"OK, Corbett. Bail's paid. You're free to go."

Sam watched in amazement as the door to his cell slid open. The men in the neighbouring cells looked on enviously.

"That's it? I'm released just like that?" Sam looked at the guard skeptically but the other man shrugged noncommittally.

"Well, you're welcome to stay but we're gonna have to start chargin' ya room and board."

Sam smirked and moved eagerly past the guards before they changed their minds. Despite the fact that he'd known all along they had very little to hold him on, he had no idea what had finally clued the police in to this fact... but he wasn't going to stick around to find out.

He suddenly found himself standing outside the police station, squinting at the muted winter sunlight of Albuquerque. He considered his next move, and while he was relieved to be free again, he also felt a little overwhelmed.

Where did he start to look for Dean? Any trail he'd left behind was probably cold by now. Still, that wouldn't stop him. He'd find him no matter what it took. He knew Dean would do the same for him.

With a new sense of purpose, he started down the sidewalk... and came to a halt at the unexpected sight before him. Was this another vision?

Still asleep, Dani squeezed her eyes more tightly shut as if unconsciously trying to see inside her dream more clearly. The tall, dark-haired young man was talking to... who? She couldn't see a face but it looked like...

Drew?

Her brow furrowed tighter as she strained in her sleep.

Or is it ME?

The images faded out, and she started to come awake in a state of mild confusion. Once again, the lack of even the smallest amount of light when she opened her eyes was disconcerting, but at least she remembered where she was this time. And she also knew who was currently spooning her from behind.

Her heart began to flutter erratically while she contemplated the hand that lay nestled just below her chest. She knew she should move herself away from him and get up, but she couldn't seem to make her body cooperate. It just felt too... good. The warmth of him pressed against her back was muddling her brain, and despite the fact that they were pretty much as close as two fully-dressed people could get, she had to fight back the urge to push more tightly against him.

With an internal sigh of regret, she decided to move away before she embarrassed herself. She placed her hand on the one he had wrapped around her and began to tug gently on it as she prepared to slide fom his grasp.

She froze when he moaned softly into her hair and pulled her tighter against him. His fingers began to massage her ribcage through her thin cotton tank top, and her breath caught in her throat when his thumb slide ever so slightly upwards into the channel between her breasts, grazing the area above the middle of her bra. He pushed his pelvis more tightly against her and then seemed to settle back into his slumber.

Afraid he would feel the mounting heat where her lower regions pressed into his groin, she cleared her throat lightly and pulled herself from his grasp. She all but gasped for air as she sat up, trying to calm herself down.

Dean moaned behind her, waking up. She crawled in what she figured was the direction of the water and the candles, but she avoided lighting one until she had a better hold over herself. She was afraid her flushed face would reveal more than a woman who'd just woken up. As she opened the bottle and slugged back some water, Dean's voice came out of the darkness.

"Bleh. My mouth tastes like sand."

Taking a deep but quiet breath, Dani smiled in the darkness. "Ah, sand. That explains your breath then."

When Dean didn't respond, Dani imagined he was probably blowing into his palm in the dark, trying to smell his own breath. She laughed lightly. "Dean... I'm kidding."

She heard him pull himself into a sitting position, and then she could hear him moving towards her. She felt the candle being taken from her hands and a match lit. Dean looked over the flame at her, his eyes intense. "Want to see if my breath is really so bad?"

Dani gulped a quick breath of air in surprise as Dean's face moved towards hers, his eyes on her lips...

And then she snapped awake as Dean's voice finally broke through the dream. "Dani. Come on... wake up."

As she clawed her way groggily back into consciousness, she was chagrined to once again find her knee tucked between Dean's thighs, and her foot wrapped around his bottom shin. This time grateful for the darkness, she loosened her fingers from their death grip on his t-shirt and pulled her face from his neck, beyond embarrassed. He'd probably woken her because she was crushing his sore leg for real this time and-

"Dani, you awake?"

"Uh, yeah... yeah I am." She carefully began to remove her legs from around his and was about to apologize again when she felt something strange at her feet. "Why are my feet getting wet?"

She heard a deep rumbling and realized a thunderstorm was raging outside the cave. Dean scrambled to sit up and she followed suit, reaching for the flashlight.

"I didn't notice before, but I'm guessing we're on an incline; we're lower down here than the ground by the cave-in. The storm is probably causing some flash flooding outside in the desert and it's leaking in here."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

Dean shone the flashlight towards the caved-in area but they couldn't see much from that distance. The beam of light revealed a tiny river of water moving past their location and further into the cave. Dean pursed his lips in thought.

"I wonder if this could be the answer..." He stood up slowly and started to limp towards the pile of rubble.

Dani followed him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if there's enough water sloshing down outside, it may push some of this pile of dirt and rocks away."

"Wow, you think so?" She quickened her pace and moved slightly ahead of him.

"We'll know in a minute."

Now what?

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Ms. Archer?"

Sam produced the barest hint of a smile, albeit one laced with distrust. There was a dark-haired man he'd never seen before behind her leaning on a silver Mercedes SL550. It was a nice car, but something about the unrelenting cold gleam in this woman's eyes made him long for the safety of the old black Impala... and the multitude of weapons in its trunk.

Drew felt once again bemused at the fact that Sam seemed less than impressed with her. And intrigued.

"Well for one, you could at least try to appear a little more grateful that I got you out of jail."

Sam's brows furrowed. "You did? Why?"

"Because I think we need each other." She smiled enticingly, but again all Sam felt was wariness.

"How so?"

"Well, obviously I need you to find my sister, and you need me to find your brother. We're after the same thing, so it only makes sense that we work together."

Sam eyed the man behind Drew briefly before his gaze returned to her. He didn't attempt to hide his skepticism. "So you no longer think that my brother and I are somehow involved in your sister's kidnapping?"

One side of her mouth twitched up. "To be honest, I'm still undecided as to just what exactly your involvement really is... But at this point I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt if it helps to find Dani."

Sam's face remained impassive. "So what exactly are you proposing here?"

"Don't look so concerned, Sam." With a seductive smile, Drew put a hand on her hip and stared knowingly at the young man before her. "And when I'm proposing, you'll know it."

"Well, we're definitely dirtier, but I don't know if we're any better off." Dean stared at the fruits of their labours, unimpressed. "I don't think a squirrel could fit through that pitiful excuse for an opening."

Dani dipped her muddy hands in the tiny new stream working its way along the side of the cave. "Well, it's a start. What do you say we eat something and come back and see what else we can accomplish?" She reached her arms above her head to re-adjust her wet ponytail.

Dean's eyes slid from her damp, dirt-spattered throat down to her soaked and muddy tank top, her breasts straining outward enticingly thanks to her current posture. He licked his lips, barely noticing the taste of dirt that followed, but all too aware of the pulsing sensation beginning down around his-

"Dean?"

His eyes flew back to Dani's in confusion. "Huh?"

She looked at him strangely. "Food break?"

He wiped a hand across his face and but really only managed to smear the mud more. "Oh. Yeah. Let's do it." He turned suddenly and started limping back towards the food while Dani watched him with mild surprise.

What did I just miss there?

She caught up with him just as he lowered himself to the ground and started rifling through the bag. A minute ago she'd seen a strange glitter in his glance as he'd stared at her, seemingly not hearing what she was saying. She's found the emotions emanating from him indecipherable and confusing. It had left her more than a little unsettled... and slightly aroused.

But now she felt as though she was being snubbed.

"Uh, so... what are our food options today?"

He began to turn around to reply, saw her nipples stretching against her tank top and quickly turned back towards the duffle bag. "Uh... we have... um... more tuna, I guess."

Becoming uncomfortable now, Dani was about to speak up when suddenly Dean picked up his jacket from the ground and passed it to her, mumbling "Here... you might want to put this on," his glance never raising to hers. She took the jacket, momentarily confused.

And then she looked down at herself.

Her shirt was soaked through, as was the thin white bra she had on underneath it. A hint of rose from her fully erect nipples was easily visible from her perspective, so she could imagine very little was left to the imagination from straight on. She could feel the blush creep up all the way from her toes to the roots of her hair as she slid her arms quickly into the jacket and crossed her arms self-consciously across her chest. She stared at the ground uncomfortbaly now too. "Uh, thanks."

Then Dean started laughing and she looked up at him, bemused. "What?"

He shook his head, still laughing. "It's just... It's not like me to pass up on a wet t-shirt contest."

She tried to look appalled but suddenly she was laughing as well. She was also relieved the tension of the previous few minutes was gone. "Yeah yeah, laugh it up. Don't be surprised if the next time you wake up your pants are missing. I may need to remove them to attend that leg wound..."

Dean reached for the button on his mud splattered jeans. "Hey, I'll take 'em off right now if you like. I don't need an excuse!"

She put her hands up in a warding-off gesture, laughing. "Duly noted. But please, not now."

He gave her that flirty smile. "Maybe later then."

She laughed even harder when he had the audacity to wink at her like a playboy. But deep down she had to admit that the idea was more than a little tantalizing.