Sioux Falls, SD - 2002

Bobby was always cautious when someone knocked on his door. From traveling salesmen to Girl Scouts, demons could take any form. So when he opened the door to find Grace standing there, a duffel bag in hand, he was understandably wary. "What are you doing here, kid?" he asked, giving her a hug and offering to take her bag.

"I -" As soon as she stepped inside, he splashed her with holy water. "I'm not a demon. I know, you've gotta check. I want you to train me."

Setting her bag down in the hall, Bobby stopped her right there. "Young lady, you went away to school for a reason. You and Sam, you kids got out. Stay out. You can crash here for a bit, but you need to stay out of this. Those boys… they were born into it. Dean's been pulled in by his father, and that's the way it is. You can still get out."

"I'm on summer break, and I can't just go back home. There's no home anymore." Her expression darkened as she told him, all of the words rushing out at once, "I called a little before Thanksgiving to tell them when I'd be back in town for the holiday, and no one answered. I tried a few times over a few days, and then I called John to see if he was in town, if he would drive by and check on the house. Maybe they went on vacation without telling me. It was a reach. My parents would've mentioned something. He was my only option, other than driving all the way back there myself. You know I've never been his biggest fan, but he's watched out for me for a bit now. He… he called back that night to say that vamps got them, all of them. My grandparents too. Apparently they'd been in town visiting. All I had for the rest of the semester was school, and my scholarships won't apply during summer, just fall and spring, so I was going to head back home, but now there's no home to head back to."

Bobby sighed, saying, "Leave your bag there. You could do with a drink. C'mon, kid."

They sat up late talking that night, Grace following Bobby around while he checked up on the salvage yard. "John taught me a lot. He let me come along on a lot of hunts, and he sent Dean and I on a few of our own."

"John Winchester," Bobby paused, measuring his words, "John Winchester is a reckless son of a bitch. I went into this for the same reasons he did, and I've watched him take those boys into situations I'd never let them near. He raised them to be fighters, not kids. I get it. You want in on this. You want revenge, and this is the only way you know how. But you start down that road, there ain't no turning back. You'll lose a lot to this job. You'll lose yourself. You need to think long and hard if this is really what you want."

"I know what I'm walking into. I've seen it enough with John. It's not like I'm completely checking out of my normal life," Grace objected as they stopped in front of a hole in the fence. "I just want to be ready. Once you step into this life, once it affects you, then it finds you. You're marked for good. I just want to know that I'm ready when the next thing comes up."

"I know it's hard to see that you can go back to living a normal life, but you've got time. You can move, you can start from scratch, but so many people start down this road like you want to, and when they look up, they see that they're too far in and there's no turning back. It's different for people like the boys. They've hardly known any different. Sam still got out. He's happy at school. Dean," Bobby frowned, leading the way back to the house, "John trained him into what he is. But he'll tell you the same thing. That boy only wants the best for you. That's why he knew he had to leave. He wants you to stay out of this life."

Grace turned to him, stopping on the front porch. "I just want to be ready. I've learned a lot from John, from the boys, from you. I just want to be ready."

"Alright, kid, but just for summer. No more hunting when you go back to school."

Following his every move, Grace picked up a lot of information over the summer. She learned a lot from researching and going on hunts. Bobby let her come with when he went out on hunts, even the more dangerous ones, when he would take Rufus with. She kept him company as he picked up calls from other hunters, dispatching her to look things up while he was on the phone. He eventually let her go out on her own when there was an easy case nearby. By the end of the summer, she'd improved her sharpshooting skills and gained a working knowledge of most of the basic monsters that hunters faced off with on a regular basis. She'd killed her fair share of monsters, and she'd met a lot of other hunters who would either call or drop by on their way to a case across the country. Bobby had given her a sense of family, something she'd missed when she went to school and missed even more when John made the fateful call that had sent her into the life again. She'd been out for months, all of it pushed back in her brain, at least until that phone call. Bobby had let her take out a nest of vampires, and even though John had taken care of the ones that had gone after her family, it was still cathartic.

The night before she was about to leave for school again, Grace was upstairs packing up the last of her things. There was a crash downstairs, the sound of a door closing just a little too loudly. She looked out the window, seeing a familiar truck in the driveway. Hesitating for a second, she grabbed her gun before tiptoeing down the stairs. John was already in the living room, talking loudly enough that she could hear him from the stairs. He's been drinking. "I told that boy not to go in there half-cocked, but he refused to listen. Almost got us both killed because that thing reminded him of her. Damn djinn illusion, that's what it was, and he wouldn't stab it because of the hallucination. Thought it was her, and he refused to hurt her. I don't know what I'm going to do about him."

"He's a kid. Besides, that djinn would've made you hallucinate too," Bobby's voice carried up the stairs. Grace sat down to listen, setting her gun at her feet. "I've gone up against a few of them that made me think Karen was right in front of me, still as beautiful as the day I married her. I didn't want to have to kill - I bet you would've seen Mary."

"I can't have him going soft like that." A beer bottle clinked on the table, John setting it down harshly. "That's why I left him at home on the last one. I told him not to get attached, and look what he does. It doesn't just hurt that girl, it almost got us both killed."

Bobby kept his voice low, but Grace could tell that he was getting angry. "He can't help it. She's been there for him when no one else was. He wanted a life with her, but he gave it up for you. He's not supposed to follow every order, he's not supposed to be your shadow. You remember what you were like at his age."

"I don't know what I'm going to do with that ungrateful little piece of shit, I should've broken them up before that bitch -"

"Get out." John was silent, but Grace could hear footsteps coming into the hall. She grabbed her gun, scurrying upstairs to watch the activity in the front hall. The angry cocking of a shotgun followed her. As she peered into the hall, she could see Bobby leveling a gun at John, marching him out of the house. "You don't talk about the kids like that. You don't treat them like that. You were his age once yourself. You better remember it before you lose both of those kids. Gracie cared for that boy when you were pissed drunk, when you were across the country, when you weren't there for him and he needed you. No wonder he still cares about her. Now you treat that boy right or next time I see you, the safety won't be on this thing. You do anything to him and I'll come right after you. Get out of my house."

John glanced up, Grace ducking behind the wall and praying that he hadn't seen her. The door slammed, Bobby sighing and uncocking his gun. "Come on out, kid."

She stepped out of the shadows, coming downstairs as Bobby leaned the gun in the corner. "Thank you," she managed. "I've never liked him. I saw what he did to Dean, I saw the bruises, I saw the fear in his eyes, I saw all of it. This just gives me more proof."

"I had a dad like him," Bobby admitted, giving her a hug. "You don't have to worry. He ain't ever coming back here."

Sioux Falls, SD - 2003

Another year had come and gone, Grace staying at Bobby's for all of the holidays. She would go hunting with him and Rufus over winter break, and now that summer had arrived again, she moved into the guest room upstairs. She'd been going through his library one evening, looking for a book on crossroads lore, when a car pulled into the drive. It was a familiar car, one she knew by the sound of the motor alone. But why would he be here?

Bobby was already on the way to the door as Grace crept up the stairs. She could hear snippets of their conversion from where she was hiding out. "Just passing through on the way to Fort Ransom… wanted to stop by… haven't seen you or Grace in ages… that's her car…" He knows. Grace set her books down in her room, coming back to listen in. "I get it if she doesn't want to talk to me… haven't talked in over a year... Still miss her, Bobby."

It was going to be a long 24 hours if she didn't go downstairs. So she went, stepping into the front hall to find Bobby and Dean. Dean hadn't changed much. He looked a little more tired, a little more worn out, but that was the life. His smile was still the same, his eyes brightening as he saw her. "Hey, Gracie." He pulled her into a hug, Bobby making some excuse about grabbing another drink.

"Hi. What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing. I'm passing through on my way to take care of a demon in Fort Ransom, up in North Dakota. I wanted to stop by and say hi to Bobby, but I guess it wouldn't hurt if I hung out for a little while. Your turn."

Grace led him out to the front porch, taking a seat on the swing Bobby had installed a couple months before. "I asked Bobby to teach me more of what he knows, just over the summers and stuff. I'm sure your dad told you about the vamps."

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Gracie." He reached for her hand cautiously, Grace intertwining her fingers with his. Dean relaxed a little, realizing that she couldn't be too mad at him if she was willing to hold his hand.

"Thanks. I spend my summers and winter breaks here now. Bobby's pretty much the only family I've really got left," she shrugged. "I know you don't want me in this life. It's not easy. But I want to be ready. It started a long time ago. As soon as I started hunting… it alerts everything. Once you step into this life, it's not easy to step out of it, you know? I want a normal life, but I want to be ready, because something's always going to be after me now."

Dean said nothing, knowing she was right. The vampires were the final proof. But if she could get out of it, he wanted her out. Even if he never got to see her again, at least she would be safe. "Gracie, you should be ready. But I don't want you to go looking for a fight. It's too late for me. It's not too late for you. Go, get out, have a life."

She leaned her head on his shoulder, staring out into the salvage yard. "I've missed you, Dean. No matter how much I try to run from it, I still miss you."

"I miss you too." He put a finger under her chin, slowly turning her face so he could kiss her. "I miss having you with me all the time. I miss looking over to see you dozing off while we're on the road. I miss… you." She leaned in to kiss him, Dean pulling her closer by one of her belt loops. "Gracie?"

"Hmm?"

"If we go upstairs -"

She shot down the idea immediately. "Bobby would hear." Pausing for a heartbeat, she raised an eyebrow, looking out into the night. "Impala?"

When Bobby got up the next morning, he looked out to see Dean's car still parked in front of his house. He hadn't heard them come inside, though. So he poured himself a cup of coffee, thinking of investigating when something caught his eye. Dean and Grace were curled up together, stretched out in a precarious balance on the porch swing. He didn't know how they hadn't fallen off in their sleep, but it made him smile. Dean sat up slightly, meeting Bobby's eye with a knowing look. Bobby just nodded, walking back into the kitchen and hoping that boy knew how lucky he was to have someone like Grace in his life.