The knock on the door startled Sam but what was even more surprising to him was that Mae was on the other side. "You came."

She offered a gentle smile, nothing too bright but welcoming and kind. "You seem surprised."

He was a little sheepish in his explanation. "Well, I did yell at you earlier."

Mae shrugged as she stepped inside the motel room, tossing her bag on the free bed. "Like I've never been yelled at before. Besides, it's Dean."

That made him smirk, taking in her somewhat ruffled look, mussed hair, wrinkled clothes, and tired eyes. But she was still there because of his brother. He knew there was something between those two. "Yeah… I'm still trying to find a way to fix him."

"Sam…"

There was a lot in that one word, a lot he didn't want to hear. "Don't start, please? I just… I can't just let Dean die."

"Yeah, I know. And I'm with you on that one but you play with fire... This isn't like a vengeful spirit or a demon. It's… it's physical. He was electrocuted. It's not unheard of in normal people. I just don't know that we can fix it."

"I know!" He sighed and tried to moderate his voice, "I know. But Mae, he would do anything to save me or you, to keep us safe. If there there's even a tiny chance that we can do something, I'm gonna do it. How can I do anything less?"

She placed her hand gingerly on his arm. "No one was asking you to do that."

Sam frowned, feeling his heart sink just a bit. "But you won't help me, will you?"

Her hand dropped as she wandered over to the bed, glancing over the materials he had spread out over the bed. "Of course, I will. I came here, didn't I? I just don't want to save him the wrong way." She picked up a book on necromancy, frowning before setting it back down, "I mean there are all kinds of things we could do to try to cure him or bring him back if he dies but we wouldn't end up with our Dean, just a shell. We're not turning him into something we'd hunt. That's not saving him."

"Right, I know that. I'm not talking about making him something... evil but there's gotta be a spell or something out there that can heal him, something. I just… I'm not quitting."

Mae turned back to the younger man. He looked pale and in between his hurried speech, she picked up a tremor in his hands. She put her hand on his shoulder, squeezing reassuringly. "Good. I'm right there with you."

He appreciated her help, but his thoughts shifted back to his brother and what it would mean to him knowing Mae showed up. "You should go see him."

"I already did, which by the way, you might want to tell me who you are when I come to a town so I don't have to claim to be your sister but can't remember my own name. We...talked, then I came here so everything's all… awesome." She gave him a tight smile accompanied by a double thumbs up.

"He's really missed you."

"We've spent a hell of a lot longer apart than the past few weeks."

Dean might not have said it out loud but not talking to Mae again left the man bothered. Sam didn't quite believe his brother incapable of falling in love, but he had never acted like he wanted anything of the sort. But he was most certainly in love with their friend. "I think he's trying to keep that from happening again. You may not have noticed but he's a little different now, since dad's gone missing and since the two of you hooked up again."

The look on her face bordered between confusion and amusement. "When did the two of us hook up? Because believe me we are not counting spell sex." She said with a pointed look.

"No, I mean when you got back to your house. I don't think it was just a casual thing for him."

More amusement crept into her stare, and she almost laughed. "Is that-Did he tell you that? Did he tell you we had sex?"

Sam swallowed, averting his eyes a bit. Discussing his brother's sex life did not make his top 10 list of favorite things. Did he tell the truth of did he try to preserve the peace? Her eyes were piercing and didn't leave any room for him to lie. "Well," he cleared his throat as she kept her eyes locked on his, "not exactly. He said you two slept together."

Mae grinned and laughed. "Yeah dude," she shook her head, imagining how that scene went down, finding it amusing, "at the risk of ruining his rep, all we did was sleep."

His laughed, skeptically and a little conspiratorially all at the same time. Of course, knowing his brother, he had every right to be both. "Really? Just sleep?"

She confirmed again. "Not that it's any of your business but yeah just slept. We were both exhausted. And, in between my throwing up, having some crazy ugly bruises, and night sweats and… being generally unpleasant, yeah. You might also recall how I looked after everything. I mean, Dean can be both a pig and a horn dog but he's not into any of those things. And… he actually likes whoever he's with to be into it too so, nothing happened."

Sam didn't understand the woman. She was impossibly stubborn, even by the measure of his own family. But there was also an unexpected measure of softness to her. It was obvious that despite some of her actions, she cared about his brother. "Then what's the deal Mae? Why are you acting like this?"

"You mean driving all the way out here because you told me your brother was in trouble or trying to help him without screwing things up?"

Sam shook his head. "I mean before that. I mean not giving him the time of day. You have any idea what it's like when he's like this?"

Mae smiled weakly. She understood Sam's protectiveness, she simply didn't expect it to come up now. "I haven't been avoiding him because I want to hurt him, okay? I'm also not obvious to how he feels. I just can't- I haven't even been doing it because I don't like him. I like talking to him. Hell, your brother is probably one of the few people I genuinely like. But I'm allowed to consider more than just his needs and wants, aren't I?"

"I- of course. I didn't mean- if you feel the same way...why not...?

"I just needed some time. He and I get along, we have feelings for each other, and we're...I can see a lot of upsides, but I can't quite get around the big downsides. So... I can't...do you really want me to have second thoughts about this?"

He couldn't deny what she said made sense and he agreed with a lot of it. He felt similarly especially since he'd been hunting with his brother. It was stressful enough dealing with interpersonal stuff without the added pressure of the job. That didn't change the underlying issue, at least the way Sam saw it. "But you love him."

Because she had spent so much time arguing the point with no success, convincing neither herself nor apparently anyone else, she sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. "Yeah I love him. That's why I eventually called him back, it's why I came here. But it doesn't do us any good now, does it?"

It wasn't pity he felt for her or his brother, two people so obviously in love with each other but unable to embrace it. No, he commiserated with her and lamented the way they were raised. They were both overcoming a learning curve on relationships. "You should at least tell him."

"Sam… it's not that simple."

To Sam, it was. "He loves you too Mae. And he's loved you since… well I think forever."

She wished she had that same idealism about that notion of love. She wanted that to make it worth the risk. "I know. Is this really what you want to talk about right now? I thought you wanted to save Dean, not convince me to profess my undying love for him."

He took a step closer and gave her his best puppy dog eyes. "Don't you think he deserves this little explanation?"

Mae closed her eyes resting her forehead against her hand a moment. "Of course, he does. Do you want me to go back to the hospital and let him know right now?"

"You don't need to get defensive."

"I know he's your brother and you have a quintessential bros before hoes prerogative and you think I'm hurting him by not telling him. I've given him parts of it and the rest...you know how he gets about family and togetherness and all that. I want to believe that what we feel is enough, but I don't think that any love or affection I have for your brother makes it possible for me to ignore my issues."

As if she was noticing for the first time that she was talking with him, telling him at least the basics of her inner workings, she physically shook her head and drew herself back together. "I really shouldn't be telling you about all this. Aren't you all gung-ho about finding yourself a spell or mambo priestess to work the hoodoo over Dean?"

It was easy to forget the pressing matter. Well, not easy but talking about Dean with Mae often led into talking about them together and micromanaging their relationship was a better distraction than worrying about his brother's impending demise. When she wasn't being defensive and avoiding the issue, knowing that she cared about Dean reassured him that maybe there was hope for a little bit of happiness, even for hunters. And he hated to admit it sometimes, but he liked her, and he liked the idea of her with Dean.

Sam now smirked a little. "Aren't you kind of a mambo priestess?"

A quizzical look painted her face. "What makes you think that?"

He met her look with a skeptical one. "Well, for one I've seen your house and book and for two I've seen you work and oh yeah, I'm not an idiot."

She supposed it was hard to hide those things from people who not only knew about them but at the very least dabbled in it. It would have been fairly obvious she thought. "Okay maybe you're right but I'm no mambo, not a real real one anyhow. I know a handful of healing spells but I don't know that they're any better than genuine medical care. And I don't think they'd repair a heart. Besides even if I worked the perfect spell, if it's his time-"

He didn't want to hear any of it. He wasn't going to hear any of it. "What about your connections? You've got to know something or someone who might know something."

There wasn't a way to dissuade Sam from his path and perhaps that was for the best when it came to Dean, so she nodded. "I'll put out the feelers."

For a moment, he thought she was going to say no and keep up the line that here was nothing they could do. He thought she might not help him out. But the small offer was enough to ease his worry. "Thank you."

Her eyes lingered a minute, not entirely ready to get down to work yet. "Sam. can I ask you one last thing?"

"Sure."

"Why did you call me?"

Shrugging, he felt a little awkward about the question in the first place. "Dad doesn't answer and most of the time you do."

She nodded. There wasn't any reason Sam should think she'd come through in the clutch like this, except that he didn't have any other options. "Did anyone ever tell you, you Winchester boys are irritatingly convincing?"

Sam just smirked before he took his place back on the bed among the books and Mae took the other bed, digging through her bag for her spell book. They looked over everything they could between the books, websites, and any hunters they could reach. Mae stopped but pretended not to listen in as he called John.

The break in his voice and hopelessness broke her heart. Mae didn't say anything when Sam hung up. What could she say? She tried to push away the bitter pang she felt when she realized that when she didn't answer Dean's calls, it probably reminded him that his dad was on radio silence too. The only thing that disturbed them from the scatter of phone calls asking for some leads or their search was the unexpected knock at the door. Like when Mae had showed up, Sam grabbed his gun as he approached the door. Mae stood from her spot on the bed and took a defensive position, just out of sight, with her weapon at the ready as well. The pair executed the movements completely instinctive like muscle memory or an age-old dance. After an exchange of nods, Sam opened the door.

Again, Sam was surprised to find his brother, barging in to the room and complaining about staying somewhere that was lacking in hot nurses until he caught sight of Mae. He looked at her, mesmerized. "Mae, what are you doing here?"

Her heart ached, looking at him like that. He was pale and pasty, his eyes were sunken, and he no longer carried himself with his usual ground eating stride and presence. Seeing him look sick made it far more difficult to pretend like he would be okay. The redhead shrugged, turning to place her gun on the table.

"Still pretty much the same thing as before. Except you know, in a motel room."

He shrugged off his brother's help before sitting in the nearest chair. He shifted his eyes toward her, his expression carrying hurt, exhaustion, accusation and more than a little relief. "I thought you would have left."

She tried not to sound angry or hurt but she felt a little bit of both. But more she felt guilty because his supposition wasn't completely unfounded. "Did I say I was leaving?"

Dean shook his head. There was no need to turn the knife. If he was dying, he didn't want his time with her to be all fights and bitterness. No one who didn't care would have stayed, not to watch someone die. Leaving was the easier choice though. Dean didn't care why she stayed, just that she had. He was elated to find her here, working on this with Sam. It would have been crushing know she came, saw him, and then left.

He let his gaze wander over the planes and angles of her face, the way her hair curved around her neck and shoulders. His eyes roamed down the swell of her chest and flat of her stomach, the flare of her hips and her long, impossibly long legs. It was a shame she was fully dressed in those masculine boots, jeans and far too many shirts. She grew up prettier and shapelier than he thought she would.

She caught him ogling her, there was no other word for it, and he only offered her a saucy grin at her sharp stare. "You look really hot, babe."

"Just once, I'd love it if you could think about one other thing for one second."

"I'd love it if you brought me a bacon cheese burger." He said with a grin, "just right on your tits." He added.

"Instead of the lap dance, I guess?"

Sam looked between the two of them, a little confused and extremely uncomfortable by whatever was going on between them. "I am literally right here. Can you two not have gross sex talk right now?"

"No." Mae and Dean replied simultaneously.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Great."

Mae and Sam had made their calls and read over what they could but there was little else to do, particularly with Dean complaining. Before Dean showed up, Sam got a call back with a tip about something that might help. A faith healer, of all things. Of course, Mae was hardly a skeptical one when it came to traveling healers, faith or otherwise but more often than not, they were bogus. This one looked like the genuine article though.

Mae and Sam already knew how Dean would react to it. Even so, turning their backs on the potential seemed foolish. They both knew they'd have to handle Dean to get him to go. They would be going to the faith healer in the morning and while Sam told his brother they had found a specialist, they both knew Dean would veto the whole thing if they told him the truth.

But now, they didn't have anything else to do. If possible, they needed to get some sleep, leaving Mae with a bit of a conundrum. With Dean out of the hospital, back in the motel, she realized she was out of a bed. Odd, how she thought sharing a room with Sam was natural, practical but with both brothers there, she felt uncomfortable.

Sam had gone to the bathroom with his arms full of necessities, leaving Mae and Dean alone in the main room. His hungry stare hadn't left her as edgy as the one he wore now did. "I should get my own room."

"You were planning to stay here before, right?"

She tucked her hands into her pockets, looking away. "Yeah but you're here now and… neither of us want to share a bed with your brother." She said, trying to joke but ended up sounding even more nervous.

He took her hand in his and shot her what she would absolutely qualify as sex eyes as he spoke. "You and I can share. Wouldn't be the first time."

His eyes were met with an equally withering look. "That might get you overly excited." She said deadpan.

"I can restrain myself." He said it with a tone that made her wonder if she had finally pushed him over the edge and past the point of trying to win her over. But there was something more challenging in his eyes, a dark arousal he was asking her to tap into. He smirked and angled his brow at her seductively. "Maybe you're the one who'll have to control yourself Maes. I'm great in bed."

Sometimes she would never quite understand what went through his head or how he could be so brash, even jokingly. "Dude…"

"I am. I've been told I don't hog the covers and I'm warm. Just say yes, please?" He sighed, "I sleep better with you in my bed, okay?"

"Fine."

Her tone was somehow aggressive yet submissive in that one word as she yanked her bag closer and rummaged in it. She took out a smaller toiletry bag, a pair of cotton shorts, and a ratty t-shirt. There was that slightly awkward moment when after Sam exited the bathroom, she took his place.

Sam looked from Dean to her and back again, but she kept her gaze low and tried to escape the unasked question as quickly as possible. The brothers might have exchanged a whispered conversation while she was in the bathroom, but she didn't hear anything, so she didn't ask.

"What's going on?" Sam asked.

"She's gonna crash here. You have a problem with that?"

Sam shook his head, gathering up all the books and print outs from the bed before he pulled the covers off the bed. "Where's she gonna sleep?"

"With me."

"Are you sure-" Sam cut himself off. He realized he didn't need to ask Dean if he was sure about it. Of course, he was sure. It wasn't like he was doing something on a whim. When she returned to the room, the lights were low, the tv was off and Sam was already in his bed. Dean was turning down the covers, having stripped down to his boxers and a shirt.

Her stomach twitched a bit. She sighed in a soft and fretful way as she shoved a hand through her free-flowing hair as she moved to the other side of the bed. Had he felt so awkward and out of place when she asked him to spend the night with her? It was, she realized, a rather selfish request. Maybe she shouldn't have asked him in the first place.

Although that was perhaps the reason, he didn't have any qualms about asking her to do the same. Truth be told, Sam if were in a different room, she wouldn't have qualms about it. Sharing a bed with Dean was a deceptively intimate act so doing it in front of someone else made her uncomfortable. But it was becoming something of a habit with Dean.

As promised though, he was warm and being close to him was reassuring somehow. That feeling, as it welled up in her throat, was exactly the sort of thing she worried would happen if she saw him again. She couldn't be cold and distant when he was funny, cute, kind and so alluring. She didn't mind when he turned and his arm fell over her waist, pulling her closer to him. Still, she tensed a little as he pressed against her.

"Let me hold you."

The murmur against her ear was almost soundless so Sam couldn't hear. Maybe he was just covering his bases in case she took offense. She nodded her head as she whispered 'okay' back. His weight settled behind her after his lips grazed the back of her neck. She knew she should have objected to all of it, but it was pleasant to have him lay with her like this again. Mae reached over to turn off the light, plunging the room into darkness.

The way his arm tightened around her, the way he seemed to mold himself against her body made her realize he was looking for safety and protection with her this time. Not sex. Or maybe he needed to feel like he could offer that. For every overt request to see her naked or ask her for sex, that was not what this was about at all. Mae knew it wasn't death that scared him but not knowing what would happen to him or his family. Surprises were rarely pleasant in their work. And maybe, she though, he just wanted to know that someone could take him just as he was—no lies, no expectations.

Her hand slid up over his hand lying over her stomach, taking a hold of it and running her thumb over his knuckles. Her fingers curled into his palm and he gripped them. He nuzzled her neck, his breath warm. If they had been alone, she probably would have risked it and had sex with him. It was attractive to be so close to him. To feel the heat of his body. His bare legs sliding against hers. To smell his clean, only mildly medicinal but masculine scent. Their breath synchronized as they held each other in the dark. She didn't have any difficulty falling asleep, even with Sam in the room.