I hope all of you, my wonderful readers and reviewers (could use more of those :P), had a wonderful Christmas and will continue to have great holiday seasons! Same goes to those even if you don't celebrate it, hope y'all had a great December 25th :)

SO here's the next part!

Chapter 11

"It didn't go well yesterday."

Erica had plopped in front of Heather on the motel couch, coffee in one hand and the other tangled in her long locks, voice hushed so as to not wake the still-sleeping Winchesters.

Heather gave a sympathetic nod, silently glad that her friend was ready to share. "I'm very sorry, hon. What did you guys talk about? How did you explain it to him?"

"Well, I actually didn't have to explain anything…he was standing a bit behind us and heard everything you and I were saying."

"Wow, he's stealthy." She fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "So then what did Sam have to say?"

Erica sighed. "I didn't let him speak. I had to get away cause, I don't know, whatever would've been said was only going to hurt more."

Heather was dumbfounded, to say the least. "So when you say it didn't go well, you mean it didn't actually go at all?"

There was no reply.

"So what's your plan? Ignoring each other really isn't the way to best move forward with the hunt."

"Sam did say one thing before I walked away." Erica rerouted, pausing as Heather tilted her head. "He said that I was afraid to be vulnerable. And dammit he's right. Cause that's all a romantic connection would bring, vulnerability and compromise to both of us as hunters."

Heather's face softened, and she put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Humans, too."

"What?"

"You're human, too, and wanting someone is normal for humans. Remember that."

Erica only had time to offer a grateful smile before Dean emerged from the bathroom with a dangerous glint in his eye. "So which one of you ladies was in a rush to change last night?"

In his hand he held up a black bra with a small red bow in the front. It was agonizingly familiar to Heather.

"Oh my god, sorry about that. You can give it back now." She hurried over to him and made a grab for the bra, fighting the warmth rising to her cheeks, only for Dean to hold it behind him again.

"I could…but I might not."

Heather smirked. "Why, you gonna wear it?"

His face fell, only for a second, before regaining its composure. "Very funny, Heat. For that, you're definitely not getting it back."

"Dean." She warned, trying to reach around him for her favored undergarment. It was a half-hearted threat, mostly likely, but you could never know.

Sure enough, Dean merely tossed it over her head where it landed in Sam's luggage. He threw her a wink as she turned to retrieve it, earning an eye-roll from the blonde.

After placing the bra safely back in her own duffel, Heather returned to her seat beside Erica. One look from her friend and she realized the other girl had seen her whole exchange with Dean.

"So you and the charmer over there are all good now?"

Heather snuck a glance at the broad shoulders pulling on the flannel of the day. "Yeah, we're definitely all good."

An hour later the group was ready to hit the road for the full day of driving. Dean checked them out of the motel as Sam and Erica loaded up all the luggage and other paraphernalia, while Heather was elected to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything in the room.

By the time she came out of the motel, the others were already waiting in the car. She went and opened the Impala's left rear door as usual, and was surprised to find Sam sitting in her spot.

"Uh, Sam? What're you doing?"

"I'm sitting in this spot." he said with a grin that was anything but innocent. For good measure, he crossed his legs across the middle of the seat. "And there's no other room back here."

Heather looked at Erica for some kind of explanation, but she seemed equally as puzzled at Sam's actions, and was probably a bit perturbed that her object of avoidance was now placed quite close to her.

But Heather's heart essentially dropped off a cliff when a thought hit her. When Sam heard our conversation, not only is that what E said about him, but what I said about Dean!

So this was the younger brother's version of an intervention. What a passive-aggressive little twerp.

Heather knew he'd win this one, so in defeat she walked around the front of the car to claim her new spot in the passenger seat.

She opened the door and slid in, relishing the increased leg room and the unobstructed view through the windshield. In her peripheral vision she noticed that Dean was giving Sam a puzzled look in the rearview mirror, but soon he turned to her and said, "Welcome to the catbird seat!"

Those beautiful green eyes crinkled when he smiled at her, and Heather realized that her new seat might not be bad at all.

When they were a few minutes down the road, Dean abruptly lowered the Metallica song blaring through the speakers. "So what's your go-to genre, Heat? And for the love of god, don't say classical or somethin' stupid like that."

She shrugged. "I'm one of those annoyingly passive people that doesn't really care what's playing."

"Oh c'mon."

"Well," she thought for a moment, "oftentimes I'll put on some jazz when I'm working on papers and whatnot. Instrumental, of course."

"And that's better than classical…how?" He tore his eyes for a moment to furrow his eyebrows at her. "Heat, work with me on this. What's the stuff that just really gets you to let loose?"

"Dean, honestly, a good beat will do. And sometimes that means singing the entire soundtrack of The Lion King as a one-woman show in my apartment, other times it's whatever 90s rap comes on in a downtown club on my occasional Friday night out."

She batted her eyes at his profile when she saw a small grin etched on his face. "And yeah, your music's not that bad either."

"You kiddin' me, Heat?" His face harbored a full-blown smile as he turned the rock back up. "This is the best there is."

..

Erica really didn't mind listening to Heather and Dean's somewhat sappy banter, and it got easier when Dean turned up the music to ear-splitting volume. What she did mind was the fact that Sam had taken it upon himself to cross his legs on the middle seat so he nearly touched her. Erica eyed the little sliver of space between them, willing it to grow wider.

"Don't know why you're uncomfortable." Sam mused.

With the music cranked so loud, Erica could barely make out his words and assumed it was safe to talk.

"You have no feelings for me, so there's no need to be. Though, sometimes I wonder if you have emotions at all. If so, maybe that's why it seems so easy for you to not care what others are feeling." he continued.

"You don't really think that." Erica snapped in irritation.

"Since when do you even care what I think, Erica?" he snapped right back. He shifted closer, which, due to his lack of seatbelt, wasn't too hard. Erica traced her fingers along her own seatbelt sitting across her chest.

"You're a good hunter Sam. A bit sloppy at covering your tracks sometime, but good." she said formally.

Sam shook his head in disbelief. "You know damn well that's not what we're talking about, but whatever."

He moved back to his own side of the car and proceeded to glare at a Sudoku puzzle he had set on his lap.

Erica pressed her forehead to the window, not caring if Dean complained about smudges later.

She couldn't grasp why Sam would not leave her be. She was certain she gave him no signals of encouragement.

In hunting there's no time to think or second guess yourself. Sam gave her time to think. She should be grateful for that but she wasn't. Because her first instinct with him was to run fast and far. But when she thought about it, thought about Sam, she wanted to stay, and that scared her more than he and his brother's horrible track record ever could.

She was a solo hunter. She wasn't that great around people. Not long term at least. Sure, she enjoyed having Heather around to talk to. Even Dean's experience was a valuable asset to her, if not offset by his nonstop chatter. And Sam kept up with her on a mental level, which she appreciated.

But this wasn't permanent.

That had to be a constant reminder in her brain. She wasn't scorned by some dark past. She was just practical. And allowing herself to fantasize about a life with Heather and Dean, much less Sam, was not remotely possible.

It's not fair.

The thought bubbled up before she could stop it. Sam and Dean had each other to rely on. Watching them, she found herself stupidly wanting a relationship like that. She wanted someone that she shared utter trust and companionship with.

A knot tied itself in her throat.

"Stop it, E." She whispered to herself.

She couldn't afford the luxury of daydreaming.

Dean stretched lazily as they pulled into the nearly empty diner parking lot.

"Sammy, go grab us a table," Dean called. Sam rolled his eyes but followed after the quickly-exiting Erica.

Dean was well aware his brother and their newest added hunter were in the midst of a romantic battle, but at the moment he had his own pretty lady to worry about.

He caught Heather's waist as she tried to go inside.

"I did say Sam, yes?" he teased.

Heather smirked up at him. "Erica got to go." she faked a pout.

"Well, it'd be a tad awkward if she stayed." he replied before kissing her.

"Agreed." Heather murmured as she curled her hands into the collar of his leather jacket.

Dean walked her back against Baby and trailed his hands down to settle in the curve of her hips. He enjoyed kissing her. He enjoyed just being in her presence, actually. She wasn't a push over, but she wasn't all prickly like a hunter.

Heather angled her head away, breaking the kiss.

"Oh, dear." Dean turned and waved to the elderly woman with her hands over her mouth.

"Sorry, ma'am." Heather called.

"No, no. Carry on. I just had a flashback to my youth. We did much more explicit things on the hoods of cars." Dean laughed as the woman toddled off into the diner.

"I think she was making a suggestion." Dean smirked and brushed his lips against hers briefly. "I'm seriously starving though. Think you can restrain yourself till another time, Heat?" he purred in her ear.

Heather shoved at him lightly. "You're one to talk." she muttered before striding into the diner.

Sam glanced up at her from the table he and Erica had claimed. The latter was dutifully typing away on her phone, probably nose deep in research.

"Good stretching session?" Sam asked with a twinkle to his hazel eyes.

"The best, Sammy. Let's chow." Dean clapped his shoulder and seated himself at a chair readily.