Not again.

There had only ever been a few cases that they investigated where the person involved with the murders was actually just that, a person. So, when the hot tub drownings singled out the janitor, the douche had taken it into his own hands to try to get rid of the Winchesters.

Sam never saw it coming.

"Dean!"

That was Ali's voice, and the world around Sam spun. He remembered combing the halls, gun out, looking for the son of a bitch and then, nothing, darkness. So here he was on the cold concrete floor of what smelled like a basement, trying to focus on everything that moved, which he was pretty sure was his brother, and praying that he ringing in his ears stopped.

"DEAN! God DAMMIT! STOP!"

Sam blinked in on Ali, focused as much as he could onto where she sat, propped up against the wall, bleeding from a head wound and her lip but she looked just as pale as Sam felt. He followed her gaze to the movement in the room.

Dean crouched over the man, the dude's hair in his fist and Dean was wailing on him, landing one punch after the other, but the guy wasn't fighting back.

"Dean," Sam moaned, and believe it or not, that got the older one's attention. Dean stopped, mid-swing and looked over as Sam fought to sit up. He let go of the hair, and moved to put both of those hands, one bloody on Sam's cheek.

"Hey, Sammy, you okay?" Dean checked him out as he slowly sat up but Sam tried his best not to be coddled. "He got you good."

"Ali?" Was Sam's next response.

"Alive and well, Love, just let your brother dote over you." Ali replied, but it was a bit of a mumble and that worried Sam but Dean had other plans instead of letting him go to the girl in the room.

"What happened?"

"Well, the son of a bitch decided that it was his job to get rid of the cheaters, so he was looking up all the guest and drowning the ones with a history or adultery." Dean replied, sitting next to Sam, before his eyes went over the still form on the ground. The guy was out not dead. "He went after you, Sammy."

"Why?" Not that Sam didn't understand that the scene in the hot tub might have caused a bit of a stir, but they weren't cheating, they were together.

"That's my fault." Ali sighed and both boys looked up at her suddenly, but her eyes were closed, and her head was back against the wall. She looked like she was in pain but her lips turned up in a smile. "Maybe you're right, Dean, maybe this is all wrong."

"No," Dean rubbed his brow, patted Sam on the chest and moved over towards her. Sam watched, and he shouldn't have been smiling but he did anyway, especially since he could see the way Dean reached out and put his hand on her cheek.

Jesus, Dean had huge hands, but then again, Ali was tiny compared to his brother. AND Sam should NOT be thinking about the way she moaned when those fingers that caressed her cheek slipped into her and made her moan. GOD, he really was a freak, but FUCK! He wanted her again.

"You better listen to me, and listen well, Al, nothing comes between you and me… and Sam, you hear me." He reassured her, but Ali just smiled and blinked open her eyes.

"You said it wasn't right."

"I was wrong."

Wait, did Sam just hear that right?

Must have, cause Dean repeated it, "I was so very wrong. I was sitting at a bar and this woman started coming onto me and all I could think about was you. How much I wanted you, how much I needed you, bad. I can't… Sam and I share everything, there isn't a person in the world that knows me better than my brother, except, maybe… you."

"Awe, damn Dean, you're getting sentimental in your old age?" She mocked, but Sam knew it was her defense, she was hurting.

"Shut up, and listen." He groaned. "I love you, and I don't say it often, hell I don't think I've told Sammy that recently, but you… I love you and I am so fucking scared of it because I don't know what to do with it. Everything good that we get ends really badly, and I'm scared, hell, I'm terrified that you… you're going to end badly too. This thing inside you, I don't know what it is and that sets my nerves on end, so I backed away, but I can't anymore, Al," Dean stopped and Sam watched him take a breath. Dean confessing anything was a major step in the right direction, but this was big and Sam could see it was taking everything he had to do it. "I need you."

"I need you too," she smiled, but Sam could see the end of that sentence coming. Ali was like Dean, never one for a solid block of totally seriousness. "I need you to get me the hell out of this basement. I need drink."

"Okay," Dean smiled, looking over at Sam, who tried to nod, "you good, Sammy?"

"Yeah, I can walk." Sam pushed himself to his feet, and steadied himself before he moved over toward Ali.

He was going to lean down to help her but Dean waved him away.

"I got her," he ordered and Sam backed away, a little grin on his face as Dean was gentle lifting the petite thing into his arms. Ali just curled up against Dean, her eyes closed, as Dean moved. "Let's go."

Sam stood by the ambulance, Ali sat on the step, blanket wrapped around her, butterfly bandages on her forehead as the EMT looked her over. Dean was talking to the cops, flashing his badge as he explained just what happened in the basement, all the evidence he had against the man down there that linked him to the drownings and so on.

Sam felt Ali slip her fingers around his and slowly he closed around them, deverting his eyes to her and away from his brother. She looked up with a tired glance, a definite concussion from the blow to the head, something he might call Cas on, but she smiled.

"Wanna go home?" he asked and watched as she gave him a little shake of her head. "You're not thinking of wanting to stay in this place another night are you?"

"I might," she grinned and her eyes darted to Dean. "Do you honestly think he's okay with this? With all of us? I don't want the two of you to do anything because of me."

Sam squatted down and gently touched her cheeks. "Ali, there's nothing that either one of us wouldn't do for you. We talked about this, you and me, and I'm good with this, hell, I'm great and you know why. Dean will see it too, and if he doesn't then you know my thoughts on that, I'm not going to stop you from being with him. As weird as it all seems, it fits. It fits us, and no one else's opinion of it matters."

"I guess…" Ali sighed, "I guess I never thought of it being so intense, you know, like…" She looked over at Dean quickly before looking back. Sam closed his eyes as her hands moved to his cheeks and she kissed him softly, "I love you, I'm crazy head-over-heels in love with you and it's so intense," he felt her lips turn up in a smile, "sometimes I just wanna stay locked in a room with you forever."

"I can make that happen," Sam grinned as he wrapped his arms around her and tried to pull her as close as he could so that he could feel her, every inch of her but he heard an exasperated sigh.

"Not again! Jesus, can you two just get a room?" Dean snapped at them from beside the door but when Sam looked up at it, he saw the piqued interest in his brother's eyes, and his voice went low, "and can I watch?"