After Cobalt, Dean was playing phone tag with his man for a week. Whenever he called, the phone would ring untill it hit the voicemail. Text messages were only answered hours after they were received. He got a call late in the evening five days after Cobalt, and it was Shawn yelling over loud music in the backround. He was saying something about how he was very busy, and his phone had started acting funny after he had accidently dropped it in a puddle. It didn't ring even half the time when it was receiving a call, and there seemed to be a delay with texting. He said that he had just called so that Dean wouldn't think he was blowing him off, and then hung up.

Dean tried to ignore the paranoid feeling that he did something wrong, as he hunted monster after monster with Mia. Mia didn't mention the conversation she had had with Shawn before he left to New York. She thought that it wasn't really her place to bring it up. She figured that she'd let Shawn deal with things as he saw fit.

Shawn knew that he was avoiding Dean. His phone wasn't broken and he had called him during a concert he had gone to with a friend so that he could avoid answering awkward questions. He was just trying to work out his feelings about what had happened the morning after sex with Dean. He had a hard time deciding on wether he was going to dump the guy. What if he came second to the memory of a Cas? Would he take the risk with his heart?

At the end of the week, Shawn figured that he wouldn't be able to avoid Dean much longer without him getting suspicious so he started talking to him again. He still hadn't come to a decision, one way or another, but if he still wanted to keep the option of staying with Dean open he knew that he'd have to start talking to him again. He would lie to Dean about where he was. Even after he had left a city a few days before, he'd say that he was staying a little longer. That way he could reduce the chances of running into Dean. Twice Shawn had to say that he had already moved on when Dean was in his area. He lied about taking a plane ride to the other coast, once.

When Dean finally ran into Shawn, it wasn't in the best of circumstances. He had been hunting a werewolf through Charleston. Mia had fired a shot in the beast's direction, after jumping over a car. The bullet had missed and hit a civilian in the leg. In her defense, she would have hit the target if the guy hadn't come out of nowhere and gotten in the way. Dean passed his partner up as she checked that the guy she'd hit wasn't in immediate danger of dying. Halfway down the street, the chase took a sharp right down a side street. The werewolf grabbed a guy coming out to empty the trash, and hid behind him. Dean didn't know that the stupid beasts had enough brains to know to hide behind a hostage. Damn Eve! The werewolves had gone back to their lunar cycle habit over the years, but more often than not he found a werewolf that had gotten smart.

Dean didn't have a clear shot, because the thing kept moving and dodging, waiting to see what Dean would do. Finally, it threw a taunting grin over its victim's shoulder and then opened its mouth wide, ready to bite the guy's shoulder. Dean took his shot, it was either now or there'd be two bodies to clean off the streets tonight. He fired, and hit the werewolf in the right side of his stomache. The werewolf threw his hostage in Dean's direction before pelting down the road, getting a little ahead of his persuer.

They were getting to the more populated parts of the city with people heading to dinner at restaurants. The werewolf ran between a big group of people, and started to attack. Dean was still a block behind. He was able to watch the carnage, as he quickened his stride. In a few minutes, the beast was able to strike ten people to the ground. And then Dean was there, and shot it.

Dean aproached the bloody scene, and started looking for bitten survivors. Most of them had obviously fatal wounds. There were people with their throats torn out, twisted necks, and one with claw marks in his chest, where the monster had already begun to rip his heart out. He felt the throat of one guy who was facing down. He had a bite mark in his back, but not much else, as far as he could see. There was a pulse, so Dean shot him, and the other guy next to him. One man started to struggle to get up. He was on the outside of the group. He probably was in the lead, so he didn't get as fucked up as all his friends.

"Are you bitten," he asked the man.

"What? Bitten- I- What-?"

The man was understandably confused, but Dean felt that he didn't have time for this. He had just ran four blocks, and chased the damn thing up and down a fire escape. It had zig zagged behind light poles, parked cars, and bus benches, anything to keep its ass from being shot. It use to take a whole lunar cycle to turn a person into one of these things, but now a person could change in a matter of hours. Dean got a little impatient.

Dean shouted, "Have you been bitten?"

When the guy still lay there in shock, staring uncomprehendingly, Dean commanded him to lift up his shirt. With a little more encouragement, the guy raised his shirt, and where the gash in the shirt had been lay teeth marks. The guy looked at his stomach in confusion, wondering why a dude would bite him of all things, Dean bet. Dean walked up to the guy, he had dark hair, thick eyebrows, a little bit of a belly and pale blue eyes. There was already sweat on the guy's brow as he grew feverish with the fast change. When Dean lifted his gun, he apologized. The pale blue eyes were opened wide with fear, and then the guy's head fell back as Dean put a bullet in his head.

"Shit, what is he doing here," Mia asked, as she recognized one of the guys in the group was Shawn. His eyes were wide open, and he had just witnessed Dean killing four people.

Dean's eyes jerked over and spotted his boyfriend sitting on his butt, on the other side of the bodies. He wondered why he hadn't seen him there before now. He guessed it was because he was more focused on the dreaded task of executing would be werewolves. He aproached Shawn slowly, gun back in his holster, ready for a violent reaction. When there was no movement more than a slight flinch, Dean put his hands underneath Shawn's armpits, and lifted him to his feet. Dean placed his hands against Shawn's forehead, looking for fever.

"What are you doin," Shawn asked, pulling his head away from the touch.

"Never mind, is that your blood," Dean wanted to know as he spotted red on the left side of his sweater.

"Yeah," came the response as the searing pain made itself be known, for the first time since shawn's attack.

Shawn's hand went to his shoulder with a hiss. A wave of fear ran through Dean, but he tried to stay calm and rational. There was no fever as of yet, so maybe it wasn't a bite.

"Is it a bite, or a scratch?"

"A scratch."

"Are you sure," Dean demanded.

"Its a scratch," Shawn comfirmed, with a slightly exasperated tone.

"Good, come on, we need to get out of here," Dean declared, grabbing Shawn's uninjured arm as he tried to force him to come along. Shawn wasn't having any of it though, as he dug his heals in. He wasn't leaving with a murderer.

"You killed those people, I'm not going anywhere with you."

There wasn't much time to argue, as Dean heard the sirens in the distance get closer. Dean would be able to explain the death of one culprit with the police badge that was in his jacket pocket. He couldn't explain the deaths of nine innocent people, four of which had obviously been executed. He needed to get Shawn out of here so that he could explain what had happened at the hotel. He used the only means that he could think of, and fell back on intimidation.

"Your coming with me," Dean said, getting into Shawn's face, "wether you want to or not. I don't want to hurt you, Shawn."

Shawn went with him, afraid for his life. Mia walked to his left and a little behind, making him feel like a prisoner. Her face was closed and watchful, he knew that he would get no compassion from her. She looked like she intended to back up her partner all the way.

Back at the Blue Roof Inn, the two of them snuck their captive guest inside through a side door, and an empty hallway. Once in the room Dean and Mia seemed to relax a little. Shawn went to sit on the bed farthest from the door and farthest from the people he thought he had known. He kept his head down, waiting on what Dean planned to do with him.

When Dean looked in Shawn's direction his facial expression grew sad, looking at his boyfriend's posture, and reading the fearful resignation there. He sat on the bed opposite, and took in a deep breath, as he tried to think of the right words to say.

"Shawn, look at me," he said softly.

When the other brunette looked at him there was moisture in his eyes. There was slightly held back fear.

"I know that this night has been very scary for you, and what I'm about to tell you will only make it worse, but you need to believe me. I shot those... People to keep others safe."

He couldn't look Shawn in the eye anymore, not when he had confessed to murdering people. Shawn was understandably upset when he repeated his words from back in the street, "You killed those people in cold blooded murder, and you expect me to believe that you are a hero?"

Dean fell to his knees, and begged for understanding, and an open mind. Mia wasn't sure she could watch Dean beg forgiveness from his boyfriend so she left the room, and went outside for some fresh air. She hadn't smoked in years, not since she was twenty-one, but now she craved one so bad. She didn't deal with werewolf hunts so well, she didn't think anyone liked them, but they were necessary.

Back in the room, Dean was doing his best to explain himself to Shawn.

"Come on Shawn, you know me!"

"I thought I did! That person you were back there, the person you are right now, that scares me! What if I had been bitten? What then? Would you have killed me too?"

Shawn had him on that one. If he had been bitten, what would he have done? He couldn't imagine having to pull his gun on Shawn. It would have been his job, his duty to the human race, but did he have his brother's courage? Would he have been able to do it?

Instead of answering the question Dean crawled untill he could place his head in Shawn's midsection.

"I can prove that I'm not insane. My brother is in the business of hunting things too. "

"Do I have a choice? Your going to force me to go along with your convaluted schemes, aren't you? I'm your prisoner, right?

Dean got up off the floor and walked over to grab a drink. Once his back was turned he told Shawn that he was free to go at any time. He swallowed the little bit of liquor he had poured in the plastic cup. when he turned back around he took off his jacket and leaned on the counter, trying to play it cool.

"Your not a prisoner here, Shawn. You can believe me or not, that's your choice. I was just hoping for a chance to explain everything. I like you and I want you to stick around... I thought I had more time to tell you about all this stuff."

"You lied to me about that scar on your arm, didn't you?"

Dean had been rubbing his shoulder while he talked. He stopped, and lifted the sleeve of his shirt. He tried not to show hope. Asking questions was a good sign, maybe Shawn was willing to believe.

"When I told you that Cas saved me, you thought it was cute that he was my knight and shining armor, remember that?"

Shawn nodded, remembering their first date. Dean had been all nervous about going to bed with Shawn because he had been worried about insulting the memory of his dead boyfriend. He remembered teasing him about the cuteness of the romantic "knight in shining armor" image. He didn't remember asking what he meant by the comment of "he saved me."

"Yeah, well," Dean cleared his throat before continuing, "this is more unbelievable than werewolves and boogeymen, but Cas was an Angel of the Lord. He saved me from hell, Shawn. Literally, I had died, and gone to hell because I made a deal with a demon to save my brother's life. Cas fought his way into hell, and yanked me back out again."

Dean gestured towards the handprint on his shoulder, and said, "Apparently that kind of trip leaves a mark."

"You are unbelievable," Shawn declared, as he stood from the bed, "I'm dating a crazy man! Your so deluded that you think your ex-boyfriend was an angel? Dean, if he was an angel, how did he die?"

"Angels can die," Dean said in a low voice.

When Dean looked at Shawn with those sad eyes, he almost gave in. His arm stretched out a little as if he were going to walk over to Dean to offer him comfort, but then he shoved that hand in his pocket, and walked towards the door. He was getting off this crazy train! Dean and Mia were killers, and insane! How could they believe all this crap?

Shawn kind of half expected Dean to shoot him in the back as he left the room, but when he closed the door behind him and nothing happened, his shoulders relaxed in relief. When he spotted Mia through the glass door exit he was just about holding his breathe in fear. Maybe she was suppose to be the assassin who did him in. When he approached the end of the hall, she flicked a cigarette outside, and pulled the door open. She stood to the side, and held it open when she noticed Shawn standing there. When he passed her, she decided to speak up. She couldn't just let Shawn leave like he was, believing that Dean and her were crazy lunatics. She had thought that they had become friends, and she had to at least try. For Dean.

"Shawn."

When Shawn turned around he avoided eye contact, and she noted that he was tense with fear.

"If you have any doubts- If you have one inkling of a thought that the shit he told you is real, you should give him the benefit of the doubt. Its not easy on us with what we do. We travel all over the place and we never really return to the same place twice, in case the law catches on. And everyone thinks we're crazy. Unless you have seen the shit we've seen, unless you've witnessed with your own two eyes that monsters exist... They always think we're crazy. Here-"

Mia reached into her jacket and pulled out a card. She handed it over to Shawn. It had "Amelia Summers, FBI" written across the top.

"What is this," Shawn asked.

She smirks at him, and answers, "We have to get access to bodies, evidence, and police records. Monsters kill people, and they each have a different MO, so if we know what to look for, we can identify it and vanquish it. So, we have fake identities. Anyway, I wasn't handing that to you to show you that I'm a fake agent on the weekends. I want you to call the number. Sam will pick up the call. Just tell him that your Shawn and that your calling to talk about Dean. He'll know who you are because Dean had told him about you last week. We don't expect you to believe us without evidence, but maybe Sam will be able to give you a better insight as to who Dean is. Do you have a place where you receive mail, or a P.O box?"

"Yeah, I have a P.O. box. Why?"

"I have some information that I want to give to you, evidence that you can check out yourself. I'll even include a list of a few witnesses that know me. I don't have a whole lot on Dean since we've only been partners since Cleveland, but he has a big reputation."

"Big reputation with who?"

"Hunters. He's also had dealings with angels."

"Like Cas?"

"Yes, like Castiel."

Shawn did give Mia his P.O box, and put the FBI card in his wallet. He wasn't willing to believe just yet, but he had to hand it to Mia, the girl was good. She almost made all this nonsense look sane. It wouldn't hurt to see what Mia had as evidence. He decided not to call the police and turn the two in. It was a hard decision, and as he turned on the lights in his room at the Sweet South Bed and Breakfast he knew that he wanted to believe in monsters because he wanted to believe in Dean.