AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Your feedback makes me super, super happy, and I'm so glad you guys like this story, so here is more of it.

WARNINGS: Language, Controversial Topics, Dark Themes, Sex, Violence, Blood

ENJOY!

****

One Month Later

Grace and Bobby actually hadn't realized just how much they enjoyed each other's company…or how much like her mother Grace really was. There were plenty of things that she had in common with Bobby, but mostly, she reminded him of her mother. She was headstrong, optimistic, and she had a passion for learning—and Bobby was more than willing to let her take classes at the local community college.

Bobby understood Grace when she picked her classes—he understood that she wanted to hunt and that the majority of her classes were online so she could keep up. The only class she had on the campus was math, and he was glad that she was so involved in school…so willing to try and lead a normal life. She was still his little girl, and in getting to know her some more, he was beginning to become more and more protective of her, even though he knew to a certain extent that she could take care of herself.

Bobby pointed at Grace's phone. "It's ringing again, Gracie."

"Hi, Dean." Grace said happily, answering her phone and thus ignoring her math homework right then.

Every other day since he and Sam had taken off until she was fully healed, Dean had called Grace to make sure that she was remembering to change her bandages. Sam would just smile at his attempt to keep in contact with her because Dean never tried that hard with anyone before—but he just waved it off and reminded Sam that he had made a promise to Bobby, and he wanted Grace safe. Once he didn't need to call anymore about her wound, Dean came up with other excuses to phone her, and it made Grace smile. Grace didn't care why he was calling—she was just happy to hear the voice she had grown so accustomed to over the last month, even if the reason he was calling now was just to 'check in to make sure the angels hadn't said anything important yet'.

"Hey, Grace." Dean replied, a smile on his face. "Just checking in on the angel front."

Grace grinned, knowing that Dean was simply calling to call, but he would never admit that, and she could never find it in her to tease him about it. She felt like if she tried to make the calls about her, then she was just being conceited—maybe he really did just want her to keep him updated on what the angels had to say to her. Even so, Dean was on the phone, and Grace intended to make the conversation as long as possible.

"Cas showed a couple of times, but so far, no Thea contact, and Zach has kept his distance." Grace explained and then she turned so Bobby couldn't see her face. "How have the hunts been?"

Grace didn't know why, but she enjoyed to hear Dean tell her about all of the hunts that he and Sam had done, or even about the days they'd been having. Bobby was certain his daughter had a crush on the eldest Winchester, and it became even more apparent to him when she got up to continue the conversation in the other room. Then when they were done talking, they hung up and Grace acted like it was nothing. Still, Bobby knew Grace was worried and in a bad mood two days later when Dean hadn't called like he normally did…and then Bobby knew.

"You okay, Grace?" Emma Mosec asked her.

Emma was Grace's best friend, and she was the only person not a hunter that knew about hunting and accepted it in Grace's life. The blonde tucked her short waves behind her ears and looked at Grace, smiling a little because she knew that look—it had to do with a boy. Grace just shrugged her shoulders and checked her phone and then Emma nodded, laughing a little and shrugging when Grace shot her a look.

"Dean will call." Emma told her. "From what I've heard, he's totally into you, he just won't admit it—that doesn't mean he won't come up with some excuse to talk to you today, all right? Give him time."

Grace shrugged and then composed herself. "My mood has nothing to do with Dean Winchester."

"Suuuure it doesn't." Emma replied and then she gave Grace a look when they walked out of the school building and Grace's whole face lit up.

She followed Grace's gaze the parked Impala, Dean leaning on it and smiling at her, wondering who the blonde was. Emma wasn't retarded enough to not realize that the sandy-haired man by the hottest car of all time was Dean, and she knew how happy this was making Grace—he hadn't called, because he was there. Just so the two could have some privacy, Emma placed her hand on Grace's shoulder and Grace suddenly looked at her friend, her cheeks flushed.

"I'm heading home, um…don't do anything I wouldn't do." Emma said and with a wink and then a wave to Dean, Emma headed to her car and Grace walked towards Dean.

He shrugged as she neared him. "Sam and I found a hunt we thought you might like to be part of."

"Oh, really?" Grace asked him, smirking a bit.

"Yeah, really." Dean replied even though he knew it wasn't the full truth—he'd missed her…he just wasn't willing to admit it out loud. "How's the scar."

Grace smiled at him. "It's kind of cool, you wanna see?"

Dean smirked too and nodded, Grace lifting her shirt up just enough to show Dean the scar on her left side. He ran his finger along it, both of them feeling a little flushed about it, and then Grace put her shirt back down and Dean looked at her. They both made direct eye contact and Dean couldn't help but smile—for some reason Grace made him feel things he thought he'd lost…but how could he feel when he was dead inside? He wanted to understand that…and he wanted to be around her—talk to her, hunt with her…just be near her.

"Wanna go get some coffee?" Grace asked him.

Dean smiled and nodded. "Yeah…hop in, Grace."

**

"He's kind of driving me insane." Sam admitted to Bobby as they went over the research for the hunt Sam had found.

Bobby laughed a little. "Dean? Driving you insane? Wow…I totally never in a million years would have guessed that that ever happened."

"Oh, ha, ha, Bobby." Sam replied, rolling his eyes.

Dean had pretty much dropped Sam off and then headed to go and pick up Grace from school. He didn't even have to ask Bobby where the school was, or ask him what school she went to—Dean Winchester had actually listened to what Grace had to say when they talked to each other. Then he would spend the immediate twenty minutes off the phone with her to tell Sam what the two of them had talked about and though at first Sam thought that it was cute, Sam was beginning to worry.

At first Dean had just denied, denied, denied that he was interested at all, but then he realized that he couldn't stop thinking about her. So he made up excuses to call her, he actually enjoyed talking to her, and soon Sam was noticing that every once in a while Dean would just smile, or laugh, and when asked about it, Dean would just shrug and say, "Something Grace said". Now? Now Dean was almost obsessed, and when given a choice of hunts, he chose to do the one closest to Grace—it gave him an excuse to go and see her.

"I just meant that I think you're going to have Dean asking out your daughter." Sam said with a small laugh. "Honestly, he can't stop talking about her—it's like the honeymoon phase in a relationship only they're not in one."

Bobby smiled a little and then it faded—he got it, he did, but he wasn't so sure how he was feeling about it. Dean was already part of his family, and he knew that, and he thought that Grace and Dean both deserved to be happy after everything that they'd been through, but Bobby had just gotten her back. He didn't want to lose her to a boy yet…and definitely not to one that had a habit of not discussing what he needed to discuss, and Bobby didn't want either Grace or Dean to get hurt because of that…because Grace had a habit of running from her problems on top of that.

"Bobby are you okay?" Sam asked him.

Grace hadn't looked at Bobby since the incident, and she hadn't spoken to him either, no matter how hard he tried. She didn't want to have anything to do with him, and she'd packed so fast when Bobby told her his plan. It just seemed to him that he'd destroyed everything, and the best thing to do was to send her off to her aunt, Carrie. It wasn't like she wouldn't' get along with her cousin, Jeremy…and at least she didn't hate Carrie.

"You sure about this, Bobby?" Carrie asked Bobby, stroking his cheek. "She's all you got left, you can't just leave her."

Bobby smiled sadly. "I can't keep her, Carrie. I want to but…after what she's seen she'll never forgive me."

"Bobby, you can't give up." Carrie pleaded, but nodded when a tear leaked out.

"I know you'll take good care of her." Bobby said his voice cracking. "Just…make sure she knows I love her…even though she hates me."

Carrie nodded and hugged Bobby tightly. "I promise she'll know, Bobby."

Bobby nodded and pulled away heading to his car and taking one last look back to the window. Grace was looking out of it as Jeremy ran around in his cape, trying to get her to join in, but she was ignoring him. There were tears streaming down her face because she didn't want him to go, but she didn't want to stay with him either—he'd killed her mother and she couldn't forgive him for that.

"I'm so sorry, Gracie, honey." Bobby said, and then he got in the car and took off for good.

Bobby didn't know why, but thinking about how much he wanted for her, always reminded him of the sacrifice he'd made giving her up. It was the best thing for her and he knew that, but he had lost so much and he hated that there were so many years that he wasn't in her life. She had hated him so much and now? Now he had a fresh start with her, and he just wanted what was best for her, just like he always did.

"I'm fine Sam, really." Bobby said, waving it off. "So he kicked you to the curb so he could go and pick her up from school?"

Sam nodded at him. "Yeah. He was really excited about it too even though he wouldn't admit it, and I couldn't tell him he couldn't, you know? He's been beating himself up over what Famine told him and I just…I think it's good for him."

"Honestly? Me too." Bobby admitted with a nod. "That boy needs to understand that he isn't alone, and that no matter what some dick says, he has the ability to bounce back even after everything you boys have been put through."

"I think she can keep him in line." Sam said nodding. "If he steps out of line, she'll show him whose boss—hint: it's not him."

Bobby laughed at that and nodded too, pointing out some of what he'd found to Sam to get his mind off of things. His main concern was Grace's and Dean's happiness and if they found that together, then they found that together. It didn't matter how many concerns that Bobby had…he wanted whatever made Grace happy, and if he had to intervene, than he'd intervene when the time to do so.

"You should call him and ask where he is." Bobby told Sam, wheeling to the fridge. "Want a beer, Son?"

Sam smiled at him. "A beer would be great."

Bobby nodded as Sam pulled out his phone, and Sam swallowed because when he flipped it open, he couldn't help but think about her. It had been a month, yeah, but he still had her number, and it wasn't like the two hadn't texted once more back and forth. Still…Sam had missed his chance there, hadn't he? Why would Miranda even want to talk to him right then?

"There's something else." Bobby said as he caught Sam looking at his phone, the beers in his lap.

Sam looked up at him and shook his head. "Nah, it's nothing."

"Son, if she makes you feel like more than a sick bastard who kills things for fun…call her." Bobby insisted, and Sam couldn't help but chuckle as he opened up the beer and took a sip, considering Bobby's words.

**

Grace sipped her Starbucks coffee as she and Dean walked down the sidewalk, and she smiled at him. Dean smiled back and sipped his black coffee, already having exhausted three of his jokes about Grace's White Chocolate Mocha. She tried to explain to him about the flavor, which had just led to a dirty joke after a dirty joke and then finally she'd just laughed and fallen silent.

Neither of them understood why it was so easy to just joke around with and talk to each other, but it was. Dean found himself wanting to open up even though he still wasn't sure if he should, and yet there was no harm. He'd been making up excuses to talk to her for a month and she seemed to enjoy his company so why not? It wouldn't hurt, would it?

"So I heard you and Sam that night…bonding about Lucifer." Dean told her.

Grace nodded at him. "Have you told Sam you trusted him, yet?"

"It's harder to say than you think it is." Dean said sighing, wishing he hadn't made their playful discussion dissipate already.

"Not really." Grace shook her head, sipping her coffee swiftly. "Just say, 'Sammy, I trust you'…really, Dean…how hard is that?"

Dean shook his head and just shrugged his shoulders because he didn't want to argue with her about it. Sure, it was easy enough to tell him that he trusted him with his life…but Dean didn't trust Sam with the choice between being himself, and having demon blood in his system…he didn't know how. Someday he was sure that he would know, but right then Dean was still in kind of a funk as far as that conversation was concerned.

"Okay, Dean, look." Grace told him, stopping on the sidewalk and turning to him. "Sam loves you—you're his big brother—you just have to be more vocal about it all, all right? He can't just assume he knows what you're thinking forever…he just can't."

Dean smiled a little and looked Grace in the eye. "I hate that you always seem to know the right way to say things…you're annoying."

"It's all part of my charm." Grace said, tossing her hair off of her shoulders playfully.

"I can agree to that." Dean told her nodding, turning to continue walking.

Grace paused a moment when he said it and then hurried to walk with him, keeping step with him and then stopping again and tossing her empty coffee cup away. Dean stopped too and looked at her, raising his eyebrows because he didn't understand why she was stopping. Both of them just kind of looked at each other and then Grace looked at the ground and bit her lip, which made Dean shift uncomfortably.

She looked up slowly first, then she took a step closer to him and he looked at her, wondering what in the world was going on. He leaned down a little so they were closer and then as he tried to piece it all together, she spoke. Dean hadn't been expecting it, but nonetheless Grace seemed to be the one that surprised him all the time anyway…why not do one more thing that he didn't suspect?

"I bet you're even more awesome all opened up, Dean." Grace told him, smiling and shrugging, stepping on the balls of her feet to lift herself up a little. "Just think about talking to him?"

Dean nodded slowly, their eyes still locked. "I'll think about it."

"Good…so why did you call so much?" Grace asked him and then shook her head when he opened his mouth up to speak. "Tell me the truth, Dean—I had like the same thing to say over and over again about how I was healing, and about how the angels aren't really in contact with me right now."

"I wanted to make sure you were all settled in." Dean shrugged and sighed. "What?"

Grace laughed a little. "You're so full of it."

"I am not." Dean said, giving her a look and then he was caught off guard because there was no longer distance between them.

Grace rolled her eyes when he retorted and closed the rest of the space between them by leaning up and pressing her lips to his. They were soft, with a hint of chapstick on them, and Dean was so surprised that he didn't respond right away, and the moment he realized how badly he wanted to kiss her back, she had pulled back and blushed. She'd been so certain that Dean had developed the same crush, but him not kissing her back was proving her wrong and suddenly she remembered why she was never forward like this romantically…because she always put herself out there and then didn't always get what she wanted or needed in return.

"Sorry." Grace breathed, Dean shaking his head. "I just assumed that all of the making up excuses—"

"—Grace…" Dean said softly.

"—and you picking me up at school without Sam—"

"—Grace…"

"—and all surprising me, was some kind of hint."

"Grace…"

"I shouldn't have been reading into it, and I'm sor—"

Dean dropped his coffee cup and leaned down to capture her lips with his, his whole body relaxing in relief when she relaxed and kissed him back. At first it was just kind of soft, but then Grace slid her fingers into his hair and then slid her other arm around him, pulling him closer to her. She smiled a little into the kiss as he pulled her closer too, cupping her face and then stroking her hair softly. He didn't really get what the feeling in his stomach was—he hadn't really been feeling much of anything lately, and it was almost like he remembered that sometimes things felt good.

"You wasted some perfectly good coffee." Grace whispered to him.

Dean rolled his eyes and continued to kiss her. "I think someone needs to learn how to stop bantering for just a second."

"Okay…one Mississippi." Grace whispered and then she and Dean both laughed and she kissed him softly when he looked her in the eye. "Sorry, I just really couldn't resist."

"I don't know why I like 'em quirky, honestly." Dean teased, and then he ran his thumb along her bottom lip and motioned to the car, Grace nodding at him.

Note: I got all fluffy on you guys…I think that for those of you that read most of my stuff, that should alert you that next chapter is ANGSTY…so…be prepared. Feedback is always appreciated!