With souls, Paired

Chapter 45

"I'm so glad you're okay. I'm so sorry I couldn't get to you on time. Everytime you need help I'm always far away. I should have been around. I should have..."

Tawfiq held unto the back of his head and made Dean look at him.

"Hey, hey, don't do that to yourself. I should even be grateful to know one of the most feared men on Earth. They went through all that to get you far away and stuck in a blizzard so you couldn't help me out. They knew your worth. They were afraid of what would happen if you and Bella got involved." Tawfiq paused.

"I'll tell you again. You're not my bodyguard. You're my brother. And I'll keep reminding you until you understand that."

"You've done so much for me. Yet I can't do anything for you."

"Don't you for a second think I help you out because I expect you to do the same. As your big brother it's my job to help you out. I don't need you to pay me back or whatever." Tawfiq explained to him.

Dean nodded and wiped away a small tear threatening to escape.

"You don't want the CIA knowing their prized asset is a cry baby." Tawfiq chuckled.

Dean hit his arm and let him go.

"I never cry."

Bella cleared her throat.

"Liar." She faked cough.

Dean frowned.

"Tawfiq. I'm so glad you're okay." Bella smiled at him.

"I hope everyone's fine too. Naima? The kids? There were no casualties right?"

Tawfiq's face fell.

"We lost one kid, Hassan. And they took Zaira. Turns out she worked for them in the first place and everything we know about her was a sham."

"I told you we shouldn't have trusted her. I could tell she was bad news, after that day." Bella frowned at Dean.

"Wait, what? You knew she was bad news?"Tawfiq scrunched his face in confusion.

Bella's eyes widened. She completely forgot Tawfiq didn't know about the crackdown they had gone with Karim only to be saved just by Zaira's name.

Dean rolled his eyes at Bella and sighed.

"In a way. We didn't know she worked for terrorists but we knew she had connections with a drug lord."

"Wait what?! Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Well because she saved us...in a way."
Dean shrugged.

"I need more explanation than that, Dean."

Dean scratched the back of his neck.

"Why not let Karim explain it? He was the reason we weren't shot dead." Dean tried to escape from revealing the truth himself.

"What? You were with Karim on a job?"
Tawfiq frowned.

Dean hadn't said anything about a job but Tawfiq caught onto things pretty quickly.