Supernatural

Oklahoma Girl

AN: I don't own anything but my original character! The quote at the end of the chapter is by Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation Season 3 Episode 6: Indianapolis: All the Bacon and Eggs. Hope you guys continue to enjoy! Thank you so much to everyone currently reading and a special thank you to my reviewers! I appreciate you taking the time to let me know what you think!

"It's just another war
Just another family torn
(Falling from my faith today)
Just a step from the edge
Just another day in the world we live

I need a hero to save me now
I need a hero (save me now)
I need a hero to save my life
A hero'll save me (just in time)" Hero by Skillet

/

Dean drove straight through the night, stopping for nothing. Sam knew his brother well enough that he knew talking to Dean right now was a bad idea. Nothing he said would make it better, this situation was fucked up. Sam ran through the scenarios and possibilities of what they were running into and only one left Ellie alive. If this was a trap set for him and Dean, then she might have been taken alive to draw them in, otherwise she was either already dead, or turned.

They reached her house just as the sun rose, proving just how fast Dean had driven. No police cars and no tape across the doorway said that the authorities hadn't been notified yet which made their own investigation less complicated.

The disaster they walked in to had them both cursing. "Son of a bitch," Dean said as he took in the shattered door scattered across the entrance way, the broken lamps, overturned bookshelves, claw marks in the couch and the blood spatter that seemed to be everywhere. As Dean walked in to the living room, Sam stopped to examine the entrance way closely. There was a small puddle of blood more concentrated than the rest, with a drag mark that faded away leading toward the broken back door.

Dean picked up an empty shell casing, "I should have left her silver bullets. She's a hell of a shot and she'd still…" Dean tapered off, throwing the shell casing hard across the room, watching it bounce and spin across the wreckage, as useless now as it had been when it was fired. Sam ignored Dean's outburst, knowing that he wasn't looking for a response to his self-recrimination. Instead, Sam stood up from the blood and began following the drag mark, "Dean, there's a blood trail leading out back."

Dean joined him at what remained of the back door. Left at eye level, pinned to the door frame was a note with an address. Dean jerked the note down, reading it out loud, "Eye for an Eye, Winchesters." Sam wanted to close his eyes in relief, she was alive, but the old, familiar feeling of people around them being hurt trumped any happiness he might have felt. The look on Dean's face said he was thinking the same thing.

Now knowing where they needed to go, they headed back to the Impala before anyone grew suspicious of them being there. They had been doing this so long, Sam knew Dean wouldn't want to slow down, now that they had an address, so he pulled up as much information as he could about the place on his phone.

The place was two hours west, down an old county road that had very few houses around. As Sam researched the area, strange disappearances began popping up and he realized why they hadn't discovered the pack. They never left their victims to be discovered, or if they did, they took more than just the heart. Flipping back to the map of the house and the land surrounding, he said, "There's only one road in and out. Looks about a quarter mile from the county road to the house. Quite a bit of tree coverage. From the reports of missing persons in the area, I think there may be about five in the pack."

Sam waited for Dean to respond and looked up at him when he didn't. Dean was white knuckling the steering wheel and when Sam leaned over the speedometer showed an even one hundred. "Dean, we've got to go about this with some caution. We're walking right in to a trap. If we don't make a plan, she's not getting out of there alive," Sam said.

"Don't say that, Sam," Dean growled, but he slowed the car a bit and inhaled. "Tell me what the layout looks like again."

/

When they arrived at the road to the house it was barely noon. They geared up from the trunk, then sat and waited, although it killed Dean to do so. Every instinct he had wanted to run in, guns blazing, and get Ellie out of there as fast as he could, but his training and life long experience, told him Sam was right. They had a plan and now they needed to watch and wait for the right moment.

As they drove, he had used every curse he knew on himself for letting this happen. Not just leaving Ellie vulnerable or not discovering the pack, but for letting himself care. She had gotten under his skin in such a short amount of time and Dean knew that was a death sentence. No one he cared about survived for long.

He hadn't even realized she had gotten so close. Sure, he had joked to himself about being in love with her at the bookstore and had realized the potential danger on the couch the next morning, but he had thought he had severed the connection early enough to prevent this exact scenario.

As they sat on the county road, no one passed them all afternoon and the lack of activity made him antsy. As the sun began to set, they finally made their move. The walk up the tree-covered driveway seemed to take forever until they abruptly came to the edge of the tree line.

An open yard went all the way around and so they skirted the edge. Circling the Victorian two-story house, they could see lights on and people moving inside. Their advantage was that despite being invited, the pack had no idea when he and Sam would actually show. It was clear from their lack of sentries that they had already relaxed their guard.

Dean watched the movements of some of the pack through the windows and could distinguish three people. Sam had said possibly five, but he didn't see any others. As they circled to the front of the house, he saw the other two emerge from what looked like a basement door in the kitchen. Most of the wolves had moved to the front of the house so with the element of surprise, they busted through the front door.

They took two down immediately, silver bullets carving a hole in to the hearts of the werewolves. The other two disappeared and as he and Sam moved deeper in to the house, one came flying out from Dean's left, slamming into him and pushing him in to Sam. As Dean held off the fangs from tearing into his neck, Sam rolled to his feet, quickly shooting the werewolf.

The fourth appeared just behind Sam and Dean didn't hesitate in his shot. The werewolf dropped dead just behind Sam. Sam nodded, "I'll take upstairs." Without waiting for Dean's reply, he took the stairs to his left. Dean got to his feet and slowly made his way towards the kitchen and the basement.

They still hadn't found the fifth werewolf he had seen, so he took the corner into the kitchen carefully until he heard Ellie cry out, along with something striking the basement stairs. He had the door flung open and was half-way down the staircase when he saw the werewolf crouched over her limp form in the dark.

/

Ellie had no idea how long she'd been tied to the chair in the basement. There were no windows and the men only came down to give her water and to let her up long enough to go to the bathroom. She supposed she should be grateful for small mercies, but every time she surfaced from passing out, the splitting pain in her head, ribs and shoulder reminded her that this probably wasn't going to end well. One of the books Sam had sent her had been on werewolves and from what she had read, the three holding her hostage were purebloods which meant they could change in to werewolves at will. She also knew that with one bite she would become one, something she wanted to avoid at all cost.

She hadn't a clue why they hadn't killed her or why their attack at her house had seemed planned. In her bursts of lucidity, she reasoned that they must know she was involved with killing the youngest member of their pack. She had figured that much out as she listened to them talk about what happened, when she had been tied in the backseat on the ride to wherever she was now. Any advice she had on kidnapping centered on her research for her novels, but try as she might, it was impossible to keep track of turns and distances when your brain felt like scrambled eggs. If she made it out of this alive she was going to have to rewrite her entire series, because it was in fact, crap.

Besides trying to figure out a way to get herself out of her current situation, she also thought about Sam and Dean. She felt an almost overwhelming sadness knowing that they were never going to forgive themselves for this. Just knowing them the short twenty-four hours she had, she knew that they took saving people seriously and that the ones they hadn't, they carried with them always.

She wanted to tell them she didn't blame them for this. She knew they had done their best, but sometimes things just didn't work out like you planned. Although, right now she was desperately wishing they did. Knowing she was her own hope for getting out she began to think of her options. Trying to escape when they let her up to use the bathroom would be the simplest since she wouldn't have to figure out how to untie herself, but she didn't think that would work since one stood guard at the top of the stairs while the other untied and supervised her.

Knowing surprise would only be to her benefit, she began thinking of ways to untie herself. She tested the knots at her wrists and knew there was no way she would be able to loosen them. Trying to think outside the box, her mind came up with breaking the chair she was sitting on. At first, she dismissed the idea as too cliché, but as time passed, and nothing else presented itself, she began to think about how she could do it.

Luckily, the chair they had used to tie her on had most likely been sitting in the damp basement for ages and had begun to rot. It was solid enough that it was holding her, but if she rocked back and forth the legs wiggled considerably as did the back where she was tied. Another stroke of luck was that her legs weren't tied so she could stand up with the chair attached.

Unfortunately, that's where her luck ran out as her hands were tied so far behind her that she knew if she slammed down on the back of the chair, she was likely to break her hands. Without the use of her hands she wouldn't be able to fight her way out so she took time to consider the pros and cons. It didn't take her long to decide that she had to risk it. So, after they let her up for her next bathroom break and then left her alone once again she began her half-cocked plan.

Since she was right handed, she tried to lean farther left so that if she did break a hand, it wouldn't be her dominate one, not to mention her left shoulder had been knocked out of socket when they tackled her at her house. They had put it back in, but not gently.

She stood up and paused for a moment to send a silent prayer that this worked then she slammed herself backwards as hard as she could. The impact on the floor momentarily knocked the breath out of her and she felt some of the bones in her left-hand crack. The pain made her dizzy and if she would have had anything in her stomach it would have left. Knowing she probably didn't have long, she shoved the pain aside and rolled to her knees to sit up.

The chair had done what it was supposed to, and lay shattered underneath her. Her hands slid free and she was able to bring them around slowly. Her left hand was red and already beginning to swell a little so she grabbed a jagged spindle from the wreckage with her right just as she heard hurried footsteps above. Moving as quickly as she could, Ellie moved to the deeper shadows under the staircase. She knew she was going to have one shot at getting up the stairs and she prayed she made it. She didn't hold out much hope that she'd survive if she didn't.

She made her move as soon as he was in reach. Launching up from her crouched position, she let her full body weight carry her forward, slamming into him from behind and driving the make-shift stake up under his ribs.

She felt the man convulse under her as he screamed in pain. She didn't waste a second as she threw herself off him and turned for the stairs, but she never made it. The werewolf recovered quicker than she had hoped and he turned, lashing out at her feet as she lunged for the step. His claws caught her in the left calf, knocking her feet out from under her so that she slammed in to the steps with her chest, her chin clipping one, sending her into a daze.

She lay on her back, blood pouring down her chin and ankle, as the werewolf reared up over her, his teeth bared in a snarl. Ellie heard footsteps at the entrance of the basement and knew her bid for freedom was over since the others were coming to help their friend. When she heard a gunshot, Ellie thought her ears must be playing tricks on her, because why would they use guns, but then the werewolf above her sported a bullet size hole in his chest right at his heart. He made clutching motions at his chest as he stumbled forward and Ellie feared he was going to collapse on top of her when a hand reached out from above her, shoving the dead werewolf away.

The next thing she knew, the most beautiful face in the world was crowding her vision. "Dean," she breathed out in relief, "At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I can't tell you how glad I am to see you." Dean smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes, "Me too, sweetheart." He reached around her to lift her up, "Now, let's get you out of here." Her sharp intake of breath had him freezing in place, "How bad is it?"

Ellie grimaced, answering, "Bad. I think I've got several broken ribs. As much as I would enjoy you carrying me out of here like a real-life knight in shining armor, I don't think my ribs will allow it. Help me stand up and I'll shuffle along as best I can." She watched Dean clinch his jaw and jerk his head in acknowledgement. She could tell he was angry, but she couldn't figure out why as she extended her right hand out to him.

When he pulled her up gently, she went to put her weight on her left foot and all but collapsed as fire streaked up her leg. Dean kept her upright with her right arm and after the ringing in her ears subsided she smirked at him through the pain, "That was a little more tender than I thought." She heard him curse low under his breath and she tried to lighten the mood, "It's just blood and bone Dean, it'll heal. Good news is no bites, I swear."

He didn't even look at her and Ellie realized that even though she was alive, Dean wasn't going to let this go. They made it to the top of the stairs where they met Sam coming in from outside. He froze as he saw her and it made her chuckle despite the pain, "Damn, I must look like the roadkill I feel like. Dean won't even look at me." His grip on her arm tightened, but it was Sam that said, "I'm so glad to see you I don't think your looks matter." He was in front of her, gently giving her a hug before she could blink and that simple gesture was her undoing. Tears began to leak out of her eyes despite her attempt to hold them back.

She sniffled and attempted a laugh as she pulled back, "Sorry, I'm a little emotional. No sleep for a couple of days, you know." Neither of them laughed and she felt the need to clear the air, "This wasn't your fault guys. I know you did your best." Apparently, that wasn't the right thing to say because Dean's grip on her tightened further and Sam clinched his jaw, saying, "Not good enough." Before she could say anything else, Dean nudged her forward, "Come on, let's get you out of here." Sam jogged ahead of them saying, "I'll bring the car up."

The walk in the dark to the car was silent and it took far longer than Ellie thought possible. When Sam parked the car in front of them, he got out and headed back to the house, leaving her alone with Dean once more. Dean opened the back door, but Ellie stood still until he looked at her. "Dean," she started, but he shook his head. "Don't. Just don't Ellie. Nothing you say is going to change the way I feel about what happened." She took a shuddery breath and nodded. Climbing in to the back seat was painful, but she managed. Once she was settled, Dean set about cleaning the open wound on her leg and chin without saying a word. He worked efficiently, touching her as little as possible, but Ellie still felt every one like a brand. When he had her bandaged up, he said, "I'm going to go help Sam. There's water in the floorboard. It shouldn't take us long."

He didn't wait for her to reply, just shut the door and walked back towards the house. Ellie felt terrible, she had wanted to see them again, but not like this. Finding the water, she drained one bottle then opened a second. As she sat in the backseat, she realized the shorts and shirt she had been wearing when she was taken were in rough shape. Seeing one of the guys' plaids on the floor she scooped it up and put it over her good right shoulder then draped it over the injured left. The scent that enveloped her told her it was Dean's and she couldn't help but curl her fingers into it, bringing is closer. She didn't know how long the guys were gone, but before she knew it, she was laying on her right side in a deep sleep.

/

They had cleaned up the house making sure nothing was left of the pack. While inside they had argued about what to do about Eleanor. "Dean, she's going to be pissed if you just drop her off at a hospital. Not to mention there will be a million questions about her injuries that she can't answer," Sam said as he dragged a body out of the house. Dean stayed tight lipped on the matter. In his head, he had already decided. She needed them out of her life for good if she hoped to survive. Dean wasn't going to give her the choice.

Once outside they lit the fire under the stack of bodies and stayed to make sure it didn't get out of control. The fire didn't last long and they soon headed back to the car. As Dean opened the driver's door he looked in the backseat and lost his determination to drop her off and never look back. Head resting on her good arm, she was curled up in the shirt he had taken off earlier in the afternoon heat.

Getting in, he saw Sam look in the back as well, but refused to make eye contact with him. When they pulled out of the driveway, Dean took the road leading towards I-35 instead of back to Owasso and Sam marveled at the ease of Dean changing his mind with just a look at her. Sam really hadn't wanted to leave Ellie to answer questions on her own. At some point, someone was going to report her home being broken in to and then with her injuries, she'd never be able to explain it to the police without suspicions.

Two hours in to the drive, Ellie woke up with a groan, "Where are we?" Sam answered as she sat up in the middle of the backseat, "Just outside Salina, Kansas." He saw confusion on her face as she asked, "Salina?" Sam smiled, "Yeah. You're coming home with us." He continued to explain, "Your house is wrecked and with your injuries, you'd never convince the police it was a home invasion." She seemed to accept that, but seemed really disappointed about her house, "My house is really wrecked?" At Sam's nod, she swore, "Damn, I just finished it six months ago." Sam turned in the seat to look at her, "Your first thought is about your house?" Ellie's eyebrows scrunched together and then she winced as the skin pulled on her injured one and she replied, "Hell yeah. I mean, I knew the bookshelves would be rubble considering I landed in a couple before I blacked out, but wrecked…" She trailed off as she saw the look on Sam's face, "What?"

Sam risked a look at Dean before he asked, "Ellie, what happened?"

Ellie tried to take a deep breath, but winced at the pain, "Well, I was leaving a voicemail for Dean when they broke in. I don't remember when I dropped my phone, but it must have been when the first one hit me, sending me over the back of the couch into the bookshelf on the back wall. My ribs hurt then, but I tried to make a run for the front door. One of them tackled me from behind and we went over the shorter bookshelf by the door. My head must have hit the floor because I don't remember anything until I woke up in the back seat of a truck. They were talking about the one that Dean killed in the alley." She paused here and leaned forward towards Sam, "By the way, you know how I used that, count your turns and measure the distance by counting thing, in my third book? Complete trash. Or at least with a concussion it is. My head hurt so bad I thought it might come off my shoulders. I wish I could make corrections to already published work."

Sam wanted to laugh at the absurd comment, but he really wished she'd stop giving them so much detail. He could see that Dean was tensing up with each description. "Anyway, once we got to the house, they took me straight to the basement. After they shoved my shoulder back in place they tied me to a chair," she stopped as Sam asked, "Your shoulder?"

"Yeah my left shoulder must have popped out of the socket when I was tackled. They shoved it back in so they could get my hands behind me on the chair. Or at least I think so. I passed out when they put it back in and I woke up bound to the chair. After that, they came down long enough to give me water and let me up for a minute. After a while I figured I may as well try to get myself out before they decided to stop being gracious hosts. The chair I was tied to was old and worn and they had left my feet untied, so I decided to stand up and then smash it against the floor. To my surprise, it worked, but I broke my left hand in the process," at this, she looked down at her hand still swollen and now bruising.

"I'm not going to be able to type for weeks. Crap. My editor is gonna be pissed." Shaking her head, she looked back up at Sam avoiding Dean's eyes in the rear view mirror, "I grabbed one of the broken spindles and hid under the staircase. When one of them came down to see about the noise I jumped out, on to his back, knocking him to the ground and jabbed the stake under his ribs." Sam nodded at this point, "I was wondering why that was there." Ellie grinned, her face making more of a grimace as the split in her upper lip pulled, "It wasn't a very well thought plan, but I had hoped to buy enough time to get upstairs. It didn't work. He wolfed out just as I reached the stairs and knocked my feet out from under me. That's when Dean…" she trailed off as she locked eyes with him in the mirror. Dean moved his eyes back to the road and the moment passed. Ellie shrugged to herself, not knowing what to say. They were just entering Salina when she whispered, "I know I wouldn't have made it out of that basement without you guys."

Dean jerked the wheel hard to the right slamming to a stop in a parking lot. Sam knew it was worse than he thought when Dean slammed the door as he stalked away from them. As they sat in silence, watching Dean storm away, Ellie thought about how, in the basement, she had thought they would take her death. "I know it's been hard on you both when you lose someone, but you take things like this just as hard, don't you," she asked the back of Sam's head. He didn't turn around as she watched him swallow hard and nod. After a moment Sam said, "I'll go get him," but Ellie put her hand on his shoulder, "Let me, Sam." As she slid to the passenger side, she said, "Sam, I'm still glad I met you. I wouldn't go back for anything."

She closed the door behind her before he could reply. She walked as fast as her leg would let her, but it still took a minute to get to where Dean was pacing beneath a street light. She didn't say anything as she approached, just let him pace until he finally stopped and looked at her. She could see him taking in her injuries in the harsh light and she thanked the Lord that she had on his flannel to cover the bruising she knew was on her ribs.

When Dean didn't speak, she took the opportunity, "I'm right here Dean. A little bruised, but I'm here." Dean closed his eyes as he said, "Another minute and the results would have been different." Ellie walked up to him, placing a hand on his arm, "There was no extra minute. You got there. And you saved me. That's twice I owe you now in less than a month." Dean went to step back as he said, "You don't get it…" but Ellie held on to his arm and stepped closer. "Yes, I do. You think you failed. You think that by not be omniscient you put me in danger. But you're wrong. Nothing could have stopped what happened. If I hadn't met you that first night, I'd already be dead and we wouldn't be having this conversation."

As Dean stared down in to her face trying to accept her words she added, "Now, if for some reason, you think you still owe me, I'll give you a way to make us even." When Dean raised an eyebrow, she smiled, "Hold me for a minute, then help me to the car." Dean pulled her in to his body gently and she felt him relax against her as she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest. She heard him whisper in to her hair, "I think I can do that." Into his chest she said, "Good." Then she pulled back and said, "Cause then I'm gonna need you to go in to the diner behind you and get me all the bacon and eggs they have." When he raised both eyebrows at her and began to smirk she kept going with the quote, "Wait. Wait…I'm worried what you just heard was give me a lot of bacon and eggs. What I said was give me ALL the bacon and eggs you have." Together they finished the last line, "Do you understand?"

Sam watched in amazement as Ellie talked Dean down from the mental ledge he was walking and then in less than five minutes had him laughing. As they made their way back to the car, he thought that maybe having Ellie at the bunker would be more helpful to Dean than herself.