In the Library of Bobby Singer

Dean looked damn delighted when Sam came trudging back up the stairs.

"Well?" Sam asked.

"We found one of the missing kids," Dean exclaimed with enthusiasm.

"Really? Like alive?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Michael Rosemont, 15, went missing from his Sacramento home, along with the rest of his family, on October 7th. About two weeks later the Sacramento FD responded to call about a burning farmhouse. When they got there Michael was just standing there, staring at the charred remains of the farmhouse. It says that the cops found the remains of the rest of his family inside as well as three other Sacramento-area residents that hadn't been seen in weeks. Cops said that they couldn't identify causes of death because all the bodies were burnt up so bad. And apparently this Michael kid hasn't spoken since they found him," Dean said, pretty much repeating the article in his hand to Sam before the youngest Winchester read it over for himself.

"So we've got at least one more survivor. Do we know any hunters in the area?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I called my friend Lily, she's been mostly based in California for the past ten years, said she didn't have anything to do with it. She'd been tracking the demons but she hadn't found them before the fire. She didn't even know they had snatched up a whole family," Bobby explained.

"Has she talked to Michael at all? Does she know why it was his family that got kidnapped?" Sam asked.

"Naw, like you're brother said, the boy hasn't made a peep since they found him. She tried, but he wouldn't talk, not even to a hunter," Bobby said.

"So what are we thinking? Would it do any good for us to go all the way out there just to talk to this silent kid?" Sam didn't think driving all the way to California would be worth it if they kid wouldn't talk.

"Well…" Dean started, he had that averted look he always got when he had to tell Sam something he didn't want to say, "No it probably wouldn't do any good for us to talk to him, but…" Dean trailed off.

"But you think it would be a good idea for Lexi to try?" Sam finished for him.

"I know Sam, I ain't too comfortable with this plan either. But this Michael kid has been living with his aunt since they found him and he hasn't gotten nabbed yet. And Lexi's got three hunters watching her back. And if we really want to figure this out I don't see a whole lot of other options," Bobby said.

"So you want to take the girl we've been hiding in your basement halfway across the country to talk to one of the other victims, who by the way, won't talk?" Sam asked incredulously.

"We don't want to Sam, but we have to," Dean responded.

"Fine, but you're going to be the one to tell her this time," Sam acquiesced.

"Fine," Dean retorted and headed for the basement.

Dean very slowly started opening the vault door.

"Lexi, can I come in?" He asked before pushing the door open all the way.

"Yeah," Lexi responded as she scrambled up off the floor.

"I think I've got some good news," Dean started.

"About the kid?" Lexi asked.

"Yeah, we're pretty sure we found another survivor. Turns out a lot of families have gone missing and we found a kid in California that got away, just like you. Well not just like you, we rescued you, this kid…well we don't know how he got away," Dean said.

"Ok, well that's good I think," Lexi stuttered.

"Yeah it is, problem is he's shut up like a clam, won't talk to anyone," Dean continued.

"He's probably been traumatized…" Lexi whispered.

"Yeah, which is understandable. And we were uh, well we were wondering if maybe you'd want to go to Sacramento?" Dean asked.

Lexi's eyes popped. "So wait, after locking me up in the basement, now you want to take me all the way to California?"

"Well yeah. Y'see he escaped like three weeks ago and no one has come after him, so we're thinking it might be ok to take you with us. And we kind of…were hoping…" Dean trailed off.

"Hoping what?" Lexi asked.

"Well that he might, be willing to talk to you, since you two went through the same ordeal," Dean finished.

"I-I uh well… You guys are going to protect me right?" Lexi asked unsurely.

"Of course we will. I won't let anyone lay a hand on that pretty little head of yours," Dean said, patting her head.

"And you need me to do this don't you? To stop these demons?" Lexi continued her line of questioning.

"Yeah we sort of do," Dean's voice was getting softer and softer.

"Are we all going?" Lexi kept going.

"Well, I think Bobby is going to stay here and keep checking with his contacts," Dean told her.

Lexi drew in a deep breath. More than anything she wanted to get the fuck out of this basement. But Sam had worked so hard to convince her this was the safest place to be, and now they were just going to take her on the road? Unprotected? In her mind, this sounded like an awful idea.

"So will you come with us?" Dean asked. She had to admit, he had gorgeous green eyes and a very charming way about him. It was impossible for her to say no to the oldest Winchester when he clearly needed her help.

"I-I guess I will. If this is what we have to do to stop the demons," Lexi caved.

"Awesome. Alright, well let's go upstairs and get you suited up," Dean said, taking her hand in his and leading her upstairs to Bobby's library.

Sam's eyes locked on to their hands the second he walked in the room with Lexi. It took every fiber of his being not to make a jailbait remark. He bit his tongue and tried to fight off the bitchface he so wanted to give his hypocritical brother.

"Ever been to California, Lex?" Sam asked. Lexi found it kind of strange that he'd given her nickname a nickname, but she liked it.

"Nope, have you?" She said, pulling out of Dean's grasp and taking the chair across from Bobby's desk.

"Yeah, I went to Stanford for awhile actually," Sam told her as he got up and went around the other side of the desk.

"Bottom left," Bobby said as he was flicking through some Florida newspapers.

Sam reached down into the bottom left drawer and pulled out an old wooden box. It had a latch to put a lock on, but it had no lock, at least not anymore. When Sam opened it the hinges squeaked and Lexi could see very intricate designs carved into the top of it, as well as the rest of the box. He pulled out a silver bracelet that had an array of charms all over it, and handed it to Lexi.

"What is this?" She said, gently taking the bracelet from him.

"It's for protection. Its got pentacles, runes; all sorts of things on it to keep demons away. The charms are silver, but the chain is iron," Sam explained, like Lexi would have any clue what anything he was supposed to mean to her.

A strange look passed over Dean's face. Sam would never know it, but if the bracelet he was giving Lexi wasn't their mother's, it still looked exactly like it. Lexi clipped it on and Dean couldn't help but think how she was the exact opposite of his mother.

"And here, take this," Sam said pulling out an amulet on braided black choker. It was simple, with raw crystal quartz dangling from it. Lexi snapped it around her neck as Sam pulled out a small notebook and a sharpie.

"And that's for?" Lexi asked with her eyebrow raised.

"Ah, well, if you don't mind, I was hoping I could doodle on you?" Sam asked with false innocence.

"Um, what?" Lexi was easily confused in day-to-day life, let alone when it came to warding off demons.

Sam opened the small notebook and showed her the designs inside. Stars and suns and weird symbols that she'd never seen before were all over in the little book.

"I was hoping you'd let me draw some of these on you?" Sam said with puppy dog eyes.

"I-um-w-well," Lexi stammered as she was momentarily captivated by him, "Um, I, what are they?"

"Well these are some Enochian symbols of protection, and this is a key of Solomon," Sam said as he flipped through the pages, "This is a protective sigil. See?" Sam tugged the collar of his shirt down and showed her the tattoo on his chest. "I figured you wouldn't want to get a tattoo, so we could just draw some symbols on you?"

Lexi looked over all the images and then back to Sam. She turned to look at Dean, as though he could offer some advice, but he just showed her his matching tattoo. Lexi wasn't terribly comfortable with having these boys draw all over her. "You're really worried about this aren't you? You're afraid they'll come after me again…" Lexi trailed off.

Dean came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, "Better safe than sorry Lexi. Demons are tricky bastards; we just like to be trickier."

"Ok fine," Lexi said and stuck out her arm for Sam to draw on.

Sam's puppy dog eyes faded as his eyes took on the gleam of embarrassment. Dean almost snorted as he tried to stifle his laughter. Bobby was shaking his head and muttering something at the floor. It was right about then that it became perfectly clear to Lexi that she and Bobby might be the mature ones in the room.

"Um, Lexi, I was kind of hoping we could put them somewhere less obvious. If we did …come across any demons… having marks of protection all over you is going to kind of scream 'Take me! I'm important!'" Sam said, trying to sound as reasonable as possible. Well as reasonable as a, what was he, like 26? As reasonable as a 26-year-old boy could be about drawing all over a 16-year-old girl.

"Umm… oh-okay," Lexi stuttered as Sam slid down to the floor and rolled up one of the legs on her jeans.

Lexi bit her lip when he grabbed her leg gently with one hand and started tracing lines on her calf with the other. It came to her full attention that he had gigantic hands. His hands slid down closer to her ankle and his fingers completely encircled her leg. He finished the strange Enochian symbol and switched to her other leg. Once he had rolled up her right pant leg, he realized he was holding his breath. He was tracing a warding cross over some very precise scars on her very thin leg.

Sam rolled her jeans back down when he finished; the warding cross was simple and didn't take much more than thirty seconds. "Alright, maybe we can put a few of these on your back?" Sam asked, holding the sharpie out in front of him.

"Um, I-yeah. Can we do this somewhere else?" Lexi asked, a hint of terror seeping into her voice. Sam, she knew for a fact, had seen her scars, and so far he had taken it very well. But she wasn't ready to expose that secret to the other two hunters in the room.

"Sure, let's go to the kitchen," Sam agreed and capped his marker. Once they were out of Bobby's den, Lexi silently took Sam's hand.

"Thank you," Lexi said so quietly, Sam wasn't entirely sure she had actually said it.

"For what?" Sam asked as he noticed how cold her hand felt in his.

"For saving my life. And for not being weird about… you know," Lexi mumbled as Sam swung open the kitchen door.

"You're welcome. You know if you stick around much longer, I am going to ask about it. Right now, I'll let you keep your own business to yourself. But if you stay with us much longer, we're going to end up being friends, and I'm going to have to ask. I might have to ask when you ate last too," Sam said and rapped on the kitchen table, indicating Lexi should take a seat there.

Lexi was a deep shade of crimson when she hopped onto the table. Sam took the chair behind her and he still came up to her shoulders when he hunched over to draw on her.

"Where do you want it?" He asked, holding his sharpie out like a weapon.

Lexi slowly rolled up the bottom of her shirt so he could draw on her lower back. There were old red angry lines crisscrossing all over her. Sam gently put his hand on her waist to hold her in one spot while he drug the sharpie across her scars, covering them with runes of protection. He couldn't help but notice how sharp her hip bones were under his fingers, the way her spine was so easy to see through her skin. Sam figured he could probably count the bones in her back with his eyes closed. He sighed and rolled her shirt back down after he finished a few symbols.

"What?" Lexi asked without looking back when he sighed.

"I just, I don't understand. You're such a…a… naïve, sweet girl, I think, but you're so damn self-destructive," Sam answered.

"Maybe I'm not as naïve as you think Sam," Lexi said coldly as she hopped off the table.

"Still, the things you do to yourself, I don't think you deserve it," Sam said.

"I thought we weren't going to talk about this yet," Lexi said with a quivering in her voice as she started to turn and leave the kitchen.

Sam reached out quickly, the reflexes of a hunter obvious in his motion, and grabbed Lexi by the crook of her elbow. He gently pulled her back closer to him.

"What, Sam?" Lexi asked, her cheeks turning pinker by the minute.

"I still need to do one more," Sam practically whispered.

"Oh," Lexi sounded breathless as she sat back down on the kitchen table. But Sam turned her around to face him as he took his seat back in the kitchen chair. He tugged the neck of her tank top down, revealing more scars on her clavicle and chest, and started tracing the same symbol he had over his heart on her.

It slowly dawned on Sam that Lexi's chest wasn't rising and falling; she was holding her breath.

"Lexi," Sam had started to tell her to relax, he could feel her heart trying to pound it's way out of her chest. But he realized his heart was pounding just as hard. He let go of the collar of her black shirt when he was done and she hopped off the table faster than lightning. Before Sam could even attempt to think of something to say, she was gone, probably back in the den with Dean and Bobby.

"What the fuck am I doing?" Sam asked himself quietly, wondering how he had kept himself from tearing Lexi's, jailbait he reminded himself, shirt off.