The hunter had to smile slightly at himself, because she had managed, without doing anything, to make him let go for a moment and just surrender to the tender touch.
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"She left me," came suddenly from Dean.
"Huh? Who? What?", Josie stumbled and looked down at him.
"She left me," he repeated sadly, "After I told her what kind of job I was doing and that I was killing people"
"Are you sure she left you and not the other way around? I mean I know you well enough by now to size you up and my gut tells me you broke up to protect her from what you were hunting and maybe you from yourself because you knew you would change. Like you did because of me?!"
He frowned thoughtfully, letting her words sink in. Josie wasn't wrong. Maybe his girlfriend had broken up with him, but he wasn't giving her a chance to process everything either, to give him another chance. Neither did Josie.
"Perhaps," he admitted quietly, stretching his head so he could look at Josie, "Have you ever told anyone?"
"Besides you and Sam, no, most people don't trust me to hunt. They say I'm too pretty, too delicate, and just plain too weak a woman to take on a monster. Every time I had to explain why I have weapons with me all the time, they just laughed. Since then I say that I am afraid of being attacked, this is accepted and approved by society. For a ridiculous robber I only need my fist. I'm not going to waste a silver bullet on a bastard like that."
Josie smiled and Dean smirked too, because he had a clear picture of her in his mind's eye, taking down the perpetrator.
"You're a born hunter at that," Dean enthused, mimicking her slow movement with his fingers.
"Most people don't think about the fact that I have completely different weapons that I can use. I mean if I hadn't seduced that one shapeshifter back then, you never would have gotten him out of his shithole," she reminded Dean confidently.
"That was impressive, I was almost jealous you didn't do that to me".
"Keep dreaming. But look on the bright side, you made it into my bed, your doppelganger took a load of bullets" she laughed heartily.
If she wasn't a slayer you'd think she was a crazy serial killer.
"Lucky me," Dean agreed, placing his hand gently on her cheek before giving her a kiss on the forehead and starting to get up.
"Hey, I meant it, you can stay here if you want. I'm a big girl, I'm not afraid to share my bed with a boy. Especially not if he's a decent guy like you"
"Decent? You should have met me fifteen years ago, you wouldn't have said that about me," the hunter remarked and lay back down with her.
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"Well, your macho talk has already given me a pretty good idea of what you must have been like once," she sighed theatrically and lay down at his side.
"I was just kidding about that. Back then I didn't give in until I got what I wanted"
"Well, that's why I didn't meet you until now, fate already knew you needed a few more years to calm down before it let me loose on you"
"In other words I got old for you?"
Grinning broadly she nodded, knowing that this fact pissed Dean off, but for comfort she snuggled up to him even more. No matter who was holding who, it was the closeness that counted.
"But hey, what would I do with a young lad?" she crooned, letting her hand slide over his chest.
"When you can have a seasoned man?" he finished her sentence.
"Oh, can I? When are you going to introduce him to me?" she taunted Dean.
"Only when you present me with the woman with whom I will one day live a normal life".
"Like Cliff?" she asked, biting her lips at the thought of having a husband and children.
She was finding it harder and harder to stick to her own code. She could always have the life she had wanted with Andy, she would just have to accept it.
"Yes, and I'll be the king of pink tea parties," he purred, causing her to burst out laughing.
"That image just burned itself into my brain forever," she giggled, while Dean just rolled his eyes.
"At least you'll have good dreams right away," he said, sure that once again he would hardly sleep.
"But you should also try to sleep," she said again seriously, "If you don't face your nightmares, they will never go away."
"I know, but it's so easy to say" he mumbled and there was no trace of the positive minded Dean anymore.
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"Can you promise me something?" she asked, tracing his jawline with her fingertips, "That you won't close yourself off again. And I'll make you a promise in return, too, whatever your demand is"
She expected him to ask her to finally forget about Andy, but instead he remained silent and hugged her so tightly that she almost lost her breath.
"Sleep now sweetheart" he instructed her and with narrowed eyes kissed her temple.
The request to return his love actually burned on his tongue, but the hunter wasn't stupid. You couldn't force someone to love. The thing with Tony proved that only too well. Not once had he considered helping it along and making a deal or casting a spell, but then he would have to live with the knowledge that she didn't love him and was only pretending. He would rather wait for the fate to fall into place. His hope was that it would be soon.
"But you need to sleep too, you need the rest," she whispered softly.
