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Chapter 3: Life is a Lemon.

It was late and Eve had just left the graveyard, humming softly as the last flickers of light from the fire burnt away, a fire made with the bones of the spirit that was killing innocent people. Her hunters instinct made her stop humming, this was a small back ally back to her motel and she was on foot, the car had been too conspicuous, and she was conscious of being watched. Belatedly she remembered the warnings she had heard about the other crimes that were happening in this town and she cursed her inattention and dropped the pack she carried onto the ground by her feet as she listened carefully for the sound of her followers. She thought she could hear two, maybe three and she grinned, three she could handle, she had beaten all three of the Winchester's on a regular basis, more to earn John's approval than out of any real enjoyment.

The men came at her in a rush the instant they realised that she had sensed them and she planted a high kick firmly in a chest even as she lashed out at another with her fist. She probably would have won that fight except that there was not just three men, there was five, the other two had been so quiet that she had not detected them, if she had, she would have run. Three men she could handle, even four if she had to but five was a no hope. She cursed again as a fist hit her on the side of the head causing her to fall into the grasp of one of her attackers. They laughed coarsely and she felt a knife at her throat, there was nothing for it, she opened her mouth and screamed, even managed to get a few shrill screeches out before a hand was clamped over her mouth and the knife was pressed closer to her throat, close enough to nick the skin and she felt warm blood trickling down her neck. Another knife was produced as she was dragged, struggling as much as she safely could, into dark corner. It's cool touch on her stomach told her what they were going to do and she heard the rip of her t-shirt, her favourite t-shirt, and she swore that if she got free she would do some serious damage. The arm around her began to tighten as she struggled some more and she tried to scream again, the sound muffled by the large hand and quickly turning into a whimper when she realised what they wanted and what they would do to her. To her surprise her thoughts were not of how John would react but how Dean would take the news.

Ultimately, Dean was not sure why he had stayed so late as he had, or even why he had slept so late that day, though he suspected that alcohol and exhaustion had something to do with it. He was glad he had, at ten that evening a slight dusky glow in the grave yard announced that something was burning and he was fairly certain that it was Eve's work.

He had been loading the last of their stuff into the back of the Impala when he heard the scream of a woman. His reaction was immediate. He ran off in the direction that it had come from, the sound of the scream and Sam's pounding footsteps behind him. It took a moment to realise that he had no weapons with him, bar the small knife strapped to his wrist, but was too late to go back for anything. The scream had been smothered by now but he was close enough to hear the woman struggling and it sounded like she was losing the fight. He rounded the corner and saw why, she was up against five large men and it must have taken all of them to bring her down. At the sound of his arrival they looked back at him and he caught a glimpse of the woman. It was Eve.

Dean saw red. He and Eve may have been going through a bad patch but he still cared about her, deeply, and seeing her in danger stirred feelings that he had never even considered before. He had taken out the two men with knives before he had even thought about it and with Sam's arrival he quickly dispatched the other three. Then he was at her side, catching her as her legs went from under her, the last of the adrenaline leaving her system. Her t-shirt had been shredded and he could see her damaged bra underneath it. Again he felt forbidden feelings stir and he pushed them away, irritated, she was supposed to be like a sister to him, but if he was honest, it had been years since he had thought of her in that way. He had not bothered with his jacket and he pulled his shirt off quickly to cover her, not sure if it was for her or him more. She automatically put her arms into the sleeves and pulled it closed around her. Then she put her arms around his neck and began to cry softly.

"Dean?" Sam looked at the woman he held and cursed. "We better get her to her room." His brother nodded but it was quickly evident that she was not able to walk so Dean carried her. Sam picked up her pack as they went past and dug out the key for the motel room.

After he had let them in, Dean carefully placed the exhausted woman on the double bed. She let out a small cry when she felt herself being released from his warm, protective embrace and her eyes flew open, neither of the boys had realised that she had closed them.

"Dean?" Her voice was quiet. "Sammy?"

"Hey," Sam muttered, sitting next to her and taking her hand. She smiled weakly.

"Guess I really screwed up, huh?" She was trying to be light hearted but Sam knew that she had been genuinely scared by her experience.

"You did try to take on five of them," Dean pointed out. Sam glared at him.

"There was only three when it started," she defended herself. Dean chuckled but it was not out of amusement.

"You could have died, Eve!" He snapped, his confusion making him more short tempered than usual.

"I know!" She pushed herself into a sitting position. "You think I don't? Anyway, what do you care?" She lay back on the pillows. "Thank you, Dean, for pulling me out of that little scrape. I'll try not to involve you in my affairs again."

"You're not being fair," Sam muttered.

"Neither is he," she pointed out. Dean glared for a moment.

"It was more than you ever did."

"Oh, so it's like that now?" Her lilac/blue eyes flashed.

"Yeah. All those times that I called you, that Dad called you, to ask you to help. I would have though that you would come for him, if not for me. But no, you had to be a selfish bitch and put your needs first instead of the needs of your family."

"Family? I seem to recall it was you who told me so many times that I was not a part of the family and that I never could be!" A mixture of emotions passed over her face and among them, Sam could clearly see how hurt she was by the things Dean had once said.

"So that's why you didn't come?" He asked her, Dean's face was also a mix of emotions and Sam could see one that definitely should not have been there. It worried him, how long had Dean been thinking of her in that way and did he even know it?

"Yes, Dean, that's why. I wasn't a part of the family and as I recall you told me that you didn't even want to see me again."

"I never said that!"

"Yes, yes you did! You said it and you meant it!" Dean had to think for a moment before he remembered that he actually had said it.

It was two months before he had met Cassie for the first time. The particularly bad tempered spirit that he and his father had been chasing was giving them a little trouble, it only appeared in front of women and unless someone had done the operation without them noticing, both Dean and John were both noticeably male. So John had done the one thing that he had promised himself he would never do, he had asked Dean to call Eve and ask her to come and help them. The call had gone straight to voicemail

"Hi, this is Eve and if your listening to this I can't come to the phone, probably being eaten by a demon. Anyway you know the drill, leave a message after the beep!" The answering message was a little inappropriate to Dean's mind.

"Hi, Eve, it's Dean. Great message by the way, look, Dad and I need your help. We're after something that only likes girls and we could really use someone who knows what they're doing. When you get this just call me ok and we'll arrange this. So I'll hear from you..." he hung up the call and went back to his father.

"Well?"

"It went to voice mail," Dean muttered. "I've told her to always keep her phone on and she put it on damn voice mail!"

He heard from her three days later, it was a bad line and it came too late.

"Dean, hi, I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner,"

"Yeah well you missed it, we killed the thing. Had to use some innocent girl who had no idea what she was getting herself into but we killed it."

"Will you just listen to me, I wasn't even in the country. I tried to call you and tell you but I could never get through. I was in England, doing a book signing! My books are best sellers, Dean!" She had sounded so excited, so pleased that she was having this life that could have been his. He lived for the hunt now, but six years ago it had been a different story.

"You tried real hard. If you'd kept trying you would have reached us. So you're a best selling author and had a signing, that's great, real great, it's nice to know where we come in all of this..."

"Dean," she recognised his tone. "I thought that you would be pleased for me. We're like family."

"No we're not. We never were. Dad raised you because he felt guilty and then he told you to leave. You are not a part of this family, you never were! Dammit, Eve, if you couldn't be bothered to try harder then maybe we had better never hear from you!" He had been so angry, he had just said it. He never meant it, just as his father he never really meant it when he had told Sam to stay gone if he went to college. He had never thought that she would take it as seriously as she did.

"I did say it, didn't I?" He looked at her properly for the first time. Her black hair was longer and tied back in a plait. Her eyes were still that strange lilac/blue that they had always been but her skin was no longer pale, it was suntanned. Her shape had not changed, she still had an athletic figure. She saw him looking at her and he must have had a grin on his face because hers took on a guarded expression.

"Stop it, Dean! I'm not one of those bar maids that you're so fond of!" She snapped and he shook himself back to reality, trying not to look phased by what she had just said.

"Lighten up, just haven't seen you in a while." Her cell phone rang and she grabbed it off the bedside cabinet.

"Hello?" She paused. "Yeah it's me ... ... .No, I'm not. ... ... . it's just the boys. ... ... . yeah, yeah I know. ... ... . Yeah me too, do you want to ... ... . I see. ... ... ... ..." a longer pause. "No way! No! Not a chance! ... ... ... No, John, just no. ... ... ... because he doesn't want me around... ... ... yes he has said it on occasion. ... ... ... ... . Yes, sir. ... ... ... Yes, alright, I'll do it, but only because you asked so nicely. ... ... ... ... Yeah you too. Where are you anyway? ... ... ... What do you mean you can't tell me? ... ... ... In case it falls into... ... John, what in the specters of hell is going on? ... ... ... ... Well I'd rather that you... ... ... ... ... Yes, sir. Goodbye." She hung up.

"Dad?" Sam asked. She nodded.

"He wants me to hook up with you two. Gee, won't that be fun," she pulled a face.

"Yeah, great. Stuck with you, again," Dean muttered though she could not tell if he was complaining or secretly pleased. So she fell back on tried and tested.

"Jerk!"

"Bitch!"

"Asshole!"

"Whore!"

"Bastard!"

"Hey, kids!" Sam cut in before it turned into a fist fight.

"Shut UP, Sammy!" They both snapped together, then stopped, looked at each other and laughed.

Thoughts? Please?

Artemis