Sam put Lionel back in his stall and gave him an affectionate slap on the neck. "Thanks, big guy. Gonna miss you."

Lionel snuffed at his brown mop of hair. Most of his cuts had closed nicely and his legs looked better. Sam slipped off the stallion's personalized leather halter and slid the stall shut. He hung it on its brass hook and started to walk down the aisle.

The blood had finally come off the concrete flooring by now. It had taken Sam a lot of elbow grease but the washstall looked nice again. He really didn't have much to occupy himself outside of playing nursemaid to Dean and doing his barn chores. And Jeanette actually outshone him as nursemaid, driven to dote on Dean with an air somewhere between maternal and flirtatious. He felt a bit ineffectual, but grateful that his brother had someone to care about him. He could never begrudge him that.

Instead he turned his attentions to fixing the damage the Stallion Battle Royale had wrought. Smashed in boards and broken stall doors and blood flecked everywhere.

Jeanette had lost a lot of business, but some loyal people remained. Sam figured she could rebuild her clientele eventually.

He put his hands in his pockets and started to wander out, thought the better of it and stopped at a stall.

He peered into the dim space. "Hiya Stranger."

Stranger stuck his head out of his door and lipped at Sam's outstretched hand.

Sam had rebuilt his destroyed stall and there was no trace of anything awry. It was merely a stall once more. Full of horse and shavings and hay. His brass name plate hung neatly against the stall and caught Sam's eye as Stranger bobbed his reddish brown head.

HANDSOME STRANGER loved by Leslie Carone.

Sam's breath caught and he blinked rapidly.

He scratched Stranger's ears and played with the black forelock. "You take care, okay? Jeanette will take care of you. She's good at taking in orphans."

Stranger gave his shoulder a rough butt with his head and Sam smiled. "Don't worry. I got Dean to look after me. Be good, man." He slapped the neck and walked out of the barn into the crisp air.

Dean was behind the wheel of the Impala, talking to Jeanette. She stood next to him, her hand on the forearm that he had leaning on the window frame.

He greeted Sam with his completely bright and winning smile. The charm of which was usually lost on his brother. But not today. Today Sam was happy to have Dean smile again.

Sam hugged Jeanette and bent down to let her kiss his cheek. "Thank you again, Sam."

He smiled at her, boyish and dimpled. "You're welcome."

He slid into the passenger seat of Baby.

Jeanette leaned down and kissed Dean on the lips with a fair amount of intensity. He glowed at the approval, as he always did when an attractive woman showed him interest. "Thank you, Darling. And do not lose touch."

"Wouldn't think of it, would we Sammy?" Dean asked cheerfully.

"No of course not," Sam replied, complicit in the lie. Dean lost touch with everyone. It was who he was and who Sam was being forced to become.

She kissed his forehead and slipped her hand around his leather jacket in a hug. "Take care." She pulled away and stepped back, looking sad.

"We will." Dean pulled down the sun visor and gunned Baby's engine as he pulled back onto the road, thrilled to have her purring under him again.

"Where to, Sammy?"

"Michigan," Sam said, reaching to his pocket for his notes. His fingers felt something weird and he pulled it out and peered at it.

More paper clips bent into dicks.

"Really, Dean?" Sam asked. "I mean isn't this old by now?"

"Sam I was laid up in bed for like two weeks man. I needed something to occupy my hands."

"Yeah," Sam said, shooting him a mischievous glance. "Guess you were too weak to use your usual method of occupying your hands."

Dean laughed. "Didn't want to stain Jeanette's couch."

"Oh god, Dean! Gross."

Dean sniggered and turned the radio up a bit.

He shifted a moment, something was digging into his hip. He adjusted his jacket and frowned, feeling a bulge in the side pocket. "Sam what did you put in my coat?"

"Nothing."

"Sam."

"Nothing!" Sam protested vehemently.

Dean blindly fished inside his jacket and pulled out a bulging envelope. He raised an eyebrow and shot Sam a glance.

Sam wrinkled his nose. "What is it?"

"I don't know asshat. I'm driving."

Dean tossed it to him.

Sam caught it deftly. The envelope was a pretty blue stationary, traced with vines and flowers. On it was written Dean and Sam in an elegant script. Sam opened it and spilled a bunch of the dollar bills that appeared on the floor of the car. "What the hell?"

Sam stooped to pick them up and bashed his forehead on the glove compartment.

"Easy Sasquatch. Don't take out the car, dude."

Sam rubbed his forehead with his palm. "Shut up, jerk."

"Is that money?" Dean's voice was incredulous.

"No... it's Play-doh. Yes it's money." Sam fished in the envelope. Tucked in with the stack of bills was a note.

Sam read the words aloud. It said:

Darling. It's about time someone paid you for your efforts.
Love always,
-J

Sam looked at the envelope again, started to thumb through the cash and count. "Dude, this is a lot of money. I think about a grand."

Dean looked distinctly emotional. His eyes wet with unshed tears.

"What does this mean?" Sam wrinkled his nose in puzzlement. "Your efforts? Are you like her gigolo or something?" he paused "...Are you this good in bed?"

Dean shot him an affronted look. "No! Well yes. Yes, I'm sure I'm that good in bed but, no, I didn't sleep with her...well I slept with her but I didn't sleep with her."

"So what does the note mean?"

"She thought we should charge for our job, Sammy. Get paid like normal people."

"I feel bad. She already paid for all your medical bills and gave me pay for the last two weeks."

"She paid for the medical?" Dean shot him a surprised glance. "We didn't scam it?"

"No. She took care of it. She insisted."

Dean looked touched again.

"Wow." Sam said, flipping through the money again. Holding it and having two weeks pay and all the back pay she'd given them, Sam felt almost wealthy. "Well, we're set for a little while with this. I just wonder why. Why she's so kind to us."

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Sammy."

Sam groaned. "Oh my god, Dean. That was a horrible pun- even for you."

Dean grinned again and turned up the music. He smacked Sam affectionately in the back of the head. "Bitch."

Sam grinned and huffed a breath through his nose. "Jerk."

The road unfolded in a black tar ribbon before them and Dean opened Baby up on the highway. They sped down the interstate together.

Ah! So I'm finally finished. I hate to say good bye to my babies. Thank you so much to all of you who stuck it out with me on this story. Even if you come across this months or years after I posted- if I made you laugh, cry, throw shit, or punch your computer, leave me a review and let me know. I love to hear from all of you. If you like this and want more just subscribe to celinenaville. Feel free to drop me a line with any story ideas you think I may be good at. No guarantees but I'm open to suggestions. Thus ends this chapter.

Thanks so muh to Alex, mckydstarlight, isabella poulous, freetobescary, dom darkwolf, mariamo, kirsten, aislinn rose, colbie15, colby's girl, spnKs15, iwokeuponthewrongsideoflife, DearHart, irreality, and my guest who left the awesome review that I would have replied but I can't, but know I love you too! And I hope I didn't forget anyone, but know I adore you all. Each and every review makes it worth typing this crap out. LOL.