :p I'll try not to let this cause a delay in posting next week, hopefully it'll be fixed by then, if not there's always work again hehe. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Kick In the Teeth

I made my way down the stone steps, walls both made of brick either side. Which although raised the tension in me slightly and was a little claustrophobic was actually a good thing. It meant nothing could jump out from the side and grab either Charlie or me.

It wasn't long before we reached the bottom of the stairs where stood a door, made of iron by the looks of it. And when I tried the handle it was locked. Fan-freakin'-tastic.

I pulled out my lock-picking kit and went to town on the door. Speaking quietly to Charlie over my shoulder as I did.

"You got a signal?" I asked.

"Yeah why, you think we should ring for back-up?" Dad asked.

"No. But I think that as we're about to enter an iron door which could have god knows what trapped behind it, that someone should know where we are and what we're doing." I replied, while concentrating on the lock. It was proving to be a bitch.

"I'll text Ellen." Dad murmured and suddenly his torch went away. Meaning I was picking this lock -which was hard enough as it was- in the dark. Damn.

Thirty seconds later and as soon as the light reappeared I heard the satisfying click that meant we were in. Stepping back from the door I put my kit away and pulled my phone and gun back out.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Sure, why not?" Charlie replied, I heard the smile in his voice. And something else? Pride maybe? No. Couldn't be. I was just projecting obviously.

I pushed the heavy door open, relieved and surprised when it didn't make any noise. Surely a freaky basement door should at least creak? I'd been watching way too many horror movies.

The first thing I noticed was the seal of Solomon painted on the floor in front of the door. The next was the Enocian symbols directly in front of me on the walls. Stepping through the door I put my gun up. This room was better warded than even Bobby's panic room, considering every spare inch of the ceiling was given over to wards. There was nothing in here that would hurt us. I was putting my life on it.

The walls were lined with newspaper clippings, drawings, hand written pages and photographs. And the free spaces were taken over by shelves full of weapons, most of them looking antique.

"I think we've just found our Mecca." I joked to Charlie, the awe I was feeling colouring my voice.

"This place is something alright." Charlie said in agreement.

I shone my light into the middle of the room to take a look. It was a large space, the full size of the house I'd guess. In the room was a table with six dust and cobweb covered chairs. Three cots and an area that looked like a kitchenette. Plus a drywall that cut off a small portion of the room. I'd have bet money that it was a tiny bathroom.

"You could live down here!" I exclaimed as I took everything in, pretty sure there was a little drooling involved there as well.

"I think that was the point kid." Charlie said his voice slightly sombre. I turned to look at him, sadness was not any emotion that I had when seeing this room and I was curious as to why my dad was feeling it. His face though showed nothing. A perfect poker face.

"What's wrong dad?" I asked after a moment of silence that he failed to fill.

"It just this, this room... You shouldn't be excited by it. This isn't the life I wanted for you kid." He held a hand up as I opened my mouth to protest. We'd been on this road before, I'd seen that tree and the destination wasn't going to change much too both our disappointment. "No it's not that... I just... Maybe if d have told you all this before? I don't know. Just maybe something's, Edward, Jacob... Maybe they would have turned out differently." And maybe the destination would change after all.

"I'm sorry dad. I know that this isn't the life you wanted for me and I'm sorry I've disappointed you. But although I'm not happy about the whole worrying about you for six months part, I'm glad that I found out when I did. I don't regret any experience that I've had because it's made me into the person I am. And I like who I am now. If I could go back and change a couple of things I might, there's a few things that give me nightmares that I might have been able to avoid if I'd known where following stupid vampires might have got me. But like I said I don't regret anything. I'm just sorry you do." I smiled at Charlie and then turned to inspect the shelving, I thought I saw an actual mace in amongst the weapons.

"I'm not." Charlie told my back.

"Huh?" Was my oh so brilliant reply, but in my defence I didn't have a clue what he was talking about.

"I'm not disappointed, I don't like the decisions that you've made, and I certainly don't want you to carry on with this lifestyle… But I'm not disappointed in you Bella. In fact I'm proud of you." I turned to look at dad with my mouth slightly ajar and my eyebrows raised. Yeah colour me shocked. "I am. Like I said I don't want you in this lifestyle Bells, what parent would, but you're good at it. You're everything a hunter should be and more. As well as the rest you've also still got your compassion and kindness, which I was afraid you'd lost. You are a good hunter Bella and as much as I hate that I'm also so proud of the strong young woman you've become. As should you be." Charlie smiled at me proudly before shining his light at something on the farthest wall from us and started walking over too it.

"Thanks dad." I said trying damn hard not to tear up at the praise my father had given me before grabbing hold of myself and going to inspect that mace. I was hunting and I needed to be hard and cut off at the moment. Not crying like a little girl just because her daddy had given her a compliment.

I inspected the weapons and was mildly delighted to find out that it was indeed a mace on the shelf. I really wanted to be the one to show that to Dean. He'd be like a kid at Christmas when he did see it.

"Hey Bells?" Dad called from where he was stood, tearing my attention away from my new toy.

"Yeah?"

"You know anything about electrics by any chance?" He sounded doubtful as he asked.

"Only what I've seen Sam and Dean do." I replied while walking over to him. Might as well take a look at what he wanted me to do or help with before I said I couldn't do it.

Charlie was stood in front of a fuse box that I knew from experience now, that it was where the main power came from for the whole house. I took a good look at the box, almost as doubtful as Charlie had sounded when he called me over. However it was almost exactly the same as the fuse box that Dean had rigged in the last place we'd squatted in. Might be able to do a hack job on it and get some power returned to the house. Or I could just fry the whole circuit. But then we wouldn't be in a worse place than we were now.

"I might be able to do something with this. Maybe. Can you see any copper wire? I can probably rig it without but it's easier with." I asked Charlie while studying the board with my torch. Yeah it should be do-able.

"Hey dad?" I asked as I heard him move a little away from the fuse box. Hopefully looking for that copper wire. If I were the hunters that had made this place I'd have stashed some for emergency purposes. But then again if this were their house then perhaps destroying their own fuse box in case of emergency just to get a few hours electricity probably hadn't occurred to them.

"Yeah?" Charlie's voice came over from another wall accompanied by the sound of a draw being opened and then closed again.

"How come you don't know how to rig a fuse box? You've been at this a lot longer than I have and you're a pretty hands on guy, you don't shy away from work with your hands I mean."

"Never needed to know." He replied bluntly, reminding me of the Charlie I'd always thought I'd known. Before all of this happened.

"So you've never needed electricity in a building that's been cut off where you've been hunting?"

"Always had a torch with me." Dad said sounding like he was going through another draw.

"So you've never squatted in an empty house before and needed electric? Say for a shower?" I'd stayed in exactly three squats since travelling with the brothers and every single one I'd hated. It was horrible. But at least the brothers had been able to provide a hot shower for us every morning by making sure the electricity worked.

"No, I had a job. I could afford a room." He said sounding less than impressed for some reason. "Just how many times have you squatted? I thought you were taking better care of yourself than that." And that would be the reason right there. Should have kept my big mouth shut. Damn.

"One, we needed to be on this hunt, no-one we knew was around for miles to help, and anyway all the hotels and motels were full. So it was either squat or sleep in the car. Don't know if you've noticed but there's not a lot of room in the Impala for three people, not to all sleep at the same time anyways." I defended us with only a tiny little lie about how many times we had actually used a squat.

I could hear Charlie huff a little ways away but he didn't actually say anything. That was an improvement, right?

I pulled the relevant wires out of their places, almost sure of what I was doing, sure enough to risk my life anyway.

"You found any copper dad?" I called ready to make do and mend, knife out poised.

. "Doesn't look like there is any kid." Charlie responded.

"Can you come and hold the torch then please dad?" I really, really needed to see what I was doing here otherwise I'd fry the whole circuit and myself in the process. And I really didn't fancy another trip to the emergency room. Bad enough I'd been one or two times recently. Though I think that may have been a record low for me over my life. I'd always been in and out of hospital since I was a baby. Clumsiness was apparently something I had been born with.

Charlie came and held the torch for me as requested while I stripped a couple of wires of their protective plastic cases, leaving behind the pure wire which you were not supposed to touch. All the while Charlie was voicing his worry and his hesitance.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing kid?" Dad asked me for the fifth time in a row.

"Dad, as much as I appreciate you worrying about me, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing. And I need quiet to concentrate. Please." I was starting to get a little annoyed now, plus I really did need quiet. I needed to do this carefully but quickly and the second it was done I needed to take a few steps away from the panel. I'd seen one that Sam had done that fizzed and sparked. Needless to say Dean took over that one for him.

"Pretty sure?" Charlie responded.

"Dad!"

"Sorry, sorry. I'll be quiet." He sounded like a scolded child which had me holding back a chuckle for a second before I concentrated once more.

Pushing the two wires together needed and then bringing in the third I saw the small spark before backing up quickly.

"Did it work? Was that supposed to happen?" Charlie asked sounding a little worried. Not that I blamed him really, the first time I'd seen the same thing done I'd panicked a little too.

"Find a light switch and we'll see if it worked or not." I said while setting off with my phone in hand using it once again as a torch to find a light switch as well. Pleading with something in brain that it would work. I think Charlie was starting to respect me as a hunter but if this failed then he might go back to thinking I was that little girl he lived with back in Forks.

"Got it." Charlie said from the wall closest to the bathroom. A second later and a light flickered dimly above. Yes! "Well done kid." Dad said, his voice full of that pride once more.

"Thanks." I murmured as I took a proper look around the room. Seeing parts of it in torch light is one thing but seeing it actually lit up was another.

The room seemed slightly smaller when the whole of it was lit up, but the shelves holding weapons, some of which I was guessing were home-made, were bigger than they'd looked in torch light. I really, really wanted to pick them up and play, like a five year old given some Lego for the first time. But Dean, as always, was in my mind. Sam and him, they should be the first ones to have a go with the weapons. They should be the first ones to touch them. They should be the ones who should decide what to do with these weapons, rather than me liberating one or two now as I wanted to do.

"Bella! Come look at this!" Charlie called breaking into my musings and my sudden urge to be back by my boyfriend's side, to make sure that he was okay. Not that he'd show it if he wasn't.

I went over to Charlie who was stood in front of a safe that I was ashamed to say I'd overlooked. There was nothing overly strange about the safe other than where it was situated in the old house, I was a little at a loss as to why Charlie wanted me to see it unless it contained something amazing that was.

"Do you see anything strange about it at all?" Dad asked me.

I looked at the safe, sure that there must be something odd for Charlie to have called me over. It was quite small, not coming up to higher than my waist and the width was not large either. It was a faded green colour with spots of rust coming through, it looked as if it had been sat in the panic room for quite some years. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary about the safe but having learnt to look past the obvious from Sam, I looked past what I saw on first look. The door was held firmly shut, it stood on stout metal legs less than an inch from the floor.

The floor was slightly scratched and damaged around the safe, as though the safe had been dragged out from its place and put back again a few times. Bit of a ball ache to drag a heavy safe around again and again, unless there was a really good reason. Unless there was something behind the safe maybe?

I checked the wall behind the safe, taking a step closer so I could see better. The stone wall behind the safe…. It was cracked. Not as in a hairline crack that may have developed over time, but a deep deliberate crack. One that looked like the shape, now I could see it, of a door way.

"Holy shit." I gasped, shocked and excited. "You've found a secret door in a hidden panic room dad." This was the stuff that movies were made of, mostly horror movies, but then again what wasn't the stuff of the horror genre in our lives?

"Yup. Now how do we get in?" Charlie didn't seem quite as excited as I was about this whole thing, he just saw it as another obstacle, something as mundane as a blown light-bulb even. Secret rooms and hidden doorways were cool. I was starting to miss Dean and Sam more and more, at least they would have mustered up even a little excitement. They would have understood how I was feeling.

"Isn't there usually a lever or something?" I asked while trying the handle to the safe itself. Nothing. Oh well. I started scanning first the right side of the safe and the hidden door that it was concealing, anything that could possibly be a lever I started touching. Before I could start on the left hand side Charlie got the jist and started playing around with objects as well.

Five minutes later and I was frustrated as hell, I'd even started moving the pencils on the desk in hope of triggering something. Charlie had just finished touching everything and anything on his side as well not having any better luck than I did. Couldn't these people, whoever they were that built this place, couldn't they have made their secret door easier to open?

I gave up at the desk and went back over to the concealed door, thinking once more. We hadn't tried pushing it. Maybe that would work? I bent at my knees so I could push with them, safety first and all that crap. Taking a deep breath I pushed with all my might, straining everything I had, which six months after meeting the Winchesters was a damn sight more than before. Nothing gave even an inch. Not that I'd really expected it too now. Still it would have been nice for the effort I gave it.

Suddenly the safe started moving away from me for an inch or two. I was doing it! I was moving the damn thing! When all of a sudden it stopped moving inwards slowly and started moving forwards at a much more rapid speed, I had to drop and roll (like they teach at fire safety talks) just to avoid being knocked over by a heavy safe and a huge chunk of rock that had been coming towards me.

"Sorry Bells, must have been spring loaded. You okay kid?" His voice sounded concerned.

"Yeah, I'm good, thanks." I said getting to my feet and dusting down my feet. Just like everything in this house the floor could do with a deep clean. "What was it?" I asked, realising that it wasn't my awesome strength that solved the puzzle.

"Mace." Charlie said without much care. Of course it was the damn mace.

Together Charlie and I made our way toward the newly created doorway. The area behind it was surprisingly lit, revealing a long stone passageway, a couple of the antique looking light flickering, giving it an ominous appearance.

"Secret passage way." I exclaimed, more surprised, I was thinking an arsenal or something along those lines, for guns, which were about the only weapon ever created which wasn't on display Lay behind the safe door, not a passage way.

"Must lead to the library." Charlie mused while looking at the ceiling above as though it was whispering the answer to him. "Yeah, it's in the right direction in any case."

With a shrug at Charlie I started walking down the passage, my hand held at my hip as I did just in case something else lay at the end. About twenty meters later the passage went left, which I carefully inched around, I didn't want anything sneaking up on us, or to startle anything. As I'd said before, paranoid, maybe, but alive I'd rather be. There was nothing around the corner except for more passage followed by a door which looked like a wooden doorway similar to the brick on we'd just come through. This one with a lever on it. Thankfully.

"Hold your hands above your head kid." Charlie said while grabbing hold of the lever.

"What, why?" I asked while doing as he requested, the moment I had the door started moving easily outwards. Like there were wheels at the bottom or something.

As soon as I saw what was waiting for us I realised why he'd said to hold our hands up. Bobby, Ellen and Sam were stood facing us with hard looks which were barely masking their shock and their guns out, pointing at our heads.

Bobby was the first one to come to his sense. "What in the blazing hell!?" He said, I didn't know if I saw, anger, relief or shock on his familiar face, my guess was a little bit of all three. "Where the heck have you been and why didn't you answer your damn phones? We were about to send out a search party for ya both. Igits! And what the hell is that?" Okay so the main emotion was relief then. I knew he cared really.

"Where's Dean?" I directed my question to Sam who was more likely to answer me and less likely to curse me out. I'd expected him to be with our welcoming party, especially as they were apparently worried about us.

"He went outside to try calling you again suga'. Why don't you go on up and get him? Maybe then you and your daddy can tell us where the hell you've been for the past two hours?" It was said with a lift of her eyebrows that made me think perhaps she might not have been too happy with us at the minute either.

"Er… Yeah, sure. I'll be back in a minute." I said more than happy to be leaving the room, even if it was just for a short period. When two of the scariest people you knew where mad with you, and in the same room, you sure as hell didn't want to stay in there with them.

I started looking round the room then, noticing it for the first time properly. Well, they'd found the library for sure. It was an average sized room full of makeshift shelving lining all four walls, all of them floor to ceiling and all completely covered with books. Some of them looking so old they might disintegrate under your fingers if you tried to pick them up. I was pretty sure I was in love. This library with its books, not to mention the huge table mimicking the one back in the panic room but with comfier looking seating. It was perfect.

The only problem was, how the hell did you get out?

"I'll show you." Sam whispered catching my eye with a glint shining in his deep brown ones. He was finding Bobby and Ellen being mad at me funny; the git.

Though gratefully I followed him when he stretched upwards near one of the walls containing one of the numerous bookshelves. He pulled down a ladder from a nearly invisible trap door in the ceiling. This place was freakin' amazing.

I climbed up the ladder after Sam coming out into the crappy, dilapidated shed where all of this started. It smelt musty, like dust and turps and old tools all mingled into one. Not the worse smelling place I'd been recently unfortunately.

I dusted myself off once again before walking literally into Sam, who was stood still staring at something. "What's the hold…" I started to say before trailing off.

Just outside of the shed but clearly visible, in fact the doorway seemed like a frame in fact, was a woman he looked to be in her early thirties. She was beautiful, with shiny black hair, a curvy figure, and boobs that I could only ever envy. The most striking thing about her though was the fact her lips were stuck to Deans.

A/N: Don't hate me too much, I had to put it in, it's one of the scenes I first thought up when I started writing this story moons and moons ago. And before you start throwing things at me or cursing me remember, I love Dean and Bella. Okay, so I'm hiding until next week when I'll peek back out to update.

Until then, Tametiger x