Sam kept trying to think of anything to keep his mind off Dean's face just before he left, off his dad's words as he walked out. The name of his roommate was a pretty good distracter. Elizabeth Pyre. He didn't so much mind having a female roommate, but assumed that she would. Should he call housing? Or maybe her number? Just wait until he got there, maybe?

The choice was made for him as the bus pulled into the Palto Alto Station. He should've just requested a single, so he wouldn't have to deal with any of it, any people. You wanted a normal life, Sam. People are a part of that. As he walked onto campus and looked around for someone to point him to his dorm, he told that little voice in his head to shut the fuck up.

He had just set his single duffel of clothes onto the bed farther away from the door when the door creaked back open and a girl a full foot shorter than him glanced at him, shrugged and set three bags on the other bed. "Only got the one? You want to come help me with my stuff then?"

The girl was slim, pretty, but average as far as Sam could tell, not that he could judge anyone. She had light blue eyes and long strawberry blonde hair put up into a messy pony tail. Her clothes were top of the line, though a little off main stream as far as Sam could tell. Both her ears had several piercing and her sleeves kept riding up to reveal tattoos.

She started taping posters up on the walls and hanging clothes in the closet once all her boxes were in the room and she had parked her sports car in the parking lot, barely looking at him.

"You're not… upset about this?" Sam finally said, throwing his bag into his closet before motioning to himself.

She snorted. "Stuck in the same room as a hot guy? I might be a prude, but I appreciate the finer people in life, even if they are gay."

"Wh- I'm not gay!" Sam said probably a little too quickly to be believable. Though, he couldn't be sure if it was true, wasn't sure if he liked girls, and no other guys had ever caught his eye…

"Well, you're certainly standing around like rejected chick." She looked up at him, smirking. "But whatever, either way, I don't mind. Though, I was expecting a Samantha Winchester."

"Yeah… there wasn't much misinterpretation with Elizabeth, huh?" Sam looked away from her cold almost-white pale blue gaze, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"No. If you help me unpack, we can go shopping for you so much sooner."

"Sh-shopping? I-I…"

"You're on scholarship right? Dirt poor by the state of that t-shirt. I'm filthy rich and here completely on my daddy's money, I don't mind donating to a destitute friend." She smiled at him sincerely.

"Friend?" Sam looked at her wearily. He'd never had a friend for more than a week or two, and then barely.

"We're going to be friends. We're going to therapy shop, because whatever gender your partner was, you just went through a break up. And you're going to tell me about it, and I'm going to hug you awkwardly, then we're going to watch Dogma a hundred times, and … we're going to be friends." She said the last statement matter-of-factly after she stopped rambling.

Sam sighed. What was this girl, a damned mind reader? "I guess that means you're not going to force me to get reassigned?"

She smiled and patted his arm. "Are you going to try to rape me in my sleep? Or walk around without pants?"

"Uh… wasn't planning on it…"

"Then we're fine, on your end. You'll probably be the one wanting to get away from me." She grabbed a box and ducked into the bathroom.

She eventually lay back on her bed, glancing over.

He took a shaky breath, judging her face as one expecting something. "It was a guy… and I guess I broke up with him…"

Nodding, she sat up. "You mean when you ran off to here?"

Sam nodded too, running his fingers through his hair. "Yeah… It's complicated."

Elizabeth stood and reached up to grab his shoulder. "Let's go do some retail therapy." As she headed out of the room, she looked back. "What's his name?"

"Dean. His name's Dean…"

She smiled. "I hope he's as gorgeous as you are, because otherwise, you need to up your standards." Then she grabbed her purse and disappeared.

Sam wasn't really sure how this whole shopping thing worked. He looked around the large department store with wide eyes. Elizabeth didn't seem to really notice, and but she did and was finding it really difficult to keep her snickering hidden.

The largest store he had ever been in was Walmart, and he had never gotten new clothes until he became larger than his older brother and couldn't wear his hand-me-downs any more, even then they were from a thrift or army surplus store.

"You go shopping with Dean a lot?" Elizabeth was staring at him with amusement and worry in her eyes.

"Not really…" The pain of thinking of him must've been plastered on his face. "My family really never had money for clothes or anything…"

She nodded and sighed. "I'm sorry, this must be weird then."

"Very… Have you ever…"

"I had one boyfriend once in like ninth grade, and it ended quickly and painfully." Smiling at him, she touched his shoulder. "I don't know… I have commitment issues I guess."

He chuckled. "One break up and you have commitment issues?"

"I've had loads of opportunity to date other guys… I just didn't…" She shrugged. "Anyone else other than Dean?"

He looked away and shook his head. "Dean and I… it feels like we were together forever…"

Looking over him, she took a deep breath. "Yeah, I figured, your emotions are all over your face."

"Really?" Sam had never really known that his face was… probably because he assumed his face was as closed up as his brother's and soldier father.

"Yeah. It's nice now, but it could make you vulnerable." Then she pulled out a few shirts off a rack and held them up to him in turn. "How about these?"

For the rest of the trip, they didn't talk about Dean, or their lives, just what Sam wanted to get. And it was so weird to have a choice, except the "Gay and Proud" T Elizabeth threw in the cart without telling him.

When they got back to the dorms, they put the few nick-nacks they got for him. He bumped into her nightstand and knocked off a pair of frames.

"Sorry…" He picked them up and looked at them. One was a younger Elizabeth with an older girl and two adults. The other had her much more recently and the girl from the first. She walked over and took the one from his hand.

"My parents… I miss them so much sometimes." She traced their faces with her finger.

"Are they..?"

"Dead? Yeah… Mom died not long after this picture was taken actually… this was the day the adoption was finalized. And he died a few years ago." She sat it down and sat down.

"I'm sorry. I never knew my mom, she died when I was a baby." He put his hand on her shoulder.

She smiled slightly. "Aren't we a good pair? I never knew my birth parents. My older sister, my adoptive sister… she was my rock, without her I would've probably gone crazy."

Sam felt his chest clench in pain. What was he going to do without his big brother. "I understand how you feel." How was… Dean was his ex(?)-lover, should he really be talking about the other side…?

"Older sibling?"

"Yeah… brother. Our dad left us alone a lot. We were really close. I feel a bit guilty for leaving him."

"At least he still has your dad right? It's not like he's completely alone in the world." That felt like a punch in the face, because my Dean's expression, that's exactly how he was feeling right now. "She'll probably visit a lot; she can barely function with without me."

Again pain, but also amusement. He chuckled. "Same. Sometimes it's like we're the big siblings."

She laughed too, and took the picture of her sister and her, putting it back. "Well, lets get going."

"Going where? We just got back."

"To do college freshman stuff. Stupid get to know you activities and shit. Tours… sure you're not too familiar with the campus." Sam groaned but followed her. Hopefully making friends would be easier knowing that he was sticking around for a while.

This was spawned by my simultaneous need to write shameless wincest and a OFC fic, so here is the two, together… Don't hate me fem fans… and everyone else… Review please! Creager out.