"I missed you," said Dean kissing Max's soft lips and softly caressing the side of her face. He smiled down at her as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"I missed you, Dean," she whispered staring into his green eyes, "You have no idea."

He gave her a lopsided grin, "I'm pretty sure I have an idea." He pulled her towards him and laid her head on his chest as he caressed and rubbed her back. The two laid their locked in an embrace not wanting to pull away for anything.

Maxine held onto Dean not wanting to let go. She couldn't let go. She knew if she'd let go then the pain will be back and he will be gone and reality would hit her. None of this was real…

Max opened her eyes and found herself staring at the inside of the truck. She rubbed her eyes and slowly sat up remembering that she had pulled over for the night to get some sleep. She sighed running her hands through her hair and started the engine up. Before she pulled off she grabbed her cell phone and saw many missed calls and texts. She frowned knowing it was from all of them at the house but she couldn't go back not right now anyway. Things were just too complicated.

She tucked her cell back in her jacket pocket and pulled out onto the road.

Dean pulled up to the crossroad and stared daggers at it. His lip twitched in anger knowing Max was here just a few weeks ago making the deal with the demon. He got out of the car and walked towards the middle and dug to find the box. He opened it up and saw the ring staring straight at him. He picked it up and looked at it.

Dean felt his heart break into pieces as his hand clenched around it. He swallowed the lump in his throat and pulled out his ID and put it in the box. He covered the box up with dirt and stood up waiting on the demon.

"Well, isn't it lover boy," said a woman's voice behind him.

Dean turned around to see an attractive brunette looking at him. Her hair was slightly curled and her skin was tan, her eyes green and she resembled Max. He frowned knowing they could read minds and wore what their "clients" liked. She was trying to look like Max.

"What can I do for you Dean?"

"I believe you know."

She smirked as she walked a little closer to him, "You want to make a deal…I'm guessing your soul for Maxine's?"

"That's right. Max stays up here and I go straight down."

The demon poised her lips together and looked around, "Hmmm…" she sighed looking at him, "No."

"No?" he asked confused, "You can't deny me that request! You have to make the deal."

"Not with this one. You see Dean," she started to walk around him, "Max's contract is not in my possession. The demon that wants her, well," she laughed, "the two demons that will own her in a good year have it. And trust me Dean-o, they're not going to want to give that up for you."

"Why not?"

"They have plans for dear old Maxine."

Dean looked her in the eyes as she stopped walking right in front of him and placed her hands behind her, "What plans?"

"Ah, I can't say," she said shaking her head, "They're keeping it hush, hush, you know…some demons may get trapped by hunters then tortured for answers and we can't have the big plan spilled now can we?"

Dean gritted his teeth and she pouted, "Poor Dean…there's nothing you can do to save her. You can read so many books, go to so many voodoo witch doctors, healers and there is nothing they can do. No one can help Maxine Singer. The ball is in our court Dean, it's our turn."

With that the demon was gone leaving Dean alone in the crossroads wondering what the crossroads demon was talking about and what plans did these demons have for Max.

Dean walked towards the Impala and his cell phone began to ring, "Yeah?"

"I was told to call if I heard anything from Max," said Ellen.

"Well…"

"She's here. Sitting at the bar taking shot after shot."

Dean rolled his eyes and got into the car, "Keep her there. Don't let her out of your sight. I'm coming to get her."

"Oh trust me with the way she's drinking she won't be going anywhere."

"Thanks Ellen."

"Just get your ass over here and fix things with her boy. Yes she did a stupid thing but she can't do this on her own. She needs you guys. You're all she has."

Dean nodded to himself, "Yeah…I know." He hung up and headed over to the Roadhouse.

By the time he got to the roadhouse it was ten at night and he saw Max's truck sitting there. He walked by and saw the troll just sitting on the dashboard. He opened the truck door and looked for her keys but knew she wasn't stupid enough to leave them in the truck. He slammed the door and went inside.

Max stared at the liquid inside her drink frowning at it, "Don't let him get to you," said Jo drying a glass, "You know he's not worth it."

"He's worth everything Jo…he's just…" Max shook her head she didn't want to confess her love for Dean while she was drunk and at the roadhouse. "Look Jo, things are complicated between me and Dean, you wouldn't understand." She grabbed her beer and sipped on it.

Jo hated seeing her friend like this. She frowned and placed her hands on the bar, "Ok if he cares so much for you where is he? Why isn't he here?" Max frowned and took a deep breath looking back at Jo seeing the frown also on her face, "I think what you need to do is get over him. Maybe a little hook up tonight."

Max ran a hand through her hair and nodded not thinking, "Yeah…" she put the bottle to her lips, "You're right."

Jo nodded and walked over to a few people that needed drinks. Max sat there staring at her drink not knowing what to do. Things were complicated and she didn't understand them herself. She loved Dean with everything she had and that's why she made the deal so he could be happy. She only wanted him happy. She knew his brother is what made him happy, his family is what made him strong.

She shook her head taking a sip.

"It's not fun is it?" asked a males voice next to her.

Max looked at him and smirked before going back to her drink, "What?"

"Drinking alone."

"Alone is my middle name."

"Well, can I have your first name?"

She looked at him and put her hand out, "Max."

He grinned, "Danny." He took her hand in his and they shook. "It's an unusual name for a girl."

"I'm an unusual person." She laughed.

"Being in the hunting business you have to be a little unusual."

"Tell me about it."

Danny licked his lips and continued grinning, "You want to get a table."

Max bit her bottom lip and looked over at Jo who nodded for her to go for it, "Um…alright." When Max stood up she felt the liquor hit her. She stumbled a bit before catching herself on the bar.

"You alright?"

"Yeah," she said with a lightheaded feeling and smiled at him, "Just haven't stood up since I got here. All the alcohol hit me at once."

"So let's go sit down." He put his hand on her lower back and led her to a table.

"What is that girl doing?" asked Ellen watching Max and Danny sitting and having a few drinks together.

"I told her to get over Dean," said Jo and Ellen just gave her a look. "What? Look the guy is a total dick and this Danny guy seems nice. Mom, its Max she knows how to take care of herself."

"Yeah, she's taking real care of herself with the bottle of Jack she almost drank by herself," said Ellen sarcastically, "Just watch her for me. I need to go in the basement and get some more whiskey."

Jo nodded and continued to wipe down the bar as she watched Max and Danny hitting it off.

Max had her hand on Danny's thigh and was laughing along with him. She hasn't felt this good in a long time. Everyone has been walking on eggshells around her ever since the deal and it made her feel good about herself knowing someone was watching her, making sure she wasn't going to tumble like a brick wall.

"I like you Max, you're different from the other girls I've met in bars like this," said Danny.

"Oh yeah," she said smiling and not watching what was coming out of her mouth, "And what exactly have you seen in bars like this?"

"You know the loose kind of girl…if you catch my drift."

She laughed and raised her eyebrows, "Oh I'm catching it." Max bit her bottom lip as Danny looked down at it and smirked before licking his lips. Max knew he wanted to kiss her and God help her she wanted to kiss him but she knew it was just the alcohol and she would wake up tomorrow morning in his cheap ass hotel room with guilt ridden inside her. In the back of her mind that voice was small and trying to scream for her to stop everything, go back to her uncles and tells Dean everything and hope he has it in his heart to just forget about the deal and take her as his again. They never officially broke up but how did she know that right now he wasn't off screwing some girl and not thinking twice about her. She just needed a sign. A sign that he still cared about her.

Max felt the cold air from outside hit the side of her face and she looked towards the door to see Dean standing there, "Dean," she whispered to herself softly.

Dean scanned the bar looking for her and found her sitting with some guy which made his blood boil. He snarled and approached their table. His hands were balled in a fist and he was ready to knock this guy out for even sitting there talking to her and letting her consume all this alcohol so he could take advantage of her. Dean was a guy, he knew how they worked, how they could get a girl into bed by drinking themselves into that state where they will say yes to anything.

"Let's go Max," said Dean not waiting for her to get up but grabbed her arm pulling her up to him. She stumbled and fell into his chest.

"Hey," said Danny, "She was fine just where she was at buddy."

Dean's upper lip twitched in anger, "You stay away from her you go it…buddy. She is my girl."

"Whoa man sorry I didn't know she was taken, I didn't see a ring and she didn't say anything."

"She wouldn't say anything because she's drunk as hell and not thinking clearly and two," Dean pulled the ring out of his pocket, "Here's her ring. She left it on the kitchen sink after she did the dishes."

Max's eyes widened as far as she could get them to go when she saw her ring, "No," she whispered and looked up at Dean's face and he looked down at her, "Please tell me…"

"Right here isn't a good place for that talk." Dean took her hand in his which took her by surprise and she followed him the best she could to the back and to her old room. She stumbled into him when he stopped at her door and he wrapped an arm around her. "You ok?" he whispered.

She bit her bottom lip and looked up into his eyes, "Better now," she said before placing her hand on the back of his head and kissing him with everything she had. It didn't take long for him to respond because he had missed this as much as she has.

Dean wrapped his other arm around her pulling her to him as the kiss became heated. Their tongues dueled for dominance in each other's mouths. Dean grabbed hold of the doorknob and opened the door. The two stumbled into the dark room. Dean kicked the door close and tried to find the light switch on the wall but Max pulled on his clothes to bring him closer to her. Their breathing was heavy and hard just as their kissing.

Dean finally was able to find the light switch and turned the light on. She began pulling him over to the bed their lips still locked in a lovers kiss. When Max stopped walking that's when Dean knew he had to stop. They needed to talk, something that was long overdue, as much as he wanted to keep going knowing where this was going to end up, with him on top of her, feeling her skin against his, hearing her breathing in his ear, moaning his name and clenching tightly around his aching hard cock…they needed to stop.

Dean slowed the kiss down and stopped. They opened their eyes at the same time, Dean could see the glossy gaze in hers knowing she was either too drunk or about to cry.

"We can't," he said placing a hand on her face and cupping it as he ran a thumb over her cheek, "We need to talk."

He saw the hurt in her eyes and he just wanted to take it away. Take it all away, the pain, the suffering, the guilt, the deal…the horrifying truth that she will be gone in a year. Dead. Dead to the world and dead to him.

"I don't want to talk," she said and kissed his lips again then started to kiss his neck, "Please Dean…just hold me like you use to." He could feel the tears mixing with her kisses, "Tell me all the things you use to tell me before all of this happened before I ever made that stupid deal." She lifted her head and placed both hands on his face, "Before you hated me."

How could she think he hated her? He didn't hate her, he was angry at her, but never hated her. He couldn't hate her. It wasn't possible for him to hate her. He loved her, he knew it now that she left him the second time…he loved her but he couldn't tell her that. It would just hurt both of them in the end.

"I never hated you Maxine," he ran a hand through her hair as she began to cry, "I could never hate you ok? I'm just…angry and upset that you didn't talk to me before you made that deal. I know why you did it, you want me happy but now I have to live without you."

She sniffed and wiped the tears away from her face smearing her mascara, "So…you didn't make a deal?"

Dean shook his head as he walked away from her and ran a hand through his hair, "The demon denied it."

"Why?" She looked at his back confused. She walked up to him and touched his shoulder and he turned around and she watched him hold back the tears in his eyes. Only Max could ever make him break down.

"They have plans for you Max! They didn't say, they…no one knows but there are two demons that hold your contract."

Max took a deep breath and let out one big shaky one as she sat down on her bed. She looked down at the floor questions running through her head. "I'm guessing the crossroads demon didn't let slip those two names did it?"

"That would have been too easy."

Dean took the chair from the desk and sat in front of her. He took her hands in his and she looked up at him. Those green eyes of hers were a pale green showing how sad she was. He noticed the change in her eye color a long time ago whenever her emotions changed her colors changed.

"What do we do now?" she asked quietly.

"At this moment or for a whole year?"

She smiled rubbing her thumb over his hand making him give her a small smile, "We find the two demons that hold your contract, make them break the deal so both you and Sammy stay alive, kill them and let me kick your ass for making the stupid deal."

She bit her bottom lip, "Then?"

"We'll figure that out after I kick your ass."

She nodded feeling a sudden rush of sadness hit her knowing Dean and her had a lot more to talk about and make up before things were back to the way they were.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Max flipped through the pages of the book in her hand as she walked down the aisle of the library. Her and Dean decided to check out the college library in the nearby community before going back to Bobby's. They wanted to see if they could find anything more on demons that could also hold contracts from the crossroads.

Dean was on the other side of the library but was keeping an eye on Max as she walked up and down each aisle. He didn't want to lose her, he couldn't lose her. He would watch her from afar, her beauty and how sexy she was. Her low rise jeans that showed the curve of her ass and simple tank top she wore with the purple checkered flannel, everything she wore made her look beautiful. She could be in a crowd of naked women and she could be the only one dressed in clothes and she would be the only one that would catch his eye. She was unique, special and all around gorgeous. He had to fix things so she could be his…all his again, including her soul.

Max wasn't paying attention as she turned the corner and ran into someone, "Oh sorry," she said looking up and staring at a blond.

"No it's ok," she said with a smile and tilted her head, "Do I know you?"

Max closed the book and looked at her, "No, sorry, must be confusing me with someone else."

"Huh," she said and then she snapped her fingers, "You're Maxine Singer aren't you?"

Max's body went into defense mode and took a step back, "How-how do you know who I am?"

"I'm Ruby…I'm a hunter. I've seen you at the Harvelle Roadhouse a few times."

"Oh…" she found it kind of funny that she had bumped into Ruby, a hunter in the library, "What brings you here?"

"Just doing research," she said as she walked around Max and Max couldn't help but follow her, "There's a hunt in this town."

"Really?" This got Max's attention.

"Yeah, a spirit no big deal just need to find where they buried the body then head off to my next one. This one just caught my eye in particular you know?"

"Yeah," said Max leaning on the bookcase, "I know what you mean."

"Max?" yelled Dean and she turned to look around the bookcase.

"I'll be there in a second." She turned back around to find Ruby gone. She stood straight up from the bookcase and walked into the other aisles and she wasn't there. She walked up the aisle to the main floor of the library to see the blond nowhere in sight.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and she turned around jumping and grabbing her chest. She saw Dean and sighed heavily.

"Whoa, sorry," he said, "You alright?"

"I-I'm not sure." She looked around still trying to find the blond but couldn't find her.

"Nothing just…" she shook her head, "Nothing."

Dean didn't push her but could see something was going on in that head of hers. "Come on let's get out of here, there's nothing here to help us. We need to look somewhere else."

She nodded placing the book table, "Yeah…let's go."

Dean frowned as she walked ahead of him. He rubbed his forehead as he jogged up to catch with her. When he was next to her he placed his hand on her lower back bringing her against his side as they walked. Things just had to get back to normal with them.

Authors Note: Din. Din. Din. Ruby is here! What is up Ruby's sleeve? Will Dean and Max ever be the same again? What demons hold her contract? Will the others be able to save Max? So many questions that will be answered! Review and you will get the answers. :D