In an Entirely Different Age

It wasn't my first time doing this, but it was my first time getting caught in the act. I cursed my stupidity but I chalked it up to having been off the market for so long and tried to not let it get to me too much.

I sat at the bar nursing my third martini, nibbling on the olive as my eyes swept over the bar as discretely as possible. I was feeling mildly uncomfortable sitting on the stool in a black halter top (it thankfully covered the scar on my collarbone that was given to me as an 'amazing' gift from Rene), jean mini skirt and black cowboy boots because I could feel every other male eyeing me up and down lustfully. Ever since Dean moved in, it no longer felt natural for me to enjoy being eye candy for strangers, but I tried to shake the feeling off as me just being paranoid.

I dipped my olive into the last mouthful of my drink that was left in the glass as I silently contemplated the soundness of my plan. Was this something that I really wanted to do? I had been lucky up until now and had gotten away with my little 'excursions' for a while now and I started think that maybe I shouldn't be pressing my luck and should just pack it in and make my way home.

"Is anyone sitting here?" A charming male's voice with a slight Texan twang asked politely.

"There will be once you sit down," I replied sweetly as I turned to look at him. Once our eyes met I smiled warmly then he made himself comfortable and I downed the last bit of liquid that remained in the glass. Well he's definitely a looker… Woo no complaints there.

"It appears that your drink is empty… Can I order you a new one?" He inquired while pointing to the bartender to bring another round of drinks before he received my response.

I stroked the inner thigh of his left leg and leaned in slightly to reply, "I never say no to a free drink." I lightly squeezed the flesh of his thigh under his denim pants adding, "Especially when it's being offered by someone as good looking as yourself. Please do remind me that I should repay you somehow once I've finished it."

He took a sip from one of the new martinis that were placed in front of us and smirked behind the glass as he ran his left hand up my right leg. He stopped the slow motion of his fingers as he let his hand rest just passed the hem of skirt. When he saw that I didn't object to his advance, his smile grew wider. He then put his glass down and moved his face closer to mine to coyly state, "I'll be sure to do just that."

He somehow shifted his chair closer to my own without standing up or breaking contact with my inner thigh and I could feel my heartbeat quickening at his nearness.

"So what is a beautiful woman like you doing alone in a dive like this?" He whispered into my ear so that I could feel each word tingle on the skin of my ear.

After taking a drink from my martini glass, I stirred it with my olive while I tried to calm my nerves. Once I was confident that I would be able to keep up the act, I shrugged and replied, "I'm guessing I'm here for the same reason as you… I wanted to enjoy a few drinks and hoped that I would run into someone with whom I could kill some time… You know that old story and all."

"I sure do," he agreed as he raised his glass in a warm toast.

As we each took a drink, I shifted in my seat so that I was closer to him and hooked a booked foot around his shin. His hand was still resting comfortably in its new home on my inner thigh. Unconsciously my lips curled into a devilish grin as I took a slow sip out of the chilled glass when I felt his felt his fingers get dangerously close to feeling how 'happy' and 'excited' I was to meet him.

"So Gorgeous… tell me… do you have a name that matches your undeniable beauty?"

I leaned back, placed my drink on the bar and extended my right hand out to somewhat formally introduce myself, "I'm Charlie." As he took my hand I scrunched my nose and explained in a slightly sheepish tone, "Although I'm not sure if you would consider that to be 'beautiful' or not."

"Oh Darling on you it is the most beautiful name that I've ever heard," he responded as he playfully squeezed my thigh and lightly shook my right hand. "And it's an absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance Charlie, I'm Deke."

I finished my drink and leaned into him so that I could speak to him in a soft breathy tone, "Honestly, the pleasure is ALL mine… And if you move your hand just a little to the left, you'll see just how appreciative I am that you decided to join me at the bar tonight."

I swear that I could hear the lump form in his throat while the denim grew taught around his thigh as it strained to contain the evidence of his own excitement.

"Addy?" A surprised gruff sounding voice called out from behind us.

I unconsciously flinched and then silently scolded myself for reacting like a rookie fresh from the farm team when I should have remembered that I was a veteran when it came to deception.

"Someone you know Beautiful?" Deke questioned politely as he quickly retracted his hand as he noticed that he owner of the voice was slowly making his way through the crowd towards us.

"No... No, not at all. How about another round?" I tried to recover while signaling to the bartender to bring another round of drinks our way. Go away Bobby, please just go away. Please! I silently pleaded desperately.

"Addy!" He called out again.

"He seems to really think he knows you Charlie," Deke commented as he allowed his concern to show in his tone.

I shrugged dismissively and tapped the edge of my glass with his and continued to pretend that I didn't hear Bobby calling out to me. "I say we toast new friends and a fun filled night."

Deke had to pause a moment, trying to suavely recover from mildly choking on his drink at my statement and asked, "To a 'fun filled night'?"

I smirked, raised an eyebrow and seductively clarified, "Or… you know… 'wild and crazy night' or whatev…"

"ADDY!" Bobby angrily shouted as he grabbed my left shoulder to force me to face him.

"I'm sorry sir, but you must have mistaken me for someone else because my name is Charlie, Charlie Rogers," I replied coolly desperately hoping that he would take the hint from my alias. Come on Bobby, don't do this, please? I'm so close.

"I don't know what game you're playing at young lady, but we need to step outside a moment and have a little chat… plus it looks like you need to clear your head," he scolded me sounding like an over-protective father that had just caught his underage daughter in a compromising position while drinking with an older man at a bar.

He tightened his grip on my shoulder and I winced as I dipped to the left in an attempt to ease some of the pain I was feeling. Seeing Bobby's knuckles go white as he held my shoulder in a near death grip caused Deke to jump to his feet as he placed his own hand over Bobby's in an effort to defend me.

"Sir, I believe the lady had already explained herself… Now this would probably be a good time for you to leave before anyone does or says anything they might regret," Deke commented in a low severe tone.

Bobby easily swatted his hand away and matched his machismo tone while saying in his own hushed voice, "Well I don't BELIEVE that anyone was talking to you so hit the road… Addy…"

The stranger once again gripped Bobby's hand and I whimpered under the crushing pressure of strong fingers of both of their hands.

"Well I do believe that she was and that's really all that matters," Deke countered gruffly.

Bobby finally eased up on his grip so that he could turn my chin to once again force me to look up at him as tears started to well in my eyes. "What are you doing Koala Bear? Please, look at me… What is going on in that crazy head of yours Adelaide Jones?" He pleaded in a less severe, very tender loving tone.

"Add… Adelaide Jones?" Deke questioned as his eyes turned a gruesome shade of blood shot red and then he inadvertently bore his set of vampire teeth. "You!" He hissed accusatorily before disappearing from our view in the blink of an eye.

Bobby was left standing at my side, completely stunned in silence, so I grabbed his hand roughly and threw it to his side.

"I'm guessing that I'm here for the same reason that you are, but looks like I found him first," I explained with an angry sneer. "And now thanks to you IT has my scent again and I have no fucking clue where its hideout is… AND I only have a few hours to make sure that it's dead before Dean and Toby get home to find me gone."

I whipped out my money clip from its hiding place in my halter top (my anger at the current situation negated any embarrassment that I would normally have felt by doing such a thing in front of Bobby). After I threw a few bills down, making sure that my bill was covered at least two times over, I snatched up my jacket and start to make my way for the door. When I noticed that Bobby wasn't following me, I whipped around then crossly snapped, "Well are you going to help or are you just going to stand there and gawk at nothing?"

He shook his head in an effort to clear his thoughts then replied, "I'm helping Koala Bear, I'm helping. So what do we know?" He asked as he pulled my jacket up over my shoulders to cover my nearly naked back as we exited the bar.

"First we know that I need to get back into my room to change into something that is much more 'hunt' appropriate. After that we can look over my research to look for a pattern," I explained at the door of my car as I haphazardly tossed my jacket onto the passenger's seat.

As I started to dump my weight behind the steering wheel and close my door, Bobby gripped the frame of the door tightly to cease my motion.

"Addy… I'm sorry… I'm so so sorry that I doubted you… But Koala Bear it just looked…"

"It's fine Bobby… just not now okay? We're wasting time on the touchy feely crap… later, alright?" I replied a little too harshly.

"Sure… sure, sorry. But… umm… are you okay to drive there Koala Bear?" He questioned while not being able to or not caring to hide his tender concern.

"YES!" I retorted with a growl as I slammed the door and slipped the car into reverse.

Shit… no you're not Addy; I scolded myself before I reached the driveway to my motel. Somehow I miraculously made it into a parking spot in front of my room completely unscathed and I watched as Bobby's 1971 Chevelle pull up beside me.

At the nose of my beloved GTO, I took charge once again and instructed him saying, "While I change, you look over the map that I have on the spare bed. There HAS to be a pattern, maybe you'll catch something I missed," I commented over my shoulder as I unlocked the door.

I stepped into the room, tossed the key on the nearby table then stumbled somewhat towards the bed that was the farthest from the bathroom to find my duffle bag.

"Okay, sure Addy… where's the…" Bobby started to reply as he closed the motel room door, but he was silenced by a thump on the back of the head by a figure that had kept themself hidden behind the door.

"What was that Bobby?" I questioned as I turned with a change of clothes gripped tightly to my chest.

After I turned the full 180 degrees I saw that Deke was actually placing the now unconscious hunter down gently onto the dingy floor before turning his attention to me with an animalistic passion clouding the expression on his face. I dropped my clothes and tried to reach into my boot for a syringe that contained Dead Man's Blood, but the alcohol slowed my motion enough that the vampire was able to get the upper hand and he pinned me to the bed.

As he trapped my legs under the weight of his knees and my hands over my head, Deke lowered his face to my hairline by my left ear and took a long deep breath.

"Mmm Adelaide Jones… I've been wanting to find you for a very long time now," he commented into my ear.

"Well I've been around so I guess you're dumber than you look," I replied through clenched teeth as I struggled to get out of his hold.

"Ha ha ha… Jax always said that you had a smart mouth," he stated as he shifted his weight to suit his own unknown purposes but inadvertently gave me the leverage that I desperately needed to help me get free.

While he distracted himself with the scent of my hair, I was able to bend my knees slowly until the balls of my feet were on his chest. He was still absolutely enamored with the scent of whatever shampoo I had bought on sale at the local drugstore, so I pushed his chest back will all of my might. He landed hard on the ground and I scrambled to get my boots off to find one of the coveted syringes. Before I could do so, Deke had recovered and lunged at me. He threw me back onto the bed with so much force that he ripped the tie open behind my neck and the halter top fell off my chest to expose my torso and breasts in all of their glory.

Unfortunately for me, the more I struggled, the more my skirt rod up and my shirt fell to my waist which offered the vampire a view that caused him to lick his lips eagerly.

"Hmm… what's this little Adelaide?" He questioned as he held my hands above my head in one of his and stroked Rene`s handiwork with the fingertips of the other. "Now that's not fair… you let someone taste you and you weren't going to let me have any at all."

"Fuck you Deke! I didn't LET anyone do anything! Now get the fuck off me!" I seethed.

"Not just yet Beautiful, not yet," he replied in a soothing light-hearted tone before he swiftly leaned down and sunk his teeth into the scar on my collarbone.

"Ah… Gawd…" I sighed while still trying to not sound too aroused as he bit into the spot that Dean had been using to peak my passion for months now.

He kept the teeth of his upper jaw securely fastened to my body as he used his tongue to slowly lap up the blood that poured from the new wound that he created. His hot, wet tongue touched my skin softly and then was gone, there, gone, there, gone… while he worked at consuming as much blood as possible, I relaxed under his grip and then I unconsciously whimpered at the lack of contact between his warm, moist mouth and my collarbone so that he could lean back and admire his handiwork.

"Mmm… Dirty girl… you actually like that, don't you?" He observed as he licked the remnants of my blood off of his lips and hooked his thumbs under the waistband of my panties to pull them off.

"NO!" I grunted as my knee connected squarely into his groin.

He wavered momentarily, but before I had a chance to fully recover he landed a hard elbow jab into the left side of my rib cage and we both heard a very loud CRACK!

"FUUUCK!" I cursed loudly just as he started to use the left side of my ribcage as his own personal punching bag.

I managed to maneuver my right hand under my pillow as the vampire occupied himself with pummeling my left side. As discretely as possible, I gripped my hand around the wooden handle of the pistol that I had hidden under my pillow as a precautionary measure when I first settled into the room so that I could whip it out as fast as I could.

"Ha ha ha… oh Adelaide," he snorted condescendingly. "You're bullets can't hurt me you silly girl."

"Not… mine…" I gasped. "Colt's." I finished as I squeezed the trigger firmly. His body emitted the same familiar glow that Rene and Pacer's bodies had and I exhaled the breath that I had been holding in anticipation of this ending.

The dead weight of Deke's lifeless body fell on top of min and I was so relieved that he was dead that I allowed it to crush me. Inevitability hit quickly and it soon became difficult and very uncomfortable to breathe so I started to struggle, to no avail, with all my remaining strength to move his muscular frame off my torso.

"Add… Addy?" Bobby's groggy voice called out from the floor between the two beds.

"Here… Bobby… Help… Can't… Breathe…" I struggled to call out as loudly as my strained lungs would allow.

"Koala Bear!" The hunter exclaimed once he saw the vampire's corpses draped across my body. "Are you okay?" He instinctively asked as he moved the body off of my own and I heard a loud THUD when it hit the floor.

"Better… now…" I answered as I took in a few deep breaths while once again forgetting (or ignoring) my nakedness.

For a brief moment I continued to take in a few deep unobstructed breaths until I felt the cold night air hit my bare skin and nipples. As soon as they twitched at the sensation, my eyes shot open and I crudely pulled my halter top up over my torso so that I could refasten it behind my neck.

"Shit! Sorry Bobby," I apologized as I sat up on the bed and threw my legs over the side to get off of it "Okay, I think we really need to get out of here," I finished while shoving the Colt into my duffle bag and fastened the zipper closed in one swift movement of my right hand.

"But Addy," Bobby started in protest.

"Bobby! Gunshot… Body… We HAVE to get out of here before the cops get here," I explained in a surprising moment of clarity while I allowed the adrenaline to follow so that I could continue my movements without succumbing to the pain that was starting to radiate from my left side.

"You're right," Bobby started to concede as he followed me out of the room. "But… Koala Bear… are you okay to drive home?"

I nodded as I slammed the trunk of my beauty closed. "I'm really just trying not to focus on the pain right now… plus home really isn't that far away, so I should be good. You're more than welcome to spend the night at our place if you want," I offered as I slowly make my way over to him.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think that I'll just hang back here and make sure that everything is taken care of here for you," he answered softly. I could tell that he wanted to wrap me in a warm, relieved hug, but instead he opted for a kiss on the cheek in order to avoid causing me any further pain.

I had enough hormones coursing through my veins that I still wasn't fully conscious of the pain that my body was screaming for me to recognize, so I remained immune to it for now. I then threw my arms around Bobby and said into his chest, "Thanks Bobby! I'm sorry I was such a jerk at the beginning of this." After I pushed myself back to look into his face again I continued, "Please come and visit us all soon. We miss you so much. Plus… if you don't then one of us might just have to go and get ourselves kidnapped to force you to drop by."

He chuckled softly and squeezed my hands that he was now holding at in front of me just below my waist and replied, "You promise that you won't do that then you've got yourself a deal."

We both heard approaching sirens of police cruisers so Bobby gently lead me to the driver's side of my car, opened the door and nudged me into the seat. Before he closed the door he lovingly stated, "You go ahead and get home. I have this all covered, don't you worry about a thing."

I smiled as strongly as I could and replied, "Thanks Bobby. We'll see you soon, alright?"

He nodded then closed my door and took a step back waving to me to encourage me to continue home. Once I was a good distance away, I allowed myself to check the reflection in the rearview mirror and saw Bobby emerging from the room next door to the one I had pre-paid for. He seemed to be speaking to police officers that had knocked at the door. I smiled at my reflection knowing full well that Bobby was more than capable to lead the authorities astray to cover our tracks. I exhaled a relieved sigh and the acute pain of my broken rib short through my chest and abdomen angrily.

"Shit! Okay… shallow breaths Addy, shallow breaths," I coached myself quietly as I continued on my route home.

"Yes!" I inadvertently shouted out loud through the windshield when I saw that the backyard was empty which meant that I still had some time before Dean returned home from his trip with Toby.

After I was parked I silently thanked God that I had some time to get cleaned up before his return. I carefully made my way up to our room, unpacked my clothes and tossed them into the hamper. I never had a need for the outfit I was currently wearing except for rare occasions during a hunt, so I striped it off along with the boots, tossed them into my duffle bag and placed it in its hiding place under our bed.

While I was still dressed only in my underwear, I surveyed the damage that the vampire had executed on my body in the mirror above the sink in our ensuite. The worst of the bleeding had subsided so I refocused my attention on the tenderness of my left side. I applied a small amount of pressure on the bottom rib and instead of it firmly keeping my fingers in place; I felt them dip inward along with the broken rib.

"Fuuuuck! Okay… okay tough girl, it's fucking broken, don't be stupid and make it worse."

I braced myself on the edge of the sink until the pain receded enough that I could once again think somewhat clearly. I let my left arm hang limply while I worked at cleaning and dressing the new bite mark over the old wound and then found a bottle of pain killers in the medicine cabinet. I tapped out six or eight small brown tablets and swallowed them without the aid of water before I even thought of preparing for bed.

After I dressed in a button up men's night shirt, I double checked my reflection in the mirror and let out a soft, somewhat happy sigh when I noted that the damage was completely concealed. I then crawled into bed and laid on my right side so that I could curl into the fetal position in order to fall asleep. Although it was a fairly comfortable position, my left elbow was now resting very unpleasantly on my broken rib, so I grabbed Dean's pillow to cushion the space between my elbow and ribs. Another advantage to cuddling Dean's pillow was that I could nuzzle my face into it and fell asleep while inhaling Dean's scent.

I felt lips touching my forehead softly and then a hand snaked its way onto my hip. The lips moved leisurely to my cheek and then to my lips as the hand worked at freeing Dean's pillow from my tight embrace. I could feel the opposite side of the bed dip even further under Dean's weight as he made himself comfortable by cuddling in closer to me. When his hand hit my ribs so that he could pull himself closer to me, I woke up completely and just barely managed to stifle a scream. However, my eyes shot open in surprise, but Dean didn't notice the look in my eyes because of the dim light as he leaned in to kiss my lips again.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," he apologized softly into my ear.

Without moving my left arm, I lightly brushed my nose against his and kissed his lips then replied, "Well maybe you should make it up to me somehow."

He placed his hand on the back of my head to deepen the kiss and rolled me gently onto my back. He once again moved his lips to my ear, not missing an inch of flesh with soft kisses along the way.

"I'd be happy to do that, but I fell that I should warn you… We got home so late that I brought Toby here, so he's asleep in his room right now."

I giggled quietly and stroked his cheek with my right hand. "Okay, I get it. So we have to keep the volume down to a minimum… I think I can handle that, how about you?"

Dean answered my question by engulfing my mouth with his own. I think he had premeditated this course of action because instead of being dressed in his usual nightwear, he was dressed only in a pair of cotton boxer shorts. I traced his naked chest with my index finger while he deftly worked at undoing the buttons on my shirt as I coyly commented, "Why Mr. Winchester, if I didn't know any better I would think that you thought that this was a sure thing."

He had the majority of the buttons undone so that he could easily slip his hand under the fabric to gently grab my left breast in his hand so that he could roll my left nipple between his fingers while he kissed and nibbled the right side of my neck.

"Was I wrong Miss Jones?"

With my right arm I pushed myself up and kissed his chest until my lips found his right nipple so I could suckle it slowly. I could hear him moan as I ran my tongue over it and bit down lightly.

Once I rested back on my pillow he commented, "I'll take that as a no." Then he continued his previous task of disrobing me.

After the shirt was discarded beside the bed, his hands travelled down my sides to work at removing my last article of clothing. When his hand touched my broken rib, I let out a strained groan but attempted to make it sound like it had a hint of arousal in order to cover up the agony that his fingers actually elicited. I held my breath momentarily because I thought that I had blown my cover, but Dean's lips continued to caress my flesh and his hands completed their task so I slowly let my breath out.

He shifted the position of my hips under him then moved his mouth to reclaim his 'spot' before he would fuse his body with mine. I had forgotten about the gauze barrier that now impeded his access to my collarbone so when Dean stopped all of his movement abruptly, I bucked my hips and breathlessly asked, "What? What's wrong Dean? Please… PLEASE don't stop!"

He didn't say anything as a response before he flipped on one of the lights on a nightstand. We were both were temporarily blinded by the white light, but it was Dean that was able to recover first. He was still straddling my body as he glared at my neck and violently ripped the bandage off of my skin.

With the new illumination of the bedside lamp I could see his eyes grow wide at the sight of the fresh scab and emerging blood that formed after the bandage was harshly removed.

"WHAT…" he started loudly but stopped to correct himself so that he could continue in a much more hushed tone, "What… the fuck… is… that?"

"Dean… please…" I attempted to defend myself with a tone of quiet desperation as I threw my hand up over my wound.

His eyes travelled down my body and landed on my ribs where my damaged side was starting to shift from a bright reddish pink to blue purple. Dean no longer seemed to be in control of his actions as his fingers travelled up to the damage with a child-like curiosity. His brows furrowed at the feel of the reaction of my rib when he pressed down firmly.

"OW! STOP!" I shrieked as loud as I could, forgetting that I had promised to keep my voice down for Toby's benefit. "IT'S…" Dean hand clamping over my mouth ceased any further speech in order to keep me from continuing and waking Toby.

"Broken," he finished quietly with a sneer.

Tears were streaming out of my eyes as I nodded to confirm what we both already knew to be true. He rolled off the bed, pulled on his boxers and t-shirt and then paced at the end of the bed.

I stayed on my back trying to calm my breathing through my sobs enough that I would be able to once again ignore the pain that emitted through my body. My right hand slipped slightly as blood oozed out the new bite mark. I sobbed quietly as I got up off the bed and ran into the bathroom to tend to cover the wound once again.

Dean appeared in the doorway and he held his weight up on the doorframe in either hand. "I asked you a question! What the fuck is that?" He seethed through clenched teeth.

I wanted to turn around and snap at him with an irritated retort to match his anger and say, "What the fuck does it look like to you?It's a fucking broken rib and a bite from a vampire Einstein!" But when I looked up into the mirror to look at him, I saw tears silently falling down his cheeks. He had his chin tilted towards his chest and he appeared to be avoiding making eye contact with me in the mirror.

I took in a breath to calm myself and explained as I awkwardly taped the gauze with my one good hand.

"Toby found the trail of the last remaining member of Jax's coven… I had to make sure it didn't hurt anyone else," I explained in a calm tone just over the volume of a whisper, so I wasn't sure that Dean would even hear me.

Dean slumped slightly and his grip on the doorframe tightened to keep himself in a somewhat upright standing position. I finished dressing my bite and then became hyper-aware of my nakedness, so I searched for something to cover myself with, but I didn't move a muscle to retrieve one for fear of disturbing Dean and experiencing anymore of his wrath.

I jumped slightly when he finally pushed himself off of the doorframe and punched the bathroom door as a show of his utter frustration. He then turned away from the room without saying another word to me. I had caught a glimpse of my plush blue robe, so I turned around, pulled it around my body (I kept my left arm pinned to my naked chest because the pain now radiating from it negated my ability to move it to get it into the sleeve) and chased after Dean.

Thankfully I didn't have to go far because I quickly found him sitting on out bed with his head held somewhat securely in his hands. I fell to my knees in from of him, but kept from touching him because I couldn't risk (emotionally or physically) him slapping my hand away.

Just as I was about to say his name to get his attention turned in my direction, Dean's head shot up to reveal his tear streaked face.

"You've been hunting... And you've had Toby helping you to find things to hunt," he said as more of a statement and not as a question in a confused and hurt tone.

I nodded but remained silent as he cupped my face with his right hand and ran his thumb over my lips softly.

"Even though we both promised Sam that we wouldn't after he was gone? Even though we both promised him that we would take care of each other and be a family with our children?" He questioned quietly with a hitch in his voice as his feelings of betrayal dripped off every single word that he spoke.

I nodded again as my face was still being held in his hand and quietly choked out, "I'm so sorry, but I just… I had to…"

He shook his head and dropped his head and hand from my cheek simultaneously which caused me to become silent during my apology momentarily.

"Dean… I'm sorry but when I saw that I had missed one and saw what it was doing to families all around here… I just couldn't live with myself knowing that it would be out there still hurting people. I had to take care of it, I just HAD to. Plus… it had my scent from a fight I had with Jax years ago and I couldn't take the chance that it would come after us or Toby. I'm sorry, I really am… but this is who I am and I don't know how to be anyone else," I apologized though grief-stricken tears as I placed a tentative hand on his thigh so that I wouldn't fall over while kneeled in front of him.

He nodded softly then gently helped me to his feet. He then guided me tenderly to the edge of the bed, pulled back the cover and placed me on the mattress to help me go back to bed.

"You should rest so that you can heal," he instructed in a foreign neutral tone as he pulled the comforter up over my shoulder and gently tucked the covers into my back.

I allowed myself to slump into my pillow and start to force myself to relax until I hear the hinges of our bedroom door start to squeak open.

I pushed myself off of the mattress with my right arm and called out, "Dean… aren't you coming to bed?"

In the light that was coming from the hallway, I could see him shake his head as he stammered, "I… I… I can't… not after you… betrayed us."

He finally left and gently closed the door. I sobbed uncontrollably, forgetting any pain that my jagged breathing or crying might cause, and threw myself onto the mattress and eventually fell asleep while clinging to Dean's pillow for some measure of comfort.