Dean was waiting for Eddy to wake up, Sam was looking out making sure no one was coming. They had answered the questions like they should and now the police were just waiting for her to wake up. Her eyes flew open and she looked around wildly for a moment before landing on him.
"What are you doing here?" She whispered.
"We--" She winced at his normal level of voice so he lowered it, "We wanted to make sure you would be okay."
She actually rolled his eyes, "What the hell do you think?"
Dean shrugged his shoulders. "We can take you somewhere safe--"
"Me? You're the ones that the demons want." Dean had to bite his tongue to keep from snapping at her, this girl really didn't get it.
Dean leaned forward, "Listen to me; you remember too much, you shouldn't remember the things you do. If one demon catches wind that you have Ruby's memories," she shuddered and Dean did not want to know what she had thought of, "They will come back for you."
Eddy chewed on her lip, biting it until Dean was sure that she had drawn blood. He watched as her fingers twitched restlessly against the thin hospital blanket and finally they closed into fists. "You-you think that they'll find out?" It was the first time, the first, that Dean saw something akin to fear in the young woman's eyes.
He covered one of her fists with his hand, "We shouldn't take the risk."
"It'll be safe where you take me?" Eddy sounded so young, so helpless. Dean could feel tears pricking at the back of his eyes.
Dean nodded, "Yes, very safe." She nodded. "Sam get in here and help me." Sam came into the room and Dean could hear the sharp in take of breath come from Eddy, he wanted to know what was wrong but it didn't take long to figure it out.
"She loved you so much." Sam faltered in his step towards her bed, Dean felt a pang of guilt for all the ill thoughts he'd had of Ruby since he found out what she had done to his little brother. Eddy looked away embarrassed, "I'm sorry," she whispered and it sounded, to Dean, that she was blaming herself for what happen to Ruby.
Sam took a hesitant step forward, "Don't be please," he stopped next to his brother, "It's alright."
Eddy nodded and then squared her shoulders and they could see her bringing herself together. "Let's get outta here," she moved her legs over the side of the bed. She gratefully accepted their help when they moved on either side of her.
Getting out of the hospital wasn't difficult, they slipped out through the heavily populated ER and were in the Impala within minutes. Dean tore out of the parking lot but with a sharp look from Sam, Dean slowed down realizing that they wouldn't be hard press to find cops around the hospital.
"Where are you taking me?" The car had been silent for a long time, the only sound was the vague mumbling of Led Zeppelin coming from the speakers; Dean hadn't even turned the volume up above a whisper. He had wondered when it would set in that Eddy was allowing two strangers to take her to an unknown location.
"Bobby Singer he's--well he's like a Dad to us." Sam's explanation brought a smile to Dean's face. "You'll be very safe with him."
"Okay," she said quietly.
"Eddy," Dean took a breath, unbelieving that he was actually going to ask, "What about family?" Sam glared, Eddy choked on a sob, and Dean felt like an ass.
Eddy fell silent and neither brother's said anything else until she was asleep. Dean quickly called Bobby belatedly realizing it was four in the morning when his gruff voice sounded over the connection. He explained what had happen and that they had another guest for him. Bobby made a comment about not being a home for the ex-possessed, but he told them he'd be expecting them. Once Dean snapped his phone shut it finally hit him what was going to happen when they got to Bobby's.
"You up for this?" Dean really hoped that Sam just knew him too well and hadn't been snooping.
Dean shrugged, "Yeah."
"Sure?" Sam gave him a long searching look and Dean did the only thing he could think of and Sam laughed softly, "I wasn't--"
"Then how di--"
"Because you're shouting the lyrics to Ramble On." Both brother's broke into laughter but quickly sobered when Eddy shifted in her sleep.
"I'll be fine Sam, I talk to him on the phone almost every day. What's seeing him face-to-face?" Dean really didn't think it would be difficult, he didn't think of his angel when he thought of Josh, they were too different. Sam looked at him for another long moment and must have been satisfied with what he saw, or God forbid, heard. Neither said another word on the subject.
Bobby watched as the Impala made it's way up the road, Dean must have been trying real hard not to scare the woman since he was nearly inching up the old dirt drive. He looked at the walkie in his hands one more time before finally setting it down. It'd be better for both boys, or at least that was what Bobby was trying to convince himself. The car came to a stop and the boys got out, while Dean got the girl; dear God she was just a child, out of the car Sam removed a bulging bag from the other side. He chuckled, the boys must have pulled out all the stops to help her feel like she would be at home here. Dean helped eased the girl up on her feet, careful of the casted foot, and damn it Dean could have mentioned that she was in bad shape. He arranged her arm gently as she said something to Dean; it must have been in good humor as Dean smiled and laughed. He met them in the front room, and had them bring her into the living room. Sam put the bag down and helped his brother ease her onto the couch.
"Bobby this is Eddy Davis, Eddy Bobby." Dean made quick introductions, he noticed that his eyes scanned the room carefully.
"Hi Eddy," he stepped up to take her hand in his and saw how her eyes darted nervously around the room before settling on him. He wondered what would make her choose this option amongst all the other options she may have had. A sad thought occurred to him that maybe Eddy didn't have any place to go; she was so darn young.
"Thank you Mr. Singer for allowing me into your home," her voice was clear and polite.
"Bobby," he wasn't going through the 'Mr. Singer' crap again. She smiled slightly.
"Hey Bobby," the one time Josh didn't stay in the yard until he was threaten with bodily harm, great. His heavy boots kicked against the bottom step, "I don't think we'll need to replace the roof abo--" Josh stopped short when he came into the room and caught sight of the group. "Um," he looked at Bobby and the older man should have told him that they were coming.
Bobby hadn't been sure what sort of reception he was expecting but Dean broke what could have become quite the awkward situation. "Eddy," Dean spoke with none of the emotions that Bobby had been expecting, though he wasn't sure what he'd been expecting. He'd really never given thought to what would happen when Dean and Josh came face-to-face again. "This is Josh, another guest here."
"Hello," Josh gave a polite nod to the girl but Bobby saw something in his eyes before it was gone.
"Hi," Eddy was just as polite as she had been with Bobby.
Dean clapped his hands, "Alright," he startled the now three residents of Singer Salvage Yard, "Better be grub." Both boys looked dead on their feet and Bobby had half a mind to pull them to some beds by their ears and make them get some rest.
"Actually," Sam suppressed a yawn, "I'm going to get some rest."
"Maybe you should too Dean." He wasn't too old to drag the boy upstairs.
"I will, just feed me first." Dean waved off the concern and headed to the kitchen.
Bobby sighed, "You gonna--" He turned to Eddy but she was fast asleep sitting up on the couch.
"I'll take her to a room," Josh stepped forward quickly and he was pretty sure the Kid just wanted to get away. Yeah, sometimes Bobby Singer was an idiot.
Bobby followed Dean to the kitchen and found the young man rooting through the refrigerator. "Damn Bobby when did you get all this food?" Dean pulled out a roast they had prepared the day before, along with some pasta dish Josh had whipped up two nights ago.
"Josh gets it," Bobby sat at the table and watched as Dean began eating the cold noddles while waiting on the meat to heat up. "Though the Kid doesn't eat much." Bobby knew it was a low blow, mentioning Josh's neglect of his health to Dean, but he knew that the boy would talk to the older man. And Josh might actually listen.
"Whda m'an?" Dean asked around a mouth full of food.
No turning back now Singer, "He forgets a lot. Spends too much time out in the yard." Dean nodded and Bobby thought that it was going to be the end of it.
"I'll talk to him." Dean said, his eyes wandering to the door, "You didn't tell him we were coming."
"Like I said, he spends a lot of time in the yard, didn't think he'd be back all day." Bobby busied himself with cutting some meat off for Dean.
Dean snorted, "You were just gonna let him work until we left?"
"Kid's doing good Dean, he doesn't need no complications." Bobby gave the younger man a good glare.
Dean looked crestfallen for a moment, "I'm a complication?" Bobby felt bad, Josh had never said anything of the sort and it wasn't fair to imply to Dean that he was.
"No," Bobby said quickly, "You're not." Bobby went through the automatic motions of making coffee, because he knew that if Josh did decide to come down and talk with Dean he'd want the brew. Kid was addicted to it.
"How are the other hunters doing?" Dean asked as a change of subject.
"Good," Bobby sat down across from Dean. "They call in every few days, give me an update, but for the most part I'm just letting them do it at their own pace. Their closing more than you two." He wasn't expecting Dean to go ridged and suddenly be on the defensive.
"We've got a job to do. If those other hunters want to ignore those in need than they can, but we're going to help all those that need us." Dean shoved away from the table, plate only half finished, and stormed from the kitchen. Bobby sighed, Sam could have mentioned that it was a sore subject before enlisting the older man's help.
Josh got the young lady upstairs and in the bedroom closest to Bobby's, Eddy was going to need attention for some time. He wondered how Bobby planned on taking care of her but he was sure that the older man knew a doctor turned hunter or someone of the equivalent.
Something was bothering him about her, the moment he had laid eyes on her his skin had prickled and all his nerves felt like they had caught fire. He'd felt anger torwards the girl, hate. It scared him. What scared him more was that when she had looked at him he could see those emotions reflected. He left her room quickly and debated on whether or not he wanted to go back down stairs.
He couldn't believe that Bobby had not told him the brothers would be coming, he would have- would have... To be honest Josh wasn't sure what he would have done, but he was pretty sure it wouldn't have been to walk into the living room looking like a fish, gaping at Dean. At least he'd felt like that was what he had done. He leaned against the wall and took a deep breath, he was acting like an idiot. Josh decided to just disappear into the yard for a few more hours and hopefully the brothers wouldn't stay long.
Rarely Josh was immobile, if he was compensating for his lackluster performance in the field or that he felt compelled to show his appreciation for all that Bobby had done; he wasn't sure. But it felt strange to just sit on the edge of the yard and watch the woods. He should be using this time to fill the orders that seemed to never end, or patch the roof, paint the trim, mow the lawn; he had a hundred things he could be doing.
"Hey," Dean dropped down next to him, "Sorry for the surprise."
"What happen?" Josh was sure it had something to do with why Dean had suddenly gotten off the phone the night before.
"When I was on the phone with you I saw a girl stumbling toward me, I thought she'd had a few too many, but then she went down hard and I had to make sure she was okay. It was Ruby," Josh didn't let it show but that flare of hate came back when Dean said the demon's name; a familiar feeling now that he thought about it. The way Castiel felt when he thought of or was around demons. "She died and left behind Eddy. Somethings different about her though--"
"She still has demon in her," Josh was aware that it was said with a bit more disgust than it should have been.
"How do you know?" It was apparent that Dean was aware of this and now Josh had to explain how he was aware of it.
"I could feel it in her," try as he might Josh could not keep the anger out of his voice and a little bit of hate leaked through too.
"Is it gonna be a problem?" Dean was looking at him, but Josh was making an effort to keep his eyes away from the hunter.
"Of course not," Josh scoffed, "She's only a child," and to Josh that was enough.
"Okay," Dean said easily. They fell to silence for sometime before Dean spoke up again, "You were going to say something last night before I hung up."
Josh tensed, "It was nothing." Dean snorted, "I-I-" He did not wish to have this conversation in person. "I think Castiel did something to me.. I think he changed me." Bobby had been trying to get him to say it for days now, ever since the hunt. "I see things, smell things, even feel things that I did not before. I feel connected to you Dean, I feel protective of you. It was why I needed to talk to you in the first place, I had to know you were okay each day."
"Oh," he knew that Dean had become very uncomfortable.
Josh laughed, "Don't worry it's nothing.. ah, sexual." He leaned back on his hands, relaxed for the first time in what felt like months, even though technically months ago he was still the vessel for an angel of the Lord. "More brotherly than anything else. You know Castiel was very careful to remove most memories of your time together."
"Most?" Dean practically squeaked.
Josh thought a moment, "He left me with the feelings that he felt for you. Love, protection, but not the ones that would cause potential problems." Josh had never thought it would be so easy to talk to Dean about these things. "Like lust and want. Which I am very thankful for."
"Yeah same here," Dean said quickly.
Josh got to the heart of why he would even bring up such a potentially damaging conversation. "I want to ask you your opinion of something.. I want to contact another vessel, Azrael's to be exact or even Helez's would work, I just have to know if this is something that Castiel did or if it is all vessel's."
"I could ask Michael."
"No," Josh said quickly, "I don't want Castiel to get in trouble if he did this."
"I don't think C-as would get in trouble," Dean's voice broke on the angel's name but the men ignored it. "I think Mike knows that he's being punished enough." Josh looked at the younger man a moment before pulling him into a hug, Dean struggled a moment but then accepted it.
"One day you'll be with him," Josh whispered, "and he'll be waiting arms open for you."
Dean gently pulled away and Josh let him go, "Don't get all chick-flick on me now." He wiped discreetly at his eyes. "You think angel's have arms?"
Josh laughed, "I'm sure they have something of the equivalent." Josh stood and held out a hand for Dean. "You should be getting rest Dean not out here talking to me."
"Hey," Dean nudged his shoulder, "I like talking to you. If you're going to be worrying about my well being then you better start taking better care of yourself too."
"Bobby talked to you?" Josh's eyes narrowed, "I'm taking care of myself."
"Just remember to eat, please." They walked in silence for some time. "He said he'd carry me to heaven himself."
"Then," Josh said softly, "I suppose that is what he'll do." The companionable silence continued all the way to the house.
Oh Boy, this was a tough cookie of a chapter to write. I was really nervous about Dean and Josh being physically in the same scene. I'ma scared that I'll end up giving a UST feel to it. But I think (fingers crossed) that I did not do that.
No fear my doves! The next chapter will bring us to... dundundun! Heaven! At least that is what is supposed to happen and if so then another chapter should be up soon. I wrote the whole meeting-back-up-with-Cas-in-Heaven chapter weeks ago. :) So until next time..