Replies to reviews:

Blondie20000: You liked Doc, huh? He might have an SPN history, I guess we well we'll see. Glad you liked my OCs, they were interesting to write, and some might make another appearance. Angels, yeah, don't get me started on the topic of what the writers did. And as for Sarah... I am glad you felt for her, it was so sad to write, almost made myself cry. Thanks for the review.

Ncsupnatfan: Thanks for the review. I am so glad you like where I am taking all of this. Sarah can be a lot of things, Dean suspected she was one of Azazel's children with demon blood, but now he thinks she might be something different, something new. Still he is almost certain it was Jack that helped them. And I know you wish to know where Jack and Cas are, but they won't be mentioned much in this story.T They will have a separate story of their own, a kinda sequel to this story.I called it... Curious Case of Castiel

Summer: Dean's leg is healing but not fast enough. So he is going to have to let Sarah... Well, you'll see. And wow, you kinda read my mind with, something... Lol. I kinda always knew Sam and Eileen aren't gonna last, but I am glad the writers didn't kill her off. Oh, and you should really get off your lazy ass and start writing! I know some of the work you did and it was awesome, it deserves to see the light of day. Thanks for the review and the hearts.

Aisha: Want some syrup with that?

Secretwrittenword: Yeah, the vamps are a huge pain in the ass. Wait till they show up again. It is going be a bloody mess. It was so sad the way Sarah lost her home, but it will work out in the end. After all, home is where the heart is. Lol. Thanks for the review.

A/N: I wish to thank everyone who read and reviewed my one-shots Goddamn Autocorrect, Born under a bad sign, Careful what you wish for and Cas, especially to the guest reviewers who I can't PM back. The reviews really made my day. I might have gotten a bit carried away and got off the track, but I am back now, writing this baby and loving the way it grows. Hope you do too.

Chapter 18: Close your eyes

"So Dean actually barked at the mailman? And threatened a pigeon with a gun? In public?!" Juls was barely holding her laughs. Sam spent almost 4 hours talking about some funnier adventures he and his brother shared. It started as a way to lift their spirits, but once Julia started laughing, he just had to keep her going. He had to listen to that beautiful sound and watch as her eyes sparkled each time he said something funny.

There was definitely something special about her, something that drew him to her, and as much as he wanted to fight it, he couldn't keep his eyes off of her, so each time he said something funny, he glanced her way. A few times she glanced back at him, and their eyes would meet, but both would quickly look away, breaking the eye-contact almost at the same time.

Glancing over at the clock on the wall, Sam could see it was close to 3:30 PM, also noticing that he does feel a bit rested. Maybe not enough to go outside yet, but enough to get up and do something aside from just lying around. Besides, they needed to find a way out, or a way to reach someone that could help them. But he didn't feel like getting up, he didn't feel like moving away from her. A part of him wanted her close, and his indecisiveness was keeping him in place.

But it was like Julia could read his mind, she said "Time to get up, huh?" making him flinch and turn to look at her. He sighed and then nodded, and turned to get up. "We… We don't have to go out today? Maybe we could check out the building tomorrow, when we are fully rested?" Juls asked and Sam had no idea if he heard fear in her voice, plea or concern. Was she scared to go back out there, or was she worried about him?

"Sure, tomorrow. I'll go check the generator and try the radio again, and then see if I can get into the room across the lab." Sam replied wanting to sound as comforting and reassuring as he could. He turned and swung his legs off the bed.

"I'll help. My dad thought me a thing or two about electrical appliances and stuff, so if you want, I can check out the radio… See if it works properly…" Julia added as she too went to get up and gave Sam a glance, seeing if he was ok with that.

"Sure, great. I'll take the generator, you take the radio." Sam said as he finally got up and stretched making Julia quickly turn and head for the door. He frowned after her, slightly confused by her sudden action, but that was only because he didn't notice that when he stretched, his shirt lifted up with his hands, revealing the outline of his abs, and Julia had to turn away and run. She knew she felt this attraction towards Sam, but couldn't quite explain why was she feeling like she was going to lose control and jump him.

Best to keep her hands otherwise preoccupied. Sam left the room and by the time he reached the maintenance room, Julia was already under the table that held the radio, checking the wires and making sure it was all connected properly. Sam threw her another confused glance, but wordlessly went to check the generator. After a few minutes he was done, sure that everything was working as it should and he turned his head towards Julia to tell her that, but didn't get a chance.

"Bingo!" Juls yelled and then shouted a line of curses that Sam couldn't quite make out over the cracking sound of electricity. He came closer and leaned lower, trying to get a better look. Juls was on her knees and under the table, fumbling with the cables, and Sam watched her fingers work, untangling the lines and flinching when an exposed wire threw sparks at her hand. She shifted on her knees, that were probably getting a little sore because of the position she was in, and Sam couldn't help when his eyes traveled from her hands, over her back and down on her… Hips. But the next second he was flinching and looking away, slight blush creeping up on his cheeks when Juls moved from under the table and got up, dusting her hands off.

"Now, let's give this baby a twirl." She said and turned the radio on. Suddenly, music filled the room and the Archies sang:

"Sugar… Oh, honey, honey… You are my candy, girl… And you got me wanting you…"

Sam's blush suddenly intensified, he could feel the burn in his cheeks, and he had no idea why. Why was acting this way, why was some song affecting him, making him have these strange thoughts in his head, when he should be wondering…

"What the hell?" Julia said, not noticing Sam's reaction, as she reached and turned down the volume. This should be a communication radio and it is for some reason picking up actual music station frequency or something like that. Julia sat down at the chair and altered the frequencies, but every time she turned back to that particular one, there would be music playing. Ok, that was weird.

Sam leaned in and watched what she was doing, reached out and stopped her from changing the frequencies. "Wait, go back, go back. Just before the… Music." So Juls turned the dial and stopped where she was sure Sam wanted her to, because there was some strange sound there, almost like a tractor was working in the distance, an old engine muscling through. It made no sense to Julia.

It made even less sense to Sam, especially because he knew that sound, he has lived in that sound, he listened to it his whole life. He could recognize that sound everywhere, the sound of the engine of a '67 Impala, his brother's car. Sam quickly turned the microphone on and tried to reach someone on the other side but was met with only the sound of a running engine.

"You… you hear it too right? Please tell me I am not going nuts and that's the sound of a car's engine, right?" Sam asked turning his pleading look towards Julia.

"Well, more like a tractor, but yeah sure. I suppose it could be an old car. Like a Camaro or a…" Julia said with a shrug.

"67 Chevy Impala." Sam offered making Julia frown at him.

"That's rather specific." She said giving him a look that was asking for an explanation. Sam sighed, opened and then closed his mouth, not really sure how to explain it.

"Dean's car. I would recognize the sound everywhere. But I… I have no idea how this is possible." he said as he motioned at the radio. Julia said nothing, and Sam kinda stood there for a few minutes, mesmerized by the familiar sound, suddenly feeling just a bit safer and just a bit more confident.

Julia wasn't so sure. The sound could belong to anything really, and it could be Sam's imagination, but she couldn't say for sure that that was the case. Maybe it was just someone toying with them, with Sam, wanting to draw out a reaction. But what kind? Before she had a chance to consider it all, Sam reached for the radio, specifically for the call button and when he toughed it, sparks started flying everywhere. It was like his body's natural electricity reacted to the radio's, making it short out. But that kind of thing shouldn't really be possible.

Julia partly expected Sam to become frantic and panicked for loosing this connection, because she knew she would be, but Sam just leaned on the table and heaved a heavy sign that was strangely not one of defeat, but not one of relief either. It was like… It was something in between. Like Sam's hopes risen and died at the same time. After a minute he glanced back at Juls and straightened up, his body language showing more determination, but his eyes filled with slight fear.

"I'm gonna go try to pry that door open." was all he said and walked out of the room. It was weird the way he just moved on after he thought he heard something, made some connection to the outside world. But Julia guessed that, since the connection was gone, Sam decided not to cling onto hope that it might help them, choosing instead to do something a bit more tangible. Or was it just his way of coping?

Well, it was better than hers anyway. He didn't yell at her and threw her to the ground.

Julia squinted her eyes at the radio. There was something about it that screamed at her, made her instincts go haywire now that she heard it do things it wasn't supposed to. Picking up music and car noises was something these types of radios simply didn't do. And it was one of those types of mysteries that she liked to solve. Something that needed a… Hands on approach.

Julia stood gawking at the radio for a few minutes and then decided she would leave it be for now. She still wanted to help Sam out, so she turned and left the room, heading in Sam's direction to see how he is doing with the door. From the maintenance room it was just to the right and then around the corner to the left. Before she exited the room she could hear distant banging as if Sam was trying to break in, but it stopped as she approached the corner.

Sam did indeed try to run the door after he tried to pick the lock, unsuccessfully. Since the door was metal, he doubted he would be able to force his way through it, but still he had to try. He bang his shoulder on it three times before it started to really hurt and he gave up. So when the brute force didn't work, Sam would have to use more brain.

He was curious though. Considering the dimensions of the place they were at, the hallways around the room and the storage room that was next to it all suggested the room was small in size. A thought crossed his mind that it might have been a cold storage, but the lab already had a small cooling unit and besides – they were on the North Pole, why the hell would anyone need cold storage here?

Ok, this isn't helpful. He needed to stop thinking about what it might be behind those doors and focus on the door itself. That was one concrete thing he could do in this whole situation right now, and he needed a small win. And then it hit him (and boy was he glad it didn't literally hit him) – a crowbar. He could use a crowbar he saw in the storage room. Swiftly he turned and in two fast steps he was around the corner.

Around the corner and slamming into a slightly smaller figure making her stumble backwards.

In one instant, he saw it play out - he saw her taking a step backwards, her eyes closed and her hand reaching for her head that bumped into his chest. At the speed he was going, it might as well have been a plaster wall she ran into, making her feeling woozy and in combination with the general fatigue they both felt after last night… He already saw her stumbling and tripping, landing hard on her ass before her head followed the inertia, making her fall down completely, hitting her head on the hard floor.

So in the last possible second Sam reached and grabbed her hand that shot out to her hurting head, grabbed her and pulled it towards him, making Julia stumble forward again, hitting his chest a bit more gently this time and stay in place as his other hand wrapped around her waist. And Sam? Sam couldn't help but lock his eyes with her, gazing deep into those dark brown beauties that held some soothing calm. He heard her almost silent gasp at his motion and then after a few moments he could feel her gulp, but she didn't move, she stayed frozen in place, frozen in his arms, feeling completely unable to move.

For a split second Sam's eyes glanced down at her full red lips and no, he didn't wonder what they felt like, no… He already knew, or had a good idea of how they felt before he even met her, before he even knew she was the one laying next to him. Back then he had her in his arms and didn't even know it was her, and now, looking back he understood why spooning her and keeping her warm felt good, felt right. Because having her in his arms was right.

Still, right now, he wanted nothing more than to taste those lips once more.

His eyes found hers again and there was something there that told him she wanted the same, but somehow it wasn't surprising that she wanted him… Physically. What was surprising was that spark in her eyes, the one she might not have been aware of yet, the one that said… That maybe there was something more to it. Something deeper. Something emotional.

Sam immediately released her from his grip and coughed, trying, trying and failing to move on from an awkward situation. Julia's gasp was really silent this time, he did not hear it, nor did he see the sadness and disappointed in her eyes, all laced with confusion of why she was feeling… Well, anything.

"Sorry." He muttered.

"No, it was my fault…" She tried.

"I wasn't watching where I was going…" He said at the same time…

So they both huffed a laugh that was anything but genuine.

"So, did you get in?" Julia asked averting the subject.

"No, it won't budge… I was on my way to the storage, I saw a crowbar there and…" Sam replied and saw Juls raise her hand to stop him from talking.

"That's ok. I'll get it." She said, turned away from him and got away from there as fast as she could.

What the hell was that? – They both wondered, both unsure if they wanted anything to happen, both regretful nothing did.

Five minutes later, four minutes too long, Julia emerged with a crowbar and a weak excuse she couldn't find it straight away. Sam smiled politely at her as he took the crowbar, then jammed it between the door and the doorframe and tried his mightiest to pry it open. Still, the door persisted. Twenty minutes later, Julia would have been in a full laughing fit at Sam's failed battle with the door if it wasn't for such a defeated look on his face. Not that he didn't try to hide it, but he was still tired and she was just too observant, a trait any good hunter possessed.

She slowly reached and tugged Sam's sleeve, making him flinch and shoot her a look, as if she just woke him from a dream (or a nightmare), not just tried to get his attention. She recoiled at the look in his eyes and shifted a bit uncomfortably before speaking. "Maybe... Um, maybe we should try again later... We are both tired and could use some more rest..." She offered, seeing this whole situation is getting to him.

Sam brought his gaze down to the ground and then at the door, frowning and thinking for a second before he brought his eyes back on her, a quivering determination flashing upon his face. "No, I think... I need to try harder. I need to try something else..."

"Okey... - Juls said trying to be helpful – maybe, um... Maybe there is something else in storage we could use, I... We could go and check it out." She offered, changing the I into We just to get Sam away from that door. It was his turn to get overwhelmed with slight desperation of the finality of this situation and it was now her job to get him out.

"Yeah, yeah... - Sam replied, vigorously nodding – We should do that..." And he got up, heading straight for the storage room again, Julia followed right behind him. For a second a silly thought crossed her mind that he would stop abruptly and she would slam into him again and if that happened she would accidentally grab his ass for her troubles. The thought might have been silly, not that she didn't feel really, really attracted to the guy, but it all gave her an idea. An idea that just might help cheer him up. As silly as it may be.

After reaching the storage, they both looked around trying to find something that might open the door. Julia picked up a fire extinguisher, but quickly dismissed it, because if the crowbar didn't work, the extinguisher wouldn't either. Sam found a bunch of keys, the ones Julia recognized as ski-jet keys, but there were unfamiliar keys in the bundle too. After close examination, Sam sighed and hung them back where they were, certain that none was of the room. They were either too big, too small or not the right shape. None came even close.

Sam almost threw himself in a chair that was there, deflated and looking defeated. It is easy to lose hope in situations like these and he knew it, he knew when he decided to speak about his brother and him, about their adventures just to lift Julia's spirit a bit. But the dreadful feeling crept up on him, leaving him to feel useless and unable to do anything right. His eyes were focused on the ground, his thoughts somewhere distant from reality and his expression tired.

"Sourpuss."

"What?" Sam asked, not sure if he heard Julia right, not even sure she said anything.

"What?" Julia said with a teasing smile, playing dumb.

"No, I asked... Never mind..." Sam said shaking his head, but at least he didn't go back to that funky mood he was in just a moment ago.

"Oh, would you look at that?" Julia said looking over an open box, and leaned in to reach something from it, her movements seductive and her voice slightly flirtatious.

"What did you find?" Sam asked with genuine intrigue, and watched her straighten up, holding a small box in her hands. He huffed a smile as he watched her pull out playing cards out of the box and shuffle them clumsily, dropping a few and reaching down to pick them up, with certain... let's call it - grace to her movements. If one can call wiggling their ass in someone's face graceful. But she was pulling it off, sparking his interest and he huffed another, more genuine laugh. Oh, he knew that game.

He and Dean played it a million times, but she was way better at it, probably because she was a woman and could use her sex appeal to add to her game making her a far better predator in the scam business. Despite the fact he knew her game, he still let himself be pulled in, just to see what will happen, welcoming the distraction. Naturally, she knew he knew, they were both hunters after all, but she hoped he would get hooked regardless, just to get their minds off this whole situation.

"You play?" Julia asked with a raised brow, her lips tugging into a semi-smile.

"Depends on the game." Sam replied with a half smile of his own.

"Poker, naturally. What other game would be worth a hunter's attention? Aside from pool..." Julia said, a more warmer, genuine smile gracing her face. She knew Sam was on board, so she dropped her flirtatious act, but when she saw Sam nod, accepting the game, she couldn't help but tease.

"How 'bout we make it interesting and play strip poker?" She asked, only half serious. The face Sam gave her could only be described as a toned down bitch face with a hint of amusement, his smile widening and consequently hers too. Yeah, that might have been a no on the strip poker offer, but Julia might have another idea that could be welcomed a bit better.

"Ok, no strip poker, but we could take more ice-cream and head back to the room, play on the bed and... chill." Julia said and Sam considered it for a moment. He would prefer fresh fruit or even canned one over the ice-scream, but something inside of him went along anyway, thinking that at least they had something positive that could sheer them up. Ice-scream was definitely in that category.

"Sure. Let's go." Sam said getting up. They picked up a bowl of ice-cream from the kitchen and went back to the bedroom, each sitting on the opposite side of the bed. Julia shuffled the cards and after Sam made the cut, she dealt.

They stayed up, playing, using chips Juls found next to the cards. Even if it would have been fun to play for clothes instead for the chips, this was good this way to. They played and laughed, and Sam let her win most of the time, despite being way better at it, a certain male witch could attest to that. Not that Patrick would ever admit defeat against a Winchester, but he knew. And Sam knew.

Still he was no fool and didn't let her figure it out until it was too late, and she had most of his chips.

"You were letting me win!" Juls finally said accusingly.

"No, I wasn't." Sam said with serious appalled expression, but the smile tugging at his lips was just a bit evident.

"Yes, you were! Admit it!" Julia said glaring at him, but smiling.

"I will admit nothing, deny everything and make counter-accusations." Sam said, now with a wide smile.

"Okey, alright... I see... - Juls said with fake offense and then smirked – I bet if we played strip poker, you would be singing a different tune..."

Sam almost choked on the last scoop of his melted ice-cream and blushed rose red at the image. He debated saying he would be a gentleman and let her win, but it was a loose-loose situation either way. Or so he wanted to believe. But he anyway couldn't tell her that, because that would be him admitting he did let her win, and he wouldn't do that.

And just when a random thought crossed his mind of how poker was suddenly more important then finding a way out of there, and how this felt a lot easier then worrying about if they will ever make it back to the States, it was right then that a loud noise broke the silence. A loud sound that was clearly coming from the vents and then the heating went off. Sam looked up at the vents, confusion crossing his face and as he brought his gaze down, he caught a glimpse of the clock on the wall that said 23:59:45. And just as the last second ticked and the midnight struck, the lights went out, engulfing them both in complete darkness. Again.