Chapter 6

"Hair of the Dog"

Three days later the guys had taken care of the zombies and Stephanie was pretty much as good as new. Sam was still dealing with a lot though, and he found himself spending a lot of time at the bar, leaving Dean to take care of Stephanie.

This morning was no exception; Sam had gotten up early in the morning and taken off to do God only knows what, and Dean and Stephanie were left to hang with each other.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." Dean said, with his morning beer.

"Morning, sunshine." She replied, getting used to Dean's face being the first thing she saw in the morning. The more she hung out with him the more he grew on her too and once in a while he actually did seem kind of like a ray of sunshine. And then she would sober up and he'd be the same old Dean again.

She sighed, "Where did Sam go this time?"

"I don't know, he was out before I woke up."

"Convenient."

Dean plopped his ass down on the bed, beside her, "There's something you ought to know about Sammy; he's really a girl trapped in a girly man's body."

Stephanie laughed; Dean had a way of cracking her up. "You're nuts."

"Are quite delicious I must say."

She raised her eyebrow, so they were going to get back to this old song and dance, "So you've tasted them, have you? I didn't realize you were so flexible."

"Nah, but I would if I could."

She burst out laughing, "I am not at all surprised."

Dean got serious all the sudden, "So, in case you haven't noticed, Sam's been going through some issues."

She rolled her eyes, "Really? Well, what tipped you off?"

He flashed her a snide smile, "I'm being serious. This whole baby thing has really thrown him for a loop."

"What's all that about anyway?" She asked curiously.

Dean shrugged, "He doesn't want to compete with the man in your life."

She raised her eyebrow, "I don't even know who he is. It's not like there's really any competition."

"That's what I tried to tell him, but Sam's crazy."

She looked into his eyes, "Do you think I'm going to get my memory back?"

"I have no idea, Steph; I mean it's anybody's guess really."

A weird expression formed on her face and she stared at him. He put up his hands in surrender, "I'm sorry, I meant Stephanie."

She shook her head, "No, it's fine. It's just that I think the reason why I wasn't sure if my name was actually Stephanie or not was because everyone always called me Steph." She smiled, hugely, "Now if I could just remember who everyone is."

"What would you do if you did all the sudden remember everything?"

She swallowed, "I don't know."

"Obviously you would go home, right?" He moved toward her, slowly.

She shrugged, "I guess it would depend on the memories, really."

He shook his head, "If you get your memory back you should go home." He could tell that she mistook what he was saying for malice, "It's not that we wouldn't love to have you with us, but this really isn't the kind of life that anyone would want."

"Then why do you do it?"

He shook his head, "It was sort of thrust upon us and it's all we know really. I mean, we don't have anyone else, Steph, but somewhere out there you do. There's more out there for you, I'm sure of it."

"Dean Winchester, those are probably the sweetest words you have ever said to me. I knew that deep down there was more to you than all the kinky talk and beer."

His mouth was by her ear, tickling it, "Don't worry, I haven't abandoned the kinky talk."

She actually giggled, completely not in control of the situation. She mentally chastised herself for not being more of a vixen but in that moment she just didn't have it. He smiled, satisfied with her reaction.

"I am a big fan of the giggling, gorgeous." He told her bending his head down to kiss just below her ear. It was a very quick, gentle kiss but it sent flames through her body.

"I suppose Sam wouldn't like competing with his brother either." She said with a smile.

"Oh no, he loves that." He twirled a strand of her hair around his finger.

"Seriously though, this whole thing is rather confusing."

"Well, do you want to stop, because I don't want to do anything that makes you uncomfortable?"

"Hell no I don't want to stop. I love our banter and the little cat and mouse game. I swear I must be a slut."

He laughed loudly, "It's alright, I don't mind."

She smiled, "I'm glad that my whole pregnancy thing hasn't made you get all weird on me and treat me differently."

"Nah, it is just further proof of your sluttiness." His mouth was mere inches from hers. She found herself closing her eyes and leaning in for a kiss that she shouldn't have been trying to get from him. His lips merely grazed hers for a mere second and then he pulled his mouth back a bit, "I think that's probably enough for today."

He let her go and left her head spinning. Had they sort of kissed? Yes, they had. Did she want there to be a full on kiss? Yes she did. He left her so hot and bothered that she actually groaned when he pulled away from her. The little smile on his face let her know that he was pleased with her disappointment.

"You're a fucking asshole!" She told him, an angry tone in her voice but a smile on her face.

He gave her a lopsided smile that always made her crazy, "What about fucking your asshole?"

Her jaw popped open. Just when she thought he had shocked her as much as he was capable of he went and topped himself. She choked and coughed, shock filling her body. He laughed to himself and she grabbed the pillow off the bed and smacked him with it.

"Oh, you're gonna start that?" He smiled wickedly, "You're so going down."

"You want me to go down on you, don't you?" Her hand very lightly grazed his package and his eyes widened in surprise.

He smiled and hit her with his own pillow. "You are a nasty bitch!"

They immersed themselves in an epic pillow fight and she quickly surrendered, giggling. "Okay Dean, you win, stop hitting me."

He flipped her over so that his body was on top of hers and hers was pinned down to the bed. He was smiling wickedly, proud of his defeat and then their eyes locked and the mood completely changed.

They both saw something there that they hadn't noticed before, or something that they had tried not to notice before. His eyes bore into her soul and time seemed to stand still. She trembled beneath him and he found his hands caressing her body in a way that was so foreign to him. And then, as quickly as it had happened, he moved off her and grabbed another beer out of the fridge. He guzzled half of it and dropped into the chair at the table, where Sam's computer lay charging.

Sam came back a few hours later, ready with another wild goose chase that lead to something undoubtedly evil. Oh goody.

When he walked into the room he flashed Stephanie a shy smile, "How are you feeling today?"

She smiled back, still trapped in a stunned haze, "I'm feeling a lot better today." Oh boy, was that ever true? She felt wonderful; but also completely terrified at the same time.

Dean was feeling the same range of emotions and didn't even look up when Sam walked into the room. Sam plopped down in the chair beside him and opened up his laptop. "I just need to send a couple e-mails and then we'll be off."

Stephanie got up and threw her few articles of clothing into her bag. It seemed strange to her to be a girl with so few items. She felt pretty strongly that somewhere out there she had a huge closet full of nice clothes that she wasn't able to be wearing.

Stephanie thought about shopping the entire time they were traveling to Louisiana, where the next hunt was supposed to take place. She slept in the car and dreamt of shoes; all kinds of gorgeous shoes. It was still on her mind the next day, when they had gotten settled into their new "home".

"I want to go shopping."

Dean raised an eyebrow at her, "Again?"

She nodded, "Yeah, again. I only got one pair of shoes that day. Not to mention that I didn't get any warm weather clothes."

Dean sighed, maybe she had a point, but he really thought she was just being a frivolous girl about it. "Well, I'm sure Sam will go with you when he gets back from whatever the hell he's doing."

She pouted her lower lip, "I want to go now."

He rolled his eyes, what was it with women and shopping? "Fine, but this better not take too long. I do have a case to solve, you know."

She smiled at him, "Oh Dean, thank you, you're the best." She jumped up and kissed him on the cheek. His hands went to her waist and lingered there for a few extra seconds before he let her go and moved away from her.

They went to the local mall and she bought some nice clothes and a few new pairs of shoes. Dean surprised himself by actually having a pleasant time. Even though he thoroughly hated shopping he enjoyed being with her and he found the whole thing a little bit more bearable. And he did enjoy watching her try on sexy stiletto shoes and found himself imaging her wearing them during sex. So, he also had to deal with shoe shopping with a boner; which was very pleasant.

After their mall trip they loaded up the car with her packages and started to drive back to the motel. Halfway there Stephanie started complaining, "I'm hungry."

He smiled; usually he was the one who was complaining about being hungry. "Me too."

"I see a diner up ahead, we should stop there."

He smiled at her, "I knew I liked you."

She laughed and affectionately hit him on the arm.

They pulled into the diner parking lot and noticed there weren't very many cars parked there. Stephanie stepped out of the car and a nasty smell filled her nose, "I'm starting to have second thoughts about eating here. I'm not accustomed to eating rotten food."

Dean tilted his head up and recognized the scent immediately. He grabbed her and forced her behind him and to the side. "Stay close okay." Sulfur was one of the first smells his nose was able to detect.

She raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what had gotten into him all the sudden. He pulled a gun out of his coat pocket and she flinched. He moved forward slowly and she followed along, knowing she didn't have any other choice. He got to the door of the diner and kicked it open with his feet. What they saw made Stephanie want to scream and she would have if Dean's hand hadn't instantly covered her mouth to silence her. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a necklace and handed it to her. "Put this on; it will keep you from being possessed."

She flinched, "Possessed? Like demons?"

He nodded, "Exactly like demons."

She felt as though her legs were going to give out beneath her, but Dean gripped her around the waist and held her up. He looked down into her eyes with a vulnerability that she was not used to seeing from him. To her complete and utter shock his lips actually met hers in an urgent kiss. She returned it, once her mind processed what had happened.

A sound of something breaking brought them out of their own little world. They were instantly brought back to the old, demonic world that he was so accustomed to. Two bodies lay on the flood, blood pooling around them. Stephanie tried so hard not to focus on the scene before her and instead think about Dean. Dean bent down to inspect the bodies and frowned, confirming what they already knew; that the people were dead. He took her hand and guided her forward, into the kitchen. The scene that was playing out in front of them was too much for both of them to deal with. Stephanie let out a scream and Dean dropped his weapon in complete surprise.

Sam was standing there. He was standing over a girl tied to a chair, a devil's trap surrounding the chair, his mouth at her arm, drinking blood from an open, active wound. Stephanie did the only thing she knew how to at the time; she ran. She ran from the diner and towards the car, intending to get in and drive away, never to return again. But, before she could reach the car door, her legs collapsed underneath her and she dropped to her knees. Dean was quickly by her side, picking her up and brushing her off.

She couldn't help it, she leaned against him, allowing him to practically carry her to the passenger side and put her in it.

Sam was right behind him. His eyes looked sad and he went to her door of the car to plead with her, but Dean jumped between him and the door. "I know you're all juiced up Sam, but I can't allow you to touch her right now. I guess you're just going to have to hurt me to get to her."

Sam frowned; this was not what he wanted to be doing. "No Dean, I just want to make her understand. I know she's afraid of me right now, but I don't want her to be."

"Then stop being a monster!"

"I have an addiction, Dean, I didn't choose this."

Dean folded his arms over his chest, "That's awful funny because a year ago you were trying to convince me that you weren't addicted and that you could stop at any time. Now, you're playing the addiction card so I'll let you off the hook. Well, it's not going to work this time. This time things are different; we have someone else to look out for. I can't have you going around doing things like this when we are trying to take care of her. You need help, Sam, more help than I can give you, apparently. You should go to Bobby's and detox in his safe room. Go somewhere, I don't care where, and get yourself cleaned up."

"And what are you going to do in the meantime?"

"Keep hunting and trying to help Stephanie get her memory back." Dean ran his hands over his hair, "It was my idea in the first place so I will handle it."

"I need to exorcise that demon."

"Yeah, that's great. Use your mojo for me, okay Sammy?" Dean got into the car and slammed his door shut, driving away almost immediately.