Sam had told Haley that he believed her, and it was the truth. But he didn't trust her, so he needed to check up on her.

He was sitting in his office, staring at the computer screen. His eyes widened with every bit of information and he shook his head in disbelief as he read the FBI files.

Haley had definitely told him the truth but she had let out the gruesome parts of her resumé. Again, Sam couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

That poor girl's life had been a horror show for the past three years.

Sam thought about whether to talk to her about it but he knew it would be too embarrassing for her and he didn't want to make things awkward between them.

Maybe, some time in the future she would want to talk about it and would bring up the topic herself.

His thoughts were interrupted when the office door flew open and his pissed off brother stormed into the room.

Sam sighed inwardly; obviously Dean had spotted Haley and his reaction was exactly what Sam had expected.

He stayed cool and wasn't irritated by Dean's aggressive mood though.

Dean shut the door loudly behind him and rushed over to Sam's desk, stopping in front of it.

He stood like a brick wall opposite Sam, his eyes sparkling with refrained fury. His jaw was tight and his whole body was tense as he crossed his arms over his chest to appear nonchalant, but failed. Sam could see how upset he was.

A tortured smiled appeared on his face as he thought of the right words.

"Something you wanna tell me, Sammy?" He finally spat through gritted teeth and Sam realized in that moment that his brother wasn't pissed.

Dean was hurt. And he tried to cover it with anger.

"I'm sorry, Dean." Sam replied.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Dean flared up. "I walk in here and see her pouring drinks behind the bar like everything's normal and we're one damn happy family!"

"Dean, I understand how you feel but..."

"Oh really? I highly doubt that. How could you possibly know what she put me through?" Dean continued to lament and Sam felt all the sympathy for his brother turn into anger.

"Would you listen to me, damn it?" He exclaimed and shot up from his seat but didn't walk around the desk.

Sam's outburst shut Dean immediately up and he looked in surprise at his brother.

"You think I did this to torture you? I knew you'd be upset! But I have my reasons."

Dean raised his eyebrows at him and shot him a disparaging look. "Why did you have to find her and bring her back into our lives? I was absolutely fine with not seeing her."

"I know." Sam sighed and sat back down in his seat. "But I didn't do anything. She came to me."

"Come again?" Dean said quietly, but his voice was trembling with anger. How dare she? How dare that bitch showing up on their doorstep again?

"She needs help, Dean. Believe me, you would've acted the same way if it was the other way around."

"But it's not the other way around and I don't want her near me." Dean chuckled bitterly. "Help, huh? Don't you see it, Sammy? She's fucking with us again. She's told you some pretty convincing lies and you fell for it. That's her trick."

"No, I checked it. It's even worse than what she's told me. She's been to prison, Dean." Sam explained calmly and gestured to the computer screen.

Dean's interest was woken. He walked around the desk and stopped behind Sam to take a look at the FBI files. He knew his brother could easily hack computers and get to any information that he needed without leaving traces.

Dean raised his eyebrows as he learned about what had happened to his wife. Haley had been to prison after comitting a white-collar crime.

Sam waited for Dean's reaction, hoping the information would soften him and make him feel at least sympathy for his wife.

Dean's conclusion shocked him.

"Serves her right." Dean stated coldly and walked back around the desk.

"Dean!" Sam exclaimed. To this point he had thought that Dean had still feelings for Haley even though he would never admit it.

But his reaction only showed that he would never let her in again.

"She's innocent! Her family tricked her and put her in prison!" Sam defended her and was surprised with himself.

Three years ago he was as pissed as Dean at Haley and wanted to kill her for trying to screw with them. But now, he was only able to feel symapthy for her.

"Are you into her or something?" Dean suddenly asked and narrowed his eyes at him.

"Well, go ahead and fuck her! I don't care." Dean exclaimed and balled a fist, slamming it on Sam's desk, causing the computer and papers on top of it to jump at the impact. "I don't want that fucking bitch back!"

Dean's behaviour contradicted his words, however. If he didn't want her then why would he act so emotional?

Sam folded his hands on the top of his desk and looked at Dean with an expression on his face that he couldn't identify.

"That's your wife you're talking about." He stated calmy, appalled by Dean's choice of words.

Dean shook his head and in the next moment his real feelings were written all over his face. The pain and hurt that he had been suffering from for the last three years appeared in his eyes again.

"No, she's not." He said hoarsely. "I don't even know her. That woman out there is a stranger to me." Dean gestured to the door of Sam's office and then looked back at his brother.

"Don't you get it? She's not the woman I'd thought I married. Her whole personality was made up to trick me into marrying her to get to us. To get to our money, to our wealth. To destroy our business relations. And once she's reached her aim she screwed us over and almost destroyed us. Our relationship was a lie."

"But she hasn't. We managed to keep our business and we still have our wealth. The bottom line is, she hasn't damaged us at all. Sure, we were forced to get better safety arrangements, but hey, we learnt our lesson well." Sam pointed out with a laugh. "We're not going to be so careless ever again, concerning our business. We should be thankful."

Dean hung his head and groaned. How could he explain to his brother that though Haley hadn't damaged their business, she sure had damaged him.

He knew he would never trust a woman ever again.

"That bitch ripped my heart out of my chest, cut it into thousands of pieces and fed it to the stray dogs!" Dean exclaimed, gesturing with sweeping movements.

Sam looked at him, amused by his exaggeration. "Don't you think that metaphor is a little extreme?" He asked.

"Oh, fuck this! Do what you want but keep that bitch away from me." Dean spat and stormed out of Sam's office.

He didn't feel any desire to go back into the club and see her again, so Dean was thankful for the backdoor at the end of the floor.

He quickly stepped outside and breathed in the fresh night air. His wife was back in town, so what? He could handle it and this time around he was prepared and wouldn't let her deceive and seduce him again.

Sam was a good person, sometimes a little too nice, and if he wanted to help Haley then it was his problem. But Dean would keep an eye on her and make sure that Haley wouldn't take advantage of Sam's kindness. It was his job to look after his little brother after all.

Sam leaned back in his seat and forced himself not to worry about Dean. He would seethe for a little while but calm down eventually and pretend like nothing's ever happened.

At first Sam thought Dean had come back when his office door opened again and looked up in surprise, but he was greeted by a young girl with ginger hair and hazel eyes.

He felt better in an instant. A wide smile spread across his face and he even got up from behind his desk and walked towards her.

"Hey, Zoe. How are you?" He asked and took both her hands in his and pressed a light kiss on her cheek. Zoe's heart started to race at the contact even though Sam did this every time she would come to work.

"I'm good, thanks." Zoe replied with a huge smile. "I saw Dean in the parking lot and he didn't even say a word to me. Is everything okay?"

Sam sighed again and gestured for her to take a seat as he leaned against the desk.

"I finally hired another bartender, so that's good news for you. She's really great, you're gonna like her. But Dean's not really on good terms with her."

"Why?" Zoe asked. "Did he sleep with her and never called her back, so now it's too awkward?" She joked but seeing the look on Sam's face she quickly realized that she had hit a sore spot.

"Sorta. She's Dean's wife."

"Oh my God. The woman that almost ruined you?" Zoe asked in shock.

Sam had told her about the history of the business when he had hired her in order to explain to her why they kept all their employees on a tight leash and constantly checked on them.

Zoe listened to him carefully and took the job anyway. She needed the money to pay her school fees.

Zoe was in her last year of college and she had immediately come to Sam for a job when she had turned twenty-one.

Sam was the only employer who was willing to give her a job despite her inflexible schedule and she was more than thankful.

The fact that she was twenty-one and bartended at a strip club didn't bother her at all. It had appalled her family at first because they thought it was too dangerous for a young girl her age to work in a sinful place like the 'Coconut Tiger'.

But the owner provided a safe environment for all his employees, so she never had to worry about safety.

"Yeah." Sam answered and saw all the questions burning in Zoe's eyes but he knew she would never dare to ask. And Sam wasn't willing to answer.

"You're supposed to be working in.." Sam glanced at his watch and then back at her. "...five minutes." He stated coldly and Zoe knew she was starting to bother him.

She swallowed hard and cursed herself for being so curious. The Winchester's family situation was not her business and she shouldn't have asked.

She got up from her seat and smiled a shacky smile. "Have a nice day...or night." She tried to joke as she backed out of the room.

When she had reached the door she quickly turned around and hurried out of the office.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Sam regretted being so harsh with her. She was a nice and really smart girl and usually he enjoyed talking to her.

But the day had already been rough enough with Haley showing up and the semi-aggressive discussion with his brother and he was running out of patience.

They all had weeks of emotional roller-coasters ahead of them since Haley was back and if Sam was honest he would admit that the thought scared the hell out of him.

At the end, either Dean or Haley would kill the other, that was a given.

Haley met Zoe and got along with her right away. Zoe was an enthusiastic and funny girl and managed to distract her from Dean.

As soon as she had stepped behind the bar and introduced herself, Haley had known she would get along with 'Sam's girl'.

And she was more than thankful she wasn't alone that night. Sam didn't exaggerate, it was a lot of work and as the night went on Haley asked herself how Zoe had managed to deal with this by herself.

She turned to her to start a conversation with her to get to know her better. She didn't mean to appear desperate, but she could really use a friend at the moment.

Haley never got to ask her about work, however. She noticed Zoe glancing to the back where Sam's office was, a sad look appearing on her face.

She had done that a few times during the past three hours and Haley wondered what was going on.

A conflict with the boss maybe? No, she doubted it. Zoe wouldn't be that sad because of a reprimand from Sam.

It quickly crossed her mind that maybe something was going on between them but her presumption was too farfetched.

Sam was professional, he wouldn't be having an affair with an employee. Besides that, Zoe was nine years younger.

Haley looked at her again and the longing look on Zoe's face reminded her of Dean again.

Obviously, he had left the club after storming into the back. And she knew it was because of her.

He didn't want to see her and the fact hurt Haley more than she had expected.

Of course, she had known he wouldn't be taking her back with open arms but she was appalled that he couldn't even stand being with her in a public place like a club where crowds of people were keeping her away from him.

Dean didn't even want to breathe the same air as her.

Thankfully, her shattering thoughts were interrupted by a big white wall that turned out to be Sam's muscular chest covered by a white shirt.

She quickly looked up at him and faked a smile.

Sam frowned again, surprised how upset she still was because of Dean. "Hey, girl. How are you doing?" He asked cheerily.

"Good. Everything's fine." Haley replied. "I love Zoe, she's great." She added and Sam chuckled.

"Well, then you should get in line. She has a lot of admirers."

And are you one of them? Haley wanted to ask but bit her tongue in time before the words could leave her mouth.

Sam had accommodated her and was so nice to her, so she didn't want to push her luck. But she vowed to herself she would ask him about Zoe some time in the future when things between them weren't that raw and breakable.

"So, listen. I'm staying here till closing time 'cause I still have some paper work back there." Sam said, gesturing with his head in the direction of his office.

"And I thought we could drive back home together after the party's over." He said with a kind smile but Haley got suspicious.

She narrowed her eyes at him, reading between the lines. It wasn't an offer out of friendliness, so Haley wouldn't have to go all the way back to his place all alone in the early morning hours.

Sam wanted to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn't do something stupid.

Haley saw through him but she didn't feel the need to tell him that. After everything that's happened she didn't blame him for keeping her under control.

At least he believed her. The unspoken fact hung between them in the air as Sam kept looking into her eyes, knowing she knew he needed to keep an eye on her.

He waited for her answer. "Sure. Sounds great." Haley said nonchalantly as if nothing was wrong and he was only offering her a ride, without any ulterior motives.

Sam smiled at her, a little surprised she hadn't taken him to task. But then again, maybe she really had changed and genuinely wanted to redeem herself and was willing to endure everything to prove that she wanted them back in her life.

He turned around and made his way back to his office and Haley watched him until he was out of her sight.

She wished that her quiet agreement to any inspection measure that Sam could possibly have for her in store, showed that she still cared for them. Both.

A/N: Hey everyone! So, here's the next chapter. I hope you guys are still liking this story:) Thank you for reading and please leave a review on your way out, thanks!

Huge special thanks to Miss E Charlotte for reviewing the first chapter! You made my day, my dear:)