Dean walked down the road, his head hung low as he kicked every rock on his feet came across. He was half tempted to storm into her house, right at this moment and steal her away. Who was going to go up against Bobby Singer to bring her back home? But the more he thought about it, the more his mind went back to the punch he had seen smash her jaw. He clinched his own jaw, shrugging his arms into his jacket with a growl and kicked the ground a little harder.

He could feel his anger issues boiling up again. It was something he had worked on, since being arrested and spending time at a ranch for those same issues. He was calm, and reserved most of the time, save the odd fight with his dad, which is what had brought him to Sioux Falls semi permanently, in the first place.

In fact, Bobby had taken him in, with one condition: No outbursts or breaking things.

It was something that hadn’t been that hard to keep under control, since he had met Mika. She calmed him, made him feel human, and most days, made him feel relatively normal. But her dad not wanting to fight him, punching her in the face after refusing was touching a chord that he had suppressed for a long time.

He approached the junkyard gate, shrugging through it aggressively, and up the steps of the tattered house. He opened the door to the house, and aggressively slammed it behind him, which perked Bobby’s head up, as he sat at his desk.

“Dean-o?”, he called, standing carefully as Dean stomped toward the stairs, not saying a word. He ascended the stairwell, stomping the entire way, “Dammit boy, what have you gotten into, this time?”

Bobby noticed there wasn’t any blood on his face. He didn’t look roughed up and as far as he could tell, the skin on his knuckles was a normal color. So, he made the decision to not follow him. Instead, he sat down at his desk, and let him have his space, something he did, while Dean worked through his rage.

Dean entered the bedroom at the top of the stairs, slamming the door behind him and tossing himself into the small rolling chair in the corner. He wanted to send her a message, hoping that she wasn’t banned from her computer or anything, and when he moved the mouse, he noticed her message and sighed with relief.



He pushed away from the computer, and practically sprinted for his bedroom door, before barreling down the stairs and through the living room. As he passed Bobby again, he raised a hand, “I’ll be back in a bit. Don’t wait up!”

Bobby didn’t have time to respond, before Dean was out the door. He just shook his head, rubbing his eyebrow at the whiplash, and took a drink.

Dean practically ran to Mika’s house, sneaking around the side, and stepping in behind the bushes below her bedroom window. There was still a ladder there, from the roofing work. Her father wasn’t the best at getting anything done, other than being an angry bastard. Dean was oddly thankful for that. He carefully pressed himself against the wall, to get to the ladder without being seen through the living room window, and then started to climb the ladder, carefully stepping onto the eve beneath her window, once he reached the top.

He reached a hand out, squatting by her window, and tapped on the glass gently with his silver ring.

Due to her computer being opposite her bed at the other end of her room, she saw the notification pop up when Dean messaged her back. Crawling off her bed, she opened it and read it, glad to have him coming to her rescue once again. Except this time, it wasn't from school bullies. She didn't respond just incase he wouldn't get the message, but instead went to her bed and sat on it. She found that her pillow just didn't give her the same calming effect that Dean's jacket did.

She glanced over at her mirror that was mounted on the door of her wardrobe and saw her face was beginning to show the signs of a black eye. Sighing sadly, she let herself get lost in her thoughts which was only halted when Dean's familiar rap on the window breaking her out of her thoughts. Looking up, she saw him, clambering off her bed she opened the window and stepped back to let him inside.

Her eyes puffy from tears and the black eye coming out, she perched on the end of her bed looking down at her lap, partly scared of him seeing her in such a state. This was the side of her that she never wanted him to see. She didn't know what to say to him or how he would react to everything that he had witnessed, she didn't know if he would ask questions about why she never said anything before or if her father had even done this before to her.

She could hear her mother verballing tearing into her father for hitting her once again and that he needed to sort his anger out. She didn't want to get involved or be anywhere near her father in this moment but hearing her mother defend her and not take his shit was of some relief to her. She admired how her mother could stand up to him and not be a victim like she was.

As Dean waited for her to turn around, offering a small smile that quickly dropped as he caught on to the swelling of her eye. As she opened the window, he watched her face intently, his eyebrows stitched together in worry as he reached out for her. He crawled through the window carefully, being as quiet as he could, and closed it behind him.

He could hear her mother downstairs, and was thankful that she was at least distracting Mika’s father from coming up the stairs and bothering her. He wanted her to be able to rest, tonight, and he didn’t want to have to potentially kill her father. He turned his eyes from the door, to her face, and sighed.

“Is that from…”, he started to speak as he stepped up in front of her and hit his knees, placing his hands on her knees. But he stopped himself, knowing the answer, “Mika, I’m so sorry…”

He croaked the words out, gently wiping a tear away from her black eye. He stared at her face, wanting to find that same glimmer of happiness or hope that he loved seeing, but he found none. She was broken. She seemed nervous around him. He didn’t want to make her flinch, or for her to think that any of this was on her.

He leaned back from her, pulling his jacket from his arms, and spread her legs slightly to situate himself close to her body as he wrapped her back up in her leather safety net. After the jacket was there, he kissed her nose, whispering to her, “I’m here, now. Alright? You’re okay…”, before leaning in and kissing her carefully.

The moment he croaked out the question about her eye, she knew he knew the answer but she slowly nodded her response unable to say the word 'yes' to him. She was terrified but not of Dean. She let him wipe her tears away as he stared at her face, for what she could have only assumed was for any other injuries, not once did it occur to her that he was looking for her usual happiness or hope that she always had in her eyes.

She noticed him remove his jacket and in that one action knew exactly what he was doing. He did it every single time she was down or upset and it was of some relief that he knew how much it helped her. She let him move her legs so he could closer to be able to wrap her in his jacket, kiss her nose and tell her she was safe now he was there before kissing her properly.

She kissed him back, before pulling away enough to hug him and bury her face into his shoulder. "I never wanted you to see him like that..." she mumbled in his shoulder. "He just...he gets so angry at the simplest of things because he gets stressed out from work or whatever it is...but w-w-why does he have to take it out on me?" she started sobbing, clinging to Dean like he was the last refuge she had to hold onto.

"He does this a lot, it's why I just slump away when things get rough at school...it's just another load of crap coming my way." she added before she couldn't talk anymore because her tears started to muffle her words and make it difficult to talk, not to mention she refused to lift her head from Dean's shoulder even though it hurt to put pressure on her face.

"Don't leave me alone tonight Dean...please?" she pleaded, lifting her head the tiniest amount.

Dean hugged her to him tightly as she pulled away from the kiss and buried her face in his shoulder. He didn’t know what to say, as he didn’t take John’s physical anger badly, anymore. He kinda just took it. But for her, he never wanted that. No one should ever have laid a hand on her. This was Mika Chambers. She was the most non-confrontational, kind person he had ever met in his entire life, and for someone to hurt her over nothing?

He stroked her hair gently, letting her cry and get things out of her system, asking questions he didn’t have the answer for, “Shhh. I know. He takes it out on you because he’s a coward. There is nothing…nothing you could do that will ever make it okay for someone to put their hands on you like that.”

As he finished trying to answer the question that bothered him the most, she continued and his heart hurt for not knowing about all of this. How had he missed the signs, if they were there? It could have been because the only person he had noticed her dad being aggressive toward was himself, when the man would threaten him. But if he had known about this?

He sighed at her asking him not to leave her alone, which wasn’t something he was planning to do. From the second she invited him over, he had planned to stay until at least they left for school the next morning, if not just hide in her closet until she could run away.

“I’m not going anywhere…”, he whispered against her ear, kissing her neck just below, “I shouldn’t have let you go back there. I could have taken him, if he had just been man enough to fight me…but I’m sorry I didn’t stop him.”

He let his own floodgates open a little. Seeing like this broke pieces off his soul, little by little, and made him feel as if he was having a heart attack from the sheer gut wrenching pain. He also didn’t know how to deal with people who were upset. His method was typically to pat them on the back, and tell them they were okay. However, he wanted to fix every problem in her life, even the big ones.

“What do you need me to do?”, he asked, still petting her hair as he hugged her.

She listened to his words, letting them try and sink in as much as possible, to do all she could in her head to make her believe that she wasn't to blame for her father's actions, and deep down she knew she wasn't to blame. She just also had it in her head that she was the punchbag her father could use that meant he didn't need to buy an actual punchbag.

She didn't blame Dean for missing the signs, she hid them well enough that she was certain if her mother didn't live with them not even she would have noticed the signs. He didn't see the signs because she didn't want him to see them, even if it meant he felt guilty for not seeing said signs now he had seen it for himself what her father could be like.

The sigh of relief when he reassured her that he wasn't going anywhere was audible in her voice as he kissed her neck just below her ear. "It's not your fault, don't be sorry. He's smart, he wouldn't have hit you in public no matter how much he may have wanted to. I don't think he would have punched me if he realised you were right there at the truck." she replied to him, slowly managing to calm as he stroked and patted her hair to calm her down.

"Just...just be here?" she suggested, eventually pulling away from his hug and wiping her face with her elbow. "I just need to lay here and cuddle" she mumbled to him, properly looking at him for the first time since he crept into her room. She was aware she needed to be quiet whilst her folks were downstairs, and with how she was feeling it wasn't exactly difficult to do.

"maybe watch something to drown out their shouting" she added. She had a feeling that if her mother called her father out enough he would just storm out to the nearest bar soon enough as she knew the one thing her mother was good at, was stopping him from getting anywhere near her when he was angry. She also knew that if her mother came in, she wouldn't care Dean was there, even if she was angry for her skipping school, she also knew how much Dean kept her calm and happy.

Dean took in her sigh of relief, breathing his own tired sigh as she explained her father’s reasoning for not fighting him. He still felt guilty that he didn’t lay the first blow on him. He deserved it, and he was always good for a fight. What was one more scar?

When she pulled away from him, just asking him to simply stay with her, he nodded, his eyes a bit confused as to how he would help by simply existing. He didn’t find himself that calming. He was chaotic, irrational, and full of rage. It was the most confusing thing about Mika, was how she seemed so chill. She seemed like she genuinely enjoyed being near him, despite all of those things. He hadn’t told her what he did or even the things he had seen and done, yet. When that conversation came up, he would have a lot to explain, and a lot of things would likely go south for him, quickly.

But he nodded, wiping an odd tear from her face with one of his fingers, “I don’t know that I’m the best cuddler. I’m a bit…not cuddly. But I can do my best.”

He gave a small smile, looking into her dark brown eyes as he softened his gaze. He then glanced down, and glanced back up, the green of his eyes catching the moon that was coming in through the window, “What are you in the mood to watch? A girl like you? I’m sure you have a chick flick or two to make us cry…”

He laughed softly, standing from the floor after a few moments and crawling onto it, all the way to her pillows, where he flopped down and brought his hands up to rest behind his head.

Mika seemed to genuinely enjoy being around him because she did genuinely enjoy being around him. Despite how everything turned out tonight to ruin what was a perfect day in her eyes, he gave her that boost of life. Yes, she looked out at the world with hope and saw the good in the world but that because she was desperate to see it to give herself hope that life wasn't all that bad. He helped her to come out of her shell and experience things she never would have had the guts to experience before. He wasn't perfect, he was rough round the edges, flawed and a massive flirt to all the girls in the school, but that's what intrigued her about him.

He was different around her and he was softer, his bravado seemed to drop unless he was putting it on to make her laugh. He was an intriguing character and she couldn't help but be drawn to him. She just couldn't ever figure out why he was so interested in her, but she accepted it because he really was the greatest and only friend she had. She couldn't imagine her life back how it was before he came into it. As he wiped her tears once more she closed her eyes savouring the feel of his fingers on her skin before the tiniest of smiles started to creep onto her face at his words.

"you're better at cuddles than you think. You hug me all the time" she pointed out as she looked into his green eyes, the shade catching and glimmering in the moonlight coming through her bedroom window. She saw so much protection in his eyes and was always taken aback about how bright they were compared to her very dark eyes. At his question she snapped out of her thoughts and nodded sheepishly. "Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves" she told him honestly.

It was far from a masterpiece film but there was just something about it. She did have a couple other films that were considered far more of a chick flick than the Kevin Costner film, but she always seemed to turn to Robin Hood when her father went through this phase of hitting her. There was something about the idea of someone standing up for the lead fortunate, trying to bring justice to those who couldn't fight back that brought her solitude. That and she was utterly in love with his relationship with Maid Marion and it had one of the most romantic ballad songs ever to exist in her opinion.

She let him get up onto his feet and crawl onto her bed as she walked to her TV on her desk by her bed, knelt down to her little box of VHS tapes, finding the film in question easily enough (she had her tapes organised in alphabetical order), pulled out the tape from its case and put it in the player, turning on her TV and pressing play as she then walked back to her bed and crawled on it.

Kicking her sneakers off she pulled Dean's jacket to the front of her to use like a blanket and scooched right into his side, moving his arm to wrap round her and cuddled right into him as the film started.

Dean was thankful to see her smile, but was surprised that she thought he gave good hugs. He hated hugs. Sure, he gave them to Bobby and Sam, every now and then, but for girls it was usually a waste of time. And it made you look soft, to the ones that preferred the more rough around the edges look. Maybe the reason he gave her such good hugs, was because he used the time she was pressed against him to take in the little details about her, things that were intoxicating.

The smell of her hair. The way her hair brushed against his face, as he nuzzled it against her ear. He took in the feeling of her hands against the back of his neck, running down his back, and at times to his hips. He took in the way that her eyes brightened in the sun, when he was holding her, and trying to convince her that the girls at school were idiots, and she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Most of those moments ended with her punching him in the chest, but even that…was specifically Mika.

“I’m just good at hugging you…”, he muttered, not realizing how bright his green eyes were in the moonlight. But as she introduced the movie, he smiled, and the smile went all the way to his eyes, causing them to dilate with the pang of love in his gut. He didn’t know what that feeling was. In fact, he barely noticed it at all, but it showed in his eyes.

After he was laying on the bed, he watched her as she stepped over to the TV, his mind not wandering anymore. This was her night, and he was here to cater to her, which made him shiver a bit at how soft it sounded. He left his boots on, trying to keep them reserved for the base of the bed, in case he had to run. For these first few times they would be together, he did this, until he started to learn the schedule of her parents, a bit better.

Raising his hand from his chest, he let her in as she laid down, wrapping his arm tightly around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head.

“This is going to be super sappy, isn’t it?”, he muttered with a smirk, seeing Kevin Costner on the tv. He then shrugged a bit, “I don’t mind sappy. It’s gotten me lai-…um…I mean, I um. That came out wonderfully wrong, and I would never try to…”

He finally broke off his words with a deep sigh, deciding to just shut his mouth and watch the movie as he pulled her closer to him.

Whenever those moments would occur, Mika's punches were always playful and not malicious in the slightest as she never believed him that she was the most beautiful girl in school. She always was convinced he only ever told her that because up until tonight's admissions, he was her best friend and in her eyes, it was something best friends told each other to make them feel better. She also couldn't put any weight into her punches even if she tried as she just was not the confrontational type, just as he knew all too well.

She smiled a little bit more when he said he was just good at hugging her noticing how bright his eyes were, making her swear they were brighter than they usually were but wasn't sure if it was just because of the moonlight lighting her room or if it was because of any other reason that was going through his mind.

On the bed, she snuggled into him as he held her tightly, her eyes closing briefly as he kissed the top of her head, with one of her arms round him, she squeezed lightly and scoffed at his first remark before hearing him going on a ramble and totally tying himself up verbally in knots.

"not super sappy...its Robin Hood, there's action too" she said to him, readjusting her head ever so slightly and was finally in her most comfortable position as she soon got into the film. A film she had seen many many times and Dean would catch her miming to the script every now and then. There was as she promised, plenty of action of men fighting, robberies happening, comedy and banter between characters and the love between Robin and Marian.

During the film she couldn't help but almost see Dean as her very own Robin Hood. Rough around the edges but her utter hero and always being there when she needs him. She never really noticed it before but after this night she really started taking notice of the similarities. At some point during the film, near the end of it she had fallen asleep on Dean which just showed how comfortable she was in his arms and how much calmer she had gotten with his presence.

By the time the end credits were just finishing going up, Mika's door opened and in came her mother, a soft smile seeing exactly what film she had put on before noticing Dean holding her daughter protectively.

Dean smiled in relief, repositioning himself under her as she brushed off his being tongue tied. His smile turned into a small laugh as she reassured him there was action in the movie, to keep his attention.

He couldn’t help notice how much more relaxed she was, now that he was holding her. She had seemed calmer since the moment that he showed up, which made his mind up…he was staying. He would stay around as long as she asked him to, John be damned. He reached up, as she slept, and brushed his fingers across the black eye that they had both nearly forgotten about, in their peaceful time together.

It turned his stomach into knots that someone could do that to a person he found nearly perfect. How could someone hurt her, and bruise her face…specifically her eyes? He furrowed his brow as he thought about it while the credits rolled, a sappy love song he had heard many times over the radio in Bobby’s car playing in the background.

He barely heard the door open, as he stared at the side of her face, but when his eyes peered up at the slight click, he froze, staring at the door as her mother stepped into the room.

“Um…Mrs. Chambers…”, he started, taking a deep breath, but not moving, “I-um…why are you smiling? I can g-go…”

When Mika's mother walked in she wasn't expecting Dean to be there at first but she wasn't surprised either. She saw how close their friendship was and how much Mika liked him, not to mention how much he brought her daughter out of herself. Unlike her father, she actually liked Dean. She appreciated that he was there for Mika and whenever he had been around her, she would come home happy. The Singer/Winchester/Chambers family fued was between her husband's side of the Chambers family, not hers.

She saw him stutter and freeze even though he was saying he would go if she wished it. "it's okay Dean, you can stay. She clearly needs you right now" she said to him, nodding her head toward Mika's sleeping form on him. "I came in because I knew the moment she'd get in she'd go put that film on. It's like a predictable routine with her." she started explaining, closing the door and leaning against it casually, "I guess it's a bit of an escapism and lifeline for her when her dad turns into a stupid idiot" she commented.

She now noticed the black eye Mika was sporting from her father and her smile dropped. "I'm not going to lie and say I'm not disappointed in her skipping school with you, because I am disappointed. Its as you probably know, very out of character for her. But I am more angry at Dan for losing his cool and hitting her...again" she explained to him, pausing to let what she was telling Dean sink in.

Pushing herself off the door, she went over to the TV and turned it off for them. "he's gone for most of the night and when he comes back he's strictly only allowed downstairs in the couch to sleep, so neither of you have to worry about him finding you here" she then said to him. "just...thank you Dean, for making my girl happy" she started to say something else but decided that thanking him was much more important.

Dean relaxed a bit, settling back down under Mika’s head, half scared he would wake her up with his racing heartbeat alone. He listened to her, hearing something he didn’t know about Mika for the first time, as he spent most of his alone time with her, and they were rarely apart, aside from night time when they spoke over the computer or on the phone, much to Bobby’s disdain.

He looked down a bit, not wanting to make eye contact as she explained that Mika’s dad had done this before. He felt a familiar pang of anger boiling in his stomach as she spoke, wishing that she would let him have a go at her husband, but he knew it would probably only make things worse for Mika, contrary to his instincts. Humans weren’t much of a problem, for him, anymore.

As she stepped across the room, he smiled at her thanks, feeling validated by her appreciation for his small gestures of friendship that she had witnessed. He figured that Mika’s dad had mentioned the kiss, if he had gotten there early enough to witness it. At the least, he probably mentioned that they were closer than normal. He furrowed his brow and tried to muster up the respect that he had for her, but the also the bravery he needed to ask the question that was burning in his mind, “Why do you stay? How could you stay, knowing how he is with her?”

He swallowed heavily, knowing that the question was going to be one that was hard to answer, but it had to be asked. Mika couldn’t just leave. She didn’t have to luxury, like he did, to simply run away. Every cop in the state would be after her.

Sarah Chambers noticed how Dean couldn't look at her as she admitted this wasn't the first time Dan had hit his daughter. Nor did she think it would be the last time and that broke her heart more than Dean would ever realise. What he also didn't know was that she had managed to stop several hits before his fist could make contact with her girl's face. Yet there was also a side to Dan that was kind and loving, the complete opposite to what Dean had ever witnessed.

Dan had indeed mentioned how close the two of them were when he found them in the park and IN Sarah's mind it was about time. She welcomed it and had the opinion of as long as Dean didn't take advantage of Mika and kept her happy then she didn't see the harm in Mika finally potentially having a boyfriend. Anything to get her head out of her books.

She was also half expecting the question Dean asked from the moment she told him something in confidence. She sighed and carefully perched on the edge of the bed, looking at her daughter's black eye and then at Dean. "it's complicated Dean. It's not that simple unfortunately. I wish it was or I would have gone with her a long time ago. You have to realise something, when he's in a good mood he is the best father to her. It's when he gets scared for her or stressed or on rare occasions drunk, it turns sour."she explained, making sure not to wake Mika in the process, but she felt it important Dean knew the whole story.

"he's just so incredibly overprotective of Mika that he doesn't realise half the time he's her only real threat in this town" she said, like Mika, not knowing about the supernatural, whereas Dan had an inkling, even if he thought most of it was crazy ramblings of Bobby Singer.

"Dan can be a good man. It just so happens you've only seen his worst side, especially tonight. You know, she's always said she never wanted you to see her like this. She has done everything she could think of to hide the bruises from you. She was scared of you seeing her as some kind of pity party or fragile little thing. She really cares about what you think of her." she said some more. "and yes, Dan told me he saw you and her sharing a kiss and hug in the park" she smiled.

Dean didn’t have the best grasp on normal adult relationships, considering his parents' situation. His mother was dead, and his dad handled it worse than even Dean could see himself handling the same situation. But his dad wasn’t a saint. He went out, screwed around, and still, Dean never ended up with a female role model at all. Bobby had conversations with him often about how a lot of his issues with showing emotion were from only having a damaged father as someone to look up to, other than himself.

As she explained the complications, his mind wanted to hear them as excuses, causing his eyebrows to stitch together in a bit of rage, worry, and protectiveness. He didn’t accept that someone could hurt the people they loved, no matter the reasoning.

Dean turned his gaze from Sarah to Mika’s face, trying to find in his mind a time that he would ever hurt her. He went over several scenarios that were what he considered the worst, and he realized that she would be his weak spot, if she was ever taken, or it came to him being forced to hurt her.

He turned back to Sarah as she spoke about Mika not wanting him to see her when she was bruised or down. He couldn’t remember a time that he even had a hint that this was going on, other than the one near fight he had been involved in with her father, that Bobby stepped in for. Bobby seemed really protective of Mika that night, and now Dean knew why.

“I um…I hope you understand why I can’t let him hurt her again if I’m around.”, he finally muttered, meeting her eyes with a serious and almost possessive look, “I don’t want to hurt your husband. I trust you, when you say you see good in him. I do. But what happened today is on me. All of it is on me.
I can’t…let her go through this. I’d take a bullet, ma’am.”

Sarah knew that what she was saying would be mostly excuses, but it's all she could say to explain it. She still remembered the days when Mika wasn't even ten years old and she was the epitome of 'daddy's girl'. She still had photos somewhere of Mika being given piggy backs by Dan and laughing with pure joy, not even she fully knew when those days changed to this fragile relationship between father and daughter, but every single time it broke her heart that Mika just took it, every. single. time.

She wanted to tell Dean that Bobby was her uncle, but she knew that was a whole different large conversation that was not needed for this night. If Dean thought Bobby was overly protective of Mika that one night when he stepped in, then she was pretty sure he would have his mind blown whenever he found out that Bobby was her uncle. She could see how angry he felt over everything she was telling him, and how protective he was staring down at Mika which brought warmth to her heart.

She looked at him when he finally found the words he wanted to say, seeing the posessiveness and seriousness in his eyes as he said he would step in if he ever saw what he did tonight again. She nodded and smiled warmly at him, even though she did condone any kind of violence but she could see why Dean was saying and feeling the way he was.

"None of this is on you Dean, Dan may have used you as the excuse for his anger, but it is not you. hIs violence is not on you. It's on him, always will be and I will never stop until he gets help for it. But...and I can't believe I'm saying this, if you end up punching him for hurting my little Meeko? I won't stop you" she told him. "I can see you would do anything for her, I can tell you're true with her and that's all I want for her. I fully accept you to date my daughter if you two wish to take that one step further. She dotes on you wholly" Sarah said, patting his leg before standing up.

"Sleep well tonight Dean." she said, giving her permission to him to stay the night, then exited the bedroom and went to bed herself, but not before giving Bobby a call to say Dean was at theirs because Dan went on the rage path once more......

Dean breathed a sigh of relief, hearing her confirm that none of this was on him. He still felt the guilt. He was with her. Her father hated him. He should have known better than to keep her out so late, even if she was being punished like a normal teenager. If nothing else, he was risking her freedom. He smirked, looking back up at Sarah when she said he basically had her permission to punch her husband in the face, permission he hadn’t asked for.

“Thank you, ma’am…”, he whispered, his throat a bit tight at the second half of permission, the permission to date Mika. It wasn’t something he had really thought about in his mind. Dating was an odd topic for Dean, as he wasn’t really sure he believed in the whole ‘one person for the rest of your life’ concept that his parents had tricked themselves into. But Mika seemed like she could break that mold a bit for him. He didn’t know if he believed they could last forever, but he knew that he wanted to know her for the rest of his life, and that nothing would ever happen to her, while he was around.

He sighed, wiggling out from under Mika’s head, gently laying it on the pillow beside him as he turned to face her when her mother left the room. Staring at her face as she slept, his stomach fluttered. He leaned forward and gently placed a kiss against her lips, placing a hand under his cheek as he stared at her, and eventually drifted off to sleep…

PRESENT DAY

Three and a half weeks had passed since the big fight broke out between Mika and Dean and Bobby managed to get them to talk once again and they actually made up as they always did. Mika's leg had finally got on the mend and although not absolutely perfect, she could move like normal once more. She had never been so thankful for a quick healer, even if she thought it was strange she healed such a drastic wound as quickly as only three weeks. She didn't think much of it however and just accepted it, deciding it was best in this instance not to complain in the slightest.

She said goodbye to Dean during those weeks so he could go and join his dad on a few hunts, but she always gave him a text or phone call most days just to make sure he was alright and safe and alive. She also kept him in the loop of her own recovery (sending him the odd picture of her leg's progress) and reassuring him that Bobby hadn't put her on any hunts whilst she recovered and kept her doing the most mundane of jobs around the house. It bored her senseless but she knew it was for the best, and it did mean she could help Bobby on the phones or give other hunters bits of information they so desperately needed over said phones by doing what she loved doing....reading the books.

Today was the day for cleaning her car as it had been parked outside the garage the entire time and she knew her car was incredibly filthy by this point. She also needed to know the engine would still start and low and behold it wouldn't. So sporting some old jeans that were ripped into shorts and an old fitted slightly cropped vest, her hair tied up into a ponytail to keep it out of the way, she was head first leaned over seeing to her beloved car. "Come on girl...tell me what's wrong with you" she sighed to her car.

PRESENT DAY

Dean had reluctantly gone to help his dad with a hunt, considering that no other hunters wanted to touch John with a ten foot pole. They had turned him down almost instantly, and so he turned straight to Dean, who he saw as being lazy, and reckless by staying away. He savored every phone call he got from Mika, the texts, the photos, all of it, and tried his best to get the job overwith as quickly as he could.

However, the job ended up being a long one. It turned into multiple cases, in what Dean didn’t realize was John keeping him busy. As he packed his things in the small hotel room he shared with John, his voice rang out, causing Dean to flinch.

“Going somewhere?”, John asked, tossing the Impala keys on the table beside him. Dean shrugged his shoulders, continuing to roll up his clothes and toss them in his military duffel. John didn’t move from his place at the door, and didn’t say anything, which meant he was going to put up a fight.

“I wanted to go check in on Bobby for a few days. Just a few days…”, Dean muttered, throwing his old flask in his bag and zipping it up.

“And you’re just going to run out on a job? Dean…”

“Look. I’ve done everything you ask. I never tell you no. I never do anything for myself. I’m asking for the weekend, dad. Just the weekend. I’ll call you.”, he explained, throwing the bag over his shoulder and stepping up to the door, which John blocked.
“If I find out…that you’re with that girl, we’re done. Do you hear me? You want to be like your brother, and walk out on this family…fine. But be a man and tell me. Don’t lie.”, John snapped, his teeth gritted as he talked about Sam. Dean narrowed his eyes in a glimmer of anger, which caused John to sigh, “Don’t lie to me.”

“Move. Dad move! I’ll be back.”, Dean almost growled at John, stepping around him with a shove and walking out the door.

—-

A stranger dropped him off, just down the road from Bobby’s junkyard. He didn’t want to go against Bobby’s wishes, and have anyone pull into the drive, in case he was being followed by something he had hunted. As he walked down the long gravel driveway, his heart fluttered a bit. He felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders, and he was back in his teen years, excited to see the familiar face he had missed.

Stepping around the side of the garage, where he figured he would find Bobby, he saw a familiar set of legs out to the side of the Impala hood and smirked, stopping his stride to simply watch her move. After a few moments of staring, he smirked a bit wider and called out to her, “Need a hand?”

Mika didn't even hear Dean walking up on the gravel of the junkyard to signal his return to her and Bobby, she was so focused and stumped as to why after everything she had tried, nothing was fixing her beloved car. She had her music on and as Dean stared, he would have seen her legs move every now and then to the beat. She had some grease on her face and hands which was of no surprise all things considered, leaning right into her car.

When Dean spoke up asking if she needed a hand, she paused what she was doing and smiled brightly at the familiar sound of his voice. Standing up straight she turned round as she grabbed the rag to wipe her hands as best as possible and took in his face before running to him where she proceeded to glomp him with very little warning. "Dean you're back!" she beamed, hugging him tightly. "And to answer youre question yeah, I'm utterly stumped this time round, she just won't start and I've tried pretty much everything" she explained, pulling back from him a bit.

She wanted to ask how he got away from his dad's hunt workload but her sensible side told her it could wait. For now she just wanted to enjoy that he came back for a visit and not worry about the more depressing questions and answers. She didn't even know if John knew if she was her, or if he still thought she was Kenzi but the moment she saw Dean's face that constant curiosity just vanished.

Letting go of Dean now she realised she still had a hold of him, she started walking back to her car to show him the current state of it to see if he really could figure out what she couldn't. "I've asked Bobby constantly to keep checking she's running alright but has he? No. It's been so busy back here on the phones and stuff that neither of us have had the opportunity to keep the maintenance up on her these last few weeks." she explained. "I thought it was just a dead battery at first but ruled that out instantly" she said to him so he could at least save time in not checking that.