A/N: I'd be nowhere w/out my wonderful Beta Rachel! Thanks for the editing hon!

A/N: As always - wishful thinking hasn't made me the owner of any of the characters within the story with the exception of Tessa.

As much as she wanted to crawl back into his arms and stay there she knew there was another question that had to be answered. This question frightened her more than any other she had ever asked. She had to know. Now that she had him she would fight death itself to keep him.

Taking a deep breath she prepared herself, "How long?"

"One year", his reply was flat and emotionless.

She felt as if someone had hit her in the chest. One year? How could that be? The standard deal was ten years. They needed more time. One year? It would have to be enough. They would find a way to break the deal.

"That's not a whole hell of a lot of time. We'll have to work fast. I assume that is what you and Bobby were fighting about?"

"Yeah. He seems to think it wasn't the brightest idea in the world. He's right. Sam's gonna be pissed when he finds out but… what else could I do? I made a promise Tess, you know that. I couldn't let him die."

"I know Dean. Sam will deal. He won't be happy but he could never hate you. He'll understand…eventually. In the meantime we need to figure out way to get you out of this."

"Tess, we can't. It was part of the deal. If I try to break it then the deal is off. I go to blazes and Sam…well Sam will find that he no longer has the need to breathe."

"Hmm. Tell me something. Was that what she said? Exactly what she said?"

"What do you mean, Tess?"

"Did that bitch say exactly those words, 'If you try to break the deal then the deal is off'?" An idea was forming but she wanted to check with Bobby before giving Dean false hope.

"Exact words…let me think. She said 'If you try and welsh or weasel your way out then the deal is off. ' Why? What are you thinking?"

There was something in the tone of her voice that made him pause. Tess could be pretty devious when she wanted to be. He had learned early on that, although he may be the King of pranks, even the King bowed down to the Queen.

"You would think a crossroads demon would be more careful in her choice of words. I think she is going to be in a world of hurt when her bosses find out that she left a loophole. Get dressed. We have work to do." Tess wondered if it could really be that easy. The demon had said that Dean couldn't try to get out of the deal but she hadn't said anything about someone else getting him out of it. She wasn't sure how she was going to do it yet but the wording of the deal gave her wiggle room to try to figure some way out.

Her heart sped at the sight of his smile. It would be ok. They would figure out a way to fix this. She saw him visibly relax as she got up to retrieve their scattered clothing. She was surprised when she suddenly heard him laugh softly. She looked up at him seeing how hard he was fighting to hold in the laughter. "Dean Winchester! What in the hell is so funny?" she demanded.

He moved off the bed and pulled her into a tight embrace, wrapping her in his strong arms. "Emm… Tess, babe, your Dad isn't exactly shaking his pom poms over my choices lately. Somehow I don't think this", he kissed her playfully, "is gonna help matters any."

She started to giggle herself. The mischievous look in his eyes lightened her heart more than she could have thought possible. She leaned in to kiss him again and froze as she heard the front door slam closed.

Dean's smirk returned as he whispered huskily into her ear, "Ut oh, looks like Daddy's home."

"Damn, shut up and get dressed," she said pushing away from him and reaching for her t-shirt. "I think maybe we had better keep this to ourselves for now. I think Bobby and Sam are going to have enough to deal with for awhile without adding us to the mix."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Nothing in our lives has ever been easy, why should this be different? But I'm not going to hide this forever Tess. I'll follow your lead but if I only have one year left I'm not going to waste it pretending that I don't care and that nothing has changed between us."

She ducked her head to grab her jeans from the floor glad for the excuse to turn away from him. She wouldn't let him see the tears that welled up in her eyes at the fierceness of his tone. She heard Bobby call her name from downstairs and slipped out the door.

"Dean", she said turning back to look at him one more time.

"Yes?"

"Next time you want to make a deal with someone take me with you. Your negotiation skills suck."

He laughed out loud as she pulled the door closed behind her, leaving him alone to finish dressing. Yeah, time may be short, he thought, but it sure as hell will be interesting.

A/N: Ok, I could either keep this going (I have a 5th Chapter almost completed) or I could end it here. Guess I'll leave it up to the readers. If you would like to see more let me know! Throw out a review or drop me a private message so I know that there is an audience out there. Remember: Reviews are rainbows that brighten my day!