A.N.: So here it is Chapter 8! We'll just keep rolling right along, hope you enjoy. I need a megaphone to be able to send a proper shoutout to Dorothy for fixing this up for me yet again, since I sadly own no megaphone, caps will have to do. THANK YOU DOROTHY! And a huge thanks to all of you who have supported me thus far, I appreciate every single one of you. :-D
Disclaimer: Not mine.
'Okay Ellen, you were right. Hunting with John was a very bad idea and I will eat a whole plate of crow when I get back.' Bobby thinks as he circles back behind a tree.
The boys are nowhere in sight and he hears a low rumble from the trees. "If." He breathes and reaches down for the silver knife in the top of his boot.
"Now would be a great time for you to show up Winchester." He groans as a hand reaches out and pulls him backwards.
Bobby would never admit in a million years to the fact that he screams like a little girl when that hand closes around the neck of his jacket.
He however prides himself that as startled as he was he didn't fall flat on his ass.
Dean chuckles. "You okay there Bobby?"
Bobby glares at him and would have thrown back a dry comment if not for John growling. "Get down!"
He's been a hunter for a long time now and even as he could see the first monster looming in front of him, he felt another one sneak up from the side. Two werewolves...crap.
He scrambles for his fallen gun and watches as Dean fires into the first ones' flank. John steps from behind him to cover his back and Bobby wonders where the youngest Winchester is hiding.
John screams as the creature lifts him up and sends his body flying off into the distance.
"Dad!" Dean bellows as he swings the gun around.
Too late...he was going to be too late.
His eyes widen and Bobby feels sick as he realizes that he is about to watch the boy be murdered.
Until his younger brother, usually uncomfortable and out of his element on a hunt, levels his pistol right into the wolf's face and fires. Bobby sucks in a breath at the look on Sam's face.
Dean flinches at the closeness of the shot and watches as the wolf let out a wail. "Jeez Sammy." He mutters shakily.
Sam turns his face to his brother. "Did it get you Dean?"
He doesn't have a chance to answer as the other werewolf bounds over to them, snarling.
Bobby grips his silver knife tight and lets it fly.
Straight into one of its eyes.
"Boys, get the hell out of there!" he yells as the monster turns on him.
Bobby has about half a second to assess the situation. John was MIA, and the boys were looking in his direction with terror stricken expressions on their faces. Up shit creek without a paddle? Oh yeah, he was there.
The weight that slams into him is incomparable to anything he has ever felt, and he is glad he still has the mind to raise one of his arms to his neck as the evil son of a bitch clamps down hard on his coat.
He can hear the thunderous pounding of his heart and the frantic footfalls of two Winchester boys who are rushing to his side. The monster's jaw is clacking by his neck and claws are gouging into his stomach. Not getting me you son of a bitch, I promised my wife.
He moves one of his hands and yanks the knife from its eyeball, grinning in satisfaction at the terrible noise it made, and then plunges it into the things chest.
It lets out one last howl before all of its weight is pressing down on him and the claws in his gut shift just so.
Bobby must have blacked out because the next thing he knows John is extracting the body from off of him and mumbling orders to his sons.
"Sam, get something to plug up that wound, Dean, help me with this."
"Hang on Bobby, the hard part is over." John mumbles, as he presses his hands to the other man's gut.
"Dad, is he,"
"He's fine!" he yells, voice pitched with panic.
"I'm going to be fine Ellen."
She slammed the bar rag on down on the table.
"I've heard that before Bobby."
He winced. "El, I'll be back in no time."
"Just wait till Jo is better." she grumbled and Bobby felt a week worth of bickering starting to wear on him.
"Ellen, I can't just wait. You know that."
"Another couple days and she will be a hundred percent and so will I and we can go with you."
"Another couple of days and more people will be dead."
"Dammit Bobby!" She yelled.
"What would you like me to do Ellen? Tell the werewolves not to eviscerate anyone for a couple of days! Cause everyone knows that evil monsters have no problems taking other peoples time into consideration!"
The fight had raged for another twenty minutes before Jo called out for a bucket miserably.
When he had left the next night things were not on much better terms, but before Bobby had walked out that door Ellen had gripped him tight and crushed her lips to his face. It wasn't 'goodbye', it was 'you damn well better come back.'
"Bobby, can you get up?" John shakes his shoulder roughly as Bobby is jolted back into the here and now.
"Yeah, I'm good." he breathes as Dean snorts.
"I said I'm good boy and don't make me whoop your ass to prove it."
Dean holds up both hands, covered in blood.
Sam runs up with towels.
Bobby grabs onto Johns jacket and pulls him down to his face. "John, how bad is it? I'm going to walk out of here right?"
John eyes cast around.
"Goddammit John! We made a promise to a woman who is going to tan my hide if I don't keep it!" He shakes the eldest Winchester. "So I'm going to be fine," He forces himself up on his elbows. "Right?"
John looks at him for just a minute like he was seeing someone other than Bobby Singer before he jerks his head once.
"Yeah. You'll be fine, you crazy bastard." He thumps him once on the shoulder before getting up.
His stomach is wrapped and then he is helped to his feet and back to his car. He doesn't realize that he is on the passenger side until the door opens and Dean drops into the driver's side.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" he wheezes and Dean regards him with a shrug.
"What's commonly known as driving."
Smart ass punk.
"I see that dumb ass What are you doing in my car?"
Dean cranks the key as the car roars to life.
"You were just a chew toy for a werewolf Bobby. Sit back and enjoy the ride."
Bobby grunts as he pulls up in the seat.
"I can drive my own damn car Dean." he starts, reaching for the keys.
Dean swats his hand. "Back off Bobby. I got my orders."
The younger mans' jaw locks and his eyes move back to the road.
Bobby can see 'Dad will kick my ass if I don't do this' written all over his face.
"Fine Dean, fine." He sighs loudly as he leans the seat back.
"Hey Bobby," Dean says quietly.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for covering me and Sam." His eyes slide over to his face for just a second and Bobby thinks that maybe he catches a glimmer of a smile.
"You're welcome..." He grins as he pulls his cap over his eyes. "Idjit."
They pull up into his house and the first thing he notices with a curse is Ellen's car sitting in the driveway.
Dammit, he is supposed to meet up with her tomorrow at the Roadhouse. She is going to kill him.
She runs out to the porch at the sounds of the approaching vehicles, and when she spots him her eyes are pinched and her mouth is a hard line on her face.
Whoever came up with the phrase 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' has obviously met Ellen Harvelle.
"You boys just get back?" Her gaze moves between Dean and Bobby to Sam and John.
"Yeah. Hey Ellen." Dean nods his head towards her and she gives a curt bob of her head.
"How did it go?" She tries to look disinterested but her eyes keeping sliding over to her Bobby.
"Good Ellen, it went," His hands move from his side and she can see the red tint on them.
Her expression landslides into concern as she crosses the few steps to her husband's side.
"Bobby, are you okay?"
"It didn't bite me. Bitch didn't bite me." he huffs as her hands move into his.
"What happened?" She is trying to move his coat and see the injury.
"Ellen, I'll be fine." He moves a strand of hair out of her eyes. " Just need a couple of days to rest."
John is standing behind her now. "Ellen, I checked, he just got scratched. Saved Dean and Sam."
Ellen is nodding, her eyes filling with tears.
"I'm so glad you're okay." She kisses his cheek as she starts to lead him inside. She tosses a quick "Come on in guys." over her shoulder to the other men.
"I promised you Ellen. I promised I'd come back."
"You kept good on your word Singer."
"Ellen," He smiles at her.
"Yeah?"
"Next time I'll wait."
She chuckles as she sets him down on the sofa. "No you won't, but if you did you wouldn't be the man I married. The man I love."
He blushes at that and thinks he owes someone a huge favor for bringing him home to his girls.
She just had to marry a hunter. Not once, but twice. She must really be a glutton for punishment.
Her and Bobby have been picking at each other all week and she doesn't know if it's the fact that she hasn't slept in a couple of nights or that her daughter has tagged the bathroom walls with vomit and is running a fever of 101 that has her losing her grip on patience.
She, herself isn't feeling too great. Bobby and her had arguments over the years but what they were going to do with the Roadhouse and the upcoming hunt with the Winchesters were their newest ones.
She had tried to sell the Roadhouse off , but could never quite make the final cut. It was the last thing she had of Bills'. Bobby had offered to help her open a new Roadhouse closer to his house, or to move closer to the Roadhouse. Ellen didn't see the need to do that...they were managing just fine the way things were. Or so she thought.
One of the things she really loved about Bobby was that he was quiet. He didn't say much, but what little he did say meant so much. He didn't cause upset where there didn't need to be any, and he treated Jo like the daughter he never had. But she did hate exactly one thing about him. He was as stubborn as she was. Which is what made fighting with him like throwing pebbles at a wall, and waiting for it to come down.
"Mom, is this ever going to end?" her fifteen year old moaned from her bed.
"I hope so." Ellen retorted, having caught the flu herself the day before.
"I feel like I've lost ten pounds." she grumbles as Ellen passes a hand tenderly over her forehead.
"You look like you've lost twenty." she whispers as she kisses her daughters fevered head.
"I guess I don't have to worry about dieting then." she states with a laugh.
Ellen gets up from the bed with a half smile. "Baby, you're beautiful. Less when you are gagging on all your meals, but you don't have to every worry about that Joanna Beth."
Jo rolls her eyes. "Okay Mom, I'm trying to keep my food down and you aren't helping."
"Love you too honey." she replies, closing the door behind her.
Bobby is sitting at the bar when she comes down.
"How's our girl doing?" he asks.
"Terrible. She's running a fever on top of everything else."
Bobby shakes his head. "Poor thing."
Ellen covers her mouth as she feels her stomach churn unpleasantly.
"You feel okay?" Bobby is up in a flash as he places a hand on her forehead.
"Think I caught what Jo had." She whispers.
"You feel like it too. Hot as hell."
Ellen giggles. "You're a charmer Singer."
He smiles at her and it's the first time in days that she isn't been annoyed by it.
And then he has to ruin it all by talking. "Ellen, John called again and he really needs my help."
She pushes away from him. "I thought we already talked about this."
"No, you talked, I listened. Now we need to try it the other way around."
"There isn't anything to listen to Bobby Singer. You know how I feel."
"Yeah I do." He sighs loudly. "And you know how I feel. I can't just leave innocent people to die Ellen."
"He could ask someone else." She states.
"No one else is in the area. I am two cities over. It will take me six hours to get there."
She looks down at the ground. "Dammit Bobby, just let someone else take care of it. He has Sam and Dean."
"He said he needs help Ellen. He wouldn't have asked if he didn't need it. When our friends call for help we help them."
Ellen felt her blood boil just under the surface.
"Don't talk to me like I'm a child!" she growls.
Bobby hangs his head. "Ellen, I'm not going to fight with you. I'll be back in a couple of days." He looks up into her eyes. "I promise."
As he turns to leave, anxiety grips her heart in her chest and she feels her whole body itch with the need to move.
She races to him and grabs him close to her, breathing in his scent and hoping that all of this fear she has is unfounded. Her lips are fast and quick on his and when he nods towards her and dips his head to plant one more kiss on her lips, she knows he has gotten the message. You better come back Singer.
She hasn't heard from him all day. Sure he's on a hunt and sure she's madder than hell at him, but that doesn't give him the right to not call her. She stares at the phone like it's the most interesting thing she has ever seen. She tries to tell herself she is being silly, but all she can think about is the look of distress on John Winchesters face when he walked into her bar covered in her husband's blood so many years ago.
She can't stand it anymore as she loads her recuperating, mostly just cranky now, daughter into her car and drives to his house. She knows they are supposed to meet up tomorrow, but that is too many hours away and every minute she doesn't hear from him supplies her mind with images of his mangled figure.
"You okay Mom?" Jo asks, touching a hand to her elbow.
"Oh yeah. Of course." she replies with a forced smile.
"I'm worried about him too." Jo confides and Ellen folds her hand into her daughters.
"He promised he'd be back. " she whispers.
Jo squeezes her fingers. "Then he'll be back."
Jo had just gone upstairs to bed fifteen minutes before Ellen hears the familiar rattle of his car pulling into the driveway.
She's outside before she even thinks about it, scanning the men for her husband. Her seemingly fine husband.
Dean greets her and Ellen gazes moves over all of them gauging damage. John looks worried and has a gash across his head, Sam looks tired and gives her a half wave, Dean looks relieved and Bobby looks...she can't quite place how he looks.
He moves his hands and all she sees is red.
Please God, no.
John is instantly at her side letting her know it's just a scratch, not a bite, just a scratch. Thank God. He is going to be fine.
She was so certain that something terrible was going to happen to him. So certain.
She leads them inside, throwing an invitation to the other men over her shoulder before tending to her husband.
Halfway through the stitches he informs her that he is feeling a bit dizzy and then passes out. Ellen tries not to laugh.
The Winchesters stay in the spare bedroom up the stairs and Ellen curls up next to Bobby on the couch.
When she wakes up in the morning to Bobby's eyes fluttering open she is shocked by the irony of a similar scene on this couch many years ago. It had even been a stomach wound as well if she remembers correctly. He'd been taking care of her for years, it was her turn.
"Morning." he mumbles and yawns.
"Morning yourself." she replies, stretching away from him.
"Ellen I," Bobby tries to cut right to the chase.
"No Bobby. It's my turn in this dance."
His eyebrows knit together in confusion.
"I'm closing the Roadhouse." She announces and his blue eyes widen.
"What? No Ellen, you don't have to," She stops him with a kiss.
"It's time Bobby. You are my husband."
"I never wanted you to," he sighs. "I never thought,"
"I know," she breathes. "Bobby, I know."
He nods. "Are you sure?"
She looks into his eyes and sees all of their history written in them.
Her mouth lifts up in a smile. It's time to let Bill go. It's time.
She knows without a doubt that it is the right thing to do when she touches her forehead to his and murmurs. "I'm sure."