When Dean and Lexi walked into the motel room, John was already awake. He sat at the table drinking a cup of coffee, reading the newspaper. Dean's eyebrows came together as he stared at his father.

"I thought you were supposed to be sleeping?"

"I was sleeping... I woke up. Where did you two go?"

"We just drove."

"You drove?"

"Yeah." Dean knew that brief, straight forward answers were more believable, but John was the one who taught Dean how to lie. So, he decided to add a little more. "We drove for awhile, outside of the city, then turned around and headed back."

John nodded. "Did you stop to eat?"

"Nope."

"And I'm starving," Lexi added.

"Alright," John said. He looked to Dean. "Order some pizza. I'm gonna go shower."

"Yes, sir," Dean said.

By the time Dean finished ordering the pizza, John was already in the shower for a few minutes. Lexi was lying on top of her bed, and Dean crawled next to her. His lips were on hers immediately, and she fought a battle inside her head.

"Dean..." she managed to get out between kissing him back.

He ignored her and kept kissing her. His hand held firm at her neck, keeping her close. She managed to turn her head, and she spoke as he kissed down her neck.

"He's gonna catch us."

"I want you so damn bad," he growled against her neck. "I don't know if I can do this."

"What happens if we tell him, and the next time he takes off he takes me with him instead of leaving me with you?"

Dean pulled away and sat up. "You're right. He'd never leave us alone together."

"We can do this. If we want to be together, we just have to be patient."

"Patience is not one of my virtues," Dean said.

"I'll make it easier on you... I'll make sure to cover up as much as possible."

"Let me ask you something... do I need to be half-naked for you to want me?"

"No."

"What makes you think that's what does it for me?"

Lexi was surprised by that. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just thought that was a big part of it."

"I told you already, you're more than a hook up... but I do want you. I don't want dad dragging you off, so, I'll back off with him around."

He kissed her once more before he went to the other bed and lay down with the television remote.

John stayed with them for two months. Lexi was disappointed to go back to being stuck in a library while the guys went hunting, but that was another secret. If John knew Dean was teaching her to shoot, or that she went on a case, he would be furious.

She lay in bed one night when John came through the door, holding Dean at his side. Lexi jumped up.

"What happened?"

"The werewolf surprised us," John said. "Help me get him to the chair."

Dean looked like he was barely awake as he slumped down into the seat. Lexi looked at John and saw that he was hurting too, though he tried to hide it.

"Who's worse?" she asked.

"Take care of him," he said, nodding toward Dean.

Lexi turned back to Dean and held his face in her hands. "Hey... you hear me?"

Dean grunted, and that was good enough for the moment. She saw the way the sleeve of his shirt was torn, and the blood that coated it. A little scared to see how bad it was, she carefully ripped the sleeve open. Her eyes widened at the large gash.

"John, this will need stitches."

"I'll do it. Just get him cleaned up."

Lexi got a pair of scissors and cut Dean out of his shirt. She grabbed a wash cloth and made several trips between Dean and the sink to rinse out the blood-soaked rag.

Her eyes kept wandering to his arm. She didn't do stitches. Her dad had her try it on him when she was thirteen. When the needle broke through, she nearly vomited. He ended up doing it himself, and she never tried again. She and John had this discussion before. If stitches were involved, that was someone else's job.

John took care of his own wounds as best as he could while Lexi cleaned Dean up. He waited for her to finish enough so he could stitch up his son. Lexi decided to clean up after John in the bathroom while he did that. After John was done, they got Dean onto the bed, and Lexi helped John clean a couple of his deeper wounds a little better.

"I think you two should take a couple of days off," Lexi said.

"We're fine."

"Does Dean look fine to you?"

"He's played through the pain before... worse than this."

"Well, he's taking some time off. I'm not letting him go out like this."

John grinned. "You're not letting him?"

"That's right. You told me to look after him. So, I am... even if it means standing up against you."

"Good girl," he said with a smile. "He may have a different opinion, though."

"We'll see."

When they woke up the next morning, John was looking through the paper for a new case. Lexi was still lying in bed, but she was awake. Dean winked at her as he got up and made his way over to the small table and sat down, holding his injured arm close to his side.

"Anything interesting?"

John grinned. "Even if there is, I've been told you can't go."

"You... what?"

John motioned toward Lexi with his head, and Dean's eyebrows went up. "You," he said pointing to her, "told him," pointing to John, "that I'm not going?"

"That's right," she said sitting up and folding her arms. "You're hurt. He had to stitch you. You need some time off."

"I'm fine."

John let out a chuckle and looked at Lexi. "See, darlin'... I told you."

"I don't care," she said. "He's not going."

"Who died and made you boss?" Dean asked.

"Alright," John said. "Dean, I've actually been thinking about it, and she's right. If we get stuck in a bad situation and you're still recovering, you could hurt yourself worse."

"Are you kidding me? I've gone out worse than this."

"I know, but she's worried... sometimes it's better to let them have their way," John whispered.

"Excuse me," Lexi said. "Them?"

"Women."

"Well, don't do me any favors, John Winchester. I'm just thinking about the safety of your son."

"I'm agreeing with you... You still wanna argue?"

Lexi got out of bed and went into the bathroom. Once the door was closed, Dean turned back to John.

"You're not really leaving me here for a nearby case?"

"No. I was going to find one further away, and give you some time to heal. I might take Caleb along on one that I think is more involved."

"This is ridiculous."

"It's one time. Just let yourself heal. If you get better and I'm not back yet, you can find your own case. Just give it a few days. She'll get over it."

John stood and grabbed his jacket. He slipped his arms inside and grabbed his keys.

"I'm gonna grab breakfast and call Caleb on the road. And this is ultimately my decision, so don't take it out on her."

Dean wanted to roll his eyes. John should take his own advice. He certainly took it out on Dean when Sam made the decision to leave for college.

John left, and Lexi came back into the room a moment later. She saw Dean, still sitting at the table, and walked over to him.

"Where's John?"

"He left. He's gonna go work with Caleb again for a while."

Lexi smiled. "Good." She sat down in the chair John had been in. "You did good pretending to be all upset about taking a break."

"Who says I was pretending?" The look on his face and the tone of his voice let her know he was serious.

"Dean... he's left us to go on hunts before. Why are you upset this time?"

"Because, I didn't get left behind so I could do my own cases," he said as he stood. "I just got left behind. I got benched."

"I just thought-"

"If you think us being together is gonna be me forgetting about hunting, you're wrong. I'm a hunter, Lexi. I've been doing this since I was a kid. I don't like being told to sit out."

Lexi's face fell. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"What I thought, was that we'd been with John for two months and we wanted to be alone together. Your arm seemed like a good excuse for you to take a couple days to spend with me and then we could get back to hunting together... if John left, which he did. What I thought, was that you wanted to be with me."

"You're trying to keep me out of the game."

"I'm trying to spend time with you," she said as she stood square in front of him. "You wanna hunt? Let's go! Find a case. We'll go together. Today... I know you're a hunter. I know you love it... I've been trying to hunt. Why would I try to stop you from doing it?"

Dean seemed to calm. He sat back down in the chair and pulled Lexi back down into hers. He sat quietly for a moment, looking away as he collected his thoughts.

"You remember I said I've never done the relationship thing?"

"Yeah."

"I think I just kind of proved my point."

"I agree. You completely overreacted. How could you think I was trying to keep you from hunting?"

"I don't know," he said. "It all happened so fast. And you looked so serious."

"Well, I really do think you should wait a day or two... but, I'll leave that up to you."

"Would you be taking care of me?" A grin pulled at Dean's lips.

"Maybe," she said, returning his grin.

"Well," he said as he took her hand, "maybe I could take a day or two off."

Dean leaned over and kissed her. As it deepened, he pulled her from her chair and into his lap. When Lexi ran her hand down his stitched arm, she felt him wince. She pulled back and raised an eyebrow.

"Hurts?"

"Yeah. Maybe I really do need a day or two."

"Ohhh... are you admitting you were wrong?"

"I didn't say that."

"Mmhmmm." She stood and took his hand. "Why don't we get you back into bed?"

"Will you join me?"

"I guess I could."

She pulled the covers back for him and he carefully lay down. She crawled in next to him and snuggled against his good arm. Dean kissed her forehead and they dozed off for a while.