Dean is back for this chapter folks! Can never keep him away for too long, plus he's super duper cute here!

Wolfgirl2013, Yep, it's mad alright! And yes, don't worry, Steph, Hunter (and Seth) are all on the way!

xXBalorBabeXx, I know, he definitely does. Boo Andy! But as long as they share the same hometown there's always the right of them bumping into each other I guess…

ShieldGirlBecky, There is more Kelly coming up in this story too. Glad you like her though. She is pretty cool, although I don't think she's quite as tough as she makes out!

AngelsDestiny22, Aww, so glad you're back for the ride! Haha. Well, please feel free to go back and read them! I'm not going to stop you!

Mandy, Yep, Dean saying Princess is something I love too...along with Kelly of course! Don't worry, Seth is definitely coming. He's got an interesting role to play in this story too (I think and hope!) So glad you're glad to have this couple back!

Skovko, Agreed. I mean, I definitely want Lauren and Dean to have kids in the future, but I need to make sure it keeps the fun and essence of them. We'll leave it to Kelly right now!

Phoenix lord of rebirth, Well first of all I'm so glad you're liking it. Lauren and Dean was the first wrestling story I wrote and everything else came from there. Not surprised you're a little confused but hopefully most of it makes sense!

Labinnacslove, Andy coming back is a bit of a twist, but I've got plenty more surprises where he came from too!

Minnie1015, You know what? There's not much sexy time in this one because there's so much else going on...I'll correct that for the next one, don't worry! Plus there's lots of cuteness with Dean, here included!

Dean for husband of the year in 3...2...1…


A Sky Full Of Stars

By the time I got home I was still the wettest person ever. Like some hideous swamp creature from the depths of the lagoon and which was obvious from the footprints I left on the driveway and the literal squelch I made as I stepped into the hall.

"Dean, are you home?"

Nothing.

I peeled my sodden coat off but could probably have stripped naked my clothes were so wet too. I chose not to though, in case one of my neighbors rang the doorbell, or a window cleaner decided to stop by the house so instead squelched into the lounge leaving droplets then frowned into the silence.

"Um, husband, helloooo?"

Part of me had expected him sprawled on the couch perhaps, napping or else watching some trashy old time film, since it was his vacation too and he never did those things usually.

But nope.

Dean wasn't there and so I took my search on, wondering if maybe he was still out running and at what point I was supposed to get reasonably concerned?

Shivering mildly I squelched into the kitchen in my formerly beautiful but now ruined suede boots, where a pair of broad forearms wrapped me up from behind suddenly and made me squeak in alarm.

"Oh god. No, please Mr Burglar, take my husband, he's cuter."

Hot lips found my nape in a rough little snort as Dean ghosted half pecks down the sweep of my jawline and tried to sound hurt,

"Nice Lauren, real nice."

"Hey," I protested, "I've been kidnapped plenty so it's about time you stepped in and took the damsel role for once. I mean, you totally have the eyelashes and the bone structure for it."

Dean mumbled something undecipherable at that, then spun me towards him so we face to face together and which frankly was always my favorite place to be. At some point he had obviously changed out of his running clothes since he was wearing cargo pants and a fresh white tee instead, which strained pretty beautifully over his muscles and made my whole body start to tingle with list.

He hummed at me,

"Princess, is it me or are you wet here?"

I blushed,

"Wow, okay. Um, maybe a bit? But what do you expect when you wear shirts like that though? Because honestly that thing is kind of more like a glove and besides, you know I love when you kissed on my neckline, so me being that way is your own fault okay?"

My husband blinked in response but then grinned at me, before reaching across and lightly fingering my blouse,

"Bad new Princess, 'cos I was talkin' about your clothes here, but trust me, the rest of that is freakin' good to know. I mean like real good to know."

I blinked,

"My clothes? What do my clothes — Oh. Oh dear god."

I let out a groan and then buried my head into his shoulder to spare my blushes, which he then made even worse by chuckling huskily.

"Fuck. I mean, I know m' like a sex god an' everythin', but I didn't know I could getcha this freakin' wet."

I hit his chest,

"Dean."

"Fuck happened to you anyway?"

"There was a truck and a puddle," I waved my hand around, while keeping my head buried into his shirt folds, like somehow the random gestures would help him fill the blanks, "I think I have typhoid."

"Want me to hunt his ugly ass down an' make him apologize?"

He meant the truck driver I presumed and in response I shook my head and then bit my bottom lip in, because I needed to broach the whole Andy thing with him, which I knew for a fact would probably make him go crazy, but had to be done. Secrets had never worked out. Like the time I had conveniently neglected to mention the fact my long lost father was actually his boss, or when I had signed up to commentate without telling him.

Here went nothing.

I opened my mouth, but was promptly beaten to it by him suddenly grinning like a proud little kid.

"Hey, wanna see somethin' cool?"

I blinked at him,

"Um, okay?"

He seemed excited — not that he had ever been good at standing still — but even his swaying seemed more pumped up than usual and his dimples were out too. Wow. I keened a bit at those then managed to miss the next part of his sentence,

"Dimples. Uh, sorry, I mean, what did you say?"

He smirked at me,

"I said m' gonna need you to close those eyes for me."

"Uh oh," I chuckled warily, "I've heard that one before, but after that they hired a new music teacher and then not so much."

"Lauren — ,"

"Oh come on, it was a joke."

Dean rolled his eyes but was clearly trying to fight a grin back as he reached out between us and gently closed my eyes himself, which made me think of Andy and the claim he had levelled on the morning he had technically broken into my house and started ranting about the dangers dating a wrestler.

I would have killed to see his face watching Dean and I now.

Well, okay not killed maybe.

"Ready?"

"Yep, think so," I nodded back, grinning a little as he wrapped up our fingers and then carefully led me towards the back porch, coaching as we went.

"Okay, now step. Whoa, hey. Princess, take it freakin' easy. Because who said anythin' about us bein' in a race?"

He had his free hand glued to my hip bone, which came in pretty useful when I took two steps at once and stumbled on the grass, but which he managed to steady before I fell over and added a concussion to my long list of woes.

I had literally no clue what he had in the yard for me, but trusted him implicitly nevertheless, even if it was something totally random like a treehouse or a goat or a new hand dug pond. Although, perhaps luckily it turned out to be none of those.

"Surprise," I opened my eyes at his grunt of amusement, "Happy kinda honeymoon."

"Dean — ," I blinked back.

There was a tent in the middle of the neat little yard space, in luminous orange with a blanket out in front and a tiny camping stove and oh, a six pack of beer too.

My husband grinned proudly,

"Freakin' told you it was cool, an' I gotta say this hometown of yours has, like everythin'. I mean they even had bear repellent in the store, which I was kinda tempted to buy a couple cans of, because accordin' to the tags this tent is not proofed for bears. But I mean, I figured we could probably take our chances in the yard here."

I coughed.

"You remembered me talking about this?"

Because I had, but only once about two months beforehand and as part of a much longer ramble I'd had which had been brought on by the nauseating realization that Stephanie had planned Randy attacking me before.

But Dean had remembered?

He shrugged,

"I mean, sure I did, because even though you yap about shit kinda constantly, I figure it's my job to listen you, right? I mean, what with bein' your husband or whatever."

Ugh.

Spinning back towards him I launched up onto my toes and engulfed him in a hug that was as fierce as I could give and which evidently had a little power behind it since it made him curse then nearly tumble back.

"Oh fuck — ,"

"Thank you for listening and remembering and for loving me."

Having recovered he leaned in for a kiss and then planted several small ones in rapid succession with a teasing swaying motion that rocked him forwards then back, but kept him out reach of a proper tongue lashing.

"Anytime Princess."

Nuh uh, not good enough and so the next time he leaned in I bunched up his shirt front and then hauled him in hungrily for a full bodied smooch, which made him grin wickedly.

Ooh, that part was sexy.

I buried my fingertips into his arms and then hummed into the contact as his palms cupped my butt cheeks and gave me a boost. I sucked his bottom lip and then bit on it a little because I knew that he liked it and he responded by pressing in ever more close, so that his nose was practically smushed into my cheekbone.

It was the hottest kiss in history.

Tap-tap-tap.

Uh oh.

My elderly neighbor Lucy was stood in an upstairs window with her knuckles on the glass and a knowing eyebrow cocked, which implied that our display was not something she approved of.

Dean let out a groan,

"Oh freakin' come on. I mean what is she an eagle?"

"Dean," I squeaked, "She might hear you."

"Lauren, the woman is like a hundred an' two, an' can barely even hear me when m' stood two feet in front a' her, so m' gonna take a chance here an' say m' probably good."

But I elbowed him anyway as I threw a guilty smile up, then started to wave like an innocent newborn lamb, which he reluctantly copied but with an unimpressed mumble that I never quite caught.

I heard the word buzzkill though.

"Come on."

Grabbing the hand that was still waving pointlessly, Dean spun me round and led me over to our camp, then in through the overhanging flaps of the canvas into what was officially my very first tent. He followed me in and then zippered it behind us,

He snorted,

"Ha. Good luck spyin' on us now Luce."

Inside the tent it was surprisingly cosy and okay, so maybe not a five star hotel, but it was also not as rugged or as spartan as I had bet on and a whole lot more orange. It was like being in the womb. Or at least what I imagined that would possibly be like, since I couldn't remember. Which was probably for the best. There were blankets on the floor and sleeping bags and pillows and —

I blinked.

"Are those the cushions from the couch?"

Dean turned towards me but so impossibly closely that he made me physically have to catch my breath, because clearly going camping was an intimate process which I was more than on board for.

I grinned cheesily,

"Hello."

He snorted in response and then gestured at the bedding,

"Ground got all kinda lumpy an' shit, an' I told you before m' not doin' that to ya, m' not 'bout to slam my best girl into the floor."

"Who says that you're going to slam me into anything?" I shot back with what I hoped was a sultry sort of wink, but which based on his expression was probably normal blinking and so therefore not especially sultry at all. In response he narrowed his eyes teasingly for a second and then nodded,

"Have it your way kid."

He turned around to leave, which made me squeak and then surge forward to grab him as he moved towards the tent flaps,

"Wait, where are you going?"

He shrugged,

"To see if Luce is free for the evenin', because I think we both know the real reason she tapped the glass. It's because those old bones want a piece of sexy wrestler, which you can hardly blame her for because I am pretty hot."

"Eww. Dean gross. No hitting on the neighbors, which honestly? I feel like I shouldn't have to say and yet here we are."

I blew a teasing sigh out, or at the very least tried to before shivering instead, as the movement of trying to pull him towards me grated the wet threads over my skin and reminded me abruptly of how ice cold I still was and of the dirty gutter puddle with its legions of germs.

Dear god I was doomed.

"Whoa, Princess?" Dean frowned at me, clearly having forgotten I was soaked to the bone, even though my hair was plastered slick to my features. Luckily however I was spared having to answer — depending on your definition of luck — by a sudden errant drop that trickled over my forehead before taking my nose like some sort of ski slope and hitting my collarbone which made me flinch heavily,

"Oooh crap, cold."

He got it rapidly after that.

"Fuck. The wet clothes thing? Shit. I forgot all about that, what with those impure thoughts about your neighbor an' all. Hey, whoa, kiddin', m' totally kiddin'. Hey baby get in here."

He flapped a blanket out — which I noticed was also pilfered from the living room — then threw it around my shoulders before pulling me in close and beginning to rub some warmth into my arms until I hummed at him,

"Don't stop. Oh god, that feels amazing."

"You know," he mumbled huskily next to my ear as I sank back against him like a pillow of muscles, "I might have a couple more tricks to get you warm."

"Oh really?"

"Uh huh."

He pressed a kiss to my shoulder through the loose but sodden material of my shirt and then stretched the collar wider as he traced the next one higher, straight against my skin, which kind of tickled and made me laugh.

He grumbled,

"Gonna get my girl so freakin' hot again."

I shivered, but only because I loved being called his girl. In fact, I loved it when he called me any pet name. Princess especially, or baby, or wife.

Behind me Dean was busy working his way up higher, in his one man mission to get me hotter than the sun and I could feel a hand beginning to creep north for boobage. So then why did I start talking?

"So I saw Andy today."

"You what?"

My husband popped back up like a cork from a bottle and then possibly creamed his head on a pole for the tent, based on the curse he tacked onto the end of it.

I winced. Oooh, ouch.

"Did he touch you, or hurt you? Fuck. Okay, tell me straight here, what did he said to you, because I know he musta said some fucked up shit, an' I need to know how hard to wrench ballsack when I track his ass down."

Was it weird I found that hot?

Keeping the blanket pressed tight around my shoulders — because holy crap how in the world was it so cold — I clumsily scooted myself back around to face him and then cupped his cheeks with what were probably frozen hands considering the way he hissed in surprise at them.

"Dean, I'm fine. He didn't touch me okay? And I'm pretty sure there's no need to worry about his ballsack, because if he had hurt me then I'm ninety nine percent certain that Kel would have castrated him."

"Lauren, tell me what he said."

Oops.

The husband was using staccato tones at me, which meant that he was obviously an unhappy pup and so I shrugged and then tried my best to remember, since honestly the whole thing was kind of one big crazy blur.

"Um, congratulations?"

"What?"

I nodded back at him,

"I know right? I mean at first I thought he was being sarcastic, but then he showed me the shot of Toni and now I'm not sure, because he honestly did seem to genuinely like her."

"Who the fuck is Toni?"

Dean was blinking up a storm, which was possibly because I had skipped parts of the story in my haphazard retelling,

"His new girlfriend. She has blonde hair. Not that I saw her, well only a picture and actually he had his thumb over her face. But he looked super happy and — oh, he's grown a beard now, which is kind of super weird since he hated facial hair and he says he's changed, which I guess would make sense, but he was still too overdressed."

Dean let out a weary growl and then began to massage his temples, which I leaned in and took over as his blue eyes came back up,

"Lauren — ,"

"So to recap," I butted in smoothly, counting the points off on my fingers like a list, "Nobody hurt me, my ex boyfriend has moved on from me and lastly I have the best husband in the world."

Dean raised a brow,

"Nice save."

"Thanks, I thought so."

Biting back a grin he flicked the tip of my nose and then pulled me in closer as I pretended to be outraged, which was hard to pull off since his smile was so cute and especially considering he then poked his red hot tongue out and bit hard on the end like a naughty little kid.

Darn it.

My man was completely adorable.

"So now hold up a second an' lemme get this straight here, because are you tryin' to tell me that the guy who put his hands on you an' broke into your house like, ten months ago, got a new girlfriend an' is now magically over you?"

I blinked in response and then winced a little,

"Yes?"

Dean shook his head,

"Nope, not freakin' buyin' it."

"But — ,"

"No way is that asshole not still secretly in love, an' tryin' to make out like he has moved on an' that shit by stringin' some poor fuckin' woman along. I mean, I'll bet you like, anythin' he tosses her once we're outta here."

Huh? Not Toni surely?

I bit my lip then shrugged,

"But that's the thing, I'm not really sure he ever really was in love with me, I mean, not like you are, not properly I guess. Because he would never have fought for me or protected me like you do and he never made a campsite because I mentioned it once, or told me that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. He and I were together, but we were never in love."

Phew.

It felt good to acknowledge that finally — even though I had probably always known it was true — but it was made even better by Dean reaching out towards me and then sweeping my hair back a little too hard.

"How the fuck could anybody not love you?"

"Well, I mean I can be — ,"

"Princess."

He buttoned up my lips and then leaned in towards me grinning over the distance, before giving me a long but super chaste sort of kiss. I mean, except for the tongue that he ran over my lip line. But other than that it was simple and sweet and made me blow a breath out when he finally broke away from me with a wet but sexy unsuckering sound.

I blinked,

"Um, is this what usually happens on campouts? Because if it is then you might have to sign me up for more."

"Done," he snorted back, still moving towards me, but instead of another kiss he lowered his head into my lap and then nuzzled himself a little pillow on my thigh chub before grumbling momentarily and letting his eyes close, "Princess, m' jus' gonna have a lil' nap here, because puttin' up a campsite is like, freakin' hard work."

"Does it help that I love it and I love you for making it?"

"Yeah, it helps, an'thin' f' you kid."

In response I kneaded through his hair in a loving massage, which I hoped would work out some of the rub and which evidently worked since his breathing began to deeper andas he clearly let himself drift off to sleep.

My big scary wrestler husband.

Buzz-buzz.

Somewhere beside us my cell phone went off and not wanting it to wake him I groped about one handed before pulling it loose from the folds of my purse and flipping up the message expecting something from Kelly but then blinking in surprise at he text staring back.

I just wanted to say you looked absolutely beautiful.

Unknown.

Aww. Well that was nice, but clearly not meant for me, since it probably been typed by a smooth talking sender in response to what was probably a dating app swipe. Luckily for him though I decided to be nice with it.

Sorry, wrong number, but fingers crossed for you.

Send.

Then I threw my phone down and didn't think much more about it. Although as it turned out, I had opened a whole can of worms.


Dun dun dunnn! Lauren's getting herself in trouble again! Hands up, who knew it was coming? Next chapter Dean and Lauren go out running, Dean makes a surprise announcement and Lauren...uh, well, Lauren is Lauren!