A/N: I can update this story because I had some old stuff already written, unlike my other stories, which require new material.

Anyhoo, this one's a little more serious but ya know, had to be done. I might be able to develop more of a plot from it. MIGHT. I'm not making promises because I'm terrible at keeping them. Sorry.

So...ta-da!


"What scares you, Sarah?"

The question came somewhat out of the blue. Dean and Sarah were on a long drive and there was little to break the boredom so Dean had come out with that.

Still, they were talking about AC/DC a moment ago...it was quite a jump.

"Could be dangerous, telling someone what it is I'm scared of," she grinned playfully at Dean. "You could use it against me."

"That's why I asked, of course," Dean laughed. "But don't you think maybe it could work the other way? That I might want to protect you from it?"

"Protect me from my fears?" Sarah laughed, only to stop when she saw the look on Dean's face and how serious it was.

The two may have been very similar but this was where they differed; Dean took his moments to be serious but Sarah could never manage it. Instead, she turned it to another joke.

"Aw, Dean - I didn't know you cared!" she giggled and patted his cheek. He sighed a little angrily at this and pulled over. Turning off the ignition, Dean turned to face Sarah.

"Would you stop that? God, now I know why Sam finds it so frustrating," he shook his head and gave a huffing laugh. "But I don't do it near as much as you."

"Dean, sweetie, a great many things that you do annoys Sam. What particularly are you referring to?"

"This! Shutting out every time something gets even a little bit serious!" Dean exploded, gesturing wildly. "I want to look after you, I want to be close to you! But you won't let me! You won't let anyone!"

Sarah had no response for this so she fell silent, staring straight ahead out of the windscreen. Dean recovered from his outburst and began to look a little sheepish.

"Sarah...I'm sor-" Sarah cut him off.

"Sickness," she said.

"Excuse me?"

Sarah turned to look at Dean in the eye. "I'm afraid of being sick...or hurt. Because...I am painfully aware of how frail human life is - it's not about the shortness of human life; I'll deal with my own death when it comes, being the inevitability that it is," she sighed and looked down at her lap. "No. It's just that humans are so...breakable. A cough in your direction or a wrist bent awkwardly and snap! Your body is useless and in pain and just...broken." She took a breath, rant ending, as Dean took in this information.

"Sarah..." Dean began, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder.

"No," Sarah snapped. "No, Dean. I don't need you to do anything but you're right; I don't let you in and...I want to. But there's nothing you can do about my fear so there isn't much point you knowing it..."

Dean shrugged. "I can make you wash your hands more often," he made a show of thinking, placing a finger on his chin. "Or maybe we can full-on bubble boy you?"

Sarah couldn't help it; she burst out laughing at the absurdity of this idea. Dean grinned and started the car once more. As they were pulling out, he said without looking at Sarah,"I don't care what you think, anyway. I'd do anything to look after and protect you."

Sarah snorted. "Sure you would, sweetie. Just so long as it didn't mean jeopardising Sam...or Bobby."

Dean had nothing appropriate to respond with about that so he steered the conversation a little. "I'm scared of going back to hell, by the way. And of losing you and Sammy. And Bobby. My family - what's left of it."

"Well, that's much easier to secure than mine so let's work on that," Sarah conceded. "So, no more deals, okay?"

"Except for this one?" Dean grinned frustratingly and Sarah gave him a disparaging look. "Okay, okay. No more deals, even if that's the only way to save you from sickness."

"Ah, but you forget! You promised not to let me get sick, remember?" she grinned then leaned over to kiss Dean's cheek. Sitting back, she curled up at her window to sleep. "Wake me up when you get too tired to drive. And no pretending you're not - if I get hurt because you crashed, you will have broken that promise already."