I'm so sorry this update took forever, I was in the process of moving and I lost my little notebook where I outline all my ideas for each chapter and I just found it a few days ago. School started back up so with that and two jobs my schedule is pretty hectic, but I promise I will try to be better about updating! This chapter isn't beta-ed so sorry if there are any mistakes, I just didn't want to wait any longer to get it put up for you guys. Hope you like it!

The creaking of the door is what woke Dean up. Aubri was sleeping with her head resting on his chest, clothed in one of his flannel shirts, her mouth open slightly as she breathed softly. Trying not to disturb her too much, he quickly reached for the knife that was resting on the bedside table. He had just gotten a good grip on the handle of the knife when he noticed Folsom's tail thumping lightly against the bed as the big dog's head followed the tall shadow that made its way into the room. He set the knife back down just as the lamp by the table clicked on, "Little late don't you think Sammy?" Dean whispered tiredly.

"Research takes time Dean, you'd know that if you..." Sam trailed off as he took in the sight of Dean and Aubri in bed together. Dean was shirtless with Aubri laying on his chest, her hair a mess and her arm slung across his middle as she continued to sleep. "Dean..." Sam said, a warning tone in his voice.

"Sam?" Dean responded, knowing where Sam was going with this even though he hoped to God Sam just wouldn't go there. Fat chance of that, his little brother was all about sharing and caring.

Surprisingly Sam just shook his head defeatedly, he should have seen this one coming. "Just be careful." Sam said tiredly as he turned off the lamp and sat on the bed that Folsom was laying on, flopping back against the pillows. "She's different Dean."

Dean was quiet for a moment, twirling a piece of Aubri's hair around one of his fingers as he looked down at her, her face relaxed into a peaceful expression, "Yeah Sammy, I know."

"And Dean..."

"Yeah Sam?"

"If you two do it while I'm asleep over here, I'll kill you."

~TFS~

The next day they set off driving, no set destination, just driving with the hopes of coming across a hunt along the way. Aubri was set up in the back seat, legs stretched out in front of her as she stared past Folsom's head and out the window, watching the scenery. These were some of her favorite times, just riding in the car with her dog and her boys. Her face flushed slightly at that thought, her boys, she had been trying not to think too much about what had happened with Dean last night. She knew the more she thought about it the more she would build the situation up in her head and she just couldn't afford to do that. Getting too invested in whatever was happening with her and Dean was a bad idea. Things hadn't really been that weird when they woke up, other than the slight embarrassment Aubri felt at the realization that Sam had come back and had seen her in Dean's bed.

Dean had already gotten out of bed by the time she had woken up and Sam was sitting at the table looking at something on his laptop. He looked up when he heard the sounds of the bed shifting around and saw Aubri looking around the room sleepily, looking just a little bit confused. He could tell she was wondering where Dean was, so he went ahead and answered her unasked question, "He's out getting donuts and Folsom is with him. He should be back soon."

Aubri's face burned with embarrassment. Had she really been that obvious? Wondering where he was. If she hadn't known any better, she would have thought he had run out on her, but he couldn't have done that. That was the main hazard of whatever they were getting into, Dean couldn't just make a run for it if things got too heavy. The Winchester brothers were stuck with her until they found a way to get her home, if they found a way to get her home.

She nodded and made a sleepy sound of acknowledgement before climbing out of the bed and walking to the bathroom, pulling down on the ends of the flannel shirt as she walked to make sure everything was covered. She was finishing up washing her face when there was a soft knock on the bathroom door, "Yeah?"

The door was slowly pushed open and Dean stepped in, shutting the door behind him, "Morning Aubs, there's donuts if you want one." He smiled and leaned back on the door casually.

"Oh, uh, yeah, Sam said something about donuts." She fumbled, not making eye contact with him in the mirror as she went about trying to brush the tangles out of her hair. Her cheeks were pink with embarrassment and nervousness and she mentally scolded herself. She had no reason to be nervous around him or worry about how she looked. He had seen her naked for christ's sakes and he hadn't complained about her looks then.

Her hands were braced on the edges of the sink when she felt his arms come around her waist, pulling her back against him. "Why're you being so shy Blondie." He asked teasingly, giving her a light squeeze around the middle.

It took a moment for her to relax in his arms and slow her breathing. Then she turned slowly to face him, "I'm not being shy, I'm just not to social before I have a chance to brush my teeth and fix my hair." She slowly wrapped her arms around Dean, loving the solid feel of him in her arms. "So how about you get out of here so I can finish getting ready? And save me one of those donuts while you're at it, and it better be one with sprinkles." Letting go of her hold on him, Aubri pulled herself out of his grasp with a quiet sigh and set to the task of fixing the tangled mess that was her hair.

She looked up briefly and met Dean's eyes in the mirror. He let out a long breath and shook his head, running his hand over his hair. "Whatever you say sweetheart."

"Don't forget the sprinkles Winchester." Aubri warned.

He laughed as he opened the door, "Wouldn't dream of it."

Aubri shook her head lightly, stop thinking about it, she chastised herself. Looking for anything to distract her from her thoughts she turned in her seat and leaned her head in between Sam and Dean's. "So Sam, what all did you find out at the library last night?" She had thought this would be an innocent enough question, but changed her mind when she saw the slightly sheepish look on his face.

"Yeah, about that... I need to tell you guys about something. I found the girl with that demon killing knife, well she found me actually, her name's Ruby, and she had some stuff to say about Mom's family and friends, she told me to check up on them. They're all dead."

"Why didn't you say anything about this?" Dean asked forcefully.

"Cause Dean, I wanted some more information before I said anything." Sam shook his head, "Anyways, I didn't go to the library last night, I met up with her. I wanted to find out how she knew all that stuff about those people, I wanted to know if she was a hunter or not."

Aubri's curiosity got the better of her, "Well is she?"

Sam let out a sigh, he knew this wasn't going to go over well, but it was too late to turn back now, "No, she's a demon."

Hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, Dean tried not to reach over and strangle his brother, "Sam, the second you find out she's a demon you go for the holy water, you don't chat!"

"No one was chatting Dean." Sam argued.

"Oh yeah, then why didn't you send her ass back to hell?"

"Because... because she said she might be able to help us out."

Aubri had a feeling she knew just how Ruby had offered to help out, the only way Sam would have listened to her, "How can she help Sam?" She asked quietly, putting a hand on Dean's shoulder in a futile attempt to calm him down.

Sam hesitated for a moment, not sure if he wanted to answer. That moment of hesitation gave Dean the perfect opportunity to jump in again, "Yeah, really Sam? How? How can she possibly help us?"

"She told me she could help you, ok! Help you out of the crossroads deal."

Dean shrugged his shoulder out from under Aubri's hand as he looked over at his brother, "What is wrong with you, huh? She's lying, you gotta know that don't you? She knows what your weakness is, it's me!" When Sam didn't respond he shook his head and turned his attention back to the road, "What else did she say?" He asked, forcing his voice to be a little calmer. Sam still didn't answer him, "Dude?"

"Nothing." Sam finally answered, looking out the window. "Nothing ok? Look I'm not an idiot Dean, I'm not talking about trusting her. I'm talking about using her. I mean, we're at war right? And we don't know jack about the enemy, we don't know where they are, we don't know what they're doing, I mean hell, we don't even know what they want. Now this Ruby girl knows more than we will ever find out on our own. Yes it's a risk, I know that, but we need to take it."

"You're ok right?" Dean asked speculatively.

"Yes, I'm fine, why are you always asking me that?"

They were interrupted by a ringing then. Sam and Dean both pulled out their phones, checking them, while Aubri listened to the chirping of the phone. "It's coming from in there." She said, pointing to the glovebox.

"It's Dad's!" Dean said with a look at Sam.

"Dad's"

"Yes Dad's! I keep it charged up in case any of his old contacts call."

Sam reached into the glove compartment and pulled out the phone. "Hello? Yes this is Edgar Casey. No, no, no don't call the police, I'll handle this myself. Thanks. You know, can you just lock it back up for me? Great. Uh, I don't have my book in front of me, do you have the address? Right, thanks a lot." Sam snapped the phone shut and turned to look at Dean, "Did Dad ever tell you that he had a container at a storage place?"

"What?"

"Outside of Buffalo?"

"No way?"

"Yeah, and someone just broke into it."

Aubri leaned back in her seat, "Looks like we're heading to Buffalo."

~TFS~

They decided to drive through the night, Sam and Dean taking turns driving while the other rested in the back seat. Dean was at the wheel while Sam dozed in the backseat with Folsom. Aubri had taken Sam's spot in the passenger seat and was busy staring out the window at the shadows whizzing by. It was quiet in the car except for Folsom's light snoring from the backseat, so Aubri leaned forward to turn on the radio just so they could have something to listen to. Her hand was inches away from the dial when Dean's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, "What do you think you are doing there Blondie?"

"Just wanted to put some music on, it's too quiet in here." She said innocently, trying to pull her wrist out of Dean's grasp.

Dean loosened his grip on her wrist slightly, "All you had to do was ask sweetheart." He let go of her wrist then and reach for the dial, turning on the radio. The classic rock station that he never changed it from crackled to life and started playing a song.

Aubri and Dean both relaxed back against their seats, Dean trying to stifle a yawn as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. His yawn didn't escape Aubri's notice and she turned in her seat to look at him. "You know, you could always let me drive for a little bit if you're tired." She said sweetly, knowing it would probably be a cold day in hell before Dean Winchester let her drive his precious car. It was worth a shot though, she had been itching to get behind the wheel of Impala just for a few minutes for a while now.

"No way Aubs." Dean said with a laugh, "Sam's lucky he even gets a chance to drive, plus, I've never let a girl get behind the wheel of my baby."

Determined to see if she could get just a few minutes behind the wheel, Aubri unbuckled her seatbelt and brought her knees up under her so she could lean over closer to Dean. Giving him her best puppy dog eyes she tried again, "Come on Dean, please, not even just for a little while?" She stuck out her lower lip slightly.

Dean glanced over at Aubri, big mistake. She looked damn cute, her baby blues working the puppy dog look while she pouted, her lower lip sticking out just enough to make him want to lean over and kiss her. He took a deep breath and shook his head again, "Not gonna happen Aubs."

Aubri reached out and put her hand on his upper arm, tracing her fingers lightly over his bicep as she leaned towards him and put her lips near his ear. "Ten minutes Dean," she whispered breathily in his ear, "all I want is ten minutes behind the wheel. I promise I'll be very careful." A smile made its way across her face when she saw Dean's throat working as he swallowed and tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

How she did it he would never know, but he let out a long breath and turned to look at her. She was smiling like the cat who got the canary, she knew she had him. "Ten minutes." He said through clenched teeth as he pulled over to the side of the road.

When the car came to a stop, Aubri opened the door and was out in a flash, over by the driver's side before Dean even had a chance to get out of the car. As he passed her he reached out and grabbed her arm, turning her to face him, "Don't make me regret this Aubri."

She smiled up at him sweetly, "Wouldn't dream of it Winchester." Caught up in the moment, she stood up on her tiptoes and placed what she intended to be a quick kiss to his lips, but that changed when Dean used his hold on her arm to pull her closer to him as his other arm snaked its way around her waist, holding her to him. After a moment, she pulled away, face flushed and feeling breathless. Once she recovered she smiled up at him again, "Hop in and buckle up, I intend to get the most out of my ten minutes."

~TFS~

"You actually let her drive?" Sam asked incredulously as they pulled into the parking lot for the storage unit building.

Dean shook his head, he could hardly believe it himself. One minute he was dead set against her getting behind the wheel then the next thing he knew she was behind the wheel smiling like he had just given her the greatest present in the world. He had just about had a heart attack every time she would sneak a glance at him, laughing at the stressed out look on his face, but she had gotten her ten minutes of driving and had rewarded him with a blinding smile and mind-numbing kiss after she pulled the car over as a thanks for being, as she put it, "such a good sport". "Dude, it was only for ten minutes. She was being annoying as hell and it was the only way to get her to shut up." Dean defended.

Aubri stirred in the back seat where she had been curled up sleeping. "I can hear you asshole." She mumbled sleepily as she sat up, rubbing her hands across her face in an attempt to wake up faster. "Is this it?" She asked, looking at the building in front of them.

Sam looked down yet again to check the address that was written down, "Yeah, this is the address the guy gave me. I'll go inside and find out which one it is and see if I can get the key."

Opening the door, Aubri let Folsom out to stretch his legs and do his business, following the big dog out of the car. She walked around to the front of the Impala and leaned against the hood, feeling the car drop just a little bit as Dean sat on the hood next to her. "So what do you think is gonna be in there?" She asked turning to look at him.

"Hell if I know Aubs. Dad, well, he wasn't exactly the sharing type if you know what I mean. You think you start to know the guy and then a new surprise pops up and knocks you on your ass."

Aubri nodded slowly, "I get that kind of. My mom was like that, a little. I never quite could seem to get a handle on that lady. One day she would be great, we would do all this stuff together and she would act just like any mom should act. Then the next thing you know she would send me away for a week or two here and there. I'd go stay with my dad or with my dad's parents and wouldn't hear a peep from my mom the whole time. That was normal up until dad died. Both of his parents died the year before and I only had a year of school left before college so since mom didn't have anywhere to ship me off to, she would just disappear for weeks at a time. I wouldn't know where she was or what she was doing and I wouldn't hear from her til she showed back up. I quit talking to her after I left for college and other than the occasional happy birthday or merry Christmas I haven't heard from her since. So I kinda get it, in a way."

Dean looked over at Aubri and couldn't help but notice how small she seemed in that moment. This was the first time she had ever really said anything about her family and her past in that other world since they had found her. It was surprising how little he actually knew about her. He reached out and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards him until her head was leaning against his shoulder. "That really sucks Aubs." Was all he could say. He couldn't say sorry, saying sorry wouldn't change the fact that her mom had been a shitty mom, so he just sat there with his arm around her letting her know she wasn't alone.

After a moment she pulled away, sniffing quietly and rubbing her face, "It's ok, I'm over it. Have been for a long time." She gave him a half smile before something caught her notice, "Looks like Sam got what we needed, let's get a move on."

They entered the building and got in a rickety old elevator that resembled a cage more than anything. Aubri jumped slightly when the old thing shuddered to life and began the descent to the storage locker. Dean was shaking his head, still thinking about his conversation with Aubri.

Sam caught Dean's faint smile and the shake of his head, "What?"

"Just Dad, him and his secrets. It's like we barely even know the man." Dean said with a final shake of his head.

"Well, we're about to learn something." Sam said with a sigh, helping Dean push up the door of the elevator.

They walked through the musty hallways lined by doors, dust motes floating in the dim light. When they finally reached John Winchester's unit door, Dean pulled out the key Sam had handed to him and unlocked it, sliding the door to the side with a screech. Aubri stood on her tip toes, peeking over Dean and Sam's shoulders to get a better look inside of the unit. Dean's hand went out, keeping Aubri safely behind him as Sam shone the flashlight into the dark recesses of the storage unit.

Taking in the symbols on the floor, Sam muttered, "No Demons allowed."

"Blood. Aubs, just wait outside the door." Dean said as he began to step forward. She opened her mouth in protest, but he cut her off, "Just listen this once please. Who knows what kind of shit is in here."

She nodded and leaned against the doorway, not necessarily happy about having to wait outside, but seeing Dean's reasoning for it. "Be careful." She whispered. This place did give her the heebie-jeebies and a shiver ran down her spine as she strained to see into the dark corners of the unit.

Sam continued to shine the flashlight around the locker as Dean knelt down, "Check this out." He said, lightly touching a trip wire.

The beam of the flashlight followed the trail of the trip wire all the way up to the barrel of a shotgun, "Whoever broke in here got tagged." Sam said with a faint laugh.

"Dear old Dad." Dean said, continuing to look at the ground for more hints as to what happened. "I've got two sets of boot treads here, looks like it was a two man job, and our friend with the buckshot it him, looks like he kept walking." He observed, standing up slowly. He motioned to Aubri to come forward and took her hand, helping her over the trip wire before letting go of her. "Be careful in here Blondie and for Christ's sake don't touch anything."

"You got it." Aubri said with a quick salute before gingerly picking her way through the storage locker, taking in the shelves packed full with things that could be memories and things that could probably make her life miserable with just one touch.

"So what's the deal, Dad do work here or something?" Sam asked as he and Dean scanned the shelves.

"Living the high life as usual." Dean said, stepping closer to the skull that concealed the shotgun.

Aubri turned around and made her way back to Sam and Dean just in time to see Dean pick up a small trophy and dust off the engraved plating, "!995." He said slowly.

"No way!" Sam said excitedly, turning around quickly. "That's my division championship soccer trophy. I can't believe he kept this."

"That's about the closest you came to being a boy." Dean teased, moving further back into the storage unit.

Aubri took the trophy from Sam and looked down at it smiling. "What?" Sam asked, seeing the grin on her face.

She shook her head, "It's nothing, I'm just picturing a tiny Sam running around playing soccer. Just being a normal kid. It's kind of hard to reconcile that with the giant you are now." She handed the trophy back and gave him a playful shove on the shoulder.

"Oh wow!" Dean said, drawing Sam and Aubri's attention as he picked something off of the table.

"What is it?" Aubri asked, coming up to stand close behind him.

"It's my first sawed-off." He turned to look over his shoulder at her, a proud grin on his face, "I made it myself, sixth grade."

Dean laughed and cocked the gun, but Aubri's smile faltered slightly. She couldn't stop but feel a heavy, sad feeling when presented with the blindingly obvious differences in Sam and Dean's childhood and for a moment she wanted to meet John Winchester just so she could get the brief chance to give him a good talking to.

They followed Sam back to the back of the storage unit where he pushed open a metal door that looked like it had been chained shut at one point. "Holy crap." Dean said as he took in the arsenal that was laid out on one of the tables in the room. "He has landmines. Which they didn't take, or the guns." He observed.

"Looks like they were after something in particular then." Aubri muttered as she moved closer to a shelving unit that had rows of boxes on it. "What are these?" She asked, pointing at some of the symbols on the boxes.

"That's binding magic." Sam answered, "Those are curse boxes."

Aubri backed away from the boxes quickly, hoping she didn't accidentally touch one. She backed into Dean and he grabbed her arms to steady her. "Curse boxes? That's supposed to keep the evil mojo in, like Pandora's box?"

"Yeah, yeah they're built to contain the power of the cursed object."

Dean nodded, pulling Aubri from in front of him to his side, as if he meant to keep her further away from the curse boxes, "Dad's journal did mention a lot of stuff, dangerous hex diadoms, fetishes, he never did say where they ended up."

"Well this must be his toxic waste dump." Sam said, scanning the row of boxes one last time, his eyes settling on an empty space. "One box is missing, great."

"Well, maybe they didn't open it." Dean said with a shrug. He looked around one last time before heading back to the exit, pausing to help Aubri safely over the trip wire again.

Once they were back at the Impala, he turned to Sam, "Go see if they got anything on the security tapes that can help us find these guys, I'll check out Dad's journal and see if maybe there is something in there about the curse boxes that I missed."

Aubri let Folsom out of the car, keeping a close eye on him as he went to sniff around in the grass while Dean placed the old sawed-off that he had brought out with him on the roof while he went to get John's journal out of the bag in the trunk. Aubri glanced up at the gun lying next to her head and couldn't help but let out a sigh as she shook her head. Dean caught this gesture and raised his eyebrows at her in question as he walked back to stand next to her. "It's nothing, just thinking." She answered, not looking directly at him.

"Well I figured as much Aubs, I can practically hear the wheels in that pretty little head of yours turning." He elbowed her teasingly, but was disappointed when all he got was the slight upturning of the corner of her mouth.

Her lips stayed pressed in a thin line for a moment as she gathered her thoughts, "I was just thinking about your dad."

"My dad?"

"Yeah, just how he raised you guys." She could tell by the way Dean's face suddenly became void of all expression that this wasn't necessarily the best conversation topic, but she ran with it anyways. "It's just, from what I can tell, both of you were raised like soldiers, gun training, always moving, the works, but it just seems like you never got to be a kid and Sam did. You always had a job to do, you always looked out for him, for everyone I bet, and I'll wager that Sam was out there winning that soccer trophy while you were building that shotgun and getting ready for whatever it was that your dad would tell you to do next." Her shoulders drooped slightly, "I'm not trying to rag on your dad, I can't imagine how hard things must have been for him, but it just doesn't seem fair."

"Life isn't fair Aubs." Dean answered, perhaps a little too harshly he guessed by the way her shoulders stiffened.

She looked up at him, fixing him with a hard gaze that barely revealed the worry she felt for him almost constantly, "Don't you think I know that Dean? Life sucks, but that doesn't mean that a kid should have all that responsibility put on him because his dad couldn't always see past the need for revenge."

Dean glared down at her, matching the iciness of her gaze with his own, "We are not talking about this Aubri." He said with a note of finality that was unmistakable.

Aubri pushed off the side of the Impala, stalking over to the edge of the grass where Folsom was investigating a new scent. "Asshole." She muttered under her breath as she pulled on the edges of her jacket sleeves and crossed her arms across her chest against the breeze.

Dean let out a long breath through his nose as he watched Aubri standing near the grass. He could see her anger in the set of her shoulders, how she stood with her legs braced slightly apart and her chin raised high. Trying to focus on the pages before him, he found himself glancing up at her regularly. He didn't want her mad at him, but he also didn't want to hear her review on his dad's parenting skills. She didn't know him. Sure his dad wouldn't be winning any Father of the Year awards, but that didn't mean that he was the worst dad. John Winchester had done the best he could by his boys with the hand he was dealt. Sure he probably screwed up more times than not, but most of the time he tried, at least with Sam, and keeping Sammy safe had always been the job.

Giving up on trying to get anything out of the journal, he put it back in its place and slowly walked over to Aubri. He stopped next to her and mirrored her position, crossing his arms in front of his chest, but not looking at her, "Aubs..." He began, chancing a quick look at her out of the corner of his eye. He stopped what he had been planning to say when he realized she was looking up at him looking an awful lot like she might cry. This is not what he had planned for. He didn't want her crying just cause he wasn't in the sharing and caring mood about his dad. "Hey now," He said softly, turning towards her slightly.

Aubri looked away quickly and sniffed, rubbing her hands under her eyes as she fixed her gaze on the horizon. "I wasn't trying to say he was a bad guy, or that you and Sam turned out wrong from how he raised you guys, or anything like that. I think you guys are pretty great, it's just..." She turned to look at him, willing herself not to get overly emotional, "It's just, you take the weight of the world on your shoulders Dean, you think it's your job to fix everything and protect everyone, but it's not Dean, it's not. I just, I worry about you." Her anger with him had receded, but she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye.

Dean shook his head slightly and reached out to pull her towards him, wrapping his arms around her as she rested her head on his chest with a sigh. "You don't have to worry about me Aubs." He said into her hair, breathing in the smell of her strawberry shampoo. She shook in his arms slightly and he wasn't quite sure if she was laughing or crying so he just tightened his hold on her a little.

She looked up at him, a faint smile on her face as she stood up on her toes to plant a soft kiss on his lips, "Someone's gotta worry about you Winchester cause you sure don't worry about yourself."

It got a tad cheesy at the end, but that's just because I love the cheese. I hope you guys liked it and like I said, I'll try to be better about updating more regularly. As always review at will!