Chapter 3

Beep … Beep … Beep … Beep …

The monitor attached to Stella kept a steady rhythm and as annoying as Dean found the noise, it was proof that Stella was alive, that her heart was still beating. Sitting in the chair next to her bed, Dean rubbed his eyes; they were bloodshot and underscored with dark circles. He was exhausted and drained, but he didn't want to sleep, he wanted to stay awake and keep an eye on Stella. But his efforts were fruitless; slowly his head slumped forward and his eyes closed.

Sam, who had stepped out for a minute, could tell is brother was asleep when he came back in the room. Dean would have a sore neck if he slept like that for long, but Sam couldn't bring himself to wake him up, at least not yet. Even a few minutes of sleep would do Dean some good. About 20 minutes later, Sam's phone buzzed. He'd turned it to vibrate so it would be less intrusive in the hospital, but it still sounded loud in the quiet room. He crept out, trying not to wake Dean. He managed to get out, but Dean heard the voices in the hall when Sam came back. He was awake, and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, when Sam followed Bobby Singer in.

"Bobby? How did you get here so fast?" Dean asked. Bobby ignored him and headed to Stella's bed; behind him Sam shook his head in a 'don't ask' motion.

"Oh, honey." Bobby gently touched the top of Stella's head and brushed her hair to the side. It was easy to see the bruise where she'd struck her head now; it was a lovely shade of muddy purple and about as big as a fist. He turned away from the bed and glared at the Winchesters.

"What the hell happened?" He kept his voice low, but there was bite in the question. Sam and Dean quickly filled him in on the lead they'd uncovered about the shape-shifters. Bobby was as surprised as they had been about the concentrated number, but that was a conversation for a different day. They told him about the house and both boys talked about what had happened when they confronted the creatures.

"I saw it stab her." Dean ran a hand over his face, trying to stay in control of his emotions, but the pain in his voice was vivid, palpable.

"When I came into the room, Stella was down," said Sam. "And Dean was on the ground with the shape-shifter. As soon as we killed it, we brought Stella here…"

Talked out, the three men sat in silence. Sam watched Stella for a moment but then his gaze went to the wall and somewhere beyond that. He started to smile. Dean scowled when he saw it; there was nothing worth smiling about right now.

"What are you smilin' at?"

"Chill out, Dean. I was thinking about the very first time I ever saw Stella. You were chasing some vampire or werewolf in Nebraska and I headed up to South Dakota to see Bobby… You remember that, Bobby?"

Bobby scratched his beard and adjusted his ratty ball cap slightly. "Yea, I remember. You'd been there for about a day and a half. Dean was on his way back…"

Sam nodded and continued the story, "And then there was a knock at the door. You had your hands full, so I answered…"

The woman standing outside had expected Bobby and looked at Sam appraisingly, unsure of whom he might be. Sam tried to not stare but it was hard. Dressed in dusty jeans, her fitted white t-shirt showed off her curves in a very flattering way. She wore a black leather belt with silver studs in it and had a leather jacket slung over her shoulder. Her hair was long and dark brown, but Sam couldn't see her eyes behind the sunglasses.

"Hey," she said, pushing the sunglasses up onto her head. Her eyes were brown.

"Hi."Sam's greeting was as cautious as hers was.

"Bobby around?"

Sam didn't have time to answer before Bobby came in from the other room and saw who was at the door. "Stella! C'mon in. This is Sam Winchester. Sam, meet Stella Bodine."

At the mention of Sam's last name, Stella tilted her head. She gave him another appraising look as she came into the house. "Winchester? Related to John Winchester?"

"He was my father," answered Sam. "Did you know him?"

"Just by reputation. He did good work." She couldn't help but check out Sam's backside as he walked past her. The jeans fit him well, she had to admit that. She managed to look up before Sam turned around.

"You're a hunter," he said.

She nodded. "My daddy and Bobby go back a ways," she said. "At least they did before he died. Vampire. He managed to kill the evil sonofabitch, but … Bled to death before me and Bobby could get him to a doctor. "

"I'm sorry," said Sam.

Stella shrugged ever so slightly. "Thanks, but it comes with the job, you know? So, Bobby, how's my baby doing? She all fixed up? You know I prefer to do it myself, but there are a few things you ought to just leave to the master. I knew you'd have the parts stashed around her somewhere."

Bobby chuckled. "I finished with your car yesterday. And I found an AC/DC CD wedged under a seat."

Sam started to smile. AC/DC? She called her car "baby?" Preferred doing car repairs herself? He couldn't resist the question. "What kind of car do you drive, Stella?"

Her smile widened. "A '69 Chevy Camaro Rally Sport SS," she said proudly. Bobby tossed her the keys and she caught them without turning to look at him. "You're the best, Bobby."

"Can you stay?" he asked her.

"No, got a job to take care of. I'll call you and I promise that when I'm through this way again, we'll have dinner." She gave Bobby a hug. "Sam, was nice meeting you. Maybe we'll cross paths again."

"That'd be great." Sam gave her a small wave. Bobby handed Sam a beer and headed for the door, too. Leaning on the porch rail they started to talk about some of the research they'd been working on. A moment later a dark navy Camaro with a silver racing stripe drove by the house. AC/DC's "Back in Black" blared out the window and Stella waved as she disappeared in a cloud of dust…

"I knew right then and there that I'd found the perfect woman for Dean," said Sam. There was a moment of collective chuckles, humor at the pleasant memory, but it was cut short by a sound that made Dean feel like he'd been punched so hard he was going to throw up. The rhythmic beep-beep-beep of the heart monitor turned into a long, drawn-out whine…

Beeeeeeeeeppppp…

Stella's heart had stopped.

Thank you for reading my story so far – I'd love to hear from you about what you like or think needs improvement if you are so inclined… I'm going to try to build a little back story on Stella and Dean throughout Starlight through some flashbacks. I should be able to get the next few chapters up fairly quickly but then I get into areas where I only have outlined notes…