A/N- There's a sexy fun times version of this chapter. Check my profile for the link to Ao3.

Dean took her hand and pulled her towards him. She didn't resist him. "What are you doing?" Mae asked as she slid into his lap but he caught the slight smile on her lips.

He pressed his face against her chest for a moment, kissing the delicate skin that showed just above the V-neck over her blue and grey stripped t-shirt. He inhaled, letting her scent fill his lungs and take his mind from everything else for just one moment. He wanted so desperately to lose himself with this woman that he felt a twinge in his bones as an errant thought about what it would be like settling into an apartment like this, without a ghost of course, with her and having a regular, boring life.

The thought left as soon as it came. There was a point when the thought itself would have alarmed him. Instead, knowing they couldn't have it and possibly she didn't want it, left him crestfallen. He was still glad to have her, even if it was like this. He didn't know how she had so quickly become this source of calm in his life. He pulled back and looked up at her face now.

"Just lemme have this. Five minutes. Let me... be with you, okay?" He said softly, running his fingertips along the curves of her face and neck up to her chin where he tilted her mouth toward his own lips and kissed her gently.

She ran her knuckle down his cheek tenderly, biting back a smile. "I love you babe, and I'm usually up for most anything but screwing you in a Barcalounger three feet from your brother isn't something I can get into and I don't think I can give it a go just because you're into it."

"Get your mind outta the gutter Red. I'm not into that, just for the record." He said with a playful swat to her hip. "I just wanna sit here together, okay? It's been a couple days since we've just had some alone time."

Dean reached over the arm of the chair and pressed a lever until the footrest clicked into its full upright position. Mae scoffed at him, but she settled against his body anyway. "We're with each other constantly and this isn't exactly alone time."

"Shhh," he stroked her hair couldn't resist capturing her lips for a quick kiss. He knew they would both be far more comfortable if he let her have the chair and slept on the floor or they both slept on the floor but he wasn't going to apologize for taking advantage of every opportunity they had like this. "Don't pick it apart."

His nearness was soothing. It had been enough time since she'd let herself be truly intimate with someone that she forgot how delightful it felt to know the exact way something would be-how his stubble scraped against her skin, how his mouth would taste if she shifted up to kiss him, how much she liked his familiar musk when he hadn't showered in a day or two, how heavy his arm felt around her waist, how he would let his fingers almost mindlessly move the hem of her shirt up just enough to slide against the bare flesh on her waist and tuck inside her jeans.

When he turned his head again, she pressed a kiss to the side of his jaw before relaxing against him, resting her head on his shoulder. Dean let his eyes close as his arm settled protectively but loosely at her waist. They didn't speak as their breathing slowed and their muscles relaxed until they were still and not necessarily asleep, just part of each other like two puzzle pieces that belonged having spent too long apart.

She placed a hand on his chest as if to make sure he was still there, and he covered hers with his own. Her fingers brushed slowly back and forth across the front of his shirt as if she was sifting through sand looking for lid fragments or pottery shards by touch instead of sight. There was nothing intentionally sexual about their movements but he knew if they were alone, he would have had her naked by now. Despite her protests and the truly uncomfortable chair, it wasn't long before both fell asleep.

The morning found Dean twisted in an awkward position, alone now on the recliner. Sirens nearby woke him. He groaned and frowned in part from the position, in part because he missed Mae. He was accustomed to waking next to her warmth, having largely free access to her for lazy morning sex, and mostly missed that even sleeping in a chair in a haunted apartment wasn't as bad when he did it with her. He tried to stretch his body out.

Jo sat at the table, twirling her knife as she studied the notes and blueprints in front of her. "Morning, princess."

"Where's Mae and Sam?" He asked gruffly.

"Went to get coffee."

Dean sat up slowly, grimacing.

'"You know," Jo said, eyeing Dean a moment and then looking away. "You're not the first hunter she's hooked up with. You're probably not even the 10th."

Dean's brow quirked up, unsure how to react. He was torn between feeling protective of Mae and amused at Jo's jealousy. It wasn't as if Mae was ashamed of her sex life. Aside from the time with his dad, he didn't really care who else she might have slept with, and they'd already dealt with that situation. "Who? Mae?"

"Yeah. She gets around is all." Jo folded her arms across her chest, looking more than a little angry as she met Dean's eyes with a stern glare.

Dean pursed his lips thoughtfully for a moment and then replied, "Me and her? It's not really any of your business but technically, I am the first hunter she hooked up. And I'm not into prude chicks anyway."

Jo fiddled with her knife and cast a disappointed glance at Dean. "So, you don't mind that she's been with other hunters before?"

"Hey," Dean said, pointing his finger in Jo's direction. "she's never kept it a secret. I'd be stupid to think a girl like her wouldn't get a lot of guys goin'." His smile was sharp and a little cold. "Besides, Mae's had a lot of experiences I doubt I could compete with so I'm not going to start comparing myself against her past now."

He stood up from the recliner and stretched out. "Ugh. My back. How'd you sleep on that big soft bed?"

"I didn't." Dean's brow quirked at that, "Just been going over everything."

Dean looked down at Jo, considering. He grabbed one of their bags, placed it on the table, and pulled out a Bowie knife. He removed it from its sheath and held the hilt out to her with a smirk. "Here."

"What's this for?"

"Work a hell of a lot better than that little pig-sticker you're twirling around."

Jo took the knife but also handed him hers. Dean examined it until he saw the engraved WAH on the blade. "William Anthony Harvelle." She said.

"I'm sorry. My mistake." He said softly. He handed the knife back to her, taking back his and sheathing it.

"What do you.. what do you remember about your dad? I mean, what's the first thing that pops into your head?"

Dean shook his head. He hardly wanted to discuss these things with Mae and Sam, let alone Jo.

"Come on, tell me." She said with a little laugh before he face fell, turning more serious.

He worried his lower lip a moment before he decided to share. "I was six or seven, and uh," he sat down at the table "he took me shooting for the first time. You know, bottles on a fence, that kind of thing. I bulls-eyed every one of 'em. And he would smile, like..." He enjoyed the memory until reality crept back in. "I don't know."

"He must have been proud."

Dena chuckled, not sure if his father was or not but knowing it hardly made a difference now. He cast his eyes to the side before asking her, "What about your dad?"

"I was still in pigtails when my dad died, but I remember him coming home from a hunt. He'd burst through that door like, like Steve McQueen or something. And he'd sweep me up in his arms, and I'd breathe in that old leather jacket of his. And my mom, who was sour and pissed from the minute he left, she started smiling again. And we were... we were a family. You wanna know why I want to do the job? For him. It's my way of being close to him. Now tell me what's wrong with that."

"Nothing."

Sam and Mae burst in the apartment. Dean turned to look back at both of them, a deep frown forming. "Where's the coffee?"

"There are cops outside." Dean still frowned, not entirely sure why that would stop them from returning with that blissful caffeine. "Another girl disappeared." Sam said.

Sam and Jo stood at the table again, studying the notes and photos when Mae and Dean returned. Dean held the door open for Mae and shut it once they were inside.

"This guy's getting bolder," Mae said as she as she shrugged out of her jacket, "grabbing a girl so soon after the last one. And it seems to be getting stronger, judging by the apartment."

"Teresa Ellis, Apartment 2F. Boyfriend reported her missing around dawn." Dean added as they walked over to the table.

"And her apartment?" Jo asked.

"Cracks all over the plaster, walls, ceiling. There was ectoplasm, too."

"Well, between that and that tuft of hair I'd say this sucker's coming from the walls." Sam said.

Dean agreed but had a more pressing question. "But who is it? Building's history is totally clean."

Jo picked up the photograph she had been studying. "Well, maybe we're looking in the wrong place."

"What do you mean?" Dean asked.

"Check this out." Jo said.

Sam and Mae looked over the photo. "An empty field?" Sam asked.

Jo nodded. "It's where this building was built. Take a look at the one next door. The windows."

"Bars." Sam confirmed.

"We're next door to a prison?"

"Hmm...well that opens up a lot of possibilities, none of them good." Mae said to Dean.

They needed to learn as much as they could about the land and the buildings surrounding it, name the prison, as fast as they could. Jo call Ash.

"Thanks, Ash. And if you breathe a word of this to my mom... That's right. I will. With pliers." She hung up and turned back to the trio. "Okay. Moyamensing prison. Built in 1835, torn down in 1963. And get this. They used to execute people by hanging them in the empty field next door."

Sam nodded. "Well, then, we need a list. All the people executed there."

"Ash is already on it." Jo said.

The problem with the list was it was quite long, covering all the years the prison was active and any of them could have decided they had unfinished business over the decades. Sam scrolled down the list of names as he sat at his laptop, Mae and Dean flanking him and reading over his shoulder. "A hundred fifty seven names?"

Dean shook his head. "We've gotta narrow that down."

Sam agreed.

"Or else we're gonna be digging up a hell of a lot of stiffs." Dean said.

Sam continued to scroll down through the list and stopped on one he recognized. He clicked on it, frowning. "Herman Webster Mudgett?"

"Seriously?" Mae asked, angling her head to the side, "That would fit."

"Yeah?" Jo asked, not sure of the significance or what Sam and Mae had figured out.

"Wasn't that H. H. Holmes' real name?" Sam asked.

"You've gotta be kiddin' me."

"Yep. Holmes was executed at Moyamensing, May 7, 1896." Dean said, looking over scans of old newspapers on the laptop.

"You know, his neck didn't snap when he was hung. It took him something like 20 minutes to finally strangle. Might give him extra reason to hang around and keep doing his work, aside from wanting to keep killing chicks."

Sam scoffed, almost impressed that they might have found the spirit of a well-known murderer. "H. H. Holmes himself. Come on, I mean, what are the odds?" Sam said.

"Who is this guy?" Jo asked.

"The term "multi-murderer." They coined it to describe Holmes. He was America's first serial killer, before anybody knew what a serial killer was.

"Yeah, Sam added, "he confessed to twenty seven murders, but some put the death toll at over a hundred."

"And his victim flavor of choice? Pretty petite blondes. He, uh, he used chloroform to kill 'em." Dean thought back, "Which is what I smelled in the hallway last night. At his place, cops found human remains, bone fragments, and long locks of bloody blonde hair. Boy, you sure know how to pick 'em."

"Well, we just find the bones, salt 'em and burn 'em, right?" Jo asked.

"Well, it's not that easy. His body is buried in town, but it's encased in a couple tons of concrete."

"What? Why?" Jo asked.

"The story goes that he didn't want anybody mutilating his corpse. 'Cause, you know, that's what he used to do." Dean said.

"Grave robbing wasn't that uncommon to secure medical cadavers. You know, at the time." Mae shrugged when Dean turned to her, questioning.

"Why do you know that?" He was unsure if he should be creeped out or impressed, even his he was getting used to the weird facts she kept in her head.

"You know somethin'." Sam interrupted any further conversation between the two. "We might have an even bigger problem than that." Sam said.

"How does this get bigger?" Jo asked.

"Holmes built an apartment building in Chicago. He called it the Murder Castle. The whole place was a death factory, they had, uh, trap doors, acid vats, quick lime pits... he built these secret chambers inside the walls. He'd lock his victims in, keep them alive for days. Some he'd suffocate, others he'd let starve to death."

"So a serial killer ghost with enough juice to put out ectoplasm and abduct victims...could potentially recreate something like that." Mae posited, "Well, stopping him is not gonna be a good time."

"But Teresa could still be alive. She could be inside these walls."

"We need sledgehammers, crowbars. We've got to smash these walls, anywhere thick enough to hide a girl." Dean said as he stood, ready to get to work.

Sam and Mae paired up again to search inside the walls, starting on the first floor. The space was tight, dark, and it was best not to think about the critters whose homes they were disturbing, ghosts notwithstanding.

"You think me an' you are actually gonna find this ghost like this?" Mae asked Sam.

He stopped and turned back to look at her. "You don't wanna even look now?"

She held his gaze for a moment. "We can search but, you know, we're not ghosts so we can't get everywhere it would go. Plus, you know H.H. Holmes went out of his way to hide his dirty deeds, except the polygamy. It's not like he can't be mobile in this building and could evade us by going somewhere we've already check. And without a dye job and a drastic diet, we're not petite blonde girls, Sam."

Sam sighed, knowing she was right and the short work they were making of the first floor wasn't disproving her.

"Still..." he said anyway, as they started forward again.

Mae waved it off. "Yeah. Still." He waited for her to say something else but she finished with that last statement and let silence fall between them.

"We can't use Jo as bait. She's not...us." Sam said.

"I'm not suggesting we do but we did just send a blonde girl into the walls where a serial killer's ghost has been stalking blondes and presumably disappearing them his serial killer torture lair."

"She's with Dean." Sam said, slightly more uncertain now.

Mae didn't say anything but she didn't hide the arch of her eyebrow. Sam's phone rang and they stopped their progress through the walls. "Yeah," Sam replied, "Nothing yet. You?" He waited a beat. "Okay. We're still have the southeast wall to cover."

"They haven't found any more yet either." Sam said when he got off the phone.

Mae sighed. "If any of these girls were still alive and they were in the walls, don't you think someone would have heard something by now? Wouldn't we have found some sign?"

"What are you saying?" Sam said with a frown.

She didn't need to explain it more but she did anyway. "We're either too late or they're somewhere else."

Again, Mae was right. "Yeah but where?"

"He liked to go underground. Probably part of how he got over here."

Sam had considered that but he hadn't identified anything that would fit yet. "There's no underground here, no basement."

"There's always stuff under the city streets. Bigger question is can we get in there."

Dean ran headlong into Mae and Sam in the hallway, shoulder checking his brother as he rounded the corner., obviously panicked.

"Whoa," Sam said, halting his brother. Mae ran into Sam's back when he abruptly stopped and turned.

"He's got Jo."

"What? How'd that happen?"

Dean's speech was rapid, aggravated. He was mad, but mostly with himself. "I wasn't with her; I left her alone. Dammit!"

"Hey, hey, look, we'll find her, all right?" Sam said.

"Where?"

"Inside the walls."

Dean shook his head, already having come to the same conclusion Mae had. "We've been inside the walls all night. None of the other girls were there, she won't be either."

They regrouped inside the apartment, blueprints spread out again. There were only so many places a human could go in a building and, while there was nothing tying the spirit to this specific building, it didn't seem to be going far from its current hunting ground.

"Look. We've just gotta take a beat and think about this. Maybe we got Holmes' M.O. wrong." Sam said.

"Yeah, well, we'd better friggin' think fast."

"You know-" Mae started but Dean cut her off.

"Don't start."

She glared back at him but her expression softened slightly as she took in his pained expression. "I'm not starting. I'm helping figure out where two, hopefully alive, girls might be."

Dean opened his mouth but didn't say anything since his phone rang.

"Yeah."

"You lied to me. She's there."

"Ellen." Dean turned back to Sam, who gave him a 'what did you expect' look as he went through their papers.

"No - Ash told me everything. Man's a genius, but he folds like a cheap suit. Now you put my damn daughter on the phone."

"She's gonna have to call you back, she's taking care of, uh, feminine business."

Even though he didn't turn back, Dean was certain Mae grimaced at his word choice. She lightly thwacked the small of his back with her hand.

"Yeah, right. Where is she? Where is she?!"

Dean took a short, steeling breath, knowing he couldn't lie to her, even if the truth was worse. "Look, we'll get her back."

"Get her back? Back from what?"

"The spirit we're hunting, it took her."

"Oh my god."

"She'll be okay, I promise." Dean said resolutely.

"You promise. That is not the first time I've heard that from a Winchester."

Confusion creased his features. "What?"

"If anything happens to her..."

"It won't. I won't let it. Ellen, I'm sorry, I really am."

"I'm taking the first flight out. I'll be there in a few hours." She hung up on Dean.

"Damn it!" Dean exclaimed.

"Don't beat yourself up, Dean. There's nothing you could have done."

"Tell me you've got something."

"Uh, maybe. Mae got me thinking. Look. You look at the layout of the Holmes murder castle, there's all the torture chambers inside the walls, right?"

"Right." Dean agreed lightly.

"But there's one we haven't considered yet. The one in this basement."

"This building doesn't have a basement."

"You're right, it doesn't. But I just noticed this. Beneath the foundation, it looks like part of an old sewer system that hasn't been used for —"

"Let's go."

That was all he needed to hear. Dean grabbed his jacket and books. Since they didn't have other options, Mae and Sam following closely behind.

The three walked down the street; Sam with a metal detector, Dean with a shovel, and Mae with a set of blueprints. They used a metal detector to locate an entrance to the old sewer system. Their search brought them to an empty field behind some buildings. Sam continued to scan the ground until the metal detector whined. "Here."

Dean dropped his bag and started digging at a rapid pace. Mae and Sam exchanged a brief but worried look before taking in the area around them. It seemed relatively deserted although, they couldn't be certain they wouldn't be seen. Not that they had time to worry about that right then. After Dean had dug down enough, they all dropped to their knees to uncover a metal hatch with their hands, Sam being cared of the cast he still wore. It opened without too much resistance. Dean handed Mae and Sam a shot gun, taking one himself. With flashlights in hand, they entered the sewer.

They walked in the direction of the building they had been staying in. Narrow tunnels were their only way forward and panting with exhaustion, they crawled through the narrow passage in single file, trying to ignore what they all hoped was just water as they made their way forward. They continued until, near the exit of the tunnel, they heard low but distinctly female voices. In front of them, though still behind a metal grate was a larger chamber that was serving as Holmes' prison. Outside of the tunnel, they were able to stand and saw the ghost reaching into a nook in the wall. "Hey!" Dean yelled to draw his attention towards him.

At the same time, he fired his shotgun, loaded with salt rounds into the ghost, sending him flying backwards and out of sight. It was a temporary solution but gave them time to rescue Jo. "Jo?!" Dean yelled as he opened the grate.

"I'm here!" She replied.

Fortunately, there was a piece of metal rebar, leaning against the wall, which Dean used to pry open the cell Jo was in.

Sam and Mae hurried to investigate the other cells. In one, Sam found someone's remains, presumably one of the missing women. Fortunately, in another, there was a very alive Teresa who reached out a hand through the narrow opening as Mae shone her light in.

"Hey!" Mae called to the boys. "She's okay. She's here."

Sam joined Mae, looking into the compartment. "We're gonna get you out of here, all right?" Teresa nodded back.

"Sam!" Dean called out, handing the bar to Sam. "Hang on," he said to Jo as he opened the cell. "You all right?" He asked her.

Jo was a mess but grateful that the other hunters had found her quickly. "Been better. Let's get the hell out of here before he comes back."

"Actually, I don't think you're leaving here just yet." Dean said.

"What?"

"Remember when I said you being bait was a bad plan? Now it's kind of the only one we got."

Dean turned to Mae and Sam who had helped Teresa out of the makeshift prison cell. Sam was holding her now and he shrugged. Mae touched her shoulder gently. "C'mon," Mae said to Teresa, "Let's get you outta here. Your family is worried."

"Who the hell was that freak? Teresa asked as they crawled back through the tunnels towards the surface. She had taken some convincing that it was the only way out but ultimately followed Mae through the dank and dark.

"Honestly? I'm not sure that it helps you to know that or that you'll even believe it. But, my friends back there are going to make sure that he can never put anyone else through what you went through."

"They're gonna kill him?" She asked, a bit alarmed.

"Well, the good news there is no. But only because he's already dead."

"You think that was a ghost?"

"Yeah, a pretty nasty one."

"You believe in ghosts." She asked incredulously.

"I've met enough to and now so have you. But listen, whatever you need to believe to get back to your regular life is fine."

She considered what the redheaded stranger said for a moment. "I'm moving the hell outta that building."

"That's a good idea."

Mae walked Teresa back to the apartment before returning to the opening into the sewer system. It wasn't just that she didn't want to crawl back through the sewer and back to the surface again that Mae waited for the boys and Jo on the surface. They had a solid plan and it wouldn't aid them for her to get in the middle of it.

If they didn't come up after enough time, she'd go back down but when Dean emerged from the hatch.

"We good?" She asked him.

"Almost." He smirked. "You wanna go commit grand larceny with me?"

"Oh, you take me on the nicest dates!" she said with a heady laugh.

He grinned at her, looping his arm through hers, chivalrously. "C'mon. Sam'll look after Jo. We've gotta get a crap ton of cement."

"So? This job as glamorous as you thought it would be?" Sam asked

"Well, except for all the pee-your-pants terror, yeah. Sure." Sam chuckled. "But that Teresa girl's gonna live a life because of us. It's worth it, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Yeah it is."

Jo looked back down at the entrance. "Hey, what if somebody finds that sewer down there, or a storm washes the salt away?"

"Both very fine points. Which is why we're waiting here."

"For what?" Jo asked.

She was answered with the loud peeing of the cement truck as Dean backed into the field. "For that"

Sam signaled to Dean when he was near enough to the entrance hatch

"Ho!"

Mae and Dean got out of the cap and set up the sluice to start the flow of cement down into the opening.

"You ripped off a cement truck?" Jo asked, surprised and impressed.

"I'll give it back." They watched the cement flow down and start to fill the open area. "Well, that oughta keep him down there till hell freezes over."

They returned the apartment to gather their gear, maybe clean up a bit before hitting the road. Neither Sam, Dean, nor Mae discussed it but they all agreed their first task was to take Jo back to Ellen. They didn't need to be stuck in the middle of their family drama. They certainly had enough of their own.

The knock at the door that came next startled them. Mae assumed it was Teresa, as she'd told her they were staying at the apartment and would be there until tomorrow. They shouldn't have surprised them when Mae opened the door to find Ellen there instead.

Dean sped, more than usual, as they made their way back to Nebraska. Mae, Sam, and Jo sat in the back seat, despite Dean's plea to Mae for her to sit up front. She had let him know it wasn't her idea to lie to Ellen so she wasn't going to help make it more comfortable now. He knew she was right but didn't like it. At least Mae made Sam sit in the middle.

It certainly couldn't have been more uncomfortable Dean thought. "Well, you, you really weren't kidding about flying out, were you?" He tried to give her a charming grin but it had no affect.

Ellen didn't respond, her stony gaze focused straight ahead. Sam and Jo exchanged a worried glance. Dean puffed his cheeks out a moment and blew out a breath.

"How about we listen to some music?" He said, trying to lighten the mood.

He turned on the radio, which was playing Cold as Ice. Ellen quickly turned it back off. With a sigh, Dean resigned himself to the situation. "This is gonna be a long drive."

They drove for several hours in complete, tense, silence until Ellen finally spoke.

"This is the stupidest thing you've ever done."

It wasn't clear who she was referring to but it was safe to assume all of them could be in her sights.

Jo protested first. "Mom-"

"You're lucky you weren't hurt or worse. Things go wrong all the time." she paused a moment, "Why don't you ask Mae what happened with her husband?"

Dean knew the daggers Mae's eyes would have been casting at Ellen, even without looking back towards her. Despite their closeness, Mae didn't share things she didn't think were strictly necessary or might evoke significant emotions in her.

"Oh screw you Ellen." Dean, Sam, and Jo all went wide eyed. "Why don't you tell her what happened with your husband, huh? What I told you about what happened to me was incredibly private and personal. I didn't tell anyone else. You don't get to use me as a cautionary tale for how shitty and dangerous it is to be a lady hunter. If I wanted to tell your daughter, I would have told your daughter. But by all means, you wanna tell her all my shit, go for it."

Sam and Jo and braced for Ellen's reaction to Mae's words and were more confused when nothing came. No lecture, no reprimand about language or tone. There was only more quiet tension. Dean however tried to catch Mae's eyes in the rear-view mirror. Maybe that was why she kept her gaze focused out the window. He did note her jaw was set firm as she tried to control her temper or perhaps her tears. He wondered what she had only told Ellen.

The women were out of the Impala quicker than Dean would have anticipated but they went separate directions. Ellen rounded the car to grab her daughter, pulling her by the elbow towards the Roadhouse. Mae on the other hand started walking towards the road.

"Maeby, what are you doing?" Dean asked, more than tired and exasperated. He didn't want to deal with Mae's mood too, not right then.

"I'm taking a walk before I do or say something stupid."

There wasn't any stopping her so he didn't. Unless she was able to hitch a ride or come across a car to hot wire, she was only foot and he was pretty sure she would keep walking until she felt stupid and turned back or waited somewhere up the road.

The boys followed the two women inside. Before he could deal with Mae, he wanted to apologize. "Ellen? This is my fault. Okay? I lied to you and I'm sorry. But Jo did good out there, I think her dad would be proud."

She had looked like she might almost forgive him, until he brought up Ellen's husband. "Don't you dare say that. Not you. I need a moment with my daughter. Alone."

Dean was taken aback. It was the second time she'd implied that because it was him or because he was John Winchester's son, there was more wrong with what had happened. Still, they honored her instruction and stepped outside.

Sam looked up the road a bit. He couldn't see Mae but was sure she was still headed in that direction. "Shouldn't we go after her?" Sam asked.

"It's not like there are many places she can go." Although Dean desperately wanted to follow Mae, make sure she was safe, and take care of her, he knew however it was often better to let her cool down, least she turn her temper on him. It was day time, there wasn't much traffic, and she could certainly handle herself alone for a few minutes.

"Still," Sam said, "I think I should make sure she's okay."

Dean nodded. "Good. I just...wanna wrap things up here."

"Hey, Mae! Wait up." She didn't stop or slow. Sam jogged up next to her. "Hey."

"Dean send you to check on me?"

"No. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine, Sam. Just...I needed some space. I'm not gettin' in the middle of that fight." She slowed down a bit as Sam fell into step beside her.

"Probably a good thing. Ellen's pretty pissed."

Mae sighed. "She's not wrong. No one should wanna do this just because their family did it."

"Is that why Jo's so fired up to get out there?"

"I'm guessing. Her dad was a hunter."

"You knew him?"

"I'm not 40! I mean, I think I met him once since John, Bobby, and Bill knew each other back in the day but it wasn't like...you know, Bobby and John. You'd have to ask Bobby how much time he spent here but he didn't bring me around more than a couple of time."

"So... how'd you and Ellen get off on such bad terms?"

"It's kinda what I do. I'm super unpleasant." She said with a self-deprecating smirk.

"No you're not."

"So you boys keep saying." She let out a heavy breath, "Seriously, it's me. She tried to help me, I guess, just not the way I wanted. What would you have done if, after Jessica, everyone- Dean, your Dad, me- we shut you out and told you to go back to your normal life, even though you knew you could do something to...at least stop others from getting hurt?"

"I-I don't know."

"Well, maybe you would have been smarter, more rational than I was. I kind of lashed out at everyone who Bobby told to blacklist me when I came to them for help and- I guess I'm still bitter about it. I think Ellen might get that, at the very least, she doesn't hold it against me. But... I don't know, I don't need anyone to try to look after me now."

"That's too bad, Red."

She stopped and turned to look at Sam as he grinned down at her. He never called her 'Red', not that she minded. "What does that mean?"

"You're stuck with Dean and me, and we're gonna look after you."

Mae laughed as he put an arm over her shoulder. "How are you gonna do that? You got your wrist broke by a dead girl!"

"That zombie was crazy strong." He laughed.

There was no way they were staying at the Roadhouse that night, even if Ellen had offered. It might be a while until she did that again, if she or Jo ever decided she wanted the three of them there. Dean had picked up Mae and Sam along the side of the road after Jo had revealed what she about his dad. After that, they found themselves at another motel in another town they wouldn't remember. Maybe they should take a few days to unwind, Dean thought as they got their room keys.

He was going to suggest as much when Mae groaned as they dropped their things in their motel room. "I need a shower."

"You mean, before we mess around?" Dean asked, eyeing her with far too more hunger than she was anticipating

"We haven't showered in three days, spent the better part of a day inside gross cobwebby walls, and crawled through an old sewer, which by the way was the worst way you've ever gotten me wet. Do you really wanna get up in this," she gestured to herself exaggeratedly, "after all that?"

"Yeah. I mean, not because of the first part but if my options are sex or no sex, I'll take you dirty, yeah."

"Okay, gross. And it wasn't one or the other. It'll be way more enjoyable after a shower."

"You really don't know how hot I think you are, do you?"

"You're not shy about it but you must be super horny, or super in love to not want to spend 10 minutes on shower first."

A/ N-There's currently technical issues on the platform which mean stats aren't displaying so, if you're enjoying the story, please like, follow, or review. I'd really appreciate it since there's not currently a way for me to gauge interest. Thanks!