"Bobby!" Dean greeted to the upper-middle-aged man as he, his brother and their cohort entered the man's abode.

They shared a quick, masculine embrace before Bobby pulled away to repeat the gesture with the youngest Winchester boy.

"Sup, Bobby?" Sam smiled, patting his back good-naturedly.

"Same old. What do we have here?" he asked, standing back to take in Lory's round, brown, unfamiliar face

"Hi," the girl waved shyly, "I'm Lory."

She extended her hand and Bobby took it, toning down the firmness of his grip, but not quite enough, leaving her hand throbbing a bit.

"Nice to meet you, Lory. Sam was just telling me about you on the phone. You sure got an interesting story. Come on in, darlin', got someone who wants to meet you."

"Bobby!" called a female voice from within, just beyond the door, "Those my boys?"

"Hey, Pamela!" Dean called inside as he scooted past Bobby and Lory, Sam following.

The boys greeted the dark-haired woman in the Aviators with warm hugs and amicable kisses on the cheek.

"How you been, Pamela?" Sam asked, sitting beside her as Dean took the arm of the sofa.

"Life is good. Business is good. How about you boys? Where's the Gladys to your Pips?" she smiled, planting her hands squarely on the brothers' nearest thighs.

"Chatting it up with Bobby," Dean sighed just as the aforementioned entered the living room.

Bobby made their presence known when he cleared his throat.

"Hate to bust up a reunion, but, Pam, here's the woman of the hour."

Pamela tilted her head upward, extending her arms.

"Well, come on here, hun!"

Lory made her way to Pamela, smiling from ear to ear.

"Hi. I'm-"

"Honey, I know all about you. I'm Pamela. You come on and have a seat next to me. Sammy, you move those cute little buns over."

"Actually, Pam, we were thinking about popping back out real quick, anyway-" interjected Dean, "get us some grub from that diner up the road."

"We were?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, we were. Vamos, little brother," Dean beckoned as they headed back toward the front door, "Anybody want anything special?"

"Anything you get is fine by me, darlin'. As long as it's free, I'm good," Pam nodded.

"Same," Lory added, turning toward the brothers.

"Hell. bring me chicken feed," Bobby grunted, "long as I don't have to cook it."

"All right," nodded Dean, "be back in a little bit."

As the brothers hopped into the car, Sam asked, "Now why didn't we pick up the food on the way here?"

"Because this isn't about food. I wanted to get Lory out of the car so we can talk, man to man…Man to Sam…" he teased

"Okay, what about?" he shrugged.

"I…think we should leave her with Pam and Bobby for a while…"

"Dean-"

"Hear me out, Sammy," Dean pleaded, "After what happened, it would be the responsible thing to do. At least until we get this legion thing cleared up. But we can't do that if we're babysitting her."

"Isn't that the exact reason why the angels brought her to us?" Sam rationalized.

Rolling his eyes, Dean sighed, "The angels don't run shit. They're not the ones who are responsible for her."

"She's not a child, Dean."

"But we have to watch her like she is! A girl like her should not be gallivanting around while something like this is going on. She's susceptible to all sorts of horrible shit that an eighteen year old girl-

"Nineteen… Shit, nineteen…" Sam grumbled to himself.

"What?" Dean asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Her birthday. It was yesterday. Aw, shit, man. That happened to her on her birthday… And she didn't even get a 'happy birthday' from us."

"Well, you forgot and I didn't give it a second thought- or first thought, really. It's not like we had a shitload of time to memorize fun facts about her, like her date of birth. Hell, sometimes, I can't even remember mine.

"But, she's so far from home…"Sam began sympathetically, "And with strangers… And then that happened to her. Can you imagine what she must be going through?"

"Exactly. It's not too late for her to hold on to some normalcy- or at least not be attacked by things. That's been our whole lives, she's just a newbie. I don't know if she can hack it."

"But the angels-"

"Fuck the angels, Sam! Look at what they almost did to Anna. Do you seriously think they're always right?"

"They've got to be right about this."

"How are you so sure?" Dean asked, turning to his brother.

"Because I know. Trust me," Sam said with a tone of finality.

Dean scanned the road silently for a few seconds before softly asking, "You're not like trying to fuck her, are you?"

"Dean, what the hell? No!"

"Hey, you two just seem awfully close."

"We're close because we have a lot in common."

"Oh, come on! Like what?"

"You know, good people with freakish powers, you riding our asses all the time."

"Touche," he shrugged.

There was a sustained silence in the car as Sam looked out the window and Dean kept his eyes on the road. This lasted a couple minutes, before Sam's voice sliced through the tension.

"If you really must know…" he trailed.

"Yes?" urged Dean

"The day Lory and me were talking, while you were working on the car and you walked in…"

"Yeah?"

"She was telling me about these dreams… About us, Dean. She's been having them for years- like she's been glimpsing into our lives. She knows what happened to mom."

Clearing the lump from his throat a bit, Dean questioned in disbelief, "W-what?"

"She saw it. In her dreams. I can tell just by looking into her eyes that she knows things about us that no one else does- even us, you know? Our destinies are intertwined. There's no doubt about it, she's connected to us- more specifically, to you, Dean. That's why she lo…" Sam trailed, his lips freezing in an "O" and staying there as a look of remorse flooded his face.

"'She lo'?" Dean asked, scrunching up his face in complete puzzlement, "What the hell is that? Is that like Ebonics or something?"

"You know…" Sam said with an awkward smile, backed into a corner and completely realizing it.

"No, actually, I don't."

"Sure, you do! ….She lo…" he paused before going with literally the first thing that popped into his head other than various curse words, "Low low low low low low… Applebottom jeans! Boots with the fur! Nana nana na! You know! She-"

"Cut the crap, Sammy," Dean cut in sharply, unable to stand seeing Sam making that big of a fool of himself.

"These dreams…" Sam began again, "They were mostly about you- your life- I guess that means she's somehow more closely related to you…"

"Unlikely, but I'll bite. Continue."

"Well, having all these dreams over the years- it's like she knows us- you- and I guess somehow, she's…"

"Yes, you can do it, Sam…" he coaxed sarcastically, "Short sentences."

"She's in love with you, you asshole!"

At that point, the boys went slamming forward as the car came to an abrupt halt.

"She WHAT?" Dean yelled, looking as though he might burst a vein from what could either be outrage or fear.

"Do you WANT to kill us?" Sam shouted, his heart still pounding.

"How do you know that?" Dean demanded.

"Well, first, Ruby brought it to my attention-"

"Oh- Ruby AKA Mrs. Reliable, okay."

"But then Lory confirmed it," he added.

"What?! This is crazy! SHE is crazy!" Dean began to rant, brandishing his hands.

"Don't make such a big deal out of this," Sam pleaded, "Please?"

"Now did she use the word 'love'?" he urged.

"Not exactly, but do you see the way she looks at you?"

"Yeah… "he trailed, his eyes shifting around as he searched his brain, a montage of moments flooding to him, "Yeah!" he hissed through a grimace.

"Listen, Dean," Sam began, "you gotta be cool about this. You can't let her know I told you. You gotta act naturally- or maybe even a little nicer, so she won't catch on. Or at least so you won't hurt her feelings... more than usual."

"No!" Dean said as if responding to the most ridiculous idea he had ever heard, "If I'm nice to her she might try to kiss me or something!"

"Dean, she's not a disease!"

"Nah, more of a staff infection."

"You should be flattered. I would be!"

"But she's creepy, and weird, and tubby…"

"And sweet, and smart, and cute."

"Puppies are cute, Sam. Listen, if she's so great, why don't do me a solid and hook up with her so she can… like…stop-" he gulped,." loving me."

"Why does it upset you so much?" Sam asked, genuinely curious.

Dean sat with a serious look on his face.

"Sam, even if she was my type- which she's a pretty far cry from- I don't do love. The most I do is infatuation- and the sex has to be pretty damn good for that to happen. And even if that wasn't the case, in our line of work, we can't really afford to be in love, can we?"

Sam sat for a moment, the words sitting heavy on his mind for a while before finally replying, "No… I guess we can't…"

"That's right," Dean nodded triumphantly, "Now let's go get that food. You can bring your little girlfriend some belated birthday pie. Sure she'll appreciate it."

.