Cherry Pie

'Tis The Season

[Rayne]

Bobby Singer looked overwhelmed as he studied the group of us standing on his doorstep. On second thought, maybe he just looked annoyed. Odds were, this was the most amount of guests he'd ever had show up at his house at one time. And that included a sorceress and two angels. Not to mention John Winchester. From everything I'd heard from the brothers, John and Bobby didn't have a good track record of getting along for long periods of time.

As I continued watching the bewildered older hunter, I leaned into Dean and whispered to him, "Did your dad not give Bobby a heads up about us coming?"

"Looks that way," he replied, chuckling a bit. Then he nudged his dad out of the way and went up to the door to shake Bobby's hand and clasp him on the shoulder. "You don't mind housing a few rogues like us for a while, do you, Bobby?"

Before he could answer, Bobby was shoved aside and all seven of us shuffled into his tiny entryway. It became instantly more cramped, and I felt vaguely like being a tiny shrimp in a cage full of hungry sharks. From my low vantage point and with my lack of sleep, the others were starting to look quite menacing. It was like being in a waking nightmare.

"Nice place," Astrid commented approvingly, studying the worn-out wallpaper on the walls around her. "Cozy."

As I looked up at their faces, my stomach jumped up into my throat. Shaking my head to clear it, I started to back away from the circle.

Dean glanced down at me. "Where you goin'?"

"I just need..." I swallowed hard and turned away from him. "I'll be right back."

I quickly stole away into Bobby's office at the end of the hallway and dragged in some deep breaths. It was just the lack of sleep, nothing more. But the stirrings of unease didn't subside. A few moments later, I heard several arguments erupting out in the entryway all at once. Unsurprisingly, Bobby and John's voices were the loudest and angriest.

"What in tarnation made you think that I was okay with all of you coming here?" Bobby shouted. "It's not like I sit around here all day with nothin' better to do!"

"Oh well, I'm sorry," John shouted right back, sounding the exact opposite of sorry. "It was clearly silly of me to think that after everything we've been through together you wouldn't mind helping us out!"

"After everything we've been through?" Bobby asked incredulously. I could practically picture his bushy eyebrows crawling all the way up to his ballcap in disbelief. "You and me haven't been through anything worth going through, Winchester," he groused. "You've made my life a living hell on more than one occasion!"

Closing my eyes, I massaged my temples, trying to get rid of the ache behind my eyelids before it had a chance to erupt into a full-blown migraine. The recent lack of sleep was starting to take its toll on me in more ways than one. The two men continued to shout at each other at the top of their lungs with only the occasional interruption from Sam, Dean, or Astrid. The angels remained silent.

"I don't owe you anything, John," Bobby spat in response to something John had said. "I'm not going to help you."

Finally having had enough, I went back out into the hallway and nudged my way through the mass of towering people. Feeling more like a child than ever, I tried to stand up tall as I placed my hand on Bobby's arm to get his attention. "Then do it for me."

My voice was quiet compared to the booming timber of the men in the room, but somehow everyone calmed down and listened to me all the same.

"Do it for me, Bobby," I said again, a little more sure that time. "For me and Sam. Please."