To everyone's credit, no one interrupted Thea while she spoke. She was very careful to remain calm, even when touching lightly on the deal that had been struck that very night. Glossing over the details, she hoped that she was giving the hunters enough information that they wouldn't dig too deeply. She felt bad having to lie by omission, but if they knew the whole story...it wouldn't be pretty. She felt Crowley's eyes on her as she skirted some of the more intimate details, but he kept silent – for the moment.

When Thea was done talking she watched the three hunters very carefully. Even with the edited version she had told them, she knew that they wouldn't be very happy. After a pregnant pause, all hell broke loose.

Dean jumped to his feet and lunged at Crowley, Sam followed Dean across the room. Crowley stood and faced the pair with a stance that was deceptively calm. Bobby remained seated, his eyes were on Thea. Heart pounding, she needed to stop this and fast.

Moving faster than she thought possible, she narrowly beat Sam and Dean to Crowley. With her back to Crowley, she faced the irate hunters. A little taken back by the pure anger in their eyes, she licked her lips and swallowed. The pair stopped. Dean, with the demon dagger gripped tightly in his hand, stared at her in disbelief.

"Dean..."

"Thea, move..." Dean cut her off.

Although the tone of his voice sent shivers down her spine. She stood firm.

"...NOW."

Thea just shook her head no. What had she gotten herself into? In the last month, she had been attacked by a demon, found out her husband was a bastard, lost her mother, let her husband die, lost hours of sleep trying to figure out how to keep her soul, spent a small fortune protecting her books from the demon standing behind her, had been mentally and verbally sparring with said demon most of the night, participated in a blood binding spell and now was trying to keep some of her closest friends from ripping the demon apart in her library. What else could happen? She balled her hands into fists to keep them from shaking and set her jaw in what she hoped was a convincing look of determination.

Sam edged to the side and Thea took a step back so she could keep an eye on both hunters. Without turning, she knew that Crowley must have moved closer as she could almost feel him. She watched Dean's eyes narrow and saw Sam calculating the distance. She released the tension in her hands and took a deep breath.

"Will you both just stop?" She looked past Dean to Bobby and saw him just watching. His eyes moving between her and Crowley with an intelligent intensity that was unnerving. His face like stone, she couldn't read what he was thinking.

"What the fuck are you thinking? Thea, get out of the damn way." Dean's voice was low.

"What the fuck am I thinking?" She exploded. Enough was enough. "Are you trying to make me the bad guy here? By my calculations, I'm the ONLY person in this room who has managed to keep their soul intact. So what the fuck, Dean." Dean was struck dumb momentarily, mouth open and eyes wide. Pressing her advantage, she moved forward. "Back the hell up, Dean. NOW." Satisfied that she had bought at least a minute or two, she turned.

Her attention on Sam now, she was tempted to just give in and move out of their way as he was now looking at her with a pensive, soulful expression. Closing her eyes momentarily, she steeled herself against it. She usually gave into that look, most people did. Instead, she decided to play into Sam's more rational mind. "Sam, I'm not going to try to argue with you. Try to see it from my perspective here. Think about it for a minute."

Not daring to look at Crowley yet, she hesitantly looked to Bobby again. Now she could see the anger in his expression and a deep sadness in his eyes. It broke her heart.

"Let me have it Bobby. Tell me what an idjit I am."

Shaking his head wearily, he stood and moved to the other side of Dean. Feeling uncomfortably like she was a little girl again, she met his eyes. Without saying a word or breaking eye contact, he put his hand on Dean's arm.

"Dean, enough." As Dean lowered his arm, he glared at Crowley. "It's late. Let's chew on this more tomorrow, when we all have clearer heads. Good night Thea."

Crowley watched with no small measure of satisfaction as Dean lowered the knife, giving him a look of such unrestrained hate that he could see why Alistair had been so successful when Dean was on the rack. He needed to tread lightly here. The pair were like dogs with a bone – they would not let go easily. He was starting to have a small measure of appreciation for the tenacity of the woman in front of him. Feeling the rage and resentment coming off of the trio in waves he allowed a small smirk to surface, but she had disarmed the situation for the moment.

Resignedly, the hunters turned and left the room. As the door shut, Thea's shoulders sagged. Silently moving forward, he placed his hands on her. Pulling her to him, he inhaled deeply the sweet smell of her shampoo. He could sense how exhausted she was – the blood bond growing stronger by the minute. It was only a matter of time before it was at full strength. He would cross that bridge though...

With a thought he transported her to the master bedroom. Keeping her close, he moved them towards the bed. Hoping that she would not be bothered by the last time they were in this room, he lit the fireplace with a motion of his hand and stepped back. The flamed flickered over her face and he was memorized by the play of light and shadow in her hair. As if waking from a trance, Thea's eyes widened as she realized where she was and who with.

With movements slowed by her weariness, he watched as she backed away from the fire and from him. Stopping a few feet from the bed she turned. Hands up in a defensive position, she watched him with tired eyes. Knowing that if he pushed, she would not be able to resist, he tilted his head to the side and considered his options. On one hand, he wanted to continue what they had started in the kitchen before they had been interrupted. Yet, he knew it would be all that much sweeter if her responses to him were honest and not fueled by exhaustion and desperation.

He needed her to start building some trust in him. With some luck, she would never find out the full meaning of the blood ritual. He was still in shock that it had worked.

"Easy there love," Crowley tried to look as harmless as possible. "I can see how tired you are and thought you would like to get some rest."

"Oh, really?" She looked at his with a mixture of disbelief and distrust. "I bet you would."

"Honest."

"Right."

"Tell me to leave and I will. Tell me that you want me to go."

Her eyebrows rose. Crowley leveled his gaze. For half a minute they just stared at each other.

"What's the catch?"

"No catch. I promise." Crowley raised the stakes by moving forward.

"I don't believe you."

"Yet you are not telling me to leave."

"I..."

Another step forward.

"...stop..."

And another.

"...please..."

He stopped. Watching her with searching eyes, he waited.

Thea was so torn. She was beyond her endurance, yet, with Crowley around...it felt like there was something there just waiting to be realized. He was dangerous, yet she felt instinctively that at this moment she could trust him – that he was telling the truth.

Giving in to her exhaustion, she closed the distance to the bed and sat on the edge. Feeling his eyes on her she met his gaze. He was too close, yet not far enough away. She couldn't think.

"I think you should go."

Crowley tilted his head in acknowledgment of her request and disappeared.

Thea let out the breath that she was not even aware she was holding. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.