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“I’m going to the car.” Sam said picking up his bag.
Sam and Bobby were planning to go out for a possible local case. Bobby had insisted that he go out on this case(mainly to get time away from this domestic loop they’ve been in for some time now), so it was left between Sam and Dean to decide on who would be staying to watch the kids. After much consideration, and by consideration I mean arguing over who should really have to stay with the three devils, they decided to end it with rock paper scissors which, of course, Dean lost.
Bobby came up from the basement carrying his kit of supplies they may need while on the trip. They weren’t taking the impala so it wasn’t stocked with all the necessary supplies needed for most cases. Cas, Balthazar and Gabriel sat at the couch, watching Sam and Bobby prepare to go with Dean helping where ever it was needed. They were going to most likely be back same night or tomorrow morning tops, depending on how serious the case was. But because the possible case was local they wouldn’t be gone for long.
Sam came back in through the front door. Bobby handed him his bag which Sam took back out the door and to his car. Bobby turned to Dean. “Now make sure you don’t destroy my house especially if we’re going to be out overnight or longer. You know where everything is.” He turned to the three toddlers who were sitting on the couch. “Now you three better not cause any problems, I will find out, you will regret it. You got that?” The three of them nodded in understanding.
Sam walked back inside. “Everything’s packed and ready to go.” Bobby took one last quick look around himself.
“Remember what I said” Bobby said as he left the house with Sam following behind him. Dean went outside to say a few goodbyes; the hunter’s life is obviously not exactly the safest, they knew that may come a time where they don’t come home. Cas, Balthazar and Gabriel went outside with Dean.
“Be safe.” Dean called out to them as Sam started the car.
“Bye Sam. Bye Bobby.” The other little ones shouted waving to them.
Cas ran over to Dean and raised his arms to be carried so he could be seen the most. Dean picked him up and Gabriel ran over to Dean and made the same motions. Dean sighed and picked him up too. After having three toddlers who were all basically less than three years old for nearly 2 or 3 weeks now has taught both Sam and Dean how to pick up and carry two toddlers at the same time. The three of them waved until Sam and Bobby were no longer seen.
“Come on let’s get back inside.” Dean nudged Balthazar towards the door and put Gabriel and Cas down once they were inside.
After a quick late lunch the kids wanted to go outside to play. Dean got them dressed and took them out.
Dean let them play tag, hide and seek and all those other games that they wouldn’t have played when they were their normal selves in lots of old broken cars, so long as they made sure to stay where Dean could see them. While they played, he worked on his car.
Their fun and games though, were cut short once it started to rain. At first it started as a light drizzle which they didn’t mind but as the sky got darker the rain began to get heavier, Dean decided it was time to get back inside.
“Get back here!” Dean yelled at Gabriel and Balthazar who were tracking mud all over the kitchen floor. Cas, being the more obedient one, waited at the door untying his shoes as Dean ran through the lower level to catch them.
After a few slammed doors and quite a bit of yelling Dean returned to the kitchen with each one under each arm. Dean dropped them onto the floor. “Now take off your shoes. And once you’re done we aregoing to clean up every one of your muddy footprints.” Dean stood near them with arms crossed as he waited for the two other toddlers to finish untying their shoes, which proved to be hard with little fingers like theirs.
Once they had finally gotten their shoes off, Dean set Cas up in the living room with a good movie and then, with much reluctance from Balthazar and Gabriel, they got started on wiping down every one of their muddy little foot prints.
When the lower floor finally met his satisfaction Dean let the two boys go join their brother in the living room so he could get started on their dinner.
Dean cut the carrots and broccoli which he planned to steam later with an old Led Zeppelin tape playing on the radio in the background. Dean looked out the kitchen window. The rain still hadn’t let up, if anything it was falling harder than it was earlier. He guessed that it was probably going to be storming soon. Dean’s thoughts were interrupted by yelling from living room. The three of them were at it again, arguing over what movie they should play next.
After Balthazar, Cas, and Gabriel changed from their century old butt-kicking-angel-selves into 3 powerless 2 and half year olds who ended up having to live with 3 hunters, Sam and Dean went through most of Bobby’s old storages and found as many of their old vhs tapes that they would have watched when their dad left them there that Bobby kept. And eventually Dean went into town to buy a dvd player, a lot of dvds, coloring books and crayons….basically what he thought would keep them entertained long enough to keep them out of their hair and out of mischief. But so many choices also meant they had more disagreements.
Dean sighed, put the knife down and wiped his hands on his jeans as he made his way to the living room. He walked into the room. For the past few weeks this had been where the kids spent most of their time, aside from the bedroom which they slept in or when they went out to play, so it wasn’t exactly the cleanest room in the house. There were a few blankets bunched up on the couches, crayons and papers strewn about the floor, an empty bowl and sip cups on the coffee table and next to the tv, a fairly large stack of movies.
He walked in to find Cas lying on his stomach on the floor silently coloring in his favorite coloring book which was a Christian one which was full cartoons of happy angels, god and heaven and Gabriel and Balthazar arguing both of with was holding a different movie in hand.
“I want to watch Cars!” Balthazar shouted
“No, we’ve watched it a thousand times already, let’s watch Casper!” Gabriel yelled back pushing the tape towards Balthazar. Balthazar dropped the cd case and pushed Gabriel back.
“Hey! What’s going on here” Dean jumped in before it could get any more physical.
“He wants to watch a stupid movie.” Balthazar responded scowling at Gabriel
“And he wants to watch an even stupider one”
Balthazar jumped out towards Gabriel but Dean was faster and caught them both a pulled them away from each other, both of their shirts fisted in each of Dean’s hands. “Don’t you dare try to hit your brother” Dean said “now either you pick something you both want or don’t watch anything at all.” He slowly let them both go. Neither Gabriel nor Balthazar made any movement towards their giant hoard of movies. “Alright I’ll pick one myself.” Dean went and picked up the first vhs tape he saw. It was Little Rascals.
He handed it to the two boys “there you go, now you’re going to watch that and I better not hear any more out you two, okay” Gabriel opened his mouth to protest, but just he almost began to speak thunder clapped and rumbled throughout the house. The three toddlers all froze and looked out the window. Gabriel closed his mouth and took the tape to put it in the VCR. Dean was surprised at Gabriel for complying so quickly but he needed to get back to dinner so he didn’t really try to over think it and left the room.
It was nearly 1 hour and a half later that Dean called to them to wash their hands and come for dinner. By now the rain still hadn’t let up, and it was what could be considered storming. There was lightning, thunder and the rain pounded so hard on the roof that it could be heard all throughout Bobby’s place. The rain seemed to have an effect on Cas, Balthazar, and Gabriel, and Dean noticed. Once they were placed at the table and severed their meal all they did was pick at their food quietly, taking very few bites at a time. As thunder boomed and lighting crashed the more and more tense they seemed to grow.
“Are they scared of thunder” Dean thought to himself. He could see that they were acting strangely, they didn’t fight, fling food, no complaints or bad manners. At any other point in time Dean would have been thankful but their silence right now was worrying him a bit.
Once dinner was over and the table was cleared it was bath time, one of the Winchester’s most dreaded times of any given day. But yet again to Dean’s surprise none of them objected or tried to escape, they didn’t even try to splash each other or Dean. They sat in the water quietly playing with the small boats and ducks. Dean still wasn’t sure if he should mention anything to them or just keep his mouth shut and let them settle it out for themselves.
Dean picked Gabriel out of the tub, just as he was being lifted a loud clap of thunder shook through the house, louder than any before. All three of the angel toddlers flinched as though they were about to be struck, Gabriel tightly gripped onto Dean’s collar.
Gabriel looked at Dean and quickly let go “Sorry” He mumbled as Dean set him down on the bathroom floor and moved on to Balthazar. Dean eyed them suspiciously but still, he remained silent.
With the bath drained and the kids fully clothed and ready for bed, they went back downstairs to watch more television. Dean set them up with a movie that even he could watch with some amusement and then went to go get snacks.
Dean returned and set a bowl of pretzels down in front of them but no one said anything or made any movement towards the bowl. “Okay that’s it. Do any of you want to tell me what’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” Balthazar said uneasily
“Yeah we’re fine” Gabriel added
Cas said nothing, he averted his eyes to avoid having to meet Dean’s stare. But Dean noticed “Cas?” He said accusingly “Is there something wrong.” Cas still unable to look up slowly nodded. Dean was getting irritated, not at the boys so much as the fact they didn’t trust Dean enough to confide in him. Just as Dean was about to pry in further, his cell phone rang. He looked around the room to find it. It was upstairs. Dean ran upstairs to the bathroom to answer his phone. The kids’ eyes, filled with fear, followed Dean as he ran up and left them alone.
Dean picked up his phone just in time. “Hello?”
“Hey Dean it’s Sam.” His voice was static on the line. “Dean?” He shouted
“Yeah I’m here.” Dean raised his voice a little to be heard well. “What’s up?”
“Bobby and I are staying overnight, we’ve got a good lead and we plan to go to finish it tonight.”
“Okay, be careful out there.”
“Will do” Sam responded, the static noise began to grow “How are the boys?”
“I don’t know they seem fine but they’re being really chill for some reason it’s got me a little worried.”
“Dean! I…n’t....er you. You’re…eaking…up” Sam’s call failed. The lights around him began to flicker. Ghosts? The lights flickered again, but this time they went out all together, plunging him into a sudden darkness.
Dean heard all three of the boys scream from downstairs. “I’m coming” He called, using his phone as a light to navigate his way out of the room.
“Just stay where you are.”He slowly but surely made it downstairs. He couldn’t see them but Dean could hear their heavy footsteps running towards him. When they reached him Dean nearly dropped his phone from impact of them crashing into Dean’s legs.
They were all distressed and scarred of the storm outside, and Dean had guessed it correctly. Dean could feel the toddlers holding their hand up to be lifted. Dean stuck his phone in his back pocket and picked up two of them, which happened to be Gabriel and Balthazar. They clung tightly to Dean. But Cas was also frightened.
Another flash of lighting and crash of thunder rang like a gunshot. Cas screamed and began to cry; which only bothered the other two even more bringing them to tears as well. Dean sighed, it was going to be a long night he could feel it. He’s never held all three of them at once but this seemed to be his only option to quite them down. Dean knelt down as much as he could and opened his arms just enough to give room for Cas to hold onto Dean before he hooked his hands back together. Dean heaved himself back up carrying all three at once. They weren’t heavy but it was a lot to handle at once.
Dean slowly made his way to couches bouncing and rocking them the best he could without losing his grip on the way. “It’s okay.” He tried to soothe them “It’s just a little rain, it going to stop soon enough.”
Dean reached the couch and sat them on the couch, he had to pry off their little fingers just so could straighten back up. Dean pulled his phone out and turned the flash light on. He handed it to Gabriel. The three of them all bundled together, tightly holding on to each other as a few more tears stray streamed down their faces. Dean felt bad for them and wasn’t sure what to do to make it better for them, but then all of a sudden he had an idea.
“I’ll be right back I just need to get a few things.”
“No wait” Balthazar screamed
“Don’t leave us” Cas said sounding as though he was about to cry again
“It’s okay, you’ll be fine. I just need to get so supplies.” Dean said
“Dean don’t.” Gabriel said tightly holding on to phone like it was some form of weapon.
“Hey, come on you guys will be fine. Come on you guys were all powerful angels of the lord right?” They nodded slightly “So do you think you can stay here for just 2 minutes? 120 seconds? Come on I’ll count with you ready” They looked at each other silently as though they were discussing it telepathically.
Then finally Gabriel spoke up “Make it quick Winchester” he responded sternly
“Okay go” Dean said as he walked towards the staircase
“One, Two, Three…” The three counted in unison.
Dean quickly made his way upstairs and into Sam’s room. He took the heavy duty flashlight that was kept under the bed. After turning it on he took a quick look around the room. His eyes focused on Sam’s battery powered speakers and fully charged mp3. The needs of the many out way the needs of the few… he told himself before taking them and moving on to the boys’ room to take the blankets and pillows of their bed. With all the items jumbled into a bundle Dean ran downstairs. He threw the bundle on the ground of the living room.
The boys were all sitting closely together still counting, “84, 85, 86…”
“Okay almost done.” Dean mumbled before running into the study. Dean gathered together all the candles they used for summoning and rituals and a box of matches, and then made his way back to the living room.
Dean put all the candles on the coffee table.”See that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“What’s all this for?” Balthazar asked.
Dean remembered a time when he and Sam were in motel room alone over night, it was when they were really young, he was probably 10, maybe 12 years old. But that night was one of the worst storms in the state’s history and though it hadn’t bothered Dean too much, Sam on the other hand was terrified. He hid under the covers shaking with fear. Dean spent the night trying to keep him calm by doing things that distracted Sam from the storm. He let Sam use his walkman to play music to muffle out as much of the storm as he could. They also ate junk food under a fort they had built between the two beds in the motel. It was a lot of fun he had to admit and it did the trick and got Sam to calm down and eventually go to sleep. Dean decided he was going to try that approach.
“To have fun” Dean responded. He went to close the blinds so the kids couldn’t see what was going on outside. Cas, Balthazar and Gabriel were still to petrified to do anything but watch as Dean set the candles up around the room and lit them, each candle made the room just a little brighter and the soft glow made it more relaxing. Dean was done and had placed the giant flashlight in the center of the room.
The room was dimly lit but everyone could still see each other and everything around them.
“Now what” Cas asked uneasily
Dean set up Sam’s iPod to the speakers and let it blast whatever song came on first on shuffle. It was “Jessie’s Girl” it wasn’t exactly his taste but right now he couldn’t care less. “We are going to build a fort.”
“Really Dean” Gabriel began “It’s Armageddon out there and you want us to build a tent?”
“No” Dean tried to stay steady and not get irritated “We’re going to camp out here tonight. Have you guys ever tried indoor camping?” They all shook their heads “Oh my- you haven’t?” Dean tried to sound exaggerated like it was absolutely criminal. “Come on let try it then.” The boys didn’t get up, nor did it seem like they wanted to. Dean slowly got them to their feet. Even though they were all standing they were huddled together and still unmoving.
*Boom* another burst of thunder. All three of them ran to Dean wrapping their arms around his legs. The thing was that Dean could see Cas and maybe even Balthazar sometimes acting like this to something they were scarred of, but Gabriel, the one who had always felt as though he had to be the brave, strong one who never could show weakness was currently clinging onto him like, well, a scared child, literally. This is what worried him the most.
“Iron man” By black Sabbath came on. Dean’s ears perked up, he knew this song, in fact he loved this song and frankly he was surprised that Sam would even have this song on there.
“Do you guys know this song?” Dean asked them softly. Gabriel and Balthazar nodded. Cas didn’t, which was pretty typical, it was Cas. “Do you guys like this song?” They nodded.
*((Okay so you don’t have to but if you like you can play the song at this if you want more of an effect))*
Dean released himself from their grip to turn it up a bit. “Well come on then.” Dean said just before the opening instrumental ended “Has he lost his mind? Can he see or is he blind?” He sang trying to coax them to join in. “Oh come on don’t make me do this alone” The three of them looked extremely confused right now. Was this really the Dean Winchester doing this right now? “Or if he moves will he fall” Dean continued. He took Balthazar’s hand and pulled him forward. “You know the words, I know you do” Dean said coolly “Is he alive or dead?”
“Has he thoughts within his head?” Balthazar finished with a small timid voice. Dean smiled and clapped him on the back proudly.
“We’ll just pass him there. Why should we even care?” They both said together but Balthazar had to ease into it more than Dean.
“Come Gabe, you know you want to.” Dean said holding out a hand, Gabriel folded his arms. He seemed uneasy about joining in with the two of the others. Dean wasn’t sure if it was because of the weather or if he was too embarrassed to do it.
“Come on Gabriel” Cas said shaking him by the shoulders a little “It looks like fun”
“He was turned to steel-” Dean and Balthazar sang
“In the great magnetic field” Gabriel joined in uneasily, a small croaked smile spread across his face.
Dean felt a small sense of pride and excitement in this “When he traveled time for the future of mankind.” They all sang together. There were big grins spreading on both of the boys’ faces.
“What about me” Cas piped up I want to have fun too.”
“Well come on then” Dean said picking him up and hoisting him onto his shoulders as the kids continued to sing along. “And mini angels solo” Dean said pointing to the two boys on the floor once Cas was settled up there.
“Planning his vengeance that he’ll soon unfurl” The boys shouted more than sang at Dean
“And epic guitar solo” Dean said playing an air guitar and making weird dance moves that made the boys all laugh and join in, except for Cas who was clinging on to Dean’s head squealing with glee.
Once the song was over they all sat on the ground out of breath and laughing as the next song played. Dean couldn’t remember the last time he had that much fun, even if it was fairly short lived. And it seemed to have done the trick; they seemed to be more relaxed and less anxious now.
But as though Dean had jinxed it, more thunder and lightning came in. Dean held his breath and eyed them closely. The boys froze up and Balthazar was clung onto Dean’s sleeve but they seemed to be more relaxed then they were before; which was somewhat of a relief to Dean, but they were still frightened never the less.
“So now what are we going to do” Gabriel asked sitting up to face Dean.
“Can we build that fort you were talking about earlier” Balthazar asked Dean
Once their fort was built the rain had let up significantly, though there were still some random bouts of thunder or lighting that they were too distracted to notice. Cas, Gabriel and Balthazar crawled inside to see what it was like inside.
They had brought in the large flashlight with them, causing it to shine through the translucent sheets and cast shadows cause by the three toddlers inside.
Cas peaked his head out and said “It’s so big in here” before going back in to rejoin his brothers. Dean sat back on the couch, eating some of their still uneaten snacks and sipping from his half-empty beer bottle, admiring their work, listening to the three of them giggle as they made hand puppets and play which their other toys they brought in with them.
Dean reminisced back to when he first met them, though they hadn’t met all at once, each time he saw them they were first perceived as threats. Now look at them; pint-sized, powerless and with no one to care for them. Well now it was Dean, Sam and even Bobby who stepped up and took them in cared for them. Sometimes Dean had a hard time connecting his 3 little wards as those 3 powerful angels who he had both fought alongside of and sometimes against. They way they are now could have been defined as immature if they didn’t look like a bunch of 2-3 year olds. For some reason the goddess not only degraded their physical age but also their mental age. Which most times Dean was thankful for because though they did still have their same memories and in some aspects attitudes, Dean was pretty sure he wouldn’t have been able to deal with three literal man-children trying to run his life.
Dean’s inner thoughts were interrupted by Balthazar shaking Dean’s knees to get his attention. Balthazar wasn’t really clingy but he did have little but there were sometimes when he was. “Come on Dean.” Balthazar wrapped in hands around Dean’s fingers and began to try to pull him towards their little tent.
“No” Dean said reluctantly, remaining seated on the couch. “I’m too big to play in forts.” Dean looked at his watch, holding up to the nearest candle to get a better look. It was well past 2a.m, which meant that tomorrow they were going to be sleep-deprived and he was in for a world of hell. “And it’s about time you guys went to bed.”
“Aw come on” Gabriel whined from the inside of their tent “We’re not even tired” Gabriel yawned rubbing his eyes just as soon as he finished speaking. Dean smirked a little.
“Please come inside” Cas pleaded “We’ll go to sleep we promise.”
Gabriel shoved Cas a little. “Hey don’t lump me in with your promises” Cas stuck his tongue out at him.
Dean thought about it and in the end he decided that if it meant that they would at least attempt to go to bed, then it was worth it. “You promise to go to bed if I come in?” Dean asked in a serious tone. Both Balthazar and Cas nodded in understanding, except for Gabriel. Personally, Dean figured he just wanted to be rebellious because he could see Gabriel already beginning to nod off. “Right then, first we need to blow out all these candles.” The three boys helped Dean out with the candles, making a small game of it in the process. Once all the candles were out Dean found the iPod to turn it off.
“No keep it” Gabriel piped up. Dean shrugged and just turned the volume down before crawling into their make shift tent with the boys following him in closely. He lied back, resting his head on the pillow. He patted the empty space around him to signal to them that they should copy Dean’s motions.
Cas, Balthazar and even Gabriel all lied around Dean listening to the rain and the soft music. “Now go to sleep.” Dean whispered, turning off the flash light. Just when Dean had turned it off a particularly strong roar of thunder rumbled in. Gabriel, Cas and Balthazar all quickly leapt for Dean. All of them grabbing on to tufts of their shirts and practically tackling him. “Hey you guys are okay.” Dean said gently, trying pry off their little fingers from his shirt. ‘Damn’ he thought to himself ‘I thought they were over this by now’. The three off them all had loosened their grip but they still stayed uneasily close to him.
“He sounds so mad” Cas whispered cryptically.
“Who does?” Dean asked
“God” Gabriel replied
Balthazar spoke up “Whenever our father was mad or we did something wrong he’d sound like this. And he was always angry with us, even when we did nothing.”
“And we always got punished for it” Cas added
All of a sudden Dean had an epiphany. It all made sense now, why they would freeze, cry, and were over all petrified of this storm. It was the noise that scared them, but their fear of getting punished by god was what terrified them even more. And to an extent he could sympathize with them with his own father.
Dean looked up in the darkness trying to find the right words to say to help them. Dean heard the children’s heavy breathing, the rain hitting the roof and the low music playing outside of their tent. As if by lucky coincidence Dean instantly recognized the next song that played. It was Hey Jude by The Beatles. This was the song Dean’s mother would sing to him whenever he was scared, or couldn’t sleep. He felt a small amount of warmth build up in Dean’s chest. He wasn’t sure if it was of nostalgia, longing or a bit of both.
Dean figured out what he should do. He knew how off this was for him to do but it was just one of those times he had to be a little softer on them. Cas let himself get closer to Dean and Balthazar soon followed but Gabriel held back. They lied against Dean’s chest, feeling it rise and fall every time his lungs inflated then deflated. Dean began to hum along with the song.
“Are you humming” Gabriel asked sceptically
“Shut up” Dean whispered drawing out his words “just go with it.” Gabriel relented “Now closes your eyes” he continued “and go to sleep” Dean continued humming the song. Dean could feel them all slowly becoming more and more limp as the song drew out By the time it was over all three of them were asleep snoring softly as the next song played.
Cas had his head lying across Dean’s chest, tightly hugging his trenchcoat. Balthazar's head was propped up against Dean’s side with one of his arms strewn aside in an almost impossible contortion, and his bony elbow was digging deeply into Dean’s ribs. Gabriel’s was lying in the crook of Dean’s arm; with his arms wrapped around Dean’s. And the weight of the toddler’s body was beginning to cut off circulation to his hand.
Dean was extremely uncomfortable. He slowly tried to get up without awakening any of them. Dean hadn’t even gotten is back off the ground when Cas’s eye’s opened and he pulled his head up and looked at Dean. Dean inhaled a sharp breathe. He quickly lied back down before he could wake anymore of them. “sshhh” Dean said stroking Cas’s hair “go back to sleep”. Cas slowly nodded and lied his head back down.
‘Shit’ Dean thought to himself. He sat alone in the darkness; feeling bruises begin to form, drool soaking through his shirt and his fingertips begin to go numb. He took a deep breath. It could be worse; at least they were asleep now. And despite the inconveniences he felt himself slowly begin to lull to sleep.
It was mid morning when Sam and Bobby came home. They had gotten through the case and closed relatively quickly. It was nothing more than any other simple haunting; salt and burning the corpse, which wasn’t that hard to find either.
Sam came in before Bobby to help him bring in their equipment. Sam dropped the bags on the floor.
“We’re home” Sam called half expecting a toddler or two to run out of the kitchen to greet him, surly they were up by now. But there wasn’t any noise coming from the kitchen. In fact there wasn’t any noise coming from anywhere. Sam looked around the living room. He definitely wasn’t expecting what he saw next. There was a small ill made tent in the corner of the room. When he came closer Sam saw two large feet peaking out of the opening of the tent. Sam had to hold back his laughter as he slowly crept towards to get a better look. He peeled back the opening to find Dean lying stiffly on the floor with all the children huddled next to him in several strange positions and all of them were fast asleep. Feeling for his phone, Sam took a quick picture just as Bobby came into the house.
“Hey where’s everyone” He shouted.
Sam straightened up and placed his phone back into his pocket after taking one last quick glance at the picture, which even Sam had to admit looked kind of cute. “They’re in here” Sam responded in a low tone motioning towards the 4 people next to his feet. “And still sleeping”
“Well get away from them then” Bobby said throwing his hat and coat over the couch “God knows what kind of a night they must have had if it means those little gremlins slept in today. Now go park the car, I’ll make breakfast.”
“Yes sir” Sam obeyed, going back outside thinking of what kind of food Bobby will make to eat. Sam sat in Bobby’s car. He took his phone out once more to see the picture. They all looked so peaceful and yet exhausted in the picture. He couldn’t even begin to imagine the hell those three boys must have risen for Dean. “Poor son of a bitch” Sam thought to himself as he drove off an pulled in the lot of Bobby’s junk cars.