Hell To Pay Chapter 10: Promises (Dead in the Water - Part 2), a supernatural fanfic

A/N: Yeah, so I lied, it's going to be three parts – haha! This story just has a lot to give today. I'm close to being done with Part 3 already because I was going to try combine it into one chapter, but it's starting to get bigger then Ben Hur, so – enjoy this read while I finish it off!

Follows on from Kittanning – Dead In The Water Part1 (Chapter 10)

It's also Beth's POV of EarthhAngel's chapter "Dead in the Water – Holy Water" over at 'How To Save A Life'. I would recommend checking it out if you're not familiar with who Cole Singer (OFC) is and her relationship with John, because it's featured pretty prominently in this one.

This is Beth & Dean, the very beginning of their relationship while they're still hiding it from John. You'll definitely want to read Bring Me To Life (1,2 & 3) over at my story All Hell Breaks Loose and Part 1 (previous chapter) first if you haven't already.

We got our eyes wide open, feeling like we are almost there.
Words unspoken disappearing in the air
All I see is you and I
You're the only lifeline that I need tonight
I'm letting go.

So this is what it feels like
Being at the right place the right time
I'm hanging on for dear life
Hoping we can make this a long night
This is why we came yeah
I can feel it in my veins
So this is what it feels like
Right place the right time

Loud explosions only you and I can hear
Doors fly open, you're the cure for all my fears
All I see is you and I
You're the only lifeline that I need tonight
I'm letting go.

Right here and now feels like forever
Never touch the ground when we're together

PROMISES
DEAD IN THE WATER (PART 2)
5 years ago

Lynnwood Inn Cafe

Beth's POV

We'd wasted no time in leaving for the hunt up in Wisconsin. I knew I was going to have to take a back seat for most of it, but it felt good just to be back on the road and doing something, anything!

Currently I was sitting in a booth with John, Cole and Dean, staring at newspapers and notes taken while John checked out the obituaries for Lake Manitoc. Sophie Carlton had been a young girl who had drowned in her back yard, pretty much. If you could call a lake a back yard.

I was finishing up my French toast, taking a sip of coffee when I looked over at Cole, she was doing her best to not be obvious about the fact that she wanted to put a knife through the waitress's sultry dark eyes.

"Can I get you anything else?" The waitress asked, looking mostly at John, which was pretty much the reason Cole was ready to kill her, considering her cleavage was ready to fall out of the tight shirt she was wearing. I had a moment to reflect on how I was so glad I didn't have to work a mundane job. Credit card fraud seemed so much easier and less degrading than having to squeeze into something two sizes too small just to coax a tip out of a customer.

"No, thank you, sweetheart," John said as he smiled at her. The waitress, Wendy, blushed and this made John grin even wider. I shook my head, you'd think he could tone it down seeing as Cole was there. Not that I was supposed to know they were involved but I did, and it annoyed me that I knew. I wanted to go back to the days where ignorance was bliss instead of feeling the anger I had right now sitting in my stomach.

"Just the check please," Cole snapped at the girl, and Wendy's smile dropped as she looked over at the testy blonde.

"Okay," she replied, rolling her eyes at Cole. I gaped, raising an eyebrow at Cole, the look had gone completely unnoticed by John and Dean because they were too busy checking out her ass as she walked away, I reached under the table and pinched Dean on the thigh, looking at him innocently as he frowned back at me.

"Ewww. Dad!" I said at the look John was giving Wendy. I was feeling cheeky. "She's got to be more than half your age," I said, smirking at Cole. "Plus, she's a blonde!"

John snorted and looked at me. "Yeah Bethie, Mary was a blonde," he replied, I noticed that he glossed over the age thing.

"Hey! I'm blonde!" Cole said, frowning at me.

Dean started to chuckle and looked over at Cole. "Yeah short stack, we are all aware of just how blonde you are," he said, which made me chuckle. Poor Cole, he was always throwing blonde jokes at her.

"Jerk!" She snapped at him.

"Bitch!" Dean replied without missing a beat. I snickered, stupid game we all played, somehow Dean always ended up the bitch, but not today.

"What's your point Cole? Not like you're sleeping with Dad. She on the other hand practically laid everything out on our table, and I personally don't want a piece of that," I said with a roll of my eyes. John and Dean looked around the cafe, ignoring the comment, and I winked at Cole. She better seriously appreciate the misleading statements I was tossing out for the sake of Dean and John here. She grinned at me, so I figured she had caught my intention.

"She's right you know. You might want to use protection if you decide to hit that," Cole said with a smirk in John's direction. "You could catch something, and at your age you'll have a harder time fighting off an infection," she added. Dean nearly choked on his drink as he fought down a rising laugh. John cocked an eyebrow at Cole and smiled, not raising to the bait.

"You know girls, we are allowed to have fun once in a while," he said, looking at Wendy as she dropped off the check at our table before sauntering away. "That's fun," he added, pointing at the girl as she went.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. John sighed and moved a few papers around. "Okay, so let's recap," he said, pulling our attention back to the case at hand. "The latest victim was?"

"Sophie Carlton, of Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin. Eighteen years told. Walks into the lake, doesn't walk out," Dean answered, I looked at him curiously, he had been paying attention while running his hand along my thigh earlier.

"I'm telling you, nothing good happens in Wisconsin," I muttered, thinking about how the last time I'd been in Wisconsin had been when I'd been possessed and killed my father. I had been steadfastly trying to avoid the state ever since.

"Authorities dragged the lake, and found nothing. Sophie Carlton was the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either," I added, coming back to the case.

"They had Sophie's funeral two days ago," Cold noted, looking at the obituary.

"A funeral?" Dean asked sceptically.

"Yeah it seemed kinda strange to me too, they buried an empty coffin," Cole said with a shrug.

"You'll find funerals, or memorials, are often held for those who are missing, or where the bodies are never recovered. They say it brings closure," John said.

I thought about this and shook my head, a different but similar topic coming to mind. I was like a dog with a bone whenever I saw John and Cole together, knowing he was breaking his own rules while we – as in Dean, Sam and I – all got punished because he was stubbornly holding on to old belief systems.

"Closure?" I scoffed, shaking my head. "What closure? People don't just disappear Dad, other people just stop looking for them. Or they never start," I finished, narrowing my eyes at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" John asked me in a quiet tone.

"Beth, let's not start on this again..." Dean said warningly. It had been a nice couple of weeks where we'd ignored the discussion that had been taking place before I got tossed out the window. But apparently my attitude had recovered faster than my body.

"No Dean, let your sister speak," John said, turning to stare at me piercingly. I swallowed under the intensity of his look, sitting back in my seat slightly.

"Well you know Sam's been gone for weeks now, and none of us have heard a thing from him. He doesn't take my calls, neither does Bobby, for all we know he could have got an infection and damn well died!" I said, getting it all out. The lack of response from Sam was worrying me, but on the other hand, it was Sam, he could be as stubborn as the rest of us.

Cole and Dean looked at each other, slightly worried.

"Sam reckons he's a big boy now, let him take care of himself," John said in response to me.

"Whatever!" I said with a frown. "You know, you could have shown him a little more support. Not everyone gets a full ride to Stanford!" I shook my head. John looked at me with an annoyed expression.

"Beth, we already went over this. Sam's made his decision. This family isn't good enough for him, he has no need for us – now we have a job to do, and by god you are going to get your head in the game and do it young lady!" I had been appropriately reprimanded, steel gaze and all. I crossed my arms and stared out the window, Dean bumped his leg against mine under the table and I turned my head to see him looking at me with a warning.

"I'm sure Dad is taking care of Sam, Beth," Cole said and sighed, she was probably right but that still didn't make it okay that we hadn't heard from him, or that we were just ploughing ahead as is nothing had happened.

"Don't go bringing that ass into things!" John snapped and I smirked, seemed I wasn't the only one going to be copping John's attitude today. Dean squeezed my thigh as I opened my mouth once again, and then shut it. The look Cole was giving John was good enough anyway, she did not look impressed that despite the fact she currently wasn't talking to her father, she didn't like John having a shot at him.

Wendy walked past the table again, her gaze drawn to John who was returning the look. I huffed, irritated that he was being that outright obvious in front of Cole, and then it reminded me that he was breaking the rules too – getting emotionally involved with someone close, someone who was family. I kicked Cole under the table and glared at the waitress, then John.

"Get your head in the game, Dad..." I said snarkily. Dean choked back another mouthful of coke, half of it spilling on the table as he tried not to spit it across at John and Cole.

John through me a glare and leaned forward. "Enough with the attitude Beth! I'm not gonna warn you again," he said in a low and serious voice that told me I was right on the edge of pushing him too far. I felt Dean's hand pinch above my knee sharply and then it ran softly along my thigh.

I took in a deep breath, closing my eyes and letting Dean's touch soothe me. It was a reminder that despite the fact that I was angry, and John was being a hypocritical ass, we had each other and finally we were getting something right. I sat back in my seat, releasing the breath that I had been holding as I thought about snapping at John again.

"Sorry Dad," I said, biting my lip. John nodded at me, acknowledging the apology but not saying anything further.

"Can we just get out of here? Please?" Dean said suddenly, looking over at John. "Before we all end up in freaking family counselling?!"

"Fine," John said with a weary nod. "Beth, Dean... you guys go speak with the police. Cole, you and I will go talk to the vic's family," he said, giving us our orders. John pulled a set of ID badges out of his jacket and passed them around. I grinned at mine, my name stated that I was Elizabeth Fisher. I glanced over at Dean's who was now Dean Ford and he grinned at me. We were now Han and Leia, totally cool. It wasn't lost on me the irony that one of the others had ended up with Hammill. Thank goodness Dean wasn't Luke, I had enough with the brother issues already.

Cole was staring at her ID badge, wide eyed and grimacing. "God my hair," she said with a shake of her head. "It was a mess."

Dean chuckled. "I know, why do you think you got Mayhew?" He asked. I turned to stare and realised that there was more than just luck to these ID badges, he'd helped make them up. But that had been months ago! All that had been needed was to switch Mayhew's over to Cole in the last few hours. I looked at Dean thoughtfully, either it was a fluke or he'd been thinking about us a lot longer than I suspected, long before Ewan and I were involved, long before Cassie. Dean tossed me a grin when John wasn't looking, winking at me.

I smiled and looked back at my ID again. Cole had been contemplating Dean's statement about Mayhew, but I think it was kind of lost on her, she wasn't exactly into the same films that we were. She looked up at Dean with a shrug as if to say that she didn't get the reference – I did: Mayhew was the last name of the actor who had played our favourite shaggy beast.

Dean laughed and let out a Wookiee call; that she did recognise. "Hey!" She exclaimed angrily. "Asshole! I am not Chewbacca! Jeez Dean! Freaking Chewie, really?!" She said glaring at him. Dean chuckled and nodded, clearly pleased with the reaction, it was even better than what he would have gotten from Sam, the obvious original intended victim of his humour.

Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin

Dean's POV

I pulled the Impala up in front of the police station and looked over at Beth riding shotgun.

"You ready for this?" I queried, looking at her. She was claiming to feel a lot better, but it had still only been a day since I'd strained those ribs again. Beth smiled over at me and nodded.

"Yes! God, I need to do something. I haven't felt so useless in the entire time I've known you," she said. "I'm not used to sitting still like this anymore," she grinned.

"Yeah, tell me about it," I nodded. Even when Dad had been laid up with a broken ankle three years back, he'd sent us out on hunts. I was kind of surprised that he and I hadn't been hunting during Beth's downtime. Just went to show how worried he'd been about her. Or maybe he was getting old, I chuckled ruefully. If he was, he sure wasn't about to admit to it.

Beth's phone rang and she answered it, looking at me and mouthing Dad . I waited to see what he wanted before we got inside. A brief conversation later and she was hanging up.

"Dad says Will Carlton saw something grab his sister, so we need to look into that too," she said and I nodded.

"All right then, let's do this," I said, getting out of the car and slamming the door shut.

When we got inside we were met by the Sheriff Devins himself, you have to love these small towns. We flashed him our badges and explained we were looking into the Carlton drowning and he nodded, showing us through the little swing door into the back of the station.

"Now, I'm sorry, but why does the Wildlife Service care about an accidental drowning?" Devins asked as he led us back to his office.

"Are you sure it's accidental?" Beth asked. "Will Carlton saw something grab his sister."

"Like what?" Devins asked, glancing back at her. He turned to face us, stepping back into his office and then turned, gesturing to the seats in front of his desk. "Here, sit, please." He walked behind his desk as we both took a chair and looked at him. "There are no indigenous carnivores in that lake," he said, looking over at us.

He stayed standing, looking down at us, his hands stretched out at his sides in confusion. "There's nothing even big enough to pull down a person, unless it was the Loch Ness Monster," he said with an amused expression.

"Yeah," I said with a chuckle. "Right."

"Will Carlton was traumatised, and sometimes the mind plays tricks. Still..." Devins sat down and leaned his elbows on his desk. "We dragged that entire lake. We even ran a sonar sweep, just to be sure, and there was nothing down there."

"That's weird, though, I mean that's the third missing body this year," I pointed out to him.

"I know," Devins said with a nod. "These are people from my town. These are people I care about."

"I know," I said, nodding, I got it. Small towns. There were some good things about them, and some bad things too.

"Anyway..." Devins said, throwing his hands in the air and sitting back. "All this... it won't be a problem much longer," he said with a sigh.

"What do you mean?" I asked with a frown.

"Well, the dam, of course," Devins said, looking at us like we should know better.

"Of course, the dam. It's, uh, it sprung a leak," I said, glancing at Beth and taking a guess.

"It's falling apart," Devin corrected me. "And the Feds won't give us a grant to repair it, so they've opened the spillway. In another six months, there won't be much of a lake. There won't be much of a town, either." He paused to assess us, raising an eyebrow. "But as Federal Wildlife, you already knew that."

"Exactly," I said enthusiastically, nodding.

There was a knock at the door and a young woman stuck her head around the door. She looked a bit like Beth, pretty, brunette, leggy.

"Sorry, am I interrupting?" She asked with a tentative smile. "I can come back later."

I stood up and Beth followed my example, tossing me a curious look.

"Agents, this is my daughter," Devins said. I held out my hand with a smile.

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Dean," I said, she took my hand and shook it.

"Andrea Barr. Hi," she said with a smile, then looked at Beth who was still gazing at me curiously like I'd just done something wrong. Since when was a little harmless smiling wrong? I cleared my through under the intense scrutiny Beth was giving me.

"This is Beth," I said and watched as they too shook hands.

"They're from the Wildlife Service. About the lake," Devins said, Andrea nodded.

"Oh," she said quietly, a flicker of something else crossing her face. A little boy walked into the room looking sullen and quiet.

"Oh, hey there. What's your name?" I asked, smiling down at him. The kid didn't answer, instead turning and walking back out into the main part of the station. Andrea turned with an apologetic smile and followed him.

"His name is Lucas," Devins said quietly. We watched as Andrea settled Lucas in at a desk, giving him a box of crayons to play with.

"Is he okay?" Beth asked with a concerned look on her face.

"My grandson's been through a lot. We all have," Devins answered cryptically, standing and going to the door of the office. He looked back at us, indicating that it was time for us to leave, we nodded and walked out toward the front of the office.

"Well, if there's anything else I can do for you, please let me know." He said as John and Cole walked in the front of the station.

Beth waved them over and turned to face Devins. "Sheriff Devins, Andrea Barr," she said, turning to face us. "This is another team working with us. Agents Mayhew and Hammill." Devins shook Dad's hand and nodded, the two of them appeared to be sizing each other up.

"So we need to find that motel you were talking about Nicole," Beth said, and I couldn't help but notice that she used Cole's full name, we sometimes did that, but it was kind of rare, Cole didn't look real impressed about it. "Lakefront, I think you said it was?"

"That's right," Cole nodded, standing with a hand on her hip.

"It's just around the corner," Andrea offered, pointing in the direction we would need to take. "It's about two blocks South." I looked at Andrea and did an internal cringe. Beth was going to kill me, but it was the perfect opportunity to throw a distraction at Dad. That waitress in the cafe had given me a couple of ideas, I just hadn't run them past Beth. I probably should have, now that I was going to act on my plan.

"Two..." I said, faking a confused look. "Would you mind showing us?" I asked with a smile.

Andrea snickered, "You want me to walk you two blocks?"

"Not if it's any trouble," I said, but I gave her my sultry pout, it always won them over.

Andrea scrunched up her nose and smiled. "I'm headed that way anyway," she said with a smile.

"I'll be back to pick up Lucas at three," she told her father, and then she turned to Lucas and gave him a big hug to which the boy didn't respond, preferring to continue drawing. "We're going to the park, okay sweetie?" The boy didn't respond.

"Thanks again," Beth said to Devins with a smile as we prepared to leave. We all exited, and it must have looked like a freaking parade, the four of us following behind Andrea.

"So... cute kid," I said, walking up beside Andrea.

"Thanks," she said with a quick glance over at me.

We crossed the street and I lamely continued on in my act. "Kids are the best, huh?" I asked. I cringed a little at the pathetic attempt at a pick up, but at the same time, I didn't actually want it to work, it just had to seem like I was trying.

I hazarded a glance back at Beth, she was taking it fairly well given that I had given her no warning whatsoever, Cole's face on the other hand... she looked like she was about to use me for target practice, she gave me two thumbs down and I grimaced, mentally assessing her access to a knife, and my crown jewels.

We came to a stop, literally a two minute walk from the police station and Andrea gestured toward the motel in front of us.

"There it is. Like I said, two blocks," she commented with a smile at me.

"Thanks," Dad said.

Andrea turned and looked at me with a smile. "Must be hard with your sense of direction. Never being able to find your way to a decent pick up line." She grinned and then ran off before I had a chance to respond. "Enjoy your stay!"

Dad was looking at me and shaking his head. "Kids are the best? Son surely I've taught you better than that," he said with a raised eyebrow.

"You don't even like kids," Beth commented, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at me.

"I love kids!" I said, looking at her like she was mad.

Cole laughed. "Name three children that you even know," she challenged me. Oh that was easy. I opened my mouth and prepared to rattle off at least a dozen names. Yet nothing came to mind. I frowned, shrugging at Cole and coming up with nothing.

Cole snickered, walking past me. "I'm thinking!" I called out to her, but she just laughed and kept on walking.

Motel Room

Beth's POV

We booked into a room and I thought I detected a slight sigh of disappointment when Dean noticed the three-seater couch tucked into the corner. I tossed him an amused glance, it's not like we would have been able to sleep in the same bed anyway, Cole always bunked in with me when we stayed together, which would have meant Dean had to share with John if there wasn't a couch – he should be happy.

I threw my bag on to the couch as an excuse to stand near him, rifling through the contents. John and Cole were setting up her laptop on the other side of the room where there was a table by the window. I figured they were using the same excuse to be near each other as I was, this was going to be a long night.

"Walk us two blocks?" I asked quietly with a raised eyebrow, looking at him.

Dean glanced over at me with a chagrined look. "Well I had to think of something, Dad will eventually start wondering why I'm not hitting on anything with two legs you know," he said. I nodded, I had been wondering what we were going to do about that too. "It's suspicious enough that I just spent the last two weeks holed up in a motel room watching chick flicks with you instead of... well... you know..." he said, his voice trailing off as John walked past us to the bathroom.

The door closed and I brushed my hand along his cheek. "Yeah I know, I get it," I said softly. He sighed and pulled me in to him, holding me as he placed a kiss to my temples.

"This whole thing sucks ass," he whispered, and I nodded. But we needed more time – time to basically work up the courage to defy him in one of the worst ways we possibly could. The toilet flushed and we pulled apart, going back to our bags. When John exited, I grabbed my toiletries and headed for the bathroom, Dean followed suit.

I went about setting up the bathroom space how I liked it. A glass with my toothbrush and toothpaste, my brush, a little bag with other essentials like deodorant, razors, tweezers and make up: not that I wore that very often. I tucked my hair dryer in to one of the drawers with the bag to get them out of the way. Dean unceremoniously dumped his toothbrush on the sink and was done, it made me chuckle.

To buy us a little more alone time I decided to brush my teeth while Dean made small talk about the bathroom loud enough so John could hear while his hands ran along my sides as he used any excuse to touch me. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary for us, inspecting motel rooms and comparing them with others we'd stayed in was sometimes a good way to pass the boredom.

When John and Cole were sufficiently engrossed in whatever they were doing and I'd finished brushing my teeth Dean leaned into me, pushing me back against the tiled wall. He kissed me behind the bathroom door and I fought back a moan.

"You know I'd never do anything about it, right?" He asked quietly, I assumed he was talking about the attempted pick up lines and hitting on girls. I nodded. "Good," he said with a smile, claiming my lips again.

"Beth!" John's voice called out and I jumped. Dean pulled back quickly, and grabbed his own toothbrush, grumbling about the small amount of space in the bathroom loudly and how he had to share with two girls now, not just one.

I left the bathroom rolling my eyes at him. "Whine, whine, whine, how do you think I feel having to share with you guys all the time?" I asked, and John smirked, shaking his head at me.

"Beth, you're coming with me to get some food while Cole and Dean research," he said to me and I frowned. Since when was it a two-person job to get food? I sighed, I was in for another lecture obviously. It was always the way.

"Yes, sir," I said quietly.

Cole raised her eyebrow at me and then shook her head, going back to the computer. Dean came out of the bathroom looking at us curiously, he hadn't missed the two-person food run comment.

"Hey, see if they have pie?" He asked me and I chuckled, some things would never change.

John and I left shortly after, walking down the street toward the shops. He was silent and while this wasn't unusual for John, it also didn't bode well either, especially given the attitude I'd been giving him lately.

"So are you going to tell me what else is bothering you?" John said finally and I glanced over at him, tossing him a frown.

"What do you mean?" I asked, playing it dumb, because it could mean any number of things where John was concerned.

"Just wondering if there's something you need to tell me," John said quietly, stopping and looking at me.

I swallowed and looked up at him, this was my father, my champion, he'd dragged me from the darkest period of my life and helped me to live again. Was I really going to lie to him? He waited, looking at me.

"I have a secret," I confessed to him, carefully choosing my words. I actually had two.

John smirked and led me by the arm to a park bench, sitting us down. He turned worried eyes to me.

"I guessed as much Beth," he said. "Are you going to tell me what it is?"

I shook my head. "I really don't think you want me to tell you," I said honestly. He looked surprised at me.

"You're not in any trouble?" He asked. I shook my head.

John scrubbed a hand across his face. I was having a hard time believing we'd even gotten this far in the conversation, normally he'd just order me to tell him and that would be the end of it.

"You know I really do want you kids to be happy Beth," he said quietly, looking across the road with a sad expression. "I'm not deliberately going out of my way to make your lives miserable."

"I know," I said quietly.

He was watching a group of people walk past as he talked. "But the rules are there..."

"...for a reason," I finished for him. He looked at me. "Yeah, I know." I said.

I looked down at my hands, thinking things over. Should I tell him now? Or later? There seemed to be more than one conversation occurring here, on so many levels. I was tired of the constant double meanings.

"Dad, I'm twenty-one years old now, you know?" I said, taking his hands in mine. "Dean, he's twenty-three! We do our best for you, every day, we follow your rules the best we can. We'll do anything for you."

He nodded at me, taking in what I had said. "So you have to trust me when I say you're not ready to hear what I have to say yet. All right? You don't want this secret out in the open, because if it does come out, things will change."

John took all this in and after a moment he looked up and smiled at me, that dashing, heart-breaking smile that Cole said left her weak at the knees every time. I wasn't falling for it, Dean tried it on me every day.

"You've really grown up. I don't think I noticed until now," he said thoughtfully, looking at my face like it had suddenly changed.

"Okay," he conceded. "Keep your little secret, for now." His eyes told me that he'd be coming to get it out of me sooner than I wanted. I was itching to get back to Dean and talk to him, I didn't want to say a thing until we'd examined all the options. If push came to shove, and we weren't ready, I'd decided I was going to out his relationship with Cole, that ought to give him pause for thought.

Motel Room

Dean's POV

Cole was reading through research while I decided to raid Beth's bag and take back some of my clothes that she'd stolen. I chuckled to myself, shaking my head. The girl was like a squirrel, only instead of nuts she hoarded hoodies, and t-shirts, all of them mine.

"So there's the three victims this year..." Cole said, trailing off as she read.

I looked over at her, pausing in my rummaging. "And before that?"

"Yeah, six more spread out over the past thirty five years," she answered. "Those bodies were never recovered either. If there's something out there it's picking up its pace."

Tossing Beth's prayer candle on the bed, I reached in to the bag looking for a few more t-shirts. Man the girl had some stuff. My hand hit something hard and I withdrew it, looking curiously at the little journal I'd never seen before, this wasn't her hunting journal, that much was clear. "So what do we have, a lake monster on a binge?" I asked, glancing back at Cole and angling so she couldn't see what I was up to.

"This whole lake monster theory just bugs me," Cole said, staring at the screen. I frowned and dropped the journal back into the bag, turning to lean on the table, looking over Cole's shoulder. She paused to look at me and shifted away a little like I had cooties; I shook my head. What the hell was up with that girl? "Why?" I asked, looking back at the screen.

"Loch Ness, Lake Champlain. There are literally hundreds of eye witness accounts, but here nothing. Whatever is out there, no one is living to talk about it," she said with a frustrated sigh, sitting back in her chair.

I pointed over her shoulder at the screen while I read through the victim's list. "Wait. Barr. Christopher Barr. Where have I heard that name before?" I asked, thinking hard. It had been recently too.

"Christopher Barr," Cole said, reading from another article. "Was the victim in May, oh. Christopher Barr was Andrea's husband, Lucas' father. Apparently he took Lucas out swimming, and Lucas was on a floating raft, it was about two hours before anyone rescued him."

I stood up, frowning at this new information. The Sheriff had said they'd all been through a lot, it was starting to make sense now.

"Maybe we have an eye witness after all," Cole said and I nodded. I didn't like the idea of trying to get any information out of Lucas though, the kid clearly wasn't talking. I'd see that before.

"No wonder the kid is so freaked out," I said, thinking about when Mom had died in the house fire. "Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over."

Cole leaned back in her chair, a troubled look on her face. "We would know better than anyone," she said quietly. She was right, we would. Our two families had been through hell and back. I sat down on the bed and looked at her, feeling a lot of different emotions running through me.

"You know, I barely remember that night," I said to her. "Just images, really, feelings. The fire, the heat... then carrying Sam down the stairs and outside." Cole nodded at me, her eyes looking similarly possessed by the past – she'd been a lot older than me when her mom had been possessed, but it had no less impact on her. She'd been attacked by her own mother, and Bobby had to wrestle the knife out from her and then he'd stabbed her.

"Yeah," she said quietly, looking at her hands. "I know what you mean."

"I don't know what's worse," I admitted, frowning.

"What do you mean?" She asked, coming to sit beside me on the bed.

"Well Beth, she was a teenager when it happened to her, and it still haunts her. The amount of times she's woken up screaming from a nightmare..." I shook my head, it was too many to count, and heart breaking to watch. "But at least she remembers, you know? Half the time, I don't even know why I'm still fighting."

Cole sighed and leaned against me, her presence a comfort in and of itself. We might fight like cats and dogs, but at the end of the day, she'd been a part of my life since I was ten years old, that's a lot of history going back. Even if she had kicked me in the crown jewels almost the moment we met.

"You know, I've had one job and one job only since that night. Take care of Sammy. When Beth came, she got added to the list, but it's not the same – she takes care of me too, you know?" I asked Cole. She nodded her understanding with a smile. I stared at the wall, thinking about our lives and everything we'd been through, how it all seemed to be falling apart right now.

"You're allowed to let him go," Cole said quietly and I looked at her surprised. One of the biggest issues I had coming up now was that my job had changed. Sam was gone, how was I supposed to protect him now?

"I'm not sure I know how to," I confessed, looking at my hands. "Beth keeps saying he's still just a kid, and I argue with her, he's nineteen years old! But she's right. He is just a kid to us, he always will be."

"He'll be okay, Dean," Cole said, bumping her shoulder against mine.

"Yeah... maybe," I said. "But will we?"

"Well, you know, maybe you guys need some time, just for the two of you – you've got this new relationship to explore, Sam has college to explore, maybe it'll be good for everyone," Cole said. "Figure out what Beth means to you now the pair of you don't have to watch over Sam all the time. Have some fun!" She looked at me with a smile and I felt a moment of trepidation.

"Yeah, thanks," I said, not really knowing how to respond to that.

"Just don't go hurting my girl!" Cole said in a warning tone to me. I stared at her in surprise, my jaw almost hitting the ground.

"You kidding?" I asked.

"Well, you don't exactly have the reputation of a virginal saint," she quipped and I looked down at the floor, she was right about that.

"Don't go pushing her away anymore," Cole said. Now that was laughable. I looked up at her with an amused expression.

"Me?" I said with a snicker. "You think I've been the one pushing her away?" Cole raised a questioning eyebrow at me and I found myself getting defensive.

"Dude you have so got that backwards," I said with a laugh. "I've loved that girl since she was sixteen years old, god maybe even earlier than that, she's the one who's been running away all this time," I said.

"Did Dean Winchester just use the word love?" Cole said with a grin and I looked at her. She'd just reminded me why I didn't do chick flick moments. These last couple of weeks had turned me soft, that would have to change. I shoved at her and shook my head, standing up and moving across to the mini-bar in the room.

"Shut up!" I said for lack of a better comeback. I pulled out a bottle of whiskey and poured myself a drink.

"Have you told her?" Cole asked, still lounging on the bed. I shook my head.

"Has she said it?" She asked. I looked back at her, nodding my head slightly at her.

Cole sighed and threw her hands in the air, standing up to pour herself a drink from the same whiskey bottle.

"You need to tell her Dean," she said.

"She knows," I said. The whole thing was just making me feel uncomfortable, it was complete chick flick nonsense. Beth knew how I felt about her, I didn't have to tell her while down on bended knee holding roses for her to understand that.

"God what is it with you Winchesters and your damn inability to tell people how you feel?" Cole muttered, taking a gulp of her drink. I looked at her, curious.

"What?" I asked, starting to think there was more to that statement than me telling Beth about how I felt.

"Nevermind," Cole said a little dismissively, walking back to her computer. "Just trust me Dean. You need to tell her, say the damn words." I looked her, contemplating what she had just said, and took a long drink from my glass. I grimaced and then poured myself another. Christ women were complicated.

Motel Room

Beth's POV

When we returned to the motel room, Dean and Cole had come up with a lead, Andrea's son Lucas. We decided that a couple of us should go and question Lucas and since it was almost 3pm, we knew where to find them: the park. I had tried to steal away with Dean, but John was having none of it.

"You look pale, Beth, you need to have a rest," he had said, and then he and Dean left, taking a couple of pieces of pizza with them.

I decided to take advantage of the fact that Cole and I were the only ones there, and take a shower. When I walked out of the bathroom I found Cole standing in the middle of the motel room, looking thoughtful.

"What's up?" I asked.

"So, where are we all sleeping tonight?" She asked, and I chuckled. I'd already been giving that a lot of thought.

"Guess you and I are sharing," I said to her with a grin.

"Yeah," Cole said with a nod. "Damn!" Her facial expression was so disappointed that it made me laugh.

"You've been spoiled; try living like this for a few years every damn day then you can talk to me about sexual tension," I said. It was sheer torture some nights, especially the nights where Dean had to sleep on the couch.

"I don't know how you do it," Cole muttered, shaking her head at me. She took one more look around the room and then nodded like she had come to a conclusion. "Okay, I want the side of the bed facing John," she said with a grin.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed my bag off the couch, tossing it by the wall. "Done." I said.

"Will Dean sleep in with John? Why does that seem just... wrong?" She asked. I laughed and shook my head.

"He'll take the couch," I said. "It's long enough." I went to the cupboard in the room and opened it, finding extra sheets and a blanket and pillow. Perfect. Pulling them down I started making up the couch for Dean, tucking the sheets around the cushions and then fluffing up his pillow.

"You're like their mother hen," Cole commented, watching me all the while.

I shrugged, and was relieved to find that my shoulder was feeling much better. The bed making had definitely taken a bit out of me though, I was starting to feel quite tired.

"Should see us on laundry day," I said with a laugh. Speaking of laundry, I looked down at my bag, curious. It had seemed a hell of a lot lighter when I'd just picked it up. I grabbed it, putting it on the bed and started to rifle through it. Half my clothes were gone!

Correction: all of Dean's clothes that I had conveniently redistributed for my own use were gone. That sneaky man! I rounded to his bag and unzipped it, chuckling when I saw some of my favourite t-shirts that belonged to him. I grabbed them back, along with a hoodie and returned them to my bag, zipping his up again. Oh this game was going to go on all week, I could tell.

My hand brushed across my little journal and I frowned. It was usually right down the bottom of my bag. I bit my lip, pulling it out. It didn't look like it had been opened, but that didn't mean much. Had Dean read it? I turned it over and over in my hands, contemplating. Well, it's not like anything was a secret anymore, but still, a lot of it was my inner most thoughts around him.

Cole looked over at me, picking through her own bag. "Soooo... you and Dean?" She said curiously.

"Yeah?" I asked, glancing at her. "What about us?"

"Anything you want to tell me?" She asked. I looked at her. What was with all the damn questions today? Between her and John I was ready to weep.

"Not really, why?" I said elusively. "Anything you think I should be telling you?"

"Oh, I don't know," Cole said, sinking down to lie on the bed, looking up at me. "Just seemed like you'd tell me when you go and say 'I love you' to the man of your dreams," she said. I gaped at her, just what had she and Dean been talking about while we'd been gone?

"What? He told you that?" I asked, feeling the heat creep into my cheeks. I hadn't told Cole because of a couple of reasons, one was her ridiculous romantic teasing side, I'd never live it down; second was that she'd been incommunicado for a good month.

"Well, I had to practically drag it out of him," she said.

I decided to change the subject. "What about you and Dad?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I could go tit for tat on this one.

"What about us?" She asked with a sly look. I shook my head, moving around to grab Cole by the arms, pushing her back on the bed and climbing on top to pin her to the bed. A pain shot through my side as I accommodated the awkward position, but I ignored it as best I could.

"Tell me!" I laughed and Cole giggled at me like a hyena.

"I told him, okay?" She said, looking at me with a grin that spread from one side of her face to the other.

"And?!" I asked, wanting to know more.

Cole rolled her eyes at me. "First time he said it was on a drunken phone call to me three nights ago, why do you think I'm here?" She asked. Ah. Suddenly her reappearance around that night John had passed out was starting to make sense.

She started to breathe a little harder and pushed against my grip. "Can't... breathe..." she spluttered at me, but I was fairly certain she was over exaggerating. Just the same, I eased up on her a little, sitting back slightly to give her room to take in a breath or two.

"So tell me," Cole said with a smirk. "How does Dean like this position?" The question caught me off guard and I gasped, rolling off her to look back a little sheepishly. Cole was a notorious flirt, of course she'd want to know.

"I wouldn't know," I said to her, feeling the red blush creep into my cheeks.

"What? You guys haven't...?" She looked at me curiously and I shook my head.

Cole's facial expression was one of mixed horror and total amusement. "Damn girl, what the hell are you waiting for?!" She asked.

I crossed my arms, flashing her a frustrated look – she had a lot more autonomy than Dean and I did to run around and get it on with John. No one questioned where John was when he disappeared.

"Well, we've kind of not really been alone to take advantage of the fact, or whenever we have been, well I was in too much pain from the fall...or we were interrupted," I said. The whole thing was a big disaster. I touched my side tentatively where it was still aching, and Cole nodded.

"Ouch," she said sympathetically. "Well that sucks, John and I pretty much go at it like rabbits whenever we're around each other," she said, bringing my attention back to the night before.

"Ewwww! I don't need to know that!" I said with a screwed up nose, fighting not to put my hands over my ears and start humming with my eyes tightly shut. Cole grabbed my arm and led me back to the bed, a wicked look in her eyes. She pushed me back gently, trying to be careful of my injuries, I hissed a little at the pinch in my ribs.

This time Cole was straddling me, holding my arms above my head, I lay very still, so far, nothing was hurting. "John likes it like this," Cole said with a grin.

"Oh my god Cole, you're scarring me for life here!" I said, closing my eyes and forcing the image out of my head. I already knew what it sounded like, I didn't need a visual image to go with it!

"Suck it up sunshine!" Cole said. "I gotta talk to someone about this or I'm gonna die!" She laughed and I grinned at her.

"Looks like you'll be lonely tonight, can't say Dad has a plausible excuse for getting you in his bed," I teased her with a grin, she groaned out loud.

"I'm sure we'll figure something out," she said confidently. I raised an eyebrow, well Cole was the champion of sneaking out undetected.

Cole stared at me and I could tell by her facial expression that there was something going on inside that devious brain of hers.

"You can't tell me you haven't looked at John and thought about how freaking hot he is, at least once?" Cole said and I almost died on the spot. That was my dad she was talking about! She looked at me knowingly, smirking. "Maybe when you were first with them? Before he became more like your dad?"

I sucked in a breath, looking away from her because she was going to see it in my eyes.

"You did!" She said triumphantly. I looked back at her and let out a breath, rolling my eyes.

"Shut up!" I said, laughing. "Well he is like an older version of Dean you know." I said, shaking my head. It had been a passing fancy because within about a week of joining them I'd been firmly and steadfastly smitten with Dean, but for a tiny moment it had been there. "Oh I'm so going to Hell for even thinking that!" I muttered to Cole's delighted laughter.

The door opened and Dean waltzed in, I turned to look at him and his eyes widened with a grin. "Well, hello ladies...when the boys are away, the girls will play..." he said about the position we were currently in, running his eyes along the length of our bodies.

John frowned at him and shook his head. "That would be slightly amusing Dean if it weren't for the fact that you're ogling off your sisters," he said, and he clipped Dean at the back of his head.

Cole was grinning at John and she started to climb off me as he walked past.

"Ladies," John said with a grin, putting a bottle of whiskey on the table. I grimaced, I was hardly fifteen anymore, and looking at John now was like looking at my own father – that's all he was to me.

I rolled off the bed with Cole's help, groaning at the pain that shot through my side. It would be a relief when I was back to my usual self. John handed me a glass of whiskey upon hearing the groan and I downed it in one hit, letting the sting course along my throat with a sigh.

"Thanks Dad," I said, flashing him a smile which he returned silently.

"Easy duties for you this case Bethie," he said. "I don't want you re-opening that wound or doing anything worse." I nodded and sat down at the table, helping myself to some of the untouched pizza.

"So how'd the chat with Lucas go?" I asked, looking over at Dean.

"Yeah, uh, pretty pointless really," Dean said, grabbing a piece of pizza. "But me and the kid bonded, he's a good kid, just really messed up. He drew me this picture," he handed me a drawing of a cabin by the lake.

"And he doesn't talk at all?" Cole asked.

"No. Post-traumatic stress," John answered.

We all knew a little bit about that, all of us had been through some form of trauma in our lives, some more than others. I grimaced, poor Lucas, it was never easy when kids got caught in the middle of supernatural occurrences.

Motel Room
Several Hours Later

Beth's POV

I woke up to the movement of Cole sitting up in bed, gasping for air. She clung to the blanket she'd pulled with her and looked around the darkened room, fighting off a panic attack.

"You okay?" I whispered to her, not wanting to wake the others up. Cole turned startled eyes to me and then nodded.

"Yeah, go back to sleep baby girl," she said, using the nickname everyone except Dean and Sam used for me.

I stared at her a moment, and then nodded, rolling back on to my side and closing my eyes. I felt Cole climb out of bed and then there was the sound of the keys jingling as she took them from the table and went outside.

I hesitated, wondering if I should follow. Cole wasn't one for talking about her nightmares much, but sometimes she just needed to know someone was there for her. I found myself drifting in and out of sleep, and when I looked at the clock again it had been a good twenty minutes since she had left the room and she hadn't come back. I started to worry, and decided I should check it out. The room was still dark, and I fumbled around for the end of the bed, using it to gauge where I was in the room.

Quietly I crossed past John's bed, and found the door, opening it and slipping outside.

"Oh!" I exclaimed when I got outside. I stared, finding John already outside and in an intimate embrace with Cole. Intimate was putting it lightly. I turned away from the sight of John holding the young blonde as he suckled on her nipple while she was sitting on the back of the Impala.

John pulled back at the sight of me, covering Cole up with her jacket and looking sheepishly at the ground.. "I was just coming out to check on you... oh, no, I so didn't just... oh! God!" I was speechless and found myself rambling in my haste to explain just why it was that I'd walked out there. "Man! You guys should give someone a little warning."

"Sorry," Cole laughed at me and I rolled my eyes. She didn't look sorry from where I was standing. John was completely silent, and I had a moment of satisfaction, realising that I now had one up on him. He now knew that I knew their little secret.

I looked at Cole grinning like a cheshire cat from the trunk of the Impala and I shook my head, waving my hand in the air. "Carry on..." I said with a sigh, and I walked back into the motel room.

I shut the door behind me with a grimace. I was hardly a prude, but at the end of the day you just don't want to see your father in an intimate embrace with your best friend. It just wasn't quite sitting right with me. I peeked out the curtain and saw they'd resumed their attentions on each other, as I watched, they climbed into the back seat of the Impala and I grimaced again. Gross! I didn't want to think about it. Dean would die if he knew what was going on the back seat of his precious Baby.

Dean.

That thought picked my mood up a little and I let the curtain fall closed. I raced across the room and knelt next to him at the side of the couch. His eyes were closed and his breathing had settled into a rhythm so I was fairly certain he was asleep. I grinned, and placed a few kisses into the crook of his neck. At the touch he groaned and shifted slightly, still asleep.

I trailed kisses along his jawline and then brushed my lips across his, taking his lower lip in my teeth and nipping slightly. He startled awake and I had a moment to rethink my plan when he suddenly shoved a knife up against my throat. I froze, watching him with a smirk, I knew he had control of his actions, but I wouldn't want to make any sudden movements.

Dean blinked sleepily and then seeing it was me, he relaxed and returned the knife under his pillow.

"Hey," he said with a smile, reaching out to smooth his fingers along my neck where the knife had been. "Something wrong?"

I shook my head and glanced back at my door.

"Kiss me," I said to him, and he frowned, looking around the room.

"Where is everyone?" He asked.

"Outside, Cole had a nightmare, Dad's with her," I said, well I technically wasn't lying.

"You gotta kiss me right now and make me forget, I just saw the most disgusting thing." I said with a laugh.

"What?" He asked, still lying on the couch and brushing his hand along my neck.

"Some old dude going at this young girl out on a car," I said with a grimace. Again, I wasn't technically lying, John was old... compared to us.

"Wow, you serious? Did Dad see?" He asked with a chuckle.

"I'm fairly certain he knows about it," I said with a grin. "Now… kiss me!" Dean grinned and leaned in to me, sliding his hand around the base of my neck.

A deep moan escaped from his throat as he pulled me against him, leaning in to the kiss. I ran my right arm over his side then up his back, sliding my hand under the t-shirt he was wearing so I could feel his bare skin under my hands. I groaned at the sensation, so acutely aware of how close he was to me.

Dean kissed me languidly, taking it slow and deep. I reached up to cup his face with my left hand, moaning at the taste of him, the feel of his lips as they traced along my own, his tongue sliding in to meet mine as we connected and caressed each other, drinking up every little sound that escaped our throats.

With a short groan, Dean sat up, continuing the kiss as he pulled me up beside him. He broke away long enough to settle me in his lap with my legs draped over his thighs while I leaned against the arm of the couch.

A soft yet calloused hand trailed the length of my bare legs, short bursts of electricity running along the skin of my outer thigh from the hem of my shorts and down to my knee. He teased the sensitive place under my knee and I giggled, ticklish. He smiled at my giggle and smoothed his hand further along my calves, down to my ankle, then stroked softly back along my leg. My breathing started to quicken, revelling as his touch caused my skin to raise in goosebumps. The simplest thing and he had me quivering beneath him.

I scooted further into his lap, feeling his arousal pressing below me. His skin was hot to the touch as I licked along his collarbone and up his neck, lingering my lips along his jawline, caressing his chin with my cheek, the stubble from today's growth only adding to the sensations that were threatening to engulf me. I felt my navel contract at the mere thought of him inside of me.

Reaching down I moved Dean's hand back to the hem of my shorts, moaning softly, guiding him where I knew he was hesitating to go, this was all so new to our relationship. I felt his hand start to slide under the fabric of my shorts, his fingers brushing along my inner thigh and I shivered in anticipation, moaning into his kisses. His thumb pressed up against my core, brushing along the material of my undies and I felt a gush of wetness spread out from me. I shifted, allowing him slightly better access as he broke away from the kiss, turning his attentions to sucking on the soft, tender skin in the crook of my neck.

He started to inch a finger inside of me, moaning when he found me wet and ready. I gasped with delight, arching up to meet his touch, leaning my head back against the arm of the couch while he slipped further inside me. He'd never taken things so far before, I found it intoxicating, years of wanting it, imagining it, and here it was. At the catch of my breath he plunged a second finger in, massaging me, thrusting with his touch. I groaned loudly, feeling a soft wave of pleasure course through me and I arched against him. He dragged his fingers back out over my clitoris, sending a deep shudder down my body. I whimpered at the loss of contact.

Dean shifted, moving to kneel over me; sliding me down to lie on the couch, I looked up at him as he laid his body along mine. He kissed me again, his tongue meeting mine with an urgent fervour as his thigh slid in between my legs, his soft bare skin brushing warmly between me against my throbbing, aching centre. I could feel his arousal pressed firmly against my thigh and I moaned just thinking about it.

"Oh God," he said breathlessly, kissing my lips softly and hovering his mouth over mine. "We so don't have time for this," he complained, and I glanced over at the door. Just how long had John and Cole been?

I groaned, he was probably right. Damn it. However I wasn't ready to give up on our fun just already.

"Don't stop just yet," I said softly, and I slid my hand down into his shorts, grasping his erection firmly in my hand, delighting in the sounds it brought from him. His eyes dilated and he groaned, bucking against my attentions. I dragged my fingers along the underside of him, flicking my thumb across his tip, and he shuddered with pleasure, holding himself above me.

"You're going to be the death of me, I swear," he said with a grin, kissing me as his fingers found their way back inside me and I struggled to focus, the sensations drawing me back into the pleasures of my own body. We forgot about the danger of being walked in on and succumbed to the moment, rocking against each other, drawing out the touches that had us quivering with sweet surrender.

I felt myself starting to peak and groaned into his shoulder as I kept one hand pumping him, my other arm I wrapped around his back, pulling him down to me. The shift in angles caused him to unbalance a little and he grabbed my side to reposition. I gasped a short painful breath as he pressed sharply against where I'd been impaled.

Dean froze, instantly aware of my discomfort.

"Sorry, uh sorry, are you okay?" He asked, pulling back immediately.

"Yeah, ow, it just hurt a little, I'm okay," I said to him, nodding. I had let go of him, just as he was now checking me over with his hands, our passions taking a back-seat in the wake of the pain that had shot through my side as he'd pushed on me. It was just as well because there was a rattle at the door and without any further warning Cole walked in with a self-satisfied look on her face, John right behind her.

"Uh, yeah," Dean said, shifting again to try and hide his level of arousal, which had fortunately fallen to a degree. "Yeah, it definitely looks pretty raw and red," he said, lifting my top slightly to peer at my wound, talking like this was the most normal thing in the world to walk into.

"Something wrong Bethie?" John asked, and I looked over at him, he seemed distracted, but he turned concerned eyes to me.

"Yeah, I mean, no, I just rolled over and got this stabbing feeling all of a sudden, I thought maybe I'd pulled something in my sleep." I said with a shrug. Cole walked over to me with a smug look on her face, glancing between the two of us and leaning down to look at the wound. It gave Dean a chance to move back and sit at the other end of the couch.

She lifted my top to inspect the wound. "Everything looks okay, probably just some random nerve pain or something," she said dismissively, looking up at John. "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning," she chuckled, glancing back at me.

I nodded and smiled, looking over at Dean who was doing his best to appear unconcerned. "Well, I'm going to go back to bed, thanks for taking a look guys," I said, standing up from the couch with a grimace. I had no idea how I was going to get to sleep with the recent acts of teasing and play still fresh in my mind. I thought about a shower, but Dean beat me to it, taking some fresh clothes and a towel with him.

I resigned myself to bed, trying to ignore the now uncomfortable feeling of my arousal seeping through the fabric of my undies and along my thigh. Damn.

I shook my head at Cole as she climbed back into bed with me, turning on to her side to once again resume staring at John as he took the other bed. I rolled my eyes at the pair, it was typical John with his secrets. He didn't say anything, for a long while, and then he glanced over at me as the shower in the bathroom shut off.

"Get some sleep girls," John said. "Tomorrow is bound to be big, I need you rested."

I watched as Dean came back out of the bathroom, freshly showered, a new t-shirt and some sweatpants on. I smiled at him and he threw me a grin when John wasn't looking. John rolled on to his side facing the other direction and Dean quickly leaned down to kiss my forehead.

"Good night," he whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear, let alone anyone else. I smiled again and nodded, squeezing his hand before he went to the couch and settled in, closing his eyes and allowing sleep to claim him. Fortunately for me, sleep took me at the same time, so I wasn't left up all night fantasising about something I couldn't act on until a later date.

Lake Trail
Next Morning

Dean's POV

Lake Manitoc must have had one of the busiest morning routines I'd ever seen. Usually if I took Beth for a jog in the morning we were the only ones around, with a scattering of other early morning joggers out for the same workout. Every man and his dog seemed to be out this morning, and it was only 6am.

Beth slowed to a walk beside me after only five minutes of running and I stopped to look back at her. She looked a little pale, and shook her head in frustration. "You go ahead," she told me, gesturing with her hand. "I'll keep walking and you can come back for me."

"You sure?" I asked, looking at her worriedly. We hadn't really done any kind of a workout in three weeks, but after last night, I needed to get a good one in to work through the frustrations. If there'd been less people around, and maybe a little more privacy to the park, I might have come up with a different solution. But if looking at Beth this morning told me anything, it was that she really needed to rest still, all these late nights, broken sleep, and now exercise seemed to be taking it out of her.

I kissed her quickly and smiled, jogging backwards along the trail until she was out of sight. I then turned and slipped into a comfortable pace, my breathing evening out. I stretched my legs a bit more, pushing into the run. I reached a sprinting pace before I started to tire, pumping my arms beside me. It wasn't until my legs started to burn that I realised I'd run almost to the end of the park that followed along the edge of the lake.

Stopping I glanced back, naturally Beth was no where in sight. I took a few breaths and started back at a more leisurely pace. Ten minutes later I was back where I'd started, and Beth was nowhere to be seen. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialled her, walking briskly along the path near where I'd seen her last.

"Hey!" She said happily into her phone when she answered.

I breathed in deeply and waited until I knew my voice would be level. "Hey yourself... where are you?" I asked, and she giggled.

"At the bakery across the street," she answered. I grinned and started in that direction when a police car went racing past, pulling up at the Carlton residence about fifty yards away.

"Hey Beth, you might want to get back here," I said.

"Why? What's up?" She asked, sounding concerned.

"Meet me at the Carlton house, I got a bad feeling something has happened," I answered and we hung up. I jogged along the path which curved past the Carlton house, slowing to a walk as I reached the perimeter of the property.

A neighbour was standing nearby and I wandered over to speak with her. "What happened?"

"Oh that poor man, to have his daughter drown, and now his son too!" She said, holding a hand to her mouth as we watched a body being wheeled out on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance.

Beth came hurrying up carrying a bag of goodies from the bakery and shooting me a curious look. When she saw the ambulance she stopped short.

"What happened?" She asked. I shrugged and felt around in my pockets. We hadn't brought our ID with us on the jog. Fortunately the Sheriff had arrived in the car I'd seen racing toward the house.

Motel Room

Dean's POV

We made it back to the motel room just as Cole was getting out of the shower. Great, I was going to need a shower after that run. She looked at us curiously as we walked in the door in our sweats and hoodies. I raised an eyebrow, I wasn't actually sure she bothered to do any form of exercise aside from beating the daylight out of boxing bags.

"So I think it is safe to say we can rule out Nessie," Beth announced as soon as we came in the door.

"What do you mean?" Cole asked, tossing us a confused look.

"We just ran by Will Carlton's house," I replied. "He drowned." Dad and Cole both looked up in surprise.

"Did uh, we mention he drowned in the kitchen sink and not the lake?" Beth asked, waiting to see their mouths drop open. I couldn't agree more, this was a freaking nightmare.

"Wow, and uh here I used to believe no one could actually drown in a kiddie pool. But a sink? Just, wow." Cole said.

"I know right? What the hell!" Beth answered, nodding at Cole.

"So you were right Cole, this isn't a creature; we're dealing with something else," I said, putting the bag from the bakery on the table and crossing to my bag, searching around for my second-favourite t-shirt. It was gone again. I stood up with a sigh and looked over at Beth, she raised an eyebrow at me and smiled innocently. Oh this was war.

"Yeah but what the hell could it be?" Cold asked, exuding frustration.

"I don't know. Water wraith maybe?" Dad offered. "Some kind of demon? I mean, it's got to be something that controls water." He was right, and strangely enough that narrowed the field down considerably.

"Wait a minute," Beth said, nodding at Dad. "Water that comes from the same source?"

"The lake!" They both said at the same time, exchanging an excited look. I grabbed a fresh t-shirt and pair of jeans, and headed for the bathroom, they could figure this all out while I showered.

"Which would explain why it's upping the body count; the lake will be dry in a few months," Dad added.

"Yeah, whatever this thing is, whatever it wants, it's running out of time," Beth said.

"Here's a comforting thought," Cole said. "If this thing can get through the pipes, it can get to anyone, anywhere. This is gonna happen again soon." I grimaced. Great. I looked at the clothes in my hands, suddenly taking a shower wasn't such a priority. I put the clothes back down on the couch and moved to a chair at the table.

"And we know one other thing for sure," Dad said, moving aside as I took a seat. "We know that this has got something to do with Bill Carlton."

"Yeah, it took both of his kids," I said, reaching for a donut out of the bakery bag.

"I think it's going after anyone Carlton cared about," Cole said. "Yesterday, Beth and I were asking around while you guys were out. Chris, Lucas' father, was Bill Carlton's godson."

I looked over at Beth and she was nodding as she looked back at me. "Well what do you say you and I go pay Bill a visit?" I asked her. She nodded back at me. I looked over at Dad, he was lost in thought, but when he saw me seeking confirmation he nodded at me.

Getting up, I grabbed the clothes I'd been going to change into. I debated the danger and then figured it was worth it. I jumped in the shower and washed the sweat away from the morning's run. Beth showered once I was done getting changed.

I paced, waiting on her to finish, hopping into some of the pastries she'd bought at the bakery. I was looking forward to getting her away for a break, just the pair of us. Job or no job, at least I could stop having to be on my guard around her so much. When Beth came out, she had passed on washing her hair – having just given it a good brush so it now hung down around her shoulders in long brown waves. She shrugged on a jacket and looked expectantly at me.

"Ready?" I asked Beth and she nodded. I looked over at Dad and announced our intention to leave. "Okay, well, we'll see you guys later; we'll call if we find anything."

Dad was writing in his journal, and he barely even glanced at us while we left. "Stay safe," he said as we closed the door on our way out.

Carlton House

Beth's POV

Bill Carlton was sitting on the bench at the dock when we arrived. He looked forlorn and resigned.

"Mr Carlton?" I asked, walking up to him. He looked up at us both. "We'd like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind." We flashed him our badges.

Dean nodded, putting his badge away. "We're from the, the Department..."

"I don't care who you're with. I've answered enough questions today," Carlton snapped at us. I shrugged at Dean and pressed on, we needed answers.

"Your son said he saw something in that lake. What about you? You ever see anything out there?" I asked, watching him curiously.

"Mr Carlton," I said, pushing a little further. "Sophie's drowning and Will's death – we think there might be a connection to you or your family."

Carlton stared out at the lake, tears in his eyes, shaking as he spoke to us. "My children are gone. It's... it's worse than dying." He looked up at me and the agony in his face was undeniable. "Go away. Please."

I looked at Dean and he nodded, making his way back along the dock toward the car. "What do you think?" I asked, as we reached the Impala.

"Aw, I think the poor guy's been through Hell," Dean answered, looking at me. "I also think he's not telling us something,"

He paused and looked over at the Carlton house.

"What is it?" I asked, puzzled by his sudden stillness. Dean reached into his pocket and pulled out the picture Lucas had given him earlier.

"Huh," he said, glancing back up at the Carlton house. "Maybe Bill's not the only one who knows something," he said, handing me the picture. I compared the drawing of the house with the cabin in front of us, it was pretty much an exact match. I looked at Dean and nodded. Definitely worth checking into.

Devins / Barr House

Dean's POV

Andrea wasn't real sure about letting us talk to the kid, but we were used to getting around people's reservations, after a while you become very comfortable with forcing your way into someone's life when they didn't want you there – all it took was confidence and the ability to push against someone's boundaries without breaking them. It was amazing what some people would allow you to do or say if it meant avoiding conflict.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think it's a good idea," Andrea was saying to Beth as we stood just inside the doorway.

"I just need to talk to him," I said to her. "Just for a few minutes."

"He won't say anything. What good's it gonna do?" Andrea asked, shrugging her shoulders.

"Andrea, we think more people might get hurt. We think something's happening out there," Beth said gently. Andrea shook her head.

"My husband, the others, they just drowned. That's all," she said stubbornly, hands on her hips.

"If that's what you really believe," I said. "then we'll go. But if you think there's even a possibility that something else could be going on here, please let me talk to your son." I glanced over at Beth whose mouth twitched up in a half-smile.

She relented, fear flashing across her eyes.

Lucas was in his bedroom colouring. He had a bunch of those plastic toy soldiers sitting around him. Beth and Andrea waited at the doorway while I crouched down in front of him. The boy didn't even acknowledge my presence, just continuing to draw.

"Hey Lucas," I started, looking at the pictures spread out in front of him. "You remember me?" He didn't even nod, ignoring me completely.

"You know, I uh, I wanted to thank you for that last drawing. But the thing is, I need your help again." I said, wishing that I really didn't have to ask. I opened the picture he'd drawn me and put it in front of the boy.

"How did you know to draw this? Did you know something bad was gonna happen?" He didn't reply, didn't even acknowledge that I had said a word, but I pressed on. "Maybe you could nod yes or no for me." Lucas simply kept on colouring. I watched him for a moment, he reminded me so much of me when Mom had died, it was uncanny. The only thing that had really brought me out of it in the end had been Sam.

"You're scared. It's okay. I understand." I said, swallowing. "See, when I was your age, I saw something real bad happen to my mom, and I was scared too. I didn't feel like talking, just like you," I glanced up at the door and saw Andrea and Beth watching intently. I cleared my throat and turned back to Lucas. "But see, my mom – I know she wanted me to be brave. I think about that every day. And I do my best to be brave. And maybe, your dad wants you to be brave too."

Lucas paused, dropping his crayon and looked up at me. He reached out, picking up one of the pictures he'd drawn and handed it to me. It was of a white church with a yellow house next door, a boy in a blue baseball cap holding a red bicycle stood outside a wooden fence.

"Thanks Lucas," I said softly. Now we had a clue.

Impala

Beth's POV

I was staring at the picture while we drove back toward the town.

"Andrea said the kid never drew like that till his dad died," Dean said to me, I raised an eyebrow and nodded.

"There are cases – going through a traumatic experience could make people more sensitive to premonitions, psychic tendencies..." I had read of a few, it was rare, but enough that it was documented.

"Whatever's out there, what if Lucas is tapping into it somehow? I mean, it's only a matter of time before somebody else drowns, so if you got a better lead...?" He looked over at me and I shook my head.

"Nope, looks like we got another house to find," I said.

"The only problem is there's about a thousand yellow two-storeys in this county alone," Dean complained. I stared at the picture again, that wasn't what had caught my eye.

"Yeah," I said thoughtfully, my fingers tracing the steeple of the building next to the yellow house in the picture. "But I bet there's less than a thousand of these churches around," I said. If anyone knew churches in this family, it was me.

Dean nodded and I looked over at him, he seemed a little lost in thought.

"Hey, what you said about Mary..." I said quietly, looking at his face. "You never told me that before." I shouldn't have been surprised, he'd only been four when she died, how did I expect him to have handled it? With the same bravado he did now?

"It's not a big deal," Dean said dismissively.

I looked at him, seeing a little bit more of the child within and smiled, he was always so busy being the strong one for us all, that I hadn't really stopped to think about how vulnerable that might make him sometimes. I'd gotten a tiny glimpse into that in the last few weeks when I was injured, but it was a novelty to me, to see this side of Dean.

Dean glanced back at me rolling his eyes. "Oh God, we're not gonna have to hug or anything, are we?" He said sarcastically at me, I snickered.

"Maybe," I teased. Dean looked back at me with a twinkle in his eye.

"Because I got a better idea than hugging if you want to go in that direction..." he said with a cheeky grin. I laughed and shook my head at him.

"Later... first we need to find this house, huh?" I said, opening my phone.

"You calling Dad?" He asked, and I nodded, dialling and putting the phone to my ear.

"Those two ought to do something to earn their keep," I said with a grin.

John's phone went straight to voicemail, I frowned and dialled Cole's phone instead, listening to the tone as it rang.

"Hello?" She answered with an exasperated tone which threw me for a bit. What the Hell was her problem?

"Cole, hey, we think we found something. We went to see Bill Carlton and got nowhere, so then we decided to go and see Lucas again," I explained, listening as the girl on the other end fell silent.

"Well Lucas helped Dean out a bit but we are kind of searching for a needle in a haystack. We could use your guys' help," I said. I knew she wasn't going to be happy about it, you could tell when we left that she was looking forward to some alone time with John.

"Uh huh," Cole said, sounding distracted. I swear I heard her pant a little and then I thought about what I would have been doing with Dean if the situation was reversed and I gagged. Serious?

"Um Cole, what are you doing?" I asked as Dean pulled the car into a parking spot in the main square of town. I didn't get much more of a response other than a groan over the phone, which had me getting out of the car quickly, much to Dean's amused look.

"Ewww! You know what, don't tell me. Yuck!" I whispered into the phone as Cole moaned again – I didn't even want to think about what John was doing to her right now. "Oh gross. God. Oh nasty!" I looked over at Dean who was now leaning on the roof of the car watching me.

"Okay, um, you guys just um, carry on or whatever, and uh Dean and I will call you when we know something, anything else." I said quickly.

"Uh huh," Cole said and that just irritated me all of a sudden. If that were Dean and me on the other end and we were behaving like this on a job John would kick our asses into next week. Why did the rules suddenly not apply to him?

Dean was gesturing at me, wondering what the hell was taking so long with the conversation. I shrugged and then turned away, leaning into the car to rummage through my bag. "Ya know what? No, both of you come and help us – Dad wouldn't let Dean and me get away with this, if he knew about us," I said, standing back up and closing the door. I looked at Dean with a raised eyebrow. "What the heck happened to my light duties on this case?" I said angrily.

Cole simply moaned at me again and looked at the phone exasperatedly. "Oh for god sake get your act into gear and get out here," I muttered, watching Dean as he started walking down the pavement toward a group of churches on the corner. John's voice came over the phone, low and grumbling.

"Get off of the phone," he growled and I shuddered in disgust.

"Oh my God! I'm scarred for life here!" I said, hurrying to catch Dean. Cole whined into the phone again and I shook my head. "Get your asses out here and help us!" I snapped, hanging up on them. I couldn't believe John was acting so…. teenage like.

Dean turned a curious eye to me and pointed at the white church across the road. I nodded, it did look a little like the one in the picture, but there was definitely no yellow house nearby.

"What the hell were you talking to them about?" He asked as I tucked my phone back into my jeans pocket.

"Oh, they're arguing or something, I don't know…" I said elusively. Dean snorted.

"They're always arguing, I don't get it, they're like an old married couple," he said and I stared at him. He shuddered and wrapped his arms around me. "Which is a disgusting thought, by the way, Cole is my age!" He added and I chuckled, kissing him lightly.

"You don't have to tell me twice," I said with a grin. "You know what, I'm starving, and we've been doing all the work this morning. Let's go get an early lunch while we wait for them to join us." Dean nodded, turning an appraising eye to a diner across the street that was advertising warm apple pie. I chuckled, and heard my stomach rumble. Pie sounded really good, actually.

A couple hours later John and Cole had rousted themselves out of bed and actually managed to find the very house we were looking for while Dean and I enjoyed a leisurely lunch. It was nice to be able to just sit and talk, enjoy each other's company without having to pretend we were something we weren't. It was short lived, because soon enough we found ourselves canvassing the neighbourhood around the yellow house they had located.

John and Cole went in to question the lady who lived in the house, while we looked for anything that looked suspicious. Which was as much to say, we spent the time walking around in circles and finding nothing. We were arriving back at the yellow house when John and Cole came out from their interview.

"Anything?" Cole asked. I shook my head at her, starting to feel a little annoyed. I was supposed to be the one resting and yet how was it that I'd been the one walking around for the last half hour?

"Hon, are you okay? You're looking a little a green," Cole asked and I sighed.

"Yeah, I'm not feeling the best," I admitted, my hands felt clammy and my side was really starting to ache. "But it doesn't matter, there's work to be done," I said pointedly, looking at John with a stare that hopefully told him that I was well aware of what they'd been up to, and how it wasn't Dean and me holding up the investigations this time. John raised an eyebrow at me, but didn't comment. "What did you guys find out?" I asked.

"Okay, so this little kid, Peter Sweeney, vanishes. And somehow all of this is connected to Bill Carlton," Cole said. "He went missing from here thirty-five years ago, and no one has seen him since."

"Yeah, Bill sure as hell seems to be hiding something, huh?" Dean said, glancing at me. I nodded in agreement.

"And Bill, the people he loves, they're all getting punished," I pointed out. It was creepy, I hated the family curse thing, mostly because I was starting to think I had one – what with both my parents being dead.

"So what if Bill did something to Peter?" Dean asked.

"What if Bill killed him?" John said, crossing his arms and staring thoughtfully at the house.

"Yeah, well then Peter's spirit would be furious, it would want revenge, it is possible," Dean said with a nod.

John looked over at me, assessing my stance and the way I was leaning against the car. "Beth you really do look a little pale," he said. He looked at Dean and nodded in my direction. "Why don't you go ahead and take your sister back to the motel Dean? Cole and I can handle Carlton. We'll call you if we need you guys for anything."

I quietly sighed in relief. I really did want to rest for a while; it had been a long day already. Dean nodded and opened the car door for me. Within minutes we were driving away from the others.

"Can we not go back to the motel?" I asked Dean as he pointed the car toward the middle of town.

"Huh? Why not?" He asked.

"I'm sick of motel rooms, it's the only thing I've seen for the last two weeks," I said, staring out the window.

"Well you need to rest," he said and I nodded, I had an idea about that too.

"Can we go down by the lake? How about that park we were in this morning?" I suggested. Dean thought about it for a moment and then nodded, turning a corner toward the park.

"Yeah, okay, I saw a spot earlier that'll work," he said, shrugging. He pulled the car into a parking area near the walking trail and we got out. The day was overcast, but otherwise clear – the air fresh and clean. I smiled at the ducks floating by on the water and wished I had some bread to toss their way.

Dean led me over to a little grassy area by the water and we sat down. He slipped his arm around my shoulders and I leaned my head into the curve of his neck with a happy sigh. We sat like that, watching the water ripple on the lake for what seemed like a lifetime. After a while I felt his warm breath tickle across my skin as he turned his head to look at me, kissing my neck.

"I love you," he said softly, it was barely a whisper that echoed in my ear. I was instantly on edge, surprised at this declaration. I certainly hadn't been expecting it.

Dean ran a hand up under my hair and brushed his fingers lightly along the back of my neck, turning my head to face him.

"Did you hear me?" He said, and I nodded wordlessly, smiling.

Butterflies flipped around in my stomach and I felt like a little schoolgirl as his lips brushed over mine, trailing softly at first and then turning more serious. With a demanding moan deep in his throat he pushed me back on the grass bringing his hand up to stroke along my cheek while he kissed me.

He broke away and looked down at me, his eyes watching me intently. "You going to say something?" He queried. A big smile spread across my face as I looked up at him.

"Did it hurt?" I asked cheekily. He rolled his eyes and pulled away, sitting up, managing to look offended. "I'm kidding!" I said, climbing over and bracing myself against the pain that shot up my side. I straddled his lap and looked into his eyes with another smile.

"I know," I said softly, kissing his lips. "I love you more."

Dean smirked, shaking his head as he pulled me close to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face into his shoulder. "I doubt that," he said quietly, squeezing me tight.

I don't know how long we sat like that, but it was long enough that my thighs started to tighten and ache, and even then I didn't want to move; Dean was softly tracing circles in the small of my back and it was comforting, it made me feel nurtured and sleepy.

With a groan of reluctance I pulled away, running my hands through his hair as I brushed it back from his forehead.

"Say it again," I said, biting my lower lip and smiling.

Dean chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Getting a bit greedy aren't you?" He asked.

"Dean!" I said in mock exasperation. He grinned and kissed me with a hungry yearning before pulling away.

"I love you Beth," he said, looking at me unflinchingly. I couldn't wipe the smile from my face, I felt like a lovesick teenager. My heart was beating like it might jump out of my chest and my eyes were starting to get watery. In that moment I knew there would never be anyone else for me, he was it, for better or for worse.

I turned to sit in between his legs, leaning back into his chest with a strained groan.

"Anything else you want to tell me?" I asked, twisting my head to look up at him.

Dean looked down at me confused and I chuckled. I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out my little journal, the one that I was completely sure he'd seen earlier and he looked a little sheepishly at me.

"I didn't read it," he said, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Do you want to?" I asked, he laughed and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Do you want me to?" He asked, kissing the back of my neck.

"Well it's pretty much all about you," I said with a smile.

"Really?" He asked. "Well pick an entry, I want to hear it," he said with a grin.

I chuckled and shook my head. "Well this one's only for this year, so … yeah." I said, flipping through the journal. I closed my eyes and just opened it to a random page, staring at the writing before me.

"Ugh," I said, and started to close the journal.

"No, no, no… wait, you can't do that!" Dean said, snatching the journal from my hands.

"Dean!" I protested, trying to grab it back.

"Come on, you can tell me anything, I promise I won't laugh," he said, snuggling me in against him, his chin on my shoulder as he brought the journal around.

I sighed and leaned back into him, taking the journal, which he handed over without complaint. I settled in and prepared to bare my soul.

"May 12 - Ohio. Dean has been seeing some other girl this last week, and it breaks my heart. I know I shouldn't let it get to me, that it's more than I can offer him and he deserves to be happy, but why can't it be with me? No one could love him more than I do. I want to tell him, but I can't. Dad would kill us. Jefferson says I should toss the rules out the window, but I can't. What if Dad told me to leave? Where would I go? I couldn't bare it. I'd rather live in this constant agony than face the unknown repercussions of confessing something that might only be one-sided in the end anyway." I paused, looking down at my hands and sighed.

"Sorry," Dean said softly into my ear. "I didn't know."

"I know," I said, leaning back to kiss him again.

"Read me your last entry," he requested and I hesitated. "Please."

It was the please that got me. I nodded and flipped to the last entry. It was from a week ago.

"August 20 – Kittanning PA - I'm scared. I'm frightened that I'm going to wake up and it was all a dream. The last few weeks have been unreal. I'm physically sore and tired, but my heart is full of hope. Hope and fear. We don't get to be happy in this family, how can I believe this will be any different? There are cultures out there who never speak of their happiness, they're so afraid that the evil forces out there will hear and consider it a challenge or something. Maybe they're on to something. I'm scared to let myself be happy, what if it's all taken away? But I'm falling deeper and deeper with every day. We still haven't told Dad, because the thought of him over-reacting is just too real, especially after Sam. What if he made us choose? Him or us? What if Dean chooses the job over me? I could never ask him to choose between his father and me, how is that fair? So we wait. Wait for the right moment, and pray that Dad takes it better than we expect him to, because I don't stand to lose just Dean, I stand to lose everything.

Dean sucked in a deep breath when I stopped reading, his arms tightening around me just slightly. I closed my eyes, waited for him to say something, to say anything.

"What no mention of my amazing kissing?" He said with a teasing tone. I chuckled and looked up at him.

"Oh, it's in there..." I said with a smile that didn't quite reach my eyes. I was too busy thinking about everything that could go wrong.

"Turn around," he said after a quiet pause, and I looked up at him curiously, twisting to face him as I sat sideways on his lap.

"You don't have to be afraid," he said, hazel eyes meeting mine in a tortured look. I chewed on my bottom lip, unsure of how to answer that. I had a lot of things to be afraid of, I couldn't just dismiss them all without cause.

"I would never choose the job over you," he said, I gulped, my eyes widening as he spoke. "I can't do it without you. Well I can, but I don't want to," Dean said, stroking his hand along my cheek and holding my face lovingly.

"Me neither," I said, nodding.

"So promise me now, today, you'll always be with me. Because I will never leave you. I will be here with you every step of the way to the end, forever. Just stay with me, just love me." Tears had started falling down my face about halfway through his speech. I peppered him with kisses along his jaw and lips, smiling through the tears.

"I promise," I said with another smile. "I do. You'll never have to do this alone, never again. Wild horses couldn't drag me from you, I love you, and nothing will ever take that away. We do this together, Dean, just like we always have."

We stared at each other, and then broke into broad smiles, looking a little sheepishly at each other.

"Well that was... unexpected," I said. "Talk about a chick flick moment. I thought you hated those," I grinned and Dean laughed.

"I do!" He said adamantly with a nod. "But some things just need to be said. I'm going to blame the Swayze movie...and all the others you made me watch last week," he claimed, and it made me laugh heartily. He might joke, but when he looked at me it was with a seriousness in his eyes, he wanted me to know he meant every word, even if chances were I may never hear them again. It was okay, he'd said it once, and that's what mattered. Dean reached out once more to pull me up to him, meeting me in a delicate kiss, that held a world of emotion.

~ To Be Continued ~

AUTHOR'S NOTES

The song for this chapter is: Right Place Right Time by Olly Murs

The lake scene is dedicated to theshadowlight who got the reference to the lake and the promise in Magnificent Seven when I touched briefly upon it :)

Cole's version of this story can be read over at How To Save A Life by EarthhAngel – if you like John I recommend you going and checking it out :)

Thank you to everyone who has left reviews recently! I will be getting back to you at some point, I just want to keep writing while the muse is there :) Please continue to review, you know I love it!

Check out the Facebook page, put in the address, then add /pages/Dean-Beth-Supernatural-Fanfic/6167414450129 46

Please review :) Mahalo