Author Notes: I try to write this story so that even if you're not a super fan of both shows, you'll get the story. But I do love putting in little nods to the original shows, even some foreshadowing to SPN episodes from future seasons (there's one from the current season of SPN, can you spot it?). I figure it's like a geeky Easter egg hunt through this story.

Oh, and I put up silly little poll on my profile asking my readers a question. If you are bored enough/have the time, you'd make me a happy writer if you could answer it.

Thank you to all my reviewers! I'm glad you guys are enjoying reading this as much as I love writing it.

Disclaimer: The Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer world and all characters depicted are a creation of Eric Kripke and Joss Whedon, respectively.

Practice What You Preach

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

Dean POV

When I woke up the next morning, I was nowhere near rested. The nightmares didn't stop. There wasn't a single moment when I got a break from remembering my trip to Hell, but my dreams were a whole other story. They were surround sound and high definition. My nightmares were so vivid that I woke up in a panic thinking I was sent back. Castiel's threat of throwing me back shook me more than I wanted to admit.

Sam was already awake and motioned to the second cup of coffee on the table in front of him. "Rise and shine."

I grumbled and made my way over to him. Sweet beautiful coffee. I took a nice long sip. I didn't even care that it burned the roof of my mouth a bit in the process. I glanced around the room and frowned. "Where's Buffy?"

"She was here when I left to get coffee." Sam took out his laptop and started searching something on it. "Maybe she went running."

"Running?" I grabbed one of the donuts he brought. "From what?"

Sam shot me a look. "For exercise. She always runs."

"You guys run together?" Was there some kind of health freak partnership going on that I wasn't aware of?

"Not together. She usually goes after I get back, which is convenient because then we're not fighting for the shower." He answered as he continued searching on his computer. "You're usually asleep."

"So she left later than usual." I sure as hell didn't wake up early this morning.

He glanced at the corner of his screen for the clock and shook his head. "No, she's out longer than usual."

"Should we be worried?" I finished off the donut and went to my bag to grab some clothes.

"About a slayer?" Sam raised a brow at me. "Are you worried about her?"

I avoided answering and got dressed. After years of being on the road together, Sam knew not to ask any more questions. I was grateful he didn't hound me when I left the motel room. I don't know if I left to take a walk to clear my head or to look for Buffy. I figured wandering around the neighborhood would get me answers.

Life is full of coincidences, which I hate. Of course I would walk to the park. Of course I would see our Slayer and angel just hanging out. Of course Buffy looked ready to strangle the guy. I jogged over in hopes of diffusing the situation, which was a role I wasn't exactly used to. Sam was the mediator. I was the punch first and ask questions later guy.

"I didn't even know he could do that! You can't blame me for not being a good chaperon." I heard Buffy yell at the guy. I rushed up to them and waved my hand in front of them like I was dispersing the tense air between them.

"You're scaring the children." I pointed toward the kids who stopped playing to gawk at their argument. They were less scared and more fascinated, but it was only a matter of time before the parents walked over.

"I doubt the slayer will hurt them." Cas stated.

I sighed and motioned them toward the benches, far enough away that the kids couldn't overhear us. "What the hell are you doing here? Here for the 'I told you so?'"

"No." Cas said slowly. "I am not here to judge you, Dean. Our orders-"

He started saying, but I interrupted. "Yeah, you know. I've had about enough of these orders of yours."

"Our orders were not to stop the summing of Samhain, they were to do whatever you told us to do." He clarified.

I exchanged a look with Buffy who looked even more annoyed with the angel. I turned back to Cas. "Your orders were to follow my orders?"

"It was a test, to see how you would perform under... battlefield conditions, you might say." The more Cas talked, the angrier Buffy seemed to getting.

"So I failed your test, huh? I get it." I grumbled. Maybe the Slayer's irritation was contagious. "But you know what? If you would have waved that magic time-traveling wand of yours and we had to do it all over again, I'd make the same call. 'Cause see, I don't know what's gonna happen when these seals are broken, hell I don't even know what's gonna happen tomorrow. But what I do know is, that this, here? These kids, the swings, the trees, all of it is still here because of us."

"You misunderstand me, Dean. I'm not like you think. I was praying that you would choose to save the town." Cas answered, and ignored Buffy's glare.

"You were?" I responded distractedly.

"These people, they're all my father's creations. They're works of art, and yet, even though you stopped Samhain, the seal was broken and we are one step closer to hell on earth, for all creation. Now that's not an expression, Dean, it's literal. You of all people should appreciate what that means." Cas then finally turned to Buffy and addressed her. "You too, slayer."

"You don't have to tell me the stakes." She snapped. "I also don't need you to tell me how to do my job. I've been stopping the apocalypses a lot longer than you have angel boy. So why don't you run upstairs and go tell your supposed God that I can handle this without their messenger yelling at me for things I didn't know about."

Whoa, where did that come from? This was not the rant of someone who was getting bugged by a bureaucrat. Buffy was getting blamed for something.

"For two people who were saved from Hell by Heaven's command, you two really seem to not believe in God." Cas said before I had a chance to butt in.

"Just speaking from experience." She growled.

I interrupted before the conversation could get away from me. "What are you two talking about? What's Buffy supposed to be responsible for?"

"Sam apparently." She fumed. "It seems that I'm supposed to be a mind reader and know that your brother had dark magic powers or something. Thanks for letting me know by the way."

I shot her a confused look. "You're the one that told me that there was something off about Sam."

"Yeah, but I didn't know he had powers." She sighed in defeat. "So he's a witch or something?"

"No." I corrected immediately. "He's always had some kind of psychic mojo. He's a chosen kid or something."

"I would like to hear of one time when being chosen isn't a bad thing." She groaned and looked to Cas. "So what's your recommendation?"

"Stop him from drinking demon blood." He stated as if it were obvious.

"What?" The words were spilling out without me being in control. "Sam's not-"

"He is." Cas interrupted. "The slayer has experience with this. Follow her lead."

"No I don't." Buffy corrected confused. "Only blood drinking I know of is the vampire kind. It's also nothing I saw in the hell dimension either. Blood baths, yeah, but demon blood drinking?"

Cas frowned at her choice of words. "You weren't in a hell dimension, Buffy. You were in Hell."

She visibly froze at his words and stared at him for a short moment. She shook whatever it was off, and stated, "Doesn't change my lack of experience."

"Willow." He answered.

I frowned. "The tree? What? We need the leaves for a voodoo binding spell or something."

"How do you know about her?" She accused. "What, are angels all knowing or something?"

"No, that is God." He looked more confused than usual. "I saw what happened after you returned to Earth last time."

"You were watching me?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "What, you were stalking me?"

Having been on the receiving end of her wrath, I was just happy it wasn't directed at me this time.

"You don't remember me." Cas said, sounding hurt.

"Sure I do. Cas: heaven's angel making sure I keep Dean Winchester alive." She grumbled. "That still doesn't explain why you were watching."

"Maybe because you're the Slayer?" I offered. Cas didn't seem like the type to be able to talk his way out of trouble, especially not trouble with a woman. I, on the other hand, did have a little more experience with that. "You're probably on Heaven's 'to watch' list."

"No, I mean from before." Cas kept digging his own grave. "You don't remember me from before."

Buffy seemed to calm at that. She looked like someone who was caught talking to someone they previously met at a party, but forgot about. She tilted her head and considered him. "Before what?"

"From..." He trailed off and shook head. "Never mind."

Oh, I knew that disappointed look on Cas's face. I grinned. "Did you date the poor guy and forget to call him back?"

Buffy frowned. "I feel like I would remember dating an angel."

Cas was either done with the conversation or he was beamed up again. He disappeared before either of us could ask him about how he knew Buffy.

"I hate it when he does that." She grumbled and then glanced over to me. "So what are you doing out? Taking a walk? Looking for some pie?"

"Walk." I answered, and then motioned to her workout wear. "I didn't know you were a runner."

"Well, you don't know a lot of things about me." She led the way back to the motel. "Slayer doesn't mean I don't have to work out. Giles would be so proud of me."

There was that name again. "I get why you wanted to see friends and family after coming back from the dead. What I don't get is why you left. From what you told me before, you were already halfway to Wisconsin when Cas intercepted you."

"Your point?"

"I'm sticking with Sammy since I got back. You ran the other direction after checking in. What gives?" I was prodding, probably more than I should.

She kept quiet for a second and pointed at a diner. "Want to get some breakfast?"

I thought back on the coffee and donut I had earlier, but ruled that I still had room left. "Sure. Want me to call Sam?"

"Leave him to his research." She steered us in the direction of the diner. "You have questions for me that I know you don't want him to hear."

Once we settled in our booth and ordered the morning special for the both of us, she nodded at me. "Shoot away, Dean. What do you want to know?"

There was something I needed to say to her before I could ask any questions -mostly because I had an internal Sam pestering me. "Look, about last night."

She waved her hand in front her face. "Don't worry about it. I get it. He's blood. I'm not." She shrugged. "I'm not offended."

Maybe I was right last night. Maybe Buffy is the best kind of girl that let stuff slide. So, instead, I considered the list of questions in my head and circled back to the last one I asked. "How about why you left your looker."

"Looker?" She repeated confused, and then she had her ah-ha moment. "Oh, you mean watcher. Well, that's more personal, but okay. Last time I saw the scoobies we were fighting the apocalypse, but that wasn't before there was mutiny on the USS Revello."

"I don't know what you're saying." I admitted. "I sometimes feel like I need a translator with you."

"Trust me, you're not the first person to say that." She evaded the topic and motioned for the next one. "What else? What else do you want to know?"

Figuring I wasn't getting more out of her about her watcher, I breached the next topic. "Back in the motel where we first saw Sam after coming back from the grave, you tried protecting me."

"Buffy Summers: protector of the weak. At your service." She grinned and thanked the waitress who brought over coffee.

I nodded to the server, but then frowned at Buffy. "Weak?"

She grabbed packets of artificial sweetener and started dumping them into her coffee. "Actually, I knew it was Cas trying to communicate with us and I couldn't warn you."

"Because you were one-word Sally?" I sipped my own coffee black. My second cup and I felt like I needed a few more.

"Sally?" She frowned. "So I did the best I could in that situation and yelled at him."

"Only you would yell at an angel thinking they'd listen."

"You have no idea." She said forlornly.

I could tell that Buffy was referencing something to herself, which wasn't helping me any. I wasn't going to push her on the topic though. She didn't know everything about my life, and I didn't need to know everything about hers. From what I understood, we were just business partners.

"Just ask the question Dean." She finally finished with the sweetener packets and took her first sip. I was surprised to see she enjoyed the drink and her teeth didn't fall out from the taste of it. "You want to know about Willow."

I had thought the topic was too delicate or something, but she was the one who brought it up so I figured that was a good sign. "Cas said you've dealt with what Sam's got before. Did Willow drink demon blood too? Was she killing demons with her mind?"

"Willow was a witch." She corrected. "The most powerful witch that ever existed."

"So you ganked her?"

She winced at my choice of words and shook her head. "I met her in high school. She was the sweetest and nerdiest girl I've ever met. She was my best friend and I dragged her into this world of monsters and magic. Willow started studying up on magic, and before we realized it, she was hooked. I'm not talking about how someone can start loving Star Trek or something like that. I mean, she was addicted to it. She couldn't let go of the power she felt from the magic."

I felt like an ass now. I mean, more than usual. Using the word 'gank' seemed like one of the more insensitive things I've ever done now. "Sorry."

She offered a polite smile like she was accepting my poor attempt at an apology. "When her girlfriend was killed, it tipped her over the edge. Willow went on a rampage. She skinned a man alive, which seems like nothing considering that she tried to end the world after that."

"Is that the apocalypse you stopped that you keep mentioning?"

Buffy shook her head, but smiled. "No, that one was all Xander. I was busy being too caught up in my own mental drama to pitch in that time around."

"So magic addict drunk off of power, huh?" I considered the parallels with my own brother. "How did you get her back?"

"We tried cold turkey, but that was how we ended up with Willow trying to end the world." She explained. "Then, it was just switching her over to good magic instead of the bad. She's the one who called all the potential slayers."

"Cas wants you to take the lead? So I'm switching Sam from demon blood to angel blood or something?" I was angry at my brother for getting into a mess like this. I leave him for a few months, and he falls down a rabbit hole I can't get him out of.

Buffy shrugged. "Where's Sam even getting the blood anyways? Is there a demon blood bank I don't know about?"

The middle-aged waitress gave us a weird look at hearing the tail end of Buffy's question as she brought us our food. Buffy gave her best dazzling smile and talked her way out of the situation. "We're writing a comedy play about demons."

"Comedy?" The lady said as she placed two plates on our table. "With demons? How does that work?"

"It was an assignment for a class." She rolled her eyes in good humor. "Our screenwriting professor is a bit a crazy."

"Well, let me know if you need an actress." The woman smiled at us. "I did some drama in high school."

Buffy grinned and glanced at her name tag. "Well, Darlene. I'll swing by and post a flyer when we're doing the casting calls. I'll even name a character after you."

"Oh, you're sweet." Her ego was obviously stroked well by Buffy. "Do you kids want anything else? Maybe some pie? It'll be on the house."

"Yes." I answered instantly.

Buffy raised a brow at me and laughed. "One piece of pie then." The waitress nodded and left our table and Buffy rolled her eyes at me. "You and your god damn pie."

"Back to topic." I grinned and marveled at the short stack of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. As many years as I've had diner food, I just love the breakfast menu. Then again, I'm pretty sure I love most food out there. "How do we help Sam?"

"Cutting off the source seems like a smart idea." She bit into a piece of bacon and sighed. "I forgot how good bacon is."

"Preachin' to the choir, sister." I grabbed the syrup and poured a hefty amount on my pancakes. "There's this demon bitch named Ruby. I think she's the one egging Sam on."

"We could kill her." She said around a mouthful of eggs.

"I think Sam feels attached to her. And she keeps saying she's helping us with the Lilith situation." That's what I was worried about, that I would hunt Ruby down to kill her and Sam would be pissed at me enough to leave.

"You're getting angelic and demonic help? I think you need to pick a side." Buffy was practical, I'd give her that.

Darlene came back with my single piece of pie and set it next to me. "How's everything tasting?"

"Awesome." I answered. "Thanks for the pie."

Buffy nodded. "All great. Just, quick question."

"Sure thing." Darlene refilled my coffee cup.

"One of our main characters is going down a bad path because of some bad advice from a demon." Oh my God, Buffy is asking for advice from a diner waitress about demons. "Do you think that character's brother, who works for angels, should kill the demon? Or should he just let his brother keep going down that path?"

"Angels and demons? This is a comedy?" Darlene seemed to seriously consider the question and then finally answered. "Well, what kind of guy is this if he can't try to save his brother right? I mean, the last thing he wants is to fight against his brother in end. But that does make for a better story, so maybe he should try and fail." At her suggestion she left to attend another customer.

Buffy shot me a look. "There's your answer. Be the guy who saves the brother, or the one who makes the better story."

"You made your point." I grumbled as I wolfed down the rest of my breakfast.

"Look, if it makes things easier, I'll kill Ruby." She offered. "Sam can get mad at me. He's a nice guy, but better for me lose a friend than for you to lose a brother."

"Appreciate the offer, but I'll have to get back to you about that." I'd probably be hated for even scheming about killing that bitch anyways. "I can't be the only one with questions. What about you? Anything you want to know?"

"You out of questions?" She took a sip of her coffee.

"I'll probably think of more another day. I figured this Q and A can go both ways."

Buffy nodded and tucked in half of her breakfast before she finally asked me a question. "How much do you remember?"

With Sam, I could have feigned innocence. I could have steered the conversation in another direction, but she was a comrade of war. "Everything. I remember every single second I was down there."

"Forty years." She sighed and looked me over. "Do you feel as old as you are?"

"Right back atcha. You were down there for five Earth years." I leaned forward, I wasn't letting her ignore my question. I'm sure it was a shrink method to confront your demons or some shit like that. "How long were you down there?"

"Five years and four months. So, sixty-four months." She said pushing aside her plate, apparently losing her appetite. I'm surprised she ate that much, considering how small she is. "I can't tell you how long it felt, because I don't know. It felt like forever. It was one eternity of fighting after another."

Six hundred forty years. It must have felt like over six centuries for her. No wonder she came back topside completely insane. I saw her fighting down there. She was like an animal swiping at all crawls of evil, but she kept fighting. That's how I had first seen her. She came to where I was stationed down there and attacked the demons around me. I thought she would come at me and kill me too, but she froze. I would have welcomed my second death, but she just looked at me. The next moment I woke up in my coffin. I wonder how much Buffy had to do with getting me back up here.

"You didn't kill me. Down there." I commented. "I should thank you for sparing me. God knows where I would have been shipped off to."

"You were marked." She leaned back in her seat and stared out the window at something. "You were down there long enough to know. People who made a deal to make their way down get marked." Buffy tapped her fingers against the table. "A deal doesn't necessarily mean that the person was evil."

"I could have made a deal for a wad of cash." I remarked.

"Yeah, because you guys are living in the lap of luxury." She glanced back at me as I moved on to my pie. "I haven't known you for very long, but I know you made a deal for your brother."

I froze with the fork halfway to my mouth. I set my fork down and frowned. "How did you know? Did Sam tell you?"

"Nope. I can just tell by how guilty he acts and how much you love him." She was hitting the nail right on the head. "Self sacrifice for a younger sibling, I get it. Trust me."

"You have a sister." I said, more reminding myself. "Is she a slayer too?"

Buffy let out a laugh. "If she had it her way, she would be. But thankfully, she's more on the watcher side of the industry."

"You saw her in Cleveland then?"

"No, she doesn't live there." She shook her head. "She's in London. Married to my best friend."

I raised a brow. "To Willow?"

"Xander." She answered and I recalled the name from her story earlier. "Willow's dead."

"Sorry." Again, there I go apologizing. "Did she die during the apocalypse?"

"No, cancer." She shook her head and locked eyes with me. "I have another question." I nodded for her to keep going. I was prodding again in topics that were probably too sensitive for her. "I saw you... you were torturing souls down there. You were enjoying it. You were good at it."

By some miracle, I lost my appetite. Not even free pie could get me to eat with the current topic of conversation. "Is there a question in there somewhere?"

"Do you think Heaven should have sent their best warriors to save you?" Instead of looking away like before, she faced me for this question.

The question surprised me, even though it was one that was on repeat in my head. Her green eyes were piercing as she waited her answer. I considered evading the question, but she had been honest with me. If there was anyone out there could understand my demons, it was this girl.

"No." I stated. "You?"

She smirked and took a sip of her coffee, finally breaking the intense eye contact with me. "I'm a candy bar remember?"

Having seen her in action and hearing part of her history, I knew Buffy was tough as nails. But she was so petite and seemed so fragile, and not anything that could actually survive in the dark I was so used to. In a way, she reminded me of Jo. Maybe it was the blonde hair. But Jo was green, it was obvious. Buffy was different. There was something about her eyes that told me that she'd been around the block one too many times. Buffy hid it behind her spunk and wit, but there was hardness in her eyes that I saw even when she was insane.

"How bad are your nightmares?" She asked.

On more than one occasion, I had heard Buffy struggling against something in the middle of the night. Between my own nightmares, I could hear her having hers. Mine were bad, but hers must be worse. I can't imagine the kind of dreams someone gets after centuries down there.

"They're not rainbows and butterflies, but it's better than being down under. I can't complain." I said with a shrug. That was the main reason why I hadn't bitched about my nightmares to Sam or Cas.

"With as much sleep as you need, I can't imagine what you're going through." She was looking at me like I was the one that had in bad. "I've never been more grateful that slayers don't need that many hours of sleep."

Maybe that's how we deal with it. If we think someone else has it worse, than we can keep on trucking. "It's fine. I'll survive."

"Sure, your self-medication with Dr. Jack Daniels seems really healthy." She mocked.

"What, you're recommending I talk?" I probably sounded like an emotionally stunted jackass. "Follow the example of Dr. Phil and talk it out?"

"Here's the glitch with talking: it pushes all your crap onto someone else. Instead, you have two people messed up than one. I learned that the last time I came back." She then leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially. "But we're in the same boat, so nothing you say is going to tear me up. So, go ahead. Unload."

Her reasoning made sense, but I wasn't one to do the touchy feely moments. Dean Winchester doesn't talk about his feelings. "There's nothing I can tell you that you already don't know or haven't gone through yourself."

"That's not the point." She sighed. "I hear it can be cathartic."

"Then how about you go first?" I challenged.

For a second, I thought maybe I got her. She was willing to carry my baggage, but wasn't willing to unload hers. But then, she nodded. "You already know that this isn't the first time I died. Honestly, this return is better than my last one. Going from Hell to Earth is a lot easier than going from Heaven to Earth."

Heaven? My blood ran cold. Buffy had been in heaven. She had fought like a warrior and gotten her reward, but she got pulled back into battle because someone thought she wasn't done serving her time here. "Who took you out of heaven? Was it an angel? Is that how Cas knows you?"

"I wish. Then I could feel betrayed by him." Buffy shrugged like she had accepted the reality of what happened to her. "My friends. They ripped me out. I was happy. I knew everyone I loved was safe. I was finally at peace, but my friends thought I was in a hell dimension. Instead, coming back here was hell. I had to fight again. There was evil all around me and it seemed to have the sole mission of trying to kill me again. I considered suicide for months, but worried that wouldn't get me back to Heaven. Then I considered letting my guard down a little and being killed by a vampire one night out on patrol, but my survival instincts always kicked in. I just wanted it to end."

No wonder Buffy seemed better adjusted than I was. She was living by the philosophy of: 'I've had it worse.' Getting back this time around was a cakewalk compared to what she went through before. But that didn't negate the fact that she spent six hundred years on a killing rampage downstairs.

"How'd you end up in Hell then? Shouldn't you have been sent back upstairs?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Maybe it's a onetime deal. Once you get out, you're not allowed back in." She didn't seem that disturbed by the prospect.

"Are you saying that Earth is as close to Heaven as you're going to get from now on?" The prospect of this messed up world being the end all be all of good for her bothered me more than I thought it would.

"So I'm considering this a blessing in disguise." She continued. "I'll do the Power's bidding. Let them use me, I'm used to it. But then, I'm retiring. Whatever that means for a slayer, I'm not sure but I am. The Powers haven't done me any favors. So after this dance, I'm done."

There seemed to be a visible weight that lifted off her shoulders after her declaration. She seemed to have thought about this more times than not, and finally saying it out loud seemed to convince her. "You think that's possible for people like us?"

"I don't know, but I plan to find out." She grinned. "I'm way past my slayer expiration date, so I deserve to be able to get out, right?"

"Maybe I'll visit once you're settled in a retirement community in Florida." I jested.

"I'll save you a seat." She said earnestly. "So I told you my sob story. Let's hear yours, Dean."

"Not much to tell. I traded my life for Sam's and ended up getting collected by hellhounds." I was giving the cliff notes version of everything. "I served my time, and I guess the angels need me for something so they pulled a prison break."

I may have been able to fool someone else, but Buffy wasn't buying it. "Then how'd you end up with the gig of torturing souls?" She definitely wasn't beating around the bush and wasn't letting this go until I told her what happened.

"The demon tortured me every day. And every day he offered me the option to be the torturer, but I only had the strength to deny him for thirty years." I steadied my voice as I revealed to her what I hoped no one would ever find out. "I wasn't strong enough. One day, when he offered to take me off the rack, I gave in. I couldn't keep it up anymore. I'm not as good as my brother thinks. So, I got off the rack and dished out what I got for thirty years. I enjoyed it. I felt the catharsis you think I need. The pain bled away with each cut I put on those other souls. I'm not a good man, Buffy. I don't deserve peace of mind."

She kept quiet for a long moment as she just looked at me. I don't know what exactly she was processing in her head, but her eyes searched my face for something. Then she slowly nodded her head. "I know people who have done a lot worse and they're still good men. And you're a good man too, Dean." She said reassuringly. "Want to know the common denominator between you and these men?"

"Dashing good looks?" I joked, trying to lighten the air around us.

"That too." Buffy admitted with a smile. "But I was thinking guilt. You feel remorse for what you did. And by the way you throw yourself into these jobs, you're chasing after redemption. So you can't be all bad. There's still some good left in you."

Before I could refute what she was saying, Darlene came over to collect our plates. "Anything else for you kids?"

Buffy shook her head. "No, we're good."

"One check or two?" She asked.

"One." Buffy answered before I had a chance to. Darlene left our check on the table and left with our empty plates.

"Thanks for breakfast." I said as I finished the rest of the pie that Darlene had left for me.

"Where in these yoga pants am I hiding a wallet?" She rolled her eyes. "You're getting breakfast."

"What is this a date? Usually when I buy a girl a meal, I'm trying to get lucky." I joked as I took my last bite.

"It's going to take more than just diner food to get me in bed." She shot me a coy glance.

"Four star restaurant with a two hundred dollar bottle of wine?" Buffy didn't seem like an easy lay.

She scoffed at my suggestion. "I wouldn't even know which fork to use in a place like that. I just need some good old fashioned wooing."

"Wooing?" I smirked at her. "Give me the time of day and I'd woo your pants off."

She laughed and shook her head. "Romance, Dean. Romance."

"Not exactly my specialty." I gave an exaggerated sigh. "I guess you're way out of my league." Which was something I suspected all along.

"I think it's the other way around." She raised a brow at me. "I get the feeling I'd need a safe word with you."

Should I feel smug? Because I do. "Well, for future reference, my safe word is: Poughkeepsie."

"That's... unique, which I guess is the point." She laughed.

"It's what Sam and I use when we mean, drop everything and run." I explained.

She raised a brow at me. "You and Sam need a safe word? You two... are brothers, right?"

Realizing what I had inadvertently hinted, I shook my head and denied what she was implying. "No! Get your mind out of that disgusting gutter." I was adamant. "I meant on a case! We use the word on a case when things go south."

She chuckled at my denial and took a final sip of her coffee. Scooting out of her seat she motioned to the check. "Anyways, it's not even your money."

I followed suit and went up to the register with her as I paid for our meal. She was right, it wasn't my money. As we made our way out of the diner I glanced over at her. "We need to get you a credit card."

"What for? I have the Winchesters to pay for everything." She led us back to the motel.

"Hey, there's an entire untapped potential of female names with credit card fraud." I was already thinking about all the possible aliases. "You also need a cell phone and fake ID."

"Who's going to call me?" She reasoned.

"I don't know. You can update your Facebook from it or something." I shrugged as we crossed the street to get the motel's parking lot.

She frowned up at me. "What's a facebook?"

Even though the situation revealed that Buffy had been in Hell for five years, I could help laughing. She looked at me like I was crazy, but I kept laughing. "It's not anything important."