'Is that your mom?'

Dean sat beside me on the motel room bed and slid an arm around my waist, pulling me closer to place a kiss on my temple.

I nodded, still staring at the picture I held in my hand. It showed a woman in her twenties, dressed simply in jeans and a white t-shirt. She was sat in a bar and held a bottle of beer in one hand. Her green eyes were lit up in playful laughter and her long dark hair tumbled over her shoulders in waves as she blew a kiss to the photographer.

'My dad took this picture, just after they met in Dublin. He was working as an engineer in the city centre and she was a student of Latin literature in Trinity College. He wasn't watching where he was going one evening as he walked up Grafton St and he bumped into her…her books and papers were scattered everywhere and he helped to pick them up. He said he hadn't noticed her until he saw this huge pair of green eyes looking up at him and that was the end of him'. I smiled as I remembered how my Dad's eyes used to mist over when he talked about Mom.

'I believe it. Sounds a bit like the first time I met you…throw in a demon and a few assaults'. He slid a hand under my top and began to tickle my stomach. I squealed and squirmed out of his reach, jumping up off the bed and gasping for breath. He gazed at me, his green eyes darkening as he slowly raised himself from the bed and began to advance toward me. I backed up, my heart hammering with anticipation.

'Nooooo…Dean, no!'

I squealed again as he launched himself at me and I giggled breathlessly as I fought to pull his hands away from me as he tickled me relentlessly. At last he stopped and held me steady as I gasped for breath, my skin tingling from his touch.

'You…know…I…hate being…tickled!' I managed, pushing him playfully. He was laughing loudly as he held me, and bent his head to look in my eyes. As my emerald eyes met his sea-green ones, his expression changed and grew serious. His breath quickened and his grasp on me became stronger as he stared at me.

'You're so beautiful' he murmured, his voice gravelly with something I recognised, something that made me warm all over. He put a hand to the side of my face and pulled me even closer, so that I could smell his cologne and the musky warmth of his skin. My body was tingling all over and my breath was becoming shorter. Completely incapacitated, all I could do was stare into the eyes of the man in front of me, the man who had brought me back to life after the death of my brother, the man who made me feel safer than I had ever felt before. The man that I would do anything, anything, for.

'I wake up every morning earlier than you just so I can look at you while you sleep, and I never thought I would be one of those guys. I love that since I've been with you the inside of my car smells like your perfume. I love your voice, your laugh that you hate…and the way you see something in me that I don't even see myself. You make me…better. I love you so much I cant even think of a way to explain it to you…I want to be with you forever because the rest of my life doesn't seem like long enough.'

My breath hitched in surprise and emotion. I knew that Dean loved me, and he was always telling me that he did, but this…this was something I had never heard from him before and it had left me speechless. After a minute of staring at him in silence, I could feel my eyes well up ever so slightly and I pulled his face to mine. Still staring into his eyes I spoke.

'You're my saviour. You saved me from loneliness and hatred…every day when I wake up beside you I cant believe that you're real and that I didn't just dream you up, and every day I'm scared you'll leave…'

I stopped to take a breath before continuing, my voice breaking and tears beginning to stream down my face.

'Don't ever leave me, Dean. I couldn't live without you…that's how much I love you'.

He regarded me in shock for a minute or so before leaning forward and gently pressing his lips to mine and tangling one hand in my hair while holding me at the small of my back with the other.

'Never' he repeated again and again in between kisses, wiping a tear from my cheek with one hand. Slowly he led me to the bed where he gently began to remove my clothes, brushing his hands and lips over every piece of skin he exposed, as though trying to memorise it. I did the same, pulling his grey t-shirt over his head and kissing him deeply as I undid his metal belt buckle. He inhaled deeply as I dragged my mouth over his chest, grazing my lips over the stubble at his chin. When he brought his lips to my collar bone and then my neck I sighed and pulled him closer. He pushed me back gently until we were lying on the bed, his warm muscled body pressed to mine. Feeling his lips on my skin, I tried to save the moment in my head as I knew it couldn't be any more perfect.