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AN – So I finally gave birth! I had a gawjus little girl on Friday 13th (eek!) May called Eliza – which is why it took me so flippin' long to get this chapter out!...This chapter is based on the Supernatural episode 'Faith'.

Faith – Part One

A cloud of dust flew up behind the Impala as Dean drove, faster than he should have been due to frustration and irritation.

"I'm hungry," Faith announced from the passenger seat. "I've been hungry for freakin' ages. No wait, I'mstarved."

"Yeah," he huffed in reply. "You mentioned that already. Like, five hundred times."

"So maybe you should take that as your cue to stop off somewhere and get me some grub, man."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize I had 'Faith's Bitch' tattooed across my forehead."

In the back seat, Sam and Buffy shared equally bemused looks. Dean and Faith had been bickering like children all day, and there seemed like there was nothing they could do to drown it out. After eight and a half hours of almost solid driving, it was wearing very thin.

"Hey, look!" Sam butted in eventually, pointing towards an approaching sign on the side of the road. "There's a town just a couple of miles away. Why don't we stop off there and grab a bite to eat, maybe stretch our legs a little. I don't know about you guys, but Buffy and I could sure do with a breather."

Dean and Faith begrudgingly agreed, and Sam sat back in his seat, looking very pleased with himself.

"Dean, look at this," Sam commanded, as the two sat across from each other in a diner.

Dean glanced up from his mammoth sized burger to find Sam ignoring his own grilled cheese sandwich and pursuing a local newspaper. "Look at what?"

Sam held the newspaper up for him to see. "Two local kids have gone missing from the area. A brother and sister. They just disappeared from their beds a couple of days ago. Maybe we should hang around here and take a look, see if we can find anything out."

Dean frowned and shook his head, returning his attention to his burger. "Nah. It's not our area of expertise. Leave it to the cops, man. They know what they're doing."

"But what if this is our are of expertise?"

"How?"

"Hello? It's not like we've never dealt with missing kids before."

"Aw, come on, Sammy. You're just looking for things where they don't exist."

"How do you know? What if we just drove right on out of town and this really was a case and we could have saved these two little children?"

"Don't try guilt tripping me into this. You should know by now that not everything is supernatural."

Before Sam could protest his case any further, Buffy and Faith arrived back from the bathroom and squeezed into the booth next to the brothers.

"So," Buffy started, pinching one of Dean's fries and repressing a smile when he didn't complain. "we were just in the toilets and we overheard these two waitresses talking. Apparently two poor little kids went missing around here the other day. I was thinking that we should rent out a room in town and check it out."

Dean nodded immediately in agreement. "Good idea."

Sam's mouth dropped open in shock and indignation. "Are you seriously kidding me right now? You just said-"

"Hey Sam, why don't you shut your cakehole," Dean suggested menacingly. "Jeez. This could be a real case here. What if we just left town when we could have done something to save these kids? Have a heart, dude."

Sam slammed his newspaper down and folded his arms over his chest, clamping his mouth shut as he tried to figure out exactly what had just happened.

As Buffy had suggested, they booked into a rather nice looking motel – for once – and stacked up on junk food and books, ready to hit the research after chatting to the locals about what had happened.

Unsurprisingly, it took Dean less than an hour of reading things he didn't really understand to get bored. By the time darkness had rolled around and covered the sky, he was just about ready to pull his hair out. "Hey, here's an idea," he exclaimed to the silent room. "Me and Buffy should hit the streets, see if we can hunt anything down."

Sam nodded wearily. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Maybe we should get out there. I mean, it's not like we're coming up with much in the books here."

"No!" Dean protested, and then he grimaced when all three turned around to stare at him for his outburst. "Uh...what I mean is, you and Faith should carry on...with the looking stuff up. We all know it's not mine or Buffy's strong point. And we'll be fine on our own. It seems like a quiet town, so I doubt we'll even find much of anything.

"I guess you're right. It'd be better working both angles."

Dean grinned, glad that Sam had so easily agreed. He turned to Buffy, who had given up on the reading half an hour before and was busy filing her nails. "You coming or what?"

"God, yes." She jumped up off the bed and scooped up her jacket. "I swear if I have to spend one more minute in this room with these dusty old books, I might have to kill one of you."

Sam chuckled. "We'll see you guys later then."

"Bring me back some food," Faith demanded. "We're all out of food."

So, where do you wanna head first?" Buffy asked Dean, once the motel room door had shut behind them. "I think I saw a cemetery right nearby town."

He grabbed her by the waist and swung her around until she was pressed up against the wall. He cut off her grunt with a hard kiss. "Screw that. Let's just...take a walk. Or something."

She smirked up at him. "I thought you wanted to patrol?"

"No...I wanted to spend some time with you. Alone."

"Well then, I'm not gonna argue with logic like that."

Dean smiled and released her from his hold, taking her hand in his. They slowly strolled away from the motel, passing by the Impala.

"You don't wanna drive it?" Buffy questioned.

Dean pointedly ignored the 'it' part of her question, and simply took her hand. "Nah, I'd rather walk. It's more...romantic or whatever."

She glanced down at their entwined hands, her cheeks taking on a rosy tint as her heart skipped a beat.

"You do know that we are totally not having sex in here," Buffy informed Dean breathlessly as he pushed her up against a tree in a nearby patch of woodland they had happened to stumble across.

"Why not?" he murmured back, kissing her soundly and sliding a cheeky hand inside her shirt.

"Because," she replied in between kisses. "it's dark in here." Kiss. "And very creepy." Kiss. "And there could be all kinds of beasties watching us just waiting to get their rocks off to some real live porno action."

Dean pulled back and grinned down at her rakishly. "Then I guess I'll just have to get you out of here and in some place nice and open."

"Guess you will, big boy."

Less than a minute later they stumbled across thee edge of the woodland and into a field, where Dean wasted no time at all in pulling Buffy to the ground and unzipping her pants.

"Wait," Buffy stopped him, sitting up over him. "Do you have any condoms?"

He paused and looked up at her for a moment, before banging his head on the ground and groaning loudly. He was the biggest dumb-ass idiot on the face of the entire planet! How could he have left them behind? Seriously? "No," he answered with a sigh. "Let's just do it anyway. I'll pull out. It'll be fine."

She snorted and replied dryly, "Yeah, sure, let's have unprotected sex and fill me up with a bunch of little Buffy and Deans'. Won't that be just swell."

Dean cocked his head and studied her, imagining just what their kids would look like. Blonde, no doubt. And damned cute, too.

Nah, he thought, shaking his head. What was he thinking? They couldn't do this. He'd want to get Buffy good and married first before they even considered having kids. That way they would get to do all that newly wed stuff. Like lots of hardcore honeymoon sex. And new home sex. And lazy Sunday morning sex. And just lots and lots of sex.

And holy whoa!

What the hell was this? Where had all this come from? It was like he'd suddenly grown the brain and thoughts of a completely different man. Marriage? Honeymoons? Kids? That wasn't him!

Oh God, what was she doing to him? He was Dean freakin' Winchester, for crying out loud! He didn't want any of that crap! He sure didn't need it! He didn't want to be tied down!

Except...maybe he did kind of want all that. With her. Only with her.

Holy shit, I'm in love with her. So in love with her.

The thought struck him through the heart with all the shock and electricity of a lightening bolt, damn near full on stopping the thing.

He'd kind of suspected it already, but now he really knew for sure.

And hell, he really liked the way it felt.

He wondered whether or not he should tell her. Probably. If only to find out whether or not she felt the same way – he'd only wind up driving him self crazy pondering it otherwise. So when? Now?

Maybe telling her whilst they were lying in a field discussing birth control wasn't the best idea.

But then again, he'd never really been the romantic type anyway.

Okay, he was going to tell her. Right here and now.

"Hey, do you see that?" she asked, before he could even open his mouth.

"Do I see what?" He craned his neck around to see what she was staring at.

An old, run down looking shack sat at the other edge of the field, just visible in the darkness.

Buffy frowned and shivered. "It's giving me the tinglies. And not those nice ones you were giving me a minute ago. We should go check it out."

Dean sighed, filled with regret – and also a little relief for his more cowardly part – that he had lost his moment. He nodded. "Yeah, okay. Just...give me a minute."

"Why? What's up?"

He wiggled underneath her, allowing her to feel the hardness of his erection. "That's up."

"Oh."

He closed his eyes tightly. "Think unsexy thoughts," he murmured to himself under his breath. "Think unsexy thoughts."

"Just imagine Sam with breasts," Buffy offered helpfully.

He burst out into amused peals of laughter, and swiftly rolled them over so that he was on his hands and knees above her. Leaning down, he kissed her sweetly. He pulled away and brushed a stray strand of hair away from her eyes.

She blushed as he just...looked at her for a long moment, something secret and hot and intense hidden in his eyes.

And then he blinked and it was gone, and he was on his feet and pulling her to hers. "You know," he began, taking her hand as they walked towards the shack. "you've ruined boobs for me for me now for like, ever."

"Oh my God," Buffy whispered, as they peered through the shack's one and only grubby window. "What isthat?"

Dean clenched his jaw. "That is our kidnapper. He's a Rawhead – sick little bastards. I'll bet you a million bucks he's got those two missing kids in there."

"What does he want them for?"

"Food," he replied grimly.

"Oh God. We need to get them out of there fast. How do we kill it?"

"Electrocution." He pulled her away from the window. "Come on, we're gonna need more fire power."

"And you're sure electricity is the only way to kill this thing?" Faith questioned, as the four drove back to the shack less than an hour later. "We can't just stab it through the heart? Because that's my favourite method."

"Yeah. Our dad killed one when we were kids," Sam explained. "He wrote all about it in his journal."

"Right then. So what's the plan?"

"You and Buffy go around and wait out back," Dean instructed. "Me and Sam will go in the front and fry him. If it gets past us then you need to make sure the bastard can't escape. We got one chance at this and one chance only. We let him get away, he's gone for good."

Buffy kept her face buried in her shaking hands as she and Faith sat, waiting, in the hospital. Time seemed endless, and she felt like she'd been there forever.

Sam was over by the desk, talking to the police.

"Buff," Faith hissed. "Doc's back."

Buffy dropped her hands and jumped up to follow Faith over towards where he was now talking to Sam.

"How's my brother?" Sam demanded.

The doctor lowered his eyes and shook his head, solemnly. "I'm afraid the electrocution caused your brother to have a heart attack. His heart is damaged severely."

Faith cursed loudly and turned away, but Buffy kept silent. The only sign that she had even heard what the doctor had said was the colour visibly draining away from her face.

Sam rubbed a hand over his face. "What do you mean 'severely'? How damaged are we talking?"

"We've done everything that we possibly can, Sir. The best and only thing we can do now is make him comfortable."

"Make him comfortable? You mean..."

"I mean that I'd give him a couple of weeks. Maybe a month at the most. I'm so sorry."

Once the doctor had left, Faith let out another string of curses as she swung back around, her fists clenched tightly. She dropped them, however, when she realized that violence wasn't a viable option here. "If that damned Rawhead wasn't already dead I'd kill him so unbelievably hard!"

"This is all my fault," Sam exclaimed. "I should have been the one with the taser, not Dean. He's never been comfortable with those things."

"Don't be dumb, Sammy. If you'd been the one with the taser then you'd just be the one in hospital. How is that any better?"

"Better me than Dean."

"For Christ's sake, you're being stupid, and you know it. Look, we're gonna fix this, okay? Dean isn't going to die, not on my watch. You hear me?"

Sam nodded gratefully and squeezed Faith's arm. "You're right. I'm sorry, I know I'm not helping. We'll find a way to save him, we will."

"Right. Good then. Much better." She scooped down and picked up her jacket from where she had left it on one of the uncomfortable hospital seats. "I'm gonna go start researching right now."

"Wait a second, don't you want to go in and see Dean first?"

"I'll wait until later. Let you and Buffy do all the mushy crap with him first. I'll see you back at motel." And with a stamping of boot clad feet, she was gone.

Sam turned to Buffy, who still hadn't spoken, or even moved. "Are you coming in?"

She jumped, and he realized that her mind hadn't even been there for a moment. When she looked up at him, her eyes were pink rimmed with barely suppressed tears. "Huh?"

"Are you coming in with me? To see Dean?"

"Uh, yeah...I'll be there in a minute. You go ahead."

He took her shoulders in his hands and looked down into her eyes, knowingly. "He'll want to see you."

"I'll be there in a minute," she repeated. "I promise."

He nodded and let go of her. "Okay then."

"You ever tried watching this daytime TV junk?" Dean asked casually as Sam entered the room. "It's full of crap. Makes me almost glad we didn't grow up in a home with a TV." He looked up and frowned. "Where's Buffy?"

"She said she'll be by in a minute." Sam sighed. "Dean, I just talked to you doctor."

"You did? So you heard, then. Guess you guys will be leaving town a threesome instead of a foursome, huh? And what do you mean she'll be by in a minute? Where is she?"

Sam blanched at his brothers words. "Jesus, Dean! We're not going to leave without you! How could you even think that?"

"You better take damned good care of her when I'm gone."

"What? Who? What her?"

"All of them – my car, Faith...Buffy. Especially Buffy. You need to look out for her."

Sam smiled. "I don't think Buffy needs much taking care of. She's pretty tough."

"Yeah, I know that, but just...do it anyway. Just...don't go falling in love with her. I know it's too easy to do and all, but don't. Otherwise I'll have to haunt your skinny ass, and neither of us wants that."

Sam blinked, opening and closing his mouth in shock. "What are you trying to say here? Are you in love with Buffy?" Dean looked pointedly away, and Sam knew without a doubt that it was the end of the conversation, and that no amount of cajoling would get him to answer. And considering the his brother's condition, he decided that this was one time he could let it slide. "Okay, it's time we talked about our options."

Dean frowned. "What options? I'm dying, man. I'm going to die. It sucks, but this is a dangerous gig, and we all know the score. We all know what we're letting ourselves in for when we chose this life. No one can live forever."

"Don't talk like that!"

"Listen to me, Sammy. I am going to die. I am. And you can't stop it."

"Yeah, watch me."

Dean opened his mouth to protest, but was interrupted by a quiet, "Hey."

Both men glanced up at the small voice.

"Buffy," Dean whispered, his face smoothing of all worry lines and settling into relief.

Sam looked from one to the other, noting that they couldn't keep their eyes off of one another, that they were staring at each other like there was nobody else in the world. "So I'm gonna head back to the motel and help Faith research." He looked at Dean intently. "Get some rest. We're gonna fix this."

Dean waved a hand, but didn't even really notice Sam leave the room.

Once they were alone, Dean held out his arms for Buffy, and she wasted no time at all in going to him. Carefully, she curled up on the bed next to him, failing to stop the tears from falling as the traced the dark circles around his eyes with a gentle finger.

He took her hand and stared down at her bloody knuckles in confusion. "What happened?"

"I punched a wall." She avoided eye contact, feeling a little shamefaced.

He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "You should stop punching solid objects. It ruins your hands, and I like your hands." He held it up against his own. "They're so cute and little compared to mine."

She linked their fingers together and brought them up to her lips. "Dean, I heard what you said to Sam...about dying. You know that I'm not gonna let that happen, don't you?"

"God, sweetheart, you have no idea how much I want to live. How much you make me want to live. There isn't anything I wouldn't do right now just to be able to stay alive...with you. To have a life with you. But you heard the doc, angel-face. There's nothing they can do. No pills they can give me, no miracle cure. I'm going, that's it."

Buffy shook her head vehemently. "No." Her voice was firm and full of determination. "You're not going anywhere, and that sure as hell isn't it. You can't leave me now. I'm your cookie."

"You're my what now?"

"Um, nothing. Just...Sam was right. We will fix this.

As much as he didn't believe her, Dean appreciated her words all the same. Yet he had no idea how to reply, so instead her kissed her – a tactic that he had often found worked quite well when he wanted to distract her.

Neither seemed to hear or notice when his heart rate monitor began to bleep faster.

Sam slammed shut another useless book and threw it onto the motel bed, cursing.

Surprised at his foul language, Faith glanced up at him. "Don't give up on me now, Sammy boy," she began. "I know this is tough, but we're gonna figure it out. We always do, right?"

"Right." His face brightened and he sat up straight. "What about Willow?"

"What about her?"

"She's a witch, right? A powerful one? Maybe she could help. Do some kind of spell or something."

Faith scratched her head uncomfortably, not at all looking forward to wiping away the first smile he'd had in days. "Uh, see...there's kind of this thing with Willow. If she gets too powered up she has this little tendency to go all...world endy."

"'World endy'?

"Evil. Black eyed, black haired, rip your skin off evil. At least, that's how the stories go."

"What? Are you serious? But she seemed so..."

"Nice? Yeah." She shook her head sadly. "And the kind of mojo needed for something like this – if it's even possible that there is a spell, which I highly doubt – would turn her bad for sure. The council would put a stop to it before it even began. And rightly so."

"I guess we keep on looking then."

"I guess we do."

Much later, Sam and Faith were startled out of their planning when a knock sounded on the motel room door.

"Did you order more food?" Faith questioned, wondering why he would when they'd only just eaten.

"No."

"Then who the hell is that? Buffy is still at the hospital with Dean."

Picking up his gun and holding it out of sight behind his back, Sam cautiously made his way towards the door. The surprise registered on his face when he opened it up to find his brother standing on the other side, being supported heavily by Buffy.

"Sorry," Buffy exclaimed, shaking her head. "I tried to get him to stay in the hospital but he's to frikkin' stubborn for his own good."

Dean shrugged as if he didn't see what the problem was. "The food in there was even crappier than the junk we usually eat. What did you expect me to do? Besides, I know Buffy doesn't like hospitals, so..."

She rolled her eyes at his selflessness. "Idiot."

Huffing and mumbling under his breath about what a reckless jerk his brother was, Sam moved to Dean's other side and helped Buffy get him inside and settled onto a chair.

Looking between Sam and Faith, Dean chuckled. "Man, you guys look even crappier than I do. What the hell have you been doing since I've been gone?"

"Finding ways to save your ungrateful hide," Faith replied, but it was obvious in tilted up corners of her lips that she was happy to see him.

Sam sat down across from him, excitement shining in his tired eyes. "And we think we've found something."

Dean looked highly unconvinced. "Oh yeah?" he acknowledged. "Let me guess? Some voodoo clown, right?"

"Nope. I got a hold of one of Dad's contacts who told me all about this guy from Nebraska. He's a specialist..."

"So, apricot, how long exactly do you think it'll take Sam and Faith to pick up dinner?" Dean asked Buffy half an hour later, after Sam had finally convinced Dean that they should head out to Nebraska the following morning.

"Not sure," she replied. "Why?"

He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Why do you think?"

Buffy could only scoff. "You're kidding me, right? You can't seriously be suggesting we have sex right now? You'd die for sure."

Dean sighed in defeat and leaned back on the bed. "Yeah, I know. I don't even think I've got the energy to get Deany Junior up and running anyway. I just want to...hold you. Can I do that?"

She smiled sadly and joined him on the bed, allowing him to wrap his weak arms around her small frame. "Always."

NEBRASKA

"You are unbelievable!" Dean scolded Sam, snarling in disgust as they trundled through field thick with mud. "I can't believe you! You brought me to a freakin' faith healer? Damn you, Sam! You know this stuff is just a bunch of made up crap, right?"

"Will you just at least try it? According to that friend of Dad's, people all over are raving about this guy."

"Yeah well, people all over rave about cheeseburgers too, but I'm not about to sit in a room and be preached at by one of them."

"Come on, Dean, just give this guy a chance. Please. Have a little faith here."

Sighing a turning away from Sam's timeless 'puppy dog' gaze, Dean asked Buffy, "What do you think?"

She bit her lip and shrugged. "Right now I'm open to just about everything and anything to save you, so..."

"You think I should give it a go?"

"Yeah, I do."

"You know what guys," Faith spoke up. "I'm actually with Dean on this one. As much as I want to get Dean better, this sounds like a money making scheme to me. Bunch of crap, I say."

"You'd be surprised," came an easy sounding male voice from behind her. "I wouldn't cast stones on Roy 'till you see him do his thing."

Faith stopped walking and spun around, frowning in annoyance at the tall, moderately handsome looking guy behind her. "Do you make a habit of listening to other people's conversations, surfer boy?" she demanded, snorting when he flicked away a wavy, sun-bleached lock of hair away from his eyes.

"Only when the person talking is as beautiful as you are."

Faith blinked. She'd been complimented before – hell, she'd been read the whole book of lines from scummy guys intent on getting into her pants. So why was it that one simple compliment off of this guy made heat rise in her cheeks and butterflies go wild in her stomach? "Whatever, dude," she replied, wincing when her voice came out noticeably shaken.

With a wide, toothy grin, he held out his hand for her to shake. "Sorry, I'm being rude. I'm Noah."

"Faith." She took his hand, heat building up in her stomach when he held on slightly longer than necessary.

"Well then, Faith," he murmured, finally letting go of her hand. "I think you should have a little faith."

"Cute."

"I know, right? And you should see me when I comb my hair."

"Funny, too," she added dryly.

A woman and a young girl approached the group. "Come on, Noah, he's about to start," the woman said, shooting Faith and the others a curious glance.

"Coming, Mom." He turned back to Faith. "It was nice to meet you, blossom."

"Yeah." Her hand tingled where he had touched it as she walked away. "Sure."

When she turned back around – finally remembering that she was not alone – it was to find her companions watching her with obvious amusement.

"Oh wow, are you blushing?" Buffy asked.

"Go to hell, blondie."

Once the group had entered the tent, Dean tried to park himself on one of the seats closest to the exit. Buffy, however, was having none of it.

"Look," she said, grasping his elbow and pulling him along. "There's some free spaces behind Faith's new boyfriend."

"You're an idiot," Faith replied, punching her friend in the arm. Hard. "Dean's got the right idea. Let's just sit here at the back."

Buffy winced and rubbed at her arm. "Don't be such a chicken."

"Buff, these seats are too near the front," Dean protested weakly, even as they sat in them.

"My point exactly."

To Buffy's great amusement, once they were settled, Noah turned around in is seat and blew Faith a flirty kiss. She scowled at him and looked pointedly away, but Buffy could have sworn that she caught a pleased smile out of the corner of her eye once Noah had turned back to face the front.