A/N: Song above is what I like to call 'Dean and Elizabeth's song' after this chapter, so please listen and imagine them having an epic sing-off at each other in the Impala. I know that's what I picture; lots of pointing at each other, air grabs, air guitar, punching the air or their thighs to the drums. The full works. Total cheesy goofballs.

- Rayna xoxo

The car ride had been silent for five minutes.
Dean kept glancing over every now and again to check on Elizabeth, but also to see if that moment was a good time to bring up what he and Sam had spoken about. Elizabeth had her elbow rested on the door, her head in her hand, staring out of the window, watching the rain drip diagonally down the glass. The Winchester's inner monologue joked that she looked like she was about to start singing some sort of love ballad. He opted, instead of his conversation topic, to turn on some music, leaning over to grab a tape from the glove compartment.
He'd chosen a random mixtape, shoving it carelessly into the deck before adjusting the volume so that it wasn't too overpowering, but covered the silence nicely.

It was a further hour before the tape ran out and the silence took over once again.
Two minutes of that ensued until Elizabeth sighed.
"You have something to say. You've wanted to since we left. So out with it." She said, looking over at him with a blank expression.
"Okay, yeah." Dean nodded. "Sammy and I were talking about what happened during your argument - with the lights."
"And what's 'Sammy's' conclusion?" She replied.
Dean exhaled deeply through his nose, drumming an aimless pattern on the top of the steering wheel.
"He thinks your dreams aren't dreams and they're connected to all the weird crap that's been happening to you."
Elizabeth already suspected that. Dean knew that. But saying out loud made the Vampire feel... Odd.
She slumped down on the bench seat, putting her feet up on the edge. She sat staring at her knees for a few moments.
"Yeah, I've been thinking that too..." She mumbled, barely audible over the rumble of the V8 and the rain tapping incoherently on the roof. "Not that I want to... It would mean my whole life has been a lie and that I actually don't know anything about myself."
"Yeah..." Dean sighed, deciding the conversation was getting a little too deep for his expertise. "If you, uh, wanna change the tape, you can."
Elizabeth looked over, giving him a smile.
"You got it."

The rest of the trip mostly consisted of avoiding any sort of serious conversation by turning the music up way too loud and having some sort of sing off. It turned out to be exactly what they both needed. Half of the time, they could barely hear the music over each other's laughs and deliberately bad singing. They'd ended up making 'Anyway You Want It' by Journey, their 'best buddies' song.
Half way through the seven hour drive, it had gotten quiet. Whilst Elizabeth picked another tape, he'd decided to fake a yawn, concluding that maybe entrusting her to Baby's helm for a while would re-establish the bond they'd had in Purgatory.
"Man, I'm beat. You wanna take over?" He asked as the Vampire slipped a Led Zeppelin tape into the deck.
Her eyes lit up as she looked over at him.
"Sure." She smiled.
"We're not stopping, though. I'm trusting you to take over without killing me." He smirked.
"Shuffle over then, Blue Steel." She cocked a playful brow.
Dean laughed, moving forward in his seat so that he was still in control of the car as Elizabeth slipped into his spot from behind. Her legs wrapped around his and she gave a gentle squeeze to his middle as her own little 'thank you' hug from behind. The Winchester chuckled, lifting his ass over her leg as her feet replaced his on the pedals.
"You got it?" He asked.
"Yeah, I got it." She giggled, taking the wheel.
He shook his head in amusement as he planted himself in the passenger seat, looking over at her with something that could only be construed as admiration.

When they got to the garage in Hot Springs, there was a mist in the air of silent disappointment.
Neither could remember the last time they'd enjoyed a road trip that much.
But as soon as Elizabeth laid eyes on her Camaro, they lit up like a Christmas tree. She squealed, running over to it and hugging the hood.
"Baby, oh my God I missed you so much." She hummed.
"Hey, mine's Baby." Dean pouted.
Elizabeth got up, cocking an eyebrow.
"You're not the only person in the world named Dean, just like I'm not the only person in the world named Elizabeth. But if you really wanna go there, Ken Doll, mine was Baby before your dad even thought about having you." She smirked, knowing she'd silenced him well and truly as he walked off in a playful huff.
Dean led the drive to the motel, as per his request. What he hadn't told her, however, was that he had a surprise for her.

"Dean, where are we going?" Elizabeth sighed, placing her phone on speaker in her lap.
"I told you, it's a surprise. It's not far. Just stick to not knowing for twenty more minutes." He smirked.
Elizabeth groaned, perching her chin on the top of the steering wheel.
By the time they got there, she was beyond antsy, but also extremely confused.
It was an abandoned air strip.
"Dean... What the Hell are we doing here?" She asked.
"Pull up next to me." He replied.
She did as he asked, pulling up at the top end of the air strip. That was when she knew what was going on.
"You're a damn child, Dean Winchester." She smirked, looking at him through her window.
"You know you love it, Vampy Pants." He winked over at her, then looked straight ahead. It was pitch black outside, almost three AM. "Stop when you see bollards." He said.
"Might do." She chuckled, revving her engine.
The Vampire glanced over, seeing Dean hold up a fist.
Counting to three on his fingers, their feet floored the gas.
The drag race was tense. It was neck and neck most of the way, but someone still had a little leeway. As soon as she felt ready, Elizabeth used the very last of the torque her beloved Camaro had, pulling away from the Impala.
"Aw, what? Come on!" He laughed, slapping his steering wheel as he watched her pass on.
As soon as the bollards came into view in their headlights, both pulled on their handbrakes, sliding the back ends of their cars out as they came to a halt in a cloud of white smoke.
"Eat it, Winchester!" Elizabeth was in hysterics as she clambered out of her car, meeting the man between the two vehicles.
"You so cheated." He smirked, pulling her into a hug in the luminescence of their headlights.
Elizabeth wrapped her arms round his shoulders, standing on her toes, still laughing.
"You wish. You just don't want to admit that a girl's a better driver than you." She giggled, gripping his flannel in her fist.
"I'd like to argue that you've been driving since cars existed and so had an unfair advantage." He chuckled, burying his face in her hair.
"Whatever makes you comfy...This has been a really nice trip, Dean. Thank you." Elizabeth smiled.
"You're welcome, 'Liza." He replied.
After half a minute or so of just enjoying the hug, they pulled away and grinned at each other.
"Bet I can beat you to the exit." Elizabeth cocked a playful brow.
"Oh, you are so on." Dean laughed, running back to his car.

The pair stumbled into the Bunker, giggling like school children.
Sam was sat in the library, looking up from one of the Men of Letters case files when he heard the commotion.
He debated whether or not to make himself scarce for Elizabeth's sake.
Just as they were coming down the stairs, his brain opted against it. He stood up, moving into the War Room with a hesitant smile.
"How was Arkansas?" He asked, slipping his fingers into his jeans' front pocket.
"It was pretty awesome, actually." Dean chuckled.
"Even though Dean almost got himself killed a couple of times." Elizabeth smirked over at the older brother.
Sam furrowed his eyebrows in mild confusion, but a smile crept its way onto his lips.
"Hey, it's not my fault you cut me off at the exit." Dean laughed.
"Gotta be thorough about kicking your ass, Winchester." Elizabeth shrugged. "Twice."
"Yeah, I let you win." The older brother brushed it off.
"You keep telling yourself that, honeybee." The Vampire giggled.
"Sounds like you two had a lot of fun." Sam gave a breathy chuckle, finding his voice over the impending awkwardness.
Dean nodded, glancing over to Elizabeth who looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. Sam suddenly getting involved and making things sound how they used to be had rattled her.
All three of them knew it was coming, though.
"I'm gunna go take this into my room." She said, motioning to the duffel bag of clothes in her hand that she'd normally kept in the trunk of her car.
Dean nodded, brushing a reassuring hand on her back as she walked away.
"Almost sounds like too much fun for your standard road trip." Sam commented once she was out of sight.
"Chill your crap, Sammy. I took her to the abandoned air strip I found outside Fort Smith and we had a drag race." Dean told him, leading the conversation out to the kitchen so that he could grab a beer.
"What about the other time?" Sam asked.
"Other time what?" Dean frowned, swallowing his mouthful as he lent against the kitchen counter.
"The other time you, quote; 'almost got yourself killed'." The younger brother cocked a brow as he perched on the end of the dining table at the other end of the room.
Dean chuckled, shaking his head at the memory.
"I let her drive Baby." He told his sibling, earning raised brows.
"That's a big step for you." Sam replied.
Dean shrugged, sipping his beer.
"She needed a distraction, I gave it to her." He said.
"So how did that involve you nearly dying?" Sam pressed.
Dean chuckled, scratching the behind his ear.
"We didn't stop the car to switch seats."
Sam scoffed.
"You're crazy. You know that?" He smiled. "Did you talk about the..?" He trailed off, eyeing his brother.
"Yeah..." Dean sighed, looking aimlessly at the nearest wall. "Sort of, anyway. She's really freaked, man. She thinks her whole life is a lie and she doesn't know how to get answers - and you know how she has this need to know exactly what's going on at all times. This is stressing her out more than we think. I'm just not the type of person to get into that conversation with her - or anyone. So you need to make amends with her and take charge on this front. You're the sensitive one, you're made for this crap. But don't do it like you handled the Bobby thing. Let her come to you. She knows as well as me that you're the best person to talk to about emotional stuff, so just give her some space and she'll come to you when she's ready. Which will probably be sooner rather than later if she gets anymore into her identity crisis. So be there. Or I'll have to punch you."
Sam chuckled, nodding his head.
"Yeah, I'll be there."

A couple of days later, it seemed to be business as usual. Jody had called with something 'spooky' related. The Vampire had argued to high Heaven that she was coming along - that she needed to get back in the game. After Dean had made his best efforts to protest, she pulled the 'it would distract me from all the crap in my head' card and he'd caved.
The trio pulled up outside the rain-covered Sioux Falls Police Department to see Jody waiting out in the parking lot for them with a bright grin on her face.
"You boys are a sight." She greeted them.
"Jody." Sam smiled. "How's the shoulder?"
"Eh. Only aches when it rains." She replied, shuffling her right shoulder around just as Elizabeth got out of the driver's side rear of the Impala. Jody gasped. "Elizabeth! You're... Alive!"
"Couldn't keep me in the ground if you tried, Sheriff." She smirked, moving round the car to hug the officer.
"Or Purgatory, apparently." Jody laughed, pulling away from her.
"Or Heaven. But that's a whole story." Dean smiled. "So whatcha got for us?"
Jody held up a finger, moving to open the trunk of her patrol car.
Inside, was a very dead, very headless Vampire.
Sam bent down, assessing the gums to be sure.
"Yeah." He breathed. "That's a Vamp, alright."
Jody nodded, slamming the trunk shut again before any passer-bys saw.
"I dunno, Sammy. Jody might not need our help anymore." Dean smirked.
"Oh, they grow up too fast." Sam sighed, unable to hide the smile.
"Don't they?" Dean agreed.
"Yeah, joke all you want. There's more where this came from." Jody told them.
"More?" Sam raised his brows.
"My men brought in a runaway last night, no ID on her, nothing actually, except for a bus ticket out of Nebraska. Total Jane Doe, she won't even give me her name." The Sheriff explained. "Girl's basically feral, she's got zero manners, didn't even thank me for saving her. Anyhow, this thing went to plenty of trouble to get at her, and to hear him tell it, the others will want her at least as badly."
"Sounds like a nest." Sam commented, earning agreement from his brother.
"Wow. Must've really sizzled your cortex to come to that conclusion." Elizabeth mumbled, shoving her hands into the pockets of her floor length leather duster. Dean gave her a little nudge with his elbow.
Sam sighed, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
Jody picked up on the tension, but dismissed it for a later conversation.
"A nest?" She asked. "Guessing that's not half as cute and cosy as it sounds."
"No, I'm afraid not." Dean shook his head.
"Vampires group together in a sort of family unit." Elizabeth explained. "They team up, feed together, sometimes hunt together and, from what this sounds like, they were using your Jane Doe as a constant food supply. I've seen it before. They hoard Humans, sometimes stealing them away as kids so that the only life they know is being a breathing blood bag."
"That's horrific..." Jody's eyes widened, earning a nod of agreement from the Vampire.

Elizabeth stood watch from outside of the room Jody had acquired for the boys to examine the girl.
She was pale - anaemic pale. It was only accentuated by her long, pitch black hair. She couldn't have been any older than twenty.
"Wilson and Fisher? If you're FBI, then I'm Taylor Swift." The girl uttered to the boys after Sam had confirmed that she, herself, wasn't a Vampire. "That wasn't a dental ID, it was a fang check. You're Hunters."
"And you're alive because Hunters trained the Sheriff." Dean replied, motioning between himself and his brother. "I think the first words out of your mouth should be a 'thank you.' So, who were you to this Vamp, anyway? Hm? What's so special about you? Is there a nest?" He pressed with more questions after she was refusing to answer the previous, only glaring off to nowhere in particular.
Jody walked in before she could answer.
"Sorry to interrupt, but we got a match on her DNA." She said.
They left the room to go over to Jody's desk, Elizabeth in tow.
"Annie Jones. Reported abducted from outside of Kenosha in O-six. Raised by an elderly grandparent. No living kin. You think the Vamps are the ones who took her?" The Sheriff asked.
"Like I said, living, breathing blood bag." Elizabeth uttered.
"Eight years is a long time for a Human to live with Vampires without getting killed or turned. I'd say Elizabeth was right. She's a feeder."
"You're the experts, there was something... Familiar about the way this Vamp talked to her." Jody continued.
"Jody's right. She had scars on her neck - feeding scars." Sam agreed, clearing his throat as a police officer walked passed the group. "They're layered, as if they've been built on for years."
"Yep. Blood slave." Dean nodded, looking to Elizabeth with a hesitant smile. "Good job, Vampy Pants."
Elizabeth wasn't listening. Or more, she couldn't.