Title: Carousel Waltz
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None for SPN, just general knowledge of the show. "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "Shadow" for Buffy

Disclaimer: Don't own Buffy or Giles. Don't own Sam, Dean, or John. But if anyone is offering…

Warnings: Just language.

Pairings: Buffy and Dean

Summary: For Dawn's tenth birthday Joyce rented out a carousel. But Buffy and Dawn hadn't made any friends yet so it was just the three of them. What if the Winchesters were there that day? (I just wanted to write young Sam.)

I'm seriously considering giving away my little brother. Which isn't as bad as it sounds because Dad may actually kill the brat.

"Sam Winchester, stop behaving like a child."

Ah, a typical day. Dad and Sam were fighting. And we were in another new town, meeting another new contact, killing another new demon. A recurring theme for sure.

Sammy was twelve now and almost as tall as me. He still had to look up at Dad to meet his glare and I just knew he hated it.

"We're here to meet our contact, not to ride the merry-go-round."

Dad turned on his heel and stomped off. Sam just stood and fumed. This crap had been going on for about six months now.

Puberty made me horny. It made Sam sullen. Poor kid.

I crossed my eyes and stuck out my tongue. That used to get rolling-on-the-floor laughter out of him. Now I got a half-smile.

"It's a carousel."

"What?"

"It's a carousel. Merry-go-rounds have different animals on them. Carousels have just horses."

"Sammy, you're a geek."

"I didn't really want to ride it. I just wondered why we couldn't."

"It's rented out for a birthday party."

"But there are only three people on it," Sam pointed toward the carousel.

That's when I saw her. The single hottest girl that ever lived. She was blonde and tan and had a great…

"Dean! Sam! Get your asses over here!"

"Yes sir," I said automatically.

Sam grumbled, "He shouldn't curse at us."

"Sam, put a cork in it."

Dad was talking to some guy who was dressed like a corpse.

"If you're a Watcher, why don't you have your Slayer take care of this?"

"Yes, well," the guy started cleaning his glasses. "I've just moved to Sunnydale and I haven't had the opportunity to identify her yet."

The guy was English. That explained the musty wardrobe.

"I was told that you could assist us with this problem, Mr. Winchester. If you cannot…"

"I can handle Llorona, Mr. Giles. Hell, my boy can handle Llorona." Dad pointed over to me. I wasn't sure if I should I should've been proud or insulted. With Dad, it's hard to tell.

"I was curious, is all," Dad said. "I've never had a member of the Watcher's Council need my services before."

"We're sitting on a hellmouth, Mr. Winchester. Until I find my Slayer, I need all the help I can get."

The girl from the merry-go-round, excuse me, carousel, walked by. She was sucking on a cherry sno-cone which turned her lips swollen and red. She looked over at me and I grinned like an idiot.

She rolled her eyes but smiled back.

I smiled wider and turned to watch as she walked away.

"Dean!"

"Yes sir?"

"Pay attention. We're leaving."

Dad and Sam were about ten yards away. Sam was trying to avoid laughing at me, because it would piss Dad off. I tried to keep my face from turning red, and failed.

"Yes sir. Coming sir."

"But you said we could handle it," Sam argued.

"I said Dean could handle it."

"But Dad, I wanna go. It's boring in here."

Sam's whine was bordering on annoying, but he had a point.

"Next time, son." Dad gave me a hard look which meant, 'obey me or else'. "Keep your brother out of trouble."

I nodded. But frankly, I was starving so I risked, "Can we go out? Get something to eat?"

Dad smiled at me. "You boys would eat me out of house and home if you could." He got serious again, "Be in before dark. This town isn't safe."

I nodded in agreement. "Yes sir."

Dad shut the door behind him and left me in a dingy hotel in charge of my little brother.

"Whatcha hungry for, Sammy?"

"Anything. I'm staaarving."

I grabbed the Yellow Pages and flopped on to the mattress to flip through it. "Restaurants…restaurants. Here we go. Chinese? Pizza? Double Meat Palace?"

"Chinese," Sam decided. "Is there a buffet?"

I chuckled. Sam's baby fat was starting to melt away but the rest of him was growing like a weed. Plus, he needed another freaking hair cut.

"Chinese it is."

"Dean?" Sam asked, staring at me with those puppy dog eyes of his. "Why does Dad teach me to fight demons is he's never going to take me with him?"

"Dad wants us to stay safe, kid."

"He takes you sometimes."

I sighed. We'd had this conversation before. "Dude, you're twelve. I'm sixteen." I let this sink in while Sam pouted (something he was very good at). "Are you hungry or not?"

"I'm hungry."

"Then let's go."

Sunnydale wasn't a big town so I shouldn't have been surprised to see the girl again. What did surprise me was that she was climbing out of the second story window of a house on a quiet residential street.

Dusk was approaching and I was risking Dad's wrath but I had to follow her.

Where are we going, Dean?"

"Shut up, Sammy," I commanded as I changed directions and crossed the street.

"Are we following that girl?"

For crying out loud. "Sam, please."

"Why? Do you think she's a demon?"

"Sam, shut it."

Sam rolled his eyes and pouted some more. Sometimes the kid was a real brat. Thankfully, he kept his trap shut and let me follow the girl.

We almost made it to the fairgrounds before I lost her.

"She went toward the carousel house."

"Good tracking, Sammy. Sometimes you can be downright useful."

"Gee thanks," he said with a bratty tone that sounded a little too much like mine. "Now will you tell me why we're following her?"

"Good question." JESUS!

The girl practically gave me a heart attack, jumping out from nowhere.

She stood there scowling at me with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Why are you following me?"

She was a tiny thing but, by God, she was intimidating.

This was a situation best handled by my greatest weapon: pure unadulterated charm.

"Hi there. I'm Dean."

"I'm waiting." She raised her eyebrows and then rolled her eyes at me and this time she wasn't smiling. "For an answer? This year? Why are you following me?"

"What can I say? You piqued my interest."

This earned me more eye rolling. Not good for my ego. Fortunately I had another weapon in my arsenal, and he had big brown eyes.

"Hi. I'm Sam."

And she softened. Don't have a clue how I'm gonna get girls if Sam gets any older and less cute.

"Hello there, Sam. Can you do me a favor and tell Dumbass here that he should take you home before it gets any darker out? Huh, cutie?"

Sam beamed at her. "You think I'm cute?"

"Absolutely adorable. And I repeat, too cute to be out after dark."

"Why are you out?" he asked innocently.

She tilted her head to the side and smiled at my baby brother. I must admit, he's a charmer.

"I can take care of myself, Sam."

"So can my brother, Dean. He's tough."

I love my kid brother. Really I do.

"Tough, huh?"

"Yeah. He's got a gun and everything."

The girl stiffened.

"Sammy," I hissed in warning.

"It's okay though." He rambled on, obviously trying to impress the girl and not remembering Family Rule Number One. "It's not loaded with bullets. It's got rock salt in it."

"Rock salt?" She raised an eyebrow at me. "Why would you load a gun with rock salt?"

Well, hell. I couldn't think of a good lie. Not one that made any sort of sense anyway. Time to take a deep breath and dive into the deep end. "Rock salt repels spirits."

"What, are you? Some kind of ghost hunter or something?"

I shrugged.

"Huh. You might come in useful after all."

"Useful for what?"

"Bait."

"This is a bad idea, you guys."

From an outsider's perspective it looked like I was talking to myself but Sam and the girl, whose name was Buffy, were waiting in the bushes beside the carousel house.

Buffy answered back, "Llorona hunts and kills young men. You are a young man. Ergo: brilliant idea."

"Why are you doing this, anyway?" I asked, trying to look like I wasn't speaking to anyone.

"It's sort of my job. Even though I don't want it. The whole thing is very fated and mystical and stupid. What's your excuse? ...Dean? …Dean?"

The Llorona approached me with a seductive smile. Her hair was as black as the gossamer gown she wore as she glided toward me with her arms wide open.

Part of me screamed, 'That's Llorona. She's going to kill you. Don't go toward her.'

The other part of me? Well, that's the part that obeyed.

Vaguely, I heard Sam and Buffy yell at me.

I still went to Llorona.

Then, it all went dark.

My head hurt like a son of a bitch.

I opened my eyes to see Sam and Buffy hovering over me.

In a very grown-up tone, Sam asked, "Dude, are you okay?"

"Yeah." I reached up and tentatively touched my poor aching head. "What happened?"

I looked around and realized that I was in the carousel house.

"The Llorona tried to take you and Buffy…"

"I knocked you upside the head. A smidge harder than I meant to, though. Sorry."

A smidge? It felt like I was hit by a freight train. "S'okay. As long as Llorona didn't eat me for dinner, it's all good."

"You do look like something a demon spit up," Sam offered smugly.

"Funny, Sam. You're a real comedian."

Buffy leaned in and whispered in my ear. Her hair smelled like strawberry shampoo. Mmm. "Sam was really worried about you."

Sam? Who's Sam?

"Buffy kicked its ass! You should have seen her!"

Oh right. Sam.

"That's great Sammy. I'm glad my near death experience entertained you."

Sam got all serious quickly. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Sammy." Then I realized, it was way after dark. If I didn't get Sam back to the hotel before Dad got back I'd be in a world of trouble. "So, Llorona's dead right?"

"As a doorknob," Buffy promised.

"Then we better beat it."

"Is Dad gonna be mad?"

"Oh yeah, Sam. Definitely."

"But we killed it."

"Something that we'll keep to ourselves. Okay?"

"But…"

"Sam, Dad will kill me."

Buffy regarded me with those big green eyes of hers. "Sorry if I dragged you into…"

"You didn't. Had the time of my life. Except for the concussion."

"I guess I owe you one."

Buffy didn't give me a chance to answer. She bent down and kissed me softly on the lips.

"Ewwww, gross!"

I was too startled to respond to the kiss and too dumbstruck to tell off Sam. But Buffy took care of it for me.

"Shut up, cutie." She smiled at me and offered, or maybe she demanded, "I'll walk you back to your hotel."

She extended her hand to help me off the floor of the carousel house and I gratefully took it. I kept holding on to it, too.

"Dean?"

"Yeah little brother?" I didn't look at him. I kept smiling stupidly at Buffy.

"Would it be childish if I asked if we could ride the carousel before we leave?"

"Sam, I think riding the carousel would be a great idea."

Buffy asked, "Aren't you worried about getting in trouble with your father?"

"Oh yeah. But I think it's worth the risk. Besides, you've got to tell me how you killed that thing. Don't you, Buffy the Vampire Slayer?"

Her eyes widened a bit. "You knew?"

"He's not as dumb as he looks," Sam offered.

Anybody want a little brother?