Dean looked around the apartment they were being shown, trying not to let his displeasure be too obvious.

Piper, of course, could see right through him. She smiled and walked up to him, slipping her hand into his. "No?"

He sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. "I don't know, kitten, it's kind of small."

She nodded. "I agree, I'm not a big fan. Plus, we should have at least one extra bedroom."

He let go of her hand to wrap his arm around her and pull her snug against him. "And I think we need a garage."

She looked up at him, and, like he always did, he lost himself a little in her hazel eyes. "Why do we need a garage?"

He pressed his lips to her forehead. "Gonna have to put Baby away."

She stiffened in shock and leaned back to look up at him. "What? Why? We can't put the Impala away, what are you talking about?"

He kept her close and sighed. "If we're gonna do this, go live the apple pie life, you're right. We should probably… Be careful. Put stuff away."

She was still staring at him. "But Baby?"

He wrapped a hand around the back of her head and kissed her hard, relishing the way she immediately softened and melted against him. When he came up for air, he pressed his forehead to hers and stared into her eyes. "You're more important, Pipes. Let's blow this joint."

xxxxx

Piper found them a small house in a nice neighborhood with a two car garage. The rent was reasonable, the garage was long enough to fit Baby and Piper's Jeep at the same time, and the neighbors seemed nice. She liked it.

Dean didn't seem to care one way or another, as long as they could stick the Impala in a garage, so she took the lead.

They walked through with the landlord, and Piper fell even more in love. Old, dramatic archways from the kitchen to the living room. Big bay windows, a decent sized kitchen, and two bathrooms cinched the deal. They signed the papers before they left, and walked out with keys in hand.

xxxxx

Dean found a shop that didn't look too hard at his credentials, and found himself working as a mechanic. He was good at it, and he liked it. He liked helping people this way, instead of… The other way he'd helped people.

Piper found a job waiting tables, and even if she didn't like it, she was friendly and pretty enough to make good money at it.

Dean found the routine that they fell into extremely relaxing. They worked during the day, then came home to one another at night. He realized that it was probably what ever lower middle class couple did, but it was still a novelty to him. Being in one place, in one home, every night with Piper enchanted him.

A few weeks in, he was sitting on the couch, flipping through channels and thinking about that when she came in and curled up next to him. She had a book in her hands, and she ended up resting her head on his thigh, her ankles crossed and propped up on the arm of the sofa. He automatically began running his fingers through her short hair, just needing to touch her.

A long time passed like that, then she looked up at him. "Is this okay?"

He didn't stop his ministrations as he looked down at her. "What?"

She waved a hand. "This. The domestic life. Is it okay?"

He smiled and bent down to press his lips to hers. "Yeah, kitten, it's okay."

xxxxx

They were invited to a block party the next week, and as much as he didn't want to, Dean followed Piper down the street, cautiously eyeing the crowd of strangers gathered there.

"Why are we doing this, again?" He asked grumpily.

"We're assimilating, handsome," she said cheerfully. She walked next to him, her hand in his, and he watched the way the skirt she wore swirled around her calves. "This will be good for us. We need non-hunter friends."

"Why?"

She laughed and tugged him close to kiss him. "Because we're normal now," she said against his lips, "And normal people are friends with their neighbors."

He sighed and wrapped his arm around her waist as they got closer to the party. "Whatever you say, kitten."

"Hi!"

Dean looked up to see a pretty woman smiling and greeting them. Her eyes sparkled, and she waved them into the backyard of what was presumably her home. "Come on in! My name is Brandy Kasic, and I'm the hostess of this little shindig. You guys must be the new neighbors!"

Dean let Piper take the lead, just smiling and standing behind her. "Yeah, we just moved in a few weeks ago," his wife said cheerfully. "My name is Piper Winchester, and this is my husband, Dean." Dean smiled when she said her name. He had been telling the truth, he liked her using his last name. It was stupid, possessive, sexist bullshit, but it lay his claim on her, and he liked that quite a bit.

"Winchester like the rifle?" Brandy asked.

Piper smiled. "Just like the rifle."

Brand smiled back. "Well, I'm so glad you came. We're a pretty close-knit little community, and we were all so curious! Come meet everyone, Piper, and Dean, I'll take mercy on you and say the husbands are on the other side of the pool."

Piper laughed and turned to kiss him hard, briefly. "Go play nice," she said softly, smiling and running her soft hand down his face.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Whatever you say, kitten."

xxxxx

Domestic life is… Not that bad.

Dean was remarkably all right with the block party. He needn't have worried about too many questions being asked, the men he was with didn't particularly care what line of work he was in before. As soon as he mentioned he worked on cars, that's where the conversation stayed. The beer kept flowing, the food was good, and he spent the night watching Piper out of the corner of his eye.

She's good at this. He watched her socialize easily, her auburn hair tucked behind her ear. She had a beer in her hand, but she nursed it. The week they'd spent drunk out of their minds had turned her off of drinking for a while, he knew.

Around an hour after they'd been there, a thought struck him. He broke away from the group of men briefly. He approached her, snagged her around the waist and kissed her breathless. She gasped and froze for a moment, then wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. He grinned against her lips and pulled away to kiss her forehead again. "Just checking in, kitten."

She blinked, then smiled up at him. "All right, well, I'm fine, caveman."

He wandered back to the group of "hubbies," knowing that she knew he'd just wanted to kiss her in front of a big group of people. He was unable to wipe the grin off of his face.

xxxxx

"Neanderthal," Piper said fondly, watching her husband swagger back over to the big group of men.

"That was hot as hell," Brandy said softly, waving a hand at her face.

Piper was enjoying herself immensely. The tiny fears she'd held in the back of her mind (that no one would like her, that she'd have trouble being around normal people) had been swept away by Brandy. Brandy was darling, a very kind woman who had a genuine interest in other people. It was refreshing.

There was also something deeply satisfying about seeing Dean relaxed and talking to normal people.

Tara, another neighbor, laughed and nodded. "Oh, my, you're damn right it was. Piper, I hope you don't mind me saying this…"

Piper chuckled as the other woman trailed off. "But Dean's face should be on billboards across the country?"

Brandy smiled. "Yes, yes it should."

Piper nodded. "Yeah, I'm not sure how I got so lucky." And she absolutely meant it.

xxxxx

Walking home that night, hand in hand, Piper smiled up at him. "So? Was it as bad as you thought it would be?"

He shrugged and shook his head. "Nah, they're good guys. And the food was good. Whoever made that pie might be my one and only."

She mock glared and poked him in the side. "Hey, you, I'm your one and only."

He chuckled and pulled her close to kiss her temple. "Yes, ma'am."

She squeezed his hand. "But you had a good time? Do you think we can make it work here?"

He seemed to think about it for a long time, but eventually nodded. "Yeah, we can. We could make it work anywhere, kitten."

xxxxx

The block party seemed to relax something deep inside Dean. Maybe it was watching Piper have a good time. Maybe it was proving to themselves and whoever else was watching that they could do this, be part of a community. But whatever it was, life just got better from there.

Dean got a promotion at work, just enough that he insisted Piper go down to part-time at the restaurant. He didn't like her working there, with handsy men and an asshole for a manager. She agreed, but only because her manager was an asshole.

She started baking, and volunteering, and Dean got to see who she was outside of being a raging badass hunter. She was soft, she smiled and laughed more, and she was in general less tense. There was still sadness in her eyes, and she still cried often, but it was becoming less frequent.

Dean's own episodes of grief became farther and farther apart, and when the holidays started to roll around, he found that, while he still thought about Sam almost constantly, it was much less painful.

xxxxx

By mutual agreement, they decided that Halloween wasn't their thing. So that night, Piper left a huge bowl of candy on the front porch, they turned all the lights off, and stayed in bed. They drew the curtains and stuck an old John Wayne movie in.

Her head lay on his bare chest, simultaneously listening to his heartbeat and to the movie. Both were doing a good job of sending her off to sleep, along with her leg slung across his, her arm resting low on his abdomen. His warmth was sinking into her, making her even drowsier. Oh, God, I'm getting old.

She thought about their situation, how they'd only been civilians for a short while, and it already seemed a little surreal that they'd done anything else. She thought about how peaceful it was, how much lighter Dean's step was, and how much more content she was. It was bordering on happy, even.

She had called Bobby the day before, just to check in. The older man had been gruff and distracted. She had ended the call hurt and confused, and she'd shared that with Dean. He had wrapped her tight in his arms, his head resting on her chin. "He's probably on a hunt, kitten," he'd said roughly. She'd silently buried her face in his chest, accepting the comfort he offered.

"What are you thinking about, kitten?"

His deep voice sent shivers down her spine as she looked up at him and smiled. She thought briefly of trying to hide it, but not only did he know her too well for that, Piper never really entertained the thought of lying to Dean. If she expected honesty from him (and she very much did), she had to give it back.

"The call with Bobby yesterday."

He smoothed her hair out of her eyes, then cupped her face with his big hand. "Come on, Pipes, there's a hundred reasons he couldn't talk."

She nodded. "I know. I just feel like when we came here, we left everyone we cared about behind." She paused, then, "What do you think about inviting him for Thanksgiving dinner? Maybe Garth, too?"

He ran his hand through her hair and her eyes drifted closed. "Sounds like a plan, kitten."

She smiled, pressed a kiss to his warm flesh, and lay her head back down. "I'll call them tomorrow."

xxxxx

Dean held Piper as she slept through the majority of the movie, absentmindedly savoring her warm softness pressed against him.

He was irritated at Bobby for being abrupt with her. If he'd been able to see her when she'd gotten on the phone, that terrible sad look on her face, he knew Bobby would have felt bad. The old man loved Piper almost as much as Dean himself did.

Gonna have to have a talk with him.

When the credits ran, he silently turned the TV off, then gently and slowly rearranged Piper until his chest was pressed against her back and his face was buried in her hair. He was asleep almost instantly.

xxxxx

Bobby and Garth, along with a couple of friends of Piper's from their hunting days, agreed to come to Thanksgiving. She went into a flurry of cleaning and organizing, which amused Dean a great deal. And when she gave him a "honey do" list, he found that he didn't mind a bit. He just pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek and set about getting things done.

He was in the backyard of their little house, raking leaves, when he thought he felt a presence. He stopped and looked around, listening sharply for any sign of someone else in the area. All he heard were Brandy and Steve's kids playing in their own backyard, no sign of anyone in his.

"Dean?"

At Piper's concerned voice, he turned and gave her an easy smile. "Just spacing out, kitten."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Well, quit that, so you can get done with what you're doing and we can move on to… Other things."

He dropped the rake where it was and covered the few yards between them in a matter of seconds. He didn't even stop when he bent and tossed her over his shoulder. Her laughter rang through the house as he carried her up the stairs.

"I feel like moving on now, kitten."

xxxxx

Sated and sweaty, Piper smiled against Dean's hot skin. "Mmm, we still have so much to do before next week."

He kissed the top of her head, apparently ignoring her damp hair. His chest was still heaving. "I don't know, I felt like I've done a lot today…"

She laughed and pressed against him to sit up. "Come on, lazy, we've got work to do."

She squealed when he tackled her and rolled, pinning her beneath him again and reigniting the heat in her core. "Lazy, hmm?" he asked, nuzzling her sweaty neck. "I'll show you lazy."

Later, she reflected that she had never both regretted and not regretted a word choice so vehemently in her life.

xxxxx

Hi, beautiful readers! Here are my notes:

I own only Piper Finley, the original character. I don't own Supernatural or any of the characters. (heartbroken).

Reviews and comments give me life and keep me going.

And, as always, thank you for reading, you beautiful, beautiful people.