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Chapter Five.
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Bobby's House.
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"How's your brother holding up down there?" Bobby asked, lifting his head from the ancient tome his weary eyes were immersed in.
"Huh," Sam huffed. "You know Dean. He always tries to put a brave face on it, but let's just say that Hell isn't his favourite place. Too many bad memories."
"Right," was Bobby's gruff reply.
Bobby took his words to mean that the memories upsetting Dean were those of his own sufferings in Hell, but Sam was well aware that it was the images of the torture that Dean himself had meted out that distressed him the most.
His big brother had never opened up to Bobby about that and it certainly wasn't Sam's place to say anything.
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"He just got a visit from Crowley. Seems he had to take his old meat-suit to get fixed," Sam grinned, remembering how Dean had blasted it to kingdom come.
"Yeah," Bobby replied. "I don't know who was more surprised, Crowley and Castiel or me and you."
"It also seems that Meg had the shortest reign on record and Dean thinks she must have managed to get away from Hell in one piece."
"That so," Bobby mused. "She has a bone to pick with Crowley the size of a dinosaur's femur; perhaps she could prove useful. If she's on Earth she must have come through a Devil's Gate."
"Even if she did, I don't see us getting Dean out by storming Hell on our own!" Sam observed despondently. "We have to trick Crowley into bringing Dean back to Earth. If he's here we have more of a fighting chance of freeing him but Hell is just too vast. We would never find him."
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"Well, you two idjits have your own homing devices implanted in your brains, so I doubt that finding him would be a problem, but fightin' through hordes of demons might be a tad bothersome, " Bobby observed ironically. "Of course, you still got that demon power goin' for you, boy," he continued.
"Yeah, if they all line up like good little skittles, I could take them out one at a time but I doubt that the demons would be so obliging," Sam sighed.
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Bobby studied the young man sitting across from him.
"I know it scares you son, but whether you want it or not that power is part of you. You didn't ask for it; that ass-demon Azazel forced it on you but even although it was given with evil in mind that doesn't mean that you can't use it for Good.
Sam felt his heart lift at the old trucker's words. He had always regarded his power as a curse, an abomination.
He looked into Bobby's eyes, trying to see if the words were only platitudes, but he saw the sincerity there.
"You really mean that Bobby? You don't think I'm a freak?
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"Sam, I saw you for the first time in Dean's arms when he was no more than a snippet of a kid himself. You were the sweetest little tyke I'd ever seen. So no, I don't think you're a freak, son. I admire your strength of spirit.
You boys had Heaven and Hell against you and I think you both did pretty well. Anyway, if you're a freak, your brother is too now, seeing that he's started throwin' angel balls around."
Sam stared at him in awe.
"But I trusted Ruby and I let Lucifer out."
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Bobby snorted. "You were told that killing Lilith would stop Lucifer from rising; you thought you were doin' the right thing.
Dean wanted to kill her too, he just wanted to go another route that didn't include Ruby, but at the end of the day both you boys were out to kill Lilith because that's what the angels told you to do. If Lucifer got out, it was their fault for giving you the wrong info on purpose.
Anyway I think you paid for any mistaken choices that you made.
Thank God you got that wall in your head boy, for I can't begin to imagine what you must have suffered with Lucifer and Michael in the Cage!"
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Sam's awe increased as he listened to the words. Bobby didn't blame him for what had happened!
If Sam had possessed the courage, he would have hugged Bobby there and then, but held himself back not knowing how the crusty older man would react.
"Thanks, Bobby. You don't know what it means to me to hear you say that," Sam declared sincerely, his eyes misting up.
"Boy, don't you dare go all lady parts on me now. Save that for your woobie brother when we get him out of Hell"
Sam just nodded, the lump in his throat too big to get any more words out, and he turned back to the text he was reading, Bobby's words forever imprinted in his memory.
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[Sammy! What's going on up there? I can feel your sappiness coming through strong and clear. ]
[It's nothing, Dean! Bobby and I were just going over various strategies to get you out, that's all.]
[Tell that to somebody who doesn't get to run around inside your head, Sammy! You've just had one of the biggest chick-flick moments on the planet.]
[Shut up, Dean! Just because we have this telepathic link doesn't mean that I have to share everything. It's a private conversation between me and Bobby and if you want to know what he said you can ask him when you see him. ] Sam answered more brusquely than he meant to, his emotions still scrambled by Bobby's words.
[Okay, don't get you panties in a twist, Sam.] Dean backtracked. [I didn't mean to pry. Get your big brain back to finding a way to get me out of here and I promise I won't interrupt your chick-flick moments ever again.]
[ Dean…..! ]
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"Somethin' up with Dean?" Bobby asked.
"How did you know Dean was talking to me?" Sam asked curious.
"Well when you stare off into space, it's kinda easy to understand that you're listening to something. You gotta practice talking to your brother even when you're doing something else, without giving in the eye to anyone around you."
Sam nodded at Bobby's wise words. He would be more careful.
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"Na! He's okay. He'd just like to get out of there as quickly as possible."
"Yeah, can't blame him for that!" Bobby acknowledged.
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"What do you think, Bobby. Should we call on Meg?"
"Well, no harm in trying. At most I can send her back to Hell if she rubs me up the wrong way," Bobby answered crankily.
Demons were not number one on his wish list and he had no qualms about sending Meg's ass back to Crowley, even if she had sorta' mellowed a bit since they had first met; well if it was possible for a demon to mellow at all!
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Before long a tattered figure appeared before them as Meg was pulled into the Devil's trap in Bobby's living room.
"Well, you look as if you've been dragged backward through Hell," Bobby hypothesized, as he took in Meg's wretched appearance.
"If you've brought me her to gawk, you could just have left me where I was," she bitched.
"We know what happened Meg," Sam said, as he scraped away a sliver of the demon trap to let her out. "We need your help."
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She huffed in disbelief. "I can hardly crawl and you think I can help you. You must really be grasping at straws!"
Sam lifted her off the floor and deposited her on Bobby's well-worn couch.
He looked her over.
"Nothing a little first aid won't take care of," he sentenced eventually.
"I know you'll heal by yourself in time but there's no harm in getting you more comfortable." Sam remarked, while Meg looked at him as if he had actually grown the antlers of the moose that Crowley insisted on comparing him to.
"What's with the caring and sharing?" she snarked. "You must be really desperate if you're reduced to playing nursemaid to me, Winchester!"
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"Dean's in Hell," Sam answered without more ado.
Whatever Meg was expecting him to say, it certainly wasn't that.
"Well, I can see how that would ruffle your feathers, Sammy."
"The name's Sam, not Sammy!"
"Sorry," she snapped peevishly. "I forgot that only Deano gets to call you that!"
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"Listen, Meg," Sam explained, drawing himself up to his full imposing height. "I summoned you here to see if you could help us and I'm willing to call a truce and treat you as I would any decent person, but if you prefer I can send your ass off back to Hell where I'm sure Crowley would be more than happy to see you, " Sam threatened, not having the time nor the inclination to play mind-games with a demon.
He registered the fear in her eyes at his words.
"Okay, then, big guy. Do your Florence Nightingale act and I'll give you a hand with Deano. I'm not sure exactly what I can do but what the Hell, anything is better than going back to Crowley."
Sam tilted his head in acceptance of their pact and set out to tend the worst of her wounds.
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"Just how did you get out anyway? Through a Devil's Gate?" Bobby asked from the background.
"I still had some supporters in Hell even when Crowley came back, and they gave me a hand to get to an obscure Gate they had been told about, but getting there was a bit of a battle as you can see.
Ouch, that hurt, Winchester, " she yelled as Sam cleaned out and stitched a long puffy wound down the side of her face.
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"So this Devil's Gate. If one wanted, one could use it to get back into Hell?" Sam remarked.
Meg looked at him as if he was crazy.
"You're not thinking of taking a trip down under are you, Sam? I know the lengths you'd go to save your brother but getting yourself caught by Crowley isn't gonna do Dean any good."
"I wasn't thinking of getting caught, Meg. not if I have a guide to lead me through."
"That must be the most stupid thing that has ever come out of your mouth Sam, and I bet you Winchesters have top scores for stupid. You would never make it in and out without being caught. The place is overrun with demons just in case you forgot. Anyway, there's nothing that would make me set foot back down there. I only got out by the skin of my teeth."
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Sam stopped his ministrations and fixed her with a hostile stare.
"Look, I'm not certain yet how to get Dean out, I just want to be sure that you'll give me a hand if I need it. It might not come down to going into Hell, so just calm down! I get that you don't want to go back; it's not number one on my to do list either. Deal?"
Meg nodded her head reluctantly. She was a demon, with all it entailed, but she had never come across anybody as crazy as these Winchester brothers!
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