Sacrifices (Dean Winchester x Reader)

The Moments In Between.

Sincerely,
James
   
    
I pulled the second piece of paper behind it revealing what looked like a spell.   I read it over but it didn't make sense why I should have it.  Footsteps neared the door.  Quickly I folded the paper and shoved it in my back pocket.  The note slid back under the clothes in my bag.  I deftly zippered the bag and picked it up.

"You ready, sunshine?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, are you?"

"Ready as I'll ever be.  But it's a real mess out there.  You can stay here.  It will be safer."

"My place isn't anywhere except by your side, Dean."

"Yeah, thought you'd say something like that."

"Come on, you don't want to leave me behind, do you?"

"Of course not.   I just know it's bad out there.  And I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Sam and you are the best hunters around.  I may not be as amazing, but I have a few tricks now that will help."

"Don't say that.  You were amazing before whatever power you have now.  Wouldn't have fallen completely head over heels for anyone else."

"Dean, stop," I blushed with a soft, nervous laugh.

"I don't know how much time we have together.  Things are getting worse by the day.  I just wanted you to know how much you mean to me," he said taking my hand into his.

"Okay, wow.  Dean I was gone for just a few weeks.  It wasn't like I was never coming back.  Did something happen while I was gone?  Is there something I should know about before we leave?"

"No.  Nothing unusual happened.  It's just scarier, stronger things coming out of the woodwork.  I took a pretty bad beating after you left, it made me feel weak.  And if Sam hadn't been there, if..."

"If, if, if...there's always an if in our profession.  But it's like you said we have to enjoy every moment we have.  And I plan on doing that."

"Good, 'cause you're stuck with me now, sweetheart."

"Okay…"

He extended his hand.  I caught a glimpse of something that had not always been of his hand.  I grabbed his wrist.  He laughed slightly, realizing I was finally catching on.  He smiled with those lively, forest green eyes meeting mine.  My heart beat faster, harder in my chest.  He smiled at me.  Without saying a word he said a million things to me.  He grabbed my hand gently.  My eyes looked down slowly.  Earlier his fingers traced mine when  he took my hand. But I was lost in thought between what James wrote and Dean was saying.  I was not really paying attention to what he was doing.  My gaze traced his left hand that intertwined into my left hand.  Both reflected a ring on each of our ring fingers.  This was stupid, he didn't even ask me if it was okay.  That thought only lasted a moment. Of course it was okay.  Dean smiled.  That complacent smile that knew I had no objections to his implication.  I couldn't have been happier in that moment.  It was one of those moments you had to hold onto.  It burned into my mind.  His eyes, his smile.  That my breathing was twice as fast as his trying to contain the building tears in my eyes.  The creaking floor downstairs as Bobby and Sam paced around.  The bag slowly slipping from the hand that held it. And the soft thud it made when it met the floor.  How his hand held mine carefully as if it would break if he squeezed any tighter.  The feel of his free arm wrapping around my shoulders and pulling me into him.  My face met his chest.  He was warm.  The beat of his heart was steady.  There was nothing else like the way he smelled.  It was a lingering smell of some cheap motel soap.  And I loved it.  We said nothing as the faint, barely audible chatting between Sam and Bobby.

"Are you okay?" he asked as his lips softly pecked the top of my head.

"I am.  I guess I'm a bit surprised.  Didn't know you felt this way.  I just needed a moment to take this all in.  I don't think there will ever be a moment that can top this one," my voice was timid, afraid that even speaking too loud would break my memories of this moment.

"Well, after all we've been through we can handle anything they throw at us.  I just wanted to let you know in case..."

"In case of the worst possible scenario we face with every hunt?  Thank you, Dean.  For everything you've done."

He smiled as he let go of me.  His hand held the side of my neck while his thumb traced my cheek gently.  I looked up into those eyes.  Those bright, green eyes I had fallen for so long ago.  In another life when I pretended to be something, and someone, I wasn't.  When I was too afraid to love someone.  To let anyone near me for fear they would end up the same way my family did.  Because that's what this life does.  It takes and takes.  But it was these moments in between we had to learn to cherish with our entire being.  And he loved every flaw, every aspect of me; my feelings reflected his. Dean's head lowered as his lips met with mine.  It was a kiss filled with fear and hope, with love and lust, with every emotion we had and had not yet felt.  The kiss broke as our foreheads pressed softly into each other.  Both of us wanting to stay here.  To escape into a normal life.  But fate held other plans for us.  And in between the bad and the tragedy that we come to deal with.  We always had each other in the end.

"I'll always love you, ____," he whispered.

"And I will never stop loving you, Dean."

"Are you ready for this?"

"I'm ready for anything," I beamed.