Book 1: Carry On My Wayward Son.

Ch 5: I'll watch out for you.

I cleared my throat, "Uh, yeah."

"You're sweating, are you okay?" He asked, actually sounding concerned.

I wiped my face, "I'm fine. That was just an intense dream.. or memory.. or whatever."

"How did it feel?" He asked, and turned away from me as soon as his lip started to curl into a smile, "To be back on the thrown?"

"Odd," I replied, "Empowering."

"You were quite the queen," He said, then looked back at me. It was weird to see him smile like that. But nice— it was a nice kind of weird.

Just then, Dean mumbled and Crowley disappeared. I cleared my throat, feeling as if I was doing something wrong. Was I doing something wrong? No, of course not. "What, babe?"

"Who are you talking to?" He repeated more clearly, still not opening his eyes.

"Myself," I lied. Now I was doing something wrong. Lying is bad. "I uh, couldn't sleep." That much was true.

"Do you want me to stay up with you?" He said, adjusting the way he was laying on his side. He still didn't open his eyes.

"Ah, no," I said, getting out of bed. My shirt was drenched in sweat, and my shorts were sticking to my legs. "Go back to sleep, I'm fine. I just need some water."

"Okay," He said, rolling over. "If you need anything, wake me up."

"Will do," I replied, opening up the window to let some air in. After feeling the cool night breeze on my face for a few moments, I stripped out of the wet clothes and tossed them into the corner. I pulled a faded Sonic the Hedgehog tee over my head and didn't bother to put on pants.

I really did need some water, my throat was really dry. I looked to the clock, taking note that it was almost four in the morning. Nobody was awake right now, so I slipped out of the bedroom and headed tot he kitchen.  I grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, and when I turned around, I just about had a heart attack.

"Crowley!" I yelled in a whisper, scrambling to pull my shirt over my underwear. "I have no pants on!"

"Nothing I haven't seen before," He smirked.

"Oh," I said, getting a weird feeling in my stomach again. "Right, I keep forgetting, um.." I cleared my throat and stood up straight.

He leaned against the door frame, "That was a close one. He almost saw me."

"Why is it so important that Dean doensn't see you?"

"Would you want to see Dean's ex-girlfriend sitting at the edge of your bed?"

I thought back to Cassie. It seemed like so long ago now, "Well, no. But Dean doesn't know that—"

"Right, but I'm also the King of Hell, and he's a demon hunter," Crowley reminded me. "Then again, you were the queen."

"But I'm not anymore," I told him seriously. I felt like I needed to make that clear, but I regretted it seconds after, because Crowley actually looked hurt. I added softly, "I'm a hunter now, too."

"Right," He said, straightening his jacket, "Well, goodnight, Salem." And then he was gone.

I went back to our room and crawled into bed, wrapping my arms around Dean from behind. He was still awake, to my surprise. He mumbled, "This is backwards." He rolled over and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me as close as he could get me. He slid his hands from my back down to my ass, and I could imagine his smirk in the dark. "You're not wearing pants."

"Not in the mood," I laughed quietly.

Soon enough, thanks to Dean's comforting embrace, I was able to sleep without dreams of Hell. Still, my mind as on Crowley and there was nothing I could do about that. Something about him made me nervous. Not because he was intimidating, but because there was something there between us. Something that should have died years ago, when I had.