Part 2

Chloe was not surprised to see the Winchester brothers stroll into the buffet dining hall. In fact, she expected it. Hitmen tended to stalk their prey anyway. Since they had already established contact, they had no reason to hide while watching her. They might even establish another contact tonight, just to lay the foundation for their trap of her. Chloe watched very carefully with some surprise at the fact that the two were so obviously muttering to each other. Dean punched Sam on the upper arm and Sam retaliated by pushing Dean lightly on the shoulder. Hitmen often played it low and cool. As much as possible they wanted to be under the radar. Sam and Dean were not acting under the radar. Chloe then had to believe that they were better at their job than she had first supposed. After all, they were into their roles that they still acted like brothers even when they were not sure she was looking. They covered their bases well.

She saw Sam look up and meet her eye. Sam seemed to whisper something to his brother and Dean looked up at her with a grin. Dean walked confidently towards her and her father.

"Chloe," he greeted. "You look lovely."

Despite the knowledge that this man was going to be literally the death of her, Chloe could not help the blush that climbed up her cheeks. "Thanks."

"And you must be Mr Sullivan. It's a pleasure."

Gabe enthusiastically shook Dean's hand. "Call me Gabe. I'm glad Chloe's already made a friend. It usually takes her a long—"

"Dad!" Chloe protested.

Sam made his way towards the table and Dean introduced his brother to Chloe's father. Gabe gave her a lopsided grin, then turned to wave at a waiter. He motioned to add two more seats at their table. "Please join us. I don't usually have a lot of conversation. New city, new company."

"I know the feeling," Dean responded politely.

"How do you know the feeling?" Sam asked. "It's not like you've been gainfully employed in the last few years."

"Look who's calling the kettle black," Dean retorted.

Chloe leaned towards them curiously. "So Dean hasn't been working?" Sam shook his head. "You either?" she asked Sam. Sam shook his head again. "How do you guys sustain your lifestyle?"

There was a rough movement under the table that Chloe knew was Dean kicking Sam. Sam looked up at Chloe with an uncertain smile and quickly decided on his answer, "We inherited a fortune." At that, Dean glanced at his brother in disbelief, then shook his head. Focused on Chloe and Gabe, Sam added, "And Dean doesn't want a lot of people to know. You understand…" he trailed off.

Gabe nodded emphatically. "It's not safe nowadays."

"A fortune, you say," Chloe said. "And you're laying low so I presume you wouldn't be able to tell me where your family got the money."

"Just that it's old money," Sam answered easily.

Dean glared at his brother and said, "If you'll excuse us, Chloe, Mr Sullivan. I think Sam and I should go to the buffet table before they run out of tempura." He grasped Sam's upper arm then pulled him up.

Chloe smiled up at them. "Can you pick up some California maki for me?" she requested.

"Sure," Sam answered. "Let me tell you a time when we were in Japan and—" He was cut off when Dean pulled him along towards the table.

When they were out of earshot, Dean let Sam go with a furious whisper, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Sam blinked twice, as if taking a long time to register his brother's words. Afterwards, his eyes widened when he realized what he had done. Sam glanced quickly back at Chloe. When he saw that she was scribbling something down on that book again, his eyes narrowed. He had no idea how, but she made him say all those stupid things. He could have been thinking of them, perhaps in the most sarcastic of ways given the horrible truth that he and his brother would not amount to anything without any formal education. Those were things he had wanted Dean to think about, but he would never think of actually vocalizing them.

"It's her. There's something wrong with her," Sam said. "Somehow I couldn't stop myself. And then I had to cover up, and it just…"

Dean glanced back at where Chloe was now looking up at them and smiling. "Chloe Sullivan," Dean said needlessly. "Your tactlessness was somehow caused by Chloe?"

Sam raised his eyebrows at his brother. "Don't tell me it's impossible. Living with Dad has probably convinced you that nothing is."

Dean shook his head then pulled Sam along with him to the buffet line. After heaping their plates full of food, they made their way back to the Sullivans' table. Right before they sat back down, Dean gave his brother a warning look.

Chloe watched the brothers' interaction closely, although she tried as much as possible not to let it show. It was intriguing to say the least. She would bet her worldly possessions that after spending the night in front of her computer researching the Winchester brothers, she would reveal that they were lying through their teeth.

The question now was why.

She was in such close monitor that Dean glancing down at his watch then nudging his brother did not escape her. Chloe grinned to herself when Dean Sam stood up from his half-eaten plate with the flimsy excuse that he needed to go to the bathroom. Her inner grin grew wider when Sam stood up a minute later with his plate in one hand and headed back to the buffet table. Instead of filling up, Sam placed the dish down on a serving table, then walked as fast as he could to the exit.

She was not born yesterday.

Chloe grabbed her book that had her hastily scribbled notes on the brothers, then picked up her camera. "I forgot something my room," she told her dad with a peck on the cheek.

Gabe Sullivan nodded, then absently told his daughter, "Remember to turn off the lights when you leave."

"Always," she assured him. Chloe headed over to the direction which the Winchester brothers headed.

Chloe's brows furrowed when the two brothers just continued walking past the elevator. She had to assume that they did not need to pick up any weapons from their room. Her heart thudded as she figured out that most likely their guns, or whatever it was that they were going to use to off her, were already hidden somewhere on their body.

"Where are you two going?" she muttered, wondering out loud.

If they were going to kill her, they were already in the perfect position during dinner. Of course if they did not want to be recognized, they would not have done that there. Chloe shook her head. Usually, when Luthors hired, they paid enough that the hitmen wouldn't even have minded being recognized. Maybe their businesses were losing some income.

He was even more puzzled when she turned where they turned and found herself looking at the familiar corridor leading to the pool area. She watched closely as the brother stopped and turned to look behind them. Chloe quickly dove behind the wall. The two were very silent and still as they stood close to the trees.

Chloe tiptoed over and hid behind one of the lounge chairs. She peered above it to watch those two. They were to no good. She was certain of it.

All of a sudden Dean whipped out a gun. She was not familiar with brands or models, because she did not really see that many guns. The meteor freaks of Smallville did not need guns to be violent. Either way, she watched the way his upper arm seemed to bulge as he gripped the gun.

Chloe gasped and then fell on her butt, hiding her body and praying she was small enough for the lounge chair to cover her completely. He was going to murder her now. She put down her book. He was going to shoot her and she was stupid enough to leave the relative safety of the restaurant crowd. She had fallen for their trick. They had to know she was self-destructively curious enough to expose herself like this. They would kill her and her poor father would see her body sprawled in the hotel where she had gone to visit him.

Gabe Sullivan would be devastated and feel so guilty.

Well she was not going to cringe from death like this. Chloe took several deep breaths. Then, she steeled herself and stood up. It was just in time to see Sam struggling with a gorgeous woman. Sam threw the young woman against one of the trees, then kicked the flawless face. Chloe was horrified. She was frozen to the spot when Dean raised his chiseled arm and pointed the barrel of his gun to the scared girl.

That snapped her out.

"What the hell are you doing?" she screamed.

Chloe stalked over to the scene of the would-be crime and pushed Dean. She could see that both he and his brother were looking at her in shock. She registered how stupid it was to expose herself like this, when she suspected all along that they were out to kill her. Idly she wondered if this was another setup, and that they were friends with the girl who was sprawled in the grass.

Dean did not move his gun. Chloe wanted to run away. Instead, she did the humane thing. She stood right in front of the cowering young woman and stared Dean down.

"Chloe, step away from her," Sam warned.

"I will not let you murder an innocent girl," she answered bravely.

"If I have to shoot through you, I will," Dean pronounced.

Chloe lifted her chin up.

Dean pressed on the trigger briefly, meeting Chloe stare per stare. Sam shook his head. "Last warning," Dean said.

"Ditto," she replied.

Although she put up such a brave front, Chloe heart hammered in her chest. She desperately wished Clark could hear her, and that he would come running. She was almost sure that Clark loved her, and he would do anything to save her. He'd thrown hint here and there, but he still had not admitted anything even when she was about to leave.

Dean's grip on the gun loosened. His hand wavered. Chloe let out a sigh of relief. And then she was on the ground and there was unbelievable pain on her arm. She vaguely noticed that there was the pretty girl latched onto her elbow by her teeth—well, fangs.

"Shit," she head Sam curse. Sam dove onto the creature. In the back of her mind she wondered how odd they probably looked, with the gorgeous young woman seemingly sucking on her arm, and she was writhing in pain on the ground, and Sam was straddling the pretty girl. "Now, Dean!" Sam cried out. He was sitting on the creature's legs, gripping its knees so that it could not kick him away. Sam was gripping its hair in his fingers.

Dean's arm rose again. Instead of the steady focus he had earlier, his arm was moving here and there. Chloe was so scared that, now that she found out they were not hit men hired to killed her, she was going to get shot still.

"Chloe, cover your face!" Sam screamed at her.

"Wha—"

The creature released a gray mist into Chloe's mouth. She coughed roughly, blinking back tears of pain. She felt her arms go slack. Her eyesight grew bleary. The creature loosened its latch on her elbow and she fell on the ground, completely limp and sprawled. Chloe watched with some concern as it turned on Sam, suddenly so strong that it knocked Sam off of it and released the same gray mist on him.

In the background, she heard Dean release fire after fire on the creature. It shrieked in pain. Chloe supposed that Dean hit her where it hurt. Suddenly, as she drifted off to unconsciousness she really hoped was not death, she was invested. She hoped Dean could get away. The creature stalked towards Dean. Dean still trained his gun on it as he went over to Chloe and Sam, checking their pulse to see if they were still alive. The creature jumped on him, and Dean fell on his back and onto Chloe's lower extremities. It released the same gas on Dean, and as Dean struggled for breath, he pulled on the trigger several time more until the creature fell.

A few minutes later, Dean's eyes fluttered open. He cursed a long string of harsh words at the feel of his battered body. He focused on the dead creature a few feet away from him. It looked like an animal, with bloody fur all over. There was a gun right next to him, so he assumed that he had been hunting in the forest. It was probably an animal attack, given all the bruises he was certain he was going to see. Good thing he survived. He saw another man lying on the floor, and Dean felt that his head was resting on something pleasantly soft. When he turned his head, he saw a lovely blonde girl unconscious under him.

He sat up and blinked. He was not in a forest. There was a nice building in front of him, and they seemed to be in a recreation area. Heck, there was swimming pool.

What the—

He racked his brain to figure out exactly where they were. Or who these people were.

He extended his leg and gently kicked on the shoulder of the unconscious man. The other man hit his foot in frustration. "Hey!" The man did not wake. "Hey!" he yelled again.

Finally, the man sat up and looked at him in irritation. Dean could swear that he knew that face. "You know who you are?" he asked pointedly.

The other man's eyes widened. Instinctively, his hand reached for his wallet. There, folded in two and inserted in one of the pockets, was an old photograph. The picture was of much younger men, but as he looked at the man who asked the question and the picture, he was sure. "This is you. Is this me?" he asked. He could not even remember his own face.

Dean was going to have to slide down over there and look. He was a bit reluctant to leave the girl he woke up on. It just didn't seem right. "Can you come closer?" he rasped.

The other man scooted over while rummaging through his wallet. He settled close to Dean and handed him the picture. "Look. Here's my license. I'm Sam Winchester. Nice name." Then he shuddered. "From Kansas."

"Yeah this is you," Dean told him. He thought a license was a good idea. He drew his own wallet and checked out his own name. "I'm Dean Winchester. Looks like we're either brothers or cousins."

Sam grinned. "We're brothers." He glanced at the young woman behind his brother. "Who's the blonde?"

Dean shook his head. "I don't know." His eyes drifted to the wound on her arm. "That looks bad."

Sam assessed the wound and his brother's position between her and the dead animal. "Looks like you were trying to protect her. Girlfriend?"

"Could be," Dean answered, softening a little at the thought that even though he might have been pretty ruthless to kill an animal up close, he just did it to protect his girl. "We've gotta take this wound to the hospital, have it checked out." He found a set of keys in his pocket. "Looks like we have a car. Let's go to the parking lot."

Sam caught sight of a discarded book. He picked it up and opened it. "We have a name for your girlfriend. Chloe Sullivan."

"Great," Dean answered. "Now we've got to find a way to figure why the hell an animal attack gave us amnesia." He bent down and picked Chloe up. He started towards the hotel. "I hope we have a room here somewhere."

Sam frowned as he scanned through the first page of the book. "She's talking about hired gunmen after her." He looked up at his brother. "There are two guys out to kill her."

A sense of protectiveness swelled up in Dean. "Over my dead body." He cradled Chloe closer to him.

Sam nodded in agreement. "Let's go through the service elevator, grab the car and escape." He held out his hand. "Give me the keys. I'm gonna have to test dozens of cars before I find ours."

Dean shook his head. "Never mind that. I may not have remembered my name, but I know I have an Impala. Don't ask me how. I have a black Impala." He walked towards the service entrance with Chloe still in his arms. "Now let's get that baby because we need to have Chloe treated right now."

tbc