Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters or parts of this storyline. They belong to the brains of The Whedon and The Kripke.

Chapter Ten

Dean woke up slowly, lying on his stomach, his face buried in the pillow. He was barely aware of where he was, much less what time it was, as he cracked an eye open, looking around the room. The sun lit up everything in its path and he blinked himself more awake, wondering what time it could possibly be. He felt surprisingly rested. No alarm clock graced the crappy nightstand in this standup place and Dean had left his phone in his pants.

But he couldn't move. Dean turned to look at his bed occupant and found Buffy curled up against him, her face curled into her hands, her forehead pressed to his shoulder. He couldn't help the tiny smile that appeared on his face as she moved in time with him before opening her eyes as well. She blinked up at him, smiling. Dean stared at her lips, barely noticing the scar anymore. It was just... Buffy. Buffy's lips. The issue of different Buffys was no longer there as he said, "Hi."

"Hi," Buffy said back softly, stretching like a cat. Dean noticed every single inch of her body as she pressed it up against his and he felt his body immediately react. Then Buffy also realized what she was doing and her mouth formed a little 'o,' her eyes wide before she rolled away from him. Dean watched her get up and immediately walk into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

Dean took a deep breath. He was caught somewhere between disappointment and relief. Disappointment because he had wanted her to continue that sexy little stretch she had been doing and relief because if she hadn't stopped, he would have rolled right on top of her.

"Damn it," he growled, pushing himself up and out of bed, running his hands through his hair. This was getting out of hand. Dean fished around in his jeans before pulling out his phone. As per usual, there were no messages or texts from anybody - Dean squeezed the phone a bit - before checking the time. "Holy hell."

It was 12:23 in the afternoon. They had slept for about 14 hours. "Son of a bitch," he bit out as Buffy opened the door. He hadn't had a chance to notice what she was wearing last night and he saw she was clad in a t-shirt and some shorts. For some insane reason, he found her insanely attractive in that moment despite the shiny scars covering most of her body. They only added to the allure and he met her gaze. She crossed her arms as he closed his mouth from where it had gaped.

"I just need to change and I'll be ready," she said awkwardly, motioning to her bag before going to grab it.

Dean nodded. "Yeah. Me too." He watched her grab her things and dart back into the bathroom. He frowned. Yeah, no, this wasn't going to be awkward or anything.

"So are we gonna to talk about it?"

Buffy started from her seat next to Dean as he crossed into Ohio. She frowned at him, feeling her face immediately start to heat up. Talk about it? Talk about how she had woken up next to him, practically drooling all over his shoulder after sleeping like a baby all night and then accidentally molesting his body with hers before hiding in the bathroom? Talk about that?

Dean glanced at her. "All this crap that's been happening," he said encouragingly. "Like whatever that dream was where you were talking about Sam."

Ah. That. Buffy shrugged, turning her eyes back to the road. She didn't want to think about that dream. It still made her stomach clench uncomfortably. "It was just a dream. Probably from your lack of storytelling skills when it comes to what's happening with your brother."

"Yeah, because that's something you need to know about."

"I think it is," Buffy continued, "Because every single time I do something that pisses you off, it somehow starts with something related to Sam and then you go and make out with a bottle of whiskey before you're even nice to me again."

Dean didn't reply and Buffy waved her hand at him, "Exactly that. Right there. You're pouting."

"I'm not pouting."

"Whatever," Buffy said breezily.

"Well, fine then. What's a Slayer?" Buffy turned to look at him again and he shrugged. "Different topic. I'm still being nice."

"She's the one girl chosen from her generation to fight the forces of evil with a lot of kickass superpowers that aid her in her quest," she replied bluntly.

"You're joking, right? That sounds more like a fairytale."

"In this world, maybe..."

"How does that even work? I mean, does some random dude find you and tell you you're your generation's next Superman?"

"I prefer Catwoman."

"What?" He made a face. "She doesn't have superpowers."

"In that world, she would."

Dean rolled his eyes. "You would want to be Catwoman. You are frisky and you've definitely got the claws for it." Buffy smacked his arm and he couldn't hold back his small chuckle. "So everything's staying together?"

"What?"

"In your head. Everything's staying glued together?"

Buffy frowned at his choice of words and unconsciously crossed her arms. "It wasn't like I was unglued before."

"I didn't mean that. I meant... well, Cas said you were integrating. What does that mean?"

"I wish I knew."

Silence passed between them as the scenery blew by. They were getting closer and closer to Ashland, about four hours out. By the time they reached the town, it would be dark and they had already decided they would scout the area, get some ideas and check out a few spots before attacking at dawn. Buffy had taken a few minutes to bring up a map on her laptop when they stopped for lunch and she had managed to pinpoint some spots where the vamps were possibly nesting. When Dean had asked her about it, she shrugged and simply replied, "Vampires are what I do."

Buffy wasn't paying attention to anything until she saw an abandoned car on the side of the road, a rusted piece of crap. She wondered if her Jeep was doing okay, if anyone had found it. She was certain someone wouldn't steal it as from the outside, it was just another generic Jeep - boring and crappy. But inside, if you knew where to look as only she did, there was an arsenal. Either way, she found she wasn't too worried about it. If nobody was touching that car back there, she was sure her Jeep would still be there. Sans oil. For the first time since Dean had picked her up, she wondered what the hell that had been all about. Her Jeep was in perfect working order and suddenly, no oil. Like it had all been sucked right out.

"Deep thoughts?"

Buffy looked over and found Dean staring at her. She blushed as she looked away, shaking her head which caused her hair to fall into her face, hiding it. "I was just thinking about my car."

"What, that eager to get away from me?" Dean asked jokingly, his hands tight on the wheel and Buffy rolled her eyes.

"No, it's not that. I was just wondering about the oil thing. That was weird, right?"

Dean shrugged. "It just looked like you hadn't put oil in your car for five years."

"But I swear I just got that entire Jeep checked over just a few months ago." She watched Dean shrug again and she felt herself getting frustrated. "I wouldn't just drive around all over the country without making sure my car could make it."

"Hey, I'm not saying anything," Dean said, his words filled with mirth and Buffy gave him a pointed glance. "What?"

"You're a dick."

"What?" Dean asked, betraying himself with a smile. "I didn't say anything."

"Go screw yourself."

It didn't take them long to find the vampire nest. Dean was extremely impressed with how quickly Buffy examined everything before her and used that data to compile a logical guess about where the vampires were. He hadn't heard of such excellent vampire honing since the stories from his dad about Daniel Elkins. Hell, Gordon hadn't even been this good although to say they were night and day was an understatement. While they both shared the revenge gig, Buffy honed it into a fine tuned weapon while Gordon had just fallen of the loony bin wagon.

And so they waited. They had about six hours until dawn was scheduled to show her pretty face and they had found a motel farther rather than closer so they could come back to regroup depending on what happened. And so they waited.

Dean leaned back on the bed, fighting the urge to shove some quarters into the Magic Fingers on his bed. Glancing at it, he moved back to looking at Buffy where she sat on her bed, sharpening one hell of a machete. It looked grisly and mean and perfect for the beheading of vampires.

"You weren't kidding when you said you've done this before, huh?"

Buffy glanced at him, an eyebrow raised. "What part of the obsessive bloodlust revenge gig didn't tip you off?"

"Touché," he replied, settling back and closing his eyes. Usually the waiting game drove him crazy. But then again, he didn't usually have the company he was keeping at the moment. He didn't mind the waiting so much this time around.

Before Dean knew what was happening, he felt Buffy's hand on his shoulder, gently shaking him. He had fallen asleep and he sat up quickly, rubbing his eyes. The room was dark but the beginnings of dawn were painting the walls. He looked around and got up, stretching quickly as he looked down at her. "What are we waiting for?"

Buffy gave him a wry smile, an eyebrow up before grabbing her bag and heading towards the exit. She already had the machete attached at her hip, her favorite knife stashed at the small of her back and a gun strapped to her ankle. She heard Dean trip over his feet heading towards the bathroom and she didn't look back but she smiled.

Doof.

The sun was cresting over the trees as Buffy and Dean hunkered down behind a large, fallen tree trunk. They were peeking over the side of it at the large, seemingly abandoned house. She knew otherwise. She could practically smell the vampires in there, resting during the daytime hours. It only served to remind her of the differences in her head at the moment. In Slayer Buffy's world, vampires couldn't go outside without bursting into flames. If only that were true here. Still, they had the element of surprise on their side and she liked it that way.

She heard Dean shift a bit and she glanced at him. He looked like he was in pain from staying in one position too long but he wasn't complaining. Instead, he held the hilt of his own machete, his eyes tracking the windows of the house. Very rarely had she ever hunted with anyone before, much less hunted for vampires. Vampires were her thing. But she was willing to make exceptions - hell, she didn't feel nearly as territorial today as she usually did when it came to the bloodsuckers.

"I say we use the backdoor to sneak in," she whispered to him.

"No, let's use the window at the top. I bet most of those suckers are sleeping away on the bottom floor." Buffy looked at him her eyebrows raised before nodding at him.

"Yeah. Exactly. Backdoor."

Dean shot her an irritated look but the smooth confidence with which she looked back at him erased it from his features. He shrugged at her before smiling. "Fine then. Your funeral."

Buffy glared at him. "My show," she corrected him. Then she got up and was sneaking through the tree line, drawing out her machete as she neared the backdoor. Dean watched the windows for a moment, checking to see if this would at all be more than a surprise attack but nothing moved, no shadows or signs of life. Which was an ironic thing to think. Dean got up and followed Buffy.

The cow mutilations had thrown him off. The closer they had gotten to Ohio, the more he started thinking. There had only been one bunch of vampires that had used that technique to stay alive and he remembered them vividly. What had been her name...? Lenore? But this group came with a surprising number of kidnapping issues in the city as well, a tidbit he had missed, along with an inflated number of bar fights and Buffy had mentioned lethal vampire nests using the mutilations to cover their tracks. Vampires, man... nasty suckers.

Buffy didn't even wait for him before she tried the backdoor, found it unlocked and then she disappeared inside. "Crap," he whispered before following her. He checked his surroundings one more time, hearing nothing inside or out, before stepping in. And then the party started.

Buffy let out a sharp breath as she hacked the first vampire she found. His head rolled to the side, blood spurting all over the front of her jeans but she didn't pause to care. She moved deeper into the house, her eyes trained on the floor, her ears at the ready, listening. Waiting. And then heard it, the soft rustle of someone from behind her. She turned, machete at the ready, catching the vampire in the shoulder. He let out a too human roar before flashing his myriad of fangs at her and grabbing her hair, moving to snap her neck. Buffy didn't need to react as Dean came up behind the vamp, saying, "Hey," before hacking his head off.

She nodded at him before moving on. The last vampire had woken up his friends.

The fight lasted no longer than 20 minutes but it was a harsh fight. Buffy felt the hilt of her machete slick with blood and she was sure she more than enough in her hair. Wiping her hands on her jeans did nothing so she gripped it harder. She knocked a vampire down and started chopping away at his neck, the spinal cord sticking together very well. She didn't notice the vampire sneaking up from her side until Dean was there, grabbing her waist and pulling her out of the way, his other arm coming down to hack of the vampire's hand. Buffy finished him off as well.

Teamwork. She found she was really liking it. When a female almost got her jaws in Dean's forearm, Buffy cut the skin of her lower back, using the vampire's surprise to cut her head off quickly.

Buffy took a deep breath when they left the house, a large smile on her face as she wiped her machete on her jacket sleeve before wiping her face with the other. She smiled at Dean and he gave her a smirk back. "That was fun."

"Yeah, getting covered in vampire gore is always an amusement ride," Dean said as he sheathed his machete, wiping his hands on his pants. "I don't think I've ever had this much vampire blood on me."

"War paint," Buffy sad as she continued to wipe her face and Dean watched her.

"I don't think that's gonna come off so easily," he said with a chuckle, reaching out to wipe a large spot where she had missed on her cheek. He then wiped it on her jacket and she shot him a look before pushing him away, ignoring the triple leap her heart did at the touch of his fingers on her face.

"Thanks for that."

"Anytime," he replied, his eyes not leaving hers for a moment before he broke contact. He swallowed uncomfortably as the tension from earlier in the day came back full swing... They reached the Impala and Dean opened the trunk, throwing his tools in. Buffy did the same before turning to him.

"Not just that. Thanks for the last few days. It's been... nice not being alone in this." Dean raised his eyebrows at her and she blushed. "Well, you know what I mean. I mean... it's been nice being with you - hunting with you. You know..." Buffy looked away, expelling a large breath. "Okay," she breathed, turning to go back toward her side of the car when Dean grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards him.

He didn't say anything as he pulled her into his arms, one arm wrapped around her waist, his other hand cupping her cheek, his thumb running over her scar. He caught her eye before he dipped down and kissed her.

Buffy felt her heart jump into action as it came to life under his touch and she kissed him back. Pleasure and excitement swirled to life in the pit of her stomach and she felt herself wrap her arms around him as he pressed his tongue against her lips.

Dean couldn't have stopped himself if he had wanted to. The feel of Buffy in his arms, her body pressing against his, rubbing against his, was delicious and he kissed her harder, pushing his tongue to meet hers. The fact that they were both covered in vampire blood did nothing to dissuade either as Dean reached out and shut the trunk forcefully before turning Buffy and pressing her against it. She ran her hand down his back, her nails digging into his coat as the other played with his scalp. It felt amazing and sent little shivers down his spine as his hand moved to her hip. She lifted her leg, resting it on his hip and he settled between her legs, moving his hips in time with hers.

Buffy broke away for air, taking it in harshly as Dean licked his lips. She looked around and saw that Dean had her pressed up against his trunk as he took a deep breath before expelling it over her face. She bit her lip, looking up at him from underneath her eyelashes before kissing him again. It felt so good, so damn good, kissing him, feeling his hands on her body. She felt like her skin was coming to life in ways she hadn't felt in years and her body sang, moving of its own accord as she cradled his body against her own.

Buffy felt her skin erupt in goose bumps when his hand slipped underneath her shirt and she arched into his touch before pulling away. "Wait..."

Dean grunted back before grabbing her lips in his again. She felt his arousal pressing against her and her body responding the same. She pushed his shoulders back and he looked down at her, his lips swollen from their kisses, his eyes hooded. He looked ready to eat her alive and she swallowed. "Hang on, we can't do this here."

Dean looked around.

"I-I need to shower. I don't feel very sexy right now," Buffy said, forcing her tone to be light as she licked her lips. She watched Dean watch the movement before he smiled down at her.

"Trust me, that is so not an issue." Buffy laughed before pushing him away from her. Standing, she readjusted her clothes, brushing her hair away from her face before glancing at Dean. He ran a hand through his hair as he looked at her before forcing his eyes away. He looked tortured for a moment and Buffy wondered if it was such a bad thing that they just said screw it and let him have his way with her right there.

Public. Illegal. Vampire blood. Buffy shook her head as she stepped away from him. She looked down at his previously shiny black trunk and she chucked. "You're gonna need to wash your baby."

Dean gave her an indescribable look before glancing at what she was talking about. Where her clothes had been soaked in vampire blood, there were now smudges all over his trunk and he frowned.

"Right, yeah... First stop, car wash."