Disclaimer: Supernatural and all its characters belong to The CW and Eric Kripke.

Suggested Songs:

- "Nights In White Satin" by The Moody Blues

Chapter Twelve: Part Four

Dean rubbed his eyes with one hand, the other gripping the wheel tightly. He sighed harshly and looked out onto the dark highway. It was past one in the morning, and no one was out on the road. Bela was gone, and so was the Colt, but hey, at least Jeremy was dead. Everything was turned upside down, and now they were all on a hunt for that British bitch. They didn't have time for this shit. Dean was beyond mad. He couldn't stand her. His jaw was clenched and his knuckles were white. The drive before them back to South Dakota seemed longer than eternity. Once they were at Bobby's, they could track her right the hell down. And then Dean could finally kill the bitch. Now, when he thought of her, all he could see was another monster.

Sam, however, was less jazzed about the idea of killing a human being. Even though they knew she had killed at least one person in her family, it just wasn't enough to go on. But judging by the body language Sam was seeing now, this was not the time to bring it up with Dean. Instead, he went a different route.

"So...Mel likes the Beatles?"

Dean sighed, a cold February rain was just being to fall. "I don't wanna talk about this, Sammy."

"Well, you won't talk about what you saw in there, so why don't we talk about what I saw?" Sam said, crossing his arms. It had been about two hours of driving in silence, and he was starting to feel a little pissed. He had never found himself missing the sound of Dean's mullet rock until now.

"Dammit, Sam, we've been over this a million times, alright?" Dean huffed. "I can't….I don't love Melissa."

"Oh, bullshit, Dean," Sam finally snapped. If there was one Dean he hated over all the others, it was mopey Dean. "Look, I'm gonna do my best to get you out of hell, but you're gonna die someday anyway. Somewhere down the road. Do you really wanna die with her thinking you hate her?"

"She knows I don't hate her," Dean muttered, but his heart twisted in his chest. He really wasn't so sure anymore. He missed the old them. Life was getting too complicated. Somehow, a life of revenge seemed to get even harder after the revenge was over.

Sam rolled his eyes at Dean's stubbornness. "Yeah, sure she doesn't."

. . .

Melissa still hadn't got quite used to smoking again. But, it did okay at relaxing her muscles, along with the soft sound of the storm. It hadn't stopped raining since the night Bela stole the Colt, and that was three days ago. She shivered a little, despite her large sweater and her flannel pajama pants. There was definitely at least a couple weeks of Winter left.

"Damn, when'd you start smokin'?" Dean scoffed in surprise from the doorway. Melissa jumped and gasped a little. Dean smirked.

"Every fuckin' time," Melissa muttered and then laughed at herself softly, shaking her head a little. She looked up at him and sighed out her last drag. "I think I quit for real when I was around 19? I just started up again a few months ago. I don't know. Maybe I thought it would make sleep easier." Then, she leaned back to put out the cigarette on the side of the sink and throw it in the basin.

Dean nodded, his expression unreadable. That would explain the weight loss and the ghostly complexion. "Yeah, well, hunting'll kill ya faster anyway."

Melissa giggled, remembering the night after she was possessed. She had actually managed to kill Tannin a few months back, on her year after the Winchesters. It seemed all she was doing these days was thinking back to her year of Winchester. But right now, it felt like a century ago, and the distance between her and Dean spanned oceans.

But as Melissa laughed, Dean's mind was flooded with memories from a different light. He saw her face from many times in the past two years through rose-colored glasses. He saw her kill the Wendigo, he saw her get them out of the police station in Iowa, and he saw her in the hospital. He saw the way she knew it was him almost immediately. And again he heard Sam in his mind; Do you really wanna die with her thinking you hate her? And, as always, she was all he could see.

She looked down at the table, cheeks flushing under his gaze. And then, he acted without thinking. He rushed over and took her face gently in one hand, the other on the back of her neck, and he kissed her softly. It was short, Dean pulling away almost immediately, knowing it was a little more than sudden. But Melissa wouldn't have it. She grabbed him by the sides of his face and pulled him back in. The kiss was more urgent now, more passionate. She couldn't think about anything else. She was oddly relieved; it was as though she was living in a dream. Dean almost couldn't breathe; he was just that happy. He couldn't believe how much he missed her, and after this kiss, he knew he could never be away from her again. When they finally broke apart, Dean was kneeling before her, and she furrowed her brows at him.

"I thought-"

Dean lowered his head with a sigh and she stopped. "I just…" he started, looking past her at the paneled wall. "I don't wanna waste any more time. I...I love you. Even if you taste like cancer sticks."

Melissa smirked, putting two fingers to his chin and turned his head to look at her, and she was lost in his hazel eyes. Her own started to water and enveloped him in a hug. "I love you too," she whispered shakily and sniffed.

"Don't cry, Missy," Dean pleaded quietly, fighting off his own tears. He stood up, pulling her up with him. She was on her tiptoes as he was leaning down to keep their embrace, her arms wrapped around his shoulders and his around her waist. "I just...if I'm gonna go to hell...I wanna know what coulda happened with us...or something. I don't know. Nothing I say makes much sense anymore."

Melissa put her hands on his broad shoulders as she stood back a little to face him. "Dean," she smiled a smile that was somewhere between blissful and bitter. "You're not going to hell."

"No but...I am…." he sighed heavily. "I haven't told you everything…"

She stood silently for a moment before she walked back from him, his hands slipping from her hips and she turned around to make some coffee. After another month alone, and a year before that, she was having to readjust. Life was faster here. But life here was Dean. And Dean was enough.

"Okay," she sighed, feeling a little more than overwhelmed. "Guess it'll be a long night then."

. . .

Eyes rimmed red and hands shaking slightly, Melissa blew out a long breath and glanced out the window over the sink, wishing her coffee was still warm. The sun was finally rising. It was a little past four. It had taken quite a while for Dean to get through all the things he hadn't told her. Well, everything except what he'd seen in his own head. That was a little too much for even him to relive at the moment.

"That Ruby sure is a bitch, ain't she?" she asked, her tone glum but her smile still present. It seemed tonight that the blows on the hell front just kept coming, but her spirits remained relatively high, considering all of it. She was still a little lightheaded following the kiss, and she wasn't sure which thing to focus on. In all honesty, she was doing her best not to freak out in front of him. She would need a little time alone for that.

Dean laughed without humor, then looked back to the living room where Sam lay snoring. "Yeah, she is."

"Y'know, she might be lyin,' and I'm sure she doesn't know all there is to know about gettin' outta hell. And this Lillith bitch? I'm sure we could get her," she said hopefully.

Dean shook his head. "Hey, I'm not sayin' we stop trying. I just sayin' we need to look at this rationally."

Melissa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever, Sam."

"Missy-"

"No," she put her hand up to stop him. "I'm not buyin' it."

Dean sighed, leaning back in the kitchen chair. He knew he would never convince her. Sometimes he thought she was more stubborn than Sam. "Hey...so….what happened with you and Bela? I mean...your turn to tell a story now, isn't it?"

Melissa sighed. "Y'know, she was just...I was with Bobby in Flaggstaff after I got a little caught up with the cops-I mean, I was a inexperienced at the time-but she came along lookin' for something to buy...I may have tried to shoot her…"

"What?" Dean asked, then started to laugh heartily, not even thinking about the possibility he might wake Sam. "Why?"

"What you do mean 'why?' You've talked to Bela...you know. And I was a little on edge, alright? She's like a used car dealer but a million times worse," she smiled.

"Yeah, amen to that," he nodded. There was a silence for a moment as they looked away from each other. "Been a long year, hasn't it?"

She only nodded in response, still not meeting his eyes.

"I missed you," he admitted. "I mean...even when you were back...I still missed you."

"Yeah...I missed you too."

"Alright," Dean said, hoisting himself up and taking Melissa by the hand, pulling her from the table as well. "That's enough chick flick stuff for one night, I think. We should probably get some sleep if we wanna find that British car dealer…"

Melissa laughed, running a hand through his hair, behind his ear. Dean closed his eyes and involuntarily leaned into his touch, shivering a little. She hadn't done that in so long.

"I don't know...I don't feel so tired," she said with a smirk, then leaned in to kiss him again. Dean smiled against her lips.

. . .

'And moral of the story,' Dean thought to himself sometime later, as they lay on the old couch together once again and the sky glowed orange, 'The world is never so crazy that you can't find time for sex on the kitchen floor.'

Neither of them were particularly vocal, though Melissa was more than Dean, they had managed not to wake up Sam. So, they eventually migrated to the couch that held so many memories. Melissa had fallen asleep within minutes as he ran his hands gently through her hair. She hadn't felt so relaxed in a long time. And maybe never so safe. And now, Dean saw her peaceful face bathed in the morning light as the birds began to awaken. (It seemed like there was an endless supply of roosters in South Dakota.)

And he traced little circles on her back beneath her sweater, and even though he knew he was destined for hell, and that there was a long road waiting for him when the sun rose high, Dean Winchester fell asleep with a small smile on his face.

Author's Note: Alright, there's the end of this chapter! And now that things are back on track with Melean,we can finally get into the good stuff. (You know, Ruby, and Hell, and Cas, and Bobby. Yay!) Anyway, I hope you liked it! Thanks for reading!

Another special thanks goes to KathleenWinchester! Your reviews make me so happy and they are greatly appreciated. :)

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Peace and love.