Sleep little Winchester, don't you cry...
AN: Sorry it is really long! I had a lot to say here. AS requested, Crowley comes in for a visit. Let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions! Started out as a one shot, but now it has kind of morphed! Enjoy!
Sam dumped the car he procured for the backseat of the Impala. After spending all night playing nurse and babysitting the drunk, Sam was exhausted. "Hey can you turn down the radio? I'm beat from taking care of you two" Sam yawned as he sprawled out on the short leather bench seat.
"Yeah, sure thing Sam." Dean responded, slowly turning the music down to a level almost inaudible. After a few more miles of driving with nothing to look at, Dean looked over at Ashley in the passenger seat. She was staring out the windshield with a blank stare on her face. She was thinking about everything that had transpired in this the longest day she has ever experienced-well except for that one time Sam and her were stuck in Tuesday after Tuesday.
"Hey Ash" Dean interjected Ashley's thoughts, "you want to drive for a bit?" Stunned, Ashley looked over at her brother, and for the first time noticed the dark circles forming under his eyes. Completely confused, Ashley looked over at her brother "You sure? You never let me drive your car Dean, hell you barley let Sam drive it."
"Yeah well, he is passed out on the back plus, I am tired and could use a little sleep myself." Dean responded as he eased the black car over to the shoulder and tossed the keys at Ashley before he climbed out. Giddy, Ashley got out of the car barefoot and passed Dean as they switched sides. Laughing, Ashley took this time to poke some fun with her brother "You know, your shirt really looks like crap Dean. You should think twice before letting your kid sister bawl all over your favorite shirt." Dean scoffed as he climbed into the passenger side of his car.
Ashely got behind the large wheel of the infamous "Baby" and eased the car back onto the highway; before she eve hit the speed limit Dean was snoring softly next to her. Ashley was smiling ear to ear the rest of the way to Bobby's. Driving had always been her way to clear her head and feel better.
She pulled up in the dirt lot of Singer's Salvage Yard with a goofy grin still plastered on her face. Looking first at the back seat, her oaf of a brother was awkwardly sprawled out on the bench seat. He was snoring softly with his arm behind his neck and the other laid out on the top of the seat, snoring softly. Ashley next looked to her right, Dean was sleeping off the last of his drunken escapade. He had his gray jacket balled up as a pillow and was leaning against the passenger door, murmuring something in his deep sleep. In this happy mood, she decided to play a prank on her family, after all she was always at their disposal. Settling down to enjoy the show, Ashely turned up the radio to full capacity and watched as both boys jumped ready to attack the thing responsible for scaring them, until it is they saw their little sister laughing deviously in the front seat.
"Glad to see you're feeling better." Sam croaked out as he calmed himself down, wiping sleep from his eyes. He too joined in with the laughing as he stretched his cramped legs. Leaning forward he saw Dean wasn't laughing with them; instead he was staring out the windshield with a look of rage in his hazel sleep-crusted eyes. Sam caught his gaze and saw the thing that had scared Dean so badly. It was a short man with black hair and a black over coat standing a couple feet from the front of the Impala. Crowley. Sam instantly reached for the shot gun stowed behind him and jumped out of the small backseat to grab Ashley and shove her behind him. Dean opened the door and started walking towards the demon, knowing Sam had a gun pointed at Crowley.
"What do you want, Crowley?" Dean barked
"Your lovely sister" Crowley sang back, pompously.
"Like hell you will." a gruff voice answered back.
"Bobby." Sam sighed with relief behind his voice.
"Ah, big family reunion, I take it. Sorry to intrude boys, but I am going to have to take my wife back with me." Crowley threw in.
"Wife?" Ashley squeaked from behind the large wall in front of her. Looking over at Bobby, she threw the question at him "I am Crowley's wife? They hell is he talking about Bobby?" Ashley was very queasy and her head had begun to spin. She grabbed Sam's shirt for support and to let him know she was going to need a hand sometime soon. Tossing the shot gun to his brother, Sam turned around just as Ashley's knees gave out on her and grabbed her bridal style to keep her from scraping herself on the dirt covered ground. Sam brought his sister inside to set her down while she was still focused in this world.
Dean had come in before Sam had even placed Ashley down on the couch in the sitting room. "He's gone. Said he didn't want to scare her and vanished." Dean informed the others while throwing the shot gun on the floor next to the couch. Sam started to walk towards the kitchen when Ashley squeaked out "Sam, please don't leave me?" Feeling sorry for leaving his sister, he sat down above her head, hand absently stroking her hair while fuming inside. His sister was a strong girl, but she had way too much thrown onto her plate today. She was scared, she was weak, and she was in need of someone to stay with her. She was never this way, she was the one patching up him and his brother whenever they got hurt. She was the one staying with them. "I wouldn't dream of it." he answered absent mindedly. Smiling, Ashley rolled over to look at her brother; his eyes were glazed over but she still had to say it. "That's the nicest thing you have ever said to me." Right as the words left her mouth, Ashley's world started to tilt and turned black.
Ashley woke up a couple hours later, the sun had gone down and there were sounds of snoring next to her. She pressed herself up into a sitting position, she saw Sam passed out next to her, smiling she noticed she was completely cotton mouthed and in need of water. Throwing the green afghan off of her, she padded into the kitchen to grab some water, maybe a beer instead.
"Hey lovely" a British accent echoed through the kitchen. Flipping on the light, her fears had been correct, Crowley was sitting at the dusty kitchen table. "What do you want from me?" Ashley mustered out of her dry mouth.
"I- just you remind me of my wife and I miss her much. Being King of Crossroads has taken my mind off things, but once your big brother Dean came and made a deal to save Sam, I decided to make it my business learning everything about you Winchesters."
Stunned at the memory that Dean and Sam had both left her alone for a period of time, it took all Ashley had to alert the sleeping boy in the next room without alerting Crowley right away. "Look! I am not your wife, nor will I ever be! Get out!"
The sound of heavy footsteps walking in behind her eased Ashely's fears and reminded her that her brother was alive again. "Ash? You alright?" Turning the corner, Sam laid eyes on the cause to her screaming "Crowley."
Two more sets of footsteps were making their way downstairs. "Ash?" Dean called out, "where are you?"
"Boy, they are in the kitchen." Bobby answered for them. "Get the girl out of here." Bobby was walking straight towards Crowley with iron in his hands "I'll take care of Romeo here."
Sam grabbed his little sister, who was once again on the verge of passing out. Supporting her weight, he brought her back to the sitting room.
"Who was Crowley's wife?" Ashely asked Sam, who was looking down at her with sadness in his puppy eyes. He covered her with the afghan again, trying to calm her "Ash, you don't need to know-"
"Yes I do" she interrupted him "why does he want me?".
"Alright, I'll do some research and tell you later. Dean will stay with you tonight while I do research." Sam agreed, as Dean had walked into the sitting room. He gave Ashley a quick nod as he grabbed the pillow at the base of the couch and sank to the floor. Comforted knowing both her brothers were within an arm's reach, she fell into a deep sleep riddled with many nightmares, unknown to either Sam or Dean. She had gotten good at hiding her feelings, even when she was asleep and at her emotion's mercy. After Sam had been stabbed, she refused to leave Dean's side. When she had found out that Dean soled his soul for Sam, Ashley was glued to Sam's side-knowing sooner or later he would be all she had left. She tossed and turned with this thought in her subconscious and being relived in her nightmares.
Ashley was passed out on the couch, making only a couple shallow moans in her sleep, Dean was on the floor right beside the red velvet seater, hand inches from Ashley's. Sam was still sitting at the oak desk pouring over stacks of books. He was on his third cup of coffee when he finally found something.
"Dean" Sam whispered "hey, Dean! I got something." Snoring, Dean rolled over, back cracking with every movement. "Yeah, what?" he groggily answered, eyes searching over the whole room and falling on his sister. Questions began to fill his head, anger was flowing through every inch of his body; no one hurts his sister, no one breaks his strong girl down to a scared shell of a person. "Where's Crowley?" Dean asked as he sat up, driven by rage.
"Bunker with Bobby. Look at this." Sam urged his older brother off the hardwood floor. Dean finally obliged and stood up from the ground, bones moaning even more at the new strain on his body. He peered over Sam's shoulder at a dusty leather bound book, pages were turning yellow with age. Dean found himself staring at an old picture of Crowley and a woman at his side, a woman who looked exactly like his little sister. "Son of a bitch" Dean sighed, as he took a seat back on the couch Ashley was sleeping on. "What are we going to tell her now?"