AN: Hello my darlings! Here's the next chapter :) I hope everyone's still enjoying where this is going (I promise Crowley will come back into the story super-duper soon...ish - there's just a few things I have to establish first!) Thank you to everyone for the lovely reviews - they make my day! Have a pleasant read!

xxx

~Fen~

Chapter Seven:

Athaya woke up slowly.

She squinted groggily at the patterned walls on either side of her, and it took her a moment to realise something.

She had no idea where she was.

'Ah!' She bolted upright and looked around, flinching as her fast head movements brought a headache forward from the recesses of her mind. She brought a hand to her head cautiously and felt something soft across her forehead. A bandage. She groaned as the memories of the night before came dribbling through her semi-concussed, sleep-addled brain.

Hallucinating Crowley. The car. Her head. Dean.

Dean.

'Dean?' she called out cautiously. She didn't know if she wanted him to be there. She seemed to remember something of import occurring, but couldn't quite remember what, exactly. Athaya glanced around at her surroundings, taking in the strewn books, bottles, odds and ends that were scattered about the room. She was lying on a soft couch, a blanket tucked around her. Across from her was a large desk, more books lying open and scribbled upon. She sat up properly, sliding her legs off the sofa and shivered. How the hell had she gotten there?

No one had answered her call and Athaya grimaced as she felt her previous headache burst forth with increased enthusiasm.

Holy crap. How much did I drink last night?

Then she reasoned it was probably a combination of drinking and a concussion. Athaya felt slightly worried for the first time in a while, because once again her powers were cut off. The headache was doing a brilliant job of restraining any contact Athaya might have had with her 'feelings' and as a result, she had no idea what was going on.

She got up, letting the blanket slip silently from her shoulders, and grabbed the nearest thing she could find as a weapon – a lamp. She clutched it to her chest, her hands tightening at every tiny sound. A creak upstairs, a bird call outside, the wind blowing against the trees.

Quietly, Athaya crept to one of the doorways of the room, noting that there was more than one. She stuck her head around a corner cautiously and let go of her held breath in relief as she saw the front door. She crept towards it and froze when she heard footsteps. She quickly ducked back behind the doorway and waited, raising the lamp defensively. Athaya held her breath once more as the footsteps got closer and she jumped out, swinging the lamp through the air until it came into contact with something with a loud crunch.

'Son of a bitch!' She heard the person – a man – say.

Wait. That voice…

'Dean?' Athaya exclaimed and stopped, dropping the lamp quickly to look – really look at the person who was around the corner. She gasped as she saw Dean clutching his nose, blood flowing steadily from under his hand.

'Oh my god! Dean, I'm so sorry!' She rushed over to him and hovered, her hands flapping slightly – wanting to help, but not knowing how.

'Jesus, Thaya. I think you broke my nose,' he said reaching for a tissue to stem the blood. Athaya jumped to it before him and grabbed one, passing it to him wordlessly as she watched with wide eyes.

'I am so sorry, Dean. I had no idea it was you.' She exclaimed after a moment of silence.

'Who else was it gonna be?' he asked, wincing as he dabbed at his nose.

She shook her head helplessly. 'I dunno…a kidnapper? A serial killer? The Boogeyman?'

'What, not a vampire, werewolf or ghost?' he asked accusingly, walking past her to throw himself down onto the couch with a thud.

Athaya winced as she finally remembered their last conversation. He knew she was a hunter.

She tried to explain herself. 'Oh…about that…look, I – '

He held up a hand to silence her, 'Listen, Thaya, I don't know why you lied, but I'm sure you had good reason. Your reasons are your reasons. All I did was bring a fellow hunter here so we could patch her up.' Even with Athaya's powers out of commission, she could tell from his voice that he was angry.

'We?' Athaya asked cautiously, trying to change the subject as she leant against the large desk, folding her arms.

'Bobby, Sam and my good self,' he said, still frowning.

'We're at Bobby's house?' Athaya asked, bewildered, as she remembered their earlier conversation. That's where Sam and Dean were staying. 'So…Wait. No.' She shook her head slightly and paused before speaking. 'Bobby's not…a hunter, is he?'

'Give the girl a prize,' Dean smirked tightly, the blood taking a minor detour around his lips and down his chin as his face moved.

Athaya blanched. 'What?!' she gasped. 'No. Then…he's the one who told you.' Bobby would have recognised a fake ID in seconds. Athaya cursed her stupidity at showing him hers.

'You're on a roll Thaya, I've gotta say.' He raised an eyebrow and Athaya had to resist the urge to smack his smug face. The only thing that stopped her was that she'd already broken his nose.

'It's Athaya, actually. Thaya's just a nickname,' she grumbled. For some reason, ever since using the nickname Thaya as her cover, she'd grown less fond of it.

'Well there's no missing vowels in my name. Just plain Dean.' He said briskly and then turned his attention to his nose, trying to wipe the blood away without a mirror.

Athaya softened and walked over to kneel by the sofa. 'Here, let me.' She grabbed another tissue and gently dabbed at the blood trails down his face, stopping whenever Dean winced.

'Dean, I'm so sorry I broke your nose. It was an accident.' She said quietly as she attempted to help.

'It's really fine, Thay – ' he corrected himself'Athaya. Besides, I've had worse.' He shrugged slightly.

'I'm sure you have,' Athaya said honestly. 'That doesn't stop it from hurting, though, does it?' she said with a light smile.

'You're not wrong.' He squinted at her momentarily. 'I just don't get it though. Why didn't you tell us you were a hunter from the beginning?' There was no anger in his voice now, just curiosity.

'Oh…I just…I didn't want to draw attention to myself.' Athaya panicked. What if he found out about the deal? She quickly thought of something to tell him to throw him off the scent. 'No offense, but hunters aren't exactly quiet folk. I just wanted to kill the spirit without starting any fires…Even though killing it probably will involve starting a fire, but I just meant a metaphorical fire, in the sense that I didn't want to let people know I was here…' Athaya was incredibly aware that she was spiralling, saying whatever came to mind first. 'Because that would be bad and I might alert the human world to the supernatural one…Which would be really, really bad and…' As Athaya had tried to explain herself, she'd gotten faster and faster, her American accent slipping away until her original roots showed. She winced at her own accent as she spoke, knowing that Dean would notice something wasn't quite right. 'If you know what I mean...?' she tried to amend.

Dean was silent. He stared at her uncertainly and then pulled back slightly. 'Who are you?' He asked, frowning in distrust.

'Who…who am I?' She stuttered, surprised by his question. 'I'm Athaya Lowry.' That was the fake name Crowley had given her when she was sixteen, and that's what she'd gone by whenever she had to go undercover.

'Hey, Athaya…Did I mention I'm pretty good at telling when people are lying?' Dean asked, crossing his arms.

'No. You didn't. Did I ask if you had a medical kit?' She changed the subject swiftly. 'Because then I can fix your nose up properly.' Athaya wasn't intimidated by Dean's manner, just the fact that he was a little too close to finding out who she really was. He'd kill her for sure if he knew that she had demon blood in her.

'It's in the kitchen, under the sink…' He tilted his head in confusion. 'But that's not what I – '

Athaya cut across Dean before he could finish his sentence. 'I feel really bad. Let me do this, at least.' By now, her American accent was back, and she stood up to turn away, hiding her flushed cheeks.

Athaya strode out of the room and found the kitchen easily, moving before Dean could protest. She ducked to inside and took a deep breath. Breathe. He doesn't know. Not yet, anyway. She clenched her eyes shut and pressed her back up against the wall, sliding down until she was sitting on the floor.

Stupid, stupid, STUPID!

Dean was going to kill her if he found out about her deal, not to mention her powers. She had to get a grip and control what she said. She couldn't blurt everything out again, just because he seemed like a decent guy. Athaya closed her eyes and let everything go, trying to regain her composure. After a minute, she stood back up and went over to the sink, pulling a battered first aid kit out from underneath.

She walked back into the study, the first aid box in her hands, and sat down on the couch next to Dean, opening the kit and spreading the medical supplies out. He looked at her, still suspicious, but allowed Athaya to gently take his chin and tilt it towards her.

'So…' Athaya began as she dabbed the last of the blood away with a damp cloth, 'Who fixed my head up?' She gestured to the white cloth around her forehead. 'You?'

'Yeah,' he admitted. 'It wasn't too deep, and didn't need stitches so I just disinfected it and wrapped it up.'

'Thanks,' Athaya tilted her head to the side and nodded. 'It doesn't look crooked, so that's a plus,' she said, referring to his nose.

'Why is that a plus?' Dean asked, smiling slightly.

'Because that means you won't have a crooked nose on your pretty face once it's healed.' Athaya smirked.

'Pretty?' Dean scoffed. 'I prefer ruggedly handsome, suave hunter extraordinaire.'

Athaya rolled her eyes. 'And just how long have you been waiting to use that description?'

'I'd be lying if I said not very long,' Dean grinned and then winced as the skin around his nose pulled tight. 'Look…what I said before, I didn't mean to accuse you. I get that you have your reasons. I'm sorry I asked.'

Athaya looked at him sadly. He was willing to forgive her for lying so easily, but on the same page, he wouldn't hesitate to end her existence if he found out what she really was.

One of Azazel's children.

AN: Naw, poor Athaya :'( But things have a way of turning out alright in the end. Teehee!

xxx

~Fen~