"Butterfly bandages should be enough to close that up. No stitches this time," Dean tells Lizzy while she's lies on her stomach across their bed in the motel room and Dean inspects the damage. The second they got back he was a hovering annoyance just like every time she got hurt. He was on her immediately, trying to poke and prod and be just plain helpful (all the while being too damn much if one were to ask Lizzy) when she had to remind him that he can't help out. The no touching rule is still in effect.

"Whoo hoo!" Lizzy cheers, happy to avoid having to go through getting sewn back up yet again.

"Although, I think your jeans are officially done for," Dean tells her, holding up her pants that had been on the floor for her to see the decent sized tear in the fabric of the leg that's surrounded by a good amount of blood.

"Well shit, I'll just have to go shopping and replace them," Lizzy jests as her eyes light up. As non-girly as she usually is, she still had her super girly things about her, like her love of going shopping. It used to be something she and Lou would do now and then when they had a successful night hustling pool or making a killing playing poker. They also did it to keep themselves tied into the real world as shopping was a normal thing that normal people did with their free time.

"Not with my cash you ain't," Dean seriously warns, remembering the last time she went out shopping. Before she left she lifted some cash from his wallet as she had been low at the time. Lizzy paid him back quickly of course but it was the principal of the thing really. "No cleaning me out this time. You're gonna have to earn some dough on your own first."

"Then I'll be sure to scope out a good street corner the next time we roll through town." Lizzy grins to Dean as he rolls his eyes at her joke. She turns toward Sam that's sitting to her side on the floor, working on her arm. "Hey Sam, you want dibs on my first customer? I'll give you the friend discount."

"You're ridiculous," Sam mutters as he sits on the carpet off to the side of the bed and pulls another tiny shard of glass from her skin with tweezers. She had landed hard on some of the shattered window pieces and her right arm is pretty cut up. The cuts are small however and Sam really has to focus to find all the little pieces. They needed to be cleared out before he can bandage her up.

"C'mon," Lizzy keeps going while swatting Sam's arm playfully. "I'll even guarantee a good time or your money back."

Sam allows himself to look up at her for a quick second, catching the glint in her eyes as she jokes around with him and instantly pulls his focus back to her injured arm. It was bad enough that she was only wearing her underwear from the waist down. Now she's joking about sleeping with him. If it weren't for the latex gloves he found in her medical supplies acting as a barrier, she'd definitely be feeling his attraction to her right now. Damn, he's got to figure this out. Maybe he should just suck it up and tell her. Lizzy is an excellent problem solver and would no doubt keep this from Dean if he asked her to… but then the embarrassment and awkwardness afterwards might kill him.

"L, never make that guarantee," Dean says to her. "Anybody could claim that you sucked and could get their cash back after services rendered. That's just bad business."

"But if I sucked… wouldn't that be a good thing?" Lizzy rebuts quickly while laughing.

"Hold still," Sam very seriously directs to her as her laughing shook her arm and made his job tougher.

Lizzy looks over to Dean and makes a face, letting him know she thought Sam was acting a bit off and being quite petulant.

"Loosen up, Sam-I-Am," Lizzy tells him. "I'm just messing with you."

"When are you not?" Sam quietly remarks, the statement having a much different meaning to him than it does to her.

"Dude, lighten up," Dean tells his brother while tossing a box of butterfly bandages onto the bed for him. "We had a good night for once. The good guys won so be happy."

"And Nathan's safe now," Lizzy adds with a huge smile. "Added bonus."

"I'm saying," Dean smiles back.

"I'm not in a bad mood," Sam defends himself while going after the last piece of glass he could find. "Just concentrating."

"Yeah, that's all it is," Lizzy sarcastically remarks.

"Hey, don't bite the hand that patches you up," Sam fires back with a hint of levity. "And I'm done digging."

"Nice," Lizzy happily says while getting up and grabbing the now almost empty Jack Daniels bottle off of the table before heading to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror she sees the many small cuts in her arm. "Fuck. So not cool."

"How you keep avoiding fucking up your left arm, I'll never understand," Dean comments. Every time she's gotten a potentially scarring injury on an arm it's always her right which is excellent considering the very important and coveted artwork covering her left.

"No shit, huh?" Lizzy answers as she unscrews the bottle cap. "One for me," she says while taking a swig. "One for you," she tells her arm while dousing the cuts to sterilize them.

"Need help with the leg?" Dean asks as he watches her easily lift her leg high and place her foot into the sink.

"Nah," Lizzy answers as she kills the bottle when she pours the remaining booze down the back of her leg. "What about your arm, Sam? You need that stitched or anything?"

"Nah, I think I'm good," Sam answers, already having assessed his own slice. "As soon as I patch you for good we need to get the hell outta here," Sam says as Lizzy emerges from the bathroom. "I'd like to grab some sleep tonight after checking out the shop."

"What's with you and sleep lately?" Dean asks with concern. "You slept late today, which you never do, and you want to make sure you get another solid night in? Since when was rest a priority for you, Sammy?"

Sam sighs as really he's trying to avoid Lizzy. When he's asleep he doesn't run the risk of feeling too much for her and letting her know while her whole emotional state is going haywire. Sleep is safe.

"Since I've been exhausted lately," Sam lies. "Maybe I'm getting sick or something."

"That's not good," Lizzy comments while walking towards him as he sits at the edge of the bed she was just lying across.

"Great," Sam complains as she eyes him over carefully. "Now I'm gonna have mom watching me like a fucking hawk. Never shoulda said a thing."

"Oh, I'm so sorry that you have someone in your life that loves you so much, Sam," Lizzy exaggeratedly tells him with clear annoyance in her voice as she presses the back of her hand to his forehead. "If I didn't worry and force you to take care of yourself the little bit that you actually do, you'd be dead by now, I swear."

"No touching, remember?" Sam says to her while pushing her hand away.

"Yeah, no touching Dean," she reminds him. "I can still touch you Sammy Boy…" Lizzy slyly says while running her hand through his hair and winking.

"Lizzy, would you please let me finish patching you up so we can go?" Sam asks in as kind a voice as he can manage while his anxiety of her getting any kind of inappropriate emotion from him dominates his thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah," Lizzy rolls her eyes and flops back onto the bed stomach down. "At least you don't feel warm."

Sam takes out a couple butterfly bandages and sets to work on her leg, all the while once more willing himself to not stare at her scantily clad ass or linger too long on her smooth, long legs.

"Hey," Dean whispers to get the attention of his currently breaking and entering companions. "What do you get when you stick your hand up a gypsy's skirt during the wrong time of the month?"

"Really?" Lizzy complains as she aims her flashlight's beam at the door while Sam works on getting the lock open.

"You get you're palm red, ha," Dean laughs to himself while Lizzy just shakes her head. "Oh, come on! You were laughing you ass off before at Nathan's lame jokes."

"His were better," Lizzy remarks.

"Please, you have to admit. That was pretty good."

"Just hilarious," Sam mutters mid-pick before hearing the lock click open. He stands up from his kneeling position and takes his gun out from behind his back. Lizzy hands him the second flashlight she had tucked under her arm. Shining the light ahead of him, Sam pushes the rear entrance of the gypsy shop open slowly and takes a couple cautious steps inside, Lizzy and Dean hot on his heels.

All three slowly make their way into the store's back room with handguns trained ahead of them. Sam silently slinks into the front of the shop while Lizzy and Dean check out the storage area.

"What the fuck?" Dean quietly says while scanning the shelving and old cupboards. "Where is everything?"

"I don't know," Lizzy comments with sheer confusion. The entire back room is completely empty. Not an herb nor an occult item to be found, just bare wooden shelves, barren cupboards with doors wide open, and a few empty glass jars. "Where did she get the crap she sold us if the stockroom had nothing in it?"

"It wasn't empty earlier today," Sam informs them in a normal volume voice as he rejoins them in the back of the store. He holds up a 'for rent' sign for them both to see. "The gypsy must have cleared the place out after we left. This was in the front window. She ditched."

"What!?" Lizzy wonders with panic. "Why would she do that!?"

"She's a fucking gypsy," Dean remarks. "Who knows."

"How am I gonna get this curse off me then?" Lizzy asks with worry. She can't stay this way and talking to the old woman was really all they had going for them.

"We'll have to find another way," Dean explains, knowing they've done this tons of times before. They've become quite adept at finding a plan B. "Start searching. Maybe she forgot something that can help us."

"Son of a bitch," Lizzy mutters to herself as she begins searching the cabinets and drawers.

"I think you say that more than I do now," Dean remarks with a stone face as he joins her and Sam head out to the front of the store to rummage around there. It's quiet for a long while, the only sound being that of the hunters moving around the store. After a good amount of time, all three come up empty handed.

"Awesome," Dean's exasperates. At this point, the answer to their problem is constantly looking further and further away.

"Fuck this," Lizzy says with ire as she closes her eyes tight. "Dear ol' Castiel, who art somewhere in the universe doing God only knows what, please get your cute little feathery butt down here and help me."

Silence and quiet.

"Where is he?" Sam asks when the angel doesn't show.

"Really far. Usually I wouldn't even be able to feel him he's so far right now," she answers with a concentrated expression. "Cassie, I really need you. Please?" She says it with love, using her childhood name for him.

"He can't find us, remember? Rib carv…" Sam reminds Lizzy at the exact time that Castiel pops into the room.

"What do you need?" Castiel asks her, instantly standing by her side.

"Help," she exasperatedly says to him. "I've been cursed."

"Cursed?" Castiel asks with shock. "How did that happen?"

"Gypsy."

"You're lack of good luck astounds me quite often, Elizabeth," Castiel complains with her basic explanation.

"You and I both," Lizzy huffs. "You know how I have, like, a link to Dean?"

"I am well aware."

"Well, the gypsy screwed with it," she informs him. "I can feel everyone around me now, and if Dean touches me I get sucked into his emotional state. It's like I can feel Dean's greatest hits. It blows."

"Then I suggest you do not make physical contact with him for the time being," Castiel advises strongly.

"Yeah, we've figured that much," Dean responds.

"I am being very serious," Castiel reiterates, knowing the intensity of their physical relationship. "You really should not have any kind of corporeal manner of relations…"

"Yeah, no sex, we know," Dean loudly and grumpily makes plain for the angel

"We're thinking that we need to talk to the gypsy that did this to me," Lizzy further clues him in.
"But she skipped town before we could. She'd definitely know how to break this thing… we kinda need her."

"I assume the same." Castiel pauses and stares vacantly off into the distance for a quick few seconds. "She cannot be found."

"Can't be found, as in you can't find her?" Sam questions tensely.

"Exactly," Castiel confirms. "She's hidden from me."

"How is that possible?" Dean wonders aloud.

"I cannot be sure, but she's well covered from my scope of sight. Much like you three are. A gypsy that powerful most likely remains cloaked at all times."

"Wait a minute… how did you find me?" Lizzy asks quickly when something dawns on her. "If you did the whole rib carving thing to me then you shouldn't have been able to know where I was."

"Then why did you pray for me if you knew this?" Castiel flips the conversation.

"Habit," Lizzy brushes aside. "I'm used to being able to call out to you whenever I need you. I've done that a few times before remembering it's not supposed to work anymore. Seriously though, how did you find me?"

"I guess our link to each other overpowers the carvings with this curse," Castiel tries to rationalize. "I can feel you still. If I follow that feeling I can get to you still."

"That'll probably come in handy," Dean comments.

"I believe it will," Castiel agrees. "I have to say I am a bit bothered by the power this gypsy holds. She has to have great knowledge and ability to override an angel's doing. If you do find her, be very careful around her. Please let me know what you find and if you need assistance." He looks at Lizzy with a more serious than usual expression. "I expect to be updated frequently." And he's gone.

"Head back and call Bobby then?" Sam asks the obvious.

"As per usual," Dean returns.

"This fucking sucks," Lizzy complains while angrily stomping out the back door.

"What do ya' mean she's gone?" Bobby asks loudly over the speaker of Sam's cell phone.

"We mean the gypsy hauled ass outta town," Sam repeats. The three hunters are all sitting or standing around the small table in the motel room while Sam's phone sits in the middle of it on speaker mode. "Store was completely empty when we got there, no sign of her."

"That's just weird," Bobby says without surprise. "And really suspicious."

"Damn straight," Lizzy returns. "Cas thinks so too. You and Sam were right; my link with him is sharper too. Also, he's thinking that this gypsy is super juiced up because she's off his radar. He couldn't help us find her."

"Shit, shit, and more shit," Bobby complains.

"What else is new," adds Dean

"Well at least I got a little somethin' on my end," Bobby tries to find a bright side for Lizzy's sake. "I looked into that voice recording Sam sent me of what the gypsy said to curse Liz. I think I cracked it too. It's Romanian just like I thought and you were very close Sam, just a little off. I think what she said was Vă veţi simţi toate altii simt, extinderii cadoul dvs."

"Know-it-all," Sam quips at Bobby's correction of him.

"Directly translated, it means 'you will feel what all others feel, extending your gift'."

"Sounds about right for what it's done," Dean remarks. "So you ever broken a gypsy curse before?"

"No, can't say that I have," Bobby says sadly. "Broken tons of witch curses, but never a gypsy. I try to steer clear from their kind if I can."

"So will I from now on!" Lizzy quickly says, knowing that she'll never deal with another gypsy ever again if she can help it.

"Wait a minute," Dean loudly interrupts. "Bobby, you're the one who sent us there! If you hate gypsies, why would you do that?"

"Only place for miles and miles that had what you needed," Bobby simply and all too easily explains. "Gotta do what ya' gotta do, right?"

"Oh what the f…" Dean starts.

"It's fine!" Lizzy stops him from complaining or further insulting their go-to guy. As fucked as she is with this curse, it certainly wasn't Bobby's fault. He was just doing his best to help them. "I'll be fine until we figure this out, and we will figure this out fast! I can't deal with the ridiculous waves of emotions hammering me, especially from you two. You know, some pretty hefty sessions with a therapist might do you disasters some good."

"Bite me," Sam and Dean say to her in unison.

"Maybe not…" Lizzy jests.

"So what's the next step on our end you think, Bobby?" Sam asks.

"I say you somehow figure out where this gypsy is," Bobby tells him.

"She's not gonna help us," Dean rebuts with animosity. "She put this curse on L for some reason unknown to us. Why would she want to help take it off?"

"Because she never hated me," Lizzy answers. "She didn't like you and Sam, but she liked me. Maybe she won't be against helping me."

"Doubt it…" Dean says, still sure that the old woman would be less than friendly to them if they were to find her.

"No, Lizzy, you might be on to something there," Sam says while turning to Lizzy. "She was always nice to you until she booted us outta there, right?"

"Yeah," Lizzy answers, a look of curiosity being sent Sam's way.

"So what if this isn't about you then," Sam says while his brain flies a mile a minute. "What if it's about us?"

"What do ya' mean?" Bobby questions, not completely following Sam's logic.

"I'm not sure why, but maybe she wants Lizzy to figure something out about us," Sam says with trepidation. "Like to protect her from us or something."

"We'll call that a scary working theory," Dean says to his brother. He's highly uncomfortable with that idea.

"It's a pretty good one," Lizzy admits. "I can see that as being the case, especially with how concerned she was. She really wanted to warn me about Sam especially."

"What do you mean?" Dean quickly questions with a wrinkled brow.

"Well…" Sam starts, sending Lizzy a look that tells her he's going to spill what the gypsy said. Knowing he has to, Lizzy just sighs in preparation. "Remember when the gypsy told Lizzy someone she knows will try to kill her?"

"What!?" Bobby shouts. "When did she say that!?"

"During the tarot reading from hell," Lizzy succinctly explains. "She told me someone close to me, that I love, will try to kill me but be unsuccessful. Then the next time I went in with Sam she kinda alluded to the fact that it would be him."

"When were you two gonna tell me this!?" Dean shouts out in sudden anger.

"Once we figured out my emotional thing," Lizzy calmly tells him, hoping to lower his alarm. "One problem at a time, just like you always say."

Dean sighs but keeps his mouth shut. He's pissed of course, but she was using his own tactic of dealing with issues. How could he be mad at that?

"Well fuck, kids," Bobby laments. "You really know how to find nasty trouble, don't cha?"

"We've gone pro at it," Lizzy returns.

"So basically, we're at a dead end right now," Bobby tells them. "I can try and dig up some curse cure that will work for this one but it ain't gonna be easy. I'll also call up some hunters that might have dealt with this kinda thing before. You guys get on figurin' out where this bitch is right now so that we can track her down and hopefully get her help, whether it's forced help or not."

"Will do," Sam answers back, his mind already turning with ways to locate the gypsy.

"Call me with any changes," Bobby adds on. "And don't be stupid, huh?"

Once the call was ended, Dean looks at the concern on Lizzy's face. He reaches out to grab her hand, his usual way to show his support silently, but stops short. No touching, right….

"Um, is there any way you guys could leave me here for a little while?" Sam pipes up. "Just for, like, an hour?"

"Why?" Dean wonders with heavy suspicion.

"I want to do some research," Sam lies completely while acting as casually as he can. "Without distraction. We're in a time crunch and I think I might be able to locate her if you give me some time to work on it alone."

"That's weird," Lizzy tells Sam, eyes narrowed in his direction.

"You two being around doesn't make research very easy," Sam explains, this being the honest truth. "TV on, always talking or bickering or playing music too loud. Or flirting and making me wanna hurl onto my laptop. All I'm asking for is an hour, two tops."

Exchanging looks of cynicism, Lizzy and Dean both return their focus to Sam.

"Fine, Mysterioso," Dean tells him. "I think you're lying, but fine."

"Dean…" Sam tries to justify himself.

"No, I said it's fine," Dean answers, his mistrust taking over as he grabs his keys and jacket. "You do what you gotta do, Sam. And if you're gonna act stupid, don't let me know about it." He marches out the door and toward the Impala with clear anger. Their rift is still wide and deep, and Dean still quite obviously doesn't know how to handle it. Sam looks to Lizzy to see if she's just as leery and he can see in her eyes, as much as she tries to hide it, that she is.

"This isn't what we're thinking is it, right?" Lizzy wonders to Sam as she makes it clear that she and Dean are both thinking he's about to do something bad, like demon bad, like demon blood bad.

"No," Sam promises truthfully. "You know I've learned from my mistakes, Lizzy."

Lizzy just nods her response, grabs her coat, and leaves. She's just as concerned as Dean and leaving felt wrong, but if they were to ever build up trust in Sam again they had to give him a chance to prove himself. She just hopes that when they get back Sam is still there and still him.