Sam woke to the sound of a door slamming and Dean telling Garth that dinner was served. He rolled over slowly, stretching his long body as he turned.

"Mornin', sunshine," Dean said, much cheerier than he had been when he left earlier. He tossed a bag of food at Sam as he sat up, and dropped onto the sofa next to him.

Garth was excitedly digging through the bag, "You went to Audrey's! Please tell me…" He pulled out the apple pie and closed his eyes, a smile on his face.

"I did. And it would be in your best interest to back away from that pie."

Garth frowned, "But Dean-"

Dean glared at Garth, "Nope. She said to give you the rest of the food, she never once mentioned the pie. Walk away, man." Garth sighed, then reluctantly put it back in the bag.

Sam drug a hand across his face, "How long was I out?"

Dean shrugged, "A couple of hours, maybe. Ava is still asleep, but once you finish eating we should go."

Sam unwrapped the burger and moaned contentedly despite his usual affinity for healthier foods, "Wow, this is really good."

Dean grinned, "Ain't the only delicious thing at that diner." Sam raised an eyebrow and Garth's mouth dropped open.

"You don't mean you and Audrey-"

Dean glared at Garth again, "I meant the pie, pervert."

Sam looked up at Dean incredulously as he finished his burger, "Sure you did. Ready to go?" Garth stared at Sam over Dean's shoulder, willing him to tell his brother what he knew.

Dean looked at Sam, his eyebrows raised, "Since when do you eat that fast? You in a hurry to get out of here?"

Sam cleared his throat, "No, no, I just thought it would be nice to be home." Garth continued to stare at him, his eyes slowly narrowing. Sam sighed, "Actually Dean...uhm...I need to talk to you about something...alone." Sam stood and walked towards the front door and Dean followed closely behind.

He grabbed Garth's arm as he passed by, "If you even think about touching that pie, even just think that smelling it would be okay, so help me God I will end you. Am I clear?" Garth swallowed thickly and nodded. Dean grinned, "Great." He found Sam leaning against the Impala when he made it outside, and crossed his arms. "What is it, sasquatch? You're acting weirder than normal."

Sam sighed, "I have to tell you something, and you have to promise me you won't overreact or get pissed, okay?"

Dean's eyes narrowed, "Any conversation that starts that way is going to suck ass, Sammy. Just get to it."

Sam nodded, "Okay, so...do you know how we got out of there tonight? Do you realize what happened that allowed you to kill Sebastian?

Dean shrugged, "I mean...I saw something. I just assumed it was you."

Sam scoffed, "Dude, it's been years. I can't still do any of that crap, you know that."

"Then how in the hell did we….how did his arm…" Dean thought back to the basement, to the moment that Sebastian's arm had been snapped backwards, and his leg. Sam hadn't done it, he sure as hell didn't do it, which only left one person that could have. "Ava? How? There's no damn way, Sam. She's just a girl." Sam had dropped his eyes and was looking at the ground nervously. "Sam!"

Sam ran a hand through his hair nervously, "She...she has demon blood."

Dean crossed his arms and took a deep breath, "Excuse me?"

Sam sighed, "We were right about what he wanted to do...we just didn't take into account how he was going to do it. When we were leaving the basement...I found syringes. Ava confirmed it. Dean, he was injecting her with his blood."

Dean glared at him for a moment, anger radiating from him, "And you just decided it wasn't something I needed to know about? What the hell, Sam? That's pretty fucking need to know."

Sam put his hands up as if to defend himself, "Dean, I just wanted to make sure first. As much blood as she lost, I figured she'd have to get a transfusion, and I wanted to see what Jack had to say. I thought it might even it out. I was going to tell you when we got home-"

"When we got home?! You were going to wait until we were at the bunker, the one place that we can be safe, to tell me that the girl we rescued is pumped full of demon blood? That was your plan? What the hell is wrong with you, Sammy?"

Sam gestured angrily at Dean, "This is exactly why I was holding off on telling you! It's not her fault, Dean, she's not a monster. Someone did this to her, she didn't have a choice. I knew you were going to react this way because it's never gray with you, it's black and white. I'm not going to just leave her to deal with this alone. You...you don't know what it's like to have something like that inside of you. How it feels when your body craves something you would rather die than do. It makes you hate yourself. It is one of the single most painful things I have ever experienced, Dean, and I can't imagine what it's going to be like for her."

Dean rolled his eyes, "Seriously? Because from what I recall, you willingly went with Ruby. You drank that blood on your own, man. You did that. And don't give me that 'I thought it was for a good cause' bullshit. You still did it, and you put that on yourself."

"This is not about me," Sam growled, "it's about her. I may have had a choice, but she didn't. She's not had a choice since she was five years old. Hell, Dean, she doesn't even remember a good portion of her life, and that wasn't a choice she had either. Jesus Christ, she's an innocent girl, and it's like you just want to abandon her because she's...she's tainted." Sam was fighting to keep it together, he could feel the flush on his face and his hands were clenched at his sides.

"I never said that, Sam, I never…" Dean sighed as he realized that Sam wasn't just talking about Ava anymore, "She's not tainted. It's just dangerous, you know that. You of all people should know that. This is about you keeping something from me, something that could potentially be harmful whether she means it or not. I'm not abandoning anyone. What kind of person do you think I am, man?"

Sam opened his mouth to respond, but Garth popped his head out of the front door.

"She's awake, guys...is now a bad time?"

Both brothers turned to glare at him, but Sam shook his head, "No, it's fine, Garth. The conversation was over, anyway." He strode off, his long legs quickly carrying him through the front door as he shoved past Garth.

Garth looked at Dean, concerned, "Are ya'll alright? Did he...did he tell you?"

Dean looked at Garth with raised eyebrows, "Sam told you? He told you about Ava?" Garth nodded slowly, suddenly aware that he was in the midst of a Winchester fight, and it was not a place he wanted to be. "Of course he fucking did, because why not?" Dean shoved past him as well, and Garth watched as the brothers disappeared into the hidden room.

Sam slowly approached the bed and tried not to let his face betray him as he got a better look at Ava's injuries. It seemed like there wasn't an inch on her that wasn't cut, scraped, or bruised. Jack had found some pants for her, but she was still wearing Sam's flannel and, if possible, it made her look even smaller and more vulnerable. Sam stopped at the head of the bed and gently rested his hand on hers.

"Hey, Ava."

She smiled, far brighter than Sam or Dean would have expected, "Hey, Sam." Dean stopped at the foot of the bed, unsure if he should get any closer. She smiled at him, "Hey...I remember you from the basement. Sam's brother?"

Dean nodded, "Yea. Name's Dean."

She reached out with her free hand, "Nice to meet you, Dean."

He cleared his throat and held back for a moment, then forced himself to move the ten steps between himself and her outstretched hand, "Nice to meet you too, Ava."

She looked back at Sam, "So...what now?"

Sam squeezed her hand gently, "We are taking you home with us. If you want, you can make a list of things you might need...our friend Garth volunteered to pick some stuff up for you and drop it off. Our place is pretty big, so you'd have your own room and everything...that is if you want to come with us. It's totally up to you."

She looked down for a moment as if thinking, then looked back up at Sam with tears in her eyes and nodded, "I don't, uhm...I don't really have any family. Ben was really it, and I don't know…" her voice cracked and she stopped for a moment. Sam's heart ached as he watched her struggle to keep it together. "I don't know...it's just, I don't think I can go back to that apartment. If it's too much trouble, I can figure it out. I'm...I'm pretty good at making things work."

Sam glanced quickly at Dean and shook his head, "No, it's fine, you can come with us. It's not any trouble at all, right Dean?"

Dean nodded, "Yea, sure, it's no problem. If you're ready to go, we should probably get moving. We've got a bit of a drive ahead of us." He turned and quickly left the room, and Ava looked back up at Sam.

"Is it really okay? Your brother doesn't seem too happy…"

Sam gave her a reassuring smile, "Oh, no, he's fine. He's uhm...he's just really tired. He'll be more friendly once he gets some sleep."

Ava swung her legs over the side of the bed and held onto Sam's arm, "Well, I guess we shouldn't keep him waiting, huh?" She gingerly hopped off the bed, and though she was leaning heavily against Sam, walked from the back room on her own. Jack looked up and his eyes widened in surprise to see the broken girl walking almost normally. "I'm sorry, I don't recall either of your names," she said to Jack and Garth as she held her hand out.

Jack jumped up from behind his desk and gently took her hand and smiled, "It's Jack, sweetheart. It's nice to meet you." She nodded and smiled, then turned her attention to Garth, who looked like he wanted to throw his arms around her. Sam was proud of Garth's self-control when all he did was shake Ava's hand.

"Thank you so much, I can never repay you for what you've done for me. I hope this isn't the last time I see you fellas." Both men smiled at Ava, amazed at the strength in the woman in front of them. "Come on, Sam. Let's go home."

As Dean watched the scene unfolding in the clinic from outside, he couldn't help but think that they were going to be in trouble now that Ava was around...especially him.