As they watched Rufus' body burn in a hunter's funeral, Piper reflected on how tired she was of losing friends.
She'd loved Rufus, rough exterior and all. He'd been the first person to give her a shot of whiskey (which had resulted in a very annoyed Bobby, Piper finding out that she was a bit of an affectionate drunk at seventeen years old, and the end of her staying with Rufus while Bobby hunted). She'd adored the way Rufus never took anyones shit, or the way he'd refuse to work because of the Sabbath. He was one of many "extended family" members, and she was devastated that he was gone.
"I got to say," Dean's voice was soft with reference. "I never figured Rufus for the religious type."
Bobby shrugged. "Well, he didn't exactly keep kosher. He always used to pull the old 'can't work on the Sabbath' card whenever we had to bury a body." Bobby took a deep breath, and Piper felt her heart ache more fiercely when she heard the wobble in his voice as he continued. "You know, I… I was just a job. I was Joe mechanic. Then my wife got possessed, went nuts on me. I stabbed her, and that didn't stop her. Next thing I knew, this guy comes busting in, soaks her with holy water, and sends that demon straight to hell so fast. I'd have gone away for killing her. But... Rufus cleaned up everything. Taught me a thing or two about… What's really out there. Pretty soon, we were riding together. Worked like that for years, kind of like you two knuckleheads."
"So, what happened?" Sam asked, his voice also gentle.
"It was Omaha," Bobby said heavily. "It was my fault, and he never let it go."
"Well, he should have," Dean snapped.
Bobby frowned. "You don't know what I did, Dean."
Piper watched her husband shake his head. "Doesn't matter."
"What do you mean, it doesn't-" Bobby started to snarl.
"I mean, at the end of the day, you two are family. Life's short, and ours are shorter than most. We're gonna spend it wringing our hands?" He scoffed. "Something's gonna get us eventually, and when my guts get ripped out, just so you two know, we're good. Blanket apology for all the shit that anybody's done all the way around."
Piper smiled a little up at him. "What about me?"
He grinned rakishly, though she could see the sadness in his green eyes. "Pipes, I'll make sure to make it all up to you."
"Some of us have pulled a lot of shit, Dean," Sam protested softly.
"Well, clean slate."
xxxxx
If someone were to ask Piper Winchester what her definition of peace was, she would have replied that it was the way Dean clung to her in sleep.
She woke up every morning with him spooned around her, his arm tight around her waist, face buried in her hair. His warmth radiating into her back always made getting out of their bed, or whatever bed they were sharing, one of the hardest things to do in the day.
The day after Rufus' funeral was the same. They were at Bobby's place, which meant they were at home, which meant they didn't have to get up unless they wanted to. She heaved a deep sigh and pressed back against her husband, warm and happy, just for a moment.
Then, of course, what had happened the day before occurred to her.
Piper didn't particularly care that Samuel Campbell had died. She'd despised him from the beginning of their rather short acquaintanceship, and she had no real feelings one way or the other, except she was relieved he couldn't try to kill any of them anymore.
She also wasn't sure how she'd felt about Gwen dying. She was probably the only one of Dean's cousins that Piper had sort of liked, but she couldn't have ever seen them being close. Piper had family, quite enough of it. Family had never, for her, ended in blood, and she certainly didn't believe that it began there, either. Piper had been raised by Bobby, and her beliefs reflected his own.
She was all right with that.
Rufus' death, however, hit her a bit harder. She let the tears well up in her closed eyes without trying to fight them. She was in bed with Dean, she was safe.
She felt him stir as she cried. His arm tightened around her, and he pressed a chaste kiss to the back of her neck. "Kitten?"
"I'm okay," she said, voice watery, "I'm just… It's just hitting me, I guess."
She felt him nod and move his knees up to hit the backs of her legs, wrapping her up completely in him. "What can I do?"
She shook her head. "Nothing. Just this."
In response, he just held her tight and let her cry for a while, until she fell back into a light sleep.
xxxxx
When Piper woke up an undetermined amount of time later, Dean's hand had crept up under her tank top, and his thumb was moving gently back and forth on her belly, spreading awareness through her and making her shiver.
He must have felt her reaction, because the next thing she knew, his whiskey voice was in her ear, making her gasp softly. "Morning, kitten."
"Good…" She swallowed at the intent in his voice. "Good morning."
She tensed when he shifted, but he didn't stop. "You're gonna have to keep quiet, Piper," he whispered. "Do you think you can do that for me?"
She gulped and nodded quickly as he maneuvered them so she was on her back and he was hovering over her. She whimpered when she saw the heat burning in his eyes, his unfairly handsome face inches away from hers. "Close your eyes, baby," he murmured. When she obeyed, he pressed a kiss to her forehead, one on each of her cheekbones, down her nose, and finally caught her mouth with his. He ran his tongue along her lips, and she obeyed the silent request by opening to him immediately, morning breath be damned.
His tongue swept into her mouth, and she arched into him, her hands moving restlessly up and down his bare back. The way his muscles moved beneath his warm skin made her whimper as she kissed him back. He broke away from her mouth and kissed along her jaw, down her neck. He nipped lightly at the place where her shoulder curved, and she bit back another whimper.
He moved down until he could nose the hem of her shirt out of the way so he could press little kisses to her stomach. She shivered and stayed still, except to bring her hands up to run through his hair. "Dean…" she sighed, letting the press of his lips to her skin light her up in sensation.
He hummed softly, then sat up just a bit to tug her shirt off. She helped by sitting up, too, and raising her arms so he could pull it off completely. As she lay back down, he backed up so he could slide her underwear and her leggings down and off, leaving her bare and spread before him. It was a familiar position, of course, but it never failed to put her on edge, make her needy and whimpering.
This moment was no different, and she had to contain a groan when he started at the inside of her right ankle and started up her leg, leaving more tiny kisses in his wake. Each place where his lips touched her burned, making her shift helplessly as he got closer to where she wanted him. He ran his other hand up the inside of her left leg in place of his mouth, his calloused fingers leaving the same sort of yearning as his lips were.
When he got to her center, he wasted no time. He lapped at her firmly for a few strokes, chuckling when the sensation of his tongue on her made her gasp and thrust insistently at him. He brought his right arm up to brace over her hips, keeping her still, and continued his gentle assault.
When she was writhing and had brought her own hand up to cover her mouth so she couldn't be heard, he finally sunk two fingers into her. She tried to buck her hips again, but her husband was having none of it. He kept her down and crooked his fingers until he hit that spot inside her that sent fireworks dancing through her veins, making her thrash more.
He pulled her clit into his mouth and toyed with it mercilessly, bringing her to the edge repeatedly, then backing off almost completely, only to start over again when she'd calmed down for just a moment.
Piper had no idea how long he kept her there, but it couldn't have been long before she started begging in helpless whimpers. "Dean, Dean please, need you, baby, I need you, please-"
He gently withdrew his fingers and his mouth, ignoring her protesting moan. She shuddered and watched as he stepped off of the bed just long enough to tug his sweatpants and boxers down, baring his hard length to her gaze. She watched him with a heated gaze as he crawled predatorily back over her, finally settling between her legs and boxing her in with his forearms. She immediately twined her legs around his, her heels digging into his hard calves, and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He used one hand to position himself at her entrance, wetting the tip of his cock in her heat. His mouth gently pressed to her ear. "Can you keep quiet for me, kitten?" he purred.
"Yes," she gasped, moving her hips to try to force him into her. "Please, Dean, please-"
"Shh, kitten, I've got you, baby," he shushed her. He began to press into her, slowly, stretching her open and making her breathless.
The feeling of Dean entering her never failed to make her a little bit overwhelmed, a little bit dizzy. She watched his face, features set in concentration and pleasure, and was overcome by how much she loved the man currently rocking into her. She leaned up and pressed kisses to his shoulders and his warm neck, suddenly frantic again with need.
"Dean," she whispered fiercely.
She felt him grin against her cheek and drop his body just a bit lower, pressing them flush together from shoulders to hips. "I know, kitten, I've got you."
He started thrusting into her faster. Still not as much as she really wanted, but it was just enough to keep the headboard from banging against the wall, and the angle he was hitting her at still made it necessary for him to come up and cover her mouth with one of his big hands. "Shh, sweetheart, you've gotta be quiet." The reprimand was soft, and he kept his hand where it was, though, so she didn't try too hard to stifle the sounds he was wringing out of her.
He kept a steady, fast pace, and soon she was begging and moving in tandem with him, meeting him thrust for thrust. She watched as sweat started to bead on his temples, and knew that he was close, too.
"Are you ready to come for me, Piper?" he whispered harshly into her ear. She moaned and nodded as much as she could with his hand covering the bottom half of her face.
"Come on then, kitten, come for me, right now, Piper." His words panted in her ear, as he changed angles and hit that sweet spot repeatedly, hard, sent her hurtling into orgasm. She bit his hand hard to keep quiet as her whole body shuddered and twitched, her hips still moving desperately with his.
She felt him tense up above her, and she raked her nails down his back lightly as he came, revelling in the feeling of his heat pumping into her. He let his forehead rest on her shoulder, and she held him close as the aftershocks wracked through him.
She closed her eyes and pressed her face into his slightly sweaty neck. She was again awash in the adoration she held for him in her heart, the way he held her and looked at her and loved her just as fiercely as he did everything else. She kept her arms around him for a long, long time, and he did the same, seemingly content just to hold her as their sweat cooled and their heartbeats returned to normal.
He finally lifted his head, pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose, and smiled. "Let's go clean up, kitten."
xxxxx
If one was to ask Dean Winchester what his definition of peace was, his answer (provided that he was drunk enough to be comfortable talking about his emotions, which would be very, very drunk) would be the way Piper looked at him in the mornings when she woke up, before the weight of their shared world landed on their shoulders again.
After they showered (which ended up with her pressed up against the shower wall, smothering her cries with her sharp little teeth dug into his shoulder again), Dean let his wife lead him to the kitchen by the hand so he could shamelessly watch her ass as she walked.
This late in the morning, he knew that the weight he so dreaded would come crashing down on her just after coffee, when her head cleared of endorphins enough to think about their situation again. There would be nothing he could do to stop the world from intruding on their happiness indefinitely, but he'd been able to keep it at bay for a few hours. He'd been able to keep that feisty, loving light in her hazel eyes for a while, before their shine was dulled by worry and pain.
He'd count that as a win, any day.
xxxxx
**I'm so sorry this took so long. The usual reasons (read: excuses) stand. Depression, anxiety, blah, blah, blah. I'm working on them, though, and updates should, fingers crossed, be more frequent.
**I love you guys. Thanks for sticking with me.
**Look! Smut! Like I'm a real writer!
**Feedback gives me the warm fuzzies and keeps me going.
