Chapter 4

"Well she finally answered me." Dean said pulling up an email when he saw it was from Lark.

"What'd she say?" Sam asked looking over his shoulder.

"I'm fine and don't have a cow." Dean grunted madly.

"What did you say to her?" Sam asked in shock. He knew his brother could be blunt, but he had a feeling it was something else.

"Nothing else and I don't believe a word of it. There's something going on here."

"So how are we going to find her?" Sam questioned. "I'm out of ideas."

"We know Lark was at that sideshow and I think she found something there." Dean said pulling up an article about the closure. He started skimming it and went to another to read it. On the third one something caught his eye and he tried to enlarge the picture. "Hey how do you make a photo larger?" Deans asked turning his laptop toward Sam.

Sam looked at it and tapped a few keys to enlarge it for him. "What did you find?"

"Look at this poster." Dean said pointing to a poster that was plastered to a wall.

Sam looked closer and squinted so he could read it. He played with the keys a little more to get a clearer view of it and then sat back in surprise looking at Dean.

"You don't think that's true do you?" Sam asked looking at Dean.

"I think it's worth checking out." Dean said closing his laptop. "We'll grab a few hours of sleep and head that way early in the morning. She's got some explaining to do when I find her." he muttered more to himself than to Sam.

"You want the bathroom first?" Sam asked staring with interest at his brother. Yep, he was sure there were some underlying feelings there and he wondered if either would act on them. Maybe he was going to have to give one of them a little shove in the right direction and see what happened.

"Fine with me." he shrugged heading into the bathroom and closing the door.

Sam opened Dean's laptop as he looked toward the bathroom door not wanting to get caught. He quickly pulled up his email and read what he sent to Lark. He smirked to himself and closed it out and closed the laptop just before Dean came out of the bathroom. He picked up something off the table seeming really interested in it before slipping by his brother to get in the bathroom. Dean frowned at him and looked to the table and back at the bathroom door thinking his brother was acting awful guilty about something. He turned his bed down and slipped under the covers wondering what Lark had gotten herself into and why she wouldn't let them help. He was sure there were no bad feelings between them that he could remember and finally chalked it up to her stubborn, independent nature.

spn

Morning's first light had barely broke the horizon when Lark felt something crawling on her and automatically went into hunter mode ready to defend herself until she saw the head of the little elf poke up from under the covers and smile at her.

"Hey little one, what's got you up?" she asked brushing his silky soft blonde hair from his face.

The little elf chattered softly and pointed off to the side of the bed, looking over her shoulder and then back at her.

"You need to potty." she said to get a nod from him. Lark checked on the fairy to see she was still sleeping and got up carrying Talon to the bathroom and sitting him on the overturned trashcan so he could potty. He pulled down his shorts and briefs, but turned around to balance on the edge of the lid. When Lark saw what he was doing, she put a hand on his shoulder to steady him and made sure if he peed it would go in the commode. She looked away and hummed quietly to herself wanting to give him some privacy. When he spoke she looked down and he smiled up at her. "Do you know how to wipe yourself?" she asked pulling a little toilet paper from the roll and handing it to him. He looked at it and cocked his head giving her an unsure look. "It's okay, I can help." she said taking it and leaning over to wipe his bare bottom. "There all done." she said sitting him back up and flushing the commode. She let him wash his hands and dry them before returning him to the bed. "Why don't you get some more sleep? I need to do a little more reading." she said tucking the blanket around his body and kissing his forehead. He whispered in his own language and snuggled down to curl up with his hands under his face. When Lark looked at him she thought he looked like a little angel and wondered how someone could be so cruel to either of these gentle creatures. With a sigh, she moved to the table and booted up her laptop before looking in the fridge for a bottle of water. Lark was narrowing down likely sites that might give her access to another realm and needed to do a little more digging.

When the laptop stopped running, it pinged with a new email and she opened up her account to see who it was from. She smiled to see Bobby's name and began to read the text. She sat back and opened her water to sip contemplating a response to him. Bobby was never one she could lie to even if they weren't face to face. She had too much respect for him to do that. He had helped her when she needed it and thought of him as family. He was the only one she knew she could depend on, well that was until she met the Winchester brothers and got to know them. She sat there day dreaming of the first time they met in that diner and were both on the same hunt. She couldn't help but chuckle remembering Dean being all macho, he man with her like she was some defenseless girl and Sam being the soft spoken, gentle giant with a huge brain that tried to referee the two of them. Meeting them had changed her life for the better, she thought. Maybe she should put away her stubbornness about doing this on her own and get them to help. They might even know more about the other side than she had found reading all that crap on the laptop. The more she thought about it, the more she began to lean in that direction.

spn

Lark looked at her cell to get the time and decided if she was going to do it, she better before she talked herself out of it. Lark scrolled through her contacts and pressed a number listening to it ring in her ear.

After the fifth ring someone picked up.

"Mmm...H'lo..." a sleepy male voice slurred into her ear.

"Hey Sam, sorry to wake you." she apologized.

"Lark, are you okay?" Sam asked quickly as he shook sleep from his mind and sat up in bed.

"I'm fine. I know you've been trying to reach me and..."

"We were afraid something happened to you. We found the case you were working with the vamp and saw your post online. What's going on that you're not telling us?"

"I was going to do this on my own, but then I got to thinking maybe I did need a little help." Lark sighed. "Bobby sent me an email too and told me to stop being so pigheaded and stubborn and to ask for help."

"I'm glad you decided to call; Dean's been worried sick about you, me too. We were heading out to try and track you down at first light. I'm glad you listened to Bobby."

"Sorry about that, but sometimes it's hard to remember I have friends who can help me. I was on my own for so long you know. It's hard to break old habits. I thought you might have more knowledge on what I'm trying to do than what I can find online."

"Where are you, we'll come to you." he said grabbing a notepad and pen.

Lark gave him directions and what room she was in. Sam ended the call with a stern request for her to stay put and they'd be there by lunchtime. She agreed to wait and hung up thinking she felt lighter now that she had someone to share the burden with. Lark began to type a reply to Bobby letting him know she had contacted the brothers for help so he wouldn't worry.

spn

It was almost lunchtime and Lark had just finished feeding Ara and Talon when a knock sounded at the door. She quickly took the creatures to the bathroom and told them to be quiet before grabbing a gun and unlocking the door.

"Come in." she called aiming the gun at the door ready to use it.

The door opened and Dean stepped in but stumbled back into Sam when he saw the gun pointed at his chest. "Whoa! Whoa! It's us, no need for any deadly weapons." he said quickly, not moving until she lower her sidearm.

"Sorry, just had to be sure it was you." Lark said putting the gun back in her bag. "C'mon in."

Dean stepped back into the room, followed by Sam and grabbed Lark, turning her so he could check her out and give her a once over. He studied her, tilting his head to look over her body searching for any injury. Lark stood patiently as he inspected her looking at Sam who was smirking and trying not to laugh. He had been on the receiving end of his brother's scrutiny too many times and was glad it wasn't him this time.

"Are you hurt?" Dean finally asked.

"No."

"So what the hell is going on and why didn't you call me back?" he demanded giving her a stern but worried look.

"No excuse Dean. I was going to do this on my own and then thought maybe it might be a good idea to have backup."

"So why didn't you tell me that?"

"Would you have let it go if I didn't want your help?" she questioned arching an eyebrow as she waited for his response.

Dean grunted and pursed his lips not sure he wanted to answer that. It just might give away more than he wanted her to know right now.

"So what's going on?" Sam asked saving his brother from responding.

"It would be easier to show you." Lark said going to the closed bathroom door and opening it to go inside.

The brother's waited patiently as they heard her talking to someone and looked in shock at what she brought out with her and sat on the bed.

"This is Ara and this is Talon." she said.

The little elf looked up in amazement at the tall strangers in the room and suddenly cried out in fright when Sam stepped closer to see him. He scrambled backwards and into Larks arms, hiding his face in her neck.

"It's okay sweetie. They won't hurt you." she cooed. "Sammy's a gentle giant."

"Hi there." Sam said softly looking from one creature to the other.

"So I'm thinking this is what they were calling an angel?" Dean finally said looking to the fairy with almost transparent wings.

"Yes, it was awful the way they were being treated. There was no way I could leave them there to suffer." she said shifting Talon in her arms. "Can Sam hold you?" she asked the little elf who looked shyly toward the giant. "I promise he won't hurt you."

Talon finally shifted in her arms and reached for Sam allowing him to take him. Sam cuddled the elf to his chest and smiled down at him as he looked at him in wonder. He had never seen either of these creatures before, but had read quiet a bit about them.

"I want to get them home where they belong." Lark said laying a hand on Ara's shoulder. "I've been looking for places where there might be an opening or thinning between worlds to use. Have you guys had any dealing with this before?"

"Dean has." Sam said as he sat down on the bed beside the fairy and studied her delicate wings. "Can they talk?"

"Yes, but I can't understand them, but Ara can understand me and I think Talon can too. So what's the story?" she asked Dean who moved to sit at the table. He had picked up her notepad and was scanning over her notes.

"Wasn't nothing, some asshole leprechaun tried to steal me since I was a first born, but they got more than they bargained for and brought me back." he said looking up from his reading.

"O...Kay..." Lark said a little confused by what he was talking about. "Did you go through an opening to get there?" she asked joining him at the table.

"Don't really know, I was in a corn field." he replied. "It's all a bit blurry still."

They both looked toward the bed when Talon giggled in delight as Sam tickled him under his chin and down his ribs. The fairy chirped and laughed along with them as her wings vibrated making a soft humming noise. Lark had put more baby oil on them after they got up and they were looking much better. She smiled watching Sam play and could see the kindness and childlike quality he had. He looked over at them and grinned widely before laying back on the bed when the elf pushed at his chest. Talon crawled up him and tried to tickle him too and chattered at him.

"They seem to like Sam."

"Yeah, he has that way with people, especially kids." Dean noted happy to see Sam laughing. He had not had a reason to do that in a long time and it saddened him.

"So this is what I've found so far." Lark said pulling Dean out of his day dream. His heart quickened slightly when Lark moved her chair closer to him and started going over her notes and showing him maps on the screen. He breathed in the smell of her shampoo and caught a hint of coconut that made him want to run his fingers through her soft, silky hair and bury his face in it. Dean tried to push those feelings aside for now because he hadn't heard a word she said and they had a job to do first.

A/N: Thank you for reading my story and I hope it has been entertaining. So Lark finally gave in and asked for help to return the creatures home. Reviews are appreciated. NC