Author's Note: Happy Friday! Please send me healing vibes, as I've thrown my back out! It's happened before so I know how to treat it- ice/heat, stretching, and meds- but it's still very painful. Thank you to those of you who left reviews! Beta'd by Edge_of_Clairvoyance.

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

When I came into the kitchen the next day, Uncle Bobby said, "You're lookin' rough, kid."

"Yeah, I couldn't- I barely slept." I rubbed my eyes.

"You want some coffee?"

I looked at him with surprise.

"I know, I know, your old man don't let you have it, I won't tell if you don't. A little bit of coffee's okay every once in a while, I know Sam used to drink it when he was studyin'." He got up from the table and poured me a mug, then added sugar and a healthy pour of milk.

"Thanks, Uncle Bobby." I said gratefully.

"You want to talk about the dream?" He asked.

"Not really." I took a sip of coffee.

"You want some scrambled eggs and toast?"

"You don't have to."

He put his hands on his hips. "I know that, ya idjit, I'm offering to make you some. Are you hungry?"

"Yes, I'll eat some eggs, no toast though. Thanks."

He busied himself at the stove, mixing the eggs and heating the pan, whistling through his teeth. One of his cell phones rang. "Singer," He said into the receiver. He listened for a long moment. "Well, for that you're gonna need a dagger made of pure brass, or something similar that can puncture, for stabbing. Gonna have to go through the heart. That's the only thing I know of. Yeah, it's gotta be brass. No, I don't happen to have a brass dagger, I ain't 'Weapons-R- Us'! Find somethin' else, like a fireplace poker. Yeah, brass. Okay, yeah. Bye." He hung up, shaking his head and muttering to himself about unprepared idjits.

I drank more of the coffee. He brought over a plate with scrambled eggs that had melted cheese on top.

"Thanks, Uncle Bobby."

He sat down with his mug. "You're welcome, kid. So, what's on the agenda today?"

"I need to finish copying the chapters and then work on memorizing the diagram of the gun. And look up stuff for school if I have time."

"Sounds like a full day." He said. "Let me know if you want me to test you on the parts of a gun."

I spent the rest of the day copying, and managed to get the rest of my pages done, even though I fell asleep on the sofa in the middle of the day. Sam called and said they didn't think they were going to make it back in time for us to leave that evening. I was relieved that I had gotten it done, though. Dad had never specified what would happen if I didn't get the copying finished, but I didn't want to find out.

The next day I woke up feeling hot. My throat felt like it was on fire and all my joints ached. I stumbled downstairs, and when I got to the kitchen doorway Uncle Bobby stood up. "Whoa, you look like hell!" He hurried over to me, and put his hand on my forehead. "You're running a fever. Let's get you back to bed, I'll bring you up some breakfast."

"Everything hurts." I whined.

"Everything?" He asked.

"My throat, it hurts really bad when I swallow, it's burning, and my joints hurt a lot."

He walked over to the counter and grabbed something, then came back over holding a small flashlight. I heard a click. "Lemme look at your throat, say 'ahh'."

I opened my mouth and he looked in. "Your throat's as red as a fire engine." He told me. "Let's get you upstairs." He held onto my arm as we walked upstairs, and I climbed back into bed.

"When are they coming back?" I tried not to whine. "Can you call my dad?" Suddenly I just wanted him there, I wanted to know that my dad and brothers were safe and with me.

He patted his jeans pocket. "My cell's downstairs, I'll call 'em."

He brought me a tray with toast and a cup of hot tea, gave me a dose of ibuprofen, and told me that no one had answered his calls. I ate a couple bites of toast but it made my throat hurt even worse, so I didn't eat any more. The tea felt too hot to drink, so I just laid down. I felt sad and tense with worry-did they not answer because something was wrong? My head began to hurt as I drifted in and out of sleep.

I was dimly aware of hearing footsteps on the stairs, and then the door hinges creaked. "Aly, you awake?" Dean asked quietly.

I opened my eyes as he walked in. "Hey, short stuff." He came over to the bed, Sam behind him.

"Hey, Aly, heard you're not feeling well." Sam said.

I sat up, wincing as my head throbbed. Dean held up a tall plastic cup. "Got you a slushy from the Gas-n-Sip, it might help your throat."

I felt so relieved to see them that I started crying.

"What is it?" Dean asked.

"I'm just-I feel so crappy, and I was worried about you guys and Uncle Bobby said you didn't answer when he called." I wiped my eyes with the sheet and tried to stop crying.

My brothers looked at each other, doing the "talking without words" thing, and then Dean said, "Yeah, we were in the middle of-cleaning up when he called, so we couldn't pick up." He handed me the cup, and I noticed that his knuckles were swollen and bloody.

"What happened, are you okay?" I took the cup.

"Yeah, it's nothing." He wouldn't meet my eyes.

I took a drink- the cold slushy felt good on my throat. "Thanks for bringing this." I set it on the bedside table.

I heard more footsteps on the stairs and then Dad came in.

I couldn't help it, I started to cry again. Being sick always made me feel like a little kid, I just wanted comfort from my dad. "Dad!" I held out my arms to him.

He came over and sat down on the bed, pulling me in for a hug. His leather jacket felt good on my hot skin. He kissed my temple, and then sat back and placed his hand on my forehead. "You're burning up. Dean, go get the thermometer and some ibuprofen, would you?"

"Yessir." Dean left the room.

"Why are you crying? What happened?"

"I just-feel so bad-and I just wanted-you guys to be here-" I sobbed.

He hugged me again, stroking the back of my head. He smelled like leather and sweat and the faint tang of whiskey, and it comforted me.

He let me go. "When did you start feeling sick?"

"I woke up this morning feeling bad." I shivered.

"When I called the school to let them know you wouldn't be there, the receptionist said that strep throat is going around."

"Yeah, two of my friends were out sick on Friday."

He nodded. "You were probably exposed to it last week." He grabbed a tissue out of the box on the bedside table and held it out to me.

I took it and wiped my eyes. "I got all the chapters done, Dad. But I didn't memorize the diagram of the gun, I'm sorry."

He cupped my cheek and smiled at me. "That's all right. I heard you had a pretty bad nightmare. You want to talk about it?"

"Um, well... the first part was the normal dream I used to have when I was little where I got lost in the forest and you guys drove away." Remembering that made the sadness that I felt in the dream come back.

Sam nodded. "Stress dream."

"But then while I was standing there I heard growling and there were all these weird creatures-like, that looked like monsters- in the woods. One of them started to run at me but it got thrown against a tree by an invisible force. Then a man was there and he said he would help me, and he put his hand up and made a couple of the creatures fall over. He grabbed my hand and we started to run, but I got tired and tried to pull away. He kept holding on to me, and when I tried to pull away again, he said I couldn't get away, and his eyes turned black."

Dean had come into the room by then, carrying the med kit. "Sounds pretty intense." He set it on the end of the bed and took out the ear thermometer. After it beeped, he reported, "It's 103."

"I want to take you to the urgent care." Dad got up.

"I don't want to go anywhere!" I whined.

"We can go this afternoon." Dad got a bottle out of the med kit and shook some pills out. He handed them to me and I swallowed them with some of the slushy.

"So, let's get back to your dream. What did the man look like?" Dad asked.

I thought back. "Um, he was thin. An older man, with a little beard, his hair was short and he was kinda balding. He had on drab-colored clothing."

"What exactly did he say?" Dean asked.

"First he said to come with him, that he'd save me, then I was trying to pull away from him, he said don't try to get away and that I wouldn't get away. That's when his eyes turned black. Why are you asking? What does it mean?" I asked, looking at all of them. My brothers wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Bobby told me you took one of his books on demonology and were reading it at bedtime." Dad said sternly. "I shouldn't have to tell you that that's wrong."

Now he was going to be mad at me! "I know, Dad, I'm sorry." My emotions got the better of me and more tears filled my eyes. "I was just curious about it because I- I overheard you guys talking about a demon." I blurted, glancing at Dean. "In the car on the way here."

"You were awake!" He said accusingly. He looked over at Sam. "See, I told you!"

Dad raised his eyebrows. "You were talking about the hunt in front of her?"

Dean ran his hand through his hair. "Well, yeah, she was zonked out in the back seat, she'd been asleep for a while. At least we thought she was asleep." He frowned at me and I quailed inside.

"I'm the one who mentioned the demon." Sam said.

"Don't be mad!" I exclaimed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I just didn't know what to think, and I-I'm sorry about everything!" I lowered my head and covered my face with my hand as the tears spilled over.

I felt Dad's hand on my shoulder. He leaned down to hug me again and I grabbed at his arms. "Shh, it's-it's all right, don't worry about it. You need to focus on getting better right now."

I shivered again and he released me. "Lie down and get warm." He pulled the covers up and tucked them around me.

"Don't leave, will you sit with me?" I asked him.

"All right." He sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Hope you feel better, Aly." Dean ruffled my hair.

Sam leaned down to kiss my cheek, "Yeah, feel better." They left the room together.

I rolled over onto my stomach and Dad began to rub my back, and I eventually fell asleep.

There were only a couple of other people at the Sioux Falls Urgent Care Center, so I was seen quickly. My strep test was positive and we were able to get the antibiotic from their on-site pharmacy. We stopped to get pizzas on the way home, and I waited in the car while Dad went in to pick them up.

I only ate about half a slice of pizza and then went back to bed after I took the antibiotic. Uncle Bobby and Dean had gone to the grocery store and Uncle Bobby was making home made beef stew. Dean had convinced him to make another chicken pot pie as well.

For the next couple of days I was really out of it. Dad and my brothers woke me up to give me my medicine, feed me mugs of soup and cold drinks, and walk me to the bathroom, but I mostly slept. I had strange dreams- some that made me uncomfortable or scared, and some that just didn't make sense, but I knew that they were because I was sick.

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

I woke up hearing breathing next to me, and opened my eyes. Dad was asleep, sitting on the bed, propped up against the headboard, his arm around my shoulders, my head pillowed on his thigh.

I sat up, and the movement dislodged his arm. He awoke with a start, sitting forward. "Aly." His voice was husky with sleep. "How are you feeling?"

I swallowed. "My throat doesn't hurt as bad and I don't have a headache." I reported. "How come you're in here?"

"You were fussing a lot last night, said you had a bad headache and you were restless. You wanted someone to stay with you, so I sat with you and fell asleep." He rubbed the back of his neck, moving his head from side to side. "Do you want to try and come downstairs? The beef stew that Bobby made is really good."

"Okay."

He stood up. "Let's see how the fever is doing." He picked up the ear thermometer. "One hundred, that's a lot better than it's been." He held out his hand to me. I took it and he helped me stand up. I followed him downstairs into the kitchen.

Sam was standing by the door looking out at the rain. The overhead light above the door was off, partially casting him in shadow. He turned to us, and I had a flash just then of a dream--a man, standing in the shadows, turning to watch me. A beam of light shone across him and I could see his face and his eyes, which were yellow-

Someone grabbed me from behind. "She's up and about!" Dean crowed, picking me up off the floor.

"Dean!" I squawked as he set me down.

He moved in front of me and hugged me. "How are you feeling, kiddo?"

"Better, my throat isn't as sore."

Sam came over to us and gave me a hug. "I'm glad you're feeling better."

Dad pulled out a chair. "Sit down, what are you in the mood to eat?"

"Bobby's beef stew is excellent." Dean made the "okay" sign with his hand. "But I'm sorry to report that the chicken pot pie is all gone."

"Yeah, because you ate most of it." Sam gave his shoulder a shove.

"Well, what can I say, I love me some pie, all kinds!" Dean grinned.

"I'll try the stew." I said.

Dad brought over a glass of ice water and some pills and set them in front of me. I swallowed the medicine and drank most of the water. "What day is it?" I asked.

"It's Thursday." Sam told me.

I rubbed my eyes. "Geez, I must've been really out of it."

Dean nodded. "You were. Having all kinds of crazy dreams, too."

"Anything more like the nightmare?" Sam asked.

I thought for a moment. I had fleeting images of different things- my brothers walking away from me, a man standing in the shadows, walking into a room and seeing a creature on a table-

The door opened and Uncle Bobby came into the kitchen, carrying a cardboard box. "Well, look who's out of bed! How ya feelin', shorty?"

"Better." I said.

He walked over to the table across the room and set the box down. "All my herbs are restocked now, and I got some stuff for y'all, too." He started to unload plastic bags and bottles onto the table. Sam got up and went over to look at his purchases.

Dad brought over a bowl and spoon and a sleeve of Saltine crackers and set them in front of me. I spooned up some of the broth. "This is really good!"

"Isn't it?" Dean wiggled his eyebrows. "You gotta get the recipe and try it."

"Well, you'll need to find a place that'll sell ya a soup bone. The regular grocery store usually don't have them just sittin' around but I'm friends with a local butcher." Uncle Bobby said.

Suddenly I was starving. I added crackers to the stew, and finished it quickly. Dad gave me a second helping that was mostly meat and vegetables and I ate that quickly as well. I felt a lot better after that, so I went into the living room with my brothers and we watched _ together.

Dad decided that we would check my fever in the morning and if it was still lower, we would go home. When I woke up the next day, my temperature was 99 degrees, so we packed up and drove home.

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

"Keep your eyes on Dean," Sam said. "You should always be watching so that you can respond to his movements."

Dean swung his right hand and tapped my bicep.

"Make sure you keep your arms up." Sam adjusted my arms, which were held in front of me.

Dean swung again, and Sam said, "Now lean back!"

Dean tapped my bicep again. I huffed. "I thought I was supposed to not let him hit me and now you're saying lean back!" My brothers were trying to teach me sparring, but it wasn't going well.

"Yeah, you want to do both. You're trying to block the hits and also move away, and you'll eventually learn to do both." Dean smiled at me. "Look at my hand when I swing and see if you can notice the trajectory, and try to put your forearm right there to block my hand." He stepped back and then swung his hand slowly.

Sam took my arm and moved it so that the forearm was upright in front of me, and Dean tapped my wrist. "This is what you want to do, to prevent your opponent from getting to your face or chest. Try again."

Dean moved slightly, and said, "Keep your toes pointed at me, move with me." I stepped toward him and he swung at me. I held my arms up and he tapped my forearm. "Good!" He said. "Now try leaning back a little." He swung again and I leaned back and pushed my arm out when his hand came at me. His hand glanced off my arm. "That's great, you're getting it!" He stepped back and said, "Come closer." So I stepped toward him again. I practiced blocking him a few more times, and then he said, "Let's switch things up, you try to hit me."

Sam showed me how to hold my hand, and how to swing my arm, and Dean held his arms up. I swung at him, and he leaned away from me. I swung again, and he put his arm out and blocked me. He kept moving around, stepping away and blocking me, and I became frustrated.

"I can't do this, Dean is too fast for me!" I griped.

"You're doing fine," Sam said. "Dean just doesn't like to lose."

"Oh yeah?" Dean stepped from foot to foot. "C'mon, see if you can take me."

"All right. Move back, Aly." Sam said, and I stepped away. Sam launched himself at Dean, and they began to grapple. Watching them spar was like watching a ballet. They knew how to anticipate each other's moves and defend themselves. After several minutes, they ended up on the floor with Sam holding Dean down. "You give?" Sam asked.

"All right, easy, tiger, I give!" Dean huffed. "You won 'cause you got a couple inches on me, that's all."

Sam let Dean go and stood up. "Dude, you've been making that excuse since I was what, 18 and I became taller than you?"

Dean got up. "Fighting a sasquatch ain't easy!" He looked at me. "How are you holding up? You want to go again?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm tired, I want to sit down."

Sam put his arm around my shoulders. "Yeah, we don't want to tire you out too quickly. Go sit down and I'll bring you some water."

I was anxious to go back to school since I had missed a whole week. On Sunday Sam let me use his laptop and I started working on my outline for my Social Studies project.

I was in my room getting ready for bed when Dad knocked on the door jamb. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah." I closed my dresser drawer and went to sit down on my bed.

He crossed the room and leaned against the dresser. "I wanted to talk to you about something." He said. "Bobby suggested it, and I think I agree- that the nightmare you had before you got sick was influenced by what you were reading, the lore book and the demonology book. And that tells me that you may not be quite ready to learn about hunting."

"Does that mean you're not going to train me anymore?"

"No, it just means that we'll work on the physical training now, like you did with your brothers yesterday. Sometimes it takes a while for a person to be-psychologically ready- for learning about the supernatural world."

"And you think I'm not psychologically ready." I said sourly, folding my arms. "Because I'm immature and impulsive."

He came over and sat on the end of the bed, his elbow on his knee. "I didn't say that. Hey- learning about what's out there is a big step, and it can be daunting. Sometimes it can-well, let's just say that some people can't handle it very well and it-it hinders their ability to be a good hunter. And we don't want that for you." He got a wistful look on his face. "I'd give anything for you to still be naive about everything, to still have that innocence, but...it's better that you know about what's really out there, so you can learn how to defend yourself if you need to. You're getting older and I won't be able to always keep you at home."

"Wow, you're actually admitting that I'm growing up?" I grinned at him.

He smiled back at me so that his dimples showed. "Yes, miss smarty-pants, I'm aware of it, I just don't...I guess I haven't been handling it well. But that's for me to deal with, not you." He stood up. "You feeling ready to go back to school tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm not looking forward to all the work I have to make up, but it'll be good to be back." I smiled up at him. "Thanks for taking care of me this week."

He came over and hugged me. "Of course, pumpkin." He dropped a kiss on top of my head. "Sleep well."

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

When I walked into the choir room on Monday morning, everyone turned to me with big smiles. Jenny and Haley came rushing over to me. "Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you're back!" Jenny gushed.

"I had strep." I told them as we walked over to the chairs.

"Hey!" Marc gave me a huge smile. "You're back!"

I felt warm inside as he looked at me, and couldn't help but smile back. "Hi, Marc."

"We missed you! The soprano section especially, they could barely carry a tune without you." Marc smirked at Jenny. She flipped him the bird.

"Ms. Brown, Jenny is making rude finger gestures at me." Marc called.

"Well, you probably deserved it." Ms. Brown walked over to the piano. "Gather 'round so we can warm up." She called amid everyone's laughter.

Marc fell into step beside me as we walked over to the piano. "I am glad to see you." He smiled at me again. I noticed how blue his eyes were.

"I'm glad to see you too." I felt my face getting warm as I took my place next to Jenny.

During rehearsal I kept looking over at him. Several times I caught him watching me, or he'd catch my eye and smile, his face lighting up. Every time he smiled at me I felt a little glow of happiness.

We walked out of the choir room together. He took a deep breath. "So, hey, I wanted to ask you...would you like to go to the movies with me this weekend?"

I looked up at him. "Yeah, I would, but-" I felt my face get hot and knew I was blushing. "I'm grounded right now."

"That's a bummer. Parents, man, they've always gotta be putting a crimp in our style!" He made a face. "Do you know when you'll be off of grounding?"

"I gotta ask my dad, he didn't specify. It's been over a week, so hopefully soon." We were at the staircase. "I have to go up to Algebra Two now."

"Okay, see ya!" He waved and turned to go down the hallway.

I kept thinking of him all during the rest of my classes. At the end of the day, I was surprised to see him come up to me outside of English-I knew he had class on the other side of the building.

"What are you doing here?" I couldn't help but smile at him.

He came close to me. "So listen, since you're grounded and can't go to the movies, I thought we could do something now." He glanced around. "You know the stairwell at the far end of the B wing? Hardly anyone ever goes there, we can go there and hang out."

"You mean-you mean cut class?" I whispered.

He nodded, looking me in the eyes. "We can pretend we're at the movies."

I laughed. "Okay, let's go!"

"Follow me." He started to walk down the hallway. He opened the door to the stairwell and motioned me in. This stairwell was one of the only ones that went all the way into the basement as well as to both upper floors. It was very echo-y and Jenny and I had spent time singing in here.

We walked down to the bottom of the flight and sat on the lower landing. He held his hands up. "Picture this, we're in front of a theater screen."

"But not too close, we don't want to hurt our necks looking up."

He nodded. "Right! Man, one time we got to the movie late and had to sit in the front row, it was awful! My neck was sore all night." He glanced at me. "So, the movie is starting." He held his hand out, the fingers curled like he was holding a cup. "Popcorn?"

"Thank you!" I pantomimed taking a handful of popcorn out of the cup. "Oh, you put just the right amount of butter on it."

"You like movie theater butter?"

"Yeah, I love it! I know it's just grease, but...it tastes so good!"

"Yeah, me too." He said. "Here's the beginning, where we see the origin story of the superhero. He's lost his parents in a tragic accident that may or may not have been orchestrated by the bad guy." He drummed his fingertips together.

"Why is it that all superheroes have to have a tragic back story? Like, their parents always die. Just once I'd like to see a superhero who came from a normal family, a mom and dad and maybe a kid brother who keeps stealing his tools or something, you know?"

He laughed. "I never thought of that! You're right. The hero could have something happy happen to him instead of family members dying." He hit the side of my arm. "Oh, and here comes the love interest."

"But of course, the hero has a secret crush and she has no idea. Or does she?" I raised my eyebrow, and Marc chuckled again.

"Dun-dun-dunnn! And here we have the bad guy that the hero has to fight. Of course, we're not sure at first if he is a bad guy or not, you know, he says some things that you might agree with, and then later he's revealed to be an absolute jerkwad."

I nodded. "Morally ambiguous villains are always fun."

He laughed and slapped his knee. "Morally ambiguous-you're a trip, Aly."

I grinned at him. "And they always have a couple of big monologues, you notice that? Here's the first big fight scene." I said. "Let's keep count of how many buildings are destroyed while the main characters are fighting."

"I'm gonna say at least five. There will be more in the grand finale battle." He held his hand up. "More popcorn?"

"Thank you." My fingertips brushed against his and he looked at me and held my eyes for a long moment.

I felt a flutter in the pit of my stomach and looked away. "Oh, look, the bad guy has managed to capture the love interest. Will the hero be able to save her in time?"

"Of course he will! The big question is, will she find out the hero's true feelings? Will we find out that she feels the same way?" He glanced at me. "Do you...do you feel the same way?"

"The same way as what?" I asked quietly, the fluttering growing stronger.

He turned toward me. "The same way as me. I-I really like you, Aly. I've been wanting to-"

"To what?"

He leaned closer, holding my eyes. "To ask you out for a while now. And-to-to kiss you, can I kiss you?"

"Yes," I breathed, and he tilted his head and leaned closer. I closed my eyes and felt his lips touch mine, soft and warm-

I was dimly aware of the creak of door hinges somewhere above us and then a voice said, "A-HEM."

We jumped apart and turned- Ms. Brown stood on the landing above us. "Aren't you two supposed to be in class?"

We both stood up, grabbing our backpacks, and hurried up the stairs to her. "Yeah, we were just-uh, comparing notes about the performance last week-" Marc joked.

"Is that what they're calling it these days?" Ms. Brown raised her eyebrow.

Marc's face reddened and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Please, Ms. Brown, can you kinda keep this between us, Coach has a real strict policy about not getting into any trouble in school-"

She nodded. "Yes, I'll let it go this time. But I don't want to find you two like this again, all right?"

She pulled a small pad out of her bag and began to fill out a Hall Pass.

"You won't. Thank you." I said.

"Yeah, thanks a lot." Marc said gratefully.

She tore the paper off and handed it to Marc. "You go on."

He took the pass. "Yes ma'am. See you, Aly."

"Bye, Marc." I smiled at him. I felt like I was floating.

He turned and went through the door.

Ms. Brown stopped writing and looked at me. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"You were here of your own accord, he didn't…" She raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, he asked me and I said yes."

She nodded. "It's just really not like you to skip class. But as long as you weren't under duress."

I sighed. "Yeah, I know, I just-he wanted-" I felt like I could talk to her. "He was gonna ask me out but I'm grounded right now, so he asked if we could, y'know, spend some time together." The idea that we were pretending to watch a movie seemed silly now, and I didn't want to tell her.

"I see. As long as you feel safe." She finished filling out the slip and tore it off, handing it to me. "If you ever need to talk, I'm here."

"Thanks, Ms. Brown." I smiled at her.

"You'd better hurry to class now."

I handed in my pass to the teacher and slid into my seat. Jenny looked over at me, raising her eyebrows. "Where were you?" She mouthed.

"With Marc." I mouthed back.

Her eyes got big, and she clenched her fist and pounded the desk once. "Tell me!" She mouthed.

I nodded, and then turned my attention to the board.

As soon as the bell rang, Jenny sprang up and grabbed me. "Tell me everything!" We started to walk together.

"Okay, well he- he asked if I wanted to go see a movie and I told him I was grounded."

She nodded. "I saw you guys talking."

"Right before this class started, he came up to me and asked if I wanted to skip. He said we could go somewhere and talk. We went to the stairwell that goes down to the changing rooms, you know, the one we sing in. We sat down and started pretending that we were watching a movie."

She laughed. "That is so like him!"

"And then-" I grinned at her.

She looked surprised. "Oh my gosh, don't tell me-"

I leaned close. "He kissed me!" I whispered.

"I knew it!" She clapped her hands. "You were practically glowing when you came into the room! Oh my gosh, Aly, that's so great! So...how was he?"

"Um, I don't know, fine, I guess?"

She laughed. "Fine, you guess? Gee…"

"Well I don't know, I have nothing to judge it by, it was the first time!"

"Aww, that's so sweet!" She clasped her hands together.

We were at our lockers at this point, and I both got out our purses and walked to the car rider line.

She looked at me, chuckling. "You have this big grin on your face, it'll go away for a second and then you start again." She squeezed my arm. "I'm so happy for you! You guys make a cute couple!"

I gave her a look. "Um, we just kinda went out on a date."

She gave me a look back. "Well, that's probably next, he's probably gonna ask if you want to be boyfriend-girlfriend."

I felt surprised. "You think so?"

"After seeing the way he looks at you? Heck yeah!" She grinned.

"Alyson Winchester." The teacher called down the hallway.

"See you tomorrow!" I said, and turned to walk down the hallway. I could see the Impala at the curb as I walked toward the open doorway, and my stomach dropped. What was I going to tell my dad and brothers? Should I tell them the truth, that I had just had my first kiss today?

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

Author's Note: What do you think? Should Aly tell the Winchester men about her first kiss? How do you think John, Sam, and Dean will react?