"Looks like you have a job, boys," Bobby said as he plopped a newspaper in front of them at breakfast and Sam and Dean stared at it for a moment before nodding. They began to pack up as Tommy and Kimberly just stared at the newspaper headline. What were they seeing? Why was that newspaper enough to get them moving? "Take him along. We should see what he's actually able to do."
"Nope. I go with him," Kim stated as Tommy just shook his head and he looked over at Bobby to make sure that he would keep her here and keep her safe. She was on the fence about fighting anything other than Lipretere and he knew that that could get her killed. He was not going to have anymore of her blood on his hands. "Tommy! If Lipretere shows up?"
"You're a strong, independent woman that doesn't need no man," Dean mocked as she glared over at him and he laughed. He was sure that one day she was going to knock his ass out, but until then he was going to continue ribbing her as much as possible. He liked the fiery look she got in her eyes any time he pushed her. "You flip flop more than a gymnast."
"I was a gymnast- I earned my right to flip flop," Kim retorted as he laughed at her and she just shook her head. She liked Dean. She liked his ability to just roll with the punches and still have a sense of humor about the shit hand they'd been dealt. What she didn't like was when he took Tommy's side. "Why are you keeping me out?"
"Because you're a liability. We know where he's at. Until we know where you're at- you're here," Dean stated as he walked over to her and she just glared at him. He smirked as she kept eye contact and she felt herself get even angrier at him. "Last girl that looked at me that way had just asked my safe word."
"Dean," Sam groaned as Tommy just continued gathering his few things and he walked over to stand next to Dean. He got the impression that Dean would flirt with anything that moved and he hadn't felt a bit of discomfort from Kimberly towards him. If he ever felt that, Dean would not flirt with her ever again. Then again, he bet that if Kimberly asked him to stop, he'd stop too.
"Give it a chance. If Lipretere comes after you here, you can kick my ass afterwards," Tommy said as she glared at him and he gave her a halfhearted smile. He was used to her hating him, but this was different. He could feel the worry right under the surface that she was not willing to acknowlege. "Just give it a try. Give being out of the fight a try for a bit. We both know it's what you want more than anything else."
"We need to get going- it's a 12 hour drive," Dean said as she glanced at Tommy again, but didn't say anything. The boys stormed out of the house and she looked back at Bobby.
"We're not staying here, are we?" Kim asked as Bobby shook his head and she gulped. She felt comfortable with Sam and Dean, but she was not as sure about Bobby. She was not sure about anyone but the three men that had just walked out the door. "Where are we going?"
"Sioux Falls, unless we find another case. For the most part I am the resident 'supervisor' of all these idjits and I'm not nearly as useful when I've got only what is in my noggin' for information. Extracting the two of you was a special circumstance," Bobby said as she just stared at him, for the first time looking as frightened as he expected someone dropped in a new world to look. Apparently without Tommy around, she was not nearly as confident as she was with him. "He'll be safe with the boys."
"He's never…he's never left me before," Kim whispered as Bobby looked over at her. It didn't shock him that Tommy stayed with her when they world hopped, what shocked him was that she was concerned about him. She was concerned about what this meant in the grand scheme of things. "Not you too."
"He's right though. Unless you don't want him out of your life forever," Bobby said as she let out a long sigh. As much as she hated Tommy, she couldn't imagine her life without him. "And I thought the boys had messed up love lives. C'mon. We're burning daylight and they're likely to need us. It's better when we've got everything available."
"Fine, but it doesn't mean I like it," Kim grumbled as she grabbed her things and followed behind him as he headed out to his old van. "Creepy guy in a van- great."
"Creepy guy with a rolling armory in a van. Get it right," Bobby said as he tossed her a gun and she caught it. She steeled herself for the hours she'd be in a car with this unfamiliar man. "I'm safe, Kim. If there's one thing you can trust about that man- he won't purposefully put you in harm's way."
Tommy sat in the backseat of the impala and read through the journal Sam had tossed him a couple of hours ago. They'd finally gotten around to a little bit of his actual background and when they heard that he had a PhD, Sam had just given him the book while Dean joked that research must be second nature to him by now. He'd like to pretend that it was a bad stereotype, but they were right. He was always looking for good, concise research on a topic and this journal was it.
"Do you have any idea what we're walking into?" Tommy asked as Sam and Dean shook their heads. "And you saw those missing persons in the paper and were like 'this is our thing'?"
"It's either our thing or it's a serial killer. Sadly, we're best qualified to find both. Although the FBI would argue with us about that," Dean said as Tommy nodded and continued to thumb through the journal. "So- how did you go from kicking ass and taking names to a research scientist?"
"My research science is pretty strictly Power Ranger related. I've done extensive genome typing and research from dinosaur DNA. I also tend to find new powers when I'm on digs," Tommy said as he stared up at the ceiling. Everything in him was screaming to go back to Kimberly, but he agreed with them that they had to figure out what angle Lipretere was playing here. "This doesn't feel like the right thing to do."
"I know, but if Lipretere is coming after you and wants to use her- this makes him choose," Sam said as Tommy nodded. He agreed that this would make him choose, but the monster had never chosen him. The monster had always gone after Kimberly first. Lipretere had done that in their world- why would it be different here?
"And this is a real case. If you're stuck here- you're right. You've got skills that none of us have. Get some sleep- you're no good to us if you're going on day 4 with minimal to no sleep," Dean grunted as Tommy just shook his head before he stretched out in the back of the impala and quickly dropped off. Dean and Sam exchanged a glance before Sam checked that Tommy was truly asleep. "Do you think he's Ash levels of smart?"
"I mean- he went to M.I.T. too- so yeah. He's smart. A hell of a lot smarter than he's letting on. What ya thinking?" Sam asked while Dean changed the channel, trying to find a classic rock station. "Dean…"
"Ash made something to listen in to angel radio…maybe we get him to work on something like that. It would be one hell of a trade for keeping them away from the feds," Dean said as Sam looked back at Tommy again and then nodded. "Plus- he seems like he'd like that geeky shit."
"Just drive. He's not the only one who hasn't slept much over the last week."
"A junkyard?" Kim asked as Bobby nodded as he opened the front door and Kim followed him inside. She looked around the rundown house and could see that it had good bones, but years of hunting must have led him to this. He hadn't talked much on the way back here, but he had given her a handful of details of what hunting really involved. She had gone from mildly concerned for Tommy to absolutely terrified. He was good, but he had rarely killed things that were close to human in the past.
"There's a couple bedrooms upstairs and a shower. The one at the far end of the hall is mine- take your pick of which one you want," Bobby said as he watched her trying to contain the panic that was setting in. She had been so sure that Lipretere would come straight for them, but that hadn't happened. When he had last checked in with the boys- they had been about an hour out from the case and had seen nothing when it came to Lipretere either. "You need rest."
"I'll take a couple shots of whiskey if you're insisting I sleep," Kim said as Bobby motioned for her to pick a bottle and she did before she quickly took a few gulps. "The nightmares are going to come tonight- it's best that you don't try to wake me up."
"I'm not scared of a nightmare," Bobby said as Kim shook his head and Bobby paused. If she was warning him about her nightmares, they must be much worse than he imagined. "What happens?"
"Normally, Tommy dies and when I come up, I come up swinging- with my powers. I don't want to hurt you and normally when this happens Tommy is here to diffuse it. Tommy…he takes the…he knows what to do. I'll kill you if you try to get me out of it- so when I scream- just ignore me and keep yourself safe," Kim instructed as she took another gulp and then looked at the stairs. Bobby watched as she stumbled up the stairs, but kept one foot in front of the other and he heard her make it to one of the rooms. He wasn't sure that he believed her, but he wasn't going to chance it either.
The phone rang and Bobby snapped his head towards it. The boys were still too far out to call for a check in, but there were plenty of other hunters that could be calling him to run back up. He started to answer the phone and he heard Kim let out a scream. She hadn't been joking when she said that her dreams were going to rock her tonight. Bobby ignored the call and raced up the stairs to make sure nothing else was wrong. He peaked in and stared at the scene in front of him.
She was floating off the bed- screaming for Tommy at the top of her lungs. Tears were streaming down her face and he dropped to the floor as a bolt shot out of her body and he slammed the door closed. He had never seen anything like it and he regretted not putting her in the bunker. He was pretty sure that this was sending up a giant sign to come bother him- now.
"Hey Bobby- why are you…" Dean trailed off as Bobby held up his phone as Kim continued to scream. He had tried a handful of things, but all of it had just made things worse. "Holy shit- what's going on?"
"Give it here," Tommy said as Dean passed him the phone and he let out a sigh. "When did the nightmare start?"
"It's been 30 minutes. She told me not to try to wake her," Bobby said as Tommy stared ahead of him and took in a deep breath as he heard her continue to scream. He had thought that they might be past this, but apparently all it had taken was him being away from her.
"I hope you've got a full battery- put me on speaker and put the phone in her room," Tommy said as Bobby let out a huff. "It's your best chance if you want this to stop, I've never pulled her out of a nightmare this deep in when I wasn't there."
"What happens in the nightmares?" Sam asked as Tommy took a deep breath.
"I die. I die over and over again," Tommy whispered as he heard the screams get louder and he let out a long sigh. This might be impossible for him to help her, but he had to try. "Kimberly…I'm here, I'll keep you safe. I love you."
AN: If you're new to all things Supernatural (mostly looking at the Power Ranger fans reading through this)- there's a lot of classic rock in the tv show. Feel free to look up the songs that are the title of each and every chapter of this story.