AN: Sorry for the lateness of this update :(


.55.

Lilly continues to stare at the stairs contemplating Mae and Sam's relationship when a throat is cleared from behind her. She turns slowly, giving Dean her most charming smile. "Hi, you should go sleep too… maybe take a shower." She says gently as she pulls her guitar off her back laying it gently on the sofa. "I have stuff to go do."

Dean quirked his brow looking down at the petite girl with a 'are you serious' look. "Yeah, I don't think so. We're talkin' bout this."

Lilly closes her eyes as she takes in a deliberate breath, calming herself before she turned to look at him. "I think sleep is more important." She suggests gently, trying to put off the conversation for later.

"No. I can sleep later." Dean disagrees walking over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder feeling his heart drop at her flinch. "Lilly I swear to god, I'm not going to hurt you. I'd leave the room before I ever hurt you again." He promises her, honesty ringing in his words and reflecting in his eyes.

"Mae's out of commission… I don't know if now's a good time." Lilly argues ignoring his declaration, not trusting it. Not wanting to hurt him that way. It was shocking enough Bobby could restrain himself. She knew how difficult it was to be around her, had just watched a video of it.

"Lilly…" He starts his voice husky with unspoken, pent up emotion realizing not for the first time how broken the girl in front of him was. "I won't, I promise. I'm working on my… endurance."

"Look Dean, I-" feel uncomfortable near you and would rather volunteer to go another round with Sam sans-Mae than be alone with you...Why would I prefer that? Gods what's wrong with me? "I don't know how I feel about that. I don't know how I feel period. Don't you have better tree's to go bark up? Like one's that don't need warning signs… Or that are, I don't know interested. I have to go check on dinner." Lilly dismisses with a glare as she pushes his hand off and heads back to the kitchen.

Dean knits his eyebrows together confused by the convoluted mess that just poured out of her mouth. What the hell is the matter with her? Well shelving that for later food for thought. What's more concerning: Lilly's lying or why? He wonders, feeling hurt by her words. Well more offended than anything, he takes a moment to think about the current situation before he follows her.

"Smells delicious." He says walking into the kitchen. "But we weren't done."

"Felt pretty done." Lilly says with an accompanying eye roll.

"Well we didn't even scratch the surface. The fact that you had us a wild goose chase for your sister and then my brother. You knew where they were, why didn't you call."

"Cause Mae needed undisturbed rest. She's a light sleeper and well, Bobby for all his sluethy-ness, well he kinda walks like an elephant." Lilly shrugs stirring a pot and pouring more water into their electric kettle.

"Ok, I can see that being a valid concern. But, eight hours? That's a bit extreme."

"Is it?" She asks tilting her head to the side in contemplation. "Extreme like Mae having a seizure because of some simple tests? That type of extreme?" She deadpans, before she walks over to the stove. She kicks over the step stool and steps onto it before turning her attention the the stock pot of stew.

Dean drags his hands slowly down his face, reminding himself that she would not be amused if he chuckled at her need for the stool. "We didn't know Lilly. I'm sorry. If I had known that was gonna happen to her, I wouldn't have asked for her help."

Lilly lets out a deep sigh. "Yeah, I gathered that." She huffs, as she wipes at her eyes in annoyance. "Sorry I needed time to process. It's hard with Mae. It's harder with you three cause well, honestly I'm not the best with-. verbalizing things." She admits hesitantly.

"Yeah, me either. Sammy now, he's a talker. When he's around I don't have to worry about the people that can't be charmed." Dean says with a smirk.

"Mae's the same, she just does the talking. I tend to put my foot in my mouth a lot. She may not be a mind-reader but for me she's pretty damn close."

"Yeah, I teased her about being a lie detector the other day. I swear she'd be useful on a hunt with that freaky empath thing." He goes on, almost absently.

"It's not freaky." Lilly snaps glaring at him venomously.

Dean looks at her in shock for a moment. "Wait. Sorry, that came out wrong. See, I chew on my tasty ass feet a lot too."

"Fine, it's just… she's sensitive about it. If she ever heard ya say that it would tear her to pieces. She cares about you guys, a lot." Lilly snaps at him.

"And I promise hurtin' her is the last thing I want. I care about her. Both of you. I never wanted either of ya to get hurt. You do believe at least that much about me, right?"

Lilly bites her lip in thought for a moment but nods her head. "I believe you."

"Thank you. You'll never know how much that actually means to me." Dean admits somberly.

"Uh… so yeah. I need to get started on the bread bowls."

Dean clears his throat, "Uh, well, awesome. Do you need any help? And stop worrying about it. You and I are okay on that end, now that I understand a bit more."

"Yes actually." Lilly says looking over the man appraisingly "It would be super helpful if you slept."

Dean smolders at her, "Well, you take all the fun out of this, don't you."

"Well Mae's sleeping. Someone has to be the adult." Lilly teases gently. "But seriously. You look like shit. Just go take a nap."

"Yeah yeah yeah. Awesome. Just what a guy wants to hear from the woman he cares for." Dean chuckles as he stretches, secretly agreeing with her.

Lilly rolls her eyes. "I aim to please."

"Hufflepuff, I'm not sure ya know how to aim."

"Scopes broken and I misfire a lot, fuck off."

Dean rolls his eyes. "Alright, I'm going to catch a shower and a nap. See you in an hour."

"Either your not bathing properly or you don't know the definition of a nap."

"Nap, uhh, sleep that lasts no more than an hour. It's a hunter's definition." Dean smirks as he heads towards the stairs.

Lilly facepalms and mutters something about drugging him as she turns back to continue dinner.

"I heard that!" Dean shouts, leaning back into the kitchen.

Lilly jumps at his sudden return, but just smiles and rolls her eyes.

.56.

"I'm not sure this is a good idea." Bobby tries to reason again the five of them standing outside the tattoo parlour.

"We've gone through this, I need them to have these tattoos before I go. They're like fucking magnets for bad and god only knows what damage a demon could do to either of them." Dean states settling the matter.

"For what it's worth I think it's a better idea than any of the alternatives we've discussed, glue or not you're not dousing our house with salt. We agreed to the rugs and tattoos." Lilly adds as she makes her way to the parlour opening the door. "Mae come on, you know how awesome Clay is. He's done all my work. Most sanitary tattoo artist in this town. It'll be fine. I'll be with you the whole time. So won't the rest of them."

"You have tattoos? Plural?" Bobby asks the girl with a raised brow.

"Of course I do. Who do you think you're talking too?" Lilly snarks.

"How big does this have to be?" Mae asks interrupting the other two out of nervousness.

"About the size of your fist." Sam asks petting her hair, holding her hand with his free hand.

"It doesn't hurt that much, promise." Lilly reassures her friend with a smile.

"It's not that, it's just... Right, let's do this then." Mae says following her friends lead and walking in. She knew she could deal with her misgivings later. After all, her mother had always said she could get a tattoo if she wanted one, had even offered. It was the rest of her family that had been more, traditional.

"So does it have to be black?" Lilly asks as their small group clusters together in the front of the shop.

"Yes." Dean answers.

"Why?" Lilly questions thrown off by that.

"Because." Dean says with a shrug.

"That's not an answer."

"Black is better."

"But it's not attractive looking. Sure on you and Sammy it looks nice but you guys have penises."

Dean sighs "What color do you want it?"

"Red and black…" Lilly answers "maybe turquoise…"

"Teal, ooooh or purple." Mae answers, sitting on a couch to look at the photos in a book.

Sam smiles absently, watching Mae as she slowly gets more and more excited. While Lilly, on the other hand, was beginning to look less than thrilled.

"Fine, I guess those are fine as long as the outline is black." Dean responds shaking his head.

"So… can these get, I don't know, flayed off?" Lilly inquires randomly as they wait for the artists to finish their other clients.

Mae looks up from the the book in her lap, eyes wide. "Wait what?! Why?" She pales slightly, looking from Lilly to Sam and Dean, her eyes finally landing on Bobby.

Bobby just rolls his eyes, still not happy with the situation. The symbol was good for keeping demons from surprising you, but just like with a necklace, demons could remove the symbol if they had captured you. One was just a lot less painful. His eyes narrowed as he banished the thought of his girls in the hands of any demon.

Sam scoots closer to Mae and wraps an arm around her shoulder. "So, why haven't you ever gotten a tattoo before?"

Dean rolls his eyes grabbing Lilly's shoulder and dragging her to a corner. "What? Legit question over here. I mean it's kind of a target we are permanently putting on us. I was just curious-"

"But do you have to ask so loudly? Mae's already anxious. Now what's your concern." Dean hisses out shooting a look over at Mae.

"Well I mean it's kind of a target right? Not everyone is going to have them right? So I mean isn't it like an inked sign that we know more than we should?"

"The point is they aren't going to know about this til they try to possess you. Not asking you to get it on your forehead, not asking you to wear it like a neon sign. In fact the less people who know you have it the better."

Lilly rolls her eyes, as she cocks her hip observing Dean carefully.

"What's that face for?" Dean takes a step back from her and crosses his arms in front of him, glaring down at her suspiciously.

"I don't like doing things just because people insist on it. Especially if it's for my supposed safety. Puts me on edge." She sighs one hand rubbing her temples.

Dean's shoulders relax at her admission. "I'm sorry Lilly. But we're running out of options, and I can't stand the thought of you two not being as safe as possible."

"So this is more for you and Sam?" Lilly asks brow raised as she pins him with an expectant look.

He presses against the bridge of his nose with his hands. "It's for all of us. We have to go, Bobby has to go. Our jobs never end. But, you're important to us, and the world has become a lot more dangerous for the two of you."

Lilly tilts her head. "So it's for your collective piece of mind." She asks, though it comes off more as a statement.

He covers his mouth with his hands and exhales slowly. His bright green eyes met her soft brown ones, held for a moment and he found himself wishing she would just accept his help; let him protect her. "Yes Lilly. I need to know that when I leave, you have at the very least this protection. It's selfish, but I'm begging."

Lilly's eyes widen "All you had to say was yes, I'll get the damned tattoo…" She mumbles walking back over to Mae.

He watches her walk away, fulling appreciating the view. Huh… it worked. What was that even about? Her wanting me to beg… No that doesn't seem right...

He rejoins them just in time to hear Mae volunteer to go first, if she can figure out where she wants it.

The group settles into silence til a large burly biker comes to the front. "Hey there Lil's, Mae. Wasn't expectin'' you two tonight. You settle on a back piece yet?" The man beams.

"Hey Clay, sup?" Lilly smiles back, flinching as she is engulfed in a bear hug, pretty much swallowed by the large man. "We're done. Let go…" She adds patting the large man's arm.

He roars in laughter, "That's my girl." He says, putting her back down. "Mae!" He holds his arms wide as the girl jumps into his hug.

"Clay! It's been too long since we last saw you." She squeaks in his tight grip.

"Not long enough." Lilly mumbles under her breath sending him a dark glare. "The touching Clay…"

"Well, you two are never at the bakery anymore. Hardly my fault." He chuckles as he lets Mae down. "I see you brought friends. Hey Bobby."

"Clay." Bobby greets with a small smile.

"Right this is Dean and Sam. They're our new roomies. Mae's wanting her first tattoo." Lilly says introducing everyone in the simplest way she knows..

"Nice to meet you both." He says, holding out his hand.

Smiling, Sam walks closer to shake his hand. "Nice to-"

Clay gives him a quick handshake and then pulls him in for a quick half hug, and a rather firm pat on the back.

"-meet you." Sam finishes, taking a step back after being released.

The big man holds out his hand to Dean. Caught between not wanting to suffer Sam's fate with that brutal looking hug and not wanting to offend a friend of the girl's Dean slowly offers his hand.

"Ahhh, finally figured out what you wanted Princess?" Clay asks with a wink as he escorts the group to the back.

"Yep, gonna get a matching tattoo with Lilly and see where it goes from there." Mae smiles up at him, pointing to her hip as she takes a seat on his table.

In between the girls switching out Clay starts sterilizing the equipment. "So what's the deal here. Matching tattoos? Not really they're schtick. As close as they are, similar, they are not. You boys part of some cult or something?" He asks, watching through the plexiglass as Mae admired his handiwork in the mirror and Lilly ranted off about keeping it clean.

"What? No!" Sam and Dean both spit out at the same time.

"But you are related." Clay states as he looks them both over.

"Brothers" Sam admits out loud.

"You seem like Mae's type. That why ya'll are shacking it up over there at Mystic."

"Wait. Hold on a second." Sam says, a blush forming.

"We are not shack-ing it up." Dean states glaring at the large man.

"So you're not fucking Lil's then." Clay asks brow raised disbelief clear in his tone.

"Mae has a type?" Sam interjects.

"Sure. When Lil's isn't chasing them off. Smart, sensitive, pretty boy. You work out, don't you Charmin'?" Clay asks, looking the man over before turning back to his utensils.

'Pretty boy' Sam mouths to Dean who just smirks with a shrug.

"How long have you known them?" Dean asks giving the man once over.

"I've known them since Lil's wanted her first tattoo. So just about a decade now. Little scruff of a thing started barking at me when she was fourteen."

"She got a tattoo at fourteen?" Sam asks incredulously. "Isn't that illegal?"

"No, do I look stupid? She's friggin' Regina's kid. I waited til she was sixteen. Before you ask, River signed. Close enough to a rent's permission for my taste." Clay says with a shrug before looking to Bobby. "If I had known how close you two were would've asked you first."

"Huh, I'm kind of glad you didn't. I would have said no. Probably would have ruined our relationship." Bobby says with a shrug of his own.

"Fair, she can be a stubborn thing when she wants to be." Clay says with a nostalgic smile. "So how'd you talk Lil's into getting a tat that wasn't egyptian in origin?"

"All her tattoo's are themed?"

"Certainly undercurrents of that culture, that's for sure… and Mae I'd always thought would get a flower or peace sign but a pentacle? Sure you're not in a cult? Or is this a rock group thing?" Clay asks tone protective.

"Something like that." Dean says, watching the man grab another bottle of rubbing alcohol.

.57.

"First aid kit's restocked. Try ta be safe, and not do stupid, extra reckless things just cause you… are you." Lilly says leaning against the garage door looking bored as she watches Dean pack the Impala.

Dean looks out over the trunk of the Impala. "I'll try to restrain myself."

"See that you do." Lilly says with a pointed look before pushing herself off the wall and heading back inside to the kitchen, where she finds Mae and Sam.

"Please be careful Sam, we worry about the two of you out there." Mae says, running her hand soothingly along his arm.

"We'll be fine Mae, I promise. I'll make sure to call, but please do the same. We also worry about you two." Sam responds, moving some of her hair to behind her ear.

"Ugghh, just get a room and fuck already! Ra, that's disgusting." Lilly says, rolling her eyes.

"Lilly." Mae blushes, burying her head into Sam's shoulder. Sam smiles, leaning his cheek against her hair. He glares at Lilly, though he can't hide the half smile.

"What? Seriously, you two are eye-fucking in my kitchen. I kinda feel like bleaching the whole damn place." Lilly teases.

"Sorry Lilly, we'll leave your kitchen now." Sam says, slowly pulling Mae towards the back door.

"Thank you." Lilly says as she leaves, heading up towards her room.

Mae rolls her eyes, but follows Sam willingly.

They pause long enough to don jackets and shoes before heading out. Though they weren't facing torrential snowfall, it was still cold, even for January.

"So, I'll miss you." Mae admits, feeling lame for even voicing it. She rubs absently at her right shoulder.

"I'm going to miss you too." Sam says, pulling her closer. "Thank you for offering to help Bobby with the research. I feel better with all three of you working on a way to save Dean."

"It's literally the least we can do and stay sane. We want to do more, but you guys won't let us. You know Lilly's worried too, That's why she's been acting like this." Mae points out with a slight pout to her lips.

"Mae, I would never wish this lifestyle on anyone. Hell, I've tried to get out of it several time. It sucks you back in. There's always one more person to save, one more monster to stop. It never ends. I can't be responsible for pulling you into this darkness more than we already have." He runs his hand through her hair, letting a section of waves lay in his palm.

"You guys really need to stop blaming yourselves for this. I'm an adult, I'm choosing this." She wraps her hands into his jacket, pulling him down for a kiss.

"Please stay safe." She whispers when they come up for air.

.58.

"Not that I'm clingy or anything but they coulda at least waited til after new years. I mean… just yeah. They were only here a couple days. He's dead soon anyways." Lilly says as she continues to reorganize the shelves in their shop, their employees avoiding her like the plague since they had come in this morning.

"They had a case, it was never a permanent thing Lilly." Mae reminds her friend with a sad smile, sharing her disappointment.

"That's not what I meant, totally cool with them leaving. Just, ya know, it's new year's eve, an' I mean… Tch, whatever. They're a pain in the ass anyways." Lilly pouts as she starts scrubbing at a shelf.

"Uh huh. Well it is what it is, I suppose... Do you want to do anything tonight?" Mae concedes, changing the subject.

"I say we just let the crew leave early and start baking for the week, at least that's my plans. You should go do something though. I'm sure you have better things to do, and I'm not leaving the shop. You can go do stuff, if you'd like."

"Letting the crew go early sounds like a good idea. Give them an early start to the holiday. But there's going to be some decorating that needs to get done. I'll stay for that. Did we bring enough fruits in?" Mae responds quickly, not particularly wanting to be alone.

"I believe so and awesome, Imma go dismiss em'." Lilly says with a nod as she gets up and bellows to the front of the house that they are all fired.

Mae smiles at her friend before following her out. "She's joking, but you guys can go. Enjoy your night, but make smart choices. We open back up on the second. Try not to still be hungover by then." She smiles at the chorus of 'thank you's.

"You realize that almost none of them are legal right?" Lilly asks her friend with a raised brow.

"Neither were we." Mae teases, remembering several celebrations before they hit twenty-one.

"Enabler." Lilly teases as she starts cleaning the front of the house.

.59.

Several weeks had passed since Christmas and the girls had finally gotten back into their regular patterns. There was no sign of Vincent, and Lilly's Wednesday night trips had ended. Bobby had been suspicious in that first week and had followed Lilly around during the second; but it had been several days since they had heard from their favored curmudgeon and their concern and worry had been weighing on them heavily. So when Mae's phone went off it wasn't surprising when she jumped.

"Hello?" Mae asks tentatively, forgetting to look at the id.

"Hey Mae, it's Sam. Do you have a minute?" Sam's voice rings clearly in her ear.

"Of course. What's up Sam." Mae asks as she throws a pencil at Lilly.

Lilly caught the movement from the corner of her eye and looked up from where she was scrubbing a baseboard. She pulls her earbuds out so she can listen. When it clicks who she's talking to she rushes over. "What's going on?" Lilly asks, concern coating her tone.

"Hey, I'm going to put you on speakerphone." Mae informs him as she does so.

"Ok, so. The case we're working right now… uh…" Sam says, sounding distracted.

The girls listen as muffled voices argue.

"Right. So Bobby was in Pittsburgh working a case-" He tries to continue.

"Is that where he took off to?" Lilly snarks sardonically unable to help herself.

"Apparently. We're listed as his emergency contacts or even we wouldn't know." Sam answers, blatantly ignoring her sarcasm.

"Emergency contact?!" Both girls exclaim.

"We got a call from a hospital. He's in a coma apparently but that's not why we called. Have you two ever heard of-"

"What the fuck do you mean that's not why you called?! He's in a fucking coma?!" Lilly seethes into the receiver. "Wait! Wrong question. How long have you known? And why are we just hearing about it now, you assholes?"

"Sam, Sam, give me the phone. You're talking wrong." They hear Dean as he argues with Sam.

"I'll just put it on speaker too." Sam says blankly.

"Someone just tell us what's wrong with Bobby." Mae responds tersely.

"Right, shut up and listen to us for a second. Bobby was investigating a Doctor that was doing some strange, out there type experiments with sleep and dream studies. Have either of you heard of an herb called…" They hear papers rustling around. "Silene Capensis."

"Uh, no." Mae responds slowly, trying to match the scientific name to any of her known herbs.

"It's also called African dream root." Sam adds.

At that, Lilly's eyes widen. "Dream root?" Lilly asks recalling everything she knew about it's properties and what it was known for. "Pretty rare here. White flowers. The root's very popular among Shamans in Africa for its dream-walking properties… It's usually made into a tea, or ground into a powder. Variable side effects."

"Lilly, that's great. Now do you have any?" Dean asks, sounding hopeful for the first time during this call.

"No… but we can get some. Mae an I have some contacts in… Plants and stuf." Lilly finishes, her eyes flicking up to Mae's as if daring her to say anything before she continues. "Normally'd take a day or two, but this is Bobby so that's not good enough; with the proper financial incentive someone may be able to get it quicker." Lilly responds with a frown. "On the plus side, once we get it, Mae will prob'ly be able to keep a supply on hand so there's that." After a moment she steps away, pulling out her cell as she makes a few calls. Someone had to be able to get it for them.

"Damn it. No, we really need it…. as soon as possible. Shit, we're gonna have ta call Bella." Dean sighs unhappily.

"Bella?" Mae asks as Lilly walks away and starts talking to someone on her phone.

"She's just someone we met last year. Knows about all this stuff, she just… Took a different path. I'm not looking forward to dealing with her again." Sam says tightly. "She's the woman that Dean took to that formal party I told you about."

"The thief?" Mae asks trying to puzzle things out "The one that's tried to kill you both on numerous occasions…"

"Uh-yeah. She'd be the one." Sam says, the smile evident in his voice.

"You told her bout that?" Dean snorts in derision.

"Are they planning on taking it to get him out? Dream walking is an advanced technique. You can really fuck shit up if it's done improperly..." Lilly asks, concern for the three men clear in her tone as she flips her phone shut.

"We can hear you. And yes we are." Dean comments dryly.

"We don't have a choice. Someone killed the doctor in his sleep. Bobby could be fighting something off." Sam says. Again, the sound of rustling papers can be heard.

"Of fucking course… Shit." Lilly says as she paces back and forth."I'm not sure either of you two have the… focus for it. It can be disorienting. Have either of you ever meditated?"

"Uh, I have. I don't think Dean has though." Sam says questioningly.

"Well that's helpful at least." Lilly murmurs as her phone vibrates in her hand, flipping it open she frowns.. "We can't get it til this time tomorrow. Sorry guys."

"Dean's trying to get ahold of her now. All you have to do is make a tea out of it?" Sam asks.

"Yes. It's a disgusting and vile drink and much like poly-juice from Harry Potter it involves you drinking a part of the person in order to hop into their dreams." Lilly's voice was thick with disgust.

"Eww." Mae says, pulling a face.

"Uh… will hair work?" Sam asks.

"Yeah. Hair, fingernail clippings, skin, dead or living, blood-whatever as long as it belongs to the person whose dream your riding." Lilly adds, disgusted by the idea, as well as confused and concerned about how she even knows this; but she is certain she's right.

"Where did you learn this Lilly? I've never seen it in any of my herb or gardening books." Mae questions.

"Not sure. Maybe one of Bobby's?" Lilly supplies with a scrunched face.

"Well, I'm going to go visit Bobby at the hospital while Dean's trying to contact her." Sam says tiredly.

"Can we come visit?" Lilly asks her tone borderline pleading. "I can't lose him this way. I can't. I swear to the Gods I will fucking stock our home with every mystical herb imaginable after this."

"If you want to, but I'm hoping we can get him out soon. He hates hospitals. And the doctors say he's healthy, just in a coma."

"Well that's shocking, he's healthy?" Lilly replies skeptically.

"Yep, just asleep. It's nice to know though. I've always worried about the drinking. I'll call you later if anything else comes up."

"That would be wonderful. Thank you." Mae chimes in as her eyes follow her pacing friend growing more anxious with every flick of her skirt.

"Sorry that I didn't call you sooner. We dove right into solving this. I promise I was going to call you about it before I went to sleep." Sam says apologetically.

"It's alright I understand." Mae reassures him.

"I don't." Lilly grumbles."If Bobby had gone into a coma here and we hadn't called you you'd be halfway up our asses by now."

"I hope that's not what would happen, but uh, we'll talk to you later." Sam says before hanging up.

"Are we going to try and take some to them?" Mae asks, continuing to watch her sister pace.

"Depends on when we can get this shit. We don't have'ta leave town to dream walk in the the ol' man's head." Lilly winks.


AN2: What do you think? We'll ba back on Thursday with the next chapter, but keep an eye on Slices of Pie for a chapter about how the girls met Clay :)