Chapter 4

After going through the store and picking up enough food for about a week, Lark headed for the check out but stopped along the way to find Sam puzzle books and snagged several car magazines for Dean. If she read him right, he was not one who liked to lay around doing nothing even if he was injured. The wait wasn't long and Lark headed for her truck to put the bags in back before heading out. As a treat for Dean, she stopped at a bakery and picked up a couple of fresh pies hoping to tempt him with them to stay in bed and let himself heal. With that done, she headed for Bobby's to see how the patient was doing and to see if Sam had any new injuries.

The noise of a car engine had Sam looking up from his laptop and knew Lark must be back. He got up and headed outside to help carry in the bags.

"Hey, looks like there's no new injuries at least." Lark giggled as she gave Sam a once over.

"What?" Sam asked not understanding the pun as he looked down his body too.

"Well, I didn't know if your brother might decide he was going to get up and you had to stop him."

"Oh...Right...No, I made him take a couple of pain pills and he's napping right now." Sam shrugged.

"So...You drugged him?" Lark asked arching her eyebrows. "One would probably have been enough."

"Gotta do what you gotta do, I figured better safe than sorry." he replied snagging several bags to take inside. "It was a precaution measure, I do know my brother."

"Be careful and don't pick up any heavy ones, don't need to be re-stitching you either." she warned him picking up several bags too. "You don't think he'll figure out what you did when he's better and maybe...I don't know...Get even?"

"Yes ma'am." Sam said hiding a smirk. "He probably won't remember anyway."

"Why don't you start putting things up and I'll get the rest of the bags."

"I can handle that." Sam agreed sitting his bags on the counter and grimaced when his stitches pulled with the movement trying to hide it from Lark. He paused for a moment to let the little stab of pain pass before moving to take items from the bag.

"Don't think I didn't see that." Lark accused him as she headed back out to the truck for the remaining bags.

"Crap." Sam muttered hoping he had hidden it from her. He was finding she had a mother hen streak worse than Dean in her and felt she had to take care of everyone. He was really starting to like her the more he got to know her. He still swore she was a female Dean, but would never tell Dean that.

spn

"That's the last of it." Sam said putting the coffee in the cabinet and turning back to Lark.

"Thanks for the help." Lark said as she put the fresh vegetables in the drawer of the fridge. "Since you guys had a late breakfast, just let me know when you're ready for lunch and I'll fix it. Here's a couple of the hardest puzzle books for you and I got Dean a couple of car magazines he can read while in bed recouping."

"Really Lark, I can fend for myself. You don't have to wait on me." Sam insisted feeling a little guilty to have someone wait on him. He wasn't use to this where it was everyone for himself most of the time. Dean did take a hankering to cook sometimes and he went all in doing it. "Thanks for the books, they look good."

"Hey, you're my patient until I say otherwise." she said in a stern voice a hand on her hip giving him a don't screw with me look. "You need to rest and heal too Sam and I don't mind playing nurse maid. Gives me something to do until I leave."

"And when will that be? Please don't go because of us, stay as long as you want."

"I had planned on leaving in the next day or so anyway Sam. As long as Dean's doing ok I'll probably stick to that plan. I'm sure you can handle taking Dean's stitches out when they're ready."

"Yeah done it enough over the years. Why don't you go check on Dean?" Sam suggested knowing she wanted to talk to him alone and wanted to give her that chance. "Take him something to drink, he could probably use the fluids."

"I got some ginger ale just for him." she said going to the fridge and looking around until she found one. After snagging a straw from the drawer, Lark strolled for the stairs deep in thought about what she was going to say.

spn

The fuzziness in Dean's brain didn't want to go away as he worked on trying to make his eyes open. He grunted in discomfort when he shifted and his stitched skin protested. A blurry figure came into view by his bed and he squinted his eyes shut and blinked quickly several times trying to clear them so he could see. He felt a cool hand settle on his forehead for a few moments before being removed. Even in his groggy state, Dean knew that touch was not his brother and tried to bring up the memory of who it was.

"How ya feeling?" a female voice asked as a light weight settled at his hip on the mattress.

"Better, just a little groggy." Dean grunted as he ran his tongue over is lips trying to wet them.

"I brought you some ginger ale, thought it would be easy on your stomach." Lark told him as she held the straw to his lips and pinched her lips together so she wouldn't laugh as he chased it for moment before getting a good hold on it.

Dean felt the straw and after a moment captured it between his lips so he could suck the cold liquid into his mouth. He relished the coldness as it coated his throat and wet his parched mouth. After several more swallows he pushed the straw out and leaned back sighing with relief.

"Thanks." he nodded finally able to see her sitting beside him.

"Good news no fever, now let me check your wounds..." she said pulling the tape from one pad and checking for infection. Lark moved efficiently to the next and finally the abdomen and leg, inspecting each one before taping the pad back in place. "All are looking good and healing nicely. Those stitches can come out in a few more days."

"That means I can get up." he insisted starting to push his sore body from the bed.

"Not hardly, you keep that kester planted in that bed." Lark ordered putting a hand on his chest to stop him from trying to get up. "Do you feel like talking for a few minutes?" she asked timidly looking down at her hands for a moment before glancing sideways at him.

Even in his weakened state, Dean understood what she was talking about. They hadn't seen or heard from her since the Djinn thing and knew this was a chance meeting for them. He adjusted his body to get more comfortable and looked at her through half closed eyes.

"Sure, I'm not going anywhere." he huffed with a sigh deciding it would take too much energy to argue with her.

"Well...I've talked to Sam about what happened to me and I need to do the same with you..." Lark started, holding her hand up for Dean to not protest when he opened his mouth to speak. "When I woke up in that dream world I didn't know who I really was. There were some memories, but not of being a hunter or some of my previous life. My parents were alive and I got to be with them for a few days. It was wonderful. It was like being given a second chance, but there were other things that didn't seem right but out of sync. You and Sam were there, I was with Sam...Like living with him." she said looking to him. When he didn't say anything she continued. "It didn't feel right, especially when I found out you two hadn't spoken in years. It was like you weren't even brothers Dean. I know something happened between us, but honestly Dean, I don't know what it was and I have no idea how I ended up with Sam. Bits and pieces of my old memory leaked through and that really confused me. My grandparents had died years before and everyone was treating me with kid gloves like I had a breakdown or something and all the people we saved were dead in that world. If Sam hadn't come into the dream I don't know what I would of done. To see my parents again...Oh how I wanted to stay and be with them..." she said, her voice got soft and low at the end as she got a far away look in her eyes.

"I know what that feels like..." Dean whispered as the memories of his own dealings with a Djinn haunted his mind and gave him an understanding of what Lark had gone through. "I've had my own dealings with a Djinn."

"So you can understand how mixed up I was. I'm not sure why either of you guys were there, maybe because we had dealings in the past or maybe because we were hunting it together and he pulled you from my memories or why it was Sam I was with..."

"Its ok, you don't have to explain..." Dean started feeling Lark's discomfort in talking about her experience.

"Sam should be here now, what I have to say concerns both of you." Lark said getting up from the bed and going to the head of the stairs to call to him and ask him to come up. She headed back to the brother's bedroom and waited for him to join them.

"Hey is something wrong?" Sam asked stepping into the room and looking from Lark to Dean and back.

"No, Dean's doing fine. I wanted to talk to both of you about certain things." Lark said pacing the space in the bedroom.

"Umm..Ok." Sam said moving to sit at the foot of Dean's bed looking back at Lark.

"Alright, I'll just come out with it. You guys are hot and I mean sexy hot and I'm pretty sure you could have any woman you wanted. When we first met...I have to admit I would have been happy to hook up with either one of you, but now...It's not that I don't have feelings for you, but they're more brotherly and not romantic. I don't think I could choose between you two if I wanted to, even if there were no bad feelings from either of you with my choice. I still want to be friends, have your backs if you need me and hope you will do the same for me. It's kind of nice to have that and not feel so alone. I don't know how you guys feel about any of this. Man! I'm so bad at this...Am I making any sense at all?" Lark questioned when she felt like she was rattling on.

"Lark, it's fine and you know we'll always be there for you." Sam told her.

"Whatever your decision, we're good with it. Know this Kid, you are family to us now and we take care of family. You don't have to feel alone anymore I hope you know that."

"Dean's right, you are part of our family now." Sam agreed giving her a warm smile and getting up to pull her into a hug. "I hope you're ok with that."

"Yeah, I think I like that." Lark replied blinking back tears as she accepted Sam's hug.

"Well, since I've been ordered not to get up, you'll have to come to me." Dean said holding up his arms to her.

Lark gave a small laugh and stepped to the bed to sit down beside him and lean into his arms to hug him. She felt safe and loved at that moment and she liked it. All her fears and doubts had vanished and she was just relieved that it was over with. She wasn't sure how the brothers were going to take the news and her decision, but she was surprised that they were so understanding and seemed sincere about her being family to them because it felt kind of nice to have that relationship again. She also knew the brothers were extremely good hunters and wouldn't have to worry about them when on a hunt together.

spn

"You sure you won't stay a while longer?" Bobby asked as Lark sat her bag by the door.

"I've stayed longer than I meant to Bobby, it's time to move on." she said giving him a hug.

"You don't be a stranger now, you hear me lass? I expect to get regular calls and visits."

"I will, I'll keep in touch."

"You take care of yourself and call if you need help." Sam told her wrapping his long arms around her small frame.

"I will and the same goes for you guys." she said moving from his hug to Dean's. "And I expect you to take it easy for at least two weeks Dean Winchester. You gotta let yourself heal before taking on any baddies."

"Yes ma'am." Dean chuckled giving her a gentle squeeze before letting her go. "You be careful out there, and stay safe." he cautioned her in a brotherly tone.

"Yes sir." she mocked back getting a warm smile from him. "I'm serious now, don't take on a hunt until you're completely healed; you'll only get injured again or worse and I might not be there to patch you up."

Lark picked up her bag and headed for the door and her truck. She gave a final wave to the brothers and Bobby as they stood on the porch watching. She was heading for a small town in Kansas to check on a haunting story she found online. Lark was sure she would be seeing more of her new family and she was ok with that.

A/N: The air has been cleared and family established. Thank you so much for favoring, following and reviews. I do like to know your thoughts, please review. NC