[Begins between 2.13 House of the Holy & 2.14 Born Under a Bad Sign]

The air was still.

Tessa Lynn stalked around the corner of the house, her gun held out in front of her. She wasn't shaking; holding a weapon was as easy to her as counting these days. She had been hunting for half a year now, and she'd managed to pick up many of the basic survival skills in that time.

Crunch.

Tessa whirled around, listening intently. She had definitely heard something, possibly boots on gravel coming from somewhere behind her.

Crunch.

She heard it again. This time, she knew the sound was coming from a few yards away. Tessa flattened herself against the wall, waiting for her opponent to come closer. Her breath caught in her throat as she heard the sound of him approaching. He was moving slowly, like a predator sneaking up on his prey.

She held the gun more firmly against her shoulder, careful not to breathe too deeply for fear that he would hear her. Tessa began scooting slowly away, tightly hugging the wall, trying to watch her feet and the area around her all at the same time.

Then, it happened.

She didn't notice the stray beer bottle on the ground, and her foot came down on it with a loud crack. She knew she was done for.

"Damn it!" Tessa whispered furiously. Her opponent was now running carelessly, so she followed suit. Of course, the second her saw her, he gave chase. Tessa began weaving in and out of the cars, ducking low as she heard the click of his gun. He was preparing to fire.

His feet pounded on the gravel, getting closer and closer to Tessa. She sped up, making it to edge of the yard. She knew she couldn't outrun him; her only hope was to lose him in the trees. Her feet met the soft grass for only a few seconds before he was on her.

Tessa hardly had time to react before she hit the ground, her attacker right on top of her. He must have leapt, throwing his whole body against hers. Tessa gasped as her breath was effectively knocked out of her, but that was the least of her problems.

"Fuck you!" Tessa breathed, gritting her teeth. Her attacker rolled off of her, his body shaking with laughter.

"Better luck next time, sweetheart." Dean murmured, his voice thick with laughter and rough next to her ear. Tessa picked her gun back up, which was loaded with blanks, and dusted herself off. She cursed in her head when she noticed the green grass stains all over her jeans.

"You enjoy being an ass, don't you?" Tessa was half-teasing as she started to walk away. She was intent on finding Sam and complaining to him about his brother, but Dean grabbed her arm, pulling her back down onto the grass beside him.

"Come on sweetheart, don't be bitter. You'll beat me eventually." he grinned that intoxicating grin, the one he knew made Tessa weak in the knees.

She gave in to his charm and smiled softly, pressing her lips to his. He immediately responded, cupping her face in his calloused hands. She pressed closer to him, twisting her fingers in his short hair. Tessa knew that if she lived to be a hundred, she would never grow tired of kissind Dean Winchester.

"Time to eat, idjits!" Tessa jumped as Bobby's gruff voice broke the sweet silence. Dean let out a groan, but he stood up, pulling Tessa to her feet with him. They walked, hands intwined, back to the house.

Bobby was waiting by the door, a half smile on his face as he watched Tessa and Dean approach. Even though the pair could be pains in his ass, he was glad Dean had found Tessa. The girl was good for him, and brought him some much needed peace after all of the hell that he'd been through.

"Please tell me you beat his ass today," Bobby said as he set bowls of stew on the table. Tessa sunk down into one of the chairs, now feeling the pain in her side. During their mock-fights, Dean didn't play around.

"No. Little fucker managed to pin me down before I had a chance to get away," Tessa paused to glare at Dean, who only winked at her. "Next time, though, I'll get him." she vowed.

"Of course you will, sweetheart." Dean smirked, spooning some stew into his mouth. Tessa did the same, falling into the easy rhythm of the dinner time conversation she'd grown so used to.

Tessa had been with the boys for a long, hard year.

After fleeing her hometown with the Winchester brothers, the reality of her situation had set in. Sure, the first few days had been liberating, being on her own, for once stress-free. But then the nightmares came, and with them, more pain. Dean and Sam eventually caught on, and they had been so wrapped up with everything else going on in their lives, between Sam's visions and finding their father, that they dropped her off to live with Bobby for a while.

So, Tessa had spent the first five months on her own here at Bobby's, lying in bed and staring at the ceiling. Sam and Dean had checked in occasionally, but it had been mostly her and Bobby. Bobby had been a good host, making small talk with Tessa and taking care of her like she was his own, much like how he was with the Winchesters. He was always careful to check that she ate and drank, but other than that, he usually left her to her own devices. Bobby understood what it was like to lose someone so horrifically, so he gave Tessa the space that she needed to heal.

Then came the sixth month. Tessa had woken up one morning, and the fire that had been doused out before was back in full force, licking out at the monsters around her. She began training under Bobby's watchful eye, and surprisingly, she was good. With one kill already under her belt, Tessa grew strong. It took a few weeks, though, for Dean to come around to the idea of Tessa hunting. That's really when they got together.

It had been Tessa's first hunt, a vampire nest just outside of Sioux Falls. An easy, simple, run-of-the-mill case. But they had underestimated the number of vampires. Severely outnumbered, Tessa, Dean, and Sam had fought for their lives. Tessa had been the only one injured in the fight. She suffered from several broken ribs and a leg, internal bleeding, a concussion... The doctors were shocked that she managed to pull through.

While Tessa had been in the hospital, Dean had never once left her side. It took her a day or two to wake up, and when she did, she'd first thought that Dean was just being brotherly, taking care of her the same way he did Sam. It had been months since the kisses the two had shared, and Tessa had given up hope. But one day, soon after the vampire incident, Sam had taken her aside and explained everything, and then she knew. Dean loved her. Tessa, of course, had confronted him, and that was that.

Six months later things were wonderful, or as wonderful as they could get, given the situation, and the gaping hole in Tessa's heart had begun stitching itself together again.