[h3] Dean [/h3]

Dean flinched as Lexi pulled back to look at him, and his last words were obviously what did it. He couldn’t decide if it was a mistake to let her know how he felt, or not. Judging by her words, and her refusal to allow her to push him away, maybe the timing was bad. He would much rather suffer in silence, than have her killed because of her own stubbornness. But the longer she spoke, the more his face softened. He couldn’t imagine saying anything cruel to her just to push her away. He had hoped that telling her how dangerous the situation was would do the trick.

He just didn’t have it in him to be hateful, anymore…not toward someone he loved. He sighed and tried to interrupt her, “Lexi…”

But she doubled down, making it clear that she was there, no matter what. She wasn’t leaving. He would likely have to tie her up and drop her off somewhere in rural central Kansas to convince her to leave and he wasn’t even sure that she wouldn’t just find her way back to the bunker anyway. He placed his hands on her thighs and brushed his thumb across them, looking away from her eyes for a moment as he thought about his next words. He wasn’t the ‘I love you’ type. It took a lot to pull the words from his throat, and he had managed to break one of his long standing rules thanks to whiskey, fear, and a host of other emotions.

“Lexi, I…” He started, trying to find his words as her lips pressed to his, and he kissed her back, letting his eyes flutter closed at the welcome closeness. Sure, he wanted to push her away, fly her to Egypt, anywhere that wasn’t right next to him as the worst of the demon crap crashed down around him. But there was just no way. She wouldn’t leave willingly, and he didn’t have it in him to push her out with his old ways. He was too tired. As she pulled back from the kiss, he tightened his fingers around her thighs and sighed. “I’m sorry. I just want you to know what you’re getting yourself into. That’s all. I want you to keep yourself safe…and to let things play out how they will.”

He leaned a little closer to her, trying to salvage some part of the day without everything being quite so heavy, “But now you know everything. No more secrets. No more confusion. You know everything I do. Do you um…do you wanna do some work? I make a decent sidekick. But until Nat gets here, we can’t really do much. I need the intel.”

Dean smiled softly, and he leaned in, pressing a gentle feather light kiss to her lips. “I’m sorry. Can you forgive me for…being me?”