Chapter 28

Dean turned the key in the ignition and the low rumbling coming from under the hood came to a halt.

"Wow." Amy couldn't help exclaiming at the sight of the two-story, glass house perched on top of the hill.

A few miles outside of Dallas, it was located in a relatively secluded area, the only access being the long winding road the Impala had just travelled. When the driveway had come into view, Dean had driven the car off the main road and had parked it behind some shrubbery. Keeping a safe distance, it was close enough to monitor the resident's coming and goings, but equally sheltered enough to remain unnoticed.

"You boys should really consider flipping sides. Evil pays better." Amy commented still staring out the back window, gobsmacked at the building's aesthetics.

The only reply she got was a disdainful humph from Dean.

After a few moments, she spoke again:

"So? Now what?"

"We wait for this guy to leave and then we go in." Sam informed.

The way he settled back in his seat, outstretching his legs, made Amy suspect they were in for a long wait.

She was right.

The minutes ticked away languorously and after four cigarette trips around the car – yes, Dean insisted in upholding his absurd no-smoking in the Impala decree – they entered the second hour of silence; boredom began rearing its ugly head and Amy felt compelled to ask the obvious:

"What if he doesn't leave?"

Dean and Sam exchanged a look that told her they hadn't contemplated that scenario.

Great! They were in for the never ending stake out.

Her stomach rumbled.

And they hadn't brought provisions.

'Another brilliantly laid Winchester plan!'

It was late in the afternoon and they'd skipped lunch in order to cover the distance and reach Dallas in the shortest amount of time possible.

"He has to leave eventually. The guy's gotta eat." Sam offered.

As if on queue, a motorcycle with a large label reading Domino's Pizza drove by and stopped in front of the main gate.

"Yep, the guy's gotta eat, alright." Tediousness and lack of food fuelled the sarcasm in her voice.

Again, both Winchester's failed to acknowledge her and all three remained in silence.

Dean cocked an eyebrow when strange popping sounds came from behind him.

Checking the rear-view mirror he found her with her neck arched, head lolling from side to side on the backseat as she stared up at the ceiling.

After the fifth pop he snapped:

"Will you quit that?"

She jerked up and met his eyes in the mirror.

"I'm bored." She announced.

"Then sleep or something."

"I'm bored, not sleepy." She snorted.

Dean just shook his head and kept his eyes on the main gate, watching as the delivery guy exited and drove away.

"Is there anything to eat in this damn car?"

"Hey, watch it!" Dean warned.

"Oh, right!" Amy rolled her eyes. "Forgot about your pathological Impala-fixation."

Sam quickly intervened to diffuse the building tension between the two hotheads:

"I think there are some Skitters in here."

He popped open the glove-compartment and, sure enough, there was a wrinkled bright bag.

'Crisis averted.'

He knew Amy well enough to understand that a hungry Amy was a cranky Amy. Ad the way things were going with Dean lately, if he didn't get some food into her the two would end up at each other's throats in record time.

He picked it up and was frustrated to realise it was empty.

"Sorry." He said apologetically and Amy groaned.

Fifteen minutes and…

"Pop."

Dean whirled around:

"That's it! One more pop out of you and I'm kicking you out of the car!"

Sam watched as she boldly narrowed her eyes at his brother just before issuing a challenge…

"Pop!"

Dean gladly accepted it. In a flash, he stepped out, swung the back door open and reached inside.

"Dean!"

Sam scrambled out of his seat, coming around the vehicle to pull at his brother who was currently being kicked and swatted away by a fuming Amy.

"Dean!" He yelled, barely able to haul him away.

After a couple of desperate and confusing minutes, Sam managed to get him under control by pinning him against the side of the car while Amy remained safely seated in the backseat.

"Dean!"

"I'm going to kill her, Sammy." Dean sounded like he'd reached the end of his rope.

"Dude, get a hold of yourself." Sam commanded, testing the waters by loosening his grip on his brother's collar.

When Dean remained still he let go of him completely.

"Look, we're all tired and hungry. Maybe we should go back into town and get something to eat. The guy's obviously not going to leave tonight if he ordered pizza." Sam offered a rational way out.

But Dean wasn't in a rational state of mind.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Oh, come on. I need food." Amy popped her head out and was immediately assailed by Dean's steely glare.

"Then go and get some. We're staying."

She stepped out of the car and jutting out her chin outstretched her hand to him.

"What?"

"Keys."

He let out a sound that was the perfect mesh between a chuckle and a cough.

"Come again?"

"Keys." She repeated and Sam cringed.

"You think I'm gonna let you drive my baby?!"

She nodded.

"Sweetheart, I wouldn't let you drive this car if my life depended on it." He bit out.

"Then how am I supposed to-"

"You got legs. Walk." He snorted.

When Amy took a threatening step towards Dean, Sam immediately stepped in, literally using his body to keep them apart.

"O-ok, let's all just calm down." He stuttered.

"I'm calm!" Her whole demeanour completely contradicted the meaning of her words and Sam made a face.

"What? I'm the epitome of calm here."

"Yeah, right…" Dean's jeer earned him a glare from Amy.

Turning to face Dean Sam proposed.

"You drive into town to get us something to eat. Amy and I will stay here and make sure the guy doesn't leave."

It seemed like yet another pretty satisfactory arrangement, but Dean was definitely not in a cooperating mood.

"I'm not moving."

Sam's shoulders slumped in defeat. Why was he the one always stuck in the crossfire between these two?

"Fine. I'll go."

"What?!" Dean and Amy bellowed in unison.

Well, that was progress. At least they were agreeing on something, even if it meant ganging up against him.

"You guys don't leave me any choice. You're hungry and we all know how you get when you're sugar deprived." Facing Dean he continued: "You won't let her drive and you won't go yourself. I don't see another option here."

With that it was Sam's turn to claim the keys.

Grudgingly, Dean was about to surrender them when his eyes caught something over Sam's shoulder.

"Check it out!"

All three turned to see a black convertible exit the driveway.

"Oh, evil pays better and definitely has better wheels." Amy gawked at the car as it drove by, catching a glimpse of its sunglass-wearing driver.

"You know, I'm getting a little ticked off with you disrespecting my baby."

"It's a pre-historic sauna with no air-conditioning. It doesn't have feelings, Winchester."

Dean's eyes instantly widened in shock and he began hyperventilating in an attempt to contain his rage.

"Amy!" Sam turned his scolding to the small redhead.

The woman was gonna get burned if she continued playing with fire like that.

Under Sam's pleading gaze she relented:

"Ok, fine. I'm sorry. It's not pre-historic," Directing her attention to Sam she raised both eyebrows and emphasized: "but I'm sticking with the sauna bit."

Dean was about to retort when Sam interrupted:

"Let's just go, ok?"

There was a heavy pause.

"Dean."

He broke eye contact with Amy and allowed his body to relax.

"Let's go."

Both he and Sam stopped in their tracks when they noticed Amy following suit.

"Where do you think you're going?" Dean demanded.

"Um… in there?"

"No."

"Huh?"

"Have you ever broken into a place?"

She shook her head.

"Have you ever stolen anything?"

Well, there had been that one time when she was four, when she'd palmed a chocolate bar from a convenience store. Did that count?

'Probably not.'

So she shook her head once again.

"So you have absolutely no experience in this and you'd probably slow us down."

"But-"

"No buts. It's not negotiable."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"You get to play the part of the look-out." Dean offered with a condescending smirk.

She could have argued but she didn't have the strength to so she just shrugged and muttered:

"Whatever…"

They'd been surprised to find that the alarm hadn't been switched on and breaking into the house had been relatively easy.

They walked into the living room and scanned the large open space.

They were in, but the house was huge. Where were they supposed to start?

"I'll take the upstairs." Sam announced jogging up the staircase and leaving Dean to continue inspecting his surrounding.

From his experience he was pretty sure they wouldn't find anything in the living room or the kitchenette. So, after checking behind each of the large paintings scattered around various walls he walked into the adjacent room.

An office. Perfect place for a safe. Just as he was about to start though, his phone rang.

He sighed when he saw the familiar name flashing on the small screen.

"What?" He grumbled.

"He's coming back."

"Who?"

Amy rolled her eyes.

"Santa. Who do you think?"

"Are you sure?"

"No, I'm an idiot who can't recognise a car I've just seen drive by two minutes ago. It's him. Get out of there."

"Stall him."

"What?!" Amy exclaimed.

"Stall him." He repeated.

"How am I sup-"

Bip-bip-bip.

He'd hung up on her. She gasped.

"Bastard!"

Shoving the electronic device into the back pocket of her jeans she checked the snaking road again. Any second now the convertible would be coming around the bend.

Her mind raced as she crossed the street and the smooth purring of a powerful engine grew louder. Even though her brain had yet to come up with a feasible plan, her body was already jumping into action. She waved her arms in the air easily drawing the driver's attention.

She was torn. A part of her hoping that he would stop, the other, the rational one which frantically looked for a logical explanation for her being there, was terrified.

Her breath knotted in her throat when the car came to a screeching halt right next to her.

'What now, Einstein?' Her mind asked her body.

"Oh, thank God!"

Ok…? Apparently her mouth had managed to improvise a plan. The only snag? It had failed to let her brain in on it.

Whatever it was it seemed to include, for some odd reason, a heavy Louisiana accent. At least that's what she realised when her mouth began a ludicrous rant:

"I sure am glad that someone finally showed up. I was beginning to think that I was going to have to walk back into town."

The man took off his glasses to reveal small brown eyes topped by a deep frown:

"I just drove by like five minutes ago."

'Ops!'

"Riiight,…a-and I heard but I… I was… um…"

'Think, think, think!'

"I had to pee!"

She mentally smacked herself just as the words came out. Putting on a plastic smile she elaborated:

"In the bushes."

Well, at least the embarrassing picture she'd painted would go nicely with the blush she was probably sporting right about now. She added a shy giggle for good measure and the man seemed to accept it; his eyes drifting down to her cleavage.

'Ah! A girl can always count on the heterosexual male's moronic need to ogle any and all pair of breasts as a diversion.'

"So…"

She cringed inwardly at the lazy drawl in his voice.

'Is that supposed to be sexy?'

"What happened?"

'Yeah, what happened?' An annoying voice nagged in her head.

And off her mouth went…

"My idiot of a brother kicked me out of his car."

'Huh?'

Where was her mouth going with this? God only knew…

Dean's head whirled in the direction of the office door catching the voices coming from the living room. He easily recognised Amy's but his brows furrowed at the strange pronunciation.

"Anyway, he just went bananas. I truly don't understand why men are so sensitive when it comes to their cars."

Tentatively, Dean drew closer to the threshold and peeped through the crack left by the partially open door.

The two stood together in front of the couch. Mark was a beefy, relatively tall, brown-haired fellow. One of those David Beckham-wannabes who spend hours in the gym and wear black t-shirts two sizes too small that allow them to show off their overworked pecs and biceps.

"Yeah, it's a guy thing. I'd drive you back to town myself, but I'm expecting an important business call."

"Oh, it's ok." She pressed her sweaty palms together. "A cab will do fine."

"I'll be back in a second."

"Ok."

Her phoney smile crumbled the second he turned his back and walked into the kitchenette. From her spot she could easily keep tabs on him, so she began to nervously scan the room, clearly looking for any sign of the Winchesters.

Her eyes widened when she saw Dean.

'What are you doing here?' She mouthed angrily. 'Where's Sam?'

Dean pointed upwards, signalling the upstairs and she glanced at the staircase. Sure enough, there he was – glued against the wall, doing a pathetic job at keeping his breathing under control.

These two were going to give her a heart attack!

"The cab will be here in ten minutes."

Amy jolted in surprise.

"Here." He offered her a glass of wine.

"Oh, no thanks." She shook her head vehemently.

"Come on. It'll help you relax. You seem kinda nervous." His smirk caused the hairs in the back of her neck to stand out.

Reluctantly, she accepted the drink.

"Sit."

Again, she complied and he sat next to her, his thigh brushing up against hers, clearly invading her personal space and she fought the urge to hightail out of there.

"I can't believe your brother just dumped you in the middle of nowhere. What a jerk."

"Oh, Dean's some piece of work." She couldn't help throwing a murderous glance in the direction of the office as she continued: "One time he locked in the truck because he didn't want me smoking in his baby. That's what he calls it."

"Man, he sounds like a class A moron."

"Pretty much."

She could see the barely contained anger flaring in Dean's eyes.