Disclaimer: Not my shows, I'm just a little obsessed with them.

Sam watched as Ruby climbed out of bed and looked at the inside of the wardrobe. "She took my car?"

Sam nodded. "Who was she?"

Ruby gave a frustrated half sigh half growl. "I'm not sure. She was saying things, things she couldn't know."

"So you just thought you'd kidnap her?" He asked incredulously.

"We don't have time to waste! If she knows something about Lilith, or about us, we need to know about it and asking nicely wasn't cutting it!" Ruby justified. "She knows about you. About us." She added for good measure.

"You mean about..?" He didn't finish the sentence.

"About the blood, yes! That's why she couldn't stay around Dean and that stupid angel of his!" Ruby stated.

"Wait, you're talking about Dawn?" Sam gave a mirthless grin. "This is ridiculous. Why are we even having this conversation?" His voice grew steadily louder. "You can't just go around kidnapping people! It's not right!"

"Well, she's probably on her way back to Dean right now, so it doesn't really matter does it? Doesn't matter if she blabs to him about all the nasty stuff we do together, doesn't matter if she tells his angel how we plan to stop Lilith. Doesn't matter if she's working for Lilith and on her way back to whatever sick mission she's on. Poor little girl can get on with whatever she likes now that she's out of big bad Ruby's clutches." She paused in her rant. "God, Sam. Did you ever trust me at all? Or is it so easy to trust some girl you just met over me?"

Sam froze at the mention of what Dawn might tell Dean. "How do you know she knows?"

"She knew who I was with no introduction. She knew to be worried when I found out she knew who I was. She knew why I was calling you and vice versa. She knows a lot of things she shouldn't know." Ruby gave him a hard look. "She might even know some things about Lilith. Go after her and find out for yourself if you don't believe me."

"Yeah, I'll do that." He muttered, still lost in the imagined consequences of Dawn telling Dean about him and Ruby.

"Just-" Ruby reached out to his arm as he turned to leave. "Be careful? We don't know enough about her to trust her."

He nodded, pulling on his jacket and fishing out the keys to the car he'd brought.

Dawn shot up halfway in her seat as her alarm jarred her out of sleep. A quick glance around told her that she was still alone; no other cars were in sight and she was still safe in Ruby's car. She rubbed her face and sat up fully, pulling the seat back into position and swallowing some more bottled water. Her stomach churned ominously and she decided to stop for food and gas at the next place she saw. Better risk a short break for food than risk passing out from low blood sugar while sighed. She'd hoped to only stop once or twice if she could help it.

As she speculated what the others would think of her disappearance, she wondered why Willow hadn't done a finding spell yet. The thought faded as she spotted a services sign alongside the road. Only a little further.

Pulling into the small gas station, she glanced around at the other vehicles there. One truck and two cars. All the drivers out of sight. She filled up the tank and headed for the little building beside the pumps.

Only to realise she hadn't got any money.

She searched her pockets frantically for anything she could use, turning up a stick of gum and a quarter. Her eyes prickled as her gaze darted about, trying to find a solution to her predicament.

Dawn froze as her eyes fell on a third car pulling into the station, the driver in shadow. She knew that car. It had been parked outside when she left Ruby's motel room.

She climbed back in Ruby's car, ready to drive as soon as Sam was out of her way. But he didn't move. He'd already spotted her. She wondered if running was an option.

"Dawn?" He was out of the car now.

She stayed silent until the light inside his car revealed that he was alone. Still wary, she climbed out of Ruby's car.

Sam stalked over quickly. "Are you alright?"

Dawn subconsciously moved to hide her injured wrists. "I'm fine."

He jumped straight to the point. "What you saw in that motel room-"

"I know. I can't tell anybody." Dawn interrupted with a tired eye roll.

"It's just they wouldn't understand. I'm doing this to get stronger, so I can be a better hunter. Dean would just think..." He sighed and dragged his hand over his face. "I don't even know what he'd think."

She nodded.

"I didn't know what she did to you. I didn't know she had you." Sam informed her when she looked no more relaxed.

"Yeah, there's a lot about her you don't know." Dawn muttered, barely audible.

"Sorry, what was that?" Sam had heard, but he wanted her to repeat it. He wanted to know what she meant.

She smiled unconvincingly. "Nothing. Let's head back to Bobby's. Willow's probably worried sick by now and I want to go home."

Sam made a rash decision. He needed to keep Dawn away from Dean until he knew for sure she wouldn't tell him about the demon blood. He also needed to know what else she knew. "They're not there anymore. Willow did a finding spell and I guess it bounced, 'cause it sent her all the way to Illinois. It's not that far though, we can probably make it in six or seven hours from here." It wasn't a lot of time, but hopefully he could push for more and make the most of it.

"Can I call her and let her know I'm okay?" Dawn asked cautiously.

"Better not. Ruby isn't stupid, she'll have woken up by now and seen that we're both gone, and she's had access to my phone far too many times for us to be sure she hasn't bugged it or something." Sam made it up as he went along. Luckily Dawn seemed tired enough to buy it. "We'll take Ruby's car; it's got wards on it already, I'll just need to check for anything she might've used to keep tabs on it." He strode purposely to the car behind Dawn, the exhausted girl turning to watch him. There was nothing on or in the car that Ruby could use to find them; presumably she wasn't expecting to lose it. "We're good. You go pay for gas while I move my car."

"Umm." Dawn shifted. "I-I don't have any money." She admitted, avoiding his eyes.

"Oh." He stopped and dug in his pockets and handed her a pile of bills. Luckily he'd been using cash while at Bobby's and still had a fair amount on him. "Here. You should probably pick up some drinks and snacks for the drive, too."

Dawn sagged in relief, offering a wan smile. "Thanks."

Her mood improved as she looked over the chilled shelves of sandwiches, two large bags of chips, two chocolate bars, two energy bars and assorted bags of candy already in her hand basket. She was still a little wary of Sam (who knows what he'd do with that demon blood still zinging around his body?) but her relief in a friendly face and the promise of food and rest, and someone to watch her back until she got back to Willow, were more than enough for the flight or fight instincts to die down. She picked up four packs of sandwiches (she didn't know about Sam, but she was hungry now and wasn't stupid enough to think she wouldn't be again before they got there)along with two litre bottles of water and pulled her sleeves down over her wrists, hoping the cash register attendant wouldn't notice the blood and ask questions she couldn't answer.

She shot him a nervous smile, but his gaze never left the basket, then the register, money, register again. Dawn had a feeling that he wouldn't even be able to tell someone if she'd been male or female if asked. She shrugged off her annoyance and reasoned that under the circumstances his ignorance was probably a good thing. She murmured a thank you and left, gripping the bag tightly in her weak fingers. Damn it! She should have picked up some first aid supplies! She nearly headed back in, but Sam was waving her over and she still had the fuzzy grateful feeling of being rescued, so put it aside a moment, reasoning that none of her cuts were that serious and could wait a while longer to be seen to.

"You need to use the rest-room or anything?" Sam asked.

Dawn smiled and shook her head wanly; she'd used it straight after she entered the shop, it was one of those weird ones that was actually inside rather than around the back of the building. At least that meant that not only was it cleaner that the average gas station rest-room, but she didn't have to ask for a key either.

"Okay, let's get going then." He headed for the driver's seat without asking. Not that Dawn was really fit to drive anyway, but it would have been nice to be asked.

She sighed; nobody ever treated her like an adult, why would Sam be any different? She climbed in the passenger side and handed over the keys without a word.

Sam took the keys, barely looking until the blood on her sleeve caught his attention. He frowned, wondering if she'd done it to herself or it was Ruby's work. "What happened to your arm?"

Dawn pulled her cuffs down self-consciously. "Plastic cable ties are sharp. As are broken plastic chair parts." She explained.

"So, you did it getting out? Ruby didn't do anything?" Sam had to make sure.

"No, apart from some rough handling and neglect she was the perfect lady." Dawn answered bitterly. It didn't seem worth her while to lie.

Sam breathed out. "Okay." He put the keys in the ignition. "Okay." He repeated before pulling out of the station and getting back on the road.

Sorry to those who were hoping for a Sam/Ruby confrontation just yet, but wouldn't really fit with the storyline I'm going for.

Also, someone suggested to me a Sam/Dawn pairing, thoughts?