The Winchesters awoke from the best sleep they've had in over a decade, a dreamless and restful slumber that brought them the much needed break they needed. They awoke to a lingering smell of eggs, bacon, waffles, and hash browns coming from the kitchen. They climbed out of bed and padded out into the kitchen, where Melilah had a breakfast buffet prepared for them. She was currently at the stove, frying the last of the bacon, she dressed in a loose black crop top and high waisted leggings that clung to her lower body gloriously. That didn't go unnoticed by Dean.

She heard them pad out into the kitchen and she turned, smiling. "Good morning sunshines. I've got breakfast prepared. Dig in," she offered, gesturing to the plates she had placed at the counter. Sam enthusiastically went for it, piling up his plate. Sam had the stomach of a horse, he could eat all day and could still be hungry. Dean watched the phoenix as she finished cooking and put away the dishes, her expression a little tense as she kept everything under control. He didn't question her for now, just politely taking the food she had so kindly cooked for them. His wandering eyes may or may not have been drifting down her back and towards her backside…

"Thank you, Melilah. You've been a very generous host." Said a very polite and grateful Sam, his mouth full of eggs. The phoenix just smiled and looked down shyly again. "Anything for you boys. Gives me an excuse to use the kitchen and cook something for once," she said with a shrug, taking a single grape from the little fruit basket and popping it into her mouth.

"You said you don't eat often. Is there a certain way you keep your powers high or certain substances you consume to keep your energies up?" asked Dean after swallowing a mouthful of fluffy waffles.

"Sunlight, mostly. When legends say Phoenixes are connected to the sun, they're right. Sun's basically a burning sphere of fire, yeah? Any kind of fire, light, or heat can energize me. I can enjoy human food once in a while," she said with a smirk towards Dean, having broken off a piece of his waffles and popping it into her mouth. He chuckled, and the three enjoyed their breakfast in comfortable silence, Pretty Little Liars providing background noise in the living room.

After the boys were finished with breakfast, Melilah excused herself to the shower, letting the boys wash their own dishes, which they weren't exactly too excited to do but they figured it was the least they could do for their caretaker. After plates and bowls were washed and put away, Sam left to the bedroom to change into his normal clothes, leaving Dean out in the living room by himself. The flirtatious charmer was half tempted to see if he could catch the redhead crossing from her bathroom to her room, maybe catch her with a towel around her pleasingly curvaceous form…

But he figured if he wanted to keep his body intact wholly and not crumble to ashes he should leave well enough alone. But his willpower were rewarded when said redhead wandered into the kitchen, white towel draped across her body, extending just past her thighs. Her hair was long and wet down her back, combed through neatly and dangling in softly scrunched curls, as if she had run a towel through her hair. Dean took one look at the freshly showered, towel-bearing phoenix and he swore he had never been aroused so quickly thus far in his life. He stared at her blankly as she crossed into the kitchen, not paying him mind or pretending he wasn't there as she grabbed a cup of ice water.

Dean's mouth was gaped open and his throat went dry. He had no words. Normally in a situation like this, he'd make some smart ass comment and try to look cool, but this woman had rendered him completely speechless. He felt his erection pushing uncomfortably against his underwear and clothes, and he tried to cross his legs and hide it as she turned to face him. She smiled at him before taking a drink of the water, acting like nothing was going on. Dean was sure he was red in the cheeks, and if Melilah had noticed his current aroused state she was doing a great job at not acting like it.

"You normally… uh- walk around in a towel?" asked Dean, trying to keep his voice steady as he smiled and gestured to her current attire as she walked out from around the counter to stand next to him. She just shrugged.

"My house, my rules." She said with a playful stick out of her tongue. Dean chuckled, squirming a little in his seat. She gazed at him, knowing completely what was going on. She was smug about it. Bumping her hip into his side, she giggled. "Do I make you uncomfortable?"

"No, no! Hell, no- it's just… y'know- a pretty woman comes out with just a towel on, kinda excites any male creature able to see it- regardless of specie or orientation," Dean said with a nervous laugh. Melilah smiled, leaning down to press a quick but very warm kiss on Dean's cheek, starting to walk back towards her room. If Dean wasn't cherry red yet he definitely was now.

"I'll try and keep that in mind, hunter boy." She said, turning back to wink at Dean before disappearing into her room, the door closing behind her. Dean couldn't help but smile to himself. "Winchester, you've still got it."

"Come with us? You mean, leave Chicago?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I want to hunt with you."

"Have you ever been hunting before?"

Melilah couldn't help but give the boys a very very deeply disappointed gaze, like they had failed to answer a ridiculously different question.

"I've been hunting for two thousand years. I think you'll find having a Blessed phoenix on your team to be quite advantageous." She said, putting her hands victoriously on her hips. The brothers looked at each other briefly before turning back to the redhead.

"Blessed?" asked Sam.

"Yes. 'Blessed' is a term I use when certain creatures such as myself are created from Heaven's Light or have been touched by holy hands. All angels are 'Blessed', and then there's me, and a few others I know about. Makes us a little more powerful against evil."

"We're always on the move. Think you can handle that?" asked Dean, trying hard to hide the excitement in his voice.

"You bet. I've been at this a long time, boys. I can guarantee you my experience and my abilities, if you'll have me."

It didn't take long for Sam and Dean to glance at each other and come to a very quick consensus and agree to let her tag along. With Castiel increasingly absent more often, they could use the extra assistance. After seeing what she could do, there wasn't a lot of questioning on her experience in combat.

"Consider yourself part of the hellish life that is ours now, Miss Firesong." Dean said with a smile, offering his hand. Melilah smirked and took it firmly, shaking it as she looked into Dean's pretty green eyes.

"Wouldn't be anywhere else, pretty boy."

It didn't take long at all for Melilah to pack the provisions she needed. She was used to being on the run contantly. Her boss at The President was also used to her disappearing for months at a time as well, so there was no issue there. Like most people Sam and Dean knew, including one another, Melilah had a set style of clothes she wore most days. She adored hoodies and leggings, occasionally jeans and sleeveless blouses in the heat of summer. She took up residency in the back of the Impala, which wasn't often used in the adventures of the Winchester boys. It wasn't anything new to her, concerning the journeying and adventuring. The only difference was the company, which she didn't mind in the slightest.

Having a woman onboard wasn't half-bad for the boys, either. She was relaxed and well-cultured, able to talk about several things with both men; music and movies with Dean, history and folklore with Sam. She was easy to get along with, unlike most women that had entered into the boy's lives. They had found a job in Southern Illinois, something concerning a spirit terrorizing female inmates at a Women's Penitentiary. Sam and Dean managed to find some officer's clothes and badges, as they were expert in doing, and Melilah was posed as the newest inmate, escorted by none other than the men she was working with.

They held either one of her arms as her hands were handcuffed together behind her back, walking down the hallway where she was to be kept. It was on the isolation floor, where said hauntings were taking place. As they walked along, the current inmates screaming very vulgar things to them, Dean whispered to her what they knew.

"Four women have died of severe cerebral beatings within the last two months, ever since they found the deceased remains of an inmate from 15 years ago in Siberian isolation in the basement, only for the worst prisoners. Said victims having bashed their own heads against the wall until their skulls split open. If I didn't know any better, I'd say we were dealing with a very angry spirit. The trick is finding out why the spirit is fuming."

"Any things in common with the women who died?" asked Melilah quietly, keeping her gaze straight ahead as she played the part.

"All women had blonde hair and blue eyes, each one of them imprisoned for indecent behavior with young boys between the ages of fifteen and seventeen." Replied Sam as they neared Melilah's designated cell. The redhead nodded in agreement, her eyes having long since turned blue again since her "arrest". Sam and Dean uncuffed her and placed her into the cell, Melilah going willingly, walking towards the back of the room, her hair long and flowy down her back. Dean couldn't help but admire her form even in the prison clothes she wore. She turned and put her hands on her hips.

"Keep in contact with me. I'll stay down here and see what kind of spiritual signals I can get."

"We'll find out about this deceased inmate. Remember the code phrase if you need us?" asked Dean with a slight smirk, Melilah rolling her eyes. "Zeppelin is the greatest?"

"That's right. We'll be in touch, Mel. See you soon," Dean said with a wink, the redhead nodding to the boys as they closed the thick cement door and locked it, leaving her alone. Sliding her back against the wall, Melilah rested on the ground and immediately began to trace a summoning circle on the ground, marks and everything. Since the floor was stone, she had her finger heated to searing temperatures to engrave into it. If it was a spirit they were looking for, it was a spirit they'd get.

The Winchester boys found themselves scouring the records office and asking around about the recently discovered body. Not many of the current officers knew much about the history, but all they did know was that the DNA of the remains matched to a Tilda Operon. There weren't any records they were able to dig up easily.

"Think Mel will be alright down there?" Dean asked Sam softly as they scoured through folder after folder of records. Sam looked curiously at his brother, having been concerned with Dean's infatuation with the phoenix ever since they had set out to find her. "Dude, what's with you? You've been looking at her with puppy eyes ever since you've met and now you're worrying about her? Last time I checked, she was a very powerful phoenix that could kill a demon with a simple touch of her hand. A spirit won't be an issue for her."

"I know that! I just- we haven't seen her handle some maniac ghost yet and I don't want her to get hurt-"

"You like her."

"Do not."

"So do."

"Do not!"

Sam just looked at Dean with an annoyed expression of "really?" and pursed his taut lips, waiting for Dean to cave and admit he liked the redhead. Dean tried to stay strong, he really did. But it was too hard when the mere mention of the woman made his belly tingle, let alone admitting that he really did like her.

"She's hot, that's all,"

"And intelligent, and cultured, and powerful, and witty, and-"

"Alright, fine!" exclaimed Dean, his voice having raised a little as his little brother pestered him. The other officers in the office were giving them looks, and Dean gave an apologetic gaze, leaning in closer to Sam to whisper softly.

"I like her. I like her, I like her. Happy?" hissed Dean, red in the cheeks. Sam nodded contently, relaxing back in his chair as he continued to sift through files. Dean huffed, acting like he was doing the same, when all of his thoughts were really focused on a particularly beautiful redhead currently entrapped in an isolation cell attempting to summon the spirit.

"What made you decide that you liked her?" asked Sam, looking down from his reading over at Dean, who he knew perfectly well wasn't actually looking for anything.

"I don't know. I feel kind of… connected to her, y'know? She saved my butt from being dragged back to Hell again. It's kind of like being saved by Cas, only… in a different sense."

"Only in a "she's a total hot bad bitch and I'd like to fuck her" sense?" Sam smirked as he saw Dean flush red as a cherry. Dean shook his head so quickly Sam thought his brains would spill out of his ears.

"It' not even that, dude. Sure, she'd probably be the best sex partner in the history of ever but these feelings are …deeper, than that."

"Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" Sam teased, chuckling as Dean's lips broke into a smile. His gaze flickered up to his brother, and Sam couldn't help but smile at the almost childlike sparkle in his big brother's eyes. Dean smiled crookedly, genuinely. He'd never felt this way about anyone before. It was a good feeling, an exciting feeling. A feeling he had long since buried deep beneath his own bruised and broken heart to numb the pain of rejection. But merely thinking about the redhead made the feelings burst through the ashes of his own denial, and boy was it refreshing.

"Sammy, I think I'm falling in love."

"About fucking time, you jerk."

The brothers could only smile.