Dean was sitting on the leather couch when Sam came into the room, looking what could only be described as numb. "Sammy?" His brow furrowed, knowing his brother was still not fully wrapping his mind around the thought of him and Brielle being together in a purely physical aspect.

Sam only shook his head. He was so uncertain what to do with this. Should he let Dean tell Brielle how he feels? She seemed absolutely certain that this was strictly sex. "Sammy?"

The second time his name was called, Sam's hazel eyes moved to his brother's. Dean was staring at him over the back of the couch.

"Yeah?"

"You look..." Dean trailed off. His little brother looked distressed to some extent, his gaze drifting elsewhere as he gathered his thoughts. "You good?"

Sam blinked. "Yeah." He paused. "Dean, what you told me outside..." Hazel met green. "You need to... tell Brielle."

Uncertainty flickered across Dean's features. "Tell her what?"

Sam refrained from rolling his eyes. "That you care about her."

"She knows."

The younger man's eyebrows narrowed. "Really? Becuase I just talked to her not even five minutes ago and she told me it was just sex and neiher one of you caught any feelings." Dean's jaw clenched. "So yeah, you care and she apparently doesn't." The older man wiped a nervous hand across his mouth.

Dean didn't know what to say. Brielle really didn't care about him in any other way other than a fuck buddy? "Seriously? Because some of the-," Sam winced, holding up a hand. He didn't need to hear all the dirty details of their romps.

Dean tilted his head, gave him an annoyed look. "Sex is one thing, Sam, but we've showered together." Sam put his hand down slowly. "And not had sex. And we've shared a bed and not fooled around. And made out..." He paused. "And not done anything else. We've laid in bed together almost every night and just talked."

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. "So you've done things couples do."

"I don't know. I've never been a couple." His smartass comment made Sam roll his eyes.

"You know what?" He leaned a hip against the arm of the couch. "Figure it out yourself. You two need to be really honest with yourselves here." Dean pushed up off the couch and started to pace in front of Sam, wiping a hand over his mouth nervously. Sam watched him freak out a bit over his suggestion. "I'm gonna start breakfast." The younger man didn't know what else to do to fill the awkward silence and started to the kitchen after standing up, his eyes still on his brother.

"I'm gonna... go talk to Brie." Dean tried to sound more confident in himself than he felt. Sam didn't reply when he disappeared from the room. Dean's boots echoed off the tiled hallway as he headed down towards the sleeping quarters, to Brielle's bedroom. The door was ajar and he knocked softly. "Brielle?" His heart was thudding away in his chest anxiously as he awaited her reply.

"What?" She sounded irritated and tired. Dean pushed open the door cautiously; the brunette was laying on her bed, her back to him. He closed the door softly behind him. She heard the chair in the corner scrape along the floor as he dragged it to the side of her bed to sit in.

"Brie, I know we've talked about... what this is... between us..." That made her shift to look at him suspiciously.

"Yeah?" Her apprehensive tone matched his.

"Sam said..." Brielle quirked an eyebrow. "I know we said no feelings involved... but," Dean cleared his throat nervously and she shifted to sit up, moving her legs to swing over the side of the bed. "Do you really mean that?" A few seconds ticked by and her chocolate eyes got wide, realization of his words hitting her like a shovel to the face.

"Dean... what are you saying?" Her voice was shaking to some degree.

"I know this was supposed to be just... sex... but... we've done some other things that made me feel like," He cleared his throat again, his nervous habit. "Like... this was more than that." Her lips parted slightly and her eyes wide.

"Dean, do you... " Brielle trailed off and he pressed his lips together. She got up and started tp pace nervously in front of him like he had moments before in the living room in front of Sam. "Oh my gosh..." He got up silently and when she turned, Brielle came face to chest with Dean. "Dean?"

"I guess you could say that." He murmured and she closed her eyes, a pained expression on her face. A fat tear squeezed its way out of her left eye and rolled down her cheek. She felt his strong arms enclose her in a warm hug, one arm around her shoulders and the other around her waist. Her face was against his chest, the soft flannel smoothing away the teardrop. Dean held her for a moment before he felt her arms come around his neck tenatively. Brielle felt herself trembling slightly and Dean pressed a kiss to her temple.

They stood that way for a few moments before he felt her holding back sobs. "Dean, when we started this, I.. I never imagined..." He nodded slightly.

"I know sweetheart." The gruffness in his voice was back. "I mean, what do you wanna do here?"

"I don't know." She sounded lost. Finally, Brielle pushed back lightly from his chest to meet his stormy eyes. "Dean, what we have here... it's uncomplicated."

"Not anymore," He smirked down at her, making a small half smile grace her lips for a second. His warm hands had moved to her waist and she had removed her hands from his chest, now over her mouth nervously. "Brie?"

"Dean," Her chocolate eyes were darting around nervously, looking anywhere but at his intense gaze. "I don't know what to say here," Brielle focused on one of his buttons and his chest rising and falling with each breath he took. His calloused hands smoothed up her torso, up her arms and gently removed her hands from her face. She looked thoroughly lost and her hands were shaking.

Dean waited and a silent sob worked its way through her chest, then another. He brought her left hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. Her brown eyes snapped to his when he did so and he held her gaze. There was a tumultuous array of emotion there, threatening to overflow. "Sweetheart, please don't cry."

His soft words made the dam inside her break, hot tears streaming down her cheeks. Dean pulled her in again, letting her cry softly into him. After a moment, he moved to sit down on her bed, settling her on his right thigh, his right arm around her, his left hand coming up to smooth her hair back. She wiped her face, her mascara smeared under her eyes. "So what do you want me to say? That we'll be... exclusive?"

That made Dean chuckle. "We're already exclusive."

"I mean..." Brielle almost hated to say it. A couple.

Dean hesitated. "I guess." Pause. "And then things between us would be out in the open. No more lying, sneaking around and hiding this from Sammy. We could just be... together."

The brunette let out a shaky sigh, her eyes still downcast. "And what happens when you get tired of being with one woman, Dean? I'll have to leave here and probably lose not only you, but Sam also." That surprised him.

"What makes you think I'll get tired of you?"

"You've been with a million girls, Dean. You could change women like most people change shirts." His warm hand was burning her thigh right through her jeans.

"Not quite a million." Brielle looked up, shooting him a mock glare. He sighed. "Sorry. I've never been in a relationship because I've never really had the opportunity." Pause. "I've never stayed in a town for more then a few nights before moving onto the next one. The bunker was the first real home I've had... since mom died." His voice was soft now.

Brielle nodded thoughtfully. She'd never really looked at things quite that way before. "Okay."

Dean studied her expression closely, looking for signs of regret on her features. "Okay... what?"

"Maybe... we could try... this."

He watched her carefully, almost afraid she'd spook and change her mind. Dean's green eyes held her shy gaze until Brielle leaned into him, meeting his lips in a soft kiss.

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It had been nearly three weeks since the shower incident and the trio was getting used to their new normal. Sam secretly looked forward to when Brielle would come out of her bedroom in the mornings, walking up behind his brother sitting at the war room table. She'd bend over at the waist, wrap her arms around his shoulders and plant a warm kiss on his cheek, making Dean blush, a genuine smile on his mouth.

Something he hadn't seen from his brother in a long, long time.

Brielle straightened up and moved around the table to pat Sam's shoulder and kiss his cheek as well on her way to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. "Is there coffee made yet?" Sam shot Dean a look and he spoke up.

"I got it, sweetheart." He pushed back from the table and rose. "Sit." She looked surprised at his words.

"Thank you." Her voice softened and Brielle moved to sit in the chair next to him, her hair falling in her eyes as she reached down to pull the chair in underneath her backside. Dean's gaze shot to Sam's and the younger man mouthed, cream and honey. The older man gave a quick nod before disappearing into the kitchen. Brielle pushed her hair back and rested her arms on the wooden table, a secret little smile on her face as she watched him leave.

Sam chuckled at her dreamy expression. "You've got it bad." He teased and she blushed.

"I think I do."

That made his smile even wider. "You're good for him, Brie."

"I hope so." Dean returned then, setting a mug down in front of her carefully. She took a careful sip, her eyebrows going up a bit.

"Does it taste okay?" Dean's insecurity threaded its way into his voice. She smiled up as he moved to sit down next to her.

"Perfect." Her eyes were sparkling as she gazed at the gorgeous man next to her, her hand finding his underneath the table. "Thank you." His face relaxed into a smile.

"So there's a possible case not too far from here." Sam turned the laptop around so they could look at the screen. "What do you guys think?" They both leaned forward to read the articles. Brielle finished first and leaned back. "Brie?"

"I don't know... just two random crimes maybe?" She said slowly, glancing over at Dean, whose lips were moving slightly as he read. "Dean?"

"It's just kinda hard to connect them at this point."

Sam nodded. "I guess we wait then." He turned the laptop back around. "I was gonna run into town this morning and grab some supplies..." Dean nodded thoughtfully. "You guys wanna go, or you wanna stay here?" Dean and Brielle shared a look.

"I'll go with you." The brunette replied, taking another sip of her coffee. "I was thinking... maybe we could have a proper thanksgiving meal this year. Remember last year? You guys had that case and were gone for the week." Dean pursed his lips, considering that.

"Sounds great." He squeezed her fingers under the table and Brielle smiled, her eyes moving from his to Sam's. "Sammy?"

"That'd be amazing." He got up and closed his laptop. "I'll be five minutes." When Sam disappeared from the war room, Brielle leaned in to kiss Dean a proper good morning. He smiled against her lips.

"You don't have to be so shy." Brielle murmured.

"It's just gonna take me some getting used to." Dean whispered back and he felt her kiss him again, his eyes still closed.

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Thanks for stopping by! Reviews are love! Have a beautiful day, lovely readers.

-CitrineMama