-1I am so sorry it has taken me so long to get this next chapter out, my dad (step father of 20 plus years to be more accurate) Has passed on and it has been a rough time for all of us, so my apologies. Anyway I thank you so much for your replies to the last chapter, and I hope you enjoy this one all the same. Even though some of you will no doubt be a little upset.

Bar Fights and Bullets

Chapter 26

Bobby Singer had been a family friend for as long as Sam could remember the old tow yard where he lived, in Sam's eyes strange as it might sound to an outsider, was the closest thing to a home he and Dean had ever known. Bobby was their 'uncle', he was family. He could read Sam like an open book, even more so then John could most of the time, reading people was definitely his sixth sense and it was scary how good he was at it.

"So…." Bobby's gruff voice cut into Sam's thoughts, as he attempted lucklessly to concentrate on the pile of books and mountains of research before him… But all he could think about was Dean, home alone and more then likely pissed as all hell that he had been abandoned without much of an explanation. The guilt was gnawing at him like a pit-bull attached to his heel and he couldn't shake it no matter how hard he tried.

"So…" The youngest Winchester sighed a little and looked up from the page he had been studying for the last half an hour.

The look on Sam's face, the distance in his stare, the lack of page turning,… complete absence of idle conversation had not gone unnoticed by the boys' 'uncle' as he closed the book he himself had been looking at and crossed his arms over his chest. "Your daddy tells me you've taken on quite the load of responsibility these past few months."

Sam shrugged a little, "No more than usual…"

"Give yourself a little more credit than that."

"It's nothing Dean wouldn't do for me…. It's nothing that he hasn't been doing all my life."

"I don't know about that." Bobby cleared his throat and took a step closer to Sam leaning against the edge of the small table where all the books were currently scattered, "You know your daddy wasn't the only one worried about you two when you fell off the radar for so long."

"I know… I'm sorry." Sam let his eyes drop back down to the book he was still holding for a minute before looking up again more then a little uncomfortable with the conversation. The truth was he hadn't thought about anyone or anything aside from Dean… and what Dean wanted after the accident.

"You could've called… I could've helped you boys out… Given you a place to stay."

"Dean didn't want that."

"Why the hell not? I mean you boys are practically family…"

That, Sam found his thoughts whispering to him, is exactly why not. "He just thought it would be easier to… Get away."

"You mean to hide and lick his wounds?"

Sam chuckled, "Yeah… something like that."

"And what about you? What did you want?"

"I didn't really… I just did what he asked of me."

"Fallowing the chain of command like a good solider should?" Bobby almost immediately regretted the tone of his voice as he spoke, recoiling just a little.

Sam's nostrils flared at that as he shook his head in defiance and went back to looking at the book in his grasp. "No. Of course not."

Sensing the sudden animosity building between them, Bobby thought only for a second about backing off completely and letting the young man sit and stir in his own guilt and self pity… He thought about letting the subject go… But he couldn't … So he pushed just as he always did wanting answers no matter what the cost. "I just don't see why you wouldn't call someone… Not me, not your daddy, no one, you just let your brother pull you out of civilization and drag you under a rock somewhere."

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me." Bobby pressed lightly against the subject matter still not satisfied, even though Sam's eyes were looking at the pages in front of him, the older man knew he was being listened to all the same.

"Dean just thought it would be easier okay,… that's all." Sam grunted a little his eyes shifting into a glare as he looked back in Bobby's direction.

"I would think you would have had something to say about it, after all it wasn't just Dean's life he ended it was yours too…."

"That's not true, Dean's my brother, and he needed me, end of story…." Sam closed his book, slamming it back down on to the table and rising to his feet heading toward the front door, he needed air… lots of air…

Bobby watched as the young man exited through the screen door letting it swing hard behind himself, and decided to not go after him for the time being, he had pushed far enough for now. With a shake of his head adjusting his ball cap the bearded man made his way toward the back of the house in search of John.

Sam leaned against the post directly outside of Bobby's house and drew in a deep lung filling breath before releasing it. How could he just up and leave Dean like that? His own words replaying in his mind and causing that gnawing guilt from before to now take bite after bite out of his soul.

"That's not true, Dean's my brother, and he needed me, end of story…."

Dean wasn't ready to be alone yet. Dean wasn't healed. Dean was still vulnerable… Sam needed to be with him, needed to take care of him, Sam needed to help him.

But he wasn't with Dean, he was here hundreds of miles away hunting a group of demons… Hunting without Dean, Dean his brother, his right arm, the only man he could really trust to watch his back….

Taking his cell from his pocket he looked down at it and drew his lip into his mouth. He wanted so badly to call Dean and check on him, to apologize for leaving the way he had, to make sure things were ok between them…

He needed to…. It was his job, it was the right thing to do… So why then hadn't he pushed the send button? Why hadn't he called him already… Was it the guilt? The fear? The uncertainty? His inner conflict screaming inside his head, Sam brought his free hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose.

He missed the past, those days not so long ago, when it was Dean who took care of him, Dean who worried about him, Dean who was the protector and Sam was only the protected…. It just wasn't fair.

"Just call him already…."

Sam shifted quickly on his heels to find his father standing in the doorway on the other side of the screen a knowing look across his features, his arms crossed against his chest just as Bobby's always were.

"Dad I uh,…"

"You're worried about Dean… And we aren't going to get any work done here until you know that he's managing without you… So just call him already will you? So we can get back to this hunt."

Sam smirked a little already hitting the send button on his phone, even though he still found his insides embedded with reluctance. "Yes sir."

Once the fourth ring sounded through his ears, the youngest Winchester felt worry begin to build inside of him. Why the hell wasn't Dean answering his phone? Where the hell was he? It's not lie he could go anywhere or do anything! He had to be home… He had to answer the phone.

"Hey,… You've reached me, if you don't know who me is then you've probably got the wrong number and you should probably hang up before you waste anymore of my precious time…."

His brother's cocky voice replacing the ringing in his ears, Sam swallowed hard and cleared his throat waiting for the beep. "Dean….. Dean this is Sam man, when you get this call my cell… It's important I need to know your alright, I'm worried about you."

- The silence surrounding the two figure currently placed inside the small rented Ford Focus was once again broken by the sound of Dean's phone ringing as he pulled it out of his pocket and glanced quickly at the number a frown curving the edge of his lips.

"You gonna answer that?" Came a soft whispered reply from the person sitting next to him as they shifted gears pulling into the left lane.

"No." Dean quipped before switching the small cellular phone off and shoving it back into his pocket.

"Sam again?"

"Mhmm…"

"He's probably worried sick about you."

Dean's frown turned into a snarl as he looked over at the petite woman who seemed to fit so perfectly in the drivers seat of such a small and dainty car. "Well then he shouldn't have left me like he did don't you think?"

The young woman sighed. "He did what he thought was right Dean."

"Yeah well he was wrong."

"I'm not going to have this argument with you again." She snapped back pressing her foot down on the gas slightly, she didn't know why she had agreed to do this in the first place, why she hadn't said no and turned her back on him….

As she found her eyes once again looking in his direction, studying him… She remembered, reminding herself exactly why she had done this, exactly why she had agreed to help him, why she couldn't turn her back on him.

Even after all this time, after all the space that had separated them for so long, she still loved him, she felt stronger for him then she had ever felt for any man in her life… Even if she had more then a little trouble expressing it. And now, on top of that love, that unwanted and unwarranted devotion she seemed to carry for the man…There was guilt, guilt about the last time she had seen him, about the last looks she had given him, and about the feelings she knew she must have installed inside of him with such pity filled gazes and stupid questions.

"Cassie…." Dean's brow rose slightly as he shifted his eyes toward her only to find her lost in some thought that was far from here and now, somewhere a million miles from wherever the hell they were.

"What?" Cassie blinked a few times pulling herself from her shame laced thoughts and looking over at him.

"You know I uh, I appreciate you doing this for me."

"Yeah, well, lets just hope that your dad and your brother feel that way."

"It doesn't matter how they feel, I'm a grown man and I make my own decisions."

"You're also as stubborn and pigheaded as they come and your family only has your best interests at heart."

"I'm a hunter Cassie, it's what I do…"

"No Dean, you were a hunter." She corrected him without thinking, sending a blow to both his ego and his heart at the same time, it was a necessary blow… but a blow none the less…

"Whatever." Dean's voice was as low of a growl as possible as he leaned forward and flipped on the radio shifting quickly through the stations to find some Metallica, B O C, Led Zepplin, something…. Anything that would calm his nerves and interrupt this horrid conversation he did not want to be having.

"I'm sorry if it's not something you want to hear, but you know it's the truth just as much as the rest of us do." Cassie leaned over and shut off the radio as quickly as Dean had turned it on.

"If you felt that way, then why did you agree to bring me all the way out into Nowheresville?"

"You needed a friend, and if I didn't help you I knew you would find some way to handle it yourself."

"Friend huh? Is that what we are now? Without all my working parts in order?"

"I didn't mean it like that and you know it!" She answered a little to defensively.

"It really wouldn't surprise me if you did mean it exactly that way."

"Come on Dean, knock it off…"

"I saw it Cassie, I saw everything I needed to in your eyes that day."

"I'm sorry if I was a little shocked Dean, it's not everyday I see the man that I care about bound to a wheelchair just idling down the street. I needed some time to adjust, some time to cope."

"Yeah well…"

"I Said I'm sorry what more do you want from me?"

"The same thing I want from everyone else… I want you to look at me like you did before, I want you to treat me like you did before… Even if everything has changed, nothing has changed…" Dean felt his chest tighten at the heaviness of the subject matter they had somehow managed to fall into and let out a sigh of relief as they approached the turn on to Bobby's street. "Turn here." He barked before she could answer his previous statement.

"I'm not treating you any differently then I normally would." She brought one hand up from the wheel after making the turn and ran it through her hair quickly, "My feelings for you didn't change before and they haven't changed now…"

"Up here on the left." Dean shifted uncomfortably in the leather seat forcing his eyes to look anywhere and everywhere except where they wanted to… All he could see, all he could remember was that day on the corner, the pain and the pity exchanged between the two of them, the way she looked at him as through he were as helpless as a child… And he didn't think that was ever going to change…. He didn't think he was ever going to be able to forgive her….

Cassie sighed irritated as she pulled up in front of the over sized tow yard and shut the engine off, "I mean it…" she whispered almost as through she were unsure of what she herself had just said… "Things between us have never been normal Dean.. But I've always cared about you…. Even when there were others, you were always there in the back of my mind."

"Yeah well…" Dean kept his eyes looking out the window now unable to look at her, he could still remember the last kiss they had shared, the last goodbye they had been forced to say, he could remember every minor detail of their past and he couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"You better, get in there before Sam sends out a search party to look for you." She smirked a little trying to hide her own tension. She was well aware of Dean's emotional closure, and she knew that now was not the time to push him.

"Yeah." He whispered in response as he forced his eyes in her direction, forced himself to look at her, to face her, and to say goodbye. "Well um thanks…"

Cassie felt her heart begin to pound so fast inside of her she swore it was going to fly right out of her chest as she watched him lean toward her slowly…

Her lashes fluttered to a close her face softening as he moved in closer and closer.

But then nothing…

Nothing like she had expected anyway as she felt a soft, tender, small kiss against her cheek and opened her eyes once more.

"Will I see you again?" She couldn't help asking, her voice carrying a light tone of disappointment as he pulled back.

Opening his door and reaching in the back to retrieve his walker from where it lay, he studied her for a minute, his typical Dean Winchester smirk forming on his lips. "Don't you always?" he replied before slow and steadily he exited the car and closed the door behind himself.

-"Still no answer?" John asked returning to the front room to find Sam still sitting on the center of the sofa his cell phone glued to his ear as he shook his head in response.

"No, and now it's going straight to voicemail…. I think he turned it off."

"Don't you know your land ladies number? Can't you call her and have her go check on him or something there has to be a reason for this… some explanation about-" John's words died off on his lips as he heard the slamming of a car door and shook his head, Sam instantly jumping to his feet.

"It can't be…. You don't think he'd…." It took only four stride for Sam to make it from the couch to the screen door his panic and worried expression immediately fading and shifting into one of anger.

Sure enough he peered out to see his brother hoisted stubbornly inside his walker watching a small dark blue ford focus disappear down the road. "Son of a.." He growled under his breath pushing the door open as hard as he could and practically flying down the steps of the small house into the tow yard, John on his heels, a mirrored expression of anger on his own features, just as Dean was turning to head inside.

"Hey Sammy…." Dean could see the anger radiating off both men's faces as their eyes tore into him like daggers.

"What the hell are you doing here Dean?" Sam spat venomously his hands balling into fists at his sides.

"I'm here to help…" He tried to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"I thought the orders were for you to stay put."

"Yeah well I couldn't let you guys have all the fun, now could I?"

"Do you really think that's funny?" Sam couldn't help but sound even more angry, even more annoyed, "You think this is some sort of damn joke? I'm just surprised with how reckless your being that you didn't hot wire a car and attempt to drive out here one legged."

"Honestly the thought had crossed my mind…" Dean smirked smugly before letting his face go neutral again, "But then again it wouldn't of had to if you wouldn't have ditched me and left me to find my own way out here."

"What did you do guilt Cassie into bringing you?"

"I would do no such thing… she guilted herself into bringing me thank you very much."

"Typical." Sam growled loudly and shook his head turning toward his father his fists now white with anger at his sides, "You deal with this, he's your son…. He's hopeless, he thinks this is all just some sort of joke! He has some kind of death wish!"

"Sammy-" Dean tried but before he could get anything out Sam was already storming back toward the house. Leaving Dean face to face with a very angry ex-marine.

"He's been trying to call you for hours…. He's been worried sick…" John's voice was low and flat, which Dean knew meant he was more then angry… beyond pissed.

"Dad I-"

"I told you to stay home, I told you it wasn't safe out here for you, and this is how you retaliate? By disobeying a direct order?"

"I couldn't just sit there." Dean scowled, "I couldn't just sit there knowing that the two of you were out here with your lives on the line."

"You'd rather come out here, get in the way and get yourself killed in the process?!" John kept his statement cool, calm and matter of fact sounding as he moved in closer to his son and placed a heavy hand on his shoulder watching instinctively as Dean's legs wobbled not wanting him to fall.

There were those words again…. That phrase, Get in the way, everyone thought he was some useless civilian now who was just going to go out there and end up demon meat, like he didn't know how to take care of himself….

"I'm a hunter." He hissed

"You we're a hunter."

"I AM a hunter!"

"Dean-" John sighed, "You're not going out on this hunt. I will not have my boy landing himself six feet under because he has to much pride obstructing his view of reality."

"You can't stop me." Dean's chest huffed out slightly as he forced himself to stand a little taller and a little straighter, almost as though he were challenging his father in some way.

"I am your father!"

"And I am a hunter."

"I'm having Sam drive you back tonight and that's final…"

"Like hell you are…"

John's gaze burned with even more anger now as he drew his lip into his mouth, he was use to matching whit's with Sam, he was use to having to go toe to toe with his youngest… But Dean, this was not something he was ready for… "You're going home tonight and that's an order!" John demanded dropping his hand from his son's shoulder and turning to head inside.

"Well… Maybe I'm done taking your orders."

Dean himself couldn't believe the words as they flew with ease from his lips and he immediately regretted them even though he was not going to show it, he was not going to allow his father the satisfaction of a single weak moment.

John spun on his heels his angry stare bearing instantly into Dean's soul, he had not been expecting that as a come back… "It might do you some good to remember the last time you disobeyed my orders you nearly got your brother killed."

"I was just a child then." Dean still felt a tinge of guilt about the Striega incident from his childhood that had almost cost his brother his life…

"You still are a child… My child and I'm not going to bury you."

"Who says I'm going to die out there?"

"Who says you won't?"

Bobby who had been porch bound since Sam stormed into the front room obviously alerting him of Dean's arrival, chose now to uncross his arms and climb down the steps approaching the two men. The way he saw it this argument would continue on for hours if he didn't find some way to end it. "Hey Dean…" He acknowledged the eldest Winchester son before shifting his eyes to John "Everything alright out here?" He asked knowing of course that it wasn't…

"My son here seems to think he's invincible… He's come to hunt…"

Bobby sighed a little rubbing his beard shifting his gaze from John to Dean with a knowing look in his eyes, "Well he is of course a hunter Johnny, you raised the boy, you installed into him the justice of the hunt, you couldn't exactly expect him to sit at home on his ass."

"Yeah See. That's what I'm trying to tell him…. Thanks Bobby." Dean's voice was cocky and defiant as he spoke,

"Don't be so fast to thank me there kiddo…" Bobby turned toward him, "You disobeyed a direct order even though everyone of us knew it was for your own good, this whole macho man routine you got going on… it's not bullet proof. "

"Funny choice of words." Dean grumbled casting his eyes downward. As John's anger gave way only for a split second to a sympathetic glance, that thankfully his son did not see.

Bobby's heart stung with guilt at his own carelessness before he swallowed hard and decided it best to continue, the same pain and raw emotions he had seen all over Sam's face were worn identically by his brother as well. "But still there is plenty to be done… Plenty for you to do…" He reached out and gave Dean's shoulder a small squeeze before turning and heading back toward the house, winking in john's direction before doing so.

Dean stood there for a minute watching as his father fallowed behind Bobby both men leaving him to fend for himself against the obstacle course of hubcaps, car parts and actual full cars leading up to Bobby's front door.

His feet ached, his knees were weak and he knew that any second he was going to collapse. This was however his idea…. His bright and beautiful idea…. "What the hell was I thinking…" He grunted under his breath as he began to slow and painstakingly make his way through the metal maze.

Concentrating on every step and every movement his feet fumbled and he tripped repeatedly having only made it three feet from where Cassie had dropped him off as he felt tears actual tears of frustration beginning to over whelm his tired form,…. His exhausted mind and his broken spirit.

Exactly what the hell had he been thinking? He stumbled again and was rewarded with the metal bar of the walker jabbing ruthlessly into his side. "Damn-it" He gripped harder to the object holding him up..

Dean didn't notice the foot kicking things out of his way, or the small clanks of hitting metal, he didn't hear the soft sound of feet approaching as he concentrated on the task at hand his frustration reaching it's peak. He did however notice the firm hand that found it's way against his back and the fingers that gripped against his bulging aching bicep muscle.

He didn't need to look up, he didn't need to see the face that belonged to that hand, that grip…. He already knew who it belonged to… And he was thankful…

"Thanks…" Came a small mumble barely loud enough for anyone to hear.

"Whatever…" Sam's voice was just as soft, just as defeated as that of his brother's as the two men made there way toward the house.

"Sam…" Dean's walker stopped moving after a minute but he still did not look up, "I'm sorry…"

"Me too…." Was the only reply he heard before there was a long pause and his walker began moving again. "I bet your wishing like hell right now that you didn't tear apart your wheels eh?"

"That's an understatement…"

"Good. Stubborn bastard."

- Finally making it inside the house a good twenty minutes having passed, Sam helped his brother gingerly on to the sofa before folding his walker and resting it against the couches edge.

"You better get started." Bobby's voice rang through Dean's ears within seconds as he looked up to see the disheveled looking man hovering over him, a beer in one hand and a stack of thick ancient books in the other both being held out into his direction…

Dean's eyes rolled instantly tried and haggard breaths still rolling from his lips as he fought to catch his missing wind, "Bobby…"

"I said there was work to be done, I didn't say what kind, you want to be here, you want to help then you are going to do what I tell you and you're going to stay out of the danger zone."

"But I-"

"No buts, that tone you took with your daddy was hard enough to bail you out of, you are definitely in my debt now boy."

Dean groaned as he reached up and took the beer first then the books, he hated research… that was Sam's job, he was the gun wheeler, the hunter, not the nerdy book worm….

Opening the first of what he was sure were going to be many books he found his inner voice scolding him for coming here.

He should of stayed home, continued sulking, drowning in his own pity… Because this… this was definitely worse….

A smirk of satisfaction played on Sam's lips as he leaned against the hallway doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest, he was completely content, Dean was here, he could watch over him now, and with Bobby's brilliant plan not only was Dean being punished but he was being kept out of harms way….

Just the way Sam liked it.

So there you have it, I found a way to close up the whole Cassie thing as best as I could trying to make as many of my readers as possible happy with the outcome so please read and review and let me know what you are thinking!!!! You know how much I feed off of your opinions.