Hermione laid down in the enlarged bed they had made the night before, holding her children close to her body. They had managed to get them back to their room to go to bed after having a pizza party in the safe room while Cas, Jack, and a few of the remaining hunters took care of the bodies in the atrium. Hermione ached all over and wished she had brought more of her potions stores with her when they had traveled from Boston. Instead she was going to need to figure out how to hook the boys' floo up to the floo network so she could get home and get some of the things she needed.

She felt like she had been hit by a bludger. She was pretty certain she didn't have any broken bones, but she couldn't be completely certain. She had been thrown across the room quite a few times today. And then almost choked to death.

As she had been held a loft by Michael as he squeezed the life out of her, all she could think about was how stupid she was to get herself into this situation again. She thought she had put life threatening situations behind her in her youth. She was a mother now for Merlin's sake. She couldn't afford to do these things. To put her life in danger trying to save people.

What had she been thinking trying to go into Mary's head as Michael was in control to try and expel him? The answer was she wasn't. She was acting on pure adrenaline and instinct when she had teamed up with Cas to make that final push. And while in hindsight it was probably the stupidest thing she could have possibly done, she had loved it in the moment. The team work. The thrill.

She was fucked up. That's what fighting in a war from the age of eleven did to her. Messed her up for life.

She owed Jack her life. He had come in and she didn't even know he could do the things he did, but he managed to take down Michael and become a bad ass angel in end. She would have to thank him. Tell him she owed him a life debt. He was a nice kid. But what really was concerning her was why Dean and Cas looked less happy that Jack did what he did and more sick to their stomachs.

She hadn't had a chance to regroup with the adults over what had happened. She had pretty much rushed to the safe room to reassure herself that the kids were okay, and that she was really alive, and then everyone focused on getting the kids out of the safe room back to their bedroom without noticing the carnage that Michael caused. And she was surprise at how successful they were.

The kids had absolutely no idea anything was wrong. Sam had done an amazing job keeping them occupied while they dealt with the Michael problem. And they had what they declared the best day of their lives, which caused Sam to puff out his chest a little, his pride swelling a bit.

Hermione closed her eyes and held her kids tight as they breathed heavily in their sleep next to her. She was thankful that while she had taken many risks today none were fatal, and she resolved that this would be the last time she would take these risks. While she would never keep Dean from his job, she wouldn't be joining him on any more adventures. She just couldn't risk leaving her kids alone in the world. Because while Dean and Sam would be more than qualified to take care of her kids if the worst were to happen, legally they would be sent back to Ron. And that was a scenario she just couldn't allow to happen.

The door to the room opened quietly and she saw Dean peek his head in the room. She smiled at him, which he easily returned before gesturing with his head into the hall. She nodded before carefully extricating herself from her kids' grips. She carefully climbed over Hugo before tip toeing out of the room, closing the door so that it was open a crack before following Dean into his room.

As soon as she made it into the room and had the door shut behind her, Dean pulled her into his arms, pulling her tight against his body. She immediately wrapped her arms around him holding him just as tight. He buried his face in her hair, and took a deep breath in. Hermione struggled to keep herself together. She didn't want to fall apart, not now. Not after everything they had been through today.

Dean pulled back just enough to come back in and capture her lips. Hermione kissed him back. As their lips met in a fit of fiery passion. It was if they had a near death experience today or something. She felt Dean's tongue against her lips and she easily let him in. As their tongues moved together, she moved her arms from around her neck and ran her hands down Dean's back, feeling his hard muscles. Likewise, Dean moved until his hands were cupping her arse and he lifted her up, moving them until she was pressed against the wall of his room. She moaned as she felt his hard body press against hers. She moved her hips, causing him to groan in return. Quickly, he pulled her away from the wall, and moved her toward his bed. He wasn't wasting any time.

Once she was on the bed, he paused and began removing his clothing. She followed suit. As soon as he was divested of every stitch of clothing, he crawled up on the bed and moved his body over hers, bringing their mouths together again. She smiled as he moved his mouth down her neck and his hand up to roll one of her nipples between his fingers. She loved this man, and they were both alive. They both had survived today.

She brought her hand up to Dean's head and moved it so that she could look at him. She made sure their eyes were locked as she moved their bodies until they were aligned. She smiled at him and gave him a little nod. Slowly she felt him enter her, so she knew he had received her signal. As soon as he was fully seated inside of her, he paused and looked down at her. He didn't need any words in order to convey how strong his feeling were for her. How thankful he was that she had survived. That she had removed the blight from his brain. She tried to convey how deep her own feelings for him were. That she loved him and that she was thankful he had come into her life and that he loved her children as if they were his own, even though they had only known each other for such a short time.

Slowly Dean began to move, and through their actions they celebrated life and how wonderful it was that they were going to be able to continue living it. Together. ]

When they were finished, they lay there together in each other's arms, Hermione nuzzled against Dean.

"I don't know how to thank you for today," Dean said, breaking the silence.

"You don't need to thank me."

"Yes, I do," he said. "You didn't have to help, and you did. We just showed up on your porch, and you let us in your house. You traveled all the way across the country and you went into my brain and kicked out an archangel. All for someone you met about a month ago."

"You still don't need to thank me. I let you in because you inexplicably knew who I was. I agreed to help you because your story intrigued me. And I traveled across the country with you because I have fallen in love with you."

Dean ran a hand down her arm and pulled her closer. "I've fallen in love with you, too. And if I hadn't already been in love with you, tonight would have sealed the deal. Watching you and Cas team up and take down Michael like that? That was fucking hot. You're a bad ass."

Hermione laughed. "I wouldn't say I was a bad ass. Incredibly stupid. Reckless. Those are more like what I would describe myself."

"Well, I think you're a bad ass and it was incredibly hot, and I think I have fantasy material for whenever we're apart."

Hermione sobered up. "When we're apart?"

"Well, I don't want to assume anything, but I didn't know if you were going to move here full time, or if I was going to move to Boston, or we were going to split time. We've never really talked about it, or come to a consensus. So to try and keep myself from getting my hopes up, I just assume we'll be spending time apart."

"Yeah, I don't really have an answer for that. It's just that this is so new—"

"Don't," Dean said. "You don't have to justify anything. You're right. This is all new. And I know that we have a lot of strong feelings, and we're in love, but that doesn't mean we need to press fast forward on our lives. Michael is gone. There is nothing super pressing threatening to end the world or our lives. We can slow down. Start progressing like a normal relationship. The distance is going to suck—"

"No it won't," Hermione cut him off.

"What?" Dean asked. "You won't think being separated by half a country is going to suck ass?"

"Well, it will suck being separated, however, it's not going to be as bad as you think. I'm going to have your floo hooked up to the network. It'll only be able to travel to my house and back. This way we will only be an instant away from each other rather than days or hours."

Dean rolled so that he was facing her. He gave her an award winning smile. "Glinda, you're fucking amazing. You've really thought about this."

Hermione shrugged. "Of course I have. I knew I wasn't ready to uproot the children and move them from their home, and I wasn't sure I was ready to have you move in either. The floo just seemed like the logical solution. You don't necessarily need to be magical to use it. And the kids can use it to talk to you if you're home."

Dean's smile just grew brighter and bigger with each word. "I love you."

Hermione returned his smile. "I love you, too."

"This way I'll be able to see you and the kids as much as I want, and we can spend some more time talking about where we'll eventually live. Make some lists or something to argue about whose house is best."

Hermione laughed. "Yes," she agreed. "I like the idea of turning this into less of a whirlwind relationship. Slowing down a bit."

They were quiet, enjoying their time in each other's arms.

"Hermione?" Dean said quietly.

"Hmm?" Hermione said, her eyes drooping as she began to relax into sleep.

"He called me Dad this morning."

"I know," Hermione replied almost at a whisper.

"I never thought I would be called that, ever."

"And how do you feel about it?"

"Like my life is complete."