Dean and Rachel sat on the floor of the rented hotel room eating pizza. They ate on the floor because upon entering the room they'd noticed that the table and chairs that the motel provided where worn and shaky.
As they ate, speaking to each other on occasion but mostly in comfortable silence, Rachel mulled over all the events of the night so far.

After driving off with the scarecrow in the rearview mirror the girl, whose name was Megan she'd found out, completely wigged out in the back seat. She was more worried about her car then the fact that they'd escaped with their lives.

"We were almost killed back there, Megan." Her husband had said.

"C'mon Steve. It was just some one playing a joke." Megan said, pleading. Then she'd turned her attention to the front seat where Dean and Rachel sat. "Right? It was just a joke, right?" She asked desperately.

"Lady trust me," Dean said looking at her in the rear view mirror. "It was no joke."

"But our car-" She started before Rachel whipped her head around to look at her.

"Listen! You were almost gutted like a fish back there." Rachel all but yelled. The girl sank back into the seat and eyed Rachel with disbelief. "It wasn't a joke or some one playing around. You were almost killed. As in dead. Get it?"

The girl had said nothing, but she continued to stare at Rachel with wide eyes, now swimming in tears. Rachel figured the impact of what really could have happened to her was sinking in, that the denial was slipping.

"Now," Rachel had continued, a little more calmly. "It's almost midnight. We're going to find someplace to stay in the next town over."

She'd looked over at Dean for confirmation, he gave her a slight nod.

"We're all going to get some sleep and we'll take you back for your car in the morning, during the day, when it's safe. Dean can fix what ever they jammed in your car to make you stall when you got to the orchard."

Again she'd looked to him for confirmation and again she'd got a small nod. She turned her full attention to the back seat again.

"Then you two are going drive as fast and as far away from this place as you can. Ok?"

The stunned couple nodded in unison. She'd turned herself back to the front and exchanged looks with Dean. He was glad that she had finally shut the hysterical girl up.

They drove the next 20 minutes in silence.

Sharing a room with Dean posed two very big problems to her at the moment. One of them was that she and Dean would be alone. While they had roomed together before, Sam had also been there. And even with the younger man present it had been hard, almost impossible, to keep her eyes from to herself from things like watching him change a shirt or getting a whiff of his spicy aftershave after a shower.

She wanted him. Period. She was done trying to deny it. But she just couldn't. Her misery for her little sister had caused her to self impose restrictions on her life. Sex was one of them. If Kelly couldn't have sex with a hot guy, then neither could Rachel. She was going to enjoy nothing that her sister could not enjoy while she rotted in her coffin. Rachel would rot above the ground with her.

But the thought of being weak around Dean while they where alone took a back seat to what REALLY made her not want to share a room with him. She was almost certain that she could resist him, especially if he was a good boy. He wanted her as well, no secret about that, but he almost seemed to understand where she was coming form. Family was important to him too so he respected her misery.

Her main concern was the dreams. Since they had parted the last time in New Orleans, the dreams she'd been plagued with since Kelly's death had gotten so bad and frequent that she had hardly had a moments rest. She'd wake up crying some times, screaming other times, but always afraid and shaken. She didn't want Dean to see her like that. She didn't want ANYONE to see her like that.

But she hadn't known how to insist that the not share a room without bringing up all of it so when he'd returned to the car from the office with only 2 room keys she'd kept her mouth shut. She silently panicked inside, but she'd kept her mouth shut.

They dropped the couple off at their room and made plans to meet back at the same spot at 8 A.M. They'd pulled into the spot near their own room and after stowing the shot guns in the trunk of the Impala they'd walked into the surprisingly large room and Rachel was relieved to see the 2 double beds in the corner. There would be no awkward talk about who got the sofa in the corner.

They'd dropped their bags on the beds and with out conferring with each other set to "securing" the room. A practice that every hunter did religiously when bedding down in hotels, motels and everything in between. Rachel handled the salt on the windows and doors while Dean hid the mojo bags and placed the handguns and knives within easy reach of where they would sleep.

When they where done they caught each others eyes across the room and for a moment Rachel was afraid that things would be awkward. But Dean uttered one word that made the pit in her stomach go away and set the mood for the rest of the night.

"Food?" was the one word.

She tried not to make the thankful exhale too noticeable.

"Food." She agreed.

To their surprise, the phone book in the room held the phone number for a all night pizza joint that delivered. After laughing that one existed in a town so small, Rachel remarked that there was probably a local college near by that warranted it.

They order a large mushroom. And to their surprise the pizzeria offered beer as well. She only ordered 1 to have with her pizza because she was not about to get tipsy in a room with Dean. She didn't fully trust herself sober, so inebriation was out.

While they waited for the food they set up Rachel's laptop and Dean went to work on his fathers journal, trying to find anything that John might have to offer about the scarecrow. This was how they found out that the table was broken, Rachel had had to make a mad dive to save the laptop from hitting the floor after trying to set it up on the table, which all but collapsed under the small weight. She set up on the bed instead.

So when the pizza had arrived they spread one of the bed sheets on the floor and sat down Indian style on the floor to eat their dinner. Or whatever meal was had at 1:15 am.

They spoke about the fact that they'd found nothing on the web or in the journal that could give them a clue to what was going on. But Rachel mentioned that she'd found out that the college that was indeed near by had a professor of local folk lure in employ. She suggested that they maybe go see him tomorrow after they got the couple on their way.

"Why a dude that knows folk lure? What would that have to do with what's going on?" Dean asked after a bite of pizza.

"When I couldn't find anything on the regular sites I started thinking maybe this isn't big enough to be well know." She explained. "You know, maybe what ever's going on here is too small to be so out there. So maybe this guy will have an idea what's going on because it's just contained to this small part of the world."

"Well there was nothing in dad's journal and I'm all out of ideas. So let's give it a shot." Dean said and took a long swallow of his beer.

Rachel tried not to notice his adams apple working as he swallowed, or the way his bicep flexed when he brought the bottle to his mouth. Or his mouth in general. She averted her eyes down to her slice of mushroom pizza to get away from the train of thought that was taking over her brain.

They talked about nothing important for the rest of their meal. As usual the conversation was smooth and easy flowing. They even laughed a little.

After cleaning up they changed into their sleeping clothes and prepared to get some sleep. Rachel was thankful that the atmosphere was friendly and non sexual even though she'd gotten butterflies in her stomach more then once for several things pertaining to him. She'd almost forgotten what a beautiful shade of hazel green his eyes where, how sexy his deep voice was and how handsome he was on top of his good looks when he smiled.

But she was holding up good. Until a piece of glass and a bare foot changed it all.

After retrieving her tooth brush from her bag, she made her way into the bathroom for rid her self of the tomato seeds and mushroom bits that had been her dinner. As soon as she stepped over the threshold into the tiled room, a sharp, shearing pain shot up the sole of her left foot. She yelped loudly and yanked her foot up. Unfortunately the foot that was yanked up was the one that she'd been taking a step with at the time.

She lost her balance and went down hard on her right knee. Falling forward, she would have landed on her face had she not instinctually held her hands out in front of her.

All but yelling "ow ow ow ow" She twisted until she was able to sit on her butt on the floor. Dean was kneeling in front of her with concern on his face asking "What happened?" in a second.

"I don't know." She answered and took hold of her ankle. Twisting her foot to look at the sole, she saw the blood dripping down to her heel from the biggest piece of glass shard she'd ever seen. Later she would realize that even though it was in fact a big piece of shard, it was by no means THE BIGGEST she'd ever seen. Pain and the sight of blood and shock could mess with your perspective of things. Especially when the object of perspective was embedded in your flesh and spilling your blood.

"Oh my God, Ow ow." She said.

Dean took her foot and turned it so that he could get a better look.

"Holy shit." He said with wide eyes. Apparently he thought it was the biggest piece of glass there was too. "How did you do that?"

She could have smacked him just then.

"I didn't do it on purpose. It was on the floor and I stepped on it." She said. The cut was starting to throb now. "Get it out!"

"Ok, hold still." He said.

"Oh God, wait! Wait don't do it yet!" She said, slightly panicked, tugging her foot away. He held her ankle in a firm yet gentle grip.

"Ok. Ok, relax." He said in a calmer voice.

"How can I relax with my foot almost severed?!" She said.

"Your foot is not almost severed, just calm down and let me get it." He said.

Again she tried to pull her foot away, afraid that he would pull it out before she was ready, but he held her steady.

"Ok, Ok, I'm calm." She said. "Just get it already."

Dean reached over to the toilet paper holder and pulled off a generous wad of paper. Rachel layed down on the floor and covered her face in her hands. Bracing herself for the sharp pain she was sure to feel.

She felt his fingers on the sole of her foot next to the glass. She squeezed her eyes shut but before she knew it he spoke.

"Ok, it's out." He said.

"It is?" She said in surprise as she opened her eyes.

She sat up just as he was placing the bloody glass in the wad of paper. It was at least an inch in diameter. Scary, but not fatal. Dean reached for more paper and blotted the blood away from her foot. She felt her face heat up in embarrassment. She'd acted like a baby.

"I'm sorry." She said.

He looked at her and frowned.

"Don't apologize. I'm sure it hurt." He said as he finished swabbing the blood away.

All of a sudden she felt more then imbarrest. She became very aware of his fingers around her ankle, his close proximity, the heat she suddenly felt in her stomach. She sat up a little more and eased her foot from his grasp.

"Thanks." She said softly as she pulled herself to a sitting position in front of him. She looked up at him then and caught his eyes. He was too close.

"Your welcome." He said just as softly, his expression serious. She became aware at that second that he was feeling the tension just as much as she was at the moment. "Are you ok?"

She took a deep breath, when she exhaled she wondered if he felt it on his skin. The thought excited her and she hoped that he had.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said. Her eyes traveled to his lips then.

Full and pouty and delicious she bet. Would it be so bad to kiss him? Just once? Just to get it out of her system?

"We should get to bed." He said, still holding her gaze.

She felt the pull to him stronger then she ever had at that point. God she wanted him so bad. Please kiss me. She thought.

"Yeah, we should." Was what she said.

He moved in closer to her, her heart began pounding in her chest.

"Ok." He said.

She inched closer to him.

"Ok." She said.

His mouth found hers just then. His lips pressed to hers so softly that she wasn't sure that it was actually happening. Then he pressed a little harder and she was sure. She responded to him and kissed back. The release felt amazing. To give into it finally was intoxicating.

His lips tasted just as good as she thought they would. She wanted more. She deepened the kiss by opening her lips and he responded, slanting his mouth against hers he kissed her harder.
He was an amazing kisser. She knew he would be. Before she knew how they got that way, she realized that his arms were around her and that she had her hands on him. One on his shoulder and the other pressed to the nape of his neck, pulling him closer.

Something in her head said stop. Stop it now. You've gone too far. The feeling of his tongue seeking hers out pushed it aside. She reveled in the taste of him, his musky scent filled her nostrils and she thought she'd drown in the billions of buzzing senses that attacked her.

He held her closer as he kissed her even harder, her breasts where all but pressed against the wall of his chest. She sucked gently on his lower lip and he seemed to like that. A lot, based on the small sound that escaped him.

He leaned into her and she began to fall back against the floor. She didn't resist.

It was then that sanity crept back in. Rational thought broke through the haze of passion as she realized that if she let him lay her down here on the bathroom floor, there was nothing that would stop her from letting him make love to here right there.

She broke their kiss and with a hand on his chest gently pushed him back.

"Dean wait." She said.

He pulled back immediately. He didn't let her go, but he did as he was told.

They locked eyes again and something passed between them that Rachel didn't recognize. Something powerful and deep. She shook it off.

"I'm sorry. I can't do this." She said.

He pulled away even more, sitting back on his heels and taking his arms back from around her.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." He said.

"Don't apologize." She said. She meant it too. Him apologizing was just not right to her. Their kiss had felt amazing and to hear him be sorry about it was just not something that she was ok with.

"I-" she started. Not sure what to say. "I'm just not ready for this. My sister- I just can't."

He shook his head slightly. She was surprised at that.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing." He said.

"No." She insisted. "I want to know what you were just thinking, spill it."

"No. Not my business." He said. "C'mon. Let's go to bed."

"Winchester, you better tell me right now or I'm gonna shove that shard in your eye." She said. Amazed that she could be so hostile with him after just being so intimate.

"Ok, I'm not going to pretend to know her, and I understand feeling pain for your family, But she's been gone, what? 10, 11 months?" He asked.

"A year." She said. Surprised that she was letting him talk about it. "A year last Saturday."

"Do you really think that Kelly would want to be used as an excuse like this." He said. "As a reason to not live anymore?"

Anger spread in her chest. Who was he to judge her like that?

"Your right." She said. "You don't know anything about it. Or her."

She stood up and walked past him into the bedroom. The pain in cut foot slicing up her calf.

"Rachel." He called after her.

She sat on her bed and pulled socks out of her bag. She was pulling them on as she listened to him.

"If you didn't want to kiss me then you shouldn't have." He said. "But I was tired of trying not to kiss YOU because of all this. Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to do that?"

Despite herself she felt the anger melt away. She still didn't look at him but continues to shove her foot into the sock.

"I'm not made of stone damn it." He said.

"Neither am I." She said standing up and looking at him. She spewed it all out before she could stop herself. "You think it's easy to be around you? When Sam called me, everything in me said to say no. Everything in me said to stay away from you, but here I am. Kelly can't be too much of a hindrance if I'm here, can she?"

She didn't realize how true the words were until she spoke them.

"I take back my apology." He said.

She frowned. "What?" She asked.

"I said I take it back." He said. "I'm not sorry I kissed you, and if you let me I would like to do it again."

She felt her guard go up instantly.

"Don't do this to me." She said almost too pleadingly. "Don't think that I didn't enjoy it and trust me, I want to kiss you again so bad I ache right now, but I just can't Dean."

He walked to her then, holding her eyes the whole time.

"I'm too messed up. You don't understand what a messed up, crazy freak I am right now." She said. "If you understood you'd run screaming in the other direction right now."

He came to a stop 6 inches away from her. She wanted to move back but found his closeness comforting instead of intruding. The thought scared her. He touched his forehead to hers and she closed her eyes to find her will power.

"I'm just going to kiss you good night. Ok?" He asked.

After a second of thought, she nodded.

He tilted her head up with a finger under her chin and pressed his lips to hers lightly. He pulled away too soon for her and began to back away.

"Good night you crazy, messed up freak." He said as he reached for the light switch on the lamp. "Maybe tomorrow you won't be able to resist me."

She narrowed her eyes at him. He could sure mess up a moment.

"It must feel great to be that cocky." She said.

"Oh it does." He said and flashed her that billion dollar smile.

In the dark, under the covers, listening to him snore in the next bed, that smile was all she could think of. That and the fact that she didn't feel as terrible and self loathing for kissing him as she thought she would have.

Nevertheless, she drifted off to sleep with the thought that when this hunt was over, the best thing to do would be to stay away from him for good.