"So what have we got," Dean asked swallowing a mouthful of his pancakes.

They had been working hard. That little break he had told Sheila about, a complete lie. Dean wouldn't stop driving, wouldn't stop working-because if he slept all he could see was Bonnie. Bonnie being drained of blood or worse that vampire making love to Bonnie.

"Um, some guy in Indiana took a power drill to his temple. In Nashville-."

Sam was interrupted by Dean's phone leaping to life, vibrating on the table. His brother didn't even bother to swallow before he picked up the phone. He watched Dean stop chewing, watched him drop his fork and wipe the syrup off his lips, watch him take a sip of his orange juice before grabbing his jacket, dropping a five dollar bill on the table, and leave. Grabbing up the newspaper, he followed his brother outside to the Impala.

"Dean? What are you doing?"

"Get in the car Sam," the older Winchester said, arm draped over the car door

"Where are we going?"

"Virginia."

"Virginia? Last time we were there-," Sam started, buckling his seatbelt as he spoke.

"Relax, she's taking a bus to Charleston."

"Who?"

"Who do you think? Bonnie."

Bonnie was sitting in a booth at a diner in Charleston, with a duffel bag and a really bad headache. She thumbed her fingers on the table counter. Maybe this hadn't been a good idea. She hadn't been thinking straight. Losing Grams, it had made Mystic Falls unbearable. When Stefan had came in and told her what happened, she had gotten dressed and Damon had taken her to her grandmother's house. He stayed the night with her, holding her, stroking her hair, getting her tea. They hadn't even talked, he just let her cry. But when she had woken up the next morning, he was gone. He had skipped town, no goodbye, no note, just gone. He had told Stefan to say his goodbyes. She read the annoyance and pain and aggravation on her friend's face as relayed the message. Then there had been Gram's funeral. Elena and Stefan were coming to pick her up. She never made it. In her black dress and pumps that killed her feet, the couple drove her to the bus station. She wasn't sure how long she would be gone but it seemed like a good idea at the time. But now sitting in this diner in a pair of jeans, a black Twilight shirt (she laughed when she pulled it out of her bag earlier that morning) underneath a blue plaid button down, and her favorite pair of Converses-with a duffel bag and forty bucks in her pocket, she wasn't so sure.

Looking up for the umpteenth time at the sound of the bell over the door, she finally saw them. Sam, looking a little bit apprehensive. Well, that was understandable. She had called out of the blue. And Dean, who smiled when he saw her. She smiled back, half-way filling some kind of any emotion inside. He slid next to her, tossing her bag on the other side next to Sam, who still didn't look too happy to see her. Well, he could at least feign politeness.

"How ya' been Bonnie," Dean asked, smiling wider. She looked older, still beautiful, but older. And that spark in her eyes, it was gone. The wheels in his mind got to work, not on school girl porn, but trying to figure out what exactly had happened to her.

"I've been good. But I've been sitting in this diner for three hours. And I didn't wanna eat until you guys got here. That's just rude. And that waitress over there has been giving me the oddest looks ever since I sat down."

Dean followed her eyes and saw a middle-aged waitress with a tight bun at the base of her neck in jeans, a t-shirt, and a white apron. She picked up her notebook and started towards the table.

"How y'all doing?"

"We're doing just fine," Sam narrowed his eyes to read her nametag, "Anne."

"Well, ya' know this young lady has been sitting in her for three hours I was getting a bit concerned."

"Yeah, well. We were running a little off schedule," Dean told her, scratching his jaw, still smiling.

"Well, can I get you guys something to eat?"

"Fantastic, I'll take a bacon cheeseburger, an order of fries and a beer."

"Dude, it's like eleven o'clock," Bonnie told him, eyebrows raising as she smiled. God, she missed him.

"Fine, I'll take a coke."

"Uh," Sam chuckled, clearing his throat as he examined the two sitting across from him. Bonnie had scooted closer to his brother, his arm was draped around her shoulders practically. He wondered if the two knew what they looked like, "I'll just have a salad and some water."

"And you sweetheart," the waitress asked, pointing her pencil at Bonnie. Something besides just wanting to know what her order was coming off through her features.

"Uh. I'll just have a burger, everything on it except onions. And a strawberry milkshake."

"Alright, everything will be right out," she told them, giving Bonnie one last concerned look before walking away.

"What's her problem?"

"Who knows? Pretty girl in a diner, two handsome devils like ourselves-."

"Are you trying to say that I'm scandalous?"

Dean laughed. Sam rolled his eyes at the flirting. Oh dear God, what was the plan? What were they going to do with her because he wasn't sure how much of this he could take. Sure, Dean seemed happy. But now there were no actual adults in the way to keep the other Winchester at bay and this flirtation in line. Well, there was him. Anne brought their food over, setting the bill at the edge of the table and gave Sam the straws. "Thank you," he told her. Reaching for the salad dress, he brought up the question both his brother and him were wondering, "So Bonnie, why'd you call?"

Somehow, 'Um, I lost my virginity to a vampire with impulse and mental issues who bailed on me the next day. Not to mention, my grandmother died trying to keep same obsessive sex god vampire alive' just didn't seem to cut it. But they were going to find out sooner or later. She imagined they were the kind of guys to notice a missing poster, which she undoubtedly expected to pop up sooner or later after she made Stefan and Elena promise not to tell anyone they had driven her to the bus station. And at the time she hadn't even had a clue to where she was going, she just went. So she would just skip the Damon part and tell the truth.

"Um, my grandmother died."

Dean stopped eating. Damn, that definitely explained the missing spark in her eyes. He sighed, hit with a wave of sadness. Damn again. Sheila was good people and now Bonnie, who was alone for the most part. Speaking of which, where was her dad?

"Bonnie, I'm so sorry," he told her, taking a sip of his coke.

"What happened?"

Sam leaned in on his elbows when he noticed her expression change. He knew that look anywhere, it was the "I'm-hiding-something-wish-I-could-tell-you-but-I-can't look". He had that look many times in his own life. She squirted some ketchup on her hamburger and took a bite, washing it down with her milkshake before she answered. She winced, trying not to cry.

"Um, well, she was doing a really big spell. The power drained all her energy, she went to sleep and her heart just stopped."

Witches. Dean knew that witches were skeevy, well not all of them but most of them were. It was that power, born with it or not, sometimes it just got out of control and the body couldn't take it anymore. He remembered Bonnie and the spell she had cast to stop the flames from consuming that vampire back in her hometown. He was worried. Sheila was a damn good witch and if her power could kill her, then what about Bonnie. Did he have a ticking time bomb on his hands?

"Wow. I'm surprised, especially knowing how powerful Sheila was."

"Yeah, well," Bonnie commented, looking down at her burger. Then she put her hand up to her head and breathed. She realized she still hadn't answered Sam's questions and going by the look on his face, he was well aware of the fact too. She needed a little bit of break, "Um, I'm going to go to the ladies room. Excuse me for a minute."

"Poor kid," Dean verbally reminded himself. Bonnie was a child. He couldn't drape his arm around her like that and he had to stop smiling. He didn't want to be arrogant but he knew he was charming, he knew what that smile could do to a girl. And Bonnie, well it wasn't like that. And she was in no mood to be hit on. It didn't take a genius-a.k.a. his brother sitting across the table-to know that something wasn't quite right, with Bonnie, or her using Sheila's death to dodge Sammy's question or her escape to the bathroom to avoid dealing with the follow-ups. For example, what spell had she been casting that the power had been strong enough to kill her? Or you caught a bus all the way to South Carolina to tell us that? You couldn't have called? And why had you been waiting for three hours? Unless, you're by yourself, which would bring up the question: why were you by yourself? Where's your dad?

"Dean-."

"Yeah Sammy I know something's not quite right."

"I don't want to seem insensitive but somebody's got to ask."

"Why do I get a feeling you're getting ready to volunteer me?"

"She called you, not me," he said, smiling like a wise ass and shrugging his shoulder.

"Okay, we'll rock, paper, scissors for it."

When Dean beat Sammy's scissors with a rock, he leaned back in the booth and spread his arms out, smiling, reveling in the immaturity he sometimes displayed. Sammy looked out of the corner of his eye during his eye roll and noticed that Anne had gathered with two other waitresses behind the counter. And they all looked suspicious, especially when Bonnie came back out of the bathroom and slid next to Dean to finish her burger. Dean looked at Sam and inclined his head towards Bonnie, who had come out of the bathroom with an appetite, devouring her burger.

"Um. Bonnie. I'm sorry for your loss, I really am. I mean, Sheila was a great person but," Bonnie looked up with these annoyed eyes that said 'I fucking dare you to keep asking me questions' Sam paused with hesitancy but regained his composure after Dean cleared his throat. Bonnie rolled her eyes at the subtle prompting Sammy had been given. "But, uh, you still didn't answer my question. Why did you call us?"

What was she going to say now? She couldn't avoid the question forever. She knew this had been a bad idea. She shouldn't have called, because now she had all these damn questions to answer. And then there was Dean, oh God. She couldn't tell him about Damon. He'd be pissed. And she didn't want him to know about Damon. She shouldn't be thinking about Dean at all, considering she was in a grieving rebound state. And he just wasn't rebound material, not for her. Not with his beautiful hazel eyes, and charming smile, and the strong arm he had wrapped around her shoulder.

"Look. If I tell you, you cannot interrupt me until I'm done. And after I tell you, well, think before you say anything," she told them, looking pointedly at Dean and watching their silent agreement before she continued, "Things totally got screwed over in Mystic Falls." Mainly me, she thought. "Now that Grams is dead, there's no one to teach me about witching or to help me as I come into my powers. Plus with vampires at every corner and a dad who's gone off on business three weeks out of the month-. I mean, Elena's got Stefan and all his baggage to deal with. I didn't have a place to go, I didn't want to be alone. So I ran away. And I'm seventeen, with forty dollars in my pocket. My dad's going to use my account to track me if he even cares or he's going to freeze it and cut me off if he doesn't. So I'm here."

'Um…okay' Sam thought to himself. What else was he supposed to think. She had ran away. And now what, she wanted to stay with them? That was a bad idea, especially with Dean's year deadline counting down and demons claiming to be able to help. She didn't know how to hunt, she didn't have experience. How the hell would they keep her safe? And his brother. His brother had spent way too many sleepless nights over Bonnie. If something ever happened to her while she was with them, then what?

"So what? Are you saying you wanna come on the road with us," Dean asked in a rather harsh tone.

Bonnie bit her lip. Okay, maybe it sounded a tiny bit stupid when he said it like that. But at the time it seemed like her only option. And the look on Sam's face, he looked like, well, she didn't know exactly what it was. Confusion? Surprise? Shock? Anger? Annoyance? Some combination of all five?

"Look, I know you're both thinking no. And I know that you're both thinking no because it's dangerous, I could get killed, and I'd probably slow you down because I haven't been doing this all my life. But I am a witch, granted I haven't been one very long, but I still am a witch. And I'm on my way to becoming a damn good witch. And yeah, I do know how to shoot. I mean, I'm from Virginia. And after the whole Emily debacle I know a thing about salt or two. I can read Latin and Greek. And despite my lack of interest in my U.S. History class, I am really good at research. And I've got an awesome left hook, courtesy to Elena and mine's tae-kwon-do phase. Oh and I've almost been killed twice, like in the past two months," she rambled before Dean held up his hand to stop her.

"Um thanks for the resume but the answer's no."

She sighed and leaned back against the leather booth, crossed her arm over her chest and blew her hair out of her face. Biting her lip again, she brought her fingernail up to inspect it and coyly whispered, "That's fine. But I'm not going back to Mystic Falls. All I've got is forty bucks, no car, no job, no nothing. But I'm sure somebody will be willing to help out a seventeen-year-old cheerleader with an amazing high kick."

Sam had to give it to her. She knew what she was doing. The look on Dean's face as he realized what she was implying-perverts, dirty old men with chilling fantasies, bars and strip clubs. Everyone knew what happened to young girls on the street with no family and nowhere to go, even nice girls like Bonnie. And Dean as he realized what the teenager had been suggesting, looked like he was ready to pop a vein or something. He watched as she finished her the last bite of her burger and her milkshake before standing up.

Dean noticed how her jeans hung on her hips and fit snugly across her body and he also saw the stares she got when she leaned down and bent over Sammy to get her duffel bag. Even Sam had looked at Bonnie's ass as she reached across him. She tossed her bag across her shoulder and shrugged, "See ya' around Dean." She walked out of the diner. He heard the bell over the door ring. He looked over his shoulder again to see the men who had been staring at her and were now looking at him. And then there was the waitress, whatever her name, who looked like she wanted to slap him. He dropped a few bills on the table and rushed out of the diner and saw Bonnie leaning against the Impala.

"What the hell was that?"

"What," she asked, shrugging with her arms over her chest, drawing her black t-shirt tight across her chest. And she smiled after seeing Sam behind Dean trying to hold his laughter in check.

"Just get in the car," he said as he walked to the driver's side.

Dean pulled up to a Motel 6, right outside of Nashville and looked at the sleeping girl in the backseat. Her mouth was slightly parted and her hair was ruffled, soft waves falling around her face. He cleared his throat and nudged his brother with a fist.

"Wake up."

Sam rubbed his face and sighed, sitting up in the car. Dean popped some gum into his mouth and threw the wrapped out of the window. His brother's jaw was tense and he noticed how hard it was for him not to look into the rearview mirror. He turned towards the backseat to get a look at Bonnie, whose shirt had risen up a bit, exposing her flat belly. He remembered how she had leaned across him in the dinner, her ass on his lap and in his face. He would've been lying if he said he hadn't become aroused. Who wouldn't? Bonnie was a gorgeous girl. And surprisingly, his brother had a lot more self-control than he thought.

"So I guess this means she's staying with us?"

"Where else is she gonna go? We should stay at the Road House for a couple of days. Or better yet go see Bobby. Maybe he can offer some kind of insight on what to do with a teenage girl."

"The teenage girl is in the backseat. And has a little bit of insight of her own. Just don't piss me off, or I'll set you on fire," she joked, leaning into the front seat. She scratched her head, causing the cuffs of her button up to roll back to her elbows. When she noticed, she quickly leaned back and pushed the sleeves back down, "So where are we?"

"Right outside of Nashville. Motel 6."

"Where we headed?"

"Nebraska or South Dakota, haven't quite decided yet. Grab your bag, we need to get a room."

Sam tried not to laugh at his brother's choice in words. He hadn't seen Dean so sexually wound up since Cassie. And he had to admit that even though he had reservations about this whole tag along thing, he found the tension amusing.

"So how's this going to work?"

"One room. Two beds. You take whatever's else available."

"Like what? The floor Shouldn't one of you-."

"Hey, you asked to come, deal with the rules. But if you don't like the couch, you could always sleep with one of us," Dean told her, mentally kicking himself at the slip. 'She's too young for you. She's too young for you. And even if she wasn't, her life just totally got flipped upside down. Now is not the time.'

After getting their key from a balding clerk with a knowing smile, they climbed the stairs to their room. 86 A. Bonnie stopped Dean at the doorway, pressed against him because of the tight space.

"You're right Dean. You guys made the rules," she looked inside the room, noticing just a wooden chair at the table by the bathroom door, "So instead of the floor, I think I'll sleep with Sam."

The younger brother couldn't hold it in anymore and fell on the bed laughing.

"I see you've got jokes," Dean whispered in a husky voice, stepping closer, looking down into her face.

"Hey, I can't help it if Sam finds sleeping arrangements funny."

Not only did she have jokes but she had games to play. He should warn her it was dangerous to play games with him. Especially with the lust he was feeling right now, pressed against her and looking down into her brown-green eyes. He wanted to kiss her senseless and then lay her down in his bed and then maybe put his tongue to work between her thighs.

Bonnie watched as Dean's eyes grew darker and his voice, that husky whisper of his was sending chills to all the right places. Damn. The flirting had to stop. There was no way in hell she was going to get over what Damon had did to her by jumping into anything-bed or emotional-with Dean. This wasn't healthy. So she backed up into the room and went into the bathroom to put on her pajamas. She locked the door behind her and leaned her back against the linoleum wood. She was flushed. She went to the sink and threw water on her face. Sleep, she needed sleep-and to keep away from Dean Winchester. She had run away to him but now she had to retreat into herself before she found herself wrapped up with him-in more ways than one. Sure Damon had cracked her heart but Dean, she had a feeling that with his green eyes, he could break it.