Burning Rubber; Wearing Down the Soul

AN: Little detail fix, in the last chapter I said Nebraska is where the case was, my bad it is supposed to be Kansas! Loosely based on 7x14, but not totally, so because of this let me just say I do not own Supernatural of these lovely boys. Enjoy and let me know what you think, I do take that stuff into consideration.

The hunt in Kansas had gone well for the Winchesters, Ashley saved Sam's pathetic ass from two clowns tossing him around like a rag doll and Dean solved the mystery at Plunky Pennywhistle's Magic Menagerie. Ashley had taken a couple hits at the two glitter stuffed clowns, so naturally she was covered in the sparkly substance that always seemed to hang around too long and was exceptionally hard to get off, but then again Sam was in worse shape.

"You two look like you got attacked by some PCP-crazed strippers" Dean laughed.

"Dude, one of them sprayed me with seltzer water from his flower" Sam smiled. This caused Dean to laugh even more. "Come on, let's get out of here" Dean managed to get out in between laughing fits as both of his little siblings headed towards the Impala. Sam looked down at his younger sister, this was the happiest he had ever seen her.

They were heading down to a cheap motel just outside the state lines, they figured they would get there close to noon, so Ashley took the back seat to stretch and complete her much needed alone time as best she could. Sam and Dean were engaged in a playful banter over who should pick the music-the driver or the one terrorized by his worst fear. While the debate was going on, she stretched out in the back seat and happily dozed.

The car had finally stopped rumbling and Ashley woke from her lazy nap to find herself alone in the car. Dean had gone into the motel office to book a room and Sam was stretching his cramped legs out in the nice sunshine. Deciding to join Sam, she ducked out of the back and leaned against the car next to where he was standing.

"Wanna go for a run?" Sam asked with a small smirk spreading across his face.

Voice still heavy with sleep, Ashley tried as best as she could to agree, but it came out more like a frog's ribbit, so instead she nodded her head with a huge smile spreading across it.

"You freaks go running. Me on the other hand am going to troll for some chicks" Dean said in his best suave voice as he tossed a room key at Ashley and handed two duffle bags to Sam. Without another glance at them, Dean drove out of the parking lot, burning rubber in his haste to go get laid. Ashley quickly opened up the door to the musty motel room and quickly claimed the space between the two queen beds as her sleeping ground; it was only fair to give the boys the bed this time, her back was healed and she had monopolized the bed situation for long enough.

Within minutes, Sam and Ashley were on their way to a local park to run hills and work on their base training. Ashley was flying ahead of Sam, being as she was built more like a sprinter with her long legs and shorter torso. Sam on the other hand was built like a door, no way he was going to be able to run sprints as well as she could. After a couple hours of working out, Ashley took pity on Sam and decided it was time to go get something to eat.

"So, decided to stick around with us and not to go running off?" Sam asked without looking up from his salad, taking another large amount in his mouth.

"Well, I figured I would stick around just in case more clowns showed up" Ashley joked, laughing at how Sam's body instantly tensed up at the word. "You can get the first shower when we get back" Ashley offered as she took a sip of her water, "I'm still beat anyways, so I'm going to nap a bit more."

"Uh, alright" Sam answered with a hint of worry behind his words "let's go then."

Sam always took long showers, so she settled down in her little space and dozed off. This time for Sam though, his shower was even longer as he was stuck asking himself a bunch of questions. Why was Ash sleeping so much lately? Was she actually sleeping at night, or was she just pretending to? Wiping the dripping water from his face, he stepped out of the shower to hear yelps and moans coming from the other room. He quickly toweled off to go see what was happening.

It couldn't have been minutes after she dozed off that Ashley started to come out of her deep sleep to shaking and something wet dripping on her face.

"Ash!" Sam yelled close to her face, loud enough to finally snap her out of dream land.

"What?!" she asked adrenaline racing through her veins and eyes wide with fear that had found their way up to her brother's.

"You were screaming" Sam said calming down and leaning against a bed, pushing his wet hair back from his face "what was it?"

"Uh, I don't know" Ashley answered truthfully, wiping the water droplets from her forehead with the back of her hand. But just as she did this, it all came rushing back to her. Crowley, Dean, Sam, John, even her mother had all died and she was the only one that hadn't. Was it guilt that caused all these dreams? Seeing the look of horror on her face, Sam pulled his sister up with him to a standing position and steadied her on her feet. "Go take a shower, clear your head. It's close to evening anyways" Sam instructed in his best Dean voice possible. It was pure instinct and he hated that it happened, but it had snapped Ashley out of her daze and she nodded, going into the steamy bathroom and shutting the door, but not locking it knowing Sam would have a conniption if she had.

When she was done, Sam told her they were going to share a bed that night, "just like when we were little and Dad left Dean in charge when he went on a hunt".

"Isn't that, I don't know, wrong?" Ashley asked.

Laughing to himself but seeing her point, Sam shook his head "just don't go spooning me tonight-that is where I draw the line."

"Deal" she answered as she climbed under the scratchy motel sheets on the side of the bed farthest from the door; Winchester protocol being youngest as far from possible danger as possible. Sam climbed into bed behind her and propped himself up on the headboard to watch some TV until sleep overcame him as well. Felling the shift in weight on the bed's springs and hearing the TV click on, Ashley rolled over to face Sam and used his shoulder as a pillow. Sam caught his sister's gaze and smiled a soft smile then went back to watching some cop show on the small box, she fell asleep to the sounds of gun fire and a heartbeat.

A cough woke her up from the uneventful sleep she was filled with, and standing in the door way the culprit of the cough looked at the weird site before him. Dean was trying to process how Sam had fallen asleep in the same bed as Ashley, who had been using Sam as her pillow, but upon seeing her small hazel eyes looking back at him threw up his hands in surrender and began to take off his shoes and coat to sleep in the bed closest to the door. Ashely quickly fell back asleep to the sounds of Sam's gentle snores with the notion that tomorrow morning would be an awkward one floating around her groggy brain. Light was just starting to break through the windows when Ashley was jolted awake by her most recent dream. Rolling her eyes to look up, Sam had been woken by the same thing, but apparently earlier than she. That is when she realized that the sheets were in a tangled mess around her and Sam's white tank top was soaked though and though, hoping her next instinct was wrong, she looked over Sam's body to see Dean sitting up in his bed also looking at her, but he had a knife in his hand from panic of attack.

"Crap" she croaked and felt the red flush spreading across her face and down her neck "this is going to be a long day."

Thank you to all who has followed/favorited/reviewed this story! The support means so much to me! I am going through a busy time in school, so posts may come fewer and further in between, but I am still writing! Don't give up on me, you won't regret sitting by me :)