Author's note: I love how this scene seemed to flow right from my fingertips. I had a little bit of a road block getting started, but once I got them to the laundromat it was no problem. I was also proud of myself for working some Sam/Shane interaction into the chapter as well. It originally started out as straight up Taylor/Dean, but I couldn't get Shane spying on her sister out of my head. Hope you enjoy.

Music Selections: 'The pros and cons of breathing' by Fall Out Boy, 'I hate myself for loving you' by Joan Jett, 'Heartbreaker' by Pat Benetar, 'Cowboy' by Kid Rock, and 'Before he cheats' by Carrie Underwood.

Disclaimer: Supernatural and songs mentioned do not belong to me.

Chapter 9: Losing a Bet

After a few weeks on the road, Taylor was beginning to make her place within the group. She argued with Dean constantly, exchanged flirty banter with Sam just to tease her sister, and contributed a lot of know-how on demon hunting. Apparently, she'd been up to a lot while Shane was away at college.

While she was loathe to admit it out loud, Shane considered her sister the better hunter. The girl excelled at hand to hand combat from the get-go, was able see trouble before it happened, and could turn any man to putty in her hands. The only pitfall of her power was that she could not predict when she was in trouble herself.

Now Shane on the other hand…while she was pretty wicked with a broadsword and swordplay, she doubted she would ever put that particular trait to use. But if there was one thing that Shane was better at than her sister, it was calling a bet…and winning.

Using her sister's attitude toward Dean, Shane bet Taylor and Dean that she and Dean could not go one day without an argument. Accepting the challenge, the losers would be assigned to laundry duty – one of the most dreaded tasks while on the road.

The day of the challenge was a tense one. Shane kept a watchful eye on the two, who avoided each other as much as possible. For a moment, Shane feared that they might actually win and she and Sam would have to do everyone's laundry. However, victory was at hand when she stumbled upon them having a row in the alley behind the motel. She wasn't sure who had started it, but at that point she didn't care.

Taylor was the first to notice Shane standing at the mouth of the alley, a haughty grin on her face.

"I win." Shane said smugly. "I'll go tell Sam the good news. Oh, and don't forget to buy some laundry detergent before you get back to the room." After she finished, she turned and walked back to their room.

Taylor glared at Dean, who shrugged in response and held the keys to the car in front of her face. She growled in frustration and snatched the keys from his grasp. She then stormed off towards the car so she could go to the supermarket down the street.

ooosoooo*oovooxoooo*oozooooo

The next day found Taylor and Dean at the corner laundromat, stuffing clothes into a row of washers.

Growling in frustration once again, Taylor furiously shoved more shirts and jeans into the next washer.

"Damn it, Dean. You couldn't keep your mouth shut for fifteen more minutes? We had it in the bag, but no! You just couldn't shut up." Finished stuffing her assigned clothes into washers and turning them on rather forcefully, she went to sit down in the waiting area at the corner of the shop.

Dean rolled his eyes and followed after her, having just finished loading his half of the clothes.

"Wait, your blaming this on me?" Dean asked incredulously. "I effectively avoided you all day. You're the one that sought me out."

Taylor just shook her head.

"Whatever. It doesn't matter. And sit down, you're blocking my view." Taylor said, motioning for him to sit down in the chair on the opposite end of the shop.

He chose instead to sit down right beside her, but agreed to let the subject go. He was right, after all.

Once he sat down, Taylor took a deep breath to control her annoyance and pulled her iPod from her pocket, put in her headphones, and turned it on to tune him out. The quicker they got out of here, the better.

Looking around the shop for something to occupy his time, Dean counted four other patrons doing their laundry as well, and an attendant sitting behind her desk. However, from the way she looked, he was wary to start a conversation with her. Sighing at his lack of options, he turned and tapped Taylor on the shoulder. She ignored him, staring out the window.

So he continued tapping her on the shoulder every few seconds. Finally, after the tenth tap in a row, she whipped around quickly and caught his hand as it moved to poke her once again.

"What?" Taylor asked, annoyed.

"I'm bored. What are you listening to?" Dean asked in an inquisitive tone.

"Dean, you're not five. Go somewhere else. I'll stay and keep an eye on the washers. I'll call you when they're finished. Just go away." Taylor said in a patronizing manner.

"Um, no." Dean said in response. "You'll just find some way to blame me for leaving later. Now, answer my question. What are you listening to?"

Sighing in defeat, she said "'The pros and cons of breathing' by Fall Out Boy, okay?"

"Who?" Dean said, face scrunching up in puzzlement.

"Here, listen." Taylor replied, pulling her headphones out and handing them to him. He looked at them with a wary expression. Shoving the iPod into his hands, she said "Just take it. I'll be right back." before getting up and walking out the door.

Putting the headphones in, he sat back and listened to the weird music playing. After a few moments of listening, he couldn't tolerate the song anymore and attempted to skip to the next song. He suddenly missed Shane and her music very much. All he heard was chick music. Joan Jett. Pat Benatar. And so on. He finally alighted upon 'Cowboy' by Kid Rock and settled back to listen.

Head moving along to the beat, he saw Taylor walk back into the shop with two bags of cool ranch Doritos in one hand and a drink in the other. Once she sat back down, she tossed one bag of chips to him and sipped on her drink, looking at him expectantly.

"What?" Dean asked, opening his bag of chips and starting to munch on them.

"What are you listening to?" Taylor asked, a smirk gracing her lips.

ooouoooo*oonooocooo*ooaooooo

Shane was sitting at an outdoor café across the way from the laundromat, attempting to be incognito. Hiding behind the large-lens sunglasses and a baseball cap, she picked at a plate of fries she had ordered and stared across the street, watching as Taylor and Dean interacted. Sneaking up behind her, Sam tapped on her shoulder, making her jump.

Laughing as she smacked him in the arm, he asked "Shane, what are you up to now?"

He pulled out the chair next to her and sat down.

"Look." Shane said, pointing with a fry at the laundromat across the way as she turned to take a drink from her soda. Looking closely, he saw Taylor shoving something at Dean before standing and walking towards the door.

"Um, Shane? Sweetie? She's coming this way." Sam said, glancing over at Shane before returning his attention to Taylor who was now crossing the street.

"Sam, how many times have I told you…what?" Shane said, trailing off and turning her head in the direction of her sister.

"Crap." Shane uttered. "Kiss me, quick." she stated urgently, grabbing the front of Sam's shirt.

"Alright." Sam replied, not at all dissatisfied with the suggestion. He leaned in and captured her lips with his, placing his hand on the back of her neck.

Keeping her eyes open, she watched as Taylor went into the convenience store right next door to the café. Sighing in relief, she closed her eyes and focused on the sensations Sam was sending through her body. They'd had so little time together alone since Taylor had joined the group. Maybe her espionage skills could be put to the test later. And with Taylor and Dean preoccupied, they now had both rooms all to themselves.

Breaking off the kiss, a wicked grin appeared on her face. "You want to know what I'm thinking?" she whispered seductively.

"The room is empty." Sam replied, catching on. Standing up and grabbing her hand, Sam pulled his girlfriend from her seat and dragged her back to his room, intending to make up for lost time.

oooaooo*ooovooomoo*oooxooo*

Meanwhile…

Taylor and Dean were each standing in front of a dryer, waiting for the buzzer. After she had returned, they had made a race of who could finish their laundry first. When the washers had finished about fifteen minutes later, she had made quick time of transferring the clothes to two dryers across the aisle. She was currently in the lead. However, she knew she would have a more difficult time of folding the clothes since it included more bras and underwear as well as regular clothes. Bouncing on the balls of her feet, she watched as the dial read 'one minute' and prepared to make a mad dash.

"Remember the deal," Taylor stated as they waited anxiously. "Everything must be folded properly. Socks, shirts, everything. No half-assed excuses. The first one with everything folded and transported to the car wins."

"Yeah, yeah. I remember." Dean replied, sending a patronizing look her way before looking back to the countdown above his respective dryers.

One of Taylor's stopped first. She lunged forward and pried the door open, folding and placing clothes into a basket before the dryer even fully stopped.

Cursing, Dean waited anxiously until both of his dryers stopped within seconds of each other. Opening the first door, he began folding as well.

Sneaking furtive looks occasionally at each other, both hurried to fold all their laundry, catching a few strange looks in their haste.

Neither noticed as all of the other patrons openly stared at their antics.

As Taylor finished folding the last pair of socks in her second dryer and tossed them into her basket, Dean was pulling a pair of blue jeans from his second dryer. Noticing that he was losing ground, he quickly folded the last pair of jeans and threw them into the basket beside him. Seeing that she was closing the dryer door, he lunged forward and grabbed the back of her t-shirt. A surprised cry escaped her lips before she lost her balance from his jerking her backwards and fell on her butt, landing in the basket of clothes she had just finished folding.

Slamming his own dryer door and grabbing his basket and trash bag of clothes, he threw a smirk her way as he made a dash towards the door.

Growling in anger, Taylor climbed out of the basket and held her hand out towards the door. When it should have opened as he pressed against it, it wouldn't budge. Trying the other door produced the same results. Looking up, he saw Taylor pick up her own basket and walk towards the door at a casual pace. The little witch had used her powers.

"Cheater." Dean gritted out as she stood next to him at the double-door entry.

"Problem?" Taylor asked innocently, ignoring the statement. "How about we start over, huh? On the count of three, I release the doors. Got it?" Taylor whispered, looking back in the other direction at the other patrons who quickly glanced away.

Glaring at her, he nodded.

"One. Two. Three." The door gave behind him and Dean stumbled a few steps but then took off across the parking lot, hot on Taylor's heels.

Closing in on Taylor, Dean dropped the bag and wrapped his arm around Taylor's waist, spinning her around and put her back down. He grabbed the bag and kept moving.

Regardless of his stunt, retrieving the bag had given Taylor the time she needed to catch back up and the two were now mere paces from the car.

Taylor reached the car moments before Dean, sat the basket on the ground and opened the back door. Dean unceremoniously dropped his load on the ground and dug his keys from his pocket. Opening the trunk, he picked up the basket and put it in, and then threw the bag in behind it. Taylor was picking up a couple things that had spilled out the top when she had lifted the basket into the car. Cursing, she threw the two bras and sock sets back into the basket as Dean slammed the trunk shut.

Each lunged towards their respective doors, yanked them open and hopped in, buckling their seat belts.

"I win." Taylor said triumphantly, grinning over at Dean and gasping for breath.

Dean shot a mutinous glance in her direction.

"You cheated." Dean said accusingly.

Taylor pursed her lips said, "Well, you started it. I merely retaliated." Patting his cheek a couple times, she admonished, "Don't be such a sore loser, Dean."

Still glaring at her, he turned the car on and put it in gear. He then pulled out of the parking lot and headed back to the motel, an overly chipper Taylor playing with the radio dials that she now had control over for the rest of the week.

He grimaced as she settled on a station that was currently playing some chick singing about the things she did to her cheating boyfriend's car. It was going to be a long week.

When they arrived back at the motel a few minutes later, they dragged their loads up to their rooms. Unlocking the door, the pair walked in to find Shane and Sam sitting side by side on the floor, looking a little worse for the wear and mock-innocent expressions on their faces. Apparently they hadn't expected them back so soon.

Right on cue, while smoothing down hair and straightening out her clothes, Shane said "You're back early."

Shrugging, Taylor set her load on the floor as Dean set his down against the wall and shut the door.

Peering around them, as if looking for something, Sam asked "Guys? Where's the laundry detergent?"

Both glanced at each other, hoping the other had miraculously grabbed it and was somehow hiding it. When they each shook their heads, Taylor turned back toward Sam and uttered sheepishly.

"Oops."

oooaoooo*ooocoooo*ooozoouo*ooosoooo

A/N 2 - Well, what do you think? Wasn't it simply delightful? (Shrugs nonchalantly) But I digress. I don't know what it is. I've realized that I enjoy writing Taylor/Dean more. I will try my hardest not to leave Shane and Sam on the backburner seeing as they are my original inspiration. Also, I would like to thank those of you that have reviewed. I really appreciate the feedback. Even if I don't mention it very often. Until next time…