Crowley gingerly laid Dean down on the table in the make-shift hospital room that he had set up in his house. It felt a bit like deja vu, having brought Dean, unconscious, back to his house just months ago; only this time, he was in much worse shape. He wrapped the wound, but he knew it was useless. Dean had already lost too much blood. He was dying, and Crowley wasn't sure if he could stop it.

He had answered Dean's call, and as soon as he realized that something was wrong, he had been there, watching the demon pull the blade out of Dean's unconscious body, only to drive it in again. Those demons would suffer for this, but Crowley knew that neither them nor the person who had orchestrated this – and he had a pretty good idea as to who that was – was entirely to blame. He hadn't gotten there quick enough. This was his fault, and now he had to do everything he could to fix it.

Before he could make the call, Dean's phone started ringing and Crowley quickly pulled it out of his pocket and answered.

"Dean?" Sam's worried voice came from the speaker.

"Dean's hurt." It was an understatement, but the fact that Dean didn't answer the phone would fill in the rest.

"What've you done to him?" Sam growled.

"Nothing," he snapped. He really didn't have time for this. "I didn't order that attack. Where are you?"

"Why would I tell you that?"

"So I can bring you to your brother."

Sam only hesitated a second before saying the name of the street he was on, and then Crowley was instantly behind him.

"Let's go," Crowley said curtly, wanting to be back at Dean's side.

"Where's Dean?" Sam demanded as he turned around.

"My house." He grabbed Sam's arm and teleported them back to the room Dean was in before Sam could protest.

"Dean," Sam breathed, going to his side. He stared at him a second before looking up at Crowley. "How much blood has he lost?"

"Too much." Crowley moved to Dean's other side, not caring that Sam was standing there as he ran a hand through Dean's hair.

Sam watched the motion with narrowed eyes before understanding lit his face. "What can be done?" he asked softly, his expression a mix of emotions that Crowley wasn't going to take the time to decipher.

"Two options. One, I believe you're familiar with – you can make a deal. I would, but I can't. Two…" He took a deep breath. "We let him die, and then I bring him back from Hell. He would be a demon, but without doing a stint in Hell, his soul won't be demonized – so it wouldn't be like last time. It would still be him, but with black eyes."

"And I assume you want the second one," Sam spat, disgust becoming more prominent on his face.

For the first time, Crowley met Sam's eyes with a glare. "I don't care which one, I just want him back."

"Then, deal. I'll sell my soul-"

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"Do you have any idea what he'd do to me if I let you sell your soul? No, we're changing the price."

"To what?" he demanded, and Crowley knew that he thought he was just trying to make this difficult for him, make it so that the only option was for Dean to become a demon. That wasn't the case, though. As much as he would love for Dean to be a demon, he wasn't sure how he would cope with it this time around. He would almost rather play it safe and have Sam make a deal, but he knew that there was no way that Dean would ever be able to look at him again if he got his brother to sell his soul.

"That's up to you," he answered. "You need to sacrifice enough so that I can bring him back, but I can't let you sacrifice too much."

"If he… becomes a demon…"

"He'll get all of the perks, but retain his humanity."

"And you said that's because he won't have spent any time in Hell, but he didn't spend time in Hell the last time he became a demon."

"No, and I did think that things would turn out differently, but there was no way to predict what the Mark would do to him. He doesn't have it now – now the circumstances are completely different, and he will still be the Dean we know and love."

Sam crossed his arms. "I still don't want him becoming a demon."

"I know you don't. So you had better figure out a significant sacrifice that won't hurt him fast, or I'm going with option two. I am not losing him again."

"Again…?" Crowley didn't say anything as Sam looked at him quizzically for a few seconds. "How long have you two been… whatever?"

Crowley rolled his eyes. He really wanted to do this now? "Boyfriends? Well, officially, since shortly after our escapade to find the First Blade. Unofficially… we slept together while you were in Hell."

"What?" Sam blanched.

"You asked. It only lasted a week, if that's any comfort. Now, stop avoiding the matter at hand. What will cost you a fair amount to give, but won't hurt you? Only you can figure it out."

Sam sighed. "There are thousands of secrets in the bunker-"

"It has to be something more personal than that. I need real sacrifice here. What's something that matters?"

"Dean matters, and I will give anything up for him, so just name a price!"

"It's not that simple." Crowley felt like it was his fifth time explaining this to him, and it was really starting to irritate him. "I don't know what constitutes a large enough sacrifice for you."

"And clearly, I don't either!"

"Well, then, I suppose there's only one thing we can do." He took a step back

"No," Sam said fiercely.

"There's no other choice. He'll still be himself, I promise."

"He'll be a demon! Even if he is still him, he'd rather die!"

And that was what he was worried about, but he couldn't let himself get caught up in that now. "Sure of that, are you?"

"Yes."

"Then why did he agree to it?"

Sam was stunned silent for a minute. "What?" he finally managed to ask softly.

"I wasn't making any of the same mistakes twice, so I told him what I would do if he ever died. He's okay with it." At least in theory, but when he was faced with the reality, there was no telling how he would feel about it.

Sam's eyes moved between Crowley and Dean, clearly trying to come up with something that he could sacrifice.

"Tick tock, Samantha."

"Look, take my soul, I don't care what he'll do!"

"I do." He had had enough of this. "You know, he told me that you accused him of being selfish when he sold his soul for you. But this? This is selfish. It's not that you don't want him to be a demon for his sake, you just can't stand the idea. Because you don't want me to have a greater hold on him than you do." Sam opened his mouth to speak, but Crowley wasn't letting him. Sam needed to hear this, and Dean clearly was never going to tell him. "But guess what? I already do. And that's not my doing, it's yours. He has to watch what he says around you, control all of his movements as you watch him like a hawk. He couldn't even tell you about us because he knew that you would go ballistic."

"I think I have good reason," Sam snapped when he was finally able to get a word in. "You're the King of Hell!"

"And Dean's happy! But I suppose you don't care about that, do you? You just want him to live the life that sounds good to you."

"Dean would do the same thing if the situation were reversed. And he has."

"To be fair, your situation was a bit different. I'm not trying to get Dean to do anything he doesn't want to do."

"You got him to get the Mark of Cain."

"I made a mistake. But I also removed it, in case you didn't notice."

"Yeah, so that you could do what you're trying to do right now."

"That wasn't the only reason. Look, Sam, I'm not Ruby – actually, I'm insulted by the very insinuation. I don't want anything but to be with Dean. Still, if Dean weren't happy with me, then I would agree with you, I would leave. But he is happy, so I'm not going anywhere."

Sam just looked away, not having a good response to that.

Crowley looked down at Dean's body, certainly dead by this point. He took a deep breath, forcing himself not to think about that. "I'm going to go get him, and I need you to burn off his tattoo." Hopefully he would have enough sense to listen to that. "We'll be back soon." Before Sam could look at him, he was gone.

Hell had changed a lot from the last time that Dean had been there, but he still recognized it, just from the feeling. He grimaced as he looked at the line, a cold chill running down his spine. Even though he knew that Crowley was coming for him, that didn't stop the sense of dread from running through him.

"Like what I've done with the place?" Crowley asked as he appeared behind Dean.

Dean spun around, feeling a small hint of relief. "Yeah, it's great," he muttered. "Just get me out of here."

Crowley's eyes searched Dean's face, seeing the fear that being back in Hell brought and feeling all the worse about this entire situation. "I'm sorry, this is all my fault."

"What? Don't be ridiculous. You didn't tell those demons to kill me."

"But I knew you were there. I should have been keeping an eye on things."

Dean shook his head. "It's not your job to watch out for me."

"It is my job to keep demons in line."

"And it's my job to fight demons – I know the risks that comes with. I won't let you blame yourself for this."

Crowley shook his head, knowing that arguing was useless. "I'm assuming you want your old body back?"

"Yeah. It's not like there's much room for improvement." He winked.

Crowley chuckled. "Good. Not that you being in another meatsuit would change anything, but I have grown rather attached to your body." He rested his hands on Dean's hips and took a step forward, pressing his lips against his neck. "And I know all your sweet spots."

"Crowley…?"

"Hmm?" he hummed against his skin.

"Not that I'm not enjoying this, but… can we go? Please?"

Crowley took a step back, his hands remaining in place. "Of course." A moment later he was back in his house, standing across from Sam as the cloud of black smoke that was Dean entered Dean's body. He was relieved that Sam had actually done as he was told and Dean didn't have to find someone else to possess temporarily.

Dean's eyes blinked open and black eyes first met Crowley's, then moved to Sam's as they faded to green. "Sam?" He propped himself up on his elbow as his eyes flickered between the two of them. "You're…?"

"I brought him here," Crowley answered the question before he could ask. "I thought he should have a say in this."

Dean's eyes stayed on Sam as he pushed himself into a sitting position. "You're okay with this?" He was too scared to hope for it. There was no way that Sam could be okay with this, but he was here, so maybe….

It took Sam a minute to speak as he tried to find the right words. "I don't know," he eventually settled on saying.

"I gave him a choice," Crowley explained. "It was either this or a deal-"

"What?" Dean's head snapped back to Crowley, his eyes going black.

Crowley grinned. "I wasn't going to let him sell his soul."

"I tried," Sam admitted bitterly.

Dean gave a sigh as he turned back to his brother, his eyes returning to green. "I'm glad he wouldn't let you."

"I told him that if he could figure out something meaningful enough to sacrifice, then I could make the deal," Crowley continued. "But he couldn't, and so here we are."

"Are you… okay, Dean?" Sam asked hesitantly.

"I feel fine. I'm still me, Sammy."

Sam nodded, relief washing over his face. "Good." He waited a couple of seconds, then he punched Dean in the shoulder.

"Hey!" Dean's eyes widened in more surprise than pain. "What was that for?"

"You have a lot of explaining to do." He nodded towards Crowley.

Dean sighed as Crowley chuckled. "Should I give you two a mo-" He started to turn away, but froze as he saw Rowena coming through the doorway.

"Are you never going to learn?!" she exclaimed. Sam looked at her in surprise and alarm as Dean's eyes narrowed to a glare. "These two nearly bring down your operation, and you're still more concerned about helping them than your kingdom! You still can't see the truth!"

Crowley walked slowly towards her and Dean could almost feel the rage radiating off of him. "Mother," he spoke in a low, dangerous voice. "I am going to give you one chance to tell the truth. You see, I find it quite funny that Sam found out about my operation in the first place. Dean said that he got a tip, but those companies are monitored very carefully, so it can't have been anyone from them. It wouldn't be any of my demons, unless they had a death with. So who else knew? And then there's also the matter of the ambush. Someone told those demons that the Winchesters were in town and to attack them. It looks almost as though someone orchestrated a trap for them. I don't suppose you have any idea who that could have been?"

"I hope you aren't suggesting what I think you are." Rowena sounded offended, but there was a trace of fear in the back of her eyes that she couldn't hide.

"There's only one person it could have been," he growled.

Dean saw Rowena begin to reach forward and he quickly raised his hand and flicked his wrist, sending Rowena flying back against the wall, the hex bag falling out of her hand as her eyes grew wide. Crowley's eyes moved down to the bag and then he looked back at Dean, his expression faintly impressed, as he got out of bed and drew level with him.

"Yeah, nice plan," Dean commented as his eyes went black. "There are just a few flaws. Like the fact that it ultimately ends in your death."

"Fergus, you can't let him kill your own mother!" Rowena implored, a hint of desperation in her voice that made Dean grin.

"Can and will," Crowley said simply.

"We're blood!"

"And I'm letting you off easy. I'm not subjecting you to torture; that's all you're getting." He placed a hand briefly on Dean's shoulder as he turned away, which Dean took as the go-ahead to kill the bitch.

He took a step forward, smirking slightly. "This is long overdue." With a slight motion of his hand, Rowena's neck snapped and her body fell to the floor. Dean had rarely had so much satisfaction in killing someone.

There was a minute of silence before Sam broke it. "Rowena…?"

"Long story," Dean said as he turned around, his eyes moving over Sam and then landing on Crowley. He knew that, as much as a part of Crowley did want Rowena dead, it was still hard for him, and sure enough, he was staring at the far wall with his face expressionless.

Dean decided that he didn't care that Sam was watching him still; he walked up beside Crowley and wrapped an arm around his waist. Crowley leaned into him, relaxing slightly. Sam had difficulty suppressing a grimace, but he at least didn't comment.

"You owe me an explanation," Sam pointed out.

"I know," Dean sighed. "Let's go to the living room and we can talk."

"You two go ahead," Crowley said as Sam nodded. "I have some things I have to take care of."

"You going to be okay?"

"Who do you think I am?" he demanded, slightly indignantly.

Dean just rolled his eyes. He'd ask him again when Sam wasn't around, and maybe then he wouldn't be so concerned with keeping up appearances. Crowley gave Dean a peck on the lips, then disappeared.

Dean turned back to Sam, ignoring his disgusted expression. "Follow me," he said before starting off down the hall.

"I don't suppose you know what he's up to?" Sam asked as he drew level with him.

"If I were to take a guess, torturing the demons that attacked us."

"Huh…"

"If you want to say something, just say it."

"I just… never thought I'd see Crowley care about anything other than himself."

Dean was almost brought to a stop as he looked at Sam in surprise. That was far from what he had been expecting he would say. "You and me both," he finally replied before pushing open the door to the living room. He walked over to sit on the couch, kicking his feet up as Sam took a seat on one of the chairs. "What did he do to convince you? I wasn't sure if you'd ever believe it."

"I saw the way he looked at you when you were dying." There was reluctance in his expression, showing that, despite Crowley's clear feelings for him, he still wasn't happy with it.

Dean smiled, a bit surprised that Crowley had let that much emotion show. "Don't tell him that. He sometimes doesn't even like me knowing when he cares."

Sam sighed. "What I don't get is why you're with him, why you were okay with becoming a demon."

"I'm still me," Dean pointed out.

"But you chose to be a demon to be with him, didn't you?"

Dean hesitated. "Yeah. I love him, Sam."

"How? How did you even let yourself get so close to him?"

Dean thought about it for a minute, not even sure if he knew the answer to that. "He was there for me when I needed him," he finally said.

"When I was in Hell? He told me that that was when you two… got close."

"Yeah…. Honestly, I don't know what I would have done without him. You were gone, and he got me to a place where I could at least somewhat move on. If I hadn't promised you that I'd try with Lisa, I might have ended up staying with him, even though at that point I never imagined that he actually cared for me."

"But instead he nearly killed Lisa and the both of us."

"Things have changed since then. We were pretending that nothing had ever happened between us. We both did what we had to do, and there's nothing that you can bring up that we haven't already talked about and worked through."

"Yeah, I'm beginning to see that. Like how you had clearly decided with him that you were going to let his St. Louis operation continue. You're willing to let people die for him?"

"It's not like that. The people who are dying, they make the deal, they know what they're getting themselves into. It's not our job to save people from themselves."

"You're trying to justify it, but it won't work. Demons are luring people to their deaths and you're just standing by and letting it happen. And you know it's more than just deals."

"It's not, though. If a demon kills for no good reason, I kill him, that hasn't changed."

"Crowley's killed for no good reason."

"Like I said, things are different with him now. If a human signs up to die, that's their problem. If it's something more than that, then I'll step in. That's the way it works, Crowley's okay with it, and you know what? I have no guilt over it. You said it yourself, I've never been happier. I like this arrangement, and I'm not losing any sleep over it."

Sam shook his head. "I can't believe this is you saying this."

"Sam, when have we ever made an effort to stop deals? It's never been something we worry about."

Sam didn't say anything for a minute. "I didn't even know you were gay," he said quietly.

Dean almost laughed at the relief that the change in topic brought. "I didn't either, not before Crowley…. Look, I know I should have told you before now, but things were really good for once in my life, and I knew that as soon as I told you, everything would be different."

"I guess telling each other the truth has never been something we've been particularly good at."

"No, it hasn't."

"He really makes you happy, though, doesn't he?"

Dean couldn't help but smile a little. "Yeah. Yeah, he really does."

Sam nodded. "Then I guess I'm just going to have to get used to it."

Dean felt a wave of relief wash over him. "Thank you, Sammy."