Author's Note: So, I'm several chapters ahead, and I'm really stuck as to whether I want Ember to end up with Dean or Cass. Granted, Supernatural is on-going, so maybe I don't have to make that decision yet. As I rewatch Seasons 9 - 12, maybe I'll be inspired one way or another. Let me know in reviews. They give me life! I don't own Supernatural.

***Ember POV***

Winter

Over the following three months, Ember's relationship with Dean was much more stable. He was more likely to call or text her at least once daily (sometimes even multiple times), and more likely to visit every couple of weeks. He, Sam, and Ember even stayed at Bobby's for a week between Christmas and New Years', and had a beautiful time ringing in the new year.

Having Sam back was a wonderful refresher on a relationship that might otherwise have gone sour. Ember had her best friend back for the first time in a year and a half. Ember told Sam everything that had happened in the year he had been gone (or, at least, everything that didn't include him). When Dean called or texted her, Sam would often want to speak with her as well. Ember and Dean would sext, send nude pictures, and discuss when one of them could visit next, while Ember and Sam would swap stories, reference inside jokes, and make fun of Dean.

Sam knew, of course, that Ember and Dean were keeping a secret from him. He would ask Ember, occasionally, but Ember would remind him how long she kept the fact that he had been drinking demon blood a secret from Dean.

"That's not fair!" Sam exclaimed. "You always said it was horrible of me to keep that secret, and harmful to the relationship between Dean and I!"

"It was," said Ember. "And this is too, but it's much less so. He didn't do anything dangerous. I'm sorry, Sam, I told you the whole demon blood thing was gonna bite you in the ass."

Sam would grumble, but he respected her wishes, and he knew he'd earned her silence.

Finally, after a case involving dragons and virgins in February, Sam figured out everything. Dean, Sam, and Ember had met up at Bobby's for Valentine's Day weekend when Sam approached Ember to discuss the matter. He sat down at the other end of one of Bobby's tiny sofas, and Ember knew this meant he wanted to talk.

"You actually let him get by with giving you that, then?" Sam asked, gesturing to the gold bracelet around Ember's arm.

"Yeah," Ember said. "Normally I won't let him get me expensive things unless he earns the money on the level," said Ember, "but I suppose I can't fault him for keeping a dragon's plunder." She smiled. "And normally I don't wear gold jewelry, only silver, but…" she smiled. "It is real gold, after all."

Sam nodded, smiling, and Ember looked up at him curiously.

"Ember… Castiel told me everything," he said softly.

She looked at him in surprise, then rolled her eyes. "Finally," she said.

"You could have just told me," he pointed out.

"I don't get in between the Winchester brothers when one of them is being an idiot," she pointed out. "That's my rule."

"It's a stupid rule. You should always get in between us when one of us is being an idiot," he said.

She smiled. "Well, maybe I'll have to make a new rule, then."

Sam leaned over onto his arms. "Ember, I am so, so sorry-…"

"Sam, it's not necessary," said Ember. "I'm just glad you're back."

***Ember POV***

April 29, Night

Ember had thought, for a few wild, hopeful seconds, that maybe when Sam got his soul back, Dean would stop hunting. She never would've admitted to Dean that she had hoped for this, because the more time went on, the more ashamed she was to have even hoped for it.

It had been more than six months now since a soulless Sam had recruited Dean to hunt again. Back in February, the case with the dragons and the virgins had revealed that the "Mother of All", Eve, had been released from Purgatory and was making more monsters. Sam and Dean had been working non-stop since then, and rarely stopped to see Ember for more than a few hours on their way through town. The few times that Ember had been able to spend an entire night with Dean had been at Bobby's, where she had taken a plane to meet the brothers while they pored over lore or discussed a case.

Ember had long ago stopped calling the home she had made with Dean "their home" and at some point reverted to "my home". Dean, similarly, had stopped calling it "home" and started calling it "Ember's place." And, though he cut down on his drinking while he was around Ember, she wasn't stupid – she knew he was drinking even more now than he had been during the apocalypse.

Ember knew better, by now, than to hope that Dean would ever slow down. She knew he was a hunter, and would always be a hunter. She often wondered if she could do better, but it also occurred to her that she was half-demon, and so perhaps having a hunter as a boyfriend was the gold standard. Still, she felt he could take a break for more than just "let's do lunch on my way to Ohio" or "if you want to meet up at Bobby's, we've got some down time to look through the lore." As a result, they were arguing a lot more, and Dean was calling even less frequently.

In the midst of all this, however, Ember reminded Dean that she still did like to hunt, and, frankly, was due for a vacation from work. (Though hunting was a livelihood for Dean, it was more of a vacation for her.) Because of this, Ember asked Dean and Sam (and prayed to Castiel, just to be sure) to call her when they finally located, and were prepared for a showdown with, Eve, the "Mother of All."

It took awhile to actually locate Eve, but the five of them (Dean, Sam, Ember, Bobby, and Castiel) found her trail easy enough to follow once they had traced her to Grants Pass, Oregon. She seemed to be on the path to creating some sort of hybrid monster, made of a combination of werewolves, vampires, and wraiths. (Dean called them "Jefferson Starships".) The new hybrid didn't seem to be a finished product yet, however, and everywhere Eve went she seemed to leave behind a gooey, dead mess of Jefferson Starships.

Dean and Ember did find two children, however, that had been orphaned during the chaos. It was definitely the highlight of the trip for Ember. Little Ryan didn't speak, but his older brother, Joe, was smart, intelligent, and protective. Ember and Dean dropped the two boys off with their uncle on the outside of town. Dean caught Ember's faraway look on the way out of the uncles' home. "Someday it'll happen to us," he said, pulling her close in the front seat of the Impala. "This job leaves behind plenty of orphans. Someday we'll take some for ourselves." And Ember felt better than she had in months.

It wasn't destined to last, however. As it turned out, Ryan had been a Jefferson Starship after all. By the time Ember and Dean figured it out, both Ryan and Joe had been shot by demons. Ember had been lucky, she reflected now, in not having to kill any children in her previous adventures with the boys. There had been a few dead children along the way, but none that she or Dean had killed, and none that she had ever seen alive. She knew she would never forget little Ryan's face, his cold eyes and bloody mouth staring up at her.

It should have been a happy night. Ember and Dean were in the same bed for the first time in what must've been weeks, and Dean had even managed to narrowly kill Eve. (He had tricked her into biting him, not knowing that he had swallowed phoenix ash, which was lethal to her.) Ember should have been celebrating with Dean, but instead she just felt hollow.

***Dean POV***

May 18, Afternoon

If Dean was honest with himself (which, again, he normally wasn't) he had known for some time that it was over between him and Ember. Maybe he had known it all the way back since he had gone hunting again with Sam. Perhaps he had known it since the vampire issue. For sure he had known it since the end of their most recent case; the sight of her face as she looked at little Ryan, dead and bloodied on the floor, would stay with him forever.

He remembered telling Ember once that the three of them (him, Sam, and Ember) kept each other human, but he was starting to wonder if perhaps she kept him human. He wasn't sure entirely what he did for her, other than consistently disappoint her and put her life in danger. He wasn't stupid = he knew she wanted a family, and he very much doubted that he would ever be able to give her that. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to.

It was selfish, therefore, to stay in a relationship that was doomed, and one that made them both miserable. It was selfish, but truthfully it was more than he could bear to make the final move toward a break-up. Castiel had already betrayed him, he had learned in early May. On top of that, the thought of breaking up with Ember made him want to curl up at Bobby's and sleep for a week, and he couldn't afford to do so.

Still, Dean and Ember argued constantly. They even argued about Castiel's betrayal. "Dean, you have to look at this from his point of view," Ember said. "He began a Civil War in Heaven to fight against Raphael, because Raphael wanted to restart the apocalypse. Without him standing up for you, and Sam, and free will, we could've all been dead and gone by now!"

"I get that," Dean said irritably, "But he could've told me what was going on, instead of letting us think he had killed Crowley!"

"Dean," Ember said irritably, and he already knew what was coming. "You do crap like that all the time. Like with your time in Hell, and with the vampire issue, and with Sam not having a soul… I mean, God forbid you tell people the things they need to know."

"If you feel that way, why are we even still together?" Dean felt like asking. But he didn't; instead, he just said, "Look, I've got a long night of lore ahead of me, and I know you need to go to bed."

"Dean-…"

"I love you, okay?"

There was a pause, then, "I love you too, Dean."

When Dean hung up the phone, he realized that Bobby was giving him the stink-eye. "Something you want to talk about, son?" he said from his desk.

"Not really," said Dean.

Thankfully, Bobby shrugged and let the subject drop.

***Ember POV***

April 18, Evening

"Dad… do you think we should break up?" Ember asked over the phone.

She heard Bobby sigh on the other end of the phone, and heard him mutter something about "girl feelings." Finally, he said, "Ember, I love him like a son, I do. But you also know how I feel about you hunting, much as I don't practice what I preach."

Ember paused. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Ember, you were out, and he was out, and now he's back in! Last thing I want is you getting back in, too. 'Sides, you two are makin' each other miserable."

"So you think we should break up?"

"Why're you askin me this?" Bobby said irritably. "You're a grown woman, and he's a grown man. Both of you're gone from my house too much for me to choose sides. Known you both for years before you hooked up, and I'll know you both for years if you call it quits."

"Thanks, Dad," Ember said slowly. "That was very… diplomatic of you."

"No problem. Now don't ask me questions like that."