Time for the fallout then and a bit of a sneaky revelation from Dean too but for the best possible reasons of course...in his mind anyway.

Hope you like it.

Moxley Gal1, Thank you for your well wishes and I'm so sorry to hear about your mom *hugs* cancer sucks and the sooner they find a real cure the better. As for Hunter, well, I think he's beyond help in this story, but maybe Seth can still be saved at some point!

Mandy, Thank you, very relieved to have the all clear for my mum. Stephanie sure is desperate to have her own way in this story as you will see later as well. Randy and Hunter are pretty much there for the ride too but there is possibly still some hope for your favourite!

Guest, Well, you'll have to keep reading to find out, but Dean certainly has his hands full trying to keep Lauren away from her crazy father and he's with you that elopement is not the worst idea in the world so great minds obviously think alike!

Skovko, Can't blame the girl for being inherently trusting, besides it balances out Dean nicely because he trusts no one (except for Roman obviously) and you're totally right where would I find my drama if she said 'no thanks' and kept on waiting outside? Needs me some dramas!

Ohana1337, Thank you about my mum, it was a big relief so I felt like I had to share. You can hug Lauren too if you like, but in this chapter you might have a hard time getting a look in because Dean is right there doing his comforting thing...cuteness abounds!

Labinnacslove, Yep, in Stephanie's twisted mind I really think she thinks trying to force Lauren and Randy together is the perfect solution to all their problems but obviously it will never be quite that plain sailing for her...trust me, she will try again though!

Minnie1015, Seth I think is a little bit torn because even though he can pretend he hates Dean and Roman, he can't take his anger out on Lauren in the same way but yeah, has to be a vestige of goodness in him still. Might tease that a little more before this one is over…

Ready, set, go...


Come Fly With Me

Dean cut off the engine as we pulled into the parking lot back at the rental place where we had picked the car up from, then blinked through the windshield at the bright lights passing over us as the hum of airport traffic lit the night skies above. In a couple of hours we would be flying back home again and I honestly couldn't wait to be surrounded by our stuff and somewhere where I could make out like everything was normal and that my life wasn't bewildering and totally messed up.

"Princess – ,"

Dean sighed then untangled our fingers which I'd insisted on keeping locked as he had tried to steer the car and which had made things complex but which he hadn't pulled away from because unlike my father, he always put me first.

Always.

I blurted out the answer before he could finish it because I already knew what he was going to say and besides which he needed to know what had happened since I had previously been too preoccupied busting out tears to explain.

He needed to know.

"I thought it was for the website."

Blue eyes blinked back at me through the parking lot lights and seemed to sparkle in the darkness like gemstones which then summed him up entirely because he was one hell of a precious find. In the rare moments when he wasn't being baffled by his fiancée.

"Website?"

"That – that was what he said it was for."

"Who?"

In response to the continued and hotly swirling bewilderment which was backlit by the fury he still had pulsing on, I took a long breath then steadied my heart a little since I probably needed to start from the beginning of the thing. I reached over the console and put my hands on his kneecap because I felt like I needed to ground myself to him and he responded by reaching over and laying his arm across my headrest before gently rubbing my cheek with his thumb.

Ugh, too perfect.

"I had a runner come up and ask me if I would go with him to film some of that random online stuff like when they ask for your favorite color and best movie or what animal you would be and – ,"

"Princess."

I was rambling again.

Right.

"Um, I – I know I shouldn't have gone with him, but he was so nervous and sort of tiny and I really thought it would be fast and because they've never asked me to do that kinda stuff before and so I guess I was flattered which is stupid of me but – ,"

I was briefly cut off as a plane passed low above us and both made us stop in a moment of wow because I swear if I squinted I could see the passengers through the window and because no matter how many times I flew back and forth to places, I would never not be overwhelmed by how impressive planes were and so terrified but fascinated that they could get themselves airborne and then stay there without falling clean out of the sky. In the few times when it didn't suck, the human race was damn impressive and could pretty much achieve anything.

Dean blew out a sigh,

"So this runner led you right into the middle of a trap here?"

"Uh huh,"

"The little fucker – I'll rip off his limbs."

I blinked and then bit on my bottom lip a little because I knew how convincing my stepmother and father could be and how powerful and impossible to deny they were together and also how it felt to be on the bottom most rung and trying to be the one to try and keep them both happy at the risk of upsetting them and potentially losing your job. All things considered I actually felt a little sorry for the lackey they had somehow roped into their plan and so put that to Dean in a quiet little sentence since my fiancé was still busy basically cussing up a storm.

"It – it wasn't his fault, I mean, he looked pretty guilty."

"He'll be a whole lot more than that when I'm through with his weasel ass."

"No, please."

It came out as a tiny whisper but it managed to draw the fiery blue eyes back and in response to my pleas he grunted a little and then gently rubbed the bite marks out of my lip.

"Randy was there too huh?"

"Yes," I nodded brokenly as a lump began to steadily climb up my throat because I hated how much time I had spent thinking about him already and it seemed so unfair that he was lingering on, but there he was anyway as the elephant in the room again and the sooner I got out what had happened in the office then the sooner I could cry it out and hopefully be done, "He – he blocked the door to stop me from running out on them and he – he grabbed me by the arms."

I shuddered.

Ick.

But Dean mistook it for coldness or else straight up wasn't sure how else he could help me and so peeled his leather jacket off then pressed it round my shoulders before tugging at the collar and giving me a loving wink. His aftershave scent was like breathing in smelling salts and the fabric was so warm that I melted into the thing and even blew a contented sounding hum out as I turned to kiss the palm that was still smoothing across my cheek.

Dean steeled himself,

"What else did he do to you?"

"Nothing because Seth then kinda made him let go and as soon as he did I got myself out of there and – ,"

Dean held up a hand,

"Wait, Seth helped you?"

"Uh huh."

Not that our former family member had charged in all guns blazing and demanded that I be let out of the room, but he had been in the process of moving in to push Randy off me or had instinctively been moving to help in some capacity regardless of whether he'd have then bailed out on it or not and that thought warmed me because our friend was still in there somewhere way down.

Dean snorted in surprise,

"Shit."

Moving myself further towards him across the fabric I nuzzled my head into the palm of his hand, then hiccupped a little as I offered the next sentence because having to remember my captivity was so hard and usually made me fluttery and massively anxious although I pressed on anyway,

"I – I think he remembered the room and how broken up I was back then when you guys found me."

Dean screwed his face up,

"Do we have to talk about that? Makes me get all fuckin' itchy thinkin' 'bout it and you there all helpless cryin' your fuckin' eyes out not knowin' if anyone was gonna come getcha."

I bit my lip again,

"Sorry."

"Not your fuckin' fault. It wasn't back then and it's never gonna be either."

However his assurances suddenly fell on deaf ears because remembering when my stepmother and father had held me hostage, reminded me again of the subsequent attack and then the totally cataclysmic and earth shattering bombshell that had been dropped from the heavens like a warhead an hour back.

Oh god.

For a second it sucked the breath right out of me and I blew it all out in an audible squeak before blinking into space like my brain had stopped working and which drew a frisson of tension from my bewildered and clued in man. Because boy was Dean ever in touch with my emotions, to the point that he knew instantly if I was feeling run down or if a movie or an advert was going to make me tearful or if someone had upset me or if something was off. I had once read about dogs being given to people with diabetes because they could actively sniff out the falling sugars in their blood and so had figured my fiancé had some human equivalent where he could physically detect a sudden fall in my fragile moods.

"Dean it was her, she – ,"

I broke off with a tremor as a sob of horror shook me right through to my core and would then have probably burst into hysterics had he not leaned in towards me and trapped my lips in a kiss.

Huh?

It wasn't a long smooch or filled with heady passion and nor did it hint at him needing anything else, because for once it was purely designed to break through my panic and to cut the fast encroaching tear-fest stone cold dead.

It worked like a charm too.

"Mmmmm – ,"

I happily hummed into it and then found myself blinking straight into his eyes as he broke the contact then held my face gently like he thought maybe my head was too heavy to hold up or was possibly being pulled down by the weight of all the trauma and the never ending drama where my stepmother and father were concerned.

"Easy baby, you're outta there okay? It's all good now. I'm not gonna let 'em fuck with you again."

I shook my head balefully,

"But she made him do it, she – she told him to try and do what he did,"

"What?"

"Randy," I tentatively whispered the word out, like saying it too loudly would make him pop up or like he would show up out of nowhere and press his face against the windshield. I wondered if maybe the wipers could flick him off or possibly succeed in poking out an eyeball which would at least give the two of us the chance to get away and –

Dean interrupted those thoughts pretty rapidly,

"Princess, I'm gonna need this shit in full sentences now."

"Steph – ,"

"Fuck, I shoulda known that bitch would be in this somewhere, what's she up to now?"

I paused to consider my response since I knew it would make him go pretty much ballistic no matter how gently I tried to put it across, which probably should have made me shrug and simply go for it, but in the end I still attempted to spread the truth out.

"Um, you – you remember what Randy tried to do to me when I went missing?"

His blue eyes tensed up at once and one of the hands that had been cupping my features moved up to card through my hair aggressively in response, like it was a choice between that or punching out the window but which served as the answer because how could he not?

He grunted his reply,

"Mmhmm."

"Stephanie had the idea first, she thought – she thought that if Randy could seduce me then I would forget about you and maybe end up with him."

I stopped then swallowed back a bubble of nausea before toying with the idea of an anti-sickness bracelet thing, since I had spent most of the evening feeling pretty wildly vomitous and I was beginning to find the never ending process not fun. Dean meanwhile simply blinked back in astonishment, not moving or speaking which was a rare thing for him and actually genuinely borderline unnerving because for a moment I was worried the news had maybe finally broken him.

I bit my lip,

"Dean?"

"That hoebag whore, that gutter trash, billion dollar skank bitch asshole."

Yep –

He was back and there was the sweary man I loved and I was so relieved to hear him cussing that I actually laughed a little before then tailing off into a choked up little sob, as my mood swung more rapidly than an antique clock pendulum and made my head spin to the point that not even I could keep up.

"Ugh."

It was literally the only word I could muster before I suddenly started crying again at which point Dean planted his lips onto mine a second time after uttering out a hasty little fuck before turning it into light peppering of kisses that he scattered across my nose, my eyebrows and my cheeks,

"You're alright baby, you're alright, I've fuckin' gotcha."

"But what if she was right outside that whole time and could h-hear me screaming and – ,"

"Ssssh,"

Dean sounded cut up and I could tell it was because he hated having to picture the scene and the knowledge that something so horrible had happened while he hadn't been there to do his thing of protecting me and chasing away whatever made me unhappy,

"Hunter knew," I croaked over my snivelling, "Hunter knew and he still sided with them."

"Because he's an asshole."

"Uh huh."

I resolutely nodded back at him because that was the a point on which the both of us were agreed. My old man and his clique of crooked lackeys were assholes of the highest degree and so to that end I was totally better off without them even though my lack of parents was a huge gaping hole to me at times or possibly a trench or a gigantic funnel. Dean was still there though and I was stupidly grateful for that.

I sucked in a breath then tipped my forehead up against him,

"Thank you for putting up with me and trying so hard to keep me safe, when all I ever do is get kidnapped and cry all over you – ,"

He snorted,

"I love you Princess, so it's all part of the deal here."

He then lifted his head to press another kiss across my eyebrow and I grazed his arm lightly and then felt how cold he was, before shuffling in closer and cracking my elbow into the console as I manoeuvred his leather jacket so it could partly warm us both. I imagined that maybe it was how being camped beneath the stars felt only minus the fire and ignoring the fact we were in a car because the intimacy of it all seemed like it might be similar and so I put it to my fiancé as I huddled in towards his chest.

"Can we go camping sometime?"

"Uh," Dean sounded confused, "The fuck did that come from?"

I shrugged,

"It seems like it might be romantic is all, I mean the stars and a little campfire and being cuddled together with marshmallows and with nobody else around for miles."

Dean snorted at me,

"What about the bathrooms?"

"Um, what about them?"

"Where would you go?"

"Oh, I – ,"

I paused then frowned into his ribcage because that was one point that I hadn't thought about and it killed the romance angle dead in the water since I could suddenly envisage myself having to dig a hole or squat in the wilderness with my underwear around my ankles and poison ivy tickling where it totally didn't belong and my fiancé chuckled at my obvious deflation which bounced me up and then lightly down on his chest.

"What about snakes and bears and mountain lions?"

"I – I hadn't thought about those."

I must have sounded pretty darn worried because Dean leaned in and gave me a kiss on the head, but one of his teasing little mwah sound effect ones and I could hear him grinning broadly as he then tried to take back his response,

"Nah, I'm totally fuckin' with you Princess, we can go campin' if that's what you want."

"Um, how about we maybe try it out in the backyard first?"

"Next to all your makeup and the bathroom?"

"Uh huh."

Dean grinned back winningly,

"Whatever you want baby, y' know I could never say no to my favorite girl, I mean, if you wanted to fuckin' pitch a tent in a field of landmines I'd be there in a heartbeat puttin' the poles in the ground."

I snorted at him and slapping his chest lightly,

"Idiot."

"Only because I'm crazy for you."

"Ugh."

Blue eyes sparkled as he pulled away then looked down at me and it was such a relief after all the trauma and the tears and it reminded me firmly that whatever else happened and whoever else passed me over my life was still practically perfect the way it was.

Dean winked at me,

"What? Am I soundin' too much like a greetin' card?"

"More like a hopeful drunk at the bar."

"Ouch."

For a minute or two longer we stayed huddled beneath his jacket but eventually Dean blew out a reluctant sounding breath and then stretched himself out and tapped my arm a little in a chivvying motion to move myself away and which I grumbled at a little because I was actually pretty comfy except for the cup holder digging into my breast.

"No, let's stay."

"We got a flight to catch remember?"

"Oh yeah."

He flung the door wide and a blast of cool air shot in to which I actually physically recoiled from bodily before folding into the warm leather which he willingly gave up. Dean had long grown used to me wearing his clothing because it smelt like him and was comfortingly large. Not in the uber sexy movie way either because no matter what Hollywood had spent years trying to tell me, wearing a man's shirt right after sex never worked and particularly not in our house since he didn't own dress shirts, but his hoodies were snuggly and I pulled them on a lot. I had even once spent several days wearing his boxers throughout a particularly heavy period that had made own underwear feel tight and hurt.

If that wasn't love then I didn't know what was.

"Princess? You gonna stay in there all fuckin' night or what?"

Rolling my eyes at his usual eloquence, I slid from the precipice of the always too high rental car, then trudged round to the back where he was pulling loose our cases and which I helped with by moving in close to him and then looping my arms around his back, giving him what looked like the beginnings of a German Suplex but actually giving him a grateful little hug.

"Hello."

He snorted at me,

"Fuck you're too fuckin' adorable."

"I was thinking – ,"

"Uh oh."

"Can we try the backyard camp out tomorrow night? I mean, we'll probably have to go out and get food and stuff for it but I figure that if you can maybe set the tent up then I can totally handle buying in the supplies."

Dean paused midway through pulling a case free and then stopped momentarily with it hanging in the air before coughing a little like he was uncertain about something and in response to it I frowned then slowly un-looped my arms. It wasn't like him to not want to say things, because usually the problem was getting him to stop and which was simply another way in which the two of us were perfect because I was a big fan of rambling on as well, only far less cuss-ridden and angry than my fiancé was and –

Yep, sure enough.

I was mentally rambling again.

Dean put the case onto the ground with a clatter and then raised a hand to scratch at his head, before turning back to me and shrugging a little sheepishly,

"Uh, we're kinda not goin' home yet."

I blinked at him,

"We're not?"

"Nope."

He reached into his pocket and then pulled out the plane tickets that he usually kept tucked safely for the both of us since he was more versed in travelling than I was and so tended to remember boarding passes and things like that, while I made sure we had snacks for the journeys and water to keep us hydrated as we drove. He passed them towards me and I took them from him slowly before checking the details. Well, at least the names were right and true to his word the flight took off in two hours and went straight to –

Huh?

"But this says – ,"

Cincinnati Ohio.

He was taking me to his hometown? Oh god. He was taking me to meet his mother and as the knowledge of that begun to flood through me I moved between elation and straight up alarm. Evidently my fiancé also saw it coming and so moved to cut me off,

"Princess – ,"

"I haven't got a dress and I haven't had my hair done and oh my goodness, these are my only pair of boots and they aren't the nicest ones I own either and I wanted to get her a gift before too."

Holy heck.

I was freaking out wildly because in my head I had mostly figured I'd have time for all that stuff and so therefore had never dreamed of it being sprung on me before I had even begun to think it all out. Because meeting his mother felt huge and important and not the sort of thing I could ever wing on the hoof and I may have even then started breathing too deeply since the next thing I knew Dean had reached over to grab my arms,

"Princess? Hey. Look, this is why I didn't tell you, because I didn't want you havin' to overthink this shit."

"But your mom – ,"

"Doesn't deserve this panickin' you're doin' and is gonna love you anyway because how could anybody fuckin' not? I mean that Princess, you're – like – ridiculously perfect and way too good for me an' we both know that, so honestly she'll mostly be stoked that I caught ya an' made it this long without lettin' you go or chasin' you off or makin' you realize that you could do a lot better."

I shook my head at him resolutely,

"Nope."

Reaching across Dean pulled me against him and I went with it willingly and let my leather bound arms fold quickly back around as he rocked us a little and kissed me on the forehead.

"She'll love you baby, it's gonna be fine."


Okay folks, the next chapter shifts the action to a new city...I hope you're ready. Also, well done Dean for manning up and taking the plunge with the introductions *pats him* good boy!