Disclaimer- see earlier chapters

Hello people - hope you are still reading this, if not I can't blame you as it has taken a whole to get up, no excuse really.

But in case I don't get anymore up before the end of 2007 (which is most probable) - have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Sam wandered down the corridor to Molly's apartment – thanks to the ID that they had gotten he could get out by himself, even if it was just to drop off the books Logan had lent him; he needed to stretch his legs. Also, if he dropped them off at Molly's he could use it as an excuse to get another look at the research she had been doing to try to find the demon.

He banged on the door a couple of times and waited for an answer, but no-one was home. He wandered down to Cindy's place figuring he could drop off the books, then finally go and explore this 'new' Seattle by himself – something he really had not had a chance to do as he had been stuck with his brother or Jo since he had arrived.

"Hi, Cindy, are you in?" he yelled. He could hear rustling behind the door though it didn't open. "Hey, Cindy?"

The door opened a crack. "Go away!"

Sam was confused. "Gem, what you doing here?"

"Go away." She hesitated for a second. "Please."

"Is Cindy here?" Sam asked as Gem tried to close the door.

Gem closed her eyes as she shook her head. "She had to go out. I'll tell her you called."

She went to shut the door but Sam stuck his foot in it. "Gem, you all right?"

"I'm fine, as I said I'll tell her you called," she said abruptly.

"Look, I was just hoping to drop some books off that Logan lent me with Molly, but she isn't in, any chance I can drop them off here?" Sam asked, looking at the girl. He could tell that something wasn't right.

Gem grabbed the books out of his hands. "I'll get her to pass them on. Thanks."

She slammed the door in his face and Sam stood there for a few seconds, stunned. He was unsure what to do for a moment. He took a breath and stuck his hand in his pocket, thinking Cindy was going to kill him for it, but he took out his lock pick and proceeded to open the door.

The room was dark and he could see a bundle of blankets strewn on the couch, obviously, where Gem had been curled up before he had disturbed her, but no Gem. He could hear water running in the bathroom.

"Gem?" Sam called out as he knocked on the bathroom door. There was no response. "Gem, are you okay?"

He could hear that she had turned up the water in the shower. From what Dean had said about when Alec had started to seize, it hadn't been a pretty sight. Maybe it wasn't a good idea for the girl to be alone right now.

"Gem, I think I know what is wrong; maybe I can help?" Sam offered, scanning the room to see if he could see a bottle of those supplements that he had been told about.

The water stopped and he could hear Gem coming to the door. She didn't open it "Why would you do that?"

Sam was a little surprised. She definitely wasn't right; why wouldn't she expect him to help? "You're my friend and that's what friends do – help each other when they need it."

She didn't answer, and he couldn't see any pills. 'Great. Where the hell could they be?' Sam thought as he walked over to the phone and picked it up.

Gem opened the bathroom door a crack. "You would do that? Help me?"

"Sure," Sam replied, trying to remember the number of anyone who could swing by with a bottle of those pills.

"You wouldn't claim or judge me, or anything?" She looked at him through the small gap "You wouldn't just help to brag about it later?"

Sam turned to face the door. 'Great, she wasn't making any sense; did that mean she was going to start seizing at any minute?' Sam thought, "Why would I do that?"

She took a step out of the room. "Some do. This is not my fault, not any of our faults, but some of your kind of try to… to take advantage."

He didn't know what to say. How fucked up was the place that the transgenics came from? "I just want to help, okay? Nothing more."

She hesitated for a second and bit her lip, before shaking her head,"No, you go – get out!"

"Gem?" he said as she slammed the bathroom door.

Aimee Winchester was a child on a mission – she had her objective, her mark, and a couple of strategies to get toward her goal (be cute first and then tantrum if need be). Yes, it was small, but she was two years old and you had to start somewhere.

Enemy forces were gone and so, if she played this smart, she would have a clear run. Mommy was out, so was Grandma and Grandpa (though he found it funny – said it just proved that she was her father's daughter). Joshua and Auntie Max both knew she was not allowed, and as for Daddy, he was an enemy when it came to this, except when he was dropping her off at Uncle Logan's to be watched, then he was an ally.

"Come on kid, eat!" Jo said as she tried to force the mash potato into Aimee's mouth without much luck.

Dean let out a laugh as Aimee slapped the spoon from Jo's hand, sending it to the floor.

Jo turned to Dean. "You're not helping."

"Hey, you were the one that volunteered to baby-sit, not me," Dean said as Aimee let out a little giggle.

"Okay, that is creepy," Jo said, turning from the grinning Aimee to Dean, "I swear, sometimes, it's like looking at a miniature version you in a dress."

"Definitely, can't pin the blame on me for her," Dean protested, "Anyway; remind me why you said to Molly that you'd look after her?"

"Molly said she wouldn't be long," Jo said, turning to the baby again. "I thought she'd be back by now."

"You said you'd take care of her kid for the whole morning – Molly said it herself, she's got a tonne of stuff to do," Dean said, trying to hide his amusement at Jo's lack of babysitting skills.

"Where's Sam?" Jo asked, hoping that someone else could take over, especially as Dean was refusing to help and John and Ellen were out.

"Don't know – been out since before Molly dropped Aimee off."

"Why won't she eat?" Jo asked as she got another spoon from the drawer.

"First, you've been at this for about half an hour – that gunk is cold – and second, you're treating her like she's a baby. She's two, that means she's got teeth and wants something better than tasteless mush, and she doesn't need someone to go aeroplane to make her open her mouth."

Jo's shoulders fell as Aimee gave her uncle a smile. She liked him, he was like Daddy; not that she'd ever mix them up, who could? Uncle Dean smelt different from Daddy. Uncle Dean's smell reminded Aimee of lots of different things like the ground in park after it rained, the seats in mommy's broom broom and it was a tiny bit like Grandpa's hands when he fixed Uncle Logan's 'beat up, put upon, should be taken out and buried if it gets shot up one more time' old van. Nope Uncle Dean's smell wasn't like Daddy's smell at all. Also, Uncle Dean wasn't as smart as Daddy was on some things, but that wasn't his fault, he was new and he could be trained.

Uncle Sammy, she wasn't sure of yet, sometimes he seemed nervous about her, like she was going to break when he picked her up, but, sometimes he didn't, grandma said he was the same with mommy when she was little. Aimee thought that him being nervous about her was silly, because she was a big girl now and it wasn't as if Joshua had any problems playing with her and he was bigger than Uncle Sammy and as for Auntie Jo, she was okay, Aimee supposed. Grandma liked her and she was being nicer to Grandpa now, but she still snapped at him now and again.

"How do you know what she wants?" Jo asked Dean.

"Who do you think fed Sam at that age?" Dean replied, "Think he would have starved if it wasn't for soggy cookies and mashed up cheeseburgers."

"So, what do I feed her?" Jo asked.

Dean shook his head. "No, I've done my time, and you said you'd look after her, not me."

Jo looked at him with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Oh, for crying out loud, how the hell did you think that you could survive a hunt on your own, Jo, if you get bested by a baby?" Dean asked.

Jo huffed. "Well, Mr Know-it-all, last time I checked the idea was to kill hell spawn, not to get it to be still while you change its diaper."

"There are some strange things out there so you can tell when diapering skills come in handy," Dean joked.

Jo glowered at Dean for a second as he headed to the fridge.

"Here try this," Dean said as he handed her a tub of leftovers, Aimee looked intently at it, though her little face fell when Jo presented her with the peas and carrots. It was close, but not what she wanted.

"Nope, no good. What else have you got?" Jo asked as Dean searched for something else. The phone rang in the other room.

"Here, try this," he said, randomly picking up another tub of leftovers and handing them to Jo.

Jo looked inside the tub as Dean went to get the phone. "You sure about this?"

"Yeah, it'll be fine. Heat it up and hope that she takes it," Dean replied.

Aimee grinned at her aunt.

Molly sighed as she got into the house; she hadn't gotten everything done she had needed to, but at least she had run one or two errands that morning. She and Eve arrived just in time to see Aimee greedily eating the last of the meal.

"Please don't tell me that was the last of Mom's chilli?" Molly asked as Jo gave the child the last spoonful.

Jo didn't know what to say. "It was the only thing that she'd take. Did I do something wrong? Is it going to make her sick or something?"

Aimee grinned at her mommy, swinging her little legs happily in the chair as Molly groaned.

"No, Jo, she'll be fine, but you just got played," Molly said, picking her daughter up and holding the small child at arm's length. "You, young lady, are so staying with Alec tonight, you hearing me?"

"Who is staying with me tonight?" Alec asked as he breezed into the house and immediately stuck his head in the refrigerator

As he looked up, Molly stuck Aimee in his arms and smiled. "She is!"

Alec looked at the little girl for a second and shrugged. "Fine. I'm okay with that, what about you, you happy to stay with me tonight?"

Aimee grinned as she nodded.

"Do, do we want Disney or a Dreamworks production tonight?" Alec asked her.

"But'fly!" Aimee yelled causing Alec to nod his agreement of his daughter's choice of Japanese monster flick.

"Okay, Mothra then, but no shouting 'zilla' at Uncle Mole again, okay?"

"I'll remind you that you agreed to this later, all right?" Molly said as she picked up the bags the five-year-old had brought.

"Thank God you two are back," Dean said as he came back into the room. "Sam's on the line; he's with Gem and she is acting funny, and he can't find those pills."

Alec straightened. "What do you mean 'she is acting funny'?"

"He says she ain't herself, you know? She's locked herself in the bathroom at Cindy's place and keeps either telling him to help her or get out," Dean said nervously. "Seriously, dude, he's not sure what the hell is going on, but he can't find those pills."

Alec swallowed as he handed the little girl to Jo. "Right."

"Alec," Molly said tentatively. "She's at Cindy's and… ehm…"

"Hi, Uncle Alec." Alec turned to see the small figure standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

"You got to be kidding me!" Alec said to Molly. "He isn't stupid enough to…"

"Did you explain it to him?" Molly asked.

Alec shook his head. "Nope. Did you?"

"Alec, you were supposed to tell them!" Molly rolled her eyes. "Now he's over there by himself and has no idea."

"It isn't that bad – it's a normal biological urge."

"And what happened to you and Biggs last time you two reacted to Syl's?"

"Okay, so we went a little too … and we did actually deserve to get thrown in the bay. It isn't like we made a move on her or anyone else that night. Syl's got a mate anyway, we knew that!"

"Right, but it didn't cross either of your minds at any point that you might want to try it on?"

"Technically, I wasn't thinking with my brain at that point."

"When do you?" Molly said, picking up a jacket. "Stay here and tell them!"

Alec huffed. "Why do I have to?"

"Just think of it as a dry run for someone else in a couple of years," Molly said, glancing in the direction of Aimee.

"No!" Alec shook his head. "We've talked about this; she's taking after you, and if not, then it ain't happening until she's thirty-five at least!"

"Alec, tell them, and by the way, Aimee's finished off Mom's chilli," Molly said, smiling as she started for the door.

Alec looked at his daughter and his face fell. "Moll, I'm coming with you, then," he announced. "You're not strong enough to get him out by yourself!"

"Like hell you are. Her landing him in hospital 'cause of what she might do to him I can explain, you killing him to get to her – I can't hide that from Dad," Molly said, pushing Alec back.

"Gem won't break him - she needs him fully functioning!" Alec said, defending himself. "And I wouldn't do anything; she isn't my mate."

"You're still not going!" Molly said as she prepared to leave the house. She looked at Alec for a second. "Think of it as staying here as payback for all the times you fed Aimee up with the stuff and dropped her off at Logan's."

"What the hell is going on?" Dean asked as Molly left the house.

"Aunt Molly is going to try and save Mr Sam," Eve announced. "But it won't work. Don't think Mom will let her, not if she's in her cycle thing, and he said he'd help; I don't know what with, but if he said he'd help then he has to help."

"What?" Jo asked, not sure what the child was saying. "Alec?"

Eve shook her head. "No, Auntie Jo, Uncle Alec's not allowed, 'cause he'll probably try and rip Mr Sam's head off - 'cause boys all want to help." The little girl looked up at Alec, as did Aimee, following her older friend's lead. "Why do boys fight to help with the cycle thing? What is the cycle thing anyway, because mommy goes away to Aunt Cindy's 'cause of it and never tells me why I have to stay with Auntie Molly."

Alec knotted his brow, scratching his head as every set of eyes fell on him. "Eve, sweetie I'm going to let your mom answer your questions when she gets back, all right?"

The little girl shrugged and wandered out of the kitchen, taking Aimee with her. Jo and Dean looked at Alec.

Alec turned to them. "Remind me to get that kid a really big Christmas present this year."

Dean peered at Alec. "What does she mean 'rip his head off'?"

"It's nothing personal – and I wouldn't rip his head off," Alec said, smirking. "Might get a little antsy, but definitely wouldn't rip his head off."

Sam sat with his back to the bathroom door; Gem was still inside. He could hear the water running again – she was having another shower even though the water must have been absolutely freezing by now. She had come out of the bathroom a couple of times before diving in there again. She had gone from shouting at him to go to begging him to stay. She accused him of just teasing her, had told him that he had to go for his sake because he wouldn't be strong enough to cope and she didn't want to hurt him, to asking if he was up for the challenge, all in the same breath.

All Sam knew for sure was that there was no way in hell he was leaving her alone until someone came who knew what was wrong with her.

He was so happy when the phone rang and it was Dean on the other end.

"Hey, bro, any word about getting those pills to me?" Sam asked. He could hear Dean clear his throat.

"Molly's on the way round to you now," Dean replied. "Sam, where exactly are you, and where is Gem?"

"She's in the shower again. Dude, she won't stay out of the bathroom – what if she goes into a fit or something?" Sam asked with more than a little concern to his voice. "I told her I'd help, but she doesn't seem to believe me."

Sam was sure he could hear a groan from someone standing near his brother. Dean just started sniggering. "You told her you would help?" he asked. "I bet you could."

Sam knotted his brow. 'Great,' he thought. 'Dean thinks this is funny.' "Dean, I'm worried about her."

Sam was sure he could hear scuffling for the phone. He closed his eyes. Why was it he got the feeling that Aimee was acting older than Dean and Alec combined?

"Will you give me that… don't you dare," Sam could hear Alec saying: he seemed to have gotten the phone. "I will kick your ass, you know that, don't you?… please, supersoldier here… no, that is none of your business… go help Jo… I'm not telling you if Max goes through it, and don't think about asking her… On second thoughts ask her and see what she says…I dare you…maybe she would kick your butt…no I am not setting you up…go help Jo…I will explain things to him…well I would if you let me… go help Jo and let me fill him in."

"Alec, is that you?" Sam asked the person on the other end of the phone.

"Sam, did you say that you'd help her?" Alec asked.

Sam was surprised. Why was Alec asking that? "Of course."

"Why the hell did you do that?" Alec replied. "You don't like her do you? 'Cause if you do, fine, but do you?"

"Alec, what are you talking about?" Sam was confused. What did his getting on with Gem have to do with this? Then, a slow realisation hit him about what Alec was asking. "Dude, please! There is something up with the girl."

"Can you pass her the phone?" Alec asked. "Just pass her the phone and get away from the door."

Gem heard the knock at the door, "Sam, please go away."

"Alec's on the line. He wants to talk to you."

She opened the door slowly, looking at Sam for a second, licking her lips and taking the phone from his hand; she slowly closed the bathroom door.

"Alec?" she said quietly.

"Gem, you okay?" Alec asked.

"Make him go away, please."

"Gem?"

She sank to the floor, phone in her hand, "He smells good Alec, so good."

"Okay I'll take your word on that," Alec replied.

"I'm a bad X-5; I'm a bad, bad X-5."

Alec sighed, "Oh boy, it's hitting you hard, isn't it?"

"Make him go away now or make him help me," Gem begged.

"Gem, you really don't get what your asking do you," Alec said though she didn't respond.

"Pop is going kill me for this," Alec said though Gem really wasn't listening.

After a few minutes she opened the door again and handed Sam the phone; however, this time she took a step out of the room, standing with her back against the bathroom door, watching Sam as he paced the floor as he talked to Alec, just like a cat watching a mouse.

"Right, I've talked to her. Why you couldn't have just left her when she told you to, I don't know, but now she's too far gone," Alec said to Sam, before he yelled something at someone in the room he was in – probably Dean – and Sam was sure that it sounded like, "No, it is not pimping him out."

"Too far gone?" Sam repeated.

Alec sighed. "Yeah, she was at Cindy's for some peace, to get through it without having to deal with anyone else, but you had to go screw that up and there is no telling what will happen now. I don't think Gem deals with it too well, but I'm not stupid enough to ask, and Molly is probably not going to be able to help keep her in.

"So, you come around," Sam said as Gem continued to watch him.

"You DON'T want that, trust me!" Alec said firmly. "Sam, you don't have a heart condition or anything, do you?"

'Okay, Alec was getting stupid now,' Sam thought. "No, but…"

"And you like the girl? You think of her as a friend, don't you?" Alec asked.

"Sure."

"Do you think she's pretty? Or that you could think that…?"

"Dude, what the…?" Sam asked almost yelling down the phone.

"She's in heat, you moron. You were stupid enough to get in the way of a female in heat and then tell her that you'd help her!" Alec said, cutting Sam off. "You are just lucky that you are still standing right now, or that there aren't any other guys around. So, unless you got some way of restraining her, you'll have to put your money where your mouth is and do what you told her you'd do. Because, if she ends up going out to the street to look for some action, I will personally make it my mission to kick your ass back to the time you came from; 'cause blood family or not, I care a damn sight more about her than you."

Sam looked over at Gem, who was breathing a little heavier. "Alec, you are not making any sense, and if you are so worried, then you come over here."

"For crying out loud, Sam, I told you she is in heat! So, you definitely don't want me around there."

"What?" Sam asked as Gem slowly moved toward him.

"Dogs, cats, people with DNA that isn't suppose to be there; are you getting me, or are you are as stupid as your brother is? Because I can't come around there to draw another set of diagrams."

"Dogs and cats?" Sam said.

"Yeah, dude Just take her lead, and if she gets too rough, tell her to slow down; she'll listen as long as she knows she'll get what she wants in the end."

"Dogs and cats?" Sam repeated, and Alec just sighed. "Alec, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Great, you guys don't do euphemisms too well, do you?" Alec asked rhetorically. "Okay, here it is – she has too much feline DNA, and now without the hormones they used to give us, it comes out. She wants to have some adult-rated variety fun. So, dude, good luck, 'cause you are about to get a ride that most ordinary guys can only dream about."

"You can't be serious!" Sam said to Alec while looking at Gem, who was slowly advancing.

"Oh yes, congratulations, you are about to experience one of the rarest things known to man as they didn't make a lot of those girls. Tell her I'll call off the troops, and I'll see you in a couple of days."

"You're joking, right?" Sam said.

"No, I'm not – you go have sex with the pretty girl and for God's sake don't bite her."

"Alec!" Sam yelled down the phone as Gem pulled it out of his hand.

Sam swallowed. "Gem, I…"

"You said you'd help," Gem said.

"You don't want this, really you don't want this. Well, you might, but not with me 'cause girls I like in that way tend to end up… well, its not good," Sam said, back-pedalling. Was it suddenly getting warm?

She frowned slightly. "You don't like me?"

"No, I like you, but it's just… you're my friend. I'm not saying that I couldn't like you like that, it's just… you're cute and sweet and all," Sam said. She was close enough for him to feel her breath on his skin.

"Friends are good, friends help out friends, don't they?" she replied. "Nothing weird if you don't want, just friends helping out friends."

"Yeah, but you could get hurt and I don't want that, Gem. Last thing I want is you to get hurt, and you're not yourself."

She smiled. "You won't hurt me, and as for not being myself, I'm more myself than I've been in a long time."

She kissed him; it took, a lot longer than it would if he was an X series, but the pheromones she was giving off were starting to get to him as he kissed her back.

Alec shook his head as he got off the phone with Molly who had been halfway there when he'd called her; she wasn't exactly happy about it, but there was little else she could say.

Dean came scuttling back into the living room away from where Jo was trying to change Aimee's diaper. "That ain't natural!"

"Can someone help me, please?" Jo yelled. "It just won't stop."

Alec rolled his eyes. There was a good reason that they tried to keep Aimee away from anything spicy - it didn't seem to make the child sick, in fact she loved the stuff, but thanks to the hyped up metabolism she'd inherited from her father, it was just that it didn't seem to stay in her for too long.

Dean took a step away from the room that Jo was in. "You fed it to her, you clean her up!"

Cindy threw the door open and stormed inside the house, closely followed by Max.

"If they break anything, I'm blaming you!" she said.

Dean gave her an innocent look. "What did I do?"

"I'm telling you that if anything in my home ain't the way it was before, you're paying for it," Cindy said pointing straight at Dean.

"Who's paying for what?" Alec asked as he came into the room. Jo sniggered.

"I don't care which one of the two of you it is, but one of you two is paying," Cindy said, throwing down her coat.

"Don't you have insurance?" Jo asked causing all of the others to look at her.

"Where do you think you are, girl?" Cindy asked.

Max gave a little smile. "Anyway, what would she put on the form?"

"Don't think heat-addled transgenic would cut it, then?" Alec said with a smile on his face.

"Well, you could always stop giving the girls a place to stay when it hits," Molly said to Cindy.

"You're the one running the babysitting service next door," Cindy replied as Max held back the giggles. "Don't, Max, don't you dare – I know who was responsible for my coffee table and my window last time you got an itch."

Max looked at her friend, as did Alec, as Cindy continued. "Oh yeah, I know all about the little 'don't you get any ideas'and'we're only doing this 'cause it's an emergency and we need to get our heads straight' arrangement that some people got going on, and that Logan knows all about."

"Logan knows?" Max asked.

"Sweetie, Normal knows, and you know how quick on the uptake that man is," Cindy replied. "Logan ain't stupid, Boo, hell, none of us are. We all know what's been going down."

Alec swallowed. "I think Little Mole needs changing."

"Oh yeah, run! But this ain't over!" Cindy said as Alec left the room.

"You know you're free to stay at mine till they're done," Molly said.

Cindy slumped into one of the armchairs. "Three days on your excuse of a couch, no thanks. I've got a sister or two that will put me up for the duration."

Dean knotted his brow. "Three days?"

"It won't be that long," Max replied.

Molly looked at her friends. "You sure of that?"

"Yeah, Boo, do you know when that girl last let her inner kitty cat get scratched?" Cindy asked.

"Hell, I don't know," Max replied.

"Hope she'd let him get some sleep," Molly added. "She'll let him sleep, won't she?"

"She ain't got any of Jaws' DNA in her?" Cindy asked.

Max shrugged. "I'm not sure; I don't think she has any shark."

"You guys aren't saying that she expects him to last three days?" Dean asked cagily.

"You can't mean that it'll last for three whole days?" Jo asked, not sure if she could believe what she was hearing.

"What lasts three days?" John asked as he and Ellen walked into the house.

Alec coughed as he stood in the doorway at the other end of the living room, bouncing Aimee. "Well, it's kind of like this – Sam, he won't be around for a while."

"He got in the way of Gem," Molly added, "… in heat."

"And he didn't know?" Ellen asked.

Alec shook his head. "No ma'am. I was planning on getting around to telling them."

John opened his mouth to speak but was abruptly cut off by his wife.

"Don't you say a word, John Winchester."

"I wasn't going to say anything," John lied.

Ellen looked at Alec. "Is he going to be all right?"

"Well, I think so. I think he got the gist of the situation when I tried to explain it over the phone to him."

"Yeah, Sam was always quick on the uptake, but if he didn't I'm sure she'll show him what to do," Dean said with a small smirk on his face.

"This isn't funny, boy," Ellen said before turning to her husband.

"What do you want me to do?" John asked. "I'm sure if he wanted out of it someone would be over there right now."

"Oh, sure they would. What if it was the males that went through it? What if it had been one of the girls that had walked into something like this?" Ellen said to her husband, trying to make her point.

John knotted his brow. "In a round about way it did, remember?"

Aimee let out a little gurgle, making herself known.

"You wouldn't let me shoot him!" John reminded his wife as Alec looked at the floor.