•I Believe in a thing Called Love•

Heat. {part one}

Dean let out a heavy sigh over the faint purr of the engine and hums of Zeppelin from the radio.

Sweat-slick, tee-shirt sticking to him uncomfortably, and he still couldn't take off that dumb-ass smirk.

"You doin' alright, Tess?", Dean asked, turning his attention from the road to his soon-to-be-wife.

Tessa looked flawless there, seated in the heat of the sun, wearing a black tank-top and one of Dean's old flannels around her waist, her black shorts studded with tiny stones. Combat boots with spiked toes completing the outfit perfectly.

"I'm alright, hot as fuck.", she shrugged, smiling warmly. "How about you, huh? Wanna pull off and take a breather? You've been driving four hours straight."

Dean knew he could go a good eight hours without a break from the open road, but he could tell when Tess was worried.

"Yeah, that sounds good. We can stock up on beer, chips and some ice.", Flashing a proud grin, Dean turned his attention to her again, watching her for a moment.

Tessa was so unaware how perfect she was. And it broke Dean little by little. Tess was fussing with her hair, groaning about to color and cut to herself.

The next exit wasn't too far, and Dean was relieved. It was hot, and the fact the AC in the impala wasn't working was just icing on the shit-cake.

When they finally pulled into a gas-station, Dean rushed to get to Tess' door before she could open it, yanking it open for her. "M'lady," he chuckled as she stepped out of the impala, "You're looking wonderful on this hot as hell evening."

Tessa giggled, pressing her lips to Dean's temple, "Why thank you my fine sir."

Dean smiled so hard his cheeks grew sore within moments time. Carefully he took her hand in his and lead her into the small super-market slash gas station.

There's a small TV set up next to the check-out, and the young teenager behind it is completely caught up in the news.

"And this will lead into the hottest day we've seen in twenty years,", the forecaster explains as he gestures to a map sprawled out behind him.

"But enough about this wicked heat! Mark, how about me check up on the high-speed chase downtown?"

Dean huffs as the boy perks up, this clearly being what he has been waiting for.

"You go ahead a pick out the chips, huh? I get the beer.", He smiles warmly at Tess, who's already headed toward the row of 'Lays' chips before she can reply.

Dean starts toward the far side of the store. The heat toying at him, and when the freezer door opens and let's the cold air pool out against him, he can hardly stifle the moan in his chest. Lucky, he's too far from the other two people here for anyone to of caught it.

The sounds of a fan or two, the steady sound of Tess' foot tapping, and the babbling from the TV is like a lullaby to Dean. So normal and peaceful and careless. Perfect and safe.

So lost in the noises and the brands of beer, he jumps at the sudden jingle of the glass doors opening.

And he's never been more grateful for being such an over protective ass in his whole life.

He glances up to check out who ever just rolled in, and just as soon as his eyes meet the door, his hearts in his throat.

Because that black-eyed-mother-fucker is heading right for Tess.

"Hey--you driven that impala out front? It's a hell of a car."

The taller man mumbles as he stalked toward Tess. She's smiling, being to kind like always. And Dean can't fucking move because what if that makes him hurt her?

"Well, yeah. My--"

His hands on her.

He's /touching her/.

Dean can't see over the aisles splitting them, but can tell the fuck's holding her waist against his firmly, and she's trying to push away but he's not letting her go.

"H--Hey--no, I'm--hey!"

"Don't worry about it--how about you show me that car, huh?"

And Dean's there in a second, doesn't give a warning, just rams the fucker into the wall of chips.

The aisle gives under the man, them falling to the floor in a loud crash. "D--" "Get in the car, Tess, now!"

And suddenly he's alone with the man. Anger rolling off him in flares of pure fire.

The poor kid behind the counter was on Tessa's heels and shot straight to his car.

"Pft. Y-you must be Dean." The mans eyes are black again as he glares up at Dean, lip and cheek busted and swollen.

The demon cracks a smile, flinching as he sits up slightly.

Dean's mumbling the words of the exorcism he knows so by heart it takes a moment to notice he's saying them.

There's a moment where Dean thinks maybe he's said it wrong, maybe he's fucked it up because it normally starts working by now--right?

But the demons smiling and wincing and trying to crawl away.

"Fuck you Winchester! They already g--got her! Don't gotta--take it-it out on me!", the demon laughs through his words, sobbing softly.

Dean looks up and is out the door only seconds later.

The impala's gone.

The parking lots empty.

The highway is busy with rushing cars, completely unaware of the horror-movie playing out just a little ways away.

It's a complete after thought to pull out his phone and check the GPS, watch the flashing light that shows Tess move rapidly across the map with small, flinching flicks.

They're headed back into Texas, where Tess and Dean were coming from. Where they were just leaving to go up to Sam and Kate's house warming.

And it's hard not to know /exactly/ why.

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