Sorry for the delay, folks. Things have been absolutely in-sane around here lately. Big things are afoot so any of you out there who are the praying sort, please remember me and mine in the coming weeks. So, with that said...on with the story. I've re-written Chapter 25 as you can see. I wasn't happy with the way my last posted draft turned out. It didn't really mesh with the direction I'm going to be taking the story and was intended to be more of an interlude than anything else. Hope you like this version better. Cheers!

The steady thump-thump of a headboard hitting the wall accompanied by a seemingly unending chorus of giggles and moans left little to the imagination. Okay, so she had to give Dean points for stamina, just none for tact. Apparently in Dean-speak, the pounding of a fist against the wall was a signal to up the volume and tempo. Michelle groaned and slapped a pillow over her ear trying to muffle the sounds of Charlie and Dean's rather vocal lovemaking. They'd been at it for more than three hours now, pausing now and again before moving on to innings two through four.

She peered into the darkness to the other bed in the room where Sam lay on his back, his bare chest illuminated by the thin sliver of light creeping in between the gap in the polyester curtains that covered the room's only window. Like Michelle, he'd pulled a pillow over his head to drown out the sounds coming from next door, his body rigid with tension.

And what a body it was. Sure, she'd seen it, felt it while playing Super 8 for Ruby but it was getting harder and harder for Michelle to keep her hands and lips to herself. Nights like this one - when Dean tossed Sam his duffel and tossed him out of their room - had become more frequent since Bobby had left for Missouri to do research on the whole Apocalypse thing. When the cat's away, the mice will…well, apparently they'll fuck like rabbits.

Groaning, Michelle tossed her pillow across the bed and sat up, drawing her knees into her chest and looping her arms around them. For a long moment, she debated turning on the light on the tiny table between the two beds. Sam made the decision for her. He sat up and flipped it on, turning concerned eyes her direction.

"You okay?" he asked.

She swallowed hard at the sight of all that golden-brown skin and curled her fingers into her biceps to keep from reaching for him. Nodding, she managed a "yeah" before looking away.

Sam's eyebrows shot up skeptically. "Are you sure?"

A second "yeah" was drowned out by the now familiar grunting that signified that Dean was coming and coming hard. "Oh, for fuck's sake!" Michelle exclaimed, throwing herself back against the pillows. "What'd he do? Eat a bottle of Viagra? This is getting ridiculous."

Snorting, Sam replied, "Hey, it's your fault you know."

Brown eyes narrowed on him viciously. "How the hell is this my fault?"

"You're the one who initiated that little girly show earlier. Seeing two beautiful women kissing the way you two were is enough to send any man into sexual overload."

"You're not serious?" she asked, incredulous. "That's what all this is about?"

When Sam smirked at her, Michelle groaned a second time. The near constant desire she grown accustomed to over the past week flared to life again. Perfect, just fucking perfect. She shoves her tongue down her friend's throat, saving their collective asses and Charlie's the one who gets to reap the benefits. Meanwhile, Michelle was stuck with Sir-fucking-Galahad.

"Fucking perfect," she muttered aloud this time.

"Wanna give them a run for their money?" Sam asked with a grin so wicked Michelle was certain she'd imagined it.

"What did you just say?"

He blushed as he clarified, "Not really, I mean. Just make a bunch of noise. And stuff."

"Seriously, Sam. That's lame. Besides, this was what? The fifth time they've gone at it tonight? He's gotta run out of energy sooner or later."

Just then the headboard slammed into the wall again and Sam said, "Yeah, I'm putting my money on later."

Shaking her head, Michelle flopped back down on the bed and screamed into her pillow.

Two days later they weren't any closer to determining just what the key unlocked, or more importantly where to find the damned gate. And two nights later, Dean and Charlie were back at it again leaving Sam and Michelle closeted away in the next room with tension slowly building between them.

For Michelle, it was nothing new. She'd had a long, long time to get used to her growing attraction. But for Sam it was something else entirely. Guilt ate away at him. Little by little it was taking him over, filling him with bitter regret and an unfamiliar - and completely inappropriate - longing. What he'd done to Michelle had been, in its simplest form, rape. His actions had been unforgivable. Allowing himself to want her, to bury himself inside her, was one hundred percent out of the question.

Sam coughed and scratched the back of his neck when the thumping started in full force. "So," he said thickly. "I'm just gonna…I'm gonna take a shower." A second later the bathroom door slammed behind him and Michelle was left to wonder just what the hell that was about.

Any deliberation over his strange behavior was cast aside and forgotten the moment she felt a light fluttering inside her belly. Just a tiny flicker of motion, like the flap of butterfly wings and it was gone, so brief she thought she might have imagined it. She pressed her palm to her stomach and gasped when she felt it a second time.

"Sam!" she shouted wildly. "Sam! Hurry!"

In two seconds flat, he was kneeling between her feet, dripping wet and naked, cupping her shoulders and asking her what was wrong. With watery eyes, Michelle pulled his left hand down and laid it over the small, round bump of her belly.

"I don't understand," he said, his voice a little shaky from the fear he'd felt when she'd cried out his name. "Wha - ?" The word died in his throat the moment he felt the baby move beneath his hand. "Wait. Is that?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, it is."

"Wow," he breathed out in awe. Then he raised his eyes to meet hers and felt the whole world simply fall away. Every single argument he'd made against this suddenly didn't seem to matter. All that mattered was this, the life that they'd created. Okay, so maybe Michelle hadn't had an actual say so in its creation but she was fast becoming far more important to him than Ruby ever had been. She was smart and witty and stubborn. She was fierce, loyal, determined. She'd been possessed by a demon for months and had emerged from its hold strong and forgiving. He didn't deserve her but Sam was suddenly very afraid that he just might not care whether he deserved her or not. Part of him had already, on some primitive level, claimed her as his own. Now, feeling his son move beneath their hands, he knew he'd never let her go.

Without realizing he was moving, Sam leaned forward and brushed his lips over hers, half expecting her to either hit him or run screaming for the hills. When she did neither, he risked it a second time, this time letting the kiss linger, his tongue slipping out to trace the seam of her lips. Michelle moaned quietly, a needy, almost desperate little sound, before raising her hands to his chest and fisting them in his shirt.

"Sam," she sighed against his lips. "Please don't…"

He tore himself away and stumbled back to sit on the opposite bed, his head in his hands. Moisture glistened in his eyes when he finally looked up at her and said, "I'm sorry, Michelle. I didn't mean…I'm sorry."

Knowing he'd misunderstood, Michelle pushed herself to her feet and pulled her sweater over her head, letting it drop to the floor beside his feet. Her bra followed. She was straddling Sam's hips with her mouth fastened to the little mole just above his collarbone by the time her actions finally registered.

"Michelle," he whispered hoarsely. "What are you doing?"

"What's it feel like?" she replied, nibbling her way up his neck to his ear. "If you'd let me finish a minute ago, I was asking you not to stop." Pulling back to look in his eyes, she cupped his jaw and said, "I want you, Sam. Want your mouth and hands on me. Wanna feel you inside me."

Though he hadn't known it, Michelle's permission was what Sam had needed, was all he'd needed. Growling, he flipped her onto her back and quickly peeled off her jeans. He grabbed one of her ankles and tugged her to the edge of the bed where he tossed her thighs over his shoulders before finding her with his mouth. A shrill scream rent the air as Michelle's orgasm was ripped from her body with the first swipe of Sam's tongue against her sensitive flesh.

He was grinning as he crawled up her body to settle between her legs but the grin dissolved into a groan when she pushed up onto her elbows and licked his face clean, tasting herself and the salt of his skin. She whispered all the things she wanted him to do to her and all the things she wanted to do to him, pushing him closer and closer to losing all control. Sam braced himself on one hand and reached down with the other to align their bodies.

Michelle's back arced at the first bump of his rigid flesh against her opening. "Yes!" she moaned. "Fuck me, Sam. Please!"

The words were barely out of her mouth before he was buried to the hilt inside her tight heat. For a long moment he didn't move, just rested his forehead against hers. Then he was withdrawing only to slam back home, filling her once more and causing her to cry out his name in a broken chant. Over and over, he pounded into her, holding nothing back. Sam slid his arms under her thighs, angling her up to drive himself deeper. Two more strokes and Michelle was coming on a keening wail, digging her nails into his ass. Sam's body shook as he followed a heartbeat later, grunting with the force of his own orgasm.

They were lying in a sweaty, tangled heap when a fist suddenly pounded against the wall. "Knock it off already!" they heard Dean shout.

"I don't know about you," Sam panted as he brushed damp tendrils of hair from Michelle's face. "But I'm just getting started."