A/N Sorry about the updates, it has been a killer semester in college. On a side note, I graduate in two weeks :) This chapter is a bit slow, I know I keep saying it's going to pick up and it will, I just want to cover my bases and build on Asher and the relationships in the story. Thank you for reading, enjoy :)

The drive to Geneva, Nebraska was long and tedious. The fact that Asher didn't want to sleep again didn't help. She willed herself to stay awake and jumped at the opportunity of a rest stop. Asher took a moment to stretch her legs while Dean went inside to grab snacks. Watching him walk in she turned her phone on, disappointed that Sam hadn't called. Whatever was going on between him and Dean was obviously big. She bit her lip, glancing at the store one more time. Dean was still browsing. Asher walked slowly out of sight hit the speed dial for Sam. The phone rang five times and went to voicemail.

She sighed as the automated service rattled off instructions to leave a voicemail.

"Sam…" Asher started, not knowing what to say suddenly, "Look… I don't know what's going on with you and Dean but we have a problem and I… I don't think Dean is on his game. We need help. Call me back please…"

She shoved her phone back into her pocket and went to round the corner when she ran right into Dean. Asher stumbled backward and mumbled a quick apology before trying to go around him but he stopped her.

"You ok?" He asked.

"You know, you keep asking me that but maybe you should ask yourself that." She replied pushing past him.

"Point taken…" Dean replied. He waited a moment to let her ahead of him before heading back.

A lead on a man who had had an unfortunate encounter with a burning bush led them to a hospital in Geneva. Dean and Cas went inside while Asher decided to wait in the lobby. She sat watching an episode of a show called "Oprah." People were getting excited over strange kitchen utensils and it confused her. The fact that she hadn't watched a lot of tv didn't help, mostly she had worked on cars or watched a few movies back at home. The words "burning bush" caught her attention. She leaned back and looked over at the man standing at the counter, talking in a hushed manner to the secretary.

"The man is unstable, he seems to think this bush was talking to him before it supposedly set fire." The man paused briefly, "'Sol Voch Tay' I think he said?"

The lady behind the counter stifled a laugh and the man smiled at her. Obviously trying to impress her with whatever position he had going for him.

Asher leaned forward as he changed the subject and racked her brain, it felt as if she had heard it before. A pain lit through her mind suddenly and she remembered Samandriel's words… the same words the guy had just said. She rubbed her forehead in small circular movements.

"Obey…" She whispered to herself, not knowing how she knew that.

"Yes it's Enochian…" Castiel said suddenly next to her. She almost jumped out of her skin.

"Jesus… why do you do that?" Asher asked as Dean came up next to him.

"Do what?" Cas asked curiously.

"Sneak up like that…" She replied standing. "Find what you were looking for?"

"Eh… Kind of. Apparently Alfie manifested enough pain to create an exploding bush."

"So I heard, Sol Voch Tay."

Dean looked at her funny, unsure of how she had figured that out.

"Guy at the counter, I think he's the shrink. Not a very nice one…" Asher looked displeased and squinted at the counter again where the man was now in full flirt mode.

Dean traced her gaze and shrugged. "So where do we start?" he asked.

"I don't know…" Castiel replied seriously, "But we have to find him before it's too late."

"Okay. Okay, well, look, a sign like that – Alfie can't be too far, right? So we'll just start at the bush and work our way out."

Asher glanced back at Dean and shoved her hands in her pockets, looking slightly spent from a lack of sleep. Furrowing her brow she thought hard again, trying to get a feel for Samandriel. The same pain flashed through her and she winced, regretting her decision. "It's somewhere dark..." She replied vaguely, rubbing her temples now.

"Well that's a lot of help." Dean replied. "What are you psychic now?"

"No. Just the feeling I got in my dream. " She replied scowling.

"Well…" Castiel sighed, slightly defeated, "It's a start."

"Well, if I know Crowley, the place will be swarming with demons, so we'll just drive till we see ugly." Dean stated heading for the door, Asher and Castiel in tow.

The Impala sat outside a compound, three men stood around a barrel with fire in broad daylight.

"Wow, will you look at that? Our ninth abandoned factory. Ain't that America? Hey, what do you say, this doesn't pan out, we head back to that beer-and-bacon happy hour about a mile back, huh?" Dean said, feeling the dead ends piling up quick.

Asher leaned forward, resting her forearms on the back of the front seat. She squinted at the factory that laid out before them. An uneasy feeling came over her, mixing in with her lack of sleep.

"Wait a minute, Dean. Those derelicts, they're demons. I can see their true faces." Castiel spoke up.

Dean grabbed a pair of binoculars in the car and began to survey the area. Sure enough there were men stationed all over the property. "Crowley's got that many hell monkeys outside, he's got to have at least double inside."

"And angel warding. I can feel it." Castiel said sitting back.

"Sounds like a party." Asher said, a slight excitement stirred inside of her.

"Calm down Happy, doesn't look like we are going in today." Dean replied.

"I'll get Sam." Castiel replied, confident in his solution.

"No we don't need Sam." Dean said gruffly, shifting in his seat uncomfortably.

"We could use Sam…" Asher replied mischievously, a smile creeping across her tired expression.

"You're getting too excited here…" Dean said, his expression glazed over but steady. "Look, if Sam wanted in, he'd be here, okay? I got a better idea."

Asher shot a quick glance at Castiel and shrugged, sitting back in the seat once more.

They arrived at a boat dock later that day, a boat named "Fizzles' Folly" was anchored to a pole. It creaked and groaned with every shift in the water. Squinting in the sunlight Asher walked past Dean, shooting him a sideways glance.

"This was your other idea?" she asked, sarcasm lacing her words.

"You haven't even seen what's inside." He replied briskly walking past her and climbing on board. He extended a hand out to help her up which she took, knowing she wasn't the most graceful. He pulled her up, making sure she was steady before letting go and Cas followed. They went down to the hold, rapping a few knocks on the door before Dean opened it.

Asher stepped inside of the cabin carefully, supporting herself on the frame. A teenage boy sat at the table hunched over a series of books and scattered papers. Her eyes rested on a stone tablet that was carefully tucked under his forearm while he scribbled furiously on a piece of paper. The same scribbled papers were coating the walls in a disorderly fashion.

"Slow read?" Dean asked breaking the silence with a smirk. It suddenly dawned on Asher that this was the boy they had gone to find and the stone piece was the demon tablet.

"The slowest…" The boy replied turning briefly to look at Dean.

"Where's Garth?" Dean asked shuffling around the room a bit, inspecting the papers.

"Supply run?" The boy replied ruefully.

"Garth is around?" Asher asked confused, she hadn't heard from him since before the fire.

"You know Garth?" the boy asked turning toward her.

She grimaced, "Asher," she replied holding out her hand to the boy. He took it softly and gave it a small shake. "Kevin."

"I've known Garth for a few years actually…" She murmured sizing the boy up. "Kind of the reason I'm stuck in the position I'm in now." She said with a grin as she looked towards Dean.

"Tell me about it." He said nodding towards the tablet. The boys continued to talk amongst themselves as Asher walked around, she stopped at an image on the wall and ran her hand over it. It looked familiar to her but she couldn't place it. She closed her hand, lost in thought as she glossed her memory for the symbol.

"Ash?" Dean had asked, apparently for a second of third time from the expression on his face when she finally turned to look at him.

"Yeah?" She asked quietly, her fingers rubbing the charcoal that had come off onto them.

"Cas is going on a supply run for some demon bombs." He said casually.

"Yeah sounds good…" She trailed off, her mind was too tired to compute. After a bit of pacing from Dean and Kevin trying desperately to ignore him, Asher found herself sitting on the floor in the corner of the room. Her lids were growing heavy but she didn't want to go to sleep, fear of what she could see or hear still loomed in the back of her mind. Desperately she fought but ended up failing, her head leaning against the wall, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms draped haphazardly around them.