A/N-Sorry for the wait, computers have been screwing me around, and school isn't helping. Oh, don't own the song that makes a brief appearance.
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Dean tried to draw it out, he really did, but when one of the Poltergeist's victims ended up in hospital, he had no choice.
In three days, Dean managed to get rid of the thing. Which left him time to think.
And, inevitably, thinking led to downing shot after shot of Jack Daniels in his motel room, because it just plain hurt. He discovered after a while that if he got drunk enough quick enough, he almost couldn't hear the telltale barks and yowls of dogs.
It was on one such evening that there was a knock on the door.
"I'm comin'." He said, almost staggering over to open the door.
A much more tired looking Lexi stood there, jaw set and eyes almost cold. She sighed when she saw the bottle clutched loosely in his hand.
"Give it here, Dean." He allowed her to take it off him, relishing in the momentary brush of her fingers on his.
"What're you doin' here?" He winced when she threw the bottle into the metal trashcan, hearing the glass shatter. She walked around the room, picking up the few things he'd bothered unpacking and shoving them without ceremony into his bag.
"Getting you. Where are the keys to the Impala?" Wordlessly he handed them to her from the pocket of his brown leather jacket.
"I told you to leave." She threw the now closed bag near the door with a sharp sound that had him flinch.
"Yeah, and I'm done doing what you tell me." She growled, eyes flashing with life dangerously for the first time in four days.
"Lexi..." He moved closer, nothing but sorrow on his face. She held up a hand.
"Now's not the time. Sam!" His brother appeared in the doorway, and apart from a cursory glance, paid no attention to Dean. Lexi tossed Sam the keys and indicated Dean's bag.
"You sure you want to ride with him?" Sam asked her quietly; right near her ear. Lexi threw a glance at Dean, helpless look on her face for a fraction of a second.
"Yep. Meet you back at Bobby's."
-
Lexi helped him to her car, trying not to look too closely at him. He was, for want of a better word, a mess. She supposed, if she hadn't have been busy making sure he was still going to be here after his year was up, she would've been the same.
She climbed into the driver's side and turned the keys in the ignition. The radio came to life, and her ears were bombarded with the chorus of Goodbye My Lover.
Lexi tried to ignore the irony as she turned it off.
"S'true." She heard Dean mutter, proving he wasn't dead to the world.
Yet.
"Don't go saying your good-byes just yet."
-
They were halfway to Bobby's, driving in silence, when she heard Dean shift in his restless sleep. Her hand was in his unkempt hair before she quickly snatched it back. Only he followed, pressing against her palm.
"M'Sorry." He murmured, breathing out a sigh. She bit her lip, wondering if there was anyone else who had the ability to crumble any angry resolve that she had faster than Dean did.
Long fingers curled briefly in his hair.
"You should be." It was meant to come out muttered, angry, but somewhere a breath got caught, and it sounded like she was going to cry. She wasn't so sure she wouldn't.
Dean smiled sleepily, eyes still shut, and for god's sakes, he had to be superhuman. No one could do this to her.
-
"Just put him on the sofa, Sam. No way am I trying the stairs." Dean woke to the sound of Lexi's protesting. And he could swear Sam was half carrying him...Not that he tried to rectify the situation.
"Fine." Then he was falling backwards slowly, but when his head hit the pillow Dean was almost asleep again.
"I'm just going to go over everything, you get some sleep."
"Lex, we've been over it a billion times. It's going to work." Sam sounded so confident; Dean almost let himself believe it.
"I know...Just get some rest." Dean could picture Sam shaking his head even as he listened to him walking away.
There was the sound of lighter footsteps, treading carefully, and Dean blearily opened an eye.
"Lex?" She turned around.
"Yeah?" Her voice was like a whisper in the quiet of the room.
"Can you..." He hesitated. And that was funny in itself, because Dean had never hesitated, not before her.
"What?" She tucked that same stray piece of hair behind her ear, the one that was forever falling into her eyes when she didn't pin it back.
"Will you stay?" He tried to sit up a bit, but then she was there.
"This doesn't mean I forgive you." She whispered as she settled onto the sofa in front of him, chest pressed up against his.
"I wouldn't forgive me either." He told her, dropping a kiss onto the top of her forehead like it was meant to be.
