As Dean settled on the couch in her living room, Tyler tried to get her bearings. I still can't believe Benny did this and didn't even have the balls to stick around for the damn aftermath! She asked Dean if he wanted some tea, then walked into the kitchen to make a pot without actually having heard what his answer was. She needed space. Space to think. But her brain was still in shock from his sudden and unexpected appearance on her doorstep. Tyler waited for the water to boil, then rummaged perfunctorily through her cupboards to find tea cups. In the end she settled for two mugs instead, and then slowly made her way back to the living room.

Dean hadn't made a single peep while she'd been in the kitchen, and only opened his mouth to thank her when she put down the mug in front of him. They drank their tea in silence, Tyler fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. She realised that Dean was trying very hard not to meet her eyes, and sighed inwardly. Couple of little kids, that's what we are. Well….at least Sam isn't here. She'd have punched him in his smug face the moment she laid eyes on him.

"So…." She said to break the silence and cut the tension. It didn't really work. Dean looked at her from the edge of his cup, but said nothing. She tried again.

"So…you thought I had contacted you?" she asked. "And dropped everything just to come and see me?"

"I-" Dean collected his thoughts for a moment. "I've been meaning to contact you for a while now…"

"Why didn't you?" Tyler asked, even though she knew the answer.

"Things didn't end well between us," Dean said. "You know that. I didn't know how to talk to you."

"Like you would to a normal human being," Tyler said, deadpan. Dean's shoulders stiffened. "That's not what I meant."

"Why are you here, Dean? Why are we having this conversation right now?" Why make this any more uncomfortable?

Dean looked at Tyler for a long time as he tried to make sense of what he wanted to tell her. Truth is, he didn't know why he'd come here. This was hardly going to go well. He should've known that from the damn start. But to do nothing was worse. How could he explain to her that he wanted her in his life?

That he'd come to rely on her wits and wittiness to lift him up whenever he found himself in a funk? That her smile could light up the entire room and make him forget just how sucky the life of a hunter truly is? That even though she might be the granddaughter of Death himself, that was never going to scare him away? His best friend was an angel, why would a half-reaper be any different? But Sam had messed that up for him. For them. His gut reaction had been one of disgust, and Tyler had responded with disgust of her own. You don't get to keep many friends in this life, he reflected, but that's usually because they die.

"I came here because I still consider you my friend," he said lamely.

"Is that right?" Tyler retorted, her green eyes narrowed. She shifted on the couch.

"Yes. I know that what happened between you and Sam was wrong. You both took it too far. But that doesn't mean I don't consider you to be my friend anymore."

"Wrong doesn't even begin to describe it," Tyler said.

"True," he said. "But that's between the two of you. That's a gap that you guys have to mend, if you want to. But I'm just here to tell you I don't look at you any differently now that I know."

Tyler's face softened somewhat. She put down her cup, then laid her hands into her lap, searching for words.

"I don't know if it can ever go back to the way it was," she admitted. "Not between me and Sam anyways. That ship has long sailed."

"So be it," Dean said. "But that doesn't mean the two of us can't be friends."

"I don't know if that is what it means," Tyler said. "You-" Dean didn't let her finish. Her friendship was important to him, and he wanted to salvage it at all cost.

"Look," he said, "let's just…let's start over."

"How?"

"We can go hunting," he said as he shrugged. She raised an eyebrow. "Get to know each other again, while helping other people."

"And that will fix our relationship?" Tyler sounded sceptical.

"Maybe. Or maybe forge another. We'll only know after we've tried, right?"

Tyler sighed, but she couldn't completely hide the corners of her mouth turning upwards slightly.

"Alright. Fine. We'll see how this goes, I guess…you got anything particular in mind?"

Dean smiled. "It so happens that I do."