Restlessness in the clinic did not settle as night fell and the reality of their predicament set in. Mark peered through the drawn shades. While the clinic provided them some measure of security, it also left them pinned in. He regarded the people gathered outside cautiously. Behind him, Sam pulled out a hunting knife and checked the blade. Dean loaded his gun before casting his eyes towards Mae, watching her check and organize some of their defensive supplies, for all the good they might do them against people infected with a virus, demonic or otherwise.

With a gentle nudge from his boot, he leaned in close to her and spoke in a hushed tone. "How you holding up, Red?" The sound of his voice was like a balm to her nerves.

She nodded slowly before shrugging halfheartedly. "I suppose I'm doing better now."

He examined her face. She had more color in her face and it seemed like the pain had passed. "So you think you can sense if someone is infected?"

"Maybe." She paused, frowning as she considered the question. "It's hard to say for sure. When we brought Beverly here earlier, I didn't feel anything until she was full blown infected but she must have been before we got to her, she just hadn't turned yet."

"And you don't feel it now?"

"I mean...not as strongly as before." Her words were tinged with uncertainty. "But I can't say I feel completely normal either. I'm just not going to pass out right now. Maybe I'm getting used to it. Maybe it's a proximity thing. I really don't know."

"So there could be others who are infected here and we're just waiting for them to turn?" His voice was edged with concern.

"Yeah. Here, outside. We don't know where this thing started but there are clearly other people infected." Her eyes scanned their surroundings warily, "And this feeling might not just be related to the virus at all."

Dean furrowed his eyebrows, clearly perplexed. "What do you mean?"

"When I've experienced this before," she explained, "I have seen a woman who warns me about things or gives me information that doesn't make sense. Maybe she can't reach me right now."

"To warn you about what's happening here."

"If there was ever a time for her to appear..." Her words trailed off as she investigated the distance, searching for any sign of the mysterious woman who had guided her in the past.

"Well, woulda been nice if you could tell for sure."

"Yeah."

Their conversation was broken by Pam's scream from the lab after she dropped a vial of blood. "Oh god! Is there any on me? Am I okay?"

"You're clean, you're okay." Dr. Lee reassured the woman.

The three hunters jogged into the room. "Why are we staying here? Please, let's just go!"

"No, we can't," Dean said, "because those things are everywhere."

Pam sunk down, as if she might be able to put her head between her knees. "Oh god..."

"Hey, shh, shh." Dr. Lee comforted her.

"She's right about one thing." Sam said, turning to Mae and Dean. "We can't stay here. We've gotta get out of here, get to the Roadhouse? Somewhere. Let people know what's coming."

Dean thought a moment, trying to come up with a good reason to stay. "Yeah, good point. Night of the Living Dead didn't exactly end pretty."

"Well, I'm not sure we've got a choice." Mark chimed in, "Lots of folks up here are good with rifles — even with all your hardware we're, we're easy targets. So unless you've got some explosives . . . "

Sam glanced up at a shelf of medical supplies and he had an idea. "We could make some."

Sam walked to the shelf and pulled down a bottled of Potassium Chloride. They all nodded. Given their skills and resources, it was the best way forward. Before they could do more, a frantic pounding drew their attention to the front of the clinic. The boys ran out to check.

"Hey! Let me in, let me in! Please!"

"It's Duane Tanner!"

Mark opened the door, letting Duane in. The young man was bloody and limping.

"Thank god." Duane said, overcome with relief

Mark looked him over. "Duane, you okay?"

"That's the guy that I, uh," Dean asked his brother, finishing the sentence with a click of his tongue.

"Yeah."

"Who else is in here?" Duane asked Mark.

Dean grabbed Duane's arm. "Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, easy there, chief. Hey Doc! Give Duane a good once-over, would you?"

Dr. Lee led the group into the lab, "Pam?"

"Who are you?" Duane asked Dean who was ensuring he didn't bolt or do anything else..

"Never mind who I am." Dean said, gesturing with his weapon. "Doc."

Dr. Lee agreed. "Yeah, okay."

"Duane." Mark's voice drew the young man's attention, "Where you been?"

"On a fishing trip up by Roslyn." The young man was confused, agitated but coherent. " I came back this afternoon. I . . . I saw Roger McGill being dragged out of his house by people we know!" as he explained, Dr. Lee put on a fresh pair of gloves while Pam gathered some basic supplies. "They started cutting him with knives! I ran, I've been hiding in the woods ever since. Has anybody seen my mom and dad?"

Dean turned to Sam and Mae. "Awkward..." He said, almost joking.

As Duane now sat on, it was evident that there was gash on his left leg. "You're bleeding." Dr. Lee said as she pulled the rip in his jeans open a bit more.

Everyone, except Duane, became more defensive, guarded. The wheels had started turning for Dean from the moment the young man showed up at the clinic but this certainly made a more persuasive argument against Duane being an innocent bystander, despite Sam's vision. "Where'd you get that?" he asked.

"I was running, I must have tripped."

"Tie him up," Dean said to Mark, after considering their options, "there's rope in there."

"Wait..."

Dean pulled his gun, aiming it at Duane out. "Sit down!" He yelled.

"I'm sorry, Duane, he's right. We've gotta be careful." Mark said before leaving the exam room to grab rope from the supplies.

"Careful? About what?" Duane asked, wondering if these people were heading down the same road as the town's people who he'd seen attack others.

"Did they bleed on you?" Dean asked.

"No, what the hell? No!"

Knowing where this could go, Sam spoke. "Doc? Any way to know for sure, any test?"

"I've studied Beverly's blood work backwards and forwards." She said.

"My mom." No one had given Duane a good answer to his question about his family before. They still hadn't.

"It took three hours for the virus to incubate. The sulfur didn't appear in the blood until then, so... no, there'd be no way of knowing. Not until after Duane turns."

"Red?" Dean asked.

"No. I don't know. I can't tell." Mae's response only drew confused looks from the others.

"Dean, we gotta talk to you. Now." Sam said.

Dean glanced at Mark, who nodded. He lowered his weapon and the three left the lab.

"Sit in that chair." they heard Mark say as they walked away.

The door shut behind them as Dean tucked his gun back in the waist band of his jeans. "This is my vision, Dean. It's happening."

"Yeah, I figured."

"You can't kill him, all right? Not yet. We don't know if he's infected or not."

"Ah, shit." Mae said pressing the back of her hand to her nose as she braced herself with her other hand table behind her. "Shit." She said again when she pulled her hand away and it was bloody. It was certainly ill timing for Duane Tanner, given that Dean was convinced she was reacting to the virus.

"Well, I think we're pretty damn sure. Guy shows up out of nowhere, he's got a cut on his leg, his whole family's infected? And that?" He said, gesturing towards Mae. He couldn't let himself soften to take care of her right now though.

"All right, then we should keep him tied up, and we should wait and see."

"For what? For him to Hulk out and infect somebody else? No thanks, can't take that chance." Dean said as he tried to step around his brother to take care of this, once and for all.

"We don't know that this has anything to do with this virus. And if it does, it could be any one of us." Mae said.

Dean looked down at her with a frown. "Then you should clean up before anyone else sees and thinks you're infected too."

"Yeah, you're right." Mae walked away, opening the door to the room, and headed back towards the restroom.

Dean used the opportunity to try to push past Sam again. His brother stopped him with a hand to his chest. "Hey look, man, I'm not happy about this, okay? But it's a tough job and you know that."

"It's supposed to be tough, Dean. We're supposed to struggle with this, that's the whole point."

"What does that buy us?"

"A clear conscience, for one!"

"Well, it's too late for that." Dean said, trying to get around his brother going by stepping to the other side.

Sam stopped him again. "What the hell's happened to you?"

"What?"

"You might kill an innocent man, and you don't even care! You don't act like yourself anymore, Dean. Hell, you know what? You're acting like one of those things out there."

"Mm-hmm."

Dean pushed past Sam again and again Sam tried to stop him but Dean shoved him back, far enough away to get out of the room. Dean was glad Mae had stepped away for the time being. She might have actually been able to stop him. He continued into the hall, locking the door behind him.

"Hey!" Sam tried to pull the door open, ratting the lock, "Open the damn door, Dean! Don't do it, Dean! Don't!"

For the first time, she wished that old woman would appear, give her some kind of cryptic message and vanished. At least then she would know she was the kind of crazy she was used to and not this new kind. Was she sensing infected people and why? How were they different from demons? Or regular humans?

She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, dabbing at the blood that ran from her nose. There wasn't a lot of blood and almost as quickly as it started, it stopped. Her head still buzzed, not full-blown pain but discomfort. She washed her hands, cleaning the blood off there and then washed her face. The cool water felt nice. She pulled some paper towels from the dispenser and dried her hands and face. Mae gave her cheek a solid couple of slaps. Before she straightened and left the bathroom. The hall, like most of the clinic was quiet, creepy but her foot falls were nearly soundless.

Mae approached the room the boys had been in. At first, it seemed empty but then a panicked Sam appeared in the window. He hit the door with the palm of his hand. "Mae! Mae, let me out! Unlock the door. We have to stop Dean."

She wasn't sure what had happened. Was she gone that long? Maybe 5 minutes at most, likely less, she thought. She turned her head towards the other door but Sam's pounding pulled her back. "Okay, okay. What's going on Sam?" She asked as the unlocked the door.

"Dean, he just-"

Whatever Sam was going to say was cut off as Dean walk out of the door on the other side of the hall. Mae and Sam just looked at each other looked at each other for several moments. They didn't hear a shot so what had happened was completely unclear to them. Mae went after Dean while Sam walked into the room with Duane and the others.

"Dean?"

Dean turned on his heel towards Mae and pinned her with an accusing glare. "You got in my head. You and Sam. And now, if that kid is infected and kills or infects others, it on us."

"And if he's not, you get to know that you didn't just off a kid because he might have been sick." Mae closed the distance between them. "These people are sick. Once they have this virus, they're not in control and they didn't ask to be pushed by these demons or whatever like this. You..." Mae trailed off, realizing what she said and that perhaps he saw this as a test to see if he was even capable of carrying out his father's final order, "Oh. Oh, baby-"

"Don't." He warned, as her eyes filled with a tender compassion. He couldn't look at her and turned away. " Don't say anything else."

While Dean was trying to steel himself to take difficult and swift actions, here or in the future, it had the opposite effect on Mae. This clinic clearly wasn't the place for some kind of emotional breakdown. To get out of here, they would all need to be willing to take people out who might seem normal or innocent but were actually infected, ready to rip them apart. But because they were alone, for the moment anyway, she stepped up behind him, wrapped her arms around his middle and pressed a soft kiss to the back of his neck.

The hunters regrouped to build their Molotov cocktails in the other room, working in near silence. Dr. Lee entered the room, hands in her pockets. "It's been over four hours. Duane's blood is still clean. I don't think he's infected. I'd like to untie him, if that's all right."

The hunters looked at each other. Since Mae was also feeling more or less normal, Sam nodded back at the doctor, while Dean lowered his eyes, focusing more intently on his work, both relieved and disappointed that Duane seemed to be virus free.

"Sure. Yeah." Sam confirmed. After the doctor left, he continued. "You know I'm gonna ask you why."

"Yeah, I know." Dean said softly, making sure to keep himself occupied.

"So why? Why didn't you do it?" Sam asked again.

There were a lot of answers he could give but the real one wasn't something he could tell his brother, not now. "We need more alcohol."

Sam took the hint and left the room to go into the dispensary to get the alcohol.

Alone now, Mae looked at Dean more expectantly and she stepped closer to him, almost touching but not quite. Dean closed his eyes a moment. "I hate it when you look at me like that and I hate it when you and Sam try to double team me."

The both vaguely registered the door to the dispensary close. "That sounds kinda kinky. Not my thing but I'm sure someone, somewhere would be into that. But I'm not looking at you any differently." She bumped his hip with hers.

Sometimes, Dean hated that it was easy to talk to her, that he wanted to talk to her. "You think I'm wrong here."

"Yeah, so not any different." she said sarcastically but then sighed, "I don't think there's a right or wrong here. All we have is bad options and even worse consequences. We're in a bad spot because there are so many mistakes we could make here. So I don't actually think you're wrong but that doesn't mean I'm not worried about you."

He sighed. "Then what?"

"There's no what. This sucks donkey dick Dean." He finally let himself show a half-smile at her teasing turns of phrase. "If you think you're reading something into my look, it's that. And… beyond this demon shit.."

"What?"

She sighed, turned, and took his face between both of her hands. His eyes drifted close at her touch and the warm scent of whatever oil or fragrance she wore still linger on her skin.

"Do you know what I want from you, handsome?"

He opened his eyes to look at her again. "My body and my money."

Mae smirked. "And after I've used up your body and your fake credit cards, do you know what I want?"

Dean shook his head. "What else is there?"

"You, dummy. You drive me crazy, in the best and worst ways but I love you. And I want you," she ran a thumb over his lips. "I need you to be alive and not in jail and…I just need you. I love you."

The kiss she leaned into give him was chaste, somehow too much and not enough for what Dean wanted and needed. She let him go though, turning back to the table of ingredients. However a strange sound from the dispensary. That was when it seemed odd that the door was closed. They rushed too it, joined now by Mark.

It was locked but Dean swiftly kicked it in. He saw Pam, straddling his brother, attacking him. He didn't hesitate this time, shooting the woman three times in the back. Pam convulsed before falling to the floor. As Sam reached out for a steadying hand from Dean, Mark pulled Dean back.

"She bled on him. He's got the virus."

Sam sat on a stool in the exam room, his wound treated and bandaged. Although he wasn't sure why that was even important at this point. Pam was clearly infected. Her blood had to have come in contact with his and he knew the rest of the story.

Mae stood at his side, next to Dean, with a hand placed gently on Sam's shoulder. He supposed it was a kind of relief that she didn't show any signs of a nose bleed or headache. But again, it was only a matter of time. Sam pressed an ice pack against the wound, although he wasn't entirely sure why he was worried about pain or swelling then.

Dean paced as he tried to work out the angles, what they could do, how they could save Sammy. "Doc, check his wound again, would you? Doctor!"

"What's she need to examine him for? You saw what happened." Mark said.

"Did her blood actually enter your wound?" Dr. Lee asked Sam.

"Come on, of course it did!" Mark yelled at the doctor, his bravado back up, perhaps because Sam was a stranger to him, unlike Beverly.

"We don't know that for sure." Dean said.

Duane piped up. "We can't take a chance."

"You know what we have to do." Mark agreed.

"Nobody is shooting my brother."

"Dean." Mae chided lightly. Since they had dropped any pretense that they were actually Marshals at this point, she didn't bother to call him by whatever fake name he had given Mark. But he knew her warning was about not doing something stupid, like shooting the other men right now.

"He isn't gonna be your brother much longer. You said it yourself."

"Nobody is shooting anyone!"

Duane protested. "You were gonna shoot me!"

"You don't shut your pie-hole, I still might!" Dean threatened.

Mae stepped in front of Dean, purposefully keeping her body between his and the other men. "Okay, let's everyone ease down a notch, okay?" She pressed her hand to Dean's chest, but then focused back towards Duane and Mark. "We're not gonna figure out anything by doing anything drastic. We've got time, and we can monitor his, see if he develops anything. Maybe he won't."

"Mae, Dean, they're right. I'm infected; just give me the gun and I'll do it myself." Sam said.

"Forget it."

"Dean, I'm not gonna become one of those things."

"Like Mae said Sam, we've still got some time."

"Time for what?" Mark asked. "Look, I understand he's your brother, and I'm sorry, I am. But we gotta take care of this."

Mark pulled out his gun and Mae stepped closer to Sam, keeping her hand on Dean's chest. "Dean." she said, warning but he ignored her.

"I'm gonna say this one time — you make a move on him, you'll be dead before you hit the ground. You understand me? I mean, do I make myself clear?!"

"Then what are we supposed to do?!" Mark yelled back.

Dean thought for a moment, listing out their even more limited options now. He reached into his coat pocket, grabbed Mae's hand from his chest and turned her towards him. He pressed his keys into her hand. She looked at them, confused at first but then, grasping his intention, shook her head, wide-eyed as she pressed them right back. "No. Absolutely not."

His jaw clenched as his eyes blazed hot with a flash of temper. His temper couldn't stand up to her soft, pale blue eyes, wet with disbelief and hurt. He gave her dismissive sigh through his nose and then, unexpectedly, threw his keys towards Mark. His eyes lingered on Mae a bit longer before he looked back up.

"Get the hell out of here, that's what. Take my car. You've got the explosives, there's an arsenal in there. You two go with him. You've got enough firepower to handle anything now.

"What about you?" Mark asked.

His silence was enough of an answer for all of them.

"Dean, no. Mae, c'mon. No. Go with them. This is your only chance!" Sam pleaded, shocked that Dean would give up so easily. As Mae had said once, even if in jest, his brother wouldn't let go of the Impala unless the worst had happened.

"You're not gonna get rid of me that easy."

"No, he's right. Come with us. Lady, last chance." Mae shook her head. "Okay, it's your funeral."

Mark lead Duane and Dr. Lee out the door of the exam room.

Dr. Lee paused. "I'm sorry. Thanks for everything, Marshals."

"Oh, actually we're not really Marshals." Dean said.

"Um. Oh." She wasn't sure who that made these three strange people but that was the least of her concerns right then. So, the Doctor left her clinic.

Dean shut and locked the door, just in case things developed faster than they had in other scenarios and the others lingered too long. When he turned back to his brother, Sam had tears in his eyes. So, he looked over at Mae. "You shoulda gone with them, sweetheart. Still could."

"Yeah well..." She looked out the blinds as the three other survivors grabbed up the explosives and their gear. "it's hardly the time to start making good choices now. Besides, what the hell good will they do me if I start..." She made a waving gesture at her face, "I'm just as likely to get shot by them as I am to get murdered or infected by some..." There was no point in describing the infected so she sat down, defeated. "Might as well murder/suicide this shit."

Dean frowned, knowing that Mae was right, even if he couldn't say it out loud yet. "Wish we had a deck of cards, or a foosball table or something." He said with a chuckle that quickly faded.

"Dean, don't do this. Just get the hell out of here. You can't do this to Mae and she's not leaving without you." Sam said.

"No way."

"And I'm not leaving you here Sam. If you are infected, you're not gonna take care of yourself. You'll be compelled to go out and spread this freaky virus. If you're not infected, well, there's no reason for you to off yourself and leave me to deal with your brother's moppy ass.

"Give me my gun, and leave."

"For the last time, Sam. No."

Sam threw the ice pack down on the ground. "This is the dumbest thing you've ever done."

"Oh, I don't know about that. Remember that waitress in Tampa?" Dean said with a shudder.

"If it helps you Sam, this is definitely the dumbest thing I've ever done."

A tiny smile touched his lips for almost a second before he turned back to his brother. "Dean, I'm sick. It's over for me. It doesn't have to be for you. Or Mae."

"No?"

"No, you can both keep going."

"You're welcome to try and force Mae to leave but I knew when I'm beat. So, who says I want to?

He could feel Mae's eyes on him and didn't want to look at her right then.

"What?"

Dean crossed the room and took his handgun out of his waistband before sitting on the edge of the desk. "I'm tired, Sam. I'm tired of this job, this life . . . this weight on my shoulders, man. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of making my girlfriend miserable."

"So what, so you're just going to give up? You're just gonna lay down and die? Look, Dean, I know this stuff with Dad has —"

"You're wrong. It's not about Dad. I mean, part of it is, sure, but..."

"What is it about?" Sam asked.

A noise outside cut off whatever Dean was going to say. A moment later, there was a knock at the door. Dean looked over at Mae, who still seemed normal. She shook her head and gave him an 'I don't know' shrug. He picked up both handguns, crossing to the door. He saw Dr. Lee there and despite the risk, he opened the door.

"You'd better come see this." She said.

Outside of the clinic, it was eerily silent. At some point during the night, it had rained so the streets were wet. There was a chill in the air, catching puffs of their warm breath, and he streetlights provided a warm, yellowish glow. But the streets were empty, save the six of them. "There's no one. Not anywhere. They've all just . . . vanished." Dr. Lee said.

They stayed at the clinic until morning. Dr. Lee periodically checked Sam's blood for any signs of infection. They still lacked reception and the phone lines were still down but, for now, things were seemingly safe. Mark and Duane relaxed more, daring to fall asleep in the waiting room chairs.

Dr. Lee did her hourly check of Sam's blood at the microscope as he sat on the other table. "Well, it's been five hours and your blood's still clean. I don't understand it but I think you dodged a bullet."

"But I was exposed. How could I not be infected?" He asked.

"I don't know. But you're just not. I mean, you compare it with the Tanner samples..." She shifted to look at the sample in the other microscope. "What the hell?"

"What?"

"Their blood. There's no trace of the virus. No sulfur, nothing."

Outside of the clinic, Mark and Duane loaded up a truck with boxes and other supplies. The town was still deserted. Dr. Lee stood at the doorway of the clinic. Duane turned to her. "Hey, the Sarge and I are getting the hell out of here, heading south. You should come."

"I'd better get over to Sidewinder, get the authorities up here. If they'll believe me. Take care." Dr. Lee said.

Mark and Duane didn't push further, only giving her and the hunters a wave as they got in the truck. Mae, Sam, and Dean leaned against the Impala.

"What about him?" Dean asked the doctor.

"He's going to be fine. No signs of infection." Dr. Lee said before she went back inside.

And, as if the day before hadn't happened. Mark and Duane pulled away in the truck. Dean turned to Sam.

"Hey man, don't look at me. I got no clue." Sam said.

"I swear, I'm gonna lose sleep over this one." Dean said. "I mean, why here, why now? And where the hell did everybody go? It's not like they just friggin' melted. "

Dean walked around the car to the driver's side but Sam didn't move yet. "Why was I immune? And was Mae somehow able to sense people who were infected with it?"

"Yeah. You know what? That's a good question." Dean said, pointing at his brother. "You know, I'm already starting to feel like this is the one that got away?"

After a few hours, Dean pulled off on the side of the road, near a picturesque river. He almost wanted to wake Mae up so she could enjoy it too but she'd only gotten to sleep a short time before. He would have loved to climb in the backseat with her and catch a few hours of sleep. It could wait though, until they got to the next town. Dean was pretty sure he could sleep for two or three days once they got to a motel.

Instead, he and Sam grabbed a few bottles of beer that Dean had picked up at their last stop and drank while they stretched their legs..

"So. Last night. You want to tell me what the hell you were talking about?" Sam ventured.

Dean leaned against the railing of the fence surrounding the lake. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? I mean you said you were tired of the job. And that it wasn't just because of Dad."

"Forget it."

"No, I can't. No way."

"Come on man, I thought we were both going to die, you can't hold that over me."

"No, no, no, no. You can't pull that crap with me, man. You're talking."

"And what if I don't?"

"Then I guess I'll just have to keep asking until you do. Maybe I convince your girlfriend to keep pestering you."

Dean smirked a little, turning to rest his backside against the fence now.. "I'm not sure you need to convince her." Dean sighed. "I don't know, man." he continued, "I just think maybe we ought to . . . go to the Grand Canyon."

"What?"

"Yeah, you know, all this driving back and forth across country, you know I've never been to the Grand Canyon? Or we could go to T.J. Or Hollywood, see if we can bang Lindsey Lohan."

"I'm sure Mae would love that."

Dean shrugged. "You never know, man. She's a fun chick."

Sam shook his head, determined not to let his brother off the hook this time. "You're not making any sense."

"I just think we should take a break from all this. Why do we gotta get stuck with all the responsibility, you know? Why can't we live life a little bit?"

"Why are you saying all this?"

Dean shook his head and turned away, and took a drink.

"No, no, no, no, Dean. You're my brother, all right?" Dean turned back to Sam. "So whatever weight you're carrying, let me help a little bit. C'mon, I can. Mae can. We want to."

"I can't. I promised."

"Who?"

"Dad."

"What are you talking about?"

Dean looked down, "Right before Dad died, he told me something." He took a breath, wondering if telling Sam would do any good or just temporarily unburden him, "He told me something about you."

"What? Dean, what did he tell you?"

"He said that... he wanted me to watch out for you... take care of you."

Sam shook his head. That was certainly a ridiculous thing to work Dean up this much. "He told you that a million times."

"Well, this time was different. He said that I had to... save you."

"Save me from what?" Sam asked.

"He just said that I had to save you, that nothing else mattered; and that if I couldn't, I'd..."

"You'd what, Dean?"

"That I'd have to kill you. He said that I might have to kill you, Sammy."

"Kill me? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Dean shook his head. "I don't know."

"I mean, he must have had some kind of reason for saying it, right? Did he know the demon's plans for me? Am I supposed to go Darkside or something? What else did he say, Dean?" Sam yelled.

"Nothing, that's it, I swear." Dean thought that telling someone would have made him feel less guilty, less overburden. But it didn't.

"How could you not have told me this? Did you tell Mae?""

Dean shook his head. "No, I didn't tell her" he lied, "And I didn't tell you because it was Dad, and he begged me not to."

"Who cares?! Take some responsibility for yourself, Dean! You had no right to keep this from me!"

"You think I wanted this? Huh? I wish to God he'd never opened his mouth." Dean yelled back. "Then I wouldn't have to walk around with this screaming in my head all day."

Sam turned away and took a few steps, his temper boiling. "We've just got to figure out what's going on, then, what the hell all this means."

"We do? I've been thinking about this, I think we should just lay low. You know? At least for a while. It'd be safer. And that way I can make sure —"

"What? That I don't turn evil? That I don't turn into some kind of killer?" Sam asked, incensed.

"I never said that."

"Jeez, if you're not careful you will have to waste me one day, Dean."

"I never said that! Damnit, Sam, this whole thing is spinning out of control. All right? You're immune to some weirdo demon virus, and I don't even know what the hell anymore. And you're pissed at me, I get it. That's fine, I deserve it. But we lay low until we figure out our next move, okay?"

"Forget it."

"Sam, please, man. Hey, please." He tapped his brother's shoulder, getting him to turn back to him, "Just give me some time. Give me some time to think, okay? I'm begging you here, please. Please."

Sam nodded, reluctantly.

Dean wondered if they shouldn't get three rooms this time. Maybe a break from each other would do them all some good. Sam was still upset after his confession. He wasn't sure where he stood with Mavis. He couldn't blame either of them for the way they felt and he wasn't sure how to fix it. But right now anyway, Mavis seemed less upset with him than Sam. When they did stop for the night, she didn't insist they get one room as she had previously and she didn't protest when he followed her to one of the rooms.

After showering and eating, they settled in. All of it was boring, uneventful and he supposed that was for the best. There wasn't anything to be gained to talk about all the things they had been disagreeing about right then. They weren't going to see eye to eye on it now. Maybe this was just how things were now, not fighting but not in lock step anymore. Had he managed to push her away in such a short time, he wondered. Maybe he wasn't made for this relationship thing at all. He shook his head. He didn't want any more introspection and doubt. He supposed after the past two days, simply sleeping next to her was a welcome relief.

"Hey, Red?" he asked.

To his surprise, after they had slipped under the covers, she moved to straddle his lap. She covered his mouth with her hand. "Don't. Don't talk. I just want to... let's just pretend that nothing else exists but you and me. Let's just.. feel good together for a few minutes."

Mae pressed her mouth against his now, giving him a slow and intense kiss. Dean's hand threaded into her soft hair, holding her head close to his as his other hand ran down her back and inside her shorts to cup her firm butt. She pulled back, her hands moving through his hair, stroking his ears, and letting her fingers trace lightly along his jaw. Her pale blue eyes studied his face before she kissed him again.

"Can I talk now?" He asked when they broke for air.

She considered a moment, stroking his earlobes slowly. "Yeah."

He cupped her cheek and ran a thumb over her lips. "This is gonna take way more than a few minutes and you're gonna feel way better than good."

Spent, Mae eased back against the pillows. Dean's weight pressed fully against her now as his arms and legs went slack. He rested his forehead against hers, eyes still closed before he spoke, low and gruff. "Is that proof that we should bang less often or never stop?"

"Mmm..." Mae let her fingers run up against his back lightly, before stroking his sweat dampened hair. "You know, I wish you were just slightly worse at that."

Dean laughed. "You want me to be worse in bed?"

"Just, you know, a little bit. Enough that I don't want you all the time."

He kissed the side of her jaw before rolling to his back, pulling her to his side. She lay her head on his chest, enjoying the slowing pace of his heart. "It might be the only thing I've got to keep you comin' back to me."

"That's not true."

"Yeah well... I know I haven't exactly been pleasant to... live with lately. I know you're not happy, or at least not as happy as you could be and I know I'm a big part of that."

She eased up, propping herself up, resting her cheek in her hand. "Dean-"

"No, let me finish, while my head is clear." He pushed a section on her now messy hair behind her ear. "I know I'm not making this easy on you and you want to figure out how to help me. I don't know but I just need more time and I need you to stick it out with me. I promise, it'll get better."

Mae reached over and ran her index finger down his nose. "I'm not stupid, Dean. I know who you are and what I signed up for. This... life isn't really built for something... tender. But I'm not with you just when things are good. I'm with you as long as you're with me, okay?"

A/N- There's a fun time version on Ao3, if that's your thing. You can find the link to the story on my profile. As always, please drop a quick review if you're enjoying the story.