Chapter 6

I found myself back on the edge of the bed again, this time not bothering to look at anyone as I leaned forward, elbows on my knees staring at the shady looking spot on the carpet. I was trying not to think of anything, or anyone in particular when I realized that my rental car was sitting on the side of the road with six very dead and very decapitated vampires.

I let out a growl, apparently one that captured the attention of one specific man, and let myself flop back on the bed, with my knees to the edge of the bed and my feet on the floor. Danni laughed as she found herself at the table with said specific man and I turned my head in that direction.

"My Goddamned car!" I snapped and placed my hands over my head, and before I turned my eyes away, I watched Sam scan me over. Dean let out a snort, and I glanced at him as he still occupied the other bed. For some reason he had his boot in his hand, was playing with the laces and apparently amused by what I was going through. "It's not funny, Dean, my insurance is going to go through the roof, and I'm supposed to drive that sucker home."

"I took care of it," he stated softly, without looking up at me as he pulled that boot back on. This made me sit up, and stare at him, my lower arms against my legs and he happened a glance before the smile widened on his face. "Sorry, you just look a little high strung when it comes to that car, so I called someone to take care of it."

"Not that I don't appreciate it, but exactly how did you take care of it?" I questioned softly. The evil grin on Dean's face made me red in the cheeks because for all his Deanisms, he was still sexy, especially when the laugh lines around his eyes crinkled.

He turned to me, sitting at the corner of the bed and leaned in, closing the space between us until either I could easily move in and kiss him, or he was going to fall off the bed, neither of which was going to happen.

"Let's just say, I know a guy, who knows a guy." He reached out and patted me on the knee before he stood and made his way to the small green cooler that he had brought in and grabbed a beer out of it. "I'm going out to smoke a butt, anyone need something from the car?" I had followed him as he moved, and while my ears trained on Dean's words, my eyes were caught in Sam's gaze. "No, sweet, I'll be outside if you need me, scrubbing the image of the bedroom eyes the two of you keep giving each other from my mind."

My mouth dropped as Sam smiled, watching Dean leave, but he turned those blue-green eyes back to me. His comment, his "jury's still out" little remark still played in my mind as I got up and went to the bathroom, but I didn't close the door fully, just enough so that they wouldn't see me standing at the sink.

I breathed in and out, a shaky breath with each exhale and stared into my own bloodshot eyes for what felt like forever when the door creaked inwards and I stood up straight. Sam slipped in, as if the crack between the door and the frame didn't get any wider and he cleared his throat as he locked my eyes in a stare still looking in the mirror.

"I was wrong," he said softly and let my head fall forward.

"There wasn't anything that you needed to be right for," I whispered and braced myself. I stiffened as his fingers lightly touched my lower back. "Stop!" I turned quickly and looked up at him, knowing just how close this little space was going to make us and it was hard not to run smack-dab into his chest. "Don't apologize, don't use the words "I'm" and any form of the word "sorry" in the next half dozen sentences! Just don't!"

"Why a half-dozen?" He smiled and I tried not to be affected by it but that wasn't working.

"I don't know, it was the closest thing to a number that I could pull out of my ass with you…" my words were cut off as his hands came up quickly to my cheeks and his lips pressed against mine, wet and warm, pulling me in for a kiss. The shock that ran through me was nearly enough to jumpstart a car but I was finally able to come to my senses and grab both his wrists with my hand. When he backed away he was just as breathless as I was, but his forehead rested lightly against mine. "What was that for?"

"I thought maybe it would cover at least half of that half-dozen." He stated playfully and I pushed his hands away but I didn't let go, I just held them tightly.

"Sam," it was meant to be a statement but it came out more like a breathless need and the touch of his forehead was replaced by the feel of his lips against that same spot.

"I know you don't want this, our involvement in your life, but I can't let you go out there and not know you're safe," he sighed, his lips moving against me as he spoke.

"It's just been a long time since I've had someone fighting to defend me," I answered and our gazes met as he backed away, his back bumping against the wall, leaving less than two feet between us. "As much as I would want to walk away right now, I couldn't, not until I knew that you weren't hurting anymore."

"Then you better plan on sticking around forever," he grinned, "this isn't exactly a live until you're 90 kind of job."

"Yeah," I half-smiled, "I kind of got that."

I let go of one of his hands as my eyes moved down his shirt. It wasn't that he was still bleeding, at least I didn't think so, but the shirt he wore still had the bloodstains on it and I reached out just to make sure that it was dry.

"Do you want to check it?" He gave me a devilish grin and I knew he just wanted me to touch him, but I smiled away and nodded, because, dammit if I didn't need him or need to feel something solid.

I expected him to pull it up just a little but before I knew it, I was staring at his bare chest, and he was holding that shirt in his hand. There was nothing wrong with his bandage, nothing wrong with the wound, and he knew it, but I went through the motions like I had been.

The instant I touched the warmth of his skin, just the tips of my fingers, I heard him let his head drop back, heard it hit the wall and I spread my fingers wide over his navel while I tugged at the tape with my other hand. I wasn't sure what he liked more, the feeling of my touch or the pain that came with removing the tape, because as I did both, I listened to the little sounds of him responding to the pull of the tape on the fine hair that ran down from his chest and disappeared beneath the button of his jeans.

With the edge of it opened, I pulled back the gauze and inspected the wound, still tight, still looking good, and I raised an eyebrow at him as I looked up.

"Nice move, Sammy," I winked and gingerly put the tape back before I removed my touch from him completely. I watched the line of his jaw clench, as if he were pissed at himself for reacting that way to just a simple touch, but then I realized, it wasn't anger that he was feeling, it was what Dean had said in the car, confusion on the reason why he was reacting that way towards me. "This is just as foreign to you, isn't it?"

"What?" He asked, not picking his head up, but his eyes came down to meet mine, "the need to protect someone, to feel them?" I didn't give him any indication on which way I wanted the answer to go and I watched as he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it is." I watched as he used his hand to rub down the scruff on his face, before clearing his throat. "Dean and I, we've never been ones to settle for anything. One night things are, you know, kind of our deal, but with you…" he sighed, "with you it feels different."

"So, I'm not just a job?" I smiled and watched as the smile tried to form on his lips but he shook his head.

"You never were," he admitted, "but there's a reason that we're alone in this."

"It's hard to do your job and keep one eye on someone who might become a liability," I finished for him and watched as he nodded.

"Did your show tell you that?" The little bit of jealousy in his voice made me grin.

"No, the job description kind of did," I shrugged. "Moving around, never staying in one place, hunting things that could kill you, running towards the danger while everyone else is running away. You need to be focused on that, not on some helpless woman that could get you killed."

"You're not helpless," he said softly. I tugged his shirt out of his hand and pressed it against his chest as I raised an eyebrow and opened the door.

"Who said I was talking about me?" I replied with just the right amount of snark and watched the smile cross his lips just before I left the room.

Danni was waiting at the table, looking a little bit lost and I pulled out the chair across from her, sitting down to focus on her thoughtful expression. Both of us looked up as Sam came out of the bathroom, pulling the shirt down over his head, just as Dean came back into the room. The older one stopped, watched the motion of his younger brother and gave him the most adorable look, and I say adorable lightly because it was a mix of confusion and possible thoughts of sexual subtext.

"So, what are we going to tell Wayne?" I questioned and looked over at Danni.

"Wait, you're still going home?" Dean asked, snapping around so that he was facing both of us, to which both of us answered with a nod of our heads. "You can't."

"The hell I can't!" Danni snapped and Dean looked at her in shock. Her eyes flashed at me with a look of uncertainty and I could see there was something else just below the surface that was bothering her. "I can't stay at a hotel with two men, especially not you two, and I already told him that she and I were headed back as soon as we could."

"That's your plan, just to head home?"

"Yeah." I closed my eyes because I could see it bubbling up to an argument already.

"You do realize that there are vampires after her ass? I mean, come on, we've had this conversation already. You can't just trail them back to your place."

"You're right, but if you want to protect her," Danni said pointing at me, "you're just going to have to do it from the comfort of that baby out there."

"We just park somewhere and watch?"

"I bet you like to watch," her words were dripping with sarcasm, but Dean narrowed his eyes.

"We can't protect her from the inside of a car, Danni. There has got to be a better plan than that."

"Can we not talk about me like I'm not in the freaking room?" I snapped and watched them both look at me. "This is what we need to do, Dean, keep up with as much a normal appearance as we can, blend in, hell, go home, if they think we've given up on fighting them, then maybe you can take care of the rest of the nest."

"Not a bad plan," Sam mumbled.

"Shut up!" Dean growled glancing back at his brother before turning to rest his eyes on the two of us. "You're both insane."

"Most of the best people are." Danni answered back and I watched as Sam smiled at the banter.

"Do you even know how to kill them?" But he wasn't looking at me when he said it, he was staring at her. Danni gave a wide grin and nodded. "How, because of a show?"

"No, because I'm not stupid!" She answered and rose from the chair. I watched as she stopped right in front of the man that towered over her, not intimidated in the slightest and, though I'm not sure what she did because her back was too me, I watched Dean's eyes widen. "If you're coming, pack your shit, I'm leaving in 20 minutes."

I licked my lips as she walked by before biting down on my lower one and looked up at Dean trying to hide my smile.

"Jesus, you would never know that you two weren't really related," he stated, his eyes coming down to mine as he moved over to take the seat she just vacated. "She's just as pigheaded as you are."

"No one ever said family had to be blood." I smiled, but it faded from my lips as I thought of Bobby. "When did he die?"

"I'm not sure," his confession shocked me just a little that he knew just who I was referring to as he grabbed his weapon from his waist band and the bandana from his pocket, polishing the gun as I looked at him, "we weren't there when it happened."

"What?" I felt my whole expression drop and Dean looked up at me, concern spreading across his expression, as the blood drained from my face.

"He was hunting a changeling in West Virginia," Sam spoke up and moved to crouch down in front of me. I could feel the weight of his hands on my knees as I tried to focus on what he was telling me. "We were…we think we were in Arkansas when it happened. The call came in months after that Bobby hadn't been home, and we couldn't track him down."

"You didn't talk to him for months?" I questioned and watched Sam glance in his brother's direction.

"We had a falling out about a year before, only talked to him when he needed help with a case or we needed information on whatever baddie we were chasing." Dean grumbled but there was no other emotion in his voice, like he had turned it off.

"It was probably about a year after we learned that he was gone that we found him, by then…" I raised a hand and closed my eyes.

"Yeah, I get it." I swallowed back the pain and felt Sam brush my cheek, before he stepped away.

They both gave me a minute to collect my thoughts and even though I tried to keep clear of the subject, my mind wandered to Cas and if they didn't know what had happened to Bobby until it was too late, how did they know Cas was okay?

I stood up quickly, cleared my throat and ran my hand through my hair. "Are we going?"

"Yeah," Dean whispered and stood as Sam tried to catch my attention but I nodded, looked around to see if there was anything in the room that I needed and before he could grab my arm, I was out the door.

"Bobby?" Danni whispered as I finished telling her what the boys had told me and she glanced at me from behind the wheel of the car, before staring blankly at the road ahead of her. "Well, they can't be our Sam and Dean and still be this Sam and Dean."

"Do you realize how weird that sounds?" I tried to smile as she nodded, but I stared out at the side view mirror thinking about the headlights that followed us down the highway. "Hey," I turned back to her again and adjusted to get comfortable in the seat, "what did you do to Dean?"

"What are you talking about?" She tried to play off being confused but I watched the smile creep up on her cheeks.

"Don't pull that crap with me, you know exactly what I'm talking about." I laughed and watched as she licked her lips and raised an eyebrow as she snuck in a glace between the oncoming cars.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She flashed a grin and laughed as I sighed. "Besides, I'm not the one coming out of the bathroom with a half-naked Winchester right behind me."

"I was checking his bandage." I answered, probably too quickly to be convincing and watched as she kept on grinning.

"Ah-huh."

"So what's our plan when we get home?" I asked quickly changing the subject.

"The neighbor's house, the one across the pasture, you know Charlie and his wife."

"Yeah, I remember you telling me about them."

"Snow birds," she shrugged, "I have the code for the garage, there's a gate that faces our house. It's not more than three hundred feet from our front door, plus if they get cold, there's a wood stove."

"So we're putting them up in the garage for the night?" I thought for a moment about Dean and how much he would love to get his hands on some good wax for his perfect car and I gave her a nod. "Sounds like the perfect place, but," I turned to her again, "that means you didn't tell him did you?"

"Well, here's the deal, there's no right way to explain to any man that you're coming home with two guys like that, no matter what way you spin the coin, it's going to end badly." She did have a valid point and it saved us from explaining to him why they looked exactly (aside from Dean's scar) like the boys on the show, which was something he watched. "I have some supplies as far as food that we can bring up to them, plus there's probably a fully stocked pantry for the non-perishables."

I watched as she swallowed hard and couldn't help but think of her face earlier. "What is it?"

"What do you mean?" I raised a brow in her direction, waiting for her to just spill. "Okay, so the last few days, actually since Friday morning, Wayne has been acting different."

"Different as in jealous different or different as in a dingo stole my baby different."

"What?" She looked at me quickly and I couldn't help but smile. "Neither of those make any sense! No, like almost possessed. He's not eating, not sleeping, questions everything and strangely enough, it's about you. He wanted me to leave a list of all the stuff we were going to do, even your check in times and places you were planning to stay."

"Okay, so did you give them to him?"

"No," she shrugged, "it was a bit weird. I love him but something is definitely going on. He said might make himself scarce after dinner tonight, but I don't know, something about the way he's acting is bothering me."

"Want me to run down the whole supernatural laundry lists of "have you noticed"?" I smiled and watched her give me a grin, but shake her head. "Seriously, I mean if we're talking in terms of how much weirder this week could get, um, yeah, I'm pretty sure that nothing's going to top having to explain Sam and Dean to the real Sam and Dean."

"You have a point, maybe it's just a thing he's going through, you know, knowing we'll be on the road the whole week." I wanted to smile and reassure there but there was just nagging feeling and this voice in the back of my head, that told me, yeah, something was definitely off. "I'm sure he'll come out for the bonfire."

"Yeah," I whispered, and watched the concern on her face, "me too."

My phone vibrated in my back pocket just as she finished explaining and I pulled it out to see a number on the screen that I didn't recognize, but on the ID was Sam's name in capital letters. Danni looked at me strangely as I swiped the phone and placed it to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Al, it's Sam." I knew that and I was pretty sure he knew that I got that part. "The next rest stop we come to, can you have Danni pull in, Dean's got to get gas."

"Yeah, I'll have her stop at the next one," I replied and looked over at her. Danni rolled her eyes, contemplated actually telling them no, but shrugged. "She'll stop."

"Any guess on possibly how long?"

"ETA?" I asked Danni and she proceeded to flip me off.

"Ten minutes." She replied smiling as she answered and I shook my head.

"I heard," he whispered to me. "Think I could steal you for a minute when we get there?"

"Need me to check your bandage again?" I grinned and listened to Danni let out a hearty laugh.

"No, just need to talk," he mumbled, trying to hide it from Dean. There was something in his voice that caught me, something just a little off.

"You okay, Sam?" I practically whispered into the phone.

"Yeah," he said clearing his throat, "yeah, I'm fine. Just, you know, when you get a few."

"Okay." I listened to the phone disconnect and I glanced over at Danni, curious as to what the hell just happened there.

"What's going on?" Danni questioned, knowing my silence for something more than just a comfortable paused.

"Nothing, Sam just wants a moment of my time," I shook my head, not that I had any idea why, but something in his voice made me worry. I bit down on my lip and nervously waited for what felt like forever for those ten minutes to be up