The Hermit

Part 1

Summary: Dr Charlotte Everett ran from her old life as a vet in Georgia, but she gets a job as the new veterinarian at the Winchester Ranch. Can she handle working there with a boss that hates her? Can she melt the heart of a stone cold cowboy? Will her past catch up to her quicker than a horse can run?

Pairings: cowboy!dean winchester x oc!reader

Word Count: 4315

Warnings: None so far

Author's Note: This is my first ever fanfiction so I really hope that you guys enjoy it.

Funny how life feels when you’re young. How fast your whole world had ended and how quickly you feel like you have nothing left living for.

You didn't mean to take the job offer; you had a better one lined up back home; cushy, reliable with a stably monthly income. Just a plain old vet who could be called when those rich spoiled brat's horses didn’t want to take a jump, even though it was plain as day that the horse had be pushed until lameness. You, a veterinarian, you could still see the disappointment on your father's face when you told him. He had basically disowned you that day.

But now, you had left that behind and drove nearly two full days heading straight to the Black Hills in South Dakota. You couldn’t do it, couldn’t stay in the town where everything had happened. Didn't think twice about it. When that notification popped up on your phone, you stood glued in the threshold of your bedroom, just staring at it. You were accepted for the job. A job you didn't even mean to sign up for. Your professor told you to branch out and look at ranches that needed seasonal help. Something that would 'look good on my resume, that I could work in different environments'.

You applied to a few; Texas, Nevada, Wyoming… South Dakota. Not thinking anything would come from it. No one had gotten back to you, except for now. Instantly you accepted it, emailing them back that you would be up there as soon as you could. Two days later, here you are driving into your new life for the summer.

The drive had been mostly a blur, you kept yourself awaking, Red Bull after Red Bull. Your music played loudly the whole way, drowning out the thought too loud in your head. You don’t remember passing through Sioux Falls, but six hours later you were in Rapid City another hour Deadwood.

The welcome sign passed by slowly. A massive wall held up by stone pillars, with a painting of the town and cowboys on it. 1876 Deadwood, it read in a thick black font, the one you see synonymous with anything western. Deadwood was a small town from what you could make out from the quick Google search you did in the last gas station bathroom. Population here wasn't even 2000.

This was the type of town where everyone had known everyone for their entire lives, thirty-fourty years. Where back in the 80s the guy who works at the gas station used to date the lady at the post office. Where the librarian used to get bullied by the boutique owner back in high school. And the man at the hardware is the cousin of the diner waitress, who also had a fling with the gas station guy. Which is probably the reason they broke up. And everybody here knows.

Everyone one here has direct ties to everyone else. If Ms McGee wouldn’t share her pie filling recipe at the church potluck, the whole town would know withing the day and she would be excommunicated. But when the news eventually gets back to her it's been so warped you would swear she killed and ate the neighbour's dog.

How do people live like this? You wondered, there's no anonymity. You didn't particularly grow up in the big city but you would still call Savannah a city. There you could walk into a grocery store and never run into anyone you've ever met. It was rare to know someone out in public. Here they probably know each customer by name, because it's been the same people for the last twenty years. How do you go about with everyone knowing you and your business. If you had a teen pregnancy or you dad got arrested, it permanently known as 'That Thing' or you're from 'That Family'.

And strangers here, they stick out like a sore thumb.

You weren't even sure where you needed to go, your GPS couldn't find the address the guy had sent you after reply to you. Most of these ranches were out on old dirt backroads with no names. You could try googling the place, you knew that it was a poplar place for out rides and lodging, but your phone had died.

A small light came up on the dashboard. Fuel light. Shit. You hadn't been paying attention to it for a while now.

Up the road you saw a sign for a gas station. Two miles, you should be fine. It came into view in no time there on the right, you pulled in and up next to one of the pumps. It was quite warm here for June, but still much cooler than the 80s you were used to this time of year back in Georgia. This heat was different though, no thick and muggy and the lack of humidity made it so much more bearable. Your thighs still managed to stick to your leather seats though. Making an obscene slurping sound when you got out at the gas station.

The place was surprisingly well maintained, you were excepting a rundown, dingy place with a rusty signboard nearly falling. You walked inside and shivered a bit when the air conditioning hit you. You were the only person in here beside the janitor who was busy mopping an isle and the guy behind the register. He was younger than you by a few years, with wispy peach fuzz on his lip and acne on his cheeks.

You grabbed another Red Bull from the fridge and walked up to the cashier. "Hi, $70 on pump 3 please."

He hummed in acknowledgement as he scanned your drink and you handed him the cash.

"You new around here?"

"Huh?"

"I haven't seen you come in before? You new? Just passing through?"

"Yeah, I'm new, starting a job here." you grabbed your change and gave him a quick thanks. You walked away but stopped and turned back, "Actually, can you help me? I need to get to the Winchester Ranch, and I have no idea how to get there?"

"Winchester huh?" a gruff voice asked from the backroom. Behind the scrawny guy a burly older man made his way to the counter.

"Uh yeah…"

"What are you doing looking for that place?"

"I'm the new vet. Starting today."

"Right…" he eyed you carefully. "Stay right at the split in town. Carry on that road, head past the mine on your left. You'll see a sign for Maitland, right there. Stay on the Maitland Road for about ten miles. Up on the mountain, you'll see the sign for the ranch." He looked past you out to where your 4Runner stood. "That car should be fine heading up there."

"Thank you so much. Have a good day." Just as you opened the door the man said something.

"Miss. Be careful. There's devils up in these hills. They eat up precious little things like you."

You just stood and stared at him. Trying to see if he was joking or not. He stayed silent just staring at you blankly. Turning your heel, you left the store.

You followed the creepy man's directions, through town, past the mine and right, up the Maitland Road. It wasn’t paved, but the white ground had be compacted from daily use. The road snaked in-between tall hills, fully covered with pine trees. The road turned up ahead, but you could see a sign pointing right up the mountain. 'Winchester Ranch'. The whole way you kept thinking about what that man at the gas station said. What did he mean by it?

The road was the same as the one out of town, white compacted dirt. It changed though when you came to a cattle grate, from there on the road was tarmac. Probably for the livestock trucks and trailers. Up the mountain you climbed until you reached the top, where a huge wooden sign hung over the road, acting as the gateway.

You stopped your car in what seemed like the visitor’s area. The place was quite desolate when you stepped out of the car. You could hear cows mooing and horses neighing far off, but it was quiet. Bugs hummed and whizzed past you. There were a few signs posted up with directions and a large log cabin. Maybe this was where you needed to go? Boots crunching on the stoney lot drew your attention, far off on the other side of the lot a man was walking towards you carrying a bunch of boxes.

"Excuse me miss, we're not open until next week." The man said after getting closer. The boxes he was carrying were piled so high he could barely see properly. He stumbled a bit and a few of them went sliding.

You rushed to help grab them, trying to take a load off of him. "Here let me help you."

"Thank you ma'am." Now that you could see his face properly, he was cute with long blonde hair that just barely touched his shoulders.

"I know that you are open yet. I'm actually here to see a Bobby Singer, about a new job."

"Oh yeah the new vet. I'm sorry, where are my manners, I'm Luke."

"Nice to meet you, Luke. I'm Charlie."

"Well Charlie, welcome to the Winchester Ranch. I'd be happy to take you down to Bobby."

Luke led the way down the stone stairs, towards the reception building. It was done up very nicely, local quarried stone were the base of the building, on top of them sat dark logs, thicker than you. The window frames were painted a dark green, that matched the roof. A tall chimney stuck out, made from the same quarry stones. Along the edge of the building, in neatly kept garden beds grew a variety of flower and small shrubs.

Along the backside of the building, he opened a side door and let you walk in first. He placed the boxes down on the floor and grabbed yours from you, placing them down as well. You followed him to the one of the doors down the hallway, where he knocked briskly.

"Yep!" came a voice from inside.

Luke swung opened the door ushering you inside, "Bobby. Charlie is here. The new vet."

Behind an old worn table sat a grizzled old man, with worn work clothes and a dirty baseball cap. His office was full to the brim with books, trophies, rosettes and photos. You didn't know how he could find anything in this mess. He had kind eyes though.

"Thanks Luke." he nodded towards the younger man as he stood up and reached out a hand. "Dr Charlotte."

You shook his hand and he motioned for you to take a seat. "Please call me Charlie, Mr Singer."

"Call me Bobby." He got comfortable in his own chair. "I knew you said you'd be up here as soon as you could make it but I didn't think this soon."

"I didn't want to keep anyone waiting. I imagine that the busy season starts soon and I wanted to be up here so that I can get ahead with getting things ready and meeting everyone."

"Well, I appreciate it, really do. So far, we're fully booked this summer and with our old vet gone now, we've had to rely on the local one. He's so busy that we barely get a call in." He rubbed a hand over his chin and grabbed a file that you saw had your name on. "If you don't mind, I'd like to go over some of the things I asked you to send in."

"Sure." you shifted nervously.

Bobby folded the file open and wrang his hands together. "To be honest with you, I just need to ask… your credentials are well, a lot. A lot for a job like this I mean. A registered animal heath technician, DACVS, DACVB and a DABVP specializing in horses. I had to google what most of them meant." he chuckled.  "What I'm trying to get at is, why come here? Your recommendation letters are from world-renowned veterinarians. You…you could be working top class establishments but now you're stuck on a ranch in the middle of nowhere."

"Well to be completely transparent with you, I did have another job lined up, but my heart just wasn't in it. I'm not really someone who would like be confined to an office room all day."

"Understandable." he said as he grabbed another file. "So, the contract we sent you states that this is just a seasonal job, while we wait to get some more permanent. You understood that correctly?"

Slowly you nodded. "Yes, I did."

"Okay then. Looks like we're done here. Let me show you around, give you a bit of a tour."

"Uhm…okay." you said as you got up from the chair.

"Everything fine?" Bobby was standing up behind his desk now.

"Yeah…I…sorry I was just expecting you to ask more personal questions. Get to know me. See if I'm the right fit and that you trust me."

"Well, are you planning on stealing any of the horses or cattle?" He cut you off before you could respond. "Darling, we'll be stuck together for a few months. We'll get to knowing each other in time. I'm more worried that you know how to do your job."

You gave him a small smile before following him out the door. He led you to the back of the building, to where a side-by-side stood. Both of you climbed in and he took off up the road past where your car was parked.

"That yours?" he nodded towards it.

"Yip"

"Good car. Reliable." He said it in a way a dad would when choosing out his owns daughter's car.

"Needed something like it for this job. Some places are hard to reach."

Bobby just nodded in agreement.

It took a while for him to speak. As if he forgot that he was supposed to be giving you tour. "So, this ranch started back in 1880. Sits on just under 10 000 acres. At the moment we have about 3000 head of cattle, 43 of them are for stud. Breeding stock for rodeo bulls. We have a feisty champion here; you'll see him soon enough. And 59 horses. Some of them are used for the rodeos and barrel races. The rest are just used for the trail rides."

Bobby gently stopped in the road and pointed to your right. Far off in the distance, where the surrounding mountains lead into the valley. "There's where the trails are. We have permits to take the horses into the national park."

"It looks beautiful." you said and it really did. The whole ranch was in this huge valley with tall, jagged mountain peaks surrounded the entire thing. From where you were you could see for miles into the distance. Luscious green meadows and fields were gently separated from each other by a long winding river. Spruce and pine trees climbed high up on all of the mountains and slowly let go the closer they were to the pastures.

Bobby brough you back from admiring the surroundings. "So, you've met Luke now. He helps work the cattle and he's also one of our cowboys that competes in the rodeo. You'll meet Cass soon enough; he's the barn manager. Takes care of the horses though mostly."

"Is there anyone else?"

"Permanently there are only five of us. Sean helps with the cattle as well. We get a lot of help from the neighbouring ranches. We all share the work and the help." Bobby drifted off slightly. "I forgot to ask. You can ride right?"

"Uh," you hesitated, "Yes I can."

"You don't sound too sure."

"I would say that I can ride."

"Good. If things get too busy then you might need to jump in and help with the trails. We just have to wait for the boss to get back so that he can judge how good you are. The he can decide what horse to give ya."

"The boss?" you stared at Bobby confused. "I thought you were the boss."

"No!" he laughed. "I'm just the ranch manager. The big boss, is in Wyoming, looking at some new steers for the herd. He should be back tomorrow though."

A slight uneasiness came over you. You had already warmed up to the old man next to you, thinking this was your new boss. He technically was, you guess, but now you were worried if the actual one wouldn't like you. The road up ahead forked and you guys kept right. The road on the left was closed with a big gate, a sign hung on it that said, 'No Entry'.

"Up left there is the boss's house. Usually, every Saturday the main staff and some of the neighbours get together up there for a few beers." He nudged you gently with his elbow, "That includes you now."

"That sounds nice."

Further down the road a big double story log cabin came into view. Built identical to the reception where Bobby's office was.

"Is that the guest house?" you asked.

"No, the guests stay closer to reception. Down that road that takes you to stables. Over there is where the seasonal workers stay."

"When will they be here?"

"Should be end of the week. Once all of them are here, we'll have a bit of a get together. It’s a tradition so everyone meets each other. Nice icebreaker."

"And do you know any of them? Have some people been here before?"

"Some of 'em have been here a couple of seasons. One of them is the chef, Debbie. Think this is her 8th year, don't know the others. They're usually wanna be cowboys and ranch hands. Some come and help with the cattle and the horses."

A few miles down the road, the trees became slightly sparser and opened up into a small clearing. Five smaller log homes were arranged into a half-moon, with a huge fire pit in the middle. There were two homes on the left and three on the right, and what looked like a communal space in-between them. The cabin far left was a bit bigger than the others, it had a wraparound porch and a small shed next to it. You assumed that one was Bobby's.

The two of you got out of the side-by-side and you followed Bobby. Now that you were slightly closer you saw that all of the houses had their owner's quirks. One had different state's number plates zip tied to the porch railing, the other was sparely decorated. The only thing giving away that someone lived there was the laundry hanging on the line next to the house. Flowers and windchimes decorated the small porch of the other one. On the far right stood the last cabin. It was more tucked into the tress, with its curtains drawn closed.

"Here we are. Home sweet home." Bobby said. He walked towards the far-right cabin, up the squeaky stairs and pulled out a key from his vest pocket. Stepping aside for you once the door swung open. You walked in, surprised with how spacious it was. The small kitchen sat on the left, living room to the right; with your own fireplace. Two doors on the back wall. You guessed it led to the bathroom and bedroom.

"Our old vet moved to Tacoma to stay closer to his kids. Worked here for three generations."

"I guess I have big boots to fill then." you said, still looking around the cabin.

"You'll fit in just fine, don't you worry now. We can head back down so that you can get your stuff, show you the barn quick. Then you can come and get settled in."

…

 The 'barn' was just down the road from reception. Like the road heading up here it was paved; made it so much easier when it came to the horse and livestock trailers. To say that you were impressed when you saw the actual stables was an understatement. You had worked at and been to stables where a horse's livery costs more than a college tuition. But this…this was something else.

Three buildings sat in a line that acted as the stables. All of them had a weathered look to them with steep pitched rooves. The road stopped and diverted at all of them, transition from asphalt to concrete slabs that ran right through each of them. Huge barn doors sat on rollers at both sides of each building. With the barn doors open like this you could see through, all the way down, towards the river you saw earlier with Bobby. Endless stretches of green pastures came to a sudden halt, cut off by multiple sandy arenas and crisscross pathways.

There were twenty stables in each, although the one building was slightly bigger. Inside, each stable was made from a yellow tinted wood and smelled of pine. With wrought black iron along the top of them. The roof had thick beams holding it up, and small windows at the top let some light in. It felt magical in here.

Bobby led you into what you would assume was the main barn, which had a few rooms off to one side of it. You could hear someone softly singing in one of them.

"Cass? You in here!" Bobby yelled.

The humming stopped abruptly followed by a scuffling noise and things dropping. Out of the room on the right appeared a man holding a bridle he was busy repairing.

"Bobby. Hi. I thought you were busy up top." he said flustered.

"Sorry to interrupt you prima donna, but I've got someone I want you to meet."

You stepped in, in front of Bobby with your hand extended. "Hi I'm Charlie. It's nice to meet you."

He grabbed your hand in his. "Cass. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Charlie here will is old Ben's replacement. You guys will be working closely together. So Cass, I expect you to show here the reins around here."

"The reins are in the tack room." Cass pointed a finger behind him.

Bobby just sighed and stared at him. "Please excuse him. Sometimes I think it's his first day on earth. Come on, let me show you your new office." Bobby pushed open the door opposite the feed and tack rooms.  Inside it was a pretty standard veterinary room. Stainless steel tables lined the walls, white tiles covered every inch of the room, and there on or two very outdated pieces of equipment. "Think you can work with this?"

"These dinosaurs have seen their day, but I'm sure that I can still get some use out of them. I brought some things from home as well just in case."

"Well, we're also low on supplies as you can see," he pointed to the empty cabinets, "Local vet would just bring his own stuff, but now we need to stock up. Make a list and you and Luke can go into town tomorrow to get what you need."

"No problem. Sounds good."

"Alright then, we've concluded the tour. I think you can head back home and get settled in. And get some rest, we got a lot of work to do. Tomorrow you'll see the pastures and fields. And met your new patients."

"Yes boss." you saluted Bobby and saw a small, annoyed smile cross his face.

…

 It had taken you a few hours to unpack all of your things and get your new home set up in a way that worked for you. You had first cleaned everything and the worked meticulously room for room. Kitchen was finished but the pantry and fridge where empty, bathroom disinfected and stocked. The living room you rearranged to that the couched were all tucked around the cozy fireplace, and you had put some personal memorabilia up on the mantel piece. You were busy putting you own sheets on the bed when someone knocked on the door.

Cass stood by the door when you opened it, holding a tray of muffins. "Howdy neighbour."

"Hey Cass. How's it going?"

"I made muffins, to welcome you to our small community here." he passed you the tray, and you could feel they were still nice and warm.

"Aww that's sweet of you thank you so much. I'm sorry that I don't have anything to offer you in return." You looked back to your empty kitchen.

"No problem at all. I just came over to give you these and see if you're all settled."

"Yeah, I'm just about done here. Just need to finish with the bedroom."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. Luke said that he'll be ready to leave at eight tomorrow for town. I just wanted to come and give you the message."

"Thank you. I'll be ready."

"Good night Charlie. I hope you sleep well."

"Sleep well Cass. Thank you again for the muffins."

He nodded his head and walked off of the porch. You called out after him.

"I like your windchimes by the way!"

Cass smiled and waved goodbye.