A.N: Sorry for the delay guys. I've had a busy couple of weeks and it doesn't seem to want to slow down. Bleh!

And wow, all that whining really paid off. I guess it's true- the squeaky wheel does get the oil! lol Anyhoo, thanks so much for the reviews. I get all excited when I come on and see new ones!

Dean took a swig of water and wiped his forehead with the back of his arm. His shin was pulsating a bit but he could deal with it. He turned to offer Dani some water and caught the look on her face.

Shit.

"Look, Dani... I really am sorry about my little, uh... outburst back there. I know you didn't-"

"It's OK, Dean. I know. We're cool."

He nodded, handing her the bottle of water. It wasn't exactly hard to figure out what was really bothering her. Their situation was looking grimmer by the hour. He had no idea what to say to her to make it all better, so he said nothing.

She took a gulp of the water and passed it back, suddenly assuming a business-like air. "I better take another look at your leg. It's probably in need of a clean after your little climbing expedition."

She wiped the area around the wound carefully with a wet nap and then cleaned the wound itself with some alcohol on a cotton pad. Dean sat resolutely and didn't complain. He could tell that this was her way of fighting back the fear, of staying in control, and he understood completely.

When she was finished, Dani tore open another wetnap and gave her face a good wipe. When she finished, the little make-up she'd had left was completely gone, but Dean didn't think it mattered. She looked just as good without it. But even so, her expression was still bleak. And he understood that too.

Catching him watching her, she smiled shyly. "I feel a little more human again."

Dean smiled back, but her choice of words sent his brain spinning back to all the inhuman things he dealt with on a regular basis; he and Sam. Once again, the persistent concern about his brother gnawed at him: He needed to get them out of there. And looking at Dani's melancholy expression, he knew he needed to do it as much for her as for himself; he wanted to see her safe again, too.

He reached for her hand. "Listen... we're gonna get out of here. One way or another." When her eyes widened slightly and she looked at the ground uncertainly, he squeezed her fingers. "Hey..." She raised her eyes to his again and he ammended his statement. "Alive. We're making it outta here one way or another alive."

All of a sudden, Dani could feel the confidence rolling off him in waves and she inhaled sharply at the emotive onslaught. Dean furrowed his brow. "You OK?"

Surprisingly, she felt like laughing. Somehow his certainty was making her feel more positive about the situation again. Maybe this "gift" of hers had an upside after all. And for whatever reason, she found herself believing him when he said they'd get out of there. "Actually, I'm feeling a little better about... things. You seem so sure of yourself."

He flashed her a cocky grin. "Yep, I am."

She smiled back. "Well, then I believe you. We're getting out of here. Alive."

He nodded, once again impressed at how well she was keeping it together. A lot of people would have crumbled by now but she just seemed to keep on bouncing back. He squeezed her fingers one more time but said nothing. Truth was, he was a little overwhelmed by her professed belief in him- unsettled by it, in fact. He didn't want to let her down.

She slowly removed her hand from his grasp, ignoring the tingling warmth that had been circulating there. "I'm going to crack one of these cans of tuna. You want some?" She settled on a flavour and pulled the tab, her eyes settling on his questioningly.

He read her can label and grimaced. "You're goin' for the herb and garlic, huh? Good thing I have lots of gum left."

She paused, her plastic spoonful of tuna suspended mid-bite. She stared at him blankly until a cheeky grin replaced the feigned look of disgust on his face. Laughing, she grabbed another plastic spoon and threw it at him before digging into her small can of stinky tuna.

Sam looked up at the sound of clanking doors in the distance. Then the door just past his cell opened and the dark haired woman of his visions appeared. Or at least there was a 50 percent chance that she was the woman of his visions.

Both the tail end of a conversation and a man in an expensive suit followed her into the corridor.

"... not a good idea, Drew. This is an ongoing investigation and he-"

"Save it. I know what I'm doing."

She stopped in front of Sam's cell and stared at him, her eyes stoney. He eyed her warily in return.

"Mr. Corbett, I'm Drew Archer. Your brother seems to have disappeared with my sister, Danielle."

Sam stood and moved towards her, considering her choice of words. Were they an accusation or merely a statement? From his side of the bars, he took her all in. She was much shorter than he was (then again, most women were) but there was a confidence and determination in her stance that showed she wasn't afraid of him. And she was beautiful, if in a cold way. Her large brown eyes were lovely but were definitely lacking in warmth, although he could understand why she might not be that happy to speak with him.

He measured his stare to match the frigidity of hers. "My brother is missing, Ms. Archer. I reported that to the police and got tossed in here for my efforts. Albuquerque has a strange way of investigating missing persons claims."

"So you're saying you have no knowledge of my sister's disappearance? Despite the fact that it happened concurrently with your brother going missing?"

Sam didn't back down. "That's right. Despite all accusations to the contrary, my brother and I didn't come to town to kidnap anybody, particularly not your sister."

They eyed each other stubbornly, neither giving an inch.

Sam was disconcerted by the fact that he found her attractive, depite her obvious hardness. He wasn't normally drawn to the high-maintenance types, and this woman had "me me me" written all over her. Drew, on the other hand secretly wanted him to beg and barter with her in an attempt to persuade her to help him get out of jail. She was surprised and vaguely annoyed that he wasn't catering to her wishes.

"Well, if you're not able to help me, then I guess we're done here." Drew paused a moment, hoping the finality of her tone would trigger a last ditch desperate plea from the attractive stranger in front of her. Much to her continuing dismay, Sam did not cooperate.

"If you continue to approach this from the standpoint that my brother is a kidnapper and not a victim like your sister, then I guess you're right: I can't help you." He turned and moved back to his cot, sitting down. "If you change your mind, you know where to find me."

He laid back and put his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling.

Drew fumed at the obvious dismissal and she slammed doors angrily all the way out of the building.

But something was troubling her more than the fact that she hadn't gotten the upper hand: Why couldn't she get a read from him? One of her earliest "powers" had been the ability to get vibes off people, to be able to sense their feelings to a certain degree, and if anything it had gotten stronger over time. But she hadn't gotten zilch from Sam. And perhaps more distressingly, she hadn't been able to influence him the way she could everyone else. Her merest suggestion usually had people scrambling to carry out her every whim, but Sam had barely acknowledged her presence. What the hell was going on here?

Why was this Sam Corbett person immune to her "gifts"?

"What about this one?" Dani punctuated her question by snapping her gum noisily. Dean laughed as he handled the shard of rock she'd passed to him.

"OK, I get it. No more bad breath jokes." He pushed on each end of the rock and it split in two. "And no go on the rock. Not thick enough."

"Grrrrrrr." She kept picking through rocks, looking for one that would last as a digging or a wedging tool. So far they'd only found two that might work.

"Did you just growl?" Dean watched her backside with interest as she continued to bend over the rocks and rifle through them.

She turned around, grinning and slightly embarrassed. "Oops. Didn't think I'd done that out loud."

"Interesting. A growling woman." He flicked a couple useless rocks to the side. Yeah, interesting... and cute and funny and sexy. I gotta get outta this cave soon before I-

"Dean? Hello? You awake over there?"

Now it was his turn to grin sheepishly. "Sorry, what was that?"

She moved closer again. "What about this one?"

As she squatted beside him in the candlelight, he took the rock from her hands and pretended to examine it, all the while casting surreptitious glances at the perspiration dripping down her collarbone to points south. She'd taken off his jacket a while back, heated up by the exertion of hefting rocks around. She'd pulled her hair up into a ponytail with one of those hairbands that women with long hair always seemed to make magically appear. The knees of her tan pants were dirty and her white tank top was getting dustier by the minute. She had smudges of dirt on her face, one of which she was now smearing as she unconsciously rubbed the back of her hand across her forehead.

He couldn't believe how gorgeous she looked.

Luckily, years of experience had taught him how to suppress the stiffening sensation that threatened to get going downstairs. He refocused on the rock in his hands, trying hard to break it but it held strong. "This one's not bad."

She nodded and moved back to the pile of rocks to search some more. Dean turned back to his own section, forcing himself not to look at her behind again. That might be a little more than he could handle right now.

Dani sat down tiredly on a pile of rock, trying to think positively despite some of the negative thoughts running through her brain. She didn't have a lot of hope that they'd be able to wedge any of those top boulders out, but they might be able to dig at the sides near where some of the gaps were. And anyway, they had to at least try.

She looked over to where Dean was sitting, watching him sharpen one rock using another. He seemed to know what he was doing and she was once again thankful that he was here with her.

The candle on the ground beside him showed him in profile, revealing a masculine jawline and a strong, straight nose. As he concentrated on his task, she took a moment to observe him a little more closely.

She swallowed as her gaze followed his jaw down to a pair of broad, muscular shoulders. He wasn't big and bulky; more tall, lean and muscular, a look she had to admit she'd always appreciated. If there was one thing she could say about Jack, he was tall and fit. He was also really attractive, but that's pretty much where the similarities ended.

True to her usual tastes in men, Jack was dark-haired and dark-eyed. He was also incredibly intelligent and outwardly fairly personable. At least he had been during the first half of their relationship. Looking at the two men now side by side in her mind, she saw that Dean and Jack could not be more different.

Dean seemed to be able to find the lighter side of any situation while Jack, on the other hand could create tension where none had been before. And though he was generally nice enough on the surface, and did get along with almost everyone, when Jack was stressed out or in a bad mood, anyone in the vicinity was fair game for his defensive, acidic tongue. He never apologized afterwards and never seemed to feel any regrets, claiming he was working very hard at his doctorate and therefore allowances should be made for him. Dani had long ago given up hoping that he did actually feel guilt or remorse.

While he was never emotionally abusive, he was frequently very cold and self-absorbed, and some of her friends had joked that he should have been the doctor and not Dani. And somewhere along the line, during one of the many instances where she had either mentally or physically retreated from her boyfriend as a means of self-preservation for her own mood, she'd stopped caring. The irony was, he'd never even noticed. In fact, she'd found out by accident through some mutual friends that he had been ring shopping recently and that a proposal was imminent.

How someone could be so unattuned to the one person he should have been closest to was beyond her comprehension. Then again, in all fairness she had met his parents and they were the epitome of the cool, sophisticated professional couple. With that sort of example growing up, maybe it was no wonder that Jack had become the man he was. But still, her upbringing had been far from normal and yet she could recognize when something was missing from a relationship, especially, as was the case here, something that was so important: Love. The guy was utterly clueless.

And so she'd decided that she couldn't put it off any longer: as soon as she had returned to Boston, she had planned to end their relationship. The thought of getting it over with had buoyed her with a sense of relief.

And then she'd awoken in a dark, cold cave with a complete stranger... a stranger who she was already finding more intriguing and enticing than her boyfriend had ever been. Again, the irony was not lost on her.

Unaware of Dani's blatant inspection, Dean reached back and massaged the back of his neck, clearly as weary as she was. She felt a pang of sympathy and fought back the urge to go over and massage his neck for him. At the same time, she tried to ignore the fact that her mouth was going dry as she watched his arm muscles flexing. She attempted to wet her parched lips with a tongue that was probably drier than the desert outside.

Thirsty. I'm just thirsty, that's all.

She almost laughed at her own denial: Yeah, you're thirsty alright. Thirsty for that tall drink of water sitting right over there. She looked at her feet, still amused but also mildly ashamed of herself. Man, when did I become so shallow?

She did laugh out loud this time, catching Dean's attention. He looked in her direction, smiling questioningly. "What's so funny?"

She was far enough away that he couldn't see her blush. She laughed again and put her face down on her knees, mumbling. "Uh, nothing. I think I'm just tired and a bit goofy."

"Are you thirsty? I still have some water over here."

She laughed again, embarrassed even though there was no way he could have been aware of her musings on thirst. He laughed with her this time. "Maybe some food is in order too, Miss goofy. Want to limp back over to the supplies and rustle ourselves up some lunch?"

She nodded and stood up, thankful for the distraction. She must be suffering from low blood sugar or something. These were not the thoughts of a rational woman. She should be focused on how they were going to get out of there and nothing else.

She was pointlessly wiping her dirty hands on her dirtier pants when Dean reached her, smiling casually. Her heart refused to be sensible and did a few flip flops as she gazed into his handsome, smiling face.

Damn. Even when I first met Jack, he never looked this sexy to me.

She smiled back guiltily at Dean and then turned and started moving back towards their home base before he noticed that she was practically drooling.

Food. I need food. And that's ALL I need...

After they ate, played in the rocks some more and made a few attempts at trying to shift some of the top rocks, Dani and Dean were ready to call it a day. The light outside the cracks was fading quickly.

As Dean settled to the ground and began opening some tuna, Dani grabbed the flashlight and a handful of wetnaps before sneaking around the corner to the desinated "ladies" area. She cleaned herself up as best she could and then returned to Dean. He'd considerately laid a few "supper" options out for her perusal and she thanked him as she sat down across from him.

He stared at her, grinning and making her nervous. "What?"

He said nothing as he leaned in closer and stared into her face. She chewed her lower lip nervously... and then jumped at the sound of a wetnap package being torn open. Dean reached up and delicately wiped some smudges off her cheek. "You missed a couple spots."

She was suddenly so wired she couldn't even say thanks. She was certain the grin on her face probably looked vaguely crazy, but it was all she could manage. Even though she wasn't cold, she must have shivered because the next thing she knew, he was placing his jacket back around her shoulders. She pulled it closer around her and finally managed the power of speech.

"Thanks, dad."

He laughed and then gave her a suggestive smile. "No problem. Let me know when you're ready to be tucked in, kitten."

She tried to look shocked at his innuendo, but her laughter bubbled up until it finally overflowed. The two of them laughed together companionably for a while before their mutual yawns began to interupt.

"I better check out your leg before I pass out, Dean. Can you pass me the first aid kit?"

As she went through her usual ministrations, Dean eyed the dirty bandage on the back of Dani's hand. When she was finished with him, he reached out and held her hand, turning it over and gently removing the bandage. Copying her methods, he cleaned her cut and applied a new bandage. When he was finished, he looked back into her face and was startled by the intensity of her gaze. She'd looked... what? He didn't even want to guess; they might end up in dangerous territory. And yet he couldn't deny the small flicker of hope he felt... but he could smother it. And he would.

And guessing by the way she'd turned her head quickly away as she mumbled "thanks", Dani thought that anything that happened between them would be a mistake too.

Dean was familiar enough with the whole man/woman scene to know that she found him attractive. And normally he took his fun wherever he could get it, especially since there were never any strings attached. Well, at least there were almost never any strings attached. Cassie was a good case in point- he'd really cared about her and yet they hadn't been able to make it work. It always came back to the job. He and Sam didn't have much time for anything else, least of all entanglements. And that's what this would be. Dani was special, he could tell that right away. She was exactly the type of woman he could see himself falling for.

"Dean? You OK?"

The gentle concern in her warm brown eyes pulled him out of his internal reflections. "Yeah, I'm cool." He grabbed the blanket and started to lay himself out on the ground to get some sleep, knowing the only way to keep his sanity in such a tempting situation was to play around with it. By making the situation less than than serious, he hoped he could avoid getting his heart trounced again. Somehow he had a feeling it would be a lot worse this time if he succumbed.

And so he settled on the overt, lighthearted flirting that usually protected him so well.

"So what do you say... care to join me? You know you want to." He patted the ground beside him, his eyebrows rising and falling in an ridiculously provocative manner.

Dani laughed heartily at his comic shamelessness. "Alright... I may curl in behind you. I know I'll just end up freezing if I don't. But I promise you, I'll keep my hands to myself this time. I'm pretty sure I'm too exhausted to 'snuggle', even if I wanted to."

"Yeah, whatever. We'll see." He flashed her his cockiest smile. "After all, we've already established that I'm irresistable."