Dinner had mostly gone off without a hitch. Mary had kept both Dean and Sam in her sights, silently warning them to behave themselves; then tried hard not to laugh at their seemingly innocent expressions. John and Marlee had started about the construction on the other side of town and how much of a waste it was seeing as how the older areas needed revitalized instead of ignored. Ellie had sat mostly still, as if listening, and ate when Sam fed her something; as if she was so intent on what she was doing she couldn't be bothered with mundane things like eating.
Mary had to reflect, as she put the last glass in the dishwasher, on how quick an evening could go wrong. Thinking about it, she knew that she had put too much pressure on everyone to at least act like they knew how to behave when guests were present; she just hadn't expected a total meltdown that would spiral into unbridled chaos by dessert. Wiping down the counters she couldn't blame Ellie, she probably would have had a fit too if people wouldn't have left her alone, however the aftermath was just too fresh in her mind no matter how much she tried to push it away.
"I'm really sorry for what happened Mary; I'll pay for a new set of dishes." Johnny said from the doorway looking as if he was drained in more ways than one.
Shaking her head, Mary motioned for him to sit at the small kitchen table. "No Johnny, I should be apologizing to you. I wasn't thinking when I invited Marlee over, I had no idea that Ellie would react that way."
Johnny smiled slightly, "Honestly, neither did I. I guess she sensed something was off all day and it had been building. I should have picked up on it." He couldn't help but blame himself, he knew Ellie's moods better than anyone, even Cade most days, but this had seemed to come out of left field and it worried him. Thinking about what happened; he tried to piece together what had happened so they could avoid it from happening again.
John and Marlee were having such a great time talking about the new developments in town and how it was a shame that they didn't spend that money revitalizing areas instead of building new ones. Dean kept motioning to Mary that she needed to watch out, that Marlee was moving in on her territory; which had actually made Johnny snicker and Mary roll her eyes. Ellie had been quiet, intently listening in that special way of hers that always amazed those around her of the possibilities that were truly going through her mind at that moment.
Mary walked back into the dining room with dessert in one hand and a coffee pot in the other, determined to make the evening last as long as possible. Marlee had come over to check on Johnny, but would be leaving as a friend, and Mary felt strangely proud of that; getting the impression that the nurse didn't make friends often but the ones she had she kept, she kept close. Watching her family at the table brought a smile to her face, Dean and Johnny were trying to get Ellie to smile, and John and Marlee were still discussing local politics, so everything was right with the world.
Putting the small cake down in the center of the table, she had turned to get a couple of coffee cups when she heard Marlee behind her.
"Oh what a wonderful cake Mary! You know, I never could get the knack of decorating the darn things, so often I'd just pour the icing over it and served it as is." Marlee joked, reaching for plate to get a better look at the flowers that Mary had decorated onto the small desert.
Gathering three coffee cups in one hand and still holding the coffee pot with the other, she did what came naturally, not expecting what would happen. "Marlee, would you be willing to cut the cake?"
Agreeing good-naturedly, Marlee made the first slice through a particularly bright pink and yellow flower when they heard a scream from Ellie and then plates crashing to the floor. At first surprised, no one reacted until the third plate crashed onto the ground and Ellie's screams had reached a new level. Johnny reached over, and wrapped his arms around her pulling her back from the table, but not before her legs kicked out and caused the table cloth to shift everything suddenly including the cup of hot coffee that Mary had just poured for John. John jumped up trying to keep the coffee from burning his lap, while Mary put the coffee pot down to try and help with Ellie. Dean was trying to help Johnny because of the sore arm, but wasn't having any success and instead got kicked in the chest for his efforts. Finally able to pull Ellie back a little further while continuing to talk to her, Johnny thought the worst had past, until she somehow managed to kick out one last time, sending the cake straight into Marlee.
"The only thing I can think of is that she thought the cake was too pretty to cut." Johnny said, exhausted from the whole ordeal as well as trying to get Ellie cleaned up afterwards. It had taken a lot longer than normal, but he had managed to get her cleaned up and ready for bed, making sure she had her teddy bear before she fell asleep.
Mary thought about it, and smiled. "Well, I do have to admit it was one of my better ones."
Laughing, Johnny couldn't believe how wonderful she was being about everything. He knew that John had been upset, and he had every right to be; Johnny just didn't know how to make everything right. Suddenly, a thought jumped back in his mind and he knew what he needed to do. "I think it's time for me and Ellie to find our own place."
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Dean had found his dad outside nursing a beer, and he couldn't really blame him. Hurricane Ellie had come and gone, but they were all still dealing with the aftermath. He had watched Johnny struggle to get the little girl ready for bed, and it broke his heart to see his baby brother look so upset, but there was nothing that he could do; Ellie had made her choice, it was Johnny or nobody.
"Hey Dad, you alright?" Dean asked, taking over the spot next to him.
Nodding, John continued to look out into the yard. It took a moment before he could speak, and when he did Dean knew that it was taking a lot to keep him from crying. "She's not getting any better is she? I mean, I know she has problems, but I thought that she might improve being close to us; instead I think we've made her worse."
Shocked, Dean could only look at his dad and wonder what was really going on. "Dad, she and Johnny haven't been here long enough to decide that. Look, it was an odd situation, and it's not that Ellie's a bad kid…"
"God Dean I know that! It's just… we just got Sammy back, and now what if he sees this as sign that they need to leave? I don't want that, your mother doesn't want that. How do we convince him that he needs to stay here so we can help, when we keep putting them in situations that seem to make matters worse?" John asked hoping for something to come to him to keep his youngest and their normally sweet little princess home with them.
Seeing the struggle, Dean sighed. "Dad, you know he's going to move out one of these days, we just have to hope that he stays close. As far as Ellie goes, I'll be honest with you… that was the worst fit I've seen from her, but I also know that something had to have triggered it. So how about we figure out what it was so we can find a way to avoid it in the future."
"You're right son; we just need to make sure that they both know we're here for them no matter what." John said with a smile, and then he turned to Dean. "So Dean, how does it feel to get your butt kicked by a little girl?"
"Ha Ha old man, very funny."
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Mary was horrified of the prospect of Johnny and Ellie being out on their own; especially will Johnny still healing. In fact the idea made her physically ill. "NO! Johnny, this is a one time incident, you know that, and I'm sure we can figure out how to keep it from happening again…"
Johnny knew that it was hard to hear, but he also knew that the strain that he and Ellie were putting on them was starting to get to them; no matter how much they denied it. "I know we can, but it's not fair to you and John to have to deal with it. We can find a cheap apartment somewhere, and until my arm is healed, we'll be close."
"No, it's not a good idea, you aren't up for it, we don't want you to leave, and… and… we're not going to let you!" Mary said firmly, looking at her son straight in the eyes daring him to contradict her.
Momentarily stunned, Johnny had no answer for that at the moment, but then he started to get angry. "You're saying no? I'm not two, and if you think you can keep me and Ellie a prisoner here then you have another thing coming lady!" he said as he jumped up and rushed up the stairs, determined to grab Ellie and go. He had no idea why he had a sudden sense of panic, but he knew that they had to go; now!
Mary sat there a moment, until it dawned on her what it sounded like she said and then she knew she was going to need help. Running to the door, she looked at both John and Dean and quickly told them what happened as they started towards the stairs. It didn't take long before all three of them were at the door to Sammy's room and what they saw shocked them.
Johnny was holding a still sleeping Ellie close with a backpack already filled and on his shoulder. That in itself wasn't the problem; it was the items in the room that were flying around as if they themselves were alive.
"Get out of the way!" Johnny ground out seeing them blocking the way. Normally he could stay calm in any situation, but right now he was feeling more out of control than he had in a very long time and it scared him, which fed the loss of control.
Dean wasn't sure what he was seeing, but he knew that this couldn't be a good thing. Looking back at his parents he knew that they weren't going to be much help at the moment, so taking a deep breath he walked into the room and tried to dodge as many objects as he could. "Ok Johnny, how about we talk about this? Mom didn't mean that you couldn't leave, just that you shouldn't and we'd all miss you and Ellie being around. So how about we just call it a night and we can discuss this in the morning when we're all a little… uh, calmer?"
Smirking, Johnny couldn't help but feel that he'd never be calm again in his life. It was as if every cell in his body was jumping around, and he had no idea why. He remembered the last time it was this bad, but that couldn't be it; these people weren't like that. So what was it? Looking at Dean he could only say, "Move" hoping to get the point across that he wanted, no needed out.
Shaking his head, Dean's only response was, "No". He knew deep down that if his little brother left right now, they'd never see him again, and not by his own choice either. Dean didn't know how he knew it, but he knew not to ignore his gut instinct.
Any other conversation was cut off by sounds of a struggle outside, causing everyone's concentration to suddenly shift to the window. John recognized the man Bobby, but had no idea who the other three men were but it looked like two of them were getting the crap kicked out of them.
"Ah damn! Mary, can you take Ellie?" Johnny asked, already handing his precious burden to her as he rushed to the door with Dean close behind.
Outside, Bobby and Caleb had caught up to two hunters who had been trying to make a name for themselves for the last couple of years, but had only managed to make themselves look incompetent in the process. It hadn't taken long for Bobby to get Craggen under control and Caleb was still working on the other guy Miller when they realized that they were making enough noise to wake the dead, and that didn't sit too well with any of them. They didn't think that it could get any worse until they saw Johnny practically jumping out of the house towards them; and he wasn't in a good mood.
"Did you bring them here? Well, did you Bobby?" Johnny asked, needing to know just which hunter to rip apart first. These were the same hunter's that threatened the Winchesters, that threatened Mary, and he was going to make sure they paid.
Bobby knew that he was in trouble, after all he was supposed to have left and now there were more hunters in the area; it didn't look good. "No Johnny, I didn't bring these two igits and Caleb was more than willing to help keep morons like these off your ass."
"Hey Johnny, how you been?" Caleb asked calmly as if a major storm wasn't brewing in the kid at the moment.
Looking over, Johnny saw both Dean and John standing next to him waiting to see what they should do. Sighing, Johnny looked at the men that he liked to call Moron One and Moron Two before he spoke again. "I'd be better if idiots like these would leave me the hell alone."
"Look kid, you know that we're just doing what's right. If you turn bad then you're going to hurt a lot of people…"
"I have a little girl to watch over, how the hell am I going to have time to turn anything? While we're at it, did it ever occur to you that I could just as easily turn into something good and actually help people? Jeez, it's people like you who nailed Jesus to a tree because you didn't like what he said." Johnny said quietly before turning around and walking inside again.
Dean and John stood there dumbfounded before John told Bobby. "When you're done with the garbage, why don't you and your friend come inside for a beer."
Bobby and Caleb stood there for a moment puzzled; that was really unexpected, but who were they to turn away a good beer?