A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! This is a bit of a filler chapter but it sets up important things for them. As always, please let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 46: A Little Too Volatile

"So, gather up your jackets, move it to the exits
I hope you have found a friend
Closing time, every new beginning
Comes from some other beginning's end, yeah"
- Closing Time by Semisonic

The neon sign that labelled it as Chevelle's was off. I checked to ensure no one was near us or watching as we went in. The bar felt odd now that it was empty. I had never been in an empty bar before. It was a little creepy. Any protections we put in here would have to be hidden. Especially if Eric wanted to keep the look.

"You made it." Eric walked out from the area where the pool tables were.

"Are you planning on keeping this look?" I asked, using my finger to make a circle motion around the room. "Or…."

He tilted his head as he looked at me. "Do you have a better idea? I don't think the humans here would...appreciate anything like Fangtasia."

"True," Kelly agreed. "So why are we here?"

"You're humans. I assume you would know the nuances of what humans need. There is paper on the bar. Make a list if changes are needed. There is also spray paint, Michelle. Start with the protections you need."

I didn't expect that. "Thanks," I said. "You're letting me do all of them?"

"Leave at least one door so Spike can come and go. I won't have him trapped here. I hear him often enough, I don't need it here too." He moved forward quickly and I flinched as he appeared in front of us. "We have an agreement. You would not be efficient if you did not feel safe. So," he waved his hand. "Paint."

My eyes were wide as I grinned at Kelly.

"You look crazy," she said to me. She looked back at Eric. "What else?"

"The office is in the back. Meet me in an hour." He turned and walked off, back towards the pool tables. It was likely where the office was.

"This will be fun," Kelly muttered.

"Okay, so the last time I worked off of memory, I accidentally hid the car. What do you think I could do to a bar?"

"Honestly?" Kelly looked at me. "I have no idea. Just don't blow it up while we're in here."

"I'm not going to blow it up! How could I even do that with paint?"

"It's spray paint, and knowing you, anything is possible. Didn't you almost burn off your sister's eyebrow once?" She turned and headed for the bar top.

"That was an accident."

"Everything is an accident with you."

"You're an accident," I muttered. She shot me a glare. "I promise not to blow anything up. Well, I promise to try and not blow anything up."

"Good enough." She tossed me one of the spray paint cans. "Have at it."

I shook the can and looked around. "We're going to need some ways of making sure nothing breaks these."

"Varnish?"

"Would that even work?" I asked. She just shrugged. "You think I can get Eric to let me carve things into the door? Maybe small parts of the walls too?"

"He did say you'd have free range to it. Do you have a knife for that?"

"No. Remind me to make a list of weapons we should get."

"Make a list of weapons."

"Haha." The first thing I was going to do was paint the devil's traps in the doorway. Then maybe move some of the weird wall art around so I could hide some stuff behind them. "Wait, what colour is this?" I paused and looked at the canister.

"...blacklight paint is a thing?" Kelly asked, looking at one of the spray cans still on the bar.

"Huh. That's cool. But how will I see what I'm painting?"

"One way to find out."

Kelly and I split up. She looked around for things that could be improved, which from the ranting that I heard was mainly the bathrooms. I took my time, painting traps and symbols throughout the place and hiding them as best as I could once they were dry. I was going to have to figure out another way to keep them in place. All it would take was a heel pushing the carpet slightly to ruin the trap under it. Carving things seemed like a good idea but I wasn't sure if it would work. Maybe if I mixed the mediums. Carved it and drew on it...with permanent marker. Or cement.

The back door to the office was almost hidden in the wall. Tucked just enough away that you wouldn't see it if you didn't know where to look for it. It was cooler than I expected from a place like this. There was a small hallway. The door at the end looked like an exit, but we didn't go check. We stopped halfway down the hall, at the open door where Eric's office was.

"What is the outcome of the hour?" he asked, looking up from the papers he was reading over. We were used to Eric and his presence, but there was something about sitting across a desk from him. He was in his element and we weren't. The imbalance left me a little on edge.

"The bathrooms are disgusting," Kelly said. "Stall doors need to be fixed and the whole place cleaned. Some repairs on some of the booths and chairs are needed. Here," Kelly handed him the notebook she had been writing in.

He took it and glanced over it before looking up at me. "And you?"

"I drew some devil's traps and hid some protection insignias under some of the posters. Need to find a way to make sure people don't scrape it off. Also, I just realized, if we have someone clean, I'll have to not have things on the floor."

"What happens if a demon tries to get in? They get trapped in the front door?" Kelly asked. "That won't look strange."

"...I didn't think of that," I admitted. "Maybe we can ward it on the outside so they don't want to come in. Or if I can hide it from them…" I mentally went over the things I had read so far.

"What if you had the exorcism playing in the doorway? Just enough to be heard?"

"Would that scare them or entice them to burn the place down?"

"Good point," she said.

"I need a knife," I looked at Eric who had been watching us go back and forth. "I want to carve in some of the symbols in the doorways and...other areas. I don't think I can do that with a kitchen knife. At least, not easily."

Eric leaned forward. "You want weapons?"

Kelly and I looked at each other. Her eyebrows slightly raised, asking and telling me it was up to me. I nodded. I looked back at Eric.

"What can you get?"

"What do you want?" He asked.

If I was honest, I wanted everything. Including things that I was sure didn't exist. That didn't mean they were impossible though. I laid out what I wanted in detail. The list was...extensive, but I preferred to be prepared and monsters weren't always destroyed by the same thing.

Eric gave me a particular look. "One might say you're going overboard."

"Yeah, well, dreaming of Lucifer will do that." I had also threatened to kill him. I didn't say that though. I was still trying not to think about it.

"Hmm," Eric leaned back in his chair. "He is particularly...talkative. Not as persuasive as I expected...or as I am," he smirked.

Kelly looked like she was trying not to roll her eyes. "You dream of him?" she asked.

"It has happened. His attempts at persuasion were futile."

"Yeah, doesn't stop him from being terrifying."

Eric looked between us. "You fear him. More than you fear me."

"He's a wild card," I said. "We know what you can do but him...his moods switch like a preteen girl and I have no idea what he can do. Aside from threatening to break me."

Eric's eyes flashed. "Did he now?"

"What?" Kelly turned to me. "You never said that."

"It was before I said I'd kill him," I said, giving a shrug with one shoulder.

"Jesus Christ," she muttered. "Did anything else happen?"

"Does it matter?" I looked between her and Eric. "I was angry. I just...I can fight, but not if I don't have the weapons for it. You need guns," I pointed to Kelly. "I need...everything else. And ways to hide them." I knew there were holsters, but there had to be better ways to hide weapons on a person. "I have to figure that out."

"Well, you certainly continue to...surprise." He opened a desk drawer and pulled out a folder. "Your contracts." He handed it to Kelly.

She opened the folder and flipped through the pages before handing me a couple. I looked down and started to read. It seemed pretty standard, all things considered, though some of the requirements like warding and security were unlikely to be on anyone else's.

"Wait, you want us to waitress?" Kelly looked up at him.

"You," he pointed. "Her...well, Michelle is a little too volatile to handle that. You'll either work security or bartend. It is easier to keep customers if you're not attacking them for sneaking up on you."

I couldn't argue with that. I didn't even like being here when it was empty. "I don't know anything about bartending."

"Learn," he said. "The conditions of your contracts are that you help manage the bar when I am away, in the day. At night you will be required to work and if I am here, then you would fill other positions...like waitressing."

Kelly made a face. "I hated being a waitress. People suck."

"Only if you let them," Eric's lips twitched like he was going to smirk at her again. "It can be...quite pleasurable."

"Okay," I cut in. "Is there anything else we need to go over?"

It turned out there was a lot more. We discussed salary and Kelly made a point of telling Eric he would need to start paying rent. He didn't agree but he also didn't disagree, so it seemed like a standstill. I had a feeling Kelly was going to win though. We also discussed what to do with the staff that used to work there. It didn't seem fair to fire them when they had no choice with Eric buying it. He agreed to keep only the ones that were the best at what they did and the least likely to ask questions. Considering what we were trying to hide, it was an acceptable compromise.

By the time we left, it was the early morning. The sky was still dark and unlikely to rise for a couple more hours. The wind was blowing through the few trees that were near. I glanced around as we headed to the car. There was a man standing by a truck across the street.

"You think there's food at home?"

"Huh?" I glanced at Kelly, startled by her voice. I turned back to look at the man again but there was no one there. "That's weird," I said under my breath.

"Mish?" Kelly was looking at me concerned. "You alright?"

"Yeah, just...thought I saw something."

"Maybe I should drive."

"I'm fine," I opened the driver's door as we got to the car.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Come on, let's go. I'm starving."

"You're always starving." She closed the door after getting in.

"Yeah, well you run and train with Jane and Remy or Five twice a day and tell me how much you eat."

"Once is enough for me with Jane. I'll stick to guns with Five."

"You know, you never actually showed me how good you are." I reversed the car out of the parking spot and headed home.

"Oh yeah! Well, we can go practice later. After the sun's up. Don't want someone calling the cops if they think we're shooting each other in the dark."

I shuddered. I didn't want the cops near me or the house ever again. "Sounds good."

"Just wait." There was a sudden random tune playing and Kelly jumped as it started. She pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Oh! It's Dean." She answered. I only caught her side of the conversation. "Hey, yeah, no, Mish and I are just heading home." I waved to the phone. "She says hi. No, we were at the bar. Yeah, that bar. No, Eric asked us to come, start planning things. Well, he owns it now. You'd know if you called before. I know, I'm sorry," her voice went soft. "It's fine. Are you okay?" I tuned her out, focusing on the road. It was the least bit of privacy I could offer.

We finally got back to the house. Kelly was still on the phone so I left her on the porch and headed for the kitchen. The house was silent. It was too early for the vampires to be back, but it was an odd feeling. I was used to someone always being around. I ate quickly and headed to the dining room. I picked up the notebook and went back to reading the notes Giles had made. I had threatened the devil. I needed to find a way to protect all of us from that. Just in case.

The days passed by quickly. Any daylight hours were filled with training with Jane, Remy or Five. They left both Kelly and I bruised, especially when Five took out the paintball gun again. Neither of us fared better than the last time. Kelly was a ridiculous shot though. She finally showed me the results of her training with Five. It was impressive and terrifying all at once. I knew her well enough to be scared of her before she had any training, now she could shoot a target nearly a hundred yards away.

The nights were spent researching and bouncing ideas off of Giles and Hermione. Truthfully, Giles was a little more helpful with the ideas, whereas Hermione was fantastic with the research. They were a bit of a scary team. I spent my nights trying to keep up with them. Until Hermione decided to drug me with tea again.

Something was touching me. I flung myself away from whatever it was as fast as I could, scrambling for some distance to face it. My legs got stuck, tangled in the sheets as I moved. I fell headfirst off of the bed with a yell. My legs were still caught as I landed on the floor.

"Ow," I muttered, officially awake. I looked at my legs. They were still half on the bed, wrapped up in the sheets. Sam's face came into view, staring down at me. His eyes were half-lidded and he looked confused.

"Michelle?"

The door to the bedroom burst open. Dean and Kelly stopped in the doorway, guns raised and looking for the threat I thought I had felt. They both paused as they looked between Sam and me. Dean sighed and lowered the gun.

"I told you it was a bad idea."

Sam glared back at him, unimpressed.

"What?" I asked, looking between them. Maybe I was not as awake as I thought. "When the hell did you guys get here?"

"Couple hours ago. You alright?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," I looked back at Sam. I had felt him touching me. I just hadn't expected it. I had gone to sleep alone. "Just confused."

"Can you leave?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Kelly stepped forward and pushed Dean back out of the doorway. "Michelle, go back to sleep."

I looked over at Sam and frowned. "You can't just climb into a girl's bed when she's sleeping."

"I wouldn't complain," Kelly said.

I looked over to see her smirking. I grabbed the pillow that had fallen off the bed with me and threw it at her. "Get out!"

She closed the door, laughing.

"Here," Sam offered down a hand. He was sitting up now.

"I think I need to untangle myself first. Bit of an awkward position…" I said. I reached up and took it anyway. Sam pulled and I found myself back up in the bed quickly. "Huh," I looked over at him. His hair was a mess and he was wearing a t-shirt. The rest of him was somehow still covered by the blanket. "That was impressive."

He smiled at me. He lay back down and put his arm out towards me. I took the invitation to curl up against him.

"Sorry for scaring you," he said softly.

"I didn't know it was you."

"I know. I should have told you we were coming." He wrapped the arm around me, pulling me in closer.

"Are you okay?" I peered at him in the dark. He looked tired, but that could have been from waking up to me throwing myself out of the bed.

He sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired." He pressed his lips against my hair. "Let's go back to sleep."

"Mmkay," I said. I watched as he closed his eyes. We hadn't really spoken since the last time he called, but it didn't feel like anything had changed. Except that he looked exhausted, even when trying to sleep.

"I can feel you staring," he said softly. His lips twitched like he was holding back a smile.

"Sorry," I looked away, trying to get comfortable. He was trying to save the world. The least I could do was let him rest. "Night Sam."

"Goodnight Michelle."

[tbc]