AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I think this re-write is going rather well, and I fell even MORE in love with Lana and Dean this time around.

Didn't think it could happen, but they grew on me even more.

Hope you enjoy it!

=P

WARNING: Rated "M" for language, dirty thoughts, sex, innuendo, blood, violence and dark themes.

xxxx

I watched Dean as he slept because sleep was evading me and I was kind of a crazy stalker…I mean not really exactly but there was nothing better to do and Sam was out getting coffee. Dean was wearing boxers and a dark T-shirt, and he was absolutely adorable, his sandy brown hair all mussed up and his mouth open a little, but Dean Winchester didn't drool. I just sat on Sam's and my bed across from Dean, and looked up as Sam came in, and Dean reached under his pillow his eye opening as his sense went alert.

"Morning Sunshine!" Sam said, handing me coffee as he spoke to Dean.

I beamed at the tall, attractive Winchester and grasped the coffee cup. "Thank you."

Dean grunted and turned over. "What time is it?"

"Oh it's like 5:45." I replied, sipping my coffee happily.

Dean made a noise and looked at Sam and I surprised. "In the morning?"

"Yep." Sam replied with a nod and a shrug.

Dean looked at both Sam and I and I knew he was concerned, and he really should have been even though Sam and I were trying to hide it. Sam and I had been staying up late and talking since he kept having nightmares, and we'd started to hammer out a few things about this 'relationship' of ours. He was attracted to me, and I to him, but he was lonely since Jessica's death was still so fresh to him, and I was definitely already way too attached to the hunters that had accepted me into their lives. It didn't mean we wouldn't pursue our attraction if we thought it was worth it when we'd known each other a little longer…it just meant we'd be more aware.

"Did you two sleep last night?" Dean asked, sitting up. "Or did you have another bonding pow-wow of talking and groping?"

I rolled my eyes. "Sam I don't sit up all night and grope each other…we sit up all night and care and share and sometimes I let him braid my hair."

Sam chuckled as Dean grinned at me and then Dena and I broke contact when Sam sat down next to me on the bed, our thighs rubbing together since he sat so close. Over the last couple weeks Dean actually hadn't seemed annoyed at all by Sam's and my closeness, but in that moment I saw the glint of jealousy in his eyes and then it was gone just like that, and he and I were making eye contact again. Sam was completely oblivious to it and that was fine with me—I really didn't want to have to deal with some insane love triangle that could ruin everything I was finally creating by keeping my hormones in check.

"So you two didn't sleep then?" Dean asked us and he was slightly annoyed.

Sam chuckled and I smiled. "You know, it's nice you're concerned but—"

"—Oh I'm not concerned. You're asses are keeping me alive, so I need you both sharp." Dean told him, cocking an eyebrow.

"Dean…" I began sternly after sipping my coffee.

Dean shrugged and looked at us. "Seriously, when was the last time you got a decent night's sleep? Sam's been having nightmares, and you don't ever sleep a whole night through, Lana."

I shrugged too as Sam looked to me for support. "Sam and I can function just fine the way that we are, thank you very much. Now Sam, hand the man his coffee and explain to him that we don't spook easy."

Sam laughed and did as I said, Dean smirking at his obedience. Honestly I was already rather cozy with the two, and it was definitely the best time I'd ever had in my life. My life had been rough, and so had theirs, and our little adventure together was putting us all in rather fantastic moods, that showed through our hunting. It was nice to be able to hunt like this and not have to worry about what was going to happen when we moved on—we were always going to have each other, even if I was the new addition to the team.

"It's not just the nightmares, Dean…it's everything. I forgot about this, you know? This job gets to you." Sam admitted.

I frowned. "That is really not what I told you to tell him."

Sam shrugged and nudged my ribs playfully with his elbow. "Yeah, but it's the truth."

Dean sipped his coffee. "Well you can't let it. You can't bring it home like that."

"You mean you never get afraid?" Sam asked him, me raising an eyebrow at Dean as he shrugged.

"No, not really." Dean replied as he sipped more coffee.

Sam nodded slowly as I gave Dean a look, both of us not willing to believe that he could be in this profession and not let a certain amount of it get to him. Sighing, Sam reached over and slipped his hand under Dean's pillow, a little hint of tenseness rising up in Dean as he tried not to let the motion get to him. I was a little confused, but then I couldn't help but crack a smile when Sam pulled a knife out from under Dean's pillow. He then proceeded to hold it up and Dean looked for the words to say and I laughed.

"That's not fear. It's precaution." Dean said, and I giggled more as he said it.

"Whatever." Sam replied with a laugh. "I'm too tired to argue with you."

"And I'm just too tired in general." I admitted, yawning and then frowning. "Maybe we should start getting me more shots in my coffee."

Dean laughed loudly. "No thank you—you get rather cheeky when you have lots of caffeine in you, Lana."

I winked at him. "I'm cheeky all the time…coffee must flow through my veins."

Dean probably would have had some sort of comeback to say to that, but his cell phone rang and Dean leaned over to pick it up as I set up my laptop. Mostly I just wanted to see if Jen was online so that I could vent some of my much needed frustration about the tension lately out without having to talk to the boys about it, but that wasn't going to happen because she was sleeping…lucky her. I was just going to have to try and keep the flirting down, and I smiled when Dean told us that the guy on the phone was some guy that Dean and his dad helped a couple years back, and we had to get dressed and go to some plane place for a hunt.

"I'm tired." I pouted as I went to grab my jacket.

Dean leaned in, his face close to mine as he grabbed his jacket from behind me. "Well you should have slept more."

"Yeah?" I asked egging him on and practically begging for a kiss by looking at his lips.

Dean nodded and bit his lip, smirking at the desired effect that it had on me when I moaned a little and then put a cork in it. He was doing this on purpose to get a rise out of me, and I was trying so hard not to have any of it. So what if Dean Winchester was hot? So what if Sam Winchester was also hot? I was the third wheel to the hot fest, and I needed to keep my hormones under control and deal with this in a much more professional hunting way.

"I believe we have a job to do." Sam told us as he rolled his eyes a little.

I couldn't help but blush a little as Dean smiled and then we headed out in the car to meet up with the man. The man talked to us about the poltergeist that Dean and his father helped to get rid of, and then he said he was happy to see Sam because his father had talked about him a lot, and he was happy to meet me, because anyone who did our kind of work for other people was worth knowing. He took us into a room and put in a CD, telling us that he wasn't normally able to get a hold of things like this, but he thought it was up our alley.

"It's the pilot in the cockpit of the United Britannia Airlines, Flight 24-85. It was one of ours." The man said as it played.

We sat there listening, and after the man talking, we heard the scream of a being—this was definitely our thing. It certainly wasn't just some normal flight and I was rather excited that we were going to be doing a hunt. I wanted to focus on something I was good at, and try really hard to keep myself on track doing something that was going to benefit others. In fact, wasn't that the whole point of having hunters? To defeat monsters and to keep the public out of it so they could go on with their normal lives? I have simply lost my way, and now I was going to get back what I had lost.

"Jerry, we're going to need passenger manifests, a list of survivors—" Sam began.

"—and can we see the wreckage?" Dean and I asked at once.

Jerry nodded and said he could get us the rest of the stuff, but he didn't have the kind of clearance we needed to see the wreckage because everything had been locked down. Dean drove us to get fake ids, and Sam and I waited outside by the car and I realized that no matter how hard I tried, I was going to be attracted. The only difference now was that I felt a lot more in control of myself, even as I smelled the fabulous smell that was Sam Winchester.

"So how are you?" I asked Sam honestly.

Sam shrugged and we made eye contact. "A little antsy I suppose."

I nodded. "Me too. This could be something big…but I really meant how are you with the nightmares and the coping?"

Sam nodded and smiled a little. "It's a lot easier with you here, honestly, Lan. Dean doesn't really understand it, and it's nice to know there's someone else I can talk to who you know…has a heart."

"I'm glad I can help, Sam." I replied, and reached up to stroke his hair.

We were having a moment, and then even though Dean came out and got a look on his face that he wiped off, he came over to us. I slowly pulled my fingers out of Sam's soft locks—even though I didn't want to—and I took the fake ID that he gave me when he gave Sam one too. We both looked at the IDs and then Sam sighed and Dean gave him a look because he'd gone to lengths to get them. Still, it was kind of a place I hadn't really been before seeing as how Sam and Dean were much better at this hunting thing than I was…seeing as how they were more experienced.

"This is really illegal. Even for us." Sam said as he looked at Dean.

I took a deep breath. "So even really experienced hunters don't do this really? I hought this was hella illegal."

"Yeah, well it's something new. You know people haven't seen it a thousand times. So what do you got?" Dean asked us.

Sam and I were supposed to be looking over the cockpit message and Sam had definitely found something—a hidden message. With further research Sam and I had found that there had been histories of demons and spirits connected to boats and planes, and we decided to visit the survivors—starting with a man named Max that was in a psychiatric hospital. They were the only sure fire way for us to figure out what was going on, and how to solve this hunt once and for all.

"You checked yourself in here, why?" Dean asked Max, but Max didn't want to talk about it.

"Can you tell us what you thought you saw? Please?" Sam asked him as Dean was being sent chastising looks for making him feel bad he was delusional—or so he said he was.

Max took a deep breath. "I saw this man with these um…eyes—these black eyes—and he um…I saw him—I thought I saw him—open the emergency hatch. But that's impossible right? I looked it up and there's like two tons of weight there."

I tried to be as sweet as possible to Max because he was so scarred, and once we'd gotten all of the information out of him that we could, we headed to talk to the wife of the man that was thought to have caused the crash. His name was George Phelps and we were very certain he had been possessed by a demon, and so this was going to be one of those cases where we had to figure out the connection before it was too much. Since George was dead now, the demon was going to have to find another body to inhabit to strike again…unless it was done.

"Man, I don't care how strong you are. Even if you're on PCP, no one can open an emergency door in the middle of a flight." Dean said out loud and looked at me as I laughed. "What now, Lana?"

I waved it off as I kept laughing. "It's just that in Buffy that's what they also pin on the vampire killings."

Dean laughed too. "Yeah, you're right...and I stick by my statement."

Sam laughed loudly. "Not if you're human anyway, guys—that demon ripped off a whole door of a plane in flight."

"I really need coffee. So sorry to make you guys do this alone, but I seriously am tired, and if I don't get a pick-me-up, I might die." I told them as we began to head for the freshly widowed Mrs. Phelps' house.

Dean smirked. "Well if you wait, I could be your pick-me-up."

I smirked back but shook my head. "You have a job to do. I'll help—I just need to walk to that café and get myself a latte. When I get back, I'll help you all I can…besides, Winchester…the whore isn't in right now."

Dean laughed while Sam shook his head and laughed too, me heading to the café the next block over and ordering a large latte. I paid the barista and she smiled at me and then I gave a little wave and a tip and headed back to the Impala. It seemed that Sam and Dean were done with their little talk, and I was fine with that—I had taken my sweet time to get back to think about the hunt—yeah, I know, unbelievable. Grinning, I smiled at the boys and then Dean was the first to talk to me when I got up to the car.

"We're going to the NTSP Warehouse." Dean told me with a smile.

I nodded and sipped my coffee. "Cool."

"But first we have to look the part." Sam explained.

I raised an eyebrow but agreed that we needed to dress the part, and the three of us went to 'Mort's for Style', and had to get suits. I changed in the car as Sam and Dean went inside to get some suits fitted and then I tried rather hard to fix my hair and to try and get my skirt to be longer—which probably wasn't going to happen. So I was pretty much stuck in my blouse and my short skirt, and I needed to find my heels. I got distracted from putting them on though as Sam and Dean came out in suits—let me tell you, the boys looked amazing in suits.

"I look like one of the Blue's Brothers." Dean complained.

"No you don't. You look more like a seventh grader at his first dance." Sam said.

I smiled and laughed a little as I came out of the car in my white button-up blouse tucked into my black skirt that was tighter than it used to be on top of being kind of short—it stopped above my knees, and I was in the middle of pulling on the jacket that matched the skirt when Dean finished looking at himself and looked at his brother. Neither of them had noticed me yet and I was actually okay with that even though my hair was doing the flippy thing that made me look so much more attractive than I normally did. Yes, I was freaking vain, and I was kind of wanting to stand next to them and make some joke about how hot the three of us were.

"I hate these things." He said, and began towards the car, but stopped when he saw me. "Wow."

I blushed. "Oh, it's nothing. May I say you two make those suits look good?"

Dean smiled and looked me up and down. "I have to take it back—these things look great on her—the skirt is definitely the best touch of all of it I have to say…and the heels accent your legs."

I smiled and blushed, and then we all got into the car, and I wished I hadn't been tongue-tied because I wanted to have a comeback. There were so many things that I could say about his cheekiness, but at the same time I really just wanted to take the compliment…it had after all come from Dena Winchester. He had somewhat meant for it to be a compliment that had nothing to do with getting into my pants, and as I thought about it, Dean drove us to the warehouse and we flashed our fake ids and went to look at the wreckage. It was amazing—mainly because I'd never seen plane wreckage this close and personal before.

"What is that?" Sam asked his brother as Dean put headphones in his ears.

Dean showed it to his brother. "It's an EMF meter. It reads Electromagnetic Frequencies."

"Yeah, I know what an EMF meter is. Why does it look like a busted up walkman?" Sam asked as I giggled a little and began to walk ahead.

"Because that's what I made it out of. It's homemade." Dean said happily, smiling.

"Yeah. I can see that." Sam said, and I turned because the smile had been wiped off of Dean's face since he said it like he disapproved.

I snorted with laughter though. "Ah, honey, I'm glad you made something with your own two hands. Try it here."

Dean winked at me and my support and brought it over to the emergency door handles, and then Sam scraped off some of the stuff. It was pretty obviously not ectoplasm—it was definitely sulfur, which told us that demon possession was certainly real. W had proof now, but we heard someone coming and hid outside and ran for the car as the alarm went off. We had to jump a fence—which in a skirt sucks—and then ran the rest of the way to the car, and drove over to give the sample to Jerry.

"This stuff is covered in sulfur." Jerry told us as he looked at us.

Dean nodded slowly. "Hmm. There's not too many things that leave a sulfur residue."

"This is big—a demon possessing people to take down an airplane." I nodded as I took a deep breath, Dean nodding as well, and I took off my jacket and unbuttoned my first two buttons, making him smile over at me and I rolled my eyes, but smiled too. "It's not the coolest in here, all right?"

"You might want to button that back up—he's getting a look." Sam told me as I smiled and nodded, and buttoned up my shirt and put the jacket back on.

"Books, books, books." I said as Sam and Dean researched.

"You want to help?" Dean asked me as I randomly looked things up on the computer.

It had been a while since I had truly been in research mode, and lately Sam had been pretty much doing all of the research on his own, and I was simply helping. When Dean shot the question in my direction though, I looked at him from the bed, and agreed with Sam's idea that the Japanese were onto something thinking that each disaster happened with a demon behind it. It was big, and not our normal gig, and somehow the three of us were going to have to stop whatever was going down so that no one else got hurt.

"I wish Dad was here." Dean said, scratching his head.

"Yeah…me too." Sam replied.

I smiled at them sadly. "Hey…eventually we'll find him, we just…we have other things to do right now—other people to protect."

Sam smiled at me as I said it and I smiled back, Dean's phone ringing so he answered it and I broke the eye contact with Sam. It was one of those things now where it was really easy to connect to them, but that was as far as it was going…that was as far as I was going to let it go. We both looked at Dean as we heard that there was another plane crash, and soon Dean had us heading out to Nazareth, and I was getting hungry again because of things I wasn't really to reveal about myself to the Winchester's quite yet.

"All right. I'll grab the food and you two just get in the car." I told them both as I shut the top of my laptop.

"You are strange today." Dean said while Sam nodded.

Sam shut his laptop too. "Yeah…you going to be all right."

"Guys, I'm fine." I told them softly.

I shrugged as I grabbed the food and headed out to the car, and then I went with them to get stuff from the wreckage and then we found out there was also sulfur on it when we took it back to Jerry. We found out that it was using a biblical number—40—to record death. Normally there were no survivors, and each crash happened 40 minutes in, but now—now it was going after all of the survivors of the crash we had been called out here to investigate for. Dean assured us we would make it to the airport before the next flight, but Sam was certain that even with Dean's driving we wouldn't make it because it was a five hour drive.

"We'll make it." Dean tried to tell us, but when we got there, even Dean speeding into a parking space didn't seem like it was going to help us.

"Hey! Whoa, whoa, whoa, Dean! We're about to walk into an airport?" He told his brother, both of them looking at each other questioningly before Dean went to the trunk of the car and then emptied himself of his weapons and then shut the trunk before turning to us.

"I feel naked." He said, and then we followed him in.

I was finding it rather packed inside the airport, and told Dean to page Amanda Walker—one of the only survivors of the last crash—and Sam agreed with me. He seemed to be doing pretty well too, except that by the end Amanda was pretty sure that it was all a prank and hung up on him. It was pretty much our plan and with Dean all upset, Sam and I were the only ones that were even thinking clearly.

"Damn it! I was so close!" Dean exclaimed.

Sam nodded and then he shrugged. "All right. It's time for plan B. We're getting on that plane."

"W—W—now, just hold on a second." Dean said and I noted that there was suddenly some fear in his voice I'd never heard before.

"Dean we have to." I protested earnestly.

"Dean, that plane is leaving with over a hundred passengers on board, and if we're right," Sam paused to quiet himself, "that plane is going to crash."

"I know." Dean told his brother, still terrified of something.

"Well, okay. Then we're getting on that plane, we need to find that demon, and exorcise it. Look, I'll get the tickets, you get whatever you can out of the car—whatever will make it through security and meet me back here in five minutes. Are you okay?" Sam asked concerned Dean was looking a little pale.

"No. Not really." Dean told him.

I studied Dean's face and tried to figure out where the sudden fear was coming from because I'd never seen him like this before. It was actually kind of attractive to see that Dean Winchester was in fact afraid of things, but at the same time Sam and I needed him to be at his best so we could get this done. So I reached out and squeezed his hand even though we were in public and he let me do just that…hold his hand.

"What is it Dean? What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Well I kind of have this problem with um—" Dean made a motion with his hand and then stopped and looked ashamed.

Sam looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "Flying?"

"Well it's never really been an issue until now." Dean protested as he looked at the look on his brother's face.

Sam laughed a little. "You're joking, right?"

"Do I look like I'm joking? Why do you think I drive everywhere Sam?" Dean asked in an annoyed voice.

I didn't know why exactly I found Dean Winchester so incredibly attractive right then and there, but I was pretty sure it was the adorable look he made when he was freaked out. I knew that with some of the irrational fears I had that I had never brought up to them, I shouldn't make fun that he was afraid of planes when there was a real threat to them, but part of me was also rather wanting to laugh. Besides, wouldn't you hug Dean Winchester too if he was standing there in front of you making adorable faces and running his fingers through his hair?

Sam looked concerned. "All right. Uh—I'll go."

"What?" Dean asked him like he hadn't heard him properly and I myself was kind of wondering how that was going to work as well.

"I'll do this one on my own." Sam told him with a shrug.

"What are you, nuts? You said it yourself—the plane is going to crash." Dean said frantically as I realized I couldn't let Sam go on a plane with a demon alone.

"Look Dean, we can do it together, I can do this one by myself—I'm not seeing a third option here." Sam said in voice that was growing impatient.

I looked from Dean to Sam. "I could go with you."

"Come on! Really? Man." Dean said, physically looking nervous as ever.

He really didn't want us to go on our own, but it was pretty obvious to him at that point that we were going to do this with or without him. We didn't want to, but if Dean wasn't going to put his feet down on the plane, then I was going to have to go with Sam. It was too dangerous to let Sam go on his own when an exorcism needed to be done, and I really wanted to be there for my adorable puppy, so Dean would have to stay here on his own and be safe while Sam and I did our job.

"It's okay. I'll be there too. And I mean free peanuts—it doesn't get better than that. I'll meet you on the plane—go watch the next victim." I tried to assure Dean.

I was turning to go when Dean took my hand and I turned around and looked him in the eye. For the first time since Dean and I had met, the look in his eyes had been genuine and true…had honestly been pleading. I wanted to melt right then and there as my knees buckled a little underneath me, but tried to stay strong as his thumb ran over my hand and Sam watched us. It just felt so natural for her hand to be in his and his eyes to be locked on hers, and she couldn't stop looking at him.

"Please don't go." He told me.

I had never wanted to kiss Dean more than right then, but I decided not to and I just smiled and stepped up closer to him. He wanted someone to stay with him, but I was kind of wishing that he would see that Sam needed me on that plane with him more than he needed me on the ground with him. Deep down I knew that he knew that, but he was pretty much also being a little selfish and wanted the hot girl to himself—I did mention earlier that I was a little vain, sorry.

"All right, Dean. We'll stay together on this one, but that means you have to come with us. I love flying, so let's let Sam get the tickets, and we'll meet him back here." I told him softly, his face a little closer to mine.

Sam nodded, and Dean and I got what we could out of the car and then rushed back to get on the plane. We walked down the aisle and went to pick some seats, Sam stealing the window seat, and we let Dean have the aisle seat so that I could sit in the middle between them. Dean shook just a little bit when Sam looked over at him and I took Dean's hand again and suddenly felt a little like I had before when I thought about mine and Dean's connection to each other—I felt like this was natural and something I was always meant to do…be there for him when he needed someone.

"Just try to relax." Sam told him.

"Just try to shut up." Dean shot back.

I laughed a little and then caught our flight attendant's attention. "Could I get some peanuts over here?"

"You and peanuts." Dean muttered.

"Keeps my mind off of the flight. Gum?" I asked him, but he shook his head at me. "Seriously—it'll help when your ears pop." I said.

Sam and Dean both refused the gum though, and I had to wait for the peanuts until after the plane took off. I wasn't certain what the deal was with the refusing the gum since it really did help and Dean needed all the help he could get, especially when the plane actually took off. Dean looked very uncomfortable, and since I was right there next to him to comfort him and Sam had stolen my window seat, I really only had Dean to pay attention to. For some reason I really wanted focus attention on him, and he seemed to be all right with that even though he was still really freaked out by the whole thing. He gave me a look and tried to smile but it was hidden by the fear in his eyes and he started to hum, which made Sam laugh.

"You humming Metallica?" Sam asked him, highly amused.

"Calms me down." Dean said quickly, humming some more as I smiled at him.

Sam nodded. "Look man, I get you're nervous all right, but you gotta stay focused."

"Okay." Dean answered.

"I mean we got, thirty minutes and counting and track it down and perform a full exorcism." Sam added.

"Yeah, on a crowded plane." Dean told him unhappily.

I sighed a little and nodded. "It's going to possess someone that's a little messed up—maybe mental or something."

Dean knew that Sam and I were only trying to help, but it was pretty obvious that he needed to be up and about instead of just sitting there. So he nodded vigorously and looked at Sam and I as we tried to make sure that he was actually going to be of help with this, and then Dean seemed to have his mind made up.

"I'll go check on her mental state." Dean said, looking back at Amanda.

"Let's be subtle. If she's possessed, she'll flinch at the name of God." Sam told him.

"Good one." Dean said, unbuckling and getting up.

"Hey!" Sam called in a hushed voice.

Dean stopped and leaned over a little, me glad his face was so close. "What?"

Sam looked at him hard. "Say it in Latin."

"I know." Dean told him in a rather annoyed voice.

"Okay. Hey!" Sam called again in the same hushed voice, as Dean asked him 'what' again and leaned over since his trek back there had been interrupted again. "In Latin it's 'Christo'."

"Dude, I know, I'm not an idiot!" Dean said, and got up to walk, just as there was turbulence.

I laughed a little bit and Sam and I looked back to make sure that Dean was going to be all right even though he was seriously antsy. For some reason even though I'd been flirting with both of them, it was becoming rather obvious to me as the jealousy settled in my stomach that Dean was the one I wanted to call my own. It was probably because I went and got attached to him when he broke my hymen, but he also seemed like he needed someone as much as I did, and I wanted to understand the Winchesters like no one else did…which meant to a certain extent they would need to understand me too.

"Think he's flirting with her?" I asked Sam suddenly. "She is actually rather attractive."

Sam smiled and looked at me. "He knows what to do…are you jealous?"

I rolled my eyes. "Why would I be jealous when I'm just a business partner?"

Sam really didn't believe me anymore than I believed myself, but I put on a rather practiced face and looked up as Dean came back. He didn't look as scared, but he still had that masked terror in his hazel irises and I wanted to make the pain go away, so I reached my hand out and he took it without realizing what he was doing and looked directly at Sam. It was nice…holding the strong, worn hand of the hunter in my own less experienced hand, and I swallowed as he began to speak.

"Okay, well she's got to be the most well adjusted creature on the planet." Dean said, and told us there was no demon in her or getting in her—and that meant it could be anyone—and then the turbulence got worse and Dean freaked out a little more. "Oh come on! That can't be normal!" Dean exclaimed softly.

"Hey, hey—it's just a little turbulence." Sam said calmly.

Dean's eyes flashed angrily. "Sam, this plane is going to crash okay, so quit treating me like I'm freaking four!"

"You need to calm down." Sam said softly.

"Well I'm sorry I can't!" Dean replied hostilely.

"Yes you can." Sam said calmly.

I was starting to feel the tension between the two a lot more than I had been feeling it before, and I was starting to squirm a little myself. There was no way that it was good for Dean to be freaking out this much, and Sam and I knew it and it was Sam's place to talk to him about it and not mine. Dean and Sam were practically my family now but Sam was actually Dean's brother and so I let them hash it out a little.

"Dude, stow the touchy-feely, self-help, yoga crap—it's not helping!" Dean was saying as Sam started to interrupt him.

"Dean, if you're panicked you're wide open for demonic possession so you need to calm yourself down right now." Sam said sternly but lovingly.

I nodded at Dean and he sighed. "Sam's right, Dean…just take some deep breaths—Sam and I won't let anything happen to you, and I think you know that."

I rested my head on Dean's shoulder and held his hand, stroking his skin with my fingers as Sam explained the two parts of the exorcism. First, we had to get the demon out of the body of the victim and then it would manifest and that would make it strong enough to wreak havoc on its own, and then the second part would send it back to Hell once and for all. That meant that we were going to have to figure out who the demon was going to possess and we were going to have to figure it out rather quickly.

"So are you going to be okay finding the demon?" I asked Dean as I lifted my head off of his shoulder and looked at him fondly. "I care about you, you know?"

Dean smiled and then he kissed me, and I found the butterflies erupting in my stomach. I hadn't initiated the touching of our lips, but I definitely wasn't going to push him off just because I was set on being platonic. He was thanking me in his own 'Dean' way and I was going to let him because his lips were soft and warm, and I had wanted to kiss him so many times today. Then when he was done he had to make my stomach go insane and run his nose along mine softly and look me in the eye.

"I'm going to be fine, Lana…thank you." He whispered.

I just nodded and then couldn't resist kissing him again. "You're welcome."

Dean smiled at me but stopped his hand mid-raise to stroke my hair since Sam was watching us rather closely. When the blush rose in my cheeks, Dean pulled away and suggested we look around, Dean heading around with his homemade EMF meter, and I sat in my seat, looking things up in the documents I had saved to my laptop since I couldn't access the Internet while in flight. I looked up at them a little while into our tasks and saw them in the aisle, instantly knowing that something was up and trying to figure out what it was. I got up and went over to them just in time to see a man turn as Dean said 'Christo', and his eyes were black.

"Oh sweet baby Jesus." I said and followed the boys to go and talk to Amanda.

Sam sighed loudly. "She's not going to believe this."

"There's only twelve minutes, now." Dean told him. "It's this or we all die, Sammy."

When we got back there to see the poor girl, Sam and Dean explained to Amanda that something was wrong and then she said she would help us because we seemed sincere. She went to go and get the co-pilot, and we waited for her and when she came back, Sam and Dean attacked the man to exorcise the demon, and I went to make sure that Amanda was going to be okay. This was a lot for her to take in, and the boys had just effectively attacked a man that she was pretty sure didn't deserve to be attacked…even when things started to go all supernatural on her.

"This is a lot to take in, huh?" I asked her calmly.

Amanda nodded. "I just—what are they doing?"

"Exorcising a demon." I whispered and she looked at me wide-eyed. "Yeah. Crazy. I know. But you saw what the holy water did to his body and you can't tell me that was what you would call normal."

Before we could do anymore talking, the plane began to plummet, and Amanda and I held onto things, and then I made my way back to where Dean was and I planted myself up against the wall near him. He needed some support since this was one of his greatest fears, and since it was ingrained in me practically now to watch over him, I was going to go down with him if we were going to die…but Sam finished the exorcism. Then, as the plane began to regain itself, Dean looked less like he was going to throw up, and I stroked his cheek with my hand.

"You all right?" I asked.

Dean just hugged me to him, and when he pulled away, he kissed me and though confused and surprised, I returned it and pressed my body close to his to let him know that I enjoyed the new closeness. I knew he didn't have the words yet, but I was all right with that because I felt like this was just something he and I had to deal with together and we were going to get through everything that was thrown our way. He went to look through the curtains at Sam, and then shook his head—he was very unhappy and we were all worried about what was going to be said when we got off of the plane.

xxxx

Lucky for us, Amanda would keep our secret, and so we began to go for the exit once we were back in an airport because Dean wanted out of here, and Sam didn't look so good because the demon had said something about Jessica. Dean told him it was all just a lie the demon came up with because demons can read minds, and Sam said he believed, but I knew part of him didn't. Demons had a way of being almost too convincing, and I had known quite a few of them personally that had a way of telling you just enough truth to get you interested and then getting away before you could get the rest of it.

Dwelling on different things, we went to talk to Jerry who was very proud of us, and then we went to go and get on with it. Sam and Dean were both wishing that their father was there and I knew I was one poor substitute for him, but that they needed me for a completely different reason—and sex had nothing to do with it. So as I leaned on the trunk of the Impala with Dean and Sam, Dean in the middle, I squeezed Dean's hand as he and Sam leaned their heads together and put Dean's phone on speaker so we could hear John's voicemail message even though Sam was certain we'd get nothing.

"This is John Winchester. I can't be reached. If this is an emergency, call my son Dean. 866-907-3235. He can help." The message said.

Dean hung up the phone as Sam got teary eyed, and then Sam stopped leaning on the trunk of the car, and Dean sat there for a moment. I looked at him and then took Sam's spot and Dean looked over at me as Sam got into the car rather hurt and upset. Neither of them wanted to talk about how their father had reactivated his number and never tried to contact them, and I wasn't about to force them to open up about anything. I knew better than anyone else that sometimes keeping things to yourself meant that you could figure them out and explain them better later when it was a better moment to come clean.

"You're never going on a plane again as long as you live, are you?" I asked him with a smile on my face.

He smiled and shook his head. "Not unless you're there with me."

I blushed a little and looked at Dean softly. "I kind of like seeing the softer side of you, you know?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Well the softness only lasts so long, Lana."

"Yeah, I'm aware." I told him with a laugh and then I stroked his cheek. "It would be nice to see it a little more when we're alone though."

Dean winked at me as I said it and we both went to get into the Impala, the voicemail on both of their minds as we headed to the nearest motel to stop off. Still rather upset, Sam headed out to grab a bite to eat and to think, and I sat on the end of the bed I was going to share with Sam and I looked up at Dean and he glanced over at me as he ran his fingers through his hair. He didn't want to have a chick flick moment with me at all, but at the same time I could tell how desperately he wanted to talk about what had happened between the two of us on the plane and in the airport, and I wanted to talk about it too.

"So…you really care that much about me?" Dean asked me.

I nodded and shrugged. "Yeah…I consider you and Sam my family. I mean I know it's soon and I'm too attached but…I have you guys' backs and I know that you guys have mine. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?"

Dean nodded and walked over to me. "Yeah…but demons see getting attached a sign of weakness. Sooner or later one of them is going to find out and use our ties against us—there is a reason I warned you not to get attached."

I stood up and put my hands in my back pockets, looking him in the eye. "Just admit that having someone else to back you up is pleasant, Dean."

Dean replied to that by kissing me, and this time I was definitely more caught off guard than any other time that I had been lip-locked by Dean Winchester. This time the kiss was needy, and the second his fingers slipped into my hair, I wrapped my arms around his neck and I found myself completely caving to him even though I'd been so sure that I wouldn't. He needed the comfort and I wanted to give it to him, even though I was so certain that I could make my way through this without getting romantically involved again, no matter my crushes.

"What are we doing?" I asked him suddenly because I didn't know when to shut my mouth.

He smiled at me and ran his nose against mine. "I believe we're kissing."

I smiled too and kissed him again. "I meant where is this going, Dean? I mean what is this between us? Are we more than some one-night stand, or are you simply in need of a more physical release of your emotional tension?"

Dean stroked my hair. "I refuse to get mushy here, but…this is gratitude for what you did for me today, Lana…you were there for me when you could have just laughed in my face."

"Well it's not like I didn't laugh at you at one point or another." I told him playfully and giggled a little as he rolled his eyes and stopped me with a kiss. "You're welcome by the way."

Dean chuckled and the sound and the way his body shuddered when the sound rumbled out of his body pretty much made my decision for me. Besides, as his hands traveled down my sides, I pretty much found that my own body felt like it needed to be with his, so I tugged on his hair a little and felt him smile into the kiss. He slipped his fingers up a little underneath my shirt and stroked my bare stomach and I gasped a little as I felt his hand slip down into my pants and when I nodded and whispered his name in pleading he slipped his hand out and started unbuttoning his buttons.

I pulled my shirt off and undid my jeans, pushing them off and lying back on Dean's bed as Dean shed the button-up and then the t-shirt, getting his jeans off as well. Then he slipped his boxers off as I got my panties and my bra off and I smiled as he rested his naked body against mine and kissed me slowly and softly this time. I had no idea before just how caring and considerate that Dean Winchester could be, but he knew it was really only my second time and he was going to make it worth my while since I was caving to him. He knew more about me already than I thought that he had, and so when he looked me in the eye and I nodded and wrapped my legs around him, he cupped my face and kissed me, biting my bottom lip as he pushed his flesh inside of mine after a little while.

I gasped and then moaned and Dean chuckled a little and told me I was beautiful and I really couldn't do anything but give in as our bodies started to move to the same rhythm. He didn't seem to want to take much this time like he had the first time, but it was definitely still just sex for the two of us, even though the kisses were starting to mean something a little more…even if neither of us knew what yet. This wasn't just him showing his appreciation, this was him needing a release and I was willing to give it to him because for some reason I was falling for him. Wait a second…bad confession Lana—bad.

"We should really shower and everything before Sam comes back." I managed to breathe out when we'd both reached the breaking point a couple times and were too exhausted to go again. "He certainly doesn't want to see your naked ass when he walks in, and I think the nakedness may make him uncomfortable sleeping in the bed next to us."

Dean looked at me as his wet body rested against mine and he smiled a little. "So you're going to sleep in my bed this time?"

I smiled a little at the happiness in his voice and nodded. "Unless you want me to sleep in Sam's…"

Dean shook his head and kissed me swiftly. "You're welcome in my bed any time."

"Good to know." I whispered and kissed him again because I couldn't help it and he kept it soft and caring.

Then I pulled back and the two of us went to get a shower in before Sam got back and for the first night in a very long time, I feel asleep in Dean's arms…and I felt like that was where I was supposed to be. It was a little strange, but at the same time it felt right to be snuggled up against his warm body, and I wondered suddenly what this was going to mean because Dean was right—eventually these bonds would be used against us and I didn't know if I could handle that. I didn't want to see the Winchester's hurt…which meant I was going to need to come clean to them about myself.