Her Ring

A/N: My first Supernatural fic, so please be nice! I really like the idea of this pairing, but if you don't please don't remark on that. I'm more interested in what you felt about the story, okay? I love reviews almost as much as I love Sammy:D

Dean had teased him about it. How he hadn't done his usual angsting routine. The staring out the window broodingly, depressed, blaming himself, and explosive anger that was his normal habit. His brother had remarked casually that his behavior was surprising, but had pretty much left it at that. Sam had merely smiled and shrugged it off. They had done what they could. Missing person posters bearing her pictures had been scattered through her home town and everywhere the Winchester brothers went they put up more from a large stack Sam had stashed in the backseat. The Roadhouse too had joined forces with them; Ellen had alerted her most trusted hunters to keep their eyes open, Jo had been informed via voicemail, and Ash was using his internet connections to aid in the search. But though he acted with control outwardly, inwardly Sam was breaking apart.

The Impala roared down the mountain road, rain pelting its sleek onyx frame. Dean, at the wheel, was jamming to one of his heavy metal favorites, his hands tapping out the beat on the steering wheel, unaware to anything but the sound of his engine combined with the music. Sam had some newspapers on his lap, supposedly researching their next assignment, but his eyes only stared blankly at the page, his fingers absently rubbing against the chain around his neck, hidden beneath his collar. His fingers closed around the delicate object that dangled from it as his mind drifted away from the rainy road and back to the Blue Rose Motel.

Ava's presence had affected him the moment he had laid eyes on her. Well, given at the time he had thought she was attacking him it was to be expected, but after the initial shock had worn off, Sam had been both stunned and impressed by how gutsy she was to come and warn a man she didn't even know that he could be in danger. A danger, she had admitted with some embarrassment, that she had been alerted to by a vision. She was perky, blunt, quirky, funny, and a bit odd, but obviously the kind of person that was well liked by others around her- as the glittering ring on her left hand showed all too clearly.

But perhaps what had struck him most about Ava was how- well, how normal she was. A secretary from Peoria, engaged to be married, driving a blue VW Bug for heavens sake- she was completely not what he had come to expect from the other psychics he had met. Every one of the others had had something odd about them, something out of the norm besides their abilities. But not Ava. She reminded him so much of how he had been at college, hiding her weird ability the way he had hid his past behind a desperate desire for normalcy. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking, but Sam had felt a bond form between them that day. Both suffered the same psychic ability, and both wanted nothing more than to live a safe, comfortable, ordinary, 'apple-pie' life. Yet they had been drawn in to this world of the supernatural, targeted by the Demon for some heinous plot that neither understood. It had given him some comfort, to know that he wasn't alone, that another soul out there shared his struggle. But Ava was gone, vanished into nothing. Only he was left.

Sam's fingers loosened slightly, glancing down at the object that hung from the silver chain around his neck. A delicate, tiny, silver ring set with a scarlet stone and diamonds, obviously made for a feminine hand. Her hand. Her ring. He hadn't meant to keep it, shouldn't have kept it. It wasn't his to take. If Ava was not around to wear it, it should be given to her family. But somehow his hand had tucked it deep into his pocket instead of handing it over to the police as he should have. It was all they had found of her.

Maybe he had kept it for that reason. It was all he had to remind him of Ava, and with her ring hanging from his neck, she was constantly in his thoughts. It kept her close. That small reminder kept him hoping, believeing that one day he would be able to return her ring to her.

'Funny,' he mussed, fingering the sterling band. It was a symbol of another man's love for her, a man who was gone from this world. That was truly tragic, and he deeply regretted it- he wouldn't have wished the pain of losing the one you loved most in the world on anyone else. He'd suffered it, and he knew all too well the anguish Ava would feel over it. But maybe. . . maybe this ring that had once been a symbol of her fiancee's love for her could come to be the symbol of the bond between her and Sam. A bond that could maybe turn into friendship and from friendship into something more. . .

He snorted. 'Wishful thinking Sammy.'

Exasperated, he sat up straight, tossing the newspapers into the backseat and earning a startled look from Dean. All that imagined bond could ever be was a fantasy, a dream. He was the guy who had shattered her normal existence, the one who had brought evil into her life. But he was also the one who had given her a bit of adventure, who had. A smile twitched Sam's lips as he remembered Ava's ecstatic reaction to helping him sneak private files. It had reminded him of the way a goodie-good school girl behaved after she had skipped class for the first time. He snorted with laughter at the thought of Ava in a school girl's uniform and earned himself an odd look from his brother. Forcing his face into a normal expression, he gazed out the window at the wet pavement flashing by.

'I'll find you, Ava,' he vowed silently to himself.

Until then, he would wear her ring.