The Winchesters had been at the house for about a week. John was dead, they had burned him in a pyre, a proper hunters funeral. Sam had been moping around, trying to piece things together to make them make sense. Meanwhile Dean had spent most of his time working on the mangled impala. Sam was looking for something from Dean, it seemed like reassurance to Robin.
Robin came out of the house with her coveralls on. She had a toolbox in one hand and a couple of beers in the other.
"Need any help" Sam asked Dean, visibly fishing?
"What, you under a hood?" Dean asked, "I'll pass."
Robin set down the items near Dean's workstation.
"But Robin is fine" Sam asked?
"Whoa" Robin snapped, "Robin grew up in a god damn salvage yard. Besides, I got my own shit, I've put some miles on my bike, I need to change out the tires."
"Thanks" Dean nodded to her as he took his beer.
She waved walking to her bike
"Need anything else, then" Sam asked?
"Stop it, Sam" Dean growled.
"Stop what" Sam demanded?
"Stop asking if I need anything, stop asking if I'm okay. I'm okay. Really. I promise."
"All right, Dean, it's just" Sam hesitated, "We've been at Bobby's for over a week now and you haven't brought up Dad once."
"You know what? You're right. Come here. I'm gonna lay my head gently on your shoulder. Maybe we can cry, hug, and maybe even slow dance".
"Don't patronize me, Dean," Sam pleaded, "Dad is dead. The Colt is gone, and it seems pretty damn likely that the demon is behind all of this, and you're acting like nothing happened".
"What do you want me to say" Dean snapped?
"Say something, all right? Hell, say anything! Aren't you angry? Don't you want revenge? But all you do is sit out here all day long buried underneath this damn car"
"Sounds good. You got any leads on where the demon is" Dean asked, "Making heads or tails of any of Dad's research? Because I sure ain't. But you know if we do finally find it - oh. No, wait, like you said. The Colt's gone. But I'm sure you've figured out another way to kill it. We've got nothing, Sam. Nothing, okay? So, you know the only thing I can do? Is I can work on the car"?
"Well, we've got something, all right?" Same replied, "It's what I came by here to tell you. This is one of dad's old phones. Took me a while, but I cracked his voicemail code. Listen to this."
SAM hands the cell phone to DEAN, who stands and takes it reluctantly. A woman's voice plays over the voicemail:
"John, it's Ellen. Again. Look don't be stubborn; you know I can help you. Call me."
"That message is four months old" Sam concluded.
"Dad saved that chick's message for four months. Who's Ellen? Any mention of her in Dad's journal"?
"Ellen Harvelle" Robin spoke up joining them.
"You know this woman" Sam asked?
"Yeah, Ellen owns the Roadhouse" Robin replied, "her daughter is my best friend."
They looked at Robin confused for a moment.
"I can lead you guys there once I get my tires back on" She shrugged, "I gotta grab some stuff for dad, the Roadhouse is around the corner".
Robin had led the boys to the Roadhouse, swung back for her errands and was heading back to meet up with the boys. She walked into the bar to see both of them at the end of a gun.
"Whoa" Robin shouted, "They're with me, they're John's boys."
"Sam, Dean" Ellen asked, her gun still pointed at the back of Sam's head, "Winchester"?
"Yes" Robin explained.
"Son of a Bitch" she said lowering the gun laughing, "Hey I'm Ellen, this is my daughter Jo."
Jo lowered her rifle that was pointed at Dean, "Hey" she murmured.
"Not gonna hit me again are you" Dean asked?
"Shit" Robin cried out, "I would have paid to see that."
The five settled in for a chat. Ellen revealed to the boys that she'd known John for years. They questioned why they'd never heard of her. She put that question back to John. Dean demanded why they would need her help.
"Don't do me any favors," Ellen snapped back, "But if John sent you-"Ellen locked eyes with Robin, Robin gave her a warning look, shaking her head. "He didn't send you" Ellen realized. "Is he ok"?
"No" Sam replied.
"I'm so sorry" Ellen replied.
"It's alright" Dean murmured.
"Really, I know how close you and your dad- "
"Really lady" Dean nodded, "I'm alright."
Ellen looked back at Robin.
"Look if you can help" Sam started, "We could use all the help we could get."
"Well, we can't" Ellen replied, "But Ash will" she looked to a man passed out on a nearby pool table. He wore a flannel shirt with the sleeves ripped off, and a long mullet. "Ash" she called.
The man woke up, "What" he shouted, "Closing time"?
"There's the mullet of my dreams" Robin shouted.
"Hey cutie pie" he shouted back to Robin, "How's it hangin"?
"That's Ash" Sam asked?
"Mhmm" Jo replied, "He's a genius."
Due to outward appearance, the boys didn't believe what was said about Ash. Dean went so far as to call him a "Lynyrd Skynyrd Roadie".
Ash simply chuckled and told him, "I like you."
None the less, the boys gave Ash a stack of files. These had been what John had been working on for about a year, tracking the demon.
"There are non-parametrics, statistical overviews, prospects, and correlations, I mean... damn! They're signs. Omens. Uh, if you can track 'em, you can track this demon. You know, like crop failures, electrical storms... You ever been struck by lightning? It ain't fun."
The boys sat stunned and a little more convinced of the claims.
"Give me 51 hours" Ash instructed them as he set off to a back room. "Robin" he called, "Can you come give me a hand with something"?
Robin nodded and followed him to the back room.
"That's not a thing is it" Sam asked pointing to Robin leaving with Ash?
"Robin and Ash" Jo laughed? "No, it's not."
When Robin came out of the back room, the boys were sifting through a file.
"We should check it out" Sam concluded to Dean.
"You in" Dean asked Robin?
"Robin Singer, you are not taking off without telling your father" Ellen snapped.
The boys stood stunned for a moment, they'd never heard anyone talk to Robin that way, not even Bobby.
A group of hunters walked in the bar just then. One of them, the youngest was in his early 20's. He was tall, with dark hair and piercing blue eyes, eyes that had just locked on with Robin's.
"No ma'am I am not" she replied. She looked back at the case file, "I don't have the bike ready for another nine-hour trek" she said to the boys.
"Come in the van" Sam argued.
"Oh, I won't be caught dead in that thing" she replied, "You boys have fun."
When the guy's left Robin, made fleeting eye contact with the young hunter again, so she stuck around the bar. She looked at Jo, clearly distracted.
"Did he hit on you" Robin asked?
"Who" Jo asked?
"You know who" Robin replied, "Jo Harvelle, you took one look at me after prom night and knew I wasn't a virgin anymore. That's our friendship. You can't hide shit from me, and you know it."
"He was gonna" Jo replied, "But his heart wasn't in it."
"Ha" Robin laughed, "His heart rarely is."
"You seem to like him just fine."
"That's the part I'm not crazy about" Robin replied, "He's a friend, a good friend. But that aspect of Dean Winchester has left me less than impressed."
"Have you- "?
"No" Robin snapped, "I had a crush on him when I was a kid, but I grew up."
"So has he" Jo grinned.
"Be careful" Robin grinned back "All I'm sayin."
"For his sake or mine" she asked?
"Right now?" Robin replied, "Both."
Ellen walked up to them at the bar, "Dean's not takin it so well huh"?
"Can you blame him?" Robin replied, "John was basically who pointed him around his entire life."
"Sam seems okay."
"He's not" Robin assured her.
"They stayin with you guys" Ellen asked?
"For now," Robin replied, "They're itchin to hit the road."
The younger hunter came over and sat down beside Robin. Jo grinned at her and turned to him, "What can I get you sweetie" she asked?
"Three beers" he smiled, "And whatever she's having" he said motioning to Robin.
"She's driving sweetheart" Robin grinned, "But I appreciate the offer."
"I'm Archer" he smiled at her.
"Robin" she smiled back, "What are you hunting"?
"You hunt" he asked?
"A little" Robin grinned.
"Oh yeah" he asked, "What've you hunted"?
"Depends on if it's duck season or wabbit season" she smiled.
"Where are you staying" he laughed?
"My house" she replied, "I live around here."
"Alone" he asked?
"With my dad" she replied, "Bobby."
"Bobby Singer" he asked?
"You know my Daddy" she grinned.
"Bobby Singer huh. His daughter is supposed to be a real badass."
"Is that my reputation Jo" Robin called over?
"You've been more of a pain in mine" she called back.
"Stories I've heard, they're pretty hot" he smiled.
"You think so" Robin asked?
"You wanna get out of here" he asked her?
"Listen, Archer right" she asked? "I have this badass reputation. There are standards that go along with that. So, I tell you what, you come back after your hunt, I'll know you're a real badass too. Then I will take you wherever you wanna go."
He looked at her for a moment, hungry. "I'm gonna hold you to that" he said.
"Hold me to it" she replied, "Push me up against it, but you have my word."
Robin spent the next couple of days at the Roadhouse, helping Ash, hanging out with Jo, waiting for the boys to come back, and truth be told waiting for that smokin hot hunter to come back.
Finally, the Winchesters returned from their case. Celebratory drinks were had, and Ash brought out what he had been working on all along, a tracker. If any of the typical patterns the yellow eyed demon had showed up anywhere on the planet, Ash would know.
Sam and Robin were having a drink at a table and noticed Dean and Jo talking quietly at the bar.
"Oh god" Robin said taking a drink, "One of them is gonna get hurt."
"Which one" Sam asked?
"I don't know" Robin replied," Normally I would say her but- ".
Just then, the group Archer had been with walked in the door.
"How'd it go boys" Ellen asked?
The somber faces of the two remaining men spoke volumes and Robin's stomach dropped.
"We got them" they replied quietly, "We wiped out the nest. But they got Archer."
"Oh no" Ellen sighed.
Robin could feel her stomach churning.
Jo spotted this and rushed to her side, "You ok" she whispered?
"I'm fine" Robin mumbled, "I ah… just gotta go."
"Robin" she tried to hug her, but Robin pushed her away.
"I'm good Jo" she replied, "I was supposed to fuck him, I didn't actually do it." Robin turned her attention to the hunters across the bar, "My condolences" she nodded. She looked back at Ellen, "Their drinks are on me, I'll get you next time"?
Ellen nodded.
"I gotta- "Robin said to Jo before rushing out of the Roadhouse.
"What the hell was that" Dean asked Ellen?
"I would guess the one who died, is the one that Robin was flirting with a couple days ago."
"They were supposed to hook up when he got back from the hunt" Jo shrugged joining them back at the bar.
"We'd better go" Dean said paying Ellen, "And don't tell her but the drinks are on me instead."
Ellen nodded.
"What is the matter with you" Bobby demanded as Robin downed another beer, "Slow down, you're not even supposed to be drinking."
"Believe me I am" Robin shouted back.
Why this got to her so bad, she wasn't sure. Hunters died all the time. She had met this guy for what a second? While she couldn't clearly see it, it was the connection that was lost. This was her world; she chose to be a hunter. But her father had sheltered her, she had tasted a normal life. In a normal life you can have a deep meaningful relationship. This was something that she maybe wanted more than she realized but could never have. This life you don't leave it to have your white picket fence. You leave ugly and bloody.
Sam came into the house, visibly worked up, but noticed Robin as she stormed down the hall toward the front step, "Robin are you o- ".
"I'm fucking fine Winchester" she screamed at him. "Can everyone just fuck off"?
She burst out the door, slammed it shut, threw her beer bottle off a car frame nearby shattering it and screamed in anger, frustration and hurt.
She looked to her left to see Dean drop his crowbar, and the damage he had just done to the trunk of the impala. Neither said a word. They simply nodded to the other in silent understanding.