Dean felt kind of nervous. He was happy that Nora had finally decided to move to the same town a week earlier. He had helped her move in. She had asked about his friends since he had told her a lot about them over the years. He had tried to prolong it, asking her to settle in first, but she was more than ready. She wanted to see his world.

It wasn't that he didn't want Seth and Roman to meet her. He was just afraid what might happen. His friends were players like himself but Nora wasn't a woman to be played with. She was different. Innocent. Fragile. He didn't want anyone to break her. Not again.

"Remember, she's off limit," he reminded them.
"I'm starting to think you have a thing for her," Roman chuckled.
"Oh no, it's nothing like that. She's like a little sister to me. I protect her," Dean sighed. "I've always protected her."
"Right, you've told us," Roman said.

Dean and Nora had met eleven years ago. He had been 22 and she had been 17. At first he had thought it was some sort of hidden camera prank when a girl in a white dress full of bloodstains came towards him. She collapsed in his arms, almost as if she had been trying to find any human at all to help her. It wasn't a joke. She was bleeding and in pain.

"Shit, are you okay? I'm calling the police," he said.
"No police!" She gritted her teeth. "Help me!"

Something in her eyes made him not doubt her. He had carried her home, gotten her out of the dress, and tended to her body. Someone had had fun with a knife. There were a lot of cuts but it was the one stab wound that concerned him. It was placed in the right side of her lower back. She had been lucky that her spine hadn't been hit so that she had been able to walk. Adrenaline had carried her away from her attacker and into a stranger's arms.

"It was her step father, right?" Seth asked.
"The bastard beat her and her mother constantly. That night she fought back for the first time and he decided to teach her a lesson with a kitchen knife," Dean answered.
"She was lucky to find you," Roman ruffled Dean's hair. "Our boy here kept her safe like a true hero."

It hadn't been hard to do. All he had done was keep her in his apartment until she turned 18. Almost three weeks passed before her mother actually filed a missing person's case on her own daughter. On her 18th birthday Nora walked down on the police station and told them they could close the case. She said she had run away and had been living on the streets. Now that she was 18, no one could force her back. Dean's name had never been brought up. Case closed. Nora was free and Dean stayed in her life.

"I wanted her to move here with me when I first came out here," Dean said.
"Better late than never," Roman said.
"I always worry about her, you know. She's too pure for this world. I know I'm repeating myself but she's off limit. I don't want her to lose her innocence to either of you," Dean said.
"What? Her Innocence? She's still a virgin? How old is she?" Seth asked.
"28," Dean answered.

Knocking sounded on the door. Dean got up from the couch and walked out to open. Seth and Roman sat there listening as a female voice greeted Dean in the hall. They heard a jacket being unzipped and a pair of sneakers being kicked off, and then Dean came back inside with her. Her hair was chocolate cherry colored and cut in a wavy bob. Her crystal blue eyes seemed to light up the room.

"No, don't tell me. Let me guess. Tribal tattoo so you must be Roman," she looked from Roman to Seth. "And that means that the cutie there is Seth."
"Cutie?" Seth choked in laughter.
"He's our pretty boy," Roman chuckled.
"Hi, I'm Nora," she waved. "Where do I sit?"
"Anywhere far away from those two bad boys," Dean said.
"Dean doesn't want us to play," Seth winked.
"Too bad," she winked back. "But he's an old man. He'll fall asleep soon enough."
"Where have you kept her hidden? She's a true gem," Roman said.

Dean grabbed her shoulder and gently pushed her towards an armchair.

"Sit," he said. "Do you want something to drink?"
"The same as the rest of you," she said.
"We're enjoying some Irish coffee tonight," Roman said.
"That sounds good," she said.
"One!" Dean scolded. "Don't get her all drunk and giggly."

Dean's nervousness quickly vanished. Roman and Seth were treating Nora like she deserved and he was happy to see all his friends getting along. She took on a host role when it came to refilling the glasses and he failed to keep track of her drinking. She followed the men and soon he was too drunk himself to keep an eye on her.

The last think he remembered was Roman dragging him to bed, and Nora and Seth talking in the background about all of them crashing there. It was okay. His friends were always welcome to stay the night.