Chapter 11

The sun was shining in through the light curtain that blocked the window and I turned over, grumbled and reached for the phone that vibrated on the bed beside me, the light sound of Kaleo's "Way Down We Go" created the mood for the next second, the mood of someone is going to hell for waking me up. I put the phone to my ear, put my arm over my eyes and pressed the accept button.

"This better be good," I groaned.

"Wow," I could hear Sam smiling over the line.

"Wow? You wake me up at six…" I glanced at the time, "six in the morning and all you can say is wow?"

"Actually, I was referring to how sexy your voice was when you wake up." I felt the heat rush to my face as I sat there in silence for a minute. "I was calling to see if you were…"

"If you say "okay" I'm going to scream," I growled and rolled my eyes.

"Awake enough for coffee." Sam finished and I let my breath go.

"Sorry, the whole Mother Hen thing bothers the crap out of me, and being constantly asked if I'm good, that bothers me more." I cleared my throat and rolled over onto my side. "What are you doing up so early anyway? We left there at midnight."

"Dean took the first shift, I slept until three, he's asleep now."

"Three hours, Sam, go back to bed."

"I can't." And that made me roll my eyes. Can't was another word I was getting tired of hearing.

"Why not? It's daylight, morning actually, the vamps would be in too much pain to come out and start crap now, just go curl up in the car."

"I can't because you're not here." His voice was soft, as if it had taken a lot of effort to get that out and I smiled as I listened to him.

"I can come up, is that why you're asking about coffee?" I sat up slowly in the bed, felt the bag that Dean had given me still tucked in my pocket and looked out the window at the figure that stood by the edge of the grass, dark against the light blue building. It was Sam, I could make out the way he stood, one hand up to the phone he was holding and the other stuffed in the pocket of his dark blue jeans. "You haven't been standing there all night have you?"

"No, I make my rounds outside and then check the wards. Hey, how did you know about them anyway?" He questioned and I felt myself become uneasy. Do I tell him, really let out a secret like that or do I keep it hidden because no matter how much I want to believe they would be forgiving, there are witch killing bullets in one of their guns?

"Old family friend, I used to watch her. I guess you just pick up things along the way." I found the clothes that I wanted to wear and put the phone on speaker as I shut the door and changed quickly, deodorant and all went on before I took Sam into the bathroom, put the phone on speaker and closed the door. "How's the stitches?"

He scoffed, "in need of your attention."

Yeah, if that wasn't a ploy to get me to touch him again, I don't know what was. I laughed as I brushed my teeth and after a moment grabbed the hairbrush. Running it down the length of my hair I noticed the cuts on my neck and sighed.

"I've got to come up anyway, the kit is up there and I have to change the ones on my arm." I replied, because, yeah there was no way I was admitting that I was going up there just to lay my hands on him. I stepped from the bathroom and moved toward the kitchen, having slipped on my shoes while we talked but I found that Danni was already sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in front of her and a thermos full beside her. "Sam, I'll see you in a few, okay?"

"Yeah, sounds good," he replied and the phone went dead.

"Why are you awake?" I laughed as I sat down to the mug she filled and pushed towards me. I didn't realized how many times I had already asked that question and she rolled her eyes. The small hints of hidden emotions that came and went on her face told me that there was definitely something up, something that I had missed.

"You're kidding right, I get up at 5:30 my time every day, just like you." I smiled and nodded. She had a point, we were all early birds and things were just not going to change. "Sam's up?"

"Yeah, took the morning shift, no surprise there, but he won't go back to sleep so…" I picked up a pencil and tapped it on the thermos. "I'm gonna guess we had the same idea."

"Yeah, caffeinate the grumpy pair." Danni laughed.

"Why did you let me go on last night about the vampires? You know as much as I do about the show, you could have jumped in at any time." I watched her turn in her seat to look at me.

"You think I'm stepping between you and Dean freaking Winchester, especially with how intense things were between you already?" She smiled and shook her head. "As much as I would love to give that boy a piece of my mind, he has something for you and there is no way I'm getting between that."

"Dean and I, yeah, already told you it wasn't going to happen." I answered and licked my lips, thinking about Sam. "One intense Winchester gunning for my ass is enough, to have his older brother doing it, yeah, I'll step back from that."

"Therein lies the problem, you can't step back, you're just as much wrapped around Dean as you are Sam, even if there is no sexual tension there. Dean isn't going to let anything happen to you, and he's not going to let anyone get between you either." I watched her face darken just a bit, as if she were sad, or mad, or actually it was so hard to read but she shook her head.

"It's a trust thing with him, Danni, and trust me, that little look he gave you before we came inside, well, I'm pretty sure the walls are coming down."

"It's going to take a miracle or killing a vampire to put that boy's mind at ease that I'm not a threat." I stood up, walked into the room and grabbed the blue flannel shirt that I had dug out. Slipping it on before I reached the kitchen, I looked at her once again.

"Honestly, I would rather be the threat than be the job they need to protect."

"Oh, shut up, you love it and you know it!" She laughed and I shook my head.

"The doting is getting to be a little much," I grabbed a muffin out of the middle of the table and she slapped my hand, "Ow! What was that for?"

"I was bringing them to the boys," but her face was all smiles.

"Yeah, and hello, vamp bait here, I have to eat too, you know." I grinned and watched her raise a brow. "So, plans?"

"We have to get going soon, it's about an hour or so trip to Tulsa, but we have to get up and wake up the sleeping monster before we can even think about a plan."

"You know what I thought of?"

"Sam…Sam… and probably Sam again." She teased.

"Funny, ha ha...no!" I sighed, but she was actually right, thoughts of him actually brought up my next concern. "If we take Baby into Tulsa, with two guys who look like Jared and Jensen, we're going to get mobbed."

"Did you really think that they were Sam and Dean when you first saw them?" I thought back to the diner but she was right, I knew Dean looked familiar, knew Sam kicked my brain into overdrive but it wasn't until I saw the Impala and put it together that I really thought about it. "See," she smiled, catching the thoughts by the expressions on my face, "there's a slim possibility that someone approaches them, but they're not exactly our Sam and Dean and they really don't look like a clean cut Jared and Jensen."

"One of these days I'm going to get that story of the scar out of Dean, even if it kills me." I smiled but I watched it fade from her face.

"Speaking of stories, your vamp one, the whole reason you started research, pure crap!" My eyes snapped up to hers, there was no way I was going to tell her, but I cleared my throat and placed my cup in the sink.

"Well, story for another day." I answered and took my coat from the rack. She turned and looked at me, wondering why I wouldn't just let it out and I smiled as I walked back to the room, placed the vampire protection bag in my pocket, stuffed the mags in there as well and I tucked the gun into the back of my belt before shrugging on my jacket when I exited. "You ready to go?"

"Yep," she mumbled, knowing she wasn't going to get anything from me, and we headed out the door, until she turned and grabbed the plate of muffins and the thermos before following me again.

"Hey," I paused at the door, looking at the suddenly vibrant cats that encroached on the kitchen. "Where's Wayne?"

"He, ah," she paused and looked at her cat Turtle before she closed the door, looked at me with frustration and shrugged, "he'll be gone for a few days."

"Everything okay?"

Danni stopped as we moved across the driveway, gave me a quick glance and shook her head. "Things are pretty bad, but not for supernatural reasons."

There is was again, that little bit of doubt that made me think there was definitely something of the supernatural variety going on here. I nodded, giving her space, and we headed towards the garage.

We walked in silence, both of us on the ready for whatever, not that we thought there was anything out there, but even through the bright sunlight, the layer of fog that set on the field gave it an eerie feeling that made me wish we had just stayed with the boys. The door to the garage was open, something I didn't expect and I pulled out the gun, since Danni had her hands full and held it with both as I looked inside. There wasn't any noise, not even from the Impala, which had all the windows rolled down.

I nodded towards Danni and she got the gist as she moved cautiously towards the table. I kept the gun low, but made sure that I was on my toes as I looked around the corners of every toolbox. I glanced over at Danni, who had also drawn and was looking in the cracks. The stairs to the small loft where the supplies were kept was just to my right and I made my way towards them.

Danni shook her head, narrowing her eyes at me as I pointed her to the Impala, wanting her to check on Dean, and finally she nodded as I made my way up the wooden steps, trying not to step in the middle. My back was against the wall, looking up as I took my time with the steps.

Glancing through the slots in the railing, I could see Danni peeking into the car and she nodded, letting me know Dean was definitely in there. I took a breath and stopped at the top of the stairs, my eyes scanned the room, watched for any movement but took a step in that direction.

It all happened so fast. As soon as I was on steady ground, an arm wrapped around me, I twisted in the spot making sure the gun wasn't between us as I tried my best to duck out of it. Another hand came down to grab the wrist that held the gun, good thing my wrist were small enough. I switched hands quickly, keeping away from the trigger and popped my hand right out of his, but he twisted me once more, brought both hands around to capture my wrists, crossing my arms against me and I felt him pull me back against his chest.

"For such a small thing, you're awful slippery." Sam's voice whispered against my ear and I smiled, calming a little as I whistled loudly, which sent him a little off balance.

I ducked down and twirled my arms and my wrists, breaking the hold on them both as I stood now facing him. The impressed look on his face was followed by one of pure want. Yes, Sam, you may have finally met your match, but we weren't going there now.

"So what was that? A little test?" I questioned, putting the gun back where I had originally kept it, tucked in my belt, but Sam shook his head.

"Not at first, I wanted to see what was up here, but heard you coming, thought I would see what you could do." He grinned at me, reached his hand out to move my hair from my shoulder but let his fingers slip down the dip in my shirt. "I'm pretty impressed."

"You should be." I winked and headed towards the stairway before he reached out and took my hand. He was gentle this time, pulling me in close and he didn't touch my face, just the skin next to my collarbone as he leaned down and brushed a kiss across my lips. "You might want to stop while you're ahead, there's no protection…"

"I have that covered," he whispered in a growl.

"I meant for your stitches." He laughed against my lips, a feeling that made me think of what else he could do with them and then I backed away.

Uh! This guy was going to be the death of me.

Sam watched the blush creep up on my face, his thumb danced over my cheek as he grinned and then took my hand. "Come on, coffee is waiting."

The room was quiet, or as quiet as it was going to get as Danni and I bantered back and forth about the plot to a new story we were kicking up and Sam sat back and watched. The plotline was pretty in depth, the characters were multi-leveled and deeply crazy people, but when we finally took a breath, I sat back and looked at Sam.

"Thoughts, now that you've heard our rant?" I questioned.

"You sure you two aren't hunters?" He replied and looked between us, "I mean just by sitting here listening, you've gone pretty in depth on three or four monsters, and I mean in depth to the point where Dean and I could use that information to track them down."

"It all in the research," Danni smiled and watched Sam actually looked at her with something that wasn't disdain. "This one here knows her away around more mythology sights than I can shake a stick at."

"And she comes fully equipped with the knowledge for the hunts, tactical, I guess." I replied and smiled at her. "It's amazing what you can find on the internet."

"So, being that it's the internet, how do you know it's real?" He was now testing our limits.

"These really cool building called libraries." I said and watched him give me "that look" as if he might just reach out and spank me. "No seriously, I back my information up with actual text and don't rely on Google, though SuperWiki is pretty accurate."

"Super what?" Dean's voice questioned behind me and I did my best to keep my body still, but he had scared the crap out of me. He grabbed the thermos, poured himself a cup of the black stuff and downed it quickly before snatching a muffin and the seat beside me, looking me over as if I was some hussy that had just walked into a bar. "What's up, Cupcake?"

"Call me cupcake again, Winchester and my foot will be up," I whispered, leaning in close to him, "up your ass!"

"Wow, grouch much?" He said as he winked and took a bit of the muffin. "So, this Super whatie-thing?"

"Web-based online resource for the Supernatural show, you know, where you two are a couple of pansies." Danni smiled and watched as Dean gave her a sarcastic smile, gave her a roll of his eyes, and went back to his breakfast.

"You two really do know a lot about this show," Sam stated in a stoic voice, Danni nodded, but there was just something in the way he said it that made me hold off on my reaction. "What have we done so far?"

"Probably shouldn't go into that." I shook my head.

"Why, it's not like it's going to change the timeline, I mean, we're here," Dean shrugged, "where are your boys?"

"Don't know, Lebanon would be my guess." I watched as Dean stopped chewing and turned to look at Sam, whose face had gone completely sour. "Oh, give me a break! Tell me you don't have a Men of Letters bunker in freaking Lebanon, Kansas?"

"Okay," Dean mumbled with a mouth full of food. "We'll go with…I don't know…Lawrence."

"That's where Sam and Dean were born." Danni spoke up, not really making it a statement but just stating a fact.

"We know," Sam sighed, "we were born there too." I stopped and looked at him, never really thinking that it would actually be a fact about these two as well, there were so many things that didn't fit, but then there were the little thing that did. "You were right, my mother died in a nursery fire when I was six months old, six months exactly."

"Was it a demon?" I whispered and watched Dean swallow hard, but the look in Sam's eyes took on a hardened steel expression, but he nodded. "I'm sorry."

"No need, it's done." Sam said and sat back, but he wouldn't meet my eyes. I looked over at Dean, who was eyeing his brother protectively. My concern grew as he crossed his arms over his chest, essentially closing everyone out. "When are we getting on the road?"

"Whenever you're ready." I pushed the chair out from underneath me, stood and walked over to the counter where I found the first aid kit, "but, Sam, first things first."

"Yeah, give me a minute." He huffed, the sound of anger bubbled in his voice as I took the kit and headed towards the bathroom myself.

I heard Dean start to question his brother, "You okay, Sammy?"

"I'm fine, Dean!" He snapped and I heard the chair move, but the sound of his boots were walking away from me, not towards, so I just sighed and got on with removing the bandages from my arm, not my favorite thing in the world.

I heard the door slide up, the Impala's engine rumble and Dean groan when Sam chirped the tires taking it out into the sunlight. There was another scrap of the chair against the floor and I almost expected to see the older Winchester in the door but he too was walking away. With a sigh, I brought my arm up to the mirror, used the light from the overhead to illuminate the scratches and used what I could to determine which spot could use a butterfly and which could be left well enough alone.

When I walked out of the bathroom, Danni and Dean were both standing by the open garage door, Dean leaning against it with his hands in his pockets and Danni was looking at him, a smile plastered on her face. This was a good sign, but I still didn't see Sam anywhere, until I heard something drop above my head.

I snatched the gauze and the tape and headed up towards the loft where I had caught Sam before, but this time he wasn't lying in wait for me to come up with a gun, he was sitting on a box, with his elbows on his knees, pissed off and moody. I wasn't that I blamed him, I mean a memory like that, of battling that kind of evil really scars someone for life, but he glanced up at me from under his hair as I stepped forward.

"Looks like our older counterparts are starting to get along." I whispered and watched him give a slight nod but he didn't move from where he was. "I'm not going to stay long, I just want to put this on and then I'll leave you alone."

"No," he whispered, it was just barely audible from where I stood less than two feet away, and his eyes focused in on his own hands. "You don't have to leave."

"Sam, if you need time alone…"

"I'm tired of being alone," he sighed and sat back.

He looked me over, at the small white bandages that decorated my lower arm and he reached out his hand, damn that boy could stretch out, and he captured my fingers before I could step back. I let him pull me closer and I watched as he tried to sit up as much as he could to expose the line of stitches.

"Okay, well that angle isn't going to work, you're either going to have to stand up or lay down." I sighed and watched as he moved, grabbed a folded drop cloth from one of the boxes and put it down on the floor. I smiled as he stretched out on the floor below me and pulled the shirt up so that I could see the area I needed to get too. I swear he was the sexiest thing I had ever seen, but now it begged the question, how do I decide which way to put them on.

His eyes widened as I stepped over, placing one foot on either side of his hip and knelt down, not really putting my weight on his body but I could feel his left arm come down and his fingers gently touch my thigh. Looking up at him, I leaned over and started my work, cleaning and taping up the area, but I used a smaller size this time, giving him a little more room to move.

When I smoothed the last piece across the smooth skin of his stomach, my fingers went to those small scars on his ribs. I heard him breath in quickly but when I went to move away, thinking I was causing him discomfort, he placed his hand gently on mine, pressing it against the raised surface.

"These are from him, aren't they?" I whispered as I moved my fingers gently under the weight of his hand and even as he put his head back and closed his eyes, he gave me a little nod. "Is that why you won't let Cas heal them?"

"No one has ever guessed that," he whispered, his hand moving up just so slightly that I had more of a free reign to touch the rest of them.

"Dean's scar?" I knew there had to be a reason behind it, but my guess would have been that Cas was healing it a little at a time, which was why it was such a contrast to so many other scars.

"Lucifer," Sam smiled, and opened his eyes once he noticed I hadn't even flinched at the name. "You know about that too?"

"The whole Michael and Luci's vessel thing, time in hell? Yeah I know of it, I don't assume to know everything about it, or even what it must have been like." I had forgotten that I was supporting my own weight, and where I was sitting, until Sam's other hand dropped down on my thigh and he closed his eyes again. "So Lucifer did a number on him."

"Yeah, you could say that," Sam sighed and I watched his lips stretch taunt.

"When he was in you?" I whispered, trying not to stir things up but his silence was as deafening as his worlds. "I'm sorry. You've gone through so much."

Sam sat up quickly, his arms wrapped around me as his shirt fell to cover his scars and he looked me in the eyes, his thoughts going a mile a minute.

"You're amazing," he whispered, his face full of wonder, but I laughed at him.

"Not so much." I replied, placing both hands on his shoulders.

"No, you really are. I'm glad you had your Sam and Dean, your connection to them because it make it so easy for me to feel like I can open up to you." I smiled at him and watched the way his eyes seemed to glow. "Do you know what it's like only having your brother to tell your secrets to, to only have one person to confide in? And then there are the times when what you need to let out, you can't because it's about the only person in your life?"

"I can't imagine," I took a deep breath, drew in the scent of him and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him in. I just held him, let myself feel him as he buried his face against my neck, breathing in and out deeply, not sure if he was trying to memorize my scent or trying to keep calm.

"I could stay right here forever." He whispered, and I smiled but as much as I wanted to do that, there was no way. I had until Thursday morning to figure this whole thing out. Thursday… to get rid of the vampires on my ass and to figure out just what I was going to do with the man in my arms, and the one in my thoughts.