||CHAPTER ONE // RETURN||
After Dean climbed his way out of the pine box he woke up in, the only thought he had was where his daughter was. When he got money from the gas station he tried to call Bobby, but of course the paranoid hunter didn't believe him so he stole a car and drove up there. Even then he didn't believe him, coming at him with a silver knife and dosing him in holy water, only then did he believe that it was really Dean.
"That don't make a lick of sense." Bobby says as they walk into the living room, Dean drying his face off with a hand towel.
"Yeah, well you're preaching to the choir." Dean replies, chuckling breathlessly.
"Dean, your chest was ribbons, your insides were slop," Bobby says in disbelief, trying to get Dean to understand. "And you've been buried for four months. Even if you could slip out of hell and back into your meats-"
Dean cuts Bobby off, "Yeah I should look like a 'Thriller' video reject." He shakes his head.
Bobby scratches his chin, studying Dean for a second. "What do you remember?" He asks almost hesitantly.
Dean looks away briefly. "Not much, I remember being a hellhounds chew toy..." He trails and shakes his head again. "And then lights out. Then I come to six feet under. That was it." He answers.
Bobby sits down as he tries to process everything that his surrogate son has been through.
"Sam's number's not working." Dean says trying to get Bobby's attention back. "He's, uh--he's not..." He couldn't get the question out.
Bobby looks up when Dean starts speaking again. "Oh, he's alive, as far as I know. They both are." Bobby answers, not meeting his eyes as he explains before looking back at him.
Dean closes his eyes in relief and nods, moving over to take a seat. "Good." He breathes out, a smile curling at his lips before he processes Bobby's words. "Wait. What do you mean--as far as you know?"
"I haven't talked to him for months." Bobby answers.
"You're kidding? You just let him go off by himself?" Dean questions in disbelief. "Where's my daughter?"
"He was dead set on it." Bobby avoids the last questions, almost scared by what Dean's reaction would be.
"Bobby, you should have been looking after him. Both of them." Dean presses, his eyes wide as he wonders how Bobby could let Sam take off.
Bobby turns quickly. "I tried." He snaps back. "These last months haven't been exactly easy, you know, for him or me. Let alone Dakota." Bobby narrows his eyes. "We had to bury you."
"Dakota. Where is she?" Dean asks again, his heart nearly breaking at the thought of her not with him now. "Bobby, where the hell is my daughter? And why did you bury me, anyway?"
"I wanted you salted and burned--usual drill--but Sam wouldn't have it." Bobby continues to avoid the repeating question.
"Well, I'm glad he won that one." Dean lets it go for now, still wanting answers about why he's back.
"He said you'd need a body when he got you back home somehow." Bobby shrugs, his eyes still have a lingering sadness in them. "That's about all he said."
"What do you mean?" Dean's eyes snap up quickly as he asks.
Bobby moves to sit down again, having stood up and paced. "He was quiet...real quiet. Then he just took off with Dakota. Wouldn't return my calls." Bobby let it slip where Dakota was, he didn't mean to reveal it that way, he wanted to be gentler about it--not blurt it out. "I tried to find them, but he didn't want to be found." Bobby says.
"Oh, damn it, Sammy." Dean rubs his forehead in exasperation.
"What?" Bobby asks quickly.
"Oh, he got me home okay." Dean says rubbing a hand down his face. "But whatever he did is bad mojo."
"What makes you so sure?" Bobby presses, his back straightening.
"You should have seen the grave site. It was like a nuke went off and then there was this force. That, I don't know, but it-it-it blew past me at a fill-up joint." Dean recalls, before meeting eyes with Bobby. "And then this." He says taking off his over shirt, pulling up his sleeve and showing Bobby that scarred hand print on his shoulder. "
Bobby's eyes widen and he stands up, walking toward Dean with his eyes on the mark. "What in the hell?" He breathes out in confusion.
"Yeah, it's like a demon just yanked me out or rode me out." Dean answers before his eyes move past Bobby and unto a framed picture of Dakota and him, it was taken on her sixth birthday party, the last one Dean saw.
Her bright green eyes were sparkling as she grinned at the camera, one of her front teeth were missing. Her cheeks were dimpled from the wideness of her smile. She was on Dean's back, her arms wrapped around his neck tightly. Dean's holding onto her legs which were wrapped around his waist. They were both grinning widely at the camera, almost like they were laughing at the time.
"I missed her birthday." Dean whispers to himself. It was true, Dakota's seventh birthday was in June, a couple months after he was taken to hell. He had forgotten that he'd miss her birthday, he was hoping that they'd break the deal and he'd get to spend it with her. "I've never missed her birthday." His eyes burned, a sign that he'd start crying. He cleared his throat and pulled away from Bobby, rubbing his eyes roughly.
"I wasn't there either, I tried calling Sam but he didn't pick up. I don't know if they celebrated it or not, I don't know if she wanted to celebrate it." Bobby sighs heavily scratching at his beard.
"What do you mean? The kid loves her birthday." Dean says gruffly, not looking at Bobby.
"Dean, that little girl loves you so much, her birthday was something you two did together. And when we heard Sam screaming your name that night, she took off into the house. I tried to stop her but she was too quick. She saw your bloodied and torn up corpse." Bobby explains sadly, his eyes leaving Dean and glancing at the floor instead.
"Oh my God," Dean says in horror, putting his face in his hands. "I didn't-I never wanted to leave her, Bobby, you gotta know that. I-I just wanted my brother back." Dean sinks into the couch, his voice shaking at the thought of his daughter seeing him like that.
"I know, son." Bobby says sitting beside him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Why do you think a demon pulled you out?" Bobby subtly tries to change the subject.
"To hold up their end of the bargain." Dean sighs, shaking his head as if to clear it.
"You think Sam made a deal?" Bobby questions. Dean raises his head to look at Bobby.
"It's what I would have done." Dean purses his lips.
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Bobby leans against the table in the kitchen as Dean paces with the landline in his hand. "Hi. I have a, uh, cell phone account with you guys." Dean starts off, casting a glance at Bobby. "And, uh, I lost my phone. I was wondering you could turn the GPS on for me." Dean looks out the window for a second as the phone company asks him a question. "Yeah. The name's "Wedge Antilles". Social is 2474. Thank you." He hangs up and walks out of the kitchen, Bobby sits for a moment before following after him.
"How'd you know he'd use that name?" Bobby questions.
"You kidding me? What don't I know about that kid?" Dean says dismissively as he types into the computer before he notices the empty bottles of liquor around. "Hey, Bobby, what's with the liquor store in here? Your parents out of Town or something?" He raises one of the bottles to prove his point.
Bobby's expression grows sad again. "Like I said, the last few months ain't been that easy." He looks away.
Dean stares up at him for a couple of moments silently before mumbling. "Right." The air around the two turns tense before the computer beeps, finally tracking Sam's phone location. "Sam's in Pontiac, Illinois."
Bobby's eyes narrow. "Right near where you were planted."
"Right where I popped up." Dean shoots back. "Hell of a coincidence, don't you think?"
"You think Dakota's there?" Bobby asks timidly, not looking Dean in the eyes.
Dean freezes for a moment, thinking. "For his sake, she better be." Dean mutters, passing Bobby as he heads outside to Bobby's car.
Edited 3/19/19