Author's Note: Any characters you may recognize in this story are not mine; I'm only borrowing them for my own amusement and am making no profit whatsoever. Please note: this story contains an OC pairing. As always, reviews are as always cherished, and constructive criticism is welcomed. Share and Enjoy! Posting Schedule: New Chapters will be published on Mondays and Wednesdays barring unforeseen circumstances.

Chapter 1 - Dean Winchester, Glutton for Pie & Punishment

"I'm telling you Sammy, it's a whole store dedicated to just pie. Can you believe it?" Dean raved as he pulled the Impala into a parking space in front of one of the many tiny shops that lined the historic district of Fredericksburg. A sign over the door advertised "Pie in the Sky Bakery - Because Pie is for Lovers" with a logo that was a clear play on the "Virginia is for Lovers" signs they'd seen all over the place.

"No Dean, I can't, because it's not. See the sign - it says they do pies, cakes, and pâtisserie."

"Alright, alright, so they make other baked items of sugary goodness. They still have a whole display of pies, and they sell it by the slice, or get this, in a tasting trio!"

Sam rolled his eyes at his older brother's antics, knowing that at least in part the banter was meant to lift his spirits. "Yeah, well, I read that the bakery has only been popular for the last three months. Before that, it was just another struggling bakery on the verge of closing. I wouldn't be surprised if it's just flash in the pan."

"Yeah, yeah, just get in there you heathen. You just don't understand the appeal of pie."

Despite Sam's teasing, the shop did in fact have a wall of what smelled like freshly baked pies behind the counter, as well as signs indicating the various flavors and combinations available.

"What can I get you boys?" asked the motherly figure behind the counter after she had finished ringing up the family in front of them.

"Oh, there are too many to choose from." Dean groaned in delight. "I'm definitely getting a trio, but how can I narrow it down to just three of these beauties?"

"Well, our seasonal peach is excellent and only around for a short time, and you can never go wrong with apple, or you could always just let my chef surprise you." The woman said with a patient smile, apparently this wasn't the first time she'd seen this kind of decision paralysis.

"You know what," Dean glanced down at her name tag, "Donna, I think that is an excellent idea. I look forward to being surprised."

"Alrighty. How about you sweetie?" She turned her eyes toward Sam.

"I'll just take a slice of apple please." Sam answered.

"Absolutely, why don't you boys have a seat, and we'll bring things right out." The lady smiled sweetly, indicating the booths by the windows.

"Remind me why we're here again?" Sam asked as he folded himself onto the small bench.

"Uh pie, Sammy, pie does not need a reason, pie is the reason." Dean said clearly dodging the subject.

"Yeah, well, pie aside shouldn't we be looking for another job? Or, call me crazy, but hunting down the demon." Sam asked.

"Who says we can't look for a job and eat pie at the same time?" Sam gave his brother a look, and he sighed. "Look, we don't have any leads, alright, and I just think taking a moment to catch our breath and regroup would do us some good. Who the hell knows what that yellow-eyed son of a bitch is up to, and frankly this was the nearest town with a decent motel. Seems as good a place as any to hole up and comb the papers. Besides, from what I hear, the whole town is practically a battlefield so I wouldn't exactly be surprised if there wasn't something at least a little up our alley around here. Someone's got to have a poltergeist or two knocking around."

"Alright, I have an apple and a chef's tr…" A new voice trailed off, as a young woman in a chef's coat approached the table carrying a tray. "Dean?"

Dean glanced up, all of the color draining from his face as he took in the newcomer. Sam watched as his brother stood, clearly about to say something when the woman set down the tray on a nearby table only to turn and slap Dean hard across the face.

Sam was on his feet in an instant, but Dean held out a hand. "It's ok, Sam, I probably deserved that. Good to see you too, Bree." He said, rubbing his cheek. She'd really gotten him good.

"Damn right you did, you bastard!" She shouted, her chest heaving. She raised her arm to slap him again, but this time he grabbed her by the forearm.

"Uh-uh - I'll give you the first one, for old time's sake, but I'll be damned if you get two free shots, Bree. Now you want to tell me just what in the holy hell you are doing here? I seem to recall you living on the other side of the country studying to be a lawyer."

"What do you care? Where were you when I actually needed you?" She spluttered, hands on her hips.

"Well I think you made it pretty clear you didn't need me, don't you think?" Dean countered, and Sam winced at the pain in his brother's tone.

"Right, because nothing says I don't need you like asking you not to leave!" She shot back.

Seeing the attention they were drawing, Sam stepped in between the woman and his brother. They couldn't exactly afford some good Samaritan calling the cops, not after Milwaukee. "Guys, do you think we could take this somewhere a little more private?"

"Good idea Sammy, in fact, better yet why don't we just go. Clearly, we aren't welcome!" Dean answered, his jaw clenched in an obvious attempt to keep his temper under control. He grabbed his coat heading toward the exit, but turned back to retrieve the pie from where it had been abandoned. "I am taking my damned pie though."

"Great, leaving always was what you did best." The woman said as she watched Dean leave the small bakery.

Sam turned to the woman and attempted a placating smile."Look obviously you and my brother have some sort of bad blood. We're staying in Spotsylvania for a couple of days, why don't you come by after you get off and we can try to work this out." He didn't know what prompted him to offer the olive branch, but it just felt like the right thing to do.

Sadly, it wasn't the first time Sam had witnessed an irate woman run his brother off after presumably a drunken one-night stand. This seemed different though.

Receiving no reply beyond a bit lip, he pulled out a pen and paper. "I'll tell you what, here's my number and where we're staying. If you decide you do want to work this out great, just get in touch, if not we'll be leaving town in a few days and you likely won't ever have to see me or my brother again."

#

Dean huffed and banged the steering wheel for the third time as Sam slid into the passenger side of the Impala. Three years and ten months and it still hurt to be in the same room with her. With Cassie, at least he'd known where they had stood. Known things were over and why. It had been hard, especially before they had reconciled a few months ago, and a part of him still loved her, would always love her, but they lived incompatible lives and he'd made his peace with it.

Bree on the other hand … There had always been more questions than answers when it came to them. They'd spent one glorious month together - longer than he'd ever spent with anyone apart from Robin, and that had just been a boyhood crush for a good deal of those two months. Bree though, with Bree he had thought that maybe … Well it didn't matter what he thought because she'd encouraged him to go back on the road with his dad and promptly acted like he'd never existed. Didn't even have the decency to dump him properly, not that that would have been really any better.

So why the hell was she the one acting like the spurned lover? Like he had been the one to drop her? And damn if he didn't just want to march right back in there and grovel anyway, hoping she might deign to take him back. What was wrong with him? He knew he was a glutton for punishment, but come on.

"So, disgruntled one-night stand?" Sam's voice interrupted his self-loathing, and he glanced over at his brother, not really having registered what had been said.

"What?" He asked, as it dawned on him Sam was expecting an answer.

"I just asked if she was a disgruntled one-night stand or something along those lines."

"Not exactly" was all he was really willing to say at that point. If only it was that simple. He knew that Sam thought he was, at best, a player, an upfront womanizer, who had very little interest in ever settling down. Not disrespectful per se, but certainly only looking for a good time. That, even factoring in Cassie, he'd never really been serious about a woman in his life - not like Sam had been about Jess. How did he explain that every time he'd fallen for someone, even a little, that they'd crushed his heart: ground it until it was unrecognizable? That the womanizing was an act of self-defence. How could he explain that to his still grieving baby brother, whose experiences in love had been so different, if no less tragic? He couldn't do that to Sammy, no it was best he just kept his thoughts to himself.

"Dude, you ok? What's going on?" Sam asked, the concern evident in his voice.

"I'm fine. Let's just head back to the motel." He answered, slipping his keys into the impala's ignition. Ever dependable, Baby's engine roared to life. At least she would never just drop him like a hot potato. He threw the transmission into drive a little more aggressively than he'd intended and pulled out onto the narrow road, mentally apologizing to his beloved car even as he did so.

"Care to elaborate? About the girl that is?" Sam asked after a moment. Clearly, he wasn't buying his frankly bullshit response. As much as he wanted to convince himself otherwise, he was far from 'fine'.

"Not really." He said and hoped that his brother would let the subject drop. To his surprise, Sam just snorted and looked out the window. He knew the reprieve wouldn't last long but he'd take what he could get.

#

"So, Cassie wasn't the only girl you 'dated' while I was at Stanford then." It was more of a statement than a question, and Dean had to give Sam credit for putting the pieces together on his own. At least his brother had waited until they'd settled into their motel room before renewing his attack. He'd even had the decency to wait until Dean had found a beer and a fork for the pie he still fully intended to eat.

Still not really in the mood to dredge up the past, he shrugged. "No, I guess not, no it wasn't just Cassie." He took a bite of the first pie in an attempt to put off answering further. Given how emotional he was already feeling it was a mistake. Flavors overwhelmed him as he couldn't help but remember the last time he'd tasted the mind-blowing concoction of pecans, bourbon, and dark chocolate. It was the first pie she'd ever made for him, the day after their fourth date. A familiar pang of longing stabbed at his heart. Even if he hadn't seen her today, she would have been on his mind.

Sam huffed, looking a little frustrated at the non-answer. "Who else is out there? I mean are we talking a lot? Is this likely to be a regular occurrence? Cause to be honest I was a bit floored when I found out about Cassie, and now you're telling me it wasn't the only time." Despite the sharpness of his words, there wasn't a lot of heat. Mostly just pain, and he realized that maybe his brother felt a little hurt at being excluded from this part of Dean's life. Well too damn bad, that's what you get when you go off and do your own thing and don't answer the phone. "Well?" Sam prompted, and Dean realized he was actually expecting an answer.

Annoyed, he made a show of counting on his fingers, muttering to himself "Carry the one …" As if it took some mental effort to remember all of the women he'd dated more than once or twice while Sam was at college. He let his brother stew for a bit more, finishing off the last of the pecan pie. Finally, he said, "Oh right, it was only the two, and now you've met them both."

Ignoring Sam's exasperated look, he started in on the second slice of pie. This one instantly transported him back to his time with Bree years ago. He was twenty-four again and had just given up his motel room in favor of her little on-campus apartment. No point in wasting money. She'd insisted on teaching him how to make peanut butter pie, as even he couldn't mess that up too badly. They'd spent hours in that tiny little kitchen of hers; not that the pie took that much time to make, but they kept getting distracted. He couldn't help the smile on his face as he remembered that they had ended up with more of the filling on each other than in the pie pan. He had thoroughly enjoyed 'cleaning' her up afterward. They'd spent what was left of the evening curled up on her university-provided couch watching Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland fall in love as Robin Hood and Maid Marion and eating Chinese right from the carton.

Sighing, he decided to put Sam out of his misery. "It was about four years ago. Dad let me go on my first long-term solo mission. We got word of a werewolf just outside of Claremont, CA. It was just after the lunar cycle when I arrived, so I settled in to try and figure out who our furry friend was during the downtime. I met Bree the first night I was there." He explained, still savoring the peanut butter pie.

"So she doesn't know about the family business?"

"No, she knows." Dean's lips tightened not liking the images the question dredged up. "She definitely knows."

"So you told her too?" He could hear Sam's resentment at the thought. Taking a deep breath, he tried to reign in his temper, reminding himself that Sam had hated lying to Jess, and that he'd never been able to be truly honest with the woman he'd loved. He couldn't blame his brother for still holding a bit of a grudge about Dean telling Cassie after they'd dated for like three weeks.

"Dude, she found out the same way most people find out about our line of work." He explained and could practically see Sam's hackles lower.

"She was attacked by the werewolf." Sam said, understanding dawning on his face. "Dean, I'm sorry, I should have realized."

Dean nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Just the thought of how he'd accidentally put her in danger sent his heart racing. He didn't want Sam digging too deep into the story, it was best to keep the past in the past. Feeling a bit masochistic, he took a bite of the last pie. It was just as good as the first two, though unlike the others, it wasn't one he'd had before. Exotic spices mixed with the tartness of fresh peaches and a rich shortbread crust. He had to admit that the place certainly lived up to the raving reviews he'd read on the way into town. Feeling on a bit safer ground he looked back at his brother, "You really need to try the pie man, all three of mine have been awesome."

Sam gave him a skeptical look but grabbed the proffered fork and took a bite of his own pie. "Wow … that is good!"

"I know right!" Dean enthused taking another bite of the peach pie.

His brother nodded, stuffing another bite in his mouth before gesturing at him with his fork. "I know you're trying to distract me by the way."

Dean shot him a guilty look, before asking "Is it working?"

"No, but we might as well hit the papers anyway." Sam said, tossing the stack of newspapers at him. Grateful for something else to focus on, he opened the top one and began to skim for anything calling for their particular skill set.

#

Sam's reading was interrupted by a knock on the door. A glance at his watch confirmed that it was after 10 already. They had been at the research for hours.

He was surprised to find the woman from earlier looking nervous. He'd offered their location as an olive branch but hadn't honestly expected her to take him up on it. "Hey, uh, wow, uh, come on in." He said, moving so that she could enter the room. "So, I didn't get a chance to introduce myself earlier, I'm Sam and you must be Bree."

She flashed him a tight smile, "Actually it's Aubrey, Aubrey Griffiths." The introduction was smooth as if it was something she was used to doing. He shook the proffered hand as he followed her deeper into the motel. He motioned to the nearby couch. She was clearly tense, although given the interaction he'd witnessed that afternoon, he couldn't really blame her.

"Sorry, I thought Dean called you ..." He trailed off, feeling a little awkward as he sat down next to her.

"Look this was probably a mistake, I should go, I'm probably just..." She mumbled, starting to head back towards the door.

"No, stay, it looked like you two needed to work a few things out back at the shop. I can ..." He stood too, gesturing vaguely at the door. His brother clearly still had feelings for this woman, and who was he to stand in the way of that? She'd taken him up on the olive branch. Maybe if he disappeared for a bit, they could actually talk.

"What's wrong?" Dean asked, cutting him off. From his tone, it was clear that he'd recognized something in her that Sam, himself, hadn't. One glance at his brother confirmed that he was in full protective mode. Any lingering feelings from the afternoon had been dropped in favor of honest concern. Looking back at Aubrey, he noticed that she seemed a little more afraid than nervous, and kicked himself for not noticing it earlier.

Aubrey sighed, still not meeting his brother's eye. "For the last few weeks, it's felt like someone's following me. I can't say why exactly, just that it does. I actually kind of thought it was you this afternoon, what with you showing up out of the blue at the shop. That maybe, I don't know … but then tonight, when I got home … I'd swear someone's been in my apartment. Nothing's missing. There's no signs of forced entry, it's just things seem like they've been moved around. I guess I'm just spooked. I don't really know anyone in the area yet. What I do know though, is that regardless of our personal relationship, I can trust you to not just dismiss it like I'm crazy."

All business, Dean nodded. "Do you think you were followed coming here?"

Aubrey shook her head. "I don't think so. Given everything, I left my car in front of my apartment and caught a cab from the grocery store across the street. I left through my back patio." Sam was impressed, not many would have been so thorough about not being followed. He noticed Dean didn't seem surprised.

"Good girl." His brother gave her a quick nod of approval. "Now, give me your keys."

"Why?" She looked a little flabbergasted at the request. Clearly, that had not been what she expected.

"Well, unless you want Sammy here snooping around your place, rummaging through your underwear drawer…"

Aubrey raised an eyebrow in response, and Sam could have sworn there was a hint of amusement mixed in with the exasperation. "Underwear drawer?"

"You're staying with us till we figure out what's going on. I thought you might like a few essentials, considering I'm going to go check the place out anyway. I mean if you want to send Sammy, and hang out here with me ..." Dean gave her a challenging look, which she appeared to take in her stride.

She tossed her keys at him in answer. "I live in the Breezewood Apartments just up the road, unit 101-4."