With Eyes Wide Open

By Asha, aka predatorynature

Buffy/Dean

Rated T

Background: Buffy and Dean met when she was 15, he was 22. Now it's more than 3 yrs later. The stuff with the Master and Angel has already happened. First 2 seasons are the same. I know Parker doesn't appear till later in Buffy, but he's here now. I don't own Buffy or Dean, I hate that I have to admit that out loud.

Chapter 1

"Well hello princess", a southern voice drawled in her ear.

18 year old Buffy Summers was frozen in place, and not just because of the delicious shivers that had unexpectedly traveled down her spine when his lips brushed her ear. No, it was because she was hearing the voice of a man whom she had not spoken to in almost 4 years. She turned around slowly, hoping she wasn't imagining that voice. She was faced with the image of him smirking, leaning against the Impala in the parking lot of her school. Her gaze traveled up his well defined chest, past those full lips, and finally stopped when she reached those hazel-green eyes twinkling with mirth.

The next thing he knew, he had an armful of Buffy snuggling in his warm embrace. With his nose buried in her hair, he took the time to savour the sweet strawberry fragrance that he had gone without for too long.

"What are you doing here? How long are you staying? Why the hell didn't you keep in touch?", she questioned when she finally pulled her face away ever so slightly from the crook of his neck. Dean released a deep throated chuckle in response to Buffy's typical rambling, drew his head down, and kissed her forehead.

"I missed you too, sweetheart", he murmured against her skin.

To the many spectators that had gathered in the parking, it seemed like the reunion of two lovers, but really, Buffy and Dean's relationship was not like that. They met in L.A. when Buffy was 15, soon after she had been called. She had been patrolling with her then watcher, Merrick, when they had been ambushed by a gang of vampires. Now usually, a slayer could handle this no problem, but the fact that Buffy was completely inexperienced, combined with the shock of witnessing one of the vampires draining her watcher was too much for her to take. The next thing she knew, she woke up to that southern accented voice that she was now so familiar with, swearing like a sailor about little girls who were stupid enough to walk through cemeteries at night.

When her eyes fluttered open, 22 year old Dean Winchester felt all his anger and irritation melt away. He bandaged her numerous cuts with a tenderness that no one would dare associate with him. That night, Buffy poured out her life story to the stranger who made her feel unexplainably safe, including her calling, crying the entire time.

Dean silently listened as the dark-haired girl poured her heart out to him. At some point, her sobs became so violent, they shook her entire frame. Now Dean Winchester is the type of guy that can't deal with a woman's tears. Well, he can, but only if those tears are coming from a hot female writhing on his bed, moaning his name, and begging for just a little more. A girl whose tears have nothing to do with sex? Not so much. He tried whispering words of comfort to her, and awkwardly rubbed her back in slow circles, reminiscent of what his mother used to do to him to lull him asleep. As the night went on, his anger grew, directed at the people who had placed such a heavy burden on this girl, whom he felt shockingly connected to, so early on in her life. He felt an unexplainable need to protect her, all the while cursing her in his head for making him think and act like a pussy around her.

From then on, Dean had taken her under his wing, teaching her all he knew about fighting the supernatural. For all intensive purposes, she became the little sister/best friend he never had. Whenever she wasn't in school, she was with him. They patrolled together nightly, as he was far too protective to let her patrol by herself, never mind the fact that she was the Slayer. Many a night found her curled up in his dingy hotel room after she had a nightmare about her watcher's death. His protective embrace was her equivalent of warm milk on nights when she couldn't sleep.

Dean vividly remembered the night that their comfortable existence had come to an end, almost a year after he had found her. His dad had gone missing after going on one of his hunting trips, and the same loyalty to family that bound him to Buffy also made him leave her to look for his dad. She had watched him leave with tears streaming down her face, silently begging him to not rip away the only family she had left. Yes, she still had her mother, but she was completely ignorant of her daughter's activities. She needed someone she could share all the parts of her life with, someone who could ease the burden on her shoulders of protecting the world, someone who could make her feel safe and protected those times when she was a 15 year old girl dealing with her life, or strong and powerful when she took on her role of the Slayer. Dean was all of those things to her. She had been devastated when he left, his departure causing her to get sloppy in her slaying and start failing most of her classes. She was so screwed up that she was actually relieved to have gotten kicked out of Hemery in L.A. and had to move to Sunnydale.

Buffy was kicked out of her thoughts when she felt his rough fingers brush under her chin and force her to look him in the eyes.

"You gettin' bored of me already? Or maybe your attention span has gone down now that you're a blonde", he said while fingering her newly golden locks. "You know I always figured you were a natural blonde, care to let me find out for sure?" he said while leering at her in a playful way.

Buffy reluctantly stepped out of his embrace while her hand whipped out and slapped his chest.

"Whoa easy there sweetheart, many a woman would be pissed if you damaged this", he said while pretending she hurt him by pressing his palm to his heart.

"Yeah, probably some guys too".

"Hey! Now that was uncalled for. See if I give you your present now".

And just like that bitch Buffy was magically transformed to the young girl he met all those years ago. She looked up, her green eyes wide and her lower lip jutting out in a way that always made Dean falter.

"Well you do have a lot of birthdays to make up for".

"I know princess", he said, hating the way she made him feel guilty for neglecting her while at the same time relishing the fact that he had someone who needed him. He slung an arm around shoulder and let her towards his baby.

"C'mon, lets get outta here. We have a lot of catching up to do".

A/N: I would love some reviews. This is my first fic, so I want to know if you like it!