A/N: This is a shorter chapter so apologies for that. And again, any dialogue or scenes you recognize from the show do not belong to me although I have modified them to fit with this story. This chapter's song is Roadhouse Blues by The Doors.


Chapter 6: Roadhouse Blues


Yeah, keep your eyes on the road, your hand upon the wheel

Keep your eyes on the road, your hand upon the wheel

Yeah, we're goin' to the Roadhouse we're gonna have a real

Good time

Yeah, back at the Roadhouse they got some bungalows

Yeah, back at the Roadhouse they got some bungalows

And that's for the people who like to go down slow

Let it roll, baby, roll

Let it roll, baby, roll

Let it roll, baby, roll

Let it roll, all night long

Ashen lady, ashen lady

Give up your vows, give up your vows

Save our city, save our city

Right now

Well, I woke up this morning, I got myself a beer

Well, I woke up this morning, and I got myself a beer

The future's uncertain, and the end is always near

Let it roll, baby, roll

Let it roll, baby, roll

Let it roll, baby, roll

Let it roll, all night long

As if in response to Dean's mood, the weather turned shortly after Alex's arrival. Dark clouds filled the sky and it wasn't long after they moved in that rain started coming down. Dean gave up on working on the Impala since it had only been an excuse to get out of the house anyway and he didn't much feel like standing out in the rain. With a sigh, Dean ran a hand through his damp hair and headed back towards the porch.

When he walked in the front door, shrugging off his wet jacket, he frowned when he didn't see Ty anywhere, "Where's Ty?"

Sam shrugged from where he was seated at Bobby's desk, his laptop open on top of a pile of books, "Said she was going for a jog."

Dean looked from his brother to Alex who was reclining on the sofa, reading one of Bobby's books. Neither seemed inclined to pipe up, so he pointed out the obvious, "It's raining."

Alex closed the book he'd been trying to look through with a snap. That was it. He just couldn't take it anymore. He'd tried to hold his tongue about the whole Dean thing for months because he knew Ty hadn't wanted to talk about it. But man it pissed him off how this guy treated her! He'd ghosted her for months and now he just shows up out of the blue, acting like he didn't just put her through months of hell worrying about him, evidently expecting her to just be okay with it. And now it was just plain obvious that he'd never even bothered to really get to know her at all even though she was clearly head-over-heels for the jackass for some unfathomable reason.

Alex dropped the book on the couch and stood, sending Dean a disgusted sneer, "You'd think someone who claims to care about her would know that she only ever wants to jog when it's raining."

Dean froze in his tracks, momentarily surprised but swiftly just ticked off because he'd known there was a reason he didn't like this guy!

"What do you care? You got a little crush on my girl?" Dean sneered right back.

Alex folded his arms across his chest, "She's my best friend and I don't like seeing you treat her like dirt."

Dean gave a derisive snort in reply, "Best friend? You've known her what, a few months?"

"Yeah and I've already spent more time with her than you have!" Alex snapped, arms dropping to his sides and curling into fists.

"Uh...guys? How about we just cool it a sec?" Sam ventured since for some reason this had swiftly gotten out of hand. Bobby had already retreated into the library to work on the Colt, but at this rate he was going to come out here and shoot both Alex and his brother for being loud and stupid.

Alex and Dean both ignored him, "Whatever. You think that means you know her better?"

"I know I do." Alex answered.

"Yeah, right." Dean scoffed, turning his back on the younger man.

"Okay, then, what's on her dog-tag?" Alex challenged.

Dean turned back, unable to let the challenge go unanswered. He flashed Alex a confident smirk, "Her name and a serial number from some story she wrote years ago."

Alex frowned, unwilling to acknowledge Dean was right. Dean pressed his advantage.

"Okay, 'bestie,' what's the one scary movie she's seen that she's actually afraid of?"

Now Alex grinned, "Easy. It. She's afraid of clowns. Your turn: is she a cat person or a dog person?"

At that moment, Ty returned from her run. She'd cut through the yard on her way back to come in through the backdoor, as was her habit, but the second she opened the door, the sound of raised voices had her on alert. She moved quietly through the kitchen towards the living room, but stopped when she saw Dean and Alex squaring off like they were about to throw punches.

"Trick question." Dean answered quickly, "She's both. She used to work at an animal shelter; she loves everything furry. Hell, she'd probably try to adopt a hell-hound if you gave her half a chance. What's her favorite blade?"

"The switchblade her dad gave her." Alex answered just as quickly, "Okay, smartass, what's her favorite color?"

As Ty realized they were snapping questions about her at each other, her mouth fell open and she heard herself asking in disbelief, "What the holy hell is happening right now?"

Alex and Dean were still so wrapped up in their argument that they didn't appear to have heard her, but Sam did. He quickly gestured for her to go back into the kitchen. Ty did so, still looking astounded. Sam waited a moment before ducking into the kitchen after her.

"Sam, what the hell…?" Ty began to ask.

"Shhh." Sam quickly steered her back towards the door, pitching his voice low as he opened it and they both stepped outside, "Apparently it's some kind of Ty trivia showdown and I have a feeling if they see you, they're going to make you pick the winner."

Well, that was five kinds of insane. Had Dean and Alex both completely lost it? Well, at least Sam had saved her from getting caught in the middle of...whatever that was. But that just left one problem.

"So, what? Are we just gonna hide out here in the rain until they either run out of questions or kill each other?"

"Or Bobby does." Sam added. He thought about it for a moment before an idea came to him,"Wait here a sec."

With that he went back inside, Ty watching him go curiously. He was only gone a moment before he stepped back out, holding up a set of keys and jingling them.

"Wanna catch a movie?" He asked with a smile.

"Did you just steal Dean's keys?"

Sam shrugged unapologetically, "Yeah."

"Always knew you were a genius, Sam." Ty smiled back, but her smile faltered a little as they walked around the house to the Impala, "They still at it in there?"

"Uh, yeah." Sam said, looking uncomfortable, "They'd moved on to your tattoos and your sleeping habits."

Ty made a face, "That's just creepy."

Sam nodded his agreement.

"Sam." Ty called, making him pause before reaching for the driver's side door, "No rom-coms or anything, okay? Like a solid action flick. Jason Statham preferred."

Sam flashed her another grin, "You got it."

Meanwhile, as Sam had predicted, Bobby had only been able to ignore Alex and Dean's arguing for so long before he couldn't stand it anymore. He was trying to concentrate on fixing their only weapon against the demon army out there, not too mention Lilith, and these damn morons were in a pissing match over a girl. Granted, he was pretty pissed at Dean, too, for treating Ty that way. The girl was the closest thing to a daughter he had and if didn't also love the Winchester boys like his own sons, he probably would have shot the fool by now. But there was a time and a place for that nonsense and now sure as hell wasn't it. Maybe after they found a way to stop the freaking end of the world.

Dismantled Colt still in hand, Bobby stomped out of the library into the living room. He was somewhat gratified by the way both younger men froze, mouths snapping shut, when they saw him. But it wasn't nearly enough to keep him from giving them both a peace of his mind.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" he snapped, furious gaze transferring from one man to the other, "There ain't enough going on? You got to bitch at each other like a couple of high school girls fighting over a prom date?"

"It's not like…" Alex started to protest.

"He started…" Dean began at the same time.

"Do I look like I want to talk about it?" Bobby interrupted angrily, shutting them both down quickly, "Now unless you've got something to say about the demonic shitstorm we're in the middle of, keep your traps shut!"

Both men were quiet for a moment before Dean broached the silence, "Figure out how to get the Colt to kill a demon yet?"

Bobby looked one part incredulous and two parts pissed off as he turned to Dean and cocked the gun, "It won't kill a demon, but I can promise you it'll kill you."

Dean held his hands up in surrender, but sent Bobby a grin at the same time. Bobby released the hammer, but rolled his eyes heavenward as if asking for a higher power to grant him more patience to deal with him.

"Find a hunt." Bobby ordered, "Or I'm liable to shoot you before the week's out."

"Yes, sir." Dean replied, unable to keep at least a small measure of sarcasm from his voice.

"And you," Bobby said, turning now to Alex, "Come help me with this thing."

Alex nodded, but before he could follow Bobby out of the room, Dean's phone rang. Everyone stopped and looked at Dean as the guitar riff from Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water filled the room.

Dean frowned at his phone before answering, "Yeah? Woah, woah, Ash, slow down."

"Ash?" Alex asked, "Ash from the Roadhouse?"

"No, Ash from Evil Dead." Dean snapped sarcastically before turning his back on Alex so he could focus on the stream of nervous nonsense coming from the mullet-rocking MIT dropout. He couldn't make sense of most of what he was saying, but he was pretty sure he was starting to get the gist, "Wait, are you saying you know what Lilith is planning?"

"Si, amigo." Ash agreed, "But we can't talk about this on the phone. It's not secure. You need to get here. Now."

"What are you talking about? Just tell me what you've got!" Dean demanded, but Ash had already hung up.

Dean pulled his phone from his head and stared at it in confusion for a moment.

"Well?" Bobby demanded, snapping him out of it.

"He said he's got info on Lilith. Wouldn't talk about it on the phone." Dean relayed, "I think we better get to the Roadhouse. Where's Sam?"

It was at that moment that all three men realized that Sam and Ty were both absent.

"Sam!" Dean yelled, "Ty!"

Alex walked over to the window that looked out on the front drive and pushed aside the curtain, "Uh, dude? Your car's gone."

"Sam!" Dean bellowed again, almost as if he hoped Alex was lying and his brother would poke his head around the corner any second. But there was already anger in his voice and he was already moving quickly for the front door. Flinging the door open, he saw that Alex was right. The Impala was gone, "Son of a bitch!"

Dean quickly pulled his phone out again and dialed his brother, already taking a deep breath in preparation for the tirade he was going to launch into the second he picked up. But Sam did not pick up. In fact, the ringing cut off abruptly and Sam's voicemail kicked in. That punkass bitch sent him to voicemail! Oh, he was going to murder him.

A second later, a text came into Dean's phone. It was from Sam, telling him that he and Ty were at a movie and would be back in a couple hours. Fuming, Dean glared at the text. Well then, his brother had two hours left to live.

"Are they okay?" Alex asked, annoyed that Dean wasn't sharing whatever was on his phone.

"Peachy." Dean replied sarcastically, "Until I strangle them both."

"Later." Bobby barked at him, shoving past them both and heading outside the front door, "If they're okay, then we've got to go. We need whatever Ash has got. Come on."

Alex followed, but Dean hesitated on the porch, "But my car…"

"I'm driving." Bobby said without pausing.

Dean sighed but followed after him. At least he wouldn't have to ride in Alex's stupid truck. Even if he did have to ride bitch in Bobby's Chevelle since Alex had already plopped his ass in shotgun. Grumbling, Dean climbed in the back. He sure hoped Ash's lead was good because he really wanted to kill something.

As soon as both boys were in the car, Bobby dropped his foot on the gas, pushing the old, rusting car to the limit. Ash didn't exaggerate. If he said he had something and if it was as big as it seemed from the way that phone call with Dean went down, then they had no time to waste. He ignored the startled sounds from both young hunters when he yanked the wheel hard, turning onto the highway without slowing, tires squealing and the car fish-tailing a little.

"Jesus, Bobby. You been watching The Fast and The Furious?" Dean exclaimed.

"Yeah," Alex agreed, wide-eyed and bracing himself between the dash and the roof while he stared at Bobby in surprise, "Bat out of hell much?"

Bobby just grunted in response. At least the idjits were agreeing on something.

When Ty and Sam returned to Singer's Garage and found the place silent, they immediately knew something was up. Sam called his brother while Ty searched the house, just to be sure. After a few rings, Sam wondered if Dean might be refusing to answer to get back at him for sending him to voicemail, but finally his brother picked up.

"Dean, where…" he began.

"Sam." Dean cut him off and just from the way his brother said his name, Sam could tell something bad had happened, "We're at the Roadhouse. What's left of it. Place looks like that church did after the demon hit it with that lightning storm."

Dean frowned as he picked his way through the rubble. Bobby and Alex were doing the same, but so far they hadn't found Ellen, Jo, or Ash among the charred remains.

"Dean, what happened?" Sam asked urgently.

Dean shook his head, "Ash said he had something on Lilith, but it looks like they got here before we did. But I'm not seeing…"

Dean stopped when he spotted a familiar watch on an arm sticking out of the debris. He moved in for a closer look, just to be sure, hoping maybe he was wrong, but knowing deep down that he wasn't.

"Ah, damn it, Ash." Dean swore, closing his eyes regretfully. He'd really liked the guy and he hadn't deserved to go out like this.

"Jo? Ellen?" Sam pressed on the phone, anxiously.

Dean relayed the question, glancing over towards Bobby and Alex. They both shook their heads.

"Not here." Dean said, "And now we're back to square one on Lilith. Damn it, Sam. Ash was our only lead."

Sam paused, debating whether he should tell his brother the truth. He knew Dean wouldn't like it, which was the reason why he'd kept his continued contact with Ruby a secret, but he decided he had to, "Maybe not."

"Sam?"

"I called Ruby. She's on her way. She said she'll fix the Colt and she's got a lead."

Dean was silent for a long moment.

"Dean?" Sam pressed.

"Tell me you're not still buying her crap." Dean snapped, angrily, "I mean, why are you even still talking to her?"

"Dean…" Sam protested.

"No! No, Sam! She's a demon, okay? She's messing with your head. You should have just killed her when you had the chance. Hell, maybe it was her that did this."

The muscles around Sam's jaw tightened in frustration. Dean had had pretty much the same reaction when Sam first told him about Ruby, after he'd discovered what she was. And he had already explained why they needed her. He was frankly getting tired of having this same argument, "I know she's dangerous, Dean, but she's also all we've got right now whether you like it or not."

Dean didn't reply so Sam figured he must have realized he was right even if he didn't want to admit it.

"She said she'll be here tomorrow."

"Fine." Dean replied shortly before hanging up.

Sam sighed. He wished Dean would just trust him. He knew what he was doing. It's not like he was going to let his guard down. He knew she was a demon and couldn't be trusted, but that didn't mean they couldn't use her. And, like he'd told Dean, they were out of other options.

After disconnecting with Sam, Dean scowled thinking about how much his brother seemed to have changed over the past few years. Well, even if he was right about this demon chick and she could help them, fix the Colt, then he would just use it to waste her.

"Ellen's not answering her phone." Bobby called, drawing Dean's attention back to the moment.

Looking back at his phone, Dean started scrolling down to Jo's name, when Alex's excited voice stopped him, "I got Jo! Jo, are you okay? Where are you? Is Ellen with you?"

Dean and Bobby both hurried over to join Alex who was talking quickly into his phone. He paused, listening to Jo's response before he nodded to the other hunters. Dean heaved a sigh of relief. At least those two were okay.

"Listen, Jo, I need to tell you something." Alex said with a frown before relaying the news about the Roadhouse.

Dean didn't stick around to hear the rest of the conversation. He wanted out of this place, away from the latest proof that helping a Winchester was fatal. Again, the instinct to push everyone away, for their own safety, flared up inside of him, but again, he disgusted himself by balking from that idea, too weak to really even consider it. Instead, he felt an almost overwhelming need to get back to Sam and Ty.

"Bobby!" He called gruffly, moving to the passenger door of the Chevelle and climbing in, "Let's get out of here."

Bobby nodded, gesturing for Alex to come along. The other hunter was still talking to Jo, but he nodded and followed Bobby to the car.

"Yeah, okay. Stay safe, Jo. I will. Bye." Alex concluded as they reached the car. He glanced over the roof at Bobby, "She caught wind of a hunt, seemed like a demon. Wouldn't drop it and Ellen wouldn't let her go alone so they were both gone when this happened, but then the demon they were hunting up and vanished. Like it had lured them away."

Bobby nodded slowly, "Leaving this place vulnerable. So, it was definitely Ash they were after. And whatever he knew."

Alex didn't know what to say so he just nodded, looking back at the wreckage. His momentary relief at hearing Jo and Ellen were okay faded as he thought again about everyone who had died in there. He'd known a lot of those hunters, some better than others, and while they certainly weren't all saints, most had been fighting evil to try and help people. It felt wrong to just leave them there, but what else could they do?

"Come on, kid." Bobby prodded, but not unkindly, "We've got work to do."

It was dark by the time Bobby, Alex, and Dean returned to Bobby's house. Sam had brought back pizza from in town, but it was cold by the time they arrived. Not that it much mattered since none of the men had much of an appetite. Instead, Bobby pulled out a dusty bottle of whiskey and poured them all a round in honor of Ash and the Roadhouse. They didn't talk much, each lost to their own thoughts as they sipped their drinks.

Finally, Bobby sighed and set down his empty glass, "Alright. We should all try and get some sleep. Alex…"

"Couch is fine." Alex interrupted dully, knowing the hunter's house was at capacity and really not much feeling like moving from where he was sitting anyway.

"Alright." Bobby nodded, pushing himself up from his chair. He figured he'd lead by example and headed to his room.

"Goodnight." Sam echoed, also climbing to his feet a moment later and retreating for the night.

"Dean?" Ty asked quietly, wondering if he was planning on joining her.

"Go on. I'll be up in a minute." he said, nodding his head towards the stairs. Ty lingered uncertainly so he forced a half-hearted smile, "You stole my room, so…"

"Okay." Ty nodded, her lips quirking upwards for a brief second before the expression quickly faded, "I'll be waiting, okay?"

Dean hummed an affirmative, but he was looking down at his glass. Ty headed for the stairs, but paused before going up, watching as he got up and poured himself another glass and took it into the kitchen. A moment later she heard the sound of the backdoor swinging shut. She was worried about him. This had hit them all pretty hard and she knew he was still dealing with everything with Sam and his dad, too, but there was something else going on, something she hadn't figured out yet.

"Hey, tiger." Alex's soft voice called, pulling her attention away from Dean.

Ty took a few steps back into the living room, "Yeah?"

"Thanks for calling me." Alex said.

Ty frowned a little in confusion and shrugged, "Of course."

Alex looked up, catching her eyes from across the room, "No, I mean, I was at the Roadhouse when you called. I probably would have been there…"

He trailed off and his gaze dropped back to the carpet. Ty sucked in a breath, like she'd been elbowed in the ribs, at the realization of how close she'd been to losing him. Before she knew it, she had moved quickly back across the room, hauled him to his feet by a fistful of his shirt, and enveloped him in a tight hug. He hugged her back just as tightly, neither really having any words so settling for silent mutual understanding.

After a long moment, Ty forced herself to release her hold on him. For all that they hadn't known each other that long in the grand scheme of things, he was important to her, like family. And as that thought crossed Ty's mind, her brain also chose that moment to remind her of that stupid kiss. Did that have something to do with the animosity between Alex and Dean? Ugh, she just wanted to forget that moment had ever happened, but maybe she and Alex needed to talk.

"Alex," Ty began, forcing herself to say the words out loud even if she'd rather eat dirt, "we need to talk."

Alex looked confused but he gestured for her to go ahead.

Ty took a deep breath before again making herself speak, "I...shouldn't have kissed you."

Alex's eyes widened in surprise at Ty's words and a bit of a flush bloomed in his cheeks. He looked away from her, his eyes roaming for something, anything else, to look at, "Oh. That."

Suddenly, words seemed to want to fly out of Ty's mouth, tumbling out in a confused mess, "I don't...I mean, you didn't...did you? No, it's just...you and me aren't...not that I...but you're...and I…"

Ty finally managed to clamp her jaw shut and stop any further nonsensical word vomit from escaping. Exasperated with herself, she took another deep breath and tried again.

"I'm sorry. It was a dumb mistake. I knew it the moment I did it, but like a coward I didn't say anything."

"Hey." Alex interrupted, finally looking at her, "I...uh...didn't say anything either, so… And besides, you'd almost died...so, it doesn't count, right?"

Ty paused a second, brow furrowed as she tried to decipher how Alex felt from his response, "So...you think it was a mistake, too?"

"Well," Alex squirmed uneasily, again looking embarrassed, which made him look so much younger than his actual years, "it's just...you're my best friend, but I don't really think about you like that."

He just barely stopped himself from adding that he actually had feelings for someone else. He knew if he said anything, Ty would poke and prod at him until she figured out who it was and he wasn't ready to share that yet.

Ty, meanwhile, almost collapsed from the surge of relief that washed over her. She felt a real smile pulling at her lips for the first time in hours. She almost wanted to laugh.

"Oh, thank God." she gushed.

Alex again looked at her in surprise, before slowly he began to relax, too, a smile also starting to appear on his face, "So, are we good?"

"Yes," Ty agreed, happy to put an end to the discussion, "We're good."

"Okay, good. Now, leave me alone already. Not everyone's an insomniac like you." Alex said, reverting to a familiar teasing tone as he returned to the couch to try and make himself comfortable for the night.

"Bite me." Ty replied with a grin, happy to have her relationship with her friend back on solid footing.

"Night, tiger." Alex said with a more sincere smile.

"Night." Ty replied, smiling back before turning and finally heading upstairs.

It was only as she was climbing into bed and hoping Dean would be joining her before much longer that she realized that she still hadn't figured out why Alex was being so confrontational with Dean. If it wasn't because she'd stupidly created some sort of love triangle, then what was his issue?

"Damn it," Ty muttered to herself, "Can't we just fight demons for a change."