Piper and the boys walked back to the Impala after essentially being told to forget the case. Piper was less than pleased.
"The nerve of that guy! You're the Winchesters! As if he gets to tell you what to hunt," she huffed as she climbed into the backseat.
Dean chuckled. "Pipes, you're more irritated than I am."
"Can it, Winchester." she grumbled.
Sam smiled, and then let it fade. "Seriously, though, Dean. I think that guy was overestimating himself." Sam turned back to the windshield. "We should follow him."
Piper nodded, and Dean caught it in the rear view mirror.
He shook his head. "No, Piper. If we're going to follow him, then you're staying at the motel."
She sat up and glared at him through the mirror. "What? No way, Winchester! You're not leaving me there while you guys go out and-"
Dean slammed on the brakes and whipped around. "Piper, you're not going. We have no idea what we're walking into, we have no idea what he's like, and we're not risking it."
Sam turned back and looked at her. "Piper, come on. We're just trying to-"
"Would both of you please stop treating me like I'm made of glass?" She snapped at them, cutting Sam off. She glared at both of them, but primarily at Dean. "I am not sixteen anymore. I'm a hunter. I've been hunting on my own for years. Years. I have gotten myself into trouble and I have found my way out and back to you. So shut your damn mouths, I'm going with you."
Sam looked chastened and nodded to agree, but Dean was still glaring at her. "Piper, I-"
"Winchester, there is not an argument to be had here." She said, crossing her arms. She met his eyes. "I'm coming."
Dean huffed, turned around, and hit the gas.
xxxxx
"Oh, come one, man, it's not like it was human. You've gotta have a little more fun with your job."
"See? That's what I've been trying to tell him. You could learn a thing or two from this guy." Dean chuckled and raised his beer.
Piper stayed silent. She was uncomfortable. After they had saved Gordon from a rapidly deteriorating situation, he had invited them back to the bar. Her eyes never left Dean as he and Gordon bonded over the job.
She didn't hate the job, but she didn't like it, either. She did it because she felt a duty to help people. If you knew what was out there, you protected others. It was pretty black and white for Piper.
But Gordon seemed to thrive on the dark, brutal parts of the job. Piper had met a few hunters like him, and they had always unsettled her. They were here to save people, not kill things. Hunters who lost sight of that tended down dark paths. She was worried to hear Dean agreeing with him, and she knew Sam was, too.
Sam stared at Gordon with an unreadable expression on his face. "Yeah I bet I could. Look, I'm not gonna bring you guys down. I'm just gonna go back to the motel. Piper?" he looked at her. She nodded, not wanting to be around this part of Dean.
"You sure?" Dean asked, looking between the both of them with narrowed eyes. Piper stood without meeting his eyes and gathered her coat and her bag. "Let's go, Sam," she said quietly.
He nodded and put his hand at the small of her back to lead her out, catching the keys that Dean threw at him. When they got to the car, she met his eyes. "Sam, I'm worried."
He nodded again. "I know, me, too. Let's go back to the motel."
xxxxx
Dean and Gordon were sitting in the motel, looking over the research he, Piper, and Sam had done.
"This is the best pattern I can establish. It's sketchy at best." Gordon pointed to the map they were looking at.
"Looks like it's all coming from this side of town. Which means the nest would be around here someplace, right?"
Gordon nodded. "Yep, that's what I'm thinking. Problem is, there's thirty-five, forty farms out there. I've searched about half of them already, but nothing yet. They're covering their tracks real good."
Dean sat back. "Well, I guess we'll just have to search the other half." He looked down at his watch. "What time is it? Where are Sam and Piper?"
Gordon shrugged. "Car's parked outside. Probably went for a walk. Seem like the take-a-walk types."
"Yeah, they are, but…"
At that moment, Sam walked in with Piper under his arm. She had her arm wrapped around his waist, and looked pale. Dean frowned.
"Where you been?" he asked, standing up to look them over.
They just looked at him. "Can we talk to you alone?" Sam asked.
Dean turned to Gordon. "You mind chillin' out for a couple minutes?"
Gordon nodded, and the three of them walked out to the Impala. Piper leaned against the hood of the car, arms still wrapped around herself. Sam rubbed his hand up and down her arm and murmured something Dean couldn't hear.
Dean frowned again. "What happened? Where were you guys?"
Sam sighed. "Dean, maybe we've got to rethink this hunt."
Dean's eyebrows rose. "What are you talking about? Where were you?"
"In the nest."
He felt his eyebrows go higher in surprise. "You found it?"
Piper replied. "They found us."
Dean looked over both of them closely. Neither of them looked hurt, although Piper did seem pale. "How'd you get out? How many'd you kill?"
Sam glared. "None."
Dean scoffed. "Well Sam, they didn't just let you go."
"That's exactly what they did, Dean." Piper spoke quietly.
Dean paused and tried to meet her gaze, but she wouldn't look up from her shoes. "All right, well, where is it?"
"We were blindfolded, I don't know." Sam said shortly.
Dean glared and threw his hands to his side. "Well, you've got to know something."
Sam shook his head. "We went over that bridge outside of town, but Dean, listen. Maybe we shouldn't go after them."
Dean stared. "Why not?"
Sam and Piper looked at each other, and then he looked back at Dean and she returned her gaze to the ground. "I don't think they're like other vampires. I don't think they're killing people."
Dean started to laugh, then let it fade when they didn't join him. "You're joking. Then how do they stay alive? Or undead, or whatever the hell they are."
Piper spoke. "The cattle mutilations. They said they live off of animal blood."
Dean scoffed. "And you believed them?"
Sam pushed off of the hood of the Impala and stood closer to Piper. Dean's eyes narrowed. "Look at me, Dean. They let me go without a scratch. They let Piper go, too. She's fine."
Dean felt a sarcastic smile spread across his face. "Wait, so you're saying... No, man, no way. I don't know why they let you go. I don't really care. We find 'em, we waste 'em. They kidnapped you and Piper!"
"Why?"
"What part of 'vampires' don't you understand, Sam? If it's supernatural, we kill it, end of story. That's our job. "
Piper frowned and met his gaze for the first time since they got back. "No, Winchester, that is not our job." She pushed off of the hood and approached him. "Our job is hunting evil. And if these things aren't killing people, they're not evil."
Dean glared down at her. "Of course they're killing people, that's what they do. They're all the same, Pipes. They're not human, okay? We have to exterminate every last one of them."
She shook her head. "No, I don't think so, all right? Not this time."
Dean turned to to Sam. Surely he would see the way it was. "Gordon's been on those vamps for a year, man, he knows."
Sam's face darkened. "Gordon?"
Dean felt his hackles raise. He stepped forward toward Sam. "Yes."
Sam scoffed. "You're taking his word for it?"
Dean glared. "That's right."
Piper tried to step between them. She put a hand on Sam's chest as he spoke. "Look, Ellen says he's bad news."
"You called Ellen?"
Sam nodded and tried to subtly put his arm in front of Piper. She ignored it, much to Dean's approval. What did Sam think was going to happen? "And I'm supposed to listen to her? We barely know her, Sam, no thanks, I'll go with Gordon."
Sam rolled his eyes. "Right, 'cause Gordon's such an old friend. You don't think I can see what this is?"
Piper did step back as Dean stepped up to Sam. "What are you talking about?"
"He's a substitute for Dad, isn't he? A poor one."
Piper sucked in a breath. "Sam, stop it."
Dean smirked. "Yeah, shut up, Sam."
Sam ignored them both. "He's not even close, Dean. Not on his best day." Piper stepped between them again and turned her back to Dean. "Sam!"
"You know what? I'm not even going to talk about this."
Sam tried to push Piper out of the way as he advanced on Dean. "You know, you slap on this big fake smile but I can see right through it. Because I know how you feel, Dean. Dad's dead. And he left a hole, and it hurts so bad you can't take it, but you can't just fill up that hole with whoever you want to. It's an insult to his memory."
Dean put his hands up and backed away. "Okay." He went to turn away, then turned quickly and pushed Piper out of the way as he punched Sam in the face, hard.
"Oh, my God!" Piper gasped, pushing Dean out of the way and moving toward Sam.
Sam put his hands up, wiping the blood away from his nose. "I'm fine, Pipe." To Dean, "You hit me all you want. It won't change anything."
Dean looked at them both for a long moment. "I'm going to that nest. You don't want to tell me where it is, fine. I'll find it myself."
xxxxx
A couple of hours later, the three of them pulled up to a remote farmhouse. Dean was irritated because Gordon had stolen the keys to Baby, and he had to hotwire her after he had gotten her back together. They traced Gordon back to this farmhouse. Piper was nervous. Gordon was an unknown, and she was worried that he was a loose cannon.
She got out of the Impala and headed toward the farmhouse before the boys could protest. To her surprise, neither of them said anything. They simply came to stand on either side of her. Dean took lead and opened the door.
They walked into what Piper thought was a dining room to see Lenore, the vampire who had taken them to the farmhouse and claimed she didn't hurt people, tied to a chair. She was covered in cuts and look very weak.
Gordon was dipping a knife into a jar of blood. When they entered, he looked around and smiled at them as he sliced a cut across Lenore's chest.
He smiled. "Sam, Dean, Piper. Come on in."
They walked further into the room. Dean put on a smile. "Hey, Gordon. What's going on?"
Gordon motioned to Lenore with the knife. "Just poisoning Lenore here with some dead man's blood. She's going to tell us where all her little friends are, aren't you? Wanna help?"
Dean started forward. "Look, man-"
"Grab a knife. I was just about to start in on the fingers." Gordon moved the knife across Lenore's arm. Piper watched, her stomach turning, as veins traced away from the cut. Lenore moaned.
Dean held up his hands and moved closer. "Woah, woah, woah, hey, let's all just chill out, huh?"
Gordon stopped and looked back at them. "I'm completely chill."
Sam came to stand next to Dean, putting Piper behind them. "Gordon, put the knife down."
Sam moved to step forward again, but Dean put an arm out to stop him.
Gordon looked coldly at them. "Sounds like it's Sam here needs to chill."
"Just step away from her, all right?" Sam said, warily eyeing the knife in Gordon's hand.
Gordon smiled. "You're right. I'm wasting my time here. This bitch will never talk. Might as well put her out of her misery." He pulled out a larger knife. "I just sharpened it, so it's completely humane."
He turned toward Lenore. Sam pushed past Dean and stepped toward the two of them. "Gordon, I'm letting her go."
Gordon put the knife to Sam's chest. Piper used the distraction to move behind Sam, closer to the vampire. She was hoping that while Gordon was focused elsewhere, she would be able to figure out a way to get Lenore out.
Gordon was gazing at Sam calmly. "You're not doing a damn thing."
Dean walked toward the trio with his hands up. "Hey, hey, hey, Gordon, let's talk about this."
Gordon didn't take his eyes off of Sam. "What's there to talk about? It's like I said, Dean. No shades of gray."
Dean nodded placatingly. "Yeah. I hear you. And I know how you feel."
"Do you?"
"That vampire that killed your sister deserved to die, but this one…"
Gordon laughed and his eyes flicked his eyes toward Dean. "Killed my sister? That filthy fang didn't kill my sister. It turned her. It made her one of them. So I hunted her down, and I killed her myself."
Piper was shocked. "You did what?" she asked.
Gordon looked at her. "It wasn't my sister anymore, it wasn't human. I didn't blink. And neither would you." Piper's eyes widened.
"So you knew all along, then? You knew about the vampires, you knew they weren't killing anyone. You knew about the cattle. And you just didn't care." Sam asked, disgusted.
Gordon looked at Sam. "Care about what? A nest of vampires suddenly acting nice? Taking a little time out from sucking innocent people? And we're supposed to buy that? Trust me. Doesn't change what they are. And I can prove it."
Gordon lunged forward and grabbed Piper's arm. She cried out as he dragged his knife across her arm. He put the knife against her throat and dragged her toward Lenore. Sam moved forward and Dean drew his gun.
"Gordon! Let her go now!" Dean shouted. Sam hovered, unsure of what to do.
Gordon raised an eyebrow at them both, flicking his gaze between the brothers. "Relax. If I wanted to kill her she'd already be on the floor. Just making a little point."
He held Piper's arm over Lenore so the blood was dripping on her face. Piper hissed as he squeezed her arm to quicken the blood flow.
Dean started forward again. "Hey, hey!"
Sam snarled and put his hand on Piper's other arm. Beneath, Lenore started to hiss, her fangs extending.
Gordon looked at them triumphantly. "You think she's so different? Still want to save her? Look at her. They're all the same. Evil, bloodthirsty."
Lenore seemed to regain control of herself, retracing her fangs. She turned her face away. "No. No."
Piper glared at him, yanking her arm away. "You hear her, Gordon?"
Lenore started to struggle more. "No! No!"
Piper pushed Gordon's knife away from her throat and took a step back. She ran into Sam's firm chest, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "We're done here," he growled.
"Sammy, get them out of here." Dean said to him. Sam nodded and went forward to take Lenore into his arms. Piper turned to walk out, stopping when she was next to Dean. "Be careful," she whispered, looking back at Gordon as Sam passed with Lenore. She walked out with him.
They walked out together. Piper held onto her arm with her other hand, looking at Sam. "Sam, we have to get them out. All of them."
Sam nodded, watching Lenore slowly come back to consciousness. "Let's do it."
xxxxx
A while later, Dean walked down the farmhouse steps to find Sam wrapping Piper's arm in gauze. Dean watched as she smiled up at Sam, and his brother smiled back. He sighed and came down the steps.
Piper must have heard him, because she turned and smiled at him. He hid his surprise as much as he could and smirked back at her. "How's the arm, Pipes?"
She shrugged. "I'm going to make it." She smiled as Sam finished bandaging her arm.
Sam chuckled. "Yeah, you are."
Dean sighed, then stepped up to Sam and braced himself. "All righty, Sammy. Clock me one."
Piper laughed and Sam's eyebrows rose. "What?"
Dean beckoned Sam forward with his fingers. "Come on. I won't even hit you back. Let's go."
Sam joined Piper in laughter. "No."
Dean closed his eyes and beckoned again. "Let's go, you get a freebie. Hit me, come on."
Piper was leaning against the Impala trying to catch her breathe. Sam was laughing, too. "You look like you just went twelve rounds with a block of cement, Dean. I'll take a raincheck."
Dean sighed and stood back up, glaring at Piper. "Shut it, Finley," which sent her into another gale of laughter. It was nice to see her laughing like this. She hadn't done it in front of him for a while, and it surprised him how much he didn't like that.
He speared his fingers through his hair. "I wish we never took this job. It's jacked everything up."
Piper stopped laughing, wiping tears from her eyes. "What do you mean?"
Dean looked at both of them. "Think about all the hunts we went on. What if we killed things that didn't deserve killing? You know? I mean, the way Dad raised us... "
Sam shook his head. "Dean, after what happened to Mom, Dad did the best he could."
Dean nodded. "I know he did. But the man wasn't perfect. And the way he raised us, to hate those things... And man, I hate 'em. I do. When I killed that vampire at the mill I didn't even think about it. Hell, I even enjoyed it."
Piper spoke quietly. "You didn't kill Lenore."
"No, but every instinct told me to. I was gonna kill her. I was gonna kill 'em all."
Piper shook her head. "Yeah, but you didn't. And that's what matters."
Dean eyed both of them. "Yeah. Well, 'cause you're both a pain in my ass."
Sam chuckled. "Guess we might have to stick around to be a pain in the ass, then."
Piper smiled at Dean before sliding into the backseat. He slid into the driver's seat, feeling warmer than he had in days.
xxxxx
A day later, Piper was getting out of the Impala at Bobby's. Sam wanted to go see his mother's grave, and she felt like it should be a trip for just the two of them, so they were dropping her off.
"Hey, I'm gonna go say hi to Bobby and grab a few things, then we'll head out, okay?" Sam jumped out of the car and went into the house.
Piper heard Dean sigh and get out on his side. She put her bag on Baby's trunk and looked over at him. "Okay there, Winchester?"
He looked surprised, but then responded, "Yeah, yeah. I don't get this thing that Sammy's got going on with looking at Mom's grave, but whatever."
She walked over to lean next to him on the car. "Well, it's good of you to take him anyway." She smiled, trying to concentrate through the heat she felt radiating off of him at this close proximity.
She was trying to put her money where her mouth was. It didn't matter that Dean had a face made for looking at, or a mouth made for kissing. It didn't matter that his eyes made her dizzy and his shoulders could make her forget her name. Dean was her friend. She was going to be there for him.
He was more physical than Sam, words didn't mean as much to Dean. So she scooted closer and laid her head on his shoulder.
She felt him look down in surprise, but didn't look up. One step at a time, she thought to herself. Instead, she said, "Listen, I'm sorry about the argument we had. You're right, we've drifted apart, and I miss you." She kept her eyes closed and her heart thundered in her ears.
Dean shifted and moved her head away from his shoulder so he could put his arm across her shoulders and pull her into him. She breathed in his scent of gunpowder and leather, and let herself be pulled.
"Hey, no chick-flick moments." He said quietly. He thought, then spoke again. "Pipes, it's not just your fault. I felt guilty about our last hunt, and I didn't want you to get hurt again."
She pulled away to look at him with a smile on her face. "Winchester, is that your version of an apology?" she asked, laughing.
He grinned and ruffled her hair. "Close as you're gonna get, kitten."
Sam came back out of the door. "Dean, are you almost ready to go?"
They both stood up, separating. "Yeah, let's go, Sammy." Dean smiled at her and wrapped his hand around the back of her head. Her eyes widened and her heart stopped as he pulled her close to press his lips against her forehead. "Be careful, Pipes."
Piper watched them leave, feeling his kiss burning on her face. "Oh, Jesus, I am in trouble."
xxxxx
A/N: 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.
