Bayleigh woke to someone shaking her shoulder. She looked around. It was still dark. Coby's body quivered with a growl at the hulking figure standing over her. She tightened her grip around him.

"I'm taking off," Sam's voice said from above her.

"You patched things up with your brother."

"Yea. Thanks."

She stretched and nodded. "I like you. But quiet time is my favorite." She was still half asleep.

He laughed. "I'll see you later."

"Mmmm. Goodbye Sam Winchester. "

"Bye Bayleigh Thomas."

She followed the ghoul soundlessly through the graveyard, then pounced, killing it easily. It hadn't even seen her coming. She wiped her machete on the grass and left, walking the few blocks to where she left her car and Coby waiting. She slid into the drivers seat and kissed Coby on the head. He leaned into her as she started the car and took off down the road toward the highway.

On her way out of town, she passed the Impala. She watched in the rearview mirror as Dean swung the car in an illegal u-turn; she grudgingly pulled over to the side of the road.

"C'mon, Dean. Don't be rude."

"I'm not, I just wanted to ask her if she got the the ghoul before we did."

"You know she did." But Dean was already getting out to meet Bayleigh on the side of the road. Sam followed.

"Sam," she said smiling the tiniest bit.

"Hey Bayleigh."

"I imagine you're after the ghoul," she turned her focus to Dean.

"I imagine we're already too late," he replied.

She nodded. "Is that all? I'm on my way south."

"What for?" Sam asked. It had been a month since they'd paired up and he had enjoyed it; he wanted to do it again.

"Garth called me on a job that no one else wanted to take. Something called a Burburu? He didn't explain it very well."

Dean laughed. "You're gonna have a great time with that one."

"What is it?"

"We killed one a couple years ago," Sam said. "They're pretty much just ghosts, but like really terrified ghosts that can infect people with the Ghost Sickness. Dean was lucky enough to experience the symptoms first hand." He smiled at his big brother.

"What are the symptoms?" Bayleigh asked, all business.

"Well, it only ever effects douche bags-" Bayleigh looked at Dean and smiled a bit, understanding "-and then they get paranoid, then scared, then so scared that they have a heart-attack."

Bayleigh frowned. "A ghost, you said?"

"Yea." Dean nodded.

"I don't do ghosts, usually." She frowned. Garth knows that.

"We can help," Sam said. "We'll come with you."

Bayleigh looked between the brothers, frowning. Dean was glaring at Sam and she had the urge to go just to spite him. So she did.

"I'll go. We can meet up in the morning. Call me." The first half was directed at Dean to let him know she was just doing it to piss him off, the second to Sam because he had her number.

Sam smiled as she climbed back up into her truck.

"What'd you do that for?" Dean demanded, starting up the Impala.

"I thought she could use some help."

Dean just shook his head and shot up the road towards town, following the silver Dodge.

Bayleigh knelt by the grave, frowning into the flames. She looked at her hands, dirt crusted underneath her finger nails and in the creases of her palm. There was a clank behind her as Sam threw the tin fuel can and salt into the back of the pickup. It had been a unanimous decision that Dean sit out on this one, considering what happened last time. Bayleigh and Sam were more than capable of handling a ghost.

She fell back into her thoughts. She stared into the flames, watching them burn down until they were just small, feeble wisps barely strong enough to provide heat. Sam put a hand on her shoulder. She stood, her muscles stretching and she realized she must have been there like that for an hour or more. They silently filled in the hole and threw the shovels in the bed of the pickup.

But Bayleigh didn't want to go back yet. She didn't want to go anywhere or do anything. She just wanted to sit and watch the sky. And she especially didn't want to go back to see Dean.

"I understand why I don't like ghosts," she said quietly, leaning against the truck. Sam joined her.

"Why?"

"Because it's not their fault. With monsters... Being a monster is a choice. There is no absolute need to kill humans. There are plenty of ways to get around it. With ghosts... They just died. It's not their fault, and it's sad that they have to turn out this way." She shook her head.

"What about demons? You don't hunt demons either, do you?"

She shook her head. "I don't trust myself with demons. I'm always terrified that I won't be able to save the meat suit it's riding. And then I'll have an innocent death on my hands. I may not be what one would consider a people person, but what's the point of it all if you don't save people?"

She watched his face as he looked at the ground. It was soft and yet sharp in all the right places. And those eyes- you could drown in them. They were deep and bottomless and warm, but they were the eyes of a hunter; eyes that had seen more in the last few years than most had to see in their lives. And yet they were kind. Like his smile, always so sincere and inviting. Those lips, oh those lips, perfectly sculpted just waiting for someone else's to touch them. She wondered what it would be like to kiss them, but immediately shot that down. Her and Sam were as different as night and day. Black and white. 'Silence and noise,' she thought with amusement.

"What?" he asked, noticing the small smile playing at her lips. But she just shook her head.

"Bayleigh..."

"What?"

"Why do you choose to be alone all the time?"

She paused, thinking about her answer. Then she replied, "I just don't really like people. I guess. I mean, well, I've always been sort of a pessimist. Sometimes I look at the world around me and feel disgusted. I think that's why I feel so alive when I hunt. Not because I save people. Not at all. I just feel like it's the only place I really belong." She paused. "And having a companion, a human one, puts me under the pressure that I use hunting to get away from." She frowned. "I... I feel like if I ever were to have one, they would have to be special. Patient." She let out a small breathy laugh. "Incredibly patient. And willing to leave if I ask them to. And understand if I did." Sam nodded.

"Oh."

Now he was close. She could see the light dewey frost coating his skin from the cold humid night. She knew what was coming before he did. When he kissed her, it was like he accepted her terms to companionship, and part of her was ecstatic.

The kiss started out soft. Just a small little peck as light as a feather over her lips, then a real kiss. Where, after a second, her lips parted and he bit one of them, a playful nip that turned the whole situation into something else. Something hotter and heavier and she found a new side of Sam. This Sam was coarse and strong and rough and almost animal, pushing her into the Dodge and biting her lip again, then leaving a trail of warm kisses down her throat and biting her neck. His hands had started at her hips, stroking the soft flesh above her jeans. They were now pulling her shirt up, running his fingers down her spine while hers played with his hair. She arched her back and groaned, pulling his face back up to hers.

Her face burned red as she rested her head on his shoulder. She was sitting on the tailgate with her legs wrapped around his waist.

"That was fun," he whispered hoarsely. She nodded and yawned. "Do you want to go back?"

"No but we should." She lifted her head, glad for the darkness. "I'm afraid to see what your brother has done to my dog."

"You're tired. I'll drive." she glared at him but handed him the keys anyways. They got in the car and she turned the iPod to Ramble On by Led Zeppelin, letting the road and the music move her body slightly. Sam was smiling at her as he sped towards the motel.

Bayleigh let her eyes drift half closed, Tom Petty's Runnin Down a Dream the only thing keeping her awake. She'd left early the next morning on two hours of sleep. She expected a call eventually from Sam, probably a 'When am I going to see you again' call.

It hadn't been a good idea to kiss him. Not at all.

But then hadn't she just said what her conditions were? Shouldn't he expect this kind of thing, knowing who she is and hearing what she said? He should. That's why he took the risk, knowing he could very well get his heart crushed.

But then why did she do it? Why would she do something like that, putting herself into a situation that put strain on her already tense existence? Was her subconscious trying to tell her something? That she was ready for this type of relationship? She knew she could never settle down. Not permanently, at least. So maybe this was the best solution. Someone who was in the same situation.

Bayleigh stopped herself. What was she thinking? She couldn't get into any relationship. Why was she even considering it? So he's perfect, everything she would ever want and need in another human. That doesn't mean it's a good idea to jump his bones the next time she saw him.

Plus, she wasn't even thinking of him. What if didn't want her. But he kissed you. But you also know from personal experience how lonely hunting can be and how you'll look for comfort anywhere, even in sone strange girl you barely know. Just because you felt something doesn't mean he did.

She slammed her foot down on the breaks. Coby lifted his head from her lap, curious. She put her head in her hands. Her brain felt as if it were preparing to implode.

Finally she couldn't take it any longer, so she turned up the music as loud as it would go to the loudest song she could find. Then she screamed. As loud and hard as she could. She screamed until she was hoarse and panting and tears pricked her eyes.

Coby was looking at her with worried eyes that also seemed to say, 'I told you not to team up with the Winchesters.' She frowned and pressed her forehead against his.

"You're the only man I need," she whispered. He whined very slightly and licked her cheek.

When she calmed down, she took off again. She drove all day long then got a room in a shady roadside motel. Almost as soon as she put her stuff down her phone rang. It buzzed a few times then quit. The caller ID said Sam.

She sighed and called him back.

The first thing he said was, "Are you alone?"

"Of course I'm alone, who do you think I-"

He cut her off. "I mean alone alone. Like not with your dog."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Why-"

"Just please."

"Okay. Hold on." She patted Coby on the head and walked out the door and through the parking lot, then down the highway. "Okay, what?"

"Have you ever thought there was something weird about your dog?" Dean's voice asked. "Like, uncanny in the way he reacts to you. Like he understands you."

"Why are you asking me this-"

"Has he ever seemed..." Sam paused.

"Human," Dean interjected.

Bayleigh frowned, then frowned harder. "Shit." She put a hand over her mouth. "I'm such a fucking idiot. Oh my God. Shit."

"Bay, it's-"

"Fuck, Sam, how could I not- shit-" She pressed a hand against her forehead. "My dog is a fucking skinwalker, isn't he?"

.:...:.

Hey, if you're wondering why I'm posting these like five at a time, I'm not like this fast of a writer, I just have it pre-written. Season 3 of this is actually due out April 1st of 2013. So yea. Hope you like. Comment or review or whatever it is. Thank you and have a wonderful life(: