Saints or Sinners | {BOOK 3}

50| Non-Traditional Couple

"Where the hell are you taking me?"

"Just trust me."

"Oh, great. I'm going to die."

"Would you stop being so dramatic? You're fine."

"No, I'm not. I'm about to be murdered."

Dean glared at me, not engaging in the argument any more. After a moment, he closed his eyes and let out a huff before grabbing my hand and continuing to drag me along behind him. He had insisted on taking me out of Rufus' cabin for a couple hours while Sam stayed behind and continued to look for a case. His reasoning had been that he and I hadn't gotten a chance to take a breather since we got back from Purgatory, which was accurate.

Instead of taking me into town to a bar or someplace like I had assumed he'd do, Dean had driven us to a park and had proceeded to drag me down one of many nature trails that wound through the wooded area behind it.

"You realize we could have just stayed by the cabin in order to go on a walk in the woods, right?" I pointed out.

"We needed to get away from there," Dean insisted. "Besides, I have a plan."

"You mean a plan to kill me in a secluded area of the forest where no one will ever find my body?"

"I thought I told you to stop being so dramatic."

"I'm sorry, have you met me?"

I smirked as Dean rolled his eyes, shaking his head at me.

"I'm tired. Can we just head back now?"

"Not yet. We're almost there."

"But De-ean."

"Alright, close your eyes."

"Excuse me?"

"Would you just close your eyes?" he snapped.

"I swear if this is a trick, I'm going to kill you."

"Eleanor."

"Fine!"

I closed my eyes and then I felt one of Dean's hands cover my eyes, the other hand staying on the small of my back to guide me.

"What the hell are you planning, Winchester?"

"I told you to trust me," Dean replied, and I could hear the smirk in his voice and feel his warm breath tickling my neck from how close he was.

I started chewing my lip worriedly as we stopped and Dean removed his hand from my back.

"Dean?"

"Just keep your eyes closed, Ellie Bear."

His other hand left my eyes and I heard his footsteps move a little ways away from me, and then I couldn't hear him any more.

"Dean?" I called out again.

"Okay. Open up," he told me.

As I did, my jaw dropped and I brought my hands up to cover my mouth. We were in a secluded clearing of the woods. The trees formed almost a perfect circle around the grassy field, only broken up by a little creak. Dean stood almost dead center on a blanket, a wicker picnic basket near his feet.

"So, I know we're not the most traditional couple, and this is totally cliché, but it was Sam's idea and I had him help set it up early this morning and I figured with everything that's been going on lately, we could use a real date..." Dean rambled. "Plus, you know, we were hunting last week on your birthday, so..."

He looked down, avoiding my gaze and I lowered my hands, walking over to him. I reached out, lifting his chin to look at me and then stood on my tip toes slightly to kiss him.

"I love it," I informed him, settling back down on my heels.

We sat down together on the blanket and Dean started unloading the simple lunch from the picnic basket. It was just a couple of diner burgers taken to-go and a six-pack of beer, but I didn't mind. It was exactly the kind of meal he and I would have together normally. As we ate, we talked and joked around, and I found myself actually smiling and laughing. I almost felt like we were a normal couple. No monsters to fight, no possibly brainwashed angels to deal with, just Dean and I enjoying a picnic in the woods.

"You know the first time I realized I was in love with you?" Dean asked me. "You were like 12. We had come by the shop again and you and Sammy were messing around behind the counter. He was telling you about some book or whatever other nerdy thing he was into at the time and you were so engaged.

"While he was talking, he looked away at something, and you turned and looked over at me with this... adorable lopsided smile on your face that made your eyes sparkle. And I knew, right then and there, that I loved you and wanted a future with you."

I smiled, glancing down at our interlocked fingers on the blanket in between us before looking back up at him through lidded eyes.

"All the way back then?"

"Yeah, it's stupid," he muttered, avoiding my gaze again.

"The first time I realized I liked you was on Halloween before my fourteenth birthday. When you fought Zorro."

Dean looked back up at me, tongue darting out to lick his lips.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," I smirked. "And I thought I'd gotten over it after you guys stopped coming around, but then you and Sammy came in to ask for help finding your dad and it was like it had gotten so much stronger."

At some point during the conversation, we'd both adjusted ourselves so we were laying on our sides, propping ourselves up on one arm while we talked. I was playing with his hand, entwining our fingers and then pulling away to brush my fingers across his knuckles and the back of his hand and then weaving our fingers together once more. A companionable silence fell between us for a few minutes, and then Dean broke it once more.

"Ellie?"

"Yeah?" I asked, looking up from our hands to meet his gaze.

"I wanna ask you something, and you can't laugh or make fun of me, alright?"

I swallowed hard, wondering what he could possibly want to ask me that made him feel like I'd make fun of him.

"I'd never."

"Okay. Okay, um..." Dean trailed off, pulling his hand away from mine and sitting up more on the blanket.

I mimicked his movement, pulling my legs in to sit criss-cross applesauce across from him.

"This, uh, this is probably going to come out wrong, and I know it's usually accompanied by some long ass speech that's all mushy or whatever, but like I said, we aren't exactly a traditional couple and this is really long overdue by, like, years, so... I'm just going to go for it. Will you marry me?"