Disclaimer: none of it is mine, I just love it

Disclaimer: none of it is mine, I just love it!

Reviews are much appreciated if you have time!

Dean looked at his watch, and then up at Sam. It had been half an hour, and Sam was sleeping surprisingly peacefully. Ursula hadn't called back yet, but he wasn't really that bothered. If she didn't call back then he wouldn't have to betray Sam… god, betray was such a bad word to use but it felt like he was betraying his brother. Dean should be protecting him, not going on dates with his enemies.

He had started cleaning their guns, something he always did when he needed to take his mind off things, when his mobile rang. He glanced up at the familiar Metallica ring tone and then, as Sam stirred, dived for the phone to cut off the sound. He didn't want to wake Sam from the first peaceful sleep he had had in days. In his haste, he forgot to look at the caller ID so he had no idea who he was talking to when he answered the phone.

"Yeah?"

"Dean?"

Dean froze halfway back to the table, his eyes automatically sliding over to Sam's sleeping form.

"Ursula. Wha… why are you calling?"

"You left a message on my mobile, remember? Asking if we should get coffee together?"

Dean forced himself to turn away from Sam, fixing his eyes on the wall instead.

Don't think about it, you're helping, you're helping…

"Yeah, 'course."

"So, why don't we?"

"What, now?"

"Why not?"

Dean shook himself, furious. Why hadn't he turned on the charm? Get in the zone, idiot!

"Yeah, if you're so eager," he said, forcing himself to speak slowly. "I mean, if you want me that badly…"

"Watch it," she said, but he could hear the smile in her voice. "So, same place? I mean, I haven't seen you before so you're probably new…"

"Okay," Dean agreed. "I'm on my way now."

"Great. See you soon."

"Yeah."

He hung up and then slapped his forehead. No, he couldn't leave now! What about Sam? He glanced at his brother, biting his lip. Then he went to the table and retrieved a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote quickly, scrawling the words as fast as he could.

Sorry, Sam, but I've got a hot date. I'll be at the café if you need me, call me if anything happens. Anything. Dean.

He studied the note, biting his lip, and then placed it on Sam's bedside table where his brother would see it when he woke up. Then, doing his best to justify himself in his head, he turned away, grabbed his jacket and headed out of the door.

It didn't take him long before he reached the same café he and Sam had visited that morning. He was thankful that no one but the woman behind the counter, who leant out as soon as he stepped inside.

"Oh, hello! Is your brother alright?"

"He's fine, thanks," Dean replied shortly, barely glancing at her. He didn't want anyone remembering Sam too vividly.

Looking around, he noticed Ursula sitting at a table near the back of the room. She had already ordered two coffees, one of which she was stirring with a long-handled metal spoon. She looked up as he approached and smiled.

"Hey. I must admit, I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon."

"Yeah, well, I guess I just couldn't stop thinking about you." He sat down opposite her and pulled his coffee towards him. "Thanks."

Ursula hesitated, clearly uncomfortable. "Look, Dean, I'm flattered but… well, I'm kinda in a relationship and–"

"No, no, no!" Dean said quickly. "I didn't mean it like that. I just liked you, you know, as a friend."

Ursula relaxed, her smile returning. "Oh, good. Cos I was worried that you were interested. And, well, Matt doesn't really like competition."

"Neither do I." Dean forced his usual, charming smile but it came out a little wobbly.

Ursula seemed to notice. "You seem kinda tense," she said, leaning forwards. "Is your brother okay?"

"Oh, yeah, Sam's fine. He's asleep."

"Oh, okay."

They sat in silence for a few moments. Dean tried to decide how he was going to phrase his questions – the whole point of his being here was to try to find out more about these people.

"So… when did you meet Matt?"

She smiled, memories clouding her eyes. "In college. He was trying to get me to give him some help with his homework and then started to come onto me, so I told him to piss off and… well, we kinda went on from there."

Dean grinned. Now that brought back some memories. If Matt had stuck with her, maybe he wasn't all bad.

"You haven't noticed anything strange about him lately, have you?"

"Strange? How so?"

"You know, different. Outta character."

Something flashed in the depths of Ursula's eyes, and then vanished almost at once. Alarms went off in Dean's head, and his eyes narrowed, but Ursula was already shaking her head.

"No. Nothing."

"Ursula?"

She wouldn't look at him. Dean reached out for her hand and squeezed it, going for the sympathy angle.

"Something weird is happening, isn't it? Something to do with you and Matt, and two others as well. Something unnatural."

Ursula glanced up at him, biting her lip. Then she looked back at the table. Dean suppressed a snarl of frustration and spoke again.

"Trust me, Ursula. I know about stuff like this. I can help you."

She looked up again, and this time held his gaze. He saw the same flicker in her eyes, something dancing and red in the depths of her pupils.

"Can you?" she asked, and her voice was suddenly flat and cold.

Dean took his hand off hers as if she were red hot, his hand snapping down to his gun. His fingers closed around its hilt, and his eyes darkened.

"What are you?" he whispered, careful not to let anyone else hear: if he could avoid a fight in a public café in the middle of the day, he would.

Ursula suddenly pulled in a deep, shuddering gasp and tore her hand away. Dean's hand tightened on his gun at the abrupt movement, but when it became clear that she wasn't about to attack anything he relaxed a little. Not much. But a little. Ursula was carefully keeping her eyes down on the floor, her hands trembling as she clenched them around her coffee cup.

"Just stay away from me," she whispered. "Please."

She started to get up, and Dean reached out to grab her arm.

"Wait, I can–"

"I don't want you to get hurt!" she hissed. "Please, just go!"

Dean stood up as she pulled free and threw a five dollar bill down on the table. He strode after her, catching up as she left the café.

"I swear, Ursula, I know what I'm doing with this kind of stuff."

"You don't know anything!"

"Yeah, not yet."

She quickened her stride, and he scowled as he was forced to move faster too. Damn being short…

"Ursula, don't you want it to stop?"

That got her. She stopped abruptly, her eyes staring straight ahead. Then she turned to look at him, and he was surprised to see tears in her eyes.

"More than anything."

"Then let me help you. You know I can."

She hesitated, unsure. "I… I can't. It'll know."

Dean's eyes narrowed. "What will know?"

She looked down at her feet, and Dean felt a rush of frustration.

"Ursula, what will know?"

"Dean, just stop."

Dean grabbed her wrist as she tried to move on.

"Why can't you just tell me?"

"Why can't you just let it go?"

They glared at each other for a few moments. Then Dean sighed and released her. Maybe if you wanted some, you had to give a little…

"Okay, fine," Dean muttered. "You wanna know why I wanna help so badly? It's because my brother's tied up with you somehow."

Ursula blinked at him. Clearly this had been the last thing she had expected him to say. "What? No he's not, I've never seen him before."

"Yeah, but he's seen you." Dean sighed. "Look, I can't really explain it but… as long as there's something wrong with you and your friends, he's gonna know. And it's not exactly pleasant knowing."

"But… but I don't understand. How does he know about us?"

"It's complicated. Just let us help, okay?"

Ursula sighed and looked away. Dean watched as she chewed on her lip for a few moments, and then finally nodded.

"Okay. I need to run this past the others first. But maybe – maybe – I'll call you later. Is that enough?"

Dean grinned and nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Ursula."

She just shook her head and strode away. He watched as she went over to a blue mini parked on the other side of the road, and then looked up as someone else called her name. A tall man about her age was walking towards her from the other side of the road. He had short, spiky blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes, very different from Matt's long dark style. Dean watched as he greeted Ursula with a short, one-armed hug and then jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. She nodded and they both walked off down the road.

Dean shoved his hands into his pockets and watched them go. Strange, he thought. He had never seen people who seemed so damn perky caught up in something supernatural. But then, he and Sam were used to surprises.

Ah. Sam.

Dean glanced at his watch. He had only been out for fifteen minutes or so. Maybe Sam wasn't awake yet. His mind instantly shoved an image of Sam waking from a nightmare to find himself alone into his head, and he shivered. He turned and headed for the Impala.

SWDWSWDWSWDWSWDWSWDWSWDWSWDWSWDW

"And what would that be?"

"Why, your life, of course."

"Of course…"

Sam jerked awake at the gunshot. He lay still for a few moments, trying to calm himself. Then, slowly, he sat up.

It only took him a few seconds to realize that he was alone. The bathroom door was hanging open, so no one was in there, and Dean's jacket was gone. Turning his head, Sam caught sight of a note on his bedside table. He picked it up, frowning. Got a hot date… call me if anything happens… he smiled and let the note fall. It was about time Dean stopped worrying about him and went out. Still, it wasn't like Dean to just leave him…

Shut it. Stop being selfish, he told himself.

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, sighing. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, but then maybe it was a good thing. He had a vague memory of another, more normal dream in which Dean had wanted to buy flowers to decorate his car or something, so he couldn't have been having nightmares for the whole time. That was something, at least.

Sam heaved himself off the bed and padded into the bathroom, snapping the light on as he went. He splashed some cool water over his face and then paused, studying his reflection in the mirror. Large, purple circles darkened the skin around his eyes, which were bloodshot and dim. His hair hung limply around his face like dead vines in a jungle. His face was pale, and his hand trembled as he touched the mirror.

"Great," he muttered grimly. "Sam, you have got to get some decent sleep soon…"

He jumped as the door to their room opened, his nerves instantly jangling.

"Sam?"

Sam relaxed. If he was this jumpy, it was probably good they weren't going on a hunt anytime soon: he would probably end up shooting the victim instead of the monster.

"In here," he called, wiping a towel over his face.

He dropped the towel beside the sink and then turned and made his way out into the bedroom. Dean was shrugging off his jacket beside the door. Sam looked down at his watch and frowned: he had only fallen asleep about twenty minutes ago.

"You're back soon. She wasn't your type?"

Dean laughed. "You could say that."

Sam watched as he walked across the room and put his mobile down on the table, his suspicion growing bigger.

"You weren't on a date."

It wasn't a question.

Dean sighed and turned to face him. "No."

"Then what were you doing? Getting gas?"

Dean shook his head. "No. I was talking to Ursula."

"Who?"

"Ursula," he repeated. "I think she might be one of the people in your dream."

I'm going away tomorrow, so I might not have internet connection but hopefully I'll be able to update soon! Thank you for all the reviews so far and please keep them coming: they're my food at the moment!

SUPRNTRAL LVR.