Faded mid-morning light streamed mutely through closed curtains that had seen better days onto a twin set of queen beds, both occupied by tall rather ragged looking men. One barely fit the bed with his height, shoulder length dark hair spread across the pillow, his expression soft with sleep. The other was shorter, sandy hair cropped closer to his head with a peak at the front, one hand tucked under the pillow as though guarding something or keeping something close. The room itself was a disaster of dirty clothes and old duffles thrown haphazardly on faded couches and rickety chairs, a typical scene for the two brothers. The only part of the room that seemed untouched by their previous night was the nightstand where two cellphones sat, seemingly identical. One of the phones started to vibrate, shaking the table slightly with the force, and the room was filled with the sound of an electric guitar. The taller of the two, Sam, rolled over onto the side of the bed with the sound and squinted, noticing that it wasn't his phone he leaned up on his elbow and looked at his brother Dean.

"Hey, Dean." He said, his voice gravelly with sleep. "Dean, wake up."

He watched as Dean grunted and rolled away from Sam's pointed glare, barely even acknowledging the sound of his phone ringing.

"Dude, wake up. Your phone is ringing."

When Dean didn't make any move to answer the irritating phone, Sam reached across the table and grabbed the irritation, flipping it open with a huff before holding to his ear.

"Hello?" Sam laid back, rubbing a hand over his tired face.

"Dean? That you?" A feminine voice responded.

"No, sorry. He's kinda unavailable."

"Well, make him available." The voice on the other end barked at him.

Sam opened his eyes at the order. "I'm his brother, Sam. Do you need something?"

"Yeah, I do. I need you to get your brother on the phone."

"Alright, alright." Sam responded, a little irritation in his voice. "Yo, Dean. Get up, there's a woman on the phone who's demanding to speak with you."

"Who is it?" Dean's muffled reply came from the depths of his pillow.

"Um, can I ask who this is?"

"Tell Dean that it's Alex, and if he knows what's best for him he will get up and talk to me."

Sam raised an eyebrow and turned back to Sam. "It's Alex?"

He had never seen Dean move so fast as when that name came out of his mouth, the instant he said the name Dean was up and standing, holding out his hand for the phone. Surprised by the turn of the events, he held the phone out and jolted when it was ripped out of his hand.

"Shit." Dean said. "Alex?"

"Yeah. You gotta get down to Arizona quick."

"It's been a while since I heard from you."

"Yeah yeah, I get it. Now enough with the small talk and get your ass out here."

"We're in Colorado right now, is it an emergency?"

"Would I be calling you otherwise?"

"Guess not." he responded dryly.

"Look…" Alex sighed. "...Anna and I, we really need you to come down here."

Dean's expression changed subtly, his eyes narrowing. "Anna doesn't need anyone, she said as much when she kicked me to the curb."

"She was angry, who wouldn't be?"

"Yeah, well I'm still pissed about the shotgun pointed in my direction the last time her and I crossed paths."

"I agree, actually since I have you on the line, why don't you tell her."

"No, no Alex, do not put her on the…." he trailed off. "Hey Anna."

"What the hell?"

"Yeah, nice talkin to you too."

Silence crossed the line. "I have nothing to say to you."

"I didn't call, your sister did. Seemed pretty anxious for me to drive to Arizona."

"Don't come to Arizona."

"Somethin wrong?"

"No."

"I can tell when you're lying."

"It's nothing I can't handle on my own. Besides, you don't handle missing persons."

"Depends on who's missin."

"None of your business, that's who."

"Who's missing, Anna?"

"Mike."

"How long?"

"Bout a week."

"I'm heading down."

"I don't need your help, Dean Winchester, contrary to what you believe, I am perfectly capable of tracking him down without you."

"See you in a couple of days." Dean flipped the phone shut before she could answer and turned to look at Sam.

"We're head to Arizona."

"So what was that about?" Sam said after Dean had hung up the phone.

"Just an old friend in need of some help." Dean answered as vaguely as possible.
"Uh-huh." Sam replied, sitting up in bed.

"It's nothing to worry about."

"Uh-huh."

"Seriously, we'll just pop down, help out and be back on the road before you know it."

"And what about Anna?"

"Nothing I can't handle." Dean said unconvincingly.

"Sure."

Sam fell quiet, unsure of what to say or do, it was obvious that Anna had been something once but he wasn't sure what kind of friend she was, and he wasn't inclined to ask when Dean was in this mood. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and put his elbows on his knees, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he felt groggy and sore from last night, hunting down another ghost in another town while on the hunt for yellow eyes. Dean gathered up some clean clothes and headed for the bathroom, shutting the door with a slam behind him, Sam shook his head and stood up. Soon after he heard the creak and rumble of the old shower turning on, he huffed at the thought of another cold shower and decided to just get dressed instead. Walking across the small room he rummaged through his old duffle and pulled out a dark blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans. He devested himself of the t-shirt and sleep pants he wore to bed and dressed, his jeans hanging loosely on his slim hips showing off a deep muscled V, before covering it up with the t-shirt and then finally a baggy jacket. Sam packed their duffles and threw them back on the couch, making sure to pick up any odds and ends they might have otherwise left behind. Finding nothing to do afterwards, and Dean still being in the shower he decided to sit at the cheap formica table and use his laptop to get answers about these mysterious women.

Inside the bathroom, Dean was leaning against the wall of the shower under the stilted and rather lukewarm spray of the shower thinking about Anna and all the things he had avoided thinking about for a long time. It had been over 4 years since the last time he saw her or even heard her voice, and just hearing that melodic voice over the phone was enough to bring back memories. She sounded exactly the same, angry and not very pleased to hear his own voice but still one of his favorite sounds other than the roar of the Impala. He considered not going, but threw the idea aside, he couldn't not go when her brother might be in danger, and it might be fun to turn her world upside down for a little while. He smiled and stood straight, he could wreck a little havoc maybe make her remember why she liked him so much and that was reason enough to go to Arizona. Turning off the shower he stepped out and toweled himself off before dressing in loose jeans, a t-shirt that looked much like Sam's and his hunting boots he had thrown in here the night before to dust off. After fixing his hair and giving himself a once over in the mirror he had deemed himself appropriate to go outside in the world. He was still smiling once he left the bathroom and was confronted with Sam sitting at his computer, a frown on his face.

"Ready to go, Sammy?"

"What are you so happy about all of a sudden?"

"Phoenix."

Sam tilted his head. "Weren't you just dreading going to Arizona?"

"It's all about attitude, Sammy."

"Yeah, okay. Are you drunk?"

"Nope. Let's go."

Sam packed up his laptop and grabbed the bags from the couch, heading out to the car parked in front of their room, Dean popped the trunk for him and waited at the driver's side for him to throw the bags in and shut the trunk.

"Go let the guy know we're checkin out."

Dean slid into the driver's side, shutting the door and put the key in the ignition, he smiled when the engine roared to life and classic rock poured out the speakers. Shifting into gear he backed out of the space and pulled up to the entrance just as Sam was walking out, he unlocked the door and let him get into the passenger's side. Almost immediately Sam reached out to the volume knob and began to turn it down but stopped when Dean reached across and slapped his hand away.

"You know the rules, Sammy, driver picks the music…"

"Shotgun shuts his cakehole, yeah yeah."

"Besides, it's our song."

"Highway to Hell is not a song, it's noise."

"Just because you only like fruity, sensitive girl music doesn't mean this isn't."

"Whatever, and what to you mean our song?"

"First song I heard in my baby."

"Baby?"

"Really Sam? The impala, smart ass." Dean stroked the dask. "It's okay baby, he just doesn't understand us."

"You're so weird."

"Well I guess it runs in the family."

Sam rolled his eyes and shuffled down into the seat, leaning his head in the window and closing his eyes.

"You're gonna sleep? It's 9 in the morning."

"Yeah, had bad dreams last night."

Dean paused, looking at his brother with concern. "Was it…. you know… visions?"

"I don't know."

Dean let it go and drove, his mind straying from the trip to Arizona to their parents who had been killed by the very demon who had given Sam his visions. He wanted to dip into the well of pain that had been a constant emotion since John had died, and for a brief moment he allowed himself the haze of vengeance to fill him. Yellow-eyes had taken a lot from them, their mom and dad, Jess and had caused a lot of people to use their abilities to hurt or kill people, it was frustrating to say the least.

"You'll tell me if you have one though, right?"

"Yeah." Sam said non-commitily.

"Alright."

Dean left it at that, trying to keep his mind off of everything he couldn't do anything about at this moment and focused instead on the road the Impala was eating up as they made their way to Arizona/

Several hours later Dean pulled off the highway at a gas station in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere, Sam was still leaning against the window, eyes closed and his face soft with slumber. He chuckled and pulled a black marker out of the glovebox, a plan in his mind that would undoubtedly annoy his brother to no end, leaning over he pressed the tip of the marker from one eyebrow and drew a line across his forehead to the other eyebrow, careful not to wake him. Sam opened his eyes a second after Dean had stuffed the marker back into the glovebox and wiped a hand across his mouth, Dean smiled and had to hold back his laughter as Sam sleepily looked at him.

"Where are we?"

"New Mexico, just outside of Farmington I think. Been driving for about 6 hours now." He said, his voice cracking from the effort of not bursting into laughter.

"What's so funny?"

Dean took another look at his brother's face and couldn't hold back the gales of laughter, lightening the mood considerably. Sam shook his head and straightened up, reaching for the door handle and stepping out onto the pavement of the gas station.

"I'll go get drinks."

"Something cold and refreshing, Sammy."

"Yeah yeah."

Dean swung open the door and got out, stepping over to the pump and swiping a credit card through the machine, listening for the beep of acceptance before opening the tank of the impala and placing the pump in it. While the pump worked its magic, Dean took a moment to pull off his jacket which had been getting more irritating as the heat went up, sweat clung to his brow and dripped down the side of his face. He wiped away and crossed his arms, leaning against the Impala waiting for the pump to finish and for his brother to come out with something that perhaps wasn't as hot as hell. Sam walked out a moment later with a couple of bottles of water and coke under his arm, he looked to be sweaty as well from the sweltering heat around them, he had the most withering expression on his face that told Dean he knew exactly why he'd been laughting earlier.

"I thought we'd grown out of this."

"Never." Dean laughed again, pulling the pump out and placing it back in the cradle.

In the time it had taken Dean to put the nozzle away, Sam had opened the sport bottle of water and was squirting water on Dean. Cold water splashed over him, shocking him for a moment.

"Not cool, dude!"

"Oh yeah, and this was?" He asked, gesturing to his newly inked face.

Both brothers, now divested of heavy jackets, got into the jacket and shut the doors at the same time making the car rock a little with the force. Soon after they were back on the road, Sam now rested and refreshed from the cold water.

"Anything I should know about Arizona?" Sam avoided saying the girl's name.

"Nope."

"You sure?"

"Yep."

"Alright then, so who's Anna?"

"She's a woman."

"Descriptive." Sam replied snarkily. "She a hunter?"

"Yep."

"Listen, Dean, you gotta give me somethin here."

"She is…." he hesitated. "..was, someone special."

"What do you mean by special?"

"We were engaged."

Sam looked shocked. "Engaged?"

"Yeah."

"Did you love her?"

"I thought I did, up until she kicked me out by pointing and shotgun at my head."

"What the hell did you do for that?"

Dean looked appalled. "And what exactly makes you think that I had something to do with it?"

"Um, probably because it's you."

Dean looked at Sam and sighed. "I don't remember doing anything to deserve it, but there was some bee in her bonnet she made it clear I should have some idea about."

"How did you meet?"

"Dad and I were on a hunt in Phoenix for skinwalkers, didn't know someone was already on the case until she and her brother busted in on us about to gank it and did the ganking instead. Man, she was good with a gun, and even better with a knife. Three weeks later, I was acting like an idiot, reciting poetry and all."

"Wow."

"Yeah, kinda threw me too."

The rest of the ride was spent with some friendly ribbing at Dean's expense, and light conversation. Soon daylight began to fade as the sun dipped below the horizon, the long expanses of road became fairly hypnotising in the twilight hours, they both watched as long fingers of dark blue reached across the wide sky and spread a blanket of cozy darkness only broken by the twinkling of stars. They arrived in Arizona fourteen hours after leaving Colorado and wasted no time in finding a hotel room on the edge of town and checking in. Dean grabbed the bags out of the trunk while Sam got a room.

The brothers stayed the night in the cramped but comfortable room, wanting to be fresh after driving for fourteen hours straight, Sam awoke though when he heard a rustling of things being placed on the table near the door.

"Dean?" he called out.

"Rise and shine."

"What time is it?"

"Eight a.m., Sammy."

"And you're awake? Willingly?"

"Yup, got coffee and food, so up while it's still hot."