Sara Powers watched the man collapse in front of her. With her hands on her hips she walked toward the hunter. "Well, Shit," she said, to herself. She quickly stepped over the man and looked out into the garage. There was someone in the back of the black car. That had to be Sam, she moved out into the garage and noticed that his head was back against the seat, and he seemed to be sleeping or unconscious.

Okay, Sara thought, as she returned to the house leaving the garage door open behind her. She moved to Dean's side and quickly checked him over. Except for a gash in his forehead she couldn't find anything specific wrong with him. She leaned back on her heels and went to remove the gun from his hand.

At this the man groaned and his eyes fluttered open. "Where's Sam, where's Sammy?" Dean questioned, sitting up slowly. As he did he felt his whole world tilt and spin.

"Are you going to throw up, because I don't handle puking well?" Sara said, as she put her arms under Dean and started hauling him into the back room.

Dean found himself sliding along a well polished wood floor, and then brought next to one of two twin beds. He struggled to push away the woman's hands but she seemed to be all over him. She had his jacket off and with a quick slice of a knife she held in her hand, she had cut straight down the back of his shirt. It took Dean a moment to realize that she had used his knife.

She quickly removed the remains of his shirt, while easily managing his interfering hands. Next went his boots. She talked the whole time, "stubborn ass. That brother of yours had better have some manners. You just wait and see..." Dean just blinked as he listened to a never ending complaint punctuated by curses.

Next thing Dean knew he was being lifted, he automatically worked at straitening his legs helping the woman as much as he could. She dumped him onto the bed, and stopped for a moment. As she wiped her brow, he noticed that she was covered in blood. That didn't seem right, he frowned looking for his gun, knife any sort of a weapon.

Sara noticed the agitation and focused on the young man in the bed. "Its okay, my name is Sara Powers, I'm a friend of Bobby's, you're safe, really. Sam's out in the car and I'm going to get him in here next. Just calm down." She placed a cool hand on Dean's forehead and just kept it there, willing him to calm down.

Dean focused his eyes as best he could on the woman above him. He had to help her, she was hurt and whatever had done it could be coming back. He struggled once again, looking for any kind of weapon. "I'll get it don't worry, your safe now. Just get me my gun and I'll help you."

Sara frowned at Dean and looked down into his eyes. "Dean we're fine, there's no danger, there's nothing trying to get me. We're all safe."

Dean rolled his eyes backward, and said, "You're covered in blood, of course we're not safe, and we're never safe."

Sara put her hand on Dean's head again and gave him a small smile. "Dean, that's your blood. I'm fine. Not a scratch on me, you can relax. You and Sam are okay now. Dean you got him help. Now you can relax, let me help you." Sara stood and reached for a blanket that was folded at the bottom of the bed.

"I'm going to cover you for now and go out and get Sam. Stay in bed I'll be back in moments." Dean felt the darkness descend again, and this time he couldn't push it away.

888

Sara watched as Dean closed his eyes. She put a hand to his pulse and found it, slightly fast but strong. She tucked the blanket around him again and headed for the open garage door.

As she approached the car, she could see the shaggy haired man sitting in the back seat. His eyes were closed and he looked pale in the dim light coming from the garage windows. He held a gun loosely in his hand. This gave Sara pause, she had no intention of being accidentally shot while trying to help the young man.

She approached the car carefully and called out, "Sam, Sam Winchester. Open your eyes, Sam, come on, kiddo, you need to look at me." Sara stopped just before the open door. She reached out slowly and started to remove the gun from Sam's hands.

All of the sudden Sara was staring down the barrel of a gun, a very shaky gun. She never stopped talking. Much the same as she had with Dean, she just rambled, letting him know that she was here to help, that his brother was already inside and was waiting for him.

Sam was trying hard to focus. The woman before him kept trying to tell him that everything was alright. But Sam knew that nothing could be right. Dean had gone into that house and he hadn't come back out yet. That's all Sam needed to know that things weren't right.

Sara stepped back hands at her side. "Look, Sam, come on out of the car and come inside. I'll show you, I'll show you that he's okay.

Sam started to get out of the car, he kept the gun pointed at the woman and nodded for her to precede him into the house. Sara started walking into the entry, as Sam followed he called out, "Dean, man you okay?"

As Sam moved into the small hallway, and called out Sara winced at the noise, he was loud enough to wake the dead. Sara heard Dean answer weakly from behind her. "Dude, I'm fine Sammy, fine."

With that Sam lowered his gun to his side and passed out cold. Sara moved to catch him before he hit the ground, but managed only to catch his head in her hands. She hit the floor with him and grunted as pain shot up her tailbone. "Shit," she said.

She heard a movement coming from the direction of the bedroom, she glanced behind her and said in her calmest voice, "I god damn, swear that if you get out of that bed, I will personally kick you and your brother out of this house and shoot you full of buckshot as you run naked down the drive. I can and will handle this." She sensed more than saw Dean lay back with a mumbled, "Yes, ma'am."

Sara nodded to herself and set about pulling Sam as gently across the floor as possible. The younger man was huge. Sara managed to get him to the side of the bed. She began stripping him much the same way she had stripped Dean. She looked over her shoulder to see Dean watching every move she made. She frowned at him, and said, "Don't even think about it." She saw Dean nod and she turned her attention back to Sam.

"Sam, you with me, Sam, come on big fella, open your eyes." Sam could hear the words, but didn't recognize the voice. He opened his eyes slowly and looked into a pair of pretty green eyes, behind a pair of black framed glasses.

Sara saw Sam's eyes open and before he could react she was lifting him under his armpits. Sam automatically struggled to help get to his feet.

Before he could make it all the way to his feet, the girl heaved him up and onto the bed. Her balance was off though and she didn't make it out from under him.

Dean had to grin, at the sight. His baby brother was laying face down on top of Sara, his head pressed against her breasts. And he seemed to be trying desperately to focus. "Dean, Dean, what's going on man. God my head hurts." Sam laid his big hand under his head, placing it on Sara's breast. "Where the hell am I Dean?" Sam said, again trying to focus his double vision.

At this Dean could no longer smother the laugh that escaped. "Come on Sam, I know it's been a while but surely you couldn't have forgotten that much."

At his words Sam suddenly realized that he was lying on someone, warm and soft. His hand was curled around a woman's breast, he realized she smelled sweet, like vanilla. He lifted his head and focused as best he could on the woman beneath him.

Dean expected a torrent of curses from the prickly woman. Instead she surprised him by smiling slightly at Sam and pushing his hair out of his eyes. "Hey, big fella, you're kind of crushing me. Would you mind moving a bit?" Dean watched as Sam blushed and allowed the woman to shimmy out from under him.

As she stood she shot a gaze full of venom at the older Winchester effectively wiping the smirk off his face. "Okay, boys, now if you will just give me a minute I will have you both cleaned up, fed and asleep."

Sara was as good as her word, she quickly had Sam stripped down to his shorts. She had the puncture wound in his shoulder cleaned and bandaged. She then got Sam a glass of water and a bag of ice for his head.

She did everything with a minimum of fuss, although Sam noticed that she talked to herself almost constantly. At first he had tried to follow the line of conversation thinking that she would require a response. He quickly realized though that she was walking herself through the process, trying to do the right thing. No matter how game she was to help the boys, she had obviously never been in a situation like this.

"Alright, Sam do you need anything else," Sara asked, as she handed the younger hunter a couple of aspirin.

"No, Sara thanks I'm fine." Sam's eyes actually started drifting shut, before the words were fully out.

Sara watched over Sam for a moment, placing her hand on his head to check for any sign of fever. She found his head cool to the touch and she took a moment to brush the hair out of his eyes, he looked so young. She sighed and turned towards Dean.

She mentally prepared herself to fight older hunter for cooperation. Instead, he was staring up at her with a small smile. He looked her directly in the eye, and for a moment Sara could feel his gratitude. The feeling faded as soon as he broke eye contact.

Dean looked at the woman before him trying to convey with his eyes what it meant to him, seeing her take such tender care of his brother. As Dean dropped his gaze he noticed her nod. He looked up again and flipped her a grin. "Want to take off my pants?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows.

Dean watched as Sara suddenly smiled and laughed. Dean couldn't pull his eyes from her face. When she smiled everything about her lit up. It was like the sun coming out on a cloudy day.

She gave him another grin, and said, "You look healthy enough for a shower. Why don't you hop in and when you're done I'll take a look at that thick head of yours."

With that she walked out the door, closing it softly behind her. Dean glanced down at his watch shocked to find that it was nearly 7 o'clock in the morning. Dean quickly checked on Sammy again making sure their was no sign of fever. He went into the bathroom, leaving the door slightly ajar. He wanted to be able to hear Sam if necessary.

When he got out of the shower the semi-clean clothes that he had left out were gone. They were replaced with a pair of clean jogging pants and a tee shirt. Suddenly, he could feel the anger pouring off of him. What did she think he was a charity case? Like he couldn't take care of himself and Sammy.

He quickly wrapped a towel around himself, grabbed the clothes and headed out the door planning the ways he would tell that infuriating woman off. He found her in a chair next to Sammy. She had her hand on top of his, her eyes were closed and her head leaned back against the chair. She was humming something soft.

Dean stepped back into the bathroom and sat on the side of the tub. He put his hands in his head and breathed deep. He was being stupid, Sara was just trying to help. She had done nothing so far to indicate that Dean and Sam were in any way in her debt. She was just doing what she could to make them comfortable. How long had it been since anyone had shown the Winchesters any kind of kindness.

Dean rose slowly and dressed in the borrowed clothes. As he left the bathroom he noted that Sara seemed to have drifted off. Suddenly her eyes popped open and she sat straight. Dean knew he hadn't made any noise, he figured that she must not have been asleep.

Sara smiled at him again, and said, "I'm sorry about the clothes but I was running the washer and figured you wouldn't mind if I threw what was left of your and Sam's clothes in the wash." She shrugged "Besides, I owed you a shirt after ruining the one you were wearing."

She moved off the chair and indicated that he should sit in it. To be honest Sara was surprised that Dean was still moving. His was so pale it made the dark circles under his eyes look like bruises. As Dean sat she quickly set about fixing the cut on his forehead.

Dean leaned his head back and closed his eyes while Sara took care of the cut. It didn't seem deep and Dean was hopeful that he might escape stitches this time. Sara, cleaned it thoroughly added an antibiotic cream and used butterflies to close it.

Dean had almost nodded off under her gentle hands when he heard her say, "That's it, Dean, you're finished, just get into bed and I'll be back in a moment." Dean watched her walk away.

A few minutes later Sara had come back balancing a tray with two bowls and a glass of orange juice. She set the tray down for a moment and handed Dean the juice. "It'll help stop the shaking."

Dean looked at her in surprise then reached for the glass, he noticed for the first time just how bad his hands were trembling. She stood and watched as he drained the glass, then she handed him the bowl. He looked into and saw that it was filled with cocoa crispies. He smiled at the bowl and looked at her. "This was one of my favorites when I was kid."

"Yeah, well it was either this or Special K. You looked like a cocoa crispy kind of guy. You know living on the edge and all that." She smiled as she sat down in the chair, propped her feet next to Dean's on the bed and proceeded to eat her own bowl.

Dean tried his best not to wolf down the bowl, but he couldn't remember the last time that he was this hungry. As he ate his way through the bowl he began to get sleepy. As he finished his last bite, he actually dozed off for a moment. Sara grabbed the bowl before it could tip and set it aside. Dean felt her pulling the covers up around him and sensed her moving around the room, pulling blinds and setting everything right.

As she left the room closing the door behind her he heard her whisper, "Goodnight, boys, sleep safe."