Chapter 14

The next morning Sam was up earlier then normal. Once the sun shined through the thin pale green blinds he couldn't sleep anymore. Careful not to wake Riley he tip toed off to the bathroom to take a shower.

He stayed under the shower spray a few extra minutes, turning the hot water up and let it pound his body. He sighed with contentment as layers of stress lifted from his tense muscles.

Afterward he wrapped a towel around his lower half and stood in front of the mirror. He stared at the fogged glass, somehow being pulled in. He wiped it with his left hand and that's when he saw it. The eyes.

The eyes that caused him so much pain. The eyes that took everyone he loved away. The eyes that haunted his nightmares and now his waking moments.

"Don't." A warm hand landed on his shoulder causing him to look away from the glass. "That's what he wants, for you to snap and give in." she rested her chin along his moist shoulder.

Tears threatened his eyes, he didn't trust himself to look at her without losing control of all the emotions he tried to keep inside. He felt her hand beside his and intertwined their fingers. "Give in to what?" Sam asked once he found his voice again.

"What he wants. For you to snap and give up the fight and join his side, his plan."

"That will never happen. What is his plan?"

Sometimes you don't have a choice, Riley bitterly thought as she fought back memories. "I don't know." She softly admitted wishing to god she did so she could find a way to fight.

"If the demon could appear just like that why doesn't it come after us or everyone around us if it knows where we are? Or even send White to do it?" Sam asked as he turned around and met her dark knowing eyes.

"I don't think he knows where we all are, if he had I think everything would be different. He appears in our minds in that moment we let our guard down. And when we're alone, we should prevent that." Riley advised.

Sam welcomed the smile that tugged on his lips. "Unless we decide to start taking showers together and shadow each others every move that might be a little hard."

"Ok prevent it as much as possible. At least wake me up the next time you decide to leave the room." It had bothered her more then she was willing to admit when she opened her eyes and found him gone. A moment of sadness set in before she picked up on his scent from the bathroom. It can't be possible, she thought, Manticore couldn't have been so right.

IIII

Dean sat Indian style on his bed and watched as Aslynn tossed and turned, the blanket wrapped around her legs. A couple of minutes with a large sigh she sat up. "Did you get any sleep?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"You've been tossing and turning all night. For a second I thought you might fall off the bed which would've been funny. You're a mess." Dean explained. She had to have been the most ungraceful sleeper he had ever seen. Her daily work out was done in bed, she didn't stay still.

"Gee thanks and I sleep just fine" Aslynn gave him a fake smile and noticed the blanket around her ankles. "Not even worth it." she threw the sheet to the floor. With a groan she tossed her self on the bed and placed the pillow over her head. Sleep just never came easy.

Dean continued to watch her and noticed her shirt had risen up and half of her back was exposed. He groaned and decided to go be nice. He rose from his bed and sat on hers. "Wanna talk about it or is this just your daily ritual?"

She turned over causing her thigh to hit his knee. "Is this sharing time? I didn't get the memo."

Dean looked down at her blue eyes and decided to remember that one liner; it was something he'd say. But he tried to remain serious as he decided to be nice for a few more seconds then she was on her own. If she woke him up in the middle of the night again like last night, she was going to have to sleep in the car. "Yeah fine it's sharing time. What's with the asleep work out thing you have going?"

"I don't know everyone has their issues. You snore, you don't see me bitching. You also leave the toilet seat up, your boots shattered all over the floor for me to trip. See still don't see me bitching and the list goes on and on-"

Dean clamped his hand over her mouth. "I get it. Sue a guy for trying to help." He moved his hand once he got his point out.

Aslynn smiled. "The point is, why are you trying to help?" She sat up and moved beside him on the bed. "I think you like me."

"Yeah the same way I like a toothache."

"Aww are you calling me sweet?"

Dean decided to end their little game knowing they could both keep it going all day. He glanced at the clock and knew Sam would be up. "Time for work."

IIII

Alec lay in bed and heard footsteps around his apartment, he recognized the small feet. He wondered if it was just the theme of the week, someone just barging into his apartment without warning every morning.

He laid there and decided not to get up and find out what she wanted, let her come to him. Last night had been too long; he was lucky if he had even gotten three hours of sleep. In was in no mood to move from the comfortable spot on his bed.

"You're still not up?" She asked as she stood at the frame of the bedroom door.

"I know you're not here to comment on my sleep habits. What's up Max?" Alec asked and sat up but nothing more. He still had time before he had to get ready for work; he was going to use it.

Once he sat up Max quickly noticed he was wearing nothing but a pair of blue boxers, his sheets were shattered on the floor. Active sleeper, she guessed and reasoned with herself that the only reason she was looking was to get answers on why his bed was also pretty naked not something as crazy as he affected her in a sexual way. "I was gonna go see Aslynn and the guys to see when they were free; I thought you might wanna tag along."

Alec sighed, he really didn't want to leave his bed but he did also want to tag along. "Yeah give me a few minutes to get dressed."

Max stepped out to the living room and tried to shake Original Cindy's words from her head, an annoying habit that mostly happened when she was right. But this time she was wrong, very wrong. Alec was not the guy for Max. Maybe in words it sounded right but in reality they'd just kill each other, as they nearly did when they were around each other for too long.

"How bad do you think this is gonna go?" Alec asked as he grabbed his jacket off the couch.

Max followed him out the door. "You make it sound like we all hate each other. We don't know each other, there's a difference. This shouldn't go bad at all."

IIII

Aslynn had gotten up and dressed but quickly laid back down having nothing else to do. Sam and Dean worked at the table across the room on the Martin Troy case; Riley joined them offering her help. Back at Manticore she had been an investigator working behind the scenes and gathering research instead of a field officer like Aslynn had been.

A knock rang through the room, Dean looked toward Aslynn. "What?" she asked.

"You're not doing anything, get the door."

She sighed and got up. "Fine I'll get the door this time but don't think I'm gonna start listening to you or some shit."

"You're so defensive." Dean said before he went back to reading a new article found on Troy.

"Kettle and the pot." Sam mumbled as he kept his focus on the computer.

Aslynn headed to the door and opened it. "Hey, come in." she held the door open for Alec and Max. She shut the door and stood in front of it as she predicated Alec's reaction to seeing Riley again.

Alec spotted the dark eyed girl sitting at the table with Sam and Dean. "Oh shit." He quickly turned around only to find Aslynn blocking him. "You're evil, past evil, both of you."

Riley smiled. "I guess you're still mad at us?"

Aslynn laughed. "Someone can't take a joke." She moved and stood beside him before wrapping her arm around his waist. "Man up, we're not going to do anything to you. It was a joke."

Max couldn't help but smile as well as she watched Alec's face, was it fear she saw? A pout? "What did you do to him?" she asked her sister.

"Riley and I were bored and decided to play a joke on our annoying but best friend here and-"

Alec clamped a hand over her mouth. "That's enough of that story. We came over for a reason. Max the floor is all yours."

Max narrowed her eyes at him, of course he'd put the whole situation on her to handle. "We're here to invite all of you to dinner. Tonight."

IIII

Isabelle A.