Chapter 6
One week passed with, as far as Stella was concerned, intolerable slowness. Her days were filled with little more than bad daytime television; visits with Sam, Dean and Bobby; and being scanned, poked and tested by doctors. Stella was definitely stir-crazy and had tried to get out of bed several times. Only the threat of actually being secured to the bed rails had discouraged her, and she'd let everyone know that she was mightily unhappy with being confined.
"It isn't like I'm going to go run a marathon," she complained. "I just don't want to be in the hospital. I don't like hospitals."
Finally, Dr. Polanco told her she was ready to be released. "Now, where are you headed to, Stella?" he asked as he filled out the discharge papers in the little office he used at the hospital.
"My family's got a little place up in the Steamboat area," she said. "Nice and quiet; good place to rest and recover."
"No skiing," said the doctor. "No rock climbing. Nothing like that."
Dean added to the list mentally: And no hunting werewolves, vampires, rugarus, poltergeists…
"I swear, hand over my heart, Doc. Really couldn't even if I wanted to." She looked down at the brace and sling holding her arm across her chest while the collarbone healed.
"I'll make sure she behaves, Doc," said Dean. He skewered Stella with one of his that's-final-and-we-aren't-going-to-discuss-it-again looks and she raised her eyebrows, slightly offended by the tone.
Sam, who was standing behind them, glanced over at Bobby and made a face. He'd heard the bossy tone in Dean's voice, too. He leaned his head towards Bobby and whispered as quietly as he could, "I give it less than three days before she has to take Boss Man here down a peg or two." Bobby just grunted.
"How are you getting there?" Polanco continued on, not giving them a chance to start in on each other, or for Dean to ask what his brother was whispering about.
"We're taking her," said Dean. "I'm driving her in my car, and my brother will follow in hers. It's a stick, so she won't be driving that for a while either."
Stella scowled at him. In the back of her head, she'd known she couldn't drive a manual transmission with her injuries, but she still had not taken it well when Dean confirmed that she wouldn't be driving the Camaro any time soon.
"Okay, now, I want to talk to all of you about Stella's recovery time. You might be feeling better now, Miss Bodine, but you've got quite a bit of rest ahead of you. If you don't, you're going to end up back in a place like this. You're looking at about eight full weeks for your lung to recover. That means pretty much all of May and all of June. You'll need to do those breathing exercises I showed you at least twice a day to make sure your lung capacity doesn't decrease."
Stella nodded. As ornery as she'd been in the hospital she took her recovery time very seriously. It was one of the things her Daddy had taught her – you had to be in peak shape when you were hunting. She'd seen first-hand what happened to hunters who went back out too soon. They went out and if they came back at all, it was in little bloody chunks.
"The liver laceration is healing nicely. I would say in about three to four weeks it should be functioning at top form again." Polanco clicked at his computer for a second. "I'm going to send your files to Dr. Eliza VanAyles at the Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat. You'll need to do regular check-ins with her during your recovery time to monitor your progress. She'll be expecting your call when you get there."
"That's fine," said Stella.
"Now for you clavicle. That's going to take the longest. It heals fairly quickly in kids, but sometimes adults need a full four months to recover from a break like that. If the healing progresses well, end of July is reasonable, but, it could take all the way through August for the bone to fully knit. You're going to need to do some physical therapy to make sure your wrist and shoulder won't get too stiff while it heals. Dr. VanAyles will help with that."
"Absolutely." Stella nodded. She needed full mobility in her arms if she was going to continue hunting. Skipping out on this therapy wasn't an option. She mentally ran through a half-dozen exercises she knew she could do in addition to the therapy.
Polanco leaned back in his chair. "Are you trying to yes me to death, Stella? I'm not entirely convinced you're taking this recovery time seriously."
"As difficult as I've been these past few days, Doc, I really do take this recovery seriously. I just feel confined in hospitals and most of the time, when I've been in one, it's been because someone I know has died. I just don't like them."
He smiled. "Fair enough. Well, your paperwork is done. You're a free woman."
Stella reached out with her left hand and gave the doctor an awkward handshake. "Thank you for everything, Dr. Polanco. I mean it. Without you…"
"Just doing my job, Stella. Don't even mention it."
Dean shook his hand next. "No, really, Doc. If there is anything, anything I can ever do for you…"
Outside, the Impala was waiting and the Camaro was parked right behind it. They were all ready to get on the road and put Cheyenne Wells behind them. Sam and Dean put a couple bags into the back seat of the Impala while Bobby hovered around Stella.
"Thanks for staying, Bobby." Stella gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Couldn't have kept me a way, girl. You're like a daughter to me and I promised Travis I'd keep an eye on you." His voice was extra gruff like it always got when Bobby was feeling a little emotional about something.
"You promised my Daddy that and then let me hook up with this one?" She jerked her head towards Dean.
"Never said I was perfect," shrugged Bobby. Over by the Impala Dean made some wise retort that neither of them could hear. Bobby leaned in and whispered to Stella, "Your Daddy would have liked Dean, you know. He takes care of you the way Travis would have wanted."
"I know," said Stella softly. "He's the best thing that ever happened to me." Bobby opened the Impala door and helped Stella get in. She took it slowly and eased into the seat. She was more uncomfortable than she let on. Bobby shut the car door and looked in the car window.
"Okay," said Bobby. "You get going. I've got a little business to take care of back home, but I'm going to head out your way and check in on you sometime soon. Make sure these boys are taking care of you and treatin' you right. Anything happens to her, I'm going to come looking for you, boy." He gave the squirrelly eye to Dean in particular.
"Yes, Dad," snorted Dean. "I'll have her home by curfew and she'll still be a virgin."
"Too late for that," said Stella from inside the car.
It took several hours for the two-car caravan to reach Steamboat Springs. During the trip Dean went through half of the classic rock tapes he had stashed in the car. He sang along with the songs, making Stella laugh until she begged him to stop because it hurt. They stopped several times so Stella could walk around and stretch for a few minutes. As they drove further into the Rockies, there was still plenty of snow in different areas and Dean was glad it was heading into summer. If they were lucky, they'd be able to get out of the mountains in the fall before the next snow season started. He loved the Impala and trusted it with his life, but driving through the Rockies on a narrow road in a snow storm? He'd pass on that, thanks.
Route 40 brought them into Steamboat as the sun was just starting to go down behind the mountains. Stella gave Dean directions as he drove, first onto Third Street, then onto Fish Creek Falls Road. A few miles later it was Huckleberry Lane and finally a turn onto Upper Huckleberry Lane. The Bodine property was at the very end of the road: a 15 acre parcel of land covered in trees and with some really nice views of the surrounding mountains. Stella's father had arranged for a service to maintain the house and rent it out during ski season. Money from the rentals went into an account that Stella referred to as her "if I live long enough to retire" fund. She had called from Cheyenne Wells to tell the maintenance company that she'd be there for the summer. They parked the cars and Dean came around to help Stella out.
"Well, this is it," said Stella. "Welcome to Chateau Bodine."
"Nice place," said Sam appreciatively as he admired the post-and-beam home. Underneath the house were two garage doors. Above them the house had large glass windows in the front to maximize the view and it appeared that the deck wrapped all the way around.
"Let's go in," said Dean. "We can get settled and then one of us can go out and get some food and some beer."
There were stairs on the side, leading up to the deck. As they walked up, Stella said, "You can also get in through the garage, but there's a side door up here that will bring you into the mud room." The stairs took a lot out of her and she had to rest for a minute at the top. Assuring Dean she was fine, Stella unlocked the door and let them in. The first room they came into was a large utility room with benches and hooks for wet ski clothes. There was a washer and dryer there, and a large area for boots, shoes and other storage. Another door led into the main part of the house.
"Wow." Dean looked around. "I've never lived in anything this nice."
"Oh, I've never actually LIVED here. Daddy looked at it as an investment," she said. "As a source of income for a safety net and he knew that when people caught wind of this place to ski, that they'd want pretty houses to live in while they were here. I've only ever spent a couple weekends here."
Dean and Sam put down the bags they'd carried up and looked around. Stella took a seat at the kitchen island to rest. The whole house had a very open floor plan. In addition to a full bath and a cozy study, the downstairs sported a roomy but not oversized kitchen with a large peninsula island where four could eat comfortably. The kitchen opened onto an expansive living room that faced the front of the house. A small section of the living room was dedicated to a more formal dining room table, but the majority of the room held a large sofa, a couple chairs, and a large TV entertainment center. An enormous fieldstone fireplace was flanked by two walls of nearly floor to ceiling window sections, offering a view towards the ski mountain and the rest of the Yampa Valley.
"What was your Dad thinking when he build this front wall?" Dean was looking at the windows, not seeing the beautiful vista, only the number of places where a demon could easily infiltrate the house.
"Take a closer look, boys. Old Travis wasn't quite as crazy as you think." Stella watched them both inspect the windows. Each had an interior sill wide enough to hold a small vase, and in each and every one there was a small groove; a small groove that was filled with salt.
"Every window?" asked Sam.
"Every window," Stella confirmed. "It is part of the agreement with the maintenance company. Daddy said he was superstitious and that there always, always had to be full salt channels at each window in the front. The others around the house don't have them because renters need to be able to open and close them, but there's a special stash in the garage in case of emergency."
"What's upstairs?" Sam was looking at the stairway which connected to some sort of open sitting area with a balcony railing where you could look down into the living room.
Stella got up slowly and winced. "I'll show you, and then I'm going to take a nap." Dean kept a careful eye on Stella as she made her way up the stairs; he'd noticed she had started to look really tired at the end of the trip. The top of the stairs did open into a small sitting area with a love seat and chair. There was a small desk at the wall with access for a computer. The rest of the upstairs consisted of a second full bath and three bedrooms. There was a definite master that had a walk-in closet. The other two rooms were cozier. One held a queen bed and the other, two twin beds.
"Sam, I'd recommend this room." Stella gestured to the one with the queen bed. "But you can take whichever you like…"
"Sam can have that one, I'll take the twins," said Dean suddenly. Stella's head jerked back slightly and even Sam looked surprised.
"Dean? Why don't you want to sleep with…?"
"Oh." Dean shook his head and his look intensified as he interrupted Stella's question. "Oh, I do want to sleep with you, Stella. But you know me. I thrash around when I sleep. The last thing I want to do is start flailing around a hit your bad arm."
Her face softened. "Good point. Really good point."
The boys went to put their bags in their respective rooms and Stella gingerly climbed onto her bed. She didn't even bother pulling the comforter down. She shifted, trying to get comfortable, and wished she could just sleep on her side the way she liked. By the time Sam and Dean came back to check on her, Stella was fast asleep. Dean went into his room and grabbed a folded up quilt. He covered Stella with the quilt and walked quietly out of the room.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: First things first: Ooops. I always put a disclaimer on my stories and I totally forgot on this one. Bad me. No cookie. So, here is my official statement: The concept, world, and characters of "Supernatural" are not my creation; I can claim no ownership or rights to them in any way. I don't get any monetary compensation from this story, only personal enjoyment. I did, however, create the character of Stella Bodine, and she is my contribution to the Supernatural universe.
Now that that's out of the way… Thank you all for reading my story. I seem to have developed a small group of followers for this story, and I do appreciate all of you (and an extra shout-out to my two readers who have been reviewing as they go: you rock!). I hope you all continue enjoying Dean and Stella's excellent adventure.