Not A Winchester

Onyx's Note:: I hope everyone's been enjoying Tora's journey so far... In this chapter, Tora and Dean get themselves into a very...interesting situation. And on that note, Enjoy!!

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South Dakota

I don’t really remember how I’d managed to drive that long distance to Bobby’s…honestly, I can’t remember the time in between. I know I’d called him…and told him what I found…and that I’d finally filled the boys in on the truth. He was actually stunned. Because for all these years I’d kept this secret inside of me, as if it was something only John and I shared…keeping me closer to him somehow. But when I learned of his death…I began falling a part. I never told Adam and Kate that he’d died…I couldn’t.

I told Bobby the boys were behind me as we drove back to South Dakota. Bobby was more than fine with that…in fact I knew he was very worried about me, because I seemed to had lost my signature sarcasm. He just told me to be safe and that he’d wait up all night if he had to, just to make sure we got there in one piece.

I must’ve been on auto-pilot because the only thing I can recall after that conversation, is the sign above my head that read, ‘Singer Salvage Yard’ as I pulled my ghost like beast onto his property and found a decent place to park.

I got out, gathered my essentials, locked her up and just…stood there, my eyes unseeing, my body rigid as the Winchesters rolled up along the right side of my car, coming to a stop. I didn’t really so much hear as feel them pour out of their vehicle and make their way toward me.

I wasn’t all there…then again, a very large part of who I was had died on the last cinder of my baby brother that faded into the darkness.

I blinked away the dry that invaded my eyes, but it didn’t help. I could tell that when I finally had time alone, in a room as black as pitch…by the next morning my eye lids would be swollen over from crying away the very last part of my pain…and when those tears would dry, my soul would harden and I would seek my revenge by killing as many black-eyed sonsabitches as I possibly could.

Bobby’s voice was the only thing I could distinguish in the white noise that filled my head. I blinked away the blur before me and focused on the wise face of a Hunter I had known to be family the day I became a Hunter myself. I couldn’t move the muscles in my face to convey the utter relief I felt when I saw the look in his intelligent, caring eyes.

“Bobby.” Just his name escaped me with a voice that sounded so very far away. It was hoarse and broken…as though I’d spent the better part of the evening screaming until I’d sustained permanent damage in my vocal chords.

He didn’t wait to reach out an arm and pulled me against him in a protective embrace. His right hand cradled the back of my head as I buried myself against his warmth, overjoyed at the feeling of safe familiarity. “It’s gonna be alright girl,” Bobby rumbled out and gave me a squeeze as if to reaffirm his statement, “you’ll see…it’s gonna be alright.”

I nodded against him and straightened when he finally let up, both hands gripping my shoulders as he looked into my eyes. “We’ll see.” Is the soft whimper of sound that danced away from my puffy lips, my eyes beginning to sting from the need to unleash the emotions in warm, wet streams. I fought the need, shoved it back in its cage and buried it into my inner depths with a swift kick of my proverbial foot.

Bobby’s face filled with a sad sort of understanding when he nodded, released his grip on my shoulders and looked past me to the Winchesters, who had stood silent in the background. “Boys.” Bobby said in an acknowledgement and motioned with a nod of his head, for everyone to follow him toward the house.

I walked without words, without focus…my legs moving on their own accord as I remained trapped within the fog that invaded my mind. I had followed the old Hunter up the small path, up the small flight of stairs, along the old creaking boards of the deck of his front porch and finally into the dry warmth of his sanctuary. I sensed the boys behind me, leaving a body of space between me and them as they followed my lead into the house. I ignored the itch of someone’s gaze burning into the back of my head, I don’t know if it was one or both of the brothers, I honestly could care less at the time and made my leave into the bathroom down the hall.

Once I flipped the old light switch I brought my weary gaze to the mirror before me and saw a stranger standing on the other side. A reflection that told me I was no longer myself…but a shell of a person who’s gaze appeared ancient…and so terribly hollow.

I ran the faucet and splashed a handful of cold water over the heated flesh of my face. It was cool and calming as droplets skimmed along the bridge of my nose, the dip above my upper lip, the curves of my cheekbones, along my jaw line and finally down my throat. I blinked and made no move to wipe away the cool streams of water that dashed down my neck only to pool around the small quarter-sized, Silver Eye of Horus medallion at the small hollow at the base of my throat where it met my collarbone. Looking at my image in the mirror…I saw a war victim. Dark bruise like coloration had manifested just beneath my gaze, indicating the lack of sleep and the toll it took on me. I knew it was an exhaustion of a different sort… The kind where you’ve suddenly drained yourself of all reserves just to keep your sanity from completely ripping itself apart.

I don’t know how long I’d zoned out for…the ambient noise of the running water and old, overhead fan playing a distracting chorus in my broken thoughts when a firm knock sounded twice against the frame of the door, bringing me back. It’s then I noticed most of the moisture that had been dripping down my face had dried. “Yeah?” I called out in a voice that sounded nothing like my own…another realization of how broken I really was inside.

“It’s just me,” Bobby replied through the door, “just wonderin’ if you fell in.”

I wanted to chuckle but the muscles in my throat along with the muscles in my face that gave me expression lacked any kind of response, so I was left peering at an emotionless stranger in the mirror before me. “Just spaced out. I’ll be right out.” I replied and finally shut the water off, unlocked the door, shut off the light and fan and remerged into the hallway.

Bobby eyed me real careful like…and I knew what he was thinking…I could feel it. He was real worried that I was about to break and he wasn’t wrong. I just, had to shut down inside…just so I could function.

“Tora, you ain’t lookin’ too good. Why don’t you come into the kitchen and I’ll fix us some coffee.” Bobby offered and studied my lack of expression very closely.

I forced my lips to curve into a faint smile, it was broken, but the attempt was visible, “Coffee always sounds good Bobby.” I replied but my voice came out weak and hoarse.

Bobby’s brow furrowed. “You know what? How ‘bout I have coffee and you have some whiskey. I think you need it.” He stated and I just nodded, unable to do much of anything else.

I followed him into the small kitchen and saw Sam and Dean sitting across from each other at the table. As I entered the room, Sam’s eyes were immediately locked on mine when Dean turned around, just for a moment and when I gave him my eyes, my emotions no longer guarded…his jaws clenched at the intensity my gaze held and turned back to his brother.

I kept silent and stood next to Bobby as he pulled out one of his best bottles of Whiskey, went to get a shot glass, thought better of it and just handed me the bottle. “You never could drink a shot.” Bobby mused at an attempt to lighten the tense air as I took the bottle, unscrewed the top and proceeded to throw my head back, gulping down at least four rather large mouthfuls.

Next thing I knew, Bobby’s voice caused me to stop, “Sweet Jesus, Tora Morgan! Easy!” He exclaimed and snatched the bottle away from me as soon as I swallowed the poison down my throat. I blinked confused eyes at him and he let out a sigh, regaining his calm demeanor. “What you tryin’ to do? Kill yourself?”

“No…” I replied softly, licked my lips and averted my gaze to the floor, finding my worn hiking boots fascinating. “I’m sorry Bobby.”

“God Tora…” He exclaimed in a softer voice, set the bottle back down on the counter and placed his hands on my upper arms, getting me to look up into his eyes. “In all these years I have never known you to be so…” Bobby trailed off, apparently at a loss as to what to say to me.

“Pathetic?” I chimed with a half hearted smile and watched him frown.

“That’s Not the word I was lookin’ for…” He said in a tone that told me he didn’t like seein’ me so broken.

I swallowed the hard lump from the back of my throat and said, “I know Bobby… I’m just…not okay.” Hearing myself say it, I could feel the realization cause my eyes to widen. I let out a strangled laugh that didn’t sound all too healthy, especially from the worried look Bobby was giving me and chimed, “I’m not okay.”

And that’s when it hit me.

Not as a sting in my eyes or a mere trickle that escaped down my cheek… It was a full on assault of the very waterworks I’d been fighting to stop from happening and before I could stop myself, I was sobbing and growling in desperation to stop…but it was no use. I was utterly consumed by the unbearable desolation that flooded through me, which caused my knees to buckle and I began to fall toward the floor when a pair of arms, not Bobby’s, took hold of my form.

“Let me go…” I growled pathetically, struggling in a failed attempt to be left alone when those same arms turned me around and I looked up, meeting blue/green eyes. It was Sam…and just to his immediate right, close enough to touch me, was Dean. “Just let me go and don’t fuckin’ look at me.” I growled again, a little more conviction in my words and looked down, unable to let myself be seen by Bobby, or the Winchesters in such a disgusting…vulnerable state.

“No one here is going to think any less of you if you let it out.” I heard Sam say but I couldn’t do it… I wouldn’t let myself look weak in front of John’s boys.

The very thought of John caused my knees to completely give and not only Sam caught me, but I felt a second set of hands on my lower back, steadying me as though I were a piece of porcelain…afraid that at any moment I would shatter. I knew by the warmth of those hands, it was Bobby.

Clenching my jaws in a tight line, I fought desperately to regain control of myself. But the harder I fought, the worse I cried. I was at a point where my body had completely abandoned my mind’s commands and began trembling as waves of sheer despair tore through me, causing my chest to tighten with a weight I hadn’t experienced in years.

That’s when I felt it. The sorrow was replaced and completely washed over by a crushing wave of rage. I got angry, so angry my chest began to hurt. An old instinctive defense that when I felt vulnerable…it would be replaced by anger. And damn was I thankful.

With a strangled growl I stood up straight, too god-damned pig-headed to let myself become a blubbering mess and jerked myself free of their hold on me. There were no objections, Bobby knowing how I hated being touched when I was upset…I could sense him gesturing to the boys that I would be okay. I kept my tear filled gaze forward and, slowly, carefully, I walked out of the kitchen, through the living room and made it out onto the front porch.

Standing there, hands clenched into tight fists, the feeling of my short nails biting red moons into the soft flesh of my palms, I felt my legs trying to give out on me and every time I weaved on my feet, I used both hands and slammed them rather painfully into my thighs. The more it hurt, the sharp pain immediate, the better they reacted. Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body… I knew I was going to be littered with bruises the next morning, but I didn’t care. I was pissed, I needed it, needed the abuse I inflicted on myself, it kept me alert…and kept me from fallin’ a part.

I could feel the whiskey already swimming through my veins, which meant whatever slow ache I was feeling, was dulled down quite a bit due to the large amount of high octane running through my system.

In my silence I could hear the conversation from inside leaking out into the air around me.

“Boys just… Let her be. She needs her space right now.” I heard Bobby say in a tired voice.

“We can’t just leave her alone Bobby,” Sam exclaimed, “what if she does something to hurt herself…”

“Unlike you two, That girl out there’s got her head on straight!” Bobby shot back, completely cutting Sam off. “You got any idea what she’s goin’ through right now?” I could hear him huff as he paused, “she just came home to find her baby brother dead.”

“Why didn’t you warn us Bobby?” It was Dean who asked the obvious question, “huh? You knew about Tora, you knew she’d be there.”

I knew Bobby didn’t want to answer that question…but he did. “Tora never told me she knew your Daddy the way she did. You think I would’ve kept somethin’ like that from you?” Bobby’s voice was strained…and I could tell that his emotions were gettin’ the better of him as he continued. “I’ve known that girl since she was ‘bout nine-teen and not once, did she tell me that John had himself another family…just that he’d sent her my way. Told me she heard through John that I’d be able to help her out. It wasn’t until three weeks ago that she finally called me up and did some explainin’. You got any idea the amount of Whiskey I went through that night?”

I could hear Sam scoff, “that’s great Bobby. You’ve known about Adam and didn’t think to tell us? We might’ve been able to save him, you ever think of that?”

At this point, I’d gained my motor functions back and returned to the kitchen without anyone noticing. I stood there for a moment before speaking…knowing that this night was just gonna continue spiraling into a mouth of pure madness.

“I made Bobby swear that he’d tell no one,” I said and trailed off when I felt everyone’s eyes on me. “Especially John’s boys.” I had to stop again to swallow another hard lump that had lodged itself in the back of my throat because of what I was about to tell them. “John told me not to tell you about us… About Adam or me.” I paused, my voice growing colder, “So if you’re gonna blame someone, blame me and leave Bobby outta this.”

I could feel the anger building in the brothers…but it was Dean who unleashed his fury on me first, making me the target for his aggression. “You know what lady, I don’t need your fuckin’ excuses. Our father Lied to us and as far as I’m concerned, you’re no better then him.”

Sam was angry too, but even he felt that was a low blow. “Dean, stop.” His voice had softened a bit when he tried to cool his big brother down, “come on man, don’t do this…”

But Dean wouldn’t let it go, just as Stubborn as his Father. “Don’t do what Sam?” He gave his little brother his eyes, appearing worn out and exhausted. “Dad lied to us Sammy! To Us! And you know what? There’s somethin’ else I’m startin’ to notice… You’re turnin’ out be just like him,” he lowered his voice to a very unfriendly tone as he glared up into Sam’s wounded eyes, “guess you got a lot in common with her too, huh? Keepin’ secrets, bold faced lying to me.” Dean stopped, let out a dark laugh and barked, “Am I the only one in this fucked up family that tells the truth?!”

“Alright Dean, we get it, hell I ain’t happy about any of this either.” Bobby said in a calming tone but the wild look in Dean’s eyes told us otherwise. “But you gotta cool off, right now Son, ‘fore you step over a line you don’t wanna cross.”

“Oh I’ve gone way past that point Bobby,” Dean snarled back, the wicked smile that stretched his lips giving him a feral expression of hidden rage, “I’m so far from givin’ a shit right now…nothin’ you, or anyone else has to say is gonna convince me otherwise.” He said and shot Sam a look of warning, “and don’t you dare try spillin’ your bleeding-heart-sentimental bullshit about me letting this go. As of right now, anything that comes outta yer mouth are just more lies.”

I understood the anger he was feeling, because it was beginning to boil behind my eyes too, but for different reasons, “Bobby’s right, you need to back the hell off.” I announced and felt daggers of pure loathing slash into me when his heated gaze met mine, “you gotta cool down before you say something you’re gonna regret.”

Dean let out a nasty laugh, “That’s real funny comin’ from a girl who let her family get slaughtered because she was too busy half-assin’ a job.” he said, eyes narrowed into slits, “As far as I’m concerned, it should’ve been your body burning on that pillar.”

“The fuck did you just say to me?!” I sneered, no longer able to fight the explosion of rage that broke through my control and wanted to seriously beat the ever livin’ shit outta him.

“You heard me, you lying cunt.” Dean shot back, hostility dripping from his lips like venom.

“I swear to everything holy I’m about two seconds away from slappin’ that smart ass right off your fuckin’ face!” I growled, wanting him to give me one more reason…just one more and he’d be on the floor.

Dean stepped closer to me, damn near nose to nose as he glared down into my defiant eyes. “Go ahead Bitch. Hit me, give me an excuse to pop you right in your lying mouth.” His voice was filled with razorblades of hatred, slicing through my ears until my vision began to blur over with a flood of dangerous red.

“That’s ‘bout enough outta you two!” Bobby suddenly barked, pulling Dean out of my face, making him look at him with confused eyes. “Boy I could ring your neck…”

“Oh and what, you’re a saint Bobby?” Dean shot back into the old Hunter’s face, obviously past any point of common sense.

I’d had enough. Nobody got away with talkin’ to Bobby like that. “Winchester!” I snapped, got Dean to whip toward me and just as his eyes met mine, the knuckles of my right hand cracked painfully against the left side of his face, causing him to stumble back for a moment, stunned by my powerful right hook. I watched him reassess himself, felt my knuckles swell with pain and glared a look of death his way. “Don’t you dare take that tone with him. You wanna fight somebody, fight me. You so much as look at him wrong and so help me I’ll kick yer lily white ass into next week.”

“Tora Balam Morgan you ease down right now!” Bobby ordered in a deep tone but I ignored him and stood my ground. “You listenin’ to me girl? I will not have blood shed in this House!”

“No Bobby, she’s absolutely right.” Dean chimed and wiped the miniscule line of red from the left side of his mouth and got into my face. “You wanna fight, Bitch? You’ll get a fight… I don’t hit women, but you just caught me on a very bad night.”

I glared up into his shimmering green depths and began backing up, so that we were closer to the living room and not trapped in the kitchen. “You gonna talk me to death? Or you gonna prove you can kick my ass?” I hissed, taunting him, which might’ve been stupid…seein’ as I stood at five feet and six and a half inches and weighed around one hundred and seventy-four. I was never a small girl, thick bones, strong frame, and a lot of muscle. Dean could easily over power me and I knew that at any moment, he was going to snap. But the only way I was gonna get what I wanted was to do something to royally piss him off.

Sam was to the side of Dean, his eyes fearful of what his big brother was about to do. “This isn’t the place for this!” Sam exclaimed in a controlled tone, trying in desperation to stop the inevitable.

I waited…still glaring…when Sam made the mistake of placing himself between us, facing his angry older brother. God help me, I didn’t want to hurt him…but I had no choice. I wanted a fight and I was hell bent on gettin’ one no matter who got in my way.

“Forgive me.” I said under my breath and to everyone’s surprise, especially Sam’s, I jumped up and planted the hard sole of my boot in direct contact with his ass, throwing him off balance, which caused him to double over onto a stunned Dean, sending them sprawling to the floor.

“God Damn it Tora! NO!” I heard Bobby holler somewhere behind the boys when I started toward the front door and had just gotten within a few feet of the screen when I was stopped, my legs unexpectedly swept out from under me, sending me in a heap to the hard floor.

I wheezed, my lungs convulsing painfully as they seized up from the sudden impact and rolled twice just out of Dean’s reach. Fighting to regain not only my breath, I had to reclaim the upper hand and very quickly. I didn’t want Bobby or Sam to stop us, so I gathered some lost strength I’d forgotten about and was suddenly back on my feet, ready for another attack.

“You gonna stand there and stare at me, pretty boy?” I rasped in a mocking purr and watched his jaws clench. I sidestepped until I was sure his back was facing the old screen door. I knew, the more pissed off Dean got, the sloppier his reflexes would be. Which would make it easier to subdue him…

At least I hoped it would.

This time I didn’t wait for him to make the first move. I flung myself forward and slammed every ounce of my weight against him, causing us both to fly a few feet toward the front door until we slid to a stop. He made a strangled growling sound as I tried to sit up, straddling him due to the way we landed and heard, rather then felt, the hard right cross against my face. The impact caused an array of little white dots to form in my vision as I collapsed onto my side, just next to him on the floor.

Dizzy but still pumping with adrenaline, I looked over as he began to get up and braced my upper body against the floor with my arms, brought my right leg back and sent a powerful kick into the backs of his knees, causing him to once again fly forward, this time slamming into the screen door, forcing it open with his body and landed with a hard thud against the deck of the front porch.

“How does that feel, asshole!” I snarled between coughs. I remember hearing yelling behind me, but I was already too far gone to care as I got back onto my feet and followed Dean’s struggling form outside. The Whiskey in my system only fueled the fire raging inside me…and I wanted a knock-down, drag-out fight. I didn’t want to cry…I wanted to feel pain. And Dean was just the man to give it to me.

“Get up you worthless sonuvabitch.” I snarled as he pulled himself back onto his feet, almost standing, pretending to be out of breath. “Butch up, you pussy. ‘Cuz it’s just pathetic when a man gets his ass handed to him by a woman.” I chimed, knowing he was about to launch at me…and that’s exactly what I wanted.

But it wasn’t Dean who had suddenly taken a hold of me and pushed my back against the wall of the house… It was Bobby.

“I outta beat you senseless!” Bobby growled, getting my attention, “You’re piss-drunk, exhausted and Dean just pissed you off. Well boohoo! Get over it. You think this is anyway to honor your family? Takin’ your stupidity out on Dean ain’t gonna bring them back!” His voice was a harsh sound against my ears, but I didn’t want to stop and he knew it. He could see it when I glared back at him. “Restrain yerself Tora, or I’ll do it for you.”

“No you need to put a god damned leash on her Bobby!” Dean snarled while Sam kept him from getting past him.

Bobby turned, “Shut your mouth boy!” He shouted and I just gave Dean a smug smile, knowing it would just piss him off even more. “You should know better!”

Dean’s face screwed up in angry lines at the smile I was giving him, “She’s a hair’s length away from gettin’ that smug smile smacked off of her face if you don’t do somethin’ about it!” He growled in warning causing Bobby to bring his angry eyes back to me.

“Tora, I’m a patient man…but you’re pushin’ it.” He warned in a controlled tone and I could hear Sam trying in vain to calm his brother down.

“He has no right speakin’ to you the way he did and he needs to be taught a lesson.” I snapped in a low voice of warning and watched him grit his teeth. “You know I won’t stop until I’ve seen this through.”

“Let it go.” He shot at me and I wouldn’t back down.

“No.” I growled back and could hear mumbling behind Bobby, arguing from the sounds of it. “I can’t, not this time.”

Bobby studied my gaze, his expression filled with frustrated anger. “You keep this up and I’ll just walk away…you know what? Maybe I should let him knock you senseless for your own good.”

I let him see the pain in my eyes, the utter self loathing I was feeling and replied, “then leave…because nothing you say is gonna convince me otherwise.”

Bobby narrowed his eyes at me and spoke in a very low, clear voice. “Fine. You wanna fist fight go right ahead.” He said and abruptly let go of me, grabbed Sam and chimed, “c’mon Sam…they wanna beat the hell outta each other, let’em. I’m done with it.”

Sam appeared very confused and said, “Wait, Bobby what are you doing?”

“Goin’ inside where it ain’t crazy.” He replied in short and vanished in the house, Sam reluctantly in tow.

“Happy now?” I heard Dean chime as I stood across from me. “You just pissed off the world’s most patient man.”

I narrowed my gaze at his smirking face. “You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” I retorted and pushed myself off the wall, toward him…and watched him take a step in my direction.

“I’m a piece of work?” He spat and let out a dark chuckle. “You’re the one who’s gotta a few screws loose.”

I was really, and I mean really done listening to him speak… So I did the smart thing…and cold-clocked him right in the mouth, shutting him up.

Suddenly there was an explosion of agony in my skull as stars sparkled behind my eyelids when he punched me across the face, sending me soaring over the deck, where I landed on my hands and knees near the stairs leading to the yard. I could taste copper on my tongue, a faint sting on the inside of my lower lip from where I’d bitten it.

“Is that all you got?” Dean spat somewhere behind me as I began to rise back onto my feet. “’Cause baby, I don’t know about you, but I can go all night.”

I finally got up and turned toward him, my back to the stairs leading down to the path below. “Not by a long shot, Pretty Boy.” I snarled with a bloody smile and made a small motion with my hands for him to ‘come and get it’.

He did alright…fueled by grief, exhaustion and rage, he charged at me, intent on knocking me out. To his dismay, he didn’t realize that I had agility on my side. I hooked my arms around his waist and swung my body around, using his momentum to take him with me as we ascended over the small flight of steps and hit the ground tumbling, our arms tangled, struggling for purchase.

Once we stopped, he was on top of me this time. I didn’t waste the opportunity and reached up, grabbed him by the roots of his short hair and while pulling him down hard, I brought the front my skull toward his in one helluva a head butt. There was a soft crack when our foreheads met.

He blinked, partially dazed by the force of our skulls meeting, allowing me to push him off of me so I could roll to my right, leaving space between us. He wasn’t the only one suffering from the momentary imbalance, because as I rolled onto my stomach, I felt my head spin and tried to push up on my hands but ended up face planting against the earth, getting a mouthful of dust in the process.

“No you don’t.” I heard him grumble behind me as he grabbed my right ankle and tugged, dragging my body backward.

I didn’t have a lot of time to think so I sat up and kicked him square in the jaw with my left leg, causing him to release his hold. In fact, I took a moment to watch as he sprawled out on his back…his chest rising and falling, his mouth hung open…eyes closed.

Every inch of my body began to throb with agony as I struggled haphazardly to get back on my feet. I swayed, stumbled to my left, almost fell over but managed to tilt myself to the right until my legs stabilized. That was fun. Coughing the dust out of the back of my throat, I stood over his still form and wondered if he was really out cold. I almost started to feel bad…until he flew up and punched me in the side of my left leg.

I let out a surprised yelp as my ass hit the hard earth…agony surging from my bruised tail bone into my spine. Tears began to squeeze out from my clenched eyes as I laid in a half assed fetal position while cradling my left leg close to my body. Searing pain swept through the battered muscle from his sudden assault, tellin’ me I wasn’t about to get up on my own anytime soon.

“You done?” Dean challenged as he sat just a few feet away from me, lips bloody, eyes swollen.

I brought my head up enough to give him a defiant look and managed to flip him off. “Fuck you.” I shot back through gritted, crimson stained teeth and dropped my hand back to my body.

He scoffed at me and began to wipe the blood and dirt away from his bruised chin, “I’ll take that as a yes.” he chimed, appearing to have lost his urge to fight after I’d cracked our thick skulls together. To be honest…I was pretty much done myself.

“Ya well…shut up.” I spat in a strangled voice and rolled onto my right side, pain still throbbing up my left leg and into my lower back.

We’d laid out there on the ground for a few moments… Trying to regain ourselves.

I listened as Dean tried to get back on his feet. There was coughing, a few inaudible curses and then a cry of surprise when a bucket of ice water was dumped over Dean’s body. I was just about to look up when I too, met with the same cold fate.

“What the hell Bobby!” I wailed in a cracked voice and rolled over, tried to get up, but did the stupid thing by using my left leg and ended up ass over elbows…again. “Fuck.” I hissed between clenched teeth and looked up to see Bobby, hands on his hips, glaring down at me.

He shook his head with a sigh and helped pull me up onto my feet. “You pull another stunt like that, so help me Tora,” once steady he paused and I could feel the heat slicing into me through his angry gaze, “I will hog tie yer ass and toss you the panic room for a week.” he then turned his eyes to Dean, “that goes for you too!” Bobby announced, meeting Dean’s gaze and then returned his focus on me.

Leaning on my good leg, I could feel my face swelling from all the punches I’d received. “Fine.” I replied in a raspy voice and watched his face soften. “I just…he didn’t need to talk to you like that and I needed some sense knocked into me.” I added and felt my throat tighten…an early warning that the waterworks were far from over.

“What am I gonna do with you?” Bobby exclaimed in a tired but compassionate voice and all I could do was shrug.

Meanwhile just as we turned to go back inside, there was a very soaked Dean, glaring at me with Sam at his side, giving me an odd expression. I couldn’t help but feel like total shit for the way I’d kicked him in the ass. It was a cheap shot and I was woman enough to own up to it.

“Sam, for what it’s worth… I’m sorry for kicking you like that…” I began to mutter softly and tried to ignore the angry look Dean was shooting at me. “It was a cheap shot to get Dean pissed off, and you didn’t deserve it.”

He considered my apology for a moment when a small curve began to stretch his lips. “Apology accepted.” He replied and the half smile began to form into an impressed grin. “After watching you take on Dean and nearly kicked his ass, I was pretty much over it.”

“Wait, nearly?” Dean quipped under his breath and rolled his eyes when Bobby and Sam chuckled. He then grumbled out, “ya, not even close.”

Their chuckling was infectious and I couldn’t help what came out of my mouth. “Well, I did say I’d kick your lily white ass.” I said with a softer tone, hoping Dean wouldn’t continue to hate me for our little brawl.

His shimmering green eyes met mine, brows knitted together, a frown evident…except for the slightest movement at his lips, as though he were fighting back a smile. “You can hold your own, I’ll give you that,” he chimed at me, his tone not holding as much animosity as before due to the lightened mood and possible concussion. “But again, not even close.”

Sam patted Dean on the shoulder and quipped, “sure thing Dean.” and grinned when his older brother gave him slitted eyes. “Come on, let’s get you inside before you get sick.”

“Oh yea, thanks for the shower Bobby.” Dean spat sarcastically and carefully wiped at his chin where I’d kicked him, his eyes flashing to me for a moment, lingering on my face before darting away. Apparently knowing that I’d have a few bruises within the next couple of hours because of his handy work, bothered him.

It didn’t bother me. I needed my ass kicked and he was the one to do it. Kinda sick, I know…but like I’ve said, I was never like other girls… Must be a weird Hunter thing.

“Alright, inside, the both of ya before you catch yer death.” Bobby mused and ushered me along, as Dean and Sam took the lead back into Bobby’s sanctuary.

It was just one of those nights…

* * * * *End Part Three* * * * *