A/N: I wanted to give a shout out to onlyonechairleft, because whether she realizes it or not, she REALLY helped me out with certain aspects of this chapter that I was very stressed about. So, thank you for allowing me to ramble. Hopefully you'll approve of the final result. And, as always, big thanks to my beta reader isugirl.

The chapter title (Love Her Madly) is a Door's song from L.A. Woman (1971).

XXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 17 – Love Her Madly

"Andrew, get off your damn knees. You're embarrassing yourself." Dean said gruffly after the younger man had burst into Buffy's office to kneel at Castiel's feet.

"But he's an Angel of the Lord," he argued. "I must show my fealty."

"Your what? Dude, speak English."

"Dean is right," Castiel remarked. "Please rise. I have yet to prove myself worthy of Godly worship."

"What the hell, Cas?" Dean asked half-seriously. "You up for a promotion? Personally, I wouldn't recommend it. Probably just be longer hours for the same crap pay."

Before Castiel could reply, Buffy grabbed Andrew by his shirt collar and began to roughly drag him out of the room.

"Give me a second," she said tightly.

"Andrew," she whispered angrily as she pushed him up against the wall in the hallway outside. "What did I tell you about this obsessed fanboy act? Do you remember the things Sam said he would do to you?"

"I don't think those things are anatomically possible," Andrew argued.

"Try us."

"But Buffy," he implored petulantly, "that's Castiel."

"Yeah, I know. Thrilling stuff. The guy's a real blast at a party," she observed dryly.

"His gaze is even more piercing than Carver described it," he remarked dreamily. "I just –"

The Slayer pointed a silencing finger in his face. "We don't have time for this. You can ask for his autograph later."

"Really?"

"No!" she snapped back. "Go away, Andrew."

Buffy re-entered her office and shut the door behind her, shaking her head in exasperation. "Sorry about him," she said. "He's kind of excitable."

The angel nodded his head stoically, all the while intensely observing Buffy. His 'piercing gaze' was making her a little nervous. He'd never shown that much interest in her before and she wasn't sure she liked it.

"Anyway," she continued self-consciously. "Where were we? Oh yeah, supposedly we stole her power and now, after like a billion years, she's finally decided to get all snippy about it. So, blah, blah… she gets her 'true vessel' or we all die. You know, the usual threats."

"But, she did not want you?" Castiel asked for the second time, sounding like he was almost desperate for that confirmation.

"Look at me," Buffy remarked as she pointed to the large bruise on the side of her face. "If she'd wanted me, there wouldn't have been much to stop her."

"Chick's got some freaky thing for virgins," Dean added with a shrug. "Don't ask me. I don't get it."

"Virgins have historically been very important in ritual," Giles offered with a grin. He was proud of himself. It was the first intelligent thing that had come out of his mouth since the angel had appeared.

"Do you know the identity of the Slayer she is seeking?" Castiel asked.

"No dude," Dean said. "We told you that already. It doesn't matter anyway, because, whoever it is, she ain't getting anywhere near her."

The angel appeared to be deep in thought. "This turn of events was unexpected," he remarked, almost to himself.

"You're telling me," Buffy said. "This wasn't the way I wanted to start the week. I hate Mondays."

"If she returns, pray for me," Castiel said, disregarding Buffy's remarks. "It is not safe for you to face Eve without me."

"Fine with me," Dean replied. "Just don't take forever to answer the call. Otherwise, you might only get to face a giant pile of our charred bones. Just sayin'.

"I will come immediately," the angel assured him.

XXXXXXXXXX

Buffy frowned as she watched Dean checking the clip on his pistol before stowing it away in his waist band.

"I don't suppose there's any way you'll listen to me and not go out there?" she asked.

Dean brushed off her concern. "I'm just going to get us some supplies. We'll need some more clothes if we're stuck here for a while."

"And you want some beer?" she observed knowingly.

"Well yeah," he grinned. "A man's gotta have the basics. Besides, I need a breather from Giles for a few minutes. He's killing me with all this Campbell crap. Jeez, I don't know who's my bigger fan, him or Andrew. At least Giles doesn't seem to be rockin' the dirty thoughts."

"Giles is just excited about getting new books," she remarked, deciding to completely disregard Andrew for the moment. "Apparently you come from a very famous hunting family. It seems even Watchers are not immune to the perils of fanboydom."

Dean rolled his eyes. "I hate to disappoint the guy, but aside from Mom, I wasn't exactly the biggest fan of that side of the family."

"I'm going with you," Buffy announced suddenly, as if she'd just come to a decision.

"Nah," you need to stay here. "The girls need you. We never know when Eve might show up again and try to tear the building apart. Besides, it's safer for me out there. Bitch could give a rat's ass about me. As far as she's concerned, I'm just a caveman with a shower. Which is actually pretty damn nice," he observed with a nod. "It's about time we had an apocalypse where I get to be a regular working stiff."

"But –," Buffy began to argue.

"Please baby, just humor me?" he asked as he smoothed her hair back. "Stay here, okay? You've been knocked around enough for one day."

"Okay," she conceded. It was hard to say 'no' to protective-Dean, he was just too cute. Plus, she could usually get anything she wanted out of him when he was in one of these moods. She put on an extra-charming smile before adding.

"Since you're determined to go out anyway, will you run through Starbucks and get me a Salted Carmel Hot Chocolate? With extra whipped cream?" she asked hopefully.

"What? That sounds disgusting."

"No, they're totally amazing. I'm dying for one. Please."

"So, you're feeling better then?" he asked. He was concerned because Buffy had been struck by another round of nausea shortly after Cas had disappeared.

"Yeah, for now at least. I'm really starting to think that hag may have cursed me," she pouted. "If this isn't over by tomorrow, I'm getting Willow to give me some of her anti-curse potion."

"I'd definitely give it a day," Dean agreed. "It was probably just the blow to the head. Besides, trust me, you really don't wanna drink that crap if you don't have to. You think you feel sick now…"

XXXXXXXXXX

Dean had just slipped back behind the wheel of the Impala when he was startled by the sudden appearance of an unfamiliar woman in the passenger seat beside him. He cursed after nearly spilling Buffy's pimped-out Starbucks' hot chocolate all over him. That really would've sucked, because he sure as hell wasn't going through the humiliation of ordering it twice.

"Hey there handsome, have you missed me?" the girl beside him asked with a wink and a sultry smile.

He stared at the pretty redheaded stranger in confusion for a few moments. "Eve?" he asked tentatively.

The girl smirked and then her blue eyes flashed black. "Guess again, dumbass."

"Meg."

"Yep, got it in two. Give the man a cigar," she said as she checked her lipstick in the Impala's rearview mirror. "Got myself a brand new meatsuit. You like? Personally, I'm kind of attached to this one. She's sexy. Reminds me of that chick from Mad Men."

"Yeah, guess she'd be pretty hot if there wasn't a gutter skank riding around in her. What do you want bitch?" he asked irritably.

"Now Dean," Meg scolded with a fake pout. "That's no way to treat a girl who's just trying to help you out."

He snorted. "Yeah right. How stupid do you think I am?"

"Do you really want me to answer that question?" she asked smugly. "Where's sweet, little, doe-eyed Sammy by the way? I hear he's all souled-up again. Gotta say that was some disappointing news. The other version was damn sexy."

Dean scowled at the demon beside him. "Let's try this again," he said. "I'll say it nice and slow for ya. What - do - you - want - bitch?"

Meg rolled her eyes. "Fine. We'll skip the awkward small talk. I just wanted to let you in on some juicy gossip anyway. It seems our friend Crowley pulled a fast one on us. He's still kicking."

The demon smiled when Dean lost his poker face for a brief moment.

"What makes you think that?" he asked.

"I have my sources," she replied coyly. "Not all of Crowley's toadies are quite as loyal as he'd like to think. There's still a few of us left who aren't too happy with the way he turned on Lucifer."

"Cas roasted that bastard," Dean stated dismissively. "You saw it with your own eyes."

"True. But, like I said, I think he pulled a fast one on all of us. Your little guardian angel may be one hell of a kisser, but he's not exactly in Crowley's league when it comes to being sneaky. Tell him not to take it too personally though. The crafty devil even had me fooled for a while and I pride myself on being extra sneaky."

"Okay, so say it is true. Why are you telling me? What's your angle?" Dean asked suspiciously.

"Guess you're on to me," she shrugged. "I'm not telling you this for purely altruistic reasons. The thing is, you and the Giant Lumberjack are my favorite celebrity couple. I love to keep tabs on all your zany adventures. You boys should really have your own TV show."

"Is there a point to this monologue?" Dean asked impatiently.

"The point is that I just happen to know you have an entire army of Vampire Slayers on your side these days. Since my ranks have become extremely thin, I thought you selfless heroes might be willing to step up and give me a hand with our Crowley problem. Trust me. If he pops Purgatory, it's not going to be fun for any of us."

"So, you're saying Crowley's working with Eve?"

"Eve would never work with Crowley," she stated, clearly implying Dean was stupid for even suggesting it. "She's a little too pissed at him for practicing his vivisection skills on her precious little rugrats. I'd kinda like to see her get a hold of him myself, but, then again, if she wins out we're all screwed. Sadly, all of our fates are in the hands of you, your goofy brother, your braniac girlfriend, and the rest of the PowerPuff Girls… and oh yeah, Clarence the amazing Angel who's still trying to earn his wings. Of course, I hear he's pretty tied up in that ugly mess going on upstairs," she added with an indifferent shrug. "Overall, I've gotta tell ya, I'm not too impressed with your lineup. Too bad you're the only game in town."

When Dean didn't comment, Meg continued.

"You look confused, Dean. Haven't you ever wondered why all the big players are so interested in humans?"

"Because they're a bunch of dickless control freaks with no other way to get their kicks?"

"Nope, wrong again. It's your soul, genius. The human soul is the purest, most powerful source of energy in the universe. It's the only reason why anyone has any interest in you meatsuits. Before you and Sammy-boy went and screwed up the natural order, things were fairly even. The halos got their share, we got ours, and Eve got hers. Now everything's up for grabs and Crowley thinks he can take a shortcut by cracking open Purgatory and stealing Eve's slice of the soul pie. Do you see where I'm going here, gorgeous? If Crowley opens Purgatory, he goes nuclear and he wins. If Mommy Dearest manages to turn all of you meat puppets first, she gets the biggest slice of the pie and checkmate, she wins. Either way it's game over for both of us. So, what do you say we call a truce?"

"I don't work with demons," Dean said flatly.

"You know, you keep sayin' that, but I'm just not feeling it. Why don't you save us all some time and can the macho posturing for once? You know you don't have a choice… once again. I'm your best shot at finding Crowley. I promise we can all go back to trying to kill each other once this is all over with. Tell ya what. I'll even throw in a gesture of good faith. You help me out and I'll knock off Angel for you."

"Which angel? You'll have to be a little more specific. Cause I'm a fan of so many."

Meg gasped in pleased surprise. "You're kidding me? You don't know? Oh sweetie, you are not going to like this," she said with obviously false sympathy in her voice. "I'm so glad I get to be the one to share the good news."

"What?" Dean asked sarcastically. "More juicy demon gossip?"

"Oh, it's the best kind of gossip," she replied, smiling happily. "It's the kind where that big, dumb, cocky Dean Winchester gets his tender little heart broken. You wanna hear it?"

"Do I have a choice?" he asked irritably. "I've got the feeling I'd have to blow my brains out to shut you up."

"Okay then, you asked for it," she said with barely contained glee. "Angel isn't an 'angel'. He's a vampire and he's almost as big of a pain-in-the-ass as you. He brought down Hell's entire law firm for one thing. Contracts have been a huge hassle ever since. Despite the rumors, there aren't as many lawyers willing to sell their soul as you'd think."

"Guess that sucks for you," Dean commented with an indifferent shrug. "So, okay, we've got a vampire named 'Angel'. Makes perfect sense so far. Real vampire or fake vampire?" he asked flippantly.

"You're such an annoying idiot," Meg remarked, ignoring his question and continuing on with her story. "Angel got his human soul returned to him because of this gypsy curse. Anyway, he spent the better part of a century being all boring and tortured and broody, but then, he saw a sweet, innocent, high school girl named Buffy and it was love at first sight," she said, swooning dramatically. "So, he decided to rise up out of the gutter and join her in the fight against naughty badness everywhere."

"Some ancient pervert tried to Twilight Buffy?" Dean asked angrily.

"Oh he didn't try, champ. He went all the way to home base. But, unfortunately, they only got to have that one night of passion. Seems he loses that pesky soul of his if he gets too big of a happy. Guess that means your honey is one hot tramp in the sack," she prodded cruelly. "The whole mess broke poor little Buffy's heart too. She ended up having to put loverboy down like a rabid dog. But, like so many of you bad pennies, he turned right back up. Now he's off doing good and being broody again. All while managing to maintain his meticulously gelled hair. He's quite the inspiration. "

Meg paused to take in Dean's carefully controlled features, noting with satisfaction his underlying pain. She hadn't had this much fun in years.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked tightly.

"Because, it's funny as hell," the demon admitted with a grin. "But, aside from that obvious bonus, I'm telling you because I thought you might like to know that your status as Supergirl's favorite boy toy is rapidly expiring. See, Angel's her true love or something pathetic like that, but they can't be together because of his curse. But luckily for her, there's this ancient prophecy called 'Shanshu'. The gist is, if Angel keeps up his goody-two-shoes act, he gets to be a real boy again. Most of the big shots think that'll happen pretty soon… and when it does, guess where your ass is going, sugar? You ever hear that song 'Hit the Road Jack'?Well, I think that about sums it up."

"I don't believe anything that comes out of your mouth."

"Ask her then," Meg challenged. "Hell, ask your own 'angel'. I'm sure he knows about the prophecy. All the cool kids are talkin' about it."

"Get out of my sight," Dean growled angrily.

"Awww," the demon pouted as she reached out to pat him on the head. "It's upset. Poor baby. Why don't you let me fix it for you? All you have to do is convince the Slayers to help me go after Crowley and I'll put Angel where he'll never come back. Then, you'll get to keep your little blond bimbo all to yourself and she'll never be the wiser. Nobody's even asking for your soul this time. It's your lucky day."

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus," Dean began. "Omnis satanica –."

"Real mature, Dean," Meg interrupted, sounding unimpressed. "Call me when you're ready to talk like an adult," she added before disappearing."

XXXXXXXXXX

"That doesn't make sense," Castiel stated emphatically. "The demon is certain that Crowley is alive?"

"She sounded pretty damn sure," Dean confirmed. "I know she's a lying skank, but I don't see what else her game might be. I think we should look into it anyway."

"I will. There must be some kind of mistake."

Dean shrugged. "Crowley is one tricky bastard. You don't get to be the King of Hell by playing it straight." He paused for a moment before asking hesitantly, "Hey Cas, you ever hear of this vampire with a soul named Angel?"

"Yes, I am aware of him," he answered in a distracted tone.

Dean sighed heavily. "Is he really some hero prophecy-guy? Is dude actually going to get to be a human again?"

"It is likely. He has worked tirelessly to regain his humanity," Castiel confirmed before adding, "I am sorry Dean, I don't have time to discuss this."

"But – Dammit Cas!" Dean cursed when realized the angel had already disappeared.

XXXXXXXXXX

Buffy was concerned about Dean. She'd only seen him this tense on one other occasion and that was because he thought the 'black-eyed hell demons' might be playing Cleveland. This time, however, it didn't appear to be a false alarm and Buffy had to admit she was feeling pretty freaked about it herself. It wasn't like they actually needed another big bad to deal with. One at a time - that's all she asked and she didn't think it was an unreasonable request.

They had already taken some extra precautions to keep that sort of demon out, but Dean was determined to re-check their defenses. He'd recruited Willow to help him and the two of them had gone over the entire building with a fine toothed comb. Andrew, surprisingly, had set aside his hero worship long enough to actually provide some genuine assistance. Apparently those stupid books did give some pretty good tips for dealing with this kind of thing and, thankfully, he was smart enough not to volunteer where he'd learned to draw a perfect devil's trap.

As if the newest threat wasn't enough, Buffy was also convinced that something else was up with Dean. He was avoiding her. It didn't take a genius to figure that much out. It was weird, because he didn't seem to be angry with her. He was just distant and kind of sad, almost like it hurt him to even look at her. She'd been having a hard time cornering him though. He'd suddenly turned into Mister Busy Bee. Finally, after she'd made her bedtime rounds and checked-in on all the girls, she found him sitting alone in the break room, drinking a beer and apparently intent upon cleaning every single gun he owned. Something she was pretty sure he'd done less than two days ago.

"Those guns must get dirty awfully fast," she remarked.

He smiled at her half-heartedly and shrugged. "It's habit. I was raised by a Marine."

Buffy decided to just come out with it. "Are you upset with me?" she asked.

"Why should I be?" he asked in return, keeping his eyes trained on the gun he was cleaning. He was obviously attempting to appear nonchalant, but failing miserably at it.

"I don't know," she replied, "but something's wrong here and don't even try to say it's nothing. I know you. Your 'nothing' usually means a whole lot of something."

Dean looked up at her. "Buffy, we've got a lot going on and I'm kind of stressed. It can wait. It's not important."

Now she knew it was serious. The phrase 'it's not important' was Dean-speak for 'I'm hiding something really important that I'd prefer to avoid'. She closed the door, pulled out a chair and turned it around so she'd be facing Dean.

"You might as well just tell me now," she said, "because I'm not going anywhere until you do."

"Buffy."

"Not going anywhere," she repeated firmly.

Dean sighed, shook his head, and then proceeded to pick up another gun and began dismantling it like she wasn't even in the room. Buffy was about to say something else when he finally spoke up.

"I know about Angel," he said flatly.

"Oh," she replied quietly and then paused to gather her thoughts. She was caught off guard. She certainly wasn't expecting this conversation right now. "So, you're pissed that I dated a vampire and you're shutting me out. Is that it?" she finally asked.

"I'm not pissed," he denied. "I sure as hell don't like it and I don't really understand it, but that's not it."

"Then what is it?" she asked expectantly.

"I don't want to get into this right now," he said tightly.

"Too bad."

"Fine," he said as he sat down the gun barrel he'd been swabbing out. "Buffy I…" he began hesitantly. "I can't stay here once this whole mess is over," he said. "I'm not leaving until that Eve bitch is dead and I'm sure Crowley is actually toast, but after that… I just can't be here."

Buffy felt like the rug had been pulled out from under her. She was speechless. She couldn't believe Dean was going to walk away after everything they'd been through together. She hadn't expected him to like learning about her ex, but she hadn't anticipated that he would completely reject her without even allowing her to give her side of the story.

"So that's it?" she asked angrily, once she'd finally found her voice again. "You don't approve of my high school boyfriend. So you're just going to walk away? Just like that?"

Dean clenched his hands a few times before banging a fist on the table. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked, raising his voice for the first time. "Do you expect me to just sit around here and wait until dude Shamu's and you show me the door? You really think I can do that?"

Buffy just stared at him with her mouth open, so he continued.

"The day he comes back for you, I'll probably kill his ass," he stated in a deadly serious tone. "Even if the man is human, I'm not sure I can trust myself and I don't want to hurt you like that. You deserve to be with someone who makes you happy. I can't take that away from you, but I can't wait around for it to happen either."

"Dean!" she exclaimed. "Are you serious? You really think I'm just using you until I can get Angel back? Really? That's what you think of me?"

"It's not like that," he attempted to explain. "I'm not accusing you of anything, okay? But you want what you want. It's as simple as that. Dude's your 'true love' or some shit," he added with bitter sarcasm. "I know when to step back."

"Did that demon woman tell you this?" she asked incredulously. "Is that what this is all about? A demon told you how I feel? And you believed her? You?"

"Demons lie," he agreed, "but they can also tell the truth if they know it's not what you want to hear."

Buffy shook her head. "I can't believe you. Dean, look at me," she said firmly, placing her hand on his arm. "Angel is my past. Yes, I loved him and I still care about him and I hope he does get to be human again. I really do. He deserves it. But, if that happens tomorrow, I still don't want to be with him. To be honest, I'd be shocked if he was planning on being with me. We live separate lives. We have for a really long time." She paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm in love with you. You're the one. You're the man I want to spend the rest of my life with and the idea scares the hell out of me, but I even think I want to have your children. So, don't ever let a demon or anybody else tell you how I feel."

Dean stared at her for a moment with a hopeful expression on his face, before shaking his head sadly.

"You don't know what you're saying," he said. "I'm not who you think I am. That other guy, he's earning his humanity back… but mine's probably gone for good. You have no idea what I've done."

"Dean –."

"Buffy just listen to me, okay?" he interrupted gruffly. "We're in this mess because I jacked up the natural order. If it weren't for me, this business with Eve wouldn't even be happening and you wouldn't have to worry about demons on the Hellmouth. They're not supposed to be here. They only came because I couldn't…" He paused and kneaded as his temples for a moment. He was obviously having a hard time discussing this subject. "Because I couldn't keep saying 'no'," he finally added. "There are things you don't know about me. I was –."

"I know about hell," Buffy said quickly. She couldn't stand to watch him struggle any longer. "I already know."

"Who told you?" he asked in surprise.

"That doesn't matter right now. You just need to believe that none of this is your fault," she told him with tears in her eyes.

"Don't do that," he said angrily. "Don't feel sorry for me. I don't deserve it. I'm not some innocent victim here. You know that nightmare I have all the time? Do you know what it's about?" he asked. "It's not about poor me being tortured in hell, if that's what you think. It's about me doing the torturing. If you knew the things I did down there… the things I enjoyed doing, you'd never want to lay eyes on me again."

Buffy shook her head and sighed. She didn't know how to convince him not to hate himself. It was tearing her apart.

"Dean, I know about the torture too," she said gently, "and I also know that you think you broke the world, because you couldn't keep saying 'no' after thirty years of constant torment."

Dean looked completely shocked and ashamed. "You knew about that?" he asked quietly.

"I knew," she confirmed. "And I'm not trying to belittle what you went through, but it doesn't matter to me. I don't blame you. I never did. Not even for one second."

"But, you don't know how bad it was," he argued. "I was a monster. I'll never forgive myself."

"You should," she said sadly. "You're asking things of yourself that you'd never ask of anyone else. Even if I did believe that you could possibly be single handedly responsible for all the misery in the world, no one else could've held up to that kind of torture for that long. If it was me, would you blame me for giving in and saying 'yes'? Would you blame Sam? I know you wouldn't," she answered for him. "Dean, you couldn't fail, because the game was fixed. There was no way to win. Besides, it's all a lie! These things like to go on and on about their precious natural order, but they're the ones always looking for any excuse to break it. Apparently, I threw off the delicate balance when I came back from the dead. This big evil was so offended that it was just forced to try to destroy the world. It's ridiculous! And, oh yeah, I'll bet you everything I own that the next time we see Eve, she'll claim that we forced her into this when Willow used my scythe to activate all the potentials. I'm sure she doesn't really want to have to try and kill us all," she said sarcastically.

Dean was quiet. Buffy could tell he was struggling with himself and on the verge of losing his self-control. She was usually respectful of his desire to hide his emotions, but in this instance she didn't care. She wasn't letting him off the hook and she wasn't playing along this time. She took him by the hands and pulled him to his feet and then wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"You don't have to earn your humanity back," she said as she held him against her. "You have more than anybody I know. It's one of the reasons I love you so much."

He didn't reply, but he did return her embrace and she knew he'd lost the battle and shed a few tears. It seemed like they stayed that way forever, before he finally pulled back slightly so that he could look at her.

"I don't know if I'm doing the right thing," he said. "I still don't believe I deserve to be here with you, but I can't bring myself to walk away. I just want you to be happy. I want you to have what you deserve."

"If you really want me to be happy, then you'll have to stay, because you'll break my heart if you leave. Me and you, we are the right thing. I know that. I can feel it. I've never been more certain about anything in my life. So, tough, you'll just have to get over this self-sacrificing guilt trip you've got going on, because unless you can tell me that you don't love me, I'm not letting you go anywhere."

"Of course I love you," he replied. "You know that."

"I kinda thought so, but it's still nice for a girl to hear it sometimes. In fact," she added, suddenly looking extremely irritated. "You completely suck! You've ruined everything."

In response to Dean's expression of complete confusion, Buffy went on a rant.

"I've been waiting so long to hear that and you've completely screwed it up. You were supposed to tell me first and maybe even give me flowers or take me to a nice restaurant. I sure as hell wasn't supposed to be standing here in the stupid break room with no makeup on and my hair in a ponytail. You destroyed my entire fluffy, romantic fantasy!"

"Sorry," he shrugged kind of sheepishly. "I guess I kinda suck at the romantic boyfriend gig."

"Yes, you do. So, say it again," she demanded. "With no smirking or eye rolling."

"I love you," he said sincerely. "You're family."

Buffy smiled and kissed him. She decided she was pretty darn happy with that. It was a simple declaration, but this was Dean she was dealing with. Besides, she knew the word 'family' was sacred to him. She didn't believe there was any higher status in his book.

When the kiss finally ended Dean cupped her cheek in his hand. "I don't know what we're going to do," he admitted. "This whole situation is screwed seven ways to Sunday and I'm not sure how I'm going to fix it."

"We'll fix the natural order," Buffy announced confidently. "Consider it fully balanced and re-ordered."

"You're gonna fix the natural order?" Dean asked, with a slight grin.

"No, we're gonna fix the natural order. All of these idiots are going back in their corners and they'll be happy with whatever slice of the soul pie we give 'em. They're our souls anyway. They should be glad to get anything."

"And how do we plan on doing that? God's sure not going to help. He's too busy playing skee ball in Jersey."

"Seriously? Skee ball?"

"I don't know," Dean shrugged. "Nobody does. That's the problem."

"Fine then. We don't need his help. We'll do it ourselves. I've decided. The Buffy-foot has been firmly planted. I'm angry now."

Despite the gravity of the situation, Dean was finding himself becoming kind of amused. Buffy was dead serious about this and he'd just noticed that she was wearing these really goofy looking flannel pajamas that had pictures of pink kittens all over them. He'd never seen them before. He guessed she'd borrowed them from one of the girls.

"Baby, don't take this the wrong way, but your badass speech might be more convincing if you weren't covered in a bunch of pink kittens."

Buffy looked down at her pajamas and frowned slightly. "There's only one kitten actually. She's just doing different things in each picture." She pointed in demonstration. "In this one, she's playing with yarn and in this other one she's sleeping. You know, it's like a montage of all her different kitten moments."

"Okay," he nodded, obviously on the verge of bursting out laughing. "That's good to know."

"Go ahead and laugh," Buffy said as she raised her chin proudly, "because the kitten is pissed off too. In fact, she's completely full of kitten-y wrath. This natural order problem is interfering with her happy kitten fun. They'll have to deal with her too."

"Terrifying," Dean remarked. "Now I know those bitches don't stand a chance."

"They don't," Buffy agreed as she looped her arms back around his waist. "Now, clean up this gun mess of yours so that you can make love to me in my office in our comfy new sleeping bag. I require further proof of your devotion."

"Huh, sex in your office," he said thoughtfully, as if pondering the idea. "We've never done that before. Sounds kinda naughty. Count me in."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Well, well, well," Meg said when Castiel appeared in front of her. "Have you come to finish what we started? I'm more than happy to oblige. This angel/demon thing has the potential to be seriously nasty," she purred suggestively. "I definitely deserve a spanking... a hard one."

"Who told you that Crowley is alive?" he asked angrily. "You will tell me or I will destroy you."

Meg took in the rage and deadly power radiating from the angel and decided it was best to make a quick escape. She liked this meatsuit, but she was just going to have to find a new one. So, she opened her mouth to smoke out, but realized she was trapped when she felt her throat being crushed. She looked over at Castiel and he was holding his clenched fist in the air as he regarded her coldly. There was no way out this time. She was cornered.