Au Contraire

Part 1

A challenge of sorts that I was given after watching Red Sky At Morning again, which means, yes, season three spoilers. You've been warned, please don't flame me and tell me I ruined something for you. Everything up to A Very Supernatural Christmas, just to be on the safe side, apart from that it's spoiler free!

Summary: A request to write a Sam/Bela story. What happens when they are locked up in a haunted mansion together. Some humor, some angst, some protective Sam (I was in the mood), and some Sam and Bela bickering. Hopefully not pure fluff, I did my best to make it have a bit of substance.

"Well, we might as well make the best of it." Bela sighed; once they discovered there was most certainly no way out. This was not how she had pictured her day going. She had a buyer all lined up for one of her newest finds and it was going to be bitch to try and explain why she wasn't their to make the trade; especially now that the five hundred grand had already been wired into one of her accounts.

"Make the best of it?" Sam echoed, she had to be freaking kidding. They'd been shot at, played hide and seek with projectile knives, and now he was trapped in this damn haunted house with no one but Bela for company. The only way that it could be any worse was if he'd actually been shot or been turned into a giant pincushion of the butcher knife variety.

This was hell.

To top it off, he had no idea where Dean was, or if his brother was even okay—and he was trapped with a conniving bitch that he was sure would easily sell him out, as long as the price was to her liking. Yeah, sure, they could make the best of it. He just didn't know what the best part was—that they weren't yet dead?

"Well, fine, we could take the Sam Winchester route and sit here and pout like a little girl at the fact that we're trapped with no hope thus far of getting out of this hell hole, unless, someone—and by that I mean your idiot of a brother—rescues us."

"How do I know you're not even a part of this?" Sam accused, not like she hadn't screwed them over before. "A ploy to keep Dean and I busy while you make a quick buck?"

"If I was do you really think I'd lock myself up with you?" Bela rolled her eyes, she was so much better than that. "Really, Sam, I get that you don't trust me—

"Trust you?" Sam exclaimed, what was wrong with her! "What do you expect? I know you Bella, you've shot me, and we both know that you're a murderer."

Bela looked slightly taken back for a moment and Sam almost felt guilty but she recovered quickly.

"No more so than you are, I'd imagine." Bela said coolly. She could play at this game too, she'd done her homework when it came to the Winchesters, she was too good at what she did not to have.

"What do you mean by that?" Sam questioned, she couldn't possibly referring to...no, no way she was.

"Well, your story of course. Sam, I know all about your family, you and your brother...your father."

"You don't know anything about my family." Sam replied obstinately, glaring at her rather similarly to the look that Dean gave her the last time that they met up and he threatened to shoot her for telling Gordon where they were.

Hmm, she thought with a slight smile, they certainly are brothers.

"Really?" Bela questioned, raising an eyebrow, surprised he'd think it would be so hard to find out about the famous Winchesters. "Your mom burst into flames on the ceiling of your nursery when you were six months old. John became obsessed with getting revenge on the demon for killing his wife and used his ex-marine past and military knowledge to hunting and dragged his kids right down with him. You and Dean hunted your entire life until seven years ago when you just fell off of the radar completely. About four years later you pop back up and start hunting with your brother, and your father disappears—did you not get along with him? Because, quite the coincidence. Anyhow, one year later, papa Winchester mysteriously dies after a hunt...then a year later...here we are, as rumors abound the obsessed demon hunting Winchester brothers. Did I miss anything?"

You have no idea...Sam thought silently. He was intrigued by her mention of rumors however, he figured with Gordon dead and gone...clearly the rumors didn't stop there.

"What do you know Bela?"

"Well. If you listen to the rumors..." Bela smiled, "You're quite the interesting specimen."

"And Dean?" Sam could barely breathe, she couldn't possibly know. Only three people knew and he knew they wouldn't tell.

"Boring. Not like you. Dean's just another vengeance obsessed hunter. Very poetic, not, however, interesting. You are fascinating though. That is--if you believe the rumors."

"What rumors, Bela?" god he hated her, he really, really hated her, he couldn't help but to wonder if she was doing this for pure amusement.

"Fascinating stuff, it is. A psychic, destined to fight on hell's side. The anti-christ, of some sort, or so I've heard. Opened the gate to hell, and let out lots of nasty little things too."

"Not very accurate." Sam told her, breathing a sigh of relief that some secrets were still secrets. "You might want to double check your facts."

"Don't get me wrong, I don't believe the hype. Anyways, Dean seems much more the type, you don't have it in you. You're not altogether innocent, I'm sure, if you were you never would have helped me."

"What do you mean by that?" Sam wasn't sure but it sounded like she was insinuating that he'd killed someone too.

"Well, we know I did something, but how about you Sam? Did you get daddy killed? A friend, maybe? All that time you were off of the radar..."

"I was at school."

"Shocker." Bela said lightly. "But I always thought that you had a little something Dean was missing; a bit more polished...Backwoods State College, hm?"

"Stanford." Sam shot back, with a self satisfied smirk.

"Impressive, however makes a girl wonder...why would someone leave the Ivy League life, probably a cute girlfriend...for this life squatting in empty houses, crappy motels...hunting with your brother?"

"None of your damn business."

"Struck a nerve, have I?" She laughed.

"Who'd you murder?" Sam countered; they didn't have to play it nice. "How could you kill your own family?"

"I could ask you, why'd you let your girlfriend die?" Bella replied coolly, she barely seemed affected by Sam's remark.

For the first time in his life, Sam nearly hit a woman. He was distracted however, by a dark stain that seemed to be spreading near down past her shoulder.

"You were shot." Sam said his voice softening, ignoring his disdain, and anger, a little shocked that she bared up against the pain so well. He hadn't seen a bit of pain on her face, she certainly was good at hiding her emotions, better than he had even guessed.

Sam moved closer wanting to check on the wound and see how bad it was. "Take off your jacket." He ordered.

"I'll be fine." She said, allowing him to gently tug the jacket. "Eye for an eye, yeah?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I shoot you, that bitch demon shoots me…" Bela was referring to Ruby, who clearly no longer decided to be an ally of the Winchesters. Sam could just see his brother saying 'told you so, Sammy.'

"It's still lodged in there pretty deep." Sam said his eyebrows furrowing in thought, trying to figure out what they could do with definite limited supplies. "Do you have tweezers?"

"In my bag." Bela gestured to her bag, lying a few feet away from them. If he wanted to pluck that ingrown eyebrow, she was all for it.

Sam walked back over with a determined, and somewhat apologetic look in his eyes. Bela suddenly figured it out and backed up a few steps.

"Wait! You're not…no, no, no. I'll pass up on the butchering job, thank you."

"Bela! I can't stop the bleeding until the bullet is out. Do you want to bleed to death?"

Bela grimaced, bleeding to death wasn't on her to-do list. But neither was being butchered in a disgustingly, dirty, dilapidated, haunted mansion.

"You've done this before?" She questioned.

"Dozens of times, and have had it done to myself even more times--like when you shot me." Sam tried to keep it light, even she had to be terrified at the thought of bleeding to death. Being shot wasn't exactly a walk in the park.

"They have hospitals for that, you know that, right?"

"Not when you're a fugitive." Sam replied, trying to get a good hold on her shoulder without causing more pain. He, at least, usually was partly unconscious and reaping the benefits of a large bottle of whiskey at this point. "Stay still." He ordered.

She paled slightly, the only expression of fear he'd seen cross her face, and his voice softened.

"Lay down, it will be easier." Sam said.

Bela silently obeyed, suddenly finding herself lacking in a witty retort.

"I'm not going to lie to you," He said, his big soft brown eyes filled with compassion. "This is going to hurt, if you need to scream or cry…it makes it easier sometimes."

"Very reassuring--" Bela's voice quickly cut off as he began to dig for it. She dealt with the pin silently, gritting her teeth, with the occasional cry of pain. A steady stream of tears fell silently once he really began to dig.

Sam looked down at her once, and the look in her eyes was so…not like her that he looked away trying to just get it done fast. She seemed a lot less the conniving bitch and Sam felt like he was seeing another side of her. She looked like a girl, Dean would say that it was stupid of him to let his guard down but…he felt bad for her.

Sam knew how truly bad that this hurt, and as he watched the steady, but silent, stream of tears fall he wondered about her. How did she get into this business? What happened to her to make her so cold and calculating? He was certain that she hadn't always been this way.

"I've almost…" Sam pulled it out, and tossed it away flesh and blood and little bits clinging to it. "You okay?"

She sat up slowly, and wiped the tears away in one fluid motion. "I'll live."

"Try not to move." He warned her taking off his jacket and shirt, to create a makeshift bandage, he was left standing in a thin white t-shirt and Bela admired him silently.

"Quite nice." Bela told him, smiling as the muscles rippled as he ripped the shirt into the correct size to wrap her wound.

"Huh?"

"I can't believe I was thinking poker, there are so many better ways that we could pass the time." Bela smirked, and Sam finally got it.

Sam couldn't believe what she was suggesting. She was shot, and wanted to have sex? It was extra ordinary that she and Dean didn't get along better, they certainly seemed to think on the same wavelength.

"You're going to have to take off your t-shirt." Sam said feeling a unusual wave of shyness at the simple, and necessary request.

"Well, if we're doing that I think a few more layers are going to have to go." Bela smirked, working very hard to try and ignore the fact that it was going to kill to take this shirt off.

"No-I-uh-" Sam stuttered as she slipped off her shirt, much more gracefully than he imagined a person could after being shot. Bela was left sitting in a black lace bra that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. "Just to dress the wound." He said quickly, awkwardly.

Bela smiled, she'd known what he'd meant. It was rather interesting to see how nervous he would, he didn't strike her as a shy one, it was cute. Sam tied the fabric tightly, and expertly, she was impressed, he clearly had done this more than this one time.

"You're quite forgiving." Bela noted.

"What?" Sam had a feeling that he had fallen behind again in the repertoire--that nearly, almost sounded like an apology of sorts.

"I accuse you of killing your girlfriend, and you put all this effort into keeping me alive--I must say I am intrigued by you Sam."

"Well, maybe you weren't wrong." Sam hadn't been back there to think about that in a long time, and he knew that no matter how much he would like to, he'd never be able to absolve himself of the guilt of Jess' death. After talking to the demon, he knew it was impossible to do that.

Bela was silent, it was a new concept to her somewhat, someone trusting her with this kind of thing. She wondered if Sam Winchester realized he was too nice for this line of work, she wondered if he realized that it just might get him killed one day.

"Excuse me?" Bela questioned, her curiosity piqued.

Sam began to explain and handed her his jacket to stay warm. It wasn't exactly a tropical paradise in the dump they were stuck in.

"I had dreams--visions--that she was going to die for months. I ignored it, left for a weekend with Dean to go on a hunt, came back…she was pinned to the ceiling and burst into flames. I killed her." Sam left out the part where he was informed by the YED that it was because she was in the way of getting to him, even if he trusted Bela, their was just some things he couldn't tell her about.

"I…I'm sorry." Bela was thrown by the degree to which he was trusting her. No one had ever trusted her like that, she didn't know what it was but their was something about Sam that seemed to draw her in. He wasn't like other hunters, she didn't even think he was meant for this life, he was to good for it. "Sam, that's not murder though."

"I'm well on my way." He murmured thinking of Dean and his deal.

"I'm sorry?" She hadn't quite caught that.

"Nothing." He said quickly.

"You wonder what I did? Don't you?" Bela hadn't said this aloud in years, she had sworn to herself that she'd never talk about it again and yet she couldn't help but to trust Sam, to want to tell him.

"You don't have to tell me, we all have our secrets." Sam couldn't help but to feel this strange connection to Bela.

"We do, do we?"

Her face was so close, Sam's lips grazed hers and he felt Bela kiss him back and then…he felt her pull back.

She'd fainted and Sam caught her just before her head connected with the ground.

Sam looked her over…

"Damn it!" Sam swore angrily.

This wasn't good.

Now, normally I would not have the time to write this fic with all the others that i have going, but as my cat has chewed through my laptop cord, and left me with no way at the time to get to my other fics to work on them i had to start on something new to tide myself over so i turned to a request, and this one seemed like the most challenging. I'd love to know what you thought of my portayal of Bela and my first fic with no Dean (thus far, as one of the requirements of the challenge). If it you know, sucked, please tell! If not it would still be nice if you reviewed, but no pressure just hoped you liked it enough to come back soon and read part two.

Chailyn