They had talked about kids, and decided on a system.
Every morning, Piper left her birth control on the bathroom counter. They agreed that on the day she felt ready, she would put it up in the cabinet instead. When Dean came into the bathroom, if he saw that it was gone, but didn't himself feel ready, he would take it out and put it back on the counter. No mess, no fuss, no hard feelings.
Piper kept it on the bathroom counter for a long time, waiting for them to heal.
xxxxx
After Christmas, life settled back down at the Winchester home.
Piper got a new job at a smaller restaurant. She made less money, but the people were nicer, so she liked it. Dean stayed where he was. He liked it enough, he was good at it, and the money was good. And it let him be at home with Piper every night, which was the most important quality a job could have as far as Dean was concerned.
A few weeks after the new year, Dean found a kitten outside the house. He almost left it, but it's pathetic little mewls had him rolling his eyes and berating himself as he picked it up and brought it inside.
As he should have suspected, Piper fell wildly, madly in love with the little orange tabby on sight. After much discussion, and pleading, and puppy dog eyes, Dean caved and agreed they could keep it.
"But I'm not going to like it."
xxxxx
A few weeks after Dean brought the kitten (which Piper affectionately named "Monster") into the house, she walked in on him sleeping on the couch on his back, arms crossed. In the crook of one elbow, also curled up and dead to the world, was Monster.
She smiled and snapped a picture with her cell phone. "Not going to like it my ass."
She went into the kitchen to bake him a pie, suddenly overwhelmed with the need to spoil her husband a little. Things had been so, incredibly good since they'd come here. She had never realized how much a routine, a normal, steady life could heal a person, much less two.
When she was done in the kitchen, she scooted him over on the couch until he groaned and turned to his side to wrap his arm around her. Monster meowed, then jumped over Dean and Piper to curl at the small of her back, surrounding her in warmth. She fell asleep with her face tucked into Dean's neck, deeply content.
xxxxx
As soon as Monster was old enough, Piper took him to get neutered. Dean very casually took the day off, to make sure the cat was all right after surgery. She smiled and kissed him on the cheek, but said nothing.
xxxxx
Piper was sitting on the couch with Dean's head in her lap, running her fingers lazily through his hair. Monster was on Dean's stomach, purring loudly as Dean stroked him.
She looked down at him and smiled. "Hey, our anniversary is coming up. Do you want to do something for it?"
He thought for a while. "Like, uh, like what?"
She shrugged and looked back at the television. "I dunno," she said softly, keeping up the motion her fingers were making through his hair. "Anything you feel like."
There was silence for a while, and she figured he didn't want to do anything, so she dropped it. It wasn't a very big deal to her, she was perfectly happy here no matter what.
"What if I surprise you?" he asked suddenly.
She looked down at him. "Surprise me?" She smiled slowly. "Surprise me with what?"
He grinned. "Kitten, if I tell you, it won't be a surprise."
She thought for a moment, then, "Would we be going somewhere for this surprise?"
"Y… Yes," he said slowly.
She laughed softly. "So you were already planning on surprising me, and I just ruined it?"
He shook his head. "Nah, just less of a surprise now. And yeah, we're going somewhere."
She smiled. "Then I'll say yes on one condition."
xxxxx
"Dean, honey, where are we going?"
Dean grinned at the nerves in Piper's voice. She was blindfolded by a handkerchief, sitting in the passenger seat. He could tell she was trying to trust him, but her knuckles were white where she gripped the seat.
"Easy on the leather there, kitten," he murmured, reaching over to place a comforting hand on her knee.
Piper's condition to going somewhere had been that they take the Impala, and Dean was spectacularly happy about it. It was a small risk, but well worth it. How had he always missed the way Piper shivered when the engine roared? It set something predatory in him off. Made him want to pull over and have his way with her on some backroad.
Stop it, pervert, he told himself severely. Today was for her, not so he could get in her pants. Tonight, of course, was fair game, but today was for Piper.
Dean was never going to be able to put together the words to tell Piper how his sun rose and set on her. Hell half of the time he could barely say, "I love you, too." The words, "you, too" just seemed to fit better in his mouth.
But he could show her.
"Can I take this damn thing off now?"
He grinned. "Not yet, kitten. Almost there."
xxxxx
"Not yet, kitten. Almost there."
Piper huffed, and he laughed. She was excited about whatever he had planned, because she suspected it would be very sweet.
She was also nervous, because her husband was a pervert.
She felt the car slow, then swing wildly into a parking space. She smiled. The Impala had been a good idea. She knew he'd been missing it, and it had put him in an even better mood for today.
"Okay," he said, sounding a little nervous, which was endearing. "We're here."
Before she could pull the blindfold off, he groaned. "This is stupid. Let's just go out to-"
When she heard the keys jingle, she reached out and put a hand on his arm. "Dean, come on," she said softly. "I want to see. Can I take this off now, please?"
He paused, and she let him. If he tried to leave again, she wouldn't stop him. He'd take her to dinner like a normal night. She didn't want him to be uncomfortable, but she did want to see what he had planned.
"All right," he said with a huff. "But try not to laugh."
She felt the handkerchief moving, then it dropped away. She blinked a few times, then looked at where they were. Then she was blinking fast for an entirely different reason.
"Oh, Dean…"
He'd brought her to a carnival, just like the one she'd dragged him to years ago. There were flashing lights and crowds of people and rides…
And a ferris wheel.
"Oh, Dean…"
"Are those good, 'oh, Deans?'" he asked hesitantly.
She nodded, unable to take her eyes away from his gift to her. "Very good."
xxxxx
Dean watched her walk around, her wide eyes taking in everything, with a soft smile. God, she's pretty.
He couldn't tell her, maybe, but showing her how much he loved her was almost better. Any jackass could stand by her through everything they'd been through, but maybe he was one-upping any other jackass by doing this. Maybe this earned him enough points to come close to deserving her.
She spun and grinned at him. "Dean, this is perfect."
He smiled and wrapped an arm around her when he'd reached her. She leaned into him and beamed up, and he couldn't help but lean down and kiss her gently, enraptured by her.
She kissed back, still smiling when he pulled away. "Ferris wheel?"
He shrugged, a little nervous. "Whatever you want, kitten."
She led the way, her soft hand in his, and he followed. It felt like his whole life, ever since he'd met her at least, Dean had been following Piper.
He paid the skinny kid at the end of the line, and Piper practically bounced into the car. When he got in next to her, she molded herself to him, throwing her legs over his and tucking her head beneath his chin. His arm came around her back to rest on her hip, the other landing on her legs.
"This is perfect, Dean," she whispered.
He smiled. "Glad you like it, Pipes."
They were silent for a while, just being with one another as the little car rose. He crammed his nervousness while it got higher and higher, trying to just focus on Piper.
She leaned up and smiled at him. "This is just like the one we rode. Before the djinn took you."
He nodded and ran his fingers through her hair. "Yeah. Showed me my 'perfect life.'"
She smiled a little and tilted into his hand. "The one without me in it."
He frowned. "Pipes, you didn't honestly believe that."
She examined him for a moment. "What?"
"Piper, you were my perfect life. I mean, yeah, Mom was back, and we weren't hunters. But baby, you were everything." He swallowed hard. "Pipes, you're still everything."
He watched in horror as her eyes filled with tears, then sighed in relief when she tucked her head back into his neck. They were silent for a long time, just being with one another again.
When it got to the top, she pulled back and smiled at him again. He drowned a little in her pretty face before realizing she was speaking.
"I thought you were going to kiss me when we got to the top last time."
He smiled and cupped her cheek, running his thumb along her delicate cheekbone. "I thought so, too. Probably should have."
"Never too late, you know," she said coyly.
He brought her to him and kissed her thoroughly. When she sighed, he swept into her mouth, tilting his head to kiss her deeper and harder. He lost himself in her gratefully, shedding his nerves and everything else he had in him, to just be in her.
Dean would always look back on that exact moment, wrapped up in Piper, on top of a ferris wheel, on the anniversary of their marriage, as perfect. There was darkness to come, but that moment shone through everything as a point of light. On nights when nothing held him together, he held his woman tight and thought about that moment with her.
They were jerked apart by the car stopping. Dean blinked, then grinned as Piper laughed as they simultaneously realized they'd been shamelessly making out like teenagers for damn near the entire ride.
She pressed her hot little lips to his ear. "Let's go home," she whispered, "I want to show you something."
xxxxx
In the front hall, which was as far as they had made it before Piper had pulled Dean down on top of her, she lay on his chest, drawing nonsense pictures on his warm skin with her fingertips. "Happy anniversary," she said softly.
"Hmm," he hummed in response, presumably still unable to speak.
She chuckled. "'Happy anniversary, kitten,'" she mocked gently, pitching her voice low.
He groaned and bucked his hips to put her on her back. "Hush, woman," he muttered against her neck, where he was pressing little kisses. "I'm in a stupor."
She chuckled and tilted her head back. "That's quite a compliment."
"Well, you definitely earned it."
xxxxx
The next morning, Piper was wearing one of Dean's flannels and a pair of her panties, making coffee. Or, she was supposed to be making coffee. Instead, she was standing in the kitchen, coffee pot in one hand, the other stroking Monster's soft head, and staring into the backyard.
She hadn't shared her misgivings with Dean, but she had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. As they rapidly approached the one year anniversary of Sam's death (a thought that was still so painful her mind resisted it), she was worried.
More accurately, she was terrified.
Terrified that their beautiful, amazing life was more fragile than she'd previously thought. Terrified that something, some terrible force of evil, was going to come careening back into their happy little bubble and ruin it. That the life she so desperately wanted to keep forever was going to shatter before her very eyes.
Tears filled those same eyes, and she sniffled hard, trying to keep it together. Dean doesn't need this.
True to form, he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, resting his head on her chin. "What's wrong, kitten?" he asked gruffly, clearly still half asleep.
She leaned back into him. "Just worried."
"Hmm, about what?"
"Everything," she whispered, a tear finally falling down her cheek. "I'm just… Scared. That this won't last, that… That we're about to be dragged back into that life any second here."
"Hey, come on. Where is this coming from, Pipes?" he murmured, pressing a kiss to her temple.
She shrugged. "I just…" She heaved a sigh. "I don't know if I really believe that we get to be happy."
"Quit it," he said sharply. His gentle hands turning her around so he could cup her face and stare down at her took the sting from his words. "You deserve this, Piper. You deserve to be happy."
She smiled and put her hands on his wrists, running her thumbs against the delicate skin on the insides of his arms. "Dean, first of all, we. We deserve it. And I know that, but I just don't think we'll get to. I think…" She took another deep, steadying breath. "I think we're not going to get to keep this."
He looked at her for another long moment, then leaned down and kissed her hard. Then he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight against him. "I'm not gonna let that happen, kitten," he said roughly. "I'm gonna make sure we stay here, all right?"
She nodded and pressed her face into his chest, not believing him and aching desperately to believe him, anyway.
xxxxx
When she went into the bathroom, she looked at the case she kept her birth control in for a long, long time, just thinking.
Is it too soon? Will he freak out? Will he hate the idea? What if I'm right? Am I willing to take a chance?
His words floated through her mind. I'm gonna make sure we stay here, all right?
Deciding to put her faith in her husband, she took the little case and put it up into the cabinet, then left the bathroom feeling lighter than she had in years.
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, comments, and kudos give me life and keep me going.
And, as always, thank you for reading, you beautiful, beautiful people.
