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Under Your Skin: Chapter 5

Day 4

Orchard Motel

Chicago, IL

They drove through Ohio in near silence. They kept glancing over at one another when the other wasn't looking. Both wanting to say something but not knowing what they should say. Lexi began messing with the radio to find anything to break the silence.

"Hey, you know the house rule." Dean stated smacking her hand away from the radio, "Driver picks the music."

She laughed looking at Dean, "Yeah but this is cock rock!"

His eyes went wide with disbelief, "You like Van Halen. Remember that concert……"

"I was 17. I didn't know any better."

"Oh? I bet you wanna listen to that Britney Spears shit." He snorted.

"Exactly Dean!" she stated rolling her eyes.

Pulling a face, Dean turned the radio off. He cleared his throat shooting a side glance at Lexi before speaking. "So, what was that back there?"

"What was what?" she asked turning to look at him.

"That mind trick you pulled."

She shook her head, "Honestly, I had no idea I could do that. I was just thinking 'He's gonna pull a gun.' I didn't think I could project my thoughts into your head."

Dean laid his hand on her thigh rubbing gently, "We'll figure it out later. Come on, let's get a room and get some sleep."

xxxxxx

The man behind the counter eyed the young couple that stood before him suspiciously, "Just one night?"

"Yes, sir." Dean grinned slinging an arm around her shoulders, "We're headed to Las Vegas to get hitched. Aren't we, baby?"

"That's right." Lexi stated smiling sweetly handing him her credit card.

"Here you go Check out is at 11 am."

Xxxxx

Dean flicked the light on in the room taking it in. It smelled like something had died in it. Its red cracked peeling paint gave the room a disturbing feel to it. The furniture in the room was equally as depressing. The queen sized bed appeared to be lumpy and hard. Its comforter, which once must've been white, was torn in spots and now faded to a sickly yellow. The only other furniture in the room was a dilapidated dresser and a lone chair near the window.

Dean opened his bag grabbing the salt before heading to the lone window in the room. Carefully, he poured the salt in a thick straight line across the sill.

He shook his head, throwing his jacket on the chair, "What a dump."

"You picked it." She said wrinkling up her nose, "What's that smell?"

He looked around the decaying room with its peeling red paint, "I dunno. It's just for one night. I've stayed in worse."

"We could've gone somewhere a bit nicer. I could use a nice soft bed for once."

Dean turned glaring at Lexi, "And charge it on your fake credit card, Lexi?"

"What? You use them all the time."

"Yeah, well that's me."

"Okay, Dad."

Dean raised his eyebrow at her questioningly, "How did you get a fake anyway?"

"It wasn't so hard." She shrugged, "Besides I've learned a thing or two from you, Dean."

He watched her from across the room, smiling as she sat Indian style on the Queen sized bed tapping away on Sam's computer. "And what would that be exactly?"

"How to hustle pool….I'm real good at poker too because of you. Oh, and how to commit credit card fraud." She looked up grinning at Dean.

"See," he said pointing at her, "that's not funny."

"Yeah it is."

"No, Lex, it's not. What about medical school, uh? You're never gonna be a doctor if you're a convicted felon."

"Dean, don't start."

"Fine." He stated throwing up his hands as he paced in front of her, "What are you doing anyway?"

"Oh, just going through some of Sam's files. I think he's right, we're all definetly connected somehow."

"Yeah? Like how?"

"Well, my guess is that we weren't chosen by random. I think maybe there's a genetic marker. Something common in our blood."

"Why would you think that?"

"Well, you said Sam was immune to that demon virus that happened in Oregon."

"So?" Dean asked sitting next to her on the bed.

"Well, it was passed through blood to blood contact."

"Uh, huh." He answered somewhat confused on where Lexi was going with this.

"For him to be immune there as to be antibodies in his blood. I'm thinking they came from demon blood. Kinda like when you get a flu shot. You get a part of the flu strain making you immune."

"Yeah," Dean said shaking his head, "I don't get it."

"You said there were traces of sulfur in the blood. I also read in your father's journal, that demons leave traces of sulfur behind. So, I think the demon infected us with his blood when we were all 6 months old. I think that's why I had visions of Sam and he's had them of the others. We're all connected by blood."

"Gives a new meaning to the term Blood Brothers."

"Yes it does."

Dean nodded his head watching her carefully, "You're pretty good at this, Lex. Ya know with the research and all."

"I just can't sit around here can I?"

"Why didn't you just call me?" He asked suddenly taking Lexi by surprise.

She looked up from the computer screen meeting his gaze, "I, well um I thought….I wanted to see you."

"Oh….."

She sighed running a hand through her long hair, "Some FBI agents came looking for you. They asked me lots of questions about our relationship. They wanted to know everything. When I last saw or heard from you. They thought that I knew where you were. So I knew I couldn't call you."

"How'd you shake them?"

"I covered my tracks don't worry. Something else I learned from you, by the way. I bought a plane ticket to Mexico. Then I emptied out my checking and savings accounts. I also took out all cash advances on my credit cards. I went to JFK airport, handed my ticket in but never boarded. Then I got a fake id and a brandy new credit card."

Dean stared at her momentarily speechless. He was stunned. "Who are you?"

She shrugged, enjoying the shocked look on his face. Lexi turned her attention back to her research smirking, "The one that got away apparently."

"My dad said, 'Dean, marry that girl.'" He nodded with a trace of sadness in his voice.

"Really? Why didn't you?"

"Yup, he did." Dean shrugged turning the computer towards himself, "I hunt the things that go bump in the night. What do I have to offer?"

"You."

He cleared his throat and attempted to force one of his signature smiles, "Not much if you ask me."

"I'm not asking you, Dean. I'm telling you. You were all that I needed."

"We should get some sleep. We're leaving bright and early. Gotta keep moving so Gordon doesn't find us."

"Why do you that?"

"Do what?" He asked his eyebrows inching up into his hairline.

"That self defense mechanism of yours. Anytime there's the slightest crack in this façade you have, you shut down and push me away." She stated digging her palms into her thighs out of frustration.

"I push you away?" He laughed bitterly, "You pushed me away. You were the one that ended it."

"Do you have any idea how much you hurt me?"

"Whoa, wait a damn minute there, Lex. You dumped me, remember?"

"What was I supposed to do?" she asked her eyes filling with tears, "I thought you wanted to be rid of me. You were constantly cheating."

"That's not what I wanted." Dean whispered shaking his head.

They stared at each other, their words still hanging in the air. Dean reached forward, gently wiping Lexi's tears away with his thumb. Unexpectedly, he pushed her down against the mattress, knocking everything off the bed as he pressed his lips hungrily to hers. He pulled away, resting his forehead against hers, "I never wanted this life for you. You deserve better than this."