Locked and Cursed

AN: I'm trying to slowly get away from Ashley being a weakling, and I listened to a couple reviews, so keep throwing them at me! Hope you guys enjoy!

Dean hadn't moved from the bed, but hadn't gone back to sleep either. Sam offered to go grab some breakfast, leaving Ashley alone in the room with Dean to pace and take the brunt of his judging stare. Getting dizzy from walking in circles, she stopped and turned towards the bed carefully asking "So, how was your night?"

"Peachy" Dean answered shortly, "your's sure seemed to be more snuggly" Dean pushed, looking at his sister with questions all over his face.

"That's greaaaat" Ashley answered sarcastically, pulling on her words purposefully to ignore the snide remark Dean had thrown in there. She sat back down on the sweat soaked bed, grimacing at the new smell of the bed "Great now it smells like sweat and sex" she chuckled, "even better".

"Usually comes out of a shared bed-" Dean laughed, but quickly stopped seeing the face Ashley wore, "sorry" he quickly shut up. Seeing the red spread up from her neck Dean sighed and rolled over from the middle of the bed "Alright, get over here" Dean ordered, patting the space next to him. Seeing her hesitation, he put his hands up in surrender mumbling "mine doesn't smell like sweaty ass". Reluctantly, Ashley stood up and flopped down, crossing her scarred legs like she was in Kindergarten again. "What the hell is going on with you? You're turning into some softy-teenage girl" he poked.

"Bad dreams, that's all" Ashley confessed with hesitation behind her words.

"So, you need to share a bed?" he chuckled, scrubbing a hand over his stumbled face in bewilderment.

"I guess, I used to do it when I was a kid and Dad left you the job of watching over 'Sammy and your sister'. When I had a bad dream, I would leave the other bed and curl up at the foot of his" she admitted.

"Yeah, yeah I remember thinking that was weird" Dean said, looking at his sister. "What are these dreams about?" Ashley looked up at Dean's shoulder, although the mark had faded the memories attached to the handprint were fresh as they had ever been. Ashley looked away again, but lifted her arms up to feel the puckered skin of new scars on her back.

"Right" Dean mumbled "you know those are going to suck during your notorious one night flings" he spoke up, winking at his fragile sister. Sam walked in carrying a large amount of steaming food and drink. "Ash, what was your dream about last night?" Sam dared, handing a cup of coffee to Dean and looking her in the eye. That's when she saw the dark mark on his temple, her face falling she could feel the tears form behind her eyelids. "Hey, Sammy can take a hit" Dean tried to calm her down again "actually its good for him, knocks him off his high horse every once in a while" Dean joked, punching Sam in the shoulder. "Dad carrying me out of the fire that night" she started but continued once she saw the confusion flash on both the boy's face "it was like I lived it, it wasn't just a story I visualized."

"Well did sharing the bed with this smelly giant help?" Dean poked.

"Seemed like it" she smiled, "just for a bit at least" she responded, getting up and grabbing a box of food from the table and shoveling her mouth full of piping hot hash browns. "Should I ask them if it meant anything?" By them, she meant the tarot cards she carried around with her everywhere-it was her secret weapon and she never went anywhere without them. Dean hated the idea of opening the door to spirits, so she never did it around the place they were staying, but he still admitted it was a good skill to have around.

"Maybe, but do you really think they will clear anything up for you?" Sam said, trying to prove a point.

"Yeah, you're probably right" she admitted, shoveling a forkful of eggs into her mouth. Truth was, she was just as stumped as to why this was happening.

"You know what?" Dean blurted out, causing Sam to choke on his scalding coffee "We should go, hit the road and find a case."

"Sounds good to me" Sam shrugged, "I'll hit the books while you two go get us some cash." This finally got a smile from Ashley as she got ready to go out with Dean.

Sam had found a case in Oregon, so after packing up, they headed west. Ashley was tired of sleeping, even though she was still exhausted, so she slipped up front to sit between her two brothers on the Impala's bench seat. Sam was reading while Dean was singing along to some Metallica album. Content, she laid her head on Dean's shoulder-this was the kind of things she missed, family time. It was cut short by the flutter of wings, signaling someone from up above had stopped in for a visit. Ashley shifted back to join Cas and to allow Sam to turn around and look at him while he spoke. "Hey Cas" Ashley said, buckling up in the back.

"Ashley" he nodded back her way.

"What's up Cas" Dean asked from the front.

"Heaven's full of talk about Crowley" Cas informed the car of hunters. Hearing his name had the hunters on edge.

"What about him?" Ashley asked her voice shaking ever so slightly.

"He survived the stab" Cas started "but just barely. Watch yourself" he said looking over at the paling girl.

"How?" Sam gaped.

"The angel's aren't sure" Cas said before disappearing from the car. Ashley's mouth had gone bone dry with panic she curled into herself and just let the tears flow down her cheeks silently.

Getting to Portland had made it slightly easier to put the new Crowley situation on the back burner. Ashley was going through the motions of locking up and disposing of all the cursed objects the dummy store owner and sold out of the creepy safe. "How can people be so damn clueless" she murmured to herself as she placed the antique porno into its respected box with tongs. Sam and Dean had just brought the last two objects to her to wrap up.

"Ash you haven't slept in a couple days" Sam pointed out, stifling a yawn.

"I know, but hey! No dreams either" she threw back with a wink.

"Yeah, but means I haven't slept either" Sam said sheepishly.

"Oh, Sam I'm sorry" she looked up noticing the dark circles under his eyes, along with the bruise. "I'll sleep tonight with Dean that okay?" she asked as he walked out of the bathroom.

"Sure" Dean responded, before he thought about the implications following his answer. "Wait- I'm sleeping with my sister"? he asked petrified.

"Yup, sorry buddy" she said patting him on the shoulder and walking into the bathroom.

After having a beer, Ashley was sure she was going to sleep now, and sleep good. Climbing into bed, Dean couldn't help but notice the fear riddled across his sister's face and body language; she was curled into a tight ball, facing Sam's bed. He was already snoring, taking up the whole bed instead of just one corner; she felt so bad that she had kept him awake and uncomfortable and the tears instantly came flowing down her cheeks as freely as if they owned her. Dean felt the shakes coming from the other side of his bed, and finally put down the laptop to figure out what was going on. He rolled onto his back and pulled on Ashley's shoulder to make her face him.

"I keep hur-hurting everyone arou-around me" she violently whispered out so as not to wake Sam up, but it made Dean laugh at the sound of it.

"Sam's a big boy, couple hours and he'll be fine and climbing back up on his high horse" he whispered, sleep starting to slur his words. "We are family, we'll always have your back-and half your bed" he said with slight hesitation "so sleep dammit" Dean said closing his eyes, not bothering to roll back and put his back to her.

"Yes sir" Ashley sniffled, staying on her back and staring at the mirrored celling of the latest seedy motel they were staying in. She slowly drifted to sleep with the sounds of Sam's snoring and the warm steady breathe coming from Dean to lull her.