By pobular demand we now have the third enstallment of "Hunter's Vacation" Soul Searching. Thank you so much for your continuous help NCSUPNATFAN without your help I'm not sure if this would be such a hit! Thank you for your support all my readers and fans. Hope you enjoy! Supernatural does not belong to me or anyone else who writes fanfiction. Lark belongs to my friend NCSUPNATFAN and Christina belongs to me. Comment and enjoy!

Chapter One

Crickets chirped their nightly symphonic songs as fireflies danced in the light of the crescent moon. A low distant rumble of a black Chevy Impala glided to a stop and the rumbling stopped allowing the crickets to continue without interference. The only sound was just the crickets until once again they were interrupted with three doors slamming shut.

Three shadows raced quietly through the dense trees until slowly coming to a stop. A moss covered cabin stood alone in the night darkness, a small lit candle glowing hauntingly in the attic window, making Dean Winchester let out a slow breath before directing his two siblings, Sam and Christina, towards opposite sides while he expertly moved up the middle heading towards the front door.

Inside the attic a dark shape blew out the candle sending the cabin into darkness. The shape's trap had been tripped allowing the creature to go hunting for human flesh. Silently it moved heading towards Dean who moved around the darkened cabin playing a brainless weakling while gripping tightly a flare gun in his jacket pocket.

The creature moved silently over the paper like debris from its past victims as it tried to move behind Dean. But as it silently moved it failed to notice Sam and Christina appearing in the doorframe shooting in two flares.

The creature hissed in frustration turning around to attack the two but the bright flares made the creature howl with pain as it desperately tried to find some dark corner. But as it spotted a dark hallway it came face to face with Dean, who raised his flare gun and took the shot, aiming at the creature's face, lighting it up as if it were made of wicker.

Dean rushed out of the house by breaking through the window and rolling in the dirt before climbing to his feet. He only had a few shallow cuts on his hands and face and so wasn't surprised to feel blood slowly ooze from the wounds. As the cabin continued to burn with a last shrill screams slowly faded away and the three Winchesters silently turned and headed back towards the Impala and climbed in.

The crackling of the burning cabin was overwhelmed by the Impala roaring to life and soon was replaced by the sound of distant fire trucks wailing in the background. As Dean quickly peeled out of the woods Christina silently pocketed her cell phone as it was her that had called in the fire department, again that was part of the plan.

~DSCWIN~

The Antler Inn in Jackson Hole, Wyoming was slowly coming alive with travelers finally arriving after a long days drive. All Dean wanted to do was to head to the bathroom for a shower to clean off while his siblings grabbed the evidence of the flare guns and tossed them into the trunk of their car before heading inside their two story hotel room, complete with three queen sized beds, two bathrooms and a small kitchenette.

Dean grabbed his bag and headed for the bathroom without much of a "good job tonight" to his siblings before he closed the door behind him. Sam and Christina quietly headed up the stairs to their beds and Christina was allowed to take a shower first, which she excepted.

Sam hated the silence that surrounded him in their hotel room and promptly grabbed his headphones from his backpack and plugged them into his phone to listen to some music he had saved on there for just that reason. He leaned back in his bed listening to his soft rap when his music was interrupted by a new text message he had just received. Sam didn't recognize the number but as he opened it up feeling like he knew who it was from.

"Sam, don't call this number as I don't want Dean to find out who you're talking to. I saw your latest kill out on the hills and wanted to congratulate you. I hope you have forgiven me for leaving during the night last month but I had to."

Sam glanced at the still closed bathroom door and quickly sent a reply.

"Lark? Why did you leave without telling us? Dean was so upset that you left he went all hunter mode on Christy and me."

Sam leaned back in his bed as he saw the bathroom door open and saw his sister walking out in her pajamas drying her hair off with a towel. She smiled and Sam entered the bathroom with his things although he didn't feel like taking a shower now as Lark was texting him. Or at least he hoped she was.

"Yes and I'm sorry. I couldn't stay...It was too much..." Came the reply as Sam took off his sweaty shirt and dirty pants before tossing them in the corner. As Sam stepped into the water spray, he heard his phone vibrating across the counter and go still. He had received another text message, but he was enjoying his shower to much to read it right then.

~DSCWIN~

Dean lay on his side staring at the door of their hotel suite expecting to see it magically open to show Lark standing there. Instead, he closed his eyes picturing her face next to his, trying to remember the way her body curved into his. The sweetness of her laugh and the sorrow that filled her eyes when he told her that he wanted her to leave, for her own protection was the only image he could pull up. He let out a groan as he rolled on his back one of his hands gripping the blanket while the other one was placed underneath his head. His mind whirled around him as he remembered everything that had happened the morning after Lark had left.

One Month Ago

Dean woke up and sat at the edge of his bed trying to stop himself from going straight to Lark's room when he was experiencing the troubles of being a man. He decided to take a cold shower to both wash himself and to take care of his morning problem. But as he headed towards the bathroom, the opened door to Lark's room made him stop and look inside. Her room was empty. He took a step inside seeing a piece of paper on the nightstand, thinking it was a letter from her he picked it up, instead it was the letter he wrote to her before he left for New York.

"Lark left last night." Bobby said from the doorway holding a cup of coffee. "Woke up to someone drivin' away. Saw that it was Lark leavin'."

Dean sat down on the bed and leaned his elbows on his kneese; he knew he had messed up big time.

"Care to explain?" Bobby asked trying to keep the anger from his voice.

Dean sighed and looked up at Bobby. "I told her that I was toxic, that we were better off apart before I hurt her."

Dean heard the soft thumps of Bobby's feet stomping towards him before he felt his head being smacked hard up the backside and cringed.

"You damn idjit!" Bobby cussed spilling some of his hot coffee on Dean's leg on purpose. "Why'd you push away the only good thing to ever happen to you? You done it now boy. You screwed up your chances with her."

"I was going to apologize last night, but I thought she'd give me a chance to apologize today after we both had some time to think. I didn't think she'd leave in the middle of the night like that. I'll try calling her later today."

"Well, good luck with that. That number she has has been disconnected. So good luck trying to get a hold of her." he growled stomping his way out the bedroom door. "Tried calling her this morning to ask what happened, and all her cell phones are disconnected."

"Even the one she's been using, Sam's burner?"

"She gave that back right after Christy had been taken." Dean felt his mouth dry up as the woman he felt closest to had left. "Now she'll be able to disappear for however long she needs. Come on, everyone else is waiting for you to head out. Got ya a case up in Boise. Idaho."

~DSCWIN~

Present Day

Dean was surprised he had fallen asleep but was awoken by someone pressing up to him. He looked over and felt his heart nearly explode out of his chest with excitement.

"Hi Dean." Lark said her voice soft as to not awaken anyone else in the suite. "I wanted to say congrats on the kill earlier tonight."

"How did you know that?" Dean asked secretly pinching himself to make sure this wasn't a dream, that she was really there. He nearly pulled her into a kiss when he felt the sting from his pinch as she was really there beside him.

"I was heading out to take care of that creature as well. Bobby and I ran into each other just outside of Fortworth, Texas after dealing with a poltergeist in a Frat house."

"Well, I guess you wanted to be found then, huh?" Dean said sarcastically, spite lacing his words.

Lark's head lowered for a moment before she looked directly into Dean's face.

"You know something..." Lark started trying to keep her voice normal so not to wake the others upstairs. "You need to stop feeling bad for yourself. It's your own fault that I left. You pushed me away Dean. I came to help you as Bobby told me you were having problems tracking the bitch."

"That's a lie." Dean said evenly sitting up in his bed and looking hard at Lark. "I hadn't spoken to Bobby in over a couple of weeks. He's been busy trying to deal with other hunters. There's only two other people that knew we had trouble tracking that creature. So who is it, Lark? Sam or Christy?"

Lark's eyes drifted up the stairs to where the others had to be sleeping before looking back at Dean.

"Sam." Lark said softly."I did tell you the truth that Bobby sent me here to take the creature down, as he hadn't heard from you three in a while. He dumbly thought that you guys got yourselves captured or killed and I came to clean up the mess. However, when I saw you three in the woods taking care of things..."

"I figured Sam left you our hotel key didn't he?" Dean asked gently, even though he was still angry at his brother for snitching on them. Lark slowly nodded her head and Dean leaned back against the headboard before looking up the stairs to where his siblings slept and then back at Lark.

"Dean, I can't stay much longer. I have other things I need to do." she said with a soft sigh.

"Lark, I know what I said to you back at Bobby's was stupid. But why didn't you wait until the next day to leave? I know I can't just say 'I'm sorry' and expect things to be back to normal. You need to understand why I was pushing you away, I thought you being with me would put you in harms way."

"And doing this job doesn't do that already?" Lark said her eyes in a surprisingly playful glare.

Dean smirked trying to regain control over his thoughts. "My point was when you asked me that question, I wasn't sure how to answer. Words just came pouring out of my mouth and after I said them...I wanted to apologize to you that night. To explain that I wasn't trying to push you away, but I thought you needed a little space. I know I hurt you, Lark. But I wanted you to know that I am a major jackass and an idjit."

Lark smiled and let out a soft giggle before shaking her head a little. She looked back at Dean and slowly climbed out of his bed.

"You leaving again?" Dean asked tossing the blankets off his legs to walk over to her. Lark blushed as she stared in Dean's eyes wanting him to kiss her, but knowing if he did she wouldn't be leaving this room any time soon.

"Dean, I'm dealing with some personal troubles that only I can deal with. I just need to do some soul searching on my own. I'm starting to think I'm forgetting who I am." she answered, forcing herself to be strong and not give in.

"Will you be coming back?" Dean asked his green eyes sparkling with hope. "Sam and Christy really miss you a lot too." he added.

"I'll think about it." She picked up a pad of paper from the hotel and quickly jotted down her number and handed it to Dean. "Goodbye Dean." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him gently on his cheek before leaving as quietly as she appeared leaving him standing in the middle of his bedroom not sure what to do.