Chapter 8
"Okay Dean, I want you to be good for Jody while, I'm gone," Sam told him, kneeling before him so he could be on his level.
"Okay," said Dean begrudgingly with a pout and stubbed his toe into the floor.
"I promise I'll call this evening before you go to bed."
"You better," Dean mumbled with a frown.
"If you have any problems Jody, give me or Bobby a call," Sam spoke to Jody as he stood. "I made up the spare bedroom with fresh sheets for you, so you wouldn't have to do it."
"We'll be fine Sam, relax," Jody assured him. "Thanks for that."
"Dean hasn't had breakfast yet. He wouldn't eat."
"I'll take care of it. Dean and I will be just fine."
"You ready Sam?" Bobby asked nodding to Jody before stepping from the front porch.
"Yeah," Sam sighed. He started down the steps but stopped when Dean ran down them and threw his arms around his waist to hug him tightly. "You'll be okay Dean," Sam whispered to him, reaching down to hug him back. "I'll be back, I promise." Sam gave Dean a gentle push back toward Jody who put an arm around Dean's shoulders as they watched Sam climb into Bobby old car to head into town to the rental agency to pick up the truck that Sam reserved.
Dean gave Sam and Bobby a small wave as he watched them drive away and fought not to cry. He was too big to cry like that and wiped his arm across his face trying to hold in his emotions.
"Alright sweetie, how about we go get some breakfast?" Jody suggested once the car was out of sight. "What would you like today?"
"Pancakes?" Dean asked as they went back inside.
"Okay, pancakes it is."
They walked into the kitchen and Jody went to work finding what she would need to make pancakes for their breakfast. It took her a bit to learn Bobby's kitchen and after finding everything she stirred the batter together as the griddle heated. She poured the batter onto the hot surface and once they were cooked, transferred them to plates.
"Here we go Dean, pancakes. Do you want syrup on them?"
"Yes, please," Dean replied looking hungrily at his plate. The smell was enticing and made his mouth water.
"There you go. Eat up sweetie."
"Okay." Dean cut into a pancake and started eating, enjoying the sweet taste.
Jody watched Dean eat and was happy he wasn't being picky and seemed to have accepted her being here to take care of him. She was still amazed and finding it hard to believe that this young boy was Dean Winchester, the older of the Winchester brothers. He was a seasoned and experienced hunter, one of the best out there and to see him like this was sad. He was so innocent and vulnerable right now; she could see why Bobby and Sam were being careful and keeping him at the salvage yard for his safety. There were too many monsters and enemies out there who would take advantage of this situation.
"What are we going to do first today?" Jody asked Dean as they ate.
"Feed Rufus," Dean told her.
"Alright, that we can do, but you need to change out of your pajamas first. You can do that after you finish breakfast."
"Okay." Dean agreed.
"You think you can eat another one?"
"Please," Dean nodded stuffing the last bite into his mouth and pushing his plate to Jody.
"You must be having a growth spurt young man."
"I'm a growing boy," Dean giggled, smiling as syrup dripped down his chin. "I'm going to be as big as my brother."
"I bet you are," Jody smiled thinking about Dean in true form. "Finish up and we'll get some fresh air and see about Rufus."
"Okay."
"And then I brought some board games that I think you might like to play and a tub of building blocks. How does that sound?"
"Fine," Dean mumbled around his last bite of pancakes. Syrup was smeared and dripping around his mouth and Jody reached to wipe it before it fell to his shirt.
"Let me get a damp towel to wipe your face," Jody told him. "That syrup can get a little messy."
"I know," Dean smiled shyly, looking up at her with his huge green eyes.
Jody put their dishes in the sink to wash later. She shooed Dean upstairs to change while she tidied the kitchen as she waited for him. Jody took Dean's hand when he came back down dressed for the day and let him lead them outside and to the buildings where Rufus lumbered from his doghouse. He stiffened and growled at Jody until Dean spoke to him to behave. Once he smelled Jody's hand and she petted him, Rufus ignored her and gave all his attention to Dean who loved it. He hugged Rufus and scratched him behind the ears and on his rump.
"I know where his food is since I've fed him before when Bobby was away." Jody went to the storage building and got a scoop of food to put in Rufus' bowl. She washed out his water bowl and filled it with fresh water before putting it back in his doghouse. "Okay, that's done," Jody announced brushing her hands together to get any dirt off them. "How about we take a walk around the yard?"
"Okay. I can show you the bird nest we found." Dean grabbed Jody's hand and pulled her down the road around the crushed vehicles toward the back of the lot. They stopped at the corner of the stacks and Dean pointed up into a crushed car. "You have to be really quiet," he whispered to Jody. They stood there for a few minutes until a chickadee flew to the vehicle with a worm in its beak and perched there for a moment before slipping into an opening. Little chirps could be heard as the babies were fed. After a bit, the adult chickadee flew back out to hunt more food for the babies.
"That was cool Dean," Jody praised him.
"Look, look," Dean insisted pointed to the trees along the fence line. "Do you see it?"
Jody squinted and tried to look where Dean was pointing until she spied a red-tailed hawk perched high in the top of the tree. It was fluffing its feathers and cleaning them until it spied something on the ground in the field and suddenly swooped down to snag a meal.
"C'mon," Dean told her, bored with the hawk now as he pulled her on around the road. "Can we go for a walk in the woods?"
"No, I don't think so," Jody replied. "Sam doesn't want us leaving the salvage yard while he is gone."
"Awe…" Dean pouted for a moment.
"Hey, after we play those games I brought, why don't we try our hands at making that pie? I got some nice cooking apples, and we can have it for dessert tonight?"
"Okay," Dean perked up. "Did you bring some ice cream?"
"Now would I forget that?" Jody questioned. "It's in the freezer waiting on the pie."
"Yes!" Dean grinned happily.
They continued around the road, past the garage where Bobby worked on cars and to the front again, going by the Impala. Dean ran to the car and ran around it, patting it as he sung to himself before joining Jody and continuing to the deck and in the backdoor.
"Why don't you go use the bathroom and wash Rufus off your hands and I'll get the games."
"Alright, Jody," Dean replied skipping off to do as he was told.
Jody washed her hands and went to the bags she brought to get out the games and take them to the kitchen table. They had been packed away in her garage since her son had died. She couldn't bear to throw or give everything away when that happened. She ran a hand lovingly over the boxes as she thought about her son and blinked the tears away.
"All clean," Dean told her bouncing back into the room holding up his damp hands for her to see. He climbed up onto the pillow in his chair and settled back to look at the boxes on the table.
"Very good. Now would you like to play Trouble, Chutes and Ladders, or Checkers?" Jody asked him pointing to each box as she named them.
"Ummm…." Dean thought as he looked at each box before picking one. "Trouble."
"Trouble it is." Jody moved the other boxes out of the way and opened that box to set it up so they could play. She explained to Dean how to play the game before she let him go first.
spn
Bobby pulled into the rental place and let Sam get out to go inside to get the truck. They were going to leave Bobby's car at Jody's and head out from there for the drive to Carroll, Iowa. Sam came out twenty minutes later and went around the lot checking the numbers on the ground until he found the right truck. He got in and started it up, letting it idle for a few minutes before pulling out and driving to the front and to the gate. He waited for Bobby to get behind him and then pulled out when it was clear to head for Jody's place. They were leaving Bobby's car at her place and would pick it up when they turned the truck back in when they got back.
"Is there anything you need to do before we head out?" Sam asked Bobby as he climbed into the cab of the truck.
"No, I'm good. Let's get on the road before traffic picks up," Bobby replied.
"Alright," Sam nodded pulling out to head for the interstate east. He drove slowly long enough to get used to driving the long, big truck. "You think they're doing, okay?"
"I'm sure Jody has it all under control Sam. Your brother will be okay and it's not like we're going to be gone for a week. Don't worry so about them; Dean's in good hands and you know it."
"You're right, I guess I'm just anxious since I'm the big brother right now and Dean's my responsibility. I'm learning just how much Dean had to deal with when I was little, and he was just a kid himself."
"It does make you see things in a different light now that your roles are swapped," Bobby surmised. "But at least you're giving him a little taste of childhood Sam. You should be proud of yourself for that."
"Thanks Bobby," Sam replied shyly. "I'm trying."
"Don't sell yourself short Sam. You're doing the best job you can under the circumstances."
Sam entered the highway and got into one of the middle lanes matching his speed with the other traffic and settled there. Bobby turned on the radio and found a station to allow music to fill the cab. The traffic was moving at a steady pace and Sam kept an eye on all the traffic around him. He was being careful since he wasn't used to driving such a big vehicle.
They had to stop for gas about halfway and used the restroom and grabbed drinks and snacks for the road. Bobby took over driving the rest of the way to give Sam a break. If they didn't run into any problems, Sam estimated they should get to the storage facility around lunchtime. Bobby and Sam didn't talk much on the last leg of their journey until Sam had to give Bobby directions to the storage facility. Bobby drove around the place to the storage unit and stopped.
"This is it," Sam stated getting out to stand in front of the door for a moment waiting on Bobby to join him.
"Well, daylights burning, might as well get started on this," Bobby told him.
"Right," Sam nodded taking out a key to unlock the lock they had replaced on the door. Once he removed it, Sam pushed the rolling door up out of the way to allow the bright light to fill the unit. "Here it is."
"Damn, you were right," Bobby noted. "Yer Daddy held on to everything." He stepped into the unit to get a closer look at things.
"I figured we could start on this side here," Sam suggested walking to the desk and filing cabinets. "They should be the easiest to move."
"Yeah, and the safest." Bobby pulled a couple pairs of leather gloves from his jacket pocket and handed a pair to Sam. "Here, better put these on so we're not touching anything."
"Good idea," Sam agreed accepting the gloves and slipping them on. "I'll open the back of the truck and get the hand truck to move stuff." Sam headed back out and opened the back of the truck, pulling the ramp out to make it easier to load. He rolled the hand truck inside and to a filing cabinet, letting Bobby help tilt it enough to get it under the filing cabinet. Sam took it to the truck and put it in the back against the rear wall and went back in for more. They continued to empty the unit, sections at a time, using duct tape to secure items on the shelves so they wouldn't fall in the drive back. They had been working several hours and had less than half of the items removed.
"I say we take a break and walk down the street to get something to eat," Sam sighed wiping his face of the sweat that was running down it.
"Sounds good to me," Bobby agreed. "I figure we could work another hour or two before calling it quits for the day. We can get a motel room for the night and finish this up tomorrow and then head home."
"Yeah, that sounds good. No need to kill ourselves trying to get it all done today. Let's lock up then and go eat." Sam followed Bobby out and pulled the door down and replaced the lock. He pulled the roll down door on the truck down and locked it too.
They headed to the front of the facility and took the sidewalk down the street where a couple of restaurants were located. Both were tired, dirty, and hungry but was happy with what they had gotten moved so far. If they worked a couple more hours, they should have half the unit emptied leaving only the side around where Dean had fallen. Sam was leaving that for last so they could look through each item as they packed the curse boxes to see if whatever Dean had come in contact with could be found.
A/N: Dean is enjoying his time with Jody and Sam and Bobby are working hard to empty the storage unit so they can get home. Will they find what they are looking for? Thank you for taking this journey with me. I do like reviews/comments. NC