Sam was telling most of their life story to Lucy with little help from Dean because all Dean could think about was the way Sam and Lucy were looking at each other. Sam was eyeing her almost greedily and Lucy was gazing at Dean's little brother with a dizzy expression. I mean, sure he liked Lucy and wanted her to be safe…but when any girl got interested in his brother, Dean always had something to say about it. He never really approved of Jessica and was always strangely jealous of the chicks that his Sammy brought home on his arm.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Lucy held up her hands. "You got stabbed?!"

"Yeah," Sam grimaced. "And…I…died…"

"Sammy," Dean cut him off. "We don't need to tell her any more,"

"But…" Lucy brushed back her blonde hair that looked so much like the color of their mother's hair. "Don't you want to tell me more?"

Sam and Dean looked at each other with a grave expression.

"Well," Sam's tongue started poking out of the corner of his mouth. "Dean did something selfish and stupid…"

"You take that back!" Dean growled.

"No," Sam's eyes turned to slits. "I'm standing by what I said,"

"Jesus, Sam! I can't take this from you anymore!" Dean shouted, wanting to shatter Sam's face to bits.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sam snapped. "I'm the one who has to suffer!"

"You son of a…"

"What's going on?"" Lucy stood up. "There's enough goddamn tension between you two to crush the Earth's population! Now tell me what's up!"

It was kind of a "Whoa," moment for Sam and Dean. They'd never seen Lucy be so harsh. She'd always seemed so good natured and soft.

Finally, Sam was the one to speak,

"Do you remember the demon at the crossroads that I was telling you about?" Lucy nodded. "Dean…after I died…went to that demon…"

Lucy let out a gasp. "He didn't!"

Sam gulped. "His life exchanged for my life returned."

Lucy's eyes filled with tears. "So you have ten years to live, Dean?!"

"No," Dean replied casually. "One,"

"ONE?!" Lucy shrieked. "ONE YEAR TO LIVE?!"

"I told you we shouldn't've told her," Dean muttered in Sam's ear.

"Dean?" Lucy said, panting. "Why…would…you…do that?" Dean turned away. "I'm asking you a sincere question…"

"I couldn't live without my baby brother," Dean answered, looking at Sam with sad eyes.

"So…we are going to find a way out of it?" Lucy inquired quietly.

"No,"

"Yes,"

Dean had said "no" at the same time Sam had said "yes". It would've been very funny if the circumstances weren't so gloomy.

"I little controversy, huh?" Lucy chuckled dryly.

"No…Sammy just has a death wish," Dean grumbled.

"I shouldn't've given you two coffee. You both were nicer when you were tired." Lucy remarked.

Sam got a strange twinkle in his stunning, green eyes. "Is your real name Lucinda?"

Lucy was taken aback by the randomness of Sam's question, but replied,

"Yes…yes it is,"

Sam ran a hand through his dark mop of hair and made a brief humming noise.

"Whatcha thinkin' about, Sammy?" Dean gave him a hard poke on the side of the head.

"Ow!" Sam cried, rubbing the spot that Dean had prodded. "That hurt!"

"Oh, you little softie!" Dean teased.

"My head isn't soft!" Sam retorted. "You just have big, fat, hard fingers."

"Oh! Wonderful comeback, Samantha!" Dean said sarcastically.

"Thanks, Deana," Sam replied wittily.

"Bitch,"

"Jerk,"

"Boneheads!" Lucy smacked the both of them hard on the back of their heads.

"OW!" They both hollered together.

"Now you two have something in common," Lucy put her hands on her hips. "You both have an "ouchie" in the same place."

"Jesus Christ!" Sam rubbed the back of his head.

"That hurt like a bitch," Dean commented while grimacing.

"You guys need me here, don't you?" Lucy said, only half-joking.

"Hmm…maybe…" Dean rubbed his chin. "If you and Sammy stop hittin' on each other."

"What?!" Lucy and Sam exclaimed together.

"You heard me," Dean cracked his knuckles.

"I am not hitting on him!" Lucy defended herself.

Sam lapsed back into his deep thought, only breaking free to say,

"Dean…we should keep her with us?"

Dean did a double take. "Huh?"

"I'm serious," Sam said offhandedly. "We need good coffee, and we need a cleaner environment…I mean, every place we go, we turn it into a dump, and we could always use an extra hand on the researching portion of our hunts."

Lucy's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Dean mulled it over in his head. "Well…"

"Why not, Dean?" Sam was officially back into the real world. "We could pay her back…"

"Don't pay me!" Lucy stopped him. "I just need a place to stay."

"Then…that'll be your payment," Dean clapped his hands together. "But…one condition…I'd rather you not go on hunts with us…it'll be danger…"

"Deal!" Lucy cut him off quickly. "Like I want to be around more demons anytime soon."

Sam smiled with satisfaction and gave Dean a discreet wink. "Okay then…seems like a good trade to me,"

Dean looked over at Sam suspiciously and whispered. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing," Sam whispered back. "Just glad that I've found a way out."