A.N. Thanks for all the reviews, everyone. I really appreciate it. :D

Sam scoured the map hoping something would jump out at him. Anything.

The girl had definitely been in some sort of cave, and that seemed even more likely when you looked at the area outside Albuquerque. The problem was, there were a lot of caves in New Mexico. Maybe hundreds just around Albuquerque itself.

And no matter how long he stared at it, the map just wasn't speaking to him.

Sam rubbed his tired eyes and headed back to his laptop. He was going to try to cross-reference some of the routes he'd seen on the map- everything from highways to obscure access roads. Goat paths, if he could find any. He would have to narrow the list down to some more likely candidates or he might find himself out there looking forever.

He desperately wished he had a more concrete reason to give Drew Archer for wanting to search the caves than a mere "hunch"- she'd probably be able to afford a sizeable force of searchers for their cause. As it was she had mostly looked confused and more than a little skeptical at the cave idea. Still, he couldn't exactly tell her he had a vision that her sister was in a cave somewhere.

He frowned as he recalled the images that had flashed through his mind earlier. The girl had definitely been in trouble when he'd seen her. And to make things even more disconcerting, there had been no sign of Dean at all.

He looked over at the second bed in the motel room. He had rented a double partly out of habit, and partly out of a strong desire to have his brother back safe and sound.

Taking a deep breath, Sam pulled up Google on his laptop and got to work.

The funny thing was, the kiss alternated between overwhelmingly passionate and somewhat comically awkward.

Right off the bat, Dani's stomach was quavering and points lower down were beyond the tingling phase- they were actually vibrating. The rest of her seemed to want to wrap itself around the hard body pressed against her until the world ended. The things his mouth was doing to her...

She hadn't dated that many guys, but she was no wallflower and she could safely say she'd never felt a kiss like this one before. If her brain had been able to focus at that moment, it would certainly have been impressed to have found a handsome guy whose sparkling eyes, sexy smiles, and flirtatious words made promises that his lips could actually keep. And then some.

She moaned softly into his mouth and Dean felt himself growing stiff. It was all he could do to keep from ripping off her wet clothes and turning that moan into a full-throated scream of pleasure. But he'd only just gotten a taste of her and he definitely didn't want to scare her off. She may have been responding whole-heartedly to him, but he still sensed he'd have to take it slow with her. And strangely enough, he didn't want to rush things with her anyway; he had a feeling the affection of Danielle Archer would be worth the wait. But right now, he just really wanted to touch her, to feel her close.

Moving slightly to the side, he supported himself against her with one arm while the other reached around to slide up her back and pull her tighter to him. His hand slid over the back of a tank top that could now pretty much claim second-skin status thanks to all the mud and water she'd been splashing in, and he moaned himself. The heat emanating from her skin through her tank top... She was practically on fire.

Sudden coughing made Dean pull back, and he watched as she wiped mud from the corner of her lip, embarrassed. He laughed lightly and ran his fingers through the hair that had fallen damply over her forehead. And then he realized he was inadvertantly smudging the mud tatoo he'd given her earlier, causing him to smile wider. Dani was mesmerized by the handsome sight.

"Damn, I just ruined my work of art."

Her eyes sparkled irresistably as she laughed and he leaned back in to kiss her again, but more softly this time. Once again, a thrilling, erotic energy tripped through her body and she pressed herself closer against him... and knocked his sore shin with her foot. She had to give him credit- he barely flinched and gave only the slightest of pained moans into her lips. She pulled her lips away from his and reached a hand up to his cheek, her eyes full of concern. "Oh Dean... I'm sorry. Are you-"

"Never been better." A seductive smile crossed his lips as he turned his head and kissed her palm. The fluttering wings in her chest sped up as his face dipped down towards hers again.

Caught up in the kiss, and with Dean's hands moving tantalizingly across her body, she once again wondered how it could be that she'd never felt sensations like these before. How was that possible?

And yet here she was, trapped in a cave of all places, having her body taken to new, amazing places by just a few kisses and caresses... If she'd been asked a week ago if she could have imagined finding this sort of excitement at the hands of a complete stranger she would have-

A complete stranger.

The words reverberated through her brain, slowly dislodging the aroused fog that had taken root there.

What the hell am I doing?!!

As irresistable as he was, the man she was currently locked in an intimate embrace with was basically an unknown entity to her. She knew nothing about him except what he'd told her. This was madness... and totally unlike her. Drew was the one who threw her sexuality around like a weapon, bedding random men whenever the urge took her. Dani was the one who played it safe. Always.

Dean felt the change come over her and he pulled back, looking her in the eyes. "You OK? What's wrong?

She was unsure of what to say or do now. "Um... I..." She pulled carefully away from him and pushed up into a sitting position. "Dean, I'm sorry... I can't do this. We shouldn't be doing this."

Dean eyed her speculatively for a moment and then sat up himself. "Yeah, I guess." He ran a hand awkwardly across the top of his hair. "I guess your boyfriend probably wouldn't appreciate this."

Jack.

She had completely forgotten about Jack. And this was probably why Dean mentioning him right now actually irked her somewhat- She was instantly ashamed that she wasn't the one who'd thought of him first. In fact, she hadn't even thought about him once in the last couple of days, let alone when she'd been rolling around in the arms of another man.

So, now I'm a cheater. Excellent.

Seriously, what the hell had come over her? She sighed in annoyance. "Uh, no... he probably wouldn't appreciate it, I guess."

"You guess? If I was your boyfriend, I'd be kicking my ass right now." Then he looked bemused. "Um, you know what I mean."

She wanted to laugh but her disappointment in herself was depressing her at the moment. "Yeah, I get what you mean."

The truth was, in her mind she was already broken up with Jack. It was merely a matter of circumstance that he wasn't aware of the fact yet. And deep down, other than a blow to his ego she didn't really think he'd be that upset in the long run. He seemed so unaware of her half the time, she figured she'd actually be doing him a favour by removing an unnecessary distraction from his life- her. This made her feel a little better, but not much. You still shouldn't cheat on your boyfriend based on a technicality.

She let out a deep breath, still trying to convince herself otherwise. "Honestly, I don't think Jack would notice anything I do these days. And truth be told, I stopped caring if he notices quite a while ago. I was actually... I had been planning on breaking up with him when I got back to Boston."

Dean risked a small smile. "You're not just saying that to make me feel better?"

She smirked back. "Nope. And anyway, somehow I don't take you as the type of guy to be too worried about a girl's boyfriend, especially if the girl is willing." She realized her mistake a split-second after she'd said the words. And not surprisingly, Dean's brows went up in amazement.

"Uh, yeah. I guess that's the kind of guy I am, right?"

Too ashamed of her catty remarks to even try to back-paddle for a moment, her hesitation was all Dean needed. "OK then. If you need me, I'll be getting something to eat."

"Dean, I..." As the flashlight disappeared with Dean down the cave, she looked down at the shadows where her feet were barely visible. Only the speckled light emitted from the cracks in the wall illuminated her now.

"They found two of the security guards crashed north of the city, on I-25-"

"I-25?" Sam's fingers flew over his map and found the highway. "How far?"

"Apparently just a few miles south of Bernalillo, but Sam I can-"

"I'm heading out there now. I'll meet you there, if you're going."

"The police told me there was no need to-"

"Suit yourself. Bye."

If Jack hadn't been standing beside her with a questioning look on his handsome face, she would have hurled her cell phone across the room in fury. She'd had about enough of Sam Corbett not listening to her. Sooner rather than later, she was planning on making him listen...

If it was the last thing she did.

"This stretch of pavement is what has me a bit confounded."

Sam was a little surprised at how freely this officer seemed to be dishing out information on the crash, but he wasn't about to start complaining. He squatted beside the man as he looked more closely at the road. "Confounded? How so?"

Officer Dalton squinted off towards the broken railing where the doomed car had crashed through, and then he stood up. Sam followed suit and waited patiently for the man to explain. One thing he'd learned about southern cops was that they didn't like to be rushed.

"Well, let's look at it like this: You're flying along the highway and suddenly you find yourself veering sharply off the road and heading for the edge of a pretty steep drop. What's the first thing you do, besides shit yourself?"

Sam smirked at the image and then looked back towards the edge of the highway. "Um... I don't know..." He looked back at the pavement for a moment before it occured to him. "Wait a minute. I'd brake." He looked back at the road again. "I'd be standing on the brakes and turning the wheel in the other direction for all I was worth."

The cop nodded, smiling slightly. "Yup." He pointed back at the stretch of pavement. "So where are the skidmarks?"

"Do you want some water?"

Dean nodded and accepted the bottle from her outstretched hands. "Thanks."

It was the first thing he'd said in 10 minutes and she wondered if she should risk attempting an apology now. She couldn't believe that she'd been such an idiot. In addition to the fact that she had a boyfriend, she'd been the one who snuggled into him every night, not to mention the dreams... If anyone was guilty of loose behaviour, it was her. Dean had actually been a perfect gentleman.

The words of regret had been running over and over in her mind since he'd walked away from her, but now they were just a tangled mess in her head. She grasped onto the only part that stood out: "Dean, I'm so sorry for what I said. I really don't... I really don't think of you that way. I mean, I don't even know you, so how could I... I'm just really, really sorry."

He watched her shifting uncomfortably and once she'd finished speaking, he gave her a half-smile.

"It's OK, Dani. Really. The more I started to think about it... Well, you're pretty much right. I am that guy." He looked at her earnestly. "Or at least I have been that guy before." He passed her back the bottle of water and then sat back on his elbows. He didn't think it was necessary to mention that what had hurt him slightly was the fact that he hadn't wanted to be that guy with her.

"So, anyway, don't worry about it."

"Yeah, but Dean... I really don't-"

"I mean it. Don't worry about it."

Dani didn't need her special skills to recognize that he wanted to move on, so she did. But she still felt bummed that she'd said something she really didn't mean in a moment of crankiness. At some point, she was going to make it up to him somehow.

Dean yawned and ran his hands unconsciously down his arms and Dani felt a shiver herself. The sun was going down and they were both soaked. This was going to be a cold one. She grabbed the blanket and threw it to Dean.

"I'm going to go get your jacket. I left it up near the top of the pile. Maybe you can find something to set on fire?"

Dean laughed. "I wonder if salt and pepper packets make good kindling?"

She smiled. "One way to find out."

She grabbed the flashlight and moved back towards the covered entrance. She stared at the place in the dirt where she and Dean had been rolling around and smirked. That was the most exciting encounter she'd ever had and she'd blown it in a stupid panic. It seemed like she had nothing but regrets these days.

Sighing yet again, she started to climb up the pile of dirt and rocks towards Dean's jacket.

It seemed like the rain was finally easing off outside, at least. The stream of water running down from the cracks seemed to be lessening as well. As she grabbed the jacket, she worried that the next day's sun would dry the mud and seal them in even more tightly than before-

Suddenly, the rock walls seemed to mutate and she was staring at a scene somewhere beyond the cave. It was either early morning or late afternoon, and the same dark-haired man was hurrying across a somewhat barren landscape towards some old, low stone walls. They seemed awfully familiar to her, but she couldn't quite remember where she'd seen them before. And both the man and the walls were gone, leaving her staring dazedly at the top of the sealed cave entrance.

She felt another shiver cross her skin and she tried to pull one of the jacket sleeves on but she felt a bit dizzy, probably thanks to the sudden vision. She pulled her other arm through, but had to reach out to keep herself from toppling over as another wave of dizziness overtook her.

The loud cracking noise came just after her hand landed on the wall... and then she was falling into nowhere.