A/N:
When I wrote the original story "Keep me safe from darkness", it was never meant to have another ending or go any further. I wrote the story around three weeks before posting it and on the day I posted the final chapter, my mind started working around this sequel. For some reason I couldn't let my OC Grace have that ending after all. So I sat down the day after and wrote this but it had to go back in the line and wait for its turn behind all my other finished stories before being posted. The day has now come. I hope you'll like it.
As always a big thanks to everyone that reads, follows, favourites and especially reviews my work. It means so much.
Dean had been sitting in a cell for an entire day. He wasn't sure why he hadn't been brought out of the cell for questioning yet. The case was clear. He had killed Luke and Erick, shot them with Karl's shotgun and called AJ himself to get arrested. It wasn't normal to be kept locked up for a day without anything being done. They had come by with food and water but other than that, he had been on his own. He had gotten a few hours of sleep but not nearly enough. How could he sleep when all he could think about was Grace finally speaking after a year?
"I love you, Dean!"
Those words would haunt him forever. He had spent six weeks trying to pull her out of the darkness in her mind and he had fallen in love with her on top of it. He had fucked it all up by listening to AJ and going on a date with Billie and then snapped like a lunatic the next morning. He hadn't been able to stop himself. He wanted to keep Grace safe and she would never feel safe as long as those two were living and breathing.
"I love you too, Grace," he said lowly.
He looked up at the sound of the door being unlocked. The door opened and AJ stood there.
"Let's go," he said.
"Finally time for questioning?" Dean asked.
"Yeah," AJ answered.
Shortly after they sat in an interrogation room. Just Dean, AJ and a camera.
"What took you so long?" Dean asked.
"We had to gather evidence and talk to people," AJ answered.
"Evidence?" Dean shook his head and let out a little, mocking laugh. "What evidence? The shotgun was right there and I'm ready to give my confession."
AJ leaned a bit forward and there was a little, secretly smile on his face.
"There's a bit of a problem with that. You see, Karl's shotgun didn't match the bullets," AJ said.
"You're shitting me," Dean laughed.
"Not at all," AJ said. "Karl admitted he had the shotgun in his car."
"That's a lie. I took it from the house," Dean said.
"It was in the car that you stole while being pretty damn drunk," AJ said.
"I wasn't drunk. I hadn't had one single drink," Dean said.
AJ slammed his hand down on the table to make Dean shut up.
"You came home from a bad date and got dead drunk, got in Karl's car and drove around. You ended up on that farm and you found two dead people, saw the shotgun and thought you had killed them. Now I admit I messed up since we should have done a blood test to see how much alcohol you had in your blood but that's too late now. A whole day too late," AJ said.
Dean's jaw dropped but he didn't say anything.
"Do you understand what I'm saying, Dean?" AJ asked.
"Yeah," Dean croaked lowly.
"Good," AJ looked at the camera. "Oh, would you look at that. I forgot to turn it on. Let's try this again, shall we?"
He winked at Dean before turning on the camera.
"This is AJ Styles interrogating Dean Ambrose about the murders of Luke Harper and Erick Rowan," AJ said. "Now, Dean, care to take me through everything leading up to you being on the farm?"
"I was on a date with Billie Kay," Dean started.
After an hour they had walked through it all. Dean fed the camera the lies that AJ had fed him before turning it on. He knew it was very wrong but if AJ said the shotgun didn't match, he would just sound like a crazy man trying to convince them otherwise. Something was going on and he wasn't quite sure what. After the interrogation, AJ turned off the camera again.
"Karl is waiting for you outside," he said.
"I'm free to go?" Dean asked.
"Of course. I can't waste my time drinking coffee with you. I have a killer to catch although, between you and me, I don't think I'll ever find out who shot them," AJ answered.
"Why are you doing this for me?" Dean asked.
"I'm not," AJ said. "I'm doing it for Grace."
"Thank you," Dean whispered.
He walked out of the police station and was met by Karl leaning up against his car in the parking lot. None of them spoke until they were inside the car.
"Karl..." Dean started.
Karl held up his hand to stop Dean from talking.
"Don't ask and I don't have to lie. The shotgun is long gun and will never be found. AJ took care of that part. You don't need to worry your head with that," he said.
"I still don't understand," Dean said.
"She talked," Karl started crying. "You made her talk, Dean. I know me and AJ were giving you a hard time because I truly thought you'd end up hurting her even more but I was wrong. I was so fucking wrong. I shouldn't have tried to stop you. If anything, I should have pushed you further into her arms or at least just let you do what you did because it worked."
He reached his hands up to dry his eyes. He was a grown man crying over the fact that his little sister had talked. It seemed ridiculous.
"Has she said anything else?" Dean asked.
"No, she clammed up again. I heard her cry though but I can't make her talk. Just those few words she said to you," Karl answered.
"I love you, Dean," Dean said lowly.
"Yeah, she loves you," Karl smiled through his tears. "So you better fucking be real about this or I'm gonna kill you myself and have AJ help me bury that case too."
"I'm real," Dean assured Karl. "I love her, Karl. I really do."
"So let's go home to her. I tried telling her I was picking you up but she didn't believe me one bit so she's gonna be pleasantly surprised," Karl said.
Karl started the car and 20 minutes later they pulled up in the driveway.
"She's up in her room," Karl said. "I'll leave you two to it and order pizza tonight. Other than that, I'll be outside all day planting beets and carrots."
"Thank you, Karl," Dean said.
He left the car and hurried inside the house. He took the stairs two steps at the time and stopped in front of the door to her room. He raised his hand to knock but decided against it. Instead he just opened it and walked inside. She was lying on the bed in that white, angel like dress he had seen her in twice now. Her eyes were closed but she was awake and crying. He closed the door behind him, walked up to the bed and sat down.
"Don't cry, angel," he placed a hand on her shoulder.
Her eyes flew open in surprise by the sound of his voice. She sat up fast and stared at him as if he was a ghost.
"Yeah, I'm here," he said.
"Dean," she said lowly.
"It feels like heaven to hear you say my name," he said.
She threw her arms around his neck and he wrapped his arms around her too and pulled her close. There was so much he wanted to say but words seemed unnecessary in that moment. He felt her lips on his neck, kissing up in an almost experimental way until she reached his lips. It meant the world that she took this first step. Her soft lips pushing against his, her tongue brushing against his. It felt better than anything he could remember. He gently maneuvered them both down to lie on their sides.
"I thought I had seen you for the last time," he stroked his fingers through her hair. "I'm sorry for what I did."
"Don't be," she said.
"Why do you even want me? I'm a murderer," he said.
It was his turn to start crying. She moved her fingers over his cheeks to dry them and he grabbed her hand and placed a kiss in the palm of it.
"I don't deserve you," he said.
"And what do I deserve?" She asked.
"Someone to love you and keep you safe," he answered.
"Do you love me?" She asked.
"Yes," he answered.
"Do you wanna keep me safe?" She asked.
"Yes," he broke out in a smile. "You're not playing fair here, angel. I'm trying to do the right thing but you won't let me."
She stroked his cheek and pecked his lips.
"You're my right thing," she said.
"You talk too much," he laughed.
"Then silence me," she smiled.
He kissed her again and felt her fingers run around on his arms, back and scalp. She hadn't touched a man in what seemed like forever and he knew this had to be a scary moment for her no matter what. He let her take her time while he held her close and stroked her body in what he considered as safe areas. He couldn't stop his dick from reacting though and he tried moving away when he felt himself poke her thigh. She broke the kiss and looked at him.
"Sorry," he said.
"It's natural and I want you, Dean. It's just..." She took a deep breath. "I'm scared."
"I won't hurt you," he said.
"My body," she said.
"I've already told you your scars don't repulse me," he said.
"I don't wanna disappoint you," she said.
"You could never," he chuckled. "I promise to listen if you promise to talk. If anything feels wrong or too scary or you just want me to stop for no reason at all, you tell me. Use your words and I'll listen. I'll stop. Can you do that?"
She nodded at he cracked a sideways smile.
"Now what did I just say, angel? Use your words," he said.
"Yes, I can do that," she said. "I promise."
"Okay, don't do anything just because you think I want it or you feel you have to give something back. I want you to just lay back, relax and enjoy it," he said.
He took his time undressing her and worshipping her body. There wasn't a place his fingers, lips and tongue didn't touch, working his way up to the one place that had to scare her the most to ever be touched again. His eyes kept finding hers, looking for reassurance that she was alright. She didn't close them until his tongue ran over her clit innumerable times and sent her into a world of pleasure. When she finally opened them again, she was met by his lustful, blue eyes along with a proud smirk on his face.
"It's alright if you don't wanna go any further," he said.
"No, keep going," she said.
"Are you sure? I mean, I do have a right hand used to the task," he chuckled.
"Just go easy," she said.
"I was already planning on it," he moved a bit up and kissed her stomach. "You just wait right there."
He got out of bed and moved towards the door.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
"My room," he answered. "Unless Karl moved my bags already."
"No, they're still in there," she said.
"Good, just gonna go grab a condom. As much as I'd love to keep you in my life, I don't think knocking you up this early is the right way to go," he said.
She broke out into a smile and laughed at him. He winked at her before running to his room and back again. She laughed again as she watched him trying to undress faster than possible. He was finally naked and although she watched him roll on the condom with lust on her mind, she also had fear on it too. She looked up and met his worried eyes.
"It's not too late to stop. I won't be mad or disappointed," he said.
"No, I want it," she said. "I want you."
"Okay," He crawled up between her legs. "Remember you can stop me anytime no matter what."
He leaned over her and kissed her.
"I love you, angel," he said.
"I love you too, Dean," she said.
He pushed into her slowly, giving her body and mind time to adjust to being with a man again. He held still once he was fully inside, watching the features of her face until her eyes found his again. He had missed those pale green eyes so much even though they had only been apart for a day.
"Okay," she whispered.
"Okay?" He had to be sure.
"Yeah, it doesn't hurt," she said.
He started out as slow as he could. He kept his eyes on her to make sure she was okay. At first she was quiet and almost stiff but she quickly melted under him and her breathing took up. When she finally started moving her hips to meet his movements and her fingers ran up and down his back, he found her lips in a passionfilled kiss and let their bodies work together naturally without thinking too much about it. He was awarded five minutes later when she broke the kiss and tilted her head back in loud moans. She shivered under him in pure pleasure. Her body forced his own into submission as well as she squeezed him so tight that he couldn't hold back even if he tried. He buried his head in the crook of her neck, leaving sloppy kisses over her skin until he had the strength to lift his head again.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"Yeah, it felt good," she smiled.
"Damn straight, it did," he chuckled.
He pulled out of her as gently as he could and disposed of the condom. He laid down next to her again, pulling her into his arms, holding her, stroking her, kissing her. He never wanted to let her go again. They laid like that for about 30 minutes until he felt it was time to get out of bed.
"Do you wanna go down to the fish pond? We can bring a book and read it together," he said.
"That sounds nice," she said.
"And maybe see how far Karl is with planting beets and carrots," he added. "You should talk to him."
She looked up in the ceiling for two seconds before pushing herself up to sit, swinging her legs out on the floor.
"Grace?" He asked.
"With you it feels natural to talk. I don't know why and I can't explain it. It feels weird with Karl or anyone else. Maybe I'm just punishing myself. I kept quiet for this long so I don't deserve to start talking again," she said.
He moved out of bed and squatted down in front of her. He grabbed both her hands and looked up in her eyes.
"You're punishing him too," he said. "None of you deserves to be punished and I'll be right there with you. You can do this."
"I can do this," she said.
"That's my girl," he smiled widely. "Let's get dressed and go outside."
He got back up on his feet and pulled her up too. They both got dressed but before leaving the room, he leaned down to look at the hamster that had woken up and watched him lazily while eating.
"Daddy's home, Ambrosia," he chuckled.
He walked over to Grace and took her hand. Together they walked outside. Karl straightened his back and watched them as they walked towards him.
"Everything's good in the land of the living?" He asked.
"Yep, perfect," Dean grinned at Grace.
"And you're still okay with this ugly son of a bitch living with us for a while?" Karl looked at her too.
She nodded and smiled first at Dean and then at Karl. She took a deep breath. Dean was right. She shouldn't punish herself or Karl.
"Karl," she finally said.
"Yeah?" He tried holding back the tears.
"I love you," she said.
"I love you too," he said.
"Thank you for dealing with me for this long," she said.
He pulled her in for a hug and kissed the top of her head.
"I was so wrong about everything and I'm sorry, Grace. I wasn't always the best brother to you in all this mess but I did what I thought was right. It took Dean to finally get through to me," he said.
"It's okay. I know you came from a good heart," she said.
Karl looked over her head and into Dean's eyes.
"Thank you," he mouthed.
Dean just nodded and smiled. No words were needed. They were all on the same page.
"Do you need our help?" Dean finally asked.
"You wanna plant beets?" Karl laughed.
"Sure, if I'm gonna buy a house and become a farmer or some weird shit like that, I might as well learn right away and you've always been a good teacher," Dean said.
"Sure, I could use some help," Karl said. "Grace?"
"I've always liked getting my hands dirty," she said.
Dean hooked an arm around her waist, pulled her in and kissed her.
"So this is gonna be our life? You and me on a farm somewhere," he said.
"Someday," she said.
"Yeah, someday," he smiled. "One glorious day I can't wait for to happen."
"Or we can build another house on this land," Karl suggested.
"What? Are you for real right now?" Dean asked.
"I don't see why not. We got plenty of land and Grace can always come running to her big brother when you mess up," Karl winked. "And I'll beat the shit out of you like I always do."
"You remember wrong. I always beat the shit out of you," Dean said.
"Bring it on, you bastard," Karl laughed.
Dean laughed too and then turned his attention to Grace.
"In all seriousness, is that something you would want?" He asked.
"Very much," she kissed him. "I'd like to stay here. I feel comfortable here."
"Let's do it then. Let's build a fucking house," he said.