Okay, I intended this to be a one-shot and now I've been arm-twisted into a multi-chapter fic. What is the world coming to? (Oh, no editors or proof readers or anything on this one. You have only me to blame!) The weirdness continues…

Chapter 2

There was nothing along this state highway except trees, trees and more trees. If there had been a speedtrap, at least that would have been something. Dean could tell Sam was tired, his brother had been driving for nearly six hours.

"Dude, pull over. We'll switch," Dean told him.

"Dean, we can't, it's dark out. We can't risk you being pulled over. Next motel and I'll stop, okay?" Sam replied, his strained eyes glued to the road.

"No, Sam," Dean tried to keep the irritation out of his voice, which had been really difficult lately, "you're too tired. I'm fine. Pull over."

"But what about your eyes?" Sam demanded, chancing a glance over. Dean still wore the dark sunglasses, even though it was well after dark.

"I just won't get stopped, okay? Right now I'm more worried about you crashing my baby." He waited for Sam's reaction.

A loud Sammy huff filled the car. "Fine." He felt the car slow and pull off the road.

Dean switched places with his brother, tossing the dark sunglasses on the dash. He felt Sam's glare and ignored it. "There's no one around to see, Sam," he argued, though his brother said nothing out loud.

As he drove, Dean noticed that driving at night was easier than it normally was. A glance in the rearview mirror told him his eyes were probably glowing brighter than they had been during the day. Well, that could also be chalked up to day versus night, but he didn't think so. Now that presented an interesting question: Could Dean's freaky glowing eyes see in the dark?

A quick glance told him that Sam was still awake. No sense in freaking his brother out by turning out the headlights in the middle of the night just to check out a stupid theory. Instead, Dean concentrated on whether he could make the night seem brighter or darker. When the woods flashing by his window were so dark they looked like a solid black streak beside the road, he looked in the rearview mirror again. His eyes were almost normal. Dean chewed his lower lip, trying to decide if he wanted to try it the other way.

He heard steady breathing from the passenger seat. Without looking, he knew Sam was asleep. With a wicked grin Dean tried to see how bright he could make things look. Soon the woods had the luster of daylight surrounding them and Dean could see each individual tree. The reflection of his eyes glowed brightly, casting a green glow on his face. Out of curiosity, he wanted to know if he could see even better than that. The trees glowed eerily from the roadside, each one backlit by an odd luminescence. Without looking in the mirror he knew his eyes were glowing really bright now, the interior of the car had a green glow.

Curiosity satisfied, he decided to tone it down again. He willed the trees to look dark, as dark as he could. When they were a black blur, only distinguishable from the night sky by lack of stars, he checked out his eyes again. They were completely normal, right down to the little gold flecks buried around the edges of his irises. He breathed a sigh of relief. Sam was right, Mike might be an ass but he never lied to them. Looking at his reflection, Dean wondered why Mike never…

The Impala shuddered violently, its nose dipped down and the car rocked from side to side. As he fought the wheel the world around lit brighter than daylight, showing Dean that he was off road.

"Son of a bitch!" He shouted. So distracted by playing with his damn glowing eyes, Dean drove right off the road! He wrestled the big car under control, dodging a highway marker as he made it back onto blacktop.

"Uh, Dean?" Sam's voice floated over to him after they were safely back on the highway.

"What?" he snapped, his heart still racing. How could he do that to his baby?

"You, uh, fall asleep?"

Dean felt like glaring at his little brother, but he chose to watch the road instead. Which is what he should have been doing five minutes ago! "No."

"So what happened?" Sam started to sound irritated. Perfect. Two irritated Winchesters in the same car. Yeah, that's always a good thing.

"I drove off the road," he replied, more than a little surprised to hear the confession himself. He had intended not to reply, to maintain perfect silence until Sam gave up on it. Okay, that tactic didn't always work, but it worked often enough to try.

"On purpose?" Sam was astounded. Well, Dean would have been too if that were true.

"No," he snapped.

"So what happened?" Sam demanded.

The perfect lie about a wild animal darting out in front of the car popped into his head. "Well, see, there was this…" his voice died out. Dean cleared his throat and tried again. "I saw an…I wasn't paying attention."

"Excuse me?" Sam turned in the seat to face him. "Since when don't you pay attention when you're driving?"

He tried to shrug, but his shoulders were not exactly participating either. What the hell was happening here?

"Dean? You going to answer me?"

He shook his head. At least that still worked!

"What were you paying attention to Dean? I don't see any scantily clad women beside the road."

Dean smirked. The retort 'if you had just been awake a few minutes ago' was on his lips, but what came out was, "I was playing with my eyes." He winced. Shit.

Sam glared at him in the darkened car. "You what?"

"Don't worry about it, Sam. Everything's fine." Dean stared straight ahead, hoping Sam would drop it, knowing he wouldn't.

"Dean?" His brother's head leaned to one side, studying him like a rat in a maze. "Do you remember that girl Melinda?" Sam asked.

Dean shook his head, trying to ward off an oncoming headache. Maybe there was a town with a motel around the next bend. "Who? Dude, you know I don't remember names."

"The girl who came on to me at that pool hall, about three weeks ago? Brunette?" Sam looked over at him.

"Oh, yeah, right. I think so." It was really dark out here. Dean kept his eyes straight ahead as he willed it to become lighter and hoped his brother did not notice his eyes glowing brighter. Now he could read the next exit sign. It looked promising for a motel.

"Did you set me up?" Sam asked. Dean could feel his little brother leaning closer, as though proximity could demand an answer.

"What makes you ask that?" Dean answered, pushing down on the accelerator. That exit should be coming up really soon.

"Yes or no, Dean. It's a simple question." Sam insisted.

Like a terrier with a freaking chewtoy, he thought. "What kind of question is that, dude? Really. Do you think I'd do something like that?"

"I know you would," Sam said pointedly. "The question is whether or not you did. Yes or no, Dean."

He sighed. "Sam…"

"Stop avoiding the question," Sam insisted. "Yes or No?"

"NnnnnnnYes." Who said that?

A barking laugh came from his right. Sam's hands drummed on the dash. "Dude, you can't lie!"

"That's ridiculous. Everyone can lie!" He insisted, speeding toward the exit. If they could just get to a motel room, everything should look better in the morning.

"Oh yeah?" He heard the challenge in Sam's voice. This was not going to be good, he could feel it. "Then tell me how you were going to put a bullet in me if I went darkside."

"It wasn't going to happen, Sam," Dean insisted.

"We didn't know that," Sam went on, "and you promised me and Dad. Now tell me how you were really going to do it if it came to that."

"It wasn't going to happen!" Lightning flashed outside the window, making them both jump as a tree split in two.

"Did you, uh?" Sam let the question hang.

"No idea," Dean whispered, pressing the accelerator all the way to the floor as the exit sign came up. He was grateful for the silence as he raced past gas stations and fast food drive-thrus to the first motel that appeared. Dean whipped into the parking lot and stopped his car. When he looked down, his hands were shaking. "Son of a bitch," he mumbled.

"I'll get a room," Sam said, getting out of the car.

Dean sat shaking for a moment when another voice filled the car.

"Hanging in there, Dean?"

His head whipped to the side. There was the bastard himself. "Mike, go away. Really can't deal with your shit right now."

Mike's deep blue eyes had a glow in the night Dean never noticed before. His pretty face grinned as Mike tilted his head to the side, causing a cascade of dark locks over the top of his head. Dean felt a snarl come over his face. He really didn't like this guy.

"Oh, come on, Dean. I thought maybe you would understand me a little better now." Mike smiled at him.

Dean seethed with contempt. "You might have warned me about the emotion thing."

Mike's eyebrows arched. "What emotion thing?"

"How some stuff is tied into your emotions."

"Oh." Mike nodded. "You're talking about the tree back there." His smooth lips pursed. "Well, to be honest, I forgot."

"Yeah, right. Tell me another one." Dean glared at him.

Mike let out a long suffering sigh. "Dean, have you ever known me to lie to you?" Mike waited for Dean to shake his head. "Have you ever wondered why?"

Dean started to snap off a typical retort, but his inability to lie about driving off the road flashed back painfully and only a single word passed his lips. "Yes." He took a deep breath. "You can't, can you?"

Mike shook his head. "Not unless it's something that could get you killed. Meaning," he held up a hand to clarify before Dean could jump his case about that, "if a lie will save someone's life, I can lie. Otherwise, it's truth or silence."

Dean sank back in his seat. "Silence doesn't always work that well with Sammy."

"I've noticed," Mike replied grimly. "Speaking of which, here he comes. Maybe things will look better in the morning."

Dean rolled his eyes, which he noticed were still glowing, as Mike disappeared. He watched in the mirror as he forced the glow from his eyes. He had to concentrate to do it, but it was getting easier. There was a tap on his window. Sam stood outside, waving a room key.

Dean stepped out of the car, grabbing his duffel from the back. After Sam did the same, Dean followed his brother to the room. He could feel Sam's anxious looks as they prepared for bed, but Dean had no words of encouragement or empty platitudes. It had to be true now.

"Dean? Your eyes aren't glowing." Sam said, freezing in the middle of the room.

"Yeah, I know," he replied.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything," riiiiiight, "but why not?" Sam's head tilted to one side again and Dean could feel his brother's insatiable curiosity.

"I figured it out," he said, rummaging in his bag.

"Really? How?"

"Practice." Dean hurried into the bathroom.