A.N.: Hello all! Sorry this one took me so long, I brought back an under-appreciated character though so hopefully you will forgive me. Thanks as always for reading. I'm constantly humbled by the amount of love this little story has gotten. Be on the lookout for those lovable Winchesters the next chapter. Thanks to Dorothy for betaing this as always. :-D Hope you like!

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Bobby thinks he's too old for this crap as he holds the trash bin in front of the young man currently evicting all the contents of his stomach. Ellen smiles wearily at him, and shrugs her shoulder as she picks up the graveyard of bottles around the bar.

"I'm a genius." the man breathes, smiling sloppily at Bobby.

"Well Einstein I think your liver might disagree with you." Bobby grumbles, pushing away from the trashcan and the man next to it.

"No really, bonifide smartypants here!" he declares, grinning.

Ellen passes a cloth to the male as he swipes at his mouth.

"Alright, I'll bite. If you are so smart, what are you doing down here in your own mess Plato?"

The man squints at Bobby shaking his head. "I got into a fight." He mumbles and Bobby laughs at the thought of this string bean doing much damage to anybody.

Bobby leans back on his heels with a half grin. "A fight huh? What for?"

The man burps in the back of his throat, scrubbing the cloth across his face before he looks from Bobby to Ellen. "I did it for a girl." he sighs.

Bobby nods. "Yeah, that sounds about right." and chuckles as his wife swipes a hand at his head.

"She weren't just any girl either. She had sunshine hair, and eyes made of diamonds." He chuckles. "I write poems too."

Ellen bends down to pat the young man consolingly on the shoulder. "I'm sure they are lovely, what do you say we join the rest the world up here on our feet." she suggests, putting on arm around him.

He nods as Bobby grabs one of his hands to finish getting the man upright.

"Now," Ellen pats his shoulder once more. "We are gonna get some food and water in ya and you might even start feeling human again."

Bobby smiles at his wife over the top of the mop of yellow hair. She was always so good at taking care of strays.

"Thank ya kindly," He breaks off and stares at her as if he is trying to recall a name he can't quite remember.

"Ellen. Ellen Singer." She grips his arm and with Bobby's help guides him to a chair.

"Ellen. That's real pretty."

She chuckles. "Hold your horses Romeo, this is Bobby." her free hand finds her husband. "He's my husband."

Bobby never gets tired of hearing that.

"Right!" he cries as he clamps a hand on the older man's arm. "Meant no disrespect, you have a fine woman here."

"Don't I know it kid." Bobby says, taking the water bottle from Ellen and plopping it in front of the tipsy male.

"I'm Ash." he grins, twisting the cap from the water bottle to splash the contents down his throat.

Ellen shoves a sandwich in front of him and Ash flashes a grateful look before he bites into it with a contented sigh.

The man just seems to be sobering up when Jo comes bounding in the door, backpack swinging from her shoulder.

"Hey Bobby, hey mom!" She calls, tossing her bag into a booth and walking over towards them.

Ash drops his food back into the plate.

"Hey sweetie, good day?"

"Oh you know, the usual, pep rally, ra- ra." Jo says dryly as she rolls her eyes.

Bobby thinks maybe she got the tone from him.

Ellen sighs. "You could try to like it like everybody else."

"I hate it. Cheerleaders," Jo pauses to shudder dramatically. "They are so freaking annoying."

Ash is still just staring at her.

"Who's the new guy?" she asks with a jerk of her head, blonde hair swaying with the movement.

Bobby chuckles at his reaction. Jo was a looker, that was sure, and now he was just waiting for the younger man to start spouting his poetry.

"He said his name is Ash." Ellen says, as she looks from Ash to her daughter.

"Ash huh?" Jo says, catching the chair opposite of him with her foot and sitting down.

He is still just staring.

"I'm not going to sleep with you." Jo announces.

"Joanna Beth!" Ellen cries.

"Now that we have that out of the way, hi, I'm Jo."

Ash takes the hand that is extended towards him.

"Well hell Bobby, you have your hands full."

Bobby nods his head. "That's an understatement."

Jo and Ellen both swat him with a feigned indignant. "Hey!"

Ellen ends up bringing the kid home. Because she really does have a bleeding heart for strays and hell, Bobby sort of likes him. She states that she is going to give him a job as a busboy at the bar she works at and he can't help but just love her all the more. Bobby doesn't know how he hasn't ended up with his house over run by dogs and abandoned kids.

The relationship between Jo and Ash quickly shifts into a brother and sister one and Bobby is extremely grateful. He's even more grateful when Ash moves out a week later. Cause he sure likes the kid, but damn, he eats like Dean.

Jo starts dating after that and he's tired of boys drooling all over his girl. He has already had several arguments with Ellen over 'No you cannot answer the door with a shotgun.' because he would really like these boys to know that if they make Jo cry they will be met with a barrel of his weapon of choice.

Ellen thinks it's cute. Bobby is out of his element, not ever having his own flesh and blood to dote upon. Jo is annoyed by it all, annoyed by school, annoyed by the fact that her contenders are either too fast or slow for her and Bobby thinks maybe it comes with the territory of being seventeen.

So, when she comes back from a date and looks upset and Ellen is still at work, Bobby has to fight the urge not to grab his gun and track the son of a bitch down who did this. Instead he paces outside of her door until she calls out.

"You're wearing a hole in the carpet, just come in already."

Bobby pushes the door open and is greeted by the sight of Jo sitting on the end of her bed, worrying her bottom lip.

He hates to see her so distressed, but doesn't know what the right response is.

"I'm not going to bite Bobby." Jo sighs.

"Sorry kid, I'm new to this."

"Yeah, I know." She weaves a hand into her hair.

"We can talk you know?" he has to clear his throat twice before he says this.

Jo scoffs. "Bobby, you look like you're going to faint."

"What?" He smirks at her. "Naw I'm good."

Jo stands and appears to shake off her funk. "We don't have to talk."

Bobby tries not to let out a sigh of relief. "You seem a bit upset. You sure?"

Jo nods as she pulls her hair back into a ponytail. "Yeah, I'm sure. There is something you could do for me."

Bobby has no trouble answering her this time. "Anything."

"Okay, but you can't tell Mom."

Damn, he really should have thought this one out.

She's a natural. She has no problem gripping the knife by the hilt and letting it fly into the trees behind the house. Bobby has a sinking suspicion that she has done this before.

He's impressed at her level of concentration even as he keeps peeking around the side for his wife.

"Mom's car is loud as hell. You'll hear her coming." Jo states.

"I know that," he digs his hands into his pockets. "Why are we doing this Jo?"

"Because it makes me feel better."

"Okay, why would your mom be mad about that?"

"Because she would think it has to do with hunting."

"Well, does it?"

"No, I just throw knives for fun."

Bobby blushes. "Hey, you could be training for the circus. Hell if I know what's going on in your head these days Jo."

Jo's hand stills as she looks back at Bobby. Her eyes are full of emotions he can't decipher.

"Johnny Newton doesn't like me." She whispers as her hand rears back and she lets the knife fly.

Bobby is having a hard time keeping up with what the hell she is talking about, but he can hear the anguish in her voice.

"Johnny Newton, that punk that came to pick you up ten minutes late last week?"

"Yeah." Another knife flies and knocks the first one to the ground.

"Why would you think he doesn't like you?"

"He called me a freak."

Bobby felt his hands clench in his pockets.

Jo takes a shaky breath. "I showed him this," she pauses to retrieve a knife from her pocket.

Bobby can see the indent of the W.A.H.

"Jo," he starts.

"He said 'what the hell are you doing carrying a knife around?'" She says as she moves the treasure back to her pocket.

"Jo,"

"I tried to tell him it was my dad's but he saw my purse and I have holy water and some other stuff in it. He grabbed it and dumped it in a panic and then he jumped out of his car and was yelling about me being a freak," Jo breaks off and Bobby can see tears cutting a path down her face.

"I really liked him and he called me a freak, I thought he liked me too." She drops her head and arm in defeat.

"Jo," Bobby begins as he rests his hand on her cheek. "He's a moron."

Bobby has only seen Jo cry a handful of times and the tug on his heart is damn near palpable.

"Listen to me." He says as his other hand comes around to brush at the tears on her cheeks. "You are not a freak. You're a Harvelle."

"I know." She mumbles and tries to duck her head again.

Bobby tilts her chin up. "No, you ain't listening Jo. You're a Harvelle. Which means you're stubborn and smart and quick as a whip, but you are not a freak. You were too much for that little shit to handle." Bobby states.

She smiles watery at him. "You may be new at this, but you aren't half bad."

Bobby kisses the top of her head. "Thanks."

Jo swipes at her tears. "Can we not tell Mom about this?" she asks, gesturing to the knife throwing.

Bobby shakes his head with a groan. "I can't lie to your mom Jo."

"I know." She nods. "Dammit."

"Sorry kid, we have this whole honesty thing going on. You want me to tell her?"

Jo shakes her head as she bends to pick up the fallen knives.

"No, I guess I better do it."

Bobby laughs a bit at that. "You want me to kill him?"

"Do you know anything that will make him hideously ugly?" She says as the head back to the house.

Bobby throws an arm around her shoulders as she leans into him. "I know a witch that owes me a favor."

Jo laughs and it's worth all of the awkwardness in the world to hear that one perfect sound.

"Thanks," she replies and leans up to kiss his cheek. "Dad."

It was going to be a slow day she thought, as she pulled into the empty parking lot of the bar On the Rocks.

After selling the Roadhouse, Ellen had tried her hand at being waitress just shy of a month. It wasn't that she didn't have the skill or that the money was bad. It was that people were so damn rude that she had to fight the urge to spit in their coffee. She missed giving advice to people who stumbled into her bar and swapping stories as she sobered them back up. So she was happy to be getting back to what she was comfortable with, and the bar was ten minutes from her home so everything was working out perfectly.

She walked inside to see just one single man pouring himself a drink, his eyes already glazed over with drunkenness.

"Hey Tom!" She calls out and the owner turns to her.

"Ellen."

"What's the story with this one?"

Her boss shrugs one shoulder. "Don't know."

Ellen is walking behind the bar now. "Did you ask?"

Tom shakes his head with a humorless laugh. "We don't get paid extra to care Ellen."

"Man's been swimming in the bottom of a bottle and you don't ask why?"

Tom shakes his head again as he places the keys in her hand. "Thank God we got you Ellen. Now he can hug and cry all his problems out onto your shoulder." He pats her once on the back and disappears through the back door.

Ellen would really like to punch his lights out, but as with most bosses she doesn't have to deal with him much because he is very rarely there.

The man looks a couple years older than Jo and he is tapping one hand in a staccato rhythm on the bar.

She goes to approach him and starts as she hears the rumble of her husband's car cut off. She is almost at the door when he comes through it.

"Hey Bobby, thought you were out with Rufus today."

He smiles at her. "I was. Turns out possessed house was rats."

She chuckles. "Rats?"

"Yeah. Whole nest of them holed up in the walls."

She shivers. "Well that's not creepy at all."

Bobby snorts. "Yeah."

His arm goes around her waist. "You off today then?"

"Looks like." He kisses her on the cheek. "One lone customer? What's his story?"

Ellen pulls away from him. "Good question. Haven't had a chance to find out yet."

Bobby takes a step forward. "Don't think you're gonna either." he takes another couple of steps.

"Why's that?" Ellen asks as Bobby dives for the trashcan just as the blonde mop of hair vanishes into the bin with a violent heave.

Bobby looks a mixture of disgusted and concerned as he grumbles. "Because it's a little hard to talk through all the vomit."

Ellen shakes her head with a snort as she watches Bobby move to catch the kid from coming off of the stool.

"You need help?"

Bobby meets her eyes. "No, I think I got it. Thanks."

"So much for a day off huh?" She says over the strangled gasping sound coming from the trashcan.

"Yeah I traded in rats for the evils of alcohol." he states dryly, his hand rubbing a soothing pattern on the shaking form of the man beside him.

His head finally rises from the mess he projected to utter, "I'm a genius." with a sloppy smile.

"Well Einstein I think your liver might disagree with you." Bobby retorts.

There is a short exchange of words between the two of them and then she and Bobby are maneuvering his body into a chair. It doesn't escape Ellen's attention that Bobby is so heartrendingly gentle with him. He would have been a wonderful father if given the chance.

The rest of the day after Jo came home from school went by in a blur. And at the end of the night when the man she had come to know as Ash dragged himself out of the bar with a sad. "I'll see y'all later." Ellen shot a sad look to her husband. Her husband who nodded his head with a tug of the top of his cap. God she loves this man.

"Ash," she begins, taking the few steps to his side. "We have a spare bedroom if you need a place to stay."

His eyes light up in his bruised face. "Really?"

Jo is at her mother's side now too. "Yeah, Bobby's house is huge. Plenty of room."

"Well, I don't know." he starts and Bobby coughs off to the side.

"What are you trying to be prideful for boy? You left that at the bottom of the trashcan, remember?"

Ash chuckles. "You're right, I did. Hell, don't think I had much to begin with."

Bobby pulls his car door open. "I don't know. That trashcan was pretty full."

Ash full on laughs at that.

Bobby looks back to the three of them under the flickering bar light. "You waiting for a formal invitation? Get in."

Ash grins at the two women before loping over to the car.

Jo turns her face towards her mom as Bobby's engine roars to life.

"Can we keep him Mom? Please?" she teases as Ellen lightly shoves her daughter.

"Get in the damn car before I leave your ass here."

Jo laughs. "You always say that."

It's nice having Ash stay with them. Nice...and expensive. She is relieved if not a little sad when he moves out a week later. Jo is sad because she had finally found a friend who was not put off by the life she was raised in.

Ellen has been trying to push her daughter into normalcy one step at a time and of course Jo has been fighting her every step of the way. Ellen suggests cheer leading, Jo suggests training, Ellen suggests a job, Jo suggests being taken on a job. Her daughter is infuriating, and Ellen loves her so much she thinks her heart with break with it. But hunting...no, that is not something she will share with Jo. She will keep Jo as far away from the horror of the life if she has anything to say about it. History will not be repeating itself with Joanna Harvelle, even if she has to hate her, at least she will be alive to do it.

So when Jo says she needs to talk to her about something following the recent string of dates she has had Ellen is terrified that her daughter is about to tell her she is pregnant.

She is completely unprepared for Jo to pull out her father's knife and set it on the kitchen table.

"What's this?" she asks.

"Dad's knife." her daughter replies as she stares at her feet. The motion makes her look about five years old when she does that.

"I can see that. Why's it on the table?"

Jo meets her mother's eyes head on as she pulls a bottle of holy water from her purse, followed by a canister of salt and finally a set of throwing knives.

"Joanna Beth,"

"Mom, wait, I can explain." Jo says.

"The explanation better be you are holding onto Bobby's stuff in your purse for no damn good reason."

Jo shuffles on her feet. "It's not."

Ellen's eyes narrow on her fidgeting daughter. "You better speak up fast sugarpie cause my mind is adding up to all sort of unpleasant conclusions right now."

"Mom, look I," Jo pauses as she tugs one hand through her hair with a frustrated grunt. "Okay here goes nothing. I've been practicing."

"Practicing what exactly?"

"Throwing knives, laying down salt lines, memorizing exorcism rites, hunting stuff." Her feet are planted and her whole body stands rigid.

"Son of a bitch. Please tell me you are joking Jo." Ellen breathes.

"No, I'm not. I'm serious about this mom, this is what I want to do. Help people, save people, like you do sometimes and Bobby,"

"Bobby is a grown man! He knows what he is getting into when he goes out there, and he is good at what he does."

"I could be to! I graduate in seven months, I could be great!" Jo yells as she puffs out her chest. "Bobby thinks," she begins.

"Bobby knows!" Ellen roars and regret slams into Jo's face.

"Just since yesterday. He wanted to tell you, but I asked him to wait cause I was going to tell you. Mom, don't get mad at him, it was just since yesterday I swear." Jo puts a hand to her mothers elbow.

Ellen looks hurt. "Why did you tell him before you told me?"

"Cause he was here. You were at work, that's all Mom."

Ellen shook her head with a choked sound. "Well I am glad you told me, but it stops now."

Jo pulls back from her like she's been slapped. '"What? Why? I told you so I didn't have to lie to you anymore. I told you so you could teach me."

Ellen steels her gaze into her daughters. "We are done talking about this Joanna Beth Harvelle."

Jo's eyes fill with tears. "What the hell Mom? This is what I want!"

Ellen's heart breaks as she says. "I don't care what you want, this is not happening."

Jo scoffs. "I hate you." and turns to flee out the front door.

Bobby comes home with flowers that night.

"She said she hates me." Ellen says as his hand find hers.

"She's seventeen, she hates everything." he replies.

"Am I wrong Bobby?" She asks, tears slipping out and down her face.

"You want to keep her safe. You're not wrong."

She nods her head.

"She's good though El, you would be,"

Ellen stops him with a gasp. "Not now Bobby, just...it might be the truth, but not now."

Bobby smiles sadly at her as he takes a seat across from her. "Okay Ellen."

She wipes at her eyes.

"Actually she really sucks."

She chortles even as more tears run down her face. "Thanks Bobby."

The next day when Jo comes home from school she is still not speaking to her and all she does is shoot a glare in her direction when she sees the stack of college applications on the table.

"Try not to spell anything wrong or I'll have to go get more." Ellen says.

Jo drops into the chair with a sigh as she yanks out a pen.

She may hate her today, but she will be alive tomorrow.