Sam had come in earlier, looking tense and refusing to answer Piper's questions. He had finally bitten her head off, so she was fuming on the bed in their motel room when Dean slammed his way in.

She jumped. "Dean? Dean, what hap-"

"Are you packed?" Cold, violent anger was swirling in his green eyes, and even though she knew it wasn't directed at her, a whisper of fear worked it's way down her spine.

She nodded. "Dean, what-"

"We're leaving, Piper." He grabbed her bag and held his hand out to her. She scrambled to her feet and took it, letting him pull her to his other side…

Putting himself between her and Sam.

Sam had stood up. "Dean, where are you going?"

His shoulders were tense, his hand tight on Piper's. "Oh, you don't need us. You and Ruby go hunt demons."

She frowned. "Ruby?"

Sam stepped forward, hand held out to them. "Hold on. Dean, come on, man."

Dean turned, dropping her hand and her bag at the same time, and punched Sam in the face. "Dean!" Piper cried as Sam whirled with the force of Dean's fist, hand going to his face. Good grief, he's fast.

Sam turned back around and dropped his hand. "You satisfied?"

Dean hit him again, hard.

"I guess not," Sam said dryly.

Dean stalked forward angrily. "Do you even know how far off the reservation you've gone? How far from normal? From human?"

"What the hell is going on?" Piper asked mildly, knowing she wouldn't get an answer. When the boys got into a fight, it was best to stay out of their way. Bobby had told her it was like when big dogs got into a fight. If you got in the middle, you'd probably get hurt.

Sam was earnest. "I'm just exorcising demons."

"With your mind!" Dean shouted angrily. "What else can you do?"

"I can send them back to hell. It only works with demons, and that's it."

Piper's eyebrows rose, and she crossed her arms over her stomach, hugging herself. What?

Dean grabbed his younger brother and pushed him backwards a little. "What else can you do?!" he shouted again.

Piper stepped forward and put a hand on Dean's arm, tugging gently. "Dean, stop." He let go of Sam and stepped back.

"I told you!" Sam said, getting angry now, too.

"And I have every reason in the world to believe that." Dean scoffed, turning to take Piper's hand again and walking towards the door.

"Look," Sam said, running a hand through his hair. "I should have said something." Dean only paused to pick up Piper's bag. "I'm sorry, Dean. I am. But try to see the other side here."

Dean turned slowly to stare at Sam. "The other side?"

Encouraged, Sam continued. "I'm pulling demons out of innocent people."

"Use the knife!"

"The knife kills the victim! What I do, most of them survive! Look, I've saved more people in the last five months than we save in a year."

Dean was stepping forward again. "That what Ruby want you to think? Huh? Kind of like the way she tricked you into using your powers?" He shook his head. "Slippery slope, brother. Just wait and see. Because it's gonna get darker and darker, and God knows where it ends."

"I'm not gonna let it go too far."

Dean's entire body was taut. Piper stepped closer and squeezed his hand. He sighed and relaxed a fraction, but he was still furious. "It's already gone too far, Sam. If I didn't know you… I would want to hunt you."

"That's enough." Piper said quietly, meeting Dean's eyes, then Sam's. "You guys are upset, I understand, but this isn't helping. Dean, let's go." She looked at Sam, trying to apologize with her eyes. "Sam, I wish you hadn't lied to me, and I get it. But we're bunking in separate rooms tonight, gentlemen." She turned and pulled Dean toward the door again. To her relief, and great surprise, he followed her without a word.

xxxxx

They were curled around one another in bed, face to face. Dean studied her concerned eyes, her high cheekbones, the wisps of vibrant purple hair that fell along her face. He moved it gently away from her, tucking it behind her ear. She was staring at him with an unidentifiable emotion on her face, and sighed softly.

"You don't think you're being a little hard on him?"

His hand paused. "Piper, do we have to talk about Sam when we're in bed?"

She smiled and kissed him gently. He leaned into it, his hand moving down to her hip to pull her closer, letting out a frustrated grunt when she pulled away. "Tonight, yes. From now on? No."

He let out a huff. "He's going dark, Piper. This is what Dad-" He was interrupted by her finger on his lips. He felt arousal stirring deep in him, despite the circumstances.

"Dean," she said, smiling a little, "We both know you're not going to hunt Sam. So drop the act, tough guy." She paused for a moment. "I know you're not comfortable with talking, Dean, but I need you to talk to me so I can understand."

Emotion welled up in his chest, and he closed his eyes to fight with it. He couldn't talk to her. He couldn't tell her all of the things he was afraid of, Sam rapidly rising to the top of the list. He couldn't tell her why he was so afraid.

What if darkness ran through their blood? What if it was inevitable? What if it ended up hurting Piper, or Bobby?

So, instead, he tried a lie. "The kid is getting darker and darker, Pipes. We depend on him on hunts, I need him sharp, and if he's too distracted by his Jedi mind tricks, we could be in danger."

She shook her head, and his heart felt both lighter and heavier. "No dice, bud. Try again." How does she always know?

He paused for a second, collecting his thoughts. "I'm supposed to watch out for him, kitten," he said softly, struggling with the emotions making his throat close around his words. She silently leaned into him, nestling her head under his chin, giving him as much privacy as she could without leaving him. "I'm supposed to watch out for him," he was nearly whispering as he pulled her closer. "And now he's using those damn demon powers, and I don't know how to make him quit."

She was silent for a long while, so long Dean thought she'd fallen asleep when she finally spoke. "You can't, Dean. I know you feel like you have to, like it's your responsibility, but Sam isn't a kid." She leaned back to look up at him, her face earnest. "He has to come to the conclusion on his own, Dean, you can't make up his mind for him." She touched his face gently. "You have enough going on, Dean. You have to let him deal with this."

He looked at her breathlessly for a moment. Goddamn psychic woman. "What do you mean, enough going on?"

There was a shadow of sadness in her eyes when she leaned forward to brush her lips against his. "You know exactly what I mean, Dean. And someday, hopefully, you'll tell me about it. But not tonight," she smiled, moving her hips against his. "Tonight, I need you."

Dean rolled them so she was on top of him. He didn't know how the hell she knew, or how much she knew. What was important tonight was erasing the sadness in her face, and even if he didn't know how to do it by talking, he sure as hell knew how to do it with his hands.

xxxxx

The next morning, Piper was sitting on the bed when Sam knocked gently. Before she went to the door, she turned to make sure Dean hadn't woken up. He seemed to sleep better in the mornings, and God knew he needed sleep.

She went silently to the door, opened it, and slipped outside, closing the door behind her. "What's up, Sam?"

He looked like he wanted to say something, so she stayed silent, letting him lead up to it.

"I'm sorry, Pipe, I shouldn't have lied to you."

She wanted to hug him, but she couldn't give in that easy. "No, you shouldn't have."

His shoulders sagged. "I'm sorry, I just…" He was struggling for words again, which was surprising. Sam was much more comfortable with saying how he felt than Dean. "I just felt alone with Dean gone. I wanted to do some good."

That hurt. "Alone? Seriously? You're the only one who lost someone?"

To be fair, you weren't real chatty. She had been on her own more often than not in the four months that Dean had been in hell. Probably not the best state of mind to hear Sam out.

He opened his mouth, but stopped when she held her hand up. "Look, I… I get it, Sam, I do. But Dean won't. He's not going to let this go."

He nodded miserably. "I know. One apology at a time, I guess." He held his arms out to her. "At least partially forgiven?" She smiled and stepped forward, raising her arms. When he wrapped his big arms around her and squeezed, she hissed between her teeth in pain, and hoped that somehow he hadn't noticed.

No such luck. He backed away and looked at her, confused. "What's wrong? Did that angel hurt you?"

"I'm fine, Sam," she said as she stepped away, tugging her tank top down.

He stepped forward and swatted her hands away from the hem of her shirt. "Let me see, Pipe."

She didn't relent, but Sam was strong. "Sam, it's fine-"

He lifted her shirt up, and his sharp intake of breath interrupted her. She sighed and hung her head, squeezing her eyes shut. He was seeing the big purple bruise on her ribs.

"Did… Did Dean-"

Her head snapped up. "Not on purpose! Never on purpose." He didn't look like he believed her. "He's been having, uh, nightmares, and he kind of starts swinging. I can usually get out of the way on time, but he was fast last night." She gave him a smile. "Cracked a rib."

Sam's brow furrowed. "Piper, you should sleep in a different bed if he's hitting you."

"No. I'm fine, Sam." She pulled her shirt back down. "He needs me, Sam. I don't know why, but he does. So keep your trap shut about this, okay?"

He was looking at her intensely. "You don't know why he needs you?"

She was saved by answering by Dean opening the door. He looked steadily at Sam, and Piper gave into the urge to go to Dean and tuck herself under his arm.

"What's going on?" Dean asked slowly.

Sam's eyes didn't leave Piper's. "I got a case."

xxxxx

The hunt had been rough. It had been terrible. Piper lay in the backseat of the Impala, unable to sleep but too tired to sit up. The rougarou had almost killed Dean, and she had been helpless to stop it, tied up in the man's home. Her heart was still racing.

So she listened to their voices as they spoke, grateful they were both still with her.

"You did the right thing, you know." Dean was saying. "That guy was a monster, there was no going back."

Sam was silent.

Dean sighed. "Sam, I wanna tell you I'm sorry. I've been kind of hard on you lately." Piper smiled, listening to her words echo from Dean's mouth.

"Don't worry about it, Dean."

She heard Dean shift uncomfortably. "It's just that your, uh, your psychic thing, it scares the crap out of me."

"Look, if it's all the same... I'd really rather not talk about it."

"Wait a minute. What? You don't want to talk? You?"

"There's nothing more to say. I can't keep explaining myself to you. I can't make you understand." Piper frowned, but didn't sit up.

"Why don't you try?" Dean retorted, albeit gently.

Sam shook his head. "I can't. Because this thing, this blood, it's not in you the way it's in me. It's just something I got to deal with."

"Not alone."

Sam was silent for a while, and they let him be.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter. These powers... It's playing with fire. I'm done with them. I'm done with everything."

xxxxx

Hi, everyone! Here's my notes:

I own only Piper Finley, the original character. I don't own Supernatural or the characters. (heartbroken)

Reviews and comments give me the warm fuzzies and keep me going.

If there are any mistakes in continuity, canon, or geography, blame me.