Chapter 3

Andrew and I had met after school was over at the tree just like we had said. We mainly just talked but we did kiss again. Sam had told Dean and John that I was studying with a friend for a project that Sam had elected to do alone when John came to pick us up since I was all ready waiting at the tree.

Luckily the two bought it and Sam told them that I'd be finished in a few hours for them to pick me up. It'd probably only be Dean picking me up, which was fine.

"So you're adopted?" Andrew asked as we sat on the steps in front of the school, waiting for our rides. I nodded. "Did you ever know your parents?"

"No," I lied, "I was raised in an orphanage until I was adopted when I was five."

"Do you like living with the Taylor's?" That was our name at this school. We usually kept our first names but we changed our last names at almost every school we went to. It helped to cover our tracks.

"I love living with them. Sam and I are really close. We're basically each other's best friends. Dean's really protective of us." I said. He smiled and nodded. Our hands were clasped together in between us on the steps and by the way he was leaning forward I could tell he wanted to kiss again. I closed my eyes like the girls in the movies did when I felt his lips on mine. His lips started moving on mine and I was about to respond when somebody held down the horn on their car. We jumped and I hit his nose with my chin. I heard laughing and turned to see Dean in John's Impala laughing at us. I glared at him, knowing he was the one who honked the horn.

"Are you okay?" I asked, pulling his hands away from his nose. It wasn't broken, it wasn't even bleeding, but it did look sore and by the way my chin hurt a little, I knew I hit him pretty hard. "I'm sorry. That's Dean."

"It's okay. I see my mom's truck down the street anyway." He glanced over at Dean before quickly kissing my lips like he did in the hallway. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'll meet you at the tree at lunch if we don't see each other beforehand." Dean honked the horn again and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I stood up and let go of Andrew's hand finally, grabbing my book bag and swinging it over my shoulder. "Bye, Andrew."

"Bye, Rose." He said, smiling, even though I could tell it hurt his nose to do so. I headed towards the Impala but glared at Dean as I bypassed the front passenger seat and sat in the back. I slammed the door and he quickly turned to glare at me.

"Don't take your anger out on this car." He admonished. I finally did roll my eyes and turned to stare out the window.

"You didn't have to be an asshole." I muttered as he drove off. I turned and watched Andrew get into an old Toyota truck talking to the lady driving who must have been his mom. I sat back in my seat, still staring out the window.

"You didn't notice that I had been waiting there for five minutes. I had to get your attention somehow." He smirked, turning into the motel parking lot.

"Whatever! You just pulled up. You were still driving into the lot with your horn blaring!" I argued.

"You shouldn't be kissing boys anyway Rosie." I hated the nickname he used. Only he called me Rosie, just like he was the only one who called Sam, Sammy. He turned around to face me. "You'll just get hurt."

"Don't feed me that bullshit!" I yelled at him, rushing out of the car and closing the door behind me gently. If John heard me slam the door I'd get a whole lot more than a lecture. "Sam and I caught you coming out of that janitor's closet ditching class with that blonde, busty bimbo!"

"Hey! Her name was Jennifer!" He argued, following after me. I quickly entered our room and closed the door in his face, but not before I heard him finish, "at least, I think that was her name."

I threw my bag on Sam's and my bed and barely acknowledged Sam and John who were at the table cleaning some blades that they would use to behead the vampires. It was the only way to kill them. They had stopped to watch Dean and me. They were completely used to us arguing and they had stopped trying to make us stop a long time ago. Dean would just always be an asshole. He couldn't help it.

"You don't even know her name!" I yelled at him as he came in, shutting the door behind him.

"It doesn't matter! I'm not attached to her." He said. I couldn't believe him.

"Was she attached to you? I'm pretty sure you have to seduce the girls you bring into closets with you. They don't show up on their own accord you know! You're hurting them every time you leave, especially with the things you tell them!" I saw him tense and I knew I was pushing his buttons. Good. I wanted him angry. He made me angry.

"He's just using you!" I wanted to slap him.

"Like you use all those girls?" I screamed. "You are such a hypocrite!"

"Well obviously I know what he's doing. He doesn't really like you! He's just doing all this to get into your precious little panties!" I heard John clear his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the way this argument was going.

It felt like Dean had stabbed me with one of the machetes on the table. I barely cried since the night my mom didn't come back but Dean always managed to get me to the point of tears. I stormed up close to him and if I was taller our noses would be touching.

"He actually likes me! And I like him! I don't care if we're leaving as soon as those vampires and their heads are lit on fire! I finally have something going for me that doesn't have to do with you Winchester's or anything supernatural and you're trying to rip that away from me!" I cried.

"Trust me, as soon as he finishes with you, he's going to dump you and move on to the next innocent vulnerable girl." He said. His voice was calm but mean. This time I couldn't hold back. The tears or the slap to his face. As soon as my hand made contact with his cheek I turned right around and locked myself in the bathroom, turning on the shower so I wouldn't hear what the three would whisper about me.

…

I was in the bathroom for hours, with the shower running the whole time. The steam from the first 45 minutes of hot water had dissipated since the water was cold now but I didn't bother turning it off. My tears didn't stop either and didn't care if any of the Winchester boys heard. I knew the conversation they had as soon as I locked the bathroom door behind me. I knew it like the back of my hand.

Sam would call Dean an asshole.

Dean would turn to glare at him, my hand print still left on his cheek in bright red, and John would tell Sam not to swear.

Then John would look at Dean and ask what happened.

Dean would tell them what he saw with me and Andrew with a lot of embellishments. He'd make Andrew sound like a complete douche.

Sam would defend Andrew and tell John that he was actually a really nice guy who seemed genuinely interested in me.

John would tell Dean to back off and ask Sam to find out as much about Andrew as possible.

This whole situation happened more than I cared to admit. Dean just couldn't stay out of my business and always had to interfere. The only thing different about this time was that I had actually done something with Andrew. It was the first time I had done anything with a boy other than holding hands and I knew John would try to have an awkward conversation with me about boys and girls and the differences and why it wasn't a good idea to get attached since we were constantly moving.

I heard a knock on the door but ignored them. It was probably John. If I didn't answer then he'd leave me alone. The only thing he was really scared of was my girl hormones. He was lucky I hadn't started my period yet. There was always a lot more tears and drama when I did.

I knew it wasn't John when they knocked again. I sniffed and wiped my tears with the back of my hand, reaching behind me to turn the shower off.

"Rose, it's Sam." He knocked again. "Dad and Dean left. They went to try and locate the nest. They won't be back for a while."

Good.

"Will you come out?" I sighed. And stood up, looking at myself in the mirror. The eyeliner I had put on this morning had smudged down my cheeks from the tears and from wiping them. I turned the sink on and splashed water on my face, washing away the make-up. I unlocked the door and opened it a crack to see Sam there. He stepped aside to show me that Dean and John were gone like he had said they were. When I noticed the table was empty and didn't see the two anywhere I took a deep breath and came out of the bathroom. Sam wrapped his arms around me and I wrapped mine around his waist. He gave the best hugs out of anyone I knew. Even though John was basically like a father to me, we didn't hug very often. At all really. He always kissed the top of my head though when he woke me up and I knew he cared.

Don't get me started on Dean.

But Sam always had a hug for me when I needed one, and I definitely needed one now.

"So, be warned," Sam said as he pulled away. "Dad's probably gonna talk to you about the whole kissing thing."

I rolled my eyes and chuckled. I totally knew it.

"That's okay. He'll be so awkward that it'll be entertaining." We both laughed and I sat on our bed as Sam put some leftover take-out in the microwave for us to eat.

"Dean really does care about you, you know that right?" Sam said as he sat down beside me. I was flipping channels on the television and turned to stare at him.

"Could've fooled me." I muttered, grabbing one of the containers and digging in.

"We all care about you. We swore to protect you, the minute you called Dad ten years ago." Sam said. I felt touched. I knew they all cared about me, even Dean, but I didn't know that I had meant that much to them.

"We're always looking out for you." He added. He started to say something but shook his head and took a bite of his food instead.

"What?" I asked, wanting to know what he was going to say. I hated when people did that.

"When we were driving to get you that day, Dad told us that from then on, no matter where we were or how old we were, if he was there or not, that you were our first priority. If you were in trouble or hurt and needed help or whatever, that we had to protect you. Dean's disobeyed some of his orders before, but never that one. He promised that he would always protect you from everything." Sam smiled and I suddenly felt like the worst person in the world.

I knew that they cared about me and I knew that John had made them promise to keep an eye on me, just like John made Dean promise to look after Sam too. I didn't know Dean actually took it that seriously though. I felt a new kind of respect for Dean and I promised to make things easier for him.

"Doesn't mean I'm going to stop seeing Andrew while we're here." I muttered, too embarrassed to look up and meet Sam's gaze. He laughed.

"Nobody expected you to, trust me." I finally looked up and smiled with him.

…

Sam and I were in bed with the television still on when Dean and John finally came back. Sam had been asleep for an hour or so but I had been watching a movie and was still awake. It was around midnight when they came back and I pretended to be asleep. I usually did this because there were still some things that they didn't tell me that they talked about when I slept. Part of that whole pact to protect me I guessed. They were quiet as they came in and John let Dean have the bed again as he took the couch.

I heard Dean groan as he got into bed which probably meant that he had an injury that I'd have to help him with in the morning. I was usually the 'nurse' since the boys all preferred to suffer in silence sometimes. Soon I heard the couch creak and John began snoring soon after. I finally opened my eyes and noticed they had turned the television off. Great.

I looked over at Dean's bed but he wasn't moving. I felt like I should apologize for everything and all the crap I've given him. I turned to look at Sam and John but they were fast asleep.

"Dean," I whispered. He didn't answer, but I knew he wasn't completely asleep. His breathing was really loud and even when he slept. He didn't snore, only John did. You could always tell Sam was asleep because he was completely still.

"Dean," I whispered again, louder this time. I heard him shift as he sat up a little and I saw the outline of him turn towards me.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" He asked. After what Sam had told me earlier, everything that Dean did and said around me made more sense. I crawled out of the bed I shared with Sam and kneeled down next to his, wrapping my arms around me a little. It was a bit chilly and I was only wearing pajama pants and a tank-top.

"I'm sorry I slapped you." I said. He chuckled and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness I saw him shake his head.

"It's okay. I was kind of being a dick." He must have noticed that I was a little cold because he scooted away a little and pulled back the sheets so I could slip in the bed with him. When we were younger and got along a little better I usually took turns sleeping in Sam's bed and Dean's bed. John had always taken the couch unless he was really tired or wasn't feeling well, then he made Dean sleep on the couch and he'd take the second bed.

I had nightmares sometimes too, mainly about my dad dying but sometimes from the hunts too. A few times I had nightmares that the Winchester's left and I didn't have anyone. When I woke up from a nightmare I slipped into bed with Dean because even if he did piss me off a lot, I did feel a little safer with him than with Sam. Not that Sam wouldn't be able to keep me safe, because he could, but Dean just calmed me down from the nightmares faster than Sam did.

I slipped in and he wrapped the comforter up to my shoulder and we turned to face each other. I took a deep breath.

"I shouldn't have slapped you." I said. He smirked and my stomach flipped a little. What was that?

"I'm not so worried now if a guy hurts you, because that slap hurt like hell." I covered my mouth as I laughed. We both stopped and listened. John was still snoring and Sam was still.

"How did it go tonight?" I whispered.

"Good. We found the nest. Dad said we'll all go tomorrow night and get rid of them all." I grinned.

"Me too?" I asked.

"Yes, you too munchkin." I glared at him.

"Don't call me that." He chuckled.

"Well you are so short you're basically a midget."

"I'm not short." I pouted even though he was right. I was basically a midget.

"Oh yeah? What are you then? Because you sure as hell ain't tall."

"I'm fun size." I said, grinning. He laughed quietly and I bet anything he rolled his eyes. He put his arms underneath his pillow, I knew he had a dagger underneath, and let out a deep breath.

"It's time for bed, fun size." I smiled and laid my head down on the other pillow and I took in his smell as I closed my eyes. He smelled of leather, obviously since he was always wearing his leather jacket, and I really enjoyed it. He also had another smell that was nice to breathe in, I just couldn't place it.

"Night Dean," I murmured, sleep finally overtaking me.

"Night Rosie."

…

I'm still getting used to formatting and everything on here so if it looks bad, I hope you'll bear with me. Thanks again to everyone who has left a review or added my story to their favorites/alerts. Like I promised, since the last one was so short, I updated early. More reviews would be nice. They always help me write better.