Two weeks after Dean and Piper had returned from their night in the hotel, they were hunting nonstop. Piper didn't say anything about Dean's need to hunt, she understood what it was like to have so much pain that you had to work constantly to keep your mind off of it.
They were sitting in a diner, examining the case Sam had found, Dean and Piper sitting across from him.
Sam turned his laptop to Dean. "Looks like a werewolf to me."
Dean's mouth was full of food, and Piper wrinkled her nose as he spoke. "Hearts missing?"
Sam nodded. "Three bodies last month, mutilated and hearts gone. Lunar cycles match."
Piper picked up her coffee and inhaled the scent with her eyes closed. "Do they think it was an animal attack?"
There was a chuckle from her left. "Don't they always?"
Piper turned and grinned, launching herself out of the booth into Garth's waiting arms. "Garth!"
He laughed. "Smalls! Weird world, huh? You guys chasing this werewolf?"
She leaned back and examined him. "You look good, Garth."
"I always look good, Smalls."
She laughed. "Yes, you do. Yeah, we're hunting the werewolf. Do you have a lead?"
"Hell, I know who it is. Was gonna gank him tonight. Care to join?"
Dean cleared his throat. "Uh, Pipes? Who the hell is this?"
She turned and slipped her arm through Garth's. "This is Garth, guys! Garth, this is Sam and Dean Winchester."
Garth's eyes widened. "Uh, Dean who went to hell Dean?"
She nodded. "Long story, but yes, this is him."
Sam smiled, but Dean was still looking at Garth through narrowed eyes. "Is this the Garth who helped you while I was… Gone?"
Garth grinned. "Well, I tagged along, anyway, Smalls doesn't really need help."
Piper grinned affectionately at Garth. She had missed him. "Come on, Fitz, you're gonna make me blush."
xxxxx
The hunt went well, almost without a hitch. Piper had invited Garth to dinner with them at their motel, which he had accepted. Dean wasn't sure how he felt about the skinny man who seemed so close to Piper. He was kind of a weirdo, and even if Piper had assured him there was nothing but friendship between them, Dean's jealousy was rearing it's rather ugly head.
Piper had gone out to pick up dinner, so the three men sat at the table in the motel room, drinking.
"So, what did Bobby have to do to convince you to help Piper?" Sam asked, taking a swig.
Garth smiled. "Well, hell, nothing. As soon as he said that Piper Finley needed help, I dropped everything."
Dean frowned. "Thought Pipes said you'd never met?"
Garth looked at them both strangely. "We hadn't. But, obviously, I knew who Smalls was."
Sam's eyebrows went up. "How?"
"Come on. You're joshing," Garth said amicably, waving a hand at them.
"What?" Dean tried to keep the anger out of his voice.
Garth made a face. "Seriously? You guys don't know that Piper is… Uh, well known?"
Sam shook his head, tensing. "No. Why is she well known?" Being famous in the hunter world wasn't always a good thing.
"Uh, okay, weird." Garth shook his head. "Piper is a good hunter, guys. A great hunter. She's always willing to lend a hand, she impersonates law enforcement, she does research. She's even put together a few hunts."
Dean shrugged. "So? We knew that."
Garth shook his head again. "Do you honestly know any hunters who would just take a call from some random woman, telling them to go on a hunt, and they would just go?"
Dean met Sam's eyes. They both shook their heads.
"Of course not! That's crazy!" Garth smiled affectionately. "But Piper is something else, man. She's smart as a whip, she knows her stuff, and she's a hell of a hunter." He leaned back in his chair. "And, of course, she's Bobby Singer's surrogate daughter, she's John Winchester's surrogate daughter, and it has gotten through the grapevine that she's dating Dean Winchester." The door opened behind them to admit Piper. "Trust me, people know who Smalls is."
"Who knows who I am?" Piper asked cheerfully, carrying a bag of Chinese food and locking the door behind her.
Dean grinned when she came over to kiss him. "You're famous, kitten."
She frowned. "What?"
Sam was digging through the food already. "Garth was filling us in on your reputation."
She whipped around to glare at Garth. "I do not have a reputation, Fitz. Stop spreading rumors."
Garth shrugged. "Come on, Smalls, you know who you are. People know who you are."
"Who knows who I am?" She moved to sit next to Dean, but he placed a hand on her hip to guide her into his lap. His need to be touching her was still overwhelming. "No one knows who I am," she continued, submitting to him. He settled her in his lap, wrapping an arm around her waist and reaching for food. The screaming in his head was going quiet as Garth retorted.
"Keep telling yourself that, Smalls."
xxxxx
Over the next two weeks, Dean kept a closer eye on Piper. He realized how often she was texting, how often she stepped outside to take a phone call. If she wasn't researching their case, she was often researching someone else's.
His woman was famous. Dean grinned, wondering if that made him a kept man.
"What are you smiling at, Winchester?" The object of his musings asked cheerfully, looking over the edge of her laptop.
He made his way over to her, moving to stand behind her chair and place a hand behind her head. "Nothing, kitten." He thought for a moment, tangling his fingers in her hair. "I just didn't realize how often you work."
She tilted her head up to look at him. "There's always work to do, Dean. And not everyone is as good as you, handsome," she said affectionately, smiling up at him.
He leaned down to nuzzle her neck, the hand in her hair tilting her head back gently. "How about a break?"
She sighed and tilted her head to the side, her breath catching as his other hand wandered to the buttons on her shirt, unbuttoning them slowly. "I don't know, you'll have to convince me…"
He slowly spun the chair she was sitting in until she was facing him. Her eyes were wide and dark, her breathing shallow. He stepped forward, his knees touching hers, relishing the soft gasp she emitted at the contact. He leaned down slowly, trapping her between his arms as he placed his hands on the arms of the chair she was sitting in. "Is that so?"
She nodded mutely.
He moved quickly, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. "Dean! Dammit, Dean!" she squealed, laughing when he slapped her ass.
"Hush, kitten. Break time."
xxxxx
She wasn't going to sugarcoat it. Piper was freaking exhausted.
She was laying with her head in Dean's lap in the front seat of Baby, her feet dangling out the window. Sam was in the backseat sleeping. Dean was looking for a new case. Piper was still keeping her mouth shut, but she was getting worried. She wasn't sure when the last time Dean had slept was, but she had gone to bed and woken up by herself the last few nights.
Sam woke with a start, sitting up and blinking at Dean. "What are you doing?"
The older hunter didn't stop. "What's it look like I'm doing?"
"Like you're looking for a job."
Dean snapped his fingers. "Yahtzee."
Sam rolled his eyes. "We just finished a job like two hours ago."
Dean shrugged. "Adrenaline's still pumping, I guess. So, what do you think... Cedar Rapids, Tulsa, or Chi-Town?"
Piper groaned. "Ugh, none."
Sam ignored her. "I am all for working. I really am. But you got us chasing cases nonstop for like a month now. We need sleep."
"Yeah, we can sleep when we're dead."
Piper frowned and sat up a little to look at him. "You're exhausted, Dean."
He flicked his eyes down to her. "I'm good."
Sam was shaking his head. "No, you're not. You're running on fumes, and you can't run forever."
Dean made a show of sighing and putting the laptop on the dash. Piper rolled her eyes. Drama queen. "And what am I running from?"
"From what you told us. Or are we pretending that never happened?
Dean ignored him to look down at Piper. "Stratton, Nebraska. Farm town. A man gets hacked to death in a locked room inside a locked house. No signs of forced entry."
She examined him for a moment. He did look tired, he looked as bad as Dean Winchester could look. But she wasn't going to stop him from running on all cylinders until he collapsed, at least not right now. She wasn't a hypocrite, she understood. So instead, she replied. "Sounds like a ghost."
He grinned. "Yes, it does."
Piper laid her head back down onto his thigh as he started the car.
"Well, that was horrific." Piper said weakly, sliding into the backseat of the Impala. "I hate it when it's humans." She thought the feral children hidden in the walls would haunt her for a long time.
Sam turned to Dean. "You okay?"
Dean was looking out the window. "You know, I felt for those sons of bitches back there. Lifelong torture turns you into something like that."
Sam frowned. "You were in hell, Dean. Look, maybe you did what you did there, but you're not them. They were barely human."
"Yeah, you're right. I wasn't like them. I was worse. They were animals, Sam, defending territory. Me? I did it for the sheer pleasure."
Piper's heart froze.
Dean didn't look at either of them. "I enjoyed it. They took me off the rack, and I tortured souls, and I liked it. All those years, all that pain. Finally getting to deal some out yourself. I didn't care who they put in front of me. Because that pain I felt, it just slipped away. No matter how many people I save, I can't change that. I can't fill this hole. Not ever."
xxxxx
Dean didn't fight her when she booked them two rooms that night, giving Sam a key and leading Dean to the other room. She was grateful, because she didn't have the words to fight with him about it, but she knew he needed it. He needed to be alone with her.
She set their bags down on the beds, listening to him lock the door behind them. She turned and took his hands in hers, leading him slowly to the bathroom. He wasn't meeting her eyes, and she wasn't pushing the issue. He just let her lead him.
She shut the door behind them, then turned and started pulling his clothes off. He helped minimally, then watched as she undressed herself. She pulled him into the shower and turned the water on.
She washed him slowly, gently. She admired his hard body, his broad shoulders, his huge hands, his strong legs. He was beautiful. The only real reaction he had to her was closing his eyes when she ran her hands through his hair.
When she was done, she stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest. She held him this way, listening to the strong beat of his heart, feeling his chest rise and fall with his breath beneath her cheek. After a long time, his arms slowly encircled her, and his cheek came to rest on her head. "Pipes, I…" he rasped, seemingly searching for the words.
She hushed him, not moving. "I love you, Dean. I know you don't think you deserve it, but I love you. You do deserve it, and you have it. And for tonight, let's let that be enough. We'll deal with everything else tomorrow. Okay?"
There was a long pause. "Okay, kitten."
No! No! No!
Dean had the presence of mind to roll himself away from Piper, knowing he was having a nightmare. He was gasping, covered in sweat, as he hit the floor with a soft thump. He stayed where he was for a moment, hoping that he hadn't woken her up. When it became apparent that she was still sleeping, he sat up and put his head in his hands.
He didn't understand why she was still here. This was it. The worst that any human being could get. He had tortured those souls, and he had relished in it. The power to deal out pain instead of take it, the underlying satisfaction of being really, really good at something. As much as he loathed himself for it, Alastair had been right: Dean had had promise.
And all she did was hold him. Piper had stood next to him as he faced the worst part of himself, and she had weathered the storm with him. She really did love him, and even if he didn't understand, he could feel it start to put him back together.
Once he was sure he had calmed down enough to know he wasn't going to hurt her, he crawled back into bed with her, pulling her into his chest and burying his face in her hair.
xxxxx
Hi, everyone! Here's my notes:
I own only Piper Finley, the original character. I don't own Supernatural or the characters. (heartbroken)
Reviews and comments give me the warm fuzzies and keep me going.
If there are any mistakes in continuity, canon, or geography, blame me.
