Revelations 2: Lost and Found

by everfaithful

Sequel to Revelations: Johns death revealed two secrets, not just one. Sam is willing to sacrifice it all to give his brother a chance at life, a real life, But Dean isnt willing to let that happen.

12. Chapter 12

Dean woke up with a groan. He remembered being knocked out, that hadn't tickled. He was laying on a cold floor on his stomach, that's the first thing he noticed. The second was his knee. Trying to raise himself up, and it just wasn't happening on that knee.

He opened his eyes, and still saw nothing. But he could feel the walls. Cold walls. Flipping over to his back, he could touch the walls on either side of him. Concrete, like the floor.

Please. No.

Flying was his thing. He tried to never do it. Being trapped in a hunk of metal 30,000 feet above the ground, with no control. But he wasn't fond of dark, closed spaces either. Because he remembered the last dark closed space he had been in. His breath was coming fast as his eyes darted in the darkness for any bit of light they could find, always coming up with nothing as he wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand.

Then he forced himself to his feet, keeping his weight off that leg as long as he could, and felt around the walls until he found the door. And started to bang it. Punch it. Kick it. He had to get out of here, he couldn't breathe.

Jack had intended to play it cool until he had an escape plan. He had torn through the house actually with a real mad on, this time demolishing anything that looked like it might be of value with a cold calculating efficiency.

But then he heard it... the pounding and thumping, coming from behind the wall. A secret door she had said, well it wouldn't be so secret with Dean whaling on it now would it. "Dean!" He yelled out, going to the place where the sound seemed to originate. "Dean, calm down and talk to me man... I need you to talk to me so I can figure out this damned door." He began to look around for any incongruity that would indicate a door. "They thought I was pissy before? Oh they don't know a damned thing about me." He muttered to himself, more than ready in that moment to be the last remaining Hsaio in existence. "Change my last name to Winchester, I swear."

Dean heard his brother, but he needed to get out of this room. It was growing smaller by the minute, he could nearly feel the walls pressing in on him. "Get me out of here, Jack." He said, as he kept pounding the walls. Eventually something would give, him or the wall. Either would be good right now. Calm down? There was no calming down until he could breathe. The air was hot and musty, and there didn't seem to be any new air coming in as he kept pounding, heedless of his knee. He could take care of his knee after he was out of here. He just had to get out of here. How was he supposed to get out of here?

"Mr Hsiao, you need to leave." A man said from behind Jack. "Just turn around, and go. Do not make us hurt you."

"You really don't want to go there right now." Jack said darkly. "Trust me, he isn't paying you enough to go there." Jack took a deep breath, then another, and put his hand through the false wall, reaching in to find the catch for the concealed door. He wasn't in the mood to worry about his so called grandfather's house. "Hang on Dean, I'm coming."

Dean was beyond hearing. He was thrashing the small closet as best he could, sweating, wide eyed. He could hear his heart in his ears and nothing else. Not even his fists hitting the wall over and over until he was smearing blood over the walls, not that he could see that. He was still encased in darkness, complete pitch black. He started to see pinpoints of light, then realized, in a detached sort of way, that it wasn't light. He was hyperventilating and he felt like his chest was being crushed. He was going to die here, at the hands of Maggie's father. There was some sort of poetic injustice there, he was sure.

But he didn't care, he had to get out of there. Five minutes ago wouldn't have been soon enough.

The man grabbed Jack and shoved him across the room before Jack could get to the latch. "Again, please return to the main house. This is not your business."

"The hell it's not." Jack said wading into the fight, and landing an old fashioned punch to the man's face, and followed it up with a spinning back kick. This wasn't sparring, this wasn't brawling with his brother, this was family, and his family was in pain. He didn't pull either punch. "And unless you wanna see what comes of being raised by demons, I would get the fuck out of my way." He said going for the latch again.

The man stepped away as Jack released the latch. Then kicked Jack inside and locked the door once more.

Dean had seen the door open and made a break for it, only to be shoved back down to the ground under the weight of his little brother's body. So close. So fucking close, which only made it so much worse.

"Dean!" Jack said as he eased off of his brother. He had caught a glimpse of the man's hands and the blood on the walls when he had opened the door. "Come on man, Sit up for me." He said, helping him up against the wall. "I need you to breathe with me, okay?." He knew Dean was panicking and it wasn't something he had ever thought to see. It just made him all the more angry. "Come on, you gotta slow it down with me." He pulled the arms off of his shirt to use to wrap his brother's hands, which was the best he could do at the moment. "In... ... out...Dean, listen to me... in... ... out."

Breathing was the last thing on Dean's mind. "Jack?" He said. "God, not again." He said as he got up after Jack wrapped his hands. Locked in a closet by a mad person with his little brother. So not good. Way too many memories for that one to even try to think straight as he started banging on the wall, door, Jack had come through. "We gotta get out of here. Dude, I gotta get out of here."

"Dean... you need to get off of that leg and calm down before you hurt yourself." Jack said in a firm tone. Using the sharp tone that had gotten through to Dean in his delirium. Sounding like John had to work in his favor sometime, right?

Dean was far beyond any placating at this point as he slammed on the door. "Open the fucking door you son of a bitch!" He yelled at it, giving the door everything he had. But human flesh rarely did well against reinforced steel. "Come on, you son of a bitch!" He couldn't stay in here. At the very least he had to get Jack out, Jack had to get out before they came for him. They were going to come for him, just like Maggie had, and his forearms burned at the memory of it.

Jack moved and closed his arms around his brother, holding him tight and taking two steps back. There wasn't much more room than that. But it was all he could think of to keep his brother from hurting himself any more than he already had. "We'll get out of here. I promise... but you have to calm down or you won't be in any condition to go when the time comes."

Dean took a deep breath. "I'm calm, I'm calm." He said in a normal voice, as he kept breathing, his head rushing at it. But he waited until Jack released his grip and launched himself right back at the door. He was not stopping until it opened. Stopping was not an option, because he couldn't go through that again. Jack was inside the room with him, there was no one left outside to get him out. He had to get them out. Their father had taught him never to give up, not when someone else was on the line.

Jack swore. Sarcasm he got from the Winchester side of the family, but his gift of vulgarity came purely from Ben. "Don't you make me knock you out." He said as once more he pulled his brother away from the door. "Don't make me stand here holding you like a toddler with a temper tantrum. I'll do it man, it won't be pretty."

"Then help me, dammit!" Dean shot back. "We can't stay in here, Jack." His voice nearly childlike. "We're sitting ducks, and sitting ducks get shot. Or bled. We gotta get out of here."

"I won't let anything happen to you. But you have to calm down. " Jack said in as soothing a tone as he could manage. "You're not alone... Ben is working on it... we'll have help ... right now you need to calm down. I know it's hard, and probably feels impossible but please... you're only hurting yourself right now.. the door doesn't even notice."

"Ben...can't come in." Dean said with a chuckle bordering on hysterical. "He can't even get past the gates. All he could do is burn this place down around our ears and hope we're okay. And smoke. He smokes too much. Right now, Ben can't help us. No idea what they did to Kaylie," since he had been knocked out. Had a nice sized lump to show for it too. "And sitting here, calming down, is NOT going to get us out."

"Kaylie is out... I managed to get him to let her go." Jack said. "And no it's not going to get us out, but neither is tossing yourself at that door until you pass out. It's reinforced steel." He said having gotten a look at it when fishing for the latch. "The only thing you are going to break is yourself. I'm sorry I got you into this."

"Jack, get away from the door." Dean said in a quiet voice. His brother was blocking the exit. Sure, it wasn't open yet, but he had to believe it would. Or he'd go insane. Literally. "Jack, move. You want to sit down, go ahead. I'm not easy to break. But I will break if I have to stay in here. Now, move."

"Dean... don't. I won't let you hurt yourself anymore. I will lay you out if you start that shit again. As it is I am gonna have to cut the leg off of those jeans, your knee is swelling too much for them. "

"Compression." Dean said, sounding oddly logical. "It's compressing the swelling, which is what a goddamn ace bandage would do anyway." By the end of his statement, his voice had regained the nearly hysterical note, panic ridden and bleak. "And I'll hit you back. Now move." He said, going around his brother in the tight space they had.

Jack let Dean get past him. "I'm sorry man." He said as he sucker punched him to the back of the head, knowing it wouldn't take a lot to knock his brother out, since he had been hit once already.

Once Dean hit the floor, Jack pulled him away from the door, and started triage as best he could. Starting with cutting his jeans away from that leg. The small pocket knife he had wouldn't do them much good for getting through the door, but it would at least help with keeping his brother from losing his leg at the knee.

SNSNSNSNSN

Ben wasn't even full on raging. Not that one could tell as he threw the last package over the wall. He couldn't get through himself, but he could throw things over it. Then he took out the prepaid cell phone he had bought from some kiosk (probably stolen, but who cared) and called Teneke.

"Look out your window." He snarled into the phone. "Still think I'm kidding around?" The unfortunate guards had gotten in his way. One had tried to shoot him. Another had the idea to spray him with a fire extinguisher of all things.

Teneke looked out the window. "And what is it you think you have accomplished?" He asked. "I still have Jack and the Winchester boy. That isn't going to change. You might as well go home."

"It's called a seige." Ben snapped. "I can't come in, you can't come out. I'll take away your business. I'll take your money. Anyone who walks out those gates doesn't get to come back in. And when I'm done, even your ancenstral crypt will be nothing but ashes. Just give me Jack and Dean and this all goes away."

"Jack doesn't want to go with you. He came here willingly instead of allowing you to try and help him. He knows where he belongs and without Jack, I can't possibly imagine what use you have for Winchester. Just take the young lady home and go away. "

Through the gate, Ben could see where Teneke was. In his office, lording over his manor. And Teneke's office started to become unbearably hot.

"Give me back my son, you bastard." Ben said. "I'm not asking, I'm not requesting, I'm demanding you sack of shit. And my patience is at an end."

"You don't have a son, Demon." Teneke said staring out the window at Ben, sweating from the heat, but not showing it. "Jack is a promise that you have fullfilled. Nothing more. He is MY blood. He will remain. Now leave my property before I toss what is left of Winchester over the wall."

"We both know he's not dead. He's no use to you dead." Ben said, with a laugh. This man thought he was an idiot. "You are nothing to Jack. You obviously don't know him if you think hurting Dean and sending Kaylie away brings out the warm and fuzziness in him. Tell you what, you've got twenty minutes. Then your crypt gets attacked. I'll light those fire for you one more time. The ancestors will love it. Then, well, I've got some friends that would love to party with me."

"This is not a war you want, Demon." He said. "Remember that." Teneke hung up the phone, and turned on his heel to head down to the basement. It was time for Jack to get over his attachment to Winchester, and the Demon.

Teneke, flanked by guards, opened the door. Winchester was out cold, so that was at least one less problem. "Jack." He said, highly disappointed his grandson was in here. "It is time to go. Let's get you cleaned up."

"Not without my brother." He said putting himself between the guards and Dean. "The illusion is over. I know I'm a prisoner here, not someone you give a rat's ass about, so either both of us come out of the closet or you can just go fuck off."

"Jack you are my grandson. My only grandson. But you are being unreasonable." Teneke said. "And your unreasonableness has caused me great headaches over the last few hours. If you do not come out now, you will be left in there alone." For when they came for Dean. Jack had helped them out, whether he realized it or not, by rendering the American unconscious for them.

Jacks eyes narrowed. "You aren't touching my brother." He said firmly. "And I didn't cause any of this. You brought it on yourself when you arranged to shanghai me."

"Jack, you disappoint me." Teneke said. "I could have made you an important, powerful man. Opened you up to possibilities you had not even dared to dream of. I would have budged on your girlfriend. But this insubordination will not be tolerated. You have sicced a demon on my home." He tossed the phone into room. "Call him off. The number is dialed, just push call."

"I didn't sic anyone on any one. You want me to call Ben and try and calm him down, you have to give a little." He said as he picked up the phone. "We take Dean to my room. You can lock us in for all I care but he is going with me to my room and staying there. I will call Ben from there once he is settled in." Or he would call and tell Ben to do his worst and he and Dean would deal with the after math.

"Don't be a fool." Teneke said. "The demon will burn this place around our ears. You are encased in steel, you will fry. And he cannot cross the threshold of my property to save you. It is suicide if you do that."

"Suicide... or watching you torture my brother and spending my life as your slave? Suicide works. " Jack said in all honesty. "So... is that a refusal to put Dean and I in a more acceptable location?"

"Winchester is a danger." Teneke said. "He remains. You may move back to your room if you wish. Now call him."

Jack looked at the number and memorized it. "Hey Dad, it's me." He said glaring at Teneke as he did it. "So ah... this son of a bitch is torturing Dean, has no intention of letting me out of here so...burn it to the ground. Make the Alamo look like a picnic."

Ben breathed out in relief. "Jack, listen to me. You're not going to like this, but listen to me." He said. He knew he could light the place up like a Roman candle. But doing so would kill Jack. He could control the fire up to a point. But not being able to get in there, to see where Jack was, whatever control he had would not be enough. "Dean will be fine. They need him alive, anything they do we can fix later. Whatever he wants, right now, you need to do. You need to do what he wants for the littlest while. Because I am not, I am NOT torching you."

"They are going to torture him like Mom did." Jack said, a desperation in his tone. "They are gonna kill him before it's all done. He's in bad shape already, leg busted, concussion, busted rib... they're locking him in a closet. "

"I know, I know." Ben said. "Jack, keep your head on. You need to keep your head on." He didn't hear Dean in the background, which meant he was knocked out. "I've got him under pressure, he's got..." Ben looked at his watch, "five minutes then I torch the crypt. I need some help on the inside. You memorized the phone number, I know that. Cause you're a sneaky kid, but you can't help me if you're in that closet."

"If he wakes up in here alone... he could off himself without half trying." Jack was stalling giving Ben time to tell him what he needed. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep the cell phone and finding another one to call him from might not be as simple as it would seem.

"Jack, we don't have much time. Start talking. Start trying to convince me to stop." He said and waited for Jack to start talking. He knew Jack could talk and listen at the same time. A strange gift, but one that was appreciated right now. "I need a crack in the mystical fissure. From there I can work. Once I have a crack, I can bring the rest of it down. And don't argue, but you need to let them take your brother. They'll be distracted with the ritual, the magic will be weaker. Unless you have a better idea, that's the plan."

Jack closed the phone. Knowing that Ben would know how to take that. There was nothing more to say. He was right and it was killing him inside to have to let them hurt him. He had never felt like a failure in his life at anything until now.

He threw the phone at his grandfather's face. "If you hurt him... don't go to sleep. Not ever... cause I'll be there... proving just how much of a Hsiao I really am." He growled and pushed past the guards and walked toward his room.

"Good boy." Teneke said, catching the phone. "Guards at the entrance, I don't want him down here. Call in reinforcements for the trash on my sidewalk also. Now, is everything set up?"

Jack didn't look back, if he had he wouldnt have been able to keep walking. He let himself breathe, slowly relaxing, slowly opening up to the part of himself he would bind away once this was done, never to be tempted by again. But if he was going to save his brother, he was going to have to see what spells were woven around them. That at least was something useful to come out of it all. One that Teneke had arranged for him to learn early on.

He found a cordless phone and picked it up and kept walking until he turned off the path to his room and into a spare room, locking the door behind him. Then he called Ben once more. "Okay... I'm away from there... let's hurry about this. I don't like them alone with Dean."

"Okay, I'm at the east wall." Ben said. "Big ass stone wall in front of me, but did you know even stone melts at high enough temperatures? I can get the wall down, easy. What you need to do is find the binding circle. They reversed it, cheap trick in my book. And mar it. Scratch it, piss on it, whatever." He knew Jack was barely holding together, so speed was of the essence. The quicker he got in, and the quicker they got to Dean, and the less damaged Dean was, the better Jack would be.

"Right." Jack said as he got up and started walking around the place, knowing the guards and his grandfather were primarily distracted with Dean.

Problem was he didnt know what he was looking for. It could be anything. He didn't know anything about the ritual magic side of things. He looked around and saw lines of energy flowing everywhere in the house, but following them didn't lead him to anything that looked obvious as his source.

He saw her walking around the corner and hurried after her, his aunt, the one who had wanted to help him before. He grabbed her arm and escorted her into the nearest room. "I need your help please." He said, knowing that Ben would be hearing this and probably not approving at all.

"I cannot rescue your brother." She said softly. She remembered when Teneke would look after her, like Jack looked after his older sibling. It seemed such a long time ago, and perhaps it was.

"That's my job. What I need ... is to know where the binding circle is... the circle that is keeping Ben out. Please... " He knew he was asking a lot. He was asking her to betray her brother, asking her to open her home to something that she abhorred. "It's the only way I can save him. He doesn't deserve to be tortured like this no matter what that bastard thinks."

"What you want to let into my home has been piling bodies just inside the gate." She said, horrified at the aspect of Ben entering her home.

"War sucks." Jack said. "And we didn't start this one. We didn't come looking for you, we didn't kidnap anyone or drive them insane or torture them. He brought this on himself. You can't stop Ben ... nothing can... except Dean and I leaving this place alive."

Unfortunately Jack made sense as Mei swallowed and silently walked away from him on quiet feet, expecting him to follow. Through the house to a parlor type room. "The center is behind that painting." She said, nodding toward it. "It is built into the very foundation of the house, but if you can punch through a wall, you can mar the center." Her brother would probably kill her for this transgression, but she was dead if she didn't help.

"Head to the hotel where you took Kaylie, do it fast while he's distracted with Dean and then us." Jack said as he slipped into horse stance and took three quick breaths and slammed his fist through the wood paneling and plaster board, coming in contact with the cinder block on the other side.

He swore and pulled his hand out of the hole swearing to make a sailor blush as he used both hands, one now swelling rapidly, pull away the wall to reveal enough to the seal on the cinder blocks.

He took out his pen knife again and began to scrape at the seal, destroying it with the first scratch. He picked up the phone he had set aside. "Let's get the hell out of dodge." He said.

Ben could feel it the moment the barrier dropped. He flared into where Jack was. "If you really wanted a family vacation, I could think of much better places." Ben said. "Where is he?" Mei's eyes widened at the sight of Ben, and she hurried out.

"Downstairs." He said as he turned to lead the way, at a run. Teneke had been allowed too much time with Dean as it was. "Best thing these bastards ever did for Mom was to disown her." He told Ben.

"So, no more questions on why you don't have grandparents then?" Ben said. Once they got to the basement, he moved Jack behind him. "Stay behind me or I will leave you up here." He said. He wasn't risking Jack for Dean. No way in hell, that thought never even crossed his mind.

Jack paused but nodded. Not thinking of it as protecting himself but the fact that Ben was a tank. Nothing was going to hurt him and it was more likely that they would get to Dean and out quickly if Ben took the lead.

Ben went down the stairs and listened for any noise. Then kicked a door to a supply work room open and glared at Teneke. "Back away from the brat." He said. "Do you really want to piss me off right now?"

"This isn't over, Demon." Teneke said, but backed away from Dean. "You have no idea what you have in your midst."

"No." Ben growled. "You have no idea what you have in your midst." He said as the room got hotter. "Jack, get your brother out of here. I'll be up shortly."

Jack didn't have to be told twice as he moved to pull Dean into a fireman's carry and haul him out of the room, moving toward the gates with every intent of not being there when Dean awakened.

It didn't take nearly as long as Ben would have liked. But humans were so vulnerable to things like heat and fire. He came out to where Jack was waiting on the sidewalk, casually brushing a bit of ash off his arm. "Nice weather, huh?"

"Incredible. Kaylie is at a hotel somewhere...guess we start calling until we find her, huh?" Jack said as he looked over his brother's injuries. Most of them he could take care of without breaking any laws.

Dean woke up roughly as Ben and Jack tried to figure out where Kaylie was. The first thing he noticed was fresh air. And the blinding brightness of the day against his eyelids, making him squint when he did open his eyes. Then he noticed one leg was colder than the other.

"Dude, I liked these jeans." He said mournfully as he carefully touched his head. "And you deserve to get your ass kicked for this one." They'd managed one slit down one forearm, wrapped already by Jack with another part of his tshirt. It throbbed, but so did his head. And his knee. And his ribs. Pretty much everything.

"We saved him...why?" Ben asked dryly as he dialed another hotel.

"Because he's already house broken and a new puppy wouldn't be." Jack said in a serious tone even though he was joking. "And you don't get up yet. You need to reserve your strength for the trip home. It's gonna be a doozy with that head of yours, and I wouldn't have had to hit you again if you had just ... stopped trying to beat yourself up with a steel door. "

"The door started it." Dean grumbled as he sat up. He didn't get up, he just sat up. Because, well, the sidewalk wasn't comfy to lay on. "Dude, I think Ben's bleeding."

"Not mine." Ben said as he turned off the cellphone and threw it away. "Found her. She's actually in a rather nice place, suite and all. About to kill all three of us, but we'll get to die in comfort at least. Unless your brother wants to continue whining on the sidewalk?"

"He does not." Jack said as he offered Dean a hand to help him up. "Yeah she didn't want to leave when the son of a bitch made an offer... she is probably going to make good on her old man's threat when we get there."

"Lovely." Ben said as Dean took Jack's hand and carefully stood up, not putting any weight on that leg of his at all. Then Ben grabbed them both and flamed into Kaylie's hotel suite. Mei was trying to get Kaylie to eat something, but dropped the spoon when Ben appeared.

"He isn't going to hurt you... you helped us. "Jack said quickly. "Although you might wanna go shower or something, Ben." He added knowing the blood was his grandfather's and that just wasn't something a sister needed to see.

He eased Dean over to the sofa, not wanting to make him hobble into one of the bedrooms. "Stay put." He added and then moved to Kaylie. "Forgive me?" He asked her gently.

"I really shouldn't." Kaylie said once Ben disappeared into one of the bathrooms. "Do you know what I did? I stole money. From Ben, in that drawer he keeps at the shop. Bought a forged passport. Bought a plane ticket. Bluffed my way through customs, wandered all over Hong Kong for three days..."

"Dude...she's more of a Winchester than you!" Dean said, laughing.

"Shut up." Kaylie said to Dean. "But yeah, I forgive you. As long as you don't tell Ben."

"I won't tell Ben." He said and pulled her to him, holding her close. "It's over." He said. "We can go home and go back to what passes for normal in our lives, and relax. God I love you." He said. "You did all that to find me... Gotta say I'm impressed. But you know that means you can't rag me about practicing medicine without a license on Dean." He teased.

"Fine. I'll rag on Dean instead, since he's the clumsy one." Kaylie said, clinging to her boyfriend as if he might disappear if she let go.

Mei handed Dean a fashioned ice pack, and Dean went about telling her how to get out of trouble. Lay low, line up the alibis, and never mention her brother again. She was saddened, hurt, but she nodded. She had no intention of spending the rest of her life in a Chinese jail after all.

"I have a friend in the countryside. I will visit her." She said. "Tell...Ben...thank you is the wrong word." He had killed her brother, right or wrong, he had killed Teneke. But saved her nephew. Did it even out. "Tell him careful journeys."

"I will." Jack said. "You can ... contact me if you want. " She had helped them... she was the one connection he had to his mother as a human being, as a real person not the monster. The part of her he wanted to remember, and push the rest into oblivion.

"Perhaps. After the fury dies down." Mei said with a bow of her head as she took her leave of the suite.

"She paid for three days." Kaylie said. "So Dean could at least rest a bit."

"Rest? I had plenty of rest after your boyfriend knocked me out." Dean scoffed as he elevated his leg on a coffee table. "Some pants would be nice though."

"If I hadn't cut those off, your three day vacation would have been spent recovering from knee surgery." Jack said. "And if I hadn't knocked you out, it might have happened anyway, you left your damned blood all over the place in there from your hands as it was. I didn't know you were claustrophobic." The last was said gently.

"Dude, I'm not claustrophobic. But, beat the hell out of me, throw me in a dark closet with the sole intention of fishing me out for the sole intention of bleeding me dry...well...I get pretty determined to get out." Dean said with a scowl.

"Nope, not claustrophobic." Kaylie said.

"I'm not, Sammy's claustrophobic." Dean said. "Your boy's got a thing about things crushing down on him. Me? I don't fly."

"You were having major anxiety attacks in there. You were hysterical. You wanna call it determined, okay, but you are dangerous whehn you are determined... to yourself mostly."

"Dude, not fair to kick a guy when he's down." Dean said with a frown as Ben came out. He had waited until Mei left.

"Well, it's not my choice of vacation spots, but it will do." Ben said with a shrug. "Suppose I should go get some clothes for us or something."

"Not meaning to kick you when you are down... just... man... I thought you were gonna kill yourself in there. Ya scared the hell out of me." He told Dean. Then looked at Ben "Thanks Ben... for everything. All of you. I'm sorry I got you sucked into all of this."

"We sucked ourselves in." Ben said. "And...I know how Dean and I got here...Kaylie though..."

"I cleaned out my bank account." Kaylie said, glad she still had her face buried in Jack's shirt. Because she was a horrible liar.

SNSNSNSN

Sam stood at the edge of the pier looking out over the water. He wished his brother were with him, not for the first time since he had left him behind in that hospital bed.

Exorcism... that was his gig. Not yet a solo gig, but it would be one day.

Hunting... hunting was a Winchester gig and it reminded him of Dean every time he did it, reminded him that life was gone. That he wasn't part of that world anymore and never would be again, yet at the same time it connected him to it, grounded him. Reminded him of why he was apart from all that he loved.

And it made him angry.

He spoke the words over the cold iron cross, and tossed it into the lake, watching it with strangely cold, tear rimmed eyes.

A water spout formed, and the iron cross was tossed back at Sam's feet. The water, normally so smooth, was starting to roll across the lake, as if it were about to break out into a boil under the moonlit sky. The cross did not belong in the water, so it was not going to stay in the water.

Sam stared out at the water, waiting for what it was going to do. He needed to know what it was that was out there and he figured there would be enough shadow in a lake at night that he didn't have to worry too much.

He hoped...

or did he?

The water slammed against the beach, against nearby trees. Against itself. If water could have an emotion, this lake was obviously angry. Exocise it? This being standing on its shores was obviously a fool, and it did not suffer fools gently as it receded against itself. Opening the beach up once more. It was hungry.

Sam stared calmly at the water as it parted, the faintest smile on his lips, dark eyes darker still as he stared it down, no fear reaching the surface. He ignored the small voice inside, the one that would normally have been gasping out expletives, and urging his long lean form into motion. He shoved that voice aside as though it were nothing but a gnat buzzing at his ear and he breathed. Hyperventilation. Calmly, calculatedly over oxygenating his blood, to stay under longer.

A lifetime ago he would have hunted a way to appease the spirit, put it at peace once more with the world around it. A lifetime ago he would have argued with his brother that it didn't need to be destroyed, it was a part of this place. It was natural.

But that life was gone, and something needed to pay for the hole it left inside of him. For now the water spirit would do.

The water swirled back around Sam, lapping at his skin, as if tasting him. Rising quicker than it should as it pulled Sam under, the cold under currents coming to the surface, overtaking the warmth it could provide. If it wanted to. But it didn't. It continued to swirl around him, wrapping him in tentacles of icy wetness as it seeped into his clothes, his nose, his ears. Battering against his closed eyes and mouth.

Destroy me?

It didn't speak, but Sam could feel what it was communicating.

Destroy me? Arrogance. As old as the earth itself, I have been here.

The part of Sam that wasn't Sam, the primal core of him that bore the imprint of his other father, answered. I have stood at the dawn of creation and I will stand when the earth is ash and the water is boiled from the sea.

The images swirled around him, as the mortal body began to fight for air, held in place by little more than the will power of the mortal soul that simply wanted the killing to stop. Images of war more graphic and bloody than any film Samuel Winchester had ever seen. Sword, spear and wings coated in blood. Creatures more beautiful than the human eye could bear to look upon coated in blood, faces contorted in rage and sorrow.

Above the chaos, above the blood and fire, the lights battled in the heavens, in a blinding aurora, until one bright and shining light hurtled downward, crashing into the earth, shaking it to its very core.

One followed its descent, and stood over his fallen comrade, wings once white, now blood red arching upward as it howled in rage. Its eyes yellow as the morning sun, as it reflected the flames that surrounded them all.

Shards. The water communicated. Shards. Memory, soul, with someone else's shards. Does not impress. Memories of a time gone by. One fell here, descended further. Then there is this. What you call me. Here. Always. Leave.

As you wish. Sam grasped the creature, sorting out the water from the water spirit, in a way that he couldn't really comprehend, and would not have been able to do in that lifetime long ago when he truly was Sam Winchester. That lifetime ago where he would have drowned with his brother screaming his name on the shore. A name that was only half his now.

He grasped the creature firmly, with more than just his hands and melded with the shadows that flitted through the water, emerging once more deep in the woods, scattering the creature across the ground.

Sam sank to the ground and gasped for breath, looking at the wood piled high for a bon fire, and raised both eyebrows as it ignited. "That's... new." He managed to get out and crawled closer to the fire to warm himself. "What ever you are..." He said aloud, Sam said aloud, with no more communication with his primal self than he would have had in that life time long ago. "No. More. Killing."

The water retched, trying to find its way back to the shore, back to the lake. Keening in a high tone that filled the woods, echoing off the trees. Emitting pain as the fire lapped at it, as the heat permeated it. While a pair of yellow eyes watched from the forest, with a sly smile.

SNSNSN

Jack had set Dean up in the down stairs guest room, because he knew there was no way he could make it up the stairs to his apartment with that knee. He had even put in a small air conditioner in the window so that Dean and Ben wouldn't get into their usual thermostat wars.

The trouble was keeping Dean off the damned knee in the first place.

Which was so much easier said than done as Dean hobbled into the kitchen. Jack had gotten him a pair of crutches, and Dean had compromised. He was using one. Besides, he needed his other hand for food and beer, right? So with his hurt leg at an awkward angle, bending at another strange angle to protect his ribs, he looked for the beer. Of course, it was way in the back of the fridge, seeing as Kaylie had done the last shopping, and just shoved 'real' food in front it. Dean wasn't interested in real food. He wanted beer. Maybe a lortab. A bag of chips, then he was headed outside to the wreck he was still working on.

"You are not gonna go out there and stand on that leg to fix a car that no one is driving. " Jack said with a frustrated tone worthy of their father. "Don't you have any hobbies that don't require aggravating your injuries AND me at the same time?"

Dean gave him an amused look at that, holding the bag of chips in his mouth and the beer in his free hand as he managed to get to the table, the lone crutch falling with a clatter as Dean propped his leg up on another chair. "Dude, you got the car to keep me out of trouble, remember?" He reminded his brother. "Not my fault you're so easily aggravated."

"Yeah well anything that keeps you standing until that knee is better is keeping you in trouble." Jack pointed out as he went to the fridge and got the fixings for two sandwiches. Roast beef and swiss, no veggies, nuked to melt the cheese. And he didn't scrimp on the meat and cheese, then sat one down in front of his brother and took the other with him to the other side of the table.

"Dude, the knee is better." Dean protested. Because it didn't hurt as much to put weight on it. He left that part out, because then Jack would get started on him putting weight on it in the first place. "Besides, I can do plenty on a car flat on my back." Then he laughed. "That came out wrong, but you know what I mean."

"It's still swollen, it's not better." Jack felt more than a little guilt over all the injuries his brother came away with from Hong Kong. Jack felt guilty over a lot of things that there was nothing he could do to fix. He still walked on egg shells around Kaylie, went out of his way where Ben was concerned to be the perfect 'son'.

"Dude, you gotta stop." Dean said between bites of his sandwich. "The only thing you have to blame yourself for is the knot on the back of my head. And that's gone anyway. Everything else, not your fault. The whole martyr routine, its kinda annoying at times."

Jack just gave Dean a look that said he was full of shit. "I'm not a martyr." He said. "And I'm not acting like one." He was just trying to make things right again. Ben had crossed lines he hadn't crossed since meeting Abby. Kaylie had been kidnapped, terrorized (by him) hurt (by him) and Dean had been thrust into hell. All because of him.

"Uh huh." Dean said, unconvinced. "So, still sending flowers to Kaylie's work?" He asked with a grin. He knew Kaylie was getting a delivered bouquet with every shift she worked. "Guess I should be glad you're not sending me flowers."

"Yeah well... the first time I hit you, you told me to." He said with a laugh. "And then knocked my ass out. No guilt... the second time I hit you, you were hurting yourself so it was to protect you. You don't warrant flowers. You get free medical care instead."

"Don't suppose I can sign myself out AMA?" Dean joked as he drank his beer. "I mean, I've got a nice record of doing that, you know." After being electrocuted, after the car accident, after his little run in with Meg...

"Nope. It's the down side of living with your doctor... or EMT in this case." Jack pointed out. "And no, moving back up over the garage doesn't count as moving out, you would just bang up your knee on those stairs anyway and then you would have to have a real doctor."

Dean gave an aggravated sigh. "Dude, stop the blame trip. Really, I'm okay. Ben's okay. Kaylie's okay. You're okay. We're all okay." He said.

"No thanks to my stupid ass." Jack said shaking his head. "And sometimes okay isn't good enough." At least not as far as a guilty conscience went. "I raise my voice and she gets that look in her eyes. And I did that. Me... no one else but me."

"Okay, not to point anything out or anything, but maybe she can't move past it because you can't." Dean said as he opened the bag of chips. "Dude, you send her flowers non stop. Then there are the presents and all that. She's not stupid, she knows you're trying to make up for it. But everytime you do, you're just bringing it back up. Let me ask you something. Do you want to live without her?"

"No." Jack didn't even have to think about that one. He had missed Ben and Dean while he had been in Hong Kong, but being with out Kaylie had been its own torture.

"Well, if you don't stop, you're going to." Dean said. "So what you do is take her out to a nice dinner tonight, go to a movie, apologize one more time and promise to stop filling the bar and grill up with flowers. Got it?" Not to mention his ingenious plan would get Jack out of the house for the night.

Jack laughed. "And this sage advice comes from a man with how many successful relationships?" He asked, even though he knew Dean was probably right, and if nothing else... it couldn't hurt.

"Absolutely none. Obviously." Dean said with a laugh. "The reason being I'm not a big communicator. You are. All touchy feely...I don't know, I think I'm a genetic misfire or something." He said, since Sam was also touchy feely at times.

If Jack had known more of how his brothers were raised, he would understand why Dean was reluctant to share and Sam was all over sharing and caring time. But he didn't really know that Dean had no one to comfort and console him through the little every day hurts, so he learned to deal with them on his own, and keep them to himself. Where as Sam had Dean who was very much a nurturer. Just as Ben was. Pretty funny when you thought about it. The two toughest men he knew were the biggest nurturers he knew.

"I'll call and see if she is willing to go out with me. " He said.

"See? Now that's not so hard, is it?" Dean said with a laugh.

"What have you talked him into this time?" Ben said around his cigarette as he came in, sorting through the mail.

"Why am I always the one corrupting him?"

"Because you usually are." Ben said.

"Says the guy who owns a strip club." Dean scoffed. "I was helpful, thank you very much."

"He says I need to stop sending Kaylie flowers and presents and just take her out to dinner."

"Okay, he was helpful." Ben said with a surprised look. "He's got a point. It's dinner or jewelry at this point. Who would have thought the man whore would get an answer right."

"I hate that term." Dean said, making a face.

"Well, there's himbo, he-ho, the classic gigalo, player, casanova..."

"Fine, man whore it is." Dean said. "So should we let him pick the restaurant?"

"Of course I am picking a restaurant. And it's going to be dinner. If I get her jewelry, there is only one thing that wouldn't just be a continuation of the whole gifting thing, and I can't give her that until I have a steady job and can support her on my own." Ben was still at odds with this whole not working thing, granted he was only a few classes away from OJT. But he was still without a job, and spending his savings on flowers.

"Having a job has nothing to do with it." Ben said as he grabbed his coat and went through the pockets. "Supporting her, you're on your own, but, here." Ben said and handed him a jewelry box. "For when the time is right. That ring was awesome luck for me for sixty two years." Abby had been cremated, so he had the ring he had given her. Which he had picked up during the Depression, when the formerly rich had been selling their tiaras and diamonds for literally pennies.

"My god, this is beautiful, Ben." Jack said looking at the ring in awe, his eyes misting up. "I remember this... " It was one of those things you remember about the elderly, and Abby had been elderly when Jack knew her. The jewelry they always wore, and their smell. Abby always smelled of lilacs, and she always wore this ring. He remembered her hands, such gentle hands, from when he had been hurt so badly. "Thank you." He said and set the ring down for Dean to see and went to pull Ben into a hug.

Dean took the box and looked at it. Not knowing squat about rings, but he was supposed to look at it so he did. It was an old ring, even he could tell it, with detail on the band, and a good sized rock in the setting. "Nice." He said with a nod. His free foot tapping a bit. Great. Chick flick moment between two grown men. Wonderful. And him on crutches.

"You're welcome." Ben said, hugging the young man he considered his son back. "Should stay in the family an yway, right? Works out, she and Kaylie have the same size, so I got it cleaned."

"She'll cry when she sees it." Jack said and this made him grin. "Of course her father might shoot me and make all this pointless, hence the hoping for the steady job and all before asking her officially." That wasn't all. Jack was old fashioned. Sure she was going to college and was going to have a career, but he wanted to be ABLE to support her on his own. Needing to wasn't the point.

"That's the point, they're supposed to cry." Ben said with a chuckle.

"So, I'm gonna, you know, go see about the car." Dean said, getting up. He cleared his throat a bit as he picked his crutch off the floor and carefully balanced on it. "So, yeah, I'll be, you know, outside."

"The hell you are. Get off of that knee before I have to knock you out... again." Jack said mostly teasing. Mostly. "You keep that up and you will never be able to get back up into your air conditioned 68 degree apartment. You will be stuck in 102 land forever."

"Come on, Jack. I'm bored." Dean complained. And a bored Dean was a dangerous Dean. But he'd sat around the hotel room. Now he was sitting around the house. There wasn't anything good on TV, and he was beyond restless.

"Have you ever investigated the video game collection I have in there? Hello... I worked in a game store for 5 years. You can find something to do that doesn't involve screwing yourself over."

"Or next time I can hit him." Ben volunteered. "He'll be in a coma, he won't move, he won't whine..."

"I'm not whining." Dean said, frustrated. This reminded him of house arrest. Except without the motel bed.

Jack laughed "Whining ...bitching... its all one, bro."

SNSNSN

Sam finished packing his bags. "So... ready to go back to work?" He asked the priest. "We don't have to if you still want the down time."

"I am fine." Father Pavel assured Sam. "I'm not the one who beat the holy hell out of a water spirit. I just read my books." He said with a chuckle. But it was a good sign, one that Sam was recovered from his injuries sufficiently. "There is never any rest for the weary besides."

"I'm alright. I was just a little water logged is all." He told the priest with a grin. He hadn't shared his vision with him, or the weird 'memories that weren't his memories' moment. He wanted to write it off to oxygen deprivation. Didn't want to think about the fact that his demonic father was perhaps Lucifer's right hand man.

"But never again do I want to hear you complain that your older brother does not spend enough time in his sick bed." Pavel said with a laugh. "How he doesn't allow himself to recover fully before returning to his work. Because now, if you do, all I will hear is pot, kettle, and black."

"Hey! I waited until they officially released me from the hospital. That's more than Dean does." He said with a laugh "And I fished for a couple days after that."

"Next time I shall take you fly fishing if that's not enough activity for you." Father Pavel said as they started bringing everything to the car. "One of my comrades is training for a triathalon if you still need to expell energy. Ah, to be young."

"Nah, I'm good. Nice vacation, a good old fashioned hunt.. I'm rested. Really." And he was. Strangely enough. Even with his world still turned upside down, Sam felt very much rested after his encounter with the water spirit. As though something had... unclenched. Let go a little.

"You do look rested." Father Pavel agreed as he packed the trunk. He was surprisingly strong for his advanced age and withered frame, and did not accept help if he didn't need it. The difference between himself and a lot of other men was that he knew when to ask for help.

"So how backlogged are we?" He asked putting his things in and giving one last glance around him at the lake and the surrounding woods.

"Not so much." Father Pavel said. "Just a few things to attend to right away. Yet another prison, where a man who slaughtered his family, his neighbors, and their neighbors is awaiting our evaluation. He is on death row, but his mother does not want him to die possessed."

Sam nodded, horrified at the thought of someone dying for something they didn't do. "He won't die of it if he is possessed." He pointed out. "The host would be abandoned by the demon... if it didn't want to continue the charade. Will the prison allow us to perform an exorcism there?"

"Yes, I've made arrangements. I'm more concerned about the possessor jumping ship for another during the execution." Father Pavel said. "And from the case file I've read, two of the murders were committed pre possession. So this is not an entirely innocent man we are dealing with, but he should still be offered the Lord's forgiveness at the gates. So that's what we shall do, give him that chance."

Sam nodded. Transfer at execution would be a problem he knew though that there was no way to be sure of the moment of possession. It all depended on how sneaky the bastard was that was doing the hitchhiking. "Sounds good. I'll break out the Sean Talbot ID that I was using for this. Don't really want to go through a repeat of the trial Dean had. "

"That would not be a good idea." Father Pavel agreed. "It would garner the same coverage as your brother's trial after all. So, Sean Talbot it is. We just have to cast the demon out before they execute him." Father Pavel was not a supporter of the death penalty, but he couldn't change the law. Technically he wasn't even an American citizen.

"Then again come lights out I could just slide out." He said with a shrug. Sam tried not to think about things such as the ethics of the death penalty. Because then he would have to put his own ethics into question. He did kill things on a regular basis. Things that he and Dean had discovered didn't really need to die just by virtue of their existence.

They chatted about far more pleasant things than the ins and outs of capital punishment as they drove toward the prison and were shown by the warden into the death row wing. Where there was another prisoner who recognized Sam for who he really was.

"You!" Gordon shouted. "I know you! Dammit, you should be dead. Your brother should have let me off you, demon scum."

"I'm sorry." Sam said smiling sweetly. "You have me confused with someone else." He had enjoyed watching Dean's lawyer turn Gordon into a raving lunatic on the stand. The sad thing was that he had been right, except about Dean. But that didn't make him any less of a raving lunatic.

"It's him!" Gordon shouted. Working himself into a fit, because he couldn't get out of the cell and take care of this himself. "He's going to kill us all. He should have been drowned at birth."

The guard slammed his nightstick against the door. "That's enough, Walker. Or do you want the restraints again?" He looked at the priest and his lay assistant. "Sorry. Some of these guys..."

"It's alright." Sam said, still using his gentle, friendly tone. "I understand. I don't envy you your job at all."

"Yeah, well, I'm not going into the cell of a possessed mass murderer, so right now, I like my job." The guard said, touching the small cross he wore around his neck briefly. Father Pavel nodded.

"It's quite alright." He said. "We're trained for this, you are not. I would be extremely useless in a prison riot after all. The good Lord gives us all jobs."

Sam remained quiet and let the guard lead the way sparing a smile for Gordon as they walked away. It was quite satisfying to know that he was responsible for the son of a bitch being there in the first place.

"Leave us." Father Pavel said when they reached the cell. It was at the end of a long hall, no one was by this particular prisoner. Solid metal and concrete, the only contact with the outside was through a small barred window at the top of the door, and a narrow slot for food trays. The guard nodded and unlocked the door, locking it again when they were inside with a resounding clang. Father Pavel unpacked his tools of the trade. The holy water, the incence, the Bible.

"I'm not Catholic, padre. No need for last rites. Besides, not biting it for another couple of weeks." The man said looking at both of them with cold eyes, eying Sam for a moment.

"Do not play at being stupid, demon." Father Pavel said with authority. "You know I am not here to give the host his last rites. That time will come. But I am here for an entirely different reason. We shall begin." He said to Sam with a nod and started the opening prayers.

SNSNSN

Jack rolled his eyes. Dean had been insufferable since getting the brace off of his knee. It was like letting Tigger loose in their home. Now he wanted him outside. "I'm coming, okay? Hang on." He laughed and kissed Kaylie on the nose. "Be right back." He said.

"Dude, you're slow." Dean said. "No wonder you had to sucker punch me. Come on." He was nearly bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited for his brother. "Jack, dude, when I said I have something to show you, I meant I had something to show you now."

"Why, is it running away?" He asked as he headed for the front door. "And I sucker punched you cause man... you can't afford another break in that nose."

"Dude, my nose is fine." Dean said. "Come on." He said as he passed Jack and led him over to the tarp covered wreck and tossed him a set of keys. "I'm really sick of fixing Sophie, so I decided not to. So, there."

"What?" Jack asked. "You mean?" He indicated the tarp, and peeled it back, dark eyes lighting up as he looked at the ancient Impala. "Are you serious?"

"I mean while you were completely neglectful of your Deansitting duties, you know with sleep, girlfriend and class, I finished it." Dean said with a chuckle. "Inspected, registered, the whole nine. Forged your name and all, but figured you wouldn't mind. Besides, I already got a car, which is still cooler than yours."

"Yeah well that remains to be seen." He said as he went over to the driver's side. "Well... get in." He told his brother, figuring that next time he had to Deansit, he would tie him to a chair when he had to go and do things like.. .oh .. .live his life.

Dean laughed and got into the passenger's side. "Oh come on, dude. You're not seriously miffed that I got sick of sitting around. I mean, it's not like I got into any trouble, and the knee is fine. Right back to normal actually."

"No. Just ... don't let it happen again." He said with a grin as he started the car, listening to her rumble. "Better yet... don't get into a place to NEED to be Deansat and it will all be good."

Dean laughed. "Yeah, sure bro." Like he ever PLANNED on getting hurt on anything he did, right? "Okay, let's take her for a drive. Handles completely different than Sophie, I'm talking a nice strong eight cylinder engine under there."

"Alright then." He said and pulled out of the driveway. Fortunately he had driven the younger Impala enough not to miss the power steering, and soon they were out on the back roads, where all the really good curves were.

Dean even impressed himself with how well the car handled the Texas backroads, and even stopped on a dime for a stray cow that wandered off the pasture. "I figured this will get me out of the doghouse." He said with a grin.

"Yeah, it's a good start anyway." Jack teased as they headed back to town. "I love the car man. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Dean said. "Besides, I might need some free advertising anyway." He had to do something with the money. "Shit, dude, can you believe I have a bank account?" The government demanded it, some place to deposit the hush money.

"Wow... it just floors me the things that I take for granted." He said. "Bank accounts, a home, steady job." He shook his head. "It's hard sometimes to understand how you managed to exist so far outside society... yet managed to walk through it like you fit in. No offense. I don't mean it in a bad way."

"Dude, your brother is a major league conman, like it or not." Dean said with a laugh. "Nah, this whole bank account, job, home thing...that was Sammy's dream. Course, he's dead set against it now. Me? I figured I'd just keep driving until finally I fell asleep at the wheel. And you know the worst thing about the bank account? Now any geek with a computer can find out how much money I have. That sucks!"

"Dreams change. People change. Life doesn't follow a set path no matter how much we want it to. Who knows what any of us will have or be tomorrow?"

Dean laughed. "As long as I don't wake up female or something tomorrow, I'm good." He said. "So you like the car? I mean really. It's a far cry from Sophie."

"I love the car." Jack said honestly. "Thank you. Not that I am getting rid of Sophie. But I love this car." He now owned a classic car... car show quality classic car. This wasn't something you drove to the grocery store.

"Oh god, you're not going to be one of those weenies who brushes off a car like this once or twice a year to keep the engine going, are you?" Dean said, dispairingly. "This car is meant to be driven, often. Hard. Not hidden under a tarp so the sun doesn't fade the paint. That's an insult."

"I'm gonna take it out, I promise. Trust me... she will be driven. Just...wow... do you know how likely this car is to be stolen if I park her at work?"

"Actually not likely at all." Dean said. "It's distinctive. Rare model and build, stand out color...car thieves tend to go for something that blends, even when they go high end." Then he laughed. "Don't ask how I know that."

"I have a feeling I already know." He said shaking his head. "Okay, but if she is stolen you know I am going to make you find another one for me."

"That's fine." Dean said. "Just would hate to see her languish away in a garage. She loves the open road." He also knew car thieves stole cars for three reasons: escape, fencing, and an actual ride. It didn't have power steering, and unless you knew how to drive it, it could be unwieldy. Also not good for a chop shop because of its age. And actual ride? Way too distinctive. Would be picked up in a minute.

"Oh she will see the open road. This weekend in fact, if I can get Kaylie to take the weekend off. I could see a road trip in my future."

"Now that sounds like a plan. I'll talk to her supervisor. She's got a crush on me you know." Dean said with a wink. "I tell ya, classic cars are an addiction. Drive this long enough, you won't want to drive anything else."

"Ben was right... you are trying to corrupt me." He teased as he pulled into the driveway.

"Hell yeah. That's a big brother's job you know." Dean said with a chuckle. "So I'll chat up Kaylie's supervisor, you make a plan for a road trip."

"Works for me, thanks." Jack said as he parked and turned off the car. "Poor Sophie. She'll never forgive you. Although this is Sophie mark 2. I had good luck with cars and that name... even though it didn't work so well for the dog."

"Whatever floats your boat." Dean said with a chuckle. "Come on, let's get back inside before Kaylie swears I kidnapped you." The worry in that couple went both ways. If she was five minutes late, Jack swore she'd been kidnapped. If he didn't call when he promised to, Kaylie swore he was across the world.

SNSNSN

Dean had tried to take time off to just get settled after the trial. That had been an exhausting experience to say the least and he very nearly cried, for real, when the foreperson said 'not guilty.' But then he had to make an emergency visit to Hong Kong, which left him with a string of injuries to overcome. Under his baby brother's overly watchful eye, he'd managed to recuperate in a fairly uneventful manner, and finish the 58 Impala.

But...he was a hunter. And he'd keep picking up on things in the news, in papers, that would itch at him.

So, finally, when things had calmed down (though Ben claimed his murder trial was excellent for business, and could he do it again?), he started repacking the Impala. Restocking on what he needed, what he thought he'd need. Researching different legends as he shoved a few changes of clothes into a bag and threw it into the back seat.

"You're coming back after this hunt...right?" Jack asked as he stepped off of the front steps of his home...his childhood home, much as the Impala was strangely Dean's childhood home. He could understand wanting to be rid of Corpus Christi after having experienced her jail for so long, and probably been in more fear for his life there than he had ever been anywhere else.

"Oh yeah." Dean said. "This is the only place where I don't get asked for autographs." That happened when he drove to San Antonio for car parts. It had been...weird...to say the least. "Besides, who else is going to patch me up? Just going to Kansas to investigate a supposed portal to hell, then I'll come back. I just...I gotta do something." Hunting was what he did.

"Oh... just a... portal to hell. Nice." Jack said. "Okay... got plenty of cash to see you through? If not, just call home and you can give Sophie a tune up when you get back or something. So what are you going to do if you find a portal to hell?"

"Yes, Mom, I have enough cash. Clean underwear too. And no swimming directly after eating, got it." Dean said with a grin. "Well, what else do you do when you find a portal to hell? You close the damn thing before someone falls in."

"Just that easily... close it up with a shovel... have to be an awfully deep hole. Better rent a caterpiller for that one." He said shaking his head. "Or is it more ritualistic than that?"

"Oh a lot more." Dean said as he opened another bag. "Candles. Graveyard dirt from a martyr or something like that. Incense, ritual in some weird ass language, it should keep things under wraps for a bit. Cell reception sucks in a hot spot like that, so I'll call when I'm done. Relax, this is a piece of cake."

"Nice, you know those words don't make me feel comfy and relaxed about this" Jack said with a laugh. "Keep your head down. Can't afford you to get arrested for wacky ritual shit on private property. It would be ugly and after this last court session, they would give you the death penalty for jay walking."

"The only reason they caught me last time was because I was unconscious." Dean pointed out. "Which means as long as I stay conscious, I'm good. So I promise, no sleeping on the job. I'll be back in a couple of days." He said with a laugh as he got into the Impala and headed toward Kansas.

He felt better, some of that weight was gone. Sure, no sign of Sam, and he'd been looking for some sign, but he was all right. He'd find his brother, he always did after all. Right now, he could barrel down the highway and not have to worry about the trooper looking at him wrong. Liberating really, and made the drive go faster since he could take the highways most of the way.

Then he got a room in a town over, paid cash, and waited until it was dark before heading back out to the cemetary he'd heard about, cutting his lights as he neared it and parked his car under an overhang of branches.

"Okay, let's do this." He said, sawed off rifle of rock salt over his shouler, and a bag full of ritual tools in his other hand.

Chavi was tired. She had been hitchhiking for several days how, getting as far away from her family as possible. Her father was insufferable, so very old world, with his demands and his lack of understanding. She was 25 years of age and running away from home. It was frustrating and humiliating. Humiliating in that it took her this long to find the courage to live her own life.

She entered the old cemetary and walked through it with no fear. She knew of the things that walked the night, what Rom didn't? But she didn't fear it. She took her precautions and felt secure. And in general there was less danger in a cemetary at night than there was on a busy city street. So it was here that she chose to make her bed for the night. Now it was just a matter of finding the right location.

Dean was by where his readings said he should be. He heard a noise and quickly snuffed the candle he was setting up. Because this place was patrolled by the police, and it really wouldn't look good if he were arrested for trespassing now. Since it was privately owned and all.

He set himself low on the ground, in case it was the cops, he wouldn't be spotted. But dammit, he just wanted to close a gateway to hell then go get a beer. Was that really too much to ask? He got himself low in the high grass between two widely spaced trees, laying on his stomach.

Chavi wandered through the tall grass. Appreciating the cover it could give her. If she set up her bedroll there she wouldn't be discovered by anyone that was simply walking by. She scanned the ground in the distance, looking for something that looked like it might be level when she tripped over what she thought was a log or an over turned headstone, and fell to the ground with an oomph.

"Ow." Dean said as he grabbed his flashlight and shone it on the girl's face. Resisting the usual urge to go for his gun, what with that sparkly clean criminal record of his and all. Flicked the flashlight about, no obvious weapons, and sighed as he lowered it so not as to blind her. "You should really get out of here." He said as he looked up at the moon. Nearly time. "I mean it, go back home."

Chavi scowled at the man. "I am staying here tonight. You don't like it you can move on." She said with a false bravado. She couldn't see him clearly in the dark, particularly after the light shone in her face but she rolled away from him and sat up, rubbing at her eyes until they cleared.

"No...you're not." Dean said. "I was here first. Remember, you tripped over me." Even if he didn't have a bed roll, or anything other than supplies for the ritual. Which he really had to begin if this was all true. "So you really need to go. Now."

"Why? What are you doing here that you need me to not see?" She asked, feeling particularly stubborn. She was tired and she was tired of being ordered about by some man. "I am not going to walk to the other side of town simply because you have some clandestined meeting planned. If you let me get settled down into sleep I won't see anyway."

"Okay, fine." Dean said. She was cute, but maybe she'd leave if she thought he was some weird freak of nature. "I'm going to sit here as a gateway to hell opens. Then I'm going to close it. I'm going to perform a ritual under the moonlight in the middle of a freaking cemetary and it's really, really, dangerous. Happy now? Think you can sleep through that?"

Chavi tilted her head to the left, tight waves of hair falling in her face. "A gateway to hell." She said with a contemplative frown. "Are you mad? That isn't something you should be taking on alone. If you fail, you open it wider, letting things out that should never see the light of day. " She shook her head "Gadje... " she muttered. "Do you not know that you should not scratch where it does not itch? "

He looked at her, surprised for a moment, then went back to setting up. "Yeah, well, fourteen missing teenagers in ten years...I'd say it's itching and needs one hell of a scratch." He said. "And I know what I'm doing. So, really, lady, you should go."

"To where?" She asked him. "If you succeed, it will be little more than a light show. If you fail, there is no where that I could run to quickly enough even if I started now." She said pragmatically. Her grandmother taught her of things that most gadje would scoff at and consider superstition. She rose and shrugged off her back pack, wiping her hands on her pants legs. "So... I may as well take an active part in my survival or destruction. What ritual are you using?"

He barely refrained from growling as he handed her a candle and his extra lighter. "Ommadawn." He said. "And we've got about five minutes to set up." He said, looking at the sky again, as the clouds rolled in over what had previously been a clear night. "God, I cannot believe I'm doing this." He said as he plotted out where the candles should be. But time was of the essence. "I don't know where they went to. You ask me, this isn't a true portal to hell. More like an inter-realm passageway. Probably doesn't drop off at the same place twice. Either way, I'm closing it down." Because it had become such a local legend, especially after the old church mysteriously collapsed, visitors were starting to swarm on the usual nights.

"Makes sense." She said as she looked over the ritual and aided in the set up with a practiced hand. She had been intended to take her grandmother's place when the old woman deigned to die. One of the many reasons not to stay with her people. Yet here she was doing exactly what she had been trained to do because it needed to be done. So much for being in charge of one's own destiny.

Dean set up in silence, moving along the old ruins in accordance with the ritual. Then stood back. "All right, show time." Dean said. It wasn't anything dramatic. One probably wouldn't notice anything if they weren't waiting for it. But the night birds went quiet, even the slight noise from the town just stopped as the wind stopped, blowing leaves held as if in suspension for a split second as he took the rest of the set up and threw it into the circle, muttering a few words.

The 'light show' as she called it was a beam of pure white light, with blue light wrapped around it like a coil, knocking them both off their feet. Then...nothing. Birds chirped, wind blew, and the town came alive again.

Chavi stood up and once more brushed off her jeans and nodded in the direction of where the gateway had once been. "That went smoothly." She said as she started to gather the ritual supplies, wanting nothing left behind for those that didn't know to find. "Most don't believe in such things. How is it you do?"

"Of course it went smoothly." Dean said as he got up and started repacking the candles. "I've been doing shit like this since I was a kid. But to my knowledge there wasn't a Roma community anywhere around here." The word gadje tipped him off to that.

"There isn't... which is why I am here." She said bluntly. "I am wanting to explore my options... my father doesn't believe in options. So here I am." She shrugged. She liked this man strangely enough. Normally she wasn't fond of the gadje men she encountered. Then again usually they looked at her as though she were a superstitious, dirty thief. Most of them knew nothing and preferred the media to actuality.

"Exploring your options includes spending a night with a strange man in a freaky graveyard because you're too stubborn?" Dean said with chuckle. "Come on, let's go get a beer. Don't give me that look, you know that little laser show had to attract the cops."

"Alright. But you can bring me back here afterwards. I doubt there will be as comfortable a place to sleep closer in to town." She said as she picked up her backpack. She thought a beer would be a nice way to end the night. She might have enough to pick up dinner that night too. Would have to find a way to get more money in the next town. But it wouldn't be too hard.

"By the way, I'm Dean." He said, holding his hand out to her as he slung his bag over his other shoulder and started walking toward his car. "So you do this stuff a lot?" He asked. Roma might know more than the average population, didn't mean they practiced it.

She looked at him a moment then took his hand. "Chavi." She said. "I learned from my grandmother. When it needs done, I do it. But things don't need to be done as often as some would think."

"And they need doing a lot more than most others think." Dean countered as they reached the Impala. He popped the trunk and then the false trunk to put the bag in there. "Believe me, I've criss crossed this country enough."

Chavi raised an eye looking at the hidden arsenal. "This isn't just something you do when you need to... you go looking for it, don't you?" She asked, not sure what she thought of that, at all.

He gave her a grin. "Come on, let's get that beer." He said as he closed the trunk and got into the car. When she was in, he pulled out, turned his lights on and headed into town to the nearest bar. "So, is anyone going to report you missing?"

"No. Papa will either pretend I don't exist or go through the other Roma to try and locate me. He won't go to the police or anything." She figured it was more than likely she would be disowned than anything else, and right then, she didn't care.

"Eh, families." He said as he pulled into a parking lot. "My brother, now this is funny, rebelled by running off to Stanford." He laughed. "Families are screwed up by definition. I could tell you stories that would straighten your hair. So why'd you run off?"

"My father was too controlling. I was lucky and went to public school." It happened from time to time, that the Roma would mingle with the gadje population out of necessity. "And I got ideas in my head that he didn't appreciate. For instance that in my mid 20s I don't have to be married and it's alright for me to make my own choices without him."

"Well, good for you." Dean said as he ordered a couple of beers and handed her one of the bottles. "That had to take guts." He understood Sam a bit more. "Then...here's to choices."

"To choices." She said with a smile, and took a drink. "So what started you on this path you are on? Not everyone is cut out for a nomadic life. Especially not one where you are in danger more often than not. "

"Huh. That's true, isn't it? I don't know, my dad started us out on this, I think I was about five," when John had all the information and decided to fight back, "we just started traveling the country. You're right, I go looking for it. I'd rather catch them before they catch me, before they mess with any more families."

"That's a great deal of responsibility to put on your own shoulders. It's pretty impressive, actually." She grinned at him. "For a gadje." She teased.

"Gee, thanks." Dean said with a laugh. "So if I had no idea what I was doing back there, what were you going to do? Tackle me?"

"I don't know." She said honestly. "But I do know that if you had screwed up back there, I couldn't have gotten far enough away to avoid the coming hordes. I probably would have tried to do the ritual correctly behind you so that there was at least a chance at it being done right. Not that either of us has ever closed a gate before." She laughed. "Could have been an interesting cascade of failure."

"Nah, we were too close. We would have been killed instantly. So see, absolutely no guilt. Had we messed up, we wouldn't have lived long enough to feel guitly. Talk about pressure, you know, I think I'll leave the next gate to someone else. I'm on vacation."

"This is what you consider a vacation?" Chavi asked with a grin. "What is it you do for work?" The waitress brought over the food she had ordered and she thanked her for it. " I mean if escaping to Kansas... and doing what you were doing is a vacation, I don't know ... maybe it's time to change something in your normal every day life."

Dean laughed. "Sweetheart, if you only knew." Get off a murder charge, go from the ICU to a prison cell, yeah, he needed to change something. But hey, maybe now he had the chance. "Besides, I was born in Kansas. Nothing wrong with Kansas. In fact, I was born about ten miles away from here, strangely enough." Maybe Dad was right about that mystical fault line thing.

"I suppose there are worse places in the world. So long as you are not hitch hiking. I swear the road I came along today was nothing but stock yards. A good 50 mile stretch of stock yards and alfalfa to feed the cattle on. I thought for certain I had died and gone to hell."

"It's not that bad." Dean said with a laugh. "I live in Texas now, haven't actually lived in Kansas since I was four...so if they send other Roma to come fetch you...am I going to have to fight someone? Cause I'm gonna need more beer for that."

"No, I doubt anyone is going to find me while we are sitting here. If my brother were to find us... you might have to fight him. My father would just curse you and my mother would cry because obviously if I am sitting here with you over a dinner table... we must be involved and her little heart will be broken because you are not Rom."

Dean laughed. "Now there's a snap judgment. How does she know I'm not Romany? Just because of how I look? That's obviously not fair. Especially when I know pretty much for fact that within the next ten years, there's going to be a blonde haired, green eyed child running around with the last name of Hsiao." Dean said. "I could so be Romany."

"No you couldn't." She said with a laugh. "And it isn't the appearance that is the give away." Chavi thought it was one of his more endearing qualities... not being Roma. That and his smile. "So how is it there will be blond haired green eyed children of chinese descent?"

"My brother. Different mothers. He has his mom's last name, and she's half Chinese on her father's side." Dean said. "The girlfriend is your normal blonde haired, green eyed looks like she should be a cheerleader Texas girl. So eventually they'll get married, I'm sure, and my one quarter Chinese brother will have one eighth Chinese kids with the Chinese last name. Should throw some people for a loop I think. So you're sitting with me letting me buy you beer because I'm NOT Romany. Isn't that reverse discrimination?"

Chavi laughed again. "I am sitting here letting you buy me a beer because I have a weakness for green eyes. To me they are exotic." She said. "The not being Romany... means I won't get a lecture on how I should be an obedient and loyal daughter and forget what I learned going to school with the gadje."

"Me? Give someone a lecture on being good and obedient to some random cultural law?" That made Dean laugh. Loyalty and obedience to his father was one thing. To mainstream culture (which he supposedly belonged to) was quite another. "Believe me, I'm the last to give any sort of lecture on that. So are you headed anywhere or just away?"

"Just away." She admitted. "Haven't found anywhere I wanted to put down roots just yet. Still sorting all of that out in my head really. Where to stay, what to do when I get there. " She shrugged.

Roots. He'd never thought about roots. Never really thought he had any. If he had to be a plant, he figured he'd be a tumbleweed. Or his roots were planted firmly in the Impala. Or were they? Did he have roots in Texas? He was headed back there when he was done after all. Did that count as roots?

"Well, you can't sleep in a cemetary." Dean said. "Cops will be all over that place, especially given its reputation for Satanic rituals."

She gave him a wary look. Things like that were usually followed by how they had a bed she could use. She didn't think he was that sort but one never knew with strangers. He was attractive enough that it was a pleasant fantasy, but she wasn't sure she was ready for the reality of that. "Do you have other ideas?" She asked.

He gave her a boyish grin at that one. "Of course I have ideas. Just most of them you'd smack me silly for." He said. "Just telling you that you can't sleep in the cemetary is all. Man, and I thought I was paranoid."

"Try being female and hitch hiking." She said as she took a drink of her beer. "It's an exercise in paranoia and false bravado." She laughed a little. "I'll find some place else. You are probably right about the cemetary."

"No, I know I'm right about the cemetary. Believe me, I have plenty of experience in avoiding cops and other so called sources of law authority." Dean said. "Luckily, I'm male and I don't hitch hike. Though I did once drive a mini van."

She winced at that. "I would rather hitch hike than drive a mini van. I'm sorry. You must have been... under duress." She teased... mostly. Mini vans were the height of banality. Right up there with fast food jingles and cheap chocolate.

"Oh complete duress." Dean said. "My car was completely totaled. As in I had to rebuild her from the rims up. And we had a job, and a friend of mine only had a mini van to loan us..." He shuddered. "We ditched it as soon as we could, believe me. Can't exactly hitchhike saying, hey can you take us to the carnival where there's this homicidal clown running about? Oh, and can you now take us to this perfect stranger's house because we believe the clown is there now? No, you can't see the clown, but it'll kill you anyway. Never goes over well."

She laughed. "And this is what comes of getting involved." She told him. Not that she didn't do so on occasion herself but not usually on such a large scale. "Life usually provides enough little evils to banish that I never would think to go out and look for the larger ones... especially when your grandmother is the matriarch."

"Guess that's what happens when you take all female influence out of a family." He said with a laugh. "My mom...died...when I was four. Then it was just me, my dad and my brother. Could kinda count Sam in on that whole feminine influence, but not really. You know, completely amazing. If you play into stereotypes. You're the gypsy, you're supposed to be the nomadic scammer. I'm the 'gadje,' I should have a nice 9-5 job, settled house, and the whole so called traditional extended family."

"And here you are utterly nomadic and I'm looking to put down roots somewhere." She laughed a little. "Stereo types never really work, you know. Oh, if you look over the whole of a culture you could put together say the stereotypical American as a concept, but not when you look at the individuals. Not one single person would fit the mold. Not completely."

"I'm not utterly nomadic. I live above my brother's foster father's garage...god I really need a place of my own." He said with a laugh. "And with that comes a job that actually pays...is it really necessary to grow up before you're thirty?" He said with a laugh. "Nah, the stereotypical American male would be getting you drunk, laying on all sorts of lines you've heard a million times before, and then take your drunk ass back to his motel room."

"It's good that you aren't the stereotypical american male, because I could probably drink you under the table. But then... isn't it the stereo type that I would then rip you off and leave you to sleep it off?" She shook her head. "Stereo types are amusing and yes, you really should grow up at some point, although there is growing up... and then there is growing old. No need to do the latter, ever."

He had to laugh. "Outdrink me? You obviously don't know who you're talking to." Dean said. "Outdrink me. Maybe in your dreams, or if you slip me something. And it had better be something strong on top of that." He finished his food, as she finished hers. "Come on, they're going to kick us out of here now."

Chavi laughed softly. Now why was it that everyone thought they could out do the tiny little Romany girl? Oh well, it worked to her advantage more times than not, why look a gift horse in the mouth. She let Dean lead the way out and then looked up at him. She liked this one. Even if he was arrogant and over confident. She liked the gentleness in his tone, although the sadness behind the smile made her wonder. But you didn't ask someone such things your first meeting. It was invasive.

"Thank you for an enjoyable dinner, and an exciting evening, " She said, dark eyes twinkling merrily. "Who knew you would have a women tripping over you on this vacation of yours?"

"You're right, usually I have women tripping over themselves around me." He said with a smirk as they headed back to the Impala. He was crazy, he knew that, even if a court of law said he was sane. He drove back to the motel he checked into and unlocked the door while she stayed warily outside. He supposed he couldn't blame her for that. But he repacked all his stuff and handed her the key. "It's paid up for two days." He said and then wrote out his cell number. "You run into any problems, call me. I mean it, okay? Don't be stubborn and prideful and all that. Trouble, call."

"You're letting me use your hotel room?" She asked, looking at him a little suspiciously. "Just like that? No strings?" She wasn't sure what to think of that. She might have expected him to let her use the other bed, or to try and seduce her but this was definitely not within her expectations.

"Yup." He said with a grin. "Well, the strings are not to trash it, since it's in my name and all. That would be bad, and definitely piss me off. Come on, did you really expect me to use some lame pick up line like I left my teddy bear at home, can I sleep with you instead?"

"No, not the teddy bear routine." She said blushing a little. "Thank you." She told him honestly."I appreciate it, and I promise not to trash it. Or run up the movie rentals. Might just relax for a couple of days before getting back on the road. " She had never met anyone quite like him before. While it didn't exactly renew her faith in humanity, it went a long way for renewing it in the possiblities of the individual.

"You're welcome." He said, though he wasn't exactly sure where his train of thought came from. He'd go back to Texas, and Jack might even yell at him. Since Chicago he was insistent on 'rest' for Dean after anything remotely strenuous. That got on his nerves. Hopefully he'd be distracted by Kaylie. "So, you know, give me a call if you need anything."

"I will... you know... you don't have to go... there are two beds. You look pretty beat." She said, not liking the thought of sending him out the door without any rest. It was a long drive to Texas. "You did pay for it after all."

Dean laughed. "And here I thought you thought I was cute." He teased. But he was tired. It was whirlwind trip to Kansas to get there at the perfect moment to close the gateway down. And he still wasn't recovered fully from Hong Kong, though he'd never admit it. But a good night's sleep without having to drive hours first...that sounded good as he tossed his bag on the bed he claimed as his. He was just...too used to getting two beds as opposed to one. He didn't even realize he did it until she pointed out. "I get the bathroom first."

"Go right ahead." She said as she entered the room and struck her claim on the bed of her choice. "So what are you going to do next?" She asked as she found something comfortable to sleep in while waiting to get into the bathroom to change.

Dean showered, hot water streaming down was good for stiffness he could continually feel settling in. Brushed his teeth, and remembered nearly at the last moment that he wasn't alone or with Sammy, so slid his boxers back on rather than just staying in the towel.

"Your turn." He said. "I don't know. I guess I should think about getting a real job at some point, can't keep mooching off Ben. Probably something with cars. Still working out the details in my head." Because in prison he had a lot of time to think. Nothing but think, stare at the ceiling and think about what he would do if he got out of there.

Chavi headed into the bathroom to wash up and get into her sleep clothes. A tank top and sweat pants. "Do you like working on cars?" She asked as she came out and climbed into the bed. "Oh god this feels good." She said with faint laugh. It had been weeks since she had slept in a real bed.

Dean was circling the room, dusting and salting it. Because some habits died hard. And if they ever did die, you usually followed in short order. Made sure his gun was loaded and a knife under his pillow. He chuckled at her comment. "I know cars. I like cars. Sometimes more than people." He said with a laugh. Washed up and changed, she went from beautiful to breathtaking. And it really wasn't fair that he'd cornered himself into the 'nice young man' role. "So it's way too late to use the teddy bear line, huh?" He teased.

She laughed. "Yeah I think so." She said. "But I am flattered. I was just never one for one night stands. It complicates life... at least for the woman." She didn't know how it worked from the man's point of view. "If it's any consolation, if I thought it would go anywhere... I wouldn't say no." She said as she adjusted her pillow and lay on her side to look at him. Sometimes it sucked to be logical and practical about things that should be emotional and primal.

"Oh, you're a tease." He said as he dug into his bag for his M&Ms. He'd gotten them by the boxful during his trial, he didn't think he'd ever have to buy another bag for the rest of his life. And after he finished his stash, he was even afraid he might not want to buy another bag! "Tell me this NOW."

Chavi laughed. "This from the man who was willing to simply get back in his car to drive away. " She liked his sense of humor. She also liked the fact that he was interested. "So... cars... what else is there in Texas?"

"Horses. Tex-Mex food. Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, open space, illegal immigrants, elemental spirits, angry as hell Native American and frontiersmen spirits, helpful cashiers, hurricanes, tornadoes, death penalty by express lane, Texas rangers and border patrol, a normal brother with a perky girlfriend and a weird cranky foster father...but I live minutes from the beach, so I can't complain much there. Except during hurricane season." He said with a laugh.

"Sounds like you have found a place to call home." She said. "Is this a new development?" She asked. He seemed far too practiced at the nomadic way of life for it to have been something he had been in for long.

Home, there was a word he'd never really considered or tried to pin down on any non moving (meaning non Impala) location. But he smiled a bit at that. "Yeah, it's new." He said. "My dad, he kept us moving from when I was four until, well, the day he died. We kept it up until...well, recently." Chicago. The horrific event he had lived through. And the aftermath of Sam leaving. Really leaving that time. "What about you? Why'd you go the reverse of me?" From home to nomadic. "I know, you said all that stuff about making decisions on your own and all. But there's always an event."

"My father is... a very demanding man. He thinks that I need to be obedient in all things. Including who I associate with, who I can see, what sort of job I can have... and that I will marry one day and then that man will tell me how to live my life. Of course all the while expecting me to take my grandmother's place one day. Most of it I could deal with even if I didn't like it, but the lack of trust... it was hard to live with that."

Dean couldn't help it. He laughed. "Yeah, I can see it going over well...someone telling you what to do." He said. From what he knew of her so far, that wasn't something that ever went over well, even if she agreed with what they were saying. "So what's the plan? Just hitchhike until you figure something out?" For a woman who looked like Chavi, that would be dangerous. And for some odd reason...he cared.

"Pretty much. I just had to get away, didn't think about it or where to go. Figured I would find some place that I fell in love with and put down roots. I know.. .a naive way to look at it but, I didn't really know what else to do." She shrugged "It hasn't been so bad so far."

"You tripped over a guy in a cemetary and now you're in his motel room. Sweetheart, on paper, it looks pretty bad." He pointed out.

She laughed at that. "I suppose it does, but in my favor, we aren't in the same bed, and you are a lot nicer than some of the men I meet in normal places." She said smiling at him.

He buried his head in his pillow. "You didn't just say that. You did not call me a 'nice guy.' That's the kiss of death. Like when the only thing you can say about a girl is that she has a nice personality." He said, as he lifted his head back off the pillow. "I can find a whole list of people who could argue with that one." The ones who could describe him as reckless, cocky, arrogant, flippant, mouthy, etc.

"I don't have a bad boy fixation." She told him, she had a feeling Dean had a bad boy side to him but it wasn't the same as actually being a bad boy. "Nice is good." Nice was safe, and while normally safe wasn't something you thought about, it was when you were out on the road and vulnerable.

"I can't believe I've been saddled with 'nice guy' label." Dean said as he flopped back on his back. "Shoulda just let the hellmouth eat me."

Chavi laughed in delight. "You are funny. " She said. "I happen to like nice. So don't knock it." She told him as she snuggled into the blankets. She liked this. She had missed having someone to talk to. It had been the hardest part of leaving her family behind. Leaving behind the comraderie.

"Don't knock nice. Yeah, okay." He said with a chuckle. "Says the one who wouldn't have fallen for the teddy bear line. I am so screwed now. And not in a pleasant way either."

"Oh come on, the teddy bear line is lame unless you are in a relationship, then it's cute. " She told him. "So is that your best line or do you have others that you use on unsuspecting women that trip over you in the dark?"

"Oh absolutely." Dean said. "None of which I'm going to tell you, you're obviously immune."

"Did you ever think of just... I don't know...talking to a girl... not using lines? I can't imagine that it wouldn't work for you." She couldn't imagine that there weren't a handful of woman back in Texas waiting in line to get his attention.

"You know, I tried that once." Dean said. "Of course, if you lay down the facts of everything, I'm really not someone most want to know. I'm unemployed, I just got off death row...seriously. For shit I didn't even do, and I was involved in the freak show trial of the century. Believe me, once the novelty wears off, not much to recommend me besides a charming smile and all around good looks. Lines work better."

"Wow... you really don't like yourself much, do you?" Chavi said. "That's a shame too, cause I see a lot to like. Maybe you should give yourself a chance."

He shot her a look at that one. Huh. He'd never thought about that before. Then again, so far he'd failed in every task set out for him to do. The only thing he'd done right was run out of his burning house with baby Sammy in his four year old arms. He'd found Jack, but lost Sam in the same day. Did that equal it out? The demon was still around, his father was still dead, his brother was still convinced he was going to turn dark. Hardly a successful life.

"That's 'cause you just met me. I'm still in the unbelievably good looking and nearly obnoxiously charming stage." He said with a grin.

"Nice cover, but I'm not buying it. You screwed up when you were willing to just walk away and leave me here in a hotel room you paid for right after meeting me. Besides... I have an instinct about people." She said as she looked at his face, the lines, the way his eyes looked when he thought she wasn't looking. "And you are a worrier, one of those people that thinks everything is your responsibility."

"Everything I take responsibility for IS my responsibility." He said. Because it was. The mission to Save Sammy. Kill the yellow eyed demon somehow. He'd even taken on part of the burden of keeping Jack out of trouble (Ben shouldered the most of it, and luckily Jack wasn't a trouble making kid). Killing as many evil things as he could as long as he walked the earth. "Besides, you needed the hotel more than me. You were the one willing to sleep in a graveyard."

"Grave yards are usually pretty safe, and until I can pick up a little work somewhere, it's a choice between lodgings and dinner. It's a lot harder to fake dinner." She said honestly. "Was thinking of picking up a job in the next town for a little while then moving on. "

He rolled over on his side and propped his head up on his hand. "You have no idea what you're doing, do you?" He asked as he looked at her. "You took off and you have no plans for the basic necessities." He and his father hadn't run credit card scams because it was fun.

She flushed a little and stammered. "I can find work... it shouldn't be that hard. " It was true. She had some money that she had been saving back, and had used part of it for a bus ticket to get a head start on her family. The rest had come from playing darts and the occasional odd job along the way. She did a lot of sleeping outside but the weather was good for it so she didn't mind.

He shook his head. "You're going to get yourself in trouble." He said with a sigh. He could see it now. "Okay, look, I'll give you a master class in the morning."

She smiled a little. "Okay... that should be interesting." She told him. "You know... most peope wouldn't believe that I would need one."

He laughed. "If you didn't need one, you would have had your own hotel room." He pointed out. "There's a whole game to play if you're going to be nomadic you know. Especially without that steady source of income. God, now don't I sound like a white trash criminal!"

She laughed then. "Oh, I don't plan on staying nomadic. Just until I find someplace I want to stay in. I am sure someplace out there will catch my eye. In the mean while I suppose a crash course wouldn't hurt." Besides, it would mean more time with this man, she really did like him.

"I don't know, Corpus Christi didn't exactly catch my eye. It just sorta...stuck." Dean said. Weird how that happened. And he couldn't even really explain it. Just that, more or less, that was home now. He was working out plans for a business in his head, with ancillary plans of, believe it or not, owning property. Nothing he had planned on, or even really wanted, when he went in search of his youngest brother.

"Fate sometimes does that. Catches up with you in the oddest of places and times. Some people have this slow building steady destiny. Something that builds in mometum like a bike going down hill. Other people... it lands in your lap out of the clear blue sky that this is were you were meant to be. It's what was meant to happen."

"Can't say I'm a big fan of destiny." He said, his thoughts turning to Sam. Somewhere out there because of what Sam thought his destiny was supposed to be. "Sounds like handing yourself over to chance, if you ask me. Guess I'm more proactive than that."

"Are you sure about that?" She asked. "The nomadic way of life is nothing but chance. Then again you chose to settle down so maybe you are being proactive. " She shrugged. "Wasn't exactly thinking of much except escape. " She had felt so trapped with her family, like she was suffocating.

"I know how that can be. Believe me." Dean said. "Shit." He said with a chuckle. "I have to call my brother. You'd think Jack was my mom. You think I'm a worrier, you should meet Jack." He said as he reached over for the phone and called Jack. "Hey, I'm done." He said when his brother answered.

"Glad to hear it. I was starting to worry. When you headed back?" Jack asked, as he yawned into the phone. He had been staying up waiting for the call.

"Don't know, kinda hanging around. I like the company." He said and laughed as he heard the yawn. "Aww..did I keep you up past your bedtime?"

"Yeah considering I have class in the morning. " Jack said. "Wait... company? What company?"

"Dude, you're nosy." Dean said with a laugh. "I'm not asking about your company, am I?"

"That's because you know the answer to that question already." Jack said. "What company?" Last time Dean had been away from home with company he had wound up tortured and in the hospital.

"I better know the answer to that question, because if I'm wrong, Kaylie will kill you. It'll be your balls she uses as jewelry, not mine." Dean said. "So I'll talk to you when I get back. I promise, I'm coming back, okay?"

"Okay." Jack said, not bothering to try and stifle the next yawn. "I'll call tomorrow night if you aren't home. " He promised. "Get some sleep." He said and hung up.

Dean laughed as he put his cell phone back on the nightstand. "And that's the youngest brother who thinks he's my mom." He said, shaking his head. "He'd probably try to put me on a curfew if he thought I'd listen to it. Your siblings that bad? Besides the one I might have to beat up."

"My sisters are. They are so worried that I will never settle down with a family of my own. Never have anything they do so they are constantly worried about my reputation and trying to introduce me to men. Of course I already know them all and have avoided dating them for a reason but it doesn't stop them from trying."

"Oh, then tonight will be a good story for them." He said with a laugh. "You can tell them you can find your own men any time, anywhere, as long as there's a cemetery available. They'll love that."

Chavi laughed at that. "Oh yeah... it will go over so well. 'Are you insane? You spent the night in a hotel room with a strange Gadje? Are you asking for trouble? What man would have you now?'" She said in an imitation of eldest sister. "Thank god ... this will be a story I will be sure to spread all about the tribe if I ever go back."

"This is unfair." Dean said with a laugh. "I get to sully your reputation without actually getting to sully your reputation. Do you know how difficult my life is? Man, no one from Texas is going to believe this."

"Oh poor Dean... this whole being a gentleman thing is going to ruin your reputation, isn't it?" She teased. "Poor baby."

"Completely and utterly." He agreed seriously. "So I guess I won't be spreading this around town when I go back. Though you should check out Corpus Christi. It's small enough to get to know people, and big enough to hide in." He'd managed quite a bit of time on the Most Wanted list, staying in one place, out in the open, without being found after all.

"I might just have to do that. " She said with a smile. Especially if it meant seeing more of Dean Winchester.

He grinned. "All right then. Get some sleep." He said as he reached over to turn off the light. "Oh yeah, this doesn't come from you being a gypsy, but from me not really knowing you. You steal or hurt my car, I will track you down and hurt you in horrible, horrible ways."

"Hurt your car?" She asked, and laughed. "Good night, Dean. Your girlfriend is safe from me." She had seen how he treated The Car. The way he kept The Car. It was special to him.

"Night, Chavi." He said as he rolled back onto his stomach, made sure the knife was within easy reach, and settled off to sleep. It had been a weird, weird, weird day to say the least.

Chavi lay awake watching the man until she was sure he was asleep then closed her eyes and let her self drift into a light doze that eventually became a deep comfortable sleep.

Dean didn't sleep straight through. He never did, not since the night his mother died. A few hours of sleep, he'd wake up, and most of the time he could adjust his pillow and go back to sleep until the next time he woke up. That's just how he was. He rarely snored, he knew that, because he was never asleep long enough to get to the deep sleep snoring phase.

So he woke up far before Chavi did, she was sleeping soundly. He went across the street, got breakfast, and then had his weaponry spread across his bed as he cleaned and modified, the TV softly humming in the background about the day's forecast.

Chavi woke to the smell of breakfast and sat up in the bed, pushing the dark waves away from her face. "Morning... guess I slept late." He moved so quietly that she hadn't even noticed him coming and going.

"Nah, it's still early." Dean said. "Not even ten yet." Normally he slept till noon if he could, because he settled down to sleep around six. Or kept some god awful late night the night before. But it wasn't even ten yet, and he'd eaten breakfast and was reloading the rock salt rounds. "Weatherman says sunny and calm, so I'm thinking by four there'll be a tornado warning." He said with a laugh.

She laughed as she moved to the center of the bed and sat up with her legs folded. "Is the weather that mercurial around here?" She asked, liking the sound of his laughter, the way he smiled. She just wondered if those smiles ever reached his eyes. Such sad eyes.

"Oh yeah." Dean said. "There's a reason The Wizard of Oz was set in Kansas, storms roll in on a dime. Those are fun, trying to outdrive. Talk about your adrenaline rush." He'd done it a few times, whenever their jobs took them into the MidWest.

"Are you an adrenaline junky? Or just unlucky in your travels?" She asked as she reached over to take her share of the breakfast that he had left for her.

"Okay, I'll admit it, there's a large part of me that finds it fun as hell." He said as he took another bagel. "But like I said, the weather turns on a dime. My dad was pretty sure that Kansas fell on some sort of psychic or mystical fault line. I agree with him. Even the weather is labile."

"It would make sense. With a gateway to hell amongst other things." She said with a nod. "Rock salt rounds." She said watching what he was doing. "I suppose that makes sense as well. Something I would never have thought of."

"Multi purpose. Disrupts spirits, and the force behind the blast hurts everything else." Dean said. "Even humans, doesn't kill them, but it hurts like a son of a bitch." He knew, he'd been shot in the chest with rock salt, didn't exactly tickle. "Why? What do your people use when they have to use something?"

She told him the concoction her grandmother put together to use against spirits. "Although I swear a harsh look from her would be enough to send all but the most savage demons whimpering home."

"Oh, I think I know of a demon would laugh and then drink all her coffee." He said with a chuckle, thinking of Ben. That was one demon who was not easily intimidated, that was for sure. "Might have to try that theory out sometime."

She laughed. "Well that would require me to be around for that to happen. " She said. Not that she minded that at all "So you know a coffee drinking demon."

"Oh, I know a coffee drinking, chain smoking, straight from the bottle drinking demon who owns a strip club." Dean said with a grin. "I live above his garage. At least until the first payment comes in. He's...interesting."

"Interesting... that's... an odd place for a hunter to reside. He has to be a little more than interesting I am sure." This man was an exercise in contradictions and in a good way. She wondered if it were so easy for others to see beneath the veneer.

"Nah, he's boring. Cranky, and boring. Except for the whole control of fire thing.' Dean said wtih a laugh. "Not everything outside the normal realm is evil, just like not everything inside it is good." Had taken him a while to accept that, but he had.

"So what made you decide to live above the garage of a cranky and boring demon?" She asked. She had been brought up to know that there was good and evil on both sides. Even if there were some things that she knew had very little chance of being anything but evil.

"He, ah, kinda raised my youngest brother...it's one of those long stories." Dean said with a chuckle as he checked the edges on his knives. "Tell you what, we definitely want to be ahead of the storm, and you definitely don't want to be caught in it, so you tell me where to drop you off, and I'll tell you on the way."

"Oh surprise me." She said as she grabbed her clothing. "I have no clue where I was going anyway. " She dressed quickly and stuffed her night clothes into her back pack.

He sat back and yes, watched her dress. Sure, she turned her back, so the show was PG instead of at least an R, but still. It was a nice show. "Surprise you, huh? Okay, I can do that." He said as he repacked his weapons bag and threw it in the trunk. "I'm driving back to Corpus, so you just let me know along the way when you want to get out." He said as he looked at the sky, and sure enough, the so called clear sunny day was quickly turning overcast.

"Okay." She said as she climbed into the passenger's seat. It looked to be a stormy day, but the company looked to be anything but, and she had missed having someone to talk to. "So you were going to tell me a long story."

Dean laughed. "I was. Should probably lull you to sleep if you didn't get enough last night." He said. And started from the top. Stopping for coffee and drive thru. Having to take the long way back to Texas because of the path of storms. He'd turn off his tape player and listen to the weather channel at different intervals for that. "And so, then, after I was found not guilty, the government offered me major hush money. Which works out good for me. Gives me money to figure things out with."

Now she understood the sad eyes. "You have been through so much." She said. "It's amazing that you manage to be as good humored as you are." Most people she knew would be so bitter, too bitter to function in society really.

"Well, you get a choice. Curl up and die, or fight back. I choose to fight back. See, told you. Proactive." Dean said. "And I can't believe you sat there and listened for ten hours."

"Why wouldn't I?" She asked. "I'm honored that you told me so much about yourself and your life." She could tell he was the sort that in later years would simply grunt when asked a question such as 'are you alright' or 'how do you feel about fill in the blank'. He played everything so close to his chest that she doubted even those closest to him knew anything about him really. Yet he had opened up with her. That was a precious gift.

"Well, it filled the time." Dean said with a shrug. Honored that he'd run his mouth for ten hours, nearly straight? And somehow he felt comfortable doing that. Anyone that knew him would have him drug tested if he admitted that. Or looked for pod people. But he pulled into a gas station for a fill up, with a bit of a grin as he got out to work the pump. But somehow she cut through the layers of charm and flippancy. And...he liked that. He did.

Chavi watched him through the window and smiled. Maybe she would have to give Corpus Christi a chance. Couldn't hurt... and she had a guide after all. She really liked him. For the first time since leaving home, she was starting to think that maybe it hadn't been such a bad idea after all.

He filled the gas tank, that was the one downside to his car. She was a gas guzzler. Thank God his father had taught him a few tricks to fool the pump, which he still practiced. Then he paid up and grabbed some junk food, tossing her a bag of Skittles as he got back into the car.

He felt a little stupid, oh yeah. That his whole life story, that he wasn't even sure Sam knew the full of it (and he'd been there for most of it), he'd basically poured out to her.

"So, wow, guess I have nothing left to say." He said with an embarrassed chuckle.

"Oh I am sure we will come up with something to talk about." She said and thanked him for the skittles. "My brother mixes these with M&M's and calls them S&M's . He thinks he is clever." She said with a laugh. "I don't tell him otherwise."

"Huh, must only be family that gets a free pass on that from you." Dean said with a laugh. "You've called me on everything I've tried to pull on you. And the teddy bear line, that's a good one."

"No... usually I call everyone on everything... but Gregory... he's my little brother... " She said with a shrug, as if that explained it all. "Besides... you would find me boring if I fell for ALL of your charms."

She got a smirk from him for that one. "Ah, so you are falling for SOME of them. Good to know!"

"We're almost to Corpus Christi... and I am still in the car. That should tell you something." She said as she opened the skittles and started to eat them.

He nodded, still grinning. "Suppose it should." He said as he turned onto the highway that went straight through Corpus Christi, skimming the coastline. "So that's the Texas beach. It's not bad, not too overrun with tourists, but the water is warm."

"I've never been to the ocean." She said with a smile, as she looked at the water. "That should prove interesting. I can swim though... so there is that at least."

"You've never been to the ocean?" He said as he turned off an exit. "Man, even I've been to the ocean before I moved here." He drove through a park on the by way, and pulled onto the shoreline parking lot. "Come on, time to get to the ocean."

"You have been almost everywhere that you can drive to." She said with a laugh as he parked the car. She breathed in the scent when she opened the door. "You wouldn't think it would be so loud." She said looking out over it in awe as the waves came toward the shore, the birds screeching over head.

"Yeah, it's not like it is on TV." He said as he got out and took off his boots and socks, rolling up his jeans a bit. "But it's quieter than most places, or maybe it's the lack of people noise. Though sometimes, you miss the people noise."

Chavi followed his lead. "It's soothing, even if it is loud. Can almost feel the waves from here... the force behind them." She said as she stared out to sea. "I could get used to this."

"Beats land locked motel rooms, that's for sure." Which he had spent the majority of his life in. "Great for the tan too. That's the one thing that really sucks about prison. You know, besides the armed guards, solitary, and cell searches. And the freedom to come and go as you please. An hour of sun each day. Unless you're me, then you're taken out in the middle of the night, because it's in the by laws you get an hour a day outside, with all the lights shining on you and snipers up on the catwalk to make sure you don't get away. I don't know, guess they figured I could jump tall electrical fences topped with razor wire in a single bound or something." He said with a chuckle. "So for three days after I got out, took a sleeping bag and some junk food and beer, and just camped out on the beach."

"I don't blame you." She said. "I would go mad with such confinement. " She said as they walked along the sand, which was more difficult than it looked on the tv. At least the dry sand. The wet sand was different. It sort of massaged the feet as she walked, it felt good.

"I nearly did." Dean confessed. He wasn't built for confinement. Or isolation. Even if he kept to himself, or worked a con, he liked to be surrounded by people sometimes. "But I kicked a couple of the guards' asses. At poker any way. Helped kill the time. So sounds like you're from a big family."

Chavi told him about her family. In all of its glory and dysfunction. She loved them, she truly did, and she knew that they loved her, but they didn't understand each other and what her father didn't understand, he didn't tolerate.

"Sounds like you're going to miss them." He said. He knew about Romany, she left. Which meant that the ties were severed, whether she liked it or not, unless she returned.

"Yes I will... but so long as I miss them, I can still love them." She said with a sigh. "If I stayed I am not so sure that I could say that. Even family can break the bonds of love given enough time."

"I guess they can." Dean said, especially if they were bound by such strict rules. His weird family didn't have strict rules like that. Just to have each other's backs when needed really. "Come on," he said after the sun set and the stars filled the sky. "It gets cold on the beach." And their legs were already wet from the incoming tide. Probably wouldn't take much for her to get cold.

She nodded. Even though she was cold, she wasn't ready to get back in the car. This was the point where he asked her where she wanted to be dropped off. This was where she went back to being alone. "So... where do you recommend I stay ?" Better to bring it up herself. Easier that way.

"Well, there are a few motels, a couple bed and breakfast type places." Dean said as he wiped the sand off his feet before pulling his socks and boots back on. Sand in the Impala didn't bother him, or the car, it was easily vacuumed out after all. "Or I've got a couch, Ben's got an extra room. He's safe, he's a grieving demon. He waits for the woman to literally throw herself at him before he does anything. Plus he works nights. And my brother's got a girl, who would probably be there anyway."

She smiled. "Perhaps the couch for now. Not sure your family would appreciate you tossing some strange woman into their midst." She said with a faint laugh. And there was relief in her tone. It wasn't good bye.

"Eh, as long as they're not bleeding, usually they wouldn't have a problem with that." Dean said with a chuckle. "Then again, my place is much more temperate." Compared to Ben's place, where the thermostat was turned up way too high. "But, okay, We'll do that." And he couldn't stop grinning. Thank god it was dark.

She smiled all the way back to the car. "Perhaps you could show me around the city tomorrow. I can start looking for work after I am at least a little familiar with the place."

"I can do that." Dean said. He'd spent days just driving or walking around, familiarizing himself with the layout of the city. Especially where the bars were! "Come on." He said as he got behind the wheel again. "Still got a half hour to Corpus."

Chavi buckled in and smiled at Dean. "Thank you." She said. "Again." She laughed a little. "Who knew a walk through a cemetery could lead to... what ever this is... definitely a new path?"

"Hey, I just went to go close down a gate." He said with a chuckle. "Not used to..paths..." using her analogy, "without a road map, but it could be fun."

"I think so too." She said looking up at him and smiling. She tingled all over as they drove the rest of the way into Corpus Christi. She didn't know where things would go with Dean. No clue if it would turn into something wonderful, or just a pleasant interlude, but she was looking forward to finding out.

He pulled into the driveway. Ben's car was there, but that didn't mean anything. Sometimes he didn't feel like driving it. Jack's car was there, as was Kaylie's, so Dean had to manuever his own car so he didn't block anyone in. It was late, and they'd most likely be getting up at some ungodly early hour.

He grabbed their bags and led her up the stairs along the outside of the garage to where he stayed. It had been a storage space, but everything in there moved to the garage below that no one really used except when hail storms were coming in. He and Jack and figured out how to put a bathroom in, and a small kitchenette. He didn't have much, or wanted much, so the place was surprisingly tidy. A few loose clothes here, scattered weapons there.

"So that's the couch." He said. "It pulls out. I'm going to go over to the house and get some blankets and pillows."

"Okay." She said as looked around, and started to unfold the sofa, and get it ready for when Dean returned.

Jack woke up when he heard the Impala come purring into the driveway. He kissed Kaylie's forehead as he eased his arm out from under her. "Be right back. Dean's home." He whispered and pulled on his sweat pants and padded down the stairs.

Dean was in the closet where the extra bedding was stored, finding stuff that would fit his pull out couch. "Hey." He said to Jack as Jack came downstairs. "Did I wake you? Sorry." He found a sheet and tossed it onto a pile where the blanket was. "Hey, where are our extra pillows?"

Jack padded over to another closet door and opened it, pulling out the two remaining extra pillows. The other two were on Dean's bed. "So, either you have company or you sprung a leak somewhere and your bedding is a mess."

"My bedding is fine." Dean said with a chuckle, folding the sheets and the blankets up. "I got company. Don't make a big deal out of it or something. You'd think I was the baby brother the way you carry on sometimes."

"Hmm... I have known you less than a year and you get nearly tortured to death by a date, who just happened to be a demon, nearly die of the flu, and then wind up in prison where the son of a bitch that hunted you down in the first place goes after you again. Can't imagine why I carry on... nothing ever happens to you." He said with sarcasm worthy of a Winchester.

"Right." Dean said with a grin. "Absolutely nothing." He said, clapping Jack on the shoulders before he took the pillows. "She's...just, you know, a girl I picked up in a cemetery and all. Completely normal."

"You picked up a girl in the cemetery?" He asked incredulously. "That was your company last night?" He shook his head. Only Dean. "So what's all the extra bedding for?"

"For my couch." Dean said, as if it was obvious. "I've never pulled it out, so the bed inside it isn't made up. Now it will be."

"Wait... you're putting her on the couch?" He asked. "I thought... oh... she isn't your type. Got it. Damsel in distress then?"

"Definitely not a damsel in distress and definitely my type." Dean said as he started rummaging through the fridge. He didn't have much in the way of food, usually he came over here and scavenged. "Do I even have a type? Jack, stop staring at me like I have three heads."

"You have more girls going in and out of your door than Ben's back stage door, and you finally find one that you really like and she is sleeping on the couch..." He started laughing a little then. "You have it bad, dont you?"

"You don't know what you're talking about." Dean said. "I don't have to to have sex with every girl that trips over me. That's not in the bylaws of being Dean Winchester as far as I know. You better hope not, cause I think Kaylie tripped over me when I was working on the wreck outside..." Have it bad? Well, he was buried in the fridge because he still couldn't stop grinning.

"No... and Kaylie never made you grin like that either or I would have had to think seriously about giving you a fat lip." He had seen the grin in the hall way while they were looking for blankets and pillows. "So I'm thinking that's why she is sleeping on the sofa... you don't wanna ruin your chances by being a horn dog."

"Saw your girlfriend naked once." Dean teased. Back when he was staying in the house, and headed toward the bathroom with a hangover. And found out Kaylie was in there first. Whoops! "Do I get a fat lip for that one? Dude, relax. She's sleeping on my couch. It's not a big deal."

"No, you didn't get a fat lip because you weren't interested in her." Jack said with a laugh "Yeah.. no big deal. You keep telling yourself. " He started back toward his room. "Are there any cheshire cats in our family history? Cause man... I keep expecting everything but that smile to disappear any moment."

"I'm gonna kick your ass." Dean said with a chuckle as he grabbed some food and wrapped it up in the blankets. "But first I have a delivery to make, so it's your lucky day. Go hide behind your sleeping girlfriend." He called out to Jack. "Putz." He said, shaking his head as he headed back to his loft apartment above the garage. "Okay, got blankets, tracked down pillows, and stole food. Great night." He said to Chavi as he came back in.

"Stole food, huh? Are they going to come banging on your door wanting it back?" She asked with a grin, having tidied things up a bit. Not that they were untidy, just... putting the weapons safely out of the way of the sofa... as well as the few clothes laying about were in a pile over by the bedroom door.

"Well, they're my main source of nutrition, they know that." Dean said as he put the pile on the opened sofa bed and separated the food from the bedding and made the bed in short order. "They'll hit me up for something later. One hand washes the other, right?" Usually that amounted to tightening of timing chains or brake pad replacing.

"That does tend to be a way. Are they going to care that you have a guest up here?" She asked. She didn't want to cause him trouble. She knew her family would have freaked if her brother had brought home some strange girl.

He chuckled, not quite knowing how to break it to her that it wasn't unusual for him to have guests. She had him pegged as a nice guy after all. What was unusual was the guest was on the couch. "Nah, they'll be fine. As long as their cars aren't blocked in and I don't turn on the air conditioning in the house."

"So what do you like to do when you aren't hunting down demons or playing poker with prison guards?" She asked with a smile.

"But that takes such a big chunk out of the day, you know." He said as he heated up some of the food in the microwave. "Poker, bars, weapons, I love cheesy action movies just for the comic value. And when all else fails, and Jack's not there to mock or anything, a good long drive works just as well."

She laughed a little. "I like comedies. Old cheesy horror movies. You know the ones from the 50s and 60s with the wacky music and all the monsters were animals grown to giant size or actors with trippy eye make up. "

"Good old camp fun." He said with a chuckle. "My brother and I, Sam, we used to watch them in the motel rooms we'd stay at. Completely violating bed time," but it wasn't like their father was there to kick their asses back into bed most of the time, "but we'd watch them, laugh our asses off and compare them to our father's notes."

"I try to get into the modern horror, but it's just not the same. People look at me as though I have sprouted a second head for laughing in all the wrong places. But they really are pretty funny."

"I saw this one, bad remake of House of Wax. Man those characters were stupid." Dean said with a laugh. "The stupidest one, I think, was this guy named Wade. How that character survived to adulthood, or late teenage or whatever, I don't know. I was actually cheering for him to get killed off, earned me some enemies in the theater."

"Oh I remember that one. He was the one that got into the truck with the freak who collected road kill, wasnt he?" She said with a laugh. "Yeah, that was pretty hillarious. Although I was cheering when Paris Hilton bought it."

"Hey, at least she earned her paycheck. All she had to do was run around in underwear and she earned it. That's why she was hired. Don't understand it, she's way too skinny." Dean said as the microwave beeped and he got the leftovers out. "Besides, you have no room to talk. You got into a car with someone you met in a graveyard. Was this a horror movie, you'd so be dead."

"Are you so sure?" She asked with a twinkle in her eyes. "After all you picked up some strange chick out of a cemetery. It could have just as easily been you waking up undead or some such. "

"Shit, you're right. I would have been the one people were throwing popcorn at and calling an idiot." Dean said with an laugh as he handed a plate. "Ooh, Night of the Living Dead, the original. Interested or are you just too darn tired from listening to me all day?"

"Original? I am all for it." She said. "Just don't call me Barbara." How many girls had been tormented by "They're coming to get you, Barbara" over the years?

"Only if they're coming to get you, I swear." Dean said with a grin as he found the DVD and popped it into the player. Dean didn't have much in the way of furniture, because he didn't need much in the way of furniture. He didn't even have a table, because anything he ate, he ate on the couch. So, he had a couch, and a bed in the bedroom. And a coffee table to pile up research on. And a map along one wall with push pins in different locations (though so far he'd never been closer than three steps behind Sam, he was keeping track). He grabbed the remote, popped some popcorn and settled down on the pulled out sofa bed on his stomach as the movie started playing.

Chavi settled in beside him, reaching over to grab popcorn out of the bowl now and again, eventually scooting closer and closer to him in the process until they were side by side.

They made it through Night of the Living Dead, and most of Dawn of the Dead (the 1978 version), laughing and mocking both the supposedly alive people and zombies. Yes, there was popcorn thrown at the TV, though they both knew the movies well enough to quote lines as they were spoken. The slow motion option on the DVD player made some scenes down right hysterical to them.

His pull out couch was a good size, maybe a twin, but by the time the opening credits rolled on Dawn of the Dead, there was a whole lot of space between them and edges of the bed, There were plenty of furtive glances on behalf of both of them until the popcorn bowl was empty and discarded on the floor, and sleep finally over took the both of them, the movie still playing, the TV screen eventually turning blue when there was nothing left to play.