A/N: To anyone who told me Alec should kick Ruby's ass: y'all have a problem in this chapter b/c I kind of like Ruby. I found her entrance in 'Ius In Bello' (which is one of the only episodes of S3 I've seen so far) absolutely hilarious. 'Does anyone have breath-mint? Some guts splattered into my mouth while I was killing my way in here.' *roflmao* Yes, I have a weird sense of humor sometimes...

.

.

Part Two: A Life in Passing

.

Scene Three

~A small roadside diner, July 2nd, 2007~

.

"So, is this Ruby chick going to be hanging around a lot?"

"No!" Dean didn't sound incredibly enthusiastic at having to deal with her in the first place.

Which was just as well, Alec decided. The sex last night had been awesome, but there was just something about the blond ruthless woman that made his hackles rise. Figuratively speaking. There had been the faintest smell of fire and brimstone as she had lowered herself down on him.

But, Ye Heavens, the sex had been good!

Shifting inconspicuously in his seat, Alec sniffed cautiously at the chocolate fudge cake he had ordered with his coffee. It smelled good. It tasted even better. Closing his eyes in bliss, Alec thought sadly that, if there was one thing he was going to miss when it was time to go back home, it would be the food. And the coffee. He couldn't recall the last time he had tasted coffee this good in post-pulse Seattle. The sludge that would be served as coffee in establishments like this little diner in about ten years was going to consist mostly of roasted barley grain because the real deal was just too expensive to afford on a regular basis. Would be too expensive. Or something. Those tenses were really playing merry hell on Alec's head brain when he thought about them too hard.

Neck prickling, Alec opened his eyes again to find Dean staring at him in that peculiar way he seemed to have perfected during the weeks his misplaced-in-time clone had been staying with him and his brother. It was an expression of evenly matched incredulity, curiosity and amusement with just the faintest hint of sadness thrown into the mix.

The grin spreading lazily over the older man's features was equally familiar by now, and Alec hurried to ask, "Who the hell is she anyway?" before Dean could let loose with what was undoubtedly going to be a joke of which Alec was going to be the butt.

Stabbing the fork into his cherry pie with unnecessary force, face clouding over, Dean answered, "An ally."

"You don't sound real sure about that," Alec observed unconcerned, shoving another piece of chocolaty heaven into his mouth and absently wondering how long it took Sam in the bathroom.

"That's because I'm not." Shaking himself, Dean finally began attacking his own pie with gusto.

"She's a demon, you expect me to believe she's helping us out of the goodness of her heart?"

Oh. Well, that would explain the fire and brimstone.

The thought barely crossed his mind when Alec caught another whiff of that smell. Turning around in confusion, he didn't see anyone but the late-twenties Asian waitress ambling up to them with a coffee pot in hand.

"Careful, Dean," she said, the almost purring quality of her voice a sharp contrast to the blushing, stumbling stutter when Dean had made a pass at her earlier on. "He might get the impression that you don't like me."

Traveling cross-country with the Winchesters, Alec had found himself stuck in one or two seriously out-there situations, but really, what the hell? Dean didn't seem to have the same problem.

"Now where would he get that idea?" he asked almost amiably, but Alec didn't miss his sudden tension. He still didn't know what was going on.

Refilling their cups as if nothing was wrong, the waitress's attention shifted to Alec without deigning to reply to Dean's quip.

"And who do we have here?" she asked silkily. "The littlest Winchester." Her smirk suddenly changed to a lascivious leer at the same time her eyes went black. "Or maybe not so little."

And just like that, Alec knew what was happening. Right. Demon. Possession. He had read about that in John Winchester's journal and several other occult works Sam had recommended.

"Ruby?" he demanded, just as Dean choked out his own horrified, "You slept with her?"

"She offered!" Not that he needed to defend his actions. And strictly speaking, it hadn't exactly been an offer.

After last night's harrowing experience, Sam had come over one more time to introduce the (what Alec had still believed to be human) woman. Dean had been grouching like Alec hadn't seen before, but the chick was hot, and other than her ability to give as good as she got when it came to the older Winchester's scathing remarks, Alec didn't see anything wrong with her.

Hence, when she had shown up on his doorstep again about an hour later, with the brothers in their own room down the hall, he hadn't thought twice about inviting her in. Hadn't thought twice about kissing back either, when she stepped up to him with an appreciative glint in her eyes, stating, "Oh, I am going to enjoy this!" and kissed him with hungry lips.

Hot chick, jumping his bones... Who was he to say no?

Ruby stayed most of the night, but not until dawn. However, in the twilight hours of morning when Alec had still been mostly asleep, he thought he heard her murmur something into his ear.

"Don't worry, kitten. I'll try to make sure your brothers stay alive until it's time for you to reunite with them." Whatever the hell that meant...

"And your little boy here definitely knows what he's doing," Ruby was taunting right now.

Alec preened, even as Dean leveled a heavy glare on him.

"Anyway," the Asian woman continued, and it was just plain weird to hear Ruby's vocal pattern from a woman who, a few minutes ago, hadn't been able to speak English without garbling the grammar. "I gotta be off. Watch out for grizzly hunters."

And she turned on her heels, busily walking through a swinging door at the back of the diner, where the kitchen had to be, mere seconds before Sam finally exited the bathroom.

"What the hell was that?"

Dean shrugged, annoyance still playing over his eerily familiar features. "I guess she just wanted to rub my face in..." Grimacing with distaste, he didn't finish the sentence but complained, "Seriously, Ruby?"

.

to be continued...