His feet strike the floor as he paces, his mind reeling. What does he want with Sammy? Has he found the daemon? Deans mind was flooded with questions and it didn't help he still hadn't gotten any sleep. But none of that mattered now, some evil-son-of-a-bitch was obviously in need of a killing and Dean planned to be the one with the smoking gun.
"Dean just please. Sit down! You fainted not half an hour ago and still haven't slept." Jamie begged him from the opposite side of Bobbies study. She ran to get him the moment his father had called, asking for Sammy.
"I didn't faint, I passed out." He says defensively. He checked in the lounge room again but Sam's still sitting there, phone to his ear, face distraut with anger, like it is whenever him and dad have a fight. A grunt escaped his lips due to his frustration, he needs to speak to John. Needs to know what's so important that he needed to call in the middle of a hunt. Dean pivots on his heels and turns to Jamie, "What is taking them so goddamn long." He growls at her.
"Dean they have only been talking for 5 minutes."
"Well that's 5 too freakin long. Dad has been long gone since the daemon hunt in Arkansas. No word, no visits, no weird marine shit letting us know if he's even alive!" his voice increasing in volume until Jamie begins to wince. He shoots an apologetic look at her and continues quieter. "Why start again now?" he mumbles to himself.
"Yes, Sir." Sams voice echoes from the empty entertainment room. "I'll just get Dean." Sam's lanky build inches it's way into the study, passing the phone to Dean, his face cold and emotionless. "Not good?" Jamie inquires, worry plastered on her face. Sam shakes his head, mangy hair spilling in front of his face, "No Jamie, Definitely not good."
"Dad?" Dean almost yells into the phone. "Dean? It's good to hear your voice, Son." A deep raspy voice speaks through the phone. "Are you okay Dad? Where are you? We will come and get you!"
"I'm fine Dean, just fine. Just go into Bobbies desk for me and search for an old wooden box would ya?"
Deans brain wishes to probe his father for answers but he falls into strict soldier mode. Looking through the drawers he sees at least a dozen different wooden boxes. "Can you be more specific, I swear Bobby has a wooden box fetish."
His father voice chuckles through the phone. "Wouldn't surprise me if he did. It would be quite small with a rusty iron clasp on it but no lock. I would also have an L and an M engraved on the lid."
"Yeah, I got it." He lifts the box out of the drawer triumphantly. He turns it over in his hands, it doesn't look like anything special except when he runs his hands over the metal clasp a tingling sensation runs up his arms. "What inside?" he attempts to open it, but they are in vain. The clasp would not budge.
"Dean, do not open the box!" His fathers voice commands from the opposite end of the phone. "I will be there in 6 hours. Put the box in Bobbies Hell House and lock the door."
Curiosity gnaws at Deans insides, "What is in the box Dad?"
"Do as I say Dean." The voice bluntly commands.
Dean once again obeying his set commands gives in, "Yes Sir."
The line goes dead. Dean studies the box once more, passing it to Sam for an inspection, after all that was Sidekick Geekboys job. The Inscription of the lid of the box was nothing special, it looked like it had been carved by a simple wood burning tool. "I can't see anything unusual about it." Sam say studying the Iron Slip. "Except the Clasp." The say together.
Dean hears Jamie chuckle from the side of the room. "Okay then Idgits," she pauses looking at the two of them, "What are we doing with it?"
"You really are Bobbies Niece." Sam laughs. "Yeh you got the stubble going and everything." Dean teases, grabbing the box from Sam making his way downstairs, Jamie and Sam at his heels. They place the box in Bobbies bomb shelter which has been altered with devils traps, solid iron walls coated with holy water, salt lines and crosses everywhere. Completely Daemon Proof. The Winchesters have always called it the Hell House. He places the box in the centre of the floor and stares at it for a while, head slightly cocked. Jamie and Sam continue to quietly converse behind him but he honestly couldn't care about what they were saying. He wanted to know what was in this box, and because his Dad wouldn't tell him, he wanted to know even more!
"Well I'm exhausted, I'm hitting the sack." Dean turns and heads up the stairs locking the the Hell House door behind him. Jamie and Sam follow him back up stairs and split up Sam went to his freshly heated pizza and Jamie went for another beer. Dean almost commented on her being an alco when he noticed something. As she bent down to reach for the beer Sam couldn't keep his eyes off her ass. He just stood there in the middle of the kitchen, openly gawking at her butt. Dean silently chuckled to himself. "Sammy you sly Dog." He mumbled under his breath.
"Pardon?" Jamie turns around oblivious to what Dean just said. He throws Sam a grin as she passes him another beer and his cheeks flush red. "Oh nothing." He finishes. He turns and heads for the stairs but not before throwing a parting comment over his shoulder. "Be good children." He grins. "Don't forget to use protection!" he yells as he bounds up the stairs.
He hears Jamies voice echoes from the kitchen, "Do you know what he is on about?"
"I-I have n-no idea." Sam stutter back, tripping over his own tongue. Dean grins a Cheshire grin as he open the door to his bedroom and leap onto the bed burying himself in the covers. Sammy will never learn.
Sam wakes from his sleep a hot mess, his long hair plastered to his forehead and sweat dripping down his heaving chest. His eyes desperately scan the room and rest on his brother quietly sleeping in the bed twin to his. His hands wrap around his torso and he holds his stomach. A blonde girl came to him in a dream. She was standing over him as he slept. Her eyes pure black. Who the hell was she. Sam had never seen her before in his life. A wave of nausea rushed through him. He felt like he was going to be sick. He runs across the hall into the bathroom and bends over the toilet, empty the contents of his stomach into the toilet bowl. What the actual fuck?
Showered and reasonably presentable, he begins his journey downstairs after that terrible ordeal. As he walked in he noticed Bobbie was back and cooking breakfast. The only thing he knew how to make; Bacon, and Toast. His stomach flipped in response to the smell of greasy food and it takes a lot of effort not to throw up then and there. Suddenly Jamie comes in from the study and he battles the nausea, he was not going to puke in front of her.
"So did anything happen when I was away?" Bobby enquires from the stove. Sam begins but is interrupted by Jamie coughing and looking pointedly at him. Okay Okay I get your drift. "No sir, pretty uneventful. Dad called and is coming around this morning but apart from that, not much." Jamie looks at him thankfully and his stomach starts dancing again. Girls always had a weird effect on him.
"John's coming around?" Bobby says shocked. He turns and gestures to Jamie, "You didn't think this was something I should know about?"
"He's there father, I assumed you would want to hear it from them." Jamie replies defensively. Her eyes as wide as a deer in headlights. Clearly unaware of what she had done wrong.
"That's your problem Jamie always assuming." He shakes his hand at her before turning back to breakfast.
"Im sorry sir, I didn't think."
"No, you didn't" that was what made Bobby scary, he never yelled, but he you knew when he was mad.
Sam turns to the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. Dean.
As Dean walks into the kitchen he notices two things. One, Bobby was cooking, and it smelled good. Two, that everybody was looking at him expectantly. Jamie had a desperate look in her eyes and Dean didn't like it. She looked helpless. Sam was staring at him like he was the only sane one here and Bobby was glaring at him expectantly. "Well?" Bobby asked, "You got something to tell me boy?"
Dean racked his brain for something to say, searching, searching. "Dad's coming this morning." He says finally. Jamie and Sam both groan and turn away from him.
"I know."
Well that's just dandy. All he wanted was to come down stairs, grab some chow and wait for dad to show, if he even did. Now, for some reason Bobby was pissed. "How do you know?"
"Sam told me." He replied flipping the bacon onto toast and throwing it in front of Sam and Jamie. Dean was tired of dealing with Bobby being on his goddamn period or some shit. "And this I a problem why?"
"Because you did not tell me."
Dean racked his brain for a Sam-ism, something smart to say. "It didn't seem pertinent." His arms crossing across his chest. "It's not like you were here." Bobby has recently been ducking away at random intervals. Sometimes not returning for days. It had the three of them worried.
"I was," Bobby paused, "busy."
"Busy?" Dean growled at him, "Busy doing what?"
"A favour for me." A voice grumbled from behind him. He jumped and turned on his heels facing the intruder. A familiar face met his.
"Dad?" Dean gasped at the sight of his roughed up father. He looked like he had just had the worst 4 week of his life. His stubble had grown into a small beard, his skin patched with grazes and bruises of every colour and he had a long cut along the side of his face leading from his temple to his jawline. "What happened to you?" he demanded, falling back into his old stride. He hunted for one of Dads beers and threw it to him. John barely caught it.
"Dad," Sams voice soothed from behind him, "What did this to you?"
"Nothing still alive," his father replied with a small grin, "It's good to see you boys." He reached out and held Sam in a big hug. Then turned to Dean and did the same. Dean felt the familiar texture of his Dad's leather jacket and inhaled his smell. It reminded him of being safe. We are safe.
He stepped away and grabbed some bacon from Bobby, chowing down on the overcooked meat. "John." Bobby said and embraced his best friend, "We need to talk." Dad said when the greetings were over. Bobby leads him into the study and Sam and Dean begin to follow before Dad says, "In private."
Dean is shocked with this rejection and his curiosity spikes.
Sam, outraged with his father as usual breaks into a rant. "We haven't seen you in 2 months and you mysteriously call requesting we hide a box, that we for some reason cannot open. You have Bobby running around doing errands for you and you don't tell us a damn thing! You keep us in the dark, giving us orders, and we follow them, albeit reluctantly." He admits to his father. He might be going a bit far but Dean does not stop him. "The least you owe us is some answers."
"You will get answers when I think you need 'em. Now leave. This isn't something you kids should be getting involved in."
"Well guess what Dad?" Sam continues, "You made us involved! Ever since Mom died. You made us hunt and kill since we were just kids. Whether you like it or not, we are involved in this hunt for the daemon so if this is going to help," He gestures to the hell house where the box is kept, "We deserve to know."
Dean looks at his fathers expression after Sam's outrage. It was true of course, they did deserve answers but he went about it the wrong way. Dean turned to his father and said, "Is this even about the Daemon." Knowing his father would have told him if it was.
John, knowing that he understands grimaces, "No son," he turns and walks into the study "It is a whole lot bigger than that." The door slams.
Dean collapses in a nearby chair and notices Jamie is still in the room. He looks at her apologetically, she shouldn't have seen that. His broken family isn't exactly a sight to behold. "It's okay," she says and hugs him, "Just remind me never to get on your fathers bad side," the three of them chuckle and go back to eating breakfast.
But his fathers words echoes through Deans mind, No son, this is a whole lot bigger than that.