A Hunters Heart

Can We Keep Her?

Sam left the girl, Lexi, alone in the bedroom across from his. Having seen that Dean was not in his bedroom, Sam assumed that he would find Dean in the kitchen. So imagine his surprise when he found his brother drinking in the study. Laptop open in front of him and a beer in his hand, Dean looked troubled and Sam knew why. Sam, however, knew better than to confront his brother about an unanswered prayer that Dean had sent Cas. Still, Dean had seen Sam peeking into his room, so the memory of the encounter hung in the air.

"Find anything good?" Sam asked his brother, carefully avoiding the tender subject.

"Nothing," Dean closed his computer in frustration, "I thought there might have been a case in Indiana, but the police just closed it."

"Bummer,"

"Yeah, I really thought I had something there. How's the girl? Did you test her?"

"Yeah. She checks out. Not a demon, shapeshifter, or leviathan. 100% human, as far as I can tell."

"Okay," thinking and sitting back, Dean took a sip of his beer, "how's she holding up?"

"Good. She says she feels fine, but I want to give a day or two to make sure she's alright."

Dean glared at his younger brother, trying to read his thoughts, but to no avail.

"Alright, but as soon as she's healthy again, I want her out of our hair." Sam sighed, looking at Dean with big, brown, pleading puppy dog eyes eyes.

"Oh no. Oh, no," Dean responded, "She is not staying. No. No way. No!"

"Why not? As far as I can tell, she's all alone."

"As far as you can tell? Did she say so?"

"No, but-"

"'No, but-' what, Sammy? We're not running a pound here! You can't just come up to me and ask 'Can we keep it? Can we keep it?' like some 8 year old that just found a starving dog! It doesn't work that way!"

"Dean, don't act like we can't use the help. Ever since Kevin went back to live with his mom, we've been down a player. Bobby's gone. Garth is off living a 'normal' life with his werewolf wife. Not to mention the whole thing with Cas..." Hardly realizing the words coming out of his mouth, Sam's voice cut off just as the last note of the name got out. Sam's eyes widened as his unfinished sentence echoed through their minds. Oh, shit. Oh, Shit. OH, SHIT. He thought.

Dean's eyes narrowed and his face turned a bright red. Rather than standing up and screaming, (as Sam had expected), he did quite the opposite. His face lowered to stare at the ground. Without lifting his gaze, Dean said quietly, "you weren't supposed to see that". A swirling, storm of darkness had conquered the older brother in the months since the break-up, resulting in drinking, restless nights, and an attitude that no one dare challenge. Sams face softened at the sound of his brothers voice.

"Dean" He said. Voice full of sympathy. He took small, slow steps towards Dean.

"Dont. Just don't Sam." Dean said, the sadness in his voice being replaced by anger. "You really do not want to have this conversation with me."

"But I think you need to have this conversation." Sam retorted. Dean sighed heavily, preparing for the words he was about to say.

"Do you want me to say I'm sorry, Sam? Cause I'm not. I did nothing wrong! I saved that girl! It's not my fault Cas thought I was sleeping with her!"

"You could have explained, Dean, or at least tried to!" Sam said desperately.

"Do you think I didn't? He poofed out before I could get two words in edgewise. It's not like I'm gonna pray to him!"

"You say that like you didn't! I heard you, Dean! The Men of Letters may have been smart but they built these walls paper thin! You're drunk prayers kept me up most nights. For the first few weeks, I started praying for you to stop! It's unhealthy!" before Dean could interject, a new, softer voice entered the room.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering where the kitchen was," Lexi blushed, "I broke the only water glass I had."

"Of course," Sam said, "it's down the hall, third door on your left. Help yourself to the fridge."

"Thank you." She said as she turned her body to face Dean. Her hand protruded from her side expecting to shake his, "and, thanks, for helping me out. I'm Lexi."

"Dean." the older brother responded simply with his name and a forced smile, ignoring her hand. The boys watched as she went down the hall and out of earshot. Dean sighed heavily. "I'm not going to pretend like we don't need the extra help, but I don't know if she's a good match."

"You saw her back at that nest, she's a good hunter."

"What about baggage?" Dean asked.

"All she's got with her is the clothes on her back."

"NO! Not that baggage! emotional baggage. Her family, her past."

"I don't know, it's not like she told me her life story in there."

After a long moment of thought, Dean spoke up, a note of finality accenting his words.

"Look, we've got to finish off that nest of vampires anyway, but after she's strong enough to fight for herself, she's outta here."

"Dean,-"

"That's final, Sam." Dean opened his laptop again to signal the end of the conversation.

Sam walked towards the kitchen without another word to check on Lexi.

Hey guys hoped you liked the chapter! Please please please commont and vote for the story it would mean the world!!
AL&AD