Bobby

Warnings: mild cursing, canon or gentler

Dee paused for a moment to look out the window. Standing between the junk cars, Uncle Bobby was watching Sam, crouched low to the ground, digging in the dirt. She itched to sit out there and watch him, which was...weird. There was more to do when she stayed at the scrapyard than she ever had to do at the motels. Dusting, vaccuming, plus of course Uncle Bobby would find the time to teach her about the cars when he could, or ask her to help him in the kitchen. But then...there was this downtime. She'd gone out to keep an eye on Sammy and he'd come up behind her and scolded her away. "Go on girl, get. You don't need to do this, find something to play with." So she'd gone inside. Only...now what?

She was ten years old now. Too big for toys. What would she do with a toy anyway? But she had to do something to keep busy...and Sam had been asking for a hunter anyway. Dee pulled herself away from the window and crept up the stairs. The door to Uncle Bobbys room was open just a crack. She'd never been in there, but what the hell? It was just a room. The door squeaked a little as she opened it. The bed was pushed in a corner, covered with a quilt made by Bobby's wife, Karen...Aunt Karen?...no that would be too weird.

Dresser or closet? It would be easier to find what she was looking for in the dresser. On second thought, she might also find some things she was definitely *not* looking for. Uncle Bobby's briefs? Gross. No thanks. It was bad enough having to wash dad's and Sam's. The door to the closet was open anyway, like he'd gotten dressed in a hurry and hadn't bothered to close it. The stuff he hadn't worn in a while would be in the back. There was a suit...Uncle Bobby wearing a suit? That was a weird thought. Hell, the last time she'd even seen her father in a suit... Anyway, there were a couple of flannels towards the back that looked a little too snug. Hopefully. She pulled out one that was a slightly lighter shade of stained and put it on the bed. And it wasn't too hard to find a pair of jeans that were so torn up they probably should have gone to the rag pile two years ago. She threw it on the bed. That would take care of most of the project, but she still needed one more thing. No matter how hard she looked, there were no white tshirts in this closet. She flipped through once, twice, again. Not even brown ones. Ugh!

"Can I help you girl?"

Clothes and hangers clattered to the floor as Dee spun guiltily around. "Son of a bitch! I mean, that just slipped out! I mean..." Her head dropped to her chest. "Damn," she added under her breath.

"What in the hell do you think you're trying to do in here?"

"Uncle Bobby, I...you didn't need them, right, and I thought... Look, it's for Sam, ok? I'm making it for Sam."

Uncle Bobby walked overand started picking up the clothes she had dropped. "You going to help with this, kid?" Slowly Dee started helping put things back on hangers and passing them to her uncle to put them in the closet. There wasn't much to do, and as they worked he snuck her a smile or two. "Now, you gonna' tell me what this is all about?" He sat down at the little table, leaving Dee to sit on the bed.

Dee sighed. She couldn't meet his eyes. "I was looking for clothes."

She heard him scoff, but there was some amusement in it, at least. "Yeah, I'd gathered that, ya little idjit. What for? You got plenty of clothes. Feel like I've washed more clothes in the last two weeks with you and your brother here than I have in the last three months."

"I was going to make him a guy. Like, a hunter, a toy, to kill the ghosts and stuff. You know, he's a kid. He likes that stuff." Uncle Bobby looked almost...impressed? That's not...shouldn't he be pissed? "I made him a ghost a couple of months ago, and then..."

"Show me."

That's how Dee found herself going through her brother's backpack, pulling out the little ghost, pretty frayed at the edges already. "You made this yourself?"

"Well yeah. It's not exactly store-bought work, you know."

He held the little rag doll in his hands, slowly turning it around. "Not bad, girl. Not bad at all." He put it down carefully on the table and disappeared. Should she follow him? Should she sit here? Was this some kind of punishment for going through his stuff? Awesome. She rolled her eyes.

Bobby came back from wherever he was with a toolbox in hand. Crap. So apparently she had to work off her thievery. Whatever. She could do it. She didn't care. And she'd already been here two weeks. Dad would be back any day, and no way he'd wait for her to finish up. Of course, he might leave her at Uncle Bobby's until she finished her punishment, or he came back around this way. Damn. Whatever he wanted, she'd get it done quick and get it done right.

Dee tried to hide her grimace when Uncle Bobby opened the case and took out...a cloth tomato? With pins in it? Was this hoodoo or something? "All right kid. If you're going to do this, you might as well learn how to do it right. And since your daddy ain't gonna teach you, looks like it's up to me." Do what? Crap! But the words never left her mouth. She just stared, impassive, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Uncle Bobby lifted the tray inside the toolbox and took out a roll of some kind of cloth. Was this like, spell work or something? There was some kind of chalk, and scissors, and...what was he going to do? "Come here, girl." He must have noticed her hesitation, because he added "I ain't gonna bite, it's just a doll."

Dee scooted close and watched as his older hands steadily drew out a pattern, and pinned two pieces together to cut. They passed the pieces back and forth, taking turns cutting, pinning, sewing. Questions came from her mouth quietly at first, then bolder as she started to enjoy herself. At one point, Sam came in to watch, then quickly grew bored and settled on the floor with his army men. Uncle Bobby showed her how to turn the pieces inside out, so the seams wouldn't show, and even pulled some padding from a spare pillow to stuff the little man.

When the toy was finished, Dee inspected it closely. It was a little man, more or less. It had arms and legs and a head and everything. She smiled when she looked at it next to the little ghost. The seams were straighter, and it looked, good. She was...proud. Wow. That was kind of awesome. "Sam and I have some markers. I could make him some clothes," she said. But Uncle Bobby was ahead of her. He slipped his flannel off his shoulders and started cutting it.

Dee started to protest, but her uncle cut her off. "It's old anyway. Bout to come apart. Not much use except an oil rag." She knew that wasn't true, but the damage was already done, so she smiled, and watched him make a tiny shirt for Sam's doll. While he worked she pulled out the markers and carefully sketched a reddish brown beard on the little doll, adding slate gray eyes, since there was no way to match exactly. Not when it was that small. She even colored the pants in blue, like he was wearing jeans and boots. And when the toy was dressed, she called Sam up to inspect it.

"For me?" He asked. Uncle Bobby looked at Dee and she nodded. "Awesome!" said Sam, throwing his arms around first his sister then his uncle. He grabbed the Bobby doll and the ghost in his little hands and brought them right into battle: General Uncle Bobby leading the army against the creature of the night.

Dee watched her brother, but caught Uncle Bobby crossing his arms across his T-shirted chest. "Not bad, kid," he said, "not bad at all." The corner of her mouth turned up in a smile, and they stood there in silence while Sam's battle raged on.