Killing Me Slowly

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Bobby’s POV

Dean, Sam, Mel, Brit and I were walking through the forest and we came to a stop as we looked up to see a denatured Phil hanging from a tree. Something about this didn’t sit right with me though. It was…a déjà vu feeling…but at the same time it was a terrible feeling…like something was going to happen…or something had already happened. I just didn’t know what.

“Well, I guess we found Phil” Dean commented.

“Wait a minute. Something’s not right here” I voiced.

“Yeah, no kidding, Bobby. There’s a corpse in a tree” Melissa smiled.

“Something bad’s about to happen”

“Yeah, well danger’s kinda on the W2. That’s why we got the guns” Dean said.

But, then blood dripped onto my hand…and it didn’t come from Phil. I lifted my hand to my forehead and when I brought it back down, there was more there. Or like I said…something had already happened.

I took a step forward and we were all back at the rundown shack of a house we were staying in. I took off my hat and I could feel more blood. “Balls”

“You want to tell us what’s going on?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, what’s going on with your head?” Dean added.

“I got shot in it!” I realized as I had said it.

“You what?” Brittney asked as she gave me a strange look.

“Bobby, we’ve been with you all day” Melissa added.

“Yeah, I think we would have noticed if you took a bullet” Dean also said.

“I didn’t take one here. I took one out there, in the real world”

“You lost us” both Dean and Melissa said.

“Look, Bobby, you want to sit down?” Brittney asked me.

“No, there’s something I gotta tell you. Damn it, I can’t get at it”

“Well, it’s okay, take your time. We’re right here” Sam said.

“No, no, not you, you. Real you. Out there, in the waking world. Numbers. Numbers. Where’s paper?”

I walked over to a table and picked up a pen and paper. I had to get these numbers down quickly so I can get them to the real kids. I didn’t have time to before to tell them what they were cooking up. They need to know. I stuck the paper in my pocket.

But, when I turned…I was in my bedroom at my house…and in front of me…was Karen. She was sitting on the bed…looking as beautiful as ever….

“Well…you just gonna stand there or hand it over, Bobby?” she asked me.

“What the hell? Karen?”

“You were expecting Farrah Fawcett?”

“No. She always calls first” I cracked a smirk. But, then I stopped. “That’s what I said the first time this happened”

“What are you talking about? Gimme!”

I noticed I was holding a glass of wine. “Oh” I said, idjit-like and then handed her the glass. “This is just like it was. You’re beautiful”

“Quit sweet-talkin’ and come here”

I sat down in front of her and she took my hand. She felt like she used to…warm…and gentle…and gave me that warm, sweet feeling I missed all these years.

“I feel like we haven’t talked in ages”

“I know just how you feel”

“Listen, I have something I want to say to you. No excuses this time, okay? Just sit, Bobby”

“I know what night this is. I remember this” I said to myself, feeling myself tense up.

“I’ve thought about this a lot. I really…” we both began to say at once.

“Don’t make fun of me” she laughed…it was a wonderful sound.

“I wouldn’t. But right now I gotta…” Then, I heard thunder coming from outside. “I don’t remember a storm coming in the night this happened” I said as I went to the window.

I started to see the stars disappear and the mood began to fade out. I looked to the ground and saw a boy was running from behind the shed toward the house. “Mother Mary. I’ve got a messed-up fruitcake”

“What, Bobby?” Karen asked me.

“Nothin. I gotta go. I’m sorry, darling” I said and walked out the door.

But, then I was outside a church as it was raining outside and in front of me was Rufus in a pest control uniform…this had to have been another memory, right? “Number-one trick, is act like you know what you’re doing, Bobby”

“Rufus?”

“What, I can’t give you advice now? All of a sudden you know everything? You know, I can always go wait in the car”

“No, wait. I need your help. Bad”

“Yeah, damn straight you do”

“No, listen to me, Rufus. I’m gonna die!”

“Oh, now that’s a realistic view of the mortality rate on a ghost hunt” he said, holding up an EMF.

“Whoa, whoa, Nellie, red line. All right, baby boy, here we go” He ran inside. Damn it, Rufus. Always been the same. But, I’ll admit, it was still good to see his ass alive.

I heard footsteps, so I turned and saw the boy from before go running by. “Are you coming, Bobby? I mean, we’re not getting any younger here!” Rufus said.

“Coming” I replied and he disappeared inside again.

Then, the boy appeared in front of me and grabbed my wrist. “God’s gonna punish you” he told me.

That saying…it was familiar…it hurt a little…and then I heard a glass shattering and turned to see a glass of milk on the floor. But, then the boy was gone. So I followed Rufus inside. I saw choir singers as Rufus walked through the back door, but one by one the singers began to vanish. The lights flickered off. Not good.

“Hello, Mr. Singer” a voice said. I spun around to see a man in black standing there. He was holding an old fashion watch on a chain. “You’re times up” he told me.

“So you’re my reaper, huh? You know, I’ve heard of you guy grabbing reapees in broad daylight and in their sleep, but I never heard of a reaper showing up inside a guy’s custard”

“You’re in a coma, genius. This is what happens. I climb in your “custard” and fish you out” He took a step toward me and held his hand out, but I quickly stepped back. “Oh, you think you can lose me”

“Gonna try” I replied, trying to keep my voice steady.

“I’ve got places to be, Singer, don’t waste my time”

“Might as well…while I got it”

“You’re prolonging the inevitable”

Then, he flipped open his watch and while he was looking at it, I took it as an opportunity to make a run for it and I ran through the back door that Rufus took. “I can find you anywhere! Even in this gin-soaked rat maze!” he yelled after me.

I walked quickly around a corner and I was now in my usual clothes, in my house and I could hear voices that I was so relieved to hear…that I admit, I was always relieved to hear.

“I'm just saying. Look, you can't really compare” Sam said and I saw him and Dean on the couch in the living room with Melissa on the floor and Brittney was on the arm rest of the couch, watching the boys in amusement.

“I don’t even know you right now. There's not even a contest” Dean argued.

“It depends on the criteria”

“Survival is the only criteria, all right?”

“And when the crap hits the fan, it's not about who has skill. It's about who's the bigger badass”

“And so you are both wrong” Brittney said.

“The Karate Kid is bigger bad ass than Jet Li and Chuck Norris” Melissa said and even I knew she didn’t feel that way.

She would side with Chuck Norris and Brittney would side with Jet Li in a heart beat. But they, of course, like to cause trouble and see the boys squirm…plus, they like to see them laugh…and that’s what happened. It made them laugh.

“What? You’re both crazy” Sam said.

“Yea, seriously. Get out of here. You don’t know anything” Dean laughed. Melissa stuck out her tongue at him and he just did the same thing back to her. Then my presence was noticeable to them. “Bobby, will you please tell Sam that Chuck Norris could kick Jet Li's ass?” Dean asked me.

“What, and our argument and non-argumental?” Melissa challenged.

“Yes. So you should be ignored” Dean established.

She scoffed. “Well that’s rude” Brit laughed.

I just looked at around and then headed toward the kitchen. “Well will you grab me a beer while you're in there?” Dean asked me.

I ignored him as I slid the doors open…and I saw my mother setting the table. “Bobby Singer, you had better be washed up when you come down” She looked up at me. “You're filthy. God, what is wrong with you? It's like you want him to get mad”

But, I just slid the doors shut. I couldn’t go in there…I didn’t want to. And so I was back at the church. Rufus tossed me a shotgun. These memory switches were giving me whiplash.

“Poor thing. Gets left at the altar, kills herself, and then gets buried in the crypt. Now she's going after men who break their girls' hearts. Poignant, am I wrong? Why you out of breath? Did you go for a jog up there, man?”

“I need your help, Rufus”

“Yeah, clearly”

“No, listen to me”

“I want you to grab a torch, man. As soon as I open up her coffin, show time's coming pretty quick” he said as he just continued toward the crypts.

“No. Will you listen to me, you son of a bitch? There's a damn reaper coming for me”

“There's a damn reaper coming for all of us, Bobby. All right, let's put this damn ghost to bed. I got plans for Purim” he said and slammed the sledgehammer into the crypt.

There was a huge hole now and he got the coffin out in the open and he lifted the top. I realized he was going to listen to me. “Forget it. I got to keep moving” I sighed.

So, I turned to leave…but then the ghost appeared right in front of me. “Heartbreaker” she hissed at me and snatched my shotgun, throwing it to the side and she just thrusted her arm into my chest.

I grimaced and tried to endure the pain. I thought that here…wherever I was…the pain wasn’t supposed to be all bad, but so far, it’s all I’ve been feeling for the most part.

“I'll break your heart” she hissed again.

But, then Rufus slashed through her with an iron pipe and she vanished. I fell to the ground. “Bobby…come on. You okay? Say something” I looked up and saw her behind him. “Look out!” I yelled.

But, it was too late. The ghost got behind Rufus, grabbed him and threw him across the floor. I quickly stood to my feet though, grabbed the flame thrower and torched her bones. She screamed and burned up in flames. I took a breath.

“Okay, Rufus, I need you…” I started but then saw he was unconscious and had blood coming from his head.

“Oh, balls. This would be the one job you damn near got yourself killed on. Well, you're gonna be useful, even if I have to carry you” I was going to get out of here no matter what. I don’t care what I had to do. I needed to get back to the kids.

My POV

We rushed in behind doctors who were rolling both Brittney and Bobby on hospital beds. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion though and I just couldn’t process anything at the moment. They were taken in different directions. My instinct was to follow Brittney…so I started to…and then I stopped, turned and looked back at the boys. I noticed Sam was really torn between who to follow…but so was Dean.

“Melissa…stay here with Bobby and make sure he gets through this” I heard Brit whisper even though it was barely audible and painful for her and she was already halfway down the hallway.

I stood my ground, pin straight and I felt my heart ache. “She wants us to stay here” I said, sternly and then spun quickly to rush to Bobby’s trauma room as they followed.

The doctors were saying a bunch of things I just didn’t understand…I wasn’t a doctor…Brit would know…all I got was that they were calling a neurosurgeon so he could look at the bullet that was in Bobby’s head.

“What’s happening? Please just tell us…” Sam started as he went forward, toward the doctors who were rushing around Bobby.

“Get them out of here” a doctor said.

A woman faced us. “Sorry. You need to stay out of their way”

A nurse started to cut open Bobby’s shirt. “That's our uncle” Dean grunted.

“You got to stay back”

“What are they doing?” I pleaded and my voice cracked.

I noticed Dean glanced at me and then looked back at the nurse in front of us as he grabbed my hand to comfort for the both of us. “We need to get him stable”

“Okay, when are you gonna take the bullet out?” Dean asked.

“If we can get the swelling down, if it's in a place we can get to, if…”

“If he even lives that long” Sam said. That chilled me…just the idea of it.

The nurse pulled the curtain closed and we all just stood there. I turned to look down the hallway where Brit was taken and I was contemplating. I had to make sure she was being taken care of properly…I needed to make sure she was okay. If we weren’t getting anywhere here, I needed to try there. I noticed Sam was looking in the same direction…and I could just sense the worry coming off from the two of them.

“Go on. Both of you. I’ll stay here. We’ll keep each other updated” he said. Sam and I nodded and then took off after Brit.

When we got outside the trauma room they were fixing her in. I could only make out certain words since my brain was still pretty much jumbled up. The bullet had gone so deep that it grazed a lung…I hadn’t realized that it was even that serious…it just seemed like the bullet barely grazed her…guess I was wrong.

Then, I managed to hear they said something about her having a concussion too…and it made me think about how she was jostled in the van and hit her head pretty hard against the wall back there…how could I not have known this earlier? I should’ve known she was in really bad condition…I should’ve just known this was going to happen. I should’ve prevented it. I should’ve found a way.

A nurse saw the two of us standing here and she came over to us with a small smile. “Are you two related to this woman?” she asked us. “I’m her sister and this is her boyfriend…”

“Are you the one who suppressed her wound on the way over here?” she asked me, gesturing to the blood on me.

“Yes, I am, she’s my sister…”

“She’s going to be okay, right?” Sam asked.

“Because it’s really been a stressful passed couple days…months really…and our uncle is here too and he’s in serious condition and we just really need some good news right now” I babbled a little.

“You’re sister will be just fine…thanks to you actually. She would’ve bled out if you didn’t think as quickly as you did” I think she noticed that really didn’t ease my anxiety. “We have some really good doctors in there…”

“Yea, well, see, I hear that a lot. Hospitals always have really good doctors but I just need to know they’re doing everything right. Making no mistakes”

“I know maim…I’ll tell you what. How about I personally come find you to tell you step by step what’s going on and how your sister is progressing. Would that help settle your nerves a little”

I sighed and wrapped my arms around my waist. “A little…I would really appreciate that. Thank you”

“No problem. My name is Anna”

That one made my insides churn and ache a little. “Umm okay, Anna…I’m Melissa…if you can’t find me, this is Sam”

She nodded. “Right now, Brittney is stable and they’re getting her prepped to go to the ER to operate on the lung the bullet had punctured. Once that’s done, we’ll see where to take it from there” she told us.

“Okay…thank you, again” I said, lightly. She nodded and then walked off.

I hung my head slightly and I noticed I started to shake a little. Then, I felt Sam’s arms wrap around me and I turned to face him and bury my face into him. “She’s going to be fine” he whispered.

I didn’t reply though. I could hear a lot of commotion coming from the direction of Bobby’s trauma room so I took off. “Mel?” Sam questioned but then just followed.

“What’s going on?” I asked Dean.

“I don’t know” he replied in distressed as we just watched more doctors rush around Bobby’s body.

I listened hard. “They’re saying his vitals were stable two minutes ago and now he’s just…crashing” I said, making a face.

“What? Why?” Dean demanded.

“How the hell should I know?” I snapped.

But, then…after a moment of anxiousness and suspense…Bobby seemed to stabilize. And sure the doctors were there to help work on him…but I think Bobby actually stabilized himself.

“He’s okay now…he seemed to have…stabilized himself” I said.

“What?” they both asked. I didn’t reply though.

I hated seeing him in this condition. He had a bandage around his head and a tube down his throat to help him breathe. “We should get you cleaned up” Dean suddenly said to me. I just looked up at him. “All that blood on you can’t be good for you”

I looked down at myself…it really wasn’t that much…. Sure, I had Brit’s and Bobby’s blood all over my hands…and Brit’s blood on my clothes…but I couldn’t let it bother me….

“I’m…”

“Yea, you’re fine. We’re all fine, Mel. Do you see where we are right now? Do you know what’s going on?”

“Of course I do…!”

“Well, then you can’t just be sitting around here covered in blood. It’s messing with your head and you don’t even realize it. Do you really think it’s a sight people want to see around here?” he hissed at me.

I’ll admit it…he was right.

“Okay…what clothes do you suggest I change into?” I murmured.

“We’ll be right back” he said to Sam and then just took my hand…like he had the right to…and he led me to the bathroom first and ordered me to wash the blood off my hands.

I began to cry as I did so, but when I was done and I walked back out to Dean, I made sure I showed no sign of it and we walked out of the hospital. We walked over to the van, got in and he tossed a pair of his pajamas at me. Then, without another word, he got in the front seat and just sat forward. So, I changed…and tried not to remember that this was the same exact spot I watched my sister and the closest thing I had to a father, these passed couple years, lose so much blood. When I finished, I got in the passenger seat and just sat forward, beside him. Then, I looked over at him…but didn’t dare to say anything. Then, he just got out. So, I sighed and did the same. I was about to walk across the street and head back to the hospital but he got in front of me. He didn’t look at me though…he looked down the street.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you in there…you didn’t deserve it…I’m just…”

“No…don’t apologize…this is hard on all of us…I understand…”

Then…I saw the tears in his eyes. He ran a hand over his face. Then, on impulse, I just pulled him into me and hugged him tight as he returned it and I felt his tears fall onto my shoulder.

“Everything is going to be okay…we’ll get through this…and so will Bobby and Brit…” I forced out.

“Ya know, you’re always stealing my thunder. I’m supposed to be the one comforting you” he said and I felt him shake a little. I had to let out a small laugh.

“And who’s the one crying like a little baby right now?” I asked, but I did have tears sliding down my cheeks as well.

He pulled away and we were both chuckling as we wiped away our tears. “That was a cheap shot”

“Okay, lets start over…can you tell me everything’s going to be alright because I’m really freaking out right now” I started to sob a little.

He gave me a sad look and encased my body with his as my arms were pushed up against his chest. This hug was different. It was more protective. Like he would never let anything hurt me ever again. It was stronger. And he wasn’t crying or sobbing or shaking anymore.

“Everything’s going to be okay, Mel…it has to be” he murmured the last part.

But, it was really reassuring to hear this from him. It actually made me feel a little better. I missed being in his arms like this…just feeling his warmth and his comfort…it meant everything to know he was still here…still here for me.