Chapter 6

Ali woke up just before dark and looked around

Sam had just stopped the car in front of a beautiful lake surrounded by wildflowers and tall grass. There was a dock stretching out to the middle of the lake.

Sam looked back at her and smiled. "Hey, you. You've been asleep for hours. How do you feel? No nightmares, right?"

She nodded and stared at the lake. "Why are we here?"

"This place is perfect for stargazing? Dean and I stopped awhile back and decided that we wanted to go swimming."

"Well, I'll just sit on the dock and watch the stars..."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"I don't have a swimsuit... Or anything clean to change into."

He nodded. "Okay, Dean and I will change, and you can set up some blankets on the dock... If you want to that is."

She smiled as they climbed out of the car. She pulled a few blankets out of the trunk as Sam and Dean left to go change.

They came back a few minutes later in swim trunks. Dean ran off the dock and jumped in immediately, but Sam just sat with his feet hanging into the water. Ali sat down next to him.

"Why aren't you jumping in, Sam?"

He gestured down at the bandages that were still wrapped around his torso. "Might not be the best of plans... Not when most of the wounds are still leaking if I move the wrong way."

She chuckled. "Fair enough." She looked around. "Hey, where's -"

Before she could finish her question she was dragged down into the water. She screamed before her head went under. Dean surfaced a few seconds later, laughing.

Sam glared at him. "What the hell, Dean?... Where's Ali?" He asked as he realized she still hadn't surfaced.

Dean shrugged. "She'll be up any second."

Sam started to search the water when he saw a bubble popping on the surface. His eyes widened and he dove into the water.

Dean rolled his eyes and pulled himself onto the dock as Sam surfaced with Ali unconscious in his arms. He dragged her to the dock and pushed her out of the water before he pulled himself up next to her. He put his fingers on her neck. He let out a breath. Thank God. She still had a pulse.

He bent down to give her mouth to mouth, but before he could, she coughed. Water spilled from her mouth and she coughed some more. Sam glared at Dean.

"What the hell happened!"

"Nothing! I just pulled her in. She should have surfaced!"

"Well she didn't!"

"She's fine!"

"How the hell can you say that? She almost drowned!"

He rolled his eyes. "She'll be fine."

"Dean, if you're going to be an ass you can leave!"

"What?"

"You heard me. Leave!"

"Fine! I'll leave you alone with your damned girlfriend."

Sam glares at his brother as he stormed towards the Impala.

"Oh, and I'm taking the beer with me!" Dean yelled over his shoulder as he grabbed one of the six packs. He climbed into the Impala and slammed the door before he sped away.

Sam kneeled down next to Ali and pushed the wet hair out of her face.

"Ali, don't you dare die on me." He muttered.

She coughed and groaned before she opened her eyes. "Oh come on, Moose. I'm not going to die. That's a Winchester thing."

Sam grinned and gathered her into his arms, squeezing her tight.

"Exactly, and it's your thing to save my sorry ass. I don't like this whole role-reversal thing."

She tried to laugh but cough instead. Sam held her tighter and patted her back. He felt her shiver and cursed under his breath."

"Hold on, I'll get you some dry clothes to wear."

She looked up at him. "I thought Dean left with the Impala."

"My stuff is in your car." He shrugged and jogged over to her car.

He opened the trunk and pulled a long sleeved flannel shirt, and a pair of sweatpants out of his duffel. He jogged back over to her.

"Here, these are going to be huge on you, but they should be warm."

She nodded. "Help he to the car and then turn away."

He did as she asked and put an arm around her shoulders as he helped her over to the car. He opened the back door for her and then turned away once she was inside.

Sam looked up at the sky and sighed. It was going to rain, that much he could tell. It was going to rain, that much he could tell. He gathered the blankets from off the dock and was careful to keep his eyes from wandering to the window of the car.

Ali opened the door and got out. "You can look now, Sam."

He looked over at her. He had been right- his clothes were too big on her, but they still looked good on her. He smiled slightly and she raised an eyebrow.

"What is that look for?"

He smiled. "Nothing, just laughing about how you look like you're swimming in my clothes."

She shook her head. "Whatever. We just need to get out of here unless you want to get rained on."

He nodded. "One problem, Dean has the extra gas can and we don't have enough gas left to get anywhere."

She sighed. "So we either stay here, or get stranded in the middle of nowhere?"

He chuckled sheepishly."Basically."

She shook her head and grabbed one of the blankets from him. "The front seat is mine since I'm smaller." She looked him over. "But first, I'm changing those bandages. They're soaking."

"Fine, you grab the kit." He nodded." I'll be waiting in the back seat, taking off the bandages."

Ali nodded and opened the trunk as Sam got in. After she grabbed the kit, Ali got in next to Sam. He had been right. Swimming had been a bad idea. The wounds were soaked and the skin was shriveled from the moisture.

"Sam, I'm just going to clean he gouges . I'm not going to bandage them until morning."

He looked down at her as she went to work. As she cleaned each slash carefully, a thought popped up into his mind.

"Ali?"

"Yeah, Sam?"

"Dean was being an ass, but he wasn't trying to drown you. Why did you almost drown?"

She stopped working and looked up at him. "No reason, Sam. I just don't like water."

He frowned. "You used to love water. You were an amazing swimmer."

"I just don't like water, Sam."

"Ali, what happened?"

She chewed on her bottom lip. "My dad was killed in the water." She looked down. "It was our day off. The first one that my dad had let us have since my brother died. He took me to a lake just like this one, and I was sitting on the dock with my feet in the water... "She swallowed hard. "I got pulled in. It was a water demon. My... My dad dived in and saved me. He got me out of harms way and exorcized the thing, but not before it ripped his torso open. He died saving me. Today was a lot like that day. Dean pulled me under and I just panicked. I blacked out." She went quiet and started working on cleaning Sam's wounds again.

He stopped her and made her look at him. "I'm so sorry, Ali;;; I didn't know. If I had I would never had made you go anywhere near that lake."

She nodded and pulled away from him. "I'm fine..." She opened the door and got out. "Stay in here. I'll grab some clothes for you."

"I only have one clean pair of jeans left. They're in the top of my duffle."

"What about shirts?"

He smiled slightly. "You're wearing my last clean one."

She shook her head. "Of course I am."

Sam waited for her to throw his jean to him. He changed quickly and opened the door.

"You can come in now." He shivered. "You better hurry, Ali. It's going to start raining soon."

Ali nodded and climbed in the front seat. She closed the door behind her just as the first drops fell.

Sam stretched over the backseat as Ali rocked the passenger's seat all the way back. Sam shifted so that he was sitting mostly upright against the driver's side door, so that Ali's head wasn't so close to his bare stomach. The thought of her falling asleep with her head on his chest made his heart beat just a little too fast. Plus, a few stray hairs had been tickling him.

"Goodnight, Sam." Ali said, her voice breaking the silence the silence that the pattering of the rain had bred.

Sam nodded and yawned. "Yeah, goodnight, Ali."

After only a few minutes, both of them were asleep. Sam had one blanket wrapped around his legs while Ali was curled up in the other blanket.

In the morning, Sam woke first. He looked down at himself and noticed one major thing. Both he and Ali had shifted in their sleep. He had slouched down so that one foot was shoved under the passenger's seat while the other was draped over the seat itself. Ali had shifted towards him. One of her hands had tangled into his hair, while the other was resting against his right thigh. But the major thing he noticed was Ali's head. It had come to rest against his hip. His heart skipped a beat. He should wake her up. It was morning, and it had stopped raining. He could call Dean. He probably hadn't gotten that for and could be back to them in only a little while. She just looked so peaceful, and he was comfortable. He didn't want to move at all. Not unless she woke up, but he wasn't about to wake her. Sam closed his eyes and tried to slow the rapid beating of his heart.

Half an hour later, Ali opened her eyes slowly. Sam had fallen back to sleep, and Ali's eyes widened as she realized how they two of the were laying. She relaxed when she remembered that Sam was still asleep. He did look happy. A little smile played along his lips as he slept. She wondered what he was dreaming about. There was a twinge in her chest as she realized that she hoped he was dreaming about her. She felt another twinge when she remembered what dean had said. He had said that Sam liked her. No. She scolded herself. That wasn't an option. She couldn't protect Sam properly if she was too emotional. Even if she could, Dean was most likely just messing with her. She couldn't get attached. Emotion made her reckless... It got people killed.

Sam shifted and opened his eyes. He smiled down at her sleepily. "Hey, Ali. Good morning."

She untangled her fingers from his hair and sat up. "Hey, Sam. Good morning."

He rubbed his eyes. "How long have you been up?"

"Not long." She shrugged. "How'd you sleep?"

"I woke up about half an hour ago, I think, but you looked so peaceful so I didn't want to wake you up. I guess I must have fallen back to sleep... But other than that I slept great."

She frowned. "Wait... You let me just sleep like that?"

He shrugged. "Why not? You'd had a rough day and you finally looked comfortable."

She smiled slightly."Well, I think it's time to call Dean. We need to get out of here."

Sam nodded. "I'll call Dean." He glanced down at the wounds n his side." I think you can take the stitches out and bandage these while I talk."

"It might be a bit early to take out the stitches, but I can definitely rebandage them."

Sam nodded. "Fine, I think I can deal with that."

She smile and pulled the kit out from under that seat where she had stored it the night before as Sam pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Dean.

Just as Dean answered Ali made Sam lift his elbows so that she could wrap his torso.

'What do you want, Sam?"

"Dean, you not only took the beer, you took the gas can too."

"Yeah, I know. Is Ali okay?"

"She's fine..." Sam was going to say more, but Ali brushed her fingers against his abs as she unrolled the gauze. He chuckled. "That tickles." He said, forgetting that he was talking to Dean on the phone.

"What tickles? Is she there with you?" Sam could tell that Dean was smirking.

"Shut up, Dean. "It's your fault that she has to rebandage me anyway."

"But it tickles." Dean laughed.

"Oh bite me, Dean." "I know you'd like to bite her."

"Dean, just shut up and get your ass down here. We need gas so we can leave."

"Fine, I'm just a couple of towns over. I'll be there in about an hour or so. Of course, that depends on whether or not I want to stop of breakfast first. Did you and Ali want anything?"

"Just bring food and get over here."

"Fine, just hold your horses. I'll be there in an hour."

"Good. Just hurry."

"Why? Not having fun being tickled?"

Sam rolled his eyes and hung up. "Dean's an ass." He mutterd.

Ali smiled slightly. "I thought we knew this already."

"We did, he's just content making even more of an ass of himself than normal."

"What did he do this time?"

"He's Dean. Does it really matter?"

"Depends. What did he say?"

"Nothing. He's just insisting that we can't be friends... Or... Can't be just friends."

She rolled her eyes. "And that's how you know that it's really Dean." She said this casually, but she felt a tightness in her chest. She knew it, he didn't have feelings for her... Not romantic ones anyway.

As she though this, Sam felt the same tightness. How could she make jokes? Couldn't she see that every word that was said was true... Every word he said about her making him happy, anyway. Seeing her that close to death yesterday had almost thrown him into a panic. It had taken everything in him not to kiss her as soon as he was sure she way okay.

Both of them held an uncomfortable smile until Sam looked away.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "We should finish these bandages and get you back into your clothes before Dean gets here. The last thing we want is for Dean to see is the two of us in the backseat. Me shirtless and you in my clothes. We'd never hear the end of it... Ever."

She nodded. "Yeah.. That's probably best." She agreed as she went back to wrapping Sam's torso. She finished quickly and taped the edge of the gauze down. "I should wrap your arm too."

Sam nodded, but opened the door. "After you get changed. I'll grab your bag from the trunk."

She smiled back. "Yeah... I guess it does." He closed the door and popped the trunk. He grabbed her bag and handed it to her before closing the door and turning away.

A few minutes later Ali stepped out of the car and handed Sam his clothes back. He set the sweatpants on the roof of the car and draped the shirt around his shoulders. He pulled it on and sighed.

God damn it. It smelled like her.

It smelled like Ali.

What was he supposed to do with that? With every damn breath his heart skipped a beat and that damn twinge ran through the spot right behind his stomach.

"What?" Ali asked. He snapped to attention, turning to her.

"What?" He asked.

"You look almost... Pained. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright."

"Are you sure? Sam, if you're-"

"I said I'm fine."

His voice came out harsher than he intended, and for a split second, she looked almost... Hurt/

"Well, excuse me for looking out for you." She muttered, turning away so she would have time to mask her emotion.

"Wait, no, I didn't mean it like that!" Sam protested, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Then what do you mean?" Ali asked, not turning and letting her voice deadpan.

"I just- I hurt, is all."

She shook her head, turning to look at him. "You don't get snippy with me when you hurt." She countered. "This is something else. Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

Sam hesitated. How was he supposed to explain that it was her? Her smell, her presence that was doing this to him? How was he supposed to tell his best friend that he had gone and fallen in love with her?

Oh.