Before they entered the house completely, Carley stopped at the door midway and turned around to face the guys again.

"Oh, um, there's one more thing."

She seemed a little hesitant to continue, knowing by the look on their faces that by now, she was probably pressing her luck with them with all her secrets and lies. But she had no choice. It had to be done this way.

"Um, Dean…I, uh, I kinda told Ray that your name is Danny and Sam, you're Sean. Okay?" her voice sounded very hesitant and nervous.

Sam and Dean paused in surprise again.

"Whoa, you kinda what? Ca—" Dean was unable to continue question Carley. She immediately walked off after telling them that last news, purposely avoiding any confrontation with the two again at that moment.

Dean and Sam looked at each other again, still puzzled. Dean, however, was beginning to lose his patience. It had always been hard for both he and Sam to get pissed at Carley since she was a lot younger than them but she was definitely pushing it. Sam just shook his head in confusion again. He knew he couldn't do anything so he just shrugged and followed Carley inside. Dean lagged behind before finally going in himself and shutting the door.

It was quiet for a moment as awkward silence filled the room. Carley stood beside Ray near the stairs, straight ahead from Dean. Sam wasn't far off from Dean. The moment the boys entered, Ray stared them down, causing Dean and Sam too feel a little less than comfortable.

Despite her explaining the events that happened to Ray, she knew that Ray still didn't seem to trust them. Ray was like that. He was a protector…he liked to keep safe everyone who was close to him, but most especially Carley, or Nikki as he called her. He was always skeptical of people he had just met, only for the sake of making sure she would be safe. He didn't want any harm to come upon them. Ever since Ray met Carley, he felt like it was his duty to keep her safe and his duty to take on the role of a big brother—someone he felt like Carley never had since she was alone the day he found her.

Carley knew Ray felt this way about her. He wasn't just like that with her, but with all his friends. But to Ray, Carley was his little sister so he was more protective about her. She appreciated his love and concern for her. She was grateful to have found someone like him to care for her for all these years being alone. She found a family again with Ray and the rest of her friends. But she also knew that right now, wasn't a good time for Ray to go all "overly-protective" guy on her. She needed to talk to Dean and Sam. They had questions for her and so did she. She needed answers from them too about everything that's happened in the past six years. Right now, what she didn't need was for Ray to be there. She didn't need for him to know the truth about her past just yet. If he did, not only would that be a disaster for her, but for Dean and Sam as well. And although she was a bit upset at the boys, she still wanted to make sure that nothing bad happened to them either. She was happy to see them, but she also needed answers from them.

She had hoped talking things over with Ray a while earlier would help the situation. She knew that it took Ray a while to soften up to people he had just met, but she was hoping that he would trust her when she said these guys were cool. But despite her talk with Ray, he still continued to stare Sam and Dean down. Carley felt so awkward as she felt tension building up in the room. She decided to break the awkward silence.

She cleared her throat.

"Um, Ray. Uh, this is Danny and his brother Sean. And, guys, this is Ray."

She looked at both Sam and Dean, indicating to them to shake hands with Ray. Dean didn't feel up to it. Basically, he didn't seem to trust Ray either. But Sam nudged Dean to do it anyway. Sam went first.

"Hey," Sam said with a smile as he stuck out his hand. "I'm Sean."

Ray stared at him for a moment, not doing anything.

"Ray," Carley whispered to Ray as she nudged him to shake Sam's hand. He looked at her, before softening up a little.

"Ray," he said, forcing out a smile as he shook hands with Sam. Dean did the same thing. "Hey," Ray continued, "sorry about that scene earlier. Didn't mean to pull out a gun on you guys like that."

"So what'd he mean to do? Pull out his wallet?" Dean whispered quietly to Sam. Sam elbowed him.

"Oh, yeah. No problem, man." Sam told him.

"So, I hear you're friends with Nikki?" Ray continued.

Carley was a little surprised at Ray. She expected a little but more tension coming from him but she was glad he seemed to be softening up. Whether this was a front or not, she didn't care; at the moment, all she cared about was that Ray seemed to be cool with Sam and Dean now.

"Yup," Dean said. "Nikki's an old friend." He looked at Nikki.

"Yeah? How do you know her?" Ray asked.

Crap, Carley thought. This was exactly what she didn't need right now. More questions…this time from Ray.

"Um, actually," Dean began, not sure what to say. "We—"

"Hey, Ray," Carley interrupted, "don't you have somewhere to be?" she smiled.

Dean was grateful for the interruption.

"Well, I—" Ray began. It was true he was supposed to be somewhere. But at the moment, he didn't feel like going. He was a little skeptical about the two "old friends" of Nikki whom he had never heard about til now. He kind of wanted to find out more info about them, but after looking at Carley, whose eyes indicated that when she said "don't you have somewhere to be," she meant "shouldn't you be leaving right now?" he knew he should probably go.

"Yeah, I do, actually have to be somewhere," Ray finished, smiling at Carley letting her know he read her. "Okay," he continued, "guess I better be going. Where you guys gonna stay anyway?" he asked the boys.

"Um, actually Ray, they're staying here," Carley said. Ray looked at her, hoping he had heard wrong.

"Come again?" he quietly asked her.

The boys knew that Ray probably wouldn't be okay with that considering how he was acting earlier. But on the ride to her place, Carley had insisted that they stay. As mentioned earlier, yeah, she was somewhat upset at the boys for the past, but she also knew that having them stay over her place was the best thing to do to get some answers. Even though she knew she'd have to give her share of answers too, she was willing to do that if it meant knowing more about them.

"Yeah, I invited them to crash here during their visit. I hope that's okay with you," she told Ray but didn't wait for an answer. "Guys, you wanna go ahead and grab your stuff from the car? I'll show you to the guest room in a sec okay?"

Ray was about to stop Dean and Sam but before he could say anything, Carley grabbed his arm and pulled him to the kitchen with her as Dean and Sam got their stuff.

"Whoa, they're what?" Ray sharply said to Carley.

"Ray, they're staying here, alright?"

"No, it's not alright!"

"Why not? I thought you were starting to be cool with them."

No, that was a front, he thought to himself. "Well that was before I knew you invited them to stay here."

"Ray. They're my friends okay? I'm not gonna just let them sleep in some cheap, crappy motel when they can stay here."

"Why not?"

Carley threw him a look.

"Look, I get that they're your friends, alright? And I get that you want to offer for them to stay here but do you really think that's a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Because you don't know anything about them."

"Yeah, I do. They're my friends, Ray."

"Whom you haven't seen in over what, you said six years?"

"Ray, it's not like they're just some random stranger that I picked off from the street."

"Well, they might as well be."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"All I'm saying is, six years is a long time, Nikki. I mean have you even thought about what they're doing here?"

"Yeah, they're here to visit me."

"And they didn't think about calling you first?"

"They wanted to surprise me," she said in defense, although she knew Ray had a point.

Ray threw her a look. "Really?"

"They're like that, alright?"

"So they just happened to be driving by the moment you needed help?"

"Well it's a good thing they were. They saved my life, Ray."

"I thought you said all you got was a scratch, nothing life-threatening."

"Yeah, but making it sound like I could've died makes it a bit more dramatic don't you think?" she smiled smugly.

"Speaking of, what happened out there today, anyway? Ryan called and told me he found your car in a ditch."

"Nothing, I just lost control of the car," she lied.

"And ended up completely wrecking it?"

"Yeah, you mind not reminding me about that, please?"

"We were trying to call you, but you didn't answer."

"Yeah, I know. My phone was on vibrate. I must've not heard it."

"And you didn't think about calling me or the rest of us?"

"I was going to but then I got distracted."

"By your friends?"

Carley kept shrugged and nodded even though it was a lie.

"You had us worried."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were back in town."

"Does that make a difference? Ryan called me so I came back but that's no excuse for not calling any of us, Nikki. What if something had happened to you?" his voice raised.

"I know, I'm sorry, okay? It won't happen again."

"Right.," he said calmer.

Carley was beginning to get tired of the interrogation.

"Dude, aren't you late?" she abruptly changed the subject.

"What? Are you that desperate to get me out of here?" He looked at his watch. "But yeah, I am. So, you sure you'll be alright with these two?"

"Yes, I'll be fine. I'm fine."

"How's your face?" he asked as he looked at the cut on her cheek again.

"Still fine," she said as she moved her face off his hands. She hated the way he would coddle her sometimes. He made it seem like she was a baby. She wasn't; and it annoyed her sometimes.

"Right. Alright, just be careful, okay? Call me if there's a problem."

"There won't be. But yeah. I will."

"Alright," Ray said. He kissed Carley on the forehead before heading out of the kitchen. Dean and Sam were back in the living room when they were finished. The got up from the coach when they saw them come out.

Ray nodded off to them as to say "see ya later." Dean and Sam did the same to him.

Carley walked Ray to the to the garage and waited for him to leave. She waved as he drove off before shutting the garage door. Once she turned around, Sam and Dean were there, waiting for her and looking at her. They looked really worn from all the running around and she knew that their patience with her was probably now on a very thin line. Yet, she still stalled as much as she could to avoid another interrogation at that moment. She wanted at least a small break before going at it again, this time with Dean and Sam.

She forced out a smile. "Um, the guest room's up here."

She didn't wait for a response from them. She just headed up the stairs and hoped they would follow her. She wasn't ready for another confrontation just yet. Sam and Dean pretty much sensed what Carley was feeling too so they let her have her way. To Carley's relief, they did follow her, but not before letting out another sharp yet quiet sigh of frustration.