Title: Calls Me Home

Summary: A journey through seven seasons of Supernatural through the eyes of two Winchesters and a Singer.

Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Ruby Singer, Bobby Singer, John Winchester, and a whole ton of others.

Disclaimer: Everything you see here belongs to Eric Kripke & Co. The title belongs to the song "Calls Me Home" by Shannon LaBrie.

A/N: Not really sure where the inspiration for this came from. I think it mostly stemmed from various conversations with Becks Rylynn about how we imagined how certain Supernatural episodes would be if Ruby had been in them. Okay, so I know that under characters it says Ruby Singer. Well, truth is, Ruby is human in this story and I wracked my brain trying to figure out a back story for her. So the other night, I was thinking about this story and could picture the episode where Bobby dies clearly. I was wondering where Ruby would fit into the whole picture by that point in the story and just imagined her crying over Bobby despite being the tough girl she normally lets herself appear to be. I went back and forth for a while on whether to make her his daughter as I didn't want to undermine his bond with the Winchesters. I also own the book 'Bobby Singer's guide to hunting' and not to spoil anyone, there is something in the book that really cemented my choice in making Ruby be a Singer. I know that Bobby does say in the show that he never had kids because he didn't want to be like his father, but I'm combining that with the book a bit so hopefully Ruby's backstory will make sense.

Chapter One

The Winchesters were seemingly the perfect family. They lived in a pretty two story blue house in a quaint neighborhood in Laurence, Kansas. John Winchester was an ex Marine who now worked as a mechanic in a local auto shop while wife Mary stayed home caring for the house along with caring for their four year old son Dean and six month old son Sam. Life was seemingly perfect for the Winchesters or at least that's how it seemed. It was the night of November 2, 1983 that their lives were forever changed in an instant. Sam was officially six months old that day. Mary couldn't believe how fast her baby was growing. The day was as normal as every other day had been. John came home from work that night and they along with little Dean put Sam to bed. It was later that night when Mary awoke to find herself alone in her bedroom. Dean was fast asleep in his room and as she walked past the nursery, she saw the shadow of a man standing by the crib. She smiled believing it to be John and walked downstairs for a drink.

Then she head the sounds of the TV being on and checked only to see John asleep in his chair. Panic and fear coursed through Mary's body as she suddenly ran back up the stairs to the nursery. John was startled awake by the sound of Mary's scream echoing through the house. He ran up the stairs as fast as he could and went into Sam's nursery only to find that everything seemed normal. He checked on the infant who seemed to be okay and then noticed the red speck a few inches from Sam's small head. Then there another red speck and then another. John glanced up at the ceiling only to see the sight that he would never forget. His beloved wife pinned to the ceiling with her leg at an odd angle and a bleeding gash across her stomach. He was horrified and screaming her name. Dean walked in just as Mary burst into flames and John snapped out of it grabbing Sam. He placed the infant into Dean's arms and ordered his oldest son to carry his brother outside. He told him to never look back.

That was twenty two years ago. Now Sam was attending Stanford University with a major in Pre-law and lived with his girlfriend Jessica in an apartment on campus. Dean, on the other hand, was still hunting the things that went bump in the night and in the day. It was just past midnight when Dean pulled up in his 1967 black Chevy Impala that had been passed down to him from their father. Naturally it was dark and quiet outside the apartment building on the Stanford campus. The feisty blonde was fast asleep beside him in the passenger's seat. Dean quietly let himself out of the car and headed up to his brother's apartment. Pulling out his trusty lock pick, he was in the apartment in a matter of moments. The younger Winchester's eyes popped open at the faint sound of movement coming from within the apartment. He crept out of bed carefully as to not wake his girlfriend and tracked the sounds to the living room. Making out the silhouette of a man thanks to the slight beams of moonlight peeking through the curtains, Sam went straight for him. A fight broke out and soon they were both on the ground. They wrestled around until Dean managed to get the upper hand pinning him to the ground.

"Whoa, easy there, Tiger." Dean chuckled softly as he glanced down at his younger brother.

"Dean?" Sam glanced up at him as his face twisted into an expression that was a mix of confusion and relief. "You scared the crap out of me."

"That's because you're out of practice." Dean teased before finding himself on the ground staring up at his brother. "Or not. Get off of me."

"Dean, what the hell are you doing here?" Sam asked as he stood up before helping Dean up.

"Well I was looking for a beer." He started only to notice his brother's patented bitch face was on display. "Okay, alright, we have to talk."

"Uh, phone?" He questioned as if it were a no brainer.

"Would you of really answered if I had called?" Dean questioned though they both knew the answer to that.

Just then the lights flicked on and standing in the doorway that led to the back of the apartment was a tall curly blonde in pink short shorts along with a light blue Smurfs baby tee. All she said was Sam and he was about to assure her that everything was fine when another blonde made her presence. This one was shorter than Jessica with long straight blonde hair, a black leather jacket, vintage t shirt, black jeans, and black boots. Without saying a word, she walked straight up to Dean and smacked him hard upside the head. Sam couldn't help chuckling slightly at the scene before him and then snapped out of it as he focused on his girlfriend again.

"Jess, this is Dean. Dean, this is Jessica, my girlfriend." Sam introduced the two with a slight smile on his face.

The tall blonde nodded her head and smiled. "Dean, right. You're Sam's brother."

"I love the Smurfs." He remarked stepping closer toward her as he checked her out. "You know, I got to tell you, you are way out of my brother's league."

And with that, the shorter blonde smacked him again rolling her bright blue eyes, "Dean, upstairs brain please."

"And this is Ruby Singer. Family friend and practically the big sister I never had. Ruby, this is my girlfriend Jessica." Sam introduced chuckling again at his brother.

Ruby smiled genuinely at the other blonde and shook her hand, "I've heard so much about you. It's nice to finally meet you."

"What? Since when..." Dean trailed off seeing Ruby shooting him a look as if saying they'd discuss this another time and he quickly shut up.

Jessica smiled brightly returning the hand shake and glanced at them all. "Well it's great to finally meet you both. Let me just go put something on."

"No, no, no. I wouldn't dream of it. Seriously. Anyway, we've got to borrow your boyfriend here for a minute for some private family business, but it was nice meeting you too." He announced draping his arm around Ruby's waist pulling her to him ignoring her eye roll.

"No, anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of Jess." Sam said moving to be by her side draping his arm around her shoulders.

"Okay, well, Dad hasn't been home in a few days." Dean spoke carefully hoping to get the hint across to Sam.

"So he's working overtime on a Miller Time shift. He'll stumble back in soon enough." Sam brushed it off stubbornly not getting the hint completely.

"Dad's on a hunting trip and he hasn't been home in a few days." He cleared his throat speaking in a more serious tone hoping to get his point across this time.

"Um, Jess, excuse us. We're just going to step outside for a moment." Sam said finally getting the hint and kissed his girlfriend's head before heading outside.

He walked with Ruby and Dean down the stairs to the Impala. She just listened at first as Sam told Dean he couldn't just break in during the middle of the night and expect him to go on the road with them. He was right, of course, but she knew how much Dean missed him. She leaned against the Impala snapping out of her thoughts when she heard them arguing.

"I swore I was done hunting for good!" Sam exclaimed in a huff looking at his older brother.

"Come on, it wasn't easy, but it wasn't that bad." Dean said downplaying the whole thing just a bit.

"Yeah? When I told dad I was afraid of the thing in my closet he gave me a .45."

"Well, what was he suppose to do?"

"I was 9 years old. He was supposed to say 'Don't be afraid of the dark.' "

"Don't be afraid of the dark? What, are you kidding me? Of course you should be afraid of the dark! You know what's out there!"

"Yeah, I know, but still, the way we grew up after mom was killed, and dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her, but we still haven't found the damn thing so we kill everything we can find."

"And save a lot of people doing it."

"You think mom would have wanted this for us? The weapon training and melting the silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors." Sam said shaking his head and signing softly.

It was then that Ruby chose to speak up as she moved to open the trunk rifling through it. "Sam, no mother wants that for their child, but you do what you have to do to protect your own. Yes, your dad went about things the wrong way, but he didn't want to lose you guys the same way that you all lost your mom. So he did what he could to protect you."

"So, what are you gonna do? You just gonna live some normal, apple-pie life? Is that it?" Dean said completely ignoring everything that Ruby had just said.

"Not normal. Safe."

"And that's why you ran away?"

"I was just going to college. It was dad who said if I was gonna go, I should stay gone. And that's what I'm doing."

"Yeah, well, Dad's in real trouble this time if not already dead. I can feel it. We need your help. We can't do this without you, Sammy."

"Yes, you can."

"Yeah, well I don't want to."

"So what was he hunting? And why didn't you go with dad?" Sam asked with a sigh as he scratched his head.

"I was working my own gig down in New Orleans with Ruby. A voodoo thing." He shrugged as Ruby handed him a recorder.

"He let you go hunting on your own.." He trailed off pausing before shooting an apologetic look toward Ruby. "I mean, on your own with Ruby?"

"Dude, I'm 26. What dad doesn't know won't kill him."

Ruby rolled her eyes and handed a file to Sam who flipped it open studying the contents.

"So dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago this guy, they found his car but he'd vanished, completely M.I.A." Dean pulled a photo out to show Sam the missing guy and the wreckage of the car.

"Maybe he was kidnapped." He shrugged considering it a plausible explanation.

"Yeah, well here's another one in April, another one in December '04, '03, '98, '92. Ten of them over the past 20 years, all men, all same 5-mile stretch of road. Started happening more and more so dad went to go dig around. That was about three weeks ago. I hadn't heard from him since, which is bad enough." He takes out his phone and goes into his voicemail. "And then I get this voicemail."

"Dean, something is starting to happen, I think it's serious. I need to try to figure out what's going on," said John and most of the voicemail was trashed after more of the static interrupted it. "Be very careful Dean, we're all in danger."

"You know there's EVP on that." Sam pointed out after listening to the voicemail carefully.

"Not bad, Sammy. Kind of like riding a bicycle, isn't it? Ruby, why don't you tell him what you did?" He chuckled teasing his brother slightly before glancing over at the blonde.

"Well, I slowed the message down and ran it through a Gold Wave. Took out the hiss and this is what I got." She glanced over at Dean who turned on the recorder. A woman's voice was heard. "I can never go home."

"Never go home." Sam repeated glancing at both of them.

"You know, in almost two years, I've never bothered you. Never asked you for a thing." Dean remarked putting everything back in the trunk and shut it.

"Alright, I'll go, but I have to be back by Monday." Sam relented finally agreeing to his brother's wishes.

"Why? What's Monday?" He glanced over at Sam curiously.

"I have an interview."

"A job interview? Eh, skip it." Dean smirked chuckling slightly.

"It's a law school interview and it's basically my whole future on a plate." Sam admitted nodding slightly.

Ruby's eyes widened and she grinned throwing herself into Sam's arms hugging him tightly, "Oh my god, that is amazing, Sam! I'm so proud of you, kiddo!"

"Law school?"

"So we got a deal or not?"

"Yeah we do." Dean nodded watching Sam go inside before looking at Ruby, "Excited much?"

Ruby glared at him slightly and shook her head. "Shut up. I'm just happy for him, okay?"

"Want breakfast?" Dean asked Sam who was going through his cassette tapes.

"No thanks. So how'd you pay for this stuff anyway? You and dad still running credit card scams." He asked still looking through the cassette tapes.

"Yeah well, hunting ain't exactly a pro-ball career. Besides, we just fill out the applications. Their fault for sending the cards." Dean said as he got back into the car offering food and drink to Ruby who was stretched out across the back and gladly accepted it.

"Yeah and what names did you write on the application this time?"

"Uh, Bert Aframian and his son, Hector. Scored two cards out of the deal."

"Sounds about right," said Sam. "I swear man, you gotta update your cassette tape collection."

"Why?" Dean asked only to roll his eyes hearing Ruby snort in the back as she failed miserably to keep from laughing.

"Well, for one, they are cassette tapes and two, Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica? It's the greatest hits of mullet rock."

"House rules, Sammy." He remarked grabbing a tape and popping it into the player. "Driver picks the music. Shotgun shuts his cakehole."

"And Sammy is a chubby 12 year old. It's Sam, okay?"

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you. The music's too loud." Dean pulled out of the gas station and turned the volume up letting Back In Black blast throughout the car.

As they got closer to Jericho, Sam began to make various phone calls. There was no one matching their father's description at the hospital or the morgue. They arrived at the bridge only to see a blockade of police cars. Dean stopped the car pulling out three fake IDs handing one to Sam and one to Ruby. They were posing as Federal Marshalls and unfortunately didn't learn anything new from the cops at the scene. After returning to the Impala, the three of them split up with the boys going off to interview the latest victim's girlfriend Amy while Ruby headed off to the library to do some research. She started by looking up the history of the bridge, but nothing really stood out. The blonde had just moved over to the computers when she spotted Sam and Dean.

"We have something on the town. A local legend of a woman who had gotten murdered near that bridge."

Ruby nodded her head listening as Dean spoke and then watched as he sat down in front of one of the computers. He went to Jericho's webpage and typed Female Murder Hitchhiking in the search bar. No results came up. He tried again using Female Murder Centennial Highway and once again there were no results. Ruby laughed slightly only to quiet down when Dean shot her a glare and Sam to that moment to steal the mouse.

"Let me try."

"I got it." Dean smacked his hand away only to get pushed aside. "Control freak."

"So angry spirits are born out of violent deaths, right?"

"Yeah," Dean said looking toward the computer screen again.

"Maybe it's not a murder." Sam typed in Female Suicide Centennial Highway and a result came up.

Ruby watched Sam click on the result link and a news article popped up onscreen. "This is from 1981. Constance Welch, Twenty Four years old, jumps off of bridge and drowns in river."

"Does it say why she did it?"

"Yeah."

"What?"

"An hour before they found her, she had called 911. Her two little kids were in the bathtub. She leaves them alone for a minute, comes back, and they aren't breathing. Both die." Sam said reading from the article.

The blonde bit her lip in thought before reading a quote from the woman's husband. "Our babies were gone and Constance just couldn't handle it, said her husband Joseph Welch."

Beside the picture of Joseph was a picture of the bridge they had been at earlier.

"That bridge look familiar to you?" Dean pointed out and all three had the same thought.

They had to go back to that bridge.

"So do you think Dad would of been here?" Sam asked cocking his eyebrow after they peered over the railing of the bridge.

"Well, he's chasing the same story and we're chasing him." Dean shrugged.

"Okay, so now what?"

"Now we keep digging till we find him. It might take a while."

"Dean I told you, I've gotta get back by-"

"Monday, right, the interview." Dean rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I forgot. You're really serious about this aren't you? You think you're just gonna become some lawyer? Marry your girl?"

Ruby narrowed her eyes knowing all of this wasn't helping anything, "Dean."

"Maybe. Why not?"

"Does Jessica know the truth about you? I mean, does she know about the things you've done?"

"No and she's not ever going to know."

"Well, that's healthy. You can pretend all you want, Sammy. But sooner or later you are going to have to face up to who you really are." Dean said as he continued to walk along the bridge.

"Oh yeah and who's that?"

"One of us."

"No, I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life."

"Well you've got a responsibility."

"To dad and his crusade? If it weren't for pictures I wouldn't even know what mom looks like. What difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, mom's gone and she isn't coming back!" Sam exclaimed only for Dean to grab him and shove him against one of the rail posts of the bridge.

"Don't talk about her like that."

Ruby had never seen Dean so angry and upset before though she couldn't blame him. Unlike Sam, Dean still had actual memories of their mother. She could sympathize with him as she still had memories of her mother as well. Before she could even attempt to break them apart, a woman in a white dress caught her attention.

She smacked Dean's shoulder repeatedly trying to get his attention as she kept her eyes on the brunette woman, "Uh guys?"

They both followed her gaze as Dean let go of Sam and the three of them watched as the woman jumped off of the bridge. They ran to where she had jumped and peered over the railing. There was no sign of anyone down in the water. They didn't know where she went. Suddenly, they heard the all too familiar purr of the Impala's engine.

Ruby glanced over only to see the headlights flick on. "Uh Dean, who's driving your car?"

It was then that Dean pulled the keys out of his pocket. The engine revved up and suddenly the car began to drive toward them. They ran as fast as they could before hopping over the railing of the bridge. Suddenly everything went silent and the car came to a stop instantly turning off. Sam and Ruby were holding onto the railing, but Dean was nowhere to be found.

"Dean!" Sam called out in slight panic as he scanned the area for his older brother.

"Yeah, I'm alright." He called out as he stood up covered in what appeared to be mud eliciting a slight laugh from both Sam and Ruby.

The three of them made their way back onto the bridge with Dean inspecting the Impala before deeming it to be fine. They headed to a nearby motel for the night and Ruby was leaning against the car as the boys checked in. To their surprise, their father had been checked into a room there as well. They filled Ruby in and the three of them headed to John's room only for their eyes to widen at what they found. The walls were covered in pictures and newspaper articles.

"I don't think he's been here for a couple of days at least."

"Salt, cat's eye shells, He was worried. Trying to keep something from coming in." Sam noted as he studied the salt and the cat's eye shells.

"Centennial Highway victims. I don't get it. I mean different men, different jobs, ages, ethnicities. There's always a connection right? What do these guys have in common?" asked Dean as he looked at the photos of the victims.

"Dad figured it out." The younger Winchester said gesturing to a printout of a picture of a woman in white on the wall. "He found the same article that we did. Constance Welch, she's a woman in white."

"You sly dogs. All right, so if we're dealing with a woman in white, dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it." Dean said earning an eye roll from Ruby's direction.

"She might have another weakness."

"No, dad would want to make sure, he'd dig her up. Does it say where she's buried?"

"No, not that I can tell. If I were dad though, I'd ask her husband. If he's still alive."

"All right, why don't you see if you can find an address? I'm gonna get cleaned up."

"Hey Dean, what I said earlier, about mom and dad, I'm sorry."

"No chick flick moments." He said holding his hand up.

"Alright jerk."

"Bitch" Dean said then headed over to their room to clean up while Sam and Ruby gathered anything that might be of use from John's room.

"Hey man, I'm starving. I'm gonna grab a little something to eat at the diner down the street. You want anything?" Dean said a little while later as he stepped out of the bathroom in fresh clothes after his shower.

"No thanks."

"You sure, Sammy? Aframian's paying." Dean teased holding the credit card, "Alright then. Ruby, you in?"

Ruby nodded standing up stretching a little before following Dean out the door. They barely made it a few feet from the room when they spotted two cops walking toward them. Dean pulled out his phone warning Sam and telling him to go find their dad since the cops had spotted them yet didn't see Sam.

The blond sighed inwardly wondering if her daddy was going to kill her or Dean for getting her arrested. "Is there a problem officers?"

"So fake US Marshals, fake credit cards. You got anything that's real?"

"Her boobs." Dean nodded with a smug grin only to get elbowed hard in the side by Ruby.

With the cops distracted by them, Sam was able to gather all of their things and sneak out of the room through a back window. He managed to get to the Impala undetected and throw their things into the car before driving off. Meanwhile, Dean and Ruby were taken down to the local sheriff's office. They were held separately and Dean was being a bit of a smartass to the cop that was interrogating him. Then his father's journal was dropped down on the table in front of him. The cop pointed out a coordinate that John Winchester had written in the journal and left behind for his sons to find. Dean knew by now that his father was long gone from Jericho, California. Suddenly, all the cops were rushing out leaving Dean and Ruby alone. He grabbed a paper clip straightening it before unlocking his handcuffs.

"Ruby?" Dean called out in a hushed whisper as he walked out of the room tucking the journal away in his coat pocket.

Ruby was handcuffed to a desk feeling highly annoyed until she heard Dean's voice, "Over here!"

"Hey, I'll get you out of that in a second." He said as he caught sight of her and went over unlocking her handcuff.

She rubbed her wrist once the cuff was off and looked up only to realize just how close her face was to Dean's at that moment, "Thanks."

The blonde was beautiful. That was something he'd never deny. Still, this certainly wasn't the time. Grabbing her hand, Dean led her over to a window that opened out to an alley. He climbed out first landing on his feet and straightened up before looking toward the window. He gestured for her to climb out and she nodded her head before beginning to climb out. Ruby let go of the window sill falling until she felt him catch her instead of her landing on her feet. She shot him a grateful look and then he set her on her feet. The pair hurried away from the building finding a phone booth a few blocks over and Dean called Sam. Ruby just listened as Dean talked only to grow concerned when he suddenly looked panicked as he started calling out Sam's name.

"Let's go. The Welch house isn't that far." Dean said as he stepped out of the booth before running with Ruby toward the house.

The Impala drove past them and Dean pulled out his gun shooting at the ghost.

"I'm taking you home." With the ghost gone for the moment, Sam floored it and drove the Impala right into the Welch's old home.

"Sam!" They both yelled as they ran toward the house going in through the hole the Impala made.

"Sammy, you okay?" Dean asked with an obvious look of concern upon his face as he peered through the open Impala window at his younger brother.

"I think."

Ruby sighed in relief and peered in as well. "Can you move?"

"Yeah, help me."

The two of them helped Sam out of the car and he stretched his body out a bit. Suddenly, all three of them ended up pinned between the Impala and an old dresser. They could only watch helplessly as the ghost stepped toward them only for her to stop and pick up a picture of her family. It was then that the spirits of her late children appeared and took her away. The dresser stopped pinning them once she was gone and they were able to push it away. It wasn't long afterward that the boys and Ruby drove back to the Stanford campus.

Reluctantly, Dean bid goodbye to his younger brother and watched as Ruby did as well. They watched him wave before he entered the building his apartment was in and then Dean drove off in the Impala. Sam walked into the apartment calling out his girlfriend's name only to find a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies on the kitchen along with a cute little note from her. He smiled and grabbed a cookie before heading to their bedroom where he could hear the shower running. In the Impala, Dean headed down the road further away from the campus and glanced over at Ruby.

"You never told me that you kept in touch with Sam."

The blonde shook her head knowing this conversation was coming. "I didn't want to upset you, alright? Do you know how many times I've seen you pick up your phone to call him, but never actually going through with the call? Besides, someone had to look out for the kid and make sure he was doing right."

Before Dean could say anything in response, he noticed the time and remembering the date, he made a u turn speeding back toward Sam's apartment building. It was the exact time and day that their mother had died twenty two years ago. The last thing that Dean wanted was for history to repeat itself. As he pulled up outside the building, Dean quickly got out of the car and ran inside the building with Ruby alongside him. Sam was still in his room laying in his bed with his eyes closed smiling contently. Then he felt it. A drop of water upon his forehead. He made a slight face and then relaxed again only to feel another drop a moment later. He made another face and his hazel green eyes opened only for him to be horrified at what he saw. Pinned to the ceiling with a look of shock upon her face was Jessica with her leg bent in an awkward position and a gash along her stomach. He sat up quickly and began screaming her name as he climbed out of the bed. Then suddenly he heard Dean calling his name as Jessica suddenly burst into flames. The elder Winchester brother burst into the room and grabbed Sam fighting to pull him out of the room. Ruby stared up in shock and stood there frozen for a few moments before snapping out of it when she heard Dean calling her name. She turned to run out of the room when she saw the picture on the dresser. It was of Sam and Dean's mother. Grabbing it, she quickly ran out of the room and found Sam's bag that he had dropped along the way. She carefully tucked the picture inside of the bag as she lugged it outside the apartment. A crowd gathered outside the building as emergency crews showed up to fight the fire. Dean and Ruby blended in with the crowd while Sam was by the Impala loading a shotgun in front of the open trunk. The pair then walked over to check on the younger Winchester and he simply looked at them as he set the shotgun back down in the trunk before slamming the trunk closed speaking only five ominous words.

"We've got work to do."