Note: This chapter has been edited from it's original form for compliance with the M rating on FanFiction. For the full, MA version of this chapter please visit this same story on Archive of Our Own. The story title and chapter title are the same. The author name is DeepLittleSOB. The link to my Dashboard is in my profile.

Parking out front of the tattoo shop in downtown Boulder, Liz gets out of the car and smiles as she looks the storefront over. It's small but it looks very promising. The vintage style font in the window spelling out Winchester Ink along with the clearly 1950's inspired interior is right up her alley. She's now more excited than before to get inside… which should have been impossible. She's been looking forward to checking out Dean's shop for days now.

She opens the front glass door, the bell on it jangling as she does, and smiles wide when she can hear Junior Walker and the All Stars playing over the speakers. She loves the song '(I'm a) Road Runner' and Dean knew that. During their Thursday bar tip right after they'd first met she mentioned she loved them and he clearly put this on for her knowing she would be there today.

"Hey!" Dean's smiling face greets her as he walks out from the back of the shop after hearing someone come in.

"Hey there," Liz returns brightly as she looks around. The black and white checkered floors, the red detailing on the trim of the walls and register, the old school yet still modern styled inspiration sheets framed on the walls… she's feeling at home already. "This place is great."

"Thanks," Dean smirks with pride. "How you doing?"

"Since I talked to you this morning?" she jokes with him. "I'd say about the same."

"That's good." Dean bashfully looks to the floor with a smile, knowing he's being weird. He's just so excited to get to work with her, to make her concept that hits home for him a reality, that he's actually a little nervous. "I was more talking about since Tuesday night but fine."

Liz just shakes her head with a smile. "I was tanked Tuesday night. And a miserable sack. Sorry about that."

"You are an interesting drunk so no apologies."

"Interesting or not, I dropped a lot of heavy personal stuff on you so… again, sorry."

He swears he can see a blush form over her cheeks. "It's fine, Liz. Don't worry about it. That's what friends do, right?"

"Right. Yeah… so I told Jo what I was gonna get done," Liz tells him, dropping her purse on the counter and leaning against it while facing him. "Luckily she digs the shit outta chicks with tats because I want this one to take up my whole back."

"Did you tell her why you're getting it?"

"No."

"Seriously?" Dean asks with shock. "Why not?"

"She wouldn't understand," Liz admits, brushing it off like it doesn't mean much. "She believes in concrete evidence only. I think it's one of the personality traits that makes her a great professor but I'm willing to bend my beliefs a little. I doubt we know about everything that's really out there."

"So you've only told me about this whole angel thing?" Dean pries, suddenly feeling quite honored and special.

"Ah, yeah… I guess so," Liz says when it dawns on her that she's done that. The fact that she was open enough to him to admit something so nuts makes her think twice about him. She's been doing a lot of that lately.

"Aww…" Dean patronizes and nudges her shoulder.

"How can I get you to never do that again?" Liz wonders jokingly with the too sweet and not exactly manly move.

"Well, I'm flattered that you feel like you can share that shit with me because it is fucking weird."

"Yeah…" Liz trails off, contemplating saying more. "Uh, I didn't tell you before but… I kinda had another dream like that recently."

"What do you mean?" Dean asks with obvious curiosity and a bit of concern.

"When I went to bed after that night we met at my club I had one of those dreams again. I could feel him in the room even if I couldn't quite see him and this time I never got a message from him, which was weird. But I saw his wings again. They looked exactly like I remembered. Big, black, just beautiful…"

Dean clears his throat with a little fear and confusion. "Uh," he starts, nervous as he moves behind the counter to take out a manila folder stashed there. He opens it and pushes a sheet of paper across the glass to her. "Did they look like this?"

"Holy shit!" Liz instantly lets out, her voice frightened and shocked as she looks the drawing over, the folded-in black wings being perfectly what she's seen before. "That's them! This is exactly what I've been seeing my whole life! Dean!" She looks up at him with wide, confused eyes. "What the hell!? How did you do that!?"

"I've seen them too," he admits to her, knowing how fucked up it is to let her know.

Liz freezes, her brown eyes locked on his as she tries to process this news and what the hell it could possibly mean. Her heart pounds in her chest with… fear? No, Dean doesn't scare her, not even right now. But she's alarmed as all hell.

"When you told me at the bar that you'd seen what you'd seen as a kid it freaked me the fuck out," Dean admits, washing a hand down his face. "I had just seen the same thing and what you said… how you explained it? It was exactly what I'd dreamed."

"When?" she has to know. "When did you dream this?"

Dean pauses and swallows hard. "The night I met you."

The air leaves her lungs with the confession. "The fuck does that mean?" she asks, her head swimming with shock and confusion.

Dean shakes his head. "I have no freakin' idea."

Liz looks back down at the wings on the page. They're sleek and impressive. The detailing shows the lines of each individual feather, the shading perfectly showing what she witnessed all those years ago and just a few weeks before, the night she first met him.

"I'm weirded out," Liz admits finally as she takes a step away from the drawing. "This is weirding me the fuck out, Dean."

"I'm right there with you," he assures her, pressing his palms into the counter top while staring at her.

It gets silent in the shop front aside from the music, both attempting to process everything. It makes no sense to either.

"This has to mean something, right?" Dean tells her with eyes practically pleading for her to agree. "I mean, it has to… doesn't it? That kind of coincidence doesn't exist."

"I, I… I don't know," she shakes her head, stuttered words proving her freaked out state.

"We were supposed to meet," he says with absolute certainty, the song changing to 'What Does it Take'.

"What!?"

"We were," Dean shrugs. "Liz, think about it. A dream you've had over and over as a kid comes back now and on the same night I have the same exact dream… the night we meet." He shakes his head. "That has to mean something. That has to mean we were meant to meet each other, doesn't it?"

Looking at him with a frozen face of bewilderment. "I don't know… about that…"

"I do," Dean nods easily and stops her reluctance. "Look, I know you're with Jo and I know you love her but hear me out." He walks around the counter and grabs her hand, leading her to the couch in the waiting area. He sits down and she does the same next to him with their knees angled towards each other, Dean keeping his grip on her hand the entire time. "I really like you. From the second I saw you… I don't know, I just felt something in me, like, snap. Like I'd been asleep for so long and I finally woke up."

Liz isn't ready to hear this. He's about to air everything she's been worried about with him since they'd met. She had been keeping him at arm's length for her own ease. "Dean, please don't…"

"I'm different around you," he keeps plowing through all he needs to say and has kept bottled tight for weeks. "I'm a better version of myself and… life just feels better when I'm with you. The more I get to know you the more I need you in my life and I know that sounds insane since it's only been a couple weeks that I've known you… but it's true."

Liz nods and hates that everything he tells her rings just so true with her.

"When I'm with you I am the definition of happy. When I'm not… I'm thinking about you. All the time," Dean confesses. "I fall asleep picturing you in my head every damn night and I keep telling myself that it means nothing, that I just found myself a good friend that happens to be really hot… but it's more than that. I didn't want to fuck with your relationship with Jo, I still don't, but I have to be honest. You've been nothing but truthful with me from the jump and now, with this dream thing, you need to know how I feel." Dean takes a deep breath and looks right at her shocked face. "I tried to deny it and stop it from happening but… I'm falling for you."

"Fuck," Liz sighs with sheer upset and fear as she covers over her eyes with her free hand. She takes a few inhales to calm herself and it doesn't work. She was hoping he'd never say any of these things out loud and just make her life easy.

"I'm sorry," he immediately apologizes with her reaction. "I know you don't feel the same…"

"You're wrong," she cuts in but doesn't lift her head or uncover her eyes.

"Am I?" Dean asks, his heart jumping with promise.

"Yes," her voice elevates and chokes up. "Fucking shit." She looks up at him with watery eyes and a wrinkled expression that lets him know he's not alone as much as it kills her to admit.

They sit silently as Liz wipes her eyes once, taking her hand back from him.

"This is what I was afraid of with you," Liz confesses to him. "We had a connection right away, alone that night in the back room of my club, and I should have ignored it. I should have walked away. But… being with you was fun and easy and, damn it… it felt right. And now I've fucked up everything."

"You didn't fuck anything up, Liz," Dean assures her. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"I did," Liz nods. "Because now, even sometimes when I'm with Jo… I find my brain drifting to you. That shouldn't be happening. I love my girl so much and I would never…." She takes a moment to collect her thought and wipes her cheeks again. "She deserves so much better than me."

"You can't possibly think that?" Dean denies the idea, knowing that Liz is something exceptional that any person would be happy to have in their lives. He knows she is.

"I may not have done anything yet but I've already cheated on her," Liz explains guiltily. "I know myself. I won't be able to stay away from you for good if we fuck but I won't be able to keep this platonic. I know who I am. I hate who I am, but I know who I am. I've done this over and over again, just sabotaging every relationship because there's something seriously wrong with me."

"You have got to stop thinking there's something wrong with you…"

"Shut up," Liz tells him, not looking for the reassuring boyfriend-like bullshit from him. "Most people commit to one person and they don't need guidelines and rules so that their need to look elsewhere for sex can be satisfied. Jo puts up with that from me all the time. She's so patient and so fucking understanding… but she shouldn't have to do that. She should find a good woman that only needs her." Liz lets out a hard sob. "I don't want to be this broken freak anymore."

"Don't do that," Dean sternly says to her, angry that she could think this way. "You're not a freak."

"I am."

"Then so am I."

Liz rolls her eyes at him.

"I'm different, too," Dean tells her. "I've fucked over every relationship I've ever had just like you."

She stops and listens at this point.

"I've never felt anything strong enough from anyone else to make me be honest," he explains. "Just like you I feel like… I'm always left needing more. Sex in the City? I cheated on her. With her sister. And I did the same to the girl before that. And the two girls that I had been seeing at the same time before that."

She looks at him with surprise.

"I've never been happy with anyone. Every woman has left me feeling… like, like something was missing. And in the end I wander every time because I'm not fulfilled or because they don't like what I like in bed or… I'm fucking bored out of my mind." He smiles oddly when he thinks about it. "One girl even cheated on me and I found out. She didn't know I'd been fucking some other chick on the side for a while at that point but when I found out what she did I lost it. I dumped her and became so depressed. I couldn't believe that someone did that to me even if I'd done it so many times. I knew what a hypocrite I was but it didn't matter. Liz, you say you're broken but… so am I. I'm shattered."

"Why would this make me happy to know?" Liz asks him. His unfaithful ways should be a red flag, not a comfort.

"Because I feel more for you than I did any of those girls I lied to. I feel sick at the idea of ever lying to you like that. I've never felt this way ever in my life. This has to be for a reason."

"That makes no sense," she denies.

"Why not?"

"Because… you'd just be on the other side of it. I'd be cheating with you."

"I don't care," Dean confesses to her immediately. "I'd rather Jo was cool with it but if she's not… I don't give a fuck."

"How can you not care?" Liz rebuts quickly. He has to care. Everyone cares.

"Because I'll take whatever I can get with you," Dean says sincerely. "If that means that you never really love me like you do Jo and that I have to share you… then fine. I want you that much and I will take what I can get. Whatever that means and whatever that takes to make work… then I'll do it."

He's a mess. He didn't lie. They're both just so broken and abnormal to the rest of the world. But Dean understands her. He truly does.

"It'll never be just the two of us," Liz makes sure he gets it fully, set in stone, that they won't be together just the two of them.

"I know."

"I won't leave Jo."

"As long as she makes you happy I hope you don't."

With that comment she can't hold herself back anymore. Liz launches across the couch and crashes into him, her lips devouring his in a flash as she grabs his face in her hands.

It takes a good five second to understand what is happening for Dean. He was spilling his guts for her just now and suddenly he's feeling her kiss him with sheer desperation. He's been dying to have her do this again since they were at the club, the last time she kissed him, and it seems like so long ago now. He can't believe he was able to wait.

"I want you, Dean," Liz tells him with utter need as she presses every inch of her body that she can against his. "Right now." This feels shockingly right. Everything about it, from the way his hands grab at her to the comfort she has doing this when she knows she shouldn't. Nothing beside Jo has ever felt this right.

"Wait here," Dean says while standing quickly. He rushes to the front door and locks it, turning the open sign over to reflect Winchester Ink's temporary closing. Dean then walks back to her with long, purposeful strides. Grabbing her hand, he pulls her up onto her feet and into him hard while 'Shotgun' starts up. A hand in her hair, he holds her there, kissing her again with urgency. Waiting and behaving himself this whole time has been nothing short of torture. He had been ready to break and thank God she's giving him the green light now.

Her arms immediately around his neck, she digs her fingers into his hair and pulls him tight. Her carnal lust for this man has been on overdrive and add that into his confessions… she's done waiting. She can feel how deeply in trouble she could be for this move but she doesn't care in the moment.

Dean turns them and backs her through the waiting area to a door marked 'Employees Only'. He presses her into it, his hips forcing into hers as he pins her against the wood. His teeth drag down her bottom lip with just enough of a vice grip to hurt a little and Liz moans with deep appreciation.

Pulling keys from his pocket, Dean unlocks the door while Liz presses up on her toes to get her mouth on his neck. He fumbles a bit when she grazes his skin with her teeth.

"Like I said," he smirks, turning the knob and shoving the door open with impatience.

"What did you say?" Liz asks in a low, deep tone as her lips brush his ear.

"You like it a little rough," Dean answers, a smirk on his face as he picks her up and walks a few steps before putting her down on his desk in his office. "Which is perfect."

"Why's that?" Liz wonders, her hands pulling his neck down to her, kissing him again. She can't stay away from his lips.

Without warning, Dean takes a handful of her hair and pulls downward, her head flying back and exposing her neck to him. "Because I like to give it a little rough," Dean reminds her as his tongue runs slowly up the side of her neck. She lets out a slight sound of sheer enjoyment while her hands grip tight to his shoulders and he grins. "And I have a feeling you can take everything I have to give you."

"Bring it on," her lust-coated voice asks from him instantly. She wants everything he has, all of it, especially if she's going to break some rules for him. And he's right. She can handle a lot when it comes to sex and with him she certainly wants to.

Dean grins so wide he thinks his cheeks will break before he moves back to her mouth, his tongue quickly playing against hers as if they've done this a million times before. The way she fits against him is just right. The way she kisses him is just right. The way she buzzes with excitement, humming into his mouth and raking her fingernails lightly down his back while he takes her lips as his is just right.

Ending their kissing to look right into her eyes, Dean starts at the hollow of her throat and runs a firm hand down her front, moving slowly over her shirt as he does. Once at her waist he grabs the bottom of her t-shirt with both hands.

"Been dying to see this fucking body again for weeks," Dean tells her as he lifts her clothing overhead. The second he sees her large, perfect breasts framed by her black lace bra he sighs with adoration. "Fuck, the things I wanna do to you…" he says almost fully for himself as he kisses her again, leaning over her and forcing her to lay back. He pushes a stapler and a stack of papers to the side so that by the time her back touches the cold metal surface it's clear for her.

She sits back up immediately and begins pulling at his t-shirt, desperate to get it off of him and get a good look at the man driving her insane.

Standing up for just a second, Dean tears his shirt over his head.

"Oh… fuck yeah," Liz lets out when she sees him. His torso, just as muscular and built as she assumed it was, is covered in artwork. The one tattoo he showed her of his angelic mother in flames covers his right side. Running the length of his left side is an old antique Winchester rifle. On his upper chest he has a pentagram within a circle of flames all in black and opposite that a paragraph's worth of script she's not willing to take the time to read right now. Dean's left shoulder and upper arm also has something on it, a skull maybe, but in her haze of sheer intense want at finally getting to see more of him she saves the inspection for later. And the coupe de gras for her is when she sees the small, barbell piercing through this left nipple. Liz exhales hard a few times at how absolutely hot he is. "Oh my God."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"Holy shit," Liz awes as she looks up at him, her eyes bigger than ever with the shock of all that just happened.

Dean focuses on her, her legs now to either side of him as she still breathes hard with everything. "You said it," he huffs, his own surprise clearly being shared by her.

"Oh… that is so not the last time we do that," Liz tries to assure him, making it clear that this was not about to be a one and done situation as per her rules.

"You might as well have just told me I won the damn lottery," Dean smirks, his hands already running the length of her legs as he looks down at her, feeling a whole lot more than he thinks he should in the moment.

And Liz just smiles up at him. "Didn't you?"

"Sorry about the setting," Dean jokes as he gestures to the tattoo shop office around them, complete with bare white walls and minimal furniture. "I don't usually like to pick such a cold and unsexy place for a first time with a chick."

"Trust me. It's fine," Liz assure as Dean reaches into a desk drawer by her side and pulls out a rolled joint. She sways a little to 'Cars Hiss By My Window' by the Doors while still sitting on the desk. She loves this song and Dean's nailing it with the playlist of blues-inspired songs he put on once they finished up and started to relax. "It was… exciting."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, I mean I assume you have employees?" Liz questions and Dean nods to confirm it. "Well then, any of them could have walked right in here at any point. The door was wide the fuck open. We never closed it."

"Ah, the we-could-have-gotten-caught thing does it for you?" he asks while holding up the joint for her to see in silent question.

Liz nods and smiles at both questions he asks.

"Huh," he smirks with her answer. "Exhibitionist."

"Kind of," Liz tries to clarify with a laugh. "I'm not gonna go shoot a porn tomorrow but the thrill of fucking somewhere that someone could find us… what's not to find exciting?"

"Plus you dance naked for strangers all the time."

"Good point," she smirks at him.

"Mm," Dean calls out to get Liz's attention as he lights the joint between his lips and takes a long pull. From his seat in the big black desk chair he immediately hands it over. She leans down a bit from her spot sitting on his desk right in front of him, her feet on the chair seat to either side of his hips, and takes it.

"I love living in Colorado," she comments while taking a drag herself. "Weed abounds."

"It's nice, isn't it?" Dean agrees.

"So nice," Liz exhales and sighs, feeling pretty damn good right about now.

Dean sits there, relaxed for the first time in weeks. He'd been a wound up ball of anxiety once he found out about Liz's girlfriend. But now, seeing as they've both come to realize that whatever they are is something bigger than they assumed, he's taking the time to revel in that. He knew the second he saw her she was something he's never come across before. And then this happened. He knows now he underestimated her somehow, even if he already looked at her as something to behold. She's fucking spectacular.

Liz passes the joint back and Dean takes it. He inhales deeply again as he sits comfortably and looks her over. Neither of them bothered getting dressed and they lounge around his office completely naked. Thank God for that. She's beautiful. Every line of her body is long and lean. Her legs go on forever, her ass just the epitome of perfection, her breasts make his mouth water, and to top it all off her face is just gorgeous with her bright brown eyes and high cheek bones. He isn't shocked at all that she has two people after her, completely head-over-heels for her. She should have more than just two.

"Fuck, you are just… perfect," Dean tells her, sitting up tall to give her the joint back. When she takes it he steals the opportunity to run his hands up her legs and to her hips, scooting the desk chair forward to hold onto her.

"I already let you fuck me, Dean," she laughs a little. "No need to try so hard anymore."

"Oh, I'm not sucking up," he ensures her. "Just speaking the truth. This is the body of a fucking goddess." He ducks down and kisses her right thigh.

"Then worship me if you must," Liz smirks a little and takes a puff. And when she exhales her smile fades. "You know, being honest here… that was, uh, something." She arches an eyebrow at him.

"It was awesome," he clarifies, hands still on her as he looks up at her bright brown eyes.

"And I don't usually find that."

"That?"

"Yeah, uh… that connection, I guess," Liz explains herself as Dean just looks up at her. "I mean, you felt that… right?"

"Oh, I felt all of it," Dean jokes a bit and smiles to reassure her.

"Yeah. It's definitely there," she says quietly. "And now I'm worried."

"About Jo?" he wonders, kissing a little higher on her leg.

"No, about the dangerously close to happening ethnic civil war in the South Sudan," she dryly jokes back and Dean just looks at her with a shocked face. "Never assume anything. I'm hot and informed."

Dean moves the chair into her as close as he can, his knees under the desk as he brings his arms around her seated waist, taking a second to lightly smooth over the fingertip-sized bruises on her hips he left behind. "What do you think she'll say to you?"

"I think she'll say I need to lose your number now," Liz answers, scooting forward until she's thrush against him. She brings her arm around his shoulders and with the other hand offers the joint to him. Dean leans forward and takes a hit while she holds it for him as he looks up at her. "She didn't seem too interested in changing the rules to allow for this."

"But she didn't say no?" Dean asks as he lets out a puff of smoke.

"Not exactly," Liz admits, kissing his cheek slowly just simply out of liking him in the moment. "She said she didn't like it. And it scared her."

"But that's not a no," Dean says hopefully, kissing her neck once as his hands drift up her back slowly. Now that he's touched her, tasted her, felt her… he never wants to be away from this. His tongue slides across her collarbone with unabashed want. "We could work on it. Make her see it can work… over time."

"I don't think she has a choice on that one," Liz admits, eyes closed as she gets a little lost in him again. His talent in all things sex just blows her mind in a way that's different than anyone else, even Jo. With Jo it's always deep and meaningful, even if aggressive or fun. But Dean… Dean scratches an itch that she didn't even know she had. He's hot, erotic in a way that she doesn't find randomly. The way he moves and takes what he wants is supremely sexy and she needs this always now that she's found it. "I'm not letting this go so easily."

"Glad I could open your mind," Dean growls into her ear before dragging his teeth down her earlobe. "Whatever it takes to make this work… I'll do it. You just tell me what to do." Dean brings his face to hers, only an inch if that between them, and looks up at her seriously. "Anything, you name it. I just want to be with you when I can."

Liz swallows hard. She's created a monster with him, one that just wants to be with her. And what's worse is that she understands how he feels exactly. Liz feels it herself. She felt this way when she first was with Jo and she feels the same exact way now. For the time being she ignores it but she knows when she leaves the reality of her situation will kick in hard.

"Want to be with me all over again right now?" she asks, her tone laden with want and zero joking as she looks to delay the inevitable as long as possible.

Liz slides off the edge of the desk seamlessly as she straddles him in his desk chair. Once at eye level with each other, Liz puts the joint to her lips backwards, lit end in her mouth. She then blows, their lips less than an inch away, and shotguns a hit. Dean sucks in the lungful of smoke and when done he pulls the joint from her mouth and presses his lips to hers slowly.

He kisses her long, slow, and nothing like before.

"Fuck it, I'm not even opening the shop back up today," Dean tells her, exhaling the smoke and kissing her again with sheer lust for the woman in his lap. "I'm making this my day."

The first time was fast and hard with the lust that came with holding back and their being together slightly forbidden. This time he's going to take his time with her, make her purr and prove to her that she belongs right where she is. With him.

"Hi baby," Jo says cheerfully as Liz walks into their apartment after leaving the tattoo shop hours later.

"Hey," Liz answers back, her voice quiet as she drops her purse onto the kitchen table and kicks her boots off, a forced smile on her face through the guilt.

"I thought you were just heading to Dean's shop for a little bit?" Jo asks, getting up from the couch and walking over to her girlfriend. "To check out his progress on the wings."

"I did," Liz nods, swallowing hard.

"For five hours?" Jo smiles wide, knowing she's missing something as she stands in front of Liz.

Staring for a split second, she makes a decision. "We went and got drinks and hung out for a little bit after," she lies completely.

"Oh, ok," Jo smiles, already having accepted that Dean has been a good friend of hers. They are a lot alike, she can see that, so it makes sense. "You want dinner?"

"Nah," Liz brushes off as she walks past Jo and heads for the living room. "Not hungry."

"Have you ever been not hungry in your life?" Jo jokes as she starts to putter around the kitchen, making herself something to eat.

"Don't know," Liz tries to brush it off and turns on the TV, looking for a way out of talking to Jo. She's feeling about two foot tall at best with how bad her dishonesty is. Avoidance is the best thing for her until the guilt wears off a little.

"Hey, ah, I was thinking," Jo says loudly to her in the other room. "Maybe we should go away this weekend."

"Why?" Liz asks without thinking, hating the tone she uses immediately.

"Um, why not?" Jo laughs a little. "We could head to the mountains and get a nice little cabin or something."

"I have to work," Liz lies again instantly, not wanting to do such a thing. It's hard enough lying to Jo. Being just the two of them for a full weekend would make it impossible.

"You told me you were gonna take the weekend off…"

"Didn't work out," Liz says, looking up as Jo comes into the living room to speak face to face.

"That's a shame," Jo answers, disappointment all over her face as her brow wrinkles. "Liz, is everything ok?"

Her face drops with fear. "Why would you ask that?"

"You seem… off," Jo says, sitting next to Liz on the couch. "Is this still about Stanford?"

A way out! "Yes," Liz answers her. "Still not sure about how I feel… about that."

"It's a lot to think about, I know," Jo says with a hand to Liz's cheek. "But we'll figure it out. And if we love each other then compromise won't be the hardest thing to do."

"I'm the only one compromising," Liz points out, not wanting to move to California and settle down properly.

"I've been compromising with you from the second I met you," Jo reminds with an eyebrow arched. She leans forward and kisses Liz on the lips once. "I'm just asking for the same courtesy. I mean, I'm not even giving you a hard time about Dean."

"What about Dean?" Liz questions, her stomach in knots immediately. What does Jo know?

"Liz, honey, I know your type. Dean's your type," Jo says knowingly. "I'm shocked you haven't fucked him six ways to Sunday by now."

"I wouldn't be able to be friends with him after," Liz mentions, hating this rule. "I would fuck him tomorrow if you'd let me keep in contact with him."

"You know that wouldn't work," Jo says, sure of it.

"What if it could?" Liz challenges right back. "What if I just started to bang him when I'm not around you and stayed friends with him?"

"Your heart is way too big to handle that," Jo shakes her head. "You could never keep that platonic and you know it. You care too much about people."

And Liz knows she's right.

"Just, be careful with him," Jo asks. "And think about California a little more. I know you'd love it out there. And I'm sure you could get a job you'd like there."

"Yeah…" Liz's downtrodden tone answers, depressed by this conversation paired with the weight of her afternoon spent naked with Dean. What a fucking mess.

"You sure you don't want something to eat?" Jo questions one last time before getting up.

"I'm sure."

"Ok," Jo says, kissing her cheek. "I love you."

Liz shares a thin-lipped smile. "Love you too."

When Jo walks away Liz drops a hand over her eyes with sadness. What the fuck is she doing with her life?